The Light Meets the Dark

Chapter 7 - Shadows

With Raxxon following, Keara made her way to the main hall. Curious about her new assistant, she questioned him along the way. "So why do you and your kind work for Raxxon? Does he make you?"

"No, Deorc never makes anyone join him. With us, he saw our need for order and direction, and talked us into following him."

So Deorc isn't completely cruel, Keara thought. She studied the muscular, scarred figure beside her. But what about this one?

Soon they reached the room where Deorc waited for them. Upon seeing Keara he smiled. "Ah, I see my potion has done its work."

"Why did you make me like this?" Keara demanded.

"Now, now, I didn't make you like this, the potion did. A pretty good one, if I do say so myself. It was a struggle getting rid of the sweaty sock taste but-"

"Would you please answer my question, or you might find yourself putting Raxxon back as second-in-command."

"Ah, we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

"I would," mumbled the Darkthing captain.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER ME?" Keara snapped.

"Oh, yes yes, sorry. I had you do this so that the Darkthings would feel more comfortable around you. They're very distrustful of humans."

"Fair enough. Are there any... Effects? Besides the obvious."

"Yes. You gain their enhanced strength, better health, excellent night vision, and possibly their allergy to peanuts..."

"Anything important I need to know?"

"Yes, actually. You also gain their one major weakness: Light. A direct beam has a similar effect to a Darkthing that water has to a ghost. Dimmer glows may also irritate you and hurt your eyes."

"Master," interrupted Raxxon, "Are you going to explain The Plan to her?"

"Ah, yes, The Plan. Really need to come up with a better name for it. The Plan is... A plan. One for vengeance. Vengeance against Lucinox."

"Why Lucinox?"

"Do you know of any other village with the woman who betrayed me, the man who exposed my evil, and the other man who foiled my greatest plan?"

"The latter man is dead, my lord," Raxxon reminded him.

"Oh, yes, that's right. Good riddance. Became the husband of the lady no less."

"I see your point, please continue before you go off on a baskstory tangent." Keara said.

"Ah, good, good. Yes, I may have grown up in this village, but it has done nothing but hate me since I... Well, I won't go into that. I plan to make it so that it never sees the light of day again! Well, not until they give me control of the village."

"Is that where I come in? The darkness?"

"Yes. On my own I'm not powerful enough to do it, even with the shadow generators I've planted around the place."

"Shadow generators?"

"Yes, devices I created that enhance elemental ability. Don't have a better name for them. We create the cover, the Darkthings wreak havoc around the place. It's almost too simple. But actually, I have something for you to do first."

"And that is..."

"Well, actually for now, it's just that I need you to try and see if the generators will be enough for you. I've been needing to check on them anyway. I don't think anyone would find them, but just in case..."

"When shall I start?"

"Right now would be good. Take a Darkthing or two, they might come in handy-"

Suddenly the door burst open and once again two of Deorc's minions made their way in. As you probably guessed, it was the twins. "Whatever's going on, I volunteer!" Shouted Norkel.

"No, I do!" Yelled her brother.

"I do!"

"I-"

"AAAAAUGH!" They were flung out the door once more by Raxxon. "I'll assist you, Commander," he brushed his hands together. "I don't trust anyone else out in the light."

"Fine by me. Let's get going." Keara spotted a cloak hanging on the wall nearby and walked over to it. "May I use this?"

"I suppose, if you want..." Deorc shrugged.

She picked it up. It was old, and rather ragged, but Keara somehow liked it that way. She threw it on and went out, Raxxon close behind.

Going out then was a good call, as most of the devices were in at least partial shade at that time. Keara slipped from shadow to shadow, then created a dark path (quite literally) for Raxxon to follow.

Coming upon the first generator she summoned her powers, using them to surround it. She gave a startled gasp as the machine whirred and her dark cloud suddenly became much bigger. Quickly she dispersed it, hoping no one had seen it.

"Does this work on any other elements, I wonder?" She asked.

"We can try..." Raxxon casually walked over and created a yellow-green cloud. Soon the air was filled with toxic fumes before it all vanished.

Keara stared at the Darkthing. "You're a Master of Poison?"

"Technically, yes. However, I'm nowhere near as powerful as a human can be. You won't see me use it much." He didn't seem to care about his special ability.

"Well, let's check the rest of the generators before we blow our cover." The master of Shadow moved on, wondering what else this captain kept hidden beneath that cold, gray surface.