Prologue

I was in a surging pale sea that was slowly eating me up. The endless pale heads with their sharp teeth looked at me as they fell upon me. That's what I got for trying to buy him time. My end seemed near. The horde would eat me. It was over with me. No matter how much I fought, there were just not less. Eventually I sank to the ground and the horde forgot about me. They let go of me and moved away. There I lay now. I had given everything to protect him and to save this planet. Hopefully my sacrifices were not in vain. He can do it! I said to myself and hoped that he could convince the Lord of the Underworld to leave this planet. My back was leaning against the wall. I had nothing left. My last belongings, my limbs had just been eaten. Many of my friends had lost their lives in this terrible war. But victory was finally within reach. Together we had made it. The world before my eyes slowly began to blur. This had been my hardest battle. Hopefully, after this, I could finally return to my normal school routine. I found it harder and harder to keep my eyes open. Everything was blurring in front of me. If this was to be my end, I would be happy. Then I saw strange lights and the horde ran away. Something was chasing them without noticing me. Thinking of James, I smiled as I closed my eyes.

This is the story of Alice, a young girl born into a changing world. A world where humanity is still at the top of the food chain. But the day she was born heralded a dark time to come, and as she turns fourteen, the battle for humanity's future begins. It is a battle against the ancient gods who have come back to punish the human race for the sins it has committed against nature. She has special gifts that few people have. But by the time Alice has her 14th birthday, no one has any idea of the imminent danger that is on the horizon.

Many of the things I am about to tell you I know because my mother told them to me one day. I was born in a small town where we all knew each other and nothing out of the ordinary ever happened. My parents, Peter White and Amy White, were as boring and ordinary as you could imagine. He worked in an office and she worked in a shopping centre. They both wore suits to work. The day I was born, the sky was dark and it was raining. My parents went to the hospital. While my father waited, the trees creaked and the rain pelted against the windows. By the time I was born, it was late. My father opened an umbrella and under it we walked quietly to the car that was waiting for us in the dark. We got into the car and drove home. We drove through the endless night. It was so dark that we could hardly see anything in front of the car. A few times animals crossed the road and we had to swerve to avoid them. My father tried to drive without hitting a tree because the ground was so wet and it was so dark. The trees had no leaves and loomed ominously over us, swaying in the wind. Suddenly it was raining fireballs. The sky was on fire with shooting stars. A thousand shooting stars were falling. When we got home, we ran into the house as fast as we could.

After that, I don't know how long I was studying, it was 4.30pm, and that's when something happened, something that changed my whole life forever. I was about to call my dad on my smartphone. I had it in my hand when suddenly a video appeared. On the screen I saw a boy wearing the creepy mask of a white rabbit. "Hello, I am the White Rabbit Warrior. Today is the day of punishment where you will all get what you deserve," he said. He said, and the video ended. After the video I was frozen. My whole body was shaking because I had never seen anything like it in my life. It felt terrible. When it was over, I saw a flash of light illuminating the rainy world outside. That was when I felt time stop. I was frozen in time for a while. It wasn't clear how long it was, but the world around me hadn't changed dramatically. Still, there was a sense of unease.

The next day I crawled in the wet grass of our big garden. At that time I often played with bugs. I remember it as a quiet and peaceful time. During this time my parents often complained that I wasn't as sociable as the other children. I often played alone in the garden, not interacting with my parents or anyone else. When I was playing, I didn't want to be disturbed and I would hit anyone who interrupted me with a stick. Although I was very intelligent, I showed no interest in walking or talking. One day a shooting star came crashing into our garden. On closer inspection, it was a grey capsule that set fire to the grass around it. The capsule itself still burned. Suddenly a pale white hand came out of it. Then I saw a pale body covered in grey goo. It came out of the black capsule. It had pitch black eyes with nothing in them. For the first year of my life I didn't speak a word and my parents were very worried. But then, just after my first birthday, I started walking and saying my first words.

The next moment, when I could move my body again, I waited for the light to come back on, but nothing happened. Everything remained black. I felt my way through the darkness with my fingers until I found a bookshelf. With the help of the bookshelves I felt my way through the darkness until I found the light switch. I turned it on and waited, but nothing happened. Then I started groping my way out of the library. Suddenly some books fell at my feet. One of them was called MOT. A Scientific Revolution by Leon Miller. The other was a book of true crime stories. And on the cover was the Black Raven. I thought they might come in handy if I ever wanted to know more about the Black Raven. The boy who helped me must have been Leon Miller. Did this Leon have a crush on me? I decided to grab them and take them with me. With the two books under my arm, I walked on.

My little sister Mia was born when I was three years old. She was different. Mia was not like me. She was normal. Most of the things I am about to tell you I can hardly remember as childhood memories long gone, but when I think of James, many memories come back.

I had been looking for a way out for 10 minutes. Now I tried to call someone - nothing happened. Suddenly I saw the strange dogs outside the window. There was a boy behind them. He had two white pigtails and glasses under which I saw dead eyes. They were cold and deserted. A mask covered most of his face and he held a scythe in his hand. His black clothes, which swallowed the light, suggested that he was the Grim Reaper himself. The boy's skin was bleached, so bleached that I thought he was dead.

That's why my childhood wasn't so easy. I hardly ever spoke and because of that the other children didn't see me as a real person. They treated me like an animal and avoided me or even terrorised me. But then, when I was about four years old, I met a boy called James. This boy with red hair and short braids always cheered me up. We played together for about a year.

While I was waiting, I heard a strange sound. Something like claws scraping against glass. Because it was combined with a dull thud, like someone's head banging against the window, it made me shiver. Then suddenly there was a strange smell in the air. It was something I had never smelled before. In the darkness of the library, I suddenly heard footsteps on the creaking floorboards. I shivered. Someone or something was coming towards me.

But then, just after his sixth birthday, a tornado took him away from me. His parents died that day, so I thought he died too. Since that day I have prayed that he survived, but I have never seen him again. I still remember most of what happened that day. When I was six years old, I had to go to school and I asked myself if James ever had to go through that. When I was at school, I felt strange among the other children. I felt like I didn't belong. I didn't interact with them and I felt like there was some kind of invisible wall between me and them. I remember most of the things that happened in primary school.

I kept staring at my phone. Finally something happened. The logo of the phone company appeared. When the applications appeared, I saw that I had no internet connection. How could that be? What was happening? I had to do something. I had to call my dad to come and get me out of this nightmare. Luckily I had my dad's number and the numbers of my friends. Of course I could have called my mum, but our relationship was not that good and my dad had the car. So I called him, but nobody answered for a while. When he did answer, he said he was still at the office and that the internet had gone down ten minutes ago. My dad said there had been a power cut 30 minutes ago, so the computers were down and everyone in the office had to use their mobile phones. He said all the trains had stopped. I asked my dad if he could come and get me from the library, but he said he did not know how long this situation would last or if he would be able to get home.

It got better every year I was there and I made new friends. But not among the girls. Each year the other girls felt more and more alien to me. It was like we were from different worlds. It was during this time that I started wearing short hair and a baseball cap. I also stopped wearing skirts, dresses and jeans. My parents didn't like my development. Especially my interest in Kung Fu and Karate. They always told me it was nothing for girls. The years went by and my interests didn't change. This worried my parents. They were also worried about my tastes. I liked dark clothes and my parents thought that girls should wear pink and like horses and so on. So the older I got, the more I argued with my parents. And when I got to secondary school, the situation at school got worse. The other girls and boys my age were horrified by my boyish behaviour and clothes.

When I awoke, the pain slowly subsided. I didn't know how many hours had passed. My back was pressed against the cold, gray wall. The sun was coloring the world orange-red. Was it twilight or morning. The deserted streets seemed unreal to me. Apparently, I still hadn't fully acclimated to this new world. The horde had disappeared. They would not return. Someone must have scared them away. But that person was no longer there. As I tried to run, I toppled forward and landed on my stomach. I looked forward at my arms and saw that the horde had bitten off my hands. Parts of my forearm were also missing. Just short stumps remained. My whole body was covered with rainwater. The wounds had largely healed in the time I had been unconscious. Thanks to the rain, they had also remained clean. First I had to find water and food. I propped myself up on the remains of my two forearms and crawled off. The road was dusty and dirty. I could think about washing later. First I had to find a shelter. When I was looking up into the sky, I sighed because I realized that I was saved. Huge black wings were coming down to rescue me. It was the Black Raven, he dragged me through the sky. After a while, we landed in some kind of wooden cabin where he gave me new limbs.