So begins the story of this world.
About 1100 words.
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It was night when Duncan awoke, sore everywhere and cold. Above him the stars twinkled as if tittering behind their hands at him. He didn't want to move, but his legs were wet, and a tentative kick splashed and sprayed water at the edge of his vision. Pushing himself upright, he found himself sitting on the grassy bank of a small stream. He pulled his feet from the chill water and turned his head back up towards the stars again, staring blankly at the unfamiliar patterns above him.
Well, crap. he thought, as he pulled off his pants and started to wring out the water, I don't think this is Hole Diggers inc. Or even Minecraftia...
Duncan pulled his damp pants back on and gave the stars a sullen scowl. At best, he was on the far side of the cube, and getting back would be a long, arduous journey across land and sea, through many foreign countries. Watching a bat trace its way in front of alien constellations however, left him feeling that home wasn't as close as he might hope.
He jumped to his feet in alarm at the sound of footsteps approaching. A zombie? There wasn't the clank of a skeleton's bones or the hiss of a spider, so he hoped it was only one of the slow, shuffling undead. It was the only monster he really had a hope of taking on bare-handed and unarmored.
What came around the edge of the hill was no zombie, however. Another human stared at him, blond, fat, tall, and wearing a lab coat, Duncan stared at his twin -- or clone, rather.
"Guys!" The copy turned to yell back in the direction it had come, "I found another one of us!"
Duncan ran a hand through his hair, pulling a face when his fingers came away muddy and sprinkled with shreds of grass. Apparently the disaster had not only thrown him somewhere unknown, it had activated some of the blank clones. He hadn't really been comfortable with Xephos' idea of making backup clones in the first place, let alone so many. And now there were more of him running around, getting up to who knew what. He hoped this wasn't going to turn into an evil twin/good twin scenario.
The clone had walked up to him while he was thinking, and stuck out a hand. Duncan shook it cautiously. The clone was supposed to have his memories. How long had it been awake and dealing with the other clones that it was already getting comfortable with seeing another Duncan show up?
"As far as we can tell, I've all been here for about two days." the clone answered his unasked question, which didn't really surprise Duncan too much. "We don't think any of us are the original. None of us had anything on us but our clothes. Funny how the machines clone those too, huh?"
Duncan looked down at his sopping wet pants. He fished in his pocket for any of his gear, and came up empty. Not even a torch to his name. He swallowed back his initial panic. So he wasn't the original? Fine. He would figure out where he was, and get all of him back home. And if he ended up needing to share his castle with himself, well. There was that old tower his apprentice had been set up in before she left. He could convert it into a dormitory for the rest of him, or something.
He looked back up to see the other clone waiting, looking sympathetic. He had probably already gone through the same thoughts. "We found some ruins up on the hill. An old stone basement that we think maybe was a barn or something. We've been building a house for all of me up there. We were just out putting up some lights when I heard you splashing over here."
"How many of us are here?" Duncan peered in the direction the other clone had yelled before. Why were the rest staying out of sight?
"You're the fifth." The other him followed his gaze. "You can come over now, I think he's used to the idea." As two more Duncans came around the hill, the first smiled at him sheepishly. "We kinda scared number four a bit when three of us came towards him at once. We decided to be more careful if we found another of me."
The two new hims carried torches, and had bags slung over their shoulders, loaded with something that looked lumpy and heavy. Wood? Duncan could only guess. One had a large scabbed-over gash on his forehead, and the other leaned towards the injured clone and muttered something into his ear. The injured one gave a tiny half-shrug, then grinned at Duncan. "It'll be good to have another set of hands around to help with the machines."
Duncan perked up. Yes, some proper infrastructure should make it easier to find his way home. Though... if he was a clone, maybe he already was home? The original, that was. How would he feel if another Duncan showed up at his lab? Could he talk the original into taking them all in? Well, if it came down to it, he could always go apply to Sipsco or something.
The first clone was grinning at him, clearly amused. "Sipsco?" he asked.
Duncan shrugged. Of course they'd come to the same conclusion about it. "Yeah." he looked around at the surrounding hills, high and forested in one direction, rolling and grassy in the other, with more forest in the distance. If he squinted down in the direction the stream flowed, he thought he saw what looked like moonlight shining off waves. "Can I have one of those torches?"
The clone with the forehead gash passed him the one he was carrying, and turned towards the stream, jumping carefully over the water and started to trudge upslope towards a faint light barely visible between the trees, the other bag-toting clone following.
"Come on then," the clone who'd first shown up first gave Duncan a companionable slap on the shoulder. "Let's get home and we can get something to eat and explain the rest of what we've figured out so far."
Duncan looked up once more at the dark night sky. A cloud drifted in front of the waning moon, too small to dim its glow. The strange stars flickered like poorly-wired lights, mocking his ability to fix them into the patterns he knew. He shook the thought away and nodded at his other self. "Okay, lead the way."
We logged Lalnable into the Kimmunity server again to build his presence, this time under Mary’s control, and attracted the attention of the local self-appointed police force.
Yeah he’s a vampire now. Mary did a lot of work levelling him up to max vampire status.
I picked the doors because the color was right. But... They were mahogany. So when I pointed this out to Mary Duncan, there was only one real way they could respond.
1. Somewhere in this picture is an unpleasant house guest. 2. Has Kim* come to visit the commune!? ...Oh, it's not her. 3. Flirting with Death in the depths of the nuclear facility. 4. If you wanted to sum our entire server up in one image...
