Shy From the Light

Prologue

Ambition. Her mother use to spew the word with the amount of venom only an insult could carry. She swore it would be her undoing. But Fallon had a much more extraordinary premonition. Her mom would consider it a fool's dream, but she saw it as clear as day, felt its weight shake her bones and tasted its truth on her tongue. It was her unsatisfying hunger for more that brought her to this point. On the verge of pulling off the job that would mount her name in history.

Standing on the edge of danger or literally speaking the precipice of a boundary spell warding off forbidden territory, witch territory, she heard the shrewd whisper of her mother voice in her ear.

"You're going to get yourself killed."

"Why do you insist on making life difficult for yourself?"

"What an absolute waste of beauty."

The last one always made her want to cut out the women's tongue. A life lived basic is not one worth living. Maybe those will be the words scrolled across her tombstone if tonight didn't go as planned.

The witches wouldn't take trespassing lightly. But it's not like she could cross the boarder legally especially not if she wants to maintain her anonymity. For years they managed to ward of the tyranny of anarchy that was always at the brink between magical beings possessing immense power such at themselves. Like all civilizations before them they achieved this goal by constraining their people under the confides of strict rules put in place by mundane people who consider themselves above those very laws, they use to shackle and control everyone else. However, unlike any other civilization, their means of punishment is significantly more horrible considering the fact that there's actual magic involved. This very injustice is why she was committing the crime. Ironic yes since she could lose exactly what she's fighting for, her freedom. But a wild animal would rather risk being put down than spent its life trapped in a cage.

"You ready." Jaden's familiar voice demanded Fallon to leave her mother in the past with her twisted tequila's, poker nights and inappropriately young men, where she belongs.

"I thought you and I knew each long enough for you not to ask me stupid question."

"You know this isn't like anything we've ever done. It's okay for you to take a moment. It's okay for you to be hesitant."

Jaden's words came from a good place. But still, it fuelled an anger inside of her because she knew he was right. She was hesitant, afraid even, but that anger was the drive she needed to not allow those emotions to hold her back. So, instead of biting his head off, this time, she gestured to the boundary, commanding him to proceed.

Jaden turned the triangular nob on the top of the tiny trinket that closely resemble the little lamp she carried around in their house in the middle of the night to illuminate its dark halls. As he placed it on the ground and proceed to chant the spell that activates it his words remixed with her mom's voluntary commentary played back like a broken record in her head. A few seconds later she watched the thinning light of the boundary dance with ethereal beauty. And the second there was nothing left between her and the crescent city something in her ignited relinquishing all the hesitation and doubt within in her, leaving her with certainty of one single thing as she crossed over.

"I don't want to be pretty. I want to be iconic."