The Villa was made of sandstone and marble. Xander rolled over on the satin
sheets and felt the cool breezes swirl around the room. A girl with raven
blackened hair walked into the room. Her form clad in a black and red silk
robe. Two gold phoenixes across each breast and a sword down the center.
"Xander Harris. My name is Acacia. I am a." Acacia's form blurred. "Oh shoot you're waking up. Listen to me Xander. We have to meet." Her words became a telegraph of intelligible words and sounds from the outside world. The only things he could make out was the Apolline Mount and something about twelve thirty.
Willows voice shattered the last bit of sleep that he was under. "Wake up Xander. It's almost eleven thirty and you're still in bed." The ceiling fan made a soft whirring and the midday sun cast some light inside the cheap motel room.
"Good Morning Will."
"I've been trying to contact that girl that I saw in my dream. But there seems to be a very powerful magic that is blocking me."
"Oh yah Acacia."
"Acacia?"
Xander's mind started wandering to the beauty that was in his dreams. But then paused. He felt guilty, Anya had died and he was thinking about this girl. Even before the apocalypse that sank Sunnydale, she was all that he could think about on those rare occasions where his life wasn't in danger.
"Yah girl with black hair and."
"And?" Willow picked up a hint of interest in her childhood friend.
"And an excellent grasp of the English language."
"Uh huh." It was typical Xander to fall for every pretty girl with a connection to the preternatural.
"Well? What did she say?"
"Something about meeting at 12:30 at the Apolline mount."
"Xander! It's eleven forty-five right now and the Apolline mount is an hour away."
Xander and Willow dashed outside
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Greece 210 BCE
A steaming platter was set before eighteen year old Dahlia, her twin sister eyeing her from around a corner of the kitchen. Cassandra glared at her sister. Their birth was a miracle to the small village of Palatos. It was foretold by the Oracle of Delphi that these two children will have a place in the world filled by no other. Which is not to be taken lightly, especially when your family specializes in sorcery and magics.
The Oracle had foretold that Dahlia was the one to eat from the platter and thus become the next in line with the sight. Cassandra oozed rage. She wanted this privilege with all her being, it was as if giving Dahlia this right was an insult to magic users everywhere. She had practiced the family's magics and became proficient will all forms good and evil. She especially liked the evil side. Several times she'd catch some young girl or another talking bad about her family while walking through the village. Cassandra would snap and instantaneously the girl would bite her tongue or sprain her ankle.
But Dahlia, she lived in tune with nature. She was passive, almost inert. To Cassandra, Dahlia didn't have the right to be a part of the family. She knew Dahlia's body hummed with the rhythms of the earth, and it's moods. But that wasn't what sorcery and magic was all about, to Cassandra it was all about power and strength. Dahlia had the gift for magic. But Cassandra had the talent. And it frustrated her that her own twin sister didn't care about harnessing the power that came so naturally. Each time she caught Dahlia lying in the grass echoing out power from herself to help a few flowers bud , Cassandra would channel her energies and shatter her twin's power center. Causing a negative reaction and a flood of energies which often lead to at least one small fire.
But tonight was their eighteenth birthday, the day that would bring true glory to the family. Or so the Oracle had foretold it to be. Dahlia could smell a fishy scent eking out of from under the silver cover of the platter.
"Dahlia tonight you will bring our family greatness. Are you ready to accept the mantle that will be placed on your shoulders?" Dahlia's father asked arms crossed in front of himself with an air of expectation and reserved joy.
"I'm sorry, Father. But surely Cassandra deserves this more than I."
Cassandra's ears perked. She had figured her heart's yearnings had affected her twin's mind.But alas her father didn't relent. They must do as the Oracle had said.
Cassandra stood up from the place she was watching and stormed out of the back door of the kitchen into the yard. She bent over a few flowers and commanded the dewdrops to form a mirror so that she could view the sleepy village, hills of goat herders and houses with people that stunk of weakness and normalcy. A red flicker caught her eye in the north end of the village. There seemed to be a mob forming with torches. She could see the villagers and hear their voices.
"The Oracle is dead. Who has the power to kill the prophet of Patmos and all of Greece, the witch Demarius and his family?" A lean man with coal dark eyes chanted to the crowd. His body was thin and gaunt yet his face carried an animal likeness that the darkness of night masked. No one wondered where the blood on his tunic came from and his tongue came out to catch the drop of blood he had missed from his meal a few hours earlier.
'they stole the Borometz.' He thought to himself. 'That filthy human family stole it from me, Tavris the guardian of the treasure. The vermin don't deserve the gift of the sight. But we the dark one's, creatures that still pay tribute to the Old One's we have every right to it. '
"People of Palatos! These witch's have caused your village pain and misery. Tonight the're doing a ritual which will destroy you all."
Cassandra ran back into the house and tried to alarm her father and sister.
"The're coming!" she exclaimed nearly breathless.
"Sister. Who's coming?"
"The villagers. Someone has killed the Oracle and the villagers think that we did it."
Their father not alarmed by this news looked at his daughters. "I'm sure I can explain it to them. But for now Dahlia, you must eat more . You must fulfill the Oracle's prochecy."
"Father." but before she could finish he was out the door running towards the riot heading up their road.
"Dahlia, look at me. We may have to defend ourselves. Do you remember any of the spells that father taught you?"
"Umm. a little."
"Good. If father fails we may have to fight."
"We have to fight." Dahlia's eyes glazed over and became a milky blue. Her head was tilted back and her mouth open. She could see her father peacefully approaching the mob with a smile on his face. She couldn't hear what they were saying but violence had broke out and she saw them grab him and start beating him. Her eyes although clouded over with a vision started to tear as she watched her father in a matter of minutes being beaten to death.
"Dahlia! You had a vision. What did you see?" Cassandra asked trying to shake her awake.
"Father's dead." She said between her sobs. "They killed him."
Cassandra's raven black hair starting rising on it's own. Her very soul starting calling together the demonic and destructive forces open to her.
"They want to fight our family then a fight is what I'll give them."
Dahlia's face was now buried in her hands and she could barely keep the tears in.
"Stand and fight damn it. You don't want to die. Fight them." A dark rage boiled up inside Cassandra and her sister could feel it. But this was not the way of true magic. It was not to be used like this. As the gates of the darkness strained to hold such power inside a few spirits and simulacrums had snuck out and became living shadows around the room. Cassandra's eyes grew wide and a wild laugh of enjoyment flew from her lips.
"Sister please, this form of magic will only cause more death and suffering."
"Leave me." Cassandra's gaze was like a demon's " You're no good to me. You've had the talent Dahlia, and you were blessed with the sight but now." Cassandra turned and picked up a bone from the platter and crunched it between her teeth. "Now we're both gifted. And since I'm more powerful than you there is no need for us to be twins anymore. So goodbye Dahlia." With a wave of her hand Cassandra was sent through the wall of the home and over the cliff. As she fell Dahlia could see her sister laughing as the men tried to enter through her force field. Snakes sprouted from the ground under their feet and whomever was bitten turned to stone. While falling Cassandra cleared her mind and harmonized her spirit with the oceans waters that quickly approached her body. Her descent slowed and eventually she stopped hovering a few inches over the water's surface. With a final look over her shoulder Dahlia cried two tears, one for her father who was lost to death, and the other for her sister who was also lost to the powers of death.
"Xander Harris. My name is Acacia. I am a." Acacia's form blurred. "Oh shoot you're waking up. Listen to me Xander. We have to meet." Her words became a telegraph of intelligible words and sounds from the outside world. The only things he could make out was the Apolline Mount and something about twelve thirty.
Willows voice shattered the last bit of sleep that he was under. "Wake up Xander. It's almost eleven thirty and you're still in bed." The ceiling fan made a soft whirring and the midday sun cast some light inside the cheap motel room.
"Good Morning Will."
"I've been trying to contact that girl that I saw in my dream. But there seems to be a very powerful magic that is blocking me."
"Oh yah Acacia."
"Acacia?"
Xander's mind started wandering to the beauty that was in his dreams. But then paused. He felt guilty, Anya had died and he was thinking about this girl. Even before the apocalypse that sank Sunnydale, she was all that he could think about on those rare occasions where his life wasn't in danger.
"Yah girl with black hair and."
"And?" Willow picked up a hint of interest in her childhood friend.
"And an excellent grasp of the English language."
"Uh huh." It was typical Xander to fall for every pretty girl with a connection to the preternatural.
"Well? What did she say?"
"Something about meeting at 12:30 at the Apolline mount."
"Xander! It's eleven forty-five right now and the Apolline mount is an hour away."
Xander and Willow dashed outside
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Greece 210 BCE
A steaming platter was set before eighteen year old Dahlia, her twin sister eyeing her from around a corner of the kitchen. Cassandra glared at her sister. Their birth was a miracle to the small village of Palatos. It was foretold by the Oracle of Delphi that these two children will have a place in the world filled by no other. Which is not to be taken lightly, especially when your family specializes in sorcery and magics.
The Oracle had foretold that Dahlia was the one to eat from the platter and thus become the next in line with the sight. Cassandra oozed rage. She wanted this privilege with all her being, it was as if giving Dahlia this right was an insult to magic users everywhere. She had practiced the family's magics and became proficient will all forms good and evil. She especially liked the evil side. Several times she'd catch some young girl or another talking bad about her family while walking through the village. Cassandra would snap and instantaneously the girl would bite her tongue or sprain her ankle.
But Dahlia, she lived in tune with nature. She was passive, almost inert. To Cassandra, Dahlia didn't have the right to be a part of the family. She knew Dahlia's body hummed with the rhythms of the earth, and it's moods. But that wasn't what sorcery and magic was all about, to Cassandra it was all about power and strength. Dahlia had the gift for magic. But Cassandra had the talent. And it frustrated her that her own twin sister didn't care about harnessing the power that came so naturally. Each time she caught Dahlia lying in the grass echoing out power from herself to help a few flowers bud , Cassandra would channel her energies and shatter her twin's power center. Causing a negative reaction and a flood of energies which often lead to at least one small fire.
But tonight was their eighteenth birthday, the day that would bring true glory to the family. Or so the Oracle had foretold it to be. Dahlia could smell a fishy scent eking out of from under the silver cover of the platter.
"Dahlia tonight you will bring our family greatness. Are you ready to accept the mantle that will be placed on your shoulders?" Dahlia's father asked arms crossed in front of himself with an air of expectation and reserved joy.
"I'm sorry, Father. But surely Cassandra deserves this more than I."
Cassandra's ears perked. She had figured her heart's yearnings had affected her twin's mind.But alas her father didn't relent. They must do as the Oracle had said.
Cassandra stood up from the place she was watching and stormed out of the back door of the kitchen into the yard. She bent over a few flowers and commanded the dewdrops to form a mirror so that she could view the sleepy village, hills of goat herders and houses with people that stunk of weakness and normalcy. A red flicker caught her eye in the north end of the village. There seemed to be a mob forming with torches. She could see the villagers and hear their voices.
"The Oracle is dead. Who has the power to kill the prophet of Patmos and all of Greece, the witch Demarius and his family?" A lean man with coal dark eyes chanted to the crowd. His body was thin and gaunt yet his face carried an animal likeness that the darkness of night masked. No one wondered where the blood on his tunic came from and his tongue came out to catch the drop of blood he had missed from his meal a few hours earlier.
'they stole the Borometz.' He thought to himself. 'That filthy human family stole it from me, Tavris the guardian of the treasure. The vermin don't deserve the gift of the sight. But we the dark one's, creatures that still pay tribute to the Old One's we have every right to it. '
"People of Palatos! These witch's have caused your village pain and misery. Tonight the're doing a ritual which will destroy you all."
Cassandra ran back into the house and tried to alarm her father and sister.
"The're coming!" she exclaimed nearly breathless.
"Sister. Who's coming?"
"The villagers. Someone has killed the Oracle and the villagers think that we did it."
Their father not alarmed by this news looked at his daughters. "I'm sure I can explain it to them. But for now Dahlia, you must eat more . You must fulfill the Oracle's prochecy."
"Father." but before she could finish he was out the door running towards the riot heading up their road.
"Dahlia, look at me. We may have to defend ourselves. Do you remember any of the spells that father taught you?"
"Umm. a little."
"Good. If father fails we may have to fight."
"We have to fight." Dahlia's eyes glazed over and became a milky blue. Her head was tilted back and her mouth open. She could see her father peacefully approaching the mob with a smile on his face. She couldn't hear what they were saying but violence had broke out and she saw them grab him and start beating him. Her eyes although clouded over with a vision started to tear as she watched her father in a matter of minutes being beaten to death.
"Dahlia! You had a vision. What did you see?" Cassandra asked trying to shake her awake.
"Father's dead." She said between her sobs. "They killed him."
Cassandra's raven black hair starting rising on it's own. Her very soul starting calling together the demonic and destructive forces open to her.
"They want to fight our family then a fight is what I'll give them."
Dahlia's face was now buried in her hands and she could barely keep the tears in.
"Stand and fight damn it. You don't want to die. Fight them." A dark rage boiled up inside Cassandra and her sister could feel it. But this was not the way of true magic. It was not to be used like this. As the gates of the darkness strained to hold such power inside a few spirits and simulacrums had snuck out and became living shadows around the room. Cassandra's eyes grew wide and a wild laugh of enjoyment flew from her lips.
"Sister please, this form of magic will only cause more death and suffering."
"Leave me." Cassandra's gaze was like a demon's " You're no good to me. You've had the talent Dahlia, and you were blessed with the sight but now." Cassandra turned and picked up a bone from the platter and crunched it between her teeth. "Now we're both gifted. And since I'm more powerful than you there is no need for us to be twins anymore. So goodbye Dahlia." With a wave of her hand Cassandra was sent through the wall of the home and over the cliff. As she fell Dahlia could see her sister laughing as the men tried to enter through her force field. Snakes sprouted from the ground under their feet and whomever was bitten turned to stone. While falling Cassandra cleared her mind and harmonized her spirit with the oceans waters that quickly approached her body. Her descent slowed and eventually she stopped hovering a few inches over the water's surface. With a final look over her shoulder Dahlia cried two tears, one for her father who was lost to death, and the other for her sister who was also lost to the powers of death.