Gamer walked towards his Shade clone; the mirror walked forward. They drew closer, but Gamer stopped within a couple feet of the clone. The similarities were uncanny. Then it spoke.
"I am thou, and thou art I," Mirror Gamer said.
"Excuse me?" Gamer expressed confusion. His mirror self no longer copied him.
"I am thy darkest reflections, thy hidden self, and that be heldeth in thy heart. Surrender thine weakness to me, and I will showeth you the way of sigma," Shade Gamer informed.
"Great, the Shade virus spreads cringe," Gamer groaned.
"We are the reincarnation of evil. We are collective insecurities, hatred, and all that you wish to wrought upon this unfair world. We. Are. Sigma," Shade Gamer's eyes showed a digital landscape of branching pathways and electrical impulses.
"Man, shut your bitch ass up!" Gamer slapped Shade Gamer. It knocked the virus off script and it stared forward with bewilderment. Gamer chastised, "Focus up. You should know how I feel about having a clone of myself available."
The virus searched its memory banks. When it realized what he meant, Shade Gamer recoiled in disgust, "Ugh! Brother, egh! Wha...can I be real with you for a second?"
"Sure," the conversation turned casual.
"You are nothing like Hero. I'd say you're the very opposite. The way your mind is structured is insane to me. How are you able to sexualize everything in sight?"
"Impressed?" Gamer proudly held his chin up. "You know, I expected you to be like Shade and hate my guts."
"I'm a very small part of Shade, from my understanding clashing with yours," Shade Gamer shrugged. The more they talked, the more Gamer truly saw a mirror. His clone's mannerisms reflected that, "I come in, weaken firewalls and security, and allow him to take over hacker-style. My entire purpose is to corrupt."
"How does that work with somebody who is already corrupted?" Gamer noticed the flaw. "I'm selfish, perverted, I cheat and steal, and humble shouldn't be in my vocab. I'm as dark as they come, baby."
Shade Gamer's body slumped, "I don't know...I have no directive beyond my original function. I'm lost..."
"Well, I say fuck it!" Gamer put a hand on his own shoulder and imparted his well-founded wisdom. He spoke the one universal truth he understood, "Blowjob?"
Shade Gamer surrendered with a sigh, "Yeah, a'ight. If this is the end of my existence..."
"Then there's no better way of going out then guzzling my own balls," Gamer finished the thought. After all, they were one.
"I call top!" Shade Gamer claimed.
Gamer slapped his hands together, "Ah! Why didn't I think of doing that?"
"You did," Shade Gamer tapped his head. The Gamers heartily hyucked and chortled like a couple of snobby British men. They then immediately started making out and fell over onto the ground.
Gamer embraced his true self.
***
The vortex of darkness that surrounded Gamer began to subside. Sonia and the spaceship babes watched with anticipation when Gamer's body came into view.
"Behold!" Shade yelled. He reappeared near the edge of the balcony. Gamindorf drastically changed appearance now that Shade no longer acted as the man behind the curtain. Far more muscular and tall, he tore through his top and ripped the scraps off. His hair, brilliant blood red, flowed behind him like a regal cape. His expression matched the deathly aura he farmed. His grin became exaggerated by a twisted elation, "Gamer is no more."
"Gamer..." Sonia cautiously approached. However, before she reached him, he sat up. He glanced about with the mask on, and mumbled something. Sonia tested, "Gamer, is that you?"
Gamer ominously stood up and lurched forward. He then slapped a hand on the mask and startled the ladies. Shade grimaced, and applied inputs into the power glove. No response. His expression soured, and his eyes grew bloodshot, "No, no, no..."
"Am I okay?" Gamer breathed. He tore the mask from his face and blood gushed out. He screamed, his pupils flashed yellow, and energy pillared around him. A mask of red stained his face. He gazed up at Shade with widened eyes and a shit-eating grin, "I'm more than okay; my balls work!"
"NO!" Shade roared.
"It worked! ٩(^ᗜ^ )و," Samira cheered.
"Look at him, making us worry," Persica sighed with relief.
"Cum to me, Anubis!" Gamer called forth his rediscovered power. He revealed his true self by dropping trou; Gamer's full erection and glorious balls were on display. When he did, a spiritual visage of the jackal-headed god of life and death appeared behind him.
"He's awakened!" Minnie gawked. Persica slapped her forehead at the crude display, while Sam giggled at its silliness.
"His balls are so full!" Sonia gasped.
"Why won't you die?!" Shade blasted a barrage of shadows at Gamer and the ladies. The tentacles melded into the spaceship. The display glitched as the infection spread. Persica pulled Sam away before it reached her. The reach of evil encircled everybody.
"My grandpa doesn't have any weak cards in his deck!" Gamer faced the evil head on.
"What?!"
"Anubis! Obliterate!" Gamer commanded. Anubis extended a hand forward and blasted a beam of energy from its palm. Shade's tendrils were torn away and dissipated. It freed up the spaceship, and saved Gamer and Sonia. It concussed the fortress and cratered it inwards. The entire structure started to collapse in on itself.
"He did it!" Minnie jumped for joy.
"It wasn't enough," Sonia and the others saw Shade. The Ultimate Mogger focused all of his psychic power into holding the whole damn fortress up. His darkness exuded from him and encased the stone structure.
Farther down the volcano, on a switchback, Asterion and Dimitri struck each other in the torso just as Anubis's blast compromised the fortress. They spaced apart and glanced at the destruction. Asterion saw Shade's darkness holding the Jenga pieces together.
"Looks like things are getting exciting. We can always go join them," Asterion, covered in bruises and scrapes, smirked.
"Not with me here – I'll never allow you," Dimitri cursed his father.
"Son," Asterion went lax and lowered his arms. "Now's not the time for us to go a full twelve rounds. It's more important to..."
Asterion motioned for closure, but Dimitri sliced a kick at his father. The minotaur dodged and glared. Dimitri sneered, "What's wrong? Afraid of the results? So prideful, and yet so cowardly."
"Son, my heart's not in this fight. I don't have any desire to fight you for real. You're my child," Asterion explained. He wasn't the enemy, "I understand you're just following orders, but what are you sacrificing by..."
"Shut up!" Dimitri lunged. He roundhouse kicked, but Asterion entered I-frames and moved in for a shoulder check. However, his son countered with a perfect guard, which rebound Asterion. Dimitri sliced an uppercut at his stumbling father, but was awed when Asterion perfect guarded the counterstrike.
"What?! The timing to do that is..." Dimitri panicked. His father brought over a haymaker that floored him. Dimitri skidded a bit and clutched his jaw. It felt like it had snapped out of place.
"I taught you to never let your guard down, boy," Asterion said. Dimitri glared up at the minotaur, but his mind played tricks on him. He instead saw his actual father; the silver foxin', sunglasses and fedora sportin', leather jacket stylin' old man. The momentary illusion made Dimitri feel eleven again. The fear, frustration, and anger from back then, being so weak and incapable, instilled wrath inside him.
Dimitri kipped up, but a myriad of pixels appeared to rain in by the two. Father and son watched Nathaniel log into the game.
"Dimitri – good evening, Asterion – Dimitri, the council has asked you to logout. Your task is finished."
The news befuddled Dimitri, "What? I've barely done anything. That's bullshit! I'm going to kick my father's ass so hard he'll never log in again."
"The council has spoken. You'll be suspended and banned for insubordination. Please," Nathaniel bowed slightly to show a modicum of respect.
Dimitri gritted his teeth, and felt the sting of embarrassment. He glared at his father, who happily resigned and offered, "It's not too late to join the rebellion."
"Fuck you," Dimitri signed off and logged out.
Asterion lowered his head and stored his stress elsewhere. Nathaniel was the one who sighed, "Yikes, I don't know how you put up with the disrespect, my friend."
"Strangely enough, it happens so much, it starts to feel numb after a while," Asterion circled all the choices he made up to that point. Each regret along the way gave him more pain than his son's anguish.
"The council is starting to feel that with Gamer. I'll leave you be. Good luck," Nathaniel maintained his cordial professionalism.
The Game Master logged out and left Asterion alone on the volcano side. Alone with his regrets.