The Forest of Time and Shadow

A blur ran through the forest at an unstoppable speed. The hand of a young woman brushed against the tall, sturdy bark of a cedar tree. Bright green moss rushed to color from the very touch of her creamy, delicate fingertips. She ran with a fierce need to flee from the world that she had once held a great passion for. It had once shown such wonder and promise, but now she saw it for the cold dark place it was and she wanted no part in it. Tears fell from her eyes and sparkled like diamonds in the dark dismal forest before falling to the ground. Where each tear drop had fallen, a lily rose from the Earth. The flowers glowed like the full moon, brightening the darkness that surrounded it. As she ran through the shadows, her eyes held an eerily bright and vivid blue that sends a chill up ones spine when they stare into them long enough. Her raven black hair matched the silk of her dress. Yet, as she jumped over a fallen log, the sunlight caught her pale flesh and instantly her skin was deeply tanned, her blue eyes were now warm green emeralds and the ravens flew from her hair and left behind only pure golden sunlight to illuminate her high cheekbones. The milky darkness of her dress became pure white, as if it were made from the very lilies littering the forest floor. For a moment she seemed to hover within the atmosphere like an angel trying to remember how to fly, and then her bare foot landed on the cold forest floor. In that instant the angel disappeared and all that was left was the shadow princess, owning the darkness like a safety blanket. She would run until the world faded behind her. She would never cease running so long as she lived, that was her curse.

Time became a phantom of a memory and ceased to matter to her. As the last remaining bit of her soul began to sink into the shadows of the forest, she found the clearing where he waited for her. He appeared out of thin air with a smile on his face that pulled away the veil of darkness and returned the light to a heart that had nearly died. Her eyes widened in fear at his sudden appearance even as he took her and held her in his warm embrace. She remembered nothing so long as she ran, but as he held her she felt an old familiar feeling and all her anxiety melted away as she listened to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. She felt his warmth and his love as he held onto her for dear life. His blood red wings, draped around her as his scarred hands stroked her hair comfortingly. Feeling his love, the ravens fled with the darkness as pure light erupted from the space between the two. The curse was broken the moment he had found her, and the angel of light remembered who she was. She was the hope within the forest; the force that kept the light of the world strong and pure. She had found her wings once again, thanks to the one who had refused to give up on her. Thanks to him, light would return to the forest and the world would have hope once more.