This is a bit of pre-Ultraverse phased out weirdness for you. I was writing an
epilogue to one of my adventures in the MSPA Forums. The main character and
his friends were lost in a forest after being warped there, and they stopped
at a lake to meditate. Three of them drowned, and the fourth used whatever
magic power she could muster to try and revive them.
It worked, but mashed her friends into a single, new creature. Their old
personalities still existed within him, and were able to manifest themselves
via his shadow.