Shadows by MoonlightGoddess

Shadows

Shadows

By MoonlightGoddess

It was a dark and rainy day. The trees dripped softly with cascading streams flowing from their branches as the wind moaned softly through the trees, calling forth a haunting lullaby that caused an aching untold nostalgia in all that heard its whispering cry. It was a perfect day to visit the grave of the fallen. Friends, foes, what did it matter? All were born, all lived, and all died. Such was life, you lived, you loved, and eventually you had nothing to show for it, not even memories to keep you company at night.

Such were the thoughts running through the minds of a solitary figure standing at the foot of a mound in the dampened earth, a testament to the shadows of the path. The figure sighed, shifting their weight to the other foot, watching as the trails of water wormed their way through the piled rock, dust, and soil, almost looking like rivers of blood.

They raised their eyes to the sky, remembering a time now long past when it had rained like this, but with the blood of enemies and friends, not the liquid crystal of this day. The rain slid down the figure's face, feeling like the tears they longed to shed but could not. Time had dried up the tears, making them impossible to fall. Godly power blazed through the sky, illuminating the shadows for a moment in time. Wet hair glistened as they pulled the coat round their shoulders and laid flowers at the base of the mound, and gazed softly to the figures frozen in time crowning the top.

A monstrous hulking creature formed of evil and contempt of all that was pure and good, chained to the world by a greedy unquenchable desire. Made of different parts, yet each fitting in their own morbid and eerie way. A humanoid figure battling the evil, weapon raised forever in defense its home, love, friends, and young ones, frozen in time, forever still.

In the end, neither had won. They were too evenly matched. The others were long gone, dead, the half-breed at his dead love's hand, the monk and the slayer huddled together against the dead and dying, a last show of their affection for each other and a promise to try again next time, in their next life. The young fox and the cat both crumpled on the ground, unmoving, the fox's neck snapped, and the cat leaking her life-blood with each breath. The evil's servants were dead as well, the void impaled on a broken tree branch, and the wind witch dashed to pieces on the rocks below, the wolf prince lying nearby.

The last battling pair was focused, at the end of their strength and nearing exhaustion and insanity. An unsettling energy hung in the air, crackling with power. The figure, a female, now knew that all along she was aware of what was to happen. At the time though, she did not react until it was too late.

A blinding light surrounded the pair, throwing her clear of the battlefield. A single echoing shriek rushed through the trees, before it too was enveloped and destroyed. When the light faded, silence filled the area, not a sound to be heard for miles. The girl reminisced struggling to her feet and rushing towards the source of the light. The sight stunned her. There her love stood, forever incased in stone, battling the evil. A small pink sphere lay near the statues, the innocent looking cause of such grief and tragedy.

She picked up the sphere and held it, purifying it's evil instantly. She grasped it tightly, wishing with all her heart that her love and friends might be given a second chance. She prayed and begged the little jewel, but to no avail. It was silent and dull. Nothing left inside to bring about any cause for hope.

She sighed and opened her eyes to the same mound that she had dug centuries ago. She knew not why, but after a few years, she had stopped aging completely, a final act of betrayal from fate, denying her rest, forcing her to watch everyone she knew live and die. She was alone now, a single shadow slipping through the everlasting darkness of her mind and of her heart.

Owari.