Mayari woke up with a dizzy feeling of light headedness, she looked at above and saw a tree, her back is aching bad and beneath her was cold as she have been laying on the snow. She reached out her hand to hold her head, calming the dizziness she is feeling.
'How long am I out?' she asked herself through her thoughts. 'It doesn't matter, I need to go back.' Mayari slowly stood up, holding her other hand to the tree for support as her dizziness slowly ware off.
"Get away from here!" a feminine voice whispered behind Mayari and she immediately spun her head to see who it was… but no ones there.
"Hurry!" there it was again but Mayari see no one anywhere.
Mayari shook her head and discarded the whispers, she needs to focus in helping Evan. She quickly run back to the trees where she was blasted but before she could set foot near, wall of ice suddenly emerged from the snow.
"Why do you want to go back?"
"You could just stay with us forever."
"We will show you a world that you always wanted."
"You will live forever."
"An internal life of joy and beauty."
Those familiar voices are the same voices that Mayari heard when she was drowning in the river.
Mayari turned and just behind her are five spirits, aligned with each other side by side: the spirits have differences and also similarities they seem to have the same age of a young lady in her 18th, they all wear the same gold jewelries and long white dress with a revealing chest and back, they all have silver hair, pallid soft white skin, icy blue predatory eyes, pointed long ears and not to mention a beauty in a mermaid form.
"Let us introduce ourselves," the spirit in the middle of the group with a long cascading hair and a crystal flower tiara resting above her head announced with a sing-song melody in her gentle tone, "I'm Sarah, a pleasure to meet you." She gestured her hand to her chest as she posed.
"Varah," said the left one next to Sarah with a short wavy hair and a crystal flower in inserted above her ear, "nice to meet you."
"Larah," said the spirit next to Varah who has a long wavy hair tied into a ponytail with crystal flowers decorated around her head, "I was rooting for you all this time."
"Carah," said the right next to Sarah, who have her silver hair tied into a bun with a hair stick of the same crystal flower attached, "it's a grace to meet you."
"Yarah," said the last of the group next to Carah, who have her hair braided with pins of cystal flowers attached, "I am in a glorious mood to meet you."
"We're the 'Five River Nymphs of the Yuver Forest' we are welcome to have you Lady Mayari." They all said in unison, reaching out their hands for Mayari to take and accept.
Lights and glimmers cross their beauties as they introduce themselves in high grace and elegance, they all float to the air with their tales of thousand diamonds, their gestures are all sync and their melodies are enchantress to anyone who will hear, even the snow beneath them glowed by their presence. Anyone who sees this will surely fall for them as their admiration and charm is next to follow to the shimmer of the goddesses… but Mayari just stared at them in blankness, she's not empress or moved at all.
'Why is she not moving at all?' Sarah asked her sisters through their connected thoughts.
'Maybe she's stunned to see us.' Carah replied.
'I don't think so… her expression have no threaded emotion.' Varah stated.
'Maybe she don't understand what we are trying to offer here?' Yarah asked.
'That might be the reason,' Carah replied.
'Should we redo our entrance?' Varah asked.
'No, we'll just explain.' Sarah replied.
Mayari is still just staring at them in silence, so Sarah made the first move, "Hold my hand, Lady Mayari" she came in closer to Mayari, "and we'll surely bring you to wonderland."
"I refuse." Mayari instantly replied and her cold words struck the nymphs to a painful rejection.
"Wait, what?" Varah exclaimed.
"No mortal had ever rejected our offer that harshly." Sarah too exclaimed.
"You need to learn manners," Carah stated as she frown.
"and how to show gratefulness in front of us spirits." Larah added crossing her arms above her chest.
"You should be ashamed of your self for rejecting our gift!" Yarah shouted in furry.
"Sorry to burst your bubbles, bloody fairies, but I have no time for this…" Mayari then turned to the wall thinking of something to break it.
"Did she just called us bloody fairies?..." Varah have her eyebrows knitted and teeth clench.
"Oh! She's gonna pay…" Larah said.
"Cool your tempers girls," Sarah commanded, "where here to persuade her to come with us not to pose as a treat."
"But she's an ungrateful brat." Yarah reasoned.
"But still, we must have patience." Sarah replied as she inhaled then exhale to cool her nerves.
They suddenly heard a footsteps on the snow and their eyes immediately averted to Mayari who tried to walk around the wall.
Sarah then flew in front of Mayari, "Out of my way…" Mayari warned.
"Lady Mayari, we don't want any trouble or bloodlust to be spilled." Sarah reasoned as her sisters flew behind her, "Our Goddess Yuvera always have places for women who wondered into the forest."
"She will take care of you and give you everything you wanted, anything," Carah said "just come with us to our world of joys."
"A world full of music, dancing, food, drinks," Yarah smiled.
"happiness, beauty, care, and not to mention the immortality it will give you." Larah added, "Forever youthful and beautiful."
"You will never ever worry about problems or sorrow." Varah stated, "Treasures and wealth is thousands to be on your side."
"Just come with us and you'll taste happiness and freedom." They all said in unison as they extended their hand once again. And their last word struck Mayari's attention.
"Freedom?" Mayari whispered.
"Yes, we offer you freedom!" the nymphs replied.
The nymphs have their smile into an extend as they saw Mayari thinking about their offer, it has a very high chance that she will accept it and give in to the of freedom in the Yuver Forest 'No one can resist our Goddess' they whispered through their thoughts.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile…
The harmony of blades clashing together is ringing in the atmosphere as both foes have their mad skills to let their battle go on for hours. Both Evan and the boy are bleeding and exhausted but they still keep on fighting. They still have strength to be strike and they are not willing to lose.
"Is that all you have got?" the boy smirk as he raise his blade and slash it at Evan.
Evan quickly dodged and wave his hand to create a whirling fire. The boy jump backward to keep distance from the bursting flame when Evan suddenly came behind his back and slash his mighty flaming sword. The boy noticed and is split second, turned around and blasted blizzard, strong enough to froze someone.
Both their attacks meeting gave in a big blow and strong impact that sent them crashing on the snowy ground.
'I can't lose...' the boy forcefully bring up himself to stand.
"I must not fail..." Evan whispered to himself as he slowly stood to his feet, "I need to fight."
The boy strike first with strings of blizzard, Evan then slash his flaming sword to defend himself.
The boy approach Evan in a quick attack, Evan's sword meet his scimitar and they both clash against each others blade of flame and ice 'till their breath barely came in their lungs.
Kneeling on top of the bloody snow with their breath heavily exhaling, they both can't take it anymore they are at their limit, both their stamina and spiritual energy is at the edge.
Another heavy blow of magic they might die in overused.
'I must ask help to the forest and escape, this man is not like the others I had slayed before.' the boy thought, "I'm empress for the pass thousand years I have never found someone as worthy as you to be my foe." They boy commented as he stood up, "Just give up and I might consider killing you painlessly."
Evan chuckled, stood up and draw his sword to his side as it gleamed with the moonlight, "Never, I rather die while fighting."
"Then suit yourself," the snow sorounding beneath the boy suddenly glowed blue and then he chanted, "I call upon the sleeping guardian of this snowy forest, to rise from your slumber and heed upon our Goddess name, Yuvera!"
Seconds later the light scattered throughout the blood stained snow, and slowly forming is a giant hand made from ice and rocks.
Then came spikes and then emerged a golem. Golems appeared from the boy's call, all made of ice and rocks, with spikes on their back, have the height of 3 men, and a body of steel rock boulder.
Evan spin his head to his sides and back, counting how many enemies are there.
'Their are ten in total, I must flee for now,' Evan thought looking for an opening to swiftly pass them.
"Kill him and don't let him escape!" He heard the boy's command and when he turned his gaze back to the boy, he was gone.
The icy golems surrounded Evan like walls blocking his exits. Evan then ready his sword as the first golem strike with a heavy smash.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Come on Lady Mayari, just hold one of our hands and we will assure your dreams." Yarah spoke to Mayari urging her to hold her hand.
"Their are different kinds of freedom," Mayari stated, "and the freedom you're offering is not what I have in mind."
"Yes it is! happiness, youth, treasures, freedom, isn't that what you want!?" Sarah exclaimed.
"Everything is here, Mayari. In this forest, everything is here." Larah reasoned.
"Freedom in this forest... Didn't your cowardly lying Goddess might thought that this is a confinement."
"How there you spoke to our beloved Goddess like that?!" Carah burst to anger.
"Why? Because she's a Goddess of utterly humiliation" Mayari replied, " letting her own forest to be cursed is shameful."
The nymphs turned red in fury, Mayari did a really great job in making them explode like a volcano.
"That's it!" Sarah shouted, "If you won't come with us we'll gonna take you by force."
The nymphs charge in to Mayari, Sarah was first to reach Mayari with her long clawed nails and bursting anger, as she approach nearer, Mayari just moved swiftly with speed and before the nymph realize, she was already behind her. With a blink of an eye both of her arms was being suddenly.... pulled broken.
A spine shivering sound of bones being break was heard through out the atmosphere. And then followed by the scream of agony.
"Ahhhhhhhh...."
Four of her sisters froze from their tracks, couldn't believe the sight of what they are seeing.
"H-how?"
"She's not using any e-enchantment..."
"B-but how did she touch a spirit...?"
"She c-can't be... human? No human can ever touch a spirit unless it is permitted..."
They we're all in wide eyes and in a state of shock.
"Ahhhh.... How? How did you break me, we sealed your magic! Ahhhh..." Sarah screech, with her beautiful eyes watered in tears. Kneeling on the snow, can't bare the pain she is having on her broken bones.
"Is this what you mean?" Mayari then reach her skirt and slowly raise it, just enough to let the nymph see a little braided enchanted chain lock around Mayari's snowy shoe.
"I definitely notice it..." Mayari continued, "Take it off or I'll snap your head from the neck..." Mayari coldly stated grabbing the trembling nymphs hair and pulled it as she nears her face, "Now."
"How dare you hurt our sister, you ungrateful brat!" Varah shouted readying to fire hundreds of piercing shards of ice.
Mayari turned her face toward Varah who is step ahead from her other sisters, tear drops flowed down on her pinkish cheeks as she sniff, though crying, her eyes holds hatred and fury towards Mayari as Mayari's reflection was paste to the nymph's beautiful eyes.
"Go ahead," Mayari calmly said, "let's see how your sister handle your magic." Mayari the turned Sarah towards her Varah.
That made Varah hesitate, "Sister..." she whispered as more tears flowed and drop from her chin.
"Varah! Fire it, now!" Sarah shouted, "kill this woman, don't worry about me!"
"But sis-"
"There is no time to hesitate, fire it now!"
"No! If you do that, Sarah will die!" Yarah shouted from behind.
"Do it, Varah!" Sarah commanded once again."
"No!!!" Larah shouted in disapproval.
"We can't do this we can't kill our own sister, there must be a way!" Carah exclaimed.
"There is no other way, this girl is a monster, if you don't kill her right now, we will all die" Sarah replied, "I rather be killed than any of you will be." Her tears started to flow again but not from pain, from the sadness of saying goodbye to her sisters.
"No, I can't..." Varah started trembling.
"Do it, Varah. She'll kill me anyway, so do it."
"But..."
"Goodbye my sisters..." She smiled to her sisters, a smile of farewell.
"No... I can't..."
"Would you all decide already, fire those spikes at me or take this damn chain off and I might consider releasing you" Mayari then look down at Sarah.
"I would never, you're already extraordinary without your magic, what if you have it? You will cause tremendous chaos in our beloved forest." Sarah responded.
"Then die it is..." In split second Mayari then hold Sarah's head with both of her hands and twist it in a flash of great force.
The remaining nymphs, have their eye's widened once again. To them, everything was like in slow motion: Sarah's head was twisted in split second and her lifeless body slowly fell on the snowy ground as blood drip out from her pink perfect lips to the vibrant snow.
"Spirits can also die... Well, this is fun." Mayari said out loud.
"Ahhhh...!" Varah immediately fire the spikes.
Mayari then use the nymph's corpse as a shield and rolled out of the spikes range. But the nymphs won't let her that easily.
Yarah then summoned waves of blizzard and fog that made Mayari tumble to the snow as she struggled to get away.
As the blizzard continues to blow, Carah added thunder that Mayari barely dodge every strike, Varah still continues on firing spikes, and Larah clench her hand to form a spear and directly attack Mayari.
"You won't get away you ungrateful brat!" Larah screech with pure anger.
Mayari immediately heard her scream and jumped to the side to dodge her spear.
"Anger can drive a fighter into a state of unrational thinking..." Mayari stated unmoved.
"How dare you mortal, kill my sister!" She charge again with great force.
"And that is the cause of their disadvantage."
But Mayari swiftly step to the side, with Larah's force of thrust she lost her balance. Mayari then grabbed her and twisted both of her arms into a bone crushing whirl.
Another nymph had her bones broken once again.
"Ahh-" Larah was about to scream in agony but Mayari quickly covered her mouth with a piece of fabric that was teared out of her clothing.
"Let's not attract the attention of your sisters." Mayari stated then took her spear.
"I want you take this chain off or your head will be"
"Never." She answered through her muffled voice.
"I won't accept the answer as a no, so take it off!"
As the fog got thicker and the blizzard got more piercedful force, thunder and spikes rain over Mayari and Larah, Larah have a magic shield that protected her from her sisters' magic that she set up earlier that made her safe. While Mayari have trouble dodging the thunders and deflecting the spikes.
"How dare you, how dare you hurt our sister." The other nymphs voice reach Mayari in pure anger and hatred.
When Mayari saw Larah being avoided by lightning she quickly reach to her and was able to be protected by the force field.
"Let go of our sister!" They pulled a powerful thunder but it avoided Mayari being so close to Varah.
Mayari quickly demanded, "Take this chain right now." In a deadly tone.
Larah shook her head in refusal.
"Very well..." Mayari let go of her hair and walk to her back, then break the bones in her glimmering mermaid tail.
Varah screech in agony, with the connections she and her sisters have, they where able to know what happened, then they also screamed in hatred, "No!...." And strike another thunder but just the same it only avoided them.
Mayari walk back in front but with crying eyes Varah still shook her head.
Mayari with no words to say slash the spear she took and cut off the head of the beautiful nymph.
As the silence of the behead body stayed still, the screams of the left sisters became louder and louder.
The fog got thicker that Mayari can barely see, the thunders are roaring and the spikes are directly hitting at her.
She tried to deflect with her spear but with the thunder strike, the painful blizzard and the fog she was wounded by the spikes.
The fog is also unsettling, it is like draining the oxygen every second that made her easily fatigue, it made her lost and unable to see in her way.
As another lightning hit that she barely dodge again, came in the spikes that wounded the side of her chest, her left leg and the wound that is still healing got also hit.
Mayari fell to the ground as she met those spike, there she saw a large root of a tree just beneath her, she quickly run behind and hid.
Mayari took the spikes off of her body, tear a part of her clothing and tied the bleeding area with the fabric.
Mayari tried to take the chain off but it won't break or budge even though she's using the spear from the nymph that she have slayed.
'How do I take off this bloody blasted chain' Mayari asked her self in hidden irritation, still trying to cut the chain with the spear.
'Use me, my Mistress...' the mask spoke at the back of her head, 'I'm not physically a part of you, I'm just a magical item that you own so I'm not affected by the chain'
"Is that so..." The mask immediately appeared in her hand with glistening thorns, Mayari raise her hand, brought the mask in her face and said, "then you are the great ace in my sleeve."
Thorns and light instantly burst out of the snow, and slowly embrace Mayari and sink her to the darkness beneath the sharp scattering thorns, leaving the enchanted chain sliding off her feet.
---
"Where is she?" Varah asked in irritation.
"I lost track of her," Carah answered, "The chain is not reacting as a wall to any spiritual energy."
"Could it be?!..."
"Yes, it is possible that she's dead." Carah nodded.
"But why?..." The sisters then look over to their sibling, who is right beside the dead body of Larah sobbing, "Why? Why do she need to kill Larah and Sarah..." She can't stop crying.
"Don't worry sisters we will surely sacrifice her dead body to the darkness of the abyss." Varah replied, tears are still visible in her eyes.
"Humans still haven't change, they are always ungrateful." Carah spoke, "I wonder why even the Gods created them."
"They are a mistake, a corrupted being that should be rip out of this world." Varah added. "Yarah, we should keep going we still need to confirm that she's dead so we could sacrifice her body."
"I understand..." She slowly rose to her fins at float, tears are still spitting out of her beautiful eyes.
She float in front and motioned her hand apart side by side. The blizzard and fog abide her gesture it separated and then dissapeared to thin air.
As the fogginess vanished, a strange creature laid at the snow bleeding. It's fur is shiny and soft but black, it's eyes are close shut, and it's bleeding.
"What is this creature?" Carah asked, as she and her sister got closer.
"I haven't seen a creature like this before..." Yarah sat beside. "Poor thing, he's bleeding."
"It must have got caught by the fighting that's why it is injured..." Varah spoke, "we must treat it."
"Don't worry, I'll do it." Yarah volunteered.
She gently cradled the unconscious animal in her hands. As her hands glow to hue of light blue, the healing magic have begun.
Just minutes later the wound closed and the bleeding stopped. The creature slowly fluttered it's eyes, fixed toward the kind nymph wrapped against her.
"Thank goodness she's fine." Carah stated.
"There, there... You'll be alright, you're injuries are healed now." Yarah assured the animal, and slowly place it back to the snow where it had took its stand.
"I wonder what kind of creature are you?" Varah then stretch her arms towards the creature and said, " You should come with us and see Goddess Yuvera, I'm sure she'll be delighted to see yo-" but before Varah could ever finished her sentence, the animal flung at her and bite her right in the neck.
Blood scattered at the snow and came the dead body of the nymph, the wolf is still gushing the neck of the bloody corpse making sure that she was dead.
"Not again!" Carah emit lightning in her hand but was dodge by the wolf and her neck was the next to gush out.
As the blood showered out of her sister's neck, Yarah couldn't do anything but watch her sisters die one by one.
She's Frozen in her sit, unable to see through that she is the only one left in the group. Paralyzed in sadness, fear, and longing for the time to come back and bring them alive.
Everything is gone now for her and also for her life.
Mayari look at the paralyzed Yarah, thorns came out of the snow and she switched back to her human self, towering over the broken nymph.
"My sisters... H-how?...why?...why did you kill them?" Yarah asked, bowing her head down as her tears started to stream again, "Why? What did we ever do to you?! We just want you to come with us, why? Why?!!" She rose her head towards Mayari, anger thread her words but sadness frozen her will to stand and fight.
"I answered 'no' to that offer, didn't I?" Mayari simply responded.
"Still... Why didn't you escape?! Why didn't you let us be? And run along?! Why do you have to kill them? Why...why?! Answer me."
"Even if I do escape, you're all still a hindrance, my magic are sealed because of you all so I can't leave in that state."
"Why? We are all Gods creation? Why are humans so selfish?! It's true you all are corrupted after all you shouldn't have exist and should die out of this world!!!" Yarah shouted throughout her lungs, "Ungrateful, a brat, murderers, selfish..." She keeps on going with the curses throwing them out to Mayari, and Mayari just quietly listened and watched.
Then when she have enough, she leaned over at the nymph's pointed ear and said coldly, "We all are corrupted, we all are selfish, we all are brats and many more, isn't that why sins exist. For the last hundred years many challenger came in the forest but didn't came back, men should be exterminated and women should be salvage, isn't that the rules of this cursed forest?"
"How did you know?" Yarah finally became quiet but was in the state of shock. 'She figured, but how?... That's the forest secret that shouldn't be exposed.'
"I figured, so don't tell me you all are innocent for not killing those men"
Realization struck Yarah's throat that made her silent, "We all have sins so don't act like the victim." Mayari coldly said, summoning a sharp knife made of ice in her hand.
Yarah bowed her head once again and giggled at the thought of the sins of the forest, "We all are sinful after all... we may be sinful but no one is as cold as you Lady Mayari." Those are Yarah's last words, Mayari then rose, straightening her pose before she cut off her head. Then Yarah's lifeless body fell to the pallid snow.
Five bloody corpse lay, with ruby streams scattering from snow to snow, you couldn't even tell if it's a snow anymore, all you could say is blood is lustfully in this land, death is everywhere not to be seen. Weather you believe it or not, death sometimes came in the hand of a not so innocent cold girl towering over the bloody snowflakes in the faint lit night.