Stormy Skies

CHAPTER ONE

1685…

Getting out Dublin – the city where the resistance movement against Mevolent was basically based – was harder than getting in. For someone who was basically on Mevolent's side coming to Dublin was never a smart idea but Anastasia hardly ever made a smart decision in her whole life.

Anastasia took cover behind buildings and made her way towards the closet exit to Dublin. Anastasia knew it was going to be hard but Anastasia liked the challenge. She ran towards the exit but she was seen by the weaker guards. She had been told before attempting to leave not to kill anyone but killing people was who Anastasia was. It was one of the reasons why the resistance hated her. Anastasia cared about no one which made her the perfect assassin. Sometimes she killed people just for fun.

Anastasia pulled one of her two swords off from its scabbard that hang from her waist before running directly towards the guard that had spotted her. She ran with the sword to her side but as she neared the guy she swang her sword towards his neck before he even had the chance to pull his own sword out of its scabbard. The guy was instantly dead and Anastasia pulled her sword from his neck with ease. But this action had attracted the attention of the other guards.

Anastasia made a quick one second decision based off the suggestion her best friend had given her. She decided that she didn't have time to kill more people even though she would like too. She turned and ran towards the exit. As she ran she sheathed her sword, escaping the city after that wasn't that hard but losing the men chasing her was a little harder.

Anastasia made it to a nearby hill and decided that she had had enough of running. It wasn't getting her anywhere and if she ever met up with her best friend again she could at least say she tried to escape without killing anyone. Anastasia stood at the top of that hill under the storm clouds above her head with both swords in her hands.

Anastasia stared down at the group of men that had stopped at the bottom of the hill. The most of them were scared and they should be. They kept glancing up at the storm clouds above her head and then down at her. That's when she realised what they were thinking. Since everyone knew she was a sorcerer they all had their own ideas at what type of sorcerer she was. Of course Anastasia being Anastasia had never told – excluding her best friend – anyone what type of sorcerer she was so naturally most people get freaked out by anything.

That night it was clear that they all thought she was controlling the storm clouds above her head, which had just rolled in from nowhere. Anastasia would have loved to able to control those storm clouds but she couldn't control storm clouds or anything weather related.

The men at the bottom of the hill slowly made their way towards Anastasia and Anastasia decided to freak them out a little more. She raised one of swords into the air and pointed it towards the storm clouds. If Anastasia could see the future she would have chosen not to do that and would have kept running but she couldn't see the future so she never saw the next thing coming.

A lightning bolt came down from the storm clouds and struck Anastasia's sword before causing through her entire body. It was unclear what happened at first because everyone was blinded by the lightning bolt striking the ground but when they could see again Anastasia was gone. The majority of the men standing at the bottom of the hill believed that she had used the lightning as cover and ran off while they were blinded. But what really happened was much worse.

Present Day…

Above the city of Dublin the sky filled with dark clouds and lightning flickered and flashed through the sky. But this wasn't your normal storm cloud even though it appeared very normal. This storm cloud would bring something that the world had thought was gone. Something the world hadn't seen in 329 years. Something the good guys didn't like in anyway.

The lightning continued to travel from cloud to cloud until it finally stuck the ground in the exactly same spot it had 329 years earlier. There was a big flash of light and a sizzle of where the lightning had burned the grass on the hill. The lightning bolt disappeared as quickly as it appeared. The ground had been burnt and there was a huge spot where the grass had been burnt leaving only dirt and ash.

But that wasn't the only thing that the lightning left behind. Lying face down on the ground was a person, a girl. They wore a tailored made coat of black and grey material. The coat reached their waist where a light blue scarf was used as a belt. The pants they wore were black and ruffled along their legs as if they were too long but they had been made that way. Under it all was a fancy white undershirt that was no longer white thanks to the dirt she was lying in. Hanging from their waist were two swords but these weren't normal straight swords. They appeared more like your old school pirate swords, scimitars. The hilt of the swords were made from a copper coloured metal while the blade of the swords was made of a metal that was either painted black or was black.

The oddest thing about this girl was the fact she did not appear 329 years old. Her clothes didn't appear to have been sitting around for 329 years they appeared as if they were made a week ago which was the same story with the swords.

She appeared to be dead. She didn't move as she lied there. Her chest and body remained still and if anyone were to find there they would find that she had no heartbeat and find that she really was dead. But when the thunder rolled across the sky she suddenly gasped and started to spit dirt out of her mouth.

The first time she tried to get up she fell back down because she arms were basically asleep. It was like waking from a coma but a 329 year old coma. The second time she tried to get up she managed to get her knees because her legs were still weak but since she was a sorcerer energy and feeling was slowly returning to her body unlike a real coma patient. When she got to her feet she didn't remained on her feet for long. This time it was the thunder and lightning. She flinched and fell over this time landing on her back.

She quickly got to her feet and ran away from the dead spot on the ground hoping she wouldn't get struck by lightning again. She reached some buildings that were unfamiliar to her but she didn't care. She stood there for a moment shaking like crazy. She wasn't shaking because it was cold but because she was making sure she wasn't going to fall apart. She had been struck by lightning and no one had really lived to tell the tale as far as she knew so she had no real idea of how to think about this.

Skulduggery Pleasant was alone inside his Bentley this time. He had got a call about a disturbance and since it was the middle of the night he decided not to wake Valkyrie. Plus it was only a small disturbance so he decided to deal with it himself. He stopped outside the bar and activated his façade before getting out of his Bentley.

He stepped inside the bar he noticed Geoffrey Scrutinous working with some of the bar staff. Skulduggery only walked over to Geoffrey to get the details of what had happened or what was happening.

"What seems to be the problem?" Skulduggery asked when he reached Geoffrey.

"I believe it is just drunk behaviour or someone's idea of a prank," Geoffrey said.

"So I got out of bed for nothing?" Skulduggery said even though he didn't sleep.

"I guess so."

"So what did they see?" Skulduggery asked out of curiosity.

"They managed to give me a very detailed discussion of a person but it is not someone I recognise," Geoffrey said.

"And those details are," Skulduggery asked.

"A female in her early twenties with short golden brown hair which was spiked up in all odd angles, she was wearing a black and grey coat with a laced white undershirt and black ruffled pants with a light blue scarf being used as a belt. Strapped to her waist were two swords with black blades and copper coloured handles. One also claimed to see a tattoo of a rose on the side of her neck," Geoffrey said.

"And you thought they weren't seeing anything at all."

"I also said that it could be someone's idea of a joke, whoever it is doesn't sound very dangerous," Geoffrey said.

"Just because they don't sound dangerous doesn't mean they aren't."

"I know."

"Did anyone say anything about where she went?" Skulduggery asked.

"One guy did say she seemed out of place and that she asked for the way to the centre of town."

Skulduggery nodded to himself before leaving the bar. He got back behind the wheel of his Bentley and he drove towards the centre of the city and saw nothing out of place, yet. Skulduggery knew who this was. He knew who actually she was, Anastasia.

As far as she could tell she was halfway way to the centre of the city. As she walked along the side of the street she noticed many things that she didn't understand. The most obvious thing was the things made of metal with what appeared four wheels. She had no idea what they were but she decided not to think about it because then she would just get more confused.

She continued towards the city centre when she noticed something in the window of a store. She stopped walking and turned towards the window. She looked through the window and read the tag of the item they were clearly selling. The new 2014 version, the tag read. She shook her head.

2014, it cannot be 2014 it was sixteen hundred and eighty five, what happened to me? She thought as she looked down at her own hands as she felt a tingle travel through her hands.