The Tales of the Shadows

7. The Phases of Knowledge

A wave of thrill swept through Trina's being, her eyes vibrantly reflecting the green sparks that surrounded her. They were like little butterflies that circled Trina, playing with her, and she couldn't help but laugh.

At the sound of footsteps, Trina's instinct was to hide her Yuran, but she immediately recognised who they belonged to. Trina turned around with a big smile.

"Hello, Elek!" She said quietly but excitedly. Elek emerged from the covers of the dense trees, returning a warm smile. Elek was happy to see his friend so happy, a sight that he didn't see as often as he wished.

The morning light fell gently on Elek, as if the sun rose with his presence. Elek's hands remained in his pockets and he walked loosely, perhaps still a little sleepy, perhaps simply calm. The sparks flew to Elek and the Shadow chuckled, waving his hand as if greeting them.

"Good morning," he replied. Silence fell around them; the breeze stood still, the birds fell quiet and Trina's sparks faded away. Trina found comfort at that moment, wishing she could be that way forever. The morning was beautiful and everything was peaceful, but something had to be discussed.

"Yesterday's event at Eir hospital... something was very wrong, wasn't it?" Trina asked softly, her eyes fixated on Elek, who stared at the Sun. Elek sighed, closing his eyes to recall what had happened, opening them gently with a nod.

"Those creatures weren't ordinary demonic creatures. You know how demonic creatures are born from the emotions of living things' minds, right? They were born the same way. Just replace living things with demons.

"These creatures didn't come from the Land of Destructive Tenebris. They came from Chaos."

Trina's eyes widened. From their ghastly aura, she realised something horrific was going on, but this was too troublesome for the Shadow Dimension. It would undo all of their efforts.

Galen's mother died fighting them, Elek thought. He knew Trina's thoughts ran wild and every piece of information would help settle them, but Elek thought it wasn't his place to give her that information.

"These creatures first appeared during Ehren's time. The leader of the Shadow Trappers before Jay. I think he had extinguished most of them during their birth, but some must have dispersed before his arrival. Then, a few years ago, another Shadow died fighting them. Most of them had concentrated in this one particular area, just like yesterday, but their numbers and strength was much greater.

"Now Galen wiped the ones from yesterday. I'm not sure if he knows their true nature of existence, but he knows there's a distinction. That's why the general demonic creatures survived and only these bizarre ones were gone."

Silence fell as both Shadows thought about their friend. The turmoil of doing what he did would be too great, but neither was sure how to approach him. There was always the possibility that talking about it to him would make things worse.

"Each time they are fought against, one or two of them remain and they end up multiplying exponentially. As long as any fragment of them remains, there is danger.

"I'm not as good as Audrey is, but I tried sitting down at a certain place - it's connected to all of Earth. I concentrated on everything that was in existence here using my levitation. It took me quite some time but I think no more of these creatures remain, at least on Earth. Still, we have to heal the damage."

Trina nodded as she digested the information. She wondered if her mentor died because of these creatures...

No. She remembered the day clearly. It was the demons. They took Zeno from her. All demonic creatures were so innocent. The Shadow who died fighting these ones must have exhausted their energy. The creatures wouldn't attack them.