Chapter 2

Chapter two- Warnings of a white witch

'Sister, you finally came back' Alia turned back hearing the voice of her sister Lucy. What she saw made her gasp with shock, instead of showing months of hardship and mental anguish Lucy looked more radiant than ever. She was wearing a pure white gown with a pearl border. Alia has never seen her this beautiful,

'Lucy, what happened to you, we saw you being carried away through the portal, how did you escape?' She came towards her sister cautiously, something about her is making Alia cautious, she could feel it. Whoever is standing in front of her isn't her sister anymore or at least not the one she knew.

'Listen to me pedal' she said coming over to her, hearing the name her father so fondly used made Alia teared up, it's been so long since someone called her that.

'Listen, we don't have much time, I can't mask your presence here in the castle for much longer so we have to be quick, don't be upset about what I'm going to tell you'

Alia sat on the bed and looked at her sister expectantly, Lucy looked as if she'd rather face death than be here, her sister's behaviour is making her nervous, 'It's okay sister, just say whatever you need to say,'

'You have a great role to play in this war, that's why you were entrusted to our family. We were to keep you out of the dark one's notice. The four of us were able to hide your aura and bind your powers, but in doing so you lost your memories. Dad thought it's for the best, so we gave you new memories,' looking at me expectedly Lucy said.

'The spell was supposed to be lifted on your eighteenth birthday, so the spell still has a few months of shell time after that you will gain all of your powers and memories, but we can't wait for that long. The dark one is moving faster than we anticipated, he's quite close to opening a portal between ours and the mortals, if he's to cross over to the human world we can't stop him from finding the keystones, we need to find these stones before he does'. She said this last part holding Alia's hands, 'you're the only one who can find them, please you have to trust me'.

'Why would you think I can find them?'

'Because my dear those stones are yours, you hid them away when you found out about Lucy's betrayal'.

Alia turned around towards the sound, there, before her stood a man clad in a black overcoat holding sword. Recognition ignited in her sister's eyes,

'You!! You're supposed to be dead! How did you break my spell?' Her sister reached inside her pocket and took a dark colored stone, seeing this stone on her sister's hand seems to awaken some part of her lost memory, Alia reached over and took the stone on to her hand, 'This is mine, I remember that much, why do you have this with you?' She inched away from her sister towards the doorway the stranger opened up.

'Oh no you don't you little brat, neither of you are leaving my castle, the dark one will be here any moment, give me the key sister,'

Alia backed away from her sister, 'you can't get out of here, might as well help us with the rest of the keystones, you know my darling sister, I never liked you, even as a babe you repulsed me. So much power and yet you never used them, I was actually trying to siphon power into me when you lost your memory, Dad suspected, but he couldn't prove anything. You know that little hideout no one's supposed to know, that was mom trying to protect you. Of all the annoying things to do that was the worst, you thought it was a fine game so no matter how much I tried, you never showed me the place. How un-sister like, to think that I had such plans for you, oh you would have loved it, things I had planned for you, it would have been worth watching!!'

While she went on and on about what she had planned Alia saw a figure starting to materialise right next to her and she instinctively knew she had to get away from here, whoever's coming will not make it easy for her to escape from here.

The stranger suddenly held her hand and pushed her towards the doorway he had created, pushing her forward he said 'Go!! We can't let him catch you, go through the portal and wait for help,' pulling her to him he whispered 'remember Alia, you must remember who you are', with that he pushed her to the portal just as a man emerged from the darkness, her sister's angry screams and the stranger's agonizing screams were the last things she heard as she was plunged into the vortex. She was weightless, last thing she remembered was the figure of a dark haired boy reaching out for her, though she had no recollection of the boy she somehow knew she could trust him with her life, so instead of fighting her mind she let it drag her towards wherever it's taking her. She realised now that she needs to reclaim her memories and come into terms with whatever her mind is hiding from her.

When she opened her eyes, it was the early morning, she was back in the farm house, Alia saw her father standing over by the fence looking out towards the horizon, she made her way towards him. He must have sensed her, without even turning around he called out ' hello pedal, you finally found me, it's about time, come, look at the sun rise with me.' He took her hand and pulled her towards him hugging her. Alia missed her father the most, he always emitted an air of comfort and tranquility she craved.

'Daddy, I missed you so much. There's much to tell you, I was lost without your guidance, I need..'

'Honey, we have time to talk, just breath in the air, morning air helps to clear your head, and you need a clear head for what's to come', seeing how She wanted to argue, 'I promise I'll answer all your questions in time, just let me have this moment with you'. She was about to protest, but seeing how much he meant it she turned towards the horizon with a sigh.

The farm looked other-worldly. The morning sunlight had given the place a soft hue, the birds, farm animals and the sound of water was helping her to relax and unwind. After a long time she felt like her old self.

'I missed this, we used to do this every morning, these past few months have been extremely difficult, everything's different now.' She said turning towards her father. Her father seemed exhausted as well, 'what happened to you and mom? Nate never told me, no matter how much I asked he wouldn't tell anything.'

'Honey you can't help us, no one can, no, don't ask questions, I don't have all the answers right now, there's only so much I can tell you, others you will have to find on your own. Let's go inside, mom can get you some breakfast while we talk'.

With that he took her hand and pulled her towards the house, the house looked the same as always, no burn marks, no ruined windows or scorched walls. Here it looked like those horrible months never really happened. No matter how much she wished this to be real she knew this was not real, it's another dream or a vision. But that didn't stop her from running towards her mom and hugging her. Her mom always smelled like the morning mist, so fresh and clean, after the months she spends on the road this was indeed a welcome sight. Her mother held her even tighter just as her father came from behind and hugged them both. She missed this, as the youngest child her family always treated her well. Her father and mother showered her with love and affection, and her brother, well thinking about her brother, is making her clenched her hands, the dark one has to pay for what happened to her family. She will somehow get her family back.

'Da, what happened to Lucy? Has she become a dark caster?'

She wasn't going to spring that on her parents just so, but her sister's behavior just didn't seem right. She remembered her sister as this bright, always happy girl, never like this.

Her parents exchanged a troubled look, her mother took her hand and led her towards the kitchen table, setting a plate in front of her, she started to fill it with the food she loved. Gesturing her to eat both of them sat on the table facing her. The way they were behaving was making Alia nervous, she braced herself.

'Look, we were going to explain everything on your eighteenth birthday, it was the deal, we were to keep you till you reach the age of eighteen. And then…' her father was looking at the mother as if seeking permission to go further, at her brief nod, he continued.

'You Came to us when you were just three, a man wearing a black mask and a cloak brought you over, he told us to keep you away from the prying eyes, to keep you hidden until he comes back or you turn eighteen, whichever comes first. He obviously loved you deeply, we could see from the way he kept looking at you. He said you were the key to overthrow the darkness, that you were the light that's going to shine bright. He gave you a stone, and then he disappeared right in front of us. The only thing he left was this.'

The mother handed over a black and gold locket, it was much heavier than it appeared. Holding the thing in her hand felt strange, it felt like it was emitting some sort of an energy wave. She turned it around and felt like She should know this already, somehow she has held this in her hands before.

'Did I see this one before now?' She asked when She took the chain off, it felt familiar. A sudden flashback of someone putting this one on her made her to stumble. Even if she couldn't see the face clearly, she felt she knew it was someone she loved dearly.

The stone is now embedded in the locket, when she opened it the ground beneath her disappeared and looking around she realized that she was now in the dark forest. Alia was beginning to panic, she could feel the eyes of many unholy creatures that are rumored to live here, it was getting darker by the minute.

Her survival instincts kicked in just as she heard the rumblings of a beast, Alia cast a protective shield around her while running for her life with the beast closing on her.