The morning sun cracked over the sky as I sat slumped at the regal dining hall between Cybele and Secta. My eyes fluttered, trying to close as a sense of grogginess hung over me. I yawned softly, staring at my plate. I'd never seen so much food in my life.

Steaming eggs and what they called bacon along with fluffy disks laid on the plate before me, a sweet smell of syrup filling my nose. I rubbed my eyes, wondering if this place I'd been taken to was real or if I might be dreaming, maybe even dead. I could wake up in the slums of my city or the Benton house in any moment.

"Kate, try the pancakes! They are delicious!" Cybele chirped with her ever infectious smile as she leaned in closer to me.

"I've never had pancakes before." I replied, my voice soft as I yawned again. "Why are we up before the sun?"

"We rise early to eat and train, except you won't be doing the same kind of training obviously. Finn said he was going to pick your brain today, experiment a little with you in this environment." She said with a mischievous smile.

I frowned, watching as she took a bite of the cake made from a pan. Did she know he was actually introducing me to new Guardians? That he wanted to have fun with me today?

Maybe he'd lied and this was going to become some psychologic evaluation.

I groaned, shaking my head as I struggled to cut the pancake with my utensils. These things were horrific! Our family had never had enough money to buy forks or knifes, teaching us to eat as decently as we could with our hands.

My eyes flickered to Cybele's plate, watching her pin her cake down with her fork as she moved her knife back and forth to cut off a smaller piece. I swallowed, looking down to my plate as I tried to copy her movements.

What if they thought I was barbaric because I was just learning now how to use a knife? What else would they think of me?

Unease settled into my stomach as fatigue plagued my body, causing me to yawn into my elbow again. Secta stood from his seat as he turned sharply to me. "Come with me." His deep voice graveled as he extended a tan hand to me. I stared at it blankly before looking back up to me. His lips twitched.

Oh, I was supposed to take it!

My cheeks burned in embarrassment as I finally set my hand in his. He pulled me up onto my feet before his fingers slipped around mine as he descended down the stairs from where our table sat on the platform.

The table we ate at was risen above the rest, a vantage point for his chilling eyes to scan the room of his warriors like a mighty king on a hill. He opened up one of the doors to our side, all eyes from the bustling room of winged Guardians jostling at tables now settled on me as I stepped through. The silence hummed in the air as they watched in interest. All they ever did was watch me like a zoo animal.

I shot a gaze backwards to Cybele, who had looked up from her plate to stare at me as she offered a reassuring smile.

Secta paraded around the grounds like a war hero, and all the Guardians appeared to kiss the dirt he walked on as they fought for his attention. From all I could see, he only appeared to be an agitated man with too large an ego.

As I followed in his long, strong strides, discomfort settled deeper into me. Was he trustworthy? Were any of these people who'd locked me up in their giant bubble trustworthy? Something about hiding a small army from the world seemed odd to me. Who would hide a supposed Fate-sent angel army from the universe, the people they claimed to protect?

We walked across the lawn of short grass into the building that joined with the open Guardian library. Secta's own personal library in his mansion on the hill was much larger than this one I noted as he sat me down at one of the empty tables, placing himself directly opposite me. His jaw clenched as he took a seat, watching me with his knowledgeable eyes.

His eyes were what intrigued me most: bright, crystallized, and travelled. Just a single glance into their abyss seemed to tell their own story as though he had been around all the worlds at once. Secta knew plenty, and his eyes seemed scarred by the worlds and realities he had witnessed.

Where was Cybele's mother? It was a thought I hadn't pieced together until now. I recognized one emotion in his deep eyes: pain. She was probably dead, just like my brother. Grief bonded unlikely people together it seemed.

"Why are we here?" I asked, the sleep that had once hung on me vanquished. I felt wide awake as Secta watched me, taking me in fully as though he walked inside my head himself.

"There is something I wish to try if you will allow it. I can send for Cybele if you prefer her presence instead, but I will be of greater help in guiding you through the journey." He leaned back in his seat, brushing his copper hair from his eyes. He had once been rather handsome, youthful and beautiful. His appearance had aged, now taking on an older, wiser charm.

"What is this journey?"

"We will take a walk in your mind."

What the fuck? My eyes must have bulged out of my head as I gripped the table in front of me in shock. Secta's stone-like face hardly wavered as he continued to stare at me as though my reaction was uncalled for.

Walk in my mind? What the hell did that mean? He could read my mind, and see all my thoughts? Shit! He knows I don't like him. He's probably sitting there judging me because he's reading my mind and realizing how idiotic I actually am.

Hold on, he is being extremely rude if he thinks he can just prance around inside my head and dig up whatever crap from my life wants!

My cheeks started to burn.

What specific memories is he looking at? Leighton...

"I'm not a mind reader, if that's what you believe." He said dryly. "Though, you appear to have something to hide from how flushed your face has become."

"I still don't understand then if you're not a mind reader. Don't you have a Meraki like Cybele?" I asked, my cheeks still without a doubt on fire.

"Irrelevant." He said, an irritated edge in his voice before grinding his teeth in acceptance. "My Meraki is Light and that is all you will need to know about it. No matter the Meraki, those gifted with these abilities are able to communicate with one another in a special way similar to telepathy."

Telepathy? Where the hell am I?

"Meraki come from a single source of energy but is specific to the people it inhabits, creating a grand link between all Meraki users in its undertow that allows each of us to communicate with another when extending out our spark of power. Think of it as spirits connecting in another dimension. Through direct contact, we can share with one another our memories. When you take my hands and focus your energy outward to me, we will be able to connect and walk together in our minds joined together by our Meraki."

"How would that help?" I asked, confused beyond belief. I didn't want to have this man roaming inside my head.

"I would be able to experience the situations when you used your Meraki and therefore be able to evaulate potential triggers that released it involuntarily. Beginning users tend to let their powers loose in the height of a certain situation particulary driven by primitive emotion. The most common is love," Secta's eyes bore into mine, and I wondered if he could see my thoughts already. "and others are driven by hate or fear. Your emotional trigger would give me a sense of the foundation to the type of Prodigy you would become."

I stared at him wide eyed. "If I were driven by hate..."

"Those who are driven by hate in their first experience with Meraki are redeemable if they are reminded of the good morals of Fate. If the user continues to use hate as the trigger to unleash their power and they prosper in it," He sighed deeply, "then you make creatures like Tron and Noxia." He seemed to growl now, a burning rage in his voice.

"If I were to use hate as my trigger, I'd still be redeemable?" I asked, fidgeting with my fingers. Why was the trigger important if it could be fixed? Was I already too far into this darkness to be brought back out? That is, if I used my power in hate at all?

"You would be unredeemable." Secta responded, his voice lighter now as though he had a little pity for me. "If you've used hate as to ignite your meraki this many times already to such a powerful extent, I don't believe there is much I can do to help you. There is always possibility for your salvation, but those chances are slimmer in the darkness."

"What happens if I'm unredeemable?"

He was silent, watching me with his wise eyes. Oh, he knew what would happen to me.

I could barely move now as I felt my fingers begin to shake, a pure terror shaking my core. "I'd become evil, wouldn't I?"

"Yes. Even some who use their powers in the name of love can become corrupted into darkness as their beliefs of love are shattered and morphed into their own twisted obsession. It has happened before as many of the world's most vicious attrocities have been done in the name of peace and love. It would only make the circumstance far worse if a meraki user like yourself joined the dark as you would be an extremely powerful night child."

"If I'm the Prodigy," I said, glancing at him. I felt dangerous walking on this fine edge. "and I become dark, the world will end?"

Secta took a pained breath, cracking his knuckles with discomfort. "Light will end as we know it, and I will be honest with you: if you become the dark champion and prove yourself as the Prodigy, you will ultimately obliterate me." He said, appearing unafraid. "That is how the tides will turn, and you will destroy my guardians. You will be the queen of demons and let them loose on the worlds to feed. With prodigal power, no one would be able to stop you besides Fate incarnate herself."

I shook my head in disbelief, raw horror crawling through my spine as a chilling cold wrapped around my body. I'd kill everyone? I'd slaughter the guardians, Cybele, Raphael, Finn? I'd be able to kill Secta, a god? I'd become the anti-Christ and destroy the universe? I'd kill Matilda and everyone I loved? Impossible... right?

"There is still a chance that you may not be the Prodigy." Secta's voice brought me back into the light. "We have been fooled once before, and you may only be a powerful Meraki user like many I have met in my lifetime. You may be able to avoid this fate entirely. That is why I need to get inside your head to see if I can find a prodigal root, and if I find none along with no trace of darkness, you won't be the Savior or the Anti-Christ. You'll simply be like any other spirit with meraki."

"What if I am the Prodigy, and I become evil?" I licked my lips, the possibilities still not yet weighing in my favor. I could possibly not be the Prodigy or be evil, but there was still a chance. What would happen after they discovered who I was?

He frowned, lacing his fingers on the table. From the heavy weight of the air, I knew it wasn't going to be good. "Then we will be unable to save you, and you and I will meet on the battlefield. If I am able, then I will kill you before you progress into the monster you would become. Your end would be for the good of the world, and it would give us more time to prepare for the Prodigy's reincarnation in another body because the Prodigy will complete its prophecy. There is no other choice if you are evil, Kate, but death."