"You." Emma said. "You're the other Dark One!"
"Yes, I am." He replied with a smirk. "Name's Seth Rekon."
"How do you have that dagger?!" Emma asked. "What do you want?!"
"Regina did not do a good job of hiding it." Seth answered. "As for what I want, the grandest of my desires will remain secret for now. At the moment, I simply want your power."
Emma's heart began to race. She knew that to take away a Dark One's power, a person had to kill them with their dagger. An easy task when you consider that the dagger gives whoever holds it total control of the Dark One it is tethered to. Even now, Emma was trying desperately to fight or escape, but her body would not obey her.
"If you are going to kill me, just do it already." Emma said.
"Normally, I would kill you, but I can't." Seth replied. "You ever heard of seers? They are people with the ability to see bits and pieces of the future. Long ago, I took that ability from one of them and made it my own. It has proven itself useful."
"What are you saying?" Emma inquired. "What is your point?"
"I can see a piece of the future where I make use of you." Seth replied. "At the time, you won't be a Dark One. However, my plan will be completed, all thanks to you."
"I will never help you!" Emma shouted.
"Oh, but you will." Seth replied. "Now, shut up while I take your power."
Immediately, Emma found herself unable to speak. Then, Seth raised Emma's dagger and pointed the blade at her. He began to chant words which Emma could not understand. As Seth chanted, Emma's chest began to hurt. This pain was like being stabbed slowly with a hot knife. It was not long before She wanted to scream, but because of Seth's command, her mouth remained shut. After a few minutes of chanting, Seth suddenly stopped. At that moment, the Darkness flowed out of Emma's body. The twisted black entity went straight to Seth and was absorbed by his body. When the last of the Darkness was taken by Seth, Emma fell to the ground, now wearing her old red leather jacket and jeans. Seth appearance did not change and his name did not appear on the dagger. He smiled at her, his eyes striking fear into her heart. Then he simply disappeared with the help of his magic.
Once he was gone, Emma quickly got up and used her magic to return to Arthur's castle. She immediately found herself in Merlin's study. The chamber was circular and filled with shelves of books. Regina lay atop a desk at the center of the room. Her friends surrounded her. Hook was the first to notice Emma's presence.
"Swan!" He said. "What happened to you?"
"I'll tell you later." Emma replied. "First, I need to save Regina."
Emma walked over to her friend. All of Regina's veins had turned black and the jewels on her necklace had developed a pulse. Emma was about to remove the necklace with her magic when her mother stopped her with a concerned look on her face.
"Emma, the darkness!" Snow said.
"We don't need to worry about that anymore." Emma replied.
She then continued her action. A light shot from her palm of her hand and flowed onto the necklace. There was a sound like crackling electricity, then the necklace turned to sand.
"Will she be alright?" Robin asked.
"Yes," Emma replied. "She will just need some rest."
Back in Present Day Storybrooke…
"These people were burned straight to the bone." David said.
He, Robin, Regina and Snow were examining the bodies that were found. There was barely a scrap of flesh left on them. Their bones were pure black. A total of six. After they finished, the Camelot citizens covered the bodies and carried them away to be buried later.
"What could have done this to them?" Snow asked.
"There was a faded trace of magical energy on the bodies." Regina replied. "My guess is we are dealing with a magical creature. Probably one summoned by Seth."
"Why?" David inquired. "What is he up to?"
"Not sure." Regina answered. "This guy is basically a complete mystery."
"If only we had been here when those people were attacked." Robin said. "We could have saved them, or, at the very least, seen what we are going to have to fight."
It was then that Regina had an idea.
"We may still be able to see what we are facing with a little magic." She said.
Using her magic, Regina made a dreamcatcher appear in her hands. Then she hurried to one of the bodies being carried away. Once it was set down, Regina held the dreamcatcher over the body. A swirling golden light appeared within the dreamcatcher, followed by an image. This image was of the the creature that killed the people by burning them to death. The image was of a creature that had a snake's head and a lion's body. The creature spat out a ball of fire and the dreamcatcher suddenly caught fire and quickly became nothing but ash.
"So that is what we are dealing with." Robin said. "Looks like chimera. I once hunted one. They are creatures created by magic. They are a mixture of different animals."
"Why did the dreamcatcher burn?" Snow asked.
"The emotions in the memory was so powerful, the magic reacted poorly." Regina replied.
"I'll call Hook." David said. "He needs to know what we're dealing with."
As if on cue, David's phone rang. It was Hook who was calling him. Lancelot and Hook were searching the woods with the Merry Men and knights from Camelot.
"Hook, listen." David said when he answered the phone. "We know what kill those people."
"Let me guess, a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a snake?" Hook asked.
"Yes," David replied. "How did you know?"
"Because I am looking at the beast right now!" Hook answered.
A few miles away, Hook and Lancelot were crouching behind a fallen tree, observing a beast that was sniffing the ground. It's head was covered with green scale and it had eyes that were pure yellow. There was a set of sharp fangs in its mouth and a long, thin fang. the rest of its body was shaped like a lion's with shiny golden fur.
"What do we do?" Lancelot said. "We need to tell David and the other what we've found and we also should not lose track of this creature. We must split up."
"No, we don't." Hook replied. "With this device in my hand, I was able to tell our friends about what we found. They should be headed our way right now."
"What is that object?" Lancelot asked. "Magic?"
Before Hook could answer, he heard a weird noise that was like a cross between a roar and a hiss. He looked to his left and saw a second creature, just like the first, charging toward them.
"Move!" Hook shouted as the creature leapt at them.
They got out of the way just in time. The tree trunk was smashed into splinters. After getting to their feet, the two heroes drew their swords. The other creature was now alerted to their presence and ran at them. Moments before it reached them, an arrow flew through the air and went straight through the monster's right eye.
"Guinevere!" Lancelot yelled when he saw she had shot the arrow.
When Guinevere was about to shoot another arrow, the beast shot a ball of fire from its mouth. She managed to dodge it, but her bow caught fire. Now her weapon was ruined. Lancelot and Hook got between her and the beast. The monster was about to shoot another fireball when two arrows pierced its side. The ones who shot those arrows were Snow and Robin. With them, was Regina, but David was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, chimera!" Regina shouted. "Over here!"
In response, the creature spat another fireball at them, but Regina used her magic to counter it. Then, David ran through the trees with his sword and cut off the beast's head. The monster's corpse disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, leaving only a large fang behind.
"Thanks for the assistance." Lancelot said.
"No problem, old friend." David replied.
Regina bent down and picked up the fang.
"Guys, I think I may be able to use this to find whatever it is these chimeras were searching for." She said.
"Let's start looking then." David said. "We could find a clue to Seth's plan."
As they started following Regina, Lancelot decided to have a talk with Guinevere.
"Why did you come out here?" He asked. "Our people need you to lead them right now."
"I needed to release some anger." Guinevere replied. "After you left, Arthur used the Sands of Avalon to make me his pretty little puppet. I couldn't so much as say "no" to him about anything."
"I know you are angry." Lancelot said. "But don't let your emotions rule you."
Guinevere did not reply. Instead, she stared ahead at a sword in a stone.
"Excalibur." She said with anger and disgust.