~Chapter Two~
Knall
Black smoke loomed over the ashy landscape. Ah! What a beautiful morning! The Crimson volcano was like an ink blot on the reflective black mountains. The small Shade crawled out of his pit. The smoke is rolling, the mountains are… there. The sky is dark. Beautiful. The ink black Shade stretched out and gazed at the dark sky looming over head. Not even a cloud. Where the small Shade’s mouth would have been, it would have smiled at the bleak landscape. His claws leaving footprints in the ashy surface, he went to find the enclave.
He scaled two large hills and finally made it to the enclave valley. Ah. Now that’s a work of beauty. He looked down upon the jet black huts of brick and misplaced lumps of yellow marble. The small Shade inhaled the foul air deeply. Ahhhhhhhhh! He continued his journey forward.
Down below there were over one hundred Shades milling about, trying to find supplies for their pits. Our young Shade had a similar mission. He stopped to look at all the odd items the merchants had to sell. Shades seemed to be infatuated with shiny objects. Spoons, glass, diamonds, gold, forks, knives, and best of all, something not even the King of all Shades couldn’t resist, mirror. Possibly the greatest object ever created. So rare there was said to only to be ten pounds of it in the entire world. Our young Shade knew better however. He was not to be fooled by mere shiny objects.
The small Shade continued to look for the item he desired. He stopped at a store where they sold spell books. A real rarity indeed. Unfortunately the Shades of the most recent generation have forgotten about the grave importance of a spell. The average Shade could produce an almost unlimited amount magic. But there were almost no more spells left to be taught. Most Shades today realized spells were almost completely useless. Our young Shade wanted to become the world’s first Shade wizard. So as often as possible, he tried to study spell books and memorized the complex Casting language.
He entered the sorcery shop. Inside was a wide arrangement of spell books. He took one down from the shelf. It was very dusty. He wiped it clean with one large claw and opened it.
Inside were many runes, most of which he understood. Shades did not believe in proper education. He had to teach himself the oddity of the human language. Why would anyone pronounce debt as det? There were also many illustrations of humans in funny robes demonstrating how to cast the spells. He carried the massive book to the black counter in the front of the shop. He passed it over to the old Shade on the other side of the counter. “You won’t like this boy. All in that human language and riffraff.” The aged Shade returned it to the counter.
“I’d still like to buy it, please.” The young Shade asked politely.
“You’re an odd one, Knall. With your manners. Fine take it. But first, that’ll be five tears.”
The small Shade reached into his ink black body and retrieved five shiny black tear drop shaped stones. He put them on the counter. “You want this wrapped?” Asked the storekeeper, indicating the book. Knall nodded. The old Shade behind the counter wrapped the book in the adhesive produced by the mouth, in other words, he licked the book.
A bouncy material solidified over the book making it easier to carry. Knall ripped a small whole in the bouncy adhesive and wore it on his shoulder like a mailbag, whatever that was.
Knall leisurely strolled out of the store and continued to wander the maze of shoppers and stores. He peered into windows where shopkeepers were displaying very shiny objects. After buying a small snack he decided to head back towards his pit.
Munching on snack and following the path, he decided to take a small break. Knall found a large rock and rested on it. When he finished his snack he got up and continued home. When he finally reached the mountain that contained his pit he found one of his tunnels and crawled into it.
Inside he lit the oil lamp and settled into his comfortable rock. Knall leaned back and opened his new book. He set it on the wooden table next to the chair and got up to prepared himself a meal.
He moved aside a ripped piece of cloth to reveal the piece of glass clumsily stuffed into a tunnel looking out upon the toxic smog starting to settle in the mountain range. After a satisfying read Knall took a mud dip and cleaned the shadow-like flesh of Shades. Then he curled up in his spider web and fell to sleep with pleasant thoughts in his mind.
In the morning Knall woke up early and read a few more chapters in his new spell book. It explained how to how to manipulate time. It was extremely complicated and was probably too advanced for Knall. He closed the book and climbed out into the valley where a red sun hung low in the black sky.
Today was another good day, fresh air, just a few clouds. Perfect. Knall walked a different path this time. Even though it seemed as if the entire mountain range was deserted he thought pleasant thoughts as he continued his way to work. Finally he came to the enormous cave where he mined ore and iron with the other Shades. Might as well get started. He pulled a blunt pick out of his inky flesh and carried over his shoulder. He strolled over to where the other Shades were mining and started on a random wall. After five hours of this he stopped to take a break and sat down.
After letting his eyes wander around the endlessly large cave where thousands of Shades were working on scaffoldings, some even on the ceiling of the monstrous cave. After his eyes wandered around the extremely dimly lit cave he caught sight of something flash. He continued to stare at the shiny object imbedded in the cave wall before he decided to go and investigate. As he approached the wall where he had seen the small flash, he could start to see it clearer. He touched the small object. It was stuck in the rock tightly.
Hmmmm. Knall started to dig around the object. He soon discovered it was actually a rather large object. He finally got to the point where he could pry it form its socket. Knall grasped it firmly and pulled very hard. It started to budge. He ripped it viciously out of the rock and inspected it closely. I-its mirror! The tiny object fit in his fist perfectly. It winked back at him, shining evn through odd clumps of dirt clinging to its smooth surface.
He started to think how much it weighed. He could sell the small reflective object for over 8,000 tears. He was so fascinated by the small object he didn’t realize there was a small crack in the rock running towards the ceiling. He put the fist-sized object into his inky skin feeling very satisfied. He returned his attention to the rock wall, now noticing the tiny crack racing up the wall and coming back down to meet its tail. Knall suddenly realized what was happening and began to run for the exit of the cave screaming “Cave in! Cave in! Everybody get out!” Many other Shades dropped their picks and started to scramble for the exit. Almost the second Knall made it out of the enormous cave the entire mountain buckled and came crashing to the ground leaving none alive except for him. “Oops.” He muttered.
“The High Council of Shades herby decrees Knall Yurrgwyx Grwwolv exiled from the Hymashiizybrix clan. Due to the destruction of our primary mining cave and the death of over three thousand Shades. Have you anything to say before you are exiled?” Knall now stood before twenty of the most powerful Shades in the Black Mountains.
He felt very small as he stood before the Council member’s elevated seats. “No.” He replied, feeling very ashamed. He had destroyed the mining facility and accidentally killed thousands of Shades.
“Gather your belongings and leave this land before daybreak tomorrow.” Knall left the Court’s halls with his head hanging. When he returned home he sadly gathered everything important to him: his favorite books, his spoon, his knife, and his portable oil lamp. Knall quietly climbed out of his empty pit. He gazed at the red sun starting to lower into the mountains. He sighed. Goodbye. He quietly started his journey out of the Black Mountains.
) and "young".
It's a word, and a better one than shadow-like.
please clarify 
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