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3.13 SHADOWLAND By Eddie Nambulous This ain't gonna come as a shock to any of you but the Gua aren't above a thing. They're cold, merciless, scientific and unemotional. They're evil incarnate. And every time I think they've gone about as far as they could go they up it a notch and surprise me with their latest dastardly deed. So I'm ranting, but it's on Cade's behalf and let me tell you this time I'm pissed to the max. Sure I kept it cool in the moment, didn't want Foster to see how riled I was when we first figured out what was up. But now I'm fighting mad. See the Gua have been messing with kids. And I don't mean just now. I mean a heck of a long time ago. And guess who one of those kids was. Can you? Well it doesn't matter 'cause I'm gonna tell you anyway. None other than my hero and yours, Cade Foster. The Gua's very own Subject One-one-seven. That's right. The Gua were after Cade when he was just a boy. They stole him from his mom, tortured him, toyed with him and manipulated his head to some violent extremes. And then they hid it from him for the rest of his life. Guess we should thank 'em for small favors? NOT! Seems Mabus was interested in Nostradamus' "Twice Bless'd Man" from the get go and had one of his Empiricists kidnapping 12 year olds who fit the criteria in the Chicago area to root out the prophesized future hero. The Empiricist, a Gua-freak named Rook, took the kids to a white room and ran a series of perverse tests on his captives essentially testing their mettle. Even then Cade could tell this guy wasn't human. Even then he had the eye. Rook was a pure scientist. Relished the idea of proving the prophecies wrong. His leader knew one of the greatest impediments to the Gua's success would be the prophesized "human savior." Cade insisted he was no savior but he also told Rook he wouldn't be beat. Rook assured young Foster the Gua would win. Inside the white room Rook fed Cade's anger toward his stepfather / monster. Ned appeared and taunted Cade. Rook gave Foster a gun. He gave the kid an opportunity to kill Ned. But Cade wouldn't do it. Even then he understood that you don't take another human life intentionally. Cade was being regressed. That's the way he finally discovered all of these suppressed memories. We'd been led into this situation by Nostradamus who suggested Cade might find some secret skill for the battle ahead in his past. Now Foster was doing the work. Inside his brain he met a stranger, someone who looked just like himself. The doppelganger said Cade would understand all of these events later, when prophecy and fate intersected, but now there was someone else who needed to see him. Cade needed to go help himself. So he did. Our Cade went into his head and told his young-self he could make it through all this. He'd win because he knew the truth. And then it was time for Cade's final test. Ned was attacking Rose, Cade's mom. Rose begged Foster to defend her, to kill Ned. Then Cade's real dad was there, and he was goading Cade to do the evil deed too. But Foster was and always has been a fella of exceptional standing and he couldn't be manipulated. Not by his anger, not by some lame-brained alien sicko. Cade turned the gun on the real culprit. The test was over and our boy had won. Cade told Rook if he could beat him then the rest of humanity could defeat the aliens too. And then Rook was dead ... shot by the stranger. The man who looked just like Cade Foster today. Back at his mother's house Cade wondered who the Stranger was. The answer was as much of a puzzle as the rest of the events to the kid. The Stranger said he was going to be Cade's guide, when a great evil threatened the world and Cade was the only one who could stop it. He wasn't human but he wasn't Gua either. And he said that Cade would only remember all of this when the end "is near." Until then, Cade would live blissfully unaware of the threat. Young Cade was home. And so was the Cade we all know and love. But Jordan, Cade and I didn't know what to think. Not human and not Gua, what the heck was this Stranger? Didn't matter, the quatrain said he was gonna be there in the future and Cade believed him. So then will I. Message to the Gua: You can mess with a hero at any stage of their life and they'll still be a hero. So back off our kids, 'cause there's a whole lotta Cade Foster's out there and even if they're smaller than the rest of us they can still kick your ass. Or I ain't Crazy. Eddie READ CADE'S CORRESPONDING JOURNAL
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