Vuori: Tale of the Shadow Slope

""  *Low beyond Pefkies the trek meets the bordering tops of the Slope, outside which this huge Petroupolis alley yawns. Ghosts of children frolicking in the dirt, remnants of old soccer fields crown the expanses now. Dreams and goals of urban minds and rural harts, as tirelessly they endeavor to parry the swinges of a city which never retreats.*  ""

The Tale of the Shadow Slope is the fifth story in The Vuori Chronicles book series. It is a descriptive story with a distanced POV, telling the stories the Vuoriors lived on their numerous ascensions of the slopes near Petroupoli and after a turn right at Liopyri. This road was mainly followed with the aim of reaching Where Partridges Gather , and therefore many key elements alluding to the top are hinted at in the story.

*Preceded By*: Sunset on Vuori

*Succeeded By*: Vuori: Amidst the Groves in Liopyri

*Word Count*:1167

## Release

The Story was written near Easter in April 2018,by Vuorior James Kingston. It is the first story of the new 8 added tales to re-introduce the third-person, descriptive narrative, and also the second one to include a lyrical poem. The story is marked V in The Vuori Chronicles.

## Plot

The story begins with the description of the Mountain animals like foxes, and is separated on the section of the Shadow Slope, as well as the segments dealing with Night and the spooky elements it adds to the place.

It focuses on the adventures of the Vuoriors as they crossed the First Antenna and the ensuing groves called Pefkies, and trekked near the empty alleyways of Petroupoli city , before taking an upwards turn towards the last of the dirt roads before the rocky ascent to Where Partridges Gather. This slope has been explored frequently by Vuoriors, and is the road which connects the outer plains , at the ends of the Narrow Road, with Segment B, Vouno, or the Deeper Vuori. If one turns right at Liopyri, they would bypass the Apolikseis, or the Endings, the exits to the Petroupoli city and would eventually cross a slanted slope that would subsequently take them to the Second Antenna on the left, and just below Where Partridges Gather on the right. References to the End of the Rains are also made in this story, seeing as it was this Slope the Vuoriors walked to 'dash through the underbrush' and reach the infamous Partridge Top.

Shortly after the middle of the story, allusions to the Darker side of the Mountain were made, and the mysterious ambiance created with the advent of Night. It is unknown whether these lines were written to hint at the story following immediately next, Amidst The Groves in Liopyri, a supernatural tale following the adventures of a fox facing strange reanimated animal spirits, or was a nod to the rather unpleasant experience of Vuorior James Kingston along with two other Vuoriors on a moonless Spring night in 2018, analyzed in Vuori Chronicle #8 The Warehouses.

## Style

The story belongs to the second type of storytelling, and is written from a 3rd person perspective. It never fails to keep its descriptive tone, albeit engaging in plenty of decorative expressions and poetic elements, mainly referring to the Vuoriors and their experience during the End of the Rains.