The Shadow Lands were very aptly named. The world was covered in darkness and shadows. Rocks were in abundance on the grassless plain. The few trees that could be seen were dead and twisted into horrible shapes. Some appeared to be leering faces; others could be mistaken for demons reaching out to grab any passersby. As Ari walked fearfully, he saw one that he almost thought was a man impaled on a spike. The strange, dry wind that blew everything made it look like the man was still alive, slowly dying as he struggled for freedom. But it was only the grotesque shape the branches had taken.
The ground wasn't dirt. It was sand the color of granite. The wind blew grains of it into Ari's face and made his eyes sting and water, which didn't help his nerves at all. The whole place seemed to be devoid of life. He couldn't imagine Stan ever living in a place like this.
He heard a sound like air rushing behind him, and turned quickly, but there was nothing there. He loosened his sword just in case.
"That won't help you here," something whispered next to his left ear. He turned quickly, his sword before him, but there was nothing there.
"You'll see nothing," it whispered again, this time on his right. He turned again, and again there was nothing to see.
"You don't hear us," it said behind him. "You don't see us," it said in front. "There is nothing to see. You're only going mad, that's all."
"I'm not going mad," Ari protested. "I know something's there. Why don't you show yourself, or are you too scared?"
"Scared of a mortal?" it chuckled. At least, Ari thought it was a chuckle. "Why should we be scared of a mortal, and a human at that? You are nothing to us."
"So there's more than one of you? Why don't you come out then? You must be scared of me."
"Oh, we're not scared, but you will be…"
"Leave him alone!"
Ari turned, and was surprised to actually see something. It was a girl. She appeared to be about eight years old, with long blonde hair twisted into two braids on either side of her head. She wore a black dress with a white collar. Her eyes were an eerily familiar shade of yellow.
"Be gone, Delilah," the disembodied voice commanded. "This one is ours."
"I will not be gone!" she exclaimed, stomping her foot. "You be gone! Can't you see the Shadow King's mark on him?"
"We see and we ignore! The Shadow King is long dead in the mortal realms!"
"Says you! There might still be one out there somewhere! Right, boy?"
"Uh…" Ari was caught slightly unawares, but he recovered quickly. "Yeah, actually. I'm trying to find him. I was told he might be here somewhere."
"Are you his servant, boy?" Turning an interesting shade of red, Ari nodded. "Then you are my servant, too. Now, are you satisfied, Legion?"
The creature called Legion hissed and said no more.
"He's gone now," the girl said. "So you're really the servant of the Shadow King?"
Ari nodded again. "Actually, the word he uses is 'slave'."
The girl giggled. "That sounds amazing. The last Shadow King disappeared from here about three hundred years ago. I'm Delilah, by the way. What's your name?"
"Ari."
"That's a nice name. So you think the Shadow King is here somewhere? I can tell you right now that he isn't. The whole world would know if he was."
"Well, something happened to him in my world, and I was told by a woman named KT that-"
"KT!" Delilah clapped her hands over her mouth. "How do you know KT?"
"How do you know KT?"
"Maybe we should sit down and talk," Delilah said. She took Ari's hand and pulled him away. "Follow me. We can talk in my house."
Delilah's house turned out to be a massive castle. Shadow creatures darted to and fro amid the corridors, often disappearing straight into the walls. Ari found himself led among them until he reached a large room decorated in shades of grey. Grey bears with too many eyes or limbs adorned a grey shelf. The walls were a very dark shade of grey at the top, but grew gradually lighter as they got closer to floor; at the bottom, they were nearly white. A grey bed with a grey quilt sat against one wall. A grey desk and chair sat across the room from it. The only spot of color was Ari himself, and Delilah's yellow hair and eyes.
"After Shadow King Stanley Trinidad XIV was taken to the mortal world by the Master, no other Shadow Kings have been born. No one really knows why. But you say, there's a Shadow King in your world?"
"Actually, my…master," Ari nearly choked on the word, but he sensed it was necessary, "is Stan. Uh…Stanley Trinidad XIV."
Delilah gasped. "But that's impossible! How can it be? He should have died long ago!"
As quickly as possible, Ari explained about Stan being trapped in a bottle for three hundred years and being freed almost a year before. He omitted the part about it being his own father that freed Stan. He wasn't sure why, but something told him not to mention that part.
Delilah contemplated for a while after Ari finished his tale. From her point of view, it seemed far too fantastic to be true, but there was no other way that Ari could possibly bear the mark of a Shadow King. No Shadow King would ever lower himself to taking a human as even a concubine, let alone a wife, to continue the line in the mortal realms. And the only way there could have been no new Shadow King born here was if the old one hadn't died.
"Okay, I believe you," she said at last. "So we have to find King Stan. He's not here, though. We all would have felt it if he'd come back."
"Do you have any idea where he could be?" Ari asked. "Isn't the Diablerie more than just Shadow Lands? Could he be somewhere else?"
"If he's not in your world…Actually, if he's anywhere in the Diablerie other than the Shadow Lands, we wouldn't be able to tell. But the only place that can hold one of us is the Simulacrum."
"What's that?"
"It's sometimes called the Mirror World." She paused momentarily, but when Ari didn't recognize this name, she continued. "Basically, it's a mirror image of this world. At least, that what the Shadowle told me after he came back from there. It looked exactly like this world, only opposite. He said it was really scary."
"So Stan could be there?"
"It's the only place he could be that I can think of. Anywhere else, and he could just come right back here."
"Can you take me there?"
"No, but the Shadowle can! I can't go; I have stupid classes and stuff. But if you want to look, I'll call him for you."
"That would be great. Thanks, Delilah."
Delilah blushed and giggled. "Don't mention it."
The pair walked back through the castle, talking about inconsequential things. At some point, Delilah grabbed one of the little shadow creature and gave it some instruction, but Ari couldn't hear what. He figured she must have been telling it to find the Shadowle. That reminded him that he had no idea what a Shadowle was. He didn't wait long to find out. A human-shaped, black, mist-like thing with glowing, red eyes stood at the entrance to the castle.
"Ari, this is Drake," said Delilah. "Drake, meet Ari."
"A friend of Li's is a friend of mine," said Drake as he extended what could have been considered a hand. Ari took it and was surprised to find that it was relatively solid.
Delilah grinned. "Drake is the Shadowle I was telling you about," she informed Ari. "Drake, I need you to take Ari to the Simulacrum. There may be someone there he needs to find."
Drake bowed low. "I will do what I can, Li. But I can do no more."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bye, Ari. It was nice meeting you."
"You, too, Delilah," Ari said. He held out his hand, but Delilah ignored it. Instead, she threw herself around his middle and, standing on tiptoe, planted a kiss on his cheek. Once she had pulled away, she giggled slightly and ran.
"An odd one, Li is," Drake said in response to the uncertain look on Ari's face. "She's taking quite a liking to you. Consider yourself warned."
"Uh…right."
"This way, master," Drake said. He started walking, or rather gliding, in a northerly direction.
After a while, Ari asked, "So how far is it to the Simulacrum?"
"Not far," Drake answered. He was obviously a Shadowle of few words.
For some reason, Drake's silence made Ari very uncomfortable. Normally, Ari didn't mind the silence; in fact, there were times when he preferred it, especially when Marlene was on a rampage. But now, he was becoming increasingly nervous with each step.
"So you're a Shadowle, huh?"
Drake merely nodded. Ari decided not to try talking anymore.
After what seemed like hours, and may very well have been, Drake said, "We're here." Ari was about to respond when he realized Drake wasn't talking to him.
"At last," whispered a familiar voice.
"Legion!" Ari exclaimed. "Drake, you betrayed me?"
"Never trust a Shadowle," Drake said. "Didn't you know?"
"You will be ours, human!" Legion rasped.
Ari turned around and came face to face with a monstrous thing. All Ari had time to see were eyes and teeth, and that was enough; he started running.
"Catch him, Shadowle!" it yelled. "Don't let him reach the Simulacrum!"
Rosalyn may have stood her ground and fought, but Ari wasn't stupid. He ran harder. Behind him, Drake whooped and yelled, trying to catch up. And behind that, Legion opened all of its mouths and screamed. The sound chilled Ari to the bone and nearly paralyzed him, causing him to stumble. He recovered quickly, but it wasn't quick enough.
Drake was on top of him before he could react. He tried to push the creature away, but the only thing solid about the Shadowle now was his teeth. Ari was bleeding from a dozen different places by the time he was able to stand and run again. He swung his sword wildly and connected with something more or less solid. Drake screamed, but Ari's pause nearly caused him to be caught by Legion. Fortunately, the legion of demons was slow in this form; Ari got away, but barely.
"Shadowle!" Legion screamed. "Catch him!"
A shimmering, silver wall stood before Ari. He wasn't sure whether or not to run through it until Legion screamed again. Hands before him and eyes closed tight, Ari threw himself through the reflective barrier and into blessed quiet.
As he stood still and heaved, waiting for the pain in his side to release him, he noticed his surroundings were strangely familiar.
"How did I get back home?"