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Chapter 23/31 - Night of the Crescent Moon

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The moon was high in the east, having not yet reached its peak. It was a crescent moon, but one that gave off a surprising amount of light for how much of it was visible. Behind it, the darkening sky was a gradient, with the darkest portion towards the highest point in the sky. Above and below the crescent moon, clouds streaked in straight, thin lines, crisscrossing each other. Most of these clouds scarring the sky were not natural but man-made. Covered by the topmost cloudy streak in the sky, a single star man-aged to shine through, to the left and up from the moon. The first star of the evening.

It was just another night, at least at first glance to the casual observer, though one much brighter than ones before it. Even though it was only a crescent moon up, the light it shed was phenomenal, not exactly the kind of night to be doing a heist. Unless, of course, the perpetrators wanted people to notice. That was exactly what was happening. Several rebels, along with the common thugs they had hired to help them pull off this latest venture, were positioned in the northern most part of the Lavvan district. This was the district known by the rest of the city as the ‘white district,’ as high class as it was. It was the part of the city where most of the white collars and silver spoons lived; it also happened to be the district of the city that was the most cooperative with Thanahall.

Ruan Palin spat on the ground in disgust as he crouched in the shad-ows of a particularly large mansion. *What scum!* he thought viciously, looking up at the window of the mansion. *These people whole-heartedly support this bastard government that is holding the entire city hostage from what is transpiring in the rest of the world. No one can see the bigger picture…* Not only was the point of tonight to get people’s attention, there was an-other purpose infused with their main objective that Palin saw. *We’ll punish them, these blasted idiots who ally themselves with their own executioners. And we’ll show people what sort of beast their government really is.* Around him, he could hear the shifting of his men as they crouched in the shadows as well, surrounding the mansion. They were all waiting for the appointed time, when Palin would give the order to move out.

*Even the Shadow Phantom shouldn’t see us until it’s too late this time,* Ruan Palin thought to himself, grinding his teeth. *Unless he has other super human abilities besides speed and his beastlike traits. What that scum did to me last time…* He had a hard time keeping his rage contained at the very thought. When he clenched his fists, they shook.

*He left me out there to be exposed, and I had to broker a deal with those scumbag higher ups in the government just to stay out of their prisons and labs.* His face was very dark, and not just from shadows as he remembered. *I’ve been reduced to the honorless role of a double agent. It was difficult as it was to get the boss not to kill me, let alone convince him that I had escaped so that I could still work for him.* The very memory of his whole confrontation with Jagger Donato—leader of the Zekoyan Rogue Resistance—had Palin nearly squirming in his boots.

The man could only be described as evil. His face was sharp and angular, topped by the fact that he was bald and his skin smooth and ageless, but scarred in more than one place. His eyes were hard and cruel, and his mouth often wore a sadistic little half smile whenever he dealt with just about anyone, even his own men. One of those scars, as had Palin noticed that night he had been brought before the boss, started above his left eye and went straight down, even over the eyelid, ending just before the cheek began.

Frankly, Palin found it amazing that the boss wasn’t blind in that eye, almost like he had some sort of super healing ability. When Jagger’s smile revealed his teeth, it was quite obvious that some of them were jagged. In fact, Palin had even found himself wondering if that wasn’t possibly where the man’s first name had come from. *He may look like the devil himself, but he’s always come through for us, and we need him to have any hope of pulling off a real rebellion.*

Having the suspicion of that man was never a good thing. *I’ll never forgive you for that, Shadow Phantom,* Palin thought as he brushed the memory away like a stray fly. *My knife may not have killed you now, but I swear I will get you one of these days.* His teeth glittered in the faint light as he read the digital readout on his watch. *It’s almost time.*

Up until this point, everything had gone smoothly. There had been no reports of sightings of either night patrols or the Shadow Phantom. Every man out tonight had a radio, so communication was quick. Then, the minutes ticked ahead, and the command was given in an excited but firm half-whisper through the radio. “Move out people! Storm the place, bring out anything valuable, and make sure you give the inhabitants a good scare.” This was one order Ruan Palin enjoyed giving. “Make these nobles squirm for what they’re allowing to happen to our city! We’ve got to put on a good show for any police that show up. Take someone hostage if you have to!”

At that, it would have appeared to any outside observer that the shadows had spawned, as a myriad of shadowy figures came crawling out of the shadows of the previously empty street. Almost as soon as they were on the move, a black bat-winged silhouette appeared in the lower part of the sky, where it could just be seen apart from the rest of the nearly black cityscape below, the combination of the sun’s last rays and the light from the moon providing just enough subtle contrast. The figure swooped down out of the sky as silently as a wraith and so silently that it could easily have been mistaken for a breath of fresh air. In fact, it was. Dalan had already taken out nearly half of the force that had come to besiege the mansion before the others really realized just what was going on.

“It’s that damn Shadow Phantom!” Ruan Palin roared into his radio. “Bring him down—bring him down now!”

Dalan was aware of various shots being fired in his direction, but they weren’t hard to dodge, as none of his targets could see him well enough to aim. In this halfway form especially, Dalan’s keen senses told him exactly where each of the incoming missiles were, as well as their trajectory.

After avoiding each shot, in his dark-winged form cloaked in shadows as he was, Dalan swooped down on the person he who had fired it, taking each per-son out quickly and efficiently. Despite all of that, none of Dalan’s victims had been killed or even suffered any serious or fatal injuries. His keen senses were able to make sure of that. They were merely unconscious or otherwise out of commission.

Amidst all of the other scents, Dalan detected one he recognized from an earlier near-disaster in his line of work. *Ruan Palin?* he thought in alarm, his eyes widening and a growl deepening in his throat. *What is he doing here? Surely he can’t be working with the rebels after we fought…the Athallian night patrols would have picked him up.* With this distraction, despite Dalan’s swift actions in taking down thugs, a few of them did make in in through one of the windows. Before he could really react, an alarm was raised from inside. Lights flickered on in the windows one by one. Dalan squinted and veered away as one of the lights shone suddenly in his face, momentarily ruining his night vision. Soon following, a piercing shriek sounded and continued to go off—this family’s own personal grounds alarm.

*I’d be willing to bet it’s connected to Thanahall somehow,* Dalan groaned to himself, wincing as the sound seemed to tear his head apart and penetrate his brain. *Sometimes it sucks to have keen hearing.* A bit disorient-ed by the assault on his senses, Dalan turned tail and took off.

*There’s not much more I can do here. Some police or other patrol will be here soon anyway, and I don’t want to be seen here, if I haven’t been already.* As the street passed by underneath him, however, before he had gained any real height, Dalan spotted a figure running away from the scene of the crime. His stomach clenched when he realized that the perpetrator was carrying a small child away, crying. *So one of them did manage to kidnap a child?* Dalan snarled at this, inadvertently remembering Nolin. *Not on my watch.*

He swooped down with a vengeance, the palms of both hands and the balls of both feet slamming into the man’s back all at once. At the same time, Dalan managed to rescue the child from the man’s grasp. Purposefully digging his claws into the man’s flesh a bit as he took off into the sky again, Dalan secured the child on his back. “Now hang on tight,” he ordered. As it turned out, it was a little girl, Dalan guessed about three or four years old. Now it was obvious that she had been crying, as he could feel the warm wetness of her tears on the back of his neck, as the child had a death grip around his neck. He could feel the little face buried in his fur where she clung. Her little body was quivering in fright and probably with the cold night air.

*At least she’s not struggling,* Dalan thought. *That would really throw me off balance. And how could that bastard do this to a child? Yanking her out of the safety of her bed and away from her parents? I know this family supports a corrupt government, but small children should have nothing to do with this.* This last thought came out as a growl.

Then, realizing that he was further scaring his little passenger, Dalan quieted down his rage and turned his attentions to her. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said in a gentle voice aimed back at the child. “You don’t have to be afraid. I’m a friend.”

He felt the little girl shake her head. “No!” she wailed. “Want my mommy!”
“Alright, alright,” Dalan tried again to soothe her. “Let’s go find your mommy, okay?” The child nodded but didn’t stop crying. “Can you tell me what your name is?”

He felt the child shake her head. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Not a’spose to talka s’rangers,” she enunciated into his neck fur.

“Is that so?”

Dalan had just been trying to get her to calm down up until this point. Now, he had to keep on the lookout for a way to return the child discretely to the house without being seen himself.

*I could always try to return her through one of the windows,* was his first thought, *if any of them are open, that is.* He tilted his wings into the breeze, circling the sizeable mansion as he looked. *Just my luck. All locked.* Below, he could hear people from inside the house outside on the lawn, probably to look for signs of the fleeing rebels. There was no sign of Ruan Palin anywhere. *So that coward jumped ship as soon as things started going downhill,* Dalan observed. As he watched the scene below, the front door opened, and a woman came running out.

“Rita! Where are you? Rita!” She ran over to a man standing on the stone walkway winding through the lawn. “Albert, have you seen Rita anywhere? I can’t find her. I—I think they might have taken her.” She seemed to be on the verge of tears. Albert took her in his arms, looking very perturbed and worried himself about what he had just learned.

On hearing that voice, the child on Dalan’s back lifted her head. “Mama!” she called.
Dalan winced. *Great, I have no choice now.*

With the child’s cries, Dalan knew it would not be long before some-one looked in the right direction. Swerving back towards a dark end of the yard, Dalan touched down as quickly and quietly as he could. Then he carefully lowered his passenger to the grass as he did so, just as soon as the mother had registered her child’s cries, the woman looked over. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of Rita and what looked to her to be a large shadow creature standing over her.

“Hey!” the mother screeched, running over as quickly as she could. “Leave my little girl alone, you brute!” Her husband soon followed at a run, his overtaking hers. Ears laid back, Dalan left the child and took off, swiftly disappearing into the night before either of them could reach him.

***

The moon was high in the east, having not yet reached its peak. It was a crescent moon, but bright behind the unnatural streaked clouds criss-crossing it. Behind it, the darkening sky was a gradient, with the darkest portion towards the highest point in the sky. The single star was shining through the dirty haze giving the deep blue of the sky an unnatural grey sheen. The black bat-winged silhouette floated in the lower part of the sky, where it could just be seen apart from the rest of the nearly black cityscape below, the combination of the sun’s last rays and the light from the moon providing just enough subtle contrast.

Directly below lay the northern part of Athallia, where the Nastiar River passed under the bridge that shared its name. From this height, the river resembled a sluggish black snake meandering its way along. During the day, the river was a murky brown, its sluggish flow affected by the mire and silt, along with whatever else that polluted the water. Even from this height, Dalan could plainly smell the stench from whatever chemical waste had been dumped into the mix that was supposed to be water. To be perfectly honest, the very thought of what had been done to this river made him sad.

He flew on from there, his arms having billowed out into their newest wing state. Furling his wings, he dove, hurtling through the air to leave the river behind him as he plunged further into the cityscape. Dalan scanned the streets beneath him, as he was in the habit of doing many nights.

The news reports during the day sometimes gave him clues as to where to look at night, either via television, newspaper, or what he could find on the internet from the computer he had recently gotten put in his room. It was an old one from his father’s office, as his father had upgraded, but Dalan didn’t mind in the slightest. All that mattered was that it enabled him in his work, both school-related and for what he considered to be his real work—protecting the people of Athallia that were often preyed upon by those that considered themselves stronger or more privileged.

Dalan now focused his attention on the streets beneath him. Tonight, he noticed, they seemed empty, even despite the curfew law. They usually were not crawling with people or vehicles, but there were usually always a few prowlers that Dalan always kept his eye on. The streets seemed utterly abandoned tonight. His wings took him over street after street on an air current, but his senses told him the same thing. No one was around, not anywhere close by anyway. This lack of activity was giving him a serious foreboding feeling. That feeling sank like a cold stone to the bottom of Dalan’s stomach.

*What is going on down there?*

Even as he gave vent to this thought, at last some sounds came to his ears. It was hard to tell how far away they were or even where they were coming from. They manifested themselves from all sides, together sounding like a howling wind. As the collective sound moved between the buildings and through telephone poles, the low howl seemed to become a hum all around him. It was an unnatural sort of hum, just like the straight lines of clouds streaking the sky, not a sound found in nature.

The sound was more machine-like.

Dalan could not tell just what was going on. All he knew was that the hum soon dominated his entire world. It surrounded him on every side now, blocking out his senses more and more the closer whatever it was got. He got the vague sense of figures moving in on him, encircling him, but he couldn’t see who or what it was. Dalan did not really remember falling or even being caught. All he knew was that he had, indeed, been caught by someone or something that could take him out without even getting close. Then, the world no longer existed. Blackness reigned in its stead, and Dalan was trapped in a numb, senseless abyss.

Dalan jerked awake, bolting upright in bed. *That’s right,* he remembered. *I’m in my own bed at home.* Even this knowledge could not stop his heart from thudding wildly inside his chest as if trying to escape. From what the clock on his bed stand said, it was two in the morning.

*And now I can’t sleep,* Dalan grumbled to himself, shoving his long bangs back from his face with one sweaty hand. *Not after that dream…again.*

It had been so vividly real that Dalan still could not shake the feeling of having his senses taken away—no, it was more like ripped away from him. It really did feel like he was being torn apart from the inside out. He was huddled over in bed, gasping for he didn’t know how long after that. For a while now after Nolin’s tragedy, Dalan’s dreams had all ended like this every night, no matter how they’d started to begin with. Tonight was a bit different, however. Dalan did not know how long it took him to jerk awake. All he knew was that he had not woken up immediately. Despite having lost his senses, though it was in dream form, he had felt himself being brought down…falling…

He couldn’t tell who it was that had shot him down or with what, as he could not see or hear—with all of his senses gone but that numbness. The next thing he knew, he felt his body thud into the unyielding ground. Even that didn’t kill him in the dream. Or maybe it did, and Dalan had descended into a place that he could easily imagine being hell. It came in the form of a bunch of jumbled images. What he could gather from them was that it was someplace faceless and grey, neither warm nor cold. It simply was, a bleak and empty prison, and he was trapped in it, unable to move. It was the same place Dalan had seen once in a dream, a place he had been desperate to run away from.

*I haven’t had that dream since summer school after freshman year…* he’d realized after he had managed to wake up at last, *when I was asleep in Rezza’s class.*

Much of what had appeared in Dalan’s dream was real. He had been across the Nastiar Bridge many times, and he had even flown over it a couple of times, especially after the rebels had named it as their meeting place to retrieve the released prisoners. Thanks to Dalan, with a little help from Heather, that meeting had never occurred. Regardless, Dalan had deemed it a good idea to check the place out. Even though he hadn’t really found anything upon inspection, it was always good to cover one’s bases. Besides that, Dalan really had been surveying the city by air at night sometimes.

Also, he knew from experience just how real the stench coming from the river was. With his enhanced sense of smell, even from high above the water, the smell was enough to make him heady. Walking on the sidewalk over the bridge, well, even having his face covered, Dalan’s entire head had been pounding the whole time—every time. Even from inside a vehicle, the stench was still pretty strong.
With a sigh, Dalan got up and went over to his computer, which now dominated the corner where his mirror used to be. The mirror had been moved so that it now stood next to his closet door.

Switching the computer on, Dalan sat in the chair he had placed at the desk for that purpose, drumming his fingers on the surface of the desk as he waited. A minute or two later, the computer had booted up, and Dalan typed in his password. As soon as he was fully logged in, he pulled up the internet. One thing he had noticed that he had never really thought about that much before was just how isolated Athallia really was even from the rest of the state, as well as the rest of the country. Any page that he could pull up on the internet was strictly localized.

*That is strange,* Dalan thought as he read through some of the latest news reports. *The only accessible data is that which is hosted here in Athallia, and it is only research information that has been passed through and approved by the Athallian central government. They really do have a tight fist on people.*

He scrolled down a page with an article on an event that had hap-pened before the rebel hijacking of the school. *Why has no one noticed?* he asked himself. Dalan froze, reading a certain section of the page more care-fully. “Probably because they’ve been obscuring at least half of the truth from everyone,” he growled quietly. “Like this robbery. I was there, and I know it was rebel-induced. They should know it too, because I left the guy in charge of the robbery out cold for the police to take into custody. And all the report has to say about it is that ‘it was an incident of random, passionate crime?’ It was obvious that a certain area of the city was being targeted!” He gritted his teeth.

As he clicked the link to go to a different page that had been written after the latest near-incident in the Lavvan district, Dalan paused as a certain article caught his eye, especially the headline. It read: SHADOW PHANTOM: DARK ANGEL OR DEMON? Below, the article went on to give a report about various sightings. *Someone saw me flying the other night,* Dalan thought in mild alarm as he continued to read down the article.

Several citizens have reported seeing a large winged figure at night over various districts of the city. While some witnesses described the figure as, “a dark angel watching over us,” oth-ers described it as “a demon swooping down as an omen of doom.”

This Shadow Phantom often patrols the streets at night, taking down other suspicious persons, some of which have merely managed to escape detection by the curfew patrols. There are still not many leads as far as where this creature goes when it is not patrolling our streets, of any sort of hideout.

“While this so-called Shadow Phantom does take down many of the city’s top, most terrible criminals, there aren’t many clues as to its motives or true nature,” says Officer Desean Kaness, addressing the current situation. “There’s no way to know if it’s even human at all. For all we know, with the way it seems to prefer skulking in the shadows, it could just be a manifestation of the darkest side of the human soul.”

“It would be in the average citizen’s best interest to re-port any suspicious persons and to always be indoors before curfew,” Kaness adds. “There is no telling what this creature is capable of or when it will end up killing someone.”

As of yet, the Shadow Phantom has left no casualties, but recent victims have been left severely injured, some with bloody gashes covering the face and arms, reminiscent of being mauled by a large predator. Others have suffered broken bones and concussions and have even spent weeks in under special medical care before a mode of justice concerning their deeds could be determined.
According to one young mother in the Lavvan district, two nights ago, she spotted the Shadow Phantom trying to make off with her four-year-old daughter, Rita, in the middle of the night. The woman and her husband ran after the crea-ture and, luckily, got there in time to rescue Rita, who was crying.

Article by staff writers of the Athallian Prophet ™ news provider

If anyone has any pertinent information pertaining to the Shadow Phantom, please contact the Athallian Center of Justice:

#0-100-01
Department of Justice and Civilian Safety
Thanahall Dist., Athallia

Director Nicolaus Maeldon


A strange feeling had been churning in Dalan’s gut as he read through the article twice. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t seen or heard reports like this before. Now, his situation just seemed more official. *Now even the director at Thanahall has added his signature to the mix like some stamp of approval on what people have been saying about me,* Dalan gulped. He tried to shrug off all of the uneasy feelings stirring in his gut. *I guess that I’ve been doing my job, to some degree at least. And of course I haven’t killed anyone! Haven’t they figured it out yet that Shadow Phantom is not a killer?*

With a heavy sigh, Dalan shoved his chair back and stood, walking over to stand by the window. *No, I suppose not. They don’t much like what they can’t control.* His brow was furrowed, his eyes shadowed deep in his face. *Well, there’s no point in worrying about it now. It’s not like I’m going to hide while I could be using my abilities to protect people.* He glanced up at the inky sky, but there wasn’t much to see, as tonight was the night of the new moon, after it had waned from its crescent state. A few pinpoints of faded light masquerading as stars were barely visible beyond the cityscape. This was the world it was Dalan’s job to protect.

***

The next day at school, Dalan found it very hard to focus on any-thing. Even in woodshop, Dalan couldn’t focus on what he was doing with his project. Luckily for him, by this point, it was nearly done. There were just the finishing touches to put on it now. Mr. Tallenook had allowed him to continue a project from last semester: the clock tower. The outside had been mostly finished, but Dalan had wanted to make it a working model, which meant creating all of the gears inside, as well as the timing mechanism. As astute as he was, Dalan knew just how to do it, and what he didn’t know, he could figure out.

He’d finished shaping all of the gears by now—out of a hard, dark wood that he had polished until it almost shown like new metal, as working with wood befitted this class. Now he was in the process of fitting them together and getting the time mechanism figured out to get the clock near the top of the tower to work like an actual clock. Today, however, his heart wasn’t in his work. He still could not get that night out of his head.

*The way that mother looked at me…* Dalan felt numb at the expression he remembered so clearly, one that went beyond fear. *She looked at me in utter horror, and in the report, I was practically described as a bloodthirsty demon that hadn’t gotten its first taste of blood yet.* He hung his head, bending low over his project, although he wasn’t really looking at it, but through it into the abyss his mind had created for him.

“Dude, you okay?”

Dalan at last looked up at a hand waved in front of his face. “What?” was all he could say, blinking in the light that was above him in the ceiling.

“Finally!” Matt’s voice exclaimed. “I’ve been trying to get your attention, man. So, what’s up? It’s like you’ve been avoiding me all day.”

At last, Dalan’s gaze locked onto his friend’s face. “Oh, I’m sorry, Matt,” he said at least somewhat sincerely. He snapped into friend mode, trying to forget what had happened. “I wasn’t trying to avoid you, honest. I’ve just had a lot on my mind.” He plastered an easy-going smile across his face, shrugging.

“Yeah, I’ll say!” Matt agreed, clapping a hand to his forehead dramatically. “It’s like you’re on some other planet, leaving your poor, not-so-lucky friends behind.” He staggered backwards as if imitating a perpetually dazed person. One more step back, and he tripped over the stool that he was supposed to have been using and fell flat on his rear end. As he did so, the sunglasses that he was always wearing were knocked askew so that they were down around his nose and mouth instead of his eyes.

He glared as Dalan snickered. “So, really man, what is going on with you?” Matt asked again pointedly as he climbed back to his feet before righting his glasses. “You’ve been distracted a lot, man. It ain’t natural.”

Dalan shrugged again. “It’s nothin’ really.” He sighed. When Matt was this persistent, it was hard to shake him off, even though the guy was one big goof most of the time. “It’s family stuff, ok?” He fell silent after that. What he had told Matt was sort of the truth, though it was quite a stretch, but there was nothing else to tell him now that he would accept.

“Whatever, man,” Matt tried again, then launched into a different topic. “Where’d that Corvo kid go anyway?”

“Don’t tell me you noticed just now that he’s not here, after he’s been out of school for nearly a couple of weeks,” Dalan jumped on the topic, berating his friend with an all-in-good-fun sort of demeanor. “Where’ve you been, man?”

Matt shrugged. “He doesn’t like me for some reason, so I didn’t see him all that much even when he was here. Anyway, finals are comin’ up. You ready? And after that, vacation!” he elongated the last word in a sing-song sort of way that made Dalan snort with laughter. “Oh yeah, a little break for summer vacation!” There was a huge grin on Matt’s face that turned into mock sympathy as soon as his eyes locked back onto Dalan. “Unless of course you’re stuck in summer school again.”

Dalan shook his head in answer. “Not me, not this time. I passed all my classes this year.” His eyes were bright as he said this in earnest.

Matt jumped backwards dramatically as if in total shock, running the risk of tripping over his stool yet again. “Whoa man! You—pass? Will the wonders never cease?”

Dalan gave him a tolerant smile. “You’ve known me forever, Matt. You know I can get whatever grade I want. I’ve just found it a waste of time.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Matt began with a sly smile, “You want-ed to fail last year and go to summer school, is that it?” He winced as his friend slugged him in the arm. “Ow!” He raised his fist to slug him back, but froze in midair as he spotted Mr. Tallenook coming in their direction. Matt reluctantly grabbed his stool and returned to his work station.

“Yes, Mr. Tallenook, of course we’re working hard over here,” Matt said before the woodshop instructor could get a single word out. He set about sanding four somewhat lopsided-looking pieces of wood with a renewed vigor.

“And how do you expect those to fit together into a bench, eh, Mr. Spencer?” Tallenook asked with a raised eyebrow. He shook his head in resignation. “Well, since you are working so hard on them, I suppose you’ll figure that out, won’t you?”

“Yes sir,” Matt said with a sheepish grin, rubbing one hand over the back of his head.
Tallenook glance over at Dalan, but the teen’s thoughts were elsewhere once again.

*Summer break,* Dalan thought, returning to his pensive mood, *that means the twins’ birthday, and they’ll probably have a party. Well, I guess that’s the one bit of normalcy I’ll get. I’ll survive, as long as no one pushes me in the pool again.* The party last year had been a near-disaster for Dalan. If Heather hadn’t been there to fish him out, he most likely would have drowned. *Still, Heather is my best friend, and Jinae would never let me live it down if I didn’t show up.* Dalan scrubbed a hand across his forehead to bring himself back to the present.

He made a greater effort to focus on this project sitting in front of him. The pristine workmanship of the structure, right down to the miniature gargoyle sculptures and molding, was indeed quite stunning. It testified to just how skilled Dalan’s fingers were when he put his mind to it and how keen his mind could be. With a faint smile of pride, Dalan ran one finger along the structure, around the highly polished clock face. It really was beautiful, and this was just what it looked like from above, as Dalan had flown over the real structure many times by now. It remained a place of refuge for him.
Being a hero isn’t always easy. In fact, it rarely is. Not everyone is appreciative, especially when it is a near-demon look-alike that does the saving. But can Dalan overcome the persecution and continue to use his gifts for good while still keeping his identity a secret? Can he learn to forgive himself and move on when things sometimes go wrong?

All this, and he still has to survive high school...


***Hey everyone. The story has a new format now, hence the odd chapter numbers.  What was chapter 22 is now chapter 30. But don't worry, besides some editing, you haven't missed anything. I know it's been a while  since I'e posted. I've been working like crazy on the graphic novel for this story. I may be testing that out at some point.

:icondragongrin: Also, the first four volumes (aka 30 chapters) of this story are up on Amazon.com.These are the fully edited and formatted version, including some chapter art. Please check them out! Here: www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_… :icondragoncryingplz:


Note: :iconaundriel: 
is collaborating with me on this story from Chapter 5 on, helping me out with some of the scenes and characters.

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For anyone who has read up until this point, those are volumes 1-4. Please give me a review on Amazon.com. The books on Amazon are fully edited, but the story is  the same. Please Please Please! *begging*

Book List: www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_…

Just click on each book title, and clink on the review link provided there. Thanks :)