Children are evil. I’ve always known this fact. They are ruthlessly cunning creatures that feign an outward appearance of innocence and ignorance. But I know better, I know what lies beneath their confused stares, their begging eyes, their pouting faces. It’s pure, unadulterated evil. And there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about it, least of all me.

Not long after I had calmed down the female Dra-Hkan and she had fallen asleep I was approached by Petal who held up her arms towards me. With an innocent look across her face she stared directly into my eyes. “Me next.” That brilliant, adorable, evil mastermind wanted me to rock her to sleep while humming. And I was in no position to say no, those begging eyes are too strong for any human.

Gods themselves would fall before such a look.

I agreed without resistance, for it would have been pointless. Children almost always get their way in the end. Thankfully it didn’t take long for her to fall asleep. On one side, a once manic dragon chick at one hand, gripping my shadowy wrist as she slept for security. On the other was a small albino cat-girl resting at my right. And in front of me was a group of devout Lord of Darkness worshippers, people who worshipped me.

The elderly Dra-Hkan who had spoken to me earlier gave me a bit of a brief explanation about this whole Lord of Darkness business as he handed me a mug of water. Ever since the faith of Y’dionis Light had killed off all of those who could use shadow magic a small cult uprising appeared to challenge this faith. Members of this cult were simply named Shades. Once the cult revealed itself is when the purges of all faiths began.

If you refused to accept yourself into Y’dionis’ Light you were imprisoned, tortured and killed. Dra-Hkan who refused to accept had their wings ripped off. Many would break after such trauma and become penitents, servants to those in power. The old lizard scrunched his shoulders as he described how he had lost his. Dragged into the center of his hometown, beaten before people whom he had lived beside for his entire life and then they ripped out his wings with their hands.

“I don’t believe in this cult business.” The old Dra-Hkan spoke, “Never believed any of this religious business either.” He chuckled sadly, “Punished for apathy.”

“Not gonna lie,” I started, “That royally pisses me off. Everyone should be free to live how they wish so long as they don’t endanger others.”

“I’ll drink to that way of thinking.” He smiled and took a deep gulp from his own mug. “You have a chance to do some real good here Mark. I hope that, despite your protests, you lead these people well. You’re the first Shadowmancer in over a hundred years after all.”

I stared into my mug, gazing at my small reflection. I had bags under my eyes from the lack of sleep I was getting in this world. It made me look and feel much older than I was. “I dunno…security guard to head of a cult is quite the jump yeah? I guess I should be thankful this isn’t the Kool-Aid drinking kind.” I dipped my right hand in my mug and splashed some of the water on my face. Drowsiness was threatening to knock me on my ass.

“You should sleep, Mark. Take the break you deserve, young people such as yourself push yourselves too hard I’ve seen. And it looks to be true in both of our worlds.” He smiled and stood up.

“Wait, I never caught your name.” I called out with a yawn. The old Dra-Hkan turned to face me once more.

“Nor will you. I lost my name when I lost my wings.” Before he could shuffle away however, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Sage.” The old man turned.

“Sage? A strange name, from your world I take it?”

“Yep. It’s got a few meanings, but two of them fit you. Firstly it means a wise man, and lets be real, with age comes wisdom right?” He and I shared a chuckle, “The second is a type of color, sage green. The same as your scales.”

“Sage…” The old man whispered as if tasting the name. He smiled a bright smile, a spark of light returning to his eyes where there was once darkness. “Thank you Mark, you’ve brought joy to this old hatchling.” He bowed and shuffled away, mouthing the word ‘sage’ over and over.

I leaned back against the stone wall with a smile and closed my eyes. As I drifted off to sleep I found myself thinking about names. Names are a wonderful thing. They gave meaning to our existence. I believe that all people should live to have their name be remembered fondly. To live life without a name is to exist without a meaning. And that, I thought, would be a worse punishment than death.