Quest 50 | ONC 2024

Thirteen:

The three clones slowly twirled their sword around them like nun chucks, slicing at the air with little impact on the environment, but my mind reacted. I saw them as if they weren't in front of us, as if they were ghosts, reimagined images of fear. Why had the beast taken Damon's face? And why had it multiplied by three?

"It is a shame to place us at forty-nine," the clone on the far left said.

"We deserve the fiftieth position," the clone on the right hissed.

"No one can replicate us," the center clone snarled.

"You!?" Damon angrily lifted his sword and pointed it at them. "You copied me! You're wearing my face!"

They snickered in unison. The clone on the left pursed their lips. "And what if we said it was our face first?"

Damon drew in a sharp breath as he stepped back. His hand trembled in the grip of his sword. Uncertainty rang through him, and I knew it because I heard it in his pounding heartbeats. He couldn't have believed these demons. They had to be able to copy whoever they laid eyes on.

"Hmm," the center clone snickered, "look at him shake."

"He's afraid." The clone on the right laughed in their palm.

"I'm not afraid!" Damon shouted.

I bit my lip. Don't let them get to you.

"He isn't afraid," one snickered.

"Oh, the lies I smell," the center laughed.

"Itty bitty baby," the clone on the right cooed the loudest. And that was the trigger. Damon growled and spun his sword back so he held it over his shoulder. Then he rushed the replica creatures with a full on attack. My eyes widened and my breath hitched as he swung at the three of them, catching their blocking blows with their swords against his own. Their sounds of battle frustration surrounded me and I couldn't tell which belonged to whom.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. They egged him on, found his fear, and used it to their advantage. When we were younger, Damon kept his interests and personality different from everyone else and that was one of the things I loved most about him. But these three made him the same and tore away his originality. The beasts were cruel! To find what bothered him most and pair it with the bullying he sustained in school. The later bosses were calculated. I am worried about tomorrow, but we need to survive tonight.

Spinning my sword, I hung it at my side and charged at them to join Damon. I caught the clone on the left and sliced it in its arm. It hissed and quickly stepped to the side. "Don't run from me!" I shouted.

"They're not me," Damon hissed. "I never run!"

"Oh, never?" the center snickered. "You should've last night, would've spared your love the terror of dying at your hands."

I quickly looked at them. This is what they did. I understood their feat tactic but they would not make Damon relive last night. It was terrible for the both of us, but for him to know he had no control, that was one of his biggest fears.

I pushed off the ground and attacked the three of them at once. My sword swung in twirling fashion, quick and fluid slash, slash, slash, and I caught each of them in the chest. They stepped back and hissed, flattening their hands against their cloaks to stop the bleeding.

Damon took the distraction. Starting his attack, he gripped his sword and swung hard at the clone on the right. He caught his neck, but the blade wouldn't slice through. He and his clone locked eyes.

"You think you... can kill me... with one swing?!" the clone croaked as it gave Damon a bloody grin.

"One swung, no," Damon hissed as he pulled his weapon free from the creature in front of him. "Two swings, maybe, and three swings yes!"