The Descending Darkness

by Michael Chulsky

  Faith didn’t respond. She leaned forward and rested her head against the wall for a few moments. When she finally opened her eyes, she stared at the wall, breathing slowly. But then she gasped in horror.” No…no!”

  “What’s going on?” Ellie asked. “Talk to us!”

  “We have to leave…now!”

  Shadow looked at her, bemused. “We can’t leave until we deal with Maedara. She won’t stop until we’re all dead.”

  “No, you don’t understand,” Faith said hysterically, turning around and grabbing his arm. “We have to leave here now – something’s not right. I saw this wallpaper in my vision. Look at it!”

  Shadow turned his attention to the wallpaper. It was a bright ocean color with small blue fishes throughout the pattern. “Blue fishes. You mentioned them before!”

  “And I can’t shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen.”

  Shadow nodded. “Alright, let’s go!” He waited for Ethan to lead Faith out and then gestured Ellie and Cameryn out before him. He left and closed the door behind him. Stepping back into the hallway, he saw confusion on everyone’s faces.

  Tereya dashed forward. “Cameryn! You’re alright!”

  “Shadow, what’s happened?” Ryan asked.

  “It’s a long story,” Shadow replied. “But Faith had a vision, and we have to get out of here now before some–”

  “Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?”

  Shadow froze with his hand on the railing. He pulled the communicator out of his pocket, the source of the strange voice, and hit the talk button. “Who is this?”

  “Oh my, you don’t know who I am? Well, aren’t you just a terribly rude person. Anybody who’s anybody knows my name. But allow me to introduce myself: my name is Maedara, though you may refer to me as Her Royal Lady Maedara.”

  “Maedara…how did you get access to our private channel?”

  Maedara laughed. “Oh, it’s easy when you know the right people. But if you reaaaallllyyyy want to know, I guess I can humor you. You can thank your good friend Kay. She allowed me to borrow her communicator for this little tete-a-tete.”

  “Damn her!” Ryan growled.

  Shadow’s grip on the communicator tightened. “Kay betrayed us again?”

  “Ahh, yes! Isn’t the irony delicious? Oh, Kay…such a useful girl, even though she has the fashion sense of a blind homeless man. But she was so useful in helping me learn all about you. You see, I was so tired of you interfering in my plans. Do you know how much work I put into them and to have them fail because of a vampire with a hero complex? Lame. Anyway, she told me that you had an attachment to Cameryn, and if I wanted to get to you – I had to get to him. And so I did.”

  “And what do you want?”

  Maedara made a reprehensive noise. “Excuse me, but I’m talking here – God, you’re so rude, do you know that? But I figured it would be nice to get you and your little team here so I could get rid of you guys once and for all. I thought of several ways to do away with you all, and most involved blunt force or sharp objects…but in the end, I decided I’m not a savage. I’m more refined than that, so I came up with a simple solution.”

  Shadow felt a cold chill go down his spine. “And what is that?”

  Maedara laughed again. “I got you a little present. You know that room where I was holding your battered little flower? There was something hidden in one of the boxes. Can you guess what?”

  “I don’t care – I don’t want it.”

  “Aww, boo,” Maedara whined. “You’re no fun…but guess what? It doesn’t matter if you don’t want it, because you’re going to get it in approximately twenty seconds. So I hope you enjoy. It’ll be a blast. Goodbye, Shadow.”

  “What the hell?” Tristan asked. “What’s she talking abou–”

  “It’s a bomb,” Niki said. “Like boom! We have to get out of here now!”

  “Everyone, out now!” Shadow yelled. And he made sure each and every one of them was down the stairs before he even began his descent. Everything happened in a blur. They all reached the bottom of the staircase, and then there was a loud sound above them. The last thing he saw was Niki pulling the small glass crystal out of her pocket and shouting some strange words before a huge blast wave consumed his vision. Then everything went black.

  Shadow’s entire body was sore. He came to and tried to move, but resistance on his back prevented him from getting up. He tried to remember what happened, but his memory was scattered. The last thing he could recall was his teammates screaming and pain. And then, slowly, it all came back to him: the mansion, Maedara, and the explosion.

  As the memories of what happened returned, his adrenaline peaked and he pushed his body up through the pile of bricks and metal weighing him down. He rose to a sitting position and saw the remains of Maedara’s palace, which was nothing more than debris scattered over scorched earth and dirt. Pillars, bricks, and large planks of wood littered the ground for miles.

  Shadow dug the rest of his body out, despite the pain he was in. A large gash extended from the length of his shoulder to his elbow, and there were several burns across his body. He ran a hand over himself checking for any serious injuries. When he was satisfied, he trotted out of the wreckage.

  He walked for a while, searching for any movement or sign of life, but there was nothing, and he felt incredibly alone. “Ellie! Cameryn!” he called, his voice hoarse and weakened, but he didn’t receive a response of any kind. So he continued walking.

  Shadow didn’t get far before he noticed movement in a pile of wooden planks and chunks of mortar. He ran over to the pile and quickly removed the pieces of wood with his good arm. Brushing the dust and dirt away, he found Tristan, battered and stirring. “Tristan, are you okay?”

  Tristan groaned in pain and struggled to get up. “Unghhh, Shadow…."

  “Take it easy,” Shadow said. “Don’t put too much strain on your body right away. We were just in an accident, remember?”

  Tristan shook his head and coughed. He forced himself to a sitting position and clutched at his midsection. “W-where’s…my sister? Have you seen her?”

  “I’m not sure. I just came to a few minutes ago and you’re the only one I’ve found so far.”

  Tristan fought to get up and winced in pain. “She can’t be…she’s not…we have to find her!”

  “Don’t worry, we will,” Shadow said softly. He extended a hand and pulled Tristan to his feet. “We’ll find them all.”

  Tristan swayed on his feet a little, but took a few breaths. “Man, this sucks…I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.”

  “Well, you were just in an explosion. You should consider yourself lucky to have survived.”

  “That’s true,” Tristan replied. “But speaking of surviving…how did we survive? If the bomb did this kind of damage to the building, there’s no way we–”

  “Shh,” Shadow said, suddenly. “I hear something.” He went past Tristan and craned his neck, listening for whatever sound had caught his attention. Then he heard the sound again: it was someone making pained noises.

  “What is it?” Tristan asked.

  “I hear someone…they’re in pain.”

  Tristan’s breath quickened. “Do you think it could be Faith?”

  “It could be,” Shadow replied. “Or it could be any one of our teammates. But we’re not going to find out standing here. Let’s go.” He proceeded forward in the direction of where the noise came from. It was times like these he was glad to have increased hearing ability. He stopped at a large pile of rubble and, with Tristan’s help, began to remove the bricks and other pieces of debris aside until they could see the person underneath. “No…not you…it can’t be!”

  Kay looked up at him with uncertainty. She pushed herself and got to her feet with a pained expression on her face. “I…I don’t know what happened. One second I was inside Maedara’s place… and the next…I woke up out here. What happened?”

  “Are you serious right
now?” Shadow asked, incredulous. “You’re expecting me to believe that you had nothing to do with what happened? Really?”

  “I swear to God, I don’t even know what happened!”

  Shadow closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head. “So it’s a surprise to you, then, that Maedara captured Cameryn only to lure us to a single location so she could kill us with some sort of bomb? That you weren’t part of this plan?”

  “Shadow, I promise. I know I’ve done some messed-up things, but I did not–”

  “Liar!” Tristan yelled. “You’re a damn liar. You betrayed us to Maedara again. Except this time you did more than put Cameryn in danger…you could have killed us all!”

  Kay stared at him, cold and indifferent. “Try using your brain for a second, Tristan. If I really was part of this whole plan or whatever, why would I be out here in the rubble? Wouldn’t I be off somewhere being not injured?”

  “Maybe it’s part of the plan,” Shadow said with a shrug. “Maybe we’re supposed to buy this innocent act so you can help Maedara finish the job.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Kay replied, sitting down on a pile of rubble. “If there was a plan besides taking Cameryn hostage, Maedara didn’t share it with me. But honestly, it’s not my problem.”

  Shadow stared at her with disgust on his face. “You really don’t have any remorse, do you? You don’t care that your actions may have caused the death of several people who considered you a friend. Do you?”

  “Hmm. Let me think,” Kay said, pretending to be deep in thought. “I know that Isaac wasn’t in there, which means he’s alive, and I’m alive…so nope. I don’t have ties to anyone else, and if anything happened, it wasn’t my fault, so not my problem.”

  “My sister was in there,” Tristan snarled. He lunged forward and grabbed her by the throat. He opened his other hand, and a ball of flames slowly gathered in the center of his palm. “You should have died in that blast, but you didn’t. But I’ll fix that.” He brought the hand up to her face.

  “Tristan!” Shadow exclaimed, grabbing him by the arm. “Don’t!”

  “Shadow – let me go! She deserves to die!”

  “No,” Shadow said, refusing to break his hold. “She deserves what’s coming to her, but not like this, and not here. We have more important things to do, like searching for our friends….”

  Tristan nodded and released Kay. He bowed his head and started to shake. “My sister is a damn good person. She’s never hurt anyone…not in her entire life. She’s always done her best to help everyone who needed it. Even when we were younger in our home village…the visions always scared her, but no matter what, she would share her gift. And she would spend countless hours healing those in need.” He let out a sob. “It’s not fair that she should be gone and this…pathetic person still lives.”

  Shadow placed an arm on Tristan’s shoulder and turned him around so they were facing one another. “Tris, we don’t know if she’s dead for sure. She could still be out there, in need of our help.”

  “Yeah, she’s probably fine,” Kay said, dusting off the spot where he grabbed her. “And here you are trying to attack me when I did nothing wrong. Like I said, I didn’t know there was a damn bomb in that house.”

  “I still don’t trust you,” Tristan replied. “I don’t care what you say. Maedara used your communicator to taunt us…you were still working with her up until the explosion hit. And probably still are as we speak. So go away.”

  Kay laughed derisively. “Yeah, sure, whatever…believe what you want. But for the record? I didn’t give her my communicator willingly. She asked for it as a sign of my loyalty when I was distracting her when you guys were breaking in. But you know everything.” She turned away.

  Shadow rushed over and grabbed her by the arm. “You’re not going anywhere until we find everyone else. If, and only if everyone is okay, then you can leave.”

  “First of all, don’t touch me,” Kay replied, jerking out of his grasp. “Second of all, I don’t have to listen to you, seeing as how I’m not on your team and I had nothing to do with this. My advice to you is to cut your losses and run. Maedara won, and your teammates are dead.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

  Shadow recognized the voice and smiled in spite of the situation. He turned around and couldn’t bother to hide the pure relief on his face, because that voice meant another one of his teammates had survived the explosion. “Ryan!”

  “Yeah, it’s me,” Ryan said, making his way over. He looked the same as he always did, except his hair was disheveled, there were cuts on his face, and his clothes were tattered with rips and burns. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but not your choice of company.”

  Kay rolled her eyes but didn’t retort.

  “Ryan, you’re alive!” Tristan exclaimed.

  Ryan blinked. “Well, yeah…obviously.” He poked Tristan in the chest. “See? I’m totally corporeal, even.”

  “Have you see any of the others?” Shadow asked.

  Ryan gave a curt nod. “I actually woke up next to Tereya and Faith. We found Cameryn not too far away from us. All a bit banged up, but alive and whole.”

  Shadow breathed a huge sigh of relief upon hearing the news. “Cameryn’s fine. Ryan, Tereya, and Faith, too…that’s almost everyone.”

  Tristan reached over and grabbed Ryan by the shoulders. “My sister’s alive?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I just said,” Ryan said slowly. “Did you get a brain injury or something? She’s most definitely alive. Last I saw, she was working on healing Cameryn and Tereya. I only left because I wanted to see if I could find any more survivors.”

  Shadow looked thoughtful. “We’re only missing Crystal, Ethan, Niki, and…Ellie.”

  “I’m sure they’re fine,” Ryan said, bracingly. “We just have to find them.”

  “Okay, are we good now?” Kay asked. “Tristan’s sister is alive, and Shadow’s little orphan is fine and dandy. Can I go?”

  Ryan frowned. “Of all the people to survive an explosion….”

  Shadow shook his head. “I already went over this. You’re not going anywhere until we find every single one. And I mean it.”

  Kay tilted her head and sneered. “Ahh, I get it…you’re worried for your little girlfriend, aren’t you? That’s what this is all about. Isn’t it?”

  “I’m not like you, Kay. I’m worried about everyone on this team. I don’t pick and choose based on my current mood. I won’t rest until I know they’re fine.”

  “And we are,” Ethan called. He sprinted over to them, looking relatively unscathed. He was holding an unconscious Crystal in his arms, who was sporting a large gash on the side of her head. And following him was Ellie.

  “Ethan! Ellie!” Shadow exclaimed. He closed the gap between them and pulled Ellie into a tight hug. “You’re alive!”

  Ellie returned the affection but pulled away. “We are, but…we’re not sure about Crystal. She’s lost a lot of blood and hasn’t woken up. She may also have some internal bleeding because there was a large pillar on top of her.” She threw a glance at Kay. “What’s she doing here?”

  “Trust me,” Kay said, “I don’t want to be here.”

  “We’re keeping her here until we find everyone. But more importantly, we have to get Crystal help before she loses any more blood.”

  “We’ve been trying to locate Faith,” Ethan explained. “But I haven’t had any luck finding her. She may have…perished in the explosion.”

  “No, she’s alive!” Tristan exclaimed.

  “I know where she is,” Ryan replied. “I’ll take you to her.”

  “Let’s go,” Shadow said. He followed Ryan through several piles of debris and upturned trees until they came to a small clearing. Faith was kneeling by an unconscious Tereya, healing him, while Cameryn stood over them watching. He brushed past Ryan and cleared his throat.

  “Shadow,” Cameryn breathed. He ran forward and launched himself into Shadow’s arms. “I w
as so scared…I woke up next to Tereya and he was bleeding really badly. But I couldn’t move because there was stuff on top of me. I didn’t know what to do…I thought he was going to die. I thought I had lost you….”

  “You didn’t lose me,” Shadow replied, rubbing his back. “But everything is fine now. Faith healed him and she’ll heal anyone else who is injured. And we’re all together now.”

  Faith finished healing Tereya and stood up. “He should wake up in a little while. He lost a lot of blood.” She noticed her brother and a wave of relief spread across her face. “Brother…!”

  “Faith!” Tristan cried. He went forward and wrapped his arms around her. “I thought something happened to you!”

  “I thought the same. But it’s all okay now…here let me heal you.”

  Tristan broke the hug and shook his head. “No, sis, I’m fine…you need to look at Crystal. She’s hurt real bad.”

  “Ethan, bring her to me.”

  Ethan strode forward and placed Crystal gently on the ground in front of Faith. “Her pulse is faint, but still there.” He looked at her with a pleading gaze. “I’ve tried my best to protect her for her whole life…if anything happens–”

  “It’ll be fine,” Faith assured him. “The head wound is serious, but it’s not beyond my power. I can sense that much. Give me a moment.” She held her glowing hands over Crystal’s head and began channeling energy into her wounds. After a few moments, the wounds closed, though they were just barely visible, and she withdrew her hands. “I don’t have enough energy to heal her fully after healing Tereya…but she’ll be fine.”

  “You promise?” Ethan asked.

  “Yes, I promise. She should wake up in a few hours.”

  “It’s sort of odd, don’t you think?” Ryan asked. “I mean, what are the chances that all of us were able to survive a bomb blast? I mean, yeah, we’re a bit banged up, but otherwise….”

  “Are you complaining?” Ellie asked, her arms crossed. “You’d think you’d just be happy to be alive.”

  “Well, I am, but…still.”

  “It’s a miracle,” Ethan replied.

  “Of course you’d say that,” Tristan said, rolling his eyes.