Obscuritas

The Obscuritas was gone, but it had kept a piece of her to remember what "being" felt like.

Elara stood at the edge of the stone wall, her lantern flickering. Most villagers had retreated to the Great Hall, sealing the doors with salt and prayer. But Elara was a Seeker, trained to watch the dark, not hide from it. Obscuritas

As she sang, the fog recoiled. It couldn't swallow the vibration of her lungs or the heat of her blood. The more she asserted her existence, the thinner the Obscuritas became, until it was nothing more than a mist, frustrated and starving. The Obscuritas was gone, but it had kept

Elara stepped off the wall and into the fog. Immediately, her memories began to fray. She forgot her mother’s name. She forgot the taste of an apple. The darkness wasn't an absence of light; it was a that wanted to be the only thing left. But Elara was a Seeker, trained to watch