The Prophecy

The reason why Finneaus must help Ava escape Zancastle.

Two hours later, I hurry back to my room, my head swirling with escape plans and painfully aware of how late it is. Teresa will be freaking out, I think worriedly, and quietly open the door. Fortunately, Teresa is snoring peacefully in her chair, and shakes herself awake upon hearing the door open. At least she didn't tell anyone I was missing.

"Ava! Where have you been?" she attempts to act angry, but the relief in her voice is evident.

"I was visiting Dantaus." I told her evasively, and moved to the bathroom.

A relaxing bath gave me time to mull over the events. Finneaus and I had spent the entire time hammering out a foolproof plan to get me out of the castle and to the woods, and he had told me to come back to him at first light so we could review the plan and go over my survival in the Forgotten Woods.

When I had snuck back into my room, I had hidden my necklace and the paper in my dress, along with a curious device that Finneaus had given me. He told me to hang it over my window, and as soon as the sun rises, the light will enter the object and project the light everywhere, which would surely wake me up. He called it a precision prism.

Toweling off and brushing my hair, I fell onto my bed, exhausted. Teresa had fallen back asleep, but jerked back awake when I closed the drawer after replacing all of my things in there. Standing up, she yawned.

"Goodnight, Ava." she whispered, and blew out the candles. Everything went dark, so I couldn't see her, but I heard the door open and close softly. Burrowing down deeper under the covers, I forced my brain to shut down and go to sleep.

Surprisingly, the precision prism actually worked. Around five or six, a beam of sunlight started to shine directly in my face. I tried to ignore it, but it was pretty much impossible, so I finally roused myself, yawning profusedly. After gathering up my necklace, cloak, bag, book, and prism, I got dressed and walked to the classroom, careful to avoid any early rising servants.

Reaching the room, I slipped inside and closed the door. Finneaus was waiting, chewing on a pencil as he examined his maps.

"Okay, I've gotten it all figured out." he tells me.

"That's great, Finneaus, but why are you helping me? You were all too willing to let me fall before I showed you the necklace. Why is the necklace so important?" I confront him, and he stares at me for a long time before finally letting out a sigh of submission.

"You're right. I haven't told you anything, have I?" he smiled thinly. "I guess I have some explaining to do...where to start? Polaria told you that I am a MBC, correct?" I nodded. He pulls out another necklace, identical to mine. He opens it, and retrieves a little figurine. Closer inspection reveals that it's a tiny metal sphinx.

"It's a sphinx." I state the obvious, and he rolls his eyes as he sticks it back in the locket.

"Good observation skills. The sphinx is my wayña."

"What's that?"

"If you were a little more patient," he gritted his teeth. "I would be able to tell you. Wayña means soul, roughly translated."

"From the ancient language." I confirmed, and he glared at me. "Sorry."

"Yes, from the ancient language. All magic holders receive this necklace when they are appointed, and after the necklace is tied around their neck, it registers their wayña, or soul. It determines what kind of magic holder the person will be. A tiny cauldron means witch, wizard hat is wizard, cloak for sorcerer or sorceress. A Mythical Beings Caretaker would get a tiny replica of their appointed mythical being. Understand?"

"What does it mean?" I ask.

"What do you mean, what does it mean? I just told you." he's irritated again.

"No, I mean, what does each being signify?" I hastily add. "For example, what's the difference between getting a sphinx and a fairy?"

"Ah. You see, a MBC gets the privilege of ascending to a degree of understanding with their being. When I was younger, I was welcomed into the sphinx community, and learned among them as one of their own. The same case is true with other beings. When the origin of magic came about, most magical creatures wanted none of the responsibility that came with all of the magic holder appointing, and agreed to become viable options in the MBC's career, although there was a handful of magical races that couldn't become part of that, either. Only one race, besides the humans, agreed to take upon the burden."

"Who?" I was unable to contain myself.

"You were never good on patience, were you?" he stated sarcastically, but I wisely chose not to answer. After a long silence, he continued. "The elves were the only other race, mainly because they didn't want any MBC's choosing their race. They've always been stingy about sharing their magic."

"They already had magic?" I asked.

"Yes. All mythical creatures had some sort of magic, but the elves had the strongest, next to the dragons and fairies. When I say origin of magic, I really mean the origin of humans discovering ways to practice magic."

"Got it." I nodded.

"Elves are immortal, and so many humans disliked the idea of elves acquiring even more magic than they already had. They were afraid that magic holder elves would share their newfound powers with other elves, and then the elves would be all-powerful. To alleviate these worries, the Secrecy Oath was created, and now, before magic holders can begin their training, they must make a binding oath. It's magic, too, so whenever it's broken, the Council is alerted......the Council is a group of fifty magic holders who regulate the uses of magic." he added, anticipating my question. "And magic became a reality.

"But nothing lasts forever. MBC's who got fairies or dragons quickly became very powerful. For fairy magic holders, their magic is very strong, and very pure, the second purest type of magic, making it very, very hard to counteract. Dragons are very, very ancient and large creatures with vast amounts of knowledge and magic. And those two races are the only two races that have a.....certain kind of extra special add on. It became apparent that if a MBC of dragons or fairies turned evil, chaos would ensue.

"However, this would be almost impossible, because very few even get a fairy or dragon wayña, because your piquä is a very selective thing, and it will only choose good magic for good people. But humans often ignore logic, and they were constantly suspicious of fairy or dragon magic holders.

"Now, the ratio of human to elvish magic holders were greatly different because elves limited the number of magic holders they appointed, due to the fact that all elves are immortal. There were so few elvish magic holders, and so few dragon or fairy magic holders, that the odds of an elf becoming a dragon or fairy magic holder were extremely slim."

"Which is good, right? People didn't like dragon or fairy magic holders or elves, so those two combined would be really bad." I guessed, and he nodded.

"Exactly." he confirmed. "Unfortunately, it eventually did happen. An elf, by the name of Estïqiã, was appointed a magic holder, and her piquä decided on dragon. The dragons taught her willingly, with no prejudice, but once others caught wind of her training, all hell broke loose. Riots and protests raged, all because they feared that Estïqiã would use her powers for evil. This continued on for almost twenty years, all because of her."

"Twenty years? That's a long time. Isn't she kind of......old by now?" I asked worriedly.

"Elves are immortal, unless they are killed. Old age doesn't affect them unless they want it to." he informed me. "Anyway, people began to attack the dragons and elves, striking randomly and killing innocent elves or dragons.

"The elves and the dragons hold a secret meeting, and they agree to go off the radar. The elves and dragons used their strongest and most powerful magic to hide their city and to create a place for the dragons. It's not impossible to get to, but only someone who has been shown the way would ever have a chance of finding the dragons and elves. They're too well hidden."

"Finneaus, I don't have time for all these stories." I told him, glancing at the sundial and realizing it was almost eight o'clock. Teresa would make her way to my room any moment now.

"These stories are important for you to know." Finneaus glared at me. "There was a prophecy, created long ago, that foresaw all these conflicts, and gave the solution. It went like this." Finneaus cleared his throat, then began.

"Two warriors, one of pure, one of old,

One of each magic holders, with hearts of gold.

The great races broken off, chased off by fear,

The end of all magic, now drawing near.

One warrior shall stand against her past,

The other is strong, no matter how much is cast.

The warriors will fight, side by side,

To restore the peace, with the song from inside.

And the great evil that plagues the land,

Shall become no more, when true magic takes a stand."

"So?"

"Ava, the two great races are the dragons and the elves. You are the warrior of pure magic, or fairy magic."

"But you said that fairy magic is the second purest type of magic." I pointed out, and Finneaus raised an eyebrow, a trademark skill of his that I had tried in vain to master as a child.

"So you were listening." he approved. "Yes, it is only the second, but the first is unicorn magic, which is so pure, that a mortal body would not be able to contain it."

"You would explode?" I confirmed.

"Yes." he nodded. "Anyway, Estïqiã is the warrior of ancient magic; the elvish and dragon magic. The elves will help you reach your full potential, along with the fairies."

"But Estïqiã disappeared with the elves."

"No." Finneaus shook his head. "She is the only elf that is not hiding in their city, and the only one who knows where the elves and dragons are hidden. She continues her training with the dragons, and visits the elf city, but lives in the Forgotten Forest. She is a formidable opponent; not only is she a master in the arts of elvish and dragon magic, she has also trained her whole life in swordplay, archery, and other useful skills. She keeps away people who search for the entrances to the hidden cities."

"She's in the Forgotten Forest?" my jaw drops. "You want me to find her?"

"More than that. I want you to fulfill the prophecy."

"But what is the great evil?"

"The great evil......I cannot speak his name. He is a creature, an evil one, one of the shadows and darkness. He plagues the world with his presence, and controls everyone."

"How? No king rules over everyone."

"He is no king." Finneaus hesitates. "Did you know that King Leopold's kingdom is the largest in the land? He is four times the size of the second largest."

"Yes, I know."

"He has an....advisor. He has never actually been seen, as he hides in the darkness in a black cloak. We have sources, however, in Zancastle, and they say this advisor can kill a man by simply looking at him, and that Leopold is no more than a puppet king. Our sources know something, something big, is about to happen, something bad, but they cannot figure it out. This creature of darkness must be the great evil. You must stop him."

"Me?" I feel small and inconsequential. "But....I can't do that. I'm not nearly good enough." Finneaus grips me by the shoulders and looks deep into my eyes.

"Avaline, if anyone can do this, it's you. Your piquä chose a fairy. Only the purest of hearts can handle that kind of magic, and it chose you. It chose you." He stares at me for a long time before relinquishing his grip. "Now hurry back, before you get caught. Leave your things with me; I will smuggle them to Zancastle when we go." I nodded, and started for the door.

"Thank you." I remembered, and cracked a smile. "Who knows? This might work out after all, right?"

Author's Note

Here comes the plot!!!:)