Chapter 19: An Endless Dream

Ariadne

She can't bear the pain she feels anymore. She falls helplessly to the void of unknowing. In countless times in these moments, she fell again in the chasm of her forgotten memory. It is almost a day and a half have passed and it felt like years for her, back to her young self again.

"Where am I?" She asked herself as she cries in fear hugging her knees, her auburn hair is tangled, covering her face.

The dark and misty forest of Feesh is a horror, the sounds from the crickets and unknown creatures were sinister to the delicate sense of hearing of the young lass. The tall trees and the tangled vines that hung above were unsightly eerie.

The night grows eerier, a woman walked on the trail and saw the crying child. Her eyes shone as she moved towards her, she bent her knees and kneeled on her side.

"How can I help you, lost little child?" Her soft voice began. She is beautiful, she looks like a twenty-year-old woman, she has a pointy nose and a curly hair that is tied into a bun, she wore a black loose cloak while young Ariadne wore a white robe which is alike to a hospital gown.

"Where am I?" Her soft sounding voice asked.

"You're in my domain, serve me and you'll be granted with powers." The woman invited straightforwardly.

"Who are you?" Ariadne asked with suspicion.

"I'm Colleen, one of the three daughters of the king of Barnania, King . . ." There was a ruckus in her voice as she introduced herself.

The night was obscure and the mists that cover the forest seem to spill swiftly.

"What is your name my sweet child?" Colleen asked.

"I'm . . ." Her head ached that she held it with her hands for covering.

"It's alright," Colleen said soothingly and rubs the back of the young girl.

Ariadne sobbed.

"Let me tend you."

Ariadne decided to go with the witch and they walked the trail to the hut. The hut was originally creepy, torches in green flames and jack-o-lanterns are a perfect view for a Halloween.

They reached the hut and climbed the first few steps of its stairs. Colleen opened the door and an alarming sound blared. Ariadne covered her ears, the door opened revealing the cozy enormous and magical insides. The living room was nice and inviting, there is a mattress on the far corner near the what seemed like a kitchen and a small uncovered room where the sets of things for witchcraft are arranged. There are two identical rooms next to the living room, next to the rooms is the kitchen. The small hut from the outside is shockingly enormous in the inside.

They went inside, the wooden floor creaks as they walk. The young child was totally oblivious of what she's doing, lending herself to an innocent looking predator like she's presenting herself to be deceived by the wolf in the sheep's clothing.

"Um, can I have some water please?" She asked as the young looking woman placed her things on the top of a furniture.

"Oh, wait right here and I'll get you some," Colleen replied with a smile

Colleen walked to the kitchen into the next two rooms with a thick wall glued as a diversion and grabbed a glass of water. She came back and found the young child lying on the cold floor.

She grinned and put the glass of water on the top of the furniture beside the lying child. She carried the young girl towards the mattress on the far corner and she commenced tying her helpless victim with white ceremonial ropes while smiling evilly.

"Another young prey has voluntarily submitted itself for my beauty potion." She crookedly hissed. Ariadne stirred and breathes shallowly, totally unaware of what's happening.

"A drop of blood is beauty, a whole young heart is a power." The witch grabbed a silver dagger and held the delicate hand of the child. She prepared a small wooden bowl and started chanting an upbeat jazz, she finished the rhythm solemnly and moved closer to the unconscious child, touched her cheek with her free hand and licked her lips.

"Peculiar." She positioned the dagger and directed it straight to the child's heart.

The wind blows, the witch was about to pierce the dagger into the girl's heart when a young brusque man appeared on the edge of the mattress, he sat there smilingly. He wore a black coat and black pants. His dark hazel eyes were sinisterly bewitching, his posture was well built with just the right amount of muscles.

"Don't you dare, you'll regret it." His heavy baritone voice trembled. Colleen feigned to look threatened.

"Looks like she has a lovely servant, I completely underestimated her." The man looked offended, he stood up to face the witch who now puts the dagger aside.

"I'm nobody's servant." His hands shimmered with blue spiraling mists.

"I don't want a fight." Colleen gulped some air. She honestly doesn't want a fight, she looks tired from doing something and she looked beaten as well, with all the exhaustion crawling in her face.

"Then that's good." The lad said calmly but more in a threatening way before he dispelled the mana in his hands.

"Take care of her and I'll reward you the second time we meet." The lad disappeared with a pop leaving Colleen dismayed.

"Who did he think he is?" She grumbled and started untying the sleeping girl. Pain hit her suddenly as soon as she was finished, her face started to wrinkle, her skin becomes loosened and olden. She completely turned into an old hag.

"Damn that man!" She gritted her teeth and grabbed back the dagger.

"Don't you dare." The sentence reverberated. She was hesitant at first but she was desperate to continue, she pointed the sharp edge of the dagger at the child's palm, blood trickled on top of the child's hand as she gluttony licked it clean. The changes begin, her skin tightens and glows flawlessly, her face lightens and makes her more beautiful.

"Amazing." She mused.

"I won't have to make beauty potions as long as I have this child." She meticulously waved her hand and tests the new powers that surge through her veins. She just got a jackpot prize, from a mere blood is beauty and power in one, plus she would not have to worry about stirring some oddly misshapen cauldron just to make a beauty potion. Prismatic colored mists swirled around her hand. She stood up and scans the lying lass. The appearance of that nuisance lad was a blessing in disguise after all.

"I won't need your heart anymore," she exclaimed, "I decided to make you my apprentice instead and give you powers as I said."

Just like a sluggish vision, in a slow motion, the scene shifts.

Colleen sat at a table and probes a round crystal. The weather was great outside, the forest is cool and everything seems just fine.

"What's that master?" The fifteen-year-old Ariadne asked as Colleen moves her hands around the round crystal like she's looking into someone's fate as a fortune teller does.

"Foretelling what's ahead." She looked at her with sense of authority.

Eight years have passed. Ariadne grew into a fine young woman under the surveillance of the witch who "saved" her. Colleen had taught the young woman a lot of things, from basic sorcery to the most complicated ones and it seems Ariadne is a fast learner. Ariadne has grown fond of the witch as well, they travel hand in hand searching for victims, both witches, and human mortals, for their potions. They fought, killed and cursed lots and various beings together. Ariadne still remembers the first being she cursed, it was a wolf child in Canipus Lupus, she cursed the child by turning him into a croaking frog. She was happy at first to see her master happy but sooner felt guilty of what she'd done.

The crystal ball shimmered and shows a scenery. The setting was in the ruins, Colleen looked shocked, it seems she knows the place. Three shadows stood in front of a swirling and dazzling portal, a girl's shadow was in between the two men.

"Barnania," Colleen whispered under her breath.

"Barnania?" Ariadne asked curiously. She wore a black cloak the same as her master's.

Colleen didn't answer and only muttered a series of ums, Ariadne obediently observed her master and kept silent.

That night, while Ariadne was nosing in the window panes she saw Colleen and a certain man who she barely knows talking outside, the man was tall and broad-shouldered, he wore a golden cloak. From the way they look and the gestures they make, they seem are talking about a very serious topic. The man mouthed something that made Colleen looked so tensed and he handed out a golden locket towards Colleen's hand. Colleen's face saddened, the man moved near her, leaned down and kissed her temples. They looked like they've said each other goodbyes. The man smiled meekly and entered the swirling portal he made through moving his hand in circles and then he disappeared.

***

Ariadne wakes up from her dream's dream and found herself outside the house of the writer, she stood outside their lawn, scanning the remnants of the disaster they left, the whole place was in an utter chaos. Colleen was still there, sitting helplessly at the ground. She saw the writer's mother who is tending to someone else she doesn't know.

She moved towards her master, Colleen saw her, her face creased with relief from just showing an expression of intense worrisome.

"You come back."

"No, I didn't." She replied sadly.

"Where are you?" Colleen asked, totally aware of what's happening, the empathy connection they share that is seem happening real.

"I still don't know," she admitted, "but it seems I know everything now." Colleen's expression changed, she looked at her in seriousness.

"How much do you know?" She asked.

Ariadne was hesitant for a moment and then she replied, "not all but just enough to make doubts and suspicions."

"I see." Was her short reply then she stands up and looks into her eyes.

"Promise me you'll come back," Colleen said.

"I don't think I can," was Ariadne's last reply before she vanished.

Her wandering soul gets back to her body, she opened her eyes and feels the intense pain in her chest that surges all throughout her body, she feels like breaking into a thousand of pieces. She looks around but saw nothing. All she knows is she's lying on a mattress, confined into an unknown room.

"Help." She muttered under her breath.

She could not take it anymore, her eyes forcibly shut close.

"Ariadne, Ariadne?" She hears the solemn call of her brother.

She opened her eyes and saw her family's faces, her mother's loving face and her father's solemn one which looks just like her brother's. They smiled at her.

"Promise me you'll come back." Colleen's voice reverberated in her head.

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"Twenty minutes, thirty?" She thought solemnly.

"It felt like hours, no days." Her thoughts concluded.

Hours passed as she still tries to survive, restraining herself from dying. Both eyes shut as she bears with the pain.

"I can't die yet, not in this place."

"You really can't yet," the heavy baritone voice from the brusque dude spoke, "I still have to finish my business. Not yet, I will be needing you. . ." his voice trailed off.

"What business? Are you still there?" She called.

"You'll find out soon."

"When? I got enough already. I order you to tell me." Ariadne's voice raised with authority.

"You're now commanding me huh? Silly vermin."

"Now, tell me!"

"My business is to unveil the truths. . . And as well as to protect you." His voice goes serious.

"Truths? About? And when will I know these?"

He didn't reply as the air suddenly gets chilly.

"What a pitiful sight." The sharp and goofy voice stirred Ariadne on the bed, she heaved painfully.

"My plans go smoothly and accordingly."

"What plans?" She wondered curiously.

Moments later, she heard a series of hurrying thumping footsteps and unfamiliar voices speaking.

"We're here." A voice from a woman said.