The Shadow Of Magic(first draft)

Chapter 15

Eiran stepped onto the strange island, sensing something was off but he couldn't quite place it. "Where do we go from here?"He asked, turning to look at Josephine.

"This way."She responded, walking forward. Eiran, Lola, and Felix shared a look and followed her. Eiran was glad he wasn't the only one who noticed Josephine's behavior. She was looking around and walking as if in a trance.

Josephine suddenly stopped in front of a huge rock wall blocking their way. "We're here."She said, holding her hand out, touching the wall. "What do you mean? This is a wall." Lola stated, looking around.

"Eiran, give me your hand."Josephine reached out to Eiran. He hesitantly held out his hand to her. She grabbed his wrist and put his hand up to the wall, feeling the cold stone against his hand. Then the rock warmed up and started to glow a light blue color. 

The rock opened and formed a detailed doorway with writing that was clearly an old language that was unrecognizable to Eiran, but still felt familiar. "The teachers of the dark one. The home of the student in the shadows. The Shadow of humanity, our savior and their ancient Watchers."Josephine recited almost angrily. She seemed to have some sort of problem with this place but Eiran couldn't tell why.

She stepped forward, still in a trance-like state. Felix and Lola followed, looking all around them cautiously. All of them but Josephine jumped when the rocks slammed shut behind them, making a loud noise.

The walls of rocks around them shined with the same light blue color that twisted and swirled in intricate designs just like the door. There was more of that old writing on the walls that Josephine read for them. "Years ago, the Shadow was created by the gods for one purpose:protecting humanity. Along with the Shadow, the Watchers were created to keep the Shadows alive long enough for the next one to be born. The Shadows are preassigned by the Watchers. They are the only ones who know who the next Shadow will be. Neither the Shadows or the Watchers were brought to the world to lead normal lives, but to protect the lives of others. Romance or any form of soul-binding connections are not permitted within the society of the Watchers. The Great One, the current Watcher of the Shadow, is the one who makes sure of this. The law-maker. The supreme role in the Watcher's society."

Josephine stopped for a second, pausing to look at the last picture and words on the wall. "If the Shadow has these connections with others...the poor souls who loved them will never be reunited with their happiness in the afterlife. The Shadow is made to bring them peace, not more harm. This precaution has been here since the beginning of time for this reason."She kept walking.

Eiran had to shield his eyes from the bright lights at the end of the long tunnel. He removed his hands to see a large city. The same blue lights were shining from the houses and the large building in the middle. It wasn't quite a castle, more like a temple, but someone lived there. The Great One. Eiran's Watcher.

The four of them walked through the glowing roads all the way up to the temple-like building in the middle. The front was guarded by soldiers. They held their large spears in an X shape over the door, blocking all of them out. "State your business here."One of them recited like he had done this before. Honestly, he probably had.

"I am the Shadow. I was led here by the captain of a mighty vessel that was once captained by the former Shadow. I was told my Watcher lives here." Eiran near shouted. The two looked at each other, then at Eiran. "Yes sir. We will go get her right away to confirm."One of the guards ran into the large building quickly.

"Confirm?"Eiran whispered to Josephine. "The Watcher knows what the Shadow looks like. That's their job. I mean, if they didn't know what you looked like, how do you think they could protect you?"She responded, as if it was just common sense.

The guard came back out, followed by a beautiful woman with long dark hair and dark skin with lighter patches on it. Eiran had never seen anyone else who looked like her. "Eiran, I've been waiting your arrival for years. I am your Watcher."She stated calmly, walking down the large staircase.

"My name is June. I was assigned to be your Watcher many many years ago. I was only 15 when you were born and the great ceremony happened. I was so honored."She blurted excitedly, taking his hand. Josephine was giving her a death glare from beside Eiran.

"June? You've grown. Not much. But you've grown."Josephine declared, looking the woman up and down. "Oh my God! Josie? Is that you? I thought you passed years ago. How old are you now? 40?"June asked excitedly. "You do know you're only 2 years younger right? And I'm 34 actually. Anyways, how's your family? How's your brother?"Josephine's voice got darker and so did her expression.

"I know you may be mad, but  that is no reason to take advantage of this boy and lead him here just to settle a score."June asserted. "He needed to come here anyways. He has a president to take down. Getting to settle my score was just a lucky bonus. So, where is Jensen?"Josephine commented, pushing through the guards easily and into the temple.

"Wait-"June started but was pushed back by large vines that shot out of the ground. Eiran turned around to see Lola using her powers and Felix quickly knocking out the guards, who were still trying to stop Josephine, who was already in the temple. "What are you guys doing?! Don't you want to find out why Josephine is doing this before you go around knocking people out?!"Eiran exclaimed.

"Eiran, she took us in, gave us a place to stay, fed us, and more importantly, gave us friends, a family. If you want to throw that away for these rando's, go ahead, but we're going to help out our friend. If you wanna keep whining, go ahead, but leave us out. Come on Felix."Lola argued. 

"She's right, Eiran. I'll follow you, you know that, but I won't help you if you're just going to toss Josephine to the side. You know Josehine, we all do. She wouldn't do this if there wasn't a good reason."Felix snapped at Eiran. "I know you want to learn more about being the Shadow, we all want you to, but you need to wake the hell up right now! If Josephine doesn't trust these guys, that's more important than being the Shadow. Your friends, your family is more important, and you know it. If she thinks it's dangerous to be here, it's dangerous to be here and we need to help her, understand?"Felix ranted, yelling at Eiran.

He was too stunned to speak for a minute, then came back to reality. "You're right. Okay then. I guess it wouldn't be a real trip if we weren't knocking people out before lunch then."Eiran laughed. "Thank you guys."He told them, then the three ran after Josephine, who in the span of five minutes, without even using powers, had broken a few walls and nearly killed a few people.