Chapter 17- The Missing Shade

It was a beautiful day out. The morning sun rose as the fog from yesterdays rain had started to evaporate into the sky. It created a mist that reminded me of something... Something that I couldn't quite seem to remember. As I was saying, the hot sun seemed to shine more brightly today, in contrast to the darkness that was happening to me.

I didn't realize it then, but I was slowly changing. Time was going by fast as I sat at the window of my dorm. I looked outside and noticed that the time was strangely quick. It was as if the sun was running towards something... no... away from something. I just sat there the whole day, not worrying about anything.

I didn't even notice it but it was already 5:34 pm. It felt like I just time traveled in the blink of an eye. I see a little crescent shaped moon, a small piece of the mighty moon that reigned in the night. It was kind of like my ability, it looks cool and all, but once you see it up close, it completely overwhelms you.

The sound of my phone buzzing took my notice away from the mesmerizing glow of the moon. I had so much notifications in my phone. Most were from my friends, asking me what I am up to, and the rest were just my teachers emailing me my missed assignments. After all, us superpowered kids still have regular school work. It was a bore but I didn't mind it too much.

There was just a few math equations here and there with a mix of Shakespeare play questions from my literature class. But I don't do any homework until the last minute. I am that type of person that procrastinates, always having excuses like "aww I still have time, I'll do it later". I find it better to do things last minute so that it is fresh on your mind when you enter your class.

After a few minutes, I hear a growl that came inside the dorm. I was immediately on high alert, looking at everything like its an enemy. I looked everywhere and spotted nothing. I hear it again... But this time, a pain in my stomach jolted and the my insides felt like there was a dim fire in it. Then I realized that the last time I ate was yesterday.

I laughed it off embarrassingly even though no one else was in there with me. I walked down to the cafeteria to buy myself a decent meal, preferably something with meat. That was when the school shook, everything spun and I had a very hard time trying to stand up. Everyone was darting strange looks towards me and I saw that no one else was having difficulties standing up.

I made it right in time and sat on a bench as I fell into a deep and peaceful sleep. All the pain and suffering seemed to go away. Nothing mattered anymore as I fell into... nothing. I woke up feeling startled, but where I woke up was way beyond my comprehension. My surroundings was just white, I walked and walked in one direction, but the realm seemed endless.

I figured that this was real because I could feel pain. So what is this place? Did someone cause this? And why am I the one in here? All of this was about to be answered in a few minutes. But the place reminded me of the shadow realm, except that its just white.

Suddenly, a masked man appeared in front of me. He wore a custom white tuxedo with black lines coming from the sleeves to the neck. Two silencers (suppressed pistols) rested at both of his sides in brown holsters while his gloved hands moved into his pants pockets.

"Hey there Draven, recognize my voice?" He asked.

In fact, his voice did sound familiar. He used a voice changer that made him sound ominous and creepy. I've definitely heard it before, even recently. I started to rack up in my head on where and when I heard his voice.

"come on man, I'm Mr. Unnamed!" He said. His tone made it seem like he was actually genuinely hurt that I didn't recognize his voice straightaway. "How can you forget someone named Unnamed!"

I don't know why, but he reminded me of wrench, a character from watch dogs 2. I played a lot of games during my free time. I guess you can say that its a form of escape or coping mechanism because I tend to get stressed a lot. It just eases my problems and gets me through tough times.

I don't know... Well, enough of that nonsense and let's get back to my story on my problems. So, I was trapped in a white dimension with an unnamed person. I guess this is just regular stuff for us super powered kids? Let me tell you that this isn't even close to the strangest things I've had to experience. I've seen some things that is WAY beyond a regular humans comprehension. You don't even want to know...

"What is happening?" I asked, bewildered and confused about the whole situation. I didn't know why my cultivation teacher was here with me in who knows where.

"Sorry I had to pull you here kid. But I've taken an interest in you." He said, his mask made it unable to see his reaction or emotions so I had no clue what he was thinking. "You see, your shade is very weird... or special, who knows!"

"huh?" This was the smartest reply that I could muster up in my brain at the time.

"Your shade! My ability lets me see other peoples shade when I lock them in the "Happy Place". This can tell me how strong or weak my opponent is. Everyone's strength depends on how long their shade goes for. But that's the thing, you have two shades. One shade is black, while the other is white."

He sucked at teaching so I was still a little bit confused, but I kind of got it. Basically, We have a shade or an energy inside us. The bigger our shade was, the more powerful we are. His ability lets him see everyone's shade who is in their happy place.

The only thing about it that I didn't get was when he said I had two shades.

"Wait, what do you mean I have two shades?" I asked.

"Everyone has a shade, even regular humans. Even they can become superpowered like us, They just need a motivation or "light" to kickstart their shade. The originals, they found the gemstones that started their shade." He replied, completely ignoring my question.

"okay, but you didn't answer my question."

"That's the thing, you're the first person to ever have two shades. This means that you will have to balance both of the powers otherwise one may consume you whole. I don't really know if it will, but let's not wait to find out." He started. "That's what I am here for, I will personally tutor you and help you find the balance."

"I will help you find the missing shade... your gray."

My gray, I don't know. Was he telling the truth? If not, then why is he lying? It didn't matter, If he was telling the truth, I mean, it did scare me just thinking about something inside me consuming me. But, on the other hand, will it really happen? I did not want to find out so I instantly nodded my head, agreeing to him helping me.

"Alright, from this day forward, you will be my apprentice. I will make sure that you find the right path." He said. "Lets hope that it is not too late, I mean I don't really know what is going to happen. For all I know, you might already be consumed!"

"Thanks for those encouraging words, I feel all better now..." I said, sarcastically.

He clapped his hands and a cloud of mist appeared in front of me. He said something I couldn't discern, It sounded like a time. In a split second, I woke up with a jolt and face planted on the ground as I fell of a bench.

It was already dark out and the time was nearing our curfew. I didn't want to know what the punishment was, so I headed towards my dorm room, completely forgetting about my wild hunger as the question of the day was: "Was it real or was it just a dream."

"Whatever, I'll just ask him about it tomorrow. Probably just a dream though." I said, meaning it, but not believing it. "It felt so real... Why does everything have to be so complicated."

I sighed as I made it to the door. I took off my shoes, being accustomed to my house rules. I can practically hear my old man nagging as traces of dirt was spotted on the floor. I looked at my roommate, peacefully sleeping. I didn't want to sleep yet, probably because I just slept on a bench.

I heard a little sound notification from my PC. I noticed that someone messaged me on Discord.

"Wanna play some league?" Adrian messaged. "Everyone is online, we just need one more person to make a full squad."

And with that, I spent the whole night playing League of Legends, then onto Valorant, until I finally felt tired around 2:00 in the morning and flopped on the bed. What a healthy sleeping schedule!

Fortunately, I had no nightmares which was kind of unsettling. What if it will be worse? like calm waters before a stormy ocean.

A voice in my head told me to not mind it. It was weird, because it wasn't my voice. Usually, when I think, I hear my voice. Suddenly, I felt something cold on my hand and looked at what touched me. I saw a hand, attached with a familiar old man holding up a very menacing smile. He sat on my bed with one leg on top of the other.

"sweet dreams boy."