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...
It was taking all her strength to put one foot in front of the other down the dark, lonely country road. The bitter rage inside her over her brother's murder was the only thing keeping her going.
She had not a penny to her name and there were still many miles between her and the border of Serren's kingdom. And no welcoming embrace would be awaiting her if she managed to reach her father's house.
Every breath hurt and each step she took wracked her chest with pain. She had been too afraid, angry, and grief-stricken before to notice her ribs were broken from the fight and massive bruises covered most of her body.
Ki shivered at the cool night breeze and wrapped her cloak tighter around her, failing to notice the small rock jutting up from the road.
Her toes struck it, but her legs did not have the strength to keep her on her feet any longer.
A pathetic cry escaped her as she crashed to the ground.
Fresh tears began streaming down her face, and she tried to get up, but her body could not rise against the pain and exhaustion any longer.
Helplessly she lay on the road, every raspy breath a painful struggle. She didn't want to die here...
Suddenly, a bird dropped on the road a few inches from her face. The creature twitched for a moment, then went still, a dark smoky mist curling around its tiny form.
Horror gripped her as she realized what it meant.
"What's this?" an eerie voice muttered from somewhere nearby.
Desperately Ki tried to get up once more as shadows began to creep like black fog from the thickets that bordered the road, bringing death to everything they touched. But she only succeeded in causing herself more pain as she fell again.
"It looks so delicious."
The shadows stopped and hovered menacingly a mere hand's breadth from where she lay.
"But we shouldn't eat it."
A pair of small, bare feet stepped through the dark fog and a boy only slightly younger than herself crouched over her, black wings arching from his back.
His tail twitched as he peered at her curiously through ghostly pale eyes. There was no mistaking what he was.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"You don't want to touch me," Ki growled feebly. She knew the talisman she wore wouldn't be able to stop a shadowling completely, but it would deter one if it tried to attack.
"Is that supposed to scare me?" the creature laughed, revealing its beastly fangs.
Abruptly it ceased its laughing. "Stop it. Can't you see she's lost and hurt and scared?"
"But it has so much darkness inside her... we should open it up and find it..."
The boy gritted his teeth and quickly covered his mouth. "No."
"Why not? Aren't you still hungry, too?"
"Because she wants to live!"
Through fading vision, Ki watched, confused, as all the shadows suddenly flowed into the boy, and vanished, the only evidence to show they'd existed was the trail of death that surrounded him.
"Don't worry," the boy spoke and reached out with his pale, frail hand.
Ki flinched at his touch, unable to stop him.
"I saw a town nearby," the boy said as he struggled to half carry, half drag, her down the road, using his wings to aid him.
"Who are you?" Ki asked feebly, but she could not stay conscious long enough to hear the answer.
--------------------
Ki jolted awake. It wasn't night anymore.
"Take it easy there, darling," a kindly woman called, hurrying over to her bed. From her attire, Ki could tell she was a rural herbalist.
Ignoring her fussing, she scrambled out from under the blankets and stood ready for an attack. "Where is he?" she cried shaking.
The woman looked confused. "Who, love?"
"The boy who was with me!"
"There... was no one else..."
"Then how did I get here?" she demanded.
The woman shook her head. "I don't know, love. I heard a knock on my door a few nights back and there you were. There was no one else.
Please, lie back down. You were quite badly injured," she added when Ki did not respond.
"I know he was real..." she stammered, but the recollection of the events that had led her here slowly crept over her.
It hurt...
Tears threatened their downpour, but she quickly crawled back into the bed and burried her face in the pillow.
"There there, darling. You're safe here," the woman soothed and reached out to touch her shoulder.
Shrinking from the comforting hand, Ki jerked the blankets over her head, despite the pain at the movement. She didn't want anyone to see her cry like this.
She didn't know how long the sobs wracked her little frame, but when they at last subsided, a cold numbness crept over her, and with it a resolution.
It didn't matter what it would take. It didn't matter what she had to do. She was going to get home, and she was going to get stronger - strong enough to wield the most vicious shadowling she could capture.
And then... one day... Raze Kalamity would pay for what he'd done. One day, that monster would be made to understand what it felt to be helpless and have everything he loved taken from him.
