I thought it was just a dream and everything felt like it was but this was much worse. I was half awoken in my own “dream” from a feeling of falling but my feet were firmly planted on the so-called ground. Everything around me felt familiar but there wasn’t anything around, every direction was just black. It wasn’t that I couldn’t see, everything around me was just black but I could definitely see. Desperately, I try to move and run to whatever I could find in the familiar empty void. 

Eventually, running out of breath from running I slow down and so do my racing thoughts. “Why did I lose air so quickly?” I thought to myself. Now slowly walking, I realized I had a binder on, so I was definitely either trapped in my head or this was real and I was partially hoping it was real, well until I looked down at myself. I had a plain short sleeve shirt on, oversized jeans and my hair was longer, slicked back and put up. I analyzed my arms, confused, they were clear without even a bruise. 

Was this in the past? 

I try to think of what happened before I got here but all I remembered is two things. I was with two of my siblings band members, Elizabeth “Liz” Haven (or “Taft,” as it’s her biological name) and Sofia Osoro. They’ve been like family ever since I met them somehow I knew what they had on, it felt important to me. Sofia was wearing an AJR shirt of one of their songs and cargo pants but they were stained with something light green, it was like colored blood. She had her token magic bracelet with colors representing the different founders of magic but something was wrong with this. Usually it had a slight glow with each colored bead, each bead was for each founder. Blue for Risnag, the father of the sky, the water and the thunder. Purple for Zarin, the creator of the rock, the minerals and underneath the earth. Red for Lynas, the people and the strength in the world, the magics parent. Dark green for Anzarr, the creator of the land, above the underneath and the nature of the above. A muddy orange for Kaniti, the chaos in fire, heat and wind, a muted beige for The Savior, the more known and made-up version of the creator of the world, everything in the world and everything that will ever be. And finally a nice bright yellow for Omnia, the true mother of our kind and the creator of our world, only a few people including me and the band know that she truly exists, I’m not sure how I know this specifically. The only problem about this bracelet is that the blue and purple were not glowing. 

Meanwhile, Liz had on a dark green halloween shirt and red sweats that weren’t as bad as Sofia’s clothing but she seemed to have put up some sort of fight alongside her and I, I assumed. The other thing was where we were. It was barren but bright. It was like a cave with crystallized rock, outgrowing crystals, bright, bright blue and white but a mostly smooth path into where we were, which looked like a throne room. 

I tried searching in my thoughts for anything else but nothing came to mind but then I heard it. A voice, one alike my own but higher and younger. 

“Maleficent Bree, A child of Risnag, my closest descendant. Little girl, you will have to go far as my child, a child of a destiny’s path, a gruesome and sorrowful path. Always in the shadow of Taft, but not for long, I will personally bestow this power, my child” said the voice in a hurried tone. This wasn’t right, usually I would be bothered, I’m not a girl, I haven’t been a girl for a long time, I hated being called a girl but from this, it felt refreshing to hear. It was like it was correct and it was unsettling to feel that way. These unsettling thoughts started to go away, they started to fade and it felt normal, normal to feel like that and it was like I was happy. I felt happy to be where I was. 

My eyesight felt like it started to blur (or to see less then what I could already see) and I felt like I was falling again, at this point I couldn’t tell real from not but not for long as my body slammed into a smooth but mattress like texture. I looked around and saw exactly what I remembered in my trance but this was different. Everything was brighter, a better ambience if you will and Liz and Sofia stood above me worryingly. They looked nothing like from what I VIVIDLY remember, I could hallucinate it. Both their clothing were clean (at least as clean as a couple of magic people could get on whatever sort of adventure they went on could get) and somewhat put together and instead of fear and disgust, their faces were just full of worry. I sat up slowly and started to process what was around me and what just happened before Liz spoke, “Woah be careful, Mag, at least you didn’t hit your head. Now c’mon, we didn’t come here to get stopped at the gate.” She said, helping me up with the help of Sofia. I looked closer at what was around me and it looked identical to how I remembered it but at that point I didn’t know what was really real. Light blue, almost white crystally ragged walls with many large crystals sticking out. Occasionally, there were a few crystals of different colors, the colors of the founders. In front of us were large gates that were semi transparent. This was Omnia’s labyrinth but the last at least 3 hours of my life were more or less than a blur, I abruptly asked, “So if this is, like, Omnia’s labyrinth, Why are we here again? I genuinely don’t remember even leaving anywhere and this hardly explains ANYTHING whatsoever about what I hear- oh yeah . . . what I heard.”

Liz explained that she had a vision from The Savior, she’s connected to him ever since she discovered a magic sighting (a fancy term for some big stupid prophecies that kids like us have to be in) and Omnia’s cave had what they needed to figure out the rest of the sight. The thing with prophecies like these is that the whole sight being said reveals what will happen on that venture but the way others get it conveyed, be it directly or indirectly, will always be incomplete but guiding. Once you’ve set onto the quest and follow the first steps, the rest slowly gets revealed on the adventure. Say for us, Liz, a couple of years ago heard her sight through a sighteer or a prophet and it revealed; how to start the quest which already had happened long before that moment, the said “outcome” (that doesn’t make the outcome any more clear than the prophecy itself), which could be interpreted as many different things. She explained that we had some sort of business discussion with the founders and I had a bad feeling about any association with them after knowing, or thinking really, about Sofia’s bracelet. A moment of silence persisted until Sofia muttered loud enough for us to hear, “So uhm, about that thing you heard? You didn’t really explain anything either.” She said, slightly waving her arm as she ended her sentence. 

I slowly started to speak, “Well I woke up in a dark space and it was like, infinite and just all black. Believe me, I tried running but it’s endless, no walls, no doors, just pure nothingness. I think I was younger, I was wearing a binder and my hair was a lot longer, it was definitely a while before my surgery.” 

I reminisce about my surgery sometimes. 14 is a pretty young age for top surgery and with the help of them and their band, we somehow convinced my parents (and kind of bullied them into) supporting me and eventually were able to get the surgery. They aren’t exactly the best kinds of people. They banned any kind of magic in our house which turned out to be great for me and my siblings because we relied less on magic and more on strategic combat. I don’t even think they really support me, they almost kicked out my oldest sister, Amina, after my other sibling, my brother Zander, outed her by accident to them. 

I continued, “Then a voice started talking to me, it was like my voice but kind of higher.” I proceeded to tell the girls what the voice told me and the weird comforting feeling that came along with it, chills going down my spine as I explained. 

Sofia and Liz looked at each other, I knew what they were thinking. I found out two years ago that I was related to the prophecy along with Liz. Everyone I know and I mean EVERYONE, even people I don’t know think I’m way too young to take on something this big as facing one, or now MORE, of the founders this far into the venture. The farther you get, the more dangerous it gets and just thinking about how things worse than what I’ve heard from Liz WILL happen makes my stomach sick. Saving the world feels like the one thing in the morning that causes you to stay in bed and dread doing it. Liz would be 17 now, almost 18 but two years ago, she was only 15, I was 12 and it was the same time I had found out about Omnia, the reality of the founders, and my very vague role in this stupid prophecy. Liz had taken a lot of time off of school because 4-5 years of having to maintain balance in the political and social world due to so many people believing in The founders and the people behind everything powerful definitely does a number to someone, not to mention the years of trauma from her past homes that quote, “Were preparing her” for the future, said by her father.

Where she left the story, I picked it up and immediately got working. The whole problem is that The founders, including the embodiment of The Savior want to take back control and have started to do that with our secret government since it’s a more closed off population compared to the human race. I quickly figured out mostly what Liz had at my age and more through their band and despite having few close people to confide in, it was an advantage and a problem that was easily solved by putting my free time into the Prophecy, even if it was unhealthy. 

I realized I had zoned out while Sofia and Liz were looking at the giant gates. I felt drawn to the door but not in the way that was pulling me towards it, no I felt I was supposed to do something and I was the only one there who could do it. I’m well aware of the sort of skills, powers and abilities that the girls have and I admit I am nowhere near their skill level but THIS was instinctual and had nothing to do with expertise. 

I stepped toward the gate, slightly pushing past Liz and Sofia, I looked closer and felt the power that emitted from and past that point and as I placed my hand on the middle of the two gate, I don’t know what happened or how but it was like camera coming into focus and highlighting the part of the scenery desired. Focusing on keeping my mind clear and my own magic, this new instinct did the rest, bright sparks pulsing from my hand through the door and finally, the two gates swung open with ease as if nothing had been blocking us from entering. 

Sofia stood, shocked and Liz, startled, but she understood the importance of my abnormal abilities when it came to quests, she spoke first. “Well that was a little freaky, uhm- let’s go in I guess? We’ll figure out the whole sparks hand thing later. It’s not important right now.” 

“You sure sparky isn’t gonna be a problem until later? Ok then, whatever you say Liz . . .” Sofia said doubtfully. 

I gestured for them to walk in but no one moved so I decided to stride in myself, and I was amazed how much self control I had when I didn’t do anything. I could feel myself holding something back but deep down I knew this control wasn’t me. There was so much power that I could feel, coming somewhere from this room. It was a similar design to the room before, Crystally walls but this time there were mostly plain muted colors of the founders, Thrones with vines, crystals, and metals and poles with sources of kinetic flowing energy. I stepped in further, Sofia and Liz behind me, my hand clutching my necklace hidden under my shirt and jean jacket. It was gifted to me by Sofia’s brother, Mike, as a way to protect myself. When you tug on the charm, it can either turn into a ring or into my token weapon, an old fashioned katana sword. I do know it can do other things but I’m not entirely sure what else. Just like Liz’s necklace, I have the ability to manipulate people’s thoughts and somewhat what they can visually see but at a completely different and higher degree than her and having my hand wrapped around this tiny circle of blue gems made me think this newfound thoughts and powers had something to do with that fact. I walked towards the thrones with caution, specifically inching towards the brightest shining one which was a disgustingly muted color of yellow, the other ones shining were the red one, most likely Lynas, the sad green one, Anzarr and the dark purple for Zarin. If I were to assume they sensed our power due to our descendants, I wondered why the darkest one out of the bunch, the lowly colored blue throne didn’t glow for Risnag, both of my parents were of his descendance. Just as I was going to point this out, some sort of recreation of a flashbang had knocked all 3 of us off our feet in the wall aside the brighter, more lively gates compared to the actual room. 

As we all looked up, a slim, tall figure appeared from literal dust and somehow I could tell this person could use some sort of powers related to Zarin and they were very skilled. I was the first to get up, mesmerized by their look. I couldn’t create an image of them in my head or keep one but it was a woman with longish hair and bulky gray armor. She waited a moment, looking down at us and then spoke, “Children? No mortal beings are allowed past the cave! Spies, how did you enter?” The woman screeched as she drew a blade that felt powerful as her aura was. Liz was the first to respond before anyone could draw their weapons. “You are . . . Zarin? My lady, we didn’t come to fight, we came to ask for your aid.” She said, doing a courtesy as she spoke and Sofia jabbed me at my side to do the same. I lowered my hand from around my necklace and stood there perplexed. The god stepped closer and stared us down, and as I was in the middle, her eyes finally laid on me. Maybe she was wondering why a teenager and some 17 year olds were in a labyrinth of the gods or if she was judging what I was wearing but stayed silent. I noticed a ticking in my ear as it got louder and I could tell it was anticipating something or someone. Zarin finally spoke again. 

“I know what you are here for Elizabeth! This little girl next to you is here to kill me. Odd choice of style, you look like a boy” 

“I am a boy. And we didn’t come here to kill you, I didn’t come here to kill you. We were guided here by a prophecy” I said, annoyed at how many times I had been called a girl in a day. 

“Child I am a figure said to be a god!! Do not question or correct my authority.” Zarin said, striding towards Sofia, “My child, you have a decision and so does the girl of Lynas. Leave the Bree to pursue a path of evil behind her sister and parents, to destroy all you have come so far to fix and solve or watch as your founders are killed at the stake of your sighting and the quality of your sad lifes that won’t improve, our deaths or not”. 

Before Sofia or anyone else could respond, another loud blast blinded us for a moment and when I opened my eyes, there was a short man, or at least significantly shorter than Zarin was, with a disgusting color of orange for hair, and a plain navy blue tunic. The man had a pirate sword that I thought was a childs toy at first but then I realized if Zarin was here, this was probably Risnag but if I could see him so clearly, can I not see Zarin but Sofia can see her because she is her descendant while I am not? I was lost in thought until the man spoke in the complete opposite of an enthusiastic tone, “Ah, Zarin, my lady. That is quite enough terrorizing these children but she is right. You boy, are here to kill us.” He said in a surprisingly squeaky voice.

“Risnag! Oh sir, we need your help understanding what to do next and maybe you could continue to guide us on our qu-” 

“You 3 have already said enough, and my colleague Zarin has already told you your next move. Though like she said, this is a decision and you three will have to pick an option. We are not going down without a fight” 

At that moment, something came over me, a feeling not of anger but what I did mimicked what anger could do. It wasn’t sadness or happiness or any human or normal emotions any mortal could feel but all I knew was that I wasn’t alone. In my head. I could feel their presence and it was just as strong as the sort of power I felt behind the gates, I just knew somehow it was the reason I got these strange new abilities at times of need. This presence made me draw my katana. While this happened, I was well aware of it happening, I knew I could will myself to stop, to get it out of my thoughts and actions but I didn’t. 

“Magnum! Don’t!” I knew what I was doing, I slightly turned my body, lifted my hand and commanded my mind to focus, to summon. Strong silver chains broke through the ground, knocking Liz and Sofia off their feet and backing them away from the Founders and I. 

“Don’t feel bad, Bree. This fight was inevitable, it was either with us, or against us.” Zarin said softly

“So you are on the enemy’s side?” I responded back quickly

“Only to you, If you stood by me instead of opposite to us, that would change. There are no good or bad ‘Magnum’ You live to either survive or to die” 

I said no more and tightened my grip on my katana. The two founders got into a fight stance, I could feel my eyes glow but I didn’t make them, I didn’t command my necklace and I let the things’ presence take over any fight instinct I had left. My eyes are a dirty color of blue but somehow I could tell they weren’t this color at the moment. When your eyes glow, it could mean powerful, out of control emotions, a strong presence of magic use or an induced glow through the sort of items made like my necklace. This was neither. I looked down and saw a blurry version of myself, my eyes were a bright yellow. 

I didn’t say anything and I don’t know if this thing made me say anything, it was a blur but I know I charged forward and aimed for Risnag’s neck, I ran and stabbed between them as they moved away, backing into the wall behind where I previously was. Zarin was the first to strike, dashing aside me and trying to knock me to the ground but we clashed weapons as dodged her attacks. Risnag also charged to my other side, my right. I quickly picked up a stone big and light enough to work as a shield and held it up against my arm when he tried to maim me, I backed up, careful to watch my sides and back and where I was stepping. I could normally take two people in a fight, especially at strength and weapon based combat seeing as I have surprising strength for someone who has the body of a girl. When it comes to magical abilities against the other, that’s where my problems start because my family are descendents of Risnag (Even my biological dad. My siblings are technically my half siblings) but any sort of magic in his lane didn’t appeal to me or my natural magic. Despite this, anything naturally related to water empowers me but so do other founder related items. Normally, at the speed that two gods were fighting at, I wouldn’t be able to keep up but this thing controlling me was apparently good at fighting. Or experienced at this specifically, Which when I thought of, it made me panic for a moment. Thinking about the thing as if it were a separate entity during this fight messed with my head and I gained somewhat more control over myself.

We were at another opposite end of the room, thrones to my left, Zarin and Risnag far in front of me to the right slightly. I was backing away from them, the two decisions they had said stuck to me as I fought and I didn’t know which one I was going to choose, it was like my brain wasn’t thinking or even trying to come across the thought. I lifted my hand and vines sprouted from the ground, grabbing Risnag’s free arm and as I pulled him towards me to the ground, he attempted to stab my side with his other arm. I punctured his right shoulder quicker than he could hurt me. He yelled in agony and I shoved him aside, closing in on Zarin. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Risnag getting back up, I flicked my hand towards Liz and I pulled her dagger out of its sheath, I directed it to Risnag’s head. It hit him straight in the middle of his face, it went clean through his head with surprising force. No one could tell but me, he was alive, I somehow knew it had to be from my blade. What I also knew was that he would stay down for a while. I advanced on Zarin, running at her and I was able to slice her on the side, her being in quiet shock was an advantage to my quick reflexes, and a worsened effect to hers. 

“You’ve put up a good fight, Bree” Zarin was able to mumble loud enough for me to hear.

“You’re not even dead yet. It isn’t a good fight until I’m done with my goal.” 

“Then you know what to do. Time to fight to our deaths.” 

At that, I had to act. I still wasn’t in control of myself at all. I ran over to Risnag’s body and grabbed him by his strange hair and I cut his mangy head off. It was different from before, he started to dissolve like a cigarette and its ashes. 

I was running out of time and if I let my guard down, Sofia and Liz would pay. 

I charged at Zarin, it would be best to use her powers against her, keep her on her toes. I summons chains and they held tight onto 

Zarin’s arms slowly pulled her down but she easily broke free. She ran with ease across the room, despite her injury from my blade. Our weapons clashed and we fought, going the whole fight with little scratches, I could feel the battle coming to an end, I knew Liz and Sofia would be harmed. I saw an opening in Zarin’s attacks and I went for it, She had been slowing down, the power of my blade has caught up, she had me almost against a wall, our swords slicing the other I kicked behind her knee and she was knocked down to her feet, I was able to kick her to ground and disarm her. I pushed her blade out of the way and without mercy, I knew exactly what I was doing, what I did and I took my sword, I placed it against her neck, the words came to me like I’ve heard it a million times. “The metal passed to the girl of yellow, holding metal to metal’s neck. One will live, die and tell this tale to crowds.” 

“Bree,” Zarin turned to her back. “The sword was given to me. I only saw her once. The sword showed up in my hands.” 

I didn’t hesitate. I took my sword, stabbed her right in the middle of her neck.

I stood there for a second, I stepped back. The chains holding Liz and Sofia came down and I couldn’t tell if they were saying anything, my senses went mute and all I could feel was a sense of running away. I didn’t know my sword fell out of my hands but it turned back into my ring, placed right on my index finger. 

The thing was still in my head, it was telling me this was what the prophecy meant. I picked my options. But what happens next if things are just going to get worse?