Shadow Reign.
This is a work in progress, I haven't gotten around to updating it yet. Enjoy. 😱
Prologue:
The shadows surrounded her, swallowing her up hungrily, until she became a part of the darkness. Somewhere in the distance she heard screaming; it was bloodcurdling, but it drew her out of the black, lured her out into the world she had forgotten. Flickering before her eyes, she saw faces that had once meant something to her; faces that were in anguish, blood trickling down pale cheeks from wounds which seemed to never heal. They meant nothing to her now. As she turned her back on the procession of the damned, she saw the only face she would never forget. The beauty of it was incomprehensible, amongst all the dark and foreboding faces; this was the one which was different. This was the only one which meant something to her, and yet she knew not why. She reached out to touch it, but as she did, it drew back sharply. Each time she moved forward to touch it, the face moved back. Running now, she desperately reached for the face, which seemed to be twisting into a cruel and ugly mutilation with each step she took, but she could not stop running. Suddenly, the shadows opened up below her and she was falling into a void. The face above her was laughing, its’ expression was manically evil. That was the last thing she saw; then everything around her went black, and she passed out.
One:
Ebony woke from the darkness, and realised it was morning; downstairs she could hear her mother making breakfast, outside she heard her father leaving for work. The images still haunted her as she got out of bed, and they hindered her greatly as she tried to get dressed. She tried to figure out how many nights in a row she had been having that dream, but couldn’t concentrate. A sharp pain rippled through her head; forcing her to fall down on her knees, the faces from her dream flashing through her mind each face causing more pain than the last. Finally it stopped; but by now the pain was excruciating. Blinded by the pain, she staggered to her feet, and stumbled out into the hallway, down the stairs into the living room. She held onto the banister until the pain subsided; then made her way out the front door and onto the footpath, heading for the bus stop at the corner of her street.
While she waited for the bus to arrive, she tried to figure out the mysteries behind her dreams: most of all she wanted to know why she was having them. Twice in less than an hour was too much for her to handle, and all of her questioning brought no answers: though what could she expect from herself? Though she pondered the possible causes over and over, she could not think of a single reason which made sense. Before she knew it, the bus had arrived; and with it, a small hope of finding answers. Boarding the bus, she did not know where she would find her answers, or if she would find them at all; and thought perhaps she was just trying to keep herself busy, in order to avoid the fear which weighed down on her like a ton of bricks. Not one seat was free, so Ebony stood in the aisle, with nothing to do but gaze out the windows at the distorted colours that rushed by as the bus made its’ journey to the city of Nithal. Filled with what seemed to be hundreds of people on their way to work, the bus was stuffy and smelled slightly of sweat. Some of the passengers were students from Ebony’s old school; and they stared at her with a small flicker of hatred burning in their eyes, but she was used to that by now. Though it was no more than a twenty minute ride, Ebony found herself growing tired towards the end of it. The group of students had just been dropped off; which meant that she would be getting off soon too. Finally the bus lumbered up to the end of the line for Ebony: Nithal CBD.
As she got off, she was greeted by a blast of cool air; though it was putrid with the smell of exhaust fumes, it was certainly better than the warmth and stuffiness of the bus. It was a sunny day, though the skyscrapers blocked out the sunlight; casting the city streets into shadows. Making her way towards the city’s central park, Ebony was caught up in the masses of executives and office employees rushing to work; determined not to be knocked over or lost in the crowd, she started running. Pushing through the crowds, she finally reached the curb, and ran across the street; only to become lost in yet another seething mass of people, this time they seemed locked together and impenetrable. It seemed to Ebony that the odds were against her; but she pressed onwards with all her strength, pushing people out of the way. After about ten minutes, she burst out of the crowd; and ran across a small side street, but did not hear the car coming around the corner until it was too late.
Her head hit the footpath and she was knocked out; everything went black, then she saw the faces from her dream. Only this time, they weren’t bleeding or menacing; instead, they were friendly, there was love in their eyes where there had once been hatred. Ebony felt herself being drawn towards them; now they had bodies, with arms held out to embrace her. Her body was flooded with great warmth; she did not want to wake from this dream, the faces were beginning to mean something to her, but she still did not know why. She was so close to them; she could feel the tips of their feathery fingers brushing against her skin, reaching out to her, then they closed around her arms, grabbing her and pulling her towards them. They pulled her close, and held her in their wispy arms; whispered something, and pushed her away gently. Though she didn’t want to, she knew what she had to do, and broke into a run; when she turned back for one last look, she heard a scream, and the faces had turned into blazing skulls. Horrified, she looked ahead of her instead; the screams growing closer with each step she took, they reverberated in the emptiness, circling around in her head. Ahead of her, a door appeared; frantically, she pulled it open and ran inside. The door slammed shut behind her; in front of her, a raging inferno threatened to devour her with its’ blistering heat. In the centre of this firestorm, a petrifying creature stood, from whence the fire seemed to be emanating. As he saw her, ugly laughter seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. Then flames swarmed up around her and consumed her greedily; the last she saw was the hideous beast, seemingly mocking her torment. Once again, she was surrounded by darkness now, her skin felt as if it were burning with inexplicable pain. Shadows suddenly came from nowhere, enclosing around her; stealing her breath, and leaving her suffocated. She was one with the shadows; she could feel it within her, feel herself within the shadows as well. Consumed by darkness, she no longer had the desire to escape; this was her fate, and she must accept it, no matter the cost.