This is the prologue to a story which I started writing a while ago. I never got much further than the 2nd chapter. Read it and tell me what you think.
Shadow Seeker: Prologue
Raigon lifted himself from the battlefield. Although the war was long since over, many bodies still lay across the copious acres of land, dried blood forming an almost black crust on the silent ground.
It was all he could do not to cry out loud in sorrow for the countless lives lost, the families torn apart. For although they had won, many people had lost everything to the unforgiving hand of war. It was also that war which was to cause for the death of the two greatest generals of all time. Raigon bowed his head, refusing to free the sorrow, as he recalled watching his General’s shadow pass on from beneath him. It wasn’t your fault, there was nothing you could do to save him. Though he repeatedly told himself this, Raigon’s hands clenched themselves around his sword in anguish. Never would he forget the deep disappointment in the General’s eyes as he cast them over the surrounding battle, searching for the one face that was not there to save him.
Raigon thrust the vision out of his mind. Continuing to stumble over the bodies, he struggled not to meet the eyes of the dead. Both in respect and in fear of finding himself looking upon the face of a close friend or fellow comrade. Neither did he want to disturb the deathly peace that blanketed the earth.
As far as he could see, he was the only one standing in the field, yet what was left of those childhood nightmares started to emerge from the corners of his mind. Crows flew across the sky, cawing a warning he was unable to interpret. Dark shadows crept around the edges of his view.
Silently, Raigon made his way hastily to the forest on one side of the field and stared back out from under the cover of the trees. To his relief, nothing stirred. The corpses lay still and nothing except the flies which buzzed over them replied to his questioning silence.
He stepped out to where the trees thinned. The uneasiness began to reveal itself yet again. Raigon’s eyes flicked quickly over everything in his sight. Still, nothing moved, but the crows hadn’t re-landed. Something was still out there.
A hand moved. Raigon reached for his sword. His mutterings ceased as he blended effortlessly into the shadows. An axe was pulled out of the blood-stained ground. A laugh, soft and dangerous, echoed around the battleground. A man stood and turned to face Raigon. He threw the axe.
Shattering pain splintered through Raigon’s head. He almost fell, doubling over in agony. Raigon could feel something in his mind. Something trying to get in. It was succeeding. The man walked towards him, the pain growing ever stronger. A voice filled Raigon’s head. The words had not been spoken on those lands for many centuries. They were words of myth, a language known only by one race. A race feared by many, resented by all. Within the words spoken, a meaning unfolded. Raigon understood.
Struggling to breathe, Raigon lifted his head to view the man that was causing the excruciating agony and was met with something unlike he had ever seen. A man dressed in pallid robes stood above him. The thick hood was pulled back to reveal eyes more like two deep punctures on each side of the man’s face. His skin was paler than the robes which folded themselves around him, leaving the rest of the world in shade, literally.
All around the two men, a darkness deeper than shadow seemed to envelope the surrounding land. Raigon refused to let the young man’s gaze leave his as the world turned dark, but what troubled him more was something which was not present: the man had no shadow.
Raigon, it is time. I know you understand, Raigon. It is time for you to come. You are ready, you are needed.
Raigon let the words unravel themselves in his mind as a smile broke the man’s face in two. Raigon could not do this, he would not.
I am needed here, not with you. You shall not take me without conflict. I will not let you take me.
The man’s smile disappeared as he let out a sigh and slowly tightened his grip around Raigon’s struggling mind. A silent cry escaped Raigon’s lips.
Why are you struggling? You talk of conflict yet you do not know what you are fighting against. Raigon, it is time. You speak our language, you are ready. You have been for a long time. You shall come, shadow-bearer. You shall become one like me.
This time, a cry thicker than the darkness which surrounded the two men erupted from Raigon. The man drew closer, concentration wiping all other emotion from his features. Raigon understood better than ever before. He could not fight back. He would become dark. The man drew closer. It was he who engraved the deep markings into Raigon’s neck. It was he who breathed shadow into the wound. It was he who did not seal the lesion.
Raigon let the darkness encase him with such intensity he could not breath. No pain came from the deep cut other than the one breath which continued to drag at his skin. He could not stop the darkness, he could not go back. He drew up straight and disappeared into the surrounding shadow with such speed the man struggled to keep pace.
His duty began, he would not fail.
