Memoirs of A Second Life

A Desperate Situation

My heart was pounding faster and faster by the second. The fear of being in a cave haunted by spirits of unknown origins was starting to get to me, but I needed to come to Marius' rescue. He still probably had no idea what was happening, and he might think that I was just some sort of voice he was hearing and that the doppelganger in front of him was the real me.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me and found Marius and my doppelganger locked in a melee in a surprisingly lit open area. From what I could see, that Marius was hesitant to attack my doppelganger.

"Your highness, that's not me!" I shouted to him.

The doppelganger glanced at me and used some sort of invisible pressure to pin me to the wall. His reflexes were quicker than mine, so I couldn't react fast enough. But I was able to cast one spell as a counterattack.

"Rajada!" I shouted. The bullets of air traveled towards the doppelganger, causing it to move sideways. Marius was the one who took the brunt of the attack, but he managed to block it with his sword. However, Marius was sent flying backwards by the force of my spell.

The doppelganger grinned, and suddenly, a flash of light appeared. The blinding light forced us to close our eyes for a moment. When I opened my eyes, I saw my doppelganger sitting right beside me, looking very helpless.

Marius was standing not far away, shielding his eyes with his arm. When he came to his senses, he was aghast at what he saw. He saw two of me, looking at each other, and then staring at him at the same time.

"Your highness, you need to kill it!" I shouted. At the same time, the doppelganger said the same thing while pointing at me.

I glanced at Marius and saw the confusion in his eyes. He gripped his sword, slowly inching towards us. "I don't want to do this, Al, so you better figure out a way to tell me which one you are!"

For a second, I saw the doppelganger grin at me, but he quickly hid his smile and said to Marius, "Your highness, look at him! I'm wounded from fighting with monsters with you earlier, and he's barely even hurt. He's the doppelganger!"

Right when he said that, I gathered that words alone wouldn't be enough to end this madness. I had to take the offensive. I grabbed the treasured dagger from my waist, and darted forward while simultaneously swinging my sword and dagger at the doppelganger. But before I could attack him, Marius decisively cut off his head while roaring at the top of his lungs.

I must say, it is quite horrifying to see your own head rolling on the floor, bloody, and aghast.

Gathering my composure, I looked at Marius and asked, "Your highness, how did you know which one was the fake one?"

After catching his breath and recovering from the shock, he said to me, "I always pegged you as a man of action, not words. I may act a little rash at times, but I am still quite astute, you know!"

Even during life-threatening situations, Marius never forgets to brag.

Later on, we went on our way deeper into the cave after taking a short break. I told him that there were unseen threats in this cave, and that he needed to stay as close to me as possible to protect him from those malicious spirits.

I was surprised at how cooperative he was being, but then again, we were inside a cave, literally called the cave of spirits. There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of ghosts, apparitions, and ghouls residing within this place. I wouldn't be surprised if Marius stuck to me like a lost lamb.

Soon, we arrived at a part of the cave where there was a large door made of wood. Marius boldly opened the door, expecting to find the worst. But what we saw was our goal.

Our eyes lit up with excitement, and Marius even crossed his arms proudly and declared, "Ha! I conquered my fears and even found the kampilan myself! Aren't I the best, Al?"

"We can't celebrate yet, your highness! There might be more of them lurking around here."

Seemingly ignoring me, Marius went for the kampilan. It was resting atop a stone slab. Even though it looked old, it seemed well-kept, and there were no indications that it had been weathered by water or air.

Marius brandished it around, mimicking Basilio's movements during my duel with the warrior. It appeared as though he had taken a liking to the weapon. "I hope I get to keep this," he remarked while examining the hilt of the kampilan. "Let's go, Al. Our gabays might be getting annoyed of waiting around by now. I honestly have no idea if they're as patient as horses."

Just as we were about to step out of the room, I heard distant howls and muffled groans from outside. My legs were trembling as fear swept over me. I could swear that I already knew what sort of hellish creatures were behind the door without having seen them.

The pounding and scratching on the door made me even more certain of the monsters that lay behind it. Marius looked over at me and said, "Al, we'll have to break through somehow. You know how to use magic, right? Cover me!"

With that, he ran towards the door, stopping a few meters in front of it. He steeled himself and gathered his courage. Suddenly, I had an idea. If I could use bodily enhancement magic on myself, perhaps I could use it on someone else as well!

I pictured the imagery in my head and thought of how I would transfer my mana to him as some sort of buff. For this spell, I used an element that I am most familiar with. I couldn't use the element of light on Marius. It was much too risky to do it. That was why I chose, wind.

"Caminhante do vento!" I chanted.

The moment I cast the spell, Marius felt lighter on his feet. He glanced back at me in astonishment, but immediately returned his focus to the door. "Let's do this!"

Not a minute later, the doors broke open, and dozens of ghoulish, reanimated corpses, skeletons carrying weapons, and even shadowy creatures appeared in rows. The entire path leading to the exit of the cave was completely blocked out.

As Marius struggled to fight back, I covered his left and right flanks by summoning an earthen wall whenever it was needed. Any monster who almost reached him flew upwards because of the earthen wall that sprung out of the ground.

With every spell I cast, the more I felt exhausted. I could feel the same tiredness I once felt when I first tried to use bodily enhancement magic. I must've overused my mana, for my vision was starting to blur.

To buy us some time, I blocked the exit by putting up an earthen wall to keep us from the monsters' reach. Marius and I sat beside the stone slab where we found the kampilan, breathing raggedly. I knew then and there that this was do or die now.

If I were to lose my concentration for even a second, that wall would come down, and those monsters would come pouring in here like a flood. I looked over at Marius and saw him grabbing the kampilan from the stone slab again.

"If Lapu-lapu wanted us to retrieve this, then this must be some sort of powerful weapon!" he suggested. "Forgive me for what I'm about to say, for it is not princely, and quite uncharacteristic of me, Altair. But f**k it! We can either use whatever we can use and fight our way our of here, or die trying!"

Afterwards, he wielded the kampilan in his right hand, and his personal sword in his left hand. "I've never tried this before, but now is as good a time as any!"

The earthen wall I had conjured up was now beginning to break. The monsters that lay behind it were almost ready to tear it apart, and eat us for lunch next.

I knew that I could no longer cast any powerful spells, for I was at risk of mana depletion. If I were to pass out right now, it would certainly put us both at risk. With every ounce of bravery I could muster, I gripped lionheart, and the treasured dagger at my side. This time, I enchanted my weapon with light magic.

"Ready as I'll ever be, your highness!"

Through a stroke of miracle, we managed to break through the seemingly infinite number of reanimated skeletons and corpses in the exit. It took every bit of strength we had to get out of there, but we were both determined to stay alive. Marius had a lot of things to prove to himself and his father, while I wanted to live my life to the fullest.

This was my second life, and dying young would be a waste to the gift I was given.

The moment we got outside of the cave, the entrance began to collapse from within. The monsters that were chasing us faded into nothingness when they stepped out of the cave. It was as if they could only exist within the confines of the cave.

Marius and I looked at each other with relief on our faces. Never would we have imagined that something that ominous would be lying in wait inside that cave. Our gabays quickly approached us, seemingly understanding that our tasks were done. I was quite amazed by how intelligent these creatures were.

"Are you okay, your highness?"

"I'm never doing something that crazy again," he said to me. "Let's... just go back to Mactan. If I stay here any longer, I'm going to go insane!"

I chuckled at his comment. "You can say that again."