Chapter Three – Reset

Alice was walking back and forth in her room talking to herself

- This is insane… Total Insanity – She stopped and pressed her palms on her forehead – I have atleast five years to Gather them , but I don’t even know where to start… - her anxiety grew stronger and stronger , she was biting her lips and fidgeting her fingers nervously – C’mon Alice , think! – She started looking around in the room , laying her eyes on laptop – THAT’S IT – she shouted , and instantly rushed to the laptop. – he did mention he was Alexanders greatest warrior , All I need to do is dig up some history , and maybe I can find clues.

- All you will find there is a tales of how Alexander stood victorious in battles – A strange male voice came from the corner.

Alice at first was startled , Her eyes light up in fear, but then it all went away , she calmly looked behind

- You know what? I’m used to it, Come on , show yourself, I’ve seen a Fairy in a red dress , and a Lizard playing piano … Do your worst!

- You’ve seen what? – young bearded man came from the shadowed corner of the room.- I mean , There’s a Strange man in your room , and you are talking about virtuoso lizards?

- Gosh - Alices Fear came back – is this a robbery?

- Just because I have a beard? Okay, You’re telling me A LIZARD on piano didn’t scare you but I do? OUCH Alice, OUCH!

- How do you know my name, and most importantly What the hell are you doing here – Alice stood up and took steps backwards to the door.

- Now now, No need to fear me dear – The man raised his palms and slowly started moving towards Alice.

- That’s what a creep would say – Alice reached for her pocket

- I am Archil – The man said – If you’ve already seen Singing lizards…

- Piano playing – Alice interrupted

Archil straightened up

- Does that really matter , wether he sang or played piano? Like you’re scared I can tell , but you still found time to correct me? Ugh , Gen Z… - Archil rolled his eyes – AS I was saying… I’m a witch, a seer

- A witch? – Alice interrupted again – I don’t see no broom , and you’re clearly a man, so …

- Oh , for gods sake, will you let me finish?

- That’s what sh…

- Don’t you dare finish that sentence! – Now archil interrupted.

- Now you’re not the one letting me finish – Alice answered with victorious face.

- okay let me run this down, There’s a stranger in your room, and instead of figuring out who or what he is, you instead correct him, then you make a cheesy joke at them , and you’re satisfied with it? – Archil was looking at Alice with a disappointed face

- I mean , clearly , you pose no threat, and Sorry but I’ve been searching for this guy for as long as I came back , so pardon me if I want to take my mind off for a sec.

- first of… I pose a lot of threats, So may I continue?

- Go on ahead ! – Alice answered with a smirk on her face , going back to her laptop chair , turning it around and sitting in front of Archil .

- As I was saying, I’m A witch, and yes,before you interrupt me again, witch applies to Male , Female and every gender known or not known to human race whatsoever, One of my gifts are of sight, or as practicioners call it a , seer, A guardian of the west watchtower, On my thirteenth birthday , I had a revelation , That there would come time, when the Universe , in an attempt to save itself, would kickstart a quest, to gather a team –

- Blackrose – Alice whispered

- Voila! – Archil replied – I’m the first of the team, and I’m here to aid you on your quest – He smiled.

- Wait, but I don’t remember you on the files.

- What files - Archil got confused again

- Well, there was this, young kid, who had, a system, that displayed all of eight petals of Blackrose, you weren’t there.

- No no, I’m not the “petal” as you call it, I’m a first member of the team, your guide, let’s say.

- Okay, this is getting confusing but, sure.

- But was I not there? At all?

- As I told you , no.

- That’s odd- Archil looked troubled – May I touch your hand Alice.

Alice silently nodded and gave her hand to Archil , as soon as Archil touched it, He looked up and his eyes turned white, He was mumbling and whispering words that made no sense to Alice .

- Archil? Are you okay? – Alice was getting frightened.

- Yes- Archil replied, his eyes teared up , a single teardrop rolling down on his cheek, he looked back down to Alice – I was not there… In fact, I was not anywhere.

Alice got up quick

- Did you just read my mind?

- So I did – Archil turned around putting his fist on his lips – I can tap in to the collective consciousness , there’s a whole explanation behind that , but wherever you came from , I was Dead…

- Wait, you saw your death just now?

Archil Sighed

- mhm, She came for me, atlast.

- She who?

-Never you mind. We should , and must find people , and quick for that matter.

- I think it’d be better if we found Jade first. – Alice turned back around to her laptop , Continuing her search.

- I’m sure you won’t find Jade in ancient records.

- Why so - Alice was confused

- He aquired that name after the baptism of Nazarene.

- Jordan… That makes sense!

Then how do I find it…

- I mean , you can always google the best soldier of Alexander, but sure , why bother. His name was Hephaestion ,But after the passing of Alexander, and fall of empire, He vanished, changing his name time to time , but surprisingly Jade is the name he mostly sticks with.

- Anyways , How do we find him ? – Alice looked up to the ceiling – Wait, cant you use your sight?

- I’m a witch Alice , not a GPS tracker – Archil sat down on bed.

- Yeah , go on ahead, ruin my perfectly made bed.

- oh… That’s what you’re worrying about?

- Jeez, you have to get used to my jokes.

****

In a big round room , the table was following the outer line of the walls , in the top middle of the room , there was a high chair , to which , stairs with 36 steps led to it, In the chair Morgaus sat, with a chalice in hand, he sipped wine , At his side stood Darina.

-The day has come your majesty. – Darina whispered in his ear

Morgaus had a mischievous smile

- Ladies And gentlemen – Darina started speaking with loud voice- Room filled with chatter of crowds suddenly quited down. – Today we gather, in Honor, To our beloved Priestess, Our Vedzma – Darina seemed calm , unbothered – Her passing, shook even the doors of heaven , may the dark rivers of

hades , carry her to glory – Darina Looked around , seeing the bothered faces of the crowd, she rolled her eyes – ugh – she whispered – Hail Lydia !

- Hail Lydia ! – Everyone shouted, raising their chalices

- But , every end… - Darina continued, as she walked down on the steps – Must be a birth to a new beginnings, And as all of you know , High Priestess , is one of the most important roles in our chamber , We can not, and must not leave it vacant. – she made her way to the middle of the floor.

- What a hag… - Morgaus whispered – Fetch me wine Lea – He passed the calice to a young woman , standing to his left, Her innocent face made it unclear ,of what exactly , was she doing around all this dark souls – That’s what you’re only good for.

- Y… Yes your majesty – Lea replied, grabbing the Chalice , and disappearing behind the curtain that was behind the Chair of Morgaus.

- You’re Correct Darina! – Morgaus stood up from his chair , Leaning to the Ledge infront of his seat – We must not keep the spot open.

Darinas Face Lit up in happiness

- And for that, gladly we were prepared. – Morgaus continued – We all know , who is the rightful successor of Lydia - Darina bowed – A true Empress of Magic, woman fit to be a queen! – Morgaus raised his voice more and more.

- As humbled I am, Morgaus , you’re Making me blush - Darina answered with a smile on her face.

-I name the next High priestess, Svetlana!

- Thank you your majes… Wait what? – Darina looked up to Morgaus , Hatered filling her eyes.

The Gates of room opened, from the darkness of the other side, a slim , tall figure emergeg, she needed no magic to enchant all those in the room , for her golden hair and her green eyes was enougg. elegantly walking towards the light, the silk robe , cut down on one leg, was extending down to her ankles, through cut , her left leg was showing, a red , fiery dragon tattooed from her ankle towards her thighs, on one shoulder she had sun , on the other she had moon, Robe’s cut on the back was exposing her tattoo of tree of life.

-You’re saying this half-dressed witch , is taking my rightful spot? – Darina furiously screamed at Morgaus.

- Watch your mouth Darina! – Morgaus raised his voice even more.

- But you promised me power.

- And had I not given it to you?

- You Promised me title!

- One at a time, you have yet to prove your loyalty to us.

- Have I not proven enough! – Darina started screaming in even higher voice , humiliated she stood, her eyes threw tears of fire.

- and yet you stand there, ready to attack, now is that very loyal of you – Morgaus Smiled, lea came back from the room passing the chalice to him

Svetlana started walking towards Darina, she stopped behind her, lifting Darinas hair and resting it on her ear

- Da, I would listen to his majesty – She whispered in heavy Russian accent – sestra!

- Go to heaven , suka! – Darina whispered angrily , tears rolling down on her cheek , she shook her shoulder and leaving the room with quick pace.

****

Darina was packing her stuff , crying her eyes out, speaking to her cat familiar

- Who could’ve thought – She lifted her head, and with thumbs she wiped her tears – for all I know, I’m the best Slavic witch in the world , and yet, a pristine barbie doll bested me…

- You should do the same to her , as you did to Lydia .

- What for, it’s clear morgaus will stop at nothing to punish me for what I did, im sure he’d even put that good for nothing maid Lea in my spot if he had to .

- oh come on , you stole the keys to the cell , to see your brother, that’s not a betrayal, he should’ve seen that coming.

- I questioned his authority , and he was humiliated.

- Humiliated? – Cat turned into a teenage boy – Humiliated? He made you a laughing stock for literally whole chamber, And he was the one humiliated? Listen to yourself darina, How can you be so naïve, unless you still love him…

- Love him? I hate him .

- Like you hated jade? – boy smiled

- How dare you Amphis! – Darina slapped him .

Amphis looked at Darina, Putting his hand on the cheek , his eyes tearing up, he wanted to say something but he couldn’t

- I.. I’m sorry dear boy … I don’t know what came over me. – She looked away her eyes started to tear up again.

- What’s the meaning of this – Morgaus rushed in the room – Just a second ago , we talked about loyalty and you’re already deserting us.

- Deserting you?- Darina replied in anger. – You chose some random kukla over me , and you are telling me I’m the one deserting you?

- Kukla? You’re speaking gibberish , Get a hold of yourself.

- A: She’s speaking Russian, B: it means doll. – Amphis replied.

- My my, Didn’t your mother teach you manners boy? – Morgaus snapped his fingers and Amphis turned back into a cat. – interrupt and I’ll have you made into a purse. That way , you’ll fit in your mommy’s bag.

- Don’t you dare threaten him.

-Don’t I dare? – Morgaus lifted his eyebrow – perhaps I should turn you into a pet of our vedzma, or better, get you and your brother both enslaved to her.

- Leave Luka out of this.

- All im saying is , flee now ,and your brother gets it, and then , I’ll track you down , and you’ll share the same fate. I appointed Svetlana as a Priestess, because I had to , politics have never been your strong side, but it’s no time to act afool and throw tantrums, so calm yourself , and stop this masquerade!

Darina , looked back to amphis, her eyes widened and filled with fear, tears rushing down her cheek.

- Yes, your majesty!

- That’s my girl. – Morgaus replied and turned his back ,leaving the rom.

- oh Amphis, What did I do to deserve this.

- You’re a selfless one Darina, going against your nature to save the brother, you don’t know is alive or not. – Amphis jumped on the bed and layed down.

- He should be… he must be…

****

- Are you sure this could work?

Alice had smoking rosemary in her hands, moving it around so the smokes were distributed in the room .

- That’s literally just a simplest cleansing method. Yes I’m sure of it.

- Remind me why do we have to do this again?

- To set up wards? Look , there are a lot of people who would want to intervene with our plans, and last thing we need is chamber on our tail.

- Yeah about that. What exactly is the chamber.

- Well, they’re this big organization , working in the shadows, under the direct order of Sahem, or their prophecy more likely, they even have their own city.

- City you say.

- Yeah ,it’s located in arctic ocean, it’s more like a Vatican type of city, small one . – Archil looked up – well , even if we gather all 8 of petals , we will still be outnumbered by them , there’s at least five hundred men amongst their ranks , and pretty powerful ones for that matter. They must also have contact with rogue creatures.

- Rogue creatures?

- Well , For me to explain blantly , before Christianity, witches and creatures roamed the earth freely, Christian leaders wanted to weponise such beings, so they did what they could in their power to oppress these beings , they even hired the witches , to wipe them out and so great hunt began, leading to centuries of wars, at first witches were spared, so that they could use their powers against creatures, creating a crack between witches and creatures, but that “mercy” was not long held, in 1486 , pope issued a creation of book , Malleus maleficarum, or in other words , hammer of witches, the book itself was filled with inscriptions of how to identify a witch, and how to – Archil looked up – Murder them. The book was based on the passage, Exodus 22:18 “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” , and this holy world was spread throughout the Europe, in the end reaching whole world , and beginning from end of 15th century to 17th century , mass histeria has risen, people all around the world accusing women of the craft, and connections to the devil , burning them , drowning them, beheading them, crushing their chest and other horrible manners of “execution” .

- but if the creatures were wiped, how did they come back now.

- They weren’t wiped, they went into hiding, most of them did, I mean until , early 16th century. In 1504 , 15 years before his death, Da Vinci , created a system, a ledge, where creatures that were in hiding , met , they came to a conclusion that , anytime they’d show , there would be a masacare, so they laid a ground rules, most important of them being , they were not to expose themselves to mortal world, to ensure even after his death, Da Vincis legacy would be continued, he created a hierarchy , every type of creature would have their local leader, this leaders were chosen by creatures in the country that they lived in, the leader themselves would report to a Higher leader or as they called it A guardian , Guardians united under the government, which was the initial idea of Da Vinci , in hierarchy of government , there are guardians , and one above the guardian , symbolically called minister, is the direct link to the council of light , which sadly , Leonardo himself had not lived enough to see the council adopting government but… ears came , and witches after mass hunts, were somewhat forgiven for what they have done to creatures, and were invited into the government themselves. But ofcourse, its not all rainbows and unicorns, government by time became corrupted and there are some horrible things happening , for that reason many had left the wings of their protection, some also left for personal interests, or evil needs, so that’s where we get the “rogue” creatures and witches .

- but if the dark ages are over, and they’re not being hunted, how come they don’t show themselves.

- To not repeat the history… this creatures are more advanced than humans, and what humans don’t understand they fear, in the ages of this technological advancement, the loss will be great.

-Okay, but since there’s a government, doesn’t that mean we can directly go there and ask them for help ,to go against chamber and sahem?

- As I told you, throughout the years , Government itself became corrupted.

- but if they’re controlled by council how can they stray.

- They work in the loophole , and council can’t directly intervene , the minister himself, is one hell of a guy , he has his head so far up in his behind that it’d be impossible to convince him of anything. Still might be worth a shot to atleast get guardians on our side, but … as I told you we’re witches, they’d rather have wooden stake in their chests, rather than listen to us.

-We’re ? no , no , you’re a witch, I am not.

- Well Dear, that , you’ll find out soon. -Look , My mom was working at a church, and my dad’s an physicist , Im sure im not born a witch.

- Witch, my friend, is not by blood, but by knowledge. Yes you may have hereditary powers, but knowledge unlocks them with or without blood.

-And I have no knowledge, so therefore, I am not a witch.

-you’re acting as if witch is an insult, and that insults me, tell me , weren’t you the one who ended the world by the beam coming from her hand not a day ago?

- Touché my friend..

- here, im finished with the wards – Archil ended drawing on the corners.

- Wait, you ruined my paint.

- Oh no, whatever may we do , you’re paint is ruined, and world’s close to an end but sure, lets get a new color and repaint the walls shall we? – Archil gave Alice a big smile, which instantly turned into a grumpy face. – If we don’t act , there will be no paint in the world left to be ruined, so stop whining.

- what has gotten into you.

- I saw world end in your eyes, I really don’t want to see that in mine, that’s all.

- Okay but getting jade is not that easy of a job.

- Then lets start with someone else!

- Okay okay, so lets first find people I’ve already met. There was Jade, Hollie and Em, which by the way will be together I assume, and… - Alices face changed in happiness -Xelo, That’s it, Xelo!

- What?

- That day when I was with them , he came from seminar, I believe he held Harvard bag. He’s in Harvard! We can find him there.

- He will be in Harvard 5 years later…

- Yes. But he was 23 years old , which means he’s a freshman there.

- so you suggest, to kidnap a 18 year old?

- Kidnap? No what the hell. I bet your reaction would be worse when you find out how old Em is.

- I know all of their ages, Em would be turning 13 in a month or so.

- Then why the frustration.

- Its hard to convince 18 year old to come with us, and for Em, He’s with Hollie, and they are an adult , so we can easily convince them to come with us.

Alice picked up the keys from the drawer

- We’re going to Harvard Baby!! – she spread her hands and screamed.

- Why are you suddenly excited about that.

- Witches never tell their secret – Alice winked and left the door.

- And now she’s a witch… - Archil looked up to the ceiling – Hecate help us all.

****

- And so , Alice started her journey, to save the world, the one she had already destroyed, in a quest to save , she would be joined by new witches and beings that are so different from each other, whereas sahem and morgaus , felt the shift, the beginning of the quest, and like that , sound of Gabriel’s horn shook the realms , down from hell , up to heaven , Time of end was at hand, but as we all know and as we all have seen even by Alices hand, every end, is a seed for something new, something grand.

- Reader! Reader can you hear me? – Someone disturbed the eternal silence of the room by their loud footsteps and their voice.

- This horrible noise of yours, it disturbs my peace, it disturbs my quiet , Cant you see mortal , im in the middle of something.

- Yes, in the middle of throwing your meds all around the floor , Now take them before I call in the nurses for help.

- Must you be that annoying . – Reader looked down at the meds.- they’re dirty , oh my, must I take them?

- Yes dear , you must- woman sat next to reader – or else , you will have the panic attack again, do you remember what happened last time.

Reader started shaking , looking down at his hands

- no no , I don’t want that , I don’t want that. – he grabbed the meds from the floor, blew air on them and started taking them

- That’s a good boy! – She stood up and left the room.

As soon as she left the room reader started speaking again.

- but he didn’t take the meds, he just spit them out and rolled them up in napkin to flush it down to the toilet , what a cliché, Don’t you agree? – he started manically laughing and staring into the nothingness behind him.