"Flarem. Get over here. If I have to stand here for an hour talking about what we've already done, you have to too."

"Ugh. Fine. I want to sleep though.."

"Suck it up. I want to sleep too, but for some reason, I have to tell a story at twelve in the morning."

So the story. I had just received Flarem back from you and we decided to go swimming. The water was nice. He's extremely awkward though. Heh. He floated as far away from me as he could.

"Hey, don't say that about me."

"I'm telling the story, not you."

We went to bed right after. The next day, I had to teach him how to use his magic. He couldn't figure it out and kept trying to use it how one normally would.

We stayed near the lake, as there was plenty of empty space. The sky was cloudy, but it didn't rain. The cool air blew against my face, and it felt nice.

Flarem was in front of me, a few feet away. He was thinking way too hard about how to use magic. I'm not the only one who tried to pose. I decided to mess with him.

"Hey, Flarem, you suck. You're just going to be a planner. Is that okay?"

"Don't give me that crap. I doubt you could use it right away!" Flarem shouted, aggravated.

"When I tried, it didn't take this long."

"Well, what did you do?"

"Think of something that angers you. Demonic magic runs on it," I mentioned, growing slightly impatient.

"That makes sense. Let me think."

"Why isn't anything happening? I thought you became a demon from hatred toward humanity."

"I have a problem. I'm sort of an amnesiac. I can't really remember a time that makes me extremely angry..."

"You can't access memories?"

"My mind locks a lot of my memories. I don't remember my parents, past friends, or much else before five years ago. I remember certain stuff, such as my preferences, stuff that strongly correlates to the present, and my personality," Flarem explained, tapping his fingers against each other.

"How do you live like that?"

"I'm not sure."

"You can't try to think back?"

"My brain won't let me access the memories. It's how I keep my cool personality. If I remember everything, I don't know what I would be like."

"Well, I can do something about this."

"What are you thinking?" Flarem puzzled, looking nervously toward me.

"I'm going to manipulate you for a little bit. Don't resist. I'm forcing your memories out and smashing the lock."

"What if my personality changes, though? What if my mind's not strait, and I can't plan?"

"Well, I need you to help fight, too. Besides, you said you remember personality. Therefor, this is your personality. Your anger won't impact your cool mindedness very deeply. I think you'll be fine."

"Okay. I'll trust you know what you're doing."

"I think I know what I'm doing," I remarked, shrugging.

"Huh. You think?"

"Anyway... let's get started!"

I went up to Flarem and looked at him. I imagined his mind and his memories rising.

Flarem began to roll on the ground erratically while ripping at his hair, though he didn't actually rip anything out. He was screaming and drooling.

"Holy crap, man. Get it together. You sound like the victims of lower underworld."

He slowly rose and looked at me. His eyes were yellow, and he had a smile on his face.

"Is my crap together now? Hehahh. Is this what you want? My magic works now. I can feel it. It's coursing through me. It feels... great," He ominously spoke, grinning.

"So, what have you got? You summon, right? Show me."

"Fine. It's as easy as breathing now."

He tapped his foot on the ground. Black tears rolled down his face, and they scattered on the grassy floor beneath. He walked forward of the black splotches. The tears began to rise and take form. Huge beasts stood beneath him. One was a chimera that was rhino, bear, and eagle. Next to it, a blue-scaled dragonkin. There were others too. A vampire, incubus, and zombie.

"Shit, man. How did you do that? Those are a lot of creatures."

"I'm filled with hatred. That never changes about my personality. It's just that I'm pissed now," He growled, clearly agitated in his state.

"What's so bad? I have anger, but not enough to have a constant flow of magic. I depend on my dagger, too."

"My past. I can remember everything. My parents, and my suffering."

"Can you tell me about it? I'm curious now."

"Fine. My parents left me as a small child. They were of rich decent and didn't want me. They thought that they wanted a child later. I was left in the wilderness.

I was found by an elderly woman who took me to her village. She raised me for a few years but died of a heart attack. No one would take me after that.

I lived on the streets. I hate everyone. No one would help me. I wasn't pitied by anyone. I eventually found that house and began buying books with money I earned by selling my body. Middle-aged men and women like young people. The people were grotesque, even the women, but I needed the money.

I spent the time in my house trying to contact demons for five years. Before then, I bought books about nature, improvisation, planning, history, and magic. I was bullied for the amount of reading I did, and because I was normally around the tavern to be bought. I started wearing the cloak to hide my face from everyone.

I hated myself more than them, but now that has changed. I am no longer petty. I can kill without fear. I have been... reborn in a sense," He enlightened, feelings of depression and anger on his face.

"Then, let's use this power."

"Yeah. Let's."

"When do those guys disappear?" I questioned, changing the subject.

"They don't. I actually need to summon more. My body is overloading with magic. I'm about to fa...int."

He crashed to the floor and began to snore. The creatures behind him turned to black tears and traveled into his eyes.

"Well. I guess he can't handle his own power and anger."

I grabbed him and dragged him under my bear pelt. It was night by this time, so I passed out as well.

I refuse to refer to this man as "Flarem," as he wasn't alike. I only called him "he."

The next morning, I woke up before Flarem. He was still exhausted from the day prior. I decided to let him sleep, while I took a dip in the lake.

Flarem woke up while the sun was falling beyond the horizon. The sky was a purple-orangish color. He went up to be while I relaxed in the waters.

"What's up? What happened?"

"I'll tell you in a sec. Come in. The water's nice."

"I'd rather not," Flarem decided, stretching out his arms and cracking his neck.

"I'm telling you. Come in. It's relaxing. You're tense."

"Fine. I need answers when I'm in, though. What happened yesterday? I don't have memories after you cast your magic. I also don't remember anything more about myself. Also-"

"Stop talking. Get in. You're aggravating me," I snapped, annoyed by his refusal. I was trying to help get his nerves down, but he kept bringing them back up.

I saw that Flarem was worried, and I was too. I had no clue who that person yesterday was. He was... Different from Flarem. I thought the water would relax him, so I told him to get in. What worried me most, however, was the fact his eyes were blue again.

"Fine. I'm in. Now, what happened yesterday?"

"You gained your memories. You told me about your past, summoned a group of beasts, and when your magic overloaded, you passed out. It was weird. Your eyes were yellow. I think it was an effect of the magic."

"Has your magic ever done this? It didn't work," Flarem asked, looking worried and unimpressed.

"No. It always did what I wanted, or if it couldn't be done, it would cause someone to pass out. Your mind is strong. I think it created another you, but one that has anger toward the world. You both have hate, but he has anger, which is different from you. I think you hate, but accept what has happened. Even if you don't think it, you do accept. That is why you're my partner. You're cool-headed. He was... like me but worse."

"Will he come again?"

"I'm not sure."

We relaxed in silence for a while, but Flarem's eyes opened wide all of a sudden.

"Something feels different about me. I feel like I have some built up magic."

"Do you? He was overflowing with anger. Maybe you can store magic. I only create enough to use at the time. Maybe you make so much, it all isn't used. Try to summon something. You just have to think about something coming."

"Okay."

Red tears came from his eyes. They hit the ground near the lake. We were inside the water, but the tear went to land. It bubbled up, creating a short figure. It had a flamingo head, lizard body, and dragonfly wings.

"Oh, no... I think you're worthless as of right now, Flarem. I think I'm going to keep you in this state as my planner."

"What do you mean? He looks... somewhat strong," Flarem tried to convince but looked at his creature the same way I was.

"This is one of the cat's worthless assistants. He has a bunch of weak chimera at his place. This one happened to lead my around the castle."

"Crap. Are you sure he can't do anything?"

"Maybe it can. Try to get it to kill the squirrel over there," I suggested, hoping it wasn't as useless as I thought.

A squirrel was a few feet away from the chimera. It ate bits off an acorn.

"I can communicate using telepathy with my creatures. It seems like they can't talk on this plane. I mentally told him to attack it."

The creature went near the squirrel and tried to bite it. The squirrel saw the slow-moving creature and ran away. The chimera fell on its face, whined, then walked back to Flarem.

"Heheha. Your chimera is worthless. It couldn't kill a squirrel. Hehah."

"Shut up. He might me useful... Even if he isn't, I might be able to summon something else later. Besides, I can keep him as a pet. He's cute," Flarem rattled, trying to think of something the chimera could accomplish.

"Why are you referring to it as a "he?" Do you know its gender?"

"He's my creature. I can tell. I'm not sure how, but I can tell," Flarem detailed.

"Are you going to send him back soon? The other you had to keep his men at all time, but I don't think your magic will last. We can practice with it tomorrow."

"Yeah. I can feel my magic depleting. First, I want to name him, though. He doesn't have a name."

"Name him worthless," I joked, as the word perfectly described the creature.

"I'm going to name him Nequam."

"Okay. Just send him back already..."

"Fine. Bye, Nequam."

The creature turned to blood, flowing into his eyes.

"I'm going to bed. I'm not putting my clothes on. I'm too wet," I told, shaking water from my wings.

"No, it's because you lack decency. I'm going to bed, too. I'm just going to put on my underwear."

We went to bed as we said. The next morning, we were working with his magic again.

"Try to summon something else today."

"Yeah. Nequam is cute but worthless."

Red droplets came out of his eyes, falling on the ground. A short creature took form. It was Nequam.

"Crap. I summoned Nequam again."

"You just need practice. It's better then what I did when I was new to magic," I recounted, thinking back to that woman I met.

"What did you do?"

"I erased all of the memories of this woman I met. She saw my wings after we had... Hehe."

"Yeah. I understand where that sentence was going... I think this is worse. He isn't going to help us," Flarem complained, looking at his pathetic creature as it fell over when a mosquito got too close.

"As I said, you will get used to your magic eventually. I'm sure it will come to you. Let's see what this guy can do first."

"I'll ask him if he has anything he can do that isn't fight related."

The two of them stared at each other for a while. Flarem looked back at me after five minutes.

"What did he say?"

"He apparently is useless. He himself mentioned it. That's apparently why he does housework for the cat."

"Well, at least you have a pet," I comforted, trying to keep myself from laughter.

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

"What is that stuff that comes out of your eyes, anyway?"

"My blood. I can feel it travel through my veins when I summon him."

"That's strange. Your other self had black tears," I pointed out, thinking black blood was odd.

"Maybe it's an effect of the high quantities of magic in his veins."

"Maybe. Anyway, shouldn't you send him back now? You might run out of magic."

"Nah. I want to talk with him long..er."

"Crap. You ran out of magic," I burst out, running to him.

Flarem fell onto the ground and lay there. I felt his forehand. His temperature was high. I forced open one of his eyes. His eye was twitching all over the place. The pupil looked like yellow fluid was seeping into it. I was worried, but I knew he would be okay.

I covered him in the pelt and relaxed in the waters again.

He didn't wake up until the next morning. I was cooking a rabbit I had killed for breakfast. He began to rise and walked over to me.

"Can I have some?"

"Yeah."

His eyes were yellow once again. Black blood ran down his eyes. The creatures were summoned again, but a mermaid was within them this time. The mermaid went into the waters, my eyes gazing at her beauty. He grabbed a skewer with rabbit meat on it and began eating.

"Is it good?"

"Yeah," He answered, observing the food.

"Do you remember what happened yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Why can't Flarem remember you?"

"I'm pretty much him. I just have all of my memories right now," He clarified, biting into a piece of rabbit.

"Do you change when you overflow with magic, while Flarem changes when he runs dry?"

"Yes. It's weird you calling us different, though. I have all of his memories. He has some. We are the same, though."

"Do you mind if I call you Meralf in this form?" I suggested, as two personalities going by the same name was confusing.

"If it helps to call me that in this state. I guess we're different. As you said, he accepts his life, though he hates, causing him not to change anything. I am angry about how my life has played out, and I'm going to change it."

"Will both of you help me?"

"I don't see why not. Your help is good to me and him."

"Will you allow yourself to change back to Flarem?" I asked, worried he didn't want to change.

"Yes. One thing that he is good for is planning. My anger blinds my planning. I want the most destructive plan, while he can come up with one that will work. Make sure he changes back to me before a fight."

"This can work. Is your magic endless?"

"I create too much. So much, I need to summon more and more creatures as time passes. I summoned that mermaid this time so I don't carelessly faint. My anger stays with me constantly, so I make more and more magic. It's not quite endless, as it needs time to fill again. It does slowly fill no matter what. These creatures also take up my magic. I create way more than enough to supply them, though. I use a burst of magic whenever I summon another one, which is why I summon them over time," Meralf informed, his fingers fidgeting by his side.

"How long will you stay?"

"I want to talk to you. I needed to explain this stuff. You and Flarem were confused yesterday."

"Well, what do you expect? Your presence is weird. He didn't know you appeared, and I didn't know what you were."

"Yeah. I have appeared before you another time, though. You didn't look close enough. My eyes were blue then because I didn't have demon blood. The magic running through me makes my eyes yellow as you assumed. It's also highly concentrated in my blood causing its black color," Meralf reminisced.

"When was this?"

"When you killed my aggressors. I was smiling beside you. You should've realized that wasn't his personality. I came occasionally, but I didn't normally appear this much until you dragged me out. By making me remember, you made this side of me come out."

"Is my magic faulty? Shouldn't you keep your memories?"

"Your magic isn't faulty. I only remember my full life occasionally because of myself. Technically, you did draw out the memories by taking me out."

"Do you want to stay for a while?"

"Sure. I want to swim," Meralf approved, looking thrilled to be out.

"Your other self doesn't seem to like swimming."

"He does. He's just obstinate. I love swimming. I have memories of swimming in a swimming hole near my house. He doesn't remember how much he loves it. Want to go now?"

"Yeah. The water feels good," I put in, looking forward to it.

"I can't believe how squeamish Flarem is about our body. I think I look good. I have muscles, as I've practiced fighting, but he can't remember. He goes out to do it occasionally, thinking it's a new idea, then remembers he's done it before. We had to keep our body fit for our career, too. No one wants a flabby sex partner. Well, maybe some people. From that career, I also have seen plenty of naked men. Most were middle-aged or older. At least I'm not sick when I see you in the water. I mean, I'm straight, but I think I'm allowed to say someone looks good without it being misunderstood."

"Thanks. That's kind of weird to say though... But I also don't get Flarem's fear of his body."

"Flarem is like an innocent boy in many ways. Whenever stuff gets too gruesome, I take over."

"An innocent boy who spent five years toward summoning demons," I snickered, removing my shirt.

"Well, yeah."

We went into the water and relaxed. He summoned a few more mermaids to stay for longer. They were really friendly. They hung around us and flirted. Meralf was similar to me, as he flirted with his own mermaids. He didn't name them like Flarem had. We rested our heads on the mermaid's bodies while they swam and had a good time.

"I've got to leave now. Flarem should wake up around midnight. He will still be tired, though. Our body will get used to switching back and forth between us in no time. Eventually, we should be able to freely switch without resting."

"Okay. Bye. Come back whenever you want."

I was sleeping, when you came at midnight. Flarem woke up slightly after. Make sure you remember all of this. The cat should know about this.

"Can we sleep now?"

"Give me a second, Flarem."

We're going to sleep now. See you next time. Also, don't wake us so early next time, or I'll tear your eyes out.