In the suspended darkness, Mel felt serene, a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a long time. She couldn’t even remember the last time her mind had been quiet like this and her body had felt completely enveloped in a warm blanket. Her body began to stir and Mel fought against it to stop. Her weightlessness grew into heavy limbs and then she began to fall inside the darkness. She was tumbling down toward something, fear gripping her. Strong hands were prying her jaws open. Mel fought against them too, but couldn’t regain control.
Her mouth opened into a thin slit, and out poured the warmness and the serene feeling. Mel whimpered against the loss of it. She wanted to press the dark mass back into her body. She wanted to go back to the suspended darkness, where she didn’t need to worry about anything.
Austin came into focus, his face lined with worry, and in front of them the dark mass swirled around like a menacing cloud. Mel pushed Austin’s hands away, looking at him with a frown. The dark tinge around her vision was gone, but the worm still slithered around somewhere in the back of her skull.
“Have mercy on us, oh great one,” Lenera said, turning her face to the dark mass. “We didn’t know we had more to give you. Melissa’s true face has been revealed. She belongs to you now. Take her as your own and make her into one of your shadows.”
A feral smile spread across Lenera’s lips as she turned her face toward Melissa. The wrinkles along the sides of her cheeks stretched as she bared her teeth. Mel swallowed hard, sitting up and taking Austin’s hand.
Lenera’s words slung her out of her stupor and she was no longer drunk on the feelings the void had given her. She knew what it was now, the dark mass that had entered her. It wasn’t the dragons or the sun. It wasn’t peace or serenity. It was the void, and it was swirling toward her once more.
Gabriella grabbed Hanon and lifted him up under his arm. Luthel had dropped Sandra, Lenera’s daughter, in the distraction Mel had created. He grabbed Hanon’s other arm and together they were leading him away from the circle. Mel knew she needed to get Austin and leave too. She didn’t know how to fight this thing.
As she got up on her feet, ready to run after her friends, figures emerged from the night. They were smokey forms, silhouettes of people really, and Mel’s blood went cold. Austin’s blade glowed blue, and the shadows kept approaching, walking straight toward them into the circle. Surrounding Mel and Austin on all sides. They were stuck here, and the only option was to fight this in any way they could.
Mel shared a glance with Austin, and he nodded toward her. He wouldn’t leave her here to face this alone. It made Mel both angry and grateful. He could save himself. They’d probably let him go if he ran now. But his feet were firmly planted on the ground. A solid rock among the ever-shifting sands.
Mel squeezed his hand tight and released it as the shadows drew smokey blades from nothingness. She had no weapon to fight them with, so she backed up against Austin and followed his movements as he threw out water against one of the shadows, turning the flowing liquid into solid ice as he went.
The water mixed with the smoke and as it turned to ice, the shadow grew stiff, weighing it down. Stuck in place with half its leg turned solid, the creature stared with white eyes at Austin. A hostile look and a silent promise to kill.
Mel’s back was pressed against Austin’s when a shadow reached out his smokey hand toward her. Mel pulled back, pushing Austin forward and he spun around from the motion, slashing his sword against the arm of the shadow. It went straight through, cutting off the limb from the monster. The smoke was free though, and it traveled back to the creature, reassembling a new arm against its side.
Five shadows were still approaching them, with only the sixth stuck in place by Austin’s ice magic. Melissa looked around and saw Austin’s arm being grabbed by a smokey limb. He iced the side of the shadow’s face, but couldn’t get his arm loose from the grip.
Mel felt hands grabbing her too. Several shadows had advanced on her and she had nothing to use against them. Her heart hammered in her chest and her breath grew labored, like she was running a marathon while standing still. She fought against their grip, trying to get free of the monsters.
One of them brought up its blade, like she’d annoyed the creature, and sliced a wide gash in her thigh. Mel cried out in pain and slumped down against the ground. The blade had cut through her pant leg and into her flesh, although the wound was long, it didn’t look that deep. More a marking from the shadow, to make her stay put.
Blood seeped through her fingers and she held her hand pressed against the pain. From the blood, Mel saw dark wisps of smoke trailing up in the air. Her eyes grew wide, and she had the impulse to yell at the shadow’s face; What have you done?
But the sound didn’t come through her throat. It stayed in her chest, aching like a heartbreak. Her lips trembled as she looked around at the white eyes surrounding her, looking down at her. Somewhere close by, she felt the dark mass swirl toward her in the wind. It was coming to claim her as its shadow.
Austin yelled in the background, fighting against the shadows to get to Mel. She heard his frustration and struggle, but she knew it was useless. They were too many, and Austin couldn’t even hurt them. All he could do was slow them down and freeze them in place. It just wasn’t enough.
Mel took in a deep breath, readying herself for the uncomfortable feeling of swallowing down the dark mass into her body once more. In a way, she longed for it, too, for the feeling of total serenity and peace. It was strange how she almost wanted to become a shadow for the void. Something that had felt completely impossible just days ago. When they hadn’t even known where the shadows came from. When they hadn’t known, they’d been people just like her.
The dark mass swirled in front of her eyes and she felt it wrap tendrils around her throat, keeping her in place. The worm slithered in the back of her skull and her vision became tainted with black. Her jaw opened on its own and she lost control of her body. The worm had taken over.
But then she waited, and nothing happened. Nothing dark slipped past her throat. Nothing choked her. Mel’s gaze flickered around, seeing white eyes turning away from her and the void slithering back in the wind. From the corner of her eye, Mel saw a beaten and bloodied figure stepping up to the shadows, his eyes wide and his gaze firm. He didn’t have a trace of fear in his face. Mel recognized his dark hair and the way his shoulders moved, even if his face was swollen from too many beatings. She wanted to yell at Hanon to get away, to save himself, but her body was still not hers to use.
His mouth opened wide and then his jaw snapped, dropping toward the ground and the unnatural angle stretched his face tight. Mel saw straight down his throat and something blue and cold was glowing down there in the deep. The blue glow traveled upward, out of his mouth in a cone of ice, showering Mel, Austin and the shadows in a shivering cold. Her limbs stuck together, her clothes frozen into stiffness.
Hanon slumped down to the ground, the ice gone from his breath and the determination from his eyes. Gabriella and Luthel were there, catching him as he fell. They dragged Hanon’s limp body away from the circle once more. The villagers who’d been onlookers this entire time gasped and one whispered, “The dragons have returned.”
Mel’s vision swam, but the dark tinge was gone once more and inside her belly a warmth spread out to her limbs and warmed her skin back to a healthy pink color. She stood up among the statues of shadows frozen in place, with no body heat to warm them up. They were stale against the ice.
Austin looked stuck in place, not able to move fully, tips of frost glowing from the edges of his black hair. Mel put her hands on his chest and the heat from her body spread into his and warmed his heart.
She grabbed his hand and together they stepped back from the group of frozen shadows and looked at the angry white eyes staring at them. Mel’s grip around Austin’s hand tightened, and she knew they needed to run now. Whatever Hanon had done, he wouldn’t be able to do that again, and these shadows would eventually thaw back to wispy smoke.
The dark mass swirled around Lenera by the edge of the circle and her jaws opened to take it inside. The mass slipped in and Mel’s breath caught. She didn’t want to face something even more dangerous than six shadows. She couldn’t face whatever this was. But Lenera didn’t start glowing like she and Hanon had done. She was still the same, but her eyes turned into an eerie white, just like the ones of a shadow.
“I know what you are now,” Lenera said in a booming voice, one Mel recognized as a dragon who’d spoken to her before in her mind. “You cannot hide from me anymore. I will come for you wherever you go. You will be mine. You will serve for an eternity. We belong together.”
Mel took a step back, still holding a tight grip around Austin’s hand. Her gaze landed on the villagers, standing around the lanterns making out the semicircle. Some of them were looking down at the wet sands, others were staring at her with wide eyes, looking terrified, and one, Sandra, was seated on the ground, crying into her hands.
Mel shook her head at them, feeling angry and hurt that they had stood by and watched this happen. That they hadn’t tried to interfere. Luthel was right. She didn’t understand these people. She couldn't change their minds about her and, with things as they were, she couldn’t trust them anymore. They needed to leave them behind, even when she knew they would keep serving the void and adding to his army of shadows.
Austin and Mel took a few steps away from the ritual, stepping out of the circle and heading toward the north. Toward where Gabs, Luthel and Hanon were waiting for them. After they’d gotten a small distance out from the villagers, they moved faster, almost running with Hanon propped up by Austin and Luthel. They ran toward the north, not wanting to head deeper into the void’s territory, but not able to head back to Aldrion, either. Stuck between the wasteland and the civilization, they moved further and further away from the shadows.
In the suspended darkness, Mel felt serene, a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a long time. She couldn’t even remember the last time her mind had been quiet like this and her body had felt completely enveloped in a warm blanket. Her body began to stir and Mel fought against it to stop. Her weightlessness grew into heavy limbs and then she began to fall inside the darkness. She was tumbling down toward something, fear gripping her. Strong hands were prying her jaws open. Mel fought against them too, but couldn’t regain control.
Her mouth opened into a thin slit, and out poured the warmness and the serene feeling. Mel whimpered against the loss of it. She wanted to press the dark mass back into her body. She wanted to go back to the suspended darkness, where she didn’t need to worry about anything.
Austin came into focus, his face lined with worry, and in front of them the dark mass swirled around like a menacing cloud. Mel pushed Austin’s hands away, looking at him with a frown. The dark tinge around her vision was gone, but the worm still slithered around somewhere in the back of her skull.
“Have mercy on us, oh great one,” Lenera said, turning her face to the dark mass. “We didn’t know we had more to give you. Melissa’s true face has been revealed. She belongs to you now. Take her as your own and make her into one of your shadows.”
A feral smile spread across Lenera’s lips as she turned her face toward Melissa. The wrinkles along the sides of her cheeks stretched as she bared her teeth. Mel swallowed hard, sitting up and taking Austin’s hand.
Lenera’s words slung her out of her stupor and she was no longer drunk on the feelings the void had given her. She knew what it was now, the dark mass that had entered her. It wasn’t the dragons or the sun. It wasn’t peace or serenity. It was the void, and it was swirling toward her once more.
Gabriella grabbed Hanon and lifted him up under his arm. Luthel had dropped Sandra, Lenera’s daughter, in the distraction Mel had created. He grabbed Hanon’s other arm and together they were leading him away from the circle. Mel knew she needed to get Austin and leave too. She didn’t know how to fight this thing.
As she got up on her feet, ready to run after her friends, figures emerged from the night. They were smokey forms, silhouettes of people really, and Mel’s blood went cold. Austin’s blade glowed blue, and the shadows kept approaching, walking straight toward them into the circle. Surrounding Mel and Austin on all sides. They were stuck here, and the only option was to fight this in any way they could.
Mel shared a glance with Austin, and he nodded toward her. He wouldn’t leave her here to face this alone. It made Mel both angry and grateful. He could save himself. They’d probably let him go if he ran now. But his feet were firmly planted on the ground. A solid rock among the ever-shifting sands.
Mel squeezed his hand tight and released it as the shadows drew smokey blades from nothingness. She had no weapon to fight them with, so she backed up against Austin and followed his movements as he threw out water against one of the shadows, turning the flowing liquid into solid ice as he went.
The water mixed with the smoke and as it turned to ice, the shadow grew stiff, weighing it down. Stuck in place with half its leg turned solid, the creature stared with white eyes at Austin. A hostile look and a silent promise to kill.
Mel’s back was pressed against Austin’s when a shadow reached out his smokey hand toward her. Mel pulled back, pushing Austin forward and he spun around from the motion, slashing his sword against the arm of the shadow. It went straight through, cutting off the limb from the monster. The smoke was free though, and it traveled back to the creature, reassembling a new arm against its side.
Five shadows were still approaching them, with only the sixth stuck in place by Austin’s ice magic. Melissa looked around and saw Austin’s arm being grabbed by a smokey limb. He iced the side of the shadow’s face, but couldn’t get his arm loose from the grip.
Mel felt hands grabbing her too. Several shadows had advanced on her and she had nothing to use against them. Her heart hammered in her chest and her breath grew labored, like she was running a marathon while standing still. She fought against their grip, trying to get free of the monsters.
One of them brought up its blade, like she’d annoyed the creature, and sliced a wide gash in her thigh. Mel cried out in pain and slumped down against the ground. The blade had cut through her pant leg and into her flesh, although the wound was long, it didn’t look that deep. More a marking from the shadow, to make her stay put.
Blood seeped through her fingers and she held her hand pressed against the pain. From the blood, Mel saw dark wisps of smoke trailing up in the air. Her eyes grew wide, and she had the impulse to yell at the shadow’s face; What have you done?
But the sound didn’t come through her throat. It stayed in her chest, aching like a heartbreak. Her lips trembled as she looked around at the white eyes surrounding her, looking down at her. Somewhere close by, she felt the dark mass swirl toward her in the wind. It was coming to claim her as its shadow.
Austin yelled in the background, fighting against the shadows to get to Mel. She heard his frustration and struggle, but she knew it was useless. They were too many, and Austin couldn’t even hurt them. All he could do was slow them down and freeze them in place. It just wasn’t enough.
Mel took in a deep breath, readying herself for the uncomfortable feeling of swallowing down the dark mass into her body once more. In a way, she longed for it, too, for the feeling of total serenity and peace. It was strange how she almost wanted to become a shadow for the void. Something that had felt completely impossible just days ago. When they hadn’t even known where the shadows came from. When they hadn’t known, they’d been people just like her.
The dark mass swirled in front of her eyes and she felt it wrap tendrils around her throat, keeping her in place. The worm slithered in the back of her skull and her vision became tainted with black. Her jaw opened on its own and she lost control of her body. The worm had taken over.
But then she waited, and nothing happened. Nothing dark slipped past her throat. Nothing choked her. Mel’s gaze flickered around, seeing white eyes turning away from her and the void slithering back in the wind. From the corner of her eye, Mel saw a beaten and bloodied figure stepping up to the shadows, his eyes wide and his gaze firm. He didn’t have a trace of fear in his face. Mel recognized his dark hair and the way his shoulders moved, even if his face was swollen from too many beatings. She wanted to yell at Hanon to get away, to save himself, but her body was still not hers to use.
His mouth opened wide and then his jaw snapped, dropping toward the ground and the unnatural angle stretched his face tight. Mel saw straight down his throat and something blue and cold was glowing down there in the deep. The blue glow traveled upward, out of his mouth in a cone of ice, showering Mel, Austin and the shadows in a shivering cold. Her limbs stuck together, her clothes frozen into stiffness.
Hanon slumped down to the ground, the ice gone from his breath and the determination from his eyes. Gabriella and Luthel were there, catching him as he fell. They dragged Hanon’s limp body away from the circle once more. The villagers who’d been onlookers this entire time gasped and one whispered, “The dragons have returned.”
Mel’s vision swam, but the dark tinge was gone once more and inside her belly a warmth spread out to her limbs and warmed her skin back to a healthy pink color. She stood up among the statues of shadows frozen in place, with no body heat to warm them up. They were stale against the ice.
Austin looked stuck in place, not able to move fully, tips of frost glowing from the edges of his black hair. Mel put her hands on his chest and the heat from her body spread into his and warmed his heart.
She grabbed his hand and together they stepped back from the group of frozen shadows and looked at the angry white eyes staring at them. Mel’s grip around Austin’s hand tightened, and she knew they needed to run now. Whatever Hanon had done, he wouldn’t be able to do that again, and these shadows would eventually thaw back to wispy smoke.
The dark mass swirled around Lenera by the edge of the circle and her jaws opened to take it inside. The mass slipped in and Mel’s breath caught. She didn’t want to face something even more dangerous than six shadows. She couldn’t face whatever this was. But Lenera didn’t start glowing like she and Hanon had done. She was still the same, but her eyes turned into an eerie white, just like the ones of a shadow.
“I know what you are now,” Lenera said in a booming voice, one Mel recognized as a dragon who’d spoken to her before in her mind. “You cannot hide from me anymore. I will come for you wherever you go. You will be mine. You will serve for an eternity. We belong together.”
Mel took a step back, still holding a tight grip around Austin’s hand. Her gaze landed on the villagers, standing around the lanterns making out the semicircle. Some of them were looking down at the wet sands, others were staring at her with wide eyes, looking terrified, and one, Sandra, was seated on the ground, crying into her hands.
Mel shook her head at them, feeling angry and hurt that they had stood by and watched this happen. That they hadn’t tried to interfere. Luthel was right. She didn’t understand these people. She couldn't change their minds about her and, with things as they were, she couldn’t trust them anymore. They needed to leave them behind, even when she knew they would keep serving the void and adding to his army of shadows.
Austin and Mel took a few steps away from the ritual, stepping out of the circle and heading toward the north. Toward where Gabs, Luthel and Hanon were waiting for them. After they’d gotten a small distance out from the villagers, they moved faster, almost running with Hanon propped up by Austin and Luthel. They ran toward the north, not wanting to head deeper into the void’s territory, but not able to head back to Aldrion, either. Stuck between the wasteland and the civilization, they moved further and further away from the shadows.
