HOME | DD

Description

The village was not far from Covehaven, about a day’s walk. They reached it in ten hours.

“Do you ever stop and breathe?!” Alex was practically jogging to keep up with Karea.

“You don’t have to, so I don’t know why you’re complaining.” Karea was fiddling with a device attached to her headphones. Alex had decided he disliked the things; Karea insisted they only played music, but Alex wasn’t sure they didn’t also send her covert messages. She certainly played with them enough.

“Alex, why don’t we go this fast all the time?” KV slid off his back, stretching her arms around in a vague imitation of Karea.

“You almost fell off my back seven times. It’s dangerous.” KV pouted, but Alex was surveying the village dubiously. “So where’s this friend of yours? This region is more known for agriculture and plant mages than any sort of famous wizards.”

“Don’t worry, he’s here. My friends in the…” She glanced at KV. “… in the courier’s guild told me they’d seen someone like him around these parts.”

“What exactly is he like? Hopefully not as careless as you.”

“I’m far from careless.” Karea was already trotting through the market street, checking out the local shops as she passed. “It’s not my fault a shadowbeast decided to-“

“Shh!” Alex grabbed her arm. “Do you want to cause a panic? Xapolians might not know better, but here, shadowbeasts and shadowmancers are known to be bad news. If these people heard we were looking to get one removed then there’d be a riot.”

“Um… Excuse me?”

Neither turned to look at the new speaker. “I think I know it’s bad news, Alex.” Karea blew her bangs out of her face. “It tried to attack me, remember? Tore up my bike and everything.”

“Excuse me… I’m sorry, did you-“

“Well now you’re putting this town at risk, bringing that package here. Let’s just find your curse breaking friend fast, and get back to Covehaven so I never have to-“

“Pardon!” A lady in a pink jacket slid between the two of them, arms out. Alex grunted. “Sorry… but did you say you’re looking into a shadowbeast?”

“Uh… nope! No shadowbeasts here, lady.” Karea had subconsciously moved her bag behind her back. “We’re just looking for an old, um, friend of mine. He’s about this tall, brunette, bad overbite, goes by the name of-“

“Tawny…?” The lady frowned slightly.

Alex nodded. “Yeah! So this mage friend of yours does live here. I’m stunned he exists.”

KV was looking at the lady’s belt, which had an assortment of tools and bottles on it. “What’s that?” She tried to take one.

The girl looked surprised, jumping back. “Oh! Sorry sweetie, I didn’t see you there!” She knelt down, lifting the bottle off her belt. “I’m a hortichemist. These potions are my inventions, growth elixirs and stabilizers and- Oh, sorry! I’m babbling on. My name’s Mae by the way! Tawny is staying with me and my dad!”

Alex was nodding approvingly. “Hortichemistry… that’s a good field. They’re responsible for most of Menia’s rich agricultural market.”

Mae smiled shyly. “W-well yeah… though I’m more small time… mostly my experiments are ways to hybridize plants to create homes, shelters, supports… you know, stuff that can help house the refugees in Menia and Xapoli.”

“I wanna see!” KV tried to grab the bottle, but Mae quickly held it out of reach.

“Sorry it’s… it’s still a work in progress! Tawny was going to help me go research it once his curse was broken, but-“

“Wait, wait, wait…” Karea scowled. “Tawny’s cursed? Since when?”

“W-well I’ve never seen him uncursed so-“ Mae looked down, turning pink. “I found him wandering around, all confused and… uh… well if you know him, maybe he should explain to you…”

Alex was glaring. “Some sources. Can’t even warn us your mage friend is cursed?”

Karea shrugged. “It’s been a while, ok? I just told them to be on the lookout for a shadowmancer with bad teeth and- why are you glaring at me now? You’re uh… your face is turning kind of red…”

“You’re taking us to a shadowmancer?!” Alex bellowed. Mae looked alarmed and tried to shush him. “Do you have ANY idea how dangerous they are? This Tawny could have tried to steal KV’s magic, or stolen our souls, or any number of terrible things!” His summer arm was glimmering, a few seconds from ignition. KV grabbed it to calm him down.

“Uh… Tawny doesn’t do those things…” Mae interjected. “He’s really nice, and sweet, and very helpful.”

“I’m not going. This is too risky.”

“As risky as me taking a cursed box to your friend?” Karea patted her bag. “Ok so Tawny’s a shadowmancer, I might have not told you because I knew you’d freak out. But he’s also a pushover. It’s kinda why I dumped him? If he’s really so big and bad, you think a widdle ol non-magical Xapolian like me would have survived doing that?”

Alex hrmphed. “If his shadow gets anywhere near KV I’m going to hold you responsible. Just like I’m holding you responsible for basically anything else that goes wrong during this little misadventure.”

“Great! Super awesome. Mae, lead the way.” Karea grinned widely, but her grip on her bag had tightened considerably.

Mae’s house was a small, pleasant cottage on the outskirts of the village, surrounded by a lush and well-maintained garden. “Papa! Tawny! I’m back!”

A slight man with a large and leafy hat poked his head up from the bushes. “Did you find any fish… Mae who are these… people?”

“Oh this is…” Mae paused, realizing she didn’t know any of their names. “… Tawny’s friends?”

“She’s KV, he’s Alex and usually super grouchy,” Karea was playing with her headphones again. “I’m Karea and kinda in a hurry.”

The man stood, frowning. “Hmm. I see. A golem and two Xapolians? Odd company… but I suppose Tawny is unusual himself...”

“One Xapolian,” Alex corrected. “We just need to talk to this shadowmancer about a-“

The old man’s eyes widened. “You speak! Fascinating. How is this possible? Is the little girl puppeting you, or-“

“Look, mister, we just need some help before the shad-“

“Hrmm, and you seem quite spirited. Intriguing. I should like to see how that spell works. A plant golem that knew which people weren’t allowed in the garden would be most helpful, don’t you think, Mae?”

“Umm… yes, papa, but they said they really need to see Tawny…” Mae was checking under bushes. “I thought he was helping you today. Is he in the house?”

KV slid off Alex’s back, examining a bush of purple flowers.

“Sir, while it’s like, super cool that Alex is a chatterbox and all,” Karea interrupted, “we’re kinda in a time crunch, so if you could get Tawny it’d be much appreciated.”

“He’s somewhere around here. Clearing weeds around the bushes, I think.” The old man caught sight of KV. “Wait, no, don’t touch those flow-“

KV’s cape suddenly lifted up, as if grabbed by an invisible hand, and yanked her back a few feet. She stumbled and nearly fell before Alex caught her. “What was that?!”

“These flowers are quite delicate and the petals can cause rashes if improperly handled.” The old man hurried to check KV’s hands. Alex quickly held her up out of reach.

“I meant what grabbed her?!” The golem gasped as a shadow spread out from beneath the bush, taking the shape of a scrawny man with a huge bucktoothed grin. “… shadowmancer.”

The shadow put its hands on where its hips should be, making a show of scowling and imitating his voice. “Golem.” It turned to look at the old man. “Didn’t mean to scare the kid, just knew the flowers would mess up her hands. I heard Mae’s back from…”

The shadow caught sight of Karea, who was making a concerted effort to not look interested in it.

“… why is she here?”

“Yeah, hi to you too, Tawny. I see you finally decided to make it easier for the world to walk all over you and just lay on the ground.”

“I see you haven’t changed a bit… oh except… I see this time you’ve chosen to endanger a kid in your little schemes. Run out of grown-ups to scam?”

“At least I have a backbone.”

“This is so neat!” KV wiggled, trying to get out of Alex’s grasp. “How is it talking?”

“… oh. Right.” There was a rustle in the bushes, and a small rodent waddled out. Karea stifled a scream of laughter. “Yeah, yeah, go on and laugh it up. But I do still have teeth and I will bite you.”

Karea was taking several shallow breaths. “At least… snnrk… at least that bucktooth… pffffth… is the least of your problems!”

“Karea! Focus!” Alex snapped at her in irritation. “Remember? Shadowbeast?”

Mae knelt by Tawny. “Sorry, Tawny, I didn’t know she was, um…”

“His girlfriend.” Karea was leaning on Alex, trying to catch her breath. Alex moved, letting her slip.

“Ex-girlfriend.” Tawny frowned. “I dunno why I should help you. Last I checked, you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“Yeah well back then I needed a man. But right now, all I need’s a shadowmancer.” Karea stumbled upright and pulled out the package. “This stupid thing is attracting a shadowbeast and Alex here would prefer I get rid of that before I give it to Lady Covehaven. And since you’re the shadow expert…”

Tawny stuck his nose up. “Take it to the guild. Maybe they’ll help.”

Karea didn’t stop smiling. “Aww, Tawn-tawn, you and I both hate those creeps, and with good reason! Plus they’d charge a small fortune.”

“Better pay up then, Kee.” Tawny’s shadow was sticking out its tongue. “I’m very busy pulling weeds. Feels nice to uproot all the toxic stuff in your life, doesn’t it?”

Karea sighed and replaced the box in her bag, turning to Alex. “There’s no chance you would spot me a few grand to get this properly de-cursed, is there?”

KV giggled. “We don’t have any money. Whenever we need food Alex just does odd jobs or make the plants grow fruit!”

“And if you can’t de-hex the box, I insist on knowing what’s in it in advance.” Alex held out his hand. “If it’s harmless, then we can rewrap it or something. But we both know it’s not.”

“No way, I’m not going to let you-“ Karea stumbled back, tripping over a shadow. “Not funny, Tawny! Why can’t you let it go that…” Tawny had turned back around, his shadow close at his heels. Karea spun around. “… you’ve gotta be joking.”

The shadowbeast tackled her, snarling when KV and Alex both tried to rush forward. The beast sniffed her bag, trying to stick its head in. “Hey! Teeth off the music player!” Karea kicked, but her feet when through the beast’s body. It swiveled back to look at her, red eyes flaring. “… nice puppy?”

It roared and snapped its teeth at her face, missing by a half-inch. It tried again, but was pulled even further back.

“Urgh… what is this guy… eating?”

Tawny was hunkered down, paws braced as his shadow held tight to the beast, pulling it back by the tail. The shadowbeast tried to free itself, but even going immaterial couldn’t loosen the shadow’s grip.

“Tawny… it’s getting mad… Dad, go get the blast lights.” The old man nodded and hobbled to the house. Alex vaguely wondered if this was a common occurrence for them. Mae shuffled forward slowly, reaching for a satchel of seeds at her hip. “I think I can contain it with those new purifier seeds, but we’ve never tested with such an aggravated subject or… oh!”

The shadowbeast broke free of Tawny’s grip, rushing at him furiously. Mae threw herself forward to shield him, seconds before the beast gave an unearthly howl and stopped dead.

“What did you-“

The beast bulged and swelled, then split apart, shredding into shadowy confetti that faded into nothingness. At last all that remained was Tawny’s shadow, panting from the effort. Mae sat up slowly.

“Are you ok?!” Mae looked him over, biting her lip.

“Y-yeah… I’m fine…” Tawny leaned his head against her knee. “Are you ok? I saw it coming and I just panicked.”

“You did amazing. It didn’t lay a claw on me.”

“Lucky you,” Karea grumbled, getting up shakily. She reached for her bag, but it was gone. “Where did- hey!”

KV looked guilty, the remnants of Karea’s bag in her hands. Alex was holding the package gravely, eying it like a snake. “This thing…” Alex shook it slightly, making Karea jump. “… nearly got two innocent citizens and a shadowmancer killed. It has to go.”

“Oh and you’re welcome…” Tawny said with a huff.

“Alex, it’s dehexed now! Tawny ripped up the shadowbeast, so it’s safe to deliver!” Karea held out her hand, grinning nervously. “Come on, let’s not be rash…”

Alex’s hand caught ablaze. The wrapping quickly burst into flame, curling away. A bright red stone fell from the paper between Alex’s fingers, dropping to the ground with a sizzle.

“No!” Karea, KV, and Alex all leapt at the stone, but KV was closest. She grabbed the stone and gave a shriek, the rock burning her hand.

“KV!” Alex tried to take the stone from her hand, but it was clenched shut. The girl whimpered, the skin on her hand turning black. “What the-“ Alex grabbed Karea. “Dehexed, huh?! Fix this!!!”

“I can’t!” Karea was shaking. “I don’t understand how magic works, I’m just a…”

KV gave another wail of pain, instinctively dropping the stone to grab her other hand. A single drop of blood welled up from the small bite on her fingers as Tawny let go. “Get back!” His shadow swooped over the stone, shielding it from the sun. “Whatever this thing is, you don’t wanna touch it.”

Alex picked KV up. “Are you ok? Are you in pain? Can you move your hand?” KV sniffled, nodding as she wiggled her fingers. “Oh thank the spirits… why would you do such a foolish thing, grabbing that stone? Even if it wasn’t cursed, it would have been hot and…”

KV began to cry, grabbing hold of Alex. “I-I’m sorry, I just thought it… you didn’t want her to get it back s-so I was gonna help and… and I didn’t help and it huuuuurt!”

Alex pat her back. “You’re ok… you’re ok, I’ve got you…” He looked up at Karea sharply. The girl scooted back cautiously.

Mae was carefully planting seeds around the stone. “I’ll get some medical supplies once Tawny and I contain this stone. Don’t want to let that bite get infected.”

“Hey, my mouth is very clean…” Tawny was trembling.

Mae smiled and pulled out a potion, dripping a small amount onto the seeds she had dropped. The plants sprung up, stout tree saplings that wrapped around the stone quickly. KV forgot her hurt hands momentarily, watching in fascination. “We’ve had one or two minor shadowbeasts that get attracted to Tawny’s shadow, but never anything this big…” Her saplings suddenly blackened and withered. “… or this corrupted.”

Karea sidled closer. “Ya think that shadowbeast was attracted to this rock?”

“It must have some potent dark magic in it to produce an effect like that.” Mae frowned. “I’d have to perform more tests to be sure, but based on how it burned my plants and KJ-“

“My name isn’t KJ!”

“… I’d say this thing has a curse that makes it react in a volatile way when exposed organic matter.”

“Actually might wanna amend… your hypothesis… Mae…” Tawny sunk down. “M-might not just be organic… stuff…” He collapsed, Mae giving a shout. Alex pushed KV back a safe distance and reached for the stone.

“It’s… it’s gone?!” His hand was full of ash. “Where did it go?”

Tawny groaned. Mae picked him up, yelping in pain. “He’s burning hot!”

“Th-think it… it’s burned into my shad…ow…” Tawny tried to stand but fell again.

“This is bad… this is so bad…” Mae tried to carefully touch him, but her fingers sizzled when she touched Tawny’s fur. “Where do we go? The guild? Maybe the royal academy?!”

“… I know someone.” Karea’s face was pale.

“Of course you do.” Alex turned on her. “This is your doing!”

“Yeah.” Karea shrugged, trying to tear her eyes from the wheezing groundhog. “And I’m gonna fix it. Can you carry him, Alex? My friend lives about three days away, and we’re gonna have to go fast to make it.”

Description

The village was not far from Covehaven, about a day’s walk. They reached it in ten hours.

“Do you ever stop and breathe?!” Alex was practically jogging to keep up with Karea.

“You don’t have to, so I don’t know why you’re complaining.” Karea was fiddling with a device attached to her headphones. Alex had decided he disliked the things; Karea insisted they only played music, but Alex wasn’t sure they didn’t also send her covert messages. She certainly played with them enough.

“Alex, why don’t we go this fast all the time?” KV slid off his back, stretching her arms around in a vague imitation of Karea.

“You almost fell off my back seven times. It’s dangerous.” KV pouted, but Alex was surveying the village dubiously. “So where’s this friend of yours? This region is more known for agriculture and plant mages than any sort of famous wizards.”

“Don’t worry, he’s here. My friends in the…” She glanced at KV. “… in the courier’s guild told me they’d seen someone like him around these parts.”

“What exactly is he like? Hopefully not as careless as you.”

“I’m far from careless.” Karea was already trotting through the market street, checking out the local shops as she passed. “It’s not my fault a shadowbeast decided to-“

“Shh!” Alex grabbed her arm. “Do you want to cause a panic? Xapolians might not know better, but here, shadowbeasts and shadowmancers are known to be bad news. If these people heard we were looking to get one removed then there’d be a riot.”

“Um… Excuse me?”

Neither turned to look at the new speaker. “I think I know it’s bad news, Alex.” Karea blew her bangs out of her face. “It tried to attack me, remember? Tore up my bike and everything.”

“Excuse me… I’m sorry, did you-“

“Well now you’re putting this town at risk, bringing that package here. Let’s just find your curse breaking friend fast, and get back to Covehaven so I never have to-“

“Pardon!” A lady in a pink jacket slid between the two of them, arms out. Alex grunted. “Sorry… but did you say you’re looking into a shadowbeast?”

“Uh… nope! No shadowbeasts here, lady.” Karea had subconsciously moved her bag behind her back. “We’re just looking for an old, um, friend of mine. He’s about this tall, brunette, bad overbite, goes by the name of-“

“Tawny…?” The lady frowned slightly.

Alex nodded. “Yeah! So this mage friend of yours does live here. I’m stunned he exists.”

KV was looking at the lady’s belt, which had an assortment of tools and bottles on it. “What’s that?” She tried to take one.

The girl looked surprised, jumping back. “Oh! Sorry sweetie, I didn’t see you there!” She knelt down, lifting the bottle off her belt. “I’m a hortichemist. These potions are my inventions, growth elixirs and stabilizers and- Oh, sorry! I’m babbling on. My name’s Mae by the way! Tawny is staying with me and my dad!”

Alex was nodding approvingly. “Hortichemistry… that’s a good field. They’re responsible for most of Menia’s rich agricultural market.”

Mae smiled shyly. “W-well yeah… though I’m more small time… mostly my experiments are ways to hybridize plants to create homes, shelters, supports… you know, stuff that can help house the refugees in Menia and Xapoli.”

“I wanna see!” KV tried to grab the bottle, but Mae quickly held it out of reach.

“Sorry it’s… it’s still a work in progress! Tawny was going to help me go research it once his curse was broken, but-“

“Wait, wait, wait…” Karea scowled. “Tawny’s cursed? Since when?”

“W-well I’ve never seen him uncursed so-“ Mae looked down, turning pink. “I found him wandering around, all confused and… uh… well if you know him, maybe he should explain to you…”

Alex was glaring. “Some sources. Can’t even warn us your mage friend is cursed?”

Karea shrugged. “It’s been a while, ok? I just told them to be on the lookout for a shadowmancer with bad teeth and- why are you glaring at me now? You’re uh… your face is turning kind of red…”

“You’re taking us to a shadowmancer?!” Alex bellowed. Mae looked alarmed and tried to shush him. “Do you have ANY idea how dangerous they are? This Tawny could have tried to steal KV’s magic, or stolen our souls, or any number of terrible things!” His summer arm was glimmering, a few seconds from ignition. KV grabbed it to calm him down.

“Uh… Tawny doesn’t do those things…” Mae interjected. “He’s really nice, and sweet, and very helpful.”

“I’m not going. This is too risky.”

“As risky as me taking a cursed box to your friend?” Karea patted her bag. “Ok so Tawny’s a shadowmancer, I might have not told you because I knew you’d freak out. But he’s also a pushover. It’s kinda why I dumped him? If he’s really so big and bad, you think a widdle ol non-magical Xapolian like me would have survived doing that?”

Alex hrmphed. “If his shadow gets anywhere near KV I’m going to hold you responsible. Just like I’m holding you responsible for basically anything else that goes wrong during this little misadventure.”

“Great! Super awesome. Mae, lead the way.” Karea grinned widely, but her grip on her bag had tightened considerably.

Mae’s house was a small, pleasant cottage on the outskirts of the village, surrounded by a lush and well-maintained garden. “Papa! Tawny! I’m back!”

A slight man with a large and leafy hat poked his head up from the bushes. “Did you find any fish… Mae who are these… people?”

“Oh this is…” Mae paused, realizing she didn’t know any of their names. “… Tawny’s friends?”

“She’s KV, he’s Alex and usually super grouchy,” Karea was playing with her headphones again. “I’m Karea and kinda in a hurry.”

The man stood, frowning. “Hmm. I see. A golem and two Xapolians? Odd company… but I suppose Tawny is unusual himself...”

“One Xapolian,” Alex corrected. “We just need to talk to this shadowmancer about a-“

The old man’s eyes widened. “You speak! Fascinating. How is this possible? Is the little girl puppeting you, or-“

“Look, mister, we just need some help before the shad-“

“Hrmm, and you seem quite spirited. Intriguing. I should like to see how that spell works. A plant golem that knew which people weren’t allowed in the garden would be most helpful, don’t you think, Mae?”

“Umm… yes, papa, but they said they really need to see Tawny…” Mae was checking under bushes. “I thought he was helping you today. Is he in the house?”

KV slid off Alex’s back, examining a bush of purple flowers.

“Sir, while it’s like, super cool that Alex is a chatterbox and all,” Karea interrupted, “we’re kinda in a time crunch, so if you could get Tawny it’d be much appreciated.”

“He’s somewhere around here. Clearing weeds around the bushes, I think.” The old man caught sight of KV. “Wait, no, don’t touch those flow-“

KV’s cape suddenly lifted up, as if grabbed by an invisible hand, and yanked her back a few feet. She stumbled and nearly fell before Alex caught her. “What was that?!”

“These flowers are quite delicate and the petals can cause rashes if improperly handled.” The old man hurried to check KV’s hands. Alex quickly held her up out of reach.

“I meant what grabbed her?!” The golem gasped as a shadow spread out from beneath the bush, taking the shape of a scrawny man with a huge bucktoothed grin. “… shadowmancer.”

The shadow put its hands on where its hips should be, making a show of scowling and imitating his voice. “Golem.” It turned to look at the old man. “Didn’t mean to scare the kid, just knew the flowers would mess up her hands. I heard Mae’s back from…”

The shadow caught sight of Karea, who was making a concerted effort to not look interested in it.

“… why is she here?”

“Yeah, hi to you too, Tawny. I see you finally decided to make it easier for the world to walk all over you and just lay on the ground.”

“I see you haven’t changed a bit… oh except… I see this time you’ve chosen to endanger a kid in your little schemes. Run out of grown-ups to scam?”

“At least I have a backbone.”

“This is so neat!” KV wiggled, trying to get out of Alex’s grasp. “How is it talking?”

“… oh. Right.” There was a rustle in the bushes, and a small rodent waddled out. Karea stifled a scream of laughter. “Yeah, yeah, go on and laugh it up. But I do still have teeth and I will bite you.”

Karea was taking several shallow breaths. “At least… snnrk… at least that bucktooth… pffffth… is the least of your problems!”

“Karea! Focus!” Alex snapped at her in irritation. “Remember? Shadowbeast?”

Mae knelt by Tawny. “Sorry, Tawny, I didn’t know she was, um…”

“His girlfriend.” Karea was leaning on Alex, trying to catch her breath. Alex moved, letting her slip.

“Ex-girlfriend.” Tawny frowned. “I dunno why I should help you. Last I checked, you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“Yeah well back then I needed a man. But right now, all I need’s a shadowmancer.” Karea stumbled upright and pulled out the package. “This stupid thing is attracting a shadowbeast and Alex here would prefer I get rid of that before I give it to Lady Covehaven. And since you’re the shadow expert…”

Tawny stuck his nose up. “Take it to the guild. Maybe they’ll help.”

Karea didn’t stop smiling. “Aww, Tawn-tawn, you and I both hate those creeps, and with good reason! Plus they’d charge a small fortune.”

“Better pay up then, Kee.” Tawny’s shadow was sticking out its tongue. “I’m very busy pulling weeds. Feels nice to uproot all the toxic stuff in your life, doesn’t it?”

Karea sighed and replaced the box in her bag, turning to Alex. “There’s no chance you would spot me a few grand to get this properly de-cursed, is there?”

KV giggled. “We don’t have any money. Whenever we need food Alex just does odd jobs or make the plants grow fruit!”

“And if you can’t de-hex the box, I insist on knowing what’s in it in advance.” Alex held out his hand. “If it’s harmless, then we can rewrap it or something. But we both know it’s not.”

“No way, I’m not going to let you-“ Karea stumbled back, tripping over a shadow. “Not funny, Tawny! Why can’t you let it go that…” Tawny had turned back around, his shadow close at his heels. Karea spun around. “… you’ve gotta be joking.”

The shadowbeast tackled her, snarling when KV and Alex both tried to rush forward. The beast sniffed her bag, trying to stick its head in. “Hey! Teeth off the music player!” Karea kicked, but her feet when through the beast’s body. It swiveled back to look at her, red eyes flaring. “… nice puppy?”

It roared and snapped its teeth at her face, missing by a half-inch. It tried again, but was pulled even further back.

“Urgh… what is this guy… eating?”

Tawny was hunkered down, paws braced as his shadow held tight to the beast, pulling it back by the tail. The shadowbeast tried to free itself, but even going immaterial couldn’t loosen the shadow’s grip.

“Tawny… it’s getting mad… Dad, go get the blast lights.” The old man nodded and hobbled to the house. Alex vaguely wondered if this was a common occurrence for them. Mae shuffled forward slowly, reaching for a satchel of seeds at her hip. “I think I can contain it with those new purifier seeds, but we’ve never tested with such an aggravated subject or… oh!”

The shadowbeast broke free of Tawny’s grip, rushing at him furiously. Mae threw herself forward to shield him, seconds before the beast gave an unearthly howl and stopped dead.

“What did you-“

The beast bulged and swelled, then split apart, shredding into shadowy confetti that faded into nothingness. At last all that remained was Tawny’s shadow, panting from the effort. Mae sat up slowly.

“Are you ok?!” Mae looked him over, biting her lip.

“Y-yeah… I’m fine…” Tawny leaned his head against her knee. “Are you ok? I saw it coming and I just panicked.”

“You did amazing. It didn’t lay a claw on me.”

“Lucky you,” Karea grumbled, getting up shakily. She reached for her bag, but it was gone. “Where did- hey!”

KV looked guilty, the remnants of Karea’s bag in her hands. Alex was holding the package gravely, eying it like a snake. “This thing…” Alex shook it slightly, making Karea jump. “… nearly got two innocent citizens and a shadowmancer killed. It has to go.”

“Oh and you’re welcome…” Tawny said with a huff.

“Alex, it’s dehexed now! Tawny ripped up the shadowbeast, so it’s safe to deliver!” Karea held out her hand, grinning nervously. “Come on, let’s not be rash…”

Alex’s hand caught ablaze. The wrapping quickly burst into flame, curling away. A bright red stone fell from the paper between Alex’s fingers, dropping to the ground with a sizzle.

“No!” Karea, KV, and Alex all leapt at the stone, but KV was closest. She grabbed the stone and gave a shriek, the rock burning her hand.

“KV!” Alex tried to take the stone from her hand, but it was clenched shut. The girl whimpered, the skin on her hand turning black. “What the-“ Alex grabbed Karea. “Dehexed, huh?! Fix this!!!”

“I can’t!” Karea was shaking. “I don’t understand how magic works, I’m just a…”

KV gave another wail of pain, instinctively dropping the stone to grab her other hand. A single drop of blood welled up from the small bite on her fingers as Tawny let go. “Get back!” His shadow swooped over the stone, shielding it from the sun. “Whatever this thing is, you don’t wanna touch it.”

Alex picked KV up. “Are you ok? Are you in pain? Can you move your hand?” KV sniffled, nodding as she wiggled her fingers. “Oh thank the spirits… why would you do such a foolish thing, grabbing that stone? Even if it wasn’t cursed, it would have been hot and…”

KV began to cry, grabbing hold of Alex. “I-I’m sorry, I just thought it… you didn’t want her to get it back s-so I was gonna help and… and I didn’t help and it huuuuurt!”

Alex pat her back. “You’re ok… you’re ok, I’ve got you…” He looked up at Karea sharply. The girl scooted back cautiously.

Mae was carefully planting seeds around the stone. “I’ll get some medical supplies once Tawny and I contain this stone. Don’t want to let that bite get infected.”

“Hey, my mouth is very clean…” Tawny was trembling.

Mae smiled and pulled out a potion, dripping a small amount onto the seeds she had dropped. The plants sprung up, stout tree saplings that wrapped around the stone quickly. KV forgot her hurt hands momentarily, watching in fascination. “We’ve had one or two minor shadowbeasts that get attracted to Tawny’s shadow, but never anything this big…” Her saplings suddenly blackened and withered. “… or this corrupted.”

Karea sidled closer. “Ya think that shadowbeast was attracted to this rock?”

“It must have some potent dark magic in it to produce an effect like that.” Mae frowned. “I’d have to perform more tests to be sure, but based on how it burned my plants and KJ-“

“My name isn’t KJ!”

“… I’d say this thing has a curse that makes it react in a volatile way when exposed organic matter.”

“Actually might wanna amend… your hypothesis… Mae…” Tawny sunk down. “M-might not just be organic… stuff…” He collapsed, Mae giving a shout. Alex pushed KV back a safe distance and reached for the stone.

“It’s… it’s gone?!” His hand was full of ash. “Where did it go?”

Tawny groaned. Mae picked him up, yelping in pain. “He’s burning hot!”

“Th-think it… it’s burned into my shad…ow…” Tawny tried to stand but fell again.

“This is bad… this is so bad…” Mae tried to carefully touch him, but her fingers sizzled when she touched Tawny’s fur. “Where do we go? The guild? Maybe the royal academy?!”

“… I know someone.” Karea’s face was pale.

“Of course you do.” Alex turned on her. “This is your doing!”

“Yeah.” Karea shrugged, trying to tear her eyes from the wheezing groundhog. “And I’m gonna fix it. Can you carry him, Alex? My friend lives about three days away, and we’re gonna have to go fast to make it.”