Chapter 1: Of The Shadows

Chapter written by: Mars

"Standing by the paintings of your dreams,
But you have awoken.
And all the purples and the greens,
Have turned to black.
And the ruins of your soul,
Have died, no more meaning,
I wonder when you have become so cold..."

- Delain

A/N: As always, this is a collabed story between two friends. If you want to know more, just read our bio and it should explain...mostly. Anyway, enjoy!

Yours Truly, Mars.

Darkness eternal, a life with no light to save it, a world forever at the mercy of the dark veil we call the shadows. It was the perfect dream that I had hungered for and I lusted for this very thought, I wanted and neededit more and more each day. I wanted nothing more than to lose myself in the darkness and become one with such beauty…how I burned for it.

Silently, I stalked the shadows and just as quietly, I watched a man clad in steel lead a group of about fifty or so men dressed in the same, shiny chainmail. With a gentle caress, I made sure the precious mask was still in my clutch. Reassured, I quickly picked up my pace to make sure I didn't lose my sight of the man ahead of the big group.

There was something special about the dark haired man dressed in steel and fine purples.

"Crawler," I hissed quietly "Come here."

"Yes, my Lady Avo? What do you wish of me?" He asked, rather it seemed that the darkness had instead. Not quite sure what direction he was exactly in, I hissed again

"Do you see those men over there? The ones in the uniforms?"

"My Lady, if you don't mind me interrupting to say that the only people here would be those men so it's nonsense to point out that they are wearing unif-"

"Shut up!" The words had escaped rather loudly before I could hold it in.

"Must you shout? They may hear your loudness." The Crawler had retreated quietly as he spoke to me.

"They cannot hear me when I am out of body. As the darkness, I am simply nothing to them. They cannot hear me, see me, simply nothing. The most that they can be aware of my presence is if I touch them but even then that is like the wind to them." I had responded to the Crawler in a matter of fact tone.

"Hm." Was all he said in return causing a silence between us as we stood there and silently watched everything happening. It had been quiet as we followed the men deeper into the cave and I wondered when exactly this was going to end. They didn't have to continue walking…did they?

As they walked together in silence, the men spoke in low voices as they had walked. The dark-haired man leading hushed them as if he had expected their impending doom. It was funny really, how he was surer than I had been about this. However, the sudden warm air began to fill my lungs as we got closer and closer to the cave entrance. Not only did hot air come in but the sudden light began to pour in as well. With disgust, I looked away and my eyes rested upon the men below us. Before they could take another step however, I then called out to the Crawler again.

"Crawler, come here please."

"As always," he said boredly "I am at your disposal."

"I want you to kill them all." I stated as I watched them slow down near the entrance.

"As you wish, my lady."

"Save for one however; their leader." I responded as I set my eyes upon him once more.

"And he is of importance how?" He had asked as soon as I had finished.

"I'm sure Jack will be pleased with this find. Now go, my precious Crawler, do your best…" I assured the darkness and the darkness itself heaved outwards in response. As I watched the darkness seep from the deepest, darkest parts of the cave, I watched as each and every soldier paused mid-step. The mood sank as men began to attack in all directions, flailing swords and shooting guns. For them, it had been pure madness. For myself on the other hand, the pleasure could not be contained. I could feel my lips curl upwards as I watched the men parish one by one.

Within minutes, the Crawler emerged from the darkness itself. It materialized into its ugliness that it saw as beauty: ugly grey skin and tiny little limbs. It forever watched with its black beady eyes that would send any mortal into sheer terror. It was a wonder really, how the queen decided it was worthy of being her pet. But that's why she's gone, she always made the poor choices. Suddenly my smile was swept away as the thought of the Queen entered my mind. With the thought of her came the thoughts of the other two that had made up their court: the Knight and…Jack.

Jack was…my saviour to say in the least. A long long time ago Jack had found me as I had run away from those who wanted me dead. At the time I had only been ten years of age and already I had made many enemies, mainly a man named Disciple. Disciple was a man who had more power than your average scum bag and it truly was a shame that it had to come to what it had. Disciple figured that he could use me for…pleasure purposes when I had come of age just like my sisters before me. He was a sick, cruel, sadistic man who only saw the world for himself. Upon realizing my only purpose to him, I decided to take it into my own hands.

I found myself to be rather good with a blade and decided to use it to my defense. I had been good at nothing else, I couldn't read, I barely understood magic and on top of this I was shit at using a bow. My aim was worse than a blind drunk man with the shakes. Therefore, the sword was the only thing I had to learn and use. I remember the night quite clearly: I had just witnessed Disciple abusing one of my older sisters. It had infuriated me that he had enough guts to even think about laying a single scummy finger on her. The next thing I knew, I had grabbed the blade and cut off his arm. Well, about that time I had been so in shock that I didn't know what to do. I stood there and watched as the pig bled and my sister began to cry.

After this, it was a bit of a blur for all I remember is running out of there as fast as I could and make sure that none of the others followed. I guess I didn't cover my tracks as well as I could have considering they ended up finding me down by the Bowerstone docks a few days later.

As impending doom was just about to take me in its deathly claws, a man hooded in red had saved me. After he had killed all the men, he told me to follow and I did. I saw this man as my hero, my saviour, my angel in the same shade of red that bled from the pigs he killed. This man would soon be the one who I had come to idolize and worship. I grew up only knowing the path he had led for me and I had obeyed his every command.

It was only natural that I had fallen into a twisted, divided love for him however. I loved him as a mentor and a teacher yet I hungered for more from him. Was it wrong that I wanted him more than I should have? I had no reason to see otherwise so I continued walking that path. Over time I had given up the blade for a more satisfying weapon: the hammer. I still hadn't learned to read but it didn't bother me for I found life had been more exciting that way.

Then over time, another had entered our perfect world: Skorm.

At the time, I had no name and I was just girl or child to my master. When Skorm had come to us, I was bestowed with the name Avo from my beloved master. Together, hand in hand, Skorm and I had contradicted our harmonious relationship. We were both to follow in the footsteps of our master but Skorm saw her path through the eyes of another: Maze.

Maze had been there beside Jack and I but I had never really cared for him. I guess you could say that he and I competed for the attention from our master? Not to mention he favoured magic while I was strength, in hero terms that was. We never did see eye to eye and always fought. I paid little attention to him just as he did to me; the only way we would speak to one another is if Jack had told me to. Even when it had come to Skorm, I didn't ever bother to acknowledge his presence.

So over time, our little group set out to conquer Albion and its inhabitants. It was seemingly successful up until the Hero stopped it all. Everyone knows the story of how Jack and his three followers were destroyed. They were defeated by the "glorious" hero they had all loved so. Little was their precious hero aware; they were not completely vanquished like thought.

After the battle between Jack and the Hero, I had sought out my precious leaders remnants. To my utter surprise however, I had found his mask. I had been overjoyed to find this precious item left behind and realized that it had been direct contact to the Void and my master. However, he was not quite fully capable of coming back so soon due to his "soul" being shattered. It would have taken him a long, long time to come together again. So, I was entrusted with keeping the mask safe until otherwise. I was promised with keeping my life, being his right hand lady and having the ability to leave my body.

However, everything always comes with a price.

With keeping my life and being entrusted with his mask, I had been given the gift of the Taint. I was sick with the Wasting Sickness that mortals obtain when coming in contact with the Void. With being his right hand lady I was to be constantly waiting there for him even when he rarely spoke to me as he rested. Not to mention having the ability to leave my body at will meant only when I had slept and when darkness was at its peak. Never was I to step foot into the sun when I had done so, or I would die upon contact. Constantly, I slept my pathetic life away.

For the past five-hundred and something years, I had slept just as my master had. Sometimes I would wake from my slumber and stay awake for a set number of years. A few times I had repeated this process…

As for Skorm, she had her own ways of staying young and alive for this many years. However, the pretty young thing would never share her secrets with anybody save for one person: Maze. It was strange really, how he managed to survive this long but it shouldn't have been that much of a wonder considering both were superb magic users. It was something along the lines of a magic trinket similar to Jack's mask but I wasn't quite sure. As I had said before, they would never share their magic secrets with me. In Maze's own words, I was a "slave to brutality and our leader, never would I know the true wonders of magic and freedom." But I didn't give a single damn as to what he thought. He was probably just mad that I had been entrusted with keeping Jack safe while he came back together…

However, my thoughts were then brought back to the sounds of people all around dying and being killed. My lips once again curled into a smile as I listened to this beautiful horror all around me. Suddenly I bounded for the deeper, darker parts of the cave as I celebrated my triumph. Then it hit me: I should tell Jack of the wonderful find!

Not too much longer I had found myself entangled with the shadows so dark that all it was to me was nothingness. I figured this would be the perfect spot for speaking to Jack. Clutching the mask like I a precious child, I suddenly whispered to it.

"Master, are you there?"

"Do I have anywhere else to be? Why must you disturb my slumber, Avo?" A dark and deep voice responded causing my heart to flutter about like lead butterflies.

"I just wanted you to know we have a…gift for you." I had answered in a whispered tone.

"It better not be another one of your 'promising' bodies like before Avo. We all know how those have failed because of your insolence." He hissed and each of the butterflies got heavier and heavier.

"No, I promise you it will work this time, I swear upon my life." I reassured him with hushed sadness "Crawler is making the preparations as we speak."

"That's why I trust you my dear Avo, unlike those other fools I call followers. Namely that blasted Skorm, always listening to that mage I had gotten rid of but she saved. It's a wonder why she hasn't given up on him and saw the true path for her. Maybe when I return, I'll just rid ourselves of both and we'll take Albion for our own, hm?" Jack had offered and I burned to say yes. Deep down inside however, I had gotten attached to my counterpart. As much as I wanted Jack for my own, I couldn't do this alone, even if she had always run about with that Maze.

"Skorm may be blind to this path, but she takes her own with cautious and aware steps that you have told her to. You and I both know of this for we both know that she is quite reliable and even if she would stray, she always comes back like the dog she is." I said as I ignored my prior thoughts of saying yes, not to mention the part of me calling her a dog. Yes, we both didn't see eye to eye well but I never did like to call her down behind her back but hell, I just wanted to make Jack happy. Or as happy as he could be...

"When she wants to listen and not act like a fool." He stated quite irritated. "But as always, I have no body to act out such wonderous thoughts."

"I…I better find her." I replied as I began to dwell upon the girl. Without any more exchanged words, I could feel that he had cut off our conversation. Feeling only the emptiness of sorrow and longing, I had begun to walk. I needed to find that Skorm and make her ready for the body that would soon be Jack's.

In silence, I made my way to the other end of the cave in which Crawler was at.