Chapter 28: My mother....The High Priestess!

I stood there like a cornered rabbit, eyeing the three males in front of me. I started taking in deep breaths and letting it out, while straightening my shoulders. God! I need to change my dress. I was still dripping wet and the chances of me slipping in my own pool of water in the white marble floor, when the fight begins was sky rocketing.

Dominic had warned me against using my powers and they were all waiting for me to use my powers so that they could exploit my weaknesses. But I guess I can use hellfire properly without toning it down now cause that cat is already out of the bag.

Amos snapped his fingers and I immediately felt a drooping sensation to my stomach just as Stephanno rushed at me, my head becoming heavy and my vision blurry. I raised my arms high defensively thinking he was about to attack, but I couldn't see anything or anyone.

I felt my feet land on mud and I looked around bewildered at what had just happened.
Mud? Where in?How? I looked around frantically as the familiar grounds came into my view.
We were in the training grounds, just me and Amos. He had transported us out of the mansion.

“Where is your side kicks?” I spat at him.
“ I froze them in time. I preferred it to be just between us. I reckoned Stephanno will try to interfere” he replied dryly.
“You can freeze time too?” I shot at him, immediately remembering Daniel. And Stephanno trying to interfere? Yeah, right, he took an oath to end me. My blood still boiled at the thought.

“Too? I am the only one who in this world who has the ability to freeze time” he replied, narrowing his eyes.
“Yes, of course you are……what are you going to do with me?” I asked him uncertainly.
“Duel you of course. I will give you an honorable death, don’t worry” he replied in a tone similar to an elementary school teacher explaining math to a dumb kid. He snapped his fingers again and a big, wide circle in white appeared around us.

I immediately stepped back, trying to break out of the circle, but felt a high voltage shock pass through my body. My knees went weak and I immediately went down, heat burning through my entire body. I yelped out in pain, clutching my knee to my chest. The only good news was that I was now completely dry to the bone. I hesitantly touched my hair and found that it was no more wet, instead it was all fuzzy and frizzled.

I saw Amos, looking at me concerned as he asked, “You have been trained how to duel, have you?”
“What do you think?” I spat at him,scowling as I got up wobbling
“ You recognized me the first time, didn’t you that I was his daughter?”

He nodded and replied, “Of course, it was plain fully obvious. Even though you have your mother’s eyes, your attitude, your arrogance, even the way you walk resonates him.”

Great! So I apparently I am nothing like The High Priestess except that I look like her, but I get everything else from my evil father. Perfect, just perfect.

I began to circle him, my eyes looking for a way to escape. I was careful not to overstep the circle this time though. My mind began reeling with all the possible plans of escape .

“You won’t win against him. He is the ancient one. His powers are unmatched. “ The annoying, elderly voice in my head was back.
I frowned. I had thought I was imaging the voice the first time it occurred cause she didn’t appear for a long time after, but now apparently she was back.

“ You aren’t even close to stand in a duel with Stephanno much less defeat him, how do you expect then to take on his master?” the voice continued in my head, sounding all smug.
Holy crap! Amos was Stephanno’s master?That was brand new information.

“Who are you?” I asked in my mind, as I continued eyeing Amos.
“You don’t need to know that……..yet” She replied after a moment of silence.
“What should I do now?” I shot back at her while still circling Amos, who had a curious expression on his face. Ugh! Why did his face always have a curios expression on it whenever he watched me as if I was a laboratory he would love to get his hands on.

And silence……………..She seemed to be pondering things over.
“Yeah! Thanks for your valuable help” I muttered sarcastically under my breath.
Amos drew out his hand and a large silver sword with ice crystals on its tilts appeared magically from the air. I was immediately bedazzled by the beauty and serenity of the sword.

The bracelet ….Uhm…the dagger in my hand started digging into my wrist, burning me. I let out a surprised yelp. Amos took my yelp as a sign of fear from me. I looked closely at my bracelet and the blood red ruby on the tilt was glowing again. I frowned and touched the ruby with my other hand and………………woah!

What the hell just happened? Where am I ? where is Amos? I looked around panicking, taking in the surroundings. I rapidly blinked my eyes and a dark dungeon came into focus….No..not a dungeon, a cave of some sorts. Did I somehow transport myself again? I didn't even know I can do that or Did I ?

I gulped hard and got up and started walking around. There were weird paintings in the cave and the cave’s ceiling had three giant rocks, one supporting the other. Wait a sec! I have seen this before.

It was the cave Stephanno had brought me through, the cave joining the Fire Sect and Water Sect.
But how did I reach here? I looked at the bracelet and found that the red ruby was not glowing anymore. I frowned. For the first time, I felt safe wearing the bracelet. At first, I had felt reluctant to always carry it with me as I have no idea what it can do. It was after all handed over to me by a strange lady who had destroyed my entire sect. but now I felt relaxed as I stroked the bracelet. I haven’t still figured out how it works yet….I don’t know how it did it,but it did save my life today.

The last time I was here, I didn’t pay much attention to the way by which Stephanno took me through. I was solely focused on him at the time. I looked around saw that the pathway had come to a cross road. I now wished that I had paid a little more attention that time, then I could have sneaked into the Fire Sect and been with Dominic. Ugh! my phone was left behind, so I have no way to even call Justin. I have no idea what's going on with them? Did they manage to rescue our people?

I literally had no other cloths on me than the one that was currently stuck onto my body like a second skin[ though it was dry now, thanks to the weird white circle], nor did I have any weapons with me other than the dagger wrapped around my wrist. What if I run into some monsters? Great! I am dead meat.

I frantically turned my head left and right again and again, like watching a tennis match, unable to pick a path.
“Hey, you there, annoying voice in my head? A little direction now would help” I muttered under my breath.
To my surprise, she replied, “Right”
“Oh, so you are back?” I snapped at her.

No reply….silence…God! I sound like a lunatic, talking to voices in my head. Something is seriously wrong with me and I really need to introspect and find out what the hell that is. But for now, I am going right.

I walked and walked for hours, taking in the paintings in the wall which grew weirder and demonic by the second. I saw a painting of a man with a beard stabbing himself with a knife, another with a little boy crying surrounded by a pile of dead bodies. I gulped hard, trying to calm down my stupid nerves which were all over the place, as my eyes raked over more paintings.

I looked up and I couldn’t see the three huge rocks anymore, guess I had already entered the tunnel. But for some reason my gut told me that this wasn’t the way I had come, even though I didn’t actually remember the way. For one thing, though the way in was really long, it wasn’t this long. I stopped for a second, pondering whether to go back. But my legs couldn't stand still, it started moving...now dragging me forward of its own accord and abruptly stopped. Woah! What the hell? Why did my legs just move as if it has a mind of its own? I am getting more and more freaked out by the moment. I remembered this cave as romantic and beautiful but no, that was just my delusions. It felt eerie and creepy in here. Ugh! I shuddered with disgust when I remembered how I acted all coy to get Stephanno's attention the last time I was here. God! I was a delusional fool.... No! Don 't think about that bastard. I shook myself out of my demurring thoughts.

My eyes found a painting of a beautiful woman. I couldn’t bear to tear my eyes away from the painting and continue walking. Something drew me to it and I found myself inching closer to the painting.

I gazed curiously at the eyes of the woman, and immediately drew back….those eyes……………..those green eyes, where similar to mine. I looked at the woman’s face, and I felt a wave of realization pass through me as I stared at my mirror image.