• Staring at Wolfe, Silanis could not but blink, and she felt her body begin to shake. Was she angry? A tear slid out of her eye, and she shook her head. She choked on words, trying to think of exactly the right thing to say, but she couldn’t. Suddenly her vision was washed out, and she saw a dream she hadn’t seen since she was a very little girl.

    A group of Maenads dancing, a fire between them, and a feast laid out under starlight in a large and lustrous emerald green clearing. Tree’s lined the perimeter, going nearly out of sight, and a group of people sat laughing on the grass, plates of food around them. One looked up, a beautiful man in sandals and pair of pants with embroidered grapevines all up the left leg. He smiled, and waved for her to come join them.

    “Silanis, my dear! Come, sit! Grab some food!” He said, his lovely face lit up in the firelight.
    Silanis saw herself move towards the group, and call the name Dionysus as she did. She looked as though she were her current age, not as she had once remembered the dream. Watching herself grab some of the amazing food laid out for them, Silanis heard the conversations of the people about her. She heard the names; Hera, Ares, Aphrodite, Amphitrite, Diana, Apollo, Zeus, Eros. Each one of them a God in the fairy tales she heard as a little girl. Dionysus took her hand and kissed it, his own violet eyes glinting in the gaze of her gray ones.

    “So, tell me, Sila darling.” He said to her, his voice raised only slightly. “What do you desire more than anything?”

    She did not answer, only looking back into the eyes of the God before her, and smiling. Then, finally; “To bring peace and order to a world gone bad.”

    There were murmurs of approval among the other Gods, and Dionysus nodded his own approval. Zeus was tall, muscle-bound and very white in both the color of his hair and his attire. His hair was cropped short, and a long jagged scar ran across his right shoulder, visible because he wore no shirt.

    “You are worthy, then.” He said, and handed her a plate with something jiggly on it. Then, the vision swam away, and her room came back into focus. For a split second everything was clear, and then she whispered Wolfe’s name and fell off the bed.

    ----------------

    Wolfe jumped when Silanis hit the floor. She got down on her knees and pushed Silanis onto her back. When her eyes had gone blank and she had fallen to the ground, Wolfe had felt the presence of a God or Demon, and she stood protectively over Silanis, alert to any and all sounds. After a while, nothing happened, and the feeling had dissipated, Wolfe bent over Silanis on the ground. She shook her shoulder, looking at her face.

    “So what, you died of information overload?” She asked, trying to hide tears with laughter. “Wake up already, it wasn’t that shocking… We finally find someone who could possibly be the one, and you faint? No, I don’t think so. Wake back up, Silanis.”

    She groaned, and her eyes fluttered open. The gray orbs searched around the room frantically, and then closed again. Taking three deliberate, slow breaths Silanis sat up and brushed herself off. She stood up as if nothing had happened.

    “Are you okay, Silanis?” Wolfe asked, fluttering up into view, looking like a child with wings. “Did you hurt your head when you fell on the floor?”

    Shaking her head, Silanis climbed back onto her bed, sitting back against the wall on the other side. “I’m fine.” The words came out naturally, and she shook her head again. “It was just a little bit much, and then that vision happened, and I just went into shock or something.”

    “Wait, wait.” The faerie landed on the bed and looked at her. “What vision?”

    Silanis explained what she had seen, the Gods and how they’d welcomed her, and how abruptly it ended. It was Wolfe’s turn to stare at Silanis, unsure of what to say.

    “I used to have that dream when I was a kid, but never like that.” She said. “He was never…” The word choked her, and she hesitated a moment before trying to say it again. “I-In love with me.” She looked embarrassed.

    Wolfe’s wings fluttered a little, absent from her control. She then took off from the bed and began to trace a fluttering pace around the room. Silanis had no idea what she was thinking about, but waited patiently for her to say something. For a moment her gray eyes followed the very purple girl in the air, and then she remembered the box, and picked it up from her nightstand.

    Vampire, Bat, Rat, Vermin, the riddle still taunted her. She turned the box around absently, contemplating the inscription on the back. What did those things have in common that related to a color? Bats and rats were technically vermin, and Vampires were said to be able to turn to bats… Vampires were generally drawn in dark places, and that was where vermin like bats and rats could also be found, a good part of the time. Darkness was also known as blackness, but could she chance being wrong? Her mind was telling her no, but then a part of her that never spoke up told her to try it anyways. She was tired of second guessing herself all the time, never being sure.

    She pushed all three buttons on the box, and placed it on the bed next to her, watching. Wolfe saw what was going on and gasped, hovering in place while the box let out a small mist, and the lid popped open. No one had seen the box open even once since it was sealed over five hundred years ago. They cast no-sees on it, and kept it hidden from Zaçic from the moment they knew he sought it. If a wizard like him ever got hold of it, who knew what could happen?

    Silanis picked the box back up, and gently opened the lid. What started back at her, Wolfe would later explain, sharp and shinning, was a diamond-like jewel set in a rounded, woven-gold circle that had a spike of dwarf-woven gold going up to a point in the center, perfectly placed, to hold it in. It was the simplest, and yet most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever had the luck to gaze upon. All the questions, all the colors, to protect this one single sparkling, gorgeous piece of work made into a tangible ring.

    “Its beautiful, Wolfe…” Silanis whispered, staring down at it.

    “Its yours,” Wolfe replied, “put it on.”

    “What, me wear that?” She asked, looking at the faerie sidelong. “First of all, my mum would be all over me as to where it came from, “Oh, Sil, are you getting married? Who is he?” Every time I get a piece of jewelry, she asks the same questions…” She stopped mid-sentence when Wolfe took the ring from the box and placed it on her right index finger. “What..?”

    “Not since the box was sealed has it been found and opened.” The faerie said, somberly. “By rights, the ring is yours, Silanis. Its your fate.”

    “You can’t be serious…” Silanis looked close to laughing. “My fate? I’m a merchant’s daughter; I don’t have a fancy fate. I’m far too young, and far too plain to have a fate! And I don’t wear jewelry like this, either.” She held up her finger and pointed to the finely wrought gold. “My father sells stuff like this when the lordlings are in debt and need to pawn off trinkets. You’ve got the wrong person, Wolfe. I’m sorry.”

    “You’re wrong, Silanis. Your dreams? Those weren’t just dreams. And that box? How is it that you’re the only person who noticed it all day?” Wolfe got up close and grabbed her shirt. “Why is it that no one before you has been able to open it? Those questions weren’t impossible. They required a little thinking, yeah, but they weren’t unsolvable. It gave different people different inscriptions; it had the ability to choose who would solve it. And the magic in the box chose you. So before you decide its all a mistake, think about that, and think about what you could do with the ring, because its something special.”

    Silanis looked from Wolfe to the ring and back, her expression that of someone who’s just been told to choose between a puppy and a kitty, and the one they don’t choose would die. Wolfe had just sprung this on her from left field, and to be fair, Silanis was taking it all quite well.

    “At any rate, the longer you take, the less time we have to prepare for the journey.” Wolfe said, breaking the silence.

    “Journey?” She asked. “What journey?”

    ”I’ve got to take you to the elders, of course.” Wolfe said. “They sealed the ring, they hold the real answers to this fate of yours.”

    “Oh, but I can’t leave. What will I tell my parents?” Silanis had always thought her parents would be sad if she left; she did not want to make anyone sad to go off on a journey that made no sense. “This is insane!”

    “Silanis, do you want to know your fate?” Wolfe asked. “Sometimes, when you realize there’s something bigger planned for you, you have to go for it. The people who love you will understand, and eventually forgive you for leaving them. Sometimes you have to hurt the people you love to save them in the end.”

    “Who am I saving?” This was huge, how could she be expected to just go and not spend any time considering the consequences of the action? Her, save the world? What would her parents think about that? “Wolfe, you have to give me a couple days to consider this… I don’t know if I can leave my home! Let me think about it – don’t force me to make a decision I may end up regretting, just let me decide for myself.”

    “Alright, then. You’ll let me know your decision once you’ve made it?”

    “Yes.” Silanis promised. “As soon as I come to it.”

    “Good.” She rubbed the left side of her face, and let herself relax on the end of the bed. “I’m staying in here, then. And when you reach your decision, if its no, I will leave. And if its yes, then, I will help you get ready and stay safe along the way.”

    Silanis nodded, and went to make herself some breakfast. This was a strange, strange morning… What on earth was she going to do?