Ballad of Shadows

* Tailus Fonts Card * || Tailus' Collection Card *


Response to Quest #46: "Battle Abigail." Those gym badges are piling up!

I messed around with some overlays and lineart coloration here. The overlays I like, the lineart, not so much. I like the darker outlines better, either that or I need to go lineless again and see what happens.

Anyways, here's a little something that popped into my head as I worked on this. Enjoy!


***

The Dark Haunted House--a lonely place that should have filled him with dread. He remembered well the horrors that haunted its halls, yet he smiled at the dust-caked windows and ivy-covered walls. There, in that forgotten garden, that his relationship with her had blossomed.

A shadow darted past the wild rose bushes, startling the Jolteon by Tailus' feet.

"Hm?"

Tailus followed a small shadow of a girl to a cellar door, almost hidden by weeds. The child stepped down the stairs and vanished into the absolute dark.

"Was that... a ghost?"

Eev shook, dislodging several hairs in Tailus' beam of light. "Jolt..."

"We'll take a look. If it is a restless spirit, maybe we can calm it."

Down into the uncertain dark they tread, until they came upon a circle of light, and in that light stood a young girl wearing a black dress and skirt fit for a funeral. Her tiny smile looked out of place in the gloom that surrounded her.

"Who are you?" Tailus asked. "Are you lost?"

The girl spoke not a word but pointed to a patch of light on the far side of the basement opposite her.

After a moment of waiting, Tailus said, "What do you want?"

"...Fight. Win."

"And if I refuse?"

The girl's arm still hung in the air, and her eerie voice never varied. "You're scared."

"Hm? No..." Eev's spiky fur brushed Tailus' fingers, causing them to tingle from the Jolteon's static.

"...You are scared," said the girl. "You're scared to fight. No... that's not it. ...You're scared of yourself. You don't realize it?"

Tailus glanced down, suddenly realizing where his feet had taken him. He stood in the circle of light opposite the child, his fists clenched so tightly that marks remained on the skin of his palms. Eev's mane bristled as the girl's arm slowly shank to her side.

Tailus said, "So? It's natural to be scared of our potential. Fear of what we might do keeps us from doing something we might regret."

"...An uncertain spirit invites disaster."

An observation from a keen soul, or a warning for the future? The child's words lingered in Tailus' head long after the battle was over.