The Descending Darkness

by Michael Chulsky

  “Ellie, come on…Ellie…wake up!”

  Ellie muttered and turned over. She felt someone tapping her on the shoulder and begrudgingly opened her eyes. Standing in front of her was Ryan. “What?”

  “We’re here…the mall, remember?”

  “Oh, sorry…” Ellie replied as she stretched to let out a yawn. She leaned forward and took in a breath of the fresh air flooding through the open car door. It didn’t take long for the sleep lethargy to fade and for everything that was on her mind before to come flooding back. Stepping outside the car and joining the others, she decided to not let the negative thoughts fester. She would file them away in her mind so she could have a good time, and simply talk to Shadow later.

  “All right, guys,” Ethan said, examining his watch. “We promised Shadow that we’d be home by 4:30, so you have about two hours. I want all of you back here by 3.30. Got it?”

  “Yup,” Isaac said, and everyone agreed.

  “I’m going to go check out a bookstore,” Faith said. “It’s terribly boring to live in a house where there are no good fantasy novels to read.”

  “You’d think that you would have your fill of fantasy,” Ellie remarked. “I mean, our lives are practically a fantasy novel.”

  Faith laughed. “Not quite. We’re not interesting enough to be in a novel.”

  “Let’s go, Ethan,” Crystal said, wrapping her arm around one of his. “I need somebody to help me carry my bags!”

  “Of course…I’d be delighted to accompany you.”

  Crystal beamed. She started to lead him off, but stopped short and held her hand out toward Kay. “Ooh, Kay, you can come with us!”

  “Uh, what?” Kay asked, looking bewildered. “I’m sure Ethan has you covered. Besides, I would just get in the way.”

  Crystal waved the protests away. “Not at all! I need another girl with me to help model the cute outfits I find.”

  Kay opened her mouth to object further, but sighed in resignation when Crystal grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the mall along with Ethan.

  Ellie watched Kay’s predicament, but didn’t say anything as she didn’t want to be roped along on one of Crystal’s shopping sprees. “Better her than me,” she thought with a smirk. She turned to see what everyone else’s plans were, but found herself alone. “Alrighty, then. I guess I’m going on my own adventure.” She pulled out her communicator and set a reminder alarm for thirty minutes before they had to leave, so there would be no chance of being late.

  Ellie walked through the revolving glass door and stepped into the mall. It had been a long time since she had been at a mall, probably over a year at this point. She had almost forgotten how many people seemed to be there on any given day and how many stores there were. There were so many options, and time was limited. So she had to figure out something, and fast.

  She went over to the large map display and searched through the list of stores. She scanned the different listings, and when she came to the food court section, her stomach rumbled audibly. Blushing, she glanced around to make sure nobody had heard. It seemed like her body made the decision for her: she would get food.

  Ellie was halfway toward her destination before something strange caught her attention: Kay was moving through the mall with purpose – by herself. “Kay? Wasn’t she supposed to be with Crystal and Ethan? What’s she doing alone?”

  Filled with curiosity, Ellie darted behind a pillar. She watched Kay hasten her pace and glance over her shoulder every now and again to make sure she wasn’t being followed. “Okay, that’s totally not suspicious behavior or anything.”

  Ellie bit her lip and felt bad about stalking a friend, but a feeling in her gut told her to proceed, so she did. She shadowed Kay across the mall, making sure she was out of view. After a minute or so of walking, Kay came to a stop and walked into a store.

  Ellie waited a few seconds and then continued forward into the store after her. It was one of those new age stores that sold crystals, herbs, and other pagan memorabilia – the kind of stuff that was useful for those with an affinity for magic and only decoration for those without. She made her way further into the store; luckily the store’s owner was busy dusting off a shelf and didn’t notice her enter. Catching sight of Kay ahead, she darted past a rack of dream catchers and hid behind them so she could keep an eye on her target without being noticed. A sense of foreboding surged through her and sent chills across her body. “Alright, Kay, your move…what are you up to?”

  Kay glanced around once more and made sure the owner of the store was still focused on his dusting. Satisfied, she directed her attention to a smoke detector on the wall. She extended her finger toward the small device and released a thin strand of lightning, frying it. It smoked for a second before letting out a loud, continuous beep, causing the store’s owner to jump up and search for the source of the commotion.

  “I saw smoke in the back!” Kay told him. As he rushed off, a dark smile spread across her face. With the coast clear, she darted over to a case behind the counter. Grabbing a metal candle-holder, she brought it down hard, and shattered the glass cover. She threw a glance toward the back of the store to make sure the owner was still gone, before reaching into the case and pulling out several items. She pocketed her haul, hopped over the counter and rushed out the store.

  Ellie stood rooted to the spot in shock. On the list of things she had expected to see when following Kay, what she had just witnessed wasn’t in the realm of possibilities. But it happened, and no amount of disbelief would change that. She rushed out of the store after Kay and looked around. “Damn, she’s already gone!” She cursed herself for her lack of haste.

  Ellie figured she had two options: she could search the mall for Kay or wait for her outside the mall where they were supposed to meet up together. The latter was easier, so that was what she decided. She started making her way toward the food court, but her communicator beeped, signaling that their time at the mall was almost up. Sighing, she pulled the communicator out of her pocket and hit a button to silence it. “Damn it, I let Kay eat up all my time.” Her stomach growled in protest as she debated not going to the food court and just heading back to the mall entrance to meet with the others. Since the alarm was set to go off a bit earlier than actually needed, she decided to stop by a quick eatery for a pretzel on her way back. She knew her temper would be better with something in her stomach so for Kay’s sake, it made the most sense.

  Ellie exited the mall and discarded her pretzel wrapper in the bin near the entrance. It was pleasing for her to see that some of the group were already waiting by the limo, including Kay, who was staring nonchalantly at the sidewalk. She made her way over to them and decided to play it cool with Kay until she spoke to Shadow about what happened. But just because she decided to play it cool didn’t mean she couldn’t have some fun. “Hey, Kay…how was your time?”

  Kay shrugged. “It was alright.”

  “Ahh, I see…did you do anything interesting?”

  “Uh, no. I just browsed a few stores. Why do you ask?”

  Ellie smiled innocently. “I was just curious, is all. Oh, by the way…how come you’re one of the first back? I mean, I saw you go off with Ethan and Crystal…but now you’re here and they’re not. That’s strange.”

  Kay didn’t respond a first. She glanced casually at an airplane that was passing overhead. “Well, Crystal wanted to shop in all these boring, rich people stores. I didn’t have that kind of cash, so I dipped out.”

  “Hmm...is that so?” Ellie asked. She tilted her head to the side and felt her smile widen as Kay looked at her strangely.

  “How about you, Ellie?” Faith interjected. “Did you do anything fun?”

  Ellie shook her head. “I just grabbed a bite to eat, nothing major. Though I did see this interesting store…it was filled with magic stuff.” She caught Kay’s gaze. “Did you see a store like that when you were looking around, Kay?”

  Kay looked at her for a long breath. “No, I d
idn’t.”

  “That’s a shame, I’m sure you would have enjoyed it.”

  “Oh, my,” Faith gasped, before Kay could respond. “Guys, take a look….”

  Ellie turned in the direction Faith was pointing and watched as Crystal strolled toward them with a single shopping bag in hand. It wouldn’t have been worth any attention if it weren’t for Ethan bringing up the rear with a dozen or so large bags. “Crystal, what in the world?”

  Crystal beamed at them with pride. “Isn’t it amazing? I got such a perfect deal on all of them, and I couldn’t leave those beautiful outfits in the store for someone less attractive than me to purchase,” she said, climbing into the limo.

  “Oh, no,” Ellie said, shaking her head. “There is not going to be room for all this in your room. Where are you going to put it? Shadow is going to flip.”

  “It’s all right,” Ethan said. “I’ll let her store some stuff in my closet…I don’t need the extra space.”

  “See? No problem!” Crystal said with a flourish of her hand.

  Kay rolled her eyes. “Now that it’s sorted, can we page the others or something? I want to go home already. I’m bored.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be back here soon,” Ellie said, and a few seconds later, two familiar faces came walking up to them. “See?”

  “Hey, Ellie!” Tereya called, waving. “I had tons of fun today. Isaac and I browsed video games and bought a movie for us to watch together, and we even had churros!”

  Ellie smiled. “Glad you had fun. What about you, Isaac?”

  “It was really great!” Isaac exclaimed.

  Kay looked out of the limo with a lazy smile. “Glad you had fun, Isaac.”

  Less than a minute later, Ryan and Tristan came bursting out of the mall. There was a man in blue uniform chasing after them. When they reached the limo, the man stopped and shouted, “You two punks are banned from the mall from this day forward! Don’t ever come back!”

  Ellie raised an eyebrow as she glanced from Tristan to Ryan, not knowing who to yell at first. “What did you two do?”

  “It’s whatever,” Ryan said, glaring at the security guard. “All we did was play a few pranks, you know, normal stuff. We made one guy think his baby was possessed and flying around by itself, made a woman think she was having hot flashes…it was fine until we set the security guard’s toupee on fire. Some people just can’t take a joke.”

  Ellie glared and smacked him on the back of the head.

  “Ow! Ellie, what was that for?!” Ryan exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head.

  “You apparently don’t understand the concept of keeping a low profile!” Ellie snarled. “Get in the limo, now! And if we’re late getting back, I’ll explain to Shadow that it was your fault and you two can answer to him.” She gave a satisfied smirk at the looks of horror on their faces as they hastened to get into the car. Shaking her head, she checked her communicator. With luck, they’d be home in time.

  “One question, why did I get hit and Tristan didn’t?” Ryan demanded.

  Tristan smiled. “Maybe it’s because she likes me better than you.”

  Faith smacked Tristan on the back of his head, and he cried out. “Happy?” she asked, and Ryan gave a smile of appreciation – though the act of fair play made her brother frown the entire way home.

  Once they arrived at home, everyone piled out of the limo and made their way to their rooms. Ellie, however, passed her room and knocked on Shadow’s door. She felt a strong sense of déjà vu, having done the exact same thing just hours before.

  “Come in,” Shadow called. He somehow knew it would be Ellie even before he saw her enter, and her appearance confirmed his assumption. “How was the mall?”

  “Well, it was okay, and then it wasn’t,” Ellie replied.

  Shadow studied her face as he slowly rose from the chair he was sitting in. He had to fight to keep his own expression neutral as several awful possibilities of what could have happened raced through his head all at once. “Is someone hurt?”

  Ellie sighed. “No, no, no. It’s not like that at all. Nobody’s hurt…but something fishy happened, and I figured you should know about it.”

  “Ellie, come on, these word games aren’t like you. Just tell me what happened.” Shadow stood quietly as Ellie filled him in, telling him about how she stalked Kay to the store, what she had done inside the store, and how she acted after the fact. “I see…that’s…something.”

  “‘Something’ right about sums it up,” Ellie replied. “But what are you going to do?”

  Shadow spent a few moments in silence, gathering his thoughts before responding. “I’m not sure, honestly…this puts me in a very awkward position.”

  Ellie blinked. “What do you mean, you’re not sure? It should be obvious! We have to confront her, Shadow. It’s clear by her attitude and actions that she isn’t on the same page morally as the rest of us, and God only knows what she’s hiding.”

  “Just because she’s a shoplifter doesn’t mean she’s the antichrist, Ellie. Without proof, there’s nothing I can do except watch her closely.”

  Ellie stared at him for a second, her anger fading. “But what if she hurts somebody while you’re out playing detective?”

  “Are you seriously suggesting that I would allow you guys to get hurt? You should know me better than that.”

  “No, I didn’t mean that. I’m just saying that if we don’t check this issue with Kay right now, it could really hurt us in the future. I just want us all to be safe.”

  “I understand your feelings,” Shadow replied, walking closer to her. “And I’m taking all of that into consideration. The problem is, if I come at Kay aggressively and without enough evidence, it could alienate both her and Isaac from the cause. Or it could make everyone else think I don’t trust them. So many things could go wrong here if we’re not careful. But believe me, I’m not going to let this slide.”

  Ellie sighed into her hands. “I’m just worried. I hate feeling like this…like I can’t trust someone who lives with me. I don’t know how long I can just act like everything’s okay.”

  “You have to promise me you won’t do anything drastic until I get to the bottom of this.”

  “Shadow, I don’t know if I–”

  “Ellie, you have to…please, for me. Promise me.”

  Ellie’s eyes went wide. “Shadow!”

  Shadow held up a hand. “Unless that’s a promise, I don’t want to hear it.”

  “But Shadow–”

  “No buts! Don’t you understand that this could tear apart everything we’ve been fighting so hard for and all the teamwork we’ve built?! That has to matter to you!”

  “It’s not that,” Ellie whispered. “L-look….”

  Shadow felt a chill surge down his spine once he finally caught sight of the look on Ellie’s face. He turned around slowly and stared out the window. The sun was just beginning to go down as it always did, but something strange was happening. There appeared to be a wave of darkness spreading across the sky like a drop of ink on a piece of paper – covering the clouds, the sun, and everything above until there was nothing left but black. “My God….”

  “Shadow,” Ellie rasped. “What does this mean?”

  Shadow continued looking out the window and felt a dry laugh wrench itself from his throat. He was staring at what he knew in his heart to be the final sign before the big battle they were to face. And although the sun was gone, and it was everything he could have dreamed of and more, he felt nothing but a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach because he knew the days ahead would be filled with life-changing things. He turned back to Ellie and answered her question the only way he could: “Evil has risen.”

  8

  Revelations

  Shadow stood at the living room window and stared out into the distance. Any other day, he would have jumped at the chance to be able to go outside before sun set. Today, the thought of being able to do so made his stomach tight and head hurt with the f
lood of worried thoughts surging through his mind. What was he going to do?

  He turned his head as the others shuffled into the room. As soon as Ellie and he recovered from shock, he had pulled out his communicator and called everyone into the living room for a meeting. Hopefully together they’d be able to figure something out and decide where to make the first move.

  Ryan came up to him. “So, Shadow… can you fill me in on why, after so many years, the sun just suddenly decided to take a vacation?”

  “It makes no sense,” Faith said, checking her cellphone. “It’s still an hour or so before sunset, and yet, it’s dark out.”

  “The sun hasn’t vanished, nor has it set,” Ethan replied. “It’s still above us…but it’s simply obscured by that strange black fog in the sky.”

  “Weird,” Tristan said. “But where did that fog come from?”

  Shadow shook his head. “I’m not sure where it came from, but it doesn’t take more than one guess to know who did it.”

  “Who?” Kay asked.

  “Who?” Ellie repeated, looking at Kay pointedly. “Are you sure you don’t know?”

  Kay frowned. “What do you mean? How would I know?”

  “I don’t know, you tell me.”

  Isaac looked from Ellie to Kay and frowned. “Is something wrong?”

  Ellie shook her head. “Nothing wrong here. I’m just surprised that Kay doesn’t know who did it… a smart girl like her.”

  Shadow whistled, before Kay could respond. “What Ellie means, is that it’s obvious the one behind this is the same person who was behind the attack on Draconia Isle – Maedara.”

  Ethan nodded. “The chances of her not being involved in this somehow would be unfathomable.”

  “So we know the who and the why, now what?” Ryan asked.

  “We go and deal with it obviously,” Tristan said.

  “But where do we go, Tris? I highly doubt she has her address online.”

  Shadow rolled his eyes. “Obviously. It won’t be simple, but we need to track her down and figure out how she did this and fix things. I think we should–” He wasn’t able to finish his thought because he was interrupted by a loud banging.