A Wayward Reflection

Askook? Zero thought. THAT'S ASKOOK! 

A million thoughts were running through Zero's head as the dragon stood several feet away and towered over all the surrounding trees. Was he wrong about how echoes worked? Can Askook travel freely outside of his domain? How did he find them??

The mighty dragon's shadow cast over him and surrounded him with darkness.

"Did you think you were rid of me? After what you did??"

Every good feeling that had been induced in him had been replaced with anxiety and gripping fear. Kai was nowhere to be seen and even if he was here, they were thrashed in a head to head fight last time. Not that much has changed in just a matter of days.

"H-how are you here?!" Zero demanded of him as he took a step back.

A puff of smoke rose out of its nostrils. "The question that should be asked is, have you made peace with your Gods?"

Faster than anyone could anticipate, Askook released a blast of spectral flame in the short distance between them. It collided into the ground and created an upheaval of dirt and flowers. Flames spread through the nearby trees as smoke layered over the sky.

Askook glanced through the flames for Zero and saw nothing remaining - just flame and destruction.

"Hmmm. Did I incinerate you? Or...have you once again played your little shadowy tricks?"

Just behind the tree line on the left side of Askook, Zero could be seen clawing his way out of the shadow of the trees. He had a look of relief on his face as he saw that he made it where he intended.

That was literally my first time using Shadow Walking! He thought in a mix of worry and shock. Who knows how that could've ended...

He stood up behind the nearest tree and spied on Askook as they remained oblivious to his whereabouts. 

More importantly, that was way too close. I had to dive into the last sliver of shadow left but even I thought I wasn't going to make it in time. Lucky I guess.

Askook craned his head from side to side as he stood up on his back legs. "You cling to the darkness like a rat. Do you really think there is safety within it's embrace, Zero?"

Wait, how-

Zero blinked and suddenly the entire scenery around him fell away - replaced with pitch black darkness. The kind of darkness where you can't see a single finger in front of you no matter how close it is to your face.

"How is this happening??" Zero questioned as panic rose within him. "Is this some type of illusion? Could this an enemy player after all?"

"The only enemy here is the darkness that rots inside you."

Askook's face floated, disembodied, floated towards him from out of the darkness. 

"You who are hollow inside. You who find safety in darkness. These have always been traits of you. It kept you from feeling hurt around your parents, right?"

Zero's eyes flew open.

".....who are you?" He whispered. He knew there was no way Askook could know this information. Did he read my mind when he spoke to me?

Suddenly, the floating face began to quickly decompose and rot from the inside - the eyes shriveled up and maggots crawled through the husk. "I am you. And soon, Kai will know it too."

Zero felt sick to his stomach and took off running in a random direction.

"I've got to get out of here!" He couldn't use his system to save him since EVERYWHERE was darkness, so it was basically one big shadow. However without having any sense of direction he felt like he was just running the same loop over and over.

"What will you REALLY do with the Final System, Zero?"

"Shut up."

"Will you just use it to smash the world like you did with my eggs?!"

"SHUT UP!"

Zero suddenly came to a halt. 

"Wait a second. Eggs. Food. Cooking." An idea began to form in Zero's head. "What if this is some kind of...weird side effect from something?" He began to question the smell him and Kai stumbled upon as well as the change in his own mindset the more he smelled it. "If so, maybe I can.."

Zero tried to bring up his HUD and realized that it wasn't working. So if there was some kind of side effect or status change, he wouldn't be alerted to it as he normally would.

Clearly though he could still access his systems.

"Time to cook!" He changed his invocation for switching from his darkness manipulation system to his culinary one. As usual he felt the shifts in flow of power as well as how it felt down to the last particle. 

"Create Recipe: Full On Pork Bun." 

This was the last of his three bonus recipes he received when first getting his system. The small burner stove that manifested provided just enough light for him to see the ingredients and supplies. He immediately got to work and began preparing the dish.

"Foolish. You dare sit down for dinner in my presence? I'll roast you a long with it." Askook's voice boomed all around him as images of Zero breaking the egg were on repeat all around him.

Zero did his best to focus on what he was doing. "I know this can't be real. I know you're not actually here."

"Still trying to convince yourself?"

Ingredients were now prepped.

+25 exp

Zero quickly cooked the dish in record time and placed the pork bun on a small manifested plate.

+50 exp

[Recipe: Full On Pork Bun

Alleviates all negative and positive status effects. Can only be cooked once a day.]

Zero shoved it in his mouth and felt the inside of his cheeks burn up from the heat. He had not time to wait for it to cool.

He could feel a sensation wash over him and a fog beginning to be lifted from his mind. 

[ Phantasm effect removed!]

The darkness around him started to vanish along with all the images of him breaking Askook's eggs. The last remaining thing was Askook's floating face as it stared right into Zero's eyes until it was completely gone. 

Zero looked around and saw that he was still in the woods, but was in a different area altogether. But there was no smoke in the air and nothing was on fire. 

"Thank god.." Zero moaned. "If I was wrong about that, I don't wanna think about the outcome." He stood back up from his cooking station while it broke apart into particles of energy. "Now, I have to find-"

"Grrrrrrrr." A deep rumble caught Zero's attention as he looked behind him to see what could only be described as a way overgrown house cat with thick tufts of blue fur had taken interest in him. It peered at him through it's slit like pupils and placed one massive claw forward.

"Oh hell."