As soon as the veil closes, Cerridwen, Ogrun, and Valkrim release me. It’s a moment I dread as I know it means I’m too late. I can’t save Mysteria.
Cerridwen places a hand on my shoulder. I stand and glare at her. I don’t need to say how angry and upset I am at her. My face says it all.
‘Selene, I’m sorry. It’s for the best to keep you safe.’
I step away from her, run to my glass orb, and wave my hand to see Mysteria.
We see Magnus watching Nina dance to the beat of drums with other women around a large fire. Suddenly Nina and the others pause as the ground shakes vigorously with so much force that some of them fall back onto the ground. The air around them thickens with fog as they step back with fear.
A thunderous roar is heard in the distance. I’ve heard it before. It’s Thypon. He slithers forward, making himself known to the people. More creatures appear near his tail. There are thousands of them.
Thypon swings his staff around, emitting a beam of flame, setting everything on fire.
The people scream and yell for everyone to run—the minotaur stampede toward them, wielding their axes. The ground trembles again, but this time it’s not from Thypon but death worms. They fly half a dozen metres into the air before disappearing into the ground, leaving large holes in the ground. Dragons fly high in the sky, screeching.
Magnus shifts into his wolf and lunges at a minotaur that is about to strike Nina with an axe. Alec pulls Nina behind him and holds his hands out. I watch as black mist emits from his hands as he summons Grimghouls and Shadow reapers that crawl from the ground.
The little orcs fight back against the minotaurs that have gained on them. A death worm opens its mouth, snatching a woman, whom I think might be a vampire and burrows into the ground again.
‘No!’ Nina screams.
I step back with my hand on my heart and breath heavily before looking up at Valkrim, Cerridwen and Ogrun. ‘You should have let me through! They are all going to be killed!’ I cry out.
The deities look away with guilt.
‘No! Don’t you dare look away. You all chose not to help. You can at least suffer the consequences and watch the demise of your own kind!’ I snap at them and fall back in my seat.
I watch as werewolves and vampires are killed as they try to protect the children, giving them a chance to flee. The witches cast as many spells as possible, killing one of the death worms and a few minotaurs. The once beautiful and lush world of Mysteria is now devastating to look upon, with fires and dead everywhere.
Magnus, Nina, Alec and other survivors follow Maia and Damon toward Moon Crest Castle. Hundreds of harpies and a few dozen minotaurs occupy the castle. They open their mouths and let out the most horrid screech. With the castle no longer safe, we watch as they run through Moonhowl woods and find shelter in a cove near the shore.
We listen intently to their conversation.
‘Reaper said the giant serpent is Thypon, the God of Monsters,’ Nina says to everyone.
‘That would make sense why we’ve never seen him or the other monsters before. Because he came through the veil during the solstice,’ Damon says. ‘But why him? Why didn’t the Moon Goddess or any other deities come through? Surely, Selene, Cerridwen, Ogrun or Valkrim would have stopped him?’ Damon says.
I glare at the deities, ‘What will they think when they find out we could have entered the veil? That we could have saved them?’
Valkrim bites his lip while Ogrun looks down at his hands. Cerridwen tries to make eye contact with me, but I ignore her and continue to listen to their conversation.
‘There has to be a reason for all of this?’ Maia says, ‘But the main problem is, how do we stop a God? How can we defeat Thypon when we can’t even defeat the monsters he brought with him?’
‘We can’t,’ Yiselda says, stepping forward. ‘Only another God or Goddess can defeat another, and even then, many deities will usually fight against the one and have them sealed away for as long as possible.’
‘Even though many of us wield great strength and power, we are not deities. So, what are we going to do?’ Maia asks.
‘Survive,’ Nina says loudly- her voice echoes throughout the cove. ‘We need to try and defeat as many monsters as possible when the opportunity arrives and then focus on surviving until we come up with a new plan or until the next solstice and pray that the deities will enter Mysteria and defeat Thypon,’ she tells them.
‘A whole year!’ Maia exclaims, ‘I would have had my baby by then,’ she sobs.
‘The veil is unbreakable until the next solstice. We don’t have any other choice but to try and survive,’ Nina says.
‘Nina’s right,’ Alec says. ‘We need to stay hidden. We aren’t far from the ships. Tomorrow we will cross the ocean and go to Emerald Island. For now, you should all try and get some rest. The vampires and I will keep watch while you all sleep,’ he says.
As soon as they fall asleep, I stare at Cerridwen, Ogrun and Valkrim.
‘We need to help them somehow. We can’t let them fight this war alone. They won’t make it alive to the next solstice, and you all know it,’ I say to them.
I watch as I see something flash in Cerridwen’s eyes.
‘Selene! The sceptre! You threw it into the veil. It’s in Mysteria. We need a way to contact one of them and tell them about it. If one of them uses it and becomes a deity, then perhaps they can survive and stand a chance against Thypon,’ she says.
Even though I’m angry and annoyed at Cerridwen, she’s right. The sceptre could be the key to saving them.
‘How do we contact them, though?’ Valkrim asks. ‘It’s not like we can write a letter and post it to them.’
I stand, ‘You forget yourselves, and you forget me. I am the Goddess of the Moon and can influence the dream world. They are currently all asleep. I can enter their dreams and influence what they see and hear. I think Nina is the one who should use the sceptre. Nina makes a great leader, and everyone looks up to her. She is kind and fair and already has the strongest power in Mysteria, even though she may not realise that yet. She will be the one to save Mysteria,’ I say to them.
I look each of them in the eye, waiting for any of them to object but instead, they nod and support my decision.
‘Then I better get started,’ I say as I close my eyes.
The deities watch quietly as I attempt to enter Nina’s dream. It wasn’t easy and took most of the night to break through.
But finally, I’m in and have brought her mind to the celestial world.
She looks around, confused, then up at the many planets in the night sky. I call her name. Nina hears it, but she seems unsure. Instead of following my voice, she takes in her surroundings and pats my fluffy white cat Snowbelle. Although she is in the celestial world, the moment she wakes, she will vanish. I tell Snowbelle to coax Nina into following her back to me. Nina begins to follow Snowbelle as she meows but then stops and stares at other nearby critters before abruptly disappearing.
‘Wands!’ I say, opening my eyes to see my friends staring intently at me.
‘What happened?’ Valkrim asks.
‘Nina woke up. I will try again when she sleeps next. We have to hope she survives until then,’ I say to them.
We look at my glass orb to see Magnus has woken Nina up.
‘Nina, wake up! There’s a fire. We need to go!’ Magnus says to her.
They shift into their wolves, and the little orcs and sprites are placed onto their backs by the humans and vampires and race along the shoreline until they reach the docks where their ships are anchored.
‘Troika Snakes!’ Alec shouts as the three-head serpents swim out of the water and onto the shore.
They defeat the Troika snakes attacking them, and the rest flee back into the ocean as Nina summons fire. They are quick to figure out the Troika Snakes fear it.
Together they decide to go to Mystic Pride since they have no ships.
They trek through the lands until they arrive at the small mountains, exit a small forest and stand before a vast field of flowers. The witches smell the many flowers. Yiselda plucks a few and sticks them in her pocket, and Reaper flies up into the sky.
Juliet races up to us as Ogrun is about to pour me a glass of wine, frantic again. ‘Selene. There has been a sighting of Atlanta this morning. Helios confronted her about releasing Thypon. They fought, and she sealed him inside one of her black marbles and fled,’ she says.
‘Ogrun, you stay and watch over Nina, Magnus and the others through the orb. Cerridwen and Valkrim. You will come with me, and we will deal with Atlanta,’ I say to them and follow Juliet.
