Dana tried to hold on to common sense for dear life but nothing infront of her seemed to want to be her stumbling block.
What just happened?
She took a few staggering steps back from her seat, almost tripping on her toes. She looked around her, averting her eyes so that she could look further than just the pastry shop and everywhere she laid her eyes, darkness seemed to be seeping in irregardless of whether living or non living. She wanted to unsee everything for her peace of mind but it seemed to be mission impossible! Who was this man?
"Who are you?" she asked the burning question in her head, already aware that this was no bored, old man who coincidentally happened to be at the same pastry shop as her.
"No Princess, the question is who are you" he stated with a stoic face that had only the emotion you would find in a brick wall. "If you go around asking the questions you want to know and might I add impulsively, your mind will end up eluding the answers you actually need to know" he said calmly.
Dana was torn with all the gears in her head turning and the old man could clearly see the debacle going on in her head. She was starting to doubt her sanity. Why is it that everytime she had to see something, it was never good. It was always a bad omen and here sat across her, yet another doom bearer. What is it about her that always attracts the darkness? She sighed in frustration when all the questions only brought forth some more complicated questions.
"Why me? Why can't I ever have some peace of mind? I mean . . . there has to be someone else that can bear all of the darkness, right?" even as she said it, she felt that the question was rather introspectional and the answer seemed to be something that her subconscious seemed to know but wouldn't let her fully grasp.
"What must I do stop this? There must be a way to stop it, right?" she asked almost to herself but the man smiled.
Now that you've started asking the right questions . . . The old man trailed as if deep in thought yet again before an audible sigh escaped his lips before he suddenly asked "you're untrained, aren't you?"
Now it was Dana's turn to release her version of an audible sigh which came off as an exasperated one. "Im not sure how muchof this you think I understand or how much of a clue you think I have but well to both our dispair, all these things are happening to someone who is utterly clueless about them. I don't even understand why I keep seeing these things. If its not strange things, its strange people who always leave me in a step closer to losing what little sanity is left after the last one appears and disappears just as fast, Im sure you one of them from all the vague answers and the attempt at uprooting my sanity" she was ranting and she was sure that it's unfair of her to take out all her frustrations on this old man but she had jist about enough of these hollow clues. She isn't that good with puzzles nor riddles so she was taking a dive down a bottomless pit with all these jigsaw puzzlea they kept throwing at her, the only difference in those puzzles and the ones she gets being the fact that people die everytime and she couldn't help but watch. It just had to stop or she was going to turn up dead if its what it takes for her peace of mind.
"I take it the pressure that everyone is feeling has been pushed off to you? That was premature but then its time my dear. Time is of virtue Princess, the safety of humankind has been compromised by power hungry mongrels that prey on anything that breaths which caused an imbalance between the Druids and other protectors of this realm. An old prophecy has come to pass and someone has alerted the Lors of Vengeance of your identity and the threat you pose to his rein and his minions. The traces of darkness you see now are just a fraction of his plans for all mankind. It is the battle of ancient powers and an army of Doomsday . . . Should that day get here before you're fully ready, we will all be doomed to darkness for a thousand years until the hold is leased again. The brink is too close Dana and you are now faced with a formidable foe but the power of the ancients has been bestowed upon you. I believe you have met Ethereal who bestowed upon you the power of light and purity. We all fear saying the wrong thing to trigger the darkness Princess"
Now she was legit scared. The adrenaline rush too high that she felt the loud pounding of her heart in her ears. Its such a heady combination. The fear and the ecstasy . . . Was any of it normal? She couldn't tell yet but she knew one thing for sure, the battle she has been given is one she can't afford to lose, whatever the cost!
Finally, someone was considerate enough to give her a headstart but still . . . What can she do? What must she do? This isn't the 19th century where people went around swinging swords at their enemies
"You would be surprised at the sense in your theory Princesss. Swords are still very much effective because of the rarity of how much lengths mankind have gone to to modify them. Swords remain by far the most swift one in close combat especially when you're faced with tricky creatures such as the blood suckers of the Lord of Vengeance.
The old man stood up and the next time they were standing infront.of a table with all types of swords. Long, short, some heavy and some a little lighter in weight. What caught her attention was something small and intricate, hidden behind big fearful daggers that she almost didn't see it, it looked like a pen with its small but easily portable size. She was bewildered at the art put into the swords from the intricate designs of the hilts to the very shape of every sword. The man had a collection for a lifetime! Swords, daggers, knives . . you name it.
"Are you a Guardian too? The ones you mentioned earlier?" she added when she saw the man raise an eyebrow in a questioning glance. "So like how do you do the one blink you somewhere and the next you're somewhere entirely different? Please don't tell me im hallucinating" she pleaded in a rushed breath.
"I am no guardian at all Child, I'm more of a wanderer. I am everwhere and nowhere at once" the old man finally gave her an answer after a deliberating look that touched his features for a fleeting second.
"Uhm . . . okay, so you're saying we're here but somehow not here? That we left the shop partially but we're still in the pastry shop?" she asked feeling perplexed by the man's answer.
"Trying to understand some things makes you more confused than leaving them unknown to you and in your case, opening your mind to understand the darkness makes you vulnerable to it. When you look into the darkness, it looks back at you, searching for an opening" okay now she was legit scared. How was she supposed to fight in the dark? She felt a distant ringing at the back of her head but she dismissed it.
"How am I supposed to prepare myself to battle an enemy I have no clue about. It seems to me that this . . . mission is suicidal for me . . .
She sighed
Then why send me at all? You already know the outcome right? Am I the sacrifice?" she started feeling anxious at the wild cards her mind started pulling on her
The old man had a brooding expression before he too her left hand "let me show you something" he opened a door and they were at the middle of nowhere . . . like literally, Dana noted with pending gloom. Why on God's Earth did she allow this man to take her here? No, allow is the wrong word for it! She sighed again. Who will know what happened to her if she were to get stuck here . . . wherever here was. Where will they even start looking. She took a huge gulp of air as silently as she could to not spook the man if he had already caught on to her rising panic and suspicions since the man had an uncanny ability to say or see stuff in her head.
She was suddenly alert of the whooshing and whispers around her and she looked around to see nothing but trees going far and beyond her line of sight other than the little cottage she had just stepped out of.
"Settle your mind Princess, This place needs total serenity for you to come out with your sanity still intact"
He raised his hand, balancing on a staff Dana had failed to notice before, it looked platinum dark with an orange stone perked at the top of its head, an owl hooted at a distance before she saw a lone one flying towards them and whatever inner peace she had tried to harvest for her mind's tranquility flew out an open window
Screw serenity, Dana was shit scared of owls!
She wasn't about to act cool infront of one so she made a run to the cottage which gave the old man amusement. He must've known, he chuckled lightly before beckoning the child back to his side. They were running out of time!
"Close your eyes and calm your nerves, anticipate nothing at all. You see, they say there are two sides to every story . . . maybe they are correct if u disregard the element of nature. Every incident is a plot to which nature plays a major role but mankind chooses to ignore it as they deem mother nature a non sentient.
There is always my side, your side and the truth as perceived by the eyes of the owl" he raised his left hand which was holding the staff which emmited a soft orange glow that gradually grew brighter, he made a circle motion around Dana's head and chanted something Dana couldn't comprehend.
She heard the owl flap its wings before it took to the sky. She waited trying to calm her nerves as she was instructed to anticipate nothing. She felt weirdly connected to the owl and she knew why the moment it trained it's sharp eyes on the ground. She was seeing the ground from a different peripheral, she felt heady and wanted to explore but the dark bird seemed to have different plans. It soared up high then circled around a certain treeline that looked to have been trimmed until it formed a shape with a pointed stone in the middle that was painted a deep shade of red, or was it blood? Her curiosity already piqued, she inched closer until she hit an invisible barrier that threw her across the forest.
What is this place?
She was drawn back to her body before she could fully comprehend what was happening.
"You must limit yourself Princess least you find yourself too drawn to the darkness. It's enticing from the outside until you're in too deep to get out can one see it for what it truly is" is he speaking from personal experience? It was hard to tell especially with her head still trying to grasp what she/the owl just saw.
"Help me. You came to me because you figured you can help me, right? Train me" she demanded which seemed to bring the tranquility the man had showing in his face before the owl venture.
"It is late now Princess, you have to head back home. Meet me tomorrow at nine hundred hours in the morning, same place and . . . be safe Princess" the mysterious old man said and when Dana blinked she was almost at her grandmother's door.
What the!