Hadriet awoke, alone and sweating. She was struggling to even breathe, each breath she took was painful. She tried to sit up but found her core muscles unable to function. She looked down at her stomach and saw her mother’s sword still protruding from her gut. She reached for the hilt but couldn’t reach it. With every stretch of her arms, it felt like she was being torn in half. She cried out for help but there wasn’t a single sound anywhere around her.
She looked around for someone to help her when she saw her mother’s face staring back at her. Unfortunately, the only part of her mother left to see was her face. Her head laid beside a pile of blood and gore. The pile of viscera was swarmed by insects hoping to feed, reproduce and die. Hadriet did not cry however, she did not scream nor feel any sorrow or regret. In fact, she suddenly felt clearer of mind than she had at all in the past few years. It felt as if someone had finally released her from the chains and restraints of the world. She felt like she could fly.
She grabbed the sword by the blade, her fingers slipping and slicing on the wet blade. She quickly ripped the blade from her stomach, at that moment there was a flash of blue light. When she held the blade in her hand, she immediately felt like it was draining her of her energy. Hadriet felt her stomach but found no wound to speak of. Taking a look at the sword in her hand she saw a set of strange runes that ran along the length of the blade.
The runes filled with blue light until each of the runes was glowing brightly. Then the light quietly faded as if it was never there in the first place.
<“A runic sword, how fascinating!”> A deep booming voice surrounded Hadriet. The voice spoke a language she could not understand.
Without any warning, the temperature dropped by dozens of degrees. It was so cold that Hadriet could see her breath. She felt incredibly weak but you couldn’t tell from just looking at her. She stood firm, her mother’s sword in her hand. Her eyes scanned over the field of corpses and destroyed tents around her. There seemed to be nothing other than trees. Then she heard a booming laughter echo out from all around her. Her eyes drifted upwards, unaware as to why.
When she looked straight up all she could see were the cold blue eyes looking back at her. Immediately she lost all feeling in her legs. Looking down the reason was obvious: they were frozen in a giant block of ice! Unable to fight back, unable to escape, she closed her eyes and cursed her fate. The cold wind brushed the nape of her neck as if it was the breath of a lover. She opened her eyes and looked down at her mother’s severed head once more.
<“Such a hateful heart for one so young.”> The voice spoke once again.
There was a loud thud as if a giant tree had crashed against the forest’s floor. Hadriet tried to turn around to look at the source of the thud but couldn’t turn completely because of the ice and her armor. All she could see was a glimpse of red and something white and fuzzy. The aura of the creature behind her was suffocating, just the pressure of its presence made her feel dizzy.
“I must thank you for presenting me with a feast of so many errant souls. Do you have a wish in this world?” The voice was gentler now, and it spoke in a language she understood.
Hadriet thought about it, she didn’t feel like she could conquer the world. The Keeper of Darkness made it clear that even Gods had something to fear. She just wanted to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. If she couldn’t own the whole world, then maybe it would be enough to control a small portion of it. A wicked smile crawled across her face.
“I want to be the Queen of Tysill, to have a bevy of people at my beck and call.” She said.
Her request was met with laughter that made her ears feel like they were going to burst.
<“Such an insane human, maybe she can help with my experiments!”> The creature laughed while speaking its native language.
“I can easily make that happen.” He said as the ice around Hadriet’s feet melted.
Hadriet turned around to finally see the full form of the creature. Unfortunately, whatever it was that spoke to her, was gone in an instant. As if it was just a figment of her imagination. Maybe she had gone crazy before now. Maybe this was just her broken psyche’s way of keeping the pieces together. She would have had those thoughts if she didn’t hear the voice once more.
“This will hurt you more than death ever could. Prepare yourself.” He said.
Suddenly her armor was turned to ice before it melted just like her restraints, exposing her naked body. Then a blazing blue light lit up her chest, it burned more than the fire her enemies shot at her. The creature was not exaggerating about the pain. Hadriet felt like every cell in her body was being filled to the brim with power before bursting. The most horrifying part was she couldn’t pass out. She felt every little change in her body as if it wanted her to feel everything.
Just as the creature’s massive body disappeared inside her body, its full image appeared on her skin. The picture of the creature shook out its body before coiling around her abdomen and resting its head. Hadriet fell to her knees and as she did the entire forest was enveloped in a blizzard. Her eyes glowed blue, her face resembling a wolf’s unnerving smile. She wrapped her naked body in a cloak and started walking towards Tsyill. Stepping on and crushing Halie’s head under her foot on her way back home.
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