One

I want my tombstone to say, “Lived life to the fullest”. I want to go knowing that I really did do everything I wanted to do on this playground – Charlize Theron

I was sprawled across my bed with my music playing full blast when my little sister came in. She was only seven years old, but she already knew how to tick me off. To do so she crossed the room and went to the computer. She pressed a button and the old screen lit up. She proceeded to open the Solitaire program.

”… Laura,” I growled, “Get out of my room.”

I was eighteen and I couldn’t stand Laura. My parents had had me young and, ten years after having me, they decided to start over with a new, perfect baby.

To make things perfectly clear, I should mention that I am in no way a perfect child. I have dark shoulder-length hair that I just let air dry and I never do anything with. I never wore make-up and all my clothes were cheap and loose. I cared more about music and books than I did about doing the girly things my parents expected of me.

Laura, on the other hand, was blond and she let my mother do her hair every day. She let my mom paint her nails and I knew she’d start wearing makeup the moment she turned ten. She was already wearing sparkly, girly clothes and cared more about being popular and pissing me off than about things that mattered.

“I said, get out.” I muttered.

“No.” she began to move the pixilated cards around the screen. “I want to play.”

“You’re blond. You’re dumb. Get out.” I knew a piece of exceptionally violent music was about to spill out of my CD player’s speakers and I didn’t want to put up with the complaints from Laura and the talk about appropriate music from my mother, who thought everything I listened to came form some sort of guitar-playing satanic cult.

“No.” The music started up and she made a face. “Ewww, that music is terrible!”

I stood and brought my fist onto the off button of my CD player. “I’m going to get some water. When I get back, you’re going to be gone. Understood?”

She shrugged and I knew I’d have to bodily remove her once I got back.

I tramped lightly down the stairs, aware that my parents would be home from work in an hour or so and that I should savour my last minutes of freedom. I grabbed a glass form the cupboard and filled it three-quarters full with cold tap water. I turned and looked at our stove. It was an old-fashioned thing with a door made entirely of glass. When sunlight came through the kitchen windows, you could see your reflection through a kind of orange-brown filter over it, almost as though you were looking at an old sepia-tone picture.

I glanced over myself, from my straight brown hair to my faded, baggy blue jeans. Looks didn’t matter to me (I made sure they didn’t the moment I realized I wasn’t anything special), but it still made me kind of sad – a little disappointed, even – when I was reminded of my plainness.

I took special care of my eyes, though. They were dark blue, the only thing about me that I knew was kind of pretty. My eyebrows were nice, too. They grew in a shade darker than my hair and they drew some attention to my eyes.

I’d never cared about my eyes before, not until Josh noticed them. Josh was Goth, but he wasn’t the stereotype I’d expected him to be. One day, out of the blue, he stopped me on my way to history. He just said, “You have beautiful eyes,” and then walked past me.

I’d never been told that anything about me was beautiful. I stood stalk still, unable to speak as he walked past me. Maybe if I’d said something back, he’d have stayed with me. Instead, I stood alone until the bell rung and I was late for History.

I was convinced that, if I only spoke to him, he’d remember my eyes and maybe… maybe he’d keep talking to me. Maybe he’d tell me I was beautiful.

But I was too shy, and the last day of grade twelve was rapidly approaching. Josh , Ontariowas moving to London, Ontario, and I was staying in Winnipeg for University. I’d never see him again.

I sighed and finished my water, placing it carefully in the sink and then heading for my room. If Laura was still in there, I decided, I’d drag her out by her hair.

“Who is that?” Rhyse, a man with shoulder-length black hair and dead-grey eyes, asked. On first glance, the barely-visible shadow behind him could be mistaken for his own. But it shifted on its own accord, drifting to his side.

“What do you mean?” a rasping voice hissed.

“This girl here.” Rhyse said, pointing at the vision pool that he stood over at his six foot two. “And where is she?”

A stray ray of the pool’s light fell on the shadow, which stood out a sharper shade of dark rather than disappearing in the light like normal shadows did. This new definition revealed a shape that resembled that of a human body, though it’s gender couldn’t be determined. It’s head turned to gaze at the pool and wisps of what could be hair floated away from its “body”. “It looks as if she’s on earth… why does it matter?”

“She’s the one. The bride I’ve been searching for.”

The shadow snorted in distain. It turned to study the wall, tracing its smoky fingers along the stone. “You’re sure…?”

“She’s the one.” He repeated. “I want her.”

“But Earth is the first Realm.” An unpleasant chuckle followed its words. The shadow turned its attention back to Rhyse, putting its arms around the man’s neck. “She might not even survive her passage, you know.”

“Bring her to me.” Rhyse commanded. “I shall have no one else.”

The shadow seemed to sigh and then moved towards the pool, releasing the human from its grasp and gliding more than walking. “Fine. But you’ve been warned.”

With that, the shadow placed its foot into the pool. It dissipated slowly, fading from sight as Rhyse turned and left the pool.

I slept fitfully that night, tossing my covers off and tearing at the neckline of my pyjamas. I wasn’t acting that way because it was hot, or because there was no air conditioning in my room. It was because of my dream…

I was in a dark forest, wearing my pyjamas. I stood opposite a dark shadow, a little taller than I. It stretched out its arm to me and gestured for me to come closer. I couldn’t tell if it was man or woman.

“Who are you?” I asked. Despite the fact that my room was hot, my dream made me feel cold.

“That is of little importance.” The shadow replied. Its voice was more of a rasping wind than an actual voice. I couldn’t place its gender, either. The shadow gestured to the small pool between us. “What is important, however, is that King Rhyse wishes for you to be with him.

King Rhyse? “Who’s he?”

The shadow chuckled, a sound that filled the air with a crackling hatred that frightened me to the core.

“He is the King of Gudhgeg.” It muttered, as if it was obvious. The pool began to darken, and then possess a human face. “He wishes to meet you.”

I knelt beside the pool, staring in awe at the face. It was so much like Josh… only sharper. He had a strong jaw, fit for a ruler, and fierce black hair. But he also had grey, grey eyes…

Dead eyes…

“I’m dreaming…” I murmured, touching the pool and making the face disappear. “This can’t be… it just can’t.”

“It’s quite real.” Was my reply.

“But Gudhgeg isn’t a real place!” I cried.

“Maybe you’ve never heard of it,” the shadow whispered, “But it is most definitely real.” It began to circle me, laying a cold, tendril-like hand upon my shoulder.

“But-”

“Don’t you want to come?” it’s face, if you could call it that, lowered to my ear and exhaled icy breath onto my skin.

“I…” the face appeared again, staring at me from the depths of the pool. That face… those eyes… But something drew me towards the man in the pool. “I do.”

“Good. Then, this is how you do it.” the shadow grabbed my hand, it’s grip ice cold, but still only fog. “At midnight tomorrow night, you go to somewhere were you can see the moon. Lie in a grassy place and place this stone in your mouth.” From the smoky depths of it’s hand, the shadow dropped a small black stone. “Count to ten, and you should be in Gudhgeg. You won’t end up exactly in the castle, but you will be somewhere around it. The castle is tall and black, you can’t miss it…”

“But-“

“And remember,” it added, a hint of caution in its impassive voice, “You must do exactly as I say. One wrong move… and it’s over.”

“What do you mean, ‘it’s over’…?” I asked. My voice was etched with nervousness.

Another chuckle met my ears and I shivered. “I must go now.” The shadow said, its voice regaining its detached tone. “Remember, tomorrow at the stroke of midnight.”

I woke up, covered in a cold sweat with the sheets ripped off my bed and wrapped around my body. I sighed, sitting up and wiping my brow… and then pulled back my hand in a panic when something round and smooth fell from my damp fingers.

But… it was only a dream! I closed my eyes, counted to ten in order to calm myself, and then opened them again, staring down at the pillow my head had been resting only a few moments ago.

A shining black stone lay on the soft white fabric.

After running a safe distance away, Cahal stared at the black castle, trying not to look at the men lying on the ground. They all wore white, stained with red… with blood…

Their own blood…

They had all died in the battle. A few of them stood by him, panting from the long retreat, but only about a dozen remained from the five hundred that had stormed the castle. But what could Cahal expect? Rhyse was on dark side.

He wasn’t the man that Cahal had once known.

Cahal had led the fallen men, hoping to end Rhyse’s reign of evil… but now it was clear that it would never happen, not with so few on their side.

They were great men, he thought, his eyes scanning the field. He sighed heavily, leading his living comrades off of the field and cursing the knowledge that Rhyse would kill them if they went back to retrieve the bodies. They would be destroyed, without even the simplest of burials to send their spirits to thei final resting places.

Perhaps another day, when they had more forces… then the Resistance would prevail.

The next night, at eleven fifty, I lay in the place that I had scouted out earlier that morning. I had my watch set to go off at twelve. I wore a pair of blue jeans and a white tank top. I held the stone in my left hand, staring up at the moon.

Is this the right thing to do? I wondered, listening to the crickets chirping. I listened to the night’s music as the minutes dragged into endless hours. I turned back to look at my house, my gaze travelling to the window of my room.

I’d left a note saying that I was going for a walk, convinced that I would be back soon enough to make the excuse believable After all, it had just been a dream, rock or no, There was no such thing as other worlds. Their couldnt be.

Beep-beep! Beep-beep!

My watches alarm made my heart clench terribly in the darkness. This is it, I told myself. If I want to, I can turn back now…

But instead, I popped the stone into my mouth and slowly counted to ten.

“Cahal, something is inside of our camp.” A young man with red hair said. As the others did, he wore all white, the symbol of the Resistance.

“What is it?” Cahal asked.

“I’m not sure. Should we ready the arrows?” the young man was angry about the loss of the last battle and was eager to start another one.

“No,” Cahal said, “I’ll see what it is.” He tapped the sword buckled to his side. “I’ll take care of it.”

The shadow never said it would be painful.

I spat out the black stone and rolled over, finding myself between the thick roots of a tree. Each of them could easily have reached my knees if I was standing, protruding form the ground like walls. I groaned, wondering how I was ever supposed to make my way out of this stupid forest.

“I should never have come.”

A/N: I'm Back! I'm sorry that I haven't updated An Adventure on a Friday yet, but I'm having technical difficulties and I don't know of I can retreive everything I've lost on that, so I'm pissed. And I can't go on until I try to fix it up a bit.

So, to hold the anger at bay, I decided to give you guys this story. It's my friend's favorite and I'm adding it more for her than for anything because she wants me to finish it badly. So everyone (including you, Karlee, once you read this) can tell me what you think and how I can improve!

Thanks for your patience!

-WT