"What's wrong?" Emily asked as she climbed out of the car and moved to stand beside her brother who was examining the car that had suddenly refused to start.

They were about ten minutes drive away from the Alessandro mansion, in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

The Golden Hills Estate was located at the outskirts of the city, meaning that currently, they were the only people present on the deserted road.

"No idea. I can't seem to find any kind of problem..." Mark muttered as he kept checking the engine which seemed completely fine to him.

After a few more minutes of futile struggling, he decided to give up.

"Let me call Simon to pick us up." He said as he took out his phone and started dialing his twin's phone number.

Emily nodded her head as she stood next to the car. Because of the rain during the morning, the weather was a little bit better than the previous few days. 

"My my! You are way beautiful than I predicted." 

The sudden unfamiliar voice caused Emily to flinch as she hurriedly turned to look at the person who was standing a few feet away from her.

The woman was wearing a shiny black gown with a black cloak over it. However, her silver hair and hazel eyes were in sharp contrast to her attire. She was beautiful but there was also something evil about her. 

Emily stepped back a little to put some more distance between herself and the strange woman who was keenly observing her in return.

"Mark...?" She called her brother's name as she kept her eyes fixed on the woman.

But even after an entire minute, she received no response from her brother. She had a strong urge to turn around and look for her brother but at the same time, she knew that it was exactly what the woman wanted her to do.

"Are you not going to look for your brother?" The woman asked as she tilted her head a little while staring at the girl with interest.

Emily was silent as she pondered on what she was supposed to do at that moment. She recalled that her brother was standing a few feet away in front of the car and that memory made her feet move on their own accord.

She moved her right hand behind her to look for Mark and it did not take long before her body collided with another solid body.

Her eyes were still fixed on the woman as her hands hurriedly moved behind her to grip Mark's arms, only to find him standing there like a statue.

Emily felt panic rising inside her but she tried to stay as calm as possible. She not only had to save herself but also her brother and for that, she needed to keep her mind and body under her control.

"What spell...." She was about to say something when her eyes landed on the trees that were standing behind the woman by the roadside.

For a moment she found herself puzzled by what her eyes noticed but then realization hit her which made her glare at the woman as she spoke.

"You have stopped the time, right?" 

Miraculously, her voice did not waver as she asked the question. Her eyes glared at the woman as her hand tightened on Mark's arm.

A smile appeared on the woman's lips which were painted dark red. She remained completely silent for a few seconds before she decided to speak.

"Looks like Shadow has been giving you some private lessons on supernatural powers. Impressive! It's still hard to believe that someone like him is capable of caring about someone." 

Emily was shocked as she heard the woman mentioning her bodyguard.

"How do you know Shadow? Who are you?" She asked as she stared at the woman. Once again her instincts were telling her that the strange woman did not mean any harm but she also had a feeling that if she lowered her guards against her, the consequences would probably not to be her liking.

"Of course, I know Shadow. After all, he's the person who has become the biggest mystery for me. The only person on this entire planet whose future is completely hidden from me. Keeping my eyes on him has become a part of my daily life now." The woman answered as she smiled slightly.

"What do you want?" Emily asked as observed the woman with her sharp eyes. She could not understand what she meant by her words about not being able to see Shadow's future. But at the moment, she (Emily) needed to pay attention to the most important matter and that was to get her brother and herself out of the current situation.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to harm you or anyone else. I'm just here to fulfill my promise. I don't have anything personal against you or anyone related to you but I'm bound by my oath and I can't back down." 

The woman spoke but her words were like puzzles that did nothing but only ended up confusing Emily even more than before.

"Some things are bound to happen no matter how hard you try to avoid it. And what's going to happen today is also bound to take place. I accepted to fulfill my promise today because I'm aware it will eventually benefit you. If there has been someone else, the results would not be the same. I hope you won't hold this against me. As an apology, I'll answer any three of your brother's questions. Now, everything is up to your fate."

Emily watched in pure shock and confusion as the silhouette of the woman started disappearing little by little and as she vanished, the world started moving again.

The sharp intake of breath from behind her made her turn around to look at her brother who was breathing a little bit sharply as he shook his head to assemble his thoughts.

"Are you alright?" Emily asked hurriedly as she looked at her brother. Her hands moved to cup his cheeks as she made him look at her. There was confusion in his eyes but other than that, he looked normal to her.

"What happened?" 

Mark asked as he observed his sister from head to toe in order to make sure that she was okay.

"I......I'm not actually sure. One moment everything was fine and then she appeared...." 

Emily trailed off as she turned her head to the direction where the strange woman had been standing just a few moments ago.

And as her eyes observed the empty road and dense forest standing in front of her, she felt the same dreadful feeling rising inside her that she had been experiencing in the cafe. The only difference was that it was far more intense than before. She could literally tell that something bad was bound to happen and suddenly the woman's words started ringing in her mind.

"We need to leave, Mark. Immediately!" Emily shouted at her brother in panic as her eyes refused to leave the direction from which the strange woman had appeared and then disappeared.

"Emmy, what's wrong?" Mark asked in a worried tone as he heard the panic in her voice. His eyes followed her gaze only to end on an empty road that led towards the city center.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure but I have a very strong feeling that something bad is going to happen........ Mark, where's the security teams that were following us?" 

As soon as the question was out of her mouth, both Emily and Mark experienced the sudden rumble that shook their silent surroundings.

They were here!

***

The car suddenly came to a halt as Shadow looked around the area to grasp the weird tingles of energy that he just felt passing by.

He immediately recognized the familiarity of the magical energy that was present in the air. It was very light, almost untraceable but his sharp senses succeeded in grasping their presence.

"What's wrong?" Domenic asked as he looked at the other man from the backseat. They were barely about two minutes drive away from the airport.

"I can feel the essence of a magic spell in the air. It's very light, meaning it's not used in this area but I can tell that it's a powerful spell." Shadow responded after a few seconds of silence as he closed his eyes to focus his attention on that light presence of the leftover essence of the spell.

"Can you tell me why you are going to Direspell?" He once again asked the question as he felt like he needed to know the answer.

Domenic was silent for a few seconds before he finally let out a soft sigh as he decided to answer.

"I received a message that Oracle Seriena will be arriving at the town of black magic during the night of the full moon of this month." 

He did not explain any further, and he did not need to because as soon as he mentioned the name of that familiar person, Shadow's eyes flew open.

"You have been misled." 

That's all he said before he jumped out of the car.