Shadow Walkers

by Kostura, Micheal

  Valus turns to Isaac. “And you remember this- my Stitch allows me to simply extract one’s soul.” Valus then turns to Nick and smiles as he lifts his hand off of his mother’s head. A grey, gas-like substance clings to his hand as it seemingly comes out of Maria’s body. And as the last of it escapes from her, Maria’s eyes roll into the back of her head. She falls to the ground.

  Valus laughs. “And those affected by my Stitch don’t just die, they also fall over like ragdolls. Kind of pathetic- don’t you think, Nick?”

  His mother's body lying still on the ground triggers something inside of Nick that he never would have expected. Without even meaning to- without a single confirmation of what just happened before his eyes- Nick screams louder than the voices in his head.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Nick

  Nick couldn’t keep track of how long he was screaming for. It felt like an eternity had passed before Isaac grabbed him and shadow jumped away from Valus and his mother’s corpse. Even as they jumped through the shadows- where Nick was supposed to be strongest- he couldn’t stop to catch his breath. All he could do was scream and replay what had just happened over and over again in his head.

  The duo resurfaces next to Allison, Damon, and Hector, who were still in a heated battle with Cleo. Allison talks over her shoulder as she keeps an eye on Cleo.

  “What happened?” She asks with a worried expression on her face. Nick accidentally makes eye contact with her and quickly looks away. He felt pathetic, scared, and above all else he felt useless. He didn’t want his friends to see him like this.

  “We’re returning to the Pit immediately. You three come to Crescent Moon Bridge.”

  Without giving them time to ask any more questions, Isaac and Nick shadow jump once again. They emerge at the very same bridge that they pledged their cooperation to each other at. A few seconds later and Allison, Damon, and Hector show up on the bridge as well. Nick holds his face in his hands and cries out. The feelings of despair that he felt on earth slowly start to fade away, and he was gaining more self-aware thoughts. It was as if a spell was finally being lifted, allowing him to think clearly.

  “Nick, what’s wrong?” Allison asks softly.

  Nick shakes his head and wipes the tears from his face. He drops to the ground, leaning his back against the bridges railing. “He killed her!” He doesn’t mean to shout it out, but he still couldn’t wrap his head around what had happened. In just one day he went from being determined to save his mother to cowering in defeat. Just the thought of Valus made his chest tighten from fear. Was this the true power of an elite Void?

  “I’m so sorry, Nick.” Hector says.

  Isaac looks around. “Things aren’t right here. We need to go to the Council immediately to report what has happened, and see what the status here is.” He turns to Nick and holds out a hand. He grabs it, and his captain helps him get on his feet. “Nick… I know I’m asking for a lot, but can you pull through for just a little longer?”

  Nick wanted to tell Isaac to go away. Part of him wanted to yell at Isaac for recruiting him in the first place. If he never embraced his life as a Shadow Walker then none of this would have happened to him. But a bigger part of him- the part that his mother raised him to be- knew that it would be unfair to try and place any blame on Isaac. Especially learning about what Isaac went through in the past.

  Nick dries his face off on his sleeve and somehow manages to steady his breaths. He didn’t want to do anything else besides lie down and die, but he had a responsibility to follow through with this mission. As long as he was standing, nobody else would fall to the Void- at least not without a fight. “Let’s go.”

  Isaac smiles. “That’s the Nick I know. Now everybody grab on, we’ve still got one big problem left.”

  Nick and the others grab on, and Isaac shadow jumps once again. This time they emerge in front of a door. Isaac knocks a few times but never receives an answer. He eventually takes it upon himself to open the door, only to reveal yet another horrific scene.

  “Dad!” Allison shouts as she makes her way into the Council meeting room. The rest of the group shuffles in behind her as she kneels down next to her father’s limp body. Blood is splattered on the floor, surrounding the bodies of the three Council members. Nick’s body threatens to shut down once again. How in the world could the three most powerful Walkers alive be defeated in the same room?

  “Dad please, wake up!” Allison says as she shakes her father’s body.

  “They’re all alive still, no need to worry.” Isaac says. Nick doesn’t ask his captain how he could know such a thing, and instead chooses to just trust his words. He knew all too well not to doubt the types of abilities Shadow Walkers possessed.

  As if to confirm that he was indeed not dead, Marcus Marxon’s eyes flutter open and he groans. “It seems you made it back okay, Allison.”

  “Yeah. And the three gates outside of the Pit were protected.” She takes a look at the stab wound in her father’s shoulder. “What happened here?”

  Marcus groans again, but sits up with his back against a desk. “It was Captain Gerald. We were getting prepared to execute him after he began to transform, but he appeared in the Council room and struck us down before we even realized what was happening. We were careless thinking that he was strong enough to live through the bite.”

  “Where is he?” Isaac asks. “We need to stop him before he causes any unneeded chaos.”

  Marcus points at a window in the back of the room. “The Walkers altar. That’s where the gate is here in the Pit. We destroyed the Gatekeeper that came to attack, but Gerald seems like he’s going to go finish it’s job.”

  Isaac nods. “Then let’s head out there to stop him. Grab on again everyone.”

  “Wait!” Marcus shouts. “Take this, Isaac. You’re one of the few I trust to use this without being corrupted by it’s power.” The Council member reaches into his pocket and hands something over to Isaac, who looks at it with wide eyes.

  “Lydia’s ring?” He asks.

  “It can repair the gates.” Marcus says. “You’re a memer of the Midnight Order, you should be able to use it properly.”

  Isaac nods. “I understand. Now let’s head out immediately.”

  Nick’s group all grab onto Isaac’s arm. They shadow jump away once again, this time to some place that Nick has never been to. When they emerge from the shadows they are sure enough greeted with someone assaulting the invisible gate that was protecting the Pit. The captain Nick once met was now barely recognizable. Gerald’s body was at least twice it’s original size, and his skin was a light shade of purple. Needless to say, it was obvious that he had undergone some type of Void transformation.

  Isaac summons his sword and shoots a wave of ice at Gerald. The ice connects, but for some reason it doesn’t freeze him over. Instead, it shatters against his skin and he lets out an angered roar. He bangs on the door once more and a loud crack echoes throughout the Pit like thunder. Nick is almost blinded by the sudden light shining in the air. Slowly but surely, two doors begin forming around the bright vertical light, which stood as the crack between them. The doors swing open, and the bright light fades away. Behind the doors of the Pit was only darkness.

  Isaac runs towards Gerald and swings his sword. But a Void suddenly appears in it’s path and blocks the blade with his bare arm. A man with purple dreadlocks now stood in the way of Isaac and Gerald. The Void looks over his shoulder at the Walker turned Void.

  “Go break the other gate from the inside.” The man orders. Gerald grunts, but follows his orders and disappears into the darkness beyond the gate.

  Isaac grunts and steps away from the Void man. “Brutus, you just had to show up at a time like this. Why’d they have to send number two.”

  Nick instinctively begins cowering at the presence of his new enemy. If he really was ranked number two in the Queen’s Hand, then he was almost as strong as Valus. Nick didn’t want to go up against something like that
again.

  Thankfully his teammates weren’t stuck in a state of fear. Isaac swings his blade again, but Brutus yet again blocks with his arm. Nick didn’t understand why the Void’s arm wasn’t getting chopped off, but his captain didn’t seemed the least bit phased. Isaac releases a strike of lightning from the tip of his sword and shocks Brutus. An arrow flies straight into the Void’s face. But unfortunately, it only shatters upon impact. Brutus seemed to even be unaffected by Isaac’s shock.

  Allison curses. Hector summons a wolf using his silver stone. “Go track down Gerald!” The wolf immediately bolts off and runs into the darkness, a silver trail of smoke left in it’s way.

  “Good thinking, Hector!” Allison says.

  Brutus pushes Isaac away with one swing of his arm. “You think I’m just going to let you go in there and stop him?” He snaps his fingers and purple goo forms on the ground around him. A wall of Void monsters crawl forth to guard the lining of the gate. Among them is Cleo and Arion, the third and fourth strongest Void respectively.

  Arion shoots a devilish smile Nick’s way. “Thought you killed me, huh? Unfortunately for you I just had to go into stasis for a while.”

  Isaac curses. “Damn it, we don’t have the time to deal with all of you!”

  Nick quickly studies the situation. He didn’t have a lot of energy left, but there was only one thing that he could think of that would let Isaac and the others push through and follow after Gerald. Stopping him was the only way they could save the Pit. And no matter what it took, they had to take him down before the second gate to the Pit was broken. Nick knew that, in his current state, he wouldn’t be of any help in an all out battle. So he does the only thing left for him to do.

  Nick begins to focus all of his energy into what will be his last combo attack. As his teammates begin taking down the fodder Void, Nick summons a wave of energy on the ground in front of him. While paying close attention to his teammates positions, and making sure that he leaves a way for them to get through the gate, he sends the giant wave of energy flying against the wall of Void.

  Even the elites are taken off guard as all of the Void are suddenly frozen from the waist down. Nick musters up enough energy to send out one last burst of energy. The ice around the Void becomes thicker and thicker, until all of them are fully encased inside one giant block of ice. The only space or opening was one wide enough for his teammates to step through the gate.

  Nick’s legs instantly become so weak that he begins to fall over. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he fell. He saw his teammates trying to speak to him, but he couldn’t hear a single word. His vision was blurred, and he felt as if someone was stepping down on his chest. He didn’t know what would happen to him after using so much energy, but it was the only thing that he could do to help his teammates out. At least this way- even if he died- his teammates would be able to go and stop Gerald. They would be able to save the Pit. And with that hope in mind, Nick hits the ground with a smile on his face.

  And then everything goes dark.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Allison

  Allison moved faster than she ever thought possible as she made her way over to Nick’s limp body. She crouches down and holds her teammate up in her arms as she checks for a heartbeat. The pulse was faint, but it was there- and that was all that mattered.

  “He’s alive, but he needs medical attention ASAP!” Allison yells at her captain.

  “What was he thinking by using up all of his energy like that.” Isaac says shaking his head.

  “He was giving us an opening.” Damon says flatly. The Void boy walks over and grabs onto Nick’s torso, pulling him off of the ground and out of Allison’s lap “You three go on before these guys break out of the ice. I’ll stay back and take care of Nick.”

  Allison shakes her head. “But what if he-”

  “Allison.” Isaac says her name firmly. “Damon is right. We need to get in there and stop Gerald before it’s too late. Nick did this specifically to help us out, we can’t let his efforts go to waste.”

  Allison takes a look at her unconscious teammate. She wanted to slap Nick for doing something so reckless, but was too impressed by his resolve to look down on him. She looks at Damon with mixed feelings. A couple weeks ago and Allison would have said she couldn’t trust a Void. But Damon has managed to prove himself time and time again as her ally. First by rescuing them from Valus back on earth, then by helping them fight in Eros. And now, here in Allison’s own home, the Void was offering to guard her teammates life. As much as her father would hate to hear it, she couldn’t deny that she truly considered Damon a friend.

  “Take care of him.” Allison says softly. Damon nods and picks Nick off of the ground, cradling the boy in his arms. He begins walking away without speaking another word.

  “Now let’s go in.” Isaac orders. Hector and Allison both grab onto one of their captain’s shoulders. Together the three of them walk through the gate of the Pit. As soon as Allison steps into the darkness beyond the doors she feels the sensation of shadow jumping come over her. Though this time she didn’t feel like she had any sort of control over where she was going.

  “Hold on as tight as possible. I don’t know if shadow jumping works the same now that we’re invading the Shadow Realm.” Isaac says.

  Allison and Hector both use their free hand around their captain’s arms. The three of them slowly move through the Shadow Realm, seemingly floating along to nowhere in particular. She wasn’t used to being in the Shadow Realm for such a long period of time, and the darkness was starting to creep her out. For a moment she wonders if the three of them and Gerald were the first people to ever explore the Shadow Realm.

  After what seems like a few minutes, Allison spots a green light that glows brighter and brighter as time passes. Isaac notices the light as well, and the three of them start moving towards it. A few moments later and Allison had drawn close enough to the light to make out it’s surroundings. Never in her life did she think that there would be solid ground in the Shadow Realm, let alone a torch hanging on the wall of a castle.

  The three of them land on top of a small platform made of black bricks. The torch offered a green fire that lit up the area just enough to gaze at the castle. The victorian style building was constructed with dark bricks of varying colors. Besides it’s style, the building showed no signs of old age. A drawbridge was lowered that connected the platform they were standing on to the doorway of the castle. Allison was having a hard time taking in the beauty of the castle.

  “What in the world is a castle doing here in the Shadow Realm?” She asks with her eyes glued to the dark walls towering above her.

  “Don’t know.” Isaac responds. “But let’s go in. It looks like Hector’s wolf left us a little trail to follow.” He points towards the castle's entrance. Allison was so interested in the building upon landing that she didn’t even notice the thin silver trail of smoke hanging over the drawbridge.

  The three of them begin running across the drawbridge, following the silver trail left behind. Upon entering the castle they are greeted by darkness. But after a few seconds of silence, purple fires are suddenly lit up on the torches lining the castle walls. And now that they could see, Allison was once again amazed by the beauty of the place. Statues lined the walls, expensive looking carpets were under their feet, and a chandelier with black candle light hung from the ceiling above.

  Isaac stops walking. “Wait, where did the trail go?” Allison looks around in confusion, and sure enough the silver trail was gone. Her captain looks at Hector. “Can you pinpoint Gerald’s location with your tracker powers?”

  Hector shakes his head. “Nope. And for some reason I can’t even pinpoint either of your locations. What’s going on?”

  Isaac scowls. “There must be some other power at play that’s preventing us from pinpointing Gerald’s position. Be on your toes, we have no idea what could be inside this castle.”

  Allison’s stomach tightens
. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they might be walking directly into some kind of trap. Just as she was preparing to voice her concerns, Hector points ahead.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” He asks. Allison follows his finger and see’s that, at the back of the room, there was some type of symbol engraved in the wall.

  The trio stops walking only a couple yards away from the wall. They look up and study the strange image in front of them. Allison was sure that she had never seen this symbol before. There was a diamond engraved in the wall that surrounded a more intricate design. On the inside of it, there were two lines that intersected to form a cross. At each edge of the crosses four points, there was a circle. The circles were each placed near the corners of the surrounding diamond.

  Allison notices that the four circles had much more detail behind them than the rest of the symbol. The top circle was completely carved into the wall, while most of the left circle was protruding from it. On the left one there was a line that split the circle in half, and on both sides of that line there was a small square carved into the wall. As far as she could tell, it was perfectly symmetrical. The bottom circle resembled a ring. The majority of it was carved into the wall, but there was a thin line which shaped the edge of the circle that was sticking outwards. And the last one, the right circle, had half of its design carved into the wall and the other half protruding from it.