“Shadows—

they were fun to play with

slippery gasses not quiet solid,

but not quite liquid.

easy to manipulate…

…hard to escape.”

 – Queen of Shadows

~

At first the room was white.

Solid.

Pallid.

Empty.

I stood there a moment, taking in my surroundings, figuring out an escape.

Only there was none.

I turned around, fear in my throat, adrenaline coursing through my veins . . .

The door was gone.

But it was just . . .

“Hello?” I called, voice catching in my throat. With a wince I swallowed, my mouth dry, my tongue thick.

Hello? I thought.

What did she want with me?

I’d heard stories about the Queen of Shadows, a women heard but never seen.

It was said that those who heard her voice never lived to tell the tale.

But if that was so, how did I know they’d heard it? The fact alone gave me hope. I stood taller.

“Hello?” I called again. I took a step forward and stopped. The ground trembled.

The floor shook and then the ground behind me faded into nothingness. I looked around me frantically searching for something to grab onto…

A black chair appeared.

Half solid, half shadow. I ran towards it, not thinking, not seeing.

I didn’t want to die.

I reached for the arm rest, fingers catching hold just as the floor gave way beneath my feet.

I swung into the chair and took a deep breath.

I opened my eyes.

The room was painted black and white.

And the black was moving.

Grayish black swirls danced across zebra walls, see-through, hand-like arms, reaching forever forward, racing towards me.

I tried to move, only to find that the chair was holding me in place, swirls of shadow griping my feet, imprisoning my arms.

There was only a small pocket of white left in the now black room, and my hope surged. Maybe I could make it…

Silver eyes reached out of the darkness before me, the shadows almost done with their work.

“Welcome…” A voice whispered, impish eyes pulled taunt in a toothless grin.

“…to the world of Nyght,” she finished.

Just as the sliver of white…

disappeared.

– Short Story written by Jae Lei Nyght