Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah’s mind spun at a mile a minute. He locked eyes with the other version of him. It was like looking into a three dimensional mirror. Every single thing about him was the same – except he didn’t have the grimoire or gourd.

For several seconds, nobody said a word. They just stared at each other. Scenarios flashed through Noah’s mind as he desperately tried to figure out what was going on. The memory of a single paper flickered through his mind and, all of a sudden, everything clicked into place.

Skinwalker. That’s what happened to my body that went missing a few weeks back. I was right.

“What in the hells?” Todd asked, looking from Noah to the fake standing beside him. “What’s going on?”

“Professor?” Isabel asked, pulling her sword from her chest. “I’d like to know the same question.”

Neither Noah nor his copy responded. They were locked in a standoff, each watching the other with trepidation, waiting to see what they would do. For some reason, the copy of Noah looked just as surprised and nervous as he felt.

If I tell them this is a Skinwalker, then I have to explain how it got my body. That means my secret is completely out. I can’t let that happen.

A thought struck Noah. It was so absurd that he nearly burst into laughter on the spot, but the situation was too serious for him to let his guard down. Todd was right next to the Skinwalker, and Noah wasn’t certain how fast it was.

Noah cleared his throat and smiled. “Ah! That’s a little embarrassing.”

Everyone stared at him.

“What are you talking about?” Isabel asked, her voice edged with fear.

“This is actually a special project I’ve been working on,” Noah said through a forced smile. “I’ve got a somewhat unique combination of Runes, see. Didn’t you wonder why I was so confident leaving Todd on his own?”

God, I really, really hope that Skinwalkers are intelligent.

He strode toward the Skinwalker confidently, keeping his eyes locked with it, an unspoken warning emanating from him. Noah drew up alongside his clone and threw his arm around its shoulder.

“This is my clone.”

Todd and Isabel stared at them. A slow, uncomfortable grin passed over the Skinwalker’s face and it gave them a thumbs up.

“Oops! I didn’t want to tell you and spoil things,” not-Noah said. “I was going to run off before the other me got back so you wouldn’t suspect anything. My bad.”

“You can’t be serious,” Isabel said. Her sword lowered slightly. “You cloned yourself? Is that even possible?”

“That is so cool,” Todd said, his eyes wide in admiration. “Can you show me how to do that?”

“I’m afraid not,” Noah replied, not letting his vice grip on the Skinwalker lessen. If it made even the slightest aggressive move, he’d rip its body to shreds with his Vibration Rune. Even if it killed him, the secret would be ruined at that point anyway.

“So which one is the real you?” Isabel asked.

“Me,” Noah and not-Noah replied at the exact same time.

Noah’s grip on the Skinwalker tightened and he let a little magic seep out of his fingers.

“My clone has a poor sense of humor. It’s me.”

“It’s him,” the Skinwalker said.

“That’s… terrifying.” Isabel sheathed her sword and shook her head in disbelief. “You’re actually insane. Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

“I figured it’s easier to avoid questions. Not the most above ground move by me, so I’m sorry about that,” Noah said. “It’s not something I’d like to advertise.”

“I’ll keep my lips sealed shut,” Todd promised.

“As will I,” Isabel added a moment later. “I can’t believe you managed to make a clone as a mere Rank 1, though. It doesn’t make sense at all.”

“Well, not everything in life is logical. It normally falls to us to figure out why illogical things are the way they are, but I’d prefer if you left this particular one alone,” Noah said. “I really should have been more careful and made sure my clone didn’t get caught. I’ll have to have a conversation with it.”

“All fine with me. Fake-you was a great help with training,” Todd said with a grin. “Granted, he kind of just stood around, but that’s most of what you’ve been doing lately anyway. It’s very reassuring.”

“I’m glad to hear,” Noah said dryly. “There’s only a little while until we get pulled back to Arbitage. Isabel, can you stick with Todd for a moment and fill him in on what we saw a few minutes ago? I’m going to speak with my clone and get it started in finding out what that was.”

Isabel nodded and turned to Todd as he gave her a confused glance. She started to describe the dead Chucker, but Noah didn’t wait to hear all of it. He pulled the Skinwalker away from his students and into the forest a short distance away.

“What the hell are you doing with my body?” Noah hissed. “And don’t even think about trying to kill me and passing yourself off as the real me. I’d imagine you’ve figured out by now that death is nothing more than a mild inconvenience for me.”

“This is impossible,” the Skinwalker wheezed. “How can you exist? I have your body!”

“One of them.” Noah summoned a spike of Ash.

“Wait! If you kill me, then your students will wonder what happened,” the Skinwalker said desperately.

Noah’s eyes narrowed. “I could make something up.”

“Nothing that they wouldn’t eventually become suspicious of. You’re clearly trying to hide your ability to form new bodies. They’d eventually figure out I wasn't a clone and thereby realize that this was actually one of your bodies.”

The magic sputtered at Noah’s fingertips. He let his hand lower slightly. “That is still preferrable to letting a monster walk around in my skin and murder people. How long do you think it would be before someone noticed that there were two of me, and one of them had a taste for human flesh? Same result in the end. Better to bury you here and deal with the problem before it can start. My students would believe that I just sent you off on a mission somewhere.”

“I’ll scream. You can’t kill me before I scream. Then they’ll know.”

Noah stared at the Skinwalker. “Somehow, this entire situation feels very backwards.”

“Tell me about it. You shouldn’t be alive. I recognized your students from one of your earlier trips, but I’d assumed they’d come here to train on their own after you got yourself killed. How unlucky could I possibly get to find the one person that comes back to life after they die? I won’t go down without a fight. Even if you kill me, you might die too. That’ll give your secret away.”

Noah lowered his hand and crossed his arms. This was one headache he’d never considered having to deal with. Killing the Skinwalker was tempting, but it did have a point. Isabel and Todd weren’t stupid.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, but he didn’t want anyone to know about his ability. If people figured out he revived at the gourd, every advantage it gave him would be gone. Someone could attempt to damage or trap him, and then it was game over.

On the other hand, leaving the Skinwalker alive to roam around in his body was almost certainly a worse decision. It would kill someone and get him implicated for the murder or worse.

“We don’t need to eat humans!” the Skinwalker said hurriedly as Noah started to gather magic once more.

Noah tilted his head to the side. “What?”

“We can survive on other things. What if we worked together?” the Skinwalker offered with a weak smile. “I can just eat normal meat.”

“If you don’t need to eat humans, why the hell do you hunt them? Wouldn’t it be easier to go after pigs or something?”

“They taste better.”

Noah gave his own corpse a flat stare. “That’s it?”

“A lot better. You wouldn’t know unless you tried it.”

“Don’t even start. I will kill you.”

A wave of anger passed across the Skinwalker’s features, but it smothered them. “I don’t want to die. If giving up human flesh is what it takes, then I’ll do it.”

“And what’s to stop you from just waltzing off with my body the moment I turn around?” Noah asked, raising an eyebrow. “That puts me right back into the fire – and to be honest, I’ve got so many enemies that you’ll probably end up getting assassinated by someone before you even manage to do something bad. That could be pretty funny, actually.”

“What?” The Skinwalker blinked, then shook its head in a remarkably human motion. “I – ah, I can change my form. The body is just a way to hunt since it’s easier to get closer to people when they think they know you. I can change my appearance to something else.”

“…and then run off and kill a bunch of people? Not associated with me anymore, sure, but that still results in the death of innocents. You aren’t making much of a case for yourself.”

The Skinwalker wrung its hands together. It glanced in either direction, as if contemplating running, but just let out a sigh.

“Damn my luck. First I get stuck in a burnt up forest with nothing but a bunch of monkeys for ten years. A bunch of delicious humans parade right past me every year, but I can’t go for any of them because they’re swarmed with professors. Then, when I get the perfect body to finally start gathering some Runes and getting stronger, it turns out to be someone with the ability to come back from the dead. I could rip your throat out so easily right now, but it just ends –”

“With you dead,” Noah finished. “Bummer.”

“Tell me about it,” the Skinwalker complained. “If you were a powerful mage, it would be one thing. But this just isn’t fair. It doesn’t even matter if I manage to kill you.”

“Life isn’t fair. And I’m afraid I’m only licensed to teach, not to provide therapy.”

“I won’t go down without a fight,” the Skinwalker warned, flexing its fingers.

“It won’t matter,” Noah replied dispassionately. “And if you kill me, I come back and kill you. Death is a currency, and you won’t cost much.”

“Can’t you be a little amiable?” the Skinwalker demanded. “You literally can’t die! Take a risk. The rest of us don’t get that many chances. I don’t want to go into the great beyond.”

“It’s not that bad,” Noah replied instinctively. “Lots of waiting, mostly.”

“What?”

“Never mind.” Noah shook his head. “You haven’t given me anything else to work with. I don’t mind gambling my own life, but not anyone else’s. It won’t be long until I’m pulled back to Arbitage. If you can think of any way to convince me, do it quickly. Otherwise, I won’t be leaving while you still have my body.”