Light of Darkness Read online

  “I still don’t understand.”

  “You will in time. Kross’s great-grandfather always said something humans still say today: “Fear not what you have gone through and survived, for what doesn’t kill you makes stronger, wiser, and prepared for something far worse.”

  I stop shaking, trying to prepare myself for that something far worse. “Wh—what’s next?”

  He pats my arm. “Well, now that you know the basics of fighting and controlling of energy, the only thing left to do is make it your own.”

  “And I do that how?” Shadow takes a few steps back and gets into the Lokar stance, then signals me to come at him. “Nothing to it but to do it, I guess,” I say, getting into the Lokar stance in front of him.

  Dusk comes and goes. The moon appears over the horizon, its ethereal light coating this barren wasteland. The last time it was night, it was pitch-black. Now, there’s a moon.

  Shadow stares at me, his eyes gleaming in the moonlight. He already scares me, but the way he looks just standing there so stoically is freaking me out. In the sunlight, Shadow looks like a guy covered in an armor of moving darkness, but in the moonlight, he doesn’t look real. He looks like something people would find inconceivable, impossible, but here he is, standing in front of me and staring me down. “Now, let’s begin. Throw the first strike,” he says.

  The calm that washes over me is surprising, because my heart hasn’t stopped racing since it started working again. I clench my fists as tightly as I can and lead off with a right cross. The moment I feel my knuckles touch Shadow’s chest, his body explodes in a whirlwind darkness, sending me flying back down to the ground.

  I slide to a halt a few feet from where I started. I look up; Shadow is nowhere to be found. I hop to my feet. “Where’d you go?”

  My eyes start to burn as the color fades from the world and everything goes black, white, and gray. With my dark sight active, I scan the land, looking for any movement.

  “Hey, Kyle,” he says from my right. I swing a wild left haymaker in that direction, hitting nothing. Something taps my left shoulder, and instead of punching like before, I just turn. “Made you look.” His fist plows into my face. The force of the punch knocks me off my feet. I finally get the whole “seeing stars” thing.

  When my vision refocuses, Shadow is standing in front of me. I jump to my feet, and he drives his fist hard into my stomach, winding me and driving me back to my knees. “Come on, Kyle, get up. You’ll get nowhere like that.” He brings his leg around and kicks me in the side, sending me tumbling.

  I sit up. My head is spinning, I can barely breathe, and my arm is numb. Shadow walks up to me. “Get it into gear!” His foot comes at me, but I roll to the side, just dodging it.

  I scramble to my feet, keeping an eye on him. He walks toward me, energy flowing off him in waves of white, black, and gold, making the air thick and unbearable. I try getting into a fighting stance, but my body resists. Run away and hide! it keeps screaming at me, but I know that would be useless; there’s nothing to hide behind. Instead, I force myself into Toralu.

  He stops chuckles. “Not going to run?” I shake my head no, adjusting my feet so I won’t be sent flying. He brings his open claw up. Before I even register that his claw is coming to slap me, I raise my arm up and block it. In a blur, his other claw comes around. I block it. The force of the hit rattles me a little as I slide to the right. But still, I remain in the defensive stance, Toralu.

  “Not bad.” Shadow walks in front of me and gets into the offensive stance, Lokar. “Now let’s see if you can defend yourself against this.” His hands seem to vanish as they start to move.

  I see flashes of his energy coming from his claws as they move toward me. Frantically, I deflect them upward, exposing his body. I step forward, aiming to strike him in his chest and groin. Shadow steps back, catches my hands, pulls me in, and drives his knee deep into my stomach. My body shakes uncontrollably as I fall to my knees and curl into a ball; the taste of blood and bile fill my mouth.

  I look up to Shadow, who is just standing there, waiting. “God…this hurts,” I say through a painful breath. Once my head stops swimming, I move my feet under me one at time and force myself to stand. I get into the Lokar stance. My stomach tightens, causing me to hunch over, and everything comes up. There’s a lot of blood. That knee was meant to hurt me. I stand and put my hand up.

  His body lights up like a Christmas tree. The light shifts from each leg, up his body, into his arms, and back down. Is that his energy moving? Shadow throws a flurry of strikes. Following the light that pulses in his fists, I dodge and block each strike, being careful not to aggravate my stomach too much.

  Something passes my guard and slams into my face. What was that? The stars in my eyes fade away, and I sense something is coming at my face again. I move to the side, and Shadow’s fist grazes my cheek. What’s going on? There was no flash of energy that time. A barrage of strikes come at me. I manage to block them. His strikes are way faster, and the energy within them is nearly non-existent. I dodge and block a few more.

  His fist comes at my face with some heat. I manage to catch it at the expense of my hand going numb and hear it crack. “Come on, Kyle, we’ve been at this for hours. Are you going to hit me at least once?” Shadow asks as he prepares for another punch.

  In mid-swing, the speed of his punch drops to slow-motion. My eyes move over his body as I try to figure out what’s going on. His lead leg, his right shoulder, and his neck all catch my eye. His movements go back to normal speed, and I block the hit with no effort. With a shift of his feet, Shadow brings his left fist up for an uppercut. Just before he knocks my block off, his movements slow again. I zero in on his head. An opening. Before he has the chance to speed up, I push the uppercut out of the way and then drive my left fist into his face. Everything returns to normal as he staggers back, a look of confusion on his face.

  “Happy?” I ask confidently.

  He looks me up and down. I can see in his eyes that he is trying to work out how I hit him. After a second, he chuckles. “Very. Can you do it again?”

  I set myself up into a stance. “We’re about to find out, aren’t we?”

  From nowhere, a blur comes at me. For a second, it slows, and I see that it’s Shadow’s fist. I move out of its path, but another blur comes even faster for my face. I step forward past the punches and push him hard. He barely budges, quickly repositions himself for a dual punch, and launches at me. This time, I can see the openings within his strikes without slow-motion setting in. I deflect each of his arms up and out, leaving his chest wide open. I counter with a dual punch of my own.

  There’s a loud boom as a shock wave explodes from my fists. Shadow goes flying. He flips, righting himself, and lands gracefully. “Good, Kyle,” he says hoarsely, “really good. Tell me, are you ready to leave this place?”

  “Of course. Am I done?”

  “Almost. There are still a few things that you must do—one in particular that is very important,” he says, stretching.

  “Oh yeah, and what would that be?”

  He walks toward me, looking me in the eyes. “Survive.”

  A feeling of dread surges through me as he stops a little less than a yard away. It becomes hard to breathe as his energy fills the area and grows denser, like fog. My hands are shaking, and I can’t stop them. I try to stand, fighting the swirl of emotions in me. I take a few deep breaths and shake it off as much as I can. “Ready,” I say, not at all ready.

  “Oh really? Well then, prepare yourself!”

  Shadow lunges, his claws ready to slice me into cold cuts, and his movements slow to a snail’s pace. I can see the openings in his approach again, and I take advantage of them, like I did before.

  In the midst of preparing to strike, a cold air washes over me. Suddenly, Shadow’s movements return to normal, and his claw comes around so fast that I can’t react. It tears through my flesh, ripping out my heart and throat. The world starts to spin, and I fee
l myself losing consciousness.

  Wait. I see my blood, but I don’t feel anything. A slow-motion image of Shadow standing in front of me plays in my head. This isn’t real.

  The cold breaks, along with the vision and the sensation of fading consciousness. Shadow’s movements speed up before I can regain my composure. I drop into a squat. His claw passes over my head with a loud whoosh. He spins, bringing around his other claw, but I jump back away from him before he can touch me. I look to Shadow as he dashes at me, and I get into Lokar.

  I dodge his strikes as he ruthlessly swings his razor-sharp claws at me. “Come on, Kyle, you can’t stay on the defensive and win.”

  He’s right, but I can’t imagine being able to take him down. What are my options? What’s the worst-case scenario here? I could die. Shadow lashes out at me again, and it becomes clear my only option is to fight back. I stop in my tracks and catch both of his wrists as he brings his claws down to me.

  “Not bad,” Shadow says, struggling against me.

  How I have the strength to hold him at bay is a mystery to me, but I’m doing it. A low hiss radiates from him. Small, red eyes appear on his throat, and a snake unravels itself from the darkness of Shadow’s body. I let him go and try to move back out of the way, but he takes hold of my wrists.

  Like lightning, the serpent strikes, aiming to sink its fangs into my neck. I close my eyes, bracing myself. There’s slight pressure on my neck. I look down and see the snake, coiling, hissing, and biting its little heart out, but it doesn’t seem to be puncturing my skin. I look at Shadow, confused. He just chuckles. “You don’t know what you’re doing, do you?”

  “What am I doing?” I ask, still trying to get away from him.

  “Subconsciously, you’re manipulating the energy around your neck, making it hard. I applaud you.” He lets go of my wrists, and the snake’s grip tightens. It whips around and flings me across the area. The sensation of the energy in my neck becomes clear as the snake lets go. It’s cold on my skin, but my muscles throb with heat underneath. I have to remember this feeling, because I’m sure it’s going to save my life.

  I hit the ground, and the feeling vanishes. From a roll, I manage to get to my feet to be met by Shadow and his claws. I jump backward and attempt a backflip, dodging his strike. I land on my back, and he continues after me. In a frantic shuffle, I crab-walk away from him.

  “Stop running, boy!” Shadow screams as he jumps at me, his claws ready to slash me to bits. At the last second, I roll to the right. This red-hot feeling shoots up my left arm and hurts like crazy. There’s a bloody gash on my arm.

  The hair on the back of my neck stands on end. Everything in me tells me to move, but before I can think about doing anything, something grabs me by my neck. It slams me down, drags me across the ground, then lifts me into the air.

  Shadow holds his claws out, pointing them at me. The air starts to shift in his direction. Dark energy appears, accumulating between his claws. The energy condenses into a ball, and a burst of wind explodes out from it. Uh oh. Thrusting his claws forward, all of the energy he has collected explodes toward me in the form of a beam.

  “Crap, crap, crap!” I cover my face with my arms as I feel the heat of the beam on my skin.

  The air in front of me grows cold, and that burning sensation spreads throughout my body. There’s a deafening boom that rattles me to the bones. I open my eyes to see the beam spreading along the opposite side of an invisible wall of energy in front of me. Again, I’ve pulled something together in a pinch without even thinking about it. I wonder how—

  There’s a splintering noise. It hasn’t been more than a few seconds and Shadow’s energy is already breaking through.

  Okay, this thing on my neck has to go. It’s probably another snake. How do I get rid of it? My left arm starts to twitch and move on its own. Reaching back over my shoulder, it grabs the snake by the neck and digs my nails into its flesh. The burning within my body moves up my arm, through my hand, past my fingertips, and into the snake. I can feel it coursing through its body and into its head. Control it, I hear a voice say.

  I concentrate hard on what I feel within the snake. “Come on, let go.” The pressure on my neck lessens as the snake’s jaw slowly opens. The cracking sound grows louder. “Come on, come on.” Bit by bit, the wall chips away, and streams of the beam begin passing through. “Come on, open up!” The snake’s jaw loosens just enough for some wiggle room. There’s another loud crack, which doesn’t sound good at all. “Good enough.” I spin around, my throat in its mouth now—a place where I don’t want to be.

  I use all the strength in my legs to kick through its body. With a hiss, it bursts into a cloud of smoke. I start to fall, and just above me, the shield shatters. The shock wave from the wall being smashed hits me, propelling me down to the ground. I land with a little bounce.

  I roll over onto my stomach to look at Shadow. The beam dissipates, but between Shadow’s palms is the orb of black energy. He looks at me and puts one hand forward. Quickly, I get to my feet. I put my hands up and brace myself, trying to recall the burning feeling and focus it into my hands and in front of me.

  The beam hits my hands; the force of it pushes me back. My deflection is only temporary, and searing pain shoots up my arms as my skin starts to melt away under the destructive energy. This hurts like hell, and I don’t know what to do. If I move, I get to keep what’s left of my arms and then most likely die…or I can stay, get blasted, and then die. Crap.

  My hands throb from resisting the beam. Dense blue-and-white energy covers them, and the pain slightly subsides. Okay, I can work with this. As I focus, the energy around my hands begins to harden. The beam splinters between my fingers, and it gives me an idea. I bring my hands together, and Shadow’s beam splits around me. I push forward through the beam and up to him. Reaching out, I grab the condensed ball of energy between his hands. At my touch, it explodes, sending me flying back.

  I land on my back, slide across the ground, and then roll backward until my feet are under me. It worked. I’m alive. Shadow runs toward me. For now.

  The energy around my hands begins to pulse and harden. My right arm, on its own, comes across my body. When Shadow is about two yards away, it swings as hard as it can. Energy launches from my fist toward him, becoming thin and taking the shape of a crescent blade.

  Shadow stops only inches from the blade and jumps back, matching its speed and keeping ahead of it. He brings both claws down onto it, destroying it. Shadow lands, falling to one knee, then looks at me, breathing heavily and cradling his hands. “Damn, that hurt,” he yells. Shimmering, black ichor drips from his claws—his blood. He looks at me, his blue eyes filled with both anger and surprise. “There was so much energy condensed within that blade. It took all I had to destroy it, and still, it managed to wound me. The funny thing is, you still don’t quite get it.” He clenches his claws. They crack and pop as though setting back into place.

  I look down to my right arm. The layer of energy is gone; my skin is back to normal. “I’m getting there,” I say, tired and winded.

  “Yeah, you are.” He stands, trying not to wobble. He takes a deep breath and exhales. In an instant, the temperature drops to the point I can see my breath. I ready myself. If there’s one thing I’ve realized about this whole energy thing, it’s that when a shift in temperature happens, a lot of energy is being channeled. His cold, blue eyes bore into me, and I feel his energy wrap around me like a snake constricting its prey. “Dance of Shadows.” With those words, Shadow vanishes into thin air. Uh oh, where’d he go? Even with dark-sight still active, there is nothing different beyond the energy on my left hand and arm.

  A frigid burst of skin numbing wind hits me in the chest, pushing me back. I rub at it, feeling something wet. There is blood and four slashes across my chest. “What the?” Another burst of wind hits me in the back, pushing me forward. I touch my back and feel nothing, but see blood on my hand. “Oh hell.” The wind starts to pick up,
encircling me. I rush to get out of the center, but I’m pushed back with a hit to my face.

  One after another, claw marks appear on my body as I’m pushed around. I fall to the ground shivering, dizzy, numb, and covered in blood. I have to get away. I crawl forward, but I’m hit by the wind and knocked to the ground. “Damn it.”

  I open my right eye. I catch a glimpse of the tree, which is only a few feet away, just outside this circle of death. My mind is still sitting there before it, but he’s not content anymore; he’s sweating, breathing hard, like he’s been out here fighting with me this whole time…because he has been fighting with me. Working on keeping me safe without my knowing, manipulating this energy. I start to stand when I’m hit on the right side of my face. After my head bounces off the ground, I come to a rolling halt. I spit the blood starting to pool in my mouth and begin to dip in and out of consciousness. Well, I tell my own mind, you don’t have to work so hard anymore. I have a better sense of it now. I can pick up the slack. I could use a way out of this though.

  The image of myself holding the Toralu stance pops into my head. The burning sensation is spreading through me and into the air around me, pulsing. Each pulse is stronger than the last.

  “Got it.”

  I focus on the burning feeling— channeling the energy—before I try to move. If I were to stand now, Shadow would just cut me down before I could start. Sweat drips from my forehead as my skin grows hot, and the air is thick with heat. Now or never. I jump up onto my feet and get into Toralu. Almost instantly, a burst of wind hits me in the stomach. There’s no pain this time; it feels like it just bounced off me. Two more bursts hit me hard in the stomach again, winding me. I hold the stance, but just barely.

  The wind starts to change, growing faster and fiercer. The burning within me grows more intense each second until I can’t stand it anymore. I picture myself pulling the pin from a grenade, and all the energy I’m holding on to explodes outward.