~Turn my back I'm defenceless
And to go blindly seems senseless
If I hide my pride and let it all go on
then they'll take from me
'till everything is gone~


Frustration seeped into his blood like poison, slowly rotting every part of him. Darkness was an interesting thing, it loomed over him like a piece of candy, sweet and irresistible. It's momentary pleasures made his mouth water.

He'd woken up from one darkness only to find himself surrounded by another. Alex sat up in what looked to be a bed, the early morning sun shaded by thick grey sheets covering the windows. The room was large, and shadows lived in almost every place he looked.

He blinked a few times and wondered if he should get up. That's when the pain kicked in, his head was already throbbing, but Alex grabbed his chest and started breathing really hard. A pain he'd neither felt nor knew ever existed, surged through his chest.

"I'm having a heart attack?!" His words were said in disbelief. He yelled out when the pain moved lower down his body, while slowly paralysing him.

He fell back and cried out.

"Fighting this won't make it any easier, human."

Alex looked up, trying to forget about the pain that bit into him like starving wolves. That was a female voice, he looked around but couldn't find the person who the voice belonged to.

"Zhane.." The name came to him suddenly, like he should know who it belonged to.

A gust of cool wind brushed against his bare chest, the pain he was feeling washed over his body like wild fire.

"I guess it would be pointless for me to ask what the hell is happening to me?" Alex struggled to say those words, and that sent a new wave of fear through him as the piercing pain started moving up his neck.

His skin was red, and he was getting dizzy.

He was close to passing out, but just before his vision started to blur, he saw another shadow move.

"You guessed right," The female voice sounded almost shy, as he tried desperately to keep conscious. He was getting light headed, but the pain was numbing out.

"Now go to sleep."

He did.

***

Jen walked into her Captain's office when he requested to see her with urgent news.

Capt. Logan looked up as Jen turned to close the door behind her. He couldn't help sighing when she looked up and stood before him.

"You wanted to see me Capt," Jen said with a voice dead and without emotion.

Capt. Logan stood up and walked towards Jen, slowly taking in a breath as he began to say, "The mission I assigned to you will be revoked and another team will be sent to take care of it."

As he spoke, Jen's expression changed from blank dullness to hot anger. "Why?" Jen demanded, but quickly calmed down when Capt. Logan's face took on a more stern expression.

"There are more pressing matters that have come to my attention," He leaned against his desk and looked down.

When he looked up again, his eyes looked crystal clear as Jen patiently waited to hear the words that came next.

"Do you believe in witches?"

Jen looked perplexed, "Excuse me? Of course I don't believe in witches." Jen's eyes closed wearily and silently hoped Capt. Logan would just get to the point.

"They exist. Believe it or not, but they're real." His voice lost all feeling as emptiness filled the void in both of them.

Jen's mind went blank as shock hit her right where it hurt. *This can't be happening...* She thought helplessly.

"A dark witch has found something we have been looking for and I fear that the danger we helped stop will be unleashed in the past and with it changing the future forever."

"What do you mean "we"? What... what's going on?" Jen didn't understand and the more he talked, the more confused she got.

Capt. Logan looked away, "I belong to a secret organisation called Circle Daybreak. Are main purpose is to secure peace among all races and ensure a future worth living for all."

He looked to Jen and said, "But more importantly, we fight the evil that is the Night World."

"The 'Night World'?" Jen sighed.

Capt. Logan shook his head, "There isn't time to explain everything Jen." He walked back to his desk and handed Jen a folder.

"Everything you need to know right now is in there. You'll go back into the past and complete a mission that will save the future. Otherwise, I'm afraid everything will be lost."

Jen looked at the folder and stood frozen in her spot. Too confused to think straight.

"You'll go back to Angel Grove and find this person," he held up a picture with the name "Andros" written on it. Jen took it, but still felt lost in a storm that grew more wild with every passing second.

"Trust him. He will help you." Capt. Logan simply said.

Jen nodded and walked out of the office.

She spent the rest of the morning studying the folder she received and once she was done... the little light that was left in her eyes dimmed out.

A heaviness sunk into her heart as she took a shaky breath.

She was supposed to help stop an ancient apocalypse that had threatened the past and will destroy the future.

She didn't understand why, but then again, she didn't much care.

Nothing in her life made much sense, and this new revelation she unearthed is no different.

As Jen walked out of her office to prepare for her departure, Capt. Logan called out to her.

"Jen I'm afraid I've got some more bad news and I'm sorry this has come to light only hours before your departure."

Jen looked uneasy and tried to keep her calm. Not much else can be said or done that can shock her anymore...

Capt. Logan took out a black envelop and handed it to Jen, "This was left here this morning on Alex's disk and I think maybe you should read it."

It's a good time for change and Alex will never be the same.

Jen read the words over and over again in her head as alarm began ringing through her body.

"Alex..." she whispered.

Jen looked away from the note still having the words drumming in her head, "Where is he?" She simply asked in a voice that lost all emotion.

Capt. Logan looked at Jen with comforting eyes that told her exactly what she didn't want to hear, "We don't know. He hasn't come into work and apparently no one has seen him since yesterday."

A comforting hand lay on Jen's shoulder as Capt. Logan tried his best to explain the situation.

"We have our forces out there looking for him and if we get any word... We will contact you."

Jen felt like she was in a far away place that made her feel like she was falling forever. The voice inside her whispered a truth she didn't allow herself to believe and the more she fell... the closer she got to the truth.

"I have to leave." Jen whispered as she turned for the door.

She needed to do something, anything. A sick feel took over her body as her mind raced with thoughts that made her eyes get watery. She stopped suddenly and remembered when she last saw him and what she'd said.

A tear fell down her face as she decided what she'd do and no matter what happens, she couldn't let herself get involved anymore than she already was.

Jen walked away.

***

Years passing in and out like flickering starlight, too fast to hold on to yet beautiful enough to always stare and wonder.

Feeling like a ghost floating between two worlds, one of darkness and the other... human. Zhane continued to watch the world while always hidden in the shadows. Moving with them, using them until he became a shadow to the world that forgot him.

Bright lights shone out of the eyes of the ordinary human lives that shift along in predictable rows. Every single life connected with another, pulsating in the night with fireworks of glory. Zhane stood and watched the show play out a thousand times in different places, but everytime, he stood alone.

In the dark, with his own life line dulling out.

He was left alone, to wander the world for years that passed him by untouched and unnoticed.

He was unnatural, different.

Eternal youth, and immortality ran though his blood. His eyes turning a dark shade of silver, but that empty hallow that lay deep inside was shielded from anything and anyone who might hurt him, or at least try to.

Hundreds of years left Zhane tired and withered inside, but there was no denying the power he now possesses.

Utterly limitless.

"Zhane, my Lord, it is done." The shadows scattered, and the light of the moon shone brighter as Zhane turned to face the lady standing by the door. Her lilt frame was alert and possessed the fear that cautioned her every move.

"Has he awoken yet?" The darkness whispered the words that fell out of Zhane's mouth, his unholy silver eyes dimmed to black. A cold chill passed through the room and brushed against his pale white skin like a sheet of metal. Zhane stood quietly as his smouldering eyes watched the fearful girl standing in front of him, quiver with fright.

His lips pulled back, a sneer of satisfaction.

"Yes, he woke only moments ago. I believe the transformation was successful."

Zhane looked up and stared right at the girl, his eyes consumed with endless darkness. The girl that stood before him was just another servant, someone to do as he wished. Like all the rest, she was trapped in his web of poison that forever kept her here, with him.

Her eyes were guarded, and scared. It's a shame she agreed to play.

There was only one rule to his game: He always won.

"That will be all." He said slowly, enjoying every second of terror he caused her.

He laughed and turned away, as he heard her feet quickly carrying her away. The fear consumed in every step she took, growing more with every move she made.

Zhane pulled something out of his pocket, a picture folded once. He opened it and stared ominously at the eyes that looked back at him.

She would break and her soul would be his.

She was weak, now more than ever.

She was next.

He was ready to play again.

***

~If I let them go then I'll be outdone
If I'm killed by the questions like a cancer
Then I'll be buried in the silence of the answer~