Chapter 5
Nicholas and the shadow arrived next in a new part of town. Much farther and more close to the center than ever before. Nicholas never traveled this far. He was now in the most expensive looking part of town with fancier and cleaner buildings, and more neatly dressed people. There were a few homeless people, but not as much as where Nicholas came from.
"As a new shadow, you will move within the shadows. No pun intended there my young friend. You will venture within the darkness and you will search for people you will ruin.
Take this young couple right there, sitting on said bench. Right now, they are fine. They are talking about love, and about things that make them happy. However, with your power, you may read their thoughts. You see, the young man there has cheated his girlfriend with another woman multiple times. They had sexual relations in hotels and in bathhouses. His girlfriend on the other hand is innocent. She works as a barista in a local cafe and she works hard to make ends meet to feed her seven year old son.
Now watch what happens when you snap your fingers, wishing for their happiness to go away. Go on. Snap them. Now that you have done it, eventually in their conversation, something very touchy will come up. Look there! They are arguing now! And if you snap your fingers even more, wishing to see them suffer, you could make certain that they end up leaving each other. Snap your fingers three times, and you will make them have a breakup that is very hurtful and it will eventually take a toll on their personal lives. You may do so if you like, but alas you are still too young and innocent. Come, we have more to see.
Ah! Now there is another scenario. A young man walking in the streets alone. He thinks he's invincible you see. That nothing can hurt him, for he fancies himself a man at his young age. He looks a lot like you. And he is attractive like you. You can snap your fingers and wish for a stranger to arrive and take away his virginity. You can even have him murdered if you wish. Your power, my dear boy, is very dangerous. That is why only a select few have it. The power to cause war and death. That is why you and I are both considered heartless shadows."
Nicholas finally spoke. "I see. I have no heart."
"No heart at all." said the shadow.
"Yes. That is a perfect name. No Heart." said Nicholas.
"What? Foolish boy, only our enemies have the word heart in their name! Remember the soldiers that slaughtered our brethren! They had heart in their names, as mentioned before! Remember!" said the shadow suddenly.
"In my defense, the word "no" is in my title. Hence No Heart." said Nicholas.
The shadow put both his hands together and cracked his knuckles.
"I still do not like this name. But it does make sense that you have the word "no." So be it. You shall call yourself that. I for one will refer to you by another name." said the shadow.
"Are those soldiers you speak of dead?" asked Nicholas.
"Yes. I know they are. Yet I still feel their power in this city. Which is why I'm preparing you to destroy anybody who dares take down my rule of this city." said the shadow.
"My head still hurts…." said Nicholas.
"This pain of yours… master it! In time, you will crave the pain. You will wish it to be on people." said the shadow. He then took Nicholas away into a new place, a very dark place where evil was felt all over it's walls.
"This building we are in is one of mine. I have taken this building as a sanctuary of sorts. Everything here belongs to me. You will have a separate room, where you can do whatever it is you want." said the shadow.
"Why do I have the feeling that I'm not sleeping tonight?" asked Nicholas.
"We have a lot of work to do. Come with me."
The shadow then took Nicholas into a summer camp, next to the beaches close to the city.
"I will leave you here to handle something on your own. The person you are going to meet has been living here all this time, and like the old man Cold Heart, he too is dangerous, for he knows how to fracture a broken heart." said the shadow. After he vanished, Nicholas continued walking towards the camp.
There was no noise at all coming from the place. It was all empty, and eerie to say the least. As Nicholas walked for what seemed like an hour, he heard a noise at last. It was a scream. Nicholas quietly tried to follow the scream, which led him to some large warehouse deep in the woods.
Upon entering, he saw a terrible sight. He saw corpses of people all over the ground. Some cadavers were whole. Others were either ripped to shreds or there were pieces all over. Nicholas then threw up. The sight and the stench was too much to bear. He turned around and then he heard another noise. Impossible. Was there someone alive? Nicholas turned once again to see, and then his mouth dropped.
The corpses were gone! The warehouse was now clean! And to top it all off, the smell was also gone! He walked inside and the doors behind were shut tight. Nicholas cursed out loud as the lights were flickering on and off.
In a moment, Nicholas felt drops of something hit his head. He looked up at the ceiling and to his horror he saw a mangled corpse of a man, with his eyes wide open and he looked as if he was smiling. Nicholas closed his eyes, opened them and the corpse was nowhere to be found.
"Nicholas." said a voice. Nicholas then looked at a strange little boy stretching his arm at him. His eyes were pitch black and he looked like he was going to puke. His skin was very pale and when he opened his mouth, a black ooze started to squeeze out between his teeth.
"What the hell." said Nicholas aloud.
The boy then fell to the ground and his body began to shake as if he were having a seizure. Nicholas closed his eyes, opened them and the boy was gone. Just like that. Nicholas closed his eyes again, and for a long time he had them closed. When he opened them…
A man with a deer's skull for a mask stood three feet in front of Nicholas and he screamed. He had blood all over him and he was holding an axe in his hand. Nicholas raised his hand up and a fireball was spat out, hitting the deer man. His body went in flames and he was screaming.
Nicholas closed his eyes again and opened them. The deer man was gone. He had enough. He wanted out of there. He turned to get to the exit, but the doors were shut. Nicholas raised his arms to throw fireballs at the door, but nothing happened.
"It won't work like that. You will need much more hellfire to burn those doors down." said a voice. A young man's voice.
Nicholas saw who it was and standing a few feet from where he was stood a young man dressed in red from head to toe. His hair was also red and so were his eyes.
"Who are you?" asked Nicholas.
"I am Dark Heart. Pleasure to meet you. So why are you here?" asked Dark Heart.
Nicholas, or rather No Heart stood his ground. "I am No Heart." he said.
"No Heart? Well that's a stupid name for a shadow. Have you come to kill me?" he asked.
"I did Cold Heart. I bet I could kill you too." said No Heart.
"Why do you want to kill me? I did nothing to you." said Dark Heart.
"You are a rival. If I kill you, I'll have one less person to worry about in this life." said No Heart.
"The shadow chose you to lead the dark forces into the nothing. Yet you look as if the power is a burden to you." said Dark Heart.
"It is." replied No Heart.
"Then what are you going to do?" asked Dark Heart.
"Kill you of course." said No Heart.
"How?" asked Dark Heart.
"I'll strangle you. Then your corpse will be pierced into a spike for all to see." said No Heart.
"You sound a little different. A couple of minutes ago, you were a boy who was worried about coming here. Now you think you are No Heart. What could it be I wonder? The evil in this place?" said Dark Heart.
No Heart readied his hands and fire was coming out. Dark Heart laughed and readied his hands too.
"Do you realize you are out of your element here? The way I see it, I will win this fight." said Dark Heart.
"How so?" asked No Heart.
"You'll see." sneered Dark Heart. He then jumped high into the air and in a matter of minutes, he transformed himself into a red raven. He flew towards No Heart's face and stretched his cheek. No Heart cursed and threw fireballs at Dark Heart. In his raven form, he landed on the ground, then transformed himself into a cat. He ran all around the room and got on No Heart's leg.
"Let me go!" cried No Heart.
Dark Heart then transformed into a giant red octopus and had No Heart in his tentacles. No Heart gasped for air as the tentacles were all over his body. He could hear Dark Heart laugh aloud as his tentacles were choking the life out of No Heart. He angrily flamed his body with heated hands and he let go.
No Heart stood up and threw a fireball at the chandelier. It then fell on Dark Heart, who quickly transformed into a giant red goat. No Heart ran all around the room and threw what appeared to be ice shards out of his hands. The ice shards began to stab the red goat and Dark Heart transformed into a large panther.
No Heart pulled out a sword from his robes and began to fight with the Dark Heart Panther. After seeing his attacks were useless against No Heart, he quickly transformed into a large bullfrog.
"You will die for this outrage." said Dark Heart he stuck a large poisonous tongue out. No Heart dodged the tongue and kicked Dark Heart against the wall.
"Who the heck are you?" asked No Heart.
"I told you. I am Dark Heart."
No Heart threw yet another fireball at Dark Heart and he jumped high into the air, throwing what appeared to be dark volleys. They slowly flew into the air and they tried to hit No Heart. Without a moment's hesitation, he vanished into thin air and reappeared to stab Dark Heart on his left arm.
Dark Heart at first jumped away and turned into an eagle, however, he couldn't fly away. He then transformed into a large crocodile and quickly ran towards No Heart to bite him. No Heart on the other hand quickly grabbed Dark Heart's giant jaws and he tried to push them towards the wall. Dark Heart struggled to escape, but No Heart had him in his clutches. Realizing he was stuck, he transformed into a mouse, hoping to get away. And then No Heart stepped on him. He could hear the crushing of Dark Heart's bones.
After No Heart stepped away, Dark Heart's mouse cadaver stood there, squashed with his guts all over the ground. Suddenly, the meat and the blood oozed back to itself and in a moment, a large red cloud with eyes appeared.
"You will pay for this outrage! One day No Heart. One day you will pay me! The hour is yours. Enjoy it while it lasts you miserable piece of trash!" Dark Heart boomed in his cloud form. He quickly vanished into thin air and No Heart was left alone in the cabin.
The shadow appeared and clapped both his hands. "Well done No Heart. Well done. You have shown Dark Heart that you are the master mind." said the shadow.
"He left. Yet he told me that he would come back." said Nicholas, going back to his normal voice. The shadow pulled Nicholas's shoulder and forced him to look at him.
"You did fail to kill Dark Heart. Perhaps more training will beef you up. Come with me, there is still so much more to do." said the shadow.
