by Elon Vidal
“It’s alright, Leah, let them through.”
Dawn turned to look at the Djinn who had just appeared and was looking at Leah like a proud father.
The girl let go of Damon and he exhaled loudly and rubbed his stomach.
“Are you alright?” exclaimed Dawn who was now kneeling beside Damon.
Damon coughed a couple times and gestured that everything was coming back to normal.
“They call me Aiken,” the Djinn said. “Cassiel, whom I believe you have met, spoke of how he helped this young lady connect her hound marks to their maker.” Dawn reflected on their first encounter with the owl-like djinn who helped her dream walk into the pixie castle and then brought her into the white room with Fisher and Elijah.
“I’m Damon, this is Dawn,” intervened the warlock, who now seemed to regain his composure after the young djinn’s assault.
Aiken continued. “You seek answers, as those that have come before you. And yet, these answers do not belong to you.”
“We only wish to find out the truth and help our friend,” Damon replied.
Aiken stood for a few seconds and finally invited them to follow him. Dawn and Damon both briefly looked at each other and he gently nodded to dispel the tension she was feeling.
They followed the elder Djinn through one of the side corridors towards the back of the library. Dawn marveled at the intricate space with personal sitting areas with carved on the wall between shelves. They were led inside a larger room full of floating books and a pen and paper working on their own. Now that was the kind of magic Dawn wanted. Where she could sit back and do multiple house chores at the same time with a single spell.
There was another Djinn sitting at a table with a large book in front of him, and he looked up as they walked in. The first Djinn waved his hand and made two chairs appear, which Dawn and Damon took.
The second Djinn didn’t introduce himself, but just stood there staring at them with curiosity in his eyes.
“Why does your friend require our help? And why should we give it?”
“His life depends on it,” Dawn answered.
“Are these not matters for your Council?”
“We need information that only you can give us,” Damon said. “Like why someone would take someone’s magic.”
“Take? That is simply not possible.”
“It is, and it happened.”
“Blood, yes. Magic, no,” Aiken argued. “Especially warlock blood, dark magic has much use for it because they descend from the great White Dragon.”
Dawn knew all of this of course, warlocks were like the gods’ gift to magical creatures because of it. The White Dragon had been said to breathe white fire, and it had been given to the goddess Aphrodite as a gift.
“Our friend, Elijah, was hunted for his blood and magic,” Damon explained.
“A warlock, yes?” Aiken asked, as if trying to prove his point that it had all just been for the magical properties in warlocks’ blood.
Dawn looked at the Djinn. “I believe the question we should all be asking is why Elijah? Why not Damon or any other warlock? Why would Fisher go through all this trouble to track and kidnap Elijah?”
“Coincidences often present themselves as more than they are.”
Dawn shook her head, “Not like this.”
She thought back to what the Cassiel, the djinn who had walked her into her dreams, had said. She then tried to dig into her own memories. She had seen a compass in her markings, together with a flame and the castle flower. That had to mean something, right?
“What would a compass represent?” she asked as she looked back at the Djinn. “A compass and cardinal points, together with a flame.”
The two elderly djinns looked at each other for a second then back at her. “Where would have one seen these things together?”
“Does it matter?” Dawn asked.
“Everything matters child,” they answered in unison, making a shiver go down Dawn’s spine.
“When Cassiel the djinn sent me on a dream walk, and I saw those symbols. There was a flower too, but I have only ever seen it in my dreams.”
“Your flower, describe it to me.”
Now at least that was something she could do. She could describe that flower in her sleep.
“It’s pure white, almost glowing. With open petals like Baker’s Larkspur, only the petals are layered, and the edges are jagged. The vines surrounding it are coiled but in an almost perfect pattern.”
“Hmm,” the Djinn hummed in unison again but didn’t say anything.
“So what could it mean?” Damon interjected. “There has to be something linked to it right? Fisher had a map that he used to take Elijah’s magic away, which could be the cardinal points. Even though the compass has cardinal points too.”
“You think correctly, despite your education coming from a Wiccan.”
“Well, truth is truth, right?” intervened Dawn.
“But what is the motive behind the truth?” Aiken questioned cryptically, which frustrated Dawn.
“Everyone seems to have a motive right now, which I couldn’t care less about. All I want are answers, and a way to help my friend.”
“We are not moved by emotions, young human. You would do well to save your anger for when it will be needed.’
“Then please, help us, you are the keepers of all sacred texts. Surely you must know something.”
“Knowledge is not always meant to be shared. Do not speak as if we owe you any answers simply because we have them.”
“Perhaps not,” Damon chimed in. “But you are on the side of the Council, is that not? And what we all want is to find Fisher and stop him. In order to do that, we must understand what he is doing.”
The Djinn were quiet again, as if trying to decide whether they were worthy of their answers.
Dawn sighed when they remained silent and continued with their theory. “We think it wasn’t just warlock blood he wanted; it was Enlightened blood.”
“And it would be way easier to take Elijah than it would be to take Ezekiel. But the question then becomes, what kind of a spell requires taking the blood of a warlock?” Damon asked.
Dawn wasn’t sure she wanted to find out the answer to that, but they had to. If they had any hope at all to get Elijah’s magic back and stop Fisher from doing whatever he was planning to do, then they had to know his motives. And they had to know what kind of dark magic they were up against.
“There are many spells that one can use warlock blood for, it is simply an ingredient,” Aiken said.
“It’s not every day that someone goes through all the trouble of kidnapping a warlock with Enlightened blood. There has to be a special spell Fisher would need it for, and that spell involves a map.”
“A locator spell perhaps,” the other Djinn said with a thoughtful look. “Yet there is no record of what one could be trying to find so badly.”
Aiken shook his head. “The Council was formed to keep all magic creatures at peace with one another, and to ensure that order was maintained. But that was not so in the beginning.”
“What are you saying?” Damon asked.
“There might not be a record of such a spell because it has never been used after the Enlightened ascended.”
Dawn was somewhat entranced that these djinns were starting to let them in on some insider information she had never come across. It was like being privy to a couple ancient masters whose knowledge spanned the ages. What was this Enlightened ascension? The four took a few seconds to ponder. The silence was broken by Damon.
“But there might be, before then? How would we know then if there was no Council back then, whenever back then actually is?”
“Because the Enlightened,” continued Aiken, “ascended from Guardian warriors. The protectors of the magic clans, the strongest of them all. They might not have been called Enlightened back then, but the principle remains the same.”
“So a spell that used the blood of the strongest of w
arriors?” continued Damon. “Is there record of such a spell?”
“Not a spell,” both Djinn said in unison. “But a sacrifice.”
Dawn and Damon looked at each other, and she could see that he didn’t like where this was going any more than she did.
“Several warriors sacrificed their lives to protect something, and warlocks sacrificed theirs to keep it hidden away.”
“Something?” Dawn asked with hesitation.
Aiken seemed to search for the words that they would understand. “Before it was locked away, it was what you now call Pandora’s Box.”
Great, Dawn thought, that didn’t sound ominous at all. She had heard of Pandora’s Box. Not that she knew much about it exactly, but she knew that opening it spelled trouble. She knew it to be a jar full of evils that, if opened, would release pain and suffering into the mortal world. However, Aiken explained that Not everything in the box was evil. Hope, virtue and truth were as much a part of it, a balance of sorts that counters and heals the pain.
“You think Fisher is after the box?” Dawn continued.
“Perhaps,” Aiken replied, then his marking began to glow as he took a deep breath. “Old texts mention three trials put in place as a key to the box. First there is death and rebirth. Then there is old and new magic. Finally, the last trial is to reveal one’s true self. No one has ever completed the trials before, of course, because getting all the artifacts is an almost impossible task that can take up one’s soul.”
Dawn was now beginning to understand that Fisher was playing with more than fire. He was trying to get hold of powers that clearly surpassed those of the Council, or any magic she had thought existed. He had summoned Hounds and Wraiths, deceived the Council’s wards, and taken her friend’s magic. It all seemed quite out of her reach, too big for her to deal with. But when Fisher’s acts harmed her friend, well, that just made it personal.
“Do you think Fisher is trying to complete the trials?” Damon asked. “So far we have the murder of an entire clan of Pixies, a magical eclipse, and then Elijah’s magic.”
“For death, there is rebirth, and for old magic, there is new magic. You might be right, young warlock,” Aiken said with a nod.
“If I’m assuming correctly, do the Pixies represent death? Dawn had to ask.
The djinn thought about it for a second. His feathers opened up for an instant, as if they granted him the space he needed to consider the implications. He then continued to explain. “Rebirth is signaled by the eclipse. It was a likely consequence of perished Pixies. It would seem the first trial has already been achieved.”
“And how about Elijah’s magic,” Dawn then continued. “Is that the loss of old magic, like that of the Enlightened?”
“It might be so,” followed Aiken. He continued, as if he was connected to a higher source. “You see, old magic still lingers even after death, waiting for centuries to be renewed and reborn. Enlightened magic could allow for it to be collected, or it might at least attract it. A sufficient amount of it could fulfill Pandora’s second trial. There is reason to believe that his loss opens up a new possibility.”
“The flipside of the coin,” Dawn reasoned. She recalled how life had started changing for her since recent events. Light energy began emerging from her, and she had entered her recurring dream into her own memories. She continued he trail of thought. “Then if old magic is represented in the Enlightened, what is new magic?”
The djinn looked at each other and Dawn swore she was going crazy when they both smiled. “We believe it is you.”
THIRTEEN
The following day had begun on a busy note. Dawn’s mom left early as usual because all the Fae were working overtime to help strengthen magical wards everywhere. Now that the information about Fisher was out, the Council was not taking any chances with protection. It had taken several promises that she would not get in trouble to get her mother to finally leave, and as soon as Dawn was alone, she had called Elijah. Some tough love was in order, and she had told him in a no-nonsense voice to get out of bed and help her fix the problem. Damon had picked him up and now they were at the training center, which was the only place they could go without the Council knowing they were disobeying orders again. The only place they were allowed to go really since they had bodyguards wherever they went.
“Let me get this right,” Elijah said after Dawn had finished filling him in on what had taken place when they had visited the djinn. They had been doing some warmup exercises and stretches and positioned themselves in a way that would cover their mouths so that they could speak with one another without the watchful eyes of their guards noticing. “There’s a trial you’re unknowingly a part of now against some unknown power that could end the Fae and human races?”
““No one is ending anything,” Dawn laughed. It had been a shock learning that whatever Fisher had begun had triggered the power within her. Now her energy appeared to be immune even to the magic of the Council. She continued stretching her neck by pulling with a hand on the back of her head in a way that her elbow was placed in front of her face. “The djinn told me it was Fisher who might have when he began messing with magic to find this Pandora box,” she clarified. “Remember when we saw the eclipse? That was because Fisher’s had completed the first trial and took the fairy clan with it.”
Dawn busied herself picking the instruments that would be used for today’s fake training session. It was best to tone down the hardcore battle gear and instead use some elastic bands and similar equipment that would keep them close to each other so they could discuss a plan for their next steps while going unnoticed for the guards.
In a way Dawn felt good finally knowing something about the energy inside her, even though it was leading her on a dangerous path. She didn’t know the extent of it, or if it would have any side effects. She was still trying to come to terms with it. In a very short period of time, she had gone from wanting to nurture plants, thinking she didn’t have any magic, and dismissing the First Guard, to discovering her magic powers of a Fae dreamer who saw the future in dreams and becoming a centerpiece in some larger magical transition game.
Elijah spread and anchored his right arm on Dawn’s hand so he could stretch his chest and face Dawn from the other side with his back to the watchful guards. Then Dawn said something that seemed to pique his interest even more. “And,” she continued, “it might be the key to getting your magic back. Whoever completes the trials gets the power to do almost anything, which has to include giving someone magic.”
Elijah nodded, finally looking like he was getting on board with the plan. “And you think the Council will just let you take this power?”
Dawn scoffed. “Of course not, that’s why we are doing this quietly. We get in, get out, and boom, you get your magic back.”
“But we still don’t know where we are going?”
“Which is why we are here. The djinn said once a trial is completed, the map points the way to the next. First there is death and rebirth. Fisher completed that trial. Then there is old magic and new magic. You lost your magic, which is Enlightened magic. Fisher is collecting it. They said my light energy is this new magic. The last trial no one has ever completed it successfully. Pandora failed her trial when the jar was entrusted to her care, and after that it was hidden from the world. So the final trial is tricky, but we either get ahead of Fisher or risk whatever he uses it for once he finds it. I think it can be done.”
“And what about the taking up your soul bit?” Elijah said.
“We’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen now, won’t we?”
“And even knowing all this, we still want to do this?” Elijah asked, looking intently at Dawn.
His blue eyes bore into her own as if searching for answers. All she could think of right then was that she had to try, Elijah deserved that much. If they were smart about it, they might even have a fighting chance. Of course, it would be a very unfair fight considering that Fisher was obviously very powerful,
but they would give it all they had. Right now, what they had to do was find a place full of old magic and find something to help them complete the second trial.
When she realized that she had been looking at Elijah for too long and acting weird, she blinked and looked away. She didn’t want Elijah to start thinking that she was interested in him that way, even though she had kissed him. As if in an unspoken agreement, they had both decided to not talk about it, but she wasn’t helping matters by staring at him. Come on Dawn, snap out of it, she managed to remind herself. There’s this whole other big thing that still needs to be sorted out.
“We have to try,” she finally said, and luckily Elijah nodded.
“What are we looking for?”
“Records of old burial grounds used by people with magic. The djinn said old magic still lingers on, waiting for centuries to be renewed and reborn. We are looking at crypts that have been there for a very long time and might even be traced to original Enlightened power, even before Council times.”
“There are interesting stories about old burial grounds?” Elijah asked in surprise.
“Ghost stories, strange occurrences etcetera. Our best bet is might be to go through records of Enlightened burial grounds. That’s why we’re here. Damon will give us access to the First Guard’s archive.”
“Okay, got it.”
Having finished their training, Damon came over and made it as if he had arranged to show them around the First Guard compound. After all, Dawn was meant to be training for First Guard and would have to know her way around so showing her around would seem reasonable to any watchful eyes. Not far from the training room was the First Guard documentation center. Much like a library, it was stocked up with books, archives, and evidence of spells, combat tactics, magic folk archives, and more importantly for them, an Enlightened family tree of sorts.