OPENING HER EYES SHE WAS CONFUSED AS TO WHY SHE WAS STILL IN HER ARMOUR, and remembered so little from her training, the sun wasn't up yet. Sitting up she heard talking downstairs and grew suspicious, taking off her armour she wandered on down but stayed hidden as she listened in.
"You want her to what?!" Jim shouted as he was enraged by Merlin's suggestion.
"I want her to forfeit her mantle as chaoswielder" he said again before giving him an unimpressed look "need I say it again?"
Jim wanted to lunge at the man but Toby and Marc held him back. Claire asked him "but even if you did do that, how would you even do it?"
"Isn't a wielder supposed to die in order for the amulet to be passed on?" Toby wondered.
"Not necessarily, Agnar was a wielder, and yet, he is still alive." he reminded "in order for the amulet to move on, I must find another person worthy"
Jim said to him "but you can't do that to her" he felt saddened as he spoke "she's already given so much, it can't all be for nothing."
"Unfortunately, A wielder must be able to wield chaos, and the time of recovery she would need in order to do so, is far too long" Merlin explained solemnly "she is a capable wielder, but alas, her time has ended"
She listened to all of those words in horror and snuck back up into her room, shutting the door behind her. Sitting down she still tried to process all she had just heard.
'I want her to forfeit her mantle as chaoswielder'
'Find another person worthy'
'Her time has ended.'
'It can't all be for nothing'
The words echoed in her mind and she couldn't bear to hear them anymore, she walked up to her amulet and picked it up from her bed staring at it sadly. Her mind raced as she thought.
Clenching her amulet in her hand, she walked back down stairs still remaining inconspicuous.
Toby asked the wizard "maybe we can send her into a dimension where time is like, really slow?"
He scoffed and answered "of course, just allow me to-" he stopped himself as he noticed her standing at the end of the stairs "fair Eliza, wonderful to see you-"
"I heard everything," She said, making them know "why did the amulet choose me in the first place?" He was dead silent but stood tall "give me a good answer, and I'll let you take the amulet away." She said placing a deal.
He sighed not knowing what to say "the amulet needed a wielder to heal itself, and so it found one." He said carefully.
Biting at the inside of her cheek she clenched the amulet, she nodded regretfully "okay." Her answer worried them, looking down at her amulet for one last time she threw it to him "let's hope the amulet makes a better choice next time." Walking back upstairs she locked the door to her room, and sighed.
Jim tried to open her door but realised it was locked "liz?" he asked but she wouldn't answer, he glanced back at the others and they grew worried "Liz, I know how you feel, but you can't give up" he said trying to get to her "you don't have to have powers to be a chaoswielder." he continued but she still remained quiet "please open this door, we are all here for you"
"Yeah, Liz, we're a family remember?" toby said light-heartedly.
"And we can't just leave you behind like this" Claire said and chuckled "we're the only two people here with common sense"
Marc kneeled down and spoke through the keyhole, his voice muffled "we need you Lizzie"
They chuckled but jim frowned as he noticed there wasn't even the slightest sound of movement in that room but he could hear wind "step back guys" they were all confused but stepped back nonetheless, he used his dual daggers to open the door and they all gasped as they saw the room empty, the only thing they noticed was the open window, Jim immediately knew where she would be and rushed downstairs to the backdoor "she can't have gone far"
Claire readied her staff "I'll create a portal to her"
John and Maya grabbed the car keys "we'll look around Arcadia just in case, cover more ground" he said.
Claire created her portal and as soon as she did they all froze in place emitting a green glow, Merlin looked at them all and said "I cannot let you do that" he stood in front of the portal and they all glared at him "Elizabeth must make a choice, and I cannot let anyone of you get in the way."
Passing through the portal he saw that Elizabeth was sitting down by a lake, he looked at her sadly and walked up to her. Standing beside her he handed her the amulet "here."
She was confused "but I thought you said I couldn't be the chaoswielder anymore?" she didn't take the amulet as she thought that this was a trick.
He shook his head "I'm afraid I've used every trick" he said jokingly "you gave up so easily, why?"
She sighed "I guess it was because I didn't want to get in the way" she admitted as much as it hurt to say she knew it was true "I don't care whether or not it's me who will stop this, all I want is for it to end with us on the winning side"
He hummed, impressed with her words "but your name would've been remembered for millennia"
Cutting him off she said to him "I don't care whether or not I go down in history, all I want is to keep people safe." she grew infuriated with this and said out of anger.
"Even if you die?"
His question hit her abruptly, and without hesitation she stood up and looked at Merlin "if it means the people I care for are safe?" she placed her hands in her pockets and walked away "I can live with that."
He was impressed by her response and said "what if I told you, that there was a way for you to restore your energy paths."
Pausing in her tracks she turned around, curious "what?"
"What if I told you, there was one being in this vast universe, who can destroy that fear?" he said to her, once he noticed how intrigued she was he continued "the chaos realm was never just a floating rock, it was a part of something more." he created another window to the past.
She was sceptical "I thought you lost all your chaos?"
He chuckled "I saved the last amount of energy I had to show you all of this" he said.
As the mist cleared she saw that they were in a forest "this doesn't look like a place on earth" she said as she noticed the tall trees and glowing gemstones scattered all over, the unnatural looking plants and small critters around the place.
"This way my dear." he said leading the path. Hesitantly she followed him to a bright light, her face dropped to horror as she saw what was before her. It was the pillar of balance being guarded by a glowing white spirit, she looked ethereal but was clearly afraid and weak "this is the true chaos realm."
She noticed how vast the place was before "it was a whole planet..."
"Indeed, but when darkness grew stronger, there was no place for light on this world." he explained as he looked once "the spirit of darkness and fear and the spirit of light and balance, agreed that the only way to keep each other safe was to not stay in the same realm" he said looking at the spirit of darkness who watched on as the spirit of light left her, sadly watching as an old friend left "but as time passed, balance remained, there connection was never severed, until..."
Time shifted around them and they were now by a different pillar "what's this?" she asked and saw how it was darker than the pillar of light.
"The pillar in the chaos realm, is the pillar of light and balance, the only reason it's still standing is because of you" he sighed sadly as he saw the spirit of darkness grieving "the connection between darkness and light was severed."
She stood in front of the spirit of darkness and noticed the several cracks that were forming on her body as her face contorted in pain and sadness "which means?"
"It means the spirit of light has died." he explained, the pillar of darkness collapsed as there was no one to tame it "that day was the day Vala felt the anger of thousands of years burst from within her, destroying the pillar of darkness and corruption"
The pillar glowed brightly and she shielded her eyes, they appeared back in the forest and she finally understood. Falling to the ground she tried to process everything "so, the spirits of corruption, only want to go back home."
"Its impossible" he said as he sat down next to her "they were demigods, but like Nari, the felt empathy"
She scoffed light "surprising that the spirit of darkness felt empathy." she thought for a moment and asked "so what do I need to do? How do I get rid of my fear?"
He warned her before continuing "it will be a journey, a dangerous one at that, are you sure you want to do this?"
Hesitantly she knew that this would be the only way "what's the plan, old man?"
Back home the others tried to break out of this trap. Jim tried to summon his amulet without saying the words and succeeded, it glowed blue and he fell down "nice to see that you're finally working" looking to the others he placed his hand on each of their shoulders freeing them.
Claire quickly summoned another portal "the old man tricked us!" Marc exclaimed.
"And we can still stop him, let's go!" Jim said, jumping through.
Going through they saw Elizabeth with her amulet floating infront of her and Merlin instructing her. Maya called out "Elizabeth, stop!"
Merlin saw this and created a forcefield around them, blocking them out. They banged on it but it wouldn't break down "let us through!" Claire shouted, she couldn't summon a portal inside as she was blocked out.
He turned to her and said trying to reassure her as she began having second thoughts "these are the people you want to protect, you must make this choice for yourself not for them!"
She walked to them and placed her hands above her parents hands smiling weakly, looking at them all she said "this is the only way guys"
Jim pleaded "no, whatever it is, we promised we'd do this together Liz!" he said her voice paining her. It felt as though the tables have turned as she was now in his place "Please don't make the same mistake that I did!"
She pursed her lips and lowered her head "Lizzie come on, we're a team, remember?" Marc said.
"You said you wouldn't pull a jim!" toby reminded and the words only made the weight on her shoulders heavier.
Claire asked "what did he tell you to do liz?"
She didnt answer and kept her head hung low, her parents called out "Elizabeth please, you said that I wouldn't lose you, that you wouldn't pull something like this without talking to us first" her mother said hoping to atleast gain a glance.
"Kid, please" her father said "talk to us first"
Her hands shook lightly as she tried to prepare herself physically and mentally for the emotional weight that this would cause, shaking her head she backed away "that would need time" pausing she said "and that's something I don't have" turning her back to them she held back the urge to break down as she returned to Merlin.
"Liz, no!"
"You said we'd do this together!"
"I can't lose you too!"
She flinched slightly realising that Jim was still under the fresh grief of losing Draal "it's the only way!" standing in front of Merlin she held both her hands out "what do I say?"
He stepped back and told her "repeat after me: Et incarnatus est de chao, ut me ad vetus Ino"
Breathing out she used the remaining energy she had control over and entered her chaos state, opening her now purple eyes she chanted "Et incarnatus est de chao, ut me ad vetus Ino..." her voice echoed. The amulet glowed brightly and flew high above, sending a wave of energy knocking everyone back.
Merlin stood his ground and continued "ut me ad vetus Ino!"
She felt as her paths began to detriorate but held her ground and slowly began floating "ut me ad vetus Ino..." The portal slowly grew stronger as it grew bigger but not enough, the words were now in her mind as she heard a voice whisper.
"ut me ad tenebras...."
Her entire being was turned into darkness, her eyes glowing white, while her skin was now illuminated in purple "ut me ad tenebras!" The field broke down and Jim was quick to try and reach for her but his hand went straight through her, he gasped and grew worried as he saw her look down at her with the slightest smile on her features "see you on the other side Jim."
The portal pulled her in and closed, her amulet fell down. The trollhunters were now worried more than ever "she doesn't have her amulet." Toby said "how is she going to survive without her amulet?!"
Merlin stood up in front of them "it is for the best."
Jim was more than angry at this point "where did you send her?!"
He walked past them all "to a place where she can heal, and take all the time she needs."
Claire's emotion were overrun as she tried to stop herself from using her staff on him "what did you do to our friend?!"
"Saved her life." he stated simply shocking them all but they were still sceptical of the old man "don't worry, she should return tomorrow night," he told before walking away.