"Whaaat!!!, ho...how is that possible?, I don't understand" my mind struggled to accept Anna's words.
"The general asked me to marry him as a condition to bring you back" Anna kept looking at the floor as she spoke.
"ABORT IT!", I said, my expression now replaced by rage.
"What?!" Anna's head shot up, looking at me in disbelief.
"I said, abort it", I repeated, my emotions slowly growing unstable.
"How can you say such a thing!",Anna asked sounding a bit furious, as she continues before I could respond.
"I can't kill an innocent baby just because I was foolishly deceived by the general, and moreover we wouldn't be able to escape the general nor my parents watch, I'm sure you know the general has connections across Asia, and my parents connections are all over Europe, we"
"Miss Anna!, who is there with you?!" A bodyguard interrupted Anna, as he tried opening the door, but failed, because it was locked by Anna.
"No one Michael!!, I'm just on the phone!!",Anna responded, before pushing me to leave quickly.
I looked at Anna's face, one last time, my heart raged emotions with I couldn't put to words.
I wanted to give her passionate kiss before leaving, but I held myself from doing so and left.
I roamed the quiet night streets aimlessly for almost an hour, deep in thoughts, before steeling my resolve and proceeding my plan.
I found an ATM some distance away from Anna's family villa, and tried withdrawing from my secret account.
But got hit with a shocking insufficient funds, I tried a lower amount, but it was the same.
My heart raced, as I hurriedly checked my balance.
$0.00
My knees weakened at the sight, as i repeated the process several times more, but it wasn't an error.
I silently left the area, as I could already notice a few suspicious glance.
As I roamed the empty streets, I swore to every deity to ever exist, that I would kill the general in the most gruesome way possible, I would make him cry for death, but that would be mercy, I would...
"Stop right there!!!", a police officer shouted, bringing me back from my dark thoughts.
"Shit!", I muttered, as I quickly began running.
I ran tirelessly through the dimly lit street, the police were far behind me unable to catch up with my speed, but that wasn't got me worried.
Since I was spotted in this area, the police would try to seal me in, so I wouldn't escape.
'I have to leave here quickly'
"In here!"
A voice called from a dark alley, I couldn't understand the words, as it was a language I couldn't recognise.
I paused and looked at the figure, who was shrouded in darkness by the alley, he continuously gestured for me to come.
I hesitated, and I had every right to do so, but I could hear the police getting closer, so i choose to follow.
I had other options but it was too late now, I had already wasted too much time.
"...."
"Sorry I don't understand you"
"....."
The mysterious person suddenly started pulling me towards a abnormally dark wall.
I was about pulling his hand away, when I saw his left hand go through the wall.
"What the fuck!"
I felt danger and curiosity at the same time.
"Where did he go?!!!" A police officer asked his colleague loudly
"Shit" I muttered as I stopped resisting and was pulled into complete and alter darkness.
"Fuck!!!"
I yelled suddenly jumping awake from a bed.
My sudden outburst seemed to have frightened the figure, who looked like an exact clone of me.
"Wait.... What the fuck!!!"
The... I don't know what to call it, seemed annoyed by my reaction, as he gestured for me to halt.
He pulled out a chair and sat near a desk, muttering something, a cube of light came to life, further brightening the room, that was dimly lit by the moonlight.
He took a book, opened it, brought out a paint brush, and a small bottle of ink.
He deeped the brush into the ink, and began drawing something.
'What's going on?'
A few seconds passed and he was done, as he showed what he drew to me.
"Calm down, you are making too much noise", was clearly written in Korean in the book.
"The fuck?"
He resumed writing again, and soon finished.
"I know you are confused, but it's late, you should rest, everything will be explained soon"
Before I could reply, he had already written again
"Get some sleep, you'll need it"
"Fine" I admitted reluctantly and laid back down on the bed.
He muttered something and the cube of light went off, then he left the room.
I stared at the dark ceiling, my tiredness was slowly catching up to me, as the bed felt offly comforting.
I struggled to stay awake, but failed. I was human afterall.
I slept like a baby, and that was because I haven't gotten a good sleep since the incident, and this bed felt great.
~Haaaa~
I stretched my hands, yawning.
I looked around the room, analysing my environment.
The room was about 200 sq ft in size, with a desk occupied by some books near the widely open window, a large wardrobe stood by the opposite side, with it's elegant wooden design, another passage stood at the opposite end of the room from where the bed was, where it led was unknown to me as it was covered by a curtain.
A bright white light coming from the window illuminated the room, shining on the polished wooden floor.
Wind continuously blew the window curtain, carrying with it an aroma.
'Someone is cooking something good'
At that thought my stomach rumbled, reminding me of how hungry I was.
I was about getting up from the bed when the door shot open.
My clone walked in, accompanied by a delicious aroma.
He went towards the desk, opened the book from the previous night, brought out his ink and brush, and began writing, and few seconds later, he was done.
"Hey, it's bright now, you should go freshen up, the bathroom is the last room down the hall"
"Okay I will, but you said you will explain what's going on this morning"
At my response, he started writing again, and seconds later, he was done.
"I will explain over breakfast, but I'm not done cooking, so you should wash up before I finish"
"Ah, I see, alright!"
He took the book and his writing equipments with him and began leaving the room, I got up from bed and followed behind.
We went separate ways, he went downstairs, and I went to the bathroom.
On my way towards the bathroom I couldn't help but notice that, everything here was made of wood, from polished wooden walls, to polished floorboards.
"It's like I'm in a cabin"
I arrived at the bathroom, and it wasn't what I expected.
In the middle was a Japanese style hot tub, filled with water, a small stool stood beside the tub, carrying on it, an ugly looking bar of soap, and a towel.
I took of my clothes and placed them on an empty stool, and entered the water.
"Freezing"
The water was abnormally cold, any colder and it would have been frozen solid.
I gritted my teeth through the freezing cold and picked up the bar of soap, I deeped it in water a bit, then started rubbing my body with it.
This bar of soap didn't feel or smell like your usual soap, it felt... Odd
But it still got the job done.
Few minutes later, I was done.
I rushed to grab the towel, cold wind blew in from a small open window, near the top of the bathroom.
I dried up, and tied the towel around my waist, i still shivered a bit.
I looked through the window and into the sky, and there stood a full moon in the night sky. The moon was brighter than usual, and the sky was completely starless.
"That's strange, it's still night?"
"I'm certain I had an whole night rest"
"Wait!, I don't remember it being a full moon last night"
I left the bathroom puzzled.
I returned to the previous room, and on the bed was, a set of neatly folded clothes.
A plain black shirt with brown pants.
But strangely it didn't look modern at all, if anything it looked mediaeval.
'Okay something isn't right here'
Few minutes later, I stepped out of the room, fully dressed, and proceeded downstairs.
I arrived downstairs, and saw my clone preparing the table, before I could notify him of my presence, his head snapped towards me, with eerie precision.
'The fuck'
He gave a small smile and gestured for me to take a seat.
I sat, as he went to the kitchen to bring the food.
THUD!
A steaming bowel of pottage was placed in front of me, along with a small wooden spoon.
My mouth watered at the delicious looking food, without wasting much time, I grabbed the spoon and took a spoonful.
~Hmmm~
~Hmmm~
"This is good!, this is really good"
The pottage was filled with meat, vegetables, and some other things I don't recognise, but still it tasted exquisite.
My clone smiled satisfied with my reaction.
~~
After almost downing half the bowel, I regained my composure and spoke.
"You said you will explain what's going on over breakfast"
He nodded and began writing.
"You can ask me anything"
"Great, where am I?"
He wrote again.
"Not in the human realm"
I frowned, "what do you mean?"
He resumed writing.
"You are no longer on earth"
"What!!, how is that possible?!!!", the words I saw hit me like a stun grenade, leaving me daze.
I took a while to look back at him, just to see, he had already written another reply.
"Do you really want me to explain how it is possible?, afterall the process is really long"
"No, don't", I paused trying to regain composure before adding
"So where am i?, what are you?"
At my question, he began writing.
"This is the shadow realm, and I am you"
His words multiplied my confusion.
"Please explain in details"
He let out a sigh and wrote.
"The shadow realm is a realm of eternal night, mythic entities, and struggle, and has for I, I am your shadow"
He turned the page.
"Shadows are the residents of this realm, and shadows are the dark versions of humans, but we aren't just another version of you, we basically share a soul, with humans having the larger part"
"I... See" I replied nodding slowly.
"So why did you bring me here", I asked
He wrote for few seconds, before showing me.
"Since humans carry the larger part of the soul, when they die, we lose our minds, becoming a monster. And from all the things I have observed if you had been caught, you would've be killed"
"I see, okay, one more question"
"How do you know Korean?"
A small smile appeared on his face as he wrote.
"I have been observing you for the past nine years, and along the way I picked up Korean to understand you better, but due to some reasons I can not speak it"
That left me bewildered.
Before I could speak, he had already written.
"Let us finish our food, it is getting cold"
"Right"
We continued and finished our food in silence, though my mind wasn't silent.
~~
~~
After we finished our food and cleaned up the table, my clone began writing something.
"We can't stay like this, you will die, as this realm isn't suitable for humans, and moreover my action to bring you here broke several rules with punishment of the death"
He turned the page
"But I have a solution"
"What's the solution?"
"You see it" he wrote.
Soon he began drawing two large ritualistic circles in the living room, filling the interior with strange symbols, then gathered dark crystals around the circles
As he finished, he wrote to me.
"This is the solution"
"Nope, I'm not nearing that"
He frowned at my response, and wrote.
"It's either this or death, and I am certain you still have a lot to live for, like revenge"
His words, steered up memories of my recent downfall.
"You are right, let's do it"
He smiled a bit, and wrote.
"Good, now take of your clothes, and lay in the circle"
"...!, alright"
We took off our clothes, and laid in the circle, naked.
My clone laying on the left circle began chanting his strange language, and the circle slowly began glowing, the more he chanted, the brighter it grew, and at his last words, we were engulfed by the light.
Unimaginable pain engulfed me, causing me to scream in pain, and I wasn't the only one.
It felt like my being was being melted and remolded.
After what felt like an eternity, the light slowly receded, along with the pain.
And immediately after, I passed out.