Shadow staggered to his feet. He felt at his ribs, three were broken, his sternum was damaged as well, but luckily none of his bones had punctured his lungs.
He took in deep wheezing breaths and stabilized himself. Next he tore out a piece of clothing from his cloak and tied his left eye shut…
He stumbled but held the wall and looked at them. Even with the absence of light, he could see them properly.
He was of the Shadows after all.
"Aaahh, the brat still lives? And where is the girl who was with him?" The short man asked.
The long man shrugged, "Beats me, why would I care about a weak girl? I want that man" he grinned.
"That… Was a solid attack. You almost killed me you know, risky business here" Shadow muttered in pain but stood up straight.
The short man regarded him with caution and took a step back. "I am Finn and this is Sam" the short man said.
"Consider this my respect to you for surviving that attack. Next time, you won't be so lucky" Finn said, he flexed his gauntlets and squatted low, ready for another attack.
"Are we going again for another one?" Sam asked with glee, he cracked the whip against the ground and got into position.
"And I… I am Shadow" the men heard.
The looked around each other, unable to pinpoint where exactly the voice came from, it sounded as though the entire cavern spoke his name, he seemed to be at a place, but not there at the same time.
"I am Shadow" the cavern sang once more.
"Show yourself and fight like a man" Finn roared.
Sam sent his whip flying, swinging it around the cavern, cracking against the walls and ceiling, breaking off pieces of the walls.
But nothing.
"Your lives are forfeit" the cavern sang again.
Finn doubled over, falling to his knee. He could feel blood dripping down the sides of his ankles.
He tried to stand up but couldn't, his tendons at his ankles and knees had been severed.
"You… you're an assassin!" Finn shouted.
Sam became even more serious and went into a frenzy, "Time to dance" he whispered and dashed out into the darkness.
What Shadow had understood was that the men also had a way of seeing in the dark, he wasn't sure how but that's made sense to him.
Sam swung his whip around fiercely, his whip extended even further than its actual length, searching, looking for Shadow.
But to no avail.
Clank!
Sam looked to his left, he knew that sound, it was the sound of metal clashing against metal, Finn wore a gauntlet so it couldn't be him. He ran towards there and cracked his whip in the direction he had heard the sound from.
Nothing.
"Shit. Finn, this guy is way too evasive" Sam called out.
Silence.
"Finn! Do you have an idea or something? I can't find this guy" he called out once more.
Silence met his question.
Sam turned his face towards the entrance of the tunnel that led further into the cavern. There he saw a small figure, kneeling on the ground.
"Finn?" Sam said louder. He could see him so why wasn't he responding.
Feeling a bit hesitant, Sam walked slowly towards Finn. He saw Finn, he called out to Finn. But Finn didn't respond.
"Finn, if this is a joke, stop it!" Sam stood in front of Finn, who simply knelt down in silence.
The artifact that he held only allowed him to see shapes and outlines in the dark. Not that he could actually see. Sam dug into his pocket and held out a gemstone.
The stone illuminated the cavern and Finn.
Finn knelt on both his knees, is arms fallen by his sides slack, and his head bending slightly towards the left, blood flowed from all his joints.
Sam felt shaken, he looked about, thinking that perhaps, Shadow had gone further into the tunnel. Sam raised Finn's head and almost dropped his gemstone in shock.
Finn's eyes and throat had been sliced clean. Sam staggered back in shock.
"I am Shadow"
Sam heard the voice again, but this time, the cavern didn't speak for him, he felt the voice just behind him, unexpectedly...
Sam saw the gemstone fall with his hand.
"Huh?"
Sam looked at the gemstone, still held by his hand, but detached from his arm. Sam screamed, but no sound came out.
He looked below him and saw his tunic wet with his blood.
"Aarrgh… Kaargh... Maaargh" Sam tried to scream or say something, but he simply choked on his blood.
Thud!
He looked to his left and saw his left hand holding his whip, on the ground while he still stood up.
Sam looked around in a fright. Why couldn't he feel pain? What was happening? Was he imagining all of it?
"Your lives are forfeit"...
Without bothering to look, Sam ran, he ran with everything he had in him. Only one thought existed in his head.
Monster!
He's a damn Monster!
The boss isn't going to make it, I have to tell them!
Sam fell to the ground, rolling, with no hands to stop himself, he glided to the wall and stopped. He tried standing up again but he couldn't. He looked at his feet and saw stumps instead.
His feet lay a few meters behind him.
Sam began breathing heavily, never in his life had he been so scared before. The horror, the inhumanity was unlike anything he had ever seen before.
Step!
Step!
Step!
Sam saw the silhouette of a man who walked towards him, he knew it was that monster. He had come to finish the job.
Shadow stood above the helpless body of Sam and bent low with his dagger, whispering his last words to him.
"An eye for an eye". He slashed Sam's eyes with his first dagger and drove the second into his throat.
Shadow stood up and staggered a bit, he had lost too much blood.
"Come out Liora, I know you've been watching".