The Taste of Seduction

Meredith savored every step of her way towards her mother. With her being emotional, she wondered how her mother was all this time—sleeping for so long and if it's alright for her to move about after waking up to help in the fight against Austin.

For sure, she wouldn't like to hear about him starting a war. Remembering what Levi had said, history is to repeat itself. If Gwen fought before, and she's going to fight again and this time, Austin starting the war, things would turn out sour.

This time, her thoughts started doubting things as well. Meredith thought what if the moment she opens the crystal coffin, her mother wasn't there and that Austin had beat them to it before they even arrived here?

"No… no…" She stopped walking for a while, immediately closing her eyes as she profusely shook her head at the thought. "No… don't think like that for a moment. We do not know until we see it," she talked to herself, the woman now continuing to walk towards the coffin.

Before she even knew it, she was already in front of the coffin. She walked up the small stairs leading to the coffin, the crystal form of it shining and sparkling upon her touch.

She wondered how she could open it and she wondered how she could wake her up. With her thinking that it will not be too simple to do so, she wondered what spells that she learned from Austin could work in opening the coffin and waking her up.

Meredith thought to herself and realized that she only learned simple spells and only a few powerful ones. They all focused on flying, transformation, protection… but not so much on the offense and waking up a witch from a slumber.

How could she do that? Through potion-making?

Potion-making usually takes days! She knew that she would have to do something now as they have nothing more to waste. Time is of the essence and if they don't wake her up now, how are they going to face Austin with their combined strength?

Meredith took a deep breath. A thought came to mind but she wondered if it would work.

She looked at her palm. From the edge of the coffin was a sharp edge that is enough to scrape her flesh. The moment she ran through it, she winced, droplets of her blood coming out from the small wound.

From afar, Marcus and Atlas watched her. Not wanting to bother her or disrupt her focus, they stayed, even though they are curious of whatever it is that she is doing.

"What do you think is happening?" Atlas asked, Marcus answering with a shrug.

"No clue… let's just sit back and watch. Besides… we're always surprised with whatever it is she is showing. We have never been disappointed by the show so far."

Atlas and Marcus chuckled a bit. As they witnessed from afar what was about to happen, Meredith continued what she thought might work. She hoped deep inside that it might work since it is the same thing she did to retrieve and open the book.

Meredith dropped a few drops of her blood on the coffin. The moment the blood dripped on it, she gasped when it was slowly being absorbed by the coffin. Soon, it began lighting up, making her take a few steps back as she had mixed feelings of what was about to happen.

Would the cover of the coffin explode? Would she have triggered a trap for trying to open the coffin and this was one way of Austin to protect her body?

The two men then approached Meredith just in case something bad might happen. As they waited behind her, the coffin cover opened, surprising them when a woman suddenly levitated out.

White light surrounded her whole body. She was in a fetal position until they saw her stretch slowly, as if waking up from a long sleep. The moment she did a full stretch, she levitated down to the ground, landing barefoot.

She yawned and slowly opened her eyes. Her hair cascaded and flowed from her back. She was wearing a white lose dress, making her look like a goddess that is in a simple sleeping wear. The moment that she grew accustomed to the place after a long sleep, she looked around, talking to herself.

"Where… am I?"

Her eyes looked around. Her voice a bit husky for not speaking for so long. However, the moment her eyes locked with Meredith's, their bodies stiffened for a moment, not knowing what to do nor say.

"You…"

Gwen looked at her intently. With Meredith unsure of what to do or say, she stayed still, a small smile appearing on her face as tears started forming in her eyes.

"Mom…"

Gwen's heart stopped for a moment, her hand instinctively reaching out to her chest as if to calm herself down.

"Wait… are you… Meredith?"

Her smile turned wider. With tears escaping her eyes as she nodded to answer Gwen's question, it was her mother who rushed to her to embrace her instead of her daughter.

"Goodness! Meredith!" She exclaimed, having a warm reunion with her daughter. "You're here! You're here…"

The hug tightened. With them already in tears, Atlas and Marcus just allowed them to have their moment since they have not seen each other for such a long time.

"Mom… finally… we met." Meredith said, sniffing at the same time.

Gwen couldn't help but laugh. As they loosened from the hug for a moment, she cupped her daughter's face and wiped her tears with her thumb.

"Oh, Meredith… there is so much to know… so much to talk about."

"Oh, mom…" She playfully rolled her eyes at her. "If only you knew… I'll tell you everything."

No longer exchanging words, they embraced each other once more, having a sweet moment to themselves before Meredith introduces Atlas and Marcus, and before they talk about what's to happen.

They know for sure that once she knows Austin's intentions, Gwen will not process it lightly.