<div class="floatleft">(http://i50.tinypic.com/1z2kf1s.jpg)</div><hr/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>  Name:</strong>       Ciera Morrigan Baine<br/>  <strong>Title:</strong>          Retribution<br/>  <strong>Affiliation:</strong>  N/A As of this moment<br/>  <strong>Location:</strong>   Serum Camp<br/>  <strong>Tags:</strong>         Loki<br/><br/></span></span><hr/><br/><br/>Ciera sat on the edge of the bed, in the Serum camp. It was more like a cot, but she didn't care. Her dark eyes focused on the walls, and she felt the pulsing change in her body. She had watched them, screaming and writhing, as they all died. She had watched the light of life trickle from her brothers body. Her twin, her twin brother, the other half of her soul. All of them had been ripped away from her. At first, she was thankful, due to whatever nasty thing was in the serum. But then the dreams had started. The pulsing dreams, full of power and crows. The dreams that drew her from the darkness, the darkness that the serum had thrown her into. She tasted the bitter vile twist, of the bile that she wanted to spit. The taste of anger, revenge, the darkness she wanted to sweep across those that had done this to her.<br/><br/><br/>Her eyes closed, as she pulled her leg up to her chest. Her back against the wall of the 'cell' she was in, and her eyes closing as she remembered. She let herself get lost in the past, as she remembered.<br/><br/><br/><em>They were screaming, she could hear them screaming. She had screwed her eyes shut, despite the people trying to make her watch. She could hear the children screaming, her family screaming. The high pitched sounds of children in pain, the deep sobs of men being torn to pieces, the women screeching and wailing. It sounded like banshees, the sound of the dead and dying. Slowly her eyes opened, as she heard someone whisper at her. They were coming towards her now, her and her twin. They had been restrained, for proper injection. The entirety of her clan had fought tooth and nail, and had not gone down without a fight. <br/><br/>She had watched her family, torn to pieces. Physically, mentally, genetically. They had twisted and deformed, with each injection. Their bodies incapable of handling the process, whatever was in the Serum. She hadn't seen everyone, but she had seen those who mattered most. She didn't know if some people survived, or not. All she knew was that those she loved, were dying. She the Maiden if her circle, was unable to do anything to help them. She was restrained, and she felt her twins fingers tangle with her own. They had reached across the gap of their chairs, to hold each others hands. <br/><br/>She stared into his eyes, as they slid the needle into her arm. As the injection began. She watched them do the same to him. She held her breath, as she watched the pain flitter across his face. She released it the moment the mind searing pain ripped through her body. It felt like something had been ripped from the deepest recesses of her being. She heard it again, the screams of the dead and dying. She clenched her teeth, biting her lip, she tasted blood. She finally released an unearthly scream, as she felt her body jerk with the pain. <br/><br/>Still, even with all this happening, she kept her eyes on her twin. She watched the pain rip him apart, his mind breaking, and the light leaving him. She dropped his hand, as soon as that happened. Knowing he was no longer in his earthen form. She blacked out then, as the pain ripped her to pieces. <br/></em><br/><br/><br/>Ciera clutched her head, as she rocked back and forth on her 'bed'. She wore the tattered remains of the clothing from her vacation. A tshirt, and her jean shorts, her sneakers were long gone. She was barefoot now, but perhaps that was better given the heat of this place. She was covered in insect bites, from earlier in the vacation. She was mentally drenched in the agony, the wounds, the memories. She had not cried, not since before the Serum had been injected. She could not cry, would not allow herself to cry. She felt the vice of anger and vengeance, burning like a brand across her mind and heart. Dark hair cascaded around her, twisted and clumped from not being washed. She didn't care, she just wanted her family back.<br/><br/>She looked wild, and almost inhuman for a moment, as she looked up at the wall. There was no one in her cell, but there deep inside her... something waited. Her palm slid down, pressing against the marking over her lower stomach. The mark of the Goddess Morrigan (http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs39/f/2008/325/6/8/a_Spin_on_an_old_raven_Tatt_by_Dawbun.jpg), her touch had brought Ciera back to life. The woman's dark eyes closed, as she let her mind drift away, drawing on a more recent memory.<br/><br/><em>She was dreaming, she knew she was dreaming. She had the same nightmare for three nights in a row, the nightmare of her family being torn to pieces by whoever had done this to them. It started out wonderful, they were on vacation, but ended in Ciera screaming. Even in her dream state, she knew this was not something she wanted to remember constantly. But something had changed, this time. The dream seemed different, she hear the cry of crows... She turned in her dream, as the scene changed to an old battlefield. <br/><br/>She could feel the weight of armor on her body, the feeling of leather hugging her form. She felt the heaviness of a blade in her hand. There was a cool breeze, and she felt it sweep across her body. It made the sticky heat of her armor vanish, and made her feel... calm. She didn't know what had brought her dream to this point, but she was glad for a change in something. Then she heard it, the sound of wings, and then the sound of someone approaching. <br/><br/>She whirled around, facing whoever was approaching. What she saw was a savage beauty of a woman, a woman battle ready. There was a cloak of black fabric on the woman's shoulders, and that cloak had an edge of crow feathers. Ciera knew who she was instantly, dropping to one knee. "Goddess Morrigan, you do me honor." She whispered. <br/><br/><strong>"It is you who does me great honor. Ciera Baine, of the Morrigu line. Descendant of mine daughter."</strong> The voice whispered, even though the woman's lips did not move. <br/><br/>"What would you have of me!" Ciera pleaded, as she shook. She was startled as she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. Her armor melted away, and she was left standing nude as the day she was born. Slowly she stood up, as the woman bade her too. Ciera felt the press of the woman's hand, looking down to see what the woman was doing. She saw the woman's hand press over her womb, and she looked back up. "Am I do carry a warrior's child?" Ciera asked softly. <br/><br/><strong>"Perhaps someday, Warrior Maiden... but for now I need you to become Retribution. I want you to wreck havoc and revenge upon the one who so mercilessly destroyed a clan of my people."</strong> The woman said as she moved around Ciera, to stand behind her. Morrigan wrapped her arms around the young woman, and pressed both of her palms over the woman's womb. <strong>"You will carry my mark, and know freedom. The darkness of the Serum, will not effect you. You will be free to do as you will, as I will."</strong><br/><br/>Ciera went still in the dream, as she felt a searing pain race through her. It was nothing like what had happened with the serum, but still it burned. She looked down, and noticed the marking appearing over her center of life. The place where all life began, the cradle of life inside of a woman. "As you wish it, my Lady Morrigan." She said in a shaking voice. <br/><br/><strong>"I give you my knowledge, and my history. You will know what I know, and you will learn and use magics that have been gone for decades. Seek your vengeance, and seek your King Stag... Maiden... for you cannot become the Mother, till the right male appears."</strong> The goddess whispered, as she slipped away from her new warrior, her link to the mortal realm. <strong>"Reset the balance lost...or be lost yourself."</strong><br/><br/><br/>And with that done, the dream shattered around her, Ciera woke in a cold sweat, to find the marking on her body. She had been changed, and she was changing. Things were different inside her... and on that night, she vowed her revenge.</em><br/><br/>Ciera let the memories slip away from her, as she felt the pulsing anger return. She jumped from her cot, even though she was hungry and in need of something to give her sustenance, she still moved better then she would have before. She slammed her fist into the wall, a scream leaving the woman as she continued to punch the wall. She didn't care about her own pain, or what was happening, she just wanted this to break free. "Damn this world! Damn these people!" She screamed, as she whirled around. She dropped to her knees, a position of prayer, raising her hands to the heavens... the heavens she could not see through the cell she was in.<br/><br/>"My gods! Do not abandon me! PLEASE!" She screamed, as she felt the rise of energy in her body, she reached out - pleaded, begged - with her energy. She felt the release of something, but she didn't know if it was a spell. "PLEASE! I do not care how it happens, but please get me out of this hell hole! Bring me someone, or take me from here!"