Darkness becomes you

Darkness becomes you
by Alexander Petev

Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
-Friedrich Nietzsche

Special thanks to Hidetaka Miyazaki for creating an ineffable world and story and to VaatiVidya for showing me the beauty, complexity and simplicity in them.

         "Clank, clank, clank." the flint sang loudly as Megan struck it with her knife, creating a few wild sparks. They briefly brightened her mud-stained face and got reflected by her somber green eyes, puffy and swollen from the tears. The light illuminated a small area around the woman, as if creating an embracing barrier, protecting her from the surrounding shadows. Alas the sparks faded away into nothingness, allowing the night once more to swallow the girl whole.
         "Clank!" she hit the flint again, producing just enough light to see the torch she was trying to ignite and a shiny shield, that was lying on the ground next to her, but once again the luminance disappeared in the impeding night. "Clank!" at the fifth strike, Megan's arms started to grow tired, her shoulders to ache, and at that point her thoughts drifted to what had happened to her before all this.
         "A healer! Please, I need a healer!" she had yelled, carrying a baby in her arms, just upon entering the old witch's hut, at the top of the hill. Megan felt a cold shiver run down her spine when she saw the witch sitting in a meditating pose with at least twenty half translucent orbs floating around her. The spheres were spinning around the old woman at different speeds and at different distances, as if performing an ominous dance. The actual objects were somewhat transparent, only reflecting the hag's red robe, but inside each and every one of them, Megan could see the fuzzy outlines of a person in different environments. To her side, lay the dead body of another old woman, dressed in an emerald green garb, stained by crimson dried blood and her throat bearing a large gash.
         "Now, now" the witch said, looking up and revealing only her hideous nose which bore two warts. "Don't be afraid of my playmates... They don't like fear." She said as two floating orbs merged into one, then slowly defused into two again. The witch stared at them intently then let out a heavy cough.
         "My daughter, she's sick - it's consumption, and she already started coughing blood." Megan plead "Please, she's barely 8 months old, and my husband died in the army and..."
         "Hush!" The witch scorned her with her raspy voice, which sent another chill down Megan's back "I am no healer. What I do is grant wishes and perform miracles. Big difference, my dear, huge difference! But, I can't just go around, granting wishes left and right or go back in time and fundamentally change events. The sky would collapse upon the earth and fires would drown the oceans! Some things are and others simply aren't, child. If that which was never meant to be, were then..."
         "I'm begging you, have mercy on my child!" Megan cried out
         "You didn't let me finish, dearie!" she said softly, and then uttered the second sentence with a much lower, raspy voice "Nobody ever lets me finish. Oh, well, I guess it's in your nature, you mortals always rushing around blindly..." she paused, then looked at her with eyes that were once bright and beautiful "I'll grant your wish of healing your daughter if you prove yourself to be worthy of such a wish. Both physically and mentally."
         "Yes! I'll do anything, but please hurry, my baby's burning a fever and she doesn't have much left."
         "To prove yourself" she continued, unfazed by the woman's pleading "I'll transport you to the Spire - a world that I've created and compressed in these spheres." she gestured at the floating orbs "You must traverse harsh terrain and fight monsters that'd turn even the bravest of men into cowards. Your only objective is to find me at the top of the Mountain and name your wish."
         "That would take weeks! Look at her! I doubt that she'll last till sunrise!" she yelled, the tears visible in her eyes
         "SILENCE!" the witch yelled, as all the orbs stopped instantly. The angry look on her half hidden face disappeared as she drowned herself in another long agonizing series of heavy coughs. When she finally caught her breath she pointed towards a table, which had two flickering candles. "Leave your girl there and while you're in the Spire, no death will find her."
         "Thank you! Thank you! God bless you, thank you!" Megan said, her heart now lighter than a feather, with a gaze that was lit by immeasurable joy. She put her daughter carefully on the table and made sure that the red cloth she was using as a blanket was tightly entwined around her tiny body, leaving a hole for her sickly pale face. Megan sang a slow sad song.
         "Oh, the lengths a mother will go for her children..." the witch smiled faintly, a tear running down her impossibly old and wrinkled face. "You will be alone - there is only one person per orb, however when these orbs collide, the two worlds tend to bleed into one another. Sometimes it happens for a second, sometimes for months ahead. When you enter the Spire, you'll find a backpack with all the necessities. Food is scarce but findable. The rivers in the forest are safe to drink. Also don't venture too far from the light of a fire - remember sometimes the shadows themselves are more dangerous than whatever lurks in them."
         "Once again, thank you. I'll try to remember that."
         "Oh and one more thing, before you go, dearie... in the Spire it's very easy to lose track of what it is you seek and the difference between right and wrong. And when you do, well... let's just say that the more you stay in the darkness, the more it becomes you."
         "Ah-ooooooooh!" a wolf howled in the distance as Megan's thoughts faded away and she was transported back to the present. She looked around to try and spot any distinguishable threat in the looming darkness, however in the veil of the night, friends and foes, the living and the dead, the real and the imagined all merged together into the unknown. She was always afraid of the dark, but now all her fears were justified. And Megan knew that if she was to survive, she had to ignite her torch.
         The young mother continued struggling with the flint and steel, and finally after a dozen strikes, a spark managed to ignite a small ember on the linen of the torch. Her heartbeat doubled from excitement, but she managed to control herself and let out a gentle, steady stream of air towards the undeveloped flame. She started praying, begging anything and everything to allow this spark to flourish in a fire. In those few moments of intense focus, she recalled the events that happened, when she arrived in this artificially created land.
         The sun was at its highest when Megan awoke on a grassy valley. She felt the wind softly rattle the tall blades of grass as they swayed along with beautiful scarlet flowers. The woman slowly rose from the warm ground and looked around. In the distance she saw a forest which slowly escalated into an awe-inspiring mountain. Megan closed her eyes and took in the serenity of this place. Not a moment later she instantly remembered where she was and what she was doing here. Her body jolted up and picked up the backpack that the witch was talking about. Inside she found basic first aid items - a couple of bandages, and a few labeled jars of medicine, a blanket which she could use for sleep, an extinguished torch with some flint, a small canteen and most importantly - a knife.
         So began her journey, Meg started walking at a reasonable pace towards the mountain, whose peak she had to scale. With the sun's warm rays scattering towards her face, she felt a surge of confidence, that she could indeed prove her worthiness and save her daughter.
         Suddenly Megan heard the booming roar of a lion that split the air in half, and made the poor woman freeze in place. She slowly turned her entire body around, dreading of what she might behold. Her fears were justified. She saw a beast, as terrifying as it was disfigured - it was a crimson red lion soaring in the skies, bearing an enormous black pair of wings that belonged to a bat and an insect's tail. The creature was missing one eye, had a slash across its ribs, which were visible from emancipation and there was a hole, as big as a human's fist in one of its massive leathery wings. The hungry abomination swept down like a bird of prey, claws first, towards the defenseless woman. Megan's feet felt heavier than stone, so she put her hands in front of her face in a defensive position. A tear fell from her eye, while she remembered her sick daughter, apologizing to her that she had failed. She closed her eyes and accepted her gruesome fate.
         "Move!" a man yelled as he grabbed her by her arm and forced her to start running perpendicularly of the beast's decent. Megan couldn't believe what she was seeing - it was a man with leather armor and metal gauntlets. He had a curved sword, sheathed near his legs, and a backpack - similar to her own. The two eventually stopped running, as the famished monster regained its altitude. The man was very calm and had complete control over his breath, however Megan was panting heavily and her entire body was shaking.
         "Look at me." He said, grabbing her face with his crude metal gloves. "Look at me! What's your name?"
         "M-megan..." she replied.
         "Okay Megan, my name's Peter." He said in a controlled manner "Now, I need you to calm down and trust me. Do you trust me?" She nodded. "Good, now, when I say go, start running. Run and don't turn around, do you understand?" She nodded again.
         Once again the manticore growled with his proud, deep roar and charged once more towards the humans.
         "Now!" Peter declared as he started running opposite of Megan, towards the beast. When the creature was leveled with the ground, the swordsman stopped in place and drew his sword. Just as the manticore was going to maul the man with his claws, Peter jumped back and slashed down with his sword, cutting the beast's head clean off. Upon the impact, the Manticore's entire body flipped around, due to its disproportionately big wings. When it fell down, one of the monster's claws managed to make a large vertical scratch on his face, missing his eye by a few centimeters.
         Megan stopped when she heard the noise of something heavy falling down, and stared with bewilderment at the slain beast. Peter, unfortunately didn't share her excitement, as he fell down to his knees, holding his injury with his two hands. He let out a scream of intense pain. Worried about his injury, the woman ran towards him, taking off her backpack, and reaching for her first aid supplies.
         "NO!" Peter yelled, his hands tight around his face "The Manticore's claws and fangs are venomous; I'm going to die a slow death, unless you cut my neck now."
         "Don't worry! I have this jar of Snakesbane powder in my backpack - it's a mix of Rue, Saffron and Mint. It should be strong enough to neutralize the toxins in your system."
         "Do it..." He said, his body still writhing in pain
         Using the first aid skills her grandmother taught her as a little girl, Megan bandaged Peter's injury, using a good amount of the powder.
         "How does that feel?" she asked, as his shaking started to lessen
         "Better, I think. The pain's much weaker, at least. Thank you for saving me, I've been hunting that Manticore for weeks."
         "Who are you, though? The witch told me that I'd be alone."
         "Well, I'm a wanderer, just like you! Our orbs have intersected, so our worlds merged together, allowing us to interact for a while. Oh, before I forget - let me return the favor - go find the creature's head and bring it here. Just the head - the blood is still poisonous so the meat is no good to eat."
         The girl stood up and started slowly walking around the huge corpse, examining its emancipated body. Finally she reached the head, which had rolled a few feet away from the neck. She tried lifting the head, expecting it to be quite heavy, but when she touched the head, it started melting into a pool of blood and gush. What remained was a big red and gold shield in the form of a lion's head. Megan picked the shield up and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was lightweight, but sturdy and beautiful.
         A few moments later, however, Megan fell to her knees and her vision faded completely. Then she saw the witch's dimly illuminated face in front of a black background.
         "Manticore's shield." She said eerily "It is said that a scorpion and a bat once coveted a mighty lioness. They fought in a duel for her heart and both of them died valiantly, but alas, their love was unrequited. Their angry souls from the afterlife cursed the lioness to bear their child and thus the first of the Manticore race was born."
         "Are you okay?" Peter asked, now standing up.
         "I... I am but... how?"
         "In this world, if you manage to cut off a limb, a head, a tail off of a monster, while it's still alive, the witch rewards you by giving you a piece of armor or a weapon. Now, let me teach you how to use that shield."
         And so he spent a good half of an hour showing her how to block different blows and how to use it to bash. Peter was pleased when he found out how fast of a learner Megan was. Finally they sat down for a break.
         "You're a good teacher, Peter." Megan said, her breathing heavy from the physical fatigue "And a good swordsman! Why did you come to the witch? What was it that you wanted from her?"
         "Oh, my wish? Well, that's easy. I wanted... uhh, money... no, that's not it, I... was lost? I needed help, I think... I can't remember, honestly..." He said, while looking down, but he gasped with surprise when he saw his right arm "My arm! I lost my arm! I couldn't be a soldier in the army with just one arm, so I came to her. She gave me this limb as a gift, and said I could keep it if I found her.
         "Then..." Megan asked confused "Then why did you tell me that you were hunting the Manticore for weeks? Right now, you were chasing the Manticore away from the mountain..."
         "Oh, I was after it because it had to be killed..." He paused for a while and looked in a seemingly random direction "It was an evil monster, Megan, I had to slay it."
         "Peter, I..." She began but was immediately interrupted.
         "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" A feral half-roar, half-yell came from the forest. Peter immediately stood up, unsheathing his sword, while Megan shakingly grabbed her shield and slowly got off the ground.
         The yell came from the forest which was a good distance away. There the two saw an entire horde of human-like creatures on all fours under the shade of the trees. One of them took a few steps forward into the sun, but it cried out in pain, its skin blistering and fouling the air with the smell of rotting flesh. The monster couldn't bear the pain so it returned into the shadows with the rest of its herd, which were looking at the humans with their dead black eyes.
"          Ghouls." Peter cursed "During the night, in bigger numbers they could even topple and eat a whole dragon. Their biggest weakness though is the sun which easily burns their fragile skin. The manticore's dead body must have attracted them, but they'd never attack both of us while we're in the sun."
"          GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWH!!!" the twisted beings yelled in unison as they charged with their unhuman crawl towards the warrior and the woman. Their skin was blistering wildly and even ripping apart in places, allowing their flesh and muscles to flail wildly in the wind and even fall to the ground. The horrors were stampeding like a bunch of frenzied animals until they were 15 meters away from the humans. That's when they used their disproportionately strong hind legs to perform a giant leap with their long bony claws stretched out. Megan began shaking wildly when she saw the rage and the ferociousness in their black eyes and their revolting sharp teeth.
"          Megan, don't be afraid. They are many, but together we can take them! Here, take my hand." He said as he outstretched his left hand trying to grab hers. Megan felt like time was becoming warped and that everything was happening a dozen times slower. She saw Peter's hand, enveloped by his metal gauntlet, slowly move towards her own outstretched hand. Their fingers were mere millimeters apart, but unfortunately their fingers never touched. Her hand merely passed through his as if he were a ghost. And indeed, Peter's entire body had become slightly transparent and bearing a bluish tint.
         "NO!" he yelled as time returned to its normal pace "Our worlds are bleeding out! This can't be happening... Look out!" he yelled as the one of the monsters landed on top of him, burrowing its claws into his torso. And then another fell on him, and then another. Peter was screaming from the bottom of his lungs as the monsters were burrowing their claws and ripping out chunks of his body.
         Megan felt paralyzed, her legs were shivering and she couldn't believe what she was seeing - these horrific monsters were ripping the poor swordsman's body to pieces, while feasting on his flesh. Their disfigured backs had enormous holes, revealing meat and organs, as if they had been bathed in acid. One of the ghouls turned its gaze towards the woman, who was hiding behind her shield and with a low pitched growl jumped towards her. She tried covering herself with the shield, which came from the manticore, but the monster passed through her, just like with Peter. The ghoul looked at her, as he himself started appearing more and more ghastly by the minute.The monster looked at her with a confused look, a look that proved that the creatures weren't as mindless as she thought. However the pain of the scorching sun forced him to move along and start dragging the enormous body of the Manticore towards the forest with the help of its fellow kin.
         With tears running rampart from her eyes, Megan stood trembling, slowly pacing towards the bloody, ripped remains of the swordsman, whom she bonded with so quickly. She felt sick to her stomach and her vision degraded as she was about a meter away from his corpse, which was by now semi-transparent.
         Suddenly she heard a loud growl as one of the ghouls jumped through her back, penetrated Peter's stomach with its claws and charged towards the forest with his body.
         "Stop!" She yelled as she ran towards the monster, which was dragging Peter's corpse, leaving a trail of blood along its way. It was atleast three times as fast as she was, slowly fading out so gradually that when she felt the cool shade of the oak trees, they were gone. Gone were the other Sunburners in the field and the massive corpse of the Manticore. She was once more all alone.
         Back in the present, Megan's torch finally ignited with a rich flame, giving the air around her a deep smoky smell. She fastened her shield to her bag and lifted her torch to illuminate the path in front of her. She felt paranoid that something was stalking her she'd often hear a rustling bush, or see a shadow from the corner of her eye, but when she took a second look, nothing would be there. Perhaps something was waiting for the cover of the night before it wanted to get her... but then why didn't it attack when she was still struggling to ignite her torch? What if the ghouls... oh no, the ghouls...Peter... The woman's wandering thoughts, though, instantly perished and gave way to a more primal thought which occupied her conscience - hunger. Megan's stomach was rumbling furiously and her head was going slightly numb, even though her last meal was just before entering the witch's hut, however long ago that was.
         "I must be hungry from all the scares I've had today... God, I'd kill for a nice hot stew right now." Megan fantasized as she was slowly walking on fallen leaves that crunched softly
         Suddenly she stopped in her tracks. Megan saw a small deer sleeping behind the trunk of a birch. She took out the knife she found in the backpack upon arrival and licked her lips, already tasting the delicious meal this animal would give her. She raised the knife in the air and prepared to cut the deer's head off but her hand was immediately grabbed by someone with a light grip. Megan turned around and was surprised to see a little girl with a dusty face and worn out rags.
         "Noo!" she protested while she held Megan's right hand with her two small hands. This action woke up the deer who stood up on all fours, took a step back but made no effort to escape. "Please, don't kill him, that's my father."
         "Your... father?" Megan asked softly as she returned the knife in its place holder to the young girl who couldn't be more than 10 years old.
         "Yes, this is my dad." She said as she hugged the deer "An evil warlock put a curse on him which transformed him into an elk. We went to the witch and she undid half of the spell - now he's human in the day, but turns into a deer in night. The witch promised to lift the curse if we find her on top of the mountain!"
         "But... little girl, this place is dangerous. There are monsters lurking in every corner! How could your father agree to take you here?"
         "He didn't. He was an animal so he couldn't talk. I made the deal with the witch. She told me that it was dangerous, but I'm not afraid! She was very nice with me - she lifted half of daddy's curse and she promised me that I'd find a woman who would help me. I think that's you!"
         "Well..." Megan said "I can't just leave you here alone, of course! Yes, yes I will protect you and help you find the witch."
         "Great! My name is Suzie and my father's name is Duncan." She said as she pet the deer's head "With you protecting us and us protecting you, nothing will stop us, right?"
         "WRONG." A woman said in the shadows, in a deep, somber voice, who took a step forward and became visible in the weak torchlight. She was completely pale with long silver hair - around 20 years old, wearing nothing but a light white dress which reached her knees, and bore many bloody spots. Suddenly from her back came out two pitch black wings which looked like giant hands with webbing between them. She glided in the air at an impossible speed, appearing almost like a white flash. The horror quickly put her hands around the little girls head and with one quick motion snapped her neck. Megan's eyes widened with horror as she couldn't believe the gruesome scene that happened in front of her. The monster landed on the ground, smiled a twisted smile and with its left wing-arm grabbed the deer and squeezed with such strength that every bone in its body was crushed. A torrent of blood ran down the monster's black wing, and the woman extended a long pink tongue, which licked a few drops.
         "Delicious." She smiled. Megan's body stopped shaking. She could no longer think. She tried to run but her legs refused to obey. Her right arm, as if controlled by someone else grabbed the shield which was on her back. In a single moment of fury and blind rage, but also crystal clarity, Megan took a small leap, yelled a mighty cry and crashed the Manticore's red and gold shield into her face. From the sudden impact the monster fell to the ground, with Megan on top of her. The woman yelled once again, with her breathing accelerated and her heartbeat tripled, she felt powerful as she buried her shield once more into the horror's face with all her might. The pale woman shrieked and covered her face with her hands, revealing her long claws. The human took advantage of the situation and struck with the side of her shield her left and then her right wing, effectively cutting both of them off. With one final swift movement Megan bashed the being's face once more, silencing her screams once and for all.
         Meg's breathing was reduced to slow deep breaths at regular intervals. She stood up, gazing at the monster's dead body with disgust.
         "That was for Peter, Duncan and Suzie." Megan said to the corpse vindictively; however she didn't taste the sweetness of justice, but rather she felt bitter regret that she couldn't save the poor girl and her bewitched father.
         Suddenly the wings that Megan had chopped off started shrinking, becoming smaller and smaller until they became human sized gauntlets. They looked sturdy, made from black metal with intricate ornaments, carvings and protrusions. Megan put them on and they were a perfect, comfortable fit. Once again all the light was taken away from her eyes until all she could see was the hag in front of a black background.
         "Wailing Widow's Gauntlets." She said "The legends speak of a young wife who found her beloved in the bed of another. Driven to insanity by his unfaithfulness she killed her husband and his lover. Disgusted by her own, sin she ran away into the forest where she still wanders in her white sleeping cloth and her once beautiful dark hair, now white as that of a ghost. The wings on her back are believed to be the husband and the mistress's souls, which are now disfigured and black from the sin of adultery."
         The visions of the witch slowly faded as Megan's eyesight slowly normalized. She rubbed her temples with her metallic gauntlets, trying to soothe her headache. Soon enough she managed to get back on her feet, and took a long curious stare at the newly acquired metal gloves. There were many carvings of ghosts and bats, of wings and the moon. Almost instinctively the woman put her hands in front of her, forming an invisible sphere with her fingers and squinted her eyes in order to concentrate. To her amazement in between her hands an orb of fire had formed - the flames were black as the night, and instead of emitting light, it was absorbing all luminescence. Megan gestured in such a way as to direct the ball of fire to fly forward, and so it did, crashing into a tree and igniting it as well as all the surrounding vegetation.
         "Dear God, what have I become?" Megan whispered, looked down to her hands and fell to the ground shakingly. She felt weakness and despair surge around her heart like a poisonous mist as doubt nested inside her mind. She looked up to the skies and yelled with all her throat "WITCH! I'm coming for you. And when I find you, I'm gonna make you fix everything that's wrong with this world, and the real one! Just you wait."
         The tired, starving, mentally exhausted woman finally found the strength to get up, grab the torch which still lay ignited on the ground and marched onward toward the ever so distant witch's hut on top of the mountain.
         What happened to her after that grisly, bloody encounter Megan wasn't too sure, her mind, driven almost to madness from the grueling hunger, the physical and mental fatigue, and not to mention the appalling viciousness and cruelty, was too busy replaying all the gruesome scenes she'd been forced to bear witness that day - Peter's body getting impaled, his bloody remains being dragged off towards the forest, poor Suzie's horrendous murder and the gut-wrenching sound of Duncan's body being crushed to bits. Meg's mind was so busy trying to deal with the shock, trying to make sense of these senseless acts of violence that the rest of her body was acting almost automatically. At one point Megan's face was covered with blood - was it hers or that of a victim - she neither knew nor cared, she just wiped it off and carried on. At another point, Megan found herself eating something - it was meat, cooked on the black fire that she could create from her gauntlets. It had a bitter taste, similar to nothing she had eaten before, so she was hoping that this wasn't human meat, but she was so starved, so malnourished that even if she was eating a family member, she wouldn't stop.
         After her quick meal Megan stood up and looked around - she was in a cave of some sort, standing on a vague path. She followed the path with her eyes in one direction, but was disappointed that it only lead to darkness. The other direction however, revealed an opening in the distance with sunlight coming through a human-sized entrance. Megan wasn't sure if this was how she had entered the cave, or the way out, but at this point she only wanted to get out of this cave, find her bearings and plan out the best path towards the witch. She slowly walked forward, her trusty torch in her hand, mindful of the wet slippery floor and the abundance of holes. Something was making a metallic clank, near her leg, so Megan tried to find the source of the noise and was pleased to find a small one handed war axe strapped to her leg. She grabbed the weapon and braced herself for the witch to explain the weapon's origin, but no such vision appeared. Meg wondered if she had slain an adversary and received the axe as a reward or if she had simply found it somewhere, but at this point such details bore little consequence.
         Megan grew ever closer to the illuminated exit of the cave and had to go past a narrow closing of the cave, almost as a portal leading towards a different room. And in a sense it was just that- Megan found herself in a circular portal, which had half of the floor replaced with a giant fissure, whose bottom was too deep to be seen. Near the centre she saw an old man with a bald head, a spear and a large wooden shield next to him. He was helplessly lying on the floor, half transparent with a deep tint of blue, and a giant rock next to him.
         "Are you alright, old man?" she asked as she approached him
         "I am not, young lady. My leg has been crushed by this boulder..." he turned around to look at her, revealing a half burnt face "I've been lying here for days, maybe weeks, my body's so numb that I can't feel my leg anymore. Please, you have to help me!"
         "I'll see what I can do." Megan said as she dropped her lit torch and started pushing the heavy boulder with her shoulder
         "Thank you, bless your heart!"
         "Urgh!" she groaned as the boulder nudged just slightly. Due to the dampness of the cave, the torch was starting to dim out "How did this fall on your leg?"
         "My companions, those wretched bastards, I hope they burn in hell for this, they woke up the dragon that's sleeping in the bottom of this hole!" the man protested as he became more and more visible "They knew that I was slowest, so they stabbed my leg with a dagger to slow me down even further, and have me distract the monster long enough for them to escape. The dragon hit the wall with its giant tail and this bloody boulder fell on top of me. I had the air taken right out me lungs so I couldn't even scream. The only reason I'm still alive is thanks to the dragon's horrible eyesight - had he seen me, he'd probably had eaten me whole!"
         "Grrrr-ah!" Megan groaned from the strain, but finally she managed to push the boulder off of the old man's leg. Unfortunately, the rock picked up momentum, and under the slight slope of the footing started rolling towards the crevice.
         "NOO!" she yelled in horror as the rock fell down into the abyss and landed at the bottom with an audible crash. A powerful, angry roar followed almost instantly.
         "Oh, no, you woke it up!" the old man yelled as he struggled to get up. "Quick help me up and give me my walking cane from the ground!"
         Megan gave the man his stick, grabbed him under the arm and rushed towards the exit. That's when the torch's flame completely died out, leaving the cave completely dark, save the light that was coming from the exit. Despite how dark the cave was, from the corner of her eye, Megan saw a giant red dragon fly all the way to the top of the cave, make a loop in the air and land near the edge of the crevice. Luckily the two humans were already a few meters away from the exit and could feel the sunlight bathing on their skin.
         "Look, girly." He started just before escaping "I feel horrible for this, but that dragon will hunt us down if we leave it here like this."
         "What? What are you saying?"
         "Forgive me!" the old man took out his knife and in one quick motion buried it in Megan's upper thigh. The woman shrieked with pain and fell instantly to the ground. The betraying old man, however managed to keep his balance on his walking stick and rushed himself outside, using only one leg.
         "You bastard!" Megan yelled, struggling to get on her feet "I'm going to kill you when I get out!"
         "GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The dragon roared as it emitted an enormous blast of fire towards the exit. The light that emerged from the fire illuminated the entire chamber, revealing many burnt skeletons and ashes. Megan made a last-second-effort to use her good foot and both of her hands to leap backwards and just barely avoided the dragon's fiery breath. She landed softly on her feet and slowly stood up. The dragon growled with audible anger at the fact that the woman was still alive. Megan extended her hand, and using the Wailing Widow's gauntlets, she fired a blast of black fire towards the giant monster. The dragon cried out in pain as the flames enveloped his body, coating his dry red scales with a deep black ash.
         "But first, I'm going to slay you!" she declared as her lips curled into a smile, her body pumping so much adrenaline that her wounded leg felt like brand new. She took out her war axe and her Manticore's shield and charged towards the burning dragon with a mighty battle cry. She fiercely buried her weapon in the creature's chest, which caused the dragon to lose its balance and fall down in the deep hole where only shadows lived along with the bloodthirsty human. And then it all went black.
         When she finally regained her senses again, Megan heard singing. She hadn't heard singing in so long. She looked around - she was standing somewhere high - a hill perhaps, maybe a small mountain, because she could see a giant forest spreading in almost all direction, with a meadow, visible in the distance. Megan grabbed her aching head and tried to remember how long it had been since the last time she was in control... the last time she was conscious of her actions and the repercussions that would follow... the last thing she could physically remember was... slaying something evil... a non-human of some sort, but how much time had passed since then - weeks, months... years? How many years? Megan couldn't know for certain.
         She looked up - there she saw a wooden hut, where the singing was coming from. Megan tried to close her eyes and listen, but she couldn't recognize the melody - it was a familiar slow and sad tune, but she couldn't be sure which song it was. The voice that was singing was rough and raspy, but still managed to sound beautifully. Megan slowly approached the entrance, enchanted by the singing, and dropped her heavy bag. A dozen or so of swords, maces, axes and daggers crashed into one another, making a metallic symphony of dings and clanks. The woman made a step forward and took off her unfamiliar golden gauntlets and her silver, horned helmet, feeling surprisingly lighter without their added weight. Megan took a deep breath and opened the door. There she found an old lady, who was sitting in a meditative pose with more than 2 dozen crystal spheres floating around her. Megan raised an eyebrow, revealing a look of both confusion and indifference. The old lady in return raised her head and stared at her carefully. She moved her hands in such a way, as to stop the spheres and push them to the side, clearing up the space between the kneeling old lady and the standing woman
         "Welcome to my hut, dearie, congratulations on surviving this far." The meditating woman said
         "Who are you, woman? You're a non-human, aren't you!" Megan hissed provocatively
         "Well I am a witch." She said in a low undertone "But you have proven yourself to be an exceptional warrior."
         "Don't patronise me, hag!" Megan drew her short sword which was resting on her belt "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't strike you down and free this world from yet another evil non-human!"
         "Because you have earned the right to one wish. Killing me would just be wasteful at this point, don't you think?"
         "A wish? I can wish for anything?"
         "Anything and everything. Now tell me, dear, what is it that you desire most of all?"
         "What I desire most of all?" Megan asked herself, her mind instantly replaying the scene of the ghouls impaling Peter's body with shocking clarity. She remembered frantically running after the non-human beast, who was dragging his disfigured carcass, leaving a gruesome trail of blood and guts. She remembered the twisted smile that the Wailing Widow bore when she snapped the neck of that innocent child, the unnatural death of being crushed to bits that the little deer had to endure. It wasn't right. None of this was. Everything in this world was wrong and rotten to the core.
         "Well? What shall be your wish, child?" she asked with anticipation
         "I wish..." Megan began "I wish to be strong. To be powerful enough to cleanse these lands from all the monsters, dragons, man-eaters and filthy betrayers! I will set this rotten world right!"
         "Your wish... has been granted." The witch said with a sad sigh. She drowned herself in a deep cough, and when she looked at her, which she used to cover her mouth, she saw that it was soaked in blood. The old woman looked up at Megan, and despite seeing a passionate fire in her eyes born from her unshakeable determination, she knew that Megan had become the darkness that she was now vowing to stop. A tear fell from her eye, as she shook her head from disappointment with a sad smile on her face.
         "What is it, witch?" Megan asked
         "Oh, nothing..." she said after drawing in a deep breath "I guess some things truly are destined to happen, and we can't do anything to change them..."
         "How do you mean?"
         "The song I sang, you recognized it, didn't you?"
         "Yes, but... from where?"
         "My mother use to sing it to me when I was very little. The earliest memory is of her putting me down on a table, with a red cloth tucked tightly around me. A witch, just like me but all in green, promised that no death would find me until she returned, but she never did, so I never died, regardless of how painful my sickness was. I had all the time in the world to study witchcraft, to learn how to grant wishes, create worlds, perform miracles and most of all - travel through time... So I did, tried to change events as much as I could without upsetting the world...but the one thing I couldn't do is make you remember your duty as a mother. Regardless, it was nice to see you one last time, mother."
         "My sweet daughter?" Megan asked with tearful eyes.

THE END

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