Chapter 10: The Shadows

~James

When I woke up, I realized that I was in a completely different… Dimension, it looked like. Except, I was still in the apartment.

Only everything looked abandoned.

Carlos, Logan and Kendall were still asleep on the couches, covered in vines which seemed to wrap around them tightly. Carlos was lying in the same position, except… Instead of lying on my chest, since I'm currently sitting on the floor, he was lying on the chest of some dark entity. It almost looked like a cloudier version of me.

I stood up and reached out, my hand going through said entity completely.

"You do not belong here," A voice rang through the room, sounding distorted.

"Who brought you here?" I looked around, trying to find the demonic sounding voice, only to turn towards my front and see that there were eyes now on the dark entity, and some sort of glowing red line as its mouth.

"I… Who're you? I didn't come here by myself!" I quickly retreated, holding my hand up in defense.

"I am you… James Diamond. I am your shadow, I am your counterpart in the Shadow Realm," He replied, standing up, causing Carlos to fall onto the couch before completely disappearing into ashes, leaving behind his skeleton.

"Carlos!" I yelled, reaching out towards his skeleton only for 'Shadow me' to stand in-front of me.

Dang my shadow is intimidating.

"That is merely an illusion, whoever brought you here intends to trap you here… With us…" He replied. Soon, the vines on Kendall and Logan also disappeared as they turned into ashes as well.

"W-W-Well, tell me how to get out of here!" I panicked, looking around. The glasses that used to be so clean and clear was now covered in moss, moonlight barely passing through… Somehow though, the room is lit enough for me to see clearly, but still too dark for my liking.

Everything was covered in either plants, leaves, vines or moss. The floorboards looked wrecked, there were holes… The apartment looked like what it would look like if we threw seeds around randomly, abandoned it for 50 years and came back to check.

"This, belongs to you," Shadow-me said as he handed me some sort of pitch-black ring. As soon as I touched it though, it turned into some sort of blue metallic ring, with a small J engraved on it.

A strong wind blew through the room, causing me to lose my balance slightly, as I slid on the ring.

"Find a way out, before she finds you," Shadow-Me said, before disappearing along with the others, who I didn't even notice before Shadow-me disappeared. The 'others' being Shadow-Kendall, Shadow-Logie and Shadow-Carlos.

"Wait!" I yelled out, only for all four of them to disappear into the wall behind the couches.

I frowned widely as soon as they were gone.

They didn't even tell me what to do! Or even, where to go! And why was shadow-me all formal and stuff? I don't talk like that… Do I?

I shook my head with a sigh. This isn't a time to be wondering why my shadow talks like a medieval guy.

"Right, time to find my way out," I sighed, opening the door to our apartment, which caused a loud creaking noise. Stepping outside was a big mistake, because it was ridiculously dark, and creepy.

With a small gulp, I took another step, causing the old, almost-broken door behind me to shut with a loud slam. I jumped forth before turning my back towards the wall, now in complete darkness since the only light that shone through the door was now gone.

With a small gulp, I clung onto the wall as I thought of a plan, all the while trying to process everything that's happening.

Where am I?! Well, that was obviously answered. I'm in this 'Shadow Realm', which looks horrible.

More importantly, who sent me here? And why?

And… How come my shadow self helped me? I thought for sure it'd try to kill me or something.

Out of the blue, the blue ring I put on earlier began shining brightly, providing a light source as bright as a regular light-bulb. Except the light was blue, which I didn't really mind.

With a small sigh of relief, I began making my way to the ground floor. Surely there has to be an exit here… Somewhere?

While on my way down the stairs, since I'm 100% sure the elevator will not work, I heard a shriek so loud… It made the ground shake.

It sounded like a girl's voice, but far more twisted and demonic than the shadow-me I just talked to.

A huge part of me told me not to, but somehow, my body began moving by itself and I began walking towards the source of the loud shriek.

What felt like 6 minutes went by until it came again. This time, I was able to pinpoint the source of the shriek…

At the pool area.

I quickly ran outwards, even though I didn't want to. My feet carried me towards the entrance of the pool area, and to my horror… The pool was covered in pure black sludge.

I was right though, the shrieking did come from the pool area. In fact, it came from inside the black sludgy pool.

Out of the blue, a figure emerged from inside the pool. A female figure. In fact, it was one of the Jennifers… The one I used to date for 4 months, before I gave up and couldn't stand her. Hell, it was a huge mistake to date her. Logan and Kendall supported me but…

Carlos was distant. At least, I felt like he was… He kept giving me the cold shoulder when we were alone, but when we're all together, he acts like nothing's wrong.

I would say it's jealousy, but at the same time… I did spend quite a lot of time with Jennifer 1. "YOU!" The monster screamed, pointing at me.

"Me?!" I screamed back in defense, not knowing what I had even done. I've never even seen Shadow-Jennifer-1! Boy that's a long name. I'll just call her SJ1.

With another loud shriek, this one pointed at me, she blasted me backwards towards the glass panes of the entrance to the Pool Area.

I should've died there, or at least fainted, since it felt like my back hit the pane really hard before it shattered, but I felt… Fine? Except I was in a lot of pain.

"Let me help…" Shadow-James appeared again, lending a hand and helping me up. "H-How?" I asked, patting the dust off my pants as the pain quickly subsided. How? I don't know. That pain definitely should've lasted longer…

"Give me your hand," He said, holding out his left hand. I linked mine with his. What felt like a cold-dead hand immediately turned into one that has life in it. My ring appeared on his finger as well, almost as if duplicating itself.

"Transverto," Shadow-me whispered. I watched as his otherwise pitch-black body began glowing a blue light, armor appearing out of the blue, which soon covered his entire body. He wore some sort of metallic blue armor before charging into the battlefield, the moonlight reflecting off of his armor made him look that much cooler.

He looked like one of those medieval warriors!

I watched as Shadow-Carlos, Shadow-Logan and Shadow-Kendall's bodies also began glowing. Shadow-Kendall donning some sort of Green Elf armor, with a quiver and a bow, Shadow-Carlos donning the same armor as Shadow-James, except thicker, and Shadow-Logan wearing some sort of pure white robe.

Shadow-Carlos and Shadow-Kendall charged forward, while Shadow-Logan disappeared and reappeared next to me, holding my shoulder. As he held my shoulder, I felt all my energy flow back into me and felt as the pain in my body immediately disappeared.

"Wha…?" I asked, feeling as if I was just reborn…!

Actually, maybe not reborn. That's sounds really wrong.

"H-How… How do I do that?" I asked, pointing at James, Kendall and Carlos, who were all battling SJ1. James acted as a warrior, swinging his large sword efficiently, though it looked like the creature didn't really get anything. Carlos protected both of them, jumping in the way and shielding both of them from being hit with his large red shield. Kendall on the other hand, was a ranged fighter. He shot magical arrows, some of them homing into the enemy with glowing purple trail, some of them exploding once they made contact with SJ1.

"Transverto," Shadow-Logie whispered before teleporting to where the other three were, acting as the wizard and the healer.

"Trans…verto? Wait… That means transform!" I gasped once I realized it. Transverto is Latin for transform. How did I understand Latin? I wouldn't tell ya'.

"Transform," I shut my eyes, whispering with full confidence.

When I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by blue light, feeling power surge into me. Soon, I looked exactly like Shadow-James, except I actually had skin and stuff instead of just being made out of shadow.

What bothered me is how earlier, I couldn't even touch Shadow-James, but then, a few seconds later, he stopped me from reaching what I thought was Carlos.

Soon, I joined the fight, with my broadsword shining a brilliant blue light.

Even though there were practically 5 of us attacking SJ1, she was somehow able to block our attacks. We grouped up, planning on thinking of a strategy, until she began to fight back, starting by letting out an ear-piercing scream.

"Protega!" Shadow-Carlos yelled in a distorted voice, causing a light-red dome to form over us, protecting us from the ear-piercing shriek.

As soon as the dome disappeared, I watched as SJ1 began charging up some sort of shadowy ball.

'This is my chance!' I thought. It was almost as if Shadow-Logan had read my mind.

He held my shoulder, teleporting me behind the shadow creature, then whispering 'Freeze' causing the sludgy pool to freeze into a huge block of black ice. With all of my strength, I thrust my glowing blue broadsword into the shadow-entity's stomach.

As soon as it pierced her, the glow on both my sword and my ring became even brighter, up to a point where it almost blinded me.

With a blue light, she exploded, leaving behind black sludge, which eventually evaporated.

Soon, all 5 of us stood in the pool area, with the moonlight showering the area, lighting it up more as the last bits of the black sludge disappeared.

~Shadow-James

I watched as my living counterpart thrust his glowing sword into the Shadow-Queen, causing her to explode into tiny bits before disappearing.

As soon as she did, all of our armor, including living-me's, disappeared. Even the ring, except for living-me. Since our rings were destroyed by the Shadow-Queen millenniums ago, we couldn't fight back.

There was a prophecy that one day, the true Four Kings would wake up again… I was slowly beginning to lose hope. It's been a long time since the Shadow Realm was taken over by her, a long time since all of us were forced to be her toys… Tortured… Pain inflicted on us…

But now, at least One of the kings have awakened again. Or at least, partially awakened. He didn't even know how to transform…?

"So… How do I leave this place?" Living-me asked curiously as we grouped up. I smiled, though I don't think he could really see that, before bending down and picking up a bit of the purified-sludge.

Purified Shadow is the only substance which could return all living beings, or entities who don't belong in this realm, back to their dimension.

"It's disgusting though, or so I've been told," I smiled, handing him the fragile 'treat'. Had Living-me not found a way out, or even found his way to this area, he'd slowly converge with this dimension, becoming another soul-less victim.

There has been lots of victims appearing in here lately, all of them unable to escape thanks to her… But now, she's gone. We still don't know who keeps bringing them here, but those who were here before King James arrived… Are now permanent residents of the Shadow Realm.

"I have to eat this?" He asked with a big frown. I smiled again, before nodding.

"Here goes nothing," Living James frowned before downing the treat. All four of us watched with a small smile as his body began turning into ashes, leaving behind nothing at all. Not even his skeleton.

"Wait, before I go… Tell me something," Living James said, tilting his head. "How come my sword was the only one that could pierce her?" He asked with a small frown.

With a chuckle, I answered, "Because you're the only one here whose truly alive, silly." Seeing him nod with a smile before completely disappearing, but not before saying "Oh… Thanks,"

"Wow… We're free…" Kendall said, looking at his shadowy hands.

It'll only be a matter of time before the moon disappears, replaced by the sun again. "We've got a lot of work to do," Carlos frowned, looking at the destroyed remains of what used to be the ShadowWoods Apartment.

This placed looked so alive back then, so many people around… Now, there's just the four of us. I mean, people will return slowly as they're slowly purified from her control, but by then, we'll be cleaning everything up ourselves.

"Before we do that we've got a lot of catching up to do," Logan grinned devilishly.

'Oh Logie… Millenniums have passed and you still haven't changed," I smiled, staring at the short nerd I fell in love with years ago, and am still in love with now.

"Oh, there is." I lowered my voice before his lips attacked mine hungrily. I missed this feeling. To be able to touch him, to talk to other peoples… I am going to appreciate every second.

"Ew, can't you guys save that for later?" Carlos asked, which we both ignored. "Oh don't think you're getting away from this," Kendall grinned before dragging Carlos behind the bush, sound moaning noises soon coming from in it.

Oh yeah, all four of us has a lot of catching up to do alright.

~Living James

As soon as the light disappeared, I woke up. The credits were rolling, telling me the movie had ended. Had I been dreaming this entire time…?

Carlos was still sleeping adorably on me, everything looked fairly normal…

Except, the ring was in my hand.

The metallic blue ring.

I wasn't dreaming! But… How?! There're a million questions in my head right now! But for now, I just wanna enjoy sleeping with my Carlos on my chest…

Saying 'my Carlos' actually feels… Weird? But a good type of weird. I turned off the TV using the remote right next to us, turned on the cute little table night-light, which Logan rigged to automatically turn on the rest of the night-lights in our apartment as per Carlos' request before falling asleep again, with Carlos' head on my chest.