Chapter 41

As I was practicing my soulfire, I was thinking. Darkness said exactly what he did in my one nightmare. Was this what Aianite meant by I needed to be here for now and that I'd see why eventually? If so, I could just get out of here. I went up to the bars and was about to melt them when something in the back of my mind told me 'don't'.

'But why? I'm done here, aren't I?' I thought to myself.

'No, you're not. You have some trials that the Darkness will try against you that will test you. Let them happen. You will be stronger for it.' Who, or what, is this voice? It feels familiar, but how? I sat back down, taking a deep breath. Now what? What time is it? Hmm, I wonder. Can I feel the sun? Like, its position in the sky. I have power over fire. Yeah, it's soulfire, but the sun can't be that different. It's a big ball of fire in the sky. I closed my eyes and felt.

After a long time, I decided that no, I can't feel the sun's position in the sky. Damn. I just laid on the cot, figuring that it's probably night time. I had a hard time falling asleep, between being caught by the Darkness, not trusting the Darkness during the night for obvious reasons, worrying what might happen during my stay here, the voice in my head, and worrying about Ianite and how she's coping. Before I knew it,

"High Priestess. Get up, it's late," Darkness said, none too happy. I sighed.

"What do you want?" I asked, sitting up, glaring at him lightly.

"I've got some things in store for you today. I've got some horses that need attending. You're gonna do the dirty work. Gandus? She never attended to the horses. She had her minions do that for her, but with her gone, her minions left too. Rather, I got rid of them, if you catch my drift." Oh, I caught his drift alright.

"Fine. Do what you want with me, I'll never break." Darkness 'hmph'd' and opened my cell. Once I stepped out, he grabbed my upper arm very firmly. It was uncomfortable and hurt a little. I gave him a look.

"Don't even think about running away. Those wounds that finally healed? You'll get much worse than that if you try anything."

"Don't worry, I won't." He stared me down for a few seconds before letting my arm go. Roughly, might I add. I followed him to the stables and he had 2 horses there. A beautiful white colored mare and a really pretty gray and white dappled stallion. "Wow, they're so pretty!"

"Mare's name is Starburst, stallion's name is Chestnut," Darkness grunted.

"I like their names. So, what am I doing for them?"

"Cleaning their stalls. Called mucking. Supplies and other stuff are over here." He led me to a wardrobe looking thing and opened the doors. "Pitchfork for hay, shovel and work gloves for cleaning manure. Brush for their coat, different brush for their manes and tails. Clippers for their hooves." He went on. Damn, horses are a ton of work. After he finished, I started mucking out the stalls first. He stood watch, making sure I was doing it right. He roughly corrected me a few times, but other than that, I did alright. After I got the stalls all clean, it was time for me to give the horses a bath and a hooficure. First, a hooficure. Darkness did one hoof, to show me how it was done, then I was left to do the other three.

I struggled a bit, but I was able to get them done. Now, the easier part, just bathing them. Wet them down, shampoo them up, then rinse them. Now to brush out their manes and tails. They're pretty well behaved. Surprisingly so, given who their master is... Starburst looked back at me as I brushed out her tail, as if to say, 'I trust you.' I gave her a smile and a slight nod. She shook her head and nickered, which made me giggle. I finished her up, and the horses were all taken care of, hygiene-wise. Now to pitch out some hay, give them clean water, and they're good. After that was finished, Darkness took me back to my cell.

"You're done today." He locked me up and put the key back where he got it. I sat on my cot and just played with my soulfire magic. He kept a suspicious eye on me as I did.

"Frick off, I'm just practicing my magic. I'm not gonna do anything, pumpkin head."

"'Pumpkin head'..." he grumbled. I grinned. I sighed, and I ceased the soulfire practice.

"Yo, you got somewhere I can practice my agility and shit? I need to practice for the Olympics."

"Who says you're getting out of here before then?"

"Me, that's who. Now, do you have somewhere or not?"

"... Fine, but I'm practicing too, so that I can keep up with you and the other so-called 'heroes'."

"Fine." Darkness let me back out, none too happily. He led me to a forested area, so I could practice my agility. I climbed the trees and leapt from each branch to another. I imagined myself like a monkey, swinging from tree to tree. Darkness kept up fairly well. After a while, I went back to where we started swinging from the trees and swung myself forward and did a flip. I landed gracefully on my feet. Darkness did not. I snickered as he got up.

"Sure, laugh it up. Don't be offended if I laugh at you if you mess up."

"I'm sure I will mess up, but it's good to laugh it off. No sense getting upset." He rolled his eyes.

"How about archery? I've got a range." I nodded and he led me there.

"I'm a pretty good shot, there Darkness. I did well against the ghasts Mianite threw at me that one time when he was under your control." He shrugged me off. We began shooting at the targets and I hit every target, most of them hitting close to the middle and some hitting around the outer part of the middle. I could feel that Darkness was impressed, but he never showed it. He didn't do too badly himself. Most of his arrows hit the targets, but a few landed a little short.

"Beaten by the High Priestess... for shame." I grinned.

"Hey, no shame in that. I've just had more practice probably. It's all about skill."

"Whatever." He brought me back to my cell again, but this time he left. My guess at the time is probably noon, so about lunch time. I wondered if he would feed me while keeping me prisoner here? I laid on the cot, a little exhausted from this morning. As I closed my eyes for a second, Darkness came back. "What, you tired? I thought you wanted to practice?"

"I did, and I still will. You can't tell me you're not even a little bit tired from all the exercising." He hesitated before answering,

"No." I narrowed my eyes at him a little.

"You forget I can detect lies. Plus, you hesitated a little." He turned his head away.

"Stupid psychic powers..." I chuckled.

"Speaking of psychic powers, did you know that I'm the reincarnation of the very first High Priest/Priestess for the gods? She, too, was psychic. I think her and I are the only two psychics in history, if I remember correctly." He looked at me inquiringly.

"You're joking." I shook my head.

"Nope, her name was Phoenix as well, but she was darker skinned and had literal red hair. She wrote the prophecy about me when she was still alive over a thousand years ago. Only Dianite knew about it because she wanted him to. Eventually, I came into the gods' lives in the present time and here I am now, fulfilling the prophecy written about me and now more people know about it than just Dianite."

"Huh. Well, you do know the future isn't always set in stone, right?"

"No shit, Sherlock. Things can change. But this, this is the one thing that will never change. This one is set in stone. So it was written, so it shall be." That last line, my voice changed and I was not the one to say it... that voice was the one that was in my head yesterday... is that Phoenix? Darkness was shocked to hear my voice change too.

'Nix, mind if I take over?'

'Go ahead, my body and voice are yours.' A strange feeling came on as the older Phoenix took over me. My body hovered and glowed a soft red as she spoke.

"Darkness, you shall not win. This one here, she is destined for greater things than I. I was once in her place. High Priestess, psychic. Yet, not to the extent she is. She is more powerful than I was when I was alive. She will be your defeat. You will fall by her hand. She is meant to be here for now. It was in her vision, but soon, she will escape. Do not harm her. Let her escape, as it is foretold." Darkness scoffed.

"She'll join me. Her power will be mine," he said, so sure of himself.

"ENOUGH!" Both of us said together, which scared the hell out of Darkness and I. That 'enough' was so powerful. "You will not get us to go to your side, Darkness. Your attempts will be futile. Your efforts, useless. We will escape, unharmed, untouched by your hand. We will arrive back to our friends. We give you until Thursday. You will not prevail." Phoenix's spirit and voice left my brain and melted back into my own body. We became one being again. I became myself again and floated safely back down to the ground and stopped glowing.

"That was... crazy, to say the least," I stated.

"No kidding... I'd even say intense." I nodded in agreement. We stood there in silence for a moment. Darkness eventually went off. Again, I wondered if he'd give me food. A few minutes later, he came back with food. He handed me beetroot soup. Ew, but hey. It's something at least. Plus, I don't expect anything less from him. I took the soup from him wordlessly and just ate. He watched for a couple bites and went away. I finished the soup and set the bowl up at the door. So, Phoenix, and I, by proxy, gave Darkness till Thursday... what the frick is today? Yesterday was the 14th, my birthday, so... ugh. I need to ask Darkness if he knows what today is. Wait, better yet, I could ask Ianite through thought.

I attempted it. Nothing, I couldn't feel my thoughts reaching her. Maybe Darkness did something to our communication? Frick... I guess I gotta ask Darkness now. It took ages until he came back.

"Yo, what day is it? How many days you got left till I escape?" He glared at me.

"I have 3 days. Today is Monday." I slowly nodded.

"Alright. Ugh, it's gonna be a long 3 days, isn't it?"

"You got it, High Priestess." I sighed. For the umpteenth time today, I expect nothing less. He is evil, after all. He gave me another beet root soup for dinner and I ate that as well. I practiced my soulfire magic some before heading off to bed. I'm gonna be prepared for these next three days. Whatever he throws at me, I'll take it like a champ. Because I literally am a champ, heh. I had an easier time falling asleep, but it was still a fitful sleep.

~Earlier, Ianite's POV~

"ENOUGH!" I startled at whatever the heck that was. I teleported to Mianite and we both teleported our Champions to us. Dianite, Gandus, and Tom showed up together. Dec came shortly after.

"That sounded like Nix, but her voice sounded different, like... her and someone else were saying that together... what could be happening with her?" I asked, worried.

"That was her past self. They must have merged for a little for some reason," Mianite explained.

"I hope the Darkness isn't doing anything bad to her," Sparky said, also worried for our High Priestess. I nodded in agreement.

"I believe in her. She'll get through whatever he throws at her and become stronger for it," Karl asserted, confident. I gave him a grateful smile. He's right. Nix is strong. She'll be back before we know it, stronger than before.

"Exactly. Sis is no wuss. She's feisty. She had to be for a long time." I giggled and nodded. Gandus has a point too. Gandus grinned at me.

"Nix is very feisty, you're right. Though she's calmed down over time, but she can still be as feisty as ever if she needs to be. And it sounded like she needed to be right then," I affirmed. Later that night, I laid in my and Nix's bed, sighing. Second night without her feels just as strange as the first. I'm just so used to her next to me, having her close. Breathing in her scent. Her protective arms around me. I'll admit, though I am an immortal goddess, she makes me feel even more safe. Whenever she's around, I feel like nothing can hurt me. Actually, all that is true.

She's protected me from the Darkness on multiple occasions. Even getting hurt for my sake, once. I never realized how lucky I was to have her... until she was gone... I began to tear up a little. I really miss my Nix. I really hope she comes back to us soon. I know Aianite said she would, but I hope Aia is right. I finally fell asleep after multiple tries of forgetting my loneliness so that I could get some rest. Sparkly needs his goddess, and I can't do well by him if I'm heartbroken.