It was eerie dark in the night, when a shadow stepped out the back door. Moving towards the main gate, the shadow, which now appeared to be that of a woman swiftly got out. She stopped merely for a second, to glance back at the structure which had been her home since birth. Longing and sadness filled her as she thought about all the good memories that connected her with the place, unshed tears swam in her eyes. She put one hand on her protruding stomach and her eyes filled with determination. She turned around and got lost in the dark forest ahead without another glance.

Soon she reached her destination, it was an abandoned old building that she had been called at. The building looked as if it was not inhabited for decades, but she knew better. She entered through the main gate and walked towards the big hall in the centre. Someone was already waiting for her there.

"Are you alone?", asked the stranger, she could not see him as he was hidden in the dark corners.

"Yes. Nobody knows I am here", the woman replied.

"Before I take you to my lady, she has requested that you make a blood promise to keep your word. You know the consequences of breaking one." the stranger said as he stepped towards her.

He was wearing a dark black cloak with his hood pulled down , so she could not see his face. His wrists had two identical golden bands which twisted at the end into the mouth of the dragon which was tattooed on both his hands. It was a very weird tattoo, she thought.

Nonetheless, she said, "I already gave her my word. What is the need of a blood promise. I don't go back on my word."

"If you are to keep your word then a blood promise shouldn't be a problem. I am afraid if you refuse to do so then we can't help you." the man said to her.

She reluctantly agreed and moved towards the stranger, he pulled out a dagger and sliced his hand above the goblet that was placed in the centre, the woman took the dagger from him and did the same. She heard him muttering some incantations and felt the air shift around her. As they joined hands a different feeling ran down her body, she felt the promise being made.

She heard the iron gates moving in front of her and they opened wide enough to let them through. The man motioned for her to follow him.

Miles away, in the house that the woman had just left, someone was awake. An old lady got up from her bed as she felt an enormous shift in power, which broke her deep slumber. She walked over to the open window in her room, her eyes starring far of in the distance as she felt a wave of despair hit her.

"Don't do it Inaria, this one selfish action of yours will wreck havoc to our world and the worlds of other. Power that big cannot be accessed without certain consequences and those consequences are always very big.", her voice trembled as she uttered these words.

Inaria stopped just before she could step through those iron gates, she felt as if someone was calling out to her, telling her not to enter those gates. She turned around looking for the voice in her head. The stranger had already stepped through and called out to her. She turned back and tried to shake off the uneasy feeling. She was determined this time and nothing would stand in her way, "I will do it, no matter what the consequence.", she said as she stepped through. The iron gates moved and closed back as if they were never really opened.

                             ***

"What do you mean by I have been moved out of this school?" I looked back at our headmaster who handed me my transfer certificate.

"Athena, I don't know much, but your grandmother called last night and she wanted me arrange this all on an urgent notice. She has sent someone to get you and they are already in the waiting room, if you have any queries i am sure your grandmother would answer to those."

he replied calmly, despite my outburst earlier. I was really confused, grandma had mentioned nothing about this earlier today morning. Why a sudden transfer and why did she not discuss this with me. However the headmaster was right, I have to ask her about this cause she would never do something like this without a valid reason. I walked back to my locker to collect my things and saw two people waiting for me.

"What happened Athena, why were you called to the office? Is everything alright?" Jessie Mae, my best friend asked, as she pushed her glasses on the brink of her nose and stared up at me. She was shorter than most of the people I have ever met. But with her bronze hair and grey eyes, she was also one of the prettiest people in our school. I was proud to even know her. The person standing next to her was her boyfriend and my other best friend, Shane Dawson. With his dark hair, hazel eyes and killer looks he was the bad boy of our school. The story of these two getting together is very cliché, straight out of a book you could say. Jessie moved to our school recently and she straight away became my best friend. Shane became smitten with her the minute he saw her and despite his player attitude he was able to win her heart. So you could say the good girl finally changed the bad boy. Looking at the both of them my eyes welled up with tears, we would no longer be going to the same school.

"Hey Athens, what's wrong. You finally got kicked out of the school ?", Shane said jokingly.

"Unfortunately yes" I replied.

"What do you mean Athena? What happened?" Jessie asked me worryingly.

I gave them a brief description of what went down in the headmaster's office.

"So are you really going to go?" Shane asked me sadly.

"Hey you know me, I am not going down without a fight, I just have to discuss things with grandma and probably everything would be fine" as I said that I felt fear rise in me, what if it wouldn't be fine. I was just as worried as them but I couldn't show it otherwise they'll be sad. I quickly hugged them and gathered my things from the locker and went to the waiting room.

A guy my age was sat there reading our school magazine. He looked up when I entered and got up from his seat. He was roughly 6 feet, i guess and with a built that made even Shane look like nothing in front of him. He was wearing a white t-shirt and black ripped jeans with a jacket over his t-shirt. He ran his hands through his dark black hair and gave me a complete glance. I suddenly felt conscious under his stare, and pulled at my t-shirt. I was wearing a simple blue t-shirt which matched the light blue color of my eyes and rugged skinny jeans, with my dirty blonde hair tied in a braid that ended at my waist. I was taller than most of the girls and even some guys at my school but under his scrutinizing gaze I suddenly felt small. He muttered something over his shoulder and walked over to me.

"Your grandmother has sent me to get you since she was a little preoccupied. Let's go" he said.

"Who are you and how do you know my grandmother, I have never seen you around." I asked him.

"My name is Damien and you have never seen me because I never came around your house", with that he turned around and started walking out of the place. I followed him quickly, not really understanding what was happening.

He moved towards a sleek black Mercedes-Benz, and was about to get in when I stopped him.

"Wait, how am I supposed to trust you? I don't even know if my grandmother is the one who sent you."

"Looks like you do have common sense to not just follow anybody. And here, this is what your grandmother gave me to hand over to you, if you questioned my intentions", he moved over to me and handed me a pendant. It was my grandmother's favorite pendant which she never took off. How come she gave it to him, but nonetheless I got in the car, reassured that it was my grandmother who indeed had sent him.

He attempted no small talk in the car, and I was busy thinking about what could possibly have happened for my grandmother to do such a thing. I realized he turned the opposite way to my house,
"Where are you going, my house is the other way!!"

"I was told not to take you to your house", Damien said calmly

"What do you mean? Aren't we going to see my grandmother?"

Damien looked over to me and for the first time I noticed the color of his eyes, they were like golden hues in the sun.
"We are not going to see your grandmother because we can't"he said looking straight at me.

I felt dread wash over me as I looked at him dumbfoundedly.

"She is missing Athena."