Shadows

I walk out of the bathroom with a cleaned mask and place it onto my face. I begin to make my way toward the living room and open the shadow magic book. What's revealed are beige and blank pages.

I stop for a moment in confusion, and from the corner of my eye, something catches my attention. I look away from the book and notice the hall's shadows have begun to sway unnaturally. The shadows stretch as if reaching toward the open book. The shadows crawl up my legs and make their way toward the book before ultimately making contact. Upon contact with the book, black print appears against the pages and begins to burn with a black flame. Finally, the words turn into smoke and hurriedly makes its way into my mouth and nose.

Concepts and imagery begin to fill my brain. I lean against the wall as images of a world of shadowy figures flow into my mind. Suddenly I feel as if I'm standing in the center of a large circle of darkness with what feels like countless eyes staring at me. Eventually, the darkness parts as a short shadowy figure approaches me and stops just out of reach.

The shadow that looks to be wearing a dress does a spin and performs a curtsy before giving a little wave and melting into the ground. The puddle of black rushes toward me and engulfs me. For a moment, I feel as if I'm staring into an abyss before the blackness finally flows downward and settles at my feet.

[Ding]

[Acquired Skill: Novice Shadow Magic]

'Wow. I wasn't expecting it to be so intense.'

I start searching through the knowledge implanted in my mind, 'Ah, so that was the process of my own shadow being given form. Callista didn't really concern herself that much with other kinds of magic, but I vaguely recall Night Demons went through a process similar to this when they reached the novice skill level. If I recall correctly, all shadow magic requires the use of your own shadow in some way.'

I stare at my shadow for a moment, and as if sensing me, it fluctuates slightly. I take a deep breath and continue walking toward my objective.

'I'll test things with a live subject this time. Status.'

Name: Eira Callista

Gender: Female

Race: Vampire {Pseudo True God}

Level: 3 (0/50)

Health: 308/330

Mana: 36/150

Strength: 18

Endurance: 18

Agility: 19

Intellect: 15

Constitution: 33

Talents: Paranormal

Skills: Intermediate Blood Magic; Novice Scythe; Novice Shadow Magic

Titles: Heir of Blood

Essence: -90

'Well, I have mixed feelings about some of the things on my status, but at least I have shadow magic now.'

Reaching the living room, I peek around the corner to see everyone sitting around watching the television. They are all still bound by their chains, but the chains are long enough to leave them plenty of room to wander about the living room.

Suddenly a news anchor begins to speak, "...Things in Anchorage are worsening as the military has now formally been authorized to use explosives and other highly destructive means within the city of Anchorage."

"Scary stuff, Jessie. While things continue getting worse, some are pointing to the girl that was originally filmed on the 'Moonlight' as a beacon of heroics and hope. However, some conspiracy theorists are questioning who this girl is."

I tilt my head, '...Wait, they aren't talking about me, are they?'

"That's right, James. There have been some people saying there is a connection between this girl and the brutal killing of Japanese police officers in Japan. Japanese government officials claim the suspect was a Japanese Nationalist who managed to smuggle weapons into Japan illegally; however, rumors are going around on the internet that claims all of this is completely fabricated, and despite the rumors, the Japanese government has maintained its stance and has refused to release any footage of the incident. In fact, government officials have moved to seize any footage of the incident."

"Continuing from where Jessie left off, some who had managed to find witness videos online before the footage was removed claimed the two people seem to share a few similarities. There are all kinds of wild theories going around the web, but most continue to maintain the girl is a hero and are wanting to know her identity."

A small smirk creeps upon my face, 'Interesting, very interesting.'

"Yes, we're all interested in learning more about this girl during these uncertain times. When we come back, we'll take a very brief break from our Anchorage coverage to have a chat with a biologist who is claiming that some animal species appear to be showing inclinations toward more violent behavior. Some are wondering if perhaps this is due to the Crawler virus..."

"Dammit!" Bryon reaches for the remote and turns off the television.

The Staff Captain looks at Bryan and blinks a few times, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?! They're calling that girl a hero meanwhile they're calling us cowards. That girl is a vile monster!"

I frown, 'Well, as interesting as that was, I've had enough of this extra noise already. Let's begin.'

I concentrate and move a bit of mana into the shadow on the ground. In my head, I say the spells name, 'Baleful Whispers.'

The shadow trembles and quickly begins to move through the dark corners of the room.

Bryan continues to rant and rave, "It's bullshit! If that girl hadn't kicked me when she did." Bryan makes a fist, and everyone looks away awkwardly.

Behind Bryan, a small shadow rises along his back and moves close to his ear, "It's not your fault," it says.

"It's not my fault!" Bryan yells.

The shadow continues, "It's your teammate's fault."

Bryan stops speaking abruptly and tilts his head.

"They're all against you. It's only a matter of time before they betray you. You shouldn't trust them." the shadow says.

"...I-I."

"They're liers. Deceivers. Manipulators. They've been plotting against you this whole time. They're why you're in this mess."

"..." Bryan opens and closes his mouth like a fish.

Finally, one of the soldiers walks up to Bryan, "You alright, Lieutenant?"

Bryan shivers when the soldier touches his shoulder and quickly jumps up. The chains rattle loudly as he begins to scream, "You! Don't touch me!"

Bryan pushes the soldier to the ground causing his head to slam into a coffee table.

"Goddamn! What the hell, Lieutenant!" The soldier yells while checking the back of his head for blood.

The second soldier calls out, "What are you doing, Lieutenant!? Are you alright?"

Bryan looks over to the other soldier hurrying toward him, "What am I doing? I'm...what am I doing?"

A shadowy voice again speaks into Bryan's ear, "You're just protecting yourself. No, you're protecting your country. No one can be trusted."

"You...I can't trust you either! Get the hell away from me!" Bryan yells.

The soldier looks shocked and confused, "I...Listen, just calm down, Lieutenant."

With urgency, the shadow speaks once again, "Hurry before they try to attack! You need to defend yourself!"

Bryan's expression suddenly turns to one of fear. He looks around the room desperately before spotting a heavy-looking antique book stopper, "You're all in on it! You're all just trying to destroy this country along with that little girl!"

Bryan grabs and swings the book stopper at the soldier's face slamming into it and sending him flying backward with an obviously broken nose. Seeing this, the other soldier quickly stands and rushes Bryan. The soldier tries to hook Bryan's arms behind him, but instead, they both end up tumbling to the ground. Bryan frees his arms easily and raises the book stopper bringing it down onto the soldier's face.

Bryan raises and brings down the stopper a second time and then a third onto the soldier's face, "You're all with her! With her! With her! With...her?"

Seeing Bryan wavering, I pull back the shadow and step into a nearby room. Sounds of footsteps come pounding down the hall before a loud voice rings out.

"What are you doing! Have you gone completely mad!" Terry yells.

"...She...her?" Bryan mumbles.

I sneak back out and stare back into the room to find everyone standing around Bryan and the bloodied soldier. Terry runs forward and throws Bryan against the wall. He shows a look of surprise for a moment, seemingly underestimating some of his new strength, but he quickly recovers his composure.

"Her?! Are you talking about Audrey, because all I see is everyone in here staring at you while you beat your own squadmates to near death!" Terry bellows.

Bryan stares at Terry and Sam, "Sam? You...are you bleeding? Why is your hand bandaged? More importantly, your eyes?"

Taking that as my queue, I step from around the corner, "Oh my! What happened here?"

Bryan looks at me with bloodshot eyes, "You! What did you do to them! What did you do!"

Bryan stands and begins to charge only for a large arm to reach out and grab him. Bryan looks up to find Sam locking him in place, "Lieutenant...Bryan, I don't know what happened while I was well about to die, but you need to calm down. Please leave...Eira alone."

"You don't know what you're saying! She obviously has done something to you! This is all her fault!"

I tilt my head cutely, "My fault? Well, I admit I may have done quite a few things, but I don't remember making you beat one of your own soldiers to death. Did anyone here see me do anything?"

Everyone looks at one another but doesn't say anything.

I shrug, "See. I think you should be looking at yourself. You're obviously cracking under stress."

Bryan points at me, "I'm...I'm fine. It's you!"

"I wasn't even in the room. I just heard everyone running in this direction, so I came to check it out."

I look at Terry and Sam, "Hello, Brothers. What happened to your hands?"

"...Punishment." They both mumble quietly.

"Oh my! That's unfortunate. I wonder whos fault it was that you two had to be punished?" I look toward Bryan.

"Punished? What are you talking about?" Bryan asks.

"Oh. I think it's pretty obvious. Why don't you ask these two yourself? They might have a thing or two to say." I point to Sam and Terry, but they're staring at the bloodied soldier.

"...Eira, can the Goddess save him?" Sam looks at me with an awkward expression.

"Of course she can, but if she will is up to the Goddess!"

Terry and Sam look at one another, "Can you ask her for us?"

I sigh, "I suppose I can. Although bothering her so soon makes me a bit nervous, I'll do it for my new Brothers."

"Thanks." Terry and Sam both say.

"No problem!" I grab the soldier and begin to drag him down that hall.

'One more for the blood race.' I giggle.