What in the world am I doing here?
Phobos frowned, leaning against the hospital wall as female nurses began making quick glances at him, their faces flushing a light shade of red. Although he had to admit he was somewhat entertained by all the attention he was getting, it didn't change the fact he despised being there. The rest of the guardians had rushed to Hay Lin's room, making sure their unconscious friend would be okay. His eyes lit up suddenly. He was all alone. This was the perfect time for him to escape. Making sure that none of the guardians had gone out the room, he slowly took steps backwards towards the exit. His electric blue eyes widened in shock as he felt his body stumble backwards.
The cloaked figure that bumped into him regained her footing, preventing herself from falling back. He noticed immediately the strands of long white hair poking from the hood of her silver cloak, giving away her identity. "Jezebel?"
"Phobos!" she cried happily, giving him a tight embrace. He patted her back hesitantly before pushing her away.
"What are you doing here?"
Jezebel pouted. "I just came here to see you."
He suddenly grasped her shoulders in a desperate attempt to send her away. "Are you insane?!" he hissed. "If Himerish saw you, he'd think…"
Jezebel's eyes narrowed at him. "I think it's too late for you to worry about getting on my brother's bad side…. Considering the fact that you guys are archenemies now."
Phobos frowned. That wasn't the case he wanted to point out, but the way she said it made sense. "What do you want, Jezebel?" he asked her wearily.
The white haired girl pulled down her hood, sparking the interests of many men in the room. After all, her beauty was something out of this world—literally. "I just want to get away from Kandrakar", she admitted. "Brother doesn't let me go anywhere." Her look became mischievous and playful. "But you can show me a good time, right?"
"No", he said flatly, taking her hand and pulling her through the exit. "I'm taking you back."
Jezebel raised her eyebrow. "How?" she asked him, clearly disbelieving of his claim.
Phobos looked over to her. "The guardians have a friend passling with them. He has this trinket that can open a portal for you back to Kandrakar." He growled. The only issue was that he had to bargain with the damn passling to keep Jezebel a secret from the rest of the guardians, and he didn't know how.
"Wait!" Jezebel protested, pulling herself away from him. "Phobos, I just want a break from Kandrakar. You can't blame me for wanting to run away once in a while." Phobos stopped pulling her, slowly turning around to look her in the eye. "I just want a break. One week and then I'll go back on my own." Her eyes narrowed. "But if you keep forcing me back to Kandrakar, I'll keep extending my stay here."
Phobos thought to himself for a moment. And then he shook his head. "Where in the world would you stay if you did decide to take a mini vacation here?"
Jezebel giggled. "With you of course!"
This alarmed the dark prince. "What?!" he shouted. "That's preposterous."
She tilted her head in confusion. "Why?"
He growled. "Because apparently I'm 'rooming' with the guardian leader's boyfriend."
Jezebel grinned. "The more the merrier!" She raised her hands in the air, and droplets of blood began to fall to the ground.
"Jezebel…" Phobos whispered in disbelief. "Your hand is bleeding."
Jezebel gave him a clueless expression and looked over at her hand. "Oh!" she said. "Silly me."
He angrily grabbed her wrists, pulling her closer to him. "Are you insane?" He looked around frantically, hoping to find a solution that would miraculously appear. He couldn't take her back to the hospital, especially since there was a high risk of the guardians discovering her. "Come on," he said urgently.
"Where are we going?" she questioned him as he proceeded to pull her towards a different direction.
"You'll see."
Hay Lin opened her eyes, finding herself once again in an open grassy field. I'm still in my dream… she said to herself. Part of her was relieved that she'd been having enough of these dreams to differentiate reality from illusion. Her body stiffened, and she felt herself go cold when a familiar voice began humming the tune. The same melodic tune laced with terror. She spun around swiftly and gasped.
The black haired girl in the red dress was just a few feet away from her, her eyes still covered by the strands of hair draped over her face. She took a step forward, and the air guardian quickly stood on her feet, trying to widen the distance between the two of them.
"Who are you?!" she demanded. Wake up already, Haylin! She screamed to herself, although she didn't know how she could.
"Run", she whispered.
Hay Lin froze, staring at the girl in disbelief. Before she could think about the girl's intentions, she found herself picking up her legs, turning back to run as far away from her as possible. Her heart began to pound against her chest, and the fear stiffened her muscles, making it difficult for her to move. Looking over her shoulder, she checked to make sure she wasn't following her. A bead of sweat trailed down the side of her head when she realized the girl had mysteriously disappeared. She could come out of nowhere… Hay Lin thought to herself out of paranoia, motivating her to run faster. Her eyes wandered to a large stone tower which was just a few feet away from her. A strange atmosphere around the structure grasped Hay Lin's curiosity and she stopped abruptly at the arched doorway, panting and crouching on her knees.
"I'm exhausted…" she whispered to herself. Her head shot up, and she begun to whirl around to make sure the girl wasn't following her anymore. A wave of relief washed over when there was no sign of her.
As quickly as the relief came, the caution returned to stiffen her when her eyes wandered over to the door. It mysteriously opened, revealing a series of staircases zigzagging from one side of the tower to the other.
"Hmmm hmmm hmmm…."
Hearing the tune ringing in the air, she bolted towards the archway, slamming the door behind her. "She's here again", she whispered to herself.
A small knock was heard from behind the door, and Hay Lin quickly darted up the stairs. Why is she after me?! She continued to run, disregarding the fact that her legs had started to go numb from all her running. As she neared the top of the staircase, a light flooded the room and she shielded her eyes from the sudden glow.
What's going on? She asked herself again. She slowly rested her arm against her side, opening her eyes to take in her new surroundings. Her mouth gaped open. Blood was splattered all across the floor, and two figures were standing in the center of the room, pointing swords towards one another. A long platinum blond braid swayed with a supernatural wind, catching Hay Lin's attention. Phobos?! The Oracle—Himerish—was standing in front of him, shaking his sword angrily at the blonde man.
"You deceived me, Phobos…" Himerish began, his white hair draping over his face. He pointed his sword near the bridge of Phobos's nose. "How could you?!"
Hay Lin was hesitant to step forward, but realized that neither person noticed she was there. A sickening feeling rose in the pit of her stomach when she saw their clothes were stained with large amounts of blood. "Where is all this blood coming from?" she asked quietly to no one in particular. After all, neither person seemed injured.
"We…." Himerish whispered in anguish. "We were friends! How could you betray me like this?!" A single hot tear rolled down his cheeks and the sword began to shake again.
Hay Lin felt her chest tighten at the emotion Himerish was portraying. Phobos betrayed him? How?
"Himerish…" Phobos began, his voice calm compared to his. His eyes were dead, although a smile crept up his pale face. "I did this because I need more power."
Himerish's eyes widened in disbelief. He drew his sword back before swinging at him. "BASTARD!" he shouted.
Phobos stepped back before he could suffer the fatal consequence of Himerish's blade, but a single cut was formed on his right cheek and droplets of blood oozed down his skin. He still remained calm, as if he weren't injured at all.
"Jiri's dead….." Himerish informed him, his tone of voice faint. "DOES IT MATTER TO YOU AT ALL THAT SHE'S GONE?!"
Phobos's smile weakened. "None of that matters…So long as I have her powers."
Himerish collapsed on his knees, his fingers clawing at the stone floor beneath him. "I should've known all along…" His head shot up and he glowered at the dark prince. "YOU NEVER LOVED HER!" Himerish began to sob beneath the strands of white hair that covered his face. Hay Lin's eyes began to flicker with sorrow. She didn't' know what was happening, or why she was here… but being the most empathetic of the guardians, the way the Oracle was acting made her heart break and the despair was suffocating her. She noticed Phobos's eyes widen slightly when Himerish claimed that Phobos never loved 'her' and clenched onto his sword tighter.
Jiri…. Hay Lin began. Was that the girl they were talking about? Who was she? So many questions and mysteries began to emerge every time she had a dream. Were they even connected to real life or were they just random dreams?
Phobos shook his head and he began to speak "Her death means nothing to me. As long as I have her powers… I can-" The stone beneath them began to rumble and crack, leaving the rest of the prince's words inaudible to the air guardian. A part of her was highly disappointed that she couldn't get as much information out of the scene in front of her, but by the bewildered look on the Oracle's face, she knew he heard the prince loud and clear.
"YOU'VE LOST YOUR MIND!" he shouted angrily. "You really think I'm going to let you conquer the worlds?!" He swung his sword again. "You'd have to kill me first!"
"I'm working on it", Phobos told him slyly, blocking Himerish's attack with his own sword. "I won't let anyone stop me now."
Hay Lin felt her insides burn with anger. She knew that Phobos being 'good' was too good to be true.
"Phobos? Himerish?" a weak, female voice whispered from the shadows. Phobos and Himerish stopped dueling, looking around to find where the voice was coming from. A beautiful young girl with violet eyes and long white hair emerged, crystal tears pouring down her cheeks. "Why are you doing this?"
"Jezebel?" Phobos and Himerish asked at the same time.
"What are you doing here?" Himerish asked her. "Get out of here."
"Why are you two fighting?!" she shouted, although there was hesitance and fright laced in her voice.
"He needs to die, Jezebel", Himerish informed her darkly. "Or else the whole world with be at stake. Get out of here before you get hurt."
Instead, the girl ran up to Phobos until she was right in front of him. "Phobos, what are you doing?!"
"Jezebel, get away!" Himerish cried out desperately, although he froze in place as Phobos caressed her hair. "Jezebel… you should listen to your brother." His voice had changed from sly to gentle, a transition that was too abrupt for Hay Lin to keep up with. "Or you'll get hurt."
Jezebel just shook her head, wrapping her arms around Phobos. "Phobos, please… that's enough."
Phobos lowered his sword and Hay Lin and Himerish watched in surprise as Phobos began to return the embrace. "Jezebel…." he began.
"I'm right here, Phobos", she reassured him, smiling softly, tightening her embrace.
Phobos slowly lowered the palm of his hand to her back. "I told you you'd get hurt." His words sent waves of shock to everyone in the room as his hand began to glow. Jezebel arched her back for a split second, as if an invisible force had collided into her spine, before collapsing onto the ground unconscious.
"Phobos!" Himerish shouted. "How dare you do that to my own sister!" He was about to step forward, when Phobos pointed the tip of his sword at Jezebel's body. "Don't take another step, Himerish."
Himerish's eyes widened in horror, seeing his sister's life put on the line. His body tensed as he lowered his sword. "You cowered", he hissed.
"You're the cowered", Phobos spat back before blasting a wave of bright light at him. Himerish gasped before knocking out cold from the wave of light.
Hay Lin took a step back. Phobos defeated both of them…. Now what's going to happen? The dream seemed lively enough that she thought Phobos would miraculously notice her presence, whether it was a dream or not. After all, he was able to in the previous dream.
Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind and Hay Lin stiffened with fear as she saw from the corner of her eye the girl with the black hair and red dress. "Y-You..!"
"Save them", she whispered solemnly, pulling Hay Lin back with her in the shadows. Hay Lin let out a shriek as she felt her body plunging into an abyss of darkness, the light coming from the room fading into nothingness.
Wake up, Hay Lin!
Hay lin!
Wake up!
Hay Lin's eyes flew open and she looked around frantically to see the other guardians grasping her arms and legs. "W-What's going on?!" she cried out.
"You were flailing your arms and legs around while you were sleeping!" Cornelia informed her, her expression filled with shock.
"Yeah and you were screaming a hell of a lot too", Irma added in.
Will carefully sat on Hay Lin's bedside, leaning close enough for Hay Lin to see her concerned eyes. "Hay Lin… did you have another one of 'those' dreams?"
Hay Lin paused for a moment, lifting the blanket up to her chin. "Yeah…" she whispered. "And all these dreams seem to have some timeline to it…. Like the events that happen in each dream connects to the last one."
Cornelia raised her eyebrow, crossing her arms. "Dreams? You never told us about having these dreams, Hay Lin."
Hay Lin sighed. "I know…." She began. "I just didn't want you to think I'm weird."
"Well too late now", Cornelia stated matter-of-factly. She scoffed. "After everything you did after just sleeping, you-"
"Shush it, blondie", Irma intervened, realizing how Hay Lin was discouraged by Cornelia's insensitive comment.
"It's alright…" Hay Lin said faintly. "I should have told all of you sooner."
Taranee placed her hand on Hay Lin's shoulder as a means of comfort, and Hay Lin squeezed it gently. "You can tell us", she reassured her. "We'll help you get through it."
Hay Lin gave everyone a reassuring smile. A wave of relief washed through her, realizing she was finally back with her friends, and whenever she was supported by them, she felt invincible. "Thank you", she said gratefully.
"So what did you see?" Will asked her.
Hay Lin opened her mouth to speak, but she stopped herself. "Actually…" Hay Lin began. "I'll explain it to you guys later."
"What?!" Cornelia asked in disbelief. "You still want us to wait?"
Hay Lin just smiled. "Actually… I don't even know what it is I saw." Her eyes sparkled with determination. "But I want you guys to come with me to find out." She hopped out of the hospital bed with enthusiasm, as if to show her friends she was in a healthy state.
"What are you talking about?" Taranee asked.
"I want to visit the Oracle", Hay Lin stated. "He'll know what's going on."
A pink colored portal opened in an empty alley along the streets of Heatherfield, and a figure wearing a simple white collared shirt and black pants emerged from it.
Jezebel…. He thought to himself. Did you really think it'd take me too long to realize you were gone?
He walked out the alleyway onto the streets, passing by some of the shop windows. He frowned, looking at the bald head in the reflection. It seems rather odd to me to be bald while wearing casual clothes, he admitted to himself. With a snap of his fingers, a new style of shaggy white hair replaced the baldness on his head.
He smirked. "I'm the Oracle after all", he said to himself, pleased with his new look. The only reason why he had decided to go bald after he was appointed the Oracle was because hair was a symbol of attachment, and shaving it would detach him from every dark memory that had ever come to him. But now that wasn't the case anymore.
Phobos….
That name made his blood boil with hatred. If that man dares lay a finger on Jezebel…. I'll kill him.
Sorry for such a long wait! I'm sorry, but I was having computer issues and all my stuff got messed up. By the time it was completely fixed, I figured it was far too late to update. But hey, I guess its never too late! Anyway, please please please review! I want to know how many (if any xD) are still keeping up with my stories even in my long absence. Thank you so much! Your reviews and messages really motivate me to continue forward.