Do You Believe In Destiny?

Chapter One

The sun had started to set, the sky splattered with magnificent pinks, oranges and purples. Owl let out a small 'hoo'.

"You're right," Cassandra replied, "we need to find a place to stay for the night."

Sighing, she lifted her head and analyzed the area. They were in the middle of seemingly nowhere - rows of identical trees loomed over their heads, their shadows growing larger as the sun lowered. Cassandra hopped off of Fidella, the grass around her feet rustled as she landed. Peering into the darkness, she could see a small clearing. She headed towards it cautiously, smiling when she saw the flat space of land and a small, shallow cave.

"We'll set camp and stay here for the night." She told the two animals, gathering stray sticks and branches to start a small fire.

They huddled closely inside the dark cave; the animals fell fast asleep, however, Cassandra decided to stay up a while longer. She gazed up into the night sky; the stars twinkled brightly while the campfire flickered and danced in the reflection of her eyes. It brought back memories of the caravan and travelling with Rapunzel and the crew. A soft smile tugged on her lips. Her thoughts were then interrupted by a rustling in the trees - that's when she saw it.

A tall, jagged shadow ran through the trees swiftly, a static-like noise emitting from it. As if by instinct, Cassandra reached for her sword and silently crept towards the shadow creature. When she had come close enough, her eyes widened with shock: it looked incredibly similar to Zhan Tiri, with its pitch-black complexion, ram-like horns and glowing, hollow, beady eyes. Sure, it was much smaller than Zhan Tiri's massive, demonic form, but similar nonetheless. It locked eyes with Cassandra for a split second before lashing out at her with its large claws. Regaining balance, she lunged towards the creature, slashing it with her sword - to no avail. It seemed to have just went through the shadow-creature with no damage dealt.

"What? How is this possible?" Cassandra muttered, going in for another swing.

Before her sword could even land a hit on it, the creature raised its arm and swung at Cassandra, her body flew across the field and violently hit a tree. Her back pressed against the bark slowly slid down as she sat, groaning in pain.

"Shit." She grumbled, rubbing her now aching back with her left hand.

The creature let out an ear-piercing roar, waking up Fidella and Owl, as it slowly made its way towards Cassandra. She looked up in fury. Here she was, journeying to find her own destiny, only to be slaughtered by some shadow? Yeah, she didn't think so. She shakily stood up, tightening her grip on the handle of her sword in preparation for one final attempt to destroy this creature, burning beads of sweat trickling down her palms and forehead.

Blood now boiling, her gaze met with the creatures one last time. Right before she took her shot, the deafening sound of glass breaking pierced her ears as a streak of blinding light slashed down the body of the beast. The light swallowed the creature whole from the inside out, the shadow screeching in terror as it soon ceased to exist.

Cassandra could make out a shadow of a person landing on the ground behind where the creature once stood. Walking forward, the light from the moon shone on her face, revealing a woman around Rapunzel's age. Her skin, pale as milky, ivory porcelain; her hair a rich, dark brown; her eyes a deep, glowing amber.

"Who are you?" Cassandra asked through shaky breathes, "and what was that thing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing." She scoffed, twirling a thin, golden sword around, "What? No 'thank you for saving my life, mysterious lady'?"

Cassandra suddenly felt a small flush of embarrassment, her face tingling red as she replied, "Fine, thank you for saving my life. I appreciate not being torn to shreds by an unknown shadow-creature. But you still haven't answered my first question: who are you?"

The mystery woman smiled deviously.

"I'm Cinder, and that thing you just saw? That's a Demon."