Shadow Beings

4. The Gathering

The eight of us held our hands at Jack's signal, settling ourselves with shuffled movement. Jack snapped his fingers to let us know the lifting was starting.

Cold mist seeped into my skin, draining my energy. My eyes grew heavy and I was overcome with lassitude, struggling to keep myself conscious. My legs felt weak, threatening to lose balance, but I tightened my grip onto Galen's hand for support, snapping myself back to reality.

I worried about the others; my ability of mind-control gave room for some leisure, but the others' abilities was purely based around the use of their own energy, to put in simple terms, so their zeal would likely feel more drained than mine. I relied more on auras than energy, so my exhaustion felt different and was less affected by this motion through an abstract space.

We were abstract beings in a physical vessel. Anything could happen.

Everything was dark, free from all sights and sounds and scents and feel. It was as if my being was dragged through nothingness and, perhaps unexpectedly, that space felt comforting. The previous exhaustion faded away and I felt light, free. It felt as if every moment in that space invigorated my energy and strengthened my aura. Physical restrictions were gone and everything was absolute.

I forgot about myself for the moment, focusing on Jack and Theo's aura. It was black, void of any effort. Lifting us was like tying six sheets of paper to a thread and taking it across two points separated by a step.

I marvelled at their strength; to lift six shadow-trappers and themselves was no easy task, but they managed to do so without being exhausted. While my team and I temporarily left the headquarters to supervise a city of living things, those two remained at the headquarters. Helping others, helping the area, training themselves and possibly shadow-lifting to other cities to help teams such as ours were only some of their major tasks.

I won't undermine our work though, I can't. It isn't meaningless...

I felt myself being dropped on to smooth and levelled floor, a tingling feeling passing through me as my bare feet touched the cold marble. The return to the physical world weighed on me, if only for a moment. My eyes opened to see the large room illuminated by the scattered sunlight falling through the windows, creating an abstract image of yellow lines on the walls.

The main hall of the headquarters hadn't changed one bit; it was simple and empty, yet bright and invigorating. Each sound would echo endlessly if it weren't for the wide windows that spanned three sides; the cement was just a border to support the glass that gave way to life into the space.

Only a few shadow-trappers stood in the hall now, giving us a casual but friendly greeting with a simple wave of their hand.

Being home felt good, the feeling was irreplaceable. Even so, I couldn't help but think about the place I had left. It didn't feel quite like home, but there was that indescribable flicker emptiness in my mind. My daily routine, the fragrance of nature, humans and their abundant emotions and the bright lake reflecting the brilliant sky...

There was a time when my parents along with their friends used to live there, and before them, a number of other Shadow-Trappers. The little feeling of belonging and inheritance naturally resided in that place, but the headquarters was beyond any other destination I had been to. The hollowness was slight and it had already started to fade away.

"Are you all okay?" Jack asked softly, an eyebrow slightly raised as he observed us with concern. His focus was here, yet his attention seemed lost if I peered inside closely.

Don't do that Audrey, I thought, immediately pulling away.

"We're fine," I replied and the others nodded while the last signs of exhaustion left them. I took a deep breath and emptied my thoughts, letting the aura of the headquarters be the only thing that filled it.