_Chapter Begins_
A pile of mystical crystals glowed with a pale violet light that illuminated the area.
Sitting right beside the glowing pile of gems was a man who really loved the color black.
Dark hair, pitch-black eyes, and a black robe that hung from his shoulders and went all the way down to his ankles.
His already striking appearance was boosted tenfold by the thin purplish light that caressed his pale face and torn-up mantle.
William looked at the pile he had made with an emotionless expression.
His right arm trembled while his left hung lifelessly on the cold and hard ground of the cave.
Even his skin was much paler than it usually was.
"This ability takes a lot out of me..."
His voice was as quiet as a whisper.
William let out a weak sigh as he continued to stare at the illuminated shards.
He slowly raised his left hand and picked up a crystal shard from the pile.
Looking at the shard, his lifeless eyes lit up for a moment.
"Perfect replicas."
His small mood lift was cut short by a certain someone.
Her footsteps weren't even heard as she approached from behind.
Resting her arms on top of William's head, she looked down at the crystal he was holding with a small hint of curiosity in her eyes.
"Testing the limits of your ability, I see."
He continued to stare at the crystal in his hand — a deep frown enveloping his face as his pupils shrunk and his lip quivered.
Just like all the other crystals he had come across, this one had a reflective surface just like the rest.
In that reflection, he could see his tired-looking face, as well as the rough terrain of the cave.
He saw the small water droplets fall from the jagged pieces of rock that hung from the ceiling.
And that... that was all he could see.
There was nothing else.
In this reflection, he did not see any other person other than himself.
There was no metaphor to his words — he simply meant what he said.
William glanced up as a tremble ran through his spine.
He could see her... he could clearly see Elsa.
Her long golden hair, her magical blue eyes, and her white suit that clung tight to her body.
After getting a good look at her, William glanced back down at the reflective surface of the glass shard.
And there was... nothing there.
There was no reflection of Elsa resting her arms on his head — he was simply sitting alone in a cave with no one near him.
His frown almost turned to a grimace, but he managed to hold it off.
"Well, that makes it three now."
Three unexplainable occurrences that were tied to Elsa.
The first one he had noticed was the fact that Elsa didn't have a shadow.
The next one he found was the creepy "no sound" footsteps that she took.
And her not having a reflection was the third occurrence he had found — and it was also the most dooming of all.
Just what kind of ancient horror was hiding behind those blue eyes?
He trembled as his imagination ran wild with no leash in place.
"William, you there?"
Her voice sent a cold shiver through William that instantly made his thoughts and imagination come to a halt.
"Yes, I'm here. What do you want?"
He tried his best to make his voice sound stoic and uncaring.
And surprisingly enough, he did a pretty good job.
"So, did you find the limits of your ability... what was its name again?"
William let out a short sigh and let the crystal shard he was holding slip from his hand and fall back down to the pile.
"Copy. The name is Copy."
He lingered for a moment before adding:
"Yeah, I did find the limit — and it's a little disappointing."
Studying the crystals for a moment, William raised his hand and pointed at the pile.
"There are twenty crystals here, which means that excluding the original, I managed to use my ability nineteen times before soul exhaustion kicked in."
Retracting his finger, he took a deep breath before continuing.
"Nineteen is my current limit, which isn't great. But at least my ability makes perfect replicas, which is an important detail."
After he was finished talking, there was a long stretch of silence.
And then, without a single drop of emotion in her voice, Elsa simply said:
"You are wrong."
He lingered for a moment, not understanding her simple statement.
William looked up with his eyebrow raised.
"How am I wrong? I tested my ability, and I'm sure that my limit is nineteen."
She shook her head and pointed at the crystal that William had held in his hand.
"I didn't say that you were wrong about the number of crystals you could copy."
He followed her finger and looked at the crystal on the ground with a confused expression.
Scratching his chin, he simply asked:
"Then what am I wrong about?"
There was a long pause.
A small smile formed on Elsa's crimson lips.
With an indifferent tone that completely opposed her confident smile, she simply said:
"The replicas... they aren't perfect."
The words hung in the air for an uncomfortable amount of time.
In that stretch of silence, William's eyes narrowed on a specific glowing gem that stood out among the rest of the pile.
His pupils shrank as he studied that particular shard with intense focus.
Elsa simply opted to observe him, an amused smile on her face.
After remaining as still as a statue for some time, he finally decided to move.
Stretching both of his arms out, he picked up two crystal shards from the pile.
At first glance, the two gems looked exactly the same—same size, same curves, even the same glow.
And at a second, third, fourth, and fifth look, nothing changed.
To a mundane human, the two glowing pieces of glass would always appear identical, no matter how hard they searched for a difference.
Looking between the two fragments, his expression remained unmoving...
Until it didn't.
"...Wait a second."
The focus in his eyes finally broke as something caught his attention.
At his sudden reaction, Elsa's smile widened a little.
"Seems that you found it."
Her voice carried a trace of amusement and joy.
At her words, William threw the two shards back into the pile with a little too much force.
A small tremor ran through the cave as the crystals struck the ground.
Putting a hand over his forehead, a groan escaped his mouth.
"It was so goddamn obvious... how did I not see it immediately?!"
Looking back at the shards he had just thrown, a scowl had long formed on his face.
"The replicas don't have the tiny carvings of that unknown language."
Clapping her hands together, Elsa let out a soft chuckle.
"You are absolutely correct!"
Moving away from his back, she made her way to William's side and knelt beside him.
"That unknown language you speak of is what mundane humans would refer to as... sorcery."
Rising to her feet, she walked to where William had thrown the two glass pieces.
She bent down and picked both shards up—one in her left hand, the other in her right.
William simply observed what she was doing without asking questions.
"As you noticed, the original crystal you first copied has a myriad of carvings on its surface."
She raised her left hand, showing that the shard in it was the original.
With a confident smile, she continued.
"But your replicas... they don't have those carvings. Why do you think that is?"
She stared into his eyes—expecting an answer.
Letting out a gulp, William contemplated his response for a moment.
But being stared down by Elsa didn't make thinking any easier.
"To be honest... I have no idea."
Letting out a disappointed sigh, she continued her explanation, now with a little less energy than before.
"The reason your replicas don't have those carvings is because you don't understand them."
Noticing William's confusion, she lingered for a moment.
"How do I say this in a way you'll actually understand?"
She lifted her right hand to show the crystal that was the replica.
Looking at it, a small smile formed on her face.
"William... what do you think your ability is really capable of?"
At her sudden question, he gave a quick answer.
"My ability can copy any physical obj—"
"No. You're wrong."
She was quick to cut him off.
Placing both gems on the ground, she pointed a finger at William.
"Your ability... it can copy anything."
His eyes widened at her words.
"What do you mean by... anything?"
She shrugged with indifference.
"It means exactly what you think it means. Your ability can not only copy physical objects, but things that go beyond that."
She intentionally lingered for a while to let William process her words.
After some time, she continued.
"The reason your replicas aren't perfect is because your ability only allows you to copy what you can comprehend."
Looking at William, she waved a hand toward the replica crystal lying on the ground.
"You know how glass is created, how it feels, and what properties it has. With that knowledge, you were able to copy most of the original crystal."
She glanced down at the glowing crystal, a focused look in her eyes.
"You have a comprehension of what glass is, and what a reflective surface does."
Glancing back at William, she flipped her long golden hair to the side before continuing.
"However, what you can't comprehend are the letters carved into the crystal. You don't know what they mean, and you also don't know what properties they have."
A small sigh escaped her lips as she grew a bit tired from her long explanation.
"Due to that lack of knowledge, your ability simply won't allow you to copy those letters. That's also the reason why you'll never be able to copy anything more than a physical object."
She held back a chuckle as she looked at the shocked expression on William's face.
"So copying someone's emotions—or their soul—will stay out of your reach. These kinds of things are simply too complex for your mind to comprehend."
The silence that followed Elsa's explanation was almost deafening.
But after a while...
The shell-shocked expression on his face was slowly replaced by a dark, sinister smile.
Elsa remained indifferent, already knowing what kind of reaction he would have to this information.
A cynical chuckle left his mouth as he rose from the ground.
"Too complex for me to comprehend... we'll see about that."
Looking up at the cave's exit tunnel, his smile turned a little strained.
His legs began to shake uncontrollably, and a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.
He wobbled for a few seconds before falling on his ass.
"Shit... I forgot I used up all my energy on those stupid replicas."
A pained groan escaped his lips as he struggled to get up.
A sigh followed as his efforts amounted to nothing.
Letting his head rest on the ground, he looked toward the other side of the cave—where Jane was still peacefully sleeping.
"I should get some rest as well."
Elsa stepped over his body and moved toward where Jane was lying.
"I'll keep watch. You should rest—you'll need it."
It didn't take long for William to fall into the soft embrace of sleep.
_Chapter Ends_