Deadly Night Shade

Chapter 24

I shook my head violently and backed away quickly. Shadow’s laughter grew as he opened his pitch black eyes, cut marks being ebbed into the side of his mouth repeatedly. Golden light began to spill out of the wound as well as the deep red blood and he looked me in the eye, capturing me with his gaze.

“What…” I stuttered, “What are you?” I had my arms folded protectively around my chest and tears stained my cheeks. I started to move back towards him and collapsed to my knees in front of him. “Shadow… Who are you?” my voice was barely a whisper and my throat hurt when I spoke.

“I...” he said, his voice the same as when he was the normal Shadow, my Shadow. His demented smile widened, “You never suspected it did you?” he asked, his black eyes penetrating me. He dropped his smile and looked almost angry.

“Claire,” he started, his voice lined with malice, “Did you never wonder why you had both Secret and I? Did you never once think to ask about how I knew the story of Light and Dark? How I knew everything about you yet I wasn’t the Guardian of Darkness?”

“What do you mean?” I asked him angrily, “I AM THE GUARDIAN OF LIGHT.” He yelled infuriated, “I was sent by the light to stop you from defeating Distant Sun in the final Battle.” He stood up and loomed over me; I tried to back away but couldn’t find the strength to move my limbs.

My brain clicked into gear, “You are the guardian of light?” I growled angrily my hands bunching into fists. “WHY DID YOU LEAD ME ON?” i screamed, forcing the tears back, my eyes burning. “Why the hell would you make me…” I started, my voice cracking, “I loved you…” The expression on his face became blank, vacant of all emotion. “That’s what made it easy.”

I went numb. All of the feeling in my body just drained away, all emotion that I had, was gone. I started to shake and fell to my knees, my eyes still wrapped in his gaze and a single word escaped my lips, “Why?

He stumbled to the ground in front of me, the blood loss making him slightly feint and paler than he normally was. If his demented permanent mouth could frown, that’s what it was doing.

“Long ago, there was a girl, nineteen of age who had all she could ever have wanted. She was mannerly and accomplished and sought after by all, yet she was lonely, so lonely. Every night she would kneel by her bedside and whisper to herself, a prayer that she would find someone.”

“You told me this story; of how she thought she was Night Shade and killed herself making my sword,” I said, confused. “I LOVED HER.” Shadow yelled, infuriated. “Back when I was human, before I was brought back into this… endless battle, she was the only thing I had, and the darkness killed her.”

“What do you mean when you were human?” I asked, my voice reduced to a whisper. “We were all human, Me, Secret. Aether and…” he trailed off, “We were chosen to teach the Monarchs, because in our lifetimes we were devoted to our cause, knew everything there was to know about fighting, killing and dying, and the Powers.”

“When she died, my hatred of the darkness began and my worship of the Light grew. I realised that Darkness can do nothing but kill and hide and hurt everything in its wake and that the Light must do everything it can to stop it, to stop you.”

“Why come to me then?” I asked, my voice devoid of all emotion, my heart empty, “Why not train you precious little Distant Sun to fight me?” Shadows stare intensified and the corner of his demented mouth twitched.

“Distant Sun is being trained in all of his powers by the Guardian of Love. As for you, I needed to delay you, to stop you from meeting Fury Moon, Keep you unprepared so that in the Storm, you would be an easy kill.”