The Shadows- Fire's Hope

by E Kathryn

Keller eyed Mark admonishingly. “It takes time,” he repeated. “Normally if a Shadow did that to me, I’d segregate them, but because your Shadow is so incredibly unrefined, I’ll let this one pass.”

  Hesitantly, Keller got up and glanced in Mark’s mug to see it was empty. He stepped to Mark and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Use your Shadow a lot, become accustomed to using it under stress, and you’ll learn fast.” He gestured for Mark and Kip to leave the room with him. Kip drank the last sips of his tea quickly and got up to follow.

  XI

  A LOST CHILD

  In an attempt to ease the pain in his back, Mark collapsed onto his new bed and sulked, letting everything wash over him. He hated this place. He could only name one good thing that had come to him here, and that was Kip. Still, it was awkward. Kip was very ignorant.

  Mark’s eyes followed Kip as he was addressed by Sage with an apology for misfiring, but Mark didn’t want to pay attention.

  He didn’t know what to think, if he was different or he was meant to be normal. He didn’t know what was going to become of his powers, or what he would have done with his life if he were not a Shadow. All he had to him two days ago were school and video games. All he cared about were the stats, the adrenaline, the playful screaming, the aspects of video games, which were completely useless in real life.

  Despairing, Mark buried his head under his pillow and gave up. It was useless. He’d never get out of here. He’d be stuck with these people for the rest of his life with powers that would never become refined. Who was he kidding? He had powers. He could light his hands on fire. That was not normal.

  Mark heaved a sigh as he watched Kip. Overthinking everything, Mark found himself pitying the Shadows who had been trapped in this place for their entire lives. He stared at Kip mindlessly as he sat on his bed with what looked like a big textbook.

  Mark guessed the text had something to do with Kip’s Shadow since he was glancing at his hand every few lines and creating bright lights which experimented with various purposes that came to Kip’s mind.

  Not only was Mark unable to understand Shadows, but he felt like he would never understand Kip. The boy was creative and bright, kind and active, friendly and compassionate. It was entirely unfair that Kip was lost from the world. However, Mark felt he could tell by looking at Kip and through the Realm, that there was a lot more to Kip that even he didn’t know, and maybe no one did.

  Sitting upright starkly, Mark mimicked Kip, crossing his legs and sitting very still. While Kip had a book, Mark had nothing but his thoughts, and acquired a meditative posture. It relaxed him, soothed his worry, and he found himself closing his eyes.

  In the darkness through his eyelids, he could see the Realm, black and magnificent. Even without entering it, he stretched his mind out through the Realm, feeling each of the Shadows around him and even the Shadows beyond them.

  The whole ASH shimmered with the colored lights of over a hundred Shadows living within it. Even the cold marble walls glittered with a bright cyan light from Shadows feeding their power into it. Outside the ASH, Mark could see the ASI shield covering the whole property, but it wasn’t ginger-bronze.

  Within the Realm, it glowed cyan, the same as the walls. It was the same power. It was all the same Shadow that controlled the ASI. Mark’s brows knitted together as he recognized it. A Shadow was responsible for keeping the Shadows imprisoned here.

  He opened his eyes slightly and frowned. Who could have done this? He thought the Shadows all worked together. They all thought the same, didn’t they? How could one of their own be willing to work with Keller to keep them locked up?

  Catching sight of someone near him, Mark looked up and gasped. Sil was standing over him, watching him closely. Scrambling back onto his bed so fast, he slammed his bruised shoulder into the wall, Mark barely took note of the perplexed expression upon Sil’s brow.

  “I’ve never seen someone learn how to do that so quickly.”

  “D-do what?” Mark stammered, still very nervous even though Sil remained calm with only a miniscule hint of that icy demeanor.

  Sil bent down a little, nearing Mark, uncomfortably close to his face. “You’ve known you are a Shadow for all of forty-eight hours, and you already know how to use the Realm without entering it?”

  Gulping, Mark eased his way upright, letting himself be in Sil’s presence without being afraid. “It’s always been there,” he whispered. “I’ve always been able to feel it. I just didn’t know what it was, and I never saw any Shadows.”

  Rising, Sil crossed his arms. “Ocie taught me how to stretch my range in the Realm, but the ASI blocks me from reaching much farther than the shield…” Pausing, Sil closed his eyes and grimaced. “But your range is huge!”

  “How do you know?” Mark asked, ever cautious.

  Hesitating, Sil bit his lip, and gradually, he gestured beside Mark. “May I?”

  Flustering, Mark tensed when he realized Sil wanted to sit on his bed. Pressing his lips together, Mark managed a very slight nod, and Sil sat.

  “You’ve never felt the restrictions of the ASI like I have.” Sil spoke a little faster than Mark expected. He sounded slightly accusative, a little jealous maybe, but not in an intimidating way. “You’ve had fourteen years, completely free, to expand your range in the Realm, whether you knew it or not, and even here, the ASI can’t hold back your ability to see all the Shadows beyond the ASH.”

  “But what is it good for?” Mark puzzled, not sure if he should be flattered by Sil or continuously worried.

  The hint of a smile appeared on his lips. “Oh, so much! If I could just get free of the ASH, I could find Shadows anywhere in the world. I could communicate with them through the Realm, without even entering it. That’s telepathic communication, don’t you get that? It’s a whole new level of achieving that unity Ocie always talks about.”

  Mark frowned and folded his hands in his lap. “That’s just another power to keep track of. What do you mean ‘unity?’”

  His eyes growing tender, Sil gazed off from Mark. He contemplated silently, then heaved a sharp breath. “Come into the Realm with me.”

  “What?” Mark gasped a little too promptly, but Sil didn’t wait for him. Pulling his legs up onto Mark’s bed and crossing them so they sat beside each other identically, Sil vanished into the Realm.

  Mark groaned, shooting a nervous look to Kip who was watching with equal skepticism from across the room. Rolling his eyes, Mark summoned the familiar feeling, relaxed, focused his breathing and closed his eyes.

  Instantly upon entering the Realm, Mark felt very cold and flustered at how close he stood to Sil. His icy form spread a cold aura all across the Realm. It surrounded Mark and enveloped him in a bright light. Sil conveyed only cool calmness with nothing to intimidate Mark, only peace, and Mark accepted the cold, letting his own fire dim slightly.

  Sil walked into the Realm, and he led Mark to a quiet place deeper inside. Lower in the plane of reality, Sil’s Shadow closed in ever so gently, and the aura came to rest over Mark’s mind. A shimmer of ice sparked before his eyes, and its light burst.

  At first, Mark was terrified, but when the Shadow imparted a string of feelings to him, he could only be mystified. These feelings belonged to Sil, who willingly shared them. Sil not only had an extremely refined Shadow, but in the Realm, he was even more powerful, able to impart his own memories, and take from other’s memories to see for himself.

  Mark watched with eager anticipation as the vision in the Realm brightened and became clearer. A blinding light offered a view of green as a portal formed into the real world. It smelled like early summer, a part of the memory that Sil’s Shadow imparted to him.

  Every sensation of heat or cold, scent and sight was given to Mark’s mind. He was outside in the courtyard many years in the past as it was revealed to him. The grass was a vibrant green, the sky was true blue, all seemed normal. But to Mark, it was too vivid to be his own memory. He perceived he was actually there.

/>   Mark entered the memory of his own accord and all at once the Realm disappeared behind him. Trembling, Mark stumbled through, feeling gravity take hold of his feet, and he whirled around as the dark world vanished behind him, not sure how he was going to get out.

  He looked around seeing the ASH. There was hardly any difference from the courtyard he had seen today, with the same amount of Shadows if not a little less. He couldn’t recognize all their faces, but those he did, he found appeared much younger.

  Stepping upon the sidewalk, he was abruptly plowed over by a seven-year-old running into his legs. Even in his memories, he was still just as clumsy. As he hit the grass, he hesitated to get up, surprised he could interact with Shadows in this memory. It was difficult to get up, and though his body did feel like his own, it felt lighter. He stumbled about until he realized in this memory, in whatever year this took place, his body was years younger.

  He spotted Kimberly across the field and to his surprise she appeared to be exactly the same age she was now. It seemed odd to him, but not outside the realm of possibilities. She was leading around a young Shadow, a boy, the same apparent age as Mark. The Shadow was ginger, and very scrawny. From the distance, Mark could learn little to nothing about him—other than figuring this was the Shadow he reminded Kimberly of so much.

  “That’s the Recluse,” a young voice pointed out seeing Mark staring.

  Mark looked down and nearly jumped seeing the child’s wild white hair and golden eyes burning directly into his. “The Recluse?” he repeated.

  A young version of Sil sat on the grass, surrounded by a light blue frost and playing with toys on his own. He nodded, seeming grumpy but not as irritable as he seemed in real life. “He never comes outside, except with Kimberly,” he explained.

  The Reclusive Shadow was a frail child, with long, outgrown red hair, clinging to a black bag he had strapped over his shoulder. He could barely stand as he ventured into the grassy field, testing his limits and savoring the faintest freedom. Mark wanted to get closer. He wanted to learn more about him, but Sil’s memory didn’t permit him, so he stayed.

  “You are Sil, right?” he made sure, looking over the little boy before him.

  Sil eyed him flaring his eyes an icy blue. “Are you stupid?” he mocked and threw a little snow at him which was out of place in the summer.

  Mark used fire to melt the snow instantly. “Who is that guy over there?” he asked.

  The wild-haired child scoffed, “I don’t know his name. I think he’s sick.”

  “Sick with what?” Mark pressed his luck, warily.

  Shrugging, Sil leaned back in the cold grass contently. “Maybe it’s because he’s ginger,” he mocked softly.

  Smirking, Mark sat down with him. He somehow managed a broad smile on his face even though he knew Sil was quite hostile to everyone. “What do you have against gingers? That’s just rude.”

  With a scoff, Sil pushed him away, using a literal wall of ice which Mark playfully tried to get around. “Weak redheads, they’re everywhere. Like that guy over there. He thinks he’s so tough!” he pointed across the field, and Mark turned to see over his shoulder.

  Over the distance, he saw Kip. The boy was so small at this age, but he happily played with his new Shadow. Mark remembered Kip had told him he couldn’t use his Shadow fully until he was about six or seven. Was that right?

  Now Kip easily fired off shots into the shield above, playfully enjoying himself as he fought back against his little prison. The beams of light were like bright lasers, capable of slicing through everything they touched. Mark could feel it in Sil’s memory, Kip’s cockiness enraged him.

  Mark grimaced, Kip wasn’t cocky. Not by a long shot. Kip was the nicest, gentlest, meekest person he had met so far. Kip showed off a little, but it never came off as haughty.

  Paling, Mark realized there had been a change in Kip. He and Sil had gotten in a fight before. Oh no… he groaned. He knew what was going to happen.

  The younger Sil got up out of the grass, disregarding Mark as if he wasn’t there. No! Mark wanted to cry out, you’re not going to attack Kip! You can’t do that to him!

  This was a memory. Nothing could be changed.

  Just as Sil had done to Mark, he instigated a fight with Kip, convincing the young boy he wasn’t as powerful as he thought he was. While practicing, his Shadow was good, but Kip was too unrefined to hold a candle to Sil, and Sil proved to him that he had no control over his Shadow, shaking his confidence.

  Why is fighting the way you refine a Shadow? That’s wrong!

  The memory took its course.

  Sil tried to hit Kip. Kimberly had to abandon her child to stop the fight until Keller and the ASOs arrived but nothing could stop Sil. Mark wanted to dive in there himself, he wanted to protect Kip, but for some reason, he couldn’t make his body do anything. He could only stare with the other onlooking Shadows.

  “I am as powerful as you!” Kip screamed suddenly. “You can’t treat me like I’m less than you!” His face was red with tears, barely bruised by Sil. Kimberly raced up behind him, not Sil.

  Mark tensed, something changed. In a second, Sil was no longer an aggressor. Kip was furious, and even in such a tiny form, he wasn’t helpless. This was what Sil wanted. As always, Sil had a firm purpose in the fights he picked. Not to terrorize or beat down Shadows, but to push them, teach them, and encourage them to refine their Shadows.

  This was never a good idea. Kip might not have been more refined or more powerful than Sil, but Mark could see easily. Kip was a thousand times more volatile than Sil.

  Pushed to the edge, Kip was sobbing. In the same position Mark had found himself in, Kip hadn’t lost his fight with Sil. Out of rage, he stood as victor. A fine beam of light zapped across the courtyard, horizontal with the ground. An unbreakable vector, singeing the air, and directed at Sil.

  The glistening gold burned into Mark’s eyes. The beam struck Sil in the shoulder, unstoppable and flying undisturbed until it ricocheted against the shield. One after another, Kip shot three quick blasts, each piercing Sil like a blade and passing through his torso.

  Mark felt like his heart stopped. That was a seven-year-old child he’d just seen get impaled three times. That was what unrefined Shadows were capable of. That was why they were dangerous. Sil knew this better than most.

  Kip collapsed to the dirt crying, barely realizing what he had done as Sil fell back, as good as dead. Mark couldn’t believe his eyes as Kimberly rushed to Sil, and Keller grabbed Kip, whisking the child off to a detention room while Sil was taken to the infirmary.

  How on Earth did you survive that! Mark pled, not sure if Sil could hear him now. He watched the child as he was carried off, barely breathing, but not bleeding quite as much as Mark suspected. Surely it had been the heat of Kip’s shot that had burned the wounds and cauterized them to some degree.

  The next thing Mark saw was blackness, Sil’s memory was bloody and dark, painful and long. And then suddenly, he saw a bright light and infinite seconds later he woke up. Sil opened his eyes to the fluorescent lights of the infirmary and the eyes of a small boy watching him.

  Sil was too weak to move, to even clearly see the boy near him. He wasn’t as innocent as Kip, but he had that wide, sweet smile. The Recluse had his long hair tied back neatly, and he sat on the lower bed in the infirmary. Brandishing a wet washcloth, the boy kindly dabbed it across Sil’s forehead until Kimberly arrived.

  “He’s waking up.”

  “You shouldn’t bother him.”

  Faint noises. Shuffling. And then blackness once more.

  The passage back to the Realm was given to Mark, and upon entering the Realm, he returned to the real world. As soon as Mark ceased to see the black void of the Realm, he faced Sil’s eyes gazing into his own. Unspoken, Sil simply looked away from Mark and whispered, “Thank you,” before turning away and leaving.

  Kip leapt to his side and gaped. “Are you all right?” he asked, his voice cracking. “W
hat happened?”

  Mark watched Sil’s fluid movements, now understanding. “Sil’s never shown that to anyone…” he breathed, “but… he showed it to me.” Mark stared bewildered by the knowledge he now had.

  XII

  INSECURITY OF FALLACY

  Emilie couldn’t stand the afternoons sitting around in her bed. She spent most of her time listening to loud music through headphones off the computer in the back room. The computer seemed like the only way to the outside world, and Emilie, most of all, valued that the ASH gave them the freedom to use it.

  Now, she had a name: Hellen Meyvise. Taking advantage of the ASH’s gift, Emilie knew how to learn using a computer and how to search.

  She knew her mother existed and that this woman had given her up. With all her soul, Emilie wanted her mother to know that she existed, and she wanted to be found. With years of searching on her own, Emilie had finally learned her mother’s name and she released all of her talents on the name.

  Nothing stood in her way now that the first major barrier had been passed. The Internet gave her access to know everything about her mother. She could see what she liked, who she was before Emilie was born, and most importantly, where she lived. A part of Emilie hated this woman for letting her go. Emilie had a free spirit that would kill her, and she knew it.

  The enclosing walls drove Emilie mad. If she never got out of the ASH, she was sure that someday she would do something terribly rash and someone would get hurt. She wanted her free spirit to bring out the best in her, and this prison merely amplified her worst.

  Emilie had attempted to hack into the ASH’s system countless times to disable the ASI in order to free the Shadows, but it was beyond her. She had succeeded in messing with the security system and the cameras once, but this only tightened security in hindsight.

  She didn’t enjoy herself as she learned of her mother. A burning anger welled inside her, becoming more and more volatile the longer she was alone.

  She kept at it until dinnertime when a poor Shadow came to inform her. She regretted it, but that didn’t stop her from mauling the Shadow as she had Mark when he first arrived. It did make her question her motives.