Alone. That's what Lena felt in the Shadow Realm. Everything was bleak and really boring. No one could hear her, feel her presence or anything like that. She felt lonely and she wishes that Webby notices her and maybe reunite once more. She always stood beside her as a guardian, protecting her.
It was a normal day in Duckburg as Webby with a backpack on her back stood outside the steps of her favorite library after being dropped off by the bus. She breathes in the air before letting it all out. "Hah, the library. I love the smell of thinking in the morning." She said to herself loudly, walking up the steps, not noticing her shadow stopping mid-walk as it eyes shined a light blue.
Webby walks up to the chute next to the entrance where anyone could return any books that they have borrowed. She opens her backpack and pulled out a book titled "THE MYTH OF THE SHADOW REALM" in yellow writing, before looking at the cover. "The myth of the shadow realm." She read out before continuing. "'Myth" Hah! Nice try, book, but I will not be deterred in my quest. I can't be." Webby the proceeds to push open the door, entering the door. However, her shadow doesn't follow her in but instead stayed on the wall.
Then, something that no one could see came out of the shadow. It was Lena as she walked out of the shadow with no trouble. After completely walking out of the shadow, she places her left-hand knuckle on her side before smiling. "Library Day, again." She said, rolling her eyes. She then teleports inside the library, standing in front of a book in a glass case.
"Wave "Hello" to Ralph." Lena reminded, doing a waving gesture. She knew that Webby couldn't hear her but she did it for fun.
"Morning, Ralph. It's me Webby." She greeted the guard, which was a dog with a rough mustache. Webby stops in front of one of those machines that can only let someone through if you swiped a card on the payment terminal, and pulled out her library card. She proceeds to swipe it on the payment terminal, which led out of "ding-ding" sound, meaning that her access was denied.
"Swipe your library card." Lena teleported on top of the machine, laying their comfy. "Realize you're swiping it backward."
Webby looks at her card before realizing that she was swiping it the wrong way. She then flips it the other way before scanning, causing the machine to let out a "to-do" sound, meaning that can go through now. Webby pushes one of the three bars down, making her finally enter the center of the library.
"And head to the supernatural reference section to annoy the librarian on duty." Lena commented, the librarian being Emily Quackfaster. Felt like she was in an episode in a loop or something as she has seen this happen before.
Webby walks up to a table stacked with books as she spotted hair sticking out behind the mentioned books. Thinking it was the librarian from her previous visit, she spoke. "Hi, I'm Webby," Webby removes her backpack from her back. "and I need your help with some books." She then places the aforementioned backpack on the table, accidentally knocking over the pile of books onto the table or floor.
This causes Ms. Quackfaster to turn around and give her a death glare, also while slightly groaning with annoyance.
"Misses Quackfaster? What are you doing here? Asks Webby, placing both hands on the wooden table.
"Working a second job to pay for a retirement condo in Miaaaaamiiiii!" Ms. Quackfaster explained, extending the Miami part for dramatic effect. She then proceeds to pick up the books that were on the floor behind the desk.
"Well, I'm just doing some casual research on shadow magic. Not trying to bring my best friend back from its depths or anything." Webby said as Lena was mimicking her, adding the fact she has seen the same scene unfold before.
"You are a bizarre one." Ms. Quackfaster commented, turning to her. There was a short silence before Webby once more spoke. "Anyway," She digs into her backpack before pulling out stapled papers from the said backpack, "I'm looking for "Spirits of the Shadow Realm." Webby then proceeds to hand over the papers to the librarian before grabbing and putting the backpack back to her back. Ms. Quackfaster proceeds to eye the paper, reading it.
"Give it up, pink. You've messed with enough magic for one lifetime," Lena protested, vaulting and sitting on the table, "I'll be fine, in the shadow realm, forever, heh." Lena looked kind of sad about the last part, the thought about staying in her prison for eternity made her feel uneasy. However, her self-thoughts are cut off when she heard humming which drowned out all noises in the library.
The humming sounded deep and soft like an adult. "What the…?" Lena commented to herself, looking around her surrounding. She had the thought that maybe… someone else was in the shadow realm. However, she found the idea to be ridiculous as no one else could have the knowledge of the shadow realm, except for Webby and her friends.
But, she also wanted to get to the bottom of this. She hops off the table before walking in the center of the library, looking around her to pinpoint the source of the humming accurately. She stops moving her head when she heard it coming from her South. She proceeded to after the source, facing through the table where Webby and Quackfaster were still occupying, before entering one of the book aisles which is where the Economy section was. There, upon the many books, she spots a figure. It looked like a dog like that Favian kid. It had had Cyan white fur, ears that went back, hair slicked back like a combover, wore a blue shirt, dark blue jeans, and its tail was spikey. The dog didn't notice her at the moment as it was looking through the catalog of economy-related books.
"Impossible…" She said to herself, trying to grasp what she was looking at. The dog was the only figure that was colored while everything outside the shadow realm was photo-negative. She didn't know why that was the case but she just rolls with it.
The dog was still humming as it pulled a book from the bookshelf, which was made by the legendary Scrooge McDuck. However, as the dog was about to head out, it spotted Lena from afar. Then there was a long silence. While they were stuck in this eye contact, Lena was able to make out the dog even more. It looked male and had a long scar above and below the right eye.
After more seconds of silence, the dog spoke. "Uhm… Hello?" Lena was correct, the dog was male due to how his voice sounded, slightly deep. The voice had a hint of Russian in there, signifying that he came from Soviet Russia.
"Uhm, hello." Lena responded back, walking forward to the dog. "Who are you?" She asks back, pointing at him.
The dog places the book under his right armpit before responding. "My name is Shade. Just Shade." The dog named Shade responded, nodding once.
"My name is Lena. Lena De Spell." Lena greeted herself, still looking suspicious of Shade.
"Ah, well it's finally nice to meet someone else in the shadow realm. I have been getting bored of being alone here for a while now. Two years to be exact." Shade responded back, looking back at the catalog of books.
"Speaking of which, how did end up in this place anyway?" Lena asks, crossing both arms while having an eyebrow raised.
"I was gonna ask the same to you, but I'll go first if you like." Shade clears his throat before speaking. "I got sealed away from the mortal realm after a battle I gravely lost. Ever since then, I have been trapped in this soulless realm, roaming around Earth as no one notices me." Shade finishes, looking slightly down after telling his story but also sounding chilled like Lena always is. "What about you? How did you end up in here?"
"Oh, you know." Lena proceeds to walk to the dog, having both arms in the air. "Got banished by my aunt" She doe air quotes on the aunt part, "after saving my best friend, who is trying to return me back from the shadow realm, and you know, that boring stuff." Lena explained, sounding chilled about this whole thing. Sure, she may have been banished from the mortal realm, but she watches after her best friend, no matter what.
"Interesting. A family member banishing their akin. Sounds like something out of a medieval play." Shade commented, interested. "Well, anyway," He proceeds to walk past her. "I gotta get going, I need to read this book in private." Shade looks back before doing an air hat tipping, showing his kindness. However, Lena still had one question in her mind.
"Wait!" Lena called out for Shade, making the dog turn his head on his left side, his naked left eye looking at her. "Yeah?"
"Who banished you here, anyway?"
There was a long silence before Shade muttered out these words.
"Favian Hoffmann."