Remnants of the Twilight

Remnants of the Twilight

Chapter One: The Shadow that Begins a New

Part One

"....The gentle breeze...of such a quiet little place....It's very refreshing....Oh so refreshing...."

         Laying in a grassy meadow, a young girl stared at the morning sky. Her eyes glistened together with the color of the sky, as a gentle breeze blew over her body and into the surrounding flowers. The flowers moving ever so slightly in a slow dance with the wind. The sun was just beginning to rise, giving the morning horizon a most beautiful sight. One of the most wonderful times of the day. This is what the young girl thought. She sat up slowly letting her hands flow into the soft grass underneath her. Such a calming feeling that gave her such an inner peace. She loved the sight, smell, and feeling of nature she just couldn't resist examining it every morning right before school. "If only every moment was like this." She said softly with her serene voice, gazing into the last remnants of the glistening light.
         The sun was almost over the valley's horizon. This meant it was time for her to begin her long walk towards town. To once again enjoy the simple life that is her existence. This girl was satisfied completely. Even if "that" one thought always bothered her. Standing to her feet she dusted off her dark blue skirt, and her silver blue shirt. Her clothes were the assigned colors of her blissful little school. It was a place that she enjoyed going to. Always learning something new about the world around her. Always having so much fun with her good friends. "Well....another day begins...." She said softly again, going into a normal stride down a grassy hill.
         Gazing left and right at the familiar scenery, she began down a small path. This was the only path that led up to the hillside of her small little town. It was also the only path that past by her small house, a place were she lived a wonderful life. This place to this girl was just so peaceful and yet...she still felt like something was missing from it.
         "HEY! Melody!!! Hurry Up!!!" A high pitch voice called up the hill. The young girl, Melody gazed downward to another young girl who was waving her right arm left and right in a rapid waving motion. Melody raised her own right arm and gave a small slight wave back to her. "I'll be right there Nina!" She called out in her serene voice.
         Only a few steps later, and a stumble or two from coming down a rather steep hill. Melody was standing right beside her friend Nina. "Did you finish your homework?" Nina asked Melody in a cheerful manner. Melody sighed a little bit scratching her head. "I'm afraid not." She paused for a moment and smiled. "Could I...maybe borrow yours?" Nina scowled towards Melody in a half angry manner. "Mel! I can't believe you! You were staring up at the stars again all week weren't you?! Always looking at the sky instead of doing you homework! I swear you're hopeless sometimes!" Nina said rather agitated, Melody just sighing and scratching the back of her head. "I know! I'm sorry! I just can't help it...I just...wanna know..." Melody sighed and looked towards the ground with a blank stare. Nina turned her gaze to Melody's sad expression. Her own expression turning into an apologetic one. "I'm sorry Mel...I know you want to find out what happen to your real parents...." Nina said rather quietly turning her gaze to the passing ground as well.
         "It's ok!" Melody said turning her head to Nina and smiling wide. "I'll see them sooner or later! I'm sure of it!" Nina couldn't help but smile towards Melody as she said those enthusiastic words to her. "Yeah! You're right!" she replied clenching a fist to show that she was sure. "I know I'll see them soon. For that I have no doubt in my mind." Melody said looking up towards the clear blue sky, the smile still shining on her face.
         A few minutes later the two could clearly see the school building that they were walking towards. It wasn't too big and yet it wasn't that small either. It was the perfect size for such a quiet little town. "Nothing ever changed around this place really." Melody thought quietly gazing at the school grounds and the various classmates hurrying inside. "It was always the same, even the festivals that were so lively. Everything was so well planned and wonderful. Even if it was always the same, it always fun as well. "Still...I can't help but feel oh so empty when I look at all the different families...I wonder....what that is truly like." Melody's sad expression returned for a brief moment. But as soon as she saw Nina turn to look at her in concern. She turned that frown of hers into a gracious smile to reassure Nina that she was just fine.
         A small bell chime began to ring over and over again. It was the signal that stated it was time for everyone to get to class. If the bell stopped and you were not in class it would mean you were late, and that would mean trouble. "Oh my gosh! We're going to be late! Come On!!!!" Nina shouted very worried, grabbing a hold of Melody's left hand and began to pull her a long. "Hey! Wait a second!" Melody shouted as Nina burst forward into a run in that sudden impulse. Melody almost tripped over her feet, but managed to regain her footing as she ran along behind Nina. "Don't be late! Don't be late! Don't be late!!!" Nina kept shouting over and over again as the two ran up the stairs into the main doors.
         The bell chimes were getting slower and slower which meant they were about to stop. "Don't be late! Don't be late! DON'T BE LATE!!!" Nina shouted aloud sliding the door to there classroom open, dragging Melody in with her. "SAFE!!!!" Nina shouted aloud just as the bell chimes ceased. The classroom filled students stared at Nina and Melody with a half sighing smile. "Enthusiastic as always eh Nina?" The teacher said laughing a little bit. "Yes Sir!" Nina shouted with a smile. Melody gave a soft sigh and waved a good morning to her other friends in the classroom.
         Shortly afterward the two took there seats in the back and the day's lesson began. The teacher was explaining the geographical terminology of there quiet little town and how it served as a perfect place to live. He explained that because the town was built on such a high plateau. That it was almost impossible to get to incase of any tyrants looking to take over. Or the fact that because of it's altitude that it rained perfectly to make the plains of the quiet little town covered in beautiful glistening grass. It also rained quite fairly, not too much nor too little, just the right amount.
         "This'll be on the next weeks test so make sure to review on page twenty four!" The teacher called out as the bell rang a few hours later. The school was well designed for the students' leisure. They go to a single subject class per day, taking a different course each day. So they wouldn't be overworking by constantly having to deal with multiple subjects each day. It made the students feel relieved and never too exhausted.
         "Soooo whatta ya wanna do now that class is over Mel?" Nina asked as the two sat and ate there lunch in the school grounds. Although class is over, most students stay around the campus to chat or get extra help with the teachers. "I don't know...." Melody began taking a sip of her favorite drink, apple juice. "I think, I might head home, I'm not feeling really well today." Melody said with a sigh. "Is something the matter? Are you feeling sick?" Nina asked concerned for her friend. "No I just feel a little tired. I don't know what it is really." Melody replied standing up. "But I think if I go home and rest everything should be fine in the morning." Nina sighed as stretching her arms. "Awww....I wanted to go shopping today with you to....oh well...." Nina sighed and waved a hand goodbye to Melody as the two went there separate ways.
         Nina went further into town, as Melody took only path to the highest point in the village. The path that went to her favorite spot in the whole confined area. The only place that overlooked the village and the overlooking view of the world below perfectly. It was such a beautiful place, and she was so thankful to be living so close to it. She sighed a little bit opening the door to her small cabin. "I'm home!" She shouted, her voice only echoing into the distant and fading away shortly afterward. Every day she shouted that as she returned hoping someone will answer it. Just like every morning she shouted "I'm leaving now!" hoping someone will reply "Be Safe!" but every day it was just silence.
         "....A family...." Melody said with a sigh sitting down in a wooden chair. "I wonder....what that feeling is like...." She said softly staring upward into a rotating ceiling fang. "Just once...I'd like to...." A sound of thunder, cracked the silence Melody jumping upward in a terrified stricken silence. She was absolutely scared of thunder and couldn't move every time she heard it. "The....the sky was so clear earlier..." She managed to mumble, as she stared up into a suddenly dark and cloudy sky. The night sky had already stricken the horizon. "How long was I staring at the ceiling?" she said slowly just as another thunder struck making her body paralyze all of its movements. But it wasn't the fact that she was staring up as the ceiling but for some reason she was now outside her house. Standing right in front of the small cabin staring into the dark dark sky. "....What's going on...."
         A few moments later Melody managed to move her body once again. It seemed that the thunder strikes were random and there was no telling how long the interval between them would be. "I have to....get the tarp...." Melody said to herself shifting her legs slowly and a very short slide towards a small shed beside her house. She was moving in such a slow pace that it seemed like forever. But she knew she had to get the tarp over the shed otherwise all of her precious "findings" would become soaking wet and unusable.
         Another bright lightning flash made her stop in her tracks. But not because of the terrorizing sound that she was afraid of so much. But she could clearly see her shadow now. But it wasn't in the shape of her usual figure. No, what extended from her feet onto the ground below was that of some creature. But what was made her so scared of her shadow wasn't the fact that it was in an odd shape. It was by the fact that it was staring at her.

"....With....soulless yellow eyes...."

Part Two

"....It's.....It's moving...."

         Melody mumbled glaring at her shadow with such terror she could never describe it. This was something she had never seen before. It was just illogical for a shadow to just start moving on it's on. It was even more unexplainable that it could possibly have eyes and stare back at her. "....What's going...." Melody said softly just as another flash of lightning struck the sky, with the giant boom of thunder crashing down with it. She fell to ground clutching her head to the ground. Why this sound terrified her so much, was a memory she just couldn't bear to relive every time there was a thunderstorm.
         She raised her head slowly too look back at the shadow. A strange noise was echoing from the black void of the shadow. She couldn't help but bring her attention towards it. "....What's happening!...." She screamed aloud the shadow's body sticking out of the ground. It now had a head, body, and arms just pushing itself from the ground. Trying so hard to break free from it's confinement with nothingness within the earth. Using its arms the shadow with soulless yellow arms pushed off the ground, its feet finally surfacing. Placing its new found ability to stand firmly across the earth it stared there moving in a somewhat dance. It was looking directly at Melody, who was shivering from fear. Not only did the sound of thunder terrify her, but it didn't help by this creature's sudden appearance.
         "Um....hello...little guy...." Melody mumbled outstretching her right hand towards it. She was trying to calm her nerves, while deliberating if this creature was deadly or not. "I'm not...going to hurt you at all...." She said scooting towards the shadow that just stood there staring at her. "Are you...going to hurt me?..." Even though she was talking to the strange creature she knew she wasn't going to get a reply. To her it was obviously some sort of new animal, and animals weren't able to communicate. Closer and closer her outreach hand inched towards the creature. "Now, I'm just going to pet you....across your head and get a feeling for your....cute little...black....fur...."
         Another flash of lightning combined with the sound of thunder. Melody stood there on her knee's her eyes star struck wide in an utmost fear. She was staring at something that was giving her a powerful pain. Droplets of red water dripping down from three claw marks across the top of her outreached hand. A matching color, stained across the creatures right hand that now had extending claws from the dark nub that used to be null. "This....is...my...." Her words were stuttered either from fear, or the pain Melody was unable to speak clearly. "....Why...." She said as her eyes began to quiver, there pupils focusing in and out.
         The shadow gave no reply as it slid its bloody claw across its face were its mouth was as if to get a taste of her. Its eyes still showed no emotion even as it did this. They never blinked, they never flinch, they didn't even narrow. Those soulless yellow eyes just continuously stared at her.
         "....Why would you.....do this...." Melody turned her bleeding hand over to see the blood oozing into her palm. Again the shadow gave no reply in verbal use. But this time it took a step towards her raising the same bloody claw. "NO!" Melody shouted as the shadow brought down its claw.
         A loud scream echoed into Melody's ears. She had closed her eyes when the shadow was about to strike her once again. She was afraid to open them once again. Because of that echoing scream, she knew exactly who it was. Shakily opening her eyes she caught a clear sight of something so horrid. It struck her dead cold just like when the sound of thunder crashed through the sky. Their before her lay Nina's body a large claw mark across her chest. The shadow creature just hovering over it. Nina's arm began to twitch, reaching out towards Melody. "....M...e....l....r.....u....n....a.....w....a....y..."
         Melody couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she couldn't even shake her head in a reply. She couldn't take her eyes off the sight of her best friends body lying there dripping away its life. "JUST RUN AWAY!!!!" Nina shouted with her final breaths, as the blood flew onto the knee's of the sitting Melody. Melody's eyes quivered for a few seconds towards Nina's body glaring at her to run. "I'M SORRY!" Melody screamed bursting from her knee sitting position in the pool of Nina's blood.
         She rushed in the direction behind her. She didn't know which way she was going, she was just going to run. Just like Nina had screamed at her to do. Step after step, the rain from a blood not able to move fast enough to take the blood away from her body. Whether it was from her own open wound across the top of her right hand, or the fact that her legs and knee's were covered in her best friends own blood, that had drifted down onto her sitting position. It was a blind dash, the type of run you could only achieve from a tragic incident. This was pure and utter fear for her life. Even though she wished she could've remained with her friend. Melody knew that Nina would want her to live and not die with her.
         She finally stopped, her legs emitting a fiery pain. She not only had run as fast as she could but it was up hill to. Melody now realized where she had run to. It wasn't towards town; it was towards her favorite spot in the village. "Highwind's Plateau" she mumbled taking a step towards the steep cliff that overlooked the town. But her town wasn't there; it was just a black void below. Nothing but a continuous black void that seemed to lead into an eternal nothingness. "....Why is this happening...." Melody mumbled falling to her knees once again as she glared towards the black void.
         "Isn't it obvious?" a cold voice called from behind. Melody turned her head to see a man only a few feet away from her. His face and body were completely entrenched in a black coat and hood. "What do you mean?!" Melody yelled out towards the man standing forth straight to face the hidden figure of this man. The man raised his arm and pointed towards Melody. "It's because of you, you brought these things here." He said rather coldly.
         Melody raised her hands to touch the cheeks of her face. The blood from her right hand wound dripped onto her face as her eyes began to quiver once more. "That's a lie! I had nothing to do with this!" Melody shouted thrusting her arms downward behind her. "This isn't my fault!" she said in a voice that emitted both fear, and denial.
         The cloaked man raised his right arm to his covered forehead, and shook his head a little. "Of course...." he said with a sigh "blame it on something else." He took the hand of his forehead and pointed at Melody once again. "But only you have that!" Melody looked down to her neck were a necklace had suddenly appeared. The necklace was a long band wrapped a bit tightly around her neck much like a choker that rich woman wore she thought. But what made this black and white band distinctive was the fact that there was a keyhole in its center.
         "Where did this come from?!"  Melody shouted aloud reaching for the necklace trying to pry it from around her neck. "It's useless you know...." The cloaked man said in the same cold tone of his, shifting his arm through the many pouring rain drops towards his sides. "That little accessory is apart of you whether you like it or not. The only reason you couldn't see it until now was because of a seal placed upon you a long time ago little girl." Melody took a step forward lowering her struggling grip from the necklace back to her side. "What do you mean....seal...." The man laughed a little bit and then sighed "Man you really are clueless aren't you little girl...." he shrugged his arms with another sigh and continued."It was too keep you hidden from me of course!" Her eyes shuttering a bit Melody managed to mumble a few words in reply. "....What do you want with me...." The cloaked man laughed once again, as he clenched his fist. "Your power of course!" he said in a rather sick and twisted manner.
         "....My power...." Melody mumbled, looking towards the soaked field below her feet. She stared at those dripping wet flowers for a few moments watching the many water droplets flow onto the many flowers and fall seconds later. Taking her sight from the flowers finally she looked up to the cloaked figure who was still laughing a little bit to himself.
         "It's....looks....like...it's....crying...." Melody said softly continuing her gaze upward to the dark and cloudy sky. "What in the world are you talking about little girl?!" The man shouted at her in an annoyed tone. Melody backed up a few steps towards the cliff behind her stopping just at its edge. Finally, she looked downward toward the cloaked man, her eyes showing complete emptiness. "The world is sad....that you are doing this because of me...." The man took a step towards her out of anger. "Now stop talking nonsense!" He shouted at Melody. "Just give yourself up to me now!" he said waving his arm horizontally cutting a few raindrops from his frustration. Melody stared at the man with her empty eyes. It seemed she had lost all interest in continuing with this. She didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of her...and she had decided then and there....that no one was going to.
         "....So....sad...." Melody said as she moved her body weight backwards to fall down into the black void below the cliff. "HEY WAIT A SECOND!" the cloaked man shouted rushing forward. "YOU BRAT!!!" Melody could hear him shouting towards her as she fell further and further into darkness below. This was satisfying for her to be consumed by this darkness if it meant others wouldn't suffer.

"....If it means to save the village, I'll gladly be consumed by darkness...."

~To Be Continued~