Shadow Part 1, Genesis

Chapter 1

As the light from the moon and the stars began to shine, Rome and the desert lands were alive throughout the night. Strangely on a night such as this, darkness began to spread throughout the land. The light started to fade until the Luna eclipse covered the cities, towns, and villages in pure darkness.

Within the village of Marintine, at the stroke of midnight, came a cry. In a large round wooden hut where the crying occurred, a flame was lit.

"Not again!" A woman screamed, "not again!" The woman awoke from her bed to her husband's aggressive fists thrashing her. Whilst in a panic the woman buried her face in her knees, covered her head in her arms and prayed for him to stop.

"Aeliana!" He exclaimed in rage while hitting her repeatedly across the head. As he looked into his wife's blue eyes and saw the tears running down her face, he couldn't help but feel only disappointment.

Years ago, after many civil wars, men favoured having a strong family more than anything. Due to the rise in poverty and the rise of births in females, having a son became extremely important.

Aeliana's husband Cato, the village's commanding officer, desperately wanted a son to continue his bloodline more than anything. That day, unfortunately for Aeliana, Cato discovered that his wife had another miscarriage one week earlier.

This was the fifth time she had failed to conceive and he could not face the fact that he may never have a child of his own. Through the feeling of anger and frustration he left the room abruptly and began violently screaming and shouting, throwing chairs, punching walls and pulling harshly at his dark golden hair.

"Was it not enough taking away my baby again?!" Aeliana pleaded. Pulling back her soft brown hair over her left ear, she hugged her knees tightly as she quietly cried. Looking to the roof above she questioned, "What have I done?!"

Believing that she was a failure and in fear of her husband's ambitions, Aeliana couldn't take it anymore. Without thinking, she swiftly grasped the lantern on her bedside and burst out of their hut. She dashed passed the neighbouring huts around her in a puzzle like fashion, each had wooden walls and timber pointed tops covered by hay. Unfortunately for Marintine, the civil war saw that they could not afford stone houses. While fleeing through the village streets in her white nightgown, and no sandals, she looked to the outer edge of town. In the distance, she saw nothing but the desert and the gathering of clouds in the sky. However, afraid of what Cato might do, she ran out into the beginning of the desert and didn't look back. As she hurried into waves of sand ahead of her, she could still hear her husband's screams, yelling at her as if she was a dog scampering away.

"Aeliana! Stop! Come back here!" he ordered.

She wouldn't stop, she was determined to run away as far as possible. While trying to cover the lantern's flame so no one behind her could see her movements, she proceeded to take her chances in the cold abyss rather than heading back.

She ran up and down steep monstrous hills through the darkness of the night. She pressed forward through the cold unforgiving desert hoping that her husband would be far behind. Suddenly the wind around her started to become fierce, the clouds in the sky brought a horrific sound of thunder and lightning began to shoot from above. A storm began to brew. But as Aeliana started to breathe heavily and her legs began to tire, she became oblivious to everything happening around her. Lightning began to plummet from the sky as clouds started to swirl into a rapid vortex. The only light to be seen was from Aeliana's lantern, accompanied by the thunderous lightning above which only managed to deafen her screams as she continued to run. Not knowing where she was going from the blistering sand clouding around her, she noticed that she was moving closer towards the vortex in the sky. Coming to a stop on an enormous sand dune, she wanted and needed to turn back.

However, due to the gale force winds given off by the storm, she was immediately picked up and flung into the air. Losing her grip as the lantern was hurled towards the vortex above, a spherical sandstorm encapsulated Aeliana while she collapsed down the hill. Without the ability or strength to stop, the brutal wind viciously scrapped against Aeliana's soft skin and sand became stuck to her cheeks as she continued to cry. Although, when she hit the bottom of the dune, the storm surprisingly cleared. The lightning stopped, the clouds disappeared and the wind came to a calm breeze.

Aeliana could barely move. She didn't want to move. But as she stood and wiped the sand from her cheeks she looked up to realise that she was surrounded.

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