They were everywhere, once the migration started. Children without families, who had lost everything to the shadows. Lying in the streets, hiding out in abandoned houses, cowering under blankets and boxes. When the soldiers found them, they were punished, split from their siblings and shoved into strangers' homes.
They were scared. They weren't some kind of rebel cause, trying to subvert the will of the government. They were just children, frightened and alone and trying their best to stick with the only family they had left.
No one knows if the soldiers found them all, or if they got taken by shadows, or if they just got smarter and better at hiding, but eventually, there were no more children to find. Only empty streets, filled with empty houses, haunted by the ghosts of an entire world of refugees.
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Beneath the Shadowlanders
Science FictionWe knew something wasn't right from the moment we awoke. It was like something was missing - a part of our very souls - and we couldn't sense the deficiency, no matter how hard we tried. A hundred million eyes adjusted to the dark all at once, all s...
