Brainsick Halloween

The Way of Shadows (music_ally)

The Way of Shadows

He prefers to travel home by the way of shadows. It's faster and safer, at least for someone with as much experience as him. Besides, the streetlights are warded, and he feels them like needles against his skin as he walks past- not overly painful, but an inconvenience nonetheless. If he hadn't trained his abilities as much as he had, he wouldn't notice the lights at all. But he chose this- and he doesn't regret it. Dissolving through the darkness is only the beginning of what he is capable of now, but he marvels at it. The boundary between his skin and the world around him begins to fade. He is more shadow than person, a fragment of the alley itself. Did he hear something? A footstep on the concrete- he looks up, already prepared to disappear completely. A girl stares back. The light behind her prickles at his senses- but he barely notices it, because she is fading. She is like him. For a moment he doesn't understand why she looks so afraid, and why he doesn't recognize her. He knows all the others of his kind... She gestures helplessly at herself.

"What are you doing? What am I?"