Page 47 of When Storms Awaken

“Is that…rare?” I asked.

“Rare?” He laughed. “You could say that. The last person that had that ability, that I know of, was the Dark King. He has been dead for more than a decade.”

“The Dark King?” I asked, the words sparking a memory within me from that night I encountered the grimoire for the first time. The vision I had in that dream, the vision the grimoire sent me.

A dark king sitting on his throne of shadows. A woman with pale strawberry hair fleeing a stone palace, a bundle pressed tightly to her chest. A woman with blue and white hair, raising a sword high above her head in victory. She turned, and her eyes were endless black pits. A war, witches slaughtering witches, fire burning down an empire. The blue-haired woman sitting on the throne of shadows, a pack of black wolves at her side. A city in ruin, stone buildings reduced to rubble as smoke rises from the ashes.

I had a vision. Whether it was real or not, I wasn’t sure. But I had a vision. One that involved a dark king.

“Is it possible to—to see things from the past? To have visions?” I asked, trying to pin down those memories and make sense of them. They had flashed before my eyes so quickly and were gone just as fast.

“Yes,” he replied, cocking his head to the side. “The grimoire sent you a vision, didn’t it?” he presumed. I nodded in response.

“That isn’t entirely uncommon for such a powerful magical object. What did it show you? What did you see?”

I explained that I had seen a dark king, about the woman with the blue hair, the empire burning. As I spoke the pallor of Nik’s skin turned ashy and white, from the set of his jaw I could tell he knewexactlywhat I was talking about. When I finished, he was quiet for a while. His eyes looked everywhere except to meet mine.

“I can tell that you know what I saw. Tell me,” I insisted, shoving my hands into my jean pockets.

“Are you sure you want to know, firecracker? It isn’t a fairytale.” He shook his head with a grim smile.

“I’m sure. Tell me.” Nik sighed deeply, glancing to the sky as if to find his resolve. He swept his hand, palm out, and a set of chairs appeared before us out of nowhere. I quirked a brow but said nothing. Was that something I could do, too?

“Shapeshifter, remember?” He smirked, taking a seat in the chair across from me and gesturing for me to do the same.

“You can shapeshift things other than yourself?” I asked, sitting across from him.

“Of course.” He shrugged, leaning back and crossing his legs at the ankles. So, not something I could do as well, then. I still didn’t understand how any of this magic worked, and I was anxious to learn all I could.

“What you saw, what the grimoire showed you, it must have been the War of Siraleth,” he told me.

“I want to know everything. I want to know what happened to them.”

Nik took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he began.

“A long time ago, a war started between the Nightshades and the Stormshades.” I nodded, remembering how he had told me this part the night he had snuck into my room through the window. “The Nightshades wanted to put a stop to the Stormshades, because they were more powerful than them, thus more dangerous. This war between shades has been going on for a hundred years, but it came to a boiling point at the War For All Times. The war was led by the Dark King, Osiris, who had lived for hundreds and hundreds of years.”

“That’s possible?” I asked.

“It shouldn’t be, witches are not innately immortal. Osiris used black magic to make himself eternal, or so we all thought. After the War For All Times, Nightshades made a truce with Stormshades, but they were no longer allowed in the palace or the capitol city. Many years passed and Stormshades were thought to be eradicated entirely from Akra, The Stone City. That is, until the Dark King Osiris fell in love with one.” This was starting to sound suspiciously like a fairytale, but I kept my mouth shut and waited for the other shoe to drop.

“This woman hid her true nature from him for many years, but when he found out what she truly was, he cast her out of The Stone City. Osiris was changed, he had softened and became weaker because of it. Years later, a general in his arm thirsted for his power, and plotted to overthrow him. The general formed an army for themselves and stormed the city of Siraleth, killing Osiris and taking the throne. The new ruler of Istmere made it their mission to eradicate Stormshades for good, and to take down any witch who stood in their way. That new ruler is named Donika.” A woman. It must have been the woman from my vision, the one with blue and white hair and endless black pits for eyes.

“What we didn’t know at the time, was that Donika was the daughter of the long-lost love that Osiris cast out of the palace. She was born before their love affair, to a different man that raised her in her mother’s absence. Many think she killed Osiris as revenge for her mother, few know the truth.”

“And what is the truth?” I asked, riveted.

“The truth is that Donika was born dark. She played with black magic from a young age, but she would have killed the king, regardless. Many call her the Black Heart. She’s known as the Shadow Queen. The truth is, her mother died by Donika’s own hand, simply for being a Stormshade.” Donika sounded truly awful. Who could kill their own mother? Simply because of what they were? This must be the woman I saw raise her sword in victory, having killed her motherandthe Dark King. All for power. How twisted. Now she sits on the throne, corrupt, killing all who move against her.

“What happened to the other Stormshades?” I asked. “If she vowed to have them all hunted and killed?”

“That’s the thing…” Nik started, shaking his head. “There are none. They either fled to the mortal realm where they were hunted down, or they were killed in the War at Siraleth.”

“But…I’m a Stormshade,” I whispered.

“Exactly.” Nik leaned forwards, grabbing my hands between his. “Which is why youcannottell anyone about your awakening. Not your mom, not Jake.Nobody.” I nodded in understanding. My life could be in danger simply because of what I was. Because there were no more Stormshades, or so everybody thought.

“And you need to hide that grimoire. Don’t let anybody see it. A Stormshade’s grimoire contains spells that could easily be manipulated if they were to get into the wrong hands.” I nodded again, swallowing hard.

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