The Shadow Within

NAMING

It was now already the following morning and the chirping of birds made the forest environment serene and calm. Rachel and Jerome the Sage were now in a small clearing amidst the long trees of The Blue Woods. 

Jerome was keen again trying to draw a spiral on the ground with his white powder atop the short green-grass patches that covered the ground all around the clearing. Rachel stood aside and watched him as she quietly contemplated recent events. 

"Are you okay?" She asked after noticing Jerome's lugubrious face. 

"I am." He responded, "It just hit me for a moment there that we have lost The Temple of The Eagle Lords forever. Do you know that it has stood there for a thousand years..." He continued, smiling slightly at the beautiful memory. 

"The last Shadow Medium was the one who established it there to allow ordinary people to learn and practice Shadow Magic since before then Shadow Magic only existed at the Village." He added. 

As Jerome was speaking, Rachel's mind was again thrust into another vivid vision. This time she was still at the Shadow Village but there were no soldiers in the vicinity. The village was up and alive. She saw herself walking barefoot atop the green grass and beside where she treaded some toddlers were playfully chasing after a green ball. She then saw herself walk slowly towards one of the carved-out trunks at the clearing that were their houses. 

On entering, she was amazed to see how detailfully the trunk had been carved inside to create a slightly raised circular altar on top of which an expanding spiral was engraved. At the very centre of the raised altar, something was emitting a bright green light. It was a gem, placed in a small carved-out hole at the centre of the engraved spiral. The gem glew up beautifully almost like a diamond, but not a diamond, its light was bright and beautiful green. 

"This is where you will one day be named." A voice spoke from nowhere and she immediately turned to see a woman standing at the entrance into the trunk house, a broad warm smile carved onto her familiar face. It was her mother, and this she suddenly felt inside. 

At this point, Rachel immediately retracted back to herself in the woods and saw Jerome in front of her, still busy preparing the scene. 

"Jerome," she called to him and he immediately raised his face to her. 

"There's something I haven't told you. I have been getting these kind of memory flashes of the person I used to be... or maybe a person I used to be..." She stammered, a little confused. 

"I don't understand it.., it's quite confusing. Anyway that's not the point. I think I know where it is..." She added. 

"You think you know where what is?" 

"This thing they're looking for... the soldiers... what did you call it again?" She said. 

"The Shadow Emerald," he said in response and rose to face her, his lugubrious face thawing out and brightening. "You know where it is?" He continued. "How?" 

"I told you... I'm remembering things," she said as she paced slightly around the empty clearing. She then suddenly spotted a short leafy plant with yellowish round fruits growing on it and immediately jumped in excitement. 

"Uuuuh, Kyrosaphs," she said, excitedly smiling and walked over to the plant and picked one of the fruits, immediately biting into its juicy succulence. 

Rachel then immediately realized that she should not have known the name to that strange-looking plant and apparently so did Jerome who now stared at her smiling, yet mesmerized that she knew one of the rarest fruits in The Blue Woods. 

"So you do remember things..." He acknowledged. "This is quite fascinating, I thought I was told the Medium is usually reborn not knowing her previous life... I guess that's not true for you," He concluded, impressed. 

"So where is it?" 

"Where is what?" She answered with a question, still chewing into her delicious fruit. 

"You said you thought you knew where The Shadow Emerald was, where is it?" 

"Ohw yeah, at the village where I first arrived," she blurted and immediately realized the words shouldn't have come out that way. 

"What?" He asked. 

"At the village... the... the... the Shadow Village," she finally got it right and spoke up. 

"There is also a place there specially prepared for the naming ceremony." She added, the words slipping right out of her mouth. 

Jerome now looked at her with awe not knowing what to make of this situation. He had been preparing himself psychologically to slowly teach her everything she needed to know, but now it appeared she already knew a lot more than she should have. 

"The Shadow Village is our destination now then, isn't it?" He said to her, smiling. 

"It is, but..." She said and paused, wiping off the juice from the Kyrosaph onto the coarse trunk of one of the trees. "Would it be okay if I said the words to poof us there?" She continued. 

"Yeah sure, go ahead," he replied, impressed to see her make such progress even before being named. 

"Do you know the words?" He asked her. 

"Yes I do. You know, it's quite strange that my mind is now filled with all this new information that I didn't have before. It feels... like I'm alive again. Something must have happened. Something must have changed." She said and smiled slightly, putting out her arms for him to join his. 

"Tasarakarum polifaderem..." and they were gone. 

Rachel hadn't the slightest clue how much had now already changed. She knew not that the energy of The Shadow had been summoned successfully and that through the brave sacrifice of one man, that Ancient magical power now coursed through the land of the living and was beginning to express its light through her. 

Jerome on the other hand was oblivious that the Temple hadn't been lost at all. It had only expanded. At the very moment of the massive explosion, the energy that had once flown through its walls had scattered all over and now flowed through the entire world. 

*********************************.      ************************

The Dark Castle was built high atop a hill, the circumference of its massive compound completely encircling the top of the hill. The Castle building itself was constructed with bricks of pure gold and had one tower rising above its centre under which, inside, The Silver Throne stood. 

A watch tower stood even higher right beside the main gate into the castle compound. Inside the compound, there were more buildings meant for different purposes such as the servants quarters and The Wizards' Cave. The Wizards' cave was specially designed for the training of young sorcerers and wizards who would then eventually be committed into service of The Trakoran Empire. 

Down at the very foot of the hill stood The Army Command Base. A massive walled compound inside which soldiers were trained and from which all military action was controlled and commanded. Connecting the army base and The Dark Castle were metal contraptions suspended high in the sky by long poles and that moved up and down the hill along powerful cords. These metal cabin cars helped people commute to and fro The Castle. 

Inside The Silver Throne room, The Silver Throne of course shimmered in its usual dazzle and on top of it The Dark Master sat quietly, caressing his long bushy beard. Above his head, on the extension of the throne that protruded upward, was the silhouette image of an eagle painted in black onto the shimmering silver. 

What most locals in The Trakoran Empire never knew or cared to know was that Lord Adark, their emperor and Master, had once, a long time ago, been an Eagle Lord. He had, however, learned at the Temple of the existence of another form of magic - Magic of The Force - and had left the temple in search of it therefore defying The Code of The Eagle Lords. This action had led him to be dubbed The Dark Eagle after betraying his brotherhood. The Dark Eagle title had with time eroded and evolved into now The Dark Master. 

His travels beyond The Blue Woods in search of Magic of The Force had brought him all the way into Trakora where he had been introduced into it. He then learned the art of the magic and steadily mastered it, using it to build himself the most powerful and far-reaching empire the world had ever seen. The Trakoran Empire. 

In recent days, his thirst for more power had driven him to deciding to blend the two forms of magic and thereby make himself The Greatest Wizard of all time. For this he needed to possess The Shadow Emerald and in search of it, he had treaded back into The Blue Woods, the home of Shadow Magic. 

"Master Dark," the man stood in front of him upright, his thick brown armor strengthening his gait, and he spoke free and fluent. 

"The Temple of The Eagle Lords has been cleansed and even as we speak the smoke from its burning remains still ascends above The Blue Woods." 

"And of The Emerald?" He growled from his sitting position, taking a sip from the tall golden cup he had in his right arm. 

"Commander Spark and his men could still not locate The Emerald at the temple my lord. However, they were able to bring us something much more valuable. The High Sceptre Lord after much persuasion and with his dying breath finally opened The Eagle Crypt and there, Spark found this.. " he paused momentarily and signalled to the guard at the door. 

A cart covered by a white cloth was then pushed into the throne room by one of the uniformed guards. On top of the cart was placed a golden triangular block with spiral carvings all over its surface and sides. 

"No way," awestruck, The Dark Eagle immediately stood up and stormed down his raised throne to investigate the object. 

"Demian, is this what I think it is?" He asked. 

"Yes Master Dark, this here is one of the two triangles of Pidimus the great wizard. This is ancient magic my lord. After Pidimus died a thousand years ago, the triangles were believed to have been lost forever. The triangles are said to have given Pidimus access to and control over the dark magic practiced by the ancient civilization of The Turza who thrived deep beneath the waters of The Black Sea. This dark power they referred to as Miriswid, The Blue Force Unseen." He continued and paused. 

"Master, with the power these triangles are believed to carry, The Force Unseen will be yours to command and then your conquest over the land of the living will be absolute and assured." Demian added. 

"And where would we find this... second triangle?" The Dark Lord asked, his interest on the subject unhideably growing. 

"Well, it has been rumored for a long while that the ruins of the ancient city of The Turza still stand intact to this day deep beneath The Black Sea. It may not be much, but it is a good place to start looking Master." Answered Demian. 

"Alright then, we'll need about thirty sorcerers who have perfected their ability to breathe under water. Send them to the shore of The Black Sea first thing tomorrow morning and let the work begin. Spread the word also across the great Empire and let it be known throughout the territories that whoever aids in recovery of The Second Triangle of Pidimus will be honored beyond words and rewarded beyond imagination." He decreed. 

"Ohw and Demian," he added, moving over to pat Demian's right shoulder. "This is truly good news, you can go now and be with your wife... we shall resume the search in the morning." 

"At your service, Master." Demian bowed down before The Dark Lord and then immediately stormed out of the throne room leaving him with his two guards who stood stiff and motionless at the door inside the room. 

As soon as Demian left, The Dark Eagle walked over to the cart and picked up the triangle with his right hand, a slight smile carving itself onto his face. He then walked slowly up the three steps and sat upon his throne, his gaze still transfixed on the golden marvel in his arm. No sooner had he sat down than a dark fog began emanating from the spirals carved onto the surface of the triangle. 

The dark cloud quickly grew as he frantically tried to waft it away and before he could realize it, it had now grown to encircle The Silver Throne he sat upon. He then suddenly threw the triangle to the floor and it bounced off once and then rested upright on one of its sides. 

Then out of the flowing fog, a figure of a man formed itself. A man in a long dark cloak, the locs of his hair flowing all the way down his back. The figure floated midair and was now staring straight at The Dark Master who in turn boldly stared back into its eyes. 

"Kneel!" It barked at him, the powerful voice literally shaking the room. 

"I am The Dark Master, I bow down to no one." He responded, his confidence and ego boiling up inside of him. 

"Guards!" Adark called. 

The two guards standing beside the door inside the room quickly heeded their master's call and came towards the throne running. The floating figure then turned to see them coming and immediately lifted its left arm as if waving at them, the action instantly carrying the two men with brandished swords off the ground and immediately snapping their necks simultaneously, midair. Their bodies then fell with a thud onto the ground, the impact of the fall crackling the bones in their lifeless bodies. 

Seeing this, The Dark Lord quickly swerved his palms in a circle in front of his chest to call up his magic and before the energy could form, he realized he couldn't breathe. His throat was closing up. He was choking. He suddenly clenched his arms around his neck and then tumblingly and unwillingly fell to the floor afront his throne. 

"Who are you?" The Dark Master managed to sneak some words through his closing throat. 

"I am Pidimus..." It barked. "And this here is no longer your throne, it's mine now." 

While saying this, the figure spirited over to The Silver Throne and sat on it. Although technically hovering over it. 

But Pidimus has been dead over a thousand years, The Dark Eagle thought to himself as he tried to fathom what was happening. Little did he know that Pidimus had not been dead. Neither did he know that The Triangles of Pidimus weren't called The Triangles of Pidimus because they were his own. No, they were a cage that had been built for him. A prison inside which his spirit had been banished and enslaved for eternity over a thousand years ago by the last Shadow Medium. 

The Dark Eagle was also oblivious that the walls of The Temple of The Eagle Lords had protected the triangle and ensured that Pidimus stayed enslaved inside forever. He didn't know that by carrying the triangle away from the temple he had unleashed the greatest evil that had ever walked the land of the living. 

"Call me Master..." Said the figure to Adark, sitting squarely on his throne. 

"What!" He stammered, mesmerized and to a degree enraged. 

"I said, call me Master," It reiterated. 

The Dark Lord then immediately raised his face and opened his mouth to scoff and before a single word could come out, the figure raised its left arm slowly and as it did so was Adark taken off his feet upwards into the air. He now floated midair and he - by sheer luck - happened to notice Pidimus turning his palm to snap his neck and suddenly called... 

"Okay... Okay... Okay," he blurted desperately. 

"Master." He coughed and Pidimus immediately wore a grin and lowered his arm, Adark falling hard onto the floor. 

"Okay, first order of business," Pidimus' spiritform said. "I need a physical body and for that we must obtain the Second triangle," he added, looking straight at The Dark Lord. 

"My sorcerers will be headed to the ruins of the ancient city of The Turza first thing tomorrow morning, they will deliver it to you at once." He replied as he rose from the floor and stood on his feet. 

Lord Adark had met his better. He didn't just admire Pidimus for his agility and sheer command of The Force, he now actually feared him for it. 

"The triangle is not beneath The Black Sea," resounded Pidimus. 

"Your ill-advised advisor knows not what he advises you about. It's at The Shadow Village of Bodenia." He continued. 

"I will send men into The Blue Woods at once," added Adark. 

"Tell them it's the tree that stands at the very centre of the village, it may seem a normal tree but it is the sacred ground inside which the triangle is secured. They should hack it down if they must and retrieve the triangle." 

"Okay," said The Dark Eagle, walking across the room towards the door. 

"No! Not okay," Pidimus barked at him. "Who am I to you?" He asked, aggrevated. 

"Master," he remembered almost being a corpse. 

"So..." 

"Yes Master!" 

By the grin forming itself on the new Master's face, Adark knew he had finally gotten it right and was now free to leave. 

*****************************.        ******************************

When Rachel and Jerome arrived back at the Shadow Village, the dead bodies she'd initially seen there were now nought but burned-out charred remains. As the two slowly walked around the circular clearing surrounded by the massive tree-trunk houses, they both remained silent and quietly took in the utter devastation. 

Jerome then pulled from his cloak his smoking pipe and immediately lit it up, inhaling and exhaling and the clouds of thick smoke rising slowly all around his head. 

"Which trunk was it, the one you saw?" He asked her, coughing slightly from being choked. He then gently put out the burning herbs and replaced his pipe back into his pocket. 

"It was..." She said and paused, sweeping a gaze around the circular compound of The Shadow Village. 

"That one," she continued, now pointing at the trunk that stood in the middle of the circular clearing. 

Rachel then recalled her first time being here but now saw herself as a much different person from the scared girl who had hidden herself from Lord Akashar behind that very same tree. 

"But this one doesn't have an open entrance like the others..." Jerome observed. 

"Are you sure?" She asked, walking some paces from where she stood to try and locate the entrance she had seen in her vision.

She, after having to walk all around the tree's massive girth, realized it seemed just a normal tree. How could that be, she thought. It was this very tree she had seen. Just then, it popped into her mind to try touching the trunk with the spiral mark on her forehead. 

She went over to it, leaned herself close and as soon as her skin touched its coarse surface, the entire tree vibrated gently and an entrance into the trunk appeared right beside her. Jerome, who had been standing at a distance now slowly began walking towards the open entrance, awed at the scenery inside. 

On walking inside, their mouths went agape at the sight of the artistry and detail with which the wood inside the trunk had been carved out creating the raised circular altar Rachel had seen in her vision. However, something was different than she had first seen, the altars were now two, one rising from the floor while another hung downwards from above. 

At the centre of the hanging circular block, onto which an expanding spiral had been carved, The Shadow Emerald hung. Its green beautiful light permeating to every nook and crany of the environment inside The Shadow Shrine. There were also carved-out stool-like protrusions all around the circular altar that seemed to be the chairs for maybe an audience or a panel. 

"This is quite a marvel," said Jerome, awed. "I never thought I would get the chance to feed my eyes at The Shadow Emerald, the very link that channels Shadow Magic into the land of the living." 

"Go on," he said to her. "Sit down on the altar right below the Emerald just as I showed you back at the temple." He added. 

Rachel then walked up the two steps onto the altar and treaded slowly to its centre and sat in the small space that had been left bare surrounded by the expanding spiral. Above her head, The Shadow Emerald pulsated with energy almost as if it had sensed her presence there. 

Jerome pulled out a small book from an inside pocket of his cloak and placed it on the altar before diving back into the pocket to look for something else. 

"What's that?" She asked him. 

"This book contains the incantations we will use to name you and also some questions you must answer before being named." He answered, pulling from his pocket a small cylindrical container that carried the white powder he had used back at the temple. He then poured the powder into the carved-out trough of the spiral upon the altar, setting the scene exactly as it had been before being interrupted at the temple. 

"Now close your eyes and make sure not to open them until the ceremony is complete." He said. 

Jerome now held the opened-out book in his left palm and paced around the altar frequently glancing at Rachel who sat still and quiet atop the wooden circle. 

"Now before we begin," said Jerome, reading from the book in his hand. 

"Will you accept to leave behind everything you have ever known and go only where The Shadow guides?" 

Rachel remained silent. 

"You should answer," he quickly interjected, "either yes or no." 

Rachel was taking a minute to think about what this meant. It meant that the life she once knew back on Earth was now a bygone and somewhere inside she felt deeply convicted to let bygones be bygones. 

"Yes I will." She answered, her eyes still shut. 

"Will you accept to drop your old name and embody the name of The Medium?" 

"Yes I will." She reiterated. 

"And lastly, will you accept whatever task is laid before you by The Shadow, however dangerous it may be and however unpredictable the outcome may be, will you still commit to it wholeheartedly?" 

"Yes I will." 

"So then," uttered Jerome the Sage, his voice rising and his words fluently powerful. "By the power of The Shadow allowed me, I hereby name you... Merius The Shadow Medium." 

As soon as he finished saying the words, green flames rose atop the white powder and now glowed following the inscribed spiral around where Rachel sat. 

"Kiminisa opakum Qualem..." 

"Say the words with me," he told her. 

"Kiminisa opakum Qualem..." They reiterated together. 

The faintly glowing flames then now suddenly grew, rising with powerful thrust upwards to link up with the hanging inscribed spiral. The green flowing fire now completely transferred itself up onto the hanging circle and circumnavigated the shinning Emerald at the middle. 

As the two kept repeating the incantation, the brightness of The Emerald multiplied over and the energy circulating it reverberated shaking the whole tree as they continued. Then BOOM! 

The Emerald shattered into a million pieces and the energy it had been carrying inside it now flowed in a circle around Merius' head. Then, the circle of green flames broke off into a line and directed itself right into the spiral carved onto her forehead, charging her up as it entered into her. 

As the massive green wave of light slowly permeated into her, she was lifted off the ground and now levitated in the air amidst the top and bottom spirals. Once all the energy had completely sipped into her, she effortlessly opened out her crossed legs and smoothly lowered herself to stand upon the circle she had been sitted on. It was at this point that she opened her eyes to see Jerome staring at her, his eyes wide open and mesmerized by the beautiful scenery he had just witnessed. 

"It is done," he said, "How do you feel?" 

"I feel... I feel light." 

"Exactly," he reiterated. "The Shadow is light." 

"Now there are some things you must know about the development of your powers. First, there are three..." 

"Three levels of Shadow Magic mastery. The first level is incantations and spells, the second level is The Sceptre and the third and final level is The Shadow Within where one has become The Shadow and The Shadow has become them." She interrupted him, saying word by word exactly as he would have said himself. 

You see Merius, the woman who had died, had already been a practicing Shadow magician. In fact, Merius hadn't been any normal Shadow magician. Her mother, Marius, had been shown a vision while meditating, she had been shown her daughter being named as Shadow Medium right here at The Shadow Shrine. 

Marius had then brought up her daughter, secretly instilling in her that she had been chosen by The Shadow to be its Medium in a great war that was to come. So Merius had grown up knowing herself to be The Chosen One. Little did she know that she would have to die first and then be reborn as The Medium. 

Now that Rachel's naming was complete, she had been entirely united with Merius' spirit. Everything that Merius had known, she now knew. Everything that Merius had experienced, she had experienced it too. It was the lives of two interdimensional beings merged into one. One that was now the living and breathing channel and embodiment of The Shadow in the land of the living. One that had been now named and identified as, Merius The Shadow Medium. 

New horses are being ridden 

New moves to the dance are being bidden 

The past in the present is being hidden