The Tales of the Shadows

5. Doubt and Duty

The atmosphere felt odd to Audrey, something she had never experienced before. She then realised that this would become her life for the next few years.

A man sat in his dull room, alone, the windows shut tight and the curtains drawn hastily about the worn out frame. He lay loosely on his bed, his thin and weak figure sprawled across the stained blue sheets. A green glass bottle sat on the bedside and he rested his hand on it.

A saddened look came in Audrey's eyes. So desolate. So sorrowful. And yet so... human.

Galen held her hand warmly, giving a small without averting his gaze from the scene. Audrey turned to her friend, smiling with gratitude, and he left her friend. Audrey took a deep breath, closing her eyes.

Breath. So human.

She let go of her opinions, her emotions, and let the scene flood in its entirety. As the little Shadow opened her eyes, the scene seemed changed but more... raw. No more sorrow, no more dejection. Simply a human in a bad stage of life. A bad stage from his then perspective, which was all it was. But it made his experience of life.

No creature seemed to be anywhere around the man, and that puzzled the little Shadow. Only a murky outline of a depressed and contorted aura, a blue dark as black, like a shallow halo coming out from his mind. Could it be that the creature was invisible? No, she would still be able to sense the presence. Galen certainly would.

Audrey looked to her friend again but the boy shook his head, momentarily averting his gaze towards her. That was when Audrey realised there was no creature, only the human and his mind.

Suddenly a fragile creature, almost a skeleton with rotting skin, appeared beside the man who took a deep breath, an odd sense of clarity now in that halo. He lifted his head up, looking at the glass bottle somewhat longingly and with hate, till his head fell back to the bed. A few moments passed and Galen took a step forward but Audrey held his hand gently. Audrey tried to lend a little bit of the light from her mind to the man.

After a few minutes the man finally stood up, taking the bottle and walking towards the dustbin, letting it go, walking back to is room only to return to his previous state.

Audrey nodded, though her eyes held a hesitant and saddened look. "Do we have to kill the creature?"

As Audrey's voice reverberated in a soothing tone Galen sighed, pausing. He shook his head, turning to her friend with a smile.

"I'll see what I can do, you help him," he replied with a small smile and Audrey gave a grateful nod.

Audrey remained by the window as Galen proceeded. She chose not to close her eyes, instead looking into the brown emptiness of the man's eyes. His thoughts came surprisingly easily to her; they weren't buried like she expected, but rather, were floating freely in his mind. He wanted to let go of his habit his mind, his blame and his deep remorse held all those thoughts together with a force like that of a massive sun. However, even that force wasn't enough to suck all the light in; that still escaped and so could the man, Audrey was sure of it.

"Remember your past, your goals, your true wishes, your duty," Audrey whispered in the sun's abyss, simply reading out the man's own thought, but perhaps her energy amplified his voice.

"Remember your self."

The halo had now become a part of the creature. Audrey sensed Galen's invisible presence behind the creature and noticed a faint but powerful shock in his eyes. Hesitantly he raised his blade, creating a simple cut on his collarbone while using his ability of invisibility to make the halo disappear, alienating the creature from it. Perhaps some of his innocence was stripped away, because a bundle of energy separated from him and met the dark halo, bursting and neutralising.