Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 52: A Duel for the Light

Taylor was alone on the dream plains.

Because she was in such a blue mood, her imagination conjured a weeping sky above her head. She didn't even bother to imagine a grove of trees for herself to take refuge under; she lay, curled up in a ball, out in the open on the muddy, barren earth.

She was glad that her tears were masked by the rain. Nobody was around, but somehow, she still felt embarrassed by them.

She sniffled and squeezed her eyes closed—forcing painful tears out of the corners of her eyes. I'm alone again.

For a time, she couldn't bring herself to move.

"Well, well. Look who's wallowing." A mocking voice forced its way onto the plains.

Taylor's eyes fluttered open. She was greeted by Eory's white, shoeless feet. Her eyes traveled upward and met her counterpart's with a dark glare. "What are you doing here? How is it that you have learned to intrude upon the plains?"

Eory crossed his arms with a smirk. "You opened your thoughts to me when you first took control of my body; now I know how to enter the dream plains."

Taylor grunted as she weakly forced herself onto her knees. She clasped her hands in her lap—all the while, her dark gaze had not left the man's. "How unfortunate. This used to be the one place where I could be free of your wretched thoughts."

"Maybe you should let me have the body. After all, you're looking like a crumpled-up mess." Eory suggested. "Just go away, Taylor. I was meant to be a man, not a woman."

Taylor jumped to her feet and stomped toward Eory threateningly. Eory took a fearful step back. "You are fit neither to be a man nor a woman. You're not even fit to exist. Where has this overconfidence come from!"

Eory said defiantly, "this overconfidence comes from the fact that I'm only dealing with you, and that you are merely me. I have no trouble hurting myself—I've done it plenty of times before."

Eory's face became hard and cold. "You have no one left, Taylor. Your one friend just abandoned you. You have no reason to exist anymore."

Taylor breathed raggedly until her breaths overwhelmed her; they were the only thing she could hear. Her head spun.

You have no reason to exist anymore.

Taylor yelled and tackled the man to the ground. She enclosed her hands around his neck and pressed her thumbs into it as forcefully as she could muster.

Eory choked and sputtered. Weakly, he clawed at her hands.

"Do you think I need friends to get by! I have clung to life for eighteen years and I have never disappeared! I will certainly not disappear because a man I care little about has left!" Taylor growled.

Eory's eyes rolled into the back of his head. He was light-headed and could barely think.

He remembered that the plains he and Taylor were standing on were not real—he remembered that he could control them like Taylor could.

Just as Eory thought he was breathing his last breath, the earth groaned beneath them and began twisting slowly and rigidly toward the sky.

Taylor looked up in surprise and released the pressure on Eory's neck. Her hands went lax.

As the landmass they were standing on began shifting diagonally, Eory and Taylor lost their footing and tumbled down the newly made sharp incline.

The two grabbed onto patches of wet grass to stop themselves from tumbling further as the earth continued turning. The patches of grass were coming loose in Eory's fingers; he had to think of something quick.