Fallen Allegiance

Chapter One

Author's Note: Warning, this book is not edited and is a first draft. I have rewritten this book and the rewritten version can be found on my profile. I would recommend reading the rewrite instead, but I am keeping this version online in case you would prefer to read this.

The sky was clear over head and showed no sign of a storm. It showed no sign that things would turn for the worst in the next few minutes.

I shivered despite the fact it was a warm, summers day. My eye sight kept blurring and in front of me and I could barely make out the silhouettes of my friends, Claire, Ward and Evelyn. My vision was distorting by the second as Evelyn turned around to smile hesitantly at me.

"Are you okay, Morgana?" she asked, her eyes filled with worry.

I faked a smile, "I'm fine." The most common lie a human could say. No surprise, my three friends fell for the lie, going back to their previous conversation, leaving me an outcast. I found myself disappearing into the shadows, listening to their footsteps fade away.

I took an alternative route down a small alleyway, ignoring the scuttling of rats and the pounding against the doors I past. My eyes stopped on something glittering and I squinted, slowly stepping towards it. A small puddle was rippling in the wind and as I stared down at it my reflection stared back at me.

My usually tanned skin was a ghostly white and my cheeks were flushed a bright red. My blue eyes were dull, almost as if someone had sucked the life out of them. My long, tousled blonde hair fell in waves over my shoulders and in the dim light looked a shade of lime green.

For a split second, the reflection changed, splitting in half, revealing another person, another me. My breath caught in my throat as the other reflection moved. She smiled at me eerily, her blue eyes growing bigger, brighter than mine. She seemed to glow a faint white, as if she was the one draining the life from me and taking it for her own.

I blinked hurriedly, trying to clear my vision, and just as quickly as she had appeared she vanished. I knelt down and skimmed my hand over the water, but she didn't reappear. Assuming it was my imagination, I continued walking, trying to clear the vision from my thoughts.

Halfway home, I found myself bored, so I begun counting the cracks in the paving stones. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. New paving stone. One. Two. Three. Four. New paving stone. One. Two. Three. I had no idea what was so interesting about the cracks, but at least I was certain of the answer, unlike other things.

The weather took a turn for the worse and hail and rain started battling down upon me, making me sneeze and shiver. I ran down the slippery pathways, slipping several times to land on my back. Finally I arrived home, soaking wet and tired.

I sat down on the floor of my room, hugging my knees to my chest. Tears ran down my cheeks, I wasn't sure why. I felt sick, my head was pounding, sweat dripping down my forehead even though I wasn't hot. I was shivering, the world was spinning, my vision blurring. My breathing became blocked and I began to gasp for air. What was going on? Was I dying? I threw up, my sick staining my cream carpet.

Using my door handle I pulled my self to my feet, walking dizzily across my room to my bathroom. Everything was moving, my bed, the walls, the floor. Nothing would stay still. I could feel the sick rising up my throat, about to spill again, the hot, rotten taste, burning the back of my throat. Why was this happening?

I collapsed onto the floor, my hair knotted in sick and my skin slick with sweat. My breathing was shallow and it took all the strength I had to keep my eyes open. I just wanted to sleep but I was scared if I shut my eyes I might not awake to see tomorrow. I clenched my hands into fists, my finger nails digging into the palm of my hand, trying to make myself feel pain. But I felt nothing.

Suddenly a bright light erupted in my room, swirling patterns of golds and reds. I gasped in awe, was this what people meant when they said you saw a bright light before you died? I tried to reach out towards it but I found I couldn't move my hand, I couldn't move anything. I was frozen to the spot, helpless.

My eyes flickered shut, refusing to stay open any longer. Everything turned black. I couldn't see anything. Couldn't hear anything. I was stuck in my own dark world, lost from reality.