Chapter-I

"Twyll Ines Merrick!" A shrill voice screeched across the courtyard, the sound echoing off of the bare walls.

Twyll flinched over the evident hostility in her aunt's voice.

"What filthy beast have you carried into my HOUSE!"

Twyll and her aunt had never gotten along, to say the least. While Twyll wanted to go out into the world and have new experiences, her aunt Jinn wanted her to marry the town rake - Ryker.

Ryker and she had a little fling a year or two back, it ended badly when she found him in bed with two of her best mates with whom he was doing things that could burn the paper. The bastard apparently couldn't wait until she was eighteen and so decided to alleviate his "manly needs". She was more revolted and mortified than heartbroken when she found them in their compromising

Positions.

" Twyll! Are you even listening to me?" Her Aunt whined at her.

Twyll sighed.

Ever since her parents had died when she was just a wee babe fresh out the womb, leaving her and her aunt alone to take care of her, Aunt Jinn was always cold and indifferent. She never showed any emotion on her face. Everything was masked under ice; her eyes shadowed with the darkest of emotions of which she could only determine sadness. Sorrow is so acute that it hurt to look her in the eye.

"TWYLL!"

"I'm sorry Aunt Jinn, I'm a little preoccupied today." She went on explaining "I found this little kitty on the forest path half-dead. I couldn't exactly let it die so I brought him to the house.

House. Never home.

" well, whatever it is it has to go. I will not allow disease spreading vermin in my house. I'd rather neither of us dies with a deadly disease."

"Yes, Aunt Jinn."

"Have you been practising the sword techniques I taught you yesterday?"

"Yes, Aunt Jinn"

"Hmmm... You may go now." She'd said contemptuously.

Twyll turned around strutting out the door with relief. Relief from the stifling confines of the shack.

She slipped into the woods behind the house, following a rough path that led to an underground channel that directed to a cavern which held a natural waterfall with levelled pools that reflected polychromatic colours across space.

Twyll had placed a large desk with multiple drawers and cubby holes along with a few dressers filled with books, maps and stationeries like pens, pencils, paper and charcoal stubs.

She had transformed the place into a sanctuary from the island she so wanted to escape from.

Twyll had lived her whole life living in Rhodesïa, an island territory that was the gateway to Earth and an isolated province of the mysterious Stoechìa. It was the link that connected the Crystal and Earthly realms. Stoechìa is the mysterious continent that no person from the village had gone and come back from alive. The treacherous sea in the middle, called- ' The Crossing' was a series of storms and monsters; or so the stories claimed. Tales of Serpents as white as snow, whales as large as islands, mermaids with mouths that could devour ships whole and sirens with the voice of angels that brought you an excruciating death.

The old-timers, people who had lived their whole lives on the island called the land across The Crossing as "The Beyond". They called the Stoechìans a beautiful species with crystal bodies and powers beyond comprehension. They mentioned creatures born of the volcanic rocks of the Ash Mountains, their dark bodies and the vile venom they secrete. They say that where the Stoechìans pure light the Temnota are unadulterated darkness. Both made of the same elements yet so different. They talked about Staklovia the Glass city and it's crystal towers and palaces.

She glanced at the small stones strewn on the desk and imagined that she was a Stoechìan princess, clothed in swaths of jewelled fabrics.

Shaking off the picture in her mind she traced her fingers along the borders of land called India. It was a pretty name for the vast culture of the land. Earth was fascinating, their humans even more so. Their nations are remembered and their history was quite intriguing. She, being neither human nor Stoechìan often made her wonder who or what she was. Was she a Stoechìan or an Earthling? Or a mixture of both? Sure the Rhodesïan dwellers had short life spans like the humans, but they also had the barest of abilities to do magic. They also healed faster than an average human. Rhodesïan faces are also more structured and quite angular. Their senses were also heightened.

Trying to tame the disarray of thoughts in her head, Twyll walked over to the walls of the cavern. She inspected the racks fixed into them and decided on throwing knives to pass her time.

She stood in front of the painted dummies and started to throw the knives with the exactitude of a hawk hunting its prey. Each strike harder than the last causing the blades to vibrate on impact as they embedded into the wood.

" Impressive aim." A voice called out as Twyll turned around and threw a blade at the man's head missing by just an inch. The miss was most definitely intended.

"Your control over the knives is remarkable."

The voice belonged to a young man with pale features. Pale white hair, pale grey eyes and pale skin. His eyes gave off an illusion of water reflecting sun rays. They sparkled with some suppressed light. He was handsome. Extremely handsome.

" What are you doing here?" Twyll asked, ignoring his compliments.

"I'm here to take you to Staklovia. The Stoechìan capital and home to the crystal wielders"