Destined; The next Miller generation

The next generation

The sunlight brightens, warming the Brazilian people and announcing it is already another day. The Miller Manor vibes are good welcome energy. The garden is blooming, a small Japanese fountain spills water through bamboo on the white stones in a harmonic and peaceful way.

Lucinda Miller is cleaning up the furniture from the hall and welcoming room, and organising the decoration in their respective places. She is so calm and focused that she doesn't realise someone is coming in. When she turns around: “AHHHH!”, she sees her niece: “Luana?”

“Good morning, Aunt Lucy.”, Luana greets, smiling.

“Good morning, dear. Why did you wake up early?”, asks Lucinda.

“It was so short to get myself ready that I went to 4PM as soon as I could and realised that I had forgotten something special. It is kind of my amulet of luck. My lipstick.”, Luana feels ashamed to tell something childish. Why would someone care about the crazy idea of having an amulet? She is too shy to talk about it.

“A lipstick is your amulet of luck? Since when did you use that?”, Lucinda asks, amazed.

“Well, yeah…sure! I am a witch, and we have talismans, amulets, and signs available to be useful. Since I am a modern witch, I decided to use a make-up tool as an amulet.”, Luana answers, laughing at herself.

“And why did you decide to ask for help by using an amulet?”, Lucinda is curious about what her niece is up to.

“I'm going to meet the manager of BABYMONSTER, that famous Korean pop group. And I know that nightclub managers can make miracles happen.!”, Luana is excited to meet the manager who will change her life.

“What is so funny?”, Larissa shows up sleepy in her pajamas.

“Lari, did you know that your cousin has lucky lipstick?”, Lucinda started a different topic.

“Yes, I knew (laughs), did you come to pick it up?”, Larissa asks, showing the lucky lipstick to her cousin.

“Oh, thank you! You saved my life. I know it will sound crazy, but I am about to meet the BABYMONSTER manager.”, thanks Luana.

“What? Today? AHHHHHHHHH”, Larissa is crazy about Korean pop music and culture. BABYMONSTER is one of her favourite groups.

“Yes, and I hope everything will be fine. See you later!”, Luana leaves quickly.

“Wow, she hasn't had the idea of having some breakfast for a little talk with us as always.”, Lucinda thinks her niece's behaviour is very strange.

“It happens. She is a manager and you are a housekeeper.”, Larissa comments going upstairs.

At IESB, campus South Wing, Cecilia and her college mate Kwong are walking and talking.

“Let's finish the homework at my house, deal?”, asks Kwong.

“Sure. I...”, answers Cecília when her phone rings: “Wait a minute. I need to answer this call.”

“No problem, I can wait.”, answers Kwong.

“Hello?”, Cecília tries to understand the low voice in a call: “I can't hear you..”, Cecília looks at her friend and tells her to go by making some gestures: “Ah! Hi, sis. What's up?”

Luana tells her sister that Simone will cook in her place because she is in the middle of a meeting with a K-pop female group manager.

“Kwong, go first, and I will meet you there. I have to solve a problem first.”, Cecilia ends the call while talking to her friend.

“All right! See you later then.”, Kwong says goodbye.

Cecilia waits for her friend to walk far away enough and looks for a tree to hide herself: “That's it.”, and beams out.

In Mahogakuen's headmistress's room, Edward is correcting some tests from first grade and doesn't realise the presence of his niece.

“Uncle, can I miss class today?”, asks Cecilia.

“Why? This is the fourth time you asked me that. What is happening to you? You know that magic responsibility and balance is our top priority.”, Edward interrogates his niece.

“It's just for today, I swear. I need to finish college work as soon as possible and I'll be free.”, Cecilia begs for her uncle's permission.

“If you were not a Miller, I would call your parents for a chat. But we know we need to blend up with humans, and I forgive you because of that. This is your last opportunity. After that you'll need to start studying for recovery classes.”, Edward asks his niece to leave and doesn't disturb him until her task is done.

“Thanks.”, Cecilia leaves beaming.

At Miller Manor, Larissa and Romero go downstairs to talk about daily happenings and, after reaching the middle of the base, they see their aunts and mother ready to go somewhere and with bags.

"Are you going to travel?”, Romero asks, curious.

“Hi, sweetheart! Yes, and we need to go now.”, Luna answers her son.

“But why? What about us?”, Larissa is upset.

“It is not a vacation trip, but a business one.”, Loren answers, half of the true reason.

“You should have alerted us yesterday.”, Romero starts arguments about his aunts and mother's behaviour.

“They have just called us. We were not prepared for it either.”, Loren tries to change the subject.

“Where are my sisters now?”, Romero gives up talking with them but wants to tell the news to his sisters.

“Teresa is working at Mahogakuen and the other ones are studying or at work.”, Luna answers him.

“What about our dads? Do they know about it?”, Larissa asks for some information to be sure they are trustworthy.

“Yes, but we need to go otherwise, we will miss our flight.”, Louise starts carrying the bags outside.

“Tell others about it and don't worry. It'll be only five days and we'll be back.”, Lucinda calms them down to avoid discussion.

“Five days? This is too much!”, Larissa is astonished.

“There'll be two days of flying to go and go back and three days of business meeting. Since our flight is not long, we can't arrive on the same day we left and go to the business meeting without missing our flight back home.”, Louise embarrasses her speech.

“All right. I'll tell the others.”, Larissa promises what she must do.

“I'll help you.”, Romero promises to help his cousin.

The Consecrated Ones disappear gleaming. Now there are only green-blue particles in the air.

“Odd, but yeah...”, Romero comments loudly.

“But we are going to tell them anyway.”, Larissa finishes his sentence.

“Agree.”, Romero freezes.

Larissa calls her brothers, but none of them answer her call. She tries one more time and nothing: “It's already one o'clock, where are you? It is not their break time, is it?”, Larissa lets off her concern.

“Try our cousins. I'll try to contact my sisters.”, Romero suggests another way to alert them.

“You're right.”, Larissa agrees and starts calling Sabrina.

“Hi, Sabrina, how are you? I just wanted to tell you that our mothers went on a business trip. Don't you think it is weird?"

Larissa talks to her cousin for twenty-five minutes and ends the call, thoughtfully: “I hope everything will be OK.”

At Kotidiano Magazine building, Wellington is focused on writing an important article in his office for the digital magazine company.

“Welly, have you heard about our mother's business trip?”, Glaucio (holding a camera) appears at the door.

“What? Just like that?”, Wellington is astonished.

“They said they are going to travel for five days and then they will come back. It is a business trip.”, Glaucio enlightens his brother's question.

“They should have told us! Now I get why our house was empty when I went to pick up something I missed.”, Wellington clamours.

“I forgot to tell you that it was a sudden call that made this happen and that is why they didn't tell us yesterday.”, Glaucio remembers one important detail.

“Weird! Then who is going to replace Louise? She is the company CEO.”, asks Wellington, curious to know what will happen with his career, and the telephone rings.“Kotidiano Magazine, your digital magazine, Wellington columnist, how can I help you?”

On the other side of Wellington's office window is his secretary, Valeria. She is talking on the phone with her boss: “Wellington, have you finished your article?”

“Yes, you can send it to the printing department.”, answers Wellington: “Anyway, do you know who is going to replace Louise?”

“Yes, it is her childhood friend. I think his name is Enrico.”, Valeria confirms.

“Enrico? What a strange name.“

“Well, I'm out. I need to take some photos of the local history of our city. You can call me if you need some help.”, Glaucio says, leaving his brother's office.

In Hell, Dalia and Sabne are building a cage 6.6 feet high and 8.5 feet in length.

“Is it done?”, Dalia asks, impatient.

“We need to test it to be sure.”, Sabne answers in panic.

“What? And do you call yourself an expert on it?”, Dalia has vengeful eyes.

Sabne gets in the cage, stands his arms in his front to create a dark energy sphere, a violet fireball, and throws it over the cage. Nothing happened. He goes outside and does the same thing. His magic spreads all over the cage and it blows, but it doesn't damage the cage.

“Great!”, Dalia congratulates them by summoning twelve demons: “It is time! Bring them to me!” The summoned demons vanish, leaving some traces of shadow and Dalia makes a proud expression.

Cecilia goes back to Mahogakuen to leave an important message and Edward is surprised to see his niece walking around the school halls.

“What happened? Haven't you gone to do your college work?”, Edward asks worried.

“I had, but I need to alert my sisters about our mom and aunts' trip.”, Cecilia is troubled by the news.

“Your sister is in the delinquent student's room replacing your aunt Loren.”, Edward shows his niece the directions to her sister Simone: “But I wouldn't bother her about that.”

“What? Why? Does she know about that?”, Cecilia asks, amazed.

“Yes. I've already told her about it.”, Edward answers.

“And you knew? But... whatever, I need to talk with her anyway.”, Cecilia leaves, upset.

In the delinquent student's room, Simone tries to be calm and patient with her aunt's students. After all, her aunt is an expert at dealing with these kinds of students: “All right, guys, don't panic because I am not as boring as other misters from this school.” Deep down, she is thinking desperately: “Oh, God! Aunt, where are you?” Someone knocks on the door. It is her sister, Cecilia: “Oh, thank goodness! Have you come to replace me?”, she asks, kidding.

“Of course not, but I came to talk about our mom and aunts.”, Cecilia answers, entering the room.

“Right, I am already aware of that. And do you know where they went?”, Simone asks, curious and thinking that maybe her sister knows more than her about the recent news.

“I don't have an answer for that now.”, Cecilia apologises for her inconvenient introduction.

“Wait a minute.”, Simone turns her back to her sister and faces the students with an assertive look: “Guys, open the spells and incantation book on page 371. Read everything and I'll be back to review with you in five minutes.”

“It looks like you are in trouble, girl.”, Cecilia comments, laughing.

“Don't need to be harsh! This is the worst class at this school. Why do they need to welcome students who don't care about learning? They hate school. So why bother us bringing them to learn here?”, Simone argues with herself.

“I don't know if he told you, but they'll be back in five days.”, Cecilia says, an important detail.

“No, he just said that they would leave for a trip today.”, Simone is surprised.

“Well, I am also coming to tell you that I won't come to class today because I have hard college work to finish, and I can't waste my time studying magic.”, Cecilia excused her inconvenience again.

“I would judge you now, but I have a full agenda and I need to go back to class.”, Simone says, quarrelling.

"Don't get me wrong, it is just for today. I promise I'll compensate for it later.”, Cecilia pledges help.

Simone goes back to her class and everyone is lazy, and bored, with the book on the wrong page or nothing on the table: “Ah! Someone help me!”

At 4PM, Teresa is distracted cleaning up the dirty glasses behind the bar counter and Luana leaves her office, talking to a Korean man.

“It was nice to meet you, and thanks for your help. The cash will be in your bank account after the show in my nightclub.”, Luana said with a smile.

The man leaves the nightclub and Luana goes to her cousin to tell her the news.

“How was it?”, Teresa is curious to know everything that had happened until now.

“Great. It is done.”, Luana answers, happy.

“Was it easy to deal with?”, Teresa can't believe what she is hearing.

“The Koreans are really closed, but when they start talking with foreigners, and if you understand a little bit of their language, they bloom out quickly.”, Luana confesses.

“And did he accept your deal?”, Teresa asks, suspecting.

“Sure!”, Luana is thrilled with her first success of bringing an international group to her nightclub easily.

The chat is good, but three demons appear to break out in their moment. They attack them, but Luana and Teresa block and deflect their attack. Luana summons a beaming shield and freezes one demon. This one turns into a demon ice sculpture and she kicks it, breaking it into pieces. Now there are only a few ice cubes on the floor. Teresa captures the others with a jelly water rope to suffocate them, but one of them successfully escapes and tries to catch them again, but Luana helps blow them up.

“You don't give up, do you?”, Luana fights, cloning herself.

Luana captures the demons with her cryo and freezes them as she had done with the dead one. This time, Teresa throws the frozen demons against the wall with her telekinesis and they are shattered to pieces: “Bloody demons!”, Teresa complains, angrily.

“At 4PM? Unbelievable!”, agrees Luana.

“We already don't have peace at home and now they want to attack us at work too? Amazing!”, Teresa refuses to accept the cause.

“What do they want this time?”, Luana asks herself.

“Do you need to ask? Of course, they want our gifts, split our family, and many other goals.”, Teresa answers, furious.

Luana and Teresa start cleaning up the mess left by the demons.

At Miller 24, Larissa is cleaning up the dishes and the tables since yesterday. The restaurant is empty, but it is almost lunchtime and it will open soon.

“Luke, can you help me with the dishes? I'm going to the basement to pick up some drinks.”, Larissa asks her assistant.

“I can pick it up for you. Just tell me the flavours.”, Luke offers his help.

“Don't bother, you can clean up the floor then. I'll be back.”, Larissa thanks smiling.

The basement is dark and cold but is a storage room for emergency supplies and is perfect to keep the right temperature to store the wine. Larissa looks for a 1997 wine bottle on the shelves, but the dim light is interfering with her sight: “Let's see... I think it is better to take all the wines, my customers will love it”, she says to herself.

A demon turned up behind her trying to catch the victim: “Hello witch!”, but her dinakinesis realises the presence of it and alerted her as soon as it showed up. Immediately, Larissa uses her cryokinesis to freeze the demon and find an object to quickly smash him. There is a broomstick next to her. She picks it up and sticks it in its stomach. The demon is vanquished and turns into ashes.

The strong noise gets Lucas worried: “Boss, are you all right?”

“It was an accident.”, Larissa answers as a fake excuse.

“Did you fall? Do you need some help? I can call an ambulance if you want.”, Lucas finishes cleaning up the dishes and goes to help his boss.

“It is fine, I can get up.”, Larissa stands up and picks up the 1997 wine bottles, going upstairs.

Arriving at the last step, Lucas stares at Larissa and asks one more time to make sure she is fine: “Are you sick?”

“No, of course not! I've just lost my poise for a few seconds. Maybe I was in the same position for a long time and my body felt uncomfortable with it.”, Larissa is nervous to lie to someone that in the future could help her with supernatural attacks.

At 4PM, Teresa and Luana finish the cleanup, but they are still mad about what happened.

“This is a financial loss, bad luck! If I could, I would send them the bill to pay for everything they broke with penalty.”, Luana lets off her anger.

“This is worse! They are attacking again after a long time in peace!”, Teresa agrees.

“Let them come... I am not afraid of them and we are twelve. You were there and know that we vanquished that demon forever with our destined spell.”, Luana says bravely.

“Agree.”, Teresa smiles.

Luana's cell phone rings: “Hi.”, she answers the call and is impressed with her cousin's situation: “Yes, and we were attacked here too. How did it look? Can you describe how it looks?”. Luana listens to her cousin's description and thinks that maybe they are the same demon species hunting the Destined Ones.

“What is it?”, Teresa asks, curious.

“We should have a little reunion in the Manor and talk with everyone about that. I'm going to pick up my sisters and you can pick up yours. I'll call the others too.”, Luana keeps talking on the phone and Teresa tries to keep her attention by making some gestures, but nothing works. It was ten minutes of talking before hanging up.

An old building, as the FD urban legend says, is a place where many victims died during a fire and, since then, many spirits walk around the halls scaring people who worked in the newly renovated building. But the stories about ghosts haunting the place convinced the investor to close the place forever.

Glaucio is taking some photos on the first floor and is hopeful to be a true legend. The first photo is of a room with damaged walls, all black, and a dirty floor. The windows are open and the natural light from outside helps him to explore the place without a flashlight or magic help. But there are many rooms and floors still to investigate.

Thoughtful and going upstairs, Glaucio pretends not to feel the strange presence and believes that it can be just a playful spirit, but they are demons sent to capture him.

The demons throw a net made with an antimagic filter on Glaucio. He tries to gleam, but can't: “Let me go! Get out!”, his scream doesn't help much and it is taken by the demons plasming out.

At Mahogakuen, Simone gets the news about her cousin's situation and runs to the principal's room: “Uncle Edward… I mean… principal, we are in trouble. “

“What kind of trouble? Do you need some material? Are there any injured students? We have support for that.”, Edward pretends not to know about the news.

“Luana, Teresa, and Larissa were attacked by demons and they think they are the same species.”, Simone answers, worried.

“What? But are they fine?”, Edwards asks, thinking about the prophecy.

“Yes, I'm going to attend their meeting in the manor and help them.”, Simone says, leaving the room.

At Miller Manor, Larissa has just got out of the shower and dress up for the family meeting, but a demon shows up by surprise and catches her. This time there are no tools to defend herself next to her and on the main floor, Sabrina comes into the hall after a hard working shift. She goes upstairs and, arriving at the last step, she feels a strange presence and sees her cousin being taken by a demon: “No...!”, shouts Sabrina and tries to help her cousin, but the demon acts faster than she thought and vanishes, taking Larissa with it.

At 145° police station from FD are Romero and his dad working on a particular case in the deputy's private office room.

“It looks like the crimes are all committed by the same person. Look at that.”, Romero opines, looking at the reports on a computer.

“Yes, but this is common here in FD. Most of the cases are about traffic accidents, harassment and s****l abuse, domestic violence, and robbery.”, Renan comments politely.

Someone knocks on the door: “It's me, Simone!”, greets Simone asking to come in.

“The door is open, come in.”, invites Renan.

“Hello, have you known about the incidents?”, Simone asks, waiting for a positive answer.

“Was there an accident? Why haven't they reported it yet? And why did you come to alert in their stead?”, questions Romero without knowing the subject his cousin is talking about.

“What happened?”, asks Renan, curious.

“My sister and my cousins were attacked by demons.”, Simone answers, worried.

“What? How? When?”, Romero asks, surprised.

“Today.”, Simone tries to be clear: “Teresa and Luana were at 4PM and Larissa at Miller 24 when they were attacked. They told me to pick up the others and go to the Manor to have a quick meeting. We need to go, Romi.”, Simone is ready to take her cousin with her.

“All right, let's go!”, Romero accepts the invitation.

Unexpectedly, two demons turn up and throw a net at them, the same used to capture Glaucio, hours later.

“But what?”, says Romero.

“Demons!”, shouts Simone.

Their screams for help and strength to get off the net are useless. Renan tries to help his son and niece, but he is not a magical being or has gifts and can't dodge the demon attack, falling unconscious on the floor.

At Cecilia's friend's house, she and Kwong are studying in the dining room.

“You know that the education psychology mister is assertive. He looks angry in all of his classes because of his voice level. Also, we know that he doesn't accept work before or after the deadline.” Cecilia comments and her cellphone rings: “It is Luana. She sent me a message. Let me read...”, the message is not good news, it is urgent: “Kwong, I need to go. I know I promised to finish this work with you today, but this is a family emergency business. It is not always like that, but I really need to go.”, Cecilia feels guilty about breaking a deal.

“Is it serious? Did someone get hurt?”, asks Kwong, worried.

“Yes, and I'm sorry for everything.”, thanks Cecília, leaving her friend's house.

Cecilia checks if her friend is not at the front door. There are many people on the street, and it won't be easy to get out unnoticed. She looks for a tree to hide and beam out home, but a camouflaged demon catches her, and she can't run away in time. They vanish without traces.

At Kotidiano Magazine, Wellington is called to meet the new and temporary boss. He gets into the aunt's office room, turns on the light and there is no one in the room: “Where is this lazy one? Why did they hire someone who leaves the office empty? Damm it!”, complains.

Three hidden demons turn up, throwing a weak potion to delay Wellington's actions. He faints and goes unconscious.

“Let's take him to Dalia. She might be furious.”, says Aldra, looking at the victim.

“Now only miss six to complete our task”, remembers Basnio.

The three demons vanish, taking Wellington with them.

At Miller Manor, Sabrina goes back and forth to the hall trying to call her sister, but there is no signal: “Why don't you answer my calls? I hope Camila is fine... Should I call Luana?”, talks to herself and dials the 4PM phone number: “Lua, I can't talk with my sister and I just saw a demon taking Larissa with him.”

On the other side of the phone line is a demon impersonating Luana's voice, while the real one is trapped in a magic circle.

“You won't win this fight! They will come to save me!”, screams Luana, bravely.

“Unfortunately not, and you. Come with me!”, threats Dashax.

They vanish and leave the nightclub empty.

In Hell, the kidn*pped Destined Ones are trapped in a cage. Glaucio, Simone, Romero, Cecilia, Wellington, Larissa, and Luana feel uncomfortable.

“It is useless! Nothing works against this cage.”, complains Cecilia.

“Our only hope is the twins, Sabrina and Camila.”, Luana comments, dispirited.

“Sabrina saw me when they kidn*pped me. She must have already warned the others about the attacks and maybe they are all safe.”, comments Larissa.

“Yes, but how will they know where we are?”, Romero complains, hopelessly.

“Did you forget how the gleaming gift works? We think about the person we want to find and automatically we find them.”, Luana suggests.

“But in Hell, it is different, Lua. It takes time and somehow, they found a way to untraceable those who are good, like us.”, Wellington explains the difficulty of leaving the Underworld.

“Then how are they going to find us?”, asks Romero again.

“There are two options. The first one is to pretend to be dead and use a spell to summon them to us.”, Glaucio suggests the first option.

“And the second one?”, asks Simone.

“Sabrina has the gift of premonition, just like Romero and Luana. If one of you contacts Sabrina successfully, it will be a miracle.”, Glaucio answers.

“But we never did that before.”, Luana says, worried.

“There is always a first time and if you don't want to try, let me do this then.”, Romero offers help.

“I think I get what you suggested.”, Simone comments positively: “Imagine Sabrina looking through someone's eyes, Luana or Romero'eyes. When she realises where we are through her sight, she will know how to come here.”

The Destined Ones are amazed by Simone's interpretation and someone shows up at the same time as their little reunion.

“Look, Sabne! What a beautiful scenario. The Destined Ones were captured by me for the first time in Hell. Sooner I'll be recognised as the most powerful demon of all.”, Dalia exclaims, happily.

“And forever will be, master.”, agrees Sabne.