Part 1
Shadows
And so the girl dreamed…
Amora opened her eyes and looked out her window. It was still dark out, but she could see the tip of the sun coming over the hill. She threw on a dress and ran outside to her mark.
“Ready?” she giggled at the sun. This time, she was going to win. Looking behind her, she saw the sun rise slowly above the hill. Ready…ready… and then, as the rays struck the ground, light raced towards her. She gave a squeak and started running for the tree. She looked behind her and gave a great laugh. The sun was catching up with her, but she would win. She was almost there. She slapped the tree just as the sun bathed it in light. Out of breath, she sat down against the tree, still laughing.
“We both won this time, but I’ll get you tomorrow!” she called out to the sun. Catching her breath, she walked back to her house where she would be scolded for waking the town again. She was almost to her house when the earth shook, knocking her off her feet. She screamed. What was happening? She scrambled to her feet and ran for her house.
“Mama! Maaamaaa!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. She couldn’t run as fast when the ground shook.
“Amora!” Her mother cried, rushing out the door. Amora stumbled and fell. She looked behind her and screamed again. The ground was disappearing! It was falling into a big hole! Still screaming, she got up and ran into her mother’s arms. Her mother rushed her under a doorway until the shaking stopped. Amora burst into tears.
“Mama, the ground!”
“Shh, I know, baby, I know.”
“What happened? My tree fell!”
“Hush now. It’s okay. Every now and then the earth shakes as a sign of Terris’s pain and anger.”
“It never happened before! Why did Terris take my tree?”
“It’s happened before, you just haven’t seen it.”
“But why did Terris take my tree away?”
“Well, maybe she liked that tree too. So she took it.”
“But it was my tree! I would have shared it with her! Now it’s gone forever!”
“Now, now, you don’t know that. She might give it back when she’s done with it. It’s nothing to cry over.”
“But when will she give it back?”
“I don’t know, baby. But we can plant a-”
She was interrupted by screams. Her mother gasped. Amora started crying again, thinking the ground would start to shake. But all was still. Her father came from her room and went outside.
“Amora, stay here with your sister.” Her mother said as she ran outside. Amora went to her room to check on Senna. She was hiding under the bed.
“Amoa?”
“My name’s Amora, Senna. A-more-uh. What happened?”
“Gound shake scay.”
“It took my tree!”
“Oh no!”
“Where’d Papa go?”
“Papa out. Mama?”
“She went out too. I’m going out to see.”
“No, no! Stay, Amoa!”
“I’ll be right back, Senna. Stay right here, or Mama’ll get mad at me. I’m supposed to stay here with you.”
Amora stayed for a moment before going outside. She wanted to see what it was. All was silent when she got out. It was dark out, too. Dark and cold. She trembled with each step. She squeezed through the many people until she found her mother, who was looking up.
“Mama, what’s happening?” She asked, tugging on her mother’s skirt.
Her mother didn’t look down or answer her.
“Mama?” She asked.
No answer.
She looked around. Everyone was looking up. Slowly, afraid of what she might see, she looked up too. She was too afraid to scream or even move. Floating in the air were three black shapes that looked like people.
“Mama,” she whispered. One of the people turned and looked at her, and she almost screamed at its eyes. There were no white parts or color, it was all black.
‘Have no fear, beloved child. There is no harm here.’ The thing said.
It said it, but didn’t say it. It thought it to her. She found her voice.
“Where’s my tree?” She asked, her voice trembling. The thing almost smiled.
‘Gone.’ it then turned to the rest of the town and spoke.
“That is another thing. Children are not to learn the Power of Shadow. They are not strong enough and are too young.”
“We agree! We agree!” The town people shouted, trapped in the thing’s spell. Amora whimpered and hid behind her mother. Another thing spoke.
“You do not understand. If you learn the Power of Shadow, you will lose life. You will only exist. You will not cry or laugh or breathe or bleed. You will feel only hate and anger and the bad, never the good.”
“We agree! We agree!” The town people cried.
The last thing spoke.
“My first brother told you of the power. My second warned you. Now I speak. You will do things beyond imagination, you will live forever, and you will be as we are. Your power will be great, in time greater than that of the gods. But you will only walk in shadow. The sun would make you fade to shadow. Even the moon will be dangerous. You would only be able to walk free in the black moon, when no moon casts light. Be warned, once you choose this path, there is no return.”
“We agree! We agree!” They shouted, trapped in the first thing’s eyes.
The first one spoke again.
“Very well. But there are two things you must swear to. You must swear to only teach those in your village, no others. And the second, you must never teach the children. If you agree, we will give you until sunset to select three people to be the first Shadows.”
“We agree! We agree! We agree!”
At that moment the darkness vanished and day returned. The things had vanished. Her mother slowly walked to the middle dome with her father, not even noticing Amora.
“Mama, what happened?” She asked, tugging on her skirt again.
“Shh, not now Amora.” She said, brushing her hand away. Amora froze, unsure what to do. Her mother never did that to her before. But the earth never shook before either.
“Papa?”
“Listen to your mother. Not now.”
“But-”
“No. Go back to the house, Amora.” Her mother said, pointing.
Amora’s lip trembled, but she did as she was told. She didn’t want to know what happened at the meeting anyway. She sat on her bed for the rest of the day, hungry and afraid. She played with Senna and shared a hard-fruit with her. But when Sunset came, she forgot everything and ran outside. The Shadows were back and were talking to three people. Amora hid around a corner and watched. The Shadows then gave each person a knife. Amora watched wide-eyed as they stabbed themselves. She thought the people would run screaming, but they stood there and stared. Amora stared too, to afraid to move. The Shadow people started to fade. As the Shadow people began to fade, the three dead people’s hair began to turn black, and their skin turned white. She was afraid to move or make a sound lest the Shadows come for her too. About ten minutes later, the dead people moved, and then got up. Their skin was a white as cloud, and their hair and eyes were black. The fading Shadows were gone now. The people laughed, and Amora ran.
Months passed, and with every black moon Amora was afraid the Shadows would come back. But they never came. A year passed, and Amora turned six. The day after her birthday, her father turned into a Shadow. He was cold and distant, and never laughed. A month after that, at black moon, her mother turned. Her mother was also distant, and acted like she didn’t have any children. She acted as if she was simply watching another’s until they got back, and even forgot to feed them at times. Before a year had passed from that, her father went away. She waited, but he never returned. A year after that, only the children were still truly alive. Amora started to hear whispers around the village of teaching the children. With each new year, the whispers became louder. By time Amora turned ten, she knew she was going to die. She would sit at the edge of the lake under the shade of a tree and think. She had spent the whole day at the lake today. They had planted the tree soon after she lost her other one. She couldn’t wait until she grew old enough to travel the mountains. She might even get off this mountain and find a husband. She couldn’t wait to have a kid. A baby to hold and love and raise away from the Shadows. They would live in a meadow, like the one the village was in. But her meadow would be in the middle of a different wood. And there would always be sun, and a lake to swim in. And there would always be laughter, too. She would have Senna there as well, and she would hear Senna’s laugh again. But in the back of her head, she knew this wouldn’t be. The whole town was talking about teaching the children. She thought she might be able to make it down the mountain, but there were the other kids to think of. She would turn ten-and-one the next day, and would celebrate it alone. Time only meant something to the kids.
She returned home at nightfall to hear cheering. It was black moon, and an almost faded memory told her what had happened. They had turned someone. The only ones left to turn were kids. Amora raced to the middle dome where meetings and turnings had been held to find Tomor, a ten-and-four year old boy standing in the middle of the room. She had always liked Tomor. He was different. Even from the kids. But now he was the same.
“Tomor.” she whispered.
She went back home and cried. She had hoped it wouldn’t happen, even though she knew it would. But she didn’t think it would happen so soon.
At the next black moon they turned Kikiara, a ten-and-five year old girl. With each month, they turned younger and younger children. Soon it was Amora’s turn. It sent shivers down her spine, but she knew she had to stay strong. If not, she wouldn’t survive. She didn’t want to become a Shadow, but she didn’t want to die either. She could run tonight, and save herself. Or she could stay and try to save the others. She could also take the kids and run now, but that could lead to trouble. The younger ones would slow them down, and what of the babes? They couldn’t walk, and wouldn’t know when to keep quiet. There was no guarantee that the adults were going to change the kids, but if she ran with them through the woods, it would mean certain death. Perhaps she would come back to life alive and save the others. Maybe. She might just come back as a Shadow, but if she could save the others, it would be worth it. Besides, she would be fine. Things always turned out fine.
They came to her room that night. They had ropes to bind her, and a knife to stab her. All the others had struggled. But she wouldn’t. She could put up a stronger and longer fight than the others, but they would win in the end anyway. She leapt from the covers and before they could react, grabbed the knife and stabbed herself. She gasped at the pain, and everything faded black. She began to fall through the darkness, and then landed gently on the ground. It didn’t look like she stood on anything; just black, but then she saw him. She readied herself. But Death just shook his head sadly.
“They send me children now. Younger and younger. You have not yet had a chance to live.”
“They will send younger unless I go back.”
“Oh? And why would you want to go back when you could come into my gardens and have peace?”
“Because that would be only 1000 years of peace. I don’t want to be reborn in a world that was mostly Shadow.”
“And you wish to see it fall?”
“No. I wish to stop it.”
“And how would you do that? You have a strong mind and spirit, yet you let them kill you.”
“I killed myself.”
“Why?”
“I wouldn’t have been strong enough. They would have killed me anyway.”
“The only way for you to go back is as ghost or Shadow.”
“I chose neither. I want life.”
“You cannot have it. You lost that. You can regain it though, after a rest in my gardens. But if you go back, you cannot ever enter my gardens.” he said sadly.
Amora thought. Ghosts could walk the light, but couldn’t interact. Only ghost seers could see and speak with them. But shadows had power, and could interact with more than the living did. But they couldn’t walk in light. But power…what if she gathered enough to stop the spread of Shadow?
“I know. If I cannot have life, and I will not die, I chose Shadow.”
“Why? Why condemn yourself to such a fate?”
“If I can save the rest of the children, it will be worth it.”
“Then fight it is. I cannot just let you go through my gates at will.”
“Fight it is.”
And so they fought. It was a mental battle, and she couldn’t break eye contact. She put up walls and hammered away at his. She allowed tears to flow at what she knew she was doing to herself. They were of anger and sadness and loss. But still she fought.
She felt the life flowing from her, her light fading. She was dieing.
She was about to deal another blow to Death, but she started to fade. As she faded, she felt like she was being stripped of her self. Gone was her love of the sun. Now she lacked they great feeling of love she had always taken for granted. She fought to hold on, but the feeling squirmed away from her.
She opened her eyes to the sound of cheering and scowled. She had nothing to fear now. She shoved her way past them to the lake. Looking at herself, she gasped. Before, she had golden honey colored hair, sharp blue eyes, sun dots, and rosy cheeks. Her skin had a glow to it and she had thought herself beautiful. Now she had black hair, black eyes, and cloud white skin. Before, she would have cried. But now, she didn’t care that much. She sat there for a long time. Then she felt the air stir and, looking up, saw the sun about to rise. She got up and raced the sun again, but this time so she could save the other kids. She raced to her house, but no laughter rang from her mouth. She was dead. She crawled under her bed and grabbed a thick blanket she had been working on. It was thick enough to block the sun, and would cast shadow enough to walk. Just to be sure, she grabbed two others like it and piled them on top of one another. She checked all the houses where there were kids, but all were with white skin and black hair. She felt another tear roll down her cheek. She had failed. She had done it all for nothing. For a moment, she thought of stepping into the sunlight. She would burst into shadow, and what then she didn’t know. Her hands lifted the blanket a little, when she heard a noise. Like muffled crying. Her heart leapt. Only those alive cry. She raced to the sound and found Senna sitting there, crying.
“Senna?” She asked as she reached her. Senna turned around and gave a squeak. She tried to scamper away, but she tripped.
“No, Senna, it’s okay. I want to help you.”
“That’s what they said to the others!”
“I mean it. I want to help you get away from here.”
“I should believe you? Why?”
“I did this to myself so that I would be strong enough to save the rest of you. But I fail if you don’t trust me.”
“How can you help me?”
“There are towns beyond these mountains. There is one at the mountain base. You can get a ride from there to a town far away from here.”
“They will follow.”
“They will, but they won’t be able to follow until next black moon. That’s a month from now.”
“And you think that I could be far enough away that they wouldn’t catch me?”
“Yes. And remember what the first three Shadows made us swear to? To only teach those in our own town? If you’re in a different town, you’re safe.”
“They also swore not to teach the children.”
“Trust me.”
“I would trust you, Amora, but-”
“But I’m a Shadow. A Shadow who can shed tears and walk in day.”
There was a pause. Then,
“Why?”
“I don’t know. But I do know that the only reason I fought Death and came back was so I could save the rest of you.”
“He might favor you for that. I’ll go to the base of the mountain, but I’ll go alone.” Senna said, looking Amora in the eye. Her words almost stung, but Amora nodded.
“They won’t go so far as to the base of the mountain just to catch you. But you’ll need to hurry.”
“To catch me? Maybe not. To catch a whole town? They might. I’ll miss you, Amora.”
“I’ll miss you too. But you need to hurry. Now go!”
“A moment more won’t hurt.” Senna said, taking a knife out of her pocket.
Amora didn’t flinch. A knife meant nothing to her now.
“What do you want to do with that? I’m a Shadow, now, remember?” Senna shook her head.
“I want an oath from you. A blood oath that you will do all in your power to stop the spread.”
“That is why I did this to myself.”
“A blood oath, Amora. Nothing less.”
“I’ll take the oath, but Shadows have no blood. Only Shadow.”
“Shadow blood in me, my blood in you. Please Amora; I don’t want to take away your blanket.”
“I’ll take an oath. I’ve cut myself once before.” she said, grabbing the knife and slicing her hand. A bit of Shadow began to seep out an already closing wound. Senna cut her own hand and pressed it to Amora’s.
“I, Amora…the Shadow, swear that I will do all in my power to stop the spread of Shadows from this town, and all others like it.” she said, taking back her hand.
“I only asked you to swear the stopping of our town.” Senna said, wrapping her hand.
“I did not lie about my reason. You need to go now.” Amora said, watching her. Senna got up, nodded, and did something that surprised Amora. She hugged her. Confused, Amora patted her sister’s back. There hadn’t been any hugs in the town since the Shadows came. At least, none that she knew of. Senna let go and walked away. Amora watched her until she was gone from sight, and then turned back to her house. She had a long life to live.
