Where Shadows Lurk (A Poor Example of My Writing Ability)

Decisions & Destruction

When I wake up I forget what my nightmare was about, and that bothers me. I sit up in the middle of my room and look around at the mess that was made by me last night. There are holes in some parts of the wall, all of the light bulbs burst and rained glass down on the ground, a chair is completely destroyed, and every single drawer in my room is open. I can't help but wonder how much of it happened while I was sleeping and how much of it happened because of last night.

I lay back down on my back and look up at the ceiling. Holding out my hand above me I frown examining it "I don't look like a monster," I sigh dropping my hand and deciding to get up off of the ground.

When I stand up, I go to the side of my room that is almost all window, peering out of the side of the building and down at the ground a few stories below me I wonder if I could survive a fall like that so if I leave I don't have to see anyone for the rest of the day.

"Good morning, Jordan," A familiar voice hisses in my ear. I swiftly turn in the direction it was coming from swinging my fist with me but my fist catches nothing. "Oh, poor boy," she continues, "I am only here to offer you a choice. Here by in your head. I'm not really there, I wouldn't risk that right now."

"Ok, Shade, what is it you want from me?" I respond, not sure if I am just talking to myself or if she really is communicating with me somehow

"A very simple choice... Come with me of your own free will, or I will just have to come their and get you myself," she laughs, "Oh, and don't think I won't pleasure myself with the destruction of the entire institute while I'm there." She continues to laugh and the laugh rings in my ears untill she abruptly cuts it off, her voice losing the cheery sound of a maniac for a moment and turning dark and ominous, "I will give you some time to think it over," she says as I feel her leave my mind.

I shiver at the feeling of her leaving, but the shiver doesn't stop after she is gone. Now, the shivering is because of my choices. A million questions fly by my mind at once: Can she really destroy the entire institute? Can she really even come here and get me? What will happen if I go with her? Where is she anyway? How will I find her? What does she want with me? But of course, I know the answer to the last one. She wants me to join her, to rule over the shadows and destroy everything anyone loves.

It seems like I don't have much of a choice. Even if I stay, I am more of a danger then a help anyway. My powers are growing each day and so too is my insanity. I step closer to the window, putting my hand on its large surface and willing it to be like liquid. I walk through and drop right off of the edge. I wouldn't have minded if the fall killed me, but it didn't. Upon getting closer to the ground I see shade standing in the distance on the roof of a city building, her eyes like daggers and her presence like sand bags all around me. She lifts her hand and what was complete daylight becomes shrouded in pitch black darkness. Instinctively, my eyes glow unleashing my power and causing a force of cold, black wind from the ground to push me up just before hitting the ground, landing me mostly unharmed on the grass.

The darkness remains, now students are rushing out of the institute to see what the commotion is, some younger then ten, others older then twenty. Shade seems to grow in the distance as she floats down from the building she was perched on and closer to the school, some of the student step back in horror. Some, though, decide to try and fight back. It was futile.

The few that got a chance to land a hit with any of their abilities - Telekinesis, flames, beams of light - it all through her, as if she had become so evil that she turned into a shadow herself.

But I know better. I figured out her trick by now. It never was her that came to me. And it isn't her now. She is merely a projection of herself.

"Shade!" I yell at her.

she turns momentarily from focusing on slaughtering the few that decided to resist. Shadowy creatures rose from the ground and attacked them in endless waves but as she turned her attention they seemed to retreat for a moment "Oh, have you decided to come with me willingly?" She asks calmly, as if talking over a cup of tea and not during a battle with several hundred barely trained Seers.

"Yes..." I say dropping my head and clenching my fists.

I hear my name called from the crowd as Neya pushes through. She stops at the edge staring at me a few yards away from me holding a ball of light in her hand that illuminates her face. She looked beautiful. I turn away from her and start walking away, toward the edge of the dome of shadow Shade had created. When I reach the edge, Shade speaks again.

"Oh and Jordan," tendrils of shadow wrap around my ankles and vine up my body encasing me and leaving me immobile, "Say goodbye to your friends," she says as she snaps her fingers and thousands of disgusting and grotesque shadow monsters are raised from the ground. Some fly into the air shooting down rays of purple energy or are equipped with razor sharp talons and mouths. Others pummel into groups of students and even teachers knocking them out and then smashing them. Other larger ones focus on the destruction of the institute.

The last thing I see before the darkness of Shade's cage engulf me completely, is the professor coming out of the front of the institute to join the fight, Neya and Henry by his side.

I feel weightless after the cage engulfs me, like I am floating in space. Then I realized, I am being transported somehow.

Very shortly after, I find myself being unravelled from the cage, standing in a large abandon warehouse and staring into the eyes of Shade. The real Shade.

"Welcome to my abode," she says doing an eccentric wave to the surroundings which were mostly dark and featureless, "Unfortunately, you are in an unstable state right now and I can't have you killing me in my sleep. So, you will have to stay stuck to that spot for now"

I look down at my feet which were still wrapped in darkness, my hands too were encased and immovable. My head still down I snarl, "I will not rest until I have destroyed you," I say looking up at her my eyes glowing brightly.

"That is cute, Jordan, but that simply isn't your destiny." She turns on her heel, and walks away somewhere deeper into the warehouse.