Shadow Cursed

Chapter 33: Celestial Meets Shadow

That night, I had decided to sit around the room and skip dinner. I later regretted that decision, when two hours had passed before I was hungry again.

I distracted myself during the passing time by attempting to groom my new messy wings. I ended up with a small pile of feathers next to me that kept growing as I picked more feathers from my wings. Picking one up and examining it in the light, I observed the color was near a solid black but it was lighter like a dark grey. They were weak and easily bent or broke, baby wings.

Getting bored of isolating myself in my guest room, I opened the door quietly and decided to explore the old place on my own. Many doors along the hallways had been boarded up with planks of decaying wooden planks and rusting nails. The walls had graffiti and scratch marks all in various shapes and sizes. Constantly I had this strange feeling someone was watching me making the hairs on the back of my neck raise, the feeling of dark magik surrounded me. At one point I thought I saw a shadow behind me, but I was the only one here.

I was walking when I paused and looked behind me again. Someone was watching me, I just couldn't see them. I stopped in front of a door that was not boarded up and had no handle. I kept hearing whispers and some mysterious force drew me here. As I approached the door, the whispering grew louder drawing me in. It swung open welcoming me with a slight touch. With many doubts in my head I stepped into the complete darkness. Inside the little room, candles lined the walls. Many mystical items had decorated the walls and fascinated me.

"I've been expecting you," a voice echoed out from a dark corner. "Come closer, I don't bite my dear."

I paused, my heart racing with fear, "Who is there?" My whispered barely audible.

A dim light from a candle expanded from the corner as a figure starting emerging. Her hair white like the snow, and skin wrinkled and pale as a ghost, the eyes a dull teal color. "You have come a long way dear, sit sit. Make yourself at home." She pulled up a chair to the small table with a crystal ball.

Keeping a distance, "How did you know I was coming?" I barely spoke my voice cracking.

"My senses dear, Celeste, the Daughter of the Celestial and Shadow Realms." The old hag had few teeth left in her smile, "I welcome you to my banishment from society."

I sat in the seat and place my hands in my lap, looking around the room nervously. "Nice collection of items?"

"I've spent many years gathering these powerful artifacts. Some have the ability to bring the dead back to the living. Others have the ability to cast deadly incurable curses. My favorite ones have the ability to draw souls out of living bodies." The last words left silence in the air making me feel uncomfortable.

"So you practice hoodoo then?" I nervously asked.

"Some call it hoodoo, others call this witchcraft, or black magik. Many of my beloved sisters and friends were hung or disappeared in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692." She was poking around the darkness looking for something among the shelves.

"Oh." I sat there in silence.

I felt a spinkle of water over my head before she sat down in front of me in the other seat. "Now tell me dear, what do you see in the crystal ball?"

"The crystal ball?" She nodded and I leaned into the foggy ball.

I couldn't see anything at first but the fog cleared showing shadows and demons waiitng impatiently. They were delighted but a tall winged figure with a cloak used his staff to gain there attention. The voice rang, "My followers and children. Soon the night will come when my daughter and soon come home. Together they will provide the power I need to overthrow the realms, taking them for myself." He walked around the room eyeing each person then looking in my direction as if he was talking to me. "You each will have a position with me in the new world unless you fail me," his words left the room silent. "The rewards are plentiful and there is enough to share and go around. Last time, the plans went astray, but this time we will succeed." The vision cut off sending me out of a trance.

I looked up confused and in shock, "What was that I just watched?"

"The Lord of the Darkness was having a meeting with his supporters. He plans to strike soon."

I stared at the ball expecting more, but nothing showed up, "What does that mean?"

"You must train to protect yourself against his vile dark art. Your downfall is his hopes and dreams. You are the only one with enough power and magik to over throw him."

I had a lump in my throat, "But why me? I barely know how to control my fire."

"You have three months to train and practice. Use time wisely dear." Her bone hands took mine and held them. "You have a dark twisted path ahead of you. What side you choose will determine what your fate becomes, once choice will kill the ones you love when the other choice will kill you and only you."

"What if I don't choose?" My voice was barely audible again.

The room suddenly went cold. "Fate will take it's pick then, you will have no say in what happens."

"I don't have to choose now, right?"

Her voice didn't help, "Soon you will have to pick your final destiny. And you only get one."

"Wait!" A wind came out of nowhere and picked me off my feet. The room disappeared and the old hag did also. I found myself laying on the floor of my guest room and someone was knocking at the door. I looked at the clock and only an hour had passed.

The door opened and Cerin came in with a plate of left overs. "Where were you during dinner?"

"I must of fell asleep." I yawned while getting off the floor.

"Well, eat up. You're not gonna gain any strength without eating something." He placed the plate down in front of me.

"Thanks," I mumbled while eating. "So maybe you could tell me more about yourself? All I know is you saved my life."

He thought about it for a moment, "Maybe another day. It's getting late and I'm rather tired." He got up and walked to the door. "See you tomorrow." He closed the door behind him leaving me alone again in the room.