For hundreds of years Elena had roamed the earth as a banshee, screaming in agony whenever someone died. She was used to the all the death and slaughter, yet she sought something else to give her emotions. She could not speak, only scream. She longed to talk again, and to sing her ancient ancestors songs. She longed to be filled with warmth and life, not emptiness and sorrow. She knew that the end of days was approaching. She knew who would come to destroy the earth. She saw him in a dream, but the one thing she knew that would not fail her, was that Death would soon to arrive and take the souls of the dead. She wanted to meet this Death. She wanted to be taken away from this world and into another. She wanted to be free from constant killing and screaming.
The End of Days came long after she had made her wish to be taken by Death. It had taken hundreds of years for such a thing to pass, yet to her it was merely the blink of an eye. Great spheres of flame and ash fell from the sky, destroying everything in their path. She watched form the forests of the earth, confined to their depths. She could no leave these forests, they were hers to care for and to protect, yet these spheres killed every living thing that was mortal. The werewolves that sought shelter in her forests survived, but many fled once the demons began their rampage. All the ghouls and creatures alike abandoned her to her dead forest, never to be seen again. She roamed aimlessly, her mind slowly slipping into madness from the lack of contact from anything. She was alone, and always would be, until she came upon a pale rider and a ghostly horse.
She first spotted him at the only clean watering hole, his back to her and his hands in the fresh water. She wafted closer, the great raven on his shoulder squawking at her angrily. The pale rider rose to his feet in a flash and she stilled in the air, cocking her head to the side in confusion. This was not the warrior in her dream of the end of the world, this was the warrior who would bring her emotion again. She pointed at him and motioned him forward, watching as he hesitated before taking a step. She kept urging him forward and studied his movements and body language. He did not seem pleased to be ordered around by her, but it was his choice to come closer. Once he was close enough to reach out and touch, she let her feet touch the ground, making her transform into a being of flesh. She still could not speak and she used the sign language she had learned from a mute boy to try and communicate with him.
"What are you?" came a feral growl from the pale rider.
She motioned for him to cover his ears, which he did tentatively and once she was sure his ears were covered, she let out her banshee scream. He flinched and leapt backward, his hands still over his ears. She stopped her scream and tears built behind her lashes. His rejection was painful, but expected. She blinked hard to try and hide the tears, and turned to float away. She shifted back into her ghost form and was about to leave when his vice reached her ears.
"A banshee, I take it. Can you not speak?"
Elena turned back toward him and shook her head. She lowered herself to the ground once more and pulled her swirling hair away from her face to show him the deep scar that ran across her throat. Her own father had cut out her vocal chords, for fear of anyone stealing his precious daughter because of her unique gift to place her emotions into anyone who heard her sing. His eyes narrowed and he leaned closer, curiosity was replaced by anger.
"What did this to you?" he demanded.
Elena looked around for something to write with and found a small stick and wrote the word father in the ash at her feet. He came over to her side and read the single word and then turned his fiery gaze to her. His orange eyes burned and swirled. She stepped away for fear of being hurt, and accidently stumbled on an exposed root. She fell into the ash and coughed raggedly. She wished she had her voice back so that she could communicate with him, but lowered her head in shame. She felt strong hands grip her upper arms and haul her to her feet so that she could stand. Her eyes met his and she stared intently into their depths. She stepped out of his grip and turned back to the word written in the ash. Below the word father she wrote: I am called Elena, what is your name?
The man stepped toward her again and read what she had written and chuckled darkly.
"I have many names, Elena, but there is only one you need to know. Death," he said quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder.
She nodded and looked back at the ground. She wrote: Will you kill me then?
Death read it and sighed.
"If you wish death so greatly, than yes I will. However, what if I said that I know of a way to get your voice back," he said, kneeling so that he could be eye level with her.
She looked him in the eyes, trying to see if he was telling the truth. His eyes were sincere and filled with a sadness that she never thought she would have found in Death's eyes. She nodded hesitantly and motioned toward her throat. He nodded and stood, holding out a hand to her. She watched as his ghostly horse trotted up to Death and pawed that earth impatiently. She took hold of his hand and held in a scream as he tossed her onto his horse and mounted behind her. She was tense all the way to a weird looking outcropping of stone and grasped his forearms when some demon sprang from the ground and began speaking in a language she didn't understand. Death dismounted and told his horse to stay with her. She watched warily as Death approached the demon and began to speak to it in its own language. She could hear how annoyed with the demon Death was and tried to get his horse to move a little closer, but it wouldn't move. She huffed in frustration and hopped down, drawing Death's attention. His eyes widened when she ran forward, shifting into her true banshee form and coming to float just behind his back. She watched the demon carefully and found that what she saw she didn't like at all. Death tried to turn around and speak to her, but she shoved his shoulder and he growled angrily at her. She shrank away and noticed that the demon was staring at her intently. The demon then spoke quickly to Death, his eyes never leaving her. She glared at it and let a hand come to rest at the small of Death's back. She felt his tense muscles beneath her hand tremble. She glanced at Death's face and froze when she saw the look on that eerie mask. She then felt the anger that was painted clearly on that face come off him in waves. He was pissed and she was in his way. She floated backward and he spun on her in anger. She watched in horror as he stalked toward her with his dual scythes draw and hungry for banshee blood. She looked around the outcropping for an escape route and had no choice but to blast him with a banshee scream. She let out the loudest and longest scream that she had ever done and her whole body trembled with the effort. She squeezed her eyes shut as the scream became painful and she had to break it to breathe. She fell to the ground spent and watched as a stunned Death regained his composure and stalked toward her once more. She whimpered softly and closed her eyes as Death lifted his scythes for the death blow. She waited, but that blow never came. Instead strong arms wrapped around her and she tried to get away from the tight embrace. No one had ever touched her this much before. No one had even cared to consider her existence. Yet this man named Death clutched her tightly to his body. She looked him over and found him to start feeling the effects of her scream on him. His body movements became stiff and his muscles tensed in pain. She took his face in her hands and breathed against his mask, trying to undo that pain and suffering she brought upon him. She watched in amazement as the effects of her scream vanished, leaving her no choice but to flee. She shifted into her ghost form and fled from him in fear. She flinched when she heard his roar of rage and sank deeper into the shadows of the dead forest.
It has been days since she last saw Death, her mind slipping even faster than it had before. She couldn't form coherent thoughts and she often found herself just floating in one place for hours at a time. She was becoming a true banshee, just like her mother. She couldn't remember the last time she had cried, but this time it was far more painful and hard than the last time. Her soul wrenching sobs echoed through the dead trees, stirring up the ash beneath her. She lowered her face into her hands and slowly sank to the ground in anguish. She was alone and always would be. She should have known better than to have thought that the man named Death could have helped her get her voice back. She had been a fool to wish for death, it would not come to her like it had her mother. She was chosen by the Banshee Council to be the essence of the banshee race, yet she didn't think that it would have been this painful. Her tears and sobs stopped and she rose again to slowly float past the trees, going deeper into the forest.
Elena sank to the ground next to a watering hole and just starred at her reflection in the clear water. She was beautiful, that she knew. But she didn't remember looking this ragged or worn out. She stood once more, casting her reflection one last glance before walking away. She was suddenly hit from behind and yelped in pain as her back and legs were torn by sharp claws. She flipped onto her back and let out a banshee scream that shook the earth around her and stunned the demon dog long enough for her to stab it in the throat with her sharp nails. At the sight of blood the inner banshee burst forth, letting out a scream of pure agony and making the sound echo across hundreds of miles of forests. Once the scream was done, and all her energy had been spent, she collapsed on the ground next to the demon's corpse and faded into the welcoming black.
Death found Elena unconscious on the ground next to a demon dog that she must have killed. But what shocked him were the wounds on her back and legs where that demon had taken her down from behind. He knelt next to her and gently picked her up in his arms. Her barely audible moan of pain made him move faster back to his horse and he ripped his cowl over his head and placed it on the ground for her to lie on. He placed her there as gently as he was able and went to Despair for bandages and the various health potions he had recently acquired from Vulgrim right after she had disappeared. The demon had placed a spell on him, making the horseman his puppet and forced Death to try and kill her. She had screamed and released him from that spell, and then saved his life when her banshee call had begun to tear him apart from the inside. It was shortly after that she had fled and he had taken what he had asked for and began to track her down. He was just lucky enough to have been fairly close or she would have perished before he could have saved her. He gently sat her up and forced her to drink a health potion that would heal her current wounds. He then gave her another that would heal the past damage done to her physical body and allow her to speak. She coughed and thrashed in his arms as the damage was being undone. She let out a Banshee scream from the pain and he flinched when the sound pierced his ears, but it did not affect him as it had before. Her breathe kept him from feeling her screams affects. Once the thrashing subsided, she lay motionless and her eyes barely slit open to look at him. Once she saw his face, her eyes widened in fear and she tensed to run away.
"Elena, it is me. There is no need to fear me. I am not here to hurt you," Death said quietly, stilling her with a hand against her right cheek.
She stilled, staring up into his orange eyes, searching for the truth. She found it and started to cry, her tears an eerie shade of silver. Her skin paled until it was nearly white and her hair started to swirl about her face as it had when he had first met her. He simply held her as she cried into his shoulder, her small hands balling into fists and hitting him with enough force for it to hurt only slightly. She was angry with him and she had every right to be.
"Elena, calm down. You are not yet strong enough," Death said gently, catching her fists in his hands and stopping her efforts to hit him again and again.
"I will not calm down! You were going to kill me when you said that you would not! How can I ever trust you again?!" she roared furiously, lunging at him until he was slammed into the ground on his back.
She froze above him once she realized that she had spoken out loud. Her eyes widened in horror and she scrambled off him to stare at her hands. Her fingers trembled and she looked from his face to her hands. She was going to run, and if he didn't stop her, then Death would never see her again. He launched himself at her and pinned her to the ground beneath him.
"If you run, it will solve nothing. You have every right to be angry at me, Elena. I was not myself when I attacked you, I was under Vulgrim's spell. Forgive me, banshee, for wrong actions. And I hope that my gift will help you to forgive me," Death said, slowly releasing her to allow her to sit up.
"You found a way for me to speak again," she mumbled softly, a hand flying to her throat.
Death nodded and sat down next to her, carefully adjusting his body weight until he was comfortable.
"How did you do it?" she asked in awe.
"After you have blasted Vulgrim and I with that scream, and after you spared me, I took several items from the demon and began to track you down. You are a very hard woman to find," Death said, chuckling darkly at his last statement, "I found you lying next to that demon dog and gave you the healing potions that I was originally going to buy for you. And I see that they are working nicely since your wounds from the present and past have healed."
Elena blushed and looked down at her feet. She stared at her toes as if they were the most interesting thing in the whole world.
"If I may, why did you want your voice back if there was no one to talk to?" Death asked.
"Because then I could sing," she answered simply, lifting her gaze to stare at him.
"May I hear a melody?" he asked, straightening slightly.
She nodded and opened her mouth to sing one of her favorite songs.
May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home
Mornie utulie (Darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantie (Darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now
May it be the shadow's call
Will fly away
May it be your journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun
Mornie utulie (Darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantie (Darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now
A promise lives within you now…
As she finished the song, she could feel Death's stillness and sense of calm.
"That was beautiful. Would you sing another?" he said, not even opening his eyes.
She took in a deep breath and began again in a song that spoke of a banshee like herself.
The shadows fell across the room as I lay down to rest
A storm was raging deep inside my head
I fell into a restless sleep
Of crazy changing dreams
But woke to find you standing by my bed
Clohinne winds were blowing when you called me
First you spoke my name
Your voice was still the same
You beckoned me
and I arose To follow where you led
Out among the wild Clohinne hills
The mountain mist had lent an eerie whiteness to the hill
The silver spider threadings caught my face
You darted through the bracken
Trailing stardust in your wake
I knew you'd stop beside our sacred place
Clohinne winds were blowing when you called me
First you spoke my name
Your voice was still the same
You beckoned me
and I arose To follow where you led
Out among the wild Clohinne hills
You stopped upon the fairy hill beneath the hawthorn tree
I thought I heard a lonely banshee wail
You held your hand towards me
And I reached to touch your face
But woke to find that you were just a dream
Clohinne winds were blowing when you called me
First you spoke my name
Your voice was still the same
You beckoned me
and I arose To follow where you led
Out among the wild Clohinne hills
The years have passed
And I am growing weary of this earth
The magic of the dream alludes me still
I've lain beneath the fairy tree
I've shouted to the moon
I am the haunted woman of the hill
Clohinne winds were blowing when you called me
First you spoke my name
Your voice was still the same
You beckoned me
and I arose To follow where you led
Out among the wild Clohinne hills
Elena was panting by the time she was done and getting light headed from the effort and started to sway alarmingly. Death easily caught and steadied her, his hands remaining until she was stable enough to let go.
"You should rest. You need to regain your strength," he said quietly, helping her lie down on his dark purple cloak.
"I cannot, I will only be a burden to you," she protested trying to fight her way out of his grasp.
"Lay down and rest. Don't make me use force," he growled, trying to subdue her with his hands alone.
"No! I am being a burden by being here. Let me leave you in peace. I do not want to wear out my welcome," she wailed, thrashing against him.
Death growled and straddled her thighs, keeping her legs from kicking out blindly. He stretched her arms above her head and pinned her hands there and allowed his chest to settle atop hers. She was soft against him and he fought back a groan of pleasure when she continued to fight him. He then let his legs stretch out atop hers, stilling her completely. Her wide, silver eyes pierced him with an angry glare, making him chuckle. Her pupils suddenly dilated and she let out a soft gasp when his chuckle made her whole body vibrate deliciously. Her whole body relaxed beneath him and he growled as her hips shifted against his. Death released her hands to raise himself up on his forearms to stare down at her lovely face. She was staring up at him with this look of pure awe and shock. He growled and reached up to take off his mask. She gasped when his long hair shielded his face for only a few seconds and then she saw him fully. His face was worn and weary looking, but handsome in a masculine way that made her spine shiver. Her hands came to rest on his broad shoulders and pulled his head down to hers so that she could rest his forehead against hers.
"You looked tired as well," she whispered beneath him, running her fingers through his hair.
"But you need the rest more than I do," he growled, pulling away to put his mask back on.
She growled in protest and pushed him onto his back so that she straddled him. He tensed at first, not knowing what she was going to do next, but then relaxed when she gently took his mask from him and looked at it carefully. She then smirked and leapt to her feet and took off running with his mask in hand. She entered the trees and disappeared with Death hot on her heels. She laughed and grabbed a handful of ash and tossed it in his face and leapt out of the way as he tripped and crashed into the watering hole. She burst out laughing when she realized that he had landed upside down and against a large boulder that had several cracks in it from the impact. His legs hit the water with a loud splash and he sat up with mud in his hair and smeared across his shoulders and face. She waded into the water and pushed his shoulders back until he was back in the water and she began to rinse out the mud from his hair and off his shoulders and face. His eyes never left her and she felt this heat begin to burn in her lower abdomen. She held out a hand and helped him to his feet, pulling strings of dead seaweed from his limbs and pants.
"What was that for?" he growled, grabbing her wrists and taking his mask back.
"I just wanted to see if you could play. But it looks like you can't," she said sadly, looking away from his face.
Water suddenly hit her face with enough force to make her stumble backward and trip over a floating log and crash into the water. She sat up, mud covering nearly every inch of her body. She sniffled and hid her face behind her hair and went to wipe at her eyes as if she was crying. Death rushed over to her and knelt down in front of her.
"Elena? Are you alright?" he asked frantically.
She answered him by launching herself at him and plunging them both under the surface to a really deep part of the water hole. She panicked and let him go, only to sink further. She could see Death heading toward the surface and she screamed and reached out to him. Water filled her lungs and she panicked. Her body began to not move and she watched helplessly as she sank deeper and deeper into the hole. Her eyes finally closed and her whole world blacked out.
Death had never before panicked, but once he saw that Elena had not come up with him he plunged under the water and found her at the bottom, unconscious. She must not have been able to swim and if he didn't get to her fast then she would die from drowning. He grabbed her about the waist and pushed off from the floor of the watering hole like a rocket and was pointed straight toward the surface. He broke through the surface and landed with her draped over his shoulder and unresponsive. He laid her on the ground and laid his head against her chest. There was a weak patter then a long silence, then another weak patter. She was dying and he had to do something. He had seen a human do this technique to another when they were about to die from drowning. He flattened his palms on her chest between her breasts and gently pushed down several times. He then plugged her nose and molded his lips to hers and breathed into her. Once he pulled away she coughed and sputtered, the water that was in her lungs coming out in gushes. He rolled her onto her side and gently patted her back until she could breathe normally.
"Don't ever do that to me again! Understood?" he shouted angrily, hauling her up so that he could glare at her.
She was too weak to even keep her eyes open let alone answer him. He sighed and grabbed his mask that had been lying on the bank next to him and placed it back on his face. He gently picked her up and carried her back to his cowl and wrapped her in the thick fabric so that she would remain warm. He sat down next to his horse and dismissed the faithful companion to summon his raven, Dust to help keep a watch.
Elena woke to hear something growling in her ear and something was twitching behind her. She opened her eyes and glanced over at her shoulder to see Death twitching in his sleep. From the looks of it, he was having a nightmare. His angry growls sent shivers down her spine and she carefully twisted in his arms so that she could look at him. She gasped softly when his hand slammed into the ground right beside her with enough force to make a small crater. She pressed against him to stay away from his hand and stilled once she realized that he had stopped moving. She looked back up at his face and saw his mask. She gently took it from him and set it above her head on the ground. His face was at peace and he even pulled her closer in his sleep. She giggled softly and let her hands come to rest on his wide chest. She absentmindedly traced intricate patterns over his muscles, watching in amusement as he slowly began to relax. She rested her head on his arm and sighed in content. She closed her eyes and snuggled closer to him and froze when he groaned and stirred from his sleep. She pretended like she was still asleep and listened to him growl protectively. She shivered from the sound and he must have thought that she was cold and wrapped something rough but warm around her. She sighed and he stilled for only a moment, then gently picked her up without jostling her at all. She relaxed in his arms and heard him chuckle at her. She stirred and slit her eyes open to look up at him. She smiled weakly at him and lifted a small hand to touch his firm and full lips with the tips of her fingers.
"Has anyone told you that you're handsome?" she asked quietly.
"No. You are the first to call me handsome. Do you know what happened to my mask?" he said, his eyes narrowing at her.
She shook her head and yawned, her eyes sliding closed again. Death sighed and shook his head in amusement. He summoned his horse and set her in the saddle and went back to where they were laying and grabbed his mask and put it back on his face. She slumped forward and realized just how tired she actually was. Her eyes started to slide close when he mounted his horse behind her. She jerked and Death stilled her with an arm wrapped around her waist.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked quietly.
"Someplace with a terrain for defense.