David got back to his apartment pretty quickly after leaving Karine's house. Entering the apartment, he realized that he still wasn't settled into the new place. So much had happened and he had only been moved in for three days now.....with most of the time spent at his parents' house. Entering his living room, David tossed his bag, the new employment contract and the two books on his coffee table.

Feeling tired from everything that had happened, David laid down on his couch, looked up at the ceiling....and realized that he had never turned on the light.

He had managed to see clearly in the room's darkness without any effort at all. As he laid there on his couch, he started to drift off into the darkness of the room. David began to lose himself into the feeling of darkness in the room. This feeling wasn't worrisome or threatening. It was comfortable. David's body began to fade from sight in his dark room. He could feel his body start to disappear into the shadows. The feeling was wonderful and David started to feel his thoughts drifting off into the darkness.

On instinct, he began to draw his thoughts back to himself instead of just loosing himself in the feeling. Even though his thoughts started to clear, he still retained the connection to the darkness. After a few moments of focus, David was finally able to think normally. It was like he had become one with the darkness again. David had no breath, no heartbeat, no body, no soul....he was nothing but the darkness of night. This was the help she had given him: The knowledge of the darkness of night.

David laid on his couch concentrating on this feeling. He wanted to be able to feel this anytime that he wanted. In order to make sure he could get this feeling back, he began to practice. After a few times of releasing the feeling and making it come back, David felt that he had the hang of the technique. He could disappear into the darkness of shadows on his command.

"This feels great," David thought, "But what exactly can I do?"

With that question, he got up from bed and began moving around the apartment. The room was not entirely dark, so there was a slight glow of light present. Similar to the way that he became in the woods the night before, he started to blend into the shadows in his room. The reaction was automatic.

In David's best effort to define his current self, he was a ghost but not in the spiritual way. David was still standing in the room trying to figure it all out when his cell phone went off and the screen lit up on his nightstand. In the burst of light, David's form became visible to himself shortly before the light faded when the screen went dark.

What David had seen was hard to describe. Imagine standing in complete darkness. Only the darkness exists, so no physical dimension can be seen. David looked like someone had cut out of piece of that complete darkness in the shape of a man. It was like looking at a two dimensional cutout of the darkness. As the light had burst forth, the shade of the darkness had shifted based on the amount of light present. Like a chameleon that changed it color to match its background, David's form shifted the amount of darkness to blend into the shadows of his surroundings.

"WOW," David said to himself as he realized how intense he looked. As he spoke, he was immediately startled. He didn't sound like himself. His voice sounded like a breathless whisper.

"That's creepy," David said out loud causing him to laugh at the sound of his own voice. "That's even worse," David continued as he heard his own laughter that sounded like puffs of air blowing at the pace of laughter.

He was really enjoying himself.

When all was said and done, David had figured that his new skill essentially let him become a part of shadows. It wasn't simple hiding. He was actually a part of the darkness of shadow.

He only found one weakness to the ability when he was in the shadows. If he stepped out of a shadow into a well lit room, the effect would fade immediately and he would become visible as his normal self. But in a nighttime situation, like last night in the woods, David would basically be invisible. He noticed in the bathroom mirror that he had a slight glow to his eyes, but that could be resolved by shutting them. He had winked at himself and one of the lights disappeared. To David's surprise, it didn't effect the way that he observed things at all. It was like he could see through his eyelids.

Laughing at himself, David said to himself in his wispy voice, "It's dark when I open my eyes. It's dark when I close them. Of course there is no difference."

After sorting out as much as he could, David released his newly mastered 'Shadow' skill and climbed into his bed. David checked his cell phone to see who had messaged him earlier.

Karine had sent him a message, "Good night. Sweet dreams."

David text her back, "Sweet dreams to you too, beautiful."

Then he rolled over and went to sleep. No dreams, no nightmares, no dream world...nothing but sleep.

_______________________________________

David awoke as the sun was coming through his apartment window. He didn't have anything planned for today, so he wasn't in a rush to get up. After taking his time fixing a pot of coffee, he poured a cup and sat at his kitchen table. Throwing the backpack to the side, David looked at the two books and the contract.

"Guess, I will read the books first," David said to himself as he got to work.

The books were pretty long and he managed to make it through the first one before lunch. He finally understood how Earth and The Other interacted. Actually, The Other was just the word used by Earthlings when they went to the other world. The native name for the world was Nibiru. Yep, the place in m Babylonian mythology. Apparently, they were one of the first groups to go to The Other through a gateway thousands of years ago and took the name from the natives. The Babylonians were one of the first travelers between worlds.

The Earth has 9 gateways to The Other. The Carmine Family controlled the gateway in the United States of America. The Royal Family controlled the gateway in Saudi Arabia. The Diego Family controlled the gateway in Peru. The other gateways were controlled by governments in Germany, China, Russia, Greenland and Nigeria. The gateway location in the Atlantic Ocean is controlled by a group that call themselves the Atlantean. They are not really related to the lost City of Atlantis though. They are a organization put together by a cooperative of various other governments.

Each gateway controller had a power on Earth and in The Other. Not all is balanced either. For example, Greenland is not a significant world power on Earth. But in The Other, they actually have two gods and are one of the top powers among humans. Their gods had also risen to power long ago.

The Carmine Family had a good relationship with the US Government and the two had signed a pact to keep conflict from breaking out in the country. Actually, the Carmine Corporation and the Carmine Family on the Earth side was only a small portion of the main family. The majority of the main family lived in The Other. This family included Karine's god great great grandfather, Kane, who was still alive. William Carmine was the son of one of Kane's sons. William was very strong as a Class Zero and was very good at managing people. The Carmine family had sent him here years ago to keep rein over the gateway. The groups mainly used the Other for resources, but the connection to Earth was mainly used for people. The Other's population mostly consisted of beasts, devils and demons. Humans were non-exist in The Other until they started to travel the gateways. The harsh environment of the Other wasn't the best for raising human numbers so the groups used Earth as a sort of talent factory to help supplement their population.

Other than the human information, David was surprised that most of the Earth's mythologies originated from the less controlled gateways of the past. Some of the Other's groups had tried to come over so Earth ended up with stories of werewolves, vampires, Bigfoot, Nessie, dragons and various other supernatural life forms. However, once humans took full control over the gateways, the flow of beings from The Other stopped. Right now the situation was stable and none of the other groups were trying to get to Earth from the Other.

However, there were still a few lingering beings from the Other left on Earth. These remainders are typically weak and do not pose a threat to humanity. The nurses in the Carmine house were a good example. Of the groups in the Other, the Devils got along with people the best....well, it seemed like they preyed on people the least to be accurate. The beasts hated everyone except themselves and the demons just wanted to enslave everyone.

Since the families, governments and group guarding the 9 gateways were exceptionally strong, the humans had been able to establish a foothold at the gateway locations. But that didn't remove all threats. The human numbers in the Other were very small compared to the native groups. The Other world was much more primitive and large. Even though humans had been present for thousands of years, half of entire planet had still not been explored. By estimation of the humans, the planet should be at least 20 times the size of Earth. The planet had vast wildernesses, countless tribes and cities, Conflicts and wars between groups, No man's lands, a large ocean. The place was so much larger.

As David kept reading, the Earth kept decreasing in its power and importance in his mind. Compared to The Other, Earth was just a children's playground. No wonder people wanted to get there at all costs. The larger world offered numerous resourses that could help one establish personal power and advance to the larger realm.

Although they seemed very formidable, the Earth bound portion of the Carmine Family was just responsible for recruiting new talent. David happened to be a new talent. Hence, he had a contract sitting in front of him for review.

From the books, David had learned a lot more about the Other and the workings of the Carmine Corporation. After reviewing the contract, he had actually sent over some of his required revisions to the contract to Mr. Gauge. Mr. Gauge was impressed that David would request changes and even more impressed when he had actually seen the modifications.

David had changed a few parts that refered to loyalty to the entire Carmine family. He changed these directly to Karine Carmine and reserved his right to leave the family if the needs were justified. His statement was clear. The only reason he was joining the Carmine Family was because of Karine. He had loyalty to the rest of the Carmine Family and would fight with his all for the family....as long as they treated Karine in a manner to his satisfaction. While that may not count for much now, once he had established his power it would also elevate Karine's status in the Carmine Family.

From the offer of money and resources, David understood that he was a hot commodity. He also understood that his potential was high enough to actually exceed the Carmine's ancestor. He had a little room to bargain.

After a few days wait, Mr. Gauge had the revisions approved directly by the Carmine Family in the Other. The family had also thrown in a few additional items that were actually to David's liking.

To be proper on one of the new items, David had to request a meeting with Mr. Carmine and Karine to discuss. The meeting had been pretty emotional...and full of threats. After a few hours of talking, Mr. Carmine and Karine were both satisfied and walked out of the meeting room with smiles.

After the meeting, the conditions of the contract were acceptable to David. He would have a higher status than the for-hire guards and even the sworn soldiers but a lower status than main Carmine family members. He even had options for advancement within the family if he desired it. With the signing of the contract, David was granted the position of an official family guest and an Family approved suitor of Lady Karine Carmine.