Boneswulf...Aftermath

The thing about dying a violent death, something I am getting a little too much experience with, mind you, is that it is so sudden. The first time I died, I was shot in the forehead by some hired thugs who were hunting specifically for me in the first place. The bullet slammed into my skull, causing a brief, blinding blast of pain, and then silence and darkness. Of course, that was when my Chakra was still functional and was operating more as a prison for my Spirit than anything else.

This time, my Spirit had been engulfed by the far more powerful presence of Ma Grendel as the Frau has called her, so when the Witchbane blade plunged into our chest, we were both affected by its powers. It was the first time in nearly two years that I had felt anything akin to pain. It was a sensation that had become a distant memory, an echo in my memory. It was the first time I had that feeling since I had been killed the first time, I am almost afraid to say this, but it was so...thrilling, so pleasurable to actually feel anything again.

The time when our Spirits were merged though was a very interesting time. I am still processing the events that transpired in those few moments when we were more one being than two, but I can tell you that the experience has changed me in ways I am not entirely comfortable with.

Too much knowledge can be a terrible thing, but more on that later. Let me get on with what actually happened.

Ma Grendel fought against the powers of the blade mightily, but it was her inherent nature that made the blade even more powerful against her magick. When the blade plunged home, we were thrown from the body and thrown into some shadowy dimension that had never even hinted at existing when John Red Bear had discussed the nature of the Three Worlds. This place was dark, roiling with chaotic energies and lacking any firm substance, yet there we were, two Spirits, one great and one small, but merged nearly as one.

Ma Grendel seemed to recognize this place though and did not like it one bit. She tried to exert her Will in order to open a pathway between this new place and just about anywhere else, but she simply wasn’t strong enough.

This struggle continued for what seemed a very long time, but which I now know was merely moments in real time. She finally succumbed to a hopelessness and turned her attention towards the little bit of me that remained separate.

“Why did you do that, you fool?”

“I couldn’t let you win, I couldn’t let you have my body and gain the freedom to walk the world above.”

“Don’t you realize what you have done though?”

I tried to show a little smugness, “I killed you!”

“Foolish human...”

She was interrupted by a small, female figure approaching us from the roiling chaos storm. The figure was walking slowly, deliberately through the massed energies and approached to where we could make out her appearance more easily. She appeared to be a small, slight girl of perhap 10 years of age. She was wearing simple woolen cloths, trousers and a loose shirt. She was barefoot.

We both turned our attention to our strange visitor.

The girl spoke at first in a language I didn’t understand. She raised both hands towards us, joined at the palms at first, then spread them in a ripping motion. I felt a strange wrenching sensation as most of my essence was forcibly separated from most of Ma Grendel’s. At the end of her movement, there were two of us standing before her, one that was mostly evil, demonic and pissed, and one of us that was mostly good (I hope anyway), formerly human and more confused than anything else.

When the separation was complete, the being that was mostly demonic tried to snatch back at the smaller figure, but it was quickly restrained by a waving motion of the girls hand and then dismissed with anohter wave. The screaming figure that was mostly Ma Grendel dwindled rapidly and then with a slight pop, disappeared.

The girl turned towards me and spoke...this time I could understnad her:

“It is not yet your Time to pass beyond this world. I will be returning you momentarily.”

I was more than a little stunned, “Who are you?”

The girl smiled, “My name was Maria Guadelupe de la Paz.”

“What happened to you?”

“My mother was accused of being a witch, so I was taken from her by a very cruel man and killed in order to make the blade that killed you and the Other who was here a moment ago.”

“You were one of the children killed to make the Witchbane blades!”

“Yes.”

I looked at her, a feeling of great sadness and loss washed over me. “I am so sorry.”

“As am I, although now is a time of great gladness, for in slaying your body, my blade has been broken, and I have been freed. I now may seek out my mother, who I have been told has been waiting for me for many centuries.”

“How did you do that, I mean, defeat that...creature...so easily?”

She smiled, an almost innocent smile of a young girl keeping a secret. “You will come to understand when you are ready. It is not for me to teach you these things.”

I remained silent for a moment, searched my own feelings, my own memories, trying to come to grips with all that had transipred. I looked up at her again, “I feel...different... have memories of things I know I never expereinced. I feel like some things are lost to me. What has happened?”

“The mingling of your essence with...that being...was not completely reversible. You will find that you have changed, grown in some ways, diminshed in others. But these...changes...were necessary for the tasks that you will need to accomplish in the coming conflict.”

“What do you mean by that?”

That coy smile again. “I am not permitted to explain more fully. Again, you will come to understand when the time is right. I can only say, that you will find some of the changes...significant, while others will be more noticeable by others than by yourself. My time grows short, Mama is waiting.”

With that she raised her hands up over her head, made some strange circling motions and with a whoosh that I felt as well as heard, she brought her hands down in one sweeping motion, throwing me out of that place.

The next thing I knew, I was laying on a stone floor, face down. I couldn’t see anything other than the floor at first, but I heard a tremendous racket...

“Stoopid damn zombie! I can’t believe you would be so damn selfish as to commit suicide and leave us down here in the bowels of this gods forsaken city!”

“Calm down babe, we’re going to need to decide what we’re going to do here. I can’t carry him, not with these broken ribs.”

“Dammit Herne, I’m pissed. Why did he plunge that blade into himself?”

That was my cue...”Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” I pushed up from the floor into a sitting position.

I was just starting to get my bearings when I was bowled over again by the leaping hug that Ravyn landed on me with. “Rusty!”

I was on my back, with her sitting on my chest by the time her shock wore off and her stern face returned. She pointed a finger at my nose and said, “Give me one damn good reason why I shouldn’t toast your ass for making us believe you were gone for good!”