The Bookstore Mage

Lucien felt his heart sink as he stared at the figure standing before him. He hesitated before he spoke:

"Who are you?"

The 'young man' in front of him bore an eerie resemblance to him. Their features were the same down to the very last detail. The only difference, however, was in the eyes again. They were crimson red.

The 'young man' standing before him tilted his head puzzledly as he studied Lucien in the same way he was studying him.

"You look like an evil version of me..." Lucien couldn't help but blurt out, almost subconsciously.

His words, however, finally earned a reaction from his evil doppelganger. A wide, terrifying, toothy grin tore at his face as his red eyes flickered with intelligence.

"An evil version, me? Hahaha!" For the first time, the young man spoke, his voice was unsurprisingly the same as Lucien's. This caused him to grimace as he nervously scanned his surroundings.

He felt vulnerable here, without any mana, without anything. He was at the mercy of whatever being was in front of him. Lucien hated that, he loathed the feeling of helplessness that sprung in his chest. His breathing picked up but he forced himself to remain calm. Something that proved to be quite difficult with an evil version of himself staring daggers at him.

"You still didn't answer my question, who are you? And where is this?"

The red-eyed Lucien did not reply immediately, instead, he slowly circled him with an intrigued expression. Lucien clenched his fists as he struggled to keep his fear at bay. This entire situation was too creepy for his taste.

"Fascinating." The doppelganger finally spoke.

"What is?" Lucien asked with a hint of annoyance. He was trying not to overthink the current situation. His heart, however, refused to calm down.

"You, you are fascinating. Oh, or should I say, we?" The stranger spoke and scratched his chin, deep in thought.

"We? You are not making much sense. What do you mean we?" Lucien had a faint idea of what his evil doppelganger could be implying, but he did not believe it. A part of him wished the current situation was nothing but a bad dream, a nightmare that he would soon wake up from only to find Moon laying by his side, and Tamellalt already prepared a cup of coffee for breakfast.

The doppelganger broke his chain of thought as he replied:

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean. You are me, after all. And I am you." He said and pointed at Lucien with his finger. The terrifying grin never quite left his face as he spoke.

Lucien nervously gulped and asked:

"So what, you mean to tell me you are like my evil subconscious?"

His question was met by another round of amused laughter before his doppelganger replied:

"Quite bold of you to assume I'm the evil one."

Lucien shrugged as he attempted to maintain his facade of indifference as he spoke, "I'm not the one with a shit-eating grin on my face and creepy red eyes."

"Hahahahahaha! Oh, but you are?" The doppelganger spoke and suddenly brought out a copper mirror from somewhere. Lucien had no time to think about it as he pointed it toward him.

"What - " His body abruptly paused as he stared back at his reflection. His mouth was stretched open into a wide grin, and his eyes flickered with an ominous red hue.

"See, you are me, and I am you." The doppelganger added happily as he removed the mirror from in front of him.

Lucien still in disbelief, raised his hand to touch his face only to feel it contorted into a grin. His heart threatened to leap out of his chest as the realization dawned on him. It was the same as what happened when the vampire attacked him.

Was he going to lose control again? Was he going to lose himself? Forced to watch as his body moved on its own, refusing to obey him?

"Hey, Hey, Hey. Why are you so nervous? It's just us here?"

"W - What are you?" Lucien asked again.

His doppelganger clicked his tongue in annoyance and teleported from his place only to reappear mere inches away from Lucien, his red eyes stared deep into his own as he spoke: "Tsk, I told you already, I'm you, and you are me."

His sudden appearance freaked Lucien out, but his body remained rooted in place. A part of his mind screamed at him to run, to turn away from whatever abomination was in front of him, but another part, one deep inside of him forced him to stand his ground.

"And, what are we?"

His sudden question seemed to please his doppelganger as he constantly nodded his head and moved back, his grin seemed to widen even further, something Lucien didn't understand how it was possible.

"Now, that is the real question. What are we indeed?"

"Human?" Lucien asked almost on reflex.

His doppelganger tilted his head and spoke:

"You don't even believe that yourself."

Lucien drew a deep breath at the sudden revelation, he had his doubts but he still refused to believe it. This went beyond everything he knew, his entire life now seemed... Fake.

"What about Grandpa?"

His doppelganger shrugged his shoulders and replied:

"Who knows, though I doubt he was human either."

Lucien closed his eyes and held his head between his hands. Breathe in, breathe out. He continued that way for a few seconds before he raised his head to glance at his doppelganger who was looking at him with an amused expression.

"And where are we?"

His other self, if there was any truth to what he said pointed at his head with and spoke:

"Why, we are here of course."

"So, I am dreaming?"

"Tsk, heavens how can you be so dumb when we are the same is beyond me. We are inside our mind, our subconscious if you wish."

Rubbing his temples Lucien answered, "So basically dreaming."

"No, you dimwit. It's not the same as dreaming. This -" The doppelganger paused and motioned toward their surroundings before he continued, "- all of this is very much real. It's not the dream world, but more of our world?"

"If that is true, then how come I can't change nor control anything?"

His doppelganger giggled and replied happily:

"Well, that would be because this is my domain."

"Aren't we the same, though?" Lucien quickly asked.

"Yes, but you don't see me intervening with yours?"

"Mine? What are you on about?"

His doppelganger rolled his eyes and replied, "The waking world. You - " He pointed his finger at Lucien and continued, " - get to hog all the fun out there, and I'm left to rot inside of here."

"So it was you who took control of my body that time?!" Lucien's voice rose as he asked in an accusatory tone. His fear was drowned by the rage bubbling inside of him.

"Ah, nope. That wasn't me. As I said, I can't intervene with the waking world. I'm bound to this place."

"Then who - " His question was interrupted by a sudden quake. Lucien barely stabilized himself before his vision went blurry and everything turned dark.