The Shadow Man Book 2: Memories

Prologue

Sharen's head was reeling. He had just processed that last information, and now he had to choose between two worlds.

Chapter One: Sharen, Present Day

Pain. That's all Sharen felt. Sharen—what was Sharen, or perhaps who was Sharen?

“What was that?” said Sharen. “The memories?”

And then, a bunch of images in his mind made him feel like he was being swept up by a wave and hit by a hammer. And then he was unconscious.

Deep inside his memories, he saw a lot of things: like him playing as a child with his friends, or more scary things, like him getting bullied by a kid made of fire. But he was smart and decided to channel the memories one by one, starting with his childhood memories. But then he lost his grip on reality and fell into darkness.

Chapter Two: Unknown

The first memory that came was small and easygoing. It was him going to a chamber formed from the elements and their core element. He remembered this. He was also happy that he was in a position where he was watching the memory and not the young him in it. Anyway, he had nothing else to do but settle down and watch.

He didn't remember this memory, but he had a slight tugging sensation in his mind that told him that this was a place where the elders of the Shadow Realm went to see what element he would grow up to control or manipulate. He saw everyone hoping that he would be a fire manipulator because, according to everyone else, they didn't nearly have enough.

Then the element cores started to glow. Suddenly, the room became so quiet and suspenseful you could cut it with a knife. The tingle in his mind told him that those stones were the elemental cores, and it was:

Diamond made from coal that has survived the fiercest flames for Fire manipulation.

Serpentine basked in pure salt and river water for Water manipulation.

Pitchblent/uraninite that has been in pure air for a year for Air manipulation.

Kyawthuite for Earth manipulation.

Graphene aerogel and pure friendship for Light.

And finally, Blood and a true mean sacrifice for Shadow.

He didn't even notice the pool of blood in the corner, and if he did, he probably would have just thought somebody just died there. It also told him that if one of the cores turned rainbow, he would grow up to get that element, but if it turned white, he would carry down a further path and he would have to go to a new cave to see what that branch element would be.

Then the Kyawthuite turned white.

Chapter Three: Name…Lost to Time

“Ah, good,” said the centipede. He seems calm and relaxed. He should make it through and get all his memories back. He will finally come back to us.

“Aww man, I hoped he would die, painfully,” said the shadow boy Jeff.

“Oh, be quiet, you,” said the centipede. “If you want him to die, then get out.”

“Ok,” grumbled Jeff. “I'll go out, but you haven't heard the last of me.”

“Glad that's over,” said one of the elders, but the centipede wasn't listening because Sharen had started thrashing around.

       Chapter Four: Young Spirit - Past

One moment he was watching, and the next he was heading to the earth element branch cavern. He was excited to see what branch element he would be; he hoped it would be better than the general element of earth.

So he went to the cavern and started the ritual. Then the stones started glowing. The tingle in his mind told him that there was:

Francium for metal manipulation.

Antarctic Diatom Mud for mud manipulation.

Red diamonds for diamond manipulation.

And Camphor for nature manipulation.

Then the Francium turned rainbow. He had turned silver, and he had been granted the name Sylar Korr all at once.

Chapter Five: Sylar-Korr - Past

Sylar-Korr was wandering in the streets. Recently, he had been given his name by Mother Centipede and been sorted into his fake family. He respected and loved his family, but he always wanted to go on an adventure, leave the realm. It had never been possible. Mother Centipede had always kept her sons and daughters close. She would never let them go.

So one night, he snuck out of the house and started exploring the realm to find a way out.

Chapter Six: Sylar-Korr - Past

The realm was as he always saw: a black, infinite void. Not lighter at day, not darker at night. He didn't know a way out, but there were some suspicious parts of the area that no one had explored because they were all banned from the public. There were countless horror stories told about them.

“Perfect,” thought Sylar-Korr.

He decided that the most scary one was obviously an ideal choice and that he was going to go there first. The place was called the Crimson Catacombs, and it was creepy. You couldn't take a step in the realm without hearing several horror stories about the place. And when he arrived, he could see why. The cave was covered in blood.

       Chapter Seven: Name…Lost to Time

“HELP! ANYONE, HELP!” screamed the centipede. “MY BABY IS DYING!”

Sylar-Korr/Sharen's fake parents both put a hand on the screaming centipede's back to comfort her.

“If I know my son, then he’ll survive this; he can survive anything.”

“You don't know that; you weren't his mother. Get out, you fake parents! You never really knew him,” said Mother Centipede.

Then the parents both ran away, disgusted and in tears.

“You may have been his biological mother, but we were always the preferred ones!” the parents called back.

Chapter Eight: Sylar-Korr - Past

As he was walking into the Crimson Catacombs, he heard a familiar voice—no, voices. It was his friends, whose names were Skonadar and Aquaocea, pronounced sko-neid-air and ac-wa-oh-see-a.

As he was walking into the caves, he heard the faint drip, drip of blood and the scuttle, scuttle of scorpions nearby.

Suddenly, Sylar-Korr felt a pang of happiness as Sharen, for once in his life, or past life. He felt it as if it was a happy memory, not a sad or scary one; he couldn't understand why.

Suddenly, he returned to his life as Sylar-Korr. It all happened too fast; he couldn't reassure himself that this was going to be a happy memory, so he couldn't be scared or sad.

Chapter Nine: Sylar-Korr Past

As the trio walked through the cave, Aquaocea asked the question that had been on both of Sylar-Korr's friends' minds: “What are you doing here?”

“Well,” said Sylar-Korr, “I am trying to escape from this world.”

“WHAT!” exclaimed both of his friends. “YOU CAN'T DO THAT!”

“Well,” said Sylar-Korr, “honestly, I've always had the urge to adventure and explore beyond, and I cannot just ignore that urge.”

Aquaocea opened her mouth to answer, but she didn't have a chance to say anything because at that point, air spirits had attacked.

 Chapter Ten: Name Lost to Time

Mother Centipede was so sad that she had locked herself up in a cell of her own making and was trying to kill herself by starvation or thirst. The problem with this was that she was immortal, which meant that she couldn't die. Her baby, her glorious all-silver baby, was dying and there was nothing she could do about it.

Suddenly, a thought entered her mind: she had been mean to Sylar-Korr’s fake parents when perhaps they could help their fake son survive.

        Chapter Eleven: Sylar-Korr Past

“Ahhhhh!” Sylar-Korr screamed.

Air spirits of all shapes and sizes had flown through the cave as they changed shapes rapidly to try to scare them off, but luckily they seemed to be in a weakened state and their attacks barely hurt anyone.

“I wonder why they're weak,” said Skonadar. “Air spirit attacks are usually more powerful than this. Wait,” he exclaimed, “usually they are weak during a banishing ritual, and if someone is near one, they can get a familiar—a pet that is like both your friend and family, and you share a bond with it. I've always wanted a familiar, Sylar-Korr, especially a snake one.”

“Well then,” said Skonadar, “you're in luck. Come on, let's go watch a banishing ritual.”

Chapter Twelve: Sylar-Korr Past

As they crept through the cave, Sylar-Korr asked Skonadar what he thought the spirit was going to be.

“Well,” said Skonadar, “when a young spirit is banished, it takes only one form, but that form becomes more powerful than other spirits in that form.”

“I hope it's not a spider; I hate spiders,” said Sylar-Korr.

“Yeah, agreed, Skonadar. Same,” said Aquaocea, and they all laughed as they arrived at the banishing ritual.

Suddenly, misjudging the moment, Sylar-Korr rushed to the place of the ritual. The spirit was a snake.

Chapter Thirteen: Sylar-Korr Past

“Stop!” Sylar-Korr commanded Aquaocea, but he wouldn't stop. He had his eyes on that snake, and nothing could stop him now.

The snake was actually inspired by his bravery, but he hissed at Sylar-Korr for honor in finishing the ritual. There was one final thing to do: kill, then revive the snake to destroy any bonds with his family or even friends.

But Sylar-Korr got the wrong idea and tried to stop the spirits from killing the snake, but he couldn't, and the snake died.

“NO!” Sylar-Korr cried. “Noooooooo!”

Then the snake revived and became a familiar with Sylar-Korr.

“Yes!” Sylar-Korr cried. “Yeeeeeeees!”

Chapter Fourteen: Name Lost to Time

Mother Centipede had welcomed Sylar-Korr's parents back, and she was mainly happy because all was good in her realm. Also, Sylar-Korr’s breathing had slowed and he seemed happy, but for some reason, his fake parents were concerned.

“Why are you so concerned?” asked Mother Centipede the next day.

“Well, if Sylar-Korr is so happy now,” replied the parents, “then that means he has found his familiar, and soon after that, he will face down the god of mischief and die, which he might not be able to accept and die again.”

Chapter Fifteen: Sylar-Korr Past

As Sylar-Korr exited the cave, he heard a loud noise coming from the main realm and a small voice saying something. He couldn't hear the voice since the city was so far away, but he didn't need to hear to know that someone or something was causing trouble.

Sylar-Korr and his friends rushed to the scene, and right there, standing in a crater, was Aknarmo (pronounced ac-narl-moo), the Demon of Mischief.

Chapter Sixteen: Sylar-Korr Past

“I thought all of the demons had been wiped out,” said Skonadar.

“And they had,” replied Acnarmo.

“How did you hear me?” said Skonadar.

“Well, I am the Demon of Mischief. Eavesdropping is my specialty.”

“Oh, of course,” replied Skonadar. “Now, back to our earlier conversation: HOW DID YOU SURVIVE?”

“Well, there was only one thing I could do to survive. The king of the gods, Cothromon (pronounced cougth-ro-mon), the God of Balance, had almost discovered the cave of demons, and we were weak. The gods had been picking us off one by one, and there was no doubt about it: we were all going to die. So, I did the one thing I could: I betrayed everyone and told the gods the secret location of the demon cave.”

“So, you betrayed him,” said Aquaocea.

“No, it was a double betrayal.”

“Really?” exclaimed Skonadar.

“Oh, yes,” said Acnarmo. “It was Cothromon. When I snuck into his palace and told him the location, he trapped me right there on the spot. He said I wasn't trustworthy, reckoned I would have betrayed him, said I was too yin (dark) and not enough yang (light). I probably would have, to be fair, but you didn’t hear it from me.”

Chapter Seventeen: Sylar-Korr Past

“Anyways, back to RULING THE WORLD for me. When I rule the world, there will be no laws, rules, or anything like that. It will be chaos.”

Suddenly, Sylar-Korr made the rashest, boldest, and craziest decision of his life. He grabbed a metal figure, turned it into an arrow, and threw it. Skonadar sent a blast of fire to heat up the tip of the arrow just before it struck.

“Ow,” said Acnarmo in mock pain. “That hurts sooooooooooooo much. You forget, I am immortal. You cannot kill me, and I shall rule the world. Starting with this realm, and then the next, and the next, and the next, until I have conquered all of the branch realms. Then I can attack the main realm with all of the elemental warriors under my command, and I will become ruler of the universe. Mwahahahahahahahahaha!”

“Yeesh,” said Aquaocea. “They should call you the Demon of Terrible Evil Laughs.”

“How dare you insult me,” said Acnarmo. “You shall pay with your life.”

“Erm, actually, only gods are immortal,” said Skonadar. “Demons can die, but only to the hands of the gods. Soooooooooooo, does anyone know any gods around here?”

“I am a god,” said Mother Centipede from behind them. “I had given up that role to take care of my children, but the title still remains. Let me fight him.”

Chapter Eighteen: Sylar-Korr Past

Suddenly, Acnarmo used his powers to make Mother Centipede angry and start swearing all over the place. “You're in trouble,” said Acnarmo in a sing-song voice, and uppercutted Mother Centipede so hard that one of her legs fell off. “You'll pay for that,” growled Mother Centipede as she sent a blast of shadow magic his way. Acnarmo swiftly dodged the blast and sent a punch her way. This kept going on and on and on for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours until eventually, Mother Centipede gained the upper hand.

        Chapter Nineteen: Sylar-Korr past

Right as Acnarmo was about to throw another punch she curled up into a ball and created a force field around herself. Then Acnarmo’s fist got stuck in the force field and no matter how hard he shaked it his fist wouldn't come out. Sensing the day was over for him he grabbed Sylar-Korr and held him close. If you kill me then you kill your child said Acnarmo. Do it urged Sylar-Korr, you either save me and I die later anyway or you kill me save everyone and only one person dies. It's not worth it, said mother centipede I could never. Then close your eyes and blast us, said Sylar-Korr “It's either me or me and a million so KILL ME NOW!” he said. “Whatever you want my sss…” exclaimed mother centipede now crying. But he could not hear for the blast of shadow magic was upon them.

Chapter Twenty: Sylar-Korr Present 

Gasp! Sylar-Korr… or Sharen awoke with a start. “He’s awake!” gasped everyone as Mother Centipede ran into the room. “He’s awake!” she exclaimed. “Yeeeeeeeess! He’s awake.”  

“You… you are my real mom, but so are my other parents.”  

“Yes,” Mother Centipede confirmed. Sharen's head was reeling; he had just processed that information, and now he had to choose between two worlds. “But who do I stay with now?” he asked, and with that, he started to cry. “Who's my real family?” he said. “Who do I stay with?”  

“Whoever makes you happy, my little Sy-Sy,” she said. “Choose whoever you want.” She was crying too now. “How about this? I stay with my parents on the weekdays and with you on the weekends. Then we will all be happy.”  

“Okay,” cried Mother Centipede. “Whatever you want.” And with that, Sharen went home and started living his normal life again… well, maybe not completely normal anyway.