When Shadows Fall
Date Friday, March 29, 2024 - 08:35 AM PST
Topic Entertainment


When Shadows Fall
By Hollie Linn

Once there was an Angel, once there was also a devil. If you were ever to tell the difference between the two, you were truly blessed. Beyond the shadows and into the light, beyond the light and into the shadows, there were two worlds, two ways of benevolence. There was no difference, no black, no white but a gray haze between them all. A dreamer's world of both light and dark, neither beauty nor hatred of this or the other. White feathers turned black or gray with this mixture of shadow and light, Angel's wings turned hazy and faded gray while the devil's own turned a whitish maze of a halo's aura.
If there was once a religion, there is now none. If there once was a god, there is now none in this New World between the two. None are renowned; the others know none, which populate this new place. There are names and dates, places and people. Yet none are known to the reader, as this story has just begun. A glimpse into the past, though there is no past nor present nor future but a dream. Beginning less and endless as any of which we speak. There was however a gate, between the three, and a watcher a herald of evil and good both yet neither who guarded this gate to the gray world which lingered near and is, that of our own, and yet it is not. Ours is a world of gray however displaced from this new reality which is the waste left from the destruction and rebirth.

We enter upon a featureless being, of no race, no ethnicity, no sex, one who has yet to be born. A spirit, the true embodiment of all that can, has and ever will be the perfection between good and evil. Swaying between the two as a pendulum within a clock tower high above the rises of the cities yet to be born.
They enter the gate to this New World, and they are born no longer one without a race, a sex, or a face. But she who is born into this New World, with no name and no home. She, who will shape this world and mold it to either that of the good and angelic hopes and dreams which are heralded from the highest towers of the first angelic world. Or to shape the world as that of shadows, destruction, hate and greed, into a world of darkness as of the second. She, we shall call, Nefuria. She, who has no destiny, yet holds in her hands the destiny of us all.

In a town, which has just now begun to bloom, within a house of crude beginnings here, here is where Nefuria is born. Her mother is overjoyed with this new child, a baby whose life is now cradled within her arms, an extension of her own body, yet the child's future and soul all her own to be shaped only by the whims of others.

"This child, I shall name Nefuria, She who holds the future." The meaning of her name, to true for in the future is where destiny lies, and within that, shall be the fate of the world.

The leaves change, the spring blooms and fades, several turns around and this child has aged to that of eleven cycles of the year. Within the center of the town here, is Nefuria with Maria and Sari her friends from childhood, each with their own knowledge of their own lives so far, and the hopes of their parents.

"Nefuria, look up there, towards the sun, can you see it? My mother says that it is crying on this world and the rays of sunshine are its sorrow streaming down from the sky. Do you think it is crying for us, or the world?" Nefuria turned her youthful face up to the sun and the clouds, which drifted between them in the sky.

" Perhaps the sun is crying for the world." Sari murmured a phrase beneath her breath as she sighed and said.

"My father says that the sun is not crying, the sun is shining on us to make us grow up for the future. How can the sun cry if even it's rays are hot enough to scorch the earth?" Nefuria smiled meekly and sat down upon the ground.

"Maybe it is just a thought but perhaps it is the moon which is crying, did you ever notice the face upon its surface? It, above all seems more sad." Maria smiled joyfully as she exclaimed.

" You're right Nefuria, it is the Moon not the Sun which weeps." Sari looked towards the clouds as one would look towards a lifelong friend.

" Look there, the shape of a butterfly in the clouds, what do you think Maria?"

"Hmm, it looks like a whale to me...." The chatter drove on as it faded from daylight to dusk, and the glimpse of a memory into the past ends.

Glimmering light shines down upon this new earth as silvery moonbeams weep into the night. Mounds of earth are over turned as now years have gone past once again and the clock, which burns through the pages of time like a wildfire, has once again landed upon an evening of tears and sorrow.

Where is this place, but mere yards from the blooming town now turned to ash and soot. Stones have been placed on the head of each mound of earth, now proving to each be a grave freshly dug. Nefuria stands as a shadow hovering over them, however tears are not hers to shed.

"Maria, Sari, Mother, everyone. How did this come to pass? What evil has lurked through this town while I was away but for mere moments? What burning flame consumed your lives and flesh? Would that I could avenge you I would, but what reason would prove to be true to this question. Who has murdered you, please if you still can, tell me so that I will know and search them out." However silence was her reply and this enigma would remain. So was this town born, it has now died so soon from its beginning. Nefuria, her age now counting in 17 years had grown up within the walls of this town now turned ash and soot. Her home, for what it could be called has blown away with the fluttering wings of the wind, which circled round, and round. As tormented demon spawn consumes the flesh of the living, so were the lives of those she loved and cared for. The answer was death, death had crept in while the day before she was away to hunt for game and fell asleep for too long. And when she returned the town was destroyed. No clue to be found, not a banner, claw mark, or footprints could be found in or away from the massacre. Only ashes, dust, and soot.

Nefuria began to leave the site of the graves she had dug for the townspeople and heard a rustling within the bushes ten feet away. Near a forest path which itself gleamed not fifty feet from where she stood and an empty field made the bed for those who slept in eternal slumber.

"Who is there?" She whispered towards the night as an owl gave her its reply. Nothing was there, only the wind, which lay in wait to harvest up the field who now had its own new sort of fertilizer. For that is what they are now, food for the earth and seed.

Nefuria left that place and entered upon the path, wrapped in a cloak of dark blue she was soon concealed within the shadows.


Puppet strings,
And aged things,
Control the minds we live.
And while they nap,
Then soon arise,
The demons of Hell's Abyss.

Shadows begin to fade as Nefuria still continued down the path on which she began, each step took her farther away from the carnage, and with each step memories began to fade of the life she used to live.

"Maria, Why do things die?" Nefuria asked quizzically as a sparrow was caught off guard and a hawk swooped in for its meal.

"My mother says it is a way for things to begin to grow again." Maria picked a flower and dropped it onto Nefuria's lap.

"But if they never died, then would they never need to grow again?" Sari picked up the flower, which now severed from the stem, began to fade within her hand.

"But change is good, and if everything stayed the same, then where would the fun begin if it had never ended before?"

"My friends." Nefuria whispered as she snapped back into the world, dropping yet another memory upon the dusty roads. Forgetting them as soon as she remembered, each disappearing as a moth which catches ablaze drawn into it's own harmless candle light

The morning arose in its beauteous dawn; Nefuria's hometown left far behind in the night, yet the memories lingered on. A soft breeze blew through the leaves of the trees towering far overhead and a soft repetitive crunch of the earth fell upon her ears as footsteps drew close behind her, proving that the silence of isolated contemplation was over.

"Who are you, and why do you follow me?" Nefuria questioned as her stalker drew near her back.

"I'm not suspicious, I'm only one of many within this forest. You seem lost and alone, and so I followed." Nefuria slowly turned around to view the face attached to the voice.

"Why would you care, you yourself look as though to be a rouge, or villain. Who are you anyway?"

"You are right, I am as you say. But that does not mean you are not welcome to join us and our games." Nefuria paused for a moment and pushed the cloak aside to reveal the dagger at her side.

"I am not in the mood for games. What do you want, and who is this "us' you speak of."

"'Us' is just a small band of Mercenaries, and you yourself look the part to play as one of us in our little game. C'mon out boys, lets give a warm welcome to this young blood." From behind the trees and bushes emerged an unruly lot of this "unsuspicious' man's comrades.

"What is your name lass, might I ask?"

"I am called Nefuria, and what is your game?"

"I am Ribald, and our game is Death." With that phrase Nefuria drew her dagger and threw it, cutting swiftly through the air it hit home imbedding itself to the hilt into Ribald's shoulder.

"I can play that game, but I don't think you would want to play with me."

"Truly you are one of us." He croaked as he pulled the dagger out of his shoulder."

"Nefuria is it? Well Nefuria, if you have no other engagements, let's play." With a wretched smirk he tossed the dagger back to her.

"If you are to fight, it is wiser to keep your weapon on you, and not be so un-curtious to your comrades." She caught the dagger by the hilt and cleaned the blade with her cloak.

"We invite you to a small "get-together', only scheming and murder is on our minds. Nothing more."

"Really, and why should I trust you?"

"Because, have you any choice? Though you have good aim, there are more of us, than there are of you." She clenched her teeth in anger, as his statement was true. Nefuria followed uncertainly in the center of the group they walked away into the forest and the day passed by.

Blackness flickered in and out of her peripheral vision as Nefuria froze into a dream of the past, another memory if you will. A voice called for her name as the darkness seeped away to the light and airy sunshine of the past.

"Nefuria, Nefuria, We're going to get you." Maria stated as she pounced into the air only to be left tumbling and rolling downwards onto the ground again. Missing her footing she fell down and cried out in surprise as her hand was scraped as a ribbon.

" What's wrong Maria? Are you ok?" Nefuria asked as she ran over to her friend.

"I, I'm not sure, something is coming out of my hand. What is that red liquid? It feels so warm within my palm." Nefuria's mother walked up and pulled a cloth out of her front apron pocket and wrapped it around Maria's hand.

"It is only blood little one, just a little blood."

"Blood?" Nefuria questioned as the end to the memory abruptly came and consciousness fell upon Nefuria once more as a stone hitting its mark upon a glass window. Shattering as fragile as butterfly wings, so did Nefuria's mind shatter, and everything drifted away.

Light faded and night rolled in upon a campfire the destination of their walk, and true, murder was the topic.

"Nefuria my dear, it was truly wrong of you to harm Ribald like that. But all is forgiven, save you help us with a little game."

"What is this infernal "game' you keep mentioning?"

"We have volunteered ourselves, and now you, to do a little task in a small village not to far from here. We were a few short, but with you and a few others, we will be in perfect condition."

"Why me?" Nefuria asked as they began to laugh at her question.

"We have seen, my dear, what you did to the Tanuul village. What more credentials do you need to join with us?"

"The Ta...nuul village? My, hometown?" Her mind wandered to the burned and gutted shells of the houses in her village, and the bodies strewn upon the ground as rain. Faces and bodies twisted in anguish as her own shadow fell upon the ground above her mother, Sari and Maria. Perhaps better described as ragdolls cut away from a child now to old to play with them anymore.

"I, I did not do it! I couldn't, why must you mess with my mind like this? Why would I do something that horrible to my own home?" Her fury and anger began to build up and her temples began to throb. Ribald laughed and pointed to her hands.

"You killed that village off with your own hands my dear. You burned it to the ground and killed them all. Their blood stains your gloved hands and no one else's."

"No, Liar, I could never do such a thing."

"Then what, my dear, is that?" Nefuria turned her gaze towards her hands as they were held up, cupped to catch her dropping tears. White flames smoldered around her tears burning her gloves yet not her flesh.

"The spirits shriek in terror this night. You killed your family and friends. You are just like us, you have no choice but to go with the hand you've been dealt. We have all killed our own fair share of innocents, though I think you have surpassed us in the horrors you have committed."

"No."

She whispered and closed her fists; the fire and tears disappeared. Folding to the flames, and joining in Ribald's horrendous game. Though two choices were hers, she could not find the other alternative and her mind grew hazy with consciousness.

The night bore on and weary heads drug them all to the ground.

"Sleep while you can for screams will fill the air soon enough my friends" Ribald laughed as Nefuria closed her eyes to the fading campfire, and awoke to the past.

"Let's play something Maria. Let's play a game." Sari danced in circles around Maria and Nefuria.

"What do we play?"

"A game, something fun, something that no-one's played before!" Nefuria smiled as she got up and joined in the dance around Maria.

"Yes, a game, lets play something new!" With that Maria also stood up and joined the circle.

"Yes, a new game."

Morning grasped the light as rays streamed in upon the camp and Nefuria awoke from the dream of her memories. The last of which was also a game, yet it included rules and the living. There were no rules for Ribald's game, and death was the inevitable result for the innocent players unaware of the deadly game they would play a part of.

"Ah, no rest for the Wicked is what I always say!" Ribald laughed as he drew out a torch from the fire and drew a sword from its sheath on his side.

"Anyone up for a game?"

The day had just begun and dawn had only arrived moments ago. Sleep was still wrapped as a heavy veil upon the village, no life stirred in the streets and after this day, no life would stir again, not in this village.

Silently the small band reached the town wall, as hunters stalking their hapless victims they came upon the town gate as innocent as any crew of travelers. One of the guards yawned and stretched viewing them as they arrived.

"Who are you and what business do you have in our village?" Ribald smiled as the guard questioned them.

"Why, we are but travelers and wish to enter before dawn." The guard shook his head in a negative reply.

"None may enter this village until the clock tolls the eighth bell. And that time has not nearly arrived yet. Wait for a few more hours and you shall be granted entry." Ribald laughed in delight as he replied.

"Ah, so little time, so long a wait. I think we shall enter now, time to die." Catching up his sword into the light he jumped towards the guard and in one fatal swoop, the guard lost sight, sound, and tongue. For no longer did he have a head upon his shoulders, it now graced the ground with a smear of blood and the body, the body soon tumbled after.

"Ah, the first victim in battle. Now let us open the gate and the true fight shall commence." Nefuria stood there for it seemed as hours within only the time frame of a mere moment. Though an innocent's life was taken without cause before her conscious eyes, she oddly felt nothing. She merely took this as a sign of fortitude and raced to the guard's booth near the wall to turn the crank that opened the gate's door, and opened also the gate of death.

True, screams were heard as the first of the people were slaughtered and their homes ransacked for goods. The gates were closed behind them and locked to keep any from escaping. One after another the villagers fell beneath the blade and fire of the mercenaries. Screams awoke others and the town began to burn, the streets were surrounded in flames and littered with bodies and blood. Between it all Nefuria stood and walked calmly away from the flames. There was yet more of the town, untouched by the carnage, and there was a small house, as yet to be consumed by the fire. However there was one of Ribald's companions toe to toe with a villager who's own sword glimmered within the light.

Quickly slashing down through the Mercenary's guard the villager dispatched him, however to late as Nefuria had already appeared from the shadows behind his back and catching the sword within her hand she slit his throat with her dagger. In pain the villager mouthed the single word "why' but to no avail by the time he hit the ground he was already dead.

Nefuria walked on, into the house as she found a mother and her son cowering in the corner. The young youth stood up and grabbed a log as a sword to hold in front of him, to try and protect himself and his mother.

"Why do you have father's sword? What have you done to father?" The child asked as tears welled within his eyes.

"Do you mean the man who tried in vein to guard this house? Why he is dead, what else?" The boy's tears streamed down his face as he called back.

"Have you no shame? I shall gain revenge for my father. For all that is good this evil will not go unpunished." For a moment Nefuria's vision faded and her mother came into view as a younger Nefuria stepped up.

"Mother, what is the difference between good and evil?" Nefuria's mother calmly picked her up and sat her down upon her lap.

"The difference between good and evil? Well, you are able to know when things are wrong and when things are right. For example, evil is where things are done to hurt someone and in your heart you feel badly for what you have done. And it is opposite for good, you have a warm feeling inside when you do something kind and charitable." Nefuria nodded and the presence faded in again. Her feelings had not changed and she felt no different from before. Knowing and feeling that something was wrong was not the same. She knew that what she did was wrong, yet felt no different from when she did something right. There was no difference, nothing unique in any way and in her heart she felt nothing.

The boy rushed forward and swung the log as hard as he could to try and hit her body. However with a slight movement she dodged and slashed the sword across the youth's face to bring to the surface of the skin a small line of blood.

"No," He cried out as he touched his hand to his cheek and felt the warm sanguine liquid trickle down his face.

"I can not let you win." He once again rushed forward but this time was thrown aside as Nefuria walked forwards towards the Boy's cowering mother who crept slowly to her feet, grasping for the wall, terror streaked her eyes as tears trickled down her cheeks.

"Do you cower behind your own son? Would you not protect him, but leave him to protect you." The boy seemed to be approximately aging in fourteen turns of the seasons only three turns less than her.

" Then you shall die a coward." Nefuria stated as the mother shook her head in horror, however that was the last movement her neck would make as it was severed from the spine.

"No, how could you?" The boy cried out as his mother fell lifeless to the floor.

"I shall let you live dear boy. Now run and do not get caught, or you most certainly will die." Nefuria's mind was struggling as an immortal battle between her control and that of another as the boy raced from the house.

"Why did you let him go?' a dark shadow of herself asked as she glanced into a mirror across the room.

"Because it was wrong to kill him.' She said as she shook her head to clear her vision.

"No, it wasn't it would have been great fun to kill him. Wasn't it fun to kill his mother and father?" A calm wave of euphoria rolled over her as she walked towards the mirror.

"I suppose it felt fine, I feel so calm right now, as though things are all good once again.' The mirror's reflection looked back at her with calm and clear eyes, a small smile flickered across the reflection's face. However the smile did not grace her own lips.

"Who are you?' Nefuria asked as the reflection began to grin back at her, it's face twisting suddenly into nothingness and a dismal shadow fell over her. The face was back, and was her own, yet it was not.

" I am what you are. I am what you will become. I am the driving force of your choices and decisions now; I am merely a guide. The demon of conscience if you will.'

"But demons have no conscience.'

"Exactly my dear, exactly.' And with that the image faded and she was left alone again with her own reflection in the mirror.

The town had turned to ash and soot, and no survivors were left, all save Ribald, Nefuria, and a few of the Mercenaries walked away alive. Their prize was the comfort of greed. Their price was the lives of merely three men. While on the other side, there was no one. Not man, women or child was left from the massacre. There was only one body not found in the wreckage, that of the boy Nefuria freed. Perhaps he lives still and perhaps not. The odds were not in his favor and his body was perhaps just burned and gutted by the flames that had now receded into glowing embers which still smoked in the empty shells of the houses and stores. The wall had crumbled, once found as safety, then as a cage to the villagers who could not escape once besieged.

Village, after village fell, and the end result was always death and flame. Thief, warrior and mercenary joined them on their errand of destruction. Every challenger fell beneath their blade and the scythe of death their only friend. As an army they rose and conquered. Ribald at their head and in the shadows Nefuria followed. No sign of remorse or sorrow was left as the demon of conscience controlled her actions, each innocent smothered, and each village plundered and not a soul was left. Ash, dust, and soot their only reward for their path of terror, and in the end darkness began to fall upon the world as first predicted in the beginning. Thirteen years of battle progressed and in the end, an army stood over this Grey world. Countless victims and countless heads rolled upon the ground.

"Is this the life which I was destined to fulfill?' Nefuria calmly asked herself as the demon replied it's curt answer of "yes' the world fell silent to her ears as away from the army she fell asleep. Dreaming of the good which once was hers.

"Mother, is it wrong to kill?" A youthful Nefuria asked her mother as a wolf devoured it's young cub in the distance.

"Yes, my dear it is wrong to kill any living creature. But we must to survive." Rocking gently against the wind Nefuria curled up against her mother beneath a blossoming cherry tree.

"It is wrong to kill without reason to, and it is wrong to die without cause." Nefuria nodded as her mother began to brush her only child's hair. Humming silently to herself Nefuria fell asleep once again and reality struck a cord.

"Wrong to kill without reason, and wrong to die without cause."

"So I have found you, who spared my life and not my parents. Nefuria, she who holds the future." The darkness and light poured in around her as a man with a scar running along his cheek awoke her to the world. Jumping to a start she raised her sword to level with his gut, however to late as his blade was already pressed to her gullet.

"But you lived." Nefuria said silently as she knew this boy all grown up now, and the scar she gave him still apparent upon his face.

" I have come for you to be judged by those you murdered, and to take you back to the graves of your own family who you first murdered. Your army is now gone as while you slept a dram of poison became their downfall." Gazing through the trees she soon found his words to be true, as the bodies of her army had fallen into eternal slumber about the camp. Slowly lowering her sword she conceded.

"Then let us go, I will confess my crimes, though I feel no wrong was done by them." Nefuria stood silently. So quickly had this dream changed and so quickly would she be judged.

The path home was littered with death and the souls of the innocents followed.

"How long have you lived with this grudge boy? And how long have you planned for my downfall?" Nefuria questioned him, now grown from the pledge-ling, whose life she spared so long ago.

"All these years and even more through dreams. My parents have called for justice. And so have the souls of those you have more recently taken. May you get what you deserve."

Through the forests and burned villages they traveled and at the end of the road stood the long gone village of Tanuul, gutted out with white flames burning all in it's wake, save Nefuria and her own.

No life, no weed, no pestilence grew in the town, though the earth was still rich with soot. The mounds of graves in the open field were empty and devoid of growth themselves though the bodies should have been as fertilizer for the seeds, which spread across the ground, each season.

Finally a tear was hers to shed as spirit after spirit arose from their own slumber to judge the girl who held the future.

"Maria, Sari, Mother... You are here as well to condemn me?" The silhouetted images of her loved ones gathered round as the rest served as just beacons of light in the dim darkness.

"We were the first to die without cause, the others have died unjustly as well. You have caused us all grief and death. And in its wake no life shall bloom." Maria whispered her voice only to fall as an echo upon Nefuria's ears.

"Your downfall was your own, though two choices you had." Sari murmured as she held up a wilted flower, once again fading within her hand.

"And gone is the hope of this Grey world." Her mother said sadly as Nefuria shed another single droplet of a shimmering blue tear.

"If I disappear, then all wrongs shall too. And perhaps another will come with hope for the world." Her mother shook her head as Nefuria spoke.

"No, you were the only one, and the past is unchangeable. Yet still in the future lies hope." Nefuria's vision rested upon the steep and rocky cliff, which towered perhaps two hundred yards from where she stood.

"The future, is gone, and so am I. Another will come, another will come and change the evil to good again. For I cannot, to many have died, to many have suffered at my hand because of my decision." Nefuria's breath came out as a voice as the demon inside arose.

"You have decided the worlds fate, and so shall the world die and fall to the darkness." Nefuria shook her head.

"Not if my life were to disappear before the world." And so she ran and behind her Maria whispered to herself.

"Ways can be mended, but lives can not be returned." The souls of the spirits and specters cried out in sorrow as Nefuria fled across the valley towards the steeps of the cliff. Ever so quickly has this story evolved, as a caterpillar that within its cocoon decides what it shall be, emerges from its shell into beauty. And then with a little water the dust upon it's wings erode and the butterfly dies without the ability to fly again. Decay then sets in, as shall be when the cliff's ledge is reached. And things are settled in it's own manner.

The highest ledge of the rocky outcrop was Nefuria's destination, and to the top she climbed until she seated herself upon that perilous point and dangled her legs above the valley. One last memory fell upon her brain as she decided the fate of the world unknowingly.

"Mommy," Nefuria asked as she watched a flock of birds fly past in the sky, as though floating upon the air with graceful wings of feathers. Looking out the open window she could see the sun, the sky, the trees, and the world all folded out before her.

"Can people fly?"

"No my dear little one, people can not fly. Why do you ask?"

Nefuria settled her head upon her hands in the windowsill as she replied contently.

"Just wondering, Just wondering." Nefuria's mother smiled and began rocking slowly in her chair, a small rhythm of "taps' could be heard beneath the sound of the chirping birds and Nefuria nodded her head in the same rhythm.

The memory faded out, just as all faded out, and she was left upon the ledge all alone once again. Still nodding her head to the rhythm she stood up and all thoughts, cares, and worries drifted away. Leaving only the calm feeling of Euphoria to settle in. Breathing deeply of the cool clean air, she began to hum silently to herself. She feared nothing and least of all death. For it was that reason in which she stood upon the ledge. Raising her arms to level with her head and shoulders at a slight angle, flashes of memories faded in and out, the most recent of which remained upon her mind and lips. The memory would serve its purpose and her reply to her mother would also be her reply to the world, a sorrowful tribute as her last words.

"Just wondering," she murmured, "just wondering." And with that last phrase she flew, but for mere moments she flew.

It was the demon, not the angel who controlled her. And it was to the demon and to darkness this new Grey world fell. Light is not always the victor, for here in this world of Grey the darkness has conquered the light, and shadows will fall upon the steps which Nefuria walked. Each world is destined to it's own path, and in this tale it was those dark shadows of the demon and it's spawn which consumed and snuffed out the light of hope from the Grey sunset to the black darkness of the night

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