Darklight: Precipice

Part 35: The Enemy Of My Enemy

She was half-running, half-walking through the streets of Utopia, constantly looking around her – looking at the Shadows. She knew that they were after her, they wanted her and her knowledge. They wanted her political power. They wanted her mind. Even on a clear cold daylike this with not a cloud in the sky, the dizzying spires of Utopia City cast monstrous shadows over the streets on which she hurriedly walked.

But she wouldn't let them get her. Never.

She stumbled into a tall man wearing a suit causing him to spill his coffee over his white shirt.

"Argh!"He shouted as she stumbled away from him frantically. "I've just had this dry-cleaned! Do you know how much this shirt cost?" She didn't cower away, but she looked defensive, her head darting all around. Her vision was obscured somewhat by the large sunglasses and green headscarf she was wearing.

"Hey!I'm talking to you!" He said firmly as he pointed his empty cardboard coffee cup at her.

"I, I..." She tried to say. The man was looking at her with a look of disgust. Her once pristine appearance was now matted, dirty and falling apart. Her pinstripe trousers were full of holes and mud stains and her white shirt was now a mixture of grey and yellow. She had no idea how long she'd been living on the streets.

The man's face changed away from anger, and towards recognition.

"Hey, aren't you...."

"I'm, I'm s... sorry..." she muttered, turning her head away from his face and scurrying away down another street.

"Just, just keep.... just keep walking...." She muttered to herself. "It's ok, shhh. Shhh. He's not found you yet. Oooh but he will, and when he does...." She began to sob as she scurried down the alleyway, panicking about the shadows all around her.

"He showed..." She continued muttering as she found herself in a city plaza bathed in the morning sunlight.

"He showed me the shadows...." She continued. "The shadows in my mind. His masters are watching, no one knows about the power of the shadows, not even Soran. Not even Draz. Gotta find... Gotta find Draz... Gotta tell him..."

People in the streets moved away from the smelly clearly homeless woman. The tattered rucksack that was slung over her shoulder was brown stained and falling apart, it's strap was only held in place by a few fraying threads of material.

"It never used to be like this, no no. Never." She was saying under her breath. "She never...." the woman gasped as she spotted an image on a massive screen adorning one of the buildings. She didn't notice the man looking at her and talking into a communication device.

It was her.

It was Rammachandra!

She was looking out of the screen regally. The text around her said something about a documentary. 'Rammachandra – Saint Or Sinner? Watch on demand now! On Utopia TV, Channel 224'.

But she didn't see any of that, just the image of Rammachandra. She'd become a sort of deity to her new fragile mental state. She dropped her bag as her eyes began to well up with the tears of happiness.

"You... you'll save us. You'll show me the way to Soran. I must find Soran..." She fell to her knees, hands held outwards towards the screen. More and more people were looking at her, and she had no idea how long she had been staring at the picture of the former High Matriarch.

Then he felt the firm hands under her arms, pulling her back to her feet, twisting her body away from the screen.

"N, no... No! No I need to watch her!! I need..."

She finally broke her eye contact with the picture as the two large bodyguards presented her to a woman who was now standing directly in front of her, wearing a black trouser suit and a white, open collared blouse. Her eyes were squinting through the black frames of her glasses, observing her.

"Hello,Lord Regina" Rosaline said with a small smile. "Welcome back to Utopia".