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The Death Child: Extreme Couples Counseling
- The Death Child: Extreme Couples Counseling -
Upon the slopes of the great mountain, lightning lashes and dark clouds rumbled, though there was no storm elsewhere. Below that massive peak, its' cliffs and crags, and the hills that led up to it all around, there lay a stretch of plains whereon two armies clashed. The sound of sword, ax, and spear on metal so resounded, and there was shouting and yelling among the folk so engaged. Unlike upon the mountain... there was no snow upon the plains, which were still touched by the sun and so spared the icy fate of the peak itself. The conflict was nearly over, and many of the men and women who fought on still were on the verge of withdrawing. Who can say why they fought, what their conflict was over? Only the craggy face of the mountain bore witness to the events that transpired beneath its' stony gaze. Some of the men and women wore coats of mail, or scale, over leather and cloth, and they had upon their heads conical helmets, some with horns and others with spikes. The leaders' helms were plumed, largely so that they could be easily seen upon the battlefield itself. The leaders themselves did regard each other with some small measure of respect, however strained, and though the air was warm below the mountain still it so did seem that a chill was come about the air of the plains. A chill carried down from the heights, a cold born from some unnatural force, for all the men and women below could imagine. The two leaders did clamber down from their horses, and they faced each other at last along with their soldiers. Mighty and strong were they, both warrior women of great renown and even greater legend. They cast from off their arms the shields they had carried, and each unsheathed their weapons choosing to attack rather than to seek any measure of defense. They longed to get this battle over with as quickly as they could, to seek a decisive victory. The taller of the two women was pale blonde of hair and immeasurably fair of skin, of eye, and of some said manner. The shorter of the pair of adversaries had a long wavy mane of red hair... and her skin was a bit bronzed in color compared to the other woman's pallor. Blood red, her hair was, a most unusual shade thereof, and green were her eyes. She was the more muscular of the two, but her blonde counterpart was the more skilled of the two warriors. They clashed with swords on swords, but at their belts were small hand axes and daggers, just in case such might be needed. The blonde woman was growing impatient as the battle went on, and shouted angrily: “Dhalis, this is a senseless fight! It is said that the mountain is accursed and that blood spilled below it calls to the darkness that dwells in the caves thereupon. We should both withdraw, to consider perhaps taking our conflict elsewhere!” but the red haired woman was determined to vanquish her rival at long last, and sneered contentiously: “Varya! You always did seem a coward to me, as you northern folk are said to be such ferocious warriors and so lusty in your love for battle, this surprises me greatly that you would call for a retreat when we are both well beyond the point where retreat would even be feasible. And where would you have us fight? You... you act like this is some sort of a game that we are playing! It is not. So meet my sword or run if it thus pleases you, either way I shall have my victory upon this fateful day.” And after that brief exchange, the two women resumed their duel, whilst all about them their armies clashed on. The sound of thunder did roar upon the heights of the mountain, louder than when it had called out previously. Varya noticed this and her eyes grew wide at the sight of more lightning. “If we keep spilling more blood here, it will not be good what happens! We need to stop our fighting, right now whilst we still may.” she declared, but exactly as before Dhalis took this to be a sign of weakness in her mortal enemy and laughed it off. She did not even verbally acknowledge her dismissal of the warning this time. What good would it do? The blonde woman was clearly intent on her belief that this was a foolish course, and the woman with the blood red hair refused to relent in any case. And so they continued their deadly dance until it became all too certain that there would be no peaceful way to resolve things after all. Soon... Dhalis' sword flashed, in the afternoon sunlight, and broke her opponent's blade which had been weakened over the course of the battle. Sparks shot from the splintering steel, and Varya felt her enemy's blade sinking deeply as it pierced first her armor and then her flesh, cleaving bone and entering her heart. Thus, she met her end.
“My blade is not of this world, Varya! You should have known better, than to challenge me.” Dhalis declared with visible sorrow in her voice, adding: “We were like sisters once! Alas, it was fated that it should come to this in the end, for you.” Those were the last words that Varya ever heard as she fell to the grassy ground, bled out, and died. Dhalis let out a harsh-sounding victory cry and raised her sword high above her head. Varya's soldiers retreated from the battlefield... what soldiers of hers that were yet living... and the thunder grew a great deal louder than it had been before, the lightning more intense. As Dhalis looked up upon the heights of the mountain from her place upon the plains, she realized that as her former comrade turned enemy had warned her... there was something very wrong with this place. “I am a proud warrior! I do not run at the merest danger, and yet this... this frightens me.” she mused in a silent moment of thought to herself whilst she cleaned the blood from her sword with a white cloth. She waited for her soldiers to gather, and warned them: “You need to leave this place at once! Those of you who still have horses... ride. The rest of you march, back to our camp. It is but a small distance, through yonder barrens beyond these plains, and we shall be away from this devil's mountain. I shall join you lot in a while, after I tend to Varya's burial and offer a prayer to the gods for her spirit's rest.” The men and women of the red haired warrior woman's army then did as their leader bade them and left the field. It was then that Dhalis turned to the blonde woman's body and knelt before it, allowing herself to cry for her vanquished rival. “I will bury you here, where you breathed your last, and raise over you a cairn so mighty that even the gods may notice it and weep for you as I do! I am sorry... so sorry... that I could in the end find no way to make peace with you. But it was you, who challenged me, and you who lost! It is I who remain, to bury you in tears. You would have wept for me as well, for how much we did love one another of old! Sister? More than a sister... always more.” All of that she spoke out loud, for she wanted so very badly for her former... sister?... to hear her. “More than a sister... always.” she said once more in a mournfully loving manner. It took many hours work to first dig the grave and then to pile enough rock and stone atop it from the rocks and stones that were about the plains, but in the end Varya was laid to a semblance of rest. Dhalis realized she could not possible bury all of the enemy soldiers who were slain. That task would fall to the enemy army that had fled the field. They would likely return after nightfall... when they could be certain that Dhalis' forces were well and truly gone... in order to tend to their fallen. “Bloody tragedy is what this is!” the red haired woman declared. All of a sudden, she could hear a most peculiar sound upon the wind that blew down from the mountain. It was almost like laughter or sorrow, a person either laughing or crying quite loudly but in a manner whereby she thought that the voice was a most inhuman sounding one. “Who is there?” she cried out, and then there was only silence after that. “I say again! Who is there making that sound?” and the laughter returned. It was laughter indeed! For it had a cruel edge to it that was vacant from sorrow, from crying. Dhalis brushed the dirt and dust of the ground off of her pants... she had been kneeling and working upon the ground for some time previously as she constructed Varya's cairn... and felt a strangely warm breeze blow down from the mountain. The very opposite of the cold wind that she felt before. It was almost like a living thing's breath! So warm it was, that the woman cast off her armor in order to cope with the change in temperature which was fast becoming a good deal warmer and hotter than it had been only moments ago. Her scale breastplate did clatter to the ground, and she laid it against Varya's cairn whispering as she did so: “For you, my love... my enemy... eternal.” She had been wearing beneath it a blood red leather vest that was laced up in the front, and beneath the vest a brighter red low-cut silk blouse with long billowing sleeves that was itself tucked into her baggy red pantaloons that were tied at the waist and ankles with drawstring. Her feet so had upon them a pair of black leather shoes, with warm ankle-length stockings to wisely keep her feet from chafing. About her waist was a black leather belt from which hung her sheathed sword, it' golden hint gleaming in what little now remained of the fading daylight. The chain mail shirt that she had worn over her vest and under her breastplate, that she also offered to Varya as a burial gift. It was time to go.
For if night should descend and Varya's people arrived this night to claim their fallen warriors, it thus would never do for their bitterest enemy to remain on the battlefield for them to discover. They would it was certain seek vengeance for their chieftain's death! Then, the laughter returned, and this time it was a good deal clearer what direction it was coming from... the small hills at the base of the mountain. “If you seek to mock me in this time of grief, then you will meet my blade for such mockery! One last time I shall ask... who are you?” and the voice returned an echo of Dhalis' own question by saying in a cruel tone of voice: “Who are you!” Whoever was doing this... they were definitely mocking her. She was a big woman even if not a tall one, large of bone and large of build. But large in her passions and in how much she loved and hated in equal measure. She also had a large heart for those she loved the most! It was thus, that it could be so easy given her passionate nature for that same love to be turned to wrath if she was crossed too much. She was not muscular despite her large build... she was still soft of skin and looked very much like the queen she was. Of noble birth and noble manner. Her face was rounded, her lips full, her nose a bit broad, her cheeks freckled. It was not the face of a noblewoman, despite her life as such... it was the face of a warrior queen rather than simply a queen. A woman who lived her life in a lusty and proud manner, which always she had. Always she had! She had a voluptuous build with large breasts, wide hips, and a round ample buttocks. Her waist was not small, and her body was in all of its' proportions that of a big woman. Men wanted her, but women delighted her... and she had lovers that were of both genders over the years. She was a young woman, thirty years old, but in her time she had lived a great deal and seen and done a great many things. Even so, she had seen nothing like whatever it was that worked its' will upon that mountain! And it was a dark will indeed. She determined to follow the sound of the mocking voice, and did not care if night fell whilst she chased after it. So long as what path led hither took her away from the plains, she felt that she would be safe enough. Her voice was on the deeper side as far as women's voices go, though her tone was always soft when she spoke not in any kind of anger. But right now, she was angry as she cried out: “Wait for me, mocker! I swear that when I get my hands upon you I will tear the tongue from your annoying throat!” She chased the voice as some might chase an enemy on a battlefield, or as a hunter night chase down a fleeing deer. The air was hot... no longer even warm but like a summer day. “This is absurd!” Dhalis thought to herself about that. “As I journey up into the hills hereabouts, it should be growing colder not hotter.” But it was indeed hot out now, and the big red haired woman could hear the telltale sounds of water dripping as the snow and ice of the mountain began to melt. Ere long, she came to a group of gray ancient looking ruins that sat like a spider upon the top of one of the hills. It seemed as if the bitter laughter of that awful mocking voice, did come from those ruins. As she approached them, she saw moss and ivy covering the whole of what appeared to have once been a temple of some kind. She drew near to it, past a small stretch of woods as grew upon the hilltops around that area, thick forests of tall pines and stout oak trees filled with darker shadows than Dhalis had ever seen before. It was as if it were a primal darkness that clung between the trees of this domain. Soon, she entered the ruined building, the ceiling of which had caved in long ago, leaving the whole interior open to the sky. It was nighttime by then, and the moon was large and full in the sky, with a bit of an orange tint to it. The stars shone brightly, the only light other than the moon to break the darkness that gathered all about this forsaken place. There was torchlight from further into the ruins, and Dhalis decided to follow it. Whoever had been mocking her, they were evidently here to be found! She approached the light and saw that it came from several torches in sconces upon pillars that had once held up the now destroyed temple roof. There was a campfire on the floor, between piles of shattered tiles, broken wooden beams, and smashed stones and bricks. A woman sat in front of the fire, sitting upon a flat stone with her legs crossed. She wore a long black gown with a white girdle that was about her waist, and her frame was slender, her voice no longer inhuman or mocking in tone but rather now she was singing softly and gently to herself. “Welcome, Dhalis!” the woman said, her tone kindly.
Her voice was sweet and lyrical, but not high or lilting. Rather... it had a certain seductive quality to it that surprised the red haired warrior woman who now approached her. Dhalis saw, that this woman was a good many years younger than herself, likely but a girl in her later teenage years. The girl had hair that was as white as snow but skin that was quite dark, darker than many of the folk that Dhalis was used to. The girl's eyes were so dark a shade of brown that they were almost but not quite black, her nose was a small and what some might consider “cute” looking nose, and her lips were a bit pouting with a rather slight smile playing about her features. The girl wore a pair of blood red ruby earrings in her ears, and she had a silver nose ring on also. Her feet were covered with soft looking black slippers, and she had a very relaxed and somewhat playful look to her as she regarding Dhalis. The warrior woman said to her: “If you are, as it would seem, the person who has been mocking me for what remained of the day... I do not find such a jest amusing even from one so young as yourself. I do not make a habit of doing harm to children, girl, so tell me what it is you mean by such games as you play.” the girl then laughed a bit in a way that was almost innocent and mirthful as she said: “Oh, Dhalis! Oh Dhalis... you don't make a habit of hurting children perhaps, but yet you killed someone you used to love. I want to know why.” And the warrior woman then sat down on a fallen wooden beam across the campfire from the girl. She then did say unto her: “She betrayed me for a man who was my mortal enemy... and together with him plotted to kill me, and all because I was not masculine enough to suit Varya's desires in the end. Well, predictably he betrayed her also, and she slew him before deciding that still she hated me and wished to end me. If you know how our conflict ended, then you know how much all of this hurt me to the point where all I could think about was punishing Varya for her betrayal. And yet, she too was betrayed first by the man who had twisted her to hate me... and then by me, when I took her life. I will live with regrets over that for the rest of my life, child. That was never how I truly wanted our story to end.” The girl then aasked Dhalis honestly: “How... did you want it to end?” and Dhalis answered with tears in her eyes: “I did not ever want it to end at all. I wanted her to realize her error and come back to me, but she would not. The more we fought on battlefield after battlefield, facing against each other time and time again... the more I realized she was no longer the Varya I once knew and loved. Unlike me, she had killed children when she sacked villages, and took men to be her slaves. She became a menace, for though her methods were brutal her manner was always fair to behold so that one might not realize she had become a monster at all. She was as charismatic as she was beautiful, and I feared what someone like her might do if ever it was that a large enough army could be prevailed upon to follow her. In time, my advisors told me that she had to be stopped at all costs... lest she despoil and ravage more and more lands. And so I stopped her, as you witnessed. I am assuming you witnessed it?” to which the girl replied: “I did. I witness often many battles upon those plains... I see many conflicts such as yours. But this was the first time I wanted to know the cause of one such conflict. I wanted to hear your story and learn what drove you hither, and in so deadly a cause as battle. It was a tragedy then, not merely a battle. I will try to remember this, if I can... I have so many things to remember as it is, that certain small details oft escape me. She was, as I just heard you say, a monster! And yet, you honored her after she perished, and even wept for her. It is hard for me to understand why. Tell me, please... I think it is something I need to comprehend.” And it seemed to Dhalis that this young girl was a very strange child indeed. Nonetheless she tried to put into words how she had felt regarding Varya by saying: “Because of who she used to be, not what sort of a fiend she had turned into. When I honor a person's memory, I honor the best about them not the worst. And, I will always keep the best that was Varya in my heart... over the years, to come.” The teenage girl smiled as she tapped a finger upon her lips like a person sometimes does when they are deep in thought. Then she said, innocently: “So, you still love her then! That is so beautiful, and so sad. Just thinking of it makes me want to cry, but tears come so hard for me because of all that I have seen, and see, and will see in the countless years to come. Your story saddens me however... and I think we need to change it.”
Dhalis did not understand. She asked, her voice incredulous: “Change it? Nothing can change that she is dead, and that she died my enemy. I had to bury her myself... so I know of what I speak. Also... may I lodge here with you for the remainder of the night? I need to return to my people but Varya's will likely be all about the plains by now, or if not by now then soon... and they will surely seek to slay me if they can manage to catch me without my army to back me up.” The young girl smiled happily and then said to the warrior woman: “Most certainly you may lodge with me until dawn! I can only stay her until the break of dawn myself, so it seems we will both be departing at first light. But it is just as I said to you... we need to change the ending to this story you told me. You will die of a broken heart in ten years if we do not, trust me about that! I am never wrong about such things.” Dhalis had tears in her eyes as she did reply to the girl: “Child, you are clearly somewhat mad! Do you not think that if it were possible at all to change what transpired, I would? I would give my very life's blood to create such a change, but it is... I am afraid... just not possible. Do not torture me with fancies of things that cannot be any longer. Else I will surely die of a broken heart before the morrow ever comes. Also, what is your name? I dislike that you know mine but that I do not know yours. Further... how is it that you know my name at all!” And to that, the young girl got a very serious look upon her face as she said in nearly a monotone: “To be truly honest with you, you were shouting your name at the top of your lungs when first you took the field to face your enemy, just as she was shouting hers. Human ego never fails to lead to displays of foolish sort of pride like that... like two great apes thumping their chests to display their bravado. I could hear both your voices all the way from hear, as well as the noise of your soldiers clashing. The wind carries such sounds hereabouts... as you noticed when you heard my own voice carried upon the air, which brought you here, to me.” The warrior woman asked the girl: “So, do you live on this mountain, or around here? It seems a poor choice of a home if you do, plus if I might say so you look too clean and wear too fine a gown to be living in the wilds like some hermit.” That made the girl smile once again, and she admitted to Dhalis: “You are correct! This is not my home... but it is a place that is sacred to me, which is why I happened to be here today. Could you not tell that I had arrived for a visit? My arrival was quite noisy... so that the gods themselves could likely hear it.” And the red haired woman admitted: “As noisy as any wagon or chariot may be, I'd never have heard it at all even if drawn by the biggest horses with the most thundering hooves... not over the sound of the thunder and lightning, resounding from the mountaintop. Between that as the battle, I may as well have been deaf though thankfully I am not.” The girl appeared quite amused by something, and she reclined a bit more on the rock... leaning her head gently upon her left hand whilst smoothing out the fabric of her gown over her legs with her right. She then said: “So... you did hear my arrival after all then!” to which Dhalis answered: “Unless you were the cause of such a terrible storm, then no I still have to say that I did not hear you arrive.” The young girl then snapped her right hand's fingers and whistled a bit, which was followed by a nearly deafening peal of thunder that so caused the warrior woman to nearly jump from where she sat. The girl then smiled mischievously and stated: “Oh that was me, rest assured!” Dhalis sat back down and gazed intently at the girl, who said to her after that: “They call that the raven storm, the storm that encircles the peak of this mountain when I come to visit this place. Do you know why they call it that?” and the warrior woman answered honestly saying: “I did not even know there was a name for such a storm. The only legend surrounding that peak of which I am aware at all is one that claims that if enough blood is spilled in the plains below... then it will lead to something terrible happening. Something to do with a darkness that dwells deep within the mountain's caves. For always it seems that when people fight upon those plains, the storm comes and it always brings tragedy when it does.” Dhalis was still shaking nervously a bit from the thunder. The girl said to her calmly: “And lo! Tragedy did come to pass this day, for you and Varya both. For her death... years hence... shall cause yours. She was not meant to perish, and was supposed to regret her choice to fight you, seeing the storm on the mountain as an omen that it was time to change her monstrous ways.”
Dhalis then realized, voicing the revelation that then came upon her: “When I slew her, it altered that destiny, changed the fate that was supposed to occur for us both this day. I destroyed any chance Varya had of redemption by believing she could not be redeemed. I was so wrong! So very wrong.” Then it so was that the warrior woman began to cry bitterly and cried out whilst gazing up to look at the night sky: “Oh Varya! Please, please forgive me. I knew not what it was that I did.” The young girl then said unto the warrior woman: “Do not worry! She forgives you.” to which Dhalis asked in an exasperated tone of voice: “Stop with your games, child! Who are you, I ask again... how would you know what one who is of the dead thinks or feels regarding whether or not she forgives me at all? Surely, you do not speak for the dead even if you are some sort of sorceress with power over this mountain!” Then the thunder made more of its' terrible music, if music such a noise could be called, and Dhalis knew that it brought quite a bit of lightning this time due to the cracking sound of the thunder as the lightning struck something not far off. The cries of ravens could be heard coming from the darkness of the forest, and there was a great multitude of them by the sound of it. The night air got cold for a moment and then it became hot again. The young girl sat up and gazed deeply into Dhalis' eyes as she said: “I am not a sorceress. There is no magic in what I do, no power that I possess in and of myself. If I told you my name, would you know it and recognize it? I doubt that you would! You have your own name for me, just as all peoples do. Your own idea of me, of how I should look when I appear to you. When the time for me to do so comes, as it always must. Do you truly not know me, Dhalis? You are an intelligent woman, for one alive in such a primitive age as this one is. And my hints are not subtle ones.” The girl's eyes became totally black with no white in them whatsoever, and her skin became as white as bone, a match for the snow white of her hair. “Perhaps this form is one you recognize better?” she asked, and when she did so Dhalis answered: “I do recognize you now... in my homeland they call you the Death Child, who comes to those who are near to death in order to help them overcome their fear of passing beyond this world. You are said to be able to not just take life away but to grant those near death a second chance at living. But I am not quite near death just yet, child. I have no need of your mercies.” And the Death Child explained unto her in a way that she felt the warrior woman would comprehend: “If you were not near to death, you would not be able to hear the sound of my ravens as they call for you to follow them into the other world. Do you not remember what you did after building Varya's cairn? The terrible thing you did out of grief! Or do I have to remind you of it, I wonder.” Suddenly terrible slash wounds opened up vertically across both of Dhalis' wrists... reminding her of how she had used her sword in an attempt at taking her own life. Only to realize she had not cut deeply enough for her attempt to be successful. “I thought I did it right. But it seems like I did not, else I would not still be alive.” the warrior woman admitted finally. And the girl... the girl who was Death... said unto her: “You were successful; but, I am undecided whether I should let you pass through death into the other world, or heal you fully, giving you a second chance at life. Right now, it is by my will alone that your wounds remain closed. With a thought, I could enable them to thus remain closed... but, I have foreseen that you will only die of a broken heart in the future, should you so survive this brush with death in the present. Did I mock you earlier? That was not me... I sang a dirge is all I did, for you and for she whom you slew. If it was mocking you heard, then that came only from in your own heart and soul, for there you mock yourself... just as you tried to kill yourself. You are slowly slipping into death, Dhalis. But I feel sorry for you, and for Varya also. Neither of you were ever meant to die on this day... you were meant to both retreat from the field and later reconcile. But you, Dhalis, in your foolishness tried to take matters of life and death into your own hands. Did you not think that in so doing, I would not take notice? I always take notice! For in the end, only I may decide if it truly is one's time to pass from this world. So, should I spare your life... that alone will accomplish nothing since you will be living in a reality in which my true designs for you were thwarted. Instead, it is a simple thing to allow you to cross into a reality where you did not thwart me. This reality, will need to be snuffed out!”
Dhalis appeared horrified, declaring: “Snuffed out? Destroyed you mean, then! To destroy an entire... reality... just to correct one person's mistake, that is monstrous. I could never live with that, and just in truth knowing that my foolishness cost uncounted numbers of people their lives and futures... that more than all else would drive me to take my own life. My guilt would drive me to it sooner or later! Better to die of a broken heart in payment for my foolishness than to pay for my happiness in the blood of an entire world. Or, if you truly be merciful then allow me to pass into the other world... perhaps there, I may be reconciled with Varya after all. My life in this world is over, no matter what.” Death then said to the red haired woman sorrowfully: “I knew you would decide in this way, because I knew that even despite all of your flaws and failings you are a goodly and honorable woman. One woman's life, or the lives of countless others... some would not be as selfless as you in making a choice like this. But as I said... you thwarted my design, and corrupted this reality by doing so. That is why we need to change... how this story ends. You have written for yourself a tragic ending, whereas I wrote a happy one for you. So let us go back to Varya's cairn and make things right. Fear not! Her people did not venture tonight to the plains, as you worried they might. They will not go hence for many days, so greatly do they fear that they may encounter your people there. So walk with me, and let us proceed with all haste lest morning's light force me to depart before my will is done. After all, perhaps your blade missed its' mark during the battle, and swung wide of Varya rather than claiming her life. You were not quite thinking clearly at the time, and errors like that can occur in combat. She merely slipped after that, fell backward, and thereon struck her head upon a rock. Not enough to kill her, just enough to knock her unconscious and cause all to believe she had been killed. You still won the battle, Dhalis! Only... now, you will find that you have won a great deal more than that. But as I said... we must go to her cairn immediately.” Dhalis let herself believe that she was being given a second chance, for if Death could not fix a death that not ever should have happened... then no power in existence could. “What are we waiting for, then? Let us go!” said the warrior woman, who allowed the dark girl to lead her hither unto the cairn that she had raised over the woman she knew in her heart she still loved. The Death Child walked over and pushed upon the rocks and stones of the cairn and they were blown backward and away from Varya's grave. With a snap of her dark fingers, Death caused the grave to open up and the dirt of it to be piled beside it... revealing at last, the lifeless body of Varya in all of her fair beauty. She had not been dead long enough for decay to start. There was still time for a miracle! The young girl then stepped down into the open grave and whispered something into the dead woman's ear, before shaking her a bit as if rousing her from slumber. And right before Varya's eyes opened, the wound that Dhalis had visited upon her healed completely... as if it had never been. Instead, a bruise formed upon Varya's head as if she had merely stumbled and struck it. At once, Varya sat up and saw Dhalis gazing down at her with tears streaming down her face. “Come on... let me help you up!” the red haired woman shouted, offering the resurrected woman her hand. As soon as Varya was brought up from her grave, the Death Child vanished, leaving the two women to live out the rest of their lives as they were meant to. “I had the most horrible nightmare.” muttered Varya, and it was then that she noticed there was no storm upon the mountain any longer. She exclaimed: “The battle is over, then! But which one of us won?” Dhalis embraced Varya warmly, holding unto her with such a mighty hug that Varya worried her ribs might break from it, though they did not. Dhalis said to her, her voice quivering from the intensity of the emotions she was feeling within her that that time: “Oh Varya, neither of us won! We both lost... more than you will ever know, we both lost. We lost, because to be... to be honest with you... we never should have fought to begin with. Please... forgive me. Whatever I did to first earn your displeasure, to drive you away into the arms of another, I swear that I shall never do it again. I love you, Varya! And I don't want us to be apart any longer.” Varya then admitted: “It is I, who should apologize to you, Dhalis. When you revealed your secret to me, I was frightened and surprised a little, and did not know what to make of it. I tried to end our love, when I should have just cherished it.”
Varya explained further: “I did not know if you were a man or a woman, and part of me felt bitter that you led me to believe for so very long that you were only a woman... I felt bitter, and a bit betrayed, and I said hurtful things to you, things I never should have said. Then, I betrayed you in the worst ways that anyone possibly could! And, in betraying you, I betrayed myself as well. Oh gods of my mother and my father! Please forgive me, Dhalis. You are more than man enough to please me, no matter what I said in my foolishness. I want you back... and this time, I want the real you, not the you of my imagination.” In that moment, both the warrior woman Varya and her hermaphrodite lover Dhalis were reconciled and in a sudden surge of lightheartedness Varya looked back at the open grave and asked sincerely but also in a half jesting manner: “Oh, Dhalis! The last thing I remember is slipping and falling whilst we fought... but I was certainly not dead. However did I end up in that grave?” Which caused Dhalis to laugh and to know tears of joy rather than sorrow as the red haired warrior explained: “To be honest? I thought that you were dead, waited all these hours to see if you would wake up, and when you did not... I started to dig this grave and was about to fill it in and raise a cairn above it when you awakened. You will never know how grateful I am to see you alive once again! This is a true miracle, my love.” The pair kissed... long and passionately... after that. Varya gave Dhalis' buttocks a bit of a squeeze, and the two of them practically showered each other with affection. Following that, they journeyed to a small town that lay in neutral territory before sending word to each others' peoples that the conflict was over. Both sides so ceased their hostilities, and did battle with one another no more. They became a united people then, and never again did they split apart as once they had done. Any wars that were fought henceforth were only against outside enemies... and the two warriors married, which united their peoples still further. Never again did anyone notice a raven storm upon the great mountain that loomed above the plains, and only when someone was about to die did they claim to spot the Death Child in their midst. The ruins stayed a forsaken place, and the ravens within the forest returned to the other world whence they came. Thus was Death's design for things no longer thwarted, which made her a great deal more pleased than ever she had been before. She had granted Dhalis the happy ending that was always intended from the onset, without having to snuff out all life within the present reality. Something she always hated having to do! The dark young girl thought about all of this as she made her way down through the tunnels that ran far and deep beyond the caves and caverns that lay beneath the great mountain. She journeyed in the gloom of that ever dark domain, holding in her left hand a glowing white orb that provided light for her to see by as she continued upon her journey under the mountain. She passed ancient crypts and catacombs, as well as whole underground cities and subterranean fortresses that once belonged to others of her race. It was a long time since she had ventured this way, along these paths. The pale creatures that her folk had become scampered away as she walked past them, and she occasionally did pet one or two on the head, so that they would know that she still cared for her now very distant blood kin. She used to weep at the fate of them, and when she did it was tears of blood that she wept... she had no other kind of tears in the incarnation in which she walked now, that of the Death Child. Thus, she was careful to reserve them for when something truly moved her... and only then. It was sad that her kin no longer dwelt in their cities, preferring the deepest tunnels in which to make their new dwellings... but they knew nothing else now. Whether they were content or miserable in their current state, they did not express either way. They had found ways of communicating through the mind, and only among one another... she could also speak to them and know their thoughts, but she preferred not to intrude upon them. Thus, the dark girl let her kin be as she descended even beyond the deepest, darkest domains that they called home. Such a grand and mighty civilization had existed here once! The girl mused to herself in her thoughts. It was a pity to see how time had changed it all so unrecognizably. There had always been a darkness, deep under the great mountain, and it was into that darkness that the Death Child journeyed. There were many places such as this, and all of them were known to her intimately. Down she ventured, and the shadows were with her.
At the deepest place beneath the great mountain, in the heart of the darkness that lay beneath it, below all of the forsaken and forbidden regions wherein no mortal feet had ever tread... the dark girl did come, at last, to the site where of old her ancestors had left their ancient and powerful machines. Even she had ancestors, for though she was immortal even so she too had once been born into existence the same as a mortal is. She gazed upon the great machines, untouched by any hands save hers in the thousands upon thousands of years since they had been constructed. They were made to service her people only, at first. But during the incalculable ages of her existence the dark girl had come to realize all the ways in which such things could be of benefit to humans. Especially given how prone humans are to making mistakes, of a sort that they can oft come to regret. It was by the power of these machines that the miraculous and terrible things the Death Child could do were made possible. Therein was a science that had become to most a kind of magic, and it was this which gave the dark girl her fearsome and respected reputation as it was among the primitive folk of this world. She muttered to herself as she checked to make certain all of the machines were still in optimal working order: “All systems appear to check out, all power levels, all readouts, everything seems to be just as I left it last. Excellent!” In all honestly, such systems could be said to practically maintain themselves given the tiny repair robots created with nanotechnology that were introduced into the machines' metal casings back when everything was first constructed. The girl, once she made certain that this was all as it should be, she walked through a metal door in the back of the colossal cavern that housed the machines. The door slip upwards with a hiss as she approached it... and she entered the bright chamber beyond. It was only bright of course because unlike the rest of those places beneath the great mountain... this was a place that the dark girl used frequently. The light was all from the flat illumination panels set into the ceiling, and from the blinking indicator lights on the many computers and servers that filled the room. The girl walked into a nearby closet to change her clothes... and after some time therein, she emerged wearing a long scarlet wide legged sleeveless jumpsuit belted at the waist with a silver sash belt tied at her side with a neat bow. She had put on a pair of comfortable silver slippers as well. The girl removed the white wig from her head, revealing a series of raised ridges that ran from the top of her head all the way down the back of her neck, and thereafter all the way down to the base of her spine. She had never been human, although with the wig the people on this primitive, and rather undeveloped world, at least did not mistake her for a demon. She had studied a great deal in regard to how best to deal with such backwards civilizations as these prior to deciding to interact with them in the first place. In every such case, it was better to blend in as much as possible even if only at times with the local folklore, mythologies, and belief systems. In other words, if all else fails, pretend to be one of their deities or legendary heroes or heroines... and you really cannot go too wrong. “Besides!” she mused to herself silently on thinking about all of this for a bit: “At least when people believe you to be Death they tend to really, really not want to mess with you.” She walked over to the monitor across the room from the closet door, and flipped the switch to turn it on. She sat down in the chair at the desk there, and waited for the communications computer to boot itself up. After some time, the monitor then blinked on and she input the correct password to indicate that she really was her and not someone who just simply managed to get here by accident or chance. Not then anyone could. Remote locations of this sort were always chosen by her people for a reason, after all. Mostly, no one would interrupt you at all... even by sheer dumb luck... with a hidden location tucked securely away in a place the locals were made to be exceedingly frightened of. And how easy it was to make them that frightened of such places! As soon as the password was accepted, the girl then got down to the business of sending a message to one of her colleagues at a site elsewhere in the world. Her message was quite typical of her trademark sense of humor, as it read: “I just helped a couple who had a bit of a spat, to make up and get things sorted. It was no big deal but I'll never get why couples' spats on barbaric worlds such as this always have to end up such a literally bloody mess. Like, bloody bloody not figuratively speaking. So, how was your day?”
Upon the slopes of the great mountain, lightning lashes and dark clouds rumbled, though there was no storm elsewhere. Below that massive peak, its' cliffs and crags, and the hills that led up to it all around, there lay a stretch of plains whereon two armies clashed. The sound of sword, ax, and spear on metal so resounded, and there was shouting and yelling among the folk so engaged. Unlike upon the mountain... there was no snow upon the plains, which were still touched by the sun and so spared the icy fate of the peak itself. The conflict was nearly over, and many of the men and women who fought on still were on the verge of withdrawing. Who can say why they fought, what their conflict was over? Only the craggy face of the mountain bore witness to the events that transpired beneath its' stony gaze. Some of the men and women wore coats of mail, or scale, over leather and cloth, and they had upon their heads conical helmets, some with horns and others with spikes. The leaders' helms were plumed, largely so that they could be easily seen upon the battlefield itself. The leaders themselves did regard each other with some small measure of respect, however strained, and though the air was warm below the mountain still it so did seem that a chill was come about the air of the plains. A chill carried down from the heights, a cold born from some unnatural force, for all the men and women below could imagine. The two leaders did clamber down from their horses, and they faced each other at last along with their soldiers. Mighty and strong were they, both warrior women of great renown and even greater legend. They cast from off their arms the shields they had carried, and each unsheathed their weapons choosing to attack rather than to seek any measure of defense. They longed to get this battle over with as quickly as they could, to seek a decisive victory. The taller of the two women was pale blonde of hair and immeasurably fair of skin, of eye, and of some said manner. The shorter of the pair of adversaries had a long wavy mane of red hair... and her skin was a bit bronzed in color compared to the other woman's pallor. Blood red, her hair was, a most unusual shade thereof, and green were her eyes. She was the more muscular of the two, but her blonde counterpart was the more skilled of the two warriors. They clashed with swords on swords, but at their belts were small hand axes and daggers, just in case such might be needed. The blonde woman was growing impatient as the battle went on, and shouted angrily: “Dhalis, this is a senseless fight! It is said that the mountain is accursed and that blood spilled below it calls to the darkness that dwells in the caves thereupon. We should both withdraw, to consider perhaps taking our conflict elsewhere!” but the red haired woman was determined to vanquish her rival at long last, and sneered contentiously: “Varya! You always did seem a coward to me, as you northern folk are said to be such ferocious warriors and so lusty in your love for battle, this surprises me greatly that you would call for a retreat when we are both well beyond the point where retreat would even be feasible. And where would you have us fight? You... you act like this is some sort of a game that we are playing! It is not. So meet my sword or run if it thus pleases you, either way I shall have my victory upon this fateful day.” And after that brief exchange, the two women resumed their duel, whilst all about them their armies clashed on. The sound of thunder did roar upon the heights of the mountain, louder than when it had called out previously. Varya noticed this and her eyes grew wide at the sight of more lightning. “If we keep spilling more blood here, it will not be good what happens! We need to stop our fighting, right now whilst we still may.” she declared, but exactly as before Dhalis took this to be a sign of weakness in her mortal enemy and laughed it off. She did not even verbally acknowledge her dismissal of the warning this time. What good would it do? The blonde woman was clearly intent on her belief that this was a foolish course, and the woman with the blood red hair refused to relent in any case. And so they continued their deadly dance until it became all too certain that there would be no peaceful way to resolve things after all. Soon... Dhalis' sword flashed, in the afternoon sunlight, and broke her opponent's blade which had been weakened over the course of the battle. Sparks shot from the splintering steel, and Varya felt her enemy's blade sinking deeply as it pierced first her armor and then her flesh, cleaving bone and entering her heart. Thus, she met her end.
“My blade is not of this world, Varya! You should have known better, than to challenge me.” Dhalis declared with visible sorrow in her voice, adding: “We were like sisters once! Alas, it was fated that it should come to this in the end, for you.” Those were the last words that Varya ever heard as she fell to the grassy ground, bled out, and died. Dhalis let out a harsh-sounding victory cry and raised her sword high above her head. Varya's soldiers retreated from the battlefield... what soldiers of hers that were yet living... and the thunder grew a great deal louder than it had been before, the lightning more intense. As Dhalis looked up upon the heights of the mountain from her place upon the plains, she realized that as her former comrade turned enemy had warned her... there was something very wrong with this place. “I am a proud warrior! I do not run at the merest danger, and yet this... this frightens me.” she mused in a silent moment of thought to herself whilst she cleaned the blood from her sword with a white cloth. She waited for her soldiers to gather, and warned them: “You need to leave this place at once! Those of you who still have horses... ride. The rest of you march, back to our camp. It is but a small distance, through yonder barrens beyond these plains, and we shall be away from this devil's mountain. I shall join you lot in a while, after I tend to Varya's burial and offer a prayer to the gods for her spirit's rest.” The men and women of the red haired warrior woman's army then did as their leader bade them and left the field. It was then that Dhalis turned to the blonde woman's body and knelt before it, allowing herself to cry for her vanquished rival. “I will bury you here, where you breathed your last, and raise over you a cairn so mighty that even the gods may notice it and weep for you as I do! I am sorry... so sorry... that I could in the end find no way to make peace with you. But it was you, who challenged me, and you who lost! It is I who remain, to bury you in tears. You would have wept for me as well, for how much we did love one another of old! Sister? More than a sister... always more.” All of that she spoke out loud, for she wanted so very badly for her former... sister?... to hear her. “More than a sister... always.” she said once more in a mournfully loving manner. It took many hours work to first dig the grave and then to pile enough rock and stone atop it from the rocks and stones that were about the plains, but in the end Varya was laid to a semblance of rest. Dhalis realized she could not possible bury all of the enemy soldiers who were slain. That task would fall to the enemy army that had fled the field. They would likely return after nightfall... when they could be certain that Dhalis' forces were well and truly gone... in order to tend to their fallen. “Bloody tragedy is what this is!” the red haired woman declared. All of a sudden, she could hear a most peculiar sound upon the wind that blew down from the mountain. It was almost like laughter or sorrow, a person either laughing or crying quite loudly but in a manner whereby she thought that the voice was a most inhuman sounding one. “Who is there?” she cried out, and then there was only silence after that. “I say again! Who is there making that sound?” and the laughter returned. It was laughter indeed! For it had a cruel edge to it that was vacant from sorrow, from crying. Dhalis brushed the dirt and dust of the ground off of her pants... she had been kneeling and working upon the ground for some time previously as she constructed Varya's cairn... and felt a strangely warm breeze blow down from the mountain. The very opposite of the cold wind that she felt before. It was almost like a living thing's breath! So warm it was, that the woman cast off her armor in order to cope with the change in temperature which was fast becoming a good deal warmer and hotter than it had been only moments ago. Her scale breastplate did clatter to the ground, and she laid it against Varya's cairn whispering as she did so: “For you, my love... my enemy... eternal.” She had been wearing beneath it a blood red leather vest that was laced up in the front, and beneath the vest a brighter red low-cut silk blouse with long billowing sleeves that was itself tucked into her baggy red pantaloons that were tied at the waist and ankles with drawstring. Her feet so had upon them a pair of black leather shoes, with warm ankle-length stockings to wisely keep her feet from chafing. About her waist was a black leather belt from which hung her sheathed sword, it' golden hint gleaming in what little now remained of the fading daylight. The chain mail shirt that she had worn over her vest and under her breastplate, that she also offered to Varya as a burial gift. It was time to go.
For if night should descend and Varya's people arrived this night to claim their fallen warriors, it thus would never do for their bitterest enemy to remain on the battlefield for them to discover. They would it was certain seek vengeance for their chieftain's death! Then, the laughter returned, and this time it was a good deal clearer what direction it was coming from... the small hills at the base of the mountain. “If you seek to mock me in this time of grief, then you will meet my blade for such mockery! One last time I shall ask... who are you?” and the voice returned an echo of Dhalis' own question by saying in a cruel tone of voice: “Who are you!” Whoever was doing this... they were definitely mocking her. She was a big woman even if not a tall one, large of bone and large of build. But large in her passions and in how much she loved and hated in equal measure. She also had a large heart for those she loved the most! It was thus, that it could be so easy given her passionate nature for that same love to be turned to wrath if she was crossed too much. She was not muscular despite her large build... she was still soft of skin and looked very much like the queen she was. Of noble birth and noble manner. Her face was rounded, her lips full, her nose a bit broad, her cheeks freckled. It was not the face of a noblewoman, despite her life as such... it was the face of a warrior queen rather than simply a queen. A woman who lived her life in a lusty and proud manner, which always she had. Always she had! She had a voluptuous build with large breasts, wide hips, and a round ample buttocks. Her waist was not small, and her body was in all of its' proportions that of a big woman. Men wanted her, but women delighted her... and she had lovers that were of both genders over the years. She was a young woman, thirty years old, but in her time she had lived a great deal and seen and done a great many things. Even so, she had seen nothing like whatever it was that worked its' will upon that mountain! And it was a dark will indeed. She determined to follow the sound of the mocking voice, and did not care if night fell whilst she chased after it. So long as what path led hither took her away from the plains, she felt that she would be safe enough. Her voice was on the deeper side as far as women's voices go, though her tone was always soft when she spoke not in any kind of anger. But right now, she was angry as she cried out: “Wait for me, mocker! I swear that when I get my hands upon you I will tear the tongue from your annoying throat!” She chased the voice as some might chase an enemy on a battlefield, or as a hunter night chase down a fleeing deer. The air was hot... no longer even warm but like a summer day. “This is absurd!” Dhalis thought to herself about that. “As I journey up into the hills hereabouts, it should be growing colder not hotter.” But it was indeed hot out now, and the big red haired woman could hear the telltale sounds of water dripping as the snow and ice of the mountain began to melt. Ere long, she came to a group of gray ancient looking ruins that sat like a spider upon the top of one of the hills. It seemed as if the bitter laughter of that awful mocking voice, did come from those ruins. As she approached them, she saw moss and ivy covering the whole of what appeared to have once been a temple of some kind. She drew near to it, past a small stretch of woods as grew upon the hilltops around that area, thick forests of tall pines and stout oak trees filled with darker shadows than Dhalis had ever seen before. It was as if it were a primal darkness that clung between the trees of this domain. Soon, she entered the ruined building, the ceiling of which had caved in long ago, leaving the whole interior open to the sky. It was nighttime by then, and the moon was large and full in the sky, with a bit of an orange tint to it. The stars shone brightly, the only light other than the moon to break the darkness that gathered all about this forsaken place. There was torchlight from further into the ruins, and Dhalis decided to follow it. Whoever had been mocking her, they were evidently here to be found! She approached the light and saw that it came from several torches in sconces upon pillars that had once held up the now destroyed temple roof. There was a campfire on the floor, between piles of shattered tiles, broken wooden beams, and smashed stones and bricks. A woman sat in front of the fire, sitting upon a flat stone with her legs crossed. She wore a long black gown with a white girdle that was about her waist, and her frame was slender, her voice no longer inhuman or mocking in tone but rather now she was singing softly and gently to herself. “Welcome, Dhalis!” the woman said, her tone kindly.
Her voice was sweet and lyrical, but not high or lilting. Rather... it had a certain seductive quality to it that surprised the red haired warrior woman who now approached her. Dhalis saw, that this woman was a good many years younger than herself, likely but a girl in her later teenage years. The girl had hair that was as white as snow but skin that was quite dark, darker than many of the folk that Dhalis was used to. The girl's eyes were so dark a shade of brown that they were almost but not quite black, her nose was a small and what some might consider “cute” looking nose, and her lips were a bit pouting with a rather slight smile playing about her features. The girl wore a pair of blood red ruby earrings in her ears, and she had a silver nose ring on also. Her feet were covered with soft looking black slippers, and she had a very relaxed and somewhat playful look to her as she regarding Dhalis. The warrior woman said to her: “If you are, as it would seem, the person who has been mocking me for what remained of the day... I do not find such a jest amusing even from one so young as yourself. I do not make a habit of doing harm to children, girl, so tell me what it is you mean by such games as you play.” the girl then laughed a bit in a way that was almost innocent and mirthful as she said: “Oh, Dhalis! Oh Dhalis... you don't make a habit of hurting children perhaps, but yet you killed someone you used to love. I want to know why.” And the warrior woman then sat down on a fallen wooden beam across the campfire from the girl. She then did say unto her: “She betrayed me for a man who was my mortal enemy... and together with him plotted to kill me, and all because I was not masculine enough to suit Varya's desires in the end. Well, predictably he betrayed her also, and she slew him before deciding that still she hated me and wished to end me. If you know how our conflict ended, then you know how much all of this hurt me to the point where all I could think about was punishing Varya for her betrayal. And yet, she too was betrayed first by the man who had twisted her to hate me... and then by me, when I took her life. I will live with regrets over that for the rest of my life, child. That was never how I truly wanted our story to end.” The girl then aasked Dhalis honestly: “How... did you want it to end?” and Dhalis answered with tears in her eyes: “I did not ever want it to end at all. I wanted her to realize her error and come back to me, but she would not. The more we fought on battlefield after battlefield, facing against each other time and time again... the more I realized she was no longer the Varya I once knew and loved. Unlike me, she had killed children when she sacked villages, and took men to be her slaves. She became a menace, for though her methods were brutal her manner was always fair to behold so that one might not realize she had become a monster at all. She was as charismatic as she was beautiful, and I feared what someone like her might do if ever it was that a large enough army could be prevailed upon to follow her. In time, my advisors told me that she had to be stopped at all costs... lest she despoil and ravage more and more lands. And so I stopped her, as you witnessed. I am assuming you witnessed it?” to which the girl replied: “I did. I witness often many battles upon those plains... I see many conflicts such as yours. But this was the first time I wanted to know the cause of one such conflict. I wanted to hear your story and learn what drove you hither, and in so deadly a cause as battle. It was a tragedy then, not merely a battle. I will try to remember this, if I can... I have so many things to remember as it is, that certain small details oft escape me. She was, as I just heard you say, a monster! And yet, you honored her after she perished, and even wept for her. It is hard for me to understand why. Tell me, please... I think it is something I need to comprehend.” And it seemed to Dhalis that this young girl was a very strange child indeed. Nonetheless she tried to put into words how she had felt regarding Varya by saying: “Because of who she used to be, not what sort of a fiend she had turned into. When I honor a person's memory, I honor the best about them not the worst. And, I will always keep the best that was Varya in my heart... over the years, to come.” The teenage girl smiled as she tapped a finger upon her lips like a person sometimes does when they are deep in thought. Then she said, innocently: “So, you still love her then! That is so beautiful, and so sad. Just thinking of it makes me want to cry, but tears come so hard for me because of all that I have seen, and see, and will see in the countless years to come. Your story saddens me however... and I think we need to change it.”
Dhalis did not understand. She asked, her voice incredulous: “Change it? Nothing can change that she is dead, and that she died my enemy. I had to bury her myself... so I know of what I speak. Also... may I lodge here with you for the remainder of the night? I need to return to my people but Varya's will likely be all about the plains by now, or if not by now then soon... and they will surely seek to slay me if they can manage to catch me without my army to back me up.” The young girl smiled happily and then said to the warrior woman: “Most certainly you may lodge with me until dawn! I can only stay her until the break of dawn myself, so it seems we will both be departing at first light. But it is just as I said to you... we need to change the ending to this story you told me. You will die of a broken heart in ten years if we do not, trust me about that! I am never wrong about such things.” Dhalis had tears in her eyes as she did reply to the girl: “Child, you are clearly somewhat mad! Do you not think that if it were possible at all to change what transpired, I would? I would give my very life's blood to create such a change, but it is... I am afraid... just not possible. Do not torture me with fancies of things that cannot be any longer. Else I will surely die of a broken heart before the morrow ever comes. Also, what is your name? I dislike that you know mine but that I do not know yours. Further... how is it that you know my name at all!” And to that, the young girl got a very serious look upon her face as she said in nearly a monotone: “To be truly honest with you, you were shouting your name at the top of your lungs when first you took the field to face your enemy, just as she was shouting hers. Human ego never fails to lead to displays of foolish sort of pride like that... like two great apes thumping their chests to display their bravado. I could hear both your voices all the way from hear, as well as the noise of your soldiers clashing. The wind carries such sounds hereabouts... as you noticed when you heard my own voice carried upon the air, which brought you here, to me.” The warrior woman asked the girl: “So, do you live on this mountain, or around here? It seems a poor choice of a home if you do, plus if I might say so you look too clean and wear too fine a gown to be living in the wilds like some hermit.” That made the girl smile once again, and she admitted to Dhalis: “You are correct! This is not my home... but it is a place that is sacred to me, which is why I happened to be here today. Could you not tell that I had arrived for a visit? My arrival was quite noisy... so that the gods themselves could likely hear it.” And the red haired woman admitted: “As noisy as any wagon or chariot may be, I'd never have heard it at all even if drawn by the biggest horses with the most thundering hooves... not over the sound of the thunder and lightning, resounding from the mountaintop. Between that as the battle, I may as well have been deaf though thankfully I am not.” The girl appeared quite amused by something, and she reclined a bit more on the rock... leaning her head gently upon her left hand whilst smoothing out the fabric of her gown over her legs with her right. She then said: “So... you did hear my arrival after all then!” to which Dhalis answered: “Unless you were the cause of such a terrible storm, then no I still have to say that I did not hear you arrive.” The young girl then snapped her right hand's fingers and whistled a bit, which was followed by a nearly deafening peal of thunder that so caused the warrior woman to nearly jump from where she sat. The girl then smiled mischievously and stated: “Oh that was me, rest assured!” Dhalis sat back down and gazed intently at the girl, who said to her after that: “They call that the raven storm, the storm that encircles the peak of this mountain when I come to visit this place. Do you know why they call it that?” and the warrior woman answered honestly saying: “I did not even know there was a name for such a storm. The only legend surrounding that peak of which I am aware at all is one that claims that if enough blood is spilled in the plains below... then it will lead to something terrible happening. Something to do with a darkness that dwells deep within the mountain's caves. For always it seems that when people fight upon those plains, the storm comes and it always brings tragedy when it does.” Dhalis was still shaking nervously a bit from the thunder. The girl said to her calmly: “And lo! Tragedy did come to pass this day, for you and Varya both. For her death... years hence... shall cause yours. She was not meant to perish, and was supposed to regret her choice to fight you, seeing the storm on the mountain as an omen that it was time to change her monstrous ways.”
Dhalis then realized, voicing the revelation that then came upon her: “When I slew her, it altered that destiny, changed the fate that was supposed to occur for us both this day. I destroyed any chance Varya had of redemption by believing she could not be redeemed. I was so wrong! So very wrong.” Then it so was that the warrior woman began to cry bitterly and cried out whilst gazing up to look at the night sky: “Oh Varya! Please, please forgive me. I knew not what it was that I did.” The young girl then said unto the warrior woman: “Do not worry! She forgives you.” to which Dhalis asked in an exasperated tone of voice: “Stop with your games, child! Who are you, I ask again... how would you know what one who is of the dead thinks or feels regarding whether or not she forgives me at all? Surely, you do not speak for the dead even if you are some sort of sorceress with power over this mountain!” Then the thunder made more of its' terrible music, if music such a noise could be called, and Dhalis knew that it brought quite a bit of lightning this time due to the cracking sound of the thunder as the lightning struck something not far off. The cries of ravens could be heard coming from the darkness of the forest, and there was a great multitude of them by the sound of it. The night air got cold for a moment and then it became hot again. The young girl sat up and gazed deeply into Dhalis' eyes as she said: “I am not a sorceress. There is no magic in what I do, no power that I possess in and of myself. If I told you my name, would you know it and recognize it? I doubt that you would! You have your own name for me, just as all peoples do. Your own idea of me, of how I should look when I appear to you. When the time for me to do so comes, as it always must. Do you truly not know me, Dhalis? You are an intelligent woman, for one alive in such a primitive age as this one is. And my hints are not subtle ones.” The girl's eyes became totally black with no white in them whatsoever, and her skin became as white as bone, a match for the snow white of her hair. “Perhaps this form is one you recognize better?” she asked, and when she did so Dhalis answered: “I do recognize you now... in my homeland they call you the Death Child, who comes to those who are near to death in order to help them overcome their fear of passing beyond this world. You are said to be able to not just take life away but to grant those near death a second chance at living. But I am not quite near death just yet, child. I have no need of your mercies.” And the Death Child explained unto her in a way that she felt the warrior woman would comprehend: “If you were not near to death, you would not be able to hear the sound of my ravens as they call for you to follow them into the other world. Do you not remember what you did after building Varya's cairn? The terrible thing you did out of grief! Or do I have to remind you of it, I wonder.” Suddenly terrible slash wounds opened up vertically across both of Dhalis' wrists... reminding her of how she had used her sword in an attempt at taking her own life. Only to realize she had not cut deeply enough for her attempt to be successful. “I thought I did it right. But it seems like I did not, else I would not still be alive.” the warrior woman admitted finally. And the girl... the girl who was Death... said unto her: “You were successful; but, I am undecided whether I should let you pass through death into the other world, or heal you fully, giving you a second chance at life. Right now, it is by my will alone that your wounds remain closed. With a thought, I could enable them to thus remain closed... but, I have foreseen that you will only die of a broken heart in the future, should you so survive this brush with death in the present. Did I mock you earlier? That was not me... I sang a dirge is all I did, for you and for she whom you slew. If it was mocking you heard, then that came only from in your own heart and soul, for there you mock yourself... just as you tried to kill yourself. You are slowly slipping into death, Dhalis. But I feel sorry for you, and for Varya also. Neither of you were ever meant to die on this day... you were meant to both retreat from the field and later reconcile. But you, Dhalis, in your foolishness tried to take matters of life and death into your own hands. Did you not think that in so doing, I would not take notice? I always take notice! For in the end, only I may decide if it truly is one's time to pass from this world. So, should I spare your life... that alone will accomplish nothing since you will be living in a reality in which my true designs for you were thwarted. Instead, it is a simple thing to allow you to cross into a reality where you did not thwart me. This reality, will need to be snuffed out!”
Dhalis appeared horrified, declaring: “Snuffed out? Destroyed you mean, then! To destroy an entire... reality... just to correct one person's mistake, that is monstrous. I could never live with that, and just in truth knowing that my foolishness cost uncounted numbers of people their lives and futures... that more than all else would drive me to take my own life. My guilt would drive me to it sooner or later! Better to die of a broken heart in payment for my foolishness than to pay for my happiness in the blood of an entire world. Or, if you truly be merciful then allow me to pass into the other world... perhaps there, I may be reconciled with Varya after all. My life in this world is over, no matter what.” Death then said to the red haired woman sorrowfully: “I knew you would decide in this way, because I knew that even despite all of your flaws and failings you are a goodly and honorable woman. One woman's life, or the lives of countless others... some would not be as selfless as you in making a choice like this. But as I said... you thwarted my design, and corrupted this reality by doing so. That is why we need to change... how this story ends. You have written for yourself a tragic ending, whereas I wrote a happy one for you. So let us go back to Varya's cairn and make things right. Fear not! Her people did not venture tonight to the plains, as you worried they might. They will not go hence for many days, so greatly do they fear that they may encounter your people there. So walk with me, and let us proceed with all haste lest morning's light force me to depart before my will is done. After all, perhaps your blade missed its' mark during the battle, and swung wide of Varya rather than claiming her life. You were not quite thinking clearly at the time, and errors like that can occur in combat. She merely slipped after that, fell backward, and thereon struck her head upon a rock. Not enough to kill her, just enough to knock her unconscious and cause all to believe she had been killed. You still won the battle, Dhalis! Only... now, you will find that you have won a great deal more than that. But as I said... we must go to her cairn immediately.” Dhalis let herself believe that she was being given a second chance, for if Death could not fix a death that not ever should have happened... then no power in existence could. “What are we waiting for, then? Let us go!” said the warrior woman, who allowed the dark girl to lead her hither unto the cairn that she had raised over the woman she knew in her heart she still loved. The Death Child walked over and pushed upon the rocks and stones of the cairn and they were blown backward and away from Varya's grave. With a snap of her dark fingers, Death caused the grave to open up and the dirt of it to be piled beside it... revealing at last, the lifeless body of Varya in all of her fair beauty. She had not been dead long enough for decay to start. There was still time for a miracle! The young girl then stepped down into the open grave and whispered something into the dead woman's ear, before shaking her a bit as if rousing her from slumber. And right before Varya's eyes opened, the wound that Dhalis had visited upon her healed completely... as if it had never been. Instead, a bruise formed upon Varya's head as if she had merely stumbled and struck it. At once, Varya sat up and saw Dhalis gazing down at her with tears streaming down her face. “Come on... let me help you up!” the red haired woman shouted, offering the resurrected woman her hand. As soon as Varya was brought up from her grave, the Death Child vanished, leaving the two women to live out the rest of their lives as they were meant to. “I had the most horrible nightmare.” muttered Varya, and it was then that she noticed there was no storm upon the mountain any longer. She exclaimed: “The battle is over, then! But which one of us won?” Dhalis embraced Varya warmly, holding unto her with such a mighty hug that Varya worried her ribs might break from it, though they did not. Dhalis said to her, her voice quivering from the intensity of the emotions she was feeling within her that that time: “Oh Varya, neither of us won! We both lost... more than you will ever know, we both lost. We lost, because to be... to be honest with you... we never should have fought to begin with. Please... forgive me. Whatever I did to first earn your displeasure, to drive you away into the arms of another, I swear that I shall never do it again. I love you, Varya! And I don't want us to be apart any longer.” Varya then admitted: “It is I, who should apologize to you, Dhalis. When you revealed your secret to me, I was frightened and surprised a little, and did not know what to make of it. I tried to end our love, when I should have just cherished it.”
Varya explained further: “I did not know if you were a man or a woman, and part of me felt bitter that you led me to believe for so very long that you were only a woman... I felt bitter, and a bit betrayed, and I said hurtful things to you, things I never should have said. Then, I betrayed you in the worst ways that anyone possibly could! And, in betraying you, I betrayed myself as well. Oh gods of my mother and my father! Please forgive me, Dhalis. You are more than man enough to please me, no matter what I said in my foolishness. I want you back... and this time, I want the real you, not the you of my imagination.” In that moment, both the warrior woman Varya and her hermaphrodite lover Dhalis were reconciled and in a sudden surge of lightheartedness Varya looked back at the open grave and asked sincerely but also in a half jesting manner: “Oh, Dhalis! The last thing I remember is slipping and falling whilst we fought... but I was certainly not dead. However did I end up in that grave?” Which caused Dhalis to laugh and to know tears of joy rather than sorrow as the red haired warrior explained: “To be honest? I thought that you were dead, waited all these hours to see if you would wake up, and when you did not... I started to dig this grave and was about to fill it in and raise a cairn above it when you awakened. You will never know how grateful I am to see you alive once again! This is a true miracle, my love.” The pair kissed... long and passionately... after that. Varya gave Dhalis' buttocks a bit of a squeeze, and the two of them practically showered each other with affection. Following that, they journeyed to a small town that lay in neutral territory before sending word to each others' peoples that the conflict was over. Both sides so ceased their hostilities, and did battle with one another no more. They became a united people then, and never again did they split apart as once they had done. Any wars that were fought henceforth were only against outside enemies... and the two warriors married, which united their peoples still further. Never again did anyone notice a raven storm upon the great mountain that loomed above the plains, and only when someone was about to die did they claim to spot the Death Child in their midst. The ruins stayed a forsaken place, and the ravens within the forest returned to the other world whence they came. Thus was Death's design for things no longer thwarted, which made her a great deal more pleased than ever she had been before. She had granted Dhalis the happy ending that was always intended from the onset, without having to snuff out all life within the present reality. Something she always hated having to do! The dark young girl thought about all of this as she made her way down through the tunnels that ran far and deep beyond the caves and caverns that lay beneath the great mountain. She journeyed in the gloom of that ever dark domain, holding in her left hand a glowing white orb that provided light for her to see by as she continued upon her journey under the mountain. She passed ancient crypts and catacombs, as well as whole underground cities and subterranean fortresses that once belonged to others of her race. It was a long time since she had ventured this way, along these paths. The pale creatures that her folk had become scampered away as she walked past them, and she occasionally did pet one or two on the head, so that they would know that she still cared for her now very distant blood kin. She used to weep at the fate of them, and when she did it was tears of blood that she wept... she had no other kind of tears in the incarnation in which she walked now, that of the Death Child. Thus, she was careful to reserve them for when something truly moved her... and only then. It was sad that her kin no longer dwelt in their cities, preferring the deepest tunnels in which to make their new dwellings... but they knew nothing else now. Whether they were content or miserable in their current state, they did not express either way. They had found ways of communicating through the mind, and only among one another... she could also speak to them and know their thoughts, but she preferred not to intrude upon them. Thus, the dark girl let her kin be as she descended even beyond the deepest, darkest domains that they called home. Such a grand and mighty civilization had existed here once! The girl mused to herself in her thoughts. It was a pity to see how time had changed it all so unrecognizably. There had always been a darkness, deep under the great mountain, and it was into that darkness that the Death Child journeyed. There were many places such as this, and all of them were known to her intimately. Down she ventured, and the shadows were with her.
At the deepest place beneath the great mountain, in the heart of the darkness that lay beneath it, below all of the forsaken and forbidden regions wherein no mortal feet had ever tread... the dark girl did come, at last, to the site where of old her ancestors had left their ancient and powerful machines. Even she had ancestors, for though she was immortal even so she too had once been born into existence the same as a mortal is. She gazed upon the great machines, untouched by any hands save hers in the thousands upon thousands of years since they had been constructed. They were made to service her people only, at first. But during the incalculable ages of her existence the dark girl had come to realize all the ways in which such things could be of benefit to humans. Especially given how prone humans are to making mistakes, of a sort that they can oft come to regret. It was by the power of these machines that the miraculous and terrible things the Death Child could do were made possible. Therein was a science that had become to most a kind of magic, and it was this which gave the dark girl her fearsome and respected reputation as it was among the primitive folk of this world. She muttered to herself as she checked to make certain all of the machines were still in optimal working order: “All systems appear to check out, all power levels, all readouts, everything seems to be just as I left it last. Excellent!” In all honestly, such systems could be said to practically maintain themselves given the tiny repair robots created with nanotechnology that were introduced into the machines' metal casings back when everything was first constructed. The girl, once she made certain that this was all as it should be, she walked through a metal door in the back of the colossal cavern that housed the machines. The door slip upwards with a hiss as she approached it... and she entered the bright chamber beyond. It was only bright of course because unlike the rest of those places beneath the great mountain... this was a place that the dark girl used frequently. The light was all from the flat illumination panels set into the ceiling, and from the blinking indicator lights on the many computers and servers that filled the room. The girl walked into a nearby closet to change her clothes... and after some time therein, she emerged wearing a long scarlet wide legged sleeveless jumpsuit belted at the waist with a silver sash belt tied at her side with a neat bow. She had put on a pair of comfortable silver slippers as well. The girl removed the white wig from her head, revealing a series of raised ridges that ran from the top of her head all the way down the back of her neck, and thereafter all the way down to the base of her spine. She had never been human, although with the wig the people on this primitive, and rather undeveloped world, at least did not mistake her for a demon. She had studied a great deal in regard to how best to deal with such backwards civilizations as these prior to deciding to interact with them in the first place. In every such case, it was better to blend in as much as possible even if only at times with the local folklore, mythologies, and belief systems. In other words, if all else fails, pretend to be one of their deities or legendary heroes or heroines... and you really cannot go too wrong. “Besides!” she mused to herself silently on thinking about all of this for a bit: “At least when people believe you to be Death they tend to really, really not want to mess with you.” She walked over to the monitor across the room from the closet door, and flipped the switch to turn it on. She sat down in the chair at the desk there, and waited for the communications computer to boot itself up. After some time, the monitor then blinked on and she input the correct password to indicate that she really was her and not someone who just simply managed to get here by accident or chance. Not then anyone could. Remote locations of this sort were always chosen by her people for a reason, after all. Mostly, no one would interrupt you at all... even by sheer dumb luck... with a hidden location tucked securely away in a place the locals were made to be exceedingly frightened of. And how easy it was to make them that frightened of such places! As soon as the password was accepted, the girl then got down to the business of sending a message to one of her colleagues at a site elsewhere in the world. Her message was quite typical of her trademark sense of humor, as it read: “I just helped a couple who had a bit of a spat, to make up and get things sorted. It was no big deal but I'll never get why couples' spats on barbaric worlds such as this always have to end up such a literally bloody mess. Like, bloody bloody not figuratively speaking. So, how was your day?”
Published 30th Dec 2022
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10th Jan 2023 9:51pm
I like reading this story, the ending did totally surprise me and was not at all what I expect at first for it to turn out being. The way it began, I was expecting a sword and sorcery story in the style of maybe Red Sonja or something similar but then it became a meditation on love, loss, death and second chances to make things right. All very important human considerations! Very thoughtfully explored here. I really thought that the girl was supposed to be Death at first, but then the big twist came at the end and it makes the reader see the whole story differently. At the end it became a science fiction story, and a very good and philosophical one at that. This was a unique story too, I read no others like it before. Keep up with some of these fictional ones when you take a break from writing your past life memories! You have so much talent for creating very unexpected twists, memorable characters, and really bringing tears to the reader's eyes. Parts of this story made me cry a little. And as you know, it takes a lot for me to cry given who and what I am. All part of the things I love about you! You have a very good mind, a loving heart, and a deep soul. Never change! Not for the whole world even.
11th Jan 2023 5:33am
The ending just kind of came to me, almost unbidden. Like it was just supposed to turn out exactly the way it did. When I got to the part where I was revealing what was actually beneath the mountain in the story... I was not sure at first what should actually be revealed there. But the images and the ideas sprang into my mind, and I put them down into the work exactly as they appeared to me. It was, you could say, an inspired way to end the tale I was telling here. It fit well with the themes of the work and tied up all the loose ends of the story while posing more questions for the reader with the hint of a larger story going on outside the scope of what is revealed in this tale. Which could work well if I ever decided to do a sequel to this story. Though for now I consider it quite complete on its' own. The reason my characters in my fictional works feel so unique is that I try to imbue them with a realistic life to them. I never write one-dimensional characters in my fictional works since to me they have to be like how people really are in life. Thus, every character I write about how a life all their own, and their own reasons for the things they do. They aren't always good or virtuous reasons, but in life there are all kinds of people and so I try to reflect this even in my fictional works by presenting people of every sort in the sort of variety you will find them in real life. It was sad for me to write a good part of this story too... some of it hit home a bit for me in a few ways, so it brought the tears for me when I penned some of this. In even my most fictional works, there is something of me to be found. Oft, you will always find at least one character that is like almost an author insertion and that character is like a fictionalized version of me when I do include it. It can take on a different form in each story, but if you look deep enough you will always find me there. The more a person knows about me, the quicker they will notice it and catch on to who is supposed to be me in each story I write. It is a kind of conceit I have as a writer, that I have to appear in each work of mine in some form or another. But it helps me to connect with the story, and to be able to imbue it with more life than I could otherwise. A lot of people actually do tell me that I have a lot of compassion, and a lot of love in my heart to give. I fall in love easily, I get hurt easily, and I feel everything in a big way. When I love it is with all of me, and when I get angry it is with all of me. That is simply my nature, and it cannot be helped. I am also highly empathic which can be at times a double-edged sword since it can be good to know what people are actually feeling... but it can be bad when those feelings are negative. I like positive feelings so much better! It is a pity that in this world there are not more people of the positive variety. Worry not, darling! I will never change, nor could I even if I wished to. The world means less to me than doing the right thing. Even when it is not easy at all.
29th May 2023 2:44am
This was a pretty cool story, babe! And what an unexpected ending, with quite the twist. You switched genres from fantasy to science fiction and did it so smoothly that it took me totally by surprise. Great stuff, my love! You know you're brilliant, right?
30th May 2023 1:54am
The twist was perfect, I thought too, when I wrote it! There was this huge buildup to a meaning behind the child in the story that the twist ending just totally flipped unto its' head in the final segment. I think that a blending of both fantasy and science fiction is something that has to be done just right in order for it to turn out well, and in this story's case it was perfect how I did It, I daresay! The best twists are always shocking surprises, I think. You're pretty darn brilliant yourself, beautiful! Brilliant like a shining star. :D
