“Lately things have been different. My own thoughts are alien to me, and I’m rather confused. More than once, I’ve suddenly been somewhere different than I was seconds ago, but the clocks have changed by minutes or hours. A few times, someone asked me about something I can’t remember—as if someone else did it. But that’s impossible.. but thats all for now. Peace out.”
The thoughts transferred to a keyboard as a girl tapped away, entering to her diary. Dana was an average girl, 19 and living with her father and step-mom, and their terrier Grizzly. The girl had trouble getting to sleep that night. Strange images danced across the unders of her eyelids and a horrid headache would not allow her rest. After a while, she gave up and went into the computer room. The laptop whirred to life and the clock flashed 12:47. Dana rubbed her eyes and opened them again.
The clock read 3:19 AM. She shook her head in confusion and studied the screen. A window was open that Dana hadn’t seen moments before. It was a conversation. She didn’t recognize the screen name, but it was foreign and somehow she knew the meaning: God Watches. Her fingers flitted nervously over the keys.
Poisonpromise18: Who is this? I’m very confused.
Deusvigilant: The answer will come in time.
Poisonpromise18: What? Please, tell me.
Her eyes watered some and she had to look down. Three completely used ink pens lay on the desk, right next to her left hand. A gasp caught in Dana’s throat, her hand was covered in ink, in the form of some strange design. It was quite pretty, almost like a glove. She went to scrub it off absently, hardly even wondering how it had gotten there. Several minutes later, the girl returned with a very raw hand, scalded by the hot water and much scrubbing. Only a faint remnant of the startling design could be seen.
Deusvigilant: You are not ready to join us quite yet. Forget this as a dream and rest.
For some reason, Dana obeyed. She shut down the computer and crept into bed, not at all remembering her strange dream in the morning.
* * *
There were more similar happenings over the next weeks, and she forgot them each time. She continued to post in her online diary, the entries becoming more and more confused and erratic; many of her friends eventually stopped reading.
One evening, Dana saw that she had a note on one of her posts, and expected the usual degrading comments. When she read, though, Dana received a bit of a shock. The note was short and direct, to the point. “The time has come. The truth will reveal itself to you if you are at Zoath Park Friday night by the Knight, just past sundown. And remember, God Watches.”
The next day, Dana couldn’t remember anything before lunch, but an unused pen was completely void of ink. Her left hand, however, was covered in it; the design was the same as one from a forgotten dream of fire and darkness. Her middle knuckle was the only spot that had changed, it was clean when before it was not. Over the course of the day, memories of things she didn’t do returned; and when dusk approached, Dana felt a sense of hopelessness, of fate. It seemed something was coming together and she was merely a pawn. Not being familiar with chess, the girl did not know that if circumstances are right, even a weak pawn can take out the king.
* * *
The sky was ablaze with vivid orange, pink, and yellow. Purple looming clouds were bordered with the sun’s colorful rays, painting a masterpiece on a canvas of ever darkening blue. Unable to resist, Dana had brought her paints and an easel to capture the scene. The brushes proved futile and her fingers took up the duty, dancing across the canvas in a feverish dance and leaving trails of splendor unlike any she had previously created.
The last touches were applied and the paint began to dry upon Dana’s fingers, and in places, her face. Yellow and red dotted her hands, purple along her right thumb. Crimson was drying just below her right eye, and purple on her left cheek. She stooped to retrieve the brushes from the grass, and heard a quiet clapping. The girl started, whirling around to see who had been watching. A tall someone in a black Neo trench coat was leaning against the Knight statue of a fountain.
Dana spoke cautiously, “Are you.. Deusvigilant?”
“Yes.” The voice was quiet and not distinguishable as male or female. “You have come to understand, something many fear. Good for you. Are you ready? Are you willing to change your life, to make a difference?”
Dana looked hopelessly at her paint and ink covered hands, and noticed a spot of red on the previously bare middle knuckle of her left hand. There was no other pain on the design. She finally ventured a look up. “Change my life, how? I’m no one, there is nothing special about me..”
The stranger came to a stop and it could be told that he was male. “There is more power hidden within you than you are aware of, you only need be willing.”
“Willing to do what, exactly?” Dana’s heart was beating faster than normal and breath would hardly come.
“Believe me when I say this would change your life’s course. Even now, your thread is slowly shifting and the tapestry is being rewoven. I know you didn’t understand that, but I question. Do you believe in Angels, Demons, in God and His Hunters? We are Hunters, and you would fetch a fine price down in Hell. But we are the good guys, and we will protect you, teach you. As long as you are willing.”
After this speech, Dana was quite overwhelmed and her knees hit the ground, hands braced against the grass disbelievingly. “This is all so..” she trailed off, confused and bewildered. A strange stirring within engaged all her senses: desperation and a familiar impulse to flee. Remembering how so many had abandoned her with contemptuous misunderstanding, Dana knew somehow that she could rely on these people. Defiantly, she rose.
“Yes, teach me.”
* * *
He smiled and stepped close. “My name is Ditoi, and we are the Order of the Hunt.” He brushed his shoulder-length, bushy brown hair back into a bun and looked to his right. “Dana, was it? This is my younger sister and second in command of this sect.” A girl with wild, short red hair and uncannily bright eyes stepped into view. Dana couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed such a colorful character, with clothes reminiscent of the 1980’s.
“Aca is the name. Any questions before we start?”
“I’m confused.. Do you know anything about this?” Dana extended her left hand to show the glove design. Aca’s breath drew in rather sharply, and Ditoi grew somber, no longer quite as amiable. “It-its only ink. I washed it off last time and I can again. And the blackouts, well most of the time I’m talking to him..” she gestured to Ditoi, feeling the edges of dread creeping further into her heart.
He sighed and looked up at the rising full moon. Aca chuckled, breaking the silence. “You just couldn’t resist, could you? What’s today?”
Ditoi smirked. “Friday the 13th, on a full moon. Oh how I love irony.. Now,” He turned to Dana, pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket. “Our soothsayer—that is, one who tells possibly futures in the form of prophecy—wrote this about a year ago. I just found it again last night.” He handed the paper to the girl, who opened it nervously. The handwriting was small and close together, illegible. She looked at it without comprehension.
Ditoi took it back, summarizing. “Basically, a power will rise and challenge God’s reign, and he will change the tides. He will be known by markings or power, a protection around his red fury in the form of a gem.” He glanced at Dana’s hand, “Anyway, this Shadow Lord may only be defeated at his approach to God’s throne, or before he completes his training and gains full potential—both in body and mind.”
“I-“ Dana stuttered, speaking quickly as she sometimes did. “It can’t.. I’m- for one, I’m, well, I’m a girl. This, this is just a dr-drawing and the red, that’s paint, its nothing really, nothing. I can’t-“ she sank to her knees, holding her head. It would be easier to just give up on speaking, the stutter always came when she was most distraught, and it made it difficult to speak. She whispered deliberately. “This isn’t happening, I don’t believe it!”
Aca laid her hand on the poor girl’s forehead. “We can help you. Your awaking to the future has begun.” She glanced at her brother, ”Its tonight, isn’t it? Her rebirth? I’ll call the others. Dana, are you ready?” She felt an eerie foreboding as the younger girl nodded.
* * *
“My rebirth.. I have to say from my heart what I feel about my fate, about predestiny? I see.. Aca?”
“Yes, Dana?”
“I’m nervous.”
“Don’t worry, Doll. I was at first as well. We’ll get you through it.”
Dana bowed her head and knelt at the fountain in the circle of people she didn’t know. The park was silent, even crickets afraid to break the sanctity of the hour. The girl was terrified, but determined to escape fate. “Fate has brought me to this city against my will, Fate has stolen some of my memories, and Fate has taken the steering wheel in my life. Fate is the chess player, and I but a pawn in its hands once again.” She paused for breath, and couldn’t, at the time, know how clever fate was to deceive her in such a way. Fated to become fate, she would grow to hate everything she was destined to become. It was the Queen’s Gambit, the Queen’s Pawn was taking her first wary steps into a new reality.
“Damn fate, I’m siding with the light; I won’t follow some predestined path. I’m going to be one of God’s Hunters.” Her eyes opened and focused on the rippling water below her. Streaks of purple and red had dried on her cheeks. Focusing on the other markings, Dana plunged her hands into the near icy water and scrubbed the left as hard as she could. To escape the temporary pain of scrubbing and frozen needles, her eyes wandered to the statue at the center of the fountain. It was a knight, sword out in a salute, on a rearing charger. They were eternally on the brink of battle, it was the same feeling Dana had had for a month. She noticed a crack near the base, then looked back to her hands, drying them unceremoniously on her jeans and shirt. The design was barely discernable, she sat back as she had been before.
“And have you taken Fate’s third strand, the strand of free will?” An unrecognizable yet authoritative voice sounded.
The answer came from somewhere deep inside Dana, even as a warning screamed in her mind. “Yes, I hold it in my hands.”
“Fate is being defied here tonight, my friends. This will be the first recognized goodness to come from striking out from your destined path. This girl stands at the crossroads between her predestined walk of shadows and a road paved in gold. She will be rich in her endeavors by joining us tonight.” The same unknown voice declared.
The voice matched itself with a face as the soothsayer stepped forward, lifting Dana to her feet. “She is reborn! Welcome to the fold, sister. You are now a member of the Order of the Hunt. We are proud to call you our own.”
Dana smiled weakly and wiped away a tear, along with her doubt. She moved one space closer to the king. “Let’s see Fate try and stop me now..” her smile turned to a smirk. Things would be different from now on.

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