The clone of Maria charged at him, swinging the sword wildly. From the looks of it, the beast didn’t know how to use a sword at all. Even so, it was hard to keep track of the random movements being thrown his way. He dodged the sharp edge of his sword narrowly three times before finally wrestling the sword out of its hand. However, when he grabbed on to the creature, it seemed to amplify its strength and kick Jacob into the dirty river.

’Damn it. Can I stop being sent into this river today?! It’s starting to piss me off!’

He swam to the surface to see the clone coming down with its sword, aiming to split his skull open. Jacob swam past the blade as it rippled through the water next to him. He managed get back to the shore in time before the creatures next attack could come. It sent a kick hurdling into Jacob’s stomach. The sound echoed into the sky as it collided. Jacob lost the air in his lungs from the kick, but forced himself to his feet, taking another fighting stance.

’I need to attack, but...’

He studied the creatures face. Even with the small flaws, it still looked exactly like Maria. He was finding it extremely difficult to so much as hurt even a copy of her. Suddenly, he had a crazy idea. He sent a punch hard enough into Maria to send her flying backward to give him some space.

"I’m sorry. Please forgive me when this is all over."

He took multiple long strands of grass and wrapped them over his eyes, steadied his breathing, and held out his hands. He could feel his opponent’s presence through his feet and sense its killing intent through the air. The sword flashed toward Jacob’s face another time. However, this time, Jacob caught the blade with his teeth before it could cut his face. The creature struggled to pull the sword back before Jacob completely shattered the blade in his mouth, spitting out the bone fragments.

"Gross."

The creature threw the sword to the side and rushed at Jacob with a barrage of blows. Even being blinded, he could sense where they were going to land perfectly. He dodged every punch and kick sent his way while always sending counter attacks back at his opponent with ease. He could hear the creature squeal with each hit connecting.

Suddenly, it seemed to lose its balance as Jacob rained more and more relentless punches on its torso. The beast was getting completely overwhelmed. Jacob could feel its blood seeping on to his hands as more punches rained down. He heard a small voice come from its mouth, right before he sent a final blow to finish it off.

"I love you, Jacob."

Jacob stopped right before the punch landed. The creature took advantage of this small opportunity and bit Jacob’s nose clean off before spitting it out beside itself. Jacob screamed and reeled back from the pain. Blood gushed down the front of his face, over his mouth. His breathing was completely out of control and panic started setting in. The beast threw multiple kicks into Jacob’s legs and torso, causing him to fall to the ground. It jumped on top of him and screamed an inhuman sound.

"YOU AREN’T REAL!"

Jacob pointed his fingers and plunged them into the eye of mimic. It plunged deep into its skull before Jacob pulled it back out. The beast rolled over in pain, continuing to howl. Jacob jumped on top of it and beat down on its mouth relentlessly. He broke its jaw completely open, allowing the blood from his missing nose to drip into its throat, causing it to slowly choke to death. As it choked, Jacob wrapped his large hands around its throat and squeezed with all his might. A small crack sounded from the force.

Jacob felt its body go limp in his hands, but he wanted to make sure it was gone for good. He continued squeezing until its neck popped into a bloody pulp. When everything went silent, Jacob turned away from his kill before taking off his blindfold, refusing to look at what he did to the creature. He started heavily panting while staring at his bloodied hands. He simply wiped everything on his shirt and studied his surroundings.

As he did, the world around him seemed to ripple and shape itself back into a similar reality. He was back in the same spot he was, only the body of the creature he fought was gone. No one else was around him except for their wooden packs. He was still alone with a missing nose, blood pouring down his face. He looked around on the ground before he finally found it hiding in some tall grass. He studied his nose carefully in his hands.

’Am I still in an illusion? What the hell happened? Where is everyone?’

Suddenly, Maria seemed to appear out of thin air and hit the ground in front of him. Jacob studied her carefully from behind, unaware if it was the real Maria or not. However, something weird seemed to be happening to her. He could hear her voice clearly.

"I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Jacob."

’What the hell? Why is she saying sorry to me? Did she have to face a clone of me as well? Why?’

Maria started crying and sobbing to herself on the ground. Her wails echoed in the distance of the marsh. The grass around her seemed to sadden in response to her powerful emotions. Jacob approached her from behind cautiously with his hand out.

"Maria? Is it really you?"

Maria stopped crying and flipped around, looking at Jacob in horror. Her face was completely swollen, she had a black eye, and more tears seems to be filling her green eyes.

"Please. I can’t do it again. Just kill me."

Maria bowed her head, put her face to the ground, and continued to sob. Jacob’s heart ached seeing the love of his life so hurt. He slowly walked over to her and gently put a hand on her back.

"It’s okay. It’s really me. I don’t know what happened, but I’m here now."

Jacob looked at his missing nose in his hand. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"I guess I really do look like a monster right now. Sorry about my appearance."

Maria finally sat up and tackled Jacob to the ground in a tight embrace. She continued crying into his shoulder as Jacob held on to her. She tried talking through her sorrow.

"I thought you... I thought I had to-"

"It’s okay. I had to do something similar."

Jacob tightened his grip on her and put his hand on the back of her head to comfort her. Both of them had managed to survive a grueling mental trial.