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Journal of Shadows

Entry 1

Decenbor 18th, 2017CE

It's a cold winter's night in the city, a perfect night to walk home. Mt. Ford City streets that were bustling with activity just hours before are practically deserted, save for the two or three late-night holiday shoppers scrounging for deals in the shops before they close. The sight of a deer couple passing by Allen, a lone 22 year old wolf walking home in his custom black long coat, reaffirms his only desire to be home in his husband's arms on their couch. The early morning-to-night work hours have been long and all too exhausting for the grey wolf. He shouldn't have agreed to come in early today but the favor committed to his manager's delight might be seen as another point to add in his file. The management staff of the magic department store Olo's, has been looking for someone to replace a shift leader in Allen's department, so naturally he's resigned himself to their whims in hopes of getting that promotion.

The process of wringing out his work issues during the walks back home help to shed Allen of the events of each day on the job, tonight is no different. By the time he reaches the end of the main street through the middle of Mt. Ford and off to the suburban neighborhoods, his mind is free of the clutter built up over the course of the holiday stampedes in Olo's. If it weren't for this nightly mind-scrubbing routine, it's likely he wouldn't have been able to pick up the faint screaming out in the distance. Allen stops for just a moment, consulting with himself as to determine if his mind is playing tricks from sheer exhaustion. Another scream echoes through the city, obvious to the wolf this is no hallucination.

Fortunately the snow and ice on the ground have been cleared from most of the streets and alleyways in the city. Mt. Ford City Counsel has seen to it that more services be handled by magic-users lately, and right now, Allen isn't complaining. Without fire mages melting the ice away it's possible he wouldn't be able to make it in time to the voice crying out for help. A good thing too, because as soon as the wolf makes his way to the end of the alleyway, into a clearing for a city park, he immediately sets his bright yellow eyes on a massive bull-like shadow creature towering over a young woman. Allen rushes forward to help as a fireball blasts the bull in the back of its horned head, a mere tap so far as the creature is concerned. Another two shots from behind get the bull's attention enough to swing at the relatively small assailant.

Allen's arms wrap around the young woman, a panther in business attire, as he attempts to calm her down from the altercation. It seems the bull has been trying to get its hands on her and figuring out why is going to have to wait until the fight is over. She looks on in horror, unable to move her legs to get up and run from the area, so Allen decides to stay with her, turning back to the massive bull ahead of them. Between the bovine legs he can see what is possibly a shadow, short and stout with a fire-spewing cannon in place of his left hand, wielding a massive iron hammer in the right. Allen had never seen until now just how vibrant in color a shadow could be, his father's shadow, named D'mitri, always appears in a deep purple and faded as a blurry afterimage. These bull and fire shadows however are only slightly faded, yet their colors are rich and forms are well defined, as though there is actually some substance to them. Taking in the sight of the two shadows locked in combat doesn't last too long, with the bull easily ignoring the blows of that iron hammer and shots of fire to its face. The bull swipes the fire shadow away, sending it back to his user, a spotted skunk which now lays on the ground from exhaustion.

Immediately following the blow, another shadow appears, hooded and cloaked in deep green and armed with a short blade in the left hand, short staff in the other. Flying upwards above the bull, the hooded shadow lunges back down with unparalleled speed into the massive bear shoulder of the monstrous creature. Allen was about to consider the matter dealt with as the blade exploded in white light, the bull having been stunned for just a moment. It was quickly realized that victory wouldn't be so easily won in this strike. The massive shadow recovered and smacked the hooded figure away, sending it to retreat back into his user, an orange tiger with long black hair tied in a ponytail. Attention is once again on Allen and the young woman behind him, the entire confrontation having been passed in a matter of seconds, without the time for the panther to get away.

As the bull makes his way forward, Allen stands tall with his arms stretched out to shield the panther behind him, staring into the eyes of the monster. There is no doubt or fear, only his certainty that there is something he can do, even if he can't imagine what he can possibly do right now in this situation. With his right hand reaching out to Allen, coming ever closer to those fat bull fingers locking around his body, time stops. All motion ceases and the world around the wolf seems to fade away into darkness, leaving him alone with a blurry figure in place of that monstrous bull. Relieving his eyes for a moment, Allen flutters his eyelids for much needed moisture and allows them to focus on the floating nebulous mass ahead of him. His father, Tyler, had in the past attempted to train his only son in the art of shadow-fighting. An expert in his field, Tyler thought he could get his son to call his own shadow to rise but after years of intense training it didn't happen. Perhaps the right kind of motivation was necessary, perhaps he needed to build his sense of self for this event to happen, whatever "this" was, Allen knew that his own shadow had come at last to rise.

Understandably, the shapeless mass speaks in Allen's own voice, calm and dignified,

"Do not worry, this task comes to you, and naturally without reward in the end..." The sound of Allen's voice reaches far into his mind.

"Yet, there is no reason why you can't have a little... help." a soft, breathy chuckle springs forth and the world fades back in around the grey wolf.

A calm rests over Allen as the wolf breathes the cool air deep into his lungs, remembering exactly what his father had taught him to say. No concerns linger in his mind as the first words come easily, "Rise, my shadow..."

He rests his right arm down to his side, bringing his left hand to press against his chest, those bright yellow eyes close so he can focus on the moment.

"Beowulf!"

Suddenly, a bright electric-blue and purple light surrounds the grey wolf, the frigid air swirls around him blowing the tail end of his black long coat upwards. A deep purple shadow figure comes from his body and rises above his head, an aura of white and blue light encircle and penetrate the shadow into a radiant being until the awakening is complete. Dressed in an open light-blue robe, light grey jeans, silver armor boots, silver blades as claws and a silver helmet to protect his face, Beowulf emerges majestically above his user. Raising his left arm before him, aiming for the head of the bull, Beowulf summons an arch of ten ice shards over his shimmering helmet. As time resumes to normal, the new shadow launches all ten shards, dealing a hefty blow at his opponent, all exploding into a freezing wind that leaves the top half of the bull shadow frozen solid.

Taking advantage of this window of opportunity to strike a killing blow and freshly healed by the other shadow user, the skunk summons his shadow once again. The fire shadow leaps, raising his mighty hammer against the frozen back of the bull. In the combined might of his own strength, fiery explosion from the hammer and gravity, the massive half-frozen bull shatters into pieces and finally dissolves into dust to fade away. The fire shadow vanishes back into the skunk, who then falls to his knees to rest again. Allen turns back to find the panther woman attempting to get up again, providing assistance as she climbs to her feet. She thanks him, immediately assured no thanks are necessary by the wolf.

"I was happy to help, will you be alright getting home from here?"

"Huh? Who are you? What the hell are you talking about, you creep!?"

She doesn't slap his face too hard, fortunately, as Allen has dealt with more forceful swings but the sudden change in her attitude is enough to warrant the expression of hurt and confusion he know wears.

"Uh, okay..." is really the only thing left that comes to mind in response to such a display.

The other shadow users walk up to Allen, left to himself since the panther woman stumbled away, threatening to call the police if she ever saw him again. The wolf turns back, rubbing the numbness out of his left cheek and not entirely sure of what to say of the whole ordeal. As the two stop in front of him, a hand reaches out to shake, the tiger speaks to introduce himself.

"I'm Bengali, this is my mate Oreo." A polite, soft tone which one wouldn't expect from someone in the city.

"Uh, nice to meet you, I'm Allen. So... what was.. You know, what--" Flustered and at a loss for other words to convey his utter disbelief of the events that just transpired, Oreo has to speak up and place a hand over Allen's muzzle.

"We'll tell you all about it, right now though I think it's best we all go back to our homes and get some rest. Okay?" Exhaustion reeks from his voice as the words come out, clearly tempered by his willpower so as not to sound annoyed with the wolf.

Allen nods in agreement to the suggestion, since remembering all the time he's been away from home today. Reflecting on the battle the rest of the way home could help to sort the night's events and help him understand the reality of it all. Oreo pats the wolf's arm, yawning, his left ear twitching a bit as he does so. He then turns to his taller mate, the tiger Bengali and presses against him, asking,

"Can you drive us home, hun?" Bengali wraps his arms around to shelter his shorter mate as best as possible from the cold.

"Yeah, okay. Shouldn't we offer Allen a ride to his place?" A soft nudge of Oreo's shoulder into his mate's chest is all the response he needs for confirmation.

Bengali looks over to the wolf, offering to take him home, although he would rather walk since the night is still nice. At the tiger's insistence however, Allen was kindly driven back home. Before exiting the car he receives instructions to meet the two again the day after Solstice to discuss tonight's events, along with an exchange of phone numbers. Allen steps into the shared house with his husband, finding him slumped over on the couch. Quietly removing his clothes just inside the closed front door, he slips under the blanket clutched in Tyler's hands and falls into a deep sleep.