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Zero Ouelette always dreaded this time of the month.
After meeting Emily Darkness, he’d had to start keeping track of the days- or, more specifically, the nights. It’d start with her getting antsy. She’d be more irritable, more mischievous, more wild. It was like she was counting down the days too, and her patience was thinning. Then, she’d start acting strange. Picking her outfits earlier than usual, sleeping in more, being distant. She’d wear things she hated on purpose. Then it began.
Whenever the moon was near full, she’d disappear without a trace every night.
It terrified Zero. The first full moon weeks, he searched everywhere for her. Eventually, he asked where she kept going and if he could come. All that came out of her mouth was, “No.” He stopped asking. Eventually, he stopped searching. But that didn’t mean he had accepted Emily vanishing so often. Why couldn't he come? Why couldn't he even know?
Zero cleaned to take his mind off of it. He tried to ignore the urge to watch the mansion doors. He knew Emily would be leaving; he did not need to keep watch. Instead, he dusted the furniture and swept the floor. He decluttered and put everything back where it belonged. He kept everything pristine for Emily. Maybe, if the mansion was nice enough, she’d never want to leave. Maybe Zero had separation anxiety and didn’t need to know where Emily was all the time.
He kept cleaning.
He was interrupted, however, by a tap on the shoulder from Emily. This was new. Last month, and the month before that, she had completely ignored him when she was leaving. Maybe she was missing something? Maybe she wasn’t leaving? Zero looked at Emily, confused.
“Come with me,” she stated, before walking to the door.
“Really? I’m not done cleani-”
Her eyes bored into him, stoic- not a glare, but not friendly either. “I’m not asking. Come with me.”
Zero felt like he’d just looked at Medusa.
After recovering from his shock, he dropped everything to follow her. Without another word, she opened the mansion doors and led him outside. They walked in seemingly random directions. He looked for any sign of what they could be doing, or what she could be trying to show him. There was none. When he looked at her, he saw the same Emily that she turned into every full moon. Silent, even though she talked all the time. Solitary, even though they went everywhere together. Serious, even though his favorite part of her was the drama. This wasn’t the Emily he knew.
“Where are we going?” he finally asked, expecting to be shut up or ignored entirely.
“Away,” she stated simply.
He glanced back in the direction they came. “Away from what?”
“People,” she elaborated. “Have you ever seen the Void Kingdom outback?”
Zero’s heart sank. “Why would we need to go there? Isn’t that one of the most dangerous wildernesses in Starland?”
“Heh.” That was the most Emily sound he’d heard come out of her that day. “You’ll know why soon.”
He’d know why they were going there… or why it was dangerous?
The moon began to become visible in the sky as Zero trudged through mud and brambles. He flinched away from thorns and squeaked when he stepped on rocks. He expected Emily to shut him up. He thought maybe she’d tell him something was lurking in the woods, and if he kept squeaking, it’d eat him alive. Not a peep came out of her. She drifted through the woods like she owned the place. To be fair, she technically did, but it amazed Zero just how naturally navigating came to her. He deduced this was where she had been every time she vanished.
“Okay,” she eventually murmured, stopping him at a small dirt patch near a tree.
Zero glanced around, still unsure what they were doing here. “What now?”
“Now you wear this,” Emily commanded, before wrapping a piece of fabric around his head and tying it on. “And you don’t take it off until you feel a prick.”
“Wh… Why!?” Zero asked.
She didn’t answer.
He could hear her step into the sandy dirt and stay there, as if hesitating. Then came the twinkling and whooshing of her Star Key’s magic. A Voidmare landed in the dirt. Zero awaited Emily’s command as much as the Voidmare did, but she didn’t speak a word. For a second, the world grew silent.
Zero flinched at the sound of Emily suddenly grunting, as if something was happening to her. Her breathing grew heavy as she began stumbling. His hands drifted up to his blindfold. She whined. She fell. She panted.
“Emily!?” Zero exclaimed. “Are you okay!?”
“I’m fine! Don’t you dare look!” she snapped.
His hands fell back to his sides.
Creaking sounds like wood or bone about to break further quelled his urge to look. Emily continued gasping and whimpering, as if in pain. Then, interspersed with her heavy breaths were giggles. Zero got goosebumps. The creaking grew louder. Emily laughed harder. Then growls joined the laughing, gasping and whimpering. Zero’s hands drifted up again, then down to cover his mouth. He was horrified. He wanted to know she was okay… but he knew he wouldn’t like what he saw. The sound of something snapping nauseated him. Something else ripped, and he couldn’t tell if it was fabric or flesh. Emily’s breathing grew hoarse and deep. Her laughter grew discordant and imposing. Her cries grew silent.
Emily grew silent, her voice drowned out by the horrible noise of bones and flesh moving in ways they shouldn’t. Zero’s breathing was shallow. The blindfold took up his whole world, and he felt like a speck of dust in it. Before he knew it, the world grew silent again. Everything was still. For a moment, Zero didn't remember when Emily said to look, until he jumped at the feeling of his hand being pricked. Hurriedly, his hands removed the blindfold. He fell.
Towering over him was an enormous, lanky beast with the combined qualities of a starikle and voidmare. Intense, glowing eyes met his gaze with undeniable truth, a symbol briefly glowing under their fur before vanishing. Its fur had a dark purple hue reminiscent of the Storm of Darkness possessing Emily. Under its feet were scraps of the gown Emily had chosen to wear, the one she’d hated any other time of month. On its forehead was her black star.
The crown of the queen of nightmares resonated through the beast’s throat in the form of a bellow, like a cross between a roar and a howl. The cry was triumphant, commanding respect, laying claim to its territory. Zero was equal parts terrified and in awe.
“I… I see,” he gasped, beginning to recover slowly from the shock of it all. “I guess part of me always saw, but this is… the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen.”
He raised up a shaky hand, but didn’t force it, waiting to see how Emily responded. She leaned down and placed her snout in his hand in an act of mutual acknowledgment. Her fur was slightly coarse, but not unpleasant to the touch. Zero kind of expected Emily to bite him. When his hand tried moving from her snout to her cheek, she did. He gasped and fell back again.
“I-I’m sorry!” he exclaimed.
Emily nudged her head into him, tail wagging, before beginning to prance around him. At that moment, something changed. His body felt floaty, and a playful mood came over him, matching the way she bowed and leapt around him. Legends spoke of starikles like her- “Eyes in the Darkness-” having hypnotic powers. At first, Zero was intimidated by what she was doing to him… but she was his best friend, and he trusted her. He rose to his feet, embracing her feral influence, and followed her into the world.
The Eyes in the Darkness were faster than the sum of their parts. Emily sprinted on all fours through the outback and ducked and weaved through plants, rocks and hills like she had never been a starikle in the first place. Zero stumbled, tripped, and lagged behind. On multiple occasions, he faceplanted into the dirt and lost track of her, only to be scruffed from behind and dragged along. Still, the experience of running with such a wild creature was thrilling. Occasionally, she dropped onto her back and let Zero leap onto her, before flipping onto him and nipping him all over as he wailed ticklishly. It was like wrestling with a huge dog. The Eyes in the Darkness were stronger than the sum of their parts, too.
Eventually, Emily froze, and put her paw on Zero’s mouth. He was confused, not yet tired of their animalistic game, but let Emily scoop him onto her back. He watched for what she was watching. He saw an animal. In his haze, he wasn’t sure what kind- but the way Emily slouched down and crept slowly made it clear what was happening. For a second, sense returned to him. Neither starikles nor voidmares were hunters. Starikles got most of their protein from meaberries, and Zero had never seen a voidmare eat at all.
Yet, Emily was on the hunt.
The Eyes in the Darkness were scarier than the sum of their parts.
Emily charged without warning, adrenaline flooding Zero’s frail body as the wind threatened to knock him off. He had to fight the urge to cover his ears as the other beast struggled against Emily’s teeth and claws. She must have heard him whimpering, because her wings pressed against him, blocking some of the sound. When the creature’s cries died down, she relaxed and let him fall off of her back. He looked to see her ripping into the creature as if she hadn't eaten in ages. He’d never seen a living thing eat another living thing before.
“E-Emily, if you were hungry, I could’ve…”
No, he probably couldn’t have cooked. This beast was ravenous. A small voice in the back of his mind said that if he’d tried to feed her, he’d have been the main course. After all, legends spoke of shapeshifters like the Eyes in the Darkness eating other starikles.
Not the Eyes themselves, but one could infer.
Zero watched in silence as Emily ate. She wasted nothing, not even bones. She slurped up guts like they were wispfruits. Despite how gross it was, he couldn’t tear his eyes away. When she was done, she dug into the ground and buried what remained, before nonchalantly licking herself clean. Zero didn’t move a muscle the entire time. Perhaps his exhaustion had caught up to him now that he’d broken the trance. Perhaps he was just paralyzed in fear. Then, she nudged him, and he scrambled to his feet, shivering. Part of him wanted to run away, until his trance returned. He was still afraid… but Emily wasn’t done with him. The horror he’d just witnessed was just a midnight snack to her.
The Eyes in the Darkness were brutal.
Emily let Zero back onto her back before taking flight, much faster than her starikle form. Riding on her back was like riding a rollercoaster. She raced across the Void Kingdom into the Shooting Star Kingdom. Morbid curiosity pricked at Zero’s mind. When she was a starikle, she wanted to steer clear of anywhere she could be seen, even in their already empty country. What reason could the beast have to do the opposite? Did she want more playmates? Something that couldn’t be found in the wild? Or… more prey?
His curiosities were answered when a loud thud announced their landing. Thin starstone creaked under Emily’s feet as she climbed down from a roof. Using her nose and ears to navigate, she nudged things around and mouthed anything she found interesting. Zero peeked over her shoulder to see what she was doing. She seemed interested in anything metallic or scented. When she didn’t find anything she wanted, she wandered away from the house, letting him hop off. He followed curiously, albeit tentatively. A light turned on in the house they came from. It turned off shortly after.
This continued for a while. Emily would find something interesting, look for things to steal, and then wander off in a random direction. Despite his nerves being shot from the multiple frights he had so far, Zero couldn’t help but search with her. They ducked behind shrubbery when awoken starikles came around, plucked small trinkets and snacks from anywhere they could creep into, and explored places with ‘no trespassing’ signs. This was more Zero’s pace, yet Emily still managed to surprise him with her keen nose and swift steps. When he saw her with a collection between her jaws, he instinctively reached to lighten the load, only for her to swipe at his arm. He yelped, but her claws never reached him, only her hand smacking his out of the way. Maybe starikle wasn’t on her menu.
When they flew home, Emily dropped everything she’d collected in her room, laid out her favorite outfit, and curled up in bed despite its frame groaning under her massive form. Zero watched her go out like a light, wings obscuring her face and tail. Without her awake to continue his trance, his thoughts were fully his own again. He looked at his hands, having mixed feelings about their feral outing. It was fun… but terrifying.
Zero had always admired Emily’s rebellious, courageous behavior. She sang loudly from the heart. She rocked the world with her powers. She chose being herself over conforming to a standard. That night, Zero finally knew the cause of her uncharacteristic behavior. She wasn’t doing something dangerous behind his back. She wasn’t mad at him or secretly hating him. She wasn’t cursed to become a monster. These transformations, exciting escapades and horrific hunts were all part of her. They weren’t the opposite of who she was- they were a continuation of her, one she preferred to keep secret.
Zero tucked in the sleeping beast, whispering, “Thank you for showing me what you are. Your secret’s safe with me. Good night, Emily.”