Chapter One: From the Shadows
Part 1: Athens
“They’re all dead!”
The policeman sat at the small wooden table concealed in the corner of the tavern, on a balcony overlooking the stage where a dozen dancers dressed in the traditional bright waist coats and flowered dresses frolicked before tourists. The policeman’s hands were clasping the table top as he locked eyes with the teenage girl who sat, leaning back in the chair opposite him.
“I know.” She replied, calmly, slightly distracted by the dancers. The beat of the brightly coloured melody rose around them. She wore a leather, studded jacket and apparel that made it obvious she was part of a biker gang. Her hair was big and fluffy, as though she’d just woken up and not brushed the mess of deep black.
“Well, what are you going to do?”
The girl looked at him. “Nothing. I can’t.”
The policeman leaned back, going red with stress and a certain underlying fear.
“It can’t go on like this.” He took a sip of his water. “You’re going to be found out. They reckon their getting closer to suspects, or arresting people. Innocent people are going to get blamed for your actions! Innocent people!”
The girl suddenly leaned forwards, her voice an urgent hiss. “I can’t do anything! We have been asleep since before your blasted Acropolis was even an idea in someone’s tiny mind! They need to feed. They have a certain lust for life that hasn’t been quenched for eons and you expect me to deprive them of things that they can so easily have?”
“You said yourself! You want no part in this! You’re their leader! Tell them!”
“Tell them what? That they have to go back to sleep? That they must wait even longer! This is in their blood! My blood! It’s our nature. I know my feelings about this, but I would be a smouldering wreck right now if I didn’t feed!”
She leaned back. The policeman found it strange, listening to someone who had such a thick British accent. He wondered why that was.
“I want to leave them, so badly! I do! But if I do, they will turn on me and kill me. I don’t want to die. I can’t lie in the shadows anymore.”
The policeman raised an eyebrow. “I thought you couldn’t die.”
“Dying for us is different. We wait as shadows until we are born again. We are darkness. Death is not part of us. We are not human. For me, however, because of my age you will find I can be very resilient. Even if you do manage to kill me, I don’t stay down for long.”
“Well,” the policeman paused. “You need to do something, because more innocent people are getting killed. All those girls in that dorm! Those kids from that hospital! I see that going back to sleep is not an option for you anymore, but please! I love you, but this can’t go on.”
The girl looked at him. He loved her. She still didn’t know whether her feelings were mutual. Despite the shadows being awake for around 6 months now, she still felt it too early. This was just the lust in her speaking. Was it? She’d been asleep for so long, it was hard to think straight sometimes. She indeed felt what the others felt: a freedom so intense, a longing for life that had so recently burst free.
“I will try, but I’m not promising. They’re a pack of monsters. If I try to leave, they will do anything to keep me there and re-educate me, brainwash me, anything to keep things the way they are- as they like them. If you don’t hear from me for a long while, you will know why.” And with that, the girl melted into the shadows, whips of darkness falling from her, until she had completely disappeared into the dark corners of the tavern.
“Sorry sir,” the policeman turned to see a waiter. “I didn’t realise you were alone, I thought I saw someone sitting opposite.”
“No, just me.” The policeman had his order taken and then put his head in his hands as the waiter shuffled away.
The dancers below danced on, freely and happily.
*
The streets of the Plaka weren’t exactly packed with tourists as they usually were. Luna tucked her hands through the loopholes of her skinny jeans. It didn’t strike her how her clothing stood out against the foreign style of the Greek. Her studded biker boots clomped against the hard marble slates, her intimidating figure moving through the narrow streets like the shadow she was. The policeman had been right, she needed to do something.
But what?
People couldn’t keep dying. She should have anticipated this. What was worse, she was even getting messages from other settlements of Darklings across Europe inviting her to meetings. She knew what that meant.
War was on the jagged line of the horizon.
She hated them! The shadows had no morals. No sense of right or wrong. She’d been born into this, however, which made her feel even more trapped. But, if she escaped, would they take her in? Probably not. They didn’t take kindly to her kind. So even if she ran, she’d have nowhere to go.
She imagined herself living as a human. That option was out of the window. They’d tried to do that, already, but they weren’t part of that world. They never would be.
And then there was the risk of exposure...
Breathing through her nose, Luna let the cold night air fill her. She hadn’t smelt it in eons. It was so glorious! When she first woke, she remembered letting the cold air wash over her, the sensations, the smell of wet soil, the sound of traffic...
Then the shouts of other shadows, waking up, in human forms, naked, ecstatic, shocked, exhilarated...
She’d only wished the happiness had lasted a little longer. They soon wanted their old leader back in action. But the eons of sleeping and watching had changed her...
At the end of the street, she could make out several dark shapes. As she got closer, she laid eyes on David sat on a Harley, clad in a blue leather jacket, his white hair gelled upwards, a single braid hanging limp at the side of his face. Having watched the 80s go by, he’d clung to the fad. Several other bikers surrounded him, either sat on bikes or leaning on them, or sat on a low wall at the side of the road. All black. All leather. All studs.
David watched Luna appear from the shadows and the noise of the Plaka in the distance. He stood, made a slight bow and held out his hand. She took it and allowed him to help her onto the back of his Harley.
“Everything went smoothly with your meeting?” he asked, climbing onto his bike in front of her.
“Yes, it was most enjoyable.”
“I will never understand why the Greeks choose to keep these infernal ruins. The amount of trashy tourists they attract!”
Luna put her hands around David’s waist as he revved his bike. The other around them were mounting and revving. Soon, they were speeding through the streets of Athens, the pale buildings rushing and rising around them like polluted clouds. Eventually, the buildings lessened in size and quantity and the group of bikers rolled into the part of the city where night clubs thrived in narrow streets and dark, orange lanes where neon lights sparked and flashed cheaply. Flocks of girls tottered past in cheap dresses and high heels, followed by dark-skinned Greek boys wearing unbuttoned shirts and metal chains. The group revved down a side street and into a maze of dark back, cobbled streets. They only stopped speeding past the buildings with close precision when they reached a small courtyard in the middle of which grew a pearly white beach tree. The group dismounted; David held onto Luna’s hand with an affection that could have only passed for human love.
Human emotions. They felt strange. New. She still wasn’t sure whether she wanted to get used to this new awakening. Luna would have rather sank into the shadows, into the warm and watch onwards at the humans, not having the weight of feeling upon her leather-clad shoulders.
She followed the group into the building in front of them, passing through a small, broken door and into the hallway of an abandoned lobby. The building itself was a club, the two top floors and the floor below the ground floor housing club room space. The two basement levels housed stages that used to be used for rock concerts. They made their way down to the floor below, where the heavy beat of music could be heard reverberating through the old walls that were still covered in old, ripped posters. It was as if the building had been left specifically for the shadows. It was perfect! The only thing that worried Luna was the fact that if any humans were to stumble upon the shadows who hid here, they would either be exposed, or they would have more human bodies on their hands.
Luna neared the door to where the bulk of the shadows dwelled; as the people before her passed through the downs he could make out flashes of club lighting and a heavy dubstep track pounded the walls. It wasn’t strange for it to be like this, but there was a certain strand of excitement that could be felt in the atmosphere and Luna could feel it, particularly emanating from the shadows in the room beyond. There was shouting. And screaming. Human screaming.
Entering the room, Luna stood on the balcony immediately past the door and gazed down at the horrific scene below. Shadows swarmed the room, sat on boxes, amps, benches and stood, the crowd thickening towards the circle in the centre. In the middle of the ring of people, two figures. Luna could smell they were human, and when they started to lash out at each other, curl around one another and scratch and punch and kick, she knew she had to stop this immediately.
The two human girls couldn’t have been more that teenagers, probably plucked from the low income streets of Athens. The iron sharp shouts and jabs form the shadows sent fear sparking through them, causing them to scream, tears and nails and fists. Blood started to spatter the concrete around them, the sound of bones cracking and skin ripping drowned from the joyful cries and laughs of the shadows.
“You ok?” Luna heard David ask. She felt his hand around hers.
“You realise this must stop.”
He sighed. “You’re meeting tonight with the policeman. That wasn’t just for you to feed was it? He’s your friend.”
Luna nodded. “I need your discretion on this matter, David. There are steps I must take in order for us to stay concealed.”
David paused. “Did you even feed at all tonight? You look so pale.”
“Promise me.” She looked at him.
“What if they don’t want to stay concealed?”
“We must. It is my responsibility to keep them so.”
“You are our leader. You are older than all of us. There is no stopping you from staying in this world and it is our duty to follow you, serve you and protect you. As much as I have a mind of my own, you know what will happen if they are kept from what they want by their leader. And it’s not as if they can just kill you. And I don’t want them to hurt you.”
Luna looked at David. “As much as I appreciate your concern, I cannot defy eons of caution and knowledge from my predecessors, in favour of a bunch of extremely wilful shadows. Despite how long they have been sleeping.”
“Then, it seems there is a conflict brewing. One between a leader and her shadows. I wonder, will she be strong enough to control them, or will they control her?”
Luna looked at David. Then she looked at the fight. She let go of his hand and descended the stairs, towards the centre of the ring. Leather-clad men and women turned to look at her, bowed and then moved out of her way, giving her a clear path towards the centre. The dubstep track died down to a low mumble.
The fight between the girls stopped abruptly as she approached. David stood on the balcony, looking down.
“May I remind you,” Luna shouted, “that, although we share this world with another species, the knowledge of our existence would be catastrophic! This is not our world to do with as we wish!”
She looked at the two bloody girls and sighed, feeling little pity and more sorrow for their imminent deaths.
“Make sure you dispose of the bodies, properly! No more of this nonsense!” Luna turned and strode away, back up onto the balcony and into an old VIP lounge. She heard the music blare up again, and low mumblings, before screams and the sound of smacking lips.
“That wasn’t smart.” Came David’s voice from the doorway, before he closed the door and the sounds of the club room was muffled.
“It needed to be said. I am older. I know what needs to be done.”
“Yes, but they are younger and they think they know best. They don’t respect their elders, like I.”
“Unfortunately. What do you think they’ll do to me if I carry on?”
David sat on a sofa, looking up at Luna. “Re-educate you. Torture you. But, there is nothing they can do that has been done to you before, is there?”
Luna sat, refusing to gaze into her past, before the Purging of her species. “No.”
Part 2: Scottish Countryside.
Jesse sat bolt upright, breathing hard, the bed cloths soaked in sweat. He’d not had a dream like that for six months!
“Baby, is everything ok?” Fran stirred next to him, reaching for the bedside light.
Jesse swung his legs out of bed. “I...I had another dream...”
“Another one? About the game tomorrow, or...? Wait, another dream? You mean, large-scale prophetic dream?”
Jesse looked round, nodding.
“Well...what was it?” Fran’s voice turned grave. She sat up and shuffled over the bed, taking his sweating hand.
“A shadow. Well...no, lots of them. Different from the other dreams. Their wide awake! Their leader, I think they’re about to perform a Cleanse!”
Fran made a sharp intake of breath.
“I saw her, a shadow, she travels across countries. I saw her in Edinburgh.”
Fran took his shoulders. “We have to warn someone!”
Jesse looked at her, his grey eyes suddenly fearful. “But, you know what’ll happen if I go back! They didn’t believe me last time, they’re not going to this time!”
“Just because you prophesised an event that didn’t take place doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. This dream has come about because of the first dreams! If they’d have stopped it, then we wouldn’t be here now. This could be proof that you were right! You predict a shadow coming to Edinburgh, when it happens, they’ll see your right!” she smiled.
“I’ve never been wrong...”
“Exactly.”
“But, how do we make them see?”
“Did you get a time, or a place?”
“No. But it was snowing.”
“Great! I’ll go check the weather forecast! I’ll go into town to an internet cafe!” Fran’s face lit up. Jesse could see how badly she wanted them to be accepted back into the colony, but he didn’t want to drench her hopes with the fact that they just wouldn’t believe him.
“There’s something else too. A girl, pale as the moon, clad in leather. She’s a shadow. In bad shape, strangely. She looked...broken? She was crawling up the steps of the cathedral.”
As Fran stood to get dressed, she bent down, cupped his face and kissed him. “We’ll be back where we belong in no time! You’ll see!”
Jesse lay back in his bed, thinking back six months...
Blackness...
A dark field with grass. Behind him stood the city of Athens. Pillars rose around him. The grass turned black with the gust of cold wind that Jesse knew he would never forget.
The light of the city was fading, he felt himself weaken. The other lights weren’t with him any longer. They left him. Alone. Except for Fran.
The shadows thickened. White figures appeared from them, many, sleepy, yawning, naked. Before him came a girl. Black, curly hair. The leader. The oldest.
Her face the colour of the moon.
They came from the shadows, slowly opening their eyes and realising before them stood the world.
The shadows would awake and the lights would leave.
Only half of this statement came to pass. Or did it?
The lights had gone to Athens, and found nothing. Or had they? Something wasn’t right. Jesse was sure of it. He’d never been wrong. Had they not looked hard enough?
It was 9:00 AM before Fran returned with new of weather. 5 days till snow was expected in Scotland. Jesse breathed a sigh of relief. 5 days for him to prepare himself for the return. If there was one place he wanted to go so badly, it was back to Edinburgh.
*
Athens:
Luna shifted awake in her bed. It wasn’t a proper bed. A thick mattress layered with duvets and pillows. It was the one soundproof room in the derelict venue; the old VIP lounge still bearing some of its sophisticated fruits, sofas lining the walls, an old bar, enough room to fit a bed and two arm chairs and a coffee table probably scavenged from a dumping ground somewhere in Athens. She stared at the peeling ceiling and gazed into the darkness, feeling completely...
“You’ve been asleep for a long time.”
Luna looked over to where the armchairs stood, seeing David’s pale face beneath his blond 80s hair. The room was pitch dark, no windows, no light. It felt warm, like home.
“How long?” she asked, looking back up at the ceiling.
“Over 12 hours. Can you get up?”
Luna winced at the thought of getting out of bed.
“Why would I want to? I’m tired.”
“I thought so. When was the last time you fed?”
Luna sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t want to feed.”
David stood. “Look, there’s risk of exposure and then there’s starving yourself! You need to feed.”
Luna turned over and sat up. “I’m fine!”
David sighed; she could sense him shaking his head. “I hate it when you’re stubborn like this.”
Luna stood and dressed. “Is it night?”
“Yes, but it is almost day.”
“I’m going out. I need air.”
“I thought you said you were tired.”
“I am. Fresh air free from the stench of human blood will help me wake up.”
“But it’s almost day, almost time to go back to bed. And anyway, does human blood not sound like an appealing breakfast dish?”
Luna turned, piercing David with a glare that made him flinch in a way she hadn’t seen him flinch for eons.
“I’m going out, and nothing you can say or do will stop me.”
“No, it won’t.”
The streets of Athens were drenched in the kind of darkness that had just passed it’s peak. The darkest part of the night had only just passed and the darkness was beginning to lift. Luna felt herself lift with it. There was almost no one around and she was thankful for that. She could think without having to listen to the hungry thoughts and emotions of her colony.
She hated the position she was in. Not metaphorically, literally! If only some of her predecessors had survived the Purge or the confines of their own slumber, then maybe she would be the one looking up to an older face.
The recklessness of her followers was a weight on her shoulders that cut into her skin and made her bleed.
It would have been easier if they’d never have awoken.
She rounded a corner onto another cobbled backstreet, finding herself surrounded by bin bags, all manner of trash and junk on either side. Some of the dark shadows of bin bags twitched. Luna could feel through the shadows that she was not alone. The eyes of the homeless peered out at her sleepily, some hungrily.
As she neared the end of the street, one of them spoke.
“Our for a late night stroll, honey?” it was a man’s voice, by the sounds of it quite old. She didn't need to turn to know he was 56, been on the streets for around a decade and had so far, raped 3 young females and drank more booze that 10 times his body weight. She also knew he had a boner.
“I might be? Want to join me?” she replied, formulating a plan.
The man stood. “Well, that’s an offer I can’t refuse, now can I?” he slurred in Greek.
She could smell puke, alcohol, body odour; the foul stench of someone who thrived in his own greases and didn’t care who he contaminated along the way to his own sense of joy.
Luna looked at him, no one would miss him. No one would care.
“You really are a sorry excuse for a human.” She stated, more to herself than him.
“Bitch,” the man retaliated. He reached out for her shoulder. “I’ll show you who’s the real hoe here.” He pushed her onto her knees. Without thinking, she grabbed his crotch, shadows racing to her hand, turning her fingers to long, sharp points that impaled him on the spot! Before he could scream, she stood and grabbed his throat with her other hand, ripping it from his neck. He looked at her in horror and pain, blood bubbling from his body.
She pushed him to the floor, where the shadows twisted the melted, holding his arms. She straddled him, licking her hands of the blood, feeding off the pain and the horror.
She bit and ripped the flesh off his ribs as the life slowly drained from his body.
She hated feeding this way.
For her, it used to be memories she would feed upon. It was what gave human’s nightmares; the shadows sneaking through the dark to sleeping humans and forcing their subconscious to replay bad memories, bad feelings, thoughts, emotions, everything that had been a negative influence. Feeding this way at night was what caused nightmares. It was safe.
Now the shadows were awake again, it was the joy and the intensity of forcing someone to feel immense pain and horror. It filled you up. It gave you the most satisfaction. It was an adrenaline rush. It was the method that felt so good, lasted for so long and gave the shadows such a high.
It was also their downfall.
Luna was so hungry, that she could not help but let herself indulge.
But now, Luna flew through the streets, one ball of shadows, unseen by the humans of the night, feeling her freedom rush past her face, cold on her skin and fresh in her lungs.
And that was when she felt it; the sound of fighting, the colours of greys, black and whites and the feelings of a lone shadow, drunk on darkness and blood- the pure white of something else.
A light.
Luna approached the battle, staying concealed in the shadows, watching from above the narrow alley way. The shadow was one of her’s, she knew it’s mind. It was from her colony alright. The light it was fighting was a girl, her skin was a chocolate brown and her hair was a lion’s main, full of froth and fight. Despite her small figure and skinny arms, her voice was deep and strong and her light shone through the jerking shadows that her opponent threw. Her only problem, was that despite the erratic way the shadow fought, the shadow was just not going to give up. Luna could feel the fresh blood coursing through the shadow; it had just fed.
The light was beginning to tire. It was now that Luna faced a dilemma.
Should she leave them to fight and watch it to it’s finish, the lights would indefinitely find out that a shadow colonial had killed or maimed one of it’s lights and come for them, risking exposure and another war. Maybe even the threat of being forced back to sleep.
However, if she stopped the fight, the shadow would be her immediate problem. It would be seen as consorting with a light. As a threat to the colony. The shadow would tell. Word would get out. They would do what shadows always did to a leader who didn't act as they pleased. Luna thought about the way shadows treated their leaders. Even someone who didn't want to be in charge. The shadows didn't like change. If their leader wasn’t leading them correctly, or didn't assert the proper authority, then they would attempt a Cleanse. Torture. Re-education.
Now, Luna was eons old, far older than the rest of her colony, probably the only one left from the beginning of the Earth, when there was nothing but shadows and the lights hadn’t been born. The age of her colony was about a hundredth of Luna’s. The difference between their ages would make a Cleanse very difficult. If all of the shadows had survived the Purge and the slumber, then it would be different, but the attempt on Luna’s mind would be painful. It wouldn’t work. It would take years to achieve something of this magnitude.
So, should Luna risk her own sanity in order to save the colony from it’s reckless ways, or should she save herself and put the colony at risk.
Luna watched the colours for a moment, the strands of black smoke mixing with the tendrils of white seeping from the battle, causing grey shapes to rise in front of her.
Luna made a split decision and leapt down from above, standing between the two, who were thrown apart at her arrival. The light went silent, dropping her hands, letting the white weapons pulsing from her body wash away in the wind.
The shadow growled; he stared at her, knowing who she was and knowing what her had to do.
“You risk us a war with the lights for what? Your little adrenaline rush? Go, tell the colony, I don’t give a fuck.” Spat Luna, already regretting her choice.
The shadow melted away to darkness and Luna turned to the light.
“Thank you.” She said, politely.
“What’s your name?”
“Rhiannon. Why did you do that? I was beating him.”
Rhiannon grinned, something Luna had only seen children do. “You’re a light. I don’t want another war between us and I don’t want any harm to come to my colony.”
“Hey, just so you know, I picked the fight with him. Fighting’s my thing, I like to get practice by beating up weaker opponents.” Rhiannon leaned against the wall behind her, casually.
Luna felt her insides cringe. So, if she had just left the fight to itself, it would have been ok. Well, shit.
“Well, I best be going. Enjoy having your mind crushed by your colony.”
Rhiannon was about to leave. “Wait, how do you know about Cleansing?”
“They do it in light colonies. But far less often. If there’s something wrong with our elders, we try talking it out before we take extreme measures. But hey ho, I s’pose they do things differently in shadow colonies.”
Well that was something that Luna didn’t know. Maybe it was worth a try in the shadow colony. Maybe.
“What was your name again?” asked Rhiannon.
“Luna.”
Rhiannon reached out and shook Luna’s hand. “Nice knowing you, Luna. That was a good thing you did, risking your life for your colony. Good bye, Luna.” And with that, Rhiannon walked down the alley way and around the corner.
Part 3: Scottish Countryside.
Jesse sat at the dining room table feeling sick to his stomach. The vision had forced it’s way through his thoughts, pushing and pulsing with pain. As his the vision slowly returned in his eyes, Jesse saw his mug of coffee, splayed over the wooden table, the thick, brown liquid seeping through the cracks.
The vision had been brief, but he could still see the image clearly. Just one image. Fran’s face, staring at him. Her face was different. She wasn’t the soft, cheerful Fran he knew her to be. Nor was she plain angry or sad. Her emotion went deeper, a look of pure loathing and hostility that couldn’t possibly belong to Fran! It was like a poison had putrefied her skin and possessed her eyes.
It wasn’t Fran.
It couldn’t have been.
There was something else too. Not an image, but the sense of another presence. It was familiar, he felt like he knew it. But not yet. It was strange.
Athens:
When Luna returned to the colony, she knew what awaited her. She stepped out onto the balcony and gazed at the shadows below. They stared back, their yellow glowing eyes either angry or saddened or both. When she stepped out onto the dance floor, they didn't part to let her through. Instead, they surrounded her on all sides.
“Luna. Why?”
Luna turned to see David coming through the crowd.
“I have a duty. Something that none of you seem to understand.” She replied.
David looked down, approaching her and putting a hand on her face. “You’re so beautiful. Such a shame.”
He turned and walked away. Her hands were forced behind her back and someone pushed her to the ground. She could only gaze at the blood-stained ground. The heavy thumb echoed around the silent room as she was knocked to the floor.
The next thing Luna knew, she was waking up, staring around at the walls of a small, dark room. The walls were dirty and peeling and there was water on the moss-covered tiles of the floor. Her wrists were tied and so were her ankles, with chains that were cold against her skin. Her studded leather jacket was on the floor in the corner and so were her boots. She only wore black skinnies and a pale grey, thin vest top. The sound of dripping came from somewhere.
The door was metal and a small window was barred. Behind the window was a pale face.
The shadow of a smile flickered across it’s face and footsteps faded away into the distance. And then Luna felt tired. She’d seen it happen before. She’d taken part. She knew the drill.
The thousands of shadows in her colony were currently sat, all thinking one thought. One thought that linked their minds and empowered them. One, communal thought that caused thousands of separate minds mould into a singular being. This one mind pushed against Luna, each wave washing away of a part of herself. Luna sagged in the chair, the room dark and cold; no matter how many psychic walls she tried to put up, there was always the endless waves of power, pushing....always pushing...
In her life, the longest Cleansing Luna had been a part of had lasted a week. Although, the recipient had acted as though it had lasted centuries- she’d heard about how the concept of time means nothing when you’re having your life erased. And to Luna, it felt as though a moment was an eternity. She started to feel pain in her head, the chains rubbing against her skin, which felt sensitive and itchy. A headache thumped against her efforts to protect herself from her followers. Her muscles tensed in effort.
She started to think about other colonies. It was scary to think about how this kind of thing went on, and colonies actually succeeded in rewriting the minds of their leaders to suit their benefits. People, walking around like zombies, shaped and moulded just because some small aspect of their persona wasn’t quite right.
It felt like days. Luna felt tired, an ancient ache that constantly pushing itself against the walls of her mind. She slumped in her chair, the chains rubbing against her red raw skin. There was now a constant ringing in her ears and she felt her body start to give. You see, the physics of shadows and lights are different from humans. The force from the shadows performing the cleanse where physically affecting Luna, who was pushing back. It was like two walls closing upon her from either side. If one side of the force is greater, then the other force will break. Luna could not push much longer.
There was a crack and she felt her ribs begin to break. Her legs began to fracture with the pressure and her skull started to warp.
Through the pain, Luna felt her skin go cold. Pushing through the cold wall of her mind, pushing through the waves from her colony. There was something wrong, though. Whenever she’d taken part in a cleanse, the force was far more greater and it was so much more easy to get into a mind and start to rewrite it, as a whole thought. The singular thought from her colony, however, was not as strong. It was enough to cause immense pain, but nothing as amazing as changing parts of a personality!
This wasn’t even a cleanse at all! Luna opened her eyes and felt blood seep from them and role down her cheeks. She stared into the dark corners of the room. The darkness came to life and bent at her will. Black smoky shadows started to stir and awaken and become like an ocean around her, the waves creating a whirlpool around her bare feet. She didn’t know how she was doing it, but one, profound thought rang out in her head.
One thought that took up all her remaining energy to maintain. The shadows rose up like snakes around her, their sharp edges cutting at the metal around her wrists and body, breaking her free. Before Luna fell from her chair, she let go, sending her body into the darkness, not forgetting her boots and jacket.
At first, there was a pause. Luna stopped, collecting herself, readying herself, gathering her energy. With one scream that echoed out, she flew forwards, the shadows darkening the hallway before her, exploding through the walls yet leaving behind no evidence of the sort except for unconscious bodies of shadows. Luna’s darkness swallowed the club, rebounding off walls, trying to find some escape, until she found the front door and sank through it, her shadows receding.
And then she was free. Soaring through the night sky, she began to search. Somewhere familiar, away from prying eyes.
Luna flailed slightly before picturing a place in her blur of a mind and putting all her energy into speed and flight. The night was only so long...
Edinburgh:
Jesse stood at the back of the church, his hands fumbling and his eyes down. A group of people stood near the alter before a huge stain glass window depicting Jesus. Of course, the rest of the catholic cathedral was decorated with the crosses and angels that thrive in the Christian faith. It was normal for lights to be religious; they believed themselves to be so righteous. Jesse knew better.
“Jesse.”
He heard his name, and even jumped slightly at the deep, masculine voice that sounded it through the cloisters and pews, causing it to echo.
He looked up.
“You wanted to see us?”
“He does. He’s had another vision.” Fran appeared next to him. Jesse resisted the urge to recoil.
The group of lights were dressed as vicars, all apart form one, who wore a suit and tie.
It was suit-and-tie-man who started down the middle isle to where Jesse trembled.
“Another? What makes you think this one will be of any use to us?” he asked.
“Its... specific.” Murmured Jesse. “I foretold the coming of the shadows. Now I’m seeing a girl- a shadow- in Edinburgh.”
Suit-and-tie-man laughed a little. “My dear Jesse, you are so young for such a gift. We can assure you, the shadows are still sleeping soundly. If they have awakened, there would have been sightings by now. Now, I see you are breaking the rules of your banishment.”
Jesse sighed. “I know you’re not going to believe me, but I just want to...inform you. There was a girl, her faces was as pale as the moon and her eyes as white as the snow that was falling. She was on the cathedral steps. She was a shadow.”
“You see, they are-”
“Fran! It’s ok.” Jesse interrupted Fran, who was staring at suit-and-tie-man, determination in her face. “I’ve told them. If it comes to pass, then I will have warned them. I can’t do any more”
Suit-and-tie-man smiled. “There now Jesse. Why don’t you run along back to your hovel, and we’ll forget you broke exile and this whole thing will never have happened.”
Jesse sighed and exited the church, Fran in toe. Outside the cathedral, day light was starting to send it’s rays over the line of old buildings. The street was empty and a blanket of snow covered the old cobbles. He’d always loved Edinburgh- the old buildings that rose up on either side, the little shops and cafes, the history.
“Say Fran, while we have time, why not go for a coffee. I want to enjoy this city before we leave again.”
“Again... I guess.” Fran’s face hung, sadly. “What a twat! Will they never let you redeem yourself?”
“Ah, leave it, shit happens.”
“How can you say that?” Fran strode after Jesse towards a little cafe decorated with Scottish flags and fairy lights. “Aren’t you angry? I would be! I’d be inclined to rip them to shreds! If I was strong enough.”
“Yes, well, this is why the rest of the lights stay away from the elders. To them, the youth can’t do anything right. We don’t know any better. In fact, we hardly know anything at all.” Jesse sighed, just wanting to enjoy the serenity and the tranquillity. He took a seat and gestured to a waitress inside. Snow started to fall, softly. Fran sat opposite him.
“You’re not that young. I swear you were born just after the shadows were sent to sleep.”
Jesse looked at her. His face did not deceive her. He was older than the majority of the colony, but still not as old as the elders. It was this horrible middle ground he hated. In fact, he hated the whole system.
“I was, but to them, I’m still young.”
The pair fell into silence after ordering their drinks. People started to dot the white street, going about their working business or walking dogs.
It was straight through the middle of Jesse’s slice of tranquillity that a blade came slicing down. As the sky lightened, the darkness receded, and a girl came falling from the sky. Silently, she fell through the cold air, her body cracking on impact and sliding halfway up the street before she came to an icy halt in the snow. There she lay, bystanders gasping and yelling and calling an ambulance. Jesse knew who this was. Her skin was not the pallor of a human and her clothes...
But she was early! By 2 days! No, something had to happen before she ended up on those steps.
“Jesse! It’s...” Fran cried.
“Wait, Fran!” Jesse grabbed her wrist before she could leap up. “Something else has to happen! She needs to end up on those steps!”
“But if we intervene now, then she won’t have to! We can nip it in the bud!”
“Something tells me we can’t. I have a gut feeling!” he looked into her confused face. “Trust me!”
Part 4: Edinburgh
Luna lay on the cold floor, lights flashing on in the distance and the blurry faces of humans flocking around her wearing bright colours.
Human authorities...
Her mind, still stretched taught by the Cleanse, went through thoughts slowly, not really registering at all. Tired, so tired. All she could do was lay and let the humans do...whatever it was they were doing to her.
Her consciousness faded slightly then she was in a moving vehicle, her body felt tight and rigid, like it was wrapped tightly. She tried to move but something was holding her in. Something was over her face. More lights and blurry images and voice shouting words like ‘broken’ and ‘fracture’ and ‘bleeding’.
Fading in and out of consciousness, she caught glimpses of what looked like a hospital theatre, a doctor wearing scrubs, machines, one flat green lines and shocked faces.
And then she woke up properly, consciousness bitch-slapping her across the face, lying in a bed that seemed so high off the floor it made her dizzy. She was lying flat, an oxygen mask over her face and wires attached to her arms and chest and forehead. Upon trying to sit up, she realised her back was broken, and upon closer inspection, in several places. She could feel slices of broken bones, ribs and bits of sliced organs littering her insides. Her body, unlike a human’s could simply regenerate itself, rebuild itself form even the smallest amount of remains. This scale of damage would take a while to fix, however. She tasted blood in her mouth.
“Ah, you’re awake, can you tell us your name?” came a male voice form somewhere nearby. His face came into view. The doctor was middle-aged and had a face that didn’t really stand out in any sort of way. In fact, it looked like all the other faces in the hospital.
“Luna.” She croaked.
“Well Luna...” he started to reel off everything that was wrong with her. She wasn’t really listening, until he asked, “Do you have any other conditions, you know, a heart condition or...” he trailed off.
Luna just frowned, until he made his parting upon realising she wasn’t going to answer with a “Hhmm” and left her vision. She could tell he was still in the room, however, and she listened out for his voice. It was only soft, but he was talking to a nurse in the corner, a faint clicking coming from his clip board. Was he writing, perhaps?
“...she’s not right...her heart, it’s not beating, yet she is conscious. And with the amount of sedatives and morphine we gave her, she shouldn’t even be conscious now! And then there’s her pallor. I don’t know, something’s not right...”
Luna smiled to herself, feeling the beginnings of mending and repositioning within her body.
It was just over 24 hours before Luna could sit up and take the mask from her face. She still felt groggy from the drugs and hungry...awfully hungry, but there was nothing she could do about this now.
She dropped from the bed, realising she wasn’t dressed. After spying her clothes on a chair in the corner, Luna made for them, dressing herself quickly, the watching the doctor’s shocked face as she left the hospital. Her leg was still broken and one of her organs was still bleeding, but that didn’t matter, she pulled her broken body along, focusing on the pain rather than the overwhelming hunger she felt.
Spitting blood from her mouth, she hobbled down the street. Edinburgh? Why did she end up here? There was ringing in her ears which disorientated her and she could still feel the immense pressure of the shadows, despite the fact that they were gone. And she just felt tired...
The street was full of people, some of which gave her odd looks, although, no one spoke to her. They probably through she was just homeless.
Snow started to fall.
There was a building in front of her. Just a big, dark shadow in her blurred vision. The darkness of it’s corners called to her. Making for the shadow, Luna felt her consciousness drift all of a sudden, but made it to a set if steps.
She would have reached to door handle, had it not been that coughs wracked her body, causing her to fall and lie there, for a moment.
All she felt was the soft snow beneath her as she eventually fell into darkness.
Jesse:
“We should get the elders! Now they’ll see! Come on Jesse!” cried Fran, pulling at Jesse’s arm. They’d stood in the snow for 2 hours now, waiting for this moment, and Jesse thought it strange since they were well within the elder’s range, why had they not been noticed? Why had the elders not come and banished him again? Or killed him? Or done something? Anything would have set his mind at ease. But no, going to the elders now would be a mistake.
Opening the door that the shadow was reaching for was a mistake.
Humans had started to gather around her unconscious body. Something was wrong with her. Granted, she’d just fallen from the sky, but she was a shadow. The shadows Jesse had known had been violent, angry and full of energy. Why did this one seem so...lifeless?
But two choices now presented themselves to Jesse; he could show the elders, show them that his visions did come true and have the possibility of being let back into the colony. Or he could find out why the elders hadn’t come when they sensed him, follow his instincts and find out what was so different about this shadow.
Of course, the old curiosity inside him had its way as it always did.
“No, Fran, Wait! I have a hunch, we have to get that girl out of here.”
Fran stopped and frowned at him. “Why? She’s a shadow! She’d kill us if she was awake. And I don’t want to live in banishment anymore!”
“But we’ve been banished for the past two hours and the elders are not 10 metres from us! Why haven’t they said anything? We should have been killed by now.”
She paused, looking confused.
Jesse started towards the group of people. “Come on, lets get her out of here. I have a plan. Go start the car.” With that, Jesse strode towards the cathedral, feeling Fran’s look of disbelief on his back.
On approaching the group of people Jesse started to jog and adopted a panicked expression.
“Oh my God! Stephanie! Stephanie, Jesus, Stephanie!”
When people heard him shout, they parted ways for him, and Jesse rushed to the shadow’s side, kneeling and cupping her face. A human male was knelt next to him; he’d put his jacket beneath her head and was on the phone, presumably to the emergency services.
“It’s ok, I’ve called an ambulance!” he said in a calm, yet urgent tone.
Jesse smiled and scooped the girl up, hugging her to him. “Thank you, but there’s no need, I’ll take her there myself!” he adjusted his position, hugging her cold body to him and jogged in the direction of the car. She was surprisingly light, yet incredibly and unnaturally cold and pale. Fran was sat in the driver’s seat, parked down a small side street, clutching the wheel and looking a mixture of saddened and irritated. Even so, she got out and opened the back door.
“Thank you, let get back to ours.” Said Jesse as he laid the shadow on the back seat and draping his jacket over her.
“It’s over 2 hours away, do you think she’ll make it?” asked Fran, getting back in the car.
Jesse got in the passenger seat. “She’s a shadow, they don’t go down easily. Yes, I think she’ll make it.”
The drive was mostly silent, except for one occasion where the girl moaned and stirred. Jesse swivelled round to see her eyes crack open and watch her flinch, as if hurt physically by something.
“Hey, it’s ok.” He tried to say, as she sank back into sleep. As he looked at her, he could not believe just how real his vision had been. She really did have a face as pale as the moon, and fluffy black hair. It was weird to see her in the flesh.
Scottish Country Side:
Luna opened her eyes. The room she found herself in looked as though it belonged to an old person; she could see china ornaments on the mantle piece, old armchairs with an assortment of cushions and blankets, reading lamp, hearth rug...
The kind of cosy that tried too hard.
Luna was lying on a sofa, bundled in blankets, her head propped up on a cushion. It took her a while to shake off most of the grogginess, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake the hunger she felt, or the fact that whoever had brought her here had left the curtains wide open, bathing her in daylight. It wasn’t that shadows couldn’t go out in the sun; it’s just there opposite, so, naturally, they could withstand it, but the state Luna was in caused the golden rays of sun to sting her skin and eyes.
She rolled off the sofa, and covered her eyes as she went to the curtains, pulling them across.
As darkness filled the room, Luna relaxed a little.
She needed to feed, that much was certain; for her body to speed up the healing process, especially considering her age, she needed to feed. But it was still day, and she knew she’d have more energy tonight. Luna lay back down on the sofa and pulled a knitted blanket over her head, plunging her into cool, cosy darkness.
Jesse:
“Why is she here again? Please tell me because I think I missed the part where you explained why there was a perfectly good reason why we have a shadow in our house!” wailed Fran, almost in tears.
Jesse sat at the table, his head rested on his hands. “Because I told you! There is a reason I saw this girl! There is a reason she was in my visions. I have a hunch, and you know what my hunches are like!”
“But she is a shadow! A shadow! We could have been let back into the church! We could have rejoined everyone! After so long! But no! You had to bring the one thing that could land us in even more trouble! It’s your fault I’m out here!” her voice rose.
The last sentence lingered on Jesse and he felt himself anger a little.
“Hey! It’s not like I forced you to come with me! You could have kept quiet, not said anything, stayed where you belong instead of following me!”
“I came with you because I believed your vision!” Fran paused. “And I...”
Jesse looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “You what?” When Fran said nothing he continued. “Anyway, I know there’s something else going on here! Something isn’t right! Why would they let a shadow into the centre of Edinburgh? And why would they just let us come in and take it away? It’s like...they let us do it. Maybe they want to frame me. Again.”
“Wait! Sshh!” Fran turned towards the door. There was a soft thump from the lounge. Jesse went first, opening the door to find the curtains had been closed and the girl fast asleep on the sofa.
“Why did she just close the curtains?” asked Fran, standing on the threshold. Jesse sat in the arm chair.
“They’re shadows, it’s not like they love the sunlight.” He replied, no emotion in his voice.
It wasn’t long before the sun started to go down and by that time, the shadow was starting to stir. Jesse had held vigil whilst Fran pottered around like she did, trying to fill the time they had. It occurred to him, just what did the other people in the village think of him and Fran? A supposed young couple living out in the middle of nowhere, who did nothing but garden, make tea and sit in armchairs watching the world go by. Although, no one had ever questioned them, or said hi in the street, or even looked Jesse’s way with a smile...
It wasn’t the banishment that Jesse hated, it was the loneliness.
As the sun began to set, the girl started to stir. The Shadow sat upright, rubbing her eyes, revealing dark rings. She took one look at Jesse and frowned. “Ok, first question, where am I?”
“Scotland, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, generally known as the countryside.”
“Ok, second question, who are you, and why did you bring me here?”
“That’s two questions,” the shadow shot an evil look at him, so he continued. “But my name’s Jesse, Fran is in the kitchen and I brought you here because I saw you in a vision and I think something is going on with the Light Elders.”
The Shadow paused, trying to process it. She looked tired and hungry, but Jesse couldn’t understand why she looked so tired when she’s already been asleep for centuries.
“Right, so I’m not on Light territory?”
“No. I...well, me and Fran were kind of banished six months ago.”
“And you say you saw me in a vision?”
“Yes, over six months ago, I saw the shadows wake up, but there was no proof it had ever happened, so to avoid being executed for treason, I got banished.”
“OK, ok, hold it there.” She put her head in her hands. “I need to take a walk, or feed or something, before you tell me every detail of what exactly is going on!” with that, she stood.
She looked around before Jesse held up the aged, leather jacket she’d been wearing and pointed to the ridiculously heavy boots. He knew she would have needed to feed, and surprisingly it didn’t bother him. Not like every other Light in the world, who were somewhat disgusted by the process by which Shadows fed. It was nature. There is no light without the dark.
The shadow left the house and Jesse felt Fran’s presence behind him.
“You let her go? You let her go? After all that! We could have handed her in! We could have taken her back and got out of banishment! But now she’s gone! You idiot!” her face was red and her hands were balled into fists around the tea towel she clutched.
“She’s coming back.” Said Jesse, sitting back down.
He went to lean back, but severe pain exploded into his head. He gasped as he hunched forwards, his temples mirroring that of a bass drum. He felt tears in his eyes, vision going cloudy and red, and then he wasn’t there...
He was somewhere else, watching the shadow standing in front of him, in tears, a Light Elder behind her holding a pair of scissors, snipping at wires that littered the cold ground. And then, the darkness...it left...
Shadows lifted and millions of bodies were chained together, walking, line by line, faces down, their skin bloodied.
And she was one of them.
Part 5: Scottish Countryside
The village was small, too small. It was almost impossible for Luna to find a suitable person to feed on, but she eventually found a man, sleeping next to his wife. He was around 30, looked as though he’d had one too many good night sleeps. So, slipping into her shadow form, Luna made her way to the bedroom, hovered above him, and drank in his sorrow.
He would wake up the next morning, feeling like he hadn’t slept, and like he’d had the worst dream ever.
Now to deal with Jesse, the Light who apparently saw visions of the future. She didn’t walk into the house, she didn't trust them enough, and instead, she let her tendrils of shadow slip under the door. She arose to find Jesse, sat leaning on one elbow, blood pouring from his eyes and his nose. Fran could be seen in the kitchen, coming towards the door to throw a tea towel that hit Jesse in his chest; a gesture that had an underlying sense of anger.
Just as Jesse cleared the gunk from his eyes and face, Luna let the darkness lift and her human form return. He looked up at her.
“I...sorry,” he stood. “I’ll be with you in a minute, make yourself comfy.”
Luna stayed standing and waited while Jesse fumbled around in the kitchen, closing the door behind him. Strained whispers could be heard. For a moment, Luna thought they wouldn’t come out, but Jesse soon appeared on the threshold.
“So, I may as well start from the beginning.” He said, sitting down in his armchair. Luna sat on the sofa, leaning forward so as not to get swallowed by the cushions. “Six months ago, me and Fran lived within the Light community, in Edinburgh, close to the Elders. I’d had a reputation for having visions of things to come, and every time I was correct. I’m never wrong. But, one day, I envisioned millions of shadows, coming out of the darkness in human form. I foresaw them waking up from their sleep.” He shifted slightly, the pink streaks still present beneath his eyes, “They didn’t believe me. Didn’t want to believe me. But they sent a team to Athens and found nothing. So, they said they’d execute me for treason. Give me the same fate as the Shadows’. But they still wanted me. I was useful. So, they sent me into banishment. I think they’d probably find me useful sooner or later, they didn’t want to get rid of someone with such ‘gifts’.”
Luna looked up at him. “So that’s why we’re all the way out here?”
He nodded before continuing. “But I had another vision. Not too long ago, about a girl, falling from the sky, a Shadow, falling right into the middle of the Light community, right on the Elder’s doorstep. I thought they’d believe me, but they didn’t. But then it happened. It came true, and they did nothing. Nothing at all. They want you alive for some reason. They want you here, in Scotland.” He paused, looking her dead in the eye. “You should have been killed, captured, tortured...something, but you weren’t.”
Luna looked down at her hands. “Well that’s reassuring.”
“So now it’s my turn.” Jesse said as Fran appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame, her face stony. “Who are you and why did you...” He was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Jesse exchanged a nervous glance with Fran.
“Who is that?” asked Luna.
The knocking got louder and more urgent.
“I don’t know, we never get visitors, the Elder’s see to it that we don’t. That could only mean that...it’s the Elder’s who are visiting.” Jesse murmured, the nerves in his voice rising steadily to the surface.
“Shit” gasped Luna, as the sudden realisation made her skin crawl.
The knocking was starting to push the hinges on the door.
“What do we do?” Jesse looked at Luna.
“Turn her in of course!” snapped Fran.
Jesse shot her an angry glance, and both him and Fran turned to look at Luna.
The Knocking persisted and this time there came an angry male shout from outside, the words of which were too muffled.
“I’ll flee, I'm sorry, I can’t let this happen. I have responsibilities elsewhere. Thank you for saving me but I have to leave now.” She said.
“Wait!” Jesse was on his feet. “You can’t leave now! I’ve seen you in my visions for six months now and I have to know what’s going on! Especially since...”
Luna looked at him. “Since what?”
“Since I had another one.”
There came an almighty crash as the door came off it’s hinges, falling into a table with a glass vase on it, both of which went crashing to the ground. On the threshold stood two males and a female, their eyes pale and milky. Immediately, Luna knew they were human, but tainted by something powerful. And that could only mean one thing.
The first male, blond and well-built leapt forward, going for Jesse, who leapt to the side, tendrils of white steaming off his skin.
“Jesse, you are under arrest for breaching you banishment and harbouring a Shadow, of which you must hand over, else we will seize it.” The human said, his voice deep and strong.
“Light slaves!” cried Fran. “Oh God Jesse, I told you to give her up!” she screamed.
“We have to get out of here!” yelled Jesse, flicking his hand in the direction of the blond light slave who was thrown backwards into the oncoming female in a flash of white.
Luna backed towards the kitchen, edging around Fran who was reaching for Jesse.
“Don’t do this!” she cried, “Please don’t do this, Jesse!”
“Come on, Fran!” he yelled, taking Fran’s hand. The pair of them melted into a thick white mist that flew from the room in a flash. Luna took one look at the humans that rushed towards her suddenly, and form somewhere she heard Jesse’s voice yelling, “Luna! Come on!”
Luna looked at the sunlight outside. there would be no way she’d last long in shadow form out there, but it was the fastest way to travel, and since the humans couldn’t follow...
Fuck it!
She burst into black shadows and fled from the house, melting through the cracks and crevices, and the next thing she knew she was flying over the village, the light closing in on her, singing her shadows, the burning pulsing in her head!
She looked for somewhere dark, somewhere secluded. There was a shout from behind her. Jesse and Fran were close.
The shades of green and blue sank together, Luna’s vision blurred, the pain growing steadily. Somewhere dark...somewhere safe...
A glimpse of something cold and Luna fled towards it. As fast as she could, she crashed through the roof of something...a house, a shed, a barn...something solid and sank into the dark corners, regaining her human form.
She breathed heavily, her skin red and singed, but healing fast. Her shadows shifted around her, the black caging her and slowing disappearing.
Tendrils of light came from a large door, Jesse and Fran coming towards her.
“Shit, Luna, are you ok?” Jesse rushed towards her, kneeling and reaching for her arms. She let him, glancing at Fran whose face was livid.
“Jesse! We’re going back! We’re taking this piece of shit with us and handing her over! Now!” she yelled, grasping at Jesse’s arm.
“No, Fran! I Can’t! I have to know what this means!” Jesse stood, Luna watched form the shadows.
“Look, Jesse, I’ve been taking care of you for over six months now, I stood up for you when they wanted to execute you! And this is how you repay me!”
“Taking care of me? I thought you believed in what I believed in!”
“I did! But now, can’t you see? We can go home!” her voice broke a little, her tone sounding a little resigned. “We can go back to the way things were! Be a part of society again!”
“They don’t want us back! They never will do...”
“They’ll want me.”
There was a pause.
“Excuse me?” Jesse’s voice was sharp.
Fran looked away. “They never banished me. I came with you because I thought you loved me. I thought you wanted to be with me. But, living apart from everything...my friends, my family...I want it back.”
“Fran...I do love you, but as a friend. You’re my oldest friend!”
“I’m sorry Jesse, but I can’t do this with you.”
Silence.
Luna stood up, looking around. It must have been a warehouse of something, because apart from the shaft of light beaming down, the room was filled with farming equipment. An old tractor sat in the middle, looking rather sorry for itself. She went to the window to see wide fields and what looked like a farm house on the hill rise.
“Then, I guess this is the parting of our ways.” Jesse’s voice was quiet, yet still seemed to echo around the huge metal structure.
“Fine. Goodbye Jesse.” Fran sobbed once, then sank into white mist that disappeared in the sunlight.
“Well, Now you’ve had your moment, I think we’re in trouble.” Said Luna, who pointed to a stream of dust making its way over the fields. “I think it’s the farmer. We should leave.”
Jesse stood, shaking a little. “Yeah...”
Luna waited. “Well...do you know any dark places I can hole up for a while?”
Once again, he was slow to answer. “Erm, there’s a Fault, just north of the village. There will do.”
“OK then, lead on.”
Part 5: Edinburgh
Fran strode through the huge doors of the cathedral. The man who’s spoken to her and Jesse met her at the altar.
“Well, where’s your boyfriend? So strange to see you without him. I thought you were each other’s soul mate”
Fran looked down. “He...we decided its better if we...”
“Ah yes,” he said, running a hand over his tie. “It must have been hard living with an outcast knowing that you could have come back at any time. Especially as you love was somewhat, unrequited.”
Fran flinched. “He did love me. He just changed.”
“Did he? And why was that?”
Fran didn’t answer.
“Come on, Fran, answer my question, and then maybe we can get on.” He leaned closer.
“Elder Marcus, please, I...”
“Tell me, Fran! Where is Jesse?” his voice turned sharp and hostile.
“He...He’s with a shadow. They took off. I don’t know where they are.”
Marcus leaned back. “So it’s true. He is harbouring an escaped shadow.”
“Elder Marcus,” Fran straightened up. “I was wondering, if I could possibly come back to Edinburgh.”
He looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “Why of course! You were never banished! You think we really believed you sided with him because you wanted to exclaim treason too? Ha! No, yeah, by all means, come on back.”
Fran relaxed.
“On one condition, Fran,” Marcus leaned closer to her again, putting a hand on the altar, his breath on her face. “When the time comes, will you help me with the dream the Lights have always had?”
Fran nodded, unsure of what he spoke of.
“Good.” He stepped back, looking up at a stain glass window depicting Christ. “We can start our little experiment with this shadow Jesse is so interested in.”
Fran gulped, knowing no good could come of this.
The Benedict Fault:
Luna knelt in the shadows of the cave, feeling every inch of the place. It was huge! The whole structure was cut into an area of woodland which masked it rather efficiently. As well as that, the place housed an old catacombs that ran into the deepest part of the Fault, and the place was so cold, Luna could see Jesse’s breath. It was perfect.
She, however, could still feel the ever-present pull and push of her shadow colony, despite it being extremely weak. It wasn’t even enough to make her feel ill. It just went to show their recklessness. They’d be at it for years.
“Jesse?” she said, her voice echoing. He was sat on a rock, his head in his hands.
“She was my closest friend. She said she’d be with me until the end of my banishment and forever after that. I never knew she had it in her to drop me like that. She was always so...innocent.”
Luna sighed. She was going to have to act the sympathetic here, give advice, make him come to his senses and just carry on. Yet when she tried to think of something to say, all she could think of was, “There’s other fish in the sea.”
Jesse looked up at her frowning. “Ah, I’d expect a shadow to say something like that. Anything but helpful.”
Luna sighed. “You think we’re uncaring, you think we don’t give a shit about other people’s feelings? Well, most of us don’t. But that’s because barely any of us have had any of that kind of experience.”
Jesse paused, looking at her.
“And don’t ask why, please, for the love of God. You lights know full well why barely any of us don’t really give a shit.” For a moment, Luna thought back to her time in sleep, watching her loved ones die, watching the people she looked up to and admired die. And once again, she found herself alone, with no idea what to do.
“I...I’m sorry.” He said.
“It’s fine. You get used to it after a while. After a couple of centuries.”
“I couldn’t even imagine.”
“No, you couldn’t.”
Jesse looked at her. She hadn’t noticed before but his hair, black and curly as it was, perfectly shaped his thin face, his bright green eyes shining.
“So,” he said, his voice getting perkier. “Why did you come to Edinburgh, and what happened to you to fall from the sky like that?”
Luna took a deep breath. “Well, it started when I found myself in a field in the freezing cold, realizing that I was now in charge of thousands of shadows, who all looked to me. But, their young, they don’t know how to respect their elders, having no experience of the outside world. They are reckless. They don’t know what they’re doing. The death toll has risen and it’s their fault. They don’t know the cost of what their actions could come to. They didn’t like that I told them this, I was stopping them from having fun. So, they tried to perform a Cleanse, an act that only Elders and Second in Rank could usually do, so I fled. Of course, it weakened me, but that was all. But I was stupid. Can’t really travel well enough in the sunlight to get anywhere safely, so, hence I fell from the sky to a place that I once knew.”
Jesse looked taken-a-back. “Jesus.”
“Yup. I’m screwed. There’s a war about to start and I can’t stop it.”
“But, wait, aren’t you their Elder. When they see how strong you are and why you should be in charge, they’ll fall in line, right? All you need to do is go back and kick them into line.”
Luna laughed. “I’m not an Elder. Oh no, not me!”
“But...where are the Elder’s then? Why aren’t they here, stopping the chaos?” Jesse looked confused.
“Because they all died. Very last one of them. In their sleep, they just...died. No one knows why. But now I’m stuck in a position I was never meant to be in. I am no leader.”
Jesse gasped. He stood. “So there really is a war brimming.”
“Yup.”
“So, what do we do? Maybe this is why I’ve been seeing you in my visions.”
“Probably. And I have no idea.”
The cave fell silent.
“Wait, I may have one idea.” Luna looked up, a plan forming.
“What?”
“I think we need to make a trip to Italy.”
End of Chapter 1
Impressum
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 10.10.2014
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