Chapter 4: Destiny

Solomon was fuming. He had snuck into a small village to steal some food for his journey, when he was able to look into the living room of a family that resided there. The TV was on full display from his hidden viewpoint and he was able to see and hear what was said on the news.

On the screen he saw Mal with king baby beast waving to an audience, apparently, they were a couple visiting different locations in the kingdom.

Solomon couldn't help but grimace when he saw them. Mal was actually wearing a dress and her hair had mostly changed to a pale blonde color, it disgusted him. So, Mal and her VK's had definitely joined the side of good, it didn't matter, he would have exterminated them anyway for their past grievances, this would just make the revenge extra sweet.

Solomon snuck out of his hiding place, not interested in any further news coverage, and headed to the nearby tree line. He had managed to steel some bread and a large chunk of meat this time, with the help of some magic.

It took him nearly fifteen minutes to reach his latest campsite, a small space beneath a fallen tree. Darkness was approaching soon so he hastily made some fire, not that that was such a problem.

He had been on the road for weeks now and had managed to control what magic possessed more and more. He could now create small embers from his hands, enough to make a fire. He could furthermore sharpen his senses to the point that he could hear people from almost 100 feet away, zoom his vision as if he had binoculars built into his eyes and manage to distinct even the slightest smell. He had found out that using his magic drained his energy quite fast, which was why he only used it sporadically and when necessary.

Solomon had thus far not run into too much trouble. By mostly sticking to desolate forest paths he had managed to evade most crowded places, only occasionally heading for towns and villages to steal food.

The few times he had encountered a person in his travels he tried to remain inconspicuous. He had seen a few hikers, mountain bikers and travellers on his road who had all politely greeted him and probably saw him as just another hiker as well. There was one reasonably tense situation when a small patrol of six Auradon soldiers went past him on horses, but Solomon had managed to hide behind some bushes to avoid any confrontation.

He had become more and more cranky as the long road continued. There wasn't much space on the isle and he was never quite the hiker, but now he'd had weeks of non-stop walking and his legs and feet were in quite a lot of pain. He had previously calculated that the journey to the cauldron's hiding place would take well over a month but had not taken the often-steep terrain into account, which was yet another way that Auradon differed massively from the isle. He also discovered that he had needed to rest far more than he would have liked. With none of his gang members to fall back on, he now needed to do everything himself, from gathering wood, to cooking, to setting up camp.

What kept him motivated was seeing everything around him. The people here had everything they could have wished for, exactly the opposite of what they had on the isle. He would love to take it all away from them, to show them what they'd done to the villain kids who hadn't even violated their precious rules. Everyone here seemed completely oblivious of the monstrosities that occurred on the isle, but would they even care to find out? Solomon had learned that pretty much everyone that lived in Auradon was sickeningly nice and 'good'. Apparently though, this goodness did not extend to a willingness to offer any sort of help to children of the isle.

Solomon smiled to himself when thinking of this hypocritical behavior of most Auradonians. They always acted like they were so much better than the people on the isle without even bothering to learn a thing about them. Was it hypocritical of himself to think like this though? He was from the isle, escaped into Auradon, and would now bring death and despair. "They deserve it though." He thought to himself. "And even those that don't deserve it have it coming. This is something I want to do, and no one escapes destiny."

He looked up into the night sky as he laid down for another night. He couldn't help but admire how beautiful the stars were every night. "This part I'll keep when I burn the place down." He thought to himself. "The stars will stay."

Solomon looked up, a large mountain loomed over him. He had been walking around pretty much the same spot for days now. As far as he could see, he was at the exact point of the map where the cauldron was supposedly hidden, but since it was simply a dot on the map he could not be extremely certain. The day before he had almost given up hope, even thinking it might have been some sort of cruel joke of his father. But if thinking about the sincerity in his voice or the fact that he had transferred magic to him wasn't enough, the sudden sense of magic in the air was. He could hardly explain it to himself, but he felt it.

He had been aimlessly walking around the mountain for some time, before it was suddenly there. As if the temperature had suddenly changed or a large shadow had suddenly been cast over him. He was still limited in his magic use, so he was unable to trace it. It had however reignited the spark within him to continue searching.

From the journal his father had given him, he learned that the entrance would only be accessible for a few minutes each day around dusk. It was now almost dusk, and he still felt as though he had not made any progress this day. The foot of the mountain was covered with large rocks pointed to the sky and it almost felt like he was stuck in a large and pointy maze.

Another problem was that he had no clue what the hiding place would look like. For all he knew it could be invisible, or underground or whatever. The journal mentioned a spell that was needed to open up the entrance but gave no description of where the entrance was precisely or what it looked like.

He suddenly felt a shock go through him, he saw something! Two large rocks almost making an arch against the foot of the mountain. There only seemed to be a wall of rock between the two, but Solomon saw a shimmer which made him believe otherwise. He approached the rocks and stuck out his hand. A feeling similar to that of penetrating the barrier came over him, this was the place. He stepped back and started speaking, he had long memorized the spells and incantations from his father's journal and knew what he had to do.

"Iad siúd a d'iarr tú éileamh é a nochtadh duit féin. Oscailte anois!" he spoke loudly.

Nothing happened. He repeated the spell.

Still, nothing happened. Anger quickly rose within him and he was tempted to give the rocks a hard kick, but he refrained himself. He deduced it was not yet time for the entrance to reveal itself, so he waited.

He sat back on a rock and looked how the sky slowly turned from blue, to orange, to purple. When the first stars started appearing, the arch suddenly irradiated a vague, green light.

Solomon jumped up and approached the arch. He repeated his father's spell.

"Iad siúd a d'iarr tú éileamh é a nochtadh duit féin. Oscailte anois!"

This time a small golden light appeared in the middle of the arch, which expanded until in engulfed the entire entrance, which now showed a dark, stone passage leading deep into the mountain.

Solomon quickly entered and walked through the passage. As soon as he had taken ten steps, the entrance closed, and he was surrounded by complete darkness. He summoned a small fire in his palm and continued down the dark passage. From where he stood, he could not yet see the end of the passage, only darkness. The passage moved slightly downwards and was quite slippery. Solomon had to carefully watch his feet in order to not fall and break his neck.

He walked for almost ten minutes before he ran into something worth mentioning. Around the very first corner of the passage, he came across a large, square room illuminated by torches. At the other end of the room he saw an arch similar to the first one, he knew that he had to go through that to find the cauldron. He looked at the walls of the room, they were magnificently decorated, with illustrations of beasts, battles and war. When he looked closely however, he could see the small arrow slits hidden amongst the paint, one step over this threshold and he would be hit by over a hundred arrows. He knew this because his father's journal had described it perfectly, as well as the counter spell.

Solomon scraped his throat. "Ná caill do mháistir, ach amháin iad siúd atá ag iarraidh é a ardú."

Nothing happened. Solomon wasn't sure if the spell had worked or not. He repeated it just in case, still nothing happened. He took his blanket out of his bag and threw it into the room. Nothing, no arrows or any other occurrence. He slowly placed one foot over the threshold of the room, but no arrows flew at him. He placed another, still nothing. Relieved, he picked up his blanket and continued onwards. He could not explain to himself why he felt so relieved, there would be no reason for the counter spell described in the book not to be real. It would have just been extra cruel to have him come all the way here only to be promptly pierced by hundreds of arrows.

At the second arch, he repeated the first incantation, which caused a similar entrance to reveal itself. He passed through it and the entrance was once again magically sealed behind him.

He again found himself in a passage, though this one was much shorter than the previous one, he could already see the passage's end just a few yards up. When he reached the end, he found himself in a small, round room with an incredibly high ceiling. In the middle of the room was a small pillar with a large, rusted key on it. As he examined the high walls of the room, he saw hundreds of keyholes all over it. From his father's journal, he knew that only if the key was inserted into the right keyhole, the next doorway would reveal itself. If any other keyhole was used, the room would immediately be filled with toxic gas.

Solomon raised his hand, drew a line in the air and spoke another incantation.

"Táim i gceannas ort imeacht a thabhairt dom."

A green light suddenly began shining above him on his left side. A rusted keyhole shaped like a skull was irradiating this light. Solomon smirked to himself, this was extremely typical for his father. He took the key, and just when he started wondering how he was actually supposed to reach the keyhole, the key itself reached for it, dragging him along. When he was at the sufficient height, he pushed the key in the hole and turned it.

The pillar in the middle of the room suddenly started shaking and then made way to reveal a steep winding staircase. Solomon immediately descended it and quickly found himself in yet another passage.

At the end of this passage he found yet another room. This one was quite large and square, with large stone figures in every corner. Solomon saw a golem, a troll, a gargoyle and a giant. He knew that the second he would cross the center of this room, all statues would come alive and try to kill him, of course he also knew the counter spell.

He raised his voice and spread his arms.

"Bow roimh do mháistir!"

The eyes of every creature glowed for a second, before they started shaking and immediately turned to dust.

At the same time on the far end of the room, a new doorway revealed itself. Solomon knew he only had one more obstacle to pass before he would finally get to the cauldron.

He walked through yet another passage and reached yet another room. It was round and large. The only thing in the room was a cauldron. Solomon walked to it and admired it.

It had been decorated exactly as his father's cauldron had been all those years ago, but Solomon knew it wasn't the real one, for one because he read it in his father's journal and second because he did not feel any magic radiating from it. This was simply a trap for any possible thieves. If anyone thought this to be the real cauldron and tried taking it, the cauldron would immediately suck up the person's soul.

Solomon knew that this particular cauldron needed a sacrifice in order to reveal the actual cauldron to the searcher and what better sacrifice could one make besides blood. This was the one obstacle to the cauldron where his father had made no counter spell or whatsoever, since he believed this part to be too important for the cauldron's legacy. This annoyed Solomon quite a bit. Sure, he wanted to find the cauldron but intentionally bleeding himself was not on his to-do list. Solomon dropped his bag, grabbed his sword and raised his arm.

He breathed in deeply and used his sword to make a substantial cut on his arm. He watched as the blood seeped from his arm and moved it so that it would drip into the cauldron. He tried to calm himself as he watched a small pool of blood being formed on the cauldron's bottom, and he watched it grow larger, and larger. He eventually had to kneel down due to exhaustion but determinately kept his arm raised. When it seemed to him as though he barely had any blood left, the cauldron illuminated itself and he watched as his blood suddenly disappeared. He quickly drew back his arm and wound a piece of cloth tightly around it to stop the bleeding.

The cauldron kept shining out a bright light for a few more seconds before it died down. Solomon looked around the room, but nothing happened.

He waited for about one more minute, but still the real cauldron did not reveal itself. Solomon started panicking, had he done anything wrong? Had he forgotten a step in the plan? In a fit of both anger and panic more than anything else, he pointed his hand at the fake cauldron and concentrated all his magic at that point. At the same moment, the wall in front of him split open and revealed a chamber, which resembled a vault more than anything else. It was quite large, reminding him of the cave of wonders.

Inside, on a literal pedestal, stood the cauldron. Solomon slowly stood up and approached it with open mouth. Only now that he was so nearly there, he really started to comprehend what actually stood in front of him. A magical weapon, so powerful that its name was only spoken sporadically in Auradon because of fear. A way to summon and undead army and bring doom and destruction wherever her pleased. He immediately recognized the cauldron from illustrations his father had shown him, every crack, every slight scab of paint was exactly right, apart from that he felt all the magic radiating from it.

He stuck out his hand and touched the cauldron's edge. Immediately, he felt a surge of magic flow through him, similar to what his father did to him on the isle. He let go of the cauldron and looked at his hands. A more powerful looking green smoke appeared from his fingers and when he looked at his arm, he saw to his wonderment that the cut had been completely healed. He hadn't even completely realized how empty and weak he had felt after losing so much blood, not until those sensations had suddenly disappeared.

He tore his eyes away from the cauldron for a second to look at the rest of the chamber. It was filled with more magical items than Solomon had ever seen. On the far wall, he saw his father's old war helmet and armor, now all rusted. He saw a ton of books, mostly strategy reports from during the war and thus quite useless, but also several ancient spell books which would probably proof to be quite useful. A rack filled with potions, which would probably come in handy. A box filled with items he recognized as blackstones, magical ingots which had the ability to temporarily rob people of their magic. A broken mirror which looked suspiciously like the one used by Evil Queen and two large daggers which had apparently belonged to Shan Yu some time ago.

Once he had gathered all the interesting stuff, he turned his attention back on the cauldron. "This is it!" he thought, "My chance to bring evil to Auradon."

He raised his arm and tried to direct all his magic to the cauldron, he quickly felt a surge of victory, but nothing happened. This was the first time Solomon felt a slight panic. His father's journal had only described how to get to the cauldron, not how to use it.

He hadn't really pondered that fact too much, he thought that when he would eventually find the cauldron, the way to activate it would somehow 'appear' to him or that the instructions would be given there.

He tried again, trying to somehow 'finetune' his magic to somehow activate the cauldron. This went on for a while, with Solomon trying everything that he could think of, but nothing changed. The cauldron just stood there, looking old and hollow.

Why had his father not told him how to activate the cauldron? Did he think the solution had been obvious? If this was the case, he had been sourly mistaken. Had he hidden the answer somehow, maybe?

Solomon once again looked at his father's journal. He scanned it from front to back but discovered nothing new, not a single indication that instructions on how to use the cauldron had been hidden within it.

He examined the cauldron from top to bottom but found nothing even resembling instructions. He did notice that the green glow which had initially surrounded the cauldron, was now absent. The green glow had apparently been caused by the excessive magic he had absorbed when he touched the cauldron and had thus disappeared.

He looked around the chamber for a book, a letter, a scroll, a pamphlet! Anything that could have contained something concerning how to use the cauldron. He didn't know how long he sat in that chamber. All he knew was that he scanned every book available there for any helpful information only to come up fruitless.

Once he was absolutely sure that there was absolutely no information regarding the cauldron's use present in the chamber, he simply returned to the cauldron and started unleashing random forms of magic.

He started to randomly wave his hand over the cauldron, maybe in an attempt to find a 'hotspot' or whatever, anything that might help him. He unleashed his fire on the cauldron and used different spells from the books he had read, but ultimately had to face the facts. He couldn't use the cauldron. He couldn't use it!?

He sat down with his hands in his hair. He looked at his reflection in the broken mirror. It was the first time he had properly seen himself since he had left the isle. His hair was filthy and saggy, he had large rings under his eyes and stubbles along his cheeks and chin, he looked terrible. He ran his hand over the large scar on his right cheek, a birthday present from his father when he had once dropped a valuable potion. That was the day he vowed to try and never disappoint his father again but as he looked at the cauldron, he realized it would happen again. His father had given him this one assignment, though it wasn't the easiest, but now Solomon would fail him again.

He angrily balled his fists. "NO!" he yelled. He quickly stood up and ran around the room to gather everything useful. The daggers, some spell books, the rack of potions and the blackstones he all threw into the cauldron before gathering his personal items. If the cauldron wouldn't work for him here, he would simply take it back to the isle of the lost and do research there until he could get it to work. His father was still there, he would help him, surely, he would. Furthermore, on the isle he had his gang members, who would also assist him.

When everything was packed, he hesitated, and then lifted the cauldron. It was quite heavy due to all the items stocked in it, but he was just happy he was able to move it at all. He headed out the chamber into the room with the fake cauldron and headed to the right, where an exit had opened up.

Half carrying and half dragging the cauldron he eventually managed to reach the outside world again after multiple hours, the cauldron had been hidden deep within the mountain. He shielded his eyes when he stepped outside and the bright Auradon sun started blinding him. He honestly didn't know how long he had been inside the mountain. After all, he had read through every book there and he'd had multiple meals. For all he knew he could have been in there for days. He looked around, and logically saw nobody near this desolate mountain. He sighed, picked up the cauldron and started marching again, this time in the exact opposite direction of where he had come from, back to the isle.