Romance Fan Fiction / Horror Fan Fiction / Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadowlander's Dream: Book 3 - Rules of the Flesh ❯ Chapter 1

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

<b>A Shadowlander’s Dream: Book Three - Rules of the Flesh
Written by Kathryn K Williams</b>

Part One

Prologue

A young girl ran down the winding city streets of her hometown, her backpack slung over her shoulder and a duffle bag held tightly in her arms. She kept her eyes low as she quickened her pace. She didn't want anyone to recognize her as she ventured downtown on that early morning hour. People didn't seem to notice the girl as she pushed her way against the crowd towards the train station. That was fine by her. She dug through her pocket to check if the train ticket she found that night was still there. A ticket that she had bought in her dreams and discovered on her dresser when she woke. She felt some comfort at the feeling of the paper between her fingers, a sign of her only chance of escaping the never-ending madness of her life. Upon entering the station she quickly glanced around to see it was sparsely filled with the few people who headed out to work at such an ungodly hour as this. She ignored the people and ran down a set of stairs to the main tracks. A large clock told the girl that her train would be leaving in only a few moments, which was just the way she wanted it to be. There was no time for anyone to stop her if they figured out her plan. Everything was perfect.

She broke into a sprint down the last of the stairs and along the long platform. She turned around and walked backwards to make sure she was not being followed. Nervously she pulled her backpack higher on her shoulder and quickly turned around again to find herself face to face with another girl. She had no time to stop herself before colliding into her, forcing both of them to tumble to the ground. She rubbed her knee and began to apologize when the bell tolling the train’s departure rang throughout the station. She grabbed her duffle bag, jumped to her feet and dashed for the train doors with the other girl, and someone whom she suspected must have been the girl’s friend, close on her heels. All three leapt onto the train just as the doors closed behind them. The entire car was empty other then the three girls. Panting she found herself a seat and plopped down, trying hard to catch her breath. She opened her eyes to see the girl she bumped into sitting across from her. The girl simply smiled at her. There was something about that smile, something that she could not put her finger on. The train started to move. Relieved to be finally on her way the girl let out a deep sigh and bid a goodbye to her old life.

Chapter One

Melissa, Head Mistress of Whispering Hills Academy for Lost Souls’ Western Wing, burst through the immense oak double doors of the Hall of Candles and down the long stone corridor. Flicking light shone all around, from thousands of candles held high upon hundreds of tall brass candelabrums that rose to either side of the hall. Even the multitude of candles did nothing to improve the dismal demeanour of this resting place for the dead. Melissa to move down the corridor with such veracity as to cause many of the candles flames to flicker from their spots a top never melding candlesticks, if the candles could be snuffed out by normal means then many of them would be vanished in the woman’s path.

Anger in her eyes Melissa kept her sight on the large double doors at the far end of the hall, never once glancing out the stone framed windows with their iron grid glass panes at the spiralling purples mixed with the darkness of the world outside the Halls, a land where only those who have recently passed on, and those of supernatural origin, may journey. She had no interest in the spiralling darkness for she had pressing business with a family member that she would rather not be seeing. The very image of her brother-in-law’s masked face made her skin crawl, but years ago when he offered her the job overseeing the lost souls of Whispering Hills and she was more then willing to follow his orders, if it meant helping just one of those girls, however after recent events she was finding herself questioning her brother’s methods and as such wished to wash her hands of the whole business.

As she approached the inner doors that lead from the Hall to the central sanctum of Death’s Corridor, the place where the Sisters of Death resided, a group of nine Death Angels, the arched oak doors began to swing outward on their brass hinges as if in anticipation of Melissa’s arrival and a cloaked figure stepped through the doors. The person pulled back their dark grey hood to reveal the face of a fair skinned woman in her early twenties with long, silken, black hair that rolled down her shoulders and was parted to the side, the left side tucked behind her ear. A long curved black tattoo, the shape of an upside down shark’s fin, cut across the left side of her face starting at her hair line, through her eye and ending at point on her cheek. The woman smiled warmly at the headmistress and nodded to her in greeting.

“Aunt Missy, it has been such a long time, it is good to see you again.” The woman greeted the Head Mistress with a small bow.

“You too Julie.” Melissa forced herself to smile, only those closest to the woman were allowed to call Melissa by her nickname and at that moment she was not please with hearing her niece refer to her in such a personal level, but kept her venous tongue at bay for the time being. She straightened her back as to give off an air of authority, even though she was merely an inch taller then the Death Angel, nearly the same age and held very little authority inside these halls. She might have been one of the Lords of Shadow, but her refusal to partake in the rituals of the Lords placed her, and her twin sister, rather low on the chain of command. She was actually lucky her brother gave her such a propionate and important job as he did, she know that he did not give her the job because of her skills, in fact, knowing The Meanderer he had some secret agenda in asking her to run the Academy with her sister and this was one of the reasons she wish to speak with the man. She hated being left in the dark and felt used. She despised her brother’s ability to see events that have yet to come, but then again he was the Lord of Coincidence after all so it was expected of him, yet even have several thousand years she had yet to get used to his ways. The way he manipulated events at his whim bothered her to no end and she needed to finally put an end to her part in his schemes once and for all.

“I need to see your Father.” She half ordered the Death Angel, combing her own long black hair with her fingers and tucking it behind her ear in the same fashion as the younger woman.

Julie smiled and gestured to the doors, “Father is not here right now, but he left you a package, it is with Milai.” She said politely.

Melissa frowned, “I should have known as much, is there anything that man doesn’t know?” She inquired rhetorically as she passed through the doors into a massive circular room with millions of candles covering curved elevated wooden stairs from floor to ceiling, leaving only the several doors free of candle wax, making the room appear to be more of an auditorium then a place for the records of the dead. In the centre of the room stood a grand podium on raises with spiralling steps around it, making it tower over the room, an immense book at least a metre long and over half a metre thick sat upon the podium while many more similar books, bound in cracked, worn, dark leather, lay upon the ground stacked to a person’s height and forcing any who enter the centre of the room to have to carefully weave their way through the maze of books in order to reach any of the doors exiting the room, or the podium itself. A tall man peered over the book atop the podium to look down at the new arrivals, his face small at such a great height.

“Aunt Melissa.” The greeted the woman in a deep cheerful voice. He circled around the podium to reveal a long dark flowing robe and long straight locks of hair that almost melted into the man’s cloak, which in turn appeared to be made of the very shadows around him. A white porcelain mask set upon the man’s long face and a single green eye peered out from the slits in the mask, a smile could be seen at the corners of the man’s face through the eyehole, “I’ve been expecting you.” He said as he circled around the spiralling stairs and wove his way through the many books toward the woman, standing almost eight feet in height his head could be see floating over the books as he travelled.

“I thought as much, Milai.” Melissa said with a sigh, trying hard to keep the edge from her cutting through her voice. Out of all her brother’s children Milai was one of the few that she didn’t feel distaste towards. She actually loved all her nieces and nephew, but after recent events at the school she could not help feeling malice towards the Sister of Death and yet Milai was no Death Angel. He was something else entirely, charged with keeping track of the records of the dead this man has a lonely existence and unlike his sisters he does not get a chance to leave the Hall of Candles much. Milai was known as the Lord of Things to Come and Melissa need not say a single word without before the man read her very expressions and as such he faltered upon setting his eyes set on her face and she could see a frown appear in those eyes, this made her realize that her anger was indeed very visible to this godlike being. She wiped at her face in an attempt to rub any sign of her true emotions from her face and looked back up at her nephew, “I came seeking your father, but I suspect he is avoiding me so I cannot resign.”

Milai lowered his head, “I feared my intuitions were true.” He lifted his head to peer at the woman through long strains of hair that fell in his face, “I must ask, what would you achieve by abandoning the lost souls of Whispering Hills?” He asked solemnly.

Melissa let out a deep sign and fiddled with a lock of her own hair. She did not wish to bring up her resignation to her nephew, but knew that there was no way to hide anything from him, “I don’t know. I…” She looked up at her nephew with pain filled eyes, “I can’t stand seeing them like this and not being able to do anything to help them.” She explained sadly.

Julie set a hand upon her aunt’s shoulder, “I know how you feel, but you have to let them deal with things on their own.”

Melissa spun around to face the Sister of Death, glaring at her, “How would you know?” She could not contain her disgust for the girl any longer, “Your job is simple, just gather the souls of those who have died of old age and lost their way, which rarely happens because those who die of old age are usually read to die so you just sit around here. What is so hard about that?”

Julie shook her head in disagreement, “I’m not talking about the job as a Death Sister, but the one that I took on after my mother’s death, your sister. To act as mother to my younger sisters and protect them at all cost. It pains me so to see them suffering and not being able to do anything to relieve that pain.”

Melissa’s glares intensified, “If that were true then you would not have abandoned your own sister like that. Do you have any idea how much it is killing her knowing that her own sisters want nothing to do with her? I know what she did was against the rules, but screw your bloody rules. Have you ever thought that it was those very rules that are the problem? Maybe you should stop worrying about your stupid rules and start thinking with your bloody heart, or have you been collecting souls for so long that you’ve forgotten what it means to care for someone so deeply that you would do anything for them, even sacrifice your own existence in order to protect them.”

Julie stepped up to the woman, “You have no right to talk to me that way. You have no idea that things I have done to be there for my sisters.” She said in defence.

Melissa slammed a fist upon one of the lower stacks of books at her side, “I very well know all about what you consider help!” She growled, “So you allowed Kris to acquire a Malith stone, if you had stopped Carey in the first place then she wouldn’t need that stone, hell if you had spoke up against your father when he banished her she wouldn’t have to fight these never-ending battles on her own.” She screamed, tears building up at the corners of her eyes as all her rage began to spill forth, “Where were you when she was struggling with questions about love? What about when she was questioning her own sexuality, Huh? I know where you were and it was as sure as hell not at her side, because I was the one sitting on the side of her bed as she cried into my arms, wanting nothing more then to not exist because she felt she only caused everyone more pain. I was the one putting her back together after you tossed her out so don’t talk to me about how much you have suffered.”

Julie recoiled at her Aunts anger and lowered her eyes to the ground in shame.

“While you are here feeling proud of yourself for helping today.” Melissa continued, “What about all the years that you weren’t there? What about that?”

Milai silently moved through the piles of books until he finally arrived at the women’s side and placed a leather-gloved hand upon his aunt’s shoulder, “Calm yourself Aunt.” He said in a calming voice that made the anger melt from Melissa as she gazed up at the man’s masked face, “I know how you feel, but take it out on the proper soul.” He glanced up at the pained look on his sister’s face, “Julie punishes herself enough that you do not need to enforce more pain upon her. I see the guilt in her heart everyday and know this is not the path she chooses, it is the one she is forced to take.”

Melissa shook her head slowly, “Everyone has a choice.” She returned, “Even the Lords.”

Milai glanced down at the woman and shook his head slowly, “If that is true then I ask again, why are you abandoning those girls when they need you so?”

Melissa ran her hands through her hair and allowed it to fall in her face again, “I have no clue.” She admitted tiredly, “I just feel so lost and exhausted. I want to help, but I’m not even allowed to tell them the truth of their own existence and it hurts just seeing the look in their eyes every day.”

Milai squeezed her shoulder, “Perhaps you should reconsider your resignation.” He pulled a large brown envelope out from under his cloak and held it out to the woman, “I know these new arrivals will be in need of your care more so now then ever.”

“New arrivals?” Melissa blinked at the packaged and suddenly understanding the message her brother-in-law had sent and shakily took it from the man. More lost souls were on their way and her sister was so weak that she would not be able to be there for them all, “This can’t be…” She stated, refusing to believe what she was seeing, “We are full up… how can he?” She muttered as she took the envelope from her hands.

“Not any longer.” Milai said dismally, “It would appear that you have at least one opening, and will have more soon enough.”

Melissa glanced up at the man in shook, “An opening? Who left? Did someone graduate… or…?” She could not muster the strength to utter the thought that rose up in her mind.

“While you were away the young red head moved on.” Milai explained softly. Melissa spun around to fast Julie and Milai squeezing the woman’s shoulder in assurance, “She is not dead, but she no longer exists in the matter that she once did.”

Melissa turned back to the man wide eyed, “K… Kimberly…Harrison… or was it Ki… Kima?” She inquired shakily as the faces of the mysterious twins with their fiery hair and eyes flickered to mind.

Milai tapped the envelope, “You’ll find the answers you seek in there.” He explained simply.

Melissa shakily opened the envelope and pulled out several file folders. Upon opening the first one her jaw dropped in shock and she quickly glanced up at Milai, “This girl… she can’t be… is she?”

Milai shrugged, “It is more then possible, but not even I know that answer.” He replied dismally, “All I know for certain is your sister is going to need you at the Academy and so are the girls there.”

Melissa flipped through the many folders, glancing at the photos of the new girls, “Three… Four… Five… How… How are we supposed to house all these girls?”

Milai shook his head, “Father just said to give you those files, he said you would figure things out. You should hurry because they should be arriving soon and I suspect that you are going to have your hands full soon.”

Melissa began to back towards the front door, her eyes flicking from the files to Milai, “I…” She glanced around the room at the other doors and her thoughts turned to her brother’s masked face staring out from long dirty blonde bangs and she ground her teeth together. “Tell your father I’m not through with him. I’m only returning because Sophia will need my help with these new girls and not because of him. I’ll be back to have a word with him as soon as this is all sorted out.” She stated firmly and opened the doors out of the room, “It was nice seeing you again Milai, I will talk to you later.”

“Until another day.” Milai said with a slight bow, “Take care of yourself Aunt Melissa.”

Julia waved at the woman, “Take care, Aunt Missy.” She said with a twitchy smile.

Melissa glared at her niece, “I’m still not pleased with you. Maybe you should consider visiting your sister sometime. Gwen and Keelia dropped by and I know she would love to see her other sisters.” She stepped through the door; “I hope the next time I see you, you will act more like a big sister and less like a soldier of your fathers.” Without another word she let the large door close behind her and rushed down the corridor out of The Hall of Candles.

“Well... that could have gone better.” Julie sighed as she leaned against the door, “She really hates us does she not?” She asked her brother in dismay.

Milai shook his head, “She is understandably angry.” He stated simply and turned at the sound of the door behind him. The door opened and yet another of his sisters entered the room, “Morrigan? What brings you?” He inquired curiously of the Death Angels arrival.

Morrigan gazed around from under her hood with her sightless eyes, eyes that she herself had gouged out and sewn shut many years ago. Even with her eyes sealed she appeared to take in her ever surrounding and turned her head to face up at her brother. Her lips parted for the first time in many years and a cracked voice emitted, “The Child of Dream...” She said in a pained tone that only the ears of her brother could hear, for he too suffered from the same tragic events that left himself in a state similar to her’s.

He raised his gloved hand to stare at the nonexistent arm the held the glove aloft and clenched his nonexistent fist, causing the leather of the glove to creak and close into a fist. It had been such a long time since the day his limbs had been removed from his body and he became the floating disaster that he was today. He closed his eyes as he recalled that day and how that man tore his arms and lower body from him as his younger sisters looked on and then forced him to watch as the man taunted Morrigan until she finally tore out her own eyes with a fragments of glass she found on the ground near her. He was able to create a psychic version of his body and escape with his sister, not before sealing the man in an obsidian mirror, but the torture they endured affected their lives forever.

“Draigo.” Milai muttered under his breath.

Julie stepped up to her brother and glanced between him and her sister, “Draigo? Has he returned? I thought you and Morrigan sealed him away all those years ago?”

“If the Child of Dream has returned to the Realm of Shadows it is very likely that he will come seeking her.” Milai remarked worriedly and looked over at Morrigan, who shook her head uneasily and clasped her arms about her waist, shaking uncontrollably, “I suspect that Carey has been trying to free him and I hope that she never succeeds for if he does return he will do anything in his power to have that child in his possession and we can not allow that to happen, for if it does the all the Realms will become a Sea of Nightmares and no one will sleep soundly ever again.”

Julie stared at her brother in shock of what she was hearing. “Wait! Could he be the reason for the resent stir of the Faceless and Dream Ghouls?” She inquired as an unsettling feeling began to fill her.

Milai nodded, “It is most evident and they are probably searching for him as we speak.”

Julie glanced at the door her Aunt has just passed through and recalled the stories her younger sister, Gwen, had told her of the Stained Glass Angel’s appearance in the Realm of Shadows, “I… I have to talk to father.” She quickly turned and started for the door to her left, “There must be something we can do to help them.”

Milai placed a hand upon her shoulder, forcing the girl to stop in her tracks and glance up at him, “We have already done what we can. Everything is set in motion and we can only wait and watch.” He said helplessly, “I have seen it and our intervention will only make matter’s worse. Those girls need to face this on their own or they will forever be lost.”

“But we can not just sit around here.” She glanced around at her siblings, “Draigo is a demon and he will torture those girls just as he did the two of you.” She explained weakly, knowing far to well that her brother was correct. If Draigo was able to do the kind of damage that he did to Milai and Morrigan, two of their father’s more powerful children, then what could they do to protect those children.

“They have fought worse things in their own nightmares.” Milai remarked, “I think they will do just fine.”

*****

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 to view art from this series please visit my deviant arts site at: <a href="http://shinigami-shimai.deviantart.com/ " target="_blank">http://shinigami-shimai.deviantart.com/ </a>

For more of my stories visit my deviant hearts site at: http://www.devianthearts.com/viewuser.php?uid=159

Also if you spot any typos or other errors please contact me at katwilliams @ rogers.com