The Gate of Shadows

Once in the air, I found myself facing the deep blue sky, plummeting towards my death down below. Fenris was the only thing on replay in my storm of thought.

Did I fail you?

Screams of horror broke like a chorus from everywhere around me as the sudden appearance of a falling child invoked chaos from everyone below. Closing my orbs, I waited for the floor to meet me, yet it never came.

Instead, I remained suspended in the air, frozen in time, right before I hit the floor. That was when I noticed I was at a popular marketplace I used to visit with the boys. It was the same one Fenris had trekked with him on his back.

The transportation spell had failed to take me to its intended destination, the Silver Fang’s youngest birthday celebration. Everyone around me stared, incapable of discerning what was happening before their eyes.

Before I fell there, it was another busy day in the market; gently, like a feather landing on a surface, something guided me down onto the wooden table below me. Not an ounce of pain pulsed through me when my back touched it.

A woman wearing the Cerberus insignia, the three-headed dog, came running towards my battered body, calling for help from anyone around her. Her blue orbs only showed pure worry, making her way to me.

Are you the one who helped me? No... It isn’t...

She was a human woman with no magical potential. Threads of energy emanated from everything around me. It was almost as if I could see the magical energy radiating out into the world, but from her, there was none.

A medic?

Without hesitation, she cradled me into her warm embrace, yelling for help from her nearby group. A group of officers had been eating lunch when I mysteriously fell out of the sky. Anyone other than me would’ve been happy with this change.

I was saved, and everything was over. It was easy to think everything had worked out, but it was far from over. My heart was still beating, and I was breathing and feeling everything around me. In both my coven’s spell and my makeshift one, I was supposed to die.

A fatal error occurred with my spell and my sister’s attempt. My body soon grew cold, feeling something swell in my core.

The fall had begun.

Clasping onto my cheeks, the lady's soft lips turned into a wary smile, “Stay with me, baby girl. We’ll get you help right away!”

Her warm words wouldn’t reach me while something surged within me, feeling like it would split me apart. A short gasp left my lips, making her lean into me to see what was happening. In an instant, my back felt like a scorching fire had been set on it, triggering me to screech in agony.

It was the worst I had felt—the branding of my soul. Pulses of energy left me repeatedly, morphing everything that it touched. Colors bent to their will as the sky within the waves turned crimson.

Alarmed, another human comrade yelled for her to let me go, but it was too late. Before anyone could do anything, the amiable lady’s upper body was gone. All remaining was her waist, which fell backward onto the floor, splattering blood all over.

Shocked, I weakly peered around me to see it wasn’t just her but everyone who surrounded me to give me first aid. They all lay dead either by the same fate or another form of dismemberment. The colorful bricks that made Silverant’s streets were starting to turn like the sky had.

I struggled to get up from the table, only to notice everyone around was terrified of me. More pulsations of the odd aura left my body, turning the surrounding area into a new domain. One bystander tried to run away for his head to roll to the side before he could take a step.

Another screamed, only to get crushed, bones cracking as her body turned into a puddle. Most of the other bystanders remained face pale, stunned where they stood, not knowing what was happening.

The pulses emanating from me became more stable, allowing their attackers slowly to be revealed. Within the red hue surrounding us, shadowy creatures appeared from thin air, beasts with large fuzzy bodies and deep blue eyes that radiated their energy.

Each had its unique shape, representing an animal of some kind.

Did I do this?

My body quivered, unable to discern the reality playing out before me. Another pulse of energy left me, causing me to gasp. My entire world was shaking as a blue hue emanated from my core. Struggling to sit up, a more visible creature came out of my chest this time.

In a blur, it ran towards one bystander, sinking its claws into them, organs and limbs splattered around. The scene made me cringe, tears streaking down my cheeks again. Then, another creature came through, materializing in front of me.

Before I could scream, something like caring human hands covered my eyes, triggering my body to emit another hue and expand toward the horizon. When the human hands disappeared, the cuffs that bound me were gone.

It left behind a vibrant blue grimoire in my shaking hands. My mind couldn’t keep up with what was happening. Little did I know that a god had heard my plea, but not for the reasons I wanted. My spell had converted me into the vessel to hold the gate to the realm where they existed.

But I couldn’t control nor contain it.

I mean, how could I control it?

My emotions were in disarray when monsters continued to materialize out of me, responding to the part of me that wanted to lash out at everything around me. They kept everything that could hurt me, even if another part didn’t wish for this.

I was conflicted, but no matter what I pleaded with them, the beasts wouldn’t stop.

Why do you care for these people? They all left you to die!

Who left you to suffer?

They were the ones who looked at you every day and ignored your pain!

Death is what they deserve!

The beings from the other side whispered into my mind, attempting to corrupt me. Part of me wanted to agree, to damn it all, but no.

Fenris... He isn’t like that! There wasn’t a moment where he ignored me!

The moment his name rose in my mind, the bracelet radiance outside the blue hue coming from me. Innocent people lay dead, scattered everywhere my orbs landed.

If I give in, then you’ll...

Giving up wasn’t the way if I didn’t want the world he lived to die. Yet it was the most tempting of all the options, even so I…

“Please... Stop...” I pleaded, only to be drowned by the screeches from the masses that erupted from everywhere.

These beasts were known as Shadow demons, who were set free in the world for the second time. One of the creatures that emerged from me was a feline bigger than myself. Perhaps it was bigger than any humanoid being.

Instead of running off like the others, it stuck by me protectively. Its piercing blue eyes were like the rest and were in my mind like all the others. However, her voice was soothing and loving.

Hush, my little beautiful child, don’t cry. No one else will hurt you. I promise. The beast cooed.

She was the only friendly voice I heard since my torture began. Instinctively, I reached out to her, knowing she would never hurt me. The moment I grabbed onto her fur, she helped me off the table and onto my stumbling feet.

Even though their forms and eyes were the only visible things, they were also solid beings in their shadowy appearance. My hand didn’t go through her or struggle to hold on to her. Her touch dulled the pain that was inflicted on me until I couldn’t feel it any longer.

Though I could feel the blood still trickling down my legs with each movement, my injuries were still there, but something was keeping me alive. Sadly, any light movement caused my wounds to reopen and bleed, but I couldn’t feel the pain.

What’s happening to me?

After a few steps, I fell into her. She caught me with her gentle tail and pushed me into her body.  Surrounded by nightmare scenes, I buried myself in her black fur, only to receive her purrs in return. The vibrations were calming me, creating a sense of safety.

Tears stung my eyes, clinging onto her for dear life. This wasn’t what I intended when I cast my spell, but I was naïve and young. Even though I knew incantations were erratic, I did it anyway. One mistake was all it took to explode and turn into this horror.

I had bound the portal to me as its vessel, but I couldn’t halt the carnage the sisters had set into the world. No, I fueled it with my misery as these demons searched and destroyed everything they deemed dangerous.

Before this mayhem began, my goal was to close the portal permanently with my death, but the beasts wouldn’t allow me ever to die. The realm whispered warnings to me, most of which I didn’t understand, but from what I could gather, they were grim.

If I died, it wouldn’t end well for the living world. With every step, I sent another monster into the world. My path laid waste on the town I had grown to love. The place that had become my escape was in an inferno before me.

Worse yet, I was the origin of all the havoc inflicted on Silverant.