Crow's flight

Ninth feather - Cron Wada

(The white feather that danced in the air, lost in the forest, is rapidly fading, losing its plumage at a faster rate.)

In a solitary glade, Dana was pressing and wrapping her right arm, all wrinkled and aged, which turned that way after she withered the mad king to the bones. Even after she used the bandages of her other half to immobilise it, it was still shaking a bit, trying to free itself. She could swear that it emanated a fading ghostly aura, almost as if that part wasn't her body.

There was the letter Lerioth gave her on the ground, almost destroyed after it also got affected by her touch. She could see that was signed by Naisa, recognising her handwriting, but couldn't read anything because of its horrendous state. To make it worse, the white-haired also lost the dolls she was carrying among many other things but didn't care much at that moment.

Tears were slowly falling down her cheeks. She was kneeling, unable to stand up, seeing the puddle below from all the weeping, and her miserable face in the reflection.

"I... Did I... kill him? Did I kill Lerioth?"

I did us a favour, you don't need him!

"Silence! I don't want to hear from you!"

Oh... but you do, you want to know!

"N-no! I just want this nightmare to end! I want to go back to Ovingud!"

You are better here! Yes... Ovingud is a prison for us!

"Who are you?! Who is speaking?!"

You don't know? Who am I? I'm right there, I've always been with you, just look below!

She looked at her face in the water.

Yes, that's me, since I am you!

"N-no! You are not me! I... I got possessed or something! I didn't kill Lerioth!"

You did, we did!

"No!!" she screamed in rage, splashing the puddle, scattering it everywhere. After that, the same voice she heard started laughing loudly.

You really don't remember me? I have been with you since you were a little child!

She collapsed tired, raising a few reddish wet leaves to the air, which covered her vision. When they fell, everything seemed different, as if she was in the same place... yet ages ago. She wasn't sure if it was blurrier and foggier because the tear messed with her contact lenses.

"Look mom!" shouted a little girl, jumping on piles of leaves, elevating them as had happened before, and laughing at it.

The white-haired rapidly stood up, seeing herself not very far, as a child. She was wearing tattered brown robes, her skin was as pale as the moon and her black hair was as dark as the night. A woman was walking near her, carrying a staff with raven bones tied on the top.

"My little white crow, you'll scare the other birds!"

She opened her eyes shocked, recognising the voice that just talked, although it was less ravaged by time.

"I like this forest! Is so calm... and red! I like red!"

"I'm glad you liked it, but we cannot stay here much longer, or the man with the hat will find us."

"I don't like him! He is scary!"

"Wait, you are... my mom?" asked Dana, approaching the other. Suddenly, they were swept away by the breeze. "Wait!"

She ran, trying to follow where the wind took them, and stumbled on a hard root, therefore falling to the ground. When she stood up saw the woman from before also on the ground, unconscious. The little girl was crying, being dragged by a man wearing a hat and a stylish coat with... was it the Ovingud symbol?