The Time's Curse

The clash of two worlds

I

The clash of two worlds

  

London, England

April, 1878

Before that blonde girl had appeared in that dark alley, Jem Carstairs thought that he'd seen nearly everything that both the Mundane and the Shadow worlds had to offer.

After all, he was a Nephilim. Thus, his battles with demons and his daily encounters with a wide variety of creatures had given him an extremely valid reason to claim that he had seen and experienced things that most humans could only imagine, if they could imagine them at all. However, even in his world, a woman who seemed to materialize out of thin air was a phenomenon entirely unheard of.

Prior to that, his night had been relatively normal. And by normal he meant just another night of his parabatai wandering the dark streets of London, trying to investigate and dragging Jem along with him. 

Since that night a few days ago when they had discovered that mundane girl murdered in an alley with a knife marked with the Ouroboros symbol, Will had been wandering some of the seedier parts of the city looking for information about the murder. That evening was supposed to be like any other, but it had gone awry when he got separated from Will and lost him in the dark and labyrinthine streets of London after an intense encounter with a Scorpios demon. He couldn't pinpoint exactly when he got separated from the black-haired man, because by the time he realized it, the aforementioned parabatai was nowhere in sight.

After a few minutes of searching, he realized that Will was not in the vicinity. Since this wasn't the first time something like this had happened, he already knew that he wouldn't be able to find his parabatai unless he wanted to be found, so Jem resigned himself to the prospect of returning to the Institute on his own.

Like an invisible ghost to the eyes of the few mundanes who were in the streets of London at that hour, he made his way back. Scanning the alleys and lanes, his silver eyes searched for any sign of a demon, but found none. Then, as he was only a few blocks from the Institute, he heard it, just behind him. A high-pitched shriek, unmistakably female in tone and enough to send shivers down his spine, followed by a flash of golden light that would have blinded him had he been looking.

His reflexes snapped him into a defensive posture. He swiftly turned, his cane ready for an incoming attack from behind. Yet, to his perplexity, nothing happened.

In the silence of the dimly lit alley, there was nothing but a woman.

A young, shaky blonde woman was standing in front of him, her posture faltering before she collapsed to the floor with a small whimper.

Internally, a torrent of Will's favored expletives surged through Jem's thoughts, but he restrained himself from speaking any of them since he was in the presence of a lady. Instead, he pressed his lips together and eyed her cautiously, torn between the instinct to rush to her aid, since he was a gentleman and she clearly needed help, and the growing suspicion that something was amiss.

There was, indeed, something unmistakably odd about the girl, and it wasn't just her unexpected appearance in a golden light. Jem studied her carefully for a few brief seconds that seemed eternal, noting the strangeness of her clothing and what appeared to be armor. It was a very curious one, and if Jem had to make a guess, he would say it was Greek, which intrigued him and stirred further questions. Additionally, there was a gleaming golden knife in her right hand, which set off alarm bells in his mind.