Omega ;

Quest To Nowhere

prologue

Amidst a starstruck deep blue glaze, a fiery amber hissed and blazed over the once beautiful city. Blood stained screams still chimed fresh in her ears even though silenced a while before her whole world stood still.

Bruised and torn the tiny child had suffered no wounds, but for a moment whilst smothered and intoxicated, she believed she would soon be in the arms of her beloved mother once more. No cry, scream nor tear had passed neither her lips nor her eye. Every muscle in her tiny body stood still-as though in a trance. Gazing at the beatiful streaks of gold, red, orange and red, as they danced around her, she could not have known they peril they cradled. Not even when they leapt at her, angry and unmerciful.

No need to fear-Mummy would protect her.

She'd said she'd always be here, that she'd always be with me whenever I needed her.

But the pain she felt when she writhed upon the alter soon dispelled all hope of that ever happening. There was not a force on earth that could stop this now if she stayed-she would die here tonight. Then the moment came when, as if from nowhere, a hand reached out and pulled her, coughing and wheezing, from the flames and out onto the harbour. Away from the church, away from the city and away from her home. Away from her world.

The little girl thought of the priest, now, as she drifted away.

He was gone now-died in his temple as he thought it was ' proper'.

She had held his arm fast as he led her to the dock, pleaded with him to come.

His words had sounded empty, complicated and stupid. Even as he kissed her forehead and bid her farewell, she had hated him for staying. Hated him for being so calm. Hated him for leaving her. Why did he save her life only to give up his own ?

She whimpered softly as her salty tears contributed to the ocean.

The waves looked angry as they threw themselves against the nearby cliffs. The sea was a deep, crystal clear blue-so clean that you could almost see down to the bottom had it not been so deep. Slowly, she pulled herself up. Her body had become a burden, plagued with exhuastion from the anxiety of the night's events. Still she refused to rest. She had to see her home one last time, say goodbye-even from a distance.

So, sqauring her shoulders, head held high, she turned suddelnly to take one last look at the organic bonfire. It glistened from afar, sporting the most beatiful colours ever graced to grace the naked eye, whilst her land burned, the reflection of an untold disaster. Only two boats had been salvaged from the wreckage down at the harbour. Only thirty people out of five hundred had survived.

And so it was, as this tiny child silently sent her love, with a tiny whisper and an airborn kiss to all she loved, the people screamed and cried out to their dead, begging their God to bring them back. It wasn't fair, they would weep, over and over. It couldn't be, it was too horrible. Words said a million times before, replayed over and over. The pained, anguished wept at the destruction of their land. People of all ages, canine, feline, male or female. Some howling their sorrows, others throwing themselves overboard, in a futile attempt to return to the city and search for their loved ones, regardless of whether or not they could swim.

Others just sat still, quiet. Shocked and bewildered or in disbelief.

Even after their escape, many had been lost to their own hearts, dying by choice or trying to save their dead back on shore.

And they where dead. The little girl, even at such a tender age knew it, so why didn't they ?

She just stared, even now aware of so many painful emotions that most people never have to feel more than but a few times in their lives.

Gazing deep into the depths of their saviour, the little girl now wondered what love really was-she could feel it, but only now it hurt her.

She could never look back now, it hurt too much-but she would return here someday, her heart told her so-and when she did, this time her mother would be waitng for her. She was sure of it.

Kiah felt a sudden shudder as she awoke from deep sleep. Upon rising, she found herself bathed from head to toe in a cold sweat. She jerked herself bolt upright as another more violent shudder cursed through her veins. Excrutiating pain ran through her arms and legs almost as if something was tearing it's way through her very self.

Familiar pain. All too familiar.

Her stomach lurched and she nearly toppled over with dizzyness when she stood.

'It can't be !' she exclaimed, as she stared in horror at the woman who stood in the mirror opposite.

The feline there smiled with Kiah's own charm, grace and beauty but did not reflect it's owner's actions, as a reflection should. Instead she seemed to leer over Kiah, with a certain look that said ;

It's over.I' ve won. The gatekeepers are no more…

The spirit was speaking to her through her own heart. Through the same body that they had both shared, fighting the same battle but on opposite sides.

Turning suddenly, Kiah switched the television on. If the Gatekeepers really where gone, then the media would surely have found out…

' Now for today's top story,' a stony faced reporter burbled on, ' The nation is in shock after a mysterious fire burst out last night, on Giah Island, killing nearly all of it's inhabitants. Out of the five hundred known to have lived there, only thirty escaped to shore safely. Amongst those only twenty three still remain, after the others died of fatal burns or smoke inhalation. It is not yet known what caused the fire and rescue crews cannot reach the island due to bad weather conditions-'

Kiah switched it off. She had heard more enough.

' You did this !' she whispered, hoping her ' other self' might hear her.

No,came the unspoken reply, your kind did this, not I. They have damned themselves to an eternity of pain. I shall relieve them of their fate. I have passed judgement…

Soft tears trickled down her face as the words echoed clearly in her heart. Her barbarian cousins had failed her and their own kind.

Soon, they would all perish at her own hand, whilst the spirit led them all to extinction. She gripped a picture that she stood on her bedside table, and stared hard at the sweet girl that smiled back at her in the photo.

' I can't let you,' Kiah wept, replacing the photograph, and taking her pocket knife from her pocket.

She always carried it, just in case an occasion like this should come, and she would be forced to-

Banishing all thoughts of the spirit for a moment, Kiah wondered off into her daughter's bedroom, across the hallway.

The little girl was sleeping soundly, in her little bed, cocooned in a mass of teddybears, sheets and pillows.

Brushing her hand against the girl's rosy cheeks, Kiah kissed her smooth soft skin and knelt beside her, just to have that feeling once more.

To care for someone, to be close to them, listen to them breathe or watch them sleep. To feel love, to be loved and to have someone to depend on you or come to you with the smallest of problems.

' I'll never leave you,' she whispered in her ear, ' But I have to go now. Please forgive me. I love you too much to hurt you.'

The girl stirred then went back to her peaceful bliss, just as Kiah's heart ached with sorrow and the painful hatred for both herself and the spirit.

She would orfan her own daughter now, and possibly betray her by leaving her at such a tender age. Would the girl ever forgive her ?

But if she stayed the little girl would die anyway, and nothing could be more cruel. For the love of the little girl she would not condemn her to death along with her own world.

Her daughter would hurt, but only for a while, then she would thrive and live a full life. She was a strong child-nothing could take that from her.

Not even destiny…