"Owwwwwwwwww!"
Why was I screaming, well that probably had to do with the fact that every bone my body creaked and vibrated in pain at the abuse they've just been put through. I got back up and moved my neck left and right, as cracking sounds resounded into the surroundings, a full testament to the stress my body had just gone through.
"Well that was anticlimactic." I heard a voice say behind me.
I turned so fast, that more cracks were heard from my body as I willed my sword and shield back into my hands and moved back a few steps. I looked at the person who just spoke behind me, and I couldn't help but say.
"please don't tell me I have to go through this again!" I moaned out loud with a whining voice.
"Okay I won't." The person replied back.
I took a good look at the person standing opposite me, as a number of descriptions came up for him. He was black, dark skin, browned skin or African, whatever description worked best these days on earth. He was tall, somewhere around six feet to six foot two, he wasn't handsome, but he wasn't ugly either. He had the kind of face you would forget almost as soon as you looked at it, with the only notable thing about him being his height or piercing black eyes.
His hair was pure white though, and it was just as unruly as mine, waving in the air in a strange dance coaxed in the absence of any wind(weird). But anyhow you looked at this incredibly average looking guy, you would come to one conclusion and one conclusion only...…..I was looking at myself.
"Who are you?, because I'm most definitely sure you're not me." I asked him as I took a few steps back. He looked up at me and smirked in such a way that even I couldn't help the thought running through my head at his look.
'Damn I look good when I smile like that. I should practice it more often.'
"Well you're right when you say I'm not you. I'm what you're not, and what you should be." He answered.
"What the heck does that mean?" I asked totally confused.
"I don't know." He replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
"seriously?" I asked incredulously
"Yes seriously. But you don't have to worry about the answer to that. You're about to die my friend. After all, there can only be ONE KAEL!"
Then he shot towards me with a speed that almost made him seem like a blur and as if he was floating on the ground. He swung a similar looking sword to mine in a overhead manner as if to relive me of my head.
I raised my sword in time to intercept his sword, but with speed and power behind his swing, I would not be able to stop it from reaching my face and leaving a nasty gash on my face. Using his own momentum, I let his sword slide over the surface of mine, as I inclined my body and watched both swords go over my head, releasing a shower of sparks as they did so.
I turned my body to bring my shield into play, slamming it against his own, and using the rebound to put a few steps between us both. But he gave no quarter as he pressed his advantage, and since I was the one moving backwards, I was at a disadvantage.
He turned his hand and pulled it to his chest, before he started unleashing a barrage of stinger like pierces that I was quite familiar with, considering I had learnt the same move when I was studying the basic sword moves. I moved my shield to my face, and blocked every strike he was making simultaneously moving back as I tried to set a trap for him.
When he was midway through his seventh strike, I came to an abrupt stop that left him unbalanced and a little open for me. I slammed my shield into the blade of his sword, deflecting it to the side so that I could pierce at his chest too. But even though he was unbalanced, I forgot something else, he also had a shield. Though his block was a little haphazardly, it was enough to raise the angle of my sword so that it only sliced open the top of his right shoulder. A burst of bright grey liquid like soul energy burst out of his body, drawing my attention for a moment, and I paid for it dearly as he stepped forward and drove a kick into my chest, pushing me back almost five steps. My clone waved his sword and moved back a bit and said to me.
"You're a good fighter, impressive reflexes and an almost good form. But I'm better, and because of that I'm going to gut you like a pig."
I didn't say anything to him, I just raised my shield up and placed my sword on top of it, pointing straight at his face.
"Oh, no words or smart remarks. Well that's no fun, how about a change in scenery, it might loosen you up a bit."
There was a whoosh, and I felt myself being torn apart for a moment. But even though it was just a moment, like a fraction of a second, the pain I felt made it seem like I have been experiencing it for ten years straight. It left me disoriented, and i couldn't react on time, as my soul beast clone came and gave me a flying kick that threw me five meters back and crashing down into a bed of snow and rocks drawing a furrow until my head came knocking on the trunk of a tree with pink flowers.
I got up fast, shaking away my discomfort and taking a look at my surroundings. We were in some sort of courtyard, it was fenced on all sides with one entrance that led out into a howling snow storm that looked like it would bury anyone stupid enough to go into it in seconds.
The air was a bit chilly, but unlike the raging snowstorm outside the courtyard, it was quite tranquil inside, with only soft snow falls that had accumulated just a few inches above the ground. There was an elevated walkway from the tree behind me, to the entrance, and my clone was on it. Waiting for me with a gloating expression on his face.
I got on top of the walkway, and began walking towards him, letting every step I made sound like music to my ears. I picked up speed until I was running towards him with all of my strength, with the snow falling softly around me, I took a deep breath, and moved the soul energy in my body to my feet and a little bit of it to hover over my shield. And when I was just ten feet away from him, I pushed the soul energy in my feet's outwards, using the subsequent blasts of soul energy as a fuel to shoot me towards my clone at four times my speed.
There was a loud boom behind me as air and snow were displaced and blown away due to the intense speed I just used. I succeeded in catching him off guard as I slammed my shield into his unprepared chest, making sure that the soul energy I used to cover it's surface pulsed outward, and threw his broken body away from me and out into the raging storm behind him.
I took a deep breath, and waited for a few moments, and sure enough, he was running towards me, with different parts of his body leaking liquid soul energy. I had this inkling suspicion that he was going to use the same move against me, so I prepared myself, watching him closely.
When he was seven of eight feet away from me, he shot forward with a boom, but I was prepared as I turned sideways to avoid his flying form and the sword pointed at my heart. But he was able to improvise as he stretched his hand to let his shield dig into my stomach, even as I let my sword slide into his back.
His momentum carried him forward, crashing and rolling on the ground and digging a furrow on the cobbled walkway as pieces of rocks, snow, flower petals and grey liquid soul energy flew into the air. He came to a stop in a rough heap, looking worse for wear as he struggled to get up. I placed my hand on my stomach, and it came away with blood, I watched with fascination as my blood dripped from my hand to fall onto the snow covered ground.
It was a sharp contrast to the white and cold world I now found myself in, as my blood met the snow, it let off steam as it blended into the snow, making a world for itself. It was beautiful, and it was life. I looked up to see my clone running towards me, with a manic gleam in his eye, I didn't hesitate, I shot towards him, counting the moments until our shields and swords met.
"CLANG!"
The ringing shook me down to my core as reverberations came down the length of my sword and the frame of my shield. I kicked at his feet and slammed my shield into his face as he became unbalanced, in retaliation he turned and slashed sideways, drawing a line on my chest from left to right. He used the force of his swing to bring his shield slicing towards my body, but I moved back, barely dodging the attack, and that was where he made his mistake.
His swing had left his back open, and I was not too far away to not take advantage, and he couldn't turn in time to use his sword to stop me. I moved forward and stabbed my sword into his back, right at the base of his neck. I pushed my sword harder, feeling it go through bone and flesh as it came out underneath his collarbone.
I felt him freeze up as I hugged his body close to mine, making sure to twist the sword harder as he screamed out in pain. I held him close to me as I pulled the sword out, and stabbed it in, again, and again, and again. Until his weakened fingers and hands let go of his sword and shield. I held him close as his warm liquid like soul energy dripped down to the snow and on my fingers.
"Well played Lord Kael. I should have won though, I'm stronger." He said with labored breaths.
"Yes, you should have won." I replied to him as I lay him down on the snow, really uncomfortable as I watched myself die.
"Then why did I loose?" He asked me, looking genuinely confused.
"You lost, because you were fighting like me, and I'm the only one who knows how I fight, and how to counter my own moves. And with every strike, every clash we had, you didn't learn from your mistakes and instead continued to use the same predictable moves, which is something I would never do." I answered as I sat down beside him, my hand clutched at my still bleeding abdomen.
"So you're saying I lost because I'm not really you, or what you're supposed to be, or what you should become." He said as his breathing got slower.
"Errrrr....…yeah! Sure, that's exactly what I meant. Let's go with that" I answered completely confused by his choice of words.
"Oh! Seems fair." And then he stopped breathing, laying there silent to the world as the snow piled around us both.
I laid down on my back and looked at the white sky, I was exhausted, and to be honest I had no idea what came next after this. But I really wanted it to end, though this might not have been as dangerous as when I was breaking Asha's seal, in here I've been forced to experience things differently. I had to confront my convictions and I had to face myself. Ultimately it's been a rather soul searching experience, so I'm prepared for what comes next.
There was a rumble as the whole world shook, my soul beast clone, began to glow as his entire frame melted into liquid soul energy that rushed into my body and rejuvenated me, healing my wounds and restoring my strength. There was a whoosh, and a feeling of my body being torn apart before I found myself back in the forest of thorns.
The entire place was devoid of any soul beast, neither was there any tidal wave of thorns shredding everything in it's path.
The shaking and vibrations picked up in intensity as the trees began to crack and break, and from the gaps made on their frames, soul energy began to pour out and form massive words over my head.
[BLOCK THE ESSENCE OF LIFE, STEAL THE WAY OF LIFE]
[BLOCK THE ESSENCE OF SHEARATH, STEAL THE WAY OF SHEARATH]
And then the world blew up in a shower and spark of white and grey, making me fall and eventually everything faded to black.