Staring at the blood-filled pool under him, the man who made the woman who cared for me for many years feel in love. Even though I am still very young, I understand what love means. The man we had orders to kill took a complete turn when she fell in love with him. He had a sister, who was everything to him, and their baby brother dragged out from the darkness as a baby, meant so much to her. Does this mean I don't count as a member of their family?
I got down in a sitting position and grabbed his hand, soaked in blood on both my hands. He looked at me with sorrow because he was on his way to death.
"Veronica, I am so sorry for asking this, as I will probably die soon. C…Can you take care of Berk." he told me.
Beside him laid Meldan; she was a princess and a mentor of the town we both came from in another world. Meldan grabbed my right arm and took out a blade. At this point, I knew what she was thinking about. I stared and nodded my head, declining the sharp object from her.
"If you force me to do this, it will kill Berk," I told her.
She looked deep into my eyes and nodded.
"Not if you bind the forbidden spell and travel back with him," Meldan told me with a severe tone.
"But…but…but then you and I will never meet. You took care of me since I was a baby. If I alter that, me and Berk will travel back ten years without aging. That will mean that we never meet in real life." I told her with an angry voice.
Meldan smiled at me.
"Yes, I know that we will probably never meet in life, but what I have taken care of and taught you for ten years of your life is love can break all barriers. The next step in your life is to fight for your survival. My sister will probably not come after Zark personally because the sacrifice of Berk never takes place, and he never gets kidnapped by Zark from her. That means we alter the timeline to erase this moment like it never happened." She told me.
"But you will lose your love?" I asked her.
"Well, that is what you sacrifice for what has become your real family. Samantha only scolded me for all these years. I saw love from a man and a family for the first time. You saw everything with your eyes, and I want you to live your life to the fullest and care for Berk." She told me.
My hands started to shake, and I looked around the pool and saw Zark's sister a couple of meters away. I walked up to her to check how she was because there wasn't any movement.
"Wake up," I told her.
No response. I put my index fingers on the throat to check for a pulse, and I couldn't stop my hands from shaking in shock at what Meldan wanted me to do. I couldn't feel any pulse; the sister was dead. Grabbed her left hand and dragged her heavy body close to the pool edge. Everything was out of control at this point, and we were lured into a school in a trap, wished we could have left Berk somewhere before coming here. When I turned around, Zark's face was pale. It was hard to know if it was from the blood loss or the shock that I had just dragged his dead sister's body closer to the pool's edge. Suddenly, he had tears in his eyes, and I understood that it wasn't the blood. He was in shock and pain.
"I…Is my sister dead?" He asked me.
I had a hard time answering; something in the area of my left chest was strange. My heart was beating fast, but I didn't know what this feeling was. Meldan crawled to me and touched my face with her bloody hands.
"You have to do it! You can save us all. Take the knife, do the spell, and build a wall between us and them before they manage to break the door to the pool." Meldan utterered with a weak voice.
I was hesitant because I would never meet Meldan again. I have witnessed the destruction of a family, and I could feel something in my chest that was more and more painful. Why am I in pain?
Meldan crawled to the knife on the floor and handed it to me. I just kept staring down at the blade.
"Do it now! That is an order."
I kept nodding my head, but she was resistant to my hesitation.
"Do it now, or I will disown you as my pupil, sister, student, and friend."
I noticed tears in my eyes and the pain worsening in my chest. I went up from the floor, put my hand on the bloody area around Meldan, painted a circle with my index finger, and made all the signs necessary for the spell. I put my hand in the pool to clean away my bloody hand and put my hand on Zark's injured stomach to get as much blood as possible to paint one more circle. I walked around the pool to the other side and started to paint a circle in blood.
I returned and dipped my hand in the pool again to clean it. I opened up Zark sisters' jacket and touched the big wound with blood she had on her chest. I could feel that her chest was soft from her lungs collapsing from a hard impact from a Krat. These creatures are so dangerous when awakened, but Samanthas's plans didn't go as well when her strongest Krat escaped from prison into a human body and escaped. That must have shocked her and made all her anger explode because he chose humans instead because his vessel was too strong to fight back. It must have put all her planned assignments to dust so much that she ordered her sister to go and kill the traitor. She did not know that her sister would fall in love with the man she was going to kill, who was the biggest traitor in the kingdom.
I painted a circle with the sister's blood on the wall and put the necessary signs there. I dipped my hand again in the pool, and on the way back, I stabbed Zark's sister in the stomach and pushed her down the pool.
“W…Wh…What are you doing? Zark uttered with a weak voice that I could feel his death was close with his eye pupils completely turned red.
He was angry that I stabbed his dead sister and how he responded that way directly, even when she was dead. Doesn't he know that I am just trying to help? Meldan crawled up to him and put her hand on his cheek.
"Look at me, Zark. She didn't stab her to neglect the body. It's for saving us." Meldan told him.
His red eyes suddenly disappeared into a complete facial expression of confusion. He started to cry, little Berk on his side began to cling to him, and the child, of course, had no clue what was happening.
"Listen to me carefully, Zark. She has to stab you, and you will die. I promise you, your sister and Berk will survive." Meldan explained to him.
"N... No! How a…are they going to survive by dying?" He asked her.
"Do you trust me?" she asked him.
He nodded and agreed with her promise; they were enemies first and became a loving couple with a family.
She kissed him and reached out her arm. I quickly put the knife in her hands, and she stabbed him in the neck while crying. The blood splattered everywhere, and little Berk cried out loud in shock. Berks expression seeing his big brother become lifeless and Meldan trying to hold him up while she had the tears running down her cheek like a river, something I have never seen her before. I never understood what she saw and felt that I never had a chance to live with. I only trained for several years beside Meldan. Then suddenly, when we came here, she fell in love with him. She only mentioned love is when two people connect, only putting her hand on my chest over my heart and telling me there was a feeling inside the body. Nothing I could think of made this feeling except for the pain I was feeling right now. She spoke about coming out from a locked door, explained about excitement, and said that when you see the person you miss, your heart beats faster when you are close to that person. I may be calm and collected at all times, but I did get scolded sometimes by Meldan because I didn’t smile often or show any expressions.
I went up to them and put my index fingers on Zark's throat, and he wasn't dead yet. What a strong will he has, even with all the blood loss. She made sure he was lifeless but seemed to leave the last job to me for the finish; maybe she couldn't bear to finish him off. Grabbed Meldan and slowly distanced her from Zark while she was screaming and crying in the background. Zark was lying on the floor on his stomach, so I had to turn him over, and he was quickly losing more blood. I put the knife quickly through his heart and felt his pulse again; it faded away, and in the end, his heartbeat was no more. I noticed Meldan had difficulty grasping what she requested from me because she would never meet Zark again. Meldan slowly approached me, grabbed one of his hands, and dragged him toward the pool's edge. I held his other hand and helped pull him closer to the pool.
Suddenly, the door to the pool exploded with a big bang, the grey-haired queen stamping in with an angry look.
"SHAN TURA KAM TU RI!" Meldan yelled out loud, and fire in blue lit up a couple of meters away from us on both sides.
Berk went suddenly quiet from the blue fire and just stared into it. Samantha, Meldans sister, came closer to the fire and looked at us with rage. The creatures that followed suit after her couldn't pass the fire; it must have been a strong wall Meldan made around us without me noticing it with a forbidden spell. The fire was a couple of meters on both of my sides, around ten meters total in both directions. She must have already decided to protect us until the end.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"I send you to earth to find my strongest Krat that a human being has taken over, and what I get from my sister is her falling in love and deceiving her sister with the Krat inside the human body," Samantha told Meldan with disappointment in her eyes.
"W…What do you know about love, sister? From being neglected my whole life by you, I realized what a family is, with caring and love. You don't deserve to have any sister; you deserve to be alone forever." Meldan told her with a weakened voice.
I knew we had to hurry now that her sister, stronger than Meldan, would figure out which spell she used to protect us. Luckily, she knows the dangers of the blue fire and doesn't try to go through it.
"Are you ready, Meldan?" I asked.
Samantha stepped up to the pool's edge to look closer into the water because we caught her attention with what we were doing. Samantha's expression changed; she got worried and approached the fire.
"Listen, Meldan! You can't do this. Sending them ten years back in time won't help it from me looking for Zark; he still escapes and comes and steals the baby from me. I will still hunt him down to kill him and the baby." Samantha told her.
Meldan came up close to the fire, looked at her sister, and told her sister with a firm tone:
"I am not the one who will do the spell; Veronica is doing the spell, and the little child will go with her, meaning ten years ago, both Veronica and Berk won't exist. There is no baby or some pupil I am training; they are going back in time alive."
“NO….NO….NO…YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO YOUR SISTER," Samantha yelled at Meldan.
Meldan turned around and stood close to the pool. I watched out for Berk, who was hugging the wall watching the creature with red eyes behind the fire. We have scarred the child for life, possibly, but he won't remember anything when we go back in time. Turning back to Meldan, she had her arms out crying. She hugged me hard so the sound of Samantha's screaming went completely quiet, and she leaned her head on the left side of my head so Samantha couldn't see her face anymore, and she whispered in my ear:
“Listen to me carefully now, my love! I took this decision because if I were the one traveling back in time with Berk, I would have traveled back to Valiant right to Samantha's arms with Berk. Remember to take a deep cut in your arm and then on Berks's arm before pressing the arms against each other, do not join us in the pool before you have done this. You both will be traveling to the Paladin Woods, where you and Berk came from. While human without any powers, you were born to a witch and her friend who lives there. A…An old soldier from Samantha's army from Valiant named Trinx is on Earth. You will find her home after Trudd village and tell her I sent you. Go to her directly after you arrive in Paladin Woods. Zark can hopefully live a peaceful life, but I doubt my sister will use many forces to find him. I hope that he can fend for himself then. Hopefully, he can live a peaceful life on Earth and never send him to Valiant. I don't want him coming and looking for me; it will be too dangerous. Also, as a big sister, I want you to take care of Berk as your little brother and try this thing called love and give it to him, no matter how things turn out for him, but train him to protect himself…Now wash your bloody hands with the knife and do the spell." She whispered.
I don’t know what love is; how will I be able to love him as a little brother when I have never seen love? I bent down and washed my hands in the already bloody pool and swiped my hands on my shirt and the knife to clean it while the pain just got worse in my chest, and my tears kept running down my cheeks. Was I feeling like Meldan?
I went up and around, facing Meldan's face, and saw her crying.
"See, I told you would learn how to know love," Meldan told me.
I tried wiping the tears from my eyes, but it didn't stop. So this is what love is: worrying about your mentor, teacher, and sister?
"What do you mean?" I asked her if I could get a better explanation.
"You are crying; that means love," Meldan said.
I walked up to her and hugged her hard. She leaned her head down and whispered:
"Stab me in the neck or throat; do not stab me in the stomach; you can kill the little one in my stomach that is coming with me."
I took two steps back. Meldan is returning to Valiant with a baby? So, she is 28 now, traveling back in time. The body becomes ten years younger, but what travels with you travels with you, so all scars follow together back in time, meaning the alive baby in her stomach will also follow with her without being affected by the spell.
I tried to wipe off all the water coming down from my eyes as I walked up to her and stabbed her right in the throat. I removed the knife, and she fell backward right into the pool. Everything in what felt like going in slow motion suddenly started to move quickly, and Samantha's screams echoed around the pool area.
"DON’T YOU DARE DO IT VERONICA! I will hunt you down, cut you in pieces, and give it to the hound dogs from hell." She expressed herself in sorrow and anger. I wasn’t affected by it because at least she would see her sister ten years back when she was 18. I would never meet Meldan again and live with that in my mind.
I lifted Berk from the floor, who was a heavy boy for a mature ten-year-old to lift. I dragged him with all my strength to the pool's edge and sat beside him. I cut my left hand so the blood was dropping, then I grabbed Berk’s arm while he attempted to crawl against the blue fire in an attempt probably thinking that I would kill him like his whole family.
"This will hurt Berk, but it's to save us; I am sorry," I told him.
I cut his right hand. He was screaming out loud, and I put my bloody hand against his hand so the blood mixed. He made a brave attempt to escape from my clutches, but I had a firm grip on him to resist it. Hugged him and said:
“Muntara kush ta pi tara. Kumban un si pi karamban sundin ti ru fah.”
The circles I made before got lit in green fire, and I continued with the last words of the spell.
“Sin tu raku pa WAN!”
The pool turned into black water, and a hole opened in the middle of the pool like a whirl. The water started circulating, and I saw the three bodies disappear quickly. I looked at Samantha a last time and responded to her last words:
"If I don't find you first and kill you." Ultimately, I responded to Samatha, who was trying to break down the blue firewall without success.
Grabbed Berk hard and pressed him close to my body so we wouldn’t get separated and jumped into the black water. We moved in the water in a circle until we ended up in the middle, and everything went pitch black.
Birds were chippering in the air slowly. I opened my eyes, and the darkness was gone. I still had a blurry vision, but I expected it when coming through black darkness. I could feel Berks's chubby stomach as he was lying beside me, and I had to shove him a little bit so he could wake up. I noticed his cut on the hand had healed up now and was a scar instead. I took my little jacket on me and covered up his upper body. Our surroundings looked like we ended up in the woods.
Suddenly, there was a sound behind us; I quickly turned around and saw a woman and a child that looked around the same age as Berk. She had a spear in her hand, so I had to be careful if she tried to attack.
"Berk! Little brother, get up!" I said and poked on Berk and saw him slowly waking up.
"What are two kids doing in these woods?" The woman asked me.
The woman was beautiful from the looks of a large chest; it seemed she didn’t have many clothes on her body. Was she maybe a hunter to make it easier for her to move around?
"We were just passing by!" I replied with a hesitant voice.
Her facial expression changed; I could see she got suspicious.
"Two kids just passing by in the woods on the private ground that belongs to me; why do I start to believe that there is something you are not telling me!" She told me.
The spear suddenly touched my neck; her facial expression changed again.
"Okay…! I need to ask you two questions first!" I told her.
"Yeah…and that is?"
I tried to move slightly to the left, but the spear followed me.
"What year is it?" I asked.
She was surprised by the dumb question, but she took a breath and answered:
"2012".
"Okay, are we right now in a place called Paladin?" I asked, still aware of the spear being too close to my neck.
"You mean Paladin Woods! Yes, you are; why are you here?”
I took a deep breath because I wanted to prepare myself mentally to use my powers after my answer.
"I am looking for a lady named Trinx, who was sent here by Meldan!".
"WHAT!" She responded.
There was a moment of silence after her comment; we both stared at each other. Maybe she tried to read me to see if I was telling the truth.
"Do you know Trinx?" I asked.
She nodded up and down with her head for the moment; I didn't know if she was a friend or foe.
"How do you know Meldan?" She asked.
Maybe I should tell her, Well, the spear is pointing to my neck, so I should be honest. I can try to make a move if the tip comes closer to my neck.
"I am the apprentice of Meldan Whane," I said.
She bent her head slightly with an expression as if she was confused.
"That is impossible. Meldan never had an apprentice." She told me.
That reminded me of this reality because I am here with Berk, which means I don't exist in Meldans reality. My plan was not so well planned, I must say. Well, I can't blame myself for that. I may be mature enough to be a ten-year-old, but I am still a child.
"Okay! I have used a spell called Tornare in Tempo, and if you know anything about Streghe Village. She was the only one who knew it from the black book in the forest that disappeared in the big fire during the war of Valiant." I tried explaining to her.
"That is impossible. Nobody knew the forbidden spell of Tornare in Tempo. If Meldan knew the spell, she would not teach it to someone else. That would mean that you traveled ten years back in time." She told me.
I tried smiling, but her facial expression changed utterly to shock. She lowered the spear, closed in on me, and suddenly put her hand on the ground, looking like she was feeling for something.
"I can feel it in the ground. You are not from here, nor is the child with you."
Berk, who had slowly got up on his feet with a confused expression, had no clue what was going on. I put my hand on his chest and slowly backed away from the lady on the ground. The spear may be on the ground, but that doesn't mean we are safe. She continued to have her hand on the ground, and I wondered what she was doing.
"So, why did you come here, and where is Meldan?" she asked.
I looked down and could feel her voice when asking the question; she sounded sad.
"Meldan died!" I responded, seeing her head rise from the ground with tears in her eyes. She must have known because Meldan didnt show up herself.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
Well, I have told her the first part; there's no reason to try to escape from this.
"She sacrificed herself and died to return to Valiant. The man she loved died and returned outside Paladin Woods; his sister died, and hopefully, she also returned close to her brother. She sacrificed everything for the man she loved, while the boy and I went ten years back in time, but we were still alive. This way, we disrupted the timeline, and the man wouldn't get hunted down so easily because the boy is with me." I told her.
"Interesting. I never thought Meldan would ever fall in love with a man. She was always angry and had so much rage inside her, but she faked my death and helped me escape here to live a peaceful life twelve years ago. I am Trinx Fintil, and the little boy with me is Mejni Fintil," she told me. She rose from the ground with a sad face, and I almost was going to get tears again.
So we landed close to Trinx. That is good news for both me and Berk meeting her directly when we came here.
"What are both your names?" She asked.
I looked down at Berk and remembered the last name that they had as a family.
"I am Veronica, and this little one is Berk; we both go by the last name Van Polan."
She reached her hand out so we could shake hands and said:
"Well…welcome ten years back in time, Veronica Van Polan and Berk Van Polan."
The beginning for Berk and me, and from now on, we were both Van Polans, like the family name that Zark took after their mother, unknowingly the strongest witch ever that escaped during the big war called Trissa Van Polan.