Grim Shadow

by MDK

Chapter 2

Silent Arrival

*Whump*

*Thud*

*Thump*

...

Cody groaned. This is not happening, he thought… I’m lying in bed, I’ve just had a bad dream…

“Hey Cody, you alright?”

Cody opened his eyes. Ciara’s face was hovering above him, upside down. Rydan’s head bobbed into view next to hers.

“I think he’s just a bit fazed… looks like he landed on his head. Hey Cody, how many fingers am I holding up?”

“Three…” Cody muttered

“Well, right and wrong. I was going to hold three fingers up, but I hadn’t gotten around to it – looks like you’re getting psychic, pal!”

With that, Rydan’s face spread into a broad grin.

“Come on, get yourself up off the floor! You’re not going to believe this place… I mean… I have no idea where we are, but… well, you’d better see for yourself.”

Cody Pulled himself up, Brushed some dirt off his trousers, and looked up. He then promptly fell down, and stared wildly around in every direction.

“Whoa! Where the... what the… HOW!?!?”

“Yeah, you and me both pal…” replied Rydan, looking around as well…

The corridor they had been in a few moments ago was gone, replaced by lush forest… but unlike any forest any of them had ever seen. Strange plants were growing everywhere, in all sorts of vivid colours – Pinks, purples, blues – thankfully, there was a generous splash of the usual green foliage, making the scene easier on the eye… unfortunately, it didn’t make it easier on the mind. In the sky, through the canopy, a mountain was just visible, the top shrouded in cloud, making it look mysterious and imposing. Even with the cloud, it seemed to jut out of the land like a giant splinter rising up out of the land.

“Come on guys, you’ve got to have a look around this place, and see what we can find” Said Ciara “I mean, where this place is isn’t that important at the moment – we need to figure out how to survive in this place. From the looks of it, water shouldn’t be much of a problem, but…”

Ciara’s words were cut short by a Noise overhead – a sound like an explosion underwater, extremely loud, but so low it was almost inaudible. Two specks of light had appeared, high above in the sky… And they were hurtling towards the ground, getting larger and larger every second…

“Um, guys…” Said Cody “I may be wrong, but… it looks as if those things are headed straight for us… and they don’t seem to be slowing down… Maybe this would be a good time to, you know… run for our lives?”

“Well, I’d love to Cody, but there’s a slight problem” Replied Rydan “Mainly that my legs appear to have stopped working. That and the fact that the speed those things are going at, the crater they’ll leave will be... Well, lets just say running will help us as much as a chocolate coin will help you pay off a loan shark.”

So they stood there, transfixed, staring up at the two specks in the sky, hurtling towards them. Very quickly, they realised that they were in fact people – two people were falling from the sky, and heading straight for them.

“But...” Stammered Ciara “They’ll be killed! The speed they’re going and they can’t have parachutes! What do we do!?”

“Nothing” said Rydan. Ciara and Cody turned round and stared at him “Well, There’s not much we can do. That, and it seems like they’re getting here exactly the same way we did… and we’re all fine. So, we stay here and wait for them. At the very least, the more of us there are, the better our chance of survival if anything goes horribly wrong.”

The two people in the sky fell, getting closer and closer, faster and faster, until they were only a few metres from the ground. Then, suddenly, just as it seemed they were about to slam into the ground – they stopped. Dead still in the air, they hovered for the tiniest fraction of a second, then dropped onto the floor.

As they rushed over to the crumpled figures, Cody stopped dead in his tracks.

“Cody – what is it?” Asked Rydan

“That’s… That’s my sister… Kimmy…” Cody stared at her, his face blank, unreadable… suddenly, he shook himself, and ran to her side. “Kimmy! Are you okay? Hey, speak to me!”

“Huh? What the… what just happened?” she groaned. Then, she blinked, as if someone had shone a bright light in her eyes “Cody! What the hell are you doing here! Why aren’t you at college? Oh, when mum and dad find out about this, you’re going to be in so much trouble!”

A voice sprang from the other person, a low, slightly gravely voice with a slight accent; “Hey, keep it down, will ya? Can’t you see I’m trying to wake up here?”

This surprised Rydan – the person was lying face down on the ground, and had very long dark hair – almost waist length. He had assumed that they were a girl; judging by the look of shock on Ciara’s face, so had she.

As the figure rolled over, it was quite clear that they weren’t a girl – the stubble on their chin told them that much, at least. His face was slightly pockmarked, as if he had simply seen too much of life – and yet he seemed so young, so alive… it would not have been hard for him to be sixteen or sixty.

“Hey man, are you okay? Looked like you landed pretty hard.” Rydan was standing over him, looking concerned. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just peachy. You want to stop gawping and give me a hand up?” he replied

“Yeah, sure” said Rydan, and grabbed the boy’s wrist, and pulled him to his feet. “So, just who might you be?”

“Dave. I’m an apprentice electrician, studying to become a full one at college. So… where am I? I get the feeling I’m not in Kansas anymore, eh?”

“No Dorothy, Kansas went bye-bye. I’m Rydan, good to meet you. I’m afraid your guess as to where we are would be as good as mine – we just got here, same as you did. We only came round when we saw the two of you arriving.”

Dave looked confused. “The two of us? But… I was just on my own... I was walking to work, and I got a text message... I reached into my pocket to see who it was, and then I was here…”

Rydan stared blankly at him. “So you were on your own? Then how did she get here?” He looked over a kimmy and Cody – they were busy arguing – all Rydan could hear was snippets of what they were saying – Cody was yelling something about “Shouldn’t be here, it could be dangerous”, and kimmy seemed to be protesting that she didn’t know where here was, and how exactly could it be dangerous?

Suddenly, a voice came forth from the shadows, soft and silky, yet harsh and almost cruel at the same time. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? Intruders, it seems… and so many of them, too.” Everyone fell silent and turned to face the darkness where the voice had come from. A figure stepped out – at fist glance, it looked human, but…. There was something wrong. It was at least 7 feet tall, and had a long, flowing tail – and was heavily armoured. “Well, if it isn’t the… No, wait… these children are different. They are not the ones that came before. Tell me, where do you come from? What land do you call home?”

The five of them stared blankly at the thing – it stepped further forward, into the light. “Answer me! Where do you come from!” It hissed. Suddenly, Rydan knew what was wrong. This thing, whatever it was, was not human. It looked animal, like a fox walking on two legs. It had yellow fur showing through the gaps in it’s armour, and had a ruffled white mane around it’s neck.

Ryan spoke, with a quiver on his voice; “We… We’re from England” he said. “Do you know where we are now?” He said, sounding bolder and more confident, as if the thing he was talking to did not look like it could crush him like an ant.

“England? I have never heard of this place. It is not a place I have heard of before… unless…” Rydan felt the thing’s gaze sharpen, and he felt as if it was boring a hole into his very soul. “This ‘England’ of which you speak… what world is it on? Is it on this world or on Earth?”

Rydan Frowned. “It’s on earth. In the northern hemisph…” His words were cut short, interrupted by the thing towering above them; “So… you must be human children from earth. Digidestined, no doubt. Well. You may not be the same as those who came before, but still… You must be destroyed. My Master will reward me greatly for destroying such a threat… and before you even find your partners, it seems.” The last words were said with a sneer, condescending words, almost hurtful. But the five had little time to reflect on that – The armoured figure drew a sword, at least five feet long, and held it, ready to strike at the small group of frightened individuals.

It swung it’s giant sword. They could hear it cut through the air, hear the blade sing as it carved it’s path towards them.

Barely realising what he was doing, Rydan stepped forward, still clutching his mobile phone in his hand. At the very edges of his senses, he felt something in his hand, but not his phone… Something else, like an object that wasn’t quite there; solid and gas at the same time, untouchable but real…

He clenched his hand and swung his arm. As he did so, a brilliant white light shone from between his fingers, streaking out in thin beams, carving a hole in the gloom that was surrounding them. With all his might, Rydan heaved his arm right arm round in a wide arc, supporting it with his left hand. Just as he started the swing, he felt his phone fade away, and soften – and then start to change. The object he felt on the very edge of his senses started to feel more real as his phone faded from existence.

Just as his arm had almost finished its arc, the object that was taking shape in Rydan’s hand stopped changing. An instant before it connected with the huge sword of the thing attacking him, Rydan realised what his phone had become; a sword of his own. With a mighty clang that reverberated around the whole forest, the two swords clashed, stopping the sword of the thing barley an inch away from Rydan’s face.

“I will NOT let you harm me or my friends!” Said Rydan, in a low voice that he barley recognised as his own “If you want to destroy them, you’ll have to go though me.”

The thing grinned. “So be it, human. I will relish the challenge of destroying you – although it will only be a small one. Prepare to be destroyed!”

Rydan whirled around, and swung his sword at the thing, but it was ready for him, and blocked his attack. In the blink of an eye, the thing raised it’s sword and swung at Rydan again. Jumping quickly to his side to avoid the deadly blade, Rydan had an idea. Rolling to the side, he sprung up from the ground and leapt straight at the armoured warrior – or, more accurately, slightly to the side of it. Swinging his sword, Rydan struck with all his might, but the thing had already moved to block his attack, and his sword sliced through thin air. Rolling once more, Rydan Leapt off the ground again, this time directly away from his foe – and straight at a tree. Rydan’s mind seemed to clear of all conscious thought, and at the same moment, the world slowed almost to a crawl. Flipping around in the air, Rydan landed hard on the tree – feet first. The tree buckled under the force of the impact, creaking and groaning. As it sprung back to it’s previous shape, Rydan leapt off it, using it as a springboard to launch himself straight at the fast advancing warrior. Parrying it’s blow in mid air, Rydan soared over it’s head and landed behind it, in front of another tree. Rolling one final time, He hurtled towards it, spring boarded from it the same as he has just done, and leapt back at the warrior so intent on destroying him – who had only just turned to face him. Ducking under the thing’s sword, Rydan charged. Summoning every last bit of his strength, Rydan swung his sword.

The warrior froze, and looked down. Without warning, it’s armour cracked and split into a thousand pieces, which evaporated into nothingness. It’s sword dropped to the ground, and boiled away into thin air, as if it had never existed. Turning round to face Rydan, the warrior had a look of shock and incomprehension on it’s sharp, angular face, only now visible without a helmet. It seemed to know the fight was lost, and turned and fled into the forest in the blink of an eye.

Rydan sighed, and collapsed to his knees, “I wasn’t made for exercise like this” he moaned. He looked down at the sword in his hand. “Wonder where this came from… and what happened to my phone?”

As if in answer to his question, the sword shone with the same light that his phone had just before it turned into the sword he now held. He felt the sword melting away and reforming, just the same as his phone had done. This time, however, four globes of light split off and flew straight at each of the others, still standing stock still. Each ball of light flew straight into the pocket of the four of them, which then shone with the same light Rydan’s sword was shining with.

As the four of them scrabbled in their respective pockets, Rydan’s sword shrunk and reformed… the shape it took was like nothing he had ever seen before. Rounded at the bottom and chunky at the top, it sat in his hand looking strange and alien – yet familiar, as if he had held it a thousand times, as if it had belonged to him all of his life. As he looked around, everybody’s phone was shifting, turning into the same thing he held in his hands, only in different colours. Rydan’s was white with a dark blue top and a streak of the same blue running around one edge; Ciara’s was dark green on white, Cody’s was orange, Dave’s became red, and kimmy’s was turning a deep, rich purple.

Dave was the first to speak; “What are these things?”

A new voice floated out from the shadows around them, making them all jump in alarm: “Those things would be called digivices. Which would make you five the new digidestined.”

Rydan was on his feet in an instant, seemingly ready to fight this stranger as well. “Oh yeah? And who might you be?”

The figure stepped out from the shadows and into the light. It was plain to see that this person was human, a man that had to be at least sixty. He had large, spiky brown hair that was going grey in places; not making him look old, but rather wise and slightly world-weary.

“My name? Later. First, I would like to know who each of you are. And just in case you were wondering, I don’t mean you any harm.”

The five of them looked at each other. Kimmy shrugged. “My name’s Kimmy Onama. That’s my brother Cody right there” she added, pointing at Cody. Ciara stepped forwards; “Ciara. Ciara Aella.” Dave looked up at the stranger and introduced himself. “Dave Ureshi.”

“And I’m Rydan Keyes. So, now you know who we all are. Would you mind telling us who you are now? And tell us what you’re talking about at the same time?”

“Not at all. It’s nice to meet you all. It’s always good to meet new people, especially at my age” The man said. “My name is Taichi Kamiya; You can call me Tai.”