Mysteries and darkness

"Dad?"

The only answer Maria got was the whistling of the wind through the open window. She braced for the shouting of the voices, but there was silence in her mind too. The silence made her feel... vulnerable. Maria opened the door again, then carefully pried open the dagger from the door.

Heart thumping, rusty dagger in hand, she advanced inside, lighting up the candles one by one. Hall was empty. So was the kitchen and the bedroom. And as she opened the bathroom door, she heard footsteps behind her. Maria quickly turned around, ready to point the dagger at the person who had done this, only to meet the surprised expression of her dad.

"Maria..? Where did you get that?" He asked, pale with worry.

He gently took the dagger out of her hands as Maria burst into tears and told him about the scary note stuck with the dagger. He took the crumpled note out of her hand and read it as well. His face paled as he placed it down, but he forced a calm smile as he ushered Maria to bed.

-

Maria couldn't fall asleep. Her mind was stuck in a swirling vortex of terrible thoughts. The cacophony was almost loud enough to hide the absence of the voices. It was so strange not to hear them anymore, but instead of giving Maria a clear head, she felt... lost. Like a part of her had been ripped away and she had lost its guidance, leaving her to fend for herself. And with so many weird things going wrong, she felt like she needed those bickering voices more than ever.

A few minutes passed and, on the other side of my bedroom, Maria could hear her dad talking. She didn't know who he was talking to or what he was saying, but his voice was frantic, angry, scared. A couple of times, his voice rose in volume, a few words coming through, before his voice lowered again, probably because he was afraid he'd wake her up.

"You need some sleep." A lone voice came through in her mind. Calm and gentle, it settled the frantic thoughts and made way for the darkness of a dreamless sleep. Maria didn't even have time to wander where the voice had come from.

Her dad entered the bedroom, rubbed her back and went to sleep himself. The last sound Maria heard was the gentle breathing from the bed beside hers.

----

Yuna woke up to the sudden rush of a vision. The golden energy of light flowed through her magic paths, filling her hands with eager warmth, and then went up, towards her neck, lips, cheeks and finally, her eyes.

The sudden heat was replaced a cool evening breeze. Yuna looked at her hands quickly and, upon seeing the intricate golden ring on her finger, she knew she was still in her own body. She sighed with relief. It was always weird to receive visions from the perspective of someone else. Yuna looked around her, trying to take in as much as possible.

She wasn't alone. Beside her, Rachel and Maria were talking lightly. On her left side was Isabelle, her eyes darting around the street, quiet and sullen.

They were walking on the streets of Aetheria and by the look of it, it seemed to be the road leading towards Maria's house. But it looked completely different. The usually golden fairy lights that filled the streets were gone, and thus the streets were dark and somber, almost devoid of light.

Yuna heard a small yelp from her right and as she turned around, she saw three people, clothed in black, their faces covered, holding Maria. Instinctively, Yuna made a few arrows of light, but before she got to throw them, the people vanished, along with Maria. The world around Yuna darkened and the vision ended.

As soon as she got out of the vision, Yuna started breathing heavily. The golden warmth felt sickeningly hot on her sweat covered skin.

She got out of bed, strawberry blonde locks trailing behind her as she went past Rachel's room and headed straight for her parent's bedroom. That vision seemed important, so her mom had to know how to deal with it.

---

The cold autumn wind flew through shattered windows, cracked walls and hole-filled roofs. Out in the corners, where the wind didn't bite as much, paper, fabric and boxes covered shivering people, trying to sleep.

In his usual style, Michael came out of the shadows, in the poorly kept outskirts of Aetheria. He wrinkled my nose at the familiar, but unpleasant smell and headed towards the biggest building around, a ramshackle mess of wood and stone. The smell of cheap booze and sorrows enveloped him as he stepped inside, headed for the counter at which the usual patrons hang around. He tapped the back of one of them, shaking his hand after touching the unpleasant sweaty shirt he was wearing. The patron turned around, a mocking jeer on his face.

"Look what the cat dragged in."

"I got the thing you asked for." Michael replied simply.

"Well then, let's see it, you little scamp!"

"I want to see you have the money first. And because the chameleonite necklace still got the original coloration, it's going to cost extra."

His jeer quickly turned into a frown and he cracked his knuckles.

"Gimme it, you scamp!" The patron yelled and launched in for a clumsy strike, movements slow due to him being drunk.

Michael parried, grabbed his arm and twisted. The patron yelped in pain and the drunken laughter of the people around them stopped.

"I want. my money. first." Michael repeated, through gritted teeth.

A pouch of coins hit the counter, a sleek hand holding it in place.

"What element is the stone, son?" The bartender asked.

"It's a water."

The bartender chuckled. "You get stones like that a silver a dozen. 5 silver is what I'm willing to pay."

"7 silver."

"You're not going to sell my stone like that!" The drunk man yelled, outraged.

"8 silver for you, because you tried to attack me." Michael calmly replied.

7 pieces of silver hit the table and the pouch quickly disappeared. Michael grabbed the coins and took out the carefully wrapped chameleonite he had gotten that evening. The bartender unveiled the stone, admired it in the firelight.

"Pleasure doing business, sir." Michael added, before sliding out of the tavern and back onto the darkened streets.

After a bit of time, he arrived back home, some ripened veggies and slightly moldy bread in a bag and other such goods, and a few silver to spare. The wooden shack he called home was slowly sinking into the marsh below, but Michael didn't quite know how to repair it. They'd have to move soon. He opened the creaking door and came inside, instantly being surrounded by two pairs of small dirty hands. He chuckled and pet his little siblings, before coming to the kitchen and putting on the table the food he had bought. His mom was in the kitchen, her baby hanging from her hip, wrapped in a piece of fabric to be able to let her cook. Her eyes lightened up as she saw Michael enter the house.

"You're back, my dear!" She put the pot off the dented stove and embraced him tightly before letting him go.

She fretted over the food he'd bought and almost cried as he gave her 3 silver pieces. Michael kept the last one for myself. As usual, he refused to eat dinner. The little ones needed it a lot more than he did. Besides, the food from the Academy was far more filling and delicious than Michael could have hoped.

Of course, Ilian and Tori wanted to know anything and everything about the Academy and all the cool stuff that Michael had learned. They were getting bigger and louder and more curious too, but they still were a ways off their first year at the Academy. Noelle wasn't home yet. She was probably still working her butt off at some dingy tavern.

Michael was in his third year at the Academy and things were starting to get quite expensive, but fortunately, his little deal with the director had solved that problem.

That brought back in mind the strange water girl who had wanted to be his friend, or, if her thoughts didn't lie, something more than that. Michael didn't really know what to make of her foolish, senseless act. Maybe it was just that, foolishness, like he had guessed when she sat down at that table in that cafeteria. Inadvertently, his heart warmed up at the thought of her defiance, going out of her way to say hi when everybody else avoided him like the plague. Maybe that was why he went out of his way to ask her to be friends again. That little bright spark inside her had kept him warm as well. Still, was it worth the 7 silver to give her such a valuable information that posed such a terrible risk for him? Michael sighed internally. The girl was a weakness for sure. He'd have to be more careful next time.

Michael looked at his little siblings, his mom carefully laying the wooden bowls on the table as she prepared dinner. "After all, I have more to protect than just myself." He thought.

He told Ilian and Tori all about what it felt like to control air, to feel the breeze of the autumn and bend it to his command, even staging a little demonstration to the amazement of the little ones. Before long, they were sleeping soundly, tucked away on the blanket covered mattress.

Michael gave a kiss to his mom, waving her goodbye. She already had too many to care about, he didn't dare overstay his welcome. As bitter-sweet feelings melted on his tongue, he slipped into the shadows, heading towards the dark dorm.

---

"I bought this for you, my sweet."

The blue chameleonite necklace hit the table, gentle orange fish swimming around inside. The wife from across the room frowned at the apology gift she was brought, lip curled in disgust.

"No sorry? Not an apology for you running off with the pretty girls you hire at the tavern? You dare to think a necklace will just-" she waved her arms around, angrily "make all these problems disappear?!"

She took the necklace in her palm, the sharp edge stinging her hand from how tight she was holding it.

"You take it back this instant and come back to me when you have a real apology!"

The wife noticed the room was starting to spin. What she didn't notice was the chameleonite changing color: the pretty azure was replaced by a swirling inky black, until the inside was filled by the swirling black liquid, shimmering slightly with dark blue.

The bartender noticed when his wife started swaying and caught her quickly, before she fell on the floor. He didn't notice when she was gone, her body still there, but her mind replaced by something unnatural, which until then, had slept within the crystal. The voices inside Maria's head had found a new host. The "wife" grabbed her husband's hand, smiled an eerie way and shook vigorously. And with that, he was gone too, swallowed by the voices.

Together, "they" looked towards the closed bedroom door, their child sleeping inside, and smiled.

-

Edit: I have been waiting for a literal month to post this chapter! I was sooo excited for it! You guys finally get to meet the antagonist of our story! She's going to get a more detailed story next chapter, so look out for that! New tumblr: http://darcyrose-here.tumblr.com/

Author's note: Magic paths= nerves, but like for magic. The way nerve allow us to move, magic paths allow a user to channel their magic and use it.