Chapter 7

I begin explaining, from cars to spaceships, elevators, planes. I explain our technology, how we have smartphones, that took a long while, cameras, clocks, TV. I explain guns and everything I can possibly think of for all the questions they have.

By the time I've finished, the sun finishes setting. "Wait so....entertainment is on the moving picture? Like people....its a picture, or like a logbook if you will of time and images?" Violet asks,

"Yeah. You put them together and it makes a story, we call them movies or shows."

They give me the same intrigued, yet astounded looks. "And-and candles, that light on their own? How?"

"I'm not sure how it works but there's a flammable gas inside the container and it releases it simultaneously with a spark and the flame appears."

"Hmm....so the, ugh what is it, the pressured water? Explain that to me once more?"

"It's for different things, washing plates or hands or bathing and it comes out of a hole, or several small holes, hard, relatively, and fast."

"Amazing."

"Now before I go further, I could tell about so many things, want to teach me a little?"

"You're no fun, alright." Violet says,

"Ha, I suppose that's fair, we have been asking so much, the sun is already gone....oh boy, where do we start?"

The two talk it over for several minutes and finally decide.

"Okay, so we got to start way back, in the beginning, we believe there are two actual Gods, Light and Dark. They created this world and us, they actually stayed with us physically for quite some time. To help us preform our tasks and ease the burdens of our lives they gave us magic."

Lydia looks over at Violet who looks anxious as she thinks hard. "Okay, so...yeah, we used the magic to help us, but then the time came, there was this man, he grew cocky with his magic. But he wanted more, so he went and asked the Gods to make him like them."

"They refused. He was furious, he called them thieves, he turned so many against them. Furious themselves, they gave him exactly what he asked for, but for a price. The power they gave him consumed him, he became the first Eclipse user. He corrupted his followers and they became evil."

"They knew how much his wife meant to him so they killed her in front of him. But they knew his love for power was greater so they cursed him to never age but if he is murdered, he'd lose everything. The Gods have left us, they want to see who will win Eclipse or Aurora users. Everyone knows the man as Venix, we aren't sure if that's his real name. Sylvia is his second in command."

"Yeah, she's dangerous, but he....is psycho, if you get the chance to face off with him against you and.....12 Shadow Walkers by your side, do not take that chance."

"How do we kill him then?"

The two look at each other for the answer and back at me. "No one knows, he's so strong and skilled, he's the most powerful person in the world." Lydia says,

"There's got to be some way?"

"I'm sure there is but like we said, he's powerful. Most are too scared to even think about it."

"Okay, so what happened after, he just built up his empire?"

"Pretty much, it was huge, then the giant war happened....it lasted years, a lot of people died."

"But thanks to Shadow Walkers, that didn't happen right?"

"We played a part in it. But I'm not a master yet, I wish I had Tetanus's stone."

I give them a confused look. "Lydia, one thing at a time."

"Sorry."

"Tetanus is one of the demigods, he is know for two things but one is the stone he blessed. Whoever holds the stone, if they know a certain fighting style, they become legendary, but once you use it, it disappears and doesn't return for another hundred years."

"When was it used last?"

"It might just be a rumor, no one has ever seen it, but so the legend says, it appears in some hiding place of Tetanus's."

"Hmm."

"But um, back to Shadow Walkers, I'm not a master yet, not even close, but we are a brotherhood formed during the war to protect Aurora users. But they didn't need us, so they say, after the war ended so they left us to be hunted and killed, some even helped in doing so."

"So you've just stayed in hiding? All this time?"

"Well I still help people of course, but once I do I try to leave the area before I get to, famous. We are really skilled in combat, our magic sucks in comparison but we make up for it."

"Sylvia knew how to handle it, I'm sorry Lydia."

"You didn't know. Don't go handing that around though please." she laughs as she winks and points at me,

"Noted, so break it down for me, who are the demigods?"

"So you know Liara already-"

"Violet?" I ask,

"I'm being positive, trying." she says,

"There's Tetanus, his other deed, or whatever was creating the Scarlet Moon. It's literally a full moon, only its dark red and everything it shines on turns red. That moon appears when he would kill someone, it was symbolic of his power and strength. He was apparently really heartless, I mean no compassion for anyone." Violet finishes,

"Yeah, then there's Luke, he taught us we could use magic on ships and make them float and sail in the sky, and also brought us New Haven, which is just above Old Haven. Then you have Tirana and Caroline, they were best friends once, Caroline was supposedly one of the most beautiful women ever born. Tirana was jealous and hated her because even Tirana's husband fell for her. He tried to force himself on Caroline, she told Tirana, filled with hatred and jealousy, Tirana attacked Caroline and took her sight from her and killed her own husband.

Caroline healed but she always carried a cloth around her eyes, being blind back then, you were considered a nothing, so, like that, the world rejected her and called her ugly, no one knows what happened to Tirana. Those are the demigods and goddesses."

I sit and think about it all trying my best to retain and process. "Okay, so....Venix is still alive, we need to stop him, where do we start? Tetanus's stone?"

"Adam, we don't even know if it exists."

"There must be a way people know of it?"

"Well sure his statue hints at it but, ugh he creeps me out."

"Why?" I chuckle,

"Ever hear someone called a Tetanus, it's not a compliment, he was pretty ruthless, so I guess a lot of people hated him." Lydia says shuddering,

"Come on, you guys are being weird."

"That's cause he was also a womanizer, in a very forceful way. Even if it's a rumor, he wasn't that attractive and it's just gross." Lydia says,

I narrow my eyes, "Alright fine, I'll go with you."

Lydia takes a breath and pulls the hood over her head. "New Haven it is!"

Violet and I glance at each other and back at Lydia. "What? I still got a lot of enemies there."

"What's a hood going to do?"

She makes a funny face and flicks my ear. "I got magic on the cloak dummy. Unless they've seen my face before, every time they see the cloak with the hood up, they don't remember it, or it's unfamiliar to them."

"That's, both amazing and sketchy."

"Sketchy? How do you sketch that?"

I hang my head and sigh, "It's slang, it means....uh not necessarily scary but like, risky or intimidating, depending on the situation."

"And you call us weird." Violet smiles,

I shrug, "So how do we get there?"

"Start walking. Until we get to Montero, that's city Adam." she says mockingly,

"You know what Lydia?"

She laughs and pushes me gently, "I'm just playing with you, you like me....somewhere inside."

"Yeah of course, just really deep, deep inside."

"Be warey boy." she teases,

We gather what we need, eat as much of the deer as we can and start walking. "So question, what exactly is the fighting style of a shadow walker?"

"Are you going to spill again? Huh?"

She smiles poking my stomach. "Hey I'm sorry, but to be fair, from the looks you're all talk so...."

She scoffs and flicks the back of my head. "You jerk! I'm going to get you back for that."

"Seriously though."

"Are you asking because you want to learn, or because you're curious?"

"Both, maybe."

"Well learning is gonna take you years buddy, but the style is, I don't even know all of them but It's a lot of different urban and chaotic styles mixed together."

"Sounds like a lot of work." Violet says,

"Oof, you have no idea, it took forever to get where I am."

"I still think you can qualify as a master."

She rolls her eyes and smiles, "Not even close."

"You could probably take us both on."

"No....well maybe."

I give her a frustrated look, "Alright fine I can, but so what? That doesn't make me a pro?"

"Are you calling us crappy fighters?"

She smirks, "No?"

Violet snorts, Lydia looks at her with a sad face.

"Oh come on I'm just teasing. I didn't mean it."

"Maybe you are just all talk, if you got thrown around like that."

Lydia tilts her head, "Hey wait, why not train? I can beat the crap out of Adam here and you can take out any resentment you have for me?"

We give her weird looks, "What? I'm not going easy either, I mean relatively but I can teach you guys and you teach me?"

"How can we teach you?"

"To watch my back better."

"Fine."

We walk and explore till we find three thick wooden sticks and carve them straight with our swords.

We both charge Lydia, she swings her makeshift sword into mine and ducks under Violets as it swings horizontally.

She kicks my legs out and meets Violet's, she throws her fist forward, Lydia catches and kicks her legs out and elbows her stomach.

I am on my feet and charge her, she waits for me to get close enough and swings, I lean back, she kicks my stomach and I fly back onto the ground. I push myself up, Violet has her in a headlock, but Lydia quickly elbows her stomach, flips her over onto her back and straddles her and holds one of the sticks to her throat.

"One down." Lydia says,

I get up and swing at her, she jumps and rolls forward off of Violet.

I run around and throw my sword into hers, she spins it to the earth, Grabs my wrists and slices them with her stick and pokes the flat end at my chest.

"And two." she says smiling and breathing heavily,

"I thought I had you for a second there."

"Well that's your first mistake dummy, never assume that....always assume they have, some trick up their sleeve or that they are faster, stronger, whatever. Even if you know they aren't. Whew, give me a workout."

"Really?" Violet asks,

"No." the two stare at each other with blank faces and burst out laughing,

It catches me totally off guard, but I can't help but smile at them smiling and laughing together, we grab our swords and chuck the logs.

"Since when are you so mushy Lydia?" the high voice asks,

She turns pale and turns, I look back and see the very muscular Satyr. "W-w-what are y-you doing here?" she asks weakly,