Esterian was used to moving. Every few years, sometimes after as short a period as a few months, his mother would come to him and tell him to pack. Esterian would pull some clothes together, take a final look at what had been his room for however long they had been there, then just leave. Being transient was one of the few constants in Esterian’s life. He had never questioned his mother. He viewed it as perfectly normal that they should drop their lives and start anew.

Esterian looked at his room one last time as he packed up his bags. It was his thirteenth birthday. He had expected to wake up to the smell of something special cooking in the kitchen. To run downstairs and hug his mother, get his hair messed up and get a kiss on his cheek. But instead he had been shaken roughly awake while it was still dark.

“Este, come we have to go. Now.” Mirram’s voice had been tense.

Sleep clouded Esterian’s eyes and mind.

“Whaa-“ he had mumbled.

“Get up and pack, Now!” Mirram had pulled his blankets off and rolled him out of bed.

Esterian picked up his bags and headed downstairs. His mother was waiting for him near the front door. He yawned loudly and walked past her into the chill of early morning outside.

Mirram looked over the house one last time, making sure she had only taken what was theirs. Satisfied, she nodded to herself and walked out, leaving the door unlocked. The house would remain so until the next family moved in. She drew some symbols on the ground outside the door. 2 sets of wavy lines indicating that fresh water was available. An arrow pointing to the East with the number 5 over it meaning the nearest town was 5 kilometers to the East.

Esterian yawned again. He had slept poorly. In his dreams there had been this pit that seemed to want to consume him. In his dream it had chased him. Esterian’s legs cramped as he thought about it. Even though it had been a dream, his legs felt like he had run for the hours he was asleep.

The pit was nothing new to him. He had seen it in his dreams before. Always on the edge of his main dream, fleeting, a black flash, nothing more. Tonight however, it had been his main dream. A gaping abyss.

“All set?”

His mother’s voice tore Esterian from his thoughts. He nodded once and they set off.

The morning was dark. And cold. Esterian’s breath steamed in front of him as he trudged along the road. The road was cracked. In some places absent. Every few minutes his mother would pull her shawl tighter around herself and walk slightly off the road, searching for the directions other travelers would have left. She would come back to the road, grimly nod to Esterian and continue walking. Esterian followed silently, his mind still trying to make sense of the abyss.

The sun had risen by the times Mirram decided it was time for a break. She found a shady tree off the road and motioned Esterian to follow. She had seen signs an hour or so before that they were at least thirty kilometers from the nearest town. That was a whole days worth of walking. Her feet were sore and her legs were cramping. Esterian’s face had grown weary and exhausted.

They sat down on the soft grass beneath the tree and Mirram took out some fruit from one of their bags.

“Happy birthday Este. I’m sorry that we had to do this today of all days, but we had to.” She looked over at her son.

Esterian merely shrugged. He was getting to that stage where showing emotion was blasé. He looked away and busied himself with his apple.

Mirram sighed and said, “Try and get some sleep. We’ll start walking again in the evening.”

She took out two blankets from another one of their bags. Handed one to Esterian, spread the other and lay down.

Esterian looked at the blanket. It was one of his favorites. Blue, covered with white stars. He finished his breakfast and lay down. He followed the lazy white wisps of cloud as they floated aimlessly across the sky. His eyes shut.

Instantly a wave of fear hit Esterian. He could see a gaping hole in front of him. It was ringed by what seemed to be bloody teeth. They were speckled with spit and blood and dirt. He looked around. He was in nothingness. All he could see was what appeared to be a gaping mouth in front of him. He walked towards it. He could feel pebbles and gravel under his feet, but when he looked down, it was just black. He was walking on nothing. He clenched his teeth and kept walking towards the mouth.

He reached it. The dirty white ‘teeth’ were shaking. It was as if the mouth had just finished chewing and was swallowing something. Esterian looked over the edge into it. He could see only black. He heard the voice.

“So… My ‘master’ has finally decided to face me.” The voice was more felt than heard, its derision tangible. It seemed to rumble like thunder, except it came from below Esterian. His feet shook slightly.

“Who are you? What are you doing in my head” Esterian didn’t know where to look. He ended up looking directly ahead.

“My head. How conceited. Can you actually stand there, look at me, acknowledge me, and still call it ‘my’ head. It’s ‘ours’ little Esterian” The voice started chuckling. Esterian’s feet were shaking violently now.

“Ours? Who are you?” Esterian held on to one of the ‘teeth’ for support. It felt wet and slimy. But Esterian was more afraid of what would happen if he were to fall down that gaping hole than touching that tooth.

“I am your oldest friend. I’ve been here since the day you were born, and I shall be here till the day you shall die. I am the shadow inside you. The darkness you see at the edge of your dreams. The one you fear to acknowledge, the one you convince yourself is merely a trick of your mind” The voice sounded self- loathing. As it everything it was saying was somehow sarcastic.

Esterian turned away from the mouth. His mind was racing. He felt a sudden jerk and was knocked off his feet. When he got up, he was staring in to his own face. The gaping mouth had vanished. Instead was his face. Gray eyes staring down at him. A faint hint of a moustache. A small scar above his left eye from when he had fallen out of a tree. The figure spoke:

“I need you to understand now. We are one. Not two sides of a coin, but the very same side. I am a part of you. And the longer you keep treating me as an illusion, the longer you deny to yourself my strength and the longer our father will remain unavenged”

“Our father…” Esterian mumbled under his breath. He looked his image in the face.

“What do you want me to do? I don’t understand.” Esterian was growing frustrated.

“Esterian, you are not as others. You bear the weight of a great destiny on your shoulders. In you, through me, is the power to change the world. There is much about yourself and your past that you do not know, and I can but hope that one day you shall learn those truths. The day is not far off when you will have to stand and fight for what you believe to be true, to fight to protect what you love, and when that day comes you must not be lacking. I need to you to accept me, to acknowledge me and to embrace me. I make you complete, Esterian. I can no longer be a shadow on the edge of your dream. I waited till I deemed you old enough and strong enough to bear the weight that I must place on your shoulders.”

Esterian stood in silence for a second. He asked, “Who are you?”

“I am your sword. Do you treat your sword as if it wanted to hurt you? It could. A sword’s blade knows not whether it cuts friend or foe. It merely cuts. But you don’t think of that when you swing it. You only concentrate on how to swing it, how to defeat your opponent. At the same time, you do not live as a slave to your sword. After its use, you clean it, and put it away. You do not spend your days worshipping it. That is what you must do. I am a sword. I am so much more, but ultimately, that is what I am, your sword.” The figure replied. It shimmered and recast itself into a blade of purest black.

Esterian recoiled. His mind filling with thoughts of the Shadow. Black armor and red-slit eyes. The world in his mind suddenly grew even darker. It was hard to breath.

“The shadow of heaven is not what you think, Esterian. And that is not the Shadow’s blade. It is yours.”

Esterian swallowed and took a step forward. He tentatively extended one hand and grasped the hilt. As soon as he had, he felt a torrent of power flowing into him. He felt so alive. His skin tingled with excitement. He broke into laughter.

“I complete you, Este. I shall forever be here, lending you my strength.”

The blade shimmered again and vanished. Esterian felt himself being shaken. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up into his mother's face.

“I’m sorry my darling, but we have to start now if we’re to find a new house by nightfall.”

Esterian shook his head and sat upright. He could feel a faint trace of the power he had felt in his body. It lingered like a floral scent on the morning breeze, coyly hinting to what its true source was.

“Are you okay Este? You were mumbling a lot in your sleep” Mirram had turned away and was busy packing everything back up.

“Yes, mom. I’m fine. Let’s get moving.”

They walked on. The Sun dipping ever lower to the west as they followed the road. They were silent. Mirram was busy looking for signs to point them in the right direction, Esterian trying to understand the blade in his mind. Finally, just as it was getting dark, Mirram spotted a promising candidate for a house a bit further down the road. She walked over to it and looked for the signs. Fresh water was available, and the nearest town was a mere two kilometers off to the east. A bit closer than what Mirram would have preferred, but better than the alternatives they had seen before. At least this one had a roof and was mostly intact. Surrounding the house was ample free land. Enough to grow another vegetable garden. A few trees dotted the surroundings; some of them even seemed to be fruit bearing. There were some ruined husks of houses all around. This must have been a colony long ago, but now only this one house was standing.

Mirram walked to the front door. It was unlocked. The thick layer of dust in it seemed to indicate that this had been abandoned for quite some time. She tried pushing the door. Something was holding it closed. She pushed a bit more and felt it slowly give way. The scraping sound of metal on the floor as what seemed to be a chair being pushed back. She got the door wide enough ajar to squeeze through.

The house was surprisingly clean. A thin layer of dust on the floor. The door being held shut by the chair had prevented the wind from blowing it open. The air had a faint smell to it though ,and was heavy. The only air circulation had been through the bottom of the front door, and so the air felt old. Mirram walked about, making sure everything else was okay. She opened up any windows she found, letting the cool night breeze. It was a single storey house, but there was more than enough space for the two of them. An ample kitchen, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The signs outside the door had indicated fresh water was available. She tried one of the taps in the kitchen. A faint gurgling sound, was followed by some spluttering, then a stream of reddish brown water as the accumulated rust and dirt was washed away, and finally clean water. She turned the tap off.

Esterian had followed her mother inside. He walked around the house, found a bedroom and was settling in. His feet were sore and he was tired. He wanted nothing more than to sleep. He kicked his shoes off. Pulled a blanket form his pack and lay back. He stared at the ceiling in his room. Beams crisscrossed it, dividing it into small squares. It was too dark for him to make out what colour the walls were, but they seemed to be a light shade. He heard footsteps outside his door.

Mirram walked into her son’s bedroom. She kissed him and said, “I hope you like our new home Este. Sleep now. We’ll unpack and move in properly tomorrow. Have a lovely year my dear”

She kissed him again and left the room, closing the door behind her. Esterian heard her footsteps getting fainter before he heard a door open and shut as she too went to bed.

Esterian searched in his mind for the blade. He could feel it. He started forming questions in his mind, but before he could ask them, he felt understanding, and his mind was filled with sleep. A faint whisper,

Sleep Este. There is time for questions tomorrow.