Darkness #1 の小説・ストーリー

He is just watching. “Drake, please!” I cry out. The darkness lunges. It hits me from behind, a cold, suffocating weight that slams me back into the mud. I try to kick, to fight, but the shadow is everywhere. It’s in my hair, under my skin, behind my eyes. It whispers things I don't want to hear. It tells me that the light is a lie. It tells me that I belong here, in the dark. …beep…

Darkness. Not ordinary darkness. The kind that existed before the first story had ever been told. Adrian stood alone beneath the dying White Tree. Every candle in the Hall of Readers had gone out... Except one. His. Its lonely flame burned with unwavering determination, casting a faint golden light across the endless void. The First Reader slowly rose to his feet. For the first time since Adrian had met him... He looked uncertain. "He chose differently..." the First Reader whispered. The Stranger answered quietly,

Ina had been born. The club lived. A universe of light and darkness, where sin ran rampant, and secrets were exchanged under bass beats. Music thudded off walls like a pulse, neon illuminating a dangerous sheen on bodies in motion to the rhythm of the night. Ina came, the heel of her shoe clicking against marble, and eyes following involuntarily without so much as a thought. Power. Freedom. Danger. She breathed it all. Tonight, she was not Lily. Tonight, she was better. She was unbeatable.

Talk about a dichotomy. I slowly opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was Ryder’s gaze that remained fixed on mine. As though he couldn't quite look away. As though he didn't want to. Something dangerously close to hope fluttered inside my chest. There wasn't a single trace of disappointment in his expression. No regret or uncertainty. Only wonder. This was real. The realization sent another wave of warmth through me. Somehow, impossibly, unbelievably real. Ryder Landon was my mate. The words still didn't seem to fit together properly. I had spent a long time admiring him from a distance. Wishing that he was mine but not believing it was possible.

And the darkness erupted again— a second wave, stronger, sharper, slicing through the air. The brute disintegrated. Not into dust. Into gory shadows. Body parts splattered everywhere across the ground with darkened blood and screams erupted across the field now. “She’s not wolf!” “That’s darkness!” A third brute lunged toward the guards. I lifted my hand. And for a split second, the world dimmed. Darkness spiraled from my fingers, wrapping the brute in a living shadow that burned and twisted before bursting outward into nothingness. The brute fell dead.

Whole. Ready. And for the first time— The darkness had something new to fear.

** The Choice of Shadows** Clara stood alone in the center of the room, her body trembling as the shadows of her mind crept closer. The words of the dark figure echoed in her mind, each one a weight, pushing down on her soul. You are the darkness, Clara. You can’t outrun it. It’s a part of you. Always has been. She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. The power inside her was like a tempest—wild, unpredictable, and, at times, terrifying. But it was also exhilarating. It was power, a raw, unbridled force that surged through her veins.

The Darkness pushed as I clenched my fist, closed my eyes, and began to hum, using the humming to block out the voice of the Darkness and focus my intention on blocking out the Darkness's ploy. The Darkness's voice, a persistent whisper, echoed in the depths of my mind. It promised it threatened, it persuaded, but I remained steadfast. I knew its true intentions, its insatiable hunger for power and souls. My twins were innocent, mere infants, and I would protect them at all costs.

Darkness crashes in. And I feel nothing at all.

'The Darkness is known to always do two things - take a life...and spare one.' 1871 The young girl woke in the dead of the night. It was unusual. She was always awakened by the first rays of morning. She could not see anything as she lied face up in her bed, and for a moment, she forgot where she was. Her breathing intensified as her eyes darted around, only to be met by more darkness, except for a small opening above her where a very faint light flowed in and she could hear the sound of the leaves rustling in the breeze outside.