Dark Days

Chapter 7

                Terrified by the approaching shadows, Malelia closed her eyes and a rock dome covered the group. They all knew that Malelia’s dome wouldn’t be able to protect them for long, especially with the condition that she was in. They began to hear the scratches and thuds against the rock dome, and Ritsu felt his heart sink. This was the first time in his whole life that he didn’t know what to do. Hakan and Makka both looked disheartened; they know they were failing at their jobs, and there was no way to protect Ritsu and Malelia without hurting them more.

                Out of seemingly nowhere, there was a loud, swooshing thud on top of the rock dome. After it dissipated and was gone, no more bangs or scratches happened on top of the dome. Ritsu looked at Makka and Hakan who looked equally confused by what just happened. Malelia was still terrified to the point that she wasn’t letting her guard down. Ritsu rubbed her shoulders as gently as possible to get her to relax and have the rock dome fall. When the dome fell, they saw all the shadows, now gray like ash, a good distance away. One of them still had a black head, and was still alive. He painfully stood up, and looked just above the group before retreating into the forest. Ritsu heard the light flapping of wings above them, and his first thought was that Miyuki had gained her powers finally, but when he turned around it was not who he expected.

                “Are you guys okay?” Kaitos asked landing just behind them.

                “You’re a Ralquid?” Ritsu managed to get out.

                “It’s not important,” said Makka, “Malelia is severely injured. We need to get her help now!”

                Kaitos and Ritsu lifted Malelia up and began to fly her back to the village carefully. Hakan and Makka followed behind, but Makka was hesitant. She stopped and looked into the part of the woods that the injured Shadow bolted into. She couldn’t make out anything, but she felt as if she was being watched. Finally, she turned to follow the rest of the group knowing that just one Shadow could not do much harm, especially one as injured as this one.

                When the Shadow saw Makka turn around, he let out a sigh of relief, knowing that he’d at least live to go see Hafed, but that was more than likely the end of his line. Hafed just had to know that there was trouble and that the Shadows were going to struggle. The injured Shadow began to make its way back to the lava cavern where it, along with all the other Shadows was born. The lava cavern is located in the center of the land; it is where all evil is born. Hafed was the first born from the pit, and was immediately attacked once he left. This was back when the Ralquid had their powers all the time and when they worked together with the humans. Each tribe did their best to keep Hafed down there, but one day the humans did not show up, and Hafed escaped. A Ralquid managed to send him back down into the pit with his power over electricity, turning Hafed half black and half white.

                The Ralquid became agitated with the humans and used their powers to try and take them over and control them. This dispute quickly ended though when the Ralquid lost their magic due to the defeat of the one evil that threatened them. Hafed, however, was not dead, but spending the time recovering from his wound. His white half turned an ash gray and was even stronger than before. From then on, more shadows were born and the evil grew stronger and stronger. They didn’t try to escape, however, knowing the magic would return shortly after they escaped. Instead they planned and trained to take out the Ralquid first, since they were clearly the biggest threat. When they finally were ready to attack, the Ralquid had been without their magic long enough that the powers had become a legend. The Ralquid were not prepared for the attack and were wiped out.

                The Shadow finally made his way back to the lava pit and found an even bigger swarm then when he had left earlier with the other two shadows. Hafed just stared at him, noticing that he had been severely injured.

                “What happened to you…?” Hafed hissed clearly upset.

                “Well…” the Shadow murmured with his eyes staring at his white body, “We ran into some trouble.”

                “What type of trouble,” Hafed asked, “humans don’t possess the power to do that type of harm.”

                “The Ralquid are alive…” the Shadow screeched. The whole cavern filled with hisses and crackling. Hafed just narrowed his eyes at the small Shadow.

                “They have gained their powers again too haven’t they…” Hafed hissed.

                “Yes…”

                Hafed was next to the small Shadow in a flash of an eye. He towered over the other shadows, and was more gaseous and dark then the others. He had a lot more power to him and was clearly a more powerful shadow then all the others. They feared and cowered in fear when they saw him.

                “You’re telling me,” he cracked, “that my forces sent to destroy all the Ralquid failed? That you and your group failed?”  

                “Yes,” the smaller Shadow admitted, “the rest of my group is dead, turned to ash by a water user. There are at least three Ralquid, possibly more. They had to be babies when the original attacks were carried out. They stopped us from destroying that small human village.”

                Hafed just stared at the smaller Shadow with anger evident in his eyes. “Get rid of him,” he hissed. He didn’t care who did it, or how, but that Shadow’s time has come and he deserved to be destroyed. He didn’t need any others that developed his strength, nor did they need to know it made him that much stronger.