I don't really know what happened, but when I regained consciousness I realized that I was in the am in that starry space that I always see inside the hood of my Astral Body, this place has no defined directions, all that exists are stars and energies in an orderly flow none, all this is my power.
I look around and notice many people around me, all are familiar faces from my group and behind me were many people I remember from the Dungeon.
Without realizing it, I was at a crossroads, but instinctively I felt that none of the paths led me to where I wanted to go, so I started walking through a place where no path existed while my steps created a path where those around me could follow.
But at the end of the path, after having walked for an indefinite amount of time, I found myself in a place like before, full of stars and flowing colored energies, but this time there were no people or paths around me.
"You've come this far on a different path."
I try to look around, but I don't find anything, until a black nebula as if it were fog appears swirling in front of me then an image of me with completely black eyes comes out from within the nebula and the same voice from before emerges from the nebula while my Champion stays standing silently looking at her with a confused face.
"I want to know what your answer is, what will you choose when a tough decision is all you get?"
"He will choose the same as always." (copy)
"I don't know who you are, but thanks." (I)
"I knew you would say that." (copy)
"I never thought I would go through a situation ." (I)
"Imagine being on my side." (copy)
"You seem very comfortable with an unknown voice and a copy of yourself inside you."
"I may not know who you are, but the very fact that you're wasting your time talking to me says that you can't directly harm me or don't want to." (I)
"Besides, I already know who this is, I just didn't expect to face him so directly." (I)
"He's emotional going through the evil twin scenario he's seen in so many stories." (copy)
"Can you blame me for that? How many people have had the opportunity to go through that?" (I)
"I suppose not many, but don't take this lightly." (copy)
"I do not promise anything." (I)
I've seen this evil twin thing in movies, soap operas, series, drawings, and games many times, a scenario that I've seen so many times in works of fiction is happening to me now, how can I not be moved?
"Hahahaha... let's see if you still have time for games."
"And off we go." (copy)
Suddenly the scenery around us spins and everything changes, when I realize it's just me and my copy on a battlefield where the bodies of my friends, family, and Familiars are scattered on the ground, many of them in pieces while an army with the vestments of the Church of Light collect their bodies to throw in a bonfire with white flames.
"What would you do if you arrived too late to help your friends?"
"Your copy has chosen a brutal path."
"I killed them all while devouring their power and soul to make me strong, all those with Baldr's sigil becoming my food until God himself lay in pieces in front of me." (copy)
"Would you choose to bear the pain of your loss for the sake of the world Or would you choose the path of a monster?"
"You are idiots?" (I)
"There are many options here, even if I'm not around, I can always take control of my Familiar's bodies while channeling my powers and abilities through them." (I)
"Even if that's not possible, there is teleportation magic and many kinds of curses that ignore distance, like what I did with that Siren." (I)
"Even if all else fails, I wouldn't need to take revenge myself, the Elves helped me for the simple fact that Freya was killed, Nix's father would be more than happy to eradicate the Church of Light and the Temple of Blood could be convinced to help." (I)
"Not to mention I can always summon my Familiars, I have ways to resurrect everyone who died, I could break some Taboos or I could reincarnate everyone as monsters in the Dungeon after summoning their Souls with Necromancy." (I)
"Trying to fight a God would be the silliest of options, devouring Souls is something I always suspected was possible, but I also know that not everyone following Baldr deserves it, I would become something these people on the ground would be ashamed of." (I)
"Can you still keep calm watching this scene?"
"Do you think this is the first time I've imagined this happening?" (I)
"I always think of the worst situations to prepare myself, even the most unlikely situations, I also spend a lot of time looking at myself as this idiot next to you well knows." (I)
"Me being here is pointless, he doesn't see me as his bad side, just his impulsive side." (copy)
"I don't fear becoming evil, I'm not too far from it anyway, I just don't want to let myself be controlled by my emotions like the time I fought the Siren." (I)
"You know you've changed a lot from the sick man you once were, right?" (Copy)
"That man died, besides this world wouldn't let a good person live long, not without getting their hands dirty." (I)
The world around me disappeared into a black mist that was absorbed by the nebula behind my copy, I was once again in that starry space.
"You're interesting but naive, what will you do when all your plans go wrong? When people close to you die? When you're too weak to do anything?"
"Tell him what he'll do when the only possible solution is to become worse than what he's fighting." (copy)
"I don't know, answering that would be pointless, but I'm sure it would do something reckless and potentially dangerous." (I)
I walk over to my copy and hold out my hand for him to shake.
"He doesn't understand you." (copy)
"No surprise, I don't understand myself."
"Ever changing..." (Copy)
"But always unchanging." (I)
"You know it doesn't make sense, right?" (I)
"We never made sense..." (copy)
My copy has become a silvery energy that starts to flow through our handshake back to me.
"Do you accept the monster inside you?"
"I've been Human before, born a monster, been a criminal, a Heretic, a Savior, a King..." (I)
"As a person lives he becomes many things, trying to choose just one of these multiple faces to represent someone is foolish, as is trying to deny one of these faces just because he doesn't like it." (I)
I look at the nebula calmly, the nebula condenses into the shape of my Astral Body, a creature with a face like the starry space around us wearing a cloak of darkness.
"You accept what you've become and try to remain who you are, this contradiction is not something a mind is capable of maintaining."
"I went crazy a long time ago and I know it, it would be strange to keep a sane mind after everything I've seen and done." (I)
"We'll see what it becomes, the path it creates..."
RRROOOAAAAARRRRR!!!!!!
Soon the space around us shatters and a monstrous silhouette flies out Roaring with a feeling of release and in that moment I feel the energies around me go into chaos as my consciousness darkens once more.