Jet the Custos

The Before

     Jet was watching from the rooftop of the library, which sat in the middle of this lively, but absolutely boring town. Clairesville, Colorado. During the year that he had been assigned here, he never came across something terribly interesting. Who names a city Clairesville? Who the heck was this Claire anyway? What did she do that was so special, that she got her own town? Jet wasn’t the type of person to be looked down upon, or looked up to, or even looked at at all. You see Jet is a Custos, a Keeper of the Earth. People can see him of course, but he is more abstract in their eyes. But even in the Custos world he wasn’t anything special. Not a hero, or someone with that extraordinary spark. He wasn’t even a criminal, but Jet was really considering that idea, when something out of the corner of his eye sparked his attention.

     A Shadow...Jet could see its black form easily under the falling snow. In all the time that Jet has been here, no Shadow had ever even thought about traveling through this town. This was something new, and exciting. Of course Shadow People aren’t exciting. They are the deadliest, and most hideous of creatures. Shadow People are - well obviously -made of shadows. They like fear, and they crave being whole again. Often times when you hear of the boogie man, that will be a Shadow Person. They like to feast on a humans soul, and by doing so they gain control of that person’s body. The Shadow People get the thrill of being human again. Oh. Yes, they were once human.

     When a Shadow Person inhabits a human body, the humans soul becomes paralyzed. It isn’t able to control the body anymore. The soul contains the persons morals, personalities, strengths and weaknesses, the knowledge of right verses wrong, etc. But when it becomes paralyzed like that, they lose their thoughts to the control of the Shadow People. This is where the Custos (Keepers of the Earth) come in. They try to protect the human race from such monsters. Because, if a Shadow Person takes the whole of the soul away, the body too becomes a Shadow. All the light leaves, and it moves to the darkness.

     Jet was shocked for a moment, but just a moment, then he went to pursue the Shadow. He noticed that the Shadow was in the same path as someone else...a girl. He has seen this girl around, among the other girls at ClairesvilleHigh School. He didn't know her name, but she was wearing a black hat that sloped to the side, a cream stringy scarf, a cream knee length knit dress, with a big black belt, black leggings, and cream boots. Her dark brown bangs were in her eyes, and her nose and cheeks were red. She looked very pretty, but Jet was pretending not to notice. 

     Without warning the Shadow grabbed the girl by the neck and yanked her into an alleyway. It pinned her against the wall, choking her with the fierceness of its hold on her neck. Jet hating seeing the Shadow do this, he hated pain, and sorrow. When he was being trained, he had to watch the Shadow Peoples process. According to the Tessera (the Custos justice group), Jet had to watch it. Not all the way through, but just enough so he could understand why they do what they do, and how to stop it. He broke into a run, feeling the adrenaline building up. He saw the girl finally pass out, the Shadow let go, leaving the girl to collapse in a heap on the cold ground. The Shadow bent to make its move, but Jet interfered. He knocked into the Shadow, which was the weirdest thing anybody had done. The Shadow People aren't entirely solid, but they're not completely nothing either. When Jet attacked the Shadow, it felt like he was falling into a pool of water, but thick water, more like jell-o.

     Jet was able to pin the shadow down, while grabbing his dagger in one quick movement. His dagger was made especially to destroy Shadow People. It was curved like a half moon, as white and as bright as the sun - because that is what it was made from - the pure liquid of the sun. He sliced down at the Shadows throat. With a silent cry, the Shadow melted into the snow beneath it. Jet could hear the silent cry of its brothers and sisters mourning the loss of the beloved Shadow. Even though the cry made absolutely no sound, Jet could still hear it.

     Jet lowered his dagger, seeing the light fade slowly till it looked like a normal curved blade. It was beautiful but also sad. There was a brief flash of light, and another line was made in the middle of the dagger. There were now lines going a third of the way down the blade. Jet had heard that when a weapon got its full marks, that was when it was most powerful. Jet soon remembered the girl who was almost taken by the Shadow, and he looked over to see her still lying on the snow covered floor. He sheathed his dagger and slowly crawled over to her. She was alive, and breathing. He let out a breath of his own that he hadn't noticed he was holding.

 

She moaned, and lolled her head as if answering his sigh of relief. Jet went to her side, and she looked over to him with searching eyes, filled with confusion and fear.

     “Are you alright?” Jet asked the girl, who in return nodded. “What is your name?”

The girl paused, then croaked, “Ardore. My name is Ardore.” 

     “Ardore...what a beautiful name.” He stood up and held out his hand for her to take. Again she hesitated, before grasping it and standing up. Ardore swayed and started to fall before Jet caught her. “I don't think you should be walking. Here I will take you home.” Before she could object, Jet lifted her up into his arms. He could hear her catch her breath, and he smiled a little.

 

     “Where do you live?”

 

     “Just around the corner, I almost made it home.”