This is the story of an unfortunate creature whose name was lost years ago, and is now known as "Shadowplay". I reached my hand across the wall of the old factory that i lived in, casting a shadow in the dim light. when i moved it back to where i sat on the ground, the shadow remained. i bent over and breathed on it, and it slowly came to life. i wasnt really sure what i made, only that it was. this is what i spend my time doing now, making these shadow puppets. they are my friends. they love me. i love them. it was about four years ago when It happened. not the shadows, but the THING. the thing that eventually led to the shadows. i had been on my own for two years then. i knew because it was the anniversary of my parents' and younger brother's deaths. but that is a story for another time. i was walking past a forest, one which i felt comfortable crossing only in day. it isnt wise to pass any forest at night on Allergreen, trusted or not. people often go missing that way. anyways, i was walking along, head down, hands in my leather vest when i spied a stranger looking at me. he was a burly guy. i thought he was human, but trolls tend to look a bit like muscled humans. i tried to keep my head down and keep walking, but he got up from leaning against a tree and walked over to me. now, if youve lived on Allergreen as long as i have, then one thing you know is when a stranger comes for you, it aint to sell you cookies. so i straitened a bit, and said in the deepest voice 12-year-old me could muster: "Go away." the man smiled, and didnt go away. surprise surprise. he had come pretty close now, and started walking beside me, hands in the pockets of his Ilatian Army pants. i tried to maneuver away from him, but he just smiled and followed me. this continued for about thirty minutes, and then i stopped ad turned to him. "ok," i said, "maybe you could explain why youre following a kid around?" he stopped, still smiling, and said in an accent that at one point people might have called Scottish, "maybe you could explain why a kid is walking by himself next to the forest that nobody dares go within a mile of, hm?" he had me there. "its private," i mumbled. i hated the way he smiled at me. it was disturbing. "what do you want?" i finally said. he smiled even more. my gosh i hated that smile... "i have something you may be interested in," he said, pointing at me. "oh really?" i said, raising my chin at him, even though he was about six and a half feet and i the entirety of five. he nodded, and gestured to follow him. i was a bit curious to see how stupid this was. besides, if things turn sour, i could always whip out the grenades i found at the factory i lived in. we walked until evening, eventually arriving at an Ilatian town. or rather, village. ok, even THATS generous. it was a circle of maybe forty tents, and a few open-walled ones in the middle. that is, except for the one in the exact center. it was a black tent, compared to the dark green of the others. people walked and talked about the camp, some smoking, others drinking various liquids, a laugh here and there, a card game over there. they all wore a part of an Ilatian soldier uniform, but none war the full thing. when Mr. Scotty here walked in, they all stopped smiling and laughing, and the camp went dead silent. "hello, guys. look what i found," he said, waving his hand in my direction. i shrank under the eyes of the people. i didnt much care for so many people looking at me like that. there was silence for a while, and then suddenly one of the less clean-shaven men spoke up: "and what is THAT supposed to be, Gregor?" Gregor smiled again. did i mention i hated his smile? "this, Klint, is our new buddy." "looks like a runt if you ask me," said one of the women there, a tall and rather thin creature with short hair, mean eyes, and a Marksman-39 rifle on her shoulder. "you sure he'll work?" "yes, Jaylien, he'll work. the smaller the better." i hated the way they talked about me like i was something to be used. i was going to say something, even though i would probably sound stupid, but then Gregor (i still prefer him to be called Scotty) pushed me forward into the camp. i tried to resist, but he just kept going. finally i was amidst a bunch of the members of the camp, all of them regarding me with keen eyes. i was glad that the blue lock of hair covered a half of my face, so i had at least something between us. Gregor kept pushing me on, a strong hand on the middle of my back. probably the entire camp was there now, watching as we made our way through the camp. before i new it, the plain had turned into dirt walls. we were going down a bunch of stairs. below i could see a faint purple-red glow. it wasnt inviting. the stairs went on and on, ever downward. the walls slowly changed from dirt to rock, and from rock to steel. or at least, some metal. i was getting more uncomfortable as we went.
finally, after ages, we arrived at the floor of the... building i guess. the glow was now enveloping us in its ominous arms. we walked through a heavy door, and into a small room, with a giant metal ring on one end. i was starting to panic now. what in the Allergreen were they going to do to me? Gregor noticed my panic, and i saw that for once he was no longer smiling. he knelt down in front of me, a hand on my shoulder, staring straight into my eyes. "ok, lad," he said. "now, i know you arent going to be thrilled with doing this, but theres something that i... we need you to do for us." he pointed at the ring, in which purple and red blobs moved about, in an amoeba-like fashion. "you see that, lad? that is a portal. we need you to go into it for us." i just about went berserk. there was nothing in this universe that could convince me to go through that thing. but Gregor gripped my shoulder tighter and shook me before i could say anything. "lad! lad! calm down, will you? i know you dont want to do this. but on the other side of that portal, there is something very dear to us." he pointed at the portal again. "our friend is in there. do you understand? he is in there, and has been for years." "why dont you go get him yourself?" i snapped at him. his face vanished of any preceding smile, and showed only grim sorrow. "we tried," he said solemnly. he pointed at the ceiling. "those people up there, those are all thats left of us. we were a company 126 strong, lad! those up there, they are all thats left! 39 souls! 39 souls who watched theyre fellow comrades die to save our friend, die in fire and ice and hundreds of other unspeakable horrors!" he was almost crying now. but i still didnt understand. "why me though? why not some other kid who was out for a walk?" he looked at me with more intensity than before. "because, lad, you survived something that none of them did. you survived the Black Tide and the things that swam in its waters." at that i froze up, and black whisps started spinning before my eyes. the Black Tide. you cannot stop the Black Tide. the Black Tide consumes. the Black Tide comes. i looked at Gregor, but not of my own control, and whispered: "you cant stop the Black Tide." Gregor was shocked and puzzled, but had very little time for both. before either of us new what was going on, the room started to shake. i looked at the portal, out of instinct. the red and purple was starting to fade, and be replaced by black tendrils that shot out of its depths, writhing in the air of the room. one shot out and pierced Gregor through the chest, knocking him back into the wall, and leaving a bloody stain. i was shocked, confused, and above all, completely terrified. the arms of black were growing in number and filling the room. occasionally one whipped past me, cutting into my arms and legs. i tried to escape but the arms pooled in the shaking doorframe. bits of the ceiling began to fall, hitting the arms, but never fazing them as they spazmatically flung about. i looked around, breathing heavily. then i noticed my hand was getting increasingly warmer. after a short while it was unbearable. i screamed and pulled up my hand, trying to see why it could possibly be hurting right now. on my palm was burned a symbol that resembled a sticklike bird with oustretched wings, burning bright red. i flung my hand out away from my face, and screamed. but the scream i heard wasnt me. it was coming from all around, deafening in my ears. it was the arms. they twisted and flicked away from the sign on my hand. but at the same time, they were coiling closer and closer. a sudden pain shot through my arm. they were going into my hand!!! i screamed again, met by the same deafening cry as before. slowly the room began to empty of the black tendrils, and fill with a red warning light. dazed from everything that had just happened, i ran up the steps, tears streaming from my face. i ran until i got to the top, where the soldiers were wating in a nervous group, guns up. "where is he? where is Gregor? where is Damien? what happened?" said one, a large man with a gatling gun. "i dont know," i said, crying. one of the other soldiers pushed through the group and pointed his gun at me. "aight," he said, raising his rifle, "whe izee? what id you doh to im?" i flung my hands up in defence, and tucked my head into my chest. then a scream echoed in my ears. i looked up. and saw the man lying on the ground, dead. around me the half-uniformed soldiers raised their guns at me, and i flung my hands up again. except this time, i saw what happened. the shadows my hands were casting were digging into their bodies, puncturing their organs. i was killing them without even realizing it! i put my hands down and ran as bullets and shouts flew about me. i ran and ran, hours went by. i ran until i reached the factory, and buried my head in my knees, sobbing. then i tried to punch the wall, but my fist never hit it.
