Welcome to Visanthe by L. M. Sanguinette

Author:L. M. Sanguinette
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: epic fantasy bestsellers, epic fantasy books for adults, epic fantasy romance books, epic fantasy novels, epic fantasy series, fantasy fiction, caribbean author, ya magical fantasy, ya fantasy, young adult fiction, fantasy, young adult, magic, elements, elemental magic, ya, epic fantasy, avatar the last airbender, atla, kingdom, caribbean, magical realism
Publisher: L.M.Sanguinette
Published: 2022-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

THE SHADOWS

“SAV!”

Jasper’s scream pierced the air.

Shadows crept from between the trees. Humanoid figures with beady, red eyes made of living darkness stalked towards them. They were just as Jasper described. Their breath reeked of rotting corpses and ash. Their fleeting forms went from human to cloud and back again as they circled the group.

Savara’s heart began to pound. All the fears she’d known as a child came flooding back; of being left in the darkened corners of the rickety old manor, trapped between shifty shadows.

A shadow can’t hurt you, Ms Short used to say. It can’t see you, hear you, or touch you, Savara. She would chastise Savara into a restless sleep. For all her high-horsery, Savara knew Ms Short would roll in her grave if she ever encountered these kinds of shadows.

A low hissing sound reverberated around them. The shadows transformed into curling fingers that stretched through the forest.

“Jasper!” she yelled. With trembling knees, she took a step towards him, freezing again as the shadows blocked her path. They formed a curtain in front of her, barring her from her friends.

Flashes of light bounced around behind it—the blue of starlight, the yellow of flames. None broke through. She was trapped. Alone.

A single creature began to take shape from within the curtain. Eyes as red as the bloodstones on her cheek, hands as spindly as spider’s legs, an otherwise featureless figure stepped from the whorls of ash. The whole of its body was fluid, shifting from human to cloud with each second that ticked by. Savara didn’t wait for an attack. She dropped the shirt and ran into the bushes as fast as she could. The sounds of her companions faded into the distance until they were nothing more than the tail end of an echo.

Tendrils of darkness traced the floors beside her. She hurled herself over a rotting tree trunk. They chased. She dipped under vines that hung like a hangman’s noose. They gained. She weaved through the trees to escape their path, but each time they drew closer. Within minutes they were at her feet, snapping at them, taunting them. Their lick was icy against her overheating skin. She stumbled. They found their opening. Tendrils shot out, catching her mid-stride, and dragged her to the ground. Her scream sent birds flapping into the open night sky above, far away from the horrors of the earth below.

The darkness slithered up her leg, coiling itself around her like a snake, encasing her in the foul stench of burning skin. She struggled against it, trying to pry herself free, but her fingers caught only handfuls of black dust. Hot tears streamed down her dirtied cheeks. She tried to scream again, but the black dust covered her mouth and her ears. The cold smell of the damp forest floor faded into that of wet charcoal. The sensation of stones digging into her back disappeared. She caught a final glimpse of the twinkling stars above before the dust rushed over her eyes. For an instant, all was silent.

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