The rain is pouring down hard on the now destroyed village of Petra. The dark flames burn still despite the rain. All buildings are destroyed except one, it is in this building all the survivors now live. Despite a few patched up holes, the place is untouched by the flames of darkness.
Hayden awakes in bed surrounded by other beds filled with the sick and injured. “Where am i?” Hayden says as he looks around the room. “ a bed? How long has it been since I slept in a real bed?” Hayden, now getting out of the bed. He takes a few steps before collapsing to his knees holding the right side of his chest. “Ah ow, why does it hurt so bad?” He says as he looks down his shirt showing a dark crystal has formed where he was blasted at. “What is that?” he grabs at it a few times but it begins to shock him, temporarily embolizing him, making him smash his face on the ground.
Once he was able to move again he stood up and limped his way to the only door in the room. Once he opened it he was met with a room full of people, Almost no room to step let alone live. No one says a word to Hayden, just looks at him with that same disapproving look.
After what seemed like forever an old woman makes her way to Hayden “Here, it isn’t much but it's better than nothing.” The old woman said as she held both of her hands out, giving Hayden a small bag. “Thank you” Hayden said as he opened it to see it was full of bread chunks. Hayden nods and walks to a chair and sits down.
Days passed and Hayden slowly healed but the dark mark never went away. Once he felt back to one hundred percent, Hayen planned to save his friend Hayley. The towns people started to rebuild what was once destroyed. Hayden helped build some houses and lay some fences as well as plow some fields. Two weeks pass and after a hard day of helping Hayden goes into his house but instantly falls down to his knees in pain, Grabbing his chest. Grunting and groning, he attempts to make his way to his bed but passesout shortly before he could.
Waking up, Hayden's vision is blurry and his headaches in pain. “Why does this keep happening?” Hayden says as he attempts to stand. “Because you've been infected,” an unfamiliar voice says. Hayden stumbles back at the surprise that someone was in his room with him. All Hayden can see is a silhouette of a person. “Who are you and what are you doing in my house?” Hayden says, now facing whoever is in front of him. “I suppose you can consider me a friend” The voice says almost in a joking way. With his vision now starting to clear up, things still don’t start to make sense. It was no man at all but a shadow, a wraith or a ghost. It was the shape of a man but he was all black from head to toe. Torn clothes covered his see-through body.
“I can see through you” Hayden says as he takes a few steps back. “Yeah. well you wanna know something else?” the shadow man said as he walked to Hayden. Hayden is now trapped against the wall. “I’m inside your head” the shadow man said, whispering it in Hayden’s ear. “GET AWAY FROM ME! Hayden pushes the shadow away but falls through him. Landing on the floor, he rushes his feet and runs out the door.
A man rushes over and draws his sword “ what's wrong kid?” “It's in the house,” Hayden says, shaking. The man walks in the room and looks around for a few seconds and walks back out “There’s nothing in here” Hayden walks back inside and sees the shadow leaning on the wall “Hey, calmed down yet?” Hayden raises his hand and points to the shadow “Here is there right there!” The man just stood there puzzled. “There is nothing there kid.” Hayden looked at the man then back at the shadow “but he’s standing right there” The man walks over to Hayden “ it's okay kid, you've been hurt. You should rest a little.”
Hayden stands there speechless as he watches the man walk out of the house. “If you would give me a second i could explain a few things” the shadow said as he walked around expecting the house. Hayden walks over to his chair and sits “i’m going crazy” “you're almost right. But no, you're infected with the darkness. When you were blasted it left a hole in your chest. A hole i filled and now we are one.” The shadow says as he attempts to pick up an apple. “But why me? There had to be others that you could have joined with.” Hayden asked. “I didn’t just do it for you. I also get to live again. We'll live through you. Being dead is boring. And you're young, you still have a lot of time in this world. I wanna live a long life and that's what you want. So that's why I picked you.” The shadow man says now laying on the bed.” Hayden stood up and grabbed the apple and took a bite. “ So you're part of me now? Well I'm going to save my friend from that thing. Now i guess your coming with me”
The shadow man stood up and faced Hayden. A look of terror ran across his face ” he blasted you and almost killed you once and you want more? Are you crazy?” Hayden grabbed his bag from the corner of the room and started to fill it “ I will not let them hurt her if i am able to stop them” “You're not able. They will kill you before you even step a foot near them” The shadow said now with a face full of fear “ then i die trying. She was the only person in this village who was nice to me, so I will not let them mistreat her.” Hayden said as he threw his bag over his back and walked to the door. “Have you ever left the village before? The world is filled with evil and pain, are you sure you wanna go through all that?” The shadow said, now blocking the door. “No, I never left the village before, But that's no reason to stay here. I'm needed somewhere else.” Hayden said as he reached through the shadow and opened the door. “Listen kid, you're not playing for 2 people now. Not just your own. If you die, I die. I don’t wanna die again. You have to listen to reason.” Shadow said with a last attempt. “Then you better get really comfortable with the idea of death again, because I'm going.” Hayden said as he walked out of the door and shut it.
