-=The Dark Side of Memories=-

Mai stood by, waiting and watching, while Shadow Viper continued punishing the shrooms around him with speed, agility, and grace. His dagger moved just as fluidly as he did, catching a shroom at every corner, letting them dash at him before ripping them apart. Even his bag joined in this dance of death, catching each lightweight spore that wafted in the air.

“And I thought I was powerful,” she mused to herself.

Eventually, Shadow had finally finished his training excercise. Satisfied with his work, he left the grove, heading back to Mai to report his success to her. Upon reaching her, he gave her the bag, silently waiting for a review.

Mai opened the bag, and checked the contents. “Excellent, twenty spores!” she exclaimed. “Well done, Shadow, you really are as good as I thought, maybe even better.” She gave him a congratulatory handshake.

“Thanks, Mai,” Shadow responded graciously. “The quest was simple overall, but seeing how easy the shrooms were felled made me think of ways to complete the quest quickly. I got a lot from it. I must say, your change from the normal routine was well made.”

“Aw, shucks,” Mai said, giggling. “Well, in any case, I think you’ve earned a break. In fact, we’re very lose to the other end of the island; what say I show you around Amhearst? It’s one of the two towns by the coast.”

“Very generous of you,” Shadow replied. “Please, lead on.”

Shadow and Mai went back to the island’s main road and headed south until they reached a branch. One path lead upwars with a sign nearby reading Amhearst. “This way, obviously,” Mai said, headed for the high road.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Shadow mused on the info. Mai’s response was a burst of laughter.

The first part of the journey was an uphill stretch. It was easygoing for the duo as they quickened their pace on it, eager to see what the town had in store today. Then the path leveled off. An assortment of floating grassy patches accompanied the sky above them as Shadow and Mai watched other adventurers square off with more snails and shrooms. “If ever a day comes by where there isn’t a single adventurer fighting monsters here,” Mai wondered aloud, “I’ll be very suprised.”

As they got closer to the town, a terrible sight lay before them. A young black-haired girl was trying with all her might to fight off a very large living mushroom that continually jumped at her. The battle was not going well for her, as the mushroom, despite being pushed back by her attacks, continually rushed back at her. “What is THAT?!” Shadow cried out, amazed at the sight of the mushroom.

Eventually, the girl couldn’t keep up the fight, suffering from fatigue and previous wounds given by the life-sized fungus. She immediately broke off and tried to retreat, heading towards Shadow and Mai. “Help!” the frightened girl screamed. “I was ambushed! Someone…sent it at me!”

Shadow and Mai froze at this. *Someone…sent it…* A visual of the monsters that rampaged his old home replayed in Shadow’s mind. Shaking it off quickly, he dashed forward. “Hang on, I’m coming!” he responded. He was quite a distance from the girl, but he felt he could make it if he moved quickly.

Suddenly, a small snail appeared out of thin air, right at the girl’s feet. Not seeing it, she tripped over it. She landed hard on her leg. In pain, she tried to get up, but it was too late. The large mushroom, in perfect position, rammed her square in the back of the head.

“NO!” Shadow screamed. Seeing that sight filled him with an intense fervor to get rid of that mushroom. He soon managed to get to the shroom. Jumping high in the air, he brought his dagger down with all of his might. The slice connected, bringing enough damage to end the mushroom. It buckled over and disappeared.

Shadow quickly brought his attention to the girl, now lying motionless on the ground. A few other adventurers who noticed this came to her aid, checking on her. He dashed over to the group and knelt beside the victim. He held her close to him. She didn’t respond in any way. As Shadow checked her over, a haunting feeling suddenly came over him. He felt like he was back in the cave, with Yuka, comforting her as best he could in her final moments.

Shadow brought himself to the present. *What am I doing?* he thought angrily. *I….I have no medical training of any kind!* He quickly looked over to Mai, who was still standing with a vacant look of fear in her eyes.

Her mind held a haunting visual of her own. *The mushroom,” she thought. *Was it…summoned…by…by…*

“MAI!” Shadow screamed.

Mai was brought back to her senses by hearing her name. *Gah, right, the girl!* she thought. She ran over to everyone around the girl, pulling a bottle filled with red liquid from her pocket. However, her hope of saving the girl fell as she got closer; she saw the girl’s limp form, her skin turning pale, the pupils in her open eyes dilating.

MAi knelt beside the girl and checked for vital signs. Upon finishing, Mai began choking up, tears filling her eyes. “She….she’s dead…”

Shadow’s emotions began to spiral out of control. An innocent adventurer killed by unexpected circumstances before her adventure could even begin. *No,* he thought. *Not again…not AGAIN!*

He finally lost control, letting out of cry of rage and anger, slamming his dagger into the ground before storming off to Amhearst, fighting every bad memory that came to his mind.

[Meanwhile, in the village of darkness]

Lord Scorpion left the elders’ room with great confusion in his mind. He was holding a red orb in his hand. He looked over a note of intructions he was given. The elders had explained the instructions before, but wrote them down as well for future reference.

The note read: “This orb is connected with another orb that Shadow has on him. We put it in one of his uniforms before he left, though we forgot to tell him amidst the thoughts of his departure clouding our minds. Make contact with him every once in a while to make sure he is doing well; don’t worry, his orb will glow brightly when you speak into yours, so he should notice it. We know he has it; we checked his other uniforms earlier after he left and didn’t find it. If anything significant happens during his journeys, report it to us immediately.

*This…is very odd,* Scorpion thought. *I don’t remember having to this during Ryu’s travels. Well, maybe it’s for the best. It would be nice to keep in contact with him, after all.*

——————————————————————————

Hey everyone. Well, against all odds, I finally have a third chapter written up. As you may notice, my story happens to have some dark touches in it. *shudders* Geez, how’d I get so good at THAT?! Well, we each have our specialties. Of course, I did write this right after reading Aurora’s Redemption Part 52, so that may explain something. Of course, the story won’t be dark as a whole; I’ll make sure to keep it light as well. Yeah, we all love humor every now and the, don’t we? Happy Mapling! *Presents a fridge full of cans of Mountain Dew*

Previoous installments:
link link link link link link link link link
link
link link link