literature

Shades: Chapter 4

Deviation Actions

Alhon's avatar
By
Published:
168 Views

Literature Text

Chapter 4
If there was one way to describe Shiruna, the word ‘dark’ would have been more than enough. Silah stood up from the cold ground where she had appeared. Jai’nar was kneeling on the ground, retching out the contents of his stomach.
“Don’t ever make me do that again,” he said weakly.
“I can’t even if I wanted to,” she replied quietly. “The book didn’t come with me. I can’t even study my own work.” She pulled out the light scarf that she kept in her bag and wrapped it around her. “We must have arrived during the night.”
Jai’nar slowly stood up, his heaving finished. “I hope… we don’t… have far to go.”
Silah looked around at the barren landscape around her. There were only a few stars in the sky, and the moon looked simply wrong. It was a deep, dark red, with irregular black patches on it. The lower-right corner of it, though, appeared to be completely destroyed, the fragments still hovering near their original home.
From the pale red light that the moon gave off, Silah could see the vegetation was low, spreading across the ground much like ivy. In fact, as far as she could see, there were no plants over six inches tall.
Then she felt it, a calling. A little wisp of her imagination that seemed to pull at her in a direction that made no logical sense to her. It felt wrong, but yet right.
And it was more than anything else that they had to go on.
She started walking, slowly at first, to get a feel for the strange, slightly-crunchy feel of the dirt under her feet. “Let’s go, Jai’nar.”
“Where? I don’t see anything over there.”
“Neither do I, but I think it’s the right way.” Seeing as how he had no choice, Jai’nar began slowly following her.

It seemed like hours, but it could have been days, for all that Jai’nar knew. The dull red shining off of the moon never changed, never gave any indication of the passage of time. All that Jai’nar could tell was that he still couldn’t find any form of land mark, any indicator of where they might be in relation to where they started. They could have been going in circles, walking through the same weeds as they did when they first arrived in this… dungeon, Jai’nar thought.
It wasn’t until he realized he couldn’t see the plants directly underneath him that he snapped out of his daydreaming. A deep, think fog covered everything around him, shrouding the landscape with a dull red cloud.
“Silah?” he called out.
There was no answer.
Panicking, Jai’nar began to run, calling out Silah’s name as loud as he could. He started tearing up the small grasses and shrubs on the ground as he began running, trying to forge a path so that he couldn’t get even more lost than he was.
And then he felt it, a little nudge in the back of his mind. Compelled, he began walking through the mist, moving straight along the path that he felt and not saw.
The cloud began to grow lighter, marking a way through the murk. The path snaked through the fog, ending in a wall of air clear as crystal. Running, Jai'nar stepped out of the labyrinth and called one last time, “Silah!”
“She is not here, young one.” The gravely, accented voice jumped out of the red perpetual dusk at Jai'nar, surprising him. He turned to look at the person.
She was old, older than time itself, but standing straight up. The obsidian staff that she held appeared to be either ornamental or royal, with dark spines shoving their way out of the top of the staff. Robes of the purest black Jai'nar had ever seen draped the old woman.
“I am Kreia,” she said. “We have been awaiting your arrival.”
“Who are you? What have you done with Silah?”
“I am the leader of an army known as the Shirado. Somehow, through some magic we could not recognize, you arrived into our world, Shiruna.”
With cold steel lining his voice, he asked again, “What have you done with Silah?”
“She has been found by my Shirado troops. They are returning her to our fortress, where they shall heal and feed her before her training begins.”
“Training?”
“Come. I shall take you to your new home.” She turned and began walking away at a pace faster than Jai'nar expected. He ran to keep up, hefting his back higher onto his back. “You both have signs of destiny about you.”

When Silah walked into the great hall of the Shirado for the first time, she could not help but gaze with amazement at the ceiling. High, dark and vaulted, it made the room seem even more massive than it was already.
She walked into the back of the chamber, trying to fade into the back wall. She had never felt this self-conscious before, even with the dark robes that Kiral had given her to wear. Every person who walked in following her stared at her, examining her. In comparison to everyone else in the room, her skin was incredibly dark from living in a world with a sun.
On the stage, Kiral stood up, and began projecting his voice in some manner that seemed impossible. “You have all heard that the time of the fulfillment has come. Now, I tell you that in your presence tonight, that prophecy will come to pass. Step forward, young one.” Kiral beckoned to Silah, motioning her to the front of the hall. “The Koronhir herself has now arrived. The time of victory for the Shirado has come.
Out of the shadows that lined the side of the hall, an old woman stepped out, holding a dark sheathed sword in both her hands. “This, the ancient blade of Shiruna, has been held in the custody of the Shirado rulers for the past several millenia.” She whipped the blade out of the sheath remarkably fast.
The blade shone with an impossible shine, its black ebony blade  echoing the cold chill that seemed to pervade the entire world. “Now,” the woman continued, “it is time for the blade to return to its true wielder.” She slid the blade back into the sheath and and held it, hilt first out to Silah. Silently, she took it, flinching slightly at the cold touch of it.
“With this blade,” the woman said,”I hereby confer upon you the Shirado name of Kireen. Take your place upon your brethren, and know that you shall be victorious in all that you do. You are our warrior and our leader.” Slowly, reverently, she bowed down to Silah, now Kireen. Soon, the quiet roar of the entire hall kneeling down deafened Silah, stunning her into silence.
The woman stood up and said, “Know that I, Kreia, hereby mobilize this army into its highest form of alert. Training shall be doubled and the armory shall be emptied. We move at the moment that Kireen is deemed ready to lead our army.” She raised her arm and yelled, “Shiruna!”
The entire gathered army of the Shirado responded with a screaming “Shiruna!”
Kireen took a deep breath. This was not a dream. Not anymore.
Welcome to the new world.
© 2007 - 2024 Alhon
Comments1
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In