Chapter 193 - 193 – The Shade I

Year 5, Winter, First Month, Third Week

On the third week of winter, snow fell all over the Serion Kingdom painting in white cities, villages, houses, and castles alike. Well, everywhere except for the south, in the fire region. The land touched by the everlasting fire spell would never know cold or ice. Throughout all the extension of the flaming dominion, the fire energies burned bright, enhancing the sun’s blessing by the day and leaving the warmth of the earth by night.

Close to the eastern fire border, on the city known for never sleeping, a shadow blinked between the illuminated streets and the dark cover of scorched stone buildings. It crossed the low city market and the slums, before entering a rundown shack.

Sometime later, the shadow traveled again and stopped at a dirty shelter filled with sleeping orphans in the poorest part of the slums.

In one of the deepest rooms, it loomed over the unfortunate children until it reached for a girl. Surprisingly, behind the bruises and dirt, the dark brown-haired child wore a calm and easy smile, unusually seen in the sleep of those who suffered so much. The orphan slowly opened her sunken eyes but jumped up once she realized the presence of a stranger..

“Miss… Is that you? Miss, I’m sorry…”

“Shush!… Stay quiet and come with me.”

The sleepy girl didn’t resist and readily followed the shadow outside, focusing all her attention on jumping through the other children. When outside, she noticed the shadow fleeing down the street, faster than before. Without thinking, she dashed after it, paying close attention to avoid the light and open spaces, as it did. Even in the dark, the girl’s eyes shined with curiosity and admiration.

The shadow speed increased, and the pursuer had to run faster too. However, she soon remembered one of the few instructions given by her hidden savior. Be like a shadow at all times, silent, fast, and hidden. So, she tried to calm her breathing, and lighten her hurried steps. And at a small level, she did. She moved like a shadow, or at least, similarly enough to avoid the attention of those who weren’t sleeping.

For a brief moment, she was exhilarated. But again, she recalled that a shadow was calm and quiet, even on the inside. Soon, they entered an old hut, even shabbier than the shelter. The shadow stood close to the wall, touching an ordinary stone. It shined drawing a circular diagram on the stone. Then, it moved back revealing a hole and a path down.

“Miss…?”

The girl wanted to ask, but she could only follow the shadow inside. Strangely, she never considered that it could be dangerous, she just feared being incapable of following the shadow. But when her shaking foot stepped on a lower step, she felt relieved and no longer hesitated. The darkness inside was gone in a second, and the girl almost fell back due to the sudden light invasion.

Once she was used enough to open her eyes, she opened them and saw a world full of wonders. The floor and walls were covered in perfect-sized and cut wood, in a level of craftiness that could surprise even a homeless child.

The furniture, a bed and a table, though simple also had exquisiteness that screamed wealth. However, the most wonderful and unbelievable thing was the crystals, one at the center, lighting the room, and a couple more over the table inlaid in a wood tool with drawings.

“You get used to the sudden light.”

“Miss…”

“Sit over there... You passed my test, and now you’re ready to become one of us. But before, you need to know our mission…”

The girl continued to nod furiously. As long as she doesn’t have to hurt the other children, she would accept anything.

“We will bring freedom, to children and older, to Humans and others, from here to all the four regions, to everyone who suffered under the Mages. They told you that the world outside these walls is dangerous, but we’ll show you all the beauty and magic there. They say you’re inferior, born to serve them, but we’ll give you the power to end them. But if you follow me, you’ll live in the shadows, always watching the colorful world from the dark. Those you save might never thank or even know of you. You’ll be silent, cold, and unseen… What’s your answer?”

“I… I accept! Miss, I want…”

“Call me shadow from now on. And I’ll call you shade… Maybe in time, you can become a shadow too…”

***

After eating and drinking some oddly unflavored water, the eager girl finally calmed a little. This time, Samia’s mission was to strengthen her information net in Twin Suns, so it could become a proxy for all the intelligence gathering in the fire region. Her proposal, which had been immediately approved by Lew, was to create a local branch of spies to infiltrate the Kingdom.

Previously, their operation was limited to acquiring information from the homeless children in exchange for some coins. In fact, the costs and risks of doing so were extremely low. Even if they were caught, the children wouldn’t know anything that could be traced back to AK. The spied would probably just assume it to be the work of another region.

However, the strategy changed and AK decide to invest in the young spies. Truth was that even if they had enough crystals to place one shadow in every city of the Kingdom, their reach would still be limited. Also, the rescue plan would require a lot of information and they only had six months to gather it.

So, the shadow came up with a plan to extend their hands into the Serion Kingdom by training the most promising orphans. Of course, they would take an oath of secrecy, just like the shade did.

Their job would be managing the information net and carrying basic missions. To help them, the alchemists developed a magic belt to be used under their clothes. The tool would give them some basic obscure, speed, and lightening effects, which had to be recharged weekly at their base.

The design was simple and pretty straightforward. A Lightness and a Contain Rune connected to a Direction Array that would transmit the effects to the wearer, powered by a MQ energy crystal embedded in the belt. The belt had to be placed over the effect recharger, to pass the properties obscure and wind affinity, from the shadow and wind crystals to the Contain Rune, which would slowly release the effects until discharged.

The tool’s output was tiers from a shadow gear, which had stronger lasting effects and would include wind boost, solid bubble barrier, sound cancelation, and even concealment in some cases. Still, the belt would help the shades stay unnoticed and escape when needed.

First, the shade learned how to access the base and operate it. Instead of trying to teach the illiterate girl how to read and write, Samia focused on a few codes for messages over the communicator. Her reports would be limited to the status of missions and a couple of emergency codes, anything else would be passed in person.

Then, they spend a big part of the night training the girl’s balance and movements when under the effect of the enhancements. Being magically lighter and faster could be quite difficult. In a normal situation, the shadow would give her some weeks of free testing before moving to another mission, but they couldn’t afford the wait.

“Your first mission is to choose someone to distribute the coins and collect the information from the other children. I don’t need to tell you the importance of choosing someone you can trust. You have two days, then we’ll be leaving the city for a week or so.”

“Yes, M… Shadow.”

She wanted to ask more about it, but manage to repress the curiosity.

“I have a mission at Fire Gate but I need to train you a little longer, so you’ll be following me.”

What the shadow omitted, was that the girl would be a big help in getting the trust of the local orphans in a new city. Though many would think that they could use the homeless children just by offering some coins, they would be shocked to find out how suspicious the little ones are around strangers. Fortunately, Samia already had the trust of one of them herself, and hopefully, it would be the key for accessing the children of other cities.