Destruction. The ominous glows of endless flames consume the night's sky. Tragic events flash through his mind as Evan Shadows jolts from his sleep.
A nightmare? He thinks to himself as he recalls the terrible dream he experienced. A bead of cold sweat rolls along his cheek. Unable to think clearly as he focused on the image of the scaled beast that caused such panic.
What a horrifying monster he thought as a haunting chill creeped down his spine. From the corner of his vision he glanced at the alarm clock sitting on the nightstand next to his bed. 6:42 A.M
"Oh shit! I'm gonna be late!" Evan exclaimed as he jumped out of bed snatching up the outfit he had laid out the night before. His foot caught on the painting he had just finished yesterday evening, sending him tumbling to the floor and ruining the beautiful work that he was personally proud of.
"Dammit." Attempting to put the disappointment out of his mind he rushed to get ready.
With only one arm in his jacket and his toothbrush hanging from his mouth, Evan quickly pulled some hot bread from the toaster and spread a healthy glob of strawberry jam across the rough golden surface.
Mmmm.. He pleasantly hummed while walking out the front door after taken an indulging first bite of his breakfast. Evan was a 19 year old student on his way to his first day in college, and of course he overslept leaving him on a tight schedule to get there on time.
I really don't want to be late on my first day, I mean how irresponsible does that make me look?...ughh.
After finishing high school Evan decided to move out from his aunt's house to be an independent student making his way in the world...only to find that the struggles of living on your own aren't quite as glamorous as one would hope.
Needless to say, after working his part time job, and attempting to keep the apartment that he can barely afford while also taking care of odds and inns such as shopping for food, and buying new clothes for school, he forgot to set his alarm last night.
Honestly, it was mostly just because he became so caught up in his painting that it completely slipped his mind, but that's all minor details. To Evan, this one small forgotten task seems miniscule, but the thought of looking so irresponsible, so careless, makes his body cringe.
He didn't know who he was trying to prove himself to exactly, but he felt as though he had to make up for his recklessness somehow. After running a few blocks, dodging and weaving through pedestrians on the boardwalk he halted at a red "Don't Walk" traffic light.
While waiting for cars to stop driving through, Evan catches his breath taking in the brisk morning air. 6:54 A.M reads the time on Evans cell phone, "it would take a miracle for me to make it on time" he sighs while stuffing the last bite of his breakfast into his mouth.
Evan watched with concerned eyes as a child began playing with a yellow ball dangerously close to moving traffic. What the hell is this kid doing? It felt like time was moving in slow motion somehow, almost like he has been standing at that crosswalk waiting for the light to turn green for over 10 minutes. Yet the clock still read 6:54 A.M.
What is this some weird time loop or something? Just turn green already you damn light. As he peered back over to the child, the ball bounced further out into the street followed by the carefree, giggling kid.
"Hey, watch out!" Evan screamed, startling the kid as he saw a speeding car cross his path. In a frantic sprawl, Evan was able to reach out grasping the collar of the kid's shirt and throw him with as much strength as he could muster towards the lines of safety within that moment.
For an instant Evan's vision runs completely red as an incredible force rolls over the length of his body. Suddenly a stir of distressed voices cry as the screeching of tires come to a halt, though Evan is far too distracted by the burning heat singeing across his leg from his lower back to his chest.
It's so hot! Evan coughs, filling the back of his throat with a thick liquid. The coarse feeling of the pavement against his cheek changes to a calming warmth as the heat in his body turns to searing pain.
"Oh my god, call an ambulance!" a woman's screaming voice cries, Evan's sight caught a glimpse of a heard of people around him each with equally horrified faces. Evan expresses the same face as he follows their gaze toward his own disfigured body surrounded by a sea of crimson fluid.
Echoing out overtop of the people, the cars, the buildings sounds a deafening scream resonating from Evans lungs as he realizes that he was just run over by a 4,000 pound vehicle.
Evan's sight blurs around the edges and begins to fade to black. Am I going to die? Evan became suddenly overwhelmed with fear as he began to struggle to stay conscious.
No! no. no. no. no. I can't die. Not like this, I can't! Tears began to stream down his face as he fought to stay awake. The puddle of red turns to a lake as Evans body grows colder and his sight goes completely dark.
The pain is gone, the sounds of sirens and panicking voices fades in the distance, as if everything he experienced was just an illusion. Evan's senses vanished along with his fear. No sight, no sound, no thoughts just darkness.
Every single second that passes feels like an eternity, Evan wonders if this nothingness will continue on forever. His consciousness drifts ever so slowly, on and on as if he was being devoured by an endless ocean. Evan's body mends with the deep humming of the black void, finding a strange comfort in its numbing waves.
Eventually through the emptiness, far away a baritone voice calls out. Growing closer the voice has a powerful ring, though the words are unclear. Closer the voice comes, filling Evan's chest with a deep bass assuring him of its overbearing presence.
What is this? For a brief moment a large wing swipes across his view sending a gust of wind rushing through his ears, violently blowing his hair back and forth.
"Child." The voice rattles Evan's being, followed by a hot breath shooting up his spine.
"Do you truly wish to spend eternity here in the abyss? Or would you take your chances in a new world, my world of Neodeka?" the voice rung out into the endless darkness until it turned silent again.
His world? Or this black abyss forever? While contemplating his choice the voice spoke again.
"What will it be child?" in an impatient tone.
"Speak now!" Flustered, Evan trembled.
"Your world! I-I'll go there!" he made his choice with pure uncertainty.
Another breath of hot air whipping across his shoulder blades.
"So be it." the voice accepted, followed by a hurricane of wind forcefully pushing Evan's body in all directions.
He could feel that he was ascending, wind flowing all around creating a peculiar muted sound as if he were flying through a tunnel. A spiral of light floods his vision as gravity pulls him down to a solid surface.
"I'm gonna be sick..." Evan rolled onto his back peering toward the strange unfamiliar sky above him.
A thousand thoughts rushed through his mind as he examined the sky lit by three separate moons. Each moon of a different size, neither of which are accompanied by a single star anywhere in sight.
The black sky almost seems to be completely composed of thick smoke. That is so weird Evan's glistening eyes marveled, he immediately knew for certain that he was no longer on earth.
What is this? Evan, still in shock replays the events that just occurred in his mind.
Am I still alive? He shifts his weight to his elbow to brace himself up to his feet, noticing a certain missing detail.
There was no blood on him, not a spec on his skin or his clothes.
What the hell..? As he pulled up his shirt he saw a hideous scar in the shape of tire tracks running from his abdomen to his chest.
Whoa. The sight left him shaken.
His surroundings were a mesh of modern and older buildings running down his left and right sides as far as the eye can see. Signs lit up the sky all written in some foreign language.
He was standing on a brick road that was quite narrow seeming more like a walk path. Other than the lighting from the moons overhead there was black light poles spread out along the walk path that gave off a dim glow, leaving Evan with an eerie uncomfortable feeling.
This place was ghost-silent; aside from Evan's breathing the only other sound were the echoes of his foot steps and a faint breeze that blew ever so calmly against his face.
For a while Evan wandered the brick laid path searching his thoughts, he came to a fork where the path split two ways. To his left and to his right were equally desolate paths
Come on with this choose your way crap! He sighed and on a whim began walking the path to his right.
For what seemed like hours he walked, the path grew more complex. Though the surroundings were all so similar, he couldn't be sure if he wasn't just walking in circles.
In spite of the fact that Evan clearly had no idea where he was going or what he would do if he got there, Evan kept trudging along. Not a single sign of life presented itself; he began to wonder if he was the only being in this creepy world.
The way the moons light scattered through the otherwise dark surroundings made Evan feel as though he was actually in a horror movie. Suddenly music began to creep out over the rooftops, reverberating from all angles. A minor scale tune that with the addition of this environment sent chills throughout Evans body.
As the tune continued on Evan realized that it was coming from the intersecting pathway straight ahead. The sound came closer and closer.
What should I do? But with every second that wore on the melody came that much closer until it was just around the other side of the pathway.
Evan gulped, frozen in his place. The whistling song ended, revealing from the shadows a boy briefly stopping as he noticed Evan's motionless stance. For a moment the two figures share a gaze with sullen faces until the distant silhouette breaks the silence with an abrupt noise
"Yo bro, are you real or am I insane in the membrane?". With wide eyes Evan hesitates to respond.
"Um yeah, I'm real." Evan speaks with a shaky voice.
"Yes! Dude! I'm totes real too man!" the boy's eccentric personality completely threw Evan through a loop.
"Do you know where we are?" Evan exerts his curiosity.
"Dude I don't have a clue, there was this big voice that was all like 'chooseth thy way' and I was like bro, send me there man! And next thing I know I'm hanging out here so yeah." The boy traveled his way over to Evan and patted his hand on his shoulder as if to insure Evan of his friendliness.
"Oh, that's pretty much what happened to me too." Evan neglected to mention his memory of the horrible events that played out just before his encounter with that voice. After exchanging introductions the two boys begin walking through the intersecting pathway.
"By the way, I'm Avery. What's up?" The boy said.
"I'm Evan." Continuing mild conversation from that point the two traveled the otherwise soulless city in search of their next step.
"I woke up in one of these buildings and it was like super dark and I was like totally spooked man..." Avery explained; though Evan was only half listening while amerced in his own thoughts, he could barely understand a word through Avery's thick southern accent.
The off rhythm knocks of their footsteps clashed from the ground to the walls reflected back to their ears accompanied by the slight chings of metal against metal. Evan's eyes drifted as Avery continued to speak about nothing in particular.
He noticed that this boy had a broken police grade handcuff locked onto his wrist, the chain swaying in the air as he walked causing a quiet jingling noise. Also from his wrists to his elbows Avery was covered in horrific scars that could not possibly be caused from anything accidental. Evan begins to wonder what kind of person this boy is, apprehensively staying on edge.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
"...And so I just whistled my favorite songs just to pass the time, dude I was so stoked to find you though bro! I couldn't chill in a crazy place like this by myself; I'd just go nuts ya know?" Evan realized that he had been completely ignoring Avery's story.
"Oh yeah, I get what you mean." replied Evan, hoping his broad response didn't give away the fact that he had no idea what the question even was. Avery's golden hair fluttered in the breeze as he ceased his movement.
"Hey man, I have an idea." With this unexpected statement Evan is filled to the brim with a nervous feeling, in the next instant an almost sinister smile curls up on Avery's face
"I wanna break something."
His vague words cause a shimmering bead of sweat to run the grooves of Evan's face, falling to the floor sending a barely audible tiny splash to his ears.
"Um...what do you mean 'break something'?" Evan mutters, displaying many unsavory scenarios through his mind.
"Just what it sounds like, I'm ready to shatter something man! Are you in?" Avery's wicked smile didn't disappear for a single second.
"I probably don't have any other choice, I guess I'm in." Evan responded in the most natural tone he could, hoping for the best. Gazing into the clairvoyant glass window embedded into the side of a nearby abandoned structure with hands cupped around his eyes, Avery started to explain his idea.
"So when I woke up in that building earlier I couldn't find a way out, dude it's totally weird but none of these buildings have any doors!" Evan was surprised at this detail, he hadn't noticed himself until Avery pointed it out. He continued,
"so I'm thinking that maybe we bust into one of these buildings and see what's in there, it's not like we'll get arrested I mean this place is a ghost town right? Come on bro, it'll be fun!" Though Evan thought it was a reckless idea, he had to admit it was a better plan than wandering aimlessly since that was obviously getting them nowhere any time soon.
"Alright, let's do it." Evan confirmed movement with Avery's plan.
"Woo! That's what I'm talkin' about!" Avery's hyperactive personality was secretly starting to amuse Evan. Though he still felt on edge. After about 15 minutes of searching, the boys finally found an object big enough to break a window.
Braced up against a stone wall towards the edge of an alleyway was a large metallic cylinder that seemed to be similar to a tank that holds helium for filling balloons. It took every ounce of strength and numerous breaks for Evan and Avery to carry the cylinder about 2 blocks to reach the particular building of interest. While panting and sweating Evan decides to ask
"so, what's so special about this building from the million other ones we passed?" a hint of agitation in his voice.
"Ah yeah, I forgot to mention that part! Take a peak in there bro, what do you see?" Avery says while folding his knees to sit on the ground. Evan's eyes take a few moments to adjust to the darkness as he seeks out the interior of the structure from the crystal clear surface of the window.
The images of shelves with multiple boxes and containers began to present themselves. How did they get stuff in there when there's no door? Weird Evan thought to himself as he stepped away from the glass.
"Makes you wonder don't it?" Avery had risen back to a standing position, preparing for the next event.
"This place gets weirder by the minute." Evan grumbled, realizing the energy he was getting ready to extinguish. On each end of the silver tank the two lifted with all their might and waddled over towards the transparent surface.
"Okay, on the count of three let's send this thing flying right through that big window right there." Avery grunts while pointing his eyes towards the glass.
"Got it." I really hope this is a good idea. Evan begins to question this plan, though it's far too late now.
"Okay, one..." they begin to sway the tank back and forth to build up momentum.
"Two..." This is starting to feel like a bad idea Evan has to stifle the urge to vomit.
"THREE!!!" Avery screams as they chuck the silver tank. It becomes swallowed by the darkness of the interior of the building. SMASH! The entire window explodes with a cry, the shatter echoes for what feels like an eternity. Evan watches in awe as the tiny glistening pieces scatter to the floor.
"Dude, that was epic!" Avery says with excitement. It was, honestly.
"And dangerous." Evan speaks in a semi-strict tone.
"Danger is my middle name!...Actually it's William, but 'danger' sounds a lot cooler. Avery Danger Volk, sounds ridiculously awesome.". Evan doesn't know how Avery can even joke around at a time like this, but it seems to lighten the mood.
"It sounds 'ridiculously' something, for sure." Ridiculously ridiculous, if you ask me. Evan lightheartedly teases, forgetting the heavy atmosphere for a moment. Avery laughs weakly while picking excess jagged shards from the window sill.
After climbing into the now open space, the boys scour the interior. The building seems almost like an abandoned convenience store with long shelves stretching nearly from wall to wall, leaving just enough space to walk through comfortably.
Walking between each aisle Evan stops, turning his attention toward a small box lying on a shelf. Is this a cereal box? Evan clutches it with anticipation that quickly turns to disappointment. Empty Evan sighs; the label was written in a foreign language that he couldn't read. There were a few more empty wrappers and boxes along each of the shelves, though nothing worth shattering a window over.
A sorry wind blows as the boys crawl out from the desolate structure back to the soulless walk path outside. I don't know what we were expecting to find anyways Evan attempts to lessen the disappointment within him.
"Hey dude..." Avery speaks, though there is something unusual in his tone. Is he that bummed out?
"It's okay, we'll find someth-" Evan cuts himself off as he sees a look of shock on Avery's face.
"Dude...don't freak out....but there is a terrifying monster behind you." Avery's voice seems sincere. Evan immediately dismisses this as a joke, expressing a half smile...that is, until he turned around and saw it with his own eyes.
Paralyzed, Evan finds himself unable to breath. Petrified, his stomach churns with fear as his eyes stay focused without a single blink. Along the corner of the roof and the wall in which the boys just exited was a truly appalling looking creature. Its black skin covered in what was obviously blood, with obscure lengthy arms extended from the top of the roof to the broken window frame moving closer. A single sideways blink from its red and yellow eyes just before giving a fierce intimidating scream.
"Run Awayyyy!!" Evan cries, in even greater shock as he turns around to an empty space. Avery had already bolted from the scene leaving Evan to fend for himself. Explosions are the sounds of Evan's feet against the ground as his heart furiously slams against his chest. He is running at full throttle. With frantic breathing the beast directly behind him. Evan can hear the whistling of claws cutting through the air behind his head, giving him that much more motivation to pound his feet against the brick-laid floor.
Faster! Faster! Faster!...It's right behind me! Evan grits his teeth hard enough to probably shatter. His voice cracks as he releases a powerful scream of pure terror. Viewing the scene from a distant rooftop, a silhouette peers at Evan with an amused smile as he runs through the intersection with the creature nipping at his heels.
"Idiots" a female voice speaks to herself with a slight chuckle just before leaping from the ledge of a rooftop, vanishing into the darkness. Evan's lungs are nearly at their limit.
"I said don't freak out!" Avery's voice echoes out from just ahead, Evan didn't even realize he had run fast enough to catch up already. Evan replies with another fearful scream as the sharp pain of claws run against his back.
The tip of Evan's shoe catches against the ground, sending his momentum tumbling at a full speed roll colliding with the bricks before finally coming to a halt. His direction facing the blood-drenched monster held up with one hand supporting his weight, and the other extended out as if to shield himself. With the last horrific sight of the threatening snap of the creatures jaws merely inches from Evans face he tightly closes his eyes.
I'm dead... At this moment the blade of an enormous scythe swings into view, not stopping as it slices cleanly through the monsters head followed by a high pitch yelp. At the handle of the weapon is a woman who gracefully lands from above.
Upon opening his eyes, Evan is shocked by the girl's beauty. She wears a simple knitted grey sweater with a vibrant green turtleneck collar folding over at the arms as it's a bit too large for her slender body. The sweater stretches far below her waist, almost like a dress, covering all but the very edge of her red shorts. Then, just above her knees start a pair of black leggings that continue to her similarly color themed petite skateboarder shoes.
The soft glow of a street lamp behind her pale complexion makes her seem almost like an illusion, her multi-shaded sky blue hair gently swaying in the breeze as she gazes toward Evan with emerald green eyes that glisten in the moon light. It's an angel. Evan thinks to himself.
"Something in your eyes seems very familiar." the girl says as she spins her scythe, cutting through the air.
Evan didn't have a clue as to what she was talking about, but the way she spoke almost felt like she was praising him for it. Her weapon turns into water that stays suspended in the air for a brief moment before vanishing into the palm of her hand, leaving Evan even more shocked.
"That was the cooolest thing I've ever seen! You're like a real life super hero! That monster was like 'raaaawr' and you were all like 'whoooooshing' freaking epiiic!" Avery's voice rang out as he sprinted back to the scene. Evan still speechless, stares ahead at the feminine hand displayed before him, grasping as she helps him to his feet.
"Thank-you" the girl says with closed eyes while smiling, seems she appreciated the compliment.
"But you dumbasses are lucky I was even here to save your bacon, I mean, who decides to smash a freakin' window first thing." She began to lecture, completely catching both the boys off guard for a moment.
"I know, you're completely right. Thank you for saving me....Also that was all his idea." Evan points his finger toward Avery; he puts on a nervous smile and laughs weakly. The blue haired girl rolls her eyes, though still maintaining a friendly smile
"well, points for creativity I suppose."
"So, I'm guessing by the dumb look on your faces that you guys are new arrivals in Neodeka?" The girl spoke with a slight Asian accent.
Neo-what? That's what that voice called this world isn't it?...And did she just call my face dumb. Evan's eyes slant for a second at that comment.
"Yeah, we've been walking around this place for hours now without seeing anyone, then that thing started chasing us and then you showed up..This place is like a dead-zone or something." Evan explains, Avery nods to his story.
"Well, that's an interesting way to explain it...'Dead-zone' is actually pretty accurate. Because you know...You're dead." The blue haired girl speaks bluntly. Evan recalls his last painful memories before arriving here and feels this to be true. For a brief moment the light faded from Avery's eyes as his face went flush, it seems he wasn't quite as accepting of his fate as Evan was.
"Wait, that explains this place and all the weirdness...But when that freaky monster was after me my heart was definitely beating real fast man, how is my heart even beating if I'm dead." Avery brings up a solid point.
"Actually, you are now in the form of a spirit which means you are not bound to a single form anymore. With some practice you will find that you can change the structure of your form to function without a heart or lungs. With even more practice you can extend your soul-blade from yourself...And your abilities don't stop there either..."
Droplets of water splash out from her fingers and with a spin transforms into a deathly scythe with a shining lime-green blade that chops through the air as the girl speaks. Both the boys' jaws drop in awe in light of this.
"Oh, by the way my name is Lyran Ichihara and if you want to survive you should probably come with me, just saying." As she begins to walk her eyes catch the sight of Evan's back.
"Your wounds need to be treated before...You change." Her ominous tone suddenly drove an anxious feeling into him.
"Whoa, dude your back is seriously messed up! Weird looking..." Avery succeeds in amping Evan's anxiety. Along his back run three long diagonal slashes from his right shoulder to his left ribcage, the strange thing about his injury is that there is no blood at all. Instead a faint light pours from the inside, almost like smoke.
"Change?" Evan asks nervously.
"Into a shadow beast, just like the one that chased you." A sincere tone in Lyran's voice assures him of the gravity of the situation. Screeching from the roof of a building just to the right of the three suddenly catches their immediate attention.
"Another one?!" Evan gasps. "It's even bigger than the last one!" Avery calls out; compared to the corpse lying beside them this one must be at least twice the size. As the beast takes a powerful leap towards them from the roof, it separates into two directions as Lyran's blade cleanly severs it from front to back in midair. Her leap gracefully lands her upon the roof of a nearby building.
"Awesome.." the boys speak in unison. Just as they breathed a sigh of relief, a third shadow beast presented itself followed by another and many others that let themselves be heard. Surrounded, Lyran calls out from the roof
"start running!!" Even someone like her has a limit it seems. Kicking off from the ground, the boys' race off as fast as their legs will carry them. One by one, Lyran cuts the monsters down just before they get the chance to reach Evan or Avery. Many of which are far too close for comfort.
The roars behind them send a frightening shiver through their bodies. Several of the creatures gang up making it impossible for Lyran to strike them down, she leaps from the top of a nearby building landing and taking lead of the charge.
"This is probably going to kill me! Make sure you follow me in quick!" She swings her scythe horizontally cutting open a rip in space, glowing amethyst spirals out as she vanishes after jumping into the tear. Right after Avery, Evan leaps in leaving the hoard of monsters behind. A mere split second passes as he appears on the other side, landing in a sprawled out position on the ground.
Bracing himself to his feet, his gaze is met by the sight of many unknown strangers gathered around a bon-fire staring with intense faces.
"Lyran!" A concerned voice cries out. At this moment he realized that Lyran was laying unconscious on the ground, she did not seem to be in good condition.
"Why would you let her do that?!" A girl with red and blonde hair screams accusingly as she rushes to Lyran.
"Help me carry her!" Evan takes hold of Lyran's left side supporting her weight as they shift her to a stretcher and carry her body to the inside of a ragged, half torn down tent about 20 yards away.
Flustered, the girl clutches a white glowing crystal from a table fumbling it in her hands as she panics.
"Is she going to be okay?" Evan asks with concern.
"She might die thanks to you and your buddy there!...This group can't survive without Lyran, she is our voice, our leader!" A tear streams down the girls cheek as she presses the crystal to Lyran's chest.
"Please work..." she says desperately. The crystal glows brighter, vanishing into her chest causing Lyran's complexion to become a little warmer. Tension fills the atmosphere, it's even worse outside the tent the men look like Vikings on their way to battle.
Evan has gathered that Lyran means everything to them and they just showed up with her half dead body. Needless to say, Evan and Avery have not made a great first impression.
"His soul's bleeding out, he's gonna change!" A distressed voice screams while pointing towards Evan. Hostility in their eyes as they gather around him, Evan has been caught in a spider's web.
"We have to eliminate the threat right?" Another voice speaks.
"Guys...let's talk about this, I feel perfectly fine. I'm not changing into anything okay?" Evan fails to reason with the mob.
"Dudes! He's totally good, you see?" Avery also attempts to defend Evan, lifting his hands over his head. A flash of light streams his view as a man summons a sword out of thin air, pointing it just inches from Evans eye. A nervous bead of sweat rolls along his face.
"Stop!" A familiar voice cries out. The entire crowd immediately yields and turns to find a beautiful blue haired girl bracing her weight against a large boulder in front of a shabby tent.
"Lyran..." Several voices of relief sigh at the sight of her conscience body.
"He can still be saved with a life crystal; you all know that it takes at least a full day to turn." She speaks to her people in a strong unwavering tone.
"But we just used the last one for you..." The girl with red and yellow hair comments.
"Then we'll find more...I'm so tired of seeing people turn before they even get a chance in this world! Aren't you?" Lyran's heartfelt words spread tenderly amongst the men and even Evan, though he didn't know exactly what they were talking about.
In a sudden shift, the hostility died down as Lyran motivated the group from wanting to kill Evan to wanting to save him. He was at a loss for words, as there was too much happening at once. I hope these 'life crystals' aren't hard to find. Evan hopes to himself as he and a random group of strangers set out on the most important mission of his life, or more accurately, his afterlife.