Darkness

I want to be good

Darkness had long since been known as a trickster. Dubbed as such for his black coat and growling expression. His fellow knife lights often teased him when he was just a pup, the Guardians all snubbed him, and the tricksters played hurtful pranks. Children of nearby villages often got lost in the forest, and even they would cast hatred his way.

Darkness despised all that he was, and for a while took to the nature of the trickster. Pranking small children, and even luring them further into the depths the canopy of tree's offered. One rainy night, a small child had been walking, shivering as they clutched a blanket around themselves. The thing was crying and afraid. Darkness approached the child, offering a haven to rest until the weather cleared.

However his intent was the opposite. He led the child to a slippery slope, up a mud covered hill. On the other side, the waves of the ocean could be heard crashing against the rocks down below. He intended to push the child over, however, something happened he couldn't have guessed at. The child slipped, and with a scream began to tumbled down the slope toward the ocean.

Darkness felt his heart race, even before he realized he was already moving. He bolted after the child, grabbing whatever he could with his teeth to haul it to safety. The child cried out in pain even as he pulled it back to safety. Exhausted from the feat, he was surprised when the thing offered him a sob filled hug, mumbling thanks for saving it's life. For the first time Darkness felt something stir in his chest, just in time for an adolescent sibling to slam into his side, casting him down the very route the child had nearly taken.

Darkness yowled as he rolled down the slope, slamming into rock and tree alike. The fall left him weightless. And he closed his eyes expecting death to come from the jagged rocks below. I want to be good. he thought to himself. Waves rushed up to meet him, and he lost all sense of time and space. The rapids were brutal as they carried him along, slamming him one way, and then the other. His paws scrambled to find a hold, eventually finding purchase along a muddy bank.

Hauling himself from the water he dragged himself a few feet away from the water, before he collapsed. Shaking hard, he noticed the smell of blood. Lifting his head he glanced at his body, covered in red. It looked bad, but it should heal. Letting his head fall he looked at the forest beyond, and felt that same nothingness he had been left with for so long.

Closing his eyes, he remembered how it felt to save that child. The rush, and later, the hope. If it hadn't been for it's elder sibling, he might have had time to shed a tear of joy.

I want to be good... And then came the laughter. An older trickster stepped free of the shadows of the forest.

You will never be good. You are a Trickster. Only Guardians can be good.

Darkness growled at the elder. Snapping his teeth in his direction. Eventually the elder left. Leaving Darkness alone beside the riverbank, with nothing but the moon and fireflies for company.