ShadowSong [Book 1 & 2: Complete] [NaNoWriMo16/17]

Chapter 68 - A Canvas Possessed

Cryo gave his tattoo an eighth single tap as his anxiety crept up on him like ice on the wall.

It'd taken the Manifested longer than expected to realise that Banshee had slipped away, but now that it had, any reservations it'd had were gone. It spawned out of shadows. It lurked in the corners of his vision. As soon as he dealt with one, another would begin approaching him. Sometimes they'd come down the streets like they were hunters stalking their prey. Other times they would wait by an open window, watching, staring.

He wouldn't always notice them at first, but he could feel its constant gaze on him. When one got too close and he was forced to eliminate it, he knew another had spawned. Even when he couldn't see them, he knew they were there. He felt hunted. Trapped. Cornered.

Abandoned, a whisper hissed through his mind. Left behind.

Cryo spun around, finding one of the Manifested's shadows directly behind him, leaning close to his ear. Cryo flung out a hand and speared ice straight through the Manifested's chest. It didn't even make an attempt to dodge, letting itself dissolve back into the grey-white smoke with cruel, keening laugh.

Alone. You are alone.

Cryo tapped his tattoo yet again.

But not with me. With me, we would be together again. Together. Always together.

Again, he felt Banshee's answering taps echo through his body and let them strengthen his resolve.

"I am not alone," he told the smoke gathering around his feet. Every time he removed one shadow, he'd realised that their smoke did not fade. Rather, it dissipated, and now it was thick enough to gather like a storm across the ground. "My partner has not abandoned me."

"Damn right I haven't, Cryo," said Banshee as she landed beside him. There was an odd note to her voice before she released a quiet breath and seemed to push it aside, at least for now. "Situation?"

"One shadow is always formed," said Cryo. "When I remove one, another spawns. Their smoke is left behind."

"I can see that," said Banshee, kicking at the smoke beneath her feet. She turned to face Cryo with her arms crossed, though her eyes constantly moved under her visor, scanning the space behind him as she dropped her voice. "Ok. It's a corrupted Manifested. Last time, was an artist. These smoke things are clones, it can spawn multiple at once and it's just screwing with us. The actual Manifested is hiding as one of these objects around here, previously a crate. Limited three-block range to clones. They found it by lighting the place up, the Manifested doesn't reflect light properly. It left at sunrise and pretended to be a Shimmer then reappeared the next night."

Cryo considered it for a moment. "Would your shadows have the opposite effect upon it?"

"That's plan A," said Banshee, turning to one side while stretching her arm up over her head. The action looked careless enough, but Cryo knew that glint in her eye. She was already searching. "Though we're not having much success on that front yet. She also mentioned that it's likely trying to exhaust us for something big."

"I had assumed as much," said Cryo. "Spread out. We search. One for clone. Two for more than one clone. Three for the Manifested itself. Five for emergencies. The current clone is to our left, just down that street. Avoid dispelling it unless necessary."

"Noted," said Banshee. "I'll see if I can get a range on the clone, though I have a feeling my shadows won't be much good for finding the actual Manifested unless I happen upon its fragment. You might wanna start working on plan B."

Cryo nodded and Banshee darted off.

The Manifested's clone followed her.

Cryo took to the skies, partially so he could keep an eye on the clone, and partially so he could allow himself room to consider his options. Three block range. Clones. Unable to reflect light correctly. Exhaustion as the goal. He shared Banshee's doubts that the shadows would have the same revealing effect as light did, which meant they needed to find a large, powerful light source or a way to locate the fragment itself.