The Shadows Move With Us

Prologue

Darkness~

Invading. Compromising.

Twisting, driving,

Clouding, wounding.

Taking from you that which your giving.

Loved ones dying, consuming your mind.

Looks like your in a bind.

You need fear, you need calm.

You need both like a wound needs a balm.

Love and peace, two more things you need

To make sure your troubles don't increase.

Anger and hate to bad things lead.

Droplets of sweat on your brow do bead.

Need all four and more and more,

To properly function in this world.

Do unto others as would be done to you,

Or righteous retribution to you will be due.

Explosions echoed out as footsteps pounded down a cobblestone alleyway, the darkness spitting out a woman and three shadows. The woman was in front, a fair face stricken with terror glancing behind her before she rounded a corner in an attempt to put more distance between the pursuers and her. She was dressed in cream colored clothing, trousers and a fitted shirt that was splattered with dirt. Brown hair streamed behind her as she looked desperately for a way out of the alley, dirty fingers slapping against doors and windows to see which ones were open. She seemed to get lucky, grasping the second door and pushing through a restaurant in order to get to the other side. It was apparent that the owners were away, given away by the chairs sitting up on the tables and the candles being doused for quite some time. There was a cold draft in the air as well, as if it were beginning to fall into disrepair. Stumbling through a side door, she continued to dash madly down the road. A crash behind her alerted the woman that her pursuers were getting closer. She didn't bother looking behind her again, silver eyes looking about quickly for a way to escape the creatures following her. 

The woman shuddered as she gripped a golden necklace around her neck, her slender fingers wrapping around it tightly as she prayed to whatever gods were there to help her survive before she reached down within herself and did something she promised she would never do again. She used her magic. The shadows suddenly grew darker, arcing towards her and curling around her feet in a pool before one of the windows off to her left imploded. Startled eyes locked upon the now gaping maw of darkness as a thick black tendril slithered out of it slowly, soon followed out by a mass of equally black flesh that shone wetly when the moon hit upon it. It was illuminated by the silvery light of the moon as it pooled it's form together, rising up from the ground as it's tendril's sharpened, becoming almost as like bladed stilts knitted together from black bone. It's back legs built themselves up as if the back half of some unidentified canine was horribly twisted to become a agent of evil. Muscle and Sinew rippled over it's rear and raced up the spine that had formed just moments before, heading towards a head that was crowned in jagged spikes and many red eyes that glowed as if they were lanterns of hate. A terrible shriek that the woman likened to a dying wail was heard as it finished it's formation, slamming it's bladed arms into the ground and creating a small cloud of dust from the cracked stone beneath. It didn't immediately charge though, as it had done back at her home when it caused that explosion. It watched and waited this time, huffing and snorting through misshapen nostrils as it paced before  her.....barring her way.

The shadows around her leapt up her body, forming a thin set of armor around her legs and arms before a black cloak wrapped around her body tightly to give her plenty of mobility. "You will never find him. He is beyond your reach." The creature stopped in it's tracks, dead in the middle of the street as it stomped it's blades into the ground again and again. It didn't stop even as the creature's companions rose up on either side of it as if risen from the grave solely to combat the woman. They were shadows of man, missing parts of themselves here and there as if a living silhouette painting had peeled itself off the wall to terrorize the living. One was slightly larger than the other, almost as if it were simply a wrecking ball while the other was smaller, more nimble. They got into a ready position, the large one putting it's fists up near it's face while the smaller angled one of it's hands flat to the ground with the other in the air. The woman did the same, reaching into the shadows around her and pulling out a sword that was crafted from the magic around them, the flat of the blade simply swirling with the shadowy designs one might see on the side of a clear bottle with something injected into it as she flourished it skillfully. The first creature spoke in a disembodied voice, almost sounding human.......almost. There was a undertone to it, a soft rasp that warbled between her bones....bounced around her head. It caused goosebumps to run down her back and the hair along the back of her neck to rise. "You will fail."

Miles away from this confrontation, before the two sides clashed, before the street was leveled in attempt by the woman to get away, before the city found her body strewn across the street......a merchant boat sailed off from the harbor. Aboard it was a small old woman carrying precious cargo with her, holding it up against her breast as silent tears rolled down her wrinkled face. Bundled up to her chest was a swaddle of clothing, a small body wrapped up warmly inside. A baby cooed out in his sleep as his elder held him, only a ribbon wrapped around his arm to name him. His symbol was etched into it, a simple hooked line with three lines pushed off to the right.

Ozul. The Last Shadow.