Chapter 1: Awake Again
Briar suddenly wakes up to feel something off. And looks around to find herself in some strange area.
"Am I... in the clouds?" Briar asks herself, feeling something on her feet.
Just like before, the mirror ripples and Briar finds herself in some bright area.
Briar shields her eyes, "Oh my… that's a very bright light…"
Briar slowly removes her eyes a bit to see a beautiful golden gate. The gates suddenly open to reveal what looks like a beautiful island, with a city that appears to be made out of clouds.
"Wow. this place looks beautiful," Briar says to herself.
Suddenly, she hears a voice, "Oh, look at this. Look how cute he is."
Moments later, Briar soon finds herself surrounded by many different people. All the people seem to be glowing and have different color skins, wear dresses, armor, and other clothing that looks like it's from ancient Greece. Briar looks to where everyone is looking to see a grown man with white beard, white hair, and wears a long purple greek outfit, and is holding a baby in his arms. He is also seen with a beautiful woman with pink skin, and wears a beautiful glittering outfit. And flying by is a white pegasus with a blue mane and tail.
The man named Zeus says, "On behalf of my son, I'd like to thank you all for your wonderful gifts!"
Suddenly, someone says, "How sentimental."
Everyone has their attention turns to see a gray man wears a dark gray and gray color robe, and has fiery blue hair.
He walks out of the shadows and says, "I haven't been this choked up since I got a hunk of moussaka caught in my throat."
Zeus turns to the man, "Come on, Hades, don't be such a stiff. Join the celebration!"
"I regrettably have a full-time gig-that you, by the way, so charitably bestowed on me, Zeus," The blue flamed man, Hades says. "So… can't. Love to, but can't."
"You ought to slow down. You'll work yourself to death," Zeus says, and begins to joke and laugh, "Hah! Work yourself to death! Oh, I kill myself!"
Hades turns away bitterly, and mutters, "If only… if only…"
Briar doesn't like the sound of it, and soon the scenery disappears.
"What's going on now?" Briar asks herself.
Suddenly, she hears a voice, "And then it will be done… As long as my sister is safe. I know that I'll be happy."
Briar begins to walk around until the darkness changes to what looks like a chamber. And there, to Briar's surprise, she sees a grown young woman who has Briar when she's a little girl in her arms. Briar is shocked to see this, and the woman is now clear for her to see.
The young woman has beautiful golden blonde hair that seems to spread like roses, eyes as blue as the sky, and lips red as the rose. She is also dressed in an elegant blue and light blue color dress with a gold crown on her head. From her appearance, she seems to be dressed like she's into royalty. However, she notices that the sister has pointed ears, similar to Malleus and Lillia's ears.
Briar also notices that her younger self is also dressed in a green color dress, similar to the other the grown woman is wearing. She is also wearing the medallion she has around her neck, and she too has a small crown on her head. And there is something else she notices… Briar also notices that her ears are also similar to Malleus, Lillia, and the young woman's… Currently, her own ears are round.
She suddenly notices she is talking to someone, and to her shock, she can see Malleus, her friend Tsunotaro, and Lillia is with him.
"There has to be another way, maybe we could…" Mallues says.
But the grown woman says, "I know it sounds insane, but what choice do we have? My family's bloodline… No, not just my family, my kind's bloodline is in trouble. We're dangerously close to dying out. I plan to stop that from happening. That's why with this spell… My sister's life will be spared, and will be able to continue to carry our family name and the magic we possess…"
"Are you really willing to do this? You've already fallen victim to it, if you try to use your magic, you will…" Lillia says.
"Yes. I'm willing to make that sacrifice, not just for our family and our kind can continue with her veins, but I also want her to live, where she will be safe, and healthy. Sadly, I won't be with her when that happens, but one thing is for sure, my sister must live," The woman says.
Suddenly, Briar hears someone call you to her, "...ey!" And can barely tell it's Ace, "Hey, Briar! Wake up already!"
"Wha… What was that…? Who was that woman… Why were Tsunotarou and Lillia there… What's happening…" Briar says to herself stunned.
Briar soon wakes up to see Ace, Deuce, Trinket, and the others
"C'mon, you can't go falling asleep when you're the one who called us over at this hour," Ace says.
"I was certainly surprised to hear from you so late. What's this about Grim going missing?" Deuce adds, confused.
Briar rubs her eyes, "Oh, right. I was out looking for Grim, and…"
But Jasper notices in shock, "Woah! Hold on, what happened to your hand?!"
"It's all scratched!" Ace adds, stunned.
Briar soon looks at her injured hand, and soon remembers Grim is the one who has given her that injury.
"What happened to you?" Tanzanite asks, shocked.
"Well… um…" Briar says, uneasy and a little frightened, especially from the experience.
She lets out a sigh and says, "Grim did that… he scratched me when I found him at the stage…"
This shocked the others.
"Wait, am I hearin' you right?" Ace asks, shocked.
"Now way... GRIM did that?" Deuce asks, shocked.
Briar nods, "Yes. I'm afraid it's true."
"Does it hurt…?" Sereia asks, worried.
"It kind of does," Briar says.
After a moment of silence, Ace says, Let's head to the lounge for now. We gotta get that hand patched up stat.
"Ah, right, good call," Deuce says, "We can talk with the headmage after that."
"Okay," Briar says, and lowers her head in sadness.
"Are you okay, Briar?" Tanzanite asks in concern.
"I'm okay. I'm just… shocked… of what Grim has done, and the look on his face," Briar answers.
The twins turn to each other in concern. Trinket flies to Briar and gives her a hug in comfort.
Sometime later, Ace and Tanzanite are able to have Briar's wound treated while Deuce and Sereia have called Crowley about the recent situations Briar experienced, the mysterious guest Micky, Grim attacking her, and the strange dreams she's been having.
"So, the mirror in your room connected to another place, and you spoke with a large-eared creature named 'Mickey.'" Crowley replies, "After your conversation, you noticed Grim was missing and went to look for him. Then when you found him, he acted uncharacteristically aggressive and lashed out at you,"
"Yes," Briar says.
"Hmmm…" Crowley replies.
"When I found Grim, I found out he was trying to find one of those black rocks. When he found it, he ate it. But when he noticed I was there, he became very aggressive," Briar says.
"A black rock, you say?" Crowley questions.
"You mean like the one he housed in the mine at the start of the school year?" Ace asks.
"Yeah, after defeating that blot in the mines," Briar says.
"And you first unlocked your magic and managed to heal that thing. Then it disappeared," Ace says.
Soon, Deuce remembers, "Now that you mention it… Grim also scarfed down the black rock that fell onto the grass when Housewarden Riddle overblotted."
"And he ate one of those black rocks after Azul overblotted as well," Jasper says.
"And knowing Grim, he probably found another one of those stones after Leona and Jamil Overblotted," Tanzanite adds.
"But he didn't freak out back then," Ace says. "What's the deal with those black rocks, anyway?"
"I didn't witness any of these incidents firsthand, so this is purely conjecture…" Crowley says, "But I suspect those black rocks were blot crystals."
"Blot crystals?" Briar and Sereia reply confused and shocked.
"What are blot crystals?" Deuce asks.
And there, they soon come to realize that those rocks that Grim has been eating, are really crystallized blot.
