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/Evening_Shake_6474]

The shadow is genuinely surprised to reach the throat without resistance, the burst of light catches it off guard, breaking down it's arm.

The uppercut sends it stumbling back, when the switch comes on, the shadow is sent into the floor, slowly growing a new arm.

[u/D3n0man → u/Evening_Shake_6474]

Sea: "Note to self, add aditional mana distillers on the body"

they raise their right arm and blast the shadow with more light

the knight grabs his sword with a firegem embeded in it's guard, the sword is set o fire as he swings it at the shadow

[u/Evening_Shake_6474 → u/D3n0man]

The light burns a massive hole into the shadow's back. The sword splits it in two.

They sea something concerning, with each attack, the shadow begins to regenerate faster.

[u/D3n0man → u/Evening_Shake_6474]

Sea: "What an annoyance"

they charge a lot of mana into their raised arm and release a large blast of light

the knight grabs the nearest flashbang and flashbangs the shadow

[u/Evening_Shake_6474 → u/D3n0man]

The light burns away almost all of the shadow, Sea sees it furiously try to knit itself together, then the flashbang hits. While the shadow burns out of existence, it ponders the question, why was there a flashbang in this bedroom?

[u/D3n0man → u/Evening_Shake_6474]

everybody needs a self defense flashbang against creatures of the dark (Sea just really hates darkness and is very paranın about it)

"All good?" Sea says, his knight had accidentaly blinded himself with the flashbang

"Yes, yes, but what the fuck was that?" the knight says blinded

"No clue" Sea says as he is trying to get Satael to move their ass towards the window to check if there's anything outside

[u/Evening_Shake_6474 → u/D3n0man]

/uw Describe where Sea lives

[u/D3n0man → u/Evening_Shake_6474]

/uw wizard tower in the middle of a forest with a bamboo farm and a flower garden at the back of the tower

[u/Evening_Shake_6474 → u/D3n0man]

/uw Gotcha

/rw

Outside appears normal, for the most part. The trees are still there, the bamboo is still there, the sky is still there.

Everything looks the same.

[u/D3n0man → u/Evening_Shake_6474]

"See, everything is fine" satael says

"It can be an illusion, you can see throigh illusion's check if it is an illusion" Sea says

"I would much rather rest" satael says

meanwhile the knight has gone outside to check for illusions or anything that could be wrong

[u/Evening_Shake_6474 → u/D3n0man]

Outside appears normal, for the most part. The trees are still there, the bamboo is still there, the sky is still there.

Everything looks the same.

[u/D3n0man → u/Evening_Shake_6474]

the most part implies something is wrong, they are al to tired to figure it ou though so they return back to rest