Hold me closer Shadowmancer [On Hold]

Chapter 7: A revelation of Shadow and Woe

Cobham woods - original meeting house; After Wednesday's vision.

After waking up from her vision, Wednesday looks around and spies Thing waiting for her, but has yet to see Yenneric.

Jerking awake, Wednesday turns to Thing and, in an excited tone, tells him what she saw. "Thing, I saw her! The girl from my visions." she said, taking a moment to breathe. "Her name is Goody Addams, and I believe she's my ancestor from 400 years ago." she pauses, realizing that something, or someone, is missing. "Thing, where's Yen?" Thing quickly signs something. After being told by Thing, she looks over her left shoulder and see's Yen sitting crossed legged, with his eyes closed. Even with his eyes closed however, she can see his eyes moving underneath his eyelids, similarly to if he were sleeping. She turned back to look at Thing as she moved over to the boy. "What's he doing?" she asked. Thing signed a reply. "Well, you're the one who saw him start doing it, so I expect you would've known." she said, exasperatedly. She was now just a foot away from Yen when she leaned to examine him. As she leaned closer to examine the small twitches of his face muscles, his eyes shot open, causing her eyes to widen in surprise. She was surprised because when he opened his eyes, they were a solid, almost void like black. As if they weren't eyes, but the pure absence of light. After they opened, the black quickly receded and returned to its usual natural look, returning his eyes to their regular white eiris' and black pupils.

After Wednesday had dropped into another vision, Yen had decided that he would have one of his own. When he sat down to meditate, what he was really doing was preparing himself to see the world's shadows, past and present. A trick that a great uncle on his father's side had developed several generations ago, as he worked as a private investigator. Having learned it from his father, who learned it from the uncle who developed it, he was well versed in its use. Having never done it but once before however, it was somewhat overwhelming, as the farther back he went the more shadows he saw, until he finally got all the way back to the 1600's. However, it wasn't the shadows in the meeting house that had caught his attention, it was the shadows that were in the adjacent building. After having watched what appeared to be several dozen people burned alive in what he assumed was a storehouse or barn of some kind, he was ready to return to the present day, but before he did, he spotted a shadow that looked very similar to Wednesday's escape from the burning building through a hidden hatch. Shortly after this observation, he felt his control slipping, so he relinquished himself back to the present.

"Wednesday?" Yen said, donning a confused expression as the face of the grim girl was just a few inches away from his. There was a moment before they both realized how close they were, this caused Wednesday to move back and Yen to stand up rather rapidly. Now, with the both of them standing in the ruins of the ancient meeting house, Yenneric spoke up. "Learn anything from your vision?" he said, pulling his umbrella from the ground and cleaning off the stake, before raising it above the both of them. "I saw my ancestor, goody Addams." She said. "The girl from the painting who looked like you?" Yen asked, before continuing. "That would explain the shadow." he said to which Wednesday raised an eyebrow. "What shadow?" Yen looked at her with an uncharacteristically serious expression. "Do you remember when I told you how Shadowmancers can see anything's true shadow?" Wednesday nodded, listening intently, as very few people who were still alive knew anything about Shadowmancers. "Well, sometime during the 1940's, a great uncle of mine, great uncle Castus, discovered a way for Shadowmancers to see not only something's true shadow, but also the shadows of things past." Yen pauses as he tries to find the best wording, but before he can, Wednesday figures it out. "you also saw what happened in that meeting house 400 years ago." Smiling, Yen nodded, but he could continue or Wednesday could ask any more questions, the two of them heard something moving outside of the ruins.