by Elon Vidal
And when she could no longer take it, Dawn stood up with clenched fists and shouted, “Are we going to end up making the same mistake we made with Fisher? Hades has returned, and all of you are still talking amongst yourselves instead of letting other people help!”
The Council fell silent, but not to Dawn’s sudden outburst as she expected.
Elijah went to his friend’s side, “Dawn! Calm down. Your hands!”
Dawn looked down and saw her hands glowing brightly, revealing the large Council Chambers’ intricate murals. But where she used to feel fear and hopelessness at the sight of the magic in the palm of her hands, Dawn now only felt warmth and peace.
This was the same light that protected Elijah and Damon in the crypts, the same light that helped her defeat Fisher and get to the East Gate, helping Eos reinforce her sealing magic upon Hades.
Even still, Dawn heard the cry of outrage from some of the Council members. She heard them taking a step back and standing up from their chairs, but with the light glowing from her hands, she could care less. She was with the light, and nothing felt more like home.
She looked up at Gael, who was now standing at the edge of his seat.
“Know your place, child!” Gael commanded. “You dare brandish your magic in hallowed grounds?”
While most of Gael’s supporters egged him on, Ezekiel sat silently in his seat, observing Dawn as she stared at her glowing hands. He smiled when he saw the spark in her eyes.
“Esteemed Councilor,” Ezekiel informed the rest of the council members, “Stay your blade, and observe.”
Dawn closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting the warmth from her hands fill her body. The light slowly dissipated from her hands, garnering a smile as she opened her eyes, “Gotcha! Had you guys worried there for a second, didn’t I?” She laughed heartily, even though half of her was actually just as surprised as they were.
“Do you think this is a joke, halfling?” Gael shouted angrily. “You need to be taught a lesson!”
But Ezekiel stepped in and hovered down to Dawn’s side, “Enough! She has a right to know. We are still indebted to her for the East Gate, after all. And if anyone has a problem with that, I shall gladly answer them with my spells right here and now.”
Gael and the rest of the Enlightened sat back down on their seats rather than take on arguably the most powerful warlock in history.
Ezekiel scoffed as he turned back at Dawn, “Good job on controlling the light, child.”
“I think you should be thanking yourself, Ezekiel,” Dawn whispered back, “Your training really helped.”
“Of course it did,” Ezekiel proudly admitted before slapping Dawn on the back of her head.
“Ow! What was that for!” Dawn complained as she scratched her head.
“So you don’t forget the feeling of controlling your magic and for showing off, especially in the Council chambers,” Ezekiel whispered.
“You’ll get used to it,” Elijah consoled her friend from behind.
“Is this why you’re so dumb most of the time!?” Dawn complained at Elijah before getting shushed by Ezekiel.
He floated back into his Council seat and spoke in a booming voice that echoed throughout the chamber.
“Dawn, the Council has seen through your eyes and have concluded that what you saw was and was not Hades.”
“Excuse me?” Dawn commented.
Gael interjected, though in a less frustrated tone than before.
“The flickering eyes in human faces you saw child were perhaps Hades’ spirit. We are not sure how, but the Dark God has somehow figured out a way to manifest his spirit form in the living and is possessing people.”
Ezekiel nodded. “We were quite relieved after Fisher’s passing. His contact with the living world was neutralized. However, we can’t yet explain how Hades can actually pass through our plane. I fear that we find ourselves in an even deeper hole.”
“But there’s got to be a way to stop him, right?” Dawn asked the Council, her voice no longer able to contain the frustration in her heart when the Council members once again whispered with themselves.
After that, Ezekiel decided to raise his voice so she could hear. “What the Council is trying to say, Dawn. Is that we need time and find out the best course of action. Thanks to your memories, we found that he still needs more power to properly manifest a physical form. We’ll find a way to stop him. In the meantime, thank you for your contribution. Let us handle the matter while you continue your training.”
It wasn’t the answer that Dawn was hoping for. Then again, as long as she knew that the most powerful mages were working on it, she had done her best.
She bowed along with Elijah before leaving the chambers, where Damon stood waiting outside.
“I heard a lot of rumbling and shouting,” Damon confessed. “So I take it, good news?”
Elijah shook his head, “Oh if you only knew, man.”
Dawn laughed at Elijah’s pained expression.
“He’ll do well if he too knows,” she glanced at Elijah.
“Know what?”
“Well, our God of Darkness is taking on souls at restaurants and dinner parties.”
“What does that mean?”
“Hades is possessing people.”
“Hades is what?” Damon asked, seemingly dumbfounded by what Dawn had just said.
“Not so loud!” Elijah scolded him.
Dawn nodded, “Whatever he’s doing, it’s in the hands of the Enlightened now. This has nothing to do with me anymore.”
“Nothing to do with you?”
“What’s up with you and repeating what I’m saying?” Dawn frustratingly asked him. “It’s got nothing to do with me; my beef was with Fisher after he attacked my family and me.”
Damon and Elijah gave each other looks.
“Dawn, are you really sure about this?” Elijah asked. He seemed to hesitate to receive yet another of Dawn’s barks, so he proceeded with caution. ”Your light…your magic. It came from the Goddess who sealed Hades. With this in my mind, can you really just walk away from this?”
The thought only crossed Dawn’s mind now. All this time, she was just worried that no one would believe her like no one believed her with Fisher and the trials. But now that the Council was hard at work on this, all she wanted to focus on was how to get her life back together. She wished for it all to be over so she could get back into EOS.
“I’m not walking away from anything, Elijah,” Dawn corrected him. “You saw how quickly I acted on Hades’ coming. The light hasn’t told me to do anything since then. I take it this means it is out of my hands now. Besides, have more faith in your grandfather and the Enlightened; if they say they can do it, they can do it.”
Damon replied unenthusiastically, “If you say so, Dawn.”
As long as there were no more cryptic dreams, Dawn would only be focusing on the people she cared about. She hoped to make up for the lost time when trying to stop Fisher from resurrecting Hades. If Hades could only manifest in spirit form, he posed a lesser threat that seemed less urgent to her than having Fisher send hounds and shadows to attack her in her sleep.
Dreams of light hadn’t disturbed her sleep since. The pixie in the castle wasn’t calling out for her to warn her that someone was tampering with the light source that caused an Eclipse. And Dawn’s light wasn’t guiding her yet to close any portals on Hades. Knowing that he possessed humans was a threat, but what was she meant to do, aside from what she had done already? Then again, she had received the help from the Council last time, and they still managed to leave her alone and unprotected to face Fisher and the East Gate.
These were the very thoughts on Dawn’s mind as she went to bed. She wanted answers but found her eyes getting heavier by the second. She expected the darkness when she closed her eyes.
The only thing problem was that when she closed her eyes, she saw nothing but the brightest of light and the melodious and divine voice of a woman.
TWO
A thin shaft of sunlight streamed through the water as she floated on the current. Dawn felt calm and at peace, especially with a lovely maiden’s voice serenading her ears.
The warm sensation in her heart was a feeling she could get used to as she relaxed into her dream, and she felt her lips curl into a smile. She no longer felt fear from the bright light that enveloped her vision once she closed her eyes before going to bed.
How could she? She was dreaming, she thought.
“You are a child of the water and of the light––the Chosen of the Flowing Light,” the voice whispered into her mind. “The rarest of mortals in one who walks the land.”
Dawn opened her eyes and gazed upon the most gorgeous lady she had ever seen as the lady hovered above a placid surface of white water.
Her lengthy ebony black hair flowed from her head as if they were black flames emanating from her pretty face with her porcelain complexion and covered her bare chest. Deep amethyst eyes searched Dawn’s own, and her shiny, scaly tail glittered in the light streaming through the translucent mirror-like water below that soothing scent of the freshest ocean. Dawn wanted to see the end of her tail, but it was under the white water and her gaze couldn’t reach beyond it.
“Where am I?” Dawn asked, hesitating because she did not want the calmness in her soul to end. Her anxiety could not tarnish the serenity in her heart. It made Dawn happy.
“You are at a crossroad where Sirens and Mermaids dwell,” the lady replied. “I have summoned you in an attempt to request for aid, Chosen of the Flowing Light.”
Dawn couldn’t understand how the lady could talk to her and sing simultaneously but felt naturally drawn to her energy and floated closer to the beautiful woman. “I don’t think I’m what you think I am, but what can I do to help?”
Dawn felt immense power emanating from the divine siren. It was soft and gentle, yet she knew it could generate enough pressure to send great waves of water crashing down upon any unfortunate to wrong her. She knew better than to antagonize this creature in front of her. That seemed quite impossible because she felt nothing but the warmth of a mother’s embrace the closer she floated towards her.
Water. Why do I think her power emanates from water? Dawn wondered to herself.
“Seek the treasure of the Great Ocean, secure the Hidden Gate of the West. Darkness must not be allowed to spread in Gaia’s realm once again. Hasten not the path of destruction your kind have wrought since the Dawn of the Human Age. ‘Tis your burden to bear, Chosen of the Flowing Light.”
The words reached deep inside Dawn’s heart, trying to decipher its cryptic meaning.
“Wait! What does all of that mean! And what is this burden that I have to bear?”
Yet something drew the lady’s attention as she looked behind her. “Go forth towards your destiny, Chosen of the Flowing Light. Darkness draws near, daring to impose itself upon us.”
The magnificent white area of Dawn’s dream was now devoured by pitch-black darkness. Only the lady’s light provided Dawn with some comfort. Behind the siren, two large fiery red slit-like eyes blinked open, as if gazing straight towards Dawn.
Seek the Great Ocean’s Treasure and secure the Hidden Gate to the West. Her words rang inside Dawn’s mind before the siren got pulled into the darkness behind her.
Where has she gone? Dawn asked fearfully to herself. Instinctively she knew only a powerful force could could be so overbearing.
The red eyes bobbed up and down vigorously, as if laughing at Dawn’s predicament. A deep, rough, encompassing voice boomed.
“It was nice seeing you in the flesh, Dawn. I look forward to feasting from your accursed light. Fisher has been feeling a bit lonely ever since you murdered him.”
Hades!
“No! I had no choice!” Dawn screamed as she felt the darkness seeping inside her mind, threatening to drive her insane.
The shadow beneath her feet crept up on her legs. It too pulled on her hair with so much force that she fell on her back. The black liquid slowly consumed Dawn as she struggled to break free.
“Struggling is futile, halfling,” the dark voice taunted her. “Surrender.”
In Dawn’s mind, Fisher’s face appeared clear as the day she last saw him. Instantly, the skin of his face greyed rapidly, and all that was left was a bony shell of the man who once wanted her dead.
“Never!” Dawn screamed. Warm light slowly emanated from her hand and exploded in a blinding haze of perpetual brilliance, dispelling the darkness.
“Never!” Dawn screamed again as she sat up in her bed, panting, her eyes wide open and watery. She rubbed her eyes, and her bedroom came into focus around her.
“What in the gods’ name was that?” she whispered to herself. She ran her hand through her hair and noticed it to be surprisingly damp, smelling of the salty sea. She was drenched in ocean water and her sheet soaked in it too.
“Chosen of the Flowing Light,” she whispered to herself as she stared at her hands. In contrast to the rest of her shivering body, they felt warm.
The dream filled her with more questions than answers.
“Oh how wonderful that you’re awake so early Dawn!”
She recognized that cheery voice. She scrunched up her face and turned over to see the smiling ghost hovering over her. She still felt exhausted from nightmarish ordeal and much of her felt like going back to sleep.
“Maggie, why are you so early?” Dawn groaned, rolling over to the other side.
“Ghosts don’t have any sense of time, silly,” Maggie giggled. Dawn was prepared to ignore her friend until she felt a biting chill spread across her entire body.
“Alright, I’m awake!” Dawn screamed at Maggie’s ghostly energy chill and she leaped out of bed. She hated it when she did that. She shoved the covers away, and sluuged herself towards the sun’s morning rays piercing and bathing the foot of her bed. That strange dream had left her feeling as if the night had breezed by.
“Could you please not do that, Maggie?”
“Do what exactly?”
“That thing you do with your frost magic. You know how I hate the cold.”
Maggie giggled, “Is that why you’re so close to those charming hot warlocks?”
Maggie’s jokes usually brought a smile to Dawn’s face, but Dawn was still tired and exhausted from the dream.
“Anyway, it’s been a while. Where have you been?” Dawn inquired as she rubbed her hands on opposite arms, trying to gather as much warmth as she could. She craved warmth again, even if it meant drinking one of Ezekiel’s horrible hot cups of tea.
Maggie giggled naughtily. “Oh, just here and there. The otherworld is noisily gossiping about a certain rumor––Hades has come to the surface. Is it true?”
“Wait, what? Do the ghosts know where Hades is?” Dawn stared at Maggie, wishing she could reach out and shake the information out of her. Ghosts would have been the perfect to get information on a God of the Underworld. After all, they should be wandering around in his lair instead of aimlessly roaming the earth for centuries.
“You know, Italy is beautiful this time of year,” Maggie murmured, suddenly changing the subject.
Dawn just sighed in disappointment. She had just woken up and could barely process her dream, her bed being drenched by ocean water, and Hades. One thing at a time please. Being dead for such a long time, Maggie developed a habit of losing her train of thought mid-conversation. After all, ghosts didn’t have much use to holding on to earthly memories, much less someone as free-spirited as Maggie. Dawn knew better than to force something out of an immaterial creature, even if she desperately wanted to shake it out of her.
Italy it was for now.
Dawn ran her hands through her damp hair. The greyish-black liquid stained her fingers, gushing back memories of her nightmare with the siren. She repeate to herself what the lady had told her before being engulfed into the darkness.
Seek the Great Ocean’s Treasure and secure the Hidde
n Gate to the West.
These words rang in Dawn’s head. Her mind raced to find any clues to the lady’s command.
…a crossroad where Sirens and Mermaids dwell.
Hadn’t Maggie mentioned an artifact belonging to Sirens or Mermaids?
“Hey Maggie, do you remember the blue gemstone that you saw way back? The one that the Sirens had? What was it called again?”
Maggie shrugged. “I’ve seen a dime a dozen of blue stones, missy. But I don’t remember telling you about any of them.”
“Nevermind then,” Dawn grumbled as she paced the room, still deep in thought.
Maggie would need some reminding before she’d be able to help her, so Dawn thought of other people she could ask.
Would Elijah perhaps know about Great Ocean Treasures and West Gates?
Or perhaps Damon might have an inkling, what with his dark magic connections.
Dawn could ask Ezekiel too, in spite of any culinary concoctions or Mimic intrusions into her subconscious.
The dream had felt so real, and the presence of Hades was sending continued warnings, getting nearer every time. This could not be a coincidence. He was playing with fire and was getting to close to her for her liking. She couldn’t brush off her dream aside like she had once done with the pixie in the castle. She admitted to having an overactive imagination, but if her ventures into the East Gate had taught her anything, it was that she had to pay them some attention.
The cold ocean water on her and the bed was too much for her to bear and she stood up to grab clothes out of her dresser and head towards the shower.
“Is this blue stone important?” Maggie asked, hovering over Dawn.
“I’m not sure. I think it might be,” Dawn muttered before she closed the door to the bathroom and turned on the shower.
Maggie could be anywhere at any time, but being her good friend, Dawn was happy that she kept her promise of not peeping whenever she was in the bathroom. There, without Maggie’s interruptions, she dug deeper into her memories about the dream.
The Ocean Diamond! Dawn happily told herself as she finally remembered the name Maggie told her about the blue gemstone.
