A Mages Journal

Who are you?

Max wandered through the thick forest in search of any kind of food, it could be berries, fruits or at this point, an animal carcass. The tree branches were high enough to not cause and problem but each buch carries many thorns that are hidden in its leaves, but with no fruit to be seen, Max kept wandering further and further away from the cave Phoebe remained. 

There was nothing around for miles, not a hut nor a house, not even another person, Max couldn't even find a live animal let alone a dead one. Max kept searching and searching but with no luck, but he couldn't give up, he said that he would find something for them both and he wasn't going to return empty handed, he searched every tree and every bush for even a small fruit but nothing. 

Max had been gone for nearly twenty minutes when he heard rustling in a nearby bush, could it be a small animal or another person? Max crept closer to the bush as quietly as possible to not alarm whatever was hiding behind it. As he got closer he noticed a small line of rope leading behind the bush but he kept walking before he felt a tightness around his ankle pulling him off his feet.   

Max hung upside down screaming and confused, he looked around in attempt to find whoever or whatever caught him in their trap 

"Whoever you are, show yourself! I may be hung up but that won't stop me from beating you black and blue!" Max screamed into the forest 

Max spun from his ankle,thrashing around, getting a whole view of the forest around him. An angry look spread across his face as he saw the bush start to ruffle.

"Show your face you coward!" 

The bush ruffled and something stepped out from behind it. This thing wasn't a human or animal, it was more like a shadow but it held the silhouette of Max, the outline of his hair could be seen clear as the sky, in the middle of the dark myst, two glowing balls of white fire could be seen, they must have been acting like eyes. His stance was withdrawn, almost shaking, but once Max halted his thashing the shadow started to inch toward him, his movements were cautious and careful, one step at a time, then pausing before taking another. Eventually the shadow stood face to face with Max staring into Max's eyes, Max hung there confused and worried, was this thing going to kill him? It looked like this thing would unhinge its jaw and swallow him whole, Max was frozen in fear but couldn't help but stare back at this shadow but his fear turned to confusion when the balls of white fire turned green, the same green as his eyes. The shadow took a small step back to look Max up and down, Max's confusion doubled when he saw that this shadow started to look more and more like him. The shadow held the same look, a graphic shirt, jeans, and a mess of hair, but no color to be found, none but his eyes. 

"wha-what are you?" Max asked with a shaky voice

The shadow only stared 

"What are you!? Answer me!" he said almost yelling 

"I...I" the shadow spoke in a stutter 

"I...I said answer me!" Max yelled 

The shadow backed up towards the bush with shaking knees and clearly scared, Max quickly felt bad, he felt like he just yelled at a puppy for not knowing better.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell I just...I'm just a little stressed out right now" he said with sorrow in his voice 

The shadow inched back towards Max 

"s...stressed?" It asked

"Yea stressed. I'm out here looking for some sort of food for me and my sister so we don't starve to  death"

"s...starve?" 

"Do you not know what starvation is?" 

The shadow shook it head slowly 

"Do you know what anything is?"

"I kn...know some th..things"

"Like what?"

"I know that my sister is awesome and brave, and that we only really have each other but I don't really know about stress or starvation is. Oh but I do know that my name is Max"

Max hung there in silence, this thing that looked like him had a sister and was also called Max. Could it be that this thing...was just like him. 

"Dude I'm also called Max!" He exclaimed  

Shadow Max looked at him with a smile "Really?" he asked 

"Yea! Well, my full name is Max Lou Johnsen but everyone  just calls me Max" the two smiled and let out a small giggle "You think you could let me down though, the blood is rushing to my head"

Shadow Max started to safely let Max back down to the floor while asking "What's blood? And why was it rushing to your head?"

As Max brushed himself off and untied the rope from his ankle he explained "I don't know if you have blood since you kinda look like a shadow, but blood is just what keeps you moving and keeps you alive, it's just this red liquid that lives inside your body and when I say it was rushing to my head it just meant that the gravity, do you know what gravity is?" Shadow Max shook his head calmly "Okay well gravity is like a giant magante pulling everything down to the floor and naturally blood will follow gravity so if my head is pointing to the floor then that's where the blood will go instead of where it needs to be which is in the rest of my body"

"Oh...blood sounds cool" Shadow Max commented with an oddly placed smile 

Max stood up and patted him on the shoulder "Well to each their own, you think yo could help me with some food for me and my sister?" he asked 

"Oh yea my sister has her own stash of fruit, she did spend all night gathering it but i'm sure she won't miss a few things" Shadow Max said with a smile "Wait here I'll be right back" 

With that Shadow Max ran off past the bushes leaving Max by himself 

"What was that?" he thought "It looked like me and sounded like me but it was definitely not me, that thing was way too happy, almost like a puppy, it's more like if I grew taller but not older. Oh well, if I can get something for Phoebs and I then this strange encounter would have been worth it. Maybe after getting something to eat, we should look for some sort of village" 

Max then heard more rustling in the bushes and out popped Shadow Max with an armful of different fruits and plants and handed the whole lot to Max 

"Wow, this is...a lot. Are you sure your sister won't notice this is gone" he asked unsure 

"Don't worry she won't mind when I tell her it was for someone and his sister I mean she said that she was going to make sure I was okay when we found out we were siblings so she does care about family" 

This reassured Max slightly as he thanked Shadow Max for the food and walked back the way he came 

"Oh and one other thing" Max asked 

"Yea" Shadow Max responded 

"If we ever meet again, is it okay if I call you Shads like nickname?"

Shadow Max's eyes lit up hearing the word "Nickname" and excitedly nodded "Yes but only if I can call you Lou" He said happily 

"My middle name? Sure, why not?" 

"Okay bye Lou" 

"See ya Shads" 

With that Max left to return to Phoebe.