Skylar pushed the strands of hair behind her ear, which was kissing her face in the cold dark evening, and she pulled her jacket closer to herself. The cold winter air was too colder for her to bear, and she heard her teeth start to chatter.

Ed turned to his side and saw Skylar rubbing her palms up and down, along her upper arms. He shook his head smiling and pulled her hands towards him, and started rubbing it with his warm ones, breathing his hot breath over her cold hands. Smiling shyly, Skylar looked up at him, and blushed as she saw that he was staring into her blue eyes.

They were walking back from a date that Ed had taken Skylar to. The main reason for him to do so was, he knew that ever since Skylar was back with Ethel's heart on her hands, she was never the same. It had been nearly fifteen days since then, but for all of those days, she was too troubled and was always worried about one thing or another. So as to switch her head around and distract her for a while, Ed had taken her to the cinema.

"Is this okay now?" Ed asked, winking at her, as Skylar blushed and tried to gently push him away from her. He did not oblige and smiling timidly she slowly removed her hands from his. She pushed her hands deeper into her pockets, and they started walking once more.

Skylar rolled her eyes as she felt him tag her from behind. The evening was not getting warmer anymore, and Skylar knew that this was not the time for either of his jokes or games.

"Leave me, Eddie," she said softly. But he did not loosen the hold on her jacket. Skylar felt him pull her back and she turned behind angry at him.

Skylar stared around as she noticed Ed standing right beside her, his eyebrows scrunched up wondering what she was talking about. If it was not him who had tried to pull her back, then who was it?

Skylar scanned the almost deserted area behind them with careful eyes. She searched through the darkness, and tried to catch something that was not a human.

"Darling," Ed called her softly, but Skylar shushed him, afraid that whatever might hear him and would disappear all together. She waited.

Suddenly, Skylar's eyes moved past a change of thickness in the air and she glanced towards it once more. She was right.

With one single swipe of her hand, Ed was pushed back and a safe cage of an everlasting tongue of white flame surrounded him. Ed tried to move from his position, trying to stand up, but the tongue of flame did not let him at least move a muscle.

"Sky, what have you done?" he shouted, but he knew that Skylar would not hear him at all. She was concentrating on what was ahead of her, and Ed rolled his eyes and remained where he was.

Skylar turned in the darkness, and stared at the area where the change of thickness in air had happened. She wished she could see more clearly, and remembering that she actually could, Skylar increased her visibility to a hundred folds. Closing her eyes tight, and opening it once more, Skylar was able to see up to two hundred and seventy degrees around her. She saw that Ed was struggling against the hold, while keeping a safe eye on her, and she also saw the lone figure that was walking towards her. Assuming that it was just a night time wanderer, Skylar turned her focus on what was ahead of her.

She was right.

Skylar saw the air change its thickness around her, and she slowly moved her eyes around her, noticing the increase of pressure. She huffed loudly and shook her head to the sides, waiting for the things to turn dirty. Skylar felt a hundred of needles pin against her skin, even through her thick jacket, and she squinted her eyes as she saw a small minuscule form of a blister start to swirl around her. She moved her hands, trying to cover her face from the water droplets that were trying to attack her and voice left her throat as she felt the blister intensify and she was not able to see anything around her. She started to scream through the darkness, but closed her mouth at once, as a mixture of both snow and water went inside her mouth. Groaning in frustration, Skylar raised her hands and tried to maintain her balance, while she was starting to lose her foot.

As much as the pressure increased, Skylar suddenly felt it reverse and the pressure started to decrease. Grinning contentedly, she thought that the problem was solved, but with a scrunch in her eyebrows she felt the blister increase its velocity. Not being able to stand her ground anymore, Skylar felt herself being raised off her feet and she started to swirl with the blister that was surrounding her. She shouted and screamed. She flailed her arms around her. She even tried to hit everything which was closer to her, but nothing worked. She was not able to see anything ahead of the blister, and Skylar realized that not only the pressure was reducing, but also it was continuing to reduce to an even more unbearable level as she felt the blood rush on her veins slow down and felt her skin start to turn blue. She knew that this was not good, and Skylar shut her eyes in fear mixed with anxiety, as she felt the blister swirl around the vacuum that was forming around her. Skylar gasped as she suddenly felt herself pulled through the vacuum as though a different type of magnet which was large enough to attract humans was pointed towards her. Her voice leaving her throat, Skylar felt herself falling down through the pressurized chute.

Falling... falling...

Skylar gasped as the surprising power released her, and she fell loudly onto the marble floor, landing painfully on her ankle. The thumping contact rang loudly through the cold evening, broken only by the sound of a breaking ankle.

"Ooow," Skylar cried as pain shot through her leg. She heard an echoing crack and felt her ankle break beneath her feet and she knew that this time it hurt harder. Skylar composed herself, biting her lips, and trying to forget the pain, she slowly started to look around her. The room she was in felt surprisingly familiar, and Skylar wondered when she had visited such a room. She looked up and searched the hole from where she had fallen, and where the pressurized chute had ended, but she found none. The glass ceiling looked the same and not even a scratch was visible over it. She stared ahead, and was pulled back in surprise as she noticed a girl who was her spitting image staring back through her. She gasped and lost her balance once more, her palm slipping through the marble and she fell back loudly, scraping her elbow over the thin sharp edge of the marble, her head banging behind her. She wailed in agony, as she saw her jacket was useless, as the cut had gone deep, without damaging the jacket. Skylar held her head in pain. She shut her eyes tight and tried to erase the pain in vain. Even though it was quite odd, for a girl where mysterious things were happening around the clock, it was nothing. She turned her head up and looked at the girl once more. She stared unblinkingly, and saw that the girl above was also staring unblinkingly at her.

Wait a minute. She looked just like her. Oh no! She was her!

With a gasp, Skylar realized that she was staring at her own reflection. The glass ceiling was actually a mirror and Skylar shook her head, wondering if anyone could be stupider than her. Overcoming the first phase of surprise, Skylar turned around her, and stared around her once more. The room looked very familiar, as though she had visited it every day. Even though it took a great level of courage mixed with pain from her side, Skylar stood up slowly, not putting too much weight over her broken ankle and she slowly stood up, standing straight, or as almost straight as she could be with a damaged ankle.

Skylar slowly turned her head to the sides and saw that the room was shaped like a pentagon, and she squinted her eyebrows wondering how that could be. The interior of the room was quite simple, and she stared at the golden walls around her. The plain empty walls had each a large painted canvas decorating it. Skylar squinted her eyes, and walked forwards towards the wall that was facing her. With a surprise she took a step back, as she saw an image that was all too familiar for her.

It was the exact same image that she had seen in the book Ed had brought back with him while rescuing her and hadn't he said that the images were in that mansion as well?

Was she kidnapped once more? And too, to the same place?

*

With fear starting to pump through her veins, Skylar turned around her, staring at all the corners trying to see whether anyone was running towards her, trying to catch her. But noticing that there was no one except for her, Skylar looked up again, trying to check from where she could go out. She humped in worry as she saw that she was trapped in this lone room and there was no escape. But even though she wanted to be too sad, she could not actually be too sad, because her curiosity was starting to kill her, asking her to check the other images as well. Skylar stepped to the side, and dragged her broken ankle towards the next wall.

The crude illustrations were too horrible, and slowly Skylar started to realize where she had seen the building. It was the exact same images on the walls and with a bulb that lit inside her mind, she remembered falling through a vacuum while she was walking through a forest and she realized that it was the dream she had, a long time back. She had heard a music which had led her towards the Night Shadows, and with a gasp she wondered whether she would hear the music once more. Skylar squinted her eyebrows and turned towards the illustrations on the walls.

Slowly, she started to recognize the lines and she was able to make out a face through the image. The face was starting to look beautiful to her, and she concentrated harder on the face. There was a huge beam of light that had fallen across the lady's face, who was in the image, and Skylar started to see the familiarity in her as well. She was Ethel.

"Hello Skylar!"

Skylar fell back on her broken ankle once more in surprise, as a voice started to echo through the room. She turned her head to the sides, trying to catch who it was. With sad realization, she saw that she was the only one in the room. Was the sound inside her head? She asked herself, but she knew that it was not. With an angry groan, she turned to the side to look at her ankle, and her eyes fell on the image once more.

Was that Ethel by any chance?

Skylar squinted her eyebrows and wondered, but she shook her head, as she knew that a talking image was quite absurd, even to her mysterious world. But the voice had sounded so similar...

Skylar waited until the voice said something once more. But it didn't, and from the far corner of her mind, Skylar knew that it would not say anything once more. Shaking her head, Skylar got back to her feet. Her eyes fell on the image that was closest to her, and she tried to make out a face in between the lines. She knew that she was starting to imagine things, but she was able to make out a resemblance from the image to someone she knew very well. No... it can't be...

Skylar shook her head, trying to erase unnecessary thoughts and started to look around her once more. Suddenly, her eyes darted past something that she was sure was not there previously, and she turned towards it once more. It was an ornate glass door, and it was opened, as though inviting Skylar to go through it. Skylar waited, wondering whether it would be a good decision. She bit her lips thinking hard, and shrugging her shoulders, she dragged herself towards the door. She thought that if someone asked her to stop, she would, but as no one else had yet, she did not have a better option.

Shrugging her shoulders once more, Skylar slowly tiptoed towards the door. She stopped in front of the ornate glass door, and she stared at the darkness in front of her. She had come this far. She did not want to waste the inviting opportunity that was in front of her.

Taking a deep breath, and forgetting the pain on her ankle and elbow, Skylar stepped forwards. A slow creek led towards a loud bang, and with a shudder, she turned her head to the side, and saw that the doors had been locked behind her. She stared ahead of her once more. Biting her lips, Skylar stepped forwards.

She had not taken at least five steps, and at once Skylar felt the dark silent night disturb around her, and someone come up behind her. She had not even turned behind her, and at once, she felt something jump towards her, and it put its arms around Skylar's neck and its legs around her waist, as though it was piggy back riding her. Skylar held the arms and tried to break its hold, but it was too strong for her own good. She struggled, trying to get out of it, but the skeleton arms were only tightening its hold. Skylar felt the air constrict on her throat and she felt her lungs bulge beneath the tight grip. Gasping for air, she opened her eyes. The arms that were holding her were blood red, and it was as thin as a skeleton. As she held it, trying to loosen the hold, Skylar felt that its skin was like leather, and her hand slipped the hold, as she felt sweat on her palms.

Crying in horror mixed with fear, Skylar turned her head to the side, and a very high pitched scream left through her throat, and rang loudly through the silent night. The face that was holding onto her, was hanging its black snake like tongue out, and its face was a horrible blotchy brown. Its eyes were too close, and Skylar saw that two perfect circle holes were where its eyes should be. The eyeless creature tightened its grip, and with a gasp Skylar saw that its empty eye sockets, looked as though someone had scooped its eyes out. She screamed in horror once more, trying to release herself, as fear crept through her mind. She smelt bad breath, and saw that green snot was spilling from out of its quite large nose. Skylar knew that if she peeped down, she would be able to see the brain from inside of its nose. Long dark nostrils were poking out, and Skylar shuddered in disgust as the green snot reached its lips and rooted down towards its opened mouth.

"Yuck!"

Skylar shouted, and she turned forwards once more, as its black lips with zero teeth etched on her mind. She knew that she would not be able to be in its hold anymore, and only her lifeless form would remain, and taking up courage into her heart, Skylar turned her head down and with sudden force, she lifted her head up, banging it loudly onto its flat nosed face. With triumph, Skylar knew that she had won, because the hold around her body loosened. With one quick motion, that was too graceful for a girl who had just broken her ankle, Skylar released herself from the creature and she stepped out of its hold. The creature fell back with a loud thump, and Skylar looked back at it again. She saw its naked body that was dressed around it like a red cloth and she wondered what might it be. Before the creature had a chance to get back up, and capture Skylar once more, Skylar knocked it dead with one swipe of her hand. She wrinkled her eyebrows as she saw two long canine teeth protrude out towards its bottom lips. With a shudder, Skylar realized that she had just killed a Night Shadow which had captured her with a different skin.

Skylar looked back at the Night Shadow once more. Its skin was too perfect, even on its body, and its stomach was not separated from its waist. It all looked the same, and Skylar learnt that it could change its shape for anything it wanted to be.

*

Skylar turned towards the front once more. She had just killed a Night Shadow. She did not know what else to expect, and she raked her ears through the silence, as she heard a ruffling of feet. Skylar's eyes grew big, and her eyebrows went up, as she heard thousands of feet scrambling towards her. She felt the air disturb around her, and at once, thousands of Night Shadows rounded her, centering her, and stared at her, with angry glares in their eyes. They were of all sizes and in all shapes. Not two Night Shadows looked the same and Skylar waited, knowing that a war was just about to happen.

Skylar relaxed her muscles and waited. The Night Shadows were glaring at her, as though they were angry dogs who were waiting for a tasty piece of meat. She knew that the time was coming soon.

With one giant leap, forgetting her broken ankle, Skylar jumped up and stretched her hands, as the Night Shadows started to attack her at once. Skylar collided in mid air with a giant Night Shadow, and she slammed her fist into its face. The canine scraped her fingers, but Skylar did not care. Without even flinching in pain, she landed over the Night Shadow's body as it fell back in pain, its face turned to an odd angle. Skylar kneeled over the Night Shadows chest and increased the pressure on her knee over its chest. She glared at the Night Shadow as it tried to turn its head towards her, and Skylar punched its face once more. The force broke the Night Shadows face, and it went inside, etching Skylar's fist print on its face. It laid back dead.

Skylar felt the Night Shadows close around her, and without even having a moment to compose her breath, she started attacking. She kicked off the dead Night Shadow to the side and kicked another on its shins. Her fist broke down many pairs of teeth, and it even went directly through another Night Shadows face, and came out from its back. She shook her hand once, and the Night Shadow fell back, dead. Skylar hit her elbow to the back, and heard the sound of another Night Shadow falling back. She started to choke as she felt a heavy weight climb over her body and started to put its arms around her neck, trying to choke her. With an angry snare, Skylar put her hands over her head and grabbed the Night Shadow from its neck, bringing it down forcefully. The Night Shadow fell off her hands as she put it down below her feet, and Skylar stamped on its ugly face. It struggled below her, and stopped. It was dead.

Skylar turned to her side, and saw another Night Shadow coming towards her. She started to run towards it, and raising her hands above, she brought it like a knife down through the air, onto the back of the Night Shadow. The force created a perfect hole in the size of her hand and a crunching sound of bones being broken was heard. The Night Shadow fell down, blood oozing from out of its mouth. Skylar turned to the side and saw that five more Night Shadows were coming towards her. All of them jumped over her, climbing on to her body. She tried to hold one, but her arms aimlessly flared beside her, as the Night Shadows were in perfect synchronization and were choking her. Skylar felt her eyes bulge, and the breath left her chest. She gasped for air, and felt her glasses start to loosen. She knew this was it. She was going to die.

With an angry howl, Skylar decided that she would die definitely, but not in this way. She flared her arms once more, and started to turn around her. She increased her speed, and rotated on her good foot, as though she was performing an old modified version of a kung fu. As Skylar increased her speed, she felt the arms around her loosen their grips and she stretched her arms to the side, and created a giant bubble of angry red flames. She stretched her hands more, and its radius increased. With one horrible screech, she brought her hands towards each other, as though she was trying to clap, and with the sudden increase of pressure, the red flames flew out of the bubble, absorbing all the Night Shadows around her. She smirked victoriously as she viewed the Night Shadows shudder and scrunch up their eyes, their skins wrinkling in the everlasting red flames.

Skylar turned to her left. She did not have enough time to appreciate her handy work. She saw more Night Shadows come towards her. She started to run towards them, and she slipped down through the floor, kneeling, under the Night Shadows, as they started to leap, thinking that Skylar would meet them mid air. Their surprise was evident in their eyes as Skylar stood up, behind them. With a joyful smirk, that pissed off the Night Shadows, she turned towards them, and clapped her hands once more. The bubble of red flames that she had created earlier, came towards her new victims. Skylar looked at the Night Shadows as their voiceless echoes rang through the dead of the night. The flames absorbed their skin, turning into angry red gashes, and finally burning them to black, leaving only the ashes in its wake. Skylar humped victoriously, and turned behind her. She was done.

She was almost done. As she turned behind her, she saw two more Night Shadows staring her down. They were looking back at what she had done to their mates, and with an angry screech, they jumped towards Skylar. She was ready for them.

As soon as the Night Shadows neared her, Skylar raised her arms and brought it down, creating a sharp sword out of the air. The sword clanged to the ground, and Skylar sprang up into the air as the Night Shadows leaped up. She walked through the air and kicked hard onto the head of a Night Shadow. She stomped down the Night Shadow and lifted her sword up once more. She clanged it with the other Night Shadow's skeleton hand as it pressed it down. Skylar gritted her teeth angrily and pulled back the sword once more. She jumped back up, as the two Night Shadows leaped up in front of her. Skylar screamed as she brought the sword down. The sharp blade went down through the Night Shadows body and its green blood drenched the sword's blade. She pressed the hilt of the sword, and forced the Night Shadow down. Not being able to fight anymore, the Night Shadow retreaded down, kicking its legs, trying to release itself from its death. Skylar looked up at the other Night Shadow and gave it a dark look. It was waiting, waiting until Skylar was ready, to pounce on her.

Skylar turned and with one swift motion of her hand, she forced the dead Night Shadow to the side and looked up at the other Night Shadow. She started to round and the Night Shadow waited. It looked as though it was wondering what to do, and Skylar rounded it, trying to catch her racing heart. At once, with a loud screech, Skylar ran towards the Night Shadow and raised her balled up fist. She brought her hand forwards and as the Night Shadow opened its mouth, protruding its two vicious canines out from the hood of its mouth, she landed her fist onto the middle of its mouth. The Night Shadow's eyes went up, losing its focus and Skylar shook her fist, as its canine scratched her skin, and blood ran down her hand. The Night Shadow tilted on where it stood, and Skylar waited, tightening the grip on her sword's hilt, ready to attack the Night Shadow once more, when it regained its focus.

The sword loosened and fell out from Skylar's grip as she saw the Night Shadow fall down. Taking a deep breath, Skylar fell back behind her, sitting on the ground. The tired sword was lying beside her, and she saw the green blood that was dripping on it. She sighed, and wiped her forehead. Sweat dribbled out from her face, and Skylar felt too hot in her winter jacket. Patting her racing heart, Skylar regained her breath and turned to look around her. Thousands of Night Shadows had fallen and some were stirring unconsciously. Their blood was spilled on the ground and its higher density made it shine through the darkness. Skylar sighed. She did not know why she was here in the first place and wondered how she would be able to go up to her world once more. She remembered the tongue of the fired cage, which she had put around Ed. She slammed her fist to her forehead, as she realized that she had brought her death upon herself.

Skylar felt her eyes start to burn, but she did not want to feel in her weaker self, while she was in an unknown territory, in front of her enemy. She wiped her eyes hard and stood up. Pain shot through her broken ankle once more, and Skylar hissed. She had forgotten all about her wounds, and turned to look at her upper arm as a stinging pain shot through her once more. She saw a long gash decorate her hand, and she remembered the scars from the bite she had in her nightmare a long time ago. It was directly below her new wound, and she sighed as she noticed how badly she was bleeding. She sighed and shook her head, pulling her bleeding hand over her jacket. Skylar turned around her, and she started to go deeper into the clearing. It was not a forest and the area was drunk in darkness. She looked behind her to make sure that she was not being followed by any more Night Shadows, or anything else for that matter. Sighing, she went deeper, not knowing where it might lead her.

Skylar passed the rough ground and she stopped as she saw a tall frame in front of her. She lifted her head up and looked at the frame. There were golden letters, adorning the frame and Skylar tried to read the letters. In the dark, it was not too visible but after some time, she was able to make out some forms.

Skylar's eyes grew large as her lips followed the words. She stopped and she stared at the words once more. She waited wondering what she should do. She read the letters on the frame once more, trying to bring her head around its meaning.

Kingdom of the Powerful Gertrude - the Spear of Strength...