opportunity and try to kill you. But most of the time, if we’re in large numbers, they tend to stay clear of us.”
“But wait, I thought all you guys did was fight Shades. If they aren’t aggressive all the time, when is it that we’re supposed to fight them? Do we attack them as soon as we see them?” I’m getting confused again.
“Okay, it’s like this,” Mel goes over to the large flat-screen monitor on the wall that Crank used last night. She touches the screen, pulls up some files, and scrolls through them until she finds one titled “Known Shades.”
“Crank, can you get the lights?” Once the lights are off, she selects the folder. From two small units on the floor, one located on each side of the screen, come projection lights. Where the two lights meet, in the air above the coffee table in front of me, they form a 3-D holographic image of a dark, beastlike creature, similar, but not identical to the Lesser Shade that nearly killed me.
“There is a hierarchy among the Shades. Both types, the Lesser and the Greater have their roles and purposes. This is a Lesser Shade, like the one last night.” The image of the Shade is slowly rotating so I’m able to see it from all angles. This one reminds me of a large dog, only instead of four legs, it has six, three on each side. Each leg ends in three bulgy finger-like appendages that look able to grab things. It’s disgusting.
“There are all different types of Lesser Shades.” Each time Mel touches the screen, a new type of beast appears. Some look insectile, some amphibious. To my horror, I see a few of them have large spanning wings. Mel continues, “The Lesser Shades’ main goal is to find a tear in the fabric of Chaos and get through it. That’s when we need to watch out for them most. Try to stop them and they get spewin’!”
“So other than that, we basically leave them alone?” I ask her.
“Not exactly. When we aren’t busy hunting Greater Shades and sealing tears, we do a bit of what we call ‘population control.’ If we don’t kill ‘em off when we can, before we know it, there are too many to deal with. We also try to discourage Lesser Shades from herding. They are more dangerous when they gather up in groups, so we break them up, thin out their ranks.”
“You really shouldn’t worry too much about Lesser Shades,” says Crank. “Honestly, they’re stupid creatures. They may seem terrifying at first, but they act purely on instinct. They’re simple to outsmart and they always fall for the same old tricks.”
“Oscar’s right. It’s the Greater Shades you need to watch out for.” She touches the screen again and the image in front of me changes to what I can only assume is a Greater Shade. “Now, don’t let their appearance fool you. These blokes are as cunning as a dunny rat.”
So this is a Greater Shade? In terms of “scary,” it doesn’t look like much—not compared to a Lesser Shade anyway. The creature stands erect like a man. It has arms and legs similar to a human’s, only slightly off. Disproportionate. It’s as if the monster tried to emulate a man, but this twisted, mutated form is as close as it can come. It seems to be made up of the same blackness as the Lesser Shades. It’s hard to get a real idea of its size as I’ve nothing to compare it to.
“How large are these things?” My voice comes out quieter than I intended. She turns to the screen and types something in. I watch in awe as the hologram steadily expands. When it’s finished growing, it’s about eight, maybe nine feet tall. Seeing it this large makes it easier to see details.
Even though I know it’s only an image and not the real thing, the hairs on my arms stand up and a sudden coldness runs along the length of my spine. Up close like this, the creature looks as though its flesh is made of a thick, oily, black sludge. I wonder how it’s able to hold its shape. Under the swirling shadows surrounding the beast, I can see that
“But wait, I thought all you guys did was fight Shades. If they aren’t aggressive all the time, when is it that we’re supposed to fight them? Do we attack them as soon as we see them?” I’m getting confused again.
“Okay, it’s like this,” Mel goes over to the large flat-screen monitor on the wall that Crank used last night. She touches the screen, pulls up some files, and scrolls through them until she finds one titled “Known Shades.”
“Crank, can you get the lights?” Once the lights are off, she selects the folder. From two small units on the floor, one located on each side of the screen, come projection lights. Where the two lights meet, in the air above the coffee table in front of me, they form a 3-D holographic image of a dark, beastlike creature, similar, but not identical to the Lesser Shade that nearly killed me.
“There is a hierarchy among the Shades. Both types, the Lesser and the Greater have their roles and purposes. This is a Lesser Shade, like the one last night.” The image of the Shade is slowly rotating so I’m able to see it from all angles. This one reminds me of a large dog, only instead of four legs, it has six, three on each side. Each leg ends in three bulgy finger-like appendages that look able to grab things. It’s disgusting.
“There are all different types of Lesser Shades.” Each time Mel touches the screen, a new type of beast appears. Some look insectile, some amphibious. To my horror, I see a few of them have large spanning wings. Mel continues, “The Lesser Shades’ main goal is to find a tear in the fabric of Chaos and get through it. That’s when we need to watch out for them most. Try to stop them and they get spewin’!”
“So other than that, we basically leave them alone?” I ask her.
“Not exactly. When we aren’t busy hunting Greater Shades and sealing tears, we do a bit of what we call ‘population control.’ If we don’t kill ‘em off when we can, before we know it, there are too many to deal with. We also try to discourage Lesser Shades from herding. They are more dangerous when they gather up in groups, so we break them up, thin out their ranks.”
“You really shouldn’t worry too much about Lesser Shades,” says Crank. “Honestly, they’re stupid creatures. They may seem terrifying at first, but they act purely on instinct. They’re simple to outsmart and they always fall for the same old tricks.”
“Oscar’s right. It’s the Greater Shades you need to watch out for.” She touches the screen again and the image in front of me changes to what I can only assume is a Greater Shade. “Now, don’t let their appearance fool you. These blokes are as cunning as a dunny rat.”
So this is a Greater Shade? In terms of “scary,” it doesn’t look like much—not compared to a Lesser Shade anyway. The creature stands erect like a man. It has arms and legs similar to a human’s, only slightly off. Disproportionate. It’s as if the monster tried to emulate a man, but this twisted, mutated form is as close as it can come. It seems to be made up of the same blackness as the Lesser Shades. It’s hard to get a real idea of its size as I’ve nothing to compare it to.
“How large are these things?” My voice comes out quieter than I intended. She turns to the screen and types something in. I watch in awe as the hologram steadily expands. When it’s finished growing, it’s about eight, maybe nine feet tall. Seeing it this large makes it easier to see details.
Even though I know it’s only an image and not the real thing, the hairs on my arms stand up and a sudden coldness runs along the length of my spine. Up close like this, the creature looks as though its flesh is made of a thick, oily, black sludge. I wonder how it’s able to hold its shape. Under the swirling shadows surrounding the beast, I can see that
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