Rallika has once again wandered into the swamp of shadows. This time however he is drawn to it. Something wrong is happening to him. Voices were jeering him constantly"Failure" "No!" "Deceit" "Stop it!" He began to stumble "Murderer" "I would never murder!" "Oh but you have, you just don't know it." "Shut up, shut up!" The sky looked like it was bleeding black blood. "Traitor" "I've been honest to every commitment I've been in! Ask anyone!" "You turned on your own kind, your own brother!" "I have no family!" "You brought it upon yourself. You turned traitor, you murdered your family, you lied about everything about you, just to escape the truth." "What is the truth?" A black hooded being appeared before him and lowered his hood. He looked just like Rallika, except his white hair and blood red eyes. "You! You've made my life a living hell! You're the one their after, not me! Now it's time to settle the score once and for all! I am no murderer but you will die by my hand!" The other being merely smirked and began to laugh. It rang through Rallika's ears and head. "Do you honestly believe that you can destroy your Dark Side? Ha! No one has, and no one will. Such is life, get used to it. And you will get used to it, once I am in control." "What are you talking about?" "We are one and the same. We cannot exist without each other. If you kill me, you will die also. However I have a plan and you wil not get in the way of it!" Dark Side rose his hands and black bolts of energy shot forward toward Rallika. Before he could move he was struck at the forehead and chest. "Now I will be whole! All will bow down to me! And there is nothing anyone can do to stop me!"

Shadow found himself pushing his way through the Misty Forest swamp yet again. "Of all the god forsaken places, this is one of the worst." Shadow continued to push himslef through the swamp and mud. He had been treveling for almost a few hours and was getting tired from the difficulty of pushing through the mud. "Alright time to make it a bit easier." Shadow pulled out a frost arrow and jabbed it into the mud and water, watching as it began to freeze. "That is much easier." Shadow stepped up onto the ice and began to walk further in the swamp. Fifteen minutes went by and he heard some talking. Shadow changed direction and went to the source of the noise. When he arrived he saw Ralika getting upset and then saw that a dark figure appeared. "Hmmm I wonder who he is." saying quietly. Shadow continued to watch until he saw that the dark figure knocked Raliak unconsious and said "Now I will be whole! All will bow down to me! And there is nothing anyone can do to stop me!" Shadow got upset and went in. He saw that the figure was beggining to reach for Ralika. In a matter of a second Shadow rushed up very quickly behind the figure and sent it flying into a tree by giving it a powerful kick to the back. "You know you should be aware of your surroundings. You never know what might just pop out at any given moment and attack you." Shadow smiled and pulled out his sword. He then kneeled down by Ralika and began to tap the side of his face. "Ralika wake up. Come on Ralika, now is not the time to be sleeping." Shadow didn't get a response from him so Shadow formed a little fireball and tossed it down his shirt. "Wake up you lazy bum!"

"What are you, an idiot? He will not wake unless I will it, and I will not. Since you had to interfere you shall die." A red beam lit and stopped at Rallika's neck "I'm feeling generous. Leave now and your life will be spared. Not like you can kill me anyway." Rallka's neck singed "Unless you want the life of Arda's only hope to die, and you. The choice is yours." He waited for Shadow's response.

Shadow grunted at the dark figure. "I will not leave. Ralika is my friend, I will not leave him to be absorbed by you. Your just a copy of the original, copies are not as strong as the original, they can only have the same speed and strength. As to the original he can grow in strength and you can't. The only way you can grow more powerful by yourself is to sever the bond that links you two together, and you know what I know an incantation to break the bond." Shadow was ready to fight the copy and stood waiting for a response.

"Hahahaha! I am not a mere copy. Rallika and I are one and the same. Besides, Shadow you do not know my name. To avoid certain confusions call me DarkSide." He looked at Rallika's unconscious body. "As long as I am alive his mind wil have half locked away. Until either of us die in mortal combat, his body is for the taking. Now my idiotic friend, die!" A black Shadow Dragon appeared in black mist. DarkSide pointed at Shadow "Attack!" The dragon roared and swiped at Shadow.

Shadow was getting irritated by this guy. He watched as Darkside cast a spell that brought fortha shadow dragon. Shadow was ready to fight now, and before the dragon could attack him Shadow teleported out of the way and behind it. Shadow then pulled out his fist of mazzer and smacked the dragon with it. Surely enough it was solid and considering the fact that it was a evil aligned dragon the fist of mazzer caused massive damage. "Ok Darkside, give up now or suffer the consequences." Shadow turned to him holding the fist of mazzer.

At the sight of his dragon's head cut off made him laugh. Instantly 3 dragon heads sprouted from the neck and all three heads breathed dark flames at Shadow. DarkSide readied his two beam swords and charged, letting off a flurry of attack, teleport, attack, teleport. "You have forced my hand. You have only brought this upon yourself."

Shadow dived out of the way of the dragons attack but wsa hit by Darkside's attacks. As Darkside attacked Shadow, Shadow made it look like he was getting injured. Everytime he was hit he jerked his body and then when he was hit again he didn't move. Shadow just stood there taking the attacks like they were nothing. "Come one can't you do any better than that. I mean I have fought women stronger than you." From Shadow's point he was hoping that he never saw that Shadow had bracers on, but then Shadow revealed them to him. "Hey Darkside hate to burst your bubble, but everything you are doing to me is being dealt right back to you, Courtesy of my Balance Bracers."

"What?" As soon as DarkSide said that he took all the hits he made on Shadow. He merely shook it off "I can read your mind and body. I can tell you're getting tired and soon you'll slip. Perhaps it's time to get serious." The dragon's heads surrounded Shadow, forming a dome, giving him only a small spot to see. The heads turned to Shadow. DarkSide put his finger across his neck and slid it across. "It is th end for you" Rallika's eyes opened and he got up. "I don't think so." He attacked DarkSide and the dragons immediately advanced on Rallika "I don't understand, why are you awake?" "Because I am of light!" Rallika drew his longsword and blood sword "Man I really need to replace my blood sword" DarkSide cast a barrier around Shadow "This is betwen us, stay out of this!" "Hey, you lay off him!" Rallika threw his longsword at the barrier and shattered it.

Shadow just stood there. "Darkside you got it all wrong. I am just getting warmed up, and another thing I am damn near unstoppable. You see I have this unique feature to my life. I have a strong soul now wich make me damn near unbeatable." Shadow watched as Ralika got up and threw his sword and shattered the barrier. "Thanks Ralika." Shadow went straight for the dragon as soon as he was free. Shadow got in front of it and and bashed the dragon in the chest with the fist of mazzer. The dragon cried out and stood up on it's hind legs. That gave Sahdow the perfect oppurtunity to strike the dragons heart, and Shadow did just that. "Sorry dragon but you are a nusince in this fight, now you have to die." Sahdow removed his fist of mazzer from the dragon and turned to face Darkside. "Darkside now you have to face us both." Shadow headed torwards Darkside's back.

"I don't care I warned you Shadow now both of you will die!" Rallika charged and stabbed at DarkSide. He missed but blocked 3 vertical slashes and countered, knocking DarkSide back. Rallika followed and slashed. He landed and vertically slashed, then thrusted forward. DarkSide spun with blades out, hitting Rallika several times, knocking him backward.

Shadow rushed in and attacked Darkside after he stopped attacking Ralika. Once Darkside was finished Shadow appeared right in front of him. "My turn." Shadow took hold of Darkside and began to fly into the air. Shadow's pupils in his eyes got really small and looked like a little slice in his eye which gave him a crazy look. "You know Darkside. I am willing to hurt myself just as long as I can help get rid of you." Shadow had a hold of Darkside and they were about 300 feet in the air. "Are you ready for the ride of your life." Shadow turned upside down and began to dive torwards the ground with Darkside in his arms.

Rallika looked up and yelled "That's great! Get ready, this fight is gonna end with a snap if you know what I mean!" Rallika raised his sword high into the air when Shadow and DarkSide were coming down. Rallika smiled when DarkSide's back connected with Rallika's longsword and his spine snapped. He stopped moving and a ball of lightning appeared on DarkSide's chest. Everything went blurry and then everything disappeared. Rallika felt himself fall and all he saw was white.

Rallika opened his eyes and Shadow was next to him. Everywhere there was nothing but black except for the platform they were standing on, which was a blue hue. A demon steped forward, cladded in silver armour with spikes all over. The demon pulled out a huge sword and charged.

Shadow brought down Darkside on Ralika's sword and flew away in time so thta he wasn't impaled on it as well. Once Sahdow had landed he walked over to Ralika and saw that Darkside had a ball of lighting form at his chest. Shadow was baout to tell Ralika to move away but it was too late to do anything. Shadow stood there and watched as Darkside was no longer moving and watched as Ralika began to go out cold. "Rali..." Shadow began to yel to him but he was out cold on the ground yet again.

(I didn't go out cold, the whole place just disappeared and we were transported somewhere unknown) Rallika blocked the attack and pushed the demon back. "Who are you?" "I can't believe you're that dense." "What? You're still alive? That isn't possible!" "For mortals like yourself but I am different. No mere injury can kill me. You'll just have to find my weakness and exploit it. Until then, you two will be trapped in this Shadow Realm forever! Oh and I forgot to mention, only dark powers and magic work here so those Balance Bracers of yours are useless Shadow." Rallika became enraged and charged at DarkSide.

Shadow looked around. "You know what, I don't care. You are annoying Ralika and me." Shadow pulled out his fantasy sword. "Time to get down to buisness." Shadow ran at Darkside as well as Ralika. "Ralika what do ya say to a double whammy?" saying to Ralika while running at Darkside. Shadow wasn't sure what Darkside was going to do but just in case he was going to jump or dodge some way Shadow was ready to go straight after him.

"Alright! Wait what's a double whammy?" DarkSide dodged Shadow and came for Rallika. Rallika parried and thrusted at DarkSide's face. It missed but Rallika followed up with a slash, which connected. DarkSide began to glow and rise into the air. Rallika threw his longsword at DarkSide but it merely bounced off. "He can't be hit like that, get out of the way!" DarkSide shot wave after wave of dark lightning.

Shadow had the feeling that it might have not worked. He saw that Darkside was only intrested in getting Ralika out of the way. Darkside began to fire out dark bolts. To bad for Darkside that Shadow would be able to send them right back to him. Shadow held out his hand "Rechite!" The bolts of energy that were headed torwards Shadow were then redirected back to Darkside. Shadow then followed up with another spell from his arsenal. "Crimson Lightning!" Energy began to pour out of Shadows fingers right behind the bolts of energy that Shadow had sent back to Darkside.

Shadow's spells bounced off DarkSide just before he landed and returned to normal. "Fool, I am invincible in this realm! I think it is time you took a break Shadow!" DarkSide froze Shadow in time. "No!" "It's no use. He cannot hear you. It is just you and me, just as the Demon Lord prophecied." Rallka spat at the ground "Shut up!" Rallika charged and swiped at DarkSide but missed. DarkSide fired at Rallika but the attack was deflected and collided with Shadow, neutralising the time freeze. "There's no way we can fight one-on-one against him all the time! We need to work together!"

Shadow was hit by a time stop spell and stood frozen not able to move or speak. "Oh great, this is not going as well as I had hoped it would." saying to himself. While he was frozen Shadow was hit by an attack which broke the time freeze spell. "There's no way we can fight one-on-one against him all the time! We need to work together!" Shaodw just looked at Ralika. "Ah ya think. I have an idea first." Shadow pulled out his fantasy sword and focused a bit. "Hey Darkside let's see if you can figure out which of us is the real one...Illusion." Shadow cast and illusion from his sword creating multiple illusions of himslef and Ralika, all of them moving the way they did.

"This is what we need! Everyone, attack!" "You may have a trick or two but so do I!" DarkSide disappeared in purple flames "How can you fight what you cannot see?" Soon a Rallika or Shadow clone died from an attack. "Damn!" Another clone died and Rallika was getting desperate. He began charging where a clone died and atacked, only to slash through air. "How can we fight in these conditions? Shadow, got any other tricks up your sleeve? We could really use one!"

Shaodw looked at Ralika. "I have a few yet but I don't know if this one is going to work. You might want to get behind me." Shadow held out his hands. "Seitsou." A sandstorm began to form from no where and hit everything. It also began to cover the ground in sand so where ever Darkfire was they could see his foot prints in the sand. Shadow then turned to Ralika. "Here use this cloak to cover your head while I keep this storm going." Shadow gave Ralika his arcane cloak to cover his head and Shadow used his night cloak of stealth to cover his head. "This storm is going to cause extreme heat which is going to take the moisture out of the air and so forth. He shouldn't be to stay invisible to long without having to show himself. After all he is a reptile kind he needs water to stay alive." Shadow imbedded his sword into the ground and held onto it so that he can keep his balance and see where Darkside might be at.

Rallka caught the cloak and put it on. The sandstorm made him cough and he moved the cloak over his face. Then Rallika saw DarkSide's footprints, but they disappeared quickly. "He's levitating! This sandstorm isn't going to work! Wait a minute! I see him! Cover me!" Rallika ran at where he thought DarkSide was and struck. His hit connected and sent DarkSide reeling. His invisibility spell dissapated and he was left open. "Alright, he's stunned! Stop the sandstorm and let's get this over with!" Rallika charged, not waiting for back up or a response in that matter.

Shadow stopped the sandstorm and took of his cloak. "No Ralika wait, he said that if he dies you die as well. Your souls are linked somehow." Shadow pulled out his weapon and chased after him. "Gotta find the right words to break the link between them, what did the sorcerer say to break the link between me and my clone." saying to himself. "Forget it just have to hold him off until I remember." Shadow got right next to Ralika and then went ahead of him and struck Darkside right in the ribs with his fist of mazzer.

"You're right! We have to stay defensive until you remember that incantation! I was with you at that time, I heard it too. What was it? Gah!" Rallika jumped back to dodge a blow. "Wait, how did he get up so fast? And when did he get up?" He received a blow to the head and lost consciousness.

"Where am I?" "Who are you?" "I should be asking you that, where ever you are!" Everything focused and Rallika saw a strange demon. Normally he would have slayed the thing, this time it was different. Thsi demon looked, and seemed....familiar. "Oh my god, you're me!" "How do you know?" Rallika moved his head to the side "I don't know." A strange force slowly pushed these two together. Rallika tried resisting but the other just went with it. Rallika stopped resisting and they slammed together.

Rallika woke up with his back at the invisible wall with DarkSide standing right in front of him, sword out. "Back off!" Rallika flipped and knocked DarkSide back. Rallika stood up and had his fists instead of his weapons. He yelled and he morphed into demon form. (yes this means I can go demon now) "This can't be happening!" "It can and is!" Rallika drew his sword and charged at DarkSide and attacked. His slashes all connected and sent DarkSide reeling. DarkSide levitated into the air, too high for any jump to reach. Rallika touched his back and noticed he had dragon-like wings. He outstretched them and took flight. "You've attained your true powers! Now the link is severed!" "Perfect" Rallika flipped 360 degrees and charged. "Shadow take my longsword, impale him when he falls!" Rallika tossed his longsword down to Shadow and it landed into the ground, blade first.

Shadow ran over and grabbed the long sword. "This is all over for you Darkside." Shadow put his fist of mazzer away and pulled out his weapon. "I am ready whenever you are Ralika. Send him down so we can end this for good." Shadow stood with one sword pointing up and was ready to impale him again when Darkside landed on the sword. "Darkside you have made your last move it is time for you to die permanently."

"I am ready when you are Rallika. Send him down so we can end this for good." "Excellent news! You hear that, your end is near!" "You wish! If I must fall then you all shall go with me!" DarkSide began to glow a strange shade of grey and the entire area began to shake. Shockwaves formed and blew out on the ground. Where the shockwaves formed black holes existed, leading into an endless abyss. "We must finish this now!" Rallika charged at DarkSide and spin-slashed him, making five hits. Now small explosions were appearing on the invisible walls. Then Rallika hit his mark. He slashed at DarkSide's face but hit his forehead. DarkSide was stunned and Rallika vertically slashed downward, sending DarkSide plummeting. Sensing Shadow's danger Rallika kicked DarkSide in the back, making him fall faster. "Alright Shadow, now!"

As Darkside fell Sahdow jumped up and impaled him with both swords, then castinf flame blad eon each of them to inflict more damage. "This is the end for you!" Shadow swung with all his might and tossed Darkside into one of the blackholes in the ground. Shadow then threw down the swords and they stuck in the ground. Shadow put his hands above his head forming a giant fireball as large as he could get it. "Welcome to oblivion!" Shadow let the fireball go in the hole he threw Darkside in. "Ralika we need to find some cover or find a way out before my fireball explodes in the hole and casues an implosion!

"Rallika we need to find some cover or find a way out before my fireball explodes in the hole and cause an implosion!" Rallika looked around "I don't see cover or a way out!" He got an idea "Shadow, the link between me and DarkSide may be severed, but not gone. If I kill him before the implosion, we'll get out of here like that! I'm positive" Rallika flew down the hole and passed the fireball. He saw DarkSide planning to send the fireball back up. If he did, Rallka and Shadow would not have a chance of escape or survival.

DarkSide began to curse the ball of flames and Rallika charged "Oh no you don't!" Rallika slashed at DarkSide but missed. DarkSide grabbed Rallika by the neck and threw him at the fireball. Rallika barely escaped his fiery death and flew behind DarkSide. He grabbed his arms and charged at the fireball. It was dangerously throbing but Rallika didn't care. He smashed DarkSide into the wall of the fireball. The heat generated at this proximity began to cook their armour but Rallka pushed harder. "You...cannot...kill...me..." "Watch me" DarkSide was pushed into the centre of the fireball and screamed in agony. The fireball imploded and everything disappeared and went black.

Rallka woke up in the swamp and saw his armour didn't even burn. He got up and thought he saw Shadow. Rallika smiled and yelled "Yes!"

After seeing Ralika finish off Darkside everything went black. When Shadow came to he was back in the swamp, but everything was still black. He walked around and couldn't see a a thing in front of. What Shadow didn't know was that he was completely covered in mud. He looked like a earth elemental and a wter elemental mixed to create a mud elemental. "Ralika you still alive?" Shadow called out even though he couldn't see.

Rallika turned around and saw Shadow covered in mud...and heading straight toward a tree. "Shadow I'm right behind you. Here let me help you." Rallika wiped the mud off Shadow's face and playfully punched him. "I'm alright, and so are you as far as I can see. Now get that mud off you, one you're a mess and two you look pretty stupid...you should see it."

"Sorry about that." Shadow unfolded his wings and flinged off the mud. He then flew up into the air and spun in a circle flinging the mud off of his body. "There that is better." Shadow landed back onto the ground. "So what now Ralika. I am guessing we go our seperate ways from here." Shadow walked around and searched for his sword, he found it and them sheathed it back on his hip.

"So what now Rallika? I am guessing we go our separate ways from here." "It looks like it doesn't it? Have you got anything else to do? Now that I feel fulfilled right now I don't really have anything on my agenda." Rallika looked around and noticed a change in the area around them. "By the looks of things, I'd say this area was cursed. The fog is lifted, flowers are actually growing and the trees are getting green leaves." Rallika smiled and noticed woodland creatures scuttling around.