The rise of Shadow [2]

Lights were surrounding me.

Sitting on a metal chair with my hands and legs tied with it.

"I would like to ask you a few questions. What is your relationship with the late [Adam]?" he asked me while holding a paper on his hand

"I don't even know his identity, his face, his name, and even his background information." I spoke as I looked below thinking I may have done something that's making me suspicious.

"When did you met him?"

"When I was seven." I wanted to scream that it isn't me, but I can't

"Did he tell you anything about his plans?"

"....(His plans?)" I was silent.

I began to recall my memories about him.

{"Er, so....this is our base for now, since your smart enough to understand the situation, I can let you in here anytime" he looked at me with a smile, "Why?" I immediately asked while clutching my fist, he looked shocked and for a while, he then nods. "You are a strange young boy who caught me red handed but instead you only looked at me and didn't run away that time." he patted my shoulders

"This world is full of mask and fake feelings, this is why I wear masks that cover my eyes somehow but, you saw it through me, you saw the side of me who thought this is all wrong." he sat on the chair and looked away, I just stood there silently, looking at how he is going to explain everything why he does this.

"I am not..." he spoke silently that I would need to get closer to hear what he is saying, ".....ahaha, never mind that just now" he crossed his arms and continued saying, "But, you should not fear me as anyone else would do, I am also just a normal guy with an normal mindset"} ----

"No, he haven't shared his plans with me."

"I see, well, since you answered all of our questions, we'll not charge you with death penalty, but you'll stay in prison for 5 years." he pulled me up and escorted me to the cage

"What?! But I haven't done anything!" I tried to resist but, I decided to calm down.

"Don't move, or you'll be charged by resisting." he squeezed my armd and throws me into the cage.

(Aaaagggghhhh!!!!!!!! I am going to make him pay for this!)

'Calm down Adam, you're soul energy is overflowing'

(I don't give another damn about that, I just need to convince them that I am innocent!)

'Well being angry at them isn't convincing that you're innocent at all. Calm down for a bit.' Inhale...exhale...

"Listen, I may be suspicious to something connected with me but, it really wasn't me, why would I do that?" I shouted at the officer, he looked away and pretended he didn't hear me.

The tacking of the shoes comes echoing in a distant, then finally as I looked below, I saw a pair of white clean shoes, I looked up and it was George.

"You don't want to be here either?" he squat along with me and raised his head on his arms, "What do you think I'll like it here, I have a family you know." I was furious, I clenched my fist out of anger.

"You want me to help you don't you?" he smirked and chuckled, "Don't look down on me you peasant!" I shouted at him, "Whoa, scary...but it's okay you're not as scary as Forero getting angry." he smiled at me.

"I don't care! I don't belong in this cage!---" *open*

"Okay, we need you anyway, so think of this as a deal, I'll help you if you get captured, and you'll help us on whatever we need to." he pulled me up and I realized that he opened the cage for me.

"Follow me." he went towards the exit, "What about the guards?" I looked side to side, "Don't worry, Forero has it under control." we went upstairs.

"Does this mean I am going to be a criminal at this age?" I looked at him and he was silently walking towards the stairs, "I told you, don't worry, we'll cover your identity." he cleared his throat and opens the door.

"We won't be able to clean your name but, we'll cover your identity as much as we can." he pointed towards the entrance, "You won't be able to be a giere officer if you're exposed by your identity, are you sure you'll help us?"

(This guy! I knew that he'd need me, and he has manipulated Drake and other students, now he is trying to manipulate me!)

"Yeah, but before that..."

"?--!" I performed the axe kick aiming for his head but, he seems to have dodge it and his collarbone was damaged, with his guard down, I performed the front kick targeting his head and I succeeded.

"Haha....." after getting hit twice, George was laughing, "You, really get on my nerves." he lifted his hands up, and a hurricane came surrounding him, leaves where flying, dusts where floating.

I covered my face to block dusts that'll enter my eye, and to also be able to block his attack. (Tch! He is a high ranked sorcerer, he may be able to make me unconscious in just one strong wind to blow me down. But as I suspected, he won't make things go expected by someone like me.)

'I'll cover you, Adam' Shade's shadow power added my soul energy, keeping unstable strength hurling over in my body.

"I'll make you suffer." he held his hands up high to make contact with the cumulonimbus towards him, the sun was covered by the thick gray clouds that'll soon be the reason of my death.

"FALL!" by his command, lightning stroked to the ground, making the ground crumble and shake, as far from I knew, I would be in danger if I would stand there ay longer.

I ran away from the entrance, and think of a solution, (The best way to counter his attack is.....earth!)

Right after I looked back to cast a spell, another lightning strike upon me, I hopped away.

"Deform!" as I casted an earth elemental spell with mine and Shade's soul energy, the ground before me formed into a wall just as planned.

(He won't be able to see me right?) I was panting, I wasn't ready to fight someone high ranked as him, I ran for another 50 meters, away from him, and George just keeps catching up on me.

"Your speed is for weaklings." he pointed his hand on me, "Falling cumulonimbus!" another command from a sorcerer, the giant gray clouds look upon me, and a stride of lightning was about to hit me.

(What should I do? Even if I would run away, that lightning will hit me on another 80 meters, I won't be able to run away from it now!)

"Strike!" the lightning was about to go down but, somehow it magically stopped. I sighed out of relief and as of realization, George was there standing behind me, holding my arms, leaving me unharmed.

"You foolish young boy, come, I won't hurt you furthermore--!" as he was about to forcedly pull me away towards his chariot, an arrow stopped him from moving as it was supposed to damage his forearm, I looked up and it was the deathbringers.

I smiled and chuckled, "You're dead meat now." I ripped the rope he tied against my back and I casted the fire spell, with succeeded practice, I was able to use fire with my bare hands, "The fire dragon's breath!" I pointed my hands towards him and a load of fire shoots towards his body and his surroundings.

With him completely off guard, the deathbringers pulled me up with their pet dragon, "Thank you for saving me." I huffed hard as I wasn't able to control my body from the immense soul energy.

"You forgot to use your mask, Shadow." Hollow gave me a costumed mask, same as [Adam], with only my eyes covered.

"Thank you" I smiled and wore the mask, "So, since you are now a fugitive suspect, what will you do next?" Hollow crossed his arms, "I don't know, I left my family there, and I want to see them."

"We can't do that, Shadow, your identity about the deathbringers will go public." he tilted his head and sighed, "Sorry, but I promise I will be very careful!" I pleaded Hollow.

"I won't force you to stop but, we're just simply worried about you....." I looked at them, and they were all there, Scarlet, Reaper, Astro, Frisk, and also Hollow.

"If you need help, we already know, we'll come." he patted my shoulders and I nodded, he granted my wish to see my family again, and so I decided to visit them early in the morning.

As I snuck into our house, it was dark and quiet, as soon as I stumbled along something, I lit the candle and what I saw was breathtaking, it was my father's corpse, I covered my mouth as I was breathing heavily.

My body was shaking, my mind couldn't handle the grief I witnessed, I checked his pulse to see if he was still alive but, there was none. I looked at his face, his eyes were plucked, his nose was crooked and his face was covered with bruises and blood.

His arms were torn apart, his legs where cut off. Who would do such a brutal thing?! Everything happened so fast that my mind couldn't handle it, chest hurts so much that I could cry. I checked the upper floor to see if they survived but as soon as I looked at the stairs, Mother was laying, her back looks like she have been stabbed 22 times.

Her arms was stretched out, she seems to have been reaching for something, her ears were cut off her throat were sliced horizontally, her organs were stolen, her ankle broke. I tried to look away but I was shook.

I continued to go upstairs, there was blood spilling on the floor and splatter on the walls, I went into my room and so there was, the last piece of hope broke into pieces, I felt empty--in pain, in sadness, in resentment.

My sister's corpse was there on the floor, her left arm were stolen and her heart was no longer there, her eyes weren't present and her fingers were now short. I cried, I embraced her into my arms, I wept. Blood stains on my shirt and on my arms--no one is longer there to support me.

My eyes were swollen, my mind is numb everything just felt like a dream, I tried to stab myself but, I can't, I want to take revenge. I want to know who is behind all of this.

My mind came up with negative thoughts, darker than black, I smiled and howled of laughter, "I'm going to kill you George!" I shouted. I couldn't help but cry, my chest hurts as if my heart has been stabbed too many times.

I left their bodies behind, I went outside to flee with the deathbringers.

"How did it go?" Hollow pulled me up towards the dragon, "Hollow, we need to go to Neideberg." I pointed North, "You got some plans after that?" he rode his dragon and controlled it to flee north.

"I thought you're a mature kid, but after all, you are just a coward." Scarlet crosses her arms, "What about you? It also seems like you're the same age as mine." I looked at her.

"Do you want to die early?"

'Stop it Adam, if you don't know, Scarlet also has overflowing soul energy inside her body.' Shade interrupted

"Hmp, whatever I guess, Hollow.." I looked at him and he smiled, "...can you help me get rid of George and Forero?" I sighed, the wind across us few by.

"I can, but, why do you want to kill them?" I was silent, he knew that I was planning to kill them at all costs, "I saw my family's corpses, you won't know." he smiled and said, "Okay, we'll help you."

We arrived at Neidelberg and to my surprise, the city was silent, papers flew around the city, buildings weren't clean and no other people was living there, "The cases of murder in this place impacted on the villagers' panic." Hollow was walking around looking for a sign.

(As far as I could remember, George needs my help to investigate this place, and there's a 50 - 50 percent chance of doom and success.)

"We'll scatter up and find traces of George or the others." I looked at the team and they nodded.

I headed straight towards an abandoned shop, food were scattered everywhere on the floor, looked at the cashier table, and money was there untouched, I looked at the toilet, blood was splattered on the walls. I analyzed the situation.

(A crew or the manager left the cashier alone to take a bathroom break, and while he was inside the toilet, let's say an unknown man went inside the shop and the cashier mistaken him as a costumer, and so he did a scene here, where he may have threatened the cashier, and the cashier took some of her money from the drawer and put it on the desk.

While the unknown man doesn't want money, he deliberately pulled her away from her station and may have strangled her, as the cashier was struggling, the food from the shelves came dropping towards the floor, and at last the unknown man ended her life without spilling blood from her body

As soon as he finished the cashier's life, he headed straight to the toilet to see any witnesses and there was, he ended the scene in a flash by shooting the crew or the manager. To leave no traces from the scene, he carried both corpses away from the shop.)

This is getting out of hand, maybe the unknown man was George, no...George wouldn't want to leave traces from his plans. So this is the work of someone else.

"Are you done?" someone pats my back from behind, I looked back and it was Scarlet, "What are you doing here? I told you to scatter up right?" I crossed my arms.

"I did and I found traces from another building towards this place." she pointed her thumb at the apartment building. "So, this is all the work of a single person?" I scratched my neck.

"It's possible but, how come the giere officers may not have captured the suspect yet?" she sighed and sat on the desk.

"I don't know, for now we need to gather information as much as we can." I looked at her and walked outside she followed me from behind. "I don't know why you're doing this but....." I took out my blade from my boots and slashed her, she dodged.

".....you're going to fail on killing me." I looked at her and she held a katana on her waist, I hopped backwards to avoid getting hit, but her speed on swinging her sword towards me is inhumane.

"Wait! Why do you want to kill me?" I countered her attack with my blade, "Analyze, Shadow, Analyze..." she swung her sword further, and I dodged.

"Deform!" I casted a spell below her legs and she stumbled towards the floor and quickly back up and catch up on me.

Suddenly a strong wind stopped us from fighting, "Stop it, you're wasting much time!" Hollow jumped down from the building and landed safely, "I don't know why you're fighting but, it's against our rules." he held Scarlet's arm and she took away her weapon.

"Fine." she crosses her arms and looks at me, "Shadow, you should be careful sometimes, you won't know if someone wants to kill you even in a situation like this." Hollow pats my shoulders.

"Then that means, that was part of a lecture?" I tilt my head to see Scarlet, she nods.

"Thanks." I smiled at Hollow and he patted my head, "Shall we go?" he pointed into a narrow pathway between two buildings.

"What did you find?" I tilt my head and he nods towards his comrades, "We found a mass number of corpses along the way to the path, and I tell you....."we headed forward towards the pathway.

It was surprising, there were corpses put above each other. The pathway smelled rotten.

".....these corpses are killed by the same person."

TBC.....