Dungeon Raider System

SThe group headed towards the locked door in the left tower to try and unravel whatever mystery lied behind it's sealed door, though no one wanted to be the one tasked with opening it. Medusa was particularly against messing with whatever was inside of that room as she had a wrenching gut feeling and she chose to remain on the first floor.

"Shouldn't we wait for dawn and just leave this place?" Sam whispered into Uriel's ear, trying not to appear as a coward in front of Tina's friends.

"If we leave this place without knowing how to enter the dungeon, someone else will do it first. In order to claim it as our own we need to be the first ones to enter." Uriel replied.

"Hey, since Urinal wants to claim the 'dungeon' so bad, then he should be the one to open the door." Mark said with a smirk and everyone on Tina's party nodded in agreement.

As much as Uriel would have loved to avoid the responsibility, even he had to admit it was his duty. He advanced forward and removed the steel bar that was acting like a bolt. Then he proceeded to use his trusty swiss army knife to try and pick the lock, but it was too old and rusty, leaving him with no choice but to enter using force.

Something like that was far from his usual methods, as he would always approach problems with wits rather than brute force. But there was little time until dawn and he knew as soon as the vampires outside were no longer a threat, the group would simply walk away and go back to the city.

Uriel took some distance and prepared himself to bash at the door, knowing full well he would most likely be exposed to whatever danger awaited inside.

"One, two... three!" He counted out loud as he darted up the staircase and hit the door with all his might. The powerful tackle was enough to break the locks, but instead of opening, the door fell flat on the floor lifting a cloud of dust that blinded everyone for a second.

"Oh! Crap! Don't come!" Uriel yelled amidst coughs triggered by the fine dust.

"What's wrong?" Asked Tina after joining him. Soon enough everyone but Medusa entered the small room in the tower, making it feel too cramped. Though no answer was necessary, because after the dust settled the figure of Uriel was revealed along with an exact copy of himself.

"Skinwalker!" The two Uriels said in unison, throwing everyone into a daze.

"Sam, can you tell the difference?" Luna asked hoping for either his trait or his eidetic memory to be of use, but Sam shook his head.

"It's impossible, they look exactly the same."

"Just let me deal with this, I took some items made of silver from the basement, all I need to prove I'm the real one is to hold something made of silver in my hands." Uriel said as he took a medium silver cross from his pockets.

"Don't trust him, he's the copycat! Look, I have the same silver cross, his' is a fake!" Uriel said.

"Calm down everyone, I just need to hit him once with this and he'll die." Uriel said.

"No! Don't let him come near me! He'll kill me!" Uriel shouted as he took some distance from his copy.

"This is too confusing. I say we kill them both and be on our way." Mark shrugged showing the palms of his hands.

"I hate your stupid face." One Uriel snickered.

"Hey, maybe this guy isn't so bad." The other Uriel laughed.

"He's your friend, can't you guys ask him something only he would know how to answer?" Mary asked.

"No, we already killed one of those things before. It's not just a shapeshifter, somehow it receives all the memories of its victims. Whatever we ask, he'll know how to answer." Sam replied to Mary.

"Maybe it's not about if the answer is correct, perhaps there might be a difference in how they answer. Maybe asking an emotional question could work." Sophie theorized.

"Uriel... did you ever love me?"

"No." Both Uriel and the copy replied shaking their head prompting Tina to shed a single tear.

It wasn't that she didn't expect such an answer, but she didn't expect such coldness from both of them as that could only mean it was the honest truth. Her hope was that Sophie's theory would be correct and somehow, the monster would expose itself but her effort was fruitless.

"The same can be said about you. Don't think for a second I didn't know you just got close to me so I would help you in your studies." Uriel said showing all of his resentment.

"That's not true! I did love you... I still do." Tina said on the verge of crying which made both Mary and Sophie commend her acting skills in silence.

"Prove it. Prove you love me." Uriel gazed at her.

"How?"

"Kill the fake." Uriel's words made it seem simple, yet telling a skinwalker apart from a human being was no easy feat. The movements, voice, memories, everything about the cryptid was the same as the real person. Somehow they were even able to mimic people's clothes, weapons and even injuries so, in a sense, what Uriel asked was impossible.

Tina reluctantly pointed her shoulder cannon towards the other Uriel, but he remained unfazed making her doubt her choice. She couldn't tell which one was the real Uriel and which one was the cryptid Until an idea crossed her mind.

"Uri! Use your trait!" Tina shouted with glee as she didn't think the skinwalker would be able to mimic people's traits. It made sense, it was actually a great idea but her hopes were short lived.

"That's not going to work, you don't know his trait." Luna commented.

"Should we leave them both to fight against each other?" Sam asked trusting Uriel to be capable enough to defeat the cryptid in single combat.

Uriel, the real one, was now getting tired of all the nonsense and decided to put an end to the awkward situation. He wielded the silver cross like a knife and pointed it towards the creature, who attempted to retreat, but failed miserably as the only way out was through the crowd and they wouldn't let him pass.

"Don't let him come near me! I'm the real one!" The cryptid cried in a pitiful voice, but in the end it was for nothing. As soon as the silver cross perforated its skin it caused the creature to boil from the inside out.

"It's weird, this time it didn't change into different forms. It seems Uriel was the only person it ever copied." Sam pointed out as he picked up the flux orb the creature dropped. "How do you think they managed to trap that thing in this place?" Sam then asked.

"I can't be sure, but at least coming here wasn't for nothing. Look what I found laying in the floor." Uriel grinned and showed an old notebook with a hard leather cover he picked up right after entering the room.