“Why are you sat there crying? Is seeing your brother not a gift?” A very familiar female voice whispers as I lift my head up and look around the empty, dark room.

“Hello?” I ask, wiping my tears away. No one replies, so I decide I might as well answer their question. “I’m crying because I miss him. He shouldn’t have died so young, and especially not because of the decisions I made. I walked straight into the trap that killed him, and I wish I could change it.” I answer honestly. It’s something I never really wanted to admit out loud, but I feel better now I’ve said it.

“I guess we never want that. Yet, do you not think all death is fated? That we are all supposed to die at a certain time and date?” the voice replies to my left, but when I turn my head that way, I see nothing. But then again, it’s so dark, I might not be able to see anyone anyway.

“No, I don’t believe that. We have to have a choice, the ability to affect our own fate, or isn’t it all pointless?” I reply, still searching for the owner of the voice and seeing nothing. This time I stand up, only holding the silver tube and feeling colder than I did before.

“I know that,” the female voice laughs, sounding like she is standing right behind me. I spin around, seeing nothing. My heart races as my adrenaline surges from the feeling of fight or flight rushing over me. It’s not like I really have the ability to fight without my marks, but there’s nowhere to run either.

“Show yourself. No more games,” I demand, and the voice laughs, echoing around the room.

“No games? Then what else shall we do?” she asks, almost innocently. She is still playing games, taunting me. I can hear it in her voice. I hear the slight movements of her feet in the room, but every time I turn, there doesn’t look like there is anyone there. I know this adventure is meant to be a test, so maybe this is just another test. Ry was a test, but I don’t know what for, and I have no idea what this one is about. If it is in fact a test, and not some crazy person who I happen to be in a cave with.

“You could help me leave here?” I suggest. I know she won’t, I can feel it, but it’s worth a shot. The guys have to getting worried about me now and have started to search.

“No one can leave here, not without their marks. You haven’t earned yours yet, Mackenzie Crowe,” she taunts, laughing once more. Why does she sound so familiar to me?

“How do I earn them?” I ask.

“By killing me,” the voice says right in front of me, and then a figure slowly appears from nothing. Long black hair, wide blue eyes, torn clothes, and every feature I see in the mirror every single day. She’s me. A version of me, anyway.

“How is this possible?” My eyes must be bulging as I look at her, at myself. She stands covered in her marks, more than I’ve ever possessed, and that’s just from the glimpses of her skin that I can see. She’s the me I want to be, so how can I kill her?

“There can only be one,” she says, stepping towards me. Her hands are held out, facing down, and I feel the earth shake beneath our feet. I struggle for balance, as she stands there calmly. She stops using her earth mark and laughs. “This won’t even be difficult, you’re powerless,” she comments snidely.

Powerless? I may have no marks, but I refuse to be called powerless by a freaking mirror image of me. A damn copy. A new feeling strikes me, not one of self-pity, or of fear, but determination. I will pass this test, there’s no other option here. I couldn’t save Ryan, but I will save myself, and everyone else that I care about. I won’t lose anyone else, fate be damned if it has a plan for them. The other me smiles, as if she can hear my thoughts.

“I can. It’s so cute you think you can beat me.” She pulls back her dark hair and turns her head, pointing to a small mark just behind and slightly below her ear. It’s one I’ve never seen before. It’s like a basic eye design, but with elaborate curves coming off at the edges. “A mark that allows its possessor to read the thoughts of others,” she says, running her fingers over it. “You could have had them all, but you were too weak. You lost what you had, and now you’re nothing.”

“You’re wrong,” I snap.

“How so? I mean look at you, unmarked, with no way to defend yourself. I could strike you down with a click of my fingers. Unless you give up now, I will become Mackenzie Crowe, and you will become nothing, just a shell that I walk in. I’ll save your family, your men, and your friends for you, because we both know that you can’t. Not without me.”

“Shut up. You don’t know me! You don’t know what I’d do for them!” I shout, my voice echoing from the walls.

“Listen to me. Whatever it is, it wouldn’t be enough, because you are not enough, Mackenzie Crowe.”

“No, you listen to me, you half-assed imitation. I am the only Mackenzie Crowe. I will get my powers back, and I will get us home. And then, I’m going to make him pay for taking Ryan away, and stop him from hurting anyone else ever again!”

“Such confidence, and so unfounded,” she says, and I feel the tube burning hot in my palm. I know it means something, it’s with me for a reason.

Bring your weapon. The voice said bring your weapon, and I brought this. I run my thumb over the edges of it, feeling for a groove, a button, anything, but there’s nothing.

“If you’re so much stronger than me, then why are you asking me to give in? Why not just take my place?” I muse aloud, feeling the answers fall into place as I do. “You can’t, can you?” I ask, narrowing my eyes on other me.

“I can do anything,” she huffs.

“But you can’t. You can’t take me without my consent. You can’t win. You’re not stronger than me at all,” I splutter, alarmed at my own conclusions. She laughs, moving towards me again, and I back away with each step she takes.

“I can’t take you, but I can kill you. You’re powerless to kill me though, aren’t you?” she questions in a smug tone. Gods, I hope I never sound like that.

She jumps forward, and I dart out of the way, hitting and then rolling across the hard floor, holding in a pained groan from the impact. I reach for my powers by instinct, but none will answer me. The tube I cling to gets hotter. Maybe…

I call to the tube how I’d call to my powers, and almost drop it as it extends out into a spear, the pointed end darting out. So much power seems to flow through the metal, and I feel the waves of it roll up through my fingers, and up my arm, until it fills all of me with its energy. I point the spear at her, and she smiles.

“You’re almost ready,” she says with a smile, and I nod. I know I am. I’m not powerless, and I never will be. With or without my marks, I can still fight. I strike her quickly, watching her fade away around the spear in her chest. “Just one more test,” her voice finishes, leaving me alone in the room.