It s.h.i.+mmered with shadows of black and grey, glowing in the moonlight.

Upon touching it, Lucy gasps, almost dropping the Dark Quartz. Still, Lucy put the Dark Quartz to her eye.

Lucy's ever-present caress of air disappeared, causing her breath to turn heavy as her tent and the maze vanishes. Lucy s.h.i.+vers upon black ice, gazing outward. It was an abyss of perfect Dark. The Dark s.h.i.+mmered without color. Nothing but black.

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Still. Empty. Silent. Darkness. But what is darkness? The absence of light or the presence of dark? '

Perhaps I can catch the Dark? Lucy holds out both hands, her fingers searching for Dark within the Dark. Soon, her palm stilled. It was molten in her hand, not liquid yet not solid. "What is Darkness?" Lucy's whisper fades before reaching her ears. "Is it absence or is it the entirety?"

A void that isn't a void. A hole that seemed to whisper of promise. Perhaps a black hole? Dark consumes all, growing ever bigger, new creations stirring within. Perhaps that was it. Darkness was an emptiness that grew. Darkness was silence that bespoke of song.

Lucy rubbing her palms together, the satin Darkness warming her fingers. "So warm" Lucy whispers, placing it against her lips. It drove out her chill, quickening her blood. It felt much like an ice cube, a molten ice cube. How strange.

Gripping each side, Lucy tugs, teasing the Dark into strings. Lucy twists the strings and wraps the new thread of Darkness across her waist. Her core warmed as it melded to her body.

Still, her skin ached, seeking touch. Lucy lifted her hands, feeling the Darkness curling around her hand like an eager puppy. It slipped and slid against her, coming up her arm, finally coiling around her neck. Lucy strokes it, unafraid by how it felt like a choker.

Doesn't Darkness cause pain? Cause death? Why do you feel so secure? So gentle to me?

The longer Lucy felt the more she felt. Not just the Dark she seized, but Darkness flowing across every inch of her skin. Soft like satin, taunt like gla.s.s, chilly as ice as it warmed her body. Void of color, void of warmth, it swirled, endlessly growing.

The Darkness flowed around her in a whirlpool, drawing her mind to it, any other thoughts impossible. Lucy tugs at her drawers, exposing her thigh, tracing the path of the Dark's path upon her skin.

Her fingers drew so many times, it began to burn, and itch. Lucy stops, but it persists. Darkness pours onto her thigh, a squeak escaping Lucy, feeling an ice burn.

Lucy gaps, gripping her thigh, stunned as the pain fades. Beneath her hands, Darkness flows along the pattern in her skin. Lucy frowns, and tugs the Dark away, but more Darkness flowed in, moving along the path burned into her skin.

~~~

Despite repeated examinations of her new mark Lucy remained clueless as to why the Dark's tide path imprinted on her skin. She put it out of her mind, beginning to shape Dark much like Play-dough. She made snakes, cars, people, sharks, boats, houses, skysc.r.a.pers, leaves, trees, flowers, and the alphabets of English, Zillic and what she knew of Runic.

As Lucy plays, the Dark became more pliable in her hands, more responsive, more accepting. Even docilely becoming threads for Lucy to braid.

Time pa.s.sed without meaning as Lucy explored the Dark, not feeling hunger or weariness. Lucy was braiding a rope of Darkness when charcoal black spread from the edges.

Lucy freezes, her gaze suddenly full. Her brain was pierced, the rope sliding from her hand.

She slammed back to solidness, seeing the dawn. Lucy covers her chest, gasping, her eyes stinging at the sunlight. "What was that?" Lucy whispers. A shadow. It must have been a shadow. Is a shadow Darkness or Light? Perhaps it's the bane of Light as Darkness claims the light, obscuring its glow. Lucy's head throbbed, her eyes squeezing shut. "Owie!"

My tent will be better. Lucy stands, stepping forward, but her toes catch, and Lucy faceplants. Spoons, bowls, and platters spread across the ground.

Lucy gawks at the dishes that surrounded her. How long was I there?