Tot Continent and One Memory Shard

  Tot Continent in Orb Dimension was in full shadow, high in the blue moon plain and hidden by the extremely large continent of Gra. It was a Continent of craggy ground filled with caves and trenches. The grey ground was cool and doused in shadow; they moved across the ground like honey across a cold, angled surface.

  Yana had DD, Alisha, and Heli with her. They walked through the shadows over the craggy ground, Yana in the lead, like they had a true purpose.

  “I sense my memory shard ahead but also below.” She looked over to the narrow trench zigzagging beside them.

  A soft turquoise glow, like a soft night light in a long dark hall, rose from the trench. She nodded to herself. “We're going down.”

  DD nodded and stepped off the edge and into the trench. Heli turned into a dense flame and followed the Marked Demon. The beautiful porcelain doll, Alisha, stayed on Yana’s shoulder, as if she had been glued to it.

  Yana used [Shadow Walk] to enter the trench. Heli spun past her, stopped, and looked curiously at the trench wall. There were thick veins of bright turquoise ore—Plasia ore—running the entire length of the dark trench. Heli sniffed the ore, and Yana frowned, looking at the ore herself. She nodded in understanding.

  She could sense the ore’s properties—magnifying shadow and enhancing demon strength. Heli looked to her imploringly. She scoffed. “Go ahead. But be careful.”

  Heli yelped and took a massive bite out of the wall. Yana’s eyes went wide as she shook her head and looked up the trench. “DD, make sure he doesn’t cave the trench in on us.” DD didn’t respond; he simply moved to watch the chomping Shadow Demon Dog.

  Yana sped up, Alisha perfectly balanced on her shoulder, and Heli eating loudly.

  Heli kept eating the ore, dense black drool falling from his black, Shadow-filled mouth. DD watched impassively, but stood straighter when the pup slowed. DD could sense a change occurring within him. Before he could try to understand it, Heli fell asleep—still chewing—and an emerald green enamel shell slowly grew around him, encasing him completely.

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  DD looked at the egg-shaped chrysalis for a short moment. He simply picked it up, pulled on his familiar tie with Yana, and moved to her.

  Yana stood at the entrance of a large cave that seemed to have a bottomless pit at its center. She saw the truth of it as the shadows moved slowly, almost imperceptibly. It was a black, toxic shadow created by the Sho, called brasca. She had already retrieved memories of her Sho mother controlling her own pool of brasca, but she was not sure what to do. So DD found her at the entrance casually looking in.

  “It’s in the center of the cave. I will control the shadows and retrieve it. Everyone stay here. Don’t get too close.”

  Even as she said it, DD placed Heli’s chrysalis next to Yana and stepped into the cave. The once benign shadows slightly stirred, then surged toward DD. He used [Void Rip], and the shadows simply parted, reformed, and continued their surge.

  Yana frowned and sighed as the shadows grabbed DD and began pulling him forward. She shook her head and stepped forward. Alisha disappeared from her shoulder and appeared next to Heli.

  The shadows came to Yana, but she remembered her mother’s lessons. They touched her but backed away. She used [Shadow Control], and almost all of the brasca froze. The bit that did not freeze touched her, then backed away and consciously waited.

  She commanded them and they obeyed. DD had already been pulled down into the dark brasca up to his chest. Yana worked faster. The brasca peeled back like the layers of an onion, and Yana lifted DD out.

  The Marked Demon came out with an ear-scraping sucking noise that made flesh crawl and hair stand on end. Yana used her [Spell Weave] to lift him high above the brasca and placed him down out of the way. He stood next to the chrysalis, his massive form rigid. Yana felt his embarrassment—the shame of being helpless before a power he couldn't grasp. Yana shook her head internally as she began peeling back the layers of the brasca.

  She sensed the memory shard rising as layer after layer lifted away. The black inky shadows already lifted from the mass hovered around her waiting.

  The shard held for a moment, clumped by resisting shadows trying to hold it down. It struggled to rise, and Yana had to weave a commanding spell to call it to her. She felt the ancient Shadow power shriek as it broke free.

  The shard rose up. A swirling black portal to her Dune Domain opened and swallowed the shard and all of the remaining brasca. [Memory Shade #8 Acquired.]

  She turned and looked down at the emerald enamel chrysalis. She knew it was Heli instantly and realized immediately that the ore had changed him.

  She looked at the bright turquoise ore for a long moment, then gathered a generous amount of the Plasia for the little Shadow Demon Dog. She picked up the enamel chrysalis and nodded.

  “Come. There are two more shards on An Continent. We will take Heli and Alisha home and take Jasmine and Starlight to An Continent.”

  DD's shadow dust and volcanic vapor engulfed them all. [Dust Break]. They vanished from Tot Continent.