IMMORTAL SECRETS: THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB

CHAPTER ONE - ACCALIA

"Accalia," whispers the Night Monster. "Salia, where are you? I'm here," he whispers again, this time using the nickname he gave me.

When I hear his sweet voice, my dream-self rises from bed and walks willingly into the dark. It's been almost two years since I'd confronted him; the fateful night I'd learned his desire for my death. But as the days passed, each night he was still there, and each night I sought him out. Each time I confronted him, I could feel his resolve to kill me deteriorate, piece by piece – until eventually...

The Night Monster no longer holds me in fear. Nighttime is no longer dreaded but yearned for. The day is counted down by the hour. It's not because I've grown braver with age or have realized dreams hold no merit. No. Fear has given way to love, and I've come to understand these are not dreams.

How did I come to love the Night Monster? Simple, time and patience. After his spoken promise of my death, his voice fell silent for what felt like an eternity. I continued to pursue him though, hellbent on uncovering why he was stalking me, why he wished for my death. If he wasn't going away, neither was I. Whenever I was able to corner him, a barrage of questions escaped my lips, and I could see his stoic resolve break. Eventually, my one-sided questioning irritated him into threatening me, breaking him of his long silence. Defiantly, I began threatening him in return.

At first, our conversations were nothing more than nasty comments and veiled threats, but then, somehow, they transformed into polite conversation, little by little. It was as if we had both given up on our anger out of sheer exhaustion. Maybe it wasn't exhaustion, but boredom or apathy, because the more we threatened each other, the more we knew the other wouldn't act. Regardless, eventually, inexplicably, we began talking, to hold true conversations, void of any darkness or malice, although our conversations never turned to the reason he'd wished me dead. He has now become my only confidant, my sounding board when my waking life becomes too much. With him, I have a purpose; I'm someone worthy of respect, worthy of love. I'm no longer unnecessary.

When the Night Monster comes for me, there is no light, save for a distant moon and the unearthly glow radiating from my necklace, gifted to me by the monster. A moonstone necklace hangs from my neck on a silver chain, elegant silver designs dripping around the centerpiece. As I step in the direct path of the moon, the centerpiece lights like a beacon with baby-blue around the edges and a fierce white engulfing the middle. It's what brings me my monster each night.

Before the necklace, after our dark encounters gave way to friendship, he'd search for hours in the darkness for me, previously relying on my fear to find me, but with no fear, finding me became a challenge. He always found me eventually, but with the moonstone necklace he'd never need to search again, as long as I wished to be found. These nights, I'd rather be found, anyway.

His silhouette walking towards me from within the moon's lighted path is all I'm able to see with the brightness around my neck and the fallen night. With a yearning to see him, I step into full darkness, out of the moon's reach. Only then does the brightness from my necklace recede enough for me to see the face nearing me.

To other's eyes he'd appear a monster, as he did to me years ago. As my fear of him diminished and his hatred of me lessened, I came to realize his true face was not a reflection of my own anguish. This was only a curse he bore, burnt onto his body when he was too young to remember. The curse is recognizable on his flesh as scars. Yet they're not ordinary scars, as they give him an impossible physical strength.

He's no human, even though his outwardly appearance suggests Cherokee, whether asleep or awake. In his waking life, he hides among humans. He has lived among them in secret for the past eighteen years, pretending to be one, raised as one, because humans have no capacity for the truth. He's a purebred Dragonnian named Chandresh. My guardian has said Dragonnian's true form was dragon, but now it's human.