The girl swam peacefully in the shadows, as she had been doing for days. The whispering voices like rustling leaves were deafening, but she was accustomed to it. She had forgotten where she was, why she had come here, why she had died. The voices grew louder. Even through her blissful ignorance, she knew that the serenity wouldn’t last for long when the silhouettes of long claws scraped across her flesh.

Longing for an escape, she took a deep breath, then submerged.

Tangled memories of her past tragedies filled her mind. Her identity had returned.

She cried out in overwhelming agony, covering her ears with her mauled flesh.

A deafening voice sounded across the waves of shadows. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you here before,” it said, the sound vibrating in the girl’s skull. An inhuman noise.

The girl’s response was drowned out in the sound of the blurry figures that were slowly crescendoing in sound. She tried to speak louder, but her hesitant voice was yet again drowned out by the storm of murmuring shadows.

“What is your name, morvita?” the booming voice asked.

The girl, with tears streaming down her cheeks, tried to respond. She had not been this deep in the sea of shadows. The phantoms were teasing, mocking, ridiculing her.

She’d finally thought she’d gained control of the spirits guiding her through her second life, and now this.

The voice murmured something under its breath. The shadows reluctantly dispersed from around the girl. The now lone shadow’s claw traced gently across the curves of her face.

The girl had a feeling that this specter was different. Forgiving. Kind.

“A new morvita added to the collection of souls, eh?” the thundering voice inquired. “It’s not as fun as you’d think. Now, what do the humans call you?”

The girl found her voice, gulping. “Melany Umbrae.”

The voice chuckled. “You’re new here, right?”

“The newest addition to the Netherworld,” Melany announced, bowing. The voice’s silhouette caressed her soft face, and she flinched before she felt a rush of surprising warmth spread across her entire body. She noticed the scars previously made by the shadows slowly beginning to heal.

“Would you like to go back home, Melany?” the voice proposed, continuing to fondly stroke her cheek.

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Melany shook her head. “No. I do not have anything or anyone back home waiting for me. It would only be unfortunate for me to return without… an advantage against the ones who wish to harm me.”

The voice seemed almost disappointed when it said “Alright then. That’s not how most morvita’s attitudes are. Why did you sell your soul if you do not wish to wreak havoc on the mortal realm?”

Melany steeled herself and breathed in a shuddering breath. “I wish to become your servant, oh wise one. I wish to sign a contract with you selling my soul to you and only you.”

“Your soul has already been sold,” the voice said dismissively, it’s hand leaving her face. “This is not a viable offer.”

Melany shook her hands out, preparing. Bracing herself from the pain that she knew would rip her apart again and again. “You must look once more,” Melany whispered as she thrust her hands out in front of her.

Her hands became drenched with dark shadows that shrieked when exposed to the light. Her eyes were replaced by blackened slits. Tendrils upon tendrils of shadows wafted about in the air that then smelled of death and rot. She chanted ominously and the shadows grew in size and volume.

“Cease your mortal meddling, morvita!” the voice cried out, shrinking back in agony. “This realm is not meant for such horror!”

Melany did not stop, however, and her entire body began to shine pearly white, both the shadows’ shrieking and the chanting growing louder and louder until the world threatened to shatter.

And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.

The voice gasped. “This is unprecedented…” it started.

Melany fell to the ground, heaving deep breaths. Grasping something in her frail hands.

A soul.

Melany cried out in relief as she laid her eyes on the glowing orb, thanking the gods aloud for their merciful hands in her fate.

She had stolen the soul, but it was now hers. Hers to trade for the ultimate power. The power that would destroy the ones pitted against her.

“What words I have previously uttered are now null and void,” the voice announced. “You may trade in your soul to be by my side for all of eternity.”

A long papyrus contract and a black pen appeared from seemingly nowhere. Melany snatched it from midair.

“Morvita with hair of ebony, eyes of the darkest crimson, and skin of shiny ivory,” the voice began, the puppet shadow’s outline dancing in the bright light of the glowing soul, which grew nearer with every passing second. “I grant you the esteemed position of my loyal servant and the powers that accompany it.”

Melany pricked the thin, unnaturally pale skin of her inner arm with the sharp end of the pen and signed the contract with her own blood.

“It is complete, my lord. I am ready.”

The shadow opened its gaping mouth and swallowed the gleaming, shiny soul whole.

“The deal is done, Melany the soul stealer.” The shadow laughed, licking its lips with its silky tongue of blight. “Delicious. I have not consumed a soul in eons. I have forgotten how wondrous it is to own one.”

Melany rose to her feet. “And I have as well.”

The voice chuckled. “I am not sure how you acquired a soul that was not yours, but I am quite impressed. I can think of many uses for you.”

Melany grinned. “That is wonderful of you to say.”

Melany’s eyes darkened. She would finally take revenge on the people that had wronged her. Betrayed her. Killed her and left her for the dead. She shuddered and relived the pain of bullets passing through her skull.

It was only a matter of time before the damned human race was wiped off of the face of the earth forever.