Chapter 15

  To Face Your Judgment

  Lana Harper’s screen was a pile of open windows of code. This wasn’t like the movies. Hacking H.E.R.O. wasn’t a barrage of key-presses to break through a firewall into the mainframe. This was real life, and she was stuck on Earth while Nik had already run into one of the kings. She had designed these codes, and some of the lines were being rewritten… actively. The King of the first tier was exerting his influence. It was earlier than expected; Nik wasn’t strong enough yet.

  She pulled out her phone and called her only saved contact. It only rang once before he answered. “Hey, it’s happening. I know it’s sooner than we expected, but it’s time for me to go back. I’ll meet you there. Oh, and Wolf… Thank you.” They would have to rendezvous on the other side. It was time to plug herself in…

  She checked for the small piece of black stone lodged into her custom made headset, and then closed her eyes as she held it over her mousy brown hair.

  “Well, Father, it looks like it’s time for me to go home.”

  * * *

  The sound came loudest from behind, but he turned to see only purple brickwork and matching smoke. Everywhere he looked was the same and yet the sounds of this dangerous enemy came from every direction except whichever one he looked into. It was toying with him. Whatever this version of him was, it was not one to be treated without caution.

  A claw scraped against stone to his left. He raised his shield on instinct. A strike hit it, sending his feet sliding. He maintained his balance through force of will as much as any physical effort, but it was already gone again.

  More laughter filled the void in the would-be silence of their battleground.

  “What part of me are you?! What piece of me would have such a twisted reflection?”

  “Khhhk-hhhk, oh, are you not enjoying yourself? Are you still pretending that this isn’t your idea of a good time?”

  “What? You are insane, sick. Whatever you are, I want none of it.”

  The sound of movement had Nik turning again. It was behind him now. Too late. Three clawed fingers stabbed into the side of his head, carving slashes into his scales, before vanishing once again into the maze of buildings.

  There was nothing from the system to show his health had gone down, but he could feel the blood dripping from his wound. I need to get myself into a corner and limit the directions he can come at me from.

  Nik ran for the nearest alley. The doubled up sound of four points of contact beating against the ground struck his senses. He dropped as he turned, allowing himself to land with his back on the ground just as his more animalistic copy reached him. He kicked his feet up as he rolled backward, throwing his enemy deeper into the alley.

  Leaping up and launching himself forward, Nik pushed his enemy back, swinging and stabbing with his spear. The bestial-Nik batted away Nik’s strikes with its claws.

  It dropped away from Nik onto all-fours and turned to run. The next swing missed, and it was gone. The creature was too fast.

  Nik pursued the creature, and looked for somewhere more defensible while he tried to keep his opponent on the run.

  He turned a corner and threw his shield up as a flurry of claws slashed at him. Shield, leathers, and then shield again, his armor had kept him alive. Each of his enemy’s strikes had glanced off. Pain lanced through him. The last strike had been aimed at his right foot, and the maniac’s claws had pierced clean through to the ground.

  A slash of his spear had it retreating once again. But he felt it connect this time.

  “See? I told you this would be fun. Khhhk-hhhhk,” said the other Nik with a strange new hissing quality to their voice.

  “This is insanity. You’re nothing but a monster,” he said, still scanning the area for anything he could use to his advantage.

  “Don’t you enjoy the thrill of combat, Nik? The blood pumping through your veins as you attack and defend? I had to have gotten it from somewhere. I couldn’t have found all this joy on my own… little… lonesome!”

  The last word was a growled scream as they lunged at Nik again in a furious series of wild slashes. One side of their mouth sagged lower than the other. The last swing of his spear had connected indeed, slicing their mouth open even wider on one side. Nik blocked and dodged each of the clawed strikes. Nik hopped back, grimacing through the pain in his foot, and then leapt forward to perform a Shield Bash. The other-him jumped into the air and used the momentum of the shield to propel itself away from Nik.

  With the break in combat, he tried to come up with a plan of some kind. I can’t see anywhere that is a good option outdoors. I need to get inside somewhere.

  Nik threw himself back down the alleyway that he’d originally come down and made his way back in the direction of the front of the buildings. A loud crack reverberated down the pathway, followed by a scraping sound and crumbling stone.

  Nik risked a glance over his shoulder. His bloody-mouthed double was sideways like a spider, running on the walls. The claws of its hands and feet dug in as it leapt from wall to wall.

  A sharpened blade of air blasted a chunk of bricks from the wall. Nik had missed with a Wind Slice thrown over his shoulder. It was still gaining on him.

  How in the tower is he so fast? He thought as he rounded the corner and searched for the closest door. The vicious kobold dropped from the walls to turn the corner, coming to a skidding slide behind him.

  “There!” Nik shouted when he located the large building’s front door. He burst through the already open door to the open space of a warehouse of some kind.

  Not exactly what I had in mind, but at least I can see all four walls. No smoke to hide in.

  “Interesting place to choose for a fight, considering you were a ‘Trapper’ only a short time ago. Now you would choose somewhere in which you have no element of surprise, against an enemy who is faster, stronger, and more than happy to hurt you.”

  Nik looked around his new environment. Stacks of old crates lined the walls and the narrow walkways that ran up and down the length of the room were the room’s only contents. Nothing useful… great.

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  “What is the point of this? Am I supposed to admit that I like to fight, or that I enjoy killing? Combat is thrilling, I admit it. I enjoy fighting. I don’t enjoy the thought of ending a life, though. You are nothing more than a twisted and broken thing.”

  “Oh, is that so? Or am I exactly what you fear becoming? Khhhkh. No, I am not a reflection at all, am I? You’re just scared you’ll develop a taste for the violence. Here’s a little secret from a part of your own mind. You already have.”

  “No!” Nik screamed, while he ran at his copy and threw one wind slash after another.

  “I’m not like you. I’m not a killer.”

  He hurled his spear at the lying beast, but it sailed past the creature.

  “There he is. I can see myself in you now. Deny it all you want, I can see the rage and the joy in you.”

  It was unhinged, laughing as it dodged or blocked every one of Nik’s attacks. His ribs crunched. It had struck him in the side with a closed fist when he’d tried to disengage and retreat a few steps.

  It was right about being stronger and faster, so I need to be smarter. I already failed at that and let it get into my head. I need to calm down and think. No way to trap it, 20 mana left, and it’s too quick for ranged attacks.

  It ran to the side, behind a row of crates. Is it trying to hide again? Attempting to toy with me more? A crack nearly split his eardrums, boards splintered as the crates flew at him from the stacks. He ran down the walkway, explosions of wood shooting in his direction as he tried to outrun them. He got to the end of the row and lifted his shield to block the anticipated series of melee attacks.

  They were gone. Their haunting laughter echoed through the building.

  “This again? The same game as before?”

  “Why ruin what you already know is fun, and it’s so fun to play with my food.”

  He had an idea, if it would even work. He remembered the feeling he had when he’d created an ability before, and he might only get one chance at this.

  “I’m getting tired of this, and I’m done being played with. If I ever feel the fear of becoming you, I will remember how empty you are. I used to think that I was the weakest creature that existed, but I see what that looks like now. You just cloak your weakness with violence and call it strength,” Nik antagonized his evil shadow version.

  He made his way cautiously to the door, stepping as lightly as he could and keeping his senses open for any sign of his enemy. With his back to the entrance he watched his furious opponent step into view directly ahead of himself. It stalked towards him, letting out a low, hungry growl.

  Nik dropped his shield into his inventory and thought, I really hope this works.

  He readied the mana, filled each arm with the power and guided it into his hands. He let it swirl there, while the other-Nik drew closer. He would wait until he was within reach of his opponent. I can’t miss and I can’t fail, or they will kill me.

  It was like time had slowed, each moment stretched out into the next. Each heartbeat lasted the span of three. The beast that he once feared he might become thundered at him, claws hammering against the warehouse floor as it sprang to strike.

  Nik held his left hand forward and pulled his right hand back, filling the air in his cupped right hand with the mana to send out a wind slash. He held it back.

  His enemy was off of the ground now, claws swinging towards him.

  Nik shoved his right hand forward and directed it towards his other hand. With his left hand he poured mana through what would usually be the trickle of Candlelight.

  Blue flame erupted in a concussive blast. Nik flew through the air, and bounced off of the ground like a stone skipping on water, until his flight was halted by the hard bricks of the building across the street from the warehouse.

  Combination Ability Created: Flame Blast!

  Congratulations, you can burn yourself again but louder.

  Ability Created

  Experience gained 50!

  Congratulations!

  Skills Up:

  Wind Skill Level 4

  Flame Skill Level 2

  Shield Skill Level 3

  Spear Skill Level 5

  His ears rang, and his head swam. He couldn’t see straight, everything was a scramble of intertwining doubles that blurred together and swapped sides with themselves.

  Where am I? he thought. He racked his brain trying to track down the memories of the moments that had led to this.

  A blurry figure came stumbling on all-fours from the building they’d been in and his memories snapped into place. Patches of flame sat upon the creature that lumbered towards him. If he was less dizzy and unaware of the creature’s lack of sanity, he would have felt pity.

  Nik used the wall to help himself to his shaky feet. His head was pounding but at least his vision was starting to clear. The monstrous being before him was nothing more than a half-crawling thing now.

  “I honestly did fear you once, and you helped me to see that. I have no room for you in my heart or mind now, though. I will put you out of your misery, and let that part of me remain in the past. You will only be a memory of a fear. A reminder of what might have been, but will never be.”

  He made his way around his already defeated enemy to collect his spear. The creature barely managed to shift itself to face him before he drove his spear through his reflection’s head, ending its suffering in one last swift motion.

  “I won’t let that part of me ever rule my heart.”

  Nik breathed in the silence after the chaos of fighting such a savage opponent, then he looked into his empty surroundings.

  “Is this what you wanted, Burrow Lord?!” Nik shouted into the still smoke-filled environment.

  Metal ground against metal, screeching before the purple haze slowly thinned. The first thing revealed by the dissipating gas was the giant crystal above him. He was looking at an infinite series of images of the crystal layered within themselves. When he shifted his eyes so did the image within the massive gem, it was from his point of view. This was some kind of object that had allowed the crowd to see what he had seen.

  Nik turned away from the eyes of his friends as the seating became visible. He couldn’t look at them right now.

  “Nik, the kobold, turn to face your judgment,” the Burrow Lord said in command.

  He obeyed the order and turned to face his friends and the goblins that he’d rescued just days before. It already felt like it had been weeks ago now.

  “We have seen your flaws and your fears. We have seen how you responded to them, and the actions you took in doin’ so. I have judged you for your faults and the strength of your character. I have decided that you will live.”

  Nik exhaled a heavy breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in, but Lord Cril wasn’t finished speaking.

  “However, the goblins before you will be the ones that determine your future. All who are in favor of movin’ forward say, aye.”

  A resounding chorus of agreement sounded from nearly each goblin present.

  Oh no. Pearl is smiling way too wide? Why does she look like she does when she is about to train me really, really hard?

  Lord Cril held a hand out for the voices to quiet, and then she stated her proclamation.

  “Then it is decided, your clan shall travel forth searchin’ for a new tunnel to call home. You will travel under the watch and protection of the newly titled, Burrow Lord Nik.”

  Congratulations!

  You Have Been Granted A Title

  You Are Now

  Burrow Lord Nik, Level 4 Kobold Elementalist

  Nik’s brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed.

  “Wait… What?!”