On the top floor of this pagoda, I'm facing off with an exact copy of me.
"The enemy is your ignorance," the other repeats, stopping in place on the tatami mats. "An attribute of you. Of me. Of us. The enemy, Nicole, is you."
"That's why she was making sure it was me!" I exclaim, slapping a hand to my forehead. "Anna was guiding the actual me because there's another me! Right? Right? Am I right? Oh, c'mon, tell me I'm right."
"You're right."
"Fuck yes. Oh, Gods. I totally saw it coming a mile away." I laugh a little, strolling over to face myself but keeping my distance. "So, what? You're impersonating me? Probably some kinda shapeshifting thing, huh? You must've been around for a while before all this, for Anna to set up these trials before she was captured."
I spit on the floor between us.
"I don't like that. You don't get to fuck with my best friend pretending to me. Not without consequences. But she saw right through you, didn't she? That's why she made these trials of hers in the first place. 'Cause she knew you were a fake."
The other me says nothing, just watching.
"My question is…" I take a drag of cigarette smoke, sizing her up. "Are you involved in her abduction? Or were you a thorn in her side before that? Not that it matters, I guess. I'll rip you to pieces either way."
"You would only be hurting yourself."
"Wouldn't be the first time. Far from it. What are we doing here? 'Cause I gotta save my best friend and I'm kinda sick of the bullshit. Skip dialogue, dude. If we're gonna fight, let's get to it so I can beat your ass. Unless… Maybe there's another way we can resolve this…"
"What?"
"If you're even halfway decent at pretending to be me, you should know exactly what I would say to any shapeshifter pretending to be me."
"I don't. Say it."
"Girl. We should fuck."
"You've passed the final trial."
"Jesus fucking Christ, Anna…"
The other me steps forward and passes into smoke, then a huge blur of red streams out from within it like a streak of paint. It rushes forth and curls around behind me like a wave of scarlet paint, circling back around in front of and above me, then expands wider and wider.
It's a fox. A giant red fox. With nine tails.
"You know it not, but the stars have aligned." Though its mouth remains closed and motionless, the voice it speaks in emanates from around it and sounds like a woman's quiet whisper. Like the breeze through the trees of this garden. "You have done all that is required. Without doubt, it can only be you."
"I'm so fucking confused right now."
"All will soon be clear as crystal waters." The fox's tails swish left and right behind her as she sits in front of me. "Together, you found the moon. Together, you lost it. But now it is once again found. I bestow it unto you. Upon the altar."
I turn around and there it is. With a deep gasp, I scurry over and grab it, holding it up to the ceiling with a triumphant laugh. For the first time in, like, fifteen years, I raise the legendary, glorious, mythical Moon Sword. It's one of those cheap garbage novelty plastic swords that light ups and makes glistening glittery sound effects with a crescent moon as a crossguard.
"Yesss! Thank you, Miss Fox! Gods, we loved this thing! Aw, man! We used to fight Zagreus with it, and he'd always let us win, and pretend to die, and then we'd drop to our knees and burst into tears about the injustice of it all! Oh, Gods, I'm pretty sure we smacked her dad around with it a few times too! And Ares, especially! It was a weapon unprecedented, a weapon so powerful it could slay the Gods, and a weapon so mighty it could only be entrusted to us! Where did you find this thing?"
The fox swishes her tails. "Anna found it on the internet. It's a replica."
"Nonsense! The one and only Moon Sword has returned to its rightful owner at last! Huzzah!" Laughing again, I give it a swing back and forth, then deactivate the sword's all too absurdly powerful might by switching it off. "Perfect. With this, nothing can stop me from saving Anna. Pray tell, noble fox, where might I find my imprisoned princess?"
"She is here, just beyond the rift. I will take you to her."
The fox moves toward me and slips through smoke again, stepping out of it in the shape of a human woman with crimson hair held back with silver hairpins, big fluffy red fox ears–like, red–and nine fox tails at her back. She's dressed in an adorable and beautiful silk kimono the color of snow.
Oh, fuck me. She's breathtaking.
"When you're ready," she says with a slight bow. Oh, she's wearing a pair of those cool wooden sandals with the teeth things that elevate them slightly. She's about shoulder height on me, and with a coy grin, she moves a little closer. "However, there's something I should tell you."
"Yeah?" I close the distance. Gods, she smells incredible. Flowers. "'Cause I have a few things to ask you."
"Listen first." She stabs a closed folding fan at my chest to hold me off. "You were correct about one thing, in part. I was impersonating you, of course, but only within the confines of this room."
"Wait. So… You weren't… Wait, but if there wasn't anybody pretending to be me, why was Anna so intent on making sure I'm me?"
She lifts her white brows, waiting.
"What? I don't… Girl, I'm dumb. And drunk. C'mon."
"At least try a guess. Just one."
"Fucking I dunno, there's a third me?"
Her expression softens and she taps her fan against my chest.
"Whoa. Shit. Wait. Oh, that's fucking with my head…"
"Here, I was a mirror. Had it not been you who walked into my shrine, I would have taken the shape of whoever it was. The point was self confrontation. That is to say, no, I have not been impersonating you, not outside the confines of this rift space. Someone else has."
"Bruh."
"Uncomfortable thought, isn't it?" She takes my cigarette and smokes, looking me right in the eye the whole time. It has the same effect on me as watching Kahri suck the strap. "That's why Anna was concerned. Afraid, I should say."
"Makes sense. That's freaky. I hate it."
"Mhm. Hence these trials of hers. Filter out the fakes…" She looks down to my shoes, then back up to my eyes. "Lead the real one here."
I'm gonna fuck the fox spirit. "You know, not even the moon's luminous glow–"
"No."
"Damn. Okay…"
"After."
"Oh! Okay!"
"There's one more thing I should tell you before we go. Some other assholes have already found their way to her. Don't freak out, though. Metaphorically speaking, they're at the prison but they can't get into her cell. I don't know how they got there, but dimensional space is infinite, so there are an infinite number of ways to reach any given rift. Wouldn't be easy, but it's not exactly impossible if they somehow dug up a channel. Do you know what I mean when I say that?"
"Uhhh. Still dumb. Still drunk. Can I have my smoke back?"
"No." She takes another drag, watching me. "It means they have someone on their side who's very skilled with dimensional magic. Are you able to comprehend how that might be a problem?"
"Ahhhhh!" I cry out, kicking my feet and stomping in place. "Nooo! Fuuuck! I don't wannaaa! Goddds! I haaate dimensional shiiit!"
"I never took you for a whiner."
"Sometimes I am! Still drunk!"
"Right. Okay. Well, try not to throw too much of a tantrum. I have an offer for you, storm girl."
"Huh?" I perk right up, totally fine. "I like where this is going."
"I'll back you up. Counteract whatever dimensional bullshit they throw at you. In return…" She taps her fan on my chest again then snaps it open and hides half her face behind it, though I can tell by her crystalline white eyes that she's smiling. "I want a date. Just one. To start…"
I don't react until a few seconds later.
My reaction is discomfort. Deep discomfort.
"Uh, I don't–I don't really do that, baby girl. We can go out and have a night sometime, sure, but dating is… I don't know about that one."
"Relax." She fans me a little. "I know. Anna and I, we're friends. She told me a little about you. How that Egyptian girl really fucked you up. I'm not pushing for anything but the one night out."
"Oh." Taking a breath, I scratch my head. "Uhhh. Yeah. That works. Can we… do that as friends? Like, friends who are going on a romantic date. Does that make sense? Like, yes, more than friends during that date, but if it goes kinda iffy we'd still be…"
"Friends. Yeah. Don't worry, Anna explained that too."
"Can't believe she's setting me up with her friends… Is she–Wait, you were there. You might have seen–Was she doing okay? Like, before all this? I mean, was she… Um. Using?"
"For a few months, yeah. Meth. Not so bad at first, but you know how that goes. And um…" Despite us being in her private dimensional rift, she leans closer and lowers her voice. "Purging. Not eating. Cutting…"
"Fuck," I exhale, both horrified and relieved to finally hear some detail about how she was doing. It sounds bad, but all this time not knowing how bad was quietly killing me. "Okay. Gods, thank you for telling me that. I hadn't realized how much not knowing how she was hurting was fucking me up. Shit, that's bad. That's pretty damn close to rock bottom. Fuck, we gotta get her home."
"Agreed. I'm no fighter, but…" She checks me out a little more. "I don't think you'll need any help in that regard."
"Ohhoho! Now that's a vote of confidence! Hey, what's your name?"
"Hitodama. I'm a Lesser fox spirit, with mixed blood from a Kitsune and a Jiuweihu, of the Shinto and Chinese Pantheons, though I lean more toward the former. You can call me Hito. And you?"
"What?" I crack a grin. "You already know who I am."
"Do I?" She grins too. "You haven't introduced yourself."
"Ohh, that's different. I can't remember the last time I met someone who didn't know my name. Wild. You're fucking with me, but that stands out. Good reversal."
"I do appreciate when things are backwards."
"Ohhh! Truuue! The reversal rift and shit! Nice! Well then…" I reach out and she allows me to take her hand. The Eastern Pantheons are big on bows, so I dip low to softly kiss her fingers. "My name, glykiá mou, is Nicole Artemis Astoria, of the Greek Pantheon. Demigod daughter of Zeus. Please, call me Nico."
"Hmm. So you do have some manners. Here I thought you were just a wild dog." She snaps her fan shut and humphs with soft amusement, a slight smirk on her lips as she gazes up at me. Gods, I love asian women. I love all women, but that includes asian women. Apparently satisfied with what she sees, Hito nods. "Ready? You may need to fight them off."
"Bring it. C'mon, gorgeous." I take her hand with my left, the legendary Moon Sword in my right. "Let's bust Anna outta there."
"Let's. Hajime!"
The rift collapses.
One door closes.
Another door opens.
I'm back at the planetarium, but things are different. The bigass projection machine at the center is replaced with an equally bigass birdcage made of twisted black metal. All the same, the stars are spinning and racing across the domed ceiling, and there's music playing too. Wait a second. I know this music.
"Yo, is that Ghostemane? Fuck yeah! Anti-icon, bitch!"
"Nico!" Anna shouts from within the birdcage, waving a hand through the bars. Gods, there she is. Dressed in a cute black plaid pleated skirt, thigh high black stockings, shiny buckle shoes, and a white blouse, with her long black hair down, loose, and wavy, and those heart-stopping red eyes, Anna excitedly smiles when she sees me. "Hiii, handsome!"
"Heyyy, gorgeous! I love you, boo!"
"Aw, I love you too, boo! Kill these guys for me?"
"I'm a simple girl," I announce to the trio of motherfuckers gathered around her. Another me, the little dude, and the tall man. Cracking my knuckles and making sparks jolt off them with every pop, I laughingly say, "Anna tells me to do something, I do it. Scrap!"
"Wait!" the other me cries out, hands high. Yep, she's dressed the same too. Kickboxing gloves and everything. "Aren't you gonna let us explain our whole scheme and such?"
"Nope! Fuck you!" I draw the Moon Sword and activate its impossible power. "Now draw your blades and catch this fade, motherfuckers!"
"You do not know!" the little guy snaps, up there on the platform next to the birdcage. "What I am! Motherfucker!"
"Bitch, Wampanoag Pantheon! You're a puckwudgie!"
There's a measure of silence, during which Ghostemane drops the bass and starts roaring over the insanely hard beat.
The little dude croaks, "You do know what I am."
"I put that on Goddess! My homegirl Artemis told me! That's facts, puck boy!"
"This is insane," Hito snickers behind me.
Anna whoops. "Tell 'em, Nico!"
"And you!" I point the Moon Sword at the tall dude. "I… Yeah, I dunno. Sorry, Clive. But I'm gonna guess… Lakota?"
"Dakota," he nods. "Close enough."
"Word. I appreciate you helping me out last time. I'm not half as drunk, but I am twice as pissed. Just 'cause you called the DMTs, I'm gonna give you the chance to back off. One chance. Walk away."
"Sorry," he tells the little dude with a shrug as he steps back. "We had a good run there. Kinda…"
"Traitor!"
"You're a mouse to a freight train, buddy."
"I think there's a big misunderstanding here," the other me says, taking a few steps closer with her hands up. "Whoever you are, you need to quit impersonating me, you fucking fake. Show your true colors."
"Bet."
I stick the Moon Sword in my backpack and drop it, tossing off my hoodie to fight in just my leggings and sports bra. Bashing my fists together to the jolting buzz of electricity, I pop my neck side to side and square off.
"Subarashi…" Hito whispers, staring hard.
"We'll fuck after, sweetheart. Just a minute."
"You're a fake! Imposter!"
"I'm gonna suss you out right quick."
I bolt closer and hit the flying dragon kick like Bruce Lee. My heel connects with the other me's skull and electricity explodes all around us, shattering the floor, blasting the bolted down auditorium seats apart, and turning the copy into deep fried trick bitch with a side of fries. All this happens in the blink of an eye, and I'm pretty sure the fight's over just like that, 'cause there's nothing left of the shapeshifter besides a few charred chunks of [WEBNOVEL CENSOR: GORE].
"Done," I sigh, dusting my hands off and setting them on my hips to glare down at the little dude. "Are you gonna be next? Or are you gonna get the fuck outta here? Choice is yours."
"You have already lost."
"Hey, Nico?" Hito calls out. "Hate to break it to you."
I turn around and the other me is reassembled.
"Oh, motherfu–"
She punches me straight in the face.
It hits hard enough to wake me up.
I react by lunging left and making some distance, but I trip over something and fall right into a raging ocean of hot blood. Aw, hell, it got in my mouth! I can taste it! The currents fucking toss me around like I'm nothing, and I completely lose track of which way is up. Not that it matters. There is no way up. I can't breathe. I can't move. I'm being battered by the impossible currents–
Something grabs me by the hood and pulls.
A massive field of flowers under a crescent moon takes shape before my eyes, like black ink line work brushed onto a sepia canvas then painted over with the colors of night. A meadow of snowy petals and dark green grass expands across rolling hills from horizon to horizon.
"I've got you!" In her blood red fox form, Hito jerks her snout and tosses me into the air. "Ganbaru!"
"Well! Arigatou, baby girl!"
In midair, I give her a wink and a finger gun, then bolt away. On my feet in the field, I storm across the meadow and close the distance to reengage with a full tilt roundhouse kick. The other me phases around my heel like a mirage bending the light. Just as I land both feet on the ground, a few bolts of red fire ping against her like little incendiary bullets striking a bell, and I take the cue that Hito helped out, following up with a cross punch from the right.
Thunder. Lighting. Break.
This reality cracks like glass.
The planetarium reforms in a rush of colors, but my shoes land on the ceiling as if the whole shit has flipped upside down. Overhead, Anna is just fine, governed by normal gravity, though her head is tilted back to look up here. Down here? Fuck, this is weird.
I don't think about it too hard, keeping up the pressure. The other me is glitching out, like I hit her so hard I broke the simulation. Damn, I feel so not sorry. Kicking off the ground, I blitz over and drop my shoulder to tackle the weird janky distorted mass and follow up with a brutal knee jab to the ribs as we hit the ceiling. There's no way to tell what I hit through the weird glitch effects, but something cracked in there.
Without hesitating a single heartbeat, I get up and drop a hook to the jaw from above, breaking something else. Just as I'm about to hit her again, she changes shape.
Anna. She took Anna's face.
"Aw, hell nah! You ain't her!"
I punch the fake Anna without faltering.
"Sorry, boo!"
"Hit her again, babe!"
Before I can manage it, the planetarium folds in half and drops. I'm falling through an infinite void of expanding analogue clocks, gearworks, and timepieces. Billions of machine parts are ticking, ticking, ticking away, all of them jumbled up and irregular, impossibly loud, violent, and chaotic. The sound alone is so intense it's unbearable, the horrible gut wrenching sensation of falling is ceaseless, and I can feel myself being ground to dust as if I've been caught in the machine and it's slowly crushing me alive.
The chaos is breaking me. Breaking my mind. Breaking my will. Breaking my awareness. I'm slipping away, losing hold of myself. Of my memory. My perceptions. It hurts. That's all I know. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts. Every tick of every clock of every gear pierces like a nail in the skull.
"Fuck," I wheeze, but I can barely hear my own voice. "F–Fuck… Hurts… Gods, it hurts. Stop… Stop… Fuck, make it stop!"
Red running rivers.
Deafening silence.
The speed of thought.
A new life beginning.
An old life ending.
All at once. All at once.
Puzzle pieces in place.
Reforming an image.
Reforming a memory.
Reforming me.
I come around and find myself sitting on Hito's back. The two of us are soaring across the surface of still waters over an ocean that does not end. Once again, the crescent moon hangs low in the sky, like a sickle blade waiting to be swung. The galaxy overhead is wrong, different, backwards. Cassiopeia is in reverse. Orion is shooting himself. Cygnus is without a cross.
"Damn," I exhale with relief, laying over Hito's back and taking two handfuls of her crimson fur as she races forth. "That one sucked, man…"
"Yep! But I found the crux!"
"The… The what?"
"The crux is the origin point! Pull the one thread, and the whole tapestry falls apart! The answer lies in identity! The root of who and what you are! Once that information is known about a rift weaver, they're exposed! If you know the proper moves to make against a dimensional species, you can disassemble everything they attempt to build! That's why she's using your identity, Nico! To disguise her essence! To mask her own being! But I've caught on!"
"Girl, I don't know shit about this… Explain like I'm five…"
"I'm inside on the game! I know her strategy!"
"Ohhh! Get it, Hito! Finesse this shit!"
"Hold on tight!"
Hito nosedives directly in the glassy water. Like passing through into the far side of a mirror, reality inverts. We're just as suddenly back in the realm of infinite timepieces, but all the clocks and gears are still and silent. I cling onto her back and stay low as she darts around and through them, streaming with fluid ease like a sea snake. Though I have no idea where we're going, I get the sense we're going down.
"Easy," she scoffs, slipping through a wide bronze gear. "All this? The clocks? The machinery? It's like a giant neon sign. When you factor in the blood ocean and the flipped gravity, it's completely obvious. To anyone with a keen sense for this, of course."
"Uh, yeah, I'm just nodding along and pretending I know what you're saying."
"Well, you should know, the little people stick together. First it was a hunch, but now it's confirmed. This shapeshifter of ours is one such, and only a small number of little people species are capable of shapeshifting to begin with. An even smaller number of which can shapeshift and use dimensional magic. Then, looking at the actual rifts our enemy chose to create, the pattern makes itself obvious."
"So obvious. Totally. Saw right through it."
"That one." Hito lands on a gigantic clock face, sprinting towards the center. "Right here! Break this mechanism, and you'll end this! She won't be able to alter rift space again until she leaves it entirely!"
"Say less!"
I leap off her back and bolt to the center, zeroing out my momentum with a shockwave of thunder ahead of me. High above the clock face I hit the apex of my jump, hit a wicked weightless backflip just because, then shoot back down like a bolt of lightning. Time and space stretch and bend. I'm moving too fast for this fabrication of reality to keep up. An hour becomes a second and a second becomes an hour.
"Waiiit!" a shrill voice cries out. "Can't we talk about this?"
"Nope! Fuck you!"
Lightning strikes.
The clock shatters.
An abyss of shadow rushes in.
Then I'm back in the planetarium.
Ass has been kicked. I am victorious.