House Advantage

Time.

That was all Akira could think about, he had three hours left. That’s what barbecue bird(or Auren, whatever) had told him. Three hours before his new life was annihilated.

‘No pressure,’ Akira muttered as he made his way toward the doorway.

It was made out of stone, and had the same strange patterns and symbols carved on it as the slab did before it broke.

As Akira looked at the engravings, he noticed that most were pretty shallow, with some faint glowing pulse beneath them, as if carrying a weak heartbeat.

‘Yeah nope, I’m not touching something like this again,’ He sighed, ‘I already died once, I’m not keen on setting a new record for fastest to die twice.’

As he stood right in front of the door, his breath fogged in the air. But instead of calmly drifting away, the fog was sucked into the doorway, disappearing from Akira’s sight.

After calming himself, he entered the doorway, and saw a single straight tunnel ahead, the end of the tunnel not in view.

Akira walked for a while inside of the tunnel, very thankful of his new powers. Thankfully, my suit has dried because of my body temperature, this power is very useful for survival. Could I heat my body so much that I’d be able to cook meat just by standing next to it?

He refrained from testing his powers too much, because his body probably couldn’t tolerate it at its current condition.

His other power, which he called Eyes of Light(very original), was also currently a tremendous help. Like the bird had said, he probably couldn’t traverse the tunnel without it. Even though it had only been a straight line so far, there were more than enough holes to fall in. Some holes Akira couldn’t even see the bottom of, even with Eyes of Light.

Auren told me my constitution was very bad, even though I've never slacked off on any physical training. I’d say my body is in great shape.

Akira stepped over another hole in the ground, ‘Bad constitution my ass, I’ve got hard-earned abs you know! I’ll show you them if you-’ His monologue was interrupted as he stepped on a stone tile that sank an inch into the ground.

Click.

Akira froze, ‘Hell no.’

A rumbling could be heard in the walls, as small holes appeared. From them, stone darts flew past him at great speeds.

‘Woah!’

He yelped, throwing himself on the ground right as a dart grazed his left cheek, embedding itself in the opposite wall. Just as he let out a sigh of relief, a hole opened at the lowest part of a wall, right where he was laying! ‘You’re kidding.’ He quickly rolled over, barely dodging the last dart leaving the walls, his suit covered in dust.

To think I could’ve learnt something from those Indiana Jones movies. He turned around, breathing heavily, and his brows pricked up. Something could be seen at the end of the tunnel, some glimmering blue light.

As he, cautiously this time, continued to the light, he soon heard what sounded like dripping water. It’s already been about forty minutes, so I surely have enough time. I just hope the next traps are a lot less dangerous than the last one.

The faint dripping grew louder the closer he got, and it resembled the rhythm of a clock, kind of freaking Akira out. He reached the end of the tunnel and saw a beautiful cave filled with a small crystal-blue lake, no bigger than a tennis court. The walls had been carved with markings, and stalactites were hanging from above, waterdrops oozing from them, feeding the lake with more water.

In the middle of the lake, a pedestal floated. The pedestal was carved with the same markings as the cave and pretty much everything he had chanced upon so far. Some crystalline object was resting on top of the pedestal, a bright glow coming from it.

When he stepped closer, he reluctantly entered the water, but he suddenly froze. The more he looked, the more he noticed. The recurring markings were glowing again, just like at the doorway, but they were in synchronisation with the waterdrops entering the lake! It felt like the entire cave was alive!

He quickly left the water, jumping onto the small part of the cave that was not submerged as he looked around cautiously.

Then, the water stirred.

At first, it seemed like ripples, but then the surface broke. Shapes formed of water rose from the lake, their arms dripped and reformed, their bodies swayed unnaturally and their face…

They had Akira’s face!

‘What?’

It was somewhere around 12 figures, all smiling at him, all different versions of Akira at a different time of his life. There was his eight year old self, two in their teens, about half in their twenties, with one exactly like he is now.

Two looked a little older, they had a small beard and Akira’s usual smile had almost vanished from their faces. They looked around their thirties, and had longer hair than he’d ever had.

The last one looked like he was at least fifty, but for Akira it was clear he was only in his late thirties. This withered version of him was the only one not smiling, he had a scowl on his face, and his eyes were tired yet filled with hatred. He had large eyebags, his hair reached his shoulders and looked disregarded. And he was thin, really thin, like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

This sight pained Akira, but it neither shocked nor startled him. This was nothing he couldn’t have imagined himself, and it would only make the fight easier for him.

The only confusing part was that it stopped at that last figure, someone in their late thirties. But he swiftly remarked that his previous life probably ended around that time, being the reason for there not being any grandpa versions of him, the grandpa version would never come to exist.

‘Bring it on you impostors.’ Akira said nervously as he finished thinking and started relying on his instincts.

The twelve water-clones stepped closer, ripples breaking across their bodies, their identical smiles unsettling. The child-like version of him tilted its head, ‘Why did you give up on us Mori?’ It said, still smiling.

‘I’m not going to be a part of this creepy soul-guilt trip thing you’re doing.’ Akira said dryly, as a shudder ran across his back.

‘You abandoned us.’ A teenage version of Akira said, ‘You never looked back.’

One of the thirty year olds spoke with disdain in its voice, ‘You forgot about your past, and lost your life, now you’ll throw it all away again.’

The figures moved in unison as they approached him. The eldest, raised its hand, somehow speeding up the other “hims”.

Akira gritted his teeth as the clones closed in on him, their movements rusty, but faster than he expected. His fists tightened and his heartbeat quickened.

The smallest one moved first, it jumped and stretched out its arms like claws. Akira reacted immediately, driving his fist through his eight year-old self, water splashing outward against the cavern floor.

But within seconds, the droplets moved, and reformed back into his smiling young self!

‘Well that’s just unfair.’ Akira remarked.

One of the older clones rushed him, but he quickly ducked and kicked it in the stomach, its entire torso exploding. But, just like before, it reformed almost instantaneously.

‘How am I supposed to k-’ He was cut off as his one-to-one clone crashed into him, and even though this clone exploded because of the impact. Akira was still thrown back, falling on the solid rocks with a thud.

As the clone reformed, Akira saw something.

His Eyes of Light glimmered, and he could see faint lines extending out of the clones. A dozen thin water tubes stretched from the clones’ heads to the lake, almost like an umbilical cord(except now it was attached to the head).

Akira smirked, ‘So you’re just weak avatars, summoned by the lake itself.’ He laughed, as the clones all had a look of frustration. ‘You all look so miserable, but don’t worry, I’ll sever your connection.’ He lunged toward a clone similar to his current self and aimed for the torso.

When the clone tried to dodge, Akira changed direction, jumped, and cut the cord connecting the clone to the lake.

Instantly, the water holding the clone together lost all form and splashed on the ground, leaving eleven clones.

‘Ha!’ He whooped, ‘Guess who just figured out the solution!’

The remaining clones hissed, and all rushed toward him at once.

Akira panted, and backed himself against the wall, so as to not be completely surrounded. Eleven against one, and I’m fighting my own handsome face but just in different fonts. This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when Auren told me I’d get a second chance.