The Shadow of the Magi

by Billy Spencer

  “Evil is subjective and you know it. We do evil deeds every day, but we use laws to make them seem moral when evil is in all of us. Maybe they deserve this plane, would make things interesting,” Smiley said out loud as he got out some pliers from one of the drawers.

  Lucuris looked at him in horror and could tell this person was a madman and did not want people just dead but to suffer. “It wouldn’t be good there are demons, vampires and more that would be allowed to run free in our world and they will kill us all,” Lucuris said out loud as he kept pleading and pleading for his freedom.

  Smiley rushed towards Lucuris put pressure on his side and grabbed one of his fingers and pulled at it. “You don’t see it do you. I don’t care about what happens, but I am going to mess you up,” Smiley said out loud as he took the pliers and pulled one of Lucuris’s nails off. The wail and whimper was a delight to his ears and it made him happy. The more Lucuris whimpered the more he would jab his elbow into the Mages side eager to hear him cry even more.

  Lucuris could feel the pain more and more with each elbow. He could feel the blood leaving his finger and felt fear set completely in his body. “Please, no no no, don’t do it please,” Lucuris said out loud as he was pleading Smiley to stop elbowing him and picking at his skin and nails with the pliers not pulling them out but teasing them and just pulling them enough for it to hurt.

  “I need you to do something for me yes. I want you to spell you name backwards over and over again. Don’t even stop just keep going,” Smiley said out loud as he started to laugh pulling Lucuris’s fingernails laughing at the pain that he was in.

  Lucuris began saying his name backwards over and over again and tried to focus his mind on something else but the pain was horrible and felt like forever. His nails were hurting, and his side hurt a lot to the point he could barely breathe. He wished Abigail or Jessica were with him. He wished Alexander or Sonya would come to save him, but he was alone with nothing around him but a masked man laughing at him.

  “Seems we could use a break right. I will be right back and we will continue this chat,” Smiley said out loud as he got up from the floor and then kicked the side of Lucuris’s body before leaving the room and shutting the door leaving the hurt Mage in total darkness.

  Lucuris could hear his whistling fade away as Smiley went away from the door and knew that he had to use the time he had to try and get free and to get away from this psycho.”I got to get out, and have to find my crystal, but so tired,” Lucuris said out loud as he rocked the chair he was tied to side to side on the floor. He rocked it side to side as hard as he could hear it crack slowly as he could feel the wood break.

  The chair finally broke into small pieces after a few minutes and Lucuris slowly made his way to the drawer slowly and then tried to life himself up with all his strength to one of the corners of the counter. He then began to move the ropes that were binding his hands up and down until they finally broke. He was finally free but could tell he did not have a lot of time. “I have to find my crystal but knowing my luck it is on that killers’ body,” Lucuris said out loud as he peaked open the door and looked down the dark and dimly lit hallway.

  He could barely move much and could feel his legs shake as he made his way down the hallway. He could hear Smiley yelling while talking to someone that was not there. Like he was talking to a ghost or something, but he could faintly hear what he was saying.

  “I have the Mage and I could barely resist to cut him. Just let me cut his face off, just so I don’t have to look at it,” Smiley said out loud as he went to the side of the room to get some knives from a shelf.

  “I don’t get who is he talking to. Is it just himself or is he speaking to the master the evil that had tried to attack my city,” Lucuris said out loud in a small whisper as he leaned against the wall trying to hide from view of Smiley.

  “He has that face. He has that face I hate, and I hate,” Smiley said out loud as he took one of the knives and went to a corner of the room out a view and stabbed something in quick succession. All that could be hear was groans and cries coming from the corner. “Can’t kill him, can’t mess with him much but he has that face and I hate it,” Smiley said out loud as he continued to stab and stab as the person in the corner kept crying and begging him to stop.

  Lucuris could hear the person cry and cry for what seemed to be forever. He could hear the knife go in and out of the person and it hurt him. He was sad because he could not help them, and they were suffering. The sounds of death burned deep into his ears and felt like he could not handle the situation he was in; he was afraid of it all. “Have to find my crystal and get out of here. Maybe I don’t need it and can just run away,” Lucuris said in a small whisper to himself wanting to survive and just save himself.

  All of a sudden Smiley ran out of the room and turned towards Lucuris. “You think I could not hear you. I have cameras everywhere,” Smiley said out loud as he started to rush towards Lucuris with one knife pointing towards him.

  Lucuris did not know what to think and could only react and tripped Smiley on the floor. Smiley landed on the floor like a sack of bricks and the knife went flying out of his hand and across the hallway. “Give me my crystal,” Lucuris said out loud as he tried to keep Smiley from getting up.

  “Bullshit it is mine and the masters. The crystal is your weakness and you know it. Smiley said out loud as he was trying hard to break free from Lucuris’s grasp. He starter to swing in different areas and bit Lucuris on his arm hard enough to be let go.

  “No, I won’t let you go give me my crystal now,” Lucuris said out loud holding on tight to Smiley keeping him down as the killer bit down hard on Lucuris’s arm.

  Then all of a sudden, the crystal fell out of Smiley’s pocket and at that moment Lucuris let go of him and grabbed it before it was taken away from him again. Smiley was starting to get up from the floor and was searching for the knife that was thrown. But before Lucuris could worry about him he sprinted down the hallway away from him and was heading towards the exit. The open room caught his eye and he saw a young man stuck in the corner lifeless from the loss of blood and the paint they endured. There were cuts and torn skin revealing their bones underneath their skin. Their eyes wide open and the horror spread across their face as the last moments of their life was fear and loneliness. Lucuris could feel the anger swell up in his body. He wished he could have saved this person, but he was afraid, and he knew that he failed them. He ran up the stairs and charged out of the front door of the house that he was into him it was a house of horrors and one that he hoped never to return to.

  “Dammit I can’t believe he got away,” Smiley said out loud getting up from the floor trying to adjust his mask.

  Footsteps started to sound getting closer coming towards him slowly as a man in yellow made his way towards Smiley. “Hey, I told the master I would handle it,” Smiley said out loud as he pointed the knife towards the man in yellow.

  The man in yellow did not say anything but he kept getting closer and closer to Smiley and once he reached him the sound of footsteps stopped and the only thing that could be heard was a gasp and the clank of metal hitting the floor and Smiley’s lifeless body fell to the floor.

  Chapter 8

  Alexander and Sonya arrived back at his house. As they entered, they saw Bailey sitting on one of the couches with a concerned look on her face. “What happened, where is your friend and who is this?” Bailey said out loud wondering what happened to them. She saw they had injuries and they looked like they were in a hurry

  “No time Bailey we got to find Lucuris,” Alexander said out loud as he went down to where his computer was with Sonya following behind him.

  “What do you mean find him where is he?” Bailey said out loud as she followed behind them wondering what was going on.

  “The smiley face killer took him somewhere and we need to find him,” Alexander said out loud as he was beginning to sit down and go through his files and look at maps to try and figure out
where Smiley was living at.

  “Wait how did he take Lucuris from you?” Bailey said out loud curious as to what happened

  After a few minutes Sonya broke down what happened when it came to Lucuris fighting Alexander and Smiley stunning them as Lucuris was taken away to be tortured or worse.

  Before they could continue looking at the maps, they had pulled up there was a loud knock at the front door.

  “Expecting anyone else coming tonight?” Bailey said out loud as she made her way to the front door.

  “No, it was just the two of us, no one else is supposed to come,” Sonya said out loud as she followed Bailey to the door with Alexander trailing behind her.

  As soon as Bailey opened the door Lucuris appeared in front of them with a small smile on his face. He tried to talk but all he could do was collapse on the floor in front of them.

  Alexander held him in his arms and saw his eyes gloss over. “What did he do to you man. We need to get you inside,” Alexander said out loud as he began lifting Lucuris up and bringing him inside his home.

  Lucuris began coughing and looking at Sonya and Alexander as tears began to drip down his face. “I don’t think I can do this. I should of never came here and should have stayed with my family,” Lucuris said out loud as he tried to sit up.

  “Lucuris can you tell us what Smiley did, or what is he after,” Sonya said out loud as she knelt down in front of Lucuris with the look of concern spread across her face.

  Lucuris sat there and looked at the ceiling and was trembling. “I don’t know if he was just angry at me. He was working with the master, but he was just torturing me. I couldn’t save that person, I couldn't at all,” Lucuris said out loud as he began to wail in pain with the sadness, he held in from going through everything he went through the small time they were apart that night.

  Sonya held Lucuris close to her, she could feel his pain and sadness. “It’s okay Lucuris you are going to be okay. The master will do anything to anyone to destroy them from the inside. Your family or friends may not be here, but you have us,” Sonya said out loud as she held on to Lucuris.

  “Lucuris did you know where you were, what were your surroundings so we can try and track Smiley down,” Alexander said out loud sitting next to Lucuris.

  “It was dark. It felt like I was in a meat locker, but I could not really see it was too much pain,” Lucuris said in a small whisper as he leaned back and looked at the ceiling.

  Bailey looked at Lucuris she saw some dried blood on him, a few nails missing and just bruises all over his body. She could not believe that Lucuris got away and she did not feel that what she had to say was that important. She could not even get Alexander to stop his obsession in going against the Smiley Face killer. “We are in this together Lucuris and I promise we will protect you,” Bailey said out loud as she left the room and went to the kitchen by herself trying to calm herself down from the anger and sadness she felt towards smiley.

  “He was talking to himself; he was really mad at me. I never met him, but he seemed to know me. I never saw his face only the mask that he wore,” Lucuris said out loud as he slowly got up and tried to walk around thinking what Smiley wanted with him.

  “People like that don’t want anything but hurt Lucuris.He is a killer and all he does is make others suffer,” Alexander said as he put on his cowl.

  “Should we call your family or friends to get you?” Sony said out loud looking at Lucuris with concern on his face.

  “Lucuris looked at them both still standing after what he put them through. He felt like he owed them that he had to keep trying, to keep fighting. “No, I can do this. My form I don’t have control over it but when I transform, I hear a voice calling to me telling me small dark whispers,” Lucuris said out loud looking at his dark purple crystal.

  “Dark whispers...what does it tell you Lucuris,” Sonya said out loud thinking if something was trying to control Lucuris or not.

  “Just tells me hateful things that hurt about my life and families. Like it is something that is hurting and is in pain,” Lucuris said out loud looking at Sonya in the eyes.

  He could feel the whispers come into his mind again, but it was more feint than before. It was whispers of dying and cruel ideas of what it wanted to do to people. Lucuris could feel anger in him rise slightly, and it made him shake. “I don’t think I can use m crystal, not right now. It is risky to use it, but it holds my powers and abilities, why would my father entrust me with this kind of power,” Lucuris said in a small whisper to himself as he put the crystal back into his pocket.

  “That is probably best for us right now. Your abilities are powerful and can be deadly if used to harm others,” Alexander said to Lucuris as they started to motion to Sonya to follow them to the front door.

  “Hey, I can come to, and help you find Smiley,” Lucuris trying to get up but before he could Alexander pushed Lucuris back down.

  “You need to rest a bit. When you do you can help us but right now me and Alexander will look for him. I know a kid I helped who can probably help us locate where he is,” Sonya said out loud as Alexander nodded at her as both of them left through the front door.

  “This isn’t fair at all I’m fine,” Lucuris said to himself as he sat back looking at the ceiling. He thought about what Jessica was doing right now. If Abigail and Nick were getting on each other’s nerves and if Oracle was doing okay. It was thoughts of his friends that made him smile. It almost made him feel like he could keep going and be fine with everything that happened to him.

  “He never listened to me not once since I have known him,” Bailey said to Lucuris as she sat down across from him.

  “Seems like he keeps to himself a lot. Why is he like this?” Lucuris said out loud rubbing one of his wrists.

  Bailey looked at Lucuris and could only think about the times that Alexander was hurt. Whether it was by a girl that told him he was the one for her but broke his heart. Thinking of the friends that he had but only would be there when they needed him or for money. Time and time again she told him not to be so foolish, but he kept going. “He has been hurt more times than I can think of and when you are hurt so many times you want to shut yourself off from the world and just protect yourself,” Bailey said out loud as she looked into Lucuris’s eyes.

  “I can understand that. But why does he want to catch this Smiley killer so bad,” Lucuris said out loud wondering why Alexander had this obsession.

  Bailey leaned forward and leaned closer to Lucuris looking at him deeper into his eyes with a stern look on her face. “You see the bruises on your body. The nails that you are missing, and the fear you had when you returned. That is just the tip of what that killer is able to do to one person. He has been plaguing our town for months killing anyone end everyone and you know who was the one who would be at those crime scenes who saw the aftermath?” Bailey said out loud to Lucuris as she began to sit back on the couch with her looking at a ceiling.

  “But why do it...seeing those scenes would haunt me,” Lucuris said out loud rubbing one of his arms remembering falling on the floor when he tried to escape from Smiley.

  “To do what little good he could. To him he felt that if he could just capture this killer then maybe he could move on and just live a normal life. He has been the Shadow Spawn more than he has been Alexander,” Bailey said out loud as tears began to trickle down her face.

  “That is what I’m afraid of,” Lucuris said out loud looking at the floor and thinking about what happened to him and his friends. Finding out where he came from and how his world changed after finding out about the Mages and the evil that was coming through his world. At times he felt he did not belong but the world in his father's dimension was not the one he knew but he still wanted to know his people and to see him mother. “If all I do in my life is to help those around me and to see them happy and live a happy life, I think I could die happy,” Lucuris said out loud with a smile on his face.

  Chapter 9

  Alexande
r stopped the car abruptly and got out along with Sonya. “So, the kid you helped was here?” Alexander said out loud looking at the sky as it looked like it was about to rain.

  “He was right here when I left him. I can feel him still close by,” Sonya said out loud as she ran down the street.

  Alexander followed behind her and saw a kid huddled behind one of the buses. “There he is, why is he out in the open?” Alexander said out loud as he rushed to the kid.

  Before Alexander could reach the boy three figures swooped down from nearby trees and stood in front of him.

  “It’s a trap. They are using him as bait,” Sonya said out loud as she stopped and examined the shadowy figures that were in front of them.

  “You cannot stay. He sees you and he wonders what is your plan,” one of the figures said out loud as they moved forward revealing themselves.They wore what seemed to be a yellow raincoat wearing a green clown mask holding a dagger in one of their hands. “The man in Yellow holds the key. The man in yellow is the key. Let society burn itself, let him rise. Let him be our king. Let the man in yellow rise up,” The other two shadowy figures said out loud wearing the same outfit slowly approaching Alexander and Sonya.

  “What are these people?” Alexander said out loud as he got into a defensive pose

  “They are cultist, and apparently the man in Yellow is here.” Sonya said out loud as she got her whip out and began stretching it out with both her hands. She then rushed forward towards the cultists that were inching their way towards them. She began rushing for them and Alexander followed behind her ready to fight them and to make sure that kid was free from whatever they were about to do to him.

  Sonya swung the whip towards the closest cultist and wrapped it around their neck. As soon as it tightened around their neck, she pulled the whip towards her and pressed her boot in their chest knocking the first one down. “We can’t let them have the kid, he is my priority,” Sonya said out loud as she ran towards where William was.