"So, where do we begin?" Garis asked with enthusiasm.
"We need to follow a vehicle that doesn't head toward the settlement," Caleb replied. "They might lead us to the headquarters."
"That's genius!" Tahlia exclaimed in awe.
Following Caleb's suggestion, we waited patiently through the entire morning until we finally spotted a jeep heading in an unusual direction. We shadowed the jeep as it heading north. After a full day, the vehicle stopped in the middle of a barren area. Four passengers, a man, two women, and a boy, stepped out and began setting up a tent.
"There's no Light Mage with them," Tahlia whispered.
"We can ambush them," Caleb commanded.
I spread my Shadow Dominion across the area. They screamed in panic and the man blindly fired his weapon into the void.
"Shadow!" one of them cried.
Moving silently, I approached them and wrenched the man's weapon away with a shadow tendril.
"Where is the Light Mage?" I demanded.
"She's… she's not with us," the woman answer, she's already squatting in fear.
"Why? Where are you going?"
"We're escaping," she admitted. "Please don't hurt us."
"Why?"
"We don't want to work with them anymore. People keep mutating in the factories!"
Tahlia stepped forward, pressing her blade to the man's chin.
"Do you know where the headquarters is?" she asked.
"I… I don't know!" the man stuttered.
"I do," the boy said hesitantly.
"Well done," Caleb said. "Lead us there."
I gently took the boy's hand and escorted him to our ship, and dissolved the shadows as we moved.
"What did you do at the headquarters?" Caleb asked, his sharp gaze fixed on the boy.
"They made me deliver supplies," the boy replied.
"What kind of supplies?" Caleb pressed.
"…Mutants' blood."
"What are they doing there?" I asked.
"I don't know. Only Light Mages are allowed inside," the boy said.
"How many are there?" Caleb asked.
"About thirty."
As night fell, we arrived in a ruined business district. Most buildings were crumbling husks.
"They won't be here at night," the boy said.
"Where do they go?" I asked, clearly interested.
"No one knows. They always disappear when night falls."
We stopped in front of a derelict building. "This is the building." the boy pointed to it.
"Good. You can leave now," Caleb told the boy.
The boy nodded and fled right away.
"We can find the antidote while they're gone," Garis said.
We quickly went inside the building.
The first floor resembled a typical office space, covered in dust and debris. Scattered papers and broken furniture led to a series of laboratory rooms. We found rows of vials containing unidentified liquids, strange equipment, and documents written in an unfamiliar code.
"How will we know if we've found the antidote?" Tahlia asked, holding up a vial.
"Maybe the system should tell us?" Garis guessed.
With no better plan, we collected everything that looked promising and stuffing it into Arlen's oversized backpack.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
"What was that?" Tahlia whispered.
We followed the sound to a massive locked door. Caleb drew his blade and slashed it open effortlessly.
The room beyond was shrouded in darkness but we could see clearly with our abilities. Tahlia gasped covering her mouth.
The room was filled with rows of human mutants strapped to hospital beds like hundreds of them. They were writhing and straining against their restraints as they aware of our presence.
As we stepped closer, the mutants getting more aggresive. Some began breaking free.
"Get ready!" Caleb barked.
Garis and Caleb quickly attacked the nearest ones. Tahlia still frozen by the horrifying sight. I conjuring my shadow mirroring of the mutants to hold them off.
"Kira.." Tahlia gazed at my shadow in surprised.
She soon found her resolve and unleashed her storm while Arlen striking his arrow stayed at a distance.
The battle raged through the night. My mana depleted rapidly as I maintained the shadows that I need to down potion after potion. By sunrise, the mutants lay in lifeless piles around us. We were all drained.
"What the hell is going on here?" Tahlia collapsed.
"We need to leave before the Light Mages return," Caleb said.
We quickly run to the entrance but as we stepped outside, a figure already awaited us.
"So, these are the rats causing all the commotion inside."
A Light Mage stood alone, his back silhouetted by the rising sun.
"Looks like you're alone," Caleb smirked while stepping protectively in front of me.
"Me alone?" The Light Mage smirk. "Is more than enough to crush pests like you."
Threads of light erupted from his back, branching out like glowing tentacles.
"Let's talk," he said. "No need for unnecessary bloodshed."
"What are you doing in there?" Tahlia demanded.
"We're healing them," he replied with a smirk.
"You have the antidote?" Caleb asked.
"Yes."
"What a joke," Caleb sneered. "If you're really healing them, there's no way you making more mutants in the factory. Why not submit the antidote to Altiris?"
The Light Mage laughed coldly.
"And then what? Let them send us to another ruined world? No. With our light, we can bring this world back to life." He spreading his arms as though welcoming us. "Join us, let's save the world together."
One of his light threads reached for me, calmly removing my invisible cloak.
"Will you, Shadow?" he asked, his grin widening.
As I guess, he wasn't just an ordinary Light Mage.
"You've got me wrong," I said. "I have no plan to save the world."
I summoned Shadow Dominion immediately. The Light Mage countered and attempting to dissolve my shadows. But with the pendant on my neck, I had now grown stronger. Each time he disrupted my domain I re-summoned it in an instant not giving him time to break through completely.
The others launched attacks with full force. Garis summoned thorny roots that lashed toward the Light Mage while Caleb charged with his massive blade. Tahlia's tornado storms roared through the shadows and Arlen's arrows cut through the darkness.
But the Light Mage's strings moved like sentient beings, warding off every attack without him needing to move.
It sliced through Garis's root effortlessly and intercepted Caleb' swings mid-strike and coiled around his weapon like steel wires. Tahlia's tornado storms dissipated before reaching him and Arlen's arrow snatched out of the air by the strings. The strings weaving and striking as if they could see clearly in the dark.
"You're all wasting your time," the Light Mage sneered. "I gave you a chance, but now it's too late."
Suddenly, an oppressive power breaking through my control and my Shadow Dominion dissolved in an instant. As the darkness dissipated, we were left exposed in the pale of sun light.
Around twenty Light Mages had circled us, each one had threads of light extending from their hands.
"Don't worry," he mocked. "We'll take good care of you as a mutant."
I scanned them quickly taking in their number. Then a grin spread across my face as I recalled Kael's words.
Shadow is everywhere, thus it can be anything.
I laughed.
"You just made a huge mistake," I smirked.
The leading Light Mage frowned, clearly unsettled by my reaction.
"Didn't you forget?" I said. "Under the light, a shadow will always follow you behind."