Shadow Walkers (14 page)

“Calum!” Axus shouts. “What do you think you’re doing walking around! You should be resting in the infirmary with the other decaying captains.”

The sickly captain lets go of Allison and shakes his head. “No point in resting. I’m going to turn in the end anyways. Besides, I couldn’t help but overhear this conversation.”

“We told you to stop using your second Chain to eavesdrop on us, Calum.” Marcus snaps. “Even on your deathbed you have to be a pain in our sides. What your purpose in coming here?”

Calum looks down at the ground. “I… I need to warn you.”

“What is it?” Janice asks sympathetically.

The decaying captain shakes his head. “I… forgot.”

“Calum, go back to the infirmary.” Marcus orders.

Calum nods. He was obviously dazed and confused, but he calmly turns to make his exit. But on his way out he turns to Nick with the blankest expression on his face and laughs. “Your mother is as good as dead.”

Isaac’s arm moves faster than Allison thought possible. Her captain punches the sick man in the face, and he reels backwards. Calum shakes his head and smiles as he wipes some blood away from his nose. But then he leaves the room without another word.

Isaac places a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about your mother right now, and don’t listen to a word he says. I’ll personally help you figure something out to save your mother.” Nick looks down at the floor, obviously not buying a word that Isaac was saying.

Their Captain looks at the Council members. “They’re still alive?” Allison knew that her captain was referring to the four captains who came back to the Pit injured and decaying.

Axus sighs. “Yeah. They took a while to regain consciousness, but they’re showing signs of resistance against the decaying process. Especially Calum, he’s been a lot more active than the other three. As you can tell, he can still use his second Chain to communicate telepathically. The other Walkers show no signs of retaining their powers, but he seems to be fighting the infection better than any other Walker we’ve ever seen. We think that this time we might have finally found somebody who can survive the process.”

Isaac shakes his head. “Well you better not get your hopes up. Nobody has ever lived through the decaying process without succumbing to its effects. Calum might be strong, but I doubt that he’ll be the exception. You better watch him closely.” He looks at Allison and her teammates. “Grab on you guys, we’re getting out of here before that lunatic comes back.” He sticks his hand out for everybody to grab onto. Allison and Nick oblige, but she notices that Hector was too busy watching the boy from the Void. Allison nudges her teammate, snapping him out of his daze. Once he grabs on the four of them slip away into the shadows.

* * *

Allison sits at the dinner table, surrounded by her family- save for her father.

“So did you kill any monsters yet?” Her little brother asks with a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

“No, that starts tomorrow Calvin.” She says with a slight smile.

Her grandmother offers a hefty laugh as she cuts her steak in half. “Oh, we’re so proud of you Allison. If only your mom could see the woman you’ve become.”

The mention of her mother threatens to form tears in her eyes. And if it weren’t for her brother Calvin being there, she might have. But she knew that she needed to stay strong for her brother, or at the very least set an example for him of what a Marxon was
supposed
to act like.

“Well if you’re going on a big mission then you’ll need a belly full of food to keep you going.” Aunt Kayla says. Uncle James laughs and scoops up another bite of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

“That’s right Allison, eat up.” He says. Allison can’t help but smile at her family's kindness. She could never forget how lucky she was to have the rest of her family treat her so differently than her father. And the fact that the Void were threatening her family's lives made her even more eager for her mission to come.

After a nice dinner with her family, Allison makes her way up to her bedroom. She plops down on her bed after getting into some pajamas, and looks over at the picture on her end table. Her mother smiles at her, and Allison smiles back. It had been eight years already, and her mother was still missing. There had been absolutely no sign of her left in the Pit, and no Walkers ever managed to find her on earth. Most Walkers considered her dead, but Allison refused to see it that way without any proof. Her mother needed to return to her and her father. If there was anything that would make her father become less cynical, it would be the return of his wife.

As she does everytime she looks at the picture of her mother, Allison pulls out a book from under her bed. It was her biggest treasure- a book consisting of myths and legends from the human world. She turns to the same story that she was reading on the last day she saw her mother. It was a story of the phoenix- a bird that could be reborn from its own ashes. Even though she knew that the mythical bird wasn’t real, the phoenix was like a symbol of hope for Allison.

If the bird could be killed and still return to life, then maybe her mother still had a chance at coming back into her life. She knew that it was a foolish way to think, but it was the only way she could keep her hopes up. Her mother was the one person who Allison truly admired. And it killed her knowing that her mother couldn’t be there to see how strong she had become.

She studies the book, amazed by the picture of a beautiful blue phoenix. And that was when a voice suddenly spoke in the back of her mind.

“I should have died.” It says. Allison shivers at the dry tone, and her heart starts beating fast. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn’t identify it. It returns with an even raspier tone, and a darker message.

“You should have stopped me. I’m the fifth one.” The voice pauses for a moment, but returns with a hint of excitement. “Once we meet at the castle, your life will be gone just like your mothers.” The mystery voice doesn’t say another word after that. Allison sits alone in her room, tightly gripping the book in her hands as she begins to cry.

She didn’t know who was speaking to her, but they seemed to know something about her mother. There was no hint of them joking around in their voice, and Allison was sure that they meant everything they said. She didn’t like what they had to say, but for some reason, she believed that everything they said was true. And if that was the case, then Allison was completely screwed. After all, she had just received a death threat from a complete stranger. She didn’t know what castle the voice was referring to, but she did know one thing- she could never forgive anyone for talking about her mother’s life in such a way. If this person said they wanted to kill her, then there was no way Allison could back away from the challenge.

Especially if it meant honoring her mother’s life.

Chapter Fourteen

Allison

Isaac came to get Allison at around noon. Her family got excited as soon as they heard the knock on the door, and were already worrying and ready to cry. Their little girl was about to step into the unknown. To make them feel better, she lets her Aunt Kayla and Uncle James and her little brother Calvin follow her outside to say goodbye.

Allison cracks the door open as another round of knocks sound through the living room. Isaac pulls his hand away and waves at Allison’s Aunt. “Nice to officially meet all of you. If I’m not mistaken, you were some of the people there when Allison was made a member of the Guard, right?”

“Kayla and James.” Allison’s aunt says shaking Isaac’s hand. “And this is her little brother, Calvin. Say hi.”

Calvin peeks out from behind Allison and waves. Nick laughs and looks at Allison. “Wow, It’s kind of hard seeing you as the sisterly type.”

Allison rolls her eyes and puts a hand on Calvin’s shoulder. Her brother looks up at her with a raised eyebrow. “Is he the guy you’ve been talking about?” Allison is so shocked at her brother that she’s unable to say anything before he further embarasses her. “She thinks you’re interesting, but you’re also really annoying and she wants to beat you up.”

“Calvin!” Kayla shouts as she puts a hand on the boy’s shoulder and begins pulling him back inside of the house. Allison makes sure to avoid eye contact with Nick, though she does manage to notice that he’s blushing. The last thing she wanted was for him to think that she was romantically interested in him, but her brother had to go and mess with everything. At the end of the day, boys- as nice as they could be- were the last thing on Allison’s mind. She had a battle ahead of her, and romance wasn’t something that she needed to focus on.

“Well, I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, but it shouldn’t be longer than a week.” Allison says. She avoids looking directly at her family, not wanting to be reminded of the things that were at stake. She didn’t tell them anything about the mission she was going on, or what was at stake. After all, that was the Council’s right. To them, she was just going on a mission to fight the Void, but to her, her family members lives were one the line.

“Be safe Allison.” Kayla says, reaching in to give her niece a hug. Her uncle is next, and then she’s kneeling down to her brother’s height to say goodbye.

“Prove to dad that you’re strong!” Calvin says as she lets go of him. She smiles as she walks away from her family and over to her team. She nods and Isaac sticks a hand out. Allison and the others grab on, and she gives in to her desire by taking one more look at her family before she disappears into the shadows.

She can only hope that it won’t be her last.

* * *

Allison had never visited the human world before, but she had always seen pictures of the amazing things that the Pit didn’t have: large industrial cities with skyscrapers and lush forests with all types of animals. So when she finally arrived in the human world she got the sudden urge to go sightseeing. There were so many amazing that her mother spoke of that she would love to check out firsthand. Of course, that would have to come
after
she saves the Pit.

“Where are we?” Nick asks as he looks around. Allison takes in her bearings, noticing the trees and grass around them.

“Someplace in America.” Isaac says. “The Council showed me a picture of this place that Damon took for them. Apparently, it’s one of the areas where the Void might be hiding. Our objective right now is to find out where the enemy is located so that we can kill the Gatekeeper that’s supposed to break open the gate to the Shadow Realm.”

Nick cracks his fingers. “This is exciting. I can’t believe that we’re already on such a big mission. I mean a few days ago I was just a regular boy running home to my mom.”

Isaac rolls his eyes. “Well don’t let the excitement get to your head. You three might be prodigies, but with only your first Chain awakened, you’re going to have a tough time against the elite Void- and they’re going to be out in full force. Underestimating the elite Void is the same as having a death Wish. And don’t forget Nick- they have your mother.”

Allison can sense the bitterness in Isaac’s voice and wonders why he got ticked so quickly. In any case, at least he was showing off his years of experience by telling the three young Walkers how it really was. She was finding herself more and more excited to see how her captain performed out on the field.

“Anyways, just be alert to everything around you. Always be ready for an ambush, and never show fear when fighting the Void- it gives them an advantage. Now just follow me, I’ll let you know when you should be doing anything else.”

The three young Walkers nod and obey their captain’s orders. Allison takes it upon herself to follow directly behind Isaac, Nick and Hector behind her respectively. The group walks in mutual silence for about twenty minutes, and Allison was already feeling the burn. She now understood why members of the Guard exercised so much. Shadow jumping just felt so natural after learning to do it that walking started to seem unnecessary and old fashioned. If only she knew then what a mistake it was to rely entirely on her powers.

Based on all of the buildings they pass, Allison realizes that they’re in some type of small town. Despite the bright sun shining down on them, there was nobody to be seen outside. Allison suddenly bumps into something. She rubs her face and looks up to see that it’s just Isaac. He stands still as he looks off into the distance.

“You feel that, Hector?” He asks.

Allison looks at the boy. “Feel what?”

Hector ignores her, and instead looks at Isaac with wide eyes. “Yeah! It was like a small flicker in my brain, as if something just entered my system.”

Isaac smiles and nods. “You’re getting more accustomed to your basic tracker abilities.”

“Whats going on, Isaac?” Allison asks. She hated being out of the loop. But before her captain can answer, a loud scream pierces through the air.

“CREEPER!” Somebody screams. The three young Walkers follow their captain as he begins running in the direction of the voice. Allison felt a sudden rush of adrenaline- she was about to encounter her first Void in combat. The group eventually comes to the source of the now various screams- a flea market. Allison looks around trying to spot the Void, but it’s Hector who points them out.

“This way.” The boys says as he points towards some fruit stands.

“How do you know?”  Allison asks, unsure if she could trust the boys instincts.

But Hector rolls his eyes. “I’m a tracker, dummy.”

Allison almost smacks herself in the face for doubting Hector. If there was one thing she needed to get used to, it was putting faith in other people besides her family. She shouldn’t doubt Hector’s abilities just because he didn’t carry the same name as her. He was the one who broke her father’s record, after all.

The four of them run in the direction Hector pointed to, the screams getting louder and louder. Then, they reach the scene of the crime. And for the first time, Allison was seeing the monstrous Void in person. Four inhumanly tall bodies with long arms and fingers push a man between them like a game of ‘catch the tasty human’. Their emaciated limbs and featureless faces were possibly the creepiest thing Allison had ever seen. As if they weren’t enough, four purple winged creatures about the size of a hawk peck on a man lying motionless on the ground. 

Isaac summons his crimson sword. “Stay back you three.” Allison’s body threatens to go forward and fight with her captain, but she obeys his order. She can only watch in jealousy as Isaac makes two strikes with his sword, killing two of the winged Void in a matter of seconds. The other two react and fly out of range of his sword, but the captain had already turned his attention to the taller Void. They moved surprisingly fast given their size and awkward shape, but Isaac seemingly predicts their moves. He cuts one's hand off, causing purple blood to pour out. He impales the same Void in the chest and it explodes into a cloud of purple dust, thus freeing his sword.

The Void back away, obviously wary of Isaac’s skill. He turns to Allison. “Nick, Allison- destroy them. But leave one of the tall ones alive.”

“Yes!” Nick says, voicing Allison’s excitement. The two of them march forward, but keep their distance from the tall Void. Allison thinks of which one to target first, but when Nick shoots a ball of energy at one of the tall Void monsters, Allison decides to attack her own. She summons her weapon- a light blue claymore. Having practiced swordsmanship at her father’s command, she was more than ready to swing her blade. The Void dodges her attack and lashes out with his long fingers, but Allison simply strikes his fingers with the edge of her blade- a move that should have sliced the monsters fingers off in one clean cut. But the monsters fingers were seemingly unaffected by the sharpness of the blade.

“The tall guys are named Shredders.” Isaac says, slightly distracting Allison. “Their fingers are basically impossible to cut off or break. The tips are as sharp as a knife and they
will
impale you if given the chance. Safest way to handle them is to cut off their arms.”

Allison appreciates her Captain’s advice, but she had already figured out the Void’s weakness. She swings her blade and strikes the Void in it’s neck, cutting out the middleman of having to weaken it. Like all Void do when destroyed, the Shredder explodes into a satisfying cloud of purple dust. Allison smiles at her victory, but quickly regains her composure and faces her second target. The Void bird nest itself on top of a stand. Allison racks her mind, then transforms her weapon into crossbow. At first, she was a bit disappointed in her first Chain. But she quickly learned to appreciate the versatility that it offered her in combat.

She aims her crossbow at the bird and fires an arrow before the monster could catch the wind under its wings. The arrow pierces its wing, causing it to fall to the ground with a loud screech. Allison’s second shot silences the Void.

Relieved and excited, she looks to see Nick finishing up his bird as well. He simply encases the Void in a block of ice. The two exchange a look of excitement, then high five each other. The Void beast that they left unharmed lets out a cry of some sort.

“The birds are Harpies, they’re pretty annoying. Only useful attack they have is spitting Void gunk that burns like crazy if you let it settle itself in.” Isaac says.

“Thanks for the tour, Mr. Zookeeper.” Hector says. “But why did we let one live?”

Isaac points at the monster. “You sense it’s presence, right Hector?” Hector nods and the captain smiles. “Good, now try to keep that presence as your main focus right now. And as for you,” Isaac points to the last remaining Void, “You go back to your friends and tell them we’re going to kill every Void here. You better run before I take you out right here and now.”

As if he was waiting for permission, the Shredder disappears in a puff of purple smoke. Isaac looks at Hector. “Which way did it go?” He asks.

Hector’s jaw drops and he hums uncertainty as he stares at the sky. Something must click in his head, because the boy’s eyes light up. He points to the east. “He went that way, but I can’t sense him anymore. It’s like he just... vanished.”

“Then their hideout has to be that way, right?” Allison asks. Isaac nods, and points in the same direction as Hector.

“That’s most likely the case, but it could just be a trap. Our only choice is to scout ahead and find out. I’m going to put in a request to Guard HQ to have another team meet up with us. Hopefully Regina and her team aren’t-”

“Captain Isaac!” A man’s voice pierces the marketplace and catches everyone’s attention. Allison resists the urge to rub her arms for warmth as her body suddenly turns cold. While it takes her and her teammates a while to find the source of the voice, Isaac seems to have already caught on.

Her captain draws his sword as a cloud of purple smoke appears right in the middle of their group. When the Void are formed, three bodies stand before Allison. And the one standing in the middle, holding his katana, was Valus of the Void himself.

She never understood why this one man was so frightening compared to any of the other Void. There was a reason that every Walker knew his name, and Allison also figured that it was the same reason that the Void man had never lost a battle before. She just couldn’t figure out what it was that made this man send chills up her spine. But she wasn’t going to let this sudden wave of terror overcome her. Allison summons a throwing knife and lunges it towards Valus. He looks in the blade's direction just as it nears his head, but it’s suddenly thrown to the side, impaling a watermelon on one of the stands.

“Girl thought she could just attack all by herself.” A woman with a nose piercing says with a playful smile. “Are you delusional?”

“Shut up, you fodder trash.” Isaac spits as he points his sword at Valus. “What are you doing here? And you better tell your sidekicks to back down. The kids are off limits.”

Valus nods, seemingly considering Isaac’s command. “Good idea, but there isn’t really any benefit for having them, now is there? We both know that I can’t leave
all
of them alone.”