Dark side (A Ralla fan fiction)

Prolouge

//this part of the chapter takes place only a few hours after "The Attack on the Red Legion" //

(Stella's POV:)

I woke up to hear birds chirping. Confused, I carefully sat up. I was in a small, cottage style room. I had been changed out of my bridesmaid dress and was wearing sweatpants and bandages that covered my chest up. My body felt weak and I was in a lot of pain. But I somehow, someway was alive.

I turned myself so my feet were touching the cold cobble floor as I thought.

Was it all just a dream? Where is everyone? And why does this place seem... familiar?

I heard a noise come from the kitchen. It sounded and smelled like someone was cooking?

Did they cook my friends up in a pie already? I thought kinda jokingly.

Wanting to investigate, I tried to get up and walk to the door. However, with the burns and scratches made it hard and I hardly made it halfway to the door before I fell to the ground. Thankfully I landed on a carpeted part of the room.

"Ouch." I mumbled.

I heard the person in the kitchen stop whatever they were doing. I gulped as I heard the door creak open and they ran to me.

"Your body is too weak right now to do even simple things dear." A soft and calm voice spoke.

I looked at the person to see a face I thought I'd never see again.

"C-Ceris.... YOU'RE ALIVE!" I shout relieved.

She smiled touching my cheek. "Yes dear... I'm alive."

Ceris helps me up and we walk out of the small room. She has me sit down at a table and chairs as she gets me a plate. Before I could ask anything, she said,

"You must be starving. You were in 303's base for a while. He never treats his prisoners well does he?" She asked.

I shook my head. "Where exactly are we? This place feels... familiar? But I can't tell why."

"We are a little west of the far plains. However the building in general..." She said, pouring me some tea. "You'll find out sooner or later."

"Where is everyone? Are they okay? Do they know I'm alive?... Does Rain know I'm alive?"

Ceris stopped. "I can assure you that they are okay... physically at least. They all should be back at Frostbourne by now."

"What does that mean?"

"... Nobody knows that someone saved you... no one knows that you're still alive. In their eyes... you died when the building exploded."

"W-What! We need to tell them! We need to go back!" I say. I stand up from the table and try walking to the door. However, like last time, I collapsed.

Ceris came over and sighed, picking me up, and making me sit back down in the chair. She then gave me a plate of food.

"I know you want to go back. Of course you do. But, you're body is too weak to walk. How do you expect to walk several miles to the Frostbourne. Plus, you have nothing to defend yourself with. 303 is still out there and if he finds you, he will kill you without a second thought."

She gave me the cup of tea and sighed. "This is only temporary. I promise you will be able to go home again soon. But for now, eat, you need your strength."

Ceris had made some sort of soup with a few slices of warm bread. I couldn't tell what she made, or what was in it, but it sure was good. Really good in fact. To be honest, anything tasted better then whatever 303 makes his prisoners to eat. Yeah, it was edible but it sure as heck didn't taste like it.

"Slow down a little hun, I don't want you to choke." Ceris said, brushing a bit of my hair out of my face. "You know I missed you so much while being here."

I stopped and looked up at her. My eyes tearing up. "Then why didn't you come back? When Rain told me what he saw... I was devastated. You could have fought alongside us. We could have helped you take back the End... so why didn't you come back?" I asked.

Her eyes locked the ground. She sat up and sighed. "I couldn't come back. I know I sound idiotic and selfish saying that, but it's the truth. My time as the end Matriarch and a powerful warrior are long gone now. I can no longer take unlimited punches and still get up. I can't be like that anymore." She paused to wipe the tears from her face. "I let down my people... my friends... everyone. I don't want to disappoint them again. And plus... it's about time we get some new voices in the End's council."

"Ceris. Just because you're that mighty warrior. The powerful queen. Doesn't mean you aren't still human. You make mistakes. No one will hate you for being a normal living being. Though, you do have a point... the End's council has been the same for two centuries?"

"Yeah. I feel like it is time for the next queen and heir to step up to the throne." Ceris said, motioning to me.

"B-But... I'm powerless! Sure, I can use a sword, but I can't use magic anymore."

"...Not yet at least." She said. I tilt my head in confusion. "Once you are healed enough. I will reteach you magic. It'll be in the same language and style of magic you are familiar with. However I will be teaching you a whole new level of enchantress magic. You will be pushed to you to your limit, and further. We need you to ketch up and ketch up as quickly as possible."

"How long will it take?" I ask.

"To ketch you up fully and introduce a new level of magic... years. It depends on how fast you can learn, and how fast you can progress."

"How fast can you get me patched up!" I asked excited.

"Slow down sweetheart. I don't want you to rush your recovery and get more injured later."

I sigh. "The faster I learn... the faster I can get home and make sure everyone is safe...."

Ceris looks at me a little mad "Are you saying you don't want to spend time with me!"

"N-No! I'm not saying that! I appreciate everything you're doing and-" I couldn't even finish my apology before she started chuckling.

"I was kidding dear. I know you didn't mean that. You care a lot about them and after knowing I'm okay, you want to check on your friends..... and your boyfriend." She teased, my face turned a bright shade of red.

"H-How did you-!" I stuttered.

"Sweetheart, that was a relationship waiting to happen. All the original Ender Watchers knew that too." She then walked up to me and kissed me on the forehead, "Now, you finish your soup and get some rest today."

Before she could walk out of the cottage, I say,

"Hey Ceris?" She turned to me. "What does the magic center around?"She paused.

"I have a spell book that I was going to reference throughout our training. If only the Nether hadn't attacked. It was mainly around killing darker spirits or entity's. Which would be very useful now. But I know some spells offhand that I can teach you. However, I will also be teaching you how to infuse your magic in your combat in more of a reliable way." I give her a confused look.

"I have seen you in battle. You have been either using magic, or weapon-on-weapon combat. Which is still good, don't get me wrong. A lot of witches fight like that nowadays. However, when your mom was still here, we spared a lot. She had managed to infuse her magic into a weapon or even armor, and fight like that."

"So, you're teaching me how to fight whiles using magic and a weapon at the same time?"

"That's the idea yeah. It seams pointless, I know, but all that hard work pays off. Now, your injuries should be healed enough overnight...." She went to go leave, but before she left, she said.

"We start training at dawn."