wanted. You could command armies—and you’re merely a nobody with a Level One sword and a dirty cloak!”
He rolled out of the way with a curse. When he cast a look at his friends, he realized to his horror that they had begun to look pale and sluggish in their movements.
“What are you doing to them?”
“The same thing we’ll do to you,” the other him said. “Why do you think I’m so much better than you, Justin? I have the life force of dozens inside me. Dozens like them. And once I take yours, I’ll be even better. Do you see where the blue power leads? That’s their soul—their energy—feeding the machine Sephith made. He made himself a god and he’s making me one too.”
“You’re an idiot,” Justin said. He knew that for a fact. “A guy like Sephith never shares power. He’s using you to do his dirty work and then, he’ll hook you up to that machine and drain all your power into himself. He’ll never let you survive.”
Despite his bravado, he was panicking. He had to end this and he didn’t know how. Power still crackled at the end of his other self’s fingertips.
How did you defeat a master swordsman with almost unlimited power?
Then, he had an idea. After all, this was apparently another shard of himself. He began to laugh.
“What?” his counterpart demanded.
“Nothing.” He shrugged. “It’s funny to see you throwing fireballs around. I mean, clearly, nothing’s changed with all that power.”
“What do you mean?” His opponent looked rightfully wary.
Justin had never tried to outwit himself before. He would have to do this carefully. “Come on. We both thought the same thing—come into this world, find a sword, start slaying monsters, and get all the tavern wenches, right? And it didn’t work for either of us. So, off you went to get magical lightning and better sword skills. And…” He laughed so hard, he snorted. “And it still didn’t work. You’re still a loser in a coma.”
“Shut up,” the other Justin yelled at him. “You shut up. Once I kill you, I’ll be more than you dreamed. You’re the only one who’s still a loser because you want to wake up. I’ll stay here and rule the goddamned world, and once I kill you, I’ll have the power I need to—”
His monologue cut off with a gurgle and he fell to his knees as blood spread from the wound in his chest. With his eyes wide and disbelieving, he fell sideways and lay still.
Behind Justin, two bodies thudded to the floor—and, to his great relief, two voices muttered very ornate curses about pain and magic. With a sigh of gratitude, he ran to see to his friends.
“Come see.” Amber beckoned urgently to Mary, who had stayed at Justin’s side the whole time and gazed at his face while tears streamed down her cheeks. She had heard the entire conversation but she hadn’t seen any of the context behind it. “Come look.”
Mary bent her head. “I can’t hear any more of this.”
“You won’t.” She came to take her hand and lead her to the monitors. “He knows his own worst fears and he used them to lure his other self into a trap. He was tempted with everything he wanted to be at the start of the game but he chose to be a different self instead. Justin saved his friends and he’s…well, he’ll go to kill the wizard now.”
It occurred to her how strange it was to be emotional about someone choosing to kill a pixelated wizard. She cleared her throat and lowered her gaze.
“Well, he’s not doing that yet,” DuBois said. Everyone looked at him and he shrugged. “He still has to see his birthday present, after all.”
“Are you okay?” Justin demanded as he helped Lyle up. He went to offer Zaara his hand. Both his companions could stand, at least. That was something.
“I feel wonderful, actually.” She looked confused. “All the life was draining away from me but everything came back in a rush.”
“Thought I was a goner,” Lyle agreed. “Guess not. So who…” He stopped and looked from one Justin to the other.
“Yeah,” he said. “Apparently, there were two of us—I hope that was all. That one said Sephith has a machine he uses to steal people’s life force and give it to others.”
“Wait.” Zaara pointed at him. “How do we know you’re the right one?”
“You tore me a new one the first time we met,” he told her. “You watched me burn