The room was no bigger than a closet and held nothing but a stone podium and a black and red book. The book didn't have a title. I placed a hand on the book and received a notification that made me smile.

You have found: Tome of Summon Lesser Magmite Durability: 20/20

Item Class: Uncommon

Quality: Above Average

Spell Level: 5th

Spell Type: Pyro

Traits: Summons a level 5 Pyromantic Elemental to serve you.

Weight: 1lbs

“Damn it.” Irritation flared inside me as I read the description. If I hadn’t been so reliant on my light magic, I would have a higher level in Pyro. I would have been able to learn this spell. I gently lifted the book off of the podium. When nothing happened, I willed it into my ring. It shouldn’t take me very long to boost the skill the last twenty percent. I scanned the room again, but there was nothing else there. I stepped out and back into the room with the statue. This time, the room had changed. The statue was no longer bipedal and looked more like a proper elephant. Its trunk pressed into the stone in front of it. There was a staircase descending to the ground just in front of the statue. “Well, I guess I am headed down next.” I gave the room another scan, but everything else was the same.

I made my way over to the staircase and headed down. The stairway ended in another chamber. It was arranged similarly to the previous room, only there was no statue. The far side of the room held another plaque and a bowl. The other three walls were blank stone. I kept both hands up, ready to cast a spell while I crossed the room. When I crossed the room, I reached the plaque and found words instead of a puzzle, which was a pleasant surprise. My ability translated the words, and I began to read.

Mastery of the self is the first step on the path to power.

I read the plaque twice before checking the bowl. There was a bronze knife sitting at the bottom. “Oh, come on,” I groaned as I picked up the knife. It looked like I was supposed to bleed into the bowl. I placed the blade against the palm of my hand and prepared to cut, but decided against it. I placed the blade against the back of my arm and cut there. It still hurt, but hopefully it wouldn’t impede my spell casting. The blood dripped down my arm and into the bowl. Instead of the blood pooling at the bottom like I expected, it was drained into the stone. I glanced down, but there was no container for it. Just the solid stone. I pulled my arm back after a couple of seconds and cringed. I ripped part of my robes and wrapped it around the wound in a makeshift bandage. “That was really fucking creepy”

I pushed the disturbing sight from my mind and looked around. None of the walls changed, no doors opened. The room was exactly the same as it was before I fed the bowl with my blood. “There is no way that I just bled for no—” Before I could finish my sentence, shadows began to grow and coalesce in the center of the room. The shadows quickly took on a humanoid shape. I stared dumbly as the shadows became more and more real. Before long, the vaguely humanoid shape became recognizable. My blood ran cold as I stared into my own eyes. The shadows became a blackened mockery of me. It was almost six and half feet tall with dark pits for eyes. Shadowy locs fell down its back in a lion’s mane of fake hair. In place of my robes, it wore a darker black suit with tails. Altogether, it looked like a comically evil version of myself.

“Good Evening.” The shadowy imposter’s voice was dark and seductive. It felt like speaking to the devil, but it made no moves. It placed both of its arms behind his back in a copy of Morpheus from the Matrix. It then began pacing side to side. It searched me up and down as if appraising me. “It is hard to believe I could be so weak.” That comment snapped me back to reality. Anger simmered inside me, but I kept myself calm.

“What are you? An illusion? A dream? A golem?” No matter what angle I looked at it from, the imposter was solid. If it wasn’t for its outward appearance, it would be a perfect copy. The shadow creature laughed as if I had just told it the most amusing joke. Its voice dripped with a condescension that made me want to throw myself at it. I wanted to rip it to pieces.

“You think I am some cheap trick? No “Suzerain” it somehow made the title sound like the worst of insults. “I am you. I am what you could be. Assuming you survive this new world. Assuming you don’t let your thoughts of what should be cloud what is.” It raised both arms as if checking out its body before nodding in approval. “We could raise an empire. Sunder worlds. We could have more power than anyone being has had in millennia. All you have to do is want it. No, all you have to do is take it.” The imposter’s dark eyes seemed to grow even darker. Transforming into abyssal pools. They forced me to pull my gaze away.

My instincts screamed at me to attack. I wanted to throw flame and light and banish this shadow, but something about that felt wrong. It felt like resulting in violence would be admitting I was weaker than this thing. I refused to do that. “So what? I have to dress like a two bit movie villain? Do I have to begin a monologue about my evil plans?” The thought made me chuckle. I was about to continue when I caught something in the imposter’s face. It was faint, but it was definitely there. His face twitched into the beginnings of a frown. He managed to regain control almost immediately, but it definitely happened.

“Ah, I have forgotten how successful you have been. Your self sacrificing bull shit has helped get you killed once. Your idiocy was so impressive that you earned the gaze of a God? Do you enjoy being their plaything? If we dress you up just right, you can even look the part.” The imposter’s voice practically dripped with disdain. My fists balled and sneered back at him.

“I did what I had to do to. I protected her and dealt with the cult. I did it all while keeping what mattered to me. I wasn’t forced to become some edge-lord brat. How much more pathetic could you be? You couldn’t survive on your own, so you abandoned everything and became what they wanted you to be? You might as well be dead.” That got a reaction. We locked eyes and its arms transformed into claws. He let out a roar of anger and came at me. I grinned and rushed forward. His clawed right hand tore into my side, but nothing happened. I didn’t even feel the pain. I slammed both fists into his head. The impact against his skull sent a thrill of pleasure through me.

He slammed his left hand into my chest, forcing me back. The impact was barely noticeable. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been in a fight like this. I brought up both fists into a boxing guard. I advanced, not caring about the claw swipes at the rest of my body. Each punch felt like a shot of caffeine straight into my veins. Before long, the imposter could barely hold its form together. It looked more like a congealed mass of darkness than me, but I didn’t stop. I was going to crush it. I was going to tear it limb from limb until it wouldn’t think of fighting me again. No one would think about challenging me again.

It was like a bucket of ice water was thrown on me with that thought. When did I want that? My thoughts had become so fuzzy. My vision blurred and split in two. I could barely keep my hands up but something inside me pushed me to keep fighting. Why did I want to fight? Who was I fighting? I got myself back to my feet and locked eyes on what was left on the imposter’s face. Its black eyes were less oppressive now. If anything, they almost looked disappointed. It rushed forward, its arms forming another pair of vicious claws. My body reacted on its own. Both fists raising to battle when I stopped. I swayed on my feet as the rage inside me pressed me to keep fighting. I ground my teeth together in an effort to keep from moving. I didn’t want to fight anymore. There was no way I was going to let something else force me to keep going. The claws flew for my throat, but just before they ripped it out I bolted up.

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I stumbled away from the bowl. Something metal hit the ground, but it sounded far away. I felt like I had been thrown into a dryer. The world spun and spun. I fell to a knee and gasped for breath. I closed my eyes and covered my ears. Anything to limit the sensory input going to my head. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there like that, but when I was calm, I opened my eyes and stood up. I was standing in the same room as before. Everything was the same except there was no shadow and—" My train of thought ended abruptly when I caught sight of the bowl. There was a trail of blood going from the bowl down to the floor and to where I was standing. I checked my arm, only to realize that there was no bandage. I quickly ripped my robes and wrapped it tight. I then rushed up to the bowl. It was no nearly half full of blood. Of my blood.

My brain rushed to make sense of everything. I had fought the shadow creature. Suddenly, things began to fall into place. I hadn’t been fighting anything? Was that why the wounds felt like nothing? Was it just trying to keep me distracted until all my blood was gone? I slowly reached down and placed my finger into the crimson liquid. It was warm, so warm. A notification popped into view.

You have found: Sanguine Potion(Darterrius) Alchemical Level: Concoction

Alchemical Strength: Enhanced

Details: Heals 100hp and 100mp over sixty seconds.

Durability: N/A

Restrictions: Can only be used by Darterrius and those of his line.

Weight: N/a

It was a bit creepy that my blood turned into a potion. A potion that only I or my “line” could drink but there was no doubting that it was effective. I reached for the empty water-skin and filled it up the potion. There was enough to fill the water-skin. The last vestiges in the bowl were absorbed into the stone. Which was a bit morbid. I decided not to question it. I stepped away from the bowl and took a seat against the wall. I had a headache, and I had another notification to review.

You have been awarded 600 experience from defeating Phantasmal Elemental level 6

So the creature was real, and it was some strange kind of elemental. The fact that it wasn’t here meant I had somehow killed it or that it couldn’t exist in this world? “Ahh!” I vented my frustration for just a moment before taking a deep breath. Not knowing anything about how this world worked was beyond frustrating. There was nothing I could do about it now, though. I got to my feet and searched around for an exit. Once I found the new pathway behind the plaque, I stepped into the hallway and continued forward.

The hallway slopped down and ended in a dark room. There was just enough light for me to make it the general size and shape of the room. It was about half again as large as the previous one and was more of a rectangle. I cast Sphere of Light and spread it out through the room. When I saw what else was in the room, my eyes went wide and my mind went into overdrive. “Fuck,” I whispered breathlessly.

The room was filled with stone statues. There were fifteen of them spread out. Based on the scattered stone shards, there were more statues at one point. I made my way over to the closest and ran a hand across its shoulder. The statue was of a woman. The statue was so detailed I could make out the pupils of her eyes. They were vertical slits, a bit like a cat. Even knowing she was a statue, I couldn’t help expecting her to start moving. A voice in the back of my mind was warning me of danger, but I didn’t start listening until I found a metal shield on the ground. I searched my memory and realized each of the statues held weapons. From daggers to swords and maces. None of the weapons were stone. I grabbed the metal shield and buckled it to my arm.My brain went to work piecing everything together, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on here.

Either a sculptor dropped their greatest works in a dark cave somewhere deep in the ground. Or there was a monster here that could turn people into stone. As far as I knew, there was onl—Before I could finish the thought, the air on the back of my neck stood on end. My instincts screamed at me to get down, so I threw myself to the ground and rolled. I barely avoided a whip like tongue as it shot out of the darkness. The tongue slammed into the statue, knocking it to the ground with a clatter. I pulled my shield up, angling it like a mirror and saying a silent prayer to Perseus. I launched a gout of flame toward the tongue. The orange embers revealed only empty space. I ended the flow of magic to my spell and kept my gaze low.

I used the shield like a mirror. I pushed my fear down and strained my ears. The sound of my heartbeat filled my ears, making it even harder to find the creature. A blur of movement was reflected in the shield. I moved to the right only to feel the whip like tongue slash across my shoulder. The pain was blinding. I dropped to one knee. “It’s a reflection.” I scalded myself for forgetting something so obvious. I pulled the three spheres closer to me. Forming a triangle of light with me at the center. It didn’t reveal my attacker’s position, but I didn’t expect it to. I pulled up my water half full water-skin and took a sip. My health and magic refilled, and I began to plan. The shield was the only thing keeping me in the fight. I had no skill with the shield. I had my magic, but I had to see my target in order to hit. Another blur of movement pulled me from my thoughts. This time, I could bring the shield up. The creature’s tongue hit the shield with the force of a baseball bat.

It forced me back a step. Thankfully, the shield withstood the attack. I sent one of my spheres after the creature. It only lasted a moment, but I caught sight of the beast. It was as big as a greyhound and stood on two feet. It was hunched over, with thick scales covering its body. I diverted my gaze from the rest of it and began casting. I quickly realized that dual casting was impossible with the shield. I had no way of knowing where the creature had run to now that it was in the darkness. So I decided to take a risk. I unleashed a gout of flame in the last known direction of the creature. The smell of heat and stale air made me want to barf, but I held on. After ten seconds of waiting, I began to worry that my plan wouldn’t work. Just when I began to consider alternatives what I was waiting for happened. The creature's tongue shot out from my right. Instead of letting the shield block the attack, I took it on the shoulder. I creature’s tongue pierced straight through. I screamed in pain as my concentration on the spell broke.

The tongue tugged back, sending a fresh wave of pain through me. It was unable to rip the tongue out of my shoulder. I fell to one knee and wanted nothing more than the pain to end. I gritted my teeth and focused. I began casting with my free time. The seconds for the spell felt like an eternity as the monster tried to rip my shoulder off. The word of power fell from my lips like a curse as I thrust my hand forward. Four rays of light banished the shadows, and for a moment, the entire chamber was illuminated. I resisted the urge to look for the beast, but its hiss of pain told me I hit something. I didn’t give it a chance to go on the offensive. I started casting my next spell as soon as the first ended. A bolt of radiant energy shot from my palm. The monster let out a hiss just before it ripped its tongue out of my shoulder. I screamed in pain as blood poured down my arm.

I shakily raised the shield, bracing myself for the creature’s next attack. There was a brief moment of silence before something crashed into me like a truck. It threw me to the ground. It pushed the shield back and into my chest. I squeezed my eyes shot and began casting. The creature’s claws tore at whatever exposed flesh it could reach. The seconds before my spell took effect felt like an eternity. I felt death creeping closer and closer until finally a gout of flame shot out of my palm. The creature let out a cry of pain and tried to pull back. I used my free hand and the shield to pin one of its claws into my thigh. The pain made me want to cry, throw up, and pass out all at once. Instead, I focused on holding on. My magic points ran dry before I realized that the chamber had gone silent. I let my arms fall to my side.

I strained my ears, wanting to hear any sign of the creature. Any sign that my gambit had failed, but none came. After a few seconds, I opened my eyes and caught sight of the creature. It wasn’t on top of me anymore.It had fallen over in its attempt to get free. The monster was blackened. Both of its eyes had popped due to the heat and it must have severed its tongue in its desperation. I slowly crawled away from the macabre sight. When my back hit the wall, I closed my eyes and cried.