Bloody Raven in the Shadow

Watch were you're going

Regina opened her eyes. Her heart was racing, her head was pounding. Where was she? What happened? She struggled in her head. She and Alice had fallen off a cliff...

"ALICE!" startled, she gasped and looked around, but she couldn't see anything, it was pitch black. Then what happened?

Another memory played in her mind's eye. Alice, the girl sat in front of her, covered in blood and in tears. The sun had just set on the horizon and gave everything a reddish glow. The girl had placed her hands on Regina's, but her eyes were expressionless, absent. The younger one was shrouded in a bright glow and the trees around her gave the impression of dying. Die. Losing color and turning grey.

The adult didn't know what had happened after that, because now she was sitting in the dark, literally. She raised her hand and started a fire. Startled, she cried out as the glow next to her revealed a small figure standing with her eyes closed. Two red glowing eyes slowly opened, the creature's body also began to glow. Like fire. It lifted its little arms and held out a blue rose to the woman.

"Witch" it whispered. Confused, she picked up the flower. It was a beautiful

"Grave gift" said the being. Upon examining the creature more closely, she noticed that it was a minion of pure magic.

"By whom?" she asked now interested.

"Witch" repeated it monotonously.

"For whom?"

Instead of an answer, it raised its hand and pointed at Regina. Startled, she gasped softly. A grave gift for her? But she wasn't dead!

"Is that a threat?" she hissed and extinguished her fire to reach for the sword. The being now shone so brightly that she could see everything. They sat in a cave, the only visible exit seemed to be a tunnel behind the being, which apparently led down deeper.

"No" came the reply "Grave gift. Witch." repeated it. Although it whispered and always used the same monotonous tone, she thought she could hear an annoyed tone in its voice.

"What witch?" she asks curiously

"Witch. Flower." the being answered curtly, as if it was understandable for all parties and didn't give Regina much more answers than she already had before. Was it Alice? Did Alice create this flower? But then why the creature? She is not strong enough to create such servants and it will be a long time before she masters such a power. Her gaze shifted to the rose, it was clearly not a natural flower, just bubbling with energy.

"Where is the witch now?" she asks hopefully. The being turned and walked down the aisle. Without hesitation, she followed him. What was odd was that her body wasn't aching, no bruises from the fall, not even a head injury. Maybe her comrade would have an answer if she was able to find the girl.

The creature began to pick up speed, eventually getting to the point where the adult had to start running to keep up. They passed through a cave and then a tomb.

The servant stopped and pointed to a passageway lined with flowers.

"Witch!" The adult looked at the being and then at the aisle.

"Thank you" she replied with a smile and set out to find the girl again as soon as possible. The flowers shone slightly beneath her feet, giving her a view of the path ahead. Very quickly she reached an exit.

In front of her stretched a wide coniferous forest. No sign of the girl anywhere. The woman sighed softly. How was she supposed to find Alice now? She didn't even know where she was at the moment. She looked around, it was morning and the sun was shining brightly through the trees. A fresh breeze blew towards her, autumn would come soon.