Nocturna's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The crow led Nocturna down a hall she had once known. Ivy split the walls of the old castle, and dust lay thick on every step. Her ghostly dog padded ahead, his pale form glowing in the dark. He stopped at a door she remembered. It was her mother's room. Nocturna pushed it open. The hinges screamed after five hundred years. Inside, a tall mirror leaned against the far wall. Its glass was cracked but clear. A wooden box sat on the floor in front of it. A folded note rested on the lid. Nocturna knelt and read it. "Use your power, summon my spirit daughter." Her hands began to shake. Her mother had left this for her. A way to speak to her again. Nocturna set her palm on the box. The runes along her arms glowed brighter. She reached for the magic inside her, the magic her mother had poured into her. She did not know the words. She only knew the ache of waking alone. "Mother," she whispered. "Come back. Please." Nothing happened. The mirror stayed dark. Nocturna pressed harder, but the runes only flickered. She thought of the empty gates, the vines, the guards turned to dust. She thought of five hundred years lost while she slept. Her chest tightened. She had followed a bird and a ghost through a dead kingdom for this, and the glass gave her nothing. A tear slid down her face. Then another. She let them fall. Her dog pressed his cold head against her arm. She wept for the mother who saved her and vanished, for the kingdom she could not rule. The mirror flared white. Nocturna gasped and pulled back. The runes on her skin burned hot, answering something on the other side of the glass. A shape rose in the mirror. It stepped out, thin and glowing, into the ruined room. An older woman, her silver-streaked hair tied high, her royal gown shimmering like frost. Queen Nerissa. Her mother. "Nocturna," the spirit said. Her voice was soft, but her eyes held sorrow. "You woke. I feared you never would." Nocturna reached out. Her hand passed through cold air. "Where are you? I searched. There was nothing." "I could not stay," Nerissa said. "I gave you all I had. My body is long gone. Only this remains." She lifted a glowing hand toward her daughter. "Listen to me. There is little time. The spell I cast did more than sleep you. It bound something. A debt I owed. Now it wakes with you." "What debt?" Nocturna asked. The spirit's form flickered. "The witch who gave me the magic will come for it. She let me borrow her power to save you. The price was never paid." Nerissa's light dimmed. "Find her before she finds you, daughter. But know you are more powerful than you think." The mirror cracked wider. Nerissa faded. Nocturna stood alone with a ghost, a crow, and a debt she never chose.