Daughter of Shannara [An Allanon Fanfic]

Visions

Song: Never Gonna Change by Broods

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I awoke to a pounding migraine overwhelming my other senses. I looked to Allanon's sleeping figure and attempted to shake him awake. He slowly opened his eyes in a tired panic.

"It's okay. It's okay," I tried to soothe him.

"No," he coughed out.

His hand was then forced to the ground against his will and began speaking another language to someone I couldn't see.

After a few minutes of seeming to be in agony, he sat in a sitting position and was shaking from terror.

"It's me. It's okay. It's me," I reassured him.

He stared at me with wide eyes, "Astraea, we must return to Arborlon. Hurry!"

Allanon held the codex close as we both froze in time.

A scene of blood engulfed our senses. Blades slashing and blood covered the whole room. Nothing could be scene other than red and silver. Bodies of the chosen scattered the floor laying next to pools of dark blood. The elves weren't safe in their sanctuary. No one was anymore.

"You saw that too, right?! I wasn't dreaming that?!"

"Yes. We have to go, now!" He commanded back.

When we arrived back at Arborlon, the aftermath that we walked in on was exactly like the vision. The chosen had been slaughtered. Organs falling out onto the floor as the royal family paced slowly around them, pondering what to do next and who would've done such a thing.

"This must be the work of Gnomes," Arion spat, "they've struck at the heart of the palace before."

"Gnomes has no part in this," Allanon warned back. "It is the work of the Dagda Mor."

They all held faces of horror at what was coming out of his mouth, all except Arion. The boy in denial.

"The Dagda-what?" He muttered.

"He's a powerful elven Druid," Allanon took a pause, "who was corrupted by dark magick. He's been plotting his revenge now for thousands of years."

"If he's a Druid, can't you just find and destroy one of your own?" Arion asked.

"I tried," Allanon informed the boy, "but he is cloistered in a black henge, which cloaks his location."

Allanon explains that in the codex, it says that as the Ellcrys grows weaker, the Dagda Mor grows stronger. As the last leaf falls from the tree, he and his demons will be freed.

Arion demands to have the room to speak alone with his father. As Allanon and I walk outside, he tells me that there's a servant of the Dagda Mor within the walls of Arborlon.

"I need you to search the princess' quarters for anything suspicious," he tells me.

I look at him skeptically, "really? Okay."

I quickly go into Amberle's room and look through books and things on her shelves. A book catches my eye so I pull it from the shelf and a picture falls out. A sketch of a frightening figure haunts me. This must be what the demons look like. But how would she know what they look like? No one except for Allanon and maybe the king have seen them.

I rush back to Allanon to show him what I've found, when I walk in to see him and the king in deep conversation.

"I thought she understood that there was no future for us," Allanon sadly says plainly.

"Well evidently she didn't," the king says calmly.

"Astraea and I will go to retrieve Amberle."

Allanon turns around slightly and meets my eyes with a sad, apologetic look on his face. I feel what he feels so it was hard for me to be angry with him.

"Astraea, I-"

"It's okay. I'm not mad. There's no reason to be," I muttered loud enough for him to hear.

He flashed a sad smile my way and nodded as if to say thank you. We get ready to go to Amberle's location.

When we arrive to the ocean's edge where Pyria lives, I could feel Allanon's nervousness. The older woman came into view and he looked at me for approval. I nodded in response. The amount of trust between us is immense. I know he wouldn't do anything do destroy that.

She stepped forward, "Allanon?"

"We're here for princess Amberle," I informed.

She began to put her hand up, "I can't help you."

Allanon put his hands together and began to focus to get into her head. He was successful as I felt drawn to a close location.

"She's at the waterfall," Allanon said as the older woman looked fairly irritated.

"Damn your Druid tricks," she spat.

I ran off to find the waterfall and left Allanon to speak with his aged lover.

The waterfall was beautiful, green moss and vegetation was scattered across the rocks lining the shore. Amberle was easily seen standing in the water.

"Princess Amberle!" I shouted, trying to get her attention.

I stepped forward to get closer so that she could actually hear me, but I slipped on a wet stone. I quickly gathered myself and stood up, placing a hand on my head. I opened my eyes to Amberle with a small dagger to my throat.