The Descending Darkness

by Michael Chulsky

  “Of course you don’t,” Crystal said. “You probably never have to worry about anything because you can see the future unlike the rest of us.”

  Faith went to respond, but then a dreamy look crossed her face, and she gasped. “I just remembered!”

  “What?” Tristan asked.

  “The vision I had earlier in the castle!”

  Shadow’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe with all the excitement that had happened he allowed himself to forget that Faith had a vision. “What was it?”

  “It was a series of flashes…and a lot of it was blurry. I remember seeing an animal, like a fish, and it was blue. And hearing a noise like a clock. And then intense fire.”

  “Was there anything else?” Ellie asked.

  Faith’s face screwed up in concentration. “As a matter of fact, yes, there was something else. I saw this ancient book…it was open and the page had writing scribbled on it. It said that ‘the darkness will be pierced by the arrows of truth, three hundred and sixty-five. The darkness will shatter in the face of the north but will burn in cold fire.’ …I’m not sure what any of it means.”

  Ethan rubbed his chin. “I’m not sure either, but that’s how visions are sometimes.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful, Shadow.”

  Shadow shook his head. “Don’t talk about yourself like that, Faith. It’s fine. We’ll just have to succeed without divine intervention.”

  Ryan looked thoughtful. “Speaking of divine intervention…how about since Ethan and I can take to the skies we scout ahead?”

  “That’s a great idea. Just be careful you two.”

  “We’ll be as careful as a mouse in a room full of fat women wearing high heels,” Ryan said, smiling slightly at his own joke as he was lifted into the air by a gust of wind.

  Ethan shook his head. “I’ll make sure he stays out of trouble.” He stepped away from everyone as his powers of light gathered at his back, forming a large pair of wings. They flapped, and he took to the sky, following Ryan.

  Crystal watched them leave with a stiff expression on her face. “I know I’m mean to them sometimes, Ryan more so, but I hope they’ll be alright.”

  “Don’t worry,” Faith said. “Ethan can handle himself. And Ryan…well, he’s with Ethan. So he’ll be fine, too. Besides, Maedara won’t be expecting them from the sky, will she?”

  “It’s unlikely,” Shadow replied. “She knows about our powers, presumably, but I doubt she’d expect me to send them ahead as aerial scouts. It’s not something we’ve ever gone over before, so Kay couldn’t have reported it to her.”

  “Makes sense,” Ellie said. “So how did the planning go? Were you able to come up with anything?”

  “To be honest, I’m not sure. I’ve never fought someone like Maedara. I don’t even know what she’s capable of, besides commanding demons.”

  “She has your basic super villain cocktail,” Niki replied casually. “Super strength, lightning-fast reflexes, acidic spit, and probably a whole host of abilities we don’t know about.”

  “Acidic spit?” Tereya asked, his voice unusually high.

  “The ability to turn your saliva into a corrosive substance that can burn through pretty much anything. I’ve seen her use it to melt some of the guards like ants with a magnifying glass.”

  Ellie, seeing the terrified look on Tereya’s face, coughed loudly. “Niki, I think you should tone it down a bit…you’re kinda adding to the stress.”

  Niki’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second before she smiled and waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, my apologies – I’m not trying to worry anyone! We’ll be fine. We just need to be prepared for anything she can throw at us. And make sure we have a contingency plan.”

  “And what exactly is that?” Tristan asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Niki began scouring the many pockets on her pants and jacket, and – after a few seconds –produced a baseball-sized, multicolored diamond-like object. “Ta-da!”

  “Oooh, it’s pretty,” Crystal exclaimed. “It must have cost a fortune!”

  Tristan frowned, scratching the side of his head. “I’m not sure a brightly-colored stone is going to do much good against–”

  “I said TA-DA!”

  Tristan shook his head and moved away from Niki, muttering under his breath about crazy women and useless rocks.

  “For what it’s worth, Niki, I trust your little diamond,” Crystal said.

  “Me too,” Ellie said. “But I just hope it doesn’t get us all killed.”

  Niki laughed. “Oh, you’re so silly. I would never do anything to put us in danger. This just so happens to be a gift from the Seer. There’s a ninety-nine percent chance it’ll do something super amazingly awesome.”

  “What about the one percent?” Tereya asked.

  “To be honest, I’m not sure. But the odds are pretty good!”

  Faith rested a hand on her hip. “I don’t like the sound of that…are you sure it’s safe?”

  Niki just looked at her. “I don’t know, psychic, you tell me.”

  “That’s not how visions work….”

  “I know, I know,” Niki said, giving her a lazy flick of the hand. “I was just joking to lighten the mood. Of course it’s safe, silly.” She chuckled to herself as if the thought of the crystal being dangerous was absurd. When she quieted, she inclined her head and gave the sky a curious glance. “I believe I see Ryan and Ethan heading back this way….”

  Shadow turned and followed the direction of her gaze. Even with the intense darkness of the sky and the distance they were at, he could distinctly make out the two quickly approaching. “It’s them.” He made his way toward their landing spot. Immediately, he could tell by their expressions that something wasn’t right. “What’s wrong?”

  “‘Wrong’ doesn’t even begin to cover what we saw,” Ryan replied, stone-faced. “A friggin’ nightmare is more like it.”

  “Care to explain?”

  “Allow me,” Ethan said. “We were able to locate her home and–”

  “You found her home?” Tristan asked excitedly. “That means we can go there right now and save Cameryn!”

  “Slow your roll,” Ryan said. “It’s not that simple, Tristan. We found her home, yeah, but…I don’t know how we’re going to get inside. There were demons guarding the place.”

  “Demons?” Shadow repeated. “That’s troubling, but we’ve handled demons before. With our combined powers, we should be fine.” He searched Ryan’s face and found a foreign expression –fear. It was something he had never seen Ryan exhibit and it confused him. “Ryan, you’re worrying me.”

  Ryan adverted his gaze. “I’m sorry, Shadow…I just don’t know if what we have is going to be enough…I don’t know if we’re going to be enough.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re acting like this. You’ve faced demons before. So a couple of them shouldn’t unnerve you–”

  “It’s more than just a few demons,” Ethan said tersely. “At my estimate, there were several hundred surrounding the place.”

  Shadow’s eyes widened. “No…it can’t be.”

  “She was expecting us,” Ellie replied, crossing her arms. “She figured we would come after Cameryn. We played right into her hands.”

  Tristan clenched his fists. “It had to be Kay. This whole thing was probably a set-up from the beginning…she probably told Maedara.”

  “Indeed,” Niki said. “But it’s to be expected. The important thing now is to figure out our course of action. If we’re dealing with a legion of demons, we’ll need something big and destructive. Unfortunately, most bombs are either hard to come by, expensive, or will do more damage than we’d want…so that’s out…anyone else have any ideas?”

  “It seems impossible,” Tereya whispered. “But we can’t leave Cameryn alone with Maedara…God only knows what she’s doing to him.”

  “That’s not even an option,” Ellie replied. She placed her hands on Tereya’s shoulders
and gave him a reassuring smile. “We’re going to get him, Reya, I promise…don’t worry.”

  “What are we going to do?” Tristan asked.

  Shadow closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. It was difficult enough trying to figure out a plan to rescue Cameryn, take down Maedara, and make sure nobody got hurt – but now, in addition, he had to figure out how to get by a legion of demons. He understood Ethan and Ryan’s fear now because it was echoed inside of him. Everything was falling onto him at once, and it was almost too much to handle. It was like the world was slowly filling with cracks, and there was nothing he could do to prevent it from shattering into a million pieces. Before he knew it, he was shaking.

  “Shadow,” Ellie said softly, touching his arm. “Please ….”

  Shadow lowered his head and felt a single tear trail down his face. Immediately, he brought his hand up and wiped it away. He bit his lip and refused to let any more fall. He was supposed to be the leader, he couldn’t show weakness – he had to be strong for them.

  Ellie looked past Shadow to address everyone else. “Can you guys back off and give us some space, please?” She watched and waited until they moved several yards away before turning her attention back to him. “Shadow, don’t…it’ll be okay.”

  Shadow shook his head. “I’m not sure that it will be, Ellie. I’m supposed to lead you guys, and I don’t know what the hell to do right now. I can’t think of a single plan to get around that many demons without putting anyone at risk. And I can’t put one teammate at risk just to save another. And the longer we stay here and do nothing, the greater the chance that Cameryn will….” He trailed off as more tears threatened to fall. The last thought was an unthinkable outcome.

  “Listen to me, please…you’re a great leader, despite how you feel. But no matter how good of a leader you are, nobody can be prepared for every outcome. Nobody has the answer to every single problem. And it’s not just up to you. We’re going to figure this out like we always do – together.”

  “I can’t fail him,” Shadow choked, falling forward into her arms and resting his head on her shoulder. “I just can’t, Ell…he’s counting on me. I promised to always be there for him. He’s probably thinking that I’ve abandoned him or something, and–”

  “That’s silly,” Ellie said softly, rubbing circles on his back. “Cameryn has faith in you, probably more than anyone else. He knows you’ll save him and you will. As soon as we figure out a plan.”

  Shadow licked his lips and put a hand over his eyes, taking several deep breaths. He drew back from Ellie and then lowered his hand. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “I’m sorry for breaking down like this. I shouldn’t do this in front of everyone.”

  Ellie shook her head and, without hesitation, slapped Shadow on the back of his head.

  “Ouch!” Shadow yelped. “What the heck was that for?”

  “For being an idiot!”

  “I don’t follow….”

  Ellie sucked her teeth in annoyance. “How many times do I have to tell you before you understand that nobody is expecting you to be Superman? You’re putting that burden on yourself. The only thing any of us expects from you is to try your best. That’s it.”

  Shadow just stared blankly at her. “Oh.”

  “Yeah, oh is right. You need to stop thinking like that because it only adds more pressure. And I think you have more than enough pressure on yourself already.” Ellie took a breath and let it out slowly. “Listen, I’m sorry for smacking you…but I hate when you do this to yourself. Nobody wants you to bottle up your emotions until you explode. You can be our leader and still be human.”

  Shadow felt moved beyond words so he did the only thing he could think of to show his gratitude. He stepped forward and pulled Ellie into a hug and wrapped his arms around her. He tried his best to put every single bit of emotion he felt into the hug and hoped she understood exactly how grateful he was to have her by his side.

  Ellie’s cheeks went red, but she sunk into the hug and returned the favor. “You’re wel–“ she stopped midsentence and her body tensed in his arms. “Kay….”

  Shadow drew back and he couldn’t hide the confusion on his face. “What?”

  “Kay!”

  Shadow whipped around and he caught sight of the last person in the world he wanted to see in that moment, when he was feeling so vulnerable.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Kay said, sauntering in their direction. Her hands were in her pockets and she looked bored with the proceedings. “Was I interrupting something?”

  Shadow opened his mouth to fire off a retort, but before he could, Ellie flew past him and slapped Kay across the face. “Ellie!”

  Kay stepped back and brought a hand up to her face. “Gee, Ellie, nice to see you, too.”

  Ellie reared her fist back to strike again but was stopped by a hand, Shadow’s hand, on her arm. She turned around and tried to wrench herself out of his grasp. “Let me go – she needs to pay for what she’s done!”

  “Ellie, wait,” Shadow pleaded, using more of his strength to keep her back. “Now isn’t the time to fight her…we have to get Cameryn.”

  “And we will…after I kick her ass!”

  Kay made a tsk sound. “And here I thought we could have a friendly little chat. I guess some people just aren’t capable of being mature.”

  Shadow growled as her taunts made Ellie struggle harder in his grasp and forced him to double his grip. “You have five seconds to get out of here…or I’ll let her go.”

  “I wouldn’t threaten me if I were you…if you want to see Cameryn alive again.”

  “Are you threatening him?” Ellie growled, still struggling to get to Kay. “Because if you hurt a single hair on his head, I’ll–”

  “Oh, chill out,” Kay sneered, crossing her arms. “I’m not threatening the little weasel. I’m just saying it might not be such a good idea to threaten your last hope.”

  “That’s supposed to be you?” Shadow asked, taken aback.

  “I mean, maybe…if you guys are nice to me.”

  “Woah, hold on a minute!” Ryan yelled, attracted by the commotion. He ran over to them, with the others following closely behind, and the look on his face was murderous. “What’s she doing here?”

  “I’m here to help,” Kay said, looking at him as though he were an annoying insect buzzing around her head. “I mean, you guys clearly need it.” She threw a side glance at the struggling Ellie. “Though, some of you need…professional help.”

  “Like you will when I’m done with you!”

  “Ellie, please,” Shadow said softly. “Think about Cameryn. If Kay can help us, isn’t it worth hearing her out?”

  Ellie’s expression softened slightly, and she stilled. “I don’t like it…but I guess.”

  “I accept that,” Shadow replied, giving her a small smile. “Now I’m going to let you go. Please don’t rush at her again.” He released her.

  Ellie returned his smile, though the tightness around her eyes remained. “I’ll try and resist the temptation until we find out what help she’s going to offer.”

  Ryan’s nose crinkled like he smelled something foul. “Why are we even entertaining this crap? We don’t need her help, Shadow. She’s just going to play us. She can’t be trusted, you know that.”

  Kay examined her fingernails absent-mindedly. “Oh, Ryan, does it ever get exhausting being an idiot? I’m just curious. Because you’re wrong. I’m not here to play any tricks. I’m genuinely here to offer my help…for a price.”

  “And there it is,” Ryan replied, shaking his head in disgust. “There’s always something with you, isn’t there? You’re sick, you know that? Betraying us was one thing. But Isaac–”

  “Wait, where is Isaac?” Kay interrupted, looking interested for the first time. “He’s not…hurt, is he? You guys didn’t take your anger on me out on him, did you?”

  Ellie uttered a noise of disbelief. “Of course we didn’t
!”

  “Then where is he?”

  “He’s asleep in the jet,” Ethan said serenely. “He was upset over what happened with you and we thought it best to leave him there, on the off-chance we met you in battle.”

  Kay met Ethan’s gaze and searched his face for any misgivings. After a brief moment, she nodded, satisfied. “Alright…I was just curious.”

  “Surprised you care,” Ryan spat.

  “Ryan, please,” Shadow said, throwing him a look of warning. He didn’t want to deal with more Kay drama, but he figured it was worth dealing with a bit of annoyance if it meant getting Cameryn to safety. “Okay, Kay…we’re listening.”

  “Good, that’s more like it,” Kay said. “Anyway, as I was walking up, I couldn’t help but notice you having a moment over there. Am I correct in assuming it’s because you saw the army Maedara has at her disposal?” She watched their faces and smiled knowingly at their expressions. “I thought as much. But lucky for you, Maedara trusts me somewhat…and I have the ability to divert the demons attention elsewhere so you guys can slip by.”

  “How can you do that?” Shadow asked incredulously. “And more importantly, why would you help us after all you’ve done?”

  “As I told you before, I work for Maedara…I know the orders she’s given to her demons and I know generals in her army. If I make up a story about you guys being somewhere, they’ll focus on that area and then you’ll be home free. As to why I’m offering to help…it’s a business transaction. I’m not doing it for nothing. I want something in return.”

  “And what might that be?” Ethan asked.

  Kay twirled a strand of hair on her finger and shrugged. “A couple of things, actually. I want money – enough to get far away from here. I think Ms. Moneybags can help me with that.”

  “I can handle it,” Crystal replied. “However much you need.”

  “I thought as much. I’ll also require safe passage. I want to ensure that none of you guys will come after me, when this is all said and done.”

  “Done,” Shadow replied, curtly. “Is that all?”

  “No, actually,” Kay said. “I also want to get a guarantee from you…that Isaac will be fine. I want you guys to take care of him and not hold my actions against him. Deal?”