Shadows of Ash and Gold

Chapter twenty four

Her eyes were gold. Or were they just a precise hazel? Or maybe a light brown? From far away they looked black but that wasn't the case up close. Her hair was dark and full of secrets and a lost soul. But it was her smile that caught everyone's eyes.

Her smile was like breathing air on a crisp morning. It was that feeling you get when you realize you're happy for the first time in months. It was the sun and the moon, the stars and the universe all at the same time. It was everything that could be compared to greatness. There was more to her than anybody knew. More than I knew. Nisha was more. Just ... more.

She was in front of me, with that magnificent smile of hers glowing on her face. She was here. How was she here? I missed her. Where did she go?

She was wearing a pure white dress that flowed around her on the forest floor. She looked like some kind of angel or goddess.
Someone in the distance called my name, I turned to the trees but there was nobody there.

I quickly reverted back to Nisha, only to see that her smile was gone. And it was replaced with horror and agony. She screamed and held a hand to her stomach. It was then I saw the blood oozing from her. "No!" I screamed and rushed towards her. "Nisha?" I cried and held her in my arms.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, anything. Her eyes were filled with tears and terror but most of all ... anger? "This is your fault!" she shouted at me. "You did this to me!"

"Nisha I would never-" but then I saw the dagger in my hand. The dagger was covered in blood, Nisha's blood. I had the sudden realization.

I killed Nisha.

I killed her. I killed her. I killed her. I killed her.

My shoulders shook. "Avaryn."
My eyes opened, I stared up at a head full of white hair and black eyes darker than the night sky. I looked around and remembered where we were. Where I was.

It was a dream. Just a dream.

I looked back at Raiden just now realizing he was hovering over me, and that it was still dark out. He had his weapons strapped across his body and his face was hard. What was going on? I opened my mouth to ask but he put a finger to his lips, silencing me.

He got up, slowly, bringing me up with him. 'Stay behind me,' he mouthed and I nodded my head, my nerves spiking. I heard something snap in the distance.

I turned my head the same moment Raiden turned his body in front of mine, blocking me from the arrow that was soaring through the air at my chest. It hit him in an instance. He didn't go down like I thought, actually he didn't move. He stood in front of me, frozen, staring out at the distance. He slowly lifted his arm and pulled the arrow out of his shoulder. I gasped and looked away, the blood was too much.

How the hell did he just do that?

He threw the arrow, continuing to stare into the distance of dark trees. "Might as well come out now, hunter, your arrows don't affect me."

Hunter?

A figure of a body slowly emerged from the trees. The man was covered so you couldn't see his face and his clothes were easy to blend in with the trees. He walked with a bow and an arrow held up in his arms, pointed at Raiden as he walked closer to us. "Do they affect her?" he angled the bow so it was pointed at the little sliver of my body that wasn't covered by Raidens.

"I suppose you could shoot her instead," Raiden offered, I heard his amusement but I was starting to learn how fake it was. How it was really there to mask the rage rushing through his veins.

My jaw dropped at his words. Did he just-?

"But then you would be dead in the next second, and then your family and everyone you love and then maybe everyone you've ever met just to spice things up a bit.'' It was then I saw how completely rigid Raiden had gone, how impeccably still he was. How calm he was. It was that deadly calm, the one he used when he wanted you to know he was serious. His words were not just a threat, they were a promise. I realized how little human life meant to Raiden, how little any life was to him.