Alikus sat alone in the cave. The others had gone out hunting, and they had noticed she was acting so odd- probably the reason they'd left her behind.

Ugh... How is Evereldette so good at acting normal?

Serendipity started to chirp, chirping in the same tune as the song from the dream.

"Oh goodness, Serene." Alikus sighed, turning the the crow chick. "I suppose you've been having the dreams as well."

The ground shook violently.

Serendipity- old enough to walk now- leapt over to Alikus, cuddling up under her feathers and trembling.

A dark spot began to grow on the side of the cave.

A beak made of shadows reached out towards them.

"What is that?" Alikus breathed, backing away.

She grabbed Serendipity in her beak.

The shadow reached towards them, but cringed away as it drew near Serendipity.

"Oh?" Alikus carefully experimented- holding the little crow chick to the shadows.

The shadows leapt back.

"Of course- you're a little ball of fire." Alikus pondered.

Alikus carefully took the cloth binding off of Serendipity's beak.

A short blast of fire came out, destroying the shadow completely.

Alikus put Serendipity down, glancing around.

"We need to find out what's going on, little one." Alikus murmured, picking the chick back up. "I'm trusting you not to burn me up."

She hopped to the edge of the cave. "We're White Crows. One of us will kill the King. So we must stay together." She took flight. "We'll go to... To the beach."

She glided, resting her wings. This would be a long journey.

Would she meet that seabird? The albatross.

What was the song... Between night, between day. Sunset?

It was almost sunset. And the shadows would come?

And then Alikus remembered.

The tern... Qaggie. He had said something about the "Shepherdess of Shadows". Did he know something?

And the King had said no.

Poor Qaggie.

Alikus gave a quiet gasp as the chick breathed fire again. Luckily it hadn't pointed to her.

I need to fly quickly.

An hour later, the sun was beginning to set.

Alikus alighted on the sand, looking up.

Looking up into the face of the albatross.

The Shepherdess tapped the shadows and they reached down. She hopped onto the sand.

"Well. Weren't you the intruder?" The Shepherdess smiled. "Why don't we see why you're here..."

Alikus put down the chick, holding her wings in front of it protectively.

The Shepherdess raised her crook and an eyeglass of shadows glided towards her.

"Here we are!" She exclaimed in a sing-song voice.

She looked through the eyeglass.

"Oh, wonderful. An orange flame. Serendipity, is that her name? And a green one for Alikus. Why don't we look closer?" The Shepherdess hopped around them, staring through the eyeglass. "Both of a prophecy, but who will fulfill it in the end? Alikus, stop blaming yourself all the time. Serendipity- glad you found yourself."

The albatross sifted the shadows away with her crook, then raised it.

She swung it at Alikus, knocking her away from the chick.

"Ow!" Alikus gasped, her wing throbbing in pain. "Why are you even here? What did we do?"

The Shepherdess hummed pleasantly, hopping over and spinning the crook.

"Why, I'm here to scorch the land. Here to get rid of all those awful birds. I'm here..." She raised her crook. "On her command!"

She swung it again, but Alikus dodged, flying over her and tumbling onto the sand.

"But not all of us are awful- there's families hidden in the trees just trying to get by! Do you want to kill them all?" Alikus asked.

"I'm afraid that is the price of ridding the home of the Tree of bad." The Shepherdess replied. "And if... If I don't feed my pet... I myself will be consumed." She patted the shadows with her crook, gently.

She lifted the crook higher. "Now stand aside. It's almost sunset."

Art by Birbborb66