I am in nothingness.
I'm not surrounded in darkness - there is literally nothing around me.
I'm not in a giant vacuum either. I can stand.
Then he appears before me.
He laughs, a slow, cruel laugh. I tighten my grip on the pistol.
He's holding a small metal object, tapping it with his clawish fingers.
Music is playing out of it. An Irish-folk song, I think.
"Ah, Ed Sheeran. What a great singer.
You know, Richtofen, this is a telephone. You humans are excellent inventors - though, in saying that, you fail to create anything that will stop me. Even without the summoning key, I am powerful beyond belief. Do you really think you can kill me with bullets? Or that I was actually going to bring you to the Agartha?"
It's my turn to laugh.
"No, Shadowman. I didn't think you to be a man of your word. And that was only supposed to cause you mild discomfort."
The Shadowman frowned. "It was quite painful." He then goes on to rant about how he would bring about the end of the world, blah blah blah.
I harness the Summoning Key's power and feel raw strenght course through my veins.
The Shadowman is still talking.
Then I punch him across the face and feel his jaw break.
He glares at me and growls. I can see his jaw starting to repair itself already. I don't waste time.
I whip out the MR6 and shoot him three times in the chest. He staggers and falls to his knees.
I charge at him and just as about I'm about to smash the butt of the gun into his face he grabs my head and smashes his foreheas into my nose.
I can feel my nose shatter. Warm blood is running into my mouth and it hurts so much it hurts so much mein Gott it hurts so much.
I focus the Summoning Key's power and the pain in my nose numbs.
The Shadowman raises his arm and a wave of the undead crawls out of the ground. (Well, I say the ground, but there isn't actually any ground. Just nothing.)
I command the zombies, with my mind, to attack the Shadowman.
They do. The Shadowman looks around and curses under his breath. He starts killing some of them, breaking their necks with his telekinetic power but there's too many and he knows it.
"Now, Shadowman, take me to Doctor Maxis. You're coming with me."
He snarls.
"And why, Edward, would I do that?"
And with just a thought, I make all manners of monstrosities rise from the ground. Rogue Keepers, Margwas, Thrashers - a whole army of bloodthirsty creatures. And they all approached the Shadowman with the intent of tearing him to shreds.
He sighs. "Very well. Let's go."
