Bloom swallowed hard as she felt the pointy tip of Lilith's dagger on her throat. Lilith eyed the trembling Bloom from head to toe, Wonder how the girl had known about her hideout.
"Please don't kill me, I come in peace" Bloom said with a shaky voice. She could feel sweat run down her neck and back. She was sure that her cape was already drenched with her sweat of fear.
"What do you want? Why have you followed me here? How did you get here?" Lilith question all at once, expecting her to answer but then Bloom was silent as the dagger pressed a little deeper into her flesh and she winced. Lilith could see Bloom wincing in pain and saw small blood from her neck where she held the dagger. Lilith put down the dagger , still holding Lilith under her gaze as if she was daring her to make a move.
Bloom felt the pain from the small nick on her neck and she used the back of her palm to wipe the blood out.
"Why are you here?" Lilith asked again.
"It's Amora,I, uh, she needs your help" Bloom stuttered. Lilith rolled her eyes at the mention of Amora's name.
"You mean the fake one at the house?" Lilith asked ,her face showing no emotions. She placed her dagger into it's sheath and put it on her leather belt that ran around her waist. Her side shaved purple hair glimmered underneath the coming darkness.
"What? You knew she was a fake?" Bloom asked.
"I only suspected, and now you confirmed" Lilith replied flatly.
"Well, that isn't Amora alright, that's Feldar the Wanderer in Amora's form and he has Amora trapped in her friend's dream and has everyone, I mean everyone, including royal house under his dark dream spell" Bloom spoke with so much worry in her eyes but Lilith looked like she didn't care about the situation on ground.
"Well, everyone except us and the three witches who helped Amora get the dream walking spell and they concealed our consciousness but this can only last for little time" Bloom spoke again but Lilith's expression still remained blank.
"Don't you care at all? We'll all die in nightmares. Please we need a harbinger of storm for the spell and you are the only living one please. Don't tell me you don't care about your family, about Vadina?"
Of course she did care about her family quite alright even if they were always in her case and making her feel out of place, she still loved them but was never going to blend in. If only her mother lived, perhaps she would be less bothered about the Daeva house and their Epistles on being noble.
"So, where are we performing the spell?" She finally spoke and Lilith heaved a sigh and smiled. "The house of the witches Lilith, they have the other materials there and we need to leave now" she said.
"Alright, I'll be back" Lilith said as she walked to the tree opposite them and muttered some words and she suddenly could climb up using invisible stairs and entering the tree is an invisible door. Bloom had her mouth opened in a daze as she had never seen such magic in her entire life. "Well, her mother was a powerful witch and harbinger of storm" she said to herself.
Lilith soon appeared with a leather bag and then with an eye roll, she asked Bloom to lead the way. Bloom threw the portal ball on the ground and a portal opened for them to pass through.
Meanwhile, the witches three were in a state of panic as Bloom was taking too long to get back and the darkness was looming closer and closer. The consciousness cloaking spell they had done was beginning to fade little by little.
"Oh snittle! Whatever happened to Bloom?" Caissa said.
"We don't have much time. Feldar will get the scent of our consciousness and we'll be trapped in our nightmares forever. Let's just go into the mirror" Callandra said.
Bloom and Lilith appeared soon enough and the three witches sighed in relief when they saw the duo.
"What took you so long?" Calluna asked.
"Uh, it was uh something little" Bloom said as Lilith gave her a warning glare.
"Thanks be to the moon goddess you are here" Callandra spoke with a heavy sigh.
"Alright, alright, that's enough fussing about, let's get to work, I've some important work, except you wanna enjoy living in your silly nightmares" Lilith spoke bluntly at the three identical witches.
"She speaks" Said Callandra as she eyed Lilith. "And she's rude"she added with a frown.
Caissa summoned the cauldron and the book of shadows. " First, we need the storm water from the harbinger of storm" She said. They all felt a sensation after Caissa spoke. "That's the concealing spell wearing out, come on, don't just stand there, do the water thing" Callandra said to Lilith.
Lilith shoved the witch's hands off hers and then with a deep breath, her eyes turned white as a very dark cloud formed over the cauldron and with a finger snap, it rained inside the cauldron just the right amount the needed for the spell. The witches added the other things and began to chant the spell. They were to chant the spell seven times and then add Feldar's night dust but on the fourth one, there was a thunder clap and darkness outside, Feldar had found them. "Oh! It's him! Goddess save us!" Calluna whimpered. Lilith immediately took the cauldron and shoved the witches and Bloom behind a chair with her before Feldar spotted them.
Feldar got into the house and could sniff consciousness around. "What a lovely cottage for lovely people. I know you are in here, come out now" he said in a singsong voice.
Calluna peered from behind the chair and saw him staring at their potions rack. Feldar was tall and handsome with his dark hair cascading down to his shoulders and his face , perfectly molded. "Oh my! He's so handsome" Calluna whispered to her sisters. Lilith rolled her eyes at them.
"We have to get his night dust or the spell isn't complete and to do that, he has to be trapped in a cage but we don't have any" Bloom spoke. Feldar was about to get closer to the chair where they hid but Bloom quickly threw something the other way and that distracted him.
Lilith left the hiding place and sneaked behind Feldar. "Looking for me?" She asked and when he turned, he made to pour the night dust on her but she ducked quickly and kicked him in the face.
"Ha! You think you'll escape your nightmares?" He cackled with evil laughter as he held the side of the face where Lilith's kick had hit him.
"I already live in one, I do not need another" she replied.
Feldar couldn't believe that a mere Mystian was standing up to him the king of nightmares. He began to conjure something that looked like a beast. The head and arms were visible but the rest of it's body were slowly being conjured from Feldar's spell. Feldar's eyes were red now and his hair covered his face. Lilith looked around for a cage but there wasn't any.
"You need to find a cage before he unleashes whatever that thing is" Callandra said as she also came out of hiding with her sisters to help Lilith. An idea occured to Lilith and then she closed her eyes for a few seconds and when she opened it, her eyes were flashing with lightening and the bracelet she wore had lightening around it. It looked like the lightening she conjured was being powered by the bracelet she wore. She had lightening around her now , Callandra and her sisters and Bloom stepped backwards to avoid being thrown and whipped by the lightening that was now all around Lilith. Lilith directed the lightening towards Feldar and it wound around, forming a cage around him. Feldar's night magic disappeared as he was trapped in the lightening cage that Lilith had conjured. Feldar's dark night spell was in motion even in the cage.
"Quick do the spell and Bloom, get the night dust from his pocket, I don't know how long I can hold him" Lilith said as she was wincing a bit from the excess lightening she was conjuring and clashing with Feldar's magic which was trying to get hold of Lilith's lightening. Bloom now close to the trapped Feldar, reached into the cage and took out a leather pouch that held Feldar's night dust and quickly Feldar's eyes charged and she was sent flying and crashed into the wall. She got back up, with pain at the back of her neck and tossed the pouch to the three witches who immediately began to chant.
"What was taken from reality
Must once again be returned hastily
Spirit to body
Body to mind" then they added the night dust and continued with the chant.
" As we chant
Deliver us the key to undo the bind" Callandra stirred and then the cauldron glowed and out came a key which Caissa held as the spell went on and Lilith giving all she had to hold the wanderer down.
" As we chant
Undo the bind
What now holds Amora
With this key set all free
Return the wanderer
To whence he came
So all can be at ease
Back to the same
restituare omnria staitera ein rie
Níe mâr oērdú āchur œr ais"
With the last chant, Caissa placed the key on the ground in a way that it stood and Lilith powered it up with her lightening and just then the key created its own bluish-black light that began to form a door. The door flung open and with a mighty wind gush and lightening, Feldar was pushed in and the door slammed shut. Two other doors appeared and then in one of them, Amora appeared unconscious, while the other one was another girl. Lilith had already fallen to the ground unconscious with lightening surrounding her like a cocoon.
Bloom and the three witches ran to the unconscious Amora and found her looking very pale almost blue and so was the other girl.
"Who is she?" Calluna asked.
Bloom stared at the face properly and found out it was Neyastra.
" It's Neyastra,a girl from the halls" she replied.
"Will they be alright?" Bloom asked as she held Amora in her arms and stared at Lilith who was still covered in lightening.
"Yes they would be fine and so will everyone else but it would take days to return back to consciousness and their normal color and this will all feel like a dream to them" Calluna explained.
"Oh thank you, thank you so much" Bloom thanked the three witches. "How about her?" She asked them about Lilith.
"Well, we don't know what is wrong with her, but we trust she would be just fine , she's a Daeva and a strong one" said Caissa.
"I'll just prepare carpets to fly these two straight into their chambers for longer slumbering" that was Calluna speaking as she and Callandra readied two green carpets to put hexes on.
Bloom was very grateful to the witches for helping her save Amora and the entire Vadina. She was also grateful to Lilith but Lilith was still wrapped in her lightening cocoon, unconscious. The carpets just as the witches said, took both Neyastra and Amora straight to their chambers. The entire Vadina was asleep, all except Calluna, Caissa, Callandra and Bloom.
Lilith's lightening cocoon unwrapped her after some hours and she woke up feeling weak all over.
"What happened?" She asked weakly as she got off the floor.
"Well, you were wrapped in your lightening and seems like it helped you heal from the energy strain but you are still weak Lilith, you need rest" Calluna was the only one in the cottage, pounding some mixtures together for Lilith to drink.
"I am perfectly fine, I need to leave" Lilith staggered as lightening flashed through her body. She was staggering to the door, picking up her leather bag and dagger.
Calluna saw how weak she still was and only smiled knowing she would breakdown anytime soon. "Three, two, one" she counted and Lilith fell to the ground with a loud thud, slipping into the dark folds of unconsciousness.