Oceans boil and bleed black smoke, the air chills from eternal winter, the soil rends, and ruptures and all the verdant of Terra has become the congealing mire of new impotent storms.

Villages starve while crops wither and despair hangs in the air. The balance of the elements is broken, and the blame falls on the rumblings of the long-silenced shadow element returning.

The shadow element, however, is rare—and there is one group we will be confronting, a set of reclusive vagabonds known as the Gojo Clan that many dismiss as thieves and cutthroats, that is believed to be in the throes of mastering this shadow element and its powers.

Elementaries, remorseless warriors serving only their Conclave leaders, prey on the clan until it is extinct.

Kael, a beautiful young woman with hair as black as midnight and eyes flecked with silver, gazes in horror as her people are slaughtered.

Her beauty is unsettling; her aura feels as if the shadows swim over her skin. In a last-ditch effort to save her clan, Kael unwittingly opens a rift of shadow energy that rips through the Elementaries. Even she is frightened by the raw power.

But her effort reaps her energy and drains her. She walks into the wild, lonely and very weak as the storm grows even fiercer. Finally, she fell, heating her head on a rock by the river bank, and fell unconsciously.

The storm was fierce and wild; it was as if it was sent to do battle with the land itself, while the rain lashed me, angry and cold.

The wind screeched like a wounded animal, the wind and rain wouldn't stop.

My cloak was drenched, pulling me down as I walked towards the river path. The cabin was the best place to stay, I said in regret.

Something was wrong tonight. I could feel it in my belly. The electrical tension in the air did not fit there.

The river was more furious than I had ever seen it, such noise that it dominated everything that could make noise.

That's when I saw her.

At first, I thought it was debris—a log, maybe, caught on the bank. But then the lightning flashed, and I stopped dead. It was a woman.

I still didn't move. There was something about the picture that made me stop. She was lying hidden in the mud, half in the water, her hair spread out like dark fingers on the ground.

The girl's clothes were torn apart, and her whole body seemed to surrender.

Just keep walking, I said to myself, gripping my jack knife as tight as possible. The fact that she seemed lifeless wasn't my problem.

People die out here all the time. "Even the land is cursed I said to myself"

I'd only learn to mind my business because that's another criterion for survival.

I was about to leave but my feet betrayed me…I stepped closer to the woman, the rain slashing even harder, I could barely see anything.

I bent over, and that's when I felt it. Something wasn't right; the aura around her was different; everything was suspicious. It was cold, but not from the storm. It was even deeper and unnatural.

Just then my chest became heavier

I started finding it hard to breathe. I leaned in even closer even when my instincts were screaming back off.

She looked pale and almost lifeless, I hesitated as I hovered my fingers over her shoulder

For a minute I started wondering if my fingers could be burnt by her skin

Damn it I muttered to myself, in fear I pulled out my fingers immediately.

Looking back over my shoulder, I realized that the forest was dense and the raindrops muffled the other sounds, but I wasn't dense.

Someone had abandoned her here, and she was not far away from here. I was searching for the spot—and there they were. Footprints. Newly made. Many of them lead directly to us.

My stomach turned. If they discovered her, they would find me as well. I had the option to leave her behind and lose myself in the woods.

There wasn't anything to be blamed for at all. The fact was she might be nothing more than a problem wearing a beautiful face. A problem I didn't need.

But I couldn't just turn and walk away.

I cursed under my breath, slipping both my arms under her.

She was weightless, cold, and stiff, instead of slightly warm as she should be.

As I took her up, she leaned her head against my chest so that I felt the cold presence she was spreading on me.

Each step in the woods seemed harder like the storm itself was trying to stop me.

The rain was all over the place, and the river seemed to make a loud noise, as if it was waging a noisy battle, it served as confirmation that I had done something wrong.

When I broke the door open, my eyes and my breath were shallow, and my pulse nearly exploded in my chest. I placed her as gently as I could on the cot, scurrying back, as if she should wake up and kill me instantly.

Though the brightness of the firelight brought out more kindness in her face, I still didn't trust her.

She bit her trembling lips, her scarce chest barely moving with breathing. The girl looked like she was willing to fall apart, but I wasn't putting a bright thought into my head.

Anything she was, anything the one that had been chasing her was, wasn't a fragile thing.

"You are a woman who should not be here, so who the hell are you?" I spoke under my breath, looking at her squarely, still looking down at her.

I felt uneasy about having kept her alive; I just wanted to assure myself that I had been a reckless fool. But at that moment, I had to acknowledge the truth.

I was wrong. This was not a rescue. This was the beginning of something much worse.