A very short story I once wrote, a few years ago, for a friend that gave me the keywords: queen, crossbow and shadow.
Once upon a time, there was a lonely queen. Her husband, the king, was killed by a murder whom forced him to swallow 500 needles. The queen's life changed after this... she changed...! After 20 years of a lonely and hopeless life she decided to conclude a contract with the shadows. She wanted to life until she found the murder of her beloved husband. She made her way to the kingdoms witch and described the situation to her. The old woman did listen carefully and when the queen finished the old lady sighed. She told the queen to call her name 3 times into a mirror when the time comes that she dies. The queen understood and asked the old lady for her name. "My name is ... Miranda!" right after this the darkness surrounded them and disappeared as fast as it had appeared. The queen stood there and covered her eyes. She was afraid, but... the old lady...she... was gone. "Miranda...!" the queen whispered and left.
After a couple of years the queen still had no success with her search for the kings murderer. Time passed by and finally her day has come. A few minutes before she would take her last breath she asked her maid for a mirror. The maid did not hesitate and brought a mirror. The queen took it out of her hands and demanded her to leave. "Miranda...Miranda...mi...ran...da!" the mirror disappeared and the old lady appeared next to the bed the queen was laying in. "do whatever is necessary!" the queen whispered and the old lady did it. She took a small stone out of nowhere and threw it at the queen. The stone stopped in front of her forehead and her eyes started to glow in a bloody crimson.
The witch laid her hand over these eyes and started to speak „live as long as you wish ...!" the queen lost consciousness and the witch disappeared for ever. The woman, once meant for death, woke up and laid on a rock in a great forest. She rubbed her eyes but when she took a look at her arms she started to scream. Her skin turned its color to a green-yellow-brown mixed color. She was... she had become a ...zombie. She turned around but there was no one else. She remembered what she said to the witch and sighed. She accepted what she had become and started to search again. But there was a problem. She was not able to remember what she was searching for. All she remembered was ...wrath...revenge...!
She stumbled through the forest and the more she tried to remember the more her wrath grew. She wanted to kill. kill. kill kill everything. Destroy everything. When she saw her own shadow she started to blaze with anger. There was no normal shadow. It was the one the witch made the contract with. A tall horse, missing a head. It started to rebel against his new master and tried to escape...but it was impossible. After a few hours of walking she found herself growing tired, but unable to sleep. Her new shadow appeared in her dreams and let her see every terrible thing it had seen. ( a headless can see...google dulllahan celty and blahblahblah XD)
She got angrier and continued walking. When she saw an animal she killed it with her hands... no matter if it was a wolf or a rabbit. But then she met a guy with a crossbow. He tried to kill the monster crossing his way, but he stood no chance against her. It was impossible, she was immortal. The queen finished it and took the crossbow. She was able to use it and now she killed everyone with the crossbow and arrows made by shadow. She is on her way through the world until she wanted an end for this. She has not found the murder, but he still was alive. The witch cursed him to stay alive until his end caused by the queen and her crossbow. Strolling through the time, she kept searching someone she couldn't remember, as well as the murder fled from someone he didn't ever know.