I opened my door and laughed when I saw Arrakis on my bed, reading one of my many fantasy novels. It’s still a wonder how they got here from the Third Realm.
“Arrakis get your ass off my bed. We have work to do.” Arrakis groaned and sat up.
“Do we have to?” he whined.
“If you want to help me save my endangered royal bloodline and a sacred relic, then yes.” His eyes got big.
“I’m so lost. What royal bloodline? What relic? Ugh, I’m so confused!”
“Arrkais, you’re not going to believe me, but I’m Lady Alexandra’s daughter. My father was Joseph Hetei Sera. My mother and I are the last of the Sera bloodline; the direct descendants of Kain himself.”
“But you were human once. You were turned. That’s impossible.”
“Alex gave birth to me while in the human’s realm. My vampire blood instantly became dormant so that she could hide me there. I was originally supposed to just stay human.”
“Why would Lady Alexandra do that? What’s the harm in having you known?”
“My father was murdered because James Narvel thought that he was the last of the Seras, but it was my mother who actually carried the blood. So she hid me to protect me from him.”
Arrakis took in everything he was hearing like a gentleman. “Why does he want to get rid of the Seras?”
“Because he wants an ancient Sera relic and he doesn’t want us in the way.”
“What do we need to do?”
I pulled out the scroll with the prophecy that Alex had given me. “We need to figure out what this means.”
“When blood runs dry/and the darkness approaches/the Seras may fall/to its might.” Arrakis recited.
“’When blood runs dry’ could refer to when all of the Seras are dead.” I guessed.
“’Darkness’ could be a metaphor for evil.”
“It says ‘the Seras may fall’, so maybe there’s a chance I’ll fail,” I scowled, “well that’s not comforting.”
“So it means that when the Seras are almost gone and this great evil approaches, the last of your family might fall.” Arrakis interpreted.
“Yeah. And the next stanza obviously means that when James killed my father his son, Pancar, became obsessed with the Sera relic.”
“What about the stanza after that?” he inquired.
“Hmm,” I thought for a moment. “Well, I’m pretty sure that the first two lines mean that Pancar hid for years waiting for a Sera to surface. But the second half… what does it mean by ‘the Original’? It sounds like it’s maybe referring to Kain, but he’s long dead so that can’t be right.”
Arrakis looked at the scroll. “Well then, let’s move on to the next few lines. ‘One still lives;/one still survives’. That can’t be right. You and Alex are both Seras. Maybe one of you is going to – ”
“Die before it’s over? Yes, probably. Alex said that her body was already weakening and that if Pancar didn’t kill her, she was going to die soon anyway.” I paused. “The next couple lines say that I’ll have what Pancar wanted. At least I know I survive long enough to get the relic.” I chuckled morbidly.
“Now Blood runs like rives/and Darkness does play./Behold, the reincarnation/of Shadow’s first Blood.’” He mused over the slightly disturbing verse, “I don’t understand it.”
“Shadow, Darkness, and Blood are all capitalized. They’re probably elements or someone who represents them. ‘Shadow’s first Blood’… has there ever been a mage with black and blood magic at the same time before me?”
Arrakis thought for a second. “I’m not sure,” he told me, “there may have been and for some reason I’m starting to be almost positive that there was. I just can’t remember who.”
I nodded. “Yeah. So, all in all, the prophecy pretty much says that the last Sera may fall, wielding the ancient relic, to the might of this monster that we believe to be Pancar, right? Then apparently, once Pancar shows his face, the ‘Original’ will return and we’ll all see the reincarnation of ‘Shadow’s first Blood’?”
“Yeah, that’s what I got out of it too, but this doesn’t answer where or what the relic is.” I thought about that, fingering the amulet my mother had given me.
“Raven,” Arrakis began, eyes glued on the necklace, “that symbol looks so familiar. The dragon wound and clutching a gem. I saw that somewhere.”
A light clicked on in my head. “Where did you see it?”
Arrakis thought hard for numerous seconds. “I can’t remember,” he told me, “but I think it was somewhere in a book back in the Third Realm. Actually, I think the Warriors may have moved it into my room when I made it into my permanent residence.”
“So, it’s in your dorm room?” He nodded. “Well, I told Alexandra that I’d go tell her when I figured something out about the prophecy. Why don’t you head over to your room and then meet me in Alex’s chambers once you’ve got it?”
He bobbed his head in agreement. “Sounds good, my lady. I will see you shortly,” He approached me and gave me a soft peck on the lips before backing out.
By Nyx, that kid was perfect.
