The fight against the Night Predators.

The one element that everyone fears,

but no one embraces.

It is nothing more than the absence of light.

Yet it is the idea of darkness that reigns terror in the

vulnerable mind. They say that darkness is "Evil" , moral blindness, corruption of the heart whereas light is justice, salvation, and warmth.

I say that the light is cruel. In light, all flaws, imperfections, and atrocities of the world are exposed for your scrutiny. You see a person at their worst under the light - their wounds and their scars. Light is a harsh, unforgiving element. Even the bleak of light from a nearby broken street lamp is cold. Th light gathers in a murky pool upon the sidewalk. It creeps ever so slightly into the end of an alleyway.

The light reveals the fallen form of a child - a little boy. Blonde hair. Fair skin. Just one brush of the fingers across the boy's forehead tells me what is missing: The Childs soul.

If I don't retrieve this boy's soul in time, then he will face death by coma.

If I don't defeat the Night Predators by the end of winter,

Then every child will cease to exist.

It is in my moment of weakness that the enemy attacks.

An unseeable force barrels into my right, thus sweeping my off my feet.

My body collides with the wall. Upon impact, a firestorm of pain spreads across my back.

Without the time to recompose myself, I collapse onto the asphalt.

My teeth grit once my shoulder hits the ground to ignite a series of throes. 

Instead of breathing in oxygen, I choke on it. It feels as if he jagged ends of my ribcage tauntingly jab my lungs.

Coughing and spluttering, I pull up onto one crouched knee. No blood. No broken bones.

But everything still hurts.

A vicious cacophony of feral growls and carnal laughter erupts the air.

The grating, strident noise surrounds me.

I stand still amongst the mockery of these knavish creatures. My shadows react in the face of a threatening force. The shadows lift off the planes they are cast upon to take on their own ambiguous form. 

Dark element particles materialize around my fingers as I embrace myself for an attack.

The Night Predator on the right strikes first. Bearing it's fangs and claws, the shadow canine charges at me. 

I draw my arm back, then swing it forward with my body's momentum.

My shadows rush towards the Night Predator like a tsunami wave. That one creature falls fast, but there are a dozen more to counterattack.

Quickly, I kneel to set my palm down upon the ground.

A barricade plane rises from the darkness on the ground. While the Night Predators ram into the wall, I hold out my free hand. Dark particles solidify into a sleek blade.

 The ebony weapon glistens in my hand.

With a deep breath, I allow the barricade to shatter. I follow through with striking at them.

When a dark metal clashes against claws, dark sparks crackle between us.

The rebounding energy fires shadows in all directions.

The lamp post shatters. The bricks crumble. Again and again, I pushed forward.

Within minutes, the creatures lay slain at my feet. 

They disintegrate. But I am not unscathed.

"...Crap." I stab the blade into the ground, so that I can support upright as I kneel down.

A sense of vertigo crashes into me. The overwhelming urge to retch  turns into coughing up blood.

An immortal is not meant to bleed..,  but I do. Do the math. Subtract the 'im' from 'immortality' and you have the formula for my inevitable fate.

With each passing night, I am dying. I am running time. I may be the hunter of these Night Predators, but I am also the prey of the Guardians. Only once the deed of saving these children will I let the catch me.

Then they can destroy me if they wish. It would be an act of mercy.