Beyond Reality : the beginning of the end : Ethan path

Ethan sat across from Clark, trying to understand him better.

Ever since he'd entered the hotel, everything had been getting stranger.

Suddenly, the real owner appeared in the restaurant.

He walked quickly and seemed annoyed when he saw Ethan.

He stopped in front of the table.

"You! I told you not to mingle with the guests."

Clark looked up in surprise.

"Are you talking to me?"

"Yes."

Then the owner looked at Ethan.

"And you, I told you to stay in your room."

Ethan frowned.

"Wait... why?"

But the owner didn't answer.

He was furious.

"This hotel isn't for you."

Ethan stood up.

"That's what you've been saying since you arrived. Can you tell me why?"

The owner took a step forward.

"Because you..."

He stopped.

Something black appeared in Clark's hand.

A scythe.

Ethan hadn't noticed how it appeared.

Clark raised his hand.

In an instant, the scythe moved in a swift arc.

Ethan saw only a black flash.

Then there was silence.

The owner stood still for a moment, his head falling, his body beginning to fade into ash that vanished into thin air.

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Ethan's eyes widened.

He looked down at where the man had been standing.

Then back at Clark.

"What have you done...?"

Clark placed the scythe back beside him as if nothing had happened.

He took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth.

"He ruined my meal."

But Ethan didn't laugh.

He couldn't even comprehend what had just happened.

Then he began to hear sounds all around him.

Chairs moving.

Doors opening.

Footsteps approaching.

The guests were emerging from their quarters.

But they were no longer trying to hide their true identities.

The elves' pointed ears appeared.

And strange symbols glowed around the wizards' hands.

The dwarves displayed unnatural strength.

The shapeshifters' bodies began to change before his very eyes.

Ethan stared at them.

For the first time, he could no longer convince himself that what he was seeing was just an illusion.

The hotel wasn't for humans.

"This human killed the owner!" one of them shouted.

"Kill him!" another retorted.

Ethan took a step back.

"What?"

But Clarke advanced ahead of him.

He slowly raised his scythe.

"What do you want?"

"We want your lives!" one of them shouted.

Clare smiled, then began to laugh.

"You're starting to get on my nerves," he added, looking around.

The first attacker charged forward.

It was an elf wielding a long sword, and he moved so fast that Ethan could barely keep up.

He raised the sword above his head.

But Clarke didn't move until the very last moment.

Then he raised his scythe.

The sword slammed against the black hilt.

The attack stopped.

The elf looked at Clark in surprise.

Clark smiled.

Then he thrust the scythe forward.

The elf stumbled back several steps, and before he could regain his balance, Clark moved toward him and vanished momentarily from Ethan's sight.

He reappeared behind him.

Ethan saw only one movement.

Then the sword fell to the ground.

The elf disappeared into thin air.

"One."

Clark said it quietly.

The others froze for a second.

Then one of the mages raised his hand.

The symbols around his fingers began to glow.

A ball of flame shot through the restaurant.

But Clark didn't back down.

He leaned slightly.

The fire passed by him.

It slammed into the wall.

At the same moment, a huge dwarf rushed forward from the other side.

He was carrying an enormous hammer.

He raised it with all his might and brought it down on Clark.

Clark raised the scythe.

The hammer struck him.

The ground shook beneath their feet.

But Clark didn't move.

The dwarf's expression changed.

Then Clark smiled.

—Heavy.

He spun the scythe.

The hammer swerved and ricocheted.

It struck the shapeshifter who was charging after Clark.

The two of them tumbled away.

Before the shapeshifter could get up, the wizard cast his second spell.

Ethan yelled:

—Behind you!

Clark turned around.

The fireball had reached him.

He moved at the last second.

The flames passed by him, then struck the dwarf.

His clothes caught fire.

He started running wildly, trying to put out the flames, until he collided with a long curtain.

The curtain burst into flames instantly.

Everyone backed away.

The fire began to spread.

Someone yelled:

—Fire!

The confrontation descended into chaos.

Doors flew open.

Furniture tumbled down.

Windows shattered.

And fire began to engulf the edges of the restaurant.

Ethan no longer knew who was fighting whom.

He just wanted to get out.

But Clark grabbed his arm.

"Come on."

"What?"

"If you stay here, you'll die."

Clark pulled him down the corridor.

Ethan kept glancing behind him.

He saw strange lights, shadows moving through the smoke, and people whose presence he couldn't explain.

Then the two of them left the hotel.

Moments later, the building behind them shook.

Part of the facade collapsed in a cloud of smoke.

Ethan stood there, panting.

Clark sat down calmly on a nearby rock.

He took out a cigarette and lit it.

Ethan looked at him incredulously.

"You... killed almost all of them, and then you sat down to smoke?"

Clark exhaled a puff of smoke. — They were in a bad mood. I wouldn't recommend this place for tourism.

Ethan kept staring at him.

Then he looked at the burning hotel.

Then at the scythe.

Then back at Clark.

He had dozens of questions.

But one finally came out:

— Who are you?

Clark looked up at him.

— Clark Johnson.

— That's not what I meant.

Clark smiled.

— I know.

Silence fell.

The hotel was burning behind them.

And the forest ahead looked darker than ever.

Ethan didn't know what had happened.

Or why that hotel was teeming with creatures that weren't supposed to be there.

Or why Clark had been able to defeat them so easily.

But he did know one thing.

This wasn't just a case of a mysterious man appearing in two places at once.

It was much bigger than that.

And the man of nowhere...

He was at its center.

And Ethan still didn't know that Clark himself knew something about him.

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