The Shadow of Death

by Timothy Smith

  Keller: "How much should I be expected to endure from them before my faith is shaken?!-” And sighing, he continued, “-I know you mean well Cherise, and you say those two also mean well, but with all that’s happened, I’m honestly not so sure anymore." He said as he took his leave.

  …So this is what Keller really thinks about Ira and Theo now?...

  I suppose after all that’s happened, I can’t say I entirely blame him, but why does it have me so worried?...

  When Keller left Cherise to ponder her thoughts, she had an unusual uneasiness overcome her. For some reason she could not explain, his parting words unsettled Cherise to her very core. It was as if Keller’s words somehow inadvertently eluded to something far greater. Similar to the lingering feeling of being followed by a sinister presence in the dark of night, it was a sensation of dread, she just couldn’t quite seem to shake.

  ────────

  Later that very day, the sun had set, and it was already the dark of night. Everyone in the Order of the Light was already fast asleep, with the exceptions of those in their ranks who remained guarding the outer perimeter of the temple grounds, and of course the temple itself. Two of the men on post were at the front of the temple’s front doors. Torches perched beside them, the pair remained ever vigilant, as they diligently stood watch.

  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as the two men continued their nightly watch until they both heard an unusual sound. It wasn’t the faint hissing of the wind, or the creaking of their burning torches, but something else entirely different.

  The guards glanced at each other for confirmation this sound wasn’t simply a trick of their imagination. And seeing that it wasn’t, they both motioned to one another to listen more intently to discern the sounds true nature, and where it was coming from.

  The unknown noise continually grew louder as one of the two guards asked of the other, "What on Ehya is that?" But not having any answer readily available, the other man hushed him to listen in more closely to find the answer for himself.

  The sound was still gradually growing louder, making it easier to detect where the source of the strange noise was emitting from. As they listened in, both confirmed its location. The two looked back to the temple doors just behind them, as they heard the strange sound coming from within the very temple itself. The disturbing realization immediately made them on edge.

  One of the guards pointed his thumb back towards the temple, with a shocked expression, he was unable to hide a slight hint of fear when he said, "The noise... It's coming from inside."

  To the surprise of the other who agreed, saying in disbelief, "You're... You're right! How can that be? We’ve been here all night, there’s no other way inside the temple’s hall." The pale look on the other man’s face confirmed he was in agreement with the statement.

  Preparing themselves mentally for only a moment, the men quickly signaled to one another a small countdown before simultaneously opening the doors forcefully wide open. In front of the two, the room laid empty as before, with nothing out of the ordinary. Everything inside the marble temple appeared to be as it should be. Nothing was out of place or amiss. There was however only thing that seemed out of place. The sound they heard suddenly, and without warning, came to an abrupt halt, immediately as soon as the temple’s doors were cracked open.

  The temple was just as they had left it, but knowing what they heard, the guards treaded carefully forward to do a more thorough inspection.

  Both were only a few feet inside, as one of the guards looked every which way around the insides of the temple’s hall, before saying nervously to the other, "I know I heard something… You did too! Something must’ve made that noise."

  The other clearly unsettled guard acknowledged the other man’s comment, by saying in return, "Yes, I heard it. It wasn’t your imagination, or a trick of the mind, but what would you have me say?... The temple’s empty. There's nothing here.-" And after a second of silence, in frustration, he proclaimed further, "-Nothing!"

  Responding to the man’s last spoken word, the sound started up again. And as soon as the noise returned, the once unassuming glass orb was slowly becoming enveloped in black cloud.

  The guards looked on in terror, as the volume of the sound became exponentially louder, revealing its true nature. The noise was unmistakably the sound of a grim cackling laughter. Sinister and inhuman in its origin, the men of the Order immediately knew what they were contending with.

  With fear gripping their hearts, one of the guards looked to the other, as he frantically yelled out, "It’s the Beast! We have to tell the others!" He said while pulling onto his counterparts shoulder.

  As soon as the man grabbed onto the other guards shoulder to make their escape, a dark essence, with the appearance of a living shadow, slowly started emitting from the orb. After seeing this, both men froze in fear, as they stared directly upon the face of death.

  The unnatural being only gave the guards a second’s time to bear witness to its true for, before its sinister laughing became ear shattering, as the dark essence rapidly expanded. Like a raging flood, the darkness quickly spread across the temple’s hall in every direction. The men could barely even turn to flee, as darkened essence rushed rapidly towards them, engulfing, and consuming the two in its wake. Muffling their screams, the living shadow completely enveloped the two before passing over, continuing its path outwards.

  Appearing to have broken free from its shackles, the dark wave escaped the confines of the temple, as it poured out the open doors. Now, the unnatural essence appeared to be in the form of a dark fog, as it glided over the temple’s courtyard, purposefully heading towards the Order’s living quarters.

  ────────

  It was a bright and sunny day, as Keller was making his usual rounds. Walking through the temple grounds, and seeing to it that everything remained in order. He exchanged pleasantries with any of his subordinates he passed by. In time, the old man was well content with himself after thoroughly inspecting every nook and cranny of the Order’s grounds, before retiring himself to his quarters to relax after a job well done.

  Waiting for him, his favorite food was already fully prepared on his dining table. The old man smiled at the sight of his meal, before anxiously sitting down to eat. As he was about to take his first bite, he felt an unsettling presence, as if something was terribly wrong. As soon as these thoughts crossed his mind, he heard a blood curdling scream coming from just outside. Looking up at his window with a sudden concern, Keller hastily got to his feet, grabbing his cane, preparing to inspect what could’ve caused such a commotion.

  As Keller started heading outside there was another scream, followed by another, and another. Frantically the old man made his way to his door, as the blood curdling screams simply would not relent, all of them coming from voices familiar to him. Panicked as he was opening his door, and upon coming outside, Keller looked around the temple grounds with utter disbelief. Nearly all the members of the Order were slain. The cuts were so fresh that the blood still flowed from out of their wounds. Unable to bare the sight, and having a hard time making sense of the situation, he held his hands over his eyes.

  Upon moving his hands from his face, Keller suddenly found himself in front of the temple’s doors, which were now open wide before him. The guards who were tasked in protecting the temples entry, laid dead at the doorway beside him.

  To his amazement, Keller looked inside the temples halls, which revealed a horrible truth. The orb inside was covered in a thick dark essence, which surrounded it like tentacles, swaying around, emanating, radiating all round it. To the old man’s eyes it could only mean one thing, the Beast of legend was stirring from its slumber. But worse yet, he saw what else lied inside the temple. Standing beside the orb was someone who had their back turned to the old man. Keller witnessed as the intruder outstretched their hand toward the dark sphere.

  ────────

  In a cold sweat, and laying in
bed, Keller was restlessly moving about. Consumed by his dream, the old man rocked back and forth, as he talked in his sleep. While he slept, Keller was panicking, screaming, and shuddering in fear before awaking from his slumber. Sitting upright atop his bed, his heart raced fiercely.

  It was the dead of night when Keller awoke from his nightmare. He was in the safety of his room, with only the light of the two moons peeking through his window, to offer any clarity to his surroundings. His heart was still racing non-stop, as the old man held tightly onto his chest, before letting out a deep sigh of relief that it was all just a nightmare.

  After Keller let out the large sigh of relief, the light cracking through the open window became increasingly obscured, diminishing, as a sound of an unnatural yet sinister cackling arose. The laughter continued getting louder, as Keller looked up in terror to where the window was. Wide eyed, the old man gazed upon a monstrous creature that towered over him.

  At least ten feet tall, the supernatural being appeared to be humanlike in structure, but in the dead of night, the appearance of the dark presence was difficult to fully discern. In the dark, its monstrous eyes and wide mouth glowed white like the lesser moon, as it stared down on Keller in a wicked delight.

  Speechless in his terror, Keller somehow seemed to have recognized the dark fiend that stood by his bed, as it was laughing hysterically over him.

  The sound of the fiends cackling laughter was similar to that of thousands of ill-intentioned voices, laughing as one. And gradually, the tormenting laughter coming from the creature was increasing in volume, as the monster continued. The dark figure turned its gaze from the old man to look upwards, and as if it were laughing triumphantly, the creature then threw its arms to its sides as it kept laughing. The fiend only stopped cackling when it decided to speak.

  Darkness: "ALL OF YOU HUMANS... ARE SO...-" And with a sudden, violent, jerking of its head, it faced Keller before it spoke further in a menacing tone, "-PREDICTABLE!"

  Keller didn’t have time to consider what the monster eluded to, as he screamed aloud, recoiling in terror, before falling off the opposing side of the bed from the fiend, and hitting the ground. Frantically pulling himself further away, Keller looked over the top of the bed to get a sense of what the fiend’s intentions were next. In astonishment after looking over his sheets, Keller noticed that the dark figure he’d just seen, vanished into thin air.

  It wasn't long after, that three of Keller’s armed subordinates came rushing in. Each of them were visibly worried as to what could’ve caused their leader to yell in terror in the middle of night.

  The first one of the men entering the room kneeled beside Keller before asking, "Sir, are you alright?! What happened?!" With a pale face, and heavy breathing, Keller turned to the guard to exclaim.

  Keller: "I've had a vision! The Darkness! It’s returned!" He said to the somewhat skeptic look of the others, and swiping his hand sharply, he yelled out further to them.

  Keller: "Go gather the elders! And have someone see to the state of the orb! A great calamity may be upon us! We must take every precaution!"

  The guards now seemed slightly unnerved themselves before obediently following Keller's instructions, and heading out immediately.

  ────────

  As instructed, several of the guards went to inspect the temple, as they raced down the courtyard.

  One of the men coming near the temple said out loud to the others, “What could've done this?!"

  As they approached, they saw temple doors were wide open. And inside the temple’s halls, laying on the ground, were the two guards who were stationed at the temple’s doors. Both of them now lied unconscious. Even though this was the case, the orb inside still remained intact, and nothing else was amiss.

  ────────

  The elders of the Order made their way into Keller's chambers, all of them were uneasy after seeing the state of their flustered leader.

  One of the elders finally worked up the nerve to ask the old man, "What is it, Keller? What has happened!?" With fear in his eyes, Keller responded.

  Keller: "It's the Darkness… After all these years it's now seeking to break free of its prison. No matter the costs, we cannot let that happen! No matter the cost!!" He said this with an unwavering determination.

  CHAPTER 38 – CHAMPION

  At a later time in another place, the sun shone down brightly onto the vast stretching grasslands of the Great Plains. Theo was there, smiling proudly while standing side by side with others in the alliance of the Free Peoples of the West. All of the soldiers looked outward to the east, cheering triumphantly, as the remnants of an Aelaan force were in full retreat before them.

  By his new attire alone, Theo was distinguished among his army’s ranks. From his clothing, to his armored arm, and even to his great sword, Theo stood out amongst the other men he fought alongside. And not giving Theo much time to appreciate in this victory with the others, a white bearded man, in high ranking attire, started approaching him by horseback.

  The man said excitedly, "Another great victory against Aelaa. Wouldn’t you say?-" And with a taunting grin, he looked at Theo before saying sarcastically, "-Especially since we defeated all of those Aijin." The man said this knowing full well there was not a single Aijin in sight, dead or otherwise.

  Theo: "Come on, Auric! I keep telling you that the Aelaans have Aijin in their army! Why would I possibly lie about this?!"

  The man’s demeanor quickly became more serious when he responded, saying, "Damn it, kid! Have you no sense for decorum? I'm to be referred to as General Raddington, especially around the troops!"

  To which Theo gave an uncaring look back, responding with an equally uncaring annoyed sound. It was a short sighted response that immediately provoked Raddington to speak further on the matter.

  Raddington: "Where'd you learn to be such a smartass?" It was an off the cuff comment, but Theo actually gave it some serious thought, as he contemplatively looked for answer.

  And after giving it a few seconds of sincere thought, he answered.

  Theo: "If I had to guess, I'd probably blame it on my best friend. He's just the worst kind of troublemaker, but I love that knucklehead." He said with a mischievous grin before giving Raddington a good look.

  Theo: "In fact when it comes to smartasses, he might only be second to you, old man." His comment garnering an annoyed look back, which lasted a few good and uncomfortable seconds, until the general finally spoke up.

  Raddington: "I'll have you know, that even though I'm well into my fifties, it doesn't mean that I can't or won't kick your ass." His comment didn’t seem to really bother the young man, on the contrary, Theo couldn’t help but laugh in return.

  Rolling his eyes in annoyance, the general started to remorse out loud.

  Raddington: "Tell me, when there’s so many people in the world, why is it that our champion had to be the village idiot? Riling up my men with stories of Aijin, as if the others didn’t have enough to worry about already!" Ignoring the insult, he responded more insistently to the general.

  Theo: "I’m serious! I wouldn’t lie about that! Sure we haven't seen any Aijin in these last few battles, but I've seen evidence of them over near Kings Height. Aelaa has somehow managed to tame these creatures. I know firsthand the signs of a Aijin’s attack, especially since I’ve personally fought these beasts before." Letting out an obnoxiously loud and unconvinced scoff, the general exclaimed back.

  Raddington: "The Aelaans would have better luck taming the elements than they would with Aijins. They are a savage creatures that prey on anyone, or anything they can their claws on, with hide like metal. No man, nor nation, or empire for that matter, can ever hope to tame such foul monsters... You ask me to believe you, when all you have to go by is the aftermath of a fight? I'll believe your claim, when I see it for myself!" Theo just shook his head in return, giving up on the matter for the moment.

  Right after this brief conversation a soldier ap
proached Raddington from behind, giving him a salute, and exclaiming, "General! An emissary from the elves has just arrived, bringing with them roughly a hundred guards. They're waiting back at the camp." With Raddington’s interest piqued, he responded with an optimistic smile.

  Raddington: "Oh really? It'd be rude to keep such guests waiting." He said before turning his horse around to head back from where he’d just came.

  As Raddington started making his way back to the camp, he soon realized that Theo was following only a few steps behind him. He was instantly annoyed again, after coming to this realization.

  Raddington: "What the?! Why are you following me?" And Theo casually answered him back.

  Theo: "I've never seen an elf before, so I was curious. And I figured it’s at least something to do, so I don’t get bored. So I might as well tag along." Raddington was clearly unimpressed with his answer before turning his attention back forward.

  Raddington: "Just try not to embarrass me by doing anything you'd normally would do, will you?” It was a particularly irritating comment that Theo wouldn’t let slide so easily, as he responded with a mischievous grin.

  Theo: "Don’t be like that, Auric. You know me. I would never do anything to embarrass you!" He said jokingly.

  Without even turning his head in response, Raddington responded. Sounding somewhat teasingly and yet somewhat seriously, when he spoke.

  Raddington: "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. Heck, maybe not even this week, but one day, Theo, one day.-" And twiddling his finger in the air, Raddington continued saying, "-You’re going to end up with my boot lodged up your ass." With that vivid example to think of, Theo shook his head and silently laughed to himself.

  As the two kept heading back to their camp, Theo looked up at Raddington, atop his horse. And noticing he seemed to be in deep thought for some reason, Theo felt compelled to ask.

  Theo: "What are you thinking?..." Taking just a small moment to come out of his deep contemplation, the general looked at his army’s champion.