THE VISION
CHAPTER SIX

The thin pages of a book flickered past Dahlia's thumb, searching for a point to stop at. She was buried under the comforter of her bed, the skin on her body freezing from the coldness of the chamber and the icy loneliness she felt in her heart. Books were the only thing that kept her warmer than the thin blanket of her bed did. They were a place she could bury her nose in, a place where she could choose any world she desired and become a part of. She was grateful for the library in Hell that provided her with her newly found form of warmth.

She struggled to tear her eyes away from the book, both out of tiredness and disinterest when there was a knock on her door and Caliban slowly stepped in. Her eyes slowly shifted to the tall man that stood expectantly by the doorframe and gave a cocky smile when he noticed Dahlia finally look at him.

"What do you want, Caliban? I thought the next quest of the Unholy Regalia wasn't announced yet." Dahlia's voice was colder than it had ever been, her tone dripping with a distaste for the man standing before her.

"Exactly," Caliban trailed, "so I need you to help me figure out what the next quest is."

Upon hearing his request, Dahlia sat upright and forced a laugh. She was in disbelief that Caliban still somehow found the audacity to ask her to help him cheat after seeing her reaction to the last time he cheated. Were her glares that were like daggers, her shouts of frustration and insults to him not telltale enough that cheating was far beyond her boundaries? She couldn't even find it in her to be angry at him now; her blood didn't boil, her chest didn't heave, she didn't grit or grind her teeth. She merely let out a cold laugh. "I can't believe you're asking me to cheat again. Why don't you just get one of your goons to tell you what the next quest is?"

"Goons?" He raised an eyebrow, amused by her shameless choice of description.

"The Infernal Court," Dahlia clarified as though it was obvious. "The demons that are constantly kissing your butt?"

Caliban couldn't resist the laugh that bubbled his throat. "I couldn't ask them; that would be unprofessional."

"But asking me to cheat isn't unprofessional?"

"It's not technically cheating..." He squinted his eyes as he tried to think of a better way to appeal to Dahlia, but sighed when he failed. Surprisingly to Dahlia, he didn't continue to pressure or nag her to help him like she expected him to; instead, with slumped shoulders, he silently approached the door to leave the room and figure it out himself.

"Wait," Dahlia called, entertained by his slight change in behavior. "I'll help you." She almost regretted the words as they left her mouth, but she sat firmly, pretending to be indifferent to her choice. What could go wrong? She would help Caliban figure out what the item might be, and with the fact that they both hadn't seen it before, there was barely a chance they would even obtain an answer.

Caliban walked toward her slowly and sat at the edge of her bed, his hands placed lightly on his jean-clad legs as he looked to Dahlia. "What made you change your mind?"

Dahlia herself even wondered why she had agreed to help him. Part of her couldn't help but feel that he seemed to be trying to behave better after Dahlia had gone off on him and threatened to quit. Even deeper than that though, although she didn't want to admit it, she liked hearing another person's voice, even if it was Caliban's. It made her feel less alone and more human... like she had someone to talk to and wasn't still a helpless djinn trapped in a bottle, having no one but her golden walls to speak to. Instead of telling Caliban what she was thinking, though, Dahlia merely shrugged and pulled the blanket higher up her body.

Watching the girl, Caliban laughed lightly and lifted himself off the bed momentarily to allow her to pull the blanket further up her body without his heavy weight on it. "Ready?"

Dahlia held her hand out, palm up, and waited for Caliban to place his hand on it before closing her eyes. Inhaling deeply, she searched within his mind for his darkest desire: to know what the next Unholy Regalia artifact was. She squeezed her eyes tightly, and right as the smoke of purple glitter and dust coiled into a ball of magic in her mind and core, her eyes shot open and the smokey orb of magic in her head detonated, the bright lilac color reflecting in her eyes. Her vision filled with sand and dust, the heat of the sun radiating on her, reminding her of the desert at which Caliban had found her bottle. Within the vision, Dahlia turned her head around, searching the scene for any more telling signs that would help her identify what the next artifact could be, but Dahlia gasped when her vision altered from the sunny blue sky to a black one. The sun was replaced by dozens of stars in the night sky, and as Dahlia looked around, her eyes landed on the familiar ferris wheel and cotton candy cart– much like those at the carnival. Before she could look around to try and figure out why her vision had suddenly been taken over and altered, her shoulder was met with searing pain and she screamed in a combination of shock and agony, her back arching as her scar burned. The purple in her eyes began to fade as Dahlia fell back into reality, hissing and clutching her shoulder in discomfort.

"What happened?" Caliban stood up from the bed and kneeled in front of Dahlia, eyes wide with concern and confusion. Dahlia didn't reply, and instead squeezed her eyes shut and bit her tongue in an attempt to hold back the tears of pain that threatened to spill from her watery eyes. Her brain could think of nothing to explain why her scar constantly burned at the sight of the carnival, and why her visions kept being interrupted.

"Nothing, I'm fine," Dahlia said shakily, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"You don't seem fine. Tell me what happened," he demanded. "What did you see?

"There was sand... and it was really hot. It was a desert, I think," Dahlia spoke through quick and weak breaths.

"That doesn't explain why you freaked out." Dahlia was beginning to grow frustrated by his continuous questions and persistence in interrogating her.

"I just- my vision got cut off and I... I just panicked. I thought I was trapped, I guess," Dahlia lied, gripping her hands so tightly onto the blanket she thought the material would tear. As much as she wanted to scream, let out all the confusion and pain she was feeling, she tried her best to remain poised. She needed Caliban to leave, she needed everything around her to stop making her feel so overwhelmed like she was drowning in a sea of questions and expectations. She needed space. "I think my powers are just worn out. I'm sorry."

Caliban frowned, the words "I'm sorry" coming from Dahlia's mouth not sitting right with him. Tempted to call her out for lying, he suspiciously looked at Dahlia up and down. But as he took in her distraught appearance, her hands tightly folded around the blanket, her forehead glimmering with sweat and the pool of tears in her eyes, he thought it better to leave her alone. "Okay," he surrendered with a sigh and stood up, taking Dahlia's face in one more time. "Get some rest. I'll come to check on you in a bit." Dahlia forced a smile and clenched her teeth, waiting impatiently for him to leave.

Once the door slammed shut behind Caliban, Dahlia sank back against the headboard of the bed and allowed her tired tears to stream down her flushed cheeks. The liquid that left her eyes was a river of sadness and pain, just like sadness and pain that washed over her heart and memories every minute of her life. Her heart ached as though a million strings were wrapped around it like a cage, squeezing it tightly. She wondered if her life of servitude, loneliness and sorrow would ever improve, but she was taught every day more and more to expect for the worst because for Dahlia, life seemed to have a pattern of suffering in store.

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→ note

a bit of a short chapter but we're finally getting into dahlia's plot!!

what do you think that weird vision was about?

leave a vote and comment letting me know what you think!

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