A voice echoed down the hall, "You did well. As I expected."

I turned around just to see Nemesis walking towards me. For some reason I felt relieved to see him. Maybe because I wanted to ask him so much. All these questions.

"You're quite late. What do you want? Don't tell me you came just to speak some words of gratitude."

He stood across from me and grinned. "Is this how you welcome your savior?"

As much as I hate to admit it, he was basically right. I said "Guess I really should thank you huh. So ... You have my dearest thanks ... Nemesis."

He gave me a tired look and continued the conversation, "To answer your question ... I came because I forgot to ask you something. I told you my name, but you never told me yours."

I asked a little mischievously "You followed me to ask me about my name? Really?"

He rubbed the back of his head "Yeah, that's one reason." A bit hesitant I said "Lucia. My name is Lucia."

"Well then Lucia, the other reason why I'm here is to bring you to a special place."

I glanced at him mischievously "Tell me. Why should I come with you?"

"You'll see."

"I refuse. I'm tired, exhausted and got nearly killed. I'll go home."

"This matter is of the utmost urgency. You can trust me. I ... no ... We want to gift something to you."

"Gift something to me? What would that be?"

"The place you longed for. The place you deserve. It's time to leave your mother's shadow and rise up. As one of us."

Just the thought of it made it hard for me to keep my cool face "Who are you? How do you know about me? What are you up to? To where should I follow you?"

"Come with me and you'll see. I'm going to take you out of here. Did you never want to see what's beyond the gates? Did you never ask why our world is called the Twin-realm?"

My heart started beating wildly. At last. The chance to leave this hell behind me, but why? Why should he do that? What did he mean by 'As one of us'?

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Alright."

He gave me this smile again "Prepare yourself, OK? Light that divides the realms, let us pass through the darkness and bring us to the place of our destiny."

An incredibly bright stream of light surrounded us and robbed me of my view. Magic surrounded us and when I was still blinded and could open my eyes again, I saw green fields, forests and right next to us even a rushing brook.

I struggled with tears and said to myself, "It's exactly as mama described it. It's beautiful."

I fell to my knees and propped myself up on my hands, feeling the grass gently between my fingers. The warm light of the setting sun felt the plain with a pleasant warmth. I was completely immersed in this calm nature when I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard Nemesis's voice

"The nature here is breathtaking, but what I wanted to show you is behind us. Come with me, you can still admire nature later."

When I turned around without a word I finally realized what he meant. There behind me was a huge castle, half of which seemed to be carved into the mountain behind it.

"Come on. The others are probably already waiting, and besides, I don't want to miss dinner."

He held out his hand and helped me up. As we then went to the castle, I became more and more curious.

"What is this place? Where are we?"

"Don't worry, this is Dunkirk castle. A place for the likes of you and I. We are six in total. With you, we would finally be complete. You will definitely get along well with the others."

I didn't give him an answer, I was still too busy looking at my surroundings. Even when we got to the gate, I only had eyes for the lush meadows and forests that were whitewashed in a beautiful red by the sunset. But even when we entered the amazement didn't stop. It was simpler than I expected, but in the white corridors, which were littered with gold decorations, I still had no words. Nemesis walked down the hallways and I followed him until he stopped at a door.

He turned to me "You should freshen up here. New clothes are ready and when you are finished I'll wait in the room across the floor." I went in and locked the door behind me. When I looked down at myself I noticed that I was still stained with blood. My favorite dress was now more red than white, there was blood all over my hair and my wings didn't look good either.

I decided to take a bath first. How wonderful it was to feel the warm water around me. I would have liked to enjoy it a little more, but they were already waiting for me. As I got out of the bathtub I discovered the dress that was being prepared for me. A strapless black dress with a pelt collar, that came down to my knees. They had even thought of my wings. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I hardly recognized myself. Am I still the same person?

After I finished looking at myself I opened the door and entered the room where Nemesis was waiting for me. But to my surprise there was a girl with him. She looked younger than me. Her hair was light blue, as her eyes. When she saw me, she gave me a short smile.

She came up to me, "Wow. I can hardly believe it. You look exactly like in my vision."

"Vision?"

Now Nemesis got up too "At least introduce yourself if you're going to take her off guard. I'm sorry, Lilly is a little overzealous sometimes."

She actually seemed absolutely delighted with me.

I held out my hand "So your name is Lilly. I'm Lucia."

Lilly, however, was so busy with inspecting my wings that I wasn't even sure if she had heard me at all.

Until she finally replied, "Nice to meet you, my name is Lilia the sixth pleiade. I'm the pleiade of healing."