Sky above mountain below
Both threaded in the Moon's silver glow.
Through the fir and pines doth a gentle wind blow
Making them whisper about the place where they grow.
Starry night,
Lonely flight
How many will have nightmares tonight?
Do fearlings hide in places devoid of light,
Waiting to banish good dreams tonight?
The silvery figure of a boy raced low along the uneven ground, twisting and turning through trees and rocks like a leaf on the wind as he evaded the ethereal beams of moonlight. It was times like this Nightlight enjoyed the most. He quickly soared up through the trees and over the silent lake higher, and higher, taunting the moonbeam until he swiftly fell into a dive for the lake giving him the momentary advantage. Laughing breathlessly, he skimmed the surface of the water knowing full well that the splashing left in his wake would avert the moonbeam elsewhere.
A sudden movement of light caught his eye. He watched gleefully as the moonbeam quickly went after one it's fellows and succeed. That moment was short-lived as soon as he realized they were teaming up on him. With a smirk he set off in the other direction as fast as he could. And so the chase continued, weaving in and around the surrounding area until finally the tendrils of light tagged him. Had anyone been close enough they would have seen that twinkle in his eye right before he snapped around to chase on the moonbeams' tails until the moon had gone to rest over the jagged horizon.
With his playmates gone, he floated idly through the clouds over the twinkling towns. Occasionally he would float down to these little oasis in the night absentmindedly looking around to check if all the children were safe in bed and nothing evil afoot. It had been like this ever since the last battle, and every year he became a little more relaxed in his searching for nothing had yet to go amiss. He knew in all his experience that the Nightmare King could never be truly defeated since neither side could truly exist without the other. If anything, he was most likely in a cave somewhere contriving yet another plan to spread his darkness. Nightlight wished that someday a peaceful agreement might come about, but for now it was an impossibility as the fearlings in his body held their power over him.
Nightlight let out a wispy sigh as Big Root came into his view. He went up to the top perch in the branches where Katherine and Kallash often stayed and found a place to sit. He would wait for them here. They were to be coming back from telling stories of the Guardians in America, helping the Guardians gain followers and establishing a sense of safety for the children of the world.
One by one the stars disappeared into the pink light of the dawn until all but Venus had left their place. Katherine should have been home by now. She should have come before half the stars had disappeared, she promised.
It was in the thundering silence of Nightlight's anxious contemplation that the ground broke open near the base of Big Root revealing the Pooka. He nearly missed it. He quickly took a dive off the tree until he was close enough to brush whiskers with the ancient being, close enough to see the sorrow in his eyes and smell the foul metallic scent of blood that lingered like a ghost about him. That was all it took for Nightlight to put the pieces together, to know that something had gone wrong, oh so terribly wrong during the trip to America and that his Katherine won't be coming home that dawn or the next dawn or the next… He wished nothing else in the world besides the ability to have protected her, the guilt and sorrow burrowed down into the lightness of his soul making him numb.
Lingering there in the fading shadows was a fearling, spying from afar the havoc which had been wrecked and with a horrendous smile it dissipated into nothingness to deliver the news.
It was after this that Nightlight became the ceaseless wanderer. He canvassed the whole world in search for Her. He witnessed and lived through unimaginable terrors in hope for a clue. Going places so wretched that even the sun and moon dare not cast their light knowing it would become tainted. He survived the moments that passed rather than live them. He cast away his playmates for fear it would cause him to miss something. He soon became isolated from all others, keeping company with only his thoughts.