Chapter Text
There are times in life when something happens, and you have to make a choice, and this choice will change your path in life forever. You create your own destiny, but sometimes, just sometimes, destiny chooses you.
The legend of Jorvik says that in times of great despair and darkness, a girl will once again rise up on horseback to bring light and hope to those who believe all is lost.
…Might you be that girl?
Ellie’s eyes fought to open.
They were met by thick, choking darkness.
She sat up with a sudden start. Had it all been a nightmare? Perhaps she would awake to the blissful days of early summer when she had first come to Jorvik, a year ago, unaware of what was yet to come. Excitedly rising from her flat at Moorland Stables like a regular old schoolgirl, sneaking away at the crack of dawn to be with the mare they had so graciously gifted her for her troubles.
Trouble. That seemed to follow the young woman like a bad rash.
Ellie could hardly breathe in the Pandoric landscape, weakly moving to all fours, sea-green eyes lifting upwards to scan her environment. A lump formed in her throat when she spotted Alex’s crumpled form afar off; the girl’s expression glazed over, unmoving. How desperately did she want to simply forget Elizabeth Sunbeam’s violent death at the hands of Dark Core’s newest associate. How much more desperately did she wish she could turn back the hands of time, if only for Alex.
After some time, she urged the normally strong-willed girl to find a way out of this horrible place. Ellie fought within herself not to break down in tears seeing Alex in this state. How did either of them deserve this? It was a question that seemed to echo in the chambers of her mind, unanswered, as time stood at a standstill in this forsaken place.
All she remembered was following the light. Following the light of Lisa’s voice. Being drawn back towards Jorvik, stepping through the portal with Alex who only mustered energy when she was guided by the Star Rider’s musical voice.
They were greeted by a small gathering of those who had waited for their arrival, but Ellie was too dumbstruck to remember any of it.
Elizabeth Sunbeam was dead, and it was as if they’d lost a bit of Alex too. Anne had been saved, but at what cost?
The group had eventually dispersed, and gone their ways. Nothing more was to be done. Ellie found herself attending a funeral at Doyle’s Abbey a few days later, numbed within herself. Concerned for Alex, above all, and concerned for everyone else. It marked a horrible, dark chapter in this saga of destiny and darkness. Why was she caught in the middle of it all? What was her purpose here? They scarcely even told her; she simply found herself involved with these Soul Riders and the Keepers of Aideen, given questions without answers. Expected to trust people she hardly knew.
What on earth lay ahead now, she couldn’t discern, but a part of her wanted simply to escape and forget she was ever involved in the first place.