This story takes place after my Armageddon: The Battle for Avalon (as of this date unfinished, just assume that Avalon won. To this day, I’m not sure if I will finish it. I sort have become disenchanted with the Armageddon stories) This story is the final conclusion of the Shadowstar series.
By Amanda A. Hilliard
~For Austin, you have my heart always
~For Bethany, you helped make the name Shadowstar
~For Josh, you helped me create the universe of Shadowstar
Part I: On The
Horizon
“From the day we arrive on the planetAnd blinking, step into the sunThere's more to see than can ever be seenMore to do than can ever be done”Circle of Life, Elton John
The time passed so quickly that nobody ever noticed that it was gone. It had been two years since the fight with Olympus and four years since Shadowstar came to this reality. And in such a short span of time, the unimaginable and the unexplained occurred around every corner.
Avalon was simply becoming crowded.
“You know, it should be time for another war soon,” Shadowstar laughed out along one of the parapets she was standing on.
Her black hair flew with the gently wind as her wings stretched to touch the sun. Flicker jumped up with his red hair flashing under the sun to join her, “Please DON’T say that. That’s all we need…”
They stood alone in a moment of silence just enjoying the presence of each other’s company. With a quick movement, Shadowstar wrapped her arm around her companion and fell backwards off of the edge descending down towards the main court of Oberon’s castle.
‘Shadowstar… how can I describe this creature? Her presence has become the center of Avalon and events that have circled around my Kingdom. She falls down towards the earth before my eyes without a care in the world. Her large, raven gargoyle wings will let her soar to the heaves. Her body, white as snow, will hide her in the sky. Such a contrast, and such a character.’
‘She came to us as an omnipotent stranger who I could not touch with one ounce of my abilities. But something about her struck us all… and through events that have occurred, we have discovered that this gargoyle is of our kind.
Shadowstar stopped their decent with the ease of a telekinetic boost. Flicker had looked horrified until that very moment. When their feet touched the ground he kissed her and said some vibrant words.
‘Even more of a story goes to Flicker… Unless you understand the fabrics of time and reality, then you can never understand what this boy has gone through. He existed in two realities tied so closely together that one freak experiment pulled him apart… But Shadowstar and a war helped put the pieces back into place… He is full of life now, vibrant like the fire of red hair he was born with. I only regret my misgiving and troubles which I had with him…’
As they walked through the courtyard, two older faeries were passed by. Shadowstar put her hand out to the sapphire haired one and squeezed it in affection. Greetings were shared and then passed by.
‘And another tie falls into place with Rhayna and Brie… The first children to be born of Titania and myself were so powerful and strong that they could overpower me with any fight. Their brother was blinded with this ability and was killed in a consumption of power. Rhayna was so distraught that she challenged Hades to war in return for her brother from the Underworld… the girls lost and were banished away. Only to leave behind their own children. We were so afraid the children would avenge that we stripped the memories from them of their parents and of events… and the 2nd generation of faeries were less powerful and knew nothing of events… We regret the lies…
‘The lies hurt Shadowstar most of all… Her abandonment by her mother, Rhayna, led to much pain and heartache with the Kindred… beings that watch and protect all realities from their enemies…’
Rhayna and Brie make their journey into the main gate of the castle while two other people walk out holding a baby. Rhayna picks the baby up and continues through the door.
‘Allison… blonde and bright with the gifts of her father, and given a life on Avalon because of her mother. She is the oldest daughter of Rhayna and god Apollo. Geoffe is still but a baby, but she adores her brother. Shadowstar is her half-sister… and this troubles Allison. She knows there was unfaithfulness on both parts of her parents. And her feelings are understandable… She has had much to tell of.
‘And by her side always is Asher, her cousin. He was born of a love between Brie and god Ares. And when he was stripped of his memories, feeling lost and confused, Asher left Avalon in search for something else somewhere… he has since returned and makes Avalon all the more complete.’
Allison and Asher looked towards one of the castle windows and waved as a voice called out to them.
‘And to add to the power and intense story that Avalon has become, we have become hosts to the three only remaining gods… Apollo, Athena and Ares… They are certainly welcome and should be… their efforts have helped save Avalon on several occasions… and I would never go against the wishes of my daughters.
‘And lastly, we come to the 2nd generation of faeries… and each of them are a story on their own. Puck most of all…’
Titania put her finger on the large book that Oberon was writing in. He looked up at her with large eyes, not annoyed but with question.
“Are you still writing that?” She arched an eyebrow then moved towards the window that Oberon had been glancing out of to see his kingdom.
He put his quill pen into its holder and closed the book, “Yes… for history’s sake.”
Titania laughs and picks a blank book off of a shelf. Handing it to him she said, “You will need more pages, there is a lot to tell of the past four years alone.”
Oberon joined his blue-faced wife in a hearty laugh.
And in one instant alone, everybody’s head turned in one direction as a crack sounded across the castle and sprays of glass shot through each room. Shadowstar hid her face and wrapped her wings around Flicker as the shards flew towards them. Rhayna ducked into a corner to protect her baby from any harm. The gods ran through the corridor to see what had happened… and Oberon stood in confusion as the shards trickled against his face.
All the mirrors, the glasses into the other worlds, shattered on one binding instant and turned black as they hit the floor as in death.
“There's far too much to take in hereMore to find than can ever be found”Circle of Life, Elton John
“That hurts,” Shadowstar growled in her gargoyle tone and closed her eyes. Flicker continued to pull shards of glass from her tail.
“I count this as time number three that I’ve had to do this… And your insults and whining don’t bother me anymore,” He flashed her a grin that she only saw through narrow eyes.
She clenched her fist, “Why did this happen?” Her question wasn’t meant to be answered. It was one that everybody in Oberon’s castle was asking themselves and each other… but most of all, asking Oberon himself.
“Shadowstar…” Oberon’s voice boomed through the castle. Her forehead wrinkled as if Oberon’s voice caused her pain.
Oberon stood before the now empty mirror. Sprays of glass crunched below his feet. He touched the base where the mirror had rested and started to filter blue and gold magic through all of the pieces. As Shadowstar entered the room, he motioned her to help him continue his work.
She nodded in understanding with Flicker standing at the door. He was pushed inward by a familiar friendly white haired faery that was levitating in the hallway.
“So what dramatic event just happened here?” Puck made his way to the center of the room as Shadowstar was using her green energies to help Oberon finish piecing the mirror back together.
“You now hold faery magic, Shadowstar, don’t be afraid to use it,” Oberon noticed she was still only attempting abilities the Kindred had taught her to use in the past.
Shadowstar nodded as a student and watched as the mirror faded from black to its reflective surface, “Do you want me to tap into the Kindred world?”
Oberon nodded as they used their abilities to open up a small vortex into the Tide pool of Infinite Possibilities, the mystical body of water that lets the Kindred watch and enter all realities.
Flicker heard Shadowstar gasp as the pictures unfolded like a bloody horror. Their own faces became trickled with spats of crimson blood as they stood and watched the last of the Kindred massacred by the Watchers. One of the enemies saw the open vortex and mad his move for it. AS he started to become three dimensional in their world, Oberon released the hold on the mirror and it sprayed across the floor in thousands of shards.
Puck’s jaw dropped in a cartoonish expression, “Shadowstar…”
Nobody could find the right words as they wiped the blood off of their own faces. Shadowstar stared forward without touching her own face. The impact of seeing all of the Kindred killed hadn’t settled in her heart yet. The people, who made her life hell, hide her memories and identity, used and manipulated her lay slain before her. The situation tugged at her heart. The Kindred were hated with the fabrics of her soul…
“If the Watchers control the Tide pool… they will control all the realities they wish to,” She whispered not caring if people heard its importance or not. Everybody knew that the Watchers were out for Kindred blood, out to control every Universe and every dream that any person on any level could have.
“They can get anywhere now…” Flicker spoke louder being gruesomely reminded of one of his past experiences on an Avalon. He had seen friends and family slain violently and ruthlessly by a Watcher.
Oberon did not respond to any of their words. He just called out for a meeting with Titania, Athena, Apollo and Ares. Shadowstar turned to him with a protest in her eyes, but was taken out of the room by Flicker for fresh air and a pause from the drama unfolding.
“I’ve wanted to see them dead so many times… but the implications of this event can mean disaster for everybody everywhere,” She took in a deep breath of air as Flicker put his arms around her.
“Oberon will think of something…” Were his only words of comfort. There was nothing they could do anymore. Life had become like a movie, and they were the audience waiting for it to pass by.
“But the sun rolling highThrough the sapphire skyKeeps great and small on the endless round”Circle of Life, Elton John
As the minutes passed by, Flicker found Shadowstar to become more distant to him. Feeling shut out from her world, he stood up and started to pace back and forth, “Talk to me, Shadow. We’ve been through too much of this crap to be shutting one another out.” He motioned is arms in frustration.
“I’m thinking that I am worried… I am worried that Oberon is going to make us go fight the Watchers to protect me and ourselves,” She put her head in her hands in a sign of weakness.
“Why?” He wanted to understand her and sympathize. But he also knew her and knew her weaknesses and all of the ugly parts of her personality. Even in love, those always could find their way out.
“Because my power is not what it was when I last was in that place… I cannot beat everybody single handed again. Nobody else can defeat a Watcher. Not Oberon or Athena… only me. And that is what I will be expected to do… I am still learning not to rely on Kindred boosts and their power. I am only a faery with a gargoyle strength,” Her words were not entirely the truth. She had far more ability that she would allow herself to see.
Flicker stamped his foot to the ground making her look up to him. He narrowed his eyes at her and they turned a bright red, “That is so selfish of you to think! And you need to stop it!”
She looked at him with confusion.
“You are so arrogant about yourself and you always have been! You have been able to accomplish everything you have with the help of friends… Puck, Andrian, Oberon, myself… and you sit here and make you sound to be a poor baby who has all this pressure. Well nobody is putting in on you but yourself!”
In no way did he mean to hurt her by his actions, but he had to speak the truth someday. Shadowstar’s eyes closed slowly and she remained silent. She knew he was right and could never admit it. Her weakness was arrogance and not the potential of power… it was the arrogance that the Kindred had bred into her and was never lost.
Before she could respond to him, Oberon called them both back into the meeting. When they entered the room, their attention immediately fell onto his eyes… and those eyes told them things they didn’t want to hear.
“Avalon is going to stop the Watchers once and for all…” Oberon spoke as the leader and lord of the people.
Shadowstar was still annoyed, angry and emotional. She put her fist down onto the table and barked at him, “Why wasn’t I consulted on this?”
He stood up to meet her gaze; “This isn’t about you anymore, Shadowstar… it’s about this reality, these people, and our Avalon. That is the choice you made when you came to this place.”
Athena spoke with a calm in her voice to try and settle the anger between the two figureheads, “Stopping the Watchers is the only way reality can be in peace with no worries.”
Shadowstar nodded slowly and stepped back fearing the oncoming battle with the Watchers. She said nothing in response to Athena and looked back at Oberon whose mouth formed the words, “But this time, I lead the fight.”
And the plans started to be formed with no more argument… Flicker placed his hand on top of Shadowstar’s to tell her that he was still her support.
“It's the circle of lifeAnd it moves us all”
Circle of Life, Elton JohnOberon divulged the plan created by himself and Athena to the collective of warriors who would be going into the fight. Shadowstar, Puck and Rhayna stood at the head of the team using their faery abilities to pull the mirror together once more. A drop of sweat ran down the forehead of Shadowstar as they started to create a large vortex into the Tide pool. Slowly, one by one, Athena, Apollo, Ares, Flicker, Brie, Oberon, Allison, and Asher stepped through the rippling mirror and the wisps of faery magic. As Puck, Shadowstar and Rhayna entered they closed the vortex behind them. And then the first blows began. Three hooded Watchers hovered above separate corners of the tide pool. Athena, Apollo, and Ares immediately took the call to fight. As Oberon motioned for the faeries to head towards the Kindred castle, the sounds of metal on metal and fists echoed through the silence. The gods of Olympus were not going to back down. “Hey, do you feel that?” Puck whispered to Allison with a grin on his face. She furrowed her brow at looked at him, “Feel what?” He shrugged, “Youngins… The mystics here. We can tap into the power.” Oberon motioned them to silence as they came upon the walls. Their eyes scaled up the darkened grey stone and then stopped dead. Shadowstar stumbled back with a sickened gasp. Puck and Flicker each caught an arm of hers nobody understanding her pain. Puck pointed upward, “It’s Xavier.” His body was half flung out of his bedroom window ripped apart at it’s seems like a disfigured rag doll. The blood ran down the side of the castle and stopped somewhere in the infinity of bricks.
“Those who have been robbed naturally are drawn to those who have robbed them,” Flicker comments about Shadowstar’s deep sorrow that was growing. He stopped for a moment and recalled the mad slaughter of his friends. Their limbs scattered among the fields of Avalon… it was another reality, another place. But the memories still haunted like it was only yesterday.
As a moment of silence continued, steams of violent light start pouring off of the rooftops like a great war was going on in the confined space. Slowly those who could levitate and rise to great distances grabbed a hold of the others. Slowly they inched along the wall avoiding the window of pain. Before anybody could do anything, a limp body that was hurled off the rooftop pelted Allison. Not one person had to look at the fractured face to know that it was a dead Iara. Puck wrapped his hands around Allison’s mouth so she couldn’t let out her horrified scream.
The leader of the Kindred was now dead… the Watchers had truly won. Shadowstar gripped the wall wanting to throw up. The smell of this place sickened her.
In one more bust of energy, the group landed onto the rooftop with their reflective powers beaming from their fists. And as the Avalon warriors expected it, a swarm of Watchers stood along the walls with Lahcear at the immediate center of the group. Iara had no match against them. It was a brutal slaughter of the leader.
“This is going to end, Watcher,” Oberon’s voice boomed across the rooftop.
Lahcear’s face grew with a continued sign of annoyance, “There are so many of
us now that nobody can stop us… not even your precious Shadowstar.”
“I beg to differ,” Oberon released a massive amount of golden power, heightened by the mystics of the Kindred soil, into a section of Watchers. They were all moving like ants in a colony dodging away the obstacle and coming back to line.
With Oberon’s example, Rhayna and Brie worked together attacking a section of Watchers on their own. Allison, Asher and Puck then joined together to defend themselves when attacked by a spray of smoldering fire.
Lahcear stood in his place and smiled with his evil eyes glowing from under his cloak.
“Through
despair and hope”
There were fifty Watchers, no more and no less, to keep down the might of Avalon. The match was heavily outnumbered in the favor of the vicious Watchers… the only thing that stood on the side of Oberon was the potential powers of the Kindred land.
Lahcear started to back towards the doorway and laughs as Shadowstar is pushed back along the edge by a blast. Her eyes glanced down towards the Tide pool and saw the Olympians holding strong with their godly pride. She used her taloned feet to kick back her pursuer and stop him cold with a few slashes of her claws. Flicker’s color whip lashed in front of her face and struck another pursuer before he could attack them.
Through the shadows, Lahcear started to slink away into the castle. Shadowstar caught this imprint in her mind, “Flicker, we can’t let him leave.”
“Then lets finish these two idiots off and go get him,” Flicker takes out a Watcher with a quick slice from the reddening whip.
Shadowstar grabs the other in a telekinetic hold and whips him off of the castle wall. There was no hesitation in her anymore. While exerting so much energy, she began to forget her fears about weakness. Her heart was out for revenge.
Immediately upon entering the corridors, they saw Lahcear’s robes fleeing around a corner. They followed him intently on foot with their breath heavy and adrenaline high. The walls seem to rush by in a blur. Their bodies seemed to become streaks of colors and light as they focused themselves on their target and nothing more.
Flicker tumbled and leapt with ease over strewn furniture and badly distorted bodies that were left along the castle floors. He began to wonder if Shadowstar’s speed was to leave the sights or to get to the target. A loud crash shattered the moving silence behind them as a table was telekinetically whipped into a wall. It had missed them only by moments.
“We’re close to him, and he knows it,” She said catching breathes between quick heartbeats.
“I noticed,” Flicker muttered when another object resembling a chair flew above their head.
The threats and fury of the objects didn’t stop their pace. Nothing was going to until a site so cruel and heinous leapt in front of them. In a moment of panic and anguish, Shadowstar let out a roar of inner pain as hidden source of power brought for the manipulated body of Xavier. His eyes were dead, but his mouth formed a wicked smile.
“Through faith and love”Circle of Life, Elton John
“This isn’t right,” Shadowstar gasped as she paced backwards but found a wall of broken furniture formed behind them. Memories of the slayed Avalon bodies filtered through her head… nerves pieced around trees like a sinister ornament, heads dancing to life at the control of a Watcher. Ugly… such an ugly event to have the recollection of.
“Let him die in peace,” She pleaded to the silence and the dead body of Xavier started to advance with it’s limbs dropping and dragging about him.
Flicker looked at the pain on her face and then narrowed his eyes at the sight. Clenching his fist tightly around the color whip he made a decision that could have many repercussions. Out of anger, he eyes seemed to glow with fire, and with the trained skill of a soldier the now blue whip sliced through the body four times making it slide to the ground in a bloody pulp. Shadowstar let out a yelp of anguish, astonishment and comfort.
“I am sick of games,” Flicker grabbed her hand and pulled her past the mess.
Around the corner, Lahcear stood with crimson energy pouring through his eyes and hands, a devious smile stretched across his face. The two lone warriors stood 10 feet from him as words started to pour from his mouth like a festering ooze, “How does it feel to have them all dead at your feet… You’re the last one of the Kindred. You know you’ll always be one of them…”
“You’re wrong,” Shadowstar hissed with strength that ancient gargoyles could feel it.
“You know, you can still come work for our side of the coin… you would be so good… so arrogant in power and people will cower in your presence… oh, Shadowstar, you can never escape us… yours is the first reality that we are going to take over… and your precious faery over there will be the first to die…” Lahcear moved his hands read to strike Flicker.
On instinct, Shadowstar pushed him out of the way and Lahcear’s energy formed around her. She broke through it with her own willful power, “I should have killed you last time.”
“What a pity, you didn’t,” He grunted and sent a plasma blast towards each of them. Flicker dove under it and latched his whip around Lahcear’s feet quickly jerking him to the ground. Shadowstar put a hold on him with invisible hands as her eyes glowed with the anger of the stone warriors.
With one burst of energy, Lahcear ripped through it with a red line of power and grabs Shadowstar and Flicker by surprise as they were preparing to attack. He held on to them tightly as he started to leaves a thin mist along the floor of the corridor. Shadowstar tried to move and fight against his hold but he pressed against her so hard that she thought her ribs would crack.
And under their feet, they felt the moving of fleshy parts but could not look down to see them. The thought made their stomachs lurch in disgust. Arms and legs came together at imperfect seams with a body that was mangled and slowly became tact with the Watcher magic.
“Uhire, demon witch, come to this body,” Lahcear called out cracking a small vile down onto the floor. A demon black smoke rose in a thin line an entered the crude looking body.
“By the supreme,” Shadowstar whispered at the sight of the zombie demon body. She heard Flicker curse to himself at the sight of this monster.
“No go, Uhire! Curse those warriors which dare to destroy us!” Lahcear ordered and his beast ran out of the corridors half monster and half human.
“Now watch the fun,” Lahcear drifted towards one of the roof stairwells pulling his captives behind him.
And it was easy as a chant. Uhire stretched out its hand towards the Avalon warriors and spoke words in an ancient tongue. One that Shadowstar could recognize enough to know that he was paralyzing their foes. One by one the Avalonians dropped to the ground unable to move and only able to watch the events with silent bodies.
Uhire picked them up one by one and threw them down towards the feet of the fighting Olympians who stopped the blow to the ground. And after a moment of shock wore off of the 3 gods, Uhire stretched those crooked figures and chanted the words. Each of the gods fell to the curse like a paper doll.
“And now you both are all alone,” his voice became darker than ever.
“Till we find our placeOn the path unwindingIn the circle The circle of life”Circle of Life, Elton John
‘We have to do this ourselves, Flicker,’ Shadowstar spoke to him on a mental level. The understood each other’s thoughts and fears for that single moment.
‘We gotta go back to the basics,’ Flicker spoke to her, ‘There is latent Kindred power all over this joint. We’ve all felt it… now we have to use it like we were back on Avalon.’
‘Use the power that manipulated me for so long…’ Her thoughts became a whisper as her mind went deep down into levels of the heart of the world that no other mind had ever reached. Flicker used his closeness to her mind to find immediate ability in the unseen depths of the Kindred.
White flecks of light started to dance around his fingertips as he pulled the light from the unseen stars in the sky with all of his might. The light became so blinding and so hot that it seared through the hold that Lahcear had on him. He jumped down to the ground and Lahcear turned around in shock. Flicker formed the light into the shape of a piercing sharp dagger. He leapt over a blow by Lahcear and ripped through the personal shield the Watcher had maintained.
As Lahcear dropped to his knees with pain from the blow, he managed to bat Flicker away from him. The weakness in Lahcear allowed Shadowstar to break through his holding with ease. And Flicker watched as a burning fury of green psionic energy poured from her hands and eyes… something he had not seen since their first meeting three years ago.
A mad fury of energy found it’s way to Lahcear who tried to fight it back with whatever weakened power he had left. Flicker slowly stood up and created a long blade with his newfound Kindred manipulation. As Shadowstar slowly began to crush Lahcear with her vengeful rage, Flicker reached high above him and ended the persecution immediately.
Lahcear gave a stiffened gasp and fell limply onto the ground. And as he fell to a final death, Uhire disappeared from creation.
Shadowstar released a giant mass of energy into the atmosphere that was still bottled up inside of her. Her wings and arms stretched out like an awakening gargoyle at the hour of dusk. And then the power dissolved into nothing and her body fell back from it. Flicker let the blade dissolve back into the light of day as he put his arms around her and silently told her that it was time for them to leave. He flung himself over her back as she spread her wings once more and jumped off of the side of the castle not wanting to ever touch it’s walls again.
The currents let them descend over there now rising friends and family. The curse was broken at the death of its creator.
Oberon nodded to them in pride, “Let us finally leave this place in victory.”
He and Rhayna put their hands on the tide pool and played with its mystics quickly realizing how it worked from this side of the realm. The waters began to swirl as they found the ripple to the XX2 reality, their home.
“There are thousands of us in every corner of existence, you will never defeat us!” A voice shouted from the edges of the falling night. Through shadows the Avalon warriors saw glowing eyes coming for them and Oberon made the ultimate decision as quickly as any lord could.
“Shadowstar, consume the tide pool with your power.”
“But Oberon-“ She started to protest.
“Do as I say!” His word was final. Shadowstar touched her hand to the ground to absorb what was left of the power the Kindred had and put her hand on the top of the Tide pool of Infinite Possibilities. Inch by inch the pool started to glitter and glow with the power she was able to generate. Her invisible grasp started to hold each molecule in her hand… and she could feel it’s inner workings as Rhayna kept the vortex open.
Sprays of rainbow colored energy started to come their way. Flicker created a golden shield of prism colors to protect the working Shadowstar.
“Shadowstar, you need to pull it in with you to close on itself and enter our world… it will press against you, but you hold on and press back,” Oberon held her chin in his hand as sweat poured down her face from holding onto the working mystical power. He then pushed everybody including Flicker through the vortex with his mighty strength. He put his hand around her ankle and jumped through the vortex himself. In a fight of will and strength Shadowstar kept her mind focused on every atom of the tide pool and let it form with her power like it was part of her, and in that moment she understood it and became it. And when they reached Avalon, the vortex collapsed. Shadowstar landed by the Tide pool’s will in the heart of Avalon’s soil where it landed and formed as if it had always been there.
Their eyes all watched realities ripple by them as Shadowstar half collapsed into its waters.
“It is now our responsibility to protect those realities that bore us,” Oberon spoke the words that the Kindred held dear to their hearts for so long. The words were so close to their soul that they would stop at no event or no cost to make sure that they were able to protect it. And that cost fell upon each member of this Avalon in this reality designated as XX2.
Midnight came slowly that evening along with the morning sun, but Shadowstar and Flicker remained by the tide pool watching people and events occur across countless realities. And for one moment, he had understood what it was like to be a Kindred and why they did what they had to do.
“Funny how things worked out… you spent so long running from the Kindred, and now we are the Kindred,” He finally spoke laying on his belly twirling the water with his finger. Images of families, pets, and faeries floated from the motion.
Shadowstar shook her head watching a vision of Goliath float by, “No, we are to pure and good to be Kindred. We are Avalon, and we are doing what we need to do to protect ourselves and other Avalons.”
Flicker suddenly had a grin stretch across his elfin face, “Now that the Kindred are gone, is their curse on you broken?”
Shadowstar had forgotten about Iara’s curse after living with it for the past years, “A curse is only as good as the person who gave it to you. I’m free from it now.”
He stood up quickly and took her hand, “Good, because there’s some place I’d like to take you.”
She stretched her wings out and laughed as they took flight becoming lost in the morning sun that was coming up over the horizon.
~Fin~
And so concludes the saga of Shadowstar. I hope you see in her those things that I saw for so many years.