Slumrat Rising

Chapter 127: A Question of Identities

Truth was feeling conflicted about the furious make out session Etenesh demanded right then and there. On the one hand, it was really damn fun! On the other, it was awkward as hell. Merkovah was torturing a demon four meters away, and Jember was loudly cheering them on. Still, Etenesh was enthusiastic and, oddly, grounding.

The transition from “Tommy Wells, Desrin Spell Blade” to “Truth Medici, Dead Man Walking” was unpleasant. It felt like reality itself had glitched.

Etenesh was happily wiggling underneath him, pretending that he had caught her rather than the other way around. Truth was starting to seriously doubt the whole “clothes on” part of their relationship. Etenesh had been very clear that hers, at least, were coming off in the very near future and strongly hinted that good things would happen if his came off with them.

She playfully pretended to bite at him. He had the sudden urge to sink his teeth into her neck, tear her clothes off, and see if he couldn’t finally be rid of his virginity. He went for the neck and was considering next steps when Merkovah clapped to get everyone’s attention.

“Much as I hate to interrupt your fun, we need to do a little debrief before getting on to the next phase of things. I currently have Child Eater in the “masticating juicer” part of the ritual, so now is a good time.”

Truth didn’t actually groan or pout, but Etenesh was pleased to see him look frustrated. Not least because she was pretty damn frustrated herself.

“Alright, Tommy, let’s start with the most obvious thing. How does it feel to absolutely dominate and humiliate a particularly deadly and sinister Level Four demon from a particularly nasty corner of Hell?”

Truth had a faint instinct to be self-deprecating but quickly banished it. “Absolutely incredible, Teacher. I felt like it couldn’t touch me, physically or magically. Although…”

“We will get to that, but let’s focus on the untouchable thing. Now, obviously, a big part of that is your incredible reflexes. Already great stuff, but there is more, isn’t there?” Merkovah cocked an eyebrow.

“I feel like I can finally keep up with my reflexes. Like that fraction of a second head start from Incisive is enough time for my muscles to act on the signals my nerves are sending.”

“Correct! Combined with your outstanding combat sense, you are now a certified nightmare in single combat against enemies that don’t have wide-area attack spells. Depending on the enemy composition, you are a nightmare for groups too. Now, speaking of multiple personalities, let’s get to the main subject.”

Truth nodded. “I tried to imagine that I really was the person they talk about on the scry- Tommy Wells, spell blade and demon hunter. My thinking was that if I could become that person, it could integrate all the other parts of Incisive and add another layer of spell resistance over what the Meditations provides. Spell resistance is just local superreality, right? And spells are slightly more “real” than our corner of the universe. So stacking a magically created identity over a magically enhanced body should produce good results.”

“Always gratifying to see when someone has been paying attention during a tutorial. Correct, Mr. Wells, that is one of the correct ways to use Incisive. However, there are consequences. Aren't there?”

“I… really thought I was Tommy Wells, Desrin Spell Blade from the Aussa Highlands for a minute there.”

“Identity is not so simple a thing, is it?”

“I am learning that.”

Merkovah chuckled lightly. “It’s an appealing notion, isn’t it? Just become the perfect person to do a job, then return unchanged to what you consider your real, or core, self. But it’s not that simple.”

Truth just shook his head.

“The thing you are missing, Tommy, is that your “identity” is not something entirely within your control. There is how you identify yourself, of course, but there is also how other people identify you. Your identity can’t help but be shaped by that conception. That collective weight. Particularly when you are casting a spell intended to manipulate how both you and the people who see you define you.”

“So… because so many people believe I am the person they said I am on scry…”

“There was a lot of “reality” attached to that identity. Not that mere belief or conjecture can reshape reality, but it can certainly reshape our understanding of it. The spell didn’t have to work very hard to convince everyone that you really are “Tommy Wells, Desrin Spell Blade from the Aussa Highlands.” Everyone includes you, of course. Because while you are only changing your exterior, you are still, definitionally, changing yourself.”

“I wondered about that!” Jember shouted. “I remember looking at him fight and practically hearing the theme music to “One Sword For Heaven.” But it sounds like it would be more useful for ambush or escape. Why use it in a fight?”

“For exactly the reason Tommy said. It’s an extra layer of protection against spells. Also, there is a more subtle reason. The way you approach a fight changes. Your morale changes. Hundreds of subtle, little changes as your mind conforms to the new identity. It also affects how people approach you. Violently or otherwise.”

“Sounds like it would be easy to get lost in an identity.” Truth frowned.

“Oh? Try it. Imagine you are Irridia Prem, an eighty-six-year-old woman, happily married to your husband of sixty years, and well loved by both your eighteen grandchildren and the kids at the elementary school where you teach. Visualize that, and cast Incisive.”

Truth did his best, but the spell didn’t so much as flicker over him. It just fizzled out.

“A much tougher reality to assert, compared to “Tommy Wells, Desrin spell blade.” It wouldn’t take much to make that real. Much harder to be someone totally different, who has lead a totally different life than you. Try this- “Terry Bells, Talisman Maintenance Specialist First Class, Xandre Department of Public Works.”

Truth shrugged, cast the spell, and felt the identity settle lightly over him. He knew he was Truth Medici. No question about that whatsoever. But he could feel “Terry Bells” too. He moved a little slower, a little looser. There was a sudden feeling of wearing mittens and big boots- not crippled, just a lot less agile.

“So this spell is unusual in a lot of ways. Firstly by it’s sheer premise. Rewriting your immediate reality by force of will is… a strong move, let us say,” Merkovah slipped on his teacher hat once again. “Not something that you are going to be in a position to meaningfully do for a long, LONG while. But you can, oddity number two, align yourself with what people already believe, and hijack their beliefs into falling in line with what you want them to believe.”

Merkovah gestured at himself and the cousins. “We know you aren’t a maintenance tech. But we also know you tinker with your horrible two wheeler, and you keep saying you trained as a talisman maintenance tech, so we can kind of believe it. And if you went out in public without your sword and wearing a smock loaded with tools, everyone would believe it.”

“Still not seeing the combat utility.” Jember looked fascinated.

“Been too long since your last vision, I think.” Merkovah wagged his finger reprovingly. “Tommy, do you think Botis would lose a fight.”

“No. Impossible.”

“There are other beings as powerful, or more powerful, than he. Very few, but some.”

“Still. Never going to happen.”

“Why?”

“He wouldn’t fight. He would either hide, change their mind or just run, but he would only fight if he were one hundred percent sure of winning and one hundred percent sure it was worth the effort.”

“Alright, but why?”

“It’s just his nature.”

“How do you know?”

“Pardon?”

“How do you know it’s in his nature? I am quite certain you have never read a book that accurately discussed the details of his personality and the interpersonal relationships of beings of his extraordinary stature. And I certainly never told you any of that. So why do you believe it?”

Truth puzzled that out. He wanted to say, “Because that’s what Incisive does,” but that was just wrong. It wasn’t what the spell was for. It was just one way to use it. Even then, his conception of the spell all came from…

“Because that’s how I saw him during our vision on the mountain.” Truth’s voice came out slow. “I thought I got a very good sense of his personality just watching him for a bit.”

“So, put another way, you believe, based on seeing him, that Botis would be unbeatable in any fight he chose to engage in because he would never engage in it without overwhelming advantage?”

“Yes.” Truth’s voice was slower still.

“Get it now?”

“That’s brilliant.” Jember started slow clapping. “He projects a reality that makes you destroy your own morale, weakens you, Hell, makes you give up without a fight. That's absolutely genius.”

“And he’s powerful enough to make it real. If Botis fights, he has an overwhelming advantage, and you will lose.” Merkovah emphasized carefully. “It is no mere illusion. It is literally who he is, thanks to Incisive. Botis isn’t being snobbish when he claims that no one has mastered Incisive. Its depths are almost limitless.”

“So, wait, I’m confused. It’s easier to make people believe what they already believed or wanted to believe. I get that. And it’s a spell, so it up’s my local degree of reality, making me more spell resistant and stronger in combat. I get that. And since I am altering my local reality, I started to half believe whatever identity I am projecting. I get that too. But where you lose me is that this is a reality-altering spell, not a mind-altering one.” Truth chopped his hand through the air.

“It can’t possibly be. If my “becoming” Tommy Wells, Desrin spell blade of the Aussa Highlands, is a change in reality, then there must be parents of Tommy. Teachers with sudden, vague memories of teaching Tommy. Grades written down in a book somewhere. Tax records. Grocery store receipts. There should be a whole life that popped into existence with him.”

Merkovah smiled and nodded approvingly. “Easy, easy. You are totally correct and simultaneously overthinking it. You aren’t changing all of reality, you are changing your identity based on how you want reality to be, and everyone perceives the reality you are trying to project based on their own understanding of reality. Their conception of reality impacts your own identity via the spell, which makes it more or less “real” for you, and them.”

Truth shook his head. “No, that doesn’t work. Look, imagine if some unnamed company, through a combination of drugs, enchantment, and mental manipulation, convinced ten thousand employees that Gilbert Gilbert was an unkillable immortal, and Gilbert cast Incisive, does that make him an unkillable immortal? Does it only work if I know the legend of Gilbert the Great? What if I don’t know him at all, and I’m picking him off from three kilometers away using Graeme’s Arrow on a heavy needler?”

“Gilbert might well believe he is immortal, but his belief, and their belief, even when combined with the spell, won’t be enough to overrule God’s belief that Gilbert’s brain will be sprayed across the wall because that’s how he ordered the working of the world. The spell is what makes the change, not belief. The spell is not omnipotent. Think of it like the Meditations. The belief provides the shape, the spell makes the change, but even in this little place, local reality can only be changed so far, so fast.”

There was a horrible, lingering scream and a noise like a cross between a crunch and a squish. “Oh, splendid timing. It seems that the formation has finally killed Child Eater. Let’s summon it again, and you can test out the Scales once more. Play around with it. I booked the room for the whole afternoon, and we have barely opened the snacks.” Merkovah smiled. “Let us learn by doing good.”