Chapter 6
"How are you alive?" Dahlia asked, her voice choked with tears. Silver only shrugged and sat down on a bed while everyone gathered around her like it was story-time in pre-school. Amber pulled out her book and prepared to write everything down.
"I remember feeling myself burn, and then suddenly this old woman was talking to me on a little hill, and after that I had to dig myself out of my grave. I began to walk, but had no idea where I was going. Teia found me wandering around trying to find you guys and gave me a lift here." Blaise had a strange feeling in the back of her mind that her dream was linked with Silver digging herself out of her grave. She shivered and resolved to talk to the other witches about it later.
"And that's not even the weirdest part," Teia added.
"Okay, so why don't you tell us what is," Angel pressed. The dragon sighed and began to recount the past day's events.
"I heard my father calling my name, saying there was a very big emergency and he needed me. I flew off to find him, even though I had no idea where I was going. He was waiting for me in the Andes, and told me to look at the valley below the mountains. Another earthquake shook the land just then and it split open. Right in front of my eyes a hundred or so dragons came surging out of the earth, rising like a black cloud into the sky. My father, Rastaban, said they had somehow taken the energy of all the 'shifters in order to wake up. That also caused any dead 'shifters to come back to life. Once awake it was a simple matter of digging themselves out of the earth. They're on their way here as I speak." Mouths hung open and eyes stared unblinking at the black-haired girl, the shock very apparent on everyone's faces. This was definitely a new experience for all of them.
"The dragons are free?" Chandra asked, trying to visualize what Teia was saying. If the dragons were now free then they would seek out the descendants of those who had imprisoned them in the bowels of the earth thousands of years ago. Which meant every witch not in CM was in serious trouble. Actually, they were all dead.
"Yes, they're free," Teia replied almost sadly. Just because her family was free again didn't mean she was happy. In fact, she was upset because they would descend upon the valley and try to kill her and her friends. Amber stopped writing and looked up at everyone.
"Not to state the obvious or anything, but unless we think of something quick, we are in serious trouble." While she went to think of a plan based on the info in her book, Marik and Daemon went back to the computer room to see what it had found.
"Hey Marik, look at this. That new prophecy matches an entry from the Shape- shifter Scrolls." The Scrolls he was referring to had been started back in cave days, when only 'shifters, witches, and humans were really abundant. The Scrolls told the whole history of the 'shifters, some of it not always pleasant to hear.
"Translated into English I hope." 'Shifters had their own ancient language, but while all their children learned it, only a few were fluent in it. Daemon pressed a few keys and pulled up the translation. He scanned the screen for a few minutes, searching for a possible link.
"Hey, listen to this passage: "And the great beasts descended upon the land like a cloud of darkness while their fiery breath -in the form of energy beams- lit up the sky like multi-colored lightning. Hecate and her people stood against them, intent on ending their reign of terror over the humans." Cool." Marik raised an eyebrow and stared at the screen.
"But everyone already knows that," he pointed out, meaning it was required that all children learn the history of the Night World. Daemon waved him off and continued reading.
"Just listen. "Hecate and her people called upon their power, turning the black night back into twilight. After a lengthy battle, the witches summoned the blue fire and banished the dragons to sleep in the depths of the earth. Their power exhausted and the battle over, the band could now rest." Hmmm, that's interesting." Marik also perked up at this bit of info.
"Blue fire? I thought only the Wild Powers had that?"
"Guess not. But this fire was from a whole tribe, not a single person. It would probably take Hecate or even Hellewise Hearth-Woman to call up that much power again."
"What about the Harmans? Maybe Blaise or one of her cousins could do it. Especially with their increasing powers."
"I doubt it, Marik. Hecate and her clan had power that is almost impossible for anyone but the Inner Circle to duplicate. And I don't even think they could do something like that."
"Nothing is impossible, Daemon," Amber said from the doorway. Her Chronicler Book was clasped tightly to her chest, its black-leather cover worn from years of use.
"Did you find anything?" the witch asked as she sat in his lap.
"I'm not sure. Actually, I really don't know what I'm looking for. What I do know is CM and CD are going to battle each other tonight when the dragons get here, which will probably be around midnight. Now we can either stay down here in hopes that nothing happens while they're annihilating each other, or we can be suicidal and go up there to join in the fun." Well, that was putting it in blunt English.
"Oh yeah, that's just what I want to do. Go out and face a bunch of dragons hell-bent on ripping me apart for something my ancestors did thousands of years ago," Kat commented as she passed by the door. The trio followed her back to the rest of the group.
"We can't just sit here and do nothing," James was telling everyone.
"But what can we do, Jamie?" Poppy asked him seriously. All eyes went to their watches, seeing it was almost nine o'clock at night.
"I swear, sometimes less sleep would be better," Alan quipped, realizing they had wasted a lot of precious time asleep.
"Dinner's ready," Amy announced as she came into the room, wiping her hands on her jeans. With somber faces they all trooped into the dining hall and ate in silence. Everyone was worried about the current situation. While most of the human world would be watching the ball drop in Times Square, the Night People would be killing each other for control of the world. If Circle Daybreak won then the humans would be safe to live out their naive little lives. But if Circle Midnight was triumphant, humans would merely be slaves and a source of food. And any Night People who opposed CM or its methods would be executed as traitors. After dinner the compound was under a lock-down; no one was allowed in or out. Teams were watching the security cameras plus both the main entrance and emergency exit. Time crawled by extremely slowly as everyone kept glancing at their watches every five minutes or so.
"The waiting is what kills ya," Kalli stated, stretching in her chair. Melody, Luke, Delvain, and Rain were with her in the computer room.
"Patience is a virtue," Delvain gently reminded her.
"Maybe for four hundred year-old vampires it is," Melody playfully shot back. Luke sighed and looked over at one TV screen where "Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve" was on.
"We should live so long," he sighed. Meanwhile, Julie, Patrick, and John were sitting by the emergency exit, which was a small tunnel on the side of an underground lake in the back of the cavern.
"This is so boring," Julie complained. The two boys agreed with her.
"I feel like we need to do something. Sitting here is useless," Patrick added. John looked at his watch and saw that the hands were moving ever closer to midnight.
"Time's slipping away," he whispered, not sure if that was good or bad. At ten minutes to twelve they all abandoned their posts and squeezed into one of the rooms where Bobbi and Mike had set up a small TV.
"And here we are, just ten minutes away from ringing in the new Millenium. You can feel the excitement of the crowds packed in the streets," some commentator was saying. Now the minutes flew by until only ten seconds were left and the ball began to drop. The entire group had their eyes glued to the television, their pulses quickening as they recited along with the crowd in New York City. No one knew what to expect when midnight came, but they knew it wouldn't be good. Whether a war or Armageddon, it was going to end badly either way for some people.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, happy Millen-" BOOM! The thunderous sound made everyone jump, and a few people screamed in terror. It was deafening, and small rocks began showering down in the hall from the naked-rock ceilings. Static lines appeared on the TV, and everyone forgot to breathe for a full minute. WHAM! Another barrage of rocks followed this sound. Suddenly the sirens began wailing their warning, urging them all to get out while they still could.
"Move!" Angel screamed at them. They wasted no time as they raced towards the emergency exit, leaving all their stuff behind. When they had reached the surface they beheld a scene which gripped even Julian's heart with icy fear. Circle Daybreak was descending into the valley with torches, lighting up the cold night. Every last member was dressed all in white. Circle Midnight stood assembled on the valley floor. All them were in black clothing, and a hundred dragons were rising into the sky like a deadly cloud of darkness intent on destroying the world.
"When Darkness rises and Light descends, then begins the fight," Kat quoted. The first part of the prophecy had been fulfilled.
"So now what are supposed to do?" Ruby demanded, her body automatically shifting into a fighting stance.
"We stay here and wait until someone sees us and directly attacks," Acilacia answered. Just then an energy beam ripped into the ground right in front of her, spraying everyone with clods of scorched dirt and grass. A dragon and a bunch of Midnighters were steadily advancing on them, the dragon having fired the first shot.
"I think that qualifies as a direct attack," Silver quipped as the group surged forward to meet their attackers. The Millenium War had begun.
"How are you alive?" Dahlia asked, her voice choked with tears. Silver only shrugged and sat down on a bed while everyone gathered around her like it was story-time in pre-school. Amber pulled out her book and prepared to write everything down.
"I remember feeling myself burn, and then suddenly this old woman was talking to me on a little hill, and after that I had to dig myself out of my grave. I began to walk, but had no idea where I was going. Teia found me wandering around trying to find you guys and gave me a lift here." Blaise had a strange feeling in the back of her mind that her dream was linked with Silver digging herself out of her grave. She shivered and resolved to talk to the other witches about it later.
"And that's not even the weirdest part," Teia added.
"Okay, so why don't you tell us what is," Angel pressed. The dragon sighed and began to recount the past day's events.
"I heard my father calling my name, saying there was a very big emergency and he needed me. I flew off to find him, even though I had no idea where I was going. He was waiting for me in the Andes, and told me to look at the valley below the mountains. Another earthquake shook the land just then and it split open. Right in front of my eyes a hundred or so dragons came surging out of the earth, rising like a black cloud into the sky. My father, Rastaban, said they had somehow taken the energy of all the 'shifters in order to wake up. That also caused any dead 'shifters to come back to life. Once awake it was a simple matter of digging themselves out of the earth. They're on their way here as I speak." Mouths hung open and eyes stared unblinking at the black-haired girl, the shock very apparent on everyone's faces. This was definitely a new experience for all of them.
"The dragons are free?" Chandra asked, trying to visualize what Teia was saying. If the dragons were now free then they would seek out the descendants of those who had imprisoned them in the bowels of the earth thousands of years ago. Which meant every witch not in CM was in serious trouble. Actually, they were all dead.
"Yes, they're free," Teia replied almost sadly. Just because her family was free again didn't mean she was happy. In fact, she was upset because they would descend upon the valley and try to kill her and her friends. Amber stopped writing and looked up at everyone.
"Not to state the obvious or anything, but unless we think of something quick, we are in serious trouble." While she went to think of a plan based on the info in her book, Marik and Daemon went back to the computer room to see what it had found.
"Hey Marik, look at this. That new prophecy matches an entry from the Shape- shifter Scrolls." The Scrolls he was referring to had been started back in cave days, when only 'shifters, witches, and humans were really abundant. The Scrolls told the whole history of the 'shifters, some of it not always pleasant to hear.
"Translated into English I hope." 'Shifters had their own ancient language, but while all their children learned it, only a few were fluent in it. Daemon pressed a few keys and pulled up the translation. He scanned the screen for a few minutes, searching for a possible link.
"Hey, listen to this passage: "And the great beasts descended upon the land like a cloud of darkness while their fiery breath -in the form of energy beams- lit up the sky like multi-colored lightning. Hecate and her people stood against them, intent on ending their reign of terror over the humans." Cool." Marik raised an eyebrow and stared at the screen.
"But everyone already knows that," he pointed out, meaning it was required that all children learn the history of the Night World. Daemon waved him off and continued reading.
"Just listen. "Hecate and her people called upon their power, turning the black night back into twilight. After a lengthy battle, the witches summoned the blue fire and banished the dragons to sleep in the depths of the earth. Their power exhausted and the battle over, the band could now rest." Hmmm, that's interesting." Marik also perked up at this bit of info.
"Blue fire? I thought only the Wild Powers had that?"
"Guess not. But this fire was from a whole tribe, not a single person. It would probably take Hecate or even Hellewise Hearth-Woman to call up that much power again."
"What about the Harmans? Maybe Blaise or one of her cousins could do it. Especially with their increasing powers."
"I doubt it, Marik. Hecate and her clan had power that is almost impossible for anyone but the Inner Circle to duplicate. And I don't even think they could do something like that."
"Nothing is impossible, Daemon," Amber said from the doorway. Her Chronicler Book was clasped tightly to her chest, its black-leather cover worn from years of use.
"Did you find anything?" the witch asked as she sat in his lap.
"I'm not sure. Actually, I really don't know what I'm looking for. What I do know is CM and CD are going to battle each other tonight when the dragons get here, which will probably be around midnight. Now we can either stay down here in hopes that nothing happens while they're annihilating each other, or we can be suicidal and go up there to join in the fun." Well, that was putting it in blunt English.
"Oh yeah, that's just what I want to do. Go out and face a bunch of dragons hell-bent on ripping me apart for something my ancestors did thousands of years ago," Kat commented as she passed by the door. The trio followed her back to the rest of the group.
"We can't just sit here and do nothing," James was telling everyone.
"But what can we do, Jamie?" Poppy asked him seriously. All eyes went to their watches, seeing it was almost nine o'clock at night.
"I swear, sometimes less sleep would be better," Alan quipped, realizing they had wasted a lot of precious time asleep.
"Dinner's ready," Amy announced as she came into the room, wiping her hands on her jeans. With somber faces they all trooped into the dining hall and ate in silence. Everyone was worried about the current situation. While most of the human world would be watching the ball drop in Times Square, the Night People would be killing each other for control of the world. If Circle Daybreak won then the humans would be safe to live out their naive little lives. But if Circle Midnight was triumphant, humans would merely be slaves and a source of food. And any Night People who opposed CM or its methods would be executed as traitors. After dinner the compound was under a lock-down; no one was allowed in or out. Teams were watching the security cameras plus both the main entrance and emergency exit. Time crawled by extremely slowly as everyone kept glancing at their watches every five minutes or so.
"The waiting is what kills ya," Kalli stated, stretching in her chair. Melody, Luke, Delvain, and Rain were with her in the computer room.
"Patience is a virtue," Delvain gently reminded her.
"Maybe for four hundred year-old vampires it is," Melody playfully shot back. Luke sighed and looked over at one TV screen where "Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve" was on.
"We should live so long," he sighed. Meanwhile, Julie, Patrick, and John were sitting by the emergency exit, which was a small tunnel on the side of an underground lake in the back of the cavern.
"This is so boring," Julie complained. The two boys agreed with her.
"I feel like we need to do something. Sitting here is useless," Patrick added. John looked at his watch and saw that the hands were moving ever closer to midnight.
"Time's slipping away," he whispered, not sure if that was good or bad. At ten minutes to twelve they all abandoned their posts and squeezed into one of the rooms where Bobbi and Mike had set up a small TV.
"And here we are, just ten minutes away from ringing in the new Millenium. You can feel the excitement of the crowds packed in the streets," some commentator was saying. Now the minutes flew by until only ten seconds were left and the ball began to drop. The entire group had their eyes glued to the television, their pulses quickening as they recited along with the crowd in New York City. No one knew what to expect when midnight came, but they knew it wouldn't be good. Whether a war or Armageddon, it was going to end badly either way for some people.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, happy Millen-" BOOM! The thunderous sound made everyone jump, and a few people screamed in terror. It was deafening, and small rocks began showering down in the hall from the naked-rock ceilings. Static lines appeared on the TV, and everyone forgot to breathe for a full minute. WHAM! Another barrage of rocks followed this sound. Suddenly the sirens began wailing their warning, urging them all to get out while they still could.
"Move!" Angel screamed at them. They wasted no time as they raced towards the emergency exit, leaving all their stuff behind. When they had reached the surface they beheld a scene which gripped even Julian's heart with icy fear. Circle Daybreak was descending into the valley with torches, lighting up the cold night. Every last member was dressed all in white. Circle Midnight stood assembled on the valley floor. All them were in black clothing, and a hundred dragons were rising into the sky like a deadly cloud of darkness intent on destroying the world.
"When Darkness rises and Light descends, then begins the fight," Kat quoted. The first part of the prophecy had been fulfilled.
"So now what are supposed to do?" Ruby demanded, her body automatically shifting into a fighting stance.
"We stay here and wait until someone sees us and directly attacks," Acilacia answered. Just then an energy beam ripped into the ground right in front of her, spraying everyone with clods of scorched dirt and grass. A dragon and a bunch of Midnighters were steadily advancing on them, the dragon having fired the first shot.
"I think that qualifies as a direct attack," Silver quipped as the group surged forward to meet their attackers. The Millenium War had begun.