Shadowlands: 5 Syndicated

The world came back round and I was in the entry hall of the Shadow Citadel. Chuckles was standing in front of me, holding a clip board and looking a little more eager than I liked.1

The shady guide before me floated to him and whispered something, then drifted on past him. I tried walking past, but a shadow of a hand pressed me back. "Oh no, not quite yet Al. You need to hear the ground rules."2

I shot daggers at him with my glare, and said with the calmness of true insanity, "Like what Chuckles? No senselessly killing people? Check. Bear true faith and allegiance to my imprisoners? Done it already, what the hell more can you want from me?"3

"You need to work for your bread. Don't worry though, you get plenty of baking time. Mhmhmhm," he chuckled maniacly at his joke. "Now, I'll send you to your room with an escort. You are expected to stay in good condition, your first assignment is in a week. Usually we give first timers some sort of scouting mission, something where action in the proper sense would be insane. Like looking for a hoard of creatures you couldn't possibly take on yourself. But from what we gather, it wouldn't stop you, you might even prove us wrong on what can be handled and..."4

Run-on run-on run-on. "And what?" I growled at him.5

"And we don't like being wrong," he chuckled some more and slid away from me as two females shadowed up to show me my room.6

The shadow females are much more pleasant than the males. For starters, they almost look like people, and as an added bonus, they have manners.7

My room was comfortable. Like a large hotel room. It had a closet with any gear and armor I might want. They guaranteed me that before I died I would use everything in it. The closet was quite full.8

That may have been a bad thing.9

The first day I lounged around, recovering my strength. After their meals it's hard to be emaciated, and with little to do but study and exercise, I saw myself growing strong again.10

My third night was weird. I had this hallucination. A blond girl, around fourteen I'd guess, flashed into my view. Just her face.11

Her straight hair was beneath one of those horseshoe bands. Her shirt or dress, whatever, was sky blue, and she had the most piercing eyes I've ever looked into.12

When she came to me I nearly collapsed. I stumbled and grabbed the lone dresser in my room. Then the vision vanished.13

I went to my washroom and filled the basin from a hole in the air. She was standing there. A reflection of nothing. "I'm coming," she said in a spacey voice, "Will you let me die? Can you even save me?"14

She turned and her dress twirled. I fell back against the tile wall. I needed to get out. Somewhere not alone. 15

Funny isn't it, even in a crowd I'd still be alone. In just my pants I ran into the hallway, past a startled girl in a black catholic school uniform. The specter returned, every time I looked away she was there, closer.16

I turned and she was right in front of me. "Will you save me?"17

A hand touched my shoulder and I jumped against the wall. The schoolgirl was there, with more than a little concern written on her face. "I know you," I said, or asked, not sure.18

"Yeah," she said, "New guy is freaking out. What's going on?"19

"I'm hallucinating. I hope to God I'm hallucinating."20

"Okay, well I, did not see anything, so that's a good sign. It must be bad if hallucinations are good news." She put her hand on her forehead. I think she was trying to hide a glance and my torso. She looked back up at me quickly. "I'm Gwen. Gwen Inkster. Most people call me Inky."21

"Fun. Why?" I asked.22

She blurred and went black, washing around me like some strange blob of, well, ink. "Cause," she whispered in my ear. She had wrapped around me, reforming from the waist up. She held on with her arms, hands placed conveniently on my chest.23

I felt her pressing against my back. Fingertips digging into my skin. She felt soft and - composure Al, keep your composure. I feigned disinterest and said, "Nice trick," I stepped forward and she melted around me, letting me walk through her arms and inky tail.24

"Well if you're okay then, goodnight." She leaned back against the wall and sighed.25

I turned back to her. Black and red plaid vest and skirt, white shirt, not buttoned up far enough (not that I minded) and a black lace unmentionable. "Yeah, goodnight," I said. I turned away for dramatic effect. "I guess the saying is true," pause for effect, "A girl with a black bra wants someone to see it." 26

Not letting her reply I walked swiftly to my room, closed the door, slumped against it, and started cursing quietly to myself.27

Without further hallucination, I fell into the giant pillow covered pillow made of softer pillows stuffed with clouds made of pillows that served as the most comfortable bed ever made and fell asleep.28

I love my bed.29

I woke up and trained some more in one of the many gardens. I had been trying the whole time but I couldn't get the weird shadow stuff to appear. I practiced my swordplay for an hour before I realized. "You just love watching me, don't you?"30

Inkster jumped off the ledge she was on and splashed, reforming upright again. "You just love not wearing a shirt, don't you?" she retorted sharply.31

"Ouch, wait, that really won't hurt until you cover yourself up a bit more too."32

She pretended to be offended, "What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?"33

"Nothing, but that's the problem love," I turned away and continued fighting the conjured sword. "Now I know you didn't just come here to flirt. What's up?"34

"We're going to be partners on your first assignment."35

I stopped fighting and my conjured sword opponent hit me on the shoulder. "Fuck! Sorry. It's not that I don't want to work with you, I was hoping to work alone."36

"Why? So you can make a break for it? I think that's why you're with me... and Switch." She trailed off, then looked up at me and smiled, "But we can get to know each other."37

"You aren't trying to seduce me again are you? I'm happily married to my sword, she'll get jealous."38

"Alright. Just let me know if you want me to tell you anything about the shadowlands," she smiled awkwardly and walked away, trying to hide embarrassment.39

"Inkster!" I shouted. She stopped and straightened up. After a moment of standing there rigidly she wheeled around. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be a jackass. I'm just really angry at the whole business of this 'league' we're in. I'll make it up to you. I'll steal some food from the kitchen and we can discuss it tonight, right back here. On... That, bench."40

She smiled, I think a little more than she wanted to. "Great, as soon as the sun goes down," she regained her control, and said in an eye batting fashion, "I'll be waiting."41

Stealing the food wasn't too hard, it was finding the place. When you live in a giant hotel run by people made out of shadows, it makes it tricky to find... ANYTHING! The servants in this place are weird deformed people who are so hideous that they developed a way to not be seen. Like ninjas without the sexy outfits, and with the hideousness. Nothing at all like ninjas.42

I waited till my food arrived, and then followed the yellow skinned freak down the hallway. He knew I could see him so he disappeared. Usually that's enough for them. But I had other plans. I was still wearing my battle gear from training earlier, and I still had no shirt.43

But I had my boots. Why does that matter? Simple, that crystal in my hand when Deathwalker descended on me, the shadows returned it in three pieces. Each one would do something different, depending on what I used it for the first time. I had only tried out one so far. I used it to make me invisible.44

This still doesn't explain how it helps me track an invisible nimrod. Simply put, invisibility is shifting phases, you shift into the shadow of reality, you can see everything around you on both phases, because the shadow phase is translucent. I didn't know this at the time though, but I figured it was something like that.45

So I followed the little weirdo down the halls. Occasionally it would pass through a wall and I would follow it, with difficulty of course. Once I got to the kitchen the servants really didn't seem to notice or care that I was in there.46

I gathered some random things -bread, cheese, wine, cold cuts, even a fondu pot- and got myself ready. I found a classy looking suit of red leather armor in my closet, complete with a ceremonial blade, and a red and black cape.47

I got everything ready and went to the garden and laid down. The sun went down. The moon came up. Stars filled the sky, all of them laughing at me. I drank most of the wine, and after an hour had passed I went back to my room.48

I threw my door open and pitched my sword at the wall. It stuck fast. I flopped down on my bed and poured myself another glass of wine. A hand inked up and took the glass from my fingertips. The rest of Inkster's curves followed. I mean the rest of Inkster followed -Keep your composure Al.49

I sat up. "If this is supposed to make up for not showing, you'll have to do better than that," I said, not looking at her. "Geez, I thought I was the asshole."50

She smiled and said, "You are, I just knew I wouldn't get into your room unless we started in your room." Damn that smile, damn it. Yes, smile bad. Smile good.51

"You needed me in my room to talk?"52

"Yes and no," she sighed and sat down next to me. "Alright, you're dead set on picking my brain aren't you? I'll give you a cultural overview of this place."53

The shadowlands' politics can be split up into four viewpoints. The native human view, the shadow view, the Kami view, and then the real view (which is only held by league members who care. Which limits this group to about three or four people)54

The shadows believe that the shades, powerful creatures of spirit and shadow, created everything, drawing it out of the abyss, and it is the task of the shadows to purify the land of all the Kami.55

The Kami believe that the shades, powerful creatures of spirit and shadow, created everything, drawing it down from the heavens, and it is the task of the Kami to control and guide the lands through their weird shamanistic religion.56

The common folk believe that the Kami are the spirits of nature, and the shadows are akin to goblins, not good, not bad, just magical creatures with their own initiative.57

The real view knows that if the shades exist, they don't care much for their fane brethren. They play both sides collecting on the deaths of humans which they feed to the Kami, and the spirits killed by the shadows.58

The Oni and the Creeps (those servant people) don't seem to believe much, they simply help the shadows. The Oni want power, money, blood, and c. The Creeps are motivated by a desire to become shadows, of course through a blessing by the shades.59

After we talked and had a nightcap, we-60

I lay awake, waiting for Gwen's breathing to slow down. I got out of bed carefully, being sure not to wake her. I covered her with a blanket, put on my pants and my beloved shackles, and climbed out the window.61

I made my way down the wall, using whatever I could to hold on. A ledge. A gargoyle. A drainpipe that snapped. I fell off the wall.62

As I tumbled I reached for a gargoyle. The chain on my left shackle wrapped around its neck, and swung me in reach of another ledge before slipping off.63

I climbed the rest of the way down, and flopped onto the grass, rubbing my left shoulder. Chuckles came up to me flanked by two Oni."Master Al. You should be more careful, especially when trying to sneak away. I'm not even going to bring up the fraternization." 64

I didn't care that I had been caught, I had put a leaf to their electric fence. They check the rooms at night, probably send the Creepers through the mirrors, and can apparantly tell when you leave a decoy behind. Now I know one more of their security measures.65

"I know I know, I'm stuck with you guys forever. You won't leave me alone until I'm syndicated will you?"66

"Amusing Al, really, truly, amusing. Ten lashings and indefinite restriction. Grunt, Bash, give him his whipping."