Nimrais meets a friend for life
Nimrais stood in the dim lit cave, looking at the wall where the shadows were dancing. The campfire behind her was flickering wildly, letting the reflections move vividly around.
Nimrais had been here for about 2 months now. The cave seemed perfect for her. It had an affinity to grey magic, magic she was used to, and magic she needed. She was somewhat surprised that no wizard had found it earlier, but then again, grey magic does what grey magic does. The magical energies seeped into her, around her, and she used it to stay hidden, to keep low. She didn’t want to be found, not after what happened.
The dark shroud surrounding her was gone this time around. After all, she figured she didn’t need any magical concealment when she herself had kept a fire going today. As she looked at the wall, she wondered why indeed she had made the small campfire. She didn’t need the light to see in the dark, she didn’t need the warmth to stay alive, and she didn’t need the heat to prepare her food. “It must have been the habit,” she thought to herself. Indeed, when she was travelling with Alenco and his band of brigands, she mostly did the errands like lighting the fire. But that wouldn’t explain why she sometimes did it, and more often than not didn’t bother. “Either that, or it gives me something to do.” She looked at the shadows again, a wry smile appearing on her lips. Not a smile of happiness, far from it. It seemed more like a smile someone might make when she realized she felt less sad than earlier, less lonelier.
“So, Shadow Nimrais,” she addressed to the reflection she casted on the wall, “seems like we got ourselves into a dire situation indeed. But atleast we have eachother for company, do we not?!” She wanted to laugh, but couldn’t do it. Getting slightly annoyed at the motionless shadow, atleast as far as motionless goes for a shadow cast by a flickering campfire, she decided to move herself, to make it seem more lively. Just when she was about to open her mouth and reply to herself, she heard a sound, no more than a sound, a voice.
“Indeed we do, Nimrais. Indeed we do. But this is better than to stay with that rotten rat. Surely, if you didn’t save yourself from his claws, you would have gone mad.”
She looked back at her own shadow. That wasn’t the place the voice came from. But from where then? The voice had no real origin. It sounded around her. It sounded inside of her.
She turned around and looked through the cave. And there, in the opening, stood a tall and dark figure. It didn’t make much sense. He stood behind the fireplace, he was supposed to be lit, not shrouded in darkness. It was night, so there wasn’t coming any light from the cave entrance behind her.
“Who are you and why are you following me,” Nimrais demanded sternly, not showing any sign of being startled anymore.
“I am your friend in need. I’ve been with you for some time now, watching over you.” The voice was deep, slightly echoing within itself. Not the kind of echo her voice made within the cave. She recognized the voice. It sounded familiar, she heard this before.
“Which means I’m not crazy,” she thought to herself, “the voice I heard belonged to him, to this.. apparition. It’s not inside my head. Or is it?” The last sentence sounded more damning then as an actual question.
The dark shadow of a man walked forward, around the flames, but not becoming any lighter. Nimrais felt no fear, no suspicion, she knew deep down it was ok. The figure was extremely close now. She could see the very small purple lights in his head, where his eyes should have been. The figure raised his hand in greeting and spoke, and although Nimrais wasn’t aware of it, she mouthed the words simultaneously as they were said. “Hello Nimrais, I am Alex Ale’moss.”
