Ipseity (The Stork Tower Book 5)

by Tony Corden

  Arriving on the ledge where she had fought the Feeline, Leah looked around checking for threats and then transformed into her half-elf form before equipping the red-trimmed suit complete with boots, gloves, a belt with sheaths for four knives at her a back, a harness which carried her two swords on her back, and the full helmet. Feeling more prepared than she had in a long time, she made her toward the Feeline’s lair.

  On entering the lair, she noticed several piles of bones interspersed with pieces of armour and several weapons. She harvested the piles but received nothing beyond some basic gear and a few coins. Slowly she moved deeper into what turned out to be a system of tunnels. Leah equipped her mining pick and used her Mining-Sight to examine the walls as she slowly moved deeper into the mountain. Within the first fifty or so metres she found several areas highlighted in green which contained several small diamonds and a small piece of medium grade gold. Another ten metres brought her to a fork in the tunnel. The tunnel to her left looked more travelled, so she turned left and soon mapped out what remained of the Eeline’s lair. She found several more piles of bones and found a small Darkness Diamond while mining. Finally, after checking everything, she returned to the fork in the tunnel and carefully made her way down the right-hand branch.

  The tunnel was straight and sloped down, heading deeper into the mountain. Leah had only travelled about thirty metres when she discovered the tunnel completely blocked by a portal. Leah hadn’t found much of anything in the lair itself, so she assumed this was the ‘special’ instance that had been prepared for her. Without any hesitation, she stepped forward and through the entrance.

  Leah found herself standing in the centre of a large heptagonal room. It had a high dome ceiling, and each of the stone walls had a centrally placed wide and full-sized mirror.

  Level 4 Personalised Instance: First 100 (1, Sapphire)

  Atherleah (Level 308), you have entered a personalised instance: Self-Reflection

  You are the twenty-fifth player to be assigned this Instance.

  Appropriately matched adversaries will enter the room. To successfully complete this instance you must defeat each adversary in turn.

  Reward 1: 500 x 308 = 590590 (+283.5%) Experience Points (1046503/4450000)

  Reward 2: + 1% to all future Experience

  Reward 3: 1 x 10 Gold

  Fame: 50 Fame Points (254565)

  A Commemorative Plaque has been placed in your bag.

  After reading the information Leah looked around the room, both watching and waiting. A bell rang and Leah turned toward the sound. One of the mirrors now had a symbol above it. It was the number one and had a pair of crossed fighting sticks placed centrally under it. Looking in the mirror she could see herself, but her reflection wasn’t wearing the armour but was dressed as Leah had been when she first entered Dunyanin. In each hand, her image was holding a fighting stick. Then, as Leah watched, her reflection stepped out of the mirror and into the room.

  Leah took a step backwards and realised that she was also no longer wearing her armour but instead was dressed in the same clothes as her reflection and she also had a fighting stick in each hand. The image was slowly walking toward her. Leah continued to slowly step backwards. When her reflection was three paces from her, it stopped and assumed the position that Leah usually took when waiting for an opponent. Above the reflection was a description.

  ATHERLEAH CLONE—DUAL FIGHTING STICKS (Level 308) 137160/137160HP (18518EP)

  Leah quickly checked her health, it was precisely equal with her clone as none of her jewellery or armour had been worked into the equation. She slowly raised her sticks and assumed the same position, waiting for an attack she knew would come. Seconds passed, and then a minute. Leah realised that her tendency, when stick fighting, was to wait for the attack and then respond appropriately. It seemed that her clone was prepared to do the same.

  As she had the thought, she lunged forward twirling her wrists to bring both sticks down toward her clone’s head. Her clone moved at almost the same time and brought one stick up to meet the attack and the other around from the side aiming to slam it into Leah’s body. Leah rotated her right wrist as she moved her arm away from her body. She deflected the attack, and then twisting her body, she lunged forward with her left hand, hoping to hit her opponent’s shoulder or bicep. Her reflection, though, was waiting for the lunge and moving forward and down she stepped inside Leah’s lunge bringing her stick up toward Leah’s left armpit. Leah also stepped into the attack and trapped the reflection’s arm between her left arm and body. Then, bringing her right arm across her body, she punched her fist toward the clone’s face. The clone bent its knees which both freed its arm and caused Leah’s fist to sail over its head. The reflection turned the motion into a roll and came to its feet several paces from Leah who had continued through her turn and was ready for another attack. Only four seconds had elapsed, and already Leah was wondering if she would have the stamina to finish the fight.

  Her reflection attacked again, this time bringing the sticks from both directions and at different heights which forced Leah on the defensive. She blocked both attacks and then lunged forward bringing her sticks together and spearing them at her opponent’s body. The clone swivelled, bending its torso out of the way and bringing one stick down on Leah’s attack, the other stick it brought around straight at Leah’s head. Leah followed her sticks toward the ground and turning them, she angled them in at the reflection’s shins. Her image was fast, it managed to bring one stick down enough to slow Leah’s attack but not enough to stop it completely. Leah rolled forward as her doppelgänger brought the other stick down toward her back. This time it was Leah who wasn’t able to entirely avoid the attack, and she took a moderate blow just below her left kidney. The two combatants rolled apart. Seven seconds had elapsed.

  Leah was used to one minute rounds during competition bouts, but there was no one to ring a bell or adjudicate a break. After three minutes, both Leahs were struggling from lack of stamina more than having taken damage. Leah had tried to use her Ki but discovered she was prevented from using Ki to speed up her attacks. In the end, it was desperation that gave Leah the win. She had just brought her arms down to force a block when she saw an opening. It wasn’t an opening she’d ever used before when fighting with sticks but rather it was a stroke she had practised with the sword. She brought her stick down and across her body, twisting her wrist she dropped her shoulder and lunged forward to strike hit her double forcefully just under the ribcage. The reflection was almost bent in half by the blow, and Leah’s other stick came around and slammed into her neck. Leah stepped back having thought she’d won the bout, only to be forced to defend herself when the reflection stumbled upright and attacked. The clone, however, was now hurt and slower than before. It still took Leah another minute before she stood over herself watching as the reflection’s health dropped to zero and disappeared.

  Leah stumbled to the centre of the room to sit and then she meditated until she’d reached full health. Emotionally she was struggling with the idea of killing herself. It wasn’t so bad until the clone had died because until then it had just seemed like an extended tournament. But watching herself fade had been harder to watch than she’d expected.

  As soon as her stamina and health and been replenished the bell rang a second time. A symbol appeared above the next mirror in the room. It also had a symbol. It was the number two with a pair of knives, one on either side of the numeral. Again there was an image of herself without armour, but this time her image was holding a fighting knife in each hand. The reflection stepped out of the mirror and into the room.

  ATHERLEAH CLONE—KNIVES (Level 308) 137160/137160HP (18518EP)

  As soon as the doppelgänger’s foot touched the floor, the scene changed. Leah could still see each of the seven walls and the dome, but the floor now resembled that of a rocky desert. It was uneven and covered in loose gravel with an occasional boulder or desert bush. In places, a sharp spiked grass grew through
the loose gravel. There was no pausing this time when Image-Leah approached. It immediately attacked moving its knives forward and in front of her, her right hand higher than her left.

  Leah stepped back defensively, wishing she could follow Johan’s oft-quoted advice, “Never get in a knife fight with someone who knows what they are doing. Kill them from a distance or sneak up and kill them when they aren’t looking.” She’d used a knife in Dunyanin but she’d always been aware it was a game. She wasn’t sure how she’d deal with slicing into her own body, even if it was computer generated.

  With this playing through her mind she was purely on the defensive and forgot Johan’s other mantra, “In a knife fight every defence must be offensive, and every offence must be defensive.” Within minutes her health was at seventy per cent and dropping from the numerous small cuts on her arms and torso. This happened even when she met every attack and knew every move her opponent was going to make because without any offensive movement of her own, every move she made opened her to the chance of small glancing cuts.

  Finally, knowing she was going to lose if she did nothing Leah began to fight as she’d been taught and started to take every opportunity that was presented. This not only reduced the damage she received but she also began to inflict some of her own. Unfortunately, she was more than thirty per cent in arrears from the start and even with them both now suffering similar damage, it was too much to catch up. Soon the reflection was at eighty per cent, but Leah was less than fifty and losing ground as her reduced health, and the ongoing damage due to bleeding began to slow her down, stealing power from both her defence and her attacks.

  For almost thirty seconds, she began to despair and so suffered a more severe stab wound to her upper thigh when she moved back just a little slower than usual. The wound’s overall impact was exacerbated by a similar, though shallower, wound from a previous attack. Leah knew she’d been careless in allowing the same move to defeat her twice. Then she remembered all the times Johan had beaten her, the weaknesses he had capitalised on and then afterwards going over each one step-by-step to help her overcome them.

  She reminded herself of all the work she had done in trying to minimise those weaknesses, and she remembered the two that she still hadn’t overcome. Two different patterns that she used that always seemed to leave her open to Johan’s attack. No one else ever saw them as opportunities, but he always did. Leah only ever tried not to use them when fighting John because she appreciated the advantage they gave her over everyone else.

  She thought through the movements and knew how to set her reflection up to use that very movement because she knew what she would do. If she could only just exploit the weakness the way Johan did. She was at thirty per cent before she saw the opportunity open up and by then she was definitely feeling sluggish. If she got this right, then she could defeat the clone in one move. If not, then she opened herself up to an almost inevitable, and instant, defeat. With her current lack of speed, she knew she had to begin the attack even before detecting whether or not the clone was going to make the particular attack.

  Leah almost closed her eyes as she moved her left-hand knife from her preferred forward grip to a reverse grip. Then, as her reflection thrust forward its left arm to gut Leah, Leah stepped beyond the thrust and took advantage of her twin’s overextension. She swung her left arm back across her body, hooking the clone in the left shoulder with her knife and pulled it off balance, both exposing and bringing its vulnerable back within range of Leah’s right hand. With two quick thrusts of her blade, she severed the spine and punctured the heart.

  Leah almost collapsed on top of her dead self. Instead, she stumbled a few steps away and slowly lowered herself to the ground to recover. She probably had access to a restorative potion but was confident the instance would wait until she was healed before initiating the next battle. She steeled herself to facing herself at least another five times.

  Before Leah was emotionally ready, her health was full, and the bell rang a third time. This time the symbol was a number three with samurai shaped swords above and below, each sword was pointing in a different direction. This image still had no armour and was holding a long-handled sword with both hands while another could be seen jutting above its right shoulder, carried in a harness behind her. The clone stepped out of the mirror and into the room.

  ATHERLEAH CLONE—SWORDS (Level 308) 137160/137160HP (18518EP)

  This time, when the clone stepped out of the mirror the arena transformed into a modified fighting circle. Leah found herself in the centre of a six-metre diameter circle with dark obsidian-like flooring. She moved her foot slightly and confirmed it a good grip. Radiating from the circle were seven meter wide spokes made of the same material and forming pathways to the centre of each side of the room. Smaller paths joined the spokes at random places along their lengths. In between the paths there was nothing. Leah was certain that if she stepped off the obsidian floor, she would fall to her death.

  Leah quickly took this in while the clone steadily began walking toward the centre circle. Leah reached over each of her shoulders and felt the handles of two swords. Instead of just taking one like her clone had she brought them both forward, one in either hand. Initially, they were weighted for two-handed use, but as she brought them forward, they morphed into two single-handed swords of the exact length and weight she was used to. Quietly, she whispered, “Damn, I love these swords.”

  Looking up, she saw her twin had just reached the central circle. As the Image-Leah stepped onto the arena, it mirrored Leah and reaching behind it took the other sword to match Leah. As both its swords changed, it didn’t say a word but gave what Leah imagined was an enigmatic smile. Leah wondered for a moment if this was what she looked like. There was no fear, just a hint of enthusiasm and anticipation as if this was going to be fun.

  Leah wondered what this duel would teach her. She’d analysed the first fight and realised she’d become aware of the value of perseverance and persistence. The knife duel made her more aware of her weaknesses, not primarily so she’d work to overcome them but for her to acknowledge them and not allow herself to be controlled by them. She was almost looking forward to fighting this opponent because she knew there were things she’d practised but never really used.

  The reflection moved forward until it was three metres away and then spoke in Leah’s voice, “Are you ready? I attacked last time without checking. I thought maybe that was why you started so poorly?”

  Leah was shocked for a moment and struggled to come up with an answer for herself. It was in the moment of shock that the twin attacked and Leah barely survived the sweeping attack. One sword came sweeping toward her right shoulder while the other was thrust toward her torso. Only her sharp reflexes enabled her to step back from the thrust and deflect the slashing blade. She immediately attacked and the next forty seconds were slash and parry. This time Leah had no hesitations in looking for opportunities to turn defence into offence and vice versa.

  As if they’d planned it, they both stepped back at the same time and took a breather while watching for any sign of weakness. Leah had started near the centre of the arena, but her initial move had given up any advantage, and her twin was now standing in the safer central position. Leah said, “So you are the same ‘me’ I fought the other times?”

  “I’m you. Just as you learn about yourself, so do I.”

  “What did you learn last time?”

  “That you like learning and winning but not fighting. At times you’re just too soft to be a real warrior.”

  The clone had apparently had enough, and as it finished speaking, it attacked again. This time Leah was ready, and after another minute neither of them had done much damage. Leah had some small nicks along her right arm and leg, as did the reflection. Once more, as is if by some agreement they stepped back. The twin had made a little more progress, and Leah had moved closer to the edge.

  Two minutes later and both half-elves were breathing hard and were hurting f
rom the small razor-like cuts that would usually have been prevented by even light armour. Leah had allowed herself to be beaten back toward the edge of the circle and her back foot was now less than half a metre from the edge. As they took another small breather, her other self said, “I imagine the difference between us is that I am not afraid of either killing you or of dying. I will win this time because you didn’t learn enough the last two rounds.”

  “I’m not really afraid of either of those two things. It isn’t fear but reluctance. I have other priorities which are greater than winning, or even living if I’m honest.”

  “This is a binary exercise, Atherleah. Either you or I have to be killed.”

  “I know, but that doesn’t mean that either of those two things must be my priority. Isn’t it also a priority to learn more, to be me? Isn’t that who you are, aren’t you me?”

  “Yes, but I’m you without the hesitation, I’m you without the baggage.”

  “And that’s why I will win. Because it is the baggage that makes me, me. Without it, I am less, not more. I’ll beat you because I am not just learning how to win or how to fail.” Leah lowered her sword slightly and continued, “I’m learning to have a deeper knowledge of myself, my priorities and even of this scenario. You are the one hampered by the lack of baggage.”

  There was no sense of anger, despair, thoughtfulness or otherwise on the face of the clone, it showed no shock or hesitation, but in that instant when Leah was just finishing her sentence, her algorithms suggested Leah would be at her most inattentive and the reflection lunged to drive Leah back. But Leah was ready, and as she finished speaking, she dropped under the expected lunge and drove both swords up through her clone’s chest.