“Look,” he said.
On the spot on the ground he indicated with a toss of his chin, Mia saw that D was reaching out with one hand. When it stopped, the index finger was pointing toward the plains straight ahead.
“Looks like north it is,” the fake D said.
“That’s right,” Mia said, adding her own opinion.
North again. Was that where Muma lay? And when was D going to wake up?
The two of them looked off into the distance. The twilit plains were darkening with a deep and endless blue.
“Ready?” the fake D asked, putting the other D over his shoulder and rising again.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Mia replied, having already started walking toward the wagon.
-
II
-
D was walking across a vast expanse of clouds in an unfamiliar place. He had passed out. This was the world he was seeing while unconscious—he knew it was a dream. He was walking. But where was he headed? He wasn’t at all concerned about what might be happening to his physical self. He knew that this place, where Menda had brought him, was the entrance to Muma. It would have defenders. And they wouldn’t stand idly by when someone reached the entrance. Menda had most likely been given this ability while in the service of the great one. Who that was, D must’ve surely known.
On the sea of clouds, a titanic lozenge-shaped structure could be seen. It seemed as if it might be reached in a few steps and at the same time as if he might never get there.
“There’s a gate,” his left hand whispered, but was that just part of the dream? “Beyond it is Muma. But first, you’ve gotta unlock the gate.”
D halted, but not because what his left hand said had alarmed him. Something stood between him and the gate. While it was a presence devoid of substance, D could still distinctly sense its weight, its density.
So, you made it this far? he heard a voice say. It wasn’t a sound ringing out to tremble against his eardrums, but a voice nonetheless. I suspected you, of all people, might. Still, it is truly remarkable.
“I’m going. Don’t try to stop me.”
I’d never do anything of the sort. To begin with, I’m not even here. What you feel here is no more than an illusion spun by your own senses. You sense me because you want to, and now you’ll try to slay me yourself. It’s an exercise in futility, D.
D resumed his strange trek. Beneath his feet, the clouds swirled fiercely, surging up all around him.
This voice, too, is nothing save what you yourself wish to hear. In other words, it is nothingness. Muma might well be the same, D. And you, and the whole world too.
D felt the presence drawing nearer by the second. And yet, it too was probably no more than a product of his own will. The real question was whether or not he himself thought this was pointless.
This is all in vain. You should turn back.
D’s right hand went for the hilt of his sword.
-
The horse bearing the fake D came over beside the driver’s seat of the wagon.
“You notice that?” he asked casually.
Still holding the reins, Mia turned to him and replied with equal ease, “Yeah.”
“When I give the word, jump over to me, okay? I’ll catch you.”
“I’m counting on it.” While the girl smiled and seemed calm enough throughout the exchange, her spine iced up from the tension she felt. She sensed a strange, murderous intent emanating from the back seat.
Oh, D!
“Is he directing that at you?” she asked, her characteristically calm tone melting into the twilight, but the words conveyed a matter of deadly seriousness.
“Nope. It might sound strange, but the killing lust from that me is quickly being funneled away somewhere. My guess is that’d be wherever my consciousness is.”
“And where is that?”
“In our head—or else in our subconscious. If it goes poorly, even I might not ever make it out again.”
“Who’s he fighting there?”
“Who indeed? Oh, he just grabbed the hilt!”
Disregarding his terrifying news flash, Mia asked, “How will he get back here?”
“One way would probably be to slay his opponent. The other—well, not to put a jinx on this or anything, but that me would have to die.”
“Help him. You’re him, aren’t you? You must know what to do.”
“This time, I’m afraid not.”
“You know, I wonder about something,” Mia began, spitting out the next fiendish thought that popped into her head. “Yes. This is just speculation, but if the D behind me—if the you behind me dies, won’t you die, too? You’re like one and same person, aren’t you?”
The fake D was clearly shaken. Mia’s words were more potent than she’d imagined, being right on the mark.
“Hmm, that may well be,” he said after some consideration, and it almost sounded like he was directing the comment at himself. “In that case, I can’t relax and think that I’m safe just because I’m out here. So, fortuneteller, got any bright ideas?”
The way he asked that with a completely straight face made Mia question if this man was truly D’s other self. But she couldn’t answer that. The ghastly aura against her back was almost at its limit.
“How could I possibly know that if you don’t?”
“Don’t be that way,” the grinning fake shot back, but his eyes gave off blood light.
“Now!”
It was miraculous how Mia acted without any pause or delay. Without a second to spare, she jumped from the driver’s seat toward the fake D.
The sound of ripping fabric made her blood freeze. The hem of her jacket had snagged on a nail poking up from the edge of the seat.
The fake D reached out.
For a fraction of a second, she was frozen in midair.
There was a flash of white light behind Mia.
-
D drew and struck in a single motion.
-
Sparks flew, and the blade was deflected.
-
D changed his stance, holding his blade out at eye level, while above him a voice gravely intoned, It would seem I am not the only one who would interfere with you. You must triumph, D. Not over me, but over yourself.
As the young man stood there stock still, all around him the clouds eddied.
-
“That was close.”
Having parried D’s unconscious sword blow, the fake D looked down at his own blade. It was unclear whether he was talking about the matter of the sword or Mia. As for the girl, he’d caught her at first, and then returned her to the driver’s seat.
“Thank you,” she told him as she turned and looked back at D.
Still gripping his sword, the gorgeous Hunter had fallen back into that strange slumber. Had the fake one not narrowly managed to draw and swing his own blade, Mia would’ve undoubtedly been bisected from one shoulder down to the opposite armpit. For the fake, parrying the blade had been far faster and easier than grabbing Mia and reeling her in.
“Shouldn’t we take away his sword?” Mia suggested, but the fake D shook his head.
“On the other side, I have to fight. We can’t be sure that our meddling out here wouldn’t have a negative impact. Let’s just leave him like that.”
“But he might—”
“If you’re that worried, come ride with me. At any rate, I can’t let my movements be constrained.”
“I see,” Mia replied, but then she giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
“Well, I just don’t get it.”
“Get what?”
“The two of you—from what I’ve seen, you’re enemies, but you help each other at the strangest times. Is that how it is with twins?”
“I don’t know,” the fake D said, looking off into empty space. Shrouded in bluish darkness, his profile showed the sorrowful traces of what looked like fatigue. However, he quickly reclaimed his intense expression and stared at the d
istant outline of mountains that lay before them.
“It could be a long trip, it could be short—at any rate, all we can do is get going.”
“I know,” Mia said, tightening her grip on the reins.
-
The gate drew nearer. And in the aura that surrounded him, the killing lust grew stronger and stronger. If what the voice said was true, the murderous intent came from D himself.
“Calm down, D,” his left hand told him. “Something’s not right in your head. The way you’re secreting adrenaline—” The voice cut off.
A human figure had appeared before them.
“Oh—it’s you,” the left hand said with apparent distaste.
Though the approaching figure’s face couldn’t be discerned, anyone could’ve told who it was. The dashing silhouette, the elegant curve of the longsword on his back, that gait—all exactly like D.
-
“What in the—”
Suddenly besieged by a new wave of murder lust, Mia froze in the driver’s seat. What an endless, deadly battle it must be! Feeling more threatened by the slumbering D, Mia turned to the fake D.
A little scream resounded in the back of her throat.
What she found there was his horse alone. The other D had unexpectedly vanished right out of the saddle.
-
The D that’d just appeared halted about fifteen feet ahead of him.
“Is that you, me?” D asked, apparently sensing that this D might be the fake D he knew.
“Yes, indeed,” the new D replied, showing his pearly teeth. His cheery tone certainly sounded familiar. “I don’t know how it happened, but it looks like you called me. What’s more, it would seem we’re gonna have to have it out, eh?”
D already had his weapon drawn. The fake D drew as well, menace emanating from every inch of his body.
“I don’t know where we are, but it’s not a very pleasant setting. There’s all this pointless hostility blowing around.”
“Apparently it’s a product of my mind.”
The fake D tilted his head back and groaned at that. “So, does this mean I was born to be a homicidal maniac? This is more than I can handle. What we need is something to take the edge off, I’d say.”
“Think there’s anything like that here?”
Pondering this for a moment, the fake D then said, “Not really. It seems both of us are fated to travel troubled paths. I suppose it wouldn’t be too bad if we were to settle things here.”
Two blades rose smoothly into the air, and from them a transparent will to kill surpassing any malice rose in unseen flames.
If the two Ds crossed blades with all their lethal skill, what could possibly be the outcome? For anyone who lived on the Frontier, the answer to that was sure to be of interest—especially if what the fake said was to be believed, and that he was absolutely identical to the other D. Which would triumph? Which would be defeated? Though there was no one else there to see it, a deadly battle of the most staggering proportions was about to occur.
“Stay out of this, you hear?” D said, oddly enough. The remark had been addressed to his left hand.
It seemed for all the world as if they dug into the ground simultaneously. More than the steely war cry of sword meeting sword, it was the power in the legs they planted on the cloudlike ground that was astonishing, for the front foot of each sank in ankle deep.
The two shadowy figures stiffened. In power, they were equal. In accordance with the laws of physics, neither of them could move a muscle. Whichever one moved would be cut down. Both of them knew it.
But before they could sink into a motionless morass, both leapt away, one to either side. Flashes of white light intersected. They landed identically, each falling onto his left knee. A stark gleam protruded from the chest of each. Needles of unfinished wood.
“Knock it off!” the left hand shouted. “Keep fighting and you’ll both die! You’re perfectly matched in power.”
Apparently the only effect this attempt to stop them had was to fan their animosity. Like fierce black jungle cats, the two charged at each other. But this time was different. Choosing the shortest distance, D lunged from the right. The fake D used all of his weight to strike from the high position, as if splitting firewood. The result would be clear in a millisecond.
“Quit it!”
In a heartbeat, the two stayed their blades, flying back like ominous black birds. A slender figure had appeared in the path of their swords: the way they’d halted blades that’d been swung with all their might just before they made contact was a display of ungodly skill.
“Mia?” one of them groaned.
-
III
-
“How did you—” the fake D began to ask, but then he fell silent— having come there himself, there was nothing strange about Mia coming, too. If anything was mysterious about it, it was that at the very instant Mia appeared, the pair felt the raging storms of ill will within them fleeing like the tide. A second later, Mia had disappeared from view.
“Wow,” said the left hand.
“Wow,” said the fake D.
D’s lips remained buttoned.
“If that doesn’t beat all! All of a sudden, I’m all peaceful. I bet the same goes for the other me, too. Looks like we’ll have to call it a tie, eh?”
“What did she come for?” D said accusingly, but his voice had lost its intensity.
“As if you didn’t know,” the left hand said.
The fake D stood there somewhat awkwardly. Noticing the sword he still gripped, he sluggishly returned it to its sheath.
“All appearances to the contrary, that girl’s got a core of steel running through her. The fact she was able to get into your world so easily is proof of that. To be able to make two guys geared up for a bloody battle lose the will to fight just by poking her head in—yep, that’s one scary female.”
Though the fake D was scratching his head, the other D quietly stared forward. There lay the gate.
“Let’s go,” the Hunter said. He was already walking.
“I’ll leave the rest to you,” the fake D said.
All sign of him faded away.
“He’s gone back, has he?” the left hand remarked with some amusement.
-
“What is it?” the fake D asked from the back of his steed. “Don’t give me that look.”
“I’ll kindly thank you not to give me any funny looks,” the girl countered.
“It’s just that, for a second there, it seemed like you’d vanished.”
“Hey—that’s what I thought, too. I didn’t see you. But then, a second later, everything was back to normal—uh, was that what happened with me, too? I wonder what on earth went on there.”
“Well, I get the feeling I did battle with that me over there,” the fake D said, his gaze on where D lay.
“Well, if you did, it doesn’t seem to have had any unfortunate results. Look. His face looks so peaceful in his sleep. I’m sure no one’s ever seen that look on him before.”
“Probably not.”
“I wonder who in the world could’ve done that to him. It’s remarkable!”
“I’ll say. Come to think of it, I get the feeling I ran into you in that dream.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“No, really,” the fake D said with a nod. And then he stared at Mia as if looking on something of great importance.
The wagon and horse advanced through the darkness. All they could do now was wait for D.
Behind Mia, there was the sound of someone stirring.
“D?”
“So, is it the final battle at last?” the fake D said, his eyes shining.
-
As D got closer, the gate revealed itself in all its immensity. Its height must’ve been in excess of five hundred yards. There was a gigantic door, and the frame that supported it—and that was all. Though the door appeared to be made of wood, it had a horrible luster to it, and in that respect it was
just like the apparent stonework of its frame. Its width was unknown. To either side, it melted away into walls of roiling cloud.
“Can you open it?” his left hand inquired.
“I’ve come this far. I’ll have to open it.”
“How?”
D quietly drew his sword. “If this world is of my mind’s making, my will alone should be enough to do something.”
Precisely, the voice remarked. You summoned me. Not to hinder you. To slay you on the spot. There is nothing more mysterious than the workings of the human mind, you know.
D advanced toward the door. His left hand pressed against it.
“So, its thickness is infinite? That’s about what I’d expect from his mental defenses. D, how are you supposed to unlock it?”
“I’m not going to unlock it.”
“What?”
D held his sword at the ready, poised for a thrust. Somewhere a cry of pain could be heard.
The clouds eddied. An almost imperceptible light played across their surface as they churned. It was unmistakably an energy current.
“What’s this?” the left hand shouted. He’d just felt D’s body absorbing the energy. “You really are something. Now you’ve finally learned how to control the very life of this world and make it do your bidding. Hell, it’s not even control, it’s just simple concentration. With that alone you—”
Eyes shut and not moving a muscle, D looked to be a beautiful sculpture. And the silently raging energy cloud was being drawn into his body.
“Stop it—or you’ll be killed!” the left hand cried excitedly.
-
The horse and the wagon stopped simultaneously. Before them, a black chain of mountains stood in their way. The top ridge had fused with the darkness.
“That’s the North Lake Mountain Range, isn’t it?” Mia said.
“Yeah. Orogenetic activity formed them about two hundred million years ago. So, Muma lies somewhere in them, then?”
“Probably. Don’t you know?”
“I haven’t a clue,” the fake replied, being perfectly clear on that point. “What I do know is—”
Looking once more at D in the wagon, the fake stiffened. Mia did, too.
“Come here. You’d do well to keep your distance.”
The fake D’s breath was frozen and white. This was no atmospheric abnormality. His lungs, or actually all his organs, were freezing up.
Vampire Hunter D Volume 13: Twin-Shadowed Knight Parts 1 and 2 Page 21