Mythical

Chapter 3

Shadows

Author's note: Angst and adventure, enjoy:)

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Lian Yu.

Emily and Athena walked through what once used to be a forest. Still, despite the explosions, remnants of life remained. There were trees, new growth, even sounds of animals which had survived. Silence reigned between the two women, each of them consumed by their own thoughts and emotions. Emily remembered the last time she was here. She'd walked these same woods as part of Malcolm's secret support team, because the Dark Archer, quite correctly, suspected at least one of Oliver's so-called allies would betray him. She remembered the shade of the trees, the shadows of the forest.

She stopped suddenly at the spot where was when it all happened. Athena stopped with her, flabbergasted, asked her what was wrong, but Emily just stood there and remembered.

She remembered hearing Malcolm's conversation with Thea through commlinks.

She remembered the girl's hateful words towards Malcolm.

The click of the landmine as Thea stepped on it.

Malcolm's proclamation of love for his daughter after he took her place.

His defiant words to his enemies as they approached.

The explosion she was too far away to stop.

Her own cries of agony.

The way she had struggled as her companions dragged her away.

'Malcolm's gone, Ems, it's too late.'

"It's never too late," Emily said in a steely tone.

"What?" Athena asked.

"This is where I was when I heard the explosion. My associates wouldn't let me go any further," Emily explained.

Then she started on her way through the forest.

Several minutes later, the women arrived at a path, a crater in the middle of it.

"So this is where the mine... where Malcolm-?" Athena asked.

"Yes," Emily confirmed in a hollow voice.

Both of them jumped into the crater, as if on cue.

Emily looked at the scorched earth, but then was distracted by something she saw among the trees. She looked and her heart skipped a beat as she beheld what seemed to be a figure of an archer, clad in League uniform, compound bow in hand. She gasped, but then the wind started blowing and the image dispersed. It was nothing but a shadow, created by the play of light and dark. Emily sighed in disappointment.

She turned towards Athena and saw the woman crouching in the crater, sobbing softly. She crouched next to her and put her hand gently on Athena's arm.

Athena cleared her throat.

"Hera, I never told you this. I guess it's because I was ashamed. I was brought into the League as a child, from a small village. Several years older than Nyssa, and I was a... nobody really, but I was always better at fighting than her. I bested her in duels and she took a great dislike to me, because it offended her entitled, egotistic little self. She had this posse of other young warriors, and she enjoyed bullying me. She made sure I had no friends." Athena sighed. "Who would defy a princess, the heir to the deamon, right?"

Emily nodded.

"She was so relentless in her persecution of me, she nearly broke me. And this is when I first met Malcolm… I mean, really met him. I knew of him and so on, he'd made quite a name for himself, rising in the League ranks in record time, putting everyone in awe, even Ra's Al Ghul himself.

"With Malcolm, I found a refuge, a place I could be away from Nyssa. One of the secluded gardens of Nanda Parbat. She never went there. So there came a day, when I was really down after one of Nyssa's pestering sessions, ready to give up, I went there to cry.

"And then there I saw a shadow of someone standing above me. I looked up and it was Malcolm.

"I thought I was done for, because, well, there he was, one of the most formidable League warriors, a favourite of Resh Al Ghul, so he would definitely be Nyssa's ally, there to intimidate me, do worse to me than she ever could. Instead, he just sat next to me and asked me why I was crying, in that gentle tone of his."

Emily teared up when she heard this. She knew that tone so well, she would never forget it. It was like a melody she wanted to listen to over and over again.

Athena continued. "I told him about the bullying, about the way I was treated... I was almost in hysterics. And then he put his hand on my arm and sort of held me and said, "Athena, the thing about bullies is, they do it because they feel threatened by you, they see you are better than they in some regard and they want to stifle your potential, compensate for their own insecurities or shortcomings. And do you want to know the way to defeat a bully, Athena?" He asked me. I nodded.

"You keep on fighting, get better."

"Won't it anger them?" I asked.

"It will. However, you won't achieve much in life if you constantly worry about angering people."

"That's my Malcolm: Never give up, never give in." Emily nodded.

"Then he took me under his wing," Athena said. "And whenever Nyssa attempted one of her bullying tactics, he found a way to put her down without openly offending her. It made her very resentful towards him."

"Nyssa always had a penchant for getting resentful. As does Thea," Emily said.

"Yeah," Athena confirmed.

Athena was still crouching, still stifling her sobs. "It's such a shame. Now Malcolm is just a pile of ashes. Mixed with those of criminals and his killers."

"They won't be mingled like this for long," Emily said. "One of the spells Damien Dahrk gave me will make sure we get them, pure and sound, to be later entered into one of the Pits to bring him back. Now, move away, so I can perform it."

Athena did as she was told.

Emily took out a small metal urn from a pocket in her armor. She started chanting an incantation. At first, nothing was happening, but then a wind started to rise up. Her complexion grew paler than snow, her voice deeper and deeper as the wind intensified and swirled around her, lifting the ashes. Emily went on as the ashes formed a whirlwind around her. Her voice grew even louder, the vortex of ashes swirled even faster around the urn, forming a huge shadow, then made its way inside. "Al- Saher, tu reditus! Ex congeria tu conflueres! " A pile of black ashes separated from the rest, circled the urn and fell inside. Emily closed the lid and collapsed against the side of the crate.

"That was scary,'' Athena breathed.

"No my dear, scary is what you will see when we enter one of the viable Pits' locations and get to fight the bitches who want to destroy them."

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AUTHOR'S IMPORTANT NOTE: Welcome back after a pause. Here is the next chapter of Mythical. The spell Emily performs to separate Malcolm's ashes took some doing. I had to refresh my college Latin. Anyway, many of the next chappies are in the works! Enjoy and review, people!:)