Hekate was going south.
Because the Witch was south.
And she needed the Witch.
The Witch of Endor.
The Goddess with Three Faces needed to control the elusive Fifth Element, an element that only two of the Elder Race could control; and neither of them could completely control it.
Endor could control Time mentally: she could see the winding strands of time, the possible future and, occasionally, the past or present.
The Witch's power was, of course, limited. The future wouldn't ever be certain, not while the possibility of a different future existed, which always did. If only that stupid Abraham the Mage was still alive. He could actually see the future, exactly how it was going to unfold. But then she shrugged, she'd rather have the blasted magician dead right now.
Hekate had to shift through myriad Shadowrealm because of her weakness to the artificial metal of iron. All of the Elder race and Next Generation were easily killed by iron. After all, it had been iron that destroyed the Elder Times, and had sunk Danu Talis. Every creature who witnessed that day remembered it the same: The day the World Ended.
She was coming close to Ojai, the home of the Witch of Endor, in southern California. She had just stepped out of an extremely wet Shadowrealm, when she suddenly found herself in front of Dora Witcherly Antiques.
Hekate smiled to herself. The Witch of Endor always liked to blend in with the human, after all, she had been the one, along with her brother, Prometheus, that colonized the early Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon.
The incredibly ancient Elder took a deep breath, and, in one long stride, stepped through the door.
A small bell signaled her entrance. Hekate looked up at it, and it immediately started to rust and in less then three seconds, it had collapse into a pile of dust. And that was when she spotted her.
Sitting on a small stool sat the Witch of Endor. She was resting both her hands on an extendable seeing pole, her long, manicured fingers tapping slowly on it's handle. She was wearing her typical black glasses, covering the true look of her eyes. Hekate smiled evilly, what lay behind those glasses was the reason she had come.
"So, what I have seen was true," The Witch said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"And what is it you have seen, Endor?"
She waved her hand dismissively, "I saw many things. In some stands of time I saw Ymir kill you; overcome with hunger for your soul. In another I saw you refuse to leave him, and you got into a fight, and you killed him, destroying the Shadowrealm and the neighboring worlds too. And yet, in others I saw you let Ymir free, but you were forever trapped there." She sighed bringing her palm back onto the pole. "And only a few months ago had I seen the future that had come to pass."
"Then you know why I come?" Hekate said, raising an eyebrow in suspicion, and what may have been curiosity.
"I do not know why you have come, Hekate, but I do know of your plans, your plans to mass an army and to topple the Dark El-."
"You know nothing, Witch!" Hekate roared. How dare she! She was an old Elder, but surely she had grown dull in her years. Why else would she dare to speak to Hekate that way?
"Hekate…" Endor warned, tying to calm her.
The Goddess with Three Faces looked outside the tinted glass windows that lined the front wall of the building. The sun would set in a matter of hours, and she could already feel the age upon her face. The Witch of Endor would not hesitate to remove her from her home. And, no doubt, the Witch would go into hiding, somewhere where even the legendary tracker Selene, a renowned Elder huntress, wouldn't be able to find her.
"I'm sorry Endor, it was not my place to raise my voice to you," She said, her voice calm and sympathetic, before turning black and old again. "But I need something only you have. And I will not leave here without it."
Before the Witch had time to react, Hekate was in front of her, pressing her right thumb against her forehead. Endor collapsed into her jet black arms, unconscious.
"Shh, shh, shhhh," She whispered into prophetic Elder's ear, "Sleep now. Just Sleep."
Hekate's face was turned in concentration. Was it worth it? The sacrifice necessary just to gain revenge against the Dark Elders? She didn't want to dwell on that question too long, in case she changed her mind.
The Witch of Endor lay on the ground, "sleeping". Bending down beside her limp body, Hekate kissed her closed eyes, whispering an ancient incantation. She laid one of her hands against the right side of Endor's face, and another hand on the same side of her own face.
With a rasping gasp, the Witch woke suddenly. Hekate, using all her strength to hold the struggling Elder down, continued reciting the spell without interruption.
And then, in unison, the two screamed a shrill and high-pitched yell of pain that was far beyond human hearing. And then, at once, every piece of glass within a mile radius, shattered.
Hekate was in Yggdrasill, pacing in circles around a giant pool of crystal water filled with giant lilies and koi fish. A crystal clear waterfall poured out of an invisible opening in the tree and poured into the pond.
It had worked.
The Witch had been horrified at what Hekate had done. But, of course, she would not appose her. Especially now that she had a power that even the legendary Witch of Endor wasn't immune to.
Time.
The Goddess with Three Faces could now see the curling strands of time, and had mastered the Fifth Element mentally. But she had to pay a hefty price: The Witch of Endor could see everything Hekate saw.
She turned her head to look down at her reflection in the pool. The left side of her face looked now different, save for a certain type of smugness and power that eminated from her expression.
It was the left side of her face that had changed for the first time since to beginning of the Elder Age.
Her golden iris had changed color: It had transformed into a brilliant silver. She blinked twice, not believing what she saw. This wasn't her eye.
It was the Witch of Endor's eye.
It had been necessary to trade eyes, even against Endor's will, as the first step in mastering the Fifth Element. And now, she could see the curling strands of time.
A tear slid down her jet black cheek, and, for the first time since she had devised the plan, he began to wonder if it really was worth it.
The she swallowed back her regret and sadness, and strode into the deep corridors of the Yggdrasill, just as the moon slid into its topmost position in the black, midnight sky.