In the darkness of the trees

The eerie silence of the hallways was kind of comforting to you as you threaded passed doors of students already sleeping or still up studying. You were so used to the midnight escapades you had when you were feeling frustrated or just couldn't sleep. But this time, it wasn't any of those two. It was two boys who happened to have something planned in the woods for the night, and you just happened to overhear their conversation.

The hallway encircled one side of the mansion that was covered in windows that served as natural light in the morning. The view outside was smoggy and dark, barely visible in the dark.

When you reached the bottom of the stairs to the foyer, you grabbed a lantern by the wall and quietly left through the front door, pursuing the two boys. The front door was locked but you were an expert in escapades that you've learned to pick a lock or two.

Walking out towards the woods, it was incredibly dark and the trees loomed over you. You lost sight of them when the thickets of the trees became much lusher and the fog wasn't helping much either.

"This is the dumbest crap you've ever pulled Em!" you grunted to yourself whilst trudging through loose soil and wet mud from the earlier rain. The only illumination was from the lantern that barely reached two feet from you and the shine of the moon.

"I could really use a night-vision spell about now," you grumbled. "Where the hell did you go?!" you added in frustration. You stumbled and got caught on shrubs and branches here and there until you finally made it out unto a clearing, where a huge rock ridge was in the middle of it.

"I am definitely deep into the forest now." you took another look around before finally deciding that they probably went back already. The whole place was eerie and quiet so the simplest of rustle could be heard. A twig snapped and your gaze immediately went to a shadow moving passed the tress.

"Kieran? Caelum is that you?" you asked as the shadow moved once again, getting closer to you. "It's not funny. You guys shouldn't be out here!" you yelled once more but no one answered.

You turned around but you stopped in your tracks, your eyes widened and your breath hitched in your throat.

In front of you was a creature, with skin so dark it was like a burnt charcoal and with elongated legs stood two meters, arms so long it reached the ground, with talons for fingers. It stood there, staring at you with an awfully familiar set of purple eyes. Your eyes widened, even more, to see the torn fabric against its skin, with the school crest on its chest, like it outgrew the uniform, then it hit you.

"Is that you…Caelum?" you asked in a whisper. It seemed to become aggravated when you called its name. "Caelum what happened to you? Where's Kieran?" you looked all over when he suddenly appeared, carrying heavy chains and some clothes that looked like a spare uniform, out of breath and frustrated.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Kieran yelled when he saw you. You were startled and it aggravated Caelum even more. Caelum suddenly lunged at you blindingly, "Caelum, no! Not her!" Kieran yelled but Caelum was already in front of you, shoving you painfully to the wall of the rock ridge making you wince in pain from the contact made to your back.

You felt a sharp pain in your shoulder as you slumped to the ground. Kieran immediately ran towards you, Caelum stood there with all his height snarling at you.

"Caelum! Remember your name! You're my brother!" Kieran shouted, you stared at Caelum's form, you pieced together what was happening, and you stood up slowly. Caelum slammed his talon-like hands next to your head, making you flinch but you stood your ground.

Caelum's purple eyes gazed at you intensely, you could definitely make out Caelum's face, he looked like he was in pain so you slowly reached towards his face, which he flinched away from, "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. Please, it's me. Emilia, you know, the only human girl in a school full of magic, you met earlier. " you exclaimed. When he recognized you, he calmed down, and you finally touched his face once he did. He just stood there, as you held his face and see his eyes go back to their original purple colour.

"It's going to be alright," you whispered lowly, you saw Kieran motioning for you to help him direct Caelum to a nearby tree. You slowly moved away while still holding him, this time you slowly reached for his talon hands and motioned for him to follow you.

As soon as you reached the tree, "Now!" Kieran gave you the other end of the chain and you immediately surrounded Caelum and successfully tied him to the tree with it. "Phew, well shit. I'm glad you recognized him, even if he is--" he looked at Caelum's form, "like this." you finally released the breath you didn't realize you were holding.

You slumped to the ground and just sat there. Kieran was startled and went to you, "Are you alright, are you hurt?" he scanned you for any injuries but when he accidentally touched your shoulder you cried out in pain.

"Ahh!" a sudden jolt of pain shot up from your left shoulder, it was definitely dislocated. The pain became more unbearable as you moved it.

"Shit! It's probably broken. We'll treat it when we get back but for now…" he scanned around for anything to use, "Aha, let's use this." then he grabbed a nearby stick and used the torn shirt that probably belonged to Caelum he was carrying to use as a sling, tying it around your neck to support your broken arm.

"Falling off my bed will be far-fetched of a story for a broken arm but falling off a ladder in the library will do." you said, giving out examples of how to explain the damage, "So, can you tell me what the hell is going on?" you asked.

Kieran looked at you and glared, "The question is, what the hell are you doing here?" he fired back the question at you. You contemplated whether or not to tell you the truth but you just gave in.

"I followed you alright?" you shrugged and Kieran looked at you like you grew two heads, "Because, I can't just let two idiots get in trouble for an assignment which turned out wasn't for the assignment, but a certain situation that can't be known. So, are you telling me what that situation is or not?" you were absolutely not backing out, glaring at him.

He stared at you for a moment before sighing, "Fine, since you're here already and handled the situation better than I expected," Kieran took a deep breath, looking at Caelum's form, tied up to the tree. He sighed, "Caelum…he's a Shadow Child." you were startled.

You were going to ask but decided to let him finish before doing so. "Yeah, it's exactly what you're thinking. The exact same Shadow Child from the book you took from the library." he swept his hand on his head, "It's far fetched but you can't exactly deny it while it's already staring at you right in the face now can you?." he said motioning to Caelum.

"He and I were raised together, kind of like brothers." he paused, "Please know that whatever it is that I am telling you, cannot be known by anyone else, this is a secret only I and my family know about." you nodded.

"My family," he began, "the Crius household have always been close with Caelum's family, the Delvaux household, and they have this sort of alliance amongst other houses." you've heard about that. How the old families have been in secret covens since the olden days.

"One day they all suddenly left, my father found out when he visited the Delvaux Manor, and it was like no one was ever there. The walls that adorned pictures and full-sized paintings were bare, and all the furniture disappeared. It was empty, lifeless, the ballroom that used to host big balls and parties was quiet and eerie." he described.

"He heard a cry, it was a baby and that baby was Caelum." you put your hand in your mouth, and you started to feel the heat in your eyes as it well up with tears, imagining being abandoned by your own family as a baby, left to die.

"It had been a week at least since the Delvaux' left so it would mean that Caelum was left there to die, and by the time my father found him, the curse had already set in place. But luckily our bloodline goes so far, way back to ancient magic, so we consulted distant ancestors' magic, and spells and studied the ways to reverse the curse. We were able to figure out how to stabilize his condition, that's why he's still a human, and that is also why he only turns during a full moon." he pointed to the bright moon as its beams shone throughout the darkness of the forest.

" It's more like a werewolf situation but he still can't control it. However, in all the years that I helped him keep calm, you were the only one that succeeded." he grinned and shook his head, "He's never been this calm and quiet before. We used to lock him up in the cellar during a full moon, he would bang the doors loudly and make these sounds that just kept everyone awake until dawn." his face mirrored his emotions so clearly about his experiences with Caelum that you took his hand and held it in yours.

"I'll help you," you said confidently which surprised him. "I know that we just met and all that, but I want to help Caelum. It's not his fault for becoming like this." your voice almost broke from the unimaginable pain and suffering they must've felt through the years.

You gave him a wide smile, "You never abandon friends, and you always find ways to help each other no matter what." Kieran couldn't help it and hugged you which surprised you even more. You didn't know how to react so you stood stiff for a moment until you finally put your arms around him, patting him on the back in the process.

"Thank you Em," he whispered. You pulled away, "But there is one problem." he grunted. "We used a spell so that he could only change on full moons, but we haven't exactly figured out how to reverse the curse completely. He could be reunited with those who abandoned him and it'll reverse the curse but we tried to track down his family but they all vanished, like they never even existed." what kind of family leaves their baby to die and vanishes into thin air?

"So that's one option down and it also isn't as easy as having a group hug with the very people that abandoned you." he growled half sarcastic, "They also have to have a ritual of reconciliation I think, the abandoned has to fully accept those who abandoned him but if things go wrong, Caelum can become a permanent Shadow Child." you waited for the next option but he kept quiet like he was mentally deliberating with himself whether or not to tell you.

"And? What's the next option?" he looked between you and Caelum before shaking his head.

"It's a bit complicated, and I'm really not sure. Only my family knows the full details, something about a spell. But we don't need to worry about that right now, for now, let's just wait for the sun to come up." he was keeping something from you, you know it but you refrained from asking.

The both of you just sat down on the grass silently waiting for the sun to come up. A few hours later the moon went down and the dawn started to break until the clearing shone with sunlight and you watched as Caelum started to transform little by little. His arms and legs got shorter until they were back to normal, and his skin was getting lighter until all evidence of being a Shadow Child was gone.

"Wow…that's the first time I've ever seen something like that," you whispered. Caelum had his eyes closed but everything else was back to normal, except his torn school uniform and his bare feet of course.

Kieran silently went towards Caelum and unlocked the chains, he motioned for you to wake Caelum up while he unchained him. You slowly approached him and crouched down, gently patting Caelum's face, "Caelum, are you alright?" you asked. Caelum slowly opened his eyes, they gazed at you and he suddenly stood up realizing who you are. "Emilia?" he asked.