Shadow Fighters

When the Shadow first reached Aurora Hallow, no one recognized it for what it was.

Nothing in our world had ever taught us to expect harm. Our forest had known inconvenience, discomfort, and grief but never the kind of hollow cold pain that came with the Shadow. It crept in like shame and grew where love and connection was abandoned, feeding on numbness, detachment, and fear. This might be what's the most dangerous about the Shadow: it's almost impossible to detect before it completely consumes its victims.

It confused Aurora. Consumed in her love for all that had grown from that single seed she cared for so long ago, she'd spent countless centuries caring for the plants and animals that made up the Hallow, but she'd never seen anything like the Shadow before. It didn't make sense. Everything she'd ever grown since that single seed all those years ago depended on love and connection to survive. Love and connection was always the answer. But for those infected by the Shadow that was not the case.

And, of course, you know what happened when the Shadow spread.

Aurora and I formed a resistance as quickly as we could.

Immediately Aurora banished the humans and cats, raising The Veil in what was the most painful event in the Hallow's history; and I started training the strongest Fawns into warriors of connection and emotion. We called them Shadow Fighters.

We had always planned to send the Shadow Fighters beyond the Veil, but didn't realize until years later that the Fawns wouldn't be enough. We needed humans too.

That night Willow left was one of the hardest of my life. She didn't know it then, I didn't tell her or the other Fawns, but Willow was the first Shadow Fighter to leave the Hallow.

I didn't choose her to be the first to leave. At first I thought Aurora did, but now I wonder if that first match exceeded even her magic. Despite that, if I had chosen, I would have chosen her anyway. She was an incredible fighter.

Not a fighter in the sense most people think. She wasn't violent, nor mean. But she was steady and calm and the most persistent.

And when I met her human, I could immediately see the connection between their souls. What I noticed about her first is how I felt in her presence. Just like Willow, I have a sense she has some important role to play in the future of our worlds.

Together, they made the first Shadow Fighter team. The first human and Fawn team to take on our battle.

They can't do it on their own, of course. The Shadow and its agents are far too many and far too powerful. No, they are the first Shadow Fighters, but they aren't the last.

Today new Shadow Fighter teams are united every day in Matching Ceremonies connecting humans all over the world with Fawns in Aurora Hallow. And if you're reading this, Aurora has brought you to us for a reason. Most likely, you're one too.

You don't have to accept that fate. Many people don't. It's not an easy thing to do.

To be a Shadow Fighter you must commit to three things: to tell the truth, to be ambitious in the pursuit of good, and to love. Simple, but not easy.

You've got much more to learn, but that is all I can share for now. To take the next step, tell your Fawn about what you've read here. Or, if you haven't matched yet, contact me to start the ceremony. There is no time to waste.