(Not to be confused with the Shadow Heart game or other books.)

She watched from the back, a shadow among shadows. The darkness was her home. Everywhere she went they never noticed her. Between her breasts the silver pendent spoke of who she was without a word. The sword and the rose was a forgotten statement of power. Not that anyone here would know it.

I didn't used to be a girl with a bright future.
I used to be a "loser" at West High.
I used to be a boy named Martin Rawlings.
This is my story.

A Love So Bold
by Anon Allsop

The story continues - Hope you enjoy!

-Eight-

Tears filled her eyes as she rode into the dark, back toward the trail where she had found the canteen. In the bright moonlight, she found the trail and once again headed west. Behind her she left her former identity, a corpse forever clothed in feminine garments.

She glanced behind her; the trees and rocks were only a blackened shadow upon the horizon. Ezrah’s passing was now only marked by the pile of stone covering the young mother's body…it was too confusing! Grimly she wondered if hundreds of years from now, some archaeologist like those who have stumbled upon the strange bones of past monsters, might locate the altered bones of... Ezrah. What might they think about him, wondering why he was clothed as he had been?

She sighed, and looked down at the tiny charge asleep in her arms. She felt sorry for herself… to be so young and saddled with such great responsibility. She knew that women all over this great big world have been taking on responsibilities like this for thousands of years, so why should she be any different?