The Knight in Dark Armor

Chapter 4

My vision exploded into a bright orangish light that slowly faded away until it was dim.
"Follow me." Said Merimidon who was standing next to me. She started to walk into the darkness the dim orange light following her. Not wanting to be left in total darkness I followed.
"Where are we?" I asked her.
"In Nilas." She said simply.
"Nilas?" I nearly tripped over my own foot.
She stopped and turned. "Look, I would love to answer all your questions but now is not the time." She strode over to me. "Make an appointment with me okay?" She said this rather sweetly.
All I could do is nod and keep following her through the darkness.
Eventually we came to a speck of light and Merimidon reached out to touch it. I had no idea what was going to happen but I prepared for the worst.
Instead I blinked and we were standing in a store. Rather the dressing room of a store and I was very close to Merimidon's naked body in the dressing stall. She rose a finger to her lips to tell me to be quiet.
I took a silent step back to give her room as she slowly opened the stall door and peered outside.
I watched her as for awhile she kept looking for something outside the stall. I was very uncomfortable but slowly I was getting used to the level of insanity that kept occurring as if I knew it would never return to normal.
Merimidon finally turned back to me and shut the stall door.
"We are in New York right now. I need you to find somebody and tail him for me." She stopped for a second looking me over. "Do not try to combat him whatsoever."
"Umm." My head was hurting again. "Why am I tailing this person?"
Merimidon sighed. "It's a defective light one." She frowned. "Decided to try to overthrow its master but failed. I need you to make sure it doesn't defect over to the caged ones."
"The caged ones?" I asked her.
"Its the last choice you can make between our factions... basically you are locked within yourself."
"Okay?" I was really confused and she wasn't making things any clearer. "How will I know where they are?"
"You won't." She sighed. "This is why it's a request not an order as I don't think you'll be able to find them first day." She then stared at me intensely and took a step forward which pushed me to the wall. "Do this and I will reward you greatly, simply spy on them if you can find them and report back to me. Call out my name when you are ready and I will come to fetch you." She smiled at me. "Good luck Caden." Then she disappeared in fire the same way as it was in my room.
Merimidons disappearance caused a lot of noise and I could hear somebody rushing to the stall. It wasn't long before it was flung open and they saw me standing there.
"Are you okay?" They asked.
I could really not think of anything to say, so I just grabbed the door and shut it. They didn't seem like an employee so I didn't think I would get into trouble.
"What did I get myself into...." I said slowly to myself. I was in too much of shock to make sense of anything. All I wanted to do in that moment was crawl into my bed and fall asleep for a good long while. However long my nap had been it wasn't enough. Now I was stuck somewhere in New York and I hadn't any idea where this defective light one could be. I decided my first step would be to leave this stall.
Whoever had opened the stall before must have realized they betrayed my privacy or something and they left quickly. They could have also been going to get someone.
I prayed silently that I was not in a female dressing stall as I opened the door and walked out.
It seemed I was in the middle of a big clothing store and I quickly tried to find the exit. After finally laying eyes on it I rushed out and started walking away from the store to go find somewhere to sit.
So many thoughts raced through my head as I finally found a bench to sit on. What was going on? Did I really have to complete Merimidon's request and find this light one? It sounded like it would be impossible for me to do anyways. Even Merimidon herself didn't think I could find it. I folded my hands together and put my head down. I was way in over my head. I had no idea what I was doing and not to mention I was very far away from home. I also hadn't eaten at all since school and I was very hungry. The smell of food was in the air as nearby restaurants and food stands went about their business.
I forgot all about Merimidon's request and just walked towards the smell of food. My mind finally calming down after so long. It wasn't long before I realized I didn't have any money though to pay for the food and I frowned while walking away, trying to escape the temptation.
Suddenly my fingers started tingling and I looked at them. The black metallic material was back but not as strong this time it was almost faded. As I turned a street corner to the left, the faded material grew stronger and more visible.
The next street corner I turned left again fully aware that I was probably going to go in circles and the tingling sensation faded.
Sure enough I ended back up at the clothes store I ran out of and I sighed as I felt very lost, even knowing where I was at that moment. I walked in the same direction as last time and the food smells grew stronger reminding me of my hunger.
Again the black material came back but slightly faded just as last time. Having no other options I broke from my small circle and crossed a street. The tingling sensation grew as I started walking left but straight up the street again more visible.
"Hmm." I said audibly. I decided to keep following the street and as I did the material grew more and more visible. The tingling sensation stronger and stronger. My curiosity peaked and I decided to keep following wherever the feeling was getting stronger. When it started to fade I would turn in the direction it was strongest. I decided to stick my hand in my pocket as I didn't actually need to have my hand out to feel the sensation and I'd rather not get questioning looks from the many pedestrians walking near me about why my fingers looked metallic.
Suddenly my hand started pulsing and I feared it would be very noisy but it wasn't. It was silent it was just something I could feel. There was nothing except the building on my right and so I turned towards it and my hand pulsed even more. I walked up to the building. It seemed abandoned and about to be torn down to put something else up. It didn't look significant in the slightest. My hand was going crazy however and so I felt the need to check out what was up with this place.
I tried the front door but with no luck. I was very scared to just break into this place because I didn't want to break any laws especially outside my own state. I decided to go around the building and look through the windows. All I could see was darkness. As I went to the back of the building though I found a ladder. I quickly glanced around to see if I was in anyone's view. When I thought it was clear I began to climb. The ladder was very rusty and I was afraid it was going to cut me but I climbed nonetheless.
When I reached the top I could see through the window next to the ladder and it seemed the sill could be easily pried off. When I went to grab for it I saw the window actually had no glass.
I prayed silently that nobody was watching and I took a step through the window and left the outside. The hallway I was in was very dark and I had no source of light. Suddenly my pulsing hand shone brighter and I was thankful as I put it out in front to guide me.
I walked slowly through the hallway, fear creeping up on me as I walked further into the darkness. It felt a little like being back in that crazy Nilas place Merimidon called when we were going to New York. I kept walking on until I came to a door. I tried it and found, to my frustration it was locked.
I turned back around and saw there was another door I hadn't previously known was there. I walked to it and tried to open it. It opened and when I walked in I saw it was a bathroom. It smelled terrible and I could hear a rat or something scurry away.
"Creepy." I said out loud as I walked further in. Looking up I saw that there was a large vent opening and it was open with no cover. It seemed to go both right and left. I tilted my hand towards the right and the pulsing got just a little bit stronger.
"I'm not really going to climb in there am I?" I asked nobody.
Deciding I had come this far, I walked towards the vent and jumped up to grab it. I missed and immediately fell back to the ground. Stumbling over something in the dark. I landed in something wet and I didn't dare bring my hand over with the light to see what it was. Standing back up I shone my hand on what I had tripped on and it was a stepping stool.
"Okay...." I said slowly. "This is happening." I picked up the stool and set it just below the vent opening and climbed on it. I then climbed into the vent hoping I wouldn't run into rats. Turning my body to the right I began crawling through it.
****
The vent seemed to stretch on straight for a good long while and I figured I must have passed the locked door by now. I was getting a little worried that it would lead to a dead end. I was about to turn around and give up when I heard a voice. It sounded gruff like an older man and it seemed angry.
"Who's here?" It asked. "Show yourself." I heard footsteps below me. I figured I must not have been very quiet crawling through the vent.
"The noise is too much to be a rat!" The man was saying. "You won't like it if I have to find you."
Feeling very terrified I stopped moving altogether and held my breath. When I couldn't anymore I tried to let it out quietly and hold it again. Finally the footsteps started to fade away. I must have waited ten minutes before I finally had the courage to crawl further as I didn't dare go in the direction the footsteps had faded. Sadly it was where I had come from and my only known means of escape. I was also thankful that somehow he hadn't seen any glowing in the vent as my hand still shown brightly. I crawled further and further into the vent.
Suddenly! Without warning I fell through some kind of hole in the vent and was falling pretty far to the ground below. I hit the ground hard and it felt like my shoulder broke. I tried not crying out in pain but it was too much and small whimpers came from me.
I heard footsteps in front of me and I willed against everything for my hand to stop producing light so it wouldn't give away my location. Thankfully it did stop and I was plunged into utter darkness.
The footsteps came closer and closer until I could swear they were right in front of me.
"There you are."