Shadow wakes up with a start. He had just had a terrible dream that his friend from his old life had been running through the woods terrified of what was chasing her. She had been calling out his name pleading for his help. She knew he was dead and gone and yet, still called for him. This sadden him, seeing her and yet not sure on what he can do to help her. He gets up off the bed and heads down stairs. He walks into the study and finds Death sitting behind the desk with the death list and a few books scattered on top of the desk.

He plops his front paws on the edge of the desk and gave a short bark. Death without looking up, “yes?” Shadow explains his dream and what he thinks it means and that he wants to go save her. “You just need to forget about her and your old life. You are here now, you are my dog.” Shadow barks his frustration and pleads with Death. “No and that is final.” Death glares the order at Shadow and Shadow holds his glare both breaking and removing his paws from the desk. Shadow stalks out of the room, heading towards the front door. “You will not be able to return here once you step through that door, there will be no afterlife. Even if you do save her and protect her for all of her years, she will die. Then there will be no one to remember you and your deeds. As soon as you are forgotten, you will cease to exist.” Death says with a stern look. Shadow pauses for a moment then continues towards the door. It does not matter if I don't exist, as long as she lives. To die for one's beliefs and for the safety of others is better than living forever as a fat coward, Shadow thinks to himself. He works the handle with his teeth and paws, pulling it open. He walks through the door, knowing that he will never be coming back to this house.

With a jolt and blinding light, he passes through the door. He has appeared in a clearing, in the middle of a forest. The moon is bright in the night sky. Sniffing the air and listening to the sounds of the forest he realizes that this forest is his forest. Sniffing a few choice trees solidifies that conclusion. He knows this forest and he knows where the camp will be. Running through the forest he finds his old camp, or what's left of it. He can still see the old central fire pit and make out where a few tents use to be. The place is barren of anything else to show that people lived here.

He lays next to what remains of the old fire pit thinking, where could see be? The wind rustles his fur and he sighs not knowing what to do. He gets up and wanders back to the forest thinking maybe this was the one he dreamed her running though. Wandering through the forest, lost and no clue what to do, hoping that one of these trees would look familiar.
He hears an owl hooting in a tree in front of him. The moonlight that makes its way through the treetops catches on something shiny near the owl. Shadow creeps closer to the owl and sees that there is a metal tag tied to the owl with leather. There are markings engraved in the metal. Shadow decides to follow the owl through the night. As dawn approaches the owl heads out of the forest and across the meadow. Shadow did not like the meadow; the tall grass kept hitting him in the nose and rubbing uncomfortably a crossed his belly. As he follows the owl a crossed, the meadow ends near a camp. There are animals grazing between him and the camp which would explain why the tall grass ends so suddenly.

This camp reminds him so much of his days living with the humans. The smells of the camp fires and the humans talking brings him back to running around with his human. The little girl who he had given his life to save. He is snapped out of his memories by a familiar scent, a scent he would never forget.

He creeps towards the camp, there are a few humans doing pre-dawn chores so he tries to stay out of sight. He follows the scent, heading into the camp. He slowly realizes that the humans and the other others of the camp don't react to him, like he is not even there. He stops trying to hide and just focuses on following the scent. He follows the scent through the camp till he comes to the front of a tent. He goes to push the flap away and to walk inside, only to just pass right through the material and into the tent. He looks about the tent, half outside, half inside the tent. He sees her there by the cooking fire in the tent stirring the embers of the fire, trying to reawaken the them and ignite the new kindling she has added. He rushes to her, bouncing and barking so happy to see her. She continues to stir the fire, trying to bring life into the dead embers. He barks at her and tries licking her face but his tongue passes right through her. It dawns on him that he is a ghost. He does not know where he learned the word or its meaning he just knows that his mission was a failure from the beginning and Death knew it and tried to warn him.



Shadow sits down on the packed earth next to her and sighs. What is the point of being here if I can not do anything. Death must be laughing at me now for being so ignorant and stupid. I should've listened to him. I am no longer among the living and have no place here. I can not help her anymore than a breeze could. Shadow gets up to leave and head back to the forest when the tent flap is thrown aside and man walks in and starts yelling at the girl. She shields away from the man as he takes a swing at her. Shadow lunges at the man growling and barking at him but to no effect. The man grabs her by her hair and hits her before throwing her to the ground again. The man is pointing at the fire and yelling at her. She is crying and cowering on the ground shielding her head from him.

Shadow watching this snarls deep and approaches the man. The hatred he feels towards the man overwhelms the knowledge that there is nothing he can do. He walks over the fire pit and through the kindling. The kindling that the girl had tried to ignite roars up in flames. The man and the girl both jump and look at the flames in shock. They both can not believe what had just happen. The girl takes advantage of the flames and puts would on the new formed fire. The man on the other hand is paralyzed at the sight before him. In the fire and slowly stepping towards him is a black dog, snarling at him. The fire dancing in the dog’s eyes. He sees the girl putting wood on the fire not noticing the dog. The logs not even affecting the dog as it steps towards him. The man turns and runs out of the tent.

Shadow goes to chase after him but as he places his paw into a patch of sunlight he falls down onto his side. He looks at his paw and it is just a shimmering reflection of his paw. He quickly pulls it out of the patch of sunlight. As he lays there in the dark his paw returns to normal and he is able to stand again. He does not understand what happened but he knows that he can not leave this tent till the sun goes down. He curls up in the farthest corner from the door and waits, watching the girl he came back to protect.

She sits on her bed, a grimy filthy foam pad on a rickety metal frame, crying, begging, pleading for death. She used to pray that her mom and dad would find her, prayed that the bad men would let her go, begged them for one peaceful night alone. She shivers from the cold, snow drifting past her barred window. She was tired, so very tired of this life of hers. Tonight though she did not cry, for she had a feeling that on this night everything would change. The noise that usually came through her door that was created by the men that kept her, was absent. She got up off her bed and walked towards the door wondering what was going on. There was always noise, tv always baring, men always talking in a language she did not know, glassed or metal being shattered or banged. But now there was nothing.
She reached out her hand to try the knob, maybe this time it will be unlocked, but she did not have to try it this time. The door swung open, slowly on its own accord. She stood there in shock not understanding what was going on. No man came through to drag her out or to force her down on the bed. Instead what came through the door was a black dog. The dog looked at her, tongue hanging out, and barked at her. He walked over to her, tail wagging and sniffing her all about. He licks her hand a few times, walks towards the door, looks back at her and barks.
She walks towards the dog, as if her feet were not her own but she knew that was not true because she wanted to follow the dog. He leads her out the door, through the room she hated the most, where the men had been, where they had tortured her. The dog leads her out the front door of the building she had been kept in for what seemed like forever. She was now standing on the a sidewalk, a sidewalk she knew very well. The heat from the summer air warming her, melting away last few years of her captive life. She knew this sidewalk for she had scraped her knee on it so many times from learning how to roller skate she knew where all the bumps were. The dog sitting at the corner, barks at her and trots down the opposite sidewalk, out of the girls sight. She chases after the dog wanting to thank it, to throw her arms around it and cry from joy. When she gets to the corner and looks down the sidewalk where the dog had gone, he is not there. Instead she sees the lights of a car pulling into the driveway of the house closes to her. She runs towards the car and the people getting out of it. For the people were the ones she had prayed to see one more time.

Death stands up, brushes the front of the robe. He does this even though no dirt or wrinkles would dare to touch that robe. Shadow jumps up, excited to see inside of the house finally. He follows Death up the path to the door, walking up the one step before crossing the threshold. Shadow stands just inside the doorway letting his eyes adjust to the dark interior. He moves so that Death can close the door, which darkens the room significantly. “Sorry about the darkness not use to having people over.” Death says apologetically.

Death snaps his fingers and white candles in holders mounted to the wall ignite. The candles gave off a surprisingly large amount of light for how few of them there were. As Shadow looks around Death explains that this is his kitchen, where food is stored and meals are prepared. Shadow doesn't understand till Death opens up the cold box, a weird box that is always cold inside, and where death keeps all of his meats and other things that need to be kept cold. “I personally don't need to eat but a true host is always prepared for guests. Also I find it satisfying to cook for others, brings me great joy.”

Shadow just stares at him tail wagging slowly, he saw all the delicious food in that cold box. Death sighs, opens up the cold box and throws a steak at Shadow. “You know, you don't actually have to eat anymore right?” Death says as Shadow devours the steak. “Course you don't, you're still not come to terms yet.” Shadow had finished the steak by this point and Death gives his head a pat. “Come now for the rest of the house.” Death opens the door to the dining room , closing it behind Shadow.

The dining room was lit by a glorious chandelier that gave off a brilliant white light. “That is a 18 candle, flawless diamond chandelier. Which complements the white bone china and the obsidian edged, white gold silverware.” Shadow jumps up onto one of the chairs and scoops out the table. “Careful there, that table and chairs are made from petrified wood and that seat cushion is lambskin and owl down.”Shadow very carefully removes himself from the chair.

Death ushers him out to the hallway and into the living room. Shadows paws sink into the soft, plush carpet which was a dark blue almost black color. There was an entire wall of shelves that had books and other items Shadow did not know the names of. There were two huge couches facing each and two chairs at the other end of the room by a decent sized fireplace, which was unlit at the moment. Death jerk a thumb over to the wall of shelves. “Those bookshelves over there hold every book ever written and not just by humans. The spines are all blank because the content of the books themselves will change depending on what you want to read. Those items also on those shelves are memento of past and future civilizations greatest achievements. The items change day by day to keep things fresh and new.”

Death walks out of the room though the opposite doorway that they had walk through from the dining room. To left is a glass door that has bright light shining through. Shadow is captivated by this light and walks towards it. Death grabs him by his scruff and turns him toward the open set of pitch black double doors. “Don't want you wandering off towards that light. That is the front of the house. That door takes you anywhere you need to go. For now it will be locked so you don't end up in some awful place, like a Vietnamese restaurant.”

Death motion Shadow to the new room. “This is my study and you must never, ever look inside that book on the desk. That book is a complete list of all the lives of everything. It contains the true name, born date, death date, and index number to find their life book, which are housed in that closet, which you are not allowed into.” Shadow looks at the big black book on it wooden support, on the beautifully carved oak desk. The craving seemingly to change when you looked away. He looks at the closest door that Death had mentioned, it looked like a normal door other than the fact that both the door and the book made his hair stand up and his tail to hide between his legs. Shadow whimpering nods his head agreeing never to go in the closet or look at the pages of the book.

The walk back out into the hallway, away from the front door. The hallway ends in front of the bathroom and splits off to the left is a set of stairs and to the right is the hallway dividing the dining room and the living room. “This is the bathroom I expect you to use it. I will not be cleaning up after you like a maid.” Death glares down at Shadow. Death turns towards the stairs and walks up to the second story, Shadow racing him to the top, almost tripped Death. Death reaches the top and pets Shadow. “Damn dog trying to kill me?” Death smiles at the joke and Shadow barks his amusement.

“These are the bedrooms you can pick whichever one you like there are always plenty.” Shadow runs to the nearest one, it also happened to be the only one with the door open. He jumps up onto the bed, rolling around and burying himself in the covers and pillows sighing contently. “Glad you like it.” Death chuckles at mess of sheets and pillows. “Dinner should be ready in a couple of hours. You have free roam of the house and the garden. I will be in my study.” Death turn and walks back down the stairs. Shadow stays in his room curled up in his bed, relaxed and snug. He slips off into sleep without a worry or a care in the world.

Death’s Shadow:
The Birth of Deus Umbra


He walks through the small camp, soundless, not leaving the smallest trace. He walks to each body, stooping at each one, touching them lightly and only for a moment. It is a primitive camp compared to the other civilizations he has seen.

He makes his way towards the center of the camp. Only a few more before he is done. He steps into the clearing of beaten dirt and smoldering cook fires. He circles the clearing before making his way to the central cook fire, the latest in the clearing. He moves to recover the soul when what he thought was the person's coat jumps at him and growls. He then senses that this person, this child's soul was not ready to be collected. The child was still breathing and dog had been keeping the child warm.

He looks at the dog and realizes that it was the dog's soul he was supposed to collect. The dog shows no signs of willingness to leave the child. Death knees by the pair, “You have risked your life to protect this child, but do not worry; come dawn this child will rescued.” Death says in a quiet soothing tone, trying not to wake the child. The dog whimpers, pleading in his eyes. Death after a few moments signs, “Okay, you can stay with the her till dawn, than we must go.” The dog's tail wags and lays next to the child again, trying to keep her warm next to the dying embers of the fire.

As the sun comes over the horizon there are voices, shouts, and cries. As the hunting party comes back to camp to discover that their clan has been attacked and wiped out. Except for the girl, whose life was saved by her best friend. A dog who was not big enough to be with the hunting dogs and was left with girl.

The men find the girl next to the central fire, still alive despite the cold morning. Her companion sheltering her from the worst of the weather. They have to roll the dog away from her, for he did not survive the night, not with the wounds he had taken to save her from the invading clan.

Death and the dog stand away from the tribesmen, standing in corporal, and the girl, who has woken up to find her best friend dead and cold, her crying echoing in the air. The dog whimpers knowing this is farewell. Death rubs his ears, strangely feeling sympathy for the dog, the first time in millennia . As the dog and Death turn to leave the girl cries out “I will miss you and love you forever Shadow!” The dog howls his cry back, not knowing it will never reach her ears.

Death turns to the mostly black dog, noticing that his wounds have turned to scars, three slashes a crossed his left shoulder, and one slash a crossed his left eye. The slash having strangely turned the left eye a deep green. “What an odd pairing, the left dark green and the right a light blue.” Death thinks to himself.

As they walk the world fades to a white fog. The dog, Shadow, staying close to Death, fearing getting lost in the fog. Eventually, the fog gives way to a starlit, night sky. The pair walks up a gravel path to a walled in courtyard. Death pushes open the wrought-iron gate, stylized with flowers, to a garden with flowers in full bloom, showing off every color imaginable, filling the air with so many scents that Shadow sneezes.

There is a stream that weaves its way through the flower beds, pass trees gently swaying in the light breeze, finally ending at a pond in the middle of the garden making a soothing trickling sound that almost puts Shadow to sleep. Death sits down on a bench by the stream. “Time to rest these old bones.” Shadow sits down next to him on the bench. “We will sit here for a minute before we go into the house and give you the grand tour.” Shadow barks his agreement.

I would just like to thank everyone that was able to make it to my house warming party on the 12th! It was a lot of fun and I hope everyone had a great time. If there is enough interest I will throw another one. It was nice to finally have a place where I can throw parties and not have to worry about neighbors.

Thanks again everyone!!

I am moving to my own place starting December 1st and want to break it in fur style.

Where: 117 5th ave Ellendale MN, 56026. Little red place behind the bank.

When: Saturday the 12th of December, anytime after 3pm, party ends when the last person drops. So I expect it to continue into Sunday morning atleast.

It will be fursuit friendly and bring your own booze. Just to warn you it is a small town but have no neighbors.

I will have Pizza and sandwich for food, if you want anything other then that let me know or bring it with you.

I have a lot of room so people can stay if need be.

RSVP in the comments please.

I walk through the valley in the shadow of death, I fear no evil for even demons run from me.
For I am the companion of death, for where I walk so must he.
I walk though the world of the living, not knowing love's embrace, for even love runs from me.
For I am the companion of death, and there’s no love for Him.
I walk through the hospitals of the sick and dying, for I seek out the suffering.
For I am the companion of death, I am His mercy.
I walk through the battlefields of good and evil, for I am the Decider, not He.
For I am the companion of death, for I maintain the balance.
I walk through door of our domain, to curl in front of the hearth, to rest my aching paws.
For I am the companion of death, I bask in the heat of the Damned.
I listen to wind outside our windows, the screams of burning, the wails of the lost, and whispers of the saints.
For I am the companion of death, I sleep through the torrent of storms.
I fear nothing, for my Masters at my side, his silence a reassuring embrace.
For I am the companion of death, we are the Beginning and the End.

German Shepherd, black body, dark blue belly and dark green paw pads, one dark green eye, one light blue eye. Dark green and dark blue streaks in tail fur, Blue or dark green scar line down one cheek.

He's a quiet character doesn't say much, usually doesn't have to. Is known for his swift mind but is famous for his swift hands. Has one light blue eye that seems to pierce the soul and light up the darkness, while his green eye seems to show the softer side that he hides. He stands at average height of 5'11 with a lean build.

He comes off as the hard quiet type but deep down he is a big softy. He cares about people more than he let's on and hates to see them suffer.

He who walks next to Death not herald or omen but the one who comforts his fellow brothers, sisters, cousins as they watch Death take their companions.