WITHIN SHADOW: BROKEN BOND

STRIFE

I keep walking. Through woods and along roads. That night, it didn't feel like my world and this one were all that different. That changed when I reached the city.

The place was vibrant with lights and buildings. Homes for miles. So many people. So many in need. I could hear it, constantly. Something inside me was like a beacon, collecting messages of people who needed help.

I ignored them. I felt numb. The need for sleep took hold. I sat against a wall in an alley. As I drifted to sleep I thought about my father and all he told me about this world. I've seen the kindness he spoke of...and I knew I'd soon see the darkness he spoke of as well.

That thought woke me. It was morning but the alley felt cold as I sat in the shadows. A man looking just as dirty as me walked down the alley. He offered me a cigarette. I didn't know what that was but I took it anyways. I would later keep it for years, never forgetting the act of kindness.

I found a nearby park and sat next to a fountain for a long while. My mind jumping from one concern to the next. I could hear countless cries for help. Some, more distant. Like a far off echo that called to me. I noticed something shining in the bottom of the water next to me. Circular metal pieces. Father showed me something that resembled these when I was a child. They must be used as currency.

My stomach became louder than the souls the beckoned for me. I wandered, trying to find something to eat. I'd never hunted before, the other Sons of Light always did. The thought of killing a living creature never excited me. Images of Vastor flashed through my mind.

I went into a building that smelled wonderful. I asked someone inside for whatever they could spare but I was given strange looks. A woman in there looked at the wet spot on my coat. The currency I had collected from the pond soaked through my pants. I took out all of the "change", as she called it, and emptied it out on the table. It got me the cheapest thing they had. I scarfed down the "hot dog" so fast that I nearly choked.

Once I felt my strength return to me...I heard him. A young man, around my age. He was anxious, fear gripped him fast. Someone was threatening his life. I answered his call.

I traveled and found myself in an alley. As I looked up up, I saw him being held at gunpoint. The man threatening him was in a jacket with cloth covering the lower half of his face. He turned his attention to me. His threatening look shook me to my core. I'd faced evil before...but this was a different kind. Something foreign and unsettling. The man raised the gun towards me.

My father told me about guns, even showed me a few. But I'd never seen their power firsthand. Instinctively I raised my hands into the air.

The man kept screaming at me, but he was trying to intimidate two people at the same time. He turned his attention back to the whimpering one. Lazy. No servant would hesitate like this. What was he doing? He wanted something from the one he was threatening. I could stop this. Easy.

When the armed man looked back, I was nowhere to be seen. Confusion took him. My foot collided with his back, sending him into the bricks a few feet away.

Immediately, the one I came to save ran off in fear. He was afraid, but alive. I'll take that. I knew it was all this world was probably going to give me.

Was it really this simple? Traveling when the bad guys are distracted? The Enemy was far more  of a threat that these common thugs. Maybe I should continue down this path. I could try and  blend in with those like the one I took down.

I ripped my a piece of my coat into a makeshift bandanna like the criminal. I took his jacket and gloves. I left my coat and sword in the cold, dark alley. I walked away, the numbness I had felt began to fade...and anger began to rise.

It's time to adapt.