Luminos Umbrasception (Chapter One)

Ethan Hakim loves the sun & the stars of space. He has spent years researching about the gigantic bodies of space, and all that personal researching has also lead him to looking into spiritual concepts. AP Honors, straight A’s, ands extracurriculars have been the norm for him for his entire life, but honestly, he’d have a much better time if it was spent learning about the universe instead.

“I’d love it if the Earth was healed by the stars.” He tells his friend Mitchell one day. They spend their morning in homeroom, sitting next to each other in the front as always.

“How was the meteor shower at the park back on Saturday then?” Mitchell asks Ethan. “I heard that the Skyfall of stars was beautiful. Was it?”

“Oh it was.” Ethan says while smiling, “You should’ve been there Mitchell, it was amazing!”

That’s how the week is so far for Ethan. It was sunny during spring break, but then come this past Sunday and now the whole town is ice cold and windy like a storm. “I’m just hoping that I do well on the test tomorrow. This review better make me a calculus genius like the reviews in my other classes did.”

Mitchell chuckles. “Come on Ethan, you’re the king of acing tests. You have at least an A in all of your other classes. You have an A in advanced Literature & English, an A+ in Advanced Honors Media Analysis, another A+ in Chemistry-”

Ethan holds up two fingers in Mitchell’s face in a stop motion. “Alright, alright, I know that Mitchell. But I don’t have an A in this class.”

“Yeah,” Mitchell says. “You have a B in this class. Which for your information isn’t a bad grade.”

Ethan sighs. “I know that. But it keeps me from getting the perfect grades that I want. And it keeps me from getting the perfect GPA, and I’ll still have to study a lot more to maintain my grade average.” He takes in a deep breath. “You know what? No. No more ranting and raving and worrying myself sick about this for the umpteenth time.”

Mitchell nods. “That's what I've been trying to tell you. Just study to the best of your abilities and just do your best. That’s literally you need to do, especially since you already have an amazing grade average.”

“You’re right, man.” Ethan agrees. “Well, aside from that, I’m just looking forward to whether or not Mr. Walsh comes back to class today.” Ethan says.

“Really now?” Mitchell inquires. “What happened to him?”

“Get this, he was teaching a class at the downtown university over our spring break right? So the class had a diagram of a tiger to study in class. While they were analyzing the diagram for a class assignment, the papers on Mr. Walsh’s desk start flying all over, I think someone was blowing a fan all over while walking past his desk. But whatever happened, he was upset by the mess from the papers flying all over the room. And then when he went to pick it all up, the forms for the attendance and the homework that he was going to assign them was all gone. Missing. Disappeared out of thin air.”

“Wait,” Mitchell says. “Wouldn’t they have just gone out the windows or into the trash can?”

“That’s the big mystery,” Ethan answers. “The windows weren’t even open, it wasn’t warm enough for that yet. They weren’t in the trash either! The bin was closed. He couldn’t find them anywhere.”

“So, he eventually lost it after that?” Mitchell says.

“Yup!” Ethan exclaims. “And ever since then, he went back out to get more copies, but he never came back before the class ended 2 minutes later. And no one at the college could figure out where he went either! It was so damn weird!”

Ethan even remembers that there was a lot of talk from his parents earlier in the week about members of the schoolboard at the high school going missing since the first week of spring break. But it’s not like a random teacher like Mr. Walsh going missing at the college would have any connection to the disappearances of high school staff, right?

He stands up from his chair. “I’m gonna go freshen up. Be right back.” He walks out the cafeteria and heads to the boys’ restroom. As he walks through the hallway he sees a familiar blonde boy with a scowl etched on his face. He looks ahead and avoids making eye contact with the boy as he walks past him.

“Too good to notice me, bigshot?”

Slightly startled, Ethan turns around to see the boy glaring at him. “Oh. I-um-hey Frederick.”

“Yeah,” Frederick scoff, “hey. Jeez, am I really that hideous, Ethan?”

“Oh no you aren’t!” Ethan reassures. “I was just on my way to the bathroom is all. I swear.”

“Hmph. Whatever.” Frederick replies. “You don’t have to be so tense, loser.” He walks off, leaving Ethan insulted and unnerved.

“Jeez. What a douche.” He goes into the bathroom and washes his face. Just a few minutes later, the lights in the bathroom go off, leaving the room completely dark.

“What the hell?” Ethan asks out loud in shock.

A quick second passes and screams and cries of shock and confusion ring out from outside. Ethan manages to get out of the dark bathroom but finds that the outside hallway is also completely dark. All he hears are the commotions of other students who are also in the dark.

“Mitchell! MITCHELL!” Ethan shouts. He feels two pairs of hands grab onto his arms and he moves towards the random figure, thinking that it’s Mitchell. The figure pushes him hard, making him fall onto the floor on his side. A wave of screams and roars assaults his ears. Before he could even get up he feels himself go flying and rolling over the floor. When opens his eyes, the hallway is no longer dark. But the lights are not back on either. They whole hallway is covered by a dark purple mist covering the ceiling and the windows. The mist itself is flying all around like a mixture of dust and blackish purple smoke.

“What the hell?!” He hears Mitchell say from his right. Ethan scurries up and runs towards him.

“Dude! What the hell just happened?” Ethan says with wide-eyed and short breaths

“Are you okay?” Mitchell asks him. He reaches out and checks Ethan for cuts and injuries. Ethan reaches out to hug him.

“I’m completely fine, thankfully.” Ethan responds. “I’m just glad you’re okay too.”

The two boys walk out of the classroom to see where anyone else might’ve ran off to. But instead of coming across running and screaming crowds of teachers and staff, the entirety of the hallways are completely black. Not even any small lightbulbs are lit. The halls are completely covered with more mist covering each area, some of them a mix of black and violet. And inside of the mist are many shapes and figures floating around the lockers and doors of the hallway, looking around with menacing faces.

“What is happening here?” Ethan asks out loud. Two of the mist figures flying around the hall quickly zip right in front of them, making Ethan jump and scream and Mitchell fall backwards. The mist figure on the right flashes purple eyes, while the one on the left flashed green. The green-eyed figure points their finger at Ethan. “You there,” it says. “You are one of the many that we want.”

Ethan steps back rapidly. “What?” Silence. “What the hell? What do you mean you need me? What are you going to do to me?! Who are you people and where is everyone else?!”

“Do not yell at us!” The green-eyed entity barked. “We are only taking the students and teachers here as a part of our gift. We were promised that we would get it today, but we did not, and so we’ve taken matters into our own hands.”

Ethan starts shaking his head rigorously. “No. No, no, no. Nope. Sounds like we’re building up to a cult here. I am not up for cult indoctrination today!”

The purple-eyed entity looks at Mitchell. “You are not one of the people that we need. You are unnecessary.”

Mitchell looks baffled. “What are you guys even talking about? Start making sense, like, last year!”

The purple-eyed entity scowls, showing off their sharp teeth. “Okay, I’ve already played enough games trying to get enough people for our goal. I am taking matters into my own hands.”

The purple entity turns their complete attention onto Ethan and reaches for him. Ethan screams in complete fear as they hey hold him by his arms and twists them behind his back.

“Ow!” Ethan howls in pain.

“You have two choices to choose from.” They both say in unison towards Mitchell. “Either you help us kill off the soul energy needed for our king's promised goods, or you can join the rest of the fodder in this building.”

Ethan growls in pain. “Alright, you shadow demons! I don’t know if this is some trick of the devil or some horrible science experiment gone horribly wrong, but I don’t even give a shit right now! We’ll help you find a substitute just let me go!”

The purple entity drops Ethan to the floor carelessly. Mitchell quickly runs to help him, but the green-eyed entity cuts him off. “We do not care if your friend ends up hurt, brat. We will get what we were promised, no matter what method we have to resort to.”

Mitchell looks at Ethan with fearful eyes. Ethan shakes on the floor, rubbing both of his wrists together to soothe the discomfort. “You’re friend has a mean grip there, greenie.

The green-eyed entity looks surprised. “That nickname is grotesque. However, I will ignore that and tell you both what we need as a substitute sacrifice. What we want is to create the perfect replacement for our king. The ruler of our twilight realm has been killed by an illness not even the strongest of us could ward off. Therefore, we need to generate a bunch of high soul energy and mold it into the strongest vessel possible to place our king’s soul into.”

Ethan turns around to stare at Greenie and their purple-eyed acquaintance. “And why are you guys taking the students from this school?” Ethan asks. “Are you going to kill them?”

Purple opens its mouth in a horrific form of a smile. Monstrous, vampire-like teeth, Purple smirks with the ferocity of a hungry lion. “We are not sacrificing the humans for our King. However, to create our King’s new vessel, we need to weed out the competition. Keeping others with equally high soul energy around allows for the possibility of another powerful enemy to overthrow our king.”

Ethan's eyes go wide and Mitchell gasps. "But why? Who would even go out of their way to do that? No one is gonna go after your king when you all live in another dimension!"

"Unfortunately, we do not share the same perspective. And I do not see that changing at all, so make your choice quickly."

Ethan feels a lump in his throat. "So, you're....gonna kill me?"

“Unless,” Greenie says. “You can give us the ears of four of our rogue puppet shadows.”

Ethan glares at Greenie with fearful hatred. “What the hell are puppet shadows? Is that what you guys are?”

“Not at all," Greenie laughs. “We are a shadow type of mutants among our realm. Others from our home are different types. We’re all working towards the same end so it is of no concern to you.”

Mitchell takes a cautious step forward. “So, if we get the ears of four of these shadow puppets, then we get the chance to save ourselves?”

Ethan steps forward. “And what about everyone else? What happens to the others in your possession? They just die for some god of yours?”

Greenie directs a very vicious and violent scowl towards Ethan, making the teen back up in intimidation. “Stupid mouthy buffoon! Our King is not some simple deity! He is the reason that we breathe and sleep at night!”

Ethan knows that they have no other choice but to make this deal with the literal devils in front of them. All he wants right now is to survive alongside his friends.

Behind the two shadow demons, Ethan spots a small group of kids fleeing from other demons. What he sees shock him, as a girl who falls on the ground holds out her phone, trying to light up the area covered in dark mist, and shines it on the demon behind her. The demon flinches back, but it covers its eyes and swipes at her. She barely avoids it and continues to run away.

Whatever the girl has just done, it has just given Ethan a chance to escape and fight back. He turns his focus back on his captors. “Then let’s make a deal then. Here’s what we’ll do for you two.” He whips out his phone and clicks the photo picture with the flash on the brightest setting possible. Although he expected it to blind the shadow demons only temporarily, instead “Greenie” ends up bursting into flames while the purple entity is only stunned. Ethan and Mitchell stare on for a good, slow moment. Then Ethan motions at Mitchell to run.

“Run!” Ethan says. He and Mitchell run off as “Greenie” is burning on the floor while the purple-eyed entity roars towards the two boys.

“I am going to break you apart!” They scream. They fly towards the direction that the boys ran to.

Ethan and Mitchell ran as fast as their legs could carry them as they scurried to escape. “Keep running Mitch! We’ve gotta find a way out of here before that beast eats us or whatever it’s gonna do!”

“Well do you have any other ideas?!” Mitchell yells. “You know, specific plans?!”

The boys running comes to a halt as a flicker of dark violet whips into Ethan, knocking him to the floor. Mitchell stops and turns to his friend.

“Oh my god! Ethan!”

Ethan looks up. “J-Just keep going, Mitchell! Find an escape!”

Mitchell hesitates, but the purple demon growls at him and he runs as fast he can, leaving Ethan to the demon’s mercy.

“You will pay for that, little boy!” The purple shadow demon screams at him. “It would’ve been so much better for you if you just went with us willingly! But now,” its mouth opens wide and gripped Ethan tight, keeping in locked in place on the floor. It’s large, sharp teeth hover over Ethan’s head as the boy wiggles and thrashes around in the demon’s grip. “It’s going to be the worst and last experience that you will ever have!”

A flash of light burns the demon’s arms. Although it doesn’t burst into flames like the other demon did, it causes the monster to loosen its grip enough for Ethan to slip out of its grasp. Right as the boy starts to run away again, he is quickly knocked to the floor by the purple-eyed demon. It pounces on him with a desperate fervor, trying to claw at him.

“No. No!” The demon yells. “I-I thought that my lord was watching over me! His extra strength protecting me even in death!”

Ethan manages to get free completely. “Get the hell off of me!” Once free, he looks back at the demon. It starts to burn from its legs and lower waist. The creature is in serious pain from the flames. Ethan holds the phone tight in his right hand. “Jesus Christ.”

The fire on the monster’s body slowly grows as it pleads for its life. “God! My lord! Please!” The fire eventually devours the demon whole just like its green counterpart. Ethan looks on, unable to move for a reason unknown to him. Frozen with shock and paralyzed with fear and distress. He eventual runs off the same Mitchell went. Ethan stops in front of a door, the principal’s office. It’s perfect for him to hide. At least he hopes so. But when he goes to open the door, he is met with a surprising face. “Frederick?”

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*Please feel free to leave a heart and comment if you enjoyed my work. This is a story that I've worked on a while back ago, so I decided to try it out again and upload it here. Feel free to leave honest feedback and constructive comments. What was good? What did you not like? What would you like to see in the next chapter? I'd like to get some engagement going on for my work. Thank you!*