Shadow Syphoning

I struggled to open my eyes as my vision blurred with each blink. When the haze finally cleared, I found myself in a hospital room. I tried to sit up, but a sudden jolt of pain shot through my neck and head, forcing me to stay still. It was then that a doctor and a nurse walked into the room and examined me.

It pushed through the pain to speak, asking them what had happened to me. The doctor said that I had been in a car crash the night before and was lucky to have survived with relatively minor injuries. I tried to remember the details, but all I saw was darkness; I tried to recall other details, but I was left with emptiness. I couldn’t remember a single detail about myself…

The doctor said I was most likely suffering from amnesia. She said my parents were on their way to see me again, and that I should be fine to leave within a day or two. Half an hour passed before my mother and father arrived. They tried to help me remember my past, but nothing jogged my memory. Everything was blank. The doctor said I needed more time, so we decided to put it on hold.

I was home two days later, but everything felt so alien to me. I hoped that being in an environment I was familiar with would help me remember even a shred of my past, but as the days passed by, it seemed unlikely that I would ever recall who I was and what I loved. As that same week came to a close, however, something strange hit me: there were no photos or albums of me around the house. There was barely even a photo of my parents. Doubts began to crawl into my mind, and I couldn’t shake a weird feeling deep in my gut that something was out of place…

I brought up the topic during dinner that night, and for a moment there, they both looked stunned. “Mom” quickly brushed it off, saying that they were ruined  because of a mold problem in our previous house, but I wasn’t convinced. I questioned it no further to avoid suspicion, but I was beginning to doubt that they were my true parents. What was even more concerning was the reason they were holding me captive; perhaps I owned or knew something of importance to them, and they were waiting for my memories to return.

Two nights later, I pretended to be asleep so I could sneak around the house and eavesdrop on their late-night conversations. The words I heard froze me where I stood, and the shadows around me seemed to grow even darker as I learned the truth of my origins. I was a witch, and they were part of a cult that wanted my powers. They had a plan—a ritual to syphon my powers a week later. Preparations were underway with several other members who would pose as relatives. They spoke of an object they called the ‘Shadow Fragment’, which was kept safe in their closet along with their grimoire. The man urged his partner to keep an eye on me so that I wouldn’t accidentally stumble upon it.

I snuck into their room the next afternoon while they were out shopping. I went through the closet and found the grimoire. Next to it was what I could only assume was the Shadow Fragment. It was a black, jagged crystal that was heavy for its size. I could barely hold it for five seconds, even though I could enclose it with my palm. I went through the grimoire and found a chapter titled ‘Shadow Syphoning’. It was the ritual they planned to use on me. I memorised it to use it against them when the time was right.

When the day of the ritual arrived, I helped my fake mother cook dinner and desserts, and into them I sprinkled and poured all of the medicine I had left. They were not to lift a finger against me when the time was right. I pretended to have stomach issues from the day before to avoid having the same meals as them, and having everything fall perfectly into place, I revealed to them that I had learned the truth when they were all barely able to move from where they sat.

I grabbed the Shadow Fragment and recited the Shadow Syphoning Spell. They all writhed and screamed as their bodies twisted and their bones cracked—gusts of shadows ripping through their flesh and swirling around the room, funnelling towards the Shadow Fragment. They were all dead within seconds. I then recited the final line to conclude the spell; and as I did, the essence that was syphoned by the Shadow Fragment seeped into my skin and sank into my flesh. I felt a sudden wave of energy coursing through my veins, and somehow, I remembered my past. Visions of my true parents, and my sisters, it all came back to me. I fled my captors’ house right after in search of them.