Pure Intent
"You will believe what you see, because to you, the visions will be your reality. You will feel the pain and it will not end."
"Yeah, that's nice. Whatever. You ready?"
"I cannot wait to hear you screaming out in…"
"Just shut up already! God, I hate it when someone talks more than me…"
Soon, pain interrupted Dante's breathing. He fell to his knees and gasped for breath, but it would not come. After a few minutes, he passed out. His eyes began to slowly roll back into his head, and his view of the clear void began to fade to black.
The eyelids peeled back, but it made no difference; everything was still empty. Absolute darkness greeted his gaze. Absolute darkness greeted his tightly shut eyes; it made no difference. He felt unbalanced and distorted; he was not even sure whether or not he was truly awake.
Where had the light gone? Where was all the bewildering brightness he had long despised? It was all gone. Gone was the void of purity, replaced by a dark abyss of despair.
Dante struggled to move his limp arms, but realized he was chained down by the waists and ankles. He could not see, but could sense the presence of others near him. He could fell the lightness of the easily breakable chains, but he was cautious. The voice of his newly acquainted shadow friend gave him counsel.
"These chains withhold your coming fate, eager for you to press on. Beyond enslavement lies only destruction, but ultimately the goal is freedom. It will be painful. It is not too late to back out…"
Dante once again went into his demonic state and broke free of his chains. When the bindings fell to the floor, a small flame appeared on the ground. The flame burned strongly, but not very brightly. It revealed such a small portion of the room that Dante could still only see his feet. Then Dante noticed that very small creatures were gathering near his feet. He stepped on a couple, and the fire grew slightly stronger. The difference in lighting was still minimal.
"This is your soul's room. These creatures are your shadow… You cannot escape your shadow, but the more you rebel against it, the closer you will be to your freedom. They are eager for change in this world of constant darkness. They want their freedom as well, and they will grow more powerful with the new light you feed them. The task only grows harder, as does the darkness grow stronger. Fight Dante!"
So far this was a joke. The creatures were so small. Dante could easily crush three or four for every stomp. But the flame was growing larger with every kill, until finally these insect-like shadows were as large as his feet.
He started to use his shotgun to blast away the swarms. The joke was becoming less and less funny. The flame was chest height. The enemies grew human-like legs and now wielded dark scythes. They were comparable to the rest of the Temen-ni-gru enemies.
Dante had fun with this type of shadow. He killed many quickly. After killing nearly a hundred of them, the flame, which had now become a bonfire, was as tall as him. It dimly lit up the entirety of the chamber. The room resembled a mausoleum, but it was greatly larger than average. At the far end of the room, a black stone coffin lay vertically against a wall with two unlit candelabras on either side.
The absence of enemies had been enough to show Dante that something powerful still lingered. With Dante's gaze on the coffin, the flame behind him went out. He spun around to see what had put out the fire, only to find out that it still stood burning brightly. Did he imagine it?
No, it happened again, but this time Dante saw what had happened; a haze of darkness encircled the flame, blocking out the light, but it didn't put out the light.
"It needs the light… I need the light. All your trials have led up to this moment. Are you ready to face me? No, we are one now… Are you ready to face us?"
There was no need to answer. Dante felt his soul trying to escape once again, but the pain ended quickly as a cloud of black smoke rushed out of his through his nostrils. It became one with the dark fog and they formed a physical entity. It was knelt down on its right knee. Clad all in bright, blood-stained garments and platinum shining hair, it ominously waited. Pale hands reached onto its back and withdrew a large sword; Rebellion.
"Here it comes Dante… Show me the strength of your light!" The creature rolled back and jumped onto the wall. It quickly released to blazing guns that fired three bullets each at Dante. Two of them were dodged and the third was deflected back with the back end of Rebellion. It soared through the air and hit the creature in the middle of the forehead. It looked up and Dante caught side of his adversary in the light for the first time.
"A mirror image?"
"Yes, Dante… Meet your shadow!"
The shadow Dante licked the top of its bleeding forehead in a swift motion, its head spun round on its neck and it released a demonic cackle.
"This was… is… somewhere inside me?"
The creature proved impervious to all typed of attacks. After many failed attempts at causing any damage to his reflection, he focused on dodging. The creature's laughter kept growing louder… it mocked Dante for his weakness.
"Stop running… where do you plan to go? Always running from this side of you throughout your entire life… there is no where else to go to! You cannot escape from your shadow. Stop running and conquer."
The words were condescending but overall sincere. It was meant as advice. Advice from the Doppelganger soul, from one warrior to another. Dante wondered why the Doppelganger was putting him through all this… Perhaps it had been in this situation before and learned the hard way. Perhaps it had once faced its own shadow and ran; became consumed by the darkness. It can be so comforting at times…
"I won't end up like you."
"Ah, so you finally understand my devices… will it help you?"
"Okay baby, let's rock!"
Dante rushed across the room dodging the creature's bullets. While running, he unsleeved his arms and removed his jacket. Quickly he tore off a piece and waved it into the fire, creating a mini sort of torch. He released it at the other Dante from his soul and the results were as expected; the creature became solid until he escaped the light of the flame. He became exposed; vulnerable.
The plan was set and the trap laid…
