The Story of a Shadow

My name is Shadow Ravenkey and i am a shadowhunter and a warlock. This is the story of my brother and me. How he found his place, while I battled in search of mine. This, in short is the story of me, split into chapters. Each one will tell a story about how my abilities and actions changed my life.

CHAPTER 1

Let's start at the beginning. I was not conceived a human, but as an egg, bathed in warlock and shadow hunter blood for months before I hatched.

This was common in the 1800s, but died out. It was the only way to corrupt angelic power into more warlocks. None of these creations would be human; they would live the life of a shadow hunter, training and fighting until they were 12, when they received a mark and began training under a warlock mentor. But my family had never tried it. When my Father died, my mother wanted him to live on in another child. She was desperate to keep his legacy, through more than a birth child. But she didn't have enough blood. When she came across an orphaned warlock, Magnus, she took him in and I had enough blood to be born. He became my blood brother.

So I was different. My mother had three children, all shadowhunters, so Magnus trained me as a warlock until I was nine, when my Demon Mark began to flourish. He was the only one experienced enough, though he was still under a mentor himself. We got even closer the day I saw them.

I remember the day well. He took me down a long dark corridor, and into a room. It was an odd room. There was nothing but a single mirror on the wall. It glinted magically, like a diamond in the rough, not quite perfect but still beautiful. Its obsidian black frame was ornate, decorated with onyx gems in the shape of a raven at the top. I could see it, but I couldn't see myself in it, the way I was standing.

"I'll bet your wondering, little Shadow, why I brought you here." His green cat eyes shone like stars in the sky, like he was excited for me.

"It is not just me and you here. You may have heard others in the house. Well, you're right. You have been separated because of how you are. The way you flourished into a babe from birth was remarkable." He began to pace around the room. A smile lay on his lips.

"So we trained you from the beginning. Alone. With no way to be distracted."

It was at this point I became confused. I knew all this, why bring me here to tell me?

"When a child as powerful as you is born, we separate them. They see no one, not even themselves until they show signs of a demon mark. They only see their mentor.

"The child must not be seen by anyone until they have seen themselves. This way, vanity cannot distract them from learning. And now, Shadow, you are old enough to know yourself."

He turned me to face the mirror, and I gasped. I knew my hair was dark, but the girl in the mirror had jet black hair that shone like the night sky. My eyes were green, like Magnus' but not as vivid.

But the reason I gasped was because of my...wings? They were also jet black, and each layer of feathers glistened.

I turned to Magnus and looked at him pleadingly.

"Please say I don't say I have to see the others."

"You'll love them. Especially Charlotte. She is such a fighter. Come on." He dropped the formal act and led me through more corridors.

An hour later I'm sitting on a burgundy velvet couch and feeling very bad.

"How's your hip?" I ask, looking at the pale boy sitting with an icepack on his hip. I threw him halfway across the house after a split second warning from a tall dark woman that they were going to attack me at once. The girl put up a fight and stabbed me in the shoulder.

"Well, the housekeeper was surprised by the sight of me crashing through the-

"Windows fixed. Work on your aim Shadow."

"Shadow!? That's your name?" The girl -Charlotte- looked at me with blue eyes.

I took this opportunity to register her properly. She has sharp cheekbones and lovely blue eyes. She was a lot like me, in many ways. She was tall, pale and had black hair, like me.

"Yeah. It is."

"Huh. Suits you. Do those work?" Her focus moved to my wings.

"I don't know. Haven't seen them 'till now. How old are you?" I started to take hold of myself. I'm part of this family, why not act like it?

"Nine. Mother told me I was born around the same time as you."

I turn to look at "Mother" and suddenly become confused. The women i was told about seemed lost and hopeless. The women i was looking at seemed superior, beautiful and powerful.

"what about...these?"I feel the wings flutter as I see it.

"Glamour will fix them. I'm sure I can moderate some dresses so they fit over the wings. Speaking of wings, anyone want tea?"

After all this, i was surprisingly hungry.