Unto the Shadow (Completed)

(Ch.2) Catalyst

Ryder looked up into the gunmetal grey clouds as the rain began to fall. She had to fight her instinct to blink as several raindrops found their mark and landed on her upturned face. She breathed in deeply, the cold, electrified air anchoring her to the moment. With that act she realized things were very off. Her eyes shot down to discover she was wearing a ridiculous light blue nightgown with ruffles on the cuffs of the sleeves, her bare feet ankle deep in gooey mud.

What the hell am I wearing? She wondered, as she pulled her muddied hem out of the clinging filth. She hadn't worn anything like this in ten years, and the thought of putting it on now that she was nearly eighteen made no sense. But more important matters began pressing in, like where she was. Her eyes darted around, to find she was in a small, empty valley, with a heavy tree line close behind her.

How did I get here?

The wind picked up and swept passed her towards the tree line, and on it there seemed to be a quiet voice whispering something. Ryder strained to understand the words, but the wind continued on before she could. She wriggled her feet free of the mud and turned to follow the wind. Forgetting about protecting her nightgown from the rain drenched earth, she dropped her fistfuls and her hands reached out to push passed the tree branches. The whisper capturing every part of her, even the dark forgotten corners of her soul.

But as she pushed further into the trees the delicate whispering was lost as the sound of yelling and clattering over powered its bewitching taunt.

The yelling voices were not inviting, and as new waves of the unknown chaos crashed against her, she felt her hair begin to stand on end. All of her instincts urged her to get away from the sound, but for some reason she found herself moving faster towards it. Her feet had ruled against instinct and made the executive decision to investigate. Her curiosity caught up with her feet and she urged her legs into a run.

She was surprised by her own body, the way she moved so fluidly as she ran through the dense forest. She had never felt this way, never felt this connected to the earth, to her own muscles. She began to wonder why she ever wore shoes as her toes gripped the bark launching her over a fallen tree.

The sounds grew louder.

She broke through the tree line without hesitation, nearly slamming into a soldier wildly wielding a battle ax. In a desperate attempt to keep from being impaled she slipped and fell head long into the mud. The delicate lace around the cuffs of her nightgown was instantly enveloped by the grimy earth. She managed to gain control of her flailing limbs and flip onto her back. The entirety of her ridiculous nightgown was now a putrid color and smell.

"Where the hell am I?" She asked out loud. The men and women on the battlefield were clad in tight leather armor, smashing against one another ignoring the heavy rain. Their only desire seemed to be to drive their swords into another's body.

She watched in horror as a man died not twenty feet away from her. It was nothing like movies portrayed. The man's death was brutal and not clean, his shoulder and neck were partially separated, creating the perfect opening for blood to spurt, as if a hose had been turned on. Her stomach rose into her throat, she closed her eyes willing her stomach to settle, fighting the urge to retch.

As she began gain control over her revolting stomach she realized that the battle had gone eerily quiet. Her clenched eyes reluctantly fluttered open, too curious to stay closed. Every soldier staring in the same direction up into the sky. She followed their bewildered gazes; her jaw went slack when she saw what had rendered an entire battlefield to silence. A motionless woman floating thirty feet in the air.