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// Chapter 4: Not Unwelcomed 
// Story: When Snow Falls 
// by Prophet Of Doom 
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     Well, that was unexpected. On yet another move from one museum to another, one dusty cabernet to another, this was an unexpected turn of events’ but not an unwelcome one.

Her mind could not help but cast back to her glorious days of freedom and power. To the days over a millennium ago, when she reigned with an iron fist. When her influence spread darkness and fear to every tribe and kingdom that lay in her path. Many lands fell into her fold, and those who resisted were crushed without mercy. For decades, she conquered lands from the frozen north, down to the shores of the central sea.
At the zenith of her power, she intended to take her enslaved armies to the mystic lands of the east, however, there was one area that needed her attention first.

In the grand ocean to the west lay a series of islands, whose inhabitants continued to resist her will, and drove back the darkness from their skies. She left those short sighted fools to some of her lesser generals, eager to prove themselves. They failed, vanquished every time. Sent back every time bringing nothing but humiliation to her very name, a humiliation that they paid in blood. Clearly, she would have to deal with these upstarts herself.

On the largest island in the center, she landed her force. An overwhelming army of enslaved mortals. The force they had mustered against her barely numbered a quarter of her forces size, and though they held the high ground this would be an easy victory. Yet it was here that her downfall began.

A young man stepped forth from their ranks and challenged her directly. This unknown man in azure, who she cared not to learn his name, had united the multiple tribes together and driven back her night, dared challenge her.
She recalls laughing at this before excepting the challenge, a quick show of her dreadful power in front of all those who gathered would be a nice boost to her prestige. Her overconfidence was her undoing. 

It soon became apparent that he knew as much about magic as she did. All of her a spells were counted by his, and it soon developed down to sword fight. What she did not realize though was a very grounds she stood upon was a trap. Magic infused runes had been carved into stones, then hide in the marshy field where they attended to do battle. 

At the right moment, the runes glowed’ and magical chains shot of the stones surface, wrapping tight around her host's body. A beautiful young maiden by the name of Permafrost with hair of obsidian and a skin of ice blue but a will of glass. Years of mental and even physical abuse by her father, mother & the lord she was betrothed to’ had made her easy prey for this temptress.
But why this girl and not others? Simply put, this maiden had a well of magic inside of her that the dumb human did not realize.

But soon it would matter not, for the young man who had done battle with her approached. Lightning up runes in the palms of his hands, he walked towards her. As like before battle, he goaded her, calling her a demon. She preferred the title ‘Dark Goddess’ if you please.

He placed his right palm on my host's forehead, she recalls a pulse of magic surged through Permafrost’s body. 
As he pulled the hand away from the host maiden, she realized in surprise and horror that her being was slowly extracted from Permafrost. She desperately clung to every part of her host, but to no avail. Though Permafrost’s mouth, she let out a banshee’s scream of anger and frustration.
This man who she believed was performing the impossible’ had excised her completely from Permafrost and held her in his hand. 
The warriors of the island tribes and the enslaved men of her armies could now see her true form, A swirling mass of indigo smoke.

The man then reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a small obelisk of smooth granite. Seeing what was coming’ the purple cloud squirmed and cursed.
Runes carved in the obelisk glowed with magic, before shooting out more mystic chains that attached themselves to the indigo mass.

The chains then retracted back into the granite runes, pulling her with it. With a last defiant scream, the indigo clue disappeared into the obelisk turning it black like obsidian, the runes going silent. She tried to immediately break out but was prevented by a clever series of magical seals placed upon the obelisk
Her capturer held it aloft, bringing cheers from the island warriors. They were soon joined by the enslaved men of the invading force, finally free from the ‘dark goddess’.

This made her blood boil. Despite now being entombed in stone, she was still able to see all around her.
She saw her Permafrost come back to senses and being taken into the care of the islands, finally free of her demon.
She saw him bringing her obelisk into one of the deepest caves there. 
She saw them setting intense fires which downed the cave roof and buried in her alive. 
She saw all and could do nothing.
Her influence did not extend beyond her granite prison, nor her voice, just her sight.

And here she stayed for centuries to come, surrounded by rock and darkness, and one regret. In all this time, all she desired, apart from her freedom, was the name of the one who put her there, so that she may curse it.

Then with little warning, she was dug up by some clueless construction workers, laying foundations for a hotel. The obelisk was passed from the hands of one mortal to the next, until eventually, it ended up in a glass cabinet of a museum.
Then she was transferred to another museum, and then another. This was her life for the next hundred years, being looked at by gormless mortals from behind glass, wrongly labeled as a burial headstone. The so-called experts did not know what danger they had handled. 
Over the years the seals began to weaken, but magic in the world had all but gone, escape now seemed impossible.

Then came a transfer to yet another museum, this one was on the island where she was entombed, the humiliation. She was wrapped in foam and stuffed into a wooden crate, and placed in the belly of an iron bird, which soon took to the skies.
And then a surge of magic, in a volume that exceeded anything she had ever encountered before. It was a strange kind of magic, unstable, unwieldy. It was certainly was playing havoc with the humans on board, distorting the forms.

And as sudden and quick as this strange magic had appeared, it was gone, replaced by a large abundance of stable magic.
She started probing the obelisk’s magical seals. They had been considerably weakened, some had already broken.
It was at this point that she released that this wasn’t her world. 

She internally grinned. Abundant magic, weakened seals, new and the potential new lands for her new empire. She started going giddy at the thought, this feeling was fuelled further by the panic and chaos of the humans above in their new forms.
The feeling was interrupted by a hard jolt, that started a fire in the iron bird’s wing.
As the plane descended to its doom’ the dark goddess started drawing what little magic she could to protect her tomb. If the obelisk were to break with her in it,  it would be her end.

The impact was the most vicious force she had ever felt. Her crate was smashed into splinters, the wrapped around foam burnt away instantly.
The obelisk was hurled forward’ bouncing off everything’ the earth, trees and burning bits of the plane.
It finally came to rest on the ground, rolling up against the side of a mangled piece of the right wing. A burning suitcase landed on top of her, protecting the granite prison from falling debris. But more and importantly the obelisk was intact.

 Well that was unexpected, she thought But not unwelcome.
She taking in her new surroundings’ most of which was on fire. This did not concern her, for the worst of the inferno was away from her.
Probing once more against the seals of her prison, she found that all but one were now broken, and the remaining one was incredibly weak. With the amount of magic this world has, it would now be easy for her to break the final seal, but not yet.

Traveling without a hosts body was not a pleasant experience for one of her kin, and in an unknown world like this, it could be potentially dangerous. So she decided to lay in wait, in ambush for a new host. It didn't need to be anything major’ a fox, a rabbit ,even a mouse would do. It would be enough, as long as she could see this world and learn of it.
She couldn't help but chuckle. Soon she, Nightmare Moon, would start to complete her wish of making a Night Eternal.