Fallen leaves crackled under my feet and the wind rattled the barren branches above me when I sprinted farther and farther up the hill. It was strange. In this secluded area, a hill sandwiched between two higher slopes, the trees around me were more vacant than any other place I have seen- a place that Fall had chosen to torture with its later effects. 

The gold that was abundant in the field of aspens below did not grace these parts. Instead, it was littered with riches and masses or brittle copper and bronze. Though the scenery was decaying- dying, it was beautiful in its own haunting way. There was an open chill that wasn't present in the lush and thick gathering of the trees below; an open canopy that revealed Fall's gloomy, low hanging clouds; and the still, almost dead, air. 

Most of all, there was nothing to be heard, nothing to signify that anything was moving. That was the beauty of this, a place so still time itself could not move it.

I was still in a rush to find and meet the blue orb, but the overwhelming exquisiteness around me caused my frantic feet to slow to a sprint, to a jog, to a trot, to a walk, and to nothing until I was eventually still.

It's ridiculous that I'm such a huge sucker for resting and living in the moment, but nature never ceased to take my breath away. It was beautiful- almost magical.

But then the trickling of a small creek bubbled progressively louder and conquered the silence the more I started listening to it. A flash of the creek with a small bridge from my outer body experience went past my eyes. I was near.

Moving past the beauty and narrowing in on my destination like a hawk, I resumed my run and was relieved by an open clearing that had a spread of scrawny, unfilled aspen trees roughly outlining the circular opening like a natural, white picket of fencing. 

To my right and hidden near the back of the clearing, a quaint but clearly abandoned two story family house sat lonely in its own graying and rotting erosion. I kept a mental note to explore later, but my eyes quickly scanned over the empty swing hanging from the limb of a sturdy oak to the little handmade bridge that arched over a bit of the creek.

Without the bridge, I could have easily stepped over. It must have been made for a child. Other than that, it would have served no function besides decorative purposes.

The history, or my own imagined one, of this place coursed through my mind like a movie as I walked closer and closer to the creek. I could almost see a young couple deep in love, toiling and laughing in their own sweat and tears of joy while they built their home from the ground up, a child in a white summer dress kicking her feet up in the air as she swung towards the sky, and a father and his daughter knelt together at the edge of the brook looking for snails.

The water rustled quickly by, and I was awakened from my illusions by own reflection staring back up at me.

Wonder if there were any snails that could be found here.

Smirking and exploring the story I fashioned, I knelt to the ground and looked at the small bridge that sloped gently over the calm waters. Age had worn and blackened what once was detailed and sharp, but I could make out etches of all sorts of magical creatures: nymphs, fairies, and giants. I smiled. Whoever this was, I could tell they loved their craft and whoever they made this bridge for.

"Kalum."

Taking my eyes off the art before me, I gazed up in the direction of the voice and found the blue orb hovering and bobbing up and down in mid-air. The copper leaves, that had scattered across this whole clearing, gently tumbled away from it in constant intervals- bringing the circular breezes radiating from it into visibility. Its tendrils had eventually rushed over to me, and it brushed my hair past my face and carefully whispered past my ears.

For a while, I just stared at it, greeting the man in the portal unfazed with a solemn gaze. This time, I wasn't so afraid to see a face inside looking right back at me; my cracked phone will now and forever remind me of my initial shock.

The face now had very similar features to the face I saw in the blue orb the first time- curly, dark hair, a prominent nose, hardened eyes.

Could it be the same person?

I hoped, briefly, it was the boy who helped my sister so that I could have the chance to thank him, but I guess it would have to wait for another time. It wasn't him.

Perhaps I should stand up and walk forwards to greet him.

So, taking a long and lingering step over the creek, I crossed over.

"It's a pleasure, Matthew Descartes." The man greeted dryly as I got closer. Though he said it was a pleasure, his tone signified otherwise.

"You speak English?" I mused quietly. Though I only just met the man, a bit of resentment and sarcasm dripped from my tone. It was clear they spoke and knew English, but they only decided to communicate with me on three separate occasions. Other than that, it was all in their native tongue- like they were trying to hide and withhold certain bits of information.

The man quickly rolled his eyes, but his lips were pressed into a hardened line. "Yes, I do."

That was good. At least there would be decent communication and some answers.

"Do others of your kind speak English?" I interrogated.

Though his face hardly changed in emotion, his eyes threw me a hypercritical look. "Yes, we do."

Well, this wasn't going as well as I thought it would have. Unlike the two spirits my sister and I ran into, he seemed unwilling to share anything with me. All his answers were brief, and each syllable was pronounced sharply like my brief questioning irritated him already.

This was a bit awkward.

My eyes couldn't help but wander up to the sky when the mysterious man in the portal didn't break his steady and militant stare. Awkwardly clearing my throat and rolling my shoulders back, I did my best to avoid his eyes. "So-"

"Interesting choice of words, Descartes. My people. What does that mean?" The man entertained while a dark smirk flickered sinisterly on his crooked lips.

Shaking my head, I narrowed my eyes at the sudden change of topic and tone. He was testing me. There was no doubt about that, but I couldn't understand why. "I don't know." I answered truthfully and refrained from sounding a bit too surprised at his odd behavior. "I was hoping you could tell me."

The stranger threw his arms behind his back and stood straight to maintain proper and authoritative. "Protocol will not allow it, but I can tell you this. You are right to think we are different, but your people and mine are alike in more ways than you can imagine."

Riddles. Here are the damn riddles again.

"And what relation do we have- never mind." I grumbled when I realized that he probably couldn't answer that. "But can you at least tell me how I'm involved or why you're doing all this?"

His earlier smirk fell back down into his emotionless and cold guise from before. "To help you." He answered grimly. "Now that you are exposed, there are new dangers that could kill you without my help. And again, I apologize for the lack of information, but I cannot reveal such threats until the proper time."

Chuckling at the madness of it all, I bit my tongue to bite back the words I wanted to say. Here was a stranger, who apparently won't tell me anything about him or his people, that said he was here to protect me from threats I don't know of and will continue not knowing of. He had to wait for the 'proper' time.

If there was a proper time, it was now because there was no way that I could trust and accept his help like this. Yes, his people have saved Autumn's life, which I am forever grateful for, but there were too many loose ends. What if they were the ones that were causing this mess?

After all, the moment I met the blue orb in the forest was the moment these shadow monsters reappeared, and the only reason why anyone would ever withhold large amounts of information while using fear tactics would be to control me.

But there was always a chance they had good intentions, so I did my best to not sound rude. "Not much help keeping me in the dark either." I reasoned. Call me paranoid, but I was still suspicious.

"Descartes," the man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "the shadows you faced are one of the many threats to come."

"And I was able to destroy them once before." I explained, my voice equally as strained and borderline impatient like his. "I'll find a way to fend against the others as well."

The man shook his head and closed his eyes, not being able to bear my incompetence and inability to understand the dire issue that lay ahead. "Finding your own way to defend yourself was what almost cost your sister's life in the first place. By the grace of the Othor, it was pure luck that we managed to get there in time to help her. We cannot afford opening portals every time you are in trouble. You must accept my help."

There had to be another way out. If there was the slightest possibility that monsters worse than the shadows existed, then I wanted no part of it. "Can you help me get out of this situation then? I just want to go back to my mediocre human life: grow so I can drown in school debt, get a job I hate, suffer through a mid-life crisis, marry, probably divorce, marry again, watch the grandkids, and die. Is that too much to ask for?"

The creases between his dark and furrowed eyebrows displayed the weathered lines of his patience fraying thin, twisting and curling under my relentless questioning and complaining. "Forget about that life, boy. You were chosen to do greater things. With my help, I can get you there."

"And what greater thing? Why was I chosen? Wait, I can answer that. Protocol won't allow you. See, I can't trust you because you aren't telling me anything." The pent up questions building in my brain exploded into a burst of chaotic madness. The common courtesy I tried to display since we were merely acquaintances was quickly dissipating under by growing wall of doubt. "I don't even know your name, who you are-"

The stranger took advantage of my brief pause and cut me off. "My apologies. I am known as Mandell, an honest man by my people. I know my words hold no merit, but I urge you, Descartes. You must trust me."

An honest man. I hope he was.

Though the doubts and question I had against Mandell were stacked alarmingly high, the fear of what would happen to me and my sister if I continued to question and regret his offer gnawed at me. Ruthlessly, the fear wedged me right between the two, helpless options I had to face. And neither of them looked pretty.

On one hand, I could accept Mandell's help, but I would blindly have to put all my faith in a man that would make me easily susceptible to manipulation and who knows what. But, at least it had a slight guarantee that my sister and I would be safe.

On the other hand, I refuse his offer. I can continue to be confident that I would not be led astray, however, there was always a chance that I would fail in defending myself, like what happened yesterday.

Autumn could get injured- or worse. Hell, I didn't want to think about it.

But the two possible outcomes battled and pulled at my brain, tearing any logic between them to shreds. And the pressure. The pressure Mandell was laying on me, the way his dark eyes bore like a ticking time bomb nearing the end of its wick, wasn't giving me enough time to think. I at least needed a day or so to evaluate all the possible outcomes and scenarios of either two options, but I felt I had to accept or deny his help at this moment.

"Alright!" I relented slightly with my face bowed, trying to tame the nerves that burned and prickled from all the stress and anxiety. "So perhaps I do accept your help. What then?"

"Then you won't have to visit me at this portal whenever we need to communicate. Once you accept my help, I will be able to guide you through threats and obstacles by instructing you through your mind. I will be able to see what you see, hear what you hear. I will, however, be unable to read your thoughts, so you can rest assured with that." He explained slow and cautious, knowing by the look on my face that I did not approve.

And the hell I didn't. Having a voice in my brain to speak to me, at any time it seemed, would drive me insane. There were disorders similar to this that screwed the human mind into shambles. But, it wasn't just that. It was the fact that he could see and hear everything that I could.

Furiously shaking my head, I gawked at his incredulous offer. "You have another way that isn't so invasive?"

Persistent, Mandell remained as patient as he could. "I understand how uncomfortable this may seem." His voice was irregularly calm- almost hypnotic to combat my frantic tenor. "However, this is a necessary precautionary measure that we must take. And if this gives you any relief, my presence would hardly be detectable. All you will hear is my voice, which I will use sparsely. I promise that I will only speak when the situation calls for it and when it is time for you to train. This is all and only for your safety."

No. He had offered me no relief. None.

What part about not knowing when he could 'check in' on me would make me comfortable? He could surveillance me all day if he wished, and for what?

Why the hell was he so persistent to get inside my head? What was it that he needed to know? Yes, perhaps for my safety, but I still had to keep all my options open. The way he was pressuring me into his accepting his help as soon as possible with threats he didn't care to reveal was suspicious. Undoubtedly, I'm not left with a better alternative, but I had to at least get as much information on what I was accepting.

I wanted to trust him.

"What would you even train me on?"

His face fell into a sour and irritated scowl. "Descartes, to survive, you must think faster than this sluggish pace you are dwelling in now. Think. What do you suppose you need training in?"

"A lot." I retorted sharply. "Mainly on what's happening to me because I don't know what the hell is going on."

Snorting, he dismissed my attitude with a curt wave of his hand. "I refuse to believe that you are this daft, but we are low in time. Your powers, Descartes. I can help you harness your powers, to train you so that one day you would be able to protect yourself."

"And then you'll get out of my head?" I asked, hopeful.

There was no way that we could work together for a long time. The teacher and student dynamic was already failing; I couldn't trust a man who blatantly undermines, and he couldn't teach a student that already irritated him with his questioning. To be fair, my questioning and skeptisim drove most people mad, primarily my sister, but if he wanted to be a mentor he should begin by enlightening his pupils. 

Mandell solemnly shook his head, his curly brown locks bobbing back and forth. "No, I will still be with you. You are a very important person to us, Descartes. We cannot afford to lose you."

"Important person, huh?" I scoffed at that one, kicked the leaves at my feet in order to vent my frustration in some petty way, and watched them fly up in the air to only be brought back by the gentle breeze that emanated from the portal.

What kind of important person would be needed to be kept in the dark?

Yet, I gave up wondering anymore. Juicing him for any more information was pointless. It was clear that this was all that I would be given, and if I was to accept his help it would be expected that I run in the dark and follow his call blindly- to do what he says like a puppet. He said that he could protect us, but that wasn't even a guarantee. 

All that Mandell offered was empty, useless words. At least with the shadows, I knew what to expect. 

"No." I started off weakly, staring down at the thin yellow blades of grass but gradually raising my eyes so that I maintained a focused gaze on Mandell. "I'm very sorry, Mandell. I'm afraid you have to find yourself another important person. Have someone else be Kalum."

While I turned on my heels with my back to Mandell and the portal, taking the first few steps on my trudge back through the forest, Mandell yelled out to me in urgency- his words cracked and spun with desperation. "Descartes, you don't seem to understand. This is not a thing you choose to give away. You have been chosen."

No. I never recalled accepting this 'honor'. I never wanted this.

Fully aware of how unrealistic I was being, I began walking away from the portal in hopes the impossible debacle would disappear and be put behind me, but I stopped halfway between a step.

Something in the forest moved.

Not only that, it was a lot darker than I last remembered. The sun, while I made my hike up the hill, was clouded by the overcast sky, but it wasn't covered enough to make parts of the forest so dense and bleak like it was now. Matter of fact, it was impossibly shadowed- the trunks were completely covered while the branches above remained untouched from the darkness below.

What the hell.

Then it happened again- the movement.

Except this time, it was a faint flicker that passed from one tree trunk to the next: a space that wasn't consumed by the oblivion that seemed to move and twist between the trees like it was alive.

My stomach curled into itself when it dawned on me. The shadows. Even though I was outdoors, a place I thought would be impossible for them to maneuver, they managed to press themselves into the trees to support their two dimensional existence. For a moment, I thanked the stars that I was in the center of the clearing and not in the thicket of the trees, but if I could recall my last experience correctly I was far from safe.

They could still travel along the ground, reach up, and grab me like they did with Autumn.

And they wasted no time. As they advanced, their shadows shifted and jumped from the myriad of trunks that led up to the clearing, and the first wave had already stretched their spiny hands and lanky tendrils out from the forest and across the clearing.

Inch by inch, they advanced, blood-thirsty, and clawing for my flesh, and it was only when I saw their fingers slash wildly out from the forest and along the ground that I noticed I was completely surrounded.

Here I was in the center of the clearing, overwhelmed and helpless with a circle of a thousand writhing, slithering, what could almost qualify as tentacles, around me like the ticks of some demented clock from Hell.

No. No. No.

Mandell was alarmed as I, and the portal behind me hissed and sputtered in panic. Pieces of the blue orb faded in and out of reality sporadically like a digital glitch, the longevity of its presence an uncertainty, but Mandell's voice rang above the chaos. "Accept my help now. I can help you-"

The shadows erupted into a synchronization of ear splitting screams, silencing Mandell, and like a shockwave blasted straight at the mind I felt all logic and sense fly out of me while I dove into the ground with hands locked tightly over my ears.

Echoing madness of their shrill cries reverberated mercilessly past my cupped hands, which did nothing to block out the maddening pandemonium, and I could think of nothing but wishing for it to end.

Wishful thinking got me nowhere.

The shadows were advancing, their wispy, black talons were only a few feet away, but I couldn't unwrap myself from the cowering position I curled myself into. There was just too many of them and with their screaming I couldn't think straight or remember how I defeated them before.

Just-

Screwing my eyes shut, my screams got lost, melded, along with the others, and I rolled onto my back, kicking my feet as another sound rang within my head- a sound I couldn't block out.

Yet this time, it was familiar, too familiar. It was the same ringing that bombarded me before I went to my physical education class a few days ago, an intolerable high ring that caused my eardrums to shudder like a thin glass pane. Though this time, it was twice as strong with twice the power. It was relentless.

"Descartes," Mandell shouted, "accept the ringing! Give in to it so I can help you, boy! I can help you defeat them!"

My mouth writhed in agony as I twisted again and tried coping with the misery that tortured me from the inside and the screaming that terrorized around me. Pins and needles pressed out against my skull, threatening to burst, while hammers bashed away on the outside.

This ringing. I couldn't understand why I had felt it before.

There was the same urgency, to give into its calling, but it was nearly impossible to accept. If I relented to this call, I could already feel the muscles and cartilage in my ears tear under the force. The ringing was like a nail. The sharp edge had already taunted, piercing and causing slight pains to convulse throughout my entire mind. But accepting it would be like taking the nail in my ear and jamming it all the way through.

Popping my ears when going up in a plane or to a higher altitude was child's play compared to this.

Honestly, I was afraid. I was afraid of the pain, but that was until I felt a different agony scar and wrap around my ankles, sending fire to erupt up my calves and thighs. Flesh was ripped apart as a viscous claw entrapped itself between the newfound gash in my leg, and when I looked down I found the tar-drenched fingers of one of the hundreds of shadows reach up from the ground to bind me.

This was the end. More and more of them slithered their way up around me, and it would only be a matter of time until I was completely bound and cocooned in their pool of midnight tar.

{Need edit}
A/n: So here it is ;)))

Maybe I left you on a cliffhanger, but thanks so much for the votes and comments guys! You all are amazing! :)

Hope you enjoyed!