Chapter: 6 - Hecate's Crossroads

Cold air swept through Juwan's spine as he opened his eyes. A chill ran through Juwan's gut when he saw what was around him. He was no more in his class. He was standing in the middle of a cross-way road far away from his world. The sky in that world was dark red and the word had no sun or moon.

All the four roads were surrounded by dead dark trees with no leaves. The roads were covered with mist, hiding the infinite view of were the road lead. The most creepiest thing was a women in front of Juwan. Under the dark clouds of the red sky, Juwan slowly moved towards the lady

"Ma'am? What is this place?" Juwan was trembling in fear. The women was dressed in black robe. Her head was hung down hiding her face face from Juwan's view. The long silvver hair from her head was flowing in the hot cold air. She had her hands behind her as if she was trying to hide something.

"Ma'am??" Juwan was about lose his mind in fear. Around him there was nothing alive except for the women. He tried to convince himself that it was a dream. He calmed down thinking that the scenery would change if he could think straight.

After all, if he was dreaming, he could wake up any time. Juwan tried to get a look at the four roads. They all looked the same. They were covered with yellow sand and on both the sides there were the dark trees. The roads were visible only up to a point. After that it was fully covered mist.

'Maybe if I play along with the dream, I might be able to wake up.' Juwan thought and went even closer to the women and tapped her lightly on the shoulder, "Ma'am? Are you alright??"

The women whispered something.

"What?? Ma'am can you repeat? I didnt hear you."

With a sudden jerk the women lifted her face. Shocked by her appearance, Juwan fell on the ground about half a meter away from the lady. Tension and fear stretched around Juwan's forehead when he saw her face. The cold wind swept through the sweat on his forehead and gave him a hard chill. Her eyes had no pupils in them. They were white as milk. Juwan tried to scream but his throat wouldn't obey him.

"Oh child.....ctu, ctu,ctu.." She pitied, "did I scare you, child." She said with a sarcastic concern and licked her lips, " Its been quite some time since I had a decent meal. May be today is my lucky day!!!!" She hissed.

Juwan closed his eyes and prayed.

"Oh, come on now. We very rarely have visitors and so we expect warriors to battle not cowards to laugh at." She growled disappointed by Juwan's behaviour.

'What? Is she bullying me? Apart from her half apparent nothing about her seems human and she wants me to fight her?? Who is she kidding? This is going to be one very bad dream...' Juwan thought and sighed at his situation. Slowly he opened his eyes and to his horror, the lady had six hand now. Not two. Seemed like she had hidden her four hands behind her till then. Juwan broke. It was outrageous. Now she definitely can't be human.

"Who are you!!" Juwan screamed. The wind around turned furiously. The lady's dark robes waved as blood dripped from one of her hands. She was holding something dripping wet with blood. Is it a beating heart? On one hand she held a bloody bronze dagger and two brightly burning torches appeared on two of her other hands. A crystal ball appeared on one of her last free hands. Now except for one all of her hands were holding on to something.

"I am Hecate. The spirit of the crossroad. I was once a renowned goddess but now I am merely needed. Its not like I am useless. Fortunately the council still needs me to guide their herets." She said while Juwan's head was spinning.

'Hecate? Spirit? Herets? What kind of dream is this??' Juwan thought as Hecate continued," You see this is the place were heroes of old have chosen their path. Many chose to return when very few were ready to risk everything for a glorious future and so they became..." She paused and took in a deep breath, "Heroes!!!!"

The lady was no more scary. She looked more dramatic.

"Do you mean to say that I can chose whether to stay here or not?" Juwan asked.

"NO! Not you. Your path was chosen by someone else, you materialistic punk. Who asked you to give away your choice? Huh?" She shouted at Juwan

'What? What did I give away? What is she talking about???' Juwan's expression told Hecate a lot of things.

" So, you are not materialistic... You are dumb. You got cheated.." She broke into huge laughter.

'Cheated?' Juwan thought and pondered on that word.

A low hiss surrounded them. The hissing was in the air. A huge red snake slithered its way around Hecate's empty hands. The hissing became silent. The snake hissed in Hecate's ears.

"Oooh. Can't they let me have some fun?" Hecate cursed. The snake hissed again.

"Time? Who cares about time!!" She replied and the snake hissed again.

"Ok, ok ok..."

'Is she talking to the snake?' Juwan wondered

Hecate closed her eyes and chanted mantras of a foreign language. The crystal glowed in a yellow and whitish light.

"Hmm, your future won't be a threat. Your path was already chosen but it will be you who is going to decide what to do with it. Here take this and follow your chosen path." Hecate handed him a torch and pointed him a path. The mist in that path cleared and surrounded him. Now there was only one path. Hecate was also no more visible. Juwan shook his head and decided to go on with it yet again convincing himself that it was all a dream.

Juwan started walking. The torch on his hand danced under the gloomy sky. The walking seemed to last forever when he saw a castle about 200 meters far from him. He wondered why he was going through all this in the fitst place, yet he decided to take a look at the castle. As he neared the castle with the massive towers realization hit him hard.

"Oh, god. I should have never watched Dracula!" Juwan muttered to himself and continued walking.