Tierra: The Shadow War [Book One]

Chapter II

Black

All Rena could see was black. Why? It wasn't night. Just a few seconds ago it was day then it all went black. That didn't make sense. Rena didn't understand the sudden darkness.

A face appeared in the darkness and Rena tried to call out to the figure but as the face got closer she could see that it wasn't a normal face. The face had two huge white eyes and one gaping white mouth. Black dripped into the white parts like paint.

Rena stood there, mouth wide open, starring at this creature. "What are you?"

The creature didn't answer, but made a strange sound she never heard before. Which only made Rena more scared. The creature looked like dripping paint. It become to reach for Rena and she couldn't help but screamed. Everything stopped...

Rena sat up right in a snap, dripping in sweat. She gasped for air as she calmed down from her nightmare. Sensiil was asleep at the corner of her room, which relaxed her knowing her trusty dragon was still there.

She got up and changed into her simple blue and red dress before going downstairs to join her parents for breakfast.

Once she got to the dinner room, she found empty aside from a plate where her breakfast waited. Rena sighed as she found a note saying that her parents were out for business.

Putting the note away, she began to eat. Then she saw Sensiil come in. "Morning Rena..." The little red dragon yawned.

"Morning Sensiil," Rena replied with a smile then saw some writing under the note from her parents. She turned it over and read it over, "Mother and Father want us to go visit Sazohr."

"Sazohr? That's a little scary." He commented, then paused. "Who is Sazohr?" Sensiil asked.

Rena chuckled before answering his question, "Sazohr is a wizard. A very powerful wizard. He is also an Other. He came here after the first war and that was the last time the portal ever opened."

"An Other who is a wizard?" Sensiil pondered on that before asking another question, "Doesn't the Other World have no magic?"

"Yes, but when he came here he learned magic and got really powerful," Rena explained, "It must be really important if I need to go visit him."

Sensiil nodded. Rena finished and cleaned her dishes before leaving the palace. Rena and Sensiil made their way down to the city.

Sazohr's hut was on the very outskirts of the city, and the hut wasn't all that big either. Some how, Rena didn't understand, but the hut had enough room for the old wizard to do his work.

Rena remembered her parents telling her, when she was little, the story of Sazohr's coming to Tierra and how he became a powerful wizard. One thing didn't quite make sense was the exact reason to why Sun gave him immortality. Her parents made sense, they were needed to keep the peace in the land. And Rena to follow in their footsteps.

But why Sazohr was made immortal?

Rena tried to shake all the thoughts away so she could focus on the task at hand. She knocked on Sazohr's door. She heard a crash followed by a few smaller ones. Footsteps sounded from inside before the door opened.

Sazohr wasn't an old wizard like the Other World pictured them being. She blinked at the silence. "Princess-"

"Rena is fine."

"Rena...what a pleasant surprise. What brings you over to this side of the city?" Sazohr asked, clearly confused.

"My parents sent me over, but I don't know why." Rena replied.

"Oh! I know why! Come on in Princ-Rena," Sazohr moved to let Rena and Sensiil inside.

Rena glanced around the hut and at all the weird knick-knacks he had. "Weird..." Sensiil muttered under his breath that Rena heard.

Sazohr turned to face them, "I have made a new creature to help the people of Tierra! You'll love it Princ-Rena. Sorry."

"It's fine...so where is the creature?" Rena asked.

Sazohr pulled out a vial from a metal chest with a lock on it. He held it up to show her the black liquid inside, "Here it is. I call it Shadow because they'll blend in so you won't see them doing their work. And guests won't see them either. Their only seen when you want them to be seen. Isn't it great?"

Rena looked at the vial then at the wizard, "Um, sure? But how can a liquid do work?"

"Easy," He said and opened the vial. He let one drop out onto the floor and soon the liquid began to grow in height, making a figure. Rena jerked back when she saw the creature became the creature from her nightmare. She locked eyes with the creature and stayed in silence, "Isn't it amazing?" Sazohr asked.

"I... wouldn't say...that exactly." Rena replied.

"It looks like some took a kid and made him into a black liquid with some white." Sensiil commented on the Shadow.

"Sensiil!" Rena scowled the red dragon.

Sazohr looked really proud about his creation and Rena didn't want to hurt his feelings by telling him that the Shadow was a creature from a nightmare she had. The old wizard acted like a child in away and she knew she had to be careful, "It's very...creative. But why did you need to show me this?"

"Well Princ-Rena, in order to get this approved to have in houses, a royal needs to approve the safety of it." He explained.

"That was a rule? Since when?" But Rena's question went unanswered as the Shadow blended into the shadows of the hut. She looked around to see where it went too but no trace of it could be seen. Sazohr was gone as well, leaving Rena with Sensiil and unseen creature that couldn't be trusted.

But before Rena could call out for the wizard, everything went black and Rena could only let out a scream. The last thing she heard before loosing consciousness was Sensiil calling out her name.