Chapter 290: Rituals and shadows

A brilliant green light, one that blazed brighter and stronger than any lifestone Claud had even seen, was currently spilling out from the floating gem in the middle of the city square. Count Lostfon, who had revealed the startling, soul-shaking sight that was his Terra Jewel, looked at the shadow that stood beside him, his deep eyes scanning through the crowd of shadows as they passed.

Claud watched on in silence. In this form, there was no way for him to interfere…assuming he wanted to in the first place. The great Dark wanted the Terra Jewel; if he were to snatch it right now and flee, there wouldn't be a place for him to go.

Fortunately, at least, there wasn't this insane urge within him to snatch the Terra Jewel, unlike the previous times when he'd targeted the Moons' Bearers of Destiny.

"Keep your promise, Dark Herald." A sonorous voice rolled out from Count Lostfon, directed at the shadow beside him.

The shadow nodded once, and the Terra Jewel floated over. Black light spilled out from the Dark Herald, binding it and encapsulating it in a black globe. Within seconds, the darkness deepened into a void that seemed to suck in all light, before releasing the trapped, writhing shadows up into the sky.

The hollow sunlight that was struggling to illuminate the city weakened further, as an enormous symbol appeared above the city. Black geometric patterns unfolded over and over, and shadows began to materialise all over the city.

Claud's clenched fist opened up, and the vision he saw faded away, replaced by the smooth interior of the metal band around his head. "The Terra Jewel's handed over. The Dark Herald is summoning shadows from the sky with it."

"I can see that," Lily's distant voice replied. "But why can the Terra Jewel do that in the first place?"

"We'll probably need to ask someone who knows for the answer," Claud replied. "Alright, going back in."

Clenching his fist once more, Claud observed as Count Lostfon left the venue slowly, making sure to keep his head very still like the other shadows in attendance. Fortunately, the shadows here hadn't noticed him, or they didn't think he was any different, which allowed him to watch them without any issue whatsoever. Cheering in his mind mentally, Claud prepared to copy whatever the other shadows did.

His hopes, however, were shattered a moment later, as every single shadow in existence turned to look at him. The synchronised tide of turning heads chilled his blood as countless gazes fell upon him, and the urge to flee flooded his mind.

For some reason, however, his body seemed to have grown some roots, and with a jolt, Claud remembered that he was currently using the Second Shadow. His panic faded, and his mind began to whirl.

Wait, they actually knew that I'm not one of them? Then why did they let me stand here with the others? Or was it because this was a public ceremony, and they assumed that I was one of the remaining people here? What should I do now? Should I stay and watch? Or…

Before he could decide his next course of action, one of the shadows gestured with its arms. The watching crowd of shadows returned to normal a heartbeat later, as if they had forgotten about him.

Eh?

The action was soon picked up by a few nearby shadows, who did squiggly motions with their hands too. For some reason, they seemed quite human; Claud could feel a measure of curiosity from them. However, prolonged interaction would definitely be problematic, which was why Claud simply waved goodbye, unclenched his fist and then removed the Second Shadow from his head, before shutting it off decisively.

"Claud?" Lily looked at him. "You look horrible."

"Yeah, because the shadows actually knew that I wasn't one of them." Claud wiped his forehead.

"Eh?"

"Yeah." Claud got up and wiped his forehead. "They all turned to stare at me like some freak after Count Lostfon left. Have you seen a crowd look at you in silence, without any warning whatsoever? I haven't, but now I have. Freaks, I say."

He shivered once. As a thief, being the centre of attention was something against his very being — Claud knew that his reaction was intense and out of the norm, but it couldn't be helped.

"There, there." Lily patted his head. "Odd. I get the feeling I've been doing this a lot recently. Have I been doing this often?"

"Not so much that I would have noticed," Claud's mouth replied.

Lily tilted her head. "Putting that aside, how did the shadows react? Did they tear your body apart and stab you with nearby implements?"

"No, surprisingly enough." Claud cupped his chin. "For some reason, the ones near me started gesturing with their hands and everything, like they were trying to talk or something. I freaked out at this point and shut the whole thing off."

"Gesturing with their hands?" Lily rubbed her nose. "Interesting. Maybe they were actually talking, and then wondered why you were so silent. Or something along these lines."

Rolling off the bed, Claud peeked out of the room's window, and then heaved a small sigh as he observed nothing out of the ordinary. Flopping onto the bed a moment later, he looked at the ceiling and said, "Maybe. But I don't know how they noticed me, and why they ignored me a moment later."

Lily folded her arms. "Why don't you go through the whole thing with me again? They're shadows and everything. Maybe they could read your mind or your emotions."

"Emotions?" Claud found himself repeating that word, and then thought back to the events leading up to that alarming turn of events. Narrating his thoughts and observations out loud, Lily stopped him at the point when he cheered his useful disguise, and then mulled on the issue for a moment.

"So, they turned to look at you after you cheered in your mind." Lily tapped the bed. "Like, I'm reminded of a situation, like say, a noble's funeral, and someone in the crowd cheers and laughs loudly during the burial. Everyone looks at that person oddly, because it's inappropriate. Make sense?"

"Well, if you put it that way…" Claud played with the mattress streets. "Yes, that would explain why my outburst of cheering was deemed as odd, but does that mean those shadows have the concept of societal appropriateness?"

"Probably. And then after you stopped, the other shadows lost interest, except for the ones that were directly in your vicinity," Lily continued on. "And, like humans, they asked you about why you did that…okay, I'm just guessing randomly at this point. Why would they gesture at you?"

The two of them mulled on this point, but seeing as how the city was still peaceful, there really wasn't much for them to guess. After bouncing ideas off each other for ten or so minutes, the duo gave up, and Claud skedaddled over to his pillow.

"You're tired?"

"Yeah." Claud yawned. "I know, it's early, but I think my poor heart can't take it anymore. Being stared at by an entire crowd is really terrifying, even if they didn't actually notice that I was faking it."

"That's still just a theory," Lily added.

"A very reasonable one," Claud rebutted. "Your words make a lot of sense. Right, where are those two little fellows? Are they still napping away?"

"Crown and Throne?" Lily nodded. "They were meeping a few times earlier while you were watching the green light…wait, you forgot to tell me what happened during that green light thing."

Claud tried to remember the scene back then, and then pondered on a suitably dramatic rendition of the visual experience. It was a scene that he couldn't forget; there was something sublime about how the shadows mingled with the Terra Jewel, as well as—

"Claud?"

"Oh, right. Count Lostfon handed the Terra Jewel over, the Dark Herald covered it in shadow, and the resulting product shot darkness into the air and created some odd circle," Claud replied.

"Odd circle?" Lily rubbed her nose. "Claud, don't ever become a storyteller. The way you narrated it was so dry, I think you just made a new desert."

"Hey! That's mean! I wrecked my brains to think of a good description!"

"That just makes it worse, okay?" Lily patted his head. "Next time, leave the descriptions to me."

"Normally, I do it a lot better, okay?"

"Really?" Lily tilted her head. "I don't seem to recall you retelling grand events that colour the sky another colour. Or if there were indeed such instances, they were so bland that I forgot."

"Ouch."

"Ouch indeed. You should read more books, okay?"

Claud's stomach rumbled, and Lily's eyes lit up. "When I was younger, I liked to read books while eating. Wanna give it a try?"

"I'm quite sure I'll end up dirtying the book…"

Lily pulled him up. "Come on! Give it a try. Who knows? Maybe you might end up liking it!"

"Fine…"