Sempiternity (COMPLETED)

XVIII Part 1

The absolute final Key standing in front of Arend and Klaytaza was Arend himself. He was the same height as Arend, had the same medium brown skin tone Arend and almost everyone on the planet shared, the same posture, the same facial structure, the same downward-facing lips, the same thin fingers, and the same detached, weary glare. The only thing different about this antagonistic vision of Arend was purely aesthetic: he wore a black Key bodysuit sans armor, had long white hair, his face bore dark black tear marks that originated from bags beneath his eyes, and the irises in his eyes were bright orange – the same shade as Klaytaza’s.

“This cannot be,” Arend stated. “It’s… It’s me. But that’s impossible. How could I…?”

“I am you, Arend Vitalis,” the reflection stated. “But you are not I. Your entire being is within my existence, but my existence is more than what you are now. Refer to me as Bestim Shicksal. You have finally arrived to the stage of your destiny… of our destiny. I cannot lie – you have done well to make it this far.”

Try as he might, Arend felt only confusion in his heart. No more anger, no more ruined or misguided passion, no more rushing to see the end. Only confusion, and a vague sense at that.

“This makes no sense,” he mumbled. “None of this makes any sense. But I feel as if it is only the end… There is no longer any urgency in my breast… It’s almost like I just don’t care anymore. How could that be…?” He looked at himself with sad eyes and pain in his expression, and it was mirrored back to him. 

Klaytaza raised her weapon.

The being known as Bestim looked to her and raised his hand. With this action, a grinding of metal could be heard, and Arend realized that there was a semicircle made of metal embedded within Bestim’s chest where his heart would be. Attached to this small object were two long golden chains shackled to matching bracelets around his wrists.

“Hold,” Bestim commanded. “We have much to discuss before your final battle is to take place.”

“Yes, Master,” Klaytaza stated emotionlessly as she lowered her weapon.

Arend turned and looked ta Klaytaza with reddening eyes. “What are you doing?! How dare you listen to him? I thought… I thought you loved me?!”

“I do,” she replied simply. Once again, Arend believed her.

“She loves us,” Bestim interjected. “Because we are one and the same. Just as the night is the same as the day – as the stars are the same as the blazing suns – as the mind is the same as the body – as the repentance is the same as the redemption – as the anonymity is the same as the unified. A link disconnected from the chain creates its own chain, and a clock broken is correct indefinitely.”

Arend looked to Bestim with a hurt expression. “Who are you? What is going on here? How could any of this have happened?”

“Your mistake is in believing that any of this did happen. The Thousand Eternal Ritual did not happen. Your victories did not happen. Your love did not happen. None of us happened. We are all specks of dust blinking with light and fading into darkness to the universe, not important in the slightest no matter how brightly we attempt to burn in our fading existence. We do not exist. We never did.”

“Stop lying to me, or I will grow angered and smite you!”

“You will not grow angry. You have lost the ability to do so. By defying human nature and the nonexistence of us ephemeral beings, you have given up that very human nature that you despise. How could you defeat me when I am yourself? Would you erase the very existence you fought so hard to prove is real?”