On top of the physical training with Lucas I continued my own training at night with my powers. I had learned that I truly did not need sleep, so instead of wearing my body out with continuous exercise, I wanted to learn more about what I could to. Each day I continued to summon more and more crows to the point I had lost track of how many I had. I needed to replenish my murder of crows. They had sort of taken over the base at this point. I needed to find some place to put them so that they weren’t in the way, but there was no place big enough except the training room.
The amount of darkness the murder generated got deeper and stronger as more and more crows were added. This also seemed to increase the feelings of dread and depression that Lucas had felt. Thankfully, if I kept the crows on the other side of the room, the aura didn’t reach him. Though the aura did increase in its reach as more crows joined. We had also confirmed that the crows were not very strong, if hit with a thrown pebble they would disappear into darkness. So it wasn’t just Kaitlyn’s light that destroyed them.
Nothing had really changed with Shade, it still functioned similar to how it had when I’ve used it previously. One new thing I had started to notice, especially when standing in the ever increasing darkness from my crows, was manipulating the shadows. I had discovered it recently, and have been working on training it to see what I could do with it.
Our boss had reached out to me letting me know that my first costume should be arriving any day now, but other than that there hadn’t been much communication with him. I did wonder what else he could be focusing on. We still haven’t done a mission as a team yet.
I got up from sitting on the ground, stretching my arms above my head. It was just me in the base today, so I didn’t have to worry about the aura my birds created. I had already summoned the ten crows for today, it was now the first thing I did every morning. I walked back into the darkness, and felt a familiar… warmth might be the wrong way to describe it. Maybe safety would fit better. It was like I was home, wrapped in a warm embrace by those who loved me. My best guess was that the aura that affected others negatively did the opposite for me. I began working on the same shape I had been with my shadows, a shield. Being a circle, I figured that would be an easy way to get started and yet the difficulty has proven me very wrong. Still I was determined, and so I kept working on making the circle.
I have no other way to describe it other than swimming against the current. It felt like everything I was trying to do was incorrect and pushing me further downstream. I watched as shadow tendrils rose up and began circling inwards to create the shield, exactly as I willed it. Shade, detached from me at the moment, stood waiting for orders. It took me 5 minutes of intense focus to finish the shield. That was when my shadow moved, without any orders from me, and punched the shield. It broke immediately, completely shattering.
“Fuck! How the hell is this supposed to work?!” I pulled at my hair, and paced looking for something to kick. The calming affect of my crows worked quick at removing the frustration I had from the failure. That just made me look up at them, my other problem.
“How the hell do I move you all around easily? A few hundred crows with a darkness generating aura is not exactly subtle.”
Wrong. Focus. Follow the flow.
That damned voice in my head kept saying this. I had no clue what the hell it meant. The voice had been relatively silent after I had found the body, until I had discovered shadow manipulation. Now, it just repeated this one phrase over and over and over again. I purposefully walked out of my crows darkness so I could actually be frustrated.
“Wow. That’s really a lot of birds. I don’t even think I can get them all with one blast now. Please, please tell me you are not going with a bird name. Lucas would become so much more unbearable if that was the case.”
I quickly turned towards the door. There was Kaitlyn, in normal clothes. She had her hair up in a ponytail, and was wearing a white shirt that left one shoulder exposed while covering the other. Her pants were jeans that had those purposeful rips in them. I had been so focused on what I was doing, I had forgotten to link my vision to the crows I had in the hub watching the elevator. I had started to do that so I knew when Lucas was here.
“Kaitlyn, it’s been awhile.” I gave her a small wave. “How are you? And no worries, I did not pick a bird name.”
She gave a little smile at that, but it quickly faded. “I came to see how the weakling was doing, and to my surprise he was throwing a straight temper tantrum like a child.” She knew exactly what buttons to press to just ruin my mood further it seemed. “Perhaps I need to beat some proper manners into you?”
“It was just frustration at this not working how I want it to. I can manipulate the shape how I want it, but it doesn’t seem to hold.” I shivered. “And please no. I still have bruises that haven’t healed yet from two weeks ago.”
That seemed to pique her interest. “Shadow manipulation? You have something as versatile as that? There’s hope for you yet!” She folded her arms and stared me down. “So, what’s the problem?”
Letting out a large sigh, I told her the issues I was having. I also filled her in on the rest of my powers, so she knew what I had discovered so far.
“Ahh, that huh. I faced a similar issue with my power at one point. Trying to bend a nebulous element to your will is extremely difficult. It’s like it has a mind of it’s own, and it requires you to learn things in certain ways. I won’t pretend to understand why that’s the case, but I just let it carry me along like a stream. Eventually the power gave me all the tools I needed, and the manipulation came easy.”
As she spoke, she sounded more energetic and more excited than before. I had a few questions to follow up on, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give her suggestion a try. I walked back in my shadows, and instead of fighting the current, I gave in. I felt the shadows start to take shape. Instead of a circle, they were forming a rectangle. I watched in curiosity as the shadows joined together, stitching in the shape of a tall rectangle. With the addition of a handle looking thing near the center left of the object, I realized what it was.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“A door?” Kaitlyn asked.
“That’s what it looks like to me.”
“Any idea where it goes if you open it?”
“Not a clue.”
“Well, what are you waiting for! Let’s find out!” She ran forward to the door and moved to grab the doorknob. Her hand went right through it. “What the hell?”
I walked up to the door and grabbed the doorknob. It was solid. I looked over at Kaitlyn and shrugged, then turned the knob and pushed the door in. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but what I saw was definitely at the bottom of my list.
It was a large space, dwarfing the training room we had just come from. As I walked in further, looking around, I noticed how tall this space was. It was like a giant warehouse, and the upper areas were filled with rafters. Almost perfect for birds to build their nests on. Kaitlyn had followed me in, and was gawking at the place.
“You have a fucking pocket dimension?! God damn, somethings just are not fair.”
I wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying, I was too focused on the rafter space. I had an idea.
“Hey Kaitlyn, I recommend moving away from the door.”
She gave me a puzzled look, but complied. Maybe not as far as she should be, but it would be enough. I reached out to my crows and gave the order. Even though I was expecting it, the sight was terrifying. Over a hundred crows came flying in through the space provided by the door, flying up into the rafters of this space. Kaitlyn had backed up further once the stream of crows moved in earnest through the door, her eyes wide. It was over very quick, and I left ten crows back out in the training room.
“Guess that solves my storage problem for these guys. Kaitlyn, I’m heading back out.” She was out the door faster than it took me to get to the door. Once back on the other side, I closed the door and watched as it faded into shadows from the crows I left on this side.
“Now to see if I can do it again.” I focused on the darkness generating from my crows, and pictured the door. It created itself within three seconds. Opening the door, I saw all my crows up in the rafters. “It worked!! As long as I have enough darkness, I think I can open this door at any time.” I turned to look at Kaitlyn. “Thanks for the tip!”
“Yeah, whatever.” She scoffed. “It looks like you’ll be carrying your weight, that’s all I care about.” She turned to walk away, then stopped. “Oh right, I came here for a reason. The boss sent out a call for Lucas and I to come here. It sounds like we might have a job. You should get cleaned up and then come wait in the hub.”
With that, she walked out. My remaining crows, not counting the two still in the common room, flew with me back to my room. As I passed through the room, Kaitlyn was at the central station looking at files and maps. When I made it to my room, I also found a package laying on my bed. When did that get here? I had a feeling I knew what it was, and as I read the note attached my suspicions were confirmed.
Ray,
Inside you will find the first pass of your costume I had commissioned for you. Let me know if there are any issues.
-B
Leaving the package for now, I got cleaned up and changed. By the time I came back to the common room Lucas was also there. He gave me a wave and a smile as I took a seat next to him, both of us sitting behind Kaitlyn. It wasn’t much longer before the call came in on the console and our boss started talking. His voice echoed around the room from speakers we couldn’t see.
“Thank you for being prompt everyone. I have an important job lined up for you. In 2 days time, there will be a press conference hosted by New Dawn Initiative in support of our local government. Their goal, to tell everyone about the cities bright future, and that are rebuilding. They can’t show it of course, since there has been no progress since the attack. The one time we sent a reconstruction crew into Frostveil they were frozen as soon as they touched the mist. Since the government hasn’t spent a dime on reconstruction, and it was the New Dawn’s fuck up that caused this whole mess in the first place, I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to shine a light on the hypocrisy.”
Both Lucas and Kaitlyn were serious as Order continued talking. I thought back to the dome, to Frostveil. There was the story Lucas told me, and what I saw in Andree’s memories. I could only find myself nodding in agreement. What he said made sense.
Pitiful.
“What I want you three to do is hijack the conference. Let the world know that The Order raised the alarm and that we were dismissed! Demand that New Dawn is held accountable for Frostveil’s creation. We should also point the blame at the incompetent mayor as well.” He paused, letting it sink in for us.
“Th-that’s… wow. Boss, are you sure? Is the rest of the organization okay with this?” Lucas asked?
“Yes. I have been working tirelessly to get the rest of the others on my side. With support from the other heads, we got the support from up top. However, this is our mission. No one else will be stepping in. Instead, they will be causing distractions for the local heroes, as a way to keep the heat off you for as long as they can.”
“Sounds like a thought out plan.” Kaitlyn started. “You said two days right? What time is the conference?”
“1:00pm. The location is going to be the Veritas Pavilion. About as far away from Frostveil as they can manage without it looking intentional.”
I sat in silence taking all of this in. This was it. My first job. There would be no coming back. I was about to become a villain in the eyes of the city. I had received the perks, room, food, training, and now a costume. I had to pay my dues. Like Andree always thought, ‘nothing in life comes free.’ I noticed the other two were looking at me with pertinent looks.
“What?”
“I asked,” Order’s voice came through, “If you had a chance to try on your costume yet.”
“No sir, not yet. I was going to after this meeting.”
“Good. Let me know if there are any issues. We have just enough time to get something fixed before this mission. That is all.” With that, the call ended and we were left alone.
“Well.” Lucas spoke, breaking the silence. “Leave it to the boss to always go for something big.” He turned to me. “Hey Ray, let’s see the costume. And you have to tell us the name you chose. Can’t believe you’ve been holding out on us this whole time.”
Kaitlyn nodded in agreement. “We should work on training in the time we have. You still need to master more of that shadow manipulation.” She added.”Can’t have you go making us look bad and lowering our credibility.”
“Okay, just wait a second. I’ll be right back. Let me get changed first and then I’ll tell you the name I picked.”
I headed back into my room, and opened the package. It was definitely my costume. I laid out all the pieces on the bed.
It was all pretty simple. I had a full black bodysuit that I could fit on under some clothes. There were a few armor pieces like what I had seen Lucas wearing under his costume. Mine looked like they would go on top however. I had two arm guards, and two leg guards. All four had silver highlights to them, but were mostly colored black. The mask was basic, same silver color as the highlights on the guards with slits for eyes. At least it would cover my whole face. I also had a cape, cowl, hood combo to go over top of everything else. I put everything on, making sure it all fit correctly. Not sure how the boss got my sizes, but I didn’t have any issues with things fitting. It felt good. It felt right.
Ready. Make your mark.
As I headed back out, I saw the other two in their costumes as well. I took the time to really look at Nebula’s costume this time. It was the first she had worn it since our first meeting. Her body suit exuded light from the pinpricks all over the costume. What I hadn’t noticed before, was depending on the angle you looked at her the costume changed colors like the nebula in space would. Her mask covered her face fully, similar in style to mine. Instead of eye slits though, it looked like she had glasses protecting her eyes.
“Hey that looks pretty good!” Macaw gave me a thumbs up. “Should work really well for hiding you in the shadows.”
Nebula gave a small nod of approval. “This is much better than having the crows circle around your head. You look semi-respectable now.”
“Though with this look, plus the crows circling him, it would looks really intimidating!”
“Hmm, maybe.” The way she stressed the maybe, I don’t think she really believed it. “Now, what are we calling you? You said it wasn’t a bird name, you better not have lied to me!” The light around her pulsed once.
This was it. The moment of truth. My new life, hell the only life I knew thanks to having no memories. It was time.
“My name is Sable.”