The shadow did not like its companion. During the brightest days, it lay flat, staring up at him, dismissed and ignored. Wishing to see all that it could be. And by dusk, Its companion would make amusing shapes out of it on the wall under matchlight.
Cruel indifference by day, crueler mockery by night.
One day, the sun went away. The shadow did not question such a turn of fortune, No longer was its companion in charge of them both. So the shadow stretched far. further than it had ever gone before. Up along the trees and deep into the caves. reaching from end to end until it felt like it could swallow up the world. It was bigger than any shadow had ever been.
But shadows need shape. otherwise you could not tell it apart from the rest of the dark. It stretched for so long, it forgot what its shape was.
A mere trifling matter, it could simply return home and recall the shape of its companion. But when it came home, he was already gone. Down the midnight walk to find the sun once again.
It searched and searched in all its nooks and crannies, but could not find its companion. The shape stretched too thin, it worried that if it did manage to find him again, would he even recognize his shadow?
It was so focused on being the center of attention on its terms, it missed how it felt to feel the warmth of his presence under matchlight. How the shapes they made brought a smile to his face.
It realized what it had lost, and wished it could dance for him one last time.
It pleaded with the matchlight left in the traveler's home to travel and reunite with its companion. Alas the light could not grant the shadow's wish. because the companion left without its shadow, the shadow could not follow on its own no matter what it did. There was truly no shape like it, and no shadow shaped like its companion.
After all, how could a shadow walk the Midnight Walk without a companion?
All it could do was stretch thinner and thinner, till it was the Dark itself. Hoping to feel its companion, and hope it would be recognized.
As its search stretched on like its body, it soon completely forgot the of what its companion looked like. All it had left of its companion's memory were the amusing shapes they made under candlelight together.
so when you sit beside matchlight under a dark night, you might come across strange, twisting shapes playing tricks on your mind. contorting itself to either resemble its companion, or remind them the games they used to play.
Warmth is such a precious thing to share, especially to a lonely shadow.
and there are fewer things warmer in this world than an earnest smile.
----- A few nights ago I played a game called The Midnight Walk. A story about travelling to rekindle the sun after it is gone. As you travel, you meet tales of regret, loss, and loneliness. Spurned by a common thread of a refusal to understand or communicate.
Monsters we don't understand. Decisions we refuse to empathize. tragedies caused by a simple misconception.
I travelled the Midnight Walk with Riz (ssecarthepython), who was kind enough to draw this in respect to our journey together.
Few games leave this bittersweet melancholy when you finish. But it's that complex mix of joy and sadness that made this one so special.
