(Heheh, I changed it to the prologue. It is no longer part of Chapter 1...)
Prologue
The sunset looked up, and Shadow's amber eyes glinted awake. He blinked. Already night was gaining on the Vast, casting shadows over the land. Prism's dance was about to end. Shadow lifted himself from a curled sit, and looked to the sky. Ever orange, gold, and scarlet, or black as Shadow. A dark gash of a cloud hurtled across the sky, piercing a gold one. Shadow shivered as the hit rung out low. It was time.
Shadow lifted from the ground as the air around howled. He set his eyes on the destination – a thin white line in the distance – and hurtled through the air toward it. A small smile tipped his lip as fleets of shadow curled around flowers. The dark blooms opened and sung out the echo tune of night. Shadow closed his eyes and flew by feel and memory to the border.
His feet touched the soft floor – no sound – and Shadow watched the white borderline. The light seared the shadow plants around it, so the border was surrounded by nothing but grey stone. Once, the light had hurt Shadow much the same. But after countless years of early arrivals, he was beyond used to the light of his reflection.
For a second the border crackled. Then it held still. Finally, it melted outward, spreading into the round pond-like mirror. Shadow watched it flicker into life. A blurred shape of dancing colours sharpened into the from of Prism. Prism was a light bringer and sky singer. Wherever she stepped a shard of rainbow touched off. Prism danced across the reversed surface.
Shadow took a deep breath. His whole body tingled from the mirror as it stretched, still full of day. His eyes flicked from Prism to the circling sun-moon and back to Prism. Then he slipped into her dance.
Toe met toe, but never touched. The mirror quivered from the conflicting dancers. Shadow's eyes twinkled, and stars spread out above him. As the twilight faded into deeper darkness, the dance ended. Shadow looked down into Prism's glowing face. She looked back at him, beaming. A faint smile hovered over Shadow's face. Then the day was gone, and Prism, along with the world of light, faded away. The last Shadow saw of Prism was her message. Her mouth moved, smile still present, in the same pattern every twilight. Shadow's flicker of hope extinguished with the light. No sound came from her lips, the same as it had been through all the millenniums.
Darkness drenched the mirror field, and Shadow sunk to his knees. He was sure he had heard a whisper of foreign tune, the song of a lost light, this time. But nothing had become of it. Shadow's eyes slipped closed, blocking out the darkness. Darkness was blinding compared to the eyes of his reflection.
Shadow felt more stars open their eyes. He choked in enough breath to whisper the same goodbye.
“Goodnight, love.” he touched the mirror. Shadow rose up, standing tall over the mirror. Thicker shadows tightened around him, and he started his own dance, a lead up to midnight. Darkness followed his footsteps. Night crawled around, leaving scars of stars. Shadow danced with dreams, and the moonbeams wove canopies. All around the mirror pool night sparkled in deadly calm. As Vast's clocks struck 12, Shadow stood in the centre of the mirror. Red teardrops glistened off the shady floor. Shadow looked around at the shadows. The same shadows that had followed him for the last ten thousand – or longer – years.
Shadow's eyes suddenly flashed sky scarlet. He lifted a hand and tore it through the air. The shadow shapes and dark beauty collapsed and whipped around. The mirror cried and darkened, and frigid winds sang around Shadow. He stopped, and so did his shadows. He dropped them, and they landed in heaps, awkward, dead piles. Shadow blinked. Ruby tears clattered on the ground, the only defeater of silence. Shadow took a step. He took another. Then he fled the mirror, back to his tree. The wind didn't whip. No light showed. No darkness seeped. Nothing but the grey hills, and blood red footsteps formed by his feet.
