He was jumping across buildings like a wild beast, flying through the air like a hawk, and throwing spells that stung like bees.
The other me— the me of this wretched timeline where I succumbed to darkness and corruption, therefore leading to a tragic ending in which I brought destruction to the world— This other me said "let's play a game of chase" and began to run around.
I have been trying to catch him, to stop his madness. Though, I am unsure of the reason.
I had only just recently become aware that my dreams were connecting me to other timelines yet this time it would appear I had stumbled into another timeline physically. Though, as far as I knew, I was still asleep back in my timeline.
~Did my soul manifest itself here? Considering I'm essentially energy gone sentient, I guess it would be possible for my soul to create an identical body anywhere it pleases…
"Hey, hey, hey! What's the hold up, me? I know I'm faster than that!"
Taunting me with my own voice, the doppelganger launched a squall of searing flames in my direction. I twirled and flipped, performing cartwheels and kicking debris as I dodged or blocked each ember. With a single reverse somersault, I ascended into the air and smashed my feet down into the ground as I landed. Channeling my energy into the damaged asphalt in the moment of impact, I summoned forth cone-shaped pillars of concrete beneath my foe as he continued to leap around like a frog.
The final pillar missed, but sent him headed straight into the sky with no clear destination. Sweeping the ground, I kicked up a small piece of debris with my foot and bounced it across my body as it slowly elevated in altitude. Once it reached above my head, I leapt up and swerved my body around in a spiraling diagonal motion. The far end of my shoe slammed into the small rock, sending it rocketing towards my target– that red-eyed look-alike.
Copying my movements, he returned the rock with ease.
~Figures. In that case…
Putting a bit more spin into my kick, I channeled my energy into my foot as it pressed against the rock. As it flew back towards my opponent, it grew exponentially in size, soon rivaling that of a massive meteorite. Taking in a deep breath, I inhaled the oxygen in the air and spat it out in the form of red-hot flames. These flames accelerated the newly formed boulder, setting it aflame as it pushed through the air towards its target.
He looked at me with a grin, a confident smile that told only of predetermined victory. With a flip of his hand, he tossed his bangs into the wind, revealing his other eye— an eye black as night with a glistening sphere of gold in the center. It could only be compared to a picture of the sun taken from outside Earth's atmosphere. It blazed with a fire so bright that one could see it from a thousand meters away. With that eye, he stared right at the oncoming sphere of blazing pale concrete without fear, still grinning.
And, it shrunk rapidly. In the blink of an eye, it was gone, leaving only a small black orb that appeared to suck the very air out of the sky. Everything was being pulled towards it. Everything.
It was…
~A vortex.
"Hey. You know the people of this world believe that black holes are spheres of antimatter that have immense gravitational pulls. They're so powerful, that even light cannot escape it."
My look-alike spoke, standing atop a far building with his hands in his pockets and a smug look on his face.
"You want to know what they really are?"
Anchoring my feet to the ground, utilizing my own energy– my mana, to lock myself in place, I paid no heed to his words. Yet still he continued on.
"Black holes are gates to the void. And in the void anything not accustomed to it is reverted back to being energy. And not even we primordials can touch energy, though we are made up entirely of it. That's why… it's fatal to humans."
"But, I'm not human." I finally replied.
"You're right. You're not human."
A piece of debris blocked my view as it got sucked into the sphere of darkness, which was growing larger each second. When I looked up to where the boy stood, he had vanished. A chill ran down my spine as his voice rang through my ears from behind.
"But you are someone who I have to kill, just as I did God."
A stabbing pain shot through my lower abdomen. I looked down to find the end of a blade sticking out of me.
"Ghh…"
I turned my head, staring at the grinning face of my look-alike. His smile grew as he pushed the blade deeper before pulling it out.
Though, right as it left my body, I twisted my waist and swung my foot into his head.
"It is true I'm not human." I muttered, coughing a few times as my life energy leaked out of my wound. "But that's exactly why an attack like that isn't going to be enough to take me out. You should know that better than anyone, me."
"Heh. That's good." The boy stood to his feet, rubbing his cheek with his wrist. "Woulda been boring for it to end that quickly. I would have had nothing to do as I waited."
~Waited?
I pondered what he meant by that. Then, I realized.
It was getting darker.
~Night already?
"Hey, me." He looked at me, still smiling cheerfully as if enjoying a game. "Do you know one of the most common ways two worlds get connected in the stories of this world?"
Immediately, I thought back to the memories of the book-wielder. Most common ways for two worlds to connect in the stories told on earth. In all of those fantasy novels and 'manga', as the humans referred to it as, one of the most common ways is…
I stared up at the sun, which was still high in the sky. A black circle was slowly beginning to cover it.
"That's right. An eclipse. Now let's play a game!" He pointed at me with his index finger and then at himself with his thumb. "Let's see if you can stop me before the moon covers the sun completely."
We stared at each other for a few seconds, quickly vanishing and clashing soon after. Clash after clash, we'd alternate between using magic, using debris as projectiles, creating weapons for hand-to-hand, etc. The varieties of our attacks and defense methods were endless.
All the while, questions spiraled around in my head as I performed evasive maneuvers to navigate through each attack.
~He wants to go to my timeline… But why? And why would he need an eclipse to do that if he has the same abilities that I do?
The answers to these questions were obvious though. One could reach the correct conclusions just by seeing the malice behind the boy's eyes.
—Answer to question one. Going to my timeline would be the fastest route to bringing ruin to humanity yet again. Even as an evil-doer, I am likely too laid-back to try and go to another world to do the same thing. Since he, or rather I, have already succeeded on Earth, 'we' could be certain to pull it off again in a different timeline rather than another world with unknown factors.
—Answer to question two. This answer is not very certain or obvious, however; the dreams are how I got here in the first place. To me, I am still dreaming but for him this is happening real-time. It is very likely he decided to do it this way since he stopped having those dreams.
~But why did he stop having those dreams?
As we traded blows and our metal pipes clanged against each other, our eyes locked. His crimson red glare, his pupils shrunken and bloodshot from the adrenaline of the ongoing battle. My shining yellow stare, shriveled to a narrow gaze as to show the strains of my brain as I stressed over answering my own questions.
~Could it have something to do with why his eye turned red?
Speaking of— I continued to think, why has he not used that black hole ability again? Can he not use it right now? A cooldown perhaps?
The boy's eye widened. Its deep blackness seemed to pull me towards it. I felt my stomach ache.
~He's going in for the kill…
I glanced up at the sky. The sun was nearly completely covered by the shadowy moon.
~I see. In that case.
Pushing past the expanding pain, I leaned forward and placed pressure against my look-alike's steel rod. With a bit of grunting, I began channeling my mana into my chosen weapon. It grew, and grew, and grew.
With a grin, my red-eyed look-alike copied my strategy. Back and forth we pushed against each other as our weapons grew in size. But never once did my foe's gaze waver from my center.
My gut still screaming in pain, I strengthened my grip and took in a deep breath. I quickly exhaled, releasing fire from my lungs.
Once again, he mimicked me. Instead of flames, he spat out water like a high pressure hose. The collision of our attacks created an explosion of steam which knocked us backwards. Swiftly and cleverly, I threw my pipe into the thick fog like a boomerang as I flew backwards.
In an instant, everything between me and him, including the smokescreen, shrank and vanished into a small black sphere.
The last bit of light soon vanished from sight, leaving us in a dim world, robbed of half of its light. Only a single orange halo glowed in the sky above, its color only complemented by the red-stained atmosphere.
"Looks like time's up, mate!"
He lifted his shoulders and hands, shrugging at me like a clueless child.
"Welp… Ciao, mate."
Putting two fingers to his forehead, he saluted me with a casual goodbye and poised himself to rocket into the sky. However…
A grin swept across my face. I put no forth no effort into hiding my mischief. It was as clear as a blue-sky day.
"Eh? Ah I see, what you did there, mate. Nice one."
Sparkling luminescent chains shackled the boy to the ground, trapping them in their calm violet hue. Still, he cackled. He was clearly enjoying himself despite having his movements constrained.
I stared at him with eyes that shined like the flaming halo in the scarlet sky above.
"Oh? But our game isn't over, yet."
I still had many questions to ask him— the other me that resided in this timeline.
"Oh?" He chided, mocking me as he spoke. "But it is."
I tilted my head at him.
"Yoiya! Yoiya!"
Mia's voice rang in my ear, startling me to a stumble. I stared at my hands. My body was disintegrating. My connection to this timeline had ended.
"Don't worry, we'll continue our game very soon, Yoi-ya!"
The look-alike smiled at me with the most innocent smile. Yet even with such a cute face, his malice was clear.
"Til then… K?"
Those were the last words I heard before my vision went blank.