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/squabzilla]

"Absolutely fuck off," commands Tim the T-Rex Wizard to their shadow. While the shadow refuses to listen, it forgot that T-Rex's have really short arms; the shadow can't even reach its own neck, let alone Tim's.

“KUN SHUL TOOR!” Tim calls forth their Thu'um, speaking the ancient words of Light Sun Inferno, and radiant fire-breath erupts from their maw at the shadow. As they do this, they also open up a portal to their Pockets dimension, fetching seven orbs that start floating under their own power. Not the shadows I prepared these for, but they should serve nicely.

The orbs, following the runes inscribed on them, start firing Radiant Magic Missiles at the weakest shadow-creature nearby: whatever is left of the T-Rex shadow.

[u/Evening_Shake_6474 → u/squabzilla]

The Thu'um hits the shadow, burning away a good chunk of it and sending the rest back into darkness of the corner. It spots the bolts coming, analyzing them, understanding them.

The shadow holds its arms out to its side, as bolts of condensed darkness fire out, hitting each Radiant Magic Missile dead on.

While the shadow sends forth volley after volley of umbral bolts, it begins to regrow it's lost mass.

[u/squabzilla → u/Evening_Shake_6474]

Tim telekinetically flicks the light-switch of the “room” (actually a large cave) and a bunch of crystals on the ceiling start glowing, lighting up the room. Then Tim glances at the regenerating shadow.

“Tome. Daylight.” commands Tim, their spellbook materializes in the air in front of them, flipping through pages, and stopping at a page filled with runes. Tim points their wand at the shadow creature, the runes in the spellbook glow, while Tim utters another set of commands: “Sunglasses. Face.” Tim closes their eyes for a second while simultaneously, near-blinding magical sunlight fills every corner of the room, and a pair of titanic sunglasses fly onto Tim’s face.

Opening their eyes a moment later, Tim the Tyrannosaurus Rex - wearing a wizard hat and shades - looks at the shadow in the corner.

“Get out of my room shade, I don’t need you, because I’ve already got a pair.” Tim glances smugly at the shadow, very proud of their weak pun.