Eve

A lot of people may not know this about me; but I've always been quite bookish. In my younger days I used to spend hours in the nearby library when things got too heated at home. Back then I was mainly into fantasies, something about other worlds always fascinated me, though I had little to no interest in reading about the real world. Reality was boring, stale and overly predictable. But in the words of others, I could lose myself in realities far beyond the scope of regular human imagination. It was a time of optimism, one of endless wonder. That time had long since passed however. I wasn't that same girl any more, however much I missed it. I still read often, but nowhere near to the same degree. Now my tastes leant to more sophisticated works, by authors with names I could scarcely pronounce. Not today however, today I was looking for something much less reasonable, I delved into my local library for works I wasn't sure existed. I'd been doing a lot of research lately into other worlds, I had a longing interest in learning more about my homeland and the multitude of conspiracies surrounding it. I'd heard a lot from my mother growing up, and it always fascinated me a great deal more than I let on. I always found a strange fascination in seeing others interpretations of a world that was all too familiar to me already.

I waded through the darker sections of the library and into the more conspiracy driven rows of works. Looking through the books I saw a mixture of those that looked intriguing, and those that looked flat-out ridiculous. It was some time before the book that interested me most caught my eyes. It was by an author I didn't recognize, but featured a subject I did; "Night and Day, the worlds beyond our own", I looked it over a moment before grabbing it with haste. After flicking through a few pages and getting a scent of the old tattered paper I closed it and looked to one side. I didn't notice anyone initially, but upon looking now I saw a somewhat peculiar sight. A woman, one I'd never seen before was stood at the end of the aisle staring straight at me. I strained my eyes at first to get a better look, sifting through my memories to see if the face rang familiar. However much I looked however nothing would come to me. I stared at her a moment longer, waiting to see what she wanted, but still, she said nothing. I began to lose my patience when things got even more bizarre, it was then her eye began twitching in a way that was all too unsettling. I nodded with uncertainty before making a hasty exit. I might not have known her but judging by her reaction, I didn't want to. I made my way to the end of the library and began checking out. It was around this time I noticed someone standing close behind me. Looking back with uncertainty, my heart sank at the sight of the very same woman.

"You okay?" I said to her awkwardly, she didn't respond, perhaps unsurprisingly, and merely stared with the same twitching eye. I laughed the incident off and made my way out the store with haste. As I walked down the steps and made my way back to my motorcycle, Shadow, I looked into the building once more and shuddered at the sight of the same disturbed looking woman staring back at me from the confines of the library. I stared at her a moment longer, waiting to see if she would give any sign of friendliness or aggression, but she merely continued staring. I threw my helmet on a second later and sped away, hoping to never see her again.

I lay in my high rise apartment that evening bored as usual. I sifted through the book, and though it was dense with information, it wasn't nearly as interesting as I'd hoped. Nothing about the Land of Nightshades, it mainly focused on mythical lands from legends originating in south-east Asia and the Arab world. For what it was I still had an okay time learning a great deal. Couldn't quite wrap my head around the immense number of belief systems that were rife in just about every corner of the globe to this day. People living mere miles away from each other living by completely different creeds.

Towards the end there were a few sections however that most certainly seemed to mirror the land I originated from. There were tales of a land the likes of which had never been visited, with a people who could manipulate shadow and shape the very fabric of reality to their will. While not wholly accurate, it made for an interesting read. One of these days I ought to write a book on the subject myself, perhaps make a few bucks and flaunt if to some of my old colleagues, that's one way to be super. It was around this time I decided to check the TV, it was getting late by now and as per usual I decided to see what was going on around the world before I began to make a night of things. I switched from one network to the next, a crappy stand-up special on one channel, a football game on the next. None of it interested me in the slightest. It was then I switched over to the news and my attention finally piqued. They were discussing a war in a foreign country, one of many, and the campaigns that lead up to it. I watched it, semi-interested when the broadcast was interrupted. There seemed to be an incident going on at some point in a city. Once they named it I shot up from my foetal position and watched with intense interest. They said there was a catastrophe going on at a location not all too far from my own, in a library that sounded all too familiar. It was the place I was at this morning, the same one from which I rented the book. They say they was a person of immense power involved and many had been slaughtered. Finally, it seemed I had something to do. It didn't take long for me to make up my mind, within minutes I was getting dressed while following the coverage. It seemed to be getting worse. I hurried even greater than usual and within a moment I was ready and headed out the door.

I sped through town at a blinding rate, shadow purred as I wove in and out of traffic. The further I got the more people I saw looking panicked, running in every feasible direction. Police were trying to cordon off certain areas. Once they got sight of me I backed off to the shadows and whisked around then, had a few close calls when they tried to stop me, luckily for them I could phase. Swimming through the darkness of the night I was soon approaching the block where the madness seemed to be happening. Now there were people in every conceivable direction, I could barely see a thing that was happening. I sped forward phasing through a few more frightened individuals before they could see me, that was when I saw it. Something floated in the distance, I thought it an object at first, one blindingly white, then I soon recognized it to be a person, one I didn't recognize. I pulled shadow up to the street corner and hid him in the shadows in case anyone got any funny ideas. I then made my way to the plateau, to get a better sight of what exactly was happening. Even standing closer I still couldn't make sense of it. A lady clothed in blue and white robes, with white hair and a long white and gold sceptre hovered above the fleeing people, in the distance stood police aiming guns, trying to reason with her. She didn't seem to care, every bullet they attempted to fire disappeared in a cloud of dust in what seemed to be a barrier surrounding her. It was then she retaliated, aiming her sceptre at a cluster of officers she reached for something within her and out the other end came a beam of white light that sent them flying back. Whoever this was, I could tell it wasn't going to be an easy fight.

I stood on the fringes for quite some time, watching the unfolding chaos. All the while she seemed to be shouting something, something I couldn't quite hear. I stepped closer, almost within her field of view but still not able to hear the words precisely. I soon realized my only option was t expose myself to her vision so I could get a clearer picture. Stepping from the corner I heard her shout the words

"Bring her to ME!" upon finishing she shot another beam of light that decimated a slab of concrete and incinerated the side of a nearby police car. I racked my brain for what felt like an eternity to remember if I'd heard of any such villain, I knew of a few similar ones, but none quite like this. I thought of a plan of action, a way to put an end to this madness when she finally noticed me. Looking to one side she finally realized the shadowy darkness visible from the corner of her eye was in fact me. She stared at me with uncertainty a moment, as though not sure she really believed what she was doing. I thought of saying something to her, but before I had the chance a jet of light was sent spiralling in my direction. I had quick reflexes, but even I couldn't fully avoid it. I was sent hurling by a beam of energy that felt a lot more painful than it should have. It seems my suspicions were correct, this lady was able to manipulate light, perhaps my one and only weakness. I hid myself in the shadows as I heard her draw nearer. She descended from the plateau and began making her way over to me. That attack, whatever it was had left a pretty nasty scratch on my right arm. I held it in agony as I made my way over to another corner where I hoped she wouldn't be able to see me. I stumbled as I ran and no doubt she heard me. A jet of light incinerated the wall I was approaching and I hovered backwards a moment. Before long another jet of light was headed my way. I summed wall of darkness to absorb the impact, though it did little to no good. The light phased through it like it wasn't even there and I barely dodged it before it almost took off my arm completely. It seemed I was going to have to get serious. Flying skyward, I shot for the stars, leaving a trail of darkness behind me as I went. The woman in white followed me, It must have looked like quite a sight from the ground. It was unbearably cold up here, I wasn't sure I could stay there much longer. Once I reached a high enough altitude I stopped dead in my tracks, now the woman in white stared at me with a fury the likes of which I hadn't seen in years. It was now I finally decided to confront her.

"What to you want?"

"Take me."

"I'm sorry?"

"You know where." she said, and though I was confused, I was starting to see where she was going, and I didn't like it one but.

"Take me to the Land of Nightshades" she said as she flew toward me in a fury. I narrowly avoided her clasping hands and straightened myself up.

"What do you mean take you there? Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Siara, the White Widow of Lightland, and I have a bone to pick with you and your people."

"Okay, well how about you take it up with them?" I said, creating a portal beside me. The White Widow looked at it momentarily, as if not fully believing me. She then slowly hovered toward it, keeping her guard up at every moment.

"You're wiser than you look it seems-" she began, flying into the portal, it was then the illusion vanished and a rope of darkness caught itself around her neck. Extending a rope of dark, I wrung it around her neck and swung her repeatedly, letting go at the peak of my strength and she went flying into the ground. The crater was quite immense, people, even the police went running. Though I harbour no love for my homeland, I have unfinished business there and wasn't about to let some psychopath wage war on my ancestors. I slowly began to descend. It seemed the lady hadn't fully recovered from my attack, I very much doubted I'd killed her considering the level of power she possessed, even so, a tinge of regret ran through me after a second minute of no movement. It was then, in the midst of my regretful thoughts she finally awakened. A beam of light, the width of a skyscraper went shooting upwards and all around the ground seemed to tremble. I descended rapidly, hoping to restrain her before things went further. As I reached the ground I peered into the never ending beam of light and caught sight of the madwoman, her clothes were torn from the impact but she looked even more enraged than before. The entire city centre trembled as she screamed in a fit of rage and I began to back away, not sure I could handle whatever the hell I was up against. Her eyes began searching now, doing a complete 360 for an sign of me, once she realized I was no longer in the sky she turned her attention to her immediate vicinity and locked sight on me in seconds. In the blink of an eye, before I could even move she was in front of me. A split second later I felt the punch of a titan send me flying backwards. My insides felt like they might explode I was in so much agony. Summoning the energy within I quickly raised my own strength and defences against her next attack. Before I could however she was on me again, another punch sent me flying, luckily this time I was able to summon a little armour to absorb the blow, had I not done that in time I'd probably be down for the count. I needed to move quickly now, she wasn't going to give me even a second to recover. I phased myself out of reality for a split second in an attempt to avoid the next attack, despite it all she was still able to grab me in my semi physical form and throw me to the ground. I summoned a wall of darkness which absorbed a good amount of damage just in time to protect myself. It seemed I wouldn't have any time to waste, I was going to have to give it my all, sooner rather than later. Summoning everything I could in the moment, I built a construct of immense darkness and held my ground as I saw her jet towards me once again. In the space of a couple seconds I composed myself, readied an attack and set off from the ground, flying straight for her. She didn't seem fazed even the slightest. Priming her most powerful attack, I saw a construct of light resembling a falcon flying in my direction, compared to mine, a crow. I screamed in a fury, she did the same as we clashed in an attack that sent shock waves across the town. Never in all my life have I dealt with an attack so furious. I felt the light ripple through me with an agony that was almost unbearable, though from what I could see she wasn't faring much better. She seemed just as worn out as me and as I went flying I made a conscious effort to hide myself from her field of view. I went flying into a nearby river, I had no idea where she went. I held myself under for more time than I was comfortable with and after a few moments rose to the surface for air. She was no where to be seen. I gathered myself and flew off into the night with what little energy I had. It seemed it wasn't enough, setting down on the pavement I began making my way back to my apartment with what little energy I had left.