50 years ago…

I and my troops were sent to the North Pole where the new spawned gates detected by our satellite. We are currently scanning the area until we found the gate in the middle of the abandoned village. There are some usable glass igloos that we can use for us to rest while the others installed the automatic teleportation machine guns.

The black armored soldiers walked towards me. They looked like a group of robotic versions of shadows as their purple eyes of their helmets glowed in the white blizzard at a dark night. Our armor were reinforced with Corrupted Diamonds and Corrupted Titanium. The design of the armor was the same as mine which was for our protection against the shadows’ energy balls, harsh cold weather and the moonlight.

They saluted and one of them said, “Corporal, you should see the new Shadow Walker. He seemed nervous to talk to us.”

The new shadow walker that he’s talking about is the first youngest human that has been fused by a shadow. His name is Emmanuel Hartman with the age of 5. His parents died from a shadow that fused with him. Then he decided to be part of the military. Lucky for him, he’s under my supervision.

I went inside the glass igloo where Emmanuel is staying but the room was covered with darkness. His darkness to be precise because he spread the black smoke around the room and the only thing I saw are the pair of glowing purple eyes.

“I-I’m sorry! I just don’t like them!” His voice trembled and the smoke slowly sucked towards him until there’s nothing left but an empty room with the boy that looked so nervous as if he was afraid of being scolded.

He has black spiky hair, pale skin, and he wore a black hooded jacket, reinforced with Corrupted Alloy which was mainly used as a Shadow Power Restriction (S.P.R.). The emblem of our country was proudly displayed on the left side of his chest. Below that, he wore a pair of black pants, matching his jacket. A choker with a symbol that resembles the Eye of the Apocalypse. He wore a pair of gloves and boots reinforced with plates of Corrupted Adamantium coming from a meteorite which was a highest level of Corrupted Metal.

This boy has the most S.P.R. on his body because the shadow that fused with him is the same shadow that has the power to disintegrate all living things in South America which was appeared 490 years ago and suddenly disappeared after that incident. Good thing that I’m the first one who discovered him or else, he’ll be immediately shot by some other soldiers even he surrendered and now, he’s here with me in one small room.

“Do you want some cookies? I have one in here.” I said as gently as possible but before I dig through my inventory, he lies down on the cold floor.

Then he muttered as he curled himself like a fetus, “I don’t deserve it… And my body is not needy like I used to be.”

Shadow Walkers are like shadows. They can’t feel pain, cold, hot, or tired, eat, drink and sleep. I’m sure that he didn’t move on to his past. Being fused by a shadow that murdered his parents is ironic and he’s going to live as a Shadow Walker in the rest of his life.

I pondered for a moment and looked at the map that posted on the wall. I saw a perfect spot to make this little boy forget his problem for a moment.

“Emmanuel, how about we’re going somewhere interesting? I know a place where you can see some polar bears and it’s not too far away from here. I know you like polar bears.”

Emmanuel immediately stood up as his face was filled with curiosity.

“P-P-Polar Bears?!” He asked excitedly.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” I said as I turned my heels.

“Yes! I wanna see them and I also want to climb on top of the pine tree! If we see at least one.”

Then he held my hand with his bright smile.

As I expected, this kid likes the old nature. A nature that hasn’t been corrupted. I hope there are some uncorrupted polar bears and pine trees in that place.

Before we left, I told my troops about our whereabouts because that’s our rules. We also have GPS to make sure that all of us are being monitored.

A few minutes of walking, I didn’t expect that the pine trees are still uncorrupted. Emmanuel swiftly climbed to the tallest pine tree that he could find and stood on the very top of it.

“Yey! I’m on top of the world!” He yelled which I can barely hear him from below.

“Boy! You need to climb the Mt. Everest just to get that title!” I yelled back which I assumed that he heard me.

Emmanuel jumped down from a height of about 10 storeys, somersaulted in mid-air, and landed as if he were a butterfly descending on a flower through his pure physical prowess. He negated the force of the impact with a simple flexing of the knees. I wish I can do that without using my armor but unfortunately, I’m not a Shadow Walker.

“Ms. Walker! I feel the presence of a huge animal! And it’s very fast!” Said Emmanuel, as he spread his little arms.

Shadow Walkers can sense the presence of the fellow walkers, shadows and corrupted animals in the radius of 1 kilometer but this boy’s senses are 10 times stronger.

“Is it hostile?” I asked.

“No. It’s friendly. Oh! It stopped!”

“Where and how far is it?”

He pointed at the direction to where we should going and replied, “That way! I guess we can see it in no time!”

Then he held my hand and we slowly descended to the darkness. I widened my eyes because I knew what he’s planning to do.

“Let’s shadow walk together and don’t let go!” He smiled broadly.

Emmanuel did successfully shadow walking with smaller animals but he didn’t test the bigger ones. I wanted to let go of him and unfortunately, darkness swallowed us completely. We are falling in the void as my grip tightened. The entity that holds my hand looked at me as its pair of purple eyes glowed in the darkness. I wanted to talk but no sound that can be heard and so I remained silent until we are being swallowed by the light as a sign that we ascended from the darkness and I can see some polar bears were eating some fishes. I expected them to run away but they disregarded our presence.

“Yes! I did it!” Emmanuel happily jumped as he punched the air.

“I thought I’m going to die,” I muttered weakly because it felt like I’m traveling for a very long time in a silent void. I would have died if I let go while we are Shadow Walking.

Then I checked the device from my left wrist to know how far and fast he managed to travel. The purple 3D holographic screen appeared and my eyes were wide as saucers when our last checkpoint was 5 kilometers from here in just 3 seconds which we passed the original spot that I’m planning to take him there.

“Wow! Can I touch them?” Emmanuel asked as he slowly approached the group of sleeping polar bears which each of them was 5 times bigger than him.

“No,” I replied flatly and made him whined as he walked towards me.

“Krak! Krak! Krak! Krak! Kraaaaak!” A voice laughed from somewhere near us.

It sounded like a man and his laugh is strange. I pulled out my teleportation gun if he was a rebel Shadow Walker.

“He’s right there,” Emmanuel whispered as he pointed at the pine trees.

I pointed my gun and said, “Show yourself and what do you want from us?!”

The figure slowly passed through the pine trees as if it was a ghost and stopped which was 5 meters away from us.

A malnourished black man of about 30 to 35 had shown up with absurd confidence. His face bore a smile that was bright as the lights from the asylum. He was the most unhygienic person that I’ve ever seen before because he didn’t shave his beard neatly and there’s a white powdery substance around his mouth.

His black shirt and pair of blue pants are covered with feces because it smells like shit. He might wear his black athletic hat but his long black dreadlocks that reached his chest are decorated with dead cockroaches and dried leaves. His bloodshot eyes are staring at me intensely as if he chose death because I’m going to kill him if he takes one step.

His yellowish teeth have a gap between the two upper front teeth and he lost a left shoe which exposed the dirty white sock that he wore. A wet white towel tied on his neck as his scarf made the upper half of his shirt wet.

The strange thing about this man was his eyes. The scanner from my helmet’s eyes said that he is a Shadow Walker that can pass through things like Emmanuel but his eyes are just normal black. Maybe the code of my AI has a bug.

I wanted to pull the trigger but Emmanuel stopped me from doing that, “Don’t shoot him! He’s friendly!”

The exasperated sigh escaped from my mouth as I lowered my gun and looked at the disgusting man. He didn’t respond to my question earlier and maybe it’s because he’s still high from the substances that decorated around his mouth. So I asked him again and hoping that he would answer my question.

“What do you want from us?!”

He tilted his head and replied, “Krak! Krak! Krak! What I want is this!”

A black rose with glowing purple hue appeared from thin air and hovered mystically over his palm. Then he threw it at Emmanuel and caught it without hesitation. Maybe a kid like him was extremely mesmerized from that thing. I mentally facepalmed because he shouldn’t receive a gift from strangers.

“Wow! The Abyssal Polar Bear gave us a pretty flower! Thanks!” Emmanuel thanked the man but it was strange that he called him an Abyssal Polar Bear.

The Abyssal Polar Bear is a corrupted version of polar bears. Their fur are dark as night, and their purple eyes illuminated just like the shadows. They are tall as 20 storey building and their senses are 10 times sharper than their normal versions of them.

I looked at the man and his smile hasn’t faded.

“He’s not an Abyssal Polar Bear! It’s a crazy guy!” I told Emmanuel but he gave me a confused look.

“But he’s–”

–I cut him off, “I said, he’s not!”

He bit his lower lip and lowered his head as if he lost the argument, “Hmm… Ok.”

“Krak! Krak! Krak! Krak!” The man laughed as he ran away while he leans forward with his back straight, he keeps his head up to see where he was going and holds both of his arms straight out behind his back.

Since that day, we never find that man ever again.

♦ ♦ ♦

Present

Here I am, I’m facing this disgusting man that I met 50 years ago. From what I remembered about him when I was 15, he is a unique Shadow Walker that can magically give us a flower. Too bad, I can’t punch that guy because he might disintegrate my fists. Many questions are filled in my mind because this man in front of me is mysterious.

No matter how powerful a Shadow Walker is, their life span are the same as humans. In short, they will look old when they get older but this man in front of me didn’t age.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! HEY! HEY! HEY!” He shouted repeatedly to gain attention.

I grunted because he’s too annoying and smelly, “What?”

“Did you like my grand entrance? Did you hear the background music? It’s an epic hybrid heavy metal slash choir! In short, it’s a Boss Music! Sounds cool, right?” He asked with a mixture of excitement as he awaited my response.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied coldly.

“Of course you don’t know! Because WAR is always in your head.” He said as his feet didn’t touch the ground anymore and hovered around me.

For the love of God! His perfume is too much for me!

I hold my breath and gave him a disgusted look because this guy’s scent is killing me. This is worse than the smell of garbage and burning or rotting corpses.

“Heh?” He stopped which was 10 meters away from me and sniffed his underarms.

After that, he looked at me in confusion, “Why did you give me that look? I didn't smell so bad.”

“Ugh!” I grunted as I covered my nose and mouth but I can still smell him. I mean, his disgusting scent can’t leave my taste buds and nostrils.

The man frowned and crossed his arms under his chest, “Stop joking me around, one-eyed woman! I was born without a scent!”

Understandably, he called me a one-eyed woman because I lost my right eye when Emmanuel lost control of his powers. My scar ached of a sudden even I’m a spirit or whatever I am now.

“Shut up, twerp! Do I look like I was joking to you?!”

“Krak! I forgot that you’re a very serious old woman!”

I’m 65 years old and that’s considered as elderly but my age is not old enough to surpass my father’s life span. He died at the age of 96 because he was infected by the Cursed Moonlight. The victim who was exposed to the Eye of Apocalypse’s light will slowly be covered by darkness. It’s a bit similar to frostbite but amputation is useless and there’s no cure for that.

“Hmm… How about this?” The man snapped his finger and the disgusting scent disappeared.

“Don’t panic! I just disabled your smell and taste senses. Krak! It’s just temporary.” He explained but I don’t know how he did that impossible thing because it’s unexplainable to science.

“Because I used magic. Not science.” He answered my thoughts which made me think that he can read my mind.

“Did you read my mind? Just now?”

The man seemed impressed, “Krak! You’re smart, General Natasha Walker! Just like your ancestor! Hmm… What was his name again?”

He pondered as he walked in circles. I’m not surprised if this man knew my bloodline because it’s already part of human history.

“Krak! I remember now! He’s Ian! Krak! Krak! Krak! That guy is very entertaining…”

Then he glanced over his right shoulder as his back still facing against me, “But you are better than him.”

He removed his hat and I widened my eye in shock because the right side of his forehead is cracking as if there’s something that tried to crack his head open but it suddenly stopped as he turned around to face me properly. He wasn’t afraid of his situation as if he already knew what’s happening to him. The crack is big enough to see what’s inside of his head. His skull was the same color of his dark skin and there’s supposedly some blood that dripping through that crack but it was none. Next to his skull was the purple light instead of the brain.

“Let me introduce myself, I’m a god with so many names but I don’t have a name. The former 8th God of Octavia, the God of Wishes, the God of Miracles, the God of Stupidity, the God of I don’t know anymore because I have so many titles in my list. But I prefer what my older siblings called me…” He said as he walked closer to me and I noticed that his round black pupils changed into cracks that resembled the crack on his forehead.

The self-proclaimed god levitates with the smile on his face and the boss music thing I heard earlier played once more. Then he continued.

“Crack God or you can call me Crack for short…”

And that’s how I met this cracked-headed god for the second time and he’s my maker.

The End of Chapter 2