Fused Shadows

"Sit," the flame-headed woman said in a very gentle voice. The woman's wrinkles symbolized her advanced age, signaling her suffered and happy life. At first nobody moved, until the woman's scarlet red eyes stared at Zalia, it was like staring at a mirror.

"I do not wish to-" Zalia begun, looking away from her mother's cold stare.

"No, no... that wasn't a question. Now, sit," the woman growled, her temper rising quickly. Zalia glared at the chair and sat down reluctantly trying to keep her mother calm and controlled. "State your business, Zalia. I know you don't come here unless it's something of great importance," the woman's was serious and demanding, but it had always been that way.

"I simply wanted to see how you were," Zalia replied with the same harsh voice, but softened it when she looked at her mother, "you look fairly ill. Is everything alright?"

The crackling sound of the black fire that burned in the chimney engulfed the silence around both mother and daughter. They stared at each other, one pair of eyes troubled, while the other was filled with anguish.

"I fear not, child of mine," the woman breathed and silenced her daughter with a wave of her silk-like hand, "you speak the truth, I'm ill. Not fairly, but gravely ill. I believe I don't have much time to waste... that's why you must know."

Tension hung on the air, causing Zalia to fidget nervously. She had no words to share, or thoughts to process, so she simply said what she had in mind. "What is it?"

The fire suddenly died and a small breeze of chilling air surprised Zalia, she didn't know what was happening, but didn't like the looks of it. She stared at her mother, intently, expecting for the worse.

Good thing she did.

'I'm dying, there's nothing to do about it," the aged woman announced and took in a sharp breath, "and that's why I think you should know about our past..."

Zalia was hit by such words, she wasn't able to process well her mother's words. She looked down at her hands and then back up into the face of the person she cherished the most as a child. Was everything that person said true?

"...What past?" her voice was strained and low.

"Many centuries ago a tribe was vanished to the Twilight Realm, exiled from the light realm. The goddesses foresaw this great evil and decided this tribe's fate, taking away their prized possession and scattering the ancient relic in three parts... the name of this ancient relic was Fused Shadows,

"Only a hand-full of these people were able to keep their magical powers, the rest lost them and evolved into 'twili'...." the woman stopped there, looking up from her wrinkled and scarred hands, "one of the 'noble' twili betrayed the others by some unknown reason and was cursed. He lost his magic and was demoted to a mere commoner."

Zalia was quiet all that time, listening intently, as she did not understand why her mother was telling her this old legend. Not only that, but she was adding things into the popular legend.

"But," her mother continued, her voice grave, "all the other nobles didn't know something... something only this man knew. He kept a necklace around his neck and passed it on to his children... and then his children passed it on their children and so on. The curse was passed on from generation, to generation, but only one family member didn't have the curse. That was, the one who wore the necklace," the woman coughed and hugged herself.

Zalia was confused, the order of the story wasn't correct, or so she thought. Her mother looked demented while rocking back and forth, rubbing her hands together and reciting an ancient tale.

"The necklace was created from the very essence of the Fused Shadows. Making it half as powerful as the ancient relic.... giving the user a incredible amount of. Such power that could destroy even the King himself," the woman stopped there and reached into her robes, taking out a dark glowing necklace shaped as a tear drop.

"This is.... the Shadow Necklace."