Ever Elusive

words by Sage Francis

Humans love making up stories to inflict emotions onto themselves, either for good or for bad. However, the stories are supposed to stay pretend, they were never supposed to grow and learn. They were never supposed to make themselves real through the powers of other beings far greater than themselves. These events are rare finds in the human world. With a little belief and a lot of good storytellers, one is able to create wonderous things. So let's begin on a little story, humans call them urban legends but the darkness knows far better than that. This urban legend is about a woman who owned a bar and would grant you audience for fulfilling your heart's desire no matter how dark or evil it may be but with a catch as all these stories go. Now with the main plot presented, let's start on the story call The Crow's Memory.

The night brought in the worst downpour she's seen in a long time. A thunderstorm crashing above her bar, the wind smashed rain against it, shaking the build, she could even hear the wood crack under the pressure. However, she did not fear this horrible weather for she knew a secret. Ahgony was a very interesting human or at least human at first glance. She saw snippets of futures path from time to time but she never depended on this ability to guide her hand except for tonight. This evening will be fruitful for Ahgony after a year of seeing the same visions running rampant in her dreams. She wasn't fond of the darkness forcing her hand but she understood she owed the element much for the life she led now. Ahgony looked up at the door as she heard it burst open and put on her welcoming smile and made sure to hide the hunger in her eyes as she greeted her husband and the woman she brought in out of the storm.

Her husband gave her a suspicious look as she took care of the rather young woman. She smirked back at him as she pushed him out the room. Ahgony sighed in amusement at her husband's antics. He really should be used to her taking on lost souls especially after seeing her devour a soul one night. She thought he would leave her after that but no he stayed and lovingly took her hand in his and tried to understand. Of course he was still very human and didn't get everything but the fact he tried meant a lot especially after their daughter was born with claws and later grew feathers in her hair.

Sitting by the woman's side as she shivered, she looked her over. Ahgony hummed to herself as she noticed the woman wasn't as young as she first appeared. Probably old enough to be her human mom if she was honest with herself and the woman bled just as much self hate also sadly. "I know what you are and I need to hold an audience with you. I can't live this life anymore with what I've seen." The woman stuttered out in a whisper, fingers gripping the side of the chair and looking at her with desperate pleading eyes. Ahgony sighed because of course the darkness would bring her this type of problem. Ahgony just nodded at the woman and went to set up her room to hold audience.

Ahgony's privacy room was a specially made little hideaway. Built by her and her friends so they could hold audience seperately but keep each other up to date on whatever chess pieces they may have moved in their realms. Ahgony drummed her fingers along the sigils on the wall until she felt her friends eyes sleepily look in and she went to the woman to talk. "Okay madam so since you have made it known that you know I'm not human. What is it that your heart desires so deeply that you found your way here?" The woman looked down with a shudder. Ahgony could smell fear and pain dancing in her energy just asking to be eaten. The woman said of course she didn't know what her heart desired but she knew she needed freedom from her painful existence. Ahgony couldn't help the glare that slipped out as she looked at the table in front her. Darkness took far too much enjoyment in giving her hard puzzles to put together and to release into the world. Getting up, Ahgony gave a dark grin as she went to her shelf of special alcoholic beverages. Reaching up, Ahgony pulled down a iridescent glass bottle and looked into it and smiled at the eyes twirling inside.

Ahgony poured the woman a shot and slid it gently over to her. "Drink that and you will speak truly of what your heart desired." The woman gave the drink a fearful look which made Ahgony grin a bit too much in dark humor as the woman got the courage to drink it down. The effects were immediate as the woman's eyes dulled to the color of a raging sea. Ahgony didn't stop her pride from bleeding out as she shifted her form to get more comfortable. Using her clawed finger to stir her drink as she waited a bit more for her Siren eyed whiskey to settle into the woman.

As the woman swayed in her seat to some song that she only knew; Ahgony began to speak. "Emilia Dart, daughter of Reina Crowley, what is it that your heart desires desperately?" Ahgony command the answer from the woman and wasn't disappointed. "I, Emilia Dart, desire the death of my first born son for the wrongs he has caused onto his friends, family and I." The woman spoke in a dreamy tone, no worries or fear decorating her voice any longer. Ahgony's hand twitched at the urge to grab a bottle for herself as her friend flowed into the room. "Well that's a surprise, we haven't a desire this deep since the 18th century and with this much hostility from a mother." The shade of her friend whispered as they observed the woman's mind. "But the real question is are we doing it? Are we granting her wish?" Ahgony asked as she tapped her clawed foot on the floor and played with her feathers in thought. "Well you can do one half and I'll take care of the rest. Seems BEP has more pull these days on humans." The shade said as it started fading away. Ahgony just sighed and nodded at her leaving friend and got her antidote and forced it into the woman's system.

Ahgony observed the woman to make sure no lasting effects showed up from the whiskey before getting to work on making her wish come true. Ahgony hated this part of the deals but knew it had to happen because she didn't go straight to the diner with her issues. Taking the woman's head into her hands, she dug her claws deep into her skull and started rewiring her mind so the deal could come to pass. Ahgony ignored the blood drenching the couch and only focused on the checklist she quickly created to make sure she didn't screw up. The woman seized up a few times during the whole process but Ahgony believed it was her best work yet as she cleaned Emilia up and absorbed the blood from her clothes. Emilia blinked at her a few times before shakily getting up and moving towards the door and leaving the bar. Words swimming through her mind at every step but the biggest most unsettling grin danced a long her lips. Ahgony just looked on as Emilia walked away, her wings drenched in rain as she flipped a coin over her fingers, eyes completely blank looking into places only few can see. The bar sign blinking ominously behind her at each of the coin flip, Crow's Memory, the bar of desires and wishes was once more open for business.