Chapter 5
Yukiyo slowly stepped out of the mirror, forcing Elise to gingerly back up as well to avoid getting her shoulder punctured further. Elise could hear the bounty hunter laugh while taking an inordinate amount of pleasure from toying with her. From what Elise could tell, looks-wise, Yukiyo was the same as ever, however she found her laugh to be utterly strange. Emotion was the last thing she expected from Yukiyo. She and her alter-ego Yukio were mercenaries and spies who carried out their jobs with cool efficiency, but this sick chuckle led Elise to believe that this Yukiyo was something different altogether. Once her form had completely exited the glass Yukiyo almost took another step forward, and while Elise began to move backward in tandem the bounty hunter suddenly pulled her arm back and tore her long knife from Elise's flesh. Elise yelled in pain, clutching her wound, while Yukiyo began to cackle maniacally. "You've got a lot of nerve," Elise growled.
"Oh," Yukiyo replied, her laugh slowly fading, "and you don't, Redd?"
"Huh?" was all Elise could say to that.
"Did you think you could get back to your body so easily, Redd?" Yukiyo asked. "Did you really think it would all be over after just sitting around spouting philosophy with some stiff scholar? Ha! If you would be so kind to remember," she continued, her voice growing dark, "we have some unfinished business. That," she said while pointing with her bloodied knife to Elise's wound, "is where we left off."
"How nice of you to not give me an unfair advantage," Elise sarcastically spat. "How the hell did you get here anyway?"
"Me? I've been here the whole time. Right under your nose as usual," Yukiyo said, smirking.
"Why would you be in my mind?" Elise asked fervently.
"Oh! I'm hurt, Elise," Yukiyo said, melodramatically. "Why wouldn't I be here? After all, we're the same," she said, walking off in a seemingly random direction, away from Elise. Elise watched her go, and suddenly there seemed to be a subtle change in her gait that Elise didn't quite understand.
"Like hell we're the same!" Elise shouted after her. "I'm nothing like you!"
"I beg to differ. We are very much alike," said Yukio, turning back to face Elise, the same cruel intent as Yukiyo's showing behind his round spectacles. She was startled by his sudden transformation, as Yukio hadn't even reached to his pendant beforehand. As she was pondering this her gaze shifted, and for the first time since Yukio had shown up she took in her surroundings, which had undergone a stark transformation. Beforehand, Elise was only able to tell where she was in relation to either the old Kalimundi or the mirror, but now the area had gained a new level of detail. Elise could see that the area she and Yukio occupied was wide and circular. Underneath her, the floor had adopted two colors, red and white. The floor was separated into curved sections of these two colors, forming into the same pattern of Ying and Yang that was on the pendant Yukio always wore around his neck, with the mirror standing at the pattern's center. Light seemed to emanate from the floor's surface in a much more ominous tone than what had previously been the case. Tracing an invisible line from herself to Yukio, she could see that while she was standing on a portion of the floor that was red, Yukio had stepped onto the main white area. Meanwhile, the old Kalimundi was nowhere to be seen.
"However," Yukio continued, "there is one distinct difference between us. While I have no real obligation to Xaos, he's got you around his little finger!" Yukio unsheathed his left blade on the emphasis of his last sentence, and instinctively Elise reached her bloody hand back towards where her collapsible staff was kept in a belt-loop at the back of her pants. But, all she could find was empty space where the staff should have been. Noticing this Yukio chuckled and began to stalk towards her saying, "I told you…" Suddenly he leaped at Elise with his daggers at the ready. "…It's not that easy!" Yukiyo concluded in mid-air.
As she dropped towards Elise, Yukiyo readied her right dagger to slash at her opponent's neck. Dodging Yukiyo's initial attack, Elise rolled to the right, but Yukiyo's left dagger was also set, and immediately stabbed downwards at Elise as she was coming out of her roll. The blade barely missed Elise's head. Acting on instinct, Elise performed a backwards roll, adrenaline numbing the pain in her shoulder, and used her momentum to again get to her feet, but Yukiyo was still right there, slashing fiercely at her. Elise was barely able to dodge Yukiyo's continual attacks, moving steadily backwards. While concentrating on Yukiyo, Elise didn't notice that she was nearing the edge of the floor's pattern, and as she was about to take a step back her foot was stopped. It was only now that Elise came to the realization that the darkness surrounding the area had become surprisingly solid, forming a round wall at the edge of the floor pattern. In this moment of confusion Yukiyo thrust her left dagger forward and cut a gash into Elise's side below her ribs. Another yell of pain escaped Elise's lips as she covered her new injury. Meanwhile Yukiyo laughed and said, "You still don't get it, do you? Well, let me teach you. Lesson one: pain. Going back to your body will involve immense physical pain, like none you've felt before. Of course, I could just get that whole phase over and done with right now." While Yukiyo chuckled, Elise merely stared at her, her breathing heavy. "What?" Yukiyo asked. "No comeback, Xaos's slave? No desperate questions? Then, I'll cut to the quick!"
Yukiyo's daggers thrust towards Elise's neck, but at the last second, Elise managed to dodge underneath the attack. As her blades ricocheted off the barrier behind Elise Yukiyo was momentarily thrown off-balance, allowing Elise to push herself towards her enemy and ram into her. Yukiyo fell backwards, and Elise retreated off to the side to further nurse her injuries. But, in a flash Yukiyo was up again and stalking towards her. "Lesson two:" Yukiyo said, dashing in low to Elise. He crossed his long daggers in front of him and made them slide off of each other just before he reached Elise, creating a glaring metallic sound that echoed in the strange chamber. Elise backed up slightly as Yukio confronted her face-to-face. "Fear," he concluded. "Fear of yourself; fear of others; fear that will never cease for as long as you live, because you never now when you might give into your dark urges. Think you can handle it, Xaos's pet?" Yukio brought his daggers back in towards Elise's neck very slowly, and as they neared her flesh his grin grew steadily wider. Elise again only looked on with pain showing in her eyes, but suddenly that pain turned into anger as Elise deftly brought her knee up.
Yukio lost staggered back as he suddenly lost his breath. Strange, high-pitched sounds were coming from his throat as his eyes went wide. Elise again attempted to put some distance between herself and the bloodthirsty mercenary, heading towards the mirror at the center of the room, but again he recovered quicker than she expected. He charged at her, but she again evaded his blades which, instead of slicing into their target, became lodged in the wooden frame of the mirror. As Elise stumbled backwards, she heard not one voice, but two, say, "Lesson three." She looked up to see that the mirror was splitting her opponent in half, its right side Yukiyo, its left Yukio. "Loneliness," the twisted sight finished. "Do you think you can live out the rest of your days as a thing, a creature? Do you dare go on being something hated by the rest of the entire world? Will you, Xaos's puppet?"
The split image tore its blades from the mirror's thick wooden frame and leapt over it, diving at Elise again. Elise was extremely tired due to both the shock of her injuries as well as her loss of blood, so this time there was nothing she could do to evade her adversary. For a moment she thought she had met her end. Strangely enough, it didn't slash at her, but rather rammed into her, seemingly repaying her favor from earlier, which sent her straight into the wall. Elise's form slid down into a heap leaning against the unseen wall. Her breathing was faint and shallow, her eyes half-open. The arms that might have tried to fight back against the bounty hunter were instead wrapped around her so that her blood-soaked hands could try to cover her injuries. "Pathetic," escaped its lips, the word barely audible to Elise. "I had thought you'd have more in you, but it looks like your stubborn streak just ended. Too bad… because this is where you die, Elise Redd!" What was simultaneously Yukio and Yukiyo raised its daggers high and swung them down at Elise's neck.
While she couldn't find the strength to move her body, Elise's mind was truly removed from her situation. Rather than taking in the faint glow being reflected off the deadly blades in front of her, she was instead delving into her memories. They all came to her, both ones she knew very well and ones she had only experienced after her recent revelations, and seemed to filter through her mind, one-by-one. Her childhood memories quickly slipped through her mental sieve, but as she reaffirmed her awareness of more recent events she paused to study various moments in time, to almost compare them. When she first joined the Resistance; the death throes of the Avriem; wanting very badly to restore General Tigerclaw's health; ripping open a young man's throat; steeling her resolve to destroy the Pearl of De'Kashra, even if it obliterated her. 'Good… and bad… as one,' she repeated in her mind.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Elise raised her hands in front of her, pairs of fingers moving closely together, directly in the daggers' paths. The dual persona received an unexpected shock as, before its weapons reached their mark, they encountered resistance, running into something metallic. Blinking in confusion, it again looked down to see that its daggers had been interrupted by a segmented metal staff being held firm in the hands its prey. Looking past the staff, its eyes met two others, their red irises almost glowing with intensity. It was as if that color had drawn itself from the blood that no longer remained on her hands, shoulder, and waist. Her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed as she began to push back against the dual persona, and it did begin to back up under the sudden pressure. "It's… not… that… easy!" said Elise Redd, once again standing on her own two feet.
The split image staggered back, suddenly becoming just Yukio again. Elise burst forth in a strong charge against Yukio, swinging her staff diagonally at him. Yukio's blades intercepted, but rather than enter into another contest of raw strength, Elise suddenly moved her staff downwards, causing Yukio to stumble and allowing her to side-step around him, hitting him in the back with a blow from her staff. As Yukio stumbled forwards he pivoted on one foot and leapt at Elise, turning in mid-air with his long daggers outstretched like a deadly top. Elise deftly rolled under this attack, and swung her staff at Yukio's legs as she came out of her roll, sending him tumbling across the floor. Yukiyo, having reached the small area of red in the main white portion of the floor, stood back up and blared at Redd, who glared right back. They circled around the mirror to the large red portion of floor near the edge of the area, where Yukiyo swiftly stabbed at Elise with both blades. Seeing this as her best opportunity, Elise brought her staff up lengthwise, deflecting Yukiyo's blades up and away from her. Continuing her momentum, Elise brought her staff back with her right hand and began to twirl it rapidly, bringing it back around to strike Yukiyo, who was still moving somewhat towards her. The spinning staff caught Yukiyo underneath her chin, sending her head as well as her body, swiftly back. Elise gripped her staff firmly in both hands and thrust it forwards at Yukiyo's sternum. If the staff's end hadn't been blunt, it very well may have pierced Yukiyo's flesh as it slammed into her, but Elise didn't stop there. She ran forward, finding little resistance from Yukiyo, and drove her into the wall. Summoning her strength with a determined yell in her throat, Elise used the wall as leverage to lift Yukiyo into the air on the end of her staff. Then, with as much force as she could muster, Elise swung her back down in the opposite direction to ram her into the ground.
Yukiyo was in a state of complete and utter shock. Her eyes were wide open, but her pupils had become mere pinpoints. Her mouth lolled open as she desperately gasped for the air that her injured diaphragm couldn't bring to her lungs. Yukiyo's limbs had gone limp, her glasses shattered into pieces on the floor. The pendant on her neck had fallen to the side and was lying on the ground. Elise walked up to the stunned Yukiyo. "You're wrong about me," she began as Yukiyo struggled to look at where the voice was coming from. "It's true that Xaos made me his puppet when he turned me, but you put those strings on yourself of your own volition, so don't think you're better than me." Elise looked to the pendant, briefly studying its pattern of Ying and Yang, and raised her staff. "This doesn't suit you," she concisely said, and brought her staff down, shattering the pendant. Yukiyo let out an unworldly scream, as suddenly her form seemed to melt into the floor, until nothing of hers was left. The pattern on the floor slowly disappeared, and things returned to how they had been.
"Well done, Elise Redd," said the old Kalimundi.
Elise jumped slightly at the old Kalimundi's sudden return. Putting her staff away, she began to walk towards him. "Too bad it wasn't the real Yukiyo," she commented. "When did you get back, anyway?"
"A moment ago," he said. "You have done well to conquer your Doubt, Elise. Now you are truly ready to return to your body."
"Right, the mirror," she said as she turned to face it.
"Elise," the old Kalimundi interrupted, "there is more you should know. Doubt can create false impressions in one's mind, as I'm sure you know. As such, only one of its statements was, in fact, true."
Elise turned back to the old Kalimundi, puzzled over what exactly he meant. She thought back to the fight, and to her Doubt's three "lessons." She remembered its statements, and as she analyzed them she came to a startling realization. "Then," she started, "you mean…?"
"Yes," the aged Kalimundi said.
Elise smiled broadly as she thought of the possibilities, and turned again to go, but stopped herself halfway to the mirror. "Listen," she began, "I don't know how long it will take, but we'll bring down Xaos. I'll figure out a way to reach everyone that's been turned, to strengthen their will. When that happens, we'll break Xaos's spell. Then, you can rest, old man."
"Aetumlhados," said the old Kalimundi.
"Is that Kalimundi for 'good luck,' or something?" asked Elise.
"No," he replied. "My name. My name was Aetumlhados."
"I'll see you again, someday," Elise said.
"I will wait for that day," said Aetumlhados.
Re-brandishing her staff, Elise walked to the mirror. Looking, she finally found herself reflected in its glass. She took a moment to study herself, as if she was confirming once and for all who she was. Readying her staff behind her she made a leaping thrust at the mirror's face and shattered it. As the pieces of glass fell from their frame light poured from underneath them and was reflected in all directions by the numerous shards. Elise herself was enveloped in that light and for a moment, she thought she could see and hear Aetumlhados once more. 'Your answers lie in two places: beneath the burning sands of time, and across the bounds of space, limitlessly near. Elise Redd, good luck.' The shining brightness began to fade to a familiar darkness, and then, finally, Elise Redd awoke.