“Be that as it may. You have yet to complete my Test,” she breathed huskily, and I felt myself drawn by her intoxicating influence. “I must choose a suitable opponent for a powerful mortal such as you. Something… something poetic,” she drawled, running a finger across the line of my of my jaw before playfully tapping me on my nose.

My sword would not strike a futile blow against that which it could not touch, nor would my teeth gnash against themselves in frustration, for I had long gone past the point where such petty provocation would get a rise from me. Still, my free hand formed an iron fist and I found myself gripping my trusty weapon tighter. I would succeed at this Test, and only come out stronger.

“Yes, I have just the thing! Your final trial and a suitable reward, should you overcome it. I am most generous, am I not?” she voiced with an intonation that demanded worship.

It was a powerful thing, the influence of god, a mesh of soft womanly wiles and the hard steel of irresistible command that threaded through her voice. I felt myself start to give voice to a word of praise and thanks, but stopped myself. My pride would not allow me to do so. In comparison to the power of my patron, the source of dark, otherworldly magic, Entropy, hers was but a pale shadow.

“You do yourself proud. I see that you are made of sterner stuff. This will be the last Test. Come prove to me your worth,” she exclaimed, an echo to her voice that reverberated with heavy portent.

From the last statue, an amorphous blob was born from the living stone. It shrunk in size, condensed and turned into liquid, before taking on the rough texture of mud or earth. Like clay. From this ball grew four limbs and a head. As it slowly took on more detail, I could see that it was molding itself into a vague approximation of a humanoid form. It began to take on more complexity, growing ever more sinister in its appearance.

I yearned to strike this thing down as it was being created, before it could be completed, but something held me back. It would be wrong to strike down an unborn child. It would be perverse. It would be unjust.

These thoughts, however, were not my own, and the choir of voices within clamored in protestation. A suggestion snuck through the alien thoughts to the fore of my mind, an image of the raw stuff of Entropy. Holy Aura would not serve me well here. The next opponent would require something darker, something more powerful.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The auric light faded slowly, and with it my primary source of illumination. The orange red glow of Golem’s body was all that was left, and even that had begun to slowly fade as my Rust spell continued to consume the remains. Divine purpose and the sense of righteousness was replaced with something more familiar. I readied the threads of Mana and cast the spell. Entropic Aura pulsed from me, and I felt a serenity, an acceptance of my place in all existence. Though I was finite and had an end, I was also the end.

Finally, I was able to break from my fugue of inaction and false sense of fairness. Using the Dash skill, I closed the distance between us and raised a blow, fueled with the strength of Power Strike at what I thought was just a clay figure. My weapon was parried by the clay creation’s weapon, and the first note of steel meeting steel rang in the air. Even in the questionable light, I could see that its sword was identical to my own.

I took a step back to gaze upon the figure that had been born from the clay or living stone. It looked back at me through a visored helm, fashioned in the same style as my own, with cold disdain. What was once stone and clay, was now a thing clad with heavy steel, shadow, and dark ambition. In time to the waves of my own Entropic Aura, it emitted identical gray waves of its own that brushed and flowed against mine.

It was in a way a compliment, I thought somewhere in the back of my mind. Of all the mighty monsters that Iasis could have chosen for her final Test, she had chosen that I fight a mirror image of myself. A reflection and testament of my own might.

For a second, it looked down at what was left of the golem and drew inspiration from it. The thing had been born, but a few seconds ago, and I could sense that it was already learning. And learning quickly. Wary, I kept my distance, which proved almost to be my undoing. Black lightning flowed from its outstretched hand, intertwining with the pulses of our Entropy as raven dark energy latched onto my armor.

Gritting my teeth, I expected a world of pain, girding myself to launch a last suicidal spiteful attack even as I cooked within my armor. But there was nothing. There was no spike of pain, nor was I turned into a blazing conflagration of metal. Absolutely ineffective, the black lightning wove and coursed futilely about my person. Stupidly, the thing cast Rust on me again, but to no effect, as the energies of the spell simply washed over me.

I laughed in unrestrained glee at the lesser me’s display of foolishness. It had even inherited my habit of making the same mistake twice. I understood now why the voices had prophetically advised me to use my Entropic Aura. The Aura had been the shield that had nullified my mirror’s power. I knew it to be so. Before it could cast another spell, I redoubled my attack, our blades clashing in a song of sparks.

I would enjoy this contest with the most perfect of sparring partners.