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Chapter 6: The Guardian of The Underworld

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Charlie's body was swathed in pale blue and yellow light. Lying in her bed, in her room, at the dorm. Her chest rose and fell in even breaths, signaling she was in a sleep mode of sorts. On either side of her sat Sol and Luna. Both girls were holding out their hands, which were glowing the same colors that surrounded Charlie.

"Poor thing...." Sol sighed heavily and sadly. "She must've been crushed to see Grim turn out like this...." she looked upon Charlie's face with a frown.

"Imagine how more crushed she'll be to learn she's not who she thinks she is..." Luna muttered to herself, but Sol heard it and glared at her.

"Enough! Do you want Astraeus to chide us?! After what we promised?!"

"Of course not!...She's our sister..." Luna fumed but lost her anger and sighed heavily. "We'd never leave her to suffer, even after what happened back then....And...." She felt her voice grow softer the more she spoke.

"Admit it: you want her to come back as much as I do." Sol said, looking at her with melancholy.

"...But Charlotte is the only one who can free her." Luna whispered. "And....And Eos..."

"But what of Paul? Her father?" Sol adds. "When Paul was in the car crash, she saved him!" She looked over at the nightstand where Charlie kept her family photo. The picture of the Luchessi family, altogether and smiling like it was the happiest day in their lives. Sol pressed her lips into a thin line as she felt herself recall what happened. "You remember it as well as me: although the bodies were still in the real world, their spirits were taken elsewhere. Paul's soul was absorbed as a means to preserve him. Only together can they be freed from limbo...."

"But Eos is another problem!" Luna reminds. "He's trapped in that wretched Dark Mirror! And only one of his blood can free him!" She grunts, "....at least we're not going through what happened back at Sparx." Luna didn't say anything else as she focused on healing Charlie.

"And...Malleus." Sol remembers. "He's likely to be awaiting that she remembers soon. If she doesn't, I fear what will happen....And...will those two remember?" She asked tersely.

"Which two....?" Luna looked at her.

"The Merchant's heir...and the hunter...?"

"....It's likely they will in due time...." Luna nodded with pursed lips. "Five hundred years is a long time to remember you were someone else before now. It seems Reincarnation isn't a myth as believed."

The two looked upon Charlie with soft gazes as they could see her as the girl she was...

"Charlie...." Sol unconsciously murmured.

Suddenly, a magic circle appeared over Charlie, making the sisters jump away in surprise. The sun, moon and star symbols Charlie had drawn were etched into the center of the circle, burning brightly. A tall pillar of light surrounded Charlie's body as the levels of magic, hers, began to slowly climb. The sisters could even feel it from where they were.

"Her magic!" Luna gasped.

"Yes, I feel it too! It's growing!" Sol nods. "I guess Astra isn't as far away as we believed..." The sister smiled softly as the ground stood still and the magic circle vanished.

Sol's eyes lit up and she walks to where Charlie's bag is. She rummaged through it and pulled out the phone Crowley lent her. "What are you doing?" Luna asked carefully as Sol began to search for two people.

"Making a few calls....." was what Sol told her before leaving the room, and left Luna to look over Charlie.

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Ophelia found herself teetering as she walked along the bookshelves. Her arms felt like lead every time they hit her sides. She didn't even have the nerves left in her hand to lift her scepter, which dragged behind her, scraping the ground as she walks on. Behind her laid her headwear, the gems ripped and scattered everywhere at the metal headpiece's feet, along with silk sandals, one overturned against the other like she kicked them off in a hurry.

She didn't know what happened. One minute, she was okay: reading an ancient spell book on her throne when she needed to see something. But the moment she stood up, it felt like something sucked all her tolerance for pain away and left her a bruising mess when she stumbled from her footing. She fell down the small staircase and landed on the ground harshly. When she tried to stand back up, icy hot pain shot through her body. Cramps ravaged her, making her spasm and curl into a ball as they struck every nerve inside. She began to crawl away as the cramps began subsiding, but it still brought pain as she moved. In a hazy attempt whilst getting to her feet, she had kicked off her shoes and ripped off her crown, leaving them on a mess behind her as she used the bookshelf as a guide to safety, only to lose feeling in her arms, which lead her to where she was now.

"Agh!" She moaned in pain when she felt her right leg buckle and fell to the floors. She landed harshly on her side, managing to save her head with but her left arm. She hissed as she felt the icy burns flash into her muscles and tendons like a branding iron. She tried to cope with the pain, but she felt something slithering up her neck and to the left side of her face under her skin. She froze, not wanting to see what it was, but forced herself to.

Staring into the mirror at her side, her eyes widened in horror. Black veiny markings ran from the base of her collarbone up to neck, then her jaw and cheek and stopped just above her eyebrow, leaving jagged lines across her eye like someone tried to cut her eyeball out with a sharp blade. Tears came to her eyes before she knew it. "No....no, please!" She whispered hoarsely. In a desperate act, she pulled down the shoulder and sleeve of her dress, ignoring the sound of ripping fabric and the breaking of the sewing threads. The look in her eyes grew more horrified. It was worse than she thought.

The vein markings had spread down from the collarbone to her chest, arm and hand. Each fingertip was a myriad of small web veins, which stemmed from the back of her hand like a decrepit skeleton. The markings traveled further from her stomach and leg, the fabric of the dress's skirts hiding what she obviously knew was more markings. Ophelia shook. If this was how her torso looked, she was too afraid to even see what condition her legs were in.

"My Lady!!!" A familiar voice called from further away as she hissed with the pain. Fawkes appeared, a blazing light of red as he jostled mid-flight, mouth open in surprise. "What happened?! I thought-?!"

"No....it's getting worse than I believed." She suppressed any pain in her voice as best as possible, only a few cracks in her voice gave it away what the markings did to her.

"Come, we'll have Liccy and Gwen get the potions ready! I'll go grab the spell book!" Fawkes began to plan out, rather rapidly.

"Fawkes."

"We didn't know your pain was this adamant! We'll do what we can to keep it at bay!"

"Fawkes!"

"We can't have Charlotte know about this, and I promise-"

"FAWKES!!!" Ophelia lost her patience and shouted rather abrasively, startling the little sprite. "I can handle myself...I'm not weak! What I DO need from you.....is to look over Charlotte from now on."

"What?! A-Already?!" The fire sprite was startled.

"Yes. It's time. You must take care of her now in my stead." She nods.

"But Lady Ophelia! What about you?!"

"I have other sprites who can help heal me." She assured, getting to her knees. "Leave my injuries for me to worry over. Charlotte is your main priority now. And I want you to keep close contact with her....as I try to stabilize this." She looked at the marks in disdain. But one last look at Fawkes and she gave a reassuring smile. "You've always been at my side, Fawkes. And I couldn't be more grateful. This will be my last order for a while: watch over Charlotte and be sure to guard her at all times, okay?"

".....As you wish." He reluctantly sighed. A bright red light portal appeared behind him from the double doors as he looked over his shoulder at it and back to his lady. She gave him an encouraging smile as he flew towards it, back facing her. His small crystal wings fluttered as he faced the portal, albeit nervously, and flew through it with his eyes shut.

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I felt like I was floating on a platform of clouds. Fluffy, comfy and soothing. 'Wow....I could get used to this....'

But the light had other plans, deciding to flash my retinas blind.

"Ahh!!" I hissed as my eyes flew open, blinking to see. "Ugh, are you kidding me?!" I fumed, but then I saw a huge golden gate in front of me. An awfully familiar gate....and through those gates was Mount Olympus.

There stood Zeus with Hera and their baby Hercules. "On behalf of my son, I want to thank you all for your wonderful gifts!" He smiled as Hera handed him their child, who teethed on his pendant when he yawned, growing sleepy. Zeus smiled as he tucked his boy in his crib, kissing his temple with fatherly love.

"How sentimental." A new voice spoke up. All eyes turned to a dark corner in the room as a familiar face made its debut. "You know, I haven't been this....choked up since I got a hunk of moussaka caught in my throat! Eh?" He tried to lighten up the room with a witty remark only to receive dead silence and glares from the other gods. After a stiff greeting with Zeus, and getting his finger crushed by the baby Hercules, Hades was brought into a side hug by his brother.

"Come on, Hades, don't be such a Stiff! Join the celebration!"

"Hey, love to, babe. But unlike YOU gods, lounging about up here, I regrettably have a full-time gig, that you, by the way, So charitable bestowed upon me, Zeus. So....can't. Love to! But can't..."

"You oughta slow down! You'll work yourself to death!....Ha!! Work yourself to death! HA!!!" The joke had gotten a wave of laughs from the other gods as Zeus fell back into his throne, still laughing. "Ha! I kill myself sometimes!"

Hades gave a fake smile until he turned his back, losing the smile for a deep scowl as he made his way back to the underworld, muttering, "If only....if only!"

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Amber eyes fell open as Charlie's blurred vision started to make out shapes. Two women. One with silver hair and the other sun gold.

"Sol....Luna....?" Her voice cracked as she woke up.

"Hey, sweetie. You okay?" Sol smiled as she helped Charlie sit up carefully.

"I think so....." she whispered, her head hurting as she recalled what happened before she passed out. After escaping Grim from the stadium and meeting the two sisters, Charlie decided to let them stay with her at the Ramshackle dorm as payment for saving her. And until she found proper answers to her visions and what's being kept from her past. She felt sleep overcome her mind as she had fallen onto the bed, tired from the whole day: her feet aching proved just that.

"And....I think we should tell-" but Luna never finished as the door was forced open and in scrambled Ace and Deuce.

"Charlie!!!" They raced over to her bedside. "We came as fast as we could!"

"Guys?!" She was taken aback. "What are you doing here?" But before they answered Luna stood up.

"So you two are the nimrods who put Charlotte through all that wild brouhaha?!" Luna looks over the scared first years, who cowered over her terrifying face.

"Yes, ma'am....?" Deuce squeaked. Ace tried to shake off his nerves as he talks,

"We got a call from you telling us to get over here!"

"What?! I never-!"

"It was me." Sol confessed. "I took your phone and called them and told them to come here to tell them what's up."

"Sol!" Charlie hissed.

"They deserve to know that Grim vanished after what he did!" The blonde defends.

"Yea, what do you mean by 'vanished'?" Deuce asked.

Charlie looked between the blonde and the two dunderheads she called partners. Remembering she promised to be more honest and open, she sighed, knowing she can't take back her promise. "You're right, Sol....Guys...." She looked straight at them. "I left the dorm looking for Grim, knowing he was up to something. When I found him at the stadium, he had swallowed the ink rock. But....he's changed. It's like he lost all sense of his own self! He didn't know who I was and he tried to kill me!"

This had surprised the two boys. "He...he what?!"

"It's true." Luna picks up. "But we had managed to interfere and save Charlotte before he could do any permanent damage. But we don't know what happened to the creature after we teleported away to safety."

"Oh my god...." Deuce sounded hurt.

".....I.....I think we should move to the lounge." Charlie suggests, sending the awkward air. ".....I think you should properly meet my friends and...learn what happened."

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With some persuasion to call Crowley, the headmaster had made it to the dorm as fast as he could.

"Charlotte, I came as- who are they?" Crowley asked, looking at the sisters.

"They....are the people who helped me escape from Grim." Charlie spoke. "They're Sol and Luna Brighton."

"You must be the headmaster." Sol greets first.

"Uh...y-yes!" Crowley forgot for a second after looking at the sisters for a few seconds. He felt that there was something rather off about them.... "Dire Crowley. Now what's this I hear about Grim?"

"We should explain...again." Luna huffs.

By the time she finished, Crowley was absorbing everything with a small frown and and unreadable expression in his eyes. "So let me get this straight: after Charlotte awoke speaking to this 'Mickey' person through the mirror in her room, she realized Grim was gone, went to find him only to be attacked at the last minute, when you girls saved her?...."

"And it's all because of the overblot rock he swallowed!" Charlie added.

Crowley as well as the two boys froze at that. "Overblot rock?!"

"Wait....it must've looked like the one back at the mines?" Ace thought.

"And when Riddle and Azul overblotted all those months ago...." Deuce nods.

"But he didn't show signs of change!" Ace recalled. "He seemed fine!"

"Wait, what's an overblot rock?" Sol was confused.

Crowley remembered they were new so he began to explain. "I've told the others before, so I'll explain again for you girls, too. Overblot is the state of insanity a wizard experiences when the overuse of magic combined with an unstable mind can turn them into terrifying monsters. It's like an overflow of magic that resides in the wizard's body. It's the excess waste of strong magic power and contains strong toxicity with it. And with it comes a literal monster that manifests through dark emotions."

"So...to defeat it, we need to sever the bond between the incarnation and the wizard themself?" Ace summarized.

"We'll this isn't the first time we've done that." Deuce reminds.

"And what of me?" Charlie stood up. "My magic stems a lot differently that everyone else's in this world. The use of "Liberato Magia" was used only twice and it destroyed the monster and cleansed the leaders. The other times.....well, they went much differently."

"Well there was one thing I forgot to mention." Crowley says. "You see, any remnant of blot that the monster inquired can shape itself into a crystal as it vanishes. The magic stones were forged when Gems from the mine gather surrounding magic in the air and all around it. Its not that common to see the same substance be forged into the same shape it corrupted in the beginning. But I had yet to lay eyes on one. Cases of Overblot are very rare. It wouldn't happen often, but..."

'So even if all of the blot is gone from my light, there's still remnants of it that can prove it was still there....' Charlie thought bitterly.

"So you're saying that...what is left from the overblot is a rock filled with a swarm of pent-up emotions, like rage, and the extra dark power from the victim?" Ace murmured and the headmaster nods. "Grim has eaten quite a few of them..."

"So Charlie is onto something: the stones are what's causing Grim to act out of violence." Deuce frowns.

"I can't be sure myself." Crowley says. "There may still be hints of Grim's humanity inside but he's still an unknown creature. Maybe his violent nature is his true persona.....And with the Festival still picking up tomorrow, we can't risk this monster getting loose and attacking innocent bystanders!"

"He's not a monster!" Deuce snapped as he and Ace glared a the headmaster. Just hearing the headmaster call him that made their blood boil.

"I'm not saying he IS." Crowley glared at them. The two shrunk back a little in fear, but stood their ground as he continued. "I let him enroll into the school under Miss Luchessi's request, but the matter still stands: depending on how aggressive he is, he won't be allowed back into the school altogether." This caused Ace and Deuce to look at each other, knowing that it's highly likely Grim will be expelled for this. "I will contact the dorm leaders and have them capture Grim this instant."

"Y-You can't do that!" Deuce tried to speak but the Headmaster's hands were tied.

"I'm sorry, but there's no other choice. Charlotte, have you and the sisters secure and deadbolt all the doors and windows in the dorm. And you two, get back to Heartslabyul!" he turned to leave as he spoke to himself, "It won't be long until THEY arrive....."

"....Sir did you say something?" Ace overheard but the headmaster was quick to cover himself,

"No, not a thing! I...just have something that must be done." Crowley left in a hurry, shutting the door behind himself.

Charlie didn't look at either of the boys and they her. But they knew this had to be discussed. Luna, sensing this, whispered softly to her,

"We'll leave you three be. Soleil and I will start deadbolting the windows and doors." Charlie nods mutely as Luna led Sol away down the hall. Once they were out of sight, Ace took his time to break the tension.