NOELLE’S POV,
Gabriel immediately takes charge and gives an encouraging speech to the people. They all seem to realize that it is better to go down fighting for a better world than living in Hell. Everyone has a determined look in their eyes and seems to calmly be waiting for the doors to breach. I decide to take the small moment of peace to go look for Thorn. I find him looking much better and luckily Faith tells me she will be able to repair his wing, but he just needs rest.
“I don’t need rest; I need to fight with you mistress!” Thorn says in my mind with a stubborn voice. I walk to him and give him a kiss on his snout, “You have protected me fiercely I couldn’t be prouder. Now I need you to take it easy so we can maybe live to fight another day.”
Thorn follows me with grumpy eyes when I walk away but he obeys my command. I walk towards Luna who is talking with Zeus. Zeus seems very riled up making big movements with his arms while talking to her. When I reach them, Zeus turns towards me with eyes full of adrenaline, “I have an idea, Noelle. I had heard of a spiritual place underneath the castle where there is a connection between the spirit world and our world. Maybe there you could talk to your ancestors and ask them for help. Luna just confirmed to me that this place exists.”
Luna looks at us worried, “It exists but I have never heard of someone actually talking to spirits there. Besides that, it only has one way in and it is close to the inner wall. So, if the wall falls you will have no protection and you are stuck with no way out.”
I nod to Zeus, “Take me there. It is either that or die here fighting at least we will have tried everything that way.”
I squeeze Luna her hand before walking after Zeus, “Please tell Gabriel I had no time to say goodbye but that I love him, and we will meet again.”
Zeus and I run towards the outside of the castle until we find a tunnel at the backside. I walk inside the tunnel but hesitate when Zeus doesn’t follow me. He gives me an encouraging smile and says, “I will stay here and protect you as long as I can. Trust in yourself Noelle, I know you will be the one that will save us all. Now go!”
I start running through the tunnel that brings me further and further underground. Eventually, I come to a round open space with nothing in it except for a symbol on the ground. When I look carefully, I see it is light from above cut out in a Jing and Jang shape through the roof that makes the symbol on the ground. I sit down on the symbol and close my eyes focusing on slowing down my breathing.
The silence around me is deafening and there are no water drops or anything to focus on to get me into a meditational state. I open my eyes annoyed but feel shocked when I see 2 people standing there looking at me. They are a bit see-through but still visible enough to see their faces. I am looking at a woman with long red hair and warm brown eyes and a man with dark-brown hair and green eyes like mine. My heart skips a beat and I ask trembling, “Mom? Dad?”
They both smile at me, and my mom says, “Noelle my sweet special girl. We are so proud of you; we knew immediately when you were born that you were special and meant for extraordinary things. It has been a joy to see you grow into the strong powerful woman that you are. I wish we could have told you how much we love you and that we never wanted to leave you.”
My father walks to me and puts his hand on my head, I immediately get sucked into a vision. I see myself as a baby, my father is holding me and gives me kisses while my mother sings for me. In another vision, my mother cuts herself with a knife and the baby puts her hand on the wound and heals it with light. My mother and father look at each other stunned but then my father kisses my head and says, “My special girl, you will do great things in your life.”
In the next vision, a man runs into the house with panicked eyes, “You have to leave! Apparently, some magician has seen that the last witch heir is born in this village. They are collecting all the babies and burning them alive. You have to leave now!”
My parents run out of the house in panic and the vision changes to the orphanage. I can see my parents leave me at the door sobbing uncontrollably. “I wish we could tell you how much you are loved, Noelle. I wish we could leave you a letter to explain that we had to leave you to protect you not because you are not wanted. My father gives the baby the amulet to play with and for a moment the baby seems happy. Until she notices her parents walking away and she starts screaming and crying.
The last vision is of my parents being interrogated by dark humans. No matter how they get tortured they keep saying they do not have a child so that they must have the wrong people. I don’t need to see the end of the vision to know what happened to them in the end.
Tears are falling down my cheeks and I am back in the spiritual place again with my parent’s ghosts. They stand close to me now and whisper, “We don’t have much time anymore, but you should know that we are so proud. You were destined to save this world from the day you were born. We will be with you every step of the way, always. We love you our beautiful special girl.”
Their voices fade and I start to sob loudly. Seeing my parents after all these years makes me feel sad and happy at the same time. Finally, I know why I was left at the orphanage, and I know that I was loved and wanted. I am still crying when I hear a strong woman’s voice say, “Noelle.”
I look up and a woman in a dress from another time with brown hair and fierce eyes looks at me. “Who are you?” I ask.
“I am Fiona. The witch queen that spoke the prophecy that led to you.”
She continues, “You cannot let them win Noelle. The future of all that is good depends on you.”
I look at her desperately, “How can I fight them when I don’t have my powers?”
Fiona looks at me strictly, “I thought you were smarter than that Noelle.”
She walks to me and puts her hand on my heart, “No one can take your powers from you. Your powers come from your ancestors our blood runs through your veins. You are the last blood heir so you will always have your powers.”
She points at my head and my heart, “Your ancestors are there at your heart, but you need to connect your mind and your heart. How can you unlock your potential if your own mind doesn’t even believe in yourself?”
I swallow when I hear the hard truth. Fiona slowly starts to fade but lastly says, “You are destined to save the world, Noelle. Fulfill your destiny.”
The ground above me seems to be shaking constantly now so I am guessing that they breached the wall. I take a deep breath and get up when I see Zeus standing in the room with me. I want to run towards him but when I come closer, I stop because his shape is also see-through.
“Zeus? What’s going on?” I ask with a tremble in my voice. My heart is pounding from fear because I am afraid to hear the answer.
Zeus looks at me warmly, “They breached the wall and found the entrance of the tunnel Noelle. I held them off as long as I could. They are on their way here now.”
I whimper, “No! No! No! You can’t be dead Zeus.”
Zeus seems calm when he answers, “It is okay Noelle. I have no regrets in life and did what I loved the most. I researched and taught magic, and I had good friends. I am happy that I got to call you one of my friends. I did not die in vain because I can see in your eyes that you learned what you needed to know. It is time for me to go now and see what mysteries I can unravel in the spirit world. Now go save the world and show everyone how amazing you are.”
I want to hug him and tell him how much he meant to me, but he has already disappeared. I can hear heavy footsteps coming closer through the tunnel and I brush away my tears and ball my fists. I am the last witch, and I am destined to save the world. It is time to show them what that means. My eyes light up with purple light when I walk towards the tunnel.