W.I.T.C.H. doesn't belong to me. I'm just doing this for fun.
Many thanks to Aesop for his help in editing and consulting with ideas!
Set shortly after the end of Season 2.
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Kandrakar:
"You're saying this man beat all five of you, despite your combined powers?" Halinor said, her face betraying her shock. To say that what the Guardians were claiming was hard to accept would be a severe understatement. Even more unbelievable was that they said he had done so without using any magic, but simple human technologies.
The girls nodded. Will herself was looking down with a deep frown on her face, obviously feeling the burn of their defeat more than any of them.
"That wasn't all," she then admitted. "This guy, whoever he was, was somehow immune to my power."
"Immune?" the Oracle stared at them, amazed. "There are some creatures that are naturally immune to one of the elements, such as rock creatures immune to fire and electricity and such. But a human has no defence against any of them, at least not naturally."
"He did have some magic on him," Hay Lin revealed helpfully. "He managed to turn himself into stone when we attacked him."
"Ah, so that's how he was able to deflect your powers, Will," the Oracle assumed.
"No," she replied, shaking her head. "I blasted him before he changed, but it did absolutely nothing! All it seemed to do was frizz his hair a little, and he didn't even notice that!"
The Oracle frowned. "That…does not sound possible."
"Tell me about it. Don't suppose you have any theories?"
He kept silent for a moment longer, chewing his lower lip as though in deep thought, before he finally answered. "There are ways that a man can partially deflect an elemental energy, but the only sure way I know of to deflect one completely is if the man possesses the power of an element himself."
"This guy had no power, or at least not any of his own," Taranee reported. "All the magic he had seemed to come from mystic talismans, but not from his actual self like our powers do."
"In that case, I have no theory then." The Guardians all groaned.
"We do know one thing though," Will then added. "Whoever this guy was… He was connected to Nerissa!"
The Oracle arched his left eyebrow in surprise, while all the Council gasped. "You are certain of this?" he asked for her confirmation.
Will nodded. "He called her by name. He seemed to think we were working for her."
"No doubt because of your Guardian gowns," the Oracle concluded. "That's the only explanation why he thought that, which means he knows of you, and probably of the Council as well."
"How?" Hay Lin asked.
Taranee shrugged. "Who knows what Nerissa got up to in her spare time? She could have had a number of allies who helped her, wanted her to succeed in overthrowing Phobos, or even get all that power."
"And that in itself presents a disturbing problem," the Oracle said, looking troubled. "If Nerissa did have allies that we knew not of, then that means they're still out there, and if they are aware of Nerissa's defeat then they could be out for revenge."
"Terrific," Irma grumbled. "And the year was going so well up till now."
"Or not," the Oracle then added. "We are but only guessing here. For all we know, this man may be the only ally Nerissa had, or he may not have been an ally at all. I will see if I can find anything out."
"What do you mean?" Hay Lin asked, looking at the bald man, but he made no reply.
The Oracle stood where he was, a blank expression on his face, as his eyes stared out straight ahead into nothingness.
"What's he doing?" Irma whispered, only to have her question answered by Halinor.
"He is using his Seer powers to see through time," she explained, standing by the Oracle's side. "Through that, he will be able to locate and learn about this mysterious man you have encountered."
The Oracle remained as he was as though in a state of hibernation, when suddenly…
"Ahhh?!" he gasped, momentarily stepping back, as if he had been punched.
"Oracle, what is it?" Tridart, the Oracle's most loyal follower and faithful friend, asked in concern, hurrying to his side to steady him.
"A…mental block of some kind," he replied, holding his head. "Like… banging myself into a brick-wall."
"Did you find out anything?" Halinor asked what everyone was thinking.
"Alas no, "he replied sadly. "Whoever this man is, he has somehow managed to deflect and blind my sight."
"Like when Nerissa tampered with your powers?" Cornelia queried.
"No, Nerissa merely suppressed my abilities, making it difficult for me to see. This stranger has literally shielded himself completely from my magic. Like hiding one's self behind a locked door."
"So what are we to do now?" Irma moaned.
"There is no way now for me to know of him," the Oracle said, frowning. "Whoever he is, he is clearly skilled in advanced mystic arts. I do not know of any ways for us to learn of this possible new menace unless… " He paused.
"Unless what?" Will all but demanded.
The Oracle sighed. "Unless we ask Nerissa herself."
All five of the girls and the rest of the Council were silent.
"I…didn't know that was possible," Will asked. "Can you talk to her while she's still inside that jewel?"
He shook his head. "No. Her imprisonment in there is a result of a combination of the magic from the Hearts of Meridian and Zamballa, for breaking her word to Yan Lin and the others for attempting to escape without them, and for not being in harmony with them, which caused some kind of backlash. Hence her imprisonment in an eternal dream-state."
"Well, then how do you propose we talk to her?" Cornelia asked, though she suspected what the answer would be.
"The only way we can…by releasing her," he replied simply.
The reaction was instantaneous.
"No way!"
"Release that witch! Are you crazy?!"
"We just defeated her, and now you wanna just let her go?!"
"We've already got one bad guy on the loose, we don't need another!"
"We do that, and Nerissa will be out for blood quicker than you can say… "
"ENOUGH!" the Oracle roared, silencing everyone into submission. They all stared at him in great surprise, as none had ever heard him lose his temper or shout out before.
"I understand what you are all saying, and I respect your feelings," he explained. "I would like to point out, though, that I was merely listing an option for you to take if you so wished. I was certainly not insinuating that you had to do it."
The Guardians remained silent for a few more moments, before Will finally spoke. "Oh… Okay then. So you're not planning on resurrecting her anytime soon then?"
He shook his head. "Not if you are against it. You were the ones who defeated her, and I sincerely doubt that Queen Elyon, Yan Lin and the others would react too differently from the way you just did if we were to do so. I myself have no desire to see her again anytime soon, considering the months she had me and the Council kept in her prison bubble. Therefore, if your desire is to keep her under lock and key, then so be it."
The girls all heaved a sigh of relief.
"However, since that option is not appealing to you, then you will have to find out who this mysterious man is by yourselves. We the Council will contact those on other worlds, to see if they know anything of this stranger you seek, but alas that is the best we can do."
"Great… As if fighting Nerissa on our lonesome wasn't enough, now we're the research team as well." Irma groaned.
"Couldn't you find some other way of communicating with Nerissa?" Taranee suggested. "Maybe make telepathic contact with her or something, like when Halinor did with me when she and the others were all trapped in there?"
"Unfortunately, no. Remember, Halinor was the one who first contacted you, and she did so of her own free will. It has to be the same with Nerissa. She must make the connection herself and be willing to talk to us freely. However, Nerissa is now in a dream-like state within the jewel, so she is not conscious enough to know what is going on, let alone make contact with us. Therefore, a conversation is impossible…at least, not while she is still inside the jewel."
"Couldn't you just break through the jewel's power and speak to her yourself?"
"The magic of the jewel from Weira's crown protects her, even as it imprisons her. Its power in that respect is beyond my own."
"Swell," Irma murmured. "So what do we do?"
"Only thing we can do now," Will moaned. "Taranee, you hit the web and see if anything about this guy comes up. Irma, your dad's a cop, so see if you can find something in their records."
"Just cause I'm a cop's daughter doesn't mean I can go waltzing into a police station and browse through their computers like I own the joint, Will," Irma noted.
"I'm sure you'll find a way to convince them," Will said with a smile, indicating Irma's handy little power of mind control.
"Fine, but what are you three going to do?" she said, pointing to her, Cornelia and Hay Lin.
"We'll go to the library, check out any of the old newspaper articles and see if there's been any news of him before."
"Great!" Cornelia said brightly. "I'll supervise."
The rest of them all turned to look at her with thinned eyes.
"What?"
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Heatherfield; Two Days Later:
"Hi, dad!" Will greeted her father cheerfully, as he opened the front door to her. She always looked forward to their weekends together.
"Hi, love," said Tony Vandom with a smile, though his cheeriness seemed forced for some reason.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Tony sighed. "Look, love. I'm real sorry to do this. I wanted us to spend our first evening together alone, but… "
"But what?"
He sighed again. "We've recently had a new client come to the firm, and I've been chosen to represent him. It's a big deal for us, and… I swear I tried getting him to change the date to next week after you were gone, Will, but Mr. Hexin was most insistent that we get together and discus things tonight."
Tony was a lawyer in a large law firm. His business often took him out of town, which no doubt played a big part in his failed first marriage, and why Will hadn't seen a lot of him when she and her mom first moved to Heatherfield. Thankfully, though, his firm had opened up a new office in Heatherfield, allowing him to move there permanently. The two could see each other regularly now.
She had found it hard at first to get along with his then new fiancée, now his wife, Sarina Sanchez, but over time she had come to accept the woman, and found her to be quite the good person.
Sarina was currently away, taking photos in South Africa for the magazine, where she worked as a photographer. That had been the main reason why she had been looking forward to this weekend, because although she did enjoy Sarina's company, she did find it a little hard to spend time with her dad whenever she was around. Like most newly wedded couples, Tony and Sarina spent most of their time making kissy faces at each other. With Sarina gone this weekend, she thought she would have his complete attention.
Plus, it would have gotten her mind off the stranger for a while. She and the others had been searching non-stop for anything of him for the last two days, but so far they had come up with nothing. She had hoped this small break with her father would help recharge her batteries, but apparently it was not to be so.
"So we've got company for dinner tonight," Will said, confirming what her father was saying.
Tony looked at her, and winced at the disappointed look on her face. "I know. I really did try and get him to reschedule to next week, but he said he wanted to discuss our new partnership ASAP."
Will mentally shook herself, fighting off the disappointment, and smiled brightly at her father. "Hey, no big deal!" she said, seemingly honestly. "We've still got the rest of the weekend together, and maybe it won't be so bad having company for dinner."
Tony smiled. "Atta, girl."
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Tony looked over, sighing. "That'll be him now. The man's been most kind to arrange reservations for us at Bella Italia, that fancy Italian restaurant. Everything's all on him, so feel free to pig out all you want."
"Awesome!" Will brightened up. Maybe this night wouldn't be so bad after all.
Her father went up to the front door to answer it, checking first through the peephole before turning the knob. "Welcome, Mr. Hexin," he said warmly, steeping aside to let his guest in.
"Thank you, Mr. Vandom." The voice was distinctive and easy to remember, so she recognised it instantly.
Will looked over in shock, as the stranger walked into her father's apartment. He smiled thinly at her, his sly look like that of a snake.
"Hello again, Miss Vandom. I was hoping we would meet up again."
"You know my daughter?" Tony asked in surprise.
"Oh yes, we…met a few days ago. An enchanting girl, with a very electrifying personality, if I may say."
Tony looked to his daughter for clarification, but all he saw on her face was a look of pure shock.
"Yes, I first met her while she was in the middle of demonstrating a few of her fighting skills to her friends," Hexin explained. "She is quite the little warrior, your daughter. Had she been born but a few thousand years ago, I've no doubt her skills would have heralded her as a warrior queen."
He then turned back to Will's father, smiling warmly. ""But come, we have business to discuss. Shall we depart?"
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Next Night; Silver Dragon:
Hay Lin wiped down the last of the tables in her family's restaurant. Tonight was a busy night, as wave after wave of customers came flooding in through the door. The only table left available was one that had been reserved.
"Hey, Hay Lin?"
She looked up, and smiled to see Cornelia smiling back at her. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
"My dad's got a business dinner with a new shareholder for his bank," the Earth Guardian replied, sounding bored. "The guy is meeting us all here. That means I'm gonna be stuck listening to business talk all night."
"Oh well, cheer up," Hay Lin said. "I'll get grandma to give you the house special! Say, did you hear from Will?"
"About the guy showing up at her dad's place, heck yeah!" Cornelia checked around to see if her family was anywhere near, but her folks were still outside, her dad paying the cab fare and her mom cleaning Lillian's face. "Will couldn't say much because her dad was listening in. Seems she wasn't exactly polite to the guy at dinner, so her dad was a little ticked off at her. Anyway, whoever this guy is, he's some sort of business creep. That probably means he's not from Meridian if he's got cash and his name's well known here."
"Not necessarily. Cedric was only here a short time before he got himself his own bookstore and was making friendly with Miss Knickerbocker."
Cornelia frowned. "Maybe. But Will told me that her father said this guy's an owner of some big corporation, really into the big dollars. That's a heck of a long way from running a small time bookstore!"
"Did she say his name?"
Cornelia shook her head. "Didn't have the chance to, as her dad came in and made her hang up. Since she hasn't called back, I can only assume her dad must have confiscated her cellphone."
"What about…?" Hay Lin started, but she froze in mid-sentence.
"What is it?" Cornelia looked around, and she too froze.
"Greetings, my little imps," Ian Hexin said, smiling thinly at them.
"Cornelia, my dear," Cornelia's father, Harold Hale, spoke up behind the Asian man. "This is Mr. Ian Hexin of Hexin Industries. He is the one kind enough to buy us dinner tonight."
"Please, no trouble at all," Hexin said politely. "And to you, Miss Hale, a pleasure to see you again."
Cornelia actually gulped, as Hexin revealed him meeting her already. If her family were to ever learn the truth about what she and her friends got up to when they weren't in school, she didn't know what they'd do.
"I didn't know you already knew my daughter?" Harold said, surprised.
"Oh yes, Cornelia and I met a few days ago. Isn't that right, my dear?"
Cornelia looked like she was chewing on tin foil, as she bit her lower lip.
"And Miss Lin, wonderful to see you again, too," Hexin then turned his attention back to Hay Lin. "As always, it is enchanting to see the beauty of China."
Hay Lin smiled nervously, but was thankfully spared having to say anything, when her grandmother spoke up behind her…
"Welcome, welcome!" Yan Lin practically cheered "So nice to see new and old customers again. Please, allow me to show you to your table."
"Many thanks, Mrs Lin." Hexin bowed respectfully before her. "And may I say it is an honour to finally meet you in person at long last. I'm sure you must be proud of your granddaughter following in your footsteps, both in the restaurant business and in your other…career."
If Yan Lin was fussed over what he just said, then she did not show it. She merely smiled and showed them all to their table for the evening. "My granddaughter has excelled in all her duties since birth. Our family couldn't be prouder."
"I'm sure." Hexin looked around the restaurant. "You have also masterfully recreated the beauty of your homeland here. This place must have surely cost you a great deal to build."
"We do what we must," she simply replied.
"Still, to run a restaurant like this must be a great strain on your finances I shouldn't wonder," he added, dipping his fingers into the water-bowl, washing them. "To build it and then keep it afloat. I can only hope that no bad tiding come your way, Mrs Lin."
"If they do then they do," Yan Lin said, shrugging. "We will then have to simply ride out the storm, and deal with whatever problems the Fates dish out to us as best as we can."
"Sound advice. Let us all hope that you have clear weather from here on."
As he talked, Cornelia sat down with the rest of her family, her face set in stone for fear of betraying any of her emotions. While Hay Lin stood by, her fists clenched tightly. Though Hexin's words may have seemed harmless, she knew them for what they really were… They were a warning.
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Two Nights Later; Silver Dragon:
"It's awful!" Hay Lin squealed beneath her breath.
"You got that right," Cornelia added gruffly. "He knew who we were and made snide comments all through the evening. There wasn't a single moment when I didn't think that he was going to reveal our secret to our folks! I kept thinking any minute now I was going to have to start dealing with my mother's shrieks and dad's yelling."
"You think you had it bad?!" Hay Lin replied, almost shocked. "How do you think I felt? Do you know what would happen if my parents were to find out about me being a five-foot fairy? You've seen how protective they are of me!"
"Guys!" Will yelled out to silence them. "This isn't helping! Believe me, I know what you're going through, as Hexin did the exact same thing with my dad and me. I spent the whole night playing the game with Hexin, and terrified he would spill the beans, up to the point when my dad thought I was just being impolite and rude, and got me grounded all the time I was with him."
The two others took deep breaths, as they forced their heartbeats to slow down.
The five of them had got together the first chance they got after Hexin had first revealed himself to them. It had been hard though, as Will had been less than diplomatic to the guy when he showed up at her dad's apartment. Tony Vandom had been…enraged, to say the least, about his daughter's behaviour to his new client, for what he believed were truly harmless comments, and had grounded her for her remaining time with him. Worse, he had spent the whole weekend in with her, rarely leaving her alone, which would normally not be a bad thing, but she hadn't a moment to herself and had been unable to contact the others or tele-transport to them.
And every time when she got a moment to call them, the others were all busy with their own families… and Hexin.
"You're not the only ones," Irma then added. "This Hex guy got me, my folks and Taranee's family together, too."
"What happened?" Cornelia asked in concern.
Taranee shrugged. "Mr. Hexin asked Irma's dad and my mom together to talk about the latest crimes committed by teenagers and young people. He claimed he wanted to talk to Irma's dad since he was a cop, and knew about criminals, and my mom because she's a judge. We ended up dining together at my house…with Hexin."
"Hope your stealth skills were better than mine," Will muttered.
"But who is this Hexin guy anyway?!" Irma all but shouted. "How does he know about us, how could he deflect your powers, Will, and how does he…?!"
"Chill, Irma," Cornelia hushed her. "We're all going through a tough time right now."
"Right," Will agreed. "Hexin knows more than even we figured. He knows who we are, about our families, and he knows just what buttons to press to get our ire up."
"This is just like the time when Shagon went after our families," Hay Lin said, remembering how Matt, when he had been Nerissa's Angel of Malice, had gone after them through their loved ones. Matt had now long since been freed of Nerissa's grip, and was currently one of the three Guardians to Cornelia's sister Lillian, the Heart of Earth, and on vacation with his parents in Hawaii.
"Don't remind me," Taranee muttered, remembering how Shagon had once gone after her brother Peter.
"Never mind that now," Will told them. "We've got to figure this out, and find out just who this Hexin guy is?"
"Well, I did some research on him on the net," Taranee explained. "He's the owner of a multi-national corporation called Hexin Industries. It's an old company that's been around since before the First World War, and is one of the richest there is. Hexin himself seems to be really into history, as he's funded a lot of archaeological digs, and collected various historical artefacts from all over the world."
"Not too strange for a rich tycoon, then," Cornelia mumbled. "Seriously, what is it with rich men and old stuff?"
"Do you know anything else about him?" Will enquired. "Checked his bank accounts or stuff like that?"
"Hey, there's only so much I can do on the net, you know, Will!" Taranee replied. "I'm smart, but I'm no Hacker. I only know what's on there and available."
"Is there anything to suggest that he might not be from around here?" Irma asked. "He may be from Meridian."
Taranee shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I doubt it. If he is from Meridian, then he and his family have been here long before even Phobos was born. As I said, I've found articles about the Hexin clan going back to before the First World War, and even more going further back."
"So what do we do?" Cornelia asked. "If he's human, then that means we can't just defeat him like we did Phobos, Nerissa and the others. They were either magical, from another world or both. If Hexin is human then that means we can't just fight him and banish him to a magic cell."
Will frowned. "We need to take a step back, find out everything we know about him."
"But what do we know about him?" Hay Lin whined.
"We know who he is now," Will replied. "He is Ian Hexin of Hexin Industries. He knows about us, the Guardians, and he knew of Nerissa… "
"All of which is useless to us, Will," Taranee added, sounding a bit hopeless. "Face it, the guy wasn't afraid of revealing himself to us, and we only know what he's either told us or whatever's been told to the public. And it's more than likely that he was the one who told it in the first place."
"So in other words, we've all got squat!" Irma grumbled.
Will wanted to deny this, but deep down she knew they were right. Hexin had them all in a bind. He knew who they were, their names, homes, families and everything else. And all they had was whatever had been printed in the newspaper or uploaded on the Internet, which could all be nothing but a pack of lies.
"So what can we do now?" Cornelia added.
Will sighed. "We'll have to go back to Kandrakar," she declared. "Whoever this guy is, he is far more dangerous than any of us suspected. He knows our real identities, about our loved ones, who to hurt to get to us, and he can get to us anytime he wants! We're gonna need help."
With that, she took out the Heart of Kandrakar and opened a Fold…
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Kandrakar:
"This is…gravely disturbing," the Oracle replied once the Guardians had finished informing the Council of all that had transpired within the last few days.
"Mucho points on the obvious, dude," Irma muttered, earning a hot glare from Taranee and the others.
"Is there anything at all you can tell us, Oracle?" Will asked the leader of the Council.
The Oracle shook his head sadly. "Unfortunately, no. Nothing has changed since the last time you asked this of me. I have tried the deepest of meditation with the strongest of magic, but alas nothing new has been revealed to me."
"Well, what do we do then?" Cornelia demanded. "If Kandrakar can't tell us anything then where do we go from here?!"
The Oracle's face grew grave, as he looked at them all. "I'm afraid I can only think of one option left open to us."
"No!" Will said fiercely. "I know what you're going to say, Oracle, and I still say it's a bad idea!"
"The only way we can find anything about this new enemy, is if we ask the only person that we know of who has had prior dealings with him." the Oracle explained.
It didn't take the rest of the Guardians more than a few seconds for them to realise whom he was referring to.
"Nerissa."
He nodded. "The stranger mentioned her by name, did he not? We have exhausted all other options. We know nothing of this man, whoever or whatever he is. And Nerissa is the only link we do have."
"There has to be another way!" Will said, practically pleading. "We tried making a bargain with the devil once before, when we released Phobos, and look where that got us."
"Back then you did not have the aid of the Council," he said assuredly. "I promise you we will take everything into consideration. Nothing will be left to chance! Nerissa will not be allowed to gain the upper hand with us."
"If we've learnt anything about her, it's that she's capable of anything!" Will insisted. "Even if you do take every precaution, there's every chance she'll find a loophole somewhere."
"Perhaps," the Oracle said quietly, but still he did not lose his intent stare. "But as I said before, what choice have we?"
None of the girls could argue with that, for every word the Oracle said was true. They were all clean out of options, and the stranger, whoever he was, was more than powerful enough to take them all on.
"I don't like this!" Will hissed. "I reallllly don't like this!"
"I can assure you, Will," the Oracle said, sighing. "You are not alone in that respect."
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A few hours later, after the Council were finished making the preparations, the Oracle, Tyburn, the Guardians, Julian and Caleb had all gathered at Kandrakar. They had decided to keep the group as few as possible, hence why Elyon, Yan Lin or the others were not present.
"Are you ready?" Oracle asked Caleb, holding out his hand for the object.
Caleb had a frustrated look upon his face, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out Weara's jewel. Within the jewel the face of Nerissa could be seen by all, her eyes closed in a peaceful slumber.
"I'd like to point out that I'm totally against this!" Caleb announced, handing the jewel reluctantly over to the Oracle. Despite Nerissa being his mother, he had never forgiven her for the way she had used him, his father and everyone else in her quest for domination over all the known worlds. And he knew firsthand how dangerous she truly was.
Julian, meanwhile, said nothing, as he kept to the side, watching everything unfold, his eyes betraying no emotion.
"Duly noted," the Oracle replied simply. "No one likes this." He then carried the jewel over to a small area away from everyone else, placed it on the floor and waved his hand, causing a row of energy bars to erect themselves around the gem.
'This is not going to end well,' Irma thought to herself, but kept her mouth shut.
The Oracle held his hand up, his eyes closed as he recited a spell in a language long forgotten. A few moments later, the jewel began to pulse and shudder, a shining light glowing bright from within it, causing the visage of Nerissa to fade. A second later, the sound of crackling was heard, and the jewel shattered, causing a bright explosion of light.
When the light died down, and the spots had faded from everyone's eyes, the jewel was gone, and Nerissa lay in its place.
"Ummm," she moaned, as she slowly opened her eyes. "Wha…?"
"Looks like the spell worked fine," Hay Lin said, her voice a low and dark tone.
"Great,' Irma replied humourlessly. "Let's celebrate… I'll crack open a bottle of cyanide."
"Where am I?!" Nerissa suddenly demanded, springing up from the floor, only to be detained by the energy bars of her temporary cell.
"In Kandrakar, Nerissa," the Oracle replied, walking slowly toward her.
She glared at him, her eyes shining with pure fury. "How did I…" she began, but paused and frowned. "The last thing I remember, I was trapped in my Seal. Yan Lin, the others and myself were attempting to escape when…"
"When you went and got yourself trapped inside again," Will finished, almost smirking at her. "To escape from the jewel, you all had to be in perfect harmony, but you weren't. So while the others escaped, you ended up trapped inside again, in a sort of dream state, which is where you've been ever since!"
Nerissa's eyes blazed. "How long?!"
Will shrugged. "About six months, give or take a couple."
"But…I'm awake now?" the dark-haired sorceress questioned. "And I'm free, why?"
"Believe me, you're not the only one asking that question right now," Cornelia muttered.
Just then, Nerissa noticed Julian and Caleb standing over to the side, neither of them not looking too thrilled to see her. "I suppose it would be too much to expect that the reason I'm here now is because of your insistence?" she asked.
Neither of them answered her.
"You're here only because…" Will started, but the Oracle silenced her.
"That will be quite enough, Guardian," he said calmly, but sternly. She noticed the hard look in his eyes, and reluctantly backed down. "Nerissa, you have a chance for leniency," he explained to the former Guardian.
Nerissa laughed. "Leniency? And why, pray tell, should you wish to give me that?"
"We believe you may have information that we require, concerning a stranger that has recently appeared to the Guardians. We know not who he is, but he has mentioned you by name, and knew of the Guardians and their powers."
Nerissa seemed to pause at that, as she stared at him silently. "Any idea who this stranger is?"
"He called himself Hexin."
Nerissa's eyes widened so much so that there wasn't anyone present who did not notice, nor did not guess that whoever this man was, Nerissa was definitely familiar with him.
"If you want my help, then what do you have to offer?" she then asked simply.
"We will grant you a full pardon for all your past aggressions," the Oracle continued. "However, your pardon will come with a certain condition."
"Oh?" she said, eyeing him warily.
"Before we release you, you must take an oath, swearing by the power of Kandrakar, that you will not attempt to seize control of any other world's power source ever again. You will also swear not to attempt taking over another world, not even your own, for any reason whatsoever. Keep in mind, if you break your vow then you will be instantly transported back to your old cell on Mount Thanatos."
Nerissa thinned her eyes at him, no doubt imagining the worst kind of fate she could envision for him. But in the end, she sighed and relented. "Agreed."
"Be aware also that this time there will be no chance of escape," he added. "There will be several guards posted at your cell, numerous charms and spells to ensure your eternal imprisonment, we will drain your former Guardian magic from you, and the Veil is gone now, so there is no chance of a portal opening to release you… "
At the last few words of his sentence, Nerissa suddenly broke out laughing. "Oh puh-leese!" she chuckled. "Did you honestly believe that load of hogwash I gave you? I merely said that to defer you from asking questions about how I really escaped."
Everyone stared at her.
"What do you mean?!" Caleb demanded, speaking to his mother for the first time since her awakening.
Nerissa gave him a short look, but said nothing.
The Oracle sighed. "What do you want, Nerissa?"
"My freedom," she replied. "But also the Mage's books and scrolls from the Infinite City on Meridian."
Will snorted. "You must be mad to think we'd agree to that! After all the trouble you gave us last time, do you really expect us to hand you all that knowledge and power?"
"The knowledge, spells and talismans in those caverns are mine by right," Nerissa insisted. "The Mage took me in and trained me as her apprentice. Upon her death, I took on the role as Mage, and have acted as such for eighteen years."
"Only because you killed her!"
"Enough!" the Oracle commanded, bringing total silence to the room. He stared at Nerissa, his eyes searching hers. "What Will Vandom says makes sense, Nerissa. Why in all creation should we give you access to power such as that?"
"Because you are going to need all the power that you can get!" she told him, staring hard back at him. "The man you know as Hexin… He is far more dangerous than anything you can imagine. Compared to him, Phobos was no more than a saintly prince."
Her words brought little comfort to all, but neither did they make them want to trust her.
"You say you want me to take an oath not to attempt taking over anyone else's world ever again," she continued. "Well, then there is no reason why you shouldn't let me have what I want. The oath will prevent me from using any of the knowledge for my own gain."
"You've always found ways of getting out of your promises, Nerissa," Hay Lin said darkly. She clearly remembered the day when she had tricked them all into fighting one last battle, ending the war between them once and for all, only to be tricked, for although they had sworn not to flee the battle, Nerissa had not.
"My terms are not open for negotiation," Nerissa said finally.
A few moments of silence endured, until the Oracle spoke again. "Whenever you are within the Infinite City, there will be someone, of Queen Elyon's choosing, with you at all times. You will report all that you do to them, and should they believe that anything you find within the Mage's chambers should not be for you, you are to relinquish it at once. Understood?"
Everyone stared incredulously at him, except for Nerissa who merely looked enraged. But in the end, she relented, sighing and nodding at him. "Agreed."
"Then take the oath, tell us all you know of the man called Hexin, and freedom will be yours."
She held up her hand, sighing seemingly in boredom. "I swear by the power of Kandrakar that I will never try taking over another world again, nor steal another's power-source. Satisfied?"
The Oracle waved his hand, and the energy bars surrounding her dissipated.
"All right, now talk!" Will ordered. "Who is this guy and how do you know him?!"
Nerissa gave her a short glare, but then sighed and began to explain. "Very well. First of all, how did I really escape from my cell on Mount Thanatos? Simple answer, really… Someone released me!"
"Hexin?" Will said, guessing what the answer was already, but wanting to hear it from the witch's lips.
"I suspected as much," the Oracle then said, earning a shocked look from everyone.
"You knew?" Taranee exclaimed.
He shrugged. "I knew nothing of the stranger, but the part about Nerissa escaping through a portal…I knew she had to be lying."
"Why didn't you tell us, then?!"
"At the time, it wouldn't have made any difference. My fellow Council members and I were trapped within Nerissa's Veil-Bubble, so how she came to be free in the first place was irrelevant."
"And how did you come to realise I was lying then?" Nerissa questioned, looking snidely at him.
"I didn't at first. When you first made the claim, I had no reason to suspect otherwise. But when Julian and Caleb informed us that you had been living on Meridian, posing as the Mage for at least 18 years, I knew that you had to be lying."
"Why?" Hay Lin asked.
The Oracle shrugged. "Simple logic," he explained. "Recall, the portals you Guardians were originally called upon to watch over, were a direct result of the Veil the Council had placed around Meridian, to contain Phobos's evil?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you also recall when I told you that the Veil had been erected?"
"When Elyon escaped Meridian, shortly after she was born… " Taranee replied, and her eyes slowly widened, as she began to understand, "…nearly 15 years ago!"
The Oracle nodded. "And as I just mentioned, at the time Nerissa had been in Meridian for at least 18 years…about 4 years before we raised the Veil."
"So it couldn't have been a stray portal!" Taranee deduced. "Because there was no Veil at the time to make any!"
Nerissa spared a glare at the Oracle, and gave a loud scoff at the Fire Guardian. "Very astute, little Firefly. Incredibly slow, but astute."
Taranee's eyes flared at her, but a calm look from the Oracle helped her to keep her cool.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Will repeated the earlier question to the Oracle.
"There didn't seem to be any point. How she came to be free was irrelevant. All that mattered was that she was out and causing havoc, and needed to be stopped. When she was eventually defeated, she was in magical stasis, so there was no need to worry anymore. There was also no way to find out, and no point alarming you with what might or might not be a problem."
"Perhaps you should have done, old friend," Nerissa said icily. "If you had done, then maybe you would be better prepared for the dangers that you now face."
The Oracle stared at her, but did not retaliate. "Perhaps," he simply said. "But tell us everything now, Nerissa. We've already established that it was really this Hexin who freed you from your prison. Question is, why did he? And how did you end up on Meridian?"
"That's not all you need to know, Oracle," she replied. "You all know that I had been living on Meridian for about 2 decades by the time you discovered me. What you don't realise is that, although I had been on Meridian in most of that time, I had actually been out of my cell on Mount Thanatos for close to 30 years!"
The Oracle and Tyburn both gave a satisfyingly astounded look. "How?!" they demanded. "The spells on your cell were designed to alert us the instant you ever escaped!"
She smirked. "Maybe your spells aren't as powerful or well crafted as you believe them to be."
Will ignored her snide comments, and just stared hard at her. "How…did you escape?!" she asked finally.
Nerissa looked around, staring at everyone's stern but focused faces, until finally she just shrugged and began her story…
To Be Continued…