SHADOW (2)

Is it really light, if there is no darkness to dispel?

***

An abnormally dark shadow slithered along the ground, heading toward a large mansion in the distance. It slide from shadow to shadow, past the servants and guards who were blissfully unaware, an ethereal mist trailing its quick and nimble movements.

A few minutes after sunset, Skurd had quickly snaked past the people surrounding the manor and entered its dark halls that were only lit up by an occasional candle.

'The burning would take more time to arrive here,' He thought to himself before assuming his hooded form. He liked to walk around when he could, even though he didn't need to. He could stay as a shadow for all eternity if he wanted, but the ever so little humanity in him made him continue to cling to his old habits. He placed his vaguely transparent hand on the dark floor and spread his consciousness. He did not need to walk around to gather information, instead, the shadows would speak to him.

He stood back up after getting a vague understanding of the mansion. It was quite large and a lot more extravagant than most other clans, such as the Harmur, who prided themselves on their business empire. He could sense many people asleep in the back, near the stables.

'Probably the servants' he thought.

He could even sense the 4 members of the family. Each of them having a floor to themselves, currently sound asleep in their comfy beds. At first glance, the mansion may have looked like any other, albeit a lot fancier, but underneath it lay many things hidden. Seeing that, anticipation started to build up within Skurd.

"What kind of horrors and secrets does this family hide?" Skurd rasped to himself. This wasn't the first time a clan had hidden away some malicious practice. The facade that they put out to the public of them being righteous and charitable was hilarious once you knew their true nature.

'Hmm? That's odd," Skurd muttered. He sensed something unusual deep underground. It was a large presence he should have been able to feel a long distance away. Why hadn't he sensed it before? And the oddest part was that it felt as though it were calling out to him. He looked at the floor, as though his gaze could pierce through it, the black abyss underneath his hood flickering for a split second. Nothing had stirred his emotions this much in three whole centuries.

Just what was this family?

He morphed back into his shadow form, phasing through the ground below, heading downward. He passed the wine cellars and the treasury, reaching the prison, from which the tunnels that lead underground began. Numerous cells lined the mud walls and in each one of them were people who were either brutally tortured or killed in horrifying ways that would make anyone's blood run cold. But this sight did not phase Skurd in the slightest, but it did pique his interest.

'Were the rumors that the commoners whisper true? The Djinn certainly do not seem sane.'

He made his way past the gloomy dungeons, into a large, open tunnel. He manifested into his human form and walked, for he did not sense anyone around him. The walls were a dark brown, but they were slowly becoming paler and paler the farther in he walked. It wasn't turning white, it was losing its color, looking as though it had started to separate from reality itself, not unlike him. And as he made his way down the tunnel, he started to feel a lot more comfortable. He couldn't exactly put his finger on why felt that way, but he had a gut feeling that it was related to the strange walls.

Curious.

After basking in the change in atmosphere, he continued his journey, making sure to keep track of the time left before the burning sensation would start. That was an inner clock that had become a sort of second nature over the centuries.

Eventually, the tunnel widened into a small cave and he noticed that its back had been hollowed out into a large doorway. Skurd couldn't see past the doorway into the room that it led to. He could only discern a hazy mist that swirled in odd patterns. This was the first time the shadows failed to give him any information.

This clan was getting more eldrich by the moment.

He stopped in front of the doorway and for a moment thought of turning back. This was incredibly strange and for the first time in a long while, he felt a tinge of fear appear in him. He froze.

Fear? Him? How long had it been since he felt that emotion? He, Skurd felt an inkling of trepidation?

He tilted his head back and guffawed, his raspy laugh echoing in the small cave. He had come here to stir his emotions and to cure his boredom. Why must he turn back now? Didn't this do just that?

He steadied himself before walking into the doorway. He found himself in a fairly small cavern that was still much, much bigger than the cave he had previously been in. It was sapped of all color, like the tunnel walls and the feeling of comfort Skurd felt increased drastically.

Strange.

He looked around for a moment and noticed a tall block of stone at the center of the cavern. It had 4 sides with a pyramid-like shape on top and was exquisitely carved with perfect proportions. So perfect, that it was almost unnatural. He slowly glided toward the pillar, choosing to levitate not wanting to walk on the uneven terrain. As he got closer to it, he realized how big it really was. It was unbelievably enormous. Like nothing he had ever seen before. It was around 25 feet in height and 5 in width and covered in an undecipherable language. And out of all the words scribbled on the pillar, three stood out, etched much larger than the others on the very top. Although it was written in the very same incomprehensible tongue, he could, for some reason, intrinsically understand it.

'Tekhen Aldier Luge'

'The Obelisk never lies'

Skurd started to get more confused and wary. Just what was this clan?

Horrifying, sadistic personalities, Strange tunnels, and now this obelisk.

Why was he able to understand the three large words?

Why was he feeling more comfortable the closer he went toward the obelisk?

He circled the large pillar looking at its back. There was something odd there as well. 5 gashes were cut deep into the stone, all of them glowing an eerie, mettalic gold. There were even a couple of words he could read at the top.

'Ye Harald'

'The Djinn'

"The Djinn?" Skurd thought out loud.

"Yes. And who might you be? Child of Darkness," A deep voice boomed behind him, cutting through the eerie silence.