Shadow Word: Pain Novels & Stories

They were glowing so bright people shielded their faces. "This is for everyone who died!" I screamed. "For Thomas! For Marcus! For everyone you've taken from us!" I released everything. Light exploded from me. Blinding. Burning. Pure and devastating. It swept across the battlefield like a tidal wave,shadow wielders screamed. Their darkness dissolved bodies fell. The light didn't stop. It kept going, consuming everything shadow-touched. Pain tore through me. Miriam was right. It felt like being ripped apart from the inside. Every cell burning. Every nerve screaming.

Willow grabbed her phone and typed back furiously. As the bubbling water spilled over from the pot, Willow knocked it off the stove in a panic. Immediately, a sharp, burning pain shot through her foot.

The warm liquid tasted of metal and burned her throat. Nate’s eyes fluttered open, she saw the blurred outline of a face. “You are mine now,” it said. He released her, Nate dropped to the floor with a thump. The man, the shadow, was gone. Nate’s hand reached for her throbbing neck, she felt two small punctures in her skin. This is when the real pain started.

“Stop talking in riddles!” The woman reached up and gently pressed two fingers to my forehead before I could think. I gasped. A flood of images slammed into my mind. A towering man in furs—an Alpha—stood in a circle of robed figures, his eyes wild. Blood. A basin full of it. A child screaming. A sigil, burned into flesh, pulsing like a heartbeat. A betrayal. A blade. The mark again. Branded. Glowing. Pain bloomed behind Naomi’s eyes. She dropped to her knees. “It hurts… it hurts… make it stop…”

"I have seen the dark side of life." "I have seen love but I have also seen pain" "I had everything...Then I lost everything." "The walls that I have built are to protect me from the dreams of the world." "I have become strong with the things that I survived over the years." "This darkness that surrounds me could have drowned me." "Now that I know I can survive...It's time to let in some of the light."

“Uwaaaaaa~ Uwaaaaa~ it hurts. It hurts. Everything is hurting. Uwaaaaaaa~” Shadow couldn’t stop the flow of her tears. “Oh my, oh my, oh my…” the 17-years-old young man quickly scooped her into a massive hug and carefully patted her head. “Brother… brother… help me. It’s painful.”

Layna shifted uncomfortably, her unease palpable, as The Shadows closed in, their icy, unforgiving energy enveloping us like a shroud. The Shadows' presence was a balm to my fractured soul, a beacon of hope in the darkness. I knew they possessed the power to revive Roxy, to defy even death itself. The only unknown was the terrible price they would exact in return. I held out my sliced palm, offering them the payment they demanded.

He grunts sharply. Darkness coils up his sleeve like smoke. I scream. The grid detonates outward in panic. The child flares violently. The shadow tightens its grip on him. Not injuring. Claiming. Dylan clenches his teeth. “It’s not… pain,” he forces out. “What is it?” I cry. His eyes darken. “It’s amplifying.” The shadow surges between us suddenly. And before I can react It slams into my chest. Cold. Burning. Consuming.

Frustration consumed the guard, and he lashed out, delivering a brutal kick to my stomach, sending waves of excruciating pain coursing through my body. As the searing pain surged through me, Shadow awakened. I squeezed my eyes shut, desperately trying with everything I had to keep him at bay. With a trembling voice, I pleaded with the guard to inject me once more with the wolfsbane. I knew that if Shadow took over, the guard's life would be snuffed out before he even had a chance to call for help.

Cold, beautiful emptiness. When I opened my eyes again, I felt… lighter. Quieter. My chest no longer ached when I thought of loss. My mind no longer fought itself with questions of mercy. The entity circled me, approving. “There you are. Hollow. Perfect.” I straightened. “Now give me what I came for.” It extended its hand, and in its palm appeared a shard of pure night—liquid and solid at once, humming with low power. “Shadowfire,” it said. “It burns through creation. It feeds on connection.”