Chapter 13 - The Crystal Desert Part 2
The figure wearing Mira's face stood several dozen yards away.
It did not move.
It simply watched them.
Kin felt the hair on the back of his neck rise.
Mira's grip tightened around the Blooddagger in her hand. The three Fae warriors were still standing close by, weapons raised, but their attention had shifted from Mira to the thing in the distance.
The young Fae she had been holding hostage slowly looked over his shoulder.
His face went pale.
"That's not her."
Mira glanced at him.
"I know."
The Fae swallowed hard. "No… you don't understand."
He pointed toward the creature.
"It doesn't just copy appearances."
The creature smiled.
Mira's smile disappeared.
"What else does it copy?"
The Fae's eyes remained fixed on the thing.
"Us."
The creature suddenly moved.
It didn't run.
It disappeared.
Mira's eyes widened.
"DOWN!"
She shoved the young Fae to the ground as something tore through the space where his head had been.
The creature landed behind them.
But it was no longer wearing Mira's face.
Its body shifted.
Its skin rippled like liquid glass before settling into the appearance of the Fae Mira had just saved.
For half a second, nobody moved.
Then the creature raised its hand.
A thin blade of crystal formed along its forearm.
The Fae's expression changed instantly.
"That stance…"
The creature attacked.
The Fae barely blocked the strike.
The impact sent him sliding several feet across the crystal sand.
"It copied my technique!"
Mira rushed forward.
Her Blooddagger collided with the creature's crystal blade, sending sparks across the desert.
The creature immediately changed its stance.
Mira recognized it.
It was hers.
Her eyes narrowed.
"You've got to be kidding me."
The creature attacked with the exact same movements Mira had used moments earlier.
Left hand.
Right hand.
Low slash.
High feint.
Mira blocked every strike, but the creature was learning faster than anything she had ever fought.
"It's watching us," Mira said.
The second Fae stepped forward.
"No."
His voice trembled.
"It's studying us."
The creature suddenly vanished again.
Mira spun.
"Behind you!"
The third Fae barely raised his weapon before the creature slammed into him.
Mira intercepted it.
Her body blurred.
She appeared between them and drove her shoulder into the creature, sending it crashing through a cluster of crystals.
The young Fae she had saved stared at her.
"You moved faster than it."
Mira glanced back.
"Don't sound so surprised."
"I am surprised!"
Despite the danger, Mira almost smiled.
The Fae quickly got back onto his feet.
"My name is Aeron."
Mira raised an eyebrow.
"You're introducing yourself now?"
"You're the first vampire I've ever met who hasn't tried to kill me."
Mira looked at him.
"Well, don't make me regret it."
Aeron nodded quickly.
The other two Fae exchanged a glance.
"Ilyra," the young woman said, lowering her weapon slightly.
"And Kael," the third added.
Mira nodded.
"Mira."
Aeron hesitated.
"We know."
Mira frowned.
"How?"
"You told us."
She paused.
Then sighed.
"Right."
For the first time since the fight began, the three Fae looked at her less like a monster and more like a person.
Fear was still there.
But now there was something else.
Respect.
A massive explosion suddenly erupted behind them.
The creature burst through the crystal formation.
Its body shifted again.
This time, it took Aeron's appearance.
Then its posture changed.
Its hands moved into the exact stance Aeron had used.
Ilyra's face tightened.
"We can't let it keep watching us."
Kael nodded.
"If it copies everything we do, we're giving it more weapons every second."
Mira looked at the three of them.
"Then how do we kill it?"
The Fae went silent.
Aeron looked toward the crystal dunes.
"We don't."
Mira's eyes narrowed.
"That's not what I wanted to hear."
"We don't kill Void Mimics," Ilyra explained. "We break their connection to whatever they're copying."
Kin finally stepped forward.
"And how do we do that?"
All three Fae looked at him.
Their expressions changed.
Kin immediately noticed.
"What?"
Ilyra stared at the shadows around his feet.
"They're getting worse."
Kin looked down.
His shadows were moving.
But not with him.
One stretched toward the creature.
Another curled around his ankle.
A third dragged itself across the crystal sand like a wounded animal.
Kin's face tightened.
"Come back."
Nothing happened.
His shadows continued moving.
Mira stepped closer.
"Kin."
"I've got them."
"No, you don't."
Kin looked at her.
The shadows suddenly snapped upward.
One formed a jagged claw beside his shoulder.
Aeron took a step backward.
"What is that?"
Kin gritted his teeth.
"My shadows."
Ilyra shook her head.
"No."
She stared at them carefully.
"Those are your shadows. But they're not listening to you."
Kin's expression hardened.
"I said I've got them."
The shadows suddenly lashed outward.
Mira grabbed Kin and pulled him aside as the attack tore through the air.
Kin stared at his own power.
For the first time, there was genuine fear in his eyes.
Ilyra spoke quietly.
"The Veil is affecting them."
Kin looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
"The Veil isn't like the human world. Magic here has its own nature. The land itself is saturated with ancient power."
She pointed toward the crystals.
"And those things interfere with supernatural abilities."
Aeron added, "Especially abilities connected to darkness."
Kin's jaw tightened.
"So what? I'm supposed to stop using my shadows?"
"No," Ilyra said.
She looked directly into his eyes.
"You're supposed to control them."
Kin frowned.
"I already control them."
Kael shook his head.
"Not completely."
That hit harder than Kin expected.
Mira glanced at him.
She could see it too.
His shadows had always protected him instinctively. They moved before he thought. They healed him. They reacted when he was threatened.
But here…
The Veil was changing that relationship.
The shadows weren't simply protecting Kin.
They were responding to the Veil.
And Kin didn't know whether they were responding to him anymore.
Ilyra's voice softened.
"The Veil is dangerous to you, Kin."
He looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because if your power is stronger than your control, this place will eventually make that difference matter."
The creature suddenly screamed.
Its body fractured.
Crystal spread across its arms as it shifted between the appearances of all four fighters.
Mira raised her Blooddaggers.
Aeron tightened his grip.
Ilyra lowered into a fighting stance.
Kael stepped beside her.
Mira glanced at them.
"You three know how to beat this thing?"
Aeron nodded.
"We know how to hurt it."
Ilyra corrected him.
"We know how to force it to reveal its true body."
Kael smiled nervously.
"But we're going to need you."
Mira looked at him.
"You're asking a vampire for help?"
Kael swallowed.
"I'm terrified of vampires."
Mira smiled.
"Good."
She turned toward the creature.
"But you're learning."
Aeron actually laughed.
"Yeah."
Mira looked back.
"And you three?"
The three Fae exchanged glances.
Aeron raised his weapon.
"We're not running anymore."
The creature charged.
Mira disappeared first.
Aeron followed.
Then Ilyra and Kael moved with them.
For the first time, the three young Fae weren't fighting Mira.
They were fighting beside her.
And somewhere beneath the crystal desert, something ancient seemed to notice.