"What happened?" I hear Ocean's soft voice groan.
It takes me only a few seconds to jump up on my feet and smack my head back into consciousness.
"I don't know. Take my hand so I know where you are."
I hear Ocean stumble through the darkness, trying to make her way towards me.
The sound of leaves crushing under her feet reaches my ears.
Are we outside?
No, that can't be it.
The last thing I remember is that we were in the sealed off room standing in front of a door that I had never seen before. And my mother's, well, Ventarix's mark.
A melody and then passing out and- Oh God, my head still hurts.
Ocean's warm skin meets mine and I entangle my fingers with her.
"Where are we?" Ocean asks.
"I don't know that either. If I could find some sort of light then.."
"A light like this?" Ocean interrupts turning on a torch.
"Uh...yes! Exactly like that. How- where did you find it?" I manage to ask through my immense confusion.
"You mean you don't always carry a torch and matches with you for emergency purposes?" Ocean asks, now sharing my confusion.
I blink at her for a few seconds before nodding in approval.
"No one does that, babe. But you do you."
She flashes the torch around the room and takes out her match box lighting up every candle in sight. The room brightens up only a few minutes later.
Well, using the word 'room' would be wrong. We're standing in the middle of a massive space that looks like a greenhouse/museum combo.
"Oh my God," The words escape my lips with a gasp.
The huge marble statue, not too far away from us, is my mother.
But... that's impossible. My father ordered to burn down all proof of my mother ever existing. Apparently, it hurt him too much. I call bullshit though.
"Venatrix," Ocean breathes out and I follow the trail of her eyes to see that she is staring at my mother's statue.
I stare at her, puzzled before stuttering out, "No. That's... that's my mother. Themis."
"Themis?" Ocean questions looks just as puzzled.
Right... Ventarix was more popular. The woman of power, strength, freedom. Themis was the one who couldn't control it. Or was it the other way around? It's all getting foggy.
"They're the same."
"Venatrix was the Queen of Light. She had many names, Esmeray. I have them all memorized. Themis was not one of them."
"I came out of her, I know her better than you do." The words are more bitter than I wanted them to be.
It's just...
I was too young. Way too young.
"Let's check out the statue." I try to lighten the situation.
Ocean and I rush over to the statue. She stares at it, examining it from every corner.
I take one glance but then look away, focusing in the place we are in, instead.
The greenhouse/museum has plants I haven't seen before inside glass cells on one side and shelves stacked full with books that look as old as time.
A desk amidst those book shelves interests me.
I walk over to it, looking down at the open books scattered on the table as if someone was reading them, left the room thinking they'll be back but never actually came back.
My hand brushes against a page and it shreds against my touch.
The candles don't brighten up the room much but the items are almost completely visible.
The other things in the room look like they've been here for centuries.
All waiting for that person to come back. Who was it?
I gently move a few of the books, some of them ripping in the process.
I find a stack of old newspapers and written on a cluster of different pages is a hastily scribbled note.
"Hey, Ocean. Come look at this."
A few seconds later, she's by my side, staring down at the stack of papers.
"What language is this?" She asks, squinting and moving her face closer and then sneezing.
"Careful. This place is dusty as hell. And I don't know, I haven't seen this kind of language anywhere," I say, pulling the stack of papers towards me anyway.
"It shall be then, when the true one lies.
And when the lion is king no longer,
children of darkness shall only get stronger.
The one she trusts will be the greatest enemy.
And with the end of dawn
The queen as the goddess's pawn.
The last witch shall choose the ending to this story,
Despair or ultimate glory," I blurt out, staring at the writing on the papers.
"Esmeray? I thought you said you didn't know the language," Ocean asks, her eyes wide.
I stare at her with shared scepticism, "I thought I didn't know the language too. It just...it just came to me."
"What does this even mean?" Ocean asks with a frown.
Yeah. What does this mean?