Lightning flashed through the sky, causing all the animals to run, cowering in fear. As the rain pelted down on the roof, a young woman walked through her room. Her computer was on, sitting on the table as her cousin's game was still running from when he'd left in a hurry. That young woman's story starts here. I'm an eighteen year old girl who's in her last year of high school and I just moved to the small town of Renmark. There's not much here for Renmark to say about itself, it has a lot of wineries, a library, a plaza, and an electrical company called ETSA, but other than that, there's not much else here. My name's Anastasia Goodfield, but people call me Anna for short, and I live here with my dad. My mum ran off when I was little and the cousin I mentioned earlier is Daniel Young, he was just over for the day to see if we were doing well, but he played his game most of the time. You want to know the name of that game? It's Ace Lightning. Now I know this isn't much of an intro to the story I'm about to tell you, but trust me, it's exactly what happened.
As I paced through my room, trying to get my bag ready for class tomorrow, lightning just happened to strike the antenna on my roof. The power went out suddenly as sparks shot from my computer. I gasped, turning to face the screen, watching the sparks fly about. It was almost like watching fireworks. I found myself in the darkness, so, stumbling rather awkwardly, I slowly walked to the window, opening it to see the most terrifying face in reality. I think I still see it in my nightmares. It was a face of bones, with blood red eyes and a monocle over his right eye. I screamed as loudly as I could, jumping back and falling onto the floor as the skeleton man did the very same, falling off the roof and landing on the floor. Once I'd recovered from my screaming, I rushed downstairs and ran outside, opening the door to see a bunch of these weird creatures. One was a man of bones, the second was a lady with bluish skin and a spider for hair, the third was a giant rhino thing with a hug block for a fist, the forth was a small rat with wings and a clown nose, the fifth was a giant pig, a really ugly giant pig, and the last was a small green frog with bat wings on a stick.
"Oh my god... They're... the enemies on that game!" I whispered to myself, hiding behind the wall. My dad wasn't home that night, thank god for that! That's when I noticed them looking around, exploring the area.
"We appear to have entered a new dimension... and what a wretched one it is!" cried out the skeleton, holding the staff in his left hand. The woman approached him.
"My lord, we appear to have company" she stated, pointing at the door I was peeking out of. I gasped, hiding again, trembling and shaking in fear. It's not real, it's just a game! I'm just tired and I'll wake up to find I fell asleep by the computer. The stress of the move made me lose it for a little. I heard the footsteps get closer until I turned, coming face to face with the pig. I screamed loudly as he squealed in fright. I rushed out and tried to run to the shed when a boney hand grabbed my ankle, tripping me. I felt the floor come up, hitting me quickly. I pried my face from my arms, then turned to see the skeleton had stretched his arm out and grabbed me. His arm began retracting, pulling me along with it. I felt my breathing quicken. There's no way in hell this was a dream now, I was in too much pain from the fall.
"Why the sudden hurry to leave my dear?" asked the skeleton and I winced, feeling a rock hit my head as I was dragged. The others laughed as the skeleton continued pulling me.
"Oh god... whatever crime I did to deserve this, I apologise! Someone, save me! Please!" I begged in a small whimper as a bolt of lightning suddenly came crashing at the skeleton's feet, causing him to let me go. I scrambled to my feet, running to the nearest tree and braced myself against it. The lightning had been shot by a man with blonde hair in a strange outfit. It was the main character of the game, Ace Lightning! I gasped, finding myself in awe of the man who had just saved my life.
"Hey, pick on someone who can fight back Lord Fear!" stated Ace as he landed on the ground, shooting more bolts at Fear. Fear cried out in shock, blocking the shock with the staff, as the others scrambled around.
"Not another move Ace!" cried the woman as both her and the rat approached me, standing/hovering nearby.
"Or the girl gets it!" finished the rat and I froze, seeing two cloudy orbs form in their hands. I could only assume they were bombs. Ace turned, blinking in shock, then growled in anger.
"Leave her alone, this is between you and me!" he growled, lightning beginning to form at his wrists as his fury spiked. The others all gasped, watching in fear, so I took this as my chance and ran to the shed, climbing the ladder onto the roof and turned the light on, shining it directly onto them. They all cried out from the bright light, and the rain wasn't helping either. Fear covered his eyes, backing away.
"Get away all of you! Leave this area, or you'll face my power!" I yelled, trying to sound as tough as I could. They seemed to buy it and began scurrying away.
"This isn't over you lightning knights!" Lord Fear cried out as he ran off, his crackling bones disappearing over the sound of the thunder and lightning.
"Good work there kid!" Ace stated, turning but quickly covered his eyes as well from the bright light.
"Oh! Sorry!" I cried out, turning the light off then began climbing down the ladder. Ace walked to it, waiting for me to land on my feet, and then gently hit me on the back.
"Great work! I'd love to have seen this power of yours, but I guess all in good time, eh?" he asked and I laughed awkwardly.
"There was no power, it was just a light..." I answered and Ace began laughing like it was a joke.
"Good one, you almost had me fooled! So, tell me, where abouts in this dimension do you recharge your energy?" he asked and I sighed, pushing my wet, sticky hair out of my eyes. I was completely soaked to the bone. If I was lucky, I'd catch a cold on my first day and not have to go.
"You're actually here... you're actually real?" I asked and Ace gave me a quizzical look.
"I'm here, aren't I? Why is it so hard to believe?" he asked and I shook my head.
"Never mind... Just go into the shed for now... I'm sure there are tools or something in there, Dad never uses them, so go ahead" I stated, pointing to the door. Ace shrugged his shoulders, heading inside as I went back inside. I quickly changed out of my wet clothes into my pyjamas, and then headed downstairs, finding Ace in there, looking around in curiosity.
"Um... I thought you were in the shed?" I asked and Ace turned to look at me.
"This is a strange room..." he stated, looking around, then began opening and closing the fridge.
"This is a kitchen Ace... and that's the fridge, we use it to store food, call it our energy source in a sense..." I replied and Ace looked at me in astonishment.
"Your energy source?! No electricity!?" he exclaimed, looking shocked. I nodded in reply, and then heard a car pull in. I gasped; grabbing Ace's wrist, pulling him outside the kitchen, then began pushing him to the door.
"Just go in the shed and stay in there all night, okay? If my dad sees you, he's going to flip! Please! Just hide this once!" I begged and Ace looked at me with curiosity.
"Are you being threatened by this Dad? A lightning knight never runs!" he stated, getting out my grip and lifting his fists to the door.
"Please! I'm not being threatened, just hide! Please! Hurry!" I pleaded and he sighed in defeat.
"Alright... but just this once!" I stated, dashing out the door and heading to the shed. I turned, closing the door just in time to see Dad standing there, shrugging off his jacket.
"How were you? Did you get much unpacking done?" he asked and I nodded.
"Yeah, I was just having a shower before you got here" I replied, quickly explaining my wet hair. Dad smiled, heading to the fridge, then began looking around.
"I hate to leave you on your own like this, but you're eighteen now, it's time you began learning some independence! That's why I'm letting you rent this house I own for cheap once you get a job, but until you get your hands on a job, I'll support you as much as I can without living here" he explained and I nodded, finding that reasonable.
I used to live with my mum in Queensland, but I recently moved down here to live on my own with dad nearby for help. Both had agreed it would be the best thing for me, seen as I was going through a tough time back in my hometown.
"Well, it's good to see the fridge full and the house still clean! Your cousin will be here tomorrow to check up on you, so don't forget to go to school!" Dad stated, putting his jacket back on, and then headed to the door. I watched him leave, then bid him farewell. When I returned back to the kitchen, I saw Ace back in there.
"What's a cousin?" he asked and I sighed. How did I get stuck with this clueless idiot again? I walked to Ace, putting a hand on his shoulder, and then sat him down.
"Okay... You can stay here for now, but as soon as someone comes here, you have to promise me you'll hide and stay out of sight!" I said and Ace sighed, nodding.
"I promise" he replied and I let his shoulder go, heading to the lounge and turned the TV on.
"Now, this is a TV, it's a device that allows us to watch programs that entertain us. You break it, I break you, okay?" I threatened and Ace actually looked terrified, gulping. I smiled contently, and then headed up stairs, going to bed. How did I get dragged into this? How was I going to explain this one? And the even better question, who do I blame?