The Queen of Shadows

Chapter 15: Darkness Blossoms

Over 2 millennia ago...

Aife was sitting idly on the steps leading up to the stone fortress. It was getting dark, and her sister had not yet returned. The young girl was getting worried that something might have happened to her, and there was no way Aife would know otherwise, being unable to pass the barrier like Scathach did and travel up to the fortress above. She had been waiting for her all morning and for several hours since, and even as day gave way to night, Aife still saw no sign of her.

(Step... step... step...)

Aife was alerted to the sound of footsteps approaching. Quickly grabbing her spear, she ran in front of the barrier and saw Scathach walking down.

"Sister..." Aife calls out, feeling relieved to see her. Yet something quickly became obvious to her that Scathach looked... distracted. She had her head cast down and barely acknowledged Aife as she passed through the veil and joined her. Aife puts a hand on her sister's shoulder and asks worriedly:

"What happened? Scathach, did you meet The Shadow?"

Scathach still looked like she was lost in thought, and it took her a moment to answer her, eventually looking at Aife with her crimson-red eyes.

"I have, Aife..."

"And?"

"He..." Scathach hesitates, internally still processing her fateful encounter with him. Aife looks on in sheer confusion as her mind reeled as to what The Shadow had done to her sister. Scathach takes a deep breath before finishing.

"He showed me things... Incredible things..."

Her answer made Aife even more worried. What had The Shadow done to her?

"Scathach... you're not making any sense," Aife tells her. "Did you ask him to help you? Will he make you better?"

"I... I'm sorry Aife," she said sadly, feeling bad for troubling her sister like this. Aife could tell her sister just was not ready to give her the details of what happened in that fortress. "But this isn't the best time. I promise I'll explain more back at the village. Let's not stay here."

So here they were... After trekking back to the village and rejoining their hosts, Fimir and her son Kihli, Scathach shared in chilling detail of her fateful encounter with the man called "The Shadow." They all sat outside around the fire eating some of Fimir's stew. The young girl opted to continue wearing her cloak which covered her head with a hood, still wary of the other villagers' hostility to her after yesterday. Scathach had just finished telling Aife what The Shadow had revealed to her.

"You're immortal?" Aife asked in awe.

"Yes," Scathach affirms. "He even stabbed me in the stomach to prove it."

"He did?" Fimir was appalled. "Cruel bastard! Doing that to a child..."

"Did it hurt?" Kihli asks reluctantly. Since the sisters' return, he had been gradually becoming less shy around them. Scathach indulges him, rubbing her stomach remembering the excruciating pain vividly.

"It did... very much," she then looks between Aife and Fimir, a smile slowly forming on her face. "And that's not all he showed me..."

They all looked on as Scathach extended her bare arm out of her cloak. She concentrates as her arm lights-up with violet-glowing patterns travelling down to her hand. Aife's jaw drops while Fimir lets out quietly:

"What in Lugh's name?!"

Scathach grunts as she strains to maintain the flow of mana along her arm. Aife stares agape and in amazement of what she was seeing from her sister.