Goddess' Guidance #3: World of Legend

Spirit had just completed a job gathering intelligence for the Goddess when he was dumped next to Emerald. She raised her eyes and gave him an interested glance. To her, it seemed like only a fraction of a second had gone, but Spirit had been away for quite some time. He and Emerald were both taken before the Goddess and angel, believing it was finally safe to enter the guild.

After a lively discussion among the four of them, it was determined that Emerald would stay behind. He gained insight into the fight he was about to encounter thanks to the information he had obtained. It appears that he is fighting himself in some way. He would travel alone since he didn't want to risk fighting a clone, replica, or mirror of Emerald. But, if he had to fight himself, how would he do it? Is it even possible to do so?

Spirit entered the World of Legend with a wave of the Goddess's hand, a world where a dark ruler had coated the entire land in darkness, but he himself was being sent back in time. His orders were to destroy a slew of pots, and there were enough of them. There were at least 100 pots in a forest, and a key was hidden inside one of them. He needed to enter a door with that key to go to where he was going.

Word Count: 236

The vast number appeared to be a round stone gate that led nowhere. It was just a simple free-standing construction. Spirit was reminded of his Circle of Recall spell, which led him to believe that the key would open a portal within the structure that would transport him to a battle a shadow of himself.

He intended to use his Flash of Solaria - Red spell by moving to the center of the pots. By raising a finger in front of him, he could cause a divergence of his magic, creating an enormously powerful repulsive force to extend out and break the pots.

Several chickens would emerge from the woodlands and begin clucking around all of the pots before he could do his magic. There weren't enough to be distracting, but there were enough to make using an area of effect spell impractical. He could still hear the angels comments from before regarding them. "Uh, these are just chickens, right? WRONG! Don't ever attack them! Ever! They're really docile, but if you attack them you WILL be killed!"

Not one to be discouraged, he went about trampling on the pots one by one, being careful not to step on a chicken or miss the key. He'd arrive at the last pot a few hours later. He'd raise one foot and then lower his heel. The brightness of a silver key contrasted with the pleasant crunch of the clay gave him instant gratification.

Walking over to the stone edifice, he'd sit for 30 minutes before depositing the key.

Word Count: 257

Dark clouds moved across the sky, obstructing any sun that might have been visible. A flash of lightning would occasionally brighten this barren scene, which was devoid of color, warmth, and hope. The ground was shrouded in a thick fog that obscured whatever might be centimeters away from one's foot. A figure, almost identical to Spirit, stood ahead of him. Except for the gray, black, and darkish complexion, the height, build, hair color, and even facial features are all absolutely in sync.

He was perplexed as to why he was in the past while the future appeared to be ruled by a dark ruler. He was the only one in the area. Is this something that could happen in the future? Was he going to turn evil? The war that was about to take place was extremely important.

He was reminded of their ideals and mottos as he remembered the moment he received his guild tattoo. How could he have had it in him to become such a monster? He didn't! The only reason he might is if he lost here and would become corrupted. He didn't pretend to understand how time worked, and he wasn't going to rely on the Magician's advice on the off chance that the shadow could benefit from it as well.

He would take a deep breath and begin going towards his shadow, which would follow his every move. He could tell the shadow matched him in every way without having to use his increased senses. But how was he going to beat someone who was on par with him in every way? Did it have the same level of intelligence? Was there any other unspoken goal? Spirit would use Boots of the Lightning Dragon and Gloves of the Lightning Dragon to see how the situation would play out. With his speed substantially increased, he'd charge forward with a tremendous kick towards the shadow. Rain would begin to fall as a little sockwave erupted from the intensity of the kicks, before bouncing and staring each other down.

As he charged in again, he'd use his speed to strike the shadow from several angles. Each attack would be blocked by the shadow, who would then counter with his own punches. Spirit would obstruct them in the same way. Slashing forward with a power assault just as he believed he'd found an opening, it would clash like the kick had been perfectly timed. As the rain poured over his face, he jumped back and gave the shadow a calm look.

Regardless of how he attacked, the shadow was either perfectly in tune with his own strike or knew how to block and counter. They hadn't even hurt each other yet, and they were only wasting magic at this point. He decided to do something he would never typically do, thinking about how he might possible beat something like this. It was time to let loose. It occurred to him that if this was him, it was time to stop being himself.

Spirit would imitate a gun with his hand to cast Comet of Solaria- Piercing Bullet, bending his index and middle fingers slightly to create a magical sphere in the air from which a powerful penetrating bullet would be shot towards the shadow. The piercing missile sped ahead into the shadow, piercing armor, barriers, and shields. Spirit, too, was shattered by the shadow's casting of the same spell. Laughing, he smiled as his rash deed paid off. He'd make the just attack with the intention of never evading a blow, so the shadow wouldn't have to either. It would come down to a mental fight and who had the better body. If its body was equivalent to his, they would pass out or die at the same time. He was, however, betting that it was weaker or that he would be able to overcome their equivalence.

Word Count: 1430

Keeping the pressure on, he would swing out his leg, not attempting to hit the shadow, but instead striking the shadow's shin with his own, injuring both of them. He would wince as he punched forward, knuckle to knuckle, as the two magically augmented strikes collided, with an audible crunch of bone on bone.

He used his one good hand to clutch the wound where he had been wounded by magic, pulling his broken hand back and dropping to one knee with his shin shattered. As light exploded from the shadow, it began to break. He found himself kneeling before the goddess, Emerald's head in her lap, dozing, before he could see the aftermath of his fight.

For the time being, the angel appeared to be missing, but the Goddess would leave a cryptic message for Spirit before transposing him to an Emerald and returning them home, not to the guild where he was headed. While Emerald slept, he sat on his bed and read an account of everything the goddess had left him. There appeared to be a green headgear and a 20,000 Jewels.

Word Count: 175
Total Word Count: 2098