Occasionally Chloe would turn around sharply, hearing a footstep or two behind her. Most of the time, there wasn’t anything there.
But once or twice…
On those occasions, she thought she saw some kind of shadow melting into the rock. It was gone by the time she could focus her attention, but that set her guard up even more.
“Hey, I see something up ahead.” Gideon’s call was excited, his voice a welcome break in the silence they had all fallen into. “Look!”
Chloe, Ben, and Tag ran the last few yards up yet another incline to a towering platform from which they could see for miles in every direction.
The canyon stretched on and on, the orange rock blending into one massive blur. But beyond that, at the point where the horizon curved, they could make out a swath of cloudy mist and thick, towering trees.
“A forest?” Ben asked.
Chloe shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. I wouldn’t trust anything we see until we get closer and can inspect it properly. For all we know, that could be a mirage.”
Tag tugged on Chloe’s sleeve. “Er, guys?”
“Yes?” She couldn’t tear her eyes away. She was almost certain she could see the shape of a monstrous dragon swooping and circling over the tops of the trees.
“Is this a mirage too?”
Chloe, Ben, and Gideon turned around and their faces fell. Coming up the path they had just trodden were a dozen fighters clad in armor and robes.
“This can’t be real…” Gideon breathed.
The fighters were exact replicas of Chloe, Ben, Tag, and Gideon. They were silent, but they walked with the same gaits, and the expressions on their faces were almost identical to those they were mimicking.
Chloe raised a hand and tilted her head. “Hello?”
The other three Chloes mimicked her.
Instinctively, Tag’s hand moved toward his hammer. The other three Tags’ movements were identical.
“Easy…” Chloe murmured.
“Easy,” the other three echoed.
They faced off for a stretch of time that seemed infinite. Behind them, the rock fell away to a steep drop into the canyon. The only way back was the slope now blocked by the copy-cats.
“Move aside,” Chloe said at last. “Move aside and let us pass, and nothing will happen to you. You will be spared, and we will continue on our way. No one has to die here.”
She half-expected the other Chloes to copy her word for word. Instead, the one closest to her took a step forward with a wry smile on her face. “I’m sorry, but that’s what we were going to say to you. You know we can’t have four of us wandering around, right? Four is far too many. The rule of three is what we abide by.”
Chloe tilted her head again. “The rule of—”
Before she could finish, they had all drawn their weapons and were rushing the group.
Chloe drew her sword and met the attack.
The first Chloe replica came at her, leaping to an impressive height. Her sword was held high, and she drove it down toward Chloe.
Chloe blocked, steel hitting steel. She fell to one knee, folding under the assault. With gritted teeth, she used her strength to shove the replica back, her body bowling into some of the others from the group.
Ben readied his bow. He loosed several arrows but found that his targets moved too quickly. He ducked and dodged as their arrows came at him, narrowly avoiding one which sped past his ear, whistling gently.
Tag stood steady behind his wide shield. The other Tags did the same, slowly working their way toward the dwarf, seemingly uninterested in the other fighters. The whole affair looked like snails charging toward a battle behind metal plates.
Gideon summoned the etheric, his hands turning blue with electricity. The other Gideons did the same, each with the same expression of doubt and caution on their faces. Gideon was the first to throw his spell, the force of it hitting one of the other Gideons in the chest.
For a split second, the visage of Gideon fell away, and on its stomach, Gideon could see scarred black skin.
Before he could process this, however, the other Gideons began to fire. In a defensive maneuver, Gideon aimed his spell at the oncoming bolts, finding that, as they met, they locked in the air. An orb grew at the point of connection, crackling with dazzling white light.
“Nice work, Gid,” Chloe said, casting a quick glance at the fireball before rushing toward Chloe number two. “Keep pushing. Your magic is clearly stronger than theirs.”
Chloe’s eyes narrowed on the replica in front as their swords met. She parried, stabbed, blocked, and looked for a gap—any gap in the armor where she might do some damage.
Is this what it’s like fighting me? This armor is gooood.
The Chloe replica made a strange sound in its throat. Chloe saw she’d nicked the armor and a stream of blood now flowed down the gold.
How is that possible? The sword sliced the armor like butter.
Before Chloe could contemplate further, another Chloe came forth.
She was now surrounded by them, three replicas evenly spaced around her. Chloe smirked, fired up by the challenge. “Okay, KF. You be my eyes at the back.”
“Gotcha.”
Chloe whirled and her sword sang as it blocked and parried one after the other. Were the replicas more coordinated, they might have been able to do damage, but as it was, they merely struck whenever the urge took their fancy.
She drove her sword toward a replica, but it twisted and dodged. She turned on her back foot and slashed at the next, and swore she caught its stomach, only there was no resistance. The sword passed through as though the replica were immaterial.
She felt a blow to the back, the force vibrating through her armor.
Chloe spun back, fury on her face. The other Chloe recoiled, arms in the air as it tried to block the attacks from her sword.
Once again, the sword went straight through the body. Straight through the armor, the skin, the bone. There was nothing. No resistance whatsoever.
What the hell?
The immaterial Chloe sniggered. She turned back and saw the one she had nicked with her blade earlier. Her eyes glowed red, her mouth a display of serrated teeth.
Realization dawned.
Chloe focused on the red-eyed replica, vaguely aware of the battle of the others going on around her. She wanted to tell them but needed to test her theory first.
She launched at her replica, knocking her backward. Where her knee connected with her sternum, she should have felt metal, but instead felt only skin. She straddled the replica and drove the sword into its shoulder, pinning it to the ground.
The replica howled in pain, eyes blazing red. The other Chloes, who were about to jump in and join, began to shake and glitch. A moment later, their visages had faded, leaving only two ugly blades behind to clatter to the ground.
Chloe looked down in disgust as the creature beneath the blade began to transform. The shape of Chloe dissolved, the armor melting into nothingness, leaving behind one of the strangest creatures she had ever seen.
It had a green hue to its skin, bulbous yellow eyes, and fanned-out ears that reminded Chloe of creatures found in ponds. She half-expected its tongue to whip out and catch flies. The skin had a wet sheen to it—although that seemed impossible, given the relentless heat of the Nether Realm—and it had a wide, flat nose.
“Chloe? If you’re free, a little help, please?”
Chloe moved to pull the blade out of the creature’s shoulder but thought better of it.
“Coming, dear.”
Gideon was doing well holding the spell, but one against three made for uneven odds. Chloe immediately closed her eyes and summoned the etheric, finding her jackalope familiar before she cast her Purple Blaze at the three Gideons.
The blaze swept across them, taking them all by surprise. As with her replicas, two of the Gideons immediately disappeared, while one remained. The visage of Gideon slipped away, leaving another of the creatures behind, flapp
ing and fanning at its skin to extinguish the flame and to stop the spread of the burns.
Gideon’s eyes widened. “What the…”
“Don’t ask,” Chloe said. “Come on.”
She grabbed Gideon’s shoulder and turned him toward the remaining replicas. They were nearest to Ben’s, so they took them out first.
Ben had worked out the trick, discovering that only one of the replicas was sustaining damage from his arrows, while his projectiles shot straight through the others, so he was busy turning the main replica into a pincushion.
Not that it stopped putting up a fight.
“Hey! Just in time!” Ben called, waving over the replica’s shoulder at Gideon and Chloe.
The replica’s expression turned to shock. Distracted, Ben aimed a final arrow at the back of its head, hitting it dead center. Chloe watched the light vanish from its eyes before it collapsed. The other two Bens vanished instantly, their bow and arrows dropping as well.
“What the hell are these things?” Ben asked, bending down to pick up the bow. What had been a perfect replica just seconds before was now a crudely constructed bow that looked perfectly suited to be used by a low-level goblin.
“No idea,” Chloe said. She jerked her thumb at her creature, which was still pinned to the ground. “We’ve caught one in our net, though, so we can certainly ask the question—”
“Hey! What about me?”
They all turned to see four Tags fighting each other near the ledge’s edge. Four perfect replicas of the dwarf engaged in fisticuffs, their hammers and shields on the ground as they all worked to pummel one another into oblivion.
They ran over to help, hesitating just outside of the scuffle.
“Er, Tag?” Ben asked, unsure who was who. They were all moving fast, and they looked identical.
“I’m Tag!” One of the Tags shouted.
“No, I am!”
“I am!”
“Sure, you are!”
Ben looked at Chloe and Gideon for help.
“Don’t look at us,” Gideon said. “You’re his best bud. You identify him.”
“We could blast them all and see what happens?” Chloe offered.
“No!” came four identical responses.
They writhed over each other, each Tag vying for the top spot. Chloe tried to watch them carefully. From what she could see, two of the Tags were doing a great job of avoiding the punches, given that their bodies became immaterial with each blow. After a few more seconds, she was sure she could identify the main two.
“Those.” Chloe pointed at the bottom two in the pile. “See there? Two of the Tags can’t do any damage with their fists. They’re just pretending. It’s the bottom two we want first.”
“Very well,” Ben said. “Care to do the honors?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Chloe’s hands glowed with light. She focused her etheric manipulation on the bottom two figures and cast Telekinesis. The glow made its way around their bodies and raised the figures into the air.
The two immaterial Tags scrambled to their feet and ran for their hammers. Gideon shot them both with blasts of Volt Shock and watch them disappear into nothingness.
Chloe pulled the airborne pair apart and held them there. They wriggled and fought but couldn’t escape her spell.
“How do we tell these apart?” Gideon asked.
Chloe grimaced. “Ben, ask Tag a question only he will know the answer to.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know!”
Ben thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it! Tag?”
“Yeah?” they both chorused.
“How many arrows did it take to bring down Ferrog the Great Goblin, and which Relic Hunter was it?”
“Three!” the Tag on the left replied. “Three arrows straight through his neck, in RH2.”
Ben grinned. “Bingo.”
He closed one eye, drew back his bow, and fired two arrows straight into the Tag who had just spoken.
“Ben!”
The dwarf’s eyes snapped open as he gurgled. His skin began to melt away as the creature beneath appeared, dark blood dripping to the ground below.
Chapter Forty-Three
Chloe dropped them both to the ground and rushed over to Tag. “Tag, are you okay?”
Tag nodded, lost for words.
Chloe shoved Ben, hard. “What were you playing at? That was a risky move.”
“He got the answer wrong.” Ben shrugged. “You think I’d ever shoot Tag deliberately?”
Tag raised a finger. “Erm…”
“Dude, that was one time. And it was an accident. How many more times am I going to have to apologize?”
“Ben thought Tag was a possessed dwarf in Relic Hunter 3,” Gideon explained when Chloe’s upper lip curled. “It didn’t end well.”
Chloe waved her arms in front of her face, frustrated. “Hold on, one thing at a time. Can you first explain to me why you shot the Tag who gave you an answer?”
“It was a trick question,” Ben replied nonchalantly, helping Tag to his feet. “I didn’t play a ranger in Relic Hunter 2, I played a warrior. The real Tag would know that.”
Tag nodded. “Yep.”
Chloe sighed. “Well, as long as we’re all okay. What the hell were those things?”
“Why don’t you ask them yourself?” Gideon suggested, nodding to the two creatures struggling to escape. The one Chloe had pinned was still there, trying to free itself from the sword. The other was now crawling close to the rock’s edge, its charred body blackened and weeping.
“Quick, Gid! Stop it!”
Gideon rushed over to the creature, but before he could reach it, it had already fallen over the edge and was tumbling into the void below. Chloe made to use Telekinesis, but by the time she cast the spell, the creature was out of sight.
“I suppose one will be enough,” she muttered.
Chloe withdrew her sword in a quick, clean motion. The creature grunted, hand moving immediately to the wound. It searched wildly for an escape but realized that it was surrounded.
Chloe knelt by the creature’s side. “Tell us, what are you, and what do you want?”
The creature began to talk, then cried out in pain. Its eyes screwed shut and its mouth hinged open. The sounds it emitted were shrill and piercing, echoing around the canyon.
“Shut it up before it draws more attention to us,” Ben said. “If there were four of these, there might be more. Or worse…”
Chloe moved her hands over the top of the creature, her palms glowing white. The creature watched in fascinated wonder as the edges of its wound knitted together and closed, the surrounding blood vanishing.
“There,” Chloe said. “Better?”
The creature manipulated its shoulder. It placed a hand on where the wound had been, stunned by its recovery. It raised an eyebrow and looked at Chloe. “What witchcraft have you bestowed on me? Why would you help?”
Chloe shrugged. “You were in pain that I inflicted. I don’t enjoy hurting or killing but will always defend myself and my friends to the end. You attacked us, but now the fight is over. We have won, and we would like to talk to you.”
“Why should I talk with you?” the creature crooned. “What do I get for this request?”
“You get to live,” Ben offered. “That’s more than your friends can say, right?”
They each took a step back and gave the creature some room. It cautiously shifted into a sitting position and stared at each of them in turn.
“What are you?” Chloe asked.
“Who are you?” Gideon corrected.
The creature sighed. “My name is Gan’gor. I am a shifter-waif. My creed is blessed with the power of mimicry and magic, Illusion and deception. We are a proud race of creatures, banished to this eternal damnation due to the trickery we played in the founding years.”
“The founding years?” Gideon asked, suddenly intrigued. “As in, when the wor
ld was born?”
Gan’gor nodded. “My people lived among the first men when the world came to be. Legend tells of a time when we were respected by men and elves and dwarves alike. We had villages and towns, and we had begun to inhabit cities.
“But there were many of my kind who used our talents to ill-purpose. For mimicking kings and rulers and those of high enough stature to influence, we were eventually cast into the Nether Realm by the gods, a mistake wiped out in one ill-fated sweep and left to rot out here under the relentless sun.”
“Ill-purpose?” Tag questioned. “Ill-purpose and mimicry, as in…what you just used against us?”
Gan’gor lowered his eyes. “It is our way. Everything in this land is an enemy. Despite the never-ending day, only the darkest and most treacherous survive in this realm.”
“Then why are you telling us this?” Chloe asked. “Why should we trust a word you’re saying?” She eyed the waif with curiosity, studying his fan-like ears, his broad face, and his moist skin. “You attacked us without cause, and your kin were destroyed in the crossfire. What reason have we to trust you?”
Gan’gor fixed his bulbous eyes on Chloe. “Acts of kindness are like gold dust in this realm. Even our own kind would rather kill the weak than assist a survivor. You could have killed me in one fell swoop. You chose not to. Never have I seen such chivalry and kindness from a group of warriors such as yourselves. Never have I seen anyone of your kind, though I can assume that you are all born of Obsidian, am I correct?”
“Kind of,” Ben said. “We are known as ‘the blessed.’ We are a race from outside of Obsidian who adventures and journeys within the realm.”
The waif’s eyes couldn’t open any wider. “The legends have come true! The blessed have come to Obsidian.” He raised himself to his knees, then bowed before them. “I am sorry if my people or I caused you harm. We would never have attacked if only we had known.”
Tag chuckled. “This dude is crazy.”
Gideon nodded in agreement.
Gan’gor bowed several more times before resting on his haunches and looking up at them all. A sudden question dawning on his face. “Tell me, what is it that you seek in the Nether Realm? There is nothing here but desolation and destruction. More than that, how did you find your way here? The gate has been closed for millennia.”
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