The Shadow Empire Series - Intertwined Souls

Chapter One

Unseen chains rattled and reverberated inside of a young man's ears with a particular, ominous urgency that made his skin crawl. He could see nothing through his foggy, warped vision but could taste metal on his tongue and feel it scraping against his quivering skin, rooting him in place. Unrecognizable voices that he couldn't decipher were whispering all around him. His legs shook with weakness and so he sat on them with his knees digging into the soft ground.

The chains shuddered again, the aggressive clacking resembling  that of a rattlesnake's last warning before the inevitable strike. The man faintly knew he was dreaming, yet the hostile echo of the din filled his very bones with an overwhelming dread that washed over him in a cold sweat. He felt as though he would die from this paralyzing fear.

The only word that could be understood from the disembodied voices was his own name occasionally being called out. "Val," they would cry in unison every so often. Some had a tone of anger, others desperate, pleading. The chains around Val's throat tightened threateningly, coiling to press against his windpipe. His breaths came out in raggedy gasps, and the voices grew louder, more persistent, as if to drown out his suffering.

His words of affirmation, of support, stuck like a lump in his throat. He wanted to plead, tell them that he didn't nor couldn't understand. His eyes watered from the pain and frustration. Gritting his teeth, he attempted to flex and shift his lean muscles, but with every jerk against the imprisonment, it seemed to clamp down with more ferocity. 

"Val, Val, Val," they continued to call out to him, their voices molding into one unanimous, monstrous boom. He felt deafened by their shouting and opened his mouth in one last attempt to drown them out, but instead, his mouth began filling with dirt. He could feel himself choking and gagging, tears streaming down his face.

"Val... 

Val... Val..."

"Val!"

Val jerked upward with a sharp gasp escaping his dry, cracked lips. He sat in the darkness of his room for a moment as he began to adjust to waking up, eyes scanning over his room. His blackout curtains had succeeded in keeping all of the morning light out. He clumsily slapped his hand to the side of his table and felt around until he recognized the button from his retro lamp and flicked it.

 The dull light flickered on and cast a pale, yellow light into the room. He noticed that the night light he usually left on in the bathroom must have gone out while he slept. Despite the lighting from his lamp, he could barely make out his hulking, overstuffed hamper and cluttered bathroom counter on the opposite side of his apartment.

It was then that he noticed the reason why he had abruptly awoken.

His ears adjusted to another sharp rap on the door, followed by a muffled, impatient voice, "Val!"

He pursed his lips, dream forgotten, as he slowly sat up from bed. His unruly hair fell over his face in a tangled mess, so he shoved it back with a sweaty palm. Val took his time, searching for a rubber band or something similar on the table, ignoring the desperate pounding against his door. He found one under a green translucent glass jar filled with sweets and quickly pulled his hair into a ponytail.

Shoving his faded red blanket off of him and standing up, Val headed toward his door. He nonchalantly unlocked it and popped it open, looking down expectantly. A woman he could only describe as the human equivalent of a chihuahua was staring venomously back up at him. Her aura gave off a particularly aggressive sensation as she eyed him, not with hatred perse but with an unmet, challenging rivalry. It wasn't unwarranted, considering that she wanted Val's position within the agency where they worked and lived, as the second-in-command. Val looked on in disgruntlement at her forehead, avoiding her piercing, dark gaze.