“A dark power has descended on our land. Synk the Dark Prince has invaded our territory and he must be stopped or all will be lost.” The witch spoke in an ancient voice full of wisdom which made even me believe her words.

“How can this terror be stopped? Can it?” I felt butterflies in my stomach as I looked to her for the answers.

“Young child, you are the heir to the throne. Only you can defeat the malice evil that has taken hold of Catsnake.

“Wh- Why me?” I stuttered, while connecting all of this in my head.

“I knew that you were going to ask me that question. Therefore I will tell you. Are you willing to listen to your tragic story?”

“Yes. Yes, am ready. I have to know why I am the chosen one!”

“Very well, then.” the witch sighed before she began. “Two decades ago, Synk’s father, Seerik was the ruler of Catsnake. Under his rule many people suffered.”

“How did they suffer?” I had felt like I had asked the wrong question, but she answered.

“During those decades, mostly everyone in Catsnake had powers. Seerik didn’t like that. He felt as if he should be the only one who had powers, so he found a way to snatch everyone’s powers from them.”

“How did he?” This was an interesting story!

“He used the magic of the Past and Present, also know as the magic of Darkness and Light, to cancel out everyone else’s powers. The effects were that many people became enslaved and were forced to obey him.

“What happened to those who disobeyed him?”

“Those who didn’t obey Seerik were to be eaten by Seerik’s pet, the Tryonian.” I noticed that she said “Tryonian” in a disgusted voice.

“So, where does my dad come in all of this?”

“Your father and several other people somehow found a way to keep hold of their powers. Not even I knew this was possible.”

“Let me guess. You were one of those lucky ones.”

“Why, yes. Actually I was his mother.”

“Then that means that you are my grandmother!”

“Yes, young Delilah. I am your grandmother, but you must call me The Grand Witch.”

“Why?”

“For safety reasons. Now, back to the story. With us withholding our powers, your father hatched a plan to sneak into the castle and kill King Seerik. I was against this, so I tried to talk him out of it. My suggestion was to take Seerik’s powers from him, thus leaving him defenseless. Your father didn’t listen.”

“Did my father’s plan work.”


“Yes, it did. In fact your father became king right away, but this caused problems among the shadow forces. They thought that your father had won unfairly.”

“Well he did, now that I see it.”

“Precisely. Now the malevolent forces have their hearts full of malice for the royal family.”

“What do you mean?”

“A few days ago your father perished in battle with them, and your mother was taken prisoner by the Tryonians. Now they want you.”

“Oh no, and this is all, because of my cheating father. Do you think that I could work out a compromise with them?”

“It would seem wise to try a compromise, but remember you are dealing with Synk, the son of Seerik.”

“In other words: I am dealing with a prince who wants to avenge his father, by punishing the family of the king who killed his father.”

“Sadly, yes.”

“How do I stop him? Doesn’t he have powers like me?”

“Yes child, but, you have a secret weapon that no one else has. You hold in your possession, the Crystal Necklace.”

I reached under my cloak and pulled out the necklace, given to me, by my mother, when I was a baby. It is made of a silver chain with a silver-blue crystal for decoration, definitely a rare find for our world. I gripped it, even in the heat of the fire, it felt like a frozen fire; burning and freezing my hand at the same time, though I felt no pain from it. “Is this the Crystal Necklace?”

“Yes, child. The Crystal Necklace allows you to freeze time and others for about as long as your powers can hold out.”

“How do I use it?” I gripped my necklace again.

“Young Delilah. Only you can figure that out.

“Really?” I gasped.

“Yes. Let’s try by creating an inferno out of the fire I made right here.” She waved her hand over the bare floor, and there was a fire. “Are you ready?”

“Yes. I’m ready.”

“Focus with your mind. A spell only requires little focus.” I took her advice as a hint. I started focusing on the fire on the ground. Suddenly the fire twitched and it started revolving around itself. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was doing magic!

“How do I make the fire stop?” I said, for the fire tornado was growing quite gigantic.

“Remember what I said about your gift?”

“Okay! “ I focused all of my powers on the Crystal Necklace. To my surprise, the necklace started glowing and the fire tornado froze in its place. “Now what do I do?”

“Vanish it with your mind.” I focused on the tornado and in a second it was gone. “I believe you are ready to face the darkness, Princess Delilah. Though, I may warn you that this task may not be quite easy to accomplish.”

“Thank you, though I can‘t, but feel responsible for how I became the heir.” I waited as Jerune, my shape-shifting creature, changed into a flying dragon. I got on. “I shall not fail the kingdom of Catsnake for I am the rightful heir to the throne, though it seems wrong to be the heir now.”

“Wait! Princess Delilah!”

I stopped. “Is there something wrong?”

“Yes. You can’t just barge in and fight Prince Synk! You would perish just like the rest of your family. You need to take care of the other problems in Catsnake.”

“Okay, then!” I grew impatient. “What would those problems be?”

“Many of the villagers in Catsnake have all been enslaved by the Tryonians, Synk’s henchmen. You need to go there and defeat them.”

“No problem! With my powers, I’ll take good care of them.”

“Your powers alone won’t stop them. You need this.” The witch pointed her finger at me: “Dressias Warrior!”

“Whoa!” All of a sudden my gown was replaced by a knee-high, delicate pink dress. It was decorated in diamonds. “What is this for?”

“This is your royal gown! It also helps you blend in with your common surroundings and shape-shift into different forms.”

“Well, thanks! I always thought fashion over function!” I modeled in my little dress.

“Back to your task! Use the dress to blend in with the Tryonians! Then once you infiltrate their lair, destroy them!”

“Okay, then! Anything else!” This was too much work for a fifteen year old girl to handle!

“During your task you will come across another magical being. They will aid you in your journey.”

“Splendid! Now can I go?” I said hopping back onto Jerune. I was ready to leave!

“Yes, you may. When you are done, report here with your partner, so I can help you further on.”

“Okay, okay!”

“Goodbye and good luck!” said the witch. With her goodbyes, I flew off on Jerune, towards the kingdom of Catsnake.

Jerune flew us to Catsnake faster than I had hoped, which made me feel anxious about how I was going to deal with the Tryonians! Another thing also bothered me: When was I supposed to meet this magical being? Before the fight or after it, that is, if I survive? Jerune landed in an area outside of the village then shape shifted into a hawk. “Show me where the Tryonians are.” Following my command, Jerune flew off then started circling a small area not far from where I was. “Okay. Let’s do this!” I felt that talking to myself made things seem easier, even though this was a clean-up-after-my-cheater-father situation…

I ran over to the area Jerune was circling and prepared myself. “Good boy.” I said as Jerune shape shifted into a lizard and crawled into one of my dress’s pockets. I walked out into the open expecting to be attacked, but was greeted by some lifelike statues of these strange beasts with bovine heads and serpentine bodies. Were these the Tryonians? Well, they looked pretty taken care of if you ask me. Though, it did seemed pretty suspicious that since the Tryonians were frozen, where were the villagers? Well, my job was to take care of the Tryonians, maybe I should vanish them off. I focused with all of my energy. “I vanish you!” As I said this the Tryonians began to slowly disappear. “Easy come, easy go.” I said this job was easy. Too easy. I started to walk to the other parts of the village when all of a sudden the ground started trembling. “Wah! What’s going on?!”

“RAWR!” came a malevolent voice out from all around me.

“Okay! Who’s there?” What now? I braced myself while I waited anxiously for an answer of some sort, that is, if they even spoke my language.

“RAWR!” the ground shook while followed by more roaring. “THOU MUST HAVE A DEATH WISH! THOU SHALL PERISH! PREPARE FOR YOUR DEMISE!”

“Come on then, you hideous beast!” There was no edge of confidence in my voice. In fact I thought it was a little shaky. So, much for a camisado, since the enemies were sneaking up on me! The ground started shaking even more harder now as they approached me. I searched for a place to hide while Don’t worry Delilah! They are easy to defeat, all you need to do is focus on your powers! The optimistic voice in my head made me feel a whole lot better, but then came my pessimistic side: Oh, who are you kidding, Delilah? You probably couldn’t even fight off a pack of baby dogs! You’re a pathetic loser. A pathetic loser! Hey, instead of being killed by the Tryonians, you should probably just go commit suicide. I think the water is nice to breath in, and look on the bright side; you can join your weak and pathetic dad! I ignored my conscience and started to focus my mind. I was totally calm, that is until I saw the real Tryonians.

They looked nothing like the statues that I just vanished. In fact they looked hideous! They had serpentine heads with burnished, scarlet eyes. Their lupine mouths gave them that bloodthirsty look. They had ursine bodies which, made them look like they were invincible. What made me give up hope was that they were all one gargantuan creature with three heads. “RAWR!” They said in unison.

“Okay, Delilah, you can do this!” I concentrated with my mind on making the creature frozen, but so far I wasn’t having any success. “Oh no! Why aren’t my powers working?” I tried again but the intimidating beast made too hard to focus on my goal!

“FOOLISH MORTAL! WE THE TRYONIANS ARE GREATER THAN ANY MAGICAL FORCE!” I watched in horror as the creature opened it’s mouth and shot a beam of light at me. I tried to conjure up a force field, but I couldn’t seem to concentrate!

“Oh no!” I said as the beam closed on me. I braced myself for the impact by covering my eyes, but then I didn’t feel anything. Did the ray quickly kill me? I saw that I was still covering my eyes. I peeped through and saw a adolescent boy about my age using a force field of his own. “Th-Thank you!” I stammered. “You saved my life!”

“I saw that you were in trouble and I decided to help! Err! My force field is fading! he said in a deep, velvet voice. He had the most beautiful dark, mysterious eyes with autumn hair. I couldn’t help, but be mesmerized by his handsomeness. “Do you mind if we hide? I can‘t hold up much longer!”

“Sure!” I liked to be anywhere with this guy! Somehow he made me feel protected. I let him lead the way as we ran through the murky forest. We decided to climb up a hollow tree and hide in its branches, while the monster sniffed around for us.

“Hopefully, I don’t think that it will find us here.”

“Yeah, I know.”

He turned to me. “I’m sorry. I don’t believe that we’ve met. My name is Seth, yours?

“I’m Delilah. Pleased to meet you.”

“Wait. You are the princess Delilah? The heir to the throne of Catsnake?”

“Yep.”

“Interesting. Wahahaha!”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Seth. I’m sorry and I don’t mean to be rude, but how are we going to deal with the Tryonians?”

No problem. We need to have a plan ready for them. I was thinking that we could destroy them, while using our magic. Rumor has it that they may be all mighty and powerful, but they are incredibly dim-witted.”

“Well, I have the Crystal Necklace which can probably freeze them long enough to attack them. Could that help?”

“Yes. It would be perfect of my Onyx skull! You can freeze the creature while I suck the life from it with my Onyx Skull!”

“Okay then! Let’s do this!” I leaped down from the branch onto the ground, right in front of the creature.

“RAWR! YOU SHALL PERISH! ANY FINAL WORDS?”

I smirked. “Yes. “Freeze!” As I said this the Tryonian froze in its spot. “Yes! Okay, Seth it’s your turn!”

Seth leaped down silently with his skull in his hand. “Your life is mine! Give me your soul!” he cried. His eyes started glowing a scarlet red, and then the creature suddenly exploded. “That was easy, huh?”

“Wow.” I shook my head from what just happened. “Yes, it was.” I let Jerune out of my dress pocket while shape-shifting into a dragon. “I have to go back to a witch, that is telling me how to save Catsnake.”

He looked thoughtful for a second. “Do you mind if I tag along?”

“Sure! Just hop on!” I was so happy I didn’t have to face the battle by myself. I waited for him to get on and then we left.

Back at the cave the witch waited silently.

“I’m back! I called. “I brought someone with me, too!”

“Welcome, princess and her companion. Delilah, are you ready for your second and final task?”

“Yes, I am!”

“I want you to turn your companion.” I did what I was told. “Now, destroy Synk.”

“Huh? What? No, Seth is the good guy! No way he could be Synk!” I looked to Seth for an answer and his lips curled up into a menacing grin.

“How did you know?” he said holding back a laugh.

“I know you are Synk, because Synk’s weapon is the Onyx Skull.”

“Wahahaha!” A cloud of black smoke rose around Seth and when it vanished he was wearing a long, dark cape with skulls on it to go with his dark outfit. “Now I have you princess Delilah!”

“Wahh! What do you want?”

“The answer is simple! I want revenge!”

“I understand that you are angry with my father and all, but he is dead! Do you hear me? Dead! You‘ve already imprisoned my mother! What else do want to take away from me? It‘s like you have revenge for me!” I was fed up with this prophecy.

“You don’t understand!”

“What don’t I understand?” I couldn’t believe how miffed I was.

“I think that Catsnake has been ruled over enough to last our generations. When your father killed my father, I was the rightful heir to the throne, but your people over ruled me.” he turned to my grandmother. “I bet that she left that part out.”

“Actually I did,” it was strange for her to speak up, “for reasons. I wanted Delilah to bring you here Seth, so that I could have both the heir of the king and the heir of Seerik here. You see. When I was advising your father, my son I told him the correct way to rule the kingdom, but my son was too hardheaded to listen to me. The kingdom of Catsnake has had incompetent rulers for the longest. Before I was advising your father, Delilah, I was advising my oldest son, Seerik.”

I felt as if I had been slapped. I couldn’t believe that I had fell in love with my cousin. Well he was too good to be true. “Then that means that Synk is my cousin!”

“And that Delilah is my cousin, too!” both Synk and I looked at each other in amazement.

“Yes. So, tragic that long-lost cousins have to be destroyed.”

“Huh?” both Synk and I said in unison.

“It is only fair that I should be the ruler, and I am not going to let some adolescent nuisances get in my way. Call me cutthroat if you want, but we all know that you two wouldn’t make great rulers.” suddenly she started changing shape into a giant black snake. “Now who wants to die first?”

“Run!” I cried. We both ran out of the cave only halting at the edge of a cliff.

“What do we do now!?” Synk asked in a panicked voice.

“I’m trying to think!”

“Well can you get us out of here?”

“Sure! Jerune! Form of a dragon! Pronto!” Jerune hopped out of my pocket and transformed into a dragon. We rode away, but I gaped in horror as my grandmother was in pursuit after us. “What now?”

“I could probably fight her off, but I would need your assistance.”

“Okay. What should I do?”

“Do you know how to fight with your powers.”

“No. I was only taught to control objects.”

“Oh. Well too bad.” he turned around and shot some fire balls at the witch. I wish I could help. Wait maybe I can! This is your royal gown! It also helps you blend in with your common surroundings and shape-shift into different forms. My grandmother’s words reflected in my mind.

“The dress! That’s it!”

“What did you say?” I guessed that Synk was shocked by me being spontaneous all of a sudden.

“I can shape-shift using my dress!” I thought about something that would help take out a flying-evil-snake. All of a sudden I sprouted wings and fire appeared in my hands even my hair caught aflame, but it didn’t hurt me. “I guess that I am some sort of form of a fire creature.” I turned to Synk. “Stay here.” I flew off on my own, to the witch, or my grandmother.

“Muhahahahaha! Princess Delilah believes that she can fight her grandmother!” I looked at the snake creature in disgust.

“Yes, and I can! Have a taste of my inferno balls!” I shot some of my fire at her.

“Hahahaha!” she shook the fire off. “You will have to try a more powerful attack than that!”

“What the-” I said as she coiled around me. “Let me go!” I choked out. I tried burning my way out, and it worked!”

“Ow!” I flew away quickly as she was distracted.

“Okay, Synk. How does your Onyx Skull work?”

“I use it to suck up people and creature’s souls. Why do you ask?”

“Well, would it work on her?”

“It could.”

“Well, why don’t you use it on her?”

“I need to be up close.” then his eyes started glowing. “Can you fly me to her?”

“Sure.” I grabbed him and flew off towards the witch who didn’t see us. “Is this close enough or should I lessen my proximity?”

“It’s perfect. Now, see if you can freeze her.”

“Okay!” I concentrated harder than last time, putting my powers to full force. “Freeze!” Before she could fight back my grandmother froze in place. “Synk, it’s your turn!”

I watched as he took out his skull. “Your life is mine! Give me your soul!” he cried. His eyes started glowing a scarlet red, and the witch moaned in pain as she vanquished. “Whew! We did it!”

“Yeah!” We high-fived each other. “I’m so happy that we have no more misunderstandings.”

“Yeah. Me too, cousin!”