Crystal Opportunities
Delilah in the Shadow Eclipse
If you haven’t met Delilah - listen to her short backstory
The last human fell into Delilah's trap with disappointing ease. She watched from behind a crystalline outcropping as the terrified woman stumbled into the clearing, the perfect phosphorescent light of her garden reflecting off the fresh tears streaming down the woman's face. Three captives in one day—a personal record—yet Delilah felt strangely hollow as she observed the crystallization process beginning at the woman's feet.
"Please," the human begged, struggling as transparent tendrils crept up her ankles. "My children are alone out there!"
Delilah's deep purple skin darkened with annoyance. Humans always begged. Always mentioned offspring. Always believed their particular situation warranted special consideration.
"Your kind never considers what they take from the earth," she replied, her voice melodious despite its coldness. "Why should I consider what I take from you?"
As the words left her lips, the sky darkened with unnatural suddenness. The iridescent crystals of her garden—usually glowing with stored sunlight—seemed to pulse in response, casting eerie shadows across the clearing. The half-captured human gasped as darkness rolled across the forest like spilled ink.
"What's happening?" the woman whispered, momentarily forgetting her crystallizing limbs.
Delilah tilted her head, her mohawk catching the light from her garden as she studied the phenomenon. This was no natural eclipse. The darkness had texture—it moved with purpose.
"Interesting," she murmured, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "More humans will flee into the forest seeking shelter from whatever this is. My garden will grow significantly today."
Satisfied with the thought, she turned her attention back to her newest acquisition. The crystallization had reached the woman's waist, the process slowed by the strange darkness overhead. Delilah approached, running a finger along the woman's arm, watching skin transform to glittering crystal beneath her touch.
"Your contribution to my collection is appreciated," she said, though there was no gratitude in her tone—only cold satisfaction.
A crash in the underbrush drew her attention away once more. Delilah froze, listening intently. Not the cautious movement of a solitary human, but the crashing of several. She slipped between the crystal formations, moving toward the sound.
Through the trees stumbled a family—a man, a woman, and two small children. They were being pursued by something that moved like liquid shadow, flowing between trees with predatory intent. The darkness seemed to reach for the smallest child, tendrils wrapping around the little girl's ankle.
"Come on, Emma!" the father shouted, yanking the child forward. The shadow tendril stretched but didn't break.
Delilah watched, fascinated and unmoved. More humans for her garden—delivered directly to her by whatever dark force had caused the eclipse. How convenient.
The man spotted her garden's glow through the trees. "There! Light! Run for it!"
They changed direction, heading straight toward her crystal grove. Delilah smiled. They wouldn't even need to be tricked into her traps. They were running willingly into them.
The family burst into the clearing, freezing momentarily at the sight of the half-crystallized woman. The mother pulled her children close, eyes wide with horror.
"It's a trap," she breathed.
Delilah stepped from the shadows. "Very observant," she said, gesturing to the crystalline forms that dotted her garden—humans in various poses of fear and pleading, now permanent art installations. "Though you have few alternatives at the moment."
The shadow entities pursuing them paused at the garden's edge, seemingly reluctant to enter the crystalline light. The father pushed his family behind him.
"Please, we mean no harm. Those... things are hunting our daughter."
"The young are most valuable to the Shadowcast," came a voice from the darkness—hollow and cold.
Delilah raised an eyebrow. The Shadowcast. She had heard legends of them—dark entities that sought vessels to inhabit. Her gaze fell on the small girl, no more than six years old, clutching a worn stuffed rabbit. The child's eyes were wide with terror, her small body trembling.
Something unexpected twisted within Delilah's chest—a memory, long buried. Another small girl, centuries ago, huddled in fear as strangers approached with malicious intent. Her own reflection in a pool of water, before she had learned to hate, before the forest had become her sanctuary and prison.
The shadow tendrils stretched into the clearing, seemingly growing bolder. They reached for the child again, causing her to shriek and bury her face in her mother's side.
Delilah's fingers twitched. The crystal garden was hers. These humans were hers to trap or release as she saw fit. Not some shadow entity's to claim.
"Stand back," she commanded the family, stepping forward. The crystals around her garden pulsed brighter in response to her will, sending shards of light cutting through the unnatural darkness.
The shadow tendrils recoiled, accompanied by a sound like sizzling ice. Delilah raised her hands, and the entire garden blazed with stored light. The Shadowcast entities retreated further but remained at the perimeter, watching with malevolent patience.
"Your light will fade," hissed one of the shadow figures. "The eclipse continues. Then they will be ours."
"Perhaps," Delilah replied coolly. "But for now, they are in my domain."
She turned to the frightened family, studying them with cold calculation. The small girl met her gaze, clutching her rabbit tighter.
"Your bunny is missing an eye," Delilah observed.
The child nodded solemnly. "Bad men took us from our home. Bunny tried to fight them, but they broke him."
Again, that strange twist in Delilah's chest. The crystal formation around the first captured woman had slowed to nearly a standstill, affected by Delilah's divided attention.
"I detest your kind," she told the parents matter-of-factly. "You take without thought, destroy without conscience. You deserve to become part of my collection."
The mother pulled her children closer, tears streaming down her face. "Then take us, but please, spare our children."
Delilah laughed, the sound like crystal wind chimes in a storm. "Bargaining. How predictable." She glanced at the shadow entities still lingering at the edge of her garden. "Though I find I dislike their intentions more than yours."
With a gesture, she intensified the light pulsing from a cluster of crystals near the family. A barrier of pure radiance formed, encircling them in protective light.
"This will shield you until the eclipse passes," she said, her voice emotionless. "After that, you will leave my forest and never return."
The father's expression shifted from fear to confusion. "You're... helping us?"
"I'm establishing ownership," Delilah corrected sharply. "What happens in my garden is my decision alone. Not theirs." She nodded toward the shadow entities.
The smallest child stepped forward, still within the protective circle but reaching toward Delilah with the broken stuffed rabbit.
"Can you fix Bunny?" she asked hopefully. "Mommy says you have magic."
For an instant, Delilah's composed mask slipped, revealing something vulnerable and ancient in her eyes. She took the toy, examining the missing button eye and torn seam.
Without a word, she plucked a tiny, perfect crystal from her garden and affixed it where the missing eye had been. The crystal caught the light, sending rainbow reflections dancing across the child's face.
"There," Delilah said, returning the rabbit. "Now he can see better than before."
A shadow tendril probed the light barrier, causing it to flare defensively. Delilah turned, anger replacing the momentary softness in her expression.
"You're still here," she said to the shadows. "How tedious."
She raised both hands, and every crystal in her garden released its stored light simultaneously. The blinding flash illuminated the entire forest, and the shadow entities retreated with a sound like screaming wind.
When the light faded, Delilah turned back to the family. "The debt for your lives and my protection is now established," she said formally. "I will collect it someday."
"How?" the father asked warily.
Delilah's eyes fell on the small girl, now clutching her improved rabbit. "A memory," she said softly. "Just one memory of happiness. I'll know when the time is right to collect."
She gestured to a path leading away from the garden. "The eastern human settlement is that way. Go now, before they return with reinforcements."
As the family hurried away, the mother paused to look back. "Thank you," she said simply.
Delilah didn't acknowledge the gratitude. She walked instead to the half-crystallized woman—her earlier captive—and placed a hand on the crystal formation.
"Consider it your fortunate day," she murmured, reversing the crystallization process with a thought. "You mentioned children?"
The woman nodded, tears of relief streaming down her face as her legs reformed.
"Find them and go," Delilah commanded. "Your debt is the same as theirs—a memory. Now leave before I reconsider."
Alone again in her garden, Delilah gazed up at the unnatural eclipse that still blanketed the sky. The Shadowcast would return, seeking more vessels. More humans would flee through her forest.
She smiled, but there was less coldness in it than before. Her fingers absently touched a crystal pendant hanging at her neck—one she had created centuries ago to hold a single, precious memory of her own.
"Mine to trap, mine to free," she whispered to her garden. "No one else decides."
Around her, the crystals pulsed in agreement, storing both light and the emotion she wouldn't acknowledge—not quite compassion, but perhaps its distant relative.
