Shadow Chronicles: Hunting for Darkness The Shadow's Whisper

Chapter One

The storm was coming in quickly as a teenage girl quickly rushed through the forest, her azure hair sticking to her skin. Stopping and leaning on a tree, her chest rose and fell quickly as she caught her breath. Closing her eyes for a brief moment before reopening, only to reveal her different colored eyes. She jumped slightly, her breath hitching, as she took in the sight before her. A loud screech filled the air as she began screaming at the horror before her. Her eyes snapped open as she sat up in bed, grasping her pounding chest. That was the fifth night in a row that she's had that awful dream, the one with the slaughtered camp. She looked around her darkened bedroom, the rain pounded against her window. "Zoe? Another nightmare?" Her mother asked, knocking on her door. "No, no...I'm fine...just...a spider." Zoe called laying back in her bed, trying to fall back to sleep.

A young man dashed past a tree, and hopping over a fallen one, before hiding behind another, his dark black hair sticking to his scalp as he panted; he looked utterly terrified, he spoke mostly to himself, a slight British accent evident in his tone, "Wonder if they're still there?" Upon him saying that sentence a large club destroyed the tree he had been using for cover, "Well that's bloody fantastic." He said simply, A large hulking humanoid figure walked out from the foliage, it was a tan color and clad in what seemed to be a leather armor of some sort, it lacked a second eye, as it only had one large one in place of two, the beast's iris was a dark swamp green, the beast opened its mouth in a deep hearty laugh that lacked any mirth, and instead sounded malicious. The creature's teeth were crooked and misshapen, an odd shade of yellow as it spoke in a gutter filled voice "Come now little godling, I'm absolutely starving." "Wait godling?" That was all he managed to say before narrowly dodging the club by rolling to the side, "Well this sucks." He got up and resumed his sprint to escape, only for a large hand to grab his leg sending him sprawling to the ground, The creature held the boy by his leg before sending him into and nearly through a tree, he slid down groaning. "'I'm going to enjoy making a meal out of you." The beast raised its large hand and brought it down on the boy, just before the hand reached him, something interesting occurred, what seemed to be a wall of shadow rose blocking the fist as the boy raised his arms to protect himself from the blow he thought was coming.

He looked in front of him to see two objects, twin daggers that seemed to draw in on the darkness around them, on his left hand the symbol of a dully glowing skull with a black crown on it appeared before it was seemed to be absorbed by the darkness. "Well...that's odd.." he felt oddly drawn to the weapons, the moment he picked them up he felt a surge of energy, it wasn't something he was used to. His silver eyes seemed to glow brightly before he threw one at the beast, already sprinting the moment the blade left his fingertips, as he moved quickly nearing the cyclops, the beast roared in pain as the black blade pierced his neck, the boy used it to swing himself on the cyclops' back slamming the other blade into it's back, as he fell from the slowly dematerializing corpse, the days of running he'd done from multiple beasts taking it's toll on him, as he fell losing consciousness, just before he hit the ground he seemed to sink into a Shadow's depths, tendrils of darkness writhing the moment his form entered. He reappeared out of the shadow of a tree multiple miles away.

Zoe snuck out her window, following a noise she heard coming from the woods behind her house. Entering the cover of the trees, she heard one last sound before it was quiet again. She walked in the direction of where she last heard it, eventually coming across a wide space, the trees surrounding either fallen or destroyed. Confused, she continued to walk forward, wondering what caused the damage and ruckas. Soon enough, she was once again deep within the forest. She stopped to look around when she heard a twig snap and spun to face the intruder. "Who's there?" She asked, hesitantly walking towards the sound. "Are you bloody mad?" Came the voice as a young male, who appeared to be around her age, stepped out from behind a tree. "What do you mean?" "There's a Cyclops among other things out here."

Zoe stared blankly at him, "And you think I'm crazy?" She rolled her eyes. "I only came out here because I was curious over a noise I heard. Now, if you'll excuse me," She turned back towards the way she came, "I'll be on my way." A primal roar ripped its way through the forest. "Still don't believe me mate?" He asked with a raised brow a slight smirk evident on his lips, his silver eyes seemingly flashing. "Not even a little." "Alright then, mate, brace yourself." Upon saying those words a large figure burst from the tree line followed by two other creatures who he recognized nearly instantly from the lessons he was taught in history before the school basically booted him, "Is that the bloody minotaur, are you serious? fucking 'ell man." And with that a large hand swatted him away into and through several trees, he slid down spitting out blood.

"What the hell?" She breathed out, shocked. Zoe slowly began backing away, towards where the boy was. She quickly turned, picking him up, practically dragging him with her. "Okay, I believe you!" She called out running faster. "I have an idea." "That is...?" "Run into that tree over there, or throw me towards it, I have a theory." "Um...you honestly think I can throw you?" "Of course not, run towards it." "......." She ran forward, curious as to what he had in mind, also hoping she didn't get too badly injured. He focused on the feeling he had just before he blacked out, the shadows seemed to surge towards them enveloping them before they vanished reappearing, multiple miles away above the treeline, "Well fuck." was all he said before they began their descent. "What exactly did you do?" She called, falling. "When I find out, I'll tell you." They crashed to the forest ground, Zoe landing on top of him, "umpf, sorry." She groaned out, not in much pain since her fall was cushioned. "Well that's a bunch of ow." He groaned out, feeling a slight weight on his wrist, he shifted and looked down to see twin silver and black skull engraved bands on each arm.

She blushed slightly after fully realizing their positions and rolling off him, "Again, I'm sorry.." "Yeah, it's fine, anyway I'm..." He paused as if struggling to remember something, "Cronan." "Oh yeah! Introductions! I'm Zoe," She blushed harder, realizing she went this long without introducing herself. "Interesting name." He said smiling slightly, his eyes seemingly flashing. "As is Cronan..Honestly never heard that name before today." He stood up, dusting his jacket and jeans off before speaking, "I don't think your parents would appreciate you hanging around the woods with some stranger." He said with a smirk. "My mom is too paranoid for her own good, and I'm perfectly capable of defending myself." " 'Defending' she says." He said laughing. "I-I mean it!" "You're like a declawed kitten." He deadpanned "A declawed kitten, huh?" "Harmless." He smirked. "Am not." "Prove it."

"How? I mean, I did take self-defense classes..." "You'll have the chance to test that, rather soon." He said as more monsters bursted from the treeline. "Shit. But..they're too bi---wait. Actually. Nevermind. Let's just go?" "I'll be ignoring the joke there." "Oh shush."

A giant foot came crashing down, narrowly missing Zoe. She jumped and rolled out of the way of the next attack from the single-eyed creature. His hand swats her into a nearby tree, which she then slowly and painfully peels herself off of. "That...ow." She grabs her head, slightly dizzy, and climbs to her feet. He lifts her before throwing her into the air, like a delightful snack. Sadly for the cyclops, he misses and she bounces off his cheek and she crashes to the ground. "Fuck." She mutters right before she gets hit into another tree. She slowly drops out of the indented tree, bark falling around her. The sun seemed to glow brighter as a golden ray beamed down on her, causing her form to glow, once the bright golden light faded, she was bestowed a golden bow that was white trimmed and golden silver tipped arrows that seemed to glow a deep yellow, when sunlight struck the bow the white trims glowed a bright burning orange.