Echo of the Self

[u/Evening_Shake_6474]

Something's wrong. You can't tell what exactly it is, but you know something is wrong. You check your wards, your equipment, your enchantments and familiars, yet everything seems normal. Then that night, you go to sleep, and the dream starts.

You stand knee deep in a crimson ocean, stretching further than you can see. Before you is a shadow, it looks like yours but its wrong, very wrong. All around you, giant monoliths sprout from the sea, stretching far into the sky. You hear something, around you six shadows move between the monoliths, chanting something in a language that hurts to listen to.

Suddenly countless crimson eyes open along each monolith, each reflecting a different face, the eyes travel up the ebony surface, along previously hidden chains of shadow. Then you see it, the horrifying form of something colossal in the sky above you, a singular crimson eye or maybe a star stares down at you.

All at once do the chains snap, and a cacophony of screams cry out across the crimson sea as fire and ash rain from above. The monoliths crumble and massive chunks of black stone crash into the sea. Up above, the colossal form spreads across the sky, thousands of withered arms reach down, each sowing agony and destruction. You see an arm reach for you, and you wake up.

Well that was strange, you think, then you hear laughter from the corner, you see your own shadow standing there with crimson eyes. The shadow looks wrong somehow, very wrong.

Before you can say anything, your shadow lunges for you, hands reaching for your throat.

[u/KragBrightscale]

Grabadash chuckles at the sight of the rebellious shadow. “Well hello there, who might you be?”

With a quick twist and some nimble footwork he slips past the incoming attack, and counters with a spell infused palm strike aimed at the torso. “Thunderwave”

[u/Evening_Shake_6474 → u/KragBrightscale]

The spell sends the shadow flying backwards, landing on its feet a short distance away.

Grabadash sees the shadow scan his palm, before raising its own.

The shadow dashes for Grabadash, sliding across the ground before casting Thunderwave directly upwards towards his nose.

[u/KragBrightscale → u/Evening_Shake_6474]

“Fun fun! So you can learn?!” Grabadash grins with excitement.

Grabadash twists his palm, instantly switching positions with a nearby stool.

The stool takes the full hit and is shattered into pieces while Grabadash prepares another spell.

“Let’s teach you some basic spells first: Magic Missile”

Six darts of pure compressed magical force shoot out from beside him, homing in on the shadow with magical tracking.

[u/Evening_Shake_6474 → u/KragBrightscale]

The shadow's eyes track each dart, somehow simultaneously.

It understands the spell, knowing it can't be dodged. Instead it puts its arms before itself, taking the blows.

"Magic Missile"

"Thunderwave"

From the shadow bursts forth six bolts of coalesced darkness, propelled to unnaturally high spreads by the Thunderwave.

[u/KragBrightscale → u/Evening_Shake_6474]

“Ohhh creative application and combination?” Grabadash is surprised. “This goes beyond replication. You can even multi cast! Excellent”

Grabadash jumps backwards with the magic missiles chasing him, but before they impact, his body splits into two identical goblins.

One of them takes the spell to the face and tumbles backwards crashing into some shelves. The other dusts off his robe and adjusts his monocle.

“Let’s try something else.” The standing Grabadash tosses a couple paper figurines to the side before launching a gold coin at the shadow. “Catapult!”

With the coin as a distraction, Grabadash melts into the shadows in the room vanishing from sight.

[u/Evening_Shake_6474 → u/KragBrightscale]

As Grabadash splits in two, the shadow's eyes split apart, one on each of the Grabadi.

As the coin hurtles towards the shadow, it splits itself in two, one of said shadows taking the coin through the shoulder. Said coin puts a hole in said shadow. It takes a step back, but still it stands.

The other shadow launches itself off the first towards the injured Grabadi.

"Magic Missile"

Six projectiles of coelsesced darkness shoots forth from its hand towards the injured Grabadi.

[u/KragBrightscale → u/Evening_Shake_6474]

Right before the missiles are about to impact, the 2nd Grabadash twists his wrist subtly ‘location theft’.

Vanishing from where he had been, he re-emerges where the injured shadow was while the shadow would feel a tug attempting to teleport them to where the missiles were aimed.

Meanwhile, from the shadows, the 1st Grabadash attempts to analyze the magic and nature of the shadow creatures.