Metanoia (20 page)

“
My, my, my, look what the
cat dragged in. Such a bloody, mangled mess – and on top of
everything else, paralyzed from the waist down.” Gina laughed as
the woman shot her an angry glare, all she was able to do. Indeed,
she was paralyzed, her legs laying limp on the floor. Gina
continued, still chuckling. “But after all, that is what you
deserve, isn’t it?” The woman said nothing. The Dark Lady ran over
and twisted the prisoner’s chin to look up at her. “I said ‘isn’t
it?’” Still, the woman would not speak. Gina released her harshly.
“Fine, if that’s the way you want to play it, then so be it! No one
will save you and you quite obviously cannot save yourself. They
all think you’re dead, do you know that? You’re as good as
dead.”

The search for Jacinda raged on in Nythagié.
Alvina and Calypso had even been sent back to the other world to
check things out. Nothing had been found out as of yet. Meanwhile
Gina’s storm, her first wicked act as her new self, still raged
full throttle.

Night crept over the land. Alvina and Calypso
were off in the other world, still searching for their dear friend.
Silently, Leyance sat in the council room with Fheyrhil. Instead of
thinking of the whereabouts and wellbeing of Jacinda, his thoughts
drifted to Gina and what new amazing heroic act he could make to
turn her good again. Yet, he knew in his heart that the potion had
been his only chance. Fheyrhil also pondered to himself. He
wondered why he had no knowledge of what was going on with the
world. He simply did not understand the new evilness and that drove
him mad.

One thing is for
sure
, he thought.
Gina does not have to attack Nythagié with swords and arrows.
She has attacked our minds instead, and that alone could be our
undoing in the end.
He felt his own mind
slowly slipping into despair.

Gina, too, pondered her
next move.
Why has this happened?
She was now questioning every move she made. This
made her nervous. She had made a mistake, and she did not know
where she had allowed room for such an unfortunate turn. But after
awhile she began to laugh. She began to laugh so hard and crazily
and the sound of her madness echoed throughout her castle.
This is fine,
she
assured herself.
This truly works in my
favor. My plans are flawless to be sure and I will capture Nythagié
along with all my other targets, but should I need it or choose to
use it, I now have a secondary plan.
She
continued to chuckle but was interrupted by the sound of heavy
knocking.

“
Come in!” she cried and
the door flew open. Many Übels piled in roughly, and, behind them,
the prisoner was dragged. She looked at the Dark Lady with hate and
horror in her eyes. Her limp legs dragged behind her bruised and
battered body. “Everyone sit down, now!” Gina continued to demand.
“Get her seated!” She pointed at the prisoner.

When all was settled, Gina began her meeting.
“Well, I suppose it is time to let everyone know of at least some
of my many plans. First though, I should introduce you to someone.
Someone who is foolishly our enemy…” She motioned to the prisoner.
“Though I do not care how badly she is treated, she will not, under
any circumstances, die!

“
Now, we
will have no problem destroying Nythagié, but we can’t do it as
easily with certain – creatures in the way… So, we’ll need a
diversion. One thing Nythagiéns never were too good at recognizing
is diversions. I say we attack a place close to their hearts (well
at least it was for their queen), that other world – the one of
jobs, schools, and dense humans. We’ll attack everyone.” The
prisoner sank in her seat, trembling. “Once the Nythagiéns get
word, they’ll rush over and out of the way until we are ready for
them. It doesn’t matter how many we kill because they seem to kill
themselves anyhow. They start wars over idiotic things like money,
power, and revenge. After all, they are the only species who kill
each other for other reasons than protection. And even if they
don’t kill each other with weapons, then they’ll kill each other
with the chemicals they feed the sky and their nuclear disasters.
It’s interesting you know, they think their enemies are pure evil…”
She chuckled. “Well, they’re idiots, only we are pure evil. They
don’t even know that they are destroying the lives of people who
are just like them. We’ll just help the deconstruction of their
world along. We’re doing them a favor.” She smiled at the prisoner.
“Oh, and one more thing. From now on, I am to be addressed as Dark
Lady only.” She motioned to the limp girl. “
She
is Gina. That is too pure of a
name for me.”

Chapter 12

“Killer’s Playground”

It was late one night when
the sound of horses’ hooves clamored on the rocky ground. Fheyrhil
and Leyance had not slept soundly in many days, and this sound
immediately aroused them. They had been sitting in the council
room, slowly slipping into an uncomfortable sleep. With a simple
shared glance, the two men ran out the door to see who had arrived.
They saw the horses before they could distinguish who the riders
were, but one thing they noticed immediately.
Three
horses stood just inside the
borders. Leyance rushed over to them and saw whom he
expected.

“
Jacinda! You’re alright!”
he exclaimed, throwing his arms around his friend.

“
Yes, yes, I’m fine,” she
said grinning, a little surprised by his hug. “I’m not the one that
you need to worry about. The other world is a mess, totally in
chaos. Well, at least parts.”

“
What has happened?”
Fheyrhil asked, now approaching them. Alvina and Calypso listened
from a distance even though they did not need to. They had seen it
themselves.

“
Gina has obviously been
there already,” Jacinda explained. “I felt something wrong
occurring there, way before the others it seems, and so I told them
I needed to check up on something. My plan was to sneak in
unnoticed and come back that same day. I did not want to alarm any
of you if there was no need, but my little journey has proved
otherwise. There is a need to worry. Mysterious car accidents,
stock market crash – all caused by the woman we used to call queen
and friend. We need to take action.”

“
Gina couldn’t do that,”
Leyance began but a sharp glance from Fheyrhil quieted him. He knew
what Fheyrhil would say and did not wish to hear it yet
again.

“
Arrange a meeting,”
Fheyrhil ordered, “we will indeed take action. We have no other
choice.”

A battered Gina lay badly hurt in her cell.
Her legs still showed no sign of movement, and probably never
would. A sense of helplessness filled Gina’s heart. She had no
chance of escape; how could she? She had once even tried to drag
herself to safety but in vain. She had only managed to get halfway
to the door when she was overcome with dizziness and fatigue. No
one would come to save her either. She knew her evil counter-part
had been right in this. No one even knew she existed. Anger, fear,
and restlessness filled her as she felt her body squirm. The Dark
Lady planned for herself and minions to attack Nythagié, and Gina
could do nothing to stop it.

Gina had noticed that she
shared thoughts with her evil self, but this added little comfort.
She saw the vicious crimes the Dark Lady committed, felt her
malice, and heard her cackle. She knew that at the moment, the Dark
Lady had no inspiration as to what to do with her, but she dreaded
the moment when she learned her purpose in this vile war. The
moment would come eventually, she knew, but that wasn’t what killed
her inside. It was the waiting. The incessant waiting. That drove
her mad. She knew it, and she could feel that the Dark Lady knew it
too. Suddenly, Gina felt her counterpart’s presence.
She would be coming back soon.
Sure enough, the Dark Lady burst through the
door, anger in her eyes. Yet, when she spoke, she was
calm.

“
How did you like the
meeting?” she began as if daring her to speak finally. “Everything
I said was true as you undoubtedly know.” Gina still did not speak.
“There is nothing you can do to save yourself, but I would not
worry. You will soon be dead anyway.” Gina stared at an opposite
wall as the Dark Lady spoke.

“
No I won’t be,” came a
small voice. Gina had finally spoken. This surprised the Dark Lady,
yet enraged her even the more. Gina knew it would but did not
care.

“
And why do you think that?
I’ve killed many, so it would be nothing to kill you as
well.”

“
Because that’s not part of
your plan yet. You only want to get to the Nythagiéns, especially
Leyance. You wanted to serve him the main course so ‘the fun can
really begin,’ as you put it.” Anger boiled over in the Lady’s
face.

“
How did you know I said
that?”

“
I’m surprised. You have
all these plans! You’ve thought out everything so well and yet you
still know nothing about me.” This enraged the evil Gina, and she
pinned the limp girl to the ground.

“
Of
course I know about you! I
am
you!” she snarled. “I have all your memories, all
your thoughts…”

“
Then you are afraid of
your mistake! Or are plainly too blind to see it!” Gina screamed
back. This astonished the Dark Lady, and she backed away, releasing
her hold on the prisoner.

“
What are you talking
about? I have no mistakes.”

“
Really? Then you would
know that I have all your thoughts as well. I know everything that
you’ve done and what you are thinking. Thus I know why I am here
and it’s your doing! The potion – you smashed it but it wasn’t
ruined. A drop was on your finger! You noticed the blood and put
your finger in your mouth to stop the bleeding. Well blood wasn’t
the only thing that got in your mouth – the potion did too. So, I’m
here. The potion worked.” This speech drained Gina, and she slumped
further to the ground. The Dark Lady only smiled.

“
Not well though, you’re
still paralyzed or have you forgotten? Noquef’s fire encircled your
legs for too long before continuing upward. The evil stunned your
legs and left you paralyzed. So really it doesn’t matter that
you’re here, all the better for me. I’ll use you to get Leyance and
then kill you both! You can’t escape, and Leyance can’t save
someone that he thinks is dead. It will end in my
favor.”

“
Right now I could care
less what happens to me! Just know, that if I go down, you’re
coming with me! Just think about it; I know you have. What will
happen to you if your other half dies? You’re scared about it too!
So, you’re not all-powerful!” This was the last straw for the Dark
Lady and she reached for a concealed knife and pushed Gina hard
into the cold, hard floor.

“
I’d be more careful about
what I say if I were you. You are such an idiot, same as all the
rest of you. You know that what I said was true. How could you and
the rest of your world be so stupid! You destroy everything around
you; you hurt others who are absolutely equal to you; you kill
nature and its creatures that were there before you; you start
pathetic wars to end up destroying yourselves. You have this great
gift of life and an earth to live on and you destroy it! How stupid
can you be? You even destroy yourselves with things like nicotine,
drugs, and alcohol. Destroy your bodies, destroy your lives,
destroy everything! So why look at us as evil? It seems you should
admire us!”

With this, the Dark Lady pulled away and
swiftly took the knife and placed it in Gina’s hand. With great
force, the Lady tried to make Gina cut herself with the knife, but
a struggle kept it away. The Dark Lady cackled to herself and
pulled away, enjoying the scene, but this was enough time. Gina
gripped the knife and lunged at the Dark Lady who was just close
enough. The knife landed in her cheek and made an identical gash to
the one in Gina’s. The Dark Lady screamed and held her hand to her
cheek. Blood flowed out of it just as it did on Gina’s face from
Noquef’s blade. The Dark Lady stood and turned to walk out the
door, but quickly she turned back and hit Gina hard. Gina slumped
over, defeated.

The Dark Lady could wait no longer. As soon
as she had left Gina, she had gathered her minions and now was back
in the other world with malicious intentions. A red sky could be
seen rising over the horizon and she knew that it would be a red
sun that would set.

The warehouse buildings may have been on the
edge of the city, but they housed some of the most advanced
software of the computer age. The Dark Lady entered, focused on her
goal. She was dressed all in black but the style reflected this
world. She wore a black top which exposed her midriff and low tight
black pants with many tears that exposed black netting underneath.
But what gave her the most eerie appearance was her bow ready at
her side, and her full quiver resting on her back. Her high-heeled
step was slow and deliberate as she made her way to the main
office. It was the secretary who saw her first.

“
May I help you?” she asked
shakily.

“
Yes,” the Dark Lady
replied, raising a strung arrow. “You can get out of my way.” The
woman shrieked and ran from the room. Gina produced a CD from her
bag and proceeded to the PA system.

The council of Nythagié had come to one
unanimous decision: they must protect the other world. Now, suited
up and ready for instant battle, they rode towards the gateway only
hoping they were not too late. Leyance felt he must protect what
Gina wanted to destroy but feared his weakness: his heart. If he
came face to face with Gina, he feared that he would not be able to
bring himself to hurt her even if it meant saving everyone else. It
was because of this fear that he rode towards the back wishing to
be further away from potentially seeing the woman who used to be
his wife. He hesitated at the gate, but was soon called up to the
front by a fellow rider. Yet, as he rode closer and closer to the
danger behind the gateway, he could sense that they were getting
further and further from winning.