Evandro blinked and missed it.
The fear... it had dissipated. In the very same millisecond he heard the woman's roar, he understood that, somehow, it was a dream.
His perception was above average.
When she lunged at him, he made a sword appear in his hand and struck her with a right punch — and suddenly, he fell again into the realm of 'nothingness.'
He tried to find a way out.
But all he could see was... nothing.
Alexander's situation wasn't much different... He realized — that somehow, this was a dream or an illusion; but he noticed something even more intriguing: Alexander didn't remember how he had gotten there.
Soon, he tried to force himself to leave the place, but in a simple blink of an eye, he was taken to the realm of nothingness — or, as he had called it, the void.
Then he searched for a way out of there.
But suddenly, he saw a sinister figure in front of him...
Evandro... wasn't different...
Evandro —> noticed right away.
Alexander —> realized a few seconds later.
These were copies of themselves, in other words, doppelgängers.
***
Evandro ran impatiently toward his copy, remembering one of his bizarre dreams.
Clenching his fists and teeth and summoning a mass of force in the shape of a punch, he struck the doppelgänger with his left.
However... it didn't injure it at all... It just vanished in a black mist with strands of white light and reappeared a few meters away, in the same form.
He took another step, but the 'specter' spoke for the first time.
"I am you, up to a certain point. So, don't try to kill me."
The voice was similar to his, but colder, more formal, and 'punctuated.' It paused and continued.
"Your great mistake... what was it?"
Evandro frowned.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean. What haunts you?"
Evandro blinked twice and bit his lips.
"Nothing."
His voice betrayed his insecurity. Then he retracted, his words faltering slightly.
"I-I killed people. All for an ideal, a personal reason."
He paused, waiting for some response. The copy only nodded.
"I-I-I killed people..."
The voice finally replied coldly.
"Indeed. And there's nothing you can do."
Evandro furrowed his brow.
"What you're telling me, I already know!"
The copy nodded again.
"True. However, you know why you feel guilty. You know."
Evandro blinked a few times, surprised by the answer.
"I do?" I mean... was I taught that or did I learn it?"
The copy didn't answer.
Evandro scratched his white hair a few times.
In a moment of epiphany, navigating through his mind, he snapped his fingers.
"I... My... My grandfather. He told me many things..."
At that moment, the copy said in unison with him:
"If there is any goal that has as a foundation: killing, stealing, destroying, or harming the lives of the innocent or good people — that is not good, even if it's with good intentions.
So, keep in mind: every great goal involves sacrifice, but the sacrifice must be yours. You sacrifice — not others. [1]
That is to be noble, to be honorable — and even more, to sacrifice yourself in place of others...
To take the blame of others... even if they don't ask...
To kneel for others... like a great leader would."
His face became surrounded by a kind of light.
He paused — and so did the copy. He knew something was missing.
Then the copy spoke on its own.
"One of man's greatest evils is surrendering to his mistakes. Being consumed by them and letting them destroy him, even when nothing can be done. So, my nephew and son, if you err, let it be by choosing to repent and move forward as a new person."
Evandro interrupted with a firmer tone.
"Right... But what about those affected by my mistake?"
He waited for a response, but almost immediately, he answered himself.
"Make amends as best you can, knowing that justice will fall upon you."
He fell silent. The copy vanished into the same black mist with white strands. He understood immediately.
He had created them — they were the fruits of his problems. From his mind. And mostly, from his inner self.
In a way, he already knew he was starting to pay for his mistakes. But more than that, Evandro knew his mistake would return to haunt him in a justifiable way... But what he would do in response would be what defined his future.
***
Blink!
Alexander got up from bed.
He was in his old bed at home.
Blink!
He was lying in bed. And he got up.
Blink!
He was lying in bed. Then got up again.
Blink!
He was lying down.
Alexander paused for a moment and looked at his hands —then, he snapped his fingers.
The bed vanished. The setting disintegrated into dust.
And he returned — again — to the void.
Alexander struggled to make any movement. But he was paralyzed.
The surrounding environment turned to dust and then reconstituted itself into solid matter quickly.
He was standing in front of his house window, watching his mother being mistreated by soldiers. The screams. The agony. Everything was terrifying.
Alexander suddenly became aware and blinked several times. Then, he clapped twice.
He returned to the void.
In a fury, mixed with impatience, he stretched out his hands and gestured.
"WRETCHED ONE! SO BE IT! I DON'T CARE! TAKE ME! I SHOULDN'T EVEN EXIST..."
He paused.
"Well... That's what — whoever it is — wants me to believe..."
He smiled maliciously and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"But I am welcome... My mother loved me, and so did my father. I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO COME INTO THIS WORLD! But I'm here."
Alexander clenched his teeth. His eyes were slightly red.
"And I won't waste their sacrifice... I won't let it be in vain!"
A strange pressure rose in his chest from inside out. His eyes burned.
He felt weaker and fell to his knees on the 'ground' of the void — his eyes now slightly teary.
"I-I will..."
Tiny streams of tears fell from his eyes — and he wiped them with his left hand.
"I WILL AVENGE MY PARENTS! AND NO MATTER HOW! I WILL KILL EVERY LAST MAN, EVEN IF IT COSTS ME MY HUMANITY.
"I...
"I SACRIFICE IT IF I MUST!"
Blink!
***
Abruptly, a white and powerful light, capable of blinding an ordinary human.
In a simple blink of an eye, they were back in the forest, at the exact spot where they had entered under hypnosis.
Evandro and Alexander were temporarily blind. Their eyes were milky white.
Neither of them noticed, but they took stumbling steps backward, arms outstretched, grunting strange things — if there had been a spectator, they would've thought they were drunk.
As the seconds passed, their eyes returned to normal.
Thud!
They woke from their own dreams in an awkward back-to-back bump.
The two blinked several times and patted their own clothes and bodies just to make sure they were alive.
They looked astonished, with pupils contracting and relaxing, trying to finally understand what kind of light was in the environment.
But something immediately stole their attention — when they looked at their bodies and saw...
Their clothes and their bodies... had changed.
.
.
.
[1] The sentence that opened the chapter.