Julia Lelieveld and the battle with the underworld
~26~

We immediately set off. We didn’t need a GPS anymore, we just knew it, like it was a magnet that we were drawn to. Would the e-warriors and the possessed feel the same towards me?

I looked at the sky and it was past noon. We had been in the witch’s house longer than I thought. After a few hours of driving we stopped for refueling. I got the food and drinks and we continued on. When it was already dark, I felt Lucas become less alert. I squeezed his arm and he understood me. He stopped briefly at the side of the road. “I know, we have to stop.” I nodded. “The problem is that we are in no man’s land. I haven’t seen a single house in the past 2 hours, let alone a village where we can spend the night.” He was right. We had only encountered forests and mountains. “Do they have hunting lodges here too?” He raised his shoulders. “We can try.” I nodded and got back on the bike. Lucas took the next small road and we were immediately in the woods. The moon barely shone so we saw very little. After driving for 5 minutes I saw a barn. I patted his arm and pointed to the barn. He nodded and drove gently toward it. There was no house, it was only a barn. I looked at Lucas and he shrugged. “Better than nothing?” “Would it be trustworthy?” I asked him. “Let’s take a look first.” I nodded and followed Lucas. The shed was unlocked, he slid open the door and I shone in with my phone. In the shed were two quads, a sled, and all sorts of tree-cutting equipment. In the corner was a large pile of logs and a work table with nice planks of wood against it. “A woodworking shed?” “Yes, I think so.” Lucas grabbed my phone for a moment and shone into the other corner. There were sails and blankets. “Come on, let’s go to sleep there and set the alarm before it gets light. When people come, we’ll be gone before then.” I nodded and walked to the corner. Lucas picked up his motorcycle and put it inside and closed the door. In the dim light I made the sleeping place as comfortable as possible. There were only three blankets and it was quite cold. I sat down and put a blanket over me. Lucas followed my lead. We ate and drank and then lay down. After five minutes I was still shivering. “Come here, I can’t sleep if you keep shivering.” Lucas grabbed me and pushed against me. Gratefully I crawled into his protective arms and we threw the three blankets over us.

I woke up to the alarm clock. Fortunately, no one had beaten the alarm clock. I turned off the alarm and laid my head back for a moment. Despite the bad place to sleep, I lay comfortably in Lucas’s warm arms. He also woke up and pulled me closer to him. “Are you ready for it?” he asked. I knew what he meant. We only had a few hours to drive before we would be there. I just felt it. “I don’t know what to expect.”

“Get ready for a big fight. I hope that despite our meeting in the previous forest with the possessed man, we still have an element of surprise.” “Don’t forget Daria, she’s our element of surprise and I hope our rescue comes out in one piece with the three of us.”

I felt him nod. He kissed me on the top of my head and let go of me. “Come on, let’s go.”

After a few hours of driving we were there. We just knew, so special to have that feeling. We were in a valley between the mountains. There was a large lake and on the side were large pebbles and stones. There were large trees around us. This area was really hidden between the rugged nature, if you didn’t know this existed, you didn’t replace it.

Lucas turned off his engine and parked it behind a bush where we had arrived. I looked at my phone and it was mid-morning. I suddenly felt something warm on my leg, what was that? When I felt the jute bag was heating up, I took it out of my pocket and looked at it. It glowed and then it was gone again and cold. I looked at Lucas and he too had it in his hand. I laughed. “She’s coming,” I said to Lucas. He nodded. “I think so too.”

We put our bags away and looked around. “The well will be near here,” I said. “Come on, let’s put our bags by the bike, we can’t use them in a fight.” “Let’s have something to eat and drink first and then we’ll put them away.” We walked to the motorbike and sat down on a stone, we ate our food in silence. I looked around and enjoyed the view, it was beautiful here. Can’t believe this was the doorway to the underworld. Suddenly a shiver ran down my spine, the underworld. I still didn’t know what to expect and that made me insecure and scared. I wondered if we weren’t facing our own death sentence. We had to be smart, if they knew we would be there we could never take the fight. “What are you thinking about?” Lucas asked. I shrugged my shoulders. “That we have to have a plan, we can’t just drop in and do our thing. We will be overpowered immediately.” “A plan turned into a good idea”, Lucas confirmed.

“We need to replace out where Evil is in the underworld and where Renzo is. We have to work as quietly and invisibly as possible. As soon as they replace out we’re there, they attack, preferably we’re gone by then or we’re almost at the exit, otherwise I really don’t know how to do this.” I looked scared at Lucas.

“I’m also nervous, but we have Daria. I’m really confident we’ll go a long way with her.”

“We must not come very far, we must come to the end,” I said. Lucas paused and took my hand and squeezed it. “It’ll be fine.”

Why did I still have my doubts? I didn’t know Daria well, I trusted her, but I didn’t know how much strength she had. She had been quite tired after that spell. There must be another way, right? How can we get home soon? Because once we get back here, we still have to go home all the way. We haven’t seen a house or anything habitable in the past few hours. My thoughts were working overtime and suddenly I had a hunch. What if Daria could make a portal that led to the portal at Rob’s in the cellars? Then we were home! I jumped up and Lucas looked at me questioningly. “What is it?” he asked.

I laughed. “I might know a way to get out of here quickly.” “And that is?” Lucas asked. “We can ask Daria to make a portal for when we come out of the underworld, Rob has a portal under his house. When he opens it, we can travel home.”

Lucas looked at me doubtfully, then nodded. “That might work, but then Daria would have to be able to make a portal.”

“Coincidentally, that’s my specialty”, we heard a voice behind us. I turned and there was Daria. She looked younger and more powerful. “Daria, how nice to see you. You look younger.”

She laughed. “I thought if I’m going to die, I’ll be young and attractive,” she said with a wink. My smile disappeared at the part she said she was going to die. “Oh girl, don’t feel guilty. This is what I want. Now I can finally get my justice from Evil.”

“But a portal is a good idea, I didn’t know you had one at your disposal,” she scanned the area and then nodded. “I will make the gate when we enter the underworld, then when you come out you can travel straight home.”

That sounded like music to my ears, but it still had to work. “Have faith, we are stronger than we seem.” I smiled weakly at her. “Is the gate open on the other side?” she asked me. I shook my head. “I’m going to call Rob to make sure he opens the gate.” “Good, then I can replace the location and connect the portal.” I nodded and turned around. Now I had to call Rob, shit, that wouldn’t be easy. I had left in the middle of the night without saying a word. I felt a hand on my shoulder. “He won’t be mad, just relieved that you’re calling,” Lucas said reassuringly.

I looked up Rob in my contacts and pressed call. After three rings, he answered. “Julia? Is that you?”

“Hi Rob, I’m sorry I...”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes, we’re fine.”

“Lucas is with you.”

“That’s right.”

“Where are you?”

“We are at the entrance to the underworld. We’re going to get Renzo back.”

I heard Rob gasp. “Oh Julia, please don’t do it. Let us help you.”

“I can’t, what if I lose one of you? Then it’s my fault. It’s all my fault that Renzo is sitting there, if I had listened to Evil, no one would have been hurt.”

“You shouldn’t see it that way,” said Rob.

“But Rob, I wanted to ask you something. We get help from Daria, she is an experienced witch who has switched to our side. We can trust her. She’s going to make a portal at the entrance to the underworld so that when we get out we can travel home through the portal. Will you open the portal under your house?”

It was quiet for a while. “Rob?”

“Yeah, sorry, I’m still here. Are you sure? It can be very dangerous and can she really be trusted? How do you actually get out of the underworld?”

“That’s a lot of questions Rob, I understand you want answers to everything, but I don’t know everything either. What I do know is that I’m going to try to save Renzo. And when we get out we want to go home through the portal.”

“Julia, you are brave. Sometimes that is not always wise, but your heart is definitely in the right place. And you have already proven yourself to be strong enough for the fifth element. I’ll make sure the portal is open.”

In sigh of relief. “Rob, please don’t let anyone go through the portal. I don’t know what’s going to happen or when we’ll be back, but promise me. Don’t let anyone go through it.”

“I promise. I’ll guard the portal myself and you and Renzo are the only ones who know where it is.”

“Rob”, but before I could continue Rob interrupted me. “Julia, we’ll talk when you get home, I have faith in you. The most important thing is that you have faith in your powers, in the fifth element. Then you’ll get there. See you soon.” And with those words he hung up. I glanced at the phone. Lucas quickly came to me. “And?”

“He’s doing it, he’s going to open the gate.” Lucas sighed with relief.

“Good, it’s nice to know you’re coming home,” Daria said. I smiled briefly and was still amazed at how beautiful she looked.

“Where are your things?”

We pointed to the place where the motorcycle with our bags were.

“Would you like to pack the bags? The motor cannot go through the portal. Then you can follow me”, she pointed to Lucas.

Lucas looked disappointed at his bike, but nodded and grabbed our bags. Daria led the way to the other side of the lake and there in the shallow water was the well. It was level with the surface of the water, so it didn’t stand out. The well itself was dry. A shiver ran down my spine. This was it, this was the entrance to the underworld.

“If you put the bags here, I’ll fix the portal behind here. When you come up all you need to do is pack your things and go through the portal. It’s made just for you. You alone can get through. When you hold someone, they go through it. Do you understand that?”

We nodded tensely. “I’m only making the portal visible to you.”

She stood firmly on the floor and moved her arms back and forth in circles. She kept her head bowed and she spoke in that foreign language again. With every movement she made with her arms, black wisps appeared. These wisps formed a portal after a few minutes. Daria was so powerful that she could do this. Lowering her arms, she looked up at the portal again. She nodded and turned back to us. “Do you see him?” she asked us.

We both nodded.

“Very well, would you like to sit with me for a moment?” And she herself sank on a big stone where she stood. We both walked up to her questioningly and sat down with her.

“I have something to confess to you, I did something more during the spell than just promise to close the gates of the underworld behind you.” She looked at us intensely. Lucas looked startled, but somehow my fifth element seemed to have no problem with it. I nodded. She smiled at me for a moment. “When I’m in the underworld with you later, I won’t be able to get out. I knew that from the moment I made this choice. That’s my choice, not yours. Unconsciously I have been waiting for this moment for many years, to make Evil pay for what he has done to me. And now that you’re here, this is my chance. And with my chance, I can help you, too, so it feels good. I am at peace with it. When you have left the underworld and I have closed the entrance, I will make sure that Evil can no longer harm me, I will at that moment leave my gifts as a witch behind me and with that I will die.”

I looked at her with wide eyes, I found this hard to accept. She looked at me and took my hand and patted it gently.

“In addition to promising that I would close the entrance of the underworld behind you, I also promised that I would divide my forces among you. You will receive these powers as soon as I say goodbye to them. It does not mean that you can then practice magic, but you will get my knowledge and your own gift and powers will be stronger, you can practice and use them better. And with that knowledge, this will be much easier.” And she looked at me. I nodded, tears came to my eyes. This was very sweet of her, to give us her knowledge and powers that she has spent all her life developing.

“I’ll cast a spell on you for now, it won’t last forever, but long enough until you can go home. With this spell you already experience what it is like to have my knowledge and your powers are stronger. Because we need that during the fight.” I nodded, at this moment I trusted her completely. My fifth element took care of that. And Rob had told me to trust my own instincts. I looked at Lucas for a moment and nodded. I saw that he had reservations, but he shrugged. Indeed, what else could we do? All help was needed.

“I’ve never been to the underworld before, I don’t know where we’ll end up and where your beloved is, but I can replace out when we get there. I need you for that.” And she looked at Lucas. “You are his brother and therefore the strongest link to him.” Lucas shook his head. “I don’t think that’s right, I don’t have a good relationship with my brother. Julia and Renzo have a very strong bond with each other.” Daria smiled and took Lucas’ hand. “You are his blood, you are the person I need.” He nodded.

“Are you ready?” I looked at Lucas and he looked determined. And we both nodded. “Good, hold hands and each one of mine.”

I gave Lucas my left hand and Daria my right hand, so we stood in a circle on the water’s edge. Behind Daria, the portal mirrored a black image of us in the circle. Daria tilted her head upward this time, her eyes turning all white as she began to whisper the foreign language again. I looked at Lucas and he squeezed my hand, I squeezed him back gently and he nodded reassuringly. At one point I felt tingling running through my right hand. I looked at my hand and then surprised at Lucas. He did the same.

The tingling went from my hand to my arm, all over my body to my left hand. At that moment more tingles came through my left hand, these also went through my body to my right hand. And the moment the tingling left my right hand I felt a shock all over my body and then it was over. “The circle is complete,” Daria said with a smile. I looked at her and the moment she said that I felt my body come alive. The fifth element was fully present, as if it were second nature to me. I didn’t summon it, it was just there. My muscles felt stronger and I could feel every element coursing through my veins. And the best part was, I knew exactly what to do. I was in complete control and everything was clear. I looked around as if everything was in HD quality. I felt how nature lived around me, I saw the smallest animals fly by in slow motion. My reflexes were on edge. I looked at Lucas in disbelief, and he too looked at me in surprise. He laughed and I laughed too, this was unbelievable. Daria laughed with us. “Get used to it children, when you come out of the underworld you will always feel this way.” My smile faded a little at the thought that Daria would die when we took over her powers, so I walked over to her and hugged her tightly. For a moment she stood transfixed and then she threw her arms around me and I got a warm feeling. “You will succeed dear child, I have faith in it. You’re stronger than you think. Do it for me, survive all those evil demons.” My eyes filled with tears, she believed in me. I nodded in our embrace. “Good, sweetie.” We let go of each other and she looked at me for a moment. “Are you ready for it?”

I nodded with confidence, feeling strong and experienced. I knew what I could do with all my powers now. “Let’s do it,” said Lucas. Daria placed her hand briefly on Lucas’s arm. “Son, I know you have another reason to travel to the underworld, trust me I’ll take vengeance on Evil, even for your father. He’ll know this isn’t just for my son. Concentrate with that sweet, strong girl on your brother and that you come out again. Will you promise me that?”

Lucas looked at her intensely, I saw that he was thinking deeply. Then he resigned himself to it and nodded. “I promise,” he said convincingly. “Good boy. Then let’s go.”

And with those words she stepped into the water toward the well.