Personal Entry

Institute of War

When you get woken up at two in the morning, it's never a good thing. Nothing good ever happens at that time of night, and this was no different. I was woken by her crying again, but it was never this late at night. Normally by now she would've drowned herself in medication so she slept peacefully, but she didn't tonight.

Carefully getting out of bed, walking over to her, I could see shadows in the darkness, watching my beloved drown herself in sorrow. The tears covering her pillows and sliding down her cheeks, landing on the ends of her bright blue hair. Her golden eyes which should have been upon were still closed, so she was just weeping in her sleep.

It was strange, but I sat by her side, stroking her hair as if to try and calm her down without waking her. It seemed to work. But as I started to go back to sleep myself, I saw the shadows once more, but I thought my eyes were tricking me, until Astrid whispered two words that kept me awake for the rest of the night.

“He's here.”
Everyone at the institute of war knew who he stood for, but no one knew what he was. No one could ever find him. It was as if he vanished after taking his next victim off into those shadows. I never knew when he would try and strike, but all I knew was I had to protect Astrid from him, but the waiting game was the worst part of it.
As the days went on she got worse. It became almost impossible to keep her around the people that she once worked with. She felt out of place, as if she was no longer good enough. I would look at her with love in my eyes only to be returned by the darkness showing in hers. Golden turned dull. I knew what was happening. She was starting to embrace the change.
I tried fixing our own relationship like I have many times before when this has happened, but this time, nothing worked. I apologized for everything I had ever done, trying to get her to see the light again, but all she was seeing was darkness. Every time I spoke to her, I just kept seeing the darkness grow in her eyes, but I knew I couldn't leave her alone. If I left her alone, he would strike.
It became a growing fight for me, trying to fend off an enemy I couldn't see. Many of her once close friends even tried to find the culprit that would soon take her, but we were not successful. We could all see what was happening to her, except she couldn't see the change.
Poor Astrid, once a great warrior at the institute fighting with the moon's light was now letting the clouds of darkness cover that light. She could no longer fight, and would spend her days laying in her quarters, the windows covered up to block out the light, and wrapped in blankets to shield herself from the outside world.
It was almost a month before the waiting game was finally over. She had sunk so far into herself that no one could pull her out. I laid next to her the night he came, hoping to shield her from his embrace, but I knew my efforts would fail. Once he has chosen his prey, he never gives up. He will get them eventually, and it was her time to go.
I saw the shadows start to dance in the darkness, and I watched her open her eyes. The golden light was back, and she placed a hand on my cheek before whispering the only words I had heard out of her for the past month.
“Thank you.”
After that, I saw the comforting look she gave me as the shadows slipped her away. She didn't try to fight it. She just let it happen. So there she lays, and I am now here. Alone. With only the memories of this night.
I was the first to witness his kidnappings of their life. And with this knowledge, I will spread it to everyone, so that he can be brought to a stop, and no one will be embraced by darkness ever again.
We will find him, and we will destroy him.