"Oh good, you're awake. I was afraid I did something wrong."
I winced, groggily opening my eyes only to snap them closed again at my sudden wave of nausea, a headache blooming at the base of my skull. After waiting for a moment, I sat up and stood only to end up stumbling. I grabbed onto Ani to prevent myself from falling to the floor and grunted in displeasure.
Careful.
Oh yeah, the weird voice was still there. I still don't know anything about that. I felt Stitch fill me with energy and let go of my brother, instead managing to stand on my own, "What happened?"
I still had no idea what had happened after I fainted but my head had hurt so something must've happened. Animus being all sociopathy hadn't helped with my concerns either. Eilenna is a real one.
My brother gave me a secretive smile, reaching out to pat my head for no reason, "Nothing much."
...does he think I'm stupid? I can tell, clear as day, that what he just said was a lie. Though, I have a feeling that it genuinely was nothing to worry about. So I didn't.
"Animus, Thráxi?" Diamond interjected, eyes glued on one of the cave walls. I got déja-vu and one glance at my brother confirmed he also did; his eyes were fixated on that wall.
"This may not seem like anything much‒"
I narrowed my eyes and interrupted her, words automatically flowing out of my mouth, "Anything simple-looking has an 85% chance of being dangerous."
Diamond gave me a self-conscious look along with an acknowledging nod before rewording her sentence, "Actually, this might not be anything much," she pointed at words engraved on the stone, "At one point, this wall was blank. And then, out of nowhere, words carved themselves in, as if they were being written into existence."
At that moment, Animus' eyes widened and he unconsciously stepped forward--I could tell--fingers tracing over the words as he whispered the sentences under in breath. We heard him, both Diamond and I.
Three are the heavens, three are the seers,
Three are the rulers above their years.
Dare I say, Diamond and I had matching faces of astonishment albeit for entirely different reasons. As observant as I am, her expression afterwards was indecipherable, which made me even more skeptical of her. She does nothing to make herself seem unsuspicious. I saw the indiscreet glance she gave me. She read your mind. I know that much.
"A prophecy," Animus told us, having gotten near the both of us without our knowledge. At that same moment, I swear I saw something around him darken. I raised an eyebrow--as soon as I saw it, it was gone.
Diamond looked like alarms were blaring inside her head at his observation. So did I, though it most definitely was for a different reason. I winced, turning to see my brother clutching my arm tightly, his eyes staring into nothing as they rapidly changed colours. His eyes snapped in a random direction and he let go of my arm.
"There's a ghost."
My breath hitched. How did he know? He shouldn't be able to tell. The absence of the voice in m head suddenly felt heavy, and noticeable.
'Thou vacuous fool! What hast thou done!? Thy ignorance ended us! What of the coal? The fluor is much moe than that! None can counter a foresight!'
I clutched my head; the jumbled sounds sounding much more discernable yet so much scratchier than they had been in the throne room--they were completely different voices than before, I realized at some point. I let go of my head, mentally pushing the voices away, eyes drawn on the centre of the foggy crowd that had formed‒the ghosts of people who'd died in this cave without rest‒and stood by with my siblings. A name I didn't recognize slipped out of my mouth and at the same time, my brother said the same exact thing.
"Nemesis."
The name worked like a spell.
A thin silver mist formed from shadows and out came a foggy entity surrounded by a dismal aura. Out of instinct, I reached for my moonstone necklace. A subconscious part of me knew that this necklace wasn't what it seemed, but I didn't know what it was.
I do.
"My, my, Vrádia. It seems you have grown younger!" I don't know why, but I seethed in rage, the weirdly human-like voice grating on my nerves. What a horrid imitation.
"My name isn't Vrádia, it's Thráxi!" I shouted, an unwelcome fury seeping into my veins. I had no reason to be this angry, this ghost hadn't done anything to me. I hate him.
"Oh?" The entity had the gall to ask, as if surprised. Even I had a feeling that who I actually was wasn't what had surprised him but rather... my reaction, "Ah, yes. I can see a slight difference."
Okay, I don't know who Vrádia is, but the audacity--
"I shall introduce myself to you then, young Lady of Stone," Nemesis mock bowed as he interrupted me, probably relishing at my shock when he used an accurate title for me, "Call me Nemesis, the ghostly shell of the centuries late Kárvouno Stone," He lifted what must've been his head and gave us a misty imitation of a smile, "Rogue soul, former and current holder of a charcoal stone."
I tensed at his use of 'a' instead of 'the'. He knew much more about me than I thought.
"Animus, make a barrier," I told my elder brother without turning around, consciously moaning so I stood in between my brother--where is Diamond?--and Nemesis. Rubbing my fingers on the moonstone pendant on my neck, I took it off and gazed at it passively. I had no idea what it did but I had a feeling I needed it. I closed my eyes, seeing a curtain of colours beneath my closed lids as the air shifted and my surroundings turned cold. I almost laughed at the feeling.
Nemesis was on guard.