Consuming Shadows (Tales of Thornhill #1)

Before

He was the last one for now. The Monster lingered, its gaze fixed on the little boy, small and frail on the white blanket.

A delicate, fleeting life, one that would never bloom fully.

The boy had been sick for weeks now, far longer than the others.

This pleased the Monster. His struggle was admirable.

Once, the boy might have been more. An ally, a pupil, perhaps.

But now? His purpose was simple. The Monster would give him a comfortable death.

The boy’s pale cheeks, his trembling eyelids, these were the only things the Monster could still savour. It hovered near the bed, fingers brushing lightly over the old book in its hands. A lullaby from long ago spilled from its lips, a sound as old as time itself, dripping with grief.

The boy was fading, his body slowing. The Monster paused, listening.

“Rest now, little one.”

The words, gentle yet detached, were the last the boy would ever hear. With a final breath, his small chest stilled, and his face turned grey as life slipped away from him.

The Monster didn’t flinch. It simply folded the child in the blanket, his body delicate and limp in its arms. Sliding the tattered book into its coat pocket, the Monster moved silently into the hole in the wall, humming the same eerie melody that had once comforted its earliest charges.

Hunger, the Monster reflected, was a vicious thing with many faces. One could’ve been hungry for power, for knowledge. Or for love, even. The Monster didn’t care about any of these anymore. Now, all it wanted—all it needed—was to stay alive.

The Monster gently rocked the boy’s empty body as it made its way up the dark stone stairs, each step leaving an echoing thump behind. Soon, the resupply would come. It always did. And then, the cycle could begin again.

The Monster’s thoughts flitted to the girl. The one inked with magic. The one who had betrayed it once, long centuries ago. The one whose bloodline still held the power. But the real purpose lay ahead. The fates were aligning.

There was promise in the air.