SECRETS OF ELVENDALE II

CHAPTER X

"Whatcha doing up here, Emily?"

Sophie asked, sneezing at the dust floating in the air. Emily was sitting in the middle of the attic in their house, cross-legged. Sophie slid next to her, peeking at the book she was reading. Emily smiled, and brushed her braid back.

"Is just an old book of Grandma's. It talks about this Shadow World, where an evil witch calles Noctura has been sealed in by the Light Guardian Lumia."

"Woah, cool! Any other stuff from Grandma?"

"Yup! Those boxes, all her's."

Sophie made her way to a wooden cupboard, where four crystal figurines rested upon. Intricately carved, they were differently coloured, green, blue, purple and red. A small spot of light streamed through the attic window, and shone on the crystal figurines, their facets refracting the light into millions of tiny rainbows bouncing over the wooden attic walls. Sophie brought a finger to the red figurine, of which was a lion with wings sprouting out its back. She pushed her finger on it, and it wobbled, before falling off the cupboard.

"Careful, Sophie!" Emily called out, and caught the figurine just in time. "Woah, thank goodness I caught it! It must have been priceless-"

Emily was cut off as her surroundings were bathed in an eerie blue light, and changed. The dusty, cozy walls of her attic were replaced by a gloomy atmosphere, and a dark tower made of black stone, looming over her, a casting large shadow. A large roar of pain shook her, and she looked ahead, where a lion with a fiery mane was roaring and writhing in pain, chained to the ground. Furry bats fluttered and flew around the lion, nosediving into its fur, before fluttering away quickly before the lion snapped its jaws at them.

A black carriage, with green floral details all over the carriage, rolled over, and the door swung open, revealing a black slippered foot, before an elf stepped out. She was clad in a black robe, and her right arm was covered in corruption. Her hair was pitch black, too, which slowly faded to a dark teal at the tips. It flowed like a writhing mass of shadows, framing a pale face, with large, almond-shaped teal eyes, and a black twisted crown tattoo upon her forehead.

"Well, my dearies, how is our new pet acting up like?" The elf smiled maliciously, and a staff of dark, black ashen wood, materialised in her hands. Four green gems surrounded the top, with a multi-faceted glowing green gem at the top.

The shackled lion growled, and took a leap at the elf, but she only smirked when the lion was reigned in by the chains. She waved her staff, and emerald green magic, not unlike Raganna's, Emily thought, glowed atop the staff.

"Personally, I've never liked cats, they're such fickle, dishonest things," The elf said, raising a hand to pet a bat which fluttered near her. "But you aren't just a normal housecat, aren't you Rowan?" The elf turned suddenly, and she slammed her staff down, and green magic flared around her. "You're the guardian of fire, and another piece to let me achieve my goal."

The magic began to twirl and twist around the lion, before reaching in and pulling out magic from the bright gem that lay upon its forehead. Flames of red, orange, yellow and pink were being extracted from the gem, as the lion writhed and groaned in pain, slapping its paws on the floor as it whined and growled.

Then, all of a sudden, Emily was pulled out of the scene, and she was back in the attic, where Sophie was calling out her name frantically.

"Emily, why didn't you answer! You just went stiff and stopped talking when you caught that lion statue, did something magical and wacky happen?"

Sophie asked concernedly, and Emily nodded, before fingering her amulet and it's crack.

"Waiiit. Don't tell me there's another problem in Elvendale! I wanna come!"

Emily was out the door in a flash, and soon, she had reached the tree outside the house, where she was already lifting the amulet from her neck and releasing its power. Sophie followed suit, and was about to get ready to enter the portal when Emily refused to let her.

"I have a feeling it's going to be too dangerous for you to come, Sophie. Stay here."

And Emily jumped through the portal, before Sophie could, and it slammed shut.

"Aww sis! You always take out the fun!"