Serena was awakened by a simple melody played on some type of pipe. The quick paced notes floated above her head and made her question if she was in fact awake. To make sure she wasn't dreaming she opened her left eye, she found nothing out of the ordinary. Now more confident, she opened her right, and noticed a dark shadow in the corner by her balcony.
Serena jumped to a sitting position and stifled a scream as the slow fife song came to a close. Serena could barely distinguish two hands falling from the face of the shadow in the corner.
"Who are you?" Serena choked, trying to recover from her apparent shock. Then, the shadow stepped forward and immediately Serena recognized her: the girl from Planet Bang.
The girl had on a new black dress that had black beads sparking along the hems. The dress looked Goth, yet classic, as if from the Renaissance. She placed her fife in a holder of black leather that was wrapped around her waist and shoulder. Still silent and half-masked in darkness, the girl with the bright green eyes walked slowly around Serena's room, touching a few objects and sometimes picking an item up to inspect it.
Serena now asked a more important question: "What do you want?"
The girl stopped walking and faced Serena. "To answer any questions you might wish to have answered." The girl's voice matched her beautiful hair: smooth and flowing like a stream.
Serena did not have time to remember the question that was eating at her just a few hours ago at Planet Bang, so she asked a usual conversational question, "what's your name, who are you?"
The girl sat down at the edge of Serena's bed. Serena noticed how the girl looked somewhat saddened at the question--or maybe it was the answer.
"I am simply called Shadow, my real name has been lost for many centuries to all but me." She answered.
"Centuries?" Serena repeated. "If that is so, then why would you be working for someone like Raphael? Didn't you establish yourself?" She couldn't hide the suspicion in her eyes.
Serena could feel the anger welling up inside of Shadow, Serena thought she had struck a nerve.
In a very controlled voice, Shadow responded. "There are certain obligations you owe to those who have converted you to the Atrox. One is not free from those obligations until your master lets you go."
Serena was surprised at herself; she actually pitied the Hunter. "So what would you do if you were free?"
"Not this, I assure you. I would probable be a recluse out in the forest somewhere; trying my best to live in peace while the world becomes more like hell. Any other questions?"
Serena remembered now what she wanted to ask. "What is the Prophecy?"
Shadow was prepared for this question. "The Prophecy." She repeated and drew in a long breath, getting ready to tell a long story, "It all started back in ancient times with the first generation of the Daughters of the Moon. The Daughter Arria's gift was to see the future."
Serena cut in, "like Jimena does?"
"Yes, but not really like premonitions. In her dreams, she saw what would come in the years ahead. She, like Jimena, saw battles that will arise with the Daughters in the near future, but she also saw more." She paused and let a small smile appear when she saw Serena's expression of wonder. "One night, she saw something very important, something that would change the world forever."
"What?" Serena butted in, very interested.
Shadow continued on again in her paced and clear narrative. "What she saw was of so much importance that she told no one. The Atrox believed that it was something for the good of the Atrox, therefore Arria did not want to tell anyone so that it would not come to pass. The Daughters, however, believed that it would be the destruction of the Atrox, and Arria did not tell so that it would come to pass."
"So nothing is known? They only think that?" Serena questioned.
"Arria only spoke of the Prophecy once. She wrote this down on a scroll that has been lost for many ages, but all know what it says. 'For when the Prince seduces the One Daughter, the Greatness shall happen.'" Shadow ceased talking and looked up at the ceiling, lost in her own thought.
This, of course, made no sense to Serena. "What?" She said very annoyed. "What the Hell does that mean?"
Shadow sighed, but didn't seem aggravated for Serena's ignorance. "Again, there are two ways to interpret this. The Atox believes that the word 'seduces' means to bring the goddess over to the Atrox and that the 'Greatness' would then be the incarnation of the Atrox into the Goddess's body. Then Evil on Earth shall reign, for the embodiment of the Atrox would rule over all and the Prince shall rise beside her. The Daughters, however, took it differently. They took 'seduce' to mean love. If the Prince and the One Daughter join together in love, the Atrox would be destroyed by that love. Then Peace on Earth shall reign, for all the evil shall be gone."
It all registered with Serena, everything that Raphael was trying to do. If he would bring Serena to the Atrox, she would not only become evil, but the living temple for the Atox. Raphael, then, would rise with her. But, if this was true, what was Stanton trying to do? Did he truly love her? Or is he just working her defenses down so that he may turn her to the Atrox as well? She then thought that Shadow could be lying, after all, she had never met her before. 'No,' she told herself, for she knew in her heart--or was it her mind--that this was true. All of it was true.