Parallel Lives

Parallel lives are lives from different realities that are linked by sharing one soul. One parallel self exists in each reality, but they can go through the Soul Space to replace another. This can only be achieved so long as the replacement is filling the space of their own parallel or someone that they hold an emotional connection to, and that the life being replaced is either dead or absent somewhere out in the Soul Space. The concept is primarily explained by The Essentia 2000 during Chapter 4, as she was built to better understand all the parallel lives of her soul. Though mostly mentioned and told during the main story, many different sets of parallels are implied elsewhere.

Characters

The Essentia 2000

During her initial meeting with Alex, she mentions a variety of her parallel selves, including Vella and Sammy. She mentions a life named Aalis Albert, but they're never seen or mentioned further. She also calls Alex her "Soul Mate", but doesn't elaborate on the term. The exploration of her Mind Dungeon revolves around better understanding all of her parallel lives. The lives found within the dungeon are Naila El-Amin, Serna Yemina, Oda Kreutzer, and, unexpectedly, Yuzu Imajo. The dungeon is later shown to be deeper sections of Alex's Mind Dungeon, implying that she might instead be his parallel. A key parallel life of hers, the Essentia 995, makes up one half of the Twisted Beings.

Alex

At the end of Essentia's Mind Dungeon, she shows him the nature of all of his parallel selves. They're all embodiments of destruction, either actively destroying realities, or too inactive to do anything against said destruction. Regardless of the scale, their defining features tend to be how they damage themselves or those around them, such as the four parallels who supposedly represent Alex's worst character traits, or the man who caused Vella to leave her reality. A key parallel life of his, Proto Alex, makes up one half of the Twisted Beings.

Michael

Most of Michael's parallel lives are exclusively found on ONISM1999. Nearly all of them have variations of the same name, "ver(r)aformer" (with varying capitalizations). Curiously, none appear as "VerraFORMER", the variant of the username which Michael told Alex belongs to him. This may be implying that Michael never truly used ONISM1999, but Proto-Michael still confirms that he was part of its creation.

There are also hints that Michael and Chondra are parallels, such as he and Chondra being the only "regular" characters that are able to predict and critique parts of the story, and several phone calls on New Years Eve where they act as though they are each other.

Rory

One of Rory's parallels serves as the climax of the Sewer Dungeon. Rory had mistakenly sought them out, believing that they were Carrie. Not much is known about the parallel, only appearing as a Soul Survivor due to Rory already being in the reality. Besides them, other parallels can be found on ONISM1999, with various capitalizations and spellings of the username "bearsnecessity".

Protos

Protos are versions of a life that seem to have far more knowledge, power, and significance than the standard parallel. As the prefix "proto" means original or first, a Proto is likely an origin point of sorts. It aligns well with the known Protos, at least. Proto Woman is the origin point of Alex's ideal lover (regurgitating Murakami's After Dark in a similar manner to one of his college girlfriends), Proto-Michael is the origin point of Michael, having shed the persona/narrative Alex placed onto him and beginning anew, the Proto Comet is the origin point of Alex's destructive tendencies towards others, and Proto-Alex could be the metaphorical origin point of Alex himself (as he's frequently portrayed with father imagery). Proto Ultima Alex may possibly be both an origin point and ultimate culmination of all versions of Alex, but his role is unknown.

ONISM1999

On Christmas, Proto-Michael reveals that he had co-founded ONISM1999 with his own parallel, as the site somehow connects between realities.

Many oddities regarding identities and parallel lives can be seen all over ONISM1999's posts:

• WHY ONISM IS IMPORTANT, and WHY WE CREATED IT. *PINNED* - ChronoCrossed explains how they met the other co-founder of the site, referring to them as both VERAformer and VERRAformer.
• Do you ever wish you could just disappear? - superbpudding describes leaving their body after enduring a miserable routine, possibly drifting out to the Soul Space before returning. A coworker with glasses (whom they seem to have feelings for) recommended ONISM1999 to them in order to ask for answers. VERAformer believes it could be lucid dreaming (referring superbpudding to a self-help and psychology forum in a nonexistent links section), while bearsnessecity believes it could instead be astral projection.
• Phantom vibrations in my pocket - reactionnod explains a weird phenomenon they've been experiencing - feeling vibrations in their pocket even when their phone isn't there. Bearsnessecity shares a story where the same happened to their family with a phantom beeper. Vividappears considers the paranormal, vividappears considers a parallel self from across the multiverse. VERAformer also replies.
• CAR ACCIDENT FROM WHEN I WAS A CHILD - Bearsnessecity recounts a car accident they were in, believing that two extraterrestrials saved them and their dad's life. vividappears shares an extremely similar story with two figures. VERAformer then tells the story of what got them invested in the surreal, a poorly written ghost story they made. Details from the story began appearing in reality, culminating in meeting a neighbor named Alex (the main characters from the story were Mike and Alexandra).
• Consciousness is omnipresent - novelgranola proposes the idea of parallel lives, souls, and ONISM1999 being able to link between lives, citing the double-slit experiment. While one user is into it, others believe that they're only projecting what they want to believe onto scientific concepts to try and turn them into facts.
• PSYCHIC ENERGY - annualheaded explains a hypothetical way for people to traverse the multiverse from thought alone. When asked for more information by obsoletelonely, they source a paper from Naila El-Amin. The asker isn't able to find anything about her, joking that she might just be in annualheaded's multiverse, not theirs.
• Strange behavior by my roommate - superbpudding talks about how odd and abusive their roommate has been acting (especially towards their pet cat), alluding to Sammy and her poor relationship with Wilhelm.
• Weird game a QT's brother made - VERAformer discusses a creepy game made by his friend's young brother. Given that VERAformer likely is some kind of parallel Michael due to the username, many believe that the "QT" is an Allison, and the younger brother is an Alex.
• Elevator Girl - ONISM users find out that Sammy has a dog named Ernst, but the Sammy that's found by Alex has a cat named Dali.
• I am the Elevator Girl, Semy Pak - superbpudding claims to be Semi Pak, curiously referring to themselves as Semy Human rather than Semi Pak or Sammy Pa(r)k. They also had a shouting match with their roommate after 9-volt batteries ended up in his soup, likely referencing her relationship with the robotic Wilhelm (or perhaps the soup that Sammy's "mom" makes in Vella's Mind Dungeon?)

• Distorted Space Creatures and Elevator Girl - Alex calls Michael "VERAformer", despite the post being from VERAFormer (which also isn't VerraFORMER.) The photos of the Entity are also in a completely different room than the one they were in in-person.

• MYSTERIOUS GIRL WITH MIND POWERS - windway87 briefly turns into Windway87 mid-conversation, but nobody acknowledges the change. Rory also replies as "bearsnecessity". VERAformer moderates.

• GHOST SITING in WIND TOWN - NJ - Rory's screen name is bearsnecessity instead of BearsNecessity. Two wildly different users also appear with the same screen name - Superbpudding as an eccentric ghost hunter, and superbpudding as the (supposed) ghost.

• Other Missing People - reactionnod starts acting oddly cruel, taunting Claudio by saying that they kidnapped his missing brother. Since reactionnod is an Alex, this may also tie into how Alex "took" Aaron by inserting himself in his place as a parallel Alex(ander). VERAFormer also callously moderates.

• Mystical Ultima LP Legend - reactionnod is looking for the exact same record as Alex, but the only way Alex found out about Mystical Ultima LP Legend was through the Essentia.

• Weird stuff happening around town - The events of the Factory Hotel play out between Colossalbind and opulentowl as though they were Alex and Sammy. Colossalbind followed a dog belonging to opulentowl, and along the way fought hostile RPG enemies. opulentowl then thanks them for helping move out a bad roommate (like Wilhelm). VERAFormer chimes in with his experience in the Sewer Dungeon.

• CHildhood stuffed animal? - Alex's childhood toy was a penguin, while (a discolored) Panda really belonged to reactionnod.

• Fuck it. I'm done. - bearsnessecity wrote BearsNecessity's note.

• ALIEN FOR SALE!!! $3500 springfield Colorado - One of the interested users is superpudding, lacking the "b" found in similar usernames.