Rivynn couldn't understand why she and her brother, Rain, were kept chained away from everyone else. They were told it was to keep them safe from the shadows... But what if that was a lie?
~~~~~~
Rain hadn't told her... but the shadows were real...
Brother Ruben hadn't come, and Rain hadn't spotted him outside the little parish at the far edge of the village all day.
He shivered as the cool of evening crept over the land. He had really hoped to see the monk before night came again... Ruben was the only one who would stay and visit with them for more than the brief moment it took to leave their food. However, each time he did, he wouldn't come again for several days. And lately, those intervals had slowly increased and the time he spent with them had decreased.
"Rain, light the candle," Rivynn begged, pulling him from his pondering.
He grinned excitedly as she placed a fresh candle in the holder on the table. Then with a wave of his hand a small flame immediately began to dance on the tip of the wick. He had done it on accident a couple nights ago. "Again!" She demanded pinching the flame out between her tiny fingers. For nearly an hour he would light the candle and she would put it out.
The sun had completely set by the time she was finally tired and didn't put it out again. But tonight, he didn't put it out either, even though they had been told never to let a candle burn while they slept. Rivynn was too sleepy to notice as she climbed up into the top bunk.
"Good night," she murmured.
"Good night," he whispered and pulled his blankets over his head, leaving only a small part of his face exposed to the chilly night air. He stared at the candle, glad for its small but comforting light. He could hear Rivynn's breathing steady as she fell asleep. She had recently turned six, barely two years younger than himself, but he still felt the need to be her protector. That's why he hadn't told her...
He gulped, afraid to close his eyes lest the candle would go out.
But he was so very tired...
The longer he stared at the tiny flame, the heavier his eyelids became until at last, his body surrendered to sleep's embrace...
He awoke, shivering. His blanket had fallen off and a sharp breeze wafted through the room. Alarmed, he realized the candle had gone out and the world was enveloped in night's darkness. Shaking from the cold and fear, he started to reach down and get his blanket. But he stopped as a thick black fog met his fingers. It covered the entire floor of their room.
He scurried back against the wall but didn't make a sound, his frail body still quivering uncontrollably.
Then he saw it, darting among the trees just outside the door - a shadow so black, even the night could not match its darkness. Then like an eerie cloud, it grew, swallowing all the light and coiling itself around their little shelter.
"Rivynn..." he whispered, but she was sleeping too soundly to be roused by his fear-choked voice.
'I can sense your frailty...'
A voice came from the shadow. Not a voice like someone speaking aloud, but one calling to him inside his mind.
'You are weary... come...' it beckoned hungrily.
'Come to me, and you won't be tired or afraid anymore...'
"Go away," he whimpered.
'You belong to the darkness... '
He was terrified now, and it was so dark he couldn't even see his hand as he tried to cover his face.
'Don't resist me... your time has come...'
Suddenly a desire sprang into his young mind. Fighting back tears, he swiftly stretched out his hand towards where the candle would be on the table. Even though he couldn't see it, he knew it was there and had never wanted its light so badly. Instantly a little flame sprang to life. The shadow shuddered, but to his horror, it seemed to be swallowing up the feeble light before it could provide any illumination.
'I told you... you belong to the darkne...'
Its words were abruptly cut off by another, far more terrifying voice.
'How dare you try to steal what is mine!'
Like a windstorm the shadow howled and swiftly receded as if desperately trying to escape, snuffing out the candle as it did so. But its retreat was cut short as another dark form ripped through it like a wild beast, shredding it apart until it vanished like mist.
The stars in the moonless sky felt so bright now and seemed to glisten in a pair of silver eyes as they stared at him intently from the second shadow lingering in the forest.
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'I will be waiting, my little shadowling...' it said with a strange tenderness, before turning and vanishing into the night.
Too scared to try getting his blankets again, Rain curled up next to the stone wall, tears streaking down his cheeks as shivers wracked his little form.
