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"We live in a world of reflection where balance thrives. To the left, it is right. To love there is hate, and to darkness, there is always light."

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[SHADE SHADOWS]

"And how was your day, master?" I asked as I stacked the books on the table.

A smile was stained on my face involuntarily. My spirits had dampened after his crass comment but re-lit after the redemption of the one that followed.

Perhaps I was foolish to be happy simply because of a compliment. The thought paused me.

No- I shouldn't be too high upon horses to believe a master would actually offer such a thing to the likes of a Keffer. I admit it sent something warm deep down my insides to hear of my difference being spoken in a different light.

One that seemed positive.

I hoped, though hope was dangerous, that it was how he truly saw me. It was refreshing to hear it be spoken so highly, not as a peculiarity or a deformity, not as a curse but a thing of-
Perfection.

My smile returned, and I glanced at the master that had shown up, standing a few feet behind me.

He had an expression on his face I couldn't quite tell, but when our eyes locked, like before when I was caged in them as he helped me pick the books, I marveled at the shades of them.

I still did not know the exact color of them.

And every time our eyes met, the more often, it seemed the previous fear that I had, that any word I would say could be held against me had dissolved.

Instead, I had grown a curiosity, one that was fueled by each side the master showed me.

I knew he was a blunt man, who had no reason to care for the feelings of others, and yet he accepted to be my friend. Even now, when I couldn't control the anger that had crossed me when he reminded me of my title, I had recoiled, believing I would certainly be punished for speaking to him like that-

However, he remained silent. And then....

He listened.

He called me by name this time, and despite his brass nature, he fished for the right words to say-

Truly, it could have been uttered a lot better, but I understood the effort the moment he spoke it.

"I know the day has just begun, but you did not visit yesterday," I informed, glancing at him, as I fixed the book.

"Was it alright? It was a dark day filled with storms and lightning, I don't imagine there were many places to go."

When I looked back at him, his previous expression had-been displaced, his gaze shifting off me as he walked around the table, taking a seat.

"No, there was not much." He replied rather quietly.

I registered this, my eyebrows arching. I did not know why I was interested to know what caused that reaction in him.

"Are you alright?" I asked, my head tilting to the side.

His gaze snapped to me, "What sort of question is that? Am I hurt somewhere?" He grunted, touching his face for a moment, "Bleeding? It should be highly unlikely. My wolf takes great care of these things-"

I couldn't help but chuckle, causing his eyebrows to arch momentarily, watching me in what seemed like confusion and wonder.

I assumed he did not like being laughed at so I stopped, pursing my lips though I couldn't contain the amusement in my eyes.

"No. Of course not." I grinned.

My gaze shifted to face, marveling for a moment, the red littering his black hair in long streaks, being about those eyes I couldn't quite place on the color spectrum.

Quietness roamed between us, "You just seem, out of place.." I finished.

He blinked for a moment, then searched my eyes, a realization crossing over him.

"You were asking how I was feeling." He stated.

I nodded, now a bit confused as I watched his expression, "Have you never been asked before?" I joked.

When his eyes darkened slightly and I watched a whisper of loneliness fill them, I felt them fill mine. A touch of a feeling that seemed to echo against my skin. He looked away, for a moment, swallowing lightly.

"I don't recall a moment."

The air was heavy between us, as I watched him. I couldn't understand why he seemed so isolated. Was this the price that came with being favored by a man like the Night Wolf? Was he feared to that extent that even men he held in reverence were feared too?

But why did it seem like the master before me's isolation run deep? Like it was created from the moment he was born.

Never had a friend before. Not even his youth.

I pursed my lips looking away, trying to lighten the mood. This was difficult for him I tried to sympathize.

"Well, you will soon get tired of it. I make it a point to make sure all my friends are well." I grinned, offering him a smile, to which he looked on in curiosity.

It was then I realized I had never seen him smile. Not even once. How peculiar.

An urge formed within me. A solemn promise.

Perhaps our friendship was not built on a sturdy foundation. There were certain parts I didn't trust myself.

But I know the truth when I see it. It was written behind the heaviness in his eyes, his loneliness was apparent.

So, for however long it lasts, this friendship we formed, I will, I will get him his lips to rise in warmth, even if it is ever so slightly. At least it would leave a footprint in one empty hallway of his life.

It must count for something.

"Well, will you sit and watch me work, or, perhaps," I pushed a stack of books his way, a small grin on my face.

In truth I was unsure how he would react to this. He could simply refuse and I would not hold it against him. He was a master, and this was my Job.

A slave's job.

His gaze dropped to the books, his fingers gleaming in silver wealthy rings, grasping the edges, "I will walk with you."

The statement was blunt, but it made my heart shiver as I watched him get up, pulling the stack of books closer toward him.

With me.

Not before me as a master leads his slave, but beside me, like a friend.

My gaze followed him upwards and I soon remembered that he was certainly a master.

I needed no wolf to acknowledge this. He had an authoritative stance, and towered high above me and half of the men I had ever seen in my life. His shoulders were wide, and his eyes blank at first glance, but I have seen them more than once and I know they hold more-

So
Much
More.

I nod at this gesture, getting a few books up, and he trailed around the table, walking beside me as we slipped through the rows.

"Was he angry then?" I asked.

He glanced at me, seemingly confused and I continued to explain.

"The Night Wolf, yesterday? Madam says we should fear the dark days, but they are much more harmless than on the dark days it storms and thunders," I explained.

I noticed he was quiet, but I kept on.

"Did he call you to his presence? Is it not scary in those moments before him?"

"He was not in the castle for most of the dark day." He calmly stated.

"The howls.." I paused for a moment, before glancing at him, trying to ignore the fact I felt quite small beside him, "he was in the forest-" I muttered, realization crossing my features.

I had heard them in the distance as I stared out the window to the dark forest past the maze

"When he shifts it storms," I muttered mostly to myself.

That was it.

If Vale and I were to use the maze and then the forest to avoid the night wolf, we would have to pick a day when it did not storm.

"Yes." He replied. Once again, his answers were stale and stiff.

"Always?" I asked again. I had to be sure.

"Not always," he huffed, "when he was younger, he could shift without the dark day or the storms. But these things are connected to him. To his emotions."

I nodded at this, listening carefully. "The angrier he grew, the more out of control it got." I realized.

I could feel his gaze on me, as we turned into the row I had dusted, I paused, turning to him, "it is Because he can't find his mate?"

He let out a loose breath, eyes swimming in emotion. He nodded, and I pursed my lips, stacking the books.

"Do you think he is close? To be coming like his great grandfather?"

The master remained silent, causing me to turn. His hold on the books seemed to have tightened, his gaze trailing to me.

"I think they are days when he doesn't want to look at the sun or the moon."

I watched as he placed the books on the shelves I would have needed to drag the ladder to place.

"I am quite aware of all the songs they sing about the night wolf," I hummed, as he stacked, "and I am not foolish enough to think they are not true- I just believe if the moon could give him what he wishes, perhaps he would not be so cruel- why does the goddess hate him so much?"

He grunted at the question, and for a moment I truly thought he seemed irritated.

"I have no explanation for her destain of my kind, keffers.....perhaps his has one." I pushed.

Seconds passed before he spoke.

"The first Wolf, the Prime wolf, and first Alpha, Alexander the Prime was given 3 gifts. Fire, Ice, and Light." He explained.

"Light to lead, Fire to protect, and Ice to judge."

He glanced at me as I said this and my gaze fell, my cheeks warming up, "AMA taught me."

He nodded, looking away, "But like the Night Wolf, He was not given a mate." He continued, "But it was not a punishment. Selene thought it best that if he should retain the power to judge her creations for eternity, he should do so without distraction or influence, and for a time, for a couple of centuries, she was correct."

He placed each book perfectly, spines out and ready to be spotted. His fingers trailed a few of the first books, taking it out and placing it behind the others, before turning back to me. He took a few books off my stack to pack-and I listened attentively.

"But she created a human heart for him and if even gods themselves can not stand to be alone what made him different? He spoke of this to her, but she would not listen. The realms had only prospered the way she had created them. She thought creating anything more would be destruction. There was perfect balance. Nothing else was needed. So in desperation, he sought other ways-"

"The Shadow realm."

"The endless." He corrected, "a place filled with endless everything. Endless wants, endless emptiness, endless powers. Endless chaos. It came to him, whispered a solution- a host for it, in exchange for a mate."

My eyebrows arched, "what is the endless?"

"It is hard to describe." He paused, his gaze seemed to go off into nothingness, "It is everything and nothing at all. It is a mirror of worlds by which shadows and shades are born. It's a place and a being, a god in its own right-"

"And did it- did it give him a mate?" I managed to utter. I was taken in the story and though I knew the answer, something about hearing it from his lips seemed more genuine.

"It gave him chaos and night." He stated, "It corrupted him, and the gifts Selene gave him. Everything requires balance you see. Good and evil.." he trailed off, "Because of this she was forced to design him a balance. Something pure to counter his darkness."

I watched him as he finished stacking- he turned to face me, gaze drifting into mine, "His mate was called the Mage Wolf. A being designed entirely by light. She brought balance to the world, balance to his darkness."

I stared down at the floor, remembering the stories, "The mage wolf? But don't they sing songs of her destruction? Don't they speak of how she brought down the Empire? They call it the mages curse."

He nodded, "They say to create her, Selene took the Primes' immortality, a gift that allowed peace to reign under his rule for centuries. It was not twenty years later that the Prime Wolf died. They say all life had been taken from him. She was a mistake, is what history claims. For if she had never existed, our world would have been in harmony as Selene intended in the beginning. Death began in the lines of the Arcs after that. Her children, each born of Selene's gift, except the oldest, born of night."

"And that is why Selene despises the Night Wolf? Because he was created in the endless and the beginning of all destruction for her creation?" I asked.

He nodded, tilting his head to the side as he took a step forward, towering over me, he seemed to be too close as I looked into his eyes, holding my ground, though I was tempted to step back.

"She would rather not create a mate for that side of the prime wolf. If she had her way she would."

"But Criston the Cruel.."

"Balance," he breathed, his gaze shifted in mine, "even darkness itself yearns for it. It can not be denied for if it does, chaos is unleashed, but that does not mean she can not make it extremely difficult."

I let out a breath, trying to follow him. Difficult? What did he mean by that?

I had so many questions but none of them could be voiced clearly.

I couldn't think with our proximity, my brain was under fire. Perhaps it was his eyes that held me still, I do not know, but I could feel his warmth from here. My tone came out breathy-

"I-"

Diane flew right between us, our gaze landing on the bird as it perched.

My heart was thumping harshly, and it was only now that I registered it had been nonexistent a few moments ago.

"It's a peculiar thing isn't it?" The master asked.

I glanced at him, noting his eyes were now set on the bird and I nodded, moving away from him. I took a  stand near the Raven.

"Her name is Diane." I grinned, my fingers shifting through her feathers.

"Diane.." he repeated a certain mischief and a layer of amusement in his eyes as he turned toward us, "He seems attached to you."

I nodded at this, "I am in awe as well."

"It is not easy to gain the loyalty of a free bird, and yet, I've noticed he follows you wherever you go. Loyalty like that always comes as a price paid," his gaze dropped to me, a question in his eyes, "why does he seem bound to you?"

My fingers crippled and my heart thudded, as I glanced at the bird, knowing I could not say why. I promised AMA. She told me never to reveal it.

I did not wish to lie to a friend. But even Vale didn't know. I could not simply dispose of all my secrets, especially to a master.

I managed a nervous chuckle, "bound? You make it seem like I force her to be here. You would be mistaken, Diane here is quite free-" I grinned, my fingers shifting through her feathers, "I think she simply likes me."

He did not respond, and his gaze remained stationed in mine and for a moment, I thought he could read my soul.

I turned away, gazing at the bird and trying to breathe slower.

A blast of a horn in the distance caught both of our attention, my eyebrows arching, "w-what is that?"

He stared out into the direction of the blast, a rigid look dawning his face.

"Trouble." He muttered.

I tried to listen for another sound, but nothing came, "it sounded like a horn-" I began turning to face him but there was nothing there.

I looked around for him, "m-master?" I called into the darkness

Nothing else echoed back.

My gaze shifted to Diane, my face falling, "he left without saying goodbye didn't he?"

Diane cawed in reply.