Sloane's Subconsciousness
The years in Sloane's life were going by in a flash when compared to the outside world; while in here, she was living every single day and it was like torture to her. She was bullied, had been seriously injured multiple times and had been shunned over and over again by the townspeople.
This time, she was thirteen years old and running down a street near the woods. This was one of the greatest memories Sloane wished had remained forgotten
"I hate that town" Sloane shouted as she continued running down the street "Everyone thinks I'm weird. Elias keeps calling me a weirdo and Scott acts too nice. Hypocrites...all of them" she tripped and fell on her face. As she slowly got up, she noticed that a pack of wolves were also slowly approaching from the street up ahead
She got up, turned around and started running back towards town. The wolves also started running after her and then, she tripped on a pothole. Just as one of the wolves were about to jump at her, James grabbed it and with little to no effort, he split the wolf in half by it's jaws
"What are you doing all the way over here?" James shouted "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?"
"I....I don't want to stay in this town anymore" Sloane said as she got up from the ground
"You have no choice" James said as he punched away the wolves one by one "Now, do me a favor and move your feet. Call someone from town so they can help me with these" he said "I can't protect you and fight off this many by myself" one bit down on his arm and he growled "Get moving"
Sloane nodded and began to run towards town without looking back
'You coward' Sloane thought 'This is why it was my fault that he died. Kenzie...I'm sorry. That night...I abandoned him...I abandoned one of my demon generals who had always been by my side'
After returning back to town, she began to call for all the townspeople but nobody believed her. She suddenly found her way to Xavier and after informing him, that was when the townspeople followed along but it was too late. James was already on his dying breath and there was an ice shard that was stuck to his side, freezing his insides, while several dead wolves lay around him
"Sloane...get over...here...a sec" James said when he saw her
'I...don't remember this happening' Sloane thought as she watched through her teenage self's eyes 'I remember telling someone about this incident...who was that?'
Her teenage self walked over and stayed by James' head
"I...have two gifts...from your parents...for when you remember...this conversation" James said
"Why are you telling me this now?" Sloane asked as tears streamed down her eyes
"The first is...the activation word for...the complete emergence...of your bloodline....which is, snowfall. Your mother...wanted you to...know the truth" James said
"Seriously-"
"It's because...you will soon...forget this" James said as he let out icy breaths "The second...is the location....of all...the demon...generals and...what they look like. We kept it...in a chest...in the basement..." his breathing became heavier "As soon as...I die, everyone here...will forget everything I've...said...along with anything...to do with magic" he glanced behind Sloane "Xavier...watch...over her"
"I won't take it as seriously as you, but I'll try my best" Xavier said and James smiled before he completely stopped breathing.
A pink mist was released from his body and it blinded Sloane's line of sight as she rested her head on James' chest and cried. When the mist disappeared, everyone in towns memories were altered and instead of James dying from the ice shard, he died from loss of blood due to the injuries caused by wolves.
Among the things that changed, each of the wolves died by gunshots and not James ripping them apart with his bare hands. Xavier was nowhere to be found while Sloane's thirteen year old self began to fully believe she had been human from the very beginning as all the memories related to magic and demons, along with things related to her past, began to blur out slowly.
Although her thirteen year old self had already forgotten everything that had happened, the Sloane currently reliving this life of hers, remembered everything and a new feeling came in from Sloane's past body. It was a feeling of emptiness.
******
Elven Palace
The Great Room
"Nathan...are you alright?" Dante asked as he lightly tapped Nathan who was still laying on the floor
"He's been out for a whole day" Natasha said
"I'm starting to worry a bit" Cassandra added "He was out of it since last night but it's night time again. The second day since we received news about Sloane is already over"
"Mickey has been worried sick" Alexa said "There's been no news on Sloane and Nathan hasn't woken up"
"It might be best if we move Nathan back to his room" Dante said
"You wouldn't want to do that" Christian said
"Yeah. Who knows when he could just go up in flames like last time" Josey said
"The smoke hasn't cleared from his body meaning while we were trying to sleep, he probably went up in flames again" Timothy said while keeping close observation of Nathan
"How's Priya?" Fernanda asked
"We've put her on IV drips" Timothy said sadly "Lady Virginia is keeping an eye on her"
"'Priya's mental health was never stable to begin with', what did Lady Rielle mean by that?" Clark asked
"Priya's mother was killed in front of her by my father when she was eight and her father, instantly replaced her mother like it was nothing with her stepmother and step siblings. Each of them treated her like trash even when she hadn't gotten over her mother's death. It seems like the mental damage was suffered from there because, she refuses to return to Greenwood Springs even if her memories of us are erased" Timothy said "Priya once told me that she hated that town"
"Sloane also hates that town" Alexa said "It's no wonder how they both got along so quickly. Sloane and Priya are a little bit alike"
"Hopefully, Priya will recover from this" Clark said "Thanks to her nervousness yesterday, a lot of helpful potions and pills were created. Without Louisa, it would be pretty hard to heal that many injured. Only Priya could concoct medicines that are better than the ones Louisa makes"
"And you two?" Alexa asked
"We can only make as much as Louisa" Timothy said "That and Priya's magic allows her to give everyone a temporary buff. Although Giselle can do that too thanks to her healing magic increasing over the years, she's but a child. That's the main reason why Priya needs to get better"
"This whole situation is just frustrating" Brianna said
"You can say that again" everyone agreed when, just then, Nathan groaned a bit and everyone gathered around him
"Nathan" Dante called out
"You're too loud" Nathan replied back as he opened his eyes and sat up. The blanket fell from his upper body and exposed his muscular upper half
"Are you alright?" Dante asked and Nathan looked at him before clenching and unclenching his fists
"I'm fine" Nathan said and a purple shadowy substance moved to cover his upper half until it formed a dark purple tee-shirt and as he got off the ground, everyone noticed that he was wearing black cargo pants. "I need a drink" he mumbled as he walked over to the wine rack and took out the strongest bottle of wine
"The fact that Nathan's fine means-"
"Don't worry. Sloane is perfectly fine" Nathan said, interrupting Dante "At first, her thoughts and pain were flooding into me. But then, all her sadness seemed to have dried up and I could feel a lot of warmth"
"She must have overcome the devil's bloodline" Dante said
"This is a celebratory drink" Nathan said as he opened the bottle of wine and poured a glass for himself "Her majesty should be returning anytime soon" he took a gulp of his wine "With that, shouldn't everyone head to bed?"
"Thank goodness" Alexa said
"What a relief" everyone else let out
"Now we only have to worry about Priya" Fernanda said
"You can keep worrying. I'm off to bed" Josey said
"We all deserve the rest" Christian added and all of them left the room, leaving only Dante and Nathan in the great room
"Something wrong?" Dante asked "I know you well enough to know to never celebrate with a drink" he said and Nathan clenched his fist
"Damn it" Nathan said as he rested his head on the counter "The pain. All of the devil's pain was so much...it could drown anyone yet, Sloane went through so much pain alone. Her screams were ringing in my head and it felt like torture because I knew I couldn't do anything but listen. Sloane might return to us but I don't think she'll be normal after all the things I heard"
"I thought that this is why you and Little Mackenzie are with her" Dante said with a smile "You're her husband and Mackenzie is you two's daughter"
"Only by bloodline succession. We never mated with each other and Kenzie isn't biologically ours" Nathan said before taking a sip of his wine "I don't even think we'll ever mate since Sloane wants to free me from the succession. However, I'm not one to abandon my responsibilities"
"You finally admitted it" Dante said while laughing "Love works in mysterious ways"
"What are you talking about?"
"Nathan, you're in love with Sloane" Dante said and Nathan's lips paused a few minutes inches away from the glass. Before he looked towards Dante "What? You never noticed it? You want to mate with her but she believes all she's ever done is hurt you and is trying to keep away which is something you don't want. You use 'responsibilities' as an excuse to hide what you feel for her, stay close to her and try to protect yourself from the truth. Nathan, in truth...you-"
"Don't. You telling me that, will only make me think of it too much until it becomes a reality" Nathan said as he finished his glass of wine and left the great room
"I wonder if I hit the bullseye" Dante mumbled
******
Beginning And End Library
Underground training room
"What's happening?" Xavier asked as he noticed the orbs were merging faster
"She's probably completely absorbed the spirit seed" Hyacinth said with sweat dripping down his forehead "We'll have to move on to stage four immediately"
"Understood" Kathy said as magic power began to blast around the room "Xavier. Go at full power"
"Seriously?" Xavier let out as two more tails sprouted and now he had six tails while the whole place had turned a solid orange 'Even in this form, I couldn't defeat her. I don't think it will be enough to contain her powers'
At that point, the orbs lit up before completely becoming one with a thick goldenrod colour
"Lower it" Hyacinth shouted and Kathy nodded as they both slowly began to lower the orb
******
Sloane's Subconsciousness
The viewing of her and her mother's lives had finally come to an end as Sloane found herself staring at the mirror in the darkness. The only reflection in the mirror was hers and the tips of her hair was white. She reached out and touched it as tears fell down her face which she continually wiped away
'This isn't the right time' Sloane said as a look of determination appeared on her face "Snowfall" she said and the mirror shattered along with the world she was currently in