Chương 56: The Man In The Mirror

The fireplace was still crackling. That's how he knew that time hadn't stopped. The screeching from his horn had overwhelmed his senses.

"This isn't possible." Andy managed to say.

"Is that so," the Harness replied.

"I assure you that not only was it possible, but that it's been reality for quite some time."

"How?"

"Why my dear child, don't tell me I need to explain reproduction to you?" Auri continued to look between the two of them. Aside from their hair color and the horn on Andy's head they were identical.

"Okay," Auri interrupted, "Okay. I'm going to need significantly more context." Neither of them paid her any attention. Andy stammered.

"You're… you're my child?" The man sighed.

"I'm saying that you're a mistake. A clone. A piece of me that broke off when I used the Divide ability."

"That's not possible. You must have come from me." The Harness laughed.

"It's just like me to assume that you're the first. The real Andrew." He smiled broadly, it held a certain amount of danger and cruelty that Andy didn't think he possessed. Andy laughed nervously.

"I am the real Andy."

"Are you?" The harness said in a sing-song voice.

"I would know if I was just a copy. I remember dying!" The Harness' expression softened in mock empathy, "That truck ran the red light? Yes, I remember it well." Andy froze. The noise from his screeching horn suddenly sounded an awful lot like breaks trying to stop. The room disappeared, the crackling of the fireplace, Auri, even the facility. Suddenly Andy was back–back in the infinite blackness of being a cell. No sight, no smell, no touch just himself and chemical gradients." Andy couldn't breathe.

"It was raining," the Harness continued quietly.

"No," Andy heard his voice though it sounded so far away.

"No it was sunny. Sunny and cool."

"Was it?" Andy couldn't think. Had it been sunny? Now he wasn't sure. He could almost feel the rain on his skin as he hurried towards Megan's apartment.

"You were running late," the Harness said.

"She was angry."

"No…"The memory shifted. Slightly. Just enough. The text message that he'd read and re-read before leaving the house, the one that he'd thought about a million times. The one his entire persona was built around "Come over. 🔥" The message flickered.

"Come on. 😡" Andy stumbled backward.

"No. We were going to… It was going to be my first–""Your first what Andy? You'd been working too much."

"No."

"You kept cancelling plans."

"No."

"You thought that one grand gesture would fix everything." Memories came flooding back. Andy's stomach dropped. The condom was in his pocket, no not a condom. A ring." If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. The memory hit him so hard it stole the air from his lungs. Months of overtime. Extra shifts. Forgotten dates. Promises postponed. Every sacrifice he'd made for a future he never got to have. The ring. She never got the ring. A sob escaped his throat.

The Harness watched him carefully.

"You remember now." Andy couldn't answer. Maybe because he did remember, or maybe he didn't. That was the problem. He wasn't sure anymore.

"People are selfish," the Harness said softly.

"They lie." He took a step toward Andy.

"They hurt one another." Step.

"They take and take and take." Step. His smile returned.

"Anger." Step.

"Hatred." Step.

"Resentment. Those were the only things that kept me alive in the darkness." The Harness spread his arms.

"You felt it too." And that was what convinced him. He had. He remembered the loneliness. The hunger. The bitterness. The desperate need to survive. But then he remembered. It wasn't anger that had kept him alive. It was humor. It was being horny. The world snapped back into focus. The Harness was right in front of him. Golden eyes locked onto his. Waiting. Expecting the anger. That was the difference between the two of them.

The Harness had spent his entire second life holding onto the worst possible pieces of himself. Andy didn't. A smile crept onto Andy's face and the Harness frowned.

"You think this is funny?"

"I am standing in a room trying to rescue a foxy lady, I have a crustacean in my backpack who may or may not be important, I just left my B. A. L. L. S behind when I rescued my ex-girlfriend and my horn just started singing." Da dada da da dadadada Daa dada-da da daaa-da da da"And now I'm looking at that man in the mirror, because apparently the evil overlord who kidnapped my friend–is me. What part of that isn't funny?" The harness laughed. A cold, disappointed laugh that lacked any real humor.

"You're a mistake. Like all of the others." A pressure settled over the room and it began to darken. [WARNING:? TIER NIGHTMARE DETECTED] Every instinct in Andy screamed Run. The Harness took a step forward. Andy's body reacted before his brain had caught up. Fight. He punched. The Harness caught it effortlessly. His hand closed around Andy's fist. The harness twisted. Pain exploded through Andy's wrist and up into his shoulder. Andy hit the floor. Auri was already moving. The fox lunged from her chair.

The Harness didn't even bother turning to look at her. His free hand flicked and caught her. He threw Auri against the wall. The entire room shook.

"Auri!" Andy cried trying desperately to heal himself and her. The remainder of his life energy flickered from his horn.

"Enough." A single word echoed in the room. The pipe in the corner rattled as the Harness seemed to absorb an additional boost of magic. Power rolled off of the Nightmare. Andy's horn screamed and the shift happened instantaneously. Andy's hooves struck the carpet as he changed back into his unicorn form. Andy lowered his horn and all two thousand pounds (Nine hundred seven kilograms) charged straight for the Harness. The Harness smiled. He caught Andy by the horn.

One hand closed around the spiraled glowing member. Andy pushed. The floor cracked beneath his hooves. The harness didn't move an inch.

"Your form is impressive." Andy pushed harder, "Shut up."

"But inefficient." Andy activated his fire energy. Causing the horn to burn red hot. The nightmare twisted and yelled. Agony exploded through Andy's skull. The Harness threw Andy. He skidded across the floor. His horn leaving a blackened sooty mark on the carpet. The wall collapsed down around Andy. Brick and plaster exploded from the impact. Everything hurt but Andy pushed himself back to his feet. Across the room Auri was already standing. A dozen Auri illusions burst into existence. Then twenty.

Each illusion darted around the room trying to draw the Harness' attention. The Nightmare sighed and turned toward Auri. That's all you've got?

"No." Auri let loose a psychic beam that she'd been charging up. It struck the Harness in the shoulder. He shrugged it off "And here I thought you were a fancy human. I like you so much more knowing you're not." Auri snarled at the Harness. He looked back between Auri and Andy a smile slowly spreading across his face.

"You really don't understand what you're dealing with." The room trembled as the harness began channeling his magic. The Harness moved. He moved faster than Andy could comprehend. Pain exploded as he hit Andy over and over again. Andy folded. Another impact, and then another. Andy poured healing magic into himself just to stay upright. [MAGIC EXPENDED: HORN RESERVES: 11% -> 8%] Another blow. Andy fell. [MAGIC EXPENDED: HORN RESERVES: 5%] [WARNING] The Nightmare finally stopped. Andy lay motionless.

The emerald glow of his horn flickering. The Harness looked down.

"Well that's disappointing. I was hoping for something more." [AMBIENT ENERGY DETECTED: DEATH MAGIC (UNNATURAL)] [YOUR HORN IS RESONATING WITH AMBIENT DEATH MAGIC.] [ABSORPTION POSSIBLE. ABSORB? Y/N]