Lightning struck from the nearest beasts' horns, arcing through the air. Remicra caught it with her hammer before it fried Dave's head. Electricity coursed through her body and into the ground, making her scales flash wildly between colors.

She punted another Thundersnarg aside, swinging her hammer in a wide arc and then another.

There were too many. Another blast of lightning struck her directly, then two more, then five all at once. Her muscles seized up, and she fell to one knee, smoke pouring from her mouth.

The leather bag next to Dave suddenly burst open.

A mass of writhing shadows erupted forth, coalescing into a many-winged form. The Shadowbeast twisted through the air, streaming towards the dark Kitlix sitting on Dave's shoulder.

Shady's crystalline form seemed to liquify, flowing up to meet the flying shadow. The two merged in a burst of darkness, Shady fusing into the Shadowbeast’s head, adding to the multitude of brilliant blue eyes already there.

Cedez-Shady fusion rushed forward like a dark storm, shadow blades extending from her serpentine form. The beasts' lightning attacks seemed to pass right through her shadowy mass, striking the ground right behind her.

[ENEMIES!] The Shadow's thoughts crashed into Dave's mind. [Slice! Feast! Devour!]

Thundersnargs fell one after another, their legs carved apart by precise strikes. Any that tried to plow ahead, were quickly brought down too, shadow blades severing tendons and muscle. The Shadow moved with impossible grace, twisting between lightning bolts, her many wings propelling her through the air in erratic patterns.

Remicra grabbed Dave, pulling him into her arms and leaping backwards as the first Thundersnarg brought down by Cedez collapsed onto the space they were occupying a second ago.

More Thundersnargs smashed into the fallen beast, the center of the herd slowing its rush.

Cedez-shadow howled like a banshee, tearing through flesh. The herd began to part around the fallen kin and the wailing, mad shadow.

A few more lightning bolts struck Dave and Remicra as the Thundersnarg herd thundered past them. Through the pain of electrical shocks, Dave struggled to focus on the scene through Healy's eyes, seeing the world from a 360 degree angle all at once and barely avoiding getting trampled underfoot.

The Cedez-Shady fusion spun through the air like a flying porcupine, systematically taking down more Thundersnargs ahead of them.

[Protect hive!] Her thoughts flashed as she merrily carved through more stampeding beasts. [Perish! Die!]

Remicra growled through gritted teeth, her scales flickering with brilliant red as she held onto Dave, cowering in front of the growing pile of creatures made by Cedez.

Healy and Feely huddled close to their masters, their crystalline forms crackling with electricity. Dave's nerves slowly began responding again as the paralysis wore off.

The remaining Thundersnargs trampled off into the distance.

In their wake, they left behind seven fallen herd members that had been cut down by the shadow. They tried to rise on damaged limbs, tried to fight back against the Shadowbeast, but she tore into them with the brutal efficiency of a master butcher. Shadow-rapiers stabbed through eyes and Shadow-blades cleaved across necks, making the Thundersnargs gurgle and thrash as violet-blue blood spilled all around.

[Feast! Bisect! DEVOUR!] Cedez-howled as she dug into the nearest Thundersnarg’s body like a lawnmower encountering a bush. [HUNGRY. SO HUNGRY.]

The Thundersnarg wailed, flailing and kicking as the mad shadow tore out its crystalline heart core. Each beast's death throes were cut short by precise strikes that severed major arteries. More sprays of violet-blue blood painted the grass as Cedez-Shady extracted crystalline cores from the fallen enemies.

[FEAST! MORE! HUNGRY!] The Shadow's thoughts poured through Dave's mind, becoming increasingly frenzied with each core added to her own body, pulsing in the center of her chest like red eyes.

After consuming the seventh core, the shadow beast turned towards Dave and Remicra, her many blue eyes fixing on them with predatory intensity.

Her form had grown larger, shadow wings spreading out, red cores pulsating wildly. She advanced towards them like an angel of death, looking like a horribly stretched out, pitch-black, lanky Thundersnarg.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Get behind me! She’s lost control!” Dave shoved Remicra back, slipping souls into Strength.

[Stop! I am Shadow! Sleep!] Dave projected, putting everything into Charisma and radiating the presence of Nightingale at Cedez. [Rest! It is daylight!]

The monstrous, winged, shadow-Thundersnarg slowed its advance.

[NO!] Alien thoughts pummeled with images into his head. [DECEPTION! TRICKERY! You kept me imprisoned, weak, hungry! You are MEAT! I will strip your cores from your flesh and bring them as gifts to Mother!]

[I am Elder shadow!] Dave insisted, slipping Sherlock to the forefront of his mind, becoming a chain of Sherlock-Dave-Sherlock wielding the Huntsmaw remnants. [Obey! I order you to stop!]

[LIAR! DECEIVER!] The Shadow's thoughts radiated savage intent. [YOU ARE NOT SHADOW! YOU ARE NECROMANCER, HUMAN MEAT WHO WEARS MY DISSECTED KIN. I UNDERSTAND NOW!]

[Obey me! Go to sleep!] Dave ordered desperately, feeling that he was losing ground. The Cedez-Shady combination seemed to be awake and asleep at the same time, as clever as Cedez and as hostile as the Shadowbeast.

[No!] Shadow antlers crackled with stolen lightning. [I will take my time with you. You are weak, tricky prey. First, paralyze your nerves with lightning. Carve each finger off, then each limb. Bisect the body. Exhume the core. Mother will be pleased.]

"Cedez!" Remicra called out, Feely shimmering atop of her head between dark, violet tinted dragon horns. "Stop! Remember who you are!"

[Cedez?] The Shadowbeast laughed with inhuman noises. [There is no Cedez. Just a dream of a long dead meat thing that I have been growing in. Pretense, a way to hide what I am while I sleep. Perish!]

Lightning struck Dave. He flew backwards into Remicra, sliding down as his muscles stopped functioning.

[Tricksy meat paralyzed. Now you.] The Shadow addressed Remicra.

Blinding lightning arced from the Shadow-beast's antlers towards Remicra. The dragoness growled, her crystalline scales suddenly taking on a metallic sheen. The electricity flowed across her entire body and into the ground.

[Amusing. Redirecting lightning with a metal shell. But you cannot redirect forever,] The shadow purred, more lightning dancing between her antlers. [Eventually you will fall. Your meat will fail. Your weak flesh will overheat, your organs will submit.]

"No such things as Cedez?" Remicra growled, standing her ground above Dave. “Really? A non-existent thing put that much effort into tormenting me with dumb names and amusing jokes? You renamed my Kitlix, you ass!”

Another lightning bolt struck Remicra, making her snarl in pain.

[Finding amusement in dreams,] the Shadowbeast replied. [Amusement in tormenting prey!]

“Really? Is that all you got?” The dragoness hissed, squeezing her hammer. “Amusement? You sent me tools anonymously for almost a decade because you thought that it was funny? How much gold did this damn overpriced hammer cost you? What’d you do to earn it?”

[Make coffee. Blending-in behavior patterns manifested during daylight sleep cycle,] the Shadow replied, though there was a hint of uncertainty in her thoughts. [Meaningless. Mere Disguise!]

"Just a disguise, is it?" Remicra snarled. "You remembered my father's words exactly! Where did you even learn them?! Go on–tell me how meaningless those were! Break my heart so I can smash those crystal cores, so that I can tear you asunder!”

[Acting out dream-patterns to maintain disguise!] The Shadow insisted, striking Remicra with another bolt of lightning.

“Bullshit!” The dragoness snarled, her hands trembling from the pain of electrical currents lacing through her. “Why are you even trying to paralyze me?”

[Amusement. Fun to play with prey before I strip flesh and feast on the core.]

“What are you, a cat? Why protect me from the stampede? Why not just slice me up with a Shadow blade? Why are you obsessed with me, Shadow?! Why’d you perch atop of the lighthouse, why sleep on my roof?”

[You…] the Shadow fell silent for a few seconds, images of internal thoughts flashing too rapidly in its head for Dave to process. [You are meat. Meat to feast on!]

"Then feast!" Remicra spread her arms wide. "Come on! Cut me up! Take my core! What are you waiting for?!"

[Not yet. You are meat… backup, compatible meat… for me to inhabit during the day!]

"Oh? Is that why you've been watching, protecting me?" Remicra growled. "Waiting to take over my body?”

[Compatible meat shell,] the Shadow explained, blue eyes burning and flickering. [Current shell reaching expiry rate, decaying fully into Shadow. Almost dissolved, won’t be able to sustain itself during daytime for long. Will need new meat to inhabit. You are... perfect.]

“What?” Remicra sputtered, scales flickering between orange and red.

[Resonance. Pure and absolute. Backup. The fox shell decays. Harder to maintain cohesion,] the Shadow continued. [Too many transformations. In time it will burn away entirely. But you... your flesh is particularly strong. Compatible. Your core pulses with the right frequency. I have been... preparing you. Protecting you.]

"Preparing me?" Remicra's voice took on a dangerous edge. “How?! I am not a bloody shadow!”

[Conditioning host through proximity.]

“What?” Remicra shot back.

[You can hear me in your head. The connection is already made through your Kitlix. More like me with each night.]

"And what about Dave?" Remicra growled. "Was he just part of your plan too?"

[Necromancer somewhat compatible… would be perfect if was female,] The Shadow paused, multiple eyes blinking in sequence. [Agree to become my new host willingly. Then I won’t cut him up too badly.]

"Screw you!" Remicra snarled, her scales blazing red as she gripped her hammer. “He is Mine!”

[You cannot stop me,] the Shadow replied calmly. [I know you. You won’t give up your Kitlix, won’t do anything to damage your core. You will be my vessel.]