Shadow of the Moon, a Sea of Shadows

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A pitch black world. The girl cowered in the darkness. From somewhere came the high, clear echo of a drop of water striking the surface of a calm pool. A cave, she imagined at first, except that she knew she was not in a cave. The darkness was too wide, too far, too deep.

A crimson light blossomed in the distance. The flames flickered and twisted, shifted in shape and form. The conflagration climbed higher, casting long shadows into the heavy gloom, the shadows of a countless horde of beasts, beasts that leapt and pranced as they ran from the fire. Apes, rats, birds, every kind and species of creature, and none the same as you should find in a children's book, their torsos too large, their coats colored red and black and blue.

They whirled like dervishes, reared and raked the air with pawing forelegs. It made the girl think of Carnival and people whipping themselves into an ecstatic fervor. But even as they danced and spun, their attention remained focused on her, the sacrifice they would bear joyously to the altar.

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