Professor, Professor

Shadowcast

It takes some of his own blood, candles, chalk, a knife and a book from Hershel's personal collection for Alfendi to add some sort of spice within his life besides the natural droll of boredom and university. At twelve, with a father that seems to care more for his puzzles and his assistant more than him, he had to seek entertainment in other places.

Alfendi finishes the summoning circle, watching the rivulets of his dark vermillion blood stain the wooden flooring of the attic at his self-inflicted wound from his palm. For a few moments, nothing happens and the kneeling young man lets out a huff of disappointment. Of course. Why would he believe in such pesky things? He gave up believing in artificial creations of the human mind long ago. How could he have thought a demon would be much more believable. He reaches for a flannel to staunch the wound he created, ready to mutter how ridiculous he was, as the shadows turn to something more tangible, more malleable. He blinks, his reach for the rag forgotten as the middle of the circle holds a figure that his eyes could grasp upon. There was something inherently wrong with what he was looking at; the light bended incorrectly, his brain sluggishly trying to figure out what and how the figure in front of him was even possible.

That figure was himself, he realizes belatedly.

"My, my, did I render you speechless?" The voice, despite Alfendi's slightly higher voice for prepubescent years, still manages to hold a sense of authority that makes the human wince. The young boy scrambles away to the wall, eyes wide to the size of polo balls as he examines the figure properly. The doppelganger was an exact, centimeter by centimeter copy of the young boy, save for the eyes that bore holes into his slightly trembling self, the dark sclera and red dots resembling pupils sizing him up like a slab of meat at the butcher shop.

"No," Alfendi responds, finally managing to stand and stares the copy down. The doppelgänger smirks, raising a perfect eyebrow at him as Alfendi begins to splutter. "You're not real; you're a trick, a figment from my lack of rest—"

"You say that yet you still performed the ritual, knowing fully well that it might be all for nothing. For my human counterpart and with a father that solves puzzles for a living, I would contend to believe that you had some sort of thinking to you." The doppelgänger looks at him appraisingly, "I'm impressed you even tried, though perhaps you're more concerned that when you asked for a demon, I showed up. Did you believe that you would be seeing something a bit more...demonic?"

The shadow paces within the circle, humming to itself but still looking at him carefully. Alfendi isn't even sure what to say to it; he really didn't expect to see this in front of him. It was just his shadow. He had a shadow at every light—the only difference was that this one talked back to him.

"The intricacies don't matter to me, I know you're aware of why I called you," Alfendi says, finally getting his nerves under control. It wouldn't do to be afraid of his own shadow; it was just his own self was standing in front of him. It knew what he wanted; beating around the bush would be inherently unnecessary.

"Of course." The I'm you goes unsaid, but heavily implied. "Though, I don't suppose you'd like to humour your personal demon and offer an explanation as to why you're erasing your emotions? Your darling sister, I'm sure, wouldn't be making such a deal just because your shared father has went away, again. You know how he is, with that little boy, Luke, was it? Are you sure you would like to turn towards your, for lack of better phrase, inhumanity?" The doppelganger drawls, taking a step forward, almost threateningly.

"Just do it," the young boy spits out. "I'm tired of it all."

"It's a deal. Your wish is my command, Alfendi." The doppelganger grins, pearlescent bone glimmering against the low light of the candles the human lit. Before Alfendi could even change his mind or perhaps even consider that this deal wasn't going to go his way as he previously intended, the shadows wraps him up and he just feels...nothing.