The majority of scholars agree that the System took action to prevent the atomic weapons from unleashing the full scale of destruction for which they were designed. The results of this action are believed to have reshaped Earth in ways just as thorough, if less inimical to life, as if the weapons’ devastation had been unchecked.

  The very scale of the world we live in today is vastly different than pre-System Earth. Though many of the originals have been lost, scholars throughout the years have consistently found that the relationship between pre-System maps and the Lost Angels area we now live in is distorted at best. Distances between landmarks have significantly increased in most cases, yet not consistently by the same amount.

  Did the entire world expand, or were there localized disruptions where space was warped differently? As best as we can determine, the answer is yes on both counts.

  - Rufus Veres, Level 37 Verbose Historian, A Brief History of the System

  The room I found myself in was similar to the last in shape, and even had the same grass. What was different was the large boulders strewn about, some about waist high and others taller than I was. And it was even bigger than the last room. I was moving towards the nearest rock, gun at the ready, when I heard a buzzing sound coming from ahead.

  Two flying monsters whirred up from behind one of the farthest rocks. They looked like enormous insects, with translucent wings moving so fast they blurred, and bright green and black carapaces. They darted towards me as I snapped off my first shot towards the one on my right. At least some of my pellets caught it and it was smashed back, tumbling out of the air.

  Thank the Angels they don’t have barriers!

  I shifted my gun towards the second, trying to aim ahead of it, but before I could pull the trigger it suddenly flared its wings. The monster rose straight up, and then its lower body jerked forward and a black spike flashed out towards me. Caught by surprise, the thing smashed into my gut, bouncing off of my barrier with that strange sense of impact.

  I sprinted towards the cover of the nearest rock, cursing. Shit, I’m supposed to be the one shooting from a safe distance, not the monsters! I ducked behind the rock just in time as another projectile skipped off the top of the boulder. Quickly checking my resources, I saw that the first hit had taken more than a third of my barrier out.

  OK Az, you can do this, there’s only one left now. Just don’t get shot again and you’ll be fine.

  My little pep talk came to a halt as the huge bug came screeching overhead. I clipped it with a shot, taking out one of its wings, and it smashed into the wall, splattering itself on the rock. Before its body even hit the ground, I heard the buzz of more wings approaching.

  Oh Wastes, this is going to suck!

  I don’t know how much later it was when I dragged my battered body into the next elevator. The battle was a giant blur in my mind. I’d been forced to continually move from rock to rock as the bugs came at me from different directions, their numbers slowly increasing no matter how many I’d shot. I’d thought the end was near, my health slowly whittled down and my mana running low. Even though I’d dodged most of their shots, I’d still gotten tagged more than a few times. My body armor had saved my life at least twice and my helmet had a nice gouge along the top where I’d almost ducked in time.

  Suddenly, all the monsters flew off and PAST ordered me to move on. Now I was in what I desperately hoped was the last elevator, my resources seriously depleted.

  I had just two shells left in my gun and none in my bandolier. I manifested one more and loaded it, but didn’t want to burn all of my mana since that could result in me passing out.

  As my elevator slowed down, I looked out of the opening and saw another large chamber. This one had a lower ceiling and a few of the waist-high boulders, but none of the really big ones. I stepped out before the ceiling of the elevator could crush me, and saw across the far side of the room a slender figure casually holding an intimidating black gun.

  “You look like shit!” A familiar voice rang out from her. My voice. My body. My shotgun. My favorite mocking grin on her – my – face.

  This is not good! Not good at all.

  “The fuck?!” was my brilliant reply.

  Please please tell me something useful, I begged mentally as I spent two of my precious remaining mana on Identify. Or at least, I tried to. Nothing happened. I’ve never heard of that… it should do something! I should get some kind of info about it! Identify is for monsters and items, Inspect is for… me. Oh shit! Inspect.

  Name: Ashley Zimmerman’s Mirror of PrideStolen from RoyalRoad. Support AzureInk by reading the original.

  Level: 2

  “That’s the best you’ve got, darling?” She taunted me, but continued to hold her gun casually at the low ready, not aimed directly at me.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  I have never called anyone over the age of eight darling!

  I squinted at her, taking in the details. Her gun looked identical to my own, but her clothes and armor were different. Instead of my sleek black baselayer, she was wearing what looked like dark jeans and a black shirt. Her helmet and armor were a more standard design and looked like dark metal instead of composite. On her left hip was a large knife or dagger.

  I don’t know if I can take her in a straight fight. I’ve only got three, maybe four shots, and she’s right next to a boulder. She can probably get behind that before I can hit her more than once. That won’t be enough if she’s got the same barrier I do. I thought back to the tunnel full of spiders earlier. Maybe I can blind her with Light. I’m not sure it will work but I can’t think of any other tricks right now.

  I started to imbue Light into my gun, trying not to give her any indication of what I was doing. It is possible to talk while casting, if you’re either really good at casting, or what you’re casting is a dead simple Cantrip like Light.

  “I used up all my good insults on the monsters already, I’ve got nothing left,” I replied to her as I constructed the spellform. I frowned as I felt something strange, like my spellform was being pulled into not just my gun, but towards my mirror’s as well.

  “In that case, let me put you out of our misery!” she laughed, and started to raise her gun.

  “Wait!” I shouted, “I have a better idea!”

  “Oh, what might that be?”

  “I’m down to one shot,” I lied, “and I’m almost out of mana. Sure, you can kill me with that gun, but what does that prove? Hardly a challenge.”

  “I’m listening,” she said, sounding interested for the first time.

  “Let’s both put our guns down and see who can beat the other one to death with her bare hands instead. That is, unless you’re afraid that I’m better than you in a fair fight!”

  She laughed. The worst thing about it was that it sounded genuine.

  “There’s no danger of that, darling. On three then.” She held out her gun and I did the same. We both let our guns slide to the floor.

  I rolled my shoulders and stalked forward. We came together in the center of the room, fists flying. The first flurry of blows was an even exchange. Most of our shots were blocked, but I got her low with a hook and she landed a kick to my thigh. Our barriers flared but held. We broke and circled slowly.

  I led with a jab, feinted with my right and then went low for another hook, trying to hit her below the armor. She anticipated and caught me with a counter left that pounded into my barrier, forcing me back. I stopped her momentum with a thrust kick and started circling the other direction.

  She drove in behind a low kick, which I took painfully on my shin as my barrier broke, and I hammered a straight left-right towards her face that glanced off her raised forearms. I drove a knee towards her gut, making her lower her arms to block it, then grabbed her shoulders, pulling her into a clinch. Just as I had been taught, she fought her arms up and got the inside grip, yanking me into her own rising knee. I grunted as I took the shot to my abs, my armor absorbing part of her blow.

  She immediately went for another knee and this time I was the one who brought my arms down, crossing them and blocking her. Knowing that she had the better position and was fresher, unhurt, she did exactly what I would have and went for a third knee strike, this time off of her front leg, because why quit when you’re ahead?

  My left hand stayed in to block as my right hand flashed out and snatched the knife out of its sheath on her hip. I drove the point down as her leg came up yet again, and our combined momentum buried the knife in her left thigh to the hilt.

  She screamed and headbutted me hard, her hands still around the back of my neck. Our helmets crashed together, and I was dazed momentarily. I managed to drag the blade down, slicing deeper into her thigh, before I lost control of the knife as she staggered back with it still in her leg.

  I gave her my best vicious grin. “Guess we’ll never know about that fair fight!”

  I could see the shock on her face even through the pain. “That’s… my Class Weapon. How did you even?! You Wasted little shit!”

  I laughed. Everyone knew, I knew, that only the owner could use a Class Weapon. She would have assumed I couldn’t even draw it.

  “Inspect me, darling,” I taunted her, emphasizing the first word. Her eyes widened as I continued. “You… me… it's not your Class Weapon, it's ours. And this fight is over!”

  “I’m still standing,” she bit out.

  “Oh, go ahead then! I’m pretty sure I felt it hit bone. Pull it out and you’ll bleed to death chasing me around. Leave it in and it’ll cut you up worse with every step.” I could see she was barely putting any weight on the leg as it was.

  She snarled at me, then straightened, one hand going to the hilt of the knife. “I don’t think so, Az,” she growled, “if I’m going out then I’ll do it my way. And if we meet again, you’d better hope you’ve got a new trick to show me.” She pulled the knife out of her thigh with a grimace, and then looked me straight in the eye as she dragged the razor-sharp blade across her own throat.

  Hot, red blood spilled out and cascaded down her chest as she dropped to her knees, her eyes still deathly focused on mine. With a gurgling sigh, she toppled to the ground and I felt a huge wave of Essence hit me.

  [CONGRATULATIONS, CITIZEN ZIMMERMAN! THERE ARE NO MONSTERS REMAINING!]

  I stumbled over to the nearest rock and sat down on it, staring numbly at my own corpse lying on the ground with its throat cut, covered in blood. As I watched, it shimmered and then faded out of sight, taking the dagger with it. What a Wasted shit-storm of a day…