Chapter 25.

  Death and Shadows

  Theodren’s feet made no sound as he stalked from root to rock to moss covered stone. Bow in hand, he edged around the large tree sheltering him from the eyes of the stag grazing on wild foliage yards away. Unaware of Theodren, relearning the ways of the forest, it munched obliviously.

  As a boy he had hunted the Mist Wood with his father. “The world gives if we can take it.” His father would say. Hunting is a brutal art born of necessity. While the southern gentry often used hunts as social gatherings or hobbies to pass the time. Northmen believed that life should only be taken out of necessity, and if you were going to take it, you would have to earn it.

  For Theodren, the woods were always a bastion of solitude. It was a place with no expectations or nonsense, only the rule of life. Now more than ever, he knew this to be true. His mind’s eye watched the flow of vitae around him as he eased himself into a position to fire.

  Finding solid footing, he pulled silently on the bow. Lead arm straight, and rear arm relaxed, his back held the weight of the bow's draw. A whispered prayer to Yggdrazil formed his exhale as he prepared to release.

  “WOW he’s pretty!” Said a voice from beside him. Theodren jumped, cursing as he spotted Reina next to him, idly playing with Theviana in her arms. The buck's head snapped up, looking for the source of the voice through the trees. Theodren tried to realign his aim on the deer before firing a desperate arrow. The buck turned, fleeing deeper into the woods as the arrow whistled harmlessly past his head, thudding into a tree.

  Theodren Turned to Reina, eyebrow rising toward the throbbing vein in his forehead. She whistled, watching the buck disappear into the woods. “Why’d you miss?” Theodren stared hard at the uncomprehending woman as she played with her hair. She blinked down at him, still crouched with bow in hand. “What?” She asked innocently.

  A heavy sigh pushed Through his lips as he stood, walking to retrieve the errant arrow.. “That was supposed to be dinner.” He grumbled, searching for his arrow among the trees.

  “Huh.” Was all she said as she plucked a flower from the ground. She could only admire it for a brief moment before it withered in her hand. Disappointment clouded her face as she let the dried husk fall to the ground. She tried again with a second flower, focusing as hard as she could on the tiny bud of life in her hands. The flower lasted only slightly longer before it joined her previous victim in dust.

  “Still figuring it out?” Theodren asked seriously. She sighed. “It’s like the Vitae gets sucked into me whether I want it or not. I can’t push it back, I can barely slow it down, I just…” she gestured back and forth between herself and the dead flower in her hand. “Suck the life out of everything!”

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  Theodren grabbed the arrow as close he could to the embedded head, twisting while he pulled. Freeing the arrow, he pondered the conundrum of her powers as he checked the shaft for any bend.. “What does it look like to you? A soul I mean.” He asked, sliding his fingers over the fletching.

  She held Theviana tighter to her chest as she jogged after him. she pondered his question. Reina turned her head to stare into Theodren’s soul, trying her best to memorize its image in her head. His soul was large, larger certainly than the Mayor’s. a vast sea of jade green, but where the Mayor’s soul was bordered in Acher. Theodren’s was not. She wondered if perhaps it was due to his patronage to Yggdrazil, or more precisely, his supposed immortality that seemed to drive Acher away..

  Where the Mayor’s soul was filled with shadows and secrets, Theodren’s was mostly devoid of such darkness. This soul reflected a forthright man who lived by the light of his word. What darkness she could find was a hole in the depths of his soul, where she heard cries of deep regret. Lamentations of a failed protector filled this space.

  Reina pulled herself back to reality as a tear fell from her eye. She blinked as the concerned face of Theodren filled her view. “Reina!” He shouted, startling Theviana. “What!? What!?” She cried in reply, blushing as she stumbled back, soothing the whimpering child while she regained her footing.

  Theodren stared at her, brows furrowed in concern. “Your eyes were black.” Reina’s face twisted in disgust as she recalled the orbs of black staring out from behind Eleina’s borrowed face. “Ugh!” She spat. Stomping away from Theodren. “Of all the colors! Black???” She plopped herself down on a tree stump as her arms folded underneath Theviana’s bundle and her legs crossed in a huff.

  “Just had to be death. The Bear gets pretty flowers and green eyes but no, I get death.” As her rant continued, the shadows stirred. Theodren’s eyes widened as the shadows swayed this way and that. Each tree’s shade writhed and bent in the morning sun, growing deeper with each passing second.

  “Reina… Don’t move.” He growled, reaching for an arrow. She froze. “Why? Is there a spider?If there is a spider on me, I want you to shoot it. I don’t care where it is, I will take the hit, just kill it!” Theodren loosed an arrow into the shadow closest to Reina’s foot. “Ow!” She jumped, kicking out her leg. As she did, the shadows raced toward Theodren. Before he could react, he felt a heavy impact, take his feet out from under him.

  He landed on his face with an “Oof!” She shrieked, “What the hell was that!?” Theodren tried to get up, but the more Reina moved in her panic, the harder the shadows felt, and the more they savaged him.

  Theodren was dragged this way and that. A sensation like ice cold chains lashed at him chaotically. Theodren’s blood ran hot as the panic pushed his heart faster.

  He cast about with his Vitae, searching for an enemy he could fight. His hands found no purchase on the shadows but in a brief second between strikes from the shadows, he saw that where his Vitae probed, the shadows seemed to lighten, like they were losing their presence when faced with the raw life energy of his vitae. On a hunch, he traced the flailing shadows back to their source. All the shadows with their writhing arms originated from one place. Reina.

  These were not shadows. At least not anymore, they were Acher, responding to Reina’s distress. The more they struck, the more her anxiety grew and the stronger they became.

  He grit his teeth. “Reina! Stop!” He shouted. Her hands flew to her mouth in one final motion, which sent him spinning across the ground toward her.

  Theodren came to a dusty halt at her feet. “Are you alright?” She whispered, eyes darting around searching for the invisible danger. Theodren rolled onto his back with a groan. He cracked an eye open to stare at her. “Death and shadows, it would seem