Chapter 1 – Within the Crystal

The girl looked around. There was nothing in sight but the bright crystal in the expanse of darkened greens and the night sky. She sat down beside the mystical aura of the gem. One of the men’s statements ran through her head. “What if someone finds out how to unlock the spell on this crystal?” She sat down and pondered for a while.

The girl stood up. “If Desmond doesn’t want this crystal unlocked, I should break the spell.” she murmured, with a steely tone. Another line skimmed through her mind.”The key is within yourself.” Her eyes redirected themselves towards the right arm of the woman embedded within the crystal.

The woman’s right arm was enclosed within a large, baggy green sleeve. Her right arm was not; instead, her upper arm was partially wrapped with sapphire fabric. A thick onyx bracelet was wrapped around her wrist. In her right hand was a large pendant, emerald and sapphire in colour.

The girl pressed her hand to her forehead. “The key to open this is within myself…” she muttered, circling the crystal. She extended her hand towards the gem and placed her finger on the outer shell. She forced her finger into it.

A series of ethereal voices swirled through the girl’s head, all unrecognisable. “I desire the fluid that flows through you… all of it, if you desire to open…” She winced and quickly drew her finger from the crystal. The voice vanished. She stumbled backwards and dashed towards the exit. As she approached the small tunnel, she slowed down and turned around. She walked back towards the hovering stone, as though moved by magnetic force. She rolled up a small portion of her jeans, revealing a small patch of black blood tinged with scarlet on her lower thigh. The blood slowly lifted from her skin and morphed into a thick fog. It shifted through the air to the top of the crystal and condensed, colouring it with a faded transparent red.

The girl gasped as a layer of the crystal dissolved away. She pressed her sharp claws into her leg. More blood transmuted into a strange gas, enveloping, dancing around the gemstone. She stood up. Her skin stated to knit together. “That’s strange. It wasn’t all of my blood, yet it feels like enough.” she whispered to herself.

The ground faintly shuddered. The crystal dimmed. Stepping backwards, the girl stared at the reddened gem in awe. Thin cracks appeared in the crystal, which quickly broadened. It shattered, spitting fragments into the air. The shards rained onto the grass.

The woman gazed around the dimly lit scene. “Where am I?” She stepped towards the girl, speaking with a melodious voice. “Hello, do you happen to know what happened?”

“Who are you?” the girl replied with a friendly tone. Her eyes softened to a faint emerald tone.

“Your eyes… they just changed colour!” The woman stared at the girl’s eyes. “M… My name is Persephone. It’s nice to meet you.”

“My eyes change colour depending on my mood. I don’t know why. I don’t have a real name. You can call me Hybrid.” Hybrid fiddled with the wound on her leg, which was already knitting together.

Persephone stared at the strange girl. “What happened?”

“You were inside a large crystal, and I broke it, to put things simply.”

Persephone bent down and picked some of the crystalline shards from the ground. “I see. All I can remember is a bright flash of light, then awakening to this.” She raised her arm, holding up the large pendant. Its green centre and azure spokes glimmered eerily in the low light. “I was trying to protect this from someone else who I can’t recall.”

“That’s a beautiful pendant. I was trying to escape from a group of people who were trying to shoot me with shotgun.” Hybrid glanced at her scarred arm.

“May I ask you something? Can you tell me what an um… shotgun is?”

“It’s a type of gun. They are particularly lethal at close range.” She hesitated. “How long have you been inside the crystal?”

Persephone scanned the area. “I don’t recall. I was running away from someone in the year 1509, in the summer, before I lost memory.”

Hybrid’s jaw dropped open. “You were imprisoned for almost five hundred years.” she calmly stated. “That explains your lack of knowledge about guns. I’m sorry if I offended you. It’s the twenty sixth of January at the moment. It’s the middle of winter in the year 2009.”

Persephone gasped and gazed at her pendant. “No…” she whispered. “The Darkstar family…”

“What’s the matter? Is something about to happen?”

“I only have a short time to find the rest of the icons… I already have one.”

“What are these icons?”

Persephone narrowed her eyes and scrutinised the area. She spoke in a whisper. “The Icons which I am talking about are powerful enchanted items which are scattered across the land. I need to collect them for the Darkstar family. My family who ruled over England were captured by the Darkstars. My family then swore to find their family the Icons within five hundred years. Otherwise, England and the surrounding lands would be destroyed.”

“This sounds like a huge fantasy movie.” muttered Hybrid. “By the way, I have heard something about someone who wanted the Icon thingies. Someone called Desmond doesn’t want someone else to have these. I heard he wanted to plot against someone else.”

“Can you please help me?” asked Persephone. “I know I am a complete stranger to you, but I have the feeling you can help.”

Hybrid immediately nodded. “Okay. However, Desmond and his army are trying to kill me for a reason I do not know about. Instead of trying to collect the icons to give to the Darkstars, can’t you simply use them against her?”

“Thank you for helping. However, the power of the icons is immense. I cannot simply use it all. It is rumoured each of the icons bear a permanent disability to whoever uses its powers.”

“Have you used your pendant?”

“I have, and I am now weak against physical attack. I need you to help me find the remainder of the icons.”

Hybrid gave Persephone a gentle nod. “Okay. I will help. Where do we start?”

“That’s the problem. I don’t know where. They can be anywhere.”

“Okay. I’ll show you some of the modern world. We can talk then.”

Persephone smiled. “Thank you.”

Hybrid’s eyes darted across the sky and turned orange. A helicopter bearing a blinding spotlight hovered overhead. She snatched Persephone’s hand and tugged her into the bush. “They’re looking for me again.” She agitatedly whispered.

Persephone pulled her hand free and crouched down, followed by Hybrid. The spotlight swept past the centre of the area. It snapped back to where the crystal was. The luminosity vanished, and the sound of the propeller started to fade.

“Are they always after you?” whispered Persephone.

“A lot of the time. If they can track me down, they chase me.”

Persephone nodded. “I see. Do you need any help hiding from them?”

“I might. Is it possible if we help each other?”

“Certainly.”

Hybrid poked her head out of the bush. “It’s safe to come out.”

Persephone scrambled out of the bramble of vines and dusted her clothing off. “Who are they?”

“I don’t exactly know who they are, or why they are chasing me. Should I show you the city? I need to leave before the people come back. We can think of ideas there.”

Persephone smiled. “Sure. In advance, I’m sorry if I ask too many questions about this new world.”

Hybrid merely smiled back. “Let’s go.” She started to walk towards the exit.

A shady figure with an obscured body slid past the surrounding plants, observing the moves of the two.  It remained completely silent as it slinked through the darkness of night, following Hybrid and Persephone out of the forest.