I wake up in the middle of the field with my backpack beside me. My eyes take a minute to adjust to the light and I look around while I sit up. I am in a clearing in the woods, there are trees all around. I stand up and my side is in excruciating pain, I lift my shirt to reveal a symbol tattooed into my side over my ribs. It looks familiar, it is the symbol from the door.
"What the hell? Did she tattoo me?"
"No, that means you have accepted your powers and your destiny." A man says as he reveals himself from the tree line.
I am startled by the man's voice and I cover my stomach back up with my shirt. By the time I look back up he was standing in front of me. I had a feeling that I know him. I take a minute to look at Daniel, he is hot, I mean I can see his abs through his shirt and his jawline could cut through glass. His eyes are the color of the Caribbean Sea and his have is jet black. Oh my god. I stand up.
"You!"
"What?" he says trying to act confused, however, I see right through him.
"You're the guy from math class. What the hell are you doing here?" I am so confused.
"I am your guide, to help you fulfill your destiny."
"Did you know about me this whole time! Why didn't you tell me anything?" I could feel anger start to creep up inside me.
"I wasn't allowed to, you needed to accept your destiny before I could reveal myself."
"Okay."
"My name is..."
"Daniel." I cut him off.
"How do you know?"
"Lucky guess."
"Okay. Well, we should get going."
"Right,"
We walk into the vast forest. I don't see a path so hopefully, Daniel knows where he is going. An hour passes and we just keep walking deeper into the forest. My trust in him begins to waver a bit and I begin to get anxious.
"So, Daniel. Remember that day at school that you asked to sit with me and then you left when you saw Cade."
"Yeah. I remember."
"Why did you run away?"
"Well, um." He hesitates, then accepts defeat, "Cade cannot be trusted. He is believed to be working for Aluca. That is why Realia sent you that vision, so you would leave him to get to New York."
"But I have known Cade for as long as I remember. He wouldn't hurt me."
"Chara, think about it. He wedged his way into your life and never told you what you were even though he knew. You know, Glaras has the gift of knowing what other people are. He knew you were a god, but never told you."
I am silent with disbelief, but I soon realize it isn't disbelief, it's denial. A few more hours pass by and we come by another clearing with a small log cabin.
"We can stay here tonight, lets rest and have some food."
I nod in response and we enter the cabin. I tell Daniel I will take the couch since there is only one bed. He insists that I take the bed and he will not back down. I go into the bedroom and sit down on the bed opening the backpack. I notice the backpack has some extra things inside that were not there before. I reach inside the bag and begin to remove the contents. I removed the book that I got from Haven, then another book with the symbol that is now tattooed on my side. I have never seen this book before.
I open it to the first page and see a picture of me. It is very specific, I have my jet-black hair, piercing blue eyes that are almost white, high cheekbones, tanned skin, and athletic body shape. The only thing off is that I have never had a photo like this taken of me and it looks like a recent photo. Underneath it says, Chara (missing): Goddess of Sinalo. Sinalo, I have never heard of it before. I turn the page and there is a photo of a beautiful woman with almost white eyes like mine and high cheekbones. Her hair is chestnut brown. Below it reads, Shalhalla: Goddess of the Elements. Underneath that, it has a spot for relationships and children. It reads, Wife of Noc. Children: Chara (missing) and Rela (deceased). I wonder who Rela is, if she is the daughter of Shalhalla, does that mean I had a sister and she died? I decided to leave the rest for later and go to sleep.
I am woken up to a knock at my door. It's Daniel.
"Come in," I shout not wanting to get up.
"Come we must leave, pack up and meet me outside in 5 minutes."
I nod and groan as I stand up. I get dressed into the outfit from my bag and I got to admit, it is awesome. A leather jacket with black jeans and a white crop top. I pack up the books and head out front to find a scene straight out of a horror movie. There is blood everywhere and a bunch of people steps out of the tree line ganging up on Daniel. He is having trouble holding them off. I frantically look around, unsure of what to do, all of the emotions I am feeling overwhelm me and I let my powers come blasting out. I close my eyes hoping Daniel will be okay. When I open my eyes, everyone is on the ground, everyone except Daniel. He looks badly hurt, I run over to him and catch him as he keels over. I used a lot of my power, but I know that I can't carry Daniel by myself, so I tried something, it was a thought that came into my head that wasn't my own. I am unsure who gave me the idea, but I am thankful. I focus on the healing powers from the earth. I then try to use that power and give it to Daniel. I close my eyes to help me concentrate. I feel Daniel's touch on my arm, and I open my eyes. He is all healed up.
"Thank you." He smiles.
"Not a problem, now we should get going."
As we stand up, I see a look cross Daniel's eyes, it's a look of amazement and fear.
"They are just knocked out, now come on before they wake up."
Daniel looks at me, sadness in his eyes, "Chara, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but they aren't knocked out."
"What do you mean," I ask even though, deep down I know the dreadful answer.
"Chara," he pauses, "They are all dead."
Once those words came out of his mouth, I broke down crying. I couldn't hold it in, I just killed about 30 people. Daniel holds me in his arms as I cry, and it helps me calm down. Once I have no tears left, Daniel lifts my chin up with his finger, so my eyes are looking into his.
"Chara, we have to go. Whatever you want to talk about, we can do on the way to our next location. Let's go."
We start to walk back into the forest. I can't believe I killed that many people, they weren't even those demon servants, they looked as human as I do.
"Chara, are you okay?"
This question made something snap in me, "Okay? I am so far from okay, who were those people? I just killed 30 people. They will never make it back to their families."
"Chara, you don't know what those things were, do you?"
I look at him puzzled.
"Chara, they weren't people. Those were high-class demons called Ravenier. They can look like humans; however, they can teleport and have super strength. If you didn't do what you did then we both would be dead right now."
Knowing this my nausea dissipates. They weren't human, they weren't even alive. I did the right thing. The guilt begins to fade away, but not completely. I still killed something, even if it was nowhere near being human. We step out of the woods into a city landscape. We make our way over to a hotel that Daniel checks us into. Once in the room, I open up the book with the symbol on the cover as Daniel has a shower. I flip past the page about myself and my mom. The next page shows a handsome man with jet black hair like my own and a square jaw. His eyes are as dark as night. Below the picture, it says, Noc (banished): God of the Night. It also says the Husband of Shalhalla and Children: Chara (missing) and Rela (deceased). At the top of the next page, there are the word Abilities. Below it has my mother's name and a list of her powers. She can manipulate the four elements, has telekinesis, and can manipulate lightning. Next is my father, his powers include, teleportation, night vision, telepathy, and mind manipulation. The next name is my own and to my shock, it says, unknown. That word unsettles me, how can they know all about my parents; however, not know what powers I have. What should I practice then? I guess I can just focus on what my parents have and see what I got from then. I was stuck in my thoughts, so I didn't hear Daniel get out of the shower.
"Hey Chara, whatcha reading?"
I shudder in surprise, "God Daniel, don't do tha..."
I look over at Daniel and see he is suspended in the air.
"Oh my god! I am so sorry." I let him down gently.
"Remind me to never get on your bad side," he chuckles, and I laugh as well, "So, what are you reading?"
"Oh, it's a book from Realia, I think. It appeared in my bag when she sent me to you. It tells me about my parents and their powers."
"Really? That is so cool, so I am guessing that will help you practice your own. What does it say about yourself?"
"That's the thing, under abilities besides my name all it says is unknown, what does that mean?"
He gives me a puzzled look, "I have no clue, I mean if the Lahalo doesn't know, what could that mean?"
We just stand there in silence for a few seconds. A thought then crosses my mind.
"Hey, Daniel?"
"Yes."
"Where are we heading to?"
"A kind of safe house for you. There you will learn to advance your powers to prepare for the fight."
"What fight?"
"The fight to bring down Aluca and bring peace back to the gods."
My eyes widen in shock, "I have to fight Aluca? How could I possibly win against him?"
"You just have to believe in yourself and your powers."
I nod not sure of what to say.
"I have one more question."
"Shoot," Daniel says.
"If I will have to take down Aluca, what happens to the underworld? Without someone there, wouldn't the demons run free?"
"Well, if something happened to Aluca, Noc was supposed to take over. Since he was the next in line, I think you would take over."
My jaw drops in disbelief, I am supposed to take over the underworld! I can't do that. I'm seventeen years old, I haven't even graduated high school yet.
"Chara, are you okay?"
"I am going to go to bed. Goodnight."
"Okay, night."
As I am lying down on the soft bed, I could not fall asleep. My mind wouldn't stop racing with thoughts and questions. I can't rule the underworld, I want to live my life, graduate high school, and go to college to become a doctor. I wonder where this safe house is, I feel a bit suspicious as if Daniel is not telling me the whole truth about where we are going. Then as my thoughts begin to slow down, I am left with one final question. Where is Zane?