GENESIS - THE BEGINNING. Book 1

CHAPTER 10 ... Ghosts

She sat with her legs folded comfortably beneath her.

Though the term 'sat' was not entirely correct for there was no chair to sit on nor ground for the chair to rest on. For days, or was it weeks or months? She had stared at the distant stars. Some stars – she guessed they were closer – were brighter and larger while others mere pinpricks. She had never realized before that beyond the enclosure of sky and clouds there existed so much darkness while yet so much colour.

Stars, singular and others, hundreds and thousands of others clustered into circular colourful groupings while beyond them, more groupings and more after that. She learnt to travel by thought. She learnt to stop on a dime and to use her long sword the way Tobor had taught her. She travelled vast distances in mere moments but was too afraid to venture too far from the position that Vigrior had designated for her. Should she have had more time, she would have travelled to the nearest star to see what it was and why it did not 'twinkle' as it did on Overlord. So far, the infinite vastness of space had produced more questions than answers.

She sat with her legs comfortably folded beneath her.

Her long sword lay across her lap. She was at peace with herself and her surroundings. She looked down at her large hands. Large, uncomplicated hands. Hands normally suited for men so large were they. She wiggled her fingers and brought them to her mouth, blew on them. Felt nothing.

Did the dead breath?

She held her breath and hours later came to the conclusion that breathing was not going to be an issue.

Was there air in space?

So many questions with no answers.

Was she dead?

She could remember the sharp knife entering her body.

The pain. The release of death.

Was it death? Did she die? If so, what was she now? A ghost? A wraith? A phantom? One or the other, or none at all?

She was instructed to kill but how could she if she was dead already? Her thumb brushed lightly over the sharp edge of the long sword to suddenly press down hard. She looked at the cut on her thumb and watched with astonishment as the cut healed without so much of a twinge of pain. Bringing her thumb closer, she looked for any sign of bleeding.

Totally weird.

Time passed and she meditated.

Time passed and she practiced her swordsmanship.

She had known from the beginning that she was not any good with the sword. She thought longingly of Katya and Tobor. She thought often of the friends she had made along the way and wondered frequently whether Katya had become Emperor. Her blade came to rest as she caught a glimpse of a small meteor shower some ways off. Another thing with being convincingly declared dead, her eyesight had improved tremendously. She stood and stared at the meteor shower, lost in thought.

At any other time, it would have been the death of her ...

"Aye. Ye be a sight for sore eyes lass, although what ye be staring at in this darkness is beyond my ken."

Adelia Montgomery froze.

Surprise and shock travelled up from her stomach.

Slowly her head turned to survey the area behind her with trepidation. She brought her Long sword up and rested the blade in the crook of her left arm for not five feet away stood what looked like a bear with a human face and body. On closer examination, and with wide fearful eyes, she realized that the figure was human and wore thick fur coverings from neck to toe. On his head, a fur hood that closed his ears against the elements.

"Aye. Correct I was. Thou art truly a comely lass," the bear of a man said through a tangled beard. His sword she noticed, hung by his side. A strung bow held lightly in his left hand. She glanced down at the unfamiliar looking sword thrust through a leather belt tied around his hips.

"Reminds me of the time I crept up on this lass hiding in the bushes." He laughed softly at a fond memory. "Hiding she was. We raised this village to the ground. Ravished and killed all who came before us. Man, women and snot nosed child. We plundered and pillaged all along the Steppes and all feared us."

"Interesting, I'm sure," Adelia said. Not moving an inch. "So what happened to this woman you caught?" Her heart beat so loudly in her ears that she thought he may hear it too.

"She stood like you did lass. Attention to the fore and nary a mind for what may come aft. The past is long gone now lass. Long gone." His penetrating gaze moved passed her. "And what, pray tell, caught your attention these last few minutes before I interrupted?"

"I thought I saw some sort of movement in that direction." She nodded with her chin in the direction where the meteor shower had been.

"You did?" Excitement coursed through his voice as he stepped closer. "The Valkyrie should be along shor ..." his words came to an abrupt end as the long sword's blade sliced his head neatly from his thick neck.

Adelia swore she saw a surprised look in the man's eyes as his head toppled to one side. It rolled and tumbled away in the weightlessness of their surroundings. A cascading fountain of multicolored lights suddenly erupted from the headless man and then vanished.

"Well now," Adelia said while blinking her dazzled eyes. "At least that's one question answered."

"And what question might that be?" A female voice said from close behind her.

Adelia swiveled on her left foot while extending her sword arm.

The force behind the wild swing took the Valkyrie under her breast plate, the long sword lodged against her spine. Surprise and elation coursed through Adelia as she jerked her sword free from the stunned and dying woman sliding off a winged creature.

Adelia swung again, her sword passing cleanly through the creature's large neck. She stood, breathing hard, watching in awe as blood spurted from both to become globules that floated off in every direction. She quickly dodged some that came her way.

Stepping around the twitching, headless monster as its huge wings flapped desultory causing its body to move in unpredictable directions. She sidled over to the dying woman and watched dispassionately as she bled to death.

"The question was whether the dead could kill? It seems they can," she said

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