The Shadow Men - Sacrifice

Book 1 - Sacrifice

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He crumpled to the ground. Blood spurted from his muscly left shoulder. His eyes screamed in pain. Another bullet quickly ended the agony that Private Neino Wiles was feeling. His friends leapt back in horror as the first bullet cascaded into him. One man was sent to get a doctor as soon as someone got to their senses. Then the second bullet came a clean shot straight through the head between the eyes. The doctor would not be needed. In his final seconds he had seen his friends jump away from him, one man run off and another scream at him. He only had one companion before he died; his shadow. The one thing that had stayed by his side for 23 years, 11 months and 29 days. And now it was free. As soon as the second bullet came, the shadow disappeared. Nobody noticed in all the commotion. nobody noticed a dark shadow of a broken man float high into the early morning air. Nobody noticed because of the massive explosion that lit up the sky, another military base had been destroyed. The Shadow quickly sank back onto the floor, but it had floated at least 20m away, yet there was no wind. The shadow was trying to escape but it would have to wait until night. but for now it would have to survive the battle of the day, with the bright explosions that it brings. The Shadows are defeated by  the light of day and they can only survive if they attached to a human, who protects them from the sun, or if they have managed to reach space, where it is pitch black except when solar rays hit them and they are slowly worn down into nothingness. Eventually night arrived in huge waves. The Shadow could leave the battle ground and float up towards int's destiny. The large, metal buildings that were army bases turned smaller and smaller. Low-lying clouds replaced them, they were packed full of water droplets. It would rain soon. But that wouldn't affect him, for he was now far above them. If he looked up, he would see huge clouds that stretched miles into the distance. He saw a dark shape flying through the sky below, what could it be? He saw another one flying close to it. Soon he found out; two, bright explosions ripped through the sky, two enemy bases had been destroyed, along with at least 30 other soldiers. the Shadows couldn't hear sound, but he could imagine. It would be like the explosion of 10 thousand firecrackers all at once. He could see small figures running from the scene in every direction. The smoke was starting to clear. The Shadow didn't like what it revealed. Nothing remained after the blast except a few strong walls sticking up from the ground in the middle of nowhere. Then he remembered the light. As much as he wanted to go up; he couldn't, that blast had weakened him. if he went any further it would eat away at him, and then when he had shrunk to the size of an atom, he would be flung into space, flying for ever and ever.  So down he went. Back to the ground. But he had made some progress, when he sank below the rain-filled clouds, the few army bases that remained grew as he approached. As he landed he realised he had traveled  at least seven miles, with his amazing eyesight, he could just see the place where he had been released, next to the destroyed bunker. He looked around, he seemed to be in the middle of nowhere except for a small house to his left, it looked like it had been abandoned for years. The door was slightly ajar and had been splattered with blood, the four windows on the front of the house had all been smashed. the house itself was built entirely of wood. the shadow floated around the house, he was sure that all the windows were either broken or smashed. In a part of a particular wall there was a small hole. The Shadow decided to investigate. He floated through the wall into what seemed to be a dining room. a small, circular, table covered with a chequered table cloth. There was a candle in the middle of the table, four wooden chairs, two of which with only three legs, surrounded the table. The room was empty. He left the room through a door, in front of him was a woman. He eyes expanded in shock and her mounth opened as she screamed. The Shadow didn't hear her though, nor did he hear her walk down the gloomy hallway in her wooden shoes. A man with a long beard ran into the room. He carried a long rifle and a torch, it was still night because the man was in night clothes. He spoke quickly to the woman, she must be his wife. She pointed at him and the man raised his gun aiming towards the Shadow. The bullet flew through the Shadow and hit the wooden door behind him. The woman must be asking, 'where did it go?' because of her puzzled and angry expression. he decided it was time to go, but not before the man flashed his torch torch around the dining room. The Shadow could feel his ghostly body being slowly eroded away into nothingness. He had to hide, he floated up wards as the torch flashed around the room. The light caught him and an extreme pain filled his transparent body. The room was to expoased, he was vulnerable here. he would have to use an ancient tactic that had been used by Shadows to hide for millions of years; the ground.

The shadow sank as quickly as he could into the wooden floor and into the dark soil below. Darkness surrounded him. above him he could imagine how the couple were feeling; scared, surprised and angry. But he had a destiny to fulfill. It would be morning soon, light, if he didn't get up into the skies tonight, he would be trapped here. He had to go now, past the humans trying to kill him and up to the skies, to save the humans. 

He directed all his power to his shadowy feet, the power flowing downwards, and pushed. He catapulted himself up, faster than a cheetah. He barely noticed the shocked faces of the two humans, barely noticed the house shrinking as he rose, barely noticed the army bases that he had left behind edge into his view, barely noticed the dark, blue Indian ocean creep up into his eyes. Barely noticed Australia arrive in his field of vision. He was free!

The edge of the sky was close, his destiny almost fulfilled. From his prime position he could see many more stars and meteors. As he reached the edge of space he saw a huge meteor that was at least ten miles wide hurttling towards Earth. Only he could stop it, there were other Shadows protecting Earth from various other rays and rocks, and now he will do the same. But why? The people he was saving had tried to kill him, he could be certain that they would die. what did he owe them? They hadn't done anything for him, had they? They had created him, but that was accidental, they didn't know what they were creating. But then someone must know what the Shadows were? Someone must have created them on purpose? Someone had given him life? Should he try to save that person? Wouldn't it be great to save the world too? And his destiny: He should fulfill it. it was he life's aim. His decision was made up. He floated out into space to meet the meteor.

The feeling of weightlessness was already known to him, he had experienced it for 24 years. which reminded him; it was Neino's birthday today, his only companion, he could do this for him, for Neino, maybe Neino's death had been to release the Shadow, for this: to save the world.

The boulder hit him. When the Shadows are in space, they become somewhat solid, yet still ghostly. Intsantly both the Shadow and the meteor where shrunk to the size of an atom. The Shadow was flung into space at the speed of light, one could see he had a life of adventure, another could see it was an immortality of loneliness. Nobody knows how long a Shadow lives. They could explore space to the greatest boundaries, take us to the most amazing places, but at home, they do the best job. Protecting us. And we don't even know it.

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The End - 

- Please read number 2 in the series, 'Exploration of Darkness'.