"Once, there was only darkness, and then light came into existence. Since then the two have battled for dominance until they were able to come together in marriage. Half of the day was light, the other half night. They fell in love and so dawn and dusk was created. They had a child and named it shadow, for there cannot be one without the other." –ancient prophecy from the Book of Seekers
The horse hooves pounded the dirty snow as it carried its black-clad rider through the forest. Branches whipped at the Rider's face, but he kept it protected by a black scarf tied securely over his mouth and nose. His only visible features were grey eyes beneath long reddish-brown hair. Those eyes stared dead ahead on the road. He gripped the reigns and urged the shadow beast to go faster.
The Rider could feel the power of the Light waxing as he rode along; it frightened and intrigued him. He needed to reach that power. He needed to possess it, to control it, to smother it until he devoured every particle. He knew this day would come when the power of the Light would break free from its cursed slumber, when it would wake and wreak havoc on the world of darkness. It was the only thing that stood between the Shadows ultimate control over every dimension in the universe. And it was his duty to stop it, to change it away from the Light and bring it to the Dark. It was going to be his power to behold.
He had thought he already had a handle on controlling it almost fourteen years ago; it was the day he took that baby girl from her crib to keep in his possession for the rest of eternity. But it didn't work. That Light still remained somehow, that power left to be tapped was still out there to be taken. Then he'd realized his mistake; he'd taken the wrong girl. There was another, the girl's twin sister. She was to be the legendary Seeker.
He could feel it then as he trampled closer and closer to the girl's residence.
It was to be her fourteenth birthday soon, the day when all Seekers rose to their potential and began their service to the Light. This Seeker—this girl—was destined to bring an end to the Shadow along with all the power he'd built after hundreds of years. But he was going to bring an end to that, to her.
Their meeting was inevitable. Since the beginning of creation, he and she—Darkness and Light—were destined to clash and bring about the end of either one or the other.
She was his adversary. But he was her nightmare.
