The Witch's Apprentice
Chapter Thirty Five: Dream Catcher
Where am I? All I remember is Luna…flying after me and then that lightning bolt came from the sky and attacked her. Anne Marie? Christopher? Odd? Yumi? Ulrich? Kiwi? Jeremie? What is this? Why am I cold and alone? Someone…anyone…
'Peace, daughter,' A calm feminine voice cooed gently. 'You must open your eyes and all shall be revealed…'
Aelita remembered that voice. It came to her once when she and her friends were running from that renegade boulder in those ruins near that mountain. It was the very voice that saved their lives. She trusted the voice and slowly opened her eyes.
She was standing in a meadow, a rolling meadow with tall white flowers. A breeze blew and the flowers danced, swaying back and forth. The sky was deep blue and millions, if not billions, twinkled in the sea of sky. A large full moon was floating in the sky, casting light onto the valley of flowers below.
Aelita turned around and flowers petals flew from their stems. Her gaze met only more flowers and seemingly endless rolling hills of white flowers.
"Where am I?" Aelita asked aloud, not realizing that she was shouting at the sky. "Hello?"
She heard a gentle beating of wings and she quickly turned around. A white hawk, nearly the size of a full grown, stood on the ground several feet from Aelita. The hawk's glowing violet gaze met Aelita's. Aelita gulped and took a single step towards the bird. The hawk then raised its massive wings and in a blink, the hawk turned into the winged Moon Goddess Luna, unarmed and normally white wings shining a marvelous rainbow colour in the moonlight.
Aelita was shocked to be graced the benevolent Goddess, immediately dropping to her knees and bowing her head respectively. She heard a musical laughter and the gentle voice spoke.
'Rise, daughter…you need not bow to me.'
Aelita gazed up at the winged woman. Through the eyeholes of the wolf skull, she could see the gentle violet glow of Luna's eyes. She could see a small smile on her face and she held her hand out for assistance.
"You were the one talking to me in the ruins?" Aelita blurted out.
Luna gave a small nod. 'Indeed I did.'
Aelita took the Goddess' hand and she felt a tingle as she touched Luna's skin. She was pulled up by the strong grasp of Luna, up to her feet. Aelita let go of Luna's hand and massaged her temples.
"My head…what's happening? Where am I?"
'You are safe for the moment,' Luna answered. 'We are in my part of the Spirit Realm. This is my own private sanctuary, you can say.'
"Nice place you got…" Aelita mumbled. "Am I asleep or something?"
'Yes, your human body is unconscious…I have not much time to warn you. The ones in the Black Cloaks…they will summon their God. You are their key…they are using your power to speed up the process.'
"Speed up the process?"
'To summon a God using the soul of the Earth…it takes a lot of time and energy. They need one who is not tainted yet by Light or Darkness to speed up the process, so to say…'
"Luna…will everything be okay? Are my friends and mentors okay?"
"They are and they will be coming to save you, do not worry. But be warned, daughter. You must prepare for one of the greatest battles of your life. All of humanity will depend on you and your friends.'
The Goddess was beginning to fade and so was the world around her. Aelita gasped and reached her hand out to touch Luna but the Moon Deity disappeared. The moonlit meadow dulled to black and Aelita was floating in nothingness.
"Luna! Please help me!"
'Have no fear, my daughter…I will always be by your side and protect you…'
With a loud gasp, Aelita opened her eyes. Now where she was at was nothing like the lovely meadow she had grown used to. Now, she was in a dark room with red glowing walls. She looked down at the floor and watched as the floor pulsated. Aelita had to repress the thought to vomit and looked up. She tried struggling but felt that it was no use. She was tied tightly to some thing, possibly a stake.
"Finally you are awake…" Aelita heard the smooth voice of Patrick, the ringleader of this entire evil scheme.
Aelita growled at him, green eyes narrowing. "Let me go now…"
"I'd love to, really I would," Patrick's voice dripped with sarcasm. "But judgment day is so close upon us…Soon, the Earth Body shall be created and brought back to Earth. All thanks to your power."
"What power?" Aelita growled through gritted teeth, rolling her hands into clenched fists. "I'm only an apprentice to a witch and wizard who are far better than you'll ever hope to be."
"It is true that your mentors are very powerful for they were and still are, technically, members of Council. But even they will be no match against my God. Your friends who were stupid enough to steer clear from you will also fall…Even with the help from two washed up gods they will be no match against the mighty Earth Body."
"You did not answer my first question…"
"My apologies…that beast that captured you took some of your essence. Usually, it'd take weeks to summon such a massive god and require plenty of sacrifices. In order to speed up the process, we took you, a young witch apprentice who has so much potential and such an unusual story. And now it is working most fabulously. Tomorrow, the city below-if not the world-will succumbs to our Lord's will and be destroyed."
"You and your followers sure to dear big…and what do you mean by 'unusual story'?"
Patrick chuckled and turned his back to the girl. "Your mentors don't tell you much about your past, do they?"
Aelita glared darkly at the cloaked man as he walked slowly away.
"Get back here and let me go!" Aelita shouted, but Patrick ignored her and walked out of the dark room.
Aelita closed her eyes and threw her head back. She let out wavering sigh.
"What does he mean by that?" She asked herself in a small, defeated voice.
Responses!
Traveler: Oh hell yes they will. Why leave them out of the story when they were an influence in the show? And the Black Cloak Society wishes you to leave your suggestion in the box entitled "Suggestions". But in all seriousness, yeah, that'd be a smart thing to do. It'd really lower the morale of the group but if I killed Aelita, I'd get in trouble by the fanboys…Two gods are definitely powerful, but we're talking about a MASSIVE EARTH SUMMONING SEALED AWAY IN A BOOK. So, Luna and Sol will have a run for their money, as well as the other characters. But yeah…that'd be the smart villain thing to do.
Comacazy Freak: I think Sissy was the daughter of a crazy weekend between a wizard and some ordinary girl and the old wizard never really got to see his daughter because of the Ban on magic. But he did know about her and did care for her from afar. And no problem. Had to introduce Sol at one point and catching a falling Luna was the best place to introduce him. He'll be more of a badass in later chapters. Yes, I have a plan for the other Gods mentioned at the ruins. Well, seeing how long it took me to right up the chapter to this one…it'll be probably on weekends. But I am taking College level courses, mind you, so it might be a long wait for updates.
Lavender Frostflower: Yay! Esmeralda fan! She certainly is an interesting character…And thanks for the watch on DeviantART!
A/N: FINALLY UPDATED! Sorry for such a long wait…school is a bitch. But I am taking Creative Writing and it is helping me refine my skills. Unfortunately…I spawn too many ideas and it takes me forever to choose which one to write. That, and I've had a minor addiction to Shadow Hearts: Covenant and Silent Hill 2 lately. They help me wind down after play practice and homework…And being in the play, it'll make it twice as hard to get update this thing daily. Well…you saw how long it took me to update Chapter Thirty Five…
Enough of me talking, thank you so much for the read! Please review and all that other fun junk. Stay thirsty, my friends.