The tale of the Darkness Behind You

A clasic bed-time story in the city of Pitax, reserved by parents for the most unrully children, tells the story of the spirit of the night that is anoyed by noises made after darkess falls and punishes anyone staying out and not respecting the tranquility of the time. This myth is now repeated as fantasy but some households never bring it up as they still miss the members that were taken from them with no explanation inthe nightime. In these households payers are heard for protection from the power that does not feel emotions neyther forghets a debt. In these households in the night there are no gatherings and the children do not cry in the night. And they always make a stiched design of a small eye on the back of each shirt's collar cause if the darkness aproaches you and you don't see it then it will grab you and steal youto the world of the night.
Or so the story goes...
Some gnomes have gone missing in the streets of the city, never to be seen or heard of again. The myth existed for as much as te city existed, bt only as a bedtime story. During an early dawn in a cheap area of the town in a small tavern, came the time were a childs story would start haunting grown men make wonen hold their childerns hands tighter. That dawn a good man went missing. His brother, a lowlife with a good voice and many friends open widely the door of the Shinny rock distilery and pup, his eyes glowing with the light of last nights alcohole and shouted in semi drunk speach

I saw heerr!
She appeard behind him thought the shadoowwwss.... Wraped her arms around him and draged him!! IIInto the swirl of the dark smoke of her body... I SAW HEEERR

That was about the time the bed-time story for shilder started becoming a nightmare.
Nowdays the legent goes that a young maiden out with her sweetheart were stoped by thougs. As her sweetheart tried to save her they held her into the darkness as they beat him dead. Her end was also aproaching when the girl made the deal with the demon of darkness to save her in exchange for her soul. And ever since she roams the city's streets doing her masters bidding, aproaching from behinf and grabing anyone who distrurbs the nights sacred silence. And as always the trouth behind a story is never as the people tell it. But, it is true that the girl named Darkness has a role to play in this story.

Summary

The girl named "Darkness" was actualy a nomad girl named Yara, the nomad word for night sky. She was a human going to Pitax, the gnome city to get away form the hard life of a nomad. Her head was full of dreams and not much thought or logic. She came to the city in hope that her passion and happy character would make her popular. But the gnome society was not what she had expected. Although not unloving Yara could never feel them as her oun people. Slowly she lost her color and enthusiasm and became a bleak shadow of her old self. That is when her mind started sliping into the hands of a being calling her his chosen one and pomising her a life as she had dreamt it. And as this became slowly her only thought she started wandering around the city's roads in the night trying to conect with the "spirit of the night" that havefound in her a vesel. Little did she know about the city's legend of the creature of the darkness lurking behind you when you are not looking and grabing you when most vonurable. The creature had no effect of the gnomes of the city as their tight family afairs didn't let them vonurable to what was the trough of this legent. However Yara, allone and confused was the perfect victim for a creature that had beed in decades in slumber. Yara and her melancoly had unknowingly whoken up the origin of that legend.
Althouh the night it got her she tried to save herself by grabing a stranger that was walking by she ended up draging him along with her and her face became the symbol of the terror lurcking the city. The mans brother described the woman who thaped his brother onto the shadows and that was how the spirit was given the name "Darkness" from the name that woman had been introducing herself with in that city.

Historical Basis

In the pain fields of the north, once full of thesh grass and hrds of buffalos, there used to live nomads. Handy with animals and used to traveling the Nomadic people of the north were a symbol of the free life one could live in the nature. As the droughts however spread their hot breath to the corners of the earth, the nomads faced many dificulties into adjusting into the new climate. Tough and proud though, most of them mainained their way of life. Some didn't though. This was the start of Yara's story."Yara" in the nomads tounge means "night sky" as she was born in a clear summer night. A traveler once trying to translate her name told her that it meant "darkness". Yara didn't know what that meant but kept it in her mind.
Later when she found herself iin a big city she used the translation of her name to fit in better as she thought. Little did she knew that this name made the supersticius gnomes to close up to her even more than normal

Spread

The old bed-time story is quite popular around Korun. However the details for the woman and her tactiques are only believed in Pitax and the sorounding areas. It is also a comon practice to have an eye shaped trinket, clothe drawing or tattoo oneveryone to keep safe for the Darkness that lurks behind you. They even draw it on beds, doors and windows in places that one can't check by his sight. In the sorounding ares all these practices are considered a bit over the top and the locals practicing them have goten the stamp of the supersticius.

Cultural Reception

If someone did their research n Pitax he would know that the myth is very specific to the race and description of the evil girl spirit. However such a case is rare a dn usualy the evli woman spirit is of whatever race the story-teller is and the details are always eyther overstated or enriched by ones personal style. Sometimes she has red eyes and sometims she is bald. Sometimes onlythe victim can see her and screams in agony of noone seeing their fear while othertimes she is completely invisible and youhav only feel her arms around you as she drags you into the unknown.

Suvenirs

The arreas art has evolved abound the protective eye symbol and ways to implement it as a good luck charm. Traders always bring back small trinkets to their families and some witted locals even sell them as suvenirs. The goverments guards are given their titles through eye-shaped buttons that they wear on their uniforms. In many buildings the eye is drawn in different styles to make the building protected and the Gnomish ships of this city always have eyes in the front as a symbol for their safe travels.

Date of First Recording

5793

Date of Setting

5742