Part Four - Reflection of Yourself.

I had no idea where we were when the Spirit finally stopped with a halt. I didn't recognize the place, but then again, there was not much to recognize.

It was a wasteland. There was no telling where we exactly were because we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Everywhere I looked, all I saw was plain land and bushes. The sky was dark and cloudy and the moon was hiding from our view. I stepped down from the motorcycle and walked away a couple of feet, uncertainly looking at my rescuer. She was wearing a pair of black leather pants, a long sleeved shirt and a long black coat.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"A couple of miles away from the city. It will take them some time to track us here since there's barely anyone around."

"Who are they?"

"Agents," came a short reply.

Who was she? And who was the guy who tried to kill me? And what was going on?

Questions raced through my mind, queries that didn't seem to get further than my throat because I couldn't get them over my lips. I watched her remove her helmet, revealing a sea of brown, curly hair. I was staring into a pair of gray eyes.

"You," I whispered and stood in the middle of nowhere, frozen to the ground. "You... You..."

"Me," she said calmly and placed her helmet on the Shadow Spirit. "My name is Raven." Her gray eyes flashed mysteriously and she smiled. "At least, that's what they have called me ever since I woke up." She started to walk toward me and I began taking an equal amount of steps backwards. "You don't have to be afraid of me, Jacob."

"Oh really?" I said, my voice shaking. "I'm not so sure about that. In fact, I'm not sure about anything anymore. I think I'm insane."

"No, you aren't," she said with a more intolerant tone and stopped. "Look, Jake, I can give you your answers, but before that, I need you to trust me." She paused and then added: "Please."

I hesitated.

"You have nowhere to go," Raven said quietly, looking into my eyes. "You have no family, no friends. Your job is in huge jeopardy right now and you've just escaped from an Agent. Now listen to me, I saved your sorry ass and I think that for that I at least deserve a moment of your attention."

I sighed and slid my gaze over the wasteland. I had to focus. I had to realize that I had absolutely zero control over this situation. If she wanted to kill me, I couldn't stop her. I had to cooperate, at least for now. I looked back at her sharply and said one word.

"Okay."

She gave me a winning, but tired smile. The smile had somehow felt like a rutine she had to do every now and then.

She returned to her motorcycle and sat down.

I followed her. She reached for something inside of one of her pockets; it was a pack of cigarettes. She put one in her mouth and lit the tip with the lighter. Soft smoke filled the cool night air as she breathed in the nicotine and then looked at me.

"Cigarette?" she offered and I took one. I had stopped smoking a long time ago, but I figured that this was one of those situations when anyone had the right to fall back into some of their bad habits. And damn it felt good.

She wasn't saying anything.

After a couple of blows, I finally felt that I could manage a decent conversation. I stared into the nothingness.

"Now tell me... who are you, really?" I asked.

She grinned and put out her cigarette with the heel of her black combat boot. "I'm just another pirate, Jake. And I'm here to set you free."

"Set me free, huh?" I said, breathing in another dose of nicotine. "And how have you planned on doing that? Maybe by creating another hole in my head, like the guy back there was trying to?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No, but I like your ironic sense of humor."

"Why thank you, it's my specialty. So how have you exactly planned to set me free then?"

She lowered her head for a moment and then turned to look straight at me. "Jake, I know you haven't been the same since the tragedy. I know you've been feeling extremely strange lately."

"That's to say the least," I snorted and put out my cigarette, not even bothering to ask her how she knew about these things about me and the catastrophic incident at the company I once had been working at. "I thought I was going crazy."

"What is exactly that you are feeling? Can you describe it?" she whispered, looking into my eyes as she cocked her head.

It felt weird. I felt like I was having a psychology session in the middle of the freakin' nowhere and it felt very odd. But what the heck, I had nothing to lose.

"Well," I began with a sigh. "Since.. since the tragedy, I feel like I've been walking in some kind of dream. Everything seems very unreal. A couple of days ago I just froze in the middle of a street and I couldn't move. That's when I started to think that I might be going crazy. I've also had dreams. Strange dreams."

"What are those dreams about?"

"Sometimes they are about wires. That's what forced me into a run when I saw the man in the shop, I saw the wire he had plugged into his ear and I remembered my dreams. And I started to run."

Raven nodded. "Your dreams saved your life. The man you saw is an Agent. They are very dangerous."

"Why?" I asked.

Her look became piercing and serious. "Jake, this is a very crucial point of the road. The steady road you've walked is now dividing into two and you must choose which one you will follow."

I looked at her silently, not saying anything. I felt the silence creeping down over us, over the night and the universe. My heart was beating the rhythm of an African drum, I felt every word she said with my entire essence. I felt she was right. Something was going to happen to me. Something big.

"Go on," I said quietly.

"What you said, about walking in a dream, is more true than you know Jake," Raven said and her silver gray eyes seemed to fill my world. "What will happen to you, if it will happen, will be very dangerous for a man of your age."

"Hey, I'm not an old man," I protested immediately.

"I'm not saying you are. But you must be very perceptive and open-minded to what you will find out."

"I can do that," I said with an undertone of stubborness in my voice.

"No one knows if they can handle it or not until they stand face to face against the truth," Raven said. "The truth will change your world, your entire existence. It will change everything you know, everything you think you are. Are you sure you can handle that?"

I swallowed, staring into her eyes. I wasn't sure about anything. But I was not the kind of guy who was ready to admit that.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked. "Why are you helping me?"

"I have my reasons," Raven smiled. "Reasons which you will be able to find out about, unless you can't handle the truth."

That sounded like a challenge to me. Does it sound like a challenge to you?

"Well," I said and stood up, towering over her. "Let's find out. I have nothing to lose, now do I?"

A sign of recognition was seen in her deep eyes. Her lips curved into a smile and she nodded. "All right. I was expecting nothing less."

Sudden ringing filled the night air. Raven reached for a cellphone in her pocket. She took the call and listened to something for about ten seconds.

"We're on our way," she said shortly and ended the conversation, putting the phone back into her coat. She removed her coat and threw it down on the ground. "Get some sleep now. We have a long journey ahead of us. And trust me," she added with a grin. "It's going to be one hell of a ride."