Chapter 51: Echoes of the Past
The pair of survivors paused to rest on the snowy plateau following their passage through the Ice Labyrinth. The peaceful cold air of the plateau stood out against the unstable maze which they had recently navigated. The victory made them aware of an unsettling feeling because something seemed to be watching them.
"Do you feel that?" Natasha whispered, gripping her weapon.
From the corner of his sweeping eyesight Alex examined the area before his vision focused sharply. "Yeah. We're not alone."
The wind swept with a sudden burst while delivering a strange sound that resembled distorted demonic words over the freezing winds. Her body trembled at that moment while temperature played no significant role in her reaction.
"Voices…" she murmured, stepping forward cautiously.
An unnatural movement of snow exposed the frozen lake where mist covered its surface. The sounds transformed into incomplete sentences that became louder.
"Turn back... Do not seek the past…"
A silent exchange of looks passed between them. The trials had demanded their physical abilities and cognitive skills but this experience pushed them in a separate direction. This trial wasn't about survival. It was about something deeper.
When they approached the frozen lake the ice started to emit a radiant light which displayed both their current images and past memories. Natasha gasped when she spotted her past self in the ice standing next to her brother just before he entered the Jungle Quest.
She lowered herself to the ground using her hand to bridge the gap towards the memory but the mirror surface shifted into a different shape. The image of her brother suddenly altered into the face of mysterious game master Antoine who controlled the Jungle Quest.
Alex muttered an oath when his face in the ice transformed into another appearance. At this moment he visualized his past self rather than his present appearance since starting the Jungle Quest. A man in a corporate office
The girl faced an unsolvable decision while she carried the weight of her duties.
"Natasha…" Alex's voice was tense. The machine reveals memories to us without being limited to simple memory displays. It's testing us. The procedure challenges our capacity to face what we are tested against.
The mist engulfed them just before mysterious shapes formed from the ice and moved onto the frozen lake. The figures appeared vague but their resemblance to the real persons was unsettling.
"They look like…" Her heart raced as Natasha let her sentence fade.
The two figures took natural form as unaltered duplicates of their original selves.
The duplicates showed determination as their unnatural glowing eyes illuminated their faces. They weren't just illusions. As perfect duplicates of Natasha and Alex these opponents matched their abilities together with their strengths yet they seemed to have access to their weaknesses also.
The dupes mirrored each movement that Natasha and Alex performed when they instinctively stepped backward.
"They're our reflections," Alex muttered. "If they copy everything we do, how do we beat them?"
Her clenched fists showed her rapid thinking. "They copy what we do… but do they anticipate?"
The figure leaped toward us with a fake punch motion that she rapidly altered into a different path. The milliseconds of interruption occurred for her duplicated body to process the command. The opening gave Natasha enough time to perform a leg sweep which knocked her duplicate into a double fall on the ice surface.
Alex abandoned his normal fighting technique by using unexpected attacking moves. He struck when his double hesitated a split second which enabled him to break the ice replica into nonexistence.
The disappearing defeated reflections revealed new messages being carried on the wind.
"You accept what was… but will you accept what is to come?"
The ice beneath them split open as they stepped on it.
The ice broke suddenly while Natasha and Alex remained motionless before dropping them into the dangerously cold waters below. The instant freeze enveloped both of them while pulling them deep into a suffocating black void.
The abyss accepted them with a floating sensation throughout the boundless void. A starry cosmic sky appeared above them as the ice melted while beneath this sky the void began to emanate powers which remained invisible to their eyes.
An illuminated frozen pathway appeared in front of them which guided their path toward a distant illumination.
A deep breath came from Alex as he spoke with a steady tone. "This is it. The final part of the trial."
Natasha nodded. "Then let's finish this."
The duo proceeded across the bridge in a steady fashion. Each step brought silence as both their minds gained clarity about their path ahead. Upon their arrival at the opposite side the world underwent another transformation.
They returned to solid earth as they found themselves facing a crystalline altar. A tiny shining piece of energy lay across the altar where it reflected the frozen lake illumination.
She grasped the item from the altar with her hand. A wave of heat rushed from the ice into her hands making her hands insensitive to the cold.
"The Token of Reflection," Alex murmured. "We did it."
The environment shifted yet again when darkness enveloped their area. A different threat emerged in front of them as the snowy terrain vanished while the Thunder Plains appeared with their stormy and threatening horizon.
The pair advanced unfaltering as their determination had grown more powerful than ever before.