2 Strange New World

Rhea Adair knelt behind a low cement wall on a roof that overlooked the city of Seattle. Thunder rolled overhead and rain slammed against her coat but her mind was only focused on her target. A corrupt politician was given to her as an assignment. She was elated to take the job for she hated government officials with a passion. Her father was forced into bankruptcy due to planted information and killed himself. Her mother worked herself to her death just so her daughter wouldn't starve.

Working for government officials just spelled misery for her and seeing them laughing and enjoying their meal while others suffered under their oppression was sickening.

Rhea opened up her case and began putting together her rifle. Once the scope snapped in place, she leveled it at the building in front of her. She saw a room lit with food on the table. A stout balding man in a gray suit sat at the head of the table while several other similar looking men joined him. The wind was going to be a bit of a problem, but this was Rhea's sixth year on the job and she had worked in worse conditions.

Being only a quarter mile away worked in her favor. She had a better shot and what was even better was that the politician sat in clear view of her. Easy kill.

Morley Crone. He had embezzled money from non-profit organizations and planted evidence on a lower employee. When evidence pointed to him, he bribed the jurors and judge to dismiss his case. Can't even touch any of these men with the law. The only thing to do is kill them. The story was too close to home for Rhea, so she was going to enjoy this.

She leveled the crosshairs on Crone's chest and laid a finger loosely on the trigger. She took a deep breath of the chill air and focused her mind, imagining the bullet flying straight through the open window and into the bastard's heart.

She pulled the trigger and heard a light swoop. One point six seconds and it was over. Rhea watched through the scope as the room fell into chaos. Men in gray suits panicking over the phone and calling for help, looking around as if that would do them any good.

Rhea straightened up and began disassembling her rifle. She wiped the rain out of her eyes and stood to leave but stopped short when she turned around and saw a figure standing between her and the exit.

"Finally caught you," the stranger said while holding a gun up to her chest. Rhea heaved a sigh and slowly put her hands up.

"And who do I owe the pleasure?" She asked nonchalant almost bored.

"Detective Scott Lenity." He flashed his badge and stuffed it back into his inside pocket. "You're under arrest for the countless murders of politicians and celebrity figures throughout the west coast."

"That is a heavy accusation, there Lintel-"

"Lenity." Rhea gave him a look.

"Does it really matter at this point?" Lenity pursed his lips as he reached back for handcuffs and walked towards her. Rhea took that moment of distraction to turn around and hop on the ledge. She turned back to face the detective and saw his shocked face.

"Don't do anything foolish now," he said slowly while inching his way towards her.

"What do you mean by foolish?" Rhea stuck one foot off the ledge and held it there while balancing on one foot. The wind almost sent her teetering but she regained her balance.

"I will shoot!" Lenity warned but Rhea only laughed.

"Then shoot, Detective! I've been looking for a place to die for a long time."

"Who do you work for?!" Rhea laughed even harder and placed her foot back on the ledge.

"And you call yourself a detective? How cute!"

"I've been chasing you for six years, I am what I claim. You're going down Rhea." Rhea tilted her head to the side slightly and wagged her finger at the detective.

"Oh how right you are, Linty."

"What do you-HEY!" Rhea took that moment to slip from the ledge and plummet straight down the dozens-story tall building to the ground. She turned herself in midair to see the detective looking down at her with appalled horror. She gave him a salute and laughed as she fell closer and closer to the ground.

When she figured she was close enough, she took out a pair of hooks and attached the ropes hanging from it to a loop in her belt. She glided as close as she could to the building and slammed the hooks into the concrete. The hooks scratched at the surface and small debris came loose as the sharp points drove through the concrete. After a few moments, the hooks finally caught and stayed in place.

Rhea hung halfway down the building and only needed to make her way down by releasing the line slowly. A sudden crash of thunder made her jump but she didn't lose her grip. A bright flash of light blinded Rhea and another crash of thunder deafened her ears. She felt pain shoot along her body as she began free falling into the ground below. The last thing Rhea saw was a stroke of lightening hitting the ground beneath her and the chasm it created swallowing her whole.

Rhea woke to a light breeze chilling her to the bone. She touched the ground beneath her and felt grass on her palms. Grass? She sat up quickly only to turn and upchuck her dinner from earlier that evening. Was it evening?

Rhea opened her eyes slowly and had to squint at the level of light entering her vision. It was like a spike being repeatedly hammered into her skull. Slowly, her eyes began to adjust and she looked at the world around her. There was nothing but fog and mist.

Was it morning already? How long was I out for? Rhea made to stand up and stumbled a bit before remaining stable on her feet. She inspected herself for any visible injuries and noticed that her bodysuit was torn to shreds.

"So much for keeping warm." Rhea coughed. Her mouth felt extremely dry and she knew she needed to at least find some water. Rhea shivered slightly in her damp clothing. At least her coat kept some semblance of its intended function.

She took another look around her. There were no buildings, no signs of streets or civilization, just trees, grass, and more trees.

"Where am I?" She rasped out before deciding that talking out loud wasn't going to solve anything and the fog wasn't helping much either. She reached up to touch her auburn hair and realized that it was charred. She clicked her tongue and searched her belt for the dagger she kept with her on missions for good luck. The man who had raised her gave it to her as a present, albeit the guy was an ass, but he had his own way of caring for people important to him.

Rhea found the dagger and freed it from its sheath. She gathered her charred hair and proceeded to saw at it. If she were to come across any form of civilization, she didn't want them asking any questions, although the mangled clothes were a different matter altogether.

Standing around was getting her nowhere, so Rhea decided to head northwest. If she was lucky, north would lead her to civilization and west would lead her to water.

She made her way around the forest and it began to get denser. As she walked, she had the sense that someone was watching her. She listened closely to any slight shift in the forest and saw movement flit swiftly through the trees in her peripheral. Rhea had to quickly analyze what she was up against.

She rapidly scanned the trees around her while moving forward slowly. Her senses were telling her to run, that this was no friendly presence. In fact, it seemed almost menacing, but she kept her slow pace. There was a sudden thud behind her and she turned around quickly only to see a giant red thing emerge from the trees. It was at least seven feet tall with a solid muscly body and feet as large as the tree trunks. It had a plate of armor wrapped around its torso and held a large halberd of some sort in its equally large hands.

Rhea reached for her back and pulled out a thin blade. She held it in front of her and slowly backed away. The red giant moved in her direction, almost with a strut as if laughing at her poor attempt for defense. She looked down at her blade, and then at the burly giant and cursed. The red giant then did the most infuriating thing that Rhea had ever heard. It laughed. It actually laughed at her. Rhea knew it wasn't in her head. The guttural chuckling was really coming from the protruding-fanged mouth of the ugly red-eyed monstrosity in front of her.

Rhea pursed her lips and pulled out little pellets from the compartment in her belt. She also sheathed her long thin blade and moved for the smaller thin blades at her hip. Slowly, she circled the monster as he advanced towards her. When he was in range, she threw the pellets at his chest and they exploded with smoke.

The monster was temporarily blinded, so Rhea took that moment to rush behind it and use the trees to spring her way up onto its shoulders. Before the monster had registered the pressure, Rhea had dug the thin daggers into its eye sockets and through its brain. It screeched and flailed at its eyes, but Rhea had already leaped off its shoulders while twisting out her daggers along the way.

The thing ran blindly into trees and tripped over roots before finally falling to its knees and onto the ground. Rhea watched the thing in amusement forgetting that the monstrosity was something she's never seen before, but it was easily brought down. She asserted that fact herself.

The red giant crawled its way through the forest and Rhea had a mind to follow, but thought better of it. Let the thing suffer, she thought as she wiped her daggers dripping with black liquid onto the grass.

Rhea turned around to head back north when she was surprised to see an entourage of sorts lined in front of her. Men on horseback and foot gaped at her in surprise as they looked back and forth between her and what seemed to be their target. Many were embellished with silver armor lined with gold. One man flourished above the rest and sported a cape as well as a circlet upon his head.

"Do you guys happen to have any water?" Rhea rasped. A mid-sized man stepped forward and slammed a pole down onto her shoulder making her drop to one knee. Rhea cried out in pain and cursed the man. He only looked down at her coldly.

"You are in the presence of His Royal Highness Rhodale Halvard, King of the Mysta Kingdom," the man bellowed. "Show your respect and bow to him."

Rhea felt her temper rising. She had just injured a sixteen-foot tall, burly red giant and now some punk with a bowl cut was telling her to bow to some guy in a shiny bucket suit. Her adrenaline spiked.

Rhea threw the pole off her shoulder and stood up to come face to face with the man. Seething with unchecked rage, Rhea grabbed the pole he was holding and snapped it in half. The man opened his mouth to speak but a shrill cry from behind gave him pause.

The red giant had snuck up behind her and raised its weapon to slam it down on her. Rhea pushed the man out of range and rolled off to the side. She came back up and booked it behind a large tree when it came swinging at her again.

The red giant had wedged its weapon so deep into the tree; it struggled to free it so Rhea took the chance to rush over and slash at the thing's heels. It cried out and slammed its fist down about an inch from Rhea's leg.

Cursing, Rhea rushed her way through the forest, weaving her way left and right to confuse it. She instinctively ducked and heard a fast swoosh go over her head and a thump onto a tree in front of her. When she looked up, the halberd was sticking out of the trunk. She looked behind her and saw the thing bulldozing its way towards her.

Suddenly, she felt a pulse thumping at her head. The throbbing generated a pain so sharp; Rhea cried out and fell to her knees. She looked up and the red giant blurred. She saw double in every direction and started to feel nauseated. The thing was almost upon her, so in a last effort she pulled out her daggers and tried to stand in position. The throbbing continued and grew insistent as if it wanted her to do something. She braced herself against the tree and the world seemed to snap back in place. She felt as if she gained control over another limb. A small twitch of her finger and she heard a snap beneath her feet.

She did it again and the roots came free from the earth. It snapped forward as if on command and struck at the oncoming monster. Rhea felt a strange energy flow over her body and into her. It was warm and calming. She looked over at the monster and saw it slumped over on the root. The root had pierced through the thing's chest and killed it. Slowly, the root dropped to the ground and sunk back into the earth, pinning the red giant to the ground.

Rhea watched in awe as she witnessed the earth swallow the giant whole and disappear. A sudden feeling of exhaustion washed over her and she fell to her hands and knees. Her breathing was labored and the searing pain through her skull had come back with a vengeance. She felt herself being surrounded and felt a few pairs of hands lift her up. The last thing she remembered before blacking out were her arms being tied together and tossed onto a horse.