Shadow Beings

12. Lost Words

"Hey kiddo. How are you doing?"

Something sparked immediately in Jack's eyes, indicating I was successful in surprising him.

"Audrey, you can't just come into my mind without any warning!" Jack's voice attempted to be stern while he suppressed his laughter.

"'Course I can. Annoying you is way too fun."

Jack rolled his eyes and I laughed. Galen, who was sitting beside me, widened his eyes but then immediately shook his head, probably realising I was up to no good.

I took a good look at his surroundings - I perceived everything through his senses - but there was not much to look at. A broad and straight path lay ahead, illuminated ever so slightly by the light that fell on the network of leaves above, making its way through the sparse gaps.

"It's good that you've found the book, I'll try to finish my part of the search quickly, too."

Jack's tone was soft and he remained focused on work.

"How'd you know?"

He continued moving smoothly through the darkness, replying quickly and quietly.

"You've formed a connection with me to play around, so your search is over. You aren't disappointed - rather excited, but not excited enough that you've found some 'lost friend', so obviously you've found the book. Also, if you had found someone, you'd yell their name into my head."

Everything came out so confidently as if he didn't need to think about it, as if it was an observation he made on instinct. Despite our years apart, Jack knew me too well.

"The path's been empty and dark like this since the moment I entered, but it's okay because I don't need to inspect any of these abiotic elements. This combination of light and darkness is good for me since I can easily slip into a moderate amount of Shadow-Lifting; I'll feel the base information that is required to lift anything's shadow and know if they have what we're looking for."

"So that would be the abstract information of the object?"

"In a way, maybe." Jack's thought propagated softly across my mind.

"Have you been talking to Elek?" I asked, suspicious of my friend, thinking of my own conversations with him that spurred me into hours of thinking and experimenting with my ability.

Jack chuckled, shaking his head. "No, but that's a good idea, he has a similar method of recognising physical information."

He quickened his pace, silence befalling us. His footsteps were so quiet, it was as if they decreased the noise in its surroundings. A shadow's footsteps were generally silent since our physical body wasn't exactly made of matter, but his were deeper than that... it was like aural peace.

"How are you doing that? Reducing the sound of everything around you?"

Jack chuckled at my amazed tone, that sound reverberating powerfully. It was a nice sound.

"I'm technically Shadow-lifting again, not walking. It gives me a nice sense of peace and quiet... and I think it suits this land. As a result, the particles of sound, dust and all are disturbed since my ability tends to mess with the delicate physical systems. That's why this also helps me improve my ability. If I do not control it well enough I could cause some serious physical phenomenon.

"It's a little funny, how the ability related to us can potentially damage the physical world more than something like augmented strength or super speed."

"It proves how delicate our world is. I remember Elek telling me the Shadow Dimension has something to do with information, so changing the initial states of systems can bring radical changes. Evolution, apparently."