That night, Tempest had a weird dream. In her dream, she was in a forest on a path. She took it and it led her to an old medieval looking castle. On top of the draw bridge door was a strange symbol. It was an upside down crescent moon with a three pointed star underneath. The door was opened and she stepped inside.
Tempest wondered the halls; something inside told her to go to the center of the castle. She came to a set of double doors. Tempest opened the doors slightly and peeked in. She saw black robed figures in a circle surrounding a marble altar with artifacts on it; there was a goblet, a huge book that was opened, and five different colored crystals.
The figures were standing in a shape of a star surrounding the book that was opened. They were chanting something in an ancient language but she couldn't make anything of it. A huge glowing circle with runes appeared on the floor and a column of light, a dark light, came from it as well as a shadow from the center of the circle.
The shadow was huge with claws and it looked like a wraith, a shadow creature that Sean had told her about; they're summoned from dark (very dark) magic. Tempest started to get scared, so scared that she felt her heart racing with fear. Who were they? Who were they after?
The wraith looked towards her and fired a dark energy beam at her. She woke up in a cold sweat and her heart was still racing. 'That was a freaky dream and why'd I dreamt it?', she thought. Freaked out by the dream, Tempest decided to make a cup of chamomile tea with lemon to help her relax but when she turned on the lamp by her bed, there was a wooden box on her table.
"What? This wasn't here when I went to bed." The box was long and beautifully decorated and carved with gold and silver inlaid along the edges with rubies and sapphires. She tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. "Maybe Sean knows whose it belongs to." She picked it up and went to his room.
She was going to knock when she remembered that Sean kind of dislikes being awoken in the middle of the night so she went to the study downstairs and asked him about it in the morning.
The light in the study was on. Who could be here at this time of night? Tempest opened the door to find Sean talking to someone; it was Darren Wilson along with his son, Rick, who was about the same age as her. Both have red hair but Darren has glasses covering his green eyes. She met Darren when she was little and his son later on.
Rick's handsome looks sometimes distracts her but that's the last thing she wanted to happen; being attracted to him wasn't on her list...well, not yet at least. "Oh, uh....Tempest, what are you doing up? You've got school in the morning." "I couldn't sleep plus I found this in my room." She showed him the box. "I was wondering where that went." He put it away on the shelf after she handed it to him.
"I swear this has a mind of its own."
"Or whatever it is in there."
"True, Darren." Sean sat back at the desk and ask why she was up. Tempest told Sean about her dream and he paled when she got to the strange symbol and the wraith that the mysterious people conjured up.
"Crimson Crescent Dominion." "I'm sorry, what?" Darren explained that they were an ancient occult founded over a century ago. "Their founder was a wizard born of dark magic. Nobody knows where he'd came from; he just appeared in town one day."
"What is his name?"
Sean sighed and said, "Sebastian. That's his name."
"And nobody knows his origins?" He shook his head no.
He changed the subject and suggested that Tempest go back to bed. "Can't. That dream woke me up pretty good. So I'm going to the kitchen to make some tea to help me relax."
"Okay, then it's off to bed, young lady."
"Yes, dad," she said sarcastically and said good night to Darren.
In the kitchen, she got the tea, lemon, sugar, and the tea kettle. After filling it with water, she placed it on the stove and turned the pilot on. Tempest thought she was alone in the kitchen but after grabbing a mug from the shelf, she turned to see Rick in the doorway.
His sudden appearance spooked her and she dropped the mug; it didn't hit the floor because she cast a spell. "Levatis!" The mug floated an inch from the floor. Tempest slowly raised her hand and the mug went to the counter. "I've forgotten how clumsy you are." "Well, I'm not and I wouldn't be if a certain someone would stop sneaking up on people," she snapped.
She went back to what she was she doing; she poured the hot water into her mug and dip the tea bag in it when it was steeped enough, she added the sugar and lemon. Tempest grabbed her mug and a spoon and sat at the kitchen island. Rick sat next to her.
"I don't always sneak up on people. Well, not unless they've dreamt about a century old cult."
"Right. What do you want?"
"Nothing, just to talk since we'd hardly see each other." Rick was homeschooled, his dad figured that it was better since he was continuing his training while his dad worked from home as an accountant.
Rick would sometimes hang out with her and her friend, Patty. She knew that he lost his mother, Mary when he was little; something about discovering the Dominion's big plan or other but didn't get a chance to report it to her boss at the Prenia Magical Police Department which deals with the magical beings living in Prenia; Mary was a detective.
They sat in the kitchen and talked until it was time for Darren and Rick to leave. Tempest finished her tea and put her cup in the sink. They left the kitchen at the same time and as Sean and Darren were coming from the study.
They said good bye. Tempest told Sean that she was going back to bed. "Sean?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think the Crimson Crescent had anything to do with my parents?"
"I don't know, maybe."
She looked at him for a while from the top of the stairs, she was scared of asking the next question that popped into her head, knowing that she might get a "yes", " no", or a "maybe" answer so instead she said, "Good night." and headed to her room.
Sean knew that she wanted something else but didn't urge her to ask and let her go. Once inside her room, Tempest laid bed wondering why she dreamt that nightmare of that cult. Maybe the dream was a clue to what happen to her parents or maybe it's a warning of bad things to come.