Disappear: Into Shadow

- CHAPTER FIFTEEN -

Immersed in the heavy fog blanketing the grey wastelands of Purgatory it was easy to become lost. The fogs bewildered with ease and removed all sense of time, depth and space. One shadow amongst the mists did not appear lost. Moving with a sense of purpose and direction in his rottweiler guise, Dagan emerged from the billowing banks of grey.

Loping along, his deep brown eyes blinked at the monotone landscape. The dog glowed with a reddening brilliance of light. A thin belt of mist blew across the peak, covering the mountaintop garden and its cold slabs of stone.

When the fog lifted, a tall man with dark chestnut hair and penetrating hazel eyes stood where the dog had once been. His face was handsome though stern. He moved with quiet precision and grace through the garden. His exterior appeared calm but what the poise hid was turmoil.

Pacing like a caged animal, he waited for someone or something. Obviously, waiting did not agree with him. With its reddened outline, a pale shimmering light of deep blue hung on his body. His light bled into the wisps of fog passing around him to create a wider diffuse haze of red and blue.

Other shadows and lights began appearing in the fog banks, moving towards the man waiting at the peak of Purgatory's lonely grey mountain. Adding their colours to the otherwise neutral surroundings, from his left came a shadow of bright, sensational green. To his right, two deep blue orbs spun around each other as they approached. The impatient man smiled when the shadows broke out from the grey background.

Standing at the center of the garden were the two stockbrokers. Susan and Simon were each surrounded by deep blue light. Behind them waited a glowing emerald humanoid silhouette.

Walking into the circle of stones, Dagan stood before his friends. Stepping forwards Susan wore a radiant smile almost stretching from ear to ear.

"Dagan," she said, embracing him. "We missed you."

Breaking the hug Dagan said, "It's been far too long, Susan. Hi Simon."

Simon and Dagan hugged and began chattering like old friends reunited after an extended absence. They were together again. It felt as though no time had passed since their last meeting. The silent green silhouette watched the friends talk. The subject eventually turned to the circle's absentee. "Where's Michael?" Dagan asked.

"No idea," Susan said.

"He's probably off with you-know-who," Simon replied.

"It figures," Dagan huffed. "Count on him to be wrapped up with some woman."

"Dagan!" Susan said.

"What?" Dagan retorted.

Drifting towards them, the emerald silhouette interrupted with a deep voice, calm as the glassy surface of a lake in the morning: pristine, untroubled and beautiful. "She's not just any woman, Dagan. You, if anyone, should know that."

A shimmering rippled along the silhouette as its body transformed into an ancient Asian man. Confucian in appearance with long white moustache and kind green eyes, he wore an infectious smile and held a gnarled wooden cane.

"Who are you?" Susan asked.

"He's a Demon Cleaner, I'd say." Dagan said.

"I am Immael. I helped bring life to your world. I am an architect, of sorts."

"You're a Sphere?" An incredulous Susan asked. "You design life for Creation?'