[spoiler]Spontaneous part 3 Started working on this early morning after a bit of inspiration and have been spewing words out off and on throughout the day, between spending time with my mother. This has nothing to do with her btw. My mother is awesome. She's the kindest, coolest, and hardest working woman I know. Anyway, here's this thing i've not edited at all and finished whilst possibly drunk. I'm sure I'll hate it in the morning which is why I'm just going to post it now or I never will! Enjoy or don't, I'm going to bed![/spoiler] The fire crackles as Melinoe places another log within the central hearth. She was pleased to have found this long abandoned tavern to take shelter from the downpour outside. Raising her hands to the flames, she spares a glance towards the wretched blade, Nemesis, leaning against a nearby chair, staring at her with it's red serpentine eye. Before she can make sense of the whispers creeping into her mind, Melinoe turns back to the flames and breaks the silence. "Today is Mother's Day, a tradition in which mortals honor the women who've raised them, trained them, protected them..." She trails off as she drifts into memories of her brief childhood. The first memory Melinoe recalls is the day she was born. She remembers feeling cold and the sound of crackling ice. She opens her eyes for the first time and the ice shatters, dropping her onto a stone floor. Lifting herself up, she sees her hands, small, thin, weak, the hands of a mere child. Melinoe sees her reflection within a puddle, dark hair and eyes, pale white skin, and pointed, elongated ears. [i]An Elf? Yes, Shadow Elf. Shadar Kai.[/i] A cloak is draped over her shoulders from behind and she turns with a start to see a tall, thin man wearing black leathers. Long white hair frames a gray withered face with two blue eyes glowing dimly in the darkness. [i]A Wight,[/i] Melinoe thinks, [i]Why do I know these things?[/i] "Rise," it rasps, offering a hand. Melinoe takes it, noticing a blade of ice gripped in the other. It helps her to her feet, then takes two steps back and stands at attention. Taking in her surroundings, they are upon a circular platform of stone with still waters on all sides. Bioluminescent fungi reveals the distant walls of the cavernous chamber while torch sconces illuminate the platform. There are others who fell from three similar columns, each one flanked by additional Wights and evenly spaced along the edges of the platform, arching inward to meet at the center. From the column at her left, another elven girl with the same face, but her eyes are solid black and her skin is blue and covered in scales. Her hands and feet are webbed and her fin-like ears stick out of a curtain of silver hair. Holding the cloak tightly, she looks around in awe, jaw hanging open revealing two rows of sharp, triangular teeth. [i]Sea Elf.[/i] Another girl to her right has dark gray skin and bright red hair and eyes. The lower half of her body is that of a large, black spider with cracks in the carapace flickering like fire. She holds the cloak across her upper body with fingers tipped with long nails and glares at the Wights behind her. [i]A Drow. Drider.[/i] Directly across the chamber sits the last girl, hugging her knees and sobbing. Her skin is a deep green and her yellow eyes glow dimly. Wild black hair cascades to her shoulders and two short brown horns protrude from her forehead. The Wights place the cloak around the girl and lift her up. A long, thick tail flicks back and forth behind her. [i]A green Tiefling?[/i] "Be silent." A stern voice echoes throughout the cavern. A pale elven woman marches past to the center of the platform and stops, taking a moment to examine each of the girls with cold, cruel eyes as red as blood. Another Wight in black robes stands beside her and waits patiently. "They're so...tiny. Why?" The woman crosses her arms and glares at the robed Wight. "My Lady Nil," the woman rolls her eyes as the Wight speaks, "They require time to mature. As you designed." "Of course!" Nil hisses and paces, "Fffffffine. I'll have to make due with these four." "No!" The Tiefling shouts. "Oh?" Nil responds, back turned to her and eyes locked with Melinoes, expression devoid of emotion. "No!" The Tiefling shouts again, "I can...feel things... and this is all wrong!" Her eyes widen and she begins shaking, "And you are not who you're pretending to be! You're...you're a monster! Something ancient and terrible... your thoughts are a thousand voices screaming in rage!" The monster does not blink, does not breath, it is perfectly still as it listens to her rant, then it speaks two words as it stares into Melinoes eyes. "Kill it." The Wights raise their weapons to strike the Tiefling, but she screams and a plume of sickly green flames erupt around her, then she is gone. Melinoe stares into the heartg, silent for a moment. "I never saw her again. I felt her depart this realm. I can still feel my other sisters, but not her." The whisper creeps two words into her mind "[i]...Kill...Them...[/i]" Melinoe glares at Nemesis, then places a log into the hearth and a series of painful memories flash before her eyes. Weeks of cruel tests and brutal training at the hands of tutors and the monster wearing the face of Nil. Combat, arcana, survival, and subterfuge. Honing their skills for a purpose none knew. They each had unique talents and excelled in certain areas. The Drider had a mind for strategy, pyromancy, and espionage. The Sea Elf was charismatic, took quickly to swordplay and marksmanship, and could command creatures from the depths. Melinoe's only known talents were conjuring illusory nightmares and invoking fear, things their mother referred to as useless tricks. "Well look at me now," Melinoe smiles at the sword, "No thanks to you." It is months after their birth and they have aged into young adults. Melinoe and the Sea Elf are in the study of the mountain top mansion, enjoying a moment of freedom while their mother is away. The girls sit beside the windows, Melinoe nose deep in an old book and the Sea Elf staring at the city in the distance. "Ugh!" The Sea Elf groans, "I'm bored. You wanna go spar just for fun? Or tease the vampires with sunlight and mirrors?" "No thank you." "Oh come on! What are you even reading?" "A book on mythology from a land called Greece," she places the book between them. "Melinoe," the Sea Elf reads, "Chthonic nymph or goddess invoked in the blah, blah, blah... bringer of nightmares and madness?" She looks up and smiles, "Sounds like you, sister!" Seeing her blush at that, the Sea Elf continues, "So, Melinoe, what's my name?" Melinoe thinks a moment, then flips a few pages and points, "What about Scylla? Terror of the deep!" "Ooooh, scary! ... I like it." Scylla leans back on the bench and is silent for a moment. "Hey so," Scylla hesitates, "Remember when we snuck away and visited that little village on the woods?" "Yeah, you got caught stealing an apple!" "Yeah, good times... So, you wanna sneak out again? Maybe hit the big city?" "Really? That's awfully far away Someone would surely notice us missing." "Well," Scylla rubs the back of her neck, "Now that we have names and all...what if we didn't come back?" Melinoe drops the book, "Seriously?" "You saw how those villagers lived," Scylla whispers, tears forming in the corners of her eyes, "This place is awful. Our lost sister was right, mother is a monster. She's pure evil. We need to run far, far away."