The Secret War - 1st novel in the Shadow Series

Interlude 2 .

The Awakened One

He wakes us all. He is screaming. They have found him. They have found the ones he tried to give the light. I stir from my hiding place. I uncoil myself from the darkness and the minerals and the moisture.

They all scream at me, my hidden brothers and sisters. The many have discovered him, but they haven't discovered the rest of us. They have discovered those that call themselves the Gatherish, those my brother taught. They rip them apart leaving nothing behind. My brother is the last to fight them and he screams as he is only one and they are many, many, many.

I am too far away, but I awaken to help just as my brothers and sisters still to sleep. They remind me I am weak. The weakest of them. They should have killed me while I was still a child. It was their mistake to let me live, but there are too few of us left that know the light. We must wait for the ones who can defeat the many and only those who can defeat them. My brother thought he had found them in the Gatherish, but the many slaughter them and my brother.

I coil myself around the darkness, minerals and moisture as my brothers and sisters command. They sleep again, but I wait. It is my weakness. I wait. My brother is gone. Those who he taught the light are gone. All but one. Small and pink. Her weakness is similar to my weakness, but there is one of the Gatherish left with the light.

I send my light out to her, the barest of a hint. She must find me. I can't go out to her and risk the many finding out there are more of us. It touches her. It is enough. She will search for me. The rest is up to her.

I sleep.