"Rayne? What do you see?"
“There’s one here.” I squeaked. “Eight feet now by our left.”
His face remained calm. "Hold on to Tuono. We may have to make a run for it. Do you have a clear visual?”
I stared right at the shadow. He looked and focused on the same area I did.
I held on tightly to both Tuonos’ mane and the reigns, not taking my eyes off the Formless. I couldn't make out a solid shape, but it seemed foxlike, waving a big tail around as it stalked us. After a few seconds of silence, it lunged. I gripped Tuonos’ neck with all my might. Tuono leaped back. The beast made a deep claw mark in the earth. The Formless moved for another strike digging its claws in the dirt again. The moons light shifted showing select parts of the forest including the outline of somethings crouched form and the ground where the beasts were moving. Each step left a trail of black poison in the dirt.
Loic came over, watching the marks and building up blue magic in his limbs.
He looked at the claw marks on the ground, probably trying to guess where the Formless was. The beast recoiled and rose up to stand at Loic’s level, planning to strike again. Loic stood, now unknowingly at the beasts’ eye level and kicked the beast away. His kick hit the beasts’ snout, and it reeled just a few steps back before shaking it off.
Loic must have felt that his kick didn’t do much because he settled back onto Lucci’s back and snapped the reigns.
"Ya, Lucci, ya!"
With that Luccicare took off, and Tuono and I followed. I held on with everything I had, but another Formless cut us off and both steeds reared up. Could they see it as well? Loic held on to Lucci, but I fell off. I curled up and rolled, landing on my side instead of my back. My arms throbbed but my roll softened my fall just enough for me to keep my ability to move. I flipped around on my back to see the two steeds run forward, taking Loic with them as he tried to get them under control. He looked back at me, his face wide and alert as he tried to steer them.
"Rayne!" He yelled back, vanishing into the darkness.
The only bit of light vanished with him. And without that, I lost the attacking beast.
I listened but didn’t hear anything. Maybe it lost me too.
I sat up assessing my pain. My arms and back little but I could still move, and nothing seemed broken. I had managed to avoid hitting my head, so my focus was razor sharp.
Sharp enough to know it was still here. I wasn’t alone.
The dread swallowed me. and my internal panic rose with each silent second. The atmosphere darkened. The smell of grass and dirt was strengthened by the undertones of tar and poison. I held my breath against the acrid odor and tried to look around in the darkness.
The moonlight peeked out from the canopy, highlighting a pair of trees and a shifting shadow between them. I tried to move. That’s when the pain finally hit me. My body froze and flinched, fighting my every command.
I jolted hearing the sound of a tree branch snapping. the snap echoed for just a moment then there was silence, followed by a low snarl. Formless behind me? My mind raced. I pushed through my locked and painful joints to stand up. Then I ran as fast as I could while dodging the trees. I heard Loic yell at the steeds and then heard them run towards me. The sound distracted me. I ran into a tree and fell on my back. Everything locked up again. This time my head spun, and I lost my bearings. I continued to hear the Formless, escalating from branches breaking to entire trees coming down. I couldn’t look back, if I did, I knew I would see it behind me. Gaps in the tree line were apparent due to the stronger intervals of moonlight leaking through. I was right! Entire trees were coming down! I tried to brush the thoughts to the back of my mind and focused on running and forced my muscles to move so I could turn and put my back towards the tree.
The moonlight streaked through again just long enough that I could see the Formless move. The beast came close and just before it looked like it was about to strike, I saw a flash of silver in front of my face.
Tuono bucked back, hitting the Formless and sending it back a few hundred feet. From Lucci’s back, Loic grabbed me and pulled me onto the dragon steed. We galloped away. After we got out of harm’s way, Loic slowed Lucci down. He turned and held my shoulders and checked for any major injuries. Then he held my chin and looked into my eyes.
My vision was still blurred but I could see his eyes were brighter, almost like they were glowing.
"Are you okay, Rayne?"
“I think so.” He was covered in sweat. “Thank you.”
He seemed unhurt, just exhausted. His hands, in the little light we had looked bruised. He was taken for a ride, after all. His grip must be iron.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“I’m fine. Once I got the steeds calmed down, we came right back to get you. You seem unhurt. For someone who’s new to riding dragon steeds, you managed to land safely. How?”
“I guess the tuck and roll strategy, from moms’ book, does work after all.” I winced, trying to relax my muscles.
“Well, nothing seems broken. Here turn around. I might be able to help.”
He helped me turn on Lucci’s back. The he held me and pressed his thumbs into my lower back. I felt the tightness followed by a warmth that soon covered my entire back.
The soreness all around lessened, and I felt my normal range of motion return slowly.
He moved lower to the base of my spine, the sudden feeling of his cold fingers touching my skin at the base of my shirt made me squeak in surprise.
“Oh sorry.” He spat, pulling away. “Any better?”
“Like a thousand times better. What did you do?”
“A bit of magic acupuncture. It does wonders for muscles.”
“Thank you! That is much better.”
“At least you didn’t break anything. We’d be going back to Isha for that. I can’t heal that much.”
“Still,” I turned around to face him, “thank you.”
He shot me a little smirk. “Don’t sweat it. I'm just glad you're okay."
Tuono came up behind his mother and his greater height put me at neck level with him. He turned down and nudged my face. I petted his snout, and he bent down. with Loic’s help I slid down from Lucci’s back and mounted Tuono as he bent to help me reach him and I held onto his shoulders as he rose again.
"He must be saying he's sorry for throwing you off," Loic said.
I got the same feeling from the creatures’ face and eyes.
"He's fine. We were all scared."
“Well, it looks like we're in the clear. The Light Weavers’ hut isn’t too far from here. Let’s keep moving before more Formless show up." He petted Lucci and her mane lit up like it had before bringing light back to our trail.
I followed him, still keeping a steady, cautious trot. and we reached a thicker part of the woods. A small hut sat in the center of a ring of dead trees. Each tree had a pool of dark water around it. A thick smell that was a mix of mud and rotting plants filled the air. The smell twisted my stomach, and I swallowed back bile as we stopped, I dismounted from Tuono, and it didn't take long for me to get soaked knee-deep in mud. The area made me tremble. I looked around seeing there was absolutely no light reaching this place naturally. The area was lit by Lucci’s mane mostly but there were small plants around that seemed to make the ambient light she gave off more widespread somehow, sort of like lots of little mirrors bouncing the light further in the clearing. If we wouldn’t be casting any light this place would be pitch black, that alone made me shudder.
Trudging through the mud, we reached the entrance of the hut. The building was old and rickety. Just a small wooden hut with cracks and rotting boards all over the wall. Loic opened the door. Inside was a long dark looking hallway that looked like it stretched further than the length of the hut. Loic led me into the dark corridor. After a bit of walking, our steps echoing against the old wood, Loic halted. Looking passed him, I saw a set of stairs that see
med to lead under the hut. Loic lifted the stone around his neck and it began to glow slightly, I was able to read his face and he signaled that down was where we needed to go. Going down those stairs was a similar experience to the upstairs. Echoes of our footsteps and creaky wood sang around us for what seemed like an eternity.
The atmosphere grew lighter as we reached a room at the bottom. The entire room was black and musty, not much different than the atmosphere of the forest above. Shining threads were draped over nearly every surface of the room, lighting up the darkness just enough to see the outlines of the furniture around us.
All of the threads led to a central point in the room. It was a closed door. The strings joined into a few thicker strands that entered the keyhole of the closed door at the end of the room.
Loic tapped his crystal necklace and it got brighter like a torch, and I followed as he started to approach the door.
"Loic, what is this place?"
"The shadow of Mirror Image. It’s the place where all the threads of our curse connect."
"Curse? You keep saying that. What do you mean, exactly?"
Loic stopped midstride and turned to face me. His eyes widened in surprise and he brushed his hair through his fingers again. "In all of this excitement, it’s hard to remember that you're still clueless about so much. Legend says Reflections used to walk side by side with the Originals. Basically, everyone had a magical sibling. There was an old woman who didn't have a Reflection with her, just her shadow. That shadow would whisper how it hated others and their Reflections. Soon the woman grew to hate them as well, so she sought out a witch who was known to hide her identity with a hood. The woman wished all the Reflections were gone. The witch said it would be done and to sleep well. The next day the Reflections were gone. The woman went to thank the witch, only to find she was gone. Upon looking in a mirror, the two saw each other and the woman saw the witch remove her hood revealing that she was the woman’s Reflection.”
“So how did the Reflections get here?”
“The legend doesn’t say fully. It only said that the witch sent the Reflections to a realm of her own creation.”
“She created an entire world?”
“That’s what it says. Although Chase thinks she just made a portal to take them to an already existing world. He is a firm believer of multiple universes.”
“And what do you believe?”
Loic shrugged. “I only know where I come from and where I’ve been. Once I see any other worlds besides these two, then I’ll acknowledge them”
“Fair enough.”
Crossing the room seemed to go on forever, and Loic kept talking. It was better than footsteps or silence.
“There’s also a bit about cursing the ‘unworthy’ Originals to their fate. I would assume that means ‘to the mercy of the Formless.’ When the magic of the Reflections left, the shadows could feed on humans freely, and in time the shadows became Formless.”
“And how were Reflections cursed?”
“Our existence is a tightrope walk. We weren’t supposed to be able to come back to your world. Now that we have, whatever she did to protect us backfires as a paradox.”
“So paradoxing was meant to protect you?”
“The fear of the Originals was supposed to, but she was wrong about that working long. If we didn’t have contact with Originals, then Formless couldn’t find us and grab us. Well, when people first found out how to go through, they learned about the paradoxing and that put us back on the menu. When a Formless becomes strong enough they find a way to our world. I’m sure that woman’s shadow, the first Formless, had that planned from the start.”
Seeing that the room wouldn’t allow us to reach its end just, yet I thought about Loic’s story. I was curious more than scared now. A strange tale worthy of an anime. I almost wanted to paint the legend out. But I still didn’t fully understand it. I pressed for more information.
"So then, shadows are separate entities as well?"
"Only when separated from their host, almost always an Original. While bound to a host they act as a negative guide. They are sort of like a devil on one’s shoulder. They tell the humans to commit crimes and sins that they normally wouldn't do.”
I looked back at my own shadow, barely visible from Loic’s torch light. Loic looked down and caught where I was looking.
“You’re fine. Being in Luna’s body protects you. Reflections’ shadows don’t become Formless.”
“Why not?”
“Theory is that because we have magic, and that protects us. Just about every Reflection has magic potential. It’s just a special few that can use it for anything.” He stopped and laughed. “I’m sure you’re fine anyway. I doubt you’ve committed any sins worthy of a Formless appetite.”
I guess he had a point. I didn’t think I did. I never got in any trouble that I could remember. I might have lied a few times but nothing that hurt anyone.
Right?
Then thinking about it, there was the magic I supposedly had. Was I safe no matter what? If the Formless didn’t like magic, then my shadow couldn’t change, right?
Loic continued his story, grabbing my wrist to pick up the pace. The endless walking seemed to be getting on his nerves. Was the delay all to protect them or to test us? This hut was definitely not this big on the outside. Granted we were underneath it now.
“The shadows do live in every Original normally acting as a neutral observer. Chase said there are a few cultures in your world that believe that anyway.”
I thought about it. I knew what he was talking about. We studied them in an art history class I had years back.
“Medieval text.”
“What was that?”
“I read something before in these medieval texts. They say that shadows are neutral, neither good nor evil.”
Loic paused, his expression sad.
“It might have started that way. But they can be corrupted, just as humans can as well.”
“So, sins corrupt these shadows as well.”
“Those sins add to their potential power if they are separated from them. A shadow not bound to a host’s form becomes a Formless. They are not bound to their original shapes, so they mutate and become monsters, taking on the shape of the heart's darkness and the darkness of anyone they devour."
"So, they just have to be freed?"
"When a shadow is freed it needs the heart’s darkness, so they possess their host and use the darkness for energy, killing the host in the process. The more darkness in the heart, the stronger the Formless."
The room finally decided to let us reach the door, and we continued on our journey. This time there was a small hallway with more threads lining the ceiling and wall offering illumination, so we no longer needed the torch. Loic slumped down, and he scratched his head repeatedly I was worried he’d catch on fire from irritation. It seemed we still had a way to walk.
“Ev’uoy tog ot eb gniddik em!” he yelled.
I sped up, passing him. This hall didn’t seem to stretch out like the last one. It seemed like a normal length at first glance anyway. I reached back and took his hand with a smile.
“I have a feeling this is the last one.”
He sighed and came back in front of me, still holding onto my hand.
I sought for more questions to ask. Answering them seemed to keep Loic’s mind off of his frustration, as well giving me more information.
I cleared my throat. “So then, what determines the shapes the Formless take?”
“It’s based off the darkness the Formless feeds on. If an Original was violent, the Formless take a predator’s form. If they were a liar or they took pleasure in fooling others, the Formless it might take a fox or snake-like form.”
Augh! To be destroyed by your own darkness. Would someone be aware of what they had become, or would they just sit in eternal shadows?
What would someone have to do to become the beasts I’d al
ready seen? The dragon/toad? The eight-armed salamander? What sins would lead to those forms? Was that immoral thoughts or deeds? Was that what darkness of the heart was? This news gave all new meaning to ‘sinning sends you to hell.’
To be eaten alive by those things would be worse than hell. I tried to shake off the image of almost being eaten myself.
We continued down the last corridor.
Formless are corrupted shadows that feed on darkness and sin.
Did they attack people for little reason, or did they attack people they knew had darkness in them? Well in my case, maybe Rakesh was directing them somehow. That brought up the question of Rakesh.
I hesitated to ask, knowing how much of a sore spot it was for Loic. But I had to learn as much as possible.
Know thy enemy.
“So, what is Rakesh?"
He didn’t hesitate to answer. "He's a Reflection. I never said all Reflections were good. Just like Originals, there are both good and bad Reflections. Rakesh, in particular, is a Reflection that, gave himself to the Formless. Basically, joining them, instead of fighting them.”
Willingly giving yourself to the enemy. Did that give him power or was it just a way to secure his own safety against them? The Formless didn’t strike me as beasts with enough intelligence to negotiate with. So, what made Rakesh so special?
What did my darkness look like? What was my sin? I’m sure I had something. There was no perfect human on earth. This seemed to be true of Loic’s world as well, considering who and what was after us.
“So bad Originals create Formless and bad Reflections, like Rakesh, can control them?”
Loic nodded. “In simple terms yes. As I said before, we don’t fully understand it ourselves. From what Chase has gathered, whatever the witch did focuses our magic potential to repel Formless from being born from our shadows. However, we aren’t immune to their attacks.”
Whatever this person did made it so Originals could be corrupted that extremely. So was Rakesh just evil but protected from Formless, or was he possessed by one?
I didn’t really want to find out in person.
Loic continued to talk. Despite me being lost in thought, I managed to keep the conversation straight.
Glass Souls (Reflection Book 1) Page 15
