The witchers stood under the moonlight, facing each other. Nine feet of space separated them. Roy curled up and put his weight on his feet. He circled the enemy in an anticlockwise direction. He kept Aerondight pointed at the silhouette before him.
The enemy this time was no dummy. He didn’t pounce at Roy the moment he saw him. Instead he mimicked Roy and circled him. The way he held his blade, his pose, and his steps, were remarkably similar to the real Roy. They were like two peas of a pod, just that one of them was a reflection. Roy stared at his reflection, thinking that this was a bit surreal. This is the big gift Gaunter had for me? He wondered how much of his power his reflection had. Does he copy everything like the doppler?
His forehead and palms were sweating. Roy held the hilt of his blade tightly with his right hand and made an orange triangle in the air. A stream of flames shot across the air, licking the reflection’s body. The silhouette cast Igni at almost the same time and shot it back at Roy. The flames hit their targets, and Quen shattered into pieces. Roy took a step to the side and flung his singed hair aside and crashed into the silhouette.
Roy had the advantage. The silhouette was that bit slower than the young witcher due to its slightly lacking intelligence. Roy swung Aerondight up and aimed for its chest. Sparks flew in the air as the silhouette blocked Roy’s sword. Roy could see that the silhouette equaled him in strength.
Roy changed his attack. He flicked his wrist, and Aerondight slid up the back of the silhouette’s blade, cutting off its right ear. The ear disappeared into the air, turning into a puff of black smoke.
Most people would be distracted by the pain, but not the silhouette. It cast Aard without missing a beat, pushing Roy back. And then it leapt ahead and thrusted its blade at Roy’s throat.
Roy put his weight into his left leg and pirouetted like a top. He smacked the black blade away with Aerondight and thrusted it into the enemy’s chest. The silhouette blocked it with his sword, putting the fighters in a momentary stalemate.
They spun clockwise, sparks flew between their blades. They were like a grindstone working on a piece of metal, but eventually, they broke contact, yet they quickly jumped back into the fray, swinging their blades, blocking incoming attacks, dodging the enemy’s blows.
There were no feints in this fight. Every attack was deadly. The fighters aimed for their enemy’s vitals. Metals clashed and clanged against each other. Even the air buzzed with excitement with every attack they made.
Roy spun, dodging yet another attack. He let out a guttural growl and thrusted his blade at the silhouette’s neck, but the silhouette swung its sword and swatted Roy’s blade away. It tried to attack Roy’s belly, and Roy jumped backward.
He was huffing and puffing. Sweat glistened on his face, chin, and neck. His hair was glued to his forehead, and there was almost a layer of steam coming from his body. It had only been a minute since the battle started, but Roy had exhausted more stamina than he expected.
Gaunter’s maniacal laugh filled the air of the passage, and Roy felt the ground beneath him give way. It caved and broke apart, then Roy fell down into an underground chamber. The mirror at the end of the passage was no longer in sight.
“You look like shit, mate, but it’s not gonna end just like that.”
Roy gritted his teeth and pushed himself up from the debris. He still looked calm, as if he were unfazed by losing that mirror. He knew this would happen. Roy trudged along the corridor and came to a clearing. It was a plaza behind the mansion.
What greeted him were nothing but ruins. The tiles were chipped away, scratched, and covered in dust. The floor in the middle looked like it was destroyed by a powerful earthquake. A great crack leading to an abyss slept there. Three spiral staircases each led up to a looming tower. Roy could vaguely see the mirrors in the tower. There were more than a few too.
He dragged himself and went for the nearest one, but the mirror shattered into pieces before he could touch it.
Gaunter, who was hiding somewhere, had played another trick. He mocked smugly, “Another point for me.”
Roy changed his direction quietly and came to the fountain in the middle of the plaza. It was all dried up, but there was a red mirror in the middle. He tried to touch it, but just like the last mirror, it shattered into a pile of glass sand before he could touch it.
“Do your eyelids feel heavier now, witcher? Ready to give in to despair? Give up. Release yourself from your misery.”
Roy shouted into the air, “You can break glass, but there’s a mirror you can never break!”
“Well, then search for it, witcher. You might just find it.”
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