Shadow Plague

by William Massa

  As I spun away from the two dead monsters at my feet, glad to be myself again, the words of Xorron’s messenger haunted me. Concern for Keira speared my heart. I wasn’t stupid. The whole thing felt like a trap. But I couldn’t just leave her to become Xorron’s plaything.

  While I mounted my bike and fired up the engine, a plan formed in the back of my mind. I would return to the fortress and use the windows to locate Keira. If she was in trouble, I’d help her.

  Drawing comfort from this strategy, I blasted down the dark streets. I wondered how Xorron had navigated the streets of New York. Could he still change shape the way he had a century earlier and appear human? This seemed less likely when I considered how he had telepathically seduced the patrons in the club. My muscles flexed with tension. Just thinking about Xorron’s twisted seduction was enough to make me lose my last meal.

  Enough of this, I told myself. I was wasting my time pondering dumb questions. The bastard was a wizard and had plenty of magic tricks up his sleeve. But so did I. And I was eager to test myself.

  “Alright, Octurna, get me the hell out of this city.”

  The sorceress obliged, and a portal formed near another abandoned warehouse. I shot through the crackling doorway, a man on a mission. The moment I arrived inside the castle, I dismounted my bike and rushed toward the pulsating church windows.

  To my surprise, Octurna blocked my advance, her eyes probing. “What are you doing, Jason?”

  “Xorron is going after Keira. I need eyes on her apartment, her office. Everywhere.”

  “You do realize it has to be a trap?”

  “I know, but I can’t let him hurt her.”

  “He knows about our partnership. That is the only reason Xorron would abandon his operation. When the monster maker scanned your mind, he must have learned about our connection. He is using Keira to get to me.”

  I’d come to the same conclusion myself. But that didn’t change the reality that Keira was in grave danger.

  “Let me use the windows to at least check in on her. I promise I won’t do anything rash.”

  Octurna held my gaze but refused to budge.

  Anger flared in my chest, and the beast clawed at the edges of my soul. “Get out of my way, witch!”

  A stunned silence filled the air between us. Octurna and I had our tense moments in the past, but I'd always done my best to be a gentleman. The dragon inside me didn’t give one fuck about treating the fairer sex with kid gloves.

  Another tense beat followed before Octurna conceded. She could have shut me up. Hell, she could have locked me in the darkest dungeon of her fortress and thrown away the key. Instead, she allowed me to check on Keira. If I hadn’t already known Octurna was one of the good guys, that would have sealed it.

  I surged past her and fronted the shimmering bank of magical windows which looked out at the world. I paid no attention to the snapshots of reality playing out in front of me, my mind laser-focused on Keira. I concentrated on the reporter best I could. Visualized her lovely tanned features, tried to remember what it felt like to run my fingers through her hair, to feel her soft skin pressed against mine.

  The bank of stained-glass windows shimmered and morphed into one giant gothic arch, which looked out into the reporter’s office. I felt a strong sense of déjà vu at seeing Keira sitting behind her computer. She was busy typing up a story, unaware she was being watched by an otherworldly surveillance system. It was just like the scene from last night, but this time I was in control of the beast.

  I let out a sigh of relief. Keira was okay. Perhaps Xorron had been bluffing.

  Octurna stepped up beside me. “If the monster maker knows about her, then the Shadow Cabal most likely already knows I am alive. This conflict is about to change.

  “I’m sorry.”

  She sighed. “It is not your fault.”

  “Why did Xorron let me go?”

  “Most likely everything happened too fast for him to respond. It can take telepaths some time to untangle the impressions they receive from the people they target. I suspect Xorron wants to probe your mind again so he can learn why a dead Guardian holds an essential place in your memories.”

  “He’s not going to get the chance,” I said.

  I was about to turn away from the magical surveillance system when the windows of the high-rise office shattered, and all hell broke loose.

  14

  Everything happened so fast it was impossible to register every single detail.

  A shadow burst through the shattered glass and homed in on Keira. I caught a flash of insectile wings as it zoomed toward the journalist.

  As the winged invader snatched Keira, I saw a glimpse of a face both human and catlike. The monster maker’s creations clearly didn’t have to follow any Darwinian law of evolution. Nature had never intended such beasts.

  I watched in breathless horror as this insectile nightmare that would have made David Cronenberg proud took off with the reporter. In my imagination, I heard Keira’s scream. But I was watching this vision through magical CCTV, unable to hear anything.

  For a moment I stared helplessly at the empty office. If not for the overturned office chair and the pile of broken glass on the carpet, I could almost pretend nothing was wrong.

  The view in the window changed as the magical camera tracked Keira. The magic cam shot through the shattered window and dangled for a dizzying beat ten stories above the downtown Los Angeles streets below. The view spun in midair, then locked on the flying monster as it soared even higher, a screaming Keira grasped in its mighty arms while its transparent fly wings buzzed and cut through the sky.

  At this distance and angle, I couldn’t make out Keira’s face, but I knew she was terrified. Who wouldn’t be?

  The muscles in my cheeks twitched, and I cracked my knuckles. I had seen enough.

  Before Octurna could try to stop me, I flung myself through the magical window like an Olympic diver.

  One moment I stood in the observation room. The next, I was slicing through the air toward the pavement ten stories below. One could have mistaken my rash action as a creative suicide attempt, but there was a method to my madness, or so I hoped. We had already determined that adrenaline brought out the dragon. The greater the stress, the higher the odds I would transform despite the magic of the sigils.

  And what in the world was more stressful than plunging to your death while a woman you cared about was kidnapped by a monster?

  I saw my shadow race toward the asphalt. Seconds separated me from becoming street pizza. And then my shadow sprouted a pair of giant bat wings. I roared with mad joy as I swooped upward. The sigils flashed in warning, having failed to stop the transformation.

  I shot up the length of a tall office tower and thanked my lucky stars I was still in command of my thoughts. To my right, I caught my winged reflection in one of the steel glass towers. I was a beast straight out a dark fantasy video game. Sunlight glinted off my reptilian hide and a broad snout. My magical threads had adjusted to my new physique, and I only wore a pair of black pants. Long, taloned feet jutted from the black fabric. My monstrous wings blotted out the sun as they pushed me through the air, and my tail lashed, urging me onward.

  I had become a nightmare made flesh. It should have been terrifying. But instead, I felt only a rush of unbridled glee.

  After so long being the good soldier, the man who risked his life to save others, this was fun.

  The dragon is growing in power, I thought.

  At least I was still in control of my mental faculties. I had hoped to tap into the monster's strength without losing my mind. The gamble had paid off. The power of Octurna’s sigils was staving off the worst effects of the virus, but that could change at any moment.

  I sensed that the longer I stayed in dragon form, the higher the odds were that the protective sigils would fail me. Then again, all I needed was a few minutes to save Keira from the human fly.

  I elongated my wings, and my speed increased tenfold
. At this rate, I would catch up with them in a few seconds.

  I sensed sudden movement behind me. A beat later, a massive weight slammed into me in mid-air and sent me trundling toward the nearest skyscraper. I tumbled end over end, my enormous dragon wings struggling to keep me airborne.

  Seconds before colliding with the office building, I regained control and darted past with only a few feet to spare.

  I sliced through the air and spun back toward my aerial attacker. A winged, humanoid bird-monster fixed its beady gaze on me, its giant beak lined with razor-sharp teeth. Ugly fucker.

  Not that I could talk right now. Monsters who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

  Birdman hovered in front of me and then zoomed toward his insect accomplice. I went after the two creatures and fought back the temptation to draw my machine pistol. I couldn’t risk hitting Keira.

  I closed the distance until my enemies and I hung suspended at the same height — hundreds of feet between us and the ground below. A harsh wind swept over my reptilian skin and offered more evidence of how high up we were. These bastards held all the cards. One wrong move on my part, and Keira’s shredded remains would head for the streets below.

  I eyed the two monsters. This confrontation was turning into an aerial standoff.

  “What do you bastards want with me?” I shouted. “What do you hope to gain with this little stunt?”

  In response, the insectile beast let go of Keira. For one split second she appeared suspended in midair, and then she disappeared, on her rapid-fire descent to the ground below.

  I recovered from the initial shock and dive-bombed after her.

  The streets below approached at warp speed. I streamlined my wings, hoping to catch up with Keira, who had become a windmilling rag doll. Her terrified cry assaulted my ears, and it required all my self-control to stay focused on the goal and not let panic cloud my thoughts.

  I had to reach the reporter and snatch her from the jaws of certain death.

  I don’t remember how many seconds it took for me to realize that I wouldn’t be able to get hold of her body in time. She would hit the ground and shatter like a porcelain doll.

  No! I couldn’t let that happen.

  If my brain had been working correctly and hadn’t been pulled in two different directions by both my monster and human nature, I might have thought of casting a spell. But when you’re dropping at a maximum velocity of 100 miles per hour with the life of a loved one hanging in the balance, using magic was the last thing on your mind.

  Less than a hundred feet separated Keira and me. I was glad I couldn’t make out her face. That way I didn’t have to see her terror. With the impact imminent, I was tempted to avert my gaze. I didn't want to look at what happened next.

  And then the miracle happened.

  The pavement below Keira opened into a circular ring of fire. A heartbeat later, the journalist vanished inside the magical doorway that had opened a few feet above the sidewalk. The few pedestrians trundling through the street remained oblivious to the light display. Only those gifted with magic themselves could spot the interdimensional doorways to Octurna’s castle.

  The sorceress had interfered at the eleventh hour. She had saved Keira from certain death with less than a second to spare.

  I saw Octurna silhouetted in the doorway, Keira hovering next to her in the protective energy bubble that had slowed down her approach.

  Gratitude filled my heart. Thank you, Octurna.

  The sorceress raised her other hand, a ball of electric blue energy erupting around her fingers. Shrieks of mortal terror erupted from the winged beasts above me as beams of lightning-like energy shot from the portal. Heat singed the air as the searing rays of magical fire streaked past me. The sky ignited as the forks of blue light erased the winged stalkers from reality.

  The lesson was clear. Don’t piss off the sorceress.

  I worried that another beam of magical energy was about to reduce me to subatomic particles, but the attack never came. Instead, the portal remained open long enough for me to dart inside.

  As I zoomed through the sizzling portal, I struggled to slow down my mad descent. Reality flipped one-hundred-and-eighty degrees, and I had to reorient myself on the fly. My wings flapped and kept me airborne as I loomed over the sorceress. Behind me, the portal I’d passed through cracked and hissed as it transformed back into a stained-glass church window.

  Still fearing Octurna might see me as a threat, I descended to the ground and gave her a chance to look into my eyes. We regarded each other for a tense beat, neither one of us knowing what the other one would do next.

  I tried to say something reassuring, but my vocal cords had stopped working, and I only managed a bestial croak.

  Octurna spoke. “Inhale deeply, allow your humanity to regain control, Slayer. The sigils will help you now that the danger has passed.”

  I let my mind turn blank and willed my hammering heart to slow down as I took one calming breath after another.

  “Only if you are at peace, can you conquer the beast dwelling within you,” she continued, her calm voice as soothing as a drink of cold water on a hot day.

  My breathing steadied. It felt like a giant weight was lifted from my shoulders.

  Keira was safe. We had beaten Xorron at his own game.

  As deep calm washed over me, and my pulse normalized, allowing my humanity to return. The monster talons shrank, claws retracting into nails. The reptilian hide morphed into the lightly tanned skin of my hands. Soon, I was me again. Even my clothes had adjusted to the transformation, and I wore my black combat suit again. The whole hellish episode of the last few minutes felt like a bad dream.

  I locked my gaze with Octurna, gratitude in my voice as I broke the silence. “Thank you for saving her.”

  The sorceress’ response was to lower Keira, who was still floating in the magical bubble, to the stone floor. I rushed up to her while Octurna observed. The reporter stared at me with a glassy expression.

  “Keira, are you okay?”

  Keira remained silent, her gaze locked in a thousand-yard stare. I kneeled before her and squeezed her hand in the most reassuring manner possible. She didn’t respond to my touch.

  Turning to Octurna, I said, “She must be in shock. We need to—”

  I broke off, having just noticed an unfamiliar medallion around her neck. It began to pulsate with an eerie crimson light.

  “Slayer, what is that?” Octurna demanded, pointing at the strange jewelry.

  Keira’s eye rolled back into white crescents, and then she spoke. The voice emanating from her lovely lips didn't sound like her at all.

  “The time of reckoning approaches, sorceress.”

  I instinctively took a step back. An alien presence was using Keira like a human ventriloquist dummy to communicate with us. It had to be Xorron. We’d known this was a trap, but I still felt thunderstruck.

  The monster maker looked right past me, only interested in the woman who had locked him into an underground prison for a hundred years.

  “You can’t imagine my pleasure at knowing you’re alive,” the wizard said through Keira’s mouth. “I’m so delighted that all my fantasies of revenge will soon become a reality.”

  I traded a look with the sorceress, but she didn't acknowledge me, her whole attention fixed on Keira. An air of impending danger filled the observation chamber. How could Xorron transmit his voice all the way into Octurna's interdimensional fortress? The glowing jewel had to be the key that allowed him to pull off this otherwise impossible feat, but that would mean his magic was even more powerful than I had imagined.

  What other powers did the pulsating medallion grant him?

  “A century ago, you and your Order tried to destroy my dream of a better world. I want you to experience my vision of the future first hand. I’m providing you with first row seats to the collapse of the human civilization. Behold, the rise of the monster empire."

  The medallion draped aro
und Keira's neck exploded with light. Forks of green-red energy expanded through the observation chamber and sizzled past us.

  The beams of magical power surged toward the bank of stained-glass windows.

  The windows lit up with searing light, and the images inside changed. A whine of energy assaulted my ears as the stained-glass panels offered us new snapshots of the planet. There were glimpses of cities and towns all across the globe, but the photos shared a common theme—monsters.

  Each window showcased a different creature, all of them members Xorron’s fast-growing monster army.

  I watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as a squid-faced woman emerged from the ocean and sent a group of surfers running for their lives. Another shot showed a creature that looked like a fusion of a man, bear, and deer, the antlers growing from a human head slick with blood. There were winged beasts, aquatic grotesqueries, mammalian nightmares. And some monsters that showed no animal characteristics at all.

  But the menagerie of horrors had one thing in common. They had all just leveled their murderous attention at us.

  Somehow, they could look through the windows into Octurna’s fortress. That shouldn’t be possible. How powerful was Xorron?

  I gasped as the army of darkness turned toward the windows and began their approach, almost as if controlled by one collective will. Then I realized that’s exactly what was happening. My little episode at the New York club had proven that the monster maker could mentally command his creations. These nightmarish beasts were little more than drones, bound to the will of Xorron.

  The monsters stepped up to the magical windows until they filled our view, leaving no doubt as to their next move. Even though I saw it coming, I still shouted in alarm as, one by one, the mutants stepped through the magical windows and emerged into the fortress.

  Octurna’s Sanctuary was under attack.

  15

  As I braced myself to stand against Xorron’s nightmare army, a profound realization hit me—a master chessman had played us.