Dawn Over the Land

Chapter 9

"Lark, it's so lovely to see you again." The comforting voice of a woman said. Lark turned towards it and saw a tall woman, about 6'1. She had very long, golden blonde hair and olive skin. Her eyes were white, but Lark could tell she wasn't blind.

"Who are you?" Lark asked cautiously.

"I am Queen Aurora of the Light Domain." She responded.

"But you're dead!" Lark exclaimed.

" Yes," Aurora acknowledged, "Though I am dead, I preserved my soul in that stone, waiting for the day you were ready for your powers, my beautiful daughter."

"I'm your what?"

"My daughter."

"But you've been dead for at least a hundred years! How is that possible?"

"Because the history you know isn't true. Let me tell you the true history, sit down." Suddenly two white velvet seats appeared. They both sat and Aurora began:

"You are taught that I was bad, trying to take over all the kingdoms before my sister, Queen Thorne, saved you all about 100 years ago. The Queen Thorne of now is a descendant of her. The truth, however, plays out very differently indeed. The Queen Thorne you know is my sister from only twenty years ago. Our parents were the queen of Light Domain and the king of Dark Domain. I was born first, older by only two years. I developed light powers and Thorne developed dark powers, so we were sent to our different kingdoms, only seeing each other once a month. I grew up to become the queen of Light Domain, everyone was prosperous and it was the golden age of all domains, not just Light Domain. My sister grew up with hatred, jealous of all the power Light Domain royals had, she plotted to kill, not only the Light Domain royal bloodline, but all of Light Domain. That she succeeded in doing. Only a couple days before her attack, though, I had you in secret. Like all Light Domain queens, when I had you I had my power duplicated and put into a stone for you to have when you were ready. Before Thorne killed me, I had Queen Juniper take you to her domain in order to properly merge you with the stone, so it could only be used by you. But you were never able to be returned to me because I was killed. My soul naturally attached itself to my power that was useless until you were of age. Thorne then brainwashed all Domains into believing what is now in your history book. The reason Juniper wasn't brainwashed is because of that stone, it holds magical properties, protection. You, my daughter, are the only person capable of defeating my sister and being on the throne and uniting the Domains under a common crown." Aurora paused, looking into the distance, obviously seeing something Lark didn't. "This is where we must part ways, I have told you all I can, now it is finally time for my soul to be free. Be brave, and remember what I have told you."

"How am I to unlock the power? How do you know I'm ready?"

"Trust in yourself, it's already unlocked, you just have to control it. I love you and I'm very proud of you. My Dawn."

Lark blinked and she was back in the throne room, standing over Cumula's body. In the exact moment she had left. Okay she thought I've got this, just channel the power from the stone. Without talking, she put her hands on Cumula's wound and looked down at the stone.

"Guide me mother, guide your Dawn." Lark whispered. She felt something like electricity flow from where the stone was, through her arms, into her hands, and out into Cumula's body. Soft gasps went up around the room as the blood began seeping back into Cumula and the dark-magic arrow evaporated. Cumula's eyes opened slowly and she coughed, sitting up. She put a hand to her chest.

"What happened?" She asked, "Last I remembered someone yelled, there was a pain in my chest, and you were crying and now I-" She was cut short by Lark putting her own mouth atop Cumula's. Cumula's eyes widened, but she leaned into the kiss. They probably would have kept going, but a cough made them cut it short. They both looked away, blushing, before Cumula began asking questions.

"Seriously though, what happened?"

"You were dead, a dark arrow through your heart. But you're fine now!" Lark answered, stumbling over her words because she was so happy Cumula lived.

"Yeah, Lark healed you." Storm said, wiping tears from his face as he walked over and crouched down on the floor by them, "I don't know how, but she did."

"Actually, my name is Dawn." Lark said. "This stone let me meet my real mother and she explained everything."

"What did she tell you?" Juniper asked.

"I can explain it later, but right now we have to kill Thorne. She's the true villain, not Light Domain." Dawn said fiercely, standing up and helping Cumula stand as well. "Kill her, break the brainwashing, save the world. Who's in?"

"I've already died once, so why stop there." Cumula said, "What's the plan?"

"No plan," Dawn responded, "Find her and kill her, that's about it."

"No offense, but not all of us have magic to help us, and the ones who do don't have very powerful magic." Jade said.

"Not anymore," Dawn explained happily, "I channel the magic of this stone. It was my mother's."

"Oh, okay then." Jade said, "Groups of two again?"

"Yes, but Queen Juniper and Ivy need to get somewhere safe, we can't risk them being killed." Juniper nodded, Dawn knew she trusted her to make the right decision. "You two need to get to StoneHill castle, tell King Quartz, he'll keep you safe. Go, now."

Juniper and Ivy quickly left. This left Dawn with the original group. Dawn knew she could trust them. They could do this.

"Let's go team," Storm said, taking over the lead, "Find Thorne and let Dawn deal with her. We just need to stop the guards and whatever other protectors Thorne may have. Be prepared for anything."