Chapter 22: The Slayer
I sprinted toward the faint light. Upon arriving at the closed door, I pushed it open all the way, without making a sound. Inside, I saw Drev at the opposite end of the room.
The source of the stench was undeniably in this room. As my hand went to my nose, my eyes were diverted to a moving figure a few yards from Drev. It was human in shape, male, but he was grotesquely contorted, with one arm pinned behind him and another draped over his face. He lay on the floor, his legs jerking to and fro, as though trying to slither on his side. His back arched and released with violent twitches. At one point, his chin thrust forward and he exposed his face. It was Tyler.
I looked around the room to see if anyone or anything else was there. An altar had been pushed askew, and several familiar paintings lay faceup on the floor. Keeping my body tense and alert, I cautiously took a step into the room. At first the room was eerily familiar. I was fuzzy about where and when I’d been there—maybe in a dream. I needed only a moment to realize that I was in the prayer room. The last time I had been there was on the day of the massacre—four hundred years before.
The prayer room was the one chamber I valued the most in the entire abbey, for it contained the secret passage that had saved me twice when I had run from the Order of the Shrike on the day of the massacre. My anxiety eased a bit, and I walked in farther. Drev jerked his head, glanced at me for just a moment, and then turned his attention back to Tyler. I was about to say that I was going to step out of the room to call the others for help, when Drev said, “I’m glad you’re here. Don’t leave.”
The window was open, and a chilly wind blew in. On the sill sat a red lantern with a tiny flame struggling to stay lit. Several chairs had been knocked down, and I maneuvered around them. A table was turned on its side; two of its legs had broken off. Drev held one of the legs like a club. Was he thinking of fighting? Or was it just for protection?
Tyler continued to writhe on the floor, knocking his head from one side to the other, his eyes rolling so far back into his head that I saw only the whites. He grumbled unidentifiable words, garbled in such a way that he seemed to be choking on his tongue.
A syringe was lodged in his arm. At one point it fell and joined a couple of others on the floor. I assumed the other needles belonged to the boys who had run past me earlier. The drugs were a mere distraction, however. Tyler was possessed by a power stronger than a drug addiction—a darker power that no one could conquer.
The man in Max’s video instantly came to mind. He, too, had looked as though a power stronger than he had forced him to tear himself apart. I now realized that it was fear that had possessed him, just as it was possessing Tyler.
Recalling what Pamina had told me, I knew I was witnessing the Shadow of Fear forcing Tyler to beat himself to death. I watched as he grabbed chunks of his hair and ripped it out of his head. Hairs stuck to his torn and bloody hands. What gruesome fears did Tyler harbor? How had he let them grow and allowed them to take control over his mind and body and become the Shadow of Fear? It was clear that Tyler had many demons. I was sure the Shadow of Fear seized upon every one of them. Whatever his fears were, they were powerful enough to eclipse all his other emotions and possess him entirely.
As I watched Tyler, I shook my head. He was done for. At least Pamina had known what the Shadow of Fear was. She’d known how to defend herself, even though she wasn’t strong enough and had ultimately died. Tyler had no means to fight it off. He probably didn’t even know what was happening to him. Like the man in the video, the Shadow of Fear would continue to throw him around until he surrendered to it, giving his body and soul.
“My God,” I muttered, as the poor specimen flung himself against the altar and then rolled into an overturned chair, its leg hitting him square in the back of the head. He then hoisted himself up. With an exhausted face, he ran with ferocious speed into the wall. He fell immediately to the floor, where he stayed for a few moments, before hoisting himself up and doing it all over again. His actions were shocking, but the force with which he executed them was mind-boggling. There was no doubt this energy was coming from elsewhere. A man his size was incapable of such strength.
Then I saw it—a black outline moved with Tyler’s head and limbs. Although the room was dark, the black ring that contoured his body moved around him in a circular fashion as if it were alive. Tyler swayed like a drunkard, his right foot crossed over his left. The outline shifted and swayed accordingly—acting like a puppeteer controlling its puppet. I held every muscle still as I studied how the Shadow of Fear manipulated its victim. A few minutes passed before I began to notice that the black aura around Tyler was growing larger and denser while Tyler himself was not only growing paler but flopping around like a flabby mass of flesh with no bones.
Drev followed Tyler’s every movement with his eyes. I didn’t expect Drev to speak, but he did.
“That’s how they died, Hugh.”
His tone was controlled and calm, but his statement sent a shiver down my spine. “I wondered what had happened to those bodies that came flooding into Sebastian’s mortuary—limbs torn from joints, flesh and skin falling off the bones as though they had been pounded in by some monster from hell. I wondered how anyone could die in a way that would make them look so . . . so jacked up. Now I know.”
I didn’t respond right away. This wasn’t a time for reflective chitchat. If any words were spoken, they needed to address the situation at hand.
“And that man . . . that man in Max’s video,” continued Drev. “It’s the same thing—he died of the same thing.”
“Drev, let’s call the others and let them know Tyler’s here,” I said hurriedly. “There’s nothing we can do for him. This is a monster that no one can defeat. I’m sure of it—because it’s the . . .” Words failed me. There was a silence before Drev picked up where I had left off.
“The Shadow of Fear,” he concluded, his voice rational, unemotional. “I knew it when Tyler’s girlfriend began describing what was happening to him. It sounded too much like—”
“Like what happened to Pamina.” I nodded. I stopped short, however, when I saw Drev wince and look at me as if I had just cursed his mother. I realized that Pamina hadn’t told him anything about how she had died. When I realized that I had revealed part of her secret, my stomach flipped. The air was tense for a few seconds.
Drev shook his head a couple of times, as if to erase the images that my pronouncement had brought up in his mind. “Like what I imagined the Shadow of Fear would do to somebody—according to the way you’ve described how it attacks its victim,” he said. “Now, seeing this and how badly beaten Tyler is, I know that all those bodies and that man in that video . . .”
There was an awkward pause as Tyler laboriously hoisted himself onto his feet. He was facing the wall, his backside to us. His blood-drenched shirt clung to his hunched back.
I spoke: “Like the man in the video, Tyler’s going to die . . . and there’s nothing we can do. Let’s go.”
Drev glanced at me, as though disappointed I had given up the fight so easily.
“You said there’s a Slayer of the Shadow of Fear, meaning someone who can kill this thing.”
“Yes, but obviously the Slayer is not here,” I said, annoyed. Wouldn’t I be the one to mention that if I knew it was a solution?
I saw Drev’s eyes assess the pitiful specimen in front of us once again.
“I can give it a try,” he finally said.
“What?” I asked.
He tightened his grip on the broken table leg and took a few steps closer to Tyler, whose sagging eyelids were now almost completely closed. Tyler’s face was so bloodied and swollen that it was hard to believe he was still alive. The dark outline had now transformed into an all-encompassing black, hazy mist that covered him from head to toe. When it undulated, it made Tyler look like he was trapped in a cloud of dark fog. What was Drev thinking? This monster looked impenetrable.
“Drev,
what are you doing?” I said, my voice coming out more as an admonishment than as a question.
“I’m going to try to beat this thing off Tyler,” said Drev. “I’m going to hit that dark shadow hovering around him,” he declared. He saw the Shadow, just as he had seen it around the man in Max’s video. Although I knew his ability to see it was an extraordinary skill, I still couldn’t believe he could fight the Shadow of Fear. I watched as Drev lowered his chin and his eyes appraised the height of the black mass that towered at least two feet above us. Was he mad? Did he really think he was capable of fighting this monster?
“I’m going to call the others, and then we’re leaving this room,” I said firmly. “You’re overestimating your abilities.”
“No. By the time we get help, this guy’s going to be long gone,” said Drev. With those last words, he brought down a blow to the left of Tyler’s shoulder. From where I stood, it seemed as if Drev did not hit him, but Tyler reacted from the blow with a gnashing of his teeth like a canine. His bloody and bruised face turned toward Drev. Drev did not back away.
This was beyond ridiculous. He couldn’t win this. If he was lucky, he might leave here with a few scratches. If he was unlucky . . . my God, if he was unlucky, the Shadow of Fear might come onto him and possess him.
Pamina’s request that I stay with Drev echoed in my head. I tried to shake it off, but I couldn’t. What kind of man would I be if I couldn’t honor a dead girl’s simple wish? I leaped over to where Drev stood and tried to pull him away.
“This is not a job for you to do!” I said. “What do you think you can possibly accomplish? Tyler’s already possessed by his fears—by the Shadow . . .” But I couldn’t finish.
“Go!” said a croaking voice mixed with a high-pitched echo. Tyler’s lips were tense and barely parted. Clearly, he didn’t want to speak, but there was a force stronger than he spewing those words out of him. The shriek had a satanic resonance to it and shook me to the core. The voice alone was proof that Tyler was already lost to the clutches of evil. I wanted to turn on my heels and leave that room forever. However, when I caught a glimpse of Tyler’s face, I could see that his eyes were full of sorrow and agony. He was being held against his will.
He raised a limp arm and swung it awkwardly at us. We avoided it by just leaning to his left.
“Go!” it hissed again. A sound like that could come only from a creature not of this world but from the World of the Damned, which was damning enough for me to raise my voice to a tone I had never used on anyone.
I turned to Drev. “Now, listen to me. I’ve been around much longer than you. There are some battles you are not supposed to fight—and this is one of them!” I said, shaking both his shoulders. “You are in no way equipped to fight this monster. You’ll only get hurt. Get out of here.”
“I won’t,” said Drev, jerking away from my grasp. “If I thought I couldn’t take this thing on, I would’ve called for help the minute I saw him here. But I know I can beat it—I’m sure I can.” He then paused and turned away from Tyler to look at me.
“But I need you to tell me that I can do it, Hugh,” he said, his voice tinged with uncertainty. His eyebrows crowded together, and he stared at me, the way I had often looked at Abbot Pellanor when I needed advice. “That’s why I didn’t ask you to leave. I need you to back me up.”
I stood staring at him, my mouth open with surprise. There was no anger in his eyes, none of that frigid hardness so characteristic of him when he sensed he might be in a vulnerable position. He was entering an unknown realm and was asking only for my confidence in him.
“Whether I succeed or fail, I need you to be behind me on this,” he said. His voice was now barely a whisper but still intense.
I knew, regardless of what I said, he would try to fight the Shadow of Fear. If I were going to help him, giving him my support was the only substantial thing I could do.
“If anyone was more fearless than you, I would’ve already run out that door to get him,” I said hurriedly, looking away. “Do what you need to do; I’ll be here with you all the way.”
“Go!” screeched the Shadow, this time lunging toward me. I raised my hands in front of my face. Drev struck the Shadow with the piece of wood he held in his hand. A shrill cry bounced around the walls.
“We’re not leaving,” said Drev. The Shadow of Fear was now twice the size of Tyler and hung in the air like a diaphanous funeral shroud, hovering on and over the poor kid.
I watched in awe and silence as Drev took another blow at the Shadow. He aimed toward its edge, a clear distance from Tyler. Nevertheless, a loud wail escaped from Tyler’s mouth. The shrill sound echoed around the room, bouncing from the ceiling to the floor.
Drev’s attacks were not in vain. With absolute astonishment, I observed Tyler being freed from this death curse. To my disbelief, the Shadow was slowly separating from its host. The Shadow shifted drastically to its right, and Tyler’s left foot and arm poked outside the black veil. The left side of his body hung limp while the other half—and his head—remained suspended inside the Shadow of Fear.
Though I felt a sense of relief to see Tyler being released from the Shadow, I also assumed the Shadow would search for another living being to attack. I suspected the worst for Drev and reached down near the broken table and picked up the other broken leg. I wanted to be ready if the Shadow attacked us.
Drev lurched forward, ready to release another blow onto the Shadow of Fear. Just as he was about to bring down the stick, Tyler abruptly opened his eyes. His wide eyeballs bulged. His lips stretched and thinned as they began to move. This was not Tyler but the Shadow of Fear. It still inhabited Tyler’s body.
“You can’t destroy me, because I’m his fear, not yours,” said a croaking voice.
“You’ve done enough to him,” said Drev. “Let him go.”
“He is still more afraid than ever that his peers think him a fool, that his parents see him as worthless, and that the world hates him and wants him destroyed,” hissed the voice of the Shadow.
I would never have guessed that Tyler, a bully and drug addict, had so many fears haunting him. I had believed that innate personality problems caused him to be such a miserable person.
“When fear is greater than any other feeling, I can destroy you,” the Shadow of Fear continued.
Drev stared at the moving black mist and then leaned toward Tyler’s warped face. “There’s nothing to be afraid of, Tyler,” he said. “You’re not in this alone. We’ll help you.”
Immediately after speaking the last word, Drev raised the wooden stick and struck the far right edge of the Shadow. Tyler closed his eyes and groaned in his own normal voice. He was regaining control. The Shadow of Fear was weakening.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: Drev was defeating the Shadow of Fear. He had effectively challenged it and was now battling it with only a broken table leg. How could this be?
I wanted to tell Drev to keep going—to fight it with every drop of courage he had within him. But I was too awestruck even to say his name. How could a boy destroy the greatest demon ever to haunt humankind?
Drev didn’t move. His eyes trailed the Shadow of Fear as it swayed like a pendulum in the air.
“You are afraid,” continued the voice spouting out of Tyler’s mouth.
My eyes jumped to Drev, who replied without faltering, “No, I’m not afraid of anything.”
He stayed focused on the Shadow, as though they were the only two in the room. The air was tense. I was alert, ready for a reprisal—an attack of any kind.
When the Shadow spoke, however, its voice was quieter and lacked the booming resonance that had shaken the walls earlier. “Not even me?”
“Not even you.”
“Not even death?”
“Not even death.”
“What . . . about . . . love . . . ah, losing her love?” asked the Shadow.
Her love? The Shadow could be referring only to Pamina. I looked at Drev to see if he
was as alarmed as I was by those words. Without warning, Drev lunged toward the Shadow. Releasing a loud grunt, he struck it mercilessly. The Shadow convulsed, sending ripples throughout its amorphous structure. As it shook, it seemed to lose its grip on Tyler, and that dark cloud released his head. The rest of his body soon followed. With nothing to hold him up, Tyler fell to the ground. He lay like a mangled heap of blood, arms, and legs. The Shadow of Fear now completely detached from him and broke into a cluster of black wisps of air. A few seconds later, it vanished like smoke.
Drev was still, as was I. I didn’t dare look at him, and he didn’t say a word. We stood for a moment in silence, both of us contemplating the Shadow’s dramatic demise, as well as its last words. Then Tyler stirred.
I looked at him and then looked all around the room. There were only the three of us. The Shadow of Fear had disappeared. Drev had defeated it—cut it down to its last traces until it no longer existed. If he could fight and conquer Tyler’s Shadow of Fear, he could ultimately slay the Shadow of Fear entirely—he was the Slayer!
Granted, this was only the first battle, and there were many more yet to come, but he could see and hear the Shadow—and destroy it! He would show others, as he was destined to do. He would lead humanity out of this dark era of fear that had held everyone hostage for the past four hundred years.
I heard footsteps outside and faced the door. I saw Max standing there with his mouth open. I ran over to him.
“Go get some help,” I told him. Max nodded with his mouth agape, his eyes on Tyler, who was now lying on his side. However, Max didn’t move. A few moments later, J.P. showed up.
“Holy mother of God!” he shouted, as he pushed by Max and gawked at Tyler.
Drev turned to them and said, “Get Tyler to the infirmary.”
“Right, let’s help that poor schmuck,” said J.P., as he ran over to Tyler. Max, finally coming to his senses, hurried after J.P. The two lifted the unconscious student off the floor. Just as they were about to carry him out the door, Irving arrived.
“Is everyone okay?” he asked, breathless.
“Everyone’s okay, except for Tyler,” I told him. I also looked uneasily at Drev, who continued to stare at the ground silently. Without stepping into the room, Irving accompanied Max and J.P. as they carried Tyler down the hallway. I stayed behind and stared at Drev from the doorway.
All this time, the Slayer had been right next to me and I hadn’t recognized it. How could I not have known? How could I have doubted him? Why hadn’t I seen the clues? Why hadn’t I listened to the other phantoms that night they had first met him? They knew!
I walked over to Drev and gently put my hand on his shoulder. I took a deep breath. For centuries I had been searching for him, and now he was here beside me. I was touching greatness. He looked at me, startled, seemingly surprised to find me standing next to him.
“It’s done, Drev,” I said haltingly, my voice catching. “You’ve done it. You’ve fought it and won.”
My words didn’t seem to register, though. Drev seemed preoccupied with another thought.
“You have the ability to fight and conquer the Shadow of Fear. You’re the one who can slay it. You’re the Slayer,” I said, squeezing out words I had wanted to say for so long. I was overwhelmed with emotion. “Do you understand what this means?”
“Right.” He only nodded.
“You’re tired,” I said, patting him on the shoulder. “It’s been a lot for you to handle. Let’s leave.” He bit his lower lip and nodded sternly. Something clearly was weighing on his mind. I crossed over to the window and quickly picked up the lantern, whose flame now burned brightly. I walked over to Drev and led the way out.
“Did you hear what it said to me?” he asked, turning to me, his eyes beginning to focus. I knew he was referring to what the Shadow had said about Pamina’s love for him. I, too, had found it disturbing, but I didn’t want it to distract Drev. He was the Slayer—there was a greater mission awaiting him, one far more important than his feelings for a girl.
“That thing said a lot of things.” I snorted, trying to divert the conversation.
“What it said about Pamina.”
I paused and looked at Drev. He was gazing at the ground, his face twisted, distraught. Pamina had not told him how she had died, and I was certain she had not told him that she was looking for a love to follow her into the afterlife. Up until that point, I had been concerned about Drev’s courting her because he was my friend and I wanted him to live a long, fulfilling life. Now that he was the Slayer, it was more imperative than ever that he not sacrifice himself to fulfill Pamina’s wish.
“It never said Pamina’s name,” I countered. “You’re only assuming that it was talking about her. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Despite trying to brush Pamina aside as though she didn’t matter, I felt uneasy as I thought about her. I tried to convince myself that what I was doing was reasonable. Drev couldn’t protect her anymore. He had a greater job to do. She would understand—she had to understand!
Drev continued to look at the ground, unappeased by my words.
“Look, my friend, you’re tired,” I repeated. “Let’s go find the others. They took Tyler downstairs. They’re probably waiting for us.”
He dragged his feet, still not fully present.
“Pamina will be there, too,” I added for good measure. “And you’ll see there is nothing to worry about.” Drev didn’t seem convinced.