History

Shrill is a wealthy and enigmatic sorceress that resides in a large mansion in London, England. Years ago, she accepted the Soulsteel Eye from an unknown source, and quickly realized that she had been cursed. The Soulsword, Magik’s consummate expression of her mystical power, and the Soulsteel Eye had been forged from the same alien metal. Never intended to exist together in the same dimension, Shrill was crippled with agonizing pain each time Magik summoned the Soulsword. For years, she suffered horribly until Magik reverted to childhood, and the Soulsword bonded to her best friend, Shadowcat. Years later, when the Soulsword took possession of Shadowcat, Shrill once again found herself incapacitated by overwhelming agony. She decided to locate Shadowcat using a brooch she owned containing a fleck of Soulsteel like a magical compass, and kill her to prevent her from ever drawing the Soulsword again.

Shrill located the Soulsword on Muir Island using the brooch, and journeyed to

Excalibur’s med-lab, where Shadowcat was recovering from a bout with Dr. Moira MacTaggart and Britannic. Shrill explained to Shadowcat that she suffered miserably each time the Soulsword was drawn. She mentioned that she attempted to obtain the Soulsword from it’s previous owner, Darkoth, and failed, but that he regretted having met the sorceress. Shrill tearfully told Shadowcat that she knew of no other way to destroy the blade, and took no joy in having to kill the young woman. It was then that the sorcerer Gravemoss, possessing the body of Nightcrawler, teleported into the med-lab, and demanded that Shadowcat give him the Soulsword.

Shrill used the Soulsteel Eye to peer inside Nightcrawler’s body. Upon seeing Gravemoss there, she warned Shadowcat that he was evil and would use the Soulsword to kill every magician ahead of him on the Winding Way. She attacked Gravemoss with magic, and demanded that Shadowcat keep the Soulsword away from him. While Shrill held Gravemoss at bay, she ordered Shadowcat to kill him. Daytripper joined the women in battle, when Shadowcat suddenly remembered that the Soulsword disrupted all magical enchantments, and plunged it into Nightcrawler’s chest.

Having successfully exorcised Gravemoss from Nightcrawler’s body using the Soulsword, Shrill mysteriously disappeared. Daytripper asked Shadowcat to bond the Soulsword to her, and used the weapon to stab Gravemoss. Daytripper then traveled to Germany after determining that Excalibur was safe, and bonded the Soulsword to her mother, Margali Szardos. After bonding the Soulsword to Margali, Daytripper learned that Gravemoss was the only magician ahead of her mother on the Winding Way, and that Margali had wanted the Soul Sword all along to ruthlessly kill everyone that opposed her.

Powers And Abilities

Shrill is an accomplished sorceress, adept at performing numerous magical spells, which include teleportation, magical shields, and blasts of eldritch energy. The one noticeable exception to Shrill's sorceress attributes is her eye. Forged from Soulsteel; a.k.a Promethium, the same metal used to create Illyana Rasputin's Soulsword. Supposedly, the Soulsteel Eye greatly enhances Shrill's psychic abilities, even allowing her to view into the body of another person to determine if they are being possessed. The full extent of its powers are as yet unknown.