The sun set on an open land and once it had set the open land was for the taking.

The creatures of the night, once at rest, came out and decided to play. Those of the day needed to make sure they were finished and back home before the creatures of the night came out, for whilst they ruled the day, those of the day only ruled the day. They did not rule any other period of time and so they needed to be home so as to allow the creatures of the night to take over and do what they were going to do, if they were goin to do anything at all.

Slowly, yet surely some of them awoke as the dark stretched over the land. Their eyes did not glow, but their presence became apparent and so they stretched and arose and began their actions.

Slowly, more and more of the creatures arose and as they arose more and more of them seemed to become energised. They gained more vigour and more motion. They seemed to become alive with a sense of festivity, though it was a festivity filled with silence, for even though the creatures were active, they were quiet.

They moved with a soundlessness that seemed unreal. It was clear that they were there, but there was no sound coming from them as they did whatever it was that they were doing. It was almost a haunting experience.

The greater the length of dark and the more absorbing said dark became, the more active the creatures became. The more creatures of the night that arose, the more active they became. They moved with a grace and a beauty and flowed around with ease, seemingly never settling in any one location and continuing on with whatever it was that they were doing.

Those of the day were nowhere to be seen and so there was no restriction in movement. There was no harm and there was no retaliation as the creatures of the night moved in mysterious ways.

It was not to last, however, and much like the sun sets the sun also rises. Much like those of the day were to be home and hidden before night fell, the creatures of the night were to be asleep and inert before sunlight bathed the land.

The creatures slowly returned to where they had originally slept. In that return they found themselves falling into a deep slumber once more. It seemed almost as though they were deactivating and completely leaving their bodies, though it was difficult to tell for they were not approached when they slept.

And so the cycle continued and those of the day followed the routine that they followed, though if there was one it was difficult to tell. There was great difficulty discerning if there was any specific meaning to these processes in place, but perhaps one day all would be revealed. Until then, however, the cycle would continue without any outside understanding.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:43:17

This was also a struggle to write. A bit more stretching, but I managed to stretch it out.

I think I was trying to convey a sense of mystery. In some ways that came through, but I think that overall I would’ve done a better job had I tried to include more detail.

Written at home.