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[Dan]

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...and then it began to rain.

Dan had been trudging on the dirt road, having a good days walk behind him as he headed his way to seek what refuge he could in Umbra. His eyes half shut, his hair dirty and blowing in the wind, and the road's mud was soaked in the bottom of his skirt. "Such is a traitor's end.", he muttered to himself. Inside, he felt empty, as if nothing was really left for him to work towards. He was alone again, he had left yet another order to satisfy his own means. Thinking it selfish of himself, he slowed his pace and eventually halted his progress.

Looking on ahead, through the growing storm's downpour, he could tell that he was close. He could see it ahead, the dim outline of a bridge with structure beyond. They all looked so unwelcoming, so sinister, and yet this was the only place that he could think of to find shelter from the weather. Feeling weak, he clutched his right arm and shut his right eye. The scar was hurting again, pulsing with pain up to his shoulder. It would almost seem as if it were calling its creator during his time of weakness, but he could not let it get the best of him.

Looking to his right palm, he noticed that it began to pulse with a faint red glow. It almost felt as if it were some sort of demonic aura, some sort of unholy power awakening within it...

..."Move forward" was all that Dan could manage to mutter, then moved his right arm over his chest and clutched his left hide to cover the scar. Still hurting, he began to limp over and onto the bridge, seeking the closest bed in sight. Taking what few steps he could, a definite feeling of unease settled in upon him as he had finally set foot into Umbra's borders. Memories began to race past him, like the time when he had been abducted into the Ebon Skull's clutches. Pain was the only word that summarized his feelings of the matter.

An eerie presence slowly crept into his mind then, which made him shutter to his very spine. Looking over his shoulder, Dan could not help but look in horror as three mounted figures stood behind him, having found him without Dan himself not hearing the slightest bit of sound nor sight. Looking down to him, one of dark riders came up to his side and looked down at what would appear to be a shell of a man. He knew who these riders were, and he knew that if he cared for his own being, he could walk away and ignore their glares...

...but then something happened...

...and without even realizing it, he spoke to them and met their gaze. "What is happening?", he thought as his hearing dulled in his senses. Something was controlling him, and he could only watch on in horror, his eyes still intact, as he lost control of his very own body and spoke to the dark riders, the "Ebon Skull". Before he knew it, one of them summoned a portal, and in not even knowing of what was happening, he entered...

(end part 1)

Alter Ego (part 2)