The Wolf's Doppelganger - An Urban Fantasy Magick Story

The call of madness resonated in my soul. Take, devour, destroy—I could be a god amongst men. The darkness of the cursed grimoire could tempt me, corrupt me, or drive me mad, but I’ll fight back with everything I have.

This [8000+word] novelette is a side story to the Arcane Advent series, taking place a few months after the events of The Dark Bible.
 

Excerpt:

Staring into a mirror of pitch black darkness, I came face to face with myself. The other me raised its hand, and pointed its finger at me—a flame of darkness topping it off.  Sweat dropped from my brow, when I—we pulled the trigger.

“Cen!” The flames clashed, wrapping each other in a dazzling display, before snuffing themselves out.

Swallowing my fear, I charged the Doppelganger and threw an unavoidable punch towards its face. It twisted its body and avoided the strike, while landing a spinning elbow onto my head. The world went white for a few seconds, and I staggered.

The sound of something slicing through the air was picked up by my ears, and I moved. I narrowly avoided the same fate as the tree behind me—being sliced in two. It was using the Ice Sword spell from the grimoire: Kala Sverd.

I drew my frozen knife and recited that same spell, generating a sword of blue ice roughly my own height. Kicking off the ground, I met its blade head-on with mine, and the sound of clashing ice rang through the sea of trees, while ice fragments scattered like chilled sparks.

Pulling back my sword and rotating into a horizontal slash, my blade’s edge would separate its upper body from its lower body. However, the Doppelganger had the same idea and our blades clashed at the center. Pain rippled through my arms, causing me to break away and run, with it doing the same.

Then I went back in again.

Our blades clashed numerous times, each blow chipping them down. I didn’t waste energy reforming mine, instead using it to keep my strength up. The creature’s blows were becoming heavier, and I was becoming weaker.

The next five blows that I blocked nearly took my arms off. The final blow it released completely shattered my blade and threw me backwards. I turned and positioned myself to avoid the tree that was about to hit me.

“GAH—!” Instead of missing it though, I winged my shoulder and rolled along the ground. Burning pain rippled through my mind, but I suppressed it as best I could with the Doppelganger still coming.

Gathering myself, I grabbed my right wrist with my left hand and charged. When the distance was less than a few feet, I cast the spell, “Krafla!”

Bleeding shadows poured down my arm, and turned it into an instrument of destruction. An arm of pure darkness—ending with claws that could shatter steel—was my weapon. Using it, I met his ice sword and shattered it to pieces. Rotating with the blow, I spun and deliver a kick to its abdomen, sending it flying—only to feel the full brunt of my own attack.

“Ugh…” I spat out glob of blood. “Right, I take the damage I dish out.”

What a pain in the ass.

It was like I came to hunt a wolf and ran into a mad elephant. I was contemplating using Tyrfing, but it was still sealed away for another year. I wouldn’t have had the time to use it anyway—plus I would’ve incinerated myself in the process.