Chapter 21

Lia~ back home

Walking through the castle doors for the first time in years makes me realize just how much I've missed this place. The moment my feet touch the deep purple carpet, every single wolf is standing at attention. A grin of satisfaction makes its way onto my lips at the sight of the people, my people all showing their respect and admiration. You can always tell how the people feel about you by the way they greet you, with my mother they were stiff and so formal, almost miserable, but with me, you could tell that they felt a fondness towards me. I've always treated them better than my mother did. Even though other alpha's thought that servants were the dirt under their paws, I knew better. I can feel the excitement buzzing through the pack link at my return and I smile at all the welcoming members expressing their happiness at seeing me back where I belong.

"Well, isn't this a wonderful surprise!" I turn towards the source of the voice and instantly run into her embrace. She hugs me tight and whispers soothing words into my ear, telling me how happy she is to see me back home.

One would think that my mother would be the one to receive me at the castle but she's not and honestly, I'm not complaining about it. Instead, the one receiving me is Clarrisa, the pack witch and only real mother I've known since my father's death when I was 10 years old. "Oh my dear, it's great to see you back home after all this time." She whispers into my ear. She takes my face in her hands, examining it, and frowns, pulling me closer, "don't cry Amelia, oh, look how you've grown all this time." I didn't even realize I was crying until she pointed it out.

I wipe my tears away and look at my dear friend. Her hair is long and white, reaching down to her hips, and her dull green eyes glimmer with excitement and happiness. Clarrisa embodies everything I expect a mother to be, soft features, a caring smile, and a plump figure that reminds you of an old lady baking cookies in the afternoons. She never had children because her mate died many years ago, probably before I was born. Truthfully I have no idea how old she is, I just know that there's a chance she might be at least a century.

We walk through the hallways and she starts going on about everything that's happened in the pack since the last time I've visited, telling me about how the baker is pregnant, how the territory has expanded, and other great news about the pack flourishing. She suddenly stops and turns down a different hallway, motioning me to follow her. We walk through doors and side halls and take so many twists and turns I'd probably be stuck in here for days trying to figure out where the exit is.

We end up in an underground room and judging by the books, charms, and strange herbs I'd say this is Clarrisa's workshop. I'd been down here once or twice when I was younger but we never entered that way. We'd always enter through a secret passageway hidden in the outer walls of the castle. I smile at the memories while I run my fingers over the books written in languages I can barely decipher. One book, in particular, catches my sight and my eyes widen when I see what's written on its spine, the God's gift the tribrid. I take the book off the shelf and gasp when I see the cover. The cover is a silhouette of a woman and above her are the three symbols of the three species. That's not what has me reeling back though, what gets me is the fact that even though it's just a silhouette, I recognize the woman as myself. "Clarrisa, what is this?" there had never been a book written about tribrids since there had only been one other before me and no one knew enough about her to even write a full page, those who did know, however, died with her.

"That my dear child is the only information about the tribrid the entire world possesses. In that one book lies all the secrets about who and what you are but no one has been able to open it. According to the moon goddess, the only one who can open it is you." I try to lift the cover but it's bolted shut. I try again and again the same outcome. I give her an exasperated look and she just gives me an amused smile, "Remember my dear, a tribrid isn't made up of just one part of you, but rather of your entire being." I smirk at her, could've said that 5 minutes ago, Clarrisa.

I set the book down on the mantel and dig deep. I've never used all three parts of me at once so this will definitely be new to me, although in hindsight I probably should've seen this coming. I close my eyes and try to access all three sides at once. First I feel my magic flowing through my veins, followed by my vampire and wolf. I use all my strength combined with my magic and lift the cover off the book. The moment I do a blast of energy radiates from the book more powerful than I've ever felt before. I can physically see the power swirling in the room, creating a whirlwind of golden light until it all comes crashing down into my body. My legs buckle under the force and I fall against the mantel, almost knocking the book down with me.

When I look up, Clarrisa is standing in front of me, shock evident on her face. She's staring at me in pure bewilderment but instead of telling me what's wrong, she brings a mirror in front of me. I gasp at the sight. My eyes, instead of their normal blue, are now a striking violet with tiny golden specks in both eyes, looking closer I realize that those specks are actually stars. I'm shook by the sight of the little silver crescent moon below the pupil of my left eye. I look to Clarrisa for an explanation but she seems even more shocked than I am. We both turn our sights towards the book and both rush to its side.

The pages are glossy and have a warm tint to them while the words are written as clear as day, at least I think they're as clear as day. The language of the writing looks old, very old as if... "This is written in the language of the gods" Clarrisa finishes my thought. We both stare at the golden letters, hoping for some miracle. I sigh, too bad the "language of the gods" wasn't taught in high school, now that's a class I could've used right about now.

Clarrisa and I dig through every spellbook written in every language known to witch kind. Clarrisa, being the more advanced witch, tries to use her magic to decipher the golden scribbles but nothing seems to work. We try incantations, spells and we even try to read parts of it to figure out a pattern, but no such luck. I take a seat at the simple dark wooden table, my head hits the cold wood as I sigh in defeat. Imagine the tribrid not understanding the one book written about her. If only I could've lived in the time of the gods...

My head jerks up as a sudden idea pops into my head. It's dangerous, extremely crazy, and could drive me insane but it could potentially solve our problems. I run over to the shelves and search through them for the book about dream projecting. I turn the pages and find the spell I'm looking for. Clarrisa peaks over my shoulder and sees the spell I'm looking at, immediately shaking her head, "I know it's dangerous, Clarrisa, but an astral projection could just work. I could project my consciousness into the times of the gods and do a simple linguistics spell to learn their language. This could be it!" she considers it for a moment and I can tell she's hesitant. She has every right to be, all things considered. Astral projection is one thing, but doing this would require me to not only cast that spell but also a spell to take me back in time, way back in time, and while concentrating on both those spells I have to cast a linguistics spell on top of that too, so saying this is difficult would be one hell of an understatement.

"Okay but just know that I won't be able to get you out once you go in, astral projection into the past means that the slightest interference from the outside world could potentially have a very bad effect on you." I give her a nod. I have to do this, no matter the possibilities. This book holds every secret there is about what I am and if I have any hope of ruling a species, I need to know those secrets. I teleport myself and the book to the most isolated part of the castle, my thinking space. Years ago I turned this dusty old tower into my own workshop, although no one besides myself knows about it. The walls are a lavender color with golden symbols hand-drawn on them, the desk, dresser, and cabinet are all made of dark oak while the rug and couch are a stark white. A fluffy couch in a workshop may seem unnecessary but some spells tend to drain me so a place to rest was needed.

I breathe deep and mentally prepare myself for what I'm about to do. I haven't practiced astral projection in years and even then I could barely maintain the spell for a few seconds, sometimes a minute when I really concentrated. Granted, I could always project my consciousness into the realm of the current gods, thus eliminating the need for time manipulation, but I don't want to risk them sensing my presence. This book was written in the time of the old gods and they are exactly the ones I need to see. This is the most dangerous spell I've ever attempted and could possibly go horribly wrong but hey, what's a little danger?