07-22-2016, 11:09 PM
And what's the worst you take from every heart you break? And like
the blade you stain, well, I've been holding on tonight.
The magic had been thick and heavy in the air – something the shadow child could not ignore.
A battle had been fought and Michaelis had simply felt the aftermath. Politics and greedy grabs for land were of no interest to him. But the power that accompanied those things were simply irresistible. He was a moth drawn to the flame of others – a shadow whom could only exist within the presence of light.
But his journey seems to have been fruitful in a very mysterious way.
Although he roamed the darkened forest as usual, two particular tendrils did not seem to meld with the others. They seemed more solid and tangible, and they never faded within the light. While the others came and went, swirled around his body in numerous places, these two never disappeared from his sight. They would move about from his muzzle to around his neck, and seemed to take particular joy in curling up against his chest where they nestled against his heartbeat.
He certainly wasn’t a stranger to the unexplainable things of Beqanna. But his suspicions seemed to be confirmed when they responded with their own heartbeats in kind. This was certainly a new and unexpected thing for the shadow child. He had fathered numerous children – both biological and adopted – but he had never carried his own. Michaelis felt that they were a mixture of his aura and a familiar stranger. Unfortunately, he never seemed able to put his finger upon the root of this familiarity.
The dusk was upon the land and the shadow child thrilled at the knowledge. Although the forest was quite dense and the trees provided excellent coverage, there remained large enough openings where the trees could not grow within the large stream that snaked through it. He typically avoided dense sunlight when he could and so Michaelis had waited patiently for the day to end before he could wade through the water uninhibited.
The normal tendrils trailed after him, faintly swirling about in anticipation of the coming night. But his special ones had remained unchanged – happily clinging to his torso all day long. But as he dipped into water deep enough to touch his underbelly, they moved upwards in apprehension. But both were brave enough to trail downwards to cautiously touch the moving water before jerking upwards into his dark mane. He chuckled at their ever curious natures before taking a long awaited drink from the clear, cool water.
( The Shadow Child )