Alisa heard it before she saw it -- the force of wings through air. She looked up and a large black spectre stole the sun.

"Oh, if only I could soar on raven wings," she said.

When she looked back down, she found that suddenly, unexplainably, the ground had been torn apart. She stumbled and fell. She feared she would break her leg.

"You, my beauty, will soar on the wings of ecstasy," he said as he caught her.