The air got colder the closer he got. All the blood the woman had left behind was gone now, but the metallic stench of it still lingered in the air.
I gripped the sword tightly in my right hand. However, even it did not feel worse compared to what was coming towards us. Somehow, it was mysterious, but I knew exactly what it was. Walking over, smiling, with giant red eyes...
Was me.
He looked the way that I had left him. He, too, was covered in blood. It was splattered all over his coat and his pants. However, it was not oozing from him like the woman. It stayed in place, not daring to move. His eyes glowed mysteriously, though I had seen through them many times before.
He was me, but he was not me. Not anymore.
"Really?" he asked, smiling. "I'm not you. On the contrary, I am more you than you are yourself." he continued to walk towards me. "I've missed being out here, Brandon. You let me loose for two hours. Why can't you let me loose again?"
"Because you're a psycho. How can I trust you to not just murder everyone in the world?"
He smiled even wider. "Because, Brandon, I won't do that, and you know it. I only kill if I'm bored, and I'll die before I stop getting bored. I will only kill thousands, maybe millions, but never the world." We stood face to face. It was so curious to see him up close from an outside view, the way he could curdle my blood just by being there. He cocked his head and looked at my head. "Now then, why don't we say hello to some old friends?"
He grabbed my head, and pulled on it. I cried out in pain. My entire mind was collapsing. Then, all of a sudden...
Emotion and Logic were there, in front of me. Logic was dressed in a suit and tie, wearing pants and neatly polished shoes. His hair was combed and he was wearing his spectacles. He glared at the other me. What are you doing here?
Emotion looked at him curiously. He was dressed in standard surfer wear: shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and sunglasses. He was wearing flip-flops and, despite the cold, standing his ground, staying still. How are you back? No one has said the trigger words yet.
"Stranger things have happened before, guys," I stared at myself. "And where are yours?"
He looked at me as if I were telling a joke. "What is yours is mine, Brandon. You ought to know that by now. And," he pointed at my sword, "You ought to know that I am not her. I will not fall for such tricks."
"You're right," I looked at the two. "He's right." Logic nodded. "But, I know how to defeat you."
"And what would that be," he said smiling.
I stared at my hand. I concentrated hard. Slowly, but surely, the pendant began to form. The pendant that my mother had given me before I had left, and the pendant that sat on my bedside back at camp. I smiled and looked at him. His expression faltered.
"I can stop you, because you aren't real." I tossed the pendant aside and lay my hand on him. He started yelling and clawed at my hand. But, I continued to concentrate. He shrieked and cried and shouted profanities, until finally, he was gone.
I looked at the two. They were each smiling at me. "Thanks, guys."
No problem. It's our job anyways.
Yeah. Now, you have a job to do, if you want to finish you plan.
I nodded and closed my eyes. I breathed and exhaled and opened my eyes again, sitting up. S was lying on the floor, unconscious. I looked at the Stygian Iron sword and quickly sheathed it. I couldn't risk any more dark visions. I heard the slithering again. I was still incapable of turning on my Eye. I sighed and stood up, walking around the room, trying to find a trigger. Finally, I hit a loose rock on the wall and a doorway opened to another hallway, full of the same blood rubies I had seen before. I started down the hall, avoiding the skeletons and jewels until I reached a giant chamber.
Within the chamber was a massive dragon. It had scales of pure black, and he was surrounded in darkness. As he turned to me, I flashed through my past, and every single time I had felt pain in one way or another struck me. I gasped and his eyes narrowed. So this was why the dragon had never been successfully hunted. It was the source of the darkness in the room, the fear and the anguish. It had killed so many people before they had even reached him.
He slowly rose and slithered towards me. I stood my ground. Opening my mouth, I managed to speak.
"I am Brandon Lee, Son of Apollo. I have fought my battles and done my duties. I have been through years on the streets, the Eye initiative, and near death, and yet here still I stand. Today will be marked as the day that you will be slain."
The dragon stared at me. Then show me what powers you possess, demigod. Let us duel to the death.
