Finding Darkness

Chapter 25

Part 4

~Cathy Catherine~

I have no idea what's been happening in this city, but from what Astral and Yuma have been telling me, things have been going downhill for a long time now. This is a huge crisis though. Nothing like this has ever happened before, according to them.

We stare off into the distance a while after the shadow leaves. Astral called it "Black Mist." Is that his name? It must be, but I'm not sure.

Astral calms down a bit, apparently steamed at seeing what must be his mortal enemy. He keeps moving, going in the direction opposite of Black Mist. "Looks like he got the nerve to stir trouble in daylight. This is very unlike him," he muses.

Yuma nods. "The attacks have mostly been at night. What's he up to?"

I follow them, somewhat catching on to what they're talking about. Visually, I know Black Mist. His smirk is all it takes for someone to recognize him. Personal-wise though, I haven't a clue. "Hey, Astral? What's Black Mist like?" I ask.

Astral turns his gaze to me. "To put it simply, he is evil. More than evil, in fact. I advise you not to ask more, for I cannot explain further in terms humans can understand."

So Black Mist is more than any person can understand. That makes sense. "Well, now I at least know a little bit about him."

"But you have no idea what he can do," Yuma points out solemnly.

"What can he do?" I ask.

Astral flinches. I wonder why. He breathes in deeply and sighs. "I would much rather not talk about it."

"Okay." I wonder why he won't tell me about Black Mist's capabilities. Weird.

Astral stops. "Here. This is the site."

What I see is complete destruction. People are pulling themselves out of the ruins of the buildings. "So many?"

Yuma nods. "Smaller than the first time. It must be a third of the half he left."

"Yes, you may be right, Yuma," Astral muses. He closes his eyes and stiffens.

"What's he doing?" I ask Yuma.

"Mental scan, I think. Not sure why, though."

"It is not a mental scan, Yuma," Astral whispers, his eyes still closed. "It is an energy scan." He opens his eyes again. "Many have died, but more have survived. We may get answers from those that are well."

We hurry to the ruins to find there are more live people than dead. "This looks like someone tried at a messy attempt of a massacre," I observe.

"Right?" Yuma laughs.

Astral punches his back. "Yuma, this is no time to be laughing! If this is Black Mist's doing, he did it on purpose! He is toying with us!"

Yuma winces. "Man, Astral. I never knew you can punch hard."

"And that is only with injuries," Astral mutters.

We walk over to one of the people helping another out of a building. "Excuse me!" I call. "Can you tell us what happened here?"

"Yeah," says the man helping the woman out. "This strange shadow was lurking around here." He grunts as he hauls the woman out. "At first, I thought it was some kind of kid playing a prank."

The woman coughs and adds in a ragged voice, "The shadow was too strange to be a child though. I-in fact, it didn't even look like a shadow at all. I saw eyes."

Astral lowers himself to where he's crouching yet floating, leveling himself with both the man and the woman. "Can you describe to us what you could see from the...shadow?" he asks gently.

"Its eyes were black and orange. It had earrings a lot like yours," says the man.

"Its figure was a lot like yours, too. It was black, though," says the woman. "It had markings just like yours, except the ones on its forehead were different."

Astral lifts himself. "Thank you. That is all I need to know." He smiles to them, then he turns to us with a serious expression. "They have confirmed my suspicions."

"So it was Black Mist," Yuma muses while we walk around.

One of my cats strays from the group, padding among the people. She suddenly goes to a building and hisses at it.

"What is it?" I hurry over to her, looking for what angered her.

"She says there is something here," Astral says. He narrows his eyes. "I feel it too."

I look questioningly at Yuma. "Astral knows what my cats say? How?"

"Some kind of mind-reading thing I guess," he answers.

Astral turns to Yuma, his eyes flashing menacingly. "Classified information must remain classified," he repeats over and over while advancing on me. "Humans must remain ignorant  to our mission and abilities." He starts chanting that, and suddenly, he's not there anymore.

"What the...!" Something stabs into the back of my head.

"Astral, stop it!" I hear Yuma shout.

"It must be done, Yuma," Astral's whisper of a voice says. "You told her a secret of ours, and her memory must be erased."

I start forgetting what Yuma told me, what they were talking about while Astral takes my memory. Something about secrets.

The thing that was in my head removes itself, and I feel dizzy. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Yuma answers casually. "Let's go see what's in that house."

We creep closer to where my cat was hissing. She's sitting now, eyeing the house suspiciously.

"I will go inside to take a look," Astral volunteers.

"You sure?" Yuma asks. "Any one of us can go."

"Yes. Even though I can touch objects, I am able to make it so I cannot touch any human things so they will not harm me. I will be the safest."

"Unless Black Mist is waiting there," I add.

"I can survive his attacks. As I said, I am the safest out of all of us. Besides, Black Mist left the other way. It is less than likely that he will be here." Before any more arguments can be said, Astral launches himself into the building.

Is it just me, or does Astral look more transparent than normal?