The Shadow

Prologue

"Oh, he's such a darling...."

Today a child was born, and today their first son became a brother. An older brother to be exact.

Garroth Ro'Meave stared at the small, pale child in his mother's arms. His small strands of black hair, his small button nose. His tiny hands were near his face, swaddled in soft blankets so he could be carried.

"Gar Gar, do you want to hold him?" His mother asked, looking at him with kind eyes.

"I can hold him?" Garroth asked excitedly, holding out his arms to take his new baby brother.

"You need to be careful when doing so though, Gar Gar. ZuZu here is very, very fragile and weak. He can be hurt very easily." She explained to him, kneeling down so he could take the newborn.

Garroth carefully took his new baby brother into his arms, smiling down at the pale face. Not once had his new brother opened his eyes, or even made a loud peep. He had heard his parents talking one night, saying something about him being "unusual".

He didn't think it was very nice. Parents should love their kids no matter what.

But now, holding the small child, Garroth thought he understood what they had meant. There was a strange feeling about Zane, an odd aura to him. It made him feel slightly scared, but there was another feeling that he couldn't describe. This indescribable feeling was overriding the fear he felt, until that fear dissolved completely.

And then it happened.

Zane opened his eyes for the very first time.

They were such a soft blue color, like the morning sky or ice. Maybe even like water from a waterfall, since the water froom bottles was always clear.

"Oh! You made him open his eyes, Gar Gar!" His mother gasped, smiling as she watched them. "He must really like you already."

"I'm glad. I've always wanted a brother." Garroth smiled, looking into those blue eyes. "I want to protect him, mommy!"

"You're his older brother now, Gar Gar. It is your job to protect him now." She answered, opening her arms. "I need to take Zane to his room now, Gar Gar."

Garroth hesitantly let his mother take Zane away from him. He had wanted to spend more time with him, he had to protect him. It was his job now as his older brother.

"What do think, Mr. Cuddles?" Garroth said aloud, turning to his stuffed bear on the couch. "Do you think monsters are gonna try to take him?"

Mr. Cuddles said nothing to him, but Garroth imagined a voice for him. It was goofy and like how a cartoon character's voice would be. Picking up the stuffed bear, he sat it on his lap as he hugged it tightly, watching his cartoons.

"Yeah, I think so too, Mr. Cuddles. But I won't let them get to him!" Garroth declared, putting on a determined face.

"What are you yelling about?" His father asked him, entering the room to check on him.

"I'll always protect my new baby brother! Always!!" He yelled, smiling.

~~~~

"I promised him...."

Garroth whispered this to himself as he heard his baby brother cry in his room, tears welling up in his own eyes. They had been playing outside with the other children when he threw the snowball, and now... he was the cause of Zane's pain.

"I'm the worst big brother ever..." He sniffed, looking up as the door to Zane's room was opened.

"Garroth." His father addressed him, closing the door as he left Zane's room.

There was nothing friendly or kind in his eyes. Garroth tensed up, shutting his own eyes as he expected the slap across the face. When nothing happened he slowly opened his eyes back up, seeing his father holding a fancy bottle. Inside of it was a green liquid, the same shade as the emeralds he had been collecting with the other children when they first arrived.

"What's that?" Garroth asked his father, looking up at him.

"It's a potion that can save Zane." His father explained, handing it to Garroth. "Go on, give it to him."

With that, his father opened the door. Garroth walked in slowly, making sure he didn't fall and break the potion. He had done that once with an empty bottle used for the potions, and while no one had gotten hurt, he still had gotten a lecture about why it was important to not break the bottles. Especially when they had the potion inside.

"Just take the lid off, and pour it into his mouth." His father instructed, holding Zane still.

Although there wasn't much of a need for that. Zane was practically a statue, he didn't move or blink. Heck, Garroth couldn't even tell if he was breathing at first. He had been afraid that he was too late. But then his brother's arm twitched, and he let out a small whimper of pain.

Garroth popped the cap off, pouring it into his brother's mouth without hesitation or a second thought. The last bits of the potions dripped from the edge of the top, and then he just waited.

Waited for his brother to move, to be okay. He just wanted him to be safe, and then he would apologize over and over again until he knew he was alright.

"Now Garroth, if anyone ever asks what happened to his eye... I want you to tell them you threw a snow ball at him." His father told him, taking the potion bottle away from him.

"Do I only tell that to friends and strangers?" Garroth asked, stroking Zane's head.

"Yes, but you must also tell that to Zane if he ever asks." He nodded, standing up and leaving the room.

When the door opened again, it wasn't his father who had entered the room. This was the strange man Garroth had gotten bad vibes from. He didn't want to be around him, and he sure didn't want him to be around his baby brother.

The man must have noticed the sudden protective nature from the young blonde, because he made sure to keep his distance. The man said nothing for a long while, just staring at Garroth.

The blonde stared back, still not trusting this snake-eyed man. He only looked away when he heard Zane coughing a little, turning his gaze to his raven haired brother. Zane was slowly opening his eyes, but Garroth immediately noticed something off.

They were green.

Zane didn't have green eyes, he had blue eyes. Their younger brother Vylad had green eyes from his biological father, not their father or mother. Why were his eyes green now? Had it had something to do with the potion?

"Oh, dear, there seems to be something wrong with this eye." The man said, touching Zane's cheek lightly.

Garroth growled at the strange man, hugging his baby brother tighter. He did not want that creep touching Zane. Turning his head to look at what he had been talking about, Garroth did notice a small change. He hadn't noticed it at first, but Zane's right eye, the eye he had hit, was starting toi turn to a whitish-grayish color.

"I'll go let your father know about Zane's healing process." The man said to Garroth, before leaving. "Oh, and Garroth? Protect him at all costs. He is going to be very, very important in the future."

~~~~

Leaving the room with the two children in it, Michael surprisingly did not want to murder Garte where he stood.

While he had practically stolen the Forever Potion from his laboratory, he had done it to save his son. They hadn't even known if the Forever Potions worked, but he had been willing to take the risk. At least they knew the Forever Potions worked, or at least Forever Potions of Healing.

Entering his laboratory, Michael scanned the Forever Potions lining the shelves. These were potions they would be soon testing on the children, two of them to be exact. Forever Potions of Strength.

Opening his book of the Dark Arts, he flipped to the chapter for the Forever Potions. Some of them were simple potions, such healing or strength. Others were more serious, like disease, love, or hatred.

His eyes landed on some of them, a cruel smile forming on his lips as Garte and Derek approached him.

Oh, the things he would do to that boy.