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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1877979" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 67: Dark, Light, and a Little In BetweenIt was slow, constant, and growing. The sun was up, just barely above the horizon, when it came to both of their attention. As the sun slowly rose, so did the...presence. No, that wasn’t right. Or maybe it was. Partly, at least. Neither Shadow nor Akan would speak with each other about it, but they both knew it was there. Where, though? Everywhere? No. No, it was concentrated. Following them? Maybe...    Akan’s eyes traced the horizon ahead, noting that they had walked the entire length of the plateau. The drop off was in the distance ahead of them, and then the horizon was even farther off, looking below the plateau’s edge in a strange way. They were not followed. There was nothing around them. No rocks. No caves. Just sand. Sand, air, an Alraxian, and a Human. And then...that thing. Feeling. Whatever it was. Nearly tangible around them. An invisible cloud of thick malevolency. Or perhaps just...no, malevolent was right. When Akan’s mind latched onto that description, Shadow caught his eye.    She said nothing, but the feeling was clear. That line of thought was dangerous. If he was right, and most likely he was, then identifying it would simply lead to fearing it...then feeding it. This was all theory, but Akan understood the Force well enough to know the dangers of the Dark Side. How it fed off the fear, turning it into a force more easily manipulated. But this...this was beyond anything he’d ever felt. Beyond even Voort. Beyond Sadrak...    It was not, however, the Force. Shadow was sure of that. Dark Side, Light Side, the Force was all encompassing, but it did not feel like this. The Force bound everything together, but it did not do this. It did not probe. Search. Hunt. Stalk. The Force had no intelligence driving it. The Force simply was. This was different. Any probing she attempted was easily...deflected. But not I any way she’d ever felt. She knew enough about the galaxy to know that the Force was not the only great power in the universe. But that knowledge did not explain this. Or did it?    Her mind started working in overdrive, connecting small instances that she had simply passed off as nothing. For the last seven or so hours, she’d seen flashes. Short, quick, but memorable in the way that one would never want to remember them despite them being burned into one’s mind. Most often, she saw the face of the child she’d...murdered. No, the Darkwing had done it. But she...she was the Darkwing. All of those people. All of them dead. Murdered, not just dead. Not assassinated. They should not have been killed...she should not have been alive. Why had Akan not killed her when he had the chance? The one time she could have died without taking him with her, and he’d not done the job. Why?!    She growled suddenly, reaching over and throwing Akan to the ground. He yelped in surprise, rolling across the sand to his feet ready to ask her what had gotten into her. He had no chance to ask this. By the time he’d gotten his head up, the tangible cloud of nothing around them suddenly imploded in on...Shadow. There was a painful scream from her, and the robe and morphsuit she wore was suddenly torn apart by two large, Darkwing like wings that didn’t morph so much as explode from her back. When she fell to the ground on all four, crying out in pain with blue colored blood coating the sand around her, Akan found himself suddenly terrified.    The Darkwing was coming back. He’d failed. Again. First Mare, killing her with his own carelessness. Then Shira, murdering her because he was too concerned about things he couldn’t deal with. Now Shadow...becoming that horrible thing again. It shouldn’t be possible, but then again, he never got things right. He’d just delayed the inevitable. What next? He couldn’t fight her. Not again. And then there was Jen...left with that bastard Voort. Akan should never have allowed her to get involved, never allowed things to come to this point. Her death would likely be more painful than any of the others...the worst. And all because of Akan.    He let out a noise that, if he’d been Alraxian, would have been a growl. Instead it sounded awkward and much more forced than it was. His eyes opened from the visions running through his mind, and with his teeth gritted he looked to Shadow. But he saw nothing like the Darkwing. As his mind was composing itself, bringing back rational thought and pushing back those that would kill him, he watched something more disturbing occur to Shadow. Her mind was...all wrong. Split. Literally. He could hear two sets of thoughts. One set loud, violent...angry. Murderous. The other...too quiet to tell. And then, as the louder thoughts seemed to gain more and more force over the quieter ones, the wings on her back started to rise.    And with them, rose another body. Out of her. Out of her?! But that was the only explanation. It was similar to what one would have seen when she had first created his Alraxian body, except instead of a small formless mass becoming two, here were two forms becoming...two. There were cracks, painful noises, and groans, but all came from the Shadow that now lay face down in the sand. She looked exactly the same as always, though her skin was much paler and she was completely unconscious. The other though...the other stood up, stretching new arms and legs, wings flaring slightly as they were gotten used to.    On her, the black stripe was much blacker than before. Her entire complection was darker. Build was stronger. Her hands ended in long, extremely sharp claws. Slowly, this dark Shadow turned to Akan, radiating that feeling that had once been in the air. From inside Shadow then?! But no, it was in the air before! It had to have been! She was stepping forward, ignoring the other Shadow on the ground and simply moving towards Akan with a horribly dangerous fanged grin on her face.     Somehow, Akan managed to scramble to his feet and back away as the dark Shadow continued her simple approach. Seeing he was afraid, her grin grew and she extended a single clawed hand towards him in a disturbing and almost friendly gesture. She spoke, although in an almost twisted voice when compared to Shadow’s, “You know you can’t run from me.”    “S-S-Shadow...” Akan couldn’t believe he found his voice, speaking as best he could as he also somehow got the lightsaber off of his belt, “Stay back!!”    The radiating menace grew slightly and she growled violently, “I am not Shadow! I am Dark! Shadow was a fool! She tried to balance forces that could not be balanced! Now come...you will join me. You cannot run.”    It was amazing that Akan managed to grasp what Dark was saying. Despite the chaos, he suddenly found himself trying to calm. Calm was the key. Dark and light. Everyone fought with them internally...that force they’d felt. Malevolence. Dark. Trying to manipulate them? Him? Her? Who?!    As she spoke, though, her speed was increasing slowly. Akan didn’t know when he’d activated the lightsaber, but he found that his speed was increasing too, backing away quickly with the blue-green blade in front of him and shaking with his hands, “No! Get back!”    The smile simply grew on her face as she continued to approach, “Come, now. It will not hurt. And the more you fight, the more you give him strength.”    Him. That word triggered a sudden flash of more of those thoughts. More of the death. More of it his fault...more of it...no! No! The effort he was taking to fight back the onslaught of anguish had him stopping in his tracks. This was not a good idea, but by the time Akan realized he’d stopped moving, Dark was nearly on him. He had a short second to attempt swinging the lightsaber at her(and truthfully, he was amazed he could attack Shadow, no matter if she called herself Dark or whatever). This was too late, though. Dark’s upped arm slamming into his hands holding the weapon, crushing his fingers and forcing him to lose his grip. The lightsaber flew off to the side and Akan stumbled back slightly. The same instant that the weapon hit the sand and deactivated, Dark’s other hand curled into a fist and rose up towards Akan’s chest.    It did not, however, impact. In fact, it hurt a thousand times worse than any punch ever could. Her fist moved inside him. Deep inside. Akan felt her tighten on something...not an organ or anything physical. But something not truly there. Something science could never measure. It was him. It was everything that made him who he was. It was his soul. His spirit. His Core, as Alraxians called it. Dark’s hand grasped his Core tightly, ripping at it in a way that was much less physical as it should have been. Akan’s screams of pain suddenly ended when she wrenched her arm out. He fell back onto the ground hard, eyes closing a moment as something felt...wrong. Wholly wrong. When his eyes opened, this was confirmed.    Standing there facing the other direction, he did not see Dark. He saw...a figure slightly taller than Dark, with much the same complection. The figure had the same wings, but the hair was shorter, scruffier, and just a bit lighter. When the figure glanced over its shoulder at him, Akan looked into his own face. This would not have been such a disturbing experience if he hadn’t know that he was not looking into a mirror. If he hadn’t known that his face was never that cruel or pained looking. His own Dark smiled suddenly, revealing those same fangs as his two Alraxian ears flattened.    “Leave them,” spoke Shadow’s Dark flatly. She turned and started a slow walk towards the edge of the plateau. Akan’s Dark seemed to hover over him a long moment, then kicked Akan hard in the side before turning and following. By the time Akan managed to get to his feet, for some reason thinking he would go after the two Darks, he could see the two figures above the ground off on the horizon. In the air...so those wings weren’t just for show.    But the pain was...distant still. Still trying to comprehend what had happened, Akan suddenly realized that the other Shadow was still there. He scrambled over to her and pulled her up off of her face. Dusting the sand off of her, Akan tried to mentally push her to wake up. As usual, it worked. But not like usual, he didn’t receive a fist.    Instead, she just opened her pale purple colored eyes slowly. In a soft, very timid voice, Shadow spoke, “A...Akan...?”    He nodded, hoping she could at least see straight, “What...what just happened?”    “She’s gone...” Shadow said quietly, in a voice he’d never heard from her before. It was one filled with relief, “She’s finally gone. They’re both gone...”    Akan helped Shadow to sit up straight, then said, “I hope its not what I think it is.”    She just smiled, a genuine smile for once, “Finally...that horrible creature is gone from me,” she smiled suddenly and said, “From you, too...”    “Shadow...” Akan trailed off, wanting to say that it was likely that this was not a good thing. That it was likely that this would be causing far more problems than they already had. And the fact that if what he thought had happened, had really happened, he should be feeling different. But he didn’t.     Shadow shook her head, “Call me Light. Shadow is a blend of both Light and Dark...that isn’t possible to exist. It is better now.”    That confirmed it. Something was wrong with this. Very wrong. Akan had known Shadow had always been balancing two uneven forces. It wasn’t her fault, and something she couldn’t seem to deal with for long. That...whatever had preyed on it. Expanded it. Then lived through it. It had attempted the same with Akan, but no matter how many mental troubles he had, he was much more stable than Shadow ever was. He was much more balanced...so much so that his ‘dark’ and ‘light’ did not divide as much as blend into one another. Shadow had split...but Akan. What had happened? He still felt the same. Still felt all those things he probably shouldn’t be feeling...what did that mean for his other? The other had seemed to be very ‘dark’ compared to him. Yet...he was the same.    When Akan got Sha...no, Light to her feet, he walked over and got his lightsaber. He did not, however, put it back on his belt. He looked to Light and motioned for her to follow him as he started towards the plateau. She followed without saying much until her mind worked out where he was going. Quickly, she grabbed his arm and tried holding him back with a strange lack of strength, “No! Leave them! They won’t come back!”    Akan shook his head. For the first time, he’d really have to be the one to make the decisions. No more reactions based on Shadow. He took a deep breath, and gave her a serious look that indicated to her that little at all had changed with him, “They will. You would, wouldn’t you?”    She paused to think about this, and her mood dropped suddenly. That proved he was right. Quietly, she said to the ground, “I don’t want to.”    “We have to,” Akan said firmly. Light looked back to him, and seeing the determination in him, stopped fighting. Again, nothing like she should have. No longer stubborn. Too easily giving in...avoiding confrontations. As Akan started towards the cliff face again, for the first time he found himself wanting Shadow back. The real Shadow. Not this Light. This wasn’t Shadow...but what did that mean for him? And how was he supposed to fix all of this? Pushing these questions out of his mind, he focused on the best thing possible. He focused on what he’d do. And that’s how he began his first real hunt.</blockquote>

Verification