Lyla followed the old man through the tunnels, her eyes darting to the walls that seemed to have been dug a millennium ago, though they still stood strong. The man before her walked surprisingly fast, and she had to speed up to match his pace
"So why exactly are we using tunnels? Is this how you travel?"
"No," the man replied, briefly turning to smile at her, "this is just for privacy's sake."
"I'm guessing no one other than the five of you knows about me being here."
"Yes, and we'll keep it that way," the keeper said behind her
She didn't mind; why would she want their whole realm to know of her anyway? Their walk continued before they came to a halt in front of a wooden door. The old man placed his hand on the door, and she didn't miss the white mist that emitted from his hand, magic.
They proceeded through a shorter tunnel and up a flight of stairs before they were met by another door. The man did the same thing, releasing his magic before the door gave way.
They were now in a white hallway with different markings in gold, swirling all over the walls. More and more markings were etched on every wall as they proceeded. She didn't bother to ask what they were or what they meant; she only followed the old man.
After passing two more doors, they walked into a grand room, the ancient chamber. It was large, large enough to fit at least five hundred people without them rubbing on each other due to a lack of space. Just like the halls they had passed, these walls also had markings, except their golden color seemed brighter, as though they had been written by the rays of the sun
Dropping from the ceiling was an enormous chandelier, the biggest she'd ever seen. Its glass reflected the light of the sun, whose rays were flowing from the huge glass windows, making the room sparkle. The ceiling itself was filled with magnificent drawings of all kinds of creatures and beings, small and large, mighty and fearsome.
At the front was a podium, and in the middle, there was a small pillar-like structure emerging. Above it, floating on air, was a big ruby red stone shaped like a diamond. It rotated slowly, moved by some foreign breeze. It had to be the said stone that would help determine who she was in this world
The Paisios walked towards it, beckoning her to follow. They stood before the stone. She beheld the stone, feeling the energy radiating from it, which made her nervous, and her arms trembled. The old man took them to his, a way of calming her down, she assumed
"We just need a tiny drop," he said, showing the small needle in his hands, where it came from, she didn't know
He took her forefinger, smiled, and pricked it. She winced
The man wrapped his magic around the finger, taking the drop of blood that had formed. She watched as it moved to the floating stone before disappearing into it
Nothing happened at first, and she breathed a sigh of relief; she wasn't the one. Even though she didn't know how the stone was supposed to react, she assumed no reaction, ascertained she was nothing special.
She was about to turn and demand they take her back home, but was stopped by a pulsing sound coming from the stone, then a burst of red emerged from it, filling every corner of the room for a second before the light shone solely on her
Her breath hitched as the light wrapped itself around her, making her skin tingle and her blood warm. She didn't dare move. Everyone focused on her
Her vision blurred for a few seconds before it cleared. In front of her stood two figures, the ones she had seen before in her dreams; one made of light, the other of darkness. They turned to face her and stretched their hands towards her.
In the distance, she could hear screams and wails from different people and creatures. A fire emerged behind the figures, taking with it everything on its path
The fire grew closer, and she wanted to scream for the two to run, but she found herself unable to talk. The fire was closer and fiercer, tears burned her eyes as the two were engulfed, sparks forming as the fire ate at them
Her pain turned to rage when the two were left as nothing but ash. A maniacal laughter rang within the fire, and she spotted glowing red eyes in the middle. That was her enemy, the one who had caused the deaths of so many, and of the two who always managed to make her feel warm and comforted
Her rage flared so menacingly that even the laughter ceased. She wanted to kill them, whoever had caused this, she was going to destroy them
Lyla didn't know that her anger could also be felt by those in the chamber, nor did she know that they couldn't see what she saw, but they could feel something surging, the air shifted, and even the cool breeze came to a stop
Lyla, on the other hand, was still facing her foe, who was nothing but fire and glowing red eyes. A voice echoed from everywhere, digging itself deep into her brain. The voice was a mixture of two, male and feminine, feminine and male, young and old, small and mighty
It played and played, clawing in her mind, SAVE THEM! SAVE THEM! SAVE THEM!
She raised her hands, pulling at her hair, "stop, stop, stop," she shouted
Everyone in the room was now in full alert, whatever was happening to her, they didn't know, but it was clear she was in distress, perhaps even in pain
"What's going on, Paisios?" the Keeper asked
"I don't know," the old man answered, worry lacing his voice
"We need to help her, she's going to pull her hair out," Anson said, reaching towards her, only to be stopped by Darius
"STOP," Lyla's voice thundered inside the room before a massive surge of power emitted from her as she screamed, and the people around had barely enough time to react except the Paisios who covered them in a protective ward, which he only let down once he was sure the remnants of her power faded
"What was that?" Anson asked
" I've never felt such intense and raw power before," Darius said, looking around the room
"Paisios?" the Keeper called
"I saw"
They all looked at the room they were in. Absolutely everything that was in that room had been turned to ash, even the shards from the broken windows and chandelier, everything except the stone and the walls that now carried big cracks. They had been lucky to escape with their lives
Lyla was out of her trance, and she looked around her, noticing the damage that had been done. Did she do all that?
"What did you do to me?" she asked, her voice nothing but a whisper
"What did we do to you? You almost killed us. I guess your magic has finally awoken," the Keeper replied in anger
Magic? She had Magic! Was she really one of them? Her breathing was heavy as she stared at the damage she had done. She had almost killed them, and her magic was enough to destroy a whole room
Their voices became distant as she tried to piece together what had just happened. Everything felt weird, even her body now felt strange. She felt something rolling around inside her and through her veins, it was weird but strangely familiar as though it wasn't something peculiar but a part of her that had always been there, silent and had now awoken. Her power
Her head felt light, and she was dizzy. Her limbs were heavy with exhaustion. Everything blurred before it all fell to darkness