Shadow Color (NEW VERSION)

Chapter 16

The next morning, Macaria decided to give Simon a call to make sure Mochi found him alright. Renley seemed interested in Natsuki's gaming console, so Natsuki decided to teach her about video games. Apparently, Renley had never heard of or played a video game before despite her being in this world for almost two years. As Natsuki was explaining the buttons functions on the controller to Renley, Macaria stepped outside to call Simon. It didn't take long before he answered.

"Hello?"

Macaria nearly jumped as he spoke. Talking on the phone made her nervous, but since he had already picked up, she had to speak. "Hey, Simon, it's Macaria. I was just calling to see if Mochi found you alright," Macaria began as tried to keep calm.

"Ah, yes! The little gremlin found me rather quickly. Apparently, I ended up not too far from the rest of you," Simon replied. He sounded oddly happy.

It took Macaria a few moments to understand what he was talking about. She had forgotten that he had slipped on ice and fallen through a portal. Come to think of it, that might have been the work of Felix and Vincent. Renley did say that Vincent was the one who froze the side of the car and Felix knew shadow magic. "That's right, I forgot you tried to help us back there."

Simon sighed, "Yeah, I was. I was thinking about shooting you a message about what happened yesterday. Are you free to talk about it now?"

This surprised Macaria. Although, it did make sense if he wanted to talk about it since he didn't have the full context of the situation. Neither did Mochi. She poked her head inside for a moment. The two seemed invested in the video game they were playing so she didn't want to disturb them. "Yeah, I can talk now," Macaria told Simon over the phone as she slowly closed the door. Just before she could close the door all the way, Renley's ears twitched as she turned to look at the door as it closed.

"Sounds like it was quite the day for you and Natsuki. What all happened? It was on the late-night news and morning news." Simon asked as Macaria hopped down the few steps and began walking down the sidewalk. She explained the events from when they found Renley to them talking about how to help Hoshiko. After she finished, there was a long pause. The pause caused Macaria to stop in the middle of the sidewalk and check her reception. Full bars, perfect reception. "Simon?"

The pause continued for a few more moments before Simon answered, "Sorry, I was thinking about something. I'm almost certain that Shadow Dawn is after the spirits, but why? They would have to do something unbelievably threatening to have captured the gods attention to send their spirit servants to this world."

"So, the more attention it gains by the gods the more dangerous the situation really is?" Macaria asked.

"Correct. We've only known about one spirit until Renley confirmed that there is another here. Two spirits are currently in out world, one is free roaming while the other is stuck in another world. Could this be part of the wind god's plan?"

"How big of a threat would Shadow Dawn have to be if there are two spirits here?"

"Pretty big. The reason why the gods are sending their spirit servants is because they see Shadow Dawn as a threat that would be too hard for people like us to handle. Makes me wonder if they pose a bigger threat then what we originally thought. Anyway, thanks for sharing this information with me. Let me know if you find out more about the spirits. It seems they need our protection just as much as we need theirs."

"Simon, how come you know so much about this?" Macaria asked, almost cutting him off. She could hear him take a deep breath and exhale slowly on the other end. His silence was beginning to irritate her, "Come on, tell me!" she demanded. The silence felt more intense than before.