About a week of training after the dungeon adventure, Armin was walking through town, he'd just finished his shift at the tavern, when a pale old man ran up to him and fell at his knees. The man was skinny to the point of being like a skeleton. His skin was pale to the point of being grey. His eyes were as red as a bruise. He was weak, tired. He looked up at Armin,
"Please help... help... me," he struggled for breath, "help my vill... llage." He stopped to catch his breath, "Breatteford," he weezed, "The Shadowma-" the man collapsed on the floor. He was dead. Armin didn't know who or what The Shadowman was or where Breatteford was but he was determined to get to the bottom of the man's death. The first step was to bury the body; a simple job for the local mortician.
⚔
"So where is this Breatteford place then?" Armin asked Resogy, the local cartographer
"Oooh...Hmmm...now let me check my maps.." he turned around and burrowed through his papers like a rabbit. His hands flew like bolts of electricity, checking each and every of his 100s of scrolls, a considerable feat for an 80-something-year-old. Eventually, he turned around,
"Oooh... Hmmm...now if you just take this," he handed over a dirty, worn map, "Mhmm.. this should do it."
Armin stared at the parchment
Armin thanked the cartographer and headed back to his house where he gathered supplies and Brashik, who still didn't really seem to care about anything. After an hour of prep time, Armin headed east.
⚔
After a few hours of sitting on a bird essentially made of stone, next to the burning sun, Armin was relieved to see farmland, extremely barren he noticed. Brashik dived down near a sycamore tree. Armin walked into to town, Brashik waddling behind him. As he got to the town centre, it was the oddest thing he'd seen in a while, there was nobody anywhere. He was very thirsty - it was a particularly hot day - but the eeriness of the streets made him feel awkward to drink from the well. He looked up at Brashik who still seemed completely and utterly nonchalant. While turning back to look at the well, he noticed someone standing at the fourth window from the right in the mansion to his left. When he looked again they were gone. He walked up to the door and knocked the knocker. Nobody replied. He tried again. And again. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! He kept knocking. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Brashik took a sip from the well . 'This place is boring' he thought, 'What's that stupid noise'. He looked over at Armin. He saw him knocking the door. Brashik looked for a more open area of town and waddled over there. He started flapping his wings repeatedly. Air swirled beneath him. He held his beak up high as he pierced through the top window.
Armin looked up as he heard a tremendous crash. "Great job Brashik, except one thing," Armin shouted, "How am I supposed to get up there?" Brashik let out an ear piercing shriek as he crashed out another window, this time next to Armin. He ducked to avoid the sharp shards of glass flying everywhere. Armin didn't know whether to congratulate his friend or not. He decided not to.
Cautiously he walked through it. The inside was dark. There was a red carpet along the floor and that was almost all he could make out. He walked along the corridor tentatively, Brashik following behind thanks to the high ceiling. As they cautiously moved through the corridor they heard a scratching noise. Armin grabbed his sword, it felt right. Anticlimactically, a cleaner came with a sweep. Armin found this curious,
"You sir, what can you tell me about The Shadowman?" He called out
The reply shocked him. Despite the man looking at least 70 he had the voice of a 20 year-old, only a little hoarser.
"Not my problem I just sweep." Replied the cleaner. Armin shrugged and continued on.
Suddenly, the awkward silence was pierced by the oddest scream any of them had ever heard. When it started it was a classic little girl screeching her lungs out, but by the end it was a worn out 60 year-old's cry. Armin and the cleaner rushed there. When they arrived there were 4 other people, all old. An old lady lay on the floor, clearly the victim of an attack, almost definitely by The Shadowman.
"Who are you?" one of them said, instantly assuming it was Armin.
"Now, now Harold, he might be here to help," said another.
"Why would he be?" called one from the back.
Armin defended himself, "I was with the janitor the whole time, it can't have been me." They all looked at the cleaner.
"It's not my problem, I just sweep." he replied.
"Oh shut up. I think we need to organise this. We know it isn't me so I'll do the interrogating."
They all walked down, Armin followed.
"I will be The Interrogator," he repeated, "when I call on you you will come into this room." He gestured to a room with sound proof walls. "First is you," he called on Armin. They walked into the room and Armin sat down.
"Why are you here?"
"To save you from the Shadowman."
"How do you know about the Shadowman?"
"Someone from your village told me about him, told me to save you."
"Who do you think it is?"
"Well that sweeper guy seems kind of suspicious."
"Ok you're dismissed," he came out with Armin and called on the janitor. They walked into the room.
"Are you the Shadowman?"
"No."
"Explain why it wouldn't be you."
"I got attacked, remember."
"We all did!"
"Well then, none of us are."
"Who do you think it is?"
"Not my problem I ju-"
"Don't give me that nonsense!"
"I think it's you."
"You are dismissed." They both walked out and he called upon someone who Armin didn't even recognise. Armin started asking around. He couldn't find much information, but he learned people's names.
"Are you the Shadowman?" asked the interrogator.
"I am the Shadowman," the one being interrogated replied.
"Who is your best friend?"
"My husband, Reginald."
"You are dismissed," they both walked out and he called on Reginald.
"Is your wife the Shadowman?"
"Yes, she is."
"Well I think you are."
"Hmm, nice guess."
"Who do you think it is?"
"My wife."
"Who"
"My wi-"
"WHO DO YOU THINK IT IS!"
"My wife"
"You are dismissed." They walked out and he called on Reginald's daughter. Armin noticed Reginald and his wife having a heated discussion, only in whispers.
"Are you the Shadowman?"
"No, my dad is."
"And why do you think that."
"My mum and my dad both say it's my mum, so they're probably in cahoots and it's dad."
"Exactly what I thought, so it can't be, they'd tell you"
"They did," she said, "I didn't believe them."
He walked out and called on Reginald and Sherry (his wife)
"Which one of you is the Shadowman?" They all pointed at Sherry. Suddenly, Armin burst through the door with a mind-boggling discovery. "I found a secret passageway, it's very small though, so only a child could fit through." To Armin this meant nothing as none of them were children but Harold knew many things he didn't. The Shadowman attacks by rapidly aging people, he knew that before The Shadowman's appearance, and the only child in the house was the daughter. Harold grabbed her arm aggressively.
"What are you doing?" asked Armin
"It's her," claimed Harold, before dragging her with him into a separate room.
"What is all that then?" Armin asked the parents.
"When she was born the nurse died and a great shadow-plague emerged from her and housed itself inside our child. We tried to hide it. Then the attacks started. She would be suddenly corrupted by a ghost, a ghoul, a spectre, whatever you call it, it was evil, killing people slowly and painfully. We knew we had to do something but we didn't know what. Harold never got suspicious but when he asked us we decided the best thing to do was pretend it was Sherry. Clearly it didn't work," they replied. Armin had much to think about, he had to stop a murderer but could he kill a child? Well. An old lady who should be a girl. Still pretty bad though.
He heard a scream. Then a thud. They all rushed into the room Harold had taken her. The door blasted open before they got to it. A ghost emerged through the door. It had a skeletal body covered in a dark robe that merged with the shadows forming its eyes, scythe and where its legs should have been were nothing but shadows, seemingly hundreds of cuts in reality filled by shadow. It was terrifying. Spine chilling. They all froze but Armin, who springed into action to get the innocents out of there. He just about managed. The Shadowman (or rather Shadowoman, Armin now realised) screeched in anger but the screech merged into a horrifying cackle. Armin noticed Harold's corpse lying back in the separate room. The Shadowoman swiped at him with its huge, ebony scythe. Armin leapt into the air as a dodge, speedily throwing his axes into its eyes. Nothing. Straight through. 'Not a chance.' Armin dodged attacks continuously, trying to figure out how he could counter-attack. His thoughts were cut off by a screech of laughter as a storm of shadows surrounded them both. Armin could barely see anything as cuts in reality surrounded him. He was pretty sure he wasn't in the mansion anymore. He looked around to find any signs of something helpful. He dodged another attack by running towards The Shadowoman when suddenly he heard a crying child, shortly followed by the same evil cackle. He stared into the centre of his enemy. Nothing but a little girl crying her eyes out. Shadow once again covered her as The Shadowoman slashed with its scythe at Armin. He rolled to the side to once again see the little girl. He called to the little girl. She couldn't hear. He called again. His attempts were thwarted by an ear-piercing scream that seemed to be related to the girl becoming even more hysterical. Her tears became shadows that flew around them both. Armin dashed to the back of The Shadowman and reached out to the girl. She turned her head towards him to reveal eyes of a pure onyx. Nope. Of course not. There is no good ending. Armin came to the realisation he would have to kill the child to end the fight. Shadows shot at him like shards of glass each coming from the girl's continuous tears. Armin dodged an incoming attack with another shoulder roll, once again revealing the child. He drew his sword and slashed. He stabbed. He couldn't reach and now the Shadows had turned to face him with another scythe attack. He sprinted around it until he was directly behind. He walked towards the child. The forces of the shadow storm around them were immense and he couldn't do much more than push. The Shadows reached him again and attacked, he retreated so the ghost would have to chase him. He thought back to his last adventure. Brownie had said it was a very special sword. He channelled his will into making it do something, anything, absolutely any- CCRACCKKKLE BANG CRASH. Armin looked to the sky and a new power filled him as a lightning bolt hit his sword directly. The air crackled around him with power. Lightning escaped the sword to stop the shadows from hitting Armin. He lurched toward the Shadow lich and light fought dark in a battle of epic proportions. Thousands of lightning bolts vs hundreds of shadows. Armin slammed his sword down on the ground as a humongous lightning bolt shot at the Shadowoman. It let out an almighty scream and with the shadows disappeared, but not before it let out its final scream,
"Now you have this power he'll come for you, BEWARE THE NAME OF SCARDENT!!!!!" Armin slumped to the ground, his power gone, but not just that. In his arms was the body of a little girl, no more than 4. The others walked in.
"You did it!" one said.
"Ha Ha! Great job," said another.
"Wait... where's Harold?" one near the back asked.
"Dead... just like her... just like so many... so many dead..." said Armin.
He walked out to let the others grieve. Brashik appeared gladly, but quickly changed his mood to match Armin's. There was a slow, quiet fly home. Armin slept and did nothing for a week. Then he came. The man of only fire...