stargazerlillian:yoel-o-fellow:I wasn’t too happy with my initial design for the Shadow Prince

stargazerlillian:yoel-o-fellow:I wasn’t too happy with my initial design for the Shadow Prince (a.k.a The Lost Shadow) so I’m going to keep playing around with his design until I’m satisfied with his look.“Your Royal Highness, sir? May I ask you a question?”“Of course, child. What is it you wish to ask?”“Well… when I was little, I was told that you weren’t justcalled ‘The Shadow Prince,’ but also ‘The Lost Shadow,’ because you’re actuallythe lost shadow of a long dead ancient prince come alive. Is… is that true?”The tenebrous figure smiled gently at the curious child.“Yes, dear child - it is true that I am also called ‘TheLost Shadow’… but where I originated from is a far different story. Truth betold, young one, I was never lost. Nor did I always have the form of a human’sshadow. In fact, I have been present in one form or another since time began,alongside my beloved partner.”Before the girl could open her mouth to ask even a singlequestion regarding the shocking answer The Lost Shadow had just given, he hadturned away from her, and with a wave of his hand, transformed the room and itssurrounding walls into an interstellar ocean. The girl’s jaw dropped as acascade of silvery sparks gathered above, around, and even beneath her.She jumped back at the sight, feeling like she was no longer standing on asolid surface, even though her feet were very much still firmly planted.As she attempted to catch her breath, she turned about inevery direction, taking a long, bewildered glance at the vivid illusionencircling her. All throughout the astronomical panorama was a panoply oflustrous stars, accompanied by large rocky and gaseous spheres of various sizesand colors - some of which had glistening dusty rings. She felt her knees violentlybuckle beneath her, threatening to give in at any second. “What… what is all this?! What… am I seeing?!”“It is the realm above Earth’s sky - one that your peoplewill call ‘space’ according to my faithful companion. Dark, vast, unending, andfar, far older than the world itself. It was from this realm that himand I were birthed.”The youth’s eyes narrowed incredulously. “You… were bornthere?”“Indeed. I was born from the darkness of empty space, and hewas born from the light of the stars. In the time before this world was made, wehad no solid forms of our own - I was only pure shadow, and he was only purelight.”“What did you even do during that time?” the girlasked, desperately trying to wrap her head around the idea of the two humanoidspirits living so long ago, in the form of only light and shadow of allthings.“The only thing we knew how to do – harness all the lightand dark energy we could find. We scoured far and wide across the universe formany energy sources, witnessing the births and deaths of countless stars,galaxies, planets, and moons all throughout. For billions and billions ofyears, this process remained the same, until one blessed millennium, when heand I witnessed the dawn of something miraculous – a new planetary system. In the center of it all wasa luminous yellow sun, surrounded by the swirling masses of nine planetarybodies –some rocky, and some gaseous. But one planet in particular stood out to the two of us – the one youlive on now.”The inquisitive youngster blinked twice in disbelief. Nine“planetary bodies?” Did he mean there were other worlds besides this one?And the one she lived on went around the sun, and not the other wayaround like the village elders told her? She shook her head rapidly, attemptingto hold a tight grip on her wandering mind. “So… why did you decide on thisone? What about this… planet… felt so unique to you?”The Lost Shadow smiled and swirled his hand, forming aperfect miniature copy of the planet Earth in his palm, and held it close tothe child’s face. His smile only grew wider as he heard an amazed gasp escapeher mouth. “It was unique in our eyes because over time, it developed oceans…landforms… clouds… things no other planet managed to hold on to for as long asthis one has. Moreover, it had developed something that no other planet hadsuccessfully created or maintained – life.”With another wave of his hand, Earth dissipated into a clusterof molecules, and the black background of space faded into a gentle blue, withripples of light pouring down from above. Beneath them now was an uneven rockyfloor, with oddly shaped and brightly colored formations, teeming with risingstreams of shimmering bubbles. “Where are we now?” the child asked. She couldn’t quiteexplain it, but she almost felt a desire to float.“We are now in the ocean – the birthplace of all life.” TheLost Shadow stated, folding his arms behind his back. “It was here, from aprimordial serpentinization of pyroxene and olivine, that the first lifeformscame to be. Over millions of years, they grew and evolved with more and more complex capabilities.Some became the hunters, others became the hunted.”As the oracle’s human acquaintance listened to him speak, alarge shadow suddenly crept over her. When she turned around to see the sourceof the shadow, she was met with the sight of two large compound eyes and a pairof barbed frontal appendages rapidly approaching her.With a screech, the girl crouched and covered her head asshe felt the creature just barely swim over her. When she finally stood backup, she saw what looked like a giant shrimp-like creature almost as long as shewas tall swimming away.“What was that… that thing?!”“I believe that was Anomalocaris, the top hunter of thistime period. The Pale Eye told me that it will be named that centuries from now.”The girl swallowed dryly as she struggled to relax her frightenedheart. Did animals really look like that at the world’s beginning?“Anyhow, once we learned that creatures of all kinds hadbegun swimming in the newly created oceans, we could not help but investigatefurther. One thing led to another, and our exploration ultimately led to uslooking over every creature there ever was.”“Every creature?”“Yes, child – every creature. My beloved and I followedthe infant world’s fauna through every stage of their development, from theoceans to the land. Over many millennia, my partner and I changed along withthe creatures, growing higher in strength, and more advanced in form, until wecame across the most interesting and advanced creature of all – humans.”The Lost Shadow waved his hand yet again, transporting themyet again to a different place – one that was shaded from above by ominous gray clouds, and smelled faintly of ash and smoke. They were now standing atopthe roof of one of many homes, all clustered together, with warmly lit openings inthe top, and no windows or footpaths. Off in the distance was Hasan Dağı, a massivesmoking twin peak volcano, with the faint glow of the fresh lava lighting the mightyformation from within.The child cupped a hand over her mouth, suppressing the gaspteasing at her throat. Her gaze fell to the floor again as she shakily pressedher other hand to her tight, heaving chest.“Now where are we?”“We are in the very first true city that humans ever built –it was called Çatalhöyük.”The curious youth’s heart was now pounding violently againsther sternum, practically begging for an escape from the overwhelming amount of excitementit was experiencing. The first true city?“Here, your kind all lived in the same type of home, withthe same number of rooms, and only one entrance at the top. No singular personhad power over anyone else, like a king or queen would. Everyone lived theexact same way – and did many of the same things, working together as one.” TheLost Shadow then turned to face the volcano thoughtfully.“It’s always amazing seeing how humans change the way theylive across the ages. In all the time that had passed since my creation in thevast cosmos, nothing I’d ever known or witnessed had ever been as fascinatingas humans. Humans had thoughts… emotions… memories… flaws… philosophies… and somany other traits that I had never seen expressed in any organism that livedbefore. We decided to look into them, and as they grew, so did we. Everycivilization that rose and fell, we were present for. Çatalhöyük,Mesopotamia, Egypt… I even remember the ancient roots your village wasbirthed from. And as you very well know now, I was never just the shadowof an ancient prince, whoever he was. I was in the shadow of just about everyhuman that has ever existed, gaining memories, and learning what it meant toexperience life and all its complexities as a human. Princes, peasants,vagabonds, criminals – I’ve followed them all. As mentioned before, I was neverlost – I only wandered from one person to the next. Not all those who wanderare lost, dear child.”The young heroine grit her teeth and gripped at her head asher mind raced from all the new and confusing information it was struggling toprocess. She had so many questions… but could only manage to utterone.“So… if the story my people tell about you is false, whydo you still accept the name of ‘The Lost Shadow?’”“I accept it because it is a testimony to human curiosity.Time and space are mysteries in the eyes of you and your kind. Mystery breedscuriosity and creativity, and forces them to think beyond what they know toform their own conclusions - this I know from all the shadows I have followed.And if me being the sentient shadow of an ancient prince gives them a sense ofunderstanding regarding my existence, then so be it. I’m beyond honored.”“But… it still isn’t the truth. Why don’t you just tellthem where you really came from?”A pause. The Lost Shadow sighed and turned away, the visionof Çatalhöyük dissipating with one last wave of his hand.“Because as my beloved companion once said, ‘sometimes peopleare more willing to accept a logical lie than a fantastical truth.’”The girl opened her mouth to voice a rebuttal, only to closeit back up. Normally she would protest any idiom that she found nonsensical,but for one reason or another, she just… could not.“Come along, child - there are much more important things toattend to. If I recall properly - and I often do,” he said with a chuckle, “ThePale Eye needs us back at The Great Tree.”“Why? What does he need us back there for?”“I’m not certain. He did not inform me. All I know is thatit’s quite important. I suggest we get moving as soon as possible.” he stated,turning and heading for the entrance.The Lost Shadow’s young acquaintance could only stare at thefloor, hands balled into tight fists as she attempted to comprehend all that shehad just seen and heard. Within the course of a few minutes, she learned abouther world’s formation, the dawn of life, and that humans built cities for farlonger than she ever knew.She knew it all. But did she believe it all?She heaved a sigh.Perhaps the two oracles were right. Perhaps her people weren’tquite ready to know such “fantastical truths” regarding their pasts yet. Sheknew now that she wasn’t, at least. As she was told many timesbefore, her people will come to know the truth about all the things she learned intime… just not in this time. One day it will all happen… but not on thisday. It would all be far too much for them to handle. And considering all the mind-blowing experiences shehad been through in the past few days, she supposed she could accept that.“Young one? Are you coming along?” the oracle called.The child shook her reeling head again as she returnedherself to reality. “Y-yes, yes… I’m coming.” With that, she followed him outof The Shadow Realm and back into the forest to seek out The Great Tree.AHHHHH THIS!!!! I haven’t even posted that much about Prophetum and already there is fanfiction of it.  This girl is putting me to shame, haha-  …*Cries in the corner* -- source link

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