Douse the Flame
Summary: When Sofia gets word that Greeneyes has been revived and is out for revenge against Sofia and her family, she calls for help to eradicate the evil entity for good.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Sofia the First, as they belong to Craig Gerber. I own Serena, Charlie, Angel (mentioned), Takoda (mentioned), Butterford, Muscles, and several others. MarionetteJ2X owns Nana and Tanya (both mentioned).
A/N: Hi, everyone! I know it's been quite some time. I've been working on my dissertation and have three chapters written, and it's in the proofreading mode with my major professor right now. As for writing, this will be my final story for a while, so I hope you enjoy and that it helps seal up some loose ends. 😊
Chapter 1: Emerald Eruption
The darkness of the Zelias Realm was not just a physical blanket of nothingness. It was also spiritually and energetically dark, with not a shred of metaphorical light to be found. Some called it a literal hell hole, as it absorbed all goodness and then crushed it—almost like blackholes were rumored to do.
The Secondary Academy for the Lawless Teens (or SALT, as the students often called it) was a large school in the realm, housing 99% of the student population. The solitary one percent was homeschooled or classified as "ungifted," and thereby blacklisted from the school. Several of the school's students moved on to become infamous warlocks, jaded public figures, or downright evil criminals. The few chaste or pure people who originally existed in the realm had either been corrupted or destroyed, so no shred of their existence remained.
During their twelfth year of schooling, the senior class of SALT was always sent on a specific quest to prove their status as the elite upperclassmen. One might call it initiation, though others could classify it as a potential death trap, depending on the skillset the students had at the time. Not a single graduating class had gone by that didn't have at least four deaths.
On the evening of their first day as seniors at SALT, the newest senior class got their task: "Summon a sublime evil from the great beyond."
"Too easy," a blonde boy named Espen laughed, tucking his wand into his velvet blue robes. "My mom has a connection with the spirit world. We can just get her to do it. Work smarter, not harder."
"That's literally cheating," a redhaired boy called Wexley scoffed. "We'd be expelled for sure. Or worse, killed. Think of something else."
Another boy with a dark cropped haircut, Art, tapped his chin. "There's got to be a spell for it," he told the other two. "Probably in the forbidden literature in the library."
"Kind of stupid to put a section in the library and then call it 'forbidden,'" Espen complained. "Literally, what's the point?"
"We'll go later tonight then," Art announced. "When the guards are off duty."
The other two nodded, agreeing.
Sneaking into a prestigious library should have been a difficult, if not impossible, task. The teenagers should have run into an administrator, chiding them for being on the campus grounds late at night. They should have encountered other groups vying for the same notoriety. They experienced none of those things. To be honest, they were almost disappointed with the lack of a challenge.
"Hey, did you guys know they have a bunch of lust spells in these books?" Espen asked giddily as he pawed through the pages, his eyes glued to the words (and images) etched into the paper. "I might have to try one of these on that new girl we saw at the assembly: Deidre. She'll be all over me." He grinned as he looked up at his friends, wiggling his eyebrows. "Literally."
Art grabbed the book from Espen and slammed it shut, throwing it on the nearest table. "We're here for a reason, moron. You know Professor Koviç isn't going easy on us this year like Professor Pierce did the last two. He's almost impossible to pass unless you do exactly what he says. Everyone knows that." He turned, pointing toward a more obscure bookcase. "Start looking over there. Summoning spells won't be anywhere near your stupid lust spells."
"Depends on what you're trying to summon," Espen joked before Art slapped him upside the head. "Ow! I'm going, I'm going…"
Several minutes into their search, Wexley turned with a large blue book in his hands, and he looked up at the other boys. "I think I've got it." As the other two approached him, he scanned over the words on the page. "It says, 'Take the key from beneath the leaves, and unlock the Spine of Nine.' What does that even mean? We have to go outside and dig in some leaves for a key?"
"I heard my sister say that 'leaf' is sometimes a fancy word for 'page,'" Espen responded. "So maybe the key is actually behind the pages of that book."
Wexley tipped the book sideways, flipping through several pages until he reached the back. Seeing a raised portion of the hard back of the book, he peeled the layer back and gasped. "A key…"
Art reached out and took the key, his eyes scanning the many layers of books. "What was the other part of that clue?"
"Uh…" The other boy sifted through the pages until he found his original passage. "We have to unlock the Spine of Nine, whatever that means…"
"Maybe there's a skeleton around here," Espen suggested, scratching his head. He noticed that Art was glaring at him, and he blinked. "What?"
"Espen… For once in your life, could you please use that mush-ball you call a brain and think about what you're saying? If a leaf was a page of a book, then a spine is probably…" He gasped sarcastically, holding a hand to his mouth. "The spine of a book. Wow."
Espen frowned, folding his arms. "You know, Art, I know you made a perfect score on your entrance exam, but you don't have to lord it over me. I'm not as dumb as you think I am."
"Uh, guys?" Wexley pointed toward a tiny skeleton doll leaning next to a book, the number nine etched into the top hat it was wearing. "I think Espen may be right."
Art grimaced as Espen grinned obnoxiously at him. He was never going to hear the end of it if he was right. "Just…try it." He handed the key to his friend, watching the other boy turn the skeleton around. On the back of the doll was indeed a keyhole, and it took everything in him not to smack Espen as he muttered 'I told you so' under his breath.
The moment the key pressed into the little skeleton's back, the toy gave way and fell open, revealing a scrap of paper folded inside of the compartment. Wexley reached out and took the paper, opening it. "She does not live among us, for it's in the darkness she dwells. She consumes embittered souls and the truth she never tells. Her quest is eternal, and you've now lit the flame. Beware the emerald irises if you say her name." He frowned as his eyes shifted to the bottom of the page, where in giant green glittering letters, a certain name resided. "Greeneyes?"
"You called?"
The boys barely had time to turn around before they exploded on the spot, the only thing left behind some droplets of their blood from their unexpected combustion.
Greeneyes herself stood there, a bit disheveled and even somewhat aged from the last time she inhabited any realm (and after her encounter with her master several years ago), but clearly still powerful enough to destroy others. She licked some of the blood from the boys off her thumb and smirked, a deep hum of pleasure spilling from her lips. "Now that I'm back…" She lifted her left hand, a holographic visual of Cedric, Sofia, and their children playing a game together in the royal gardens now visible to her narrowed eyes. "We have some unfinished business… Princess Sofia…"
To be continued…
Next Chapter: Foreboding Feeling