Shadow: The Origin Of A Legend

Prologue

Rain sleets down in a heavy downpour. Thunder roars and lightning arcs across the sky, crackling with energy. The leaves of the trees swirl and thrash with the harsh howling wind in contrast with the immobile mountain in their midst. Though the mountain seems solid, it conceals a large network of caves from the storm. In one of such caves, a short creature stands in a window, watching the storm. The silhouette shows only thin arms and legs, a trim body, and a distinguishingly large head with five points radiating out like a bent star. Two gentle blue eyes gleam into the darkness.

A flash of lightning illuminates the shadow's face, revealing it to be a kind, motherly one. The woman is a hedgehog, and her eyes show concern. She pushes the curtains together, turning back around to her frightened children. Three pairs of wide eyes blink up at her, each one wondering what she'll say.

For a moment all the mother can do is stare. Her three beautiful children huddle together, the two younger ones nestling in the embrace of the eldest one, the third in the middle. On the leftmost side is little Black, a runt of a hedgehog, with fur that always appears as though he stuck his finger in a socket. In the fire-lit room, he looks like a patch of the night sky fell from its lofty perch to live on Earth. Even his wide irises are solid black. He trembles as he clings to his older brother-being only four, fierce storms both frighten and amaze him.

On the far right is Black's polar opposite, his twin sister White, with hair that seems to defy gravity. White stripes--her namesake--are woven together into her black fur in one large mass curving upward from her head. Her irises are white, with a slight grayish tint to them. Despite her fear, she smiles as if defying the storm's terror.

In the middle, with a serious expression on his face, sits Shadow. Despite being only five, nothing frightens him save for storms. His piercing, fiery red eyes are unreadable and calm, full of depth and power. He has six stripes on his head and six spines to match. The stripes all run along the top of his spines, and the topmost spine's stripe runs from his forehead to the very tip of the spine. There are two triangular markings that run from the top of his eyes to the base of his ears. His head is very large, as are his eyes. He has unusually sharp canines (for a hedgehog), and a long nose. Shadow is a very pristine little hedgehog, with a brilliantly bright white plume of 'chest fuzz' (as he calls it) marking a pure soul in his black body. From his neck, and in the middle of his chest fuzz, dangles a pendant bearing five wolves-a blue one, a red one, a black one, a white one, and one with a pelt of stars.

The woman shakes her head, clearing her thoughts. "Don't worry," she sweeps her children into her arms, hugging them to her yellow tank top, "the storm will pass soon. Then the sun will come out and we'll get to see a rainbow, 'kay?"

"Okay, Momma." Shadow lifts his head, staring his mother in the eye. "I'll keep everyone safe for you, Momma." He smiles sweetly at her.

Touched by her child's dependable nature yet again, the mother smiles, "I know you will." She picks up White and Black, putting them into their bed. Turning back to Shadow, she says sternly, "Now, you make sure they go to sleep and stay asleep, Shadow."

Shadow stands, a determined look on his face. "You can count on me, Momma!" He salutes.

Chuckling, she walks to the room's doorway, pausing to snuff out the fire with a well-aimed blast of water from her palm. "I know, Shadow...I know I can." She closes the door, and her footsteps fade as she walks down the hall.

Another hedgehog sits in a chair in a much larger room, reading a newspaper. His spines look as though they defy gravity. Their tips have little winking fires that sparkle and dance cheerfully. Their colors echo his stripes. Every single member of the family has stripes that run along their spines, and the colors of the stripes match the eyes of the hedgehogs.