Twisted Destiny

“Where did that come from?” 

“What was that!?”

More and more voices start coming from the crowd as anxiety grows. 

“Everyone, go back!” My sister uses her voice amplifying magic to shout out commands to the adventurers. “Head back through the portal in an organized manner!” It takes a bit of pushwork but she does manage to get the crowd going back from where they came. 

“Fleeing won’t save you, mortals!” The voice calls out again, sending a small panic through the crowd as many start running back, almost trampling their comrades. 

“Where’s the voice coming from?” Veanya calls out to me. It’s only my friends and family that have stayed put. 

“I don’t know. It’s coming from everywhere.” 

“We are all around.” The ominous voice states. “There is no escape. For we are omnipresent. And we are all inside of you too.” That last sentence felt like it was being whispered directly into my ear. 

“Show yourself, you creep.” My sister yells out, with her voice magic still applied. 

“As you wish.” The voice states after which the surrounding area goes ominously quiet. Shortly after miasma slowly starts to seep out of the temple stone beneath our feet. But rather than making the air thick and oppressive, this miasma starts to ball up in front of us. 

My arm still isn’t in optimal shape, but good enough to hold my shield as I summon it in my hand. Equipping my sword in the other, I fly up and in front of the rest of the party. Putting myself in between them and the miasma that’s quickly taking the shape of a person. 

Both Veanya and Nikki try to blast a hole in it, but the miasma just opens a way before their blasts can make contact. 

“Now now, that’s not very nice.” The voice cackles. “I haven’t even done my monologue yet.” 

“And we aren’t going to let you.” I reply. 

“Hmmmm.” The form chuckles. “Very well.” The miasma starts to spin and starts to take a humanlike form approximately twice my size. Though, what ends up looking back at me, is something I never would have expected. My jaw drops as I appear to be looking at a shadelike copy of myself, yet instead of my catty ears and tail, it reflects horns and devilish tail instead. “Then I’ll just have to do my talking during our little bout, won't I?”

I charge the devil with my sword raised and cleave at my shaded clone.  “Do you think that will bring me off-balance?” 

The devil cackles again before it replies to my question as it easily dodges out of the way of my swings and even my rays of light are easily dodged. “I don’t need to do so, love. You already are.” With her right arm she whacks against my shielded arm, sending a shock of pain through my body as I can feel my healing bones shatter again. 

“Amicia, get behind me!” Élise calls out. 

In response the devil turns towards her and makes a waving gesture, sending a huge blast of air and shadow in my sister’s direction, knocking her on her back. “Silence, I’m growing annoyed by your voice. You unelevated plebs aren’t worth any more of my time.” I try to take advantage of her diverted attention but somehow she just keeps floating out of the way every time I even try to get close. “As for you lot.” She looks at Veanya, Sid and Gamma. “Though godlings you may be, you have no power here, so your existence might as well be ignored completely.” With a spinning gesture of her wrist, shadow bursts out of the floor chaining our godly friends tight after which a kind of shadowy cage springs into existence, imprisoning them. 

I can see Veanya trying to cast her magic on the cage but nothing appears to be working.  

“Where were we? Right, fun and games.” My shadow turns towards me with a toothed grin. Swatting my blade aside with the back of her hand and then pummeling my shield again with a hook from her left fist. Through teary eyes I can see her grin only expanding. She’s toying with me, like a cat is toying with a wounded fly. Fear sinks in my heart as it becomes ever more obvious that she could have ended me almost immediately if she wanted to. “What now? I had expected a little bit more fight from you, I have to be honest. You’ve been such a pain to deal with but I have to say, I’m rather underwhelmed.” She taunts me as she hits me once again on my shield. This time I anticipated it however and I manage to get a slice on her hand, chopping off three of her shadowy fingers.

She repulses for a moment but is quick to regain her composure, her toothy grin growing even larger. “That’s better. Not good yet, but better.” This time she returns with a hit square on my chest sending me flying into the ground. 

It’s difficult to breathe as I cough up blood. If things go on like this… 

Right as my mirror image approaches to finish the job, a fiery explosion blocks her path, Nikki having cast an entire wall of fire to at least try to slow the shade down. At the same time my sister rushes over to me and gets me back on my feet and Sam starts to pepper the devil with all the magical skills she has acquired. 

Carol and Max try to outflank her from the other side but mercilessly get swatted aside once the shade pushes through the fire relatively unharmed. 

Now that I’m back in the air the devil turns her attention to me. 

“Ami, catch this!” Sam calls out to me as she throws the blue crystal from earlier at me. She must have just found it on the ground. But right before I can grab it out of the air, my mirror image grabs hold of me instead. Squeezing me in the palm of her hand. Making the crystal just bounce off and practically immobilizing me. 

“Stop. Butting. In!” The devil screeches, making my ears ring as she turns her full attention on my friends while at the same time keeping me squeezed tight. 

“We will keep fighting you till you go down.” My sister replies defiantly. 

The shade leans slightly forward towards the group. “How do you plan on doing that, if you can’t trust your own shadow?” She makes another hand gesture, but while she does that, Sam peppers the devil in the face with another couple of magic arrows, followed up with one of her stronger skills aimed at the hand that’s holding me. With a flinch, the devil finally releases me. 

“Ami, go take the crysta-” Sam’s voice gets cut short when her own shadow rams an arrow in through throat. 

“Sam! Nooooo!” My heart shatters as I see my girlfriend collapse on her knees. 

Sam reaches for me with her hand, blood streaming down her leather chestpiece, as Sam’s shadow takes another arrow and plunges that in her back. Making Sam thud forward against the stone floor, her life force completely fading in front of me. 

“Nooooooooooooooooo!” I howl in agony as my entire body cramps up with the feeling of sadness, despair and rage. While Nikki, Elise, Max and Carol battle with their own shades, Sam’s shade collapses as it’s done its job. 

“That’s one nuisance less.” The devil mocks as she stares at my girlfriend’s lifeless body. “Oh sorry, did that sack of flesh mean something to you?” 

“...pay…” Is the only thing that I manage to get over my lips as my despair makes place for more and more fury. The edges of my vision are already blood red. 

The mirror image leans closer to me. “She’ll make great food for the maggots. So at least she’ll be of some worth.” 

“Silence!” As I cry out that word I can feel an explosion of power leave my body. Black flames are surrounding my entire being and the device that Gamma had given to me to check my emotions shatters in thousands of pieces as it just gets overflowed by anger. 

I instinctively grab for my greatsword which has replaced my sword and shield, with black flames supporting my broken arm, and lash out towards the devil. This time she can’t avoid my blows as my speed has greatly improved. 

She flinches back because of my hits but that doesn’t appear to sour her mood, on the contrary, it seems like she is enjoying it even more and more. “I’ll be sure to hang her skeleton in a place of honor. For all to watch.” 

“Die!” My heart races as I push forward against the fiend. Every swing makes me angrier and angrier. 

“Yes! Yes! Yes! That’s it!” The devil tries to counter my attacks with swings of her own but it’s futile against my rage fueled speed. “Let it flow through you! Let it consume you!” She cackles. 

Something deep inside me tells me to relent as I’m giving the shade what she wants, but I don’t give a shit. This thing needs to die by my sword. And it needs to die now. “Aaaaargh!” I yell as I become blind for anything but the target in front of me. Another, bigger, explosion of black flames erupts from my soul. Knocking the devil down into the sandy dunes. 

I plunge myself down upon her and raise the hilt of my greatsword above my head as I prepare to trust it down into the devil’s chest. 

“No ‘heroic’ last words before you end me?” The devil asks with a grin, her words laden with mockery. 

I don’t reply and plunge my sword into her chest, sending the fire over and through the entire shade’s body. As a result, the body completely dissolves underneath my feet. The shadowy miasma seemingly dissipates into the air. 

“No words, only the end of your existence.”

Just when I think it’s finally over, a pang shoots through my heart as I can feel it stop beating. I try to move my body but all my limbs become stiff. As a result I lose my balance and fall down into the sand, sliding down the dune our combat had led us to. I want to crawl up to call out to my family but I can’t even move my fingers anymore, nor find the strength to speak. 

The last thing I see before my vision completely fades to black, is some of the remaining miasmic shade slithering its way towards me. 

“Just slightly too premature, love.” A whisper accompanies me into the darkness. 

(This is not the end, the title is just a joke, it is a big cliff though, not sorry for that ;3)