Shadows of Humanity

by J. Armand

  Her hand had just touched his bare chest when the amethyst pendant around her neck fluttered to life.

  “I am quite capable, dear sister.” Rozalin burst forth from the jewel, forcing Aurelia and Gianluca apart. It gave me a moment of relief until she took her turn running her spectral fingers along Gianluca’s torso. “And I would be most willing to aid you, my lord.”

  “Uh, Gianluca, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone.” I tried pulling him away from the wicked sisters, but it was no use.

  “Then who would be left to protect me, should those fearsome miscreants return?” Aurelia covered her mouth with a gasp, playing afraid.

  “Oh come on. You ripped one of them in two.” My ploy to call her out failed as the three started jabbering amongst themselves in Latin like they had all been best friends for years. Gianluca delicately removed the necklace from Aurelia’s possession. His face leaned in close enough to warm her cold dead flesh with his breath. I was trying not to let their intimacy get to me, but I couldn’t help the feelings of jealousy building up.

  “What is going on?!” I shouted in frustration.

  “I don’t speak Latin, but it sounds to me like you’re losing the game, kid.” Noah spoke from the floor for the first time so far. “Told you he’d turn on us.”

  The three stopped chatting abruptly.

  “Then it is finish,” Gianluca announced. “I will take Noah and the lovely Rozalin with me as the guide, my soldier will watch for the beautiful Aurelia to be safe.” He constructed two imposing knights from living darkness that kneeled before her and then melted into her shadow to stay guard.

  “How is Noah supposed to go anywhere like this?” I asked.

  “Why, there is fresh blood in the chateau, he knows that!” Aurelia exclaimed cheerfully on her way out.

  “Oh yeah, I never thought of that,” Noah mumbled under his breath. “Guess I better start crawling.”

  “This is a horrible idea,” I said out loud to no one in particular.

  “That’s kinda ironic coming from you, don’t you think?” Noah tried to laugh at his own remark, but was in too much pain. I actually had the chance to kick him for his sarcastic comments for once, but had to refrain.

  Gianluca brought us to the chateau. Rozalin appeared on her own after us.

  “How delightful this will be!” Rozalin mused as she floated around the main hall. “I am starved for the chance to see what darkness we will bring… together! Let us make our enemies tremble at our feet. The Strigoi’s prodigal child gone astray would do well to learn from a true master of destruction!”

  “Gianluca, can I please talk to you alone?” I looked down at the pendant in his hand to indicate he should leave it behind. He brought us to the dark dimension where I didn’t know what to say first.

  “What troubles you, little one?” He smiled his usual welcoming smile.

  “Those sisters are evil!”

  “Yes, I know this.”

  “Then why are we working with them?”

  “We have the common enemy. They want to help, I let them. Do not worry little one, I will keep you safe.”

  “How can I even be sure it’s you talking and they’re not in your head right now? I know their games.”

  “You are the only one in my head, in the good way.” He floated up close to me. “I know these games. It is a dance. They think I do not know them because we do not meet, but I see many like this before.”

  “I don’t want to dance anything with them.” I pushed away from him until I realized I couldn’t stop myself in the vastness of empty space. “Noah is Aurelia’s slave and she’s hurting him. That wasn’t the Easterners.”

  “I know this too.” Gianluca pulled me back in. “I did not hear the warrior voices so I know it was not them. This is why I make a deal to take him with us. But if he is her property I cannot keep him forever.”

  “Slavery was over a long time ago, Gianluca. She can’t keep him like that. She has no right.”

  “In the human life, yes, but this is not that. There will be the other way. Trust me, okay? I promise to help.”

  “I do trust you. I just don’t want to see him suffer any more than he already has.” It felt good discussing Noah’s situation as equals. It was nice to be included in the plan for once; Noah had always left me out of the loop.

  “You will stay close to me, okay? I do not know what can happen where we go, but it is more safe with me and not alone.”

  “I can fight. I know how to take care of myself.”

  “Yes, I know this. You are the very stubborn chick.” He sounded so grave when he said it this time, like it was cause for concern. He brought us back to the chateau, where Noah was able to stand on his own again, although he still didn’t look too good.

  “You can fight?” Gianluca asked him and reclaimed Rozalin’s pendant.

  “Uh-huh,” he answered without looking at either of us. “Just keep the kid from blowing his load in one shot again so it’s one less thing to deal with.”

  “I do not understand?”

  “Nothing, Gianluca. I know what I’m doing. I learn from my experiences.” I quoted Noah’s own line from the other day back to him. “Why don’t you tell us what Vance gave you to stop the invasions, since we’re all one big team now?”

  “When we get there you’ll know,” Noah said and stretched, tossing another empty bottle of blood so that it shattered on the marble floor.

  We watched the world fly by like a giant movie screen against a backdrop of an infinite void. Places Gianluca hadn’t been or wasn’t familiar with were darkened over until we passed through them. It made my stomach churn at points when the window to Earth would suddenly zoom out to miles above the ground and then back in to a single shadow below as he got his bearings. He utilized every bit of shade available to travel, from an individual person, to a bird, plane, or building. This twisting and turning rollercoaster ride across the world certainly wasn’t for the faint of heart, but it soon ended with our arrival in Japan.

  With Noah’s guidance, Gianluca was able to track down the mountainside Kyoto temple where this had all started. It was morning when we reached our destination. Sunlight filtered through the foliage where we hid. The temple grounds comprised several buildings and each was a sight to behold. It was a completely different aesthetic from anything I had studied so far. Some structures were made with very bold coloring, yet their wooden designs were delicate. It was a striking contrast to the Roman artisans’ use of heavy stonework. The domes, rounded arches, and intricate geometric embellishments of the Roman style were also absent here. Instead, smooth, simple lines were present in everything from walls to roofs and wove together to form a more beautiful bigger picture.

  A vibrant red pagoda was striking against the bleak winter sky. Not even the light dusting of snow could contain its brilliance. Was it magic or sheer genius in craftsmanship that allowed this place to remain standing for so long when it had been made entirely with decorated woods?

  “There.” Noah pointed to the three-story pagoda I had been looking at. “Around there is a cave a few hundred feet underground. It was sealed off after the Muramasa was put down there, but I was able to get in traveling as mist through cracks in the rock.”

  “You can stay here, my friend,” Gianluca offered Noah. “You are not in good shape to fight.”

  “I’m not your friend.”

  Gianluca was visibly displeased by Noah’s rude retort, but opted to let it go and search instead for a way to the shrine below. It seemed a shame that we were here to bring war to such a place. I knew how highly Noah respected the culture despite his disregard for most other things. He would only have stolen from this place out of absolute frenetic desperation. I myself would rather not spread violence, especially to somewhere so peaceful. But I knew there was no going back. There was no possibility of a truce or forgiveness. What the spirits continued to do to the innocent on our side of the world, even when they had reclaimed the sword for a time,
was inexcusable.

  “We are here.” Gianluca brought us to complete darkness. The only way I knew we were no longer in the Dark Depths was because there was a floor beneath us now. Finally I had a reason to use my psionic sonar. The cave felt no bigger than a small garage and there was some sort of podium in the middle of it, which must have been the shrine where the Muramasa had rested. I could tell the podium wasn’t just a rock by its clean, symmetrical edges. Aside from the podium there was nothing else in the cave but stale damp air.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  The pendant in Gianluca’s hand glowed as Rozalin flew out, giving the cave an eerie illumination.

  “When does the killing begin?” she hissed. Someone grabbed my arm and I felt a sharp prick. It wasn’t Rozalin, since she was the only one I could see, and Gianluca was never that rough with me.

  “To stop the spirits we need to go to their world and seal them there from the inside,” Noah said. “To do that I got this handy pre-made spell on a scroll. Just add blood, burn it at the location of the curse, and we’re there.”

  Noah struck a match and lit the ensorcelled parchment on fire.

  “What about Gianluca? He can’t bleed, his skin will break the blade before it’s cut.” I didn’t care that Rozalin didn’t even have blood to add. Leaving her behind would be good news.

  “Looks like he’s out of luck.” Noah smirked at him. “Thanks for the ride.”

  When the paper finished burning, Noah and I disappeared before the matter could be discussed any further. It felt like I was being turned to liquid and sucked down a very long drainpipe.

  “I think I’m going to throw up,” I said as I got to my feet after being violently spit out into yet another new world.

  “Good. You were starting to put on some weight.” Noah was up ahead of me, deciding whether to wield his dual wakizashi or the Muramasa.

  “We’re screwed without Gianluca. I know you kept that quiet on purpose, but we can’t do this alone.”

  “We’ve gotten through worse without him. That guy’s a douche. I told you not to get involved with him and now he’s cozied up with both sisters.”

  “Why are they even working together?” I asked. “I thought Aurelia and Rozalin hated each other. Did you know about this too?”

  “Nope. They’re both using each other for something. Whatever it is, it probably isn’t braiding each others’ hair and talking about boys.”

  I hadn’t taken much notice of this new world yet, mostly because of the lack of horrifying alien beings or immeasurable darkness. It was actually rather tame and bland. I was standing by a rundown wooden gate to a village and I had no idea if it was dusk, dawn, or midday. The sky was so overcast there was no sun and a wall of fog behind me obscured whatever was beyond. Only a river of yellowish water could be seen running along the edge of the dense fog.

  “What is this place?” I asked. A better question may have been when. From the looks of it we were in a feudal Japanese village. There was nothing supernatural here at all. The village was bustling, but I wouldn’t exactly call it lively. Everything here was so gray and drab. The villagers were downtrodden and shuffling through their daily chores. An old woman chasing two chickens into a pen in front of her thatch-roofed house was the most action this place had going on.

  “Yomi or Huángquán. It’s the Eastern Underworld.” Noah squinted into the distance to scan the area.

  “They get to have their own?”

  “Yeah, Yomi is the Shinto land of the dead. Believe in anything long enough and it just may become true.”

  “That’s dangerous. All religions can be right at the same time?” Gianluca had mentioned the “old gods” of Rome, but I figured he had been referring to a symbolic transition of faith. I didn’t think he meant there were actually other deities out there besides the God.

  “I guess.” He shrugged. “People create religions, religions don’t create people. They all start to blend together based on people’s collective beliefs. Some die off. Maybe we’re just imagined, too. Who knows.”

  “People do think supernaturals are just a dream on Earth, yet they’re willing to accept that those things exist on other planes.”

  “Humans don’t like to deal with reality until they absolutely have to.” Noah began walking down the dirt road that ran through the middle of the peasant village. “Anyway, we have to find the shrine here in Yomi to place this seal Vance gave me. Show some respect and don’t bother anyone here or break anything. These are the souls of people at rest.”

  “I was expecting something more grandiose for a final reward.” It didn’t seem to me that any of them were aware they were dead. They still went about the same mundane lives they must have led back on Earth. I guess they just stuck with what they knew and kept repeating it for eternity.

  “You get what you give.”

  There was some inconsistency in space and time in this world. We had been walking for a while and passed several streets of meager shacks and their residents, but when I looked back the entrance to the village was only a dozen yards away. I counted the paper lanterns hanging outside the homes as a guide. Four lanterns between me and the gate. We passed two more lanterns, so I checked behind me. Still four lanterns.

  “Uh, Noah? Are we trapped here?” I had the feeling that if I ran for the exit I would never reach it.

  “Quiet.” Noah shushed me as two samurai approached from the opposite direction. In the distance, a single mountain peak reached above the thick clouds. Maybe that was their Mount Olympus.

  The samurai walked right past us like we weren’t there. I would have thought we stood out enough to cause some alarm with the guards, but no one here seemed to realize our presence. This must be a first for Noah.

  “Why don’t you super-speed around to find where we need to go?”

  “Because it won’t matter. Most of my speed comes from warping time around me, but there’s no time here to manipulate.”

  I flew up into the clouds to try and get an aerial view, but no matter how high I went, when I looked down I was only a few feet off the ground.

  “Stop trying to take the easy way out,” Noah called up to me.

  “You’re the one who taught me to fly in the first place.”

  Our bickering was quieted by the sound of someone singing nearby.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What’s that song?” I flew next to Noah and looked around for the source.

  “Who cares? Just keep moving.”

  “I’m going to find out. It’s kind of strange someone is singing a lively tune in a place like this.”

  “Don’t wander off, dipshit.”

  I headed toward the singing anyway. The voice was a girl’s, tiny and unassuming, yet the song was bewitching. I couldn’t understand a word of it, yet the more I heard the more I wanted to hear. It was happy, at least I thought it was. She could have been singing about mass suicide for all I knew, but it drew me in.

  Near some broken-down merchant stalls was what I guess you could call a tavern. It was the size of a closet, and that was being generous. That was where the singing came from. I peeked in to see three men sitting at one of the few tables in the building, ogling a Japanese girl on a stage. She was no more than fifteen or sixteen, a pixieish little thing. She was barefoot and in dirty rags and had her hands folded in front of her. When she sang she kept her eyes down, only occasionally looking up nervously. Her song never seemed to stop, but I wasn’t anticipating an end either. She shifted uneasily on the dusty wooden stage. She looked like she was close to tears the whole time she sang. Her demeanor didn’t really fit her upbeat rhythm.

  Some patrons shuffled in past me to watch the show. Nobody was eating or drinking, but maybe that was beyond their mockery of life. I found myself mouthing the words even though I hadn’t a clue how to speak the language in the first place. The people that had just entered were doing the same thing. Their eyes glazed over and they smiled as they swayed back and forth. Their mo
vements mimicked the girl’s nervous rocking back and forth on stage.

  “You idiot.” Noah’s voice startled me as he grabbed my shoulder. When I turned to him I noticed there was a throng of villagers piling up to get a look at the girl singing. It was an endless sea of lost souls lumbering toward the tavern. They weren’t hostile, but it was still a bit worrisome.

  “Stop listening to that shit!” Noah barked. “She’s leeching out the energy of everyone that hears her sing, including you. I can see it in their auras.”

  She started singing a little louder to overcome Noah’s interruption. Her voice was shaky and unsure, but no one clapped or cheered her on for reassurance. The crowd just stared and swayed in a unified trance.

  Noah dragged me out and kept walking. I waited for a lecture or some form of chastising, but none followed.

  “Get your game face on.” He unsheathed his wakizashi in favor of the Muramasa on his back. Up ahead, two of the three spirits blocked our path.

  “Where’s the geisha?”

  “Keep an eye out for her and leave these two to me,” Noah instructed.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I asked, but Noah had already stepped up to engage them.

  “Just trust me for once,” he shouted back. I flew up to the roof of a shack so I could keep an eye on the area. The men circled Noah, but it wasn’t long until the three collided. If Noah was going for the element of surprise, it certainly worked. Instead of his usual aggression he took a defensive stance and deflected the spirits’ attacks with parrying. Now I knew why he’d chosen his wakizashi over the Muramasa; with two short blades he could cover his front and back with greater dexterity. He didn’t strike back once, but managed to get the long-haired lightning spirit to stab his wind counterpart through the chest by turning to mist at just the right moment. Noah even got the wind spirit to punch his fist into the lightning spirit’s electrified katana, which had been slowly chipping away at Noah’s health each time it shocked him on a parry.