Child of Darkness

Child of Darkness 2

Five sets of gleaming red eyes. Watching her with curious intent. She froze. She didn't dare breathe for fear of those creatures finding her. For whatever they were, they weren't human. And ever so slowly, the area around the sets of eyes was starting to glow faintly, as if the creatures were drawing the light in to themselves. And ever so slowly, she could start making out an outline of the creatures. They were now glowing more rapidly, gaining in luminosity whilst the forest got darker, quieter. They were now so bright she could barely watch, and just as she was going to look away, the light subsided and the five creatures stood before her.

They were tall, tall enough that even the shortest towered above her. They wore armours of a strange metal that she had never seen before, of the darkest blue, that seemed to absorb and give off light at the same time. Where there were gaps in the leather jointing of the plates, she could catch glimpses of their skin, which seemed to give off an ethereal glow. Their helmets were of the same, surreal metal as the armour, and were likewise decorated with these creatures fighting with monsters of hell, thankfully long since extinct. The creatures themselves had an otherworldly presence about them, which seemed to suck all the life out of the forest. It was just them and her, her and them.

Suddenly, they moved. She froze again. They walked a few steps into the clearing in front of her and stopped, forming a small semicircle. And then, she realised that she was actually frozen. She couldn't move, even if she had wanted to. It felt as if an iron hold was gripping her, was gripping every part of her, to stop her from moving, from bolting like a hare. She looked in panic at the creatures.

They held her gaze, and it was impossible to look away. And the tallest of the five, the one who seemed to be their leader, knelt. The others followed suit. Then they all pressed two fingers to their brow. And then they got up. Each of their movements was fluid, powerful, controlled, smooth, like a blade through the softest silk, as if an immense force slumbered in their veins, and indeed, all around them, for a near-invisible dark aura spread. And spoke. Its voice was rich. Powerful. As old as her stars themselves, and even older. It was a voice of gushing streams and whispering woods, a voice that had defied beasts she didn't dare imagine. A voice that made her feel she was standing on the edge of an eternal abyss. It spoke in a language that she understood, harsh yet beautiful, but she had never heard it before. And it seemed to her that only she in this world could understand it. And speak it.