roaming

The thunder raged on. Screaming. Wild. Ferocious. Terrifying. The shadows stood to attention and watched. They were still. Something momentous was happening. They couldn’t explain it. But they had felt a ripple through the world. Humans wouldn’t. Humans were too solid, too thick. The shadows did. They couldn’t explain what it was. Maybe their rajah could. But he wasn’t here. They had heard his bellow. His scream. And some had wanted to rush towards him. But his orders kept them rooted in place. So they didn’t. They stood and they watched. This was their purpose until it was all over. They stood and watched. The board was glowing a purple. And then a golden. And then a purple color. As if animated by some internal light. Some heart blood. Something. It was unnerving. But it didn’t seem to have an effect on the bodies that were now just mere husks of the men they had once been. The wind whipped the invisible dome all around them. It was so strong, and they looked so frail, that one felt that if it touched them, they would surely burst into dust and fall to the ground. As they raised their arms, and moved their fingers to grab and change the positions of the pieces on the board, it seemed as if it took more effort than they could have. Wrap some bandages around them, and they would not be too dissimilar to the cartoons that had once shown ancient Egyptian mummies.

Far away, and yet not too far away for him, revelled and mourned. Something had happened. He had been in the forest. The boy had gone somewhere, and it felt like he - Azazil - had been there with him. It was a terrifying place. All black. Dark. Shadows. Like him. And he hadn’t been afraid of them, since he’d become the shadow rajah, but here, they felt older. Animated, built by a deeper magic. They felt wiser. They looked down on him and frowned. And he had felt a shiver up his spine. He had been terrified. He had gone with the boy. It had only been a few minutes. But he felt as if his already blackened soul were now seared and charred beyond belief. He revelled because the girl was gone. And he had known, bound as the three of them had been, he had known that she was an important piece. Without her, the boy was crippled, and no matter who he found out what to do and his role from, without her, he would always be incomplete. He revelled because this was one step closer to victory. He mourned because he felt a stirring inside him. He mourned because he was terrified of what he had seen in those brief moments, and he did not know what to make of it.

Back at the board, the game took a twisting turn. The two men looked at one another with an understanding that they had not had since it had begun, since the board had taken over them.