by A.L. Svartz
THE DARK SUN
When the Shadows were young, and the ancient beast known as The Prophecy Destroyer knew that they would be a challenge to destroy, he created what is called The Dark Sun. Not like the average eclipse, The Dark Sun eliminates all colors from the world. Lasting longer than an eclipse, The Dark Sun rises and stays for eighteen hours. Occurring once every five-hundred years, The Dark Sun rids the Shadow Necklaces useless.
"What are you trying to tell me Shadow?" Umbra asked as he lowered the book from his face. He then looked out the window again, the sky becoming much darker than before.
"Continue the story," Shadow snapped. Umbra did as he was told.
Continuing the story like he was instructed to do, Umbra thought he saw something outside the window. He didn't look, but felt that something out there was watching him.
"Umbra, watch out!" Shadow yelled. Looking up from his book, he caught a glimpse of something floating outside his window. As he looked out to get a better look, he was forcefully thrown to the other side of the room as something explosive made contact with his wall. His book was thrown from his hands.
Umbra laid on his side, facing away from the open wall. He let out a few coughs before he slowly leaned forward, observing the damage. "What was that?" He wondered. Looking out the destroyed wall, whatever Umbra saw floating there before was now gone. Then, what looked to be a small fireball shot into Umbra's room, striking the inner wall to his room. He was thrown again back towards his bed. His house shook as it lost some supporting walls. Dust was flying around the room, some finding its ya into Umbra's mouth which he then coughed out.
"Umbra, get out!" His Shadow warned. Umbra slowly stood back on his two feet. He glanced over at the book that was lying under a pile of dust. Turning back outside, Umbra could see another explosive ball of fire hurdling towards him. "Umbra, the book! Retrieve it!"
"No time," he quickly added. Umbra waved his arms around him, a dark mass devouring his body before he vanished from the room. The fireball struck his room soon afterwards, that section of the house collapsing. His uncle's book was lost in the flames. The same dark mass appeared on top of Umbra's roof. As the mass disappeared, Umbra was standing in its place.
He looked around, trying to find the source of the attacks. Suddenly, a large, bulky figure slowly floated up. Both the figure and Umbra were facing each other. For some reason though, the figure looked familiar to Umbra. He frowned at the creature, trying to remember where he had seen it before.
The figure was about twice the size as Umbra. It was completely covered in various types of bones. No actually skin or anything of the figure was shown, except for the dark face that it had. Over its head the figure wore a huge skull. The mouth of the skull hung open with the figure's head in the mouth. Two large horns from the skull curved out of its forehead. In the figure's hand it held a long bone. A small screaming skull stood on top of the long bone, a light emitting from the open mouth.
"Who are you?" Umbra demanded. It remained silent. The figure continued to float in front of him, keeping its yellow misty eyes locked with Umbra's. Focusing on the yellow eyes, it suddenly came to Umbra as to where he had seen the figure before. His eyes widened as he identified the figure as the one from his dream. "You tried to kill me!"
The figure remained still. It continued to float up, Umbra watching it as it was now above him. Pointing the bone staff that the figure held, Umbra watched as a fireball escaped out of the mouth of the skull at the tip.
For some odd reason, Umbra couldn't move. He realized that he was in danger, but his arms and legs remained still. Right before the fireball was about to hit him, Umbra leaped into the air, two wings emerging from his back. He shot up, avoiding the explosion as the fireball made contact with his roof. Umbra watched from above as his house collapsed down on itself. His home was gone. He had no shelter. Snapping his head back at the figure, another fireball came at him. He crossed both of his arms in front of him, a shadowy shield forming in his hands. The shadowy shield faded as the fireball struck it, the explosion happening right in front of Umbra. He flipped around in the air a couple of times as he was sent several feet away from where he was floating before.
Wiping under his nose, there appeared to be no blood. Some scuff marks were present on Umbra's face though. The explosive fire dug a few small holes in Umbra's leather jacket and jeans. He held one fist in front of him, watching as the bulky figure made his way over towards him.
Umbra was now on the offensive side. He brought both his hands together, holding them in a position as though he were about to hit a baseball with a bat. Swinging his arms across, a sword formed in his hands. He dropped one of his arms down, he pointed the tip of the sword at the figure. Umbra then flew straight at it. Yelling as the cold wind smacked his face, the figure braced itself. As Umbra was nearing it, instead of flying right at the figure, he flew straight up above it. Bringing both his hands together, he lifted the sword above his head before striking down at the figure.
The figure flipped its boney staff, now holding it long ways. He forced it up at the striking Umbra, the two weapons bouncing off each other. Umbra flapped his wings back, avoiding the figure as it swung the boney staff at him.
Both Umbra and the figure were staring each other down. Umbra remained a little bit higher than the figure. A sudden drop for Umbra scared him. His dark wings disappeared for a split second before reappearing, catching him before he would fall.
"What the?" Umbra whispered to himself, looking back at his wings. He watched with his own eyes as his wings disappeared and reappeared. "What's going on?" Umbra looked up at the sky. He could see it was getting significantly darker.
"Umbra, we need to leave," his Shadow informed him. "Now!"
The sword that Umbra was holding disappeared into a dark mist for a strange reason. He knew that Shadow was right. Something odd was happening and he couldn't fight under these circumstances, none the less, want to take the chance. Umbra fled from the scene. He flew in the opposite direction from where the figure was at. His wings again disappeared and then reappeared, him dropping a few more feet before continuing to leave.
As he was leaving, Umbra thought he heard the figure utter something. "I will return when you are truly vulnerable. You will fear the name Vog."
