The Third Daughter

They'd decided to have Mo read from the book when they got out of the castle because Mo was assuming that the castle was part of it. The whole way down, Meggie chatted excitedly with Elanora, asking millions of questions. Meggie seemed to have completely forgotten the fact that just moments before, she'd had a broken hand and had been held hostage by an insane man.

Once they had made their way from the castle. Mo began to read from the book and soon the castle and everything inside of it disappeared in a cloud of dust. Around them, people began to appear on the streets. The inhabitants of the city were returning. But then the panic began. The people were screaming for their loved ones who seemed to have failed to return with them. The returned citizens started heading back into the center of the city, hoping their friends and family would be there. Resa led them over to her car which had been taken along with her when she and Meggie were kidnapped. Mo quickly got in and changed into a clean pair of blue jeans and a black dress shirt identical to his blue one he'd worn the other day except for the color.

Mo had barely stepped out of the car looking all nice with his neatly tucked in shirt and clean pair of jeans, when renewed screaming and shouting began. It was coming from the very heart of the city, near all the tall buildings. The people who had returned out of the book and proceeded to go further into the city were now running away from it.

"What's going on? Why is everyone running?" asked Sophie.

She ran a few steps closer to a tall building that seemed to be blocking their view of what was happening. Without warning, a car went flipping through the air, nearly crushing a pair of men that were running away. They fell to the ground looking terrified before they scrambled back to their feet and continued to flee. Elanora took a few steps closer to the city before turning back to them.

"Elle."

Elanora looked hard at Mo. "You were right to decide what you have. I'm just so sorry you have to."

"It's the only way to fix what he has done." Mo said to her.

"What are you two talking about? Wh-" Resa began to ask but she was interrupted by Travis's panicked shout.

"Where's Sophie? Where is she?!" Travis demanded.

Looking around, Mo and the others saw he was right. Sophie was no longer standing there. Travis began calling for Sophie and he started running into the heart of the city, searching for her. The others hurried to catch up to him. Reaching the city's square, they stood in front of some of the taller buildings to find a woman standing there. She was dressed in a black dress and wore a crown of some kind. She wore dark purple lipstick and eyeshadow. The woman stood with her nose upright, as if she were much too good for the rest of them. Beside her was a young man with short blonde hair and a scar across his brow and the bridge of his nose cutting to the right. The man wore black clothes and a tan coat. He stood with a blade resting on his shoulders sneering at the group. Upon seeing the group the woman introduced herself to them.

"My name is Edea. I am a sorceress called from my world to fix this one. This is my knight, Seifer."

At the mention of his name, the young man inclined his head towards their group slightly. His face still wore that same cocky, confident expression.

"Fix this world?" Mo questioned.

Edea conformed it. "Correct. I must destroy any of you who seek to threaten our reign here."

Mo shook his head adamantly. "You don't belong here. This isn't your world!"

The sorceress smiled but her smile didn't reach her eyes. It was clearly forced. "We'll see."

"Your world? I think not. The reader told me it would be mine,"a man's deep voice called out.

The man stepped around the corner. He was tall, deathly pale, and pure white hair that fell down his shoulders. His eyes were mere slits on his face and dark purple eyes stared out of them. His robes matched the color of his eyes and his very presence seemed to emanate authority and power.

Immediately Seifer stepped in front of the sorceress Edea protectively.

"Who are you? Give your name!" Seifer demanded.

The man smiled. "My apologies. I'm unaccustomed to people not recognizing me. I am Emperor Ghaleon."

As soon as Edea heard him announce that he was emperor, she instantly seemed enthralled by him.

"Emperor?" She asked him, sounding quite impressed.

Her obvious admiration for his title did not escape him as he came closer and he nodded.

"Magic Emperor Ghaleon to be precise."

The sorceress immediately seemed smitten. "I could certainly be okay with serving a magic emperor."

Ghaleon smiled again. "That is good news."

He looked towards Mo and the others. "And these ones?"

Seifer still stared at Ghaleon with hostility and distrust. It was clear he didn't like this man at all but he answered anyways.

"These ones wish to send us back to our worlds." Seifer informed the emperor.

"Is that so?" Ghaleon pondered. He examined their group. "Perhaps they would like to meet my new queen."

At this, Edea looked slightly disappointed. Clearly, she had been hoping to be his queen but Ghaleon seemed not to notice. He stepped away from the building further and held out his hand, extending it toward someone none of them could see. Then, the young girl came walking out from behind the building. The girl was Sophie! She was dressed in tight black clothes that were very revealing. A dark purple cloak was tied around her back partially covering her barely clothed body and she wore black lipstick and eyeliner. Her eyes were only for the emperor. She stared at him with infatuation as she walked to him. She took his hand and he pulled her towards him. Sophie pressed herself up against him and smiled happily up at him.

"Oh Ghaleon," she crooned, grateful to be so near him.

"Sophie!" Travis shouted.

Sophie didn't even seem to hear him, her eyes remained on her emperor. Ghaleon laughed when Travis continued to call to Sophie.

"She cannot understand you. She hears only my voice now. Sophie is my queen and she will stay that way."

Travis took a few steps closer to Sophie and Ghaleon. "Sophie, you don't even know him!"

"Go on my queen, why don't you explain to these people. Explain to them the situation they are in." Ghaleon urged Sophie on.

Sophie turned her eyes reluctantly from her emperor but seemed eager to do his bidding. She stepped away, towards Travis and the others. When she looked directly at them, they realized her eyes had transformed to red. She seemed completely unembarrassed by her exposed stomach and legs as she walked towards them in her high black boots.

"You shouldn't have interfered." Sophie said to them. Her voice was anything but friendly.

"Sophie.." Travis trailed off.

He couldn't believe the transformation she'd taken. Sophie continued to show no recognition towards any of them as she stopped short of them.

"Haven't you figured it out. There's no way to stop this."

Ghaleon smiled at her. "Go on. Raise our fortress, my queen."

She nodded, smiling back at him. She walked away from them towards the beach which stood directly to their right. Once she was facing the water, she extended her arms up to the sky and began to sing. But it wasn't her regular beautiful voice. This time it was low and scary. As her voice filled the clear blue sky, the earth around them began to shake.

"What's happening?!" Resa asked fearfully.

"Is it an earthquake?" Meggie yelled.

No one answered her and no one needed to. It wasn't long before foamy white rings began to form in the water. As Sophie's song echoed through the very earth and water itself, something began to come out of the ocean. A stone tower began to emerge from the turmoiling waves, reaching up into the clouds. It went up so far, that they couldn't even see where it ended. A connecting bridge dropped into the water, landing hard on the beach. Around the tower, four enormous green crystals on hovering stone pedestals rose out of the water, surrounding it. Sophie let the final notes of her song trail off before lowering her arms back to her side. Ghaleon went to stand beside her and she immediately leaned up against him again.

"Come, let us enter this place. Here is where we shall turn this world into our own kingdom." Ghaleon told her tenderly.

"What do you mean? What are you going to do?" Mo demanded moving up to stand beside Travis.

Ghaleon smiled at him. "My queen, why don't you show them."

Sophie nodded and turned towards the tower. Her eyes began to glow red and the blue sky turned dark, lightening crackled and thunder boomed loudly. Once again she raised her arms up and the gigantic crystals began to light up, their green light illuminating the area around the tower. The glowing light from the crystals connected to each other so that all four of them now formed a green square of light around the stone structure. And that was when the earth around them began to die. The water turned black and churned angrily, the grass faded and turned to crusty ground.

"Sophie, stop it!" Travis shouted.

He started towards her and Ghaleon but his path was soon blocked by the sorceress and her knight, Seifer. Travis was forced to halt in his path and he looked desperately for some way to get to Sophie.

Elanora looked to Mo. "You have to do something."

"What am I supposed to do? I can't do anything," he insisted.

Elanora told him what to do right away. "Baralei is bringing the villains out of their stories. So you need to bring the heroes out to stop them."

Mo stared at her incredulously. "I can't do that! All I can do is read out of a book and something might come out of it. I have no idea how to control it and even if I did, I don't have their books!"

"Mo I never thought it was the books that gave you your power. I think it's you who has that power. Your voice is what makes amazing things happen. Just give it a try."

"What am I supposed to say?"

"Whatever comes to you."

"I have to think this through," he finally stammered out uncertainly.

Elanora nodded in agreement. "Just let the right words come to you."

Sophie finished her song and looked lovingly back at Ghaleon who seemed pleased with her work. The earth around them was completely dead. He took her hand and led her across the bridge and into the water.

"No, Sophie!" Travis cried helplessly.

He couldn't get to her and he couldn't stand that feeling.

"Elanora!"

Standing near the space the sorceress and her knight had recently vacated, was a girl that looked to be Elanora, herself. Except that Elanora was standing right beside Mo and Resa. Looking more closely at the girl standing there, the group realized she was different. Elanora had green eyes while this girl's eyes were a strange purple. The girl wore black boots, a black skirt that ended just above the knees, and a crimson red tank top with curling designs all over it. Her arms were folded and she smirked at the group.

"It's been a long time, sister," the identical girl said to Elanora.

Elanora looked anxiously at the girl and stepped away from the group.

"Elle, I should have known from the beginning that you were involved."

"Yes, well you always were a fool."

"I guess I just hoped my own sister couldn't be that evil."

Elle laughed. "Evil? Is that what you've been telling people? Evil..I guess I can live with that. I suppose betraying your own flesh and blood constitutes as evil."

Elanora looked horrified. "You gave him mom, didn't you!"

"Yes, I gave him Lynne. I found his restless spirit still hovering around the place where he died one day and I struck a deal with him. He kills those that are gifted while I give him life so he can find his precious lover. It's brilliant really. I get to have him kill anyone out there who could be potential competition for me while he thinks he's doing it all for his dear Lenne. And to add to that, when he was alive, he thought destroying the world was the solution to saving his lover."

"Do you hate us that much?" Elanora practically whispered the question.

She seemed wounded by how glad her sister was that she had found a man who wanted to end the world. The comment seemed to upset Elle greatly.

"You? It's never been you that I hate. It's Lynne! She brought us into this sinful world. I hate her for that! I hate this place. Where everyone only cares for themselves and if anyone suspects you to be the slightest bit different then the rest of those drones, you immediately became the outcast."

Elanora seemed shocked by this revelation.

"What? What are you talking about Elle?" She asked her sister who immediately replied.

"Did you ever ask me once, why I killed that man back when we were little? No, you never did. I killed him because the bastard tried to touch me! The son of a bitch was a child molester. All you ever saw was me as a murderer. After that I couldn't stand the looks you would give me. You of all people, started to look at me like everyone else. You looked at me like I was freak!"

Elle's eyes threatened to spill tears as she continued to yell at her sister.

"So that's what I became. I left you and that woman a few years later to be that person you hate so much."

"That woman is our mother!"

"Mother? She bore us into this world as demi-gods. Freaks among the human race. I will never forgive her for that."

Mo felt it was time he said something. "Elle, you don't have to hate her. It's not her fault that she had you. It's what her duty was as a goddess and she had little choice."

Elle looked Mo over with great distaste. "You must be my so called father. I'm surprised you don't hate Lynne as much as I do. She never told you about us, never even mentioned that we existed. She lied to you."

"Hating isn't going to solve anything." Elanora protested to Elle, somehow trying to get through to her.

Elle returned her gaze to Elanora. "No? On the contrary, hating has given me more strength than I could of hoped for. So look good and hard Elanora. This is me and this is who I am."

Elle extended her hand to the sky and a large sword fell from the dark and stormy sky, burying itself into the earth. The sword was huge, larger than Elle herself. She picked it up with ease even though the weapon must have weighed a ton and slung it over her shoulder.

"Baralei has ordered me to kill your friends. He said nothing about you Elanora, so don't get in my way."

"Since when do you follow orders, Elle?"

Elle smirked. "I follow these orders because I choose to. Killing all of these people is going to make me happy."