Red Moon Nightmare: Chapter 3

Chapter Three

“Well, I wonder what people will say. I’ll be the new kid. I just hope I don’t have to get myself involved in any fights.” Shade thought, sitting in a chair, looking through the things he plans to bring with him to school. He only had a book, and that was about it. “If I wear this mask, people will think of me as some weird guy hiding his face behind a mask just for some secret thing. I may as well take this off.” Shade said, taking off his mask, and putting it on the bed. Shade had messy, short green hair, and blue eyes. “Alright, I better get going. I don’t want to get in trouble on my first day.” Shade said, using the grappling hook to get onto the same roof he went on last night, and jumped from rooftop to rooftop again to reach the school. “Almost there.” Shade said as he saw the school from the last rooftop before the straight road. He jumped off the roof and onto the road again before running across the street to reach the school.
“Well…here we are. Star City High School.” Shade said as he walked towards the entrance to the school. Other people were still walking in, and Shade sighed in relief since he wasn’t late for school on his first day. Mr. Shadow was standing next to the front entrance, glaring at a few kids talking about the noise they heard last night. “So, some humans heard the demons attack that intruder last night. They might know too much already. I’ll take care of them soon enough.” Mr. Shadow thought, walking inside towards the stairs leading to the second floor. Shade walked inside, and saw a police officer talking to a teacher regarding last night’s incident. “The police are here? But, why? Is it because of last night’s incident?” Shade thought, walking to the classroom assigned to him on his list. About five minutes after Shade found his assigned classroom, the first bell rang for the day, and all the students went to their classes. Mr. Shadow soon walked in, wearing a red and black suit. “Everyone sit down and get last night’s homework out.” Mr. Shadow said, sitting in his chair behind his desk, drinking a cup of coffee. Everyone in the classroom took out their homework from last night, except Shade, who had just arrived a few minutes ago. “You. Why aren’t you taking out your homework? Wait a moment. Do I know you?” Mr. Shadow said to Shade, standing up and walking over to Shade’s desk. “I’m the new student.” Shade simply replied. “You’re the new kid, huh? Well then, stand up and introduce yourself to the rest of the class.” Mr. Shadow said, walking back over to his large desk. Shade stood up, but froze for a moment due to something he just remembered. “Crap. I can’t just tell them my name is Shade. They would get suspicious. Although, if I want people to know who I am, I’ll have to let them know me by my real name. Although, this teacher, Mr. Shadow…I have some type of feeling about him. He feels like a bad omen to me. Really bad.” Shade thought before taking a deep breath. “My name is Zero. I can’t really tell you much about where I live or why I’m here, but I hope to make a lot of friends.” Shade said. “Hmm…Zero, huh? I was warned about a kid named Zero from the demons. But, it won’t matter soon enough. He’ll be food to the demons in due time.” Mr. Shadow thought as he started to collect the homework from each student.
“Alright students. As we all know, the Star City Festival is approaching in the next couple weeks. The committee is nearly complete with everything, and things are being put in place near our city glorious clock tower, which will open up the day of the festival. Sadly, there’s a report that the Red Moon Demons might be making an appearance, so the festival might be cut short. Now, open your books to page 45, and read Chapter 7. Zero, we don’t have any more books left, so you’ll have to sit there and wait until I give you an assignment.” Mr. Shadow said as students took out their textbooks, and started reading Chapter 7 on page 45. Zero sat there, looking at the clock for a few minutes while Mr. Shadow was outside the room, talking on the phone with somebody. “The day of the festival is two Saturdays from now. You have that long to teach my slave how to read the ancient text within the cursed book.” Mr. Shadow said on the phone. Zero heard a small piece of it, and got out of his seat. He snuck over to the door while everyone else was reading, and listened in on Mr. Shadow’s conversation. “It will return to class every other day for classes. We need my little slave to pass his classes to stay on the football team and to avoid any suspicion from the news crew and the police who have been lurking around lately. Especially that Sean Andrews guy. No matter. He will be eliminated quite soon. No. I can’t right now. I’m teaching a class. Meet me at the clock tower at 12:30. I won’t be teaching then.” Mr. Shadow said before hanging up the phone. All Zero could hear after that was a door creaking open from across the hall, and not another sound. “I had a feeling that teacher was suspicious. I think he’s the one who caused this entire situation. I should investigate this situation.” Zero thought, but somebody grabbed his shirt, and forced him back over to his desk. “As class representative, I can’t allow you to leave the class while Mr. Shadow is out. He told you to sit and wait, so that’s what you’ll do.” A guy said. He had a football jersey on, and a football in his left hand. He looked like the co-captain of the Star City High School football team. “You’re lucky Brad is sick and can’t come to school, or he’d teach you a major lesson in pain.” The class representative said before the door leading outside the classroom opened, and a tall guy also wearing a football jersey walked in with Mr. Shadow. He had short blonde hair, black pants, but his eyes were glowing red for some reason. “I’m quite disappointed in you, Brad. You’re captain of the football team, and you’re fifteen minutes late. I’ll have to keep you after school today for detention. Don’t bother going to practice today on the field.” Mr. Shadow said, scolding the football team captain named Brad. “My deepest apologizes, master. I have disobeyed you, master. I will come in for detention today in the usual spot, master.” Brad replied in a strangely deep voice that had a hint of Mr. Shadow’s voice in it. “Good.” Mr. Shadow said, snapping his finger. Soon, Brad’s glowing red eyes turned hazel, and he walked over to his desk in a daze. “Now students, tell me, what important events occurred in Chapter 7?” Mr. Shadow asked the students, and Brad was first to raise his hand. “Chapter 7 involved the great Chaos War between the ancient tribal people, and the crusaders who discovered their black magic ways.” Brad said. “Correct.” Mr. Shadow said.
The entire class went on with Mr. Shadow asking questions while students answered them all correctly. Afterwards, Mr. Shadow handed out a worksheet, and had the students complete it. After all of them but Zero finished, Mr. Shadow handed out a paper regarding the Star City Festival. “As you all know, the Star City Festival is only a few weeks away. I expect all of you to attend. The crew working on building things for our town’s festival is a few people short, and they can use the help. You! Zero. Come out into the hall. I need to speak to you in private.” Mr. Shadow said, walking outside the classroom again with Zero following. “Exams are next week. You’ll fail it even if you study until your head explodes. So…I have a proposition for you. You will work with the festival crew. In exchange, based on your performance, I will give you a grade based on the work you do for the day. Come with me.” Mr. Shadow said, walking down the hall with Zero. They were both silent as they walked. Mr. Shadow looked at his watch constantly, and Zero observed Mr. Shadow. “Just what’s up with this school? Strange kids with red eyes, weird teachers, and a strange class curriculum. Something isn’t right around here.” Zero thought deeply as he walked into the cafeteria with Mr. Shadow.
The school’s cafeteria was bigger than most rooms in the school, since many students eat lunch in the cafeteria daily. All the seats were empty, and the tables were clean. The smell of food wafted through the air as the lunch crew was making lunch for the students. “Martha, this is Zero. He will be working with the Star City Festival crew. Give him something to eat for lunch.” Mr. Shadow said to one of the lunch ladies who were mixing up some soup. “Yes. I think we have something in the freezer.” The lunch lady named Martha said, opening up the freezer, and realizing that there was a bloodstained sack sitting at the end of the freezer that Mr. Shadow threw in there the other night. “Huh? Who threw this in there?” Martha wondered, walking over to the sack before she heard the sound of a metal pot hitting the floor. She dashed out of the freezer to find her large pot of soup was thrown on the floor by something. “Look what you did. Your carelessness caused you to drop the soup. Now, you clean up this mess. I’ll have Zero take that sack with him.” Mr. Shadow said, walking into the freezer. He grabbed the bloodstained sack, and threw it at Zero. “That’s garbage. Throw it out when you reach the clock tower. It’s located in the town square, just slightly farther north. Now, get moving.” Mr. Shadow said before Zero walked out of the cafeteria. Mr. Shadow took out a cell phone, and dilled somebody’s number. “The boy is on his way. You know what to do.” Mr. Shadow said. “I got you covered, boss. I’ll have him killed in no time.” A voice said. “Good.” Mr. Shadow simply added before hanging up. It took Zero about 15 minutes of running from the school to reach the Town Square on foot, which was really quiet for some reason. He walked up some stairs to reach the site of the Star City Festival, which was right near the clock tower. He put down the bloody sack, and looked around to find nobody around. “Nobody’s here. It’s a little too quiet as well. Even if it’s still early in the morning.” Zero thought, walking closer to the clock tower itself. He tried to open the front doors, but they were locked tight. “Looks like you’re lost, kid.” A voice called out. Zero turned around to find a single guy riding a motorcycle. He wore a black biker suit and a gray helmet with the visor hiding his face. His voice sounded deep, and he sounded quite serious. “The prophecy was true after all. A green haired kid would arrive in Star City to try to destroy it.” The biker guy said. “Huh? What are you talking about?” Zero asked. “It is said that after that, the green haired boy is defeated in battle by a brave knight riding a white horse. Afterwards, the knight breaks the curse over the city, and the knight would be remembered forever.” The biker said, taking out a shotgun. “With this sword, I will vanquish the demonic boy with green hair.” The biker added, looking at Zero. “Dude, are you insane?! That isn’t a sword. That’s a shotgun. And you aren’t riding a horse. You’re on a motorcycle.” Zero answered. “Silence, fiend! You will be defeated in battle.” The biker said, pointing his shotgun at Zero. “Great, just what I need. Some freak claiming he’s a knight carrying a sword.” Zero said before the biker fired his shotgun at Zero. He dodged the shot narrowly, and took his sword out of his backpack. “You want a fight? You got one!” Zero said as the biker started driving his motorcycle towards Zero.
As the biker drove towards Zero, he ran towards the clock tower, thinking the biker wouldn’t be dumb enough to go charging into it head first. He was right. The biker stopped, and loaded his shotgun with three bullets. He fired a shot, and Zero avoided it easily. The biker shot a second shot, and Zero narrowly avoided being hit again. After Zero moved out of the way, the biker started driving towards him. Zero had no options, so when the motorcycle got close, Zero used his sword to flatten the front tire of the motorcycle, causing the biker to fall off before smacking into the clock tower, face first. His helmet broke, and he fell to the ground. He has pale skin as if he was dead, but he had strange fangs, and glowing red eyes, just as Brad did. He also had strange, fiery, white hair. Thinking he won, Zero approached the biker, but the motorcycle he was driving came and hit Zero, bringing him down to the ground as well before going off a bit more. It crashed into a tree, and exploded. The biker got up, and started slowly walking over to Zero, who was also getting up from the impact from the motorcycle attack. “Stay down, kid.” The biker said, kicking Zero in the stomach with a great amount of strength, causing Zero to get knocked back. The biker pointed his shotgun at Zero’s head, and prepared to fire. “Any last words, kid?” the biker asked Zero. “No way...will it end like this.” Zero said, trying to recover from being kicked so hard. The biker was about to pull the trigger, but before he could, the biker ended up getting tackled by something, causing him to drop his shotgun before he could shoot Zero in the head.
“Just what the hell was that?!” the biker questioned angrily. He got up, and noticed a penguin grabbed his shotgun. “Huh? What the hell are you?” the biker asked as the shotgun was pointed at him. The penguin was revealed to be Zack, who was thrown into the sack that Zero brought with him. “Who are you? What’s your reason to kill that innocent guy?” Zack asked the biker. “I don’t have the right to tell you anything.” The biker replied. “If you don’t want your body parts flying all over this festival ground, then you’ll tell me. Now.” Zack said. “Fine. I was sent here by my master to kill that child. It was a direct order from my master.” The biker said. “Who is your master?” Zack asked. “Mr.…” the biker said before he went silent and looked down for a moment with his eyes closed. He looked up his red glowing eyes glowing brighter than before. “I have to admit…you seem to have become accustomed to your new form already. I’m surprised.” The biker said in a strangely deeper voice than before that had a hint of Mr. Shadow’s voice in it. “Huh? What happened to you?” Zack asked. “Heh. You don’t know what’s going on? Well, let’s just say this man is under the control of a power far beyond normal comprehension.” The biker said. “Ok, if you aren’t this biker, then who are you?” Zack asked. “I go by one name. You may call me Dark Cloud.” The biker said. “So…what is this power you speak of?” “I speak of the Book of Fear.” The biker said with an evil smile. “Book of Fear?” Zack asked. “Yes, the Book of Fear. A divine book of power that was once by an ancient tribe. They used it in rituals for human sacrifices to their great god. Nobody knows if any of their descendents still live to this day.” The biker answered, getting up off the ground before he took the shotgun from Zack’s penguin hand as he stood there with a look of slight fear in his eyes. “We will meet again, kid. When we do, you’re finished.” The biker said before running off two times faster than a normal human being. Zero got up, and looked at Zack with surprise. “Ummm…did you just talk? But…you’re a penguin. How can you talk?” Zero asked Zack. “Uh oh…I guess he heard me. I better tell him what happened.” Zack thought before turning to Zero. “Well, you see, I’m not a penguin. I’m a human…well; I used to be a human. All up until I ran into Mr. Shadow. He performed some type of screwed up experiment on me, and now I’m like this.” Zack said. Zero stood quietly for a moment before he clenched his fists. “I just had a feeling that Mr. Shadow was an evil basted. I only met him this morning, and he has a meeting here at 12:30 with some guy.” Zero said, sitting down on the ground. “Maybe if we spy on them, we can get some answers.” Zack answered. “Agreed. But we have plenty of time to kill. According to the clock tower, it’s only 8:30.” Zero added, looking up at the clock on the clock tower.
A few hours passed, and the only noises that could be heard on the festival grounds were the sound of the clock tower’s bell tolling every hour. “12:28. Mr. Shadow will be here any minute now.” Zero whispered to Zack as the two of them were hiding in a tree really close to the clock tower. Soon, they heard a car park somewhere, and saw a glimpse of Mr. Shadow as he approached the clock tower. Another guy walked to the doors on the front of the tower, and waited for Mr. Shadow to get there. “You’ve arrived. Now, did you put up the barricades?” Mr. Shadow asked. “Of course. Even if some morons were able to bring the bridge back down, those barricades will completely block the path leading off the bridge. This is just too easy.” The other man said. “Don’t get cocky just yet. We may have a problem.” Mr. Shadow said. “A problem? What problem?” the other man asked. “The kid from the prophecy is here in Star City. He might actually stop me.” Mr. Shadow answered. “We already know what is in the prophecy. You have to make sure it doesn’t happen.” The other man said. “I know. It is written in the prophecy, but it isn’t absolute yet.” Mr. Shadow added. “Well then…what’s next?” the other guy asked. “I want you to find the field reporter who works for the Star City News. A Sean Andrews. Find him, and bring him to me tomorrow morning.” Mr. Shadow said before his cell phone rang. “What? They’ve come in? Good. Leave them in the cages. I’ll take care of them later. The check is in the mail.” Mr. Shadow said to the person on the phone before hanging up. “Now, speak nothing of this to anyone.” Mr. Shadow said before walking back to his vehicle. “The festival crew won’t be returning to work for another week since the new pieces of equipment need to be brought in through a chopper on the other side of the bridge. Seems like this city has become a prison to the people now. It won’t matter soon. Everyone will soon be eaten by the demons.” Mr. Shadow added, looking over to the clock tower. “When the festival comes, those doors will open. That is when the ceremony will begin.” Mr. Shadow stated out before walking to his vehicle, and driving off back towards the school. The other guy walked away, but dropped his cell phone, and didn’t notice he dropped it as he walked away. Zero walked over, and picked up the phone. “Hmmm…maybe this could be of some use for us.” Zero said, checking the contacts list on the cell phone, and saw that it had a strange name on it. Zero couldn’t understand what it said since it seemed to have been in some type of unknown language. “Ok…this is weird. What’s this name on this damn contact list? It’s so screwed up and mysterious.” Zero thought, putting the phone away. “For now, we should head back to my hotel room.” Zero added. “Wait. A kid like you got a hotel room in a place like this? You must be rich or something.” Zack replied with a look of surprise. “Somebody reserved a room for me at some fancy place. But…we don’t have too much time before somebody sees you. We better get out of here.” Zero answered. Zack nodded, and the two left the clock tower.
A couple weeks passed, and the day of the festival was tomorrow. People were in a hurry to get the final preparations for the festival done. Although, strangely enough, Mr. Shadow didn’t show up at school the day before the festival…or so everyone thought. Mr. Shadow was in the basement in the school, on his knees, praying to the strange book. “Tomorrow, the ceremony will be made within the clock tower at dusk. The souls my minions have collected shall all soon be offered to the great god of darkness. It will be the end of Star City, and the beginning of my new world order. After many years of scheming, the great one will soon be freed from his prison, and shall begin the great apocalypse.” Mr. Shadow said to the book, getting up off the floor before turning around, holding an electric whip. “Now, as for you. I believe I owe you a round of torture, Sean Andrews.” Mr. Shadow said before walking over to Sean Andrews, tied to a table. The only noises that could be heard are the loud cracks of the whip, Mr. Shadow’s evil laughter, and Sean’s screams. “Let me hear your screams, reporter! You’ll never reveal the truth to the public!” Mr. Shadow added, whipping the reporter with his electric whip. Meanwhile, there was no teacher in Zero’s classroom, and the other students were socializing with each other while Zero was thinking about how to get more information on what the biker mentioned. “The Book of Fear…just what is it?” Zero thought, looking out the window, deep in thought. “There’s more to all of this. Much more. But…it doesn’t feel like this fight is anywhere near over yet. Something else is going to work on the same plan. I just know it. I’ll find out tomorrow.” Zero added before the last bell rang for the students to go home.
Nightfall came, and the Red Moon Demons came out, even more enraged and angrier than usual. Zero and Zack were sitting in Zero’s hotel room as Zero made preparations to go outside to reach the school again. “Something isn’t right. They’re worse than usual tonight.” Zero said. “There might be a change in their behavior because they might be collecting something of some sort. Something important to them. You better be really careful out there tonight.” Zack said, handing Zero his sword. “Don’t worry about me. You just chill out here, and I’ll be back by dawn.” Zero said, swinging over to the other side onto the first rooftop. The demons immediately caught Zero’s scent, and let out a lot of mighty roars before going after him. “These things are really on my trail tonight.” Zero thought, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, avoiding demon attacks at every corner. The demons roared and rampaged after Zero, bashing parked cars down and destroying things in their path. Zero nearly reached the school, but three demons tried to ambush him. “I don’t have time for this!” Zero said, kicking one of the demons in the head before continuing to run towards the school. The entrance was within sight for Zero, but the demons were close. Zero decided to make a run for the door. Upon reaching the door, before opening it, the demons caught up to Zero. Two of them grabbed Zero by the arms, and pinned him down to the ground. Zero was surrounded, and unable to get up. The demons prepared to kill off Zero using their deadly claws, but before they could, they heard a noise. Somebody jumped off the rooftop of a high building, carrying a large sword. The mysterious person landed directly behind one of the demons surrounding Zero, swiftly killing it with a slash from his sword. Some demons backed up, and the mysterious man slayed the two demons that had Zero pinned down. “Who are you?” Zero asked the mysterious man as he got up off the ground. “Don’t be concerned with who I am. Just go do what you need to do. Now, I have a score to settle with these demons. You just get out of here.” The man said. Zero nodded, and walked over to the front entrance of the school. “I owe you one for this. That’s a promise.” Zero said, before walking into the school, closing the door behind him. Demons surrounded the mysterious man. They started rushing in and attacking. His fight had just begun.
Upon entering the school, Zero noticed most of the lights were off inside unlike the last time he visited the school. The light from the red moon mostly illuminated the school halls and classrooms, but only because of the light coming from the windows. It was quiet, not counting the sound of demons fighting outside. On the floor, Zero found a notice saying that school would be closed on the day of the festival. He walked around a bit, looking for anything suspicious. Like before, the intercom went on, and the same voice came from it. “So you’ve returned. What? Did you forget a book or something? Or did you come here as a safe place from the demon attacks? Either way, you shouldn’t be here. School is closed at night.” The voice calling itself Dark Cloud said. “I strike that as a bit odd. You say the school is closed at night, but the front door is always unlocked. Either this place has a lack of good security, or somebody else is in here. Plus, Mr. Shadow wasn’t here today. Maybe he unlocked the door, and came inside for something.” Zero answered. “You have no proven understanding of it yet, child. In fact, I believe you will end up being overwhelmed by the demons as everyone else in this city will. Tomorrow night.” Dark Cloud said with a more serious tone. “Tomorrow night? Everyone will be in their homes before the fog and the roars.” Zero said, starting to get used to the habits of the people of Star City. Dark Cloud laughed for a bit before stopping. “You fool. Don’t you get it? The people will be too preoccupied with enjoying the festival to notice the fog. By the time they hear the roars, it’ll be too late. Imagine. So many human souls, perfect for breaking the seal on that infernal book. This city will soon belong to me.” Dark Cloud said. “You monster. You’re willing to let all those people die?” Zero said, getting really mad. “If you want to stop me so badly, then come to the clock tower tomorrow before the demons DO come. I am able to stop them…if I feel like it.” Dark Cloud said before the intercom turned off. “That evil demon. I’ll stop him no matter what. He must still be in here somewhere. I’ll hunt him down, and beat the fact on how sick and twisted his plan is.” Zero added before noticing the basement door was still slightly open. “Looks like somebody left this door open. But I have a feeling this door was meant to be closed in order to hide something…or someone.” Zero thought, opening up the door, and began walking down the stairs. He found Mr. Shadow’s secret basement torture room, and found Sean Andrews, asleep and tied to a table by chains. “It’s that reporter. Looks like he’s been whipped. I should get him out of here.” Zero said, slashing the chains up to free the injured reporter. On a table next to a knife, Zero found a piece of paper marked with various tasks on it. “This looks like Mr. Shadow’s handwriting. This thing looks like it’s written in human blood. Looks carefully organized as well.” Zero thought as he looked at what was on the note.

Begin summoning Red Moon Demons.
Get a teaching job at the Star City High School.
Gather human souls.
Find the descendant of the ancient tribal people.
Revive the great one on the night of the festival.

“Wait…it was him? Mr. Shadow caused all the demon attacks? Impossible. There’s no way he could’ve done such an evil act.” Zero thought, trying to deny the truth. “Mr. Shadow caused all of the problems in Star City. I caught him in the act, and he had his goons kidnap me the day after. I’ve been stuck down here since that day.” A voice said as Zero turned around to see that the reporter had woken up. “You saw him do it?” Zero asked. “Yes. I got it on tape. He was using a strange, fearful looking book.” Sean replied. “A fearful looking book? You mean something like a book that can bring fear to others?” Zero wondered as he walked over to a strange piece of paper that looked quite old. “Tomorrow, he’s planning to sacrifice many human souls in order to break something out of the book. I intend to find out what.” Sean said, getting off the table. Zero looked around for anything that could be useful until he saw a backpack on the floor. “This must belong to that penguin kid.” Zero thought, picking it up off the blood stained floor. “He’s still lurking around the school. I don’t see what this place has to offer for that man…that Mr. Shadow. We better get going before he gets back here.” Sean said, grabbing his camera that was on a nearby table next to some broken pickaxes. After grabbing his camera, Sean walked up the stairs, and left the basement. Zero took one last look at the basement where Mr. Shadow did his torture, and left after about a minute.
Zero returned to the hotel easily since none of the demons were on the streets at the time he left. He noticed Zack was asleep on the floor, so Zero decided to put the backpack he found in the basement next to Zack. He sat on the bed, and tried to imagine why Mr. Shadow would cause the deaths of so many innocent people living in Star City. He was tired from running for his life from the demons on his way to the school, so he fell asleep. He was awoken at about noon by bells coming from outside. He got up and looked outside. The sun was shining brightly, and many people were around the city, enjoying the Star City Festival near the clock tower. What seemed surprising to Zero was that the doors leading into the clock tower were open. The thing was that the window was closed and locked. “Huh? It’s locked?” Zero thought, getting his shoes on. He noticed Zack already left the hotel room, and proceeded to do the same. The problem was…the door was locked. “Ok, this must be some kind of prank. Who locked this door?” Zero thought until he heard footsteps coming from the other side. “I see you’re finally awake, Zero.” a man on the other side of the door said. Zero listened to the voice to find out it was Mr. Shadow’s voice on the other side of the door. “Mr. Shadow! What’s going on? Where’s that penguin? Why am I locked in? Where’s the manager?” Zero questioned. “You see, I know you’re going to try interrupting my plans, so if I keep you locked in your room until dusk, my plans will go perfectly.” Mr. Shadow said. “As for the manager…let’s just say he won’t be seeing another festival again for the rest of his pathetic life.” Mr. Shadow added. “You killed him? You monster. When I get out of here, you’re really going to get it.” Zero said, getting angrier. “That’s if you can get out of there. Time is short as it is, kid. I had to get my loyal minions to bring all the things for the ritual over to the clock tower. As for your penguin friend…he’s alive. For now.” Mr. Shadow said. “He better still be alive when I get to that clock tower, Mr. Shadow.” Zero answered. “We shall see. For now, I have a ritual to complete. Good luck attempting an escape, kid. You’ll need it.” Mr. Shadow said before walking away, laughing as he left. “I never liked that guy. Now I have a better reason to punch his teeth in when I see him. He’s planning to sacrifice human souls to revive something. But…I can’t worry too much about that now. I need an escape plan. Time is short.” Zero said, looking around for anything he could use to get out of the hotel room. All he could see that could be of any use to him was his sword, the TV, and a lead pipe. Zero grabbed the TV, and threw it at the window. Before the TV could hit the window, it exploded. “A high powered destructive field. He must be crafty when it comes to these things. Not much left I can use. Unless…” Zero thought as he took his sword out and walked over to the window. He slashed the window up, but it had no effect at all. “Just what is up with this hotel?” Zero questioned, thinking for a minute before looking over to the door. “Wait a minute…that door must be normal, right?” Zero thought, walking over to the door. He slashed the door to pieces with his sword, and walked out of the hotel room. “Never underestimate a guy with a sword, Mr. Shadow.” Zero said, running into the hotel room to the left of his, slashing the door down. He opened up the window, and threw the lead pipe he found at the grappling hook near his room’s window to start to get it moving. He jumped out the window, and grabbed the grappling hook, and swung onto the roof of the hotel. He saw Mr. Shadow’s car in the distance, heading towards the clock tower. Zero jumped from rooftop to rooftop to get to the clock tower faster than it would take him to run the entire way on the road. After about five minutes, Zero reached the site of the Star City Festival. He saw many people, and found no trace of Mr. Shadow in the crowd of celebrating people. He looked around, and saw Mr. Shadow’s car parked near the clock tower. He made his way through the crowd, and ran towards the clock tower’s open doors. “I’ll have to be ready for whatever’s in there. I got one shot at this. Mr. Shadow is really going to pay for his acts.” Zero said, walking inside. It was dark when he entered, with only a few candles lighting the way up a few flights of stairs. He walked up the stairs, saving his energy for Mr. Shadow, who was waiting for Zero’s arrival. After he reached the top of the stairs, he came upon a door. Zero opened up the door, and walked inside, and up a few steps. He was inside the main mechanisms of the clock tower, and the sun was lighting the giant area up. “So this is the inside of the clock tower, huh?” Zero thought, looking around.
On a wooden platform near the giant clock, Mr. Shadow was set up for a strange ritual. There was a strange pot in the middle of the platform, filled to the brim with human blood. There were three blue flames surrounding the pot, and sitting on a table next to Mr. Shadow was the Book of Fear. Mr. Shadow was wearing a mask, and holding a knife in his left hand. “Great shadows of the dark world. I have the offering of one million human souls collected from a great number of weak humans. I offer these souls as a sacrifice to you. In exchange, you shall return the master of chaos to our realm. The great demon, also known as-“Mr. Shadow was chanting until Zero found Mr. Shadow and kicked the pot off the platform down to the floor. The three blue flames extinguished, and the “ritual” was cancelled. “Where’s the penguin kid, Mr. Shadow?” Zero asked with a demanding tone of voice. “He’s safe. Above us, on a separate platform. I tied him up so he wouldn’t disturb us.” Mr. Shadow said, walking over to the table he left the Book of Fear on. “Why are you even doing this? You’re killing innocent people.” Zero asked, getting his sword out. “You really want to know, huh? Well, since you’ll be dead soon, I may as well tell you. It started many years ago, at an archeological dig. We were looking for fossils of the ancient past. It was to be my last dig before I retired from the archeology game. We had little progress in the first few weeks. We were to stay until we found fossils. I worked as hard as possible, but couldn’t find anything until one night. It was after work ended for the day. I decided to keep digging alone. I found a secret cavern that had a hole big enough for me to crawl through it. Inside, I found a secret chamber, and I found this.” Mr. Shadow explained as he showed Zero the Book of Fear. “I found this in the cave, but…an earthquake blocked the exit with rocks. I was trapped inside with the book. I nearly died until I heard a voice speaking to me through telepathy. It was strange, but I thought I was losing my sanity. The book spoke to me. It offered a contract to me. If I were to gather one million human souls to free what is trapped inside of the book, I will be given anything I desired. Anything. You know what I want? Power. Power beyond your wildest dreams. The book helped me escape the cavern after I agreed to the terms of the contract. I’ve been going around the world, collecting souls until today. But now look at this. My ten years of collecting souls, WASTED! Because of you, I’ll have to collect one million more human souls. So…since you ruined my plans…” Mr. Shadow continued, “I’ll start with you. I will make you the first new human soul I take.” Mr. Shadow added, opening up the Book of Fear, and started to flip through pages until he found the one he was looking for. “Now, great Book of Fear. Assist me in the recollection of the souls of humans, starting with this kid. Unleash my inner power! My inner strength! Infuse me with your dark magical power! Give me strength, mighty great one!” Mr. Shadow chanted, reading a page out of the Book of Fear. The book started to glow red, and a black aura surrounded Mr. Shadow. He fell to his knees, still holding the Book of Fear in his hands. “You see, child. Only few regular people can read the Book of Fear. Sadly for you, I’m one of those people. Star City was doomed the minute I arrived here. Now, I will show you my true potential. You will see what I mean!” Mr. Shadow said as Zero was pushed back by a wave of energy. Zero fell to the floor, but quickly got back up and took out his sword. Meanwhile, Mr. Shadow grew stronger than before. He grew a foot in height, and his hair turned blood red. He jumped off the platform, still holding the Book of Fear. He was wearing a suit of dark armor, his hair was blood red, and he had a strange looking gauntlet on his left arm. His knife from before turned into a sword, and Mr. Shadow glared at Zero while the black aura still surrounded him. Zero was surprised at how Mr. Shadow’s appearance changed so much, and he took his own sword out. “Even though I’ve become so powerful now, you’re still choosing to oppose me? I knew there was something different about you, Zero. You won’t give up until I rip you apart personally.” Mr. Shadow said as his sword clashed with Zero’s multiple times as they fought inside the clock tower. “Enough of this. I’ll use the book’s power to take care of you. Watch this!” Mr. Shadow said, floating up in the air, flipping through pages again until he found the one he was looking for again. “Take this, Black Lightning!” Mr. Shadow shouted as the Book of Fear glowed black, and Mr. Shadow shot out a bolt of lightning from his fingertips. Zero narrowly avoided the lightning attack, and looked around for a way to repel it. Mr. Shadow shot three more bolts of lightning at Zero. The first two failed, but the third hit Zero in the leg as he was running. His leg was numb, and he couldn’t feel it too well. “Temporary paralysis. This guy is just full of surprises.” Zero thought as he fell to the floor. Mr. Shadow floated down, and walked over to Zero. “I had a feeling you would easily fall prey to my lightning attack’s side effect. You won’t be able to move that leg for a bit, so now I can easily take control of this fight.” Mr. Shadow said, kicking Zero into a mechanism in the clock tower. He ran over, and grabbed Zero by the legs, then threw him through a wall into a metal door. “I expected more from you, Zero. But…I guess I was wrong about you. You’re just as weak as everybody else in this city. All I need to do now is finish you off.” Mr. Shadow said, opening up the Book of Fear. He noticed he was already on the right page, so he dropped his sword, and walked closer to where Zero landed. “It was a good run…for you, while it lasted. It’s time you disappeared from the picture. Permanently. Goodbye, Zero. Black Shadow!” Mr. Shadow said as the Book of Fear glowed black, and Mr. Shadow shot a black ball of energy at Zero. The ball exploded upon reaching Zero, and left a hole in the side of the clock tower. Afterwards, Mr. Shadow absorbed the dark energy that remained from after the explosion to recover his strength. “Foolish kid. You were far too weak to defeat me. You attempted to oppose me, but you lost. All hope for this city is lost because you failed. You’ll enjoy spending the rest of your life in hell…along with the rest of Star City.” Mr. Shadow said before turning around, and starting to walk away. He walked over to go get the pot he had, but then he sensed something approaching. He turned around, and noticed Zero was walking over, injured, but still alive. The right sleeve of his shirt was destroyed, but there was a glowing tribal tattoo running down his right arm. His left leg was slightly harmed, and he sustained a few other injuries. “How the hell are you alive? That attack should’ve killed you.” Mr. Shadow said, only slightly surprised. “That’s none of your business, Mr. Shadow. I’m not letting you restart your ritual. I’ll take care of you right now.” Zero answered, sounding more serious than before. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll be dead soon. Now, Black Lightning!” Mr. Shadow said as the Book of Fear glowed again and Mr. Shadow shot out another bolt of lightning out of his fingertips at Zero. This time, Zero used his sword as a lightning rod to absorb the lightning into his sword. “You see, this tribal tattoo on my arm isn’t a normal one. It represents my will to survive. It brings out my survival instinct and brings my strength up when my life is put in danger. So, hows about a taste of your own lightning?” Zero said, swinging his sword at Mr. Shadow, letting out the electricity. It hit Mr. Shadow directly, and he floated to the floor, temporarily paralyzed. “Now, let’s see how you like a taste of my sword, Mr. Shadow.” Zero said, swinging his sword at Mr. Shadow a few times, dealing a bit of damage to him before Mr. Shadow hit Zero with the Book of Fear, and floated back up into the air. “You human scum. Fine. I’ll play your little game.” Mr. Shadow said, floating down in front of Zero, getting his sword out. Their swords clashed again, but Zero had the upper hand this time. He punched Mr. Shadow in the face, and got a few more hits in with his sword. Mr. Shadow was starting to look injured, but he kept fighting anyway. Meanwhile, higher up, at the bell of the clock tower, Zack was tied up to a pole so he wouldn’t disturb Mr. Shadow’s ritual. “That Mr. Shadow was bad news from the start. But…it looked like he was trying to fight what the book told him to do. No, that’s impossible. He’s evil on his own accord. Zero must be fighting him inside.” Zack said, looking outside to see it was getting close to dusk. “It’s almost nighttime already? Zero…you need to hurry up down there.” Zack thought, trying to get himself untied.
Zero and Mr. Shadow had both sustained a lot of injuries each. They were both tired, and there was blood in a few places on the floor of the inside of the clock tower. They were both also exhausted. “I don’t have much energy left. I’ll have to use one last attack. I have the perfect move planned out for this foolish boy.” Mr. Shadow thought, turning one page in the Book of Fear. “This fight is over. Here and now, Zero.” Mr. Shadow said, floating up in the air again. “Prepare yourself, Zero. Lightning Ball!” Mr. Shadow said as the Book of Fear started glowing yellow, and shot a ball of lightning at Zero. He easily used his sword to reflect the attack back at Mr. Shadow. When the ball hit, he was temporarily paralyzed, still in the air. “Now, I’ll teach you not to screw with so many innocent human lives!” Zero shouted, climbing a few mechanisms in the clock tower to reach Mr. Shadow to get one final blow in on him. When Zero’s sword hit, Mr. Shadow coughed up some blood, and floated down onto a mechanism of the clock tower. After that, he fell off, and landed on the floor. He dropped the Book of Fear, and Zero kicked it so that it was even farther away from Mr. Shadow. As Mr. Shadow started crawling towards the book, Zero stopped him in his tracks by thrusting his sword into the wood in front of Mr. Shadow’s face. “It’s over, Mr. Shadow.” Zero said. “This…this can’t be. I was…supposed to be all powerful. I…was supposed to rule…with an iron fist.” Mr. Shadow said, mortally wounded, and unable to stand. “Why did you want to have power, Mr. Shadow? With all the things you did, you better have a good reason.” Zero asked. “Everybody will end up dead eventually. It’s the one thing we can never run away from. It’s something nearly everybody has a fear of. Death.” Mr. Shadow answered as the dark aura surrounding him vanished completely, causing him to revert to his normal form. “We’re all bound for death someday. People normally just live their lives to the fullest.” Zero said. “Humans live their lives, but they’re all doomed either way no matter what.” A different voice added. Zero looked around, wondering who spoke other than him or Mr. Shadow. A moment later, Brad walked into the room of the clock tower. His eyes were still the same strange red color as before as he picked up the Book of Fear off the floor, and walked over to Zero and Mr. Shadow. “Brad? What are you doing here?” Zero asked Brad. “I’m taking care of business. Finishing what Mr. Shadow failed to do.” Brad said, opening up the Book of Fear. “Wait, you can read that thing too?” Zero asked in surprise. “Yes. I can only read this book because it seems I am a descendant of the ancient tribal group that created the Book of Fear. But, enough talk. It is time the Red Moon rose into the sky, and the Red Moon Demons roamed through the night, killing humans. Starting with Mr. Shadow here.” Brad answered, walking over to Mr. Shadow. “Great demon book, the Red Moon rises soon. In this clock tower, bring forth the shadow of the demon army. Bring forth the Red Moon Shadow.” Brad read from the Book of Fear. Soon, the book glowed red, and the one Red Moon Demon with the two red marks on its arm suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “Brad, my servant, you have done well.” The Red Moon Shadow said. Zero and Mr. Shadow were shocked to actually hear one of the Red Moon Demons speaking in full human English unlike the rest of them. “Wait, you can talk?!” Zero asks, surprised. “Yes. I am able to speak the human tongue, unlike my brothers. But…that isn’t important. I mostly want my revenge on Mr. Shadow for all the hell he’s had us Red Moon Demons go through in these past few years.” The Red Moon Shadow answered, floating over to Mr. Shadow. Their eyes met, but they exchanged no words. The Red Moon Shadow glared at Mr. Shadow for a few moments, and then swiftly finished him off with a single slash of its claws. Mr. Shadow had been killed at that moment, and the strange fog started to roll in outside. “It is time. Time for the attack.” The Red Moon Shadow said as blood was dripping off its claws. The sun started to set, and the Red Moon Demons attack on Star City was about to begin.