the Journey of Shadow

The village was quit as the boy wandered the streets. If any had been awake they would have hardly noticed, he often wandered the night. He was known as a strange boy, and some whispered he was moonstruck. He was certainly different from the other villagers. They had blond hair, like spun gold, and deep emerald eyes, with skin tanned bronze from hard labor under the sun. The boy, William by name, had dark brown hair and eyes. Not that any noticed his eyes, most took care to avoid them, for he would stare unnervingly at those who did make eye contact those who did by chance see his eyes would quickly avert their eyes, remarking that his are as twin chasms, unending abysses that you could fall in and never come back. His skin was unnaturally pale, and he was weaker than anyone in the village, for he always managed to sneak away when there was work to be done. William stood at the well, center of the village and looked around, making sure none were awake. When he was sure everyone was asleep he called softly “you can come out now, it’s safe.” Out of the well came a creature that most would flee from, but William smiled at, as if meeting an old friend. The creature stood on two legs, but its legs were bent like a frogs and it was hunched over its skin was a deep ebony black, its webbed feet had small claws protruding from the toes. Its long gangly arms reached near to the ground, its ivory laws actually reaching it. The creatures huge black eyes regarded the boy for a moment, before giving a huge grin on its melon shaped head as it bowed comically “Greetings most esteemed William” the creature said, its voice was shrill, like a child’s, but it held a grating quality that made most shudder. William smirked and replied “Greetings to you most illustrious kappa” with a low bow. The two stared at each other for a moment before laughing at each other. “It has been too long William my friend!” “Indeed it has Mzaka. I could not come the past weeks because someone saw me talking to you at the beginning of the month. I had to lie low to avert suspicion” “they are always meddling” Mzaka said. “It is not their fault. They fear what they don’t understand.” Just then, a rustling sound was heard to the right of them, they looked at the hedge in between the cottages and out burst a group of villagers, a man, apparently the leader of the crowd pointed at William and yelled “See! I told you, he consorts with demons in the night!!” Mzaka snarled and leapt into the well, for William had oft told him not to fight the villagers. William looked at the crowd and said “he is not a demon, he is a kappa.” The villagers quickly clamored “a kappa! A water demon!!” William said quickly “no, not a demon. A kappa. A kappa is no more than a kappa. As a person is no more than a person” they argued back and forth until one old man said “enough!!” take him to the elders!” William was brought before the elders and found guilty of black magic. The elders gave him an hour to leave. He went to his house and gathered food and cloths. He had possessions for he made his living by bartering. William was orphaned at a young age and learned to forage for fruits and berries. Eventually, he figured out he could crush the berries and distill them to form a crude wine substance that he could trade to the village for bread and meat. When they sold the berry-wine to gullible traders who couldn’t tell the difference between it and the real stuff, he got a cut of the profits, he saved this to buy food when he could not distill the berries for whatever reason. He got fresh clothing by bringing food to the shepherd and showing him where to find berries and nutsy, and the location of pastures for his sheep. The shepherd in return gave him wool, which he took to the spinner to be made into cloths. He gathered 2 pairs of shirts and breeches, as much bread as he could carry, a knife he used to defend himself from the occasional wolf and a book he got from a trader a few years back. Thus provisioned, he left the village.

William wandered the broken gravel road, said to have been paved by an ancient empire of great power. He observed all he could staring at every tree and animal he passed with such intensity that they seemed to stare back. It was like this for several hours before he met an old man along the road. William smiled and greeted the man “Well met good sir! What brings you here this fine day?” the man smiled and answered “I am venturing to the nearby town of Ravenshire, so called for the swarms of black birds that nest there” “is it acceptable if I journey with you?” William asked, not knowing where to go to get there, in truth, he had never left the boundaries of his nameless village before. “Certainly young man, company would be appreciated, however, I have no food to share, only the noise of my own empty belly” William smiled and replied “that is alright I have food for us both, let us sup” “that is glad news indeed!” the elder said. They ate the fish and beef that William packed and William asked the man his name, he replied it was Jacob and he was a traveling scholar. William was fascinated and asked him question after question in the middle of responding to Williams latest question about the way the world worked, when a band of thieves walked from the woods. “alrigh’ you know tha’ drill. Hand over tha’ money an’ no one gets hurt” William stood and calmly said, staring the leader of the bandits with such unnerving intensity that the bandit looked away “you shall not take our hard earned money, leave now. Please” The thugs laughed and advanced and William did something he had never done before, something that would forever change his life, and shape the fate of men and kingdoms. He raised his hands and imagined the world itself pushing the bandits back. A rush of darkness, as if all nearby shadows were rushing to match his own, a sound like a sudden rushing of wind, all the bandits, the trees, everything were thrown back at least 3 feet. William gazed in amazement at his hands and the world around him, but it quickly changed to horror as he saw his new friend, Jacob, broken and bleeding near a tree. He rushed to his side “Jacob, are you alright!?” he asked Jacob groaned and looked at William “My word boy, remind me never to get you mad!” he let out a shaky laugh before expiring. William sobbed for hours, mourning the loss of his friend before taking a black cloak he found in Jacobs pack, and a walking stick among the wreckage, as a reminder to never let his powers get out of hand. He continued on the road until he came to the village of ravenshire. He stood open mouthed until a brown haired woman walked past remarking “stand like that much longer and all the flies in the village will take up residence in your mouth” William started, for he had been absorbed so much in the sight of the village he did not see her. He walked in the village and absorbed the sights and smells of the village. He say children playing in the streets, dogs sniffing hungrily at the butchers and fish mongers shop, he heard peddlers selling their wares and smelt the delicious aroma of bread, cheese, fish, and other food items. His stomach growled and he bought himself a meal and a room in a local inn The Prancing Mare. As he walked to the inn after buying his food he heard someone say “you look like a walking corpse with your skin that pale” he looked about and saw a woman, similar to the one at the entrance of the town addressing him. He gave her a puzzled stare and she shrugged and walked off. William continued on his way and laughed at the strange happening. That night, instead of sleeping in the inn he snuck out to practice his power in the woods. William had vowed he would control his gift so he would not harm the innocent. He started by trying to figure out exactly what the gift was. He concentrated and saw the nearby shadows of the forest move to join his hands shadow, intrigued he thrust his hand toward a tree and heard a solid thunk as the shadows moved toward the tree. He smiled, thinking” okay, so that’s the nature of this power, I wonder, can I make physical objects..” he concentrated and raised his hand and saw the shadows form a 3 dimensional column. Cool he thought. Now, for some rest he thought, suddenly releasing g he was exhausted he went back to the inn and crawled into bed. Quickly falling asleep. That night William dreamed: he saw a land swathed in mist and out of that mist rose a knight clad in gold. The peasants bowed before him and he cut them down, returning them to the mist. Bloodshed and fire were left wherever he ventured and hero after hero rose up out of the swirling mist only to be cut down by him. Finally, when all seemed lost, a figure garbed in a black robe rose up and cast the knight down into the shadows. William woke with a start from the dream, a cold sweat drenching his body, he remembered vividly the dream, and instinctively knew it was important. He got dressed and went out into the woods surrounding the town, for he needed answers.

Since William had first come to the village he felt the presence of creatures wrapped in shadow as himself. Now he was going to find them. He wandered until he found what he was looking for. He had never seen the horrible beast before, but knew instinctively what it was called: Nightmare. The creature pawed the ground with its eight spider legs. It was a black stallion in torso and neck, but its tail was a scorpions singer and its head was a horrible black wyrm, with smoldering red eye, it looked at him and evry terror he had known flashed in his mind along with a subtle voice: you are no match for your greatest fears mortal, look upon me and tremble, for I am FEAR!! William, though scared greatly, looked calmly at the beast “I do not fear thee nightmare, for we share a kinship, both clothed in shadow as we are. The nightmare was nervous at this point, most humans would have become a mass of screams now, making it easy for the nightmare to drain their life energy, it tilted its head quizzically and asked “what do you want human?” for by now It was truly intrigued “I have heard your kind are wise stallion of shadow, I had a dream and I wish you to tell me if it was a premonition” William described the dream to the nightmare, who by now, greatly interested, introduced himself as zenarek. The nightmare ran its forked tongue through its teeth, thinking its answer over. “it is a premonition, whether it will come to pass I do not know, a premonition is after all, only a prediction of the outcome of events if they follow a specific set of circumstances.” “thank you nightmare, go on your way noble beast of darkness” William said as he bowed, truly thankful to the nightmare. He walked back to the village and was just thinking about how he was to determine if his ream was true, when a herald announced the coming of a great lord. William gave the illusion of bowing his head by drawing his hood over his eyes and slightly inclining his head, he was curious and wanted to the this lord. As the knight came by on his horse William had to exert self control not to yell in surprise, the knight was he in Williams dream. The knight spoke suddenly” I am sir Frederick, ad I hereby claim all the valuables of this village as mine” William whispered, more to himself than anything, “ by what right can he do this?” a villager nearby whispered “the edict of strength allows a knight to take the valuables from a village if he be strong enough to survive any challenges” William thought this over, thinking it outrageous, he finally decided to stand and confront this knight, he felt calm and assured, his powers felt stronger than ever, and he knew he was breaking the thread of his old wyrd, his fate, to start a new destiny. He said in a low voice “ I challenge you sir Frederick, duel me and let us see who shall survive” Frederick turned toward William, and removed his helm to get a better look at him, when he did so, William also took his chance to gauge the strength of his enemy. Frederick was obviously strong, for his skin was tanned by training long hours and his corded muscles showed up even in his face, he had red hair and blue eyes, most would consider this to be the look of a knight, but his eyes where chilled and dead, like ice. William despised him on sight. As William made low opinion of Frederick, so Frederick made low opinion of William , he observed his pale skin and excess fat and knew he was physically weak, and that was all he cared for, as he put all stock in a persons strength. Frederick smirked at his apparently weaker opponent “I will let you have first blow, even though it is usually the right of he challenged, you need as much of an advantage as you can get.” William let the insult slide and called upon his powers to from a sword he had seen in his minds eye just now, it had a cold steel blade with a black handle and a skull motif on the hilt. Fredericks eyes widened as he regarded his opponent with a newfound sense of caution “ an umbramancer! I thought they where all wiped out! No matter, I shall finish of you and your wretched breed! Frederick attacked with his two handed golden blade, apparently forgetting he gave William first blow, and William coolly deflected, never feeling fear, viewing it with cold detached precision William counter attacked with a right shoulder to left hip strike, which Frederick barely blocked, William, now acting on instinct, called upon his gift to push Frederick away. As William raised his hand a wall of shadow rose and attacked Frederick, throwing him against the wall of a nearby cottage. William advanced slowly as Frederick rose up. Frederick threw a head to toe cleave at William witch William sidestepped, Fredericks momentum proved his end as he fell into the ground, his sword flying away into the crowd of amazed onlookers. William pointed his sword at Fredericks neck and said “ surrender, I do not wish to kill you, it would be a waste of talent.” Frederick answered by spitting in Williams face, sealing his doom. With a last look of pity on his face, William murmured “may you find peace” and sliced his sword through Frederick’s neck. William looked around at the crowd as the gawked at him. He inclined his head at the crowd and let dissolve into the shadows his sword. He walked to the inn he slept at, knowing his fate had forever changed.



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