Prologue

Wavering and stumbling through the thicket beneath the forest’s canopy, five slender flames danced as they fled their home. Draped in shadow, Darkrai watched them go from beneath the arch of his door, having given them up for lost. Gasping whimpers of breath still echoed in his ears as their bearer put desperate distance between them. The Gardevoir tripped once more over her increasingly muddied skirt and a few flames flickered out, the already dim light faltering as she continued her fevered retreat into the brush. Finally, the glow dissipated altogether, leaving his chest leaden in its wake.

By his side, a shadow that wasn’t his own drew close in some semblance of solidarity. Two flickering, fiery eyes lifted to his from their rising but short stature.   

“I think that was my last candelabra,” Darkrai remarked to them, attempting a laugh as his voice clawed its way through his chest to scratch its way out of his throat. He dug his fingers into the wooden frame briefly before letting his arm fall.

The other set of eyes stared up blankly, mute, before looking over the gardens at the manor’s front and into the darkened, twisted shapes of trunks beyond.

“I could swear some of them entertain my hospitality just to steal my homeware, among other things,” he shrugged to the little one before turning, allowing his tail to brush the floor as he retreated back into the depths of his home. No matter. He had no need of light to find his way through its halls, and neither did Mallow. It would be inconvenient for their next guest, but what more could he do?

That was, if he ever had another guest. After this, he may need to have his home distorted and layered onto another plane again, and who knew how long it would be before another stumbled by after that? Hopefully not too soon, lest he show them away at the door this time.

After all, he was running out of much more than just homeware…