Hero's Nightmare
Shadows leaped and danced at the edges of Rosalyn's vision, but whenever she turned around there was never anything there. She faced forward again and gasped, watching the world around her burn into ashes. A man so bloodied she couldn't make out much features limped heavily toward her, moaning her name. She stepped back, hand over her mouth, trying not to retch.
"Why didn't you save us?" The ghost moaned, a clammy hand reaching for her.
"I…didn't know…" How could she let this happen? She was a Hero. Heroes don't fail.
She skipped back, trying to avoid more of the specters.
"Why, Hero Rosalyn?"
"Why didn't you get her?"
"What are you talking about?" She struggled to keep the panic out of her voice. It was a rule, be calm…
"You don't know who she is?" A familiar voice said behind her. "How sad."
Rosalyn turned around, face to face with the demonic version of herself, fangs bared. She touched her own ears; rounded…her clone had pointed ears and fangs, and a snake-like tongue.
"Can't fight yourself, can't save yourself. How long until the darkness swallows you? The Infectus always wins…" Her clone hissed, the fire dancing off of her face. Yellow eyes glared brighter than the fire, and she laughed.
"Unable to fight. Unable to run. You freeze in fear, Rosalyn!"
"Wake up…wake up…" Rosalyn whimpered, her courage faltering.
Her clone grabbed her shirt, yanking her forward until they were face to face.
"Wake up. Go ahead. But soon this will stop being a dream."