Race Through Time:
The Masked Girl
Rosetta was seriously considering slapping Fidget one thousand and one times once she found her way back to Storybrooke.
Because honestly, having Darwin chase her throughout the ruins of the Batrishan Palace while he was trying to shoot deadly blasts of magic at her was not the way she wanted to finish her life.
As predicted, Darwin ordered his goons to cut down the rope that held the cage containing the captive pilgrims in order to have them fall to their fiery doom. Fortunately, Tristan and Eglantine used their wings to fly and grab the cage before it and their friends got roasted. Unfortunately, that left Darwin enough room to begin targeting Rosetta while Harry was busy dealing with a majority of the goons. The only smart thing left for the child was to run for her life while the vengeful warlock ran after her and far from the busy crowd, up the main staircase, and into the palace.
The floors and walls were so cracked and full of rumble that Rosetta nearly mistook this place as Medusa's lair from the 'Clash of The Titan' movie clips she had dared to watch one time on Youtube even though her parents had strictly told her not to. Good thing she did, though, because otherwise she wouldn't have been able to jump from rock to rock and nearly avoid the rocks that led to some sort of black fiery pit.
"There's no way you can escape my wrath, you vile demigod scum!" Darwin shouted from somewhere in the ruins. This situation was getting beyond desperate.
Rosetta's feet were tiring very quickly as she ran through a hallway that seemed to lead to bed quarters. She didn't know how far Darwin was from her, but she knew that if she didn't take at least five minutes off, then she'd be weaker in front of Darwin.
Rosetta quickly spotted an open, rusty door. Her push got it to dissolve into dust. She quickly hid behind the bed, her resting body aching all over while battling noises were heard coming from outside.
What the heck was she going to do? Darwin could pop up at any moment!
Her panicked hand clenched the bed's ragged sheets, which caused her to have a horrible vision: an innocent Batrishan priestess making an innocent wish in this exact room, followed by darkness, screams, blood, and eventually, a growing womb.
"I'm in the same room where Svjetla got raped by the Evil One!" Rosetta realized. "This can't be a coincidence!"
"Take my advice and don't even think about making a wish," a voice that came out of nowhere spoke from Rosetta's right side. Rosetta nearly yelped when she saw somebody sitting right next to her, but that somebody covered her mouth. "You want Darwin to hear you?"
"Who the hell are you?" Rosetta asked as she stared at the person who spoke to her. The person was dressed in some sort of medieval black church garb and some sort of Cuban Devil mask covered her face. Rosetta could tell that the person was a girl due to her orb shaped breasts, dark feminine voice that could have belonged to someone around the age of Violet, Henry's girlfriend, and long jet black hair that trailed down from the mask to her curved waist. For some reason, however, the demigoddess had no vision related to the masked girl.
"My master put a blocking spell on your foreshadowing powers to prevent you from having any vision relating to me," the girl said in a very sour tone. "You didn't notice it; you were too busy leading his withered beasts to that river of holy water."
Rosetta realized what the girl was referring to and began to back away. "You're working for the Evil One, aren't you?" she asked coldly. The girl's mask turned to look at her with painted eyes that hid her real ones.
"Yes, but I didn't ask for the job," she muttered. "So don't worry. I'm not going to kill you."
"And why should I trust you? Your boss tried to kill me!"
"He did," the masked girl confessed. "That's because when he saw through his powers that you got involved with the race through time, he feared that you'd warn his enemies of his plans, but he had a small change of mind after he tried sending a couple of his goblins to kill you."
Rosetta frowned in confusion. "What made him change his mind?"
"You've got connections to two Batrishans, both representing a different time in the eras of Batrishans: your squire friend out there represents the future Batrishans while some unknown Batrishan represents the old Batrishans..."
Fidget, Rosetta realized mentally while the masked girl continued to talk.
"The only Batrishan you haven't met is the one who represents the ancient Batrishans: Bartok Ashiva Rex."
"The ex-prince? Why would the Evil One be interested in him?"
"Because together, they are the past, present, and future of what remains of the Batrishan civilization. However, there is only one of those three specific Batrishans that he's interested in. Only one of them can give him the information he needs to find the child that was confiscated from him. Only his child can give him the old, lost power he craves for when the annular eclipse falls upon Storybrooke..."
"Storybrooke?" Rosetta was horrified by what the masked girl had just said. "The Evil One wants to pursue his...scheme...on Storybrooke?"
The masked girl nodded. "With all the curses, spells, and events that happened before and after your town came to be, Storybrooke is the one place in all the magical realms where magic breathes the strongest. A perfect place for the Evil One's devious scheme. That is why he wants you to bring the squire and Bartok back to Storybrooke with you once you find the shrine of Canterbury."
Rosetta got angry. "Excuse me? What the Hell makes you think that I would drag two Batrishans against their will to Storybrooke just because your boss wants me to?"
"He's promised to help dispose of Darwin and his goons in exchange for you to bring the two Batrishans to Storybrooke."
"You think I'm crazy enough to pay that price? Think again!"
The masked girl sighed. "I feared you'd say that. But once you see this, you will understand why the three Batrishans must me together in Storybrooke." She lifted the mask off her face, revealing it to Rosetta, who gasped at the face she saw.
"Are you convinced now?" the masked girl asked as she covered her face again with her mask.
"Unfortunately, I am."
Much later
The fighting kept going on outside until a horrible scream came from the palace.
"Please don't tell me that it came from Rosetta!" Dwight said anxiously.
"Look!" Isaac pointed at an opening on the West side of the palace: a figure was seen falling down from it, followed by what sounded like a body hitting rocks. Eventually, Darwin's goons started screaming as their bodies broke apart and began to shrivel into a thousand bugs that spread off into the ruined city.
"That was disgusting," Anaïs shuddered while Tristan flew towards the palace and came back with Rosetta in his arms. Eglantine instantly rushed towards Rosetta to make sure that the child was alright. From what Rosetta had said, Darwin had tried to attack her while he had her cornered in a temple room within the palace. Unfortunately, Darwin had miscalculated his attacks and inadvertently fell to his own doom.
"Not to mention that I had this weird vision in the temple room," Rosetta added. "For some reason, I saw an albino Batrishan in my mind..."
"Bartok Ashiva Rex," Tristan immediately said.
"How can you be sure, Tristan?" Dwight frowned. "I've seen a few of your kind back in Camberley and all of them have different color tones that could replace those of a rainbow. What makes you think that the albino bat from Rosetta's vision was the former prince of your people?"
"Because the only Batrishans to be albino were those of the ancient royal family. Bartok is the only remaining member of the family as we know."
"Maybe this small misadventure in the Batrishan Sanctuary was actually a twist of fate," Aaron suggested. "If Darwin hadn't kidnapped us, then Rosie here would have never received the vision." He slightly patted her on the shoulder. "Do you have any idea of where he might be?"
"I didn't see anything in any of my visions," Rosetta said.
"I see. Tristan?"
"Well, the last we've heard of Bartok was that he resided in the Valley of A Thousand Whispers," Tristan said unhappily. "There are two problems, though: the valley is hidden in a mountain range in the South-Western Hemisphere, which could take us months just to get there. And second, no one has heard of Bartok in the last century or so. He might not be there anymore."
"Great! How the Hell are we supposed to find both one albino Batrishan and the shrine?" Isaac muttered.
Maurice pulled out his map and began to have a look at it. "There might be a solution to our problem." He showed the map to the rest of his comrades. "If we go back to our original direction by taking the holy river, we should arrive in a couple of days at a location that is said to have mystical powers."
"What kind of mystical powers?" Eglantine slightly shuddered. "You know how I feel about the unholy."
"I know," Maurice assured her. "The only things that are known about the mystical powers are that they are hidden in a canopy of twisted trees and that only one with advanced foresight may reach the top."
Every single pilgrim looked at Rosetta.
"Why me?" she sighed.