Two Wrongs Chapter Four

By

Jason Wilhelm

and

Bryan Nickelberry

Chapter 4

Shahara woke after what seemed like forever on a cold, damp stone floor of what could only be her ‘nice little area’ her captor had spoken of before. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, slowly adjusting to the drastic change in lighting than she had become used to. She was in a tiny square cell surrounded by two walls of thick iron bars meeting at one corner while the other two walls were the same stone as the flooring that met at the opposite corner. There was a wooden cot hanging from one of the stone walls just a couple of feet off the ground, which she assumed must be a makeshift bed. On it was a ratty looking blanket with various colors of stains on it that looked as if a dog had been chewing on it for the last few months, and in the corner was a metal pot that took no imagination to figure out what it was for, the smell alone gave it away. While still sitting on the floor, Shahara spun around towards the door of her cell, only to find a rather large rat sitting on what must have been a tray for food, while eating a chuck of moldy cheese. The rat was all it took to make her quickly come to her feet and let out a small shriek as she backed up towards the bed, which in turn made the rat take off out of her cell and into the shadows of the main room.

“His name is Ezekiel” said a strange voice from the other side of the stone wall she had just attempted to climb up. Shahara jumped at the sound of his voice, only now thinking that she might not be the only one being experimented on here.

“What did you say?” Shahara asked.

“The rat you just scared off, his name is Ezekiel” said the stranger once again. It sounded like an older man with an accent she couldn’t quite place but knew didn’t belong to this region.

“You named the rat?”

“Not just him, there’s Abigail, Helga, and Jeremiah as well.”

“Perfect.” Shahara said flatly, as she started scanning the rest of her cell for the other three rats.

“And what about your name?” the stranger asked.

“Shahara, my name is Shahara.”

“What a beautiful name, Shahara. It sounds familiar, though I can't quite figure out why.”

“I’m sorry, where are my manners? My name is Nicholi, but you may call me Nick” the stranger said after a brief pause. Shahara wasn’t sure that she should trust Nick so soon without knowing more about their situation, and she was naturally distrustful to begin with, so she figured she would play this out a little just to make sure this man wasn’t just a ploy to get information out of her. Shahara realized that for the first time in who knows how long, she was no longer restrained by the tendrils attached to her body, but when she examined her forearm, in their place were what seemed to be tiny little antennas attached to the sockets in her skin. She reached down and touched one of the antennas only to receive quite a shock. Shahara let out a shriek as the pain quickly traveled up her arm and down her spine.

“Sorry, should have warned you not to touch those, and also do not try to escape either. Those little buggers will start up again if you venture too far out of your cell without him there with you” Nick said.

“Thanks for the warning,” Shahara said sarcastically.

“Judging by the amount of time and hardware he put into that cell here recently, I'd have to imagine that he’s very afraid of you getting out and ruining things for him. Must have pretty powerful abilities I'd imagine.”

“Not enough if I'm still trapped here,” Shahara responded.

“What can you do? That is if you don’t mind me asking. Shahara felt like he was trying to probe her now, but seeing as her captor already knew what she could do, she didn’t see any harm in telling Nick.

“I’m what he refers to as a spirit summoner,” Shahara answered.

“Well that would make sense that he would….” Nick started to say before he trailed off.

“That he would what Nick?” Shahara heard Nick mumbling but couldn’t understand what he was saying.

“Shahara the Grim. You are Shahara the Grim, aren’t you?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Shahara asked.

“You’re the one he’s been waiting for. I’m not sure why, but for some reason he thinks he can accomplish his crazy plans so long as he has you within his grasp” Nick said.

“What is he planning that requires me being locked up in here?”

“I’m not sure, but whatever he has planned will most likely not be favorable for either you or I” Nick said. ‘Great’ Shahara thought as she made her way to the makeshift bed attached to the wall and sat down. Silence fell between the two as Shahara contemplated what she was supposed to do next. She was just starting to realize how cool it was down here compared to the operating style room she was previously being held in, and the dampness of the brick against her back wasn’t helping matters either. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm her mind from the storm that was clouding her judgment.

“I knew Leland” said Nick from the other side of the wall she was leaning against, breaking her concentration after just a short while.

“Judging by the silence on your end, there is a lot of information Leland failed to share with you that I will now have to make up for” Nick said.

“How do you know this much about me, and who all else knows?” Shahara asked.

“I know what you're thinking, and no, our captor does not know this information about your past. I know because Leland and I used to be members of a group known as the spirit summoners. We kept track of the number of summoners in the world and tried our best to make sure no one abused the power too much” Nick explained.

“Like locking up people for using the power inconsistent with some holy being you worshiped?” Shahara said sarcastically.

“We were never really that wholesome of a group. A good number of our own members used their abilities on a regular basis to push their own agendas, whatever they might have been. We just didn’t want any one person overstepping into the realm of villainy.”

“So why am I such a prize?” Shahara asked.

“Leland and I were two of the most powerful summoners that we had ever kept track of, and when Abbey brought you to our earth, you possessed a skill set at such a young age that took most everyone else twice as long to master, if not longer. By the time our group disbanded, you were more powerful than any of the rest of us could ever imagine.”

“How can that be, Shadow practically does everything while I sit back and watch.”

“That's not what made you strong. Your connection with him was unlike any other person we had ever seen” Nick said.

“A lot of good that's done for me here recently” Shahara said, slumping back down against the wall of her cell.

“That’s because you are being too hard on yourself. Focus on your failure and that is what you will get every time you try afterwards. Learn from it and move on.”

“Don’t you dare start the wise old man thing right now Nick, i’m not in that deep yet” Shahara said jokingly. She heard Nick chuckle on the other side of the wall and for the first time in several days, she even found a smirk forming on her own lips.

“We did have one theory as to why you were as powerful as you were at such a young age.” Nick said.

“What would that be?”

“Not sure if it’s true anymore, being imprisoned and all, but at the time you were the only female summoner to have ever existed.” Before Shahara could fully process all the information she had just been given, a large metal door on the other side of the room slowly started to open, creaking loud enough to send the rats scurrying across the room. Suddenly, Shahara felt a quick twinge of pain run all through her body and when that had passed, she found that she could no longer move any part of her body. Fortunately for her, she had still been sitting on the makeshift bed when this happened. A short, balding man with a greying beard stretching down to his rather plump belly walked into the room, closing the door slowly behind him and filling the room with the same creaking sound it made when it opened. He was holding what looked like a remote in his hand as he made his way over to her cell, peering through his perfectly round glasses with his beady little eyes at her as if he was examining some new animal on display at the zoo. ‘There is no way this is the same man who has been torturing me all this time’ thought Shahara.

“Good to see that you are awake little girl, I hope you like your new accommodations,” said her captor. He stood there for a few seconds as if he was expecting her to say something back, knowing that the little remote he had in his hand was keeping her from doing anything.

“Nothing to say? Oh, that's right, I have this handy little remote now to keep you in line. However, I do need you to answer a few questions for me, so please refrain from smarting off again” he said as he poked a few buttons on the remote. Shahara felt a quick twinge once again and was now able to move her upper body, but her legs still seemed to be paralyzed.

“Does Snow White know what you have been up to Grumpy?” asked Shahara, knowing full well what was about to happen to her next. She didn’t care much anymore, and she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to let that one pass. Her captor quickly poked a button on the remote and the familiar shot of electrical current shot through her body, causing her to fall off her bed and onto the cold hard ground. By the time he finally let off the button, she realized that he had also caused her to be completely paralyzed once again.

“You stupid filthy American dog, I give you a little bit of freedom and this is how you repay me!” her captor yelled as he hit the button again, sending the shock through her body once more, only this time she wasn’t able to protect herself during the muscle spasms and had bashed her head into the floor a couple of times.

“That's quite enough, Stepan,” said Nick. Stepan let off the button and walked over to Nicholi’s cell.

“Made a new friend, have we Nicholi? I think i’ll be the judge of what is or is not enough” Stepan said as he kicked at the bars of the cell. He walked back over to Shahara’s cell, and when he noticed that she had hit her head hard enough to make it bleed as well as soil herself during the shock, he reached into the bag at his side and threw into her cell a clean towel and some white cloth shirt and pants.

“The questions will have to wait it seems. Clean yourself up little girl” Stepan said as he turned and walked out of the room, poking the buttons on the remote once again to free her from her paralysis. Shahara laid there on the floor glaring at him until the creaking from the door finally stopped and he was gone from the room. Shahara pushed herself up to almost a sitting position as she was still holding herself upright with her left hand while she examined her head with the other.

“Are you alright Shahara?” Nick asked as she pulled her hand away from her head and saw the blood dripping off.

“I’ll live,” Shahara said as she reached for the towel and clothing. After she quickly got the bleeding to stop on her head, she slowly removed her dingy, soiled clothes, cleaned herself up as best as she could, and put on the clothing that her captor had provided her. Had she had any other choice, she would have thrown them back at him, but for now she would have to settle for what she was given. The shirt was a little small and didn’t leave much to the imagination with how chilly it was in the cell, and her pants only made it halfway down her calves, but were tight enough at the waist to keep them from falling down on their own.

“Either you are not that bright, or you have one heck of a pain tolerance” Nick said after a while.

“An argument could probably be made for either of those” Shahara said as she climbed into her bed and laid down. All of the excitement and pain drained the last of her energy and before long, Shahara was fast asleep.

*****

Shahara awoke to the sound of a metallic tray scraping across the block floor. When she opened her eyes, she found a frail old man wearing the same type of clothing who also had the electrodes attached to his body delivering what was probably supposed to be a meal to her cell. The man didn’t say a single word as he finished pushing her tray into the cell through a small notch at the bottom of the door. He then turned back around and made his way out of the room through the same creaking door as her captor. She sat up and began to rub the remainder of the sleep from her eyes and tried looking around the room for any indication as to what time of the day it was. With no success there, she turned her attention to the meal that consisted of what looked like some sort of scrambled egg, a couple pieces of bread, and a chunk of some type of meat that she couldn’t distinguish. Normally she would have vomited at the thought of eating what was on the tray, but since she had eaten very little in the time she had been here, she quickly ate everything on the plate, trying not to focus on the taste and smell. Also on the tray was a plastic coffee mug full of water that she used to wash down her breakfast; at least she assumed that this was a breakfast meal.

“You’ll learn to tolerate the food after being here for a while” Nick said from the other side of the wall.

“I’m not planning to stay here that long, Nick. Either I'm going to get out, or they’re going to have to kill me trying” Shahara responded. as she walked back to her bed and sat down. There was a long pause before Nick said anything else.

“Now I know why Leland fought so hard for you” Nick finally said.

“What do you mean?”

“Remember me telling you that our summoners group had been disbanded? Well not long before that happened, when you were still fairly young but out on your own and causing a great deal of mischief, the group leaders met to discuss what our action should be regarding you. Most wanted to hunt you down and make you disappear, but Leland fought to have you left alone. He argued that what you were doing was not necessarily evil and that you were just trying to make your way in a world that wasn’t your own.” Shahara let that sink in for a few minutes while she wrapped the blanket around her shoulders.

“So who disbanded the group?” Shahara asked.

“Leland did. Not long after that meeting, the current leader was killed and Leland stepped up and disbanded the group for the fact that too many people were only there for their own agendas.”

“Why are you telling me all of this Nick?” Shahara asked.

“Because I'm not too sure that Leland would ever get the chance to tell you, or if you’d even believe him if he did. Maybe because I always believed that you were capable of something far greater than petty theft and villainy, and maybe I can help you escape from this place.”

“And why would you help someone like me escape?” Shahara asked.

“Because you’re an angel compared to these people” Nick responded. Shahara chuckled. It wasn’t that long ago that she did things worse than what was happening to her right now. If Nick only knew, he might second guess himself on his assessment.

“I’m not the same petty thief that I was when you were still a free man Nick. I’ve done horrible things.”

“I know. You also were not known as Shahara the Grim while I was a free man either. Word of your accomplishments reached even to me in my little cell through some of the other prisoners that passed through here. I know the devil who keeps me trapped here, and trust me, while you may have done things just as horrible as they have, your intentions seem to have been completely different” Nick said. Shahara chuckled to herself once again, but not because she thought he was wrong, in fact it was the exact opposite.

“I thought we talked about this whole wise old man deal?” Shahara finally said.

“You talked about it, and I ignored you” Nick responded. Shahara found herself laughing a little louder than she had intended over Nick’s comment, and for the first time she found herself trusting someone whom she hadn’t even seen with her own two eyes.

“Alright Nick, tell me how you think you are going to be able to get me out of here. What tricks could you possibly have up your sleeve?”

“It’s simple in theory, but it's a technique I've only seen one other summoner accomplish before. Instead of summoning Shadow in another part of the room, you are going to summon him within yourself.”

“Excuse me? Just when I was beginning to think you weren't crazy, you come up with something like this” Shahara said.

“I’m serious. The electric shock from the defense system is going to hurt like hell, but if you can tolerate the pain for long enough, you should be able to walk right through the cell door just like your Shadow would be able to do on his own.” Shahara was still pretty skeptical about Nick’s plan, but at this point it was better than hers.

“So you’ve seen this done before?” Shahara asked.

“Yes. However it is going to require a whole lot of energy to accomplish it and I'm pretty sure it’s going to get Stepan’s attention as well. So you are probably going to want to build up your strength over then next few days before you try it” Nick suggested, which was a waste of time since Shahara was already trying to remember the sigil she used to get back to Ego Blasters mansion to use as soon as she got on the other side of this cell door. Shahara channeled all of the energy she had and focused everything on summoning Shadow within herself instead of somewhere else in the room.

Everything was going as it normally did at first, and then she felt the pain of the electric shock running through her body from her cell's defense, which she was able to put aside, but then a new pain suddenly started coursing through her body as she felt another presence within her own body. It felt like her flesh was being ripped from her own body and that she was burning alive from the inside out all at the same time. She could tell she was screaming but how loud and for how long was a mystery to her. Slowly the pain started to subside and she looked down at her hands only to find that they looked as if they were phasing in and out of reality, just like Shadow always seemed to be. She began walking toward her cell door and without stopping, walked straight through it, just like Nick said she would. He was also correct on it alerting Stepan, and as soon as Shahara saw him walk through that door, a blinding rage pulsed through her and before she knew it, she already had his throat in her hands.

She picked him up a solid two feet off the ground with just her left hand and watched him beg as he struggled to breath. She had no idea what he was saying, she couldn’t hear anything in this state, but from the panic in his eyes, she assumed he was begging for his life. She could see him mashing the buttons on his little remote, trying for his life to make something work, but at this point, she could no longer feel the pain. With her free hand, Shahara reached up, grabbed Stepan’s head, and with a violent twist she snapped his neck and watched his lifeless body fall to the floor. She looked down at his lifeless body and suddenly the rage that had been driving her flowed out of her like a break in a dam and before she knew it, she was lying in a pile on the floor as well.

Nick was right about that requiring a lot of energy as it took her awhile to get up off the floor and stay standing without leaning on the wall, and it didn’t take him long to tell her it again.

“Did you listen to nothing I said Shahara? I told you you would have to build up your energy to pull that off” Nick said.

“Really? Because it looks like I made it work pretty well for my first try” Shahara said as she pushed off the wall and slowly made her way towards the cells. As soon as she got to where her captor's dead body lay on the floor, she suddenly remembered the sole reason for her coming here.

“Dammit!” Shahara shouted. “How could I forget the damn amulet stone.”

“Are you talking about the gem that Stepan keeps in his bag?” Nick asked. Shahara knelt down next to Stepan’s lifeless body and grabbed the bag he had tied around his waist. Dumping out the contents on the floor provided her with a few surprises, but the stone she was looking for was obvious within the other treasures he had in there.

“That bastard had it on him the whole time” Shahara said as she reached to put it in her pocket, only to remember that she didn’t have any. She reached down and grabbed the bag and the few other items that she thought might come in handy and strapped it around her waist. She also grabbed the keys to the cells and made her way over to Nick’s cell. Inside she found an older man in weak shape, with what must have been everything he had accumulated over the years wrapped in a bed sheet around his shoulder.

“Looks like you’re all ready to go,” Shahara said.

“Well I figured since you weren't able to hear me apparently, I would just get my stuff ready to go. Shahara unlocked his cell door and stepped back, giving him space to walk out.

“You're more than welcome to join me. I could probably use your help here shortly” Shahara said.

“Thank you, but I must decline. I still have a family here somewhere, I owe it to them to try and find them.

“Very well, thank you for everything Nicholi,” Shahara said as she extended her hand to him. He looked down at her hand and without further hesitation, he reached out and took her hand, shaking with a force one would not expect from such a man.

“Until next time, Shahara the Grim.”

“Until next time” Shahara repeated. She turned around and began tracing the sigil she needed to make her way back. The thought of him and what he had done to her filled her with rage once again, and when she made it back, she would make him pay for setting her up.