Crystal Heart (ONC 2024)

6: Shadowed Light

There was nothing.

No light... no air... nothing.

She could feel her body, an empty shell that refused to obey the commands she whispered to it, but with every second that passed her physical being seemed to drift further and further away.

Lile...

The word – the name – echoed in her mind.

Where are you, Lile?

She didn't know.

Lile?

Whilst the rest of her drifted further away, the echoed words grew louder, swimming through the haze in her mind to bang against the front of her skull.

"Lile!"

In an instant, the nothingness retreated. Her starved lungs burned as she dragged in a breath, choking on the suddenly foreign intrusion of air in her chest. Her fingers curled, finding muddy earth and tree debris beneath her, and she forced her eyes open.

"Are you alrig-"

Blurry boots stumbled into view, sliding to a sudden stop.

"What in the Devil!"

At the curse, Delilah forced herself to her hands and knees, her limbs trembling with effort. Strong fingers wrapped around her upper arm, helping her to her feet and keeping her upright when her legs threatened to buckle. She blinked the haziness from her eyes and fixed her attention on the hand that held her, tracing the limb to its owner. A white sleeve was drenched to the point of translucency, but wide shoulders were covered by an oiled coat that repelled the last of the rain. A lantern with a flickering wick was held aloft by the man's other hand, casting its waning yellow light on his face. His profile – hooked nose and cropped beard – was all she saw, for his attention was fixed on the hill before them.

"What is that?" Frederick asked, the words muted by the wind that whipped between them.

Delilah turned her head, following the path of his gaze as her vision swam. She felt as if she were in a dream, thoroughly disconnected from the world around her, and it took a moment for her eyes to focus on the retreating shape he was staring at. The shadow was at the edge of the circle of light emitted by his lantern, an undulating wave of darkness that swept across the forest floor. She was not sad to see the creature go, sucking in a shaking breath as the shadow melted into the gloom of the forest, leaving only a pinprick red glow emanating from its core.

At her side, Delilah's fist closed on air.

"No..."

She wrenched herself free from Frederick's grip, stumbling as she spun in place, her gaze flying across the forest floor for any hint of the crystal. But there was no red glow to find.

Except in the heart of the fleeing shadow entity.

Delilah was not sure whether to sob or scream her frustration, and so the noise that emerged from her was somewhere between the two. She launched forward, feeling the mud flood between her toes as she approached the hill and gripped the first tree trunk. Frederick's surprise behind her was palpable.

"It has the crystal!" she yelled over her shoulder as she hauled herself up the slippery slope.

At the top she reached for the final tree, but her fingers wavered, remembering the terror of being bound in place by the shadow. Her feet shifted beneath her, threatening to send her careening backwards, but a hand stopped her. Frederick's palm burned through the soaked material of her dress, all but scalding her lower back as he pushed her the last of the way up the hill.