Skyline Gang: Trial of Darkness

Chapter 24

How long has it been now? Five minutes?

With the Darkness blocking everything outside, there was no way to tell what time of day it was. At least it wasn't a vacuum situation like it was with the Skyline. Dude could easily tell since one of the windows of the temple didn't have glass until a couple of minutes ago. Dawn's Darkness had decorated it according to her tastes. Black marble pillars and walls instead of the dark beige that the stone once had. The floor was stark black. However, it was hard to distinguish any other colours due to the black mist that gracefully danced over it. All the windows had gothic stained glass painted various shades of grey. Any plant life that had previously grown here had been stripped away. At least she had some torches to light the place up a little; but even the flames were very dim as if they were threatening to go out from the smallest of breezes. It was like Dawn had made this place her brand new home. In a sad way, it was. Dawn was practically born here from the woman she once was. Dude briefly wondered that if he and his friends never came to the Skyline, would Dawn turn the place to look just like this.

Dude tried not to think too much about it. He can't give up. He needs to either work a way to get out or stall for time. He didn't know where the others were but they had to be close by now. They're probably thinking of a plan. Do they even know if it was Dawn residing here? Unless Dawn made herself known to them, it was impossible to say. Either way, they're putting themselves in danger if they're not careful. He needs to try to break out. Dawn was nowhere to be seen; she left him all alone not long after she tormented him. At least his feet were on solid ground instead of being suspended like a marionette. He thought that it would give him a better chance to try to escape. However, he couldn't. The shadows that Dawn circled around him continued to hold him still. His body from the neck down might as well be stone at this point; he couldn't even twitch a finger or toe, let alone his entire body. He didn't understand something that was glaringly obvious. Dawn was so happy to nearly kill him during their last encounter. So why was he still alive? Bait? A trophy? Possibly both? It didn't make any sense.

As Dude mulled over that puzzle, he was interrupted by something. A figure that was all grey suddenly appeared in front of him. At first, Dude briefly panicked, thinking it was one of Dawn's shadow creatures to torture him or something. However, that didn't feel like it was the case. Within seconds, the grey faded away, revealing who was standing in front of him.

"Misty?" The name automatically flew out of Dude's mouth. Misty had vanished when Dawn showed herself. He thought that she was just wandering around somewhere. Why did she come back to see him?

"Save your speech." Misty hissed bitterly. Dude held his tongue. He was just ready for whatever snide remark that Misty had up her sleeve. However, her next words were something that not even a crystal ball could tell him it felt like. "Just answer me this: what do you know of the old Skyline Gang?"

"Not much. I've only just learned a little more about them and Dawn's connection to them now." Dude explained, overcoming his brief moment of shock. Why was Misty suddenly asking something like that? She never seemed that bothered to learn about the past Gang. She'd always pretend to not listen whenever the subject was brought up. She only piped up with interest if Dawn came into the topic on rare occasions. Now that everything up to this point has happened, it made a bit more sense.

"And?" Misty urged on impatiently.

"She used to be one of them, but something happened. I think it was an accident." Dude explained, recalling all those moments during that vision. Was it really an accident? Or was something much darker behind Dawn's origins? Either way, the Sceptre of Shadows played a part of it, that he was certain of. "It changed her, made her something that she wasn't before. I don't even think that Dawn is her real name."