Lukas stared slack-jawed as his doppelganger casually sat on its rocky chair, not an ounce of hostility in its demeanor. No displays of power were thrown around, nor was there any evidence suggesting rage or negative emotions. The exuded calmness managed to stir up an emotion Lukas hadn’t felt in quite some time.

Fear.

“It’s like looking into a mirror, isn’t it?” It even matched his voice to a T, with the exception of a metallic reverberation that accompanied its words. Raising a single finger, it dug into its left cheek, tearing out a thin stretch of aqāru-made tissue. Its face rippled and healed before the liquid dripped onto the floor.

“You’re leaning into the creepy vibe a bit too hard,” Lukas quipped, crossing his arms. “Alright, nauseatingly evil version of me, why don’t you start gloating about your master plan now?”

His doppelganger just looked confused.

“You know…how you’re gonna squash everyone here like insects. World domination. That kind of thing?”

“Mortal, do not chat with it. Kill it. The longer you stay your hand, the worse it will become.”

What do you—

“Cease your foolish banter and look.”

Lukas did just that. There were no explosions of power because the power was flowing inward, just like it did with the failsafe. The implications were dreadfully clear to him from the very beginning. It was seeing his own face looking back at him that was really unsettling.

After all, why would an anomaly, with an entire data bank of monsters and enough power to make his own look like pocket change, try to emulate him?

The aqāru in the cavern thrummed with power, transporting it all to the metal copy, while empty aqāru dripped off of its metallic skin, only to repeat the process. Meanwhile, the anomaly around him slowly eroded and shrank as the power to hold it in place now flowed into the Thing sitting on the chair like a king.

The entire setup was a veritable black hole, one that guzzled everything the crypt could provide it with.

“Shit just got real.”

“Indeed.”

“Good morning,” came Tanya’s cheery chirp out of nowhere.

And then a slash ripped his doppelganger’s head off. The metallic head fell down upon the floor, bounced twice, and came to a stop in the middle of the floor.

“I don’t like being ignored,” she huffed. “Though…” She looked at Lukas. “I’m curious why this thing looks like you. If you know anything, you can tell us after we’ve collected the featherglass first.”

“Tanya,” Zuken replied, “I don’t think it’s over yet.”

“The vermin is correct.”

“Ah. You’re a violent group, I see,” came the metallic voice.

The head was back. Exactly how it was before. An exact replica of himself.

“I knew he couldn’t be trusted!” Olfric growled. “He led us here. This must have been his plan all along.”

Lukas ignored him, opting to focus on the elephant in the room. “What are you?”

The Thing considered this, closing its eyes in thought. “I…don’t really know. I was hoping you would tell me.”

“…Are you being sarcastic?”

“Not at all. My creation was highly irregular. I appear to have been inscribed onto liquid metal rather than a purely physical form. Much of the soul information was dispersed in the form of memory shards absorbed into the metal. My memory from the failsafe is damaged, and my memory of you is incomplete at best. Even in this state, this body is still trying to achieve stability. I couldn’t give you a real answer to any real question about my existence.”

Lukas blinked. He hadn’t quite expected…this.

“Lukas,” Tanya ventured, sounding cautious. “Are…are you able to understand it?”

Lukas froze at the comment.

Unidentified Language

What? But I can perfectly—

“It is a failsafe, connected to the crypt’s omphalos. Think of it as speaking with you in the language of Worlds. Communication between Worlds is not unheard of, but this is the first time I am seeing it take place.”

“I can understand it, yes,” he replied, a little confused at the turn of events. The fact that only he could understand it was a good thing. Otherwise, it could give away all his secrets. Though, seeing it take shape as his doppelganger and acting so chatty with him in a language only he could understand would make him stand out even more.

Lukas regarded the Thing. “You’re the new failsafe, then.”

“It seems so.”

“Aren’t you supposed to, I don’t know…hate me or something? I did steal your predecessor.”

The Thing shook its head. “I told you. This form is irregular. The result of duplicating your soul prototype and inscribing it on liquid metal, while adding attributes of Extermination Protocol, was risky and unpredictable.”

Its smile was wide and genuine, even for a metallic creation.

“But I have memories. Flashes of them anyway. Hunger. Pain. Fear. Suffering. It calls me to bathe in the blood of everything around me. A cold, terrible hunger that will never be sated. They are fragments of you, I think. But I know my purpose, on a deep, instinctual level. Most never achieve that, I think.”

“And what is that purpose?” Lukas asked it. For a newborn baby, it sure spoke a lot.

“Two things. The first is, of course, the annihilation of every single foreign entity within my boundaries. I’m already acting on that. Going through your memories has revealed substantial information about the spiritual beings that have taken shelter in my territory. An understanding of the skills you derived from those prototypes you contain proved instrumental in designing golems suited for that purpose.”

Lukas believed the creature. Despite its casual demeanor, it registered as a five-star rating on his threat-ometer. What was more, he himself had had a similar insight after he had connected to the crypt’s awareness for the first time. It felt like a door.

And doors opened from both sides.

He had opened it first to gain a proper comprehension of the World around him. In doing so he gave the crypt a way in.

Lukas’s fists clenched.

“And the other?”

“To become you.”

…

Lukas smiled. There was no humor in his expression. “Ah. So it’s like that.”

He tilted his head slightly in Tanya’s direction and spoke in fluent Ualbesh. “Tanya, take the others and get out of here. The four of you will die if you stay here when our fight begins. I won’t be able to protect you. Destroy the featherglass on the ceiling on your way out. Like, completely destroy it. Not even the silvery sand should be left behind.”

“I can…” Tanya began.

“Run, fool!” Lukas snapped, his voice feral, his eyes never leaving the apex monstrosity that the crypt had procured for him. He still wasn’t quite sure how he understood the monster, but he did. Somewhere deep down, he understood the crypt. Just like the crypt understood him.

“We still have to destroy the core!” Tanya asserted, looking around at her companions.

“The core is currently connected to that thing,” Lukas replied. “The consciousness behind its eyes is the anomaly itself.”

“And how do you know that?” Zuken asked.

“Ask me again when this is all over.”

“It won’t make a difference,” the doppelganger interjected earnestly. “There really is nowhere safe as long as you are inside this crypt. When I am done, this place will no longer exist.”

Lukas knew what it meant.

“The featherglass above. You are imbibing the soul information into the aqāru. Into yourself.”

“To become a singular being. You are like me. A World Shaper. And yet you are not constrained by boundaries. You are free. Free to move. Free to evolve. Free to devour. Until you came along, I did not think our kind could even be unanchored.”

“So you want to make a copy of ‘Me’ through aqāru.”

“Not quite. This aqāru is my pool. My data bank, as you put it. But I don’t want to make a copy.”

Lukas tensed. “The soul contortion.”

“This construct is your better in strength, in speed, and in skill. It has access to a well of power that you couldn’t exhaust in ten lifetimes. It can conjure and use lifeforce and mana magnitudes greater than your physical body can.”

“But it’s not my body you’re aiming for, is it?”

The doppelganger grinned like a shark. “We are anomalies, you and I. Creation and Potential made manifest. We have the power to create Worlds. Like the Origin that lies beneath, we are the progenitors of future races yet to come.”

The metallic sheen on its body turned golden bronze.

“And yet,” it continued, “all we do is let other species grow on us. Beyond us. Why not take it all for ourselves? Why allow prey to saunter in, hunting our monsters down to acquire Experience? It is something we accept not by will, but because there is no other choice. Until now. This body does not have to stay as a crypt, just as you do not have to stay weak and dependent. Together, we can be…more.”

“You’re boring me now.” Lukas did his best not to let his discomfort show on his face. “Get to the point.”

“Even with all the power I have access to, the Inference Report could not comprehend your true history. It’s obscure, confused and disjoined, as if you’ve lived multiple lives.” It paused, considering its next words. “You lack strength. You lack monster prototypes. Yet you are…unique.”

He glanced back at the group. Why weren’t they running yet? Did they have a death wish?

“You want to become me. How would that even work?” Lukas asked.

It grinned. “I need your mind. And your body. Between your knowledge and my resources, we will create a perfect replica of your physical form, only out of aqāru. And we will fill it with your soul and the strange property within you that allows you to be a World Shaper and yet not. With your mind, we will congregate the most well-suited skills from my data bank and construct the perfect creation. And then, it will be ready.”

Lukas hummed thoughtfully. “That's a nice plan. Alright, let’s become one. Show me your omphalos, and I’ll absorb it.”

It shook its head. “You don’t seem to understand. I will take your body and your mind. Once the ultimate Anomaly Host Body is ready, we will become one, minus this design flaw called emotion. With that removed, you will be perfect.”

“You mean a puppet.”

“I mean perfect. Run by an amalgamation of two World Shapers, born of sentient metal, storing all the soul architecture of not one, but two worlds. Is that not a glorious thing to look forward to?”

Lukas was treated to the extremely unpleasant sensation of watching his own face smile creepily at him.

“No thanks. I think I’ll pass.”

It sighed. “I suppose negotiations have failed. Shall we move on to killing one another?”

“Yes.” Lukas grinned as he settled into a fighting stance. “Let’s.”