The One Crusaders

Chapter 4 (Three weeks later)

"You're safe. You lost her. She gave up on catching you this time." She scoffed at her own words. They weren't true and she knew it.

That's what she had told herself over and over again, every time these last three weeks that she had lost the woman. She always rested thinking that the chase was over. And she always awoke to the Dogs baying nearby.

Which was why she was completely lost, in a forest she'd never been in before, running for her life. Sam finally saw the actual light of day, and burst through the remaining undergrowth, towards the sun.

Sam paused, confused. She didn't remember it getting any darker in the forest at all, but then why was she facing the sun? She was heading west... wasn't she?

She turned round, dreading what she might see, but what she knew she would. Bandolin. The complete opposite direction that she had been traveling for the past three days. She groaned, and turned herself around, resuming her jogging.

Unknown to her, her mother had anticipated where she was heading, and ordered her dogs down to the riverside, that was impossible to pass by if you wanted to go to Bandolin. When she heard her coming, she ordered her dogs around to the other side, and came at her from the front. Sam saw her and stopped.

"What do you want, Mom?"

"You know what. Give me the ring."

"I've already told you, i don't know what you're talking about."

"Give me the ring."

"No! I want you to tell me why you think i have this ring of yours, when i don't even know what it is!"

"Give me the ring now, and i will make your death a quicker one than i did your father's."

Samantha gasped. She had never known how her father had died, only that he had been murdered. Never had she known who her father's killer was. Until now.

"You destroyed my life, so I am going to destroy your ring."

Her mother cackled. "How are you going to destroy it if you don't know you have it?! If you give yourself up, I will make your death merciful. You can die knowing you made your mother happy in your final moments of life. For the first time... I need you."

Samantha looked loathing at the mother she'd just wanted to please for the past fifteen years of her life. Now all she wanted to do was get away from her, hurt her. If not physically, than emotionally. If she only knew what ring she was talking about...

She did a mental run-through of her inventory, thinking of anything out of the ordinary. She had her hat in the bag she was wearing, along with a blanket, some food, and the last present she had gotten from her father, a circular hat with no top; her father had told her when he had given it to her, "This will show it's true potential when the time comes; until then, always wear it, always have it on you. It will protect you." These were the last words he said to her.

Suddenly, out of pure impulse, Sam threw the ring onto the ground and stomped it to hundreds of tiny pieces. She ground to heel of her boot into the ground over and over again until powder rose from the ground. She then stared defiantly up at her mother, but was surprised when the face staring back at her was amused, not furious.

 Her mother laughed, mockingly. "Did you really think that would do anything? I don't want the ring itself."

Sam stared back down at the ground and saw something she'd missed the first time. There was a small jewel about the size of her fingernail with what looked to be... fog? Mist? 

"This was made completely indestructible by myself. Nothing you do will change that. So, your little temper-tantrum accomplished nothing."

Sam bent down and picked up the rock. She felt the oddest of sensations, a tugging feeling. The stone cracked.

The mist she saw earlier arose from the stone, taking a human shape. It surged at Sam as she cowered in fear. Then it... enveloped her. Sam felt terrified one second and the next she just felt... sad.

And then her mind was awakened.

Everything about her mother came flooding into her mind at once. She knew why she was so evil. She had been killed. A group of roving bandits had passed through one night as she was returning home. Her dying wish was to make sure her daughter would grow up to be strong and disciplined, therefor making a wister, a soul of the restless dead. It had ended up badly, obviously, for her wish had never been fulfilled. She knew other less important things also. When she came home every day from work. The way she fixed me food. The way she fixed the baby food.

Sam started. She realized she just thought about herself in the third person. The baby was HER. Oh God. She said in her mind. Father?? 

"Yes, Sam. I am your Father's wister."

Sam felt the words leave her lips but knew she had not said them. She was somehow possessed by her father's wister. Her father continued speaking through Sam, this time speaking directly to Sam's mother.

'My dearest Selene. Why did you do this to yourself?'

Her mother (apparently Selene - she had never actually heard it before) had watched this unfolding before her with growing horror. Then the human part of her that had not been consumed by evil became curious.

"How?"

"The same way you are here. My dying wish has never been fulfilled, although your magic has confined me to a much less "real" state of being, as evidenced by you stuffing me into that rock. But nonetheless, I managed to alter this reality enough to break through your crystal and possess our daughter. Our fates are now tied together."

Selene cackled. "You think that fool of a child will be able to support a magical being? She will perish within the hour"

"Ah, but I have kept this secret from you. I know that a mortal would perish. However, she is not a mortal. I have kept her magic hidden from you for her protection."

Sam was confused. She didn't have  magic. Why was her father telling Selene that she did? Unless...

Sam took control of her body back from her father. She said "Mother. It's me."

Selene looked even more astonished now. She thought that the form of Sam had been fully engulfed in the wister of her father. Now that Sam was back... this could cause problems... unless she was killed

She cast a spell on them, or attempted to. The personality of Sam came back to the surface of her body. She screamed as she felt the wister of her father being torn from her body by her mother's spell. In the dim recesses of her mind, she heard her father tell her It's okay. Give me control again.

She thrust everything she had onto that part of her brain that was taken over by her father, giving him control to fight back the dark. He rose from her fetal position on the ground at her Mother's gloating feet. He stared her straight in the eyes, as her look of triumph turned into a look of fear.

Sam's father placed a hand through her chest. He had apparently changed his hand into a gas. As it was halfway through her, he looked sadly at her one last time. He then changed his hand back to solid.

Selene was killed immediately. Her husband's hand had formed inside her heart, pushing it out of the way so far until it burst while still inside her chest. After this, her father gave Sam control of her body again. She fell to the floor at her mother's feet, unbelieving. But it was true. She was free.

She stood up and looked at her father as she remembered her in her mind. We have a lot to talk about she thought. "Yes" he answered "We do"