Episode 6: The Shadow Man’s Son

Once upon a time in the land of Atheria, there was a Princess Nea and a Princess Lulu and they went on the most amazing adventures.  

The princesses had just saved Sparland from an ogre invasion – with the help of the Shadow Man and unbeknownst to them, a friendly dragon named Scorch. They also had finally completed their quest that Tuck had sent them on to retrieve the purple crystal. Only to find that Tuck was no where to be found! 

“Remember how the blue crystal glowed?” Nea asked Lulu. “I wonder why this one doesn’t.” 

"Maybe you have to be someone special, like the elf girl or Prince Paul.” 

And at that moment, while the girls were talking and looking at the crystal, there was a knock on the castle door.  

“Why hello.” Nea said, recognizing the Shadow Man standing on the other side of the door. Now obviously his name wasn’t “Shadow Man” that was just what Nea & Lulu called him because of his dark complexion, black clothes and striking white hair. The name just seemed fitting. And ever since they met him in the Forest of Forevermore and he helped them navigate their way to the Elf Grotto they referred to him as that.  

“I hear you two know the talking lion?”  

The two girls looked at each other. “We do.” 

“I need to speak with him.” 

“So do we!” they both said, “but he’s nowhere to be found. He usually meets us in the eastern garden.”  

“Would you both be so kind as to take me there?” he asked 

And the three of them walked to the gardens. As they walked, a beautiful hawk flew overhead. At first Lulu noticed it, then pointed it out to Nea but when the Shadow Man saw it, he stopped and looked up. Recognizing the bird and the bird recognizing him, it circled twice around the group before flying down.  

“Ryla.” he said.  

The bird stretched its neck then did a small nod. 

“Wish we could meet under better circumstances.” 

“To everything a season. And everything in its time,” she replied.  

“I take it Tuck is busy?” he said. Knowing that the two – Tuck & Ryla were like two sides of a coin – a team that worked together since, some say, the dawn of Atheria. They were rarely seen together but were always connected – in some way that was beyond understanding. She knew him and he knew her. The Lion and Hawk were the two most powerful beings in Atheria. 

“He’s preparing the guardians.” She explained.  

“The sphere broke?” he asked. 

She stretched her neck out again and nodded, signaling he was right. 

“Some thing’s wrong,” he said. And with that pulled out one of the star crystals - one that was very clear – colorless, almost white. 

“It’s not glowing.” He protested. “Why isn’t it glowing? It’s supposed to glow.” 

Ryla walked around the crystal, then back around again – looking at it very intently.  

She then looked the Shadow Man in the eyes. “Well, Son of Aylon, it seems, you are not the one.”  

“But I can’t see who IS?”  

“It will come, child, you must be patient.” She replied. 

And with that, he took a deep breath.  

“What else is it?” she asked, knowing there was more. 

“Darius is sick. And fairy water isn't working.”  

At that, Ryla looked away from the Shadow Man and turned to Princess Nea and Princess Lulu.  

“You must find a special gale, a wind and infuse it.” 

Ryla continued, “In the Wind Caves beyond Mt. Willows next to the Dwarf Mining Settlement. You can go there and if you capture them in a bottle and use the blue crystal together, the state of the crystal will bring out healing properties in the gale 10x stronger than fairy water. Have the boy smell the infused gale.” 

Then Ryla looked back at the Shadow Man. 

“You must take these young ladies. They need to prepare.” 

“I understand.” he said, “Are you both up for another adventure? Looks like we may need the help of Prince Paul of Cedar Landing. 

Nea & Lulu nodded. They were always up for an adventure.  

And with that they left immediately for the Dwarf Mining Settlement beyond Mt. Willows. As they left, the Shadow Man led the journey. What was interesting was that not only couldn’t he see, but he also didn’t use a map. He led the journey as if he knew exactly where everything was, roads, pathways, signs and even potholes in the ground. And he was fast. Faster than both Nea & Lulu. 

As they walked Nea had to ask about the crystal.  

“The white one?” he answered. “The crystals are trying to find people, special people. They are very, very powerful and those people are the only people who can make sure they are used to keep our world in balance. If the wrong people find them and try to use them the wrong way, Atheria will be in real danger.”  

“Why isn’t it glowing for you?”  

The Shadow Man shook his head. “Maybe I’ve lost hope. Maybe I’m sad. Maybe I’ve become tainted. I’m not sure. Maybe this adventure is for someone else.” 

The way he said this adventure made Nea and Lulu think that maybe he had a story. Maybe he had seen other adventures with the crystals a long time ago.  

“I’ve tried everything I can think of.” He continued, talking more to himself this time. “And I know this crystal. I know this one – the white one, I know what it can do.”   

The girls looked at each other. 

Before they knew it they were coming up on the Dwarf Mining Settlement and they looked at the entrance to the Wind Caves and they wondered, which one they should go in. 

But before they even stopped, the Shadow Man said, “That one.” And he pointed to a cave on the far left.  

On the way down into the cave, there was a dwarf just standing and talking to himself. And the group was at a point where they needed to stop and have some lunch so they decided to eat with this dwarf. And as they ate, this dwarf ended up doing nothing but talk their ears off the entire time. (Surprise, surprise!) He kept talking about his two brothers who were all born at the same time – they were triplets, you see. They would go on their own adventures to find sticks and stones and rocks and all sorts of things. They would even sneak up on the elves and follow them all the way back to the elf grotto. The little dwarf even knew who princess Nea and Lulu were. He’d heard all about them and how magnificent Castle Sparland was.  

“Do you know where the gale winds are?” Asked Lu. 

“And do they work?” Asked Nea. 

But before the dwarf could answer, they realized they didn’t bring a bottle. So Nea asked him if they had any extra.  

To that the dwarf smirked – which is kind of a smile that’s a little tricky – and said. “We dwarfs are always prepared. I’ll give you my bottle and do you one better and take you there – on one condition! You take me and my two brothers on an adventure. We love adventures and the news of yours has spread throughout Atheria. And trust me, we won’t slow you down.” 

Princess Nea and Princess Lulu nodded their heads, then shook his hand, promising that they would bring the dwarfs on an adventure with them.  

And with that, the little dwarf smiled and the party continued down to the bottom depths of the catacombs where the wind was really cold and it whistled through the caves. And then the shadow man said, “This must be where the gale winds are. Quick, capture some.”  

And they opened the bottle and captured some of the wind that was blowing by them.  

When they did, the shadow man said, “I want to try something.” And he pulled out his crystal and tried putting his white crystal into the bottle. But unfortunately, it didn't glow, it didn't do anything. It was just a plain, white crystal. And he sighed a very sad sigh, and put the crystal back into his pocket.  

After they made it out of the cave, they headed to Cedar Landing to find Prince Paul to use his blue crystal on the wind. 

When they got there, Paul had just finished his sword-fighting practice. As soon put his crystal in the jar, the air started to spin with little blue sparkles, like confetti, in it. 

And they took the jar of sparkling wind back to the shadow man’s house where there was a little boy on a bed, coughing and wheezing. They had him sit up, then they opened the bottle, and put it right below his nose and had him take a deep breath. Immediately, his eyes opened wide, and he looked around the room, fixing on his dad standing above him.  

As the magic of the gale wind worked through his body, he gave two heavy coughs and a big deep breath. And as he breathed in, his body started to warm up because he had been really cold. And the shadow man unable to contain himself, gave him a huge hug. 

It was at that moment that a couple of things happened that surprised the princesses, the first one was that when his dad hugged him, the boy’s blanket slipped off, revealing to Nea and Lulu that the boy’s legs ended above his knees – he had no legs! He didn’t have knees or shins or feet! The second thing, was that when the shadow man bent over to hug his son, the white crystal fell out of his pocket and landed on the bed next to the boy. And when it landed, it started getting brighter and brighter and brighter until, it lit up the entire room.  

Princess Nea and Lulu both looked directly at the shadow man and he at them.  

And they wondered, who was this boy they just met? And if he, in fact made the white crystal glow, what kind of adventures would they go on next? 

The end.