Day 49: Darkest Shadows - Part 3
Long before this particular moment in time, the wind had whispered these words of unrest directly into Sayah's heart. This whisper, almost a warning, had gripped her heart with such fear the first time she felt it that it brought a wave of memories with it. So the creature sunk even further into her conscience to the point she could not hear Uri's voice.
Long ago on an inky dark night during the heart of winter, this whisper had crept into Sayah's cave on the back of a tattered shadow. It had drawn her out of a deep rest with a voice like ice and fire. The shadow carrying it collapsed into her and instead of sinking into her soul, shattered into nonexistence .
The feeling of a shadow shattering within her soul instantly chilled the creature to her bones and she rose from where she lay. A tricky thing when it comes to whispers carried by shadow is that their messages are never in understandable words. They come more in the sense of intense and direct feelings that pull and tug in certain ways.
This...this message wrapped itself around her heart and plummeted into the depths of the unknown. With it, it carried feelings of fear and dread and something darker, more intense. This combination of malice and rage mixed with traces of heartbreak. Over and over it whispered to Sayah while pulling her heart down into nothing.
Unable to interpret the exact meaning of the message the creature moved out from the cave and drew the shadows to her. The consumption of unaffected shadows eased the intense emotions that were bringing tears into Sayah's inhuman eyes. She was almost able to quench the message when she looked out over the grey ocean and noticed a small splotch on the horizon.
The distance was far too great for her to make out exactly what it was, however when we called shadows to her from the depth of the water they told her of a helpless girl. Stepping forward Sayah looked out from the entrance of her cave that overlooked the grey waves below. Closing her eyes she moved forward and dropped towards the waves yet before she reached the water the shadows engulfed her.
From the concealed place within the shadows, the creatures form was infinite. In an instant she was below the sinking form of a wooden raft. Within her dark form she created a giant wave of shadows that pushed the raft onto the desolate beach. In that moment Sayah met Uri, for there laying on the battered raft looking quite passed life was the crumpled form of a young girl.
Pushing the shadows away and reforming in her solid state, Sayah looked down upon the girl with confusion. No motion stirred her and her chest failed to rise and fall like the living of Uri's species usually did. Pressing her slender fingers to the girls neck, Sayah searched for the presence of a heartbeat but found none.
The message that had filled her with such emotion earlier plummeted further in her heart and the only response she could elicit was sucking in a sharp breath. Something had to be done in order to save the girls life or Sayah felt this feeling would never ease.
Grasping her hands together the creature drew darkness into her palms. Whispering the language of the shadows, Sayah instructed the cluster of inky shadows away from her and into the girls chest. Stretching her conscience out she could feel the shadows move deep into the humans unmoving heart and sparking in it a new life. The darkness contracted and released stimulating the heart and bringing the girl her next breath.
With that breath, her body heaved and she contracted onto her side withering in what seemed to be pain.
Stepping back, Sayah was unsure of whether or not the life the girl was experiencing from the shadows would be lasting. However when she searched in her heart she found that the darkness had taken grip and was fueling the weak heart.
"Wh...where am I?" a gravely voice choked. Snapping back to the world the creature looked down on the previously dead girl.
"You've run aground on a forgotten beach that has no name to my knowledge. However, that is unimportant," Sayah said crouching down near the girl. "You seemed to have passed out on this raft. Do you remember anything that happened?"
With large brown eyes that blinked in confusion, the soft girl looked at the creature with fear, unsure of Sayah's appearance. Drawing her graceful limbs in towards her chest, she maneuvered herself painfully to the other side of the raft.
"No need to worry yourself," Sayah cooed. "I have just endeavored to save your life, you need not fear me."
Relaxing somewhat, the girl looked around and took in the barren landscape in which she had come to find herself. "I'm not exactly sure what has happened," she whispered. "I don't remember how I got on this raft."
"What do you remember last and where is it you have come from?"
"Well, I'm from a small village by the seashore that goes by the name of Delmar and I believe the last thing I remember was walk from my school house to home. Nothing makes sense as to how I ended up here," the girl trembled in distress and fear, tearing shelling up in her eyes as her skin paled.
"There, there, no need to cry. We'll figure everything out together." Sayah smiled at the poor thing and the friendly gesture brought the girl back to a composed state. The two were near in age it seemed, possibly in their early teenage years, however with the creature it was impossible to know for sure how long she had been roaming in the shadows. Yet the two looked enough alike in age and species that they instantly relaxed around the other.
"I'm Uri, what's your name?"
"I'm Sayah." The creature said offering the girl her pale hand and in that moment the two shook hands they started a friendship that would become stronger as the years passed.
Sayah yanked her thoughts away from the memory of first meeting Uri and turned her attention back to the girl sitting in front of her. Years had passed since that day and the original whisper that had made such an impression on Sayah's heart had disappeared the moment she saved Uri. However, it had crept back in shattering the shadow on which it had been carried. Nothing about that boded well with the shadow creature.
To Be Continued . . .
To read the first part of the story click here and to read the second part click here.
Until Next Time,
Lillian Merritt