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The Power Within

Chapter 1 2 3


Chapter 1

THE STORY
No matter what country, what culture, nor indeed, what time we're in, we still have these stories...of destiny, of fate, of 'san si yen yuan' (destiny for three lifetimes), of kindred souls who will meet, time and time again. Fate? Or some kind of magic? This is the story, or shall I say, the stories of alec and vicki, whose lives are forever entwined as they are destinied to meet...and struggle to deal with the mystic power that haunts them in every life...magic, the sixth sense...or something else entirely? Ultimately, it comes down to one thing...do YOU believe in the power within?

OK, the prologue is set in England, 1640, in times when the church was fanatic about hunting down and killing witches, who were believed to be the Devil's servants...any woman who was accused of being a witch was, well, pretty much doomed. Vicki is Victoria, Alec is Alexander (duh! hard to guess! *grin*) As for what happens later...well, we shall see!

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“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” – Exodus 22 v.18.
England, 1640

Victoria’s face was serene as the bright, red blood dripped slowly from the nails pinning her hands to the wooden crucifix. Her big, round eyes were sad as she watched the crowd gathered around her, their faces filled with hate and loathing, but it was their fear she saw underlying the hate that she was sad about…fear, of her. These people…people that she’d grown up with, people she’d known since she was a child…her eyes caught the glance of the girl who stood there amongst the crowd. She showed neither fear nor loathing…instead the girl’s eyes danced with triumph as her lips were curled in an ugly smirk. Why? Victoria thought sadly, why did it come to this? We…we were friends, once, why? But she felt no anger, no hate, instead her heart welled with pity for the girl she once called friend, for all the people who she once cared about who now condemned her to death…then, she saw him. His pale, bleak face with his wild, struggling eyes that caught hers in a glance that conveyed the silent words that neither could speak. Victoria’s round eyes sparkled with unshed tears, the rest of the world ceased to exist as she looked at him, her eyes devouring the image of him…as if to imprint it in her mind, here, and forever. He stood there in his grey novice robes, silent beside the ranting witch finder whose eyes burned like live coals as he turned to glare at Victoria. “Witch, recant now and be redeemed, rebuke your Master the Devil himself and your soul shall be saved in the mercy of the Lord! Confess your evil sins! Speak the names of those who share in your heresy!”

Her voice was quiet, but it was heard throughout the sudden silence of the crowd. “I will not, I am one of Christ’s children.” “You dare to speak the Lord’s name?!?” The man sounded almost hysterical with fury. “You who invoked the black arts, proclaim your guilt and the cleansing will be swift!” She could only give the man a pitying look, and said, in a soft tone, “I am not guilty, as you all well know. The Lord is my shepherd, and I have no fear for my soul.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked sternly at the crowd gathered before her, “I fear for your souls! For you who would condemn to death an innocent soul!” “Heresy!” “Burn her!” The crowd shouted, surging forward, their sudden doubt at her words only served to fuel their fury. “Witch! Witch! Burn her! Burn her!!!” The witch finder held up his hand, and then his lips curved into a thin smile. “Evil must not be permitted to think itself triumphant. Our Lord states that we shalt not suffer a witch to live!” Picking up a lit torch, he held the firebrand above his head majestically. “May your soul burn everlastingly in Hell, witch.” The flames sprung up as he touched the torch to the kindling around the stake, the crowd cheered as the wood hissed and crackled as it caught on fire.

The man watched in horror as the flames surrounded the girl, whose eyes were calm as she faced her death, unflinching, almost like…a martyr, an angel in her white dress…his mind and soul screamed at him…no! This was the right thing to be done…wasn’t it? She was filled with evil…wasn’t she? Victoria’s brave, steady voice reverberated in the town square. “I pity you all. May the Lord have mercy on your souls.” His eyes widened as he looked at her calm, serene face, and then at the ugly, shouting crowd around him, the cruel smile on his master’s face. Something inside him snapped. No!

She gritted her teeth as the flames crackled and hissed around her, as the smoke threatened to overwhelm her…no, I will not be afraid…she could feel the searing pain as the flames licked at her feet…I will not be afraid… “NO!” a shout reverberated in the square, then suddenly a figure appeared in the smoke. “Get him out of there!” “The man’s gone insane!!!” Her eyes widened as he blundered through the smoke, through the flames to her… “Alexander!” she gasped, then cried, “No! Don’t! They’ll kill you, save yourself!” His eyes were determined as he ran through the flames as if they were non-existent, and threw his arms around her, around the stake to which she was so cruelly pinned, ignoring the hands that reached to pull him away. “No, I…ahhh…” he gasped as the flames seared and burned his clothes, his skin. “I won’t live this lie…I won’t leave you again…” The flames leaped up around them, separating them from the rest of the world…in the inferno they stood, his arms around her as the fire burned at their flesh. Victoria wept, her tears hissing as they dropped on the flames that crackled in her hair, on her flesh…no longer could she feel the searing of the flames…the world was already getting faint from the pain. “I love you,” his faltering whisper sounded in her ears. She could no longer see him in the smoke, but could feel his soul entwined with hers…she made a final attempt speak…as the world grew dim… “I…love you…too.” Then the world grew dark as the flames consumed their earthly bodies…


Chapter 2

***“All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream”(Quote)–EDGAR ALLEN POE***

In the darkness she drifted alone …lost…in this empty void that surrounded her, there is nothing…no light, no sound…nothing but the aching silence of the darkness of her mind. Her soul yearned for awareness…for the awakening. I…I AM...her mind screamed endlessly into the empty void of her inner world…I exist…let me out…let me out! A sudden sparkle of light flashed in the darkness that surrounded her consciousness, with an energy she knew not where she drew from, she floated towards that light…that distance glimmer of hope…I…I am ME…

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Intense pain sears her soul as a bright light surrounded her…and the heat, the heat!!! The terrible smell of burning flesh…she opened her mouth to scream in agony…then a face appears before her. His eyes pierce her soul even as the blazing light consumes him… “I love you.” A fierce yearning racks her soul as she felt the light consume the both of them… “I…love you…too.” The words echo in her mind, then the light grew dim…and she was falling…falling into the darkness…no…NO!!!

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“NO!!!” the scream erupted from her mouth as she sat up, sweat dripping from her pale, distraught face. The nurse dropped the file in shock as the ECG did a mad beep and started to dance like crazy. She stared up at the girl, whose wild eyes were staring at her unseeing. “Miss Zhao? You’re…you’re awake! Let me get the doctor…” Consciousness began to return to the girl as the horror and pain of the dream began to slip away, back into the hidden recesses of her mind. What…where was she? What had happened? Her childlike eyes stared up at the nurse who had returned to sooth the patient while the doctor came…the patient who shouldn’t even be awake…much less than regain consciousness in such a state. “Where am I? What…what happened?” Her soft pleading voice reached the nurse’s ears, and she reached over and took the girl’s arm gently. “Vicki, dear, there was an accident, don’t you remember? You’ve been in a coma for a few weeks now, but don’t worry, everything will be fine now,” her tone was soothing, but the girl’s eyes widened as something else resurfaced in her memory. “Where’s my parents? Where are they?!?” Her eyes were a disturbing grey as they stared beseechingly at the nurse, who started to feel slightly uneasy…there was something about those eyes… “I’m…I’m sorry, honey…they…” she couldn’t finish the sentence as the girl’s face drained of blood, it tugged at the professional nurse’s heart… “Vicki, honey,” she began, but Vicki flung her arm away. “NO! You’re lying, it’s not true! It’s a lie, I want my parents! Mum, Dad, where are you? Where are you?!?” Her frantic cries brought the other staff hurrying to the room as the distraught girl tried to stand up, to run…run from this cruel reality… “No, Vicki, you mustn’t get up, Vicki…” They wrestled the hysterically sobbing girl back down to the bed, “No, let me go! I want my parents! Let me go!” “There, now, there…” the doctor said soothingly as he injected her with some sedative, Vicki’s struggles grew weaker…the world became fainter and fainter as she heard the doctor’s words, “It’ll be alright.” No…it’ll never be alright again…never…as the darkness soared up and consumed her mind once more…

ONE MONTH LATER
Vicki stared at the reflection in the mirror…her blue grey eyes stared back at her, as if filled with some mysterious secret that laid deep within her mind. Chameleon eyes, her parents had called them, eyes that changed from light blue to deep grey, dependent on her emotions…eyes that seem so wise now…so full of the sorrows that had never entered her life until now. Her life had been an enchanted one, with friends, a big house, and loving parents…she’d never really seen the crueller side of reality before…but why must the draught of bitter sorrow be so much, all at once? She longed to cry, to weep at the unfairness of life, but she could not. She felt so drained, and her eyes showed the newfound wisdom within her…that the darkness had come, and there was no way to run from it, nothing will change what has happened.

Suddenly a vision flashed through her mind…a fleeting image of a face…that face…the face that had haunted her dreams since…since she woken up from the coma. Her eyes turned a deep grey as she remembered what had woken her up this morning…that dream again, of heat, and light, and a face that was so familiar, yet so strange…but it was nothing from her past, nothing she’d ever known! Yet sometimes...in that brief second between sleep and awakening...she couldn't tell...which was dream, and which was real...she shook her head, it’s nothing, she thought to herself, probably just some after effect from the long time I was in a coma, that’s all. She didn’t want to tell Doctor Ross about this, because she was afraid of his overreaction, and sending her to some psychiatrist. God, she thought, resting her forehead on her hands wearily, I am so tired of having my head shrunk! All those people, those specialists, harping at her, asking her questions to test her…no, I’m not crazy, no, I’m not going to kill myself even though my parents died in the car accident that I survived in, so please leave me alone!!! And Doctor Ross…she shook her head ruefully, her eyes a steely blue, he’s acting so put out because my bones have all completely knitted so fast…it’s like, he WANTS me to not get better, just because that would make more medical sense to him! Suddenly someone knocked on her door, and Vicki Zhao swung around…her eyes a neutral blue again, masking her thoughts…


Chapter 3

Doctor Peter Ross, neurologist at Saint John’s Hospital forced himself to smile at the girl who was staring at him expressionlessly. Those eyes can be so unnerving, he thought, yet for the life of him he could not explain WHY exactly he was uneasy…this mere slip of a girl, whose life he’d saved with his usual skill, yet that was exactly it…even he couldn’t believe the miracle he’d somehow pulled off. And the way she regained her health so rapidly…“Hi Vicki, all packed?” She smiled politely, her pale, thin face still wary as she replied, “Yes, Doctor Ross, I’m just waiting for my friend now.” The silence descended on them like heavy cloud as the doctor struggled with what he wanted to say, with Vicki watching him warily. Oh no, she thought, I’m getting out of here today, I’ll go stark crazy if I stay any longer! She began to wish Jimmy to hurry up…come on, come on! “Vicki, are you sure about this? Perhaps it might be wiser if you stayed a bit longer…” “Doctor Ross, I have been pronounced of perfect health, and discharged already,” Vicki said crisply, her eyes a guarded blue. Oh no…I’m not staying here so you can examine me like some kind of freak, or get more psychologists to mess with mind…enough… “But that’s exactly it, your recovery was so fast, and unheard of in medical history that it might be best if you stay a bit longer, in case of a relapse…” “Doctor, there is no way…”she began, fighting a strange sudden urge to panic…

“Vicki, are you ready?” Jimmy’s voice sounded from the door, and Vicki felt a quick surge of relief. Despite it all, she was starting to be afraid…afraid that she would be made to stay…when all her instincts screamed for her to get out, as soon as possible. “Thank you, Doctor Ross, but I must be leaving now.” Quickly, she grabbed Jimmy’s arm as he picked up her bags, and pulled him out of the room. “Hey, ok, ok, are you glad to see me or what?” he teased her, and she pulled a face at him, her heart lightened now that she was out, finally out! “For a moment there, I could have KISSED you…God, he was trying to convince me to stay here to run more tests!” “Aww,” he said in a light tone, which failed to hide the double meaning of his words, “So you’re not going to kiss me now?” She rolled her eyes at him, ignoring his hidden meaning…Jimmy was a friend, but that was all. Besides, her mood suddenly sombre, she couldn’t stand to let anyone close again…if they got hurt or died…she wasn’t sure she could handle it a second time. “Vicki? Earth to Vicki Zhao, anyone there, VICKI!” “What?!?” looking up at him, then noticed his concerned expression. “Are you sure you’re OK? You look a bit…you know, not quite here.” Vicki felt a sudden shiver down her spine at his words. No…he couldn’t know, she thought, no one knew about her dream…about how she would get confused on what was dream and was real…repressing her dark thoughts, she punched him lightly. “So would you be if you’ve been stuck in the same stupid room for a whole month! Besides,” she said a bit saucily, “When God heals your bones, you thank him for small mercies, not stand around and run five million tests to see WHY the bones healed so fast!” Jimmy laughed, and together, they made their way to the car.

The doctor watched them leave, with dark, disturbed eyes…he’d saved hundreds of patients, but this girl…this one was different. She shouldn’t have woken from the coma…that she did was miraculous enough, but the rate at which all her bones knitted, and the X-rays…it looked like there was never any injuries to begin with. Troubled, he stared after the girl…a mystery. A mystery that would haunt him in the days to come…

Vicki ran her hands softly along the polished, wooden balcony, her eyes a misty grey as they roamed the house…every room, every corner filled with memories of joy, and laughter…of happy times that were so vivid, yet so vague that they were almost like…like dreams….oh daddy, mummy, she thought, as she entered their huge bedroom, the familiar scent of soap and her mum’s favourite perfume hit her senses. Her eyes burned as she sat down gently on the bed, picking up a photo frame, a picture of them on holiday. Their beloved faces, frozen forever in the endless time…slowly, the tears she never got to shed fell, drop by drop, to tinkle gently on the glass. Why…oh why…burying her face in her arms, she finally let go, and mourned the passing of her childhood…of an innocence now tainted with death…her heart bled as she wept, longing for something...someone to show her the light again...oh please...is anyone out there? Please...I can't walk in the shadows alone...I can't...please...but there was no answer...now, truly, the darkness had descended…

Averdyfi, WALES
The young man stared intensely at the sparkling Dovey River, or, as the locals called it, The Avon Dyfi. His eyes closed briefly as he stored the image away in his mind, then his brush dipped at his easel as he began to paint…his mind focused on the scene in front of him…the sparkling golden waters as the sun set in the horizon…A girl was calling him. Can I ignore her…then he sighed as her whinging voice buzzed in his ears…the moment was gone. He put down the brush and smiled at the girl walking towards him. She frowned at casual expression, irritated. “Come on, I’m getting bitten by all the mosquitoes here!” He only raised his eyebrows at her before packing up his paints, the girl had already walked off down the road, annoyed at his indifference. Alec sighed ruefully as he started down the road after her, then paused and turned back to the scene…he frowned, puzzled. For a moment there, there was something…it…it was like…someone was calling him… “ALEC!” Shaking his head, he put the strange feeling aside and ran off down the road…


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