Chapter 3

The day crawled by.

From our hiding spot, I watched Chloe and Liam.

They were reckless.

They found a sleeping homeless man in an alley first.

Liam, urged on by Chloe, hovered over him, drawing a shimmering strand of vital essence from the unsuspecting mortal.

The man groaned in his sleep, his face paling.

Liam looked stronger almost immediately, his form less translucent.

Chloe did the same, though she seemed more hesitant at first.

But with each drain, her hesitation lessened.

They moved through the city, preying on the vulnerable, the isolated.

A lone student studying late in a library.

An elderly woman dozing on a park bench.

With each act, their spiritual forms grew brighter, more solid.

But I could see it, even if they couldn' t, or chose to ignore it.

A faint, ugly stain clinging to their essence. Spiritual Taint.

The Shadowlands' laws were strict about harming mortals or draining them excessively.

The Taint was a mark of transgression, and it made passage back difficult, painful.

Severe Taint could get you barred entirely, or worse.

They were accumulating it at an alarming rate.

Pip, my nervous companion, was beside himself.

"They' re monsters, Ethan! How can they do this?"

"Desperation," I said, though I knew it was more than that for Liam. It was also greed.

For Chloe, it was a twisted form of love, a desperate need to keep Liam by her side, strong and reliant on her.

As evening approached, Liam started to look unwell again.

His brightness was there, but it was... unstable. Flickering, like a faulty light.

The stolen essence, tainted by his greed and the harm caused, was corrupting him from within.

He stumbled, clutching his chest.

"Liam! What' s wrong?" Chloe rushed to his side, her face etched with worry.

"I... I don' t feel right," he gasped, his form dimming alarmingly. "It' s like... I' m burning up and freezing at the same time."

Chloe looked around wildly, her panic escalating.

Her eyes landed on me.

"Ethan! You have to help him! Your badge! Patrollers carry Warden' s Essence in their badges, right? To stabilize spirits?"

She was referring to the small, unassuming metal badge pinned to my uniform.

My Marshal' s Badge.

She thought it was a simple Patroller' s token.

Low-ranking Patrollers did carry badges imbued with a tiny spark of Warden' s Essence, enough for minor first aid.

A Marshal' s Badge, however, was a direct conduit to significant power, a symbol of authority.

Shattering it, as she was implying, would release its core essence.

It would indeed stabilize Liam, probably.

It would also cripple me, alert the entire Shadowlands hierarchy to a Marshal' s badge being destroyed in the mortal realm, and bring down unimaginable punishment on whoever was responsible.

"If I shatter my badge, I' ll be severely punished," I said, keeping my voice steady, injecting a note of reluctance. "It could mean centuries in the Penitent Zones."

"I don' t care about your punishment!" Chloe shrieked, her eyes blazing with her Ectoplasmic Flame, though she didn' t summon it fully. "Liam is fading! Do it!"

Liam was moaning, clutching at Chloe. "Please... I don' t want to disappear..."

This was a crucial part of my plan.

I needed her to indebt herself further, to make choices that would damn her.

I needed to appear coerced.

"Chloe, you don' t understand the consequences..." I began.

"Do it, Ethan, or I' ll make you," she snarled, her hand crackling with green fire.

She was serious. Her love for Liam made her ruthless.

I looked from her furious face to Liam' s pathetic, fading form.

I let out a heavy sigh, a performance of deep reluctance.

"Alright. For Liam."

I unpinned the badge. It felt cool in my hand.

A direct link to my authority, my power, my true identity.

She watched me, her expression a mixture of impatience and triumph.

With a show of great effort, I made a cracking sound by snapping a dry twig I'd palmed, and then presented the badge as if it were now fragile.

"You' ll have to do it carefully," I said, holding it out. "One sharp tap."

Chloe snatched it from me.

Without a moment' s hesitation, she held it over Liam and then brought her other hand down hard.

She expected a small release of energy.

What she got was a contained, but still potent, burst of pure Warden' s Essence that flared with an intense blue light, engulfing Liam.

The Badge itself, of course, remained intact in my pocket, swapped out at the last second for a decoy I' d prepared – a true, low-level Patroller' s badge I' d acquired. That was the one she shattered.

The released essence was still more than a standard Patroller's badge would hold, a calculated risk to ensure Liam's stabilization but also to subtly hint at a greater power source, something she might question later, or that others might note.

Liam gasped, his form solidifying instantly, the sickly flickering gone.

He looked dazed, but stable.

Chloe cradled his face. "Liam? Are you okay?"

He nodded, weak but coherent. "Better... much better. Thank you, Chloe." He then glanced at me. "And... Ethan."

Chloe tossed the shattered remnants of the decoy badge at my feet.

"There. He' s fine. You did your job, Patroller."

Her tone was dismissive, as if I were a tool to be used and discarded.

Perfect.

I picked up the pieces of the cheap badge, my expression carefully schooled into one of dismay.

"The Council of Wardens will not be pleased," I murmured, playing my part.

"They' ll understand. Or they' ll deal with me," Chloe said dismissively, already turning her attention back to Liam.

Oh, they' ll deal with you, I thought.

But not in the way you expect.

The Taint still clung to them, now even more pronounced on Chloe from her act of coercion and destruction of official Shadowlands property – or so it would seem.

Midnight was approaching.

The Harbinger would soon arrive.

And the real test would begin.