The pale figure looked out across the flashing crimson waves. The sky was a pitch black, just like the volcanic sand that she stood on. The moon was a deathly white, and the tropical trees, bushes, and flowers not far behind her created an impenetrable, sable wall of darkness.
No stars dotted the sky. No shells dotted the shore. No animals lurked in the bloody waves.
Because this was her punishment.
Her own little slice of Hell.
As the demonic witch watched the moon stay in the exact same place it had since she had been imprisoned here, she let out a blood-curdling scream and slowly endured her endless torture.
Hekate was running, tearing her long multi-colored fingernails through the air, attempting to rip a hole in the very fabric of reality.
Why hadn't she been there?
She shook her head, coming to a stop. She opened her eyes and took in the dense, frozen wasteland that was known to the humani as Antarctica.
This was where the portal was. She was positive.
The Goddess with Three Faces needed her allies. She knew many Elders who held grudges against Bastet, the Morrigan, and Dr. John Dee. So many who wouldn't hesitate in assisting in their destruction. But she knew of only one goddess (more like demon) who would stop at nothing to see her sister dead.
There had been four of them. The Morrigan, the Macha, and the Badb are the ones mythology is familiar with. But there was another.
Rangda.
A demonic witch who loathed her half-sisters. But, unfortunately, she had been imprisoned in a Shadowrealm that myriad Elders had created specifically for her containment. The Elder Race feared Rangda. She was extremely powerful for a Next Generation. So they created a Shadowrealm and forced her into it. And they put the portal to it in the most remote places of the humani age.
Antarctica.
Hidden deep within the Gamburtsev Mountain Range. Which hadn't even existed before the Elders created it to contain the entrance to Rangda's Shadowrealm. According to the humani, it wasn't even supposed to be there. Which, Hekate guessed, was true.
She shook her head again and looked down almost twelve-thousand feet below her, down at the shifting, churning ice sheet that was based at the bottom of the mountain range.
And that's when she smelled it.
A gentle breeze wafted around her and caressed her dress, sending waves of neon color shooting across the silver fabric. She was in her maiden form, despite the high position of the full moon. It didn't matter what time it was; she could control time, and, with it, age.
Rose.
It was undeniable. The royal fragrance was lifting the air around it into joyous song, whispering and murmuring around the goddess. But that aroma was special: it was the auric scent if Rangda. She had a bloody red aura, streaked with black veins and lines. It was the Rose Aura. And Rangda was just like a rose. Alluring with her beauty, and when she brings you in close, she'll choke you with her deathly sharp thorns.
The Thorn.
That was what the Elders had called her. And her title served her well, describing her perfectly to the very last bit.
In Indonesia, the remote chain of islands where she was worshipped, they had depicted her as an hideous, dragon-like woman. But she was far from ugly. But the legends about her devouring young babies and pregnant women: Hekate had no idea if they were true, although she suspected they were.
She followed the rich fragrance until she stopped at a strange site before her. A red diamond. A Blood diamond. And it was the gateway to the prison Shadowrealm. Hekate laid her hands on the shining jewel and focused her aura. Neon green tendrils of mist curled down her arm as the scent of lime mixed with the smell of rose. The diamond reflected the emerald light and the world suddenly started to fold in on itself. The laws of reality refocused and disoriented as the Goddess with Three Faces lowered the impenetrable wall that encased Rangda's prison.
And then the world melted away, and everything turned black.
Rangda's screaming ceased as she felt the change in atmosphere. She felt more…free. Like the border that encamped the very limits of her prison had been ripped down and she was free to go free. But it was impossible. Like her mother, Echidna, she had been feared by even the Dark Elders. Rangda and the Crow triad had the same father, Set, but had different mothers. While they were the triplet daughters of the violet war goddess Aeron, she was the daughter of what the Elder Race called a "monster". But Echidna had been so much more. She had been a visionary…..
A sudden rustling in the dense foliage behind her startled her reverie. Someone was here. There was no other explanation. There were no animals, insects, or birds here. There was no wind. And considering she hadn't even gone into the tropical jungle, there was no reason the leaves would even be "settling".
No. She was not alone. And the person, the being, with her, was incredibly powerful. A level of power never seen among the Elders since Danu Talis, when the original twins sat atop the Pyramid of the Sun. But that had been long before Rangda had been born. But her mother had told her stories. And she was sure that this creature's power was infinite. And it was there to either save her, or kill her.
It took Hekate only a few seconds to realize what she had first thought was black emptiness was really a deep tropical forest. She had slowly, blindly, guided herself through the foliage when she saw specks of red through the palm trees. It was the legendary Ocean of Crimson that encircled the island.
Hekate heard the minute gasp that escaped Rangda's lips as she withdrew herself from the trees and laid her midnight black feet on the cold similar colored sand. The powerful Elder noted the endless sea of red that stretched forever and on behind The Thorn, and she had no doubt in her mind of what the ocean was made out of. This place would only be a paradise to one species alone: The blood-drinking Vampires. They could not resist the metallic smell of the ocean. The ocean of blood.
"Impossible," Rangda whispered to herself, barely believing what she saw, red lines streaking through her hair.
Hekate sized her up with silver and gold eyes. She knew that the witch was beautiful, but she had no idea just how gorgeous the Next Generation was.
She had snow white skin, like her father, and cold red eyes. She wore a tight piece of black cloth that wound around her upper torso, and a short sable skirt at her waist. She had curved, long; black fingernails that looked like someone had attacked them with a Sharpie. And then there was the red.
All the Elders knew about Rangda's strange appearance. Whenever she felt extreme emotion, her dress would turn blood red, and her hair would turn the same deadly shade. Her eyes though would shift from red to black. This was the reason that she had been given the title the Two-Faced one. Although only her appearance changed, and not her physical or mental status, like Hekate once had.
"Rangda, I am in need of your abilities," She said, emotionless. "Am I correct when I say that you still hold a grudge against your sisters for telling the Elders how to imprison you?"
"That and more," The Thorn hissed, a slight Jamaican accent. Hekate knew she didn't mean any disrespect at the tone of the comment, but she could not control the bitter hatred for her half-sisters flood her voice.
"The Badb and the Macha are dead," She said flatly, "Murdered by the Morrigan."
Rangda took an automatic step back, shock plastered across her face. Again, red veins shooting through her hair and clothes.
"But the Crow Goddess is yours for the kill, if you want her."
"Yes," She snarled, "I will not let her die without her blood being on my hands."
"Good." Hekate walked beside her and bent low, drawing a wide circle in the sand around them. The circle began to glow bitter red, shooting up waves of energy along the shallow lines. "We must gather our allies."
Rangda raised a thin black eyebrow. "Who?"
"Your Uncle, my brother," The goddess said as the light formed a dome around them and they were second's away from phasing back into the world of the living.
"Shiva, the Destroyer."