The Shadow

The Shadow

"Afar, in a land she lives,
In the darkness, where the shadow thrives.

Hopes and happiness are lost,
For here, lives the witch of the frost"

Eric, Seth and Ariana stood in front of the invisible wall that separated the dark prison from the mortal world. 

“Let’s do the honors, shall we?” Eric said.

Taking a deep breath, the three together pushed the gleaming door. They gasped as what lay behind met their eyes. A land, where every inch was covered in green and bathed in Sun. This world was in complete contrast with where Eric and his siblings stood: a cold and dark night. They stepped over the threshold and basked in the mere fantasy of living between two worlds. 

The fantasy of crossing over into a new world excited all three. Dancing and jumping, they marched into the forest craving for more adventure.

“Woooah!!! That is one tree house!!!”. Seth marveled as they came across a huge structure that stood atop a tree.

“Do you think the witch lives up there?” asked Ariana.

“I don’t think so. Eric? ….. ERIC!!!”

“What?”

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing…. just admiring”

“They are someone’s private clothes”
 

But Ariana had a different thought.

“How are they so clean?” she pitched in. “The legend said this place was abandoned. And yet these clothes are point clean!!”

“Exactly, I-”, Eric rushed in. But one stare from Seth silenced him.

“Let’s just go and find Beth-…. Mum??”

Mrs. Fillet, dressed in her night dress, turned.

“My God!!!!.. There you are… I thought I-….Oh!! What in God’s name, were you three thinking?”

 “Fun!!”

“Fun?? You think roaming around trying to find a cursed legend is fun??”

Eric replied with a toothy smile. Mrs. Fillet eyes narrowed to slits.

“I think, we have had enough fun for one night. Let’s return home and then I’ll be deciding what each of you will get punished with”
 

But before they could step, the scene around them started to shift. As if someone had turned everything into sand. Mrs. Fillet held out her wand.

Shadows and screams surrounded them. The pain pierced their ears. And then, everything stopped. They stood in a dark room, only lit by a dim light from somewhere.

Ariana tried to peek from behind her Mum.

CRUNCH!!

She looked down. A piece of rat bone had been shattered. They glanced around and saw that the whole place was scattered with bones of different species that ever walked the earth.

“Boys, careful. Seth, don’t let Ariana go. ”, Mrs. Fillet ordered.

“That’s so sweet”, A cold eerie voice echoed from the walls. Mrs. Fillet held her kids together, her eyes searching for the bodiless voice.

“Don’t let Ariana go…” The cold voice laughed that pierced their skin. Mrs. Fillet inhaled deeply as something caressed her cheek.

A woman, whose color complimented the darkness around, materialized in front of them.

 “Poor humans… always curious… always ready to rescue the damsel”, the woman pouted her lips.

“Who are you?, Erica asked gathering up some courage.

The woman pressed her palms to her cheek in surprise. “Who-? Don’t you know yet?”

“The Shadow?”, Seth guessed.

The woman smiled and tilted her head in agreement. All the Fillet family held each other closer.

“Where’s Bethesda? Where have you imprisoned her?” asked Ariana, pointing her wand at the witch.
 

Shadow put up her finger as if remembering something. “Uh!! Bethesda…. You see, there seems to be a little confusion here. You know, the poem was actually wrongly ….. read”, she informed.

The fillets looked at Shadow in confusion. Shadow pursed her lips and nodded.

“The poem says that Bethesda was captured and imprisoned by a witch who lives here”, argued Ariana.

The woman puckered her lips sideways and put her fingers together. “Are you sure about that dear??”

Shadow started to sing the song.

“Afar, in a land she lives.

In the darkness, where the shadow thrives,
hopes and happiness are lost.
For here, lives the witch of the frost

Beyond these doors, she awaits,
for the one, who frees her plight-“
 

“You are Bethesda!!! You are the lady in prison. The witch and Bethesda-” Eric voiced, fear trickling down his throat.

“-are the same”. Bethesda bowed like a perfect hostess. The truth seemed to trickle into everyone.
 

Mrs. Fillet stepped forward. “What do you want?”

“What do you want??? Oh!!!. What more can I have than you all being here. After eons, I will finally be having a proper meal. I have actually forgotten how little humans taste” . She put a finger on Ariana. Mrs. Fillet, immediately, pulled her daughter behind her.

“You will have to kill me first”

“With pleasure…”, Bethesda bent down to pick up Mrs. Fillet.

"For, here lives the witch of the frost

Beyond these doors, she awaits,

for the one, who frees her plight.

Darkness may seem to blind you sight,….”

BOOOOOOOM!!!!

Eric had shot a spell at Bethesda. But, instead of killing her, the spell went right through her and had hit the wall.

Bethesda looked confused for a second. 

“You have to know better than that child. You can never shoot a spell at a shadow. Because she’s just a…. shadow…”, Bethesda answered.

Eric cast another spell. Mrs. Fillet, Seth and Ariana followed. But every spell would either pass through her or she would just shove it away boringly.  

Eric’s ears started ringing. Hopes of ever surviving started to fade. The whole fight was proving to be fruitless. The ringing increased, it turned into music.

"Darkness may seem to blind your sight,
But remember, in the end,
Good would always see the light"
 

Eric looked at his family, his eyes shining brightly. He smiled and pointed his wand to Bethesda.

“LIGHT”

A ray of light emitted from the tip of his wand, hit Bethesda and disappeared. Bethesda laughed even more bitterly. Eric looked at his family. 

Everybody raised their wands and pointed it at Bethesda. Four rays of light broke the darkness of the room and hit Bethesda’s body. She looked confused. The light grew stronger. 

For the first time in her life, Bethesda saw her own death. Her body had a big gap in the middle that was growing rapidly. Her body started to flicker; her voice grew smaller, her eyes rolled up. And finally she disappeared altogether. She was finally gone.

 Seth patted Eric and said, “Nice presence of mind, brother dear” 

“That was cool. Can we do that again!!!”