Spirit Animal Ficlets

Growing Darkness

Summary:

Conor has a secret. A dark secret. Nobody could ever know what lurked inside of him. If it got out, his life was ruined or Erdas would be destroyed.

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Part 1

Conor had noticed the blackouts three weeks after they started. At first he assumed exhaustion or fatigue. They, the greencloaks, were still recovering from Song's destruction and dismantlement of the large Alliance. But as they kept happening. And the blackouts got worse with each one.

He'd be in one place and end up in a whole other place. A few nights ago Conor had woken up outside in the rain and cold. His sleeping attire was soaked and he had mud under his nails.

The nightmares didn't help him either. The Wyrm nightmares had returned but it wasn't right. The Wyrm had changed. This one was darker, it didn't speak or try dragging Conor into the darkness. Just watched him, staring as the black shadows reached and writhed around the pair.

Conor was getting ready to sleep when the blackout happened. He was staring at the mirror in his room when the shadows grew and blotted out the room. His eyes remained on the mirror as the new Wyrm took over his reflection. It stared at him again with his eyes.

Conor felt the stiffness that possessed his body to break and recoiled back. The reflection began moving towards Conor. The darkness of its body shifting like oil, rainbows glistening over its inky darkness.

Conor kept his eyes locked on the monster, fearful that looking away would cause worse things to happen "You're Not Real! The Wyrm Is Dead!" He shouted.

A mouth formed where it's face was "Awaken. Time to Awaken."

Conor blinked as the shadows melted away. He felt hunger stir inside of him. He wasn't in his room anymore. Instead, he was outside on the docks of Greenhaven. Three guards were staring at him with shock and fear. Two were Zhongese and one was a euran. Sentries posted outside in case anybody attacked. They gave off a smell that made the hunger grow. Conor was about to have a feast.

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The word spread through greenhaven instantly that morning. The three sentries were missing and nobody knew where or how they had vanished.

Conor felt his insides twist but couldn't speak. He knew what had happened to the trio last night.

It was him. He had consumed the three guards. It wasn't his fault, the hunger had been too much and he didn't know what was happening when it was happening. Conor had assumed what was going on was only a nightmare from the creature.

But he had seen himself after the feast. Long and made of shadows. The fear had filled the hunger up to return him to himself shortly after but it worried him. How could he control something that had never happened before? Who was going to accept this new monster he was becoming?

The fear that grew inside changed. Conor felt a pang of hunger but not for food. Hunger for fear, for flesh.

His fingers tightened around the spoon he held. If he was going to try hiding this newer trait then he needed to start by dealing with the hunger.

Conor took a mission later that day. He help aid a small town with troublesome sheep. It was nice to deal with simple things. Of course nobody needed to know he also ate one of the sheep. It was sick and dying anyway, if anything he did them a favor by disposing of it. He learned to keep the darkness at bay was fear. Eating a creature fearing for its life would supply the darkness. His own fear drained it but other's fear would fill it. Yet he was worried about what would happen involving situation where there's be too much fear. He wasn't sure what would happen then.