***

The sun was only just now disappearing from the night sky and this had left Wonder standing out on top of one of the wall towers looking out over the cliff side leading into the dense forest below. Once upon a time there hadn’t been much of a forest up here, and what did try to grow was mostly cut down to give line of sight to the defenders. Of course now the castle was manned by a skeleton crew as it no longer held the same purpose or function that it once had.

In fact there were so few servants that Wonder was up here on top of the castle walls for a reason. With a broom in hand she went about taking care of the task that was uniquely hers and had been for a long time now. She continued her work sweeping the walkway clear of dust and leaves or anything else left up here. She'd already found one of Rita's empty energy drinks lying about.

Wonder was so intimately familiar with the walls in fact that she was familiar with each one of the chips, and cracks along the walls. She only stopped long enough to look at her side and see her little sketch book lying next to the waste bin she was using. A series of pencils lay next to it. If she was lucky she'd be able to do some more sketching of the castle, it's walls, or of the surrounding area before complete dark.

The stars were starting to shine beautifully up in the sky. The lines of silver light danced like rivers floating in the sky above them. The moon shone, brilliantly with its many cracks covering the surface with chunks of it floating around where a massive hole along its side. It was once said that a terrible war had happened on the moon though that was in the time of ancients.

Something moved in the darkness of the forest below. A dark shadow ran across a few trees staying just out of sight. Wonder had already pulled out her wand and was preparing a lightning spell, though her hand was shaking and her heart galloping from the fear of the unknown danger that lurked below. Part of her wanted to think it was merely an animal, but the shadow had seemed oddly shaped, unlike any animal she was familiar with.

Seconds ticked by slowly. Several of the castle’s lights on the wall flickered on as the internal light sensors noticed the sun had died down. Yet right where Wonder stood the light above her flickered and burst. It was enough to make Wonder jump back and lose the concentration she had on her spell.

At that same time the shadow raced out of the woods. A pair of inky black wings spread out and the shadow took flight up along the side of the cliff hugging close to the wall before going over the top and landing ten feet in front of Wonder. The thing was half shadows, and half pale flesh. It was a naked woman who wore the shadows like a scantily clad dress. She licked a pair of black lips and looked over at Wonder with a fanged smile. Her leathery wings spread imposingly wide making her seem like a giant compared to Wonder.

The woman’s voice came out as smooth as silk, yet with a hint of venom that Wonder could just barely make out. “Don’t you look just delectable, sweetie.”

Despite Wonder’s wandering eyes, she took a step back and pointed her wand at the woman. “W-what are you doing here?”

“Just freeing my mistress,” The woman took slow steady steps toward Wonder.

Wonder matched her movement by walking backwards steadily. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t need to know, you just need to stay out of our way. I, Nightshade, will more than be willing to ignore such a,” She paused to bite her lower lip with a fanged tooth, just enough to draw a line of crimson from it, “-succulent youth.”

From behind Nightshade, in a poof of smoke and shadow came two more half shadow creatures. One was at least eight feet tall, and covered in as much muscle as he was scars along with bits of bark covering his arms and dreadlocks made out of plant vines. The other was a slender, long limbed creature with long flowing hair of the purest black covering its face, the body was knobby and bent at strange angles.

Nightshade looked back at them. “And these are my two associates, Noct, and Mind Sliver. Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, why don't we get more familiar with each other?”