Gardens could not grow in the gloom, but the magic of its mistress sustained it. It did not exist in the material world so it did not need the light of the sun. It was a world of grey but only for those who did not have the imagination to see it for what it was. Those who dwelt in the strange world could see it filled with color and vibrant energy, but only if they were invited in.

The Mistress of Shadows only invited a select few to join her in this paradise, and to one, they were all children. Orphans, waifs, or children she decided needed her protection were brought to the realm to live in safety. None of them wanted anything while in her care.

Gliding through her domain, the Mistress of Shadow stopped by a small grove of grass where a group of children played. One of them had wished for rings of wood that they rolled around and chased after, trying to control them. A smile splayed across her pale skin as their laughter caused her tortured existence to grow a little brighter. Dark shadows played across her skin as her black hair hung limply over her face. She looked like an average frail woman, but in this land, she radiated power.

Just then, she heard a call, a small cry on the wind that seemed to reverberate in her mind. It was a child crying out in terror and fear, a sound that always drew the Mistress’s attention. Chanting in her soft voice, the apparition summoned the magic that allowed her to leave her realm and step out into the shadows of the night. It was effortless for her to travel back to the town where her pain began and often, she found the air of the material plane to burn her lungs. It was an odd experience to be sure, because she normally felt little, no pain and little emotion.

Before her, sitting alone in a dark alley, a child cried with his face in his hands. He sat between two crates and was barely noticeable to anyone passing the alley. Crouching down, the woman took his head in her hands and lifted it up to look at her. At first, the boy looked frightened at this strange woman who knelt before him but as their eyes connected, peace came to his face. The tears stopped falling and he stopped whimpering. In a moment he was enchanted by this being, she was unlike anyone he had ever met before. Suddenly the dark alley he crouched in seemed safe and he knew everything was going to be alright.

With the crying subsided and the boy's face revealed, she saw the black and blue skin on his cheek. Rage began to grow inside of her as she saw the clear sign of abuse on the innocent child. Why… why… why was this allowed in the world? What could the child have done to deserve that punishment? It did not matter to her, she knew that he needed protection and she would not leave him in the town.

The words of the spell came to her lips once more, but instead of just slipping between the worlds, she opened a swirling portal of light. She was able to slip back and forth at will but in order to bring someone with her she would need the magic of a portal. Looking inside, the child saw that the world was no longer dark as if night had just gone away. The flowers, plants, and gardens were inviting and the warmth that emanated from the portal drew him in. With no resistance, the boy allowed this strange woman to lead him from the alley and into the magical portal.

Time moved differently in the realm of the Mistress of Shadows; what seemed like moments were days in the material plane. The mother and father of the child called out in frantic panic, trying to find the missing child. They had not been the ones to hurt the child; it had been one of the older boys that he often played with. Worry creased their faces as they considered the foul things that might have befallen their child. Rumors of children going missing always circulated the taverns when the moon was reaching its full strength.

The young boy was never found, yet many years later, a wandering drunk happened down the alley where he had disappeared. Beneath a pile of crates, a desecrated body lay as if it had been there for years. It was taller than the boy who had vanished and so no one connected it to the missing child. A sage was summoned to the town to see if they could glean what could have caused the body's decay.

Magic was the obvious answer but the divinations of the sage could not determine the magic that was used. It was odd magic with traces of darkness that seemed to waft off of the corpse. After examining it for some time and using various spells, the sage remarked that it was the magic of some spirit. He could seek spirits of his own to try to answer the mystery but the townsfolk should also seek a cleric for answers.

After the cleric came to inspect the corpse, its true identity was discovered as the child who had gone missing. As the cleric finished their last spell on the body, black smoke began to pour off of it. Coalescing into a shapely woman, the eyes of the creature were red as burning coals. Regarding the cleric who stood before her, the spirit howled in a shrill voice that knocked the cleric off of his feet. Standing up, the cleric had no answers for who the spirit was or what it had done to the child.

Word spread of the woman who stole children and ate their souls. Parents began to keep their children in the house when night began to fall; believing that if they were outside they would disappear. Clerics would come to the alley and try to rid it of the spirit but they would never manage to banish. Still, the Mistress of Shadows came to the lands of Haben and saved children she felt needed her.

She made a mistake; one day she found a child crying over how unfair his parents were. Little did she know that the child was the son of a wealthy noble; the reason he was crying was that his parents would not buy him the horse he wanted. When the Mistress took the child, she did not know what lengths the parents would go to recover their child.

Using their wealth, they hired a wizard who said he could track who took their child. He brought along with him three mercenaries from Crook Crag, the vicious fighters who would do what was needing. The parents watched anxiously as the wizard stood over the spot where the child disappeared.

Setting up the components he needed for a ritual, he began the casting of a spell. It seemed to drag on forever to the parents but after ten minutes he finished the chant with a grand flourish. Appearing in thin air was a vision, the boy stood against the wall translucent but visible. He was saying something but the spell did not allow for sound to be heard. Suddenly, a woman appeared and hugged the boy and a rift formed just beside them. The boy did not seem to want to go into it, pulling back from the woman, but she guided him in and the portal closed.

Seeing this, the parents wailed in anguish, thinking their child to be lost but the wizard assured them he was not done. He would be able to formulate a way to reopen the portal even though it had been closed. His associates and he would go into the portal and retrieve the child. It would take time but certainly, the parents would not mind putting him and his associates up with lodging until it was solved.

As the parent’s patience began to dissolve the wizard went to work. It took a few months but finally, he said he had the ability to reopen the portal. Preparing themselves the mercenaries and the wizard armed them best as they could for the unknown. They had no idea what they could face once they entered the portal. Obviously, the entity stealing the children was malevolent; this was known by the actions of the priest a year back.

With yet another ritual, this one more elaborate than the last, the glowing, swirling portal opened in the alley where the noble’s son went missing. A last look back at the parents to assuage their fears; the four adventurers stepped into the portal.

The realm they entered was unlike anything that the wizard had ever experienced or read about. He had traveled to the Spirit Realm before and seen a great many wondrous sights but this place was completely alien to him.  It seemed as if the atmosphere pressed into them the entire time, trying to suck the life from them with every step they took.

“Stay alert, it seems as if we are on a demi-plane. The creator will already know we are here,” commanded the wizard to the mercenaries. He had no idea what had created the plane of existence but it was obvious that it was something powerful. 

They appeared to be in a garden, a large manor building stood over it. A group of children came running past; one of the mercenaries grabbed a child that seemed to look similar to the missing noble’s child. It was not, so the mercenary was just about to let the child go. He did not do it in time; the child looked at him and from his lips an unearthly screech.

Five children surrounded them but they no longer appeared as human. Burning eyes looked at the four intruders with ravenous hunger. Mouths seemed to elongate as if the kids managed to unhinge their jaws. Razor-sharp teeth filled the mouths in several rows from front to back.

The mercenary jumped back in horror and drew his shortsword. A slash across the chest sent the child reeling but seemed to do little damage. With a howl, the monster jumped into the air and tried to latch onto the man’s back. Flipping the child over, a stab downward drove the shortsword through the chest of the creature.

While that occurred, the other two guards formed a protective circle around the mage. Chanting in his arcane language, the wizard was preparing to blast the monsters with magical fire. He could tell that they were vicious monsters that were able to resist normal weapons somewhat. The best weapon would be magic. A gout of flame shot out from his fingertips and struck the nearest monster. The child screamed in agony as the flame engulfed its form.

Both of the mercenaries fought off the other children monsters to make sure they did not reach the wizard. The first mercenary would have joined them but the monster impaled by his sword; struggling against the restraints. It was still very much “alive” and would attack them if freed.

The mercenaries were armed with enchanted weapons, not heavily, but they would be able to damage most creatures. As they slashed and cut the monsters bled but even when one of the mercenaries managed to cut the head off of one, it kept coming. For a moment, they knew despair, what if they could not slay the creatures.

Fortunately, the wizard had prepared a plethora of fire spells as they were his favorite to cast. They proved highly effective against the creatures whose skin burned as well as any natural kindling. Soon the mercenaries were able to breathe easier as all the monsters were killed.

“My children!!!” came a howl from the manor building, the voice high but seemed to fill the entire plane. Looking to the manor, they all saw a black form rise from one of the higher windows. Flying through the air, they soon saw it was a woman in a flowing black robe. She landed just in front of them; her green eyes wide with anger as she regarded the burnt ashes of the monsters.

A wave of energy washed over the four adventurers as the woman glared at them. One of the mercenaries fell to his knees, his body shaking uncontrollably. The wizard felt the heavy enchantment that was being leveled at them and put up his mental blocks to prevent the enchantment from taking hold. He could only hope some of the swordsmen would not fall sway to it.

From his fingertips he summoned darts of energy that swarmed out and shot at the apparition. They stung the woman but seemed to do no real damage to her. It was obvious that this was the spirit who had created the demi-plane that they were in. Destroying her would not be an easy task to be sure.

Noticing that one of the mercenaries was regaining his feet, the wizard instructed him to run and to seek the child of the nobles. If they could find the kid then they would not have to remain to fight the spirit. Hopefully, the child would not be like the other monstrosities they had faced.

The spirit sent a bolt of black shadow at the group; it crackled with dark lightning. Speaking the words of a protective spell the wizard weaved a shield of energy around him and his two remaining men. They were safe for the moment but the woman sent three more of the energy bolts at the shield.

As the shield began to weaken the wizard nodded to the two warriors who prepared their weapons. When a fifth bolt came screaming into the magical shield it shattered it but they were no longer in it. The wizard ran behind a nearby tree and began the chant to one of the most powerful evocations he knew.

Splitting up; the two warriors dodged out of the way of minor bolts of force that the spirit sent at them. They came from both sides of the spirit and slashed downwards at her shoulders. She screamed in what appeared to be agony even though the swords seemed to pass right through her with no effect. They were enchanted but it did not seem enough to truly kill her. Still, they came on with heavy slashes and stabs.

Her translucent hand came up as one of the warriors strayed too close to her. It passed through his armor and struck straight into his chest. A look of pain appeared on the man’s face but quickly went slack as she drained the life out of him. The other man looked on in horror as his companion’s skin began to wither and turn to dust.

Down one companion, the wizard knew that he had to hurry up his spell casting or he may be all alone soon. Speeding through the incantation as fast as he could, he hoped that he did not mess it up at a critical time. Just as he was about to complete the spell he turned from behind the tree. Small spikes of ice filled the air around the woman, forming a sharp cage. With a motion, the spikes shot down and penetrated the woman covering her like a porcupine. Another scream blasted from the woman, more intense then the last one. It was infused with magical power and knocked the two men off of their feet. When they recovered they found the woman was gone.

Catching their breath, they knew they did not have long to escape from the demi-plane. Fortunately, the other friend came running up to them with a child slung over his shoulder. They ran back to where they had entered the strange plane of existence and the wizard began the spell to open the portal.

Fortunately, the barriers between planes were weaker after being opened so much. It would not take much for him to open it again but he still would need protection. The two warriors set up as the wizard turned his back; the howls of the monstrous children began to echo through the gardens around them.

“Hurry! They are almost here!” screamed one of the men, he knew the two fighters would not be able to defend their spell caster for long. When the monsters reached them they would hopefully be back in Haben. From behind a row of trees, the warriors saw the reaching claws of the creatures.

“There! Let’s go!” The wizard had opened the swirling portal and jumped through without seeing if the warriors had made it in. As much as he cared about completing their job, his life was more important. He did not have to worry much though, the warriors were not far behind. As they emerged from the portal, their target in their grasp; the nobles let out a cry of happiness.

On the other side of the portal, the Mistress of Shadows let out an opposing howl! There had been life in the child that she could have still taken. She never had lost one of her children before; except for the children when she had been alive. It hurt just as much as the first time it had happened. Once night fell in Earador she would find a new child to claim as her own.