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The Shadow's Heart

One: Where there is darkness

Midnight, there were no stars, no moon, nothing but the distant glow of store lights that seemed to hide just beneath the horizon’s edge.

There was a pasture that had gentle hills and an unsteady barbed wire fence surrounding it. It seemed to be uninhabited… until I came, well, I should say, we came.

My rider and I galloped across the dark field like a materialized nightmare that had crept up from the darkness with outstretched hands.

            As far as I knew, we didn’t have names, simply a shadow and his rider reaching their destination. What destination? Somewhere.

The sweat poured from under my saddle and the harsh bit pulled tight on my mouth, willing me to collect my head. The ground under my hooves felt like the beating of my heart, hard, loud and powerful.

            We where running, running so fast that the froth from my mouth sprayed across my heaving chest. A hiss escaped through my breath and in doing this I bared my fangs.

            Am I a horse? No. I am something like a horse, all though, you have never seen a horse like me, you’ve never even heard of one like me.

I am called a shadow this is what I am, a horse like creature that is solid black with long dark ribbons that literally grow in my mane and tail. They also wrap loosely around my strong legs. They are about the size of a scarf and were torn at the edges.

My eyes were red and fixed on the target. What target? Forward.

You may ask: what is the purpose of a shadow? I do not know. All I can say is this: I feel nothing. I care for no one. My life is a hallway with blank walls and no windows or doors leading out. The only things that exist are what I can see in front of me. I don’t remember anything, simply because there is nothing I would like to remember, for I do not like, I do not feel. I am an entity and that was all I knew.

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            We reached our destination, a two-story house with dark windows and a yellowing porch-light that lit up a small driveway and the tall oak trees around the house.

            Other neighboring houses sat still, in other words, no one stirred.

            My hooded rider looked up at one of the dark windows, his eyes blank but fixed hard. This one was different; there was a light on inside it, dim, but there. Paper butterflies where hung on the purple walls and cast dark shadows from the nightlight robbing the room of its innocence.

            The faceless rider dismounted me and proceeded to walk up the short driveway to the front door and then vanishing into it without having to open it up.

            I stayed out in the middle of the crossroads, as still as a stone statue. The long black ribbons and my mane and tail where waving slowly in a wind that was not blowing.

            A cricket rubbed its legs together; the sound did not reach my ears. A large owl hooted softly up in a tree branch and spun her head round in my direction; I did not hear her voice ether. I was unaware of any life going on around me. Why? I did not care.

            The owl spread her long powerful wings and beat them. Letting go of the branch she had nestled herself on, she soared down low over my head, nearly clipping my ear with her talons. I did not respond in the least bit.

            A pair of deer peered cautiously at me from behind a tree. Their big eyes were focused on one thing, the strange creature standing in the middle of their road. I did not see them.

            My rider returned from the house with a little blue bottle that was the shape of a heart in his black-clad hand. He placed it in a wooden box that was strapped to the saddle. The bottle was about three inches tall so it fit into the small box easily.

            He re-mounted me and gathered the reins up in his bony hands.

            I took a few steps forward, readying myself for the run. He lifted his heals into my sides and straitened his back. The signal. I charged forward down the street. The deer scampered away, snorting in fear before disappearing into a backyard. The owl flapped her wings and cooed loudly at us. The cricket fell silent.

            And as we galloped off, a child’s voice screamed out in horror. I did not hear it: because I did not care.

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            Morning. The dark sky was just barely giving way to the sun, making it turn navy-blue.

I ran through a canyon of pail gray clouds, nothing under my feet but thin air, yet, my hooves felt something hard and steady under them. This is a power that only one other creature cane use: a Light. The Lights are the exact opposites of Shadows, though, we look almost the same except for our color, a Shadow is black and a Light is as white as the moon. They would probably hate being described as ‘white as the moon’ see; they despise anything that has to do with the dark. So you can imagine we are enemies.

My nostrils flared and, despite the icy wind tearing at my skin, I still had sweat pouring off of me. I was being guided. Where? Down. Wisps of clouds passed by in a flash and left me drenched when I passed through them. I heaved myself forward as if running down a hill.

It did not take long for the colorful lights of the city to begin passing me by. Civilization to my right, dark woods to my left. We went left.

Tall pine-trees whipped in and then out of my vision as I galloped past them, still barreling downward. The sound of the wind raising me through the trees sounded like distant screaming, I did not hear it.

My hooves finally met hard ground. I passed an old park bench that was empty and lit by a park light that was on the verge of going black. Pine needles were scattered on the cement road I landed on and one or two other park lights glowed dimly ahead, as well as a vacant parking lot and a slim pathway that led off the road and into the unlit woods.

I was yanked to stop, so I planted all four hooves and skidded to a halt. Stumbling then caching myself I managed to stand still. I was completely unaware of the fire burning in my chest and the hammering of my exhausted heart that was being torn apart with pain.

My rider slowly turned his eyes to the small path that led off the road. He steered me in that direction so I fallowed his command and walked steadily to the path. We stopped just before it and my master looked deeply into the darkness with his blank eyes. The light from one of the dull lamps lit half of his black face, he had no mouth, no nose, only eyes, the rest of his face looked like black clothe stretched over a neutral mask.

I was once again urged forward and we proceeded down the dark path. There was the sudden flapping of wings and three gray birds evacuated the path into the sanctuary of the black trees. A disturbed crow screeched down at us from somewhere up above. I heard none of this. The three birds entered and left my mind like the wind passes through the trees and the crow was the same, once it stopped crowing, it no longer existed.

After walking for a wile, we found a clearing along side the narrow walkway. There was a picnic table and a worn out swing set that creaked eerily as a breeze crept over the leafy ground like a cat stocking its prey.

The dim morning light gave the area a blue shade over it as if a cold plague had swept through the trees.

A navy blue butterfly with black eye patterns on her fragile wings was nestled on the A shaped part of the swing set lapping up the melting frost with her curled tongue. She was not just any butterfly though, and she hadn’t stopped at the playground just to get a drink, either. She was waiting for someone, and they had just arrived.

My rider pulled my head in the direction of the swing set and then halted me. He swung his leg over and dismounted, landing solidly on the ground. His lidless eyes glared at the butterfly like a snake would a rat, then he turned toward my saddle, opened the box and lifted out the bottle, he also took the reins and tied them to the picnic table, as if I might run off.

He left me there to meet the butterfly at the swing set. I stayed put. I paid no attention to what he did after that, all I did was wait, standing perfectly still, def and blind to the world around me. It would not be long before the entire world would change to my eyes.