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Shade
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Chapter 5 - Class in Session
I was back in the flowery meadow again, the pitch-black sky still looming overhead. There seemed to be more flowers than before, each different than the last. Fire surrounded the clearing, but I wasn’t worried for some reason. It was calming now, like I was sitting next to a fireplace, drinking cocoa in the middle of a snowstorm.
I heard a voice, muffled as if she was speaking underwater. I tried to ask who she was, but no sound came from my throat. I heard a pensive hum as if the voice were deciding what to do.
Before anything more could happen, the flames began to die down and the flowers began to retreat into the ground. I was waking up. We were not able to speak this time, a calm voice echoed. But we will soon.
* * * * *
I woke up, stretched out on a soft couch, the light of dawn streaming directly into my eyes. In front of me were two boys. One was the blacksmith from earlier. He was in what looked like a kitchen, making a drink with his back to me. He had his jacket on, the fur lining almost up to his ears, and he had taken his gloves off. He turned around, his eyes revealed to me. His left eye was a flame-like scarlet, his right eye a steel-grey.
“Tea’s done,” he said, handing a mug to the other boy, who was lazily strewn sideways across a chair.
The other boy had quite an odd look to him. His pale skin was nearly transparent. He had shaggy, dark purple hair, a platinum-blond streak fully covering his right eye. His left eye, which was visible, was blood red and had deep bags beneath it. He didn’t look too old, maybe 19, but his eyes looked like they had seen the beginnings of days, the middles of dynasties, and the ends of lifetimes. The boy seemed rather lean and bony, like a flexible skeleton, and was shorter than both me and the blacksmith. He seemed vaguely familiar.
Balanced on the bridge of his nose was a pair of black, bottom-rimmed glasses, partially concealed beneath his hair. He wore a dark-green trench coat over a thin, cool-grey shirt. A glove that seemed to be made from the same material covered his right hand. Rust-colored sweat-pants stretched over his legs, and black leather shoes kicked idly. A mauve scarf wrapped around his neck and mouth.
He had been watching me with mild interest but turned his head to accept the cup from the blacksmith. As the blacksmith handed off the tea, I caught a glimpse of his left palm, a Token glowing faintly.
This Token was a common one, “fire”. Anyone with it could create bursts of flames, heat objects just by holding them, and even sometimes control fire into swirling shapes.
The boy took the cup, moved his scarf down to take a sip, then turned back to me. “Welcome back to the world of the living,” he said. I wasn’t focused on his words, but his voice, his voice was tired, as if he didn’t have any energy left in his body. A slight, unrecognizable but old accent, tinged in his words. It had taken me until I had heard his voice to realize two things:
1: This was the boy who I had seen just before falling.
2: He was identical to Zack.
I remember watching cartoons as a kid. Every episode, the villains would show up in a wacky costume to fool the hero. The hero never saw through it until the end, but I would shout at my screen, seeing through the shoddy disguise. Surely, anyone watching me had been shouting much the same.
I hadn’t noticed until just now because most of his face was obscured. The voice was the same, though. He may have been missing the mischievous glee, and his voice was slightly deeper, but it was definitely the same as Zack’s.
Was this some weird disguise? He had escaped due to an explosion. Was the blacksmith the one who had caused it? Why bring me here then, and have me wake up to them in disguise? Were they toying with me?
I shot up from the sofa and reached above my head to ready my HALO, but I only grasped air. Zack had repositioned himself in the chair to be sitting straight. He was watching me with interest in his eyes, and, from the way his cheek tugged slightly upwards, a smirk on his face.
“I’d recommend you calm down,” he said. “You might break something.”
I glanced around the room, looking for an exit. Through the kitchen was a door, but I would have to make it past the blacksmith. Zack was still calmly drinking his tea. I pushed off with my legs, sprinting towards the door. I ducked under the blacksmith’s arm, now ablaze, and thought I was out. Then, a frying pan knocked my legs out from under me.
“Sorry, man, but you gotta calm down,” the blacksmith was looking down at me on the floor. “We just need to talk.” He lifted me bridal-style and plopped me on the sofa.
“Talk?” I was woozy from my head hitting the tiled kitchen floor. “What?”
Zack was still examining me from behind his asinine disguise. “Let’s start with introductions. I’m Xavier, but you can call me X. Who are you?”
I scoffed. “Xavier? Do you think I’m blind? I know that’s you, Zack.”
His eyes narrowed, his voice becoming more serious, “Zack is my twin brother, and despite our being identical twins, I assure you that we couldn’t be more different.”
“Yeah, right. And I’m the king of the lily pads.”
“You can check my upper back if you like. You won’t find the Beneluct no matter how hard you look,” He seemed mildly irritated, and I was skeptical, but I still got up to check his back. I had no clue what a “Beneluct” was, but I was sure that if I checked his back, I would find his Token.
He pulled his coat off from around his shoulders, revealing that his t-shirt was asymmetrical; the right sleeve longer than the left. I tugged the collar of his shirt down, examining his back just below his neck. No Token.
“You really are Zack’s twin brother?” I was bewildered. I went back to sit on the sofa as he nodded. “So what do you want with me?”
Xavier put his coat back on. “I should be asking you that. You’re the one who-”
“Hey! I didn’t get to introduce myself yet,” the blacksmith interrupted. I had already forgotten he was here. “I’m Blaise, Blaise Fierro, nice to meet you. And sorry again for hitting you with the frying pan,” He reached out to shake my hand, revealing the Token on his right palm.
It was another common Token, “metal”, but how did he have two? That isn’t possible. He shook my hand with a strong grip, shaking my arm up and down like cooked spaghetti.
“Ahem,” X cleared his throat. “As I was saying, what do you want with us?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you followed me home after asking everyone in town about X,” Blaise sat in a beanbag chair to the right of me.
“Wait. You’re the Shadow?” I shot up again. “So you are working with Zack!”
“Sit down. No, I’m not,” Xavier waved his hand at me. “I would never work with my brother.”
“But, you worked with him in the Dirillian agency, and you were at the destruction of the embassy that reignited a war!”
“I did work with him before he betrayed me. As for participating in the cataclysm at the embassy, I tried to contain the blast from causing any damage to the surrounding cities,” he replied. Then, in a barely audible whisper, “It wasn’t enough, though…”
“Oh…” I was disappointed, this was the only lead I had on finding Zack. I had failed. I may find him eventually, but not before he caused more mayhem. But then, I realized something. “Wait. If you worked with him, then you might know where he’ll go!”
Blaise made a noise, a confused expression painted across his face. “What do you mean ‘where he’ll go’? He’s been locked up in Prism for centuries.”
X’s eyes widened. “No. He escaped? How?”
“I was there when it happened. One minute I was talking to him in his cell, the next there was a flash of light and I was knocked out.”
“That’s not possible, he had a Blocker! He shouldn’t have been able to use that much power at once!”
“He probably just overpowered it,” I responded.
Xavier looked at me disappointedly. “How much do you know about Tokens and Blockers?”
I thought for a moment. “Well, Tokens were created by ancients who intertwined their souls with the innate magic of the world. After millennia of evolution, the Tokens just kind of became a rare genetic trait. As for Blockers, they interrupt that connection between the Tokened and the world’s magic.”
“That’s an oversimplification,” Xavier said, shaking his head. “You got most of the stuff about Tokens right, but they aren’t wholly genetic. Sure, anyone with a Token can trace their lineage back to that first society of ancients, but the ancients didn’t harness the magic into their souls. It was already there. They just found a way to activate a gene that enables Tokens to be used.
“As for Blockers, they don’t interrupt the connection between a Tokened and magic because it doesn’t exist. Blockers were made to hinder the soul of a Tokened, and therefore any Blocker needs to be custom-made to the Tokened. That’s why Blockers are known to fail; most that are being used are mass-produced instead of being tailored to the Tokened.”
“So, Zack’s Blocker was tailor-made? Then how did he break through it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” X frowned, seemingly frustrated to have to say that. “He may have been able to emit some light on his own, but not enough to cause damage of any kind.”
“We can worry about how he escaped later!” Blaise shouted. “We should be focusing on finding him!”
“I agree, but speaking with you two has raised more questions than answers,” I said.
“Yes, I understand. ANGEL has gone downhill in the last century,” Xavier responded. “Very well, I’ll answer what I can. I’ll need as much help as I can get to recapture Zack, and it’s better that the questions be answered now than in the middle of a battle.”
Bewildered once again, I stared at him. “Uh, okay. Let’s start with how you know I’m from ANGEL.”
“I was there when it was founded,” He said simply.
“What does that mean? And how are you and your brother alive and young today, but were both involved in a war centuries ago?”
“Ah, our Tokens are responsible for that. Beneluct and Malescambre.”
“What do those mean? Can you please speak Common?”
Xavier sighed. “As I said, ANGEL has gone downhill education-wise the last century. I assume you know that each Token has a name? ‘Fire’, ‘Silence’, ‘Strength’, etcetera? Well, those are all translations, and simple ones at that. The symbols that Tokens manifest in were used as the written language of the ancients.”
He pointed to Blaise, who held out his hands and revealed both his Tokens. “Blaise’s Tokens are ‘fire’ and ‘metal’, but those are just the Common translations of the ancient language. In reality, they are ‘Fign’ and ‘Alfeucre’. Those two translate easily to Common, but others, such as mine and my brother’s, don’t.”
He pushed his hair up, revealing his right eye. It was pitch black, a void of emptiness with a purple symbol appearing to float in the middle.
He moved his hair back over his eye. “My Token, ‘Malescambre’, would likely be translated as ‘shadow’ by most. But in truth, it is a more complex word in ancient: ‘cursed’. Likewise, while most would translate Zack’s Token, ‘Beneluct’ as ‘light’, it is more literally translated to ‘blessed’.”
My head was spinning. I was so confused. “That doesn’t explain how you’ve been alive for so long.”
“Yes, it does. Just think for a moment.”
I shook my head and took a deep breath. “Whatever,” I said. “I’ve only got one question left. Why does he have two Tokens?” I pointed to Blaise, who shrugged.
“Family thing,” he replied. “I don’t pretend to know more than that.”
I looked at X, but he didn’t seem to want to answer. “If that’s all you have, then we should start working on finding Zack,” Xavier interjected. He stood up and began walking towards the other end of the house. Blaise got up and motioned for me to follow.
“How do you propose we do that?” I asked. “You were my last lead. We’d need a psychic to find him.”
X opened a door that led into a greenhouse. He picked up a pot with an odd-looking flower and turned to me and Blaise. “It’s a good thing we have four.”
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Chapter 4 - Blacksmith, Black Cat, Blackout
My train arrived well into the afternoon, the dying light of the golden sky making its last stand against the night as the shadows of the trees rose up to fight it off. I set myself to finding the local inn, strolling down the cobblestone road that winded through the center of the small town.
I passed by houses (each cozier looking than the last) and shops. Locals came outside to light lanterns in the front of their houses, many stopping to wave at me kindly or to talk with their neighbors. I smiled and waved back.
The Vesper Inn was in what seemed to be the town plaza: several large buildings constructed in a circle, a small well, and a large stage in front of what looked to be the town hall. The Inn was situated between the two largest buildings. The town hall was on its left, and another building (which seemed to be in the middle of renovations) was on its right. A sign labeled it as the local haberdashery, coats and hats of varying luxuriousness sat in the display windows.
I checked into my room at the front desk of the inn. The innkeeper, like everyone else in this town, seemed kind. I requested a room on the third floor, the highest one, in the hopes that I could see any suspicious persons from my window.
Although, the longer I was in this town, the less likely it was to me that a terrorist could be hiding here. Sure, it was secluded. No one would look for you here, but it didn’t seem like the locals would harbor a criminal.
“Worry about that tomorrow,” I said aloud to myself. “Just relax for tonight.” I got ready for bed, taking one last glance out of the window.
The street was pitch black, the lanterns not illuminating an inch of space besides the buildings they were extended from. Then, I saw a small flash of light come from the road. A red dot. I stared at it for a while before it disappeared for a moment. Then it came back as if it had blinked.
Shaking my head, I lay down to rest for the night. “Worry about that tomorrow…”
* * * * *
I was in a grassy meadow, flowers filling every open space on the ground. The sky was dark, covered in clouds, but I could see the world as if it were fully lit.
A purple cat jumped into the field from the forest that encircled it, chasing a golden bird. The bird circled the cat, chirping jovially. Ha, ha, ha. Hee, hee, hee. It was laughing at the cat. The cat grew angry and got ready to pounce.
Suddenly, I was in the air, hovering. I stared down at the cat’s single eye just before it lunged at me. I flew away, flapping my tiny wings as fast as possible. They soon grew tired, and I felt my arms return to me as I began to plummet.
I fell for what seemed like hours. At some point, the dark sky became red, flames surrounding my descent. I landed on a slab of metal, face to the ground. I would have laid there forever, but the metal began heating up until it was unbearable. I turned over just in time to see a large hammer coming down onto my face.
* * * * *
I shot up from my bed, drenched in sweat. Where was I? Sunlight streamed through the window into my room, it was about noon. The inn, that’s right. Why was I here again?
To find Zack.
I got dressed, throwing on jeans and my favorite hoodie, a white sweatshirt covered in golden loops and swirls. I picked my HALO off the nightstand where I’d left it. It began hovering above my head as soon as I brought it close. Finally, I opened my door, walked downstairs, grabbed a cinnamon-raisin muffin from the complimentary breakfast buffet, and headed out into the town.
Let’s start by asking around, I thought. Surely someone here would know about a Shadow. I looked around, examining the town from the entrance to The Vesper. Looking right, I saw the Town Hall. As good a place as any, I guess.
I walked over and quietly opened the door. The inside of the building was large and rustic. A staircase at the back split the room in two before splitting itself to lead to two separate balconies. Hardwood floors were covered in carpets that lead to various doors. The front desk was in between me and the staircase, but no one was there.
I looked around for a bit, not knowing what to do with myself. After a few minutes, I heard cackling from above, interrupting me while deciding whether or not to find somewhere to sit. “Well, hello there, sonny boy? What can I do ya for?”
Upon the balcony was an old man, hobbling towards the stairs. As he grew closer, I got a better look at him. He was built like a warped telephone pole, skinny, tall, and hunched over. He had a cane topped with an eye, his greyed skin struggling to hold it. The man was dressed in a three-piece suit, each a different material and a different shade of brown. His beard was tucked behind his vest, and his head was topped by a patchwork top hat.
He reached the ground floor (after several minutes) and fumbled with his pockets for a moment before pulling a copper monocle speckled with green verdigris. “I’m looking for the mayor, sir. I’m a… journalist. I had some questions about this town.”
The old man’s eyes widened, tripling the wrinkles upon his forehead. “A journalist, you say?” his old voice creaked. “No one’s cared about our small town for decades! Well, I’m the mayor! Mayor Tiddlywink at your service!”
I held back a snort. “Tiddlywink…? Is that a… family name?”
“Nope! It’s just what everyone ‘round these parts calls me!”
“Oh. What is your real name, then?”
“No clue! No one thought to tell me!” I stared at him, examining his face to figure out if he was serious. His expression was inscrutable.
“Ah. Anyway, I’m writing an article about local legends, and I’ve heard quite a bit about a… Shadow… lurking around this area. Any information you’ve got for me?”
The man seemed to think for a moment, his forehead gaining yet more wrinkles from his pensive expression. “A Shadow, eh? Well, there is the Ganymede Gang. They stick together like they’re each others’ shadows,” He paused. “Wait, no. Stuck together. They all died in a stargazing accident ‘bout 20 years back. Terrible. Horrible.”
“Anything else?” I pleaded.
He thought once more, before shrugging. “Sorry! Got nothing! This vault o’ mine is as cracked as can be!” He cackled. “Try asking some of the shop keepers! Maybe one of them‘ll have watcha lookin’ for!” And before I could say anything else, he was already hobbling back up the steps.
* * * * *
The rest of my afternoon went similarly. Locals would go off on tangents- “My niece makes the most wonderful eye-shadow! You’d like her!” “That’s what everyone calls the local stray.” “I have one of those!”-before saying they didn’t have much in the way of legends. That is, until:
“A Shadow? I’ve never heard of that! What’s a shadow?!” the blacksmith stammered.
He looked to be about my age, maybe a few years younger. He was the youngest person I’d seen in this town since I’d arrived. He was rather buff, muscles clearly defined in his tan skin, probably acquired from working all day. His hair, two tones of brown, was shaved on one side of his cutely round head.
He wore a simple black tank-top and pants, and he had a red jacket lined with fur tied around his waist. Leather combat boots and thick gloves adorned his feet and hands, and he wore black shades over his eyes. His ears were pierced in at least 3 places each, metal sticking out everywhere. His skin was slick with sweat, although I couldn’t tell if it was from his work or his nervousness about my question.
“You… don’t know what a shadow is?”
“Nope! Never heard of it! What is that? Some kind of dog?” He was grinning, but his jaw was clenched tighter than a bear trap. “I’m more of a cat person anyway, see?” He jerked a thumb behind and above him. A black cat rested on the windowsill inside his home, watching me with its one red eye.
“Uh-huh... You sure?” I asked. Surely he knew this wasn’t working, right?
“Yep!” Guess not. “So if that’s all you needed of me, I’ve gotta get back to work! Off you go! Bye-bye!” He went back to working on what looked like a battleaxe. I turned around, ready to leave him alone.
“Mrow.” The black cat was suddenly behind me, still staring. I stepped over it gingerly, then walked off. I didn’t plan to give up, of course. This smith was clearly hiding something.
After I was sure I was out of his vision, I began walking into the forest, looking for a tree to climb. I found one that seemed sturdy enough and dropped my bag at its base.
“Mrow.” The cat was sitting right by my bag, it had followed me.
“Shh!” I shushed it. “Leave me alone.” I grabbed onto the tree bark and started to scale the tree. I didn’t stop until I was well within the canopy, obscured from view by the warmly colored leaves. I sat on a branch to catch my breath before moving on.
“Mrow?” The black cat was sitting next to me. Its head was tilted as if it were curious.
I stared back at it for a moment, then sighed. “Fine. You can come with me, but be quiet!” I almost laughed at myself. Talking to a cat? Hysterical.
I got back up, stretching. “Okay, let’s do this.” I began jumping and swinging from tree to tree, staying as silent as I could. The cat followed along just behind me. Soon, I had found a good spot. I could see the blacksmith from here.
I watched him work until sunset. As the sky grew dark, he collected his things into a bag and threw on his jacket. “Here, kitty kitty!” He shouted. I looked at the cat. Did it seem… annoyed? Maybe that’s just how cats look, I thought.
The smith soon gave up and began to walk into the woods. Naturally, I followed him. After roughly a half-hour, he arrived at a cabin, hidden deep in a clearing surrounded by hills and rocky cliffs. It was large, yet still maintained the cozy aura every home in this town emanated.
“What are you doing so far into the woods…?” I thought aloud to myself.
“Probably preparing dinner,” A familiar voice behind me responded.
I turned around to find a young man perched on the same branch as me in a feline pose. Then, I felt myself fall into the darkness of unconsciousness.
#shade#shade story#shadestory#ShadeChapter#ShadeChapterFour#science fiction#urban fantasy#original story
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Chapter 3 - Chaos
I woke up, pain shooting through my back. When I opened my eyes, I saw chunks of concrete and rocks. The only thing between them and and a to-be-squished me was my HALO. I had managed to pull it out before being crushed.
It was in its shield form, one of the modifications I had made to it. A sharp, golden rim encircled a clear center. The center was made out of a mesh of crystals I had found on a mission, when woven together, they created a bullet-proof shield that gave off a faint light.
Light
Suddenly, everything came rushing back to me. I knocked on the back of my HALO, a burst of energy throwing the debris off of me, revealing a massive hole in the ceiling. It was dusk, the sky a bloody red, and I could hear shouts coming from above. Standing up slowly, I took stock of my injuries. My back was bruised from the impact against the wall, but the bigger issue was my ankle. It had been crushed under some rubble and was now twisted.
No problem, I thought, flicking a switch on my HALO. The shield’s center retracted as the ring folded in two. Hopefully, the wings still work. I attached the wings to my back, clicking them into place. I flew upwards hesitantly. They couldn’t last long in this mode, so I’d have to be fast.
Based on the yelling, there’s a riot. I’m defenseless like this, so I need to get out quickly and hope the guards can handle the situation. I braced myself for the escape and soared upwards. I didn’t stop, didn’t look until I was sure I was far enough above the chaos. Then again, I should help whoever I can.
I gazed down upon the pandemonium. People were fighting and screaming, walls were destroyed, and there was what looked like a large area that had been completely obliterated, piles of ash atop the blackened ground. Something seemed wrong, though. There weren’t as many people as I expected. And why were they all wearing the same uniform? Shouldn’t there be guards out here, scrambling to get the prisoners back in their cells? And then I realized.
There were no prisoners left in the complex. The guards were tearing each other apart.
I scanned the ground, looking for what I could do. I saw two guards brutally slashing each other with knives, another hiding under some rubble. I saw one running away from another towards the pool. Panicking, I began rocketing down to save him.
I drew my limbs together, maneuvered myself into a straight line, and dive-bombed towards the guard. Suddenly, a few yards from the ground, everything in my vision changed.
The ground was alive as if millions of snakes were crawling on top of each other. The pool water had turned to blood, and the walls were opening up, ready to swallow me. I squeezed my eyes shut, and grabbed the guard who had been chased, soaring back up. What was that!?
The guard began to struggle in my grasp, screaming his head off. I opened my eyes, but I didn’t see a guard in my arms, only a rotting corpse. Frightened, I dropped him, just in time for the illusions to wear off and for me to see the fear in the guard’s eyes as he plummeted down to the ground.
I was paralyzed and sick, hovering in the air as I watched him splash into the pool. Was he dead? I steeled myself; I couldn’t help anyone with these illusions messing with our minds. Tears filling my eyes, I flew as fast as I could away from the prison and left the riot behind.
Thoughts began racing through my head, but I managed to catch one and hold it tight. I need to find Zack, I promised myself. I can’t let him escape.
* * * * *
A rural countryside rushed by the window, obscured slightly by the glare of the rising sun. Tall trees dressed in warm-hued leaves littered the plains, slowly becoming more densely packed as the train approached my destination. My car was empty except for myself and an elderly couple. Most other passengers had gotten off many stops ago, rarely did anyone venture so far into the country.
It had been two and a half months, nearly 78 days, since the prison break. Any ANGEL agents who weren’t already busy had been looking for the escapees. We had only found a handful so far, mostly the ones with Tokens who we were most worried about. They were found within only a few miles of the prison and apprehended in a couple of hours. The majority of the prisoners, however, had disappeared.
We tried to question those we had caught. They all told the same story, that a young man had offered to lead them. They all declined and escaped without the help of the man.
Since the prison break, I had been assigned to the capture team. I wasn’t expected to be back to HQ until I had found the escaped convicts. This was fine, though, I wasn’t planning to return until I had found them. Him. I threw myself into the search for Z.
I started with what I knew. Somehow, someway, Zack Oscoinne had been involved with the Dirillian-Salisean War centuries ago. I searched through old records of the catalyst for the war, a bombing at an embassy.
According to old news stories, a massive flash of light enveloped the building and began growing outwards at an insane pace. Then, suddenly several claws of shadow encircled the blast, stopping it from destroying any more. Zack was found tied up at the epicenter, wearing a Salisean soldier’s uniform and laughing hysterically. He confessed to the whole thing.
I continued to look back to see if there were any records of him before the attack. Sure enough, there was. Zack Oscoinne, parentage unknown, was a member of a Dirillian agency formed to stop criminals with Tokens. Sounds similar to ANGEL, I had thought. After the attack at the embassy, he was found to be a part of a terrorist group looking to create chaos in the world.
Witnesses of his missions from when he was with the Dirillian agency often reported being blinded by a sudden shadow enveloping their faces. After regaining their sight, they found they were blocked from where they were by walls of vines, but still managed to catch blasts of light shooting into the sky.
I stared at the article for a while before I realized: There’s another mention of the Shadow. I thought his token was light. Suddenly it hit me. It must be another member of the team. Perhaps he might flee to the Shadow. If I can find them, I can find Z.
Continuing my research, I looked for any mention of the Shadow. I found local legends of petty thieves in cities being suddenly blinded and disappearing and criminals who had worked in dark alleys to mug any passerby unexplainably being terrified of darkness. There were even reports of Token users that had gone crazed with power being taken out in an instant by an unseen shade.
These stories and legends continued, the Shadow showing up throughout the last three hundred years. What I couldn’t understand was why it was always portrayed as a vigilante. I had assumed that it had been aligned with Zack’s chaos group based on its involvement at the embassy attack. Still, the Shadow was my only lead. I had to follow it.
Reading through the legends, I noticed that the sightings slowly moved farther from the big cities over time, and they were also less frequent. Then, there was a sudden spike of sightings in a forest near the edge of the country, all centered around a small town called Caefild.
That’s where I was headed, Caefild. I was on my way to find this Shadow, and hopefully, I would also find Z.
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Chapter 2 - The Light at the End of the Tunnel
The guard led me down, down into the dark stairwell. At some point, the steps ended and we began walking down a hall, slowly maneuvering our way through twists and turns blindly. At some point, long after the glow from behind us had completely disappeared, a new glow shined faintly in front of us.
It still took some time to get to the source of this blinding light. The labyrinth beneath Prism was seemingly endless. “Are all the maximum-security prisoners located somewhere down here?” I asked.
“No,” the guard shook his head. “No, this one is… special. That’s why I was hesitant to have you start with him. Oscoinne is under very heavy lock-and-key.” He continued weaving his way through the maze.
Curious, I looked up and asked, “How many guards have access to him?”
“Only the warden, his inner circle, and myself.”
“Why you and not any other guards of your rank?” He stopped and turned back to me, pulling his sunglasses off for a moment. His dark face was hidden by the shadows, the light was still ahead of me, but his yellow eyes glowed clear as the sun.
“I’ve got a Token. Means something along the lines of ‘energy’. They hired me specifically to guard Oscoinne as soon as they saw what I could do,” He tugged his collar down, revealing a symbol glowing the same yellow as his eyes just beneath his collar-bone.
I racked my brain trying to remember if I had seen the symbol for this Token. It seemed familiar, but then again, Tokens often looked similar due to their origin.
Millennia ago, when humans were just learning to harness the innate magic of our world for their own, a few managed to bind themselves with magic. They managed to intertwine their own soul to a symbol imbued with magic. This magic was passed on genetically, and evolved from generation to generation, eventually becoming Tokens.
Each Token has a symbol that came from a word in the ancient language of those first Tokened. As an ANGEL agent, we are supposed to be able to decipher any Token we encounter at a glance so we can plan strategies accordingly, but I didn’t score the best on the Token exam in the academy.
The guard had turned back around without further explanation of his Token, continuing the trek through the tunnels beneath the prison to the mysterious light.
We soon reached a large door. Light shined through the edges, blinding if not for the glasses. After scanning his badge once more, the guard swung the door open.
In the center of the room was a young man. He was floating above the ground in a black straightjacket with a metal collar around his neck, a Blocker. His short, slightly spiky hair was a dandelion yellow with black roots shining through. He didn’t look particularly tall, 5’9” if I had to guess, and his face looked rather young. His eyes were a milky white, further hinting at him having a Token.
I didn’t notice any of these things about him, however. The first thing I noticed was how his mildly pale skin glowed. The light source we had been following down the tunnel for the last few minutes had been entirely coming from him. In fact, looking around the room, I couldn’t find any other light source. He overpowered his Blocker, I thought. Not by much, but he did overpower it.
Seeing us, he cracked a toothy grin, revealing what looked like fangs. “Visitors? How fun!” His voice was full of… something. I couldn’t tell what, but I knew it was bad. I suddenly had an overwhelming urge to leave as soon as possible. “I wasn’t expecting anyone for at least another half hour.”
The guard smirked, “Surprise inspection. This is Agent Aikos of ANGEL.”
“ANGEL? What is that, some kind of spa?”
Struggling to remain stoic, I responded, “Actually, Mr. Oscoinne, it stands for ANomaly Government Encapturement League.”
“Please, Mr. Oscoinne was my brother. Call me Zack,” He said. Then, as an afterthought, “Or Z.”
“Okay, Zack, let’s start with an easy question. Why are you here?”
Once more he grinned. “I stole a few things, broke a few things, you know how it goes.”
“Mass murder. He snuck into the Dirillan-Salisean Embassy during peace talks and leveled the building,” The guard behind me spoke up.
My eyes widened, Dirill hadn’t existed for at least three centuries. It had been destroyed by Salisea in a massive war. I was relieved that I had the sunglasses on; I couldn’t let him see any cracks.
Zack’s grin grew wider as if he had seen my reaction anyway, “Like I said, I stole a few lives, broke a few buildings.” Then he laughed. It was a childish, chaotic laugh as if he thought he was the funniest thing in the world.
I cleared my throat and tried to regain my composure, looking to my next question. “I see you have a Blocker on. What is your Token?”
“I don’t know the specifics. He was always the one who knew all that useless information.” I turned to the guard, hoping he would have an answer.
“On his back,” he said, not looking up from his watch. “As far as we can figure, it means ‘light’.” I circled around behind the prisoner and pulled his collar down slightly. Sure enough, just below where his neck connected to his upper back, there was a Token glowing a brighter white than the rest of his body.
“Careful,” Zack taunted. “Any further and I’ll sue.” I walked back in front of him, checking my questions. One left.
“What is your daily schedule like?”
“Well, I wake up every morning at precisely 7 AM. Then someone comes in and-” He was interrupted by a small beeping coming from behind me. “Oops,” he said with a wink. “Time’s up!”
And then everything went white.
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Chapter 1 - Inspection Day
“Welcome to Prism Maximum Security, Agent Aikos,” The guard in front of me handed back my badge and opened the door. He seemed a bit too green to be working at such a dangerous job, but then again, he was just the gatekeeper.
“Thank you, but you can just call me Aaron,” I didn’t feel as if I had earned the title yet, despite being through the same as any other agent. Three years in the academy, one year of apprenticeship under a senior agent, and passing countless tests, both written and physical. I shuddered, thinking back to my running exam. I was out of commission for a week afterward. “And thank you for allowing this surprise inspection.”
“No problem Agent- er… Aaron. Regular safety inspections are important for a facility like this. Can’t have any cracks in the walls,” the guard chuckled. Laughing politely and nodding, I moved past the gate into the main compound, leaving the post behind. Another guard, this one looking slightly more confident in his abilities than the first, followed alongside me. The new guard’s eyes were yellow. Hm, I thought to myself, He must have some kind of Token.
The compound was like most prisons I had been assigned to inspect. A few grey brick buildings, a large courtyard, and, of course, a large, metal and concrete wall a meter thick surrounded the complex. The prison was known to hold some more infamous criminals, yes, but there were some “amenities” for less… raucous inmates, a library, a greenhouse, and even a pool among them.
I went around the prison, checking to make sure that everything was up to code. The second guard followed me, answering any questions I had. “How do you ensure that any inmate with a Token can’t escape? The pool and greenhouse especially seem risky considering how relatively common elemental Tokens are.”
“We have Blockers on any inmate with a Token, and we also try to hire guards with Tokens that counter those of our inmates,”
I made a note on my clipboard. Blockers were usually expensive, stopping all but the most powerful Tokens from being used. There were some murmurs amongst my co-workers about how our boss fought a suspect who overpowered his Blocker, but their story of how she did it changed each time. I should ask her about that next time I get the chance, I thought. “Any escape attempts since the previous inspection?”
“No, sir. There was some contraband discovered, and we thought they had found a way to make contact with the outside world, but it turns out they were just sneaking into the break room.” After making some final notes on my clipboard and checking over what I had written, I looked back up to the guard.
“Okay, that’s most of the infrastructure and general prison things done. Now I just need to check some of the maximum-security prisoners and I’ll be on my way,” I turned through my papers to find my list of special-interest prisoners. “Let’s start with… Zack Oscoinne.”
The guard looked slightly nervous for a moment, but only for just a moment. “Are you sure?” he asked. “You don’t want to start with any other prisoner?”
“I’m just going by my list. Oscoinne is at the top,” I responded. The guard sighed, checked his watch, then motioned for me to follow him. We walked into a small shed near the corner of the compound. It was an unassuming grey, like the rest of the buildings. The guard swiped his badge against a scanner on the door, and it swung open.
It was filled with an assortment of tools. A few lockers lined the wall, presumably with spare weapons for the guards based on the locks. A table sat in the center of the room, dinky chairs surrounding it, and a few loose cards on top. A couple of screens hung from the walls showing blurry images of various locations around the prison.
“We both need to scan our badges,” the guard said. He was standing under the screens at what looked like a control panel. I reached above my head and grabbed my halo, a piece of standard ANGEL equipment. I’d made some modifications to mine so that it was more than just identification, as most agents did, but every halo identified its agent nonetheless.
As I pressed my halo to the scanner, I heard a hiss next to me. A staircase leading downwards into darkness opened from the floor. The guard stepped down a few steps, grabbed something off the wall, and handed it to me. “Here,” he said, handing me what looked like a pair of sunglasses. “Trust me, you’ll need them,”
Why would I need sunglasses for such a dark tunnel? I thought to myself, chuckling worriedly in my head. I put the shades on anyway and followed the guard into the darkness.
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