Chapter 32

  The Sorceress' Stone

  "Yes, but, she-", silence. "Of course I know but-", silence. "Understood…" Mal opens her eyes to the morning light bleeding into the cracks of the rooted windows of her home. She has been talking in her sleep again, more often than not, she takes notes of the time her voice exited her lips as she wakes. She speaks as if she is conversing to something, or someone, this recollection has her remember, the dreams she had prior to the stone. The very stone that is slowly being wrapped into the roots of the tree she lives in. She sits up and rubs her forehead and eyes to clear the sleep. She combed her hair with her fingers as she slowly gets out of her bed. So much has happened and so much curiosity. She has spied and pried on many before, but for the very Queen herself, she is a difficult mouse to catch. These thoughts of broken trust had given in, and her lust for answers grows deeper every night. This has caused the silent voice she hears in her dreams to come forth and speak with her. Ambiguous and far, it speaks with both concern, desperation, calmness, and pride. All she can see of it is the stone pulsating in her head with a feeling of concern. She knows she is being manipulated somehow… but…

  She shakes her head and lets out a sharp twinge of air between her teeth, “no more of this useless thinking”, She thinks to herself. She stands and walks down to the base of the hollowed tree and stares at its core. The Dendrochron of the tree are prominent and healthy, though the inside is hollowed and furnished. She stands at its very core with her bare feet feeling the coarseness of her home. Placing her hand onto it, she closes her eyes once more and her hair begins to raise up and a shimmer of red light outlines her body as she feels the stone just below it. She seems to be traveling within the roots itself to try to tap into the stone as the roots begin to move, poke, and prod at the stone. She remembers many months ago that the queen seemed to always go to this very clearing, seemingly without thinking to calm her own mind or to step away from her duties. Uzume is an enigma still, even being so close to her physically. However, it is her mind that Mal cannot seem to get into. Even when Uzume seems vulnerable and open, even when she is asleep or at ease, Every single time she tries to enter her thoughts she is blocked by an outside source.

  Whatever that source is… it is eerily similar to what is within the stone. But the difference is this one is speaking to her in her dreams though she cannot hear it speak, her body responds and speaks for her. She begins to prod more and more until with time a small crack appears in the stone as it chipped off from the constant tampering. This was her chance. Just like a tree with enough time and determination and erosion, nature finds a way into anything. She stabs into the chipped stone and enters into it with a root. This cause her head to jerk back and her eyes glow bright red, and her mouth groans from the pain as it too begins to glow red. The hue grows brighter and brighter before turning into a bright yellow to a very vibrant orange.

  She begins to levitate and seems to be in a possession type state. Then as the light seems to be at its brightest, even escaping out the windows and all open sources of her home, it ceases, as smoke escapes from her mouth and eyes, and she falls into a fetal position in the center of the tree core, shaking violently. “I just, wanted to see….”, silence. “I had to see-”, silence… more silence… sil- “Then. You will.” A voice of unknown origin enters her mind and Mal's eyes dilate, and she seems to be unconscious but with her eyes open wide in a trance like state they are darting in all directions, and she seems to be speaking in an unknown tongue. She seemingly is pulled into her own mind as a being masked in a yellowing orange light is in front of her. It is small about roughly five feet though she cannot make out the true details it has wings, a tail with an arrow point at its end, and large bulbous horns protruding perpendicular to each sides of its head. The figure is shape to feminine characteristics, but its voice is so ambiguous, monotone, precise, and strange. As if it is thinking and being fairly careful with its words.

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  “I, have seen. You, have sought. I, have blocked many, attempts. You, continued. You, are, like, her. From past. I, was made. I, helped others. I, keep life balanced. I, keep death balanced. Child, of space. Child of time. I, am.“ The being walks around the mind of Mal seemingly showing multiple bodies of it phasing in an out as it speaks from the front then from Mal's left ear to right. “You, child of half. She, child of half. Candidate. But not yet. You, questions, seek.“ Then the being seems to stare into Mals eyes and a searing pain is felt throughout her mind, then it ceases. “Ah, yes. You, seek thoughts. Fickle.“ The being snaps their fingers, then the space within Mal's mind shakes a bit. “You, now receive, thoughts” “The being begins to fade but Mal forces her hand up she begins to try to say anything, but her voice does not come out. The being looks and tilts their head, places a hand on their hip and with the other on their chin as if it is thinking. “I, am?” “I, am, navigator.” “I, am, living turns, death.” ”I, am, Twilight” “I, am child, of space. Child, of time."

  A gasp of air from Mal's mouth enters her system as she jolts from her trance. She looks around and is breathing heavy she then looks at her hands as they are trembling sparks of yellowish lightning escape her fingertips as the voice she has been hearing in her head ceases out of existence, and she is left to the sounds of nature and the creaks of the tree slightly swaying from the wind and the leaves rustling to its sway. "What in twi-", She visually gags before she could say those words, covering her mouth without thinking. "That, was…". Though she can not fathom the possibility, the enormous weight and manipulation of her mind was no fluke. She felt like she was in between being alive and dead at the same time. Never has she had this experience before. Time seemed to have stopped for her, and her words and the air she breathed did not exist. If that was truly Twilight, the being that navigates the dead to the very same realm of that name. She just gave her an in. She somehow forced Mal to reach new heights of power and, though their cryptid way of speaking was odd. It knew that Mal wanted answers, and the only way to get them answered is inside Uzume's head. But the other thing it said was odd as well. That Mal herself is similar to Uzume from the past? That she was a child of half? Is it saying that Uzume was once half human? Or more specifically, half elf and human? Was she once a sorceress like herself? How did she attain such noble prowess? More importantly, how far and when did it happen?

  Mal believes now that Twilight just allowed her to now enter into Uzume's mind. The entity that has blocked it prior seems to have been Twilight or someone similar to it all this time. No, it was Uzume herself. But also, not her? But it felt fairly similar to Twilight. The being said she was a child of space and a child of time. Is she a goddess? Or a being that was born before the world existed? If she is able to do the things that she did. And she is a child, her “mother” must be even more astronomical. Mal cannot even ponder if that being has something or someone even more powerful than itself too, like a grandmother of sorts of celestial proportions. Regardless, she knew these dreams she has been having were meant for something greater, and she seemed to be in the seat that someone else was controlling. Up until Now, it is her turn. That being that fell from the sky. The one Uzume allowed into her castle and has been around in secret with. No more. These strange ordeals have gone on long enough. That man, he came from another world. A world not from the stars, but one seemingly parallel to this one. There are mysterious forces at play and Mal seems to be just starting to grasp it.