Grumbling to myself, I reached a hand up to massage my aching head. Whatever caused it, sure wasn’t alcohol. It’s more like, say, a thousand elephants took the liberty to trample all over you, kind of pain. Have you ever felt such pain you wished you were in a coma instead? Yeah, add another shovel of pain to that. Then multiply that by two, you will know the reason soon enough, I guess.
So, I touched my head, only to feel a weird sensation upon doing so. I wasn’t sure what to make of the confusing signals coming from my headache addled brain. It was like you had double vision, only with touch.
This was weird, I mused to myself.
Either I’m full of drugs, or I was more delirious than I thought. Not that I have any idea how one feels on drugs, but I was sure it felt something akin to this sensation. I tried to remember what happened the day before this, only to come up with a blank spot at the moment. All I know, I was going to bed that night completely normal, then nothing upon entering my bedroom.
Now, I really don’t know how to describe feeling two things at once, but even trying to do so wasn’t helping my poor head. I was a whimpering mess, I must confess. My tears felt weird too, now that I think about it. It felt like the Nile river running through Egypt. You know, with the different forks going into the Mediterranean Sea. Only more confusing than that, if you can believe me on that. Like only one stream, but kinda two. Come on, how would you describe something like that?
Rubbing my sore eyes, I lifted my hands, ready for anything.
Upon opening my eyes, I was met with two perspectives of two different hands hovering above me. From the corner of my eyes, I could make out another hand hovering in the air. Both of them were right hands.
Now, if you think I just held up both of my hands, one of them having been replaced with a right hand, you would be wrong. My left hand was still at my side in the dirt I was lying on. Overhead a curious bird watched from a branch on the tree. I sent it a glare, seeing it kinda in double vision. Not because I was drunk, though. Or because I was wearing one of these funny glasses that let you experience what it was like to be drunk, without being drunk. That sentence made a lot more sense if you knew what I was talking about.
Oh-ho-ho, no!
I wished it was that easy, I really did. But here I was, lying in the dirt with no idea how I got here, with some memories missing as if a child scribbled all over them with a permanent marker. Then added some cutesy sticker faces all over them for good measure.
It was because I now had two bodies, lying next to each other. This was way too much in my delirium, my brain working hard to make sense out of the situation. Or brains, I guess. Sitting up, my bodies tried to sit in a way that allowed me to look at my other body. Only for me to stare at the back of my other head. This was going to take a while, so I will spare you most of the detail of the embarrassing part on righting ourselves like clumsy chickens.
Looking at my counterpart, we both oggled each other. Confused gaze met a confused gaze.
Before me sat a young woman and a young man. Well, considering on what perspective I was focusing on. I studied each of them, taking in all the features of the male or the female sitting in front of me. Us. We. Whatever.
“Man, this is weird.”
“Man, this is weird.”
Both voices overlapped themselves, perfectly in synch. This was so confusing, looking at my body from the perspective of my other body. In some way, one could describe it as an out of body experience, only with me being conscious.
Well, I guessed it was my body since I was moving them. Us. Something like that. I could tell that even my male body was different. I mean, I was scrawny before, but now I looked like a stick in the landscape.
Moving was insanely perplexing too, judging from the experience of sitting up and trying to turn around to face myself.
Obviously, I managed to do that, as I was currently ogling my other body. It was frustrating, though. I had to hold one body down with my arm, while my female self tried to hold down the air. If someone was observing me, they would think me mad. Us. We. Ourselves. Gah! This just left me with a bigger headache than before!
My female self had long brilliant red hair and green eyes, a few freckles around the nose. Soft lips and a petite chin. You could mistake her for a Weasley, seriously. The only thing missing was the red and gold scarf and black robe. Harry Potter fantasies aside, she was also slender in measurements.
My male self had strikingly blond hair and blue eyes, having none of the freckles that my female counterpart spotted. But he had a kinda cool looking goatee. I always wanted something like that, but everything I got previously was short stubble. Well, at least something good came out of it. And I was freakishly thin, as I mentioned.
Both of us wore a black shirt and a hoodie jacket. The zipper was red on my female half while being blue on my male half. Somewhere in my mind a little voice childishly objected to being subjected to generic gender colors. We both wore white pants with the respective coloring for accents, ending with shoes also being completely blue or red.
“If this is some kind of twisted joke by some god playing with me, why me?”
“If this is some kind of twisted joke by some god playing with me, why me?”
It was as if someone decided to rip my body in half to see what would happen. Just yesterday I was getting ready for bed after a relaxing day of reading a book one of my friends published. If it weren’t for the headache, I would dismiss this as some kind of weird dream. I wish I remembered what happened after entering my damn bedroom. Well, it seemed I would’ve to live with that for a while. Doesn’t stop me complaining, though.
Getting a bit sore from sitting on the uneven ground, I heaved myself up. Only to bump our heads together from doing the same thing simultaneously. Crying out, I closed both sets of eyes from the renewed pain of the headache, holding my hands to my heads.
This really needed some careful coordination, if I had to watch out for both bodies while moving. Wouldn’t do to let one body miss the door of a house, while the other ignorantly went through the door, now would I? As funny as it would be to see some other poor sods do that to themselves, I wasn’t up to that level of embarrassment. Not that this wasn’t equally as awkward as that would be.
Trying to stand up a second time went off without any problems. Probably because we heald each other on the shoulders to prevent a repeat performance. Dusting myself off on my bodies was a weird feeling, I tell you. Feeling twice as much as normally was a jarring experience. I certainly hoped this was only a temporary condition, but something told me I wouldn’t be that lucky.
For better or worse, I would have to get used to this.
Looking around, we spotted two bags, lying a bit further away from us. Guess what color they were in? Picking them up, we rifled through them, finding the things I usually had packed in my bag for university. Some blank notebooks, writing utensils, a lunch box (sadly empty) and a thermos can (also empty). In the side pocket I found my phone and charger, finding both of them out of energy. In another pocket I found a flashlight, luckily with some full batteries. At least small miracles happen. Here's to hoping they won’t die in the middle of the night, I don’t think staying here would be a good idea.
Closing the bags, I slipped them over my shoulders while taking a look around the dense foliage around me. Us. You know what I mean. Just pretend that me means us and we are good to go. Or don’t, it’s your choice. You know, that thought train led to me giving myself a goofy grin. Humor in all situations helps to lift one's mood for a while. I was in desperate need for some happy thoughts, after all.
While it seemed a little shady, it wasn’t too dark to see around. The thing about me waking up and getting accustomed to being two people at once left me close tonight, though. And it was getting darker by the minute very fast, so I took the flashlights into my right hands. Waddling carefully around the vegetation, I began to take a look around this forest. It seemed a bit gloomy, with all the trees having a gnarly appearance. As if it was some kind of witchwood or something.
“Oh God, I hope I didn’t wake up in some kind of horror movie cliché.”
“Oh God, I hope I didn’t wake up in some kind of horror movie cliché.”
I really wished I had some tape to stop the double dialog there. Stupid bag with useless things. At least the flashlight would come in handy.
Five minutes after wandering in as straight a line as possible, it began to rain. Lucky me. Couldn’t have awoken with a rain jacket, could I? Well, most of it landed on the leaves up above, but you know how disgusting that feeling was of big droplets hitting your head and neck from the trees? Yeah, with two heads it’s even harder to avoid that.
A slight shiver went through us as we looked around fearfully in the darkening forest with the stretching shadows caused by our flashlights. It really didn’t help the atmosphere here. Stepping around roots in the dark was a hard thing with one body alone, but a pain in the behind with two bodies. At least it taught me how to better control two bodies at the same time.
Let me tell you, wandering around a dark forest isn’t the kindest thing to subject your feet to. Slight cramps made this thing into a whole exercise on its own. Add to that the uneven ground and a light drizzle of rain, and you wished for a reprieve. Then add a whole bunch of hills to the mix and you know torture. Coupled that with a headache, it could only get worse from there. I wondered if I could’ve avoided this by pulling an all-nighter reading that book. I don’t even remember what it was about anymore. I wish it was in my bag, though.
Heaving breaths from exhaustion, we both trudged forth through the steady rain. I could already tell that I would get a cold after this. And I wasn’t looking forward to it with two bodies to experience it. And not the one-day cold either, more like the ‘Oh-god-why’ kind that wreaks havoc on your body for longer than a week. The last time I had one of these, I could barely breathe with swollen lips and aching lungs from coughing your lungs out. Yeah, it wasn’t on my priority to experience again.
Holding low hanging branches away was also a pain in the behind because getting smacked by it in the face on the body walking slightly behind the other, wasn’t my idea of fun. Coordinating your arms with two bodies to avoid that wasn’t easy, and half the time the blasted things would slip through the wet noodles I called fingers either way.
The feeling of hunger from both my female and male body began to weigh on me after half an hour, and I didn’t trust myself with finding something edible in the night. Or at all, really. For all I know, I could find something that would kill me within minutes.
“Really should’ve taken those survival courses.”
“Really should’ve taken those survival courses.”
Kinda wish I had a tent in that bag, it wasn’t like I could’ve packed beforehand for this. I started cursing the deity that found it funny to dump me into this forest as it started to thunder on top of all this. You know, maybe I should stop tempting Murphy.
“Just great.”
“Just great.”
At least I wouldn’t get a dry mouth, I guessed. Count your blessings, right? My soggy feet seemed to disagree, though. As would the rest of my clothing. I hoped I could find a cave in this mess, but that was just wishful thinking on my part. It doesn’t seem Lady Luck was paying attention to me all this time. Why would she, anyway? Wasn’t like she owed me any favors, damn it.
Around that time it got even worse. Unbelievable, right? Well, I wish it was like that, but you know me by that point. My luck for the day was majorly absent. The howl that ripped through the forest like a rocket launch wasn’t anything I wanted to hear today. Or ever, for that matter. At least I knew I was somewhere where there werewolves. Hopefully they wouldn’t see me on their menu. Or find me.
But alas, find me they did. Rustling from all corners unnerved me, causing me to be a jittery mess. I wasn’t so sure anymore I would survive this night. All I would do tonight would be to die without even remembering my friggin’ name in time for that to happen. The biggest things to forget, right?
The green glowing lights in the darkness didn’t help my anxiety much, floating there in pairs like leering eyes salivating at their prey. Sadly that prey was me. Adding to that, I didn’t trust myself to run for my life with two bodies, and I didn’t want to find out what would happen if one of them dies while running around in the dark being hunted by predators.
Making myself as big as I could to prove myself too big a hassle to attack wasn't the right survival trick against wolves, right? I think that was something you did while facing a bear. What did you in case of a sudden wolf attack? Wolves were pack hunters, after all, they would attack anything as long as they didn’t suffer too many losses, right? Oh gosh, what do I do?
Climb a tree? Well, that could work I guess, but getting both of me up there would complicate that. By that time I would be dog food. Running even though it was next to impossible to escape with two bodies tripping over each other? Yeah, well that was equally as bad. But what other choice did I have?
Grabbing onto each other’s hands, I made a run for it. The noise of twigs snapping around me told me the chase was on. Did wolves tire their prey out before striking? I wasn’t so sure about that. It sounded like they were about to surround us to make our escape all that much harder. I guess they were trap hunters, or whatever you called that tactic for predators. It seemed a bit surreal that animals would do that kind of thing, though.
Desperately praying to all deities I could remember vaguely, I hoped to find a way out of this. Narrow passages helped get away from predators, right?
That was my deciding factor as I came upon a more rockier area of the forest with big boulders and passages between cliffs a bit higher than if both of me stood on each other. Hopefully, they couldn’t get through here. But there I was sadly out of luck as something seemingly made out of wood and moss chased after us. At least it couldn’t go as fast through here as I could with my slender build on both of my bodies. Oh man, this was crazy.
“What kind of hell-spawn are you?!”
“What kind of hell-spawn are you?!”
It certainly looked intimidating and I wasn’t in the mood to be the intended meal for that monstrosity. It was something out of a fairy tale, all right. The old school fairy tale, not the cutesy everything is rainbow barf kind of fairy tale. I really wished it was the case, though. I would take Care Bears over this nightmare abomination.
The sharp gnashing teeth of that thing oozed some kind of sap stinking to the high heavens, while some sickly fungus grew on the back of that thing. The claws looked sharp enough to rend limbs in half with one swipe. And the unearthly eyes glowing like Will O’Wisp in these sunken eye sockets gave me shivers in terror. The rattling breath from the beast didn’t sound healthy at all, either. Good God, in what kind of nightmarish land was I?
Running through the passages between the rocky cliffs was hard with only the flashes of my flashlights helping me go through this in some kind of imitation to a haunted house ride. I would like to see you try not to wet yourself in terror in this kind of scenario, being a hair length away from the maw of the tree dog. It seemed my bladder was empty to begin with, though. It didn’t stop my body from trying to do so, anyway.
Have you ever felt something like the terror where you were sick in your empty stomach and just wished it would end already? Well, it was like that and it didn’t help that I felt it twofold. I’m pretty sure the cuts and bruises would get infected if I managed to somehow come out of this alive, but my adrenalin-filled blood vessels kept my pain tolerance on a god-like level.
Fear is a superpower, after all.
I hoped it would keep me alive this night, too. The only thing missing is a blood moon to make this even more scarier. If only this was just a nightmare and I would wake up in the safety of my own home. But the stinging cold was telling me other things. This was real. That monster was real. My situation... was real. Death was waiting with bated breath, but I would be damned if I didn’t fight until the end!
Crying out as I slipped with both bodies down a tight slope, I heard a yelp of the beast chasing me as it tumbled after me on the drenched downwards slide into the darkened water ride. There go the flashlights, damn it. The ride was bumpy as heck, as we crashed against the walls, the water dragging us deeper into an underground cavern. Glowing fungus flashed by us, as we tried to keep our heads from getting smashed like a fat melon falling from a skyscraper for a science experiment.
From the sound of it, the abomination of a child between a wolf and a tree, paired with a zombie for good measure, fared worse than us. The snapping of twigs heralded a sigh of relief as it was ripped to kindling as we rolled to a stop on the wet ground. The glowing fungus on the walls showed a deep crack going through the head of the beast, having rolled between us. It really was an ugly thing to behold. The glowing light of the eyes were gone, giving a pitiful glance with its hollow eye sockets. The leaf of a tongue looked dried out like the rest of the body, as it began to crumble away. After a few minutes of frightening breathing and fascinated terror of watching it decay in rapid time, I got hold of our frantically beating hearts.
“Oh gosh...”
“Oh gosh...”
Relief washed over me like an overused drug, thanking my lucky stars for this turn of events. Hopefully, none of the other wolves would find their way here. I could do without a life-threatening chase for the next eternity. With the threat over, the adrenalin was slowly going away. But with that gone, other things let themselves be known in my bodies. First and foremost of all, the cuts and bruises burned with a vengeance like a ten-year-old ripping paper to shreds in a tantrum.
Not to say I could handle that, but coupled with everything else that happened recently? Yeah, I passed out as soon as the pain flared like a roaring bonfire doused in gasoline.
Now, I wished I could have gone with a dreamless sleep to recuperate from the abuse my bodies went through in the short time I had before taking this forceful nap, but that wasn’t the case. No, it wasn’t even just a weird dream-like having a screw with yourself after being in two genders at the same time. It was a friggin’ nightmare of the abominations hot on my heels. Running from their snapping jaws, tripping in the forest and getting dragged away as soon as I landed on my faces, almost drowning in the water of the river I took a ride in, trying desperately to climb a tree in time and so forth were the images I was assaulted with.
Nightmare after another, with no end.
This was interrupted by a drop of water hitting my face in the uncomfortable way of getting the water in my open mouth. God, was that disgusting. In the end, it rescued me from my nightmare induced sleep, though. That was at least something for the weird taste in my mouth now.
The migraine was on a manageable level, thankfully. So I sat my bodies up, working the kinks out of my spine while I was at it. It was dark, but not so dark that I couldn't see my hands in front of me. The dim light of the glowing vegetation gave a somewhat mystical atmosphere to the cave.
Inspecting my surroundings, I saw many stalactites and stalagmites with the echoing sounds of water droplets falling down all over the place. It was kinda slimy on the ground, too. I would have to be careful of getting out of here. Looking behind me, I saw the way we came in from.
Yeah, I don’t think I can climb back out that way. It’s a wonder I came out of this alive without broken bones. My wrist hurt like a hot iron burning its way through, though. Okay, I didn’t come unscathed out of this as I first thought. On my female body the ankle wasn’t faring better and the left arm was hanging out of its socket.
Fuck man, this was going to hurt.
Positioning ourselves in a way that I could get it back in, I counted mentally to the number ten and randomly pushed it back in with a cry worthy of a banshee. Counting really didn’t help since I was doing it myself, I guess.
The burning pain helped to differentiate between the feelings of my bodies and I was slowly getting the hang of moving independently on my bodies. It was a massive effort though and needed all of my attention to accomplish at the moment. At least it told me it was possible for me to move without doing the same on both bodies. It would take practice though.
The next days would surely prove to be a pain in the behind because of that.
For now, I just limped my way through the slippery cave, holding my sides in pain. I guess I did break something after all. Gosh, I hoped I would heal alright and find another way out of this hole. I don’t think the glowing mushrooms are something that I could digest and I didn’t fancy starving to death after surviving being chased by the beasts out of leafy hell.
So, stumbling through the dimly lit cave wasn’t nice at all, but it was favorable to being mauled and eaten. You know, hooray and stuff.
A light in the distance coming around the bend gave my heart a flutter in hope. A slight breeze gave me the determination to fight through my pain to see the sunlight once more. With that in mind, we... I mean me in my different bodies... found ourselves in a circular chamber. From above a ray of sunlight streamed down on a pedestal carved out of the ground. Runes dotted the base in some archaic way that gave it a foreboding quality. Around the walls were pillars carved in the way not unlike the pedestal in the middle.
But the interesting part was what was embedded there, shining in the light of the sun.
A sword sunken halfway in made out of some white metal stood proudly in all its glory. The ground was covered in some mosaic of a stylized sun and next to it was a black bow without a string, also up to its half in the ground. Around the bow was a mosaic of a stylized moon. I stared at the weapons embedded in the ground as if it was some cheap imitation of the legend of Excalibur thought up by a child having no better idea of how their hero was to come upon their favorite creation.
You know, I had half the mind to turn around and just try my luck with climbing out the way I came in from.
This had the tell-tale sign of some kind of Chosen One fantasy book if I didn’t know better. Sure the sword looked like it could be actually useful in defending myself from any other horror I would stumble upon while trying to find my way out of this forsaken forest, but the bow? What use would it be without the string and at least some arrows?
Just as I was about to turn around, the ground shook, causing me to fall on my back in the process. Cursing to myself, I rubbed my abused butt as I saw a heavy stone door lower itself, closing the way I came in from into the chamber.
“Oh, to all things holy, why?!”
“Oh, to all things holy, why?!”
Crying out, I tried to get up fast enough to escape the trap. The stone door just went down its merry way, regardless of my wishes for a normal day for once. Sadly, I was to slow to get back to the door, leaving me here with no way out. Just my luck.
Sighing out of my nose in barely suppressed anger, I turned my gaze on the two weapons in the middle of the room. You know what, why the heck not? Isn’t like I have anything better to do, right? Friggin’ teenagers with their friggin’ hero fantasies. I’m no hero, damn it!
Grumbling to myself, I positioned my bodies with all my willpower to stand at each weapon. I was sure I couldn’t get them out of the ground, but if it was the only way out, I would take it! It took a bit of effort, but at last, I stood beside them with my female self at the black bow, while my male self stood before the white sword.
You know, this really has a theme of gender roles, doesn’t it? I’m pretty sure there was a goddess of the night with her counterpart being a god of the sun. Too bad both my bodies looked more the part of a sun than they resembled the night.
“You better not turn me into some sort of demi-god, damn it...”
“You better not turn me into some sort of demi-god, damn it...”
We both muttered at our respective weapons before us. Hesitantly reaching out with our right hands, we gripped the weapon so we could get this stupid game over us.
Upon touching them, the runes on the pillars and the base of the pedestal lit up in white ghostly light. Trying to loosen my grips on the weapons didn’t work out as I hoped it would. It was like they were glued to my hands.
“Friggin’ shit! What the heck do you need me for?!” we both shouted at the weapons.
The light of the pedestal traveled down the mosaic of both the sun and the moon, leaving them glowing in a kind of ghostly beauty if you liked that kind of thing. I really wished the gods would stop playing with me like some kind of Barbie doll with the world as their puppet house.
The light traveled on, going up the bow and the sword as if drawing it in. It was turning into a yellow glow on the sword while turning into a pale blue on the bow. Mere centimeters away from my glued on hands now. It seemed they didn’t take my plea seriously to stop. I wished I stayed away and starved to death instead, I don’t want to become some kind of hero!
Light traveled up and touched my hands, rushing up my arm with a speed unlike the slow crawl from before, as if accepting their new owner. Crying out in fear didn’t seem to stop it, though.
“Are you sure this will work?” a voice echoed through the chamber, as if from a forgotten memory of days gone past.
“I’m sure. They will seek out their wielders in time, Celestia. Only those of a unity between them like you and your sister may raise them off the platform,” a male voice answered the female one.
The echoing quality of the voices was creeping me out, man! Stop this, please! I beg of you! I don’t want this! My tears fell in fear of the future. Would I have to stop some kind of evil just because it was expected of me? What kind of sicko thrusts these responsibilities on some stranger?
“But, Starswirl, what if they aren’t ready for this?” another female asked from the memory imprint of the chamber.
“Nonsense, dear Luna, I’m sure anyone seeking them out must be ready and willing enough to find their way here. Do not fret, my dear,” the male voice answered, a see-through ghost appearing between us with two young women standing at his side. They certainly didn’t react to my pleading for this to stop, so I guess there wasn’t any help coming from them.
The man raised his hand, a glow coming from his fingernails as his white and grey beard began to whip around as if from some wind coming from nowhere. The pink hair of the taller woman ghost... apparition, whatever, also began to whip around her face the same as the shorter one's blue hair.
“Sword of Might, and Bow of Light, one the same as the other in mind, only worthy of the right shall bring forth their might!” the man incanted, binding the weapons from the memory to the stone below. Well, it helped me none, you old cheap Gandalf imitation! Stop this, please!
The memory shuddered to a standstill as the light of the respective weapons engulfed my bodies. Searing pain wracked through me as I fell limply to my knees. Why was I so stupid to do this, why didn’t I stop myself and thought this more calmly through, rather than letting my anger at my situation blind me to this mistake?!
Panting from pain, I felt my wrists be engulfed in flames and cold, my broken ribs snap painfully back to their rightful place as all my cuts and bruises washed away under the pain of a thousand suns and the cold of deep space.
I clattered to the ground, panting with tears in my eyes as it finally stopped. The weapons free from their prisons at my sides. I stared up through the hole in the ceiling in delirium. Was it over? It seemed so.
My eyelids twitched as I laughed in my craze, not knowing how to let out all my abused emotions in any other way. This was stupid. So stupid. I can’t believe I did that. What was I thinking? Becoming some kind of hero? Why fate, why?
An hour passed quietly away, as I came to grips with what just happened. Did I see this coming before I stepped up to the weapons? Sure. Why did I do this then? Because fuck fairy tales! Fuck these teenage hero worship stories! I will show them! This just couldn’t end up like that. So, did it end up like that? Yes...
I whimpered, as I thought of what would happen next. Could I just leave these weapons behind for some other poor sods to find? Sure I could do that, but what would they do with them? Better to watch over these things so no one could abuse these. But it didn’t mean I would have to like it.
At least I could defend myself with the sword, right? Right?
I don’t even know how to wield a blade, let alone how to fire a bow. A bow without string, so it was kind of useless right now. Oh, gosh. How did I end up here in this mess...
No sense in crying over spilled milk, I guess. This whole thing with two bodies was bad enough to get used to, what was one more thing going to change?
Groaning, I sat up and stared bewildered at my other-self. My male body had some kind of armor on that weighed next to nothing, now that I took notice of it. It shimmered in some kind of radiance like it was reflecting the light of the sun even while standing nowhere near sunlight. It was silver with gold trimming, leaving the joints uncovered for more maneuverability while still being covered in some kind of white fabric that was very tough to the touch.
My female half was cloaked in a black cloak sucking in the light, leaving her covered in shadows with a flexible leather-like armor around the upper body, the forearms and the legs with silver trimmings.
The weapons themselves felt like they were an extension of myself, like a lost companion being reunited with their owner. Around our wrist were some bracelets with the stylized sun and moon on a red metal for my female self and blue metal for my male side.
Curiously touching them, a flash blinded both of me, leaving me blind for a second. Looking back at each other, I saw ourselves back in our original clothes, as ripped up as they were. The sword and bow were also gone with the armor.
“Huh, at least some small blessing,” we said at the same time like every time I spoke. I would make that a priority to learn to differentiate which mouth I was using. It would make it easier to hold a conversation if I found my way out of this damnable chamber and back to civilization. Multitasking should be easier with access to two brains, right? It probably came down to practicing for hours, though. Not looking forward to that.
Standing up, the ground began to rumble again. Groaning in desperation, I got ready for some kind of new surprise. Only to finally smile at the sight of a staircase going up around the pedestal. Oh, sweet freedom, how I yearn for ye! Once the shaking earth around me settled down, I was ready to get back up to our feet from being knocked over once more. I mentally added balance training to my to-do list. But for now, the sunlight was calling to me!
Climbing the stairs carefully, I reached the hole in the ceiling, coming out in some kind of courtyard of a long-abandoned ruin of a castle. Well, with these kinda creatures running around this forest, I don’t blame them for ditching this place.
Looking up, I saw the sun on its way to high noon. Well, it seems like I wasted half the day in there. At least I was back on the surface again. Behind us, the ground sealed up and build itself in a way that looked like a well from the outside. I guess it looked like that for the purpose of blending in, then.
Shrugging, I made my way into the ruin, looking around curiously. Wonder how old this thing is, it really looked decrepit with all kind of vegetation taking back the land. The wood of most of these doors in here was already crumbling down from one touch alone, letting me freely explore without being blocked by a locked door.
The throne room had seen better days, I’m sure, but it still looked magnificent. The theme here stuck to the day and night idolization I came upon in the chamber below, and man, did they have a fetish for gold here. A wonder no one looted this place, I couldn’t fathom how much money went into this place. These people must be as gold fanatic as the old civilizations on Earth. Not that the modern civilization isn’t as gold fanatic, I guess. I mean, I’m pretty sure some people build their bathrooms out of gold just because. If you have the money, why not.
Murals and carpets on the wall proudly show their history in the artistic style you would come across in old cathedrals, telling the reader of the blessings of some kind of winged horse upon the people of this land, allowing them to cast what seemed to be magic, grow plants and lift tons like it was nothing and fly through the air on mystic wings from their backs. It was fascinating to behold. Even though I’m pretty sure some of the stuff is exaggerated.
Living shadow I can somewhat understand, seeing the cloak of my female half kinda draws the light out of the room, but this thing is way beyond that. The green and red eyes peer over some kind of crystal kingdom of some sort and both the women I saw in the memory replay stood there, looking upon their foe in the distance hovering above the kingdom like some specter.
The next mural was equally as bewildering, showing some kind of mismatched creature sitting on a black throne on a hill with what seemed to be pink clouds in the background, the two women once more at the scene with some crystals floating around them. The being on the throne had this mocking look that sent a shiver down my spines just from looking at the red and yellow eyes.
Another mural depicted a centaur wrecking havoc on the land, while a demonic ram seemed to raise the dead on the other side. In the middle the women seemed to be locked in a battle with their minions, showing a hill of dead comrades in arms. The woman with the pink hair wielded a long lance with a small golden shield on her other arm, white iridescent wings holding her in the air. The woman with the blue hair held two sorts of weapons in each of her hands that reminded me of the warglaives from World of Warcraft.
A slight pang went through my heart that I wouldn’t probably ever get to play my favorite game anymore.
Either way, she seemed to rend the risen soldiers to shreds without abandon, her blue wings shimmering on her back. They fought the enemies on all sides it seemed, the demonic creatures being summoned from the centaur seemed to fight a losing battle though, while more and more pressured the shorter woman to fight more ferociously.
The last mural, though... it was heartbreaking to look at. There, on her knees, was the taller woman with a rainbow of colors as her hair, crying her heart out. In the background above her hovered her screaming sister as she was dragged away by chains made of rainbow light, to the lonesome place of the moon. The golden crown lying forgotten at the side of the crying woman. The eyes of the other one, her sister I presume, were full of malice, though. I wonder what led to that, they seemed like thick and thin before that.
A tear rolled down our cheeks.
Sighing, I made my way through the rubble, being mindful to not fall on my face again. This place all of a sudden got more depressing. I would pack my things too if something like that happened to me. I’m pretty sure my bodies couldn’t bring themselves to kill each other, even if I wanted to. I would be killing myself, after all.
My sympathy went out to both of these sisters. It was hard to lose family, and I don’t remember much from the blank spot in my memory. Small things seemed to be returning though if I could remember my favorite game already. Here’s to hoping the other memories follow.
Coming upon a still-standing tower, I made my way up in hopes of getting a better view of the surrounding forest. Up and up I went, the spiraling staircase being chipped away at some places, making it a challenge to get higher up. But at last, I came upon a large room at the top, with a massive telescope for stargazing. Probably the property of the smaller woman I have seen a lot of.
Seeing the sun on its descent to retire for the day, I looked over the vast landscape full of these dark gnarly trees, mountains in the distance and clouds dotting the sky. It was a very serene picture, bringing a small smile upon my faces.
I kinda see the appeal to live in such a place now, although it was still absurdly insane someone would put up with these monsters out there in the forest. The room of this observatory was littered with old yellowing papers of star charts and the like. The ceiling was supported on a few pillars, leaving the gaps with dirtying broken glass panes, allowing for an all-around view of the land the tower stood on.
Another tower on the other side of the castle seemed to have fallen over from the battle that most likely happened between the two sisters before the one was forced to banish the other.
I sat on the bed by one of the windows. This bed was likely the one belonging to the younger one, I surmised. I felt bad for her, but I would still like to hear the reason for her apparent rebellion. The mattress of the bed was still in working condition, as were the bedsheets. It felt really fluffy, but I guess royalty had the advantage of getting some seriously good beds. Although, I would have guessed that these would have already been subjected to time as was the case with the rest of the castle. Maybe there actually was more to this magic thing than just old Gandalf binding some weapons to stone.
So, Celestia and Luna, huh? Sounds so cheesy, but I guess this was a custom back in their day. Would’ve been nice to meet them.
“And I still don’t remember my name...” we mumble under our breath. Shouldn’t something like one's own name be easy to remember? I have no idea. Wailing on this wouldn’t make me remember it faster, though. As nice as it would be to put a name to my face again. Or faces, as it is.
Now, there’s a thought. It would be very awkward to introduce myself to someone with only my male part having a name.
That was depressing, really. I mean, both of my halves felt like me. Or I felt like them. Gosh, this is confusing. Would a unisex name work? Is there even such a thing like that? Even though it would be a funny joke to introduce myself as Gandalf, it would be a hallow one. After all, I didn’t look like the old man and my female side would be stuck with a weird name.
“Oh, hello! My name is Gandalf, and it’s totally not weird!” I said, the voice of my female body ringing softly in my right ear, while the somewhat baritone voice of my male body rang in my left ear. Well, on their respective bodies. I still wasn’t used to thinking of myself as two persons at once.
We laughed and giggled at what we said. Outside, the sun finally hid behind the mountains, while the moon made the appearance behind a village in the distance.
Wait... Looking back, I spotted the lights of the village in the distance coming to life. Wow, I must’ve missed it as I looked over the forest earlier. To be fair, the rooftops just barely poked above the treeline. The light made it easier to spot now.
Hopefully I could make it there the next day without almost dying again. The pangs in my stomach protested the lack of sustenance. A bright and early start the next day should make it possible for me to get there in no time, I hoped.
So, another night of dreams of failure plaguing my mind. The hero’s death making its appearance more often than not, making my bodies start to sweat. Time after time, I seemed to disappoint some perceived fate thrust upon me, ending with me at the clutches of the villains I saw on the mural down below in the castle’s hallways. Having to fight myself, as the demonic goat ram thing raised one of my bodies into undeath. Banshee wails grated on my nerves as my male half dodged arrow after arrow. Gosh, my female self really made for a believable Sylvanas clone.
Another time, my male body got possessed, while I tried to dodge the sword swings of his swords, fumbling around with my arrows. The hellish distortions of my male body growled in a demonic language as I desperately tried to survive. If you imagined the goat legs and wings, my male body would have made a pretty good impression as Illidan Stormrage, if he wasn’t trying to kill me.
This kinda back and forth continued, until I woke up cold and shivering. My clothes could do with a bit more padding to keep me warm. So, yeah, it wasn’t a kind awakening, but at least my back wasn’t screaming at me this time.
As practice, I tried combing the long red hair with a discarded comb that I found in the night table next to the bed. Without moving my other body, that is. It was hard, trying to stop the urge to throw the comb out the window, as my female body tried to comb the air while my male body worked on her hair.
It really took some effort, but I managed to somewhat stop the movement with the other body. It was left as a twitching mess, though. It was funny to watch, if it weren’t so frustrating. Small steps, I guess.