Chapter 11: The Room of Echoes
The sound of their footsteps echoed through the shattered halls of Blackgate High — their old school, now nothing more than a carcass of memories. The world above had fallen silent after the night of the massacre. The moonlight that filtered through the cracks in the broken ceiling painted silver scars across the burned walls. Adrian led the way, his blade drawn, while Adriana followed closely, her crimson eyes glowing faintly in the dark.
They were no longer the same twins who had once trained together in the light of dawn. The dark call that had awakened within them had grown stronger, more demanding — whispering through every shadow, urging them deeper beneath the ruins.
"Adri… are you sure this is where the signal came from?" Adrian's voice was low, cautious. The last time they had followed such a pulse, they'd nearly been consumed by it.
Adriana brushed her fingers against the cold, cracked wall. "It's not a signal," she said softly. "It's… a memory."
They reached the rusted trapdoor that led into what had once been the school basement. Only now, the air around it shimmered — warped — as though the laws of the world struggled to exist here.
Adrian knelt and pressed his hand to the sigil burned into the floorboards — a spiraling symbol of overlapping circles and runes. "This shouldn't be here," he murmured. "This wasn't part of the school's design."
Adriana's lips curved into a faint smile. "That's because it's not from this world."
With a groan of metal and a pulse of light, the trapdoor split open. A staircase of black stone descended into a vast chamber glowing with blue and red light. They stepped down slowly, and the deeper they went, the louder the whispers became — a hundred overlapping voices, all calling their names.
When they reached the bottom, they found themselves standing in a circular chamber, enormous and ancient, carved from obsidian and veined with pulsating crimson energy. Ten massive stone gates surrounded the room in a perfect circle, each humming with unstable energy. Symbols of fire, water, time, and void glowed across their surfaces. Between them, a sphere of white fire floated above a stone altar.
Adriana exhaled sharply. "Ten gates… ten dimensions."
Adrian stepped closer to one, the blue runes reflecting in his eyes. "Each one… feels like us."
The moment he said it, the air twisted. The gates began to tremble, their light flaring violently. From the first gate — marked with a blue sigil — a shadow stepped through. It took human shape, then solidified into a mirror image of Adrian himself, but his aura glowed with a deep, luminous blue flame.
He looked at Adrian with calm, emotionless eyes. "So this is the original," the double said. His voice carried no echo — it was smooth, like a ripple over water. "You must be the one who still believes in mercy."
Adriana drew her scythe instantly. "Another demon?" she hissed.
Before Adrian could respond, another portal burst open — this one burning with crimson light. A second Adriana stepped out, her eyes blood-red and her aura wild and consuming. Her weapon — a twisted crimson spear — dripped liquid fire.
"I can smell the fear in this place," she said, smiling dangerously. "It reeks of the weak."
Adriana met her double's gaze, her fingers tightening around her weapon. "Who are you?"
"I'm you," the crimson one said, stepping closer until their faces nearly touched. "The version of you that stopped pretending to be good."
Lightning cracked between them. The portal energy surged again, and more figures began stepping out — one after another — until ten alternate versions of the twins stood before them. Each pair radiated a different power, a different reality. Some bore scars, others wore armor, and one floated above the ground as if the air itself obeyed them.
The blue Adrian looked around, then back to his original. "We were never meant to meet," he said softly. "But the boundaries are breaking."
"Because of her," whispered a voice that wasn't human.
The white flame at the altar darkened. The chamber trembled. And from the space above the altar, something began to descend — a silhouette of wings made of molten bone and fire. The light bent away from her, and the ground itself seemed to scream in her presence.
The Demon Queen, Malraeth of the Abyss, had awoken.
Her body was a grotesque blend of beauty and horror — the upper half of a woman with skin black as onyx, her lower half fading into a storm of shadows. Her eyes burned with crimson irises shaped like shattered stars. When she spoke, her voice resonated in every mind present.
"Ten worlds. Ten reflections. Ten failures of destiny."
She smiled — and every light in the room flickered out. "And yet you all carry the same sin: you exist."
The air turned heavy, like drowning in molten tar. The blue Adrian stepped forward, summoning his sword, flames of tranquil sapphire coiling around his arm. "Malraeth," he said, his voice sharp as a blade. "We sealed you once. You shouldn't be here."
Her laughter shook the room. "You sealed a dream. I am the truth that remains when all dreams die."
The crimson Adriana lunged first, her spear blazing through the dark. Malraeth caught it with her bare hand. The weapon hissed and melted in her grip. With a single motion, she backhanded the crimson twin across the room, her body crashing into a stone wall that shattered from the impact.
Adrian — the original — caught his sister before she fell, flames igniting around his fists. "We need to move. Now."
The other versions readied themselves. Each Adrian and Adriana took a stance — ten pairs of warriors facing the queen and the swarm of winged demons rising from the shadows around her. The chamber pulsed with power as the sigils in the floor came alive.
"Looks like we're fighting side by side," said the blue Adrian, spinning his sword. "Try not to slow me down."
Adrian smirked. "You talk too much."
Malraeth raised her hands — and the walls of the chamber split open. Demons poured out in rivers of flame and teeth. The battle erupted.
Energy roared. Swords clashed. The blue Adrian's flame collided with the Demon Queen's shadow tendrils. The crimson Adriana's scythe sang as it sliced through a dozen demons in one sweep. Every alternate twin unleashed their power — lightning, frost, gravity, and chaos — turning the chamber into a storm of elements.
In the center, the real twins fought back-to-back, their movements perfectly synchronized, just like in training.
"Adri, left flank!" Adrian shouted.
"Already there!" she answered, spinning her scythe in a burning arc that cut through three shadow beasts at once.
The Demon Queen moved through the chaos like smoke, untouched by the flames, her smile never fading. "So many versions of the same weakness," she purred. "Shall I show you your end?"
She raised her hand, and one by one, the portals began to crack — leaking raw dimensional energy. The room shook violently. The blue Adrian turned to the original. "She's collapsing the dimensions! If those gates fall, everything — all realities — will merge!"
Adrian clenched his teeth. "Then we end her here."
He charged, his blade glowing white-blue. Adriana joined him, her scythe trailing red lightning. Together, they crossed the battlefield, dodging bursts of shadow flame and crashing through waves of enemies until they reached the altar.
Malraeth met them head-on. Her clawed hand struck Adrian's sword, sparks flying. "You think you can punish me?" she hissed. "You are nothing but echoes of a failed creation."
"Then hear the echo scream," Adriana snarled.
With a synchronized strike, the twins unleashed their combined power — blue fire and crimson lightning — colliding with Malraeth in a blinding explosion that shattered the altar and tore through the chamber like a storm.
When the light faded, the room was half-destroyed. The portals flickered, unstable but holding. The Demon Queen's laughter echoed faintly as her form dissolved into smoke.
"You've only delayed the inevitable," her voice whispered. "The call… has only just begun."
The twins stood side by side, breathing heavily, their weapons dimming. Around them, their alternate selves began to fade, returning to their dimensions.
Blue Adrian met Adrian's gaze one last time. "You'll see me again," he said. "When the worlds bleed together."
Then he vanished into the blue light.
Adriana looked at her brother, her expression unreadable. "You think this is over?"
Adrian sheathed his sword, eyes fixed on the fading altar. "No," he said quietly. "This is where it begins."
And far above them, somewhere beyond the layers of reality, a thousand other worlds trembled — answering the call in the dark.
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