Ava's POV
“You want to leave?” My opponent asked, looking up towards me. It felt exactly like looking into a mirror, and the thought alone was chilly.
His eyes were just as bright as mine were, but his nose was chiseled, his jaw defined, and his lips heart-shaped. Still, he looked so much like me, and that didn't make any sense.
“Who are you? Some crazy shape-shifter?” I asked, getting to my feet with a little difficulty. There was no denying that I was weak.
“Shape-shifter?” The other me asked in my voice, and that sent a chill through me. It was unnerving, really. He was me! That had never happened to me in all my life. My exact replica. “Who am I? Dear Ava, you know me more than anyone else does. I am you.”
“What the hell are you spitting out, shape-shifter?” I voiced out, beginning to feel cranky.
“Your strengths, your weaknesses, your flaws, and your imperfections—I have them all. You are fighting yourself. We have the same skills, the same mind, the same thoughts, the same vibe, the same memories, and the same feelings. But unlike you, I have the insane urge to kill.” He laughed maniacally. “And my favorite is beheading people. Just imagine everyone coming to your room, and they discover your beautiful head on the floor.”
A chill ran through my bones. He continued,
“You know me better than anyone else and what made me this way?”
“Heavens,” I whispered. He really was me.
“Your motivations, training. I have it all, but what gives me leverage over you right now is that you're weak, exhausted, and with a lot to lose. Meanwhile, my sole mission is to finish you. You dare come in here. Well, you're never leaving.” He cracked his knuckles and his neck while terror ran through me.
It was going to be the end. If I was fighting myself, that would be a problem. I knew how dangerous I
It could be if it was just fighting an opponent, but this was me. I could try my best to fight against other opponents to win them and all too.
“Wait. I need one last piece of proof to know if you're really me. For all I know, there was a slimy, disgusting creature posing as my mother two days ago.”
“Go on. I will gladly answer all your questions. Since they will be your last.” He snickered, kicking off the rock and standing with his legs wide apart and his fist in his palm. His chin was tilted upwards with pride. There was no denying that he was me, but who knew? Anything could happen.
“What do you think of the triplets? The triplets and I being together?” I asked, and a slow smile crept onto his face.
“The triplets?” He repeated and laughed out. “You think about some things regarding the triplets. Sometimes, you imagine being with them and they're treating you sweetly like a queen. You even dream of having sex with them, and you just wish that you could be yourself without hiding and so that you'll also find out if they will love you and won't reject you like others have done.” He said and smirked.
Actually, that was a little embarrassing.
“Damn you! Come at me!” I growled. Those were my exact thoughts sometimes. The scents of the triplets and how they made me feel, especially when I really carved their presence; no one knew it in detail until I came here and realized someone who is in my form knows it all.
It would be a tough one—fighting with myself.
“No, you come at me, fool. You think I of all people wouldn't know that only fools attack first?” He laughed.
I had no time to waste. There would be no going back if I allowed him to waste my time.
I never really liked to attack first in battle. Instead, as my attacker came, I analyzed everything. What moves he would take, how he would execute them, and how fast and strong it would be. It was the same thing this Ava would do.
I charged at him, running, without letting him guess what I was going to do.
With the way he looked at me, I could tell he would duck and probably turn to plunge me in the back, and I was right. When I got to him, he ducked, but I followed easily because it was exactly what I intended to do.
What I failed to see, however, was that just as I had predicted his moves, he predicted mine and knew that I was waiting for him to make a move.
We both turned in the air, swiping out our claws and slashing with full force.
We slashed both our arms at the same time, and I staggered backwards, feeling the sting of it travel rapidly like fire across my arm.
“Arrgh!” I groaned, holding my arm, as blood spilled recklessly out of it.
He looked at his arm, with an amused smile, and raised it to his mouth, licking it. In a second, his wound healed.
“Oops, Ava. I forgot to tell you. This is my land, and here, I will heal, but you? No.” With that, he charged again, letting out a growl, and attempted a kick. I acted fast, holding his foot, but he was too strong. He turned it into a backflip and landed on the ground, staggering. I lashed at him with full force, slashing madly, but he deflected all my blows easily.
Sand kicked up from the jostling of our feet, and while I focused on slashing his neck, he gave a blow from underneath, knocking my jaw.
My feet left the ground, and I was knocked heavily onto the sand. “Argh!” My hand flew to my shoulder, which felt dislocated, and I turned, spurting blood out of my mouth, coughing and choking as saliva mixed with my blood.
He approached, and I tried to get to my feet with a groan, but I staggered, falling back. He was strong and could heal. I needed to target his heart or behead him—nowhere else, but I was too weak for that.
I tried pulling myself up with my bones trembling like autumn leaves.
“Arrgh!” I shouted to gather the strength to stand, only to have him rush like the wind and plunge his claws into me. Blood poured from my mouth as my whole face twisted in unexplainable pain.
Had I ever been clawed?
Tears brimmed in my eyes. Was that how much it hurt when some other people got clawed?
The other me twisted his claws harder into my tummy, and I slumped against him, trying to breathe, as my fists clenched.
He chuckled.
“You're no match for yourself. Our fight was short, but sweet.”
He took out his hand swiftly, only to plunge it in more brutally.
“Agh!” I squeezed his clothes hard as mine got completely soaked—the smell of my blood, the feel of my blood.
It wasn't beautiful. It was pain. Nothing and nothing but pain. My tears rolled down my eyes. I wasn't crying from the pain. Rather, they poured because of everything that happened from the beginning of my journey in the Land of the Dead.
My parents, who had tried to make me feel like I was the cause of their deaths, the people's haunting memories that had left a great impact on me, and a taste of this pain.
I fell to the ground, looking at the swirling sky.
Now, it was no mystery why nobody ever survived. I saw my own face grinning down at me with satisfaction.
He'd won.
However, just before I closed my eyes, someone screamed. A familiar voice that sent fear building up worse than the pain.
“Ava!”
What the…?
The other man turned to look at the voice with pure malice radiating in his eyes, and my heart jumped to my throat as I turned.
The voice screamed again.
“Ava!”
Shit.
Jace.