Shades of the Night

A shadow stirred at the ravine’s edge. Bard’s fingers slipped as he caught sight, but Anjur only turned slowly, a smile of anticipation on his face, helping Bard to remain calm. The shadow was none other than the Empress. Her form was slipping, flickering. Her shoulders stooped, making her feel weak and small. Gone was her domineering presence, the one that could look down at him. Now her eyes looked tired, she clutched at one arm, as if injured.

Bard tucked his chin, looking at her with suspicion. What was she doing here? Why was she like this? He recalled she was fighting the Sun God. Had it really been that hard a battle that she had fled? But then why was she here? He shook his head, trying to keep his mind clear of the memories that wanted to surge up and take over his facilities.

She took one step forward, nearly stumbling as she came closer. Bard waited, working to keep his emotions in check.

“How? How do you know that song?” she nearly pled as she fell to the ground, her hair covering her face. Her shoulders shivered as if she wept. Bard’s eyes instantly widened. She knew this song? But she had said she didn’t know Father Tree. His eyes moved to Anjur who sighed before shaking his head.

Bard paused, wondering what father tree would do in this moment? He looked at the token Anjur had given him, the one with Jay's soul in it, and listened to its melody. A smile formed on his lips. He would invite her to join, listen to his song and find a bit of respite. He was that sort of father, after all. Bard wasn't sure if he could fully do that in his place, but the black tokens reminded him that he was a representative of the Elders when one wasn't present. This was his task to bear, even if he felt inadequate to the task. He placed the fiddle to his cheek and rose, looking at her as she stilled. Her tear streaked face was foreign, but a welcome sight as he walked over and reached out his hand.

"Come. If it's peace you are after, then stay and listen. I may not have the answers, but with time we can find them."

The empress looked up at him with surprise before taking his hand and allowing him to help her stand. She was so light, it surprised him. He motioned to the husk and Kai, and she followed over. He then returned the fiddle and began to play father's song once more.

Her quiet presence was eerie compared to the domineering figure he recalled. His eyes met Anjur's who smiled at them.

“Peace... is it really something I can have? After all this time... I turned the sky and this land to black, shading the world in spite. How can you do keep going on? I lost my family to the sun god, and yet you lost yours and still play.”

"I'm no saint, empress. I'm still bitter and angry at you," Bard answered, stopping the melody. "But, I had someone who watched out for me." his eyes darted to Anjur who waved but stayed back. "And I had an amazing father who raised me," he said, looking up at father's husk.

Her eyes followed his gaze as he turned it to the token that still wasn't shaded, listening to its melody. Her expression turned to surprise and then softened.

"But I've lost everything a few times now, and learned that despair isn't the only thing in this world. Though it still stings." he chuckled a bit as he moved to sit near her. She moved her hairs away as she watched him.

"And, even then, I've had more times where I can find hope. I'll admit. I don't know what to hope for right now, but that doesn't stop me from feeling this way."

The Empress's eyes widened and she then laughed.

“You are a simple one, aren’t you.”

Bard smiled, shrugging. This laugh felt genuine, more grounded and humble with true joy flickering in it. It somehow fit her in a way he hadn’t thought possible.

“There… is one thing… may I?” she indicated to the token around his neck and he felt a bit tense but then shook his head. Father would give it to her. He took it off and handed it to her. She had a sad sort of smile as she cradled it in her hands and then closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she said, though it was clear that it wasn’t towards him. Bard felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. She had apologized to Jay, though he did wish she would apologize to him as well. He let out that bit of bitterness with a strong sigh.

“It’s alright, Selene. I forgive you,” Jay’s voice resounded and Bard’s eye grew wide as he looked at the token. He heard Anjur snicker a bit.

“I’m glad to see you are still around, old friend,” Anjur said, coming forwards. The empress also seemed shocked. “Though it would be more pleasant if we got you a bit more of a form once more.” He picked up the token from her hands and then looked at the empress and then the tree. She turned to regard it, and then her eyes grew and she smiled. She put her hand to the bark and Bard watched as the bark became bright once more, warm and earthy as if it hadn’t shaded. Well, almost. His eyes cast up at the leafless tops. Anjur moved over and placed the token to the bark and a golden glow formed. The empress retreated a bit from the light, and Bard heard the song grow in volume once more. The empress looked around and then placed a barrier of sorts around them.

They heard a deep sigh and then a groan before the tree shifted.

“Selene, you sure can pack a mean punch sometimes,” Father tree’s voice resounded from the trunk. Bard rose, looking up at the tree in surprise. “And Bard, well done.” A branch moved towards Bard, but Father grunted in pain and stopped. “Yes, a mean punch indeed.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, nearly prostrating herself on the ground. Bard found the scene quite strange, and his mind raced faster than he could comprehend, leaving him in a stupor.

“You brought him back,” his words finally forming as he rose and looked between everyone. A tear formed while his mind took hold of a thought. “Could you do that for them? Sen, Zak… all of them?”

Selene shifted uncomfortably, her gaze flickering away. “All of them? I… I could pull them back, grant them bodies again, but… it’s not what you think.”

“What I think; they would be here, whole,” Bard exclaimed, his voice tinging with excitement. She shook her head, dashing that bit of hope quickly.

“No. Listen. The shadow realms, a void. No light, no sound, no self. You cross into it to shade and its power twists you, body and mind, bending between here and nothing. But it rips you apart. You lose your heart, your soul. You can’t come back.” She said, and Bard’s brows knitted. That didn’t make sense.

“But Kai is still here,” he said, the shadowy head lifting like he would if he wasn’t a shade. “And Sa’ar talks. They are not gone-”

“That’s rare, Bard,” she persisted. “Kai’s loyalty kept him sane. Sa’ar’s voice stayed because of who he is. But they are shades of who they were. The rest. Nothing but insects, clawing at scraps and lacking intelligence other than to avoid light and sound. You know this well.” She shifted her legs and leaned back against father’s trunk, her eyes looking up at his withered branches. “If I pull them back, they’d be husks, empty, stumbling. They might last a day, before returning to dust.”

“Now, now, Selene,” Anjur chided. “This is likely over his head. Just look at his eyes.” Bard offered a half smile to Anjur. This was going over his head. It didn’t make sense.

“Bard, take a look at these,” he said, moving his hands and causing four orbs of light to appear. Each a different color. Bard’s brows raised, but he listened.

“Everything on this planet is made of four… masteries. The body, the mind, the heart and soul. You should be familiar with the soul, the songs of all things, be it rock or human.”

As Anjur spoke, an orb the color of white appeared at center stage in front of Bard. Bard reached out and gently tapped the orb. It quivered before moving to the side. “Each mastery has elements connected to it. The soul has sound, the heart has light, the mind has shadow, and the body has form.”

“The shades are only comprised of mind and body, allowing them to be physical and not.”

Bard nodded, trying to follow along. It sort of made sense. The shades were pretty dumb except for a few exceptions. They avoided light and music because it was the opposite of them.

“However, all things can achieve higher mastery,” Anjur said, and the orbs grew into larger but varied sizes. “For instance, if a being has more mind or body mastery, they can retain more of themselves by protecting it against the shadow realm.” A black orb appeared and began to attack the four orbs. However, it shrunk against the light of the orbs in proportion to their sizes after colliding. What was left over was quite small. “The same if the soul or heart are strong. Which your soul is quite large and resilient.”

“Is that why you wanted me to despair?” Bard asked, starting to see it. It was like a cup scooping out water, what remained was the leftovers of mastery… whatever that was.

“A soul in despair is more like this,” Selene said, forming a dim but large orb. “The more dim, the easier I can shade them. Even if they have high mastery. It takes less work. And I need the heart and soul to dim. Though… you certainly didn’t dim very much.”

Bard folded his arms as he closed his eyes, trying to understand this. It sort of made sense. Like a puddle could be large but not very deep, while a lake could be small on the surface but vast underneath.

Jay chuckled as he walked over and patted his back.

“Don’t worry too much about it. You aren’t a god, after all, so you don’t need to know much more than this. That said, what Selene here can do is remove the shade from the body and mind, but she severed the connections to their heart and soul. It’s why light and sound hurt them. It’s now foreign. If we had to explain it… it would be like they became walking vegetables. No drive to eat or live, and no will to create. Which is why she is against it.”

“But there has to be something we can do. Why did Father return?”

“He has a point, you two.” Jay spoke up.

“I’m still against this. Even if I return their minds and bodies, and somehow they reestablished to connect their heart and mind, some of them would still choose to reject the soul and body. They would remain shades. And they would be more powerful. At my current state, I could undo it, but I would sacrifice myself to do so and…” she shook her head. “It would be more dangerous for those left behind.”

“You’re referring to your daughter. I can sense her. She’s in you, isn’t she.”

Selene stiffened and Bard looked at her with inquiry.

“You always were too sensitive to that. Besides. How would you know it’s my daughter? It could have been some random child I plucked up back then.” She cast a glare at Father Tree, though Bard caught the amused undertones. He shook his head as his eyes rolled. They seemed more like your everyday friend than enemies.

“Still. If Father came back, I don’t understand…” he paused, an idea forming. He listened for a bit at Father’s song and then smiled. “The moon doesn’t burn or harm the shades, yet it still offers light. Father’s melody awakened a soul you thought was lost. Is it not possible that if others helped, then we could make it possible to unshade everyone?”

“You are still missing their choice, their agency,” she shook her head and Bard frowned. “What I can grant will give them their choice back. This body, here, actually belongs to my daughter. And my son is the Harbinger. I can hear her now, asking me to stop this war, turn back the world, but what you both fail to see is that her brother will stop at nothing to control her. He won’t unshade, and he has followers that obeyed me simply because he obeyed me. Without my powers, she could be killed or if she did have my powers, but they would be weaker, then she could be captured and used by him to continue this war. One way or another, the shades won’t disappear.”

Her words were like a death sentence. The ravine became silent. Bard felt something nudge him, and he looked back to see Kai, red eyes staring at him, as if wanting him to continue, to keep pressing on.

“What if…” he said, trying to figure out a way to undo this. “What if we could guarantee her safety? Would you unshade the world then?”

Selene scoffed, her eyes returning to that empress’s cold amusement. He refrained from shivering at the sight. “If you share the burden of returning the world with us, would that give her more power in the end? That way, she can protect herself?”

“Now, before you rain on this idea, Selene, just stop,” Anjur said over her rejection.

“We have something to offer as well,” Jay spoke up yet again. She looked at the two in surprise. “My woods were safe even from the harbinger. Bard can attest to that. If he helps with Jay, we can, not only restore the connection to the souls you took hold of, but I would be strengthened and she would be safe. She could stay and live in my woods and find refuge here, just as Bard did.”

“But we took out your woods, he would do the same thing.”

“And that’s where I step in. The shades have never been able to fully touch me,” Anjur said. Bard felt his heart beating faster in anticipation. “As it stands, I’m not heading back to the hall of memories. I can stay here until she passes on or until she is completely safe from the threat of your son.” Bard’s eyes squinted. Hall of memories? What was that? Anjur noticed his look of confusion and ruffled his hair. “That’s not something you need to know more of.” Bard frowned. This whole thing was going over his head, but if it could bring his family back, even the world, he would bear with this confusion a bit longer.

Selene’s expression was a frown that had lost all joy. Her hair was unnaturally still. Or, as Sen would have put it, ‘dead’. Bard bit his lip as he remembered her, keeping his emotions in check.

“Mom, please,” a voice came from the empress, young and not from her lips. Bard’s eyes widened and Anjur’s expression softened. “I want to try. I want… to play in the sun again. Can’t we stop?”

This child-like voice was simple, reminding Bard of a young kid, perhaps seven or eight years old. Certainly older than Zak, but not by much. The empress’s eyes clouded and tears began to fall. She shook her head, hugging herself.

“But it will be dangerous. Your brother inherited mommy’s rage,” she answered, and Bard stilled. It was the sort of words a parent and child would say. She continued on, trying to talk the girl against it. Jay responded, and so did Anjur. Bard just watched and listened. He could hear it now, a song was forming. So simple and childlike. And it urged him to join it. He hesitated, feeling a presence about his ears.

“Please?” the child’s voice pled, and Bard shook his head. Within a moment, he was over by his things. He reached for his fiddle and softly plucked at the strings, looking back at the trio. He then took one breath, listened and drew the bow across the strings. The words stopped with time, and soon he could sense the stares, but he listened to the song and played.

As the final notes resounded in the ravine, Bard looked back, not wanting to see the stares, but not sure what else to do. He noticed a small figure next to him, eyes closed, and nearly jumped in surprise. He placed a hand over his heart and steadied himself. The eyes opened and Bard looked past to see Anjur and Jay, but the empress was gone.

“You heard it,” the person beside him said. Her hair was long, black, her skin fair. She pushed some of those hairs aside, and he saw the same mark that adorned the empress on her forehead. Her eyes opened and she peered at Bard. They seemed to contain the night sky, making him forget what he was looking at for a moment. “Thank you.” Her smile broke out, and then she bowed, and her form merged into shadows once more. She then stood at the height and form of the empress, though her eyes no longer glowed purple.

“I’ll do it,” she said, looking back at the other two. Bard leaned to look past her. “So long as he plays that fiddle with Jay’s song. I want to believe it will work.”

“It will work,” the voice changed to the young girl. Bard’s eyes widened again as he realized this was Syrene who was speaking. She was awake, fully.

Anjur smiled, casting Bard an approving look. Jay shivered, his branches shifting sadly, but strongly.

“I’m to do what now?” Bard asked, his mind coming back around and his mouth functioning.

Author Note: Confused? So was Bard. Maybe I'll add a chapter that explains why the sudden shift. The notable hint is that Anjur has pulled a lot of strings and made her suffer. Humility and Humiliation.