"You have a name!" I said surprised.
The tailed Lilith was also shocked by this. She had never seen Cain create a shadow the way I had.
"Yes master, I am my own being. A collection of different soul fragments. Born to serve you alone," Azrael said still refusing to lift his head.
"Good," I said to him then proceeded to create more merged shadows, making 40 of them in total.
'Each of the new shadows has the strength and learning capacity of 100 shadows merged within it. They are no geniuses, but they should be able to accomplish tasks more flexibly than the normal shadows.' I began to think...
'For now, a majority of my shadows are of a low grade. They each have a built-in command, to only collect the souls of the deceased, just robotic pawns.
The 40 recently merged shadows are still of a low grade due to their limited intelligence, but can of course be more useful than the bots. I might have to merge about 1,000 shadows to create a shadow of the middle grade, but I cannot afford that right now.
Luckily, I just acquired Azrael. Having fluent speech and the potential to learn and grow, he clearly falls under the category of 'high-grade shadow'...
Is that the extent, however? If I were to merge 10,000 shadows, couldn't I create a shadow even more powerful than Azrael? And if so, would it not exceed even my abilities?' I went into a chain of thought.
"Azrael, I have an important task for you…"
…
Back in New Orleans, a man limped toward an abandoned-looking building. His left leg was visibly injured. He also had a few fractured ribs. This made it more difficult to take each step. Nonetheless, he kept limping onward.
He arrived at the entrance of the abandoned building and was greeted by two muscular men who stopped his approach.
"I need to see the boss, tell her Arnold from Club Rumors is here," he said desperately to the two guards.
One of the guards then sent someone inside to relay the message. A few minutes later, the messenger returned, signaling Arnold to come inside.
He then led him to the top floor and into a slightly dark room, where a huge round table was at the dead center. A few people were seated around it, all having anxious faces.
A dark-skinned woman stood out amongst the seated crowd, as she was seated in the largest chair in the room. Next to her, was a familiar face.
'The bartender, he is one of the boss's spies!' Arnold thought to himself.
"Report, how the fuck did Club Rumors burn to the ground!" The woman seated, on what could be considered a throne, commanded. With her position, it was no surprise that she already knew about Club Rumors burning down.
"If he is here, then you must already know about the suspicious man that came to Club Rumors last night..." Arnold hypothesized. His face quickly turned solemn from just mentioning the suspicious man.
"That's all I do know. Joey sent him back to me. According to him, this suspicious man gave Joey a sense of danger. The man may be a drunk, but his instincts are always on the mark. I respect him for that. So, did Joey deal with him?" The boss asked.
"Joey is dead, along with everyone else that was at Club Rumors last night. Only I managed to just barely survive," Arnold said with horror on his face as he recalled the events that happened last night.
"Explain yourself!" the boss demanded.
"At first, he seemed like a decent guy. He offered to buy a round of drinks for everyone in the club. He claimed to be working under you, but Joey saw through his lie.
From there, he began causing a scene. He started throwing expensive bottles all around the room. At first, no one understood why he was doing what he did. That was until the place caught fire.
We tried to escape, but all the entrances were surprisingly locked. He had an accomplice with him. I couldn't see her, but he spoke as if she was with us in the room. Someone called Lilith I believe, she's the one that locked the doors," Arnold began to explain until he was interrupted.
"So the man burned down along with everyone else…? Was he from the Taliban gang?" The boss interrupted.
"No, that thing that came after us was not from that gang, nor was he a man... I- I struggled to get out, but the doors were sealed shut. I began to believe I was going to die there.
Suddenly, I heard screaming coming from behind me. I assumed they were the screams of people succumbing to the flames. However, when I turned around, I saw a monster cut someone in half with a scythe.
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Pieces of clothing were still burning off around its body, and that's when I recognized that monster as the same suspicious man from earlier. One by one, he sliced our comrades apart till I was the only one left.
As it approached, I- I felt like death itself was coming towards me. It grabbed me by the neck and then threw me through the shut door. The impact broke my leg. I struggled to get up and run away, all the while thinking I wasn't going to make it.
But then suddenly, as if possessed, it began striking at the air. It looked like it was trying to cut something down. I quickly hid in a corner and watched it swing its scythe like a maniac. It then went on its knees and turned back to…." Arnold tried to explain further but then got cut off mid-sentence.
"Stop, just stop…. Are you expecting me to really believe this bullshit? Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? Do you think you could just crawl up in here with this absurd story? Tell me that my club got burned down by an unnamed man and everyone who was in it is now dead, including Joey! AND YOU, a nobody, are the only survivor? You're not very smart, are you?
If you are going to lie, you should at least make it believable. A monster? I'll show you one. I don't tolerate traitors!" The boss said with a deathly stare.
"Boss please, I swear I'm telling you the truth. Everything I said is the truth," Arnold said with tears in his eyes, knowing exactly what was in store for him.
A couple of bouncers began to approach him.
"Boss! Boss! Think about it...why would I lie?" Arnold shouted desperately. Tears covered his face and his wounds were still untreated. It was a pitiable sight.
"Okay, humor me then. How did you escape this monster?" The boss asked.
"I didn't, it just shrunk a little and then disappeared," Arnold replied still terrified. He knew that explanation would not be enough to save his life.
"Moonlight, did you get a good look at the man's face?" the boss asked the bartender standing next to her.
"Yes boss," the bartender replied.
"So you can identify him?" She asked a follow-up question just to be sure.
"Yes boss," Moonlight replied once again.
The boss then turned to Arnold and said, "There is no way to confirm any truths to your claims, but if you are a rat, I can't let you get away with this."
"Boss-," Arnold tried to say, but the boss suddenly stood up. She walked towards Arnold and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"For the sake of the years you stood as our brother...it will be quick," the boss said then turned back.
Arnold lost his will to keep fighting after he heard this. Silent tears rolled down his cheeks as his life flashed before his eyes. He realized he had so much regret over the choices he had made.
After what happened in the club he was going to leave the gang and pursue a career as a physician. He had an MBA and MPH! Unfortunately, Arnold failed to think about the position he was in as he reported. Unfortunately, the conversation couldn't even reach the stage where he could ask to leave the gang.
As he thought about it now, even this would have had him killed. It was crazy how everything he had done in his life led up to this moment.
"Kill him!" the boss signaled to a guard at the door who immediately shot Arnold in the head.
"Moonlight, find this man and bring him to me alive. If he resists, break his legs. Nobody messes with the Fools Gang….and someone clean this up please," the boss said disappointedly.
…
"Azrael, I have an important task for you and your new shadows. However, before that, you must learn of my philosophy. I will not tell you what it is, you should see it for yourself.
Study human behavior. Study their science, religions, ambitions, wants, needs, and all that they have to offer. When you are finished, tell me what you have observed. Take the low-grade shadows with you. I'm hoping they will learn a thing or two as well.
They will be under your command, so do with them as you see fit. However, you are in no circumstances allowed to interfere with the work of the pawns am I understood?" I commanded.
"Yes master, I understand. I will be sure to fulfill your every command with the utmost haste," Azrael replied finally raising his head.
"As for the forty of you, you are to listen to every single command Azrael gives to you. His word is law and only second to mine," I said to the low-grade shadows.
As soon as I finished speaking they all immediately bowed slightly towards me with their right hand on their chest, then turned to face Azrael. Azrael only gave them a look that lasted about 5 seconds then they all flew to the sky.
Azrael went to the east along with 10 of the low-grade shadows. 10 went to the north, 10 to the west, and another 10 to the south. They all seemed to have been given orders to separate for some reason. Luckily I could still keep track of each one of them through their eyes, even Azrael.
"Now, I believe I have a book to write," I said out loud as I began to walk towards the house. I turned around and saw the tailed Lilith still frozen in shock.
"Well, are you just going to stand there all day?" I asked her, waking her from her stupor. She then quickly caught up with me and we both walked to the house.
Within the house, Mother had a hidden room built behind a wall in the library. I was never able to figure out how to open that room, but now I don't need to open it.
I walked into the library and noted an all too familiar wall stacked with books. I then turned into a dark cloud and managed to pass through a thin vertical gap on the wall.
On the other side was a dark and spacious room. The room was so silent that simply dropping a needle there would be heard like it was next to your ear. I then took the dark cloud into my body and regained my 7ft human form.
Even though it was dark in there, there was no need for me to switch on the lights. Surprisingly, I could see everything as though the room was already lit.
The room was mostly empty, except for a chair and a desk at the center. On top of the desk was nothing but a plastic cup and a typewriter.
There was also a mini fridge on one corner of the room and on another, was a bucket that I'm hoping she used for keeping trash.
"Why isolate herself like this?" I asked aloud, taking a seat on the chair.
"Yeah, it's quite depressing in here," the tailed Lilith said as she entered the room as well.
"Don't forget to revert back to your reaper form this time," the tailed Lilith added sounding annoyed.
Not bothering to reply, I began to view the lives of each human being through the eyes of my shadows whilst typing at an incredible speed. I studied their reactions and responses to different circumstances, experiences, and questions.
I observed and deciphered almost every emotion known and unknown to man as I continued to type away until….
"Well, aren't you an enigma!" I said to myself….