Sounds of an explosion echoed through the eerie forest; leading two a two-story, old, black, castle covered in wearied down bricks. The door swung open with a creaking sound, that rather sounded like the wailing of a dying child.
“Ahh, you pile of bones, work god nabbit,” A crackling voice snarled through the castle walls.
Down the hall, to the right, up the flight of stairs, and to your left, was a room that was filled with dark smoke, making it almost impossible to see anything.
Inside the room and surrounded by the smoke stood a tall, dark-toned, medium-sized, viscet in a cloak: The one and only Shadow Keeper.
He was standing over a cauldron that was covered in purple sludge, which was bubbling and appeared to be growing and growing, slowly reaching the walls.
An orb flew from a corner of the room and appeared in front of him. With a flick of light, it turned into a black shadow figure.

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“Hahaha, you failed once again master,” the figure whispered, an amused cackle in its tone.
“Pipe your ghostly hole before I send you back to the underworld, you irritating snob!” The Shadow Keeper snapped.
“You don’t have enough nerve. And you need me. We both know that.” The shadow seemed to laugh, as it flickered through the smoke, surrounding its master, the Shadow Keeper. “This has been the 20th attempt of you trying to create your ultimate weapon. When will you finally succeed?”
“My mind is not all here and you know it,” the Keeper snapped back, following the moving shadow with his eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed in anger.
“Aha, yes, yes, I know, I know. And you know what, master? It is hilarious to watch.”
The Shadow Keeper decided to ignore the figured attempt of getting under his fur. “I need to get this potion right! Instead of acting like a complete fool and trying to find something else to pick with me about, how about you get your ghostly spirit behind to your station and FIND ME THIS POTION!!,” He shouted.
“Alright. Alright! Jesus and the unholy Almighty, get your tidy widdes out of a bunch,” The shadow mumbles under his breath and disappeared.
The Shadow Keeper rampaged through his castle looking for the recipe for this one specific potion. Up and down through books and every scroll he could find. He even checked secreted passages and hidden chambers behind walls, but nothing was found.
Until…
“Master! MASTER!” The ghostly shadow suddenly appeared shrieking out of nowhere.
“What is it, god nabbit? can’t you see I am busy?” The Keeper growled, baring his fangs. He was certainly not happy about being interrupted by his familiar.
“I found it.”
“What?”
“I FOUND IT!”
“The potion? Let me see! Ah! Yes, YES!”
The Shadow Keeper took the dusty roll of parchment from the ghostly wisp-tail of the shadow, who was moving up and down and around in circles, obviously pleased with itself.
His eyes wandered over the old words, written in dark red letters, and he read: “One gallon of sorcerer blood, 2 rattlesnake fillets, 3 empty viscet eggs, a jar of raptor bones, and the spell of the creature.”
“Yes, master. The right potion and spell. We should head out and get all the ingredients!”
“Yes, we should indeed. And we will head out right now. Well, my dear familiar, you will get the eggs and the rattlesnakes, and I will make sure to get the sorcerers blood and raptor bones. Understood?”
The shadow figure hesitated. “But master…” It mumbled, “… I don’t like messing with s-s-snakes. Do you remember how I died?” It started to flicker and shiver.
“Yes, yes, I remember, you big sissy. I know exactly what happened. But guess what?”
“What?”
“I don’t care. And you are dead anyway, so it’s not like it’s gonna hurt ya, eh?” The Shadow Keeper snarled with a creepy grin, satisfied to be able to mock his familiar in return. “Now go and get my ingredients, you pest. And you better hurry!”
“Okay. Okay! Jesus and the unholy Almighty… you seriously need to chill.” The shadow whispered, first turning into an orb and then disappearing out of a window and into the forest.
“I really don’t know why I still put up with you,” The Shadow Keeper growled, watching his familiar leave.
Both of them took off to get the ingredients, that the potion required.
The Keeper raced into town, hiding in the shadows, trying to figure out, where he possibly could find sorcerers blood. Then, his eyes connected with the old hag’s shop at a corner.
“Of course.” He smiled to himself, walking towards the shop.
All the windows were dark, and the door was obviously locked, but none of this was going to stop him. He knew, that she was there. She always was.
With a swipe of his hand, he forced the door open, entered the dimly lit building and slammed the door shut behind him again.
“Well hello madam hag. Finally, we meet again.” He chuckled, when he saw her stepping forward from behind a bookshelf.
“Ah, Shadow Keeper.” She glared at him angrily. “What do you think to find here? Have you forgotten, that we are not in good terms with each other?”
“Yes, madam hag, I do remember. Although I am not particularly in good terms with anyone in this town.” He chuckled, while handing her the list with the potion ingredients. “But I am here on business terms and I would not have stepped a foot in your dirty establishment, if it weren’t of high importance. I am certain you can help me with what I am looking for, can’t you?”
“Sorcerers blood.” She read, raising her eyebrows but smiling wickedly nonetheless. “Yes. I might indeed have what you’re looking for. For a certain price, of course.” She huffed and handed him his list back, a toothless grin on her face.
“What price?” The Shadow Keeper rolled his eyes and snarled. He was aware, that the old hag was not after simple gold or silver. She dealt with other goods.
“A pure soul.”
“A pure soul, eh? You are a funny old hag.” The Shadow Keeper growled and started to dig around in the pockets of his coat. Rattling noises and squeals were to be heard. He then pulls out a vial, a blue glowing wisp-like figure inside.
“Well, here you go.” He was paying a high price for just a bit of sorcerer’s blood, they both knew, but the Keeper was also desperate.
The old hag snagged the vial from his paws and tucked it into her apron, cackling like the witch she was. “Well then, Shadow Keeper, follow me.”
They walked to the front of the store and behind the counter. The old hag bent down and rumbled through an assortment of things before lifting a wooden box. She put it down, grabbed her keys and unlocked the box. Out of the box, she pulled a vial containing dark red liquid, labeled “sorcerer’s blood”, which she handed to the Shadow Keeper.
“Now if you please get out of my store, before I will have to throw you out.”
“I’d like to see you try.” The Keeper chuckled with a deep voice, shoving the blood in one of the pockets of his coat. But he left without another word; after all, there was still another thing, that he had to collect: the raptor bones. But where would he be able to find those?
Then it dawned to him: “I do remember there being a museum nearby,” He thought to himself.
He peaked around the building to make sure no young viscet where out trick or treating; only when he was certain to be alone, he took off in the direction of the museum, halfway to the destination he ran into his spirit.

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“Watch where you are going, you foolish nuisance!” He barked angrily.
“Sorry, master. But I found the ingredients. Did you find yours?”
“I was on my way to get the last one, before you eyeless pest ran into me.”
“Alright. Well then, let’s go together!” The shadow suggested happily.
“Ugh, you seriously get underneath my skin…” The Shadow Keeper whispered, shaking his head.
When they reached the museum, they found it locked and the alarm systems working, and the Shadow Keeper found himself glad, that his familiar had dragged itself along.
“You go inside and get those stupid bones for me.” He commanded. “I’ll wait here. Don’t take too long.”
“You could at least say please, you know. After all the things I do for you.” The ghostly figure complained but at the sight of his master’s eyes glowing red in anger, he retreated into the museum and made sure to find the raptor bones as soon as possible.
Luckily, the nature-historical museum was not particularly lacking dinosaur bones and so the shadow figure came back to its master after just a short while, handing him a bag, inside was the disassembled skeleton of one of the museum’s most prized possessions.
The Shadow Keeper chuckled as he thought of the faces of the staff, when they would notice the bones gone. He wondered, if his shadow familiar could be seen on camera footage? A shame it was, that he wasn’t able to stay and find out.
“Let’s go home now. Time to create a monster.”
And so, they went back to the castle in the forest, the Keeper eager and excited to turn his plans into reality.