Suns and Shadows

The Inferno

I don't wake up in the cell. This room is bright and airy. I can feel it. Maybe it's not a bed at all, it's much too soft. It feels like I'm on a cloud. My hands clutch at the sheet, but I keep my eyes closed. I'll open them again and I'll be back in the cell. I must still be hallucinating.

"Ebony?" A voice whispers, breath stirring and warm against my ear. I don't know who's talking to me, but their voice is soft and calming, like a piano. I may have only heard a piano once but I still remember the angelic sounds of the keys. The voice sounded like that. "I need you to wake up."

It's something about his voice that makes me peel my eyes open, one at a time. They're blurry at first. When they come into focus, I see I'm in a white room on a gigantic bed. I suppose I wasn't dreaming at all.

Then I turn my attention to the person who must've whispered into my ear. It's a boy. A handsome boy at that. He has a muscular figure with skin that obviously has spent many hours in the sun. He has dark brown hair, almost black, but not quite. His eyes are pretty. They're silver. I glance up past his eyes to the pale mark of a star on his forehead, silver, like his eyes.

I nearly scream. Only Suns have that mark upon their foreheads. I was wrong, I have hallucinated. Karpov and the girl he was with did not save me. This must be a place where they will kill me. They just have enough dignity to do it somewhere nice. I feel my shadow powers awaken, calling upon every ounce of Dark that I have and I shape it into a ball, prepared to throw it at him. "Stay away," I say, my teeth gritted. I'm not going out without a fight. I spit at him and it lands in front of his feet on the carpet.

The Sun boy barely moves. His lips are relaxed, most Suns would be furious by now, but he's calm. "You can stop with the games now, really. I'm not in the mood. I just want to talk with you. Is that alright?"

"That depends on what we're talking about." I don't move, I stay in my position, the Dark is telling me to let go, let it destroy him, but I am no killer. I just need to get out of here. I'll let him talk. Once he reveals how to get back to Rook, I'll flee.

Sun boy grins at me. "First of all, I'm not going to hurt you. I didn't rescue you from prison just to kill you. So you can stop with the charades, this room was very expensive and I don't feel like replacing the furniture."

"I could care less about what you feel like," I say. Inside, I feel slapped from shock. Why did a Sun save me? Why did he bring me here? Wherever here is. "Why am I here-more important question, where is here? And who are you?"

"I'm Joshua and this is the Dark House, the Inferno headquarters. I brought you here because I want you to do a job for me. I also saved you by the way. You were suffering from a side effect of one of the sedatives."

I snarl at him. "I'm not doing any job for you." I try to remember anything I can about the names he's dropping. Joshua, Dark House, Inferno. I can't think of anything. "What's the Inferno?" 

"A secret operation trying to bring the end of Shadow tyranny." He shrugs. "We're kind of a big deal."

"If you're such a big deal why haven't I heard anything about you before? And why would a Sun like you want freedom for Shadows? You have the world, no one gives up that sort of power. You can't trick me." I laugh at him. He thinks I killed the Sun for a reason, not that Saiya was in danger. And when my sister is in danger, I make the danger look at me instead.

"He's not." Someone says from the doorway in a crisp Shadowland accent. 

Karpov looks at me his face open with concern. "Are you alright? There must've been something wrong with that sedative. Zillah and I were worried." He then sees my hands, dripping in the Dark power I possess. He clears his throat. "You certainly look alright."

"That's not what you said at the prison..." My voice trails off. I remember what he said.

You don't think it's because-

I think that's exactly what's going on. It's like her sister.  It's just genetics.

Karpov dismisses me with a wave of his hand. "The sedative made you hallucinate. You probably misheard. All we said was that we thought it might have something to do with genetics and such."

But I hear his voice clear as a bell in my head. What happened to me has something to do with Saiya and I intend to find out. With Karpov here, I lower down the Dark letting the shadows go back into me, a power reserve for when I break out of this place. "How can I trust you" I demand. "When it turns out that you're a part of a secret organization."

He flinches. "Ebony, I understand you're confused, but I want what was best for you. I was assigned to follow you and keep tabs on you, but for an opportunity. You talked to me often, you hate Sun tyranny as much as I do. Remember what you said? You said that all Suns were evil and you're right which is why we have to take them down." He glances at Joshua. "Present company excluded."

"You were watching me?" I screech and my power threatens to come up again. "What the-"

Joshua sighs and gets up from his seat. "Show her."

"High Commander-"

"Show her."

Karpov throws him a worried glance and looks at me. He releases a sigh. "Fine, let's go." Then he leaves and I follow him.