~~~
4
The next day came surprisingly quickly for Amadeus. He was wide awake at eight o’clock sharp, which shocked him as he’d meant to wake up an hour earlier. Perhaps yesterday had been more tiring than he’d believed. In any case, it was of no great concern – his appointment with his new friend Isaac was only at eight-thirty, and his firearms class at nine, so it’s not like his sleeping in cost him any time. He yawned once more, lifted himself out of bed, had a quick shower to get himself fully awake, and then woke up his new companion Widget. As soon as Widget was up, it jumped on Amadeus’ shoulder with no provocation whatsoever. With a smile to his small mechanical friend, Amadeus was off and ready to go.
Isaac had arrived at the food court at eight-twenty-five, arriving a few minutes early to remain cordial, although Amadeus could take one look at him and noticed that Isaac hadn’t gotten much sleep either – he was rubbing his eyes and mumbling incoherently to himself.
“You awake, Isaac?” Amadeus asked as he approached.
“Oh! Amadeus!” Isaac exclaimed, as if snapping awake. “Didn’t notice you there.”
“Rough night?”
“You could say that, yeah. A bit concerned and didn’t get much sleep.”
“Concerned? About what?”
“Nothing worth repeating. Just something personal. In any case, I promised to meet you here for breakfast, and here I am. Perhaps we could continue our conversation from yesterday.”
“Indeed, that could work.”
The two of them agreed to meet at a specific table, then split up and went separate ways in the food court, preparing their respective morning meals. Amadeus had decided to keep things simple – pork sausages, hash browns, and scrambled eggs, a small meal that would keep him full as long as possible. Isaac, on the other hand, went for a bowl of corn flakes – a rather large bowl, to be sure, though it probably wasn’t as filling as Amadeus’ choice of food.
“Amadeus, if I may continue the conversation by asking the first question?” Isaac requested.
“By all means, go ahead.”
“First off, I see Widget happily perched on your shoulder, and that reminds me of what you said about your family. You live with your family, yes? How many?”
“I do, correct. My father isn’t around very often – he’s a bit of a hermit-like character so all my contact with him is generally over the phone. Fortunately, I have a mother and sisters to keep me company, who I’m eternally grateful for.”
“That’s wonderful. How many sisters do you have?”
“Thr-...Two.”
“...Pardon?”
“Two. I have two sisters.”
“You were about to say ‘three’, yet you cut yourself off. Why?”
“It was...a slip of the tongue. I was counting my mother as one of my sisters by mistake.”
Isaac, not satisfied with this explanation, gave Amadeus a good long stare, trying to see into his eyes. Amadeus could see Isaac’s gaze boring into him, and was slightly concerned about the awkward silence he’d created by his small mistake. He could not just see Isaac staring at him...no, he could feel Isaac staring into him...
“Amadeus...I know this may not be my place to say,” Isaac said at length, “but...I had a sister once. You...you did have a third sister once, didn’t you? But not any longer. I know what it is like to lose someone that close to you.”
“Isaac...I barely know you, and already, by merely discerning my gaze and my small error, you have found something out about me...something I thought no one would ever see.”
“So...I am right?”
“You have said it. It is as you say. My third sister died years ago. I miss her dearly.”
“I miss my sister too. She was my only family. I have no living relatives anymore. Be grateful, Amadeus. You still have family whom you can call your own. I do not.”
“...It is strange what camaraderie we share already, and in a detail as so deep and invisible as this. And yet I feel I can trust you with this detail.”
“Worry not, my friend. I am sure we will be reunited with our loved ones one day. Of this I have no doubt.”
“How can you be so sure of the afterlife, Isaac? Can a man see it with his own two eyes?”
“Through a vision or a dream, yes, I believe it’s possible.”
“And you chided me for believing in the supernatural!” Amadeus gave a hearty laugh. “You wound me, my friend! You are quite the crafty one. I wonder what other secrets lie behind that unrevealing gaze of yours.”
“Perhaps the better we get to know each other, you shall find out. And I do believe you have a firearms class to get to?”
“Ah, you’re right! Fortunately we have already finished eating. I must make all haste to get there in time! Isaac, you are free to join me, but for now, I must leave!”
Amadeus then hurriedly disposed of his trash, picked up his things, and rushed down one of the streets to make it to his intended destination. Conversing with Isaac had been so enthralling he hadn’t noticed how much time it had eaten up! He had to run in order to make in time, and fortunately he did, not a moment too soon. The class had started with a brief lecture on how to use a handgun, the most basic of firearms, and after that the students were allowed to test their skills on an indoor firing range, launching bullets at paper cutouts against a concrete wall.
It was at this point that Isaac had quietly snuck in and had asked to watch the shooting demo, to see how well Amadeus would do. Isaac was permitted, and walked against the opposite to behind where Amadeus was, to see his progress. Amadeus had large muffs covering his ears and safety goggles across his eyes, and Widget was napping against the back wall. Isaac was watching Amadeus shoot at his paper target, and much to Isaac’s surprise, Amadeus’ shot hit either at the bull’s-eye or within the center ring of the target, each and every time.
Amadeus didn’t notice Isaac’s presence until he had fired all the bullets that had been provided to him. He waved and greeted his new friend, while the rangemaster was tallying up the scores of each student. Not surprisingly, Amadeus’ score was the highest – the rangemaster had remarked that it was a ‘perfect score’, and that ‘no score had been this high in over fifty years’.
“Fifty years?” Amadeus asked. “Who held this other score?”
“General Machina,” the rangemaster said, “back when he was a new recruit. I remember one of the guys before me telling us about it – by now it’s become a legend that everyone passes on. He simply took up a handgun at the firing range, fired it twenty times at the target, reloading when necessary, and each time it always hit dead-center. He only fired it with one hand and suffered absolutely no recoil, so the story goes. No one’s ever figured out how he did it.”
“To be compared to a marksman of that calibre...It’s a great honor. Though I am no General Machina or any great shot.”
“With enough practice, you could be. Now, if we can proceed to...”
The rangemaster was cut off when the building shook for about a second. The lights flickered for a moment yet remained on, but outside there came the noise of a multitude of screaming people.
“What is that?” Amadeus asked.
“I don’t know...” the rangemaster said, “but it sounds like people are panicking. I don’t like the sound of it. If something dangerous is outside, I’d recommend you get to safety while you can. Your friend there, too.”
“Amadeus...” Isaac began. “Whatever this thing is, it’s threatening people and this convention. I’m going to find out what it is. I recommend you follow me...and bring a firearm.”
“Why a firearm?”
“Because I get the feeling you being a crack shot will come in handy.”
Without waiting for a response, Isaac ran out the door and into the street. Amadeus, confused but trusting, asked the rangemaster’s permission to borrow a firearm (which was granted) and followed Isaac outside. It was a good thing he did – there were masses of screaming people fleeing, and it was everything he could do to try and not be swallowed up by the crowds moving in the opposite direction he wanted to travel. He saw his friend Isaac ahead of him, who waved and motioned him to follow, again in the opposite direction of the crowds. Amadeus obliged, and hastened to follow Isaac.
Isaac was headed towards the center plaza of Slate Harbor, from which the people seemed to be fleeing. It was a large circular area, about fifty feet in diameter, and at its middle was a large fountain, about eight feet in diameter, and about as tall, with two layers from which water flowed down. No doubt a multitude of small coins had been cast into it for good luck, but that wasn’t the most striking thing. Rather, standing in a ring about the fountain were six large silvery machines, fashioned in the shape of what looked like some sort of large mammal or dinosaur. Each was roughly six feet tall and covered in armored plates. They each had two eyes, glowing red, and below them a large mouth with serrated metal teeth. A large horn shot out from between the two eyes, much like a rhinoceros. They were bipedal, having two large arms and legs, plus a two-foot-long tail that looked like it could squeeze a person to death in a matter of minutes. A line of spikes ran down the back of each one, where the spinal column would normally be.
“These are quite fearsome beasts,” Amadeus noted as he arrived, gripping his handgun in both hands.
“These look like synthetics,” Isaac suggested. “If memory serves, these are the Nidoking model. They’re mostly used by the military, predominantly to fight. There’s a lot of military stuff here, so their being here doesn’t surprise me. It’s that they have been activated and set to kill.”
“Who would do that? Who would be able to do that?”
“Questions can wait, my friend,” Isaac replied, reaching his hand behind him and pulling out a long sword resting in a sheath strapped to his back. Amadeus was surprised; he hadn’t even noticed this sheath until now. Maybe Isaac was really good at keeping his sword inconspicuous. “For now, we need to stop these things. Aim right below the horn. It’ll stop its brain. Move!”
Amadeus didn’t wait to say anything else and did as his friend advised. He raised his two hands, locked onto one of the six Nidoking, took aim right below the horn, and fired. The bullet made contact with the machine, which fell over backwards, lifeless. Isaac was right; that was indeed the weak spot!
He prepared to take aim at another, but the Nidoking had all started to move – and quite rapidly at that – so it would be more difficult. Isaac, in the meantime, had ran forward and was fighting at close quarter with one of them, slashing at its body, trying to cut open its head, while parrying blows from its large arms and tail. He succeeded after a brief scuffle, and still being unscathed, he moved on to the next one. Amadeus had to run backwards as he took aim, as whenever a Nidoking saw him, it would charge full-speed at him, requiring Amadeus to either turn sharp corners or get his shots quick and perfect. He managed to do both relatively well, fortunately. The conflict in all lasted only about two minutes, thankfully, and by then, Amadeus had struck down four of the battle machines to Isaac’s two.
“Well done,” Isaac commented, sheathing his sword. “You got more than I did.”
“That’s because I had some good advice,” Amadeus replied, “and that a gun is easier to nail weak points with. I didn’t know you carried a sword, though...”
“I’m what you might call a ‘wandering hero’. I’m a vagabond, traveling about the world to retain order and justice.”
“So...are you with any organization, or do you fight alone?”
“Alone. I find it a bit easier that way. Do you mind if I ask you another question?”
“Not at all; go ahead.”
“Look at me, Amadeus. What color are my eyes?”
“What? What kind of a question is that?”
“Just answer me.”
“They’re blue. Like a deep, ocean blue.”
“And my trousers?”
“Blue as well, though that’s more of a denim color.”
“And what am I wearing here? And what color is it?” He pointed to his scarf.
“It’s a scarf...It’s a wheat yellow color. What is the meaning of this set of questions, Isaac? Do you think me blind?”
“That’s what I was trying to ascertain. I wanted to make sure you actually could see.”
“What? You thought I was blind?”
“As soon as the rangemaster remarked that you had a score similar to Machina’s fifty years ago, that is when I was concerned. See, rumor has it that Machina, revered as history’s greatest marksman, was a blind man. Stripped of his sight, he heightened his other senses – sound, smell, touch – so that his marksmanship was without peer. He knew exactly where his target was at all times, and never missed his mark – even though he couldn’t see anything.”
“And what does that have to do with me? Because I had a score as great as Machina’s, you think me blind?”
“I thought you might be a reincarnation of him or something. This suspicion of mine has...no basis in reality, but I was worried for...Amadeus! Look out! Duck!”
Amadeus’ expression turned to surprise fairly rapidly, but instinctively he obeyed the command and did so. Still looking forward at Isaac, Amadeus saw Isaac unsheathe his sword once more, and he could see the sword glow with lightning, which crackled about the blade. Isaac then swung his sword quickly in front of him, causing the lightning to leap forth and travel forward as a shock wave. It went right over Amadeus’ head, and hit something that was only about five feet behind him. Whatever it was, it let out a guttural squeal.
Isaac ran forward past Amadeus, presumably to battle against whatever threatened him. Amadeus got up, turned around, and looked for his would-be attacker. There was something sprawled out on the ground. It looked to be humanoid, but its body appeared to be made out of some sort of white goo, which looked as if it was perpetually melting. It had two arms, which looked not unlike mechanical prosthetic limbs for humans. It had a head, and a face with two large blue diamond-shaped eyes and a large mouth with only a small number of teeth, all canine.
“What are you?” Isaac asked, his blade pointed forward. “Answer me or die!”
“Not your concern...” it hissed in a strange, almost reptilian voice, as it got to its feet. A noise not unlike gurgling could be heard in its throat. “Don’t need you...give him to me...to me...to me now!!”
Isaac leapt forward and slashed at this slime creature with his blade, to attempt to drive it off. The slash cut at its body, but its viscous state allowed it to absorb and nullify the blow.
“Don’t care about you...Only him...” it gasped, laughing. “He is mine...Mine!!”
Much to Isaac’s shock, the creature leapt up through the air, taking its whole fluid body with it, over Isaac’s head and straight at Amadeus. Amadeus, paralyzed by fear, was only able to fire one single bullet at it, which promptly was rebuffed by its amorphous body. Its arms outstretched and cruel mouth wide open, Amadeus was frozen to the spot as he awaited his end.
But his end was not yet. Another new creature, this one looking like the shadow of some great bird, materialized between Amadeus and the blob thing, and slashed at it with a sharp claw, which knocked the creature to the ground. The shadow then chased its quarry mid-fall, and slashed at it once more, knocking it further away. Amadeus couldn’t get a good look at it, but upon closer examination, it looked like a human’s upper torso, with two large bird wings and its hands tipped with sharp talons. It was floating as well, compensating for its lack of legs.
“You...” hissed the adversary. “What are you...You feel like him...yet you are not...”
“Leave now,” the shadow responded, its voice deep and commanding. “Cause any more havoc and I shall surely destroy you.”
“Not the end...Not the end...not not not not not...”
The amorphous being began to mumble, until the shadow slashed at it again, causing it to utter another squeal. It hissed at the shadow, and then disappeared into thin air, as if it had left.
Amadeus could hardly believe the spectacle. He was as good as dead only about twenty seconds before, and now he’d been saved by...some sort of shadow creature. He couldn’t move; he was still incredibly frightened and jarred by what had just happened. The shadow turned towards Amadeus and moved in his direction. Its face was covered by a mask shaped like the head of a bird of prey, and its front protected by body armor. Up close, he could tell it was six feet tall. Whatever it was, it was terrifying, but at least it was on his side, or so Amadeus hoped.
“Are you all right?” it asked, halting five feet in front of Amadeus. “You are unscathed?”
“I’m fine, yeah,” Amadeus answered. “I was terrified. What was that thing?”
“I do not know for sure. However, based on its behavior, it wants to attack you...and only you. It didn’t care at all for your friend...” The shadow paused and looked around before continuing to address Amadeus. “...who appears to have vanished.”
Amadeus hurriedly whipped his head around, trying to find Isaac. The shadow was right – Isaac had completely vanished. But why, after having saved his life, would he disappear?
“Where did he go? Isaac!” Amadeus called out. “Isaac!”
“It appears that the two of you have saved the day, from what could be an otherwise disastrous outcome. Clearly neither of you are very ordinary.”
“But...who are you? What are you?”
“...I can see the crowds are beginning to gather again. Go to your hotel room at five o’clock tonight. We will talk more then, and I shall answer your questions.”
With that, the shadow vanished from before Amadeus’ eyes, not waiting for a response. Amadeus looked about him, and could see the crowds of people, having once fled away for their lives from the berserk synthetics, congregating again. A silence hung in the air, as all pairs of eyes were resting on him, the bodies of the six synthetics lying broken on the ground. Then, only a few moments later, all at once, the entire throng erupted into cheering. Amadeus had saved them! He was their hero! ...at least, as far as they were concerned. Amadeus was trying to explain and not take all the credit, but said it was partially due to his friend also that the threat had been silenced. Yet Isaac wasn’t there, so Amadeus got all the glory for this valiant deed.
Amadeus spent most of the rest of the day trying to finish up his firearms class and trying to deflect the questions being constantly thrown at him by the crowd. He was even interviewed a few times by certain individuals, some with the military, others with the news, and still others hoping to get a chance to talk to the legendary Amadeus Dorian, some of whom even asked if they could get an autograph. It was indeed a hectic day for Amadeus, yet despite all the praise, he could not bring himself to smile – no, not after that strange encounter that nearly robbed him of his life. He needed to find that shadow. He needed it to be five o’clock. He needed answers.
Because he was not the hero everyone thought he was. Not yet.
