Skylands Legends

11.2 Shifting Shadows

Jet Vac was halfway up the anhydroladium mound when something tackled him from behind. He struggled with the assailant before elbowing them in the face and rolling onto his back. "Get off me, Latch!" He yelled. "I have to..." He stopped as he realized Latch wasn't the one he was fighting. Instead, it was himself.

The shadow version of himself raised up its own lance in its hand and brought it down for Jet Vac's head. Acting quickly, he drove his fist into the shade's stomach before dodging to the side, letting the lance skid off the mound.

He then swept his leg under the shadow, taking it off balance and sending it to its back. Jet Vac quickly rolled over and drew out his vac gun. His shadow tried to draw at the same time, but Jet Vac was faster. A silver blade rocketed through the shadow, dissipating it to nothing more than a smoke cloud.

That's when Jet Vac realized what was happening around him. Hundreds of mabu were locked in a battle to the death with their own shadows. He looked at all the bodies lying about the ground, surprise painted across their paling faces as their shadows continued to rampage around. More shapes were emerging from the darkest recesses under buildings and rushing out to fight.

Blue light filled the air as dozens of shock lances were fired from both shadows and mabu. Pop Fizz hurled potions out of his backpack at nearby shadows, trying to help as many mabu as he could. And at the center of it was the beast, its head still protruding from the mound watching everything.

Of the five mabu that were originally holding the crystal, three were now dead. The remaining two struggled with all their might to hold the crystal to the beast's head. Its red eyes glared at them as he continued to become more and more translucent.

Latch had taken up a stance atop the mound with his shock lance out and was firing on the oncoming shadows. The ones not locked in a battle were all rushing the mound. They came from the bodies of those they had once shadowed and from the darkest areas around the square. Some having taken on the shape of their victims, others resembling vague humanoid monstrosities as they attacked.

Jet Vac watched the chaos around him unfold and felt the anger rising within him again. They had beaten the beast, this shouldn't be happening. Latch called out for his help, but it may as well have been wordless screams as Jet Vac turned his cold fury back towards the beast.

Summoning the lava lance again, Jet Vac launched himself into the air straight for the beast's head with all the force his jet pack could muster. The beast looked at the last second and Jet Vac reveled in the surprise that crossed its face as the lance speared it through the center mouth and out the back of its head, striking hard against the anhydroladium beyond.

Everything went silent. The beast's lifeless eyes stared through Jet Vac into the distance as the traptanium accelerated its process of trapping the beast. The shadows around them had all come to a stop as if frozen in time.

Jet Vac continued to stare into the beast's eyes looking for any sign of life, but none came. The crystal was beginning to absorb the beast's complete life source into it.

Latch stepped up beside Jet Vac and stared in wonder at the lance protruding from the middle of the beast's head.

"Is it..." He began before a loud crash could be heard from behind them. Latch whipped around and yelled a curse before climbing down from the mound, screaming orders at the mabu.

Jet Vac ignored him. He didn't even care to see what the noise was. He stared into the beast's red eyes and watched as they slowly refocused on him, anger glowing from them once again.

Cracks began to spread along the traptanium crystal and he heard the two mabu holding it begin to panic but Jet Vac was caught in his revelation. The beast was unkillable. There was something beyond him that was keeping it alive, and he had no chance against it.