Chapter 63: Beyond the Vastness of Space

The voice mocked back, "You always had allies to back you up, such a weak, fragile man. Most of your enemies you have faced are useless trash. With that in mind, what better enemy to unleash on you than your own reflection? A mirror clone that is far superior to you in every way would do nicely to show you how weak you are." The voice trailed off as the light in the center began to glow. I stood up; now, I had to protect Lysandra from any enemy attacks. The entire room began to glow as fire formed in the air at the center, and after a few seconds, a figure emerged. The figure was made of light; it was the figure of a man, one that resembled me in an uncanny way. The figure was expressionless, had no eyes, and was partially see-through. The voice laughed, "No reason to focus on the looks like I did for your friends; I can just overpower you."

The figure had a gauntlet similar to my own; it held out its hand, and runes formed in the air made of light. The voice added, "Real rune mages use light magic, not that lowly ink magic you use. I almost feel sorry for you, born with such a lowly affinity. Real rune mages also don't need to fully chant every spell; observe." Three symbols glowed in front of the figure, the runes for water and earth. Instantly the spell activated with none of the usual chanting. Mud shot out of the figure's gauntlet; I tried to dodge out of the way, but my clothes were absolutely filthy. I could feel the voice toying with me, "Bahaha, a little mud for the worm! You should be thanking me. A real rune mage can cast all their runes mentally; something you can't comprehend; it's much faster than your caveman way."

The figure began casting another spell right away; I yelled out, "Bacura!" I tried to at least shield myself this time as wind and water runes began to glow. Ice began to shoot out towards me, impaling me a bit, but I blocked a lot of the damage above my waist with the barrier. I was pretty badly damaged now; this place had worn me down a lot. I shot out, "Cosmodilithora! Obsidian Rain!" Lava rain began to pour down onto the figure, but he countered quickly with a water barrier. It was instant when combined with the light magic, and he didn't even have to say anything. The voice spoke directly into my skull, "You're weak, Lucius. I even have more runes than you; if you're surprised with the difference of just that, prepare to be shocked." He laughed, "Not only is my clone faster and has a wider range of runes, but he even has capacity over you."

The figure turned his gauntlet back towards me; to my surprise, three runes lit up this time — earth, water, and wind. Impossible; I could only do two runes at a time; this figure could do three with such speed? The runes converged and shot out quicksand which landed on my feet before I could react. The figure pointed out, "You will sink and suffocate before you even land so much as a hit on your better." I tried to move, but the more I struggled, the deeper I fell into the trap he had laid for me. I was beginning to shake; I couldn't beat this thing. It was just me, but better, as much as I hated to admit that. The voice taunted once again, "I suppose I should finish you off; enough playing with my food." The figure's gauntlet once again lit up; this time it seemed to form three runes I couldn't see what they were because they blinded me.

The voice laughed, "This one you have seen before; your memories showed me that Gwen girl can use this. Why don't you take a little nap, Lucius? Perhaps you will like your new permanent bed." The figure's hands glowed as twilight began to form quickly; this was it; should he cast that spell, I would be history. I began to think over the past: my first doll that I created with my grandpa, putting it in the shop and watching children buy it. That was the first time I felt like I had a dream; I wanted to make people smile. I wanted to create tools and toys that could bring people together. I wanted to eventually make my own collection of artisan tools; dying here would mean I lose that dream. All I had done since leaving home is fight; I was getting sick of always having to fight. I needed something that would always give me an edge even if someone else used my rune magic better.

Now was not the time to die; it was the time to use my brain. What is something I can use here that would give me an edge? As time seemed to slow down in the moment of the spell's cast, I remembered something the voice had said. The voice stated that I had low magical affinity, but that's not completely true. Altaria told me I had an affinity for Quantum, Death, and Celestial. I also had the necklace she gave me. The necklace that still contained a small charge of her magic; perhaps what I needed right now was to bet it all on one attack. I couldn't improve myself as a rune mage right now, but I could take a gamble with all the magic I had left. I concentrated; with mere moments away from the twilight hitting me, I charged my gauntlet with new energy.

The energy wasn't quantum, but rather, I channeled a different kind of energy into the gauntlet, a crude magic. This type of magic was unconcentrated, but the power would be on another level. Just as the twilight was coming towards me, it was blasted away by the energy in my hands. Light blue energy swirled around with dark blue energy, creating a massive super orb; it was draining everything I had left. The voice shouted, "What is this! This wasn't in your list of runes!" I mocked, "You forgot one thing when you estimated my value. It's easy to undervalue someone when you're glancing at a mere fraction of their potential. Estimating my value with a single glance is like trying to measure the vastness of the cosmos with a yardstick." I yelled out as the orb combined death and celestial energy, "Cosmic Ascension Ray!" A beam of energy shot out from my gauntlet, hitting the figure dead on.

Despite being made of light, the figure seemed to get absorbed into the beam, almost like the cosmic ray absorbed all of the magic he was made of. I was knocked off my feet and out of the quicksand as all the magic left my body at once. I huffed and puffed; I wanted to sleep already. In the pitch black, I heard, "You had such a trick up your sleeve, worm? No matter; you're powerless now. That was just a small bit of my magic; come to the next room if you dare. I will show you why not even the vastness of space can quantify the difference between our power." At last, the stupid voice finally stopped talking. I lay down in the dark; I needed to rest just a moment. Just as I thought that, the door swung open from the outside. A figure walked in, "Ah, what's going on! I heard fighting!" A second voice warned, "Careful, Finn! We don't know what we're dealing with yet."

Finally, the light from a sword shone in the room; it was Finn. He seemed unhurt, thankfully. I smiled, "You're a little late; I already won." Finn raced over to me, "Lucius! I thought you were dead! What happened to you?" I frowned, "Don't kill me off that quickly; never mind that for now, please." I pointed over to Lysandra, "Tend to her first; her wounds are severe." Finn looked over in horror at the wounded Lysandra, "Oh my gods, there is so much blood. Aeolus, can you do anything?" Aeolus frowned, "I don't have the healing runes I used in the past, but I can try." He put his small hands on Lysandra as he seemed to concentrate. Green energy flowed from his hands; he frowned, "I am no healer, but I used to be the god of nature and wind before I became the god of runes you humans know today. I could channel some of that natural eneergy into her, but it won't work miracles; it should stabilize her, though."

I waited with my head still on the sandstone floor; after a few minutes of channeling his green energy into her, Aeolus nodded, "Should be fine now. Seems like the stitches you gave her saved her life, as clumsy as they were. She needs immediate medical attention, though; we need to get back to town." My vision was growing hazy, "No, he is still here; won't just let us leave." Aeolus frowned, "We have been looking for your group for a while, but what do you mean by he?" I choked out, "I don't know; there should be another room ahead of here. There is some kind of monster lurking in these ruins. I want to help, but I can't move.." Finn got serious, "Some kind of monster? Is that what attacked everyone here?" I nodded, "He seems to.. live off fear. He uses people's fears as a tool.." Finn responded, "Lucius, I promise I will take care of him once and for all; you just get rest. I will be back once we get him; we need to get your group back to the town." I argued a bit, "Leave that monster for me, Finn. I'll catch up and make sure he pays for what he's done here.. just give me.. a few minutes.." The world grew dark as I passed out Finn seemed to say something, but my mind faded away into the darkness of this underground abyss.