The Heathen

Aos was once again met by darkness. Aos' last visit had been harrowing, causing her to worry and panic. The might that she had seen previously still scared her deeply.

Unlike the previous time, the archaic tongue returned. Aos felt rather relieved that the comforting tone had returned to the archaic tongue, it had lost the rather irritated tone that the old man had caused by repressing Aos' nature.

Aos unknowing what to do, decided to attempt something foolish. She decided to attempt to speak druidic to the unseen source of the archaic tongue.

It took her more than a few moments to bolster the courage to attempt something she knew would probably turn out badly. She contemplated on what to say until she decided on a singular word from the rather small vocabulary she had memorized. Aos eventually spoke and said "(greetings)" afraid of the unseen being mistaking her words with informality she decided to say the most formal word she knew.

The archaic language after Aos' word stopped. Leaving Aos in unnerving silence. In what felt like a literal eternity the voice that had been speaking in an archaic tongue said one in druidic in return, "(bird)". Suddenly a flash of bright light appeared in front of Aos. From this white light the black bird which Aos had befriended earlier appeared. The archaic tongue resumed with vigor as it began to take a chanting form. After only one sentence was spoken in the archaic tongue it once again stopped.

The black bird began to *caw* in pain and it started trembling. Aos realized that she could feel the pain the black bird was suffering through their connection. Aos could feel as the very bones inside the bird were being broken, shifted, reformed. The actions against the black bird resembling what Aos had once suffered through. Aos saw that the black bird began to grow. The bird that previously stood at roughly a foot tall began to rise. Slowly through suffering the bird continued to grow, eventually reaching 2 feet tall. The wings of the black bird elongated from their previous 4-foot wingspan to a staggering 8-foot wingspan. Lastly before the pain subsided a second set of wings formed below the original pair.

The being who had spoken the archaic tongue said one final word in the tongue of Aos' clansmen, "Vedrfolnir".

The altered black bird now looked at Aos. The gaze of the black bird did not falter as it flapped its wings and at an incredible speed flying directly at Aos. When the black bird charged at Aos it fazed into Aos' body.

Aos felt both startled and scared at the black bird's actions. Yet, suddenly she felt a burning sensation on her left forearm as a raven tattoo emerged. The lifelike black bird perching itself on a branch like bracelet tattoo. The bird having one last *caw* before freezing in place.