Chapter 5; Trial of Shadows I
VLADMIR;
"Thanks, but I no longer need your help." I announced, " If you don't mind, let me go." I pointed to the circle they entrapped me in.
" If you fail the tasks, you die. If you succeed you leave with the power of CÂPCÂUM." they said in unison.
"There is no out, once you are in, you are in." They finished.
I was immediately covered in a mist-like substance, I couldn't see anything any longer. I tried moving and realized I could walk no longer restricted. Then the mist cleared but something seemed off.i was no longer in the cave, the brothers nowhere in my view. I was alone in this creepy forest. Where the heck am i?
Immediately, an arrow flew past my right ear. I turned to see it struck a tree close to me.
Fudging skies!!!
I began to run, I had no idea where I was running to but it was far better than to stand still and let the madman who shot that arrow get closer to me. Twigs and branches snapped as I continued my race. My knees soon went out, I was out of breath and water is not even an option right now. I look back to see a gloomy figure walking towards me, it feels calculative, every step he took promised great pain and suffering. It was impossible to see who the figure was, but one thing is for certain, it had no friendly aura.
I soon realized I was transfixed to where I sat, I couldn't move a muscle, just like the other time in the cave. The figure kept approaching me in a slow, dreadful and menacing manner. Soon, it got close to me at least a few yards and I finally saw its hands, a bow and arrow. This sick head had shot the arrow earlier to kill.
"Who are You, and what do you want from me!!" I yelled, he stopped in his tracks, dropped his bow and arrow mid air as he unveiled his face. I was beyond surprised and awe struck. The man a few yards from me is not just anybody...….he isn't someone I don't know, he is ME!!!!
But something is off about him, he might look like me but he looked stronger and deadlier than me. He threw down his gauntlet, proposing a fight. Is he serious right now? Isn't he aware have been locked inside my room since I was ten and recently released? I had no idea how to fight, and he isn't just someone I could fight, he's a fucking beast!!!!
"I can't, I shall not fight thee! It's against the knight code to fight a man without arms!" I quoted the knight's code of conduct to him.
"What....makes....you....think...I...am....a…..pathetic....knight." He roared, sending a wave of fear down my spine. His voice is full of darkness and death, fighting a shadow like him would be considered the highest stupid decision of my life.
I stood up from the ground and tried to reason with him "Listen Mr, you look alot like me and I have no idea where I am, But, I cannot accept your challenge because I have no idea how to fight! I never even fought in my life, not less a face stealing creature like You, why don't you leave and never return." I tried to reason.
He breathed hard as if ready to strike. "PICK UP THE GAUNTLET OR DIE!!!!!!" He bombed Again, this time he wasn't just saying it, immediately he had a synth in his hand. That wasn't there earlier? What's going on? The shadow phantom moved towards me again.....I had no choice, talking to him is as useless as asking for help right now.
I picked up the bow and arrow, with no experience whatsoever but I placed the arrow on the bow, I pulled it back, which I might have seen father and Gerald do a long time ago. But, my arrow fell to the ground in front of me. He came to me in full force with his scythe. I ran to him like a mad man ready to lunge an attack, but the moment he was about to strike me with the scythe, I ran into his direction with a loud war cry. Let whatever will be, let it be. I won't sit and let him carve me out.
We were so close to each other, that I thought I'd feel the cut from the scythe. I felt nothing and saw no one in front of me as though he phased through me. I looked back to his bow and arrow where it had been but they were nowhere to be found, the gauntlet is gone too. Confusion filled me as I began to run out of there, I had no idea what happened but I staying here another second is what I shall not do
I ran for almost an hour, my throat was parched and the grumbling of my stomach no doubt could be heard everywhere in this godforsaken place. I sat on a clearing, lost in thoughts when I heard a twig snap behind me. I have been here for hours, and there is no sign of life, nor even a fruit tree or an ant. So this place might as well be a figment of my imagination. Though I won't allow myself to get killed, real or not.
Another twig snap, the fear of facing the shadow phantom again gnarled at me, my face pales as I imagine the return of the two faced creature. I looked around to see if I could notice anything out of the ordinary, then I saw him. Or should I say it. The cloak he is wearing is a lot different from the other time.
Don't tell me he went to change cloak the moment we were to engage in a fight?
"We've gone over this and you know I'm ready to fight You, whether it be my last attempt." I boldly said, ready for whatever next is to happen.
He said nothing but I noticed something else, he wasn't totally alone, a figure lied just in front of him. Whatever it was desperately tried to crawl or perhaps move away from that brooding phantom. If someone else is here then maybe there are other people in here that I may not know of.
The Phantom in white cape, approached the figure and dragged it towards my direction. I was fixed at the sheer humanity of the phantom, the figure clearly is human as it groaned and moaned in pain. It was wounded and heavily battered, for reasons I could not comprehend. The Phantom threw the human in between us, he stood yards away and watched. I had no idea what to do until the human spoke up.
"Please help me! Help me! Have mercy on me.....I Do not want to die!!!" The man pleaded, panting heavily on the ground trying to catch his breath.
"What in the name of all that is holy are you doing! Why bring this man to me, I am no healer!" I angrily said to the phantom, the human man wasn't going to survive if not properly attended to, I have no idea of how to heal a soul, being in my room for Ten years I do not possess any skill.
"Kill Him!" The Phantom boomed, his voice thundered through the forest. Leaving fear and panic in its wake.
The man tried to crawl to crawl desperately for help but he wasn't getting anywhere, merely moving from that spot.
"Please help me, he wants me dead, I have a family, children and a pregnant wife. Have mercy on me...…I beg thee!" He wailed, his body began to shake from the crying full grown man like he is doing.
"I am no healer neither am I a warrior, I can't attend to your wounds or fight off that phantom that has managed to copy my face." I tried to explain to the man, but he paid no attention and continued pleading for help.
"Help me sir, in any way you can…..do not let me die sire." He pleaded.
The Phantom took a few steps forward, hands heavily armed by his sides. I couldn't really see his face but I know well he looks exactly like me, whether he be the first phantom or not. "Kill Him mercifully or I shall brutally end him!!!"
I was in no comfortable position right now, the sound of my heartbeat could be heard miles from here, beads of sweat ran down my face as I suddenly developed a high temperature. This phantom must be out of his mind, clearly a mad man if he thinks I will end the life of a man, especially one that has done no harm to me.
"Why not kill him yourself before approaching me, I have never killed a man and I won't do it now...so go ahead then. Either you let him go or you find your own job." I pointed at him, I had no idea where I got the little confidence from but it felt good anyways.
"Refusing to do it makes you weak! Shows you cannot survive your reality!!! Kill Him and I'll help you escape this place and take you back to your home." The Phantom proposed in a very serious tone.
I am not naive and stupid, why would you help me out of here because I killed a man he could very much kill without my help. Wasn't making sense. "Why should I prove myself to You, After all you started torturing him you can as well put him out of his misery all by yourself. Killing him won't help me escape my reality, I'm not even asking to escape from my reality...…." I said looking at my palms and not at the phantom. "For whatever reason I am here, it has to do with this very moment, so go ahead and do what you must but I won't do your dirty job." I concluded. Taking a few steps back showing my interest in his deal or in his next choice of actions.
He walked until he finally stopped fighting where the man was, he looked up at me and raised the hood on his head and glared hard at me. Just as I thought, he's a replica of me. He raised the man head up and unleashed a dagger he had all along on his waist. His eyes were still on me as he slowly cut the man in the neck, blood splattered everywhere followed by gurgling. The lifeless body of the man fell down to the earth as the phantom stood upright, He looked different from the first phantom, he clenched his fists in anger as his eyes bore holes into mine.
He raised his dagger to my direction, blood still dripping as he said the next words that spent me racing out of there. "YOU ARE NEXT!"
I ran without looking back...…I kept running without direction or a head start. I had no idea where this place is. All I know is that the 'Brotherhood' had something to do with this and that crazy weird Seer made me look for them, see where it landed me. I stopped after a while But it seems I'm all alone, just myself and the moonlight.
I hadn't gotten any sleep nor eaten anything, facing those fathoms and being scared out of my wits. I never signed up for this lonely hell; something happened, more like a feeling, strange And foreboding. I looked around and everywhere morphed and began to change in my very before. I was no longer in the strange forest, The ground looked familiar, a place u grew up and looked down from my window for the past ten years, the smell of blooming flowers filled the air, The almighty Bran Castle stood before me.