“Your name… What’s your name?” Epim’s voice trembled as he looked upwards. His mind was in disarray, but the Fairies' striking image against the moon called his attention. And he could never forget those words in the black sand.
The Fairy placed his hands on his hips, as he stood in the air. He wore a simple white toga. His blonde hair was short, but it stuck upwards on its own. His forehead wasn’t narrow or big, and neither were his eyes, though they did draw attention like nothing else. His wings justed out from his back with a bony appendage up and down. A thin veil spreads between the outlines, slightly translucent and light blue. He was about eight inches tall, and the wings matched his frame almost perfectly.
“Hmm…” His eyes looked to The Shade, which had moved to the shore but sat down, simply taking in the view. His eyes went back to Epim, who looked quite foolish staring up in the water. “Prose” He muttered, and pointed to the shore. “How about you dry off, for a moment? You look… well quite like a moron at the moment.”
“I’m… I’m Epim!” He responds, stupidly.
The white fur cloak around Epim’s body had stuck to his body, even the arm stained by the black sand was matted down and soaked. His blonde hair reached to his shoulders, the hair on his forehead was slightly receded back. The gold ring of course was tight and would never leave his finger. His brown eyes looked like a puppies. He pondered over the name in response. He did climb to the shore, and he looked over to the shade as his knees gave out. Exhaustion still overtook him, he felt like he had been asleep for a long time.
“Do… you… Have a name as well?”
The Shade looked over. Its body was wooden, and lanky. Its face was a twist of thick branches, and there were two slits on the front. A white, sharp glow emanated from those slits, and at times it flashed off, though with no previous physical indicator. Golden antlers stemmed from the middle of its head above the slits. Its body looked like a replica of a human with the wooden twist, and there was an additional black, translucent layer that covered the thing’s body. An exoskeleton of a form, unique to the genealogy of the Shade.
The thing too was tired, and it did not really understand the question. But it still wanted to join its companion, and while its arms and legs were fatigued, the sides and the shoulders of the thing opened up. A long, black line of what seemed to be a more condensed version of the exoskeleton makes up the unfoldable arms, and the hands are a sick combination of a claw and hand. The four limbs crashed against the ground, grabbing a good hold and moving the Shade like a twisted puppet against the ground, its body being pulled by its own limbs in the air errantly.
It scrambles and moves with quick speed, and then as it nears it forms itself into a fine seating position. Its chest moves up and down as it looks at Epim, it does not respond to the question.
Prose floats lazily in the air, his eyes lazily scanning the both of them. “It’s a curious thing isn’t it…” He mutters. And then his eyes went to Epim, who was simply looking around him with a smile. “I see but I don’t understand, how annoying.” His brow furrows and his eyes squint, the situation annoyed him to a great extent. His awareness rewarded him, but now he was in the unknown.
Epim, now coming down from his newfound wonder, looked to Prose and realized he had thought of so much to say, that he never said. “Ah, you..” to which Prose quickly interrupts him.
“If it has to do with our encounter, or how I’m here, no clue on my part. And from before… too. I’m actually at quite a loss myself.” Prose began to walk through the air at this, and placed his hand on his chin with intensive thought.
“I can still think I’m sure of that. Unlike you..” He stares at Epim with this. “There are still etches of myself carved deep, from before. So I know, at least by feel, that this place is not home.” He does a flip in the air, out of boredom, and continues with his speech. “There’s a taint in the air here, and while I doubt it’ll touch us, a bad omen nonetheless.”
Epim looks around, the Shade mimics the action, then he speaks. “Well… I don’t really know where to go. I’m not a genius… To be honest, I’m not really sure what to do at all. Things are fuzzy. I remember I know you, and I remember meeting the Shade. And.. the long endless twilight of the sands. But…” He looks down to his finger, the ring shining with a bright glow. “I would like to know more, at least.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Shaking his head, Prose placed a hand on his face. The Shade watched, intensely interested at the thing’s mannerisms. “If the conditions of a genius were to know where to go, I too would be a moron.” He twists in the air, taking every advantage of his omni directional movement. “What we know is that we emerged from the waters at the same time and we are in a strange place. To focus on feeling would do us no good, is that not right?” The Shade nodded, crossing its hands across its chest. It didn’t understand.
“So now let us consider. Do any of us want to part from each other?” Epim nodded in disagreement, their encounters were brief but he wished for more. And he would feel bad, about the Shade that could not speak for itself being on its own.
Accepting that neither of them disagreed, mainly Epim, Prose continued. “Then it is simple. We are companions three. A triumvirate with no current goal. So as men…” He pauses, looking to the Shade. “As those of the commune, we should speak of the future.”
The Shade nodded, greatly appreciating the eye contact from Prose. And Epim thought, looking out to the endless forest that surrounded them. He couldn’t even possibly imagine how long it’d go on,
“Then… how about we travel until we find something new, and then when we find that… we decide once more.” Epim said with sincerity, his eyes locked on the darkness between the tree’s, enraptured by the endlessness of it.
The Shade looks as well, but at the pond they came from. It looks at its reflection, barely visible.
Prose laughs a boisterous laugh. “Travel until we decide to speak of if we should travel more! I approve, Epim. And how about our friend the Shade, do you think he’ll contemplate every place we find?” He lands on the thing’s head, standing on the ground for the first time.
Epim stares at the scene. Prose stands on the head of the Shade as it looks at its reflection, undisturbed by the addition of the weight. It contemplates, and although its eyes do not show emotion, they shine with a presentness that only a thing that could think and understand could show.
“Of course it will. Perhaps even more than us, who think we understand.” And Epim looked out into the dark again.
Prose looks as well, a breath escaping from his lips. “How scathing. Well, let us rest now and wait for the day. Off to the woods with no place to return to and no place to go, no goal in mind. Oh woods, prepare yourself as we prepare ourselves.”
With a slow descent Prose took a rest on the ground, quickly falling to sleep. And the light in the Shade’s eyes faded to black as well. And Epim last, for he wanted to take in the stars for a bit longer. They shone, endlessly across the sky.
The grass stretched for as long as the eye could see, there was a scent in the air that could only be described as life. An ambient noise like no other, carried by the wind and sung to all. A disturbance of water at every odd moment.
Deep you could hear the scuttle of prey, through the grass. The sounds of great birds flying through the sky, piercing through the dark with no thought of how mocking it seemed as they ignored its veil.
Even the tree’s spoke, the branches swayed with the wind and their roots danced through the ground.
Epim thought of this, and thought of how drastically different it was from his wandering in the black sands. And while it was now a distant and cold place, as he drifted to sleep he found himself thinking of it once again. Time seemed such a distant concept in the sands, but he understood now why it could never be true for the place he found himself.
In every gust of air, in every piece of grass, life flourished. In retaliation, not out of circumstance. Any chance that existed had to be grabbed, it had to. That was the law of the land. And as he laid upon the ground, Epim felt a great connection to the world. Every vibration, piece of activity beneath the surface, he felt it all. His eyes shut, and he embraced the world as time passed.
It was an odd sight. The Shade lies sitting with its appendages still extended, and each of them stretched from its body in a relaxed way, drooping down and resting against the ground.
Prose was lying to the things side, his wings were dropped to his side and his face lies comfortably on the dirt. With every breath, his wings flutter a bit.
And directly in front of them was Epim, curled in a ball with his cloak providing him the comfort he needed.
The dark of the night obscured them, and they all slept peacefully as their first night together passed.
And while they may never know, they had a great fortune in arriving in the night. The beasts of the night shared their vision with none, and they would never tell of a companion hiding in the shadow.
In this place, it was the day that was to be feared.