The Dark Enchantress: The Declaration

6

MAVEN

They all looked at me with disbelief. All of them, except for Jerry. He seemed to be expecting this moment. I was shocked with the news. I wished I heard it wrong but it was impossible to wish something like that. Each and every word came out of Rothilion's mouth couldn't be unheard. My palms were getting sweaty, yearning to hold onto something to get a hold of myself.

A sword. That was what I needed to hold onto. But my sword was not with me at the time I needed it the most. Guessed it was a bad idea to leave it in the bedroom before I left for training.

"This is beyond my expectation. I didn't think you would awaken this fast." Rothilion said.

Cristinia, Ivetta, Verrona and Lawrence sat at the dining table, quietly listening to our conversation. Rothilion was walking back and forth, with his right hand on his forehead. Jerry was leaning against the wall, paying more attention to his thoughts.

"There's no other choice but that." Rothilion finally spoke up, putting aside, which took some time, and left a big empty space. Then he sketched something on the floor.

A pentagram.

I had learnt about pentagrams and memorized all of them for years. But the one that Rothilion had drawn was unfamiliar to me. Around the pentagram was scribbles. Or so I thought.

As I went closer, I noticed that it was no scribbles. It was actually runes. Sharp and edgy runes.

"Don't tell me you're actually going to do that! She's not ready! You know what will happen if you use it on someone who isn't ready. She'll die!" Verrona suddenly shouted, surprising everyone in the room.

"Change of plan." Rothilion answered as he focused on the pentagram. "It's the only way."

"You--"

"Verrona!"

Verrona froze. The image of Rothilion, snapping at her slowly crumbled inside my mind. Nobody in the room would have thought that Jerry would be the one to shout at her. Now, Jerry had stolen all the attention while he stayed in the same position.

"She has to do it. She has to control her power, her demon. It is the only way for us to have our powers back. It is the only way to defeat Eligos." He looked at me, as if he knew something that I didn't know.

"But..." Verrona bowed her head down, realising that she was being unreasonable.

"Jerome is right. It was Percival's request. You do know that, don't you?" Rothilion said as he was done drawing the pentagram. Verrona slowly nodded.

"My father?" I suddenly spoke my mind out loud.

"Yes." He nodded. "He anticipated that this thing will happen. So he asked Verrona to train you, and me to do this if things get worse. While for Jerome, he was asked to keep an eye on you."

I silenced for a moment. Then I turned to Jerry. "Why?"

He took off his shirt and showed me his back. I widened my eyes. I could hear Ivetta and Cristinia gasped. There was a big scar on his back, as if it had been scratched by a monster.

"Four years ago," Jerry started, "you accidentally let a bit of your demon power when you lost control of your anger. You would attack anyone who came near you. That was me." He put on his shirt back and faced me. "I was weak at that time. That is why I trained for four years outside the kingdom. Leonard taught me a lot. He knew who I was and he didn't hesitate to tell that he was your guardian. If it's not for him, I wouldn't be here."

There was a lot to take in. I couldn't believe it myself. There was so much more that I didn't know. After hearing them out, I now knew what I was supposed to do since the very beginning. And it must be done no matter what.

I took a deep breath. "So, I just have to step into the pentagram, right?"