She stood on the horizon. A handsome and dignified man stood behind her. One hand was on her shoulder and the other was on her bow. Her hand twitched as she paused and concentrated on the silver arrow's line of sight. In this dark night, the stars were jealous because the two beings' radiance was undisputed in the night sky. "Steady." He said to her and stood back. She twitched again. It was the fourth day straight that she was in that same position and her hand hurt like hell. She remembered his words: Steadiness was the key in Archery and if she was going to be the best, so be it.

A beautiful white bird appeared in the heavens. It glowed just the same as the other two. It swam in the night sky and it sang. The girl didn't know what he was singing, but it sounded so beautiful, so serene. "Now!" her brother shouted. She hesitated: "Uh. But. It's so beautiful. I can't!" the man squeezed her shoulder tightly, she screamed in agony. "You must, right now. It's evil you see, that light that it shines, it's fake. We are the true ones, they're not. Now shoot it! Her eyes shed a tear. "No." she relaxed her hand but her fingers slipped, the arrow shot silently through the air and landed on a small patch on the ground and started a fire. The man stepped back. "Huh. Figures. You are so weak; you've been weak since the day you were born. You need to choose your side, or else, you will be alone forever." He flickered, and his image disappeared. She stood there in the heavens and sighed. The bird fluttered and landed on her silver bow. She smiled at it as her tears continued to flow. The bird itched its feathers with its beak. She gently reached her hand towards it to pet it. But it fluttered away, leaving a single white feather floating gently onto her hand.

"You will be alone forever." Her brother's voice echoed in her head.

She woke with a start. She wiped her eyes and noticed that they were soaked with tears. Her confusion was marred with more confusion as she looked around; this wasn't home. She tried to raise her head but winced as a sharp pain on her solar plexus kicked in. She touched that part of her body between her breasts and stomach and winced again. She looked under her rose nightgown and saw a bandage fettered around her torso. Then she realized she had one more question.

Who was she?

A door opened and a butler came into the room with a shiny golden tray. Breakfast was grapefruit and bacon.

"Where am I, mister?" she asked. The butler ignored her, put the tray on the nightstand and started walking away. "I ASKED YOU A QUESTION." She reprimanded. He turned around: "The master will be here shortly." The butler said with a "pommy" accent. She shook her head as he slammed the door and looked around her. It was a velvet room. The bed was large and was sheltered by silky drapes. The room had a large dressing table with a golden-framed mirror and a velvet dressing-chair. She realized that this room was meant for a woman. She looked at one of the paintings on the wall and saw a black-haired woman standing tall and carrying a red shield on one hand, the shield had a strange symbol of two triangles intertwined with each other, a type of six-pointed star. She looked at the other wall and saw another painting. She raised an eyebrow. She saw a painting of a woman shooting a silver arrow and a man nearby sitting behind a chariot with horses blazing with fierce flames. The man and woman looked very much like the two she saw in her dreams. There were markings under the poster. She looked at it then she realized that she didn't know how to read.

The door opened again. The man blew a cloud of smoke in front of his face, blocking it from view, and walked into the bedroom."

Who are you?" she asked, trying to calm her nerves. The man pulled a chair and sat on it. "I. Am your new master."

She laughed. "Oh, really?" He nodded: "Really." "Ok, we'll see about that." She said as she stood up and started walking towards the door. She winced and crouched to the ground. She didn't like feeling helpless, she didn't like it one bit. "You're just going to walk out on the man who brought you back from the dead?" She put a hand on the bed and with great difficulty pulled her self back onto it. He didn't bother lifting a finger to help her. He smiled: "You don't even remember who you bloody are, do you?" She sighed as her body slowly regained some much-needed strength. "No I don't." He grabbed an ashtray and flicked his cigar. "I'll tell you what, love." He said as he took out a deck of playing cards from his pocket and shuffled them. His British accent almost got to her nerves. "How about this. Since we have all the time in the world to learn all sorts of things from each other. I'll do this. As soon as you're done with your breakfast, I'll tell you about your history. Then mine. After that you get some rest so that you can start practicing." She frowned: "Practicing for what?" He looked at her with deep green eyes: "Didn't you know? The war for the four kingdoms is about to begin." And with that, he stretched his palm forward and an Ace of Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds and Spades floated from the deck onto his palm and slowly spun around each other.

And as if it was a spell to trigger her memory, she suddenly got flashes. She saw people. But, where they people? They were strong and mighty. They were her family. And there was another side. People who lived in another plane, another universe. They, disliked them for some reason, even though her people meant good. She saw a legion walking up the sky with heads drooping. The man who was on the end of the line looked behind him onto the earth and a tear formed in his eye. "Goodbye mankind. I've had my heaven with you."

She shook her head and looked at the british bloke. He had this sinister look in his face and she felt like she wanted to punch his lights out. It was as if he was trying to pry into her thoughts. "Start talking old man." She said.

The cards slowly flew out of the deck one by one. She shut her eyes as his voice formed images.

(Continued....)