Inheritance - The Dark Sorcerers: Book 1

Chapter 2: The Prophecy

While Head Sister Ursula and I navigated through the labyrinth of corridors to her office on the first floor, I was genuinely convinced that the entire world had gone mad and that I would soon wake up in my bed, soaking in sweat as a result of a confusing nightmare. However, the more times I pinched my arm in a feeble attempt to wake myself, the clearer it became to me that all of this was really happening. A foreboding feeling had settled in my stomach, as though my life was about to change forever and I could do nothing to stop it from happening.

Just silly thoughts, Kenna, I told myself, internally slamming my head against the wall. You're freaking out, and what for? Just wait and see what the Sister wants to tell you.

Head Sister Ursula's office was a large, ornate room with antique furniture and a marvelous chandelier made of colored crystals hanging from the high ceiling. As the Sister sat down behind her desk, I wrung my hands to give myself something to do.

She frowned at me. "Sit down, Kenna. This will be a long conversation, so I wouldn't recommend you keep standing there all afternoon."

I did as I was told, too nervous to utter a word. Head Sister Ursula rummaged around the neatly organized stacks of paper that littered her desk. The realization that she too felt uncomfortable disrupted my already messed up heart rhythm even more.

At last, she straightened up, seeming to brace herself as if she was going to battle. "Although I knew this day would come, I have dreaded it nonetheless," she whispered. She had kept her eyes closed whilst saying this, but now they snapped open, her gaze so fierce it would have burned my skin if it had been tangible. "But, since Captain Marks arrived too early, I guess I don't have much choice but to tell you the truth now."

I had finally recovered the ability to speak. "What truth, Sister?"

She sighed, her eyes drifting off to a place or time I couldn't see. "Why don't I start from the beginning?" She cleared her throat. "A long time ago, a Seer named Xia Jutín made a prophecy about a girl born with both Light and Dark magic. As you know, this phenomenon has never occurred in this world because Light and Darkness can't coexist in one vessel. Yet, Xia was adamant, and since she was a powerful Seer and her previous prophecies had all come true, the Order, the Sorcerer's Guild and the Brunwill Academy decided to join forces and find this mysterious girl. According to Xia, she would be the only one capable of stopping the Darkness from spreading across our world and ultimately swallowing it whole. She would have the power to defeat the Dark Sorcerers and crush their rise to power."

Darkness ... Dark Sorcerers ... What did all of that have to do with me?

Head Sister Ursula took both of my hands in hers, squeezing them. Her thumb brushed the back of my hand while she spoke, a soothing gesture that helped me focus on the story she was telling. "For many centuries, the three institutions kept records of every newborn Sorceress, hoping that one of them would be the girl they were looking for. Unfortunately, none of the children appeared to possess the extraordinary abilities that Xia had spoken of. All those in service of the Light grew desperate since the Darkness only seemed to spread faster with each passing year. The Light was starting to lose the fight and if this girl wasn't born anytime soon, her powers would no longer have any use. That was until seventeen years and three hundred sixty-three days ago, another female Dark Child was brought to the orphanage of Windegar."

Windegar ... That was where the White Sisters had found me as a baby. Coincidence?

Come on, Kenna. Don't be a fool.

"When the Guild's envoys arrived at the orphanage, they immediately knew they had found the girl from Xia's prophecy. Her Darkness was strong, much stronger than usual, yet there was also a sparkle of Light inside her. The envoys decided to take the child to the Monastery of the Order of the White Sisters so that we could teach her about Light magic, hoping that it would grow intertwined with her natural Darkness. We assumed that she would need a certain competence in both forms of magic to fulfill her destiny."