{Breaking news! My name is Roland Knight with The Bull's Horn News and I bring you report on yet another case of the alarming, Shadow Loss Fever. This marks the eighth case in the last month of this mysterious outbreak and our victim this time goes by the name of Alexander Mark. Mr. Mark is a veteran military general from the town of Star-Crest, where this report is being made, and sadly, he now joins a lineup of personnel who suffer from the dreadful Shadow Loss Fever, a strange phenomenon where one's shadow just ups and vani—}"Yeah right… Another day another dreadful story on the TV. I wonder if there's ever going to be something interesting that'll make me stop thinking about how shitty this place is" Said Avery Reed, rolling his eyes as he put the TV on mute.Avery was manning the counter of a convenience store where he works full time.["I don't know, Ave. Star-Crest is the neighboring town from ours so I'm not sure how to feel about an outbreak being so close. Maybe you should

Although mentally frozen as a result of the shocking turn of events, Avery's years of boxing training kicked in and like somebody whose limbs had been taken captive by an attachment of puppet strings, his body acted on its own.With lightning-fast reflexes, Avery's arms swung over his head and then further behind, using the momentum to lean backward into a limbo-like position. To maintain balance so as not to fall over, his left hand grabbed onto the door frame while his right hand supported his weight on the floor, effectively keeping his upper body parallel to it.It was after his body had gotten in this position on its own, being low enough to see his sister's disfigured body diving over him and not being able to touch a single piece of fabric on his skin or hair on his head that Avery came back to his senses.Cassandra landed a few meters away in the living room and Avery who still couldn't make sense of what was going on quickly flashed back to what he saw whilst in limbo underne

The hooded figure stood upright, a sense of triumph in his demeanor as he placed his right foot firmly on Avery's chest. He applied an increasing pressure, watching Avery's struggles for breath intensify as the ominous symptoms of the Shadow Loss Fever began to take hold of his body.Avery's once familiar grayish-blue irises were rapidly changing as the sclera, the white part of his eyes, started to vanish. His pupils dilated beyond normal boundaries, expanding to consume his irises entirely. Within minutes, his eyes would mirror those of his sister and the other victims of the Shadow Loss Fever – utterly black.His skin grew progressively paler with each passing second, while internally, he felt his very sense of self slipping away. Yet, amid these disorienting physical transformations, Avery remained resolute in his newfound singular focus – reuniting with his shadow confined within the canister and liberating Cassandra from her affliction."MarROW PuLSe aRRange SeVEN SeVENTh ToNe,"

After a quick assessment which caused a grim look to appear on the man's face, he said "My god, you're in such a terrible state. Were you caught up in the crash?""Honey, I think we need to call the ambulance—" the lady who looked really worried for Avery said but was interrupted when Avery coughed and started panting."Avery!" The man yelled as he rushed to help Avery.Avery was confused at first because his vision was starting to come back but then he saw who was next to him and he said "Mr. Prince, it is you and…your wife? What is two of you do here?"Mr. Prince and his wife looked at each other skeptically, wondering why Avery's grammar had gotten so poor all of a sudden but then they ignored it and focused back on Avery who they were more worried about than anything else."We saw what you did through the security camera footage sent to my phone. Not everyone would risk their safety to protect the shop from those hooligans so because of that we came to thank you while we were in th

For a moment, Avery thought that he had been caught in an updraft akin to a tornado which was powerful enough to force his body against the steady pull of gravity. However, after a quick analysis, he saw the truth and discarded that idea for two reasons.One of said reasons is that the wind pressure he felt never once increased which is needed for an updraft powerful enough to counteract the force of gravity on him. In fact, the wind pressure he felt all over his body stopped momentarily and became a cool breeze when he reached and experienced the point of maximum height.It was when he started falling upward that the wind gradually came back, however this time, in the opposite direction as his body started moving along the path of the gravitational stream.The second reason for the change of thought was in alignment with the first which is that he felt the wind pushing against him as he fell upward. This went against any possibility of an updraft being the reason why he was now "asce