Chapter 496: What is the Shadow?  

Ray had never met the person behind the shadow before. They didn't even know who was behind the beasts being infected or who was controlling the Dark guild. There were many theories wondering if it was even a human.

What surprised Ray more than anything though, was the fact that this person knew his real name. They referred to him as Sen. He had recently told many people who he really was, but they were all those belonging to the Redwings.

Technically, no one should know his real name or his real form other than them.

"How do you know who I am?" Ray asked.

"Don't worry, I know you can't see the real me, so I'm not expecting you to remember. What I am surprised about, is why there is so much resistance from you?" The shadowy human said. "Wasn't your goal to destroy all humans? I am simply doing that."

It was true, at one point Ray did feel like all the humans deserved to die, but not now.

"The humans are corrupt, but they can change."

"Change?" The shadow figure said. "Even if they change their ways, that doesn't forgive what they did in the past!' The voice shouted.

When the shadowy figure got angry, it seemed to flicker and the human form was changing into something else. It was as if he had chosen to appear in front of Ray looking like this, it wasn't his true form.

"Sen, I was hoping that maybe me and you could work together, but I'm warning you now. You continue to get in my way and I will have to kill you too."

The shadow figure started to blow away, as if a strange wind was getting rid of it, and the dark room started to collapse. Breaking as if it was made of glass. When it finally shattered, Ray had come back inside the room.

"Ray, Ray!" Kyle shouted, shaking him about.

'I'm okay.." Ray said softly, his head still not in the right place.

"Okay? Your whole body was frozen stiff. We thought we had lost you to the shadow." Kyle said.

Clenching his fist a few times, Ray looked at the Dragon bones in front of him. He then lifted his hand and slammed it down on the skull, shattering it into pieces.

"That damn shadow, it took over my mind!" Ray complained, noticing his body was still shaking.

He thought after evolving twice, and unlocking a quarter of his skills, that there was now no one that was a match for him. Yet, a shadow from some fake dragon bones had managed to enter his body. It had frustrated him greatly.

However, what was frustrating him even more than any of that, was this person seemed to know him, while Ray didn't know anything about the enemy.

"I'm sorry Ray," Harry said. "I looked over these bones by myself constantly, but never did the shadow ever rise from them. I thought it would be safe."

"It's not your fault," Ray said. "It was a message only meant for me in the first place."

"As I said we should get rid of the bones," Lenny repeated. "Before anymore of this happens."

"I will deal with it," Harry repelled.

Kyle and Lenny gave each other a quick look, wondering if they could trust Harry at the moment. He looked to be his normal self now, but he was certainly acting strange before.

There was no reason for Ray to return to the surface as there wasn't much of anything there, instead he returned to the centre of the large cavern. Here several areas had been turned into living quarters. A lot of tents were pitched up to allow the soldiers to have their own private area.

And in this case, there was also one for the Redwing leaders who had come to the lion's mouth. Entering, Ray decided to inform Slyvia. He would update her every day of what was happening, part of the rules of him coming here.

He didn't know why, but he complied to them, and stuck to his schedule updating her every day around this time.

"Harry is a strong person, but so was Gary, so you have every right to keep an eye on him. I'm sure Lenny will be able to spot any signs of the shadow before anyone else. You have good people by your side..Sen" Slyvia said, struggling to say the last part.

In her messages rather than calling him Ray, she had opted to call him Sen. Something no one else did, this was her proof to him that she didn't care about his past and she wanted to show that she was closer to him compared to anyone else. At the moment though, no one knew about this fact.

"You were once infected by the shadow, do you have any guesses to what it could be?" Ray asked.

"Not any new guesses that the Divine being, nor the common folk have talked about. A strong god, a group of god's. A demon, or a highly strong beast like a…."

"Like a dragon?" Ray replied.

"Yes, haha but I don't know any dragons that have this much magical power,? surely their stories would have been passed on like yours."

If it was a dragon, it would explain why it knew Ray, what it didn't explain was this strange power. Sylvia was right, if there was another dragon during his time that had power like this, he would have known about it.

Some dragons did have special traits that were unique to them that others didn't have, but he didn't remember any having something like this.

Inside the tent, Van was sitting there, playing with the crystal. Bliss had told him to keep it. After all it wasn't really a part of her. Only a part of what was used to seal her. He gripped it tightly, as he realised how important it really was.

It had managed to kill a dragon, and in the future perhaps they would rely upon it more. "I'm glad I decided to follow you, Ray." Van said.

Suddenly, Lenny had entered the room, when he did, he started to search the tent to see if he could find anything.

"What are you doing?" Van asked.

"Do you not know?" Lenny replied. "There is an assassin about. My life is in quite the safe hands, but both of you are big targets. You should be careful around here. Especially while you have that crystal.

"Remember, if you use your powers without it, a horde of beasts and the Shadow will know exactly where you are."

Van looked down at the crystal, and bad memories had started to enter his mind from the past. How he had let Amy die that time. He gulped, and his confidence he had just founded in himself, started to shrink again.

"Lenny perfect timing," Ray said. "Can you call all the leaders to come here for me?'

A smile appeared on Lenny's face as he agreed. It was very rare for Ray to call the meetings. Quite often, Harry or Martha seemed to be running the show around here. It was never Ray's style to boss people around.

Inside the larger tent, all the leaders had gathered. There was Martha, Jack, Kyle, Harry, Lenny, Katy and Van. These people were the ones the five hundred or so soldiers with them would follow orders from.

"We have been here a while now, and I know everyone is uncomfortable, but I have made a decision." Ray said. "I have decided that we will carry on moving into the Shadow continent and take over the Mindown Fortress. It's the closest one from here."

"Another war?" Kyle replied. "So soon."

He couldn't help but think that it had something to do with those bones.

"Have you spoken to Silyvia about this?" Martha asked. "We will need soldiers to look after the Lion's mouth and those at Avrion. Although recruitment is going well, we still don't have enough trustworthy people to go for another attack."

This was something Ray hadn't done or thought off, he was just feeling impatient after what happened.

"We are plenty strong, it doesn't have to be a large force, and I believe we will fare better now that you have me."

If anyone else had said these words, one would think they were arrogant, but it was true. When taking over the Lion's mouth. They didn't even have Ray, with his strength behind them it might be an even easier task.

" We will follow you," Lenny said. "But I do suggest you talk to Sylvia about this first."

Having just spoken to her, he felt it was a little awkward to make the request, but he still decided to go ahead with it anyway. After sending a message, he nearly got an instant reply back.

The others could see the strange look on his face.

"What's wrong, boss?" Jack asked.

"It's about Mindown Fortress, Slyvia said it has already been taken over?"

"Huh, another kingdom has fought against the shadow and won." Kyle said stunned.

"No, not another kingdom, Apparently it was the empire."

******

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