• Driving down the interstate in a black convertible, her long, black hair blowing in the wind behind her, she races to her next meeting. Her portfolio rests in the seat beside her. The name everyone in the fashion lingerie business knows her by is Raven Nightlite. She is primary owner and stockholder of one of the biggest fashion lingerie makers in the world. The one or two friends she keeps know her as Raven, but she has another name, a name that is only known by those that wish to keep her imprisoned on the Prime Material Plane, an ancient name…….

    1000 years ago…
    The ground is hard and cold, and strangely gray. No wind blows, and the light that shines is neither light or dark, but a dull gray somewhere in between, a shade or two lighter than the ground itself, so that when she looks out toward the horizon, the ground and the sky blend to create an illusion of endless gray. She is on her knees, bruised, bloody, and chained at her wrists and ankles. Her captor stands over her, a monstrous demon a shade darker than the ground.
    “Quit struggling Shadowreighn, you are defeated. Your sword is destroyed, your powers gone, and the Throne of the Shadows is mine.”
    “Do not fool yourself, that Throne is my birthright, I took it from father fair and square. If you had wanted, you should have killed him yourself.”
    He slaps her hard across the face, “Be quiet half-breed, and accept your sentencing.”
    The ground begins to tremble, but nothing seems to be quite moving, as if everything is being shaken at a microscopic level. Shrieks and howls from the lesser demons gathered fill the air as Shadowreighn’s fate becomes apparent. Thousands of skulls move along the ground, converging at Shadowreighn’s knees, and begin to bury her. Her gut wrenches as she realizes these are the skulls of the victims of her coup, and that they are not quit dead. She begins to her voices, voices from the skulls, as their revenge takes hold.

    Present Day…
    As she pulls into the parking garage of the high rise office building, a shiver runs down her backbone, as the human part of her mind remembers that day 1000 years ago. Her demon half smiles maliciously because she knows why that memory returned. Tonight is the solstice, and the planets will be in conjunction, and tonight, begins her revenge against those that stole what rightfully belongs to her.

    Later that evening…..
    She spent the remainder of the day preparing for tonight. At last all was ready. The room was small, and painted completely black, a bowl of clear water rested in the center. Candlelight cast an eerie light that almost seemed to be in a tug of war match with the darkly painted walls. There was only one door, and a lone window stood in the east wall, framing a full moon.
    She breathes deeply and prepares for the task ahead. She clears her mind of everything but the magical intonation that she begins to repeat. Softly at first, but steadily growing in volume, strength, and rhythm, an almost imperceptible shimmer grows in the room, as her power grows and coalesces around her. Time seems to stand still momentarily, than, out of the eerie light it begins to grow. Almost as if the shadows themselves were moving toward each other. A swirling mass of energy and shadow slowly forms in the center of the room, just above the bowl of now dancing water as bolts of blue magik leap between it and the mass of energy.
    Finally it is complete, just as the planets begin to move out of alignment, it is formed, a portal of almost pure shadow. A portal between this plane and the Plane of Shadows, a doorway to her home, to her revenge.