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Yorvick and Cray stand outside the school, just beside
the front entrance. Yorvick looks down at the ground, keeping quiet. The expression
worn on his face is that of deep thought and worry. Cray looks at him with both
eyes wide open, also appearing to be thinking. A certain amount of surprise
and shock consumes him.
Breaking the silence, Cray says, "Let me see
if I have this straight; a Kougra was engulfed in dark energy, then the energy
collapsed around him, and a shadow leapt from his unconscious body to other
shadows. Is that right?"
Yorvick nods slowly. "Then I went over and lit
up the wall. The shadows didn’t just get illuminated, they jumped from the light."
Cray considers the words for a moment. Rather
than name possibilities, he asks, "Where is the Kougra now?"
"He was taken to the recovery room at the Battledome
where people rest when they’re too weak after a battle," Yorvick states. He
then looks up at Cray.
Cray looks over in the direction of the Battledome.
Without looking back at Yorvick, he asks, "Could we go over to him right now?"
"I don’t see why not," Yorvick answers.
Cray starts walking towards the Battledome.
Seeing nothing else to do, Yorvick follows behind him. While they walk to the
Battledome, neither one says a word. As they move, Cray slows his pace just
long enough for Yorvick to join him on his right side before picking up the
pace again. Despite their closer proximity, neither can think of something to
say to one another. Luckily, the Battledome is only minutes away.
Upon arrival at the entrance, Cray asks, "Which
way to the recovery room?"
Yorvick walks ahead while signaling for him
to follow with his hand. Cray follows behind, and they move through the crowds
of spectators and fighters. They both make their way through to a clear area
around a small doorway. A wooden sign above the door reads, "Battle Recovery."
Cray opens the door, and the two walk into the
room. They see many beds spread out in rows across the area. From the looks
of it, it could probably accommodate fifty people at least. Almost half the
beds are occupied, each person having different wounds and marks of battle.
Some are burned, while others are merely bruised. Cray looks amongst them to
try and see if he can make out a dark Kougra. Meanwhile, Yorvick scans his eyes
across the room while looking unsettled.
Cray takes off walking down the rows to get
a better view of everyone. Seeing nothing better to do, Yorvick follows behind
him. Finally, Yorvick asks, "What are we doing here?"
Cray stops in the middle of the row and turns
to face Yorvick. He says, "I am looking for the Kougra, what else? I need to
examine him if I’m to figure out what we’re dealing with. Could you point him
out?"
Yorvick looks through the beds again. About
halfway through his glance across the wounded, he points at a bed with a dark
purple Kougra resting motionlessly in it. Without delay, Cray begins to head
off towards the bed.
Upon reaching the Kougra, Cray immediately grabs
him and pulls him over so he lies on his back. Yorvick, who is standing on the
opposite side of the bed, grabs Cray’s arm and objectingly asks, "What are you
doing?"
Cray pulls his arm out of Yorvick’s grip and
replies, "What does it look like? I have to examine him for anything that could
be related to the shadow." He continues to pull back the right eyelid of the
Kougra to look at the state of its eye. The pupil appears to be very small;
almost nonexistent. Dark shadows move counter-clockwise around the retina. Cray
comments, "I might know what this is. We need to get him back to the school,
away from the others."
Yorvick only nods and begins to pick the Kougra
up by the arms. Cray just shakes his head at the Draik’s attempt to carry something
close to its own size. To make things faster, Cray grabs the Kougra by the waists
and slings him over his left shoulder. Yorvick just narrows his eyes and the
two head back to the school.
On their way back, Yorvick says, "You know,
this probably isn’t right. We should have told someone we were abducting this
guy, or at least ask the Master if we could bring him back. I’m sure there’s
some regulation to go by."
Cray sighs before giving his answer. "These
are not normal circumstances. If I didn’t have a bad feeling about what this
could be, I would probably have done whatever I was suppose to. Right now, however,
this is the best thing to do."
"Well this better be serious enough for me to
allow this," Yorvick responds, "or else we could get in some serious trouble."
The two say nothing else as they walk back to
the school. Once they reach the front entrance, they notice Ryshu isn’t there
to greet them. It is fortunate in Yorvick’s eyes, since he doesn’t want to be
yelled at about taking a wounded Kougra from the Battledome without authorization.
It doesn’t look like Cray is thinking about that at all, as he casually walks
into one of the empty training rooms and sets the Kougra down on the mat.
Yorvick looks to Cray and asks, "Where are the
others?"
Cray shrugs, "It’s getting somewhat late. There
isn’t much time left before the sun goes down, so everyone must have either
left or went to their sleeping quarters."
Yorvick walks around the Kougra to be opposite
of Cray once more. Kneeling down next to the Kougra, he asks, "Do you have an
idea of what we’re dealing with?"
Cray opens the jaws of the Kougra and looks
inside. After a moment, he closes the mouth and opens the eye again. This time,
the pupil can’t be seen and the retina is the only part which isn’t black. Pointing
at the eye, Cray says, "Yes, we are dealing with a being from the shadow plane."
Yorvick merely looks at Cray. With a puzzles
look on his face, he asks, "And what does that mean to the situation?"
Cray closes the eye and looks up at Yorvick.
He takes a deep sigh and says, "Alright, there are different planes of existence
in the universe. Shadow and dark magics come from the shadow plane; a place
made of dark energies with forms of life adapted to it. When dark magics are
used here in the material plane, it is taken from the shadow plane. Understand?"
Yorvick nods, "I think so. Why are there creatures
living in it, and how did one get here?"
Cray shrugs, "You’re pretty much asking me the
meaning of life. I can answer the other question, though. When energy is taken
from the shadow plane, there is a very slight tear in their plane to allow a
small amount of its energy to travel to the material plane. When someone uses
vast amounts of energy, on the other hand, it can make a somewhat sizeable tear
between planes. The end result is one of the beings is pulled through and gets
stuck in our plane."
"I see," Yorvick replies, "so the shadow is
trapped against its will. And what about attacking the Kougra here?"
Cray responds, "For food. Back in its own plane,
the shadows can all feed off the limitless power provided by its plane. Here,
it can’t draw that energy in, so it has to leech off others. This Kougra, being
convenient and full of dark energy, was the perfect candidate."
"Will he be alright," Yorvick asks.
"Not really," Cray answers. "He’s going to be
in a coma for a while since the shadow left a piece of itself in him to feed
off of. This will make it so the shadow will be able to come back and freely
take whatever meal it wants. Eventually, he will wake up, but when that happens,
it will be because he will be made into a vessel capable of sustaining it."
Yorvick thinks for a moment before asking, "That
sounds familiar. Kind of like the Shadow Usul."
"Yes, exactly like it," says Cray. "But the
Shadow Usul probably stayed with its vessel the entire time. This shadow must
have been confused and frightened if it jumped off the Kougra."
Yorvick asks, "What do we do about it? If it’s
a shadow, it could already be back with him. Am I right?"
Cray shakes his head. "No, that’s not the case.
The light blinds it, and like anything, it doesn’t like being blind. It can
feel where the Kougra is, but it won’t be able to travel anywhere it wants in
its true form unless its dark. If it makes the Kougra into a shadow vessel,
then yes, it will be able to move anywhere at any time."
Yorvick looks out the small window on the wall.
There is still sunlight coming through, but not very much. He says, "Whatever
plans you can think of to stop the shadow, think fast. We don’t have much time
until the sun sets and it can leave the wall of the Battledome."
Cray jumps up and heads out the door. After
quickly sighing, Yorvick jumps over to the doorway and runs after him. Running
fast, the two move across an empty field of grass just south of the school.
After about ten minutes of moving down the island, Cray stops and kneels down
on the ground. Exhausted from the run, he tries to catch his breath. Stopping
just short of him, Yorvick also breathes heavily.
While he still catches his breath, Yorvick asks
with a tone of frustration, "Why did you just bring us out here? We need to
stop a shadow, preferably before the sun sets, and we’re now far from the school
where the vessel it will be wanting back is."
Cray claws at the ground, pulling up grass and
dirt. Not even acknowledging Yorvick, he continues digging. His speed seems
almost desperate, as he is racing against the coming night. After half a minute,
he hits a solid surface and pulls up a box.
Simply made of wood, holding no designs or markings,
the wooden box just has a small latch keeping it closed. Holding it with his
left hand, Cray uses his right to undo the latch and open the lid. Inside is
a black bottle with a quark keeping it sealed. Cray and Yorvick look at it briefly
for a moment. Cray has a small smile on his face while Yorvick’s expression
is that of curiosity.
Yorvick finally asks, "What is that?"
"A bottle of dark energy," answers Cray. "If
I use it on the shadow, it’ll tear an opening into the shadow plane for a brief
moment. If we use it on the shadow, it will surely go back to its home."
Yorvick glances at Cray and asks, "Do you just
keep these things buried around the island?"
Cray takes the bottle out and drops the box
on the ground before answering. "Of coarse not. I just wanted to keep this somewhere
safe until I needed it for a tough fight. This might count."
The two get up and take off running for the
school. A few minutes into their trip back, the sun vanishes over the horizon,
and the island is left in the blanket of night.
To be continued...
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