In a city made of light, where only bright colours existed, Kitty Ravenight, a little enchantress, was walking in the street, wearing the Sparkling School of Magic uniform. On her wrist twinkled her grandmother’s bracelet, an old artefact containing her powers to prevent her from losing its guidance. In fact, her magic were outstandingly wonderful, but also most of time out of her control. If she wasn’t connected to an item, it flew all around her and reacted according to her emotions and the situations, causing sometimes scandals and problems. That’s the reason why she spent her time at the library and always bought destroyed books home so she could repair them with magic before reading. It allowed her to hope she would someday find inside the mention of an object that could help her handling it. She also loved reading and learning new things in books, especially spells.

What she was looking for but didn’t know it was something special, a unique item, a hairpin called the Golden Butterfly. Legends said it had two faces, the main one giving the ability to master magic gifts, the other giving strength and powers to commoners. But it had been lost centuries ago. Rumour had it the king was creating a sorcerer army to find it and conquer the world. However, Kitty knew magic mustn’t be used for political reasons, only to maintain nature’s order. It was the first magician’s rule: don’t use your powers to kill or hurt anybody, even if they tried first. And that rule was absolute. So when she was called to the castle, she left friends, family and nothing more than her absence to escape the upcoming of the army and confirm her betrayal and desertion. A week before, she found a clue guiding her to a precious treasure, in a faraway mountain cave. But soon, she found out assassins were following her, as well as royal guards. Their reputation was the bloodiest of every country around. While travelling, she finally ended up in a dead end, surrounded by war-thirsty fighters. Blocked, she had to retrace her steps. But they were already targeting her. Thinking they were stronger than Kitty, they offered to let her live if she surrendered. They couldn’t realize how wrong they were. As a preventive shot, she transfigured the ground into a pond she stepped on, showing them she was far more powerful than what she looked like and told them to step in the light so she talk with them. Their discussion didn’t last long, as they refused to tell her why they followed her or who told them to. She already had a idea because she knew the legend and the supposed gifts offered to any common human, but she couldn’t imagine her king doing such a thing. Not finding any way to manipulate her mind, they jumped into the light and chased her. Their mission was to give her to their commandant, however she had already refuse to use magic and this time she chose to run away, yet losing herself in unknown woods. But they were on her cheeks. She refused to be captured. She ran faster and faster, trying to leave them behind. But she couldn’t run for ever. And as they came closer, she unbelievably found a lost house in the woods.

When Kitty discovered this place, protective charms reacted by repulsing her and forcing her to keep a safe distance between them. She insisted, seeing enemies drawing closer, but as it didn’t seem the inhabitants were trying to help her, she started panicking. Her gift suddenly became stronger, responding to her fear. Hitting the bracelet holding it back, it made it shake, before turning it into ashes and exposing her power to the world. Her aura became so imposing every sorcerer around knew where she was. The air around her blackened, a luminous and deep colour invaded space, covering every living being. A deep, frightening fog flowed from her body to the tree trunk. In an instant, the whole scene was similar to a child’s drawing, shapes filled by bright and unusual colours. It lasted until a few seconds later, when a clear sound, as a bell ringing, rezoned in the enchantress’ head. Immediately, she turned to the house and crossed the distance separating her from the door until a cold shower fell on her head. The fog vanished, turning into a thousand flowers the emerald green grass around her. The door behind her opened, revealing a family hiding inside. Kitty apologized, but both the mother and her husband forced her to step in and hid her in a cupboard with their children. They waited, shaking, hoping for her pursuers to retreat, while she breathed deeply, containing her power, trying to hide it from them. But it seemed they were slowly destroying the barrier, the witch could feel it and so could the parents. They instantly jumped on their feet to slowly reinforce their charm. The young girl was so sorry but couldn’t help. With her uncontrollable powers, she would have worsen things. The enemies finally gave up their hunt and went back into the woods. When she was assured none was waiting for her to step out and eliminate her, Kitty thanked her saviours, apologizing for forcing them to take such risks for their children and tried to run away again, before stopping abruptly on the doorstep, realizing she was completely lost. Her escape had led her into an unknown place. She burst into tears, changer the flowers around her ankles into mud. The mother appeared next to her and comforted her, explaining she was a powerful witch who could, with people’s life stories, guide them to the prodigious artefacts they deserved. Her husband was a Seer. He told his wife something that made her eyes twinkle. She asked the young enchantress to narrate her story so she could guide her to the impressive artefact her heart was holding. It would lead her to it and become real when she needed it. Kitty did as she was told, lost and lonely, and a magic teddy bear held her in its arms when she finally exposed her sorrow and the fear triggered by her uncontrollable powers. The enchantress smiled silently, before offering her a magic map and a safety potion that would bring her back to somewhere secured. A heart-shaped mark lied on her goal, a few steps ahead from where she originally was going.

She took some rest before her long travel, preparing her body and spirit to the trials awaiting her. When morning came, she stepped outside, her power still spreading around her. A strangely cold wind shook the forest.

She left the forest surrounded by her own power. As she feared almost everything, it gave body to her nightmares. Every time she heard something following her, a dreadful black silhouette appeared behind her, its void-full eyes staring at her. She ran away from it once, twice, before realizing it only was what her imagination and her power made. But even if she knew it, it was frightening. She was alone, in far-away lands, among unknown persons, feeling strange auras all around her. And she couldn’t help it. So, her obsidian self-shaped followed her wherever she went, silently, dreadfully.

At first, it was very disturbing. Everybody was looking at them, her emotions making it grow up. And what she heard wasn’t really calming her. Every step she made seemed to be closely followed by empire’s soldiers, attacking the cities she crossed. Her life was constantly in danger, escaping abductions and murder attempts thanks to the warnings of her power. Somehow, her black-self told her where the traps, the blades or the assassins were and lead her to safe paths. It’s when she started accepting it, sometimes discussing to forget her loneliness and laughing alone in the night.

But one night, while entering a city, people insulted her and forced her to bypass because of that women following her. She was so used to it that it took her a moment to realize they were attacking her because of the silhouette. However, when she did, her magic-self entered in a fury and turned into a flame beast, a phoenix that burned everything around her. Horrified, the little enchantress tried to run away, but it was too late. She couldn’t escape without hurting someone. Her flames became stronger and brighter, darkening the stars above her, almost burning her skin. Around her, every building was turning into ashes, walls covered of deep black marks, people throwing water hopelessly. Magic flames could only be turned off by a water spell, and there wasn’t any wizard around. Panic prevented Kitty from thinking, breathing or doing anything that could have stopped the crisis. Instead, she worsened her situation, crying, apologizing, slowly exposing herself and her weaknesses, creating an awful flame ghost, calmly listening, burning everything around them. She couldn’t stop complaining, rejecting her power, trying to throw it away, but always forced to live with it, to suffer its fluctuations, its will and every single strange things’ consequences. But after spiting so much, she was forced to look in the eyes of the fire girl, whose head was leaning. Suddenly, Kitty’s other-self turned her back to her and vanished completely, leaving her on the burned scene, soot-wearing, two cracks in her ashes mask leaving her bloody eyes exposed.

She left the city under a furious rain of yells, cries, knocks, tears running down her face, alone in the dark, stars silently laughing at her mistakes.

Now that she was alone, it took her two more months than what was planned to reach the place. She got lost in the mountains for days, almost dying from thirst, fell and broke her arm, forcing her to take a break every time she crossed a village or encountered people. She was still unable to move correctly. But it wasn’t the most disturbing thing she experienced during her travel. No, the worst was her loneliness. For the past few years, she always had friends, family, that strange-looking magic person following her, helping her whenever she needed it. But she chose to leave them all behind. No companions, none to talk to during long sleepless nights, only the cold and white stars, twinkling sarcastically above her head.

When she arrived to her destination, she wished to retrace her steps. She was in the middle of a vast clearing, a splendid landscape before her eyes, full of sparkling lights reflected by the metal of the soldier’s sword. Behind him was a pond. Its water was as red as the Devil’s horns. Hairs were floating, calmly, their nighty blue stained by rubies. In the deep silence, fireflies were adding their warm glow to a battlefield.

The knight facing her stepped forward, whipping the blood off his blade. With a roar, he lifted his weapon and tried to stab her, his eyes burning with anger. Kitty was watching death coming right to her, petrified, as if she was lost in a dimly-lit nightmare. Except it wasn’t. And now that danger found her, she was all by herself, lost in the woods, a few seconds ahead from the end. What could she do? Not much, for sure. She only was an enchantress whose powers were sulking. She wasn’t strong enough to survive such a fight, couldn’t run away, her body refused to move, she didn’t even know what to do. She didn’t stand a chance against him.

That’s when she understood. She didn’t stand a chance because she was alone. She was at the edge of her life because she refused to consider her power as friend, as a part of her body, as herself. She only was at that point because of her own foolishness, her childlike thoughts. It wasn’t her power’s fault if they were that outstanding, it was hers not to be able to control them. And if she couldn’t even see that, she deserved to be left alone, in the night, in a blood-stained forest lighten up by fireflies, a dead body lying a few steps ahead. She wasn’t much more than that. And in an instant, she wouldn’t be alive at all. So she closed her eyes and whispered, tears rolling down her cheek, three words. “I’m sorry…”

The blade drew a bloody line on her chest as she fell on the grass. But it stopped before touching her. Someone got between them, and the sword, even pulled until it the whole blade crossed the black body, couldn’t touch her. Shocked, she watched the form turn its face to look at her. Fireflies flew closer, drawing the face’s outlines. It was hers. That’s when she noticed the mist, flowing slowly around them, hiding the blood and her shaking legs. She finally understood why her saviour’s face was as dark as fear and as familiar as a soulmate’s smile. She whispered her apologies, again and again, until a warm wind blew the mist away. Her power took the blade off her magically-made body and stepped back, uniting herself with her original flesh-made holder. In one move, the young girl turned the knight’s sword into fireflies, before pointing her finger to his chest. He smiled and showed her a shiny pin hanging from his cloak. A bloody golden butterfly appeared in his hand. He made a move toward Kitty and tried to throw her against a tree. But his move suddenly stopped in mid-air. She didn’t need to move to block such a childish thing. She could have thrown him away from the mountain, but she needed to prove the king’s and his wizard’s betrayal.

With trees’ branch, she tied him up and took the precious artefact back. But she didn’t pin it to her hairs. She took it in her hands and came closer to a women’s body, lying cold and dead on the forest ground. Her aura had spread all over the place, but it seemed something was still missing from her last creation. In Kitty’s hands, the golden butterfly suddenly stretched its wings and flew to the woman’s heart, shattering into a thousand pieces. Then, the woman vanished, replaced by a golden butterfly ballet, brightening the forest. A single tear ran down the enchantress’s eyes, before she fell on the shore of the pound, exhausted. The moonlight shined on her eyes, and when her eye’s diamond touched the surface of the water, it turned into a woman shaped silhouette that reflected her face on the water, on the ground, everywhere the pale starlight could reach her.

After such a difficult night, the young witch wasn’t able to come down the mountain and find somewhere to sleep. But sleeping up there was more than dangerous, even with her powers. The only thing left was the potion the forest witch gave her. She took it from her bag and drank it. Immediately, she fell asleep.

She waked up in a bed, inside the witch’s house. Her children faces were watching her closely. When their parents heard them talking, they entered the room, smiling. They told her she appeared on the living room’s couch, lightly injured and with a magic shadow hanging from her body. It took her a few hours to understand what was that dark thing following her steps. It was every dark thought she had that became real, concrete. Her shadow-self. Her soot-and-ashes-made self. When she understood it, she blinked, feeling stupid, before realizing how lucky she was. Everyone had a part he hated, hidden deep inside one’s heart. And some didn’t know it. She knew fellow students that swaggered every time they used their powers, as if they were perfects, as if they were a god’s embodiment. Those ones needed a recall of how human they were. And then, an idea blew up her mind. If everyone had a dark side, everyone had something to give to one’s shadow. So everyone needed a shadow. It wouldn’t change lives, just remind them all of how fragile, how human they were. But now, it was too soon.

She came back home and published her travel’s story, forcing the king to reveal his treason. He lost his powers and his throne, leaving it to his wife, who reigned peacefully and fixed every mistake her husband made. Kitty graduated successfully, obtaining the best marks in every subject, before studying her shadow and its impact on her life. Researchers checked everything and some did accept to try having a shadow. Finally, her idea of giving everyone a shadow was accepted by people and, on a summer’s day, she offered a natural reminder to every living being of its own fragility. That’s the reason why, wherever you are, everything wears a shadow that follow us until our death.