The sulky lights flickered, buzzing until it stayed static. Two men sat across from each other at a metal table.
Sullen was an inmate of Ironbark. Convicted of murder. His death sentence had been sealed until this interview delayed it.
The man across the table gave him a distasteful look.
"Didya have any dreams before getting convicted?"
Sullen scratched his face.
"Yeah, I wanted to be a teacher."
He looked around the room, his eyes sliding over the aged walls and the single light bulb. There had been nothing to focus on, and too much silence in between questions for it to be ignored.
The old man stared at him, scrutinizing until he finally spoke.
"Well anyway, I got a deal that's better than death."
Sullens eyes filled with hope for a second, then returned to his lifeless glare.
"Anything is better than death." Sullen stared off to the walls again.
The interviewer scoffed.
He slid a letter on the metal table.
"A program for death row inmates. Sounds interesting, no?"
Sullen peeked with interest. Reading down the paper, his grim look turned into a surprised expression. The paper gave a brief detail that if he signed it, he would be pardoned from all of his previous crimes.
"No details Sullen. Signature is all I need."
The interviewer brushed his stubble while looking at Sullen
"Course there's not."
His slouch was visibly clear now. His orange jumpsuit was clearly over-sized for his stature.
Whatever it was, wasn't good. It was enough to not be said on paper. It was more of a contract than a program. If sullen agreed his crimes would be erased. It was too good to be true.
'Illegal? Aliens? A Prank?'
His thoughts continued to wonder until the man's look became more grim. The interviewer was an impatient man, giving Sullen no time to think. He had no choice. Would he want to die, or sign a mysterious contract?
'I wonder what could be equal to or worse than death?'
The pen slid on the table. Sullens face had matched his own name.
**
The walls always disgusted him, murky and colorless.
He spent the next two days contemplating if he signed his freedom, or the last of his life slaving work. Sullen took in the cell with new eyes. What once was a cage, was a purgatory.
His eyes burned from the light. Constantly held up in a cell, his pale skin finally tasted the sun. Sullens taste of the outside quickly ended when a bag tossed over his head.
Immediately, his world became a lot smaller and dark, as if he put on noise suppression headphones. He followed blindly, listening only to the noise of his heartbeat.
Sullen was taken by two officers, leading him until they stopped abruptly.
"If you knew what was coming, you'd wish I'd shoot you here. Rat."
The officer screamed close to Sullens ear to make sure he heard. His spine had tensed just from those words.
The van door closed after he was pushed in. Sitting on the floor, the place shook as the van flew off.
"Hey! You." A quiet voice called out on the other side of the van.
The muffled sound continued to mumble. The bag had been so dense that Sullen couldn't hear his own thoughts. It broke the laws of nature, but he ignored it for now.
The bag lifted off his face and the world came crashing down. His ears started to ring, and the heaviness of the air caused his head to ache.
*Devils sake*
He was a bald man, cleanly shaven, his nose had been deformed from what it seemed to be fights. His skin was tan and his jawline was sharp.
"The masks are for looks y'see?"
His voice was rattly like an old car. He seemed to be in his forties. Sullen looked down to his wrists, metal manacles covering them.
*Maybe I could kill him if it weren't for these.*
Another man lay on the side of the bald man. The size of him immediately stopped his ideas.
"Your name, I know it. Can't give you information. "
The bald man replied, noticing the confusion on Sullens face.
'of course, no information.'
The mysteries of this so-called "Program Shade" seemed to have no information. Sullen would have to enter it blindly, and going in blind was always the worst way to go.
The van had reeked of metal. Sullens jumpsuit was drenched with sweat and his hair stuck to his forehead.
Each bump the ragged van jumped over, caused his spine to jitter.
**
The van shook as it came into a halt.
The bald man signaled to the bag on the floor, telling Sullen to put it back on.
His world shrank, going small and dark again. The strangeness of it finally came to light
'Magic? What am I thinking, it's probably a thick cloth.'
Sullen smiled just thinking about it, but it didn't seem totally out of the question. His thoughts eventually became muddled and his eyes stapled shut.
Jumping off the van, the two men led him into a building.
The receptionist messed with keys until meeting with the bald man.
"Name?"
"Sullen," he responded.
"Just sullen?" Her tone mocking.
"Just sullen" the bald man copied.
The gum in her mouth popped and she gave a signal to proceed.
Several hallways and twists were made until they arrived at last.
The bag lifted off Sullen's head. Reclaiming his senses, the murmurs and chattering blared in his ears.
His mouth opened from surprise but quickly shut. The scenery was nothing like he had ever seen.
Pillars of marble rose to the ceiling, light peering inside from the tilted windows above. The floor gleamed like a mirror.
Most frightening of all, hundreds of inmates lay on their knees like Sullen.
'Heavens!'
His eyes scattered around the room, analyzing the different groups of inmates.
'50… 150.. 200… 300… 350.'
Sullens skills of counting came into light, something he found pride in himself doing.
He sat in a group of four, yet the rest sat in five.
A gasp appeared next to him suddenly.
"Amazing view isn't it!"
A man fell to his knees on the right side of Sullen.
He jumped in shock
"Heavens! you scared me."
Sullen said, his eyes popping out his sockets.
"Ah sorry for that."
The man said with a sincere tone.
The paleness of the man almost shook him more than the scare, though Sullen hadn't seen the sun in a few months as well.
His looks were also unique.
Ashen green hair, ghostly eyes without color.
'That can't be a ghost can it? No he was just talking. Did I finally go crazy?'
Sullen's face was blank
"Names Seagrave. You?"
"Sullen."
Seagrave's eyes scattered somewhere beside Sullens face.
"So are we all death row inmates?"
The pale man said, staring off.
*Thought so as well.*
It wouldn't have made sense if they just thrown two death-row inmates into a group of mediocre criminals.
Sullen peered his eyes off to an elevated platform not too far away.
"I guess so."
Noticing that there were 350 death row inmates in the same room, didn't sound like a good plan at all. This must be why the program shade had no information about it. Sullen could only wonder why the inmates were here. What did they gain with death rows? His thoughts were cut off by the loud voice of Seagrave.
"That bag was weird right? Magical wasn't it?"
"Exactly what I thought!"
Sullen let his excitement get the best of him. Seagrave matched the same skill of analyzing that he had.
The three inmates glared at them with irritation.
'I could really get along with this guy.'
Their conversation was cut by a man walking on the elevated platform. Each step echoed through the room with power. The chattering quickly stopped once he spoke.
"You all were fated to die in three weeks. That was your destiny. signed and scheduled. And yet, here you stand. Why, you ask? Because fate can change. Will you defy the fate that bound you to rot in hell, or will you prove that destiny bends for those with enough strength?"
The strong introduction made everyone's eyes glued to the man.
He wore a military uniform with countless metals gleaming light off them. His gray hair glistened in the light, his stubble under his chin to match.
"Each of you carries a thread of fate,"
he said, pointing at the center of his chest.
"Some are knotted with guilt, others bound by regret. "
He sighed with age.
"The Trials will show you what was always waiting on the other side. The Shade-Trials will show you the side of your story. But they do not judge you. They simply unravel what was already there."
The man let his words settle for a few moments
'Shade-Trials? Nothing he's saying is making sense.'
"Does anyone believe in magic?"
He asked the crowd.
The inmates laughed. Some stayed quiet, like Sullen and Seagrave.
Sullen looked back to the ghoul. He had a huge grin on his face. But it wasn't the amusement kind. He was excited, thrilled.
"Magic, he says! Bah spare me the shit. tell us whytha fuck we're here!"
A heckler laughed out with his hands in the air.
The crowd laughed in response. The man upstage exchanged a laugh that rasped with age.
Another heckler spoke
"Yeah old man! Tell us why were rea-
A sharp crack split the air.
Another charge released, killing both of the hecklers instantly.
Both of their knees buckled before anyone noticed.
Sullens ears became deafened as the crowd screamed. He looked upstage, searching for the gun that fired. Yet none of the guards fired their weapons.
'The old man must've done it.'
The veteran's arm had reached out, his pointer finger pointing to the Bodies.
"This is not a comedy, Rats. I'm giving you an opportunity, respect it."
He rested his arm while the crowd started to panic. The inmates seemed too scared for murderers.
It was because those two hecklers were not killed by a gun, but by the man upstage with no weapon.
Sullen paled. The idea of magic being real wasn't insane, the old man had just used it. Whatever magic he had used, no one could see. And that fact was the only reason why the crowd cowered in fear.