• prologue
    "when silence falls on the world of day
    the dark lord's creatures come to play
    like them or not we have to do as they say
    or we'll end up on our way" three children sat and sung, one was 12, one as 13 and the other was only 4. but no matter what EVERYONE had to sing this song at the going of the sun. WHY? because they were scared, terrified even, of the monsters of the night!!
    *
    Pitter patter pitter patter, huff puff huff puff, something was coming and she needed to run, her heart pounded in her chest as she ran, her heart beat fast and furious. Then all was still until someone said "so, Sally, you've come at last?" the voice was all to familiar for sally, she'd heard him before.
    But was he about to get his way? Sally looked behind her as two dagger-like fingers crawled up her spine making her frail frame shiver and shake. Her brown shiny hair was bleached a putrid green in this light, and her face like a rabbit in the headlights. Her heart forgot to beat for a few minutes as ice cool breaths of air danced on her shoulder, and the fingers lingered on her back. Suddenly the fingers plunged into her flesh, "SPEAK... SALLY, OR I'LL KILL YOU!" Sally moaned in agony but said nothing, she couldn't betray her mother's trust. "I'll never speak to you, you old cretin" she murmured. And moaned again as he dug his fingers deeper and deeper into her pail white skin.
    The man laughed, a high and squeaky laugh that sounded like a creaky door. He spoke in a similar way, "I didn't want to do this to you sally, but I'm afraid I have no choice" drawing his bloody fingers from Sally's flesh and laughing again, Sally could tell he was enjoying this, but strangely, she felt calm, unafraid almost. closing her eyes, she awaited the blow.
    But suddenly she awoke, gasping for breath in her small perfect bed, in her small perfect room. it had all been a nightmare, a really bad nightmare. Riju wouldn't come for her yet, at least she hoped not. After all he was the God of the dark sun. and the dark sun wouldn't rise for months yet. Even then she might not have to go, only one villager had to go at every rising.
    There was a reason for this, the old legend of her town (Oken) spoke of two gods, Niru, the God of the golden sun, and Riju, the god of the dark sun.
    Those two gods went to war, that war lasted hundreds and hundreds of years. And only one God returned to the skies Riju.
    Riju was good to the people of Oken for a while, until he realised something. He RULED, and needed to take control. And after all that battling he grew hungry, and saw the people of his town as his only source of food. So he sent out a sign, the dark moon. The village folk saw this as a warning from Riju
    So the priest of the village went to pray at his altar later that night. And was never seen again.
    The villagers began to take the rising of the sun as a request from Riju for food.
    and so the tradition began.

    Sally's mother had been taken last rising, and had asked Sally to do one thing... To hide all the family's precious gold and jewels. for Gold gave Riju power, and let him come to earth, they acted as a kind of teleport. as his molecular structure was very similar to that of the metal.
    Sally felt she needed to do as her mother had said, so she hid all the precious objects of worth in her jewellery box, which in actual fact looked more like a crate of spice, and as such when Riju had taken her mother he didn't search her room for his "fee" which would enable him to find and take her at last.

    sally's stomach rumbled as she sat, shrouded in thoughts of Riju, the old legend and her beautiful mother.
    It was days like these, with no work to do that depressed her. Shaking her head, she slowly slipped off her bed and into her slippers. These had been a token of love from her father, before he went to the war many many years ago.
    Thinking more of her past she again shook her head of the memories, and began making her breakfast, it was nothing special, just a simple bowl of wheat and berries but it was familiar and comforting to her.
    Her spoon dipped into the bowl with a plop, and with a crunch she ate the malt wheat and sweet sweet berries, it took her a while to eat the whole bowl (she was hungry) but when she had finished it she heard a scream from outside.
    Rushing upstairs she quickly slipped her clothes on, splashed her face with water and ran back down the stairs.
    With a flick of the wrist she opened the door, and saw the devastation outside her door. Crops lay trampled, people lay dead, and gold lay all over the ground. terrified screams of "HE'S HERE!!" and "RUN TO YOUR HOUSES" rang throughout the town. Sally's heart drummed against her chest again... her whole town was dying, and she was the only one left not injured.

    TO BE CONTINUED