[i]Back with the real Acro, Ronin, and Nighthawk in the astral realm[/i] As Acro concentrated on creating and sending a reflection of himself into the physical world, he felt his mind expand, and immense pain as his soul fractured and departed from his body. Acro collapsed to the ground and his vision blurred. Acro regained his vision and stood up. The apparitions of Ronin and Nighthawk were gone and Acro was alone again wondering what the next step of his journey would be. Acro began to wander the astral plane fighting any astral beast he found with his growing power. As Acro blasted an astral beast back to whatever hell it had emerged from, he felt it he felt his astral reflection wither away and disappear. It was like a punch to the gut and Acro doubled over in pain. Through the pain, Acro only had one thought, the hope that his reflection had fulfilled its job and kept Rain safe. As Acro was stooped in pain he saw a bright flash in front of him as two more astral beings appeared in front of him. This time the apparitions took the froms of Ring and Cmirg. Acro looked Ring in the eye and said "I assume that it is time for my next trial." Ring spoke to Acro, the now familiar vibrations in his voice, "While that is true, we also come with news of Rain and your reflection." Acro became visibly alert at the mention of Rain's name, "Tell me the news." Acro said to the two and Cmirg answered, "Your reflection was killed by the alpha beast, but it sealed the portal and dragged the alpha back to the astral realm." Acro began to get slightly impatient with the two, "Yes, I already felt my reflection's death, but what about Rain?" Ring answered Acro's question, "Your friend lives, she was given weaponry from your personal armory and helped to purge the beasts from your world." Acro breezed a sigh of relief at the news and asked the two "so, what's my next trial?" Acro was given no answer, Ring and Cmirg were looking at something behind him. Acro turned to look at what the two were staring so intently at and saw... nothing. Acro looked back to interrogate the two beings but they were gone. Acro muttered a quiet "Dammit" to himself before it happened. Acro was thrown to the side by a massive explosion and skidded through the astral grass before coming to a stop and getting back to his feet. Acro brushed himself off and looked in the direction the explosion had come from. Then Acro saw it, a dark shilloette standing ominously on a nearby hill. Suddenly the form dissolved into a pure black flowing energy on the ground and rushed towards Acro. Acro stood watching the energy flow on the ground until it stopped a few meters away from him and began to form and a spectral yet familiar voice spoke "Hello, Acro..." Acro stayed silent as the energy reconfigured into its physical from. Acro expected what happened next, but was horrified nonetheless. The energy reformed into a dark rendition of Acro himself, the two stood silently staring each other down. "Acro." the dark one said, "you've rained supreme for long enough, the alpha showed me just how powerful I am, and I am here to take my place as the alpha Acro." Acro smiled at his former reflection and spoke back, "You really think you can beat me? I created you and I can destroy you. I don,t want to hurt you, but I will if I must. You can come to your senses and join me again, or I can kill you here and now." The dark reflection thought for a moment before it suddenly threw a ball of darkness at Acro...