Pearl dropped to the floor of the portal hall and pinched the bridge of her nose. She had the arduous task of uncovering the schemes of the rebellion. When she discovered that Harold was Benjamin's brother, she had the idea to go over the lives of Benjamin, Harold, and his father. In the midst of all this, Pearl thought she was sure to find a clue as to the plan to conquer this portal lord's dimension, but she had been going over their lives meticulously for hours with no headway. Block was really good, he was sure to erase anything that might be of help to her, she sighed, exasperated. Pearl couldn't even believe what was happening. Benjamin, who she had practically grown up with and his father, her beloved professor, were pivotal members of an evil scheme to take over this dimension. They were part of the rebellion! It was too much for her.
Pearl had done enough research to know that Benjamin wasn't born here. He and his father crossed over the portal when Mrs. Harry went to help the blue portal master, her father. Everything she heard about that event was correct. Mrs. Harry had acted selfishly and endangered the lives of the indigenous people of this town as a result. She broke a rule.
Pearl decided to use her ability on someone else, to check the life of Suzanne. Her rationale was, Suzanne was the one farthest from the ability block. She sat and focused, her eyes glowed golden as she activated her ability, the oracle. Suzanne's present was also impregnable to her, from the moment they made contact, block had been used over her. Pearl decided it was useless to check the present or recent past, so she went back to before Suzanne became a part of the duo that kidnapped her.
Suzanne's life and history unravelled before her. Suzanne was the daughter of one of the major lieutenants of the mastermind behind the rebellion. He was the leader of the blue portal's rebellion. Her mother had died while giving birth to her and she had been spoiled silly by her father. From a young age, she believed everything to be hers and never hesitated to take whatever she wanted. Then her gift materialized, Premonition, an ability that allows one to peer into the future. An ability almost unmatched and highly coveted, this served to worsen her already bad character. Her beauty was also without equal in the entire province. She inherited it from her mother, who was the most beautiful woman in her prime.
Suzanne excelled at everything and lacked nothing. When she grew up, she was the most admired young woman and nearly every young single man desired her as a wife. There was someone she admired though, her brother's best friend, the son of her father's advisor. A quiet romance went on between them with Suzanne having the upper hand in their relationship. This was the life she led until the blue portal master launched an attack on their forces.
He decimated their auxiliary forces in an instant. He was too strong to face head-on, so they devised a plan to lure him to their base, where Suzanne's father, the strongest warrior would subdue him with his ability, dictate. This ability compelled anyone who heard Basileus to do whatever he said.
After months of meticulous preparation, the plan was hatched and the blue portal master was lured into the trap. But before Basileus could utter a single command, Lilac of the portal lords barged in and rescued Blue. With a single scroll, she conquered Basileus, their unbeatable master.
Lilac took no chances, in her decree, it wasn't Basileus' first name she called, but his family name. She meant to crush the rebellion and wipe out the entire ruling clan with a punishment that would affect not only Basileus but his entire family. Suzanne was helpless as the attack on her father spread to herself and her brother. In the end, it was her brother's best friend, Simon who saved them both. With his ability, he swapped her brother's fate with that of a dying soldier leaving the young prince in a state of comatose till present and placed a ring on her finger, marrying her at that moment and cutting off her ties to her father's name. In the confusion, Suzanne's father had been sucked into the netherworld, never to be seen again.
After the incident, Suzanne lost her status and position. Simon relegated her to the background, she became his trophy wife and nothing more. Her ability also began to wane. She was constantly consumed by fear, and as a result, her premonitions failed more often. On the other hand, things improved for her husband, Simon. He quickly filled the gap left by her father, assuming the leadership role in the rebellion and leaving Suzanne to wonder if he married her for that very reason. If he had coveted the seat of power their family held from the very beginning, and was just waiting for an opportunity like this one to take it.
His ability, the ability to swap fate, didn't help his case in Suzanne's eyes. It made her even more suspicious, for all she knew, he could have swapped fates with her brother, after all, they were best friends.
Suzanne began to see fault in all his actions and left his side in anger. She chose to go on this mission in spite of his admonition for her to remain at home. Simon claimed his concern was for her safety, but Suzanne suspected otherwise; he always claimed she was too weak, as though the incident had reduced her. Her lack of composure made her ability go awol, and he capitalized on it to seize the seat of power, which was rightfully hers. She saw this as sabotage, a plot to rob her of authority and relegate her to the background.
But there was another reason she wanted to leave; someone else with a knowledge gift had come up, the gift of knowledge of everything that was known. Suzanne felt jealousy rise within her as the elders praised the gift and spoke with zest about acquiring it. Suzanne spoke up in the meeting without thinking, and at first, everyone was against sending the princess across dimensions to an unknown domain, but the idea of the match, the past against the future, won over the elders. At the end, everyone but Simon agreed that her gift would be indispensable to the mission.
Suzanne was informed she was to work with Harold, an extremely powerful inter-dimensional traveller, and he was to spearhead the mission.
Pearl sat down again, perplexed. She had to be missing something. She went over the details again. Their mission was to obtain the ability of the portal lords. But how does one obtain the ability of a portal lord? The only transfer of power she knew was from the blue portal lord to his daughter, so she flipped through Mrs. Harry's life for the details. From here, she understood that the transfer could only be done if both parties were willing. The ability of a portal lord could not be conferred or taken by force.
The rebellion had taken all this into account as the plan involved Benjamin, who was a long-time friend of Mrs. Harry and had worked at the library practically all his life. The only hurdle they would face would be convincing the portal lord to pass on her ability. But then, as Pearl remembered the contents of the burnt back journal, she realized that it wouldn't be an issue, Mrs. Harry was very ready to hand over her ability and had been looking for someone suitable for years. When she checked Mrs. Harry's memories, Pearl saw that she had even offered to give Benjamin her powers. Mrs. Harry was tired of her powers, her punishment and bondage. The weight of her responsibility was crushing her, so she decided to hand it over to someone younger and stronger than herself while she left to reunite with her family.
'Oh no,' Pearl inaudibly exclaimed, realizing that they had made a terrible miscalculation. She sprang up to inform Mrs. Harry that on no occasion should she transfer her ability.
Pearl got into the library through the portal that led directly to one of the rooms, only to see Suzy there waiting for her.
'Something's not right,' Pearl thought as she stared at Suzy. She had checked Amber's recent memories after hearing that she was crying profusely and had found out the reason, namely, the unexpected and gruesome death of Suzy. But Suzy, who was supposed to be dead, was right in front of her.
'Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost?' Suzy asked, perturbed. Was that the natural reaction to seeing someone who had vanished for so long? Pearl thought suspiciously.
'You're alive,' Pearl asked in disbelief.
'Yes, and so are you! Where have you been all this while?' Suzy replied with a hint of humour. Pearl couldn't tell if Suzy was acting naturally or playing on her intelligence. Either way, she came here with a purpose.
'I don't have time to catch up right now. I have to see Mrs. Harry, it's urgent.' Pearl moved to leave the room, but Suzy blocked the exit.
'I'm sorry, she's a bit busy now. You can see her when she's free,' She interjected.
'No, I have to leave now.' Pearl insisted and moved, but Suzy moved again, blocking her.
Pearl quickly reached for her neck to grab the ring like last time, but Suzy was quicker; the necklace bearing her ring was revealed, and Pearl was finally sure that she was dealing with Suzanne.
'I'm not letting that happen again. Let's see how you fare in round two' Suzanne said as she cracked her knuckles, a cocky grin plastered across her face. She took a stance for hand-to-hand combat.
Pearl had suspected that Suzy was Suzanne, for one, her poor choice of alias was as good a giveaway as any, but her physical appearance confused Pearl; Suzy looked nothing like Suzanne. Only now did Pearl realize that with the vast amount of gifts, the ability to disguise the appearance of others was a possibility.
'I don't want to fight you,' Pearl tried to reason with Suzanne.
'I know. I wouldn't want to fight myself either. You're going to lose.' Suzanne's smirk remained. Pearl wondered if that was a threat or a premonition.
She looked at the only exit before her, the door and at Suzanne, who was blocking it. Pearl wondered if she could beat Suzanne in hand-to-hand combat. She could use her gift, the oracle, to analyze her fighting technique and try to counter it, but she was working against time. Mrs. Harry could start the ritual at any moment, and then, it would be too late.
She made a wild dash for the door, but Suzanne stood her ground firmly, ready to stop her. In a split second, however, Pearl's trajectory changed. Suzanne watched in shock, unable to react in time as Pearl returned into the portal from which she came.
A frustrated sigh escaped Suzanne because she couldn't follow, but she consoled herself, there were only so many portals that Pearl could come out of. Suzanne knew that Pearl would try to stop the ritual again, and she would be waiting for Pearl whenever she reemerged. Suzanne left the room to wait for her outside Mrs. Harry's room.
Once again, Pearl peeped into Mrs. Harry's memories to see all the portals in the library. There were quite a lot, which makes sense if you consider the fact that the library was the house of the initial portal master of the domain. Pearl finally identified one that led directly to Mrs. Harry's room. On getting there, she looked through it and saw that Benjamin was already talking to Mrs. Harry.
'No, I have to stop them' She rushed in, but it was too late. She flew in as Mrs. Harry threw down the vial on her neck, it shattered and engulfed Mrs. Harry and Benjamin in a rushing purple wind. The impact of the explosion blew Pearl back to hit the wall, and the force of the wind pinned her there.
Pearl watched helplessly as the power flowed into Mrs. Harry, rejuvenating her youth, from her face and skin to her hair, the grey locks darkening from the roots, then it flowed from her into Benjamin. His eyes glowed yellow, and so did the rushing wind around them. In a matter of moments, the ritual was over.
The wind subsided, and Pearl fell from her pinned position to the floor with a thud. Mrs. Harry also collapsed on the bed beside her from exhaustion. Pearl looked through the now clear room and spotted Suzanne walking in on the other side of the room, she quickly hid herself. Suzanne walked in slowly and stood beside Mrs. Harry.
'Suzy, please, get me some of that tea I love to drink. I feel so weak,' Mrs. Harry croaked.
Benjamin stood transfixed as though trying to adjust to the new depths of his power. Unaware of any of them.
'What's wrong, ma?' Suzanne asked.
'Nothing, everything's fine, but I need to take something, for strength. Please, Suzy, the tea.' Mrs. Harry pleaded, trying to pretend everything was fine to Suzy, whom she still thought to be a human.
Suzanne fetched the tea and brought it to her, but before Mrs. Harry could take the handle with a shaking hand, she poured it on the floor.
'The great lilac of the portal masters. The witch with the gift of prophecy. Look how you've fallen.' Suzanne smiled like she had waited her entire life for this moment.
'What?' Mrs Harry finally realized that something wasn't right. She discreetly reached for her bedside.
'I was afraid of you from the moment I heard about you. The gift of premonition, the ability to tell the future, was useless before your gift, prophecy, the ability to create the future. I knew if I ever fought you on equal terms, I would lose. I would only be able to see myself lose to you. But now, with you there, sickly on the bed, I finally have the chance to avenge my father!' Suzanne had a victorious look on her face, and her voice rose as she spoke.
'Your father?' Mrs. Harry asked in confusion.
'The leader of the blue portal's rebellion. You were never supposed to be there! If it weren't for you, everything would have stayed the same. We would have defeated the blue portal lord and taken control of his domain but you had to butt in, you had to go against the rules. To go save your father.'
Suzanne stopped like she suddenly remembered the reason she was there; there was no point venting to someone who would soon be dead. But before she dealt the final blow, she wanted to make sure Mrs. Harry knew who would bring about her demise and why.
'Anyway, you meet your end here at the hands of the princess of the blue portal's rebellion.' With that, Suzanne's appearance began to change; her hair grew out and darkened, and her eyes turned a very light shade of blue. She reached out for Mrs. Harry's neck when suddenly Amber barged into the room.
Benjamin finally looked up at Suzanne, who was in as much shock as him on seeing Amber.
'You were supposed to keep watch' his voice shook the entire house; it was brimming with power. Amber shrank back.
'What's going on?' She asked half in fear. The atmosphere in the room was tense.
Suddenly, a purple glow emanated from the bed. Mrs Harry sat up with a scroll open on her lap.
'The decree of the Almighty, ' She started. A high-pitched screech pierced the air as Suzanne fell to her knees, begging and crying.
'Mercy! Mercy! Please, spare me.' She shrieked.
Pearl saw her opportunity and grabbed Mrs Harry, her scrolls and disappeared into the portal she emerged from.
Suzanne heaved a heavy sigh of relief and collapsed in tears.
'You!' She got up, still in tears and pointed at Amber. She used one hand to hold Amber's arm and the other to clasp her neck.
'You will not lay a finger on her,' Benjamin bellowed, his voice shook the building.
Suzanne snarled at him and let out a sound a lot like a hiss.
'Your girlfriend made us lose Lilac and the oracle!'
'I said, not a finger,' his voice dropped to a sinister whisper. Suzanne knew her limits. She unhanded Amber and turned to Benjamin.
'So what are we going to do about her?' Suzanne asked, a bit more calmly.
'We will decide what to do with her after we're done with the plan. For now, let's keep her from communicating with the others' Benjamin said authoritatively.
'Of course,' Suzanne said with a smile that disappeared almost instantaneously.
Benjamin created a yellow portal and Suzanne led a shocked and subdued Amber into it.