The Shadows
The moon hung low in a sky still weaving the world with shadows. The earth lay cloaked in quiet. Every tree, every mountain, everything, stood as sentinels. Time stretched to hold its breath. All was still.
Silent guardians of the dark began to surround every leaf, every branch, every part of the ground. Ancient keepers between the waking world and the shadows, ageless as the moon itself, their eyes gleaming with the moonlight. Their faces were shrouded. They were the stillness of the night, the caretakers of life’s quiet pulse, the silent force that guided earth.
As they moved, they came upon something they had not expected—a mortal man—standing alone in the midst of the frozen world.
Thomas.
He did not move—it was simply the weight of the world, that gave him pause.
The phantoms paused, their gaze falling upon him like a silent wave. In an instant, they surrounded him, appearing from the shadows like wraiths, their cloaks swirling around him with a quiet force. The world seemed to dim as they closed the circle, their presence suffocating yet oddly comforting. Thomas felt the air thicken, the weight of their silence pressing upon him.
Thomas swallowed, unsure of how to respond. His thoughts swirled with the chaos of the storm, the jolly titan’s laughter still echoing in his mind. The serpent, the storm, the great forces that had collided.
The figures’ forms shimmered slightly.
One spoke. “You stand between worlds, mortal. Between the forces that shape the earth and those unseen that guide it. You are here not by chance, but by choice.”
The other figures remained silent. Their presence was a reminder that the world was far more complex than it seemed.
“You have seen it. You must feel it,” continued the one who spoke. It was a woman, who had the voice of a gentle whisper mixed with a the peace of a lullaby. “The storm has passed, but the world is in flux. It is soon the time of reckoning.”
Thomas spoke with hesitation in his voice, his mind racing. “I don’t understand any of this. I’m just a mortal. I… I don’t know what’s happening.”
The woman did not respond immediately. She stared at him as if waiting for him to reach the truth on his own.
Then, she spoke. “Look, and feel,” she said, as she pointed.
Thomas followed her gesture, his gaze falling upon the ground before him. The earth was covered in snow, pristine, untouched and calm. But the land pulsed, beneath his feet.
Thomas knelt down, placing his hand against the frozen ground. He felt cold. But then, he felt something new. A tremor. No. A heartbeat. Distant, but undeniable. The earth was pulsing. Was it a great beast, a titan, a god?
“She awakes,” the woman’s voice spoke. “Her awakening changes the boundaries separating what is known… and what is not. The serpent will fight this. It wishes to eat her. It cannot stand her, because it means it will weaken. You may not understand your place, Thomas.” It was the first time she said his name, but not altogether unexpected, given the strange circumstances. “I believe in you.”
Thomas stood, the weight of their words pressing on him like the cold of the night. He could feel it—the power of the earth, the stillness of the shadows, the quiet watch of the.. the mothers? He somehow knew that this was the queen of mothers. Her entourage were the mothers of night, the watchers of all. It was the Mōdraniht.
“This is only the beginning,” the figure intoned. “Choose to walk in the light. You are yet lost in the shadows. You must decide what you will be—or if you will let it pass you by.”
Without words, Thomas turned to face the Mōdraniht. As he watched them, they watched back. As they watched, they disappeared in the peaceful stillness of shadows.
Thomas was surrounded by shadows.
Leave a Reply