Chapter 88

  Darker Echoes

  A faint dull buzzing ache filled the back of my teeth as my mind processed what was happening to Johny and his bubbling shadow. One shadow that seemed to pulse and bubble slightly as it desperately tried to run from one foot to the next, as Johny made his way down to the ring. Again, my mind was a bit fuzzy at the odd visual image it was deciphering as nothing like this shadow appeared under Lucia, who by all signs was clear of any shadows, despite being off center from the blinding overhead lights from above.

  The entire event of his entering the arena, to my mind finally recognizing the oddity with Johny’s shadow only took the span of two heart beats, or one and a half steps towards the ring. That was enough time for me to feel that something was off and make a look towards Mr. Yi to see what he thought of the situation. Unfortunately, Mr. Yi was busy scanning the crowd, but in the exact opposite way. Seeing his distraction, I gently reached out and elbowed him in the side. Not hard, but solid enough to get his attention.

  When he turned back a slightly annoyed look filled his face as he looked at me. Then apparently seeing something in my gaze he paused and waited for me to reply. That’s when I pointed and turned back to face Johny but was confused for a moment at what I saw.

  For Johny was not making a straight path towards the ring but was instead interacting with the crowd and trying to hype them up. Going so far as to excitedly slap extended hands and smile brightly for the audience. His fake jovial side, the side that he always showed to the public on full display. Seeing him smile, I felt a wave of revulsion at his clear grandiose fa?ade, the one used by narcissists to appear charming to others. Seeing Johny was like seeing one of my past life exes, I can’t remember their name, but my mind instantly notes the behaviors and patterns. It is likely why I’ve had such a violent personal revulsion to Johny from the start. While I had known he was a bully, it is only now with this fresh memory of my past life, and the utter betrayal I felt that I remembered the warning signs.

  My mind is momentarily stopped by the still fuzzy memory. One that still sends echoes of fear through me as I remember just how deeply that other person traumatized me in my past life. While my mind has fortunately hidden or blunted the worst parts of what exactly happened, my mind is well enough to remind me not to fall for such a person again. That is why my mind focuses on him, on his face, which allows me to almost see a fake jovial smiling mask that he presents to the public, while also hiding the real features of his soul.

  “What is it?” Mr. Yi asks, his voice low, but still able to project over the thick murmuring of the crowd.

  Hearing his words, I shake my head momentarily dismissing the personality threat posed by Johny and instead focus on the real issue. The shadow under his feet, but that’s when I realize something is off.

  I pause, holding my left finger up, as I was apparently prepared to point out the bubbling shadow, only to find that in the time that I looked away and back the error had corrected itself. The issue with the shadow was now fixed? At least that is what my mind told me, as I realized I couldn’t see the shadow any more. But that only caused my mind to spin faster, as I know I looked once, then twice and was certain I had seen a bubbling shadow under Johny’s feet.

  “There was a shadow,” I finally state, trying to voice my concerns as clearly as possible. Though I know that my words might not make any sense. Even now trying to voice the concern I feel like a small child crying at the idea of a shadow finding them at night. Still, something inside me tells me that I need to state this fear.

  “A shadow?” Mr. Yi parrots back, for a moment I look at him, but realize he is the only one who never enforced that parroting game while training with me. Shaking my head, I focus and respond.

  “Yes, when Johny came out with Lucia, Johny had a shadow under his feet.”

  Markan who had seen the movement out of the corner of his eye and had been watching my direction from the beginning paused and replied, “yeah, of course he had a shadow. Look at the lights.”

  That’s when Johny walked by, this time all three of us turned to stare at him as he made his way past us and onto the stage. As his time grandstanding and interacting with the crowd was now over. As he passed by, all three of us just stared at him with turning silence. It was evident that our intense stare elicited a physical reaction from him as goose flesh seemed to appear on his well-oiled neck and body.

  “See—” Markan began, but his voice quickly trailed off as he realized that once up on the ring, the slight shadows that had been afforded to him by the posts were now gone as he stepped onto the ring and had next to no shadow. “Oh, well was it a faint shadow?”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  I shake my head. As I am responding to Markan, Mr. Yi is already taking the threat seriously as he begins to pulse glowing golden energy into his eyes before he begins to scan the crowd. Seeing his action, I begin to do the same, pouring golden Holy energy into my own eyes as I activate my own Divine Sight.

  Looking around, I realize that I have absolutely no clue what I am looking for, only the faintest of ideas that I am looking for a possible shadow. A feat that seems nearly impossible, as this shadow should be at the feet of people, and given that everyone is seated in rows of gradually ascending chairs, the odds of finding a shadow at someone’s feet seems impossible. Yet, that is precisely when the seemingly impossible happens. That impossibility is the intense lighting from overhead to shift and change in our viewing direction.

  Fortunately, it seemed that the ever weary and aware Sal had spotted our actions and had signaled for the overhead lights to turn and face the crowd. There were audible clicks as the lights turned on and then seemed to shift as a different colored lens was twisted into place, causing the light to take on a yellowish hue. Then I saw it, a shadow that seemed to twist and bubble from the intense lights focused on it, and that’s when things changed even further for now when those bubbles popped, they seemed to release bursts of sound with them. Each popping bubble released a sound so deep and ominous that my blood feels like it is freezing right there on the spot.

  This is a deep throaty gurgling sound, that reminds me of the annoyed roar made by the oversized alligator from this morning. A similar sound to that comes to life and seems to echo around the arena. There are just two problems. First, the oversized creature from this morning is dead, and second this sound causes a deep seeded fear to rise up and bloom within my heart, as my body’s first instinct is to panic and run away.

  ***

  (Salvatore Malocchio)

  In all, life had been kind to Salvatore. Cursed with the burden of saving not one but two royal children from a dead and dying homeland had been tough. But Salvatore was not a quitter, knowing that not just his life, but the life of others had been placed in his care, he rose to the challenge.

  While others might have seen Salvatore’s actions of taking in Lucia and Luna under his care as an act of kindness, the truth is that his actions could not have been further from the truth. In reality, the reason he worked and strived so hard for both of his girls to have a better life than the one that they had been handed was that Sal was ultimately a coward at heart.

  Everyone always assumes they are brave, that they will step up when death looks you in the face and rise to the challenge. At one point a young Sal figured himself to be such a determined person. Yet, the first and only time he had been given a chance to arise and prove his true worth, he faltered. He buckled under pressure and hid when he first heard the of not one but three low gurgling sounds erupt from the Paraisthisi castle walls.

  Originally assigned as a simple honor guard member for the Paraisthisi estate, the task had been simple. Show up in the fancy uniform of the elite guard unit, show off how powerful and prosperous the Paraisthisi household was doing. Then provide protection should any dissenting family houses show up and attempt to ruin what was otherwise a joyous occasion.

  There was just one problem, well multiple problems. The main problem was that the Paraisthisi house had grown too far too fast according to many of the older houses who felt the squeeze of their lost political power crippling them. Worse, there was nothing that anyone could do for the head of the Paraisthisi family was a distant cousin of the Emperor and a genuinely good person, one that everyone flocked to. That was why he was targeted, and what ultimately led to his downfall. They had a saying in the old country, the brightest light attracts the ugliest of moths, and house Paraisthisi was living proof of this old adage. For many families all tried to gain favor with the Paraisthisi house, with only a few actually succeeding.

  This perceived bias led to many houses being angered, something that young Sal had not been aware of at the time. Had he known what would have happened, then he might not have gone, his self-preservation instincts kicking in at that exact moment before going. Yet, the payday was too much to ignore, as he had been promoted just to help make a symmetric number of guards. For some reason, the madame of the Paraisthisi house wanted exactly forty-nine guardsmen present, as forty-nine would be an auspicious number for her family. Little did he know at the time that he, the last guard promoted to such a lustrous rank, would be the only one to survive that night.

  Ever since that night, Sal has had many times when he had odd feelings, deep rumbling warnings in his bones that let him know that things were about to go bad. While there were times that were bad, and he had even gotten a Foresight Skill related to finding these troubles, nothing had compared to the intense warnings that his mind and body had given him that day. Warnings that were so intense that his body froze up from inactivity, forcing him to stand still and listen in horror from a safe room, a disused pantry that he had gone to, in order to get cleaning supplies. A trip that ultimately saved his life, despite the fear and humiliation that ate at him ever since. Fear and humiliation that forced him to uphold his oath to protect the Paraisthisi house and their allies, which is how Sal ended up being the sole guardian for both Luna and Lucia.

  While the times had been tough, he had never regretted his actions. That was why, today, when Sal had that same flaming pit of despair and fear growing in his gut before he came today, he was already on high alert.

  Then to see the way that both the over capable Healer, one who was truly worthing of carrying on the title of Bloom heir, and the famed Mr. Yi both scanning the crowd intently with glowing golden eyes, Sal reacted. Well first, he fought through the wave of fear that had held him tightly as he realized why he had been so afraid all day, as if some great weight would fall and crush him.

  With only a gesture, he waved to the lighting on the far side and with a few hand signals got them to change out their lenses for the costly but effective Holy lenses. These were the magic infused artifacts that while costly, were worth every penny, particularly with how well they made royalty and influential audience members rest assured that every copper piece assigned to safety was being used adequately.

  There was an intense mechanical popping sound as the crew of trained light operators acted as one and all began to shed a light on the audience. This was where the true design of the polarized protective lenses came into work, for while they made the inside darker and ultimately made it easier for the fighters to forget that an audience of cheering and screaming fans were watching and cheering for violence. They also served as magnifying lenses, ones that amplified all light shining through them and helped empower the minor magical effects of the overhead lights.

  The results, well they spoke for themselves, as instantly the darkness that usually fell over the crowd facing the north side of the building, the section that housed the political leaders from both the empire, and those of the still visiting dignitaries from the neighboring Nostrylvanian empire surged to life.

  Then Sal heard it, a deep rumbling sound that reminded him of death, of the night when his whole life changed and he realized just how much of a true coward he was.

  For there at the very entrance to the section was the unmistakable flowing and bubbling shadow of an awakened Death Eater.