Episode #7: A Rising Darkness
Chandler Robbins entered the first-year dorm room, eager to escape the intense tropical heat of the Academy courtyard. He had just wrapped up his last class for the day and was looking forward to retrieving his book and sneaking away for some downtime. After quickly scanning the room to make sure he was alone, Chandler made his way over to his bed and reached underneath for the familiar feel of the old leather-bound book. To his surprise, his fingers felt nothing, the book missing from it’s usual positioning, and he bent his head to look beneath the bed.
Frantically searching for the book, panic began to set in as his mind raced to discover what had become of his secret obsession.
“Looking for this?”
Chandler immediately rose from his knees to face the source of the familiar voice. Walking out from the shadows of the bathroom, Gary Woodgate stood with a smug look of satisfaction upon his face, Chandler’s book in his hand. Gary slept in the neighboring bed and was one of the most annoying pests Chandler had ever encountered, the weasely teen always sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.
“Give. It. Back,” Chandler said menacingly.
“You know, you could get expelled for having a copy of this on campus, Chan. I’m surprised you were stupid enough to leave this just lying around for anyone to find. Especially me,” Gary stated, sneering. “You know, I never did like you. I always knew there was something off about you from the moment I laid eyes on you. Now I know why. I can’t believe you’re reading this trash.”
“I won’t ask again…,” Chandler growled, his fists clenched, knuckles white with rage.
“Screw you, Chan! You don’t scare me! Once I get this to Winter, he’s gonna—Urrrk!”
Gary never got a chance to finish his threat, blood immediately soaking through his shirt from the shadow blade peering through his chest. The boy looked down in shock, a look of confusion upon his face before his eyes clouded over. The book fell from his lifeless hands, and Chandler gently commanded the shadow to lower his classmate to the floor.
While he calmly walked over to pick up his book, Chandler summoned the darkness to envelop the dead boy, channeling the body into another dimension to transport it into a shadow beneath the nearby ocean. With any luck, by the time they discovered the body, they would assume he had fallen off the mountain and had been impaled on the rocks. Either way, he thought, it would not be trace back to him.
Picking up his copy of “The Phoenix Manifesto”, Chandler smiled to himself, running his hands across the leather bound cover. He couldn’t wait to keep reading…
Photo by Rendiansyah Nugroho on Unsplash