Chapter One: Silver Eyes

*11 years later*

Books are liars, and I hope everyone is aware of that. How do I know? Because I'm stuck in an ally at night, phone dead, and there is nobody "coincidentally" walking past to come to help me. No dazzling hot man, no nerdy boy turned superhero, no overconfident prince. I mean, who cares how womanizing prince charming is as long as he appears to save my butt. But no, I have no such luck. I stare at the wall, hoping it'll somehow manage to liquefy or disappear. However, I know I'm just trying to distract myself from the fact that there are three random people ganged up on me right now.

I decide to turn around, and mentally apologize to my mom for all the times I ignored her plea to stop fighting. I swear I didn't get myself into trouble with these three, but I can't exactly say for sure. If I ask, it'll probably just be more insulting. I stare at their faces as they come closer. Surely, one of their faces should ring a bell. Except I don't recognize any of them, and I should because they only look a year or two older than me. Don't get me wrong, I've fought some seniors, but these guys? Nope.

"What's wrong little lady, regretting your decision to run away?" The guy on the far left smirked like his words somehow scared me. I wasn't scared. Mad at thinking this alleyway was longer than it actually was, yes. Scared of a girl and two boys I'd never met, eh. Plus, I wasn't going to willingly go anywhere. You learn "stranger danger" at like 3 years old.

"Shut up Haven, you'll scare her." The guy on the far right chuckled. Seeing as I couldn't recognize them, sizing them up was the most I could do. Both guys were quite tall, around six foot two. The girl also seemed to be a couple inches taller than me, maybe 5'9"? All were fit. Not bodybuilder, but definitely weightlifter or athletic. They all wore black, and each had a dagger attached at the hip. I guess books are somewhat right on the villain/villainess description.

Something about them seemed off. Well, besides the fact that they were cornering a random girl in an alley at night. They seemed like siblings, but I couldn't quite get what similarity gave me this feeling. The girl and the boy on the left had black hair, but the boy on the right had blonde hair. They didn't have very similar face structures besides defined jawlines. They all shared the same angry glare too. That's when I noticed, they all had silver eyes. What the heck? The girl started walking towards me first, hand ready at her waist.

"Wait!" I put up my hand and the girl cupped her cheek as a glint of light passed by her face.

"What the heck was that for?" She yelled angrily at me.

"I didn't do anything, at least not yet." I looked at my hand confused. I didn't have anything to throw at her.

"Just come with us, and nobody gets hurt." Okay, Haven – I'm not that stupid. He's like the guy in crime shows who says he'll spare your life if you tell him what he wants to know and then kills you anyway.

"No thanks," I replied. The girl grabbed my shoulder, I shoved her back. Maybe a little too far back. The boys looked back.

"I thought she didn't know yet?" Blondie questioned Haven, who shrugged in response.

"I didn't know what?"

"She doesn't." The girl stood up.

"Don't know what?" I repeated, annoyed.

"Then explain that." I was about to get even more annoyed when Haven pointed to me and I noticed a blue light beginning to light up the ally. Finally, my convenient story moment. I turned around, but no one was there. Still no prince charming? I'm fine with a girl savior too universe just so ya know. I looked around more. Where is the light coming from? I turned around, watching the three look at me and then whisper.

I looked down, surprised. I was glowing. My body started tingling and my head hurt. I grabbed my head only to feel the sensation of cool metal. I stared at my hands, or rather, the metal gloves covering my hands. The blue light I was emitting began to swirl and my headache worsened. My clothes began to dissipate, but instead of being left naked, I had a whole new outfit. My normal outfit of a sweatshirt, jeans, and tennis was now replaced with a flowing knee-length light blue dress, topped with a metal chest. Two silver armbands formed around my upper forearms, and I held a sword. Here I was, barefoot with a headache, looking like some myth from history class.

I swung the sword up to get a better look at it... so shiny. And heavy. I grasped the metal handle with both hands, trying my best not to show how hard it was for me to hold up the dang thing. All three of them stepped back, glaring.

"What's your problem?" The girl hissed, "do you even know what that is?"

I furrowed my brow. Surely, she didn't think I was too stupid to know what a sword is. I swung it upright to get a better look at the blade as they all took another step back. I looked at the inscription in the blade, kotahitanga, before flipping it over and seeing a second inscription, ka hiahiatia e te rakau ona manga.

"Unity... a tree needs it's branches" My heart skipped a beat, how did I just read a language I've never seen before? Whose sword is this? The swords started to shine with the blue light I was emitting earlier, blinding me so I couldn't see. I dropped the sword and fell to my knees, grabbing my head.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know, how'd she even get the Unity sword?"

I couldn't focus, and my vision started to go blurry. *Patience, this is all part of the process. It'll be over soon.* I reached out, grabbing for whoever was talking. My hand grasped the blade of the sword and my hand stung as if I had just gotten a giant paper cut. I hissed and grabbed my head again with my left hand. Anger and confusion boiled in me. Why? Why was this happening? Who were those people? The words repeated a bit louder, *it'll be over soon*.

"I don't want to die." I choked out.

"Lady, are you losing it? No one's touching you, or trying to kill you."

"Something's obviously wrong, Haven."

"Well, he never mentioned any of this so obviously."

"Let's just go, he's already going to be mad that she's activated." They ran from the scene, the girl pausing to look back. I could only make out the words "he's mad, she's activated". Who's this "he"? What did I do to "activate"? What the flipping tater tots is "activated"? I started to feel dizzy and nauseous, the sound of sirens ringing in my ears. I tried to stand up, but just clumsily fell into the wall. My check scratched against the harsh texture of the brick as my legs gave out. I felt so weak, so helpless.

"Mom..." My voice caught in my throat and I blacked out.