As I felt Sophia's presence quickly recede I was met with fury, rage, and hatred. It was too much. It broke past my [repose]. It took over. It felt like my hands were not my own. My vision narrowed. These people before me I no longer perceived as my comrades.
They were my enemies. The first one darted off, chasing something I did not see. The second one took a few steps back, and pulled their wand.
The third readied his weapon. My memory only showed where this 'Max' had taunted and jeered. He was not worthy of life.
I swung my axe down. I did not care it was dull. It was a 4kg weight on the end of a sturdy wooden handle. Max's armor was too strong, and the axe broke against it. It was of no consequence. I realized that the force I had swung down might have broken my weapon, but Max's armor was sundered, and his chest caved, and then he disappeared. I did not focus on this, as the other had readied his magic. I did not have a weapon, so I tore a branch from a nearby tree.
This 'Wral' fired a few [firebolt] shots, which I easily batted aside. They were slow and weak. I ran towards him. Suddenly he fired his magic not at me, but at the ground between us. The soil turned to mud, and Wral fired [firebolt] after [firebolt]. I felt as my makeshift club was getting lighter and lighter. The mud did not stop me.
This enemy changed tactics and fired an icicle into my knee, impaling it. My gait changed, but i felt no pain. I lifted this puny insect into the air by the head with my hands, and as I squeezed i could see panic set in. I continued to squeeze until suddenly the target was no more and i felt he had left the area.
There were three of them, so I must find the third.
Then i felt a jarring feeling as my other knee was hit from behind with a dagger. I may not feel pain, but now with this damage i could not support myself. I fell to my knees.
My mind began to clear. It meant Sophia was close. I felt my rage subside as pain entered my body. I willed myself to endure.
The third opponent, the Skygge named Artis, came up holding a throwing knife, confident in his victory. "You are a melee fighter Lark, and if you can't move, I cannot be harmed. Did you really think I would be fooled by a simple [shadow puppet]? We are Skygge, all of us know this spell from childhood. Except you. You had to learn it the hard way because of your brain damage."
He took a seat, and threw a knife into Lark's shoulder.
"You see that? No enemy is going to find me. If I defeat you, I win, as that parasite is controlling the puppet, you are the only true enemy on the field. But [shadow puppets] cannot attack. They can only distract."
I then realized, he confused our spell. Sophia did not use a [shadow puppet], she used a [shadow clone]. And she could use it to cast magic. I smiled at Artis.
"Why are you smiling? You cannot win. You have no allies in this fight. You are a Skygge without his Kriger Ledsager. You are alone."
Artis was getting angry.
I smiled as I spoke, "That is where you are wrong, Sergeant Artis. Sophia and I, we have a very special bond. And we are never one,"
"Without the other", a voice seemingly whispered into Artis' ear as a knife made from ice pierced into his chest held in the hand of a [shadow clone], past the gap in his armor. Had Artis not taken down his guard, this strike would have been impossible. But instead the knife sliced straight in, causing a mortal wound and instantly ejecting Artis from the arena.
***
"Without the other." Those words were whispered into my ear as the cold blade sliced in. It was a clean kill, and i felt myself being ejected.
I had been ejected from the training dungeon before. I knew I would have a bit of missing HP and a few bumps and bruises, but any serious wounds sustained would disappear. I knew that time passed slower when being ejected, and while it may be only a moment between the ejection and re-apparition, it was enough time for me to think.
I had a better understanding of shadow magic than even Wral, the mage. I was an expert in skullduggery and Skygge arts of shadow. So what surprised me more than my words was what I saw. By using magic, it was a for sure a [shadow clone] but that alone was not what had me surprised.
It was the detail of the clone. I could see in front of me the form of a lybringer shieldmaiden from stories passed. She was beautiful, and she had form. This was not some simple spell cast by a passenger parasite. This level of detail was beyond what a [shadow clone] could be. I could only imagine if this was the detail allowed for a simple [shadow clone], what could she do with [greater shadow clone]? Could she give the clone weapons and armor? How about color? Could she change its temperature? Could she bring it to life?
So many questions.
In an instant I felt myself return. I was greeted by the dumbfounded looks of Max and Wral.
"So we all lost, huh?" Wral spoke.
"It was not a puppet. It was a clone." I answered. It was the issue with the plan we had made.
"That invalid can control a clone?!" Max was upset. Rightly so.
"I do not believe it was Captain Lark who controlled the clone. It was Captain Sophia, his Kriger Ledsager."
"Don't use those words to describe them. They are not worthy." Max was still fuming. Still prideful. His armor stayed sundered. Only the body survived the damage of the training dungeon.
"Max. We lost. And unless you wish to be unnamed and branded Fremmed, we will be responsible to pay our Erstatning. Although since the primary insult was against Captains Lark and Sophia, I can only assume that we might have to become personally acquainted with our own 'forever friends'." I referred to the pamphlet that was passed around the bunkhouse.
"I would rather die." Max's pride would not be quashed.
"Well, that's not an option." Out of a nearby shadow, Flick, governess of Representative Sutemos, the hound of Skygge, smiled. "I am sure death might be preferrable, but that is not an option. Many would have chosen that path after losing an Erstatning before, but you don't have to be alive for the payment to be fulfilled. However, since you would be unable to pay this particular Erstatning, the cost would be subjected to your next of kin."
Flick smiled. "I get it. The pride of a Skygge burns bright in you, but if you do not learn to tame it, it will lead you to ruin just as a moth to a flame. Take your punishment. You are all too young to remember what the Fremmed looked like, but I assure you it's a fate worse than anything you want."
I nodded, "understood Major Flick. I volunteer for the Erstatning."
I walked back into the dungeon to congratulate the victor. No, I went to congratulate the victors.
I did not wait to see if my comrades joined me.
***
I knelt my shadow down to Lark. Around us there was cheering and clapping from all assembled. A healer was running over to aid Lark, casting [regenerate] on his wounds.
[I am sorry Lark that you have had to feel such pain.]
Lark looked calm, and he smiled at me. I was within 2 meters, so I knew he was unaffected by the side affect of my split concentration.
"It's Ok Sophia."
He then laid his hand out for me to place mine on top. I couldn't 'hold hands' with him, but I could give him the feeling of holding my hand.
First was Gina. "You did really well Lark! I am sorry Sophia could only send her shadow to be here, but if she could she would be here in person."
Then Lark startled Gina with his words. He also startled me. And the assembled people who were present.
"I know Sophia is different than any of us here. She does not have a body like ours, and I figured out that she lives in me."
The crowd stood still, their smiles were replaced with apprehension. Lark had figured out the secret that they were all so careful to protect. How did he figure it out?
I became fearful. Would he reject me? Now that he knows the truth would he be upset? I was not like other people. I was a parasite.
"Regardless of the nature of being, Sophia makes me a better person every day. I need her, and she needs me. She is my Kriger Ledsager, and together we are stronger than we ever were apart. She has made me a better citizen, a better Soldier, and a better Skygge, and I couldn't ask for a better partner."
He then smiled as he looked at my face. "Sophia, I hope that I get to spend all of my days with you."
I was unable to process the feelings I felt. But I knew what they were. I had read of them in stories of knights saving princesses. It was affection. It was love. That is what I felt. Whether I was supposed to feel this or not, I no longer cared.
I leaned in and hugged Lark. My clone was not developed enough to have physical form, or warmth, or even color. But it would in time. I would make sure I learned it. Until now, I simply sent the feelings to his brain as if they were there. I could feel his tears. Not physically, but i knew they were there.
[Let's go home, Darling.]