He'd done so well recently. It'd been a good few days since he wandered as she slept. He'd been so proud of himself, too, making sure to tell her each morning how he'd stayed at her side like a good boy. How he hadn't listened to the calls of the night that sang to him, whispered and coaxed for him. The night was the most comfortable time for him, often sleeping through the burning daylight. He couldn't seem to help it. He couldn't seem to sleep when the night and shadows were awake without him.
He'd wandered this time. He hadn't meant to, and even as a quiet peace blanketed him when the night settled over his shoulders he still felt that pang of guilt. Hopefully, she would not wake to find him gone. Hopefully, he would only be gone for a moment, just a taste of the darkness. And not far.
He hoped he hadn't gone far.
The boy of shadow drifted through the trees, still as yet unaware of his magic. None of the darkness around him was from his doing, only a small boy of black craving the night. Moonlight occasionally spilled over the small white patches in his skin, but he slid out from underneath it. The moon was sweet, but he didn't want her touch tonight. Not yet.
Shadows comforted him, felt like the den he and Momma curled up in. As if she were there with him, a steady and loving guardian keeping him safe. Tonight was strange, though. There was something more, just out of reach, and he couldn't find it. He walked through small paths in the forest, as listless as a lost soul. His faded blue eyes touched gently on different things, different depths of shadows beneath the trees, around their bases, in the bushes, in their branches. Unhurried and calm, eerily solemn as he searched for the other half of himself.
It was here somewhere.
He could feel it.
[ Cimmerian ]
try to make a fire burn again