Close Encounters of The Mirror Kind (Closed, Experimental Solo thread)

[Xos]

For those who read the following Thread: http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=6105


It was not a Dark and Stormy night. Just the opposite, it was a bright Clear day.

Xos had spent the night at a local inn after his defeat yesterday.
He decided to give it one more try. As he walked up to the citadel, the same monk that helped him yesterday spotted him today.

"Back for more?" The monk asked.
"Yes. This time I want a Complex maze like old dusty abandoned Castle chock full of more secret passageways and traps than is really necessary. I want a secret room in the center with a special mirror enchanted with the following properties." Xos said. the two walked towards the Citadel discussing the Arena he desired. He had remembered a passage from the book that brought him here that discussed a special Mirror, called The Mirror of Alternate Truths, and it was a theoretical mirror that lead to a universe where everything was the same, but opposite.

Xos entered the Castle, it was like it was just an extension of the Citadel. At his request, the traps were kept inactive until Xos had an opponent. How embarrassing would it be to die in a trap before an opponent even entered? Fortunately, there was also a well in there somewhere with the power to heal those who drank its waters. As he wandered away from the door, he never noticed it fade away, sealing him in this Arena.

He spent the better part of an hour absentmindedly wandering the castle. He wanted to find and trick an opponent before the Mirror, to see what happened. Better someone else than him. He turned down a hallway that seemed hidden from the main hall. He walked its lengths and turned its corners, and suddenly found himself before a Giant Mirror. He walked up close to it, and saw his reflection. He nearly lost his breakfast. His reflections robes were black, with white symbols, instead of white, with black symbols. But that wasn't the disgusting part, it was the weird Reptilian Human Hybrid staring back with a long forked tongue. He turned to leave, but heard the clicking of Traps activating.

Oh Good, my opponent must have arrived. I'll bring them back to this mirror and shove them into it.

Those were the thoughts that Xos thought, but then he froze, as he heard a reptilian mocking laughter behind him

"heheheheheh. So, your my Mirror Parody? How, disgusting. your too human looking. You almost made me throw up. I think I'll call you Sox." Xos's Mirror said.

Xos slowly turned, the fear evident in his eyes. this was not at all what he had wanted.

"Your lucky, I hear this citadel actually revives its fallen victims. Mine doesn't. Survival of the fittest. I fought the same man you did yesterday. I killed him. I see the fear in your eyes Sox, are you too afraid to go the distance, to do what's necessary for scientific endeavors? Are we going to repeat that second grade incident all over again?" Xos's Mirror asked.

"How did you know about that?" Xos asked.

"surprised? I'm surprised you didn't know more about us. We knew about you, and we've been studying you for a long time now Xos. You, and every other sick pathetic freak that calls this place home. Then again, I can't be too surprised, I mean look at how backwards this world is. they still believe in Magic as the Dominant force, but we know better, don't we?" Xos's Mirror said.

Xos couldn't handle this strange thing anymore. It was Unnatural!

Xos threw a fireball at him, the other countered with another fireball, they met in midair and cancelled each other out.

"Well, that proves that theory. We can't really harm each other, we're too symmetrical, I imagine that will change with time, as we encounter each other more often though." Xos's Mirror said.

This was wrong, somehow things had gotten messed up. He needed help, fast.

He fled, going towards where he thought he remembered the door being.
It is interesting to note, that while Xos turned left, his Mirror turned right.
Xos, the original one, reached where he remembered the door being, but it was gone.

"What's the matter Sox? Can't find the door?" Xos's Mirror asked.

His only hope was the traps because Xos was trapped, trapped in a battle, with himself!

[Xos]

"SOOOOXXXX! OH SSSOOOOXXXX!!!!" Xos's Mirror was calling his name whilst walking the corridors.

Xos had nearly avoided a spiked pit.

"So, Sox, are you really as Nerdy as you appear to be?" Xos's Mirror called out.

"What do you mean?" Xos called back, stepping over a trip wire he saw by chance.

"I mean, your so thin and whispy, and I'm so strong and buff. the only reason I went to college was to learn how to inflict pain and suffering easier." Xos's Mirror said.

"I learn simply for Learning's sake, and to that end, to eventually help others." Xos said.

"Really? Is that why you refused to help Scria in the Second Grade? Come on Sox, it was just an active Volcano. She eventually healed. She chickened out like you did, so I had to push her into it." Xos's Mirror said.

Xos got a little bit angry. Scria was one of his dearest friends. He would never harm her or push her into something she didn't want to do.

"Why can't you go jump off a cliff and die?" Xos called out.

"You first sweet cheeks." Xos's Mirror called.

He turned a corner, and had managed to sneak up behind his Mirror. He just wanted this to end.

He saw a trap, a giant boulder rolling down the hall.

Xos tripped the trap and dived out the window. His shoes saved him from the trap. His Mirror was nearly as Lucky, being smashed flat against the ground. His shield saved him, but partially.

Xos darted away after reentering the castle.
His Mirror had managed to find the well, and drank deeply, recovering.

"That wasn't nice Sox. I'll have to show you Justice." His Mirror called out.

"What do you know of Justice?" Xos called out.
"Me? More than you do." His Mirror called out.

It sounded a bit too close.

"Yeah right, like I believe that. your the one who admitted to learning only to hurt others." Xos called out.
"At least I can admit that I enjoy it. You hide behind a citadel which promotes Violence without retribution, even going so far as to raise the dead. You live on a world filled with theives and Murderers who would Betray their friends, Family, governments, and possibly even dieties if they found something worth even half as much as what they had before. You personally have engaged in fighting for no pure academic reason and really, the only diffrence between you and I is besides our bodies is our robes. Admit it, beneath the shiny scholarly wizard exterior you present is a lying cheating self-serving Murderer out to get the better of his associates before they get the better of him." Xos's Mirror said.

"Speak for yourself, I hide no secret motive." Xos said.

He accidently triggered an arrow trap. An arrow pierced his thigh. He needed that well.

[Xos]

Xos stumbled through a secret passageway. His Mirror had been bringing up one incident from the past after another. He had no clue where his Mirror was.

On the other side, he found himself at the bottom of The Well, it was almost Dry. Xos managed to get enough to close his wounds.

He climbed out of the well.

There he was, face to face with his Mirror.
"So, are you going to keep running, like you ran from Khalan when she tried to ask you that question? I didn't know her for very long, I'm the one that sold my Khalan to the flesh traders. That's all she's good for anyway, servitude." Xos's Mirror said. that was the last straw. He cared deeply for Khalan, possibly even loved her. To think that someone that was supposed to be his Mirror could so Mistreat Khalan, even her Mirror version was unfathomable. Xos's Eyes flashed Red and he clenched his fists. His Mirror Was going to die.

Xos and his Mirror both seemed to recognise one of them was going to kill the other.

Xos struck first with a puch accross the Jaw. Xos's Mirror came backusing his reptillian Claws to rake open a gash in Xos's Chest, but stubled backwards as he was kicked in the chest. Xos leaped upon his Mirror forming an energy Shield and bashing his Mirror into it. His Mirror formed a Fireball and slammed it into Xos's Chest. Xos batted out the flames and tried to rake out his Mirror's eyes, but was stopped by his opponets hands. His Mirror threw Xos off of him and stood. His Mirror formed a small club with his create minor objects spell and tried to bash Xos over the head with it, but missed and hit the wall as Xos rolled to the side. Xos rolled to his feet and charged at his Mirror and slammed him into the wall and grabbed him and dragged him along the surface of the rough uneven wall forming several minor wounds in his opponets chest. His Mirror dived for the healing waters in the well but Xos threw a fireball down there evaporating what little was left. He dived after his Mirror and shoved him down the same passage he had entered by earlier. He formed another Fireball and threw it at his Mirror, but his Opponet used his Energy Shield and blocked. Xos chased his fleeing opponet out of the passage. With the flick of a hidden switch, the ceiling crashed down between them, blocking them from each other.

"I'll find you and kill you you Perverted twisted son of a Monkey's uncle!" Xos yelled.

[Xos]

Xos had been walking the halls, darting down this passageway and that looking for his Mirror. He had used his magic to make a small crude dagger.

Then he snuck up behind him entirely on accident. Xos threw a Fireball at his Mirror, catching him full on in the back, however his Mirror's energy shield blocked it.
His Mirror turned and lucged at him with his version of a Crude dagger, Xos blocked with his own just by chance and the two poorly made daggers vaporised.

Xos and his mirror rolled around the hall punching and kicking each other like children. Xos's Mirror accidently triggered a Domino effect trap, a Trap that over the course of its activation attack triggered another trap which triggered another and so forth until a big finishing trap activated.

In this particular instance it was a massive wall of arrows with very little room on either side to Dodge. The two dodged on either side. One of the arrows hit a button in the wall which dropped many rocks, whose combined weight activated a pressure sensitive switch in the floor beneath them, causing the main supports for that section of the castle to burst, bringing down the entire section of castle. The Two Wizards found themselves staring at each other accross a massive gap.

the two raced off to find an alternate path to one another.

[Xos]

"I have a proposition for you." Xos's Mirror called out.

"What?" Xos asked.

"A battle of wits. Instead of killing one another, a test to prove that I'm smarter than you, er, I mean a test to see whose smarter. If you win, I will leave." Xos's Mirror called.

"Ok. You go first." Xos called.

"You can never catch up. In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead" Xos's Mirror said.

"So, in saying that a fast runner and a slow runner, such as a tall Elf and a short Dwarf are racing, the Tall elf, being the faster and more nimble of the two, allows the dwarf a one hundred foot head start. We can easily imagine that after a time the elf will have caught up to the dwarf, however the Dwarf will have also in that time moved some distance, however short, ahead, and thus the elf must again catch up, while the dwarf again moves ahead, thus the Elf's time is spent forever catching up, while logic and reason tell us this is not so. This brings us to Zeno's First Paradox of motion, as you said earlier, you can never catch up.

There are many mathmatical solutions that have been used, some debunked some not. Space and time are not infinitely divisible, thus they are not perfectly continuos. It does not follow that just because we can give a number between any two numbers it does not follow that we can do so with Space and time. Therefore Space and time is Discrete, being composed of lumps and jumps as observed in the Field of Quantum Physics when one Electron orbitals jump from one level to another. This means that motion at its smallest physical level is nothing more than a series of Jumps from one Quantum Space time coordinate to the next. Thus in answer to your Paradox is that the total number of quantum jumps made while traversing from point A to point B is finite, and therefore there is no paradox.

My turn

You cannot even start.

That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal." Xos said.

"Ahh, the Dichotomy Paradox. It is subject to your own counter arguments for Zeno's first paradox of motion, thus his second Paradox of motion is also solved." Xos's Mirror called.

[Xos]

Some small amount of time had passed since The mirror Xos had answered normal Xos's Challenge.

"So then, I have a clever one for you.

You cannot even move.
If everything when it occupies an equal space is at rest, and if that which is in locomotion is always occupying such a space at any moment, the flying arrow is therefore motionless. " Xos's Mirror said.

Xos thought about this.

"The Arrow Paradox. Imagining that time is comprised of indivisible nows, that is, the smallest of moments in time, the present in the truest sense of the word. The biggest and most obvious error in this is in the observation of the Arrow. Looking through the glasses of time, one can only observe Temporal Movement in all its forms. There is no spacial Movement in a Temporal environment, only Temporal Movement, and looking only at an indivisible NOW, is a Temporal Environment, despite the fact that it contains Spacial objects. Therefore there is no Third Paradox of Motion, only an error in judgement. However I must admit that the concept of Zeno's Paradoxes of Motion would make for a powerful spell." Xos said.

Minutes passed, as Xos thought of a way to beat his Mirror once and for all.

"You can never be free of Control, Even in free will, you are still under Control." Xos said.

Time passed.

"Grr, That's not fair!" His Mirror shouted.

"Fair or not, its still true, and if you cannot refute it and give evience for it being false which cannot also be used as evidence for its truth, then I have beaten you." Xos said.

Unknown to Xos, his Mirror self was quietly sneaking up on him.

[Taskmienster]

This thread has been waiting for over a year. If you would like to complete it, or work on it further, you can PM myself or another staff member and ask for it to be moved. However, till that time, it will be resting in the Citadel Archive forum.

Thanks,
~Task