The Shaded (One Shot Original Fic)

[Xyex]

Mathew had been coming here everyday at five for the last two weeks. It wasn’t exactly out of his way, six blocks east and three more north, but there were closer places. However, Charlie’s Bar and Grill was the only place you could find the Old Man. He didn’t know what first drew him to the Old Man, or even to Charlie’s Bar and Grill, but he knew why he kept coming back. There was something about the old guy, something that made him believe his story and urged him to come back to hear more of it. He sat now in the same seat at the same table he always did, directly across from the old guy.

The guy was nearly bald with only a horseshoe shaped strip of thinning white hair on his head. His face was lined and wrinkled from at least a century of living. His body, or what could be seen of it outside his trench coat, was frail looking. His hands shook constantly and his arms were unnaturally thin. He wore a pair of silver rimed glasses over eyes that denied the age his face told. Brilliant, vibrant, blue and full of life. His shaking hand raised his cigarette to his lips and he took a long draw exhaling the smoke into the lingering cloud already present.

As he lowered the cigarette he spoke with a voice the betrayed even less of his age than his eyes. “So you came again? Most would have labeled me crazy by now.” he laughed softly. “My story crazy, here in the Nexus.” and shook his head.

“It is a bit odd, but it’s interesting. I’ve yet to hear anything impossible, but you haven’t told me much really.”

The man nodded. “So you wish to know more? Very well young man. You may be just the one I’ve been looking for. My time is drawing to a close in the material world. I need someone to take my place trying to convince these people that The Shaded are real.” he stopped suddenly and looked toward the door. Mathew looked as well but saw nothing unusual. “They are moving closer.” the Old Man said softly, his voice betraying his age slightly now. When he spoke again it was back to it’s youthful tone once more. “The signs of The Shaded are easily noticed, and just as easily ignored. You must learn to recognize these signs.”

“What kind of signs?”

“Things you would not notice, yet you would. Things you would see and question, but ignore as having no significance. You’ve seen them all your life without realizing it. A shoe laying in the open with no owner in sight, or a pair of shoes with their laces tied together looped over phone wires. Shirts hanging from phone polls, yard sale signs that give no address.” Matthew frowned slightly as he looked at the Old Man. Nothing he said was impossible but it didn’t always make sense. Sometimes he wondered if the man was crazy.

“How are these signs of them?”

“They leave the loose shoes to signal that the area is clear of Knowers, people such as me. The shoes hanging from the phone lines mean that Knowers live in the area. The shirts symbolize that a Knower has been killed. The yard sale signs are coded messages saying what the other symbols can not.” Matthew stiffend up slightly. What had moments before seemed impossible as communication methods were now perfectly explained. Either the old guy was a methodical loon or he was telling the truth.

“How come we don’t see these guys walking the streets? You said they always where cloaks and masks, even in Nexus that would be noticeable.”

“They don’t want to be seen and so they are not. It is the same with their cities. The Shaded live on every world in every universe. On each world they have a city. Only in the Nexus there is no city. Here they have an entire planet. One the same size as ours.”

“How can you hide an entire planet?”

“In plain sight. We live on it, only we don’t see it, we see our world. Take the abandoned lot on the corner of Gallant and Virtue. They have a compound there. But like them we don’t see it.” He stopped and looked at Matthew for a moment. “You are beginning to doubt aren’t you?”

“It’s a bit much to believe, you have to admit that. I mean, why are they here? Or on any world?”

“To destroy reality. It is the purpose of their existence. The Shaded live only to destroy all that is.”

The Old Man took another draw on his cigarette as he waited for Matthew’s reaction. “Why?” he asked at last.

“It is what they are. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“There must be some reason. Why were they started? Revenge?”

“No.” the Old Man shook his head. “They have always been. The Shaded is not an organization, it is a force of nature. There are many and yet only one. Each ‘person’ is like a limb on a man. They each think and do independently and are separate entities however, at the same time there is only ever one of them. Hard to understand, I know, but the truth none the less. They work constantly toward their goal eliminating those who stand in their way, and those whose absence will lead toward their goal. No matter how hard I, and the others how know, try to stop them they keep going. Nothing we do seems to deflect their plans.” The Old Man’s face took on a look of hatred for a moment, “Damn persistent buggers never know when to die or quit.” he spat out. Then, slowly, his face returned to it’s calmer demeanor.

That’s when the Old Man did something he hadn’t done before. He jammed his cigarette into the ashtray and put it out. Then stood and moved as though to leave. Stopping he looked back at Matthew, “Are you coming or are you going to sit there all night.” Matthew stared at him for a moment before standing and following him out of Charlie’s Bar and Grill.

“Where are we going Old Man?”

“In time.” the Old Man said. Matthew didn’t know why he followed him, probably the same reason he’d gone to bar and grill in the first place, whatever that was. They went about seven blocks in silence before the Old Man came to a sudden stop. “Well, what do you see?” he asked.

Matthew looked around. They were on the corner of 171st and 93rd. He looked closely at his surroundings. A plastic bag blew down the road past them. To his right, farther down 93rd two kids were bouncing a ball back and forth. Farther ahead on 171st a beggar lay sprawled on the sidewalk, his bottle of booze clutched firmly in his fist and against his chest as he snored loudly. Nothing else was happening, no people in cloaks or robes and masks.

[Xyex]

“What’s this about? There’s nothing here.”

“Really?” the Old Man asked with a smile. His arm rose weakly with a bit of strain and pointed down 93rd towards the kids. No, not towards them, over them. Matthew looked up and saw it, then. From this distance they looked more like dots, but he knew what they were. A pair of shoes. For a moment he held his breath then relaxed. What was he doing? This didn’t prove anything. “Still a skeptic eh?” The Old Man laughed. “Let me show you a trick I’ve picked up from years of experience dealing with The Shaded.” He traced a number of lines and shapes in the air while he chanted. When he finished it seemed as though the air before them was shivering. When finally it ceased Matthew saw a man in a blue cloak and carrying a large glowing scythe walking slowly and steadily toward them as though it didn’t matter when he reached his destination. “Like I said, they don’t want to be seen and therefore they are not. We see him now only because of the reveal spell I just cast.”<br>
“They don’t want to be known.” the Old Man said as they watched The Shaded approach. He, it, whatever, didn’t seem to be walking. More like gliding over the ground. “They have defenses against such things. They do what they can not to be seen, heard, known, or understood.” Still The Shaded drew closer. Ever so slowly. A calm steady pace that made him look like he was out for nothing but a simple stroll. “To see them you must be vigilant, extremely vigilant. To know them you must be willing to walk the edge between sanity and oblivion.” He turned for the first time from The Shaded to Matthew. “And you must learn to disguise yourself.”

“Disguise myself?”

“Your mind at the least. They can take knowledge from people. Read their thoughts. You must learn to shield yourself from it, if you wish to fight them.”<br>
The Old Man turned to look at The Shaded once again. “They call it ‘Gaining’. A fitting term I suppose. By simply being near someone they can ‘gain’ much information about them by reading their auras and minds.” The old guy’s arms crossed through the air as another chant crossed his lips. Suddenly the area around them changed and they stood atop a building that had been beside them a moment before. “Relocation spell.” the Old Man said. Below Matthew saw The Shaded stop and look in their direction.

“Did he know what you were doing?”

“No. He knows how I think. By knowing that he knows what I’m most likely to do. It’s a percentage thing. You must be careful not to reveal to much or you stand no chance. You must also learn to act in ways you would normally not. They seem formidable do they not?” Matthew nodded. “But invincible? Do you think they are Matthew?”

“So far all they can do is avoid discovery and read thoughts, not exactly great defenses.” Despite his words there was awe and fear in his voice now.

“That scythe he carries, that they all carry, is not for display Matthew. It is the death of those who meet them in battle and are not ready. Man needs to fear it, Avatars need to dread it. To destroy reality they must first become the only force of nature left. Eliminate the competition so to speak.” The Shaded stood still without moving a single fold of its cloak. The wind blew through Matthew’s hair and another plastic bag rolled down the street, yet still The Shaded was stiff, rigid as a tiger waiting for the moment to strike.

Matthew could see the determination on the Old Man’s face as clear as his own feet. He wasn’t planning on teaching any of these skills to him, he was planning on making his last stand against The Shaded. To do his damnedest to take out the one before him. His last battle, his last chance to make a difference in this little known war. “Go.” he said fiercely after a moment’s silence. “Go now before it makes it’s move.” Matthew stood still. Go? Where? The old guy couldn’t beat this thing alone. He was too old, too frail. “I said GO!” he shouted. “Climb down the fire escape on the other side and leave here!”

He waited a moment longer before turning and running across the roof. Behind him, unseen, The Shaded decided to make it’s move as well. Quickly it moved, faster than it had yet. At ran without really running. It’s feet never touched the ground but it’s legs did move pushing the air beneath it’s feet. With no ground contact to create friction and only the air to push back against it The Shaded moved impossibly fast. In a few seconds it covered the distance between them with the exception of the final block.

Matthew reached the fire escape and turned to begin down. As he spied the Old Man again The Shaded suddenly came up from nowhere and landed on the edge of the building and dropped down low. The scythe scraped across the ground as it pulled it’s arms back and began to stand. As it righted itself the Old Man traced his hands through the air and chanted again. A fireball flew forward at The Shaded but it simply leapt skyward and over the old guy and landed between them. Matthew clung to the fire escape in shock and terror both. The Shaded were real, their threat was real, the Old Man was in a battle of life or death in an attempt to help save a world! A reality that thought was completely nuts!

He shook his head as if trying to shake the fear away. Nervously and shaking he began to descend the ladder. Above he could hear the sounds of the battle as the Old Man continued to cast his spells in an attempt to hit The Shaded. A roar passed overhead and Matthew looked up, a fireball sped overhead and slammed into the next building. As he started down again he wondered what the battle above would look like if the old guy hadn’t cast that Reveal spell so he could see The Shaded.

As his feet touched the ground he heard the old guy scream and looked up again. His body suddenly flew off the roof and slammed into the ground not that far from where he stood. Looking back up Matthew saw The Shaded walk up to the roof’s edge and look down, more imposing from this angle than any of the previous ones. “Now what?” Matthew thought to himself. “How do I get away?” He looked around him franticly and saw only one option. He was on 171st again. If he ran hard he might be able to cross the seven blocks to Charlie’s Bar and Grill and get to relative safety.

He ran. He ran as hard as he could. The pounding of his feet and the thumping of his heart merged and became one as he went. He looked back, The Shaded still stood on top of the building and he was a block away now. He might just make it. Then suddenly The Shaded jumped into the air and landed on the ground with a flourish. Matthew looked forward again. He pushed his legs as hard as they would go and a new sound slowly crept into his ears. A rushing sound, like something moving fast. Suddenly The Shaded was beside him keeping and even pace. A moment later it pulled ahead and went a few blocks before turning and starting back toward him.

Matthew tried to stop, tried run the other way, but The Shaded was moving too fast. He saw the scythe pull backwards and cut through the air, and then all was calm and quiet and he knew no more. The Shaded lowered the scythe and stood still for a moment. Then it walked slowly down 171st past the numerous police cars that were arriving to check out the reported disturbance until it reached 93rd.

There it stopped and looked toward the shoes hanging from the wires. A pure white hand reached up toward the distant shoes and they vanished. Then The Shaded turned and continued down 93rd. Another police car sped by catching one of the few puddles still along the edges of the road and spraying water onto a shirt flapping in the breeze on a phone pole.