Sealed inside the towering city walls of Acadia, magic users known as Wielders are feared and hunted for the abilities they have been blessed with. They're living in hiding, terrified of revealing themselves to the Authorities that hunt them.
But w...
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"The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow."
-George R.R. Martin
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It was dark. It was always dark. Every time Zell opened his eyes, darkness was there greeting him like an old friend.
He longed to see the sun again, to see the Stars even though they were the ones that damned him in the first place—without them, he wouldn't exist. He was just a shadow, a child of the Foulings, and what he desired most was the taste of blood again.
His dreams were memories of a past life, of violence, lust, and an everlasting craving. He remembered the remnants of battlefields, the fallen Children of the Stars. He remembered the smell of their tattered, torn apart bodies. He remembered the taste of their blood as he licked it from his fingers.
Their darkness surrounded everything, eating up everything in their path. They showed no mercy as they reaped destruction.
But that was all before the Children trapped them in the earth. They had waited in their tomb of black for far too long, but the time was coming. He had heard the humans digging, the noise growing louder each day.
A door creaked open, a small sliver of light entering the room. Pathetic. Why did the light even try to fill the darkness? Its struggle was futile.
Someone entered the black room, an oil lantern in their fingers. The light cast a shadow upon their face, but Zell knew who it was. It was his father, his master, one of the first Shadows cast upon the world. He was the darkest of them all.
"Rise," he commanded, his voice crawling over Zell's skin.
Zell stood, using the wall against his back for support. How much time had passed since he stood? Tens, hundreds, or thousands of years didn't make a difference to his immortality, but damn the time had taken its toll. Long ago, his name was feared. Just the thought of him would make humans run screaming and Children of the Stars quiver with fear. He was darkness, he was death.
But now he was a weak thing.
"Can you not even stand?" his father asked, mocking him. "Have you dwelled too long in the darkness?"
