After hearing it, Mavka turned her head.
"Maskym..?" – her voice half ethereal and monstrous.
The other creature used this moment to hit her in the stomach.
Solomiya shrieked, biting at the other's neck.
Dark waters flowed from the river, enveloping them.
Group gathered together around Methodius, Kyi and Yurko. Maksym helped Shchek.
Nearly a minute later water sphere exploded sending splashes everywhere.
When the mist and fog settled down they saw a humanoid figure. The other Mavka was lying breathless with a emptiness where her heart was supposed to be.
"I remember…" she said, voice barely above the wind, "My son."
She only turned back to Kyi and dropped to her knees. Only then group noticed
Methodius stood up, giving a way for Kyi.
Methodius raised his cross, and for the first time, the Mavka didn't hiss or recoil. She bowed her head.
"Let me go," she whispered. "Let me see the sun once more."
Methodius began to chant. The cross glowed, faint and warm. Kyi placed his hand over hers.
"I'm here," he said through tears. "Mother… I'm here."
The glow surrounded them.
Her flesh peeled away like mist in dawn.
Where a Mavka knelt now knelt a woman. Drenched, shivering, barefoot. A braid down her back. She smiled at Kyi.
"My son."
She gently hugged him.
And then she was gone, fading into a burst of warmth that settled in the willow leaves.
Faint blobs of light landed on Kyi and his Holy book.
Kyi dropped to his knees, sobbing.
He looked at his left hand. It was healed now, no longer pale and rotten.