Chapter 2: Episode 1 - Tales of Wonder
Spring was in full swing with occasional showers and fully blooming flowers. The figure of Damien was tall and straight. He wasn't particularly striking to look at but the distinct air of gloom around him stood out against the colorful spring. He walked slowly down the bright sidewalks with music in his earphones. His mind was scattered with uninteresting thoughts and questions.
"Sweet spring is here, the sun is too bright," the whispers were complaining but Damien focused on his own thoughts.
"Shades of trees allures," the whispers accompanied a tug on his sleeve towards a park, "Lesser noise to endure."
Better noise than listening to your complaints though, Damien thought but dared not speak out.
He walked down the path and crossed the street, all while looking down. Damien felt satisfied watching his shadows being forced to stay in a tight circle or being squeezed around by the shadows of streetlights and other people. The bright sun was his friend, but they often requested Damien to stay under shades. When they had more space… Damien could only sigh.
It wasn't that he wanted to follow a weird voice everyone could neither hear nor understand. It was that they are truly capable of threatening Damien and the people around him. Fortunately, he managed to avert most of the threats. He knew that they are extremely lazy in nature. This helped him figure out ways to dissuade them often. It was the most effective way for him to rebel.
As soon as Damien stepped under the tree shades, his shadows expanded and began playing around. He could see flower petals being plucked, leaves rustling and children running away from something. He picked a random bench and sat down before pulling out his phone and reading a book in it.
Damien could feel the prickly feeling of the shadows around him loosening and breaking free. From the corners of his eyes, he saw more animals screeching, children crying, and flowers crushed. It made him feel a tinge of pity for them, but he wasn't that selfless to hold back the shadows for some strangers. The darker the area, the stronger the shadows are. There was no merit in wasting extra effort on it. At the same time, they'll detach from him when there are larger spaces to roam. It was a rare time for him to feel a little bit more free than usual. Damien spent two or so hours simply reading under the cool breeze of spring and basking in relative silence.
It wasn't long after the chapter he was reading ended that Damien felt the shadows converging around him again. He shuddered at the feeling. It felt like something is prickling on his skin and hanging on to it, not letting him go. He didn't hear them speak but he knew they were bored of the park already. Damien glanced at the time on his phone before standing up. It was time to head back so he might as well leave.
The sun was barely setting so the way back was filled with his shadows cramming on a long and thin shadow behind Damien. He smiled slightly, amused at the discomfort of his shadows. Damien glanced up at the setting sun and squinted. It felt slightly warmer than the usual spring, but he could still feel the chill in the winds. His pace quickened as he didn't want to stay outside after sunset.
"Child," the whisper in his mind was abrupt, "Feed us tonight, or else…"
Damien stopped in his tracks and looked behind him incredulously.
"That sentence doesn't need to be elaborated."
"No, it doesn't," Damien replied in his mind, "Who's asking?"
The shadows were quiet before some of them echoed their names in Damien's mind one after the other.
"Seas, hungry."
"Rose."
"Moon Twin…"
"Sun Twin!"
"Spade and Blood."
Damien continued walking back as the chorus of names echoed in his mind. He took out his phone to check the list of food that each shadow ate. He had lived with them for a long time, so he knew what each of them fed on. He had to prepare for them tonight.
Seas was the most impatient, but it feeds on saltwater only, so Damien had no problems with it. Rose feeds on organic plants while the twins feed upon toys most of the time. Fortunately, he could just ask the twins to point out what they would like in the convenience store. They were shadows with relatively normal feeding habits.
It was when he heard Spade and Blood together that he couldn't help groaning. These two were the most vicious of the group of Shadows that has never left him alone. Spade feeds on hatred while Blood feeds on meat and fresh blood. If they were asking to be fed together, Damien was almost certain that…
"Slaughter for us, human." Spade's voice was distinctly masculine despite shadows generally being androgynous.
"Fresh slaughter," Blood added like a child waiting for candy, laughing merrily.
Damien rubbed his aching forehead. He wasn't looking forward to these two teaming up, ever. He would have to return later than expected since he can't possibly slaughter something with his roommate around. He switched from the notes app and texted his roommate first. Damien made up some reason on the spot to tell his roommate. When that was done, he looked at the time again.
"Damn, it's almost 5 PM already," Damien groaned once again, frustrated that he would have to be outside when it was dark after all. His mind wandered into thoughts of being alone in the dark night. These shadows would be even more restless…
"Excuse me!"
The voice of some girl woke Damien from his thoughts. The girl was waving her hand in front of him with a stack of leaflets in her other hand. She moved her hand back when she saw him finally focus on her.
"Are you okay? I was asking if you were interested in the time-limited sale of our store," The girl put on a polite smile and Damien nervously laughed back as he took off his earphones.
"I'm sorry, I was thinking about something else."
"Well, you stopped in front of our store. Might as well check it out?" The girl's smile was professional as she welcomed him to the store behind her.
The store was relatively new. Damien was sure he had never visited this store before. It was named Tales of Wonder and sells various trinkets, at least from what he could see. He wanted to decline the girl's offer but saw the shadow beneath him reaching a tendril out towards the store. He knew the cues of these shadows who were too lazy to speak.
"Alright, what do you guys sell?" Damien reluctantly engaged in a conversation that he hoped will end quickly.
"Tales of Wonder has many wondrous objects from all around the world. We sell and buy unique objects or trinkets from various cultures. Come take a look around to see if anything interests you," The girl fluently introduced and the two entered the store.
"I see," Damien nodded slightly and began looking everywhere but the girl.
Damien isn't the type to be shy around girls. He was simply the type to be shy around just about anyone. It wouldn't be an overestimation to say he was averse to most human interaction. The girl was either a professional or she had seen various types of customers, so she took the cue and let Damien be.
Damien took a cursory glance at the things in the shop, fully prepared to take a single lap around and leave politely. Be it due to bad luck or simply because the shadows took anything and everything for granted, Damien felt them loosen around him and spread across the store. There were the low murmurs from different shadows and Damien made it a point to ignore them. If they ever needed to let him know something, they'll make sure he could hear them clearly.
After taking a proper look around, Damien found the store to be interesting. The decorations were antique but didn't lack the simplicity of modern furnishing. No two items on sale were the same with pairs or groups of items being the only exceptions. They organized the various items based on their aesthetics so looking around the store from any angle looked pleasing. Albeit the lack of strict division or arrangements for the items, everything seemed to be where they need to be instead of disorderly.
Damien hesitated slightly before deciding to see the corner with the most books. He skimmed the titles on the spine of the books. They were mainly folk stories, legends, or myths from different regions of the world. That caught his attention. He picked one out to check its contents. The book's title was "The Ancients before Ancient Gods". Although the title seemed domineering, the book was more like a catalogue for mystical beings.
It was clear why Damien might be interested in reading these seemingly historical records of fantastical beings. He was truly curious about the shadows. All he knew was that they couldn't care less about the normal world unless it's some mischievous acts. He may or may not have read through many books and articles just to find anything about the shadows. Living your whole life with a set of shadows that tries to ruin your life at every turn can do that to anyone. Most of the time, Damien was left with disappointment.
To be honest with himself, Damien had never met or seen any other creature like the shadows that live in his shadow. The stereotypical vampires and werewolves were certainly out of the question. Even shows of magic were rare and few in between. The most that the shadows were willing to do had been to trip someone or picking up things by manipulating their shadow. He wasn't optimistic but he was persistent.
His pale fingers paused on a page as Damien raised an eyebrow.
The page was a short entry in the book about a creature whose existence had unknown beginnings. The crude drawing showed a generic human and two shadows below it. One of the shadows was normal while the other had a smile on it. The details on this entry were distinctly lesser than the other entries he had skipped through.
This creature was called a Saiya Araysh, meaning the shadow over a shadow.
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