A Shadow Around the Sun

by Hugo Damas

  “That’s it, ssshhh, it will be okay,” Ayane whispered, as reassuringly as she could.

  Ayane glanced to the side inside her mask, she could now do that without anyone noticing. She could look somewhere else as long as she didn’t turn her head and they’d never know she was doing it.

  I hope it will be ok, Ayane thought.

  The beast landed right next to their house. He yelped at the sound but, luckily, the cracking ground covered the mishap. Ayane made less sound than him because a heart skipping a beat is pretty silent.

  The Shadow kept her hand in his mouth but leaned in on him while leaning out with her head, to look at the beast who stood in the mist that was coming in through the windows. Just outside.

  The stifled air would block a normal person’s vision but not hers. The beast turned around, which was a good sign.

  Then it jumped away, which was even better.

  “I’m sorry, could you--”

  “Ssh,” Ayane voiced, reflexively squinting inside her mask. Ayane edged out further, to try and see if the beast returned. Or if it had left something behind.

  “Agh, it’s just--”

  Ayane felt his hand on her knee. At once, she leaned back to smack him for that but then noticed it was her fault. She had been shoving her knee in-between his legs and right into his crotch.

  “Ah!” She reacted a bit impulsively, pulling back so abruptly that she lost her balance and fell on her butt. “Apology,” she whispered gravely.

  “Apology?” He whispered back. “You saved my life, you could cut it off for all I care.”

  Ayane crouched again, attaining a good stance, and leaned her head aside in confusion. Bemused.

  “Hyperbole,” he said, with a wave of his hand, “please don’t. Who are you?”

  Hyperbole? What is that? Ayane didn’t know, but there were more pressing matters at hand. “We are not safe. Is anyone else alive?”

  “I don’t know. It hasn’t been long, more people could be hiding,” he explained, his voice wavering a fair bit.

  So what? Ayane asked herself, feeling dumb about having that concern. It would be nearly impossible to escape with that guy, let alone with someone else. Yet…there were scarce any beasts in the city. Maybe it was possible to make sense of what she had done, and the time she was wasting.

  Ayane reached inside her garments and retrieved the scroll, it was usually laid flat against her back. Yet, opening it, she saw no new developments on it.

  “Who are you?”

  The Shadow ignored the guy and wrote on the scroll.

  HoM. Report.

  While she waited for a reply, Ayane took note of the man. He looked young, but while he was younger than her, she was not really a kid. He was wearing some pajamas, his bare feet were busted and bleeding, which was okay since the city was all busted and bleeding. He had no serious injuries.

  Still, he was a normal boy, they’d need to take care of it him she expected him to leave the city.

  “What’s hyperbole?” Ayane asked.

  “What?”

  He had a triangular face, boasting a large forehead. How he looked so normal was beyond her, but she remarked on how his hair was nice. It had a nice shade of brown and lay at shoulder length. Even with all the action, it was still resting pretty neatly over his head. A bandana would look cool on him…but he would maybe need bangs? The bandana already took care of the forehead, so maybe it would look better with his hair as it was?

  Ayane shook her head back to the gravity of the situation.

  “You said hyperbole before, what is that?”

  “Uh…” He looked at her oddly, as if she should know. “Figure of speech? Exaggeration. I said you could cut off my you know whats -- that I wouldn’t care because you saved my life, but that’s an exaggeration, I-I would care. Very much.”

  Ayane scoffed, probably more from the stress. Then she looked at the scroll again and still saw no answer. The Head of Mist was either dead, or the art was blocked.

  Ayane held the scroll flat against her belly and slowly pushed it back inside her costume, reflexively looking down in thought.

  The Shadow needed to retrieve the gem or at least parts of it.

  “Who are you?” he asked again, “are there more of you? Looking for survivors?”

  The Shadow looked up at him. “I am here to sabotage, not rescue. My task is not yet done.”

  His face fell in realization. “Oh…why help me, then?”

  Ayane looked to the aside, not really having an answer.

  Now that she had stopped and was thinking things through, Ayane was feeling claustrophobic within the situation she had put herself in. Escaping with the boy decreased her chances dramatically. They would never get back before the end of the battle.

  After Melor’s last stand, the Beasts would continue on towards Usuka, Japien’s first city. Even if the two managed to escape, there would be consequences. There was no reasonable explanation as to why she would choose to save a life over the much more important task of figuring out how to hurt the Beasts.

  The Shadow was there due to a very rare chance an entire army was dying to give her. Possibly the only one they would get.

  Ayane looked back at him, staring in a long moment of silence as she transitioned between several looks. Remorse, sadness, scared, confusion, helplessness, resignation, decisiveness.

  None of which he saw.

  “I am the Shadow,” she simply said.

  He glared at her, caught a bit off guard. “I…I uh. Is that an answer to why you helped me or…?”

  “You talk too much,” Ayane told him, facing away.

  “I just don’t get what that’s supposed to mean?” He asked again, perplexed.

  “Ssh!” Ayane did a quick run to the building’s broken window and looked around, finding no signs of the beast. By the contrary, she heard it land somewhere far away, which relaxed her.

  Ayane gestured for him to come, all the while keeping her eyes on the perimeter.

  After ten second of the guy not showing up, she was forced to look back after him.

  “Hey!” Ayane spat back in a strong whisper, and the guy popped his head out in response.

  “What?” He asked.

  Ayane gestured all flustered. “I said come!” she demanded.

  “Oh sorry, I didn’t hear.” He jogged in an awkward crouch to join her.

  Ayane looked back outside, tense, inwardly exasperating. “I didn’t exactly speak, I just need you to pay atten--”

  “So where to?” He asked, interrupting her.

  Ayane glared at him in response.

  “What?” He asked, whispering halfway through. “What is it?”

  The Shadow took a mental breath, closing her eyes for good measure.

  “How are you called?” She asked.

  “Hm? My name, you mean? Nestor,” he said.

  “Well, pay attention, Nestor. We should not be talking, it creates undue noise, so you need to pay attention to my gestures,” Ayane told him.

  “Oh, right.” Nestor nodded, but still looked very much overwhelmed in that very particular way that makes others feel a great lack of confidence.

  Ayane rolled her eyes in an as belittling way as possible before she remembered he couldn’t see it.

  “Do not get us killed, Nestor,” she told him.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Nestor said, nodding again. The Shadow sighed so that he could tell she was rolling her eyes.

  They climbed out of the window. Nestor put his arm around his mouth, but that wouldn’t help much. Ayane really couldn’t worry about that, she had wasted enough time. Uncomfortable or not, dangerous or not, she guided them back to another pillar.

  “Stay hidden and do not make any noise,” she told him. Then, she grabbed some debris off the ground and jumped onto the thing.

  Ayane climbed up and beat the crystal for roughly a minute. Giving up on that, she started scraping it instead. She held the pouch to catch whatever scraped off,
but not even that was successful. Not a speck abandoned the stone.

  Damnation! Can I get a break?

  The Shadow brought her head nearer to take a closer look. She wanted to find at least an inch of anything that might look loose.

  She could see nothing. Ayane frowned, squinting her eyes, her patience at an end.

  Okay, you know what? Ayane jumped down to the ground and hit it with the rock. The ground was normal, it gave way.

  Alright.

  The Shadow was there for what felt like an eternity, digging one side of the pillar. Her hands were hurting before soon, somewhat bleeding before long.

  “Hey, will this take much longer?” Nestor asked from afar, in a reaching whisper.

  Ayane paused to flare Nestor a look of impatience. Somehow, even without actually seeing her expression, he still got the message loud and clear. She could tell by his flinch, and the widening of his brow.

  Still, he spoke. “I’m just saying. Shouldn’t we be getting out of here? You can always come back.”

  Why would I ever want to come back!! Ayane screamed in her mind, as if he had insulted her.

  She did not have the opportunity to answer, though, as another scream took hold of the air around them.

  They both looked in the direction of the yell.

  “What the?” Nestor asked.

  “Dig!” Ayane said, tossing the piece of debris at him.

  “What?”

  Yes, what could the Shadow, after having spent the last ten minutes digging on one side of the pillar, have possibly meant by telling him to dig? Surely, as difficult as the mystery was, Nestor could figure it out. After all, he knew words like hyperbole.

  “Dig or I leave you behind,” Ayane whispered back at him, or yelled. She certainly yelled in her heart.

  Ayane didn’t wait for a reply, she just ran as fast as she could.

  The second rescue began much like the first one had thanks to another unexpected flash-bomb. Again, without much thought, Ayane ran next to the would-be victim to try and help. It was a senior woman, a lean dwarf with a big head who, fortunately, she could carry on her back.

  “Hurry, get on!” Ayane called.

  “I can run just fi--”

  “We put that to the test, later, okay?” Ayane was crouched with arms ready to grab the woman’s legs, while the beast itself was taking a second to recover. Thankfully, the woman climbed on, legs coming into place over Ayane’s forearms and the old arms closing around her upper chest.

  The Shadow leaped aside and hopped past a window that they could both fit through. She crossed the room and exited out an opposite door, dropping a smoke bomb with an awkward wrist movement.

  The beast crashed through the wall after them, but the bomb made it hard for it to know where to leap for next. Due to that, they made their escape a bit more easily than before.

  This time, though, the Shadow was a lot less cautious. She did not hide and patiently wait until she was sure the beast had truly lost them, especially not when the old woman might object to being carried again once she was put down. Ayane just kept running, heading back to the pillar.

  “That was quick thinking, ninja girl,” the old woman commented, her voice strained by how the fast movement was jerking her around.

  “Cannot say the same for you,” the Shadow protested. The three seconds she cost them might have meant their end.

  The old woman, though, responded by patting Ayane in the head. “Yes yes…forgive an old woman her ego. It took a lifetime to build, okay?”

  Ayane rolled her eyes. Did anyone normal survive?

  The Shadow landed eyes on Nestor hugging the pillar, trying to pull with his whole body.

  “What are you doing?!” Ayane yelled, forgetting to whisper. She leaped and drop-kicked him in the side to get him out of there. The old woman yelped in fright because she almost fell.

  “Oww, ouf! What was that for?” Nestor complained, grabbing at his sides in pain.

  The Shadow but scoffed, appalled. “What would you do if you succeeded, you oaf?! The pillar would land on you!”

  Nestor’s eyes opened in realization, and he looked back at the pillar. “Oh yeah…whoah.”

  “Ugh!” Ayane crouched and opened her arms so the old woman could step down from her back. “Just stay quiet, you two!”

  “I didn’t say anything,” the old woman said, quite defensively.

  Ayane approached the pillar and had to admit that it did seem loose enough. She went around it to the strong side and gained some steps, preparing to charge it.

  The Shadow lunged and flung her whole body in a straight thrusting kick. The pillar budged with a noise too loud for comfort, but it didn’t fall.

  Damnation!

  The idea was already stupid to begin with, and the fact it was turning out to be so hard to pull off only frustrated her further. She stepped back again and prepared for another charge, a more violent one.

  That time, Ayane spun her body around to add a bit more momentum to the strike. Her foot complained but the thing vibrated and finally bent, shoving dirt off its base.

  “You’re doing it!” Nestor cheered.

  Ayane shook her head, snorting her rebellious thoughts. This made her feel far better than she cared to admit. To let loose like that.

  Ayane kicked it again and it definitely felt good.

  “Soon as it falls, I need you to help me!” The Shadow commanded of them.

  “Whatever you need, dear,” the old woman replied, trying her best to sound kind. “But...is it too bothersome to ask what’s going on?”

  “Yes,” Ayane near whistled with how strongly she whispered. Then she stood in a fighting stance and lunged again. “Yah!”

  The dirt rumbled silently as the pillar creaked and fell. Fortunately, it wasn’t that tall, and it didn’t fall that quickly or make that much noise. Then again, maybe that was in comparison with the kicks? There was no pretending she wasn’t nervous.

  “Wasn’t that a bit too loud?” Nestor asked, as if it was helpful in any way to do so.

  The Shadow retrieved the magical pouch that was flat against her thigh and opened it. It was wide enough to handle the pillar’s circumference. She marched around and to its end.

  “Help me put it inside,” Ayane asked them gravely, opening the pouch in front of the tip that had the gem in it.

  “I don’t uh… I don’t think it’ll fit, dear,” the old woman told her, apologetically.

  “Yeah, maybe just the ti--”

  “It is magic, just do it, please!” Ayane pleaded. “Old woman, hold this.”

  “My name’s Yana, little girl,” she protested, but complied anyhow.

  The Shadow felt like at any moment, a beast would land on her head. There was no way they’d get out of that one, but if at least she could send the crystal back…

  That was essentially the stupid idea she had come up with. If she couldn’t get the crystal, Ayane would just get the whole thing. It was silly, it was dumb, but sometimes, that’s how the ancestors liked it.

  Ayane imagined the sight of them, herself and Nestor crouched and sternly carrying a big pillar into a small pouch that was being held by Yana. Ayane was sure it looked ridiculous.

  They scraped the thing across the floor, grunting with the effort.

  “So….close….” Ayane grunted.

  “This is… insane, lady.” Nestor complained, his face red with effort.

  “Well I’ll be,” Yana said, looking down at the disappearing effect the pouch was performing on the pillar. “this is pretty magical, I’ll give you that.”

  A crashing sound emerged nearby. One of the beasts.

  “Oh crap, we gotta go,” Nestor whispered.

  “We…got to…finish this,” Ayane said, desperate.

  “Lady, please, we’ll die,” Nestor begged.

  “You will die without me,” Ayane argued through gritted teeth, pushing with all her strength. “And I will… die for this.”

  Ayane di
dn’t know if it was true, but it seemed like the thing to say. The sound of another crash reached them as the beast landed, even closer. She noticed the two trading a glance.

  “Puuushhhh!” Ayane encouraged, and Nestor did, he didn’t let go and run, he knew better. He knew she was right, he was dead without her.

  With a few final pushes and a big stress release, they shoved the base of the pillar inside. Ayane had considered trying to just pull the pouch away, because it might cut it off, but she didn’t want to risk it since it might have some kind of fail-safe that would destroy the pouch instead, and its contents. She didn’t know, magic was weird so it was always better to play by its rules.

  “Alright,” the Shadow said, as tired as she was relieved, but no less nervous. She was already scampering to retrieve the pouch. “Come, Yana, climb on.”

  “My dear, you are in no condition to--”

  “By the ancestors, both of you!” The beast landed even closer. It was right around the house to their right, she could tell. One more jump and they would be spotted. If they couldn’t be heard already. The Shadow snatched the pouch and shoved it inside her garments. “Stop arguing and do as I say!” Ayane both begged and demanded, her voice shaking.

  Yana grudgingly accepted the piggyback after which the Shadow was quick to jog out of the street and into a house, with Nestor following closely. She ducked out of view a couple of seconds before another crash was heard.

  Something different happened, that time. The beast, which she knew was mere feet away from them, emitted a sound.

  It was loud and lasted only a second, but it was deafening and alarming. Or rather, alerting.

  The pillar! It knows the pillar is gone. That meant they couldn’t just hide there. The Beasts were likely executing random searches for survivors, but with that having happened, they would surely conduct a more thorough job.

  They needed to flee as soon as possible.

  The Shadow looked around and noticed some stairs were leading to a first floor. She tapped Nestor in the shoulder and sneaked her way towards it.

  Once on the first floor, she found a window leading to a street opposite to the one the beast was on.