Before you read, if you haven’t read Legacy, then turn back now! There are spoilers!! Feel free to come back later when you’ve caught up. Thank you!
Andra’s Story
A KOTLC Fanfic by Abigail Magnia
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Monster
This is Andra’s story. Her story is not very well known, but some of the most important stories are hidden behind the shadows. This is a story about a girl who has been haunted by darkness all her life, just waiting to catch a glimpse of light. This is the story of how she found that light…
“ Focus! You’re not trying!”
“ I can’t!”
“ You must try!”
“ I can’t do it!”
Andra was frantic. She didn’t know what to do. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get them off. Her body was shaking violently, her forehead was dripping sweat down her silken, white hair. The more she panicked, the more the shadows plastered themselves onto her skin, slowly covering her in darkness. They felt like icy snakes slithering across her skin. It was almost as if they were….alive. A monster that’s been haunting her, waiting for the right moment to consume her, just as she had always feared.
Across from her stood Lady Zillah, standing impatiently with her intimidating scowl, just waiting for her to figure it out. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want to be a Shade. All her life she wanted to manifest something unique and beautiful( like a Flasher), but the nature of genetics chose for her, out of all the other abilities, to be a Shade. As if her life wasn’t hard enough. The fact that Lady Zillah just stood there and did nothing made her hate her even more.
As if sensing her growing panic, the shadows grew quicker and wrapped around her torso in a cold embrace, inching up her shoulders and along the sides of her neck.
They’re going to kill me
Andra froze in terror as the shadows curled around her throat. She wondered if death felt as cold as this. As the shadows started to tighten around her throat, Lady Zillah finally spread her hands and said,
“ Enough!”
Immediately, the shadows peeled themselves off of Andra and fled back into the dark corners of the room. The crystal chandelier steadily grew brighter, illuminating the antique office floor. Andra collapsed to her knees and gasped, breathing in much needed air. Lady Zillah towered over her with an intense expression, saying in an very exasperated tone,
“ If you don’t learn to control those emotions of yours, you will never be able to learn.You must learn first to control yourself in order to control the shadows, not let the shadows take control of you!”
Andra slowly got up, still shaking from the experience. She was afraid of Lady Zillah, but after what she went through, her anger towards her Mentor was greater than her fear. She stood up boldly before her and said,
“ You have no idea what I just went through. They almost killed me! You could’ve stopped them sooner!”
“ The shadows didn’t ‘ almost kill’ you, that was just in your mind. You must learn to control that overactive imagination of yours or you’ll never be a decent Shade.”
“ Yeah, well I never asked to be a Shade, and I certainly didn’t ask you to be my Mentor!”
Lady Zillah laughed and said, “ I am the only Shade Mentor at Foxfire, and you can’t help the ability you were born with. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can succeed.”
Andra wanted to throw back a sassy comment, but she was right. She couldn’t help being what she was. If only she could go back and stop the day she ever manifested. She started feeling that sick feeling she gets in her stomach, wondering if she would ever be able to escape the darkness.
Lady Zillah groaned and said, “ You’re even worse than that boy.”
She retreated towards her bookshelf against the wall and started rummaging through her library filled with a miscellany of books and old scrolls. Andra stood there, biting her lip and shifting her feet. She was aching to escape to the lunch hall. It was the only time she ever really felt safe. Of all her sessions, this was the worst.
Lady Zillah extracted several thick volumes from the shelf and handed them to Andra. Andra’s small frame nearly crumbled under the weight, but she held fast.
“ Study these thoroughly, make sure you return them by the end of week and whatever you do, don’t lose them. I expect you to know more about your ability than I do by the time you’ve finished them, then maybe you will think twice about your views on Shading.”
Andra only glared in response. Lady Zillah groaned again, then she said, something Andra thought she would never say. She leaned closer to Andra and said in an unusually intimate tone,
“ I know it is hard to be a Shade, believe me, I went through the same thing when I manifested. But I when got over my fears and learned to control my ability, I earned the respect of the Council, and eventually earned the respect of others. Not everyone, but some, and eventually became a Mentor at Foxfire. Now, I don’t waste opportunities. I see in you a very powerful Shade. Either I teach you to reach your true potential, or you leave this session and never come back again. I will not waste time on a prodigy that will refuse to learn her own ability.”
Andra stared at her Mentor and for a moment as if she didn’t know her. Lady Zillah hardly ever talked about her past, much less try to understand what she was going through. But Lady Zillah had manifested just like she did, experienced the same fear, confusion, and ridicule. But…she was also hard, cold, and very intense. She knew she would never become a powerful Shade. Who would want to become powerful in something that was dark and creepy and make everyone believe you were the monster you’re afraid you are.
Aching to leave, Andra nodded and walked slowly towards the door, balancing the heavy volumes as best as she could. Lady Zillah sighed in relief and returned to her desk, sorting through the scattered scrolls. Andra took one last look at Lady Zillah when she noticed a scroll that was sprawled across the desk. The runes at the top spelled one word:
“ Shadowflux?”
The moment she said it, she didn’t realize she said it outloud, until Lady Zillah immediately shot her head up at her and asked in a stiff voice,
“ Where did you hear that word?”
Andra meekly gestured towards the open scroll. Lady Zillah hastily rolled it up, and said,
“ That is none of your concern. Now go! You’ll be late.”
Not willing to agitate Lady Zillah any further, she left the office as quickly as she could. Still, she kept wondering what it was that Lady Zillah might not be telling her. What if she was hiding something about her ability that could possibly be….dangerous?
—————————————————————————————————
This is just the first part of the story, but there will be more coming soon. Please tell me what you think of it so far and whether there’s anything that needs to be improved on. I’d love to know your thoughts. And before anyone asks, no sadly, I didn’t do the picture of Andra( I wish I could). Just got it off of Pinterest this afternoon and pinned it to my story to spice it up a bit. Anyway, hope you liked it! Gotta go write some more!
Whoa, Abbie. That was spectacular!
I loved how you described her panic as the shadows began consuming her (or, you know, 'consuming her' as her Mentor would say) Okay, starting some constructive feedback now: Starting at "You lost control again..." to "You can't help being what you are", that conversation felt a little stiff. Like rehearsed, or something. If it's supposed to be stiff, since talking to a teacher she hates, (and I can see how that would be uncomfortable,) maybe this is a conversation they've had before? And you could mention that somewhere and that would make it less like they're taking cues from a director. Like, 'Lady Zillah started up an argument they'd had several times in the past' or something like that. Overall, I really liked your story, especially at the end when shadowflux came to haunt Andra. Keep it up! Now I'm off to read the next part...