Shadow Walkers

by Kostura, Micheal

  “They’re gonna be scared out of their minds.” Isaac mutters.

  Hector nods in agreement. He looks at Damon and grins. It was thanks to him that the Walkers were able to stop the Void’s extermination plan. And it was also thanks to him, by telling Zerik and his father about Hector’s existence, that they might be able to get Serena’s ring. Damon was the trigger- a Void turned traitor who would mark the beginning of the biggest war in history.

  “Oh!” Hector says as he remembers one of the things that he wanted to discuss with the Council. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the purple stone capable of activating his “Room” ability. He focuses his energy into the stone, pointing it at Janice. A small silver portal appears next to her, and a book suddenly emerges from it and falls to the desk.

  “I found that book in the castle of the Shadow Realm. It had some really interesting stuff in it, and I figured it would be smart to take it while I was there. We won’t get another chance to go back, so… yeah. I didn’t understand any of it, but it talks about a lot of weird things. Just look at page 15- the page it was left on when I found it.”

  Janice picks the book up and opens it to the page that Hector recommended. She begins reading its text out loud. “The day I met Serena I knew that I had walked into something special- someone special. It had been a long time since I found someone that made me feel so… alive. I mean, how could someone so beautiful and strong really exist?” Janice pauses and cracks a smile. “Hector, you dope- this book belonged to none other than Lydia Walker. This is talking about the day she met Serena. The two were a bad case of ‘love at first sight’. To think that she would leave something so personal in the Shadow Realm.”

  “Oops, wrong page.” Hector says. “Turn to page one-hundred and fifteen.”

  She begins flipping through the pages of the book. She settles on a page and begins reading to herself. After a few seconds her face contorts in an expression of horror.

  “What is it?” Axus asks. Janice shakes her head and exhales deeply. She hands the book over to Axus. Hector thought that the Council member was the toughest person in the Pit, but even he seemed to be quite scared by what was in the book. Marcus takes the book from Axus’ hands, and upon reading its contents, his jaw drops in awe.

  “Thats impossible! We would have seen them by now. I don’t believe that such a crazy thing could exist.” He shouts.

  “Well do you expect the humans to believe in the existence of the Void?” Axus snaps back.

  Isaac holds his hands out in protest. “Hey, calm down guys. What’s in the damn book?” He looks at Hector with a raised brow, but Hector didn’t plan on saying a word. The few things that he did understand in the book made him anxious, and he refused to even speak about the things he read. The Council deserved to know, and it was up to them to decide how to handle the information.

  Janice sighs. “We mustn't let the other Walkers hear about this or they’ll be cowering in fear. I’m going to put my trust in Lydia’s words. The answers that she wrote down in this book confirm many of the suspicions that I’ve held for all these years.”

  “Then we will keep the book under our own possession.” Marcus says flatly. He looks at Hector and points his finger at the young Walker. “Hector, don’t you dare tell anyone about the contents of this book. Do you understand me? This information would cause chaos to rise among the Walkers and the Inverts. And we already have too much planned for the future- we don’t need to add this drama on top of it.”

  “Yeah, whatever. I didn’t plan on saying anything.” Hector grumbles.

  Marcus flips through the pages, skimming them as if he were trying to find a specific chapter. He stops on one page and grips his shoulder- a tick that Hector had long since caught onto. Allison’s father reads from the book.

  “The first man to survive through the bite became as strong as Serena and myself- something that no-one deemed possible. His power was unmeasurable, and his very presence left my body shivering. Somehow, he managed to obtain a Stitch and still keep his Walker powers. Three Chains and a Stitch was something that intimidated even me. Thankfully, he also retained his personality, and had no intention to harm us.

  “But he only survived for a short time after the bite. Once he tried to face the Queen of the Void herself, he was slain without mercy. The whole thing was just too strange to me. Nobody else had ever survived the bite, but he pulled through it and was perfectly normal. I’m beginning to think that only someone with elite power and a strong soul can survive the decaying process.” Marcus puts the book down and laughs. “Do you hear that?”

  “It’s sounds like nonsense.” Janice says. “But I’ll believe anything if it comes from Lydia Walker. If the man she wrote about was truly as strong as herself, then I believe he could fight against the bite. After all, Gerald showed strong signs of resistance, more so than your average Walker. Maybe a captain from the Midnight Order has the potential to survive the bite. Who knows what would have happened to Isaac if he weren’t healed.”

  “This is incredible.” Marcus grips his shoulder even tighter as his eyes grow wide. “This means that there is a way to not only get stronger, but to survive the one thing that we’ve feared for so long.”

  “Woah, woah, woah,” Axus says, “You of all people did not just say that the Void could make us stronger.”

  “I’m only reading what the text says. The man who was bitten retained his Walker powers and his sanity. And after the decaying process was over, he became powerful enough to compare to Lydia Walker herself. I’m not saying that we should be letting Walkers get bitten on the off chance that they can survive, but…” A wicked grin forms on Marcus’ face. “If someone were to survive, they would be an unstoppable military force. Power like that would be useful in the war against the Void.”

  Hector stretches his arms out and yawns. “Okay, I don’t really care about all of this stuff. I just want to say one more thing before I go home and crash. Page 312- It has all of the confirmation that we need about what’s going on on May eighth next year.”

  Axus takes the book from Marcus, much to the man’s displeasure. Once he finds the correct page he reads aloud the only message on the page.

  “The eighth of May is the only day that Serena will allow any future visitors into her home. She decided that, before we head into this final battle of ours, that it would be best to leave her ring in her fortress. Though people may find it hard to actually get inside. Only someone who can parallel our relationship will be able to unlock the entrance. And that person is the only one who will be able to use the power of her ring to it’s fullest potential. Though I don’t know how long it will take for someone to truly be as daring as we were…”

  Damon puts his hand on Hector’s shoulder. “That part has to be talking about someone like Hector. Serena and Lydia- a Walker and an Invert- were women from two different worlds that managed to fall in love. Hector is a Walker and an Invert. His very existence parallels the love that those two fought for.”

  Hector blushes. He wasn’t sure why hearing Damon talk like that made him feel so important, but the reason really didn’t matter. No matter how much he hated it- no matter how much he would rather Allison be in the spotlight instead of him- Hector had to face the fact that he was important. Damon was the trigger that started the fall of the Void, and Hector would be the force that pushes the Walkers forward.

  “Hector,” Axus starts, “If what Lydia says is true, then you truly will be the key to our victory against the Void. Do you understand what this means?”

  “Yeah.” Hector responds flatly. “It means I’m going to have a lot of work to do.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Hector

  The day after his meeting with the Council, Hector decided to finally take Damon on a tour of the Pit. He had already shown him all of the important spots around when Allison suddenly shadow jumped in front of them.

  “Hector, Damon, let’s go!” She shouts.

 
“What’s going on? Don’t tell me the Void are invading again.” Hector says as he rushes over to his teammate.

  “Worse.” She says. “Just grab on and come with.”

  “You always have to be so difficult.” He mumbles. Nevertheless, he and Damon both comply and grab onto her shoulders.

  And then they dip into the same shadow that Allison had emerged from.

  * * *

  “You’re leaving the Pit?” Hector shouts in disbelief. He didn’t want to believe what he had just heard- but it was impossible to deny what was right in front of his eyes.

  Nick stood awkwardly, looking at his feet as he fiddled with the straps of his backpack. The young Walker grins sheepishly. “Yeah. I need to just get away from all of this. I need to have some time to myself, to you know… readjust to my new life.”

  Hector shakes his head. “But you’re coming back, right? You’re not going to just leave us, are you?”

  His teammate laughs. Hector could tell that their was no real emotion behind it, but he knew better than to expect his friend to be happy after all that has happened to him. Nick looks at Hector and smiles. “Of course I am, you dummy. I’m still a Shadow Walker. But I’m also half human. I’m not as used to this stress as you guys might be. Two weeks ago the biggest problem I had to worry about was getting home on time. Now I have to worry about preventing genocide.”

  Allison laughs lightly. “But wouldn’t you be safer here in the Pit? Back on earth the Void are everywhere, I don’t think it’d be smart for you to go there by yourself.”

  “And he isn’t.” Isaac says. He puts his arm around Nick’s shoulders and smiles. “I’m going to watch over him.”

  “You’re leaving us too?” Hector asks. “Oh god, you can’t just leave me here to deal with Allison.”

  “Hey!” She shouts as she punches Hector in the shoulder. “If anything, I’m the one who's going to be putting up with you.”

  Everybody laughs, even Nick. Even though Hector was reluctant to see his friend leave him, he knew deep down that it was the best choice for Nick. After all, he probably had friends back in the human world as well. And on top of that, he would still need to complete his upcoming senior year of high school.

  He looks at Nick and holds his hand out. “Promise you’re going to come back to the Pit?”

  “I put it on my life as a Shadow Walker.” His teammate replies as the two of them shake hands. A moment of silence passes between the group, and then Isaac sighs.

  “Alright, I know what everybody’s thinking.” He says sarcastically. “We can’t call ourselves a real team if we don’t have at least one official group hug session. Everybody give Nick some love.”

  Nicks face contorts in a pained expression as his teammates quickly surround him. He holds his hand up as the four draw near. “I swear- I will freeze all of you if you come any closer.”

  Allison lunges forward and wraps her arms around the unwilling boy, then Isaac jumps in, followed by Damon, and then finally Hector wraps his arms around his teammates backs.

  “You guys are so embarrassing.” Nick says.

  Hector agreed, but it would have been against his nature to care. He knew that Nick wouldn’t say it out loud, but the boy was hurting inside. He needed all of the love and support he could get in order for him to recover from the loss of his mother. And for that reason, Hector didn’t care who was watching or how ridiculous his group looked. They were a team- and they would do whatever they needed to support each other.

  “You know you can always come back here if you get bored.” Hector says as he pulls away from the hug. The rest of the group slowly lets go of their teammate, who now had watery eyes.

  “I know. Thank you guys so much.” Nick says. He turns to Isaac and grins. “I think we should leave before I start bawling like a baby.”

  Isaac nods. The captain places his hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Ready when you are.”

  The group doesn’t say another word. Nick smiles as he waves the three of them goodbye. And then he and Isaac disappear into the shadow at their feet. Hector’s gut immediately drops once the two of them are gone. It was depressing seeing two of his friends just leave on such short notice after all that they had been through together.

  The only thing that kept his mood up was the fact that he would have Allison and Damon to keep him company in the Pit. Two weeks ago, Hector had no friends at all. And now he had four that he could trust with his life. And for that, he couldn’t be any more grateful.

  * * *

  Hector was just laying down on his couch, enjoying the movie he had on, when Damon sits up straight with a panicked expression on his face.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Hector asks. Unfortunately for him, his question is quickly answered as a cloud of purple smoke suddenly forms in front of the tv. The smoke quickly takes the shape of a woman, but doesn’t solidify the way it usually did for the Void. But even though she was made of smoke, Hector could still clearly make out the details of the woman.

  Her skin was a light shade of purple, her lips only slightly darker than that. Her hair was as black as night and her eyes looked as if she could cut a building in half just by glaring at it. She had on an extravagant white dress that dragged along the floor.

  Needless to say, Hector thought she was beautiful.

  But Damon seemed much more worried about the random Void’s appearance than Hector. He scoots back as far as possible into the couch and shakes his head. “Mom…” His voice begins wavering with every syllable. “What are you doing here mother?”

  “Mom?” Hector shouts. He quickly jumps over the back of the couch to gains some distance from the Queen of the Void. He needed to go, but he couldn’t just let Damon get kidnapped yet again. He knew that he didn’t stand a chance against the Queen, so he would just have to cause a distraction. He begins reaching into his pocket to get the silver stone that could summon his wolves. But he stops dead in his tracks once the Queen begins laughing.

  “Don’t act so anxious, boy. This is simply a projection.”

  Hector’s nerves almost instantly relax. Just to make sure that he truly was safe, he picks up an empty pop can and throws it at the Queen of the Void. Sure enough, it passes right through the smoke, which quickly reforms to its original state. Hector let’s out a sigh of relief.

  “Thank goodness, I thought I was a goner.”

  “Such an ignorant child.” The Queen says scowling. She turns to look at Damon with a look of disappointment. “You betrayed me to stay with the likes of him?”

  With no second thoughts, Hector laughs directly at the most powerful Void to ever exist. “The likes of me? You mean the only guy who has the power to stop you? Yeah- I think he found a pretty good guy to deal with his psychotic mother.”

  The Queen’s face contorts as if she caught whiff of something repungant. It was obvious to Hector that she didn’t think anyone had the willpower to talk back to her. Unfortunately for her, she was now face to face with the biggest trash talker in the Pit.

  She begins to chuckle, which quickly turns into a full on witch-esque cackle. If anyone else had done such a thing, Hector would have been creeped out. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that the laugh fit her perfectly. She smiles a wicked smile and shakes her head. “You truly are crazy, Hector Avern. Are you incapable of feeling fear? You read what was in Lydia Walker’s book, but you show no signs of worry or panic.”

  “I don’t care about any of that stuff.” Hector says flatly. “The only thing I care about is putting an end to you.”

  “Then you better pray that you can truly get your hands on Serena’s ring. You may have the confidence to start a war with me, but do you truly believe that you have the power to win it? You Walkers are all fools if you think that I’ll just let you get Serena’s ring and then come into my homeland to take my head. Valus will not allow such a thing to happen. And of course, unbeknownst to you Walkers, one of your own will soon be joining our side. That should make for quite a
n interesting reveal.”

  “What are you talking about?” Hector asks, as he reaches and grabs a handful of chips.

  “Power- true power- can be enticing. Don’t go thinking that you two are the only unique hybrids in existence. A new species is being created as we speak.” She turns her attention to Damon once again. “And as for you my son, I will no longer show you forgiveness nor try to bring you back to my side. If you’re lucky, Valus will kill you before I get the chance to do it myself.”

  Hector points at the Queen and throws a handful of chips at her. “Don’t you threaten him! I don’t care how strong you are- I‘m going to get Serena’s ring, and then I’m going to walk into the Void- find you- and kick your ass! And I won’t have to worry about Valus. Nick is going to kick his ass for me!”

  The Queen cackles once again, though this time there is a hint of anger in her laugh. She looks up at the ceiling and speaks as if god himself was listening to their conversation. “Are you watching? He thinks that this is something he can survive!” She looks back at Hector with a mix of disgust and amusement. “I can’t wait to see you try, Avern. If you somehow manage to survive long enough to make it to the Void, then just remember that you’ll be stepping into my territory. And if that day ever comes, know that you have just written yourself a death wish- along with one for every person whom you hold dear.”

  The Queen’s projection suddenly goes out of focus. The smoke quickly loses its defined shape and disappears into thin air.

  “Hector!” Damon shouts as he turns around and punches the Walkers shoulder.

  “What?” Hector says with a playful smile plastered across his face.

  “You are the only person stupid enough to piss off the Queen of the Void. Did you know that?”

  “Really? She was angry? I thought she was actually pretty friendly for the Queen of a bloodthirsty race.”

  Damon shakes his head. “No joking around- this is bad! She really hates you now. What if she-”