Unconditionally- The Beginning Of Revelation

30. Conversations and Clarity

Late update is better than no update right ^-^

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dedicated to alicesingh31 for being the most amazing kind of reader there is. Your words of encouragement and love for this story truly mean the world to me. You're amazing darling! Thank you!

A huge shoutout to Dreamzangel21 because I miss you soooooo much, it actually hurts! Love you sweetheart!

This chapter is unedited so please excuse the grammatical errors.

__

Suzzanah's POV

The walk back seemed to drag on forever as the ominous silence threatened to blow my ear drums. We were all lost in our own respective thoughts as we made our way through the cold quiet forest, led by the light of a floating flame, courtesy of Zuerien's elemental abilities.

In the orange red glow of the flame that flickered in the air above us, many dark shadows danced over the undergrowth. Shadows of tall trees, of small shrubs, of falling leaves of flower petals. Shadows of three silent figures as they tread an eerie path through the dark woods. My very own shadow!

Stay away from the shadows...

Shadows? What shadows? Whose shadows? The statement couldn't possibly be any more vague.

There was no way I could stay away from my own shadow, it was attached to my body for crying out loud! So it couldn't have been my shadow she had been talking about, right? So then, the shadows of other people?

I looked down at Zuerien's shadow and then Mr. Penson, which were longer and wider than my own short disfigured one. They slid fluidly over the dark grass, making movements in the light that were not humanly possible.

Why was I supposed to stay away from the shadows?

My eyes darted over the many many shadows that appeared briefly in the light of the warm flame before disappearing into darkness yet again. And much to my relief none of them sprung out of the ground with their jelly like arms and legs ready to throttle me against an inconspicuous tree.

So did that mean that her statement had been more figurative than literal. Was it not the really the shadows I was supposed to worry about but what lurked in the dark alongside them?

That did make more sense, and yet, I couldn't see Karina being all philosophical and mysterious like that. She had always been a very straightforward person. And the fact that when she bestowed that very disturbing piece of advice on me, she had apparently been heavily pressed for time and quite tense too, added to the belief that she would never chose such a moment to suddenly turn into Mr. Penson and speak deep enigmatic words with hidden meanings.

So...what was I supposed to do?

I sighed and my eyes widened at how the sound seemed much louder in the heavy silence. Taken aback by my own release of breath I tripped over what I had thought had been just another shadow but had actually been a branch jutting precariously out of the dark ground.

Immediately Zuerien's arm tightened around my waist pulling me back into him. My back pressed into his hard chest as I attempted to realign my momentarily disoriented vision. Within that brief discombobulated second, the shadows suddenly seemed to lunge at me, surrounding me, trapping me and my heart rate spiked as my eyes widened in shock at the unexpected onslaught.

But then with one flicker of the flame they were gone, receding back into the darkness that they came from, moving yet again, only within the confines of their one dimensional monochromatic existence.