Call me : Darkness

Tether

Like everyday, The Darkling closed his eyes, and concentrated on that feeling. The feeling of the tether, connecting him and Alina, him and.....her.

He reached within him, where the shadows resided and swirled like maelstroms, and searched for a beam of light, a beam of life.

The darkness was dense around him. It created a sort of flower, with layers of petals, underneath which the dark-haired man was enclosed.

Shadows inked out of his hands, and pooled his arms.

Nothing happened.

One tether was too soft, too tender, like a sapling - even a little force could snap it.

The other was too cold, too well guarded. This tether didn't belong to the Alina he knew. The Alina who used to hated herring, the Alina who childishly argued him despite knowing who he was, no, this Alina was different. She was so buried within numbness. So devoid of emotions.

The Darkling wanted to reach out to her, to help her, but he knew Alina wouldn't want to see him.

His efforts didn't stop though, he still searched Ketterdam and was searching Novyi Zem thoroughly.

That's when it happened.

Just as he was about to give up, like he did three months ago, after the arrival of the girl. He tried back then, he really did, but just like tonight, his efforts went in vain.

Tonight though, just as he opened his eyes, a jolt went up his head. He felt pain, so much pain, not physically. He felt heavy, he felt as if everything was his fault. Everything started to make sense. Alina ran away because of him. He blinded his mother. He failed as a son.

You did make the fold.

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

The tether was affecting him, affecting his emotions, which only meant....

The Darkling closed his eyes and something snapped. When he opened them he wasn't in his tent.

She was there.

The girl.

Her cinnamon hair tangled in a mess with infinitely many knots even Genya couldn't fix. Her lips were pressed together and she was blinking her eyes rapidly to stop the tears from peeking out.

The faint noise of someone screaming was also audible.

The Darkling turned. Everything was blur to him except the child, but he could clearly tell who the voice belonged to.

"You're just like him!" The voice of Malyen Oretsev shrieked and a finger was jabbed at the girl's direction. "You have eyes like him and you're grisha! I don't care how you did what you did! You're a witch, a monster, just like him!"

At first, The darkling wanted to correct the tracker - 'witch' stands for feminine and he was a male, so it was impossible for the girl to be a witch like him.

Then, he gazed back at the girl.

He did not know what was her name, or who she was exacly, but at that moment, as his eyes caught hers, he saw Alina.

The same fear was in her eyes, the fear which was once owned by Alina and snapped by him. Her black eyes were glistening, like shadows in rain.

And then he saw himself.

The boy with a hundred names and no family besides his mother. The boy who wanted someone to hold on to. The boy who wanted nothing else but to be accepted.

Was he not the same?

Was it not cruel to just avert his eyes from the young sapling and blink back to his chambers?

But what could he do?

The girl was too far drowned in emotions of nothingness, she wanted someone to be beside her and she called upon him. Her tether was too powerful and yet too fragile. Even if the Darkling wanted to chip away, he couldn't, not without snapping the tether.

"You're mother is blind! She doesn't see what you are! She doesn't feel it! That feeling of demons, like night, like you're burying yourself," Mal shook his head ever so lightly.

The girl snapped her gaze from Mal and saw The Darkling.

Even he hadn't realized it, but his face was streaked with tears - which, with a start he realized, weren't his.

They were her emotions, the emotions of a girl so lost, so deep within the cold waters.

He felt her.

He felt her pain, her anguish, her anger.

But he also felt something which angered him.

He felt love, love for the very same monster who was screaming at her.

"Hello," The Darkling said, but his voice came out as a croak.

The girl narrowed her eyes and tilted her head sideways, studying the dark-haired general in dilemma.

"Why are you doing that?" Mal said though gritted teeth.

"Why are you doing that?!" He pushed the girl harshly and she narrowly missed hitting her head on the ground.

No tears emerged.

The Darkling rushed to her aid but as soon as he was beside her, she flicked her hand and he vanished.

Just like that, the girl had learnt to control the tether.

As soon as he was back in his tent, he broke down.

Never, in centuries, he had felt so much pain, so many tears.

He still heard Mal's screams. They were sealed in his head and the disgust was seeping in like a plague. The faintest of disgust built up a frenzy within him, The Darkling wanted that girl to be safe, he wanted her to be happy, and he couldn't do so.

A hand was clasped over his mouth to keep the sobs quiet.

He still felt it.
Someone telling him he's a monster.

But was it correct, to yell at a little girl who didn't choose to be born?