The Other Me That Shouldn’t Exist
1333 Words
The moment it smiled at me, I stopped breathing.
Not metaphorically.
Not emotionally.
My lungs simply forgot how to work.
Because it wasn’t just a resemblance.
It was me.
Every detail mirrored. Same face. Same eyes. Same posture as it stepped out of the shattered earth like it had been born from my reflection and not my body.
But there was something wrong.
Something hollow.
Like a version of me that had been carved out and filled with something colder.
Kael moved first.
He always did.
“Elara—move!”
His voice snapped through the chaos, pulling me back into my body just enough for instinct to take over. He grabbed my arm and yanked me behind him as the ground erupted again.
Stone exploded upward where I had been standing.
The creature—me—tilted its head slowly, watching us like we were interesting but temporary.
And then it spoke.
But not aloud.
Inside my mind.
Finally.
My entire body froze.
Kael felt it instantly.
“What did it say to you?” he demanded.
I couldn’t answer.
Because I didn’t know.
Or maybe—
I did.
---
The cavern collapsed further.
Roots tore from the ceiling like veins ripped from flesh. The Veilwood above groaned as if the entire forest was trying to push its way down into us.
The figure stood at the edge of the chaos, unmoving, watching everything unfold as it had already calculated this outcome.
“You let this happen,” Kael snapped at it.
“I did not let anything happen,” it replied calmly. “This was always the outcome.”
“Then fix it!”
“It cannot be fixed.”
That sentence landed heavier than the falling stone.
Kael’s grip tightened on me.
“Stay behind me,” he ordered.
But I wasn’t listening anymore.
Because the thing that looked like me—
Was walking closer.
Step by step.
Through collapsing stone and shifting roots.
Unbothered.
Untouched.
Like the world was rearranging itself around its existence.
And it never once took its eyes off me.
---
“You’re not real,” I whispered.
It stopped.
Smiled again.
And this time—
It felt wrong in my bones.
I am more real than you are.
My breath hitched.
Kael turned slightly toward me. “What is it saying?”
“I don’t know,” I said quickly, but it was a lie forming too fast to feel like mine.
Because I did know.
I just didn’t want to.
---
The figure beside us finally moved.
It raised its hand sharply.
“Containment must be restored,” it said.
Kael immediately shifted his stance. “Containment of what?”
But the figure wasn’t looking at him anymore.
It was looking at me.
At both of us.
And for the first time—
It sounded almost tired.
“Of what was split.”
The ground shook violently.
And then—
The other me laughed.
---
It wasn’t a human sound.
It wasn’t cruel or kind.
It was recognition.
Like something returning home after being locked away too long.
And that sound—
It made my stomach twist.
Kael reacted instantly, stepping forward as the air around him darkened.
“You are not touching her,” he growled.
The other me tilted its head.
“You already failed that,” it said softly.
Kael went still.
I felt it too.
The bond.
It reacted violently at those words—pain lancing through my chest, but not mine alone.
He's too.
I felt it.
Somehow.
And that realisation made everything worse.
---
The figure suddenly stepped between us and the fracture in the ground.
Too late.
The c***k widened again.
Something beneath it pushed upward harder.
The other me’s smile faded.
And for the first time—
It looked… focused.
“Return is incomplete,” it said.
My heart slammed.
“What return?” I demanded.
But no one answered me.
Because the cavern answered instead.
A pulse of light erupted from the depths.
And a name formed inside my mind without permission.
Not spoken.
Not learned.
Remembered.
---
Elara.
Not me.
Not it.
Both.
I staggered back.
“No…” I whispered.
Kael grabbed my shoulders. “Elara, focus on me!”
But I couldn’t.
Because the bond wasn’t between him and me anymore.
It was splitting.
Splitting like something that had never been whole.
---
The other me took another step forward.
And suddenly—
I felt it.
Everything felt.
Not thoughts.
Not emotions.
Something deeper.
Older.
A memory that didn’t belong to me but still hurt as it did.
Chains.
Light burning through skin.
A voice screaming my name—
Not in fear.
In betrayal.
---
I gasped.
Kael noticed immediately. “What is happening to you?”
“I don’t know!” I choked.
But the figure spoke again.
“This is what was sealed.”
Kael turned sharply. “Explain.”
The figure hesitated.
That alone was terrifying.
Then—
“You were never meant to exist as one.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Crushing.
---
The ground beneath us exploded upward again.
Kael pulled me back just in time, but the impact separated us slightly.
A mistake.
A fatal one.
Because the other me moved instantly.
Fast.
Impossible.
It crossed the distance between us in a blink.
And stopped directly in front of me.
Kael roared behind us.
But I couldn’t move.
Couldn’t breathe.
Because I was staring at myself.
And it was staring back like I was the illusion.
---
“You were the restraint,” it whispered inside my mind.
My throat went dry.
“What… are you?”
Its smile returned.
Wider this time.
Not friendly.
Not cruel.
Certain.
“I am what you buried.”
My chest tightened painfully.
The bond flared again.
But this time—
It didn’t feel like Kael.
It felt like something else trying to latch onto me from both sides.
Pulling.
Splitting.
Unmaking.
---
Kael slammed into the space between us.
His wolf surged forward halfway, eyes glowing gold as he forced separation.
“Step away from her,” he snarled.
The other me looked at him for the first time.
Really looked.
And something shifted in its expression.
Recognition.
Not of him.
Of the bond.
“You’re interfering,” it said calmly.
Kael didn’t hesitate.
“I said step away.”
A pause.
Then—
“No.”
And the ground answered that refusal.
Violently.
---
The cavern shattered further.
Roots exploded upward like spears.
The Veilwood above cracked open wider, pouring silver light into the darkness below.
And something far deeper stirred beneath it all.
Something that made even the other me look upward.
For the first time—
Uneasy.
---
“What is that?” I whispered.
The figure finally spoke again.
And this time—
Its voice carried weight.
Fear.
“The original lock is breaking.”
My blood ran cold.
Kael turned sharply. “There is more?”
The figure didn’t answer him.
Because it was already too late.
---
The earth beneath us split completely open.
And from the depths—
Something began to rise that wasn’t either of us.
Something vast.
Unfinished.
Wrong.
And when it opened its eyes—
It didn’t look at Kael.
It didn’t look at the figure.
It looked at me.
And it knew me.
Not as Elara.
Not as the other me.
But as something it had been waiting for.
---
The bond inside me screamed.
Not pain.
Not need.
Warning.
---
Kael grabbed my hand instantly.
“Elara—run!”
But I couldn’t move.
Because the thing beneath us spoke.
Not in my mind.
Not in the air.
In reality itself.
And it said only one thing.
---
“Return.”
---
The ground collapsed completely.
And everything went dark.
---
A third entity has awakened beneath the Veilwood—something even older than Elara and her duplicate. And it has only one goal: to reclaim what was split
- Writer
