[LSB] Chapter 122: Victoria Wilkes

Julian didn’t hold anything back. He told Ellie and Victoria everything, even revealing that he shared the same abilities as his clone, that he had the abilities of the Shadow Blacksmith.

If he had been born on Artemia, then logically, somehow, someway, Humanity Engineering must have known. It seemed impossible that they wouldn’t.

But judging by Victoria’s expression, maybe they hadn’t.

Thirty seconds passed. Victoria hadn’t said a word. Her coffee had spilled across the table, but she just sat there, staring at Julian, completely stunned. 

Ellie was quiet too, her eyes shifting between the two of them, unsure if she’d heard everything correctly. After a moment, she gave a small nod to herself and moved to clean up the spill Victoria had ignored.

But just as the cloth touched the coffee, Victoria gasped softly. She reached out and gently grabbed Ellie’s hand.

“I’ll… I’ll do that,” she said.

“No, it’s fine,” Ellie murmured, slipping her hand away and gesturing for her to relax before returning to Julian’s side.

Victoria fell silent again, but only for a few more seconds. Then she turned her full attention to Julian.

“Everything suddenly makes sense now,” she said, resting her elbows on the table and covering her mouth and nose with her hands—perhaps the most human gesture she’d made since they met.

“I began to suspect you might not be just a mutant, not with how much my master doted on you,” she went on quietly. “After all, this information has never been released to the public—and it shouldn’t be. But… you’re not the only one. There are others like you alive today, Mr. Winters. Mutants.”

Ellie’s eyes widened, but Julian simply nodded.

“At first, I thought you were unremarkable,” Victoria admitted, rising from her seat and stepping away from the table. “But then I kept asking myself—why would the master favor you so strongly? There had to be a reason. And now I understand.”

“Wait,” Ellie said, narrowing her eyes. “You really didn’t know about Julian? But you said you were one of the testers for Otherworld.”

“As I said, that’s a long story… and a secret,” Victoria replied, returning to her seat. “But after what you’ve shared, I think now is the right time to tell you mine. Yours far outweighs mine, after all.”

Her voice softened, and there was a faint twitch in her face as she looked back at Julian.

“As I told you earlier, I was also one of the people who volunteered to go to Artemia—I was also one of the people who built it alongside Mr. Winters’ father, after all,” she explained, “But the only problem was that only my brain is alive. So, I decided to have Humanity Engineering dig up my remains, or whatever was left of it.”

She let out a short laugh, covering her mouth.

“I was Christian, so I was buried on Earth—over a thousand years ago. Unpreserved. Barely anything left. It was… enlightening, seeing what remained.”

“Victoria…” Ellie whispered.

“Forgive me,” Victoria said with a soft chuckle. “But we recovered a single molar, and inside it—just enough nuclear DNA. We used that to create my clone. Half hyum, half human. In many ways, the clone was more human than I am now.”

Julian leaned forward slightly, his voice steady. “And your clone… she knew my father?”

“Correct, Mr. Winters,” Victoria nodded. 

“My clone led the first humans to ever set foot on Artemia. But due to the way my consciousness functions, I lost connection with her as soon as she passed through the barrier protecting Artemia’s atmosphere. And because of how she was designed, she wasn’t connected through LinkGear—she couldn’t ‘log off,’ so to speak. The technology we needed to record and interface with her wasn’t fully developed yet. So we only received fragmented reports from the other testers when they returned to their real bodies.”

“But couldn’t you have made her fully human first, and then created a separate clone with hyum DNA?” Ellie asked, brow slightly raised, “So that he could… essentially log-off?

“As I said earlier, Ellie…” Victoria placed a hand gently on her chest. “I was a Christian. To be remade again as flesh and blood—as human—would have gone against everything I, or rather, she, believed in. It’s… complicated.”

“Where… is she now?” Ellie asked quietly.

“Dead,” Victoria said simply, closing her eyes. “The testers returned one day and reported her death.”

“I’m… so sorry.” Ellie reached across the table, placing her hand softly over Victoria’s.

“It’s odd, isn’t it?” Victoria gave a faint smile, though her eyes carried a quiet sorrow. “It was my fault—I let her experience death twice. I remember your father more clearly now, Mr. Winters. He was the one most devastated by her passing.”

Julian didn’t respond right away. He tilted his head slightly but said nothing. It was Ellie who finally asked the question hanging in the air:

“What… happened?”

“They were ambushed by monsters,” Victoria replied with a sigh. “And within a year, all the clones of the first testers died, one by one. Your father included, Mr. Winters… though it seems he was hiding something from the rest of us about the nature of his death.”

“Did he tell you anything? Or anyone?” Julian asked.

“No. He only told us that he was killed by bandits,” Victoria said, shaking her head. “And I’m unfamiliar with the name you mentioned—Prince, was it? For your father to say that this ‘Prince’ had a plan to bring you and your mother to Earth… who might he be? An Artemian? Or perhaps…someone from here?”

“You don’t know?” Julian asked, surprised.

“I’m afraid not,” Victoria replied, rising to her feet. “Still… thank you, truly, for trusting me with this, Mr. Winters. If I were in your position, I’m not sure I would’ve done the same. I know how untrustworthy I must seem. But I promise, you didn’t make a mistake. Now, if you’ll excuse me… I have questions for my master.”

“Master…” Ellie echoed, narrowing her eyes. “You mean the real CEO of Humanity Engineering? The one rumored to have built the Radiant Gates?”

“That’s no rumor,” Victoria smiled. “The master personally built the Radiant Gate with her own hands.” She exhaled slowly, then turned to leave. But just before stepping out, she paused and looked back.

“Now I understand why the master created your clone personally, Mr. Winters,” she said. “You were already more hyum than human.”

She took in a deep, measured breath, then smiled.

“Mr. Julian Winters… you’ve just become the most important human in the entire Known Universe. Well—if you weren’t already.”

She gave one last bow and exited, leaving Julian and Ellie alone in the quiet room.

Neither of them spoke. Ellie leaned back slightly, studying Julian from head to toe before settling just below his waist. A small, knowing smile formed on her lips.

“So…” she whispered, “that’s why.”

***

A few hours later—after Julian and Ellie spent some meaningful time together—Julian was back in Artemia.

“Boss!?” Juliet’s voice rang out the moment he appeared, her loud call once again the thing welcoming him back to Artemia. She quickly dismounted from the zautoros and rushed to the cart to help him up.

“I’m alright now. Thank you,” Julian raised his hand, lightly grasping her wrist before she could reach for him.

“What… happened?” Juliet gulped. She glanced at his hand, lingering on the way it held her, before leaning closer to examine him more carefully. “I thought you were going to die, Boss.”

“No,” Julian hummed, scanning their surroundings. All he could see was a wide, desolate tundra, ice stretching as far as the eye could see. The steam curling from the zautoros' nostrils, enough to create a dense fog around them, thick and ghostlike.

“Cyrus woke up earlier,” Juliet said, still inspecting him. “He told me you were fighting something called… daemonsters? What even are those?”

“Hmm.”

“So… you’re fighting here, and you’re also fighting there?” Juliet blinked, baffled. “Don’t you ever get tired?”

“No. I like being here with you… and making our babies.”

“Th—that—” Juliet choked, her voice cracking as her face flushed crimson. There was no shame or hesitation in his tone, and while she knew what he meant, that didn’t stop the words from flustering her more than the freezing cold ever could.

“A-anyway,” she stammered, rubbing her arms to change the subject, “It’s… so cold now.”

“Are we…” Julian looked around the frozen wasteland, “…in Dodona?”

“I… believe so,” Juliet nodded, her eyes following his across the frostbitten horizon. “Cyrus and I had to let the seikrobos roam because of the cold—they should find their way back to their stables. They always do. But… we won’t be so lucky. We’re lost, Boss. Should we turn back? Or has your quest updated?”

“It did,” Julian said, tapping his chest. “You said the quest updated and told us where to go?”

Juliet blinked in confusion, thinking he was speaking to her—until MEGAN emerged from his chest, her glow radiating a harsh warmth. Juliet instinctively brought a hand closer to the flying spirit, the heat MEGAN emitted sending a pleasant tingle across her skin.

MEGAN floated through the air, whistling in a playful arc before hovering at Julian’s side.

“Rather than just telling us where to go, it’s actually pointing us there this time, Julian.”

“That’s… surprisingly convenient,” Julian murmured.

“It is,” MEGAN nodded, “Artemis isn’t being vague for once.”

“Hrnn.” Julian let out a soft groan as he stood.

“You can sleep now, Juliet.”

“No,” Juliet shook her head and quickly moved to the coach box, grabbing the zautoros’ reins before Julian could. “I just woke up—and honestly, I’d feel way safer if you weren’t the one controlling the beast.”

“That’s true,” MEGAN chimed in.

“So…” Juliet glanced back at him. “Where to, Boss?”

“Silvie?”

“Ahem…” MEGAN drifted to the front, then pointed decisively to the right. “We go there.”

“T-there?” Juliet gulped. “Are you sure?”

“Yup,” MEGAN grinned. “Onward…

…to the field that looks like it’s meant to kill us!”

Even from a distance, the land Artemis now guided them toward a horizon that felt like it was death itself.

The mountains ahead shimmered with jagged ice, their edges sharp as blades, reflecting no light—only shadows. And the field itself… wasn’t just frozen. 

It was a graveyard of frost. Dark, glassy ice stretched endlessly beneath a blackened sky, as if the land had been stripped of warmth, life, and mercy.

“We’re… going there?”

***

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Let's go! Back to the Artemia adventures. Whew, all the reveals. And hope you guys had an eventful weekend!