"Barricade the door!" The mother instructed the father. He nodded grimly before he started dragging a bookcase over in front of the door.

"Shh, it's okay Mark." The mother bounced the small baby boy swaddled in a blanket in her arms to calm him as he started crying.

"Let us in!" One of the people on the other side of the door barked.

The warriors of their village were there to take Mark away, and his parents were going to back down without a fight.

Suddenly a corner of the wood house caught fire, quickly spreading to the thatch roof and walls. One of the warriors had set the house on fire to lure them out.

"Go, keep Mark safe." Mark's father told Mark's mother. He gave her a kiss before managing to kick a section of a wall down after a couple of attempts, providing an escape route for Mark and his mother.

As soon as the two escaped, the house caved in, turning into a pile of ash.

"There they are!" The warriors quickly spotted them, beginning to chase them.

Since they were on a tiny island, there wasn't very many places to hide except for the jungle of trees that surrounded their village.

The two were caught by the village leader before they could escape. He instantly took Mark away from his mother.

"He's a Shadower!" The village leader exclaimed, examining the small child. It was a baby boy with short black hair.

The mark of a Shadower.

"Please, leave him alone!" The mother pleaded desperately.

"He may have dark hair, but he has a light heart!" The boy's mother protested.

"You have no way of knowing." The village leader shook his head sadly as he took the child away, the mother screaming profanities at his retreating form.

"You have no way of knowing." He repeated softly as he left the child in the woods. It took all of his willpower to not look back as he walked away, its cries still echoing in her mind even after he was back home lying in bed.

He knew he was doing the right thing, but why did it feel so wrong?

"Speed is key." Mark muttered to himself as watched a rabbit, his soon to be dinner, hopped close by. He used the shadow of the tree to catch the rabbit, holding it still as he quickly killed it and placed it in his bag made of vines slung on his back

It had been twenty seven years since he had been left in the forest and since the other Shadowers abandoned in the forest found him and taught him how to use his ability. He could blend in with the shadows and control them. The one thing he couldn't do yet was bring Shadows to life, which he planned to do once he became powerful enough.

"Mark!" Mark heard Kevin call his name from their small camp made of wood cut down and vines.

"On my way!" Mark yelled back before running back towards the camp. His bare feet were calloused from running on the hard ground for his whole life, his skin tan from spending most of his time outside. He wore a black shirt and black shorts made of cloth that Kevin had stolen from somewhere that he wouldn't tell Mark about.

"You got food?" Bryan, Kevin's brother questioned hopefully. The two brothers were the people that had started the small band of outcasts since they were the first two to survive in the forest while they were kids. There were no leaders since none of them liked being told what to do. Instead, they rotated chores that needed to be done, treating each other as equals.

Nothing more, nothing less.

"Yep." Mark grinned as he opened the bag and showed his prizes he had hunted. His bag had the rabbit he recently killed, a small pouch of berries, and two birds he killed with one stone.

"Your turn to cook Gunner." Bryan announced.

"No, it's Nate's turn!" Gunner argued. Since he was the youngest, most of the unwanted jobs were given to him.

"Nope, I went yesterday." Nate reminded him, shaking his head slightly. Mark only remembered because he had sat there and watched him so he could listen to him sing. On occasion, Nate would give singing lessons to Mark when they weren't busy, which Mark always loved.

There wasn't much to do in the woods, and there was no one around them that Mark could talk to. At least that he knew of. No one was allowed to venture too far from the camp, although Mark still didn't know why. He wasn't keen on finding out either for fear of being abandoned by his only family.

"But I don't mind going again." Nate added as he shrugged nonchalantly. He took the animals Mark had killed and walked over to a nearby table sized tree stump and sat down cross legged.

"Here." Bryan tossed Nate his razor sharp stone knife. Nate caught it with one hand, smirking triumphantly before turning back around to skin their food.

"We're gonna go get some more wood!" Kevin and Gunner informed the group before arming themselves with saws and walking deeper into the forest, disappearing from view. Bryan ducked inside his house, muttering something about taking a nap and warning Nate and Mark to not do anything stupid while he slept.

"Can you sing something?" Mark asked Nate eagerly as he sat by Nate, resting on the balls of his feet.

"Even though you're twenty-seven, you still act like the little kid I remember." Nate smiled fondly. He had only been a year older than Mark, but he held it over Mark's head nonetheless.

"I'm almost twenty-eight." Mark protested meekly, feeling his face grow hot in mild embarrassment. His birthday was in June, meaning that it was about a month away since it was already almost the end of May according to the calendar carved into the tree by their camp.

"Okay, I'll sing something, but only because you asked so nicely." Nate rolled his eyes, the smile never leaving his face as he took a deep breath before beginning.

"Day and night my mind is running,
Reaching out 'cause I want something more,
That I've never had before,

I'm scared to chase what I've been dreaming,
Beyond a want and now I need it,
Push me by surprise,
So I can take the dive!"

Nate bobbed his head as he thought of the words that would follow, his free gave tapping the tree stump while his other hand continued its job of skinning. Mark listened and watched patiently, eager to hear more.

"Day and night my mind is racing,
Dents and foot prints I've been pacing,
What am I supposed to find?

My god I'm the bait and the predator's my mind,
It eats at me all the time,
Can we stop and rewind,

I'm not so sure,

When'd I become my own enemy,
I don't understand what you see in me,
'Cause I'm just another story,
(That's not worth a reading),
Now you've got me pinned up against the wall,
Why aren't you afraid that I'll take a fall?
There's more that came before me,
(Am I worth believing?),

I'm not so sure,

Eye to eye our worlds collided,
Ear to ear you kept me smiling,
Kept me happy kept me grounded,
Before I flew away,

And I felt it breaking,
Then you came around,
In this world of white noise you're my favorite sound,

When'd I become my own enemy,
I don't understand what you see in me,
'Cause I'm just another story,
(That's not worth a reading),
Now you've got me pinned up against the wall,
Why aren't you afraid that I'll take a fall?
There's more that came before me,
(Am I worth believing?),

Whoa
Whoa
Whoa
Whoa

We brave and broken fewer,
Three cheers to fear the future,
We brave and broken fewer,
Three cheers to fear the future,

When'd I become my own enemy,
I don't understand what you see in me
'Cause I'm just another story,
(That's not worth a reading)
Now you've got me pinned up against the wall,
Why aren't you afraid that I'll take a fall?
There's more that came before me,
(Am I worth believing?),

I'm not so sure."

Once Nate finished, Mark cheered and clapped his hands while Nate bowed his head with a small grin before taking the food over to the medium sized bonfire surrounded by sections of cut up trees that served as chairs.

"You are right though, you are almost twenty-eight...there's something you need to know and probably should've known long ago." Nate's smile changed to a serious expression, which was unlike him.

"You-"

"Kevin's hurt!" Gunner interrupted Nate, stumbling as he ran towards Nate and Mark with an unconscious Kevin in his arms.

Kevin had an arrow embedded in his shoulder, blood trickling from the wound like a small waterfall.

"Stop shouting, I'm trying to-" Bryan froze mid-sentence, standing paralyzed in front of his house.

"What happened?" Bryan demanded as he quickly shook off his shock and ran over to his brother, taking him from Gunner and gently laying him down on his bed in Bryan's house.

"We were out gathering wood when this man with white hair spotted us and fired at me. Kevin pushed me out of the way and-"

Gunner broke off, swallowing hard.

"We're not the only ones on this island." Mark realized.

"If this keeps happening, then we may not even be on the island anymore." Bryan ran a hand through his short black hair.

"I'll scout it out-"

"No, it's too dangerous." Began shook his head before Mark even finished his sentence.

"But someone needs to see what's attacking us so we can stop it!" Mark gestured out at the woods behind them.

Nate opened his mouth, paused, then promptly closed it again after noticing Bryan's glare of disapproval.

"He's right you know."

Mark jumped in surprise when he faintly heard Kevin's voice speak up.

"Kevin, you know how dangerous it is out there." Bryan pointed out.

"Mark is right, we need to stop whoever is past this forest so no one else gets hurt." Kevin spoke firmly even though his eyes shone with pain. Mark couldn't tell if it was because of the arrow or something else.

Bryan fell silent before releasing a long, reluctant sigh of defeat.

"Go. Take whatever you need, but be back in a weeks time. If you're not back by then, I will assume you were hurt or killed, so we will face the attackers ourselves." Bryan told Mark.

"I can do this." Mark nodded reassuringly before darting out of Bryan's home and into his own to pack. He threw food and clothes into a bag, slinging a bow and quiver of arrows over his shoulder before staying his goodbyes to his friends.

"I wish I could go with you." Nate admitted as he hugged Mark tightly, as if afraid to let him go.

"I will come back." Mark promised Nate with a sad smile.

"I'll have new songs waiting for you when you return." Nate patted Mark on the shoulder before reluctantly stepping aside to allow Gunner to say goodbye.

"See you soon." Gunner hugged him before quickly retreating back.

"Be careful out there Mark." Bryan cautioned Mark before gently pushing him in the right direction.

Mark walked off, forcing himself to not look back over his shoulder since he knew that if he did, he wouldn't be able to go on.