Hi guys! This chapter is not as satisfactory as I might have hoped, but it's the best I could come up with so far. I've talked more about darkness than I have the colour black...

Now I have a bone to pick with you. I've got more than 200 hits, and guess how many reviews I got for my last chapter? Two! Where are you people who have so nicely reviewed the first chapter? =)

InkWeaverabc very helpfully pointed out the many mistakes that I have made in my last chapter. Thanks a lot! She also suggested that I should do Greenie as well. I'm not so sure about that. I'll let you know when I update Glaedr's chapter. And I hope there are less mistakes in this one.

Um... That's it, I guess... Hope you like the story, and REVIEW!

Come. Come with me, into the darkness. Embrace it, journey through it. I dwell in the shadows. Night is my domain. Humans fear me. Come with me, visit my home – darkness.

You are not yet born. Everything around you is dark. You like the darkness. Of course, you wouldn't know that this is darkness. It is the only thing that you have ever experienced. It is also quiet. All sound is muffled. You lie there, in that dark and quiet place, and you are content. Then, all of a sudden, you enter into a completely different world. It's so bright; you have to close your eyes. You are assaulted with sound. Deafening sounds of beeping, buzzing, and big people talking in deep voices. Hands touch you, probe you. It hurts your tender skin. You want to be back in that dark, quiet place. Darkness is your friend then. You don't like it here. And when you don't like something, you do the only thing you can to express it. You cry, surprisingly loud for one so small. You don't like this strange new world, it's too bright, too loud. You long for the blackness and silence that you have become used to.

Let us leave here now, and float through the darkness. Follow me. You cannot see me, because I am darkness. I am all around you. I exist in every shadow. Light is my foe, yet I do not resent it. We must be balanced. Such is the nature of light and dark.

Now we are in the ocean, deep, deep under. It is always black down here. Here magnificent, mysterious, grotesque creatures dwell. Small fish, but with rows of long, needle like teeth protruding in a horrible grimace, and lights hanging from their heads, like a lantern. Fish with spikes and whiskers covered in bone hard armour, cackling with electricity. Crustaceans that look like crabs emitting a blue glow, and creatures that look like shell-less lobsters. Red jellyfish in the shape of an UFO, tentacles hanging down, looking for a victim. A nightmare come true.

Come, it will not do to dwell here too long. It is too cold, and too dangerous. Let us go back up. Feel the sun warm your faces, and follow me back to land. Into a cave. The mouth of the cave is large, set into a mountain. The stone is dark gray, stalactites and stalagmites protruding from the ground, like the maws of a giant beast. Beyond that lays cavernous darkness. Do not fear, there is nothing there that will hurt you. Come further in... Darkness surrounds you. Shh. You hear that rustling overhead? They are bats, thousands of them. Like owls, they are nocturnal creatures, and like owls, they have been my friends for a long, long time. Don't wake them. Marvellous creatures, bats. Their strong claws, clinging onto the roof, hanging upside down, never releasing their grip even as they sleep. They're blind, but can still see, whether on the darkest of nights or the brightest of days. Caves... one of my, and their, havens.

Humans fear the darkness and associate it with evil. Dark magic, dark times, dark kings. They have good reason to. A human cannot see in the dark, cannot see the dangers that lurk nearby. Darkness strips from them one of their most important tools, sight, and render them much more vulnerable. We are in an alleyway. It is well past midnight. That young girl there, hurrying along, is a scullery maid returning home from work late. But she probably won't arrive. Look there. Three of the king's soldiers, drunk. She couldn't see them in the darkness, couldn't avoid them. They meet. Let us move away, you cannot do anything about it. She's screaming, but abruptly silenced.

Darkness is a danger to even the strongest of men or dwarves. Deep within the Spine, this foolhardy young man is on a hunting trip. Sleep is lost to him as he lay on the hard earth, looking about, grasping his bow and knife tightly. The pack of wolves appears, unseen and unheard. Another victim to succumb to the spine of Alagaesia.

Because so many of you are defeated in the darkness, it is understandable that humans think it evil. Galbatorix is mad, evil, a tyrant, and, of course, his dragon, Shruikan is black. Yet, need I remind you that Shruikan is innocent, and had his mind twisted by Galbatorix's black magic?

Black connotes sophistication, power, elegance, and modernity. Black is introspected and mysterious. In Japan, black is a colour that represents seniority, nobility, age, and experience, thus the black belt. Black clothing is widely popular and, as a friend once said to me, flattering. The scales of Shruikan, like black diamonds, are sparkling and so full of light, though black absorbs all light.

Now you are ill in bed, and very, very old. The room is dim. Your loved ones gather around your bed. You smile, knowing that you've had a long, full life. You no longer fear death. You close your eyes for the last time, to darkness.

Though I am so feared, I am also your friend. I am with you when you are not even born, and I embrace you as you sink into the void. Light hurts your eyes, but darkness does not.

OK, now see that button down there? Press it. A review really makes me feel warm inside! Please?