I awaken in a room, lying on the floor next to Angel. "Uhhhhh," I groan, sitting up and rubbing my head. We must've fallen at least 20 feet. How were we even still alive? That's when I notice that I'm sitting on a pile of leaves. Not just any leaves, but vivid purple ones, just like the ones from my dream.
I seem to be the only one awake. Even though the leaves helped soften the fall, we were all knocked unconscious. With no one to talk to, I decide to explore a little bit to see where we had fallen.
Due to my strange ability to see in the dark, I have no problem navigating. Not that there's much to see. We appeared to have fallen into an abandoned mineshaft, just a tunnel with wooden beams every few feet. There's even a minecart track, which I've only seen in cartoons. All in all, though, it's pretty boring, so I decide to go back and wait for the others to wake up.
That's when I see it out of the corner of my eye—a shadow moving just out of sight. I turn around, hoping to catch whatever it was, but it's gone. I start walking again, but the same shadow appears in the corner of my eye. Paranoid now, I speed up, hoping that if I make it to everyone else, this creepy shadow will go away.
I don't get far. Suddenly, something jumps in front of me—or more like it phases out of the wall in front of me. I have to hold back a scream because now standing directly in front of me is a creature that you would see in your nightmares. It's tall and humanoid, with long clawed hands and dangly legs. It has a head, but only one eye, and horns. And even worse, It seems to be made entirely out of shadows, sucking in all of the light around it.
I turn to run in the other direction, but there's another one behind me. I'm trapped and going to die. "Well," I think, "if I'm going to die, I'm not going to go down without a fight." I approach the nearest one and punch it directly in the stomach. My hand passes right through, and I shudder at how cold the inside of the thing is. "Just what in the world are these things?" I think to myself.
One of the dark creatures steps forward and... offers its hand. Completely bewildered, I take it, and instantly I gain a sense of understanding for these strange beings. Then they surprise me even more by speaking. "Master, I see you have awakened."
"Huh?" I exclaim. "Did you just call me master?" The creature replies, "Yes, you are our master. We have waited a long time to speak to you. Come." It gestures. "We have much to talk about."
After speaking with them, I found out that they are called Shadelites and that they were created by a man called Walter Nighthart. But after he died, they had nobody to talk to or follow, so they just wandered from place to place, looking for their master's son, nicknamed the Night Wielder, master of shadows.
"So, wait. You're telling me that I'm this, Night Wielder?" I ask incredulously.
"Yes, I can see clearly. You look exactly like your father," the Shadelite responds.
"But my father died in the war. My mom said so. How can I be the person you seek?"
"Have you not noticed anything odd? Like the ability to see even in complete darkness?"
"Well, yeah. But what does this mean exactly?"
"It is a sign that you are awakening. And none too soon. Thanatos is stirring in his sleep. He will soon wake up, and then it will be too late. Judoria and all worlds will be under his control, including yours."
"What are you talking about? Who is Thanatos? Why is him waking up bad? And what is Judoria?"
The Shadelite sighs. "I'm afraid that I can't tell you any more. But I will tell you this: Beware the Eternal Night."
"Wha—"
But he stops me. "No more questions. I have already revealed way too much. I must go now, and you must go to your friends and sister."
"But—"
"Go now." He pushes me forward, and I turn around to say more, but he and all of the rest of the Shadelites are gone, leaving me alone once again.
With nothing left to do, I go back to where we fell down to find that Angel is awake. "How long have you been awake, and where have you been?" she demands.
"Jeez, calm down," I try to reassure her, but it only seems to make her angrier.
"Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down when I've just fallen down into a large hole, and now we don't know if we'll ever see the surface again? It's all your fault." Here, she breaks down crying.
I'm at a loss for what to do. Seeing girls cry is not something I'm used to because I'm almost never around any girls, except for my sister, but she doesn't count. So when I see Angel crying, all I can do is go over and sit down beside her silently.
"Don't worry," I say reassuringly. "I will personally find a way out and reunite you with your family."
"You don't understand," she sobs. "I don't have a family. I don't even have an actual house. I was living in that warehouse until you caused the floor to cave in. So now, even if we do make it out, I have nowhere to go."
"Oh, I didn't know. I, uh, I..." She cuts me off. "No, it's okay. It's not your fault. I don't have a family. I shouldn't have put that on you like that." She gets up and walks to the edge of the room, no longer crying. She then says, "Right now, we have to focus on finding a way out of here."
"Yeah," I agree, starting to explore. But I only make it a little ways back. From what I saw, we're in some sort of abandoned mineshaft. "Wait, how can you see? It's really dark in here."
"Oh, yeah. For some reason, I can see in the dark. I don't know why," I reply.
"That's strange but surprisingly useful. You'll have to guide me, then, since you can see and I can't," she says.