shadows

1 - 05

A quiet house in a quiet residential neighbourhood in the big city. A quiet corner where nothing of consequence was to happen.

Green was sitting up in bed. Startled awake. The darkness of the night meant little to her. She was old. Ancient. Though she didn’t show it from the outside. She looked like a woman in her late forties. “Ray,” she called out softly, turning her head from her neck just enough to have the door within her field of view.

That very moment, as if answering the call, a younger woman burst in. “Master,” she answered, in the same voice and tone.

Green had eyes black as midnight. And Ray had eyes green as spring leaves. Of course, no one outside of the two, master and pupil, dared laugh at the irony.

“You felt it?” Green asked.

Ray nodded in reply. “Clear as night,” she said. Her wit earning a tiny smile, which under the current circumstances didn’t really amount to anything. “What was it? An awakening?”

Green shook her head. “Can’t be. It was outside of the laws.”

The laws that Green mentioned were the immutable laws of the world. These laws were old. Older than the gods. Much more powerful. But more importantly, a lot more frightening.

“We aren’t of them,” Ray said, unconsciously giving voice to her thoughts. “And we felt it. I felt you. You must have felt it so much stronger, master. What then about them? Who are of the world? How strongly would they have felt it?”

“Do you really think that is how it works?” Green asked. She was amused. Her only pupil wasn’t a child. But sometimes, that was exactly what Ray felt like. “It’s not. I know you will get it. The when is the mystery.” She sighed.

Ray pouted. “At least I can trace better.”

That was true. Ray was the most gifted tracer Green had ever seen or heard of. That was the one thing that made her proud. Tracers weren’t rare today. Witches had spells that emulated tracers. Elementals could imitate. And both were good enough. But tracers like Ray, who were so sensitive, were not so common. Their existence was an open secret. And that was precisely what made them so valuable and unimportant at the same time.

“You want to go, don’t you?” Green asked.

Ray was grinning. “I have a feeling it will be a great adventure.”

“That’s how you feel about everything.” Green was unimpressed. But she got off the bed anyway.

Ray rushed over to help. She offered her arm for support.

-

Master and pupil were having their morning tea in the yard. The view wasn’t anything extraordinary. But it couldn’t be any less ordinary to them. Green just liked the morning breeze. Ray liked the sight, and the sounds, of the morning rush. The neighbourhood children rushing to school. The adults rushing to work. The chatter, excited and nervous and bored and tired. The almost violent mix of emotions. Ray enjoyed the madness, as she called it. She claimed it made her feel alive.

And Ray certainly basked in the extra glances as the children walked past the store that was the front of their modest home. They sold dry cakes and candies. And they were popular. There was something magical about the taste of the cakes and candies Ray made, the children said. Ray only gave a mysterious smile in reply. Which stoked the intrigue and the imagination of the children. And then, there were no annoying rules at the store. Children could be children. Unruly. Noisy. Excitable. Ray didn’t stop them, or admonish. And she was never worried about any damage the children might leave behind. Green and Ray had to convince the parents many times that it was truly okay. The store was a hobby, Ray explained. Not their main source of income. So, it was okay. They didn’t care what the parents thought, what convoluted stories the parents cooked up. Ray wasn’t lying when she called the store a hobby.

Many a time, Ray had wondered if the children could feel her staring at them in the mornings. Maybe that was what grabbed their attention. Green only laughed in reply. Ray had an imagination that was no less wild than the children.

That was when they felt it. A ripple. And then a tear. And then, something else. Something much more.

The two of them froze. Stared wide eyed at each other. The question didn’t need asking. The answer couldn’t be more obvious.

“The laws were broken,” Green said. Her voice was grave. As was the expression on her face.

Ray was quiet. And patient.

“Are you ready?” Green asked.

Ray nodded.

Green continued. “We must go. You must trace it.”

Ray nodded again. Paused. Hesitated.

Green noticed. She smiled. A smile that was nothing like a smile. And continued, again. “Yeah. It is familiar. And also not. You are confused?”

Ray smiled shyly. There were things she was great at. And there were those she was less impressive at. This was the latter.

“More than one law was affected,” Green explained. “One was broken. This is massive. That familiarity, it is because of one of the laws we are affined with.”

Ray’s eyes went wide. She was starting to understand. And she had goosebumps.

“I believe we are experiencing a split in time. In the branch not taken, we feel this event but much smaller, some time in the future. The branch we are taking now, is new. We are forging a new branch. It will be difficult for a while. Until you get used to it. Prepare yourself.”

Ray nodded.

They were Shuuto. Otherworlders. They weren’t bound by the old laws. Instead, they were affined to them. Each of them Shuuto to one of the laws. And it wasn’t every day that the laws were affected, causing a disturbance so big.

As she settled down, Ray felt the excitement growing inside her. This was truly going to be an adventure. A great one too. And she loved adventures.

Green knew what her pupil was thinking from a glance. She shook her head. But didn’t say anything. She even agreed. This had all the marking of a great adventure. Only, there was no clue to how scary it was going to be.