I didn't know if it was a dream. Honestly, it felt so real that calling it a dream didn't seem right. Besides, I was absolutely sure I had been on the train just a few minutes ago—hearing the wheels on the tracks, feeling the movement of the carriage. That had definitely been real... and that's why I'm completely certain that this place—this moment—is real too.
Just to be safe, I forced a smile onto my face. And to my surprise, just like my male self, the woman standing in front of me smiled back.
Should I call her my female self? The thought crossed my mind, but it felt strange, like I was dealing with something way too surreal.
Honestly, it was still hard to believe that there were two versions of me in the same place—and to make things weirder (or better?), one of them was a woman.
"Ahem!"
My body flinched when a voice rang out beside me. But that didn't make sense. A few moments earlier, I had carefully looked around and there had been no one else... well, aside from my female self.
But I'm certain that when I first looked, she hadn't been there either. It was like she just... appeared—like a presence that materialized the moment I looked away.
Trying to calm my thoughts, I turned toward the voice I had just heard. At that moment, my field of vision split in two. To explain it more clearly: through my left eye, I was seeing through the eyes of my female self, and through my right eye, I saw myself—my male self—being observed. The sensation of duality was strange, like I was being pulled into two separate realities at once.
Both perspectives showed me the same scene: a simple table with two chairs set in front of it. Behind the table, something—or rather, someone—was hiding.
No, not someone... two people. The weirdest part? Those two people looked exactly like me—both my male and female versions. Seeing myself like that, duplicated again, made me wonder if maybe I had died on the train... or something equally bizarre.
"First of all, have a seat, both of you" said the girl. Her voice was calm but firm. She looked just like my female self—an exact reflection, only with a mysterious look in her eyes.
Her voice sounded eerily similar to mine—or more precisely, to my female version's—and what was even more unsettling was how much they both resembled me, even in the smallest details.
Looking more closely, I noticed we even shared some of my quirks—like the habit of fiddling with my hair or darting my eyes to the sides as if searching for something.
I was completely lost, no idea what was going on, and what made it worse was that I didn't even know who these people were. Ignoring them would've been stupid.
With that in mind, I tried to stand up. But as soon as I took my first step, I stumbled and fell. It was a lot harder than I thought. Whenever one of my bodies moved, the other seemed to copy it, creating a disorienting sense of duplication.
At that point, even though I knew I had originally been a man, I couldn't tell who was imitating who anymore. Maybe neither of us was copying the other. Maybe we were somehow acting together, in perfect sync, like one single entity.
With some effort, I managed to stay on my feet, focusing hard to move both bodies independently. Weirdly enough, it was easier than I'd expected. Sure, walking was still awkward—like learning how to walk all over again, every step unsure and shaky. But even so, I felt like I was making progress. I knew I'd get the hang of it soon.
Eventually, I sat down in the chair—myself, split down the middle, half male and half female. I looked ahead and noticed that both of my clones were watching me intently, each wearing the same strange, suspicious smile—as if they were about to say something important.
"Before we get to the questions I'm sure you have" said my male clone, with a subtle smile: "congratulations. Your world has finally reached the required threshold for evolution"
To be totally honest, I had no idea what to make of any of this. For starters, you have no idea how weird it is to see yourself four times in the same place, all of you talking. And to make things worse, the direction the conversation was taking felt way more serious than I'd first thought. The tension in the air grew heavier with each word.
"Who the hell are you guys? Why do you both look so... much like me?" I asked, trying to keep a straight face as confusion swirled in my mind. My focus bounced between the male and female clones, not sure who I was even addressing.
Then both of my voices—masculine and feminine—spoke at the same time, overlapping in a strange, uncanny way. It was tough to make only one body talk at a time. It felt like I had to shut off part of my brain to do anything—except this time, I had to do it manually, with real effort and focus.
Without acknowledging my confusion, both clones—male and female—answered in unison: "Although this should be obvious by now, I am not human. I'm a life form created by the first universal races—the ones who designed the system specifically to introduce selected species to the tutorial that comes next. The way I look now is simply the most suitable form to avoid panic. Though... you seem surprisingly calm. Usually, races experience fear when they see us—although, of course, that depends on the form we choose"