As Lauri began to awaken, his mind immediately started to process the surrounding environment.
He was sitting in a room, a small room, a small room with what felt like a single chair that Lauri was sitting in. Lauri could sense a space slightly outside the door, but his attention was focused on this room, an empty space stood a few steps away from Lauri. No, not an empty space, it was a void where the light died—a perfect shadow.
'I can see? Feel? This room… Wait.' Lauri rubbed his eyes, his eyes were still closed. 'How, how can I see this?'
Opening his eyes, Lauri instinctively blinked a few times, expecting his sleeping eyes to hurt when exposed to the bright light. But strangely, the bright light did not affect Lauri. Still blinking a few times out of reflex, Lauri looked for that strange presence he had felt… Somehow.
Opening his eyes, Lauri's expression dropped. He still felt horrible, but now, he was even worse.
Lauri's voice shook, unimaginable fear and rage mixed into his words "You…"
The black knight was leant next to the door, his arms crossed, he was looking at the floor. Hearing Lauri, his head tilted up.
"So I'm still alive, huh." Standing up, Lauri stomped across to the silent figure. "So where's this Shadowman, huh? That's who you've taken me to, isn't it? I heard about him from one of your guys, the one who killed Merry and dragged me all the way out to you before Laurence slaughtered all of them!"
The black knight said nothing, he only looked away from Lauri. The knight's silence only caused Lauri's anger to boil.
"Why won't you say something?! Your lot were-"
Lauri froze. As he was shouting at the knight, something had changed outside the room.
The small amount of the hallway Lauri could sense had disappeared. Whatever part of his being that was able to detect his surroundings became suffocated by an unnatural darkness that Lauri hadn't noticed at first due to his unstable emotions.
Staggering back, Lauri bumped into the chair, falling into it as the door slid open. A man stepped out of the bright hallway and into the equally bright room.
On the surface, he seemed like a normal man. Short raven black hair complimented his tanned complexion, and a straight black suit and a dark smile crossed his lips. Although the room was still as bright as it had been moments ago, whatever method Lauri had used to sense his surroundings vanished as this man's presence darkened the room.
The bright lights dimmed as he stepped past the black knight, stopping in front of Lauri.
"My, my to think they had an Awakened, a Sickly as well."
Lauri attempted to speak, but found himself unable to speak. His jaw quivered in fear. Swallowing, Lauri grit his teeth.
"Y- You- Shadow- You are the Shadowman-"
The man tilted his head for a moment, Lauri hadn't noticed at first, but as he gazed into the man's eyes, he felt as if something much worse than that of a gazed back at him from behind the man's eyes. The man's eyes were strange, his pitch black iris' sat next to his pupils formed pitch-black dots in his eyes, a stark contrast to the white of his sclera.
Their eye contact only broke when the man laughed, the man began to circle Lauri as he spoke.
"Please, please, Shadowman is only what my Indebted refer to me by." His eyes flicked to the black knight for a moment before settling back on Lauri. "You shouldn't have to worry about that… For long."
Lauri's fingers gripped the arms of the chair as the man stopped behind Lauri. Lauri's being shook as the man leant down, gently speaking into his ear.
"You may call me, Director Yang."
Walking, he stood between the doorway and Lauri. Shrugging, he spun back to face the boy.
"Or just Yang, I'm not too picky."
Lauri felt his teeth chatter.
'Why, why am I so scared of this guy.'
Lauri's eyes were fixed on the man, on Director Yang. Although Lauri asked the question, it had an answer he already knew.
Director Yang held within him something dark, at first it reminded Lauri of the darkness the black knight held within his being. But Yang's body contained something, completely otherworldly.
'Maybe, this is how he is blocking that new sense… By existing.'
"Why did you do it…?"
Yang again tilted his head, his face wore a placid smile.
"Hmm? Why did I do what?"
Lauri balled his fists so tight that his fingers quickly grew white.
"You… You are the boss of those guys, of that black knight. You ordered them…' Despite being faced with a being that shook him to his core. Lauri's body contained something equal to the power within Yang's body. Lauri's feat subsided, replaced by an all-consuming rage that put his other dominated his other emotions.
Through gritted teeth, he rose to his feet, his hands outstretched in front of him.
"To kill my family."
Knowing there was nothing he was all but powerless to fight either Yang or his black knight, Lauri summoned a blade of light regardless.
By the time Lauri had taken another step, he swung his sword at the defenceless man in front of him.
But Awakened were never truly defenceless, this was a fact Lauri had quickly learnt. Lauri might have been weak when compared to Awakened he had met, he could not hold a candle to Laurence, Granny, or any of the invaders who destroyed his home. Yet, with his ability to summon weapons made of light at a moment's notice – not, if he were to be attacked by something of equal or lesser power to himself, he would always put up a fight.
But this was not one of those cases.
As the sword was moments from reaching Yang, the man's brow raised.
"Hmm… You have no shadow?"
Suddenly, Lauri's world was thrown backwards.
Not quite the world, but Lauri was thrown backwards. The shadows that travelled with Yang burst from the ground hitting Lauri like a wave, they carried Lauri back to the chair in the middle of the room, the blade in Lauri's hand shattered the moment the shadows came into contact with it. Lauri was quickly subdued, his body bound to the chair by ethereal shadow.
Director Yang had beaten Lauri without raising a finger.
Yang stepped forward.
"I suppose your lack of shadow makes sense. Being what you are…" Yang began to circle Lauri once more – akin to a wolf stalking a wounded bunny. "You ask why I ordered my Indebted to kill, no, not kill. Kill makes it sound as if there was some measure of mercy, I think," Raising his hand he dramatically waved it from side to side as he searched for a more fitting word. "Slaughtered? Yes, my men were ordered to slaughter that village of Light-Touched, although not by my own choice. For you see, my master left me with a single order, I have not heard from him since he left to deal with your master."
"My master? Your master? I don't have a single clue what the hell you are talking about."
Even in his current state. Lauri's rage bubbled under the surface, allowing him to spit his words through gritted teeth.
Yang stopped, his expression changed from simple amusement to confusion and then back to amusement as his eyes widened, his mouth twisted at the sides forming something Lauri thought was a smile.
"You have no clue."
Stepping closer to Lauri, he leant down, their faces inches apart. Lauri's burning emotions allowed him to continue to function in the face of this terrifying man. Yet the thing moving behind his eyes caused Lauri's pure burning rage to falter, forcing Lauri turn his head away.
Yang stood up to his full height, his head tilted up as his eyes looked down at Lauri.
"So if I say the words, Light-Touched, Illuminance, Despoiled or Husk. These words mean nothing to you?"
Lauri couldn't tell what he should be feeling more. Fear of the man in front of him, or absolute confusion at the words he had just said.
Not a thought in his mind, Lauri tilted his head a little.
"Huh?"
Director Yang blinked. Scowling, he cast an annoyed look at the black knight still motionlessly stood by the door.
"This is why I told you to bring back all the awakened alive, Oryx."
Lauri's face grew grim as he stared at the black knight, at the man called Oryx.
'Oryx…' Biting his lip, Lauri's brow twitched. 'I'll kill you all, all of you…' Lauri glared into the back of Yang's head, fear tried to contest with his anger. 'Just you all wait.'
Oryx raised his head. The man's unnatural voice growled as he addressed his would-be master.
"Sir. Your order to bring them back dead or alive was only issued after I had inflicted a mortal wound on the old Awakened, and that man…" Oryx's voice grew quiet for a moment. "Even you would have had trouble fighting him, I am only alive because of the imbalance you caused between the light and darkness."
Yang's expression was grim until Oryx mentioned the imbalance that had occurred between the light and the dark during Laurence and Oryx's fight.
"The imbalance... It was not caused by me, but my master and the Herald. But now I have no master," Yang chuckled slightly, his eyes resting on Lauri. "And neither do they… And everyone needs some direction, after all."
Holding out his hand, Lauri could see something happen to Yang's hand. The shadows were drained from the room, all of them surged towards Yang's hand. As the shadows lessened, Lauri's new sense returned. Which would seem to be a good thing, but at that moment, Lauri's fear finally won over his rage.
Whatever was hiding within Yang's body was moving under his skin, the shadows wrapped around Yang's hand grew darker. The man's complexion grew darker and darker until his tanned skin was pitch black.
'That hand, I can't.' Lauri pulled against his binds, the shadows wrapped around his body did not move. 'I can't let him touch me.'
"You can see it, can't you? Do you like it, my Innate Talent?" Yang flexed his fingers as he took the few steps toward Lauri. "I'd explain it to you, all of it's intricacies, but well. What's the point when you will learn about it soon enough."
Stopping by Lauri's side, Lauri felt his body move – the shadows that kept him bound to the chair moved under a mental command from Yang.
Lauri was pushed down, his head forced to stare at the floor.
"Don't worry, I promise it will be painless on your body."
Yang's hand slowly moved to Lauri's defenceless neck.
Lauri's mind raced as he tried to do something, anything, he couldn't just do nothing and let Yang do whatever it was he wanted to do to him.
But there was nothing Lauri could do, he was far too weak to contend with Yang's shadows, he failed at trying to summon weapons of light – Yang's suffocating presence seemed to choke out the light around him, causing it to not obey Lauri's commands.
In the end, all Lauri could do was close his eyes as Yang's cold palm touched his bare nape.
And then his body was alight with pain.
Lauri's voice moved before his mind could fully process the pain coursing through his body. As if his entire being was plunged into pure, unimaginable pain. Worse than anything he had felt until this point, worse than falling down a jagged rocky slope, worse than drowning in that damned river, having his arm shredded by Fingers In The Dark.
Although it was a familiar pain, insidious as if it was touching his very being.