Chapter 11

Mel was astonished. Speechless. One moment she’d grabbed a hold of Shades, wondering what his plans were, the next they were flying out of the hole in the wall. She just barely managed not to shout at him for jumping straight at the very things they were trying to avoid. But that was par the course for Shades and wasn’t what surprised her.

She held onto him for dear life as he jumped in one direction, then the next, twisting his body this way and that, in incredible feats of acrobatics, to avoid the skeletal death birds. In the corner of her vision, she saw his stamina running low. He wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever. She was thinking of ways she could help him, but couldn’t think of something that wouldn’t kill them the moment he lost concentration.

Her hands over his chest, she could feel his erratic heartbeat, his intense breathing, the strain of his muscles. With another glance at his green reserves, she feared he was almost out. But the strangest thing caught her sight.

‘Wasn’t he supposed to be using more power?’ She thought, bewildered. ‘It’s barely moving!’ Then she noticed the absence of his previous jarring movements as he leaped from one creature to the next. ‘Wha-?!’ She couldn’t even form words in her mind as she watched his transformation.

His heartbeat slowed. His breathing evened out. His skin turned indistinct. Her skin turned indistinct. The world blurred around them and suddenly they weren’t moving through the air anymore. They appeared at one location, before vanishing and arriving at the next. It happened so fast, she barely managed to take another breath before they were at the platform.

She let go of him as he fell to his knees, his breathing now erratic. His face grimaced as if in pain, his eyes screwed shut. Blood was running out of the corners of them. His hands clawed at the ground, shivering. Not able to hold it in anymore, he screamed. It practically broke Mel’s heart, never having seen him in this much agony.

Mel was panicking. She didn’t know what to do, how to relieve his pain. She grabbed his hand and bit into it, hoping her bite would help him or calm him as it always did, but it didn’t seem to accomplish anything. She just held his head in her lap, crying, as his body continued to shake.

It went on for almost a minute before the pain seemed to leave him and his breathing returned to normal. A few more minutes passed when he finally opened his eyes.

‘Not again.’ Shades thought as the same familiar burning hot pain reached him the moment they arrived at the platform and he returned from his trance-like state.

It, once again, seemed to last forever and he practically cried tears of joy when it finally ended. Opening his – once more blood red – eyes. The first thing he saw was the concerned face of Mel hovering above him.

He had a something of an epiphany then. The aftermath of the intensely searing pain bringing about a strange momentary clarity. All his past wondering thoughts and musings of what Mel meant to him culminating in that moment as he stared at her anxious-looking face. He didn’t know if it was lingering deliriousness from the episode he just had, but he realised that Mel meant everything to him, and the thought of losing her made the pain he just felt seem like a soft breeze.

He reached up and wiped the tear marks from her face. Her happy smile forced one from him as well.

‘So beautiful.’ He thought once again.

“We better get going.” He said, groaning mentally at stopping himself from doing what he so desperately wanted to do. But priorities came first, and right now they had to finish this dungeon. Afterwards though...

As he sat up, he finally noticed his surroundings, as well as why they hadn’t been eaten yet. The platform they were on had glowing green light that ran around its edges, like a railing made of light. It wasn’t there previously so they must’ve activated it when they reached the platform. The skeletal, winged avians didn’t seem to be able to cross the barrier.

“We’re fortunate to have landed on some type of trigger when we appeared.” Mel said, looking at a metre wide circular depression in the ground that Shades had previously been laying in.

“Yeah…” It was a stark reminder that Shades wasn’t as powerful as he thought. If the barrier hadn’t appeared when he went through his change, they’d both be dead now. “Let’s try not to rely on luck too much next time.”

“Are you lumping me in with your decision-making again?” She said, crossing her arms, trying to seem stern.

“Hey, how was I supposed to know that would happen again?”

“Again?” Another look of concern crossed her face.

“Oh yeah, you weren’t there when it happened the first time.” Shades recalled. “When I got these powers, the energy I use was activated, or transferred or whatever. Looks like it occurs when something major happens to me physically.” He scratched his chin, wandering if he’d have to experience that pain again in the future. “I didn’t think I’d have to go through with it again.”

“What did happen anyway?” Mel asked. “I thought we were done for then you just started vanishing and appearing all over the place.” She waved her hands at the things below them.

Shades smiled, thinking about what he gained as the journal gave him information. He didn’t answer her at first and embraced the power he used on instinct earlier. Doing so turned his eyes pitch black and changed his form to that of an indistinct shadow.

He only held it for a few seconds before releasing it, rubbing his forehead.

“I can’t hold it very long for now. Apparently I’m not actually ready for it yet.” He explained. “That’s what happened earlier. When I started using less and less of my normal abilities, I accidentally tapped into this, fully embracing Dark Etherea, something only a full Darklord can freely do. My body had to rapidly change to accommodate this new power.” He grimaced. “Which, sadly, isn’t a painless process.”

“But what about the part where we just appeared everywhere?”

“C’mon.” He smiled. “Let’s get out of here first. Before the barrier fails.” He looked at the green light, not really comfortable that it was the only thing keeping them from getting eaten.

Looking around, they saw that, once again, more than one path was available to them. Shades wondered where the other bridges led, and what the chances were that they’d ever be used, seeing as how he hadn’t seen any other people like him. He just mentally shrugged and chose one of the two that led to the opposite wall from where they entered, leaving the cave of birds behind them.

It was a few minutes later when Shades continued his explanation as they walked.

“So you know how the red sun is basically me and my physical energy, and when I improve it my appearance changes as well?” Mel nodded. “Well apparently it’s also some sort of source of all my power. My Dark Etherea. It explains why, when I use the other types of powers, the energy moves from those ‘pools’ to the main source and back again to replenish them. It’s still a little confusing, and I don’t get why it has to go back and forth like that.” He shrugged. “When embracing the Dark Etherea, like I did, that pure energy physically changes my body. The change lets me use that energy to do things that I couldn’t normally do. Shadow Walking and Shadow Jumping are two of those things.”

“What do those do?” Mel wondered.

“You already saw those.” Shades smiled. “Me, practically turning into a shadow? That’s Shadow Walking.” He turned into his incorporeal form again, but only for a second, before he turned back, blinking his eyes a few times. “As I am now, that pure energy will kill me if I hold it too long. Not strong enough to handle it I guess.” He muttered. “Shadow Jumping is pretty interesting though.” Here he smiled again. “By flashing the Etherea through me and ‘holding’ it,” He paused dramatically. “Time stops.”

Mel’s eyes widened.

“So you were just moving while everyone else was frozen in time!” She exclaimed.

Shades chuckled, and took a deep breath.

“No.”

Mel pouted.

“What I think happens,” He continued. “…is that my perception speeds up so rapidly, that everything seems frozen in time, including me.” He scratched his chin as they walked. “Sorta like my emerald energy, except that speeds my whole body and isn’t nearly as fast.” He walked in silence for moment as he thought about it, wondering if his emerald energy could speed him up to those speeds as well. “Unfortunately, it’s even harder to hold the pure energy than it is to run it normally through my body. Like trying to block the pressure of a bomb instead of letting it pass over me. To me, I can hold it for barely a second. To you, it would seem like I didn’t hold it at all.”

“Wow…” Mel let out a breath. They mulled it over again for a few minutes, neither saying anything. “But that still doesn’t explain it.”

“Right.” Shades once again continued his explanation. “Can’t really describe this part though.” He frowned. “When holding the power… I can will myself to a place that I’m looking at. When I let the energy go all at once, I appear there. Along with everything in a small space around me that I want to take with.”

Mel thought about it. “Shadow Jumping…” She mused.

“It’s not really called that.” Shades added. “None of my powers actually have names, except Dark Etherea. Not according to the journal at least. You can call it what you want.”

“Shadow Jumping works.” She smiled.

They continued walking for what felt like hours. It didn’t bother either of them, each enjoying the other’s company. They talked about trivial things most of the time, just walked in silence for the rest.

Shades finally added the Dayle he’d gained to each of his abilities, once more increasing Mel’s height an inch. He found it interesting how her glass armour grew as she did, even if it still barely covered her. He noticed an extra sway in her hips in the middle of his observations. Looking up, he saw a slight tug at the corner of her lips, and realised what it looked like he was doing.

“I was looking at the armour.” He muttered, now walking beside her again.

“Right.” She said.

He sighed.

‘We’re going to have talk about it eventually.’ He thought.

He was running out of reasons to keep refusing the subtle invitation she kept throwing his way every now and then throughout their travels. Her increase in size and the dwindling differences between their physical appearances – and their race, he supposed – making it rather difficult to come up with reasons not to take the next step.

He reaffirmed his resolve to wait until they at least got out of this dungeon. Staying alive came first. But he had to say something, he decided, as he noticed the glances she sent his way every now and then. He didn’t need her being distracted in her confusion… He was distracted enough for the both of them.

“Mel.” He finally said. “We need to talk about this.”

She nodded, knowing what he meant.

“I had wondered when you would finally bring it up.” She said.

“Oh?”

She nodded. “At first I thought that you didn’t see me that way, that I wasn’t what you wanted in a…” She looked sad for a moment. “But then I noticed the way you look at me on occasion… I see the desire in your eyes.” She looked confused for a moment. “On the platform I saw something else. Like desire but different.” She looked at him. “I simply wonder why you haven’t done anything about it.”

Shades’ eyebrows rose. ‘That was… straightforward.’ He thought she’d beat around bush or play innocent like he’d seen other women always do on movies. Sometimes even at school they were like that. ‘She isn’t just another girl though.’

He took her hand.

“On the platform…” He paused, running a finger over one of her sharp silver nails. “Let’s just make it out of here first. When we’re done with this place and its dangers, then… We’ll see.”

Mel smiled, her eyes turned smoky as she thought about exactly what they would see. She didn’t say anything further though, and they continued their walked. A slight spring in their step at finally having the tension in the air cleared up.

Both noticed but didn’t comment on their, still entwined, hands.