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Ashleigh fought long and hard to keep her sanity.

Somewhere in the room, there was a speaker. Every once in a while, Granger would talk through it, taunting her. Encouraging her to let go.

He told her that he diluted the mist and made sure it was enough to trigger the paranoia, the fear, but not enough to reach her heart like the last time.

“There’s no risk of you leaving me early, baby. I made sure you’ll be here a long time. We’ll keep trying until it works.”

The hope in his voice sickened her.

It was taking everything she had to fight against her own mind pulling her down into the abyss. The little sleep she got was filled with nightmares and screams.

She felt weak, tired, she wasn’t sure if she could keep going much longer.

“Caleb…” she whispered. “Please… find me…”

Ashleigh sobbed helplessly as the red and black fog of her fears surrounded her and swallowed her whole.

***

She was in Whiteridge, around fifteen years old. She and Axel had come to meet with Alpha Kirnon about an order for new gear. There was a girl watching them, she was probably just a couple of years older than Ashleigh. But she watched Axel carefully.

Ashleigh smiled. It was clear this girl liked her brother.

A man moved in front of Ashleigh he smiled at her, she remembered him as being kind. He had given a bracelet. Something new he was trying to make for the children.

Ashleigh smiled and accepted the bracelet. He gave her a gentle smile, and then she stabbed him repeatedly.

His blood covered her hands, drenched the bracelet. But she still smiled._.

A woman came up behind her. This time she offered Ashleigh a dessert, some kind of cake bar. Ashleigh gladly accepted, taking a bite as she slit the woman’s throat.

Now the screams began.

***

Over and over again she killed the people of Whiteridge, whether they ran or hid or simply looked at her, it didn’t matter. She killed them all with a smile on her face.

Ashleigh fell to the ground, cowering in on herself. She cried and prayed for this nightmare to end.

It took a moment for her to recognize that the sound had fallen away, the laughter, the wet squelching echo. It was all gone.

She dared to lift her head, surprised to see that everything around her, had changed. Ashleigh stood up and looked around.

She was on a hill, overlooking a territory so large she couldn’t see its end. Above her, the moon, full and bright looked down with a warmth and presence that calmed her heart.

“Where am I?” she said aloud.

“Here,” a voice called out to her. “There. Wherever you need to be.”

Ashleigh looked around but saw no one.

“Why are you here?” the voice asked.

Ashleigh spun around, trying to find them.

“Answer.”

She took a deep breath.

“I’m lost,” Ashleigh replied. “I’m trying to find my way out. Before I’m stuck here.”

“How have you lost your way?”

“There was… a gas… it messed with my mind… made me angry,” Ashleigh began. “I think I let go… for just a moment… but it was enough.”

“Let go? Of what?”

“My control,” Ashleigh replied. “I have something… inside of me… something dark.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a rage,” Ashleigh said. “A rage that takes over and kills indiscriminately.”

“Do you believe that?”

Ashleigh furrowed her brows.

“It’s true,” she said.

“You believe the power inside of you is darkness?” the voice asked.

“Yes,” Ashleigh said.

“Have you always?”

“What?” Ashleigh asked.

“Have you always believed it to be darkness?”

Ashleigh didn’t respond right away. Had she always believed her power was darkness? No.

She had trained for years to keep it in control, not because she feared it, but because she respected it.

“Am I darkness?” the voice whispered behind her.

Ashleigh turned.

She gasped at the sight before her.

It was a woman. She wore a circlet of gold and steel, that was adorned with a set of small wings at her temples. Her honey-blonde hair was tied back into four large braids that fell over her shoulders.

She wore armor, old armor. It was steel grey with golden accents and fur lining the shoulders. At her waist, there were small, sheathed daggers, at least ten, worn as a belt.

And in her hand, she held a great sword of steel and gold.

Ashleigh couldn’t help but see the resemblance to the ancient Valkyrie. This woman resembled all the drawings and paintings she had seen as a child.

She also slightly resembled Ashleigh herself. With a few distinct exceptions.

The woman wore paint on her face, red, like blood smeared across her eyes. She had what appeared to be black runes tattooed down her face.

But the most apparent difference between them was in the eyes. Where Ashleigh had hazel eyes, this woman, this Valkyrie, had no eyes but instead a bright glow like the light of the moon.

“Am I darkness?” the Valkyrie asked once more.

Ashleigh didn’t know how to answer.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I am the power that resides within you,” the Valkyrie replied. “I am the light of your ancestors.”

The Valkyrie took a step closer to Ashleigh, her eyes of moonlight looked over her carefully.

“You are unfinished,” she said.

“What?” Ashleigh asked.

“Your power… Your understanding. It is limited by memories.”

“What does that mean?” Ashleigh asked.

“It doesn’t matter now,” the Valkyrie replied. “I ask you again. Am I darkness? Is this power you wield darkness?”

“I don’t know,” Ashleigh replied honestly.

“Your confidence is shaken,” the Valkyrie said. She lifted her head to the moon above. “If you stay here much longer you will die.”

“What?”

“Your body, it weakens. You must call my power. Use it to break free and escape this place.”

“No… I can’t!” Ashleigh shouted, taking a step back.

“Why?”

“Because, I’ll hurt people, there are children… If I give in to the rage now, they’ll all die!”

“You speak of rage, but I am not rage.”

“Yes, you are. Maybe not here, but out there, when the power comes to me, it’s all blind rage.”

“That is not me, but you.”

“Even more reason that I can’t use it!” Ashleigh shouted.

The Valkyrie looked to the moon once more. Then turned to Ashleigh.

“I cannot allow you to die in this room,” she said. “Call my power to you and release yourself.”

“No,” Ashleigh stated firmly.

“So be it.”

Ashleigh felt a wave of energy spread out over the land. The mountains, trees, everything fell away. All that was left was a grey sky with the moon full and bright, below her was solid ground covered in a thick fog.

She looked down, to see that she was dressed in full gear for battle, in her hands she already held her karambits. Looking back up the Valkyrie stood before her, her sword drawn.

“Defeat me and you will have control, however you deem fit,” the Valkyre said. “I will not allow your death. If you cannot defeat me before your body is in danger, I will take control myself.”

Ashleigh’s eyes widened as the Valkyrie raised her sword in the air.