I walked through several ravaged rooms. It was almost looking like after a twister would have blazed through, but a strange choosy twister. The devastation was not as severe as it would have been after a real twister. It was different. Maybe an explosion in some distance would have better explained what I was seeing, but still not perfectly: some windows were broken, others remained intact, some furniture was damaged or knocked over, and yet other parts were left almost undamaged, like the library which still had most of its books on its shelves.

This must have been a lovely room with a walloping fireplace ornamenting the wall to the left, with a partially shredded and twisted leather armchair near it. How did that happen?

Huge windows towards the garden to the right. Bookshelves front and behind me. But now, only dead leafless trees were seen through the broken windows.

And everything, everywhere, was covered with a layer of grey dust.

Interesting books here: books about magic, history books, geography books, even a huge atlas and... romance books? Where do these books come from? Who wrote this? I took one book and opened it on a random page:

'... I moaned! Let me free! Please! Let me... Aaaaaaah! The avalanche of feelings was stronger than everything I had encountered before. As a succubus to be tortured in this way, I found it extremely... good? Effective? A shiver ran my spine through when he touched my...'

“Cala”

“Haahh!!!”

I jumped and almost let the book fall. I turned surprised, blushing, putting the book back on the shelf as fast as I could. He was there, Ivar the ghost, but a very agitated Ivar.

I breathed relief when I saw that he did not look at what book I was reading, even as it had that articulately explicit painting on the cover.

“The shadows, the shadows are here! They almost got me! They almost got me….I managed to hide, but they stood there in waiting! They are waiting to get me!”

“Keep calm; there is no shadow here!”

He floated back and forth, looking in all directions, then slowly calmed.

“They chased me, and I cannot fight them! I think they want to capture me!”

“You should be safe now; I understand they avoid the living.”

He looked again over his shoulder, then, somewhat calmer, started to talk.

“I ran almost all the time. Even when I tried to hide inside a wall, they followed me. Only if they lose contact, only then I can hide and have a couple of moments of rest. And there are even more now, chasing me!”

“Did you find anything new?”

He watched me, a bit shocked by my non-involvement in his story of torment, whilst in reality, I thought that letting him talk about something else would be better for him.

“I found no bodysuit player. I could not make many inquiries because most people do not see me, and to make myself visible to normal people strains me a lot. I'm so tired after a few minutes that I fade away for several hours. What have you found out?”

I sighed.

“Nothing special... A shadow!”

“A shadow?”

At first, he did not understand me, then he turned. A giant shadow was separating itself from the wall. It was the first time that I properly saw one. It was a strange apparition, resembling a ghost, but for the darker, greyish colour, almost in tone with the dust, as if part of the dust would have become alive. It had vague contours of a humanoid shape, but no feet, just some appendages, more like a flying... squid? Or kraken?

It moved in a disturbing way as if dense smoke clouds would revolve your way, bringing out more and more of its inside, whereas the outside became its new inside in its back.

“A shadow! Help!” he screamed and tried to fly towards the wall, but another shadow appeared from the other side.

I took my katars in my hands. Magic weapons should work against the shadows. I attacked, and indeed the shadow lost consistency and dispersed where the katars struck. The remaining parts retired and started reforming the shadow whilst another and another one appeared.

They came from all directions, from above and from below, from the right and from the left. I started to cut more and more, but they did not seem to be really wounded by my attacks, only set back; they reformed and came again to attack me.

A shadow passed over my face, and I felt the darkness covering my brain. It was as if, yes, as if a shadow would come over my mind.

I stroke at it with my right hand, cutting the shadow and a deep gash on my face.

I screamed in pain, blood trickling over my cheek. How the fuck did this miss-coordination happen?

What followed was so sudden and strange even for the Mephisto game. I found myself in the middle of a tornado. Strange, weird faces and images were appearing and disappearing before my eyes. I heard Ivar screaming and saw him trying in vain to grip my hand being taken away like a leaf in the wind. I tried to use my > against the shadows, but I could not concentrate on them; there were too many, moving too fast. I wavered my katars, but it was like cutting the wind. And slowly, my wounds accumulated. How did I wound myself?

I was feeling weaker and weaker and felt the need to close my eyes and hide somewhere, anywhere.

I fell to my knees when I felt a prickle on my skin. Is White Flower leaving me? Is she trying to save herself?

I was again blinded by light blasts.

It was like being transcended into another world. A world without shadows. I was on my knees, my mind slowly booting up again. I watched her ethereal beauty as she still radiated those silver-golden rays. She took my head in her hands and whispered:

“Cala, you have no ghost weakness but a huge shadow magic weakness!? How could you level with such a weakness?”

I watched her ethereal hand holding my cheek. I closed my eyes as she incorporated back into my skin.

“It is a gained weakness; it was not always there. It is a long story!”

I opened my eyes and stood slowly back on my feet.

“Sorry yet that you've bet on the wrong horse?”

I've said that with a sour tone.

“Don't be silly, Cala; you should have told me before. I've put a buff on you, it increases shadow magic resistance by 10%, but that is insufficient to compensate for your weakness!”

I sighed.

“Thanks!”

I looked around. Where did that ghost disappear?

“Have you seen him?”

“No, I lost him from sight after the shadows attack.”

“I thought you had no power, and yet you are stronger than me?”

“No. These were only shadows. They have no physical attack. They have only a weak magical attack. They can only weaken your will.”

“Only weaken? I could not stand on my feet!”

“Yes, because there were many, but they cannot kill. If you are redeemed will-less, they can possess. Due to your shadow magic weakness, you are endangered. On the other hand, you cannot touch them or harm them; only magic can harm them… Wait! Somebody is coming closer!”

Yes, a moment later, I was also aware of a presence.

I did not have to wait much longer to get the answer about who was coming. The next moment a witch teleported into the middle of the room and started casting a fireball on me.

I attacked her with > interrupting her cast, then jumped with my katars ready, but she teleported away, so I struck only the air.

My mind blast should have made her dizzy, but she seemed to have strong resistance to it; except for the interruption, she appeared to be unaffected.

She was swift, and before I was able to react, she hit me from behind. I turned to face her, but she was away again.

And again, she hit me, now on the left side. I tried to > her, but she was simply too fast, she teleported right in front of my nose, and with a strong fireball in my face, she almost knocked me out. I flew backwards and landed on my ass. She stopped the attacks and laughed:

“I don’t know what G finds with you. I'll give you 2 days. You will not survive longer than two days here..”

I rolled backwards and jumped back on my feet, trying to keep some rest of dignity in my movement. I was not yet beaten, but I got a correction. Seems that my pvp skills are somewhat rusty.

I sighed. I Should have spelt > and then cast my >. That should have changed the result of the fight. Why do I have the good ideas after the fight?

Anyhow, I did not have to heal, even if my face was singed, so they did not learn I could do it. White Flower had also kept her cool, not healing me.

“Do you have what he requested from you?”

The witch looked at me with inquiring eyes. I nodded:

“Yes.”

“Then bring him now. G does not like to wait… What do you say about this world? Crazy, isn’t it? I bet it is an experiment! It must be the Secret Service or… who else could it be?”

I raised my shoulders:

“Why do you help Grackak? I see no ring on you?”

“Oh, he is o.k. I can choose all the best weapons and armour from what he captures. We are the best clan around.”

“Are there other clans around?”

“You are a noob! Of course, there are. And I think the Secret Service is making an experiment to choose the best team from all.”

What would the Secret Service have from it? He was obviously a very young person.

“Are there many in your clan?”

“It's not mine, it's G's, and I don’t know exactly. If you count only the base people, we are only twelve, but there are many more not-so-important members.”

“And how do you get to be a member of the clan?“

“Each clan has its rules, but they are all losers. Only our clan is the true one, only one clan can be the best, and we are the best. In our clan, you have to be proposed by one of the existing members and accepted by the grand jury. It is the only way.”

“And who is the grand jury?”

“You will see. I am in it… Well, I have to go; G sent me to check, he said an alarm was triggered. I will tell him it was you. See you in town!”

She teleported away singing with a very false voice a popular song, which sounded very funny through the sudden breaks of the teleports.