Heir of Dust and Wind

Chapter 40 - Shadows

Ava had seen the shadows at her southern border only once before.

On their very first day, she had asked Trygve to take her with him on his patrol, curious to get an overview of the lands that now were their home. Then, all the shadows had been, was a thick impenetrable black wall. To her, it had seemed like shadows at all, more like a substantial blackness, completely impenetrable and solid.

Even though she knew that neither the shadows themselves nor whatever dwelled inside them could breach the barrier she had created using the fyrran crystals, she had still shuddered at the sight. Without it, it would have been utterly terrifying and she was deeply grateful that her protective dome kept out any being that was touched by dark magic. This way at least they could be certain that Gytha was neither since she had been able to pass the barrier.

Ava really couldn't decide whether it was a blessing or a curse to not know what lay hidden beneath this veil of blackness. On the one hand, she dreaded having to face whatever lived beyond her southern border. On the other hand, imagining the horrors that lurked in the dark sometimes felt even scarier.

However, now that she saw what Trygve and Gainor had reported with her own eyes from where she sat on Trygve's back, she definitely tended to the former as the sight made her blood run cold and the hair on her forearms rise. 

Although the shadows were as thick and impenetrable as ever, they were no longer the calm wall of dark mist they had been when they had first arrived. Now the darkness resembled a stormy sea, the whisp of darkness coiling, rising, and falling, driven by some invisible commotion that couldn't be seen by those outside the Realm of Darkness. There were also ominous flashes of eerie light that flashed and dimmed inside the darkness making it seem even more livid and sinister.

While there were no immediate signs of perpetrators or even an attack, everyone agreed that this change in the shadow's demeanour couldn't mean anything good.

"You know," Raban finally broke the silence that had encompassed them ever since Ava had opened the mental channel that made her observations visible to him and Orla as well.  They had remained at the house, impatiently waiting for her to confirm what the two Dracaeni had reported.  

Originally he had wanted to come too, but Trygve had been against it. Not for pettiness this time as he had hurried to explain somewhat awkwardly, but because he didn't want to poke at whatever had caused this worrisome change. The presence of another magical being, a former ally of Dunstan at that, might very well be able to create some kind of incentive. And so it was only Ava and him who had set out for the southern border. Gainor had flown off too, but he was surveying the other parts of their lands, checking for more alterations than the ones in the south.

"I really don't think of myself as someone that spooks easily, but this truly creeps me out."

Ava couldn't agree more. Even though she had never been a fan of thrillers or horror stories, this new development was clearly concerning, regardless of quickly one got unnerved.

"It is a deeply worrisome development," Orla echoed her sentiments. "Still, it is hardly surprising."

That earned her feelings of puzzlement from all of them surging through that telepathic space that they now shared for communicating nearly across the complete territory. Yet achievements of Ava's long hours of practice in her laboratory.

"Well, as I mentioned to you some time ago," the little Goblin elaborated, clearly referring to their sessions back in Frode's residence, "The Between is all about magical balance."

Well, yes, she knew that, but ... Suddenly realisation dawned on her.

"So, if something happens on the side of white magic, such as the ritual I performed to clean Dunstan's former territory of dark magic," Ava concluded, "there is likely to be a reaction on the other side?"