"Another prophecy?" Sophie asked in disbelief, "And to think I thought elves were done with that."

"Well, according to what I've discovered, I'm not exactly an elf, so..." Tempest trailed off.

"Does anyone else know?"

"I told the demigods about it, but I'm pretty sure they think it's about Piper, not me."

"None of the elves know?"

Tempest shook her head, "Nope."

Sophie sighed in relief, "Good. I don't want to stay them into another prophecy. They probably have enough going on already."

They say there quietly for a short time, but it was long enough to give Tempest a good view of where Sophie had brought her. They sat on a beach of sand that looked almost white compared to the darkness of the cavern itself. The water was still a ways away from them, but Sophie warned her against touching it. "Unless you wanted to join us here...." She'd added.

Behind them was the cliffside. According to Sophie, not many spirits came over here because of it. It was steep and hard to navigate, and falling would result in landing in the river, which apparently treated spirits the same as the living. Sophie, however, didn't seem all that worried about falling in, and Tempest wasn't all that concerned either, so it was a safe place to talk privately.

"So..." Sophie started to fill the silence, "How is everyone? The elves, I mean."

"Well, as far as I know, Biana and Keefe have been taking it surprisingly well, while Fitz pretty much locked himself in his room and barely leaves. Tam hasn't let Linh out of his sight - which isn't very different than normal - Wylie spends most of his time comforting Linh, and I'm pretty sure you guys are the only thing Marella never talks about anymore."

Sophie nodded sadly, as if she'd known that that was what Tempest would say. "Do you know anything about Amy?"

"Besides the fact that Forkle had to tell her what happened, no."

Sophie sighed, "Well, hopefully everything gets better for them. I'm sure Dex and my deaths were hard on them."

Tempest met her gaze, "You say that like it's no big deal."

Sophie shrugged, "You walked right in here, didn't you? The way I see it, you're pretty much as dead as we are." She frowned, "Yeah, that's still feels weird to say. Anyways, I know you never actually died, but you willingly walked in here and aren't allowed to leave, just like us."

"But, as you said, I never died. It's not as surprising to hear a living person talking about people who died as it is when the dead are."

"Well, how often do you get to chat with spirits?" Sophie laughed sadly.

"Fair."

There was another pause. "So why'd you want to talk to me?" Sophie asked.

"The prophecy said I had to talk to you and Dex. Why? I don't know."

Sophie thought for a bit, "Well, what else was it about?"

Tempest shrugged, "Something about a phoenix and shadows and that the war wasn't over and me dying and-"

" Back the t-rex up. Two things. One; it literally said you were going to die?" Sophie asked .

"Well, how else would you interpret 'stealing your breath'?"

" Like, I don't know, choking you? Something that won't kill you?"

Tempest laughed darkly, "As if."

"Whatever. Second question: the fight's not done?"

"Nobody's had to fight monsters recently, so not that fight, if your wondering. I mean, besides me on my way here, but that's different."

"How so?"

Tempest sighed, "They're just...different, that's all. Don't worry about it. Besides they weren't all bad."

Sophie shrugged, "I haven't had a ton of experience with monsters, so I'll take your word for it. Did the prophecy mention anything else? Like who would kill you?"

"I don't know if you could help with that unless you knew who the Lord of the Night was. That, or someone who is love?"

"Lord of the Night..." Sophie thought for a bit before shaking her head, "I don't remember ever hearing about someone named the Lord of the Night. Love, though... you said you weren't an elf, right?"

"That, or I'm half elf. I'm still trying to figure that part out."

"Well, in Greek mythology there's the goddess Aphrodite..."

Tempest frowned, "I know. I was hoping you had a different idea."

"What's wrong with Aphrodite?"

"Nothing besides the fact that she basically screwed up my relationship with pretty much everyone. Which makes no sense to me, considering that I've been told that she only deals with love and couples and breakups and all that. You know, teen love and junk."

"How do you know it's her that did that?"

"I don't. But whoever it was told me she'd try to make all this crap up to me by letting me have a pep talk with my brother, so, yeah. I think it's her."

Sophie nodded in understanding, "Well, the only other important representative of love I can think of right now is Venus, who is literally the Roman version of Aphrodite, so I think you're out of luck with that."

Tempest sighed, "That's fine. I've probably insulted Aphrodite too much to be able to take it back at this point anyway."

Sophie didn't press, much to Tempest's relief, "Has any of the prophecy come true?"

Tempest thought for a bit, "I think so. I'm supposed to talk to you. The Lord of the Night jerk has been around a lot, unfortunately, and I've almost died at least 5 times, so I think that's about half the prophecy done."

A concerned look appeared on Sophie's face, "How dangerous are these monsters?"

Tempest shrugged, "Depends on which one you're talking about. Some of them are surprisingly friendly. Others are three headed, fire spitting hydras."

"Geez."

" Yeah. It's not gonna get much better, though. I'll be fine. "

"I don't kn-"

"Sophie!" Tempest turned as Dex called down from the top of the cliff, "Kenric wants to talk to you about something."

"Be right there, Dex!" Sophie yelled back before standing. She watched Tempest stand and brush the black sand off, " I'm sorry if I wasn't much help. "

Tempest shrugged, "It doesn't really matter. And trust me, you wouldn't be the first to tell me some things I may not actually want too hear about. It's not a bad thing."

Sophie smiled before leading the way back up the cliffside. The whole way up, Tempest couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something. I'm here. I talked with Sophie. Why hasn't anything happened? I can't leave again, and pretty much everything we talked about was useless.

By the time she reached the top, Sophie was gone, but Dex was waiting for her. "Are you ok?" He asked when she walked past him without a word.

"I would be if anyone could actually help me!" Tempest exclaimed as she walked away from him.

"With what?"

"With figuring this all out! Like, someone could tell me whoever the heck the Lord of the Night is! Or what it means by "shadows breaking a heart of stone", or who this phoenix is supposed to be!" Tempest sighed and stopped. "Can you help me or not?"

Dex took a while to say anything, "...The Lord of the Night, huh?" He laughed grimly, "I think I know a bit about him."

Tempest whirled around to face him, "How?"

Dex shrugged, "My mother. She was really into human things, and when I was little she used to tell me human stories, but sometimes she would mix some of our elven things into it. One of them was about some guy who called himself the Lord of the Night. Apparently, he was some obnoxiously powerful shade that would use his ability to get what he wanted from people. Eventually, he figured out how to make tangible shadow."

"Shadowflux."

"Not quite." Dex corrected, "I don't think I was ever told the difference between the two, even after we learned what shadowflux was, but the stories described it differently, or something. Anyways, the Council exiled him to the Forbidden Cities, and he somehow made his way into minor roles in different mythologies."

"So is he, I don't know, some distant relative of Hades or something?" Tempest asked.

"Maybe. But there's no way he's Hades himself. He hasn't become that big to humans yet."

Tempest thought about all Dex had said, "Well, Dex... I think you were a better help than Sophie. She basically just told me not to die."

Dex chuckled, "Hey, that's not bad advice either!"

Tempest rolled her eyes, "Still, I need a way out of here."

They stood there quietly for a bit. "Um... Do you think a pathfinder would do you any good?" Dex asked.

"You have one?!?"

Dex smiled sheepishly and pulled one out of a pocket -which still seemed entirely impossible. "I found out I had it not to long ago. Doesn't work with spirits, for some reason."

Tempest grabbed the pathfinder, "If you weren't a spirit, I would hug you."

Dex laughed, "Considering what I know about you, I highly doubt it."

"Great. My first impression still stands." She smiled at Dex, " You don't happen to know where the Lord of the Night is said to live, do you? "

Dex thought for a while, "I think he lives in some really big city in South Dakota."

"No wonder he's not known yet," Tempest muttered, setting the pathfinder to the right facet, "Thank you, Dex. Tell Sophie goodbye for me."

"Let me guess, you also want to say you apologize for our deaths?" He shook his head sadly when she smiled, "How long will it take for you to realize that out deaths weren't your fault?"

"As long as it takes for you guys to come back from the dead." Tempest told him as she looked around for a place with enough light to make a beam.

"So, never?" He sighed, "Just, don't let it break you."

"Don't worry about that. I'll be fine." She held the pathfinder to s semi-lit area and grinned when a beam appeared, "Let's hope this works."

"Tempest?" Dex's gaze was both serious and somewhat happy at the same time, "Don't die."

Tempest grinned, "I'll try." Still smiling, she stepped into the beam and felt herself leaving the dark cavern that was the elven underworld.

I'm finally back! Sorry, really busy weekend, but I think I'll be able to get one or two more chapters in today or tomorrow, since I have a break from school. Also, I think it's safe to say that were halfway/over halfway through this story! I wanted to make it shorter than Forgotten Power, since, well, it's 60 something chapters, but don't worry, I won't try to rush everything (emphasis on try). Hope you liked this chapter, and I'll see y'all later! Bye!