Shadow Men

Just a little preface for this. This is an excerpt from a larger part of my story. If stuff doesn’t seem as fleshed out as it could be, that’s because I’m focusing in on the description of Shadow Men. Without further adieu, enjoy!

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The man extended his hand.  “I’m Colt.  First class hunter in the Seventh Sons.  We’re an organization devoted to ensuring the safety of humans and magical creatures.  We see a human harassing a magical creature, we put a stop to it.  That’s also a vice versa thing too.  In fact, that’s why I’m here.  I need to reestabolish a treaty with the shadow men.”

“Treaty?” I asked.

“Magical creatures are bound by magic to obey to agreements they enter in to.  The wording of the original treaty specified so long as the original treaty makers lived and the last one of them died off yesterday.  I need to enter into a new treaty with them, this time with better and more permanent wording. Now, explain to me exactly what you saw of them on your way to the village.”

“They stayed at the edge of my vision.  Alec said not to pay them any mind and they would leave us alone.  What exactly makes them dangerous?” I asked.

Colt grimaced.  “Shadow men are an insidious creature.  They grab a hold of you and put you to sleep and sap your life force over the course of several minutes.  Most live out a full lifespan in their dreams during those few minutes.  They fall in love with people who are nothing more than figments of their imaginations.  They have children that aren’t real.  They form friendships, enjoy barbecues, have careers, all of it just being a dream.  It’s a general rule of thumb to let the shadow men finish their meal before we kill them.  Most who wake up from such a dream have already lived out half their lives and simply can’t reconcile that it was all fake.  They either go crazy, kill themselves, or seek out another shadow man.”

“What?  Why?” I asked dumbly.  Looking back, it made perfect sense.

“Imagine you find out the woman you fell in love with and lived with for twenty years was a figment of your imagination.  Your two beautiful children were fake.  Imagine that your best friend who you worked with, laughed with, and fought with was never actually real.  And once you wake up from that, you can never ever see any of them again unless another shadow man gets to you.”

I sat there, slightly taken aback.  This was oddly specific for somebody to make up on the spot.

“Were you…” I began to ask.

“No,” he said curtly.  “Not me at least.”