Chapter 1 - Light

Dark clouds encroached upon the pale sliver of the moon, robbing the landscape of light. The tall figure stood at the pinnacle of the hill, watching as the shadows crept across the land like an ink blot beneath her. Her silver hair fluttered around her face, dancing in the breeze. Dark eyes gazed out from a face as finely wrought as china.

A dark streak of hair that cascaded over the right side of her head covered her eyes briefly. She tilted her head upwards, letting the wind take her hair away from her face to stream out over her back, brighter than the fading moonlight. Turning, her black coat swirled around her ankles. She approached her bike at the roadside, mounting it. Gazing once more at the valley below, with a small smile, she kicked the engine to life and made her way back to the nearby village.

As she rode, her keen eyes narrowed to see flames flicking into the night sky in the distance. She frowned as the dancing motes highlighted the darkening storm clouds. This wasn’t part of her design. Nearing the village, she slowed when she realised that the tall windmill on the outskirts was the source of the blaze.

Eyes turned to ebony by the creeping shadows reflected the dancing flames as she watched the men of the village struggle to put out the fire. Cars and fire engines gathered near the windmill, as she became almost entranced by the scene, caught by the flittering beauty of the sparks as they reached towards the sky. The undulations of the red flames held her attention. She saw faces appear in the depths of the crimson fire, one at a time, but they melted away in the intense heat. She recognised the faces clearly. One was apologetic – she could see lips moving in unspoken words of remorse. The next seemingly begged for forgiveness for his failure, and imagination filled in the silence. One by one her five guardians appeared. One by one they faded. One by one their souls flew skywards, borne by the iridescent sparkles of embers glowing in the night.

Someone had disturbed her home. That someone was intruding. She would find and destroy them. Alisha watched for nearly ten minutes as the flames were slowly subdued, the red beast that had claimed her guardians dying a torturous death under the onslaught of watery foam from the nearby firemen.

Five souls she named; Shurri, Rayna, Vash, Jeddah and Persus. At the end of the naming, she murmured a soft prayer, a requiem for the souls that her Father had reclaimed, souls that would be reborn. Knowledge imparted by the fleeing souls leapt into her consciousness as she turned to remount her bike. It was time to leave again, time to start anew . . . time to sleep.

-----

The man stared in awe at the stunning beauty walking away from him and his lockup. The bike he had just purchased was a rare collector’s item and she had sold it to him for only a fraction of it’s true worth. But as rare a thing as the Ducatti was, this woman who was walking away from him was beyond compare.

He watched as the long leather duster she wore swirled around her ankles like shadow, her white hair gleaming in the dull light of the floating glow lamps above her. He remembered catching a glimpse of a sword hilt riding above her shoulders and, when he looked closely enough, he could see its outline through the shape of the leather coat.

But it wasn’t the weapon that had first captured his attention. It wasn’t the beauty that no mortal woman could possess in these days of disease and poverty. No, it was the eyes. Eyes as dark as pools of pitch. He had looked deep into those eyes, and suddenly felt like he was falling . . . falling into eternity never to recover. Yet, impossibly, he had. As he watched her leave, his hand drifted to the saddle of the bike. The touch of something solid reminded him of where and who he was.

Shaking his head, he turned and pushed the bike inside his garage, securing the door firmly. When he looked back down the street, she had vanished. Gradually, the glow lamps about him faded, except for the one that followed him back home.

That night his dreams were haunted by shadow and darkness, by the eyes containing nothing but void. Awakening, he tried to remember the all images, but they seemed to elude him. He couldn’t even remember her face, but the eyes continued to haunt him.

-----

Alisha closed the door to the house and looked around at the empty room. It was small and secluded, a place where even glow lamps wouldn’t follow. It was perfect for her needs.

Whispering the spell of protection, she removed her jacket and the longsword sheathed on her back. She looked around at the gloom, a faint smile touching her lips. The light seemed to gather around her silver-white hair, the only source of light now. The darkness started to crowd in on her, the void reaching out to touch her, growing in intensity. But the light now became brighter and brighter, almost as if her presence was leaching the surroundings of all light and life.

If one were to watch as she reverted to her true form, they would surely have been blinded. Just when the light reached it’s most intense brilliance and the darkness it’s most vivid obscurity, a soft cry of release came from her throat. The sound of ripping fabric could be heard, followed by movement.

She stretched her wings to their fullest, sighing gratefully as she let them slowly come to rest. She had been holding back on such pleasures for a while now, and it was almost painful to move them. No matter. She now had time to exercise before her guardians would return again, allowing her to begin the search for the creature that had separated them from their previous hosts.

Cocooned in a house of spells, no longer touched by time and removed from the rest of the world, the angel had no need to hide her true nature any longer.