The skinhead thug snickered, “Look, boss! Kiddo’s got some fire in him.”
“Fire, my ass!” the boss chimed in, “the reports say that this lad-” he pointed at Issac, “-can’t even use any mana right now!”
“Isn’t he a weak chicken then?”
“You got that right, dingus!” The boss laughed uproariously.
“…fuck you, guys,” he said with an exhale. With a flick of his hand, he threw out a mana bomb, catching the thugs off-guard. A fiery explosion drowned out their cries. Because he was close to the explosion, he also got unwillingly burned by the flames. He was left with singed arm hair and some first-degree burns.
Issac waved his arms frantically to cool them off and was about to run off. But from his periphery, he saw something emerging from the explosion. It was the thugs’ boss emerging from the fire with a punch aimed at Issac.
Issac hastily got his arms up to block. With a bang, the punch hit him like a train. He flew backward and into a shack. The walls caved in as the roof collapsed over him.
The boss laughed as he looked at the dust cloud in front of him, “Oi, kid! Ya’ okay over there? Don’t worry about it; I made sure to hold back!” He smiled evilly, “The Queen said to capture you but never said not to break a few bones while we’re at it!”
The explosion had settled long ago, and a yellow translucent great shield remained in front of the other thugs. Behind it, they were surprisingly unharmed.
“Boss,” one of the thugs ground their teeth, “can we take a moment to break a few of his….”
The thugs and their boss were discussing something, but Issac couldn’t hear it. Everything that entered his ear felt muffled. In reality, he couldn’t care less what they were talking about. Every inch of his body hurt. There was a stinging pain in his lower leg; probably something had gotten stabbed there. Most of all, his arms hurt like hell. It was only right, given the torture they’ve gone through this past while.
Groaning, Issac mumbled to himself, “Why even bother? Why did I even bother to escape? Did I really think I’d be able to escape from a place where I knew nothing and could do nothing? I’ve…gotten this far, and that’s…fine.”
In the shadows of the collapsed roof above him, he lay motionless. The darkness seemed particularly inviting and comforting. Issac chuckled mirthlessly, “Just like a manga, am I about to fall asleep, or is the darkness going to take me?” He sighed emotionlessly, “Either way, just take me.” Even though he said he felt nothing change. He was still feeling the same pain and lethargy.
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The sun began to set, and the towering city walls cast a shadow over most of the slums. The bickering thugs and their boss noticed this. The boss waved his hands dismissively and ordered, “Enough! You-” he pointed at one of the thugs, “-go and dig him out of there.”
“Aye, boss!” the thug with a mohawk separated himself from the others and went to the collapsed hut where Issac was lying. With one hand, he moved the collapsed roof and looked down. His eyes widened.
“Boss!” he called out in a panic, “that kid isn’t here!”’
“What the fuck did you say?” the boss rushed over and grabbed the thug by the collar. Shaking him violently, he asked again, “Motherfucker, what did you just say?”
“H-He’s gone!” the thug pointed towards the rubble.
“Useless!” he threw the thug towards the others and rushed forward. He dug around the rubble using his hands, but Issac wasn’t there.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he cursed incessantly. With a manic look, he barked at his lackeys, “Split up, find the fucker! NOW!”
“R-Roger, boss!” with a quick nod, all of them ran in different directions trying to find Issac.
Meanwhile, Issac was looking at the boss who was standing in front, no, above him. “What the fuck…?” Issac wondered to himself. He had two questions- how had the boss not found him, and how was the boss standing on his body without him feeling pain?
His questions were answered when he looked down at his body. It wasn’t there. Rather it had melded into the shadow cast by the city walls. He tried to raise his hands and from shadow came out, his hand covered in pitch-black shadows.
“Really, what the fuck?” the boss was standing on it where the rest of his body was supposed to be. “Can I move?” he took back his hand and tried to move inside the shadow.
“Ooh, this is weird! I don’t like it!” he felt like a snake slithering with how smooth the movement felt. He wasn’t walking but swimming like a fish in water. The slums had been dyed by a shadow, with it getting larger and larger as the sun set further. He quickly left the place and made it to the city walls. But he couldn’t pass through walls no matter how he tried.
“Is it because the other side isn’t shadowed?” he didn’t know when this state would end, so he thought as he circled the city walls. He finally found the city gates. A line of carriages queued in front to be checked by the guards. Issac entered the shadow of the carriages finding a connector between the lead carriage and the city walls’ shadow. Due to the setting sun, the shadows of the carriages overlapped in a straight line.
Issac kept becoming more and more tired in this ‘shadow’ form. With his fastest speed, he went further and further away from the city gates and into the forest surrounding the city.
Once he was far enough, he stopped. Not knowing how to get out of this state, he simply visualized himself doing so. And sure enough, that did the trick. As the last bits of the pitch-black shadow left his body, he stared at Auburn City with rueful eyes that threatened to water any moment.
He turned around to look at the gloomy forest in front of him. It looked unknown to him, and that was ever so frightening. But he had no choice. It was either possibly surviving or barely living. A miserable sigh escaped his lips. He had nowhere to cry, no one to complain to, and nothing to find comfort in.
He buried his grievances deep in his heart. And under a sky dyed purple and orange, he disappeared into the trees.