» every broken promise

VARUNA Your growing bravery takes you farther than you've ever adventured. A few days ago, you found yourself at the edge of the rainforest. You adjourned yourself from the labyrinth of tress to find a thick veil of shadow impeding your venture onward. It breathed like smoke, wispy and receding, and you decided on sticking around to investigate.  The curiosity of a babe knows no bounds, and you are still brand new. Something about the wall has snagged your impressionable mind; it tugs at your bones like puppet strings, marionetting you closer and keeping you near because like instinct you know something magical is happening. You taste it in the air like salt on a sea breeze—bitter and pungent and heavy—and it is leavened with notes of caution. You hear mother's voice: Take heed, child; and are reminded of a time when you were chased from your birthland by a similar shade...  There are monsters in the shadows. You soon realize it's not your mother's voice you hear, but a choir; disembodied and strange. It tickles your ears and disrupts your rest. You lift your head and blink the sleep from your mismatched eyes, noticing that others have gathered... to see him.  You remember. The shifting shadow parts of his chimera body have often visited your dreams. You doubt you'll ever forget it, nor the day the sun went out and you were dumped out of the sky into this place of neverending rain. It stands tall and silent, shadows like snakes writhing about it, seemingly more alive than the creature they shroud. You're not sure why, but you hate it. Where did it take your mother? Your ears pin to your nape. Do not knock over the bonelights. …And what happens if we do? Tears claw at the back of your eyes and you bare your teeth, white flashing between black lips like lightning splitting a dark sky. Bright rage coils in your chest, a tight and white-hot knot. It boils til the floodgates fling open, and, knowing better but not caring (you are brave!) you charge toward one of the "bonelights" the ominous voice told you not to knock over and try to do exactly that. In a desperate tantrum you reach down and try to yank it from the ground with your teeth, thrashing your head like a dog playing tug-of-war. Take that, scary dark shadow thing! Dear Varuna, you should learn more about the world before you go and get yourself killed. and calm your heart, the dark is still the dark

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