Three months ago, Tori Blackweather's life had been chaotic since she recently lost her job, her foster parents, and her childhood best friend. With all the pain and loss around her, she decided to move to New Orleans to have a fresh start in life. It's been two weeks in New Orleans and Tori seems to be doing well. She has found good friends that have made her feel at home. There is no doubt that she is happy here.
Tori was on her way home from work on a fateful night when she saw the sign on the gate of a house five blocks away from her apartment that said 'Yard sale tomorrow. Come buy vintage items and antiques that may interest you'. Tori had never really paid much attention to yard sales before, but something about the advertisement seemed enticing to her. She thought it was perfect for her new home as she needed more things in her life. After debating for about three minutes with herself, she decided to go.
The Next Day
Tori goes for the yard sale, the first thing she notices upon entering the yard sale house is that the air smells amazing, like freshly baked cookies and brewed coffee. Walking around, eager to see what she could get for her tiny place, an old woman with a baby in her arms walks up to her and asks if she sees what interests her.
"I could assist to find what you need" the old woman said.
Tori smiles slightly at the woman, "I am looking for something vintage that would sit right in my home, anything."
"Anything!" The woman exclaims. "What kind do you like?"
"Something classic would be nice, I guess." Tori answers, not quite sure what kind of vintage she is looking for.
"Well let me show you around. You may call me Adeline and I find your birthmark fascinating". She said as Tori was unconsciously touching her birthmark around the collarbone. She stops immediately, conscious of her act.
Adeline chuckles and turns around, leading Tori past several displays of different household items before they come to a painting of a beautiful woman drinking coffee. Too stunned to speak, Tori moves closer to look at the portrait. Intrigued by it, she uses her hand to touch the painting following some rough edges with her fingers.
"My family has been keeping this painting for centuries for its rightful owner to come for it someday and today I am honored to give it to the owner." Adeline said
Confused, Tori steps back abruptly, jerking her hand from the portrait, and said, "I can't take this. It is too sentimental to your family"
"Please take it, it is meant for you" she insists. After so much deliberation and persuasion, Tori finally pays for the portrait and takes it home.
Immediately she gets home, she tears off the paper that was used to cover the portrait and prepares to hang it on the wall in her sitting room. Taking a moment to adore the portrait with her eyes and hands, she notices there is a little bump at the back of the portrait. Quickly, she places the portrait down, she tears out the back and discovers it was an old piece of paper. Out of confusion, she tosses the paper front and back, but it is blank. Shrugging, she tries to cover the hole she made when a mysterious nail pierces her thumb.
"Ouch!" she yells.
Her blood drips on the paper and words written in red ink begin to appear on the paper alphabet by alphabet to unveil a letter. Ignoring her cut, she folds her legs underneath herself as she sits on the floor, and she begins to read the letter aloud.
Dear Blackweather,
"If you are reading this, it means you are the pure breed descendant of the Blackweather's bloodline. Since the massacre of the Blackweather's Bloodline in the 16th century, the magical world has been put out of balance where one out of three regions of the earth rules over the magical world. The Blackweather's bloodline belonged to the West, the fourth region of the earth. Each four regions possess the magical power of nature's elements. Air belongs to the North, Earth belongs to the East, Fire to the South and Water to the West. For you to possess the water magic, you must bear a birthmark of our bloodline's sigil and these words below will lead you to our magic."
Water of time, hear my voice.
The memories you keep, let it flow through me.
Oh Poseidon, god of the sea, oldest of gods,
I call upon thy ancient power.
Let me ride on the wings of the sea
Give me the strength to tame the sea
Let the sea be my blood
Give me passage to thy power
Let the magic of the sea be free in me
Let the West rise in thy power.
Grunting in pain, Tori drops the letter as her birthmark sigil begins to glow and burn as the glow spreads all around her body through her veins in bioluminescence glitter. The glow begins to get brighter and brighter until Tori closes her eyes. Screaming in pain, the glow engulfed her as a massive expedition of power happened. This uttered the imbalance of rule and power in the magical world. It was a shift of power in the magical world that caused a great ripple alerting the other regions of the magical world, that ' The West Is Awake!'.
This is my entry to Spill The Beans Contest, Prompt 21.
All images were created by Starryai
Thank you for visiting and supporting my blog 馃