"What the hell is that?"
Everyone backed away, but behind them was also a zombie with flames. Suddenly, a guy from the group holding a book started speaking.
"The first stage of the dungeon, the conflagration of the dead! We must kill these zombies, for everyone to move on!"
Wayne analyzed the room, looking at the other people starting to attack the zombies, but they spread like wildfire. As one zombie dies, another one starts to emerge. Wayne noticed that the zombies were dying intentionally so they could multiply in numbers.
There was only one way to solve this stage... to kill all the zombies at once. The only problem was that no one in the dungeon was able to unleash an attack that could wipe all of them. Suddenly, Wayne heard screaming from behind, distracting him. He saw a dead body on the ground, leaking with blood. One of the people had just been stabbed by the zombie in the heart. These zombies had razor-sharp claws, reminding Wayne of that dragon he fought in the desert in his previous world.
Wayne finally snapped back to reality and focused up. He grabbed his sword and started to slash the zombies one by one, but they were multiplying too fast. Finally, Wayne had an idea to kill all of them. The only two moves he had, he had to combine them. Shadow Step and Chronolock.
Wayne blew out air, and he suddenly stopped time with Chronolock. Everyone, the zombies and the people, were all standing still, frozen in time.
"Shadow Step."
Wayne's eyes glowed yellow, and he swiftly zapped through all the zombies lined up in a circle, beheading them all in one step. The zombies were all lying on the floor. Suddenly, time was starting to move again. Everyone's weapons attacked the air, leaving the people shocked.
"What the fuck? What happened to all the zombies?"
Wayne tilted his head back, looking at the guy who asked the question.
"I killed them."
They were all in confusion, looking at the dead bodies. They were all perfectly clean-cut, their heads smoothly cut off from their body.
"You killed all of them... that fast?"
Wayne cleaned the blood dripping from his sword, staring the people down.
"We shouldn't stay in one spot for too long. Let's keep moving."
Wayne kept progressing through the dungeon while the others followed him. The air got thicker, shimmering with waves of heat. The icy walls gave way to charred stones and veins of glowing magma. At the threshold of a massive, scorched chamber, a booming voice echoed through the cavern.
"To claim forbidden power, face the flame of your fury."
As the group moved forward, a huge stone wall shut between Wayne and the group, leaving the group and Wayne separated. Wayne was forced to keep moving, while the others were stuck, not being able to move forward because of the huge wall.
"You've gotta be kidding me."
The group tried to break through the wall, but it was indestructible. Wayne, on the other hand, explored the other side, seeing pillars and ashes floating around the sky. The room was scorching hot, burning his skin.
There was a circular chamber of black stone, with molten cracks glowing beneath Wayne's feet. Suddenly, the pillars emitted fire, launching into the middle of the room. Ash came out of the fire, and Wayne saw a shadow of a big, colossal creature. It roared with fire. Wayne saw its wings flapping up and down, and its huge tail smashing the ground. It reminded Wayne of the dragon in Solvex, the Aetherionyx.
Wayne backed away from the dragon, but the wall behind him blocked him from moving back. Wayne saw chains connected to a door. He thought maybe this was another stage that was a part of the dungeon, and he needed to unlock the chains. A deep voice emerged from the ashes.
"Wayne, you don't deserve this power. You only destroy. With this power in the wrong hands, it could destroy the universe."
Wayne was startled. How did it know his name?
The dragon came out of the ashes, showing its colossal body with its amber gold eyes, staring at Wayne's similar eye color.
"I don't know what you are and how you know me, but I just wanna finish this dungeon fast, so let me through."
"Haha, that's not how this dungeon works. To finish this dungeon, you'll have to get past me... Ashdrake, the Scorch Reborn."
"Well then, let's finish this fast."
Wayne held his sword tight and rushed at Ashdrake, trying to land a hit on its head. Wayne jumped between the walls, bouncing around in the air, and nosedived straight at the dragon's head, but then the dragon suddenly whipped Wayne straight into a wall with its tail. Ashdrake's eyes turned red.
"All this rage isn't going to bring you anywhere. Killing Thorne wasn't going to give you anything."
Wayne quickly realized that the dragon's voice was slowly starting to sound like his own.
"You see, Wayne, I'm you... In the future, and this is what your rage created, a monster."
Wayne started to bleed from the inside from the impact, breaking his ribs.
"You don't deserve this power, Wayne. Leave before you die."
Wayne spat out a pool of blood, staring at Ashdrake.
Wayne smiled at Ashdrake...
"You know that... you're just a boss in a dungeon. Nothing more."
Ashdrake's face became angrier, and his eyes became redder. Suddenly, his body started to turn into flames. His scales became fire, and his eyes were sparkling with fire.
"Well then, let's get this fight started, weakling."
The ground started to rumble, and suddenly, the ground started to erupt with flames. The room was smoking, making it hard to see, but Wayne could still see the outline of Ashdrake. The arena was shrinking as time went on. Wayne had to finish this battle fast. It was a test of his rage.
Suddenly, Wayne started to see images in his head. It was a guy, killing nonstop. He was wearing the same clothes as Wayne, with the deep black robe with purple trims, and his sword was sharp and big. He was destroying cities with a power Wayne had never seen before.
Ashdrake was laughing.
"How does it feel knowing that that image will be you in a couple of years?"
But in the smoke, he heard a chuckle. He saw Wayne's shadow getting closer and closer to him.
"I don't feel a thing. The only thing I feel right now... is killing you."
Ashdrake's face turned scared and nervous. He saw Wayne's bright golden eyes, flashing right at him. Wayne flashed right at his eyes, and then in a second, Wayne was right behind Ashdrake.
Wayne slashed his sword right at Ashdrake's neck, thinking it would behead him, but instead, it got stuck in his thick scales, absorbing the impact. Wayne quickly shadow stepped away from Ashdrake.
"Let's pick up the pace. Mirror Flame!"
Suddenly, a quick flash of a black shadow emerged in Wayne's eyes. The shadow went behind him and kicked him, sending Wayne backwards. Wayne glanced upward, spotting an illusion of himself, standing right in front of him, with the same clothes and weapon.
Wayne got up and dashed in front of him, but the other Wayne also copied his move, dashing right at Wayne, sending each other into a blunt collision. They both clashed with their swords, scraping their swords together. Sparks came out of the swords caused by the friction. Wayne noticed that it copied his eye movements and even breathing. It was an exact image of himself.
"How do I beat a person who copies that same thing as me?"
Wayne thought to himself.
Suddenly, Wayne noticed something at the edge of his vision. He saw Ashdrake looking straight at him, staring coldly. He didn't blink at all, his eyes were fixed on Wayne. Wayne puzzled this all in his head and suddenly thought of something.
He dashed forward at the copy, and as he thought, the copy dashed forward. Wayne turned his head around and noticed Ashdrake was still staring at him, with the same eyes as before.
Wayne suddenly turned his mouth from a straight line to a smile, staring at Ashdrake. Suddenly, Wayne disappeared.
"I figured it all out."
Ashdrake heard his voice, but couldn't tell where he was. But what was more surprising was that Wayne's copy was still in the same spot, just standing still like a robot. He didn't copy Wayne's actions this time. It was clear that...
Wayne figured it out.
Suddenly, a sword flew out of nowhere and slammed into the wall behind Ashdrake. He examined the sword, and he saw that it was Wayne's black and purple sword. Then, a loud slam was heard in the center of the arena where the copy was standing. Ashdrake looked back at the sound and saw a bunch of dust flying in the air. He saw Wayne's outline, punching down at the copy, and the shimmer of Wayne's golden eyes shining at him.
Right at that second, Wayne dashed forward with his shadow step, closing the distance on Ashdrake, and stabbed him right in the heart with his sword he recalled.
Blood was dripping from the puncture, but Ashdrake was smiling.
"Well done, kid. But to defeat me, you gotta try harder than that."
He started laughing manically, while his body disintegrated. All the flames and torches in the room started to turn blue, while Wayne noticed Ashdrake's soul, turning from a red flame to a blue, fiery soul.
"You are your rage. Without it, you're nothing."