He walks in shadow. Around him, he cannot see where he stands. All he sees are the dark, flickering shadows as they twist and writhe in the black night. The shadows twist and writhe as they reach out inky black tentacles to engulf him. They slither and swirl on the floor, and from all around him. They come for him. They desire him. His warm, life-giving blood. You are here fated one. You are the one who will give us life, and give us shape once more. The first snakes towards him. It reaches out for his ankle. Stepping back, Merrill circles around as they come at him from all sides. He draws his sword, pointing it towards the thick shadows as they reach out towards him...... Slashing at the dark as the first of the shadows begins to crawl up his leg, his sword cuts through the shadow. It slices through tendrils of black, but they reform instantly. His weapon is ineffectual. Throwing it away to one side in frustration, Merrill screams as the first tendril touches his skin, turning his skin blue.... *** Lying on the bed in the inn, as the healer tends to his wound, Merrill suddenly thrashes and convulses. He wakes, opening his mouth, screaming..... "The dark. It comes. It comes. It feeds. It will devour all of us." His head jerks backwards and his mouth opens as a rasping, terrible scream emanates. And then, he collapses once more, unconscious. *** The shadows are all about him. Where they touch him, he feels his skin turn to ice. Merrill screams......and he screams until his screams turn into a quiet, pained sob. Slumping forward to his knees, Merrill’s eyes turn to the ground as the shadows rise, over him. Over his head. He looks up, seeing them coalesce like a tidal wave over him.....about to engulf him. "So now it comes......Death." *** He thrashes again, and his right hand shoots out, grabbing Callie’s wrist in his own as she stands watching the healer treat him. He grips her tightly, and his head turns to her. His eyes are hollow. They are completely white. His mouth opens, and even though he cannot see, he speaks. "So now it comes......Death." Then he shudders, and suddenly Merrill coughs, blood streaming from his mouth. He retreats inside himself once more. *** Merrill reaches into his pocket, defeated. In his hand, he clasps a small, round object. And then, finally, his jaw jutting up in defiance, his brown eyes stare clear. "LET ME SEE YOU IN MY LIGHT CREATURE!" Holding his clenched fist out, inside it a bright, white light gleams. The shadow plunges and......stops. Hesitating. Merrill feels it. It is afraid. Smiling grimly, he stands, and he slowly opens his fist. An explosion of bright light. The dark gives a strangled hiss, and it suddenly fades, disintegrating against the power of the light. The clearing morphs. It becomes one with the light, joining with it. The shadows cannot resist it. And then it is gone. Merrill is alone, in a wooded clearing. Around him, nothing but silence. A deep, impenetrable silence. Yet, he knows he is not alone. There is another here. Another who would do him harm. Except.............. She comes. A ghostly, white wraith against the moonlit night. A shimmering, alabaster angel framed against the pale moonlight. A faint, feminine voice floats echoes around the gloom, echoing inside his mind. A formless, featureless spirit. Her name, her face, and her memories lost to the netherworld. Would you dance with the devil in the pale moonlight? He is not afraid anymore. He knows who she is. Merrill faces the spirit, his destiny, face on. "I would dance with fate. I would dance this dance for eternity, spirit." She reaches out, and she touches his face. And so you shall. The ghostly echo forms in his mind. The girl turns, and she separates into tiny, minute fragments. These fragments drift up into the sky, floating upwards, ever upwards until they stop. They form pale, bright stars, twinkling in and out of existence at a second's notice. And then he hears the low growl behind him. Turning, Merrill sees the great silver wolf step into the clearing. He sees its eyes glow red. And he knows his death is upon him. *** His sits up, the white's dissipating from his eyes. His brown eyes shine clear now as he blinks, looking around him. Feeling contact on his right side, Merrill glances over, realising that he is grasping onto something.....somebody. Looking over, he sees the auburn haired girl and he suddenly lets go, blinking again. "I...ahh....I am sorry milady."