David was sitting on the sea shore of the Marlovik sea, staring at it's distant horizon. Currently David, Henry, Harold, Dylan and Kyle were spending their winter vacation at a private beach resort owned by Harold's father.
This resort was located at the western coast of Jerenberg, Jerenberg is a large continent consisting of only one country; The Republic of Jerenberg. This large continent was surrounded by three oceans at north, south and east. On it's western coast lied a freezing cold sea but somehow global warming was devouring it's coolness like a gluttonous shark feasting on a whale's corpse.
David was looking at the wonderful sunset view, it felt like the sky was painted in vibrant shades of lilac. The sea was gently caressing his feet with it's cold waves. As he continued to stare at the horizon, he felt like life was very fair, really it was... at least for him...
He had been passing most of his time on the sea shore ever since they had arrived at the resort. Every evening he would sit here idly, just pondering about the future and the past. David was anxious, depressed, annoyed, confused and happy. His mind was a storm of emotions.
'This is an unwelcomed vacation.'
As David continued to peer into the horizon and it's lilac expanse, he pondered about his past. Why wouldn't he? He wasn't really sure if he would survive this ordeal.
Despite being an orphan he could've made better choices as a child and teenager but he chose cold darkness instead of the warm embrace of light. He wanted to run away from his dark past and he successfully did but what he desired most was likely going to be stolen from him soon.
Peace...
David wanted to live a peaceful life, he despised wars, disasters and conflicts. He had survived in conflicts and chaos, tackled many dire conundrums and his constant efforts to build a smooth and peaceful life for him and his brother were succeeding,... until the Zardens appeared.
It sounded so unfair but it wasn't if David did count his sins, the sins which he wanted to atone for after becoming filthy rich. David wanted to establish an orphanage where he could save those poor orphans who needed food, clothes, shelter and most importantly love.
Not every parent deserves a child but every child deserves loving parents. Many problems could have been solved if every child had kind and loving parents.
David was a monster created by society, a monster who had killed countless people with his very hands. He always believed that if he had been raised in a normal environment, then today his hands wouldn't have been stained with blood of thousands of people. It wouldn't be an overstatement if someone said that he had suffered more than an average citizen of Jerenberg.
David had killed so many people, that he had lost the count long ago. But if he had to guess then the number would surely exceed a thousand. But the thing that which tore his heart apart was that half of them were just kids.
Those kids were also orphan like him, many of them were his cherished friends and some were his enemies but he didn't want to kill either of them. David had committed grave sins yet he desired a peaceful life.
'Such a funny thing... how hypocritical...'
David was a serial killer but he was living quite a comfortable life in Jerenberg's best high school. And recently he was dreaming of a nice life ahead. He closed his eyes as he heard the sound of the tranquil waves. It felt like the sea was mourning with him, lamenting along with him.
'...I don't know what to do...'
He still desired a peaceful future where he could happily live with his brother and friends. Besides, in the seventeen years of the life he had never given up on his dream of living peacefully then why should he now?
'Fuck! I'll survive through this crisis too.'
As David was lost in thoughts, he suddenly heard footsteps behind him, even though the sand was soft to walk on and silenced most sounds, but David could still hear the footsteps, especially because the person was close. Due to his observant nature, he could tell who was approaching him.
"What is it?"
David asked in a hoarse voice without turning back and continued to stare into the horizon.
A few moments passed in silence as he heard a voice laced in seriousness.
"One more person has been found dead."
David's eyes twitched in annoyance as he sighed heavily and turned towards Henry and asked:
"So this is the third death, isn't it?"
Henry nodded.
"Yeah... the 'shadow devourer' is a careful person. They are not leaving a single trace..."
David grimaced as he stood up.
"Well, Zverius said that it's not the work of a Zarden dweller but rather a human vessel."
Henry slightly frowned as he asked hesitantly.
"How can he be so sure?"
David shook off all the sand which had stuck to his shorts. As he got rid of the sand he shrugged nonchalantly and said:
"That's because he has never seen a crimson technique like that before. But this is just a speculation of his. Anyways, we'll discuss rest of this matter during dinner."
***
Shadow devourer...
A strange being who lurked during the night and chose their prey randomly. As the name suggested this abomination didn't eat anything made of flesh but rather consumed the shadow of their prey. It has killed three people since it's first appearance.
All of the three people's corpses had one obvious characteristic in common. Their corpses didn't cast any shadows. The weirdest thing was that all of them were found dead unscathed, not even a single scratch on their bodies.
However, the first victim: Eugene Werner...his neck had shown some signs of being strangled. But those signs weren't life threatening. So... the only conclusion doctors were able to draw out from the situation was that all the victims had died as a result of their shadow being consumed by the 'shadow devourer'.
As absurd as it sounded but this was the only conclusion they could come up with. Until now it was believed that the world worked on laws of science and there was nothing which couldn't be explained by science but now, humanity was met with a strange being who consumed shadows...
Over the past seven days... three people had fallen prey to this enigmatic being. However, the scientific community made a significant breakthrough when they enacted a theory that 'shadow devourer' was actually a human or an abomination who could shape-shift into human.
The scientist's reasoning was that the signs they found on Eugene's neck clearly indicated that he was strangled by a human or at least a creature who could shape-shift into human so 'shadow devourer' must be either of these.
However, even this theory had faced disagreements and there were now various theories popping up in all over the world. There was now a huge stir in the world regarding the notorious shadow devourer. What was it? Who was it? How was this possible? And many more questions.
The 'shadow devourer' was devouring shadows of random people and left no clue behind. The whole social media was now full of news and research articles regarding 'shadow devourer'. It was the most trending topic.
Almost everyone had read these news and research articles regarding the infamous abomination. But humans weren't the only ones who were reading these stuff...
In a luxurious room, there was a tall gray masculine figure sitting on a gaming chair and reading an another latest research article on his gaming computer.
The grey skinned figure had long crimson hair with a braid tied neatly on his back. His silver eyes glistened with curiosity, sharp vertical eye slits lay within those silver eyes.
A mark of a flambeau was clearly visible on his sharp and thin face. His lean, muscular build was conspicuous as he only wore a neatly ironed red shorts and a black sweatshirt.
The figure was no one else but Roy, a fellow Zarden and an accomplice of Zarius. As Roy scrolled down through the article and finished reading it, he smiled and muttered to himself.
"'Shadow Devourer'...how fascinating..."