Golden eyes watching our every move
Losing time without the sun or moon
He grips the shadows with a cruel hand, and Ether does not like it. They are so forgiving, the shadows. If one but showed a hint of kindness, they were always so willing to shield and protect, to cloak and give themselves over. But instead of asking, he commands with unbridled harshness, turning that willingness to slavery. He does not like it.
His ears pin against his skull, invisible in the dim light of the shelter trees. He can feel the way in which they respond to him, being ripped asunder like a flimsy strip of cotton. More than warning enough for someone so closely attuned to them.
For only a moment is the length of his pitch dark body entirely visible before the shadows swallow him, welcoming him into their cool embrace. When he parts those dark curtains once more, he is behind the slavering beast, yellow eyes glaring from the sheltering protection of his realm. He hadn’t missed the question however, and were he not utterly certain he is no kind of family, he might have paused in confusion.
Relation he might be, but Ether knows who is family is. The question does not even merit a response.
His next question however, gives him pause. Do you even know who you are? What you are? He knows the shadows had welcomed him in a time when he had needed them the most, knows they have sunk beneath his skin, into his very soul. He knows his own mind, his wants and desires and feelings. But none of those are truly what he asks, are they?
He doesn’t move from the darkened shelter, instead peering at Niklas with those golden eyes for an uncomfortably long moment. Finally he whispers into the air the question tickling the corners of his mind. “Do you?”
ether