July 18, 2010

	I closed my eyes and got down on one knee.  I paused.  Then I put my hands together.  Energy began flowing from the trees around me.  I opened my eyes.  Its blue, billowing form was curling in front of me, slowly shaping itself...until finally, I found myself staring at...myself, down on one knee with my- or rather, his- hands together.  I had made a clone.

	I continued this way until two more clones stared back at me.

	Yes, I thought, NOW I'm ready.
	I went back to the building, cloaked in invisibility.  My clones were cloaked too, and we were all approaching a different side of the building- one person for each side.  I stood in front of one of the guards.  Each of my clones did the same.  I counted to three.

	One, two, three.

	At that point we threw off our invisibility and immediately punched out the guard in front of each of us.  All of the other guards quickly turned toward us, yelling and screaming, firing their guns.  The turrets began firing too.  I easily dodged the bullets, and while deftly twisting and jumping to avoid getting hit, I put my hands together.  When I took them apart, a large sword, glowing blue, formed out of them.  I grasped the sword in my right hand and began cutting the guards down (simply incapacitating them still, not killing them), blocking their bullets with the sword.  Before long, I had stopped the last guard in his tracks.

	The bullets from the turrets kept firing.  I focused my energy and spun around, reflecting the bullets back at the turrets until they fired no more.  I looked at the other sides of the building; the clones had done their job and not a single guard was left standing.  I slowly started to walk towards the building entrance.  Too easy, I thought.  The rest would be a cakewalk...

	...Or so I thought.

	Just then, I heard a noise.  A heavy thud.  I felt energy flow back into me as the clones dissolved- that must mean they were defeated, I thought.  I looked to my right just in time to dodge a gigantic sword blow- if I hadn't ducked it would have taken my head clean off.  I looked to my right and there stood a wolf, on two legs, just like me.  His fur was black except for his belly and a white patch over his right eye that almost looked like a lightning bolt.  He held a sword in his right hand, a gigantic, curved sword- it glistened in the sunlight.

	"You," He snarled, "I will not allow you to harm my client!"  With that, he took another swing at my head.

	It seemed that I wasn't the only one who transformed after all.

	Another blow came dangerously close to my body.  His sword was at least the length of his body, and when he wasn't swinging it, he held it in his right hand, over his shoulder.  However, when he swung it, he used both hands to swing.  Each swing felt heavy, and even a little awkward.  His muscles were huge, perfect for wielding such a sword.

	One blow came down.  then another, and another.  I kept dodging, but he was quick enough to keep up.  A horizontal slash came at my stomach- I jumped up...flipped over the blade...and landed on the wolf's head.  He immediately made a grab for me, but I deftly jumped off.

	After handspringing to safety, I wondered what I should do with him.  he was, after all, like me, and yet he was against me...after his sword came within inches of my head, cutting some of my fur off, I decided I was going to take him out after all.

	I dodged again and grabbed him by his arm.  I formed a sword with my energy and attempted to slice through his abdomen, but he, with incredible speed, countered with his humongous sword.  I quickly ran to the other side of him to strike again, but he countered that too.  I was amazed by his incredible strength.

	I kept running around, trying to find an opening, but every time I thought I had him, he kept countering.  Over and over and over again.  The clanging of our swords rang out.  That's when i felt my foot sinking.  I had stepped in mud and I faltered for a second.  I saw the wolf grin.  The sword came crashing down towards my face.

...

	His face suddenly changed.  His sword had stopped inches from my face.  My sword was in his belly.  He staggered for a moment, coughed up some blood, and came crashing down face first into the mud, dead.  I flipped him over to take my sword out- that's when I noticed that the sword was glowing red.  It was usually blue...

	I grabbed my sword and reabsorbed the energy.  Suddenly I felt rage.  Anger.  Hatred.  I began to yell and scream, unable to control it.  Then, five seconds later, it was gone.  I looked back at the wolf's body.  Blood was pouring out of him.  My powers weren't supposed to harm anyone.  What had just happened...?

	That's when I realized that there was still work to be done.  I shook my head, trying to rid myself of what I had just done.  I needed to focus.  I still had a job to do.  I walked toward the building, ready to complete my mission.