Ithrika Daughter of Malthael

Chapter 4 (part 2)

"The Lion and the Tiger may be more powerful...But at least the wolf does not preform in the circus." -Unknown

Footsteps and a sneeze were heard in the echoing and freezing night as the woman walked through the snow of the mountains upon Sanctuary. As she walked she was joined by a white wolf, who was panting happily after chasing a rabbit through the snow, the woman looked over to the wolf but then turned back to the path they were walking. Her armor was covered by the black cape she wore, which also covered her head and mouth from the bitter cold. "Welcome back." She greeted the young wolf who wagged her tail happily in response. Both came to a stop as an odd bluish light captured their attention but then continued moving on. They don't know I have returned nor do I want them too just yet. Today had held more than enough surprises for her poor heart. She and the wolf walked for what seemed like forever until she finally stopped under a tree, the woman did not dare to light a fire until she had shaken off as many branches that she could reach just so she could light one without snow falling on it. She looked at her companion then nodded, and the she-wolf vanished. The woman began to light the fire but did not take off her outfit for she was dry. She looked up to see her new companion come back with her kill and began to slice off what she could to feed both of them and dried out some of the meat so she could eat on the road later on. As the fire warmed the area, the woman sat against the tree allowing the warmth to cover her as the wolf who now slept by it was also warmed. The woman cleared her throat but sat against the tree with her arms crossed and legs pointed towards the fire.She dozed off a bit, but woke up after a few minutes then started the process again. Once she had fallen asleep completely it was the wolf who woke with a snarl and stood over the woman, who just happened to also awaken at the sound of the snarl. She sat on one of her legs as she placed her other foot on the ground ready to do battle with whoever had picked her to attack. She stood when she saw four angels appear before her. Her wolf continued to snarl until she held her hand down, signaling for her to stop and remain on guard. Which the she-wolf did as the angels and the woman stared each other. They were sizing each other up when the woman recognized who these angels were. She lowered her blade and put it away, turning from them to sheath the sword as she went back to leaning against the tree. 

"Who are you?" One of the angels asked her as she leaned against the tree, none seeing the familiar glint of her winter blue armor. "And where do you come from?"

She looked over at them and understood who he was. She tilted her head to the side as her brain tried to match this angel's look to his voice. Even the white wolf cocked her head to the side in confusion as if trying to figure out who he was, but then it hit her. "Tyrael correct?" The woman asked him only to watch as he nodded. 

Now it was the Angel's turn to be confused. "Your voice, it sounds familiar, but I cannot place why."

The woman studied them going from one to the other then her gaze landed back on Tyrael. "Probably because when you last saw me I was consumed by the same madness that had consumed Malthael." As she said that she pulled the scarf down and removed the hood of the cloak. She watched as they all stood in shock now. It had been years since they had last seen this woman.

"Ithrika!" Tyrael said in shock. "But how?"

The woman, Ithrika, smiled. "Let's just say it's not fun to be summoned to this world by an overgrown child of a demon lord who sought to turn my powers against you all. This same said demon lord found out that it's not as easy as he thought it would be to cause me to fear his power and will only after a certain amount of time come back. Probably to seek revenge for me killing him, which in turn will be funny for me to watch as he fails several times over." She remained leaning against the tree as her wolf walked over and nuzzled one of her hands, which Ithrika began to pet the wolf with. 

"Which demon lord was this?" A voice asked her as she looked at him. He was still the same way she remembered him to be: tall, wearing golden armor, golden wings flared out behind him and his halo somehow always shining brightly even in the darkness of night.

"Same one you keep picking a fight with Imperius," Ithrika said as she ran her fingers through the wolf's fur, causing the she-wolf to shiver. She looked back to her golden-winged uncle as he stared at her. 

"Diablo." Was all he said with a tint of anger to his voice, which had her slightly worrying.

Auriel turned to Ithrika, "Ithrika, what powers are you talking about?" 

Ithrika sighed heavily, signaling that she was tired but told them anyways, as she flicked her wrist with a fireball appearing in her open hand. "I haven't been idle while I was in my old world, I managed to tap into my powers and found that I can do a range of things that I couldn't before. But as I was exploring them, I also trained myself to control them and slowly bit by bit I became in control of the many abilities that comes with my powers. But it was a surprise when Diablo had me summoned and while I was confused I lost control only for a few moments and he, along with his demon summoners, ended up dying and I escaped. I managed to get this far out here until all of you found me." She stopped petting the wolf and she went to lay down again by the fire. When the wolf had finally laid down Ithrika turned to the fire and kept her gaze on it for a while. She stayed like that, just staring at the flames lost in deep thought until she felt a hand on her shoulder, which for a minute surprised her and caused her to look to see Tyrael standing next to her. 

"Why didn't you come looking for us?"

"Because contrary to the popular belief, the madness that ran through me however many years ago is still within me. It's nothing more than a hushed whisper now but it's still there. I would rather learn to completely control all of my powers before going back to the Heavens. It would be easier for both me and all of you. Besides," Ithrika snapped her fingers after closing her hand,  catching the wolf's attention who, in turn, understood the signal for the wolf to disappear into the shadows quickly. The wolf obeyed staying close to the ground as she vanished into the shadows her amber-golden eyes scanning for whatever her mistress felt. "We have a visitor." As she said the last word a demon appeared from beneath the ground as Ithrika jumped out of the way pushing Tyrael away as well. The fire went out but Ithrika could see in the dark and since it was a full moon she could see the demon perfectly. "Damn you're the ugliest demon I have seen so far." She jumped out of the way then summoned several energy swords and flung them towards the demon. With the flick of her wrist, the swords went towards the demon and impaled his skin. "Bitch!" She snarled as she went racing towards the demon. Her sword was in her mouth as she leapt up and jumped from one summoned sword to the next until she was in the air and it was snaking its way up to her with its mouth wide open. Just as it was about to get a hold of her a white blur shoved it away as it latched onto one of the demon's eight eyes. She pulled her sword out of her mouth and fell towards the demon managing to spin around several times then landing onto its only other good eye which just happened to be the eye leading to the brain. But she didn't really land as much as she went through the demon making sure to land on the ground with the demon's black colored blood dripping off of her head, along her face, and onto the ground. As she stood, they all watched it fall as the white wolf landed near Ithrika. They saw her turn to the wolf that was sparkling clean and comment something that had them all smiling if not chuckling. "Show off." They heard a happy panting come from the wolf as Ithrika wiped the blood off of her face. Imperius turned to the young woman who glared at the blood and tried to flick it off of her hand but found that she failed. "Oh, that's just lovely." He heard her say as he smiled. "No comment from the peanut gallery over there Tyrael." 

"I wasn't about to say anything." Tyrael smiled at her as he earned a black look from her. "Maybe I was thinking it but I wasn't about to say it." That, in itself, earned him a swift smack to the head from Auriel. "Hey!"

"Tyrael!" Auriel spoke in the rarest of tones as she looked to Ithrika, who was studying her hand and arm.