Kai opened her eyes to look up at the clouds. She had spent the last hour or so laying on the roof of the school letting her thoughts roll about in her mind. She found this to be the quietest place in the entire city, for no one ever seemed to visit there. Ever since her nightmares started to plague her dreams she would stretch out on the cool concrete gazing at the clouds. She wondered frequently about where she came from and how she got here. She had been told that she was discovered late at night near the edge of a dark forest that the residence have come to call the Western Woods, however no one seemed to talk very much about these woods or what was beyond them. She tried to ask on numerous occasions what was so special about the forest only to have her question either ignored or the person quickly changed the subject. She go to her feet and went to the edge of the roof, which was encircled by a large chain linked fence. She linked her fingers between the chain and looked out over the town. Far off in the distance she could see the Western Woods. It looked just like any other dense field of brush, yet she was told to steer clear of that area for it was filled with mysterious creatures that would stop at nothing to take her life. Part of her considered that maybe death would be better then this life of loneliness. She spun around and leaned heavily against the fence causing it to make that musical "ching" sound that she enjoyed so much. She staring up at the sky again. There had to be an answer to the mysteries that surrounded her and those woods. She just needed to know where to look. Then a light turned on in her head and she felt so stupid. The schools library was filled with information about this world's history and people. There should be something regarding the woods and maybe she could find reference to where she came from. Excitedly she pushed off the fence and sprung forwards. She opened the door to the stairwell and skipped down the stairs inspired by the notation that she may be able to solve the puzzle that is her life. The library was located on the top floor of the school so Kai found it easy not to alert her presence to any of the teachers. The libraries doors were large and carved out of a thick old red oak, while all the other doors in the building were constructed of cold steel. Kai had never ventured into the library before, however the sight of the doors gave even more confidence that the answers would lay beyond them. She gripped the thick vertical brass bar handle of one of doors and pulled it slightly opened to peer within it's confined. When she was certain there were no teachers about she slipped into the room and silently closed to the door behind her. Kai stepped into the room to find herself standing along a long narrow balcony that stretched around the edge of a round circular room with a gentle slope and books lining all the walls. Brass piping had been woven together to create an elaborate railing the extended along the entire edge of the balcony. She approached a railing and placed a hand upon the thick brass piping. She peered over the railing into the depths of the room. It was like the library spiralled downwards hundreds of floors which was beyond impossible because she knew for a fact that her home room rested beneath her very feet. She turned and blinked in awe at the scale of the shelves around her. Books could be seen covering ever inch of wall to a point that was dizzying to the small girl. Ladder with wheel on the bottoms stretch high above her on more brass railings that ran around the top of the shelves. Every so often she could see a door in amongst the shelves that she suspected would lead to even more shelves lined with even more books. She let out a frustrated sigh at the seer scale of the madness. All hope of finding anything useful fizzled from her mind at that moment and she turned to leave before even starting. When someone spoke to her. "Hello?" A young polite feminie voice said from behind Kai, "Can I help you?" Kai nervously turned around to find a girl, not much older then herself, standing before her. The girl was slightly taller then Kai and had long straight black hair that hung over the girl's beautiful long dark Victorian dress. She wore pale white foundation, or Kai assumed it was make up, black eyeliner and black lipstick. She looked as if she had just stepped out of one of the many old books that lined the walls, "I..." Kai found it hard to speak as she stared at the girl. Her mind raced as she tried to think of some excuse for her being there, "We were told to do research project on our family history and I thought I might find something here..." She cleverly lied and gave a nervous smile. She was struck by the girl's unusual beauty. The girl blinked at Kai and thought for a moment, "Are you not the one from the Western Woods?" The girl hinted curiously as she took a step closer to Kai causing her to back up bit. Kai nodded ever so slowly and broke her gaze free of the girl to look around the Library again, "I don't know where I'm from so I thought..." She was still in awe of the scale of the room, and the girl for that fact. She could not help her eyes from jumping back to her every now and then. The girl quickly moved even closer, catching Kai off guard and making her stumble slightly, "I am so glad you came." The girl exclaimed with a smile that made Kai all the more nervous, "I've always wanted to meet you. I'm had a fascination with the Woods for a long time now. I know where all the material you need will be." She took Kai by the hand and started to pull her down the walkway. "Uhh... thanks..." Kai was baffled by the girl's sudden change in mood. Aside from Anita no one wanted anything to do with her. She was feared by many as some kind of demon in the guise of a girl. Even Anita took some time to warm up to her. This was the first time anyone treated her in such an usual manner. Kai was not sure how to handle the situation. She then noticed that the girl had a pair of small black leather wings poking out of the back of her dress. She was not sure if they were part of the girl's clothes or not, when one of them waved at her. She was unsure if it was waving or it was just her imagination. Kai was pulled towards a pair of large high backed golden wood chair with red velvet padding on the seat, back and arms. The chairs were set against the railing with a small night table of similar design. As they drew closer Kai's attention was drawn to the intriguingly carved arms and legs of the chair that were designed like large lizard like claws protruded from them. Two even larger birds claws had been carved into either side of the top of the chair. Kai pondered over if they represented dragons or some other monestrous lizard. When the girl sat Kai into the chair. "Get ready for a ride." The girl stated as she ran over to the other chair and sat down with a slight bounce. On the night table was a small brass lamp with a glass shade covered with stained glass images of winged creatures flying through the sky. There were odd looking markings around the base of the lamp. The girl ran a finger along the markings causing several of them to glow. Suddenly the chairs lurched, "You might want to hold on to something." She commented with a mischievous grin. Before Kai could fathom what the girl was talking about the chairs rosed slightly off the ground. She turned her head to see that the bird claws on the top of the chair came to life and latched to the railing. Kai grabbed onto the arms of the chair unsure of what to expect when they were suddenly sailing around the balcony at an increasing speed. The book rushed passed them like a blur and Kai was beginning to feel like she was on some kind of warped amusement part ride. Downward they spiralled into the depths of the library. Shortly the books disappeared and the girls were plunged into complete darkness. "Where are you talking me?" Kai demanded. "To the deepest part of the library." The girl stated with a grin of amusement, holding her hair in place as she turned to look at Kai, "Some of the older books are down here." Suddenly the chairs came to a halt and the girl got to her feet, "Here we are!" The girl exclaimed with a twirl, she waved her arms around the room she had brought Kai too. This area looked nothing like the rest of the library. The ceiling was low and wood beams could be seen overhead. There was a small window high up on the wall that was covering in a yellowish film. Kai was certain that they had gone down and not up so what lay beyond that window was a curiosity. Lines of shelves comprised of a large portion of the room and the rest was filled with long wooden tables with small over hanging yellow lights. There was a layer of dust and dirt on the floor that made Kai wonder if anyone every ventured down here in years. It reminded Kai more of a dusty, dim attic then a library. Kai spun around the room in stunned bewilderment. She could not believe such a place existed within the walls of the school. The girl set her hands on her hips in satisfaction of Kai's wonder struck expression, "Impressing is it not? You can find some of the oldest information about this town up here. Most stir clear so you don't have to worry about being bothered by anyone." She turned and gave Kai a broad smile revealing a set of tiny fangs, "By the way, I'm Vivienne. Pleasure to meet you." She extended her hand and presented the back of it to Kai. Kai stared at the girl's long black nails that poked out of holes cut in the finger tips of the lace gloves and scratched her head, "I'm Kai... same..." She started to look around the room trying to think of where to start. Vivienne looked down at her hand then at Kai, "You are not very gentlemanly now are you?" She hinted with a mark of distaste. "Since when are girls gentlemen?" She countered with glaring at Vivienne. Vivienne blinked at Kai, "I'm sorry... I... You just look..." She stammered and flushed. Kai rolled her eyes, "I know... I'm well aware... I checked myself." She remarked looking at the many shelves, "Where would I find books on the woods?" She inquired trying to change the subject. "Here let me help you." Vivienne ran down the hall closest to where they stood, "I have found several stories about the subject, however most are myths and legends so there is nothing concrete." She explained as she skimmed the titles of the books. Kai followed closely behind the girl not wanting to get lost, "Anything is better than nothing." She remarked looking at the books. All looked extremely old and large, most of the titles had faded away. She had no idea how she would find anything in this mess. Vivienne ran a finger along the books until she came to a stop on a large tome about the size of her forearm, "Here you go." She pulled the book off the shelf and handed it to Kai who had to use both arms to hold the monster, "That covered most of the myths of the town and surrounding areas. The rest don't have much of anything wood itself. If anything, that will give you the answers you are seeking. Kai clumsily opened the book and looked upon it's pages, "Dreams and the Ghost that haunt them?" She read aloud. "Yeah," Vivienne smiled delighted with herself, "It is cool. There is a lot of things in there that I would never have thought about. Oh and..." She stood on her tip toes to grab a smaller book from the topmost shelf and placed it atop the other in Kai's arms, "This may have some more info about the town itself. Interesting but not very helpful. You can take it over to that tables near the front of the room if you like." She nodded towards the lines of table, "but I can't let you sign them out and sorry for all the dust. Like I said none get's down here much." "Thanks." Kai carried the tome to the tables. "I need to go back upstairs." Vivienne said, a little saddened, "I'll check on you every now and then, alright?" She offered with a smile. "Sure." Kai replied coolly, then set the book down with a thud that sent dust everywhere and plopped into a nearby wooden chair while waving the dirt out of the air, "Thanks... again..." She half coughed with a wave over her shoulder. "Your welcome." Vivienne watch Kai begin to pour through the pages of the book. When she didn't get another response she frowned. She plopped down in one of the gold chairs, crossed her legs and headed back up into the main area of the library. Kai opened her backpack and pulled out a piece of paper with a sketch she had made of the image she had seen in Ashley's eyes and placed it beside the book. She started to read over the old text in search of some form of information about herself or the image. She stopped on a page with a drawing of a large dog made of fire and read the caption below, "and from the depths of hatred was formed a dog whose body comprised of nothing but flames and breath smelt of burnt flesh..." She shuttered that the mere thought of meeting something like that. She picked up the smaller book and flipped through it's pages. As Vivienne had said this book was more technical and dealt with a lot of the theories about the inhabitants of the city of Darken. Before long she found herself engrossed in the fables and legends of the city only a year ago she had woken up in. Time drifted by and it was several hours before she came across the first mention of the forest and it's unusual history. "The Western Woods exists at the westernmost edge of Darken" She read aloud, "and covers most of it's boarder to the north and west making travel to the west near impossible without trying to journey around the dreaded woods. It is rumoured to be the home of demons and creatures related to death and decay. Many have claimed to have seen the shadows within the woods to move in unnatural ways. As if it were somehow alive in some way. Many dared to venture into the forest in search of some path to a nearby village only to never return again. To this day only those wishing for an end even journey near the woods at night. Even more unusual than the creatures of the woods are the strange appearance of children found near the edge of the forest. Every few years a child is found lying close to the edge of the woods with no recollection of how they got there or where they came from. Many times these children have no memories from before they appeared at our boarders. Some claim that spirits guided the children back from the dead so they could have a second chance at life. While others believe that there is a darker reason for these children's existence and that darkness will befall the town for allowing them to stay. To this day no one has a clear answer." Kai slammed the book shut, "Yeah, yeah and on my eighteenth year I'll steal everyone's daughters and lure them back into the realm of death." She flung the book over her shoulder in disgust, "As if..." The book hit a surprised Anita in the middle of her face before falling to the ground with a heavy thud, "KAI!!!" She approached the girl with a clenched fist. Kai looked up to see her friend floating over her, "Oh, hi Anita, I didn't see you there." Kai said unaware that she just hit the girl with a book. She looked around to see that the moving chair was nowhere in sight, "How did you find me down here?" She puzzled. "I drifted down." Anita explained, the anger melting away at the sight of her friend's eyes, "Vivienne told me you were down here, but I couldn't believe it was true." She leaned over Kai's shoulder to see what it was she was reading, "Were you here during all lunch? I was looking everywhere for you." "Yeah, I've been here since second period." Kai stretched and let out a small yawn, "Why what time is it?" She asked noticing for the first time that there were no clocks in the room. "Almost two o'clock." Anita stated, "What are you up to down here anyway?" She inquired curiously floating a little higher while keeping her hands on Kai's shoulder to get a better look at the tome before her friend. "I'm studying." Kai replied leaning over the large book again. "No really, what are you up to?" Anita repeated with a small chuckle. "If you really want to know," Kai said with a defeated sigh, "I'm researching something I saw when I looked into that girl's eyes." She explained, "I'm having troubles finding any useful info here. Have you any idea how huge this place is?" She let her eyes drift over the pages of the book, "Never mind how interesting the towns history is. Almost makes me wish I hadn't skipped all those history classes. Are there really demons in the Western woods?" She inquired peculiarly. "Uh huh," Anita was suddenly struck by how stupid she had been, "That is right you when they found you near the wood you didn't have your memories. I didn't realize how much you didn't know about until now." She felt ashamed of herself for not considering this before. Kai shrugged, "Here, take a look at this." Kai hands over the paper with the she sketch on it, "I saw those marking surrounded by a pillar of flames." Kai explained as she turns back to the books, "I remember hearing something about this kind of thing, but can't recall what it means. What do you think, Anita?" She inquired and back to the book. She turned the pages awaiting her friends response. When none came she became worried, "Anita?" Kai turns back to her friend. Anita stood rooted to her spot staring at the sketch in her hands and tremble ever so slightly, "Anita, Is there something wrong? You know what it means don't you?" She probed her friend. "This is a great sketch." Anita suddenly burst out into false cheerfulness, "I was just thinking that you should look into become a comic book artist or an illustrator or something." She said with a fake grin. "Stop fooling around!" Kai got up from her seat and glared irately at Anita, "I know when you are hiding something." She stormed over to her friend, not letting her eyes weaver from the girl's, stopping when their foreheads almost met. "You were bragging for weeks about being the top of our class in Shadow and Dream Lore. You know what this means, so spill it." She demanded with teeth bared. "Kai, you're scaring me..." Anita whispered nervously. She lowered her eyes in defeat, "Fine, since you insist." She turned and headed towards one of the further aisle. "You're more than likely to discover the answer on your own sooner or later anyway." She stated dismally with Kai quickly stooping to grab the small book off the ground and followed after her, "Almost everyone in Darken knows what it means," Anita continued, "because we are told stories about it from the very day we're born." She spun around to glance at her friend causing Kai to stumble and nearly drop the book. Anite leaned against one of the shelves with her arms crossed and her eyes lightly closed, "You already know how the Realms of Shadow and Death exist almost side-by-side right?" She probed as she took off her glasses and cleaned them on the hem of her shirt. "Sort of." Kai sat down on the edge of a nearby table across from her friend and opened the book in her arms, "It said here that there were several realms and that they were all linked in some way or another." She stated as she flipped through the pages. Anita replaced her glasses and fixed them around her ears, "The main realms are Shadow, Light, Death, Dream and Nightmare." Anita explained further, "They exist off one another. Somewhere in the Realm of Death in a place known as The Hall of Candles live nine sisters. The Sisters of Death as they like to be called. Angels of Death or Grim Reapers to others." "Yeah." Kai stopped on a page in the book, "There was mention of them but I skipped it. I didn't think they would have anything to do with this." "That is where you are wrong." Anita's look grew long and a depression filled her eyes, "These sisters roam the worlds in search of those who have passed away. They bring the dead back to The Death's Corridor for their eternal slumber." She looked at Kai's sketch, "There are two distinct things about the sisters that can tell you if you are facing a true dark angel. One is that usually they have huge wings growing out of their backs, sometimes they are feathers and other times they are something else, however their wings can fold up and entirely disappear making spotting one rather hard. They are instead replaced by an odd Tattooed winged pattern on their backs." She turned down the aisle next to her and grabbed a book off the top shelve and flipped through the pages of the book until she stopped on a page and brought it to Kai, "Tattoos just like the one you have drawn here." She flipped the book around and handed it to Kai with her sketch placed between its pages. The book showed a page of winged drawings. Atop the page was the title, ‘The Nine Sisters of Death." Kai shakily took book from Anita and compared the drawings to her sketch, "But wha... what does this mean?" She stammered in complete astonishment, looking from her sketch to each of the nine tattoos in the book until she found one that matched and read out the caption, "Keelia: Sometimes referred to as the Destroyer of Souls or the Fiery eyed Demon of Death. Known to hunt down ghouls and faceless that escaped the Realms of Death. She is relentless and never gives up until the hunt is over. Probably the most distinct of all the sisters for she has six large wings and flame tattoos running along her entire right arm." She turned to her friend in confusion, "What does all this have to do with me?" She asked frantically. Anita slumped in a chair beside Kai and laced her fingers together, "It is said that if one sees any of these images in their dreams then that person will come face-to-face with one of these Dark Angels. Either to come for their soul..." Anita trembled and clenched her arms tightly around herself, "or someone close to them." Kai let out a forced laugh, "That is a good one." She chuckled, "You're always such a kidder. What does it really mean?" She looked down at her friend who's head was lowered and there was a dark atmosphere drifting from the girl. "Anita?" She probed gently setting the book to her side, "You were joking right?" Anita turned her head away and remained silent. "Come on, tell me you were only kidding around." Kai demanded in frustration of the girl's silence, "Anita?" She reached out to touch her friend. Anita only shrank into the chair even more and turned transparent. "Oh, I see..." Kai said dismally. It all became clear to her now. Anita had never lied to her before and the lack of a response told Kai that this was certainly not a joke. She suddenly perked up, "I know! You're the expert on this kind of thing. You can just explain to them that they have the wrong person. Problem solved." She resolved clapping her hands together in satisfaction. Anita instantly solidified and sprung to her feet knocking the chair back. She glared irately at Kai, "You don't get it, do you?!?" She yelled at the girl, slamming her hand down on the table, "This is death we are talking about and I'm a partial ghost. Half Dead!" "Ack, A Zombie!!" Kai pointed accusingly. "I AM NOT!" Anita retorted outraged by her friend's lighthearted manners to the situation, "For once in your life will you be serious?" She screamed at Kai, "If a Sister so much as catches whiff of me she won't think twice about finishing off what was already started and I'm not ready to go yet." She exclaimed frantically, "Kai, I'm sorry." She sobbed and dropped back down into a new chair, the rage in her voice died away. Replaced only by fear and sadness, "I can't... If it was anything else then you know I'd be there for you, but why did it have to be something like this?" Tears streamed down her face, she dropped her face into her hand and let out a series of chocked sobs. "Anita..." Kai jumped down from her seat and gingerly set an hand upon her friend's shoulder, "Please don't cry. Everything will be fine" She cooed softly, "Neither of us are going anywhere. You'll see." She declared with a genuine smile. Anita set her sad eyes upon Kai's bright blue eyes, "Promise me..." She pleaded, "Promise me that if one of those Dark Angels comes for you, you'll run like I did. Run as fast as you can. Promise that we will go to school like we always do. Just you and me..." Kai smiled down at her friend, "I promise." She stated firmly, "We'll go to school together tomorrow and every day after that. Nothing will tear us apart... not even Death." **** To be continued **** Note: The world of the shadowlands, Its stories, Characters and ideas are a copyright of Kathryn K Williams. This story is based upon my manga of the same name. If you wish visit my site and see some of the art based on this series. Also if you spot any typos or other errors please contact me.
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