Chapter 17: Shadow

I told Carol I'm going to ask my Aunt if she knew anything at all about my parents and their research, they might have known or found something. But first thing is first. I scour the city.

It's well into the night and I'm jumping across the rooftops, looking for something, anything. Maybe Unknown will come to me As I did to her. Carol couldn't go out tonight, so I'm filling in for her. She said it wouldn't be hard, but it's my first night, I should be careful.

Abhartach has an ability that allows him to store clothing bonded to his soul, but his capacity only allows a handful

I stand atop a tall building, holding onto a pole as I look down into the city. My pupils dilate and zoom in great detail, I can see a lot. My ears have also grown more sensitive since getting these abilities, These days I can someone playing music with earphones in the next house, I learnt how to focus and tune out unnecessary sound but tonight, my senses are loose, running rampant, waiting to detect a cry. I can't hear and see everything, so I have to move every so often to a place out of my range.

The chilly night air hits against me, pushing my coat violently. I can see the stars glimmering in the cloudless night. The dark seeps in where the lights don't illuminate by my eyes pierce through the dusk easily.

"Quiet tonight," I mutter to myself as I hang on the poll atop the building. I imagine myself as a vigilante type hero who guards his home with a discerning eye, never wavering. But unfortunately, I waver.

"We need to talk," Abhartach calls to me from deep in my thoughts.

"About?"

"Several topics. Foremost, your friend has control over mysterious and more powerful magic than any I've seen, and she isn't even a magical being. Albert is out there amassing a Fomorian army for a second uprising and there's an unknown wandering the streets who could be our enemy," Abhartach sneered and blurted out everything that was bothering him. Well, almost everything.

"You focus too much on the bad than on the good, we have two powerful allies, one who comes from a family of powerful magic users and we also know what to look for."

"This is why you humans die so easily, always grasping onto hope."You are dead too, dude," I chuckle at him.

"Touche, now pay attention, I hear something."

I listen attentively to my surroundings, taking in everything with all of my senses when I hear something odd. The footsteps are hard yet gentle, soft yet demanding, but what scares me is that they are weightless, like a feather. They sound all around me and I can feel them drawing closer. I feel my skin tingle and my spine shivers as the sound drowns me in a lake of darkness. A raspy breath escapes from the darkness and tickles across my neck. I flinch, the air from the breath feels like someone ate a breath mint and blew on your nude skin.

"Move!," Abhartach commands, and I jump back a few paces as a blade sinks into the ground I was just standing on. I see a shadowy figure staring at me with two bright white eyes. It wears a long cloak that reaches its ankles and a blade linked to a chain that runs up her arms. The figure stands in a clear pose and its blade reels back up its sleeve and forms a cane. It points at me and speaks in a calm voice, "Interesting, you got your link not too long ago and you can already sense my presence."

"What the hell are you?" I demand as the wind blows and our outfits rustle in response. The sounds of the city at night fill the background.

"I am nothing but something all at once. Who I am, however, is Unknown."

"Careful, he looks formidable, tries not to start a fight," Abhartach advises.

"What do you want?" I ask.

"Straight to business, I like that."

"You attacked me first from nowhere, you're practically a professional," I sneer at him.

"Point taken, Sam, I just wanted to see if the weight of the world was in expert hands. Since you passed the test, I'll give you hint, Sam." He says mockingly.

"Get on with it, I don't have all night."

"Danu is alive, in OtherWorld."

"What?! Mother is alive?! How?" Abhartach rambles in my head, trying his hardest to wrap his head around the new piece of information.

"Carol and I went there already, and there were no signs of anyone else left. What are you talking about?" I say, doubting his words.

"What you explored was a little forest on the outskirts of an island that I sent you to. OtherWorld is a whole other planet in the Tuatha realm," He chuckles as if he speaks to an ignorant child.

"If all that is true, then why not send us to her in the first place, why make us take detours when we could have just gone further the first time?" I ask, frustrated.

"Because if I had sent you further you would have died, your task was simple, retrieve Excalibur, which you did. Now, give it to me, I'll be holding onto it. If Bres gets his hands on it, the odds will tip in his favour."

"Aw, hell no. I worked my butt off training in the woods every day ever since I got my powers, I watched my girlfriend almost die for this stupid sword and you expect me to just give it to you?"

"What I expect you to do and what I want you to do are two very different issues. Give me the blade or I will take it."

"Let's not risk fighting someone that we can barely detect and has more information and experience than us, run.

I get myself into battle-stance, keeping my gaze fixed on my opponent, he lets out a small chuckle as he waves around his cane and uses his other hand to touch the front of his fedora. I turn my back and run. I leap across the rooftops, dashing through the darkness. Confused; He dashes after me but I had a solid head start, his feet land gracefully on the rooftops, making as little contact and noise as possible. He turns and bends in the air and through obstacles, slowly covering the distance between us.

He glides across the gaps and is within arms reach behind me within moments. I can faintly hear his movements and footsteps as he encroaches closer with each passing second.

"Go faster, boy!" Abhartach demands in my thoughts.

"I'm going as fast as I can, I wish I didn't have voices in my head, damn," I retort.

The shadowy man reaches outwards, trying to grab me, I see a flagpole and catapult myself off of it in the opposite direction, catching him off guard. He tucks in and lands on the sides of the building in front of him and propels himself backwards in a swift motion. I panic as he tails me relentlessly.

"He's not human!" I exclaim when I see him bend through an alley and backflip through an open window and exit through the other side.

"I can see that, lose him in the shadows," Abhartach says growls.

I jump across a rooftop and straight into a blocked-off alley that looked rather dark and suspicious, perfect. No light source around and I slip into the darkness, erasing my presence and I become one with the cold and lonely essence that wraps itself around me like one of the warm hugs that Kelly used to give me.

Unknown lands in front of me. He eyes the scene and tilts his head as if he is searching for me. I hear a smile as he walks slowly around, looking for me.

"I can see you, you know?" He mocks.

I keep quiet.

"I am impressed, this could have fooled anyone that isn't a shadow themself. Fool." he reaches out and yanks me from my hiding place and throws me across the alley. Shadows vanish and reshape themselves from where I once stood.

"How did you?" I ask.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I am a shadow you fool, give me the sword."

I rush towards him quickly, If I strike first and get in a kill, I win. He effortlessly dodges me with his forearm and I unsheath the dagger that was hidden in my forearm and slash at his arm, leaving a gash. He flinches with a hiss and punches me squarely in the jaw, rattling my teeth. I feel myself on the ground a few paces away from him, he used enough force to launch me.

I get on my feet and the pain sets in. I feel my left cheek throb then I feel my face ache and my mouth fills with the liquid taste of iron, I feel dizzy and soon the shock spreads to my body.

"You are not that smart, I see. I am stronger than you, faster than you, deadlier than you, I will clip your balls and feed them to my dogs. You dumb goat!" He screams as he approaches me with his cane spinning skillfully in his right hand.

He stands in front of me and attempts to take Excalibur from my waist. I speedily turn and spin around him and jab his back with my dagger, he turns to block but I am in front now. I stab him twice and this time he turns with me and parries my attacks with his cane. I jump back and charge at him immediately. He squints his eyes and makes what I think is a smile.

He attacks viciously at my right, I move under the cane and parry, pinning it to the ground. I go for a kick, I have him now, fuck, my vision blurs slightly from his previous punch and he lets go of his cane and dodges and kicks at my left. I block him and jump overhead a little far from him to steady myself. He picks up his cane and points at me, "I see," is all he says before charging at me.

"You've been training, you should be ready, try it now," Abhartach says.

I breathe and I feel my body shift slightly. focus. My vision turns red, my senses smell blood, life, I feel and hear his blood pump in his veins, I look at his forearm and see blood leak from the wound, I did that. I block his punch and attack his right side, where I had made the gash and he winces back on impact as he blocks my attack.

I smile, flashing my fangs, I am one with his form, my skin no longer goes pale when I turn, my nails grow longer and sharpen.

"I don't like drinking people but I wouldn't mind taking you."