Chapter 5: Asher Pays a Visit to Sacnite

"It's nearly three months since I've sent Sacnite to earth and so far, she's doing a great job informing me." The Prophetess sat alone in a large, ordinate foyer, sipping a warm chocolate drink. Setting her drink down, the Prophetess set down the newest weekly letter Sacnite had sent to her. Her apprentice was doing fine in Brooklyn. The most recent letter informed the Prophetess about being ambushed in the girls' bathroom at school. Sacnite had sketched the creature's likeness and an eerily familiar symbol.

The Prophetess knew where she saw the symbol before. This was not good. She needed to find The Book's protectors soon; her previous incarnation left no written records of which The Book's new protectors were.

The Prophetess, decided to use her power to search for high levels of time magic on earth. What she found was surprising. There would be spontaneous bursts of time magic being used a few years ago. It had to be The Book. Looking closer at her newfound data, she saw that the new owners of The Book resided in a city called Brooklyn and lived in a land called New York.

The Prophetess had planned on sending young Tlanextli to search for the Warp Wizard, but Tlacelel's sudden death had forced Tlanextli to take up her older brother's responsibilities as Captain. Prophetess Necahual had no other choice but to send her apprentice to earth in order to search for the Warp Wizard. She needed all of her warriors to stay by her side. Who knew when she would make her next move?


Someone knocked on the door with quick urgency. "Who is it?" The Prophetess called out.

"It is I, Asher." The other person said from behind the door.

"Enter."

A teenage boy with short, curly dirty-blonde hair, sun-kissed skin and aqua blue eyes entered the foyer. He wore a beige-colored tunic with his purple armor over it. He was about 5' 5'', and in good shape after many years of training. The Prophetess saw Asher's facial expression was corrupted with anxiety.

"Asher, what seems to be the problem?" The blonde woman had noticed the look of fear in Asher's eyes and was greatly disturbed. Asher was not someone who could be easily rattled.

Asher got down on one knee and bowed to his leader. "King Cepheus gave us a surprise visit. I found this out after seeing his son Prince Andromeda loitering around your gardens sniffing the flowers."

"What? King Cepheus and Prince Andromeda here? But how…?" Prophetess Necahual thought. "I wasn't expecting Cepheus until – "

Asher gave nodded in her direction. "Until the meeting? That's what I thought, but King Cepheus has grown impatient. I'm afraid the only way he'll calm down is if you talk to him." Asher stood up.

"Did he tell you why he wants to see me?"

Asher shook his head. "He said he prefers to speak with you in private about it. He's really anxious."

"King Cepheus is one of our strongest allies we have; the rebellion can't afford to lose him."

"Yes, I am forever thankful for his support. Food, clothing, shelter, trades… without his help, the rebellion would have been defeated a long time ago." Prophetess Necahua stood up. "Asher, please contact Sacnite and ask if she obtained any more information after her arrival to Brooklyn on The Book's whereabouts."

"Right away, Prophetess." Asher turned to leave.

"One more thing!" She called out. Asher did a full 360 and faced her again.

"We're going to reschedule the meeting; I fear the longer we wait, the more our opportunities will disappear."

"I'll let Sacnite know about this." Asher bowed and dismissed himself.

The Prophetess watched the door close before massaging her temples with her fingertips.

"Sacnite, please… find The Book soon. We might not be so lucky the next time."


"…and you'll never believe how delicious the food is here! You've got to try some pizza, Asher!" Sacnite pulled a slice of pizza from a Ray's Pizza box and handed it to the blond on a napkin.

"I'll eat it later Sacnite, but I'm glad that you've grown accustomed to Brooklyn." Asher walked around the kitchen inspecting the strange technology.

"How did you find my location? Brooklyn is a big place…" Sacnite squirted some ketchup on the large bag of fries she ordered.

"Simple, I teleported to the dumpster out back and ended up getting attacked by an old lady." Asher sat on a box labeled "BOOKS". "No, you gave your location to the Prophetess and I wrote it down before finding your place. Now back to business!"

"Did Tally – I mean Captain Tlanextli get my evidence?"

"Yes, we all did!" Asher was starting to get frustrated with Sacnite's constant questions and side-track conversations. Didn't she know how to hold a simple conversation without getting distracted? "Sacnite, pay attention! I really don't have all night to be wasting my time with your constant side-tracking! Something's going on."

Sacnite's smile fell and her facial expressions turned serious. "Go on…"

"You know King Ceprus, right?"

"He's Prince Andromeda's father."

"He's also one of our biggest allies. He paid the Prophetess a private visit. His men finally found her…"

"No way!" Sacnite's jaw dropped. "How?"

"I don't know the full details yet, but Captain Tlanextli is busy with interrogation."

"What I'm more worried about is if she'll cooperate with us. I heard she doesn't follow anyone's orders. But still… WOW!" Sacnite walked to the "fridge", took out a bottle of apple cider, and poured out two cups. She handed one to Asher, who drank it all.

"You need to hear the rest, Sacnite." Asher set the cup down. "The Prophetess is moving the meeting date forward. She wants you to find who The Book's caretakers are in two days. The creature you fought is probably related to the 'Empress'."

A shadow crossed Sacnite's face, and then it disappeared. "I guess she didn't want me to find The Book… it will take much more than that to stop me."

Asher realized that he probably hit a nerve mentioning Tenochtitlan's Empress and planned to reword his next sentence. Sacnite's "cellphone" vibrated on the table.

"Just a sec…" Sacnite picked up the phone. "Hello? Hey Sam, what's up?"

"Who is that?" Asher asked. Sacnite shushed him.

"What? No… it was just my dad! He IS on a business trip; I'm skyping with him right now. He just wants to know if I have enough money for food." Asher rolled his eyes and poured himself another cup of cider before listening to Sacnite talk with Sam about a guy named Fred and someone else named Joe.

After mentioning the word "Joe", the box labeled "BOOKS" started to emit a greenish light. Asher rushed forward and opened the box to see an ancient scroll glowing brightly. Sacnite turned around and amazed at what she saw. The scroll unrolled itself to show a picture of a boy with shaggy, black hair, large glasses and pale skin. In faint, green mist, the words "SAM", "FRIEND", and "BOOK" appeared one-by-one. The glowing faded away, and all that remained was the picture of Sam.

Sacnite, not taking her eyes off of the scroll, continued her conversation with Sam. "Friday night at 6? Sounds good, do you mind if I invite someone else?"

Asher smiled. Even if Sacnite was easily distracted, she always did what was expected of her.