All the Shadows of the Night

== Prologue ==
It was time.
Time for all of the rumors and gossip to stop.
Time to show everyone what the Night Nymphs were really like.
Time to save her people.
Even if it means betrayal.
Her people weren’t these emotionless murderers everyone made thought them to be.
They were real people.
People able to love their young.
People able to be happy.
People able to BE.
	Nisa needed to find her path.
Her country, or her passion.
Her people, or her hope.
The wrong choice could change everything, but not also for worse.
Not everything is always as bad as it seems 
== Chapter 1 ==
Ella walked down the white, almost floating stairs to her living room to do her homework in a place where her cat Lilly wouldn’t sit on her homework and type random greek symbols on her computer. When she sat on her almost spotless couch, she realized something was wrong: Her parents were just there, and now they had vanished. 
She had seen them while she was walking down the stairs. “...we need...Shangri-La...see us.....” From the sound of it, their conversation was very serious. But that is not the point. They had vanished. 
Ella would have known if her parents had gone on an errand because all of their doors were annoyingly squeaky, not to mention the fact that they always set the alarm before they left. 
Ella sat down on the brown beanbag chairs facing the mini-aquarium in her living room to think.
As she watched the fish, Ella realized something. When she saw her parents, they were standing next to the fist tank. 
Ella stood up to count the fish, only to realize that there were two extra fish.
There was no one else in the house, she thought. There is no way… Ella’s hand that was previously pressed up against the fish tank fell through, however, what she felt was not water. She felt a tree.
Suddenly, an unruly thought came into mind, even though she was trying to stay calm: What if her parents were trapped in this world? What if each fish was one of the people there, trying to get out? What if she couldn’t save them?
She thought back to their earlier conversation. They knew what they were doing, and they didn’t want me to know. 
But she knew their secret, and she was determined to find them.
She shoved the rest of her body through the fish tank, and looked up right in time to see a new fish forming. Her fish. 
	When Ella walked through the portal, she changed. Her emotions… just weren’t there.	As she looked around, she saw a small brick building with a sign saying “Shangri-La Cafe”. That’s odd, Ella thought, that word again..
Suddenly, her shoulders slumped with the weight of a hand, and Ella jumped. 
“Welcome to Shangri-La! You are a night nymph?” a tall woman with golden hair, tan skin, and brown eyes asked.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Ella responded, very confused.
“Come to my cafe, and I will explain.”
Ella smoothed the hair around her forehead, only to realized that it had... changed. Now straight instead of curly, Ella’s hair was smooth and oily, and… black.
Impossible, Ella thought, I must be seeing things.
Ella reluctantly followed the woman into the cafe, surprised to see that everyone walked up to her to look at this new arrival. 
“This cafe almost never gets new customers,” the woman explained. “That is why everyone is so excited.”
“Oh.” Ella was already feeling startled, confused, and homesick. What was this place? And why did they think she was one of them?
“Where are my manners?” the woman asked. “I am Laniyiashu, meaning star in ancient day nymph language. What is you name?”
“I’m Ella,” she responded.
Laniyiashu gasped. “I should have known! You are Nisato, the daughter of Yinia and Oqua or the Night Nymphs!”
Ella just stared and Laniyiashu. “I am a Nymph?” she asked.
“Of course you are!”
Ella/Nisa was stunned. All of her life she was lied to? Her name was Nisato, and she wasn’t human?
“Where are they?” Ella asked.
“Who?”
“My parents.”
“Nisa, you can’t go to Shadow Light. There is just no way. The Night Nymphs Realm is dangerous for a small girl like you right now.”
“What should my name be?” Ella was very confused, mostly because she had to names.
“Ella is a human name, so it might be safer for you to go by Nisa or Nisato,”  Laniyiashu replied.
Laniyiashu took a breath. “By the way, you can call me Lani for short. You can stay in this cafe for a few nights, but it might be best if you stay with the Water Nymphs until the Night Nymphs’ situation calms down. The bathroom is down the hall if you need to wash up, and I will show you your room once you are ready.
Nisa walked down the hallway to get to a beautiful bathroom made of silver. She looked in the mirror, only to see the major changes in her appearance, including her eye color, skin tone, and hair. But there was something else. She had a series of midnight blue loops and swoops on her forehead, and right in the middle was a midnight blue jewel.
No matter how hard she tried to get it off, it wouldn’t budge, so Nisa quickly washed her face and hands, and brushed her straight black hair with a silver hair brush that was sitting on the counter.
“Wow, you look nice!” Lani exclaimed when Nisa left the bathroom. 
“I look… different.”
“Of coarse you do! In the human world, you are disguised.”
Lani lead Nisa upstairs to a small room completely covered in black opal, that made Nisa feel more at home.
“How-” 
“I copied this from real Night Nymph architecture. Do you see of the opal reflects the light to look like stars?”
Nisa nodded.
“I’ll leave you to settle in. If you need me I’ll be in the door across from you, so feel free to ask me anything.” Laniyiashu quietly closed the door, leaving Nisa to think.
Category:Stories