• Chapter 1
    Shadows

    "Kill me!" The Shadow-mistress yelled at me. Tears streamed down her face, mixing
    with the blood oozing from deap gashes on her cheaks. "Kill me damn it!" I had finally defeated
    the Shadow-mistress, but I didn't want to take her life. The Shadow-mistress glared at me. "Do
    it," she chalanged. My trembeling hand tightened around my pistol, and I took aim. Hesitating for
    a few seconds, I pulled the trigger and shot my final bullet. There was a loud bang and the Shadow-mistress
    fell to the ground, a bloody hole the size of a dime in her forhead. I walked over and grabbed her arm,
    pressing my finger on a vein and waiting for a good ten seconeds. There was no pulse. The Shadow-mistress
    was dead. Suddenly I was hit in the back by a stone brick and knocked to the ground as an explosion broke
    open the wall. I began to push myself up when an agonizing pain erupted in my chest. I looked down in horror
    to see four long curved claws sticking out of my stomach. I screamed as a spicky black skeletal creature flew
    at me, opening its mouth and latching its sharp teeth into my head.

    Then I was unexpectedly overwhelmed by a vortex of colors and a tingeling sensation rushing through my
    whole body. I spiraled through the beautiful tornado and lost all sense of time and space. Then I was dropped
    down in a burning forest. Fires blazed around me, animals fled for their very lives, and I realized that there
    was no way out. As the cricle of fire closed in around me, I tried to run, but I was unable to move. The flames
    grew so close that they burned hair off my flesh. Once again I was facing the end.

    A deep voice echoed from somewhere under ground. "Ah yes Sage, you thought you could run forever, but
    now you will pay for your crimes," the voice boomed, shaking the ground. "Now you will die!" Hundreds of black
    tendrils burst from the ground and shot towards the sky. A few tendrils curved down and stabbed at me, missing
    by mere centimeters. A huge tendril came straight for my face, and I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the piercing
    pain of impending death. It never came.

    I opened my eyes to see a tall, slender, blond girl dressed in a black skin-tight body suit outlined in gold.
    The mysterious girl backflipped through the air and drew a katana, slicing of the sharp, bladed part of the tendril.
    My first thought; she was a ninja. The bloody tendril reared back in pain and retreated behind the fire. A high piched
    roar shoke the ground. I once again tried to move, but I was frozen in place. Then the girl reached down and grabbed
    my hand. A warm fuzzy feeling rushed over me, and I smiled, staring into her eyes for a moment. They were like beautiful
    pools of ocean water, so calm yet chaotic. Then my eyes were drawn down to here lushious red lips, which curved into
    a smile. Apperantly she was enjoying this moment too! Then she finally spoke one word. "Run," she said with the
    softest, silkyest voice I had ever heard.

    Next thing I knew, we were running together through the burning trees. ashy branches cracked and fell to the
    forest floor, sending red hot cinders flying all around them. Sharp, vicious shrieks pierced the air, and the black
    creatures leapt from the trees. I slid to a stop as the monsters ran at me. I didn't notice the one behind me. "Shadow,
    behind you!" the girl warned me. She even had a pretty voice when she was screaming. I spun around and ducked to
    avoid having my head sliced off by a vicious serrated sword. Not fully sure what to do, I cleanched my fist and punched
    the Shadow in the chest as hard as I could. The Shadow stumbled back and cocked its head to the side, seemingly confused
    about why I had just hit it with such a pathetic attack, scince it obviously wasn't hurt. "here, catch," the girl said
    to me, throwing her katana towards me. It streaked through the air and stuck into the dirt about two feet away from me.
    I ran and picked up the sword, holding it towards the Shadow as it ran at me. I brought the blade back over
    my shoulder and swung it right at the Shadows chest. The Shadow dropped down and slid under my pathetic swing,
    using its claws to slice the side of my ancle open. I sreamed in pain and fell to the ground, blood pouring out
    of the gashes. In my weakend state the Shadow took the advantage and lunged at me, claws streached to impale me.
    The girl ran up and drew her hand back, thrusting it forward and knocking the Shadow to the ground. Then she did
    the imposible.

    Cupping her hands as though holding a ball, she somehow generated an orb of crackaling lightening between her
    hands and shot it at the Shadow as it tried to get up. The electricity burned a bloody hole in its chest and wrapped
    around it, shocking it to death. The charred Shadows body fell to the ground, and the girl walked over to me. She knelt
    down and placed her hand on my wounded ancle, and golden light flowed from her hands. I gazed in awe as the gash closed
    and the skin fused together. I felt the tendon and muscles in my ancle binding and blood receading into my leg. My
    ancle was completly healed. The pain had even stopped! It was unbelieveble. The magic girl turned to three more Shadows
    that were running at her, and torched them with a stream of fire from her hands.

    I looked behind me to see a Shadow growl and sprint towards me. I grabbed my sword off the ground and swung
    it at the Shadow. It deflected the blow with it's claws and knocked the sword to the ground once again. The Shadow
    swung its free claws at me, trying to slice open my neck, but this time I was prepared. I ducked under its claw and
    sprung back up, punching the Shadow square in the jaw. The dissoriented monster staggered back, giving me enough
    time to pick up my sword and drive it through the shadows chest. The beast gave one final growl and died on my sword.
    I turned and sliced through another one, letting the girl finish it off with a dagger through the back. Together we
    killed the final shadow, and the girl turned to regard me.

    "You're better than I thought," she complimented. "Follow me, we should move to a more descreate location
    before I give you any information," she said before I could interject. "Who are you?" I asked."You'll see," she
    smiled at me.
    "Who are you?" I asked."You'll see," she smiled at me.