The Darkness Effect

Chapter 1

Chapter One
​I grip the ledge of the cliff tightly. My palms are sweaty and tears fall from my eyes, disappearing into the void below. I'm going to die here. In a cave, alone, and nobody is going to find me. My parents are going to look desperately, but their efforts will just be in vain. My friends are going to sob their hearts out at my funeral, wishing that there would at least have a body to send off, but there won't be anything left. More tears stream down my face. My vision begins to waver out of focus as I strain to stay hanging here. I don't care anymore. Why should I? I'm going to die anyways, so why not now? I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and prepare myself for the inevitable darkness.
​I let go of the ledge, fulfilled and almost blissful, but I suddenly feel a smooth hand on my wrist.
​"Not yet, miss. Not quite yet," I hear. I open my eyes and look up. A woman with silvery grey hair that cascades down to her waist looks down at me from above. In fact, she's silver all over. Even her skin radiates a soft, metallic gray glow. She speaks with a light British accent. With surprising strength, she hauls me up to flat ground.
​"Now, how did you manage to get yourself into that pickle, miss?" the silver woman asks.
​"I was exploring, and I fell," I say. It isn't the whole truth, but hopefully it's truth enough for her.
​"Okay, well, let me introduce myself. My name is Ladelyn, but you can call me Lyn," she says. I look at her uneasily, wondering exactly how she managed to get here at the perfect moment. Not yet still echoes in the air. What did she mean? Maybe I wasn't meant to die yet...?
​"Um, hello, Lyn. My name is..." I begin, but she cuts me off.
​"Brooke. I know," says Lyn. I wrench my wrist from her hand. She shouldn't know my name. I stumble around, looking for the exit.
​She looks at me sadly. "I didn't want to have to do this to you," she says. She then leaps at me with inhuman speed. I start to scream, but she hurriedly smacks a hand over my mouth. I try to cry for help as she wraps a gray sash around my eyes. I kick and thrash, but Lyn grabs my wrists and ankles and holds me down. Gradually, I stop fighting, and a pleasant sensation overtakes me. It's almost as if I am floating, and I relax, closing my eyes
​When I open my eyes, I see nothing but gray; my vision is still obscured by the sash. I struggle instinctively to get it off, but when I attempt to move my hands, I realize that they are bound behind my back. I helplessly fight against it, but the bonds seem to grow tighter with my every movement. I am lying somewhere soft, with a soft cushion behind my head. It seems like it's a bed. A door opens and closes close by.
​"I see you're awake, Lady Brooke," a smooth voice coos. I fling my upper body into a sitting position. It's Lyn. "Calm down, I am not here to harm you."
​"Says the woman who kidnapped me," I spit harshly.
​"It seems as if you have forgotten that I saved your life first," she responds, her voice annoyingly calm. I scowl, defeated for the moment. She has a point.
​"Whatever, can you remove the blindfold, please?" I ask. I hear heeled shoes clack on a stone floor, and she removes the sash in one deft movement. The room is beautiful. I am in a cherry colored bed with fluffy white sheets. A large window to my right opens onto a balcony over a beautiful, green forest. Light streams in in a kaleidoscope of beautiful colors, far more colorful than light should be. A spotless mirror hangs over a pink dresser with every single hair, face, and body product you could possibly imagine stacked up upon it. To my left, there is a pastel blue desk with blueprints and maps lain out. I gasp, attempting to choke out words.
​"Wonderful, isn't it?" Lyn asks me. I look at her and shake my head. "This is the earth castle. Selene built it." She smiles. Even her teeth have a moon-like glow.
​"Selene?" I inquire.
​"Oh yes, Selene is the queen of nature. Commonly, she is called Mother Nature, but hates the euphemism because she neither created, nor gave birth to nature. That was the work of the man upstairs. Selene merely watches over it. Actually, she requests your audience," Lyn replies.
​I can't process what is happening while it does, but soon, I find myself in a deep green dress that shimmers in the light. My hair is put up in a perfect bun and my bare face is painted with cosmetics in the soft glow of the room. I peer into the crystal-clear mirror and almost cry out. Only a little while ago, I was filthy and ugly, but in this mirror, I look like a princess.
​Lyn leads me down a complex series of hallways, all breathtaking as or more so than my room. Eventually, we come across two large maple doors. They are both carved with incredibly ornate designs. Even looking at them is like looking at the essence of natural beauty and love. It is then that I realize that that is exactly what they are; the carvings are moving as swiftly and smoothly as the cycle of life. Occasionally, a picture disappears and a new, smaller one replaces it. I can do nothing but stand and marvel at the wonderful purity of these doors.
​Lyn nudges me and I snap back to reality. I approach the doors and grasp the glistening diamond handle. I pull, and surprisingly, the doors open with ease. Unfortunately, I pull a smidge too hard, and I fly back with the door, letting loose a yelp. My dress catches on a window and I am left hanging upside-down. Lyn puts her hands up to her mouth, but I can see her hiding a smile. I hear a slight bit of commotion from the room behind the doors and I feel my face grow flushed.
​A young girl, about my age, emerges with regal grace from the room behind the doors. She looks at me, and immediately doubles over laughing. She sits there giggling for a good minute or so. My entire face feels colder than normal, as my vision starts to grow fuzzy. As she stands back up, I cry weakly for help.
​"Oh, I'm so very sorry, Lady Brooke. This seems like a horrific way for us to meet." The girl walks over to me, smiling kindly. She unhooks my dress and catches me when I fall down. She is surprisingly strong; she holds me with ease, and sets me down gently on the carpet.
​"Um, it's okay, ah...what's your name?" I ask shyly.
​"Oh yes! My name is Selene!" she replies happily. Her voice does not match her appearance in the slightest. She has long onyx black hair ringed with a weeping willow branch, and startlingly dark brown eyes. She has a small mouth and a small nose that points up at the end. She stands about four inches taller than me. She has legs without any thigh gap, and curvy hips, and...she is absolutely beautiful. Then there is her voice, which is low and husky. It is still feminine, but shockingly baritone.
​"Oh, uh, you're Selene?" I falter and blush again. I'm making a complete fool of myself. Her laugh fills the corridor once more.
​"I expect that when Miss Lyn said I was queen, you expected some sort of thirty-year-old, responsible woman-"she dons a horrible British accent-"that tocks wike dis an' drinks tea and such." She giggles at her own joke. "I can assure you that I am neither."
​"Actually yeah, but I definitely like you better," I say. She smiles and leads me into the room behind the doors.
​Two black, marble thrones sit atop a platform. The entire roof is glass, and light fills the room, casting a rainbow of colors everywhere. The walls writhe with the constant movement of the shifting vines that make them up. The earthen floor is squishy and sinks where I step. I gasp in wake of witnessing the room's unfathomable beauty. Everything is amazing, but there is an odd sight in the room that lies in the expansive pasture to my left. It seems to be the same size as the rest of the castle. Within the pasture stands one horse. However, this one horse is easily seven feet tall. It stands perfectly still except to turn its massive black head right towards me. It makes eye contact and nods in what seems to be approval.
​I stand there with my perfectly made up mouth hanging wide open until Selene speaks. "It's insane what magic can do, right?" she says to me with a smile. I close my mouth and my face flushes.
​"Yea...Yeah," I manage. I stand there idiotically until Selene grabs my arm.
​"Lyn, please go tend to miss Brooke's living quarters," she says tenderly.
​"Of course, Your Grace." Lyn walks briskly from the room. When she has left, Selene speaks again.
​"Please, sit." I oblige. "Brooke, I know that you're still confused as to why you're here." I mold the ground into small mounds as she talks. "I feel like you need to know the exact reason. Lyn has told me over and over not to tell you until you agreed to do what we need, but I don't feel like that is fair. "
"Nor do I," I mumble.
​"Brooke, I need you to listen closely. This is the castle of earth. It is where I can control all life from. However, it didn't used to be all mine. I have ruled for six years and for five of those, my best friend Jake ruled with me."
​"Jake?" I inquire, shocked. Her friend? Friends don't rule together. It just doesn't happen. They have to be family. Isn't there supposed to be a ruling family? Maybe the rules of my world do not apply here. That must be the case.
​"So, this Jake, he is an earth ruler too?" I ask.
​"No. He rules the sky... or ruled, I suppose." She speaks quickly, biting her lip before she goes on. "About one year ago, Jake and I were on a mission to rid this world of darkness. It proved to be futile. Many of our friends died. A shadow that radiated an aura of evil-it overtook us and we were on the verge of death." She sighs. "In the last moment before the shadow swallowed us up completely, Jake used his magic to save me. He turned himself into a pillar of light, temporarily stunning the shadow. This gave me enough time to find the creator of this beast and truce with him. I had believed that Jake was dead..."