Crusader King-Chapter 139: Two-faced lie(3)

There he was, walking towards himself with a sly smile upon his lips that were disgustingly formed in an overconfident smile, one that he was somehow more scared of than the very being, the shapeshifter, the clone, the false lie, the copy, that now stood in front of him.

Every single one of the being's steps portrayed confidence, and the silver sword in his right hand only further enhanced that image, especially with the speed of each of the steps being seemingly unrelated and faster than it should normally be, something Cades subconsciously realised but wasn't able to truly pick up as he was stuck looking at himself, especially his eyes.

Those very eyes were glowing in an eerie radiant purple that he had never seen on himself before, of course he had been told about it, but it was still a shock to see his own eyes, the eyes that he knew were supposed to be of an blackish yellow common to ehetrians, in such a powerful, menacing colour as this, a colour that made him quake in his boots, a power that exuded confidence, chaos, and a predatory presence that almost made him want to turn around and vanish into his tiny, little hole, be it not for him knowing that he must be exuding a similar presence, though the other side didn't seem to be affected by it in any way.

The being, the monster, that looked like him was wearing a dark green top with long sleeves that were open at the end, splitting into two ends that partially covered his hands and made it difficult for Cades to see what he was going to do, or if he was perhaps even hiding something in the other hand, a fact that made Cades take a stance, something he had neglected doing up to now because of the sheer confidence emanating from that monster that was now leisurely walking up to him.

However, he didn't even realize that the monster had been talking, it had been waving it's hands, inviting him to talk as well, mimicking his movements perfectly but in a much more social, inviting and, as previously stated, confident way, a way that was just making him more and more terrified, though he was now holding his own sword in both his hands, ready to fight against the opponent with the same long hair, the same strength, the same intelligence as far as he could tell.

Nevertheless, Cades, the real one, didn't attack, and neither did the fake, it was still blabbering one, something about darkness, lock and key, and innards, not that Cades was really paying it's movements or talking any attention, Cades was simply too obsessed, too concentrated on everything that was going on with the monster to care about what it was saying, and he was lost in seeing himself for the first time in a long while, he hadn't exactly had access to a mirror or anything of the likes after all, no, he was lost, he had no idea how he had been looking, and, to be entirely honest, he had been starting to even forget how he himself had looked, but now he could see it, he could remember, perhaps he could even feel it with his own hands, his own face that is, his eyes that were back in their full glory, his arms that were back together, he was happy like a kid who found out the divorce of it's parents is of the table and was never really on it, something that the kid had just thought would happen but had been completely wrong about.

The longer Cades was looking at Cades he however began to realize that the other Cades, the fake one, the one with the green top, as he had a black one that seemed to be almost exactly the same aside from the length of the sleeves, was growing impatient and starting to look at him, seemingly angry that he was not being listened to, something Cades, the real one, the one with the black top, was not really caring about, he was just trying to defend himself against what seemed to be someone who wished to take his place, and, in the end, he was ready to fight, ready to defend his place against the now angrily talking, or rather condescendingly moving copy of his own flesh and blood, something that he did not care enough about to even listen, and, to be entirely honest, also something he couldn't understand for some reason, something that no matter how hard he concentrated on it he had trouble to thin about what it meant, he heard the sentences, he heard the words, but he simply couldn't understand what they meant, he heard a question about his name, and he understood the word what, he heard a exclamation about his sword and he understood circus.

And at that moment, right after he understood 'circus' his eyes widened and he readied himself, anticipating the attack of the opponent that was still leisurely walking towards him at an eerily slow pace that had changed from the beginning, still causing the same rhythm to come from the leaves, still exuding the same kind of unshakeable confidence in himself and his surroundings, still pressuring him with the pure chaos and predatory feelings that one felt in such a situation, something that his fake was somehow managing to inflict upon himself, something that didn't make any sense to Cades at all.

Finally, with his own heart beating loudly and watching the opponent, he began, not the opponent, he, himself, began the clash, he rushed towards his opponent that was now finally stopping the continuous senseless chatter that had been resounding amongst the peaceful forest that Cades didn't remember as such and causing his opponent to hold his own sword in both hands as well, rushing in to defend himself, something Cades was already worrying about as soon as he saw the still never-ending confidence that was still oozing out from the being's entire body.