Page 38 of Spears and Shadows (Defenders of the Light)
“Ok, I’ll do my best to explain,” Adam said, folding his hands under his chin and propping his elbows on his knees. He didn’t look at her as he began speaking.
“The creatures at the museum are actually just fragments of the enemy, broken off from the greater whole to wreak havoc. The real enemy is much more insidious. It creeps into people’s minds to hide, masquerading as a piece of their own self-doubt. It feeds upon every negative thought in the person’s head until they can think of nothing else. It’s evasive, though, weaving itself so thoroughly into a person’s insecurities that they can’t tell where they end and the Shadow begins. Once the Shadow fully overtakes a person, they are no more than a puppet for the Shadow to use as they will—not even human anymore. At that point, we call them an agent of Shadow.”
Nora tried to take a sip of her coffee as she listened, but the liquid was suddenly too bitter for her to stomach, and her hands shook. She put the cup down and pressed her palms into the armrests of her seat to steady herself.
“What about things like the fire at the museum then? Where do they fit in?” Nora managed to ask.
“The agent has the power to call down natural disasters of all sorts, even plague, in a hope to bring death and terror. The Shadow can then use the pain sowed in the survivors to create more agents, creating an endless cycle.” Adam inclined his head towards the book in Nora’s lap. “That book details the worst disasters the Shadow has ever brought down, and how it used them to shroud the world in its darkness.”
Nora glanced down at the heavy leather tome that lay open in her lap before slamming it closed and shoving it into her bag.
She swallowed a few times before responding. “I think you’re right. I really don’t want to read that on an airplane. I’m a nervous enough flyer as it is.”
“Probably wise,” Adam agreed.
Nora resolved to keep the book safely shut in the bottom of her bag for the remainder of the trip.
* * *
Adam and Noramanaged to find their seats near the rear of the aircraft, but not without a fair amount of grumbling from Nora about how people really needed to learn how to pack their carry-on baggage more effectively and not waste everybody’s time trying to shove too-large bags in the overhead bins. Adam, for his part, appeared to find her tirade very amusing and had no trouble slipping his practical luggage into the bin above their seats.
Determined to cheer herself up, Nora put in her earbuds and closed her eyes as the plane taxied toward the runway. The pilot made some announcement about high winds and turbulence in their flight path, but Nora couldn’t quite hear it over her music. She had just drifted off to sleep by the time the plane lifted off, but she was jerked awake by Adam violently shaking her shoulder shortly after.
“What is your—” she began to scold him but cut off when she saw the wild look in his eyes.
“We have a problem,” he said, gesturing past their already sleeping row-mate to the window.
Nora could just make out the wing of the plane through the clouds as she squinted. She stared for a moment, confused, before her eyes suddenly widened in realization. Clinging onto the end of the wing was the swirling, gray, but still unmistakable form of a Shadow creature.
