Set in season 2 episode 11 In The Shadows.
A young girl stood in the clearing of a dense forest, she had long black hair and brown eyes. Aphmau was wearing her armor, a long, jeweled, gold and silver sword was strapped to her back. The craftsmanship of her armor was incredible, it was expertly made to be thin and light, while also being extra durable. It had intricate carvings that allowed for both maneuverability and beauty. The armor also had a long purple cape attached at the right shoulder, but not the left. The sword had the same majestic deadly beauty, and it was made with the same export craftsmanship as her armor.
Aphmau couldn't remember much of when she got the armor, or who she got it from. Aphmau couldn't remember much of anything before she arrived at Phoenix Drop, really. She remembered that she got it from a friend. She couldn't remember much about him, but she remembered the sound of his voice, a great vast library, a voice telling her, "You will kill people with this sword, but you will also save lives and help many people." And snow white hair. The warrior shook her head, she needed to focus!
Aphmau moved silently through the forest, her armor not making a single noise. Cloud, however, was less stealthy, he moved with very little grace and instead charged in the direction that they were moving. Aphmau almost sighed at him. Suddenly, they heard a loud scream. It was Cadenza! They had made a plan earlier about what would happen if they found Cadenza and she was in trouble. When Aphmau laid eyes on the scene in front of her, she knew that her friend was indeed in trouble.
Aphmau's brown eyes widened, as she saw her friend, Cadenza, taken through the Nether Portal by the Shadow Souls. She could hear Cloud's gasp of surprise at seeing his lord getting dragged into the Nether. The dark forest obscured her vision somewhat, but that didn't stop her from seeing everything that had just happened clear as day. Aphmau forgot about the plan and charged towards the rip in dimensions, her chocolate eyes filled with a fiery determination to save Cadenza. She could clearly hear Cloud's shout, telling her to stop, but she ignored him and raced through the forest.
Aphmau ran to the alter, the heat of the sacrificial flames burned her back, but she ignored that. No blood had been spilled on the stone, they were keeping her alive, but why? For what purpose would they need Cadenza? Without a second though, without paying attention to the yells of Cadenza's guard and without any thought of her own personal safety, Aphmau jumped through the Nether Portal, her long, silver sword in hand.
Aphmau remembered the Nether all to well, she had been here once before and she never wanted to come back. It looked the same, the pools of lava and the ever blazing fires, the sickly red-purple ground and the pale, glowing, yellow stones, it was all to familiar. The Nether had no sun, no moon, stars, clouds or sky, it was only lighted by fire and molten steel, all lava in this place is used to form a Shadow Knights armor. The Nether was an endless system of caves and caverns, both big and small.
Aphmau heard a scream in the distance, the sound echoing in the cave-like walls of the Nether. Aphmau couldn't tell where the noise had come from. She heard another scream and her head snapped towards it. With great speed, Aphmau ran towards the origin of the cry. Aster a minute or two of running, Aphmau trekked over a large hill. What she saw made her both proud and terrified.
She saw Cadenza, in minimum armor, fighting with her fists against Sasha, Gene and two more Shadow Knights that, thank Irene, Aphmau didn't recognize, both of their faces were obscured by the traditional helm of the Shadow Knights. Surprisingly, Cadenza was holding her own fine, she had even landed a solid punch to Gene's jaw and a kick to the ribs on one of the other Shadow Knights. However, the former lord could see that her friend was hurt and growing exhausted, small and large streams of blood dripped down her arms, legs and chest, and she was breathing heavily. Aphmau jumped up and slid down the hill before quickly leaping to her feet.
Aphmau ran to help her friend, slashing her sword across the throat of one of the unnamed Shadow Knights. His blood stained the ground and her sword. The Shadow Knight fell to the floor, never to get up again. Gene and Sasha looked shocked to see her in the Nether, granted, Aphmau was surprised to see them, especially Sasha. They hadn't changed at all. The unknown Shadow Knight charged at Aphmau. However, she was quicker, her blade struck him in the stomach, tearing through his armor and lifting him off his feet. His blood gushed out, splashing onto Aphmau's face, running like a river, splitting at her nose and just above her eyes, then splitting more after that. Aphmau knew that the Nether was messing with her head, this place brought out the worst in people, it forced malice, hate and rage to come to the surface. It forced them to kill.
Aphmau trust her sword in a downward motion, the dead body sliding off the blade. His blood covered her weapon of choice, scarlet standing out among the silver and gold of her sword. Aphmau felt bad for the loss of life, she always did, but she reminded herself that they were Shadow Knights, who would have killed her without a second thought, and who were going to harm her friend. Cadenza looked terrified, Sasha looked shocked and Gene, Gene looked mildly impressed.
"Come on Cadenza! We need to move NOW!" Aphmau yelled grabbing the arm of her friend and running in the direction of the portal. Anger fueled her movements, the rage the Nether forced upon her gave her strength. If Gene and Sasha ran after them, they would chase them through the portal. Aphmau couldn't let that happen. Just as the portal came into view she let go of Cadenza and turned to face the Lord of Meteli. "Go through the portal, I will hold them off. If I don't make it, tell Laurance that he will always hold a place in my heart, that he was always the brother that I never had and that I owe him more than just my life," Aphmau told her.
Cadenza looked at her friend her mouth agape and her sky blue eyes watering, "Aphmau, I only just got you back, I can't just leave you! And what about everyone else?" Aphmau looked at her with a steady gaze, her brown eyes holding only the blazing light of fire. "You are injured, tired and in no shape to be fighting, you need to leave." Aphmau's head snapped sideways as she heard voices not to far off. "They are coming. GO! NOW!" The once Lord of Phoenix Drop shouted as she pushed Cadenza through, just in time for her to spot Gene and Sasha, but they weren't alone, behind them stood three other Shadow Knights. Aphmau, with little other choices, turned around and, with powerful force, slashed her sword through the obsidian of the portal, slashed through her only way of escaping the Nether.
"NO!" Gene roared, as the portal crumbled to rubble, "You utter fool!". Aphmau gazed at the leader of the group of Shadow Knights and smirked. "You are trapped here, Gene, where you belong," Aphmau snarled, as she tightened her grip on her sword and narrowed her eyes. The look on Gene's face went far beyond murderous. "I may be stuck in this cursed hell, but so are you, cornered with nowhere to run... and no place to hide," Gene said maliciously, his blood red eyes matching the scarlet armor that covered his body.
"I will give you one chance Aphmau, you are strong, a powerful warrior, you needn't die here, join us, become a Shadow Knight and all will be forgiven," Gene said with a voice as smooth as silk. His hand was reached out, an offering. Aphmau's eyes were wide with shock, so were Sasha's. The surprise in her brown eyes quickly faded, as Aphmau drew herself up, back straight and head high, the blood on her face glinted in the light of the fires around them and her eyes looking amber in the blazing light. She looked truly like a force to be reckoned with.
"I'll. Never. Follow. You," Aphmau snarled, readying her scarlet stained sword. Gene sighed, "Fine, so be it, you had the chance to join willingly, now you will join by force." His voice was as cold as the icy winds of winter. He gave a nod to one of the Shadow Knights who moved forward with a spiked chain in hand. In a swift moment, two great, white, feathered wings extended from Aphmau's back, and her skin glowed a faint white. Everyone, even Aphmau, was shocked to see the beautiful wings, but none of them took the time to question it.
The Shadow Knight with the chains threw one end at her like a whip, she dodged and grabbed the spiked chain, its barbs cutting into the palm of her hand. Yanking on the chain, the Shadow Knight lost his balance and fell from the ledge, into the lava below, his screams were short. Aphmau was clumsy due to the giant wings that had appeared on her back and lost her balance. The other two rushed forward, swords in hand. One slashed at her stomach, the other at her head. Aphmau blocked the strike to her head, but in doing so the other Shadow Knight slashed deep into her side, grazing her ribs. She grunted in pain at the deep wound and drew herself up. Her eyes narrowed.
The Shadow Knights were circling her. Aphmau, making a split second decision, threw her sword, it pierced the heart of the Shadow Knight that she had blocked from striking her head. He had no time to scream, he was dead before his body hit the ground. Aphmau felt a pang of guilt, but the rage forced the feeling of sadness away. The other Shadow Knight's posture stiffened, as if he knew that he could be killed by this woman. Unfortunately for him, he charged at the one who killed his fellow Shadow Knights.
Aphmau quickly ran and pulled her sword from the dead body, just in time to deflect a strike to her head. The sword didn't strike the back of her head like intended to, but it hit her forehead, slashing in a diagonal arc just beside her right eye. Even more blood appeared on her face, it was past the point were she was covered in it. Aphmau ran at the Shadow Knight. She When she was close enough, she slashed downwards. The slash ripped open his crimson armor and his body, from his throat to his stomach. He fell to the ground, twitching with blood pooling from his horrific wound. The red liquid lapped against the red-purple stone floor, gushing out of his body in waves. She couldn't see Gene or Sasha, they must have fled, like the pathetic, sniveling, cowards that they are. Aphmau let her muscles relax, and, just for a moment, she let her guard down.
That was a grave mistake, it gave her biggest threat a chance to strike. Gene jumped from his hiding place and slashed his sword at her back in a deadly arc. I screamed, he didn't hit anything of importance, but it hurt, especially with the wound being to close to the the extra blood veins pumping blood into my wings. Already my vision was going dark, and my senses dulled. My knees buckled under me and I collapsed on the hard stone floor. Fire exploded in my side, as Gene kicked me in my wounded ribs. I landed on the side of my body that wasn't damaged, my wings fading into mist and disappearing.
"Don't worry Aphmau." I faintly heard Gene say through the fog. "When you wake up, you won't remember any of this, and you will serve the Shadow Knights." My mind couldn't stay awake any longer, and I gave way to the darkness, falling deep into the abyss bellow.