Winterspell

As I am

Prelude

Black-clad figures with muffled faces skitter through a courtyard, swarming over walls like spiders and running lightly across rooftops, quick as cats, as though gravity was nonexistent.

The black silhouettes poured from room to room as they checked for their target finally they approached the main room.

An unsuspecting samurai sleeps peacefully as the shadows permanently silence his body guards. The bedroom door slides open without a sound, an up-raised blade glints in the moonlight, and…

We all know the story and how it all ends, head ninja falls in love with beautiful girl from village who in turn kills him in order to protect her family, from the feudal lords clutches and then overcome by grief she does away with herself… typical sad story.

I tossed the paper back across the room at my open closet. I couldn bear to read another one of the boringly predictable books. That had been the fifth one and it still had not a shred of originality. I sighed and then yawned as I realized how tired I was.

Looking out the window the purple light of dusk had faded to black and ambient starlight shone in a potentially infinite distance.

Below more of the walk way lay in shadow than in lamplight.

I shifted my gaze to the other side of the road and I held on to the curtains in, what I think up to this day was fear.

I felt my knuckles go white as my grip tightened.

Who was that?

The person staring back at me, my breath became short and ragged.

Slowly the person stepped back and slipped in to the shadows as If they were one of the same.

And just like that, the person vanished. I blinked twice and looked again… no-one.

”I must really be tired, ” I muttered to myself.

I glanced at the time.

3:33

”Crap! ” I yelped as I realized how late it was, ”if I go to sleep now I might still be able to wake in time for school! ”

I dove in bed and switched off the lamp…

Soon after, I fell into a dark, empty, dreamless, abyss.

Hirahame is pronounced as hi-ra-ham-ay

****************************************

Chapter 1:

FROM THE SHADOWS…

I woke to the smell of waffles. The sweet scent lingered heavily in the room making my mouth water.

Slowly I sat up and forced myself out of bed, I was still tired but who could resist the tempting scent?

Oh… yeah if you
e reading this then you
e going to need a name to call me by or Itll just get extremely confusing… only theres a problem. You see theres this group of people who would like just that, to have my name and given the circumstances I can really do that. If I did Id probably be dead before this even gets published. So you can call me… Alice … yeah I like that. Thats the name am going to use.

You could say that my life was normal, yeah, I was the most normal girl you wouldve expect to find, I mean sure Ive been called a tom-boy a few times….

Ok maybe a lot…

So what if I like climbing and football? And other stuff girls … shouldn like… ok whatever am a tom-boy sue me.

I always woke before the alarm went off don know why, but that particular morning I wasn even sure the alarm went off at all.

I quickly took a shower and got prepared for school in a couple of minutes I was at the breakfast table.

”You
e up early, ” my mom said in a sarcastic tone. Sarcasm, that was her thing.

”Morning mom, ” I replied.

”You missed the bus. ” She noted curtly.

”I what? ” I asked jumping up.

”You never wake late so I figured you were sick or something, ” she said looking at her wrist watch, ”its almost nine. ”

”Mom! ” I whined. Im a lot of thing but Im never late.

She laughed, ”Don worry Ill give you a lift, so hurry up and eat. ”

Everyone who sees us together usually recognizes the resemblance really quickly; we have the same auburn colored hair, small nose and thin lips. She says Im thinner than she was at my age. And she once told me I have my dads eyes, I can say anything about it, Ive never met him before.

She doesn talk about him much.

Her eyes are dark green while mine are brown, you know really light brown.

By the time I arrived at school it was almost ten.

Normal day… I would have wished… but life wasn so easy, as a matter of fact I think I was being tested you know pushed to my limits. The very limit.

My mom smiled and waved as she drove off, but before I could get close to or even reach the steps to the entrance I felt something hard hit the back of my neck and saw my world turn black.

I had no idea…

The world I would have been drawn into…

Blood shed…

Murder…

And things even worse than killing, things your imagination can even fathom…

Things worse than death… you might be wondering what could possibly be worse than death, my advice? Don ….

……………………

Two large wooden doors creaked open to a dimly lit, chamber as a hooded

man clad in black entered silently, not because he was trying to be but because

stealth was now as normal to him as walking. He moved to the center of the large room where

chiseled in the floor was a marking he knew well.

One that under normal circumstances he dared not to forget, it was the symbol

of the order to which he served: RAGNOROK.

The room had no windows and was lit only by a fire in the center, a light which danced lazily

against the dark. The light was barely enough to hint that beyond its limit four people sat.

”Why are you here? ” said the one to the extreme right.

”We did not summon you, why is hirahame not present? ”

”He does not wish to converse with any of you, ” the man replied.

”Such insolence! ” The one to the left hissed. ”You will summon him now! ”

”I serve him alone and he does not wish to be summoned, ” the man replied his voice wavering under restrained anger.

”Do not get cocky brat, ” the one on the center right stated with a voice of higher superiority.

”Sui-masen, ” the man replied. ”but that was not my intention, however because of the councils resent

injustice to Tetsuo I have been ordered by hirahame himself to purge the council of its corruption so that

RAGNOROK can return to its former