Harper awoke in a panic. He jumped from his fridge with his fists at the ready. “Clones!”
Two clones stepped out from his back. A ripple went through Harper’s body.
Clone(Rank 2) RP: 8/10 > 10/10
Clone(Rank 3) RP: 0/10
A third clone came from his back. The other two clones became even more alert than they initially were.
Clone(Rank 3) RP: 0/10 > 1/10
“Not bad. You leveled your Cloning ability again. Now put this on, you look ridiculous.” Malgren stepped out from the jungle and tossed a piece of fabric in Harper’s direction.
Harper snatched it from the air. It was a pair of pants and a tunic. Both were a mixture of green and brown with beige spots.
“I made them with one of my Skills, Mold. Now put them on.”
Harper put on the clothes without much fuss. He spoke to him while doing so, nearly falling in the process. “What uh—woah, woah… Ok. Now, what was that ability you used to literally blow my clones’ heads to pieces?”
“Hyper Impact.”
Harper waited for more of an explanation, but none was forthcoming. He shrugged. “Oooookaaaay. Why are you here? How did I get here? Did you kill me with that Skill?”
Malgren shook his head. “You killed yourself with Primal Fury. That wasn’t the first time you used that ability, correct?” When Harper nodded, Malgren continued. “The overload of adrenaline causes you to enter a state where your brain can’t intake information properly. You’re little more than a rabid animal. I’m assuming it makes you thirsty when it ends. You literally drained yourself so dry the Skill began feeding on your blood. Your body shut down.”
“Huh. So I was right, I really can only use it once per life. Well, without drinking like a gallon of water after.” Harper cupped his chin. “Does that mean the ability is useless?”
“No. But it’s not offensive, despite your use of it in that way. It would work much better as a way to furiously escape combat. Ignore all injuries in an adrenaline overload and run with everything your body can offer.” Malgren nodded when Harper tilted his head. “Yes, that does mean we need to find you another ability. Right now, you have Defensive and Utility. And yes, despite your clones having endless energy to fight, they’re better used as utility. But I don’t need to explain that.”
“So what do we do? Do we go out into the jungle and find an offensive skill for me to use? What skill could that even be?” Harper was pacing at this point, racking his brain for ideas.
“First of all, I couldn’t tell you what skill that would be. There’s an uncountable amount of skills out there. Second, just because we’re in a jungle right now doesn’t mean we’re staying here. The only kind of abilities you’ll find are Defensive and Utility here. We need to go elsewhere for Offense.”
Harper stopped in his tracks and looked at Malgren. “Where? This jungle stretches for miles.”
“Yes and no. Walk with me.” Malgren walked, not towards the light side of the fridge, but the dark side. He very quickly disappeared into the darkness.
Harper jogged over to find him. At first, he couldn’t, and he started to freak out. He was a lot of hot air when talking himself up to them, but right now, he really was useless. His only offensive skill was actually useless offensively, and his clones were endless stores of energy, but ultimately idiots in a fight. What could he do in this hellscape alone?
A hand clasped his shoulder. “See? You walk with fear. Now come.” Despite his words, Malgren didn’t release him, instead pushing him along.
Harper was ashamed of his reaction and confused by where they were going. It seemed to be identical to every other part of the jungle. Maybe there was less muck on the floor, but…
The muck suddenly went from less to a sea’s worth. If not for Malgren gripping him, he would’ve very likely sunk down to his neck. He shook his head and stepped on solid ground.
Malgren didn’t release his grip. “Watch your back. We haven’t arrived, but dangers will become more numerous. Not only that, the animals will give way to monsters soon. Be glad you only followed the light. The darkness is where the true terrors lurk.”
Harper’s head was immediately on a swivel. “What the actual fuck, why did you bring me here?”
Malgren laughed. It sounded like a landslide behind Harper. “You wanted to kill me, right? This is how you do it.”
He tried his best to ignore the chills sliding down his spine.
This guy is gonna fucking kill me, he’s gonna fucking kill me out here. And I can’t even stop him.
The hand on his shoulder squeezed. “Relax. You could crush coal into diamonds with how clenched you are. Look there.”
Harper turned his head at what Malgren called out. A building was erupting from the swamplands surrounding them. It wasn’t anything large, just a small hut with a thatched roof. A moat of water surrounded it.
Malgren pulled him back. “Hold on, now. That’s not a building. Send a clone over.”
He pointed at the building. “Clone, go check it out.”
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The clone walked over, surprisingly going without any disturbance by creatures of any kind. Granted, they were no longer walking under a canopy of death. They could actually see the sky now. Maybe he could see his lucky star if he tried hard enough.
The clone stepped in the water surrounding the building. It got no further. It nearly instantly melted into nothing. Acid. And it was stronger than literally any acid on Earth.
Harper nodded slowly. “Ok. Clone number two, go into that building. And avoid the acid moat.”
The clone followed his instructions, coming to the moat and then jumping over it. The moment it touched the ground in front of the building, it moved. Not the clone, but the building. It reached forward, the door opening to reveal endless spinning teeth. It devoured the clone whole, then sat back, closed its door, and reassumed its facade of a simple thatch building.
“Ok, so mimics are a thing. Great. That’s not gonna be fun.”
“Oh, you know what those are? Unexpected.”
Harper waved him off. “We pathetic humans have a tendency to invent all sorts of horrors that we thought would only ever exist in stories. I see we were wrong.” Oddly, recognizing the monster as a mimic made him feel more relaxed. He’d rather face a known monster than an unknown one.
That’s when he heard a wet sliding noise and looked back to notice his one remaining clone was gone. “Clones. Malgren, I think we’ve got company.”
Clones(Rank 3) RP: 1/10 > 4/10
Malgren nodded. “Indeed we do. Run, now. I’ll handle it.” When Harper made no moves and simply stared at him, Malgren sighed. “I’m not going to kill you this time. That would be a waste of both our times.
Only after a few more seconds, and aggressive rumbling coming from the ground, did Harper run off. He didn’t know where he was going, only that he and his clones were going to have to survive on their own in an acid-filled swamp. He looked up to the sky while he ran, once more seeking his star.
Instead, he saw something that made him dive for the ground. One of his clones promptly exploded into dust behind him. He turned around to look at the giant bird twice his size. No, that was no bird. He didn’t know what it was.
It had two sets of wings, one behind the other, that flapped asynchronously. Its beak was the length of his arm and the width of his body and its talons were the size of his torso. The bird ruffled its feathers all along its six foot frame, then let out an angry cry. It didn’t like the taste of clone dust, it seemed.
Harper tore himself from the ground and ran. He didn’t know where he was trying to go, only that he needed to be far away from that demonspawn of a bird.
“Clone!” A clone shunted out of his back, and his steps faltered for a moment before he called back to all three of them. “Defend me from that bird, now! Slow it down and make sure you don’t die!”
Clone(Rank 3) RP: 4/10 > 5/10
He didn’t look back to see if they were successful. Judging by the lack of bird beak tearing him to shreds, he assumed they were. What he did focus on was a nearby cave. A bright white glow was coming from it. Perfect, maybe there would be an ability in there for him to gain.
That’s when a hand grabbed him by the tunic and yanked him backwards. “Uh-uh, you aren’t getting over there that easy.” He knew that voice. “That Skill is mine, you bastard.”
Harper turned around and sent a fist full force into the face of the person halting him. Brooke dodged away effortlessly. When Harper looked around for the bird, he saw its mangled corpse a few feet behind him.
The ground beneath Harper quaked. He could hardly stay standing, meanwhile Brooke walked with ease. He blinked. Brooke appeared inches away from him and sent an uppercut to his jaw. Harper went sailing backwards.
“I’m not you anymore. I am your worst nightmare. Every person on this god-forsaken planet deserves everything that’s coming for them. But none more than you.” Brooke took a few steps towards Harper.
Harper edged backwards. Brooke kicked him in the leg. He then kicked him in the ribs. Over… and over… and over again. Harper cried out with each impact.
“W-why are you doing th—”
Brooke stomped down on Harper’s chest and ground his foot down. “Don’t you ask me that. Don’t you dare fucking ask me that! You know what you did, you piece of shit!” Brooke reared back, then kicked him hard enough to send him flying a few feet. “How fucking dare you, ‘Wh-why are you doing this?’ That’s how you sound. Fucking pathetic.”
Harper coughed up blood. He then turned onto his stomach and began crawling away. He just needed to get to the cave. He didn’t know why, but he truly believed he would be safe there.
But it wasn’t to be. He felt as his ankle was grabbed and he was dragged face first through the ruddy ground. He then felt himself fly up off the ground as Brooke grabbed both ankles and lifted him, only to slam him back down. He did this a few times before suddenly stopping.
Wh-what? It stopped? Is this my chance?
Harper resumed crawling as best he could towards the cave. He rationally knew he wouldn’t make it, but damn if he wasn’t going to try. That’s when he felt something grab him by the tunic again.
Damn it all…
Someone leaned into his ear. “This is going to break your spine. Don’t stop crawling once you land. I’m not going to survive this fight, but I will do my best to hold him back.”
Harper felt a massive palm hit his lower back and he went flying towards the cave. He only had enough time to cross his arms in front of himself. He landed in front of the cave with a sickening crunch and ragdolled a few feet into it. He was woozy, but alive. Barely.
There, at the very back of the cave, was a spot of glowing white light. It was pulsating with clear power. One of his arms was broken in multiple places, several ribs were pulverized, and he couldn’t feel his legs. But he could still use the other arm to drag himself forward. So he dragged.
He reached the spot that was pulsating with power. Nothing happened. It glowed and pulsated, but if it was affecting him in any way, he didn’t feel it. And he could feel his injuries killing him. Once again, he wasn’t long for the world. It was frustrating.
Spawn, die, spawn, die, spawn, die, spawn, die! What the fuck is the point of any of this!? That’s it, I’m digging a hole and I’m dying in it! Fucking might as well!
“Clones! Primal Fury!” Harper howled in anger and tore at the ground with both arms. His broken arm was screaming at him to stop, but he could feel nothing. Nothing other than the singular goal he dedicated his energy into. His clones did the same, imitating his actions without a second thought.
Clone(Rank 3) RP: 5/10 > 8/10
Primal Fury(Rank 0) RP: 2/10 > 3/10
The hole ended up being deep enough to fully entomb him by the time Primal Fury and the clones all ran their course. Harper was tired, oh so tired. He wanted nothing more than to sleep. Maybe when he woke, he’d finally be free of the hellspawn of a planet he found himself on. Maybe this was all just a hallucination moments before death and he really had succeeded in ending his own life back when he’d been hiking. Maybe now he could be with his sister.
He fell asleep. The cave’s light filled him. He did not awaken.
Skill Earned
Void Touch(Rank 0)