A Taste of Death

Chapter Four

"Nova, dinner's ready!" Nova's mother, Trisha Scott, stirred the meat a few more times as she called out to her daughter. James Scott came out from his office room where he had finished writing an article for the newspaper and hugged his wife from behind. "Smells amazing, honey." He smiled, complimenting her. She chuckled, stopping what she was doing and playfully pushing her husband's glasses up more on his face. "Why thank you." She smiled. "Nova, dear, dinner's ready!" She called again.
    James' eyebrow quirked upwards but he merely hummed a tune as he prepared plates. After a few minutes of silence, Trisha paused, looking towards the stairs, a towel in her hand. "Nova?" She called once more, now sounding slightly worried. She placed the towel down and looked towards James, who looked back. "She did come home, right?" She flicked her eyes towards the time, 5:45 PM. James shared her same worried look. It was unlike Nova not to answer or appear.
    The couple advanced and knocked on Nova's door. "Nova?" James called out quietly. Upon no reply, Trisha carefully opened the door to a neat room, undisturbed yet empty of the sought out ravenette. Trisha bit her lip, now more worried than ever, before her eye caught something. "There's no trace of her..." James spoke out. Trisha grabbed his arm. "James, look." She handed him a monochrome photo, the familiar forest. He furrowed his eyebrows. "That looks...familiar." He flipped it over. "Vashna- it can't be." He looked at Trisha, handing the photo back, now deep in thought. "James?" Trisha questioned. After a silent pause, James Scott led his wife downstairs. "Let me tell you a story."
    As the bus passed Nova's stop, Casey and Rosa frowned. "She's never late." Casey commented. Rosa opened her phone and scrolled through the group chat. "Maybe she's sick? She looked fine yesterday though." Rosa added. The two sat in silence. "Something feels wrong." Casey said after a few minutes. "I know." Rosa sighed. The day progressed with no sign of Nova, the friends becoming more and more worried. After lunch, they met in the library. "No sign?" Casey inquired, Rosa responding with a slow shake of her head. "Where could she be?" The two wandered around the library, examining the large shelves. Rosa dragged her fingertips  along the spines of the books half wondering how they would even find their friend. She had just simply...vanished.
That was until Rosa's fingers brushed against a book that sent shivers down her spine. Curious, she carefully pulled the book from its spot, being met with a leather cover, decorated ornately with various symbols. Her fingers brushed the cover before she felt another spark, the markings shimmering a violet color before returning to their dull appearance. This was no ordinary book. "Hey Casey, I think I found something." Rosa called out, seeing the blonde run around the corner, she showed her the leatherbound book. Casey gingerly took it and slowly opened the pages, her eyes widening alongside Rosa's.
Ancient writing was scrawled in beautiful font, filling the pages. The book lit up again, the pages turning on their own to a page, the writing slowly transforming to coherent tongue. "Whoa..." The girls breathed in awe, their eyes skimming over the page as they sat down, and Casey began reading the text in a hushed tone.
Elowen leaned forward, hands clasped together on the wooden table as she began speaking. "A long time ago, two worlds lived in harmony as one, named Heil. Magic and science were one and the same and fae, human and exterrestrials mingled together. However, soon, a group of leaders in the demon clan, the Dreria, suddenly attacked, a thick darkness blanketing the worlds." At the same time, Casey continued the story, eyes wide as she read, Rosa looking over her shoulder. "In order to preserve life and separate the chaos, the world in which they lived was split into two, some lower fae, elves, dwarves, demons, and others seeking refuge on the other world while some remained to try to fend off the Dreria and their conspirators."
Elowen took a breath. "And while they succeeded in driving the Dreria back for the time being, the evil forces sealed away the twin world, separating the two worlds forever. While magic stayed in the home world, it eventually faded in the other until  it became nothing but myths and legend." Casey paused, looking up at Rosa before she read the last part. "The homeland was named Vashnaheil, while its twin was dubbed Vonyaheil."
The female elf looked at her hands, then back at Nova. "It's been centuries since that incident. Everything was peaceful...until it wasn't. My dreams began getting more violent, telling me of a coming danger, and a darkness that hadn't been seen in ages. Pure Darkness." Nova was quiet for a moment. "Dreams?" Amarelis sighed lightly. "Elowen possesses the divine gift of dream divination." Elowen nodded, confirming. "I can see things that happen in my dreams. I can tell if they're about to happen or if they've already happened and around the time when they happened." She smiled grimly. "It's both a blessing and a curse."
Silence descended both in Vashnaheil and in the school library as Rosa and Casey looked at each other, flipping through the old book to find blank pages. "Vashnaheil...you think that's where Nova is?" Rosa asked, even though they both knew the answer. "We need to go to her parents." Casey nodded and the two stood, heading out of the library, with the ancient book tucked under her arm.
"The enemy we face carries the unique gift of Pure Darkness. Only one before him had it." Elowen looked out the window as Amarelis carried on. "Pure Darkness is the manifestation of evil, capable of corrupting nearly everything, save for Pure Light, its direct counterpart."  Nova tilted her head slightly. "Who has Pure Light now?" She asked. Elowen shook her head. "That's the thing. We don't know. Pure Light has been gone ever since the world split."
Casey and Rosa knocked on the Scott's door, as the couple opened it, looking worried. "Thank goodness you're both okay." Trisha all but hugged the two girls. The girls looked at each other as they walked into the living room, deciding to cut to the point, sighing before they spoke in unison. "We know where Nova is." The parents nodded. "So do we."