Not What It Seems

Solomon POV

“She is not waking”, Lord Cazima observed in a broken, quivery voice, his crestfallen face etched with worry for Cybela. I knew their bond, I knew the connection they shared, I knew how much it pained him. Cybela was not moving or waking, still sprawled out by the emerald lake, surrounded by her own magic, even though her color was gradually coming back, and the black, thick, gooey liquid had finally stopped seeping out of her wounds. Dr. Sina had dressed them, and in some places, I could see the redness of her blood coming out, cleansing the darkness which came with the magic she was hurt. Red blood, her fresh blood was good news. I just did not know if and when she would wake up. I had not seen injuries like this, save for once, and even then, they were not as prevalent. Ahmar’s magic was potent, darkest in fact in all five realms, and I found it auspicious that the fabled scroll I had been searching for over the last centuries had just made its way to me. Timing is everything I guess, I thought, chuckling to myself.

Time. A great equalizer of life, death, and everything in between. Humans, creatures or eternals alike, we are all at its mercy, all fall to its way at one point or another. We live our lives thinking that we have time for everything, that it is an unlimited supply of never-ending sequences of motion, only to find, that in the end, we have run out of it, we have somehow lost track of it and, what is more, we are always left wanting. I have lived a very long life – time has been my friend and my enemy. I had seen civilizations being born and destroyed; I had seen the world change from the rubble of dust into incredible feats. I have loved and lost, buried my dead, and created new ones, found family, and gained tremendous knowledge. I thought of my late wife and wondered if I were ever going to stop missing her. They say time heals all wounds, but I disagree with this. The greater the loss, the bigger the wound, harder to heal. I knew that. I wanted to do everything in my power to prevent Dragana from going through that, from experiencing loss and heartache, and I was failing her.

Cybela stirred gently but did not open her eyes. I was sitting on the edge of the lake, waiting, wondering if I were too late. The prospect of losing her was gripping my heart – Cybela was last of her kind, last of the Guardians. She was one of the first dragons to walk this world, her magic and knowledge immeasurable, her soul priceless, special in every way. I just hoped I made it on time, and hoped against all odds that Kal’s blood would do what it’s supposed to. Thousands of lives I had lived, and now, I was running out of time. Ironic for somebody who could manipulate it, I thought to myself. “Lord Cazima, I must go and see Dragana. There is a disturbance in my energy, and something is pulling me to her. I have brought four more vials of First Dragon’s blood – please give it to her over the course of the next two days. I will be going to meet with my great granddaughter and prepare for what is to come”, I explained gravely, to which he just nodded. I hated leaving her, but I knew that things were set in motion, things not even I can undo. I knew that for everything there is a season, and I knew that this particular one would be challenging for us all. Holding tightly to the scroll, I said my blessings over Cybela’s still sleeping body and left some additional instructions for Lord Cazima and Dr. Sina, and opened the portal to the Rising Moon.


Lady Asma POV

Sitting in the garden, sipping tea, I was anxiously waiting for my mate and children to arrive. The uneasiness of this place, Jasmine’s plight, and the darkness which Alice carried around her made me nervous and on the edge. My husband, Lord Samuel, was one of the most powerful witches of our time. Surely he would know what we could do about it all, about this situation which, somehow, we all found ourselves in, I thought, and Harrah, my wolf, agreed. So much has happened in such a short period of time, and it felt as if our enemies were multiplying all around us, something was moving in the shadow and all my senses were in overdrive. Somehow, I knew we had found ourselves in the center of a larger picture, a pre-cursor to a war, or a tragedy of some kind. My bare feet were touching the grass, I was trying to ground myself and draw on the power of the Earth. Caught in my thoughts, I did not notice Solomon walking toward me right away, but I was relieved to see him, hoping he was bringing good news. I needed to speak to him about Alice. Now that Jasmine was no longer available to help, I still wanted to put forth our plan into action. I wanted to expose her and understand why she was enveloped in my father’s dark magic and to what end.

“Cybela is recovering, but I am not sure, Asma. I do not know what would happen”, he said, shocking me. Solomon had immense power, including that of foresight. For him, not to be able to see past the veil of the future was unheard of. “These are disturbing times”, he continued, and I simply bobbed my head in agreement, not sure what to say. “Before you say anything, I will help you Asma. I do not know what Alice’s plan is, so we cannot show our full hand on this, but I will help you strip her of the Dark Lord’s magic, and reveal her true self”, he said, handing me a powder of some kind. “It is a herb mix of belladonna, rosemary and lavender, with bit of my conjuring added into it”, he smiled. Make her drink the tea made out of this. It will strip her of any magic that is not attached to a dark object. So whatever mate bond she is faking, it will be gone”, Solomon detailed the use of it. I was familiar with veritas plants, but I knew that it took a serious conjuring skill to make my father’s magic weaken, so I was a bit apprehensive. “This is timely my Lord, I have a scheduled meeting for this afternoon with her, regarding the wedding arrangements. She is picking out her outfits, so this will work just fine”, I now beamed, as I had a way forward. “Unfortunately, you will have to drink it too, Asma, however, it should have no effect on you, it is designed especially for her”, he added, and I was glad that I could live up to the agreement Jasmine and I had made.

Alice was bad news and we needed to understand her motives and have actual proof as to what she was doing and more importantly why. “Where is Dragana?” he asked, sitting down on the bench with me. “I think she was having a conversation with Alpha King last night, not sure if that continued today, I have not seen either one of them as of yet. He and Beta Art are getting ready to leave for Yamuna River – Jasmine can only be saved by the Blessed Blade”, I clarified, to which he smiled knowingly. “I guess I am on time. I need to speak to all of them, especially Roman and Art, before they leave. Yamuna is not what it seems. They need to be extremely careful.”