Chapter 3: The Shadow Master

What was taking him so long? 

He was never late to their appointments. But then she had come way too early.

She slinked deeper into the darkness, behind the powerful web of invisibility she had painstakingly conjured long minutes ago.Waiting.

Darkness shrouded his arrival into the equally dark room bereft of any iota of light. The magic cloak he cast upon himself was so powerful she felt even the Matron was she still alive would have had a hard time noticing him. But she sensed him the moment he arrived, that quickening of her heart that signified his proximity to her.

"Playing hide and seek now, are we?" His thick baritone voice resounded as his eyes glowed blue, piercing through the shadows to stare at her, at her soul.

"For a second I thought I could hide from you," she stepped out of towards him, holding forwards in her right hand a scepter which glowed softly and soon brightened the whole room, lighting the white light orbs on the walls and ceiling.

The darkness about him held on for a little longer before it slowly receded in a seemingly reluctant manner, revealing him standing there in a patterned Ankara native shirt and shorts and a face devoid of emotions. His pupils had changed to a deep purple hue as he stared at her, contrasting his obsidian skin.

She could not hold his gaze for more than a few seconds; she never could. She stole glances at him, shifting her gaze from his face to the walls of the room which she had personally painted lilac with her magic, the patterned wallpapers, and the odds and bits she had added to the room to give it a bit of warmth. Behind her, the huge queen-sized bed took almost half of the space with clean sheets she had spread moments ago.

"The little Matron died but a few hours ago and here are you already playing with her toys," He said, his eyes still burning deep into her.

The reprimand in his voice made her heart sink, a strong wave of sorrow engulfing her. “I just thought to...”

"…To catch me by surprise with the power of the scepter, something you can't even wield fully?" He scoffed shaking his head. "No, you weren't thinking."

"I'm sorry," She turned her face down meekly. Her hand which clutched the scepter began to shiver visibly.

“Come, bring it here.” he signaled at the scepter.

She walked forwards fast despite how heavy and leaden her heart and feet were. She dared not keep him waiting for a second more than necessary whenever he gave a command. “Ma- Master.” She gasped from the sharp pleasure that coursed through her as his middle finger touched her hand for the briefest second while handing over the scepter.

She yearned for more, wanted to grasp that hand and bring it to quench the fires stoking within the core of her being. But she dared not, she could only wait.

His deep sigh split the atmosphere, the soft melancholic ring within that sigh resounding like a bell in her mind and bringing her back to. His pupils had shifted to a soft brown hue. She watched as he caressed the scepter softly with his long fingers, wishing it was her body those fingers explored. Goosebumps rose all along her skin and she felt herself melting.

It happened suddenly.

One moment she was staring at him as he caressed the scepter, the next, suffocating darkness rushed out from it and masked the room once again. Her scream of terror chocked within her throat and she could do no more than releasing tiny whimpers.

The darkness was alive!

She could feel it trying to erase her will, to make her one with it. She tried to call forth her magic to resist the darkness. It didn’t respond to her.

Please, She begged mentally, scrabbling against everything and nothing. The darkness seemingly ate at her soul, making her feel pain unlike she had never felt before.

The darkness went off as suddenly as it had come and she could finally breathe again. She gasped hard, sucking in a large mouthful of air.

 “Wha-?” She looked up at him, at the scepter and the orb on it which had now gone back to its normal dull green hue.

His pupils were back to purple and he was staring at her with a smile of mockery pasted vividly on his face. “That, my dear, is how to wield the scepter.” He threw it at her dismissively and she caught it awkwardly, struggling for a moment before she held it firmly.

She stared from the scepter in her hand back to his face for a moment. She had never felt anything like the magic he just drew from the scepter, not even when the Matron who they all believed was acknowledged by the scepter used it. It was never so powerful and controlled, and never has the scepter released anything but a white glow.

The master of the shadows.

Jitters ran through her as his title rang in her mind again and again. That was the only name she knew him by, that and the legends that surrounded him.

“So the little Matron has finally succumbed?” He hissed, frowning and looking up into space. “They can’t keep still again and are finally showing their hands.” The silence lengthened for long moments. Like other times she felt a great urge to ask who the ‘they' he always referred to was, but she held her curiosity in check.

“They had waited for so long already,” he added wistfully. “How about the heir?” he turned to her.

“She- she is alright for now, just broken.”

He chuckled. “The idiot. Is this a time for weakness?”

“What should we do with her?” She asked, raising her brows eagerly. “There are whispers that some families are planning to--”

“She has to die.”

“What?” She stared at him wide-eyed, her mouth open in shock.

“She must first go through all the rites expected of a matron, and then after her ascension, she must die as last blood of Osoro. I’m sure that is what they are after too.”

Her shock granted her an iota of courage and she moved towards him. “But she- I-”

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to do the killing,” he said gruffly. The set look on his face made her bite back any arguments she had within her. It was not her place to question him or his decisions, but she could not but help feel conflicted.

“I- she-” He began again.

He appeared before her seemingly without any movement. He was so fast!

“Ma- Master,” she hissed out of fear, and then a deeper fire that fast overwhelmed her fear.

He ran his hands softly over her face, caressing. The heat in his fingers and from his body quickly lit an inferno within her. A moan slipped from her mouth and she could barely hold back from plastering her body over his.

He stared deep into her eyes with his purple. This time she could not take her eyes away from his and soon became lost in rapture. She was the sun, the moon, the stars shining across the galaxies.

The fingers stroking her face soon moved down to her lips, running across it. She moaned hard, allowing a finger to slip into her mouth, and sucked deeply. It tasted like nectar, wine for the gods, and she wanted more.

His fingers moved from her face slowly down to her long neck, raising Goosebumps all along its path and she began to shiver in anticipation. Her chest heaved hard, her breasts jutting forward provocatively with its two bullet points vivid through her clothes.

“Please…” she hissed. She wanted him, badly. What he was doing to her was torture. She wanted him to take her, to push her up on the bed behind them and ravish her. After that, he could go as slow as he wanted. But he ignored her, taking his time.

She moaned long and hard as his free hand suddenly grabbed her from behind and drew her into him. Her knees grew weak and were barely holding her up as she felt his hard compact body even through the layers of clothing.

The fingers stroking her neck moved to her breast. She mewled and whimpered hard as they ran across her left nipple at the same time the hand behind her stroked her buxom behind.

The anticipation was killing her!

He was like a potter, molding and shaping her to his will.

She let go of herself surrendering totally to him. A dull sound faintly registered on her mind from somewhere close-by, but she was past caring about anything around her other than him.

Suddenly she soon found herself grasping empty air. He was gone.

“No!” she groaned, clutching the air like a crazed woman. Color slowly returned to her eyes as she heaved hard, and he was standing a few feet from her. “Please,” She took a step forward, nearly falling to her feet as her wobbly knees struggled to hold her. She wanted his hands back on her body setting her on fire again; she would do anything to have him do so.

“You pushed it by bringing the scepter with you. You have to go back now and return it before they find it missing.”

The scepter! She looked down at her hand and found it empty. Looking down at her feet was the scepter.

“Wait for my summons, until next time,” he said, and then he was gone in a flash of darkness.

“No!” She finally fell to her knees, indignant.

He was punishing her? He knew how much she needed him and what he did to her. She was there on her knees for long minutes, trying to gather herself to no avail.

“Go now!” His voice came to her again, a command.

The command woke her up. “Master.” She bowed and reached for the scepter, standing to her feet immediately after.

Turning a glance at the single mirror in the room she blushed as she took in her disheveled look.

Her hair, clothes, and all were looking so rough like someone who had been at the eye of a whirlwind. She quickly rearranged herself till she looked responsible. She nodded at her visage inside the mirror and with a word of magic she was gone.

The room fell into darkness again.