The Tales of the Shadows

15. The Demon Lord

The Demon Lord sat on the thin grass deep within the dense forest. The moonlight fell through the patch of no leaves above her, the leaves shimmering softly under that bright shine. The wind was quiet, its slow pace carrying the sounds of the demons to her as they went about their silent activities.

Bringing the buried negativity of life to its surface... were beings that existed on a higher level serving these low living things?

Zelda had already existed for the past two centuries and she could already see the shift. Shadow Beings weren't supposed to exist physically, but sometime in the past a few of them migrated from the Shadow Dimension to these seven worlds parallel to Earth. A planet evolving at quite a pace, though Zelda didn't understand what was so special about it.

Earth... where does this name come from?

She opened her eyes, turning towards the clear sky dotted by countless astronomical objects, all she could go to at any moment she wished. She had heard of the atmosphere on the planet Earth, something incredibly vital to life there.

Atmosphere... where does this name come from?

Suddenly, a strong wind blew cutting through the dense cover, surrounding her and taking her away.

Zelda's consciousness awoke to a suffocating place. So many thoughts, such trapped energy, so many thoughts and thoughts and thoughts of all of existence... where was she? No senses, a black aura, no semblance of existence.... limbo.

The Demon Lord let go of all the fear that gripped her, focusing on her land. No matter where she was, if she thought of her time there, her experiences, her people, her existence, she could reach it. She would reach it.

Think. Think. Think.

The Land of Chaos... Zelda was horrified.

The Land of Chaos has been disordered. Completely and utterly destroyed. Its Nature dispelled, its nature inverted, the land of a distinct information turned to havoc. But the demons are strong... surely they would be okay?

The demons are captured. Their minds are gone into this state of limbo, still beyond her reach. Thoughts, thoughts, Zelda was surrounded by this countless nuisance. All she wanted to do was reach at least her people or the land, but she had already given up on the latter.

Think. Figure out where you are. Think.

Surrounded by thoughts... this black aura was nothing like she'd ever seen before, yet something about it was familiar. Something so very distinct and new from her visit to the Valleys... those smiling faces clad in a brilliant blue and their wonderful, compassionate spirit as a bluebird. Their healing of living things, perhaps unnecessary but still beautiful. That vibrant land, so opposite to the emptiness of this space... the choking atmosphere...

All of it was destroyed before anyone could blink. Just like her. No, she wasn't destroyed, she was simply taken. Still. Was the same going to happen to the demons? No... she dearly wished it wouldn't.

She didn't think of the worse possibilities. She didn't know if they existed.

Zelda could feel no passage of time. Everything was still yet the energies ran. Perpetually conserved, perpetually circulating. What energies were they? Something, anything, to tell her what was going on...

"This is Vlad."

That thought... she recognised Ethelred's aura. So bitter. Vlad... a name. For what? For who?

It felt like she was in no space with no passage of time. The Shadow Dimension? No, she had to figure out what these clouds were. Suddenly an acute force filled her mind, severing her connection to the demons.