THE
LOST
ISLAND
When the world is scourged with war she shall come forth. Out of the burning corpse she will arise and cleanse the earth of those that would seek to enthrall it in darkness. Born of the unicorn and of the dragon and of the griffin, she shall rein justice on the earth. She will have power over the grave and over the cradle. All will challenge her, all will fail. She is life, she is death, she is war, and she is peace. Blessed with the power of the gods, she will come and will be known simply as…Illyria.
SHROUDED DESTINY
Chapter 1:
"I was not born on the Island and my birth parents do not share my unique genes. The place I would call home and the people I was to call family were located hundreds of miles away over land and ocean. Yet at a mere 18 months I somehow found myself there, whether it was through divine interventions or just a series of random events. It was the location of miraculous events, where I would later discover one of my biological parents, but most importantly it would be mine and my family's home for hundreds of years.
"By the age of four I fell in love with dancing and combined with music it became my passion and soul. A hunger for learning and books would soon follow and I developed the art of hacking. It was because of this I would learn the beautiful irony that man had traveled to others planets in different solar systems, even in different galaxies but not to Earth's own moon. Complicated formulae became easy, physics a natural rambling and foreign languages as easy as my first. This was then to be pushed aside by my need for the adrenaline rush. Playing sports, even extreme sports and taking on learning several martial arts methods. It turned out that playing football with hefty military men at the age of 14 onwards would be good life practice. As it happens, you never know when you might need to run away from someone bigger than you. It also turns out I'm good at running, I've spent most my life running, running away from one thing or another, whether that be commitment or the threat of impending death or unbearable pain. Unfortunately, I was never good at deciding whether now was the time run or the time to stay and fight. I always seemed to get it wrong.
"I remember the first time I fought, outside of practice, I remember the first time I killed somebody. I remember the sounds, the smell, his face, the look in his eyes. I remember the blood on the cold metal blade, how it slivered down my arm. I remember how hard it was to wash it off my clothes, my skin. It still hasn't come off, I can still see it there, a chilling reminder of the first life I took. I was sixteen…SIXTEEN! No matter how many times they tell me it was self defense it's not made it right. Even though it was, self defense, it didn't make it right.
"I was stubborn. 'Stay here', my dad had said. He said that a lot to me. I never listened. I wanted to help, help them fight, instead of listening to the far off echo of my friends and family getting hurt to protect me. I always thought he was being over cautious and over protective, I was so naive to the dangers out there, dangers that stalked me, that hungered for my blood.
"You see, you never think that when a parent tells you you're special they mean it literally. My dad did. I had a sheltered up bringing on an island with 200 hundred or so military men. Nobody told me that people weren't just born with tattoos; well that's what they look like. Nobody told me they were pagan symbols that meant I was a freak, for lack of a better word. I'm destined to save the world from evil and to fight for justice. Do they have any idea what that can do to a sixteen year old. It was all too 'Oh by the way, the fate of the world rests on your shoulders, good luck, ok?'
"When I was 18, I taught myself to drive, whilst beginning the process of building my own car, which turned out to be easier then expected. For some reason the thought of me owning let alone being able to drive a car terrified not just my dad but the entire residency of the island. I came to realize that this was due to the fact that driving meant I could get away, far away. My independence scared them. Regardless to say, this fear may have had something to do with my already substantial criminal record. I had developed a bad habit. If people weren't going to give me what I wanted, I would take it. This started of small, eventually escalating as I got older into grand theft auto and collecting rare diamonds that did not belong to me. A prison sentence and I devastating ultimatum from my current husband taught me the errors of my ways. Since then I made a substantial effort to make sure I could afford anything I would later want, or want to steal. After all, its not theft if you already owned it. I loved the challenge, the thrill, even if it was all too easy for someone like me.
"I married my first husband when I was 21; we divorced some 8 years later. In that time I had become a mother of four. For the first time in my life I had found my purpose. It was not that of a wife, but of a mother. The feeling that some how I could compensate for the bad I had done, for the lives I had taken. Creating life was my higher purpose, taking it would be a cross I would carry my entire life.
"I joined the military the year of my divorce and not exactly for the right reasons. I believed I was in love, and this was my way of getting to him. I was not a follower of rules, I did not like them nor would I ever. I would not let a rule get in the way of our love for each other. I married Will one year later. During which I became someone I had spent my life loathing: I became the man, a politician. Destiny had stepped in once again. Protecting the world was not enough, now I had to rule it. I brought peace to the earth and the people accepted me with open arms. The Spornish Council admittedly does most of the work, I am there for decoration or at least that was their original plan, I was their Queen Elizabeth to their Houses of Parliament so to speak. Like I said I don't like being told what to do, I made sure that they knew that I was the one with the power and I knew how to use it. For some reason at this moment they chose to ignore my criminal record but would later use it against me with unwavering cruelty.
"I would be Mrs. Smith for another 40 years after my coronation, 10 years into our marriage. Someone else had stolen my heart and the 14 children and happy marriage I was leaving behind were not about to stop me.
"Over the years, the stresses and strains which came with my apparent destiny took there toll. The sadistic torturing of enemy forces and treachery from those closest to me and the ever present danger hit the hardest. Drugs and alcohol became my solution, my get away. Often I would race one of my many cars whilst under the influence, didn't have much effect, I believed I was immune to the consequences of 'normal' people. This persisted well into my third marriage. Following suicide attempts and psychological breakdowns it was decided that I regularly attend sessions with a therapists and stop drinking. Nothing worked. It would be some time before anyone even knew I was taking drugs, when they did it had disastrous consequences. Sporns had been introduced to society many years ago. Somewhat similar to the goa'uld, they were parasites, only less evil. They exhibit no control over the host and their only benefit is the simple requirement to live. Due to this, a human's life span was increased ten fold and many diseases and viruses wiped out. Unfortunately for me, when combined with my DNA it meant that trying to break any kind of addiction to substances such as coke would be life threatening, and life threatening it was. I had failed as a mother, as a wife, as a leader and as a daughter. I had let everyone around me down. I died.
"A.J., my then husband, spiraled into the same self destructive pattern as I had and a total of 24 children were left motherless. I, however, was finally free. Strange that it would take death for me to truly feel alive, my burdens finally lifted and my soul at peace. I was 150 when I died for the first time, oddly it would not be my last. 50 years later, life would come snatching at my heels like a rabid animal in search of food. The eternal right to rest in peace would not be mine; expelled from heaven back to earth, back to my hell. My duty to man kind was not yet over, I was not done yet and they were not about to let me rest. The war was not yet won.
"Who am I? I am the one whose duty it is to protect, to save and to heal. To take the life of those who would seek to hurt mankind. Whose duty it is to forsake all relations with those I love in place of humanity. I am the one who is forbidden from happiness. But I will find a way, I will love and I will be loved. Who am I? I am Illyria. I am Isis. I am Kylie .R. Clooney."
"Where fiction becomes reality and nothing is impossible,
Where trust and faith are forgotten and love your only salvation,
Do you fight and risk losing it all,
Or do you live your life in peace at the risk of humanity,
Welcome to my world, welcome to my hell"
Kylie .S. Isis