Will's body crumbled on the nonexistent floor, and rolled away from Alice.
In a gruesome turn of event, the flesh of Alice's brother changed shape, his clothes mixed with the rest of his body, and soon, Alice wasn't seeing her older brother, Will, but another thing.
A being strange and twisted.
An abomination.
Alice stayed calm.
"So, you weren't fooled by my disguise, Lightbringer."
Alice looked at the vague human shape in front of her.
This monster knew what she was. Which meant that, like Nikoletta, he could percieve souls in some way.
And since he knew how to imitate Will, he probably had some way of reading minds... but if that ability was strong, he would have sensed that Alice never believed that he truly was her brother, so it was probably not that strong.
"What... I mean, who are you ?"
"I do not have a name.... But you can call me Shapeshifter, that doesn't bother me."
"What do you want, Shapeshifter ? Why did you try to pretend you were my brother ?"
Shapeshifter's body shrinked, and changed, making atrocious sounds.
Alice watched the monster took the same appearance as her, but without the scars. After everything that happened with Mirror, this sight was slightly disturbing.
Alice took note of the fact that the mortal wound she inflicted to the monster wasn't there anymore.
"I want.. to eat you."
Alice did not flinch. She was very good at hiding what she was thinking, otherwise she would have thown up several times already.
But even then, the tone of her reply was akward, as she struggled to hide her disgust.
"Eat.. me ?"
"Yeah... It's been days since the last time a human recklessly entered my lair... I'm really hungry, you see. Nothing personal."
I'm hungry too, thought Alice.
"Why did you disguise as Will ?"
"To eat you without having to fight.
It's easier when they let their guard down. I have an example... I met a Lightbringer once, a long time ago. I believe he was called... Warrior. He was strong, stronger than most Lightbringers, stronger than I could even hope to be. But he had a weakness. He was sad about his wife's death. And let me tell you, no matter how strong your Name is, no matter how strong your weapons are, no matter how much you're good at sorcery... the thing that matter the most, in a fight, is mindset.
One day, he decided to come here. With the goal to slay me, probably... But, when I took the shape of his wife's body, he broke into tears, uncapable of fighting. He litteraly let me eat him alive...
He couldn't kill someone that used the face of his beloved.
You, on the other hand, don't seem moved by seeing your loved ones back from the graves. And you can even end their lives without flinching.
Impressive."
Alice was really curious about that story, since she was really interested in knowledge about other Lightbringers, but there were more important things right now.
Two things were obvious, however. Warrior was stupid. And Shapeshifter... was the cruelest person she ever met.
Killer, her mother, Lotus... compared to Shapeshifter, these persons were good people. Using the face of a dead loved one to eat someone alive... how evil did Shapeshifter had to be to do that, and brag about it ?
"Will is still alive, you know. And I know it wasn't him. It made no sense if that was him. Why would he be here in the first place ?"
"..."
Alice was too uncomfortable to talk about Will with a man-eating monster. She already wanted to bury the past, and talking about it with a crazy abomination was not the same as doing that.
"You never eat anything else, apart from human meat ?"
Shapeshifter laughed.
"No. Only humans end up here, anyway."
"Really ?"
"Yeah."
"Since when do you live here, Shapeshifter ?"
"I was born in this sea of emptiness. I never left it"
"Are your parents... still alive ?"
"I don't have parents, young girl. One day, a human mage brought me to this world for reasons unknwown. He fed me a lot. But, one day, he died. Humans mage die pretty early, you know. He wasn't even seventeen."
"That's sad."
"Sad ? I guess."
Alice looked at the monster in front of her. She didn't knew how strong he was, but avoiding conflict as much as possible was the best option.
What would she gain by trying to kill Shapeshifter ? Probably another problem, on top of the wall preventing her from fully utilizing her Name and the weird illness/curse inside her body, which could possibly make her life as miserable as Brandon's life was.
"There is one thing I don't understand, Shapeshifter."
"What is it ?"
"From what you told me, there is not much food for you here, only the occasional human wanderer. Then, why haven't you left this place ?"
"It seems like you don't know a lot, Lightbringer."
"You're dodging my question."
Shapeshifter sighed.
"I couldn't leave even if I wanted to. You see, Lightbringer, Golden Doors are made for humans, not... other beings. It would be dangerous for me to try leaving this Room to find another one where there is more food. It may destroy my soul and body alike. It's also the reason why humans travelers like you are my only food source. But enough ! It's time for me to eat..."
Shapeshifter took a step forward, threatening. It was insane how fast that guy could make the change from friendly being to just... wanting to eat you.
But Alice did not wish to be eaten alive. That was a pretty bad way to die.
Way too painful, and also a little gross.
"Wait ! You can't eat me ! I'm infected !"
"Infected ?"
Shapeshifter stopped.
"Can't you feel it ? I have some kind of creature growing inside my body."
Alice then cut one of her wrist with her dagger, making sure the wound was shallow enough to not hinder her too much.
"Look ! My blood is as black , not red! Eating me is... a really bad idea !"
Shapeshifter changed shape again. Or rather, his eyes changed.
They became as big as Alice's fist, and now looked a lot like insect's eyes. He approached them near Alice's chest.
Not throwing up around Shapeshifter was a true challenge.
"What are you doing ?"
"Looking at you heart."
Shapeshifter looked at her for a long time, and then... backed away suddenly, at a pace Alice thought was impossible.
Was this... fear ?
"Where the hell did you go to catch this kind of twisted curse ?"
"In the City of Flowers. But since you stayed here for all your life, I doubt you know this place."
Alice, curious, asked:
"What do you think about my... disease ?"
"I think... that you're fucked. And also... you won. I don't want to eat you anymore. That would not end well for me."