Shadow Walker

Shadow Walker [A Short Story]

With a steady hand he placed the small bristles of the brush on the surface of the newly crafted mask, with a flick which started heavily then ended lightly, he painted the details onto the mask. Swapping different sized brushes, cleaning the dirtied bristles in a murky coloured glass of what could only be assumed as water; as if he was on auto pilot he went about painting the mask, not taking his eyes from his new master piece.

After a few more hours his newest face was complete a mix of every colour possible could be found on the mask, all being pulled into the centre of the mask creating a wormhole effect; he stood up holding the mask delicately then with the mask's ties he hung it from a hook at the end of a long line of hanging masks, each with varying designs; one mask was the face of an abstract fox of white and teal, made up of cubism; a completely black mask with six brightly painted eyes from red, orange, yellow to white with three middle colours between yellow and white, giving off the effect of the eyes fading to white; another mask with over lapping thorn covered vines; one with metals bent to create a complete face made of miss matched metal sheets and bolts; and many more designs following after.

Walking slowly down the line of hanging masks, he inspected them closely checking for any quality deficiencies. He walked back up the line to the black mask with many eyes, reaching out and unhooking the mask; he walked over to a wardrobe in the corner of the dimly lit room; the only well-lit area of the room came from the desk lamp on the desk, which was scattered with all kinds of materials and craft items for the creation of his masks. Once in front of the wardrobe he slid aside the large mirrored door to reveal the contents of the wardrobe. Four items hung on hangers within the wardrobe, a large black cape, black under shirt, black trousers and another cape this one was identical to the first, bar the large tear up the side. He changed into the outfit in the wardrobe, putting the undamaged cape on, then placing some black boots on from the floor of the wardrobe; he closed the glass door once he was done. Checking his appearance in the mirror he then followed that with placing the mask on, he pulled the hood up over his head and stared at the mask; no one could recognize him under this appearance.

Once he was satisfied he made his way to the door hidden away behind a curtain to the side of the wardrobe, and then made his way out into the darkness of the night outside.

Weaving himself in and out of the dark passages and side streets of the brightly lit city avoiding all obstacles that might reveal him, he managed to make it to his destination after a few hours of careful strategic traversing of the streets. In front of him stretching at least twelve feet into the air then left and right into the distance around a well-protected building was his first obstacle; a well-built stone wall, luckily for him this side was badly maintained and there were chunks missing from where stones had managed to dislodge themselves, with this advantage he managed to haul himself up and over the wall making sure to stay silent as to not draw any unwanted attention.

Once over he knelt down in the darkness casted by the wall and surveyed his surroundings, he was within the grounds of a large expensive building owned by one of the architects within the city, the architect was well known for his amazing structures that littered the world and made up the city here, but above that he was a brutal ruler, not only did he create the city but he also owns over ninety percent of the city as well; He's like the typical evil dictator in movies, owns most the city so he thinks he owns the people that live inside his city.

After managing to crawl into a dark off branching toilet through an open window towards the east side of the building he lay low listening to his surroundings, everything was silent. From what he could remember of the layout of the building, he had to make his way north of this toilet towards the central room at the front of the building, which is where he would find the office of the architect. Keeping low and quiet he made his way down the long lit corridors listening to his surroundings for any sign of movement that could be coming his way, as well as focusing on keeping himself away from windows, doors and keeping silent.