Three more figures emerged from the fog, copies. One looked like Lionel, one like me and the third like Malakai.
“Okay,” Ashley said, lighting a fuse. “Ihatewhen they do that.”
The fake Malakai smiled, the same cocky grin, but his eyes were dull and hollow.
The real Malakai laughed, almost delighted. “Guess I’m popular.”
“Focus!” I snapped, but there was no real heat in it.
Ashley tossed a bomb, the fuse hissing. “Focused enough for you?”
The blast forced the demons apart, shaking the ground. Eve took the opening, her shots echoing like thunder and the fake me dissolved into smoke.
A clean headshot.
“Damn,” Eve said, lowering her rifle. “Didn’t realise how satisfying that would be.”
“Glad to be of service,” I muttered, hurling a ball of fire towards the ground near the creatures still standing. The flames caught, twisting into a wall of heat, attempting to encircle them, and the forest howled with the sound of burning magic and screaming demons. But they managed to escape my flames, still standing despite my wildfire.
Jaden crouched low, hands pressed to the dirt. “Everyone, stay close!” he shouted. The ground shivered under us, vines bursting upwards, tangling around the nearest demon’s limbs. “I can’t hold them long!”
“Long enough,” Lionel said, and moved in with a soldier’s precision, taking a shot at the demon that looked like him.
Malakai was still beside me, wrists bound, grinning like a man who didn’t know the meaning of danger. “You’re not going to untie me, are you?”
“You said to play along,” I reminded him, eyes still on the tree line.
He sighed, and then smiled wider. “Didn’t say I wouldn’t fight like this.”
When the next Shapeshifter came at him, he sidestepped easily, caught it with a sharp kick to the chest, and pivoted. Bound hands or not, his movements were liquid, precise, and elegant. When it lunged again, he ducked and drove his shoulder into its gut, knocking it to the dirt.
The creature hissed, its body shifting between faces; mine, his, Ashley’s, even Lionel’s, desperately trying to make Malakai hesitate in his attacks.
Malakai leaned down, eyes gleaming red for a heartbeat. “Pick a face, doesn’t matter which, but it does make it easier to break while it’s firm.”
He slammed his bound hands into its skull, and the thing exploded into black ichor.
“Show off,” Ashley muttered, but there was laughter under it.
“Efficient,” Malakai corrected.
Then the light changed.
The morning dimmed, like the forest itself had drawn a breath and held it. The shadows grew longer, thicker, pulling towards a single point.
Malakai’s grin faded. “Shadow demon,” he said quietly. “I can feel it.”
It emerged slowly, a tall figure made of moving darkness, its edges crawling like smoke. It didn’t walk. It slithered.
Eve lifted her sniper, but cursed. “Where even are the vitals of a shadow?”
“Jaden,” I shouted. “Root it!”
He slammed both palms into the ground. Roots shot upwards, only to wither instantly as the demon absorbed their life-force.
“Not working!” he shouted.
“Then let’s burn it,” I said.
