Being stuck in the Shadow Realm had me flipping between ecstatic and morose but both had the same cause; like two sides of the same coin. On the one hand, I was free from the dangers of physical attacks, I could walk right up to a Croc and slap it in the face and all that would happen is my hand felt funny. I’m not going to lie, I did that a lot. On the other, however, the overwhelming loneliness of being alive but also somehow not at the same time was making me go a little crazy. I’d started talking to inanimate objects and cracking jokes at people and creatures that would never hear it. The feeling of isolation ate deep into my soul, turning the brightness of it as black as the shadows that were my new existence.
Being forced to spend so much time inside my own head was not something I enjoyed. It didn’t take long for my friends to move on without me. Well, I was with them, they just didn’t know it. I know I probably should have left. Should have tried to delve deeper into the shadows, but for some reason, I avoided that like my life depended on it. Every time I thought of going off on my own I began to sweat profusely, my throat would close up and my heart would hammer like I’d just run a marathon. It was not a pleasant feeling.
For three days my companions deliberated and hunted for goods. I once followed Miranda all the way back to Ruby’s den. I’d screamed at her not to go inside but I needn’t have bothered. She stood outside the tunnel of spider web and called loud enough for me to hear standing back in the shadows of a building.
“Are you there Joe? Come to me if you’re still here. Even if you’re a ghost I’ll hear you just the same, I promise.”
Her voice sounded so desperate. I yelled her name and tried unsuccessfully to throw stuff at her just to get her attention. I felt like a ghost. Sometimes, I acted like a ghost. So why couldn’t Miranda of all people see me? The answer was simple really; I wasn’t dead.
It was sad that it would have been easier if I was. Unbelievably, gut-wrenchingly sad.
She’d broken down in tears when my words couldn’t reach her and ran back to the others. I felt bad for her unnecessary pain but at least she was feeling something. It was still kind of pissing me off that Nora didn’t seem to give a shit. We’d been together the longest and not even a single tear. If I ever got out of this realm I was going to shove my boot so far up her ass for her sheer indifference.
Another weird thing about being stuck in this adjacent realm was the fact that I no longer felt the need to sleep or eat or drink. In fact, nothing that would normally be associated with everyday needs seemed to be impacting me at all. I didn’t even need to go to the bathroom, which given the innate danger of such things was a welcome relief. It was a little funny to me that I still wanted to do all those things, even if I didn’t technically have to. Habits, even ones I didn’t know I had, were a hard thing to break.
After all that here I was, kicking back in the shadow of a tree playing with the weird stone orb I’d stolen from the guard back in Oliver’s Rest. I’d tried to make sense of the markings but they looked more like decorative marks than an alien script so I didn’t get very far. The description was no good either. I’d read it at least ten times and still, it made no sense.
Item: Stone Orb of Noxim
Description: He who walks among the darkness falls harder for the light. A tongue of warmth will break the chill of neverending gloom. Gift to him the dream sense and savor the deepest rewards.
See what I mean? Pure, worthless garbage.
It didn’t matter though, it still made for a fun toy that I could actually interact with. Apparently, anything that was in my inventory was mine to use but it seemed similarly affected by the shadow realm. I’d tried to shoot an arrow at an Elemental Jill but the arrow had passed straight through the beast.
I tossed the orb into the air and caught it again, leaning back against the trunk of the tree as I watched my teammates take on a family of Common Striped Cobras. I’d never seen the snakes group together like that before so at least it was an interesting show. A couple of days ago I would have been tearing my hair out at not being able to help but I’d come to terms with it now. Besides, it would appear they didn’t really need my help. I couldn’t decide if I should be offended or grateful for that one. Maybe a touch of both?
I yawned as Stella tackled a snake. I’m not sure why I felt the need to yawn. It’s not like I could sleep. It would have been nice to doze off. When there was not a lot to do those twenty-four hours in a day really dragged on.
The annoying flickering at the edge of my vision came back again making my head jerk around painfully. Just like every other time before there was nothing there. I muttered to myself and hunkered down in my little patch of shadow, shoving the stone ball back into my bum bag and then reaching up to massage my sore neck. All the jerking about was starting to make it ache horribly.
I opened my quest menu again and closed it just as fast. There was nothing new there to point me in any direction. That seemed wrong somehow. How could being yanked into a completely new realm not have a quest to complete? Seemed like a wasted opportunity to me.
It took me a little too long to realize the others had moved on. I climbed to my feet and followed as best I could bouncing off more than a few invisible walls. The crew stopped by a broken wall, peering from behind it at the Crocs junkyard fortress. Gabby pointed at the manhole in the middle of the street between where we stood and the bastion.
“That's where the people disappeared. Their hideout must be somewhere beneath us in the sewer tunnels,” she said.
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“Seems like a dangerous place to set up shop,” Nora mused, fingering the edge of her axe.
“It’s tactically advantageous,” Theo said. “Easy to move throughout the whole city. Lots of exits and entrances. Tight tunnels so you can’t be overwhelmed. You’d have to have a bunch of scouts and lookouts to make sure you didn’t get surrounded but that's more than doable. Quite smart really.”
“Gross though,” Jacob added.
“Yeah,” the giant of a man said with a nod. “Still gross.”
Nora bit her lip, her brows dipping low as she eyed the Crocs wandering the piles of scrap. “I don’t think we can make it there without being seen. Besides, Sob won’t fit down that manhole, what are we supposed to do with him?”
Nigel, now riding on Gabby’s shoulder rather than mine, piped up with a cackle, “I can make him fit, don’t worry about that.”
I edged closer to Sob who was standing behind the others. I reached out to touch him but my hand just passed right through.
I sighed with frustration but said to the horse, “don’t trust him. He's got a nasty surprise up his sleeve.”
Sob snorted and whipped his tail about. If I wasn’t a ghost the thing would have slapped me in the face. I frowned at that, wondering for a moment if it was pure chance or if he somehow knew I was there. I moved around him, passing my hand through his rump. The horse nickered and kicked out at me, his hooves passing right through my belly and back out again as little sparks formed around his muzzle.
He could feel me!
“Hey, calm down,” Nora said in a fast whisper as rushed over and stroked his nose. “They’ll hear you.”
Sob stomped his forefeet but settled under her firm hands. I itched to reach out and touch him again so that I could feel real. I didn’t want to be the reason my friends had to fight an entire army of Crocs though.
“What set him off?” Gabby asked, her sharp eyes sweeping the tight alley we were all standing in.
“I don’t know, there's nothing around here,” Nora answered.
“Maybe he’s got lice or something,” Theo said.
“Poor thing. I’ll brush you down and make sure you’ve got no bugs when we’re somewhere safe,” Nora cooed.
“Didn’t Joe have the brush?” Jacob asked.
“No, he attached it to Sob’s saddle so he wouldn’t have to carry it with him.”
“Huh, maybe he wasn’t a complete idiot after all.”
I swore and smacked a hand upside Jacob’s head. It wasn’t nearly as satisfying as it would have been if my hand had actually made contact.
“That’s not a very nice thing to say,” Miranda hissed. “The man’s dead. At least show a little respect.”
I smiled and folded my arms over my chest. At least Miranda still had my back.
“He got what was coming to him,” Nora said in a monotone voice that had me deflating like a punctured balloon. “The fool should have known better than to go off alone.”
Her coldness was brutal. I wandered away, not wanting to hear anything else that was added to that particular conversation.
The flickering distracted me again, but this time when my head snapped around I caught the edge of something ducking behind a building. Frowning, I left the others behind to work out their plans and say other cruel things about me. I followed the flickering form I’d seen, moving quickly but carefully.
Something screamed in the back of my mind, reminding me I would lose track of the others if I didn’t stay nearby but I brushed it off. This was just as important. If there were others in this realm, I needed to know about it.
I rounded the corner at a jog and saw the floating wisps of what could have been a skirt disappear into what appeared to be the local library. The building was grand but run-down, with smashed windows and graffiti painted over the brick walls. I dodged and weaved over to the building, climbing up over a wall when I couldn’t take the stairs. I climbed in through one of the broken windows, grateful that the glass wasn’t biting into my skin.
My feet landed silently on the hard wooden floors disturbing the thick coating of dust that had settled there. The library was quiet, more so than they normally are I mean. Many of the towering shelves that once held books on every subject had been knocked over like dominos, dumping the books into big piles on the ground. Table and chairs had been thrown about, some of them broken and others just overturned. Vast blankets of spiders web full of dust and bugs dropped from the ceiling, shifting about in the light breeze that crept in through the broken windows.
I took a shuddering breath and edged forward, staying low to the ground and moving silently. The wraith had to be here somewhere. I just hoped it was a friendly one and not another monster. Were there monsters in this realm? Did Melumek’s power reach this far?
I climbed a set of stairs and used the height to look around, keeping an eye out for that same flicker of movement in the corner of my vision, but there was nothing.
I sighed and rubbed my aching head. Had my brain sent me on a wild goose chase? I wouldn’t put it past the thing, honestly.
“Welcome home my sweet.”
I screamed as I whipped around, shoving the hand that grabbed my shoulder away as I pulled out my singular sword.
The woman standing behind me screwed up her face and stepped back, her black robe made of smoke swirling around her lithe form. She towered over me, dwarfing me to the size of a child as her head easily reached the top of the bookshelves ten feet up. She had long black curls that settled around her thin face and atop them, she wore a wide-brimmed hat, like something you’d see at the beach or a horse racing event.
My hand shook as I lifted the tip of my blade to point at something more important than her thigh. I doubted it was very intimidating though. To her, my shortsword was probably little more than a toothpick.
“Who are you?” I squeaked.
She smiled, revealing a row of pearly white teeth sharpened to jagged points. “Why, I am your divine. Rejoice as I have come to welcome you to your new home.” She reached down, gripping my chin in a firm hold as her long sharp fingernails dug painfully into my tender skin. “What do you think of my realm puny human man?”
Panic overwhelmed me, stealing any words that might have left my lips. Her grip tightened as the edges of her robes reached out, cocooning us in a blackness even greater than mere shadow. I dropped involuntarily to my knees as the overpowering essence of her being pressed down on me.
“Submit your soul to me,” she whispered.