The Tale of Alexadra StormRider (part 4)
“Matt… Are you sure this isn’t a little… drastic?”
Matthew Fireshard, possibly the most impertinent pyromancer in the Spiral gave me a cheeky grin. “It is. That’s the point, Alex.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Only Matt could be so lighthearted in a situation like this. Not that being, well, bad, was something I wasn’t used to doing.
“We could get,” I had said to him, “in so much trouble for this,” – I emphasized the word so – “it’s unbelievable.”
“How else will we find out?” he had replied, jovial as ever.
I had sighed then, because, as reluctant as I was to admit it, he was right. Our friends Liam Dawnbreeze and Jacob Ravencloud – the twins – were being asked to do something for Headmaster Ambrose, and wouldn’t tell us. Matt and I, of course, were desperate to find out.
“Coming?” his voice was still upbeat.
I could imagine him grinning. I would have seen his smile if it wasn’t so dark – it was coming up to midnight, and we were standing in Ravenwood, alone. I breathed in and out slowly. “Fine.”
He shivered, pretending to be freezing, or I thought he did, from what I could see in the dark. “Don’t like all this cold lark.” As whiny as that statement would sound from anyone else I knew, he still managed to pull it off with a bright tone, and I smiled in spite of myself. He could make Cyrus Drake laugh if he put his mind to it.
Soon enough we were in the Commons. It wasn’t a long journey. “You know, we could just ask them… One more time…”
Matt gave me a reproachful look. “You know they won’t tell us.”
“Still…” I shrugged.
“This is the only way!” Matt was, for the first time, irritated.
“Fine.” I’d all but given up. “So, how exactly are we going to go about this?”
“I told you!” Matt was exasperated. “It’s not hard. We see if the door’s open –” I nod – “and if it is, we walk straight in and see what we find.”
“And if it isn’t?” I challenged.
“We can think about that if we can’t get in.”
“Why did I ever agree to this?”
“Because – in case you didn’t hear me last time – this is the only way. And who could ever say no to me?”
I rolled my eyes. Typical Matt.
“I’ll try the door,” Matt said, trying to be bold.
Headmaster Ambrose’s office was, for the first time ever, completely empty. There was no one there at all, and it freaked me out big time.
“So,” said Matt, almost seriously. “This could be a bigger job than I imagined.” He surveyed the room critically, eyeing the countless stacks of books that were, for once, still. I wanted to laugh. ‘Why am I even thinking about laughing at a time like this?” I thought. ‘I’ve just broken into the Headmaster’s office!’ The full reality of the situation had only just hit me.
“Matt, I don’t like this,” I said. Even I could hear the tremble in my voice.
“Don’t be such a wimp!” he replied, rifling through a pile of parchment.
“Matt…” He looked almost pitying.
“Alex, don’t worry about it. What could come of it except a detention?”
I took a deep breath. He was right. “Nothing,” I said, somewhat reluctantly.
“Exactly. So nothing to worry about. Well, except trying to find the dang thing. I mean, this place is so unorganized. Someone should get the Headmaster to clean up in here!”
I smiled again, all trace of anxiety long gone. I started to go through a draw, feeling slightly guilty.
“What’s this?” Matt said, quietly. I turned to face him and took the ripped parchment. It was really old, so rough it felt like it would disintegrate as I held it. I looked at the cursive script which was clearly written with a traditional quill.
Certain young wizards will follow the path,
Become the defense from powers dark,
Three from each side of the Magical Arts,
Balanced enough will they depart.
They'll walk streets unknown to wizards before,
To find their objects of ancient lore,
To help them fight fights on which the Spiral will depend -
But these only upon reaching the Questend.
The rest of the text was harder to read, because someone had clearly ripped the paper in half, tearing some words in the process. I opened my mouth to speak, but Matt was already there.
“I think it says something about two girls,” he said, his voice still quiet and almost cautious. I looked at it. The next line was torn almost all the way across but he was right; the words I could make out looked like ‘Two of the children are girls’, but I couldn’t distinguish anything further.
I nodded in agreement. It seemed like hours before either of us spoke again.
“I think we should go,” Matt said, slightly louder than before.
I nodded again. Had I lost the ability to speak? “What does it mean?” The words were out of my mouth before I’d thought about it. Apparently not, then.
Matt frowned at the paper again. Then he pulled a quill from an ink well on the desk and grabbed a piece of parchment from the piles of the crowded desk. “I don’t know,” he said. “But we’re going to find out.” He started to copy the poem out in neat print.
“Jake and Liam can’t deny anything when they’ve seen the evidence,” he continued.
“Wait,” I said. “We’re going to show them this?”
“Yes.” Matt was still copying.
“Why?”
“They can tell us what it’s about.”
I thought about this for a moment. Certain young wizards will follow the path. Well, it’s a prophecy, obviously. Three from each side of the Magical Arts. That would make one from each school, except Balance. Jake and Liam. Storm and Life. Different schools. It didn’t mean that they were the ones from their school in the prophecy. No, it didn’t make it certain. But no one could argue that it wasn’t a possibility.
“Do we need to?” I asked.
Matt looked up. “What?”
“Do we need to ask them?” I repeated. “If you think about it, they could be these… young wizards.” The phrase made me oddly reminiscent of the time when I’d first arrived in Wizard City; the time when Headmaster Ambrose and Gamma used to call me ‘young wizard’.
I heard a wheezy snore.
“You’re right,” said Matt thoughtfully. “It fits.” I wasn’t really listening. Why would anyone be close enough so I could hear them snoring.
“Alex?”
I motioned for him to be quiet. He realized what I was trying to tell him to do maybe a split second before I heard the soft hoot. Almost like the yawns I hear every morning when Nat wakes up.
Gamma.
Oops.
Matt looked confused until he saw my shocked expression. I watched the realization spread slowly across his face. I was the first to react.
“Get out!” I hissed, grabbing his wrist and sprinting towards the door. I opened it and pulled him into the Commons, where the sun was starting to rise. We’d been in there for too long. We didn’t stop running until we were half way through the Ravenwood tunnel.
I leant against the wall, Matt beside me, trying to catch my breath. I glanced at a grinning, if somewhat disheveled, pyromancer, brown hair all over the place and startlingly blue eyes delighted.
“What are you looking so pleased about?” I said.
“We made it out alive.” Matt’s grin spread and I felt myself return the smile.
“Yeah, no thanks to you.”
“Hey, I got the prophecy. Don’t get mad at me.”
That’s when I realized just how crazy that had been. I reckon we were probably the first students to have broken into Ambrose’s office.
“We’d better get back to our dorms.” For a split second, I could have sworn he looked almost reproachful, as though he wanted to stay, but his face morphed immediately into a somber expression.
“Yeah, poor Saffy will be getting worried.”
“I wouldn’t think she would wake up this early.”
“Oh. Yeah. You’re right. It’s sort of hard to tell in a tunnel.” Without any warning, I started laughing.
“Come on,” I said, pulling him along. He grinned at me sheepishly.
The minute we got out of the tunnel, we saw a distinctive red-haired tall woman in the distance. Matt went unusually white.
“Oh man,” he said. “Mom.”
Matthew Fireshard just had to be the son of Dalia Falmea.
“Go to your dorm,” I urged. He hesitated. “Quick!” I added, before running to my left and stumbling blindly to my room in the near darkness. I tried to be quiet, but I think I can safely say I’ve never been known for my gracefulness. Nat stirred in his sleep and I froze.
“Alex?”
“Shh Nat. Go back to sleep.”
“Why are you awake?”
“I had a bad dream.”
“Again?”
“Uh… Yes. Now go back to sleep. It’s late. Well. It’s early.”
Nat murmured something unintelligent as he rolled over and curled up. I heard his soft snores within a few minutes. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Sidequests…” he mumbled to himself. “Triton… Fireca… Mmrrh.”
Typical. Talking in his sleep again.
For probably the first time ever, Nat was the first to wake up the next morning. I was exhausted.
“Alex…” I had opened my eyes groggily to see a slightly puzzled Nat leaning over my bed.
“Oh geez,” I said, realizing just how late it must be if Nat was awake. I leapt out of bed and pulled on my robes quickly before dashing out of the door with a puzzled necromancer in tow.
Jake and Liam were waiting by Torrence as they always did. Nat had disappeared somewhere already – probably to Malorn Ashthorn to talk to him about the Death Blade quest.
I passed Autumn Willowbreeze, my adept friend, as I walked towards them. “Hi Alex,” she said as she breezed past me. I replied with a sort-of-friendly grunt. She frowned at me. “Speaking boy again, Alex? You spend too much time with that lot.”
That woke me up a little. “They’re my friends.” My voice was defensive, even snappy.
“Oh, don’t get all moody on me, Alex. Diviners,” she said, rolling her eyes as she went to join her friends by Blossom.
I was a bit put-out by her comment. Autumn was usually – well, just nicer than that. I frowned to myself. What’s wrong with my friends? I’d never really given much thought to who I quested with, let alone the fact that they were all boys.
Still heading towards Torrence, I was somewhat distracted by a whirlwind of pale blue and purple sprinting past me. “Kymma!” she was yelling.
That would be Saffy, Matt’s sister, my bleary mind concluded. I wondered how Matt was feeling after last night’s escapade. Most likely the same as me: as though I had been knocked over by a Helephant.
“Hi Alex!” yelled Liam, waving as he spotted me. I walked over quickly to join him and Jake.
“You’re a bit late,” said Jake, cautiously. “Aren’t you usually the first one here?”
“I overslept,” I said evasively. It wasn’t a lie, exactly. Then again, why was I thinking about lying when I had marched into Ambrose’s office in the middle of the night?
“No sign of Matt yet,” added Liam, somewhat dejectedly. I bit my lip to stop me saying that he was probably tired after last night.
“He’s usually here by now.” Jake was looking worried. I was all set to go and drag him out of bed when a disheveled figure in red and orange appeared.
“Hey!” Matt cried, adjusting his hat. “You guys!”
“You’re late,” I teased.
“You can’t talk, Alex. You only just arrived,” grinned Liam.
We had life class first, and without communicating, we automatically started walking towards the life school. A lot of the kids in journeyman theurgy were already at their desks when we arrived and tried to sit down at the back without attracting too much attention.
Moolinda Wu stood up at the front of the class, as usual, and at the sound of her voice the class fell silent.
“Good morning, students of Life,” she began, nodding pleasantly. “Morning is the time of all things fresh and new, and we can reflect these blossoming energies into our theurgy. Today, we will be practicing healing spells. Some of you may not know as many ways to heal as others, but all of you, at least, have the sprite spell, which we shall be focusing on today.”
There were a few groans. I mean, even I knew how to cast a sprite, and I’d only started learning life a week or so ago.
“Students,” said Moolinda Wu, frowning slightly, “mastery of the basics is the only way to grasp the next level of life.” The groans fizzled out like a storm spell.
Meanwhile, I was staring out of the window, too tired to listen. I knew I should be listening, but the rain looked so calming, so wet, and so peaceful. I wanted to go outside and stand in it. I wanted to feel the wind on my face.
“Miss Stormrider?” I looked up. Moolinda Wu was standing in front of my desk, looking slightly concerned. “Are you feeling alright?”
I nodded. “I’m fine, professor.”
Moolinda Wu seemed to think for a while. “Would you care to deliver these papers to Madame Falmea?”
“Yes, professor.” She handed me the papers and I set off towards the fire school.
It was cooling outside. I tried not to get the papers wet. Why had Moolinda Wu picked me to go outside? Perhaps because I was a diviner, and wouldn’t be affected by the rain like the theurgists. Then why not Jake? I shook my head to try and rid myself of the confusion. It didn’t really matter. What did matter was that I was outside and trying to deliver these papers before they got soaked. I ducked under one of Bartleby’s huge branches which stretched out above me, over the schools and probably further if I could see that far.
I began to wish I had a mount so I could get this over with quicker. Perhaps a dragon or a horse… Even a broom. Then again, I did adore the lovely soft seraph wings that sprouted out of so many theurgists’ and other wizards’ backs.
I think it was then that I noticed the paper.
Dalia,
I have considered some potential candidates for pyromancer of the prophecy whom I teach, and I think you should personally assess their pyromancy skills as they are showing much promise.
Alexander Swiftflame
Blaze Light
Malcolm Dragonheart
Scarlet Snowbreaker
Matthew Fireshard
And it was then that I wished I hadn’t.
More about the prophecy? Was this simply a coincidence? I realized then that I shouldn’t be reading the sheet anyway, but now I had seen it I was frozen to the spot in front of the myth school. Matt was in the prophecy? Well, he could be. One from each school. Liam would be Life. Jake would be Storm. Matt would be Fire.
All my friends were probably part of a prophecy.
I glanced around quickly to catch Cyrus Drake giving me a furious glare from inside the myth school. I decided to make a run for it and sprinted towards the fire school past a herd of novice necromancers.
I knocked on the door of the fire school before I entered a class of Masters. Feeling oddly out of place, I quietly left the papers on Professor Falmea’s desk before leaving without a word.
I walked back to the school of life more dazed than I’d felt when I woke up that morning. I didn’t hesitate to whisper chat to Matt – “We need to talk about the thing.”
“What thing?” Matt glanced at me, confused.
“The prophecy thing. There was something on that sheet I took to your mom.”
“Meet me in the storm tower after your storm class.”
“Okay.”
“Why aren’t you guys saying anything?” asked Liam, loudly. “You keep looking at each other like you’re both in on some sort of secret.”
I almost laughed at this. Those two were the ones with the secret. Liam must have seen Matt and I smirk because he frowned. Jake was concentrating unnecessarily hard on getting his sprite to perch on his arm like a bird.
“What?” Liam was clearly getting agitated now. “What is it?”
“It’s nothing,” Matt said smoothly. “Besides, what are you and Jake hiding?”
Jake looked up so suddenly his sprite gave a squeal and hid in his blondish-brown hair.
“That’s different,” he said, quickly. Liam nodded.
There was an awkward silence, which was only broken when I yelped when a stray sprite landed on my head. Matt sniggered as I tried to get it off me. The sprite tugged at my hair for a while, but it soon gave up and flew away, a few purple hairs still tangled in her wings. Thomas Deathsong, a necromancer a few levels lower than me, gave us a guilty grin, which I returned half-heartedly. His sprite then flitted over to a theurgist, who, with a flick of his wand, dismissed her. Thomas backed away so comically that Matt cracked up, and Liam, Jake, and I soon followed suit.
“Good old Tom,” said Liam. “Always messing everything up…” Tom looked a bit embarrassed.
“No offence, of course,” grinned Matt good-naturedly. Tom grinned then returned to his desk quietly as Moolinda Wu cast a somewhat disapproving gaze in his general direction.
Liam turned back to Jake, who was struggling to extract his giggling sprite from his hair. With a flick of his wand, the sprite squealed again and disappeared with a soft ‘poof’. Jake grinned nervously.
I couldn’t stop my mind wandering to that sheet of paper. I could tell that my sprite knew I was distracted – okay, so most sprites disobeyed me anyway, but this one was really brazen. She simply would not stay still. I sighed in agitation. After a night of nearly no sleep and a lot of strange events, my temper was already dangerously frayed. Soon enough, I was going to snap.
I dismissed my sprite and sat at my desk moodily. How was Matt able to stay awake? I was tired – heckhounds, I was totally exhausted. And really stressed out. Really, really stressed out. I put my head on the desk and tried not to focus on how much my head was aching.
Suddenly I felt a floating, peaceful sensation, what could only be magical energy flowing through my body from my head to my toes. I sighed happily, and looked up, headache forgotten and stress relieved. Liam was grinning down at me.
“Feeling better?” he asked lightly.
I nodded. “Can you do that again?”
“It wouldn’t be much use. Minor blessing isn’t much help anyway, unless you’re a little novice,” he said, looking sympathetic. “Which I hope you aren’t.” I smiled half-heartedly.
“I could try a unicorn, but it’s a little crowded.” My smile widened. I felt awake again.
“See you after class,” I whisper chatted to Matt as Jake and I turned into the storm building.
“Later,” he replied, somewhat dismissively.
Halston Balestrom was in a lively mood – as usual. “Good afternoon, students!” he (quite literally) bounced. “Do have a seat!”
Jake and I obliged, heading to a pair of seats near the middle of the room, getting out our books almost in unison as Halston Balestrom leapt excitedly across the desks in the front row.
“Any new level sixteens?” he asked, as he did every day in journeyman class. Jake and I had both been level sixteen for a few days already, so we had already received our Kraken spell. No one put their hands up.
“Well, that’s good! Now, today we will be doing a very much practical lesson!” Halston Balestrom hopped onto his own desk. “Everyone outside!”
A few necromancers groaned, but the diviners in the class, including Jake and I, rushed towards the door. Halston Balestrom hopped happily after us.
“Go practice your spells!” he shouted exuberantly, trying to keep the herd under control. “Whichever you like! Find your weaknesses, and remedy them!” He hopped onto the dock by Torrence, and pretty much left us to it.
I waved my wand happily, splashing Jake with a stream of cold water that I had involuntarily conjured up. “Hey!” he spluttered indignantly, shaking it out of his hair. I grinned sheepishly. He waved his wand in return and sent a jet of water into my face. My hat fell off.
“That’s not fair,” I said. “I did it by accident!”
“Well, so did I!” grinned Jake.
“You so did not do that by accident!” I flicked some more water at him and he retaliated with a Minor Shock that made my hair stand on end. I summoned a Thunder Snake and started poking it to get it to pursue Jake.
Autumn happened to walk past at that point, giving me a critical glance as I prodded my snake’s tail with my wand. She rolled her eyes as she passed us on her way to the life school. I remembered how off she’d been with me earlier and couldn’t help feeling somewhat annoyed. I was distracted from these thoughts by another Minor Shock.
Halston Balestrom hopped up behind Jake. “Please try not to use your spells on your classmates, Mister Ravencloud!” Jake blushed and mumbled an apology, but Professor Balestrom was already leaping away after a storm shark that had decided to take a trip through Torrence’s little river.
Halston Balestrom had let us out late after class, so I sprinted over to the storm tower as quickly as I could, grateful for its proximity. On the way, I, again, walked straight into Autumn.
“Hey, what’s the rush, Alex?” she said, trying to get me to slow down.
“Hi Autumn,” I said, trying to dodge past her. She grabbed my shoulders.
“Where are you going?” She didn’t sound annoyed, or uptight, just curious.
“I need to talk to Matt,” I explained hurriedly. She let go of my shoulders and rolled her eyes emphatically.
“You’re always hanging around with a gang of mucky boys,” she said, exasperatedly. I felt my temper rising.
“You know what Autumn? If you’re gonna be like that, then don’t talk to me. They’re my friends, and they’re a heckhound of a lot better friends than you are sometimes. You don’t have to criticize me.” I strode past her, still fuming, and walked into the Storm tower.
Matt was already there, as I had suspected, and was leaning against the wall casually. “Hey Alex,” he said. “You took your time.”
I sighed, my anger evaporating. “I got caught up.”
“Well, you’re here now. What was it you wanted to tell me?”
“It’s about the prophecy,” I said quickly.
Matt grinned. “You don’t say.”
“Well, your name was on that sheet that I took to your mom earlier. And some other fire kids.”
Matt frowned. “And..?”
“It was about the prophecy! Possible candidates for the pyromancer of the prophecy!”
Matt looked a bit confused. Then he realized what I meant. “So… I’m in the prophecy too?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. It just had this list of kids. And your name was on it.”
“So… I could be?” He sounded more baffled than happy. “Are you sure you read it right?”
“Sure.”
There was a long silence, where neither of us could think of anything to say.
“Must be because of my mom!” declared Matt, finally. He grinned.
“Nah, you’re good at pyromancy. You’re a natural.”
“Well, I have to say, I do have a feel for setting stuff on fire.”
I laughed, thinking of the plants he’d burnt in his Life lessons. “Too right!”
“So, up for a few quests in Krokotopia?” Obviously, Matt was back to his typically cheerful self.
“But of course,” I grinned, playing along.
“Am I right in thinking we have a certain Palace of Fire to start on?”
“You are indeed!”
“Shall we call on our twin friends to assist us?”
“We shall!”
I took this as a signal to whisper chat to Jake.
“Jake?”
“Alex? Where are you? You just disappeared after class!”
“Oh yeah, sorry about that, I had to… rearrange the dorm room. I got a few cool housing drops yesterday and I didn’t have time to put them down.”
“Oh, okay.” There was a pause.
“Do you want to start the Palace of Fire with us?”
“Um…”
“What? Don’t you want to?”
“I… We’re…”
“Busy?”
“Yeah, sorry.”
“With Ambrose?”
“Yeah, we’re—I mean, nooo.”
“Right. Okay. See ya.”
“Bye.”
Matt shook his head at me.
“They’re doing prophecy stuff for Ambrose.”
“I know, Jake just… Well, he didn’t tell me, but it was obvious.”
“Guess we’ll just start by ourselves then.” Matt was smiling. I grinned back.
“Their loss,” I added. Then I paused. “Race you to the Altar of Kings!” I yelled, sprinting out of the door.
“That’s not fair!” Matt cried after me, trying to catch up. Though we usually ran at the same speed, I was ahead of him, so I had the edge. I sprinted past crowds in the Oasis, splashing through the pond, and dashed into the Altar of the Kings to find Matt right in front of me.
“What?” I spluttered furiously, still out of breath from my sprint.
“I win,” Matt said, blue eyes glinting mischievously.
“You ported!” I cried, not angry any more but finding the whole situation hilarious.
“You didn’t say I couldn’t.” Matt’s face was practically split by his massive grin.
“Let me catch my breath, cheater,” I said, “and we’ll get going.”
I swear Matt didn’t stop grinning the whole time we were there.
“Phew,” I sighed. “If I see one more dog asking us to do a sidequest, I think I will start crying.”
“Well, that’s not great then,” said Matt, grinning.
“Wh—Oh no…”
Private Archibald was calling us over. “Young wizards!” he cried in his distinctive Marleybonian accent. “I wonder if you might be so kind as to help me out, here.”
I sighed internally as we agreed to help him out. He wanted us to use the well in the Oasis. “At least it’ll give us a break from Nirinis,” I muttered to myself as Matt and I teleported to the Oasis.
There were barely any people there when we arrived. Of course, what with the perpetual sunshine it was hard to tell what the time was, but when there are only a few dedicated adepts left, you can tell it’s getting late.
“I think we’d better be getting back soon,” I said. I was slightly concerned.
“Yeah, sure,” replied Matt. “We’ll just finish this off, and then we’ll get back. It can’t take too long to just turn in this quest, can it?”
“No, I’m just… Time conscious, that’s all.”
“You still don’t have a watch, though.” Matt grinned cheekily.
“Maybe it’s time I should. Krokotopia’s an odd place.”
We headed back into the Altar of the Kings and walked slowly up the stairs towards the Palace of Fire. It seemed surprisingly empty; usually the place would be crawling with initiates, journeymen, and even apprentices and a few novices who had teleported to their friends. Instead, we found no one.
We talked to Private Archibald quickly, telling him we’d finish off his questline when we returned tomorrow. “As soon as we get in here, we’ll come straight to you,” promised Matt, nodding convincingly.
“Jolly good, jolly good,” mumbled Archibald tiredly. It must be a tough job, standing there talking to journeymen and whoever else all day.
We wandered back towards the Oasis quietly, too tired to teleport. Something was different. Maybe it was how cool it was, or the way the Nirinis were walking. I didn’t know.
When we emerged into the bright daylight, we found the area almost completely empty. Only a few manders and Sergeant Major Talbot remained. He dashed towards us.
“I say, wizards, why are you still here?” he frowned. “Off you go, now. Back to Ravenwood!” He pushed us towards the Spiral Chamber. Matt and I exchanged a confused glance.
“Sergeant…” I hazarded. “What’s the time?”
“The time?” He sounded incredulous. “The time? You’re asking me for the time at a time like this?”
Matt gave him a grin. “Well if we knew what the time was now, we’d know what a time like this would be.”
“Crikey, haven’t you heard? Get back to Ravenwood!”
Matt and I looked at each other in confusion again as we were shoved in the direction of the Spiral Chamber. We started towards it.
“And if you don’t mind me saying, young wizards, get a move on!”
Matt and I grinned at each other and broke into a run.
The first thing I saw when we got to Wizard City was a flurry of blue and purple. Saffy.
“Matt! Matt!” she cried. At first I thought she was simply excited, but then I detected a sense of desperation in her child-like voice. “Come on Matt, mommy is so worried!”
“See ya, Alex,” he sighed before running after her.
The next thing I noticed was that Ravenwood was packed with students. Noisy students. Students who were clearly talking about something very big that had probably occurred very recently.
I glanced around for a familiar face, until I found Madison Lifesong sitting on a patch of grass in tears. She was one of Autumn’s friends, and as much as I was annoyed with Autumn at that point, I hated to see her upset. I leapt over the fence surrounding Bartleby and crouched down near her.
“What’s up?” I asked, quietly. She glanced at me and burst into new tears. I decided to back away.
I tried to find someone else I knew. I whisper chatted to Jake.
“Hey!”
“Look, Alex, now is really not a good time…”
“Jake! JAKE!”
He didn’t respond. I shouted in frustration, although I couldn’t hear myself over the noise of the crowds surrounding me.
I shoved my way through the crowds, trying to get to the dorms. Whatever had happened had nothing to do with me whatsoever. At that moment I could honestly not have cared less.
“ALEX!” I suddenly heard over the huge noise. “ALLLLLLEEEEX!!!” I whipped around, and sure enough, a hysterical Nat was running towards me. I hadn’t seen him this upset for a long while. He slammed into me with a force I wasn’t sure was possible for such a scrawny kid and continued sobbing.
I peeled him off me. “What is it, Nat?” I said, trying to be sympathetic. “What’s wrong?”
He sniffed. “Malistaire…”
“What?” I exclaimed, shocked.
“Aumnntnmmm!!” His wail was slightly muffled.
“What?” I repeated. “What? What’s happened?”
I waited as Nat pulled himself together. He took one long, last, deep breath.
“He’s got her. Malistaire captured Autumn.”
|
Wizard City: Secret of the Twins (Part 2)
I stood there afraid. If Malistaire defeated the Goddess of Light, then I wouldn’t be able to find the book. This was not good at all. I didn’t think. I yelled, “STOP!”
All the kroks and Malistaire looked at me. Malistaire lowered his weapon down and snickered at me. “Well, well, well! What do we have here?! Our little weak… wizard I should say. You were trying to escape me? I was going to find you anyways!” Malistaire spat at me.
“Yeah right! I know about The Book and you are NOT going to get it!” I challenged him. I knew I shouldn’t have done this, but it was the only choice I had. I had two choices, challenge him, or run off yelling HELP to the people in Wizard City who didn’t know what the book even was. Suddenly I felt as if someone were holding on my shoulder tightly, but calmly. I spun around and saw what I didn’t expect.
Headmaster Ambrose!
“Headmaster!” I yelled in delight as my eyes opened wide in disbelief. I looked at Malistaire and saw his face run cold. For one moment, it was as if… as if… well… there had been… fear in his eyes, but he quickly hid away the emotion.
“Ambrose, I see you have found the passage here,” Malistaire said coldly.
“I have known this passage since the day I had been created here in Wizard City,” was the reply of the Headmaster. “What?!” I yelled in disbelief. He had already known this passage? Now I had more questions than answers. The headmaster only looked at me for one short glance but looked away quickly again to Malistaire. I then noticed that behind the Headmaster there were his companions: Gamma the Owl and two wizards, probably grandmasters for the clothes that they were wearing.
Malistaire looked at me but teleported away (which upset me a lot!) and the kroks teleported as well. Why had he teleported away? I had no idea. I looked at the Headmaster again and found that he looked rather… pleased.
I then looked at the Goddess of Light. I walked towards her and bowed. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life. She looked awfully a lot like Malderine, but only her clothes had been different (which was a green dress that showed her form very well with sparkles all around it) and instead of her hair being blonde, it was an Orange Blonde.
“He… Hello,” I said nervously.
She looked down at me and smiled. The whole time while Malistaire had been pointing his wand at her, she had been arching back, scared, with her hands up ready for the blow that would end her life.
“Hello,” she said sweetly back at me.
“I have come here to ask you a few… questions I should say - and I hope that you can answer them for me for it is between life and death and the loss of the Spiral.”
“I know what you have come here for. You have come for The Book,” said the Goddess of Light rather charmingly.
“You know what I came here for?” I asked confused.
“Of course, for the Goddess of Light looks over all the Life Wizards. Then there is the Goddess of Ice, Goddess of Fire, God of Storm, God of Death, God of Myth and Goddess of Balance.”
“Wait; there are seven pieces of the sword though. How does The Book tell me where they are?” I asked her.
“You see, each piece of sword has its own poem in the book telling where it is. The Goddess of Light was chosen to take care of it, for my place is the hardest to fine.”
“So you have the book?” I asked.
“Indeed I do,” she said as she murmured something under her breath and suddenly the sun which was showing clearly in the sky, shined VERY brightly onto a certain spot in the ground. It was like a full minute for the light to disappear and suddenly there it was. It shined brightly with some of the sun’s energy blazing on it. I walked over to it and leaned down to pick it up. The book looked so magnificent in the sun.
As I picked it up I noticed how warm the cover was. The book was very plain really, but there was something… something… something I couldn’t catch about it. It had a brown leathered cover made out of oak and it had a picture of the Spiral on it. That was all.
I picked it up and to tell you the truth, it was heavy; I would have expected it to be 9 pounds. I am not sure (I am NOT good at measurements!) but I opened to the first page. It read:
With the Sun in the Sky, there lay a piece, shattered by the wind and destroyed by the beast, yet one was to hold it, to hold it from within, and it kept it alive from the evil passages from in, and this young Goddess known as The Light, shall never scare anyone from their own device.
was chosen to keep it.
I looked at the poem and then it hit my like the wind that blew on my face. ‘Goddess’ known as ‘The Light.’ Didn’t that mean the ‘Goddess of Light?’
I looked up at the pretty goddess and she gazed at me nicely.
“Are you the one in the poem? It says that you hold the first piece!” I asked to her shocked.
She looked at me kindly and said, “Indeed yes I do. I am the Keeper of The Book. Time never passes when you find a piece of The Sword. You have to remember that very clearly.”
“I will remember that, trust me,” I said honestly to her.
The Goddess of Light raised her arms and pointed West. I looked at where she pointed at and I saw like twenty objects coming from the horizon… very quickly. In fact, before I knew it (like 5 seconds after the Goddess of Light had murmured her spell) they went right over me! I had to duck. I then looked at the objects and found out that they were…
ROCKS?
Big rocks my size they were. They started to fly above me forming stairs. I looked at them curiously and as I was, I started to notice things a bit…weird. I don’t know how it came up to my mind but I took out my wand and it started to lift and float in the air moving from side to side. I then jumped but my action went slower than what it was supposed to.
“I get it,” I said. I looked at the Goddess of Light and said, “It’s a magnetic field!”
“Indeed it is young Odette. Now all you will have to do is climb those rocks and get the sword piece.”
“Just that? Nothing else?” I asked her curiously. I knew there must be something else than that.
“Get up the rocks now my dear child.”
I walked to the first rock. It floated right to my chest. How would I get up there? BINGO! Fly!
I jumped lightly off my feet, but for some reason I came to the ground again.
“When you unlock the passage to get one part of The Sword you can use no spells and you cannot fly. You will have to act mortal to get the pieces.”
No fair! How was I able to get a piece from The Sword when you had to act MORTAL! ItJUST WASN’T FAIR! I sighed and looked up at how high the passage was. I would say it was about 80 feet high.
I took a few steps back and I sprinted to the rock and I lunged. The rock started to float away from the other higher one. “Dang it no!” I said to myself. The rock was 3 feet away, then 4… I have to take the chance! I had no choice but to jump again.
I jumped.
I closed my eyes ready for the pain to come, but instead of pain, I came to the smooth layer of the rock. I opened one eye and afterwards the other. I was safely on board. It took me a while to get onto more and more rocks so they would stop moving when I would get onto them. After about 9 rocks I could easily step onto the taller rocks, yet the rocks were getting smaller. Not just physically smaller, but they were shrinking. I knew I had no time to waste and that I had to hurry up. I looked above me and saw that there were 7 rocks left to step onto.
I ran up the rocks as quickly as I could. Finally the last one was waiting for me to step on it. I started to take my step but the rocks shrunk to a size of a 3 inch radius button. I looked below me and I shrieked. This was awfully high! The Goddess of Light was just merely visible, but the Headmaster and the two wizards were like to small itty bitty points below me. I looked at my final rock and I stepped on it. I started to lose my balance. Suddenly the small rock started to twist backwards.
“By Life no!” I yelled to myself. When it reached to an angle of a cliff 120 degrees, I started to fall. Right when I slipped off the rock, I was very lucky to have been able to grab it and stay in the air. “What do I do now?” I yelled below me to the Goddess of Light sweating. There was a chance I was going to die here to try to protect Wizard City. I was afraid. Did I ever tell you that?
“It’s your puzzle not mine. I am sorry dear one, but I cannot help you in this one.”
I sighed and looked around me. I looked over me and saw only the sky over me. But wait… was that… ANOTHER rock? It was floating five feet above me. This wasn’t just some ordinary rock, but a humongous 3 story wide building rock! It started to float downwards and I took my chance. I swung myself onto the big rock safely. Phew! I was darn very lucky! Then I saw a shining object in the middle of the ‘rock field.’ It was as if it were a handle of… THE SWORD! I ran to it as quickly as possible. I picked it up once I reached it. It had a smooth oak wood for the handle. Only the handle was there. I didn’t expect it to be very long anyways for there were 7 pieces of The Sword.
Suddenly the big rock downwards. Of course I didn’t expect it so I stayed in mid-air for 2 seconds and started to fall down. Good thing the huge rock wasn’t going too fast so when I got close to the surface; I stood on it falling down. Good thing I was safely going to land.
Suddenly we hit hard ground. I gasped for breath and closed my eyes. “That… was… AWESOME!” I yelled in delight. It WAS incredibly awesome!
I stood up and found myself in the start with the handle of The Sword in my hand. The Goddess of Light looked at me proudly.
“You are indeed the Chosen One, my dear young wizard.”
I grinned but then my face went pale. The CHOSEN One? What?”
“The CHOSEN ONE? What are you talking about? I am just some ordinary Life Wizard! I am not even close to being some sort of CHOSEN ONE!”
“Come here Odette.”
I walked towards the Goddess of Light and she let out her hand. I caught hold of it and suddenly the wonderful field of beauty faded away. We were starring in the middle of darkness. Stars started to appear around us. Meteors and the Spiral planets started to show up.
“Odette LifeLion, long before you were born, before any wizards were created, before evil roamed the Spiral, my mother, the Goddess of The Earth, created The Spiral and the worlds that floated in it. She then created the Seven Keepers of the Sword. She knew that an evil young wizard was going to be born 334 years later after Wizard City was created that she could not stop.”
“Malistaire,” I gasped.
“Yes, of course Odette. So while she created the Spiral, she traveled along the universe looking for the child with the bravest heart of all. That was when she found you, Odette. You see, all wizards didn’t come from the Spiral, they came from a land called Earth and she picked out the people with the bravest heart. Then a fatal image showed upon her mind that 3 generations later after Malistaire was born, the bravest of all would be born. Do you know who that certain brave child was?” The Goddess of Light asked me. I then noticed that the images were changing to where it showed The Goddess of the Earth traveling across the universe coming upon Earth.
“Me?” I asked her doubtful.
“Yes Ms. LifeLion. She then couldn’t wait. She raced back to Wizard City and then she created the Book, her children and of course, The Sword. After that, when Malistaire heard of her plan, he raced to her home and killed my poor mother. Luckily my mother had handed me the book before Malistaire had captured and killed her and when he saw that she didn’t have The Book, he burned even more in rage. His life was in ruins and you probably know why already.”
“Yes I do,” I said to the Goddess of Light grasping the handle of the Sword even more tightly. She was referring to Sylvia, the teacher of Life that had died in Malistaire’s arms.
“Ever since then Malistaire has been seeking for The Book and once you were born, he knew his time was coming to an end. He had to get The Book soon. Over the past 11 years he has been looking for The Book, but just today when he found the portal, he knew where The Book lay. And that… was with me.”
The picture started to change showing Malistaire when he knew he was running out of time, when he found the portal and just moments ago when I had entered the portal and he had been pointing the wand to the Goddess of Light.
“That’s a terrible story!” I proclaimed to her.
“It’s the reality here in Wizard City young one. I can no longer help you no more. You will have to take The Book carefully. Keep it in a good place,” the Goddess of Life said making the book appear in her hands. She handed it to me and I hold it, still shocked about my destiny. Suddenly in a flash I was back in the portal lawn with the book in one hand and the handle of The Sword in my other.
Suddenly someone touched my shoulder and I spun around, frightened by the sudden touch. I noticed that it had been the Headmaster.
“Oh… sorry Headmaster Ambrose,” I said.
“It’s ok Odette. I can tell you want to ask me something. What is it?” the Headmaster asked me.
“How did you find the portal? And when?”
“That is not what you should be concerned with right now. You have to start to seek The Sword. You are our only and last chance for Wizard City to be saved.”
“Al-alright,” I said to the Headmaster.
When I had said the goodbyes to the Headmaster and the unusual two wizards as well as the Goddess of Light, right when I had turned to leave, a plant emerged to the ground and the Goddess of Light appeared. It was probably a short cut for her to reach a person.
“Yes?” I asked her urging to finally leave.
“Oh, nothing my darling.”
“O…k…” I said and headed for the portal once again. The Goddess of Light stretched out her hand and blocked my way with her arm. “Don’t trust what you seem you can.”
“What?” I asked her.
“Just remember that. Soon it will all make sense to you.”
“Alright, I won’t,” I said and the Goddess of Light removed her hand from my way. Suddenly snowflakes fluttered around me and everything faded away. Wind rushed directly at my face and I landed in my dorm, where I had wanted to go. There, on my pillow, Malderine was sleeping with her light shining less brightly than usual - probably because she was sleeping. I ran to my Chest and took out a lock I had bought in the Bazaar, I put The Book as well as the handle of The Sword in there and locked the chest with my secret code. What the code was?
LLLIIIFFFEEESSSCCCHHHOOOLLLIIISSSAAAWWWEEESSSOOOMMMEEE.
Take two letters off each letter that appeared and… well… I think that you can figure out what the code is. I forced myself to get into bed and put on my night gown. I slipped under the covers and went into a dreamless sleep…
As I fell asleep I realized for the first time in my entire life I WAS important to Wizard City.
This was an adventure that no soul could ever imagine.
This was a quest no one could control… not even the Headmaster, any wizard, professor, enemy, Malderine…
Not even myself.
|
The New Prophecy
Some people can see in the future. But I didn’t need that gift to know that with a half dead kid and ragged and torn clothes I was about to enter a world of pain. Using my broom, I had propped Blaze in the broom and was on my way to the Wizard City when suddenly a portal opened in my feet. I fell in, screaming. When I looked around, everything was tall and made out of bamboo wood. Then, I saw a girl about 11 or 12 leap of a bamboo tree like an acrobat and wearing a green dress with flowers all over it. Close behind her, 3 ninjas in black and white were right behind her. Then one of the ninjas threw a sword in the ground, and all the plants vanished and the girl lost her grip. She landed on the ground with her feet. The middle ninja said “Surrender, Eileen Lifegem!” Eileen closed her eyes and a seraph’s sword appeared in her hands. She closed her eyes and the sword glowed pure green. Then, about 16 rocks flew in the air and charged at the ninjas. Then Eileen saw me and attacked me. Instinct overtook me and I blocked her attack with my sword. I wished I hadn’t done that. There was an explosion and I was blasted to a rock and lost all vision. When I woke up I was in a bed made out of straw. When I was outside, I realized that I was in a balcony in a tree house in a green and warm forest made out of bamboo. The air smelled richly of fertilized earth and plant life. I turned and saw my wand and backpack. I tried to teleport but I couldn’t. Something was wrong. I focused on the house. As far as I could see there was no way I couldn’t be able to teleport. There were no spells on the room. Then I realized that since I just got up I needed energy to port out of here. Suddenly Eileen came in the room wearing a ninja suit. She had her seraph sword out, which was glowing a white hot green aura. I felt a cold numbing feeling from my hand. I looked down at my hand. There lay my sword which was engulfed in cold blue smoke. I tried to move but she held me down. “Oh, you are not going anywhere” she said in a cold stare. I stood up suddenly to knock her over. It worked. She fell down, her sword gone in a flash of light and sound of rushing leaves. I leaped up and grabbed my stuff and Blaze, who was still knocked out. I tried to jump out the window but Eileen hit me with a small green orb. It must have been a life attack since it was so painful to me. I crashed down on the bamboo mat. Eileen closed her eyes and a blast of green light burst from her body and she was suddenly was inside a green, transparent energy eagle. It was a spell that used your aura to give you amazing power to shape it into a energy of your own. Luckily, I had earned the spell when I defeated Krokopatra. I closed my eyes and imagined three black energy ravens my head. There was a flash of light and three ravens burst from inside of me. They unleashed pure blasts of etheric energy. Eileen’s avatar shimmered and vanished. She fell down with a crack. I took advantage and ran to her. She got up and grabbed hold of her sword, which materialized out of nowhere. She charged at the energy birds. She concentrated and unleashed a pair of seraphs. They slashed the birds, which vanished and returned to me in 3 jets of aura energy. Eileen leaped and with a powerful slash, disarmed me. I kicked her and grabbed hold of my sword and whispered. “I hope this works.” I leaped up and pierced Eileen’s arm! My sword then flew from Eileen’s arm and my hand. Blood was dripping from it. It hit Eileen with a cold blue blast that traveled from Eileen to the sword to me. I felt stronger but Eileen looked weaker. But then a different sensation overtook me. I felt invincible. I knew what was going on. The sword was turning me evil. I jumped up and kicked it. The bond broke and Eileen fell down, completely drained. I stood up but was too weak. I fell into the ground. The last thing I saw was my sword disappearing and 2 shapes approaching us.
When I woke up, I was in a bed surrounded by skulls and pillars. Eileen was lying on a purple futon cushion. Both of our swords were gone. Slowly she got up. Then suddenly there was a tremble in the ground. We were locked inside the tiny cell. Then I heard a shattering sound. Then a blonde-haired boy in blue clothes appeared.” What are you doing in there?” he said. “Oh, nothing just having a blast locked in here.” I said sarcastically. He smiled and took out an ice sword. He pointed it to the lock and it shot an icy beam. Then he just kicked it. The lock fell and the gate opened with a creak. “My name is Daniel Frostsoul. Yours?” “Wolf Shadowgem” “Eileen Lifegem” said the ninja girl. I looked around for my backpack. In an old desk I saw 3 tan backpacks. I handed Danny and Laura their backpacks and put mine’s on. Then, in the blink of and eye and black figure appeared in front of us. I recognized shape. It was Malastaire, my ex teacher of Death. “Well if it isn’t my favorite student, Wolf.” I looked at him with a look of pure hatred. I was a little novice when sank the death school down and almost killed me. Eileen then leaped behind Malastaire and shot a green energy orb. He fell down. She raced to the stairs in front of her. Danny and I followed suit. The ex- teacher yelled “William, get them! At top of the stairs a figure in black and red armor materialized. Danny groaned “Oh, perfect, Willy boy is here.” He took out a large sword twice the size of him. He shot a tendril of black smoke at Eileen. She was imprisoned in the black smoke. I concentrated on my sword and in a flash of skulls it was in my hand. I swung at William. He fell down and. The smoke disappeared and Eileen was free. There was flash of light and suddenly she had seraph wing in her wings. I followed her lead and took my bat wings out and put them on. I stretched out my hand to Danny. He grabbed it and we flew in the air. Then it struck me. Somehow we where in Dragonsypre. We went to the Basilica, where we raced to the Spiral Door. We opened the door and found ourselves inside Bartleby. We raced out, ignoring the looks of the confused wizards. When we made it to Merle Ambrose’s House. There the Headmaster looked at us and said “this is going to be some story I’m going to hear……………
|
The Shadow Saga
It was night in the commons. Morgan SpiritShade, student of Balance stood by the lake. Her pet, Tigra, a frost cat roared in fear. Out of nowhere, a shadow portal opened and something black was hurled at Morgan. She caught it."An egg?" she muttered. In that percise moment a banshee appeared from the portal accomapnyied by a sleder shape. The shape laughed manically. "Morgannnnn. Finally. Follow me. Your destiny awaits." A sudden flash of lightning as rain began. Morgan saw the face now. It was Malistare. "I am not joining you-you jerk!" Morgan stammered. He smiled and the dragon on his staff glowed as everything went black. The last thing she saw was the banshee's hypnotic eyes.......
I woke up, banging my head on a Balance shield.I looked around. Luckily I was in my dorm. Not the commons. I breathed a sigh of releif. Tigra jumped up on my bed and cocked her crystal head. "Come on Morg! Level ten peoples do NOT lay around and sleep!" she scolded. Oh, did I ever mention that Tigra refers wizards to 'peoples'? Yah, its kinda weird. A boom. I shreiked and fell from my bed. Still in my white spagetti strap nightdress.(Did I mention I am not skinny? I'm pretty big, soooo that nightdress wasnt the best choice...) Anyway, I changed into my Balance school robe(black with gold trim), matching boots and Bloomshroud. And in a tan POOF I teleported to Cyclops Lane.
Wolf slept on the cold,onyx floor. A roar. Wolf scrambled to stand up. He was too late, Maltistae's dragon saw him. "HUMAN!!!!GET UP!!!!!" it shreiked. It slapped Wolf in the faceand dragged him to Malistare's office. Wolf stumbled head over heels into Malistare's office. Malistare groaned and petted a creature so twisted with dark magic, Wolf couldnt make it out. "So apprentice. Late agian?" he spat. Sadly, Wolf nodded. Shrugging Malistre handed Wolf a scroll. "Do these deeds and return. I will let you get the areas when the war begins." he said and made Wolf dissapear outside the castle.
I used my balance blade and smirked."I have you now." I whispered as General Akillies passed. He only had 100 health left as I summoned my secondary school's snow serpent.It took him out in seconds. "YAY! After about 20 times I beat you! YAY!" I cheered. The kids locked up rolled their eyes. The storm girl snapped, "Took you long enough!" I glared at her. "Um, smart won, I am Balance. I'm weak to myth. DUH!" the girl growled and ran out to see Balestrom.I went back to the coroner, near Warhorns and rested, shuffling my cards.
Reading his scroll, his first task was to eleminate any wizard from RavensWood in Cyclops Lane. He nodded and teleported. The first few were easy. Level 6 or 8's. WOlf was a level 15 necromancer. Malistare said his second school was Fire. Every day, Wolf wondered what a school was. In a second, he was pulled into a battle with a groggy-looking Balance kid. Wolf breathed a sigh. At least she ain't Life he thought. In his daydreaming, a balence blad ewas summoned. A roar from the girl's frost cat. In a few minutes Wolf collapsed, heaving for air. How in the world djust happened? he thought as the girl peered over him. Then darkness.
|
Songs of the Spiral (part 2)
Jacqueline still stood in shock at the entire ordeal. She knew it would take a while to get over the fact that Malistaire just swore to sway her to his side. Well, her and just about every other death student. Jacqueline knew she would never join Malistaire, would she? She widened her eyes when she realized the answer was, ‘Maybe… maybe not.’
“Miss Nightsong? Did you hear me at all?” Ambrose asked.
“You said something? Sorry… I was having a mental debate,” Jacqueline explained. Ambrose sighed and looked down.
“I’ll repeat it then,” Ambrose muttered. “As shocking as Malistaire’s recent appearance was, we must remember that lives shall continue. Alura, Jacqueline, I would like to introduce you to Tara Griffinsong and Ryan Spiritsong. Ryan is a life wizard and Tara is a myth wizard.” So Jacqueline was right, Ryan was the life wizard.
“Hiya how’s it?” Tara greeted. “I’m sure Ravenwood’s gonna rock.”
“Ditto!” Ryan giggled. “Hey, when do I learn how to create a pretty unicorn? I’ve heard that life wizards can summon unicorns and fairies and-”Tara held a hand to Ryan’s mouth.
“Sorry, my friend never shuts up,” Tara explained. Alura turned to Jacqueline and motioned for one of their signature whispering conversations.
“So I say you take Ryan and show her around while I show Tara around,” Alura whispered.
“Wait- why am I, the death wizard, supposed to show the life wizard around. What part of ‘life wizards and death wizards don’t get along’ do you not understand Alura?” Jacqueline snapped.
“I figured that you’ll scare her and she won’t talk as much,” Alura explained. Jacqueline opened her mouth to protest, but then shrugged when she realized Alura was probably right.
“Fine, but when I come home more annoyed than what would be humanly possible, you’re gonna wish I was Tara’s tour guide instead of Ryan’s,” Jacqueline growled. Alura saluted and turned to the headmaster.
“Okay, since class is going to start soon, I’m showing Tara around, and Jacqueline is showing Ryan around,” Alura stated. Ambrose lifted an eyebrow in confusion, but abided to what Jacqueline and Alura decided.
“Well girls, class starts in about five minutes. I suggest you go there, and Ryan and Tara don’t worry, your enrollment will be quickly organized,” Ambrose told the four. The girls nodded and Alura motioned for Tara to follow her. Jacqueline sighed and motioned for Ryan to follow her.
“Ryan, just a warning, if you won’t shut up then I’m ditching you,” Jacqueline told her as they went through the tunnel to the Commons. Ryan nodded.
“Okey dokey!” Ryan replied in her ever-so-chipper voice. Jacqueline turned to Ryan with a slight glared and Ryan at once shut up. Jacqueline entered the Ravenwood tunnel after they spent three minutes in the commons, thanks to Ryan squealing at the sight of every pet and gawking at every level six and up wizard in the area. Jacqueline entered Ravenwood and rushed over to her next class. On the way there she told Ryan which school was which and then ran into an old friend. Jacqueline paused and looked to her left.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Malorn Ashthorn,” Jacqueline loudly told a boy in death colors facing the opposite direction of where Jacqueline was standing. “I haven’t seen you in three years.” Malorn turned around in confusion at first and widened his eyes and smiled.
“Hey, Jacqueline,” Malorn greeted as he ran up to hug her. “So, what school did you get?”
“I got life and we can’t be talking to each other,” Jacqueline said with sarcasm. “I got death you bonehead! Why else would I be wearing all black?” Malorn raised a fist for a knuckle-touch, but as they were going to knuckle-touch Malorn raised two fingers and purposefully missed Jacqueline’s fist.
“Snail!” he called out. Jacqueline started laughing.
“You remember that?” Jacqueline asked between laughs. Malorn nodded. Jacqueline rolled her eyes and giggled slightly. “So when’s Dworgyn coming?”
“Er… he’s out sick… again,” Malorn explained. Jacqueline rolled her eyes and knew that it meant he was merely busy in Nightside with useless things. “And I do mean genuinely sick. I saw him for myself.” Jacqueline formed her mouth into an ‘O’ of understanding. “So I’m teaching today.”
“That’ll be awkward,” Jacqueline giggled. Malorn nodded. Soon more students started coming and sitting on the grassy area where death classes were normally held. Jacqueline said her good-bye and had Ryan sit between Tara and Alura.
Hopefully Ryan would continue her streak of silence.
“RUN!!!!” Alura shouted. She saw Jacqueline yelling at Ryan to shut up while Malorn Ashthorn was sitting on the ground laughing too hard to be humanly possible. Alura was holding a painting of a wizard and Tara was running close behind. As soon as they came to where Jacqueline, Ryan and Malorn were, Alura and Tara grabbed Jacqueline and Ryan by the arm and rushed them into the storm tower. They all ran to the center of the room when Jacqueline stopped them.
“Alura what did you do?” Jacqueline asked.
“We stole Drake’s painting,” Alura explained. Jacqueline dropped her jaw and thumped Alura on the back of her head.
“You bonehead!” Jacqueline scolded. Alura ran to the back of the room which had three desks instead of the usual one due to the fact that renovations were going on in the fire and ice towers. The four of them hid behind the desks, but the first thing they saw behind the desks were three other wizards.
One had pale blue hair, pale skin and was wearing pale blue and white robes. Her blue eyes were gazing holes into Alura’s head. The second one had tan skin, blonde hair and was wearing red and orange robes. Her gold eyes were focused on the gold eyes of another girl who had purple hair, pale skin, and was wearing purple and yellow robes. “Who are you guys? What are you doing here?” the blue haired one asked in her quiet voice. The two other students turned and looked at Ryan, Tara, Jacqueline and Alura.
“What are we doing here? We’re hiding so that we don’t get caught by Drake,” Tara explained. “Alura stole his painting.” Alura smiled sheepishly and put the painting under a desk.
“Are you an idiot!?” the blonde wizard snapped.
“It’s possible,” Jacqueline snorted. Suddenly they heard a door open and they all remained silent.
“Are you sure they’re there?” the voice of a woman asked.
“Positive,” another woman’s voice confirmed.
“Well then what are waiting for?” voice one asked.
“The right moment,” voice two replied. There was a brief silence. “Okay, the right moment will come momentarily. Let’s get out of here.” The door then opened and then closed. Ryan sighed loudly.
“That was close, wasn’t it? It’s a good thing none of us are chatterboxes or else we would’ve been caught and that would be bad because then Jacqueline, those three other girls and I would have been in trouble and-” Tara put a hand to Ryan’s mouth.
“How much does it take for her to shut up?” Jacqueline asked. Tara shrugged and removed her hand from Ryan’s mouth. All seven of the girls came out from behind the desk and Jacqueline turned to the three other wizards. “Why are you guys hiding in here anyway?”
“Someone’s pet gobbler barfed on me, and then those two started fighting,” the purple-haired girl replied. “I’m Devin-” She didn’t get to her last name. Why? The earth started to shake violently, causing all seven girls to fall to the ground. They all attempted to stand up and lean against the curved walls, and all did succeed, just at different times.
When they all stood up they then noticed a huge crack in the center of the room. The next moment seven white wisps of air emerged and turned into the symbols of each of the schools. The symbols then turned to each student. As the ice symbol moved to the blue-haired girl, the blonde wizard shouted, “Kestrel!” The blue-haired girl gasped the moment the wisp of air went inside, yes, inside of her and then fell to the ground.
The same happened with the fire symbol and the blonde wizard. “Iridian!” Devin shouted. The symbol of storm spells then flew towards Devin and she widened her eyes. “Me,” Devin whispered before the symbol flowed inside of her and passed out. The life symbol flew in the direction of Ryan.
“Ooooh! Pretty!” Ryan squealed before the symbol flowed inside of her. She gasped and fell to the ground. Tara looked at the symbol for her school of magic in fear as it approached her. Tara tried to dodge the symbol, but it just moved with her and entered her chest. Tara collapsed without a doubt in sight. The death symbol started drifting towards Jacqueline. She widened her eyes.
“Perfect,” she muttered before the symbol flowed into her. She let out a grunt of pain and then fell to the ground motionlessly. Finally the balance symbol appeared before Alura and she knew what was coming. The balance symbol then began to submerge itself into Alura. She gasped at the immense pressure that came with the symbol. She saw her vision go black as she fell back against the wall. She heard a hard thud and then lost all of her consciousness as she fell to the ground. Right before she hit the ground she heard a faint voice shout, “They’re awakened.”
Then Alura Sandsong’s consciousness left her.
|
The SoulPack Chronicles
A giant shadow loomed into the room. Luna, my trusted packmate and danger hound growled. Her brother, Scout (a heckhound), was crouched, ready to pounce. A sick, twisted laugh. Out of the shadow loomed a banshee, accompanied by dragon minions. "Hello again Alurrrrraaaaa." it hissed. Scout howled and bit a dragon. The dragon hissed and launched a meteor spell on him. He flew nine feet back. "Scout!!!!!" Luna cried. The banshee laughed hysterically and launched a spell that made us be launched into the commons. "You are the part of a phrocey that will hurt the masssterrrr. YOU WILL PERISH BEFORE HAND!!!!" and the banshee summoned a storm lord. Power gained in its fist. Luna and I screamed as electricity attacked our bodies........
I woke up in my bed, Luna and Scout looking at me funny. "Come on wake up. Your supposed to be in Grizzleheim already!" Luna scolded, jumping down from my bed. Scout snickered. "Ohhhh. That wolfs gonna be mad at you...." "Quiet Scout." I snapped, running downstairs. My simple cottage was-well- simple. Okay, back to my rush. In Luna's teeth was my Robe of Everlife,Wolf crowl and boots. Scout barked and ran out the mini door. A blaze of tan and copper. My friend, Morgan SpiritShade, stood her ice cat Tigra next to her. Luckily I was already dressed. "Come on let's go!" Morgan snapped. In a blaze we both poofed.
Oh, I am ignorant! Sorry. Who am I? I am Alura MoonBreeze, Adept Thermaturge. Just learned Seraph too! My pets are Scout, a heckhound and Luna, a danger hound. They say I am in a phrohocy that can make or break the spiral. My second school is storm, due to my neculear reacter attitude. I have a thing with animals and plants, so that explains why Luna and Scout talk to me. I never have a class because Moolinda is afraid of me! She said that I have a aura so pure or messed up (can't remember) she can't stand it! She's lucky to even stand up when I enter to learn a new spell! So that out of the way lets go back to the story.
After beating IronSplinter, I came back home to sleep. There is when I had another spirit vision or so I thought.
I was in the common's lake. Everything was grey, navy blue or white. Luna wasn't there. Neither was Scout. "Hello?" I called. Nothing just some eerie howling. Wait eerie howling?! I love wolves, but didn't want to get eaten by them! Out of nowhere, a huge pack of silver and ice blue wolves came running at me from Golem Tower's entrance. Screaming i curled up in a ball postion. The wolves pants were on me yet I felt nothing. Getting up I saw they surrounded me in a circle. A woman with long black hair,tanned skin and flaming silver eyes wearing a dark green and white kimono walked up. "So. You are the new PackLeader of the SpiritPack." she said in a whisper. "Who ARE you?!" I screamed. Not shaken she responded cooly. " I am Sylvia Drake. Ex-alpha of the Spiritpack."
|
Songs of the Spiral
It all happened so quickly… my five-year-old mind could never register such events. The concept of the death of loved ones is hard for a young mind to grasp. Sure, I had a brilliant mind for a four-year-old… but it was still a naïve mind that had to be taught many, many things. I was sitting down at a table eating my Magic Charms cereal with my aunt Maria Sandstorm and cousin Alura Sandsong. It was a beautiful sunny day in wizard city… but then in five single, simple minutes my entire world changed.
My uncle, David Drakehammer ran into the room and said to all of us, “There’s been an accident.” At first I didn’t know it pertained to me, but he said that it was a blimp accident and I paled even more than I was already. My parents were in Marleybone to help thin out some of the rats. He looked at me and told me my parents, Jacob Swifthand and Mariah Jadeblood, were on that blimp. For the first time in my life since I was a little infant, I cried. (I was never one for emotion… and I am certainly not one for emotion today.) My cousin joined me and so did my aunt.
I, Jacqueline Nightsong, was never exactly the same again.
“Jacqueline!” the now 14-year-old Jacqueline Nightsong turned around to face her cousin Alura Sandsong. The spirited balance wizard tied her red hair into a pony-tail, looked at it in the mirror, and then took it out. Alura scanned the writing in the journal Jacqueline was writing in and rolled her eyes. “Stop writing about depressing memories and get ready for our first day of our second week of school!” Jacqueline rolled her golden eyes and shut her black journal. She put it in her black bag along with her wand, deck and pencil. Alura packed her tan-colored bag with school supplies and the two stood for a moment, saying nothing and showing no expressions of emotion whatsoever. “Ready to go?” Alura asked. Jacqueline nodded and the two girls walked outside of their house. Jacqueline took Alura’s hand and then the red-haired balance student teleported.
The very familiar stomach-lurch that came with teleported arose in Jacqueline’s stomach and the rush of wind or whatever it was that surrounded people as they were teleported from place to place was felt at once. The reason Jacqueline teleported with Alura was because she was pretty bad at teleporting. She always ended up in weird places. Like when she wanted to teleport to Ravenwood, she ended up on Firecat Alley.
Once the colors of a balance student’s teleportation faded, Jacqueline noticed that where the two young wizards were… it wasn’t Ravenwood. She looked around and saw that it was Golem Court. How did she know this? The headmaster was there with two students Jacqueline had never seen before.
“Nice going Alura!” Jacqueline scolded.
“Hey, don’t blame me,” Alura protested. “It’s not my fault.” Jacqueline, Headmaster Ambrose and the two unknown students gave Alura a blank stare. “Okay… it was my fault.”
“Alura, Jacqueline, since you were lucky enough to be teleported here, you can show these students around after I explain some of the school rules,” Ambrose instructed the balance and death wizards with a smirk. Jacqueline turned to Alura with a glare and thumped her in the back of the head.
“Unlike my dear cousin I’d be glad to,” Alura answered. All of a sudden a loud thunder was head and lightning streaked through the sky. A torrential downpour soon started up. “Alright, who’s a storm wizard?”
“I’m a life wizard,” the blonde haired wizard with green and white robes replied. She pointed to the dark skinned, brown haired wizard with yellow and dark blue robes and added, “And she’s a myth wizard.” The myth wizard gasped and pointed to the top of Golem Tower.
“I just saw a shadow up there!” she shrieked. Ambrose widened his baggy eyes and motioned for the four students to follow him.
“Come with me. I need to show those two around and you two could be back-up protection,” Ambrose told Jacqueline and Alura. The five magical beings walked into Golem Tower and everyone at once gasped at who they saw.
Malistaire Drake.
“Malistaire!” Ambrose growled.
“Ambrose…” Malistaire sneered.
“Ryan,” The life wizard hissed. Everyone blankly stared at her. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.” They quickly forgot about Ryan (at least Jacqueline assumed that Ryan was her name) and her awkward moment and the two elder wizards locked gazes again.
“Why are you here Drake?” Ambrose asked.
“Unfinished business I must attend to,” the dark wizard explained with a snicker. He smirked when he looked at the Ryan, Alura and the myth wizard. “Are these your three newest students? Pathetic little whelps…”
“What am I? Invisible?” Jacqueline asked. Malistaire looked at Jacqueline and for a brief moment his eyes flickered from mockery to confusion, and then disappointment.
“A death wizard? Excellent, powerful class. Pity your talents are being wasted for that old fool-” Malistaire started.
“Don’t you dare try to sway my students. Especially Miss Nightsong and her death wizard comrades,” Ambrose snapped.
“I don’t have any comrades besides Alura,” Jacqueline pointed out. Malistaire smirked.
“You didn’t help the argument at all Miss Nightsong,” Ambrose murmured. Jacqueline turned slightly scarlet and muttered an apology.
“Where was I? Oh yes. My henchmen will see to three of your students, with the exception being blatantly obvious,” Malistaire snarled. He waved his staff and two Draconian’s appeared before the Ravenwooders. “Who will fight my henchmen? I bet that these students know nothing about magic yet. Is it not their first day?”
“Actually, Miss Nightsong and Miss Sandsong have been here for two weeks. They just had a teleporting mishap,” Ambrose explained. Alura rolled her eyes and Jacqueline let out a few snickers. Ambrose motioned for the four students to come closer so they could whisper tactics. “Any volunteers?”
“I nominate Jacqueline,” Alura at once said. Jacqueline looked at Alura in shock. The other two shrugged and also looked at Jacqueline.
“Oh no,” Jacqueline silently groaned.
“Go on out there Miss Nightsong,” Ambrose instructed. Jacqueline sighed and walked near the dueling circle that was now forming.
“Bring it on?” Jacqueline suggested. Malistaire smirked and it was at once obvious that he wasn’t going easy on her. “Alura if I die then my ghost is haunting you for all eternity.” Jacqueline was now in her circle for the duel and wielded her wand.
“Who said you’d become a ghost?” Alura asked. Jacqueline glared at her cousin as she pulled out her deck. The round started and a clock began counting down above the dueling circle. She looked at her cards and mentally groaned.
“Sure, send a level six into a duel with two rank fours. That’s what all the smart Headmasters did,” Jacqueline snapped.
“You have detention after school if you lose this battle now that you said that comment,” Ambrose told her. Jacqueline groaned and decided to use her death trap card. The first Draconian went and used a frost beetle, and took 50 points of damage from Jacqueline’s 666. The next Draconian used a scorpion spell (Alura praised it, big shocker) and took another 50 points of damage. Jacqueline then used her death trap on Draconian A.
The next round Jacqueline grabbed her ghoul card and prepared to play it. Draco-A used a scorpion that took 90 points of damage from Jacqueline. The next one played a card, and a skeletal pirate arose. “Aw… not cool. You’re making me jealous. I SO want that spell… SO badly.” It took 105 points of damage, including her resistance to that kind of magic. Jacqueline then used her ghoul card on Draco-A, and since her trap was there, her usual amount of 160 damage points increased to 208. And she got a total of 104 health back, resulting in 475 points of health for her.
“Not bad young Necromancer,” Malistaire told Jacqueline. “You have potential.”
“Yeah, and that potential is going to fight alongside Professor Ambrose,” Jacqueline snarled. Jacqueline decided to use her dark sprite this round on Draco-A. Draco-A used a storm shark on Jacqueline resulting in a loss of 85 points of Jacqueline’s health. Draco-B skipped this turn, and Jacqueline wondered what it was planning. Jacqueline used her dark sprite and Draco-A lost 72 points of health. It was down to 170. “Um, headmaster Ambrose? Couldn’t you help out a little? He said you couldn’t join the battle, but could you at least give me a card that could wipe them out for me, because we both know I can’t do this since I’m a pretty bad dueler and a flipping level 6.” Ambrose face palmed himself for not realizing that loophole.
“Of course,” Ambrose replied. He gave Jacqueline two cards. A balance blade card and a meteor strike card. Jacqueline smirked and uttered a ‘thank you’ to her headmaster. Jacqueline prepared to use her balance blade spell very quickly. The two Draconians passed their turns, and Jacqueline stood with a puzzled expression momentarily. She then used her balance blade and waited for the two Draconian’s to pick their cards. The first one used a Minotaur, which took away 285 total points of damage total. Jacqueline gulped. The next one used it’s ninja pig spell, which not only caused shock to Ryan and the myth student, but also cost Jacqueline 104 points of damage, leaving her at a mere one point of health left. Jacqueline fell to the ground in the shock and weakness of her current state. She used her meteor strike card and prayed it would work. Her balance blade activated and increased the power of her attack. The meteors rained down on the Draconians and caused them to lose every bit of their health and then some. The dueling circle faded and Jacqueline fell back onto her rear.
“I see unicorns,” Jacqueline murmured in a weak daze. Malistaire looked from Jacqueline to Ambrose with uncertainty. Ambrose pulled a potion from his bag and forced it down Jacqueline’s throat. When she gathered her sense, Jacqueline jumped up and hit herself. “Images of unicorns… eww eww eww!” She then sighed and relaxed a bit. But when Malistaire came up and placed a hand on Jacqueline’s shoulder, she tensed up again. She turned to the dark wizard with a glare.
“You’re a strong Necromancer Miss Nightsong,” Malistaire told her. “If only your skills were on the right side. I could make you even more powerful than you could ever dream. All you need to do is set your mind to the right cause.”
“Like that’ll happen,” Jacqueline growled. Malistaire removed his hand from the fourteen-year-old’s shoulder and scanned her.
“Students, get behind me while I take care of Malistaire,” Ambrose instructed them.
“Another time old man,” Malistaire scoffed. “I have what I came for. Oh, and be certain that I will sway some of your students to my, uh, cause eventually.”
“YOU’LL NEVER TAKE ME MALISTAIRE!!!” Ryan shouted. Malistaire looked at her in shock and mouthed, ‘what?’
“I wasn’t talking about you!” Malistaire snapped. He turned to Jacqueline, who in return hid awkwardly behind Ambrose. “She will join me; you can be assured of that.” And with that he teleported away. Everyone stared blankly at the spot where the most evil wizard of all time once stood, and after five minutes Alura was the only one with the nerve to speak.
“Weird.”
|
A Not So Great Tale (part 2)
I starred in shock at the old man.
"I'm a pyro!!!!," I asked in shock
The woman in the fire dress responded, "Don't be ashamed Sydney, being a Pyromancer is something to be very proud of."
I looked at the woman and she smiled at me.
"Okay I have a few questions first. First- Why are you in the teachers bathroom?"
"Ah yes," the old man said, "We had no other ways of teleporting and let me just say, it's not the most pleasent thing in the world."
I almost started laughing!!!! "So you.... You... You came in through the toilet!!!!!!??????"
I bursted out laughing and the old man just stood there nodding.
After I calmed down the woman in the flame dress (I found out here name was Professer Falmea) offered my hand, and the rest of the people joined hands also. The old man started mumbling a few words and soon the room started spinning and I went deaf, pretty soon I passed out.
I woke up in a very soft bed, almost as if it were woven out of the softest leaves in the world. I took deap breaths and looked around.
The first thing I saw was green. I mean the ENTIRE room was green!! All of it!!! I starred at the wallpaper puzzled, it looked like it was made out of leaves.
Slowly I put my legs at the edge of my bed and hobbled up. I immediatly collapsed and struggled to get up again.
I could not.
My breathing quickened and my pulse went higher and higher. I struggled to remain calm but with no success. I tried to call out but felt that I had lost my voice. I crawled forward, inching ever so little.
I was determined to reach that wallpaper! I had to know what it was made out of! I know it was a weird thing to want to do when in pain, but I got a feeling that it was very important. After about 2 hours I had finally ventured a total of 2 feet and reached out for the wallpaper.
The first thing I felt was warmth.
The second thing I felt was a taste of honey in my mouth.
And the last thing I felt was leaves.
My body suddenly was energized and I felt warmth all over! Slowly I stood up with ease. It was the most exciting feeling in the world! I laughed and laughed. Slowly I took my hand off the wallpaper.
I collapsed again.
My strength was completely drained.
I couldnt stand without the wallpaper! I started panicing again until I heard the door slowly open.
Standing in the door was a cow.
I was so shocked that I curled up into a little ball and tried not to be noticed.
The cow dropped the plate of food she was carrying and ran to my side. This cow smelled like sweet honey and it soothed my nerves.
"What.........Is..........This..........Place?," I managed to croak.
The single word brought sorrow and joy.
"Ravenwood," the cow replied.
|
Supercharged in the Eyes of Four Wizards
My name is Rowan Desertrider, and this is my story. I was walking home from school, sulking. Why, you ask? Because my friend David had been accepted into Ravenwood school of magic and I still hadn’t. Everyone else at school didn’t believe him, but I did. It sounded like a wonderful place. I sighed. Suddenly, I heard a sound behind me, but it was just a squirrel scurrying into the bushes. I turned around and started to walk home when I noticed someone standing next to my mailbox.
He was wearing black armor with dragons printed on the sides. He was also holding a sparkling sword. “Hello, my name is Andrew Deathbringer and you have been accepted into Ravenwood School of magic.” He said, taking out a piece of paper from his robe. “Just sign here and you’ll be accepted.”
I just stood there, stunned. “Wait, I got accepted?” I asked.
“Yes… is there a problem with that?”
“Well, um, no, but doesn’t Professor Ambrose come and introduce students himself?”
“Hmm, no, everyone expected him to do it and he got really tired after a while.”
“So I just sign the paper and I’m in the school?” I asked, still bewildered. “What if I don’t sign?”
“Well then I just erase your memory and you go on with your normal life.” Andrew said. “Although I’m not sure why you wouldn’t come, nobody has ever refused.”
“No, I was just checking.” I said. I took the piece of paper and the pen and signed my name on the bottom. “Ok, so now what?”
Andrew smiled. “Now you take my hand and I teleport you to wizard city.” Then he grabbed my hand, and everything went black.
I blinked my eyes a few times, and the darkness cleared up. I studied my surroundings. There was a tattered looking book on a pedestal, a kind of lamp in the middle of the room with giant spiraling clouds of various colors and bubbles with places in them.
“Whoa, what is this place?” I said to myself.
“This is my office,” said a voice from behind me.
I turned around and faced an old looking man wearing a starry robe and matching hat. “Oh, you must be Professor Ambrose,” I said.
“Yes, that would be me,” said Professor Ambrose. “Now I have much work to do, so let us make this quick. Take that book off the pedestal and answer the questions. They will determine what type of wizard you are.”
I took the book and answered all the questions. “Now what?” I asked intriguingly.
“Well it seems you’re a balance wizard, congratulations!” said Ambrose. “Here are your wizard clothes and your wand. Please change in the dorm rooms.” And with, that Professor Ambrose teleported away with a flash.
I exited out the door and saw hundreds of wizards running around. “This must be the commons place David was talking about,” I whispered to myself. There were lots and lots of houses, a lake and a statue in the middle of it. I wandered around until I found a large building. The sign on it read the Library.
I walked in and found a dog sitting at a desk. “Whoa! A dog as a librarian!” I exclaimed.
“I prefer Marleybonian, not the earth term,” the dog said. “My name is Harold Argleston; can I help you with anything?”
“What do you do in here?” I asked, looking around.
“Well, you either check out books or you can buy from my collection of treasure cards.” said Harold.
“What are treasure cards?” I asked.
“They’re basically like one time use cards only slightly stronger,” said Harold. “Would you like any?”
“Hmm.” I studied the cards. I pointed to one with a shark drawn on it, “Hey this one looks familiar.”
“Yes, that’s storm shark. Quite the powerful card, but inaccurate,” said Harold quizzically.
“I’ll take 3,” I said.
“For you, that will be 450 gold,” said Harold.
I reached into my pocket, then I realized I didn’t have any wizard gold. Maybe there’s some gold in my wizard clothes, I thought. I reached into them, and pulled out a brown bag. Inside the bag was a pile of gold.
“How much is this?” I asked, dumping the gold on the counter.
“From what I can tell, you have 1000 gold here. I’ll just take 450 pieces,” Harold said.
After Harold had taken his gold and I put mine back into my bag, he handed me 3 gold cards with sharks drawn on them.
“Awesome! I got my own cards!” I exclaimed.
“Hmm, you don’t have an eye lens,” said Harold.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“An eye lens is something you put on your ear. It allows you to see the damage cards do, you enemies status, and you can talk to friends with it. It’s the latest in marleybonian technology,” explained Harold. “I think I have a few here, but they cost 500 gold each.”
“Here, you can have the rest of it.” I said.
“Well now, you’re quite the generous young man,” said Harold. “Here is your eye lens.”
I put the eye lens on my ear and it immediately started beeping.
“You have a message from Professor Merle Ambrose,” said the eye lens in a cool female voice. “He is patching in now.”
“Where have you been young student?” exclaimed Professor Ambrose. “You must still be enrolled in Ravenwood School!”
“Oh, oops.” I said. “Got to run, thanks for the treasure cards Harold!”
“Anytime.”
I stuffed my treasure cards into my wizard robes (I would put them on later) and dashed out of the library. I made my way across the commons and into Professor Ambrose’s office.
“First thing we need is for you to decide your wizard last name.” said Professor Ambrose when I was in the office.
“Well I kind of like Rowan Desertrider.” I said.
“Very well, then you shall be called Rowan Desertrider from this day forth,” said Professor Ambrose. “Now here are your enrollment instructions, and this letter must go to Unicorn Way. If you need a reminder, check you spellbook in the quest journal section. Now off you go.”
I walked out of the office, feeling confused. I decided that I would go get enrolled first. I was walking, when I bumped into someone.
“Oh I’m sorry.” I said, helping the girl up.
“It’s not your fault,” she said. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“Hey, do you know the way to Ravenwood School?” I asked.
“Yeah it’s right over there.” she pointed towards a tunnel. “By the way my name is Sarah Willowleaf. What’s yours?”
“Oh I’m Rowan Desertrider.” I said. “I’m going to be the greatest wizard ever!”
“Hmm, I’ll keep that in mind.” Sarah said.
“Well, thanks again, bye!” I said, racing towards the tunnel. When I got out I was facing the biggest tree I had ever seen.
“Well that’s wizard city for you I suppose.” I said to myself. I walked around the entire place, even around that creeping death school rift, but couldn’t find the balance school. I found myself back where I had started.
“Where is that balance school?” I wondered out loud.
“There is no balance school,” said a voice from behind me.
I turned around and saw a dog in a suit with a few suitcases next to him. “Who are you?” I asked him.
“My name is Arthur Wethersfield, and I am the balance instructor here at Ravenwood,” he said. “You see I learned the art of balance, also called sorcery, in another world called Krokotopia. The true balance school is there.”
“Cool! So what can I learn?” I asked.
“Well, all novice wizards must start small and work their way up.” Arthur said. “So here you go.”
Arthur handed me some cards. I looked at them and a kind of beetle was drawn on them. I turned on my eye lens and saw they were called scarabs and they did 65-105 damage.
“Awesome! At this rate I’ll catch up to my friend in no time.” I said. “Oh yeah, Professor Wethersfield, where can I find a school with lots of damage? Not saying that balance is cool and all, just as a secondary school.”
“Well if it’s damage you want, you should look at the storm school,” said Professor Wethersfield.
“What about the second best?” I asked. “My friend is storm and if I became the best with storm as my second he’d take some credit.”
“Ah, well then look to the fire school; it’s the one with the burning tree.”
“Oh yeah, I think I passed that earlier. Thanks Professor.” I said, running off.
I passed the ice school; shivering as I passed, then saw the burning tree. The fire school was awfully close to the death school rift, I noticed. I shuddered as I remembered the pitch darkness of the death school rift.
The fire school was very impressive with lots of desks and a magical chalkboard. I walked up to the professor and she noticed me and began talking.
“Hello, my name is Dalia Falmea, and I am the fire instructor at Ravenwood. May I help you with something?”
“Yeah, I was wondering if I could start fire as my secondary school.” I said.
“An excellent choice,” said Professor Falmea. “Here are your cards.”
I looked down at my new cards with my eye lens. They were called fire cats and did 80-120 damage.
“Sweet, I’ll have my friend beaten in no time.” I said to myself. “Thanks for the cards, bye!”
I walked around the commons for a bit, wondering what to do. Then I noticed all the wizards were gone.
“Hmm, where did everyone go?” I wondered out loud.
“Didn’t you hear?” said a voice from behind me. “Classes start in 5 minutes.”
I turned around a faced a wizard dressed in armor-like clothing, dyed orange, and a sword. A 3-headed hydra was walking around him.
“Who are you?” I asked. “And why aren’t you in class?”
“Both are good questions, but I’m only going to answer one,” he said. “I am a grandmaster, so I don’t have to take classes anymore.”
“Oh ok then.” I said. “Well good luck with whatever grandmasters do.”
I raced back into Ravenwood, and saw a large crowd around Professor Wethersfield.
“Ah, you’re just in time,” said Professor Wethersfield. He looked at the entire class now. “Today if you are new, congratulations for being accepted. If you have taken this class before, it will be good review. Now today I will teach you how to draw the balance sign. Focus your energy toward the power of balance and begin to draw. If you let out your energy too early or too late, the spell will fizzle. Now practice.”
With that said, Professor Wethersfield let the students to work. I concentrated and began to draw. I waved my wand and I drew a line of orange. Bewildered, I tried waving my wand in other directions. The orange line went wherever my want went. I laughed, feeling how easy this was. Then I felt a surge of weakness. I crouched down and fell over. I got up again, feeling tired.
“This is a great example of spending your mana too quickly,” said Professor Wethersfield. “If you draw carelessly and scatter your mana all over the place, you will get very tired. Instead try to concentrate your drawing into this symbol.”
Professor Wethersfield drew a very complicated looking balance, and then tapped the symbol with his wand and a hydra appeared out of nowhere.
I clapped with the rest of the classmates, and then set to work. I focused again and tried to draw the symbol.
After a rigorous class, I decided to go off and do some quests. So I went along to Unicorn Way to deliver that letter. I was in a cheerful mood, partly because I met my friend from earth, David Stormweaver. Even though he’s an initiate and is a lot higher level than me, he promised he would help me on my quests.
I handed the letter to the guard and he let me in. There I met with Private Connelly, and he gave me a quest to defeat 3 haunted minions. I assumed those were some kind of enemy monsters, and I headed off into the streets. I soon saw some strange looking ghosts that matched my description of haunted minions.
I learned to draw a dueling circle in my class, so I drew one and entered. 3 lost souls followed. I was slightly surprised. I had been expecting things to be easier here, then become more difficult. When the battle started, I used my eye lens and saw their health. 300! That was almost as much as mine. I decided to call David and ask him what was going on.
“Hey David, I’m on Unicorn Way and in this harsh battle.” I said.
“It’s nothing to worry about, you’ll win easy,” he replied.
“Are you sure the enemies come at you 3 at a time?”
“What are you talking about? Only on tough boss fights do the enemies come at your 3 at a time.”
“Well these are, and they have 300 health.”
“Wait a second, I have to finish this fight. I’ll be there soon.” And with that, David disconnected.
I waited, then realized I could prove myself by winning this. This could help me become the best wizard ever!
“Bring it on lost souls!” I screamed.
The first turn I drew my storm shark treasure card, and then attacked one of the minions with my wand attack. Each of the lost souls passed their first turn. On the second turn I drew my second treasure card and wand attacked the weakened one again. Again each of them passed. On the third turn I attacked a full health one with storm shark. The spell hit, and the haunted minion fell screaming into the earth. I waited 3 more turns, then casted my second storm shark. A second lost soul fell with a scream. I smiled. I was going to win, I knew it.
Then it hit me. The haunted minion casted a huge ice giant that hit me with stinging ice shards. I was knocked down, but got up quickly. I looked at my health in my eye screen. I was at 20 health, not good. Then David teleported to me.
“Hey, did I miss any fun?” he asked. Immediately another haunted minion joined the battle. This one though was only at 50 health. “Hey there are only 2 left. Wait, that one has 300 health, so that means you weren’t lying?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course not.” I replied. “If I was lying I wouldn’t sound scared to death.”
“But how did you beat 2 300 health of those things?” David asked.
“Let’s just say I like to use treasure cards.” I said. “Now can you take down that one?”
“Sure.” David said. “You take the 50 health one though.”
I easily took down the haunted minion with my scarab. David waited a turn then casted lighting bats, frying the other haunted minion to a crisp.
After the battle stopped, I noticed in my lens screen that I had gained 2,000 gold!
David seemed to have the same thing. “Whoa that’s a whole lot of gold for one battle,” he said. “But first let’s report this to Professor Ambrose.”
“You go ahead, I need some rest after that fight.” I said, yawning. David and I then teleported away.
After a bit of rest in my dorm room, and finishing my haunted minion quest, I received a call from Professor Ambrose saying I must report to his office immediately. I walked to his office, and knocked on the door. David opened it and I went inside.
“Now I want you to tell me all you can about these strange creatures,” said Professor Ambrose. “Don’t leave out any detail.”
“Well, they looked exactly like haunted minions, only they joined 3 at a time and casted really powerful spells, and they had 300 health.” I explained. “Wait, I think I have a piece of their robe here.” I reached into my pocket and brought out a shimmering piece of cloth.
“Hmm, I will need some time to examine this, but for now you 2 both continue on your adventures,” said Professor Ambrose.
“But Rowan is way too weak for Triton Avenue,” said David.
“Hmm, you’re right,” said Professor Ambrose. “Here Rowan, take this.”
Professor Ambrose handed me a crystal shimmering with rainbow color. “It’s an experience crystal,” Professor Ambrose explained. “Only professors or headmasters can pass them out. They are set to give you a certain amount of experience when you tap it with your wand.”
I immediately tapped my wand against it. I felt a surge of strength, then looked at my level in my eye lens. I was now already level 6!
“Now head on to your classes, there is much to learn,” said Professor Ambrose. “While I examine this strange piece of cloth.”
After a while of learning scorpion and fire elf, and doing a class quest for balanceblade, I decided to try out Triton Avenue. David was already at the entrance as I walked in. After we both walked through the tunnel, I casted my first glance on Triton Avenue. It was a gloomy place with lots of undead roaming the streets and lots of clouds rolling in the sky.
“Ahh, paradise,” said David from behind me.
“You aren’t annoyed by the clouds and all the water?” I asked.
“Nah, I’m a storm wizard, and we love that kind of thing,” said David.
“Well, in that case, let’s win some battles together!” I exclaimed.
“Actually in your case you’ll be working on this end of Triton Avenue,” David explained. “I’ll be working on the far end all the way over there.”
David pointed to an overhanging cliff with a waterfall spewing over it.
“How do you get over there?” I asked.
“You take a teleporter. They’re circular green panels that you step on and they teleport you away. Now I’m going over to the far side, you stick to this side.”
With that said David ran across the street and disappeared from sight. I walked around and found someone named Susie Gryphonbane. She gave me a quest to talk to Duncan Grimwater who was just nearby. I talked to him and he gave me a quest to defeat a whole lot of undead. I ran around and drew a summoning circle that attracted a haunted minion. Some other people joined, and I got 3 new friends. After the battle I decided to defeat some rotting fodder.
“Hmm, there’s not rotting fodder here.” I said to myself. “Maybe there’s some on the far side of Triton Avenue.”
I walked until I saw a large lake in the middle of the street with bridges connecting the street together. I saw the green panel that David was talking about so I stepped on it, and was instantly on top of the cliff. I met someone named Blad Raveneye who wanted me to collect things from scarlet screamers.
“I’ll get on it after I defeat some undead.” I told him.
I walked around and saw a group of rotting fodders. I drew a dueling circle and 3 of the joined. This is starting to look familiar I thought to myself. I looked at their health, and sure enough they had 400 health.
“Hey David,” I said through my eye lens. “There are 3 rotting fodders with 400 health here. I may need some help.”
“Just a second, I’m in a battle with some scarlet screamers.” David said. “They have 500 health each and aren’t looking too friendly.”
I’d like to help my friend, but I had bigger problems. On the first turn I drew my last storm shark treasure card. Each rotting fodder passed. I casted a scorpion on my second turn and struck a rotting fodder down. Then I used my wand attack on one of them and cast a scorpion on the weakened one. It fell to the group in a pile of green slime. I didn’t celebrate just yet, both other rotting fodders were at 4 pips and would attack soon. I passed 2 more turns and cast my storm shark at the other weakened one. He fell to the ground in a pile of green slime too.
“Hey, Rowan.” David said from my eye lens. “When you’re finished with those rotting fodders would you mind a little help!?”
“I’m trying, but these guys are really tough too.” I said through my eye lens.
I attacked with a fire elf, but the rotting fodder didn’t seem too fazed by the fire. In fact I could almost see him smiling. It was his turn now and he cast a spell I had never seen before. Giant waves went everywhere with lots of rain and wind. I looked through my eye screen and saw the spell name was Tempest. After the storm wore off, I looked at my health. It was still pretty healthy at 131. I waited a turn, then cast another scorpion, defeating the last rotting fodder.
I celebrated for a few seconds, then ran back to the sidewalk. I decided to drink my potion I got from completing Unicorn Way, then teleported to David.
Immediately I noticed David’s health was a 128. Then I noticed I had attracted another scarlet screaming into the battle that was bigger than all the rest. Last, I noticed I was out of treasure cards.
“Finally,” David sighed a breath of relief. “I hope you brought you’re a-game.”
“I always bring my a-game.” I said. I noticed David had beaten off 2 scarlet screamers, leaving one normally super powerful one and the ultra powerful one I attracted. “I got the big one.”
David immediately casted a pixie healing him back up to 528 health. I waited a turn before casting a scorpion on the big one. It dealt 200 leaving 600 health left.
“Hah, you will never defeat me with Orrick’s power!” shouted the scarlet screamer.
“What’s an Orrick?” I asked curiously.
The scarlet screamer just laughed. I looked at David. David just shrugged. It was my turn again, and I was just about to attack when the circle shifted to the scarlet screamer.
“Hey! That’s cheating!” I exclaimed. “You can’t take away someone’s turn!”
“Oh boo hoo hoo,” said the scarlet screamer. “Do you want your mommy now?”
The scarlet screamer casted a spell I had never seen before, and a Minotaur with 700 health joined the fight.
I had seen a person cast a Minotaur in a duel before, but nothing like this one. This one had black hair, crazy red eyes and a huge, pitch black axe.
David wailed painfully, and I dug through my pockets in desperation. Surprisingly I found a card in there. In my eye screen I read beguile. I shrugged, it was worth a shot.
On my next turn I casted beguile on the Minotaur. Immediately it switched to our side, then its features started melting. After a few seconds it looked just like a normal Minotaur again.
“Thank you,” it said in a low gruff voice.
“Whoa, you can talk?” I asked.
The Minotaur laughed. “A lot of creatures here can talk. I am forever grateful for setting me free from Orrick’s binding spell. I will serve you with my life.”
As the Minotaur said that, he shrinked, stepped out of the battle circle and stepped by my side.
“Oh I get it, you’re some kind of pet.” I said.
The Minotaur just nodded.
“You can’t speak in pet form?”
The Minotaur nodded again.
“Well let’s finish this!” I shouted. “Ready David?”
David looked up, “Hey, where did you get that pet minotaur?”
“I’ll tell you later.” I said. “Right now let’s finish this.”
David nodded. I looked at my cards. There was a Minotaur card costing 3 pips among them. I guess that was what my new Minotaur pet did. I waited, while David finished the scarlet screamer off with a storm shark. Then I casted my Minotaur card. The same thing happened as with the scarlet screamer, a Minotaur joined my side of the duel circle. He just nodded and set his eyes on the scarlet screamer, who was looking terrified at the moment. And who wouldn’t be? Imagine you just casted your trump card and your opponent steals it. I almost felt sorry for the scarlet screamer, then I remembered she just tried to kill us.
On the scarlet screamer’s turn the Minotaur did the interrupt thing the scarlet screamer did earlier, and casted a Minotaur. This wasn’t a Minotaur minion, it was the real thing. The scarlet screamer fell with a wail at the Minotaur’s axe. Then the battle was over.
David began to talk, but I interrupted him.
“Yeah, yeah I know, we have to report this to Professor Ambrose too.” I said.
“Well you certainly catch on fast,” David said. Then we both teleported away.
In Professor Ambrose’s office, he was pacing around. “This is most intriguing and worrying,” he said, waving his hand around. “2 of my new students get attacked by powerful monsters that cheat.”
“Hey Professor Ambrose, haven’t you finished examining that cloth I gave to you earlier?” I asked.
“Ahh yes, about that,” Professor Ambrose started. “You see I found the cloth’s energy matched some energy emitting from Colossus Boulevard. More specifically, a place called Briskbreeze Tower.”
“So what do we do about it?” David asked.
“You 2 continue on your adventures,” Professor Ambrose said. “I will look into this. Here, take these.”
Professor Ambrose handed us each an experience crystal. “These will make sure you are strong enough to handle more advanced areas while I call in some of my more experienced wizards to investigate.”
I tapped my wand to my crystal, eager to grow stronger. After both of us used our crystals, I looked at our levels in my eye lens. David was now level 13 and I was level 10.
“Ha, I’m catching up to you!” I said.
“Only because you got so many experience crystals.” David said. “I had to do all the work.”
“Settle down young students.” Professor Ambrose interrupted. “Now get back to class.”
We walked out of Professor Ambrose’s office, and began to talk.
“What are you going to do now?” David asked me.
“After a long day like that, I think I’ll go shop for some equipment.” I said.
“I’m going to take a rest in my dorm room.” David said.
“Well see you later.” I said, running towards the shopping district.
In the shopping district, I used my 6000 gold I earned from fighting the super monsters and bought myself a new robe, hat, boots, and athame. I didn’t get any rings cause they looked girly. Then I got myself a new wand that did 50 damage instead of 45, and a new bigger deck.
“Well, after all that shopping I’m pooped.” I said to myself. “Maybe Harold has some new cards, what do you think?” I asked my Minotaur pet.
He just nodded. I sighed, it was hard to get an answer from a pet that didn’t talk. I headed toward the library anyways. I got a few more storm sharks and a sandstorm treasure card. I bid Harold farewell and headed to my dorm room to get a good night’s sleep.
Where is it? I though you knew. We have to get it before the boy wakes up. Don’t worry, after a few battles like that he’ll be out for a while. Still, where is it.
I opened my eyes and found 2 undead rummaging through my things.
“Hey get away from there!” I shouted. I took my wand from my nightstand and casted a scorpion at the 2 undead. The 2 undead fell easily under my scorpion.
“Whew, thanks pal,” I said as my scorpion vanished. Then I started to think. The 2 undead were looking for something in my room, I wonder what is it.
Then my Minotaur pet came out from under the bed. “Oh I get it now, they were here to take you back so they can put another spell on you.” I said.
My Minotaur pet nodded.
“Well I’m not going to ever let them touch you,” I said.
A ray of sunlight fell upon my bed. “Hmm, it’s morning already? I must have slept a lot.” I said, yawning. “Well let’s get going.”
After I changed into my wizard clothes and ate some breakfast, I went out for my daily lesson. And this time I couldn’t wait for it. I was finally going to learn locust swarm today, then I would go by the fire school and get sunbird. And after my classes I would meet up with David and go beating up monsters on Cyclops Lane and Firecat Alley. It was the perfect schedule.
I took my classes, and learned locust swarm easily while others were struggling with it. Professor Wethersfield said that I must have a gift for balance. I didn’t really care, as long as it helped me become the most powerful wizard ever.
After my balance class I stopped by the fire school and learned sunbird as well. It wasn’t that easy, after a few tries and a couple of charred desks, I succeeded. Professor Falmea said that is was nothing and things get burned in her classroom all the time, so I just stepped outside and ran towards olde town to begin another day’s worth of adventure.
I soon met up with David, who had just learned stormblade by doing a class quest. I remember when I did my first class quest, where I met with the scorpion. It had almost made me faint.
“So, have you heard anything from Professor Ambrose?” David asked me.
“No, you?”
David shook his head. “You know, the strangest thing happened to me last night. I was sleeping and 2 undead came into my room, then they just said that I was the wrong person and left without a fight.”
“Oh, that’s partially my fault. You see, they were trying to get back my Minotaur pet and put another spell on him, but I defeated them.” I said.
David shot a funny look at me, but I turned away. After a while of walking I asked, “Are we there yet?”
“Yep, we’re here.”
I looked up at the tunnel that led to Cyclops Lane. “I can’t wait to beat a Cyclops.”
“Then let’s not wait,” said David, rushing in. I rushed in after him.
At first we found absolutely nothing. Then some people were running back screaming, “Run for your lives!”
“Wow, I didn’t think Cyclops Lane would be this scary.” I said.
“Me neither, but I guess you learn something every day.” David replied.
We walked, but saw nothing in the streets. Then we found what looked like a camp full of tents. There was a battle going on in the middle. There was a magus ice wizard facing a cat, and what looked like 3 wraiths.
“Let’s go help.” I said. David nodded, and we rushed in to help the ice wizard.
“Hey, we’re here to help.” I said.
“I don’t need any help right now,” the ice wizard said.
“You look like you need a lot of help,” said David.
The ice wizard shrugged. “Help at your own risk.”
I turned and faced the cat who was at 2,500 health, and the wraiths who each had 800/1600 health. I guessed the ice wizard casted a blizzard, but the cat shielded. I waited a few rounds then unleashed my locust swarm on a wraith. Likewise David use a storm shark powered up with a storm blade, and the wraith fell screaming to the ground.
“Nice shot, but watch this,” the ice wizard said. He used an ice blade, and 2 ice traps. Then he casted a blizzard defeating one of the wraiths and leaving the other at 200 health.
“Nice shot,” I commented.
“I know,” the ice wizard replied. “My name is Carlos Frostsword.”
“Mine is Rowan Desertrider. This is David Stormweaver.”
“I can introduce myself,” said David.
“Well you 2 do have potential, but I think Meowiarty is a little out of your league,” Carlos said.
“Wait, I’ve heard that name before,” David said. After a few second of thinking, he said, “Isn’t that the final boss in Marleybone?”
“Yep, he won’t tell me why he’s here, but he is so I decided to beat him,” Carlos said, grinning at us.
“Why are you here in the first place?” I asked curiously.
“Because I had an old side quest to finish,” Carlos said. “But let’s talk later and finish the battle now.”
He turned back to the battle. David and I also turned to the battle. I was at 3 pips, so I decided to cast a sunbird. David casted a stormblade, then a storm shark right afterwards. Meowiarty was left at 1200 health. Carlos quickly casted an ice blade, ice trap, second ice trap, and an ice wyvern in quick succession. Now Meowiarty only had about 400 health left. Meowiarty, realizing he was defeated, raised his stick and struck the dueling circle.
At first nothing happened, but then cracks appeared in the circle, they spread, then the circle shattered under our feet.
“Hey, you can’t do that!” I exclaimed.
“You don’t tell me what I can’t do!” Meowiarty shouted back.
Meowiarty quickly teleported away. Carlos walked to where Meowiarty had been and picked up a strange looking book.
“What are you doing with that?” David asked.
“I’m returning it to its rightful owner.” Carlos said. “I’ll meet you 2 at Professor Ambrose’s office later.” Carlos then teleported away.
“Oh right, we have to report this to Professor Ambrose too!” I said.
“You think?” said David.
Later, in Professor Ambrose’s office, we were watching him pace around again. “This is most troubling,” he said. “I suspect Firecat Alley is the same way?”
Carlos nodded.
“Now you 2.” Professor Ambrose turned to David and I. “Carlos here is an advanced student I sent in to investigate.”
“Oh now I get it,” I said. “You were in Cyclops lane to investigate, not to finish a side quest.”
“Yes, but the side quest was my cover story,” Carlos replied.
“Now you 2 aren’t in any trouble, but you mustn’t go to any street in olde town anymore,” said Professor Ambrose. “I’ll give you the key to Krokotopia and you can start there. Carlos and I have some discussing to do.”
Professor Ambrose handed us both keys. We put them in our pockets, and left the office. Then we stepped into Ravenwood and entered the spiral chamber inside Bartleby.
“Are you ready?” David asked.
I nodded nervously. We took the key, opened the door, and stepped into the vast unknown.
|
Wizardtopia
A long time ago there was a mysterious world named Wizardtopia full of, well as the name implies wizards!!!
Wizardtopia was ruled by a very nice man named Merle Ambrose. He was a joyful and happy wizard, and there was only one thing that could bring him down and that thing was ...Malistare Drake. Malistare was the most dark and evil wizard ever to exist. Though at one time he was as nice as Mr. Ambrose. I know shocking, but at this time his wife was still alive, Sylvia Drake. She was so nice and so full of life. She was the life teacher in wizardtopia before a cow took over named Moolinda Moo when she died, but we will talk about her later. At this time Malistare was the most powerful and helpful wizard in Wizardtopia. Now he is still very powerful but helpful, not so much anymore. His goal now is to destroy Mr. Ambrose and to turn Wizardtopia evil.
Two young wizard girls named Jennifer Earthglade and Taylor Liontheaf were best friends, and you know how I know, because I am Jennifer Earthglade. All my life I have been a wizard and I have lived in Wizardtopia. It is true that my best friend is Taylor Liontheaf. She is a very nice and very powerful girl. I am currently studying fire magic. Taylor is currently studying life magic. Malistare hates her the most; oh I almost forgot to tell you how Sylvia died. Well she died trying to do a spell to make Wizard city more powerful and peaceful but someone poisoned the spell and when she tried to do the spell her own Life magic killed her!!!!!!
That’s how she died, with Life magic. I know, it was sad. Now it is a normal day Taylor and I are fighting the Kraken. It’s a big purple monster, we beat it every time. It falls flat to the ground and cries. It’s so cool. “I have always wanted to fight the Crockatopion storm bird, it is a huge dangerous purple bird, and if I defeated that bird I would be the hero of Wizardtopia” I said. The reason I said that is because the Crockatopian storm bird is Maliastare’s most prized horror pet. All of his pets are horrible and dangerous; in fact, all of the horrid evil creatures in Wizardtopia were once his pets. Including the: Cyclops, Scarlet Screamers, Trolls, and ghosts. Some attacks were also his pets including: The Heck Hound, The Fire Bird, and The Hydra. These are all very powerful creatures, although, they all have a weak spot. And I know that’s a fact! One time Taylor and I went to go fight the Harvest Lord and right in front of the entrance we saw a little Fire wizard named: Miranda Moonblood. She was dressed in rags, and we knew she needed help. So I asked her if she’d like to come live with me in my castle right on the far side of Wizardtopia. She said she was fine and then grew 5,000 feet tall and turned into a horrid old witch. We tried to fight her, but she was to powerful and sadly she went after Taylor, and with one slice to the neck she had died!
To this day I still cry about that horrid event. Now, if I am going to defeat the Crockatopian storm bird it is going to take a miracle. One gloomy day I heard the sound of wings flapping and lightning flashing like an old-timey camera. I looked out my window and it was the Crockatopian storm bird with Taylor in its repulsive, moldy claw. I tried all my most powerful spells on the bird. But none of them worked. And then I remembered something. It’s only one weakness is the sun. I brought all the fire wizards together and we all threw out flames of fire and destroyed the Crockatopian storm bird, and saved Taylor Liontheaf! But there’s still trouble in Wizardtopia. But, at least there’s less trouble now.
When Malistare found out his precious Crockatopian storm bird had been destroyed, he became furious and even more evil and powerful. This presented an even bigger problem to Mr. Ambrose……
|
The Not So Great Tale
Okay good, now we're on the same page.
When things started getting REALLY weird was when I was sitting in math class. Our teacher was reading out word problems and I was sitting there flicking my pencil. All so suddenly I got this really weird smoke smell in my nose. I shook it off and was joking around, thinking how funny it would be if my paper caught on fire. Unfortunately it actually did. Long story short that's why I'm sitting in the principles office waiting for her to come in here and trying to make up a good explanation on why my paper caught on fire.
That's the first time things started getting weird.
While I was sitting there I heard voices in the principles private bathroom. (I know weird right). I was a little freaked out and was thinking maybe the principle talked to herself or something when I heard even more voices. I silently crept up to the door and gave it a little knock. The talking stopped and I suddenly went tense. I slowly opened the door to see four people standing there.
The second really weird thing was these people were wearing REALLY weird clothes. I mean these people looked like they had come from a different planet or something. There was this really old guy there and he was wearing this purple robe with yellow stars on it and a pointy hat. Another person there was this woman that was so small I could probably fit her in a jar! She was wearing blue, WITH WINGS! There was another woman with a red robe on that looked like it was on fire! She was my favorite so far. And the last one there was a man almost bald with a stern look on his face and yellow clothes.
I just stood there and starred at them. They starred back. The old man finally broke the silence when he said, "Are you Sydney Sandcatcher?"
I starred some more. Then I laughed. This was a really funny joke! "Haha yeah right. That isn't my last name."
Then the old man just smiled and said, "Oh I have such poor manners! My name is Headmaster Ambrose and I am with the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts! We have come to collect you to come to our fantastic school!"
"Collect me? What? And where the heck is Ravenwood? What state is that in?"
The other man standing there spoke suddenly and said, "Headmaster, this student seems very naive. Are you sure this is the right child on the list? I really think this is just a waste of time, I would appreciate if you summoned me to collect more adept wizards for once."
The old man spoke up, "Cyrus I am very sure that this child is the Sydney Sandcatcher that is on the list."
While in the middle of their arguing, the woman in the fire robes came over and spoke quietly when she said, "Snap your fingers for me please."
I looked up and laughed.
She just starred back like she was expecting me to actually snap me fingers. The old man and "Cyrus" quit arguing and were starring at me.
"Um okay," I managed to say
I snapped my fingers.
Nothing happened.
"Come child with more intent. Like the very flames themselves are burning in your fingers," said the woman in fire robes.
I breathed in and smelled that smokey smell again.
I snapped my fingers again.
This time they caught on fire!
Whoa! I was so shocked I jumped back but the flames kept burning. The thing was though, I didn't feel any pain. In fact I felt more at peace then I usually did.
The four people just sat there and starred like everything was perfectly normal.
I snapped again and the flames were extinguished.
The old man held out his hand and said, "Welcome to the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts, young pyromancer!"
|
The Awakenings
I was in the middle of a chaotic shopping area unlike any other I had seen, people where running and screaming. It was starting to stormy I which took for a bad sign but I didn’t know why. Then all of a sudden I saw a figure of a man, and the air got cold with malevolence. I hear an evil laugh and the crack of lightning and the world went blank.
I woke with a start. I had fallen out of my bed on to the floor. I thought someone had pushed me out but then I remembered the dream. So I got dressed and headed to the dining hall alone. The people in this orphanage only talk or are near me in the school or in the dining hall; because they think I’m a freak. It starts with my hair. It’s green. I didn’t get it dyed, it’s all natural. The next thing is the stuff that happens around me. One time I was hiding in my favorite hiding room, the attic, when I heard the shouts of, “Suri, where are you?” and I knew I had been found by my tormenter Tracy, so as I was searching for a way to lock the door, vines started to cover it. The door was now Tracy-proof. After she left the vines disappeared. Another time bonehead Tracy was after me again, as I ran outside I heard a galloping noise. When I turned I saw a centaur and it charged at Tracy. She went inside screaming. Before the centaur disappeared it bowed to me. Pour Tracy had to have therapy for six months and she has teased me more because of it. So as I walk in to the hall I thought it would be another day of haunting and torture. Boy am I glad was wrong.
The weirdness of that day started after breakfast. Usually I’m getting teased, but the halls were quiet except for the murmuring from behind a door. I crept closer, and then I heard them.
“I think she’s the one,” one voice stated. It sounded like a kind, old man.
“Really! Whooo?” exclaimed the other that strangely sounded like an owls howl.
“It’s Suri … and she’s listening outside.” The man replied. I was shocked because I hadn’t made a sound.
“Come in, Suri,” the man’s voice said. I know it’s stupid to listen to strangers but something about his voice told me he knew the mystery behind the strange things that happened to me. In the room was an old man with a white beard in a suit and top hat, and an owl sitting on a coat rack. The owl was wearing glasses! I’m serious. The man’s suit and hat shimmered, one moment a suit and top hat the next a robe and pointed hat covered with stars.
“Ahh … you noticed the suit,” stated the man as he noticed my stare, “That proves my suspicious,” he whispered more to himself than to anyone else.
“Excuse me sir, but who are you and what did I prove?” I asked.
“Oh, I’m Headmaster Mearle Ambrose of Ravenwood School of the Magical Arts,” He replied apologetically.
“School of what!?” I asked starting to think I was dreaming again.
“Magical Arts,” Ambrose said like it there was nothing crazy about it, “And that leads to your second question. You’ve proved you are a wizard; a Life wizard to be precise and a very powerful one too.”
“Ahh, so that explains the centaur and plants doing what I want, and my hair,” I guessed as I pinched myself; I was awake all right.
“Yes,” the owl answered.
“So what is your last name?” Ambrose asked.
“Lotusbringer,” I relased just then. Ambrose was speechless.
“What’s wrong?” I asked worriedly. He was quiet for a long time.
“We must get a portal here right away,” Ambrose said urgently and suddenly to the owl.
“Ok sir,” the owl squawked. Then out of thin air a door appeared in front of me.
“Go on throw and quickly,” the owl chirped. I didn’t move for a moment and then the world stared to shake and I saw the figure from my dream but before the air got more than a few degrees colder I was pushed throw the door. When I opened my eyes I was in an office overflowing with papers and books and standing next to me was headmaster Ambrose.
“Well, that was exciting wasn’t it now?” Ambrose asked.
“Sir, who was that?” I questioned.
“That, young Suri, was Malistaire,” He said.
“Who is Malistaire?” I asked, really wanting to know.
“No time for questions now, it’s time for bed you’ll be starting school tomorrow so off you go,” Ambrose said and at that moment I instantly was tired. So Ambrose showed me to my dorm and I was asleep on the sofa in a few minutes. As I slept, Ambrose was sleepless with worry.
“Gamma, do you think she is the one to awaken the sisters?” Ambrose whispered.
“I can’t see, her destiny is to clouded but I think she is,” the owl Gamma replied.
“So we will wait and see,” Ambrose decided.
It had been four months since that fateful day and still didn’t know who Malistaire was, besides the fact he was a teacher and had gone bad, but I had excelled in my classes. As I was working out which bits of homework I should start on first I ran in to Rattlebones in the Wizard City Commons. I had sent this bag of bones back to where he came from long time ago so why was he back and out of his tower. As he drew the dueling circle I noticed his mana, or magic, had increased greatly; along with his dueling health too no doubt. I was lucky to go first. My first spell card was a Tree Guardian; a spell I hadn’t learned yet. But I used it any way. As I saw Rattlebones dueling health go down I just knew this was going to be a long battle. After hours of dueling and the help of some friends we defeated Rattlebones. Before he disappeared into the void he called out, “You will never awaken the sisters!” and with that he whet throw the portal and was gone.
I bolted into Headmaster Ambrose’s massy office with my pet dragon, Piper, behind me. Ambrose was shocked to learn that Rattlebones was out and about. Then I asked him.
“Sir, who are the sisters Rattlebones spoke of?” I quizzed.
“Suri, it’s time for a history lesson about this school. When Ravenwood was established it was created by seven sisters. These sisters each had a primary study; Life, Death, Fire, Ice, Storm, and Balance. Now the legend goes that these sisters were so powerful that they could defeat any force evil that plagued the Spiral. But they disappeared before they could do it in their time. It is said they were cursed. And, as the story goes, if they are awakened in a time of great need they would help,” Said Ambrose, “And you are distend to do it.”
“But how?” I asked.
“By breaking the curse. To break the curse on each one you must defeat their keepers and unlock their prisons with their symbols of power.” Ambrose continued.
“So when do I start?” I asked now vary interested.
“Wait Jenna, there is one more thing you should know,” Ambrose told me as I stopped in front of the door, “Each sister has to be awakened a wizard who has studied their school.”
“So, how will I find both the sisters and the wizards to awaken them?” I was starting getting a little annoyed now.
“I think these will help with that,” stated Ambrose as he gave me seven wands. Each wand was perfectly crafted out of each school gem; ruby for Fire, sapphire for Ice, amethyst for Storm, peridot for Myth, citrine for Balance, onyx for Death, and final jade for Life. I thought the Life wand was the most beautiful; crafted to look exactly like a green oak branch. “They will glow when you are near a chosen wizard or a sister.”
“Is that all?” I wanted to get started on this quest now.
“Yes, I think that is all,” Ambrose stated as he got back to his work. So I walked out the door and in to a new part of my life, literally. I was so preoccupied with what I had just learned that I didn’t see the wizard coming.
“Ohhh …” we yelled in unison. As I was hurrying to pick up the wands a hand fall on the Death wand and it started to glow. It was then that I looked into the wizard’s face. He had spiky jet black hair and a confident look in his soft brown eyes.
“Sorry, my fault,” He said with the confidence I could see.
“No, it’s mine. I wasn’t looking.” I stuttered.
“My name’s Seth Ghostwhisper,” He said smiling.
“Suri Lotusbringer,” I said as my mind was racing. It was trying to tell me something but I couldn’t think, “I have to get going, I have a lot of homework to do.”
“Ok. I think this is yours,” Seth said as he handed the death wand back to me.
“Thanks!” I yelled as I waved and ran off. According to Piper he was still waving. As walked in to my stunningly beautiful and all natural Life house my mind was working again. The Death wand had glowed. That meant that I had found the second chosen wizard and I now needed to find at least one of the sisters. And I needed to do in soon.
I did find a sister really quickly. A week after I ran into Seth I was doing some homework for Professor Wu, the Life teacher. I walked into the Hedge Maze to talk to Lady Oriel, a seraph, but to my surprise she was gone, along with the fairies she looked after. Then I looked down to the Life wand that I had in my hand. It was glowing brighter than normal. This set me on guard. I ran throw the maze searching for something that might be a prison keeper to the Life sister. Then I saw it. A wraith was flouting around the center of the maze. I could feel the cold go right through me. As I studied the wraith I noticed it had a Life-style staff, not a Death scythe. Then I realized that it had the Life sister’s symbol of power. So, I ran up to him as I learning what all people who study Death magic learned, how to take your fear and turn it into power against your foe. When I sew the deck I was shocked. I had seen a Grandmaster’s deck and this deck had spells way more powerful than that. But I knew this battle was going to be the hardest I had ever done. I can’t go into details because I don’t remember much; the duel was so intense that when it ended I was still in it. It took a bit but I finally noticed the staff was still here. When I picked it up it stated do glow along with the stone statue of a young wizard on a pedestal, who seemed to be missing her staff. My energy flowed from me through the staff and hit the statue. Cracks started to show and than a loud BOOM! Stone pieces were flying everywhere and off the pedestal stepped a young women clothed all in green except her feet which were bare. She had green hair and sparkling green eyes. Her face reminded me of one of the fairies.
“I am June, one of the seven sisters of Ravenwood,” She almost yelled.
“My name’s Suri Lotusbringer,” I stuttered from shock. I finally found one, “You need to come with me to go to Headmaster Am ….” I didn’t get to finish because my world went black.
I was standing in a room with only a fire for light. Then I heard a voice say, “She has awakened one of the sisters .My plan is working very nicely.” After that I heard a familiar dark laugh and world went dark again.
|
The Finding and Defeating of
Malistaire's Helpers
I am a huge mythology fan. I love minotaurs, cyclops, and all that stuff. At my old school my elective is mythology and I study it the hardest. Everyone (except the people in mythology) called me a meek a combination of myth and geek. One day I got a letter in the mail saying: Now that you are thirteen Paige Bluestone you are old enough to partake in a fun experience which could include a bit of mythology. I have informed your parents so it's okay for you to meet me at the park nearby. I can be found easily because of my purple hat. When I got there I found this person fast. He looked old . He had a glass eye (or it looked like one), wrinkles, a big beard, wore wizard like clothes, and was holding a staff.
"Are you Paige Bluestone?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah I am, who are you?" I asked
"Merle Ambrose, Headmaster of Ravenwood School," Merle answered.
"Did you send the letter?" I asked.
"Why yes I did," he answered. "You are a candidate for Ravenwood School, the rest will be explained later," he said as he hit the grass with his staff.
We teleported to a weird place filled with tents, brick buildings, teenagers in weird robes and hats, and some regular teenagers.
"Scarlet I have one more for your tour," he said bringing me over to her.
"Thanks Headmaster Merle," she said.
I was in a group of regular teenagers, but one in the weird robe and hat. The one in the robe green and brown robe had hair that seemed almost green.
"Hello my name is Scarlet Day and I will be your tour guide today, but before we go on the tour I want to know every one of your names name staring with you," the girl in the robe pointed to me.
"Paige Bluestone," I answered.
She kept pointing at people one by one. There was Kane Hexrunner he looked kind of goth, Devin Goldbreeze he looked mysterious mostly because he had white hair, Blaze Redflame his hair was red almost like fire, and there was Courtney Light she had a white shirt filled with paint splatters and strokes I could tell she was the creative type. After that the tour started.
"This is known as The Commons, here is where most wizards are when not in Ravenwood," Scarlet explained. "Now lets go to Ravenwood," she said as she took us up a tunnel. There was a huge tree in the very center of Ravenwood. "This is Arthur Wetersfield he teaches students Balance Spells," Arthur was a dog he wore fancy clothes.
"Yes I indeed do, another word for Balance Spells is Sorcery, these spells are hard to master, but are very powerful," he explained.
Scarlet took us to a the edge of Ravenwood and said "This Malorn Ashthorn he will explain why the Death School isn't here,"
"Well the Death School's teacher Malistare made it disappear there a bunch of rumors about it going around, but now there a very little of us Death kids so I now teach new kids Necromancy," he explained.
Scarlet showed all the other teachers Madame Falmea, Professor Fire Magic, Lydia Greyrose, Professor of Ice Magic, Halston Balestrom, Professor of Storm Magic, Moolinda Wu, Professor of Life Magic, and Cyrus Drake, Professor of Myth Magic. I hoped I would be a Myth and I was. Kane was a Death, Devin was an Ice, Blaze was a Fire, Courtney was a Storm, and Scarlet told us she was a Life. I got fitted for a yellow and blue robe and hat.
At the end of the day I saw Devin sneak off and go to a girl her name was Natalie Deathcloud, she was fourteen and was a Death Wizard. I got close enough to her what they were saying.
"I here you want to do something dangerous and exhilarating," Natalie said.
"Yeah, do you know something like that?" Devin asked.
"Yep, come with me," she answered.
I followed them all the way over to the edge of Ravenwood.
"We have to jump off the get to it," she said.
"Okay I hope you know the way," he said as he jumped off.
I had no idea what was down there but I knew it was no good.
|
Tales of the Death Sages
Chapter 1 – Bad News
“Grim!” Duncan shouted. “I’m fine, don’t worry-“ Grim said, but then Lucy cut him off. “Don’t worry? Don’t worry about all those little wizards that had been taken by Malistare with the school? Are you bonkers grim?” Lucy grumbled. ”Let’s head home… Before Lucy explodes again.” Duncan told Grim as we headed off, Lucy following.
“Death always wins in the end!” Grim remembered from what Malistare had told him. Lucy opened the dorm door. And who could be there but Merle Ambrose! “My apologies for interrupting sages, but there is a dire matter.” he told us. “You mean that the death school is gone?” Duncan said. “Um… Yes actually.” Merle said, shocked they saw it. “I need your help.” Merle said, teleporting them to his tower.
“Malistare has done this, and he might’ve taken his brother with him. Please go check.” he asked us. “Then why did you teleport us here? We could have just walked.” Lucy asked. Just then Merle teleported us outside the myth school.
“Ready?” Duncan asked not even sure if he was ready. “Yes.” Grim and Lucy said. The door was opened by Lucy. “GOBBLERS!!!” all three screamed.
It was on. All three flicked ghouls. One down. Three to go. “Take cover!” Duncan yelled. Smash smash smash. They were still in this. No turning back now. Lucy was severely hurt. And wounded. Grim used banshee. Duncan used dark fairy. Lucy used myth shield. “STRIKE TWO!!!” Duncan yelled. Lucy was nearly dead this time. Two left. “Gah!” I said teleporting right on the other two gobblers.
“Who are you?” Grim asked. “Jason Deathcrafter.” I said. “Welcome to the Death Sages, Jason.”
Chapter 2 – Fixing Grim
“I know how to craft cards.” I said. “Here’s an example.” I showed them my dark matter card. “X type, huh?” Grim said. “Woah! 250 damage per pip!” Lucy exclaimed. “Do you know how to make a healing card, like, one to fix my cursed hand?” Grim asked. Some idiot name Susie did it. Made his hand skeletal. Not sure how, but she’s a storm student.
“Let’s find a way to help Grim, and I think I know how. Follow me to Triton Avenue!” I exclaimed. We ran to Triton Avenue. “Look! Myth golems!” I shouted pointing at some. “Who cares?” Lucy said. “Just avoid ‘em.” Grim said to me. And we did. When we headed down the stairs we found a nasty surprise. “Susie??? Get over here!” Grim said, running at the Susie that had cursed him. Lucy and Duncan had to hold him back.
“I know why you’re all here. And I know you four are the haunted and dreadful Death Sages. You are here for my help. Look, I know a life wizard who helps all, as long as they are not pure death wizards.” she said. Grim held a fake smile.
“M. Wu.” She told us. “Okay, thanks for the help.” I said. We headed to the life school.
“Hello…” a voice said. “Hey Wu.” I said. “Can you heal Grim’s arm?” Grim held a half-smile. “No. He is pure death.” Wu said. “Heh heh…” Grim went.
“PURE DEATH?” Lucy asked very disappointed, walking out the door. “Kill us…” I said. “You mean me RIGHT?” Duncan asked. “No, us!” I shouted. “Why?” Grim asked. “Shut up Deadboy.” I said, mocking him. I was angry. Very, to be precise.
“What is up with you, Jason?” Lucy asked. I began to mumble to myself. “He’s angry. Give him some space.” Duncan said. They all moved a foot or so away. I screamed my lungs out. I don’t know what happened, because I blacked out right there.
“Get up!” a voice yelled. It kicked me. I kicked back. “It is okay, Lucy, Duncan, and Grim. You can leave, but Grim, I want you to stay.” an old voice said. My eyes opened. In my eyes were Merle Ambrose and Grim.
“Why am I here?” I asked. “You have the Dragon’s Gift.” Grim said. “What’s that?” I asked. “You know every fire spell, but you never knew.” Merle told me. “What the what?” I asked. Then Merle explained it better.
Chapter 3 – Training On Fire, Not Ice
I knocked on the fire school’s door. “Come in…” called Dalia Flamea. I entered. “Let me guess, another want-to-be pyromancer?” she asked. “No. A death student with the Dragon’s Gift.” I responded. “I don’t get many of those…” she said. “Come tomorrow at 5:00 PM sharp.”
And I did so. That day I learned how to cast a fire cat, fire elf, sunbird, galactic shield, fire shield, fire blade, and meteor strike.
I was tough. Fierce. Deadly. Supreme. Almighty. Powerful. Maybe the most dreadful wizard (other than the noob known as Malistare) EVER!
“So, what’s the best trick you have?” Lucy asked. “This!” I screamed, tossing a meteor strike card out. “Epic.” she responded.
The next day was lucky. I could feel it. But, man was I wrong. “Ah!” screamed novice pyromancers and Dalia Flamea. Her last words were: “RUN! Jason, here is my phoenix card!” I jumped to grab the falling card, but- WHISH! I was too late. The draconian army took it. I held a fighting stance and taunted: “BRING! IT! ON!!!!!!!!”
And on it was. “Sunbird!” I shouted, tossing it out. It was weakening. But, speaking of weakening, guess what that ugly thing had up his sleeve? A weakness card.
“Kill meeeeheehehee!” I said unhappily. “Proud to!” the beast said. “Think like a balance wizard! Think!!!” I shouted. Too late. My doom was right in front of me. Dalia’s phoenix card. “Idea! I have an idea!” I shouted in delight, sprinting forward. Right before that phoenix hit the ground I grabbed it, and tossed it on the ground about a foot away.
Chapter 4 – Fire, Death, And Balancing The Rules, NOT!
I had finally done it. I thought like a balance wizard. The odds were against me. And I did it. This was a very proud- ROAR! The phoenix was louder than I thought. Now, where was I? Oh, right. This was a very proud mom- ROAR! WOULD THAT PHEONIX STOP INTERUPTING??? This was a very proud moment. Well, other than a certain phoenix who shall remain unnamed.
I headed toward Arthur Wetherfield. I needed proper balance guidance. “Do you understand how sorcerers bend rules?” he asked. “If you count taking an opponent’s card and using it against him, yes.” I answered.
“You’ve got it my friend.” he told me. “Wha now?” I asked. Arthur sighed. He teleported to Krokotopia.
“Where are we?” I asked. “The school of balance.” he told me. I was really confused. BLAM BLAM BLAM! “Grim? Lucy? Duncan? What are you doing here?” I asked. “Cyrus. Mad. Summon. Doom. HELP!” Lucy went, out of breath. They teleported me back.
Chapter 5 – Stealing Teachers
I saw Cyrus Drake on a platform, unleashing earthquakes and trolls, and others. “I’m ready.” I said. “Don’t be sure, child…” he said, but it didn’t sound like him. “That’s not the real Cyrus!” I exclaimed. “It’s a golem!” He gave me a sharp look. “So, you know Malistare’s plans, do you, boy?” he asked suspiciously. “YES! YOU’RE TAKING ALL THE TEACHERS AND TRYING TO KILL AMBROSE!!!” I exclaimed. “Then I am done here.” he said teleporting away.
I screamed furiously. My eyes shone a deep yellow, and I couldn’t control myself! Fire shot from my fingertips and I elevated up. I made two fists and clinked them together. A sonic wave of black shone everywhere.
I was back in control. I felt real drowsy. I fell right of my little island. Down. Down I went. It was like an endless pass of wind, rushing wind. CRASH! I landed right on one of Bartleby’s roots. You know, when you faint you always wonder where you will end up next.
I was still on the root when I woke up. Turns out nobody cares. Not even the sa- Oh, never mind they are right in front of me. “How many teachers are left?” I asked. “One.” Lucy answered. “Who?” I asked. “Moolinda Wu.” Grim said. “COME ON!!!” I exclaimed, not happy AT ALL. “The life wizards were too powerful.” Duncan said, then added: “I’m the only death novice left.”
|
The Necromancer's Matter (part 7) - Blade of Seven
A teenage-looking boy woke up. He got dressed in his black robes, pulled his hood on, and set out for Mooshu.
He was called Death.
Death's aura spread as he traveled around Mooshu. There was a faint blackness around him, but not much because it was Mooshu. He walked over to the Tree of Life, headed for the main tree.
Death pushed aside the stone and traveled down the long passageway. Then he got to a cavern. He stumbled upon a door, newly painted yellow, and Myth's symbol etched in the middle in blue. Death knocked on the door.
The door swung open to reveal a blonde haired boy with bright blue eyes in yellow and blue robes. He smiled. "Ah, Death," He greeted. "A good surprise. Come on in." Death nodded and entered into a room with a stone fireplace, weapon-making tools, and a forge. Racks hanging with hammers, forging tools, and swords were hung on the tan wall. Across from the door in which Death had entered was another entryway. The room smelled of burning metal and the heat was almost exhausting.
Death turned to the boy. "I see that you are making preparations for the war against Valkoor?" He inquired.
The boy nodded. "I'm trying to make as many swords and wands as I can."
Death smiled, but his hood shrouded it. "You've always been a master forger, Myth," Death complemented.
Myth smiled and bowed his head in thanks.
"But, however," Death said. "I have an idea. Back when Valkoor was the monster, how did we defeat him?"
"We all combined our powers into one," Myth remembered.
Death nodded his approval. "Right. And this time, I have a feeling Valkoor will be stronger then he was last. So I was thinking, maybe the only way to defeat him this time is to forge a weapon with all of our powers into it."
Myth hesitated. "That's pretty risky," He said. "What if Valkoor got ahold of it?"
Death smiled. "He won't." He laid a hand on Myth's shoulder. "I need you to create a blade. Then we'll get the other wizards, and combine our powers into one."
Myth thought for a second. "There are other ways, Death," He reminded. "We just haven't found them yet."
"But would we find them in time?" Death inquired.
Myth had no answer.
"I need you to forge the blade," He said. "For right now, there's no other way. He will be stronger then the last, and you know it."
Myth reluctantly agreed.
That night, after Death left, Myth outlined the design for the sword. He made changes and added things, making sure for the sword to be just right. Then after Myth was positive it would do, he forged the blade, but it was not together. It was split into seven pieces.
The day following, all of the Legendarys came together. Myth explained the situation to them. "We must combine into one once more." He nodded to Storm.
Storm acknowledged Myth, then picked up a piece, and concentrated on the steel, closing his eyes. Gradually, the piece turned from silver to purple. After Storm put power into his piece, he set it down. Now it was Ice's turn. She concentrated on the piece, and after a while, it became blue. Then Fire turned her piece into a firey red. Then Death poured his power into his. And so forth, after all the pieces were completed.
After all the pieces had power in them, Myth set them together again, and forged the pieces into one sword. After an hour of burning, the blade was together, and Myth rushed to a tank of water and dipped the whole blade into the water, cooling it off. After a few minutes, he pulled it out. If it was not cooled completely, he would dunk the blade back in, until it was a normal temerature.
The ending result was great. Myth studied the blade. It was like a scimitar, and a little holographic. It switched from color to color every second, confusing some people on its true color.
"The Blade of Seven," Myth breathed.
"What's that?" Destiny asked.
"Long ago," Jason explained. "It was back when Valkoor was returning. The wizards were making preparations for the upcoming war. Storm practiced fighting. Ice began stratagizing. Fire tried despreately to look into the future. Myth forged weapons. Life readied her healing spells. Balance helped with whatever he could find. But Death had other ideas.
"He walked up to Myth one day and asked him to build a sword. A powerful sword. Myth agreed, and, one by one the wizards poured their magic into the sword. The Blade of Seven was therefore created.
"And shortly after, a battle with Valkoor and his followers arose. Both sides fought desperately, but in the end, it was the wizards who won the first battle, with the help of the Blade of Seven. But the victory was short-lived. Valkoor began to see how he could steal the sword, and win the war with its help. Fire saw this, and cried on the Legendarys for desperate help. They decided that, in order to keep Valkoor from getting ahold of it, they had to split the blade into the seven pieces from which the sword had originated from. They cut the blade, and gave one piece to each wizard to protect with his or her life. And they did. And when they all died, they hid the pieces in a super secret spot." Jason held the yellow shard. "This is Myth's piece. He camoflauged it well."
Destiny nodded. Then she remembered back at Thorn Manor, when Vladimir had mentioned a blade. "Oh my gosh," Destiny said. "Vladimir's after the sword!"
Jason nodded. "He knew that Myth's shard was there. He had lost it when Neela had given it to the patrolkrok. When Neela had seen he no longer had it, apparently they tried everything to get the shard. Raiding the base. Giving the Krokodial. And if you had indeed crushed the piece, we would all be at a loss."
"Apparently Vladimir needs it for something he needs to do," Destiny said. "The Blade of Seven is the only item missing out of three."
"Did you find out what the other two were?" Jason inquired.
Destiny nodded. "The Onyx of Darkness and the Helm of Power."
"Oh, Destiny, do you even realize-"
"Yes, Life told me."
Jason sighed. "Apparently the Legendarys like you or something. You keep running into them! Only a matter of time before you shake Myth's hand and have a conversation with Death!"
"Lets focus!" Destiny said. "Just how powerful is this blade? Like, I know it's the Legendary's sword and everything, but, is it even worthwhile?"
Jason stared at Destiny as if she had just grown a million extra arms. "The Blade of Seven is only the most powerful weapon in the spiral and make the wielder nearly invincible! How can you even joke? If he gets the sword, there's no stopping him!" Jason hesitated, then said, "Unless..."
"Unless what?" Destiny asked.
Jason sighed. "Nothing. It's nearly impossible, anyways."
"What isn't possible?" Destiny inquired.
"The only way the Blade of Seven can be stopped," Jason said. "The Pure Descendant."
"Pure Descendant?" Destiny asked.
"A Pure Descendant contains the blood of all seven Legendarys," Jason explained. "A Pure Descendant must have Storm's strength, Ice's knowledge and wisdom, Fire's ability to forsee, Death's cunning, Myth's creativity and ability to forge, Life's compassion, and Balance's judgement. In history, so far only one has come up. He has passed away already."
"Who's that?" Destiny asked.
"A boy called Marcus Dawngem," Jason said. "He lived to be a grandmaster pyromancer, and he was truly great," Jason sighed. "His life ended in a truly sad way."
"What happened?" Destiny asked.
"He was killed," Jason said. "We don't know how, or who."
"If he was killed," Destiny reasoned. "You should know who did it, or at least how."
Jason shook his head. "Actually, it was kind of like paralysis. One day he was just fine in perfect health, the next he was laying on his bedroom floor, mouth and eyes wide open his skin pale, and his heart not beating. He just... died. He had to be murdered."
Destiny agreed, then said, "So, you're thinking that maybe we could possibly find a pure descendant, just in case Vladimir forges the blade?"
Jason nodded. "One problem," He said. "We don't know if a Pure Descendant currently exists, besides Marcus. And who KNOWS how many pieces Vladimir has while we only have one."
Destiny thought. "Knowing us," She finally said. "We HAD to have come across a piece. Apparently we just didn't know it."
Jason scratched his chin and nodded. "We might have," He said.
Destiny closed her eyes and remembered her very recent adventures in Mooshu, her mission in Marleybone, the betrayal in Grizzlehiem, her time in Krokotopia-
Krokotopia.
It then hit her.
She opened her eyes rapidly, and ran faster then she had ever run before up the slope after she called out, "I know where Ice's Shard is!"
Back in Marleybone, Vladimir was talking to Neela.
"I've been thinking," He said. "We have the advantage in so many ways. We have two of the key components to our plan, we've got five of the seven pieces, and we know where another is, we hold the Krokodial, we even have the second half of the Prophecy of Fire the Order of the Spiral probably don't even know about." He turned and stared at Neela coldly. "But they do have a huge advantage, numbers."
"Numbers?" Neela was confused.
Vladimir sat up straight. "The only reason that we lost Myth's Shard and lost the battle of Mooshu," He continued. "Was simply because they had more people then we did. As Destiny had said, eight and three. We need more people for our cause."
Neela nodded. Now she understood. "I was strolling through Olde Town the other day," She said. "I overheard a group of boys. Seems like they might be willing to fight for us, as long as we pay them right."
Neela had grasped Vladimir's attention. "Depends," He said. "What schools do they take? What rank are they?"
"A master diviner, two pyromancers, an adept and a master, a grandmaster conjurer, heck, even another adept, this time a theurgist," Neela replied.
"We do need other people besides necromancers," Vladimir mused. "Having different schools could prove useful."
"Exactly my point."
Vladimir nodded his understanding. Now with so many advantages that the Order of the Spiral didn't even realize, they were sure to win.
The sprite fluttered around Unicorn Way.
The sprite sighed. She needed a break from her coloney, her duties that replaced her now banished rival.
But she was about to understand her enemy's predictament.
Because now she saw a necromancer. He had short blue hair, a black bandit cap, a robe with storm markings on it, and a clockwork staff. But how he looked wasn't what got her attention. It was what he spoke of.
"I'm really wondering who that charmed sprite is," The necromancer said to another necromancer. "I'm beginning to think that she may play a vital role."
Charmed sprite....
The sprite fluttered over to the blue-haired necromancer. She wondered how she could speak with him; they began teaching the sprite language when theurgists reached masterdom. Even then, few were fluent. Then she got an idea. The sprite zoomed over to the necromancer, fluttered in his face for a few seconds, then led his gaze to some fresh dirt. In the dirt, she had carved the words, Who exactly is this sprite?
"Um, black hair, pale skin, red dress, red eyes, more death-looking," The blue-haired boy replied.
She knew it! This was the description of her rival! The sprite wrote, What is she called?
"I heard a girl call her Nikki," The necromancer responded.
Are you against her?
"I guess you can say that,"
The sprite grinned. She knew she hadn't rid of Nikki! She wrote, Nikki is an old rival of mine. Will you allow me to join this cause? Communication will be a tad bit short, but we can figure things out.
"Maybe. What would you be called?" The necromancer inquired.
The sprite grinned and wrote, Lady Lily. What may I call you?
The necromancer kneeled and said, "Cody Shadowstrider. If you are with us, come." Cody walked away.
Lily gladly followed. |
The Necromancer's Matter (part 6) - Valley of Peace
Destiny sighed. "Seriously, do I HAVE to wear these Mooshu robes?" She asked Jason as they entered Mooshu.
Jason nodded. "It would be best," He said. "Cows are very critical on looks."
Destiny sighed again. "Well, at least I can wear my frost-touched cap and onyx studded boots."
"Just be glad you aren't in Marleybonian clothes anymore," Jason pointed out. "You HATED that,"
Destiny shuddered. Jason's words played a recap in her mind of Marleybone: Vladimir, His speech about the connection to Destiny, The legendary wizard Life, Thorn Manor, Cody's blue hair, Alexis's Ordeal, the sweat that had poured down on her forehead as she and Alexis tried to escape the Manor.
Vladimir had reverted Cody Shadowstrider, a desendant of Death, on his side. But Destiny had recieved a dream that could mean another desendant of Death right here in Mooshu.
Jessica.
The name now seared through her brain. She remembered the dream, the guy in the hooded cloak, the brown-haired and blue-eyed girl in black and red Mooshu robes. They had to look for the girl. After that, they had to go and try to search for a desendant of Balance. It was best if they were quick about it.
Jessica.
The name of the girl. It had to be.
Once the rest of the Order of the Spiral came through, Jason cleared his throat. "Okay, we're going to do what we did in Grizzlehiem, if any of you remember that," Natalie, Destiny, Ryan and Chris nodded. "We're going to take areas and search. Alexis, you'll search in Hametsu Village. Esmee, you'll look in the Village of Sorrow. Natalie, to the Tatakai Outpost. Chris, go to The Tree of Life. Ryan, go to the Cave of Solitude. Destiny, you'll remain here at the Jade Palace. I'll cover the Field of Crimson. They aren't all the areas in Mooshu, not even near, but its a start. Again, move out!"
The Order of the Spiral parted seperate directions, leaving Destiny in the dust. This is a really good task for a luitenant, Destiny grumbled in her mind. They just wanted to leave her behind. Of course, because she was the necromancer.
Destiny sighed. There was no chance that this Jessica person could be in the commons. She decided to go for a walk instead.
Maybe I should look in the shops, Destiny mused. See what kind of gear I can get when I become of higher rank.
Instead, Destiny went to the pets shop. I bet they have cool pets there, Destiny thought.
She entered and looked around. Then she saw a ninja pig. She walked up to the shopkeeper and asked, "How much are the ninja pigs?"
The shopkeeper gave her the price.
Destiny looked through her gold. Not even near enough. She sighed.
"I think I can help," Someone suggested.
"Thanks," Destiny said.
The girl looked in her pouch. "Shoot, not enough," She said.
Destiny was so obsessed in the pet thing that at first she didn't realize just who the girl was. She had long brown-black hair, blue eyes, light skin, and wore red and black Mooshu robes.
It was Jessica, descendant of Death.
Destiny breathed hard. She was here, Jason assigned me the right place.
"Um, are you okay?" Jessica asked.
Destiny shook her head rapidly, as if shaking off her momentarily being far off. "Yeah, don't worry," She said.
Jessica smiled. "I'm Jessica," She said, showing a hand.
I think I know that, Destiny thought. But aloud she said. "Pleased to meet you. Destiny Seagem," She said, taking it.
Destiny looked in her pouch, hoping the communication stone was still there. Luckly, it was. Eagerly, she took the stone and silver stick out and wrote, Come here quickly! I found her!
Destiny grabbed Jessica's hand. "Come on, there's someone I need you to meet," She said. Partially true.
As soon as Destiny lead Jessica outside, Jason had appeared. He studied Jessica. "Is this the one?" He asked.
Destiny nodded. "Jessica, meet Jason. Jason, meet Jessica." Jason and Jessica shook hands.
Suddenly Jessica clutched her head. Oh no, Destiny thought. Jessica screamed in pain before passing out.
Jason nodded. They knew why she had passed out. The Ordeal.
"She's the descendant of Death, alright," Jason approved. "Come on, we need to get her to someplace safe, but she can't get the idea that we've kidnapped her into her head."
Destiny nodded. How were they going to keep her safe and look after her without kidnapping her? "Well, we managed Alexis pretty well," She mused.
"Here, lets find a base in Mooshu and get everyone over." Jason said. Destiny nodded. Destiny picked Jessica up and followed Jason to the spiral chamber to hide out. Once they reached the spiral chamber, Jason told Destiny to stay there while he would gather the rest of the Order of the Spiral. An hour passed. Then two hours. It was about to reach three when Jason emerged with the rest of the Order of the Spiral. Jessica still hadn't woken from her Ordeal.
Alexis looked at Jessica in what seemed amazement. "Are you sure this is the descendant of Death?" She asked. "She doesn't really look that, well, you know, Death-like, except for her clothes."
Destiny nodded. "Why else would she appear in a dream?" She questioned.
Alexis threw her hands in the air. "Hey, I was just suggesting," She said.
Natalie ran to Destiny. "Hey Destiny," She said. "I saw this boy as I was patrolling, and as he passed by me, he gave me this note. It's for you." Natalie handed her a folded piece of paper.
Destiny unfolded it and saw neat, red handwriting. She read:
Destiny Seagem:
Meet by the palace tomorrow at evening. Come alone. If you bring the Order of the Spiral, we will see it as a threat and will not take it lightly.
It was not signed.
"That's all?" She asked, after she read it twice, once in to herself, another out loud.
"Apparently they want to negotiate or something," Esmee said.
"But it could be a trap," Ryan reasoned. "It said to come alone."
"Maybe we should hide or something to see if it is a trap," Natalie suggested.
Jason shook his head. "I don't think this person is dumb," He said. "He or she wouldn't easily fall for it."
"I know," Destiny said. "I have the communication stone. If they attack me I can write and you guys can come. I'll go ahead and do it."
Destiny clutched the stone as she headed towards the palace. It had been about a day now and Jessica still hadn't woken up. Ryan did point out it could take a while, She pointed out to herself.
Destiny was alone. No one, not even Nikki, was with her. Destiny then missed the sound of her annoying chirps. She came only with the clothes on her back, the stone in her pouch, and her wand hidden in her robe, prepared to fight.
She squinted as she saw a white flag perched on the steps of the green palace of jade. She could make out two people standing on either side of the flag. On the flag's left was a girl. On its right was a boy. Destiny reconized them at once, and immediately dreaded coming in the first place.
Well, Neela and Cody did come with a white flag, She reasoned. White flags usually mean surrender or truce.
Neela grinned as Destiny climbed up the steps. "Hello, Destiny," Neela said.
Destiny grinned sweetly back as she said, "Hi, Traitor,"
Neela's grin faded as she shook her head. "When can we put the past behind us and focus on the present?" She questioned.
"Never," Destiny replied. "The past is one of the things that motivates me."
Destiny heard the sound of footsteps. Neela heard this too, because she turned her head. Cody didn't. He just said, "He's coming,"
Destiny knew exactly who 'He' reffered to. Vladimir.
Vladimir paused when he was in front of the flag and face-to-face with Destiny. "You do realize we're considering this to be a trap?" Destiny questioned him.
Vladimir nodded. "I do indeed," He said. He raised his head up and looked at the white flag looming above them. "But we are under a white flag, no? And surely you realize what a white flag means?"
Destiny nodded. "But how do I know this isn't a ploy?"
Vladimir considered Destiny's statement. "Very true," He said. "But I do come in peace,"
"Something tells me that, knowing you, that's not true," Destiny pointed out.
Vladimir sighed. "You don't trust me."
"I think you need to work on the meaning of trust," Destiny agreed. "I get that for some reason, you think that the word trust refers to the fact that you get to backstab and backstab all you like and yet people still like you. Is that what it is, according to you?" Destiny flicked her head to the left, pretending to be confused.
Vladimir sighed again. "Lets get on with it," He said. He grinned. "Anyways, I come in peace. I want to make a deal, as you would call it."
"What kind of deal?" Destiny asked. She pretended to ponder for a minute, then said, "Oh yeah, the kind of deal where you get everything you want and we are left with nothing."
Vladimir was growing exhausted from Destiny's backtalk. "No, not that kind," He said. "A trade, you might say."
Destiny opened her mouth for a side comment, but no words could escape from her mouth before Vladimir said, "I can give you the Krokodial," He said.
Destiny was interested. They only needed one more descendant, but they had no leads whatsoever on the Descendant of Balance and this could win the battle for them. But at what cost? "What do you need?" She asked.
Vladimir smiled. He had rid Destiny of her backstabbing words. "I'll need the shredded gold you retrived from the patrolkrok," He asked.
Aha! "So that's what Neela came to the base for!" She said.
"Don't push it," Neela grunted.
Destiny smiled evilly. "I can push it all I like," She said. "And right now, there is nothing you can do about it."
Neela looked like she was about to burst.
"Now, now," Vladimir soothed the girls.
"Wait," Destiny said. "Why do I get the feeling that you can do something disasterous with the gold?" She asked. "What's so special about it?"
"That's none of your business," Vladimir said.
"If I currently own it and am considering giving it," She said. "It is perfectly my business. I need to know just what I am giving up, because I know you're losing a lot when you hand over the Krokodial."
Vladimir nodded. "True," He said. He straightened his back. "Think over it. I'll give you three days to do so. Meet in the cavern at noon in three days. We shall see then." He turned to Neela and Cody, then left with them, leaving Destiny with a bunch of unanswered questions.
"Hey!" She called. "You still haven't answered my question! And what cavern?" She gave up when she saw that no one was responding as Vladimir, Neela and Cody left the scene. Destiny left, heading for the spiral chamber.
"What did he want?" Jason asked as she entered the chamber.
"The proper question," Destiny said. "Is what did they want."
"Vladimir and Neela?" Esmee questioned.
Destiny nodded. "Don't forget Cody," She added.
"What did they want, though?" Jason asked.
"They wanted a trade," Destiny said. "They offered the Krokodial."
This got Jason's attention. "The Krokodial?" He asked. "What did they want in exchange?"
"This," Destiny said as she pulled out the jug of gold. She handed it over to Jason, who observed it. "What is it?" He asked, handing it back.
"I have no idea," Destiny said as she shoved the shredded gold back into her pouch. "But if they're willing to forfeit the Krokodial, must be of value,"
"Dump out the contents," Jason suggested. "See what's in it. I think it's what it stores is what they are concerned a
bout."
Destiny nodded. Jason led her to a crimson bench. Destiny knelt down and unwinded the cylander cap off. She spilled the gold out, as if shaking a pepper shaker. The gold then left the sphere completly. Destiny shook it rapidly, seeing if anymore pieces remained. She decided that they had as she set it aside to the right of where all the shredded gold sat.
Jason picked each piece, studing it throughly when he decided it was useless. He went through this procedure when he came across a piece that was more bright then the others, and bigger too, about twice their size. It had a little gleam to it, as if it were wanting to be noticed. Jason studied this more then the others, carefully put it down, and backed off from the bench.
"Destiny," He said in a soft tone. "Whatever you do, do NOT give it away. Kick Vladimir's butt instead when he asks for it, include all the pieces except that and trick him, or not show up at all. I don't care what you do. Just don't give that piece to him."
"Why?" Destiny said.
"Trust me, you don't want to know," He said. "If you know, it'll send you off after the other six pieces, searching for an ultimate power."
"Pieces of what?" Destiny persisted.
"I can't tell you," Jason said.
"I'm your luitenant," Destiny said. "There's absolutely no need to keep secrets."
"Please," Jason begged. "Just don't give it to him."
Another night passed before Jessica finally awoke.
Destiny silently calculated the time. It had taken Jessica two days to pass her Ordeal. She looked around the darkened chamber. Jason, Ryan, Chris, Natalie, Esmee and Alexis were all asleep. It was just her and Jessica.
She walked over to Jessica, as she had done with Alexis almost a week before. "The Ordeal?" She asked. Jessica nodded. "Freakiest thing ever," She muttered. After a few minutes of resting her head on her palm, she lifted her head and said, "Apparently I happened to be chosen to get caught up in this whole descendants thing." She sighed. "I didn't even WANT to be in Death. I wanted to be in Storm. But that dang Book of Secrets-" Jessica sighed.
Destiny nodded. "I know how you feel," She said. "I had extreme high hopes of being placed in Fire," She said. "I just knew it was my destiny, my future. And when I did learn I was in Death, I tried everything I had to change it. I wanted to control fate." She shook her head grudgingly. "Little did I know was that there's little you can do to change destiny. Fate has a way of turning out. It seems that whatever you do, it leads up to that certain future. And there's almost nothing you can do to change it."
Jessica nodded. "And here I am, the descendant of Death," She lamented. "I just wish I could be in my favorite color, purple. I wish that it didn't have to be this way. Why does it have to?" She looked up at the ceiling of the chamber longingly.
That's when Destiny remembered the day of her orientation. She remembered way back, almost a year ago, when she was around in her late tens, now eleven going on twelve. She remembered Esmee at the royal playhouse tour, back when she had such high hopes, when Destiny had layed out her future before her. Before everything had gone wrong. Before she could snap out of it, a flashback came to mind.
"So what shall we explore next?" Destiny asked.
In reply, Esmee sat down in a field of magnificent grass, the same patch Destiny had been admiring when she had been staring into the portal view of the castle. "How about looking at the grass?" Asked Esmee. "We need to take some moments out of our lives to appreciate nature."
"You sound like a theurgist." Destiny pointed out.
"You don't have to be a theurgist to see the beauty in the earth." Said Esmee. "You can be a necromancer and see the life in nature."
"It is breathtaking." Agreed Destiny. "But what about in the winter, when the snow is shrouding the grass and the field?"
"Even when the snow has fallen," Esmee told Destiny. "You just know the grass is in there somewhere, deep within. You can still feel the little life even underneath the mass of snow. It may not be visible, but it's still there, living for what seems eternity. The beauty of it can never die."
Destiny then realized what that had meant. Esmee had somehow knew she would be placed in the death school. She hadn't just been talking about grass and snow.
Destiny snapped out of it and turned back to Jessica. She smiled and said, "Maybe we can't control fate. But it doesn't mean that we have to sober about it either. We don't have to slouch around and give up. You can't let fate take complete control of your life." She put a hand on Jessica's shoulder. "And just because you're a necromancer doesn't mean that there isn't a diviner inside. You can still feel that little life. It may not be showing, but it'll still be there. It will never die. And you can't let people tell you who you need to be. You need to keep your head up high. You just need to say, 'So what? I can be who I want to be,' And nothing, not even fate, can control that."
"So, what do you think Vladimir meant by the cavern?"
Jason shrugged. "I know Mooshu, and I don't know what he meant."
"Maybe in a different world?" Ryan suggested.
Jason scratched his chin. "Maybe," He said. "But where?"
"I have no idea," Destiny said.
"That's kinda the point," Jason pointed out. "Is it not?"
"I'll go look around Mooshu," Destiny suggested.
"But can you take on the enemies?" Jason said, concerned.
Destiny stared at him. "You think that I can take on Vladimir and Neela at the same time, spy on Vladimir, but not go around Mooshu?"
Jason looked embarrassed. "Sorry,"
"You'd better."
Destiny first patrolled Hamustu Village. No signs of anything unusual. She looked around the Tatakai Outpost, nothing unusual there to. She looked at the sun. It was around noon now. Exactly one more day to find this cavern and decide what to do about the trade. She had to hurry. If only Vladimir wasn't mysterious!
Destiny sighed. She would need help if she wanted to find the cavern in time. She pulled out the stone and wrote: It's noon now, and I've got precisely one more day to find this cavern. I need major help.
Jason wrote back. On it. I'll write if I find anything unusual. I'll start with Tatakai Outpost.
I already searched Tatakai and Hamustu through and through, She wrote. I'll head over to the Tree of Life next.
Ok, The next message said. I'll begin with The Village of Sorrow.
Thanks, Jason.
No problem. We need to get this deal over with.
I agree.
Jason didn't write after that. She shoved the communication stone back into her pouch and looked onward to the Tree of Life.
A half hour passed when Jason wrote back. I've checked and double-checked the Village of Sorrow, Jason wrote. That area's hopeless.
Don't worry, I think I've found something...
Indeed she had. Destiny was looking at a wall blocked by a smooth round stone that was at least twice her size in heighth. It lacked width, though, only about six inches. She wrote: I'm looking at a round stone thing blocking an entrance. I tried pushing it, and it won't budge. Get Ryan or Natalie, or both. I'm going to need strength to push this thing out of the way. Storm descendants are considerably strong. It's a trait I like about them. For that message, Destiny had to write smaller and smaller.
Seems like a plan, Jason wrote. By any chance do you know exactly where you are?
The main tree, Destiny wrote. It's actually in the main tree.
Interesting, Jason said. Hold on. They're coming.
You're the best.
I know. It's why I was chosen as commander.
Destiny slipped the stone and silver stick back into her pouch. A few minutes she waited for Natalie and Ryan to come when finally, they did.
Ryan studied the stone. "This doesn't look too hard," He said. He walked over to the stone's side, and he pushed it with his bare hands. It barely budged. This time he tried pulling it. No such luck. Now Ryan leaned against the stone with his back and tried pushing it some more. It budged more then the first or second time, but not enough to get a clear opening out of it.
"Lemme try," Natalie volunteered.
Ryan shook his head. "If I can't do it, you can't. Everyone knows that boys are naturally stronger then girls."
"But I'm two years older then you," Natalie pointed out. "Now do you want it to be pushed or not?"
Ryan sighed and made way for Natalie to push. She tried with all her strength, but it had the same result as it had with Ryan. She pulled it, and got nothing out of it. Natalie finally tried the last thing Ryan had tried. Nothing. Natalie walked over soloumly. "Useless," She said.
"Here, maybe you two should try it together," Destiny suggested. "That's the whole reason why I needed the both of you."
Ryan and Natalie understood. They walked over together and tried the same three tequniques. No result.
Destiny sighed. "It's no use," She said. Then she had a crazy thought. "What if I tried it?" She asked the descendants.
Ryan laughed. "We're the descendants of Storm!" He said. "We're the descendants of the most physically strong legendary. If we can't do it, no one can. You can try, but it's not going to work."
"Really good advice from a friend," Destiny muttered.
Ryan looked stricken. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"It's okay," Destiny said. "I know what you mean. But it doesn't hurt to try."
Ryan nodded. "I see your point," He said. "Honestly, and no offense, but I doubt it'll work."
Destiny smiled. "I don't care."
She walked over to the stone that was twice her height. She grunted as she tried to push and pull it. She slouched against the rock, feeling depressed. Then she had an idea. "Ryan, Natalie, how do you try to move things?" She questioned.
"I just let my strength flow into the thing I'm trying to push," Ryan said. "I try unite my strength and the object into one."
Destiny nodded. She set her hand to the rock and closed her eyes. Become one, she remembered. Let your strength flow into the rock. After what seemed like an hour, but what did turn out to be a few minutes, Destiny leaned her hand against the rock and let her energy out of her hand and into the rock. She didn't open her eyes until she heard something that sounded like something heavy crashing onto something. At the same time she realized that her hand was no longer connected to the rock. Confused, Destiny opened her eyes and saw that the rock had moved more then enough to reveal an opening.
She turned to the siblings, whose mouths were open with shock. "How in the name of the spiral did you do that?" Ryan finally managed to get out.
"I-I don't know," Destiny stammered. "I-I guess it just came, you know, I guess it was just natural, like I had this power inside of me all along and I didn't know till now." She looked into the passageway. "Let's go," She said. Ryan and Natalie looked at each other and nodded. Ryan stepped aside and said, "Ladies first," Destiny looked at him evilly, gave him a look that said, I'm gonna get you back, and walked inside as Ryan grinned smugly and lagged behind.
The ground gave way as it became steeper and steeper and slid downward. Ryan caught up to the girls and looked around. As the trio walked down the slope, the passageway dimmed and dimmed. The dirt and walls that supported the passageway was a light brown color, like the color of sand.
Finally they came to a torchlit dome-like chamber. On the entry's left was a wooden door painted yellow, but the paint wearing away from the effect of time. Destiny walked over to it, and as she got nearer and nearer, she could make out a faded Myth symbol in the middle. There was a steel doorknob and a keylock underneath. Destiny twisted the lock. It wouldn't budge. Destiny wondered if this was because it was worn out or simply locked. She looked over to Natalie and Ryan, who were coming to investigate. Destiny shook her head. "It's locked or something," She said.
"Well, at least we stumbled what seems to be the cavern," Ryan said. "This is most likely what Vladimir was talking about."
Destiny nodded. "Now that we've found the cavern," She said. "Let's head back."
Natalie groaned. "Really?" She whined. "I'm already tired!"
"I thought Storm descendants were tough," Destiny pointed out, grinning smugly.
Reluctantly Natalie joined Destiny and Ryan as they climbed up the slope, Natalie lagging behind and groaning, occasionally whining something like, "Why this far? Why can't we just teleport?" Destiny sighed as she listened to the groaning. "Natalie," She said. "This is a secret passageway undiscovered for years until we and Vladimir came along, so teleports are going to be closed off for a while. Once we get outside, we can teleport back to the Jade Palace." Natalie groaned again and continued lamenting in response.
They finally emerged from the passageway and into Mooshu, the sunlight blinding them as they walked out. They adjusted and to conceal evidence, they together managed to push the rock back to its normal position. Tired and worn out, they teleported back to the Jade Palace and walked over to the spiral chamber.
Destiny nearly collapsed as she sat on a bench, Jason rushing to her. "Is that the cavern Vladimir mentioned?" Destiny nodded. "It'd better be," She muttered, worn out. She then fell asleep and didn't wake till the next morning, leaving her only two hours to decide what to do on the matter of the trade.
Groggily, Destiny woke up.
She walked over to the bench where she had layed out the gold pieces. She stuffed them all, even the special piece Jason had warned her about, back into the jug. She twisted the cap back on. Slowly, a plan was forming in mind. A plan to get Vladimir or Jason to tell her about that spepicfic piece. She put it in her pouch and looked outside. Noon was coming.
Quickly she gathered the rest of the Order of the Spiral and with Ryan and Natalie's help, led them to the main tree, and then to the rock, which apparently had already been pushed open. So they're already here, She thought.
As the Order of the Spiral followed Destiny and Ryan and Natalie, Destiny stopped until she found Jessica. She walked over to her. "No matter what Vladimir, Neela or Cody have to say, don't listen to them. They are descended from-"
"Valkoor Thorn," Jessica replied. "I know, I know, The Ordeal basically tells you that kind of stuff. It also pointed out the other descendants." She pointed to Alexis. "For example, that's Alexis Lifestone, descendant of Life," Destiny nodded. Then she had an idea. "Did the Ordeal tell you anything about a descendant of Balance?"
Jessica shook her head. "The descendant of Balance apparently hasn't had his or her Ordeal before, so it was unable to recongize them." Destiny understood.
The Order of the Spiral then climbed down in silence. Then they got near enough that Destiny heard other people talking.
"It's past noon," Destiny heard a female voice persist.
"Relax," Came an unknown voice. "Vladimir told us she'd be here."
Neela and Cody.
"Not just her," They heard Vladimir speak up. "Knowing her, she's going to take precautions and bring the rest of the Order of the Spiral."
Just then, Destiny and the rest of the group came down. Vladimir, Neela and Cody still held the white flag.
Vladimir nodded. "As predicted," He said. Vladimir turned back to Destiny. "Do you have it?" He asked, pulling the Krokodial out.
Destiny nodded. "As promised," She assured. Destiny opened her pouch and pulled out the jug of gold.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Jason yelled.
Destiny grinned smugly. Vladimir eagerly outstretched his hand. Destiny looked down at the jug, then said, "Wait, like I said back at the palace, I need to know what exactly I am trading," Destiny observed the jug, trying to figure things out.
"Just hand it over," Vladimir said.
"I need to know what I'm trading," Destiny persisted. "Because I know that you worked hard to get the Krokodial, and you wouldn't give it up easily. You know what you are trading. So I need to know what I'm trading."
Vladimir sighed in exasperation. "Please, give it to me."
Destiny sighed. She would have to use her plan. "If you don't tell me what this contains," She threatened. "Then I'll smash this bottle and the gold to bits," She said, holding the jar high above her head to prove her point.
Vladimir's face paled. "You wouldn't," He said.
Destiny nodded. "If that is what it takes, I'll do it."
Vladimir laughed. "Okay, okay, hand it over now," He said.
Destiny shook her head. "I'm warning you," She said. "You have until three to tell me what I'm giving up."
"No, please, don't!"
"One."
"Please, give it up, not only will I give you the Krokodial, I won't bother you for a long time!"
"Two."
"Come on, you can't!"
"Three."
"NO!"
It was too late. Vladimir watched helplessly as Destiny threw down the jug and smashed it with her feet. Vladimir was stunned, and he was getting angry. He turned to Neela and Cody. "We'll have to go with plan B," He said with gritted teeth. "ATTACK!" He shouted.
Instantly the Order of the Spiral prepared for battle as Vladimir, Neela and Cody charged. Neela stopped in front of Alexis and casted the death symbol in front of her, bringing a wraith to life as Alexis casted a seraph to counter. Chris joined Alexis, casting a minotaur to help. Cody went after Jason, making a skeletal pirate to compare to Jason's helephant. Esmee joined Jason and cast an evil snowman. Ryan helped with a kraken, and Natalie came to Chris and Alexis, introducing herself with a storm shark. The Order of the Spiral seemed to be doing well, so Destiny and Jessica weren't sure what to do. But they didn't have to realize what to do. Vladimir's scarecrow realized for them. Jessica quickly cast a death shield for herself, and then cast one for Destiny, so they took less damage. Destiny cast a vampire while Jessica did a skeletal pirate. Vladimir gritted his teeth. He cast a skeletal pirate, aiming for Destiny. As Destiny was distracted, Vladimir ran from the fight and rushed to the remains of the gold pieces, frantically searching for that one piece. And just as he was about to grasp it, Destiny pushed him aside and grabbed the piece as he was stunned. Breathing hard, Destiny ran away from Vladimir and to Jessica. She nudged her. "Distract Vladimir," She said, breathing hard. Jessica nodded.
Destiny ran out of the cavern and into the passageway. Shortly she heard a yell from Vladimir and ran even faster. She could hear Vladimir, Neela, and Cody on their tails. She ran as fast as she could until she was out of the passageway and back into Mooshu. Vladimir, Neela, and Cody arrived shortly after her.
"Give. It. To. Me." Vladimir gritted.
"I really don't know." Destiny smiled. "Go. Now. Before I change my mind and attack you!"
"A journeyman going against two grandmasters and a magus?" Neela scoffed.
"The Order of the Spiral is down there," Destiny reasoned. "I can cry for help."
"I'll bet they've already-" Vladimir stopped. He knew every single member, except for Jessica. None were likely to back down.
"Eight against three," Destiny added. "You're smart. What are the chances of THAT?"
Nor Vladimir or Neela or Cody said anything.
"Now leave," Destiny threatened. "A dummy can tell that the Order of the Spiral has won this round."
Vladimir and Neela looked at each other as Cody teleported out. Then Vladimir and Neela teleported away.
Destiny grinned in triumph.
"I'm going down to find out what the deal is with this piece." She said out loud. Destiny climbed down the sandy passageway.
Destiny finally came down to the cavern, immediately walking over to Jason. She pulled the piece out and handed it to Jason, who accepted it eagerly. "Now, you saw how I almost broke that piece," She said. "Please, tell me what it it!"
Jason sighed. Then he smiled. "I guess there's no stopping you, huh?"
"That's why I'm the luitenant," Destiny replied.
Jason remembered when he had wrote that on the stone. Then he looked at Destiny in the face and said, "That, that piece," He said. "Is Myth's shard."
"The shard to what?" Destiny asked.
"I'm talking about the Blade of Seven."
|
The Necromancer's Matter (part 5) - Bones of the Enemy
Destiny, now halfway through her journeyman lessons, lay down on the beach of her sunny cottage as she recalled the events that had taken action about a month ago.
She was the luitenant of the Order of the Spiral, along with Jason Stormflame, Ryan Stormcaster, Natalie Goldenflame, Chris Soulhunter and her own cousin, Esmee Lionblood. Formerlly of the group was Neela Waterpetal.
Destiny winced when she thought of Neela. Don't even THINK about her!
Then a voice came up. You're thinking about Neela, huh?
Destiny turned her head to the right to see Nikki, an exiled sprite that now lived with her. She nodded.
Neela had acted as a friend to everyone, then turned and backstabbed them. Then she recalled something Neela had said, about Death Bandits, a group of necromancers that committed crime in Krokotopia. Neela had then sent out a Krokotpian patrolman and framed Destiny for being one. That's when she realized that she forgotten that she hade a little tiny jug of gold that she had stolen from the patrol krok when it had been knocked out from a huge sandstorm, later soothed by Balance himself.
Destiny pulled out the jug of gold. It was tiny, a sphere of little shredded gold pieces, only about five centimeters wide and tall. There was a black cap at the top in the shape of a cylander. Destiny turned it around a few times, carefully observing it. She then saw a fingerprint on the jar. She recongnized it immediately.
The gold belonged to Neela.
If it was Neela's, it would most likely be important to them. The gold might be able to be used as a bargaining tool. Destiny then stuffed the gold back in her pouch and resumed to what she had been thinking about before. The Death Bandits. She was certain one of them was Vladimir Thorn, a kniving master necromancer. And, now that Neela had reveled to be a traitor, Destiny was convinced that she was the girl Death Bandit. But Neela had mentioned THREE Death Bandits.
There was someone else.
Vladimir Neela, and who else? Neela mentioned it being a male.
But she had to warn the Order of the Spiral! Ryan was in his adept studies, but Jason's wouldn't start for another few minutes. Destiny got Nikki, and teleported to Jason.
"Jason! Jason!" Destiny shouted as she spotted the pyromancer in his red master robes. Jason turned around. "What is it?" He asked.
Destiny leaned forward to Jason, cautious of the people surrounding. "There's another thorn," She whispered. "It's not just Vladimir and Neela. There's another person with them, we just haven't encountered him."
Jason eyed Destiny, a suspsious look on his face. "How do you know this?" He asked.
"Well, do you remember how I was blamed for being a Death Bandit?" Jason nodded. "Well, Neela mentioned two boys and a girl. Vladimir, Neela, and someone else."
Suddenly, Jason had a bright look on his face. "Oh yeah! That reminds me, remember the day we first met? When you pushed Vladimir? I found out where he teleported to! He constantly teleported to his base!"
"Which is where?" Destiny asked.
"Marleybone," Jason breathed. "Don't you see? We need to gather the Order of the Spiral and infiltrate his base!"
Destiny came out third after Jason, then Ryan. She looked around, seeing a cathedral-looking place. So this was Marleybone.
The six walked in a single-file line out of the chamber and looked around the blackish world. No wonder the Throns created their base here.
She observed Marleybone closely. It was more of a civilized world then any other of the worlds, even Wizard City. More civilized, but infested with dogs. Dogs everywhere! And standing on their hind legs, too! She knew that this would come, but as of seeing it for the first time, it seemed downright paranormal.
Suddenly they were all taken aback by a sudden swarm of dogs, which really sent a shiver down Destiny's spine. But not Natalie. Natalie rushed up to them. "What's going on?" She asked.
A brown male dog stopped. "Why, the richest miser in Marleybone's son has just completed his Ravenwood School of Magical Arts studies einterlly! And he's so good at it, that Dragonspyre Academy is considering taking him in for advanced necromancy!" He head swiveled, and Destiny joined him, to see a huge carriage pulling up to a mansion. "Oh, I think that's him and his friends!" The dog joined the crowd, eager to take a look at this rich kid.
Destiny arrieved just in time to see that the carriage had stopped and a butler-looking person (Destiny was soooooooo releaved that is was a human, not a dog!), came up to open it. The first to come out was a teenage boy in grandmaster clothes and a black bandit cap on top of his head, shrowding his shoulder-length black hair and complementing his pale skin. His very presence put Destiny in rage.
Vladimir Thorn.
Natalie gaped. "He's a grandmaster now?"
Ryan sighed. "Had to happen sooner of later," He grimaced.
Nikki nudged Destiny. Hey, isn't he that bufoon whose butt we kicked back in Ravenscar a month or two ago? Destiny nodded.
Vladimir stopped and turned around, expecting the next person. The next one was a girl in her early teens with long black hair tightened up into a ponytail. She wore a black Marleybonian dress with red trimming and also wore a black and red bandit cap. The sight of her enraged Destiny too.
Neela Waterpetal.
The butler offered her a hand as she came down, but Neela took it as a personal offense and slapped him. "Filthy traitor," She heard Jason mutter.
The last person who came out was unfamilier to Destiny. He was a boy with short aqua hair and a bandit hat like Neela and Vladimir. He had pale skin and wore a robe with symbols of the storm school stiched, yet showing necromancy by the rest being black. Unlike the other two, who carried their swords, he held a clockwork staff with blue crystals embedded. When he joined Vladimir and Neela, she noticed he was shorter then them. Because of this, he looked to be ten or eleven, not much younger then Destiny, who was on the brink of the age of twelve.
Vladimir, Neela, and the other blue-haired boy all asended a grand marble staircase leading to the doors of the black mansion. Throns outlined the doors and windows, appearing to be used for securtiy. But Destiny knew the truth. It wasn't an alarm. It was their insignia. Destiny spotted something on the silver doors, a black coat of arms with a red 'V' in the middle. Again, thorns outlined the coat of arms and the sections, the thorns painted the same bloodred as the 'V'. Destiny was impressed with the mansion. In Wizard City they were students, a gang of bandits in Krokotopia, and now celebrities in Marleybone. What would be next?
Destiny nudged the dog. "Mr uh, dog, sir, but just who is the richest miser in Marleybone?" She asked politely, but anxious.
"Why, the great Vladimir Thorn Sr.," The dog advised. "That over there, the one in the lead is Vladimir Thorn Jr., and those are his friends Neela Woodpetal, I think?"
"Waterpetal," Jason grimaced.
"Right," The dog went back on track. "As I was saying, that is his son Vladimir Thorn Jr., Neela Waterpetal, and, according to the news, he just befriended a magus necromancer called Cody Shadowstrider."
Destiny assumed right on the bat that Cody Shadowstrider was the blue-haired guy. She needed to tell that to Nikki. That's when she noticed Nikki was gone.
Right when Destiny noticed she was gone, Nikki fluttered back. Quick! She warned. To the cottage! Now!
Destiny kneeled to Nikki. "What is it?"
Just come! Now!
She nudged Jason. "I need to get back to the cottage. I'm getting hungry, and I need to write all these interesting facts down."
Jason nodded his approval. "We'll be right here if you need us."
Destiny ran to the spiral door. She wondered what Nikki could have meant.
Destiny fumbled with the lock in the spiral door, and quickly took the portal to her cottage. She really was hoping that Nikki was just toying with her imagination and nothing at all was urgent.
When Destiny stepped through, Nikki came after her quickly and fluttered to the cottage, although the yard and gazebo and beach appeared to be just fine. Nikki flew past Destiny at an alarmingly fast pace and turned around. Hurry! She called. Taking Nikki's advice, Destiny ran as hard as she could, and entered the cottage. She could not believe her eyes.
Because Neela Waterpetal was looking around, apparently looking for something. How did Neela know? Destiny quickly hid behind her collective wraith statue, watching her every move. Destiny then organized a plan. She bent down to Nikki. "Nikki," She whispered. "Get Jason, now. Tell him and the Order of the Spiral to come over here now! Also, tell one of them to buy a jail cell."
Why a jail cell? Nikki asked, doing the same thing as Destiny, keeping her voice low.
"Just tell them to buy a jail cell and to get over here as quickly as possible! Now!" Destiny said.
What about you?
"I'll be fine! I have a plan, so don't worry. Just get the Order of the Spiral, tell them to buy a jail cell, and get back over here as fast as possible!"
Nikki nodded. She looked around, and when Neela's back was turned, she quickly fluttered over to the door and exited. Now it was up to Destiny. She readied her spells and and headed out. "HEY!" She shouted. Neela turned around and fled through the door. Destiny followed Neela and casted a vampire at her. As the vampire raked her, Neela grinned. "Well well," She grinned smugly. "I see you have improvised."
"That's right, you idiot," Destiny shot back. "You? Oh, wait, that's right, you're too lazy to improve because you and Vladimir think you're so great!"
"Watch it there, Seagem!" Neela said.
Destiny laughed. "Really? I thought you were the insulting, kniving, and betraying one, Waterpetal!" Destiny hissed as she cast a sunbird.
Neela blocked with a skeletal pirate. As she was busying herself watching the pirate fight the sunbird, she was taken aback by a phoenix. Quickly, Neela turned around to see Jason. "YOU!" He shouted as the phoenix swooped to take care of Neela, carrying her high in the sky.
"You got the cell?" Destiny asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"Give it to me!"
"Give as in useage, or give as in own?"
"OWN! NOW HURRY!"
Jason gave her the cell and Destiny set it up, opening the doors. "Command the phoenix to come in here!" She said.
Jason whistled for the phoenix. Instantly, it swooped down, with Neela clinging for her life. The phoenix entered the cell and dumped Neela in, then quickly retreated as Destiny shut the door and locked it, trapping Neela inside. "Hey!" She shouted. "I can get you in federal trouble for this!"
"Huh, that's funny," Destiny said. "I don't recall Vladimir considering the law when he tried to kill me, once in a duel and again in Ravenscar." She walked up to Neela. "Now tell us," Destiny interrogated. "You wouldn't be here for nothing! Why are you here?"
"That's none of your business!" Neela hissed.
"Considering that you break in my home, I think it is perfectly my business," Destiny said.
"Well, too bad!" Neela said.
Destiny sighed. "We've got no use for her," She said as she turned to Jason. "She's too hard to interrogate."
"Ah," Jason said. "That may be true, but I've got another use for her in mind,"
"What is it?" Destiny asked.
Jason guestered for her to come. "I'll leave Chris here to guard Neela."
Walking out of the Marleybonian clothes shop, Destiny felt stiff. How could Neela wear this all the time?
Instead of her comfortable Initiates Uniform, Frost touched cap and onyx studded boots, Destiny was now clad in a carnival dress and bandit hat, like Neela.
"So, let me get this straight," Destiny said to Jason. "You want me to dress as Neela, go to Thorn Manor, and pretend to be Neela?" She shook her head. "Jason, Vladimir's not stupid, and you know it. He'll reconize me in an instant."
"Relax," Jason said. "Vladimir may be smart, but not as much as he is when overconfident. From what I've seen, hearing from a fake Neela that the raid had been successful AND him have completed his studies, he's going to be overconfident."
Destiny nodded. It made sense. Jason handed her a stone and a little silver stick. "Here, take this," He said.
"What does it do?" Destiny questioned. She looked at the stone.
"It allows us to communicate," Jason replied. "Here, watch," Destiny watched as Jason took the silver stick and wrote on the stone. Instantly Destiny's stone temperature increased and became very hot. She took it out and she saw scrawled on the stone, in Jason's handwriting, Hi!
Destiny smiled. She thought of something. Quickly, she scrawled, Who'll watch Nikki while I'm gone?
Jason read the message, scrawled something, then her stone vibrated. She looked at it then read, We all will. Sure, the rest of the Order of the Spiral doesn't understand her, but we can figure something out.
Destiny looked up. "Thanks," Destiny said. She then heard the sound of wheels. Jason did too.
Jason turned his head. Destiny followed him, and saw a coach coming up. "I think that's Neela's private coach," Jason said. He patted Destiny on the back. "Good luck," He said.
Destiny inhaled, and exhaled. She could do this. This would be successful. It would be hugely benaficial to the Order of the Spiral. She walked up to the coach and the door was opened for her. Destiny pulled up the skirt of the stuffy dress and walked to steps into the black coach. She sat down on a built in couch with black leather. "Thorn Manor," She requested.
The dog driver nodded. "As you wish," He said. Destiny gave a shiver. Would she ever be used to talking dogs?
The coach bumped a few times from the gravel paved into the streets. Finally after what seemed like an hour, the coach finally pulled to a stop at Thorn Manor. As expected, coming down the steps was Vladimir. Destiny hoped she could desgiuse her voice. As she stepped out of the coach, Vladimir smiled. The driver spoke before she could step out. "By the way," He said. "Your guests are coming," Destiny nodded and, hoping to sound like an evil mastermind, she replied, "Excellent,"
As the coach drove away into the city, Vladimir greeted, "How was the raid, my Waterpetal?" He asked.
Jason was right, Destiny thought. He is dumb when he's overconfident. She smiled and said, "No one discovered me, but I didn't get what we were looking for. Apparently they have either hid it or its on themselves."
Vladimir shrugged. "Oh well," He said. "No matter, we'll get it another time."
Then Destiny remembered the coachdog's message. "Our guests are arriving shortly," She said.
"Great," Vladimir said. "We've got ourself another one,"
Destiny didn't know what the another one reffered too, but she would find out in due time. She followed Vladimir to a room guarded by ten-foot-tall black doors, a foot thick. Suddenly Destiny understood why those doors were so hard to open.
The doors opened a grand throne room, with a red asile flowing to a set of thrones, the one on the middle was the biggest and had to climb a few steps. The one to its right was the second highest, and had to climb a few steps to reach that too. The throne to the middle's left was the shortest. Vladimir climbed to the middle throne, and sat, crossing his right leg on his left knee. Destiny followed him as Vladimir guestered to the throne on the right. Must be where Neela plotted. Destiny took notice that the blue-haired boy wasn't there. As Destiny sat, Vladimir asked, "Are you sure no one caught you?"
Tiny balls of sweat dripped down Destiny's forehead underneath the bandit cap. "No one," She said, hoping her voice was steady.
Vladimir looked away set his left fist balled up under his chin, pondering. "I don't know," Vladimir finally said. "One member of that group is quite resourceful."
"Who?" Destiny questioned.
"Destiny," Vladimir said, and for a minute Destiny was afraid that Vladimir had suddenly caught her. She relaxed when she heard him say, "Destiny's the one. She is very formidable. She won't give up easily, and holds her ground. She is very aggressive, clever, brave, she fights valiently for her cause, and competitive. Qualities I admire. Qualities of a true Thorn."
Vladimir's last remark scared her. Destiny laughed, trying to intimidate Neela. "She is but an initiate, a journeyman, maybe." She said, putting in that she was an initiate to support evidence she was Neela.
"Maybe of low rank," Vladimir admitted. "But I can sense she is getting stronger by the second, not just in rank, but in spirit." He turned to Destiny. "And what's odd," He continued. "Is that I feel a sort of-connection- to her."
"Connection?" Destiny questioned. Things were getting interesting.
"A connection," Vladimir confirmed. "And not just and rivalry and all that war stuff. I feel in in my mind, I feel a connection flowing through my veins. Like, its as if we were connected by blood. I highly doubt its that way, but I just have this unusual feeling nagging through me about her. Something about her, I just can't quite put my finger on it." Vladimir was cut off by the thick doors opening again, letting the blue-haired boy enter down the asile.
Vladimir smiled. "Cody," He greeted. "Cody Shadowstrider, desendant of both Valkoor Thorn and the legendary wizard Death."
Destiny breathed, trying not to show her shock. Vladimir and Neela had found the desendant of Death? Oh, no. Note to self, She thought. Make it a mission to revert this Cody Shadowstrider to our side.
Before sittting on his throne, Cody pulled out a sleek, smooth, black onyx and presented it to Vladimir. Vladimir eagerly accepted it and stood up, holding the onyx in triumph. "Behold," He announced. "The Onyx of Darkness! First the Helm of Power, now the Onyx, all we need now is the blade," He sat back down clutching the onyx, grinning evilly.
Destiny peered at Vladimir quickly as Cody sat down on his seat. She pulled back quickly. It doesn't really seem like he needs the desendants, She thought. So, if he's not after the desendants, what could he be after? He mentioned a blade.
Her thoughts were cut off by the doors opening again, and a butler emerging. "Your guests are here," He said. He pulled back to make way for two girls in green. One had hair covered by a hood with an eagle's beak poking out. She was in grizzleheim attir. She looked to be in late adeptdom. She had green eyes and her hair was covered. Next to her was a girl that had short, green hair complemented by a crown of branches. She wore green and brown Mooshu-ian robes, and her eyes were a mix of brown and green. She looked to be a magus.
"Vladimir Thorn," The magus said, and nodded her head towards him. "What a good surprise."
"What might your names be?" Vladimir inquired.
The magus hesistated, as if needing to rethink. "Lindsay," She decided. "Lindsay the theurgist. And the adept next to me is Alexis, Alexis Lifestone."
"Pleased to meet you," Vladimir said, getting up from his seat and walking up to greet them. He shook hands with Lindsay, then Alexis. "Over here are Neela Waterpetal and Cody Shadowstrider." He made a geusture, and Cody walked over. Destiny did the same. Cody shook hands and Destiny followed.
"We'll have dinner in a half hour," Vladimir said. "For now, I welcome you to your guestrooms."
Lindsay nodded, and she and Alexis departed. Alexis whispered something to Lindsay, and Destiny leaned over to hear.
"I don't have a good feeling, Lindsay," Alexis said in a high-pitched voice. "This Vladimir guy just seems... evil."
"I think its just because he's a necromancer," Lindsay said.
"I hope you're right," Alexis said.
Destiny needed to tell them. She could sense a strong aura on Alexis, and a stronger one on Lindsay. Then she gasped in realization:
What business would Vladimir have with theurgists unless...
Unless one of them was the desendant of Life!
She had to warn them!
Quickly she rushed to Lindsay's chamber, and entered. Lindsay looked over at her, surprised. "Neela," She said. "What now?"
Destiny rushed over to Lindsay. "You and Alexis, you both need to get out of here!" She said urgently.
Lindsay nodded. "I realize that, Destiny."
Destiny gasped, searching for words. Then she realized who they were. "Alexis is the desendant," She breathed. "Your desendant."
Lindsay nodded. "Even more clever then Fire told me."
Destiny blushed.
Life looked around. "Quick, I can just teleport away, but you're going to have to escape the manor with Alexis."
"Wait," Destiny said. "Do you know what the Onyx of Darkness might be, by any chance?"
Life nodded again. "The Onyx of Darkness is a deadly stone. I'm familier with it because Death created it. He poured a lot of magic in it."
"But what does it do?" Destiny inquired.
"It can bring someone back from the dead," Life said.
That settles things a little bit, Destiny thought. "But what about the Helm of Power?"
Life paled. "Why must you know about that?" She asked.
"I just need to," Destiny said.
"Vladimir has it, huh?" Life guessed.
Destiny nodded.
Life sighed. "The Helm of Power is Valkoor Thorn's helmet," She said. "Like the Onyx of Darkness, he poured his soul, his strength, and his cunning into that headpiece. Anyone who wears it will therefore destroy themselves."
"Also, Vladimir mentioned something about a blade," She said. "Any idea of that?"
Life shook her head. "I don't, but I have a feeling I'll find out very soon." She looked around. "Before Vladimir suspects anything, I need to go. I hope you and Alexis will make it out safely." Then a green light her height came up, like it had done with Fire and Storm and Ice. She waved goodbye as the light engulfed her, then she disappeared.
Right when she left to her time, Destiny's stone vibrated. She pulled it out, and read the message, Hurry! You need to get out of there QUICK!
Destiny scrawled, Why?
Neela escaped! Jason wrote. She distracted Chris, grabbed the key, and escaped! She's already in Marleybone! Hurry!
I have news, too, Destiny wrote. The desendant of Life is here. Her name is Alexis Lifestone.
Great! Jason said. Now grab the desendant of Life and get your butts out of there!
Clear, The luitenant wrote. Destiny put the stone back in her pocket and ran to Alexis.
Destiny barged in Alexis's room and slammed the door. Destiny grabbed Alexis. "What are you doing?" Alexis asked, in a panic.
Destiny let go and turned to her. "My name is not Neela Waterpetal," She said. "I'm Destiny Seagem, Luitenant of the Order of the Spiral. You're right, Vladimir is a bad person. I came here to orignally spy on him, and now I need to get out of here, and you need to come with me," Destiny said.
"But like I said, N-Destiny," Alexis said. "What is going on?"
"I'll explain everything later," Destiny soothed. "But right now, we need to get you out of here."
"What about Lindsay?" Alexis asked. "She's my best friend!"
"Lindsay's already out," Destiny said. "Come on, we need to go! We're burning daylight!"
Alexis nodded and followed Destiny out the door. "Now, just act natural," Destiny instructed. "I don't think they know that I'm a spy yet." Then, all of a sudden, a skeletal pirate came out and charged at the duo. "WHOA!" Alexis screamed. "WHAT WAS THAT?"
"More likely," Destiny said as she knocked down the pirate with her feet. The skeleton struggled. "WHO was that?"
Destiny and Alexis looked around, but couldn't find anyone. Then Alexis nudged Destiny. "I think I saw some aqua over there," She said, pointing north.
Cody! Destiny realized. He overheard everything! "Cody!" She yelled. "I know you're here! Please, join us, in our cause. Do you want terror on the spiral?" She asked.
But no reply came. Then, all of a sudden, dog guards came. "Imposter!" One of them yelled as he charged.
Destiny threw a sunbird at them while Alexis cast a seraph. Stunned by the spells, the guards forfitted time for Destiny and Alexis to run. They ran in ends and corners, veraciously searching for the exit. "This is scary!" Alexis said.
Destiny sighed. "Trust me, it'll get scarier," She said as they turned a corner.
The corner they turned into had Vladimir waiting. "Cody has reported to me," He said. "Thank's for revealing that you're a spy and Alexis is the desendant of Life,"
"Desendant of WHAT?" Alexis screamed. Vladimir took the advantage and casted a scarecrow, draining a lot of strength from Alexis and Destiny. Alexis's hood fell off to reveal green hair in a ponytail. "Teleport away," Destiny said to Alexis.
Vladimir overheard and shook his head. "Sorry, teleportation off limits," He said. "Got to get out manually,"
Destiny nudged Alexis and they broke off into a run, away from Vladimir and right back into a face familier to Destiny: Neela.
"What did I miss?" Neela asked, pretending to be confused. She turned to Destiny. "How DARE you!" She screamed. She casted the death symbol, but just before the spell came to life, Destiny and Alexis ran around her and ran away, barely in time to miss a wraith. Confused, it headed for Vladimir, and Neela struggled to prevent it and get the message across that Destiny was its target, not Vladimir.
Destiny and Alexis finally saw the exit. "YES!" Destiny said as she and Alexis ran out of the manor. They ran some more out of the boundrys, and, when they were positive it was safe, clutching Alexis's hand, Destiny had Jason in mind and teleported to him, with the sound of guards chasing after them.
Destiny and Alexis appeared at her house, with Jason, Ryan, and the rest of the Order of the Spiral there. "Whew," Natalie breathed. "We thought that you would be captured!"
"More like you thought Destiny was going to be taken," Esmee corrected.
Destiny sighed. "Actually, it was a close call," She said. "If Alexis or I hadn't ran from them at the last second, we probably would have been defeated."
"I take it that Alexis is the theurgist?" Ryan piped.
"I see," Chris said. "The desendant of Life,"
Destiny nodded.
"Seriously, why is everyone here acting so strange?" Alexis said. Then, she clutched her head. "OW!" She screamed as she fell to the grass, clearly passing out.
Destiny ran up to her. "What happened?" She asked.
"We all know," Jason said. "Its what happens to us all. The Ordeal." Natalie gave a shiver.
"The Ordeal?" Destiny asked.
"It's what happens to desendants," Jason said. "Its how we find out that we're desendants. It strengthens us all, it sharpens our wits, everything. It's also the worst, most freaky rollar coaster you'll ever ride. It takes what you fear most and throws it at you, making it your worst nightmare. Ever. Some desendants even die facing it. Deaths are rare, but its happened."
Destiny gave a shiver. Alexis screamed, but her eyes didn't open. She could only imagine what Alexis was going through. Everything she feared. She hoped Alexis didn't lose the fight. "Is there anything we can do?" Destiny asked, eagerly hoping to help Alexis.
Esmee shook her head. "You have to face it alone," She said. "I remember my Ordeal as clear as day. It was the scariest thing that happened to me. Take what happened in Ravenscar, then times that by around a billion. That's what the Ordeal is like."
Destiny sighed. "How long will it take?" She asked.
Ryan shrugged. "It depends. Sometimes it takes an hour, sometimes a day, one time it took a full week," He said. Destiny could tell he was remembering his Ordeal, and he shivered. Then he manned up. "All we can do is hope that Alexis will have the strength to pass."
Destiny changed from her Marleybone attir back into her Frost-touched cap, her initiates uniform, and her onyx studded boots. It was like wearing silk to the Marleybone garb.
Nightime arose, and Alexis was still going through her Ordeal when they all needed sleep. Destiny tried to keep her eyes open, hoping that her presence would give Alexis some comfort, but she found out that she couldn't keep her eyes open.
That night, Destiny dreamed.
She was alone in Mooshu. Everything was blurry, the setting, the goats and pig warriors walking around. Destiny looked around, trying to get a clear image of something or someone.
She did.
The only person who wasn't blurry was a girl with long brown hair, pale skin, and blue eyes in black and red Mooshu robes. Destiny could tell she was a necromancer, but from the way she acted, friendly. Then she found one more person who wasn't blurry.
The other person was a cross between a teenager, a 50-year-old man, and a grim reaper. He was as tall as a teenager, and had salt-and-pepper hair standing on end. She couldn't tell what color his eyes were. He had a black shirt and pants on, with a black hooded cloak, and black boots. All he needed was the ax.
The hooded person nudged towards the girl, and said something, but Destiny couldn't hear. She looked at him and cupped her hands over her left ear. The hooded man nodded and repeated. Destiny still couldn't hear, but she could read his mouth, and could make out one word:
Jessica.
Destiny awoke, to find Alexis coming back from her Ordeal. "You now don't have to explain anything, I now know."
Destiny nodded. "What was it like?" She asked. "You know, the Ordeal?"
Alexis breathed a few times before saying, "It was scary, you can say that."
"What did you have to go through?" Destiny asked.
"One of the rules of the Ordeal is that if you survive, all you can say is how freaky it was. The rest, like what you experience, is forbidden to be told."
Destiny noticed that sunlight was creeping its way out of the window and into the house. Alexis's eyes flew over there. "Is it still daytime?" She asked. Destiny shook her head. "Here, lets get you up," Destiny stood and offered Alexis a hand. Gladly, Alexis took it, and struggled to stand at first, but then her balance increased and increased until she could stand just fine. Destiny let go of her hand. "Here, I need to talk to Jason." She turned to go away, but stopped and turned back to Alexis and said, "By the way, welcome to the Order of the Spiral." Destiny offered to shake Alexis's hand. She took it, then Destiny said, "Come, we need to gather all the members of the Order of the Spiral. It's urgent." Alexis nodded and set off.
Destiny came back outside with Ryan, Esmee and Jason. Alexis came with Chris and Natalie. Destiny cleared her throat and said, "When I spied on Vladimir, I found out a lot. One of them was that Cody, the blue-haired boy we saw when we first arrived in Marleybone, was not only a desendant of Valkoor, but a desendant of Death himself."
"Oh, no!" Jason moaned. "If we hope to succeed, we need Cody!"
"Don't worry," Destiny soothed. "Remember when I had that propectic dream of Esmee being the desendant of Ice? Well, I just had another, only this time-"
"Wait," Jason said. "You get prophectic dreams? I'm the desendant of Fire, Fire was a seer, I should be getting dreams. So why are you instead of me?"
Destiny shrugged. "I don't know." She admitted. "So far, I haven't gotten a dream on why I get dreams instead of you," For Natalie, this cracked a joke.
"Anyways," Destiny proceeded. "Like the dream I had of Esmee, I had a dream of someone, who could be, another desendant of Death. She lies in Mooshu."
|
The Crusader's Son (part 3)
Sorry for leaving you off there Olivia. I got your letter so at least now I know someone is reading this. Hope your leg is feeling better? Maybe you can explain how you got my message earlier after though. Anyways, back to Wizard City. Let me fill in on what I left off.
As soon as the words left Autumn's lips, my heart stopped. It literally stopped beating. I'd never felt that sensation at all through my lifetime. My body went all cold inside as I held my breath. Must've had the same effect on Brian. His face was pretty pale.
"You guys-," said Autumn, but she was cut off as Brian and I ran back to the Commons.
We hurdled past annoyed wizards who got bumped in the process, but I didn't care. I guess some jerk must've stuck out his foot, because then I found myself kissing the dirt on the ground.
I cussed softly.
My brother came to my side.
"You ok?" he asked.
I nodded. Nothing much, just a scratch maybe. I stood up and brushed off some remaining particles of dirt on my robes.
"I should've known you were a klutz as well, novice," a familiar gruff voice snarled.
It was Matt, still mounted on his tiger. His guys were blocking the tunnel to the Commons.
"Move it! We don't have time to play tag with you and your pals," I exclaimed.
Matt was surprised by my aggression. But he scowled and warned, "Nobody..tells...me....what...to...do!"
He got off his mount.
I stood my ground. Probably the stupidest thing I'd done in my life.
We were soon engaged in a physical battle. No wands or spells. Just our fists.
I ducked as he tried to swing his left at my face. Like a bull, he came charging back at me the instant I moved.
"Fight, Fight, Fight!" encouraged the crowd that formed around us.
"That all you got you wuss? Come face me for real!" he yelled.
"You asked for it," I growled as I swung at his face.
The impact of the blow sent him sprawled on the ground. Dang, I admit that my knuckles were sore.
Never fought in my life. So you can say how scared I felt.
"Hey!"
I turned to face Matt. He had gotten up quick.
I noticed his eyes had turned into a bright red, no pupil. It was as if he was possessed.
"Eat this!"
He got up on his tiger and came pouncing straight for me. I had no time to react.
There was a flash of orange and black. Maybe I screamed, I couldn't recall. But heck did it hurt! Little did I know a 500 pound tiger was sitting on me. My stomach shot up to my throat as I felt a thousand sharp claws grasp into my chest. I tried to take a breath, but something pulled me back inside.
"Blaze!" cried Autumn.
I instantly felt the restrainment fade away from me as Matt steered his tiger off my body. I tried to stand up, but my chest hurt. I grasped my hand to it and realized my robe was stained with blood.
"I-I didn't mean to.." Matt's voice trailed off. He was pale as he backed away with disbelief at the sight of my blood.
"Matthew DragonRider, you're in complete violation of the Wizard Code Rule 56: Never injure a fellow wizard unless you're engaged in an arena match," spoke a rusty male voice.
So that's his last name! I thought.
I turned my head to look. It was a zebra! He wore a beige Australian style jacket, pants, shoes, and a cowboy hat while fumbling with a long, narrow gun resting on his shoulder.
"Sir Reginald Baxby, I-I swear I didn't mean it!" stuttered Matt. He was shaking all over, his golden eyes wide open.
Funny..his eyes, they're back to normal.
"Sure you did," said Baxby, the words dripping with sarcasm. He suddenly aimed his gun in the direction of Matt.
"Wait..what are you doing?!" cried Matt. His face gave away everything: Fear.
"Errgh, you might wanna move your ol' bum now kid," groaned the zebra.
I saw Matt step away to the left towards Torrence, the Storm tree. I then saw what the Reginald was aiming for. His tiger.
It was sort of getting around antsy. The agitated feline was now trying to paw at a group of wizards while growling ferociously.
"Wait! Don't hurt her!" Matt cried in protest.
A small dart shot from Sir Reginald's gun and caught onto the tiger's fur deep in the skin.
"No worries mate, just a lil' sleeping dart to calm her down," reassured Baxby.
"Eh..ok," muttered Matt unsure.
I watched as Baxby ordered Matt to take his tiger back to his house to rest up.
"We were leaving?" asked Brian, tugging at my arm.
I nodded.
My brother helped me up while hooking my left arm around his shoulder to help me walk. I continued to grasp my hand to my chest where the tiger had left the bloody gore.
We stepped into the tunnel back towards the Commons slowly. Pitch dark, but I still could make out a faint screaming as we drawed closer to the end.
I shook my head in disbelief as we exited Ravenwood.
Malistaire.
Ambrose was outside the gates to his house, many wizards cowering behind him.
"Malistaire, you do not belong here! Leave at once!" Ambrose ordered.
The dark lord sneered at the headmaster.
"No need to worry old man. I just wanted to show two particular wizards their fate very soon if they try to interfere with my plans," Malistaire said.
He turned his head towards our direction. A slim smile creased on his wrinkled face.
Ambrose looked in his direction. When he saw us, he was shocked. Leave! His old face seemed to beckon.
"Oh don't worry. They won't be leaving. Not after seeing this!" Malistaire cried.
He lifted his golden-black staff. A black aura circled the dragon figurine. A black cosmos seemed to appear suddenly, a bright black light blinded the whole of Wizard City.
And then it stopped.
As the light faded, a human figure seemed to float next to Malistaire. No..there were two!
I finally realized in horror.
It was Dad, with Uncle Sean.
They were unconscious.
"Let them go!" I shouted. My voice echoed through the eerie Commons.
"As you wish," Malistaire snickered.
The two floating bodies suddenly plunged into the lake. The same crystal-blue lake I saw that morning, now a death trap for my dad and uncle.
But something happened afterwards. Don't let me freak you out.
A dragon-like creature then seemed to appear out of thin air! He charged at the frothy lake and appeared shortly afterwards holding the two unconscious bodies.
"What in the name of Bartelby is happening?" Malistaire screeched in protest.
The red beast then slowly hovered to the ground on the left side of the lake. Suddenly, a group of wizards cloaked in white stood behind him. He set Dad and uncle down gently.
The draconian's orange eyes then stared at Malistaire, hard.
"Remember us?" he said slyly. A yellow forked tongue slithered out.
"No..it can't be. Keira is dead! Your organization still can't possibly be held!" Malistaire was really shocked.
"Or can't it?"
One of the white-cloaked wizards stepped towards Malistaire slowly.
He pulled back his hood.
A serious face appeared. He must have been only around 19, with a short black Mohawk. He had lots of piercing.
"Nexas..I thought you were dead," Malistaire spat out.
"Yea, don't believe whatever the kiddies tell you back home, 'k?" Nexas said.
He suddenly unsheathed a broad silver sword, stained with blotches of red.
His tone, his attitude..why did it remind me so much of one person?
Malistaire smiled.
"You think you can beat me with Corwin of Amber's petty little toy you call a blade?"
Nexas clenched his teeth.
"You'll take that back!"
He drawed the sword and shouted, "Greyswandir'!"
A black flame suddenly engulfed the blade. Several blood-red characters engraved onto the side glowed brightly as Nexas sprang up and lifted his sword to hack off Malistaire's head.
A lethal move..but Malistaire was quick.
He lifted up his staff and blocked the blow in the midsection of the weapon.
Laughing out loud, Malistaire shouted some spell I couldn't identify, "Thanatos!"
Nexas was pushed back harshly from a force that came out of the staff. He landed on the draconian, who in return, grunted in pain.
"I'll be back to finish all of you! One after another," Malistaire said.
He lifted his staff and disappeared.
A long silence filled the Commons.
I looked at Brian, but his attention was to something else.
I stared in his direction which was at Nexas and the draconian.
I suddenly remembered.
"Wait!" I ran toward them.
But it was too late.
The whole white-cloaked group, including Nexas and the draconian, disappeared, dragging the unconscious bodies of Sean and Dad.
"Dad..."
I stomped up to Merle Ambrose, who, at the time, was trying to calm everyone down.
"Listen old man," I said, pointing a finger angrily at him, "I want to know where the h*** my dad and uncle were taken!"
The headmaster gave a look of disapproval, probably from my language, but replied, "That group you just saw are called 'The White Gems'. For years now, they have been fighting secretly behind the shadows against Malistaire, trying to obtain any bits of information of his plans. Where they abide, I'm not sure. But, I do know for a fact that Nexas, one of the best assassins of the group, hangs around in the Death Tower at Nightside."
I rolled my eyes.
"Ok, great, but how the heck am I supposed to get to Nightrealm, or whatever it's called?"
"Nightside," Ambrose corrected me, "is a hidden cave of some sorts hidden behind the waterfall behind you."
I turned around.
Sure enough, there was a cobblestone bridge leading to Unicorn Way with a massive waterfall to the right.
"How do I get in?" I asked.
"You don't," answered Ambrose solemnly.
"Whad' you mean?" I said angrily.
The old man pulled at his beard thoughtfully.
"I won't say any more until you have defeated Nightshade. Otherwise, you won't find any more information elsewhere."
He walked back into his house slowly.
"Grrrrr."
I walked away angrily towards the bridge.
Ignoring everyone, including my brother, I heard the crowd diminish slowly as time flew by.
As I began throwing pebbles into the lake, watching the small ripples, I didn't hear Autumn coming near.
"Lighten up," she spoke casually.
I shook my head.
"If you're trying to make me feel better, it's not working."
She crept up behind me.
I didn't mind much, until I was suddenly shoved over the bridge.
As I resurfaced, I could only hear the annoying laughter of Autumn as I coughed up water.
"What the heck was that for?" I shouted.
Recovering from her laughter, she said, "Couldn't find any other way to cheer you up. You won't accomplish anything to finding your father and uncle by standing around you know."
"Hmph," I grunted as I got out of the water and tried to squeeze the excess water from my soaking robes, "You could've showed it in a lighter way."
All the teenager did was smile.
"C'mon. Take Brian with you," she said.
I quickly found him near Prospector Zeke, who was supposed to be a merchant/traveler of some sort.
"Where we going?" Brian asked, confused, as we caught up to Autumn.
"We're gonna get some quests done. Like I said, you're wasting your time standing around like idiots."
She disappeared into the gate to Unicorn Way.
I sighed.
"Well, we better get going," I nudged Brian.
He nodded.
We both followed Autumn.
I felt a new sense of security now.
Maybe I'd find Dad and Uncle Sean after all.
|
The Adventures of Merle
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Millions of years ago, long before Wizard City, Marleybone, Dragonspyre, or even Celestia were in existence, there were 7 gods and godesses. Demira was the goddess of Death and Vita, Demira’s sister, was the goddess of Life. Pseuda was the goddess of Myth, and her brother, Div, was the god of Storm. Pyrim was the god of Fire and he had a brother, Glaci, the god of Ice. Last there was Libri, the order keeper of the world on which the 7 Gods lived, he was the god of Balance. They all lived on a small world—very small in fact, about the size of Ravenwood. The 4 families usually kept to themselves until….
“What is that, where’d the sun go?” said Vita, as her only source of light from outside the window slowly diminished. Vita was very much into writing in her diary, but it was impossible to do without proper lighting. She got up to look out the window.
“Demi, you’ve got to come and see this!” Vita ran outside though the door and just stared into the dark sky.
Demira ran outside with her, “What is it? What’s going on?” She looked around to see everyone else outside their houses as well, all just staring into the sky.
She looked up to see a rock, a really big rock. It was a huge rock, well, not really a rock at all, though it could be one, if it was smaller. No, with a size such as this, this couldn’t be just a rock, this was… a world. A different world, another world. All this time, they thought they lived alone in the universe, not knowing where they came from, just living, for thousands of years, by themselves. But this, this changed everything.
Chapter 2 – It’s a Tree!
The rock slowly lowered itself, level to the edge of the gods’ world. On it was a large… something. It had a tall, wide, brown body and very big green hair. It was like nothing they had seen before. It was… a tree. Yes, a tree. You see, the gods didn’t have trees on their world. The only thing that was on their world was 4 houses, some grass, and a pond. They had never seen a tree before, and the fact that the tree alone was half the size of their world didn’t help their minds grasp the fact that such a creature could exist.
“I am Bartleby,” the great tree spoke. “I have been watching you for quite some time now. In fact, I created you and this world on which you live. I’ve noticed that your lives have become rather redundant and I thought I’d give you something new to do. Come closer, enter my trunk.”
The 7 gods approached the large tree, and stepped up to Bartleby’s trunk where there stood a small wooden door. They all stood quietly as Libri put his hand on the handle. There was a bright light leaking from under the door and around its edges. Everyone was scared.
“Whatever happens from here on out, we all will stick together, agreed?”
Everyone nodded their head to Libri. He turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door. The great light poured into the gods’ eyes. Demira’s jet black hair looked pure white in the intense light. They stepped through the door and, as their eyes adjusted, they saw it standing there, right in front of a door in the middle of the room.
Chapter 3 – What is it?
They all stared dumbly at it.
Div, in his purple and yellow robes, took a small step closer and bent over a bit for a closer look. “What is it?”
“It looks like,” spoke Libri, “a miniature… God?”
“This is no god, Libri,” Bartleby’s loud, echoing voice said. “This is a human, a very young one at that. He is only 11 years old, and he’s got a brain like a sponge, ready to soak up any knowledge you give him. Before you teach him anything, you must choose him a name. You must all agree on this name as well, if one of you does not, then I will not allow him to learn any magic. You have one day to name him. I will return tomorrow, at this time.”
“You mean it have no name?” Pseuda said in her broken English. She spoke no other language, but she did have a strange accent, similar to ones you’ve encountered in Dragonsypre. She had a puzzled look on her face. She always looked like that though. Her same expression could commonly be seen on one of the many cyclopes she would summon. “And you say it only been alive 11 years? It so young! Can speak?”
“Yes I can speak,” said the human child. “I can speak quite well too. I love how you can conjure up minions to play with! And Glaci! Can you make it snow! I want to build a snowman! Oh! Demira! Please, I don’t like skeletons much… Don’t scare me with them!”
“Ha ha, fine. I won’t scare you little child. Now, let’s go to the pond and we can get to know you a little better.”
The 8 of them stepped back into the shade of the tree, and back onto their world. They sat around the pond. The boy spoke of where he had come from, but he knew nothing past what happened 2 years ago. The first thing he remembers was when he was 9 years old, and sitting in front of Bartleby. Bartleby told him that he would one day become powerful, but he didn’t say much else.
Libri stood up. “So, child, we must all decide on a name, why don’t we have you choose what you might like?”
“Oh, I’m not allowed to choose. It’s Bartleby’s rule. He has so many of them, but I’m not allowed to talk about them.”
“Well then, does anyone else have any ideas for a name?”
Vita spoke up. “How about… ummmmm… how about, I don’t know! I’ve never had to think of a name before. In fact, the only names I know are our names. Does anyone else know any names?”
Everyone shook their head.
Chapter 4 – Where should he sleep?
The sun was slowly setting and the 8 were looking pretty tired.
“I think it’s about time we turned in for the night,” said Libri as he stood up, stretched his arms, and yawned. “We should all take a rest, maybe we can think better tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep.”
They all nodded in agreement.
“Who will take the boy,” said Pyrim, in his fiery voice, “He does look like he could use a little rest as well.”
“Oh!” Vita stood up. “How about we have a quick tri-duel. Last team standing wins!”
“Yes, I love tri-dueling,” said Div. “And how about the winners of the tri-duel get to choose the name!” Everyone thought it was a great idea. Div and his sister were pretty good, but then again, one team usually had an advantage over the other two. It just depended on certain conditions. Div was definitely better during the rain, and Pyrim was better when it was hot outside. Demira had the advantage during the night time, but outside it was pretty shady, not quite night. It was cool, but not cold enough to give Glaci an advantage, but the coolness did affect Pyrim. It seemed that it was one of the rare occasions where no team had an actual advantage.
The 3 teams stood with their teammates, back to back. They made 3 corners of a triangle, and each team member was facing someone from another team. Libri didn’t play, he was just the judge. He stood in the middle, and the boy watched from across the pond, just as Libri told him to. Things tended to get a little dangerous when they tri-dueled.
“Ready,” yelled Libri. Just then, each team started glowing. Div and Pseuda glowed purple and blue, Vita and Demira glowed green and crimson. Glaci and Pyrim were orange and light blue. A balance symbol appeared in front of Libri as well.
“Set…” Everyone took their stance, bracing and readying their spells. Libri’s balance symbol broke and from the ground, a winged angel appeared carrying a golden balance in her right hand and a golden scimitar in her left. She had a black band over her eyes.
“Go!” Just then, a bright flash, a loud crack, and then… silence.
Chapter 5 – His name is…
The blindfolded angel quickly moved over one team, declaring them the winner, but it was too hard to see who it was. “Congratulations to the winners, Div and Pseuda!” With that, she raised her golden balance, and with a flash, she was gone.
“Yeah, we did it! I can’t believe I got it to work, and on the first try too!”
“No fair,” cried Vita. “Is he allowed to use wild bolt?”
“It’s fair Vita,” said Libri. “Besides, he’s only been able to get it working 1 in 10 times. He took a big risk using it, but it paid off.” Libri motioned to the boy to come and join them. “Tonight, you’re going to be staying with Div and Pseuda. Go with them now.”
“Alright, we go to sleep now,” said Pseuda. “Good night to all.”
Everyone headed inside their houses, the young boy following closely behind Div and Pseuda into their house. It was a very large house, three or four stories (it was hard to tell from the outside). It was decorated in an ancient fashion, with many statues of different mythological creatures including a serpent, a fish-like man with a lightning bolt in one hand, a troll-like creature with a club in one hand, and a two-headed dog.
“You’re bedroom is this way, follow me,” said Div. The boy stuck by Div’s side as they went up and down countless flights of stairs. The boy was scared that Div might’ve gotten them lost, but it seemed as though Div definitely knew where they were headed. They both stopped in front of an extremely tall and ornate door. It was made entirely of Marble, and had a large storm symbol on it. The door had no handle, it just looked like a giant slab of rock—maybe it wasn’t a door it all. “This is your room for tonight.” Div put his hand on the slab of marble, and it vanished unveiling a huge room, it seemed bigger than the whole world they lived on, and it was definitely bigger than the house itself. The room was filled with a huge bed; it seemed made for a man that was around 15 feet tall. There were tables of delicious looking dishes and desserts. There was a wall of windows 20 feet tall, a huge fire place, with a fire blazing inside it. The room was a dream, and it belonged to the boy for the night. “I’ll wake you up in the morning. Good night now.”
“Good night, and thank you!” The boy walked inside and Div closed the door behind him.
“It’s time, it’s time!” Div came racing to the boy’s room, grabbed his arm and in a bright flash they were instantly outside, standing in front of Bartleby.
“Have you a name for the boy,” stated Bartleby.
“Yes. We all agreed that Pseuda and I will decide on the name. His name is…”
Chapter 6 – Time to pack
“His name is Merle,” said Div, “That is what Pseuda and I agreed on, Merle.”
“An excellent choice for the name of a wizard. Merle, please step forward. It is time for me to bestow the power of a wizard upon you.”
The young boy timidly stepped up to giant tree.
“Get on one knee and bow your head,” said Bartleby
Just as he bowed his head, Merle started to glow. The glow had no definite color, but at different angles, it was possible to see every color, and every shade of every color. It was magnificent. Just as quickly as it happened, the glow diminished. Merle stood up.
“You are ready. Merle, you are the first wizard. You will be unique to any wizard though for you are capable of delving into any schools of magic you wish. Now, for your next task, Merle, you must choose which class of magic to learn first. Pick, now, who you would like your first teacher to be.”
“Umm, I like everyone. You were all so nice, and fun! But, if I have to choose only one, I will choose Div as my first teacher.
“Wise choice young wizard,” said Bartleby. “Div will teach you storm magic. Storm magic is brutally strong, but while much of storm’s magic focuses on strength, a storm wizard’s defenses and accuracy tends to be low.”
“You can say that again!” said Div.
“Wise choice young wizard,” said Bartleby. “Div will teach you storm magic. Storm magic is brutally strong, but while much of storm’s magic focuses on strength, a storm wizard’s defenses and accuracy tend to be low.”
“I didn’t mean for you to actually say it again. It’s just an expression…”
“Oh, well carry on. You’ve got a lot to learn Merle. Tomorrow, you will also start on your adventure, the one I’ve been telling you about. Div, you might want to pack for a long trip.”
“What!? Pack for a LONG trip? Where am I going!!??”
“Ha ha,” Bartleby laughed. “You’ll find that out tomorrow.”
|
The Necromancer Story Of Brian Titansword
(please note, we do not correct spelling in fan fiction submissions)
Prolouge:
It was dark…a wounded necromancer crawled out of the necropolis in dragonspyre, nearly dead. His partner was destroyed by Malistare drake, the infamous Ex-teacher of the ravenwood school of the magical arts.the necromancer managed to get himself back to the basilicia and saw a prospector named Zeke. He told zeke about his son in wizard city and wanted him to fulfill his mission: destroy Malistare. Saddly malistare had locked each world’s spiral chamber and hid the keys within the worlds with his undead generals.
When grizzleheim was re-connected with the spiral, malistare took control of some of the wolves minds and had caused a civil war in between them.
Chapter one : A destiny Revealed.
Titansword groaned. there were still several battles left in the thrown room of fire, the last battle was with Krokopatra…..he was severally depleated from it. Luckily his friend Chris firemender had teleported to him. They went into battle.it was us verses three nirinies and a cyclopse centrey. Firemender had casted the first spell that had severely wounded the cyclopse and was resisted by the nirinies. Soon it was my turn. I cast dark sprite on the Cyclops and had killed it. Then it was just us and the nirinies. They both casted balance blades on both of us. Firemender finally had enough pips to use meteor strike, then the worst happened. It fizzled. “Calm down, we got this. Just keep me alive long enough to kill one thenyou get the other one” proclaimed titansword. Just then the second nirini cast hydra on firemender…luckly he was supercharged with shields. He had survived the sudden blows. “Yes I have it!” yelled firemender. He cast meteor shower and destroyed the nirinies. But the floor crumbled under titansword. Firemender quickly grabbed titansword and held him.”hang on man, I got you!” yelled firemender. Then firemender lost his grip. Titansword fell. But firemender quickly grabbed titanswords spell deck and cast sacrifice, then firemender decended into the hole to rescue his friend.
Titansword woke up to the sounds of people talking and a door shutting. “what happened?” said titansword dazed. “Its alright pal, firemender told me what happened. Your fine. But don’t pick at the huge cut on your head.” Said Brian Gryffenpyre, titansword’s cousin. “you know something? I have no Idea how we are related….you are thinner than a scarecrow, while I am built like a storm lord….minus the giant white beard.” Proclaimed gryffenpyre. Brian titansword coulden’t help but snicker.
Just then Brian got a mental message from the headmaster of ravenwood, Ambrose. “brian I need you to come to my house imedality!” ambrose thought.
When brian got there the light was dim and the glowing feint light of a crystal ball was glistening. “come brian, this is urgent!” exclaimed Ambrose. “whats going on?” I said.
“The wolves are getting out of hand in grizzleheim and I need you to go keep the peace between them!” said ambrose urgently. “Yes sir Headmaster” I said while bowing.
Soon I was there….the wolves were bickering and yelling….i was wondering what was going on so I asked both sides what the problem was.they replied with a growl and turned away. I found good old prospector zeke in a cave not too far from where I was and asked him. “WHAT IS GOING ON!” I yelled. “the wolves are fighting over some orb or eye of some sort. Something about bartelbee. One side seems to be possessed by a dark forc and the other side is repelling the evil wolves. Can you help us brian” said zeke. “ill do what I can. I need to battle a few of them to find which one is the main possessor.
I soon wound up in a cave not to far from zeke and battled some wolves in there. When I killed of the last one it dropped a key and a peace of ancient paper. The key had strange markings on it and it glowed blue. When I destroyed the posseser I took the key to ambrose and told me that it is one of the 5 portal keys that link to dragonspyre.
I was tiered and walked back to my dorm and found gryffinpyre still there.
“ what did he need titansword?” he ask. Wearily I said,”sumthing about a civil war between the wolves in grizzleheim, not a big deal. They are smart enough to fix it themselves.” “Smart enough eh?” exclaimed gryffinpyre. “ yea smart enough!” I said.
“PROVE IT” he said. “Bring it” I challenged. “What is the capitol of wizard city smart one.” He said insultling. “well….ummm…Olde town?” I guessed. “ Fail dude. When I was in a battle with one I asked the same question and he wrote it down for me in the middle of casting a spell!!!!” yelled griffinpyre. Soon titansword remembered the key.
“ also I found this key that dropped from one of the wolves. Ambrose says it is one of the 5 portal keys to unlock the hellish gates of the long forgotten city if dragonspyre.”
Suddenly firemender came in the room with a master wizard of balance named kyle. They made griffinpyre leave. They told me of my destiny. They told me how my dad was killed and what his last dying words were. Then I knew what I had to do.
Chapter 2: the adventure begins.
“Will you guys join me?” I asked “no we cannot, we have other extremely important matters at hand we need to attend to.” Said kyle.”although I have asked dragontalon,icewrath,and gryffenpyre to accompany you. Our paths will cross eventually.
They ventured into grizzleheim in search of more knowledge of the key they found.
They were walking twards murkhollum when a wolf appeared out of no where and slashed its claws at dragontallon. Dragontallon was forced back by the crushing blow and hit a tree. I destroyed the wolf but it was looking grim for dragontalon.”Status report griffinpyre” I said. “dead. The claws ripped his chest open and the force of the blow into the tree moved a rib and it punctured his heart” said griffinpyre. “cover him and arrange a funeral here in the crypt.” I said as I covered the bloody remains of the fallen friend.
when the funeral was over we headed back to murkhollem to flush out the wolves.
Soon they flushed out the wolves and destroyed the possessor. When the spirit left the wolf, it looked like a human silohett holding a staff. It burst into fragments of ash and soot. “Malistare” I said as we left for firecat alley.
When they got there muldoorn was waiting for them. “The fire elvs are going berserk!” he said. “we will take care of this,” I said.”who do you suspect? Swiftarrow?”, said icewrath. Just then Brian deathwisperer approached them. “No….it is the work of wormguts.” He said.”We need to get there and fast!” said icewrath. “We need a stragedy first……” said titansword, then he stopped suddleny watching icewrath charge frantically at the stronghold. “idiot! He will get killed!” I said.
When we got there we found icewrath standing and watching a man in red robes blast through the legion of skeletal warriors.”Who are you?” I said. “Titansword, I knew our paths would cross again soon” said the man. “CHRIS?” I said. It was in fact Chris Firemender. “Come on cover me titansword” he said as he entered the door that led into Wormguts arena.
When we entered we saw wormguts was expecting us.”So you are the chosen one? You little welps will suffer!” yelled wormguts as we entered into magical combat.
Me, titancaller, icewrath, gryffenpyre, and firemender all gained a power pip. It was a good start. Firemender casted a fireblade on himself. Griffinpyre casted the same on firemender. Titansword cast infect on wormguts witch weakened his attacks icewrath passed. Titancaller used a storm trap on wormguts. Wormguts casted crush on firemender. “I have a secrete weapond” said firemender. “Meteors?” I asked. “No, something…..new.” soon it was our turn again. Firemender gained another power pip and cast another fireblade on himself. Griffinpyre mimicked him and cast the fire blade on firemender. The rest of us passed. Wormguts casted cyclopse on icewrath and it crushed his arm bad. Griffinpyre did his best to heal him. This round firemender was glowing and magically charged particalls were circling him. He cast his secrete weapond. He used Helephant. It completely destroyed wormguts, only leaving his singed clothes and a small pouch with a lock on it. Firemender grabbed the small pouch and whispered something to it. The lock fell of. He opened it and he pulled out a key and a piece of parchment.” It icewrath alright?” firemender exclaimed. “He is fine, he just has a broken arm. I am afraid it is broken in 3 different places.” Told firemender urgently.”here use this.” Said firemender as he handed gryffinpyre a card from his spell deck. It was the treasure card version of the satyar spell. He must have gotten it from wormguts , thought titansword.
“The Location of the next key is in krokatopia.” Said firemender. “Again??? I don’t want to go back there after what happened last time!” said titansword remembering his fall.
“I am afraid we will have to.” Said firemender.
Chapter 3: Krokotopia.
Soon they arrived in the oasis and found the Marelybone Archeologists in there camp. We went to get informed on the situation.”The order of the fang is rising and the undead krokomummies are rampaging the thrown room of fire. They have closed the storm portal to the temple of storm.” The leader of the excavation said nervously. “Do you know who has the portal stone?” I exclaimed. “We believe it is the nirini champion guarding the inside of the palace of fire.”exclaimed a digger left of the archeologist.
“Also do you know anything about a key that unlocks dragonspyer?” I said. “Yes in fact it is with krokopatra. She has it hidden within her cortures. It is locked though by a key in the storm temple. And that key unlocks the krokosphinx.” The archeologist explained. Then titansword remembered seeing a key hanging up behind krokopatra when he battled her last. They knew what they had to do. Soon firemender had to leave on another important mission. He gave us no hint on what is was about. Soon we were inside the palace of fire and saw the nirini champion. We went into battle. Titancaller used a myth blade on himself. The rest of us passed. The nirini casted himself and lunged a beam of sand at me. It cut me, but not severily. Soon I used ghoul on him and healed myself.Titancaller had 6 power pips now and casted hydra and destroyed the nirini. We got the portal stone and headed to the storm portal gate. The sun was high and the portal was activated when the stone had a beam of light from the krokotopian sun. we entered in. The temple was dark and a strange green acid oozed from the floor. We walked up some stairs and spotted a ghostly figure of an ex-krokotopian. We could not recall his name but we battled him and got the key for the krockosphinx. When we got there firemender and kyle were standing and talking to what looked like an ice grandmaster. We soon learned that his name was David skullbreaker, kyle’s best friend. They were waiting for us to unlock the door. “Where were you firemender? We had to fight the ghost of some krockotopian!” Firemender,kyle,and david looked at me grimly. “I can see you survived the undead krockotopian pharo.” He said. “What do you mean?” I said shocked. “He was an evil pharo who tortured souls and was placed in there so he could not escape. Many wizards have gone in….none came out…..until you defeated him. You are lucky to be alive.” Firemender said. “WOW” I yelled. I unlocked the door and went in. “now we need to defeat krokopatra” I said. Soon we found her lair. We entered in with caution weaving around the gaping hole in the floor. Just then krokopatra appeared from behind her thrown, “You Will Die Wizards!!!” she crackled. “Dang it! You just wont stay dead!” said titansword annoyed. Firemender blazed into combat and started blasting meteors at her. “WHAT ARE YOU STANDING AROUND FOR GET THE KEY!!!” said firemender intently. “OK!!!” I said. Icewrath joined firemender. Me and griffinpyre went for the key. When we had the key we herd a terrible roar and saw storm lord in play. Kyle and david had waited out side for us so they were not with us. The roar was storm lord. Surprisingly it was not cast by firemender, but by krokopatra. It hit icewrath hard and he was engulfed in electricity. When the flash died all that was left of his cremated body was his burnt bones and ash. He was gone. Firemender saw this and went berserk. He casted 15 fireblades at once then then summoned helephant. Krokopatra was hit with a fatal blow of 1000. There was nothing left but crushed pieces of skull and bones. Firemender had a flame of pure fire around him and he approached the bones and walked over to them. They burnt in his fire shell.he discharged his flame and ran over to icewraths remains. He took out a jar made of the tusks of an oni. He scooped the remains in there and sealed the jar with magic. “ he was a good friend and cousin” said titansword sourly. “we will go to the edge of krokotopia and release his ash out into the spiral.” Said gryffenpyre.
They made there way to the edge and released the ash and played “the ice lord is calling his children come home”. When all the mourning was over they got back into combat mode and studied the paper that gave the wareabouts of the next key. It was in marleybone. And its keeper was none other than Dr. katzenstein, the infamous Dr that practiced necromancy through science. He was next on our list. He had to pay for his crimes he commited. He has to die. “lets go” said titansword sadly as he looked back where they had just had icewrath’s funeral.
Chapter 4: Mayhem in marleybone
When we entered into the church all we hared were bangs from what we think was the ironworks. I could really care less. We were looking for a much bigger prize. “I think that we need to go to diggomre station” said griffinpyre. “No I hered he was at the ironworks” said titancaller.
Then all of a sudden a royal guard approached us from all the yelling. “What is this we have here? Puny humans bickering o’re where katzenstein is?” he said with sarcasm.
“yea you know where he is?” I said intently. “Oh yea o’l krazy is locked up good at the station. You come with me and we’ll pay him a visit” said the guard.
When we got outside katzenstein’s cell we were shocked to find him gone and a huge gaping hole in the wall behind him. “That must have been the booming we hared when we arrived!” I said “Dang! I knew iron wouldent hold him for too long” said the guard mournfully. “ you stay here sir and we will find katzenstein and bring him back.” I said.
“Alright. But be careful, he is a hard one to get. He fights dirty! Good luck!” said the guard.
We entered into the pitch black hole. There were pieces of carved stone falling on our heads. CLUNK. “Dang it! Ouch!” I screamed as a clump of iron hit me. “You ok titansword?” said griffinpyre using a small healing spell on me. “Yea I am alright.” I said.
“Where does this tunnel lead anyways??” said titancaller. “I don’t know but we are about to find out!” I said as we approached a door with bright green light radiating from behind it. There was a loud buzz of electricity then a huge thunderclap from outside, then a loud clanking sound of loose metal moving. We entered into the room silently and hid behind an autopsy table. “what are those things?” said titancaller pointing twards mechanical creatures. I replied and said “I don’t really kno…..” just then katzenstein entered into the room followed by one of those creatures….only it looked like a living furnace. “Now my precious golem army is complete!” he said. Just then a giant ball of fire appeared from firemender’s staff and demolished about 10 of the golems. “What is this????” yelled katzenstein.
Its me you son of a calico!” yelled firemender. We all jumped out of our hiding places and hit the golem army with all we had. Soon there was only the iron golem and katzenstein. “you may have the power to defeat my army of common golems but all of them don’t matter, this is a prototype of the new golem era!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAAAA” said katzenstein. “shut up” said firemender in calm yet annoyed voice. Just then kyle and david jumped out of some empty crates and destroyed the golem showing no signs of mercy. “NO!!!!! YOU WELPS!!!!! DIE!!!!” said katzenstein in an odd deep voice like he was possessed by an evil force. Kyle used justice on him and knocked him out. “Too Easy” said kyle confidently. “the only problem is….WHERE IS THE DANG KEY!!!” I yelled. “I see it. It is on that necronomicon for dummies book” said griffinpyre. “GOT IT!” I yelled as I picked it up. ”Now to take the kat, put it back in the bag and get outa here!” yelled titancaller sarcasticly.
Soon katzenstein was locked back in a new cell called “Solitary Confinement”. We enjoyed our stay in marleybone, but it was time to go.
We read the paper on which the next key was hidden. It was hidden in mooshu. Location, jade palace. Keeper jade oni. “Ohh I can craft lots of stuff with ivory!” said griffinpyre. Good, now we have use for the bones of the oni we will destroy” I said. “What are we waiting for! LETS GO!!!” yelled firemender.
Chapter five: Mooshu .
We arrived and everything was tranquil. Not a thing wrong. It was peaceful. The fountain outside was pouring out the most perfect cool water. The smell of incence was in the air. A goat monk approached us. “Welcome brothers to our village. We need your help with a problem in the jade palace.” He said calmly. “what is the problem? We are also looking for the jade oni. Do you know where it is?” I said intentfuly. “Actually that is our problem. The jade oni is terrorizing our poor village.” He said once again calmly. “Can you please direct us to the jade palace?” I said. “Yes brothers. It is up over that hill. Enter with caution and be carefull.” He said “Alright” I said confidently.
Before we could manage to get to the palace, we had to fight through leagues of ninja pigs. “OH MY DOG!!! MORE??? Where Do these guys come from!!!” I yelled to titancaller. “I DON’T KNOW!!!” he replied. Then a ninja pig knocked out griffinpyre from the back. “Dang it!” I yelled as I made my way over help griffinpyre. Then firemender gripped his staff tight and said “Lets Fry Some Bacon”. He blasted the pigs with great quantities of fire and meteors. Most of the pigs were dead in the end. The rest of them retreated and headed over the silky hill. “Is griffinpyre alright?” he said as he made his way over to them. “I am no life wizard but he has a concussion. Not too big but big enough to keep him out of it for a while.” I said as I examined griffinpyre.. We will have to take him to a healer.” I said. “let’s go to one of those monks that I saw in the village.” Said firemender.
We healed griffinpyre and headed back to the jade palace. When we entered we hearted an unearthly howl that struck fear in our hearts. The oni was at the top of the stars infront of the alter. “Lets do this” I said as I ran into the battle with griffinpyre and firemender behind me. I had gained a power pip and used curse on the oni. Griffinpyre used a blast of life magic on the oni, firemender passed. The oni charged twards us with sword in hand and blasted magic at us. It hit firemender. He was fine though he lost only 1/10 of his health. The next round we all passed, including the oni. The next turn I cast vampire, griffinpyre cast a small healing spell on firemender, but firemender passed.
“What are you doing Chris??” I said frantically. He replied with an empty stare and went back into c6mbat mode. The oni caste leprechaun at me and it hit me with great force. I was still secure on health. The next round turned ugly. I used wrath, griffinpyre used unicorn and firemender passed again. My spell greatly depleated the oni’s health. We all healed from the unicorn and firemender passed. The oni cast seraph on me and I knew it was all over, when suddenly firemender jumped out in front of me and took my hit. He died instantly. “NO!!!!!” I yelled at the top of my voice and then the doors of the palace flung open. It was kyle and david spellbreaker. “We are here to help you on your journey” they said. Kyle cast justice while David cast Collossuss. The oni was destroyed and of coarse I headed to the lifeless body of firemender , griffinpyre went to collect the ivory and tusks from the dead remains of the oni. And kyle and david collected the key We took firemenders body and put it into a glass coffin and placed it in the tower of fire back in wizard city. Then we headed to our final destination: Dragonspyer.
Chapter 6: Interruption By The Mind
When we got to the gate that opened the portal to dragonspyer there was a problem. The key would not fir correctly like some magical barrier was forcing the key out of the lock. Then cyrus drake the myth teacher approached us and grabbed my arm. “I am sorry but you cannot pass. For the road is much too dangerous for young wizards like you.” He said in an enraged voice. “Is there any way we can pass?” I said naturally. “Yes. The only way to pass through the gate to the forgotten city it to defeat me in a duel!” he challenged. “Alright your on!!” I yelled as Cyrus ported us to the tower of myth.
When we were ported there Cyrus gout out his best staff and spell deck and I did the same. We entered into combat. His first attack was a simple blood bat. I had gotten 2 power pips that round and used banshee. I did some damage to him. Next round he gained a power pip and cast a myth blade on himself. I cast infect. His attacks weren’t that strong any more. Next round he used earthquake and it fizzled. I gained another power pip and I had 3 so I used wrath and it hit with force. I severely hurt him. He soon got around to using earthquake. It hurt me badly as well. Soon our life force was down into the hundreds. The next attack could determine who passed or who didn’t. it was intense. He chose his last attack Minotaur. I chose scarecrow. Luckily he fizzled and mine hit. He fell to the ground. “You have defeated me. You may pass.” He said as he got up and hurried to merle Ambrose’s house. We put the key in the lock and turned it. It clicked a few times then a portal opened up. We entered it.
Chapter 7: Dragonspyer
We entered into the war torn magma filled city with caution. There was lava everywhere and strange dragon-like creatures flying everywhere. It was like a nightmare came into reality. There were living souls of the tortured race that pre existed there. It was disturbing to watch them float around and through the flying creatures. “What brings you to the once great civilization of dragonspyer young one. This is not a place for young wizards like you, especially with Malistare Drake here. The ghost faded into the cloud of smoke that hung around the entire city, “I don’t like it here” said griffinpyer. “Neither do I” I said. “We are going to have to get through this anyways to save your friends” said Kyle. “You mean I can save them? I thought they were dead!!” I said. “They are but you are almost at the highest rank of your magic: Grandmaster Necromancer. You can revive your friends’ spirits and griffinpyer who is also almost a grandmaster life can revive them mentally. Even though you are two opposite magics you can work togher and revive your friends fully!” Explained david. “Wow! I never thought of it that way!” griffinpyer and I said at the same time.
After wandering through the drake hatchery, battling some of the creatures that inhabit the places, and also going through the lava maze and the necropolis we finally made our way to our final showdown with the evil necromancer Malistare Drake in the great spyer. He was standing in the middle of a lava-bordered arena. We walked onto the arena. “Well I can see Ambrose has sent the son of the welp I killed years back! He just dose not get that I am there ruler now! You must die wizards” we entered into the battle it was me, griffinpyer, kyle, and david spellbreaker. It started out with just malistare on the opposite side then things turned for the worst. “Watch as I make your blood curdle and your heart sob as I summon the souls of your fallen friends!!!!!” said malistare as he summoned dragontallon,icewrath,and firemender. “no…No…NO….NO NO NO NO NOOO!” I screamed as I sobbed. Just then firemender cast meteor strike, icewrath cast ice serphant, dragontallon cast bloodbat, and malistare cast quench. I was badly shaken but we hit malistare back with scarecrow, justice, colossus, and a life spell of unicorn. We fought back pretty strong but not strong enough. They fought back with wrath,cyclopse,icebeetle,and helephant. It knocked me and griffinpyer to the ground but despite our feeling to give up we had one last play we had planned in secrete for the entire trip that consisted of a life wizard, a death wizard,an ice wizard ,and a balance wizard. We did the play. I summoned a minion.griffinpyer used unicorn. Kyle used elemental blade, David used tower shield on me , the minion cast death prism on malistare. I used wrath on malistare, griffinpyer healed us,kyle used justice, david used colossus and the minion used shields on us. “I WILL DESTROY YOU………” said malistare as he was sucked into a crack of fire. He was defeated. The souls of our friends were slowly fading in the smoke. Griffinpyer quickly trapped all the souls in the ivory jars he made from the oni’s tusks. We all traveled back to wizard city for our final business, revive our friends.
Chapter 8: Homecoming.
We arrived in wizard city and brought all 3 of the jars with us. We gathered the remains of our friends and did an incantation in the tower of life then the tower of death which was placed back in its original resting place in ravenwood. We recited the incantations and soon our friends were recovering from being dead for about a week. “What happened to you guys that made you serve malistare?” I said. “I was overtooken and resurrected by malistare as his own personal minion. I had no choice. I was trapped and being controlled.” Replied firemender. “Same with me Me and dragontallon.” Replied icewrath.
“Well at least we wont have to worry about malistare any more” said kyle.
We all headed to Headmaster ambroses office and told him about our journies and deaths and malistares battle.Ambrose was enlightened to hear Malistare was gone but feared his blackened soul might come back.We didn’t know if he would or not.
We went to the savior of the spiral Hero Awards and was welcomed back to wizard city with the final badge collected and a shiny new medal crafted for the victory over malistare. Soon After That we all graduated from ravenwood as grandmasters.
Epolouge
We went on to have different adventures. I settled down in a wizard city cottage.
Firemender reclaimed dragonspyer academy and is a fire teacher there.
Kyle is now a krokatopian excavationer and historian for krokotopia.
David is now exploring new and strange worlds and connecting them back with the spiral
(he is currentally in a newly discovered world called celestia)
Dragontallon became a scribe in marleybone.
Griffinpyer is being trained more by life teachers in mooshu
Icewrath I currently living in an ice themed house just outside of the spiral.
We all had more journeys but this was the one that brought us together. And this was my story. The necromancer’s story of brian titansword.
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The Legend of the Phoenix King (part 2)
When Headmaster Ambrose walked in further he held his head and almost fell. So I ran swiftly over to Ambrose and helped walk him over to a chair in one of the desks. “Young wizard, get me something to drink I must drink something.” Asked Ambrose shaking. I ran all over for water, but all I found was lava potion. I grabbed an empty bottle and gathered the potion into the bottle. I ran to Headmaster Ambrose as fast as I could and gave the bottle full of potion to Ambrose.
“Hmm, let’s see if I can turn this into water.” Said Ambrose to himself.
Headmaster Ambrose was sweating so much he could make his own water out of sweat. But as I watched him, he hovered his right hand over his forehead and pulled the sweat off of him and made it float magically in the air. He combined the drops of sweat together into a water ball and held it in his right hand for a moment. He set the bottle on the desk and chucked the water ball into his left hand. He hovered his right hand over the bottle and pulled the potion out again, magically. And then made the gently float over to the cauldron and then closed his left hand and shot the sweat into the bottle.
Headmaster Ambrose then cast an Ice spell and he gently whispered his breath all over the bottle. And then the water felt freezing cold.
“Ah, now I can drink.” Said Headmaster.
I looked amazed, but I was losing time after Headmaster’s little scene.
“Young wizard, you must learn three more elements to defeat the dark Malistaire.” Said Ambrose.
Then Headmaster Ambrose gripped his staff and got up out of the chair and walked away.
“B-But wait!” I burst before Ambrose opened the doors.
“What is it young wizard?” Replied Ambrose with a grin on his face.
“What will I need and what elements must I have to get?” I asked with a puzzled face.
The Headmaster just immediately wiped the grin off his face and cast down his head. He didn’t answer my question and he immediately walked out the doors.
I had no one else to ask about the elements I must master and what I must need equipped with me. I had nobody but except for Bartelby. So I ran out but the teacher stopped me from going anywhere.
“My child, take this sword with you and let you cast the fire spells at your enemies just until you earn, The Flaring Blade.” Said Dalia.
I took the sword from professor Dalia’s hands and the holder. I wrapped the sword around until the sword reached my back. I walked outside and saw the great tree, Bartelby.
I stood in front of Bartelby and stared at him for a moment.
“Hello young wizard, of course you probably already know me as Bartelby.” Said Bartelby.
“I’ve come to ask a few questions.” I asked.
Bartelby looked stunned for a second and put a big smile on his face.
“Bartelby, I was told I am the only one that can stop Malistaire, but before I do that I must master three more elements.” I said.
Bartelby chuckled and smiled.
“Child, do you see these wizards? All of them may have a chance at ending Malistaire, but only one can seal him away but that is a long lost legend now.” Said Bartelby more briefly.
“And YOU are the one who can stop this madness and so can your friends. Because, once you master Myth, Life and Death you will learn all the elements to defeat him and then after you collect from somewhere in here where the Tritons hid the Flaring Urn, you will unleash the Phoenix King, but to do that you must need the Blazing Sword of Fire.” Bartelby explained.
I looked shocked and excited at the same time, but the questions is… Where is the Flaring Urn?
“And another thing child, the icon you stand on of a picture of a flame is the one who can find the Flaring Urn.” Said Bartelby happily.
I had no more questions and I immediately started searching for the Urn.
“You won’t find it in there!” Blared out a voice.
I looked over my shoulder and a level 50 girl in Myth colors stood there staring at me with her silver eyes. I got up and felt like I was struck by a love arrow. Oh boy did I feel so happy that day.
“What? You’re scaring me.” Said the girl.
“Oh I’m sorry, um, I’m Kevin. Just Kevin.” I said nervously as if I felt like I was on my first date.
“Well I’m Amy MythSword and I am a level 50.” Replied Amy.
I felt ecstatic just by looking into her eyes.
“I am a level 45 and I…” I was cut off by the girl placing her hand on my mouth.
“Woah woah woah WOAH, a level 45?” Asked Amy surprised.
But before I could even speak another word, Wolf came running back to me and was all out of breath and could hardly breathe.
“Kevin you got to come and see what I found by the waterfall and the bridge!” Blared out Wolf.
“Fine, we can come.” I replied.
We ran, following Wolf to his destination. And after all the running we ran inside the waterfall and found two doors with a skull on it. I opened the doors and we saw a school tilted to the left and a tower leaning forward.
“What is this place?” I asked.
“It’s… The Death School.” Said Amy frightened.
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The Tale of Alexandra Stormrider (Part 3)
A voice came to me through whisper chat.
“Hi Alex!”
“Hey Jake. What’s up?”
“Wanna work on some quests in Krokotopia?”
“Sure. Shall I port?”
“Yep. Liam and Matt are here too.”
“Cool!” I teleported.
At once I appeared in the middle of a hot, dry desert, crammed with wizards who were desperately trying to cool down in the fierce heat of the perpetual sunshine. I was next to Jacob Ravencloud, my best friend at Ravenwood, Liam Dawnbreeze, a theurgist and Jake’s twin, and Matthew Fireshard, Liam’s best friend and a pyromancer. Matt was the only one who looked comfortable in this heat.
“Chamber of Fire?” said Liam with his trademark grin.
“Anything to get away from this heat!” I groaned. I was sweating already. My robe was meant to be perfect for a Krokotopian environment but nothing could stop Krok weather.
“Quit whining!” chipped in Matt. “I like it.”
“You’re a pyromancer. Professor Falmea’s son, even. You’re a weirdo!” laughed Liam.
“You can’t talk, flower pot!” retorted Matt.
“Okay, can we just go now?” Jake was getting impatient.
“Yeah, whatever,” I said, and started towards the Pyramid of the Sun.
“Is it me,” said Liam, “or does it smell really weird in here?”
“Must be the Nirinis,” shrugged Matt. “They have some serious hygiene issues.”
I giggled.
“I wonder where they go when they’re defeated,” said Jake thoughtfully.
“To the land of smelly Krokotopians!” decided Liam.
“Or the Oasis,” I said.
“The Oasis?” Matt looked skeptical. “You don’t see them having a chat to Sergeant Major Talbot very often.”
“At night?”
“What are you talking about? This is Krokotopia for Ambrose’s sake! There is no night!”
Jake finally defeated the last one with a quick leprechaun.
“Aw, no fair!” exclaimed Liam. “I was gonna get that one!”
“You should have got in the battle first then!”
“Ugh, another 15+ hat…” sighed Matt.
“I wish we’d level up. We have, like, hundreds of these things now.”
“So, who do we talk to now?” chipped in Liam.
“No idea,” said Matt.
“Who gave us that quest in the first place?”
“No idea.”
“You could say that again.”
“No idea.”
“You could say that again.”
“No idea.”
“Gosh!” I yelled. “You guys are giving me a major headache here!”
Matt and Liam apologized in unison. Suddenly, Matt looked surprised.
“What’s up?” said Liam.
“Saffy needs help again.”
Saffron Winterglade was Matt’s little sister. She was also the news of Wizard City. Of course, there was a shock in store when everyone found out that Dalia Falmea’s daughter was a thaumaturge. Saffy, however, was completely oblivious to this, and was still a popular little kid in her ice classes.
“Okay, well, come with us and talk to… Whoever it is, and then you can help her. I’ll come with you, if you like.”
“Thanks, Liam.”
“Are you sure, Alexandra?”
“Yes Mr Lincoln. I’m sure.”
“You want to study Life rather than Death?”
“Yep.”
“I think you mean, yes, Mr Lincoln.”
“Yes Mr Lincoln. Please Mr Lincoln.”
“Fine. Your training points have been returned. I would go and talk to Professor Wu for some tuition to get you up to standard.”
“Yes Mr Lincoln. Thank you Mr Lincoln.”
I ran to Ravenwood, whisper chatting to Jake on the way.
“Nice one Alex! Now all four of us will be in the same class!”
“Yeah, Life is totally cool.”
I pushed open the door of the Life School.
“Good afternoon Professor Wu.”
“Good afternoon Miss Stormrider.” I always found it a bit creepy how all the teachers knew everyone’s names. “What brings you here?”
“I’ve decided to study Life rather than Death from now on.”
“I am glad to hear this child. If you have felt this instinct from within, you have taken your first steps into theurgy. I assume you wish to take some extra classes to get up to standard?”
“Yes please, Professor.”
“How do you feel about…? Mondays and Thursdays, perhaps? Here, after school?”
“That’s fine, Professor. Thanks for your time.”
Moolinda Wu smiled as I walked out of the door.
She knew the girl just wanted have lessons with her friends. She shouldn’t really let her begin theurgy if her heart wasn’t in it. Yet she could see the girl showed a lot of promise. Maybe, one day, the girl could be a fine healer.
“Nat, if you don’t hurry up I’m going without you!” I said, exasperated.
“Alright, coming,” he said. He rubbed his eyes, and added, “Did I tell you I defeated Sergeant Skullsplitter yesterday? It was totally awesome, ‘cause me and Hunter asked Tom to help, y’know, Thomas Deathsong, the one in the initiate class, I think he’s level twelve, and then he brought his friend Ethan, and we just got him bad! It was sooo funny, and then Thomas used Banshee and it turned round and started yelling at him, and me and David tried to stop it, but it just kept on and on, and then Ethan cast this Seraph, and Sergeant Skullsplitter was just looking like, ‘What the heckhound?’ and we were laughing our decks off, it was so funny…”
“Yes, Nat. You have told me. Three times, in fact. Now let’s go.”
“Hey Alex!” cried Jake from beside Torrence, where there was a constant drizzle.
“Hi Jake,” I replied. We had Storm class first that day. We entered the school and found a pair of seats near the back. Halston Balestrom was bouncing around excitedly on his desk. He spotted up and leapt over a few stools to land on our desk.
“Welcome to the journeyman class, Miss Stormrider and Mr Ravencloud!” he smiled. We had finally leveled up when we’d turned in the quest we’d finished the day before. After we’d remembered who to talk to.
After bouncing back to the front desk, he addressed the class. “Good morning journeymen! I hope you have had an excellent weekend!”
There were a few murmurs of agreement.
“Any new level sixteens?” A few kids raised their hand.
“Excellent! A new spell for you all! Wonderful! Now, move the desks out of the way, and I will demonstrate a Kraken!” Jake and I looked at each other excitedly. The only Kraken we’d ever seen was the one that went on a rampage and managed to almost completely destroy the storm school last week.
Once the desks were out of the way, Halston Balestrom leapt off his desk and waved his arms enthusiastically, tracing the storm symbol. It fizzled.
“Oh,” he said, looking a bit embarrassed. “Let me show you again…” He traced it once more. Another fizzle. By this time, Halston Balestrom was looking more than a little embarrassed. There were a few snickers, mostly from the level nineteens in the corner. He looked at them sternly.
“I assume you want to show the class then, Mr Dragonrunner?”
Blaze Dragonrunner thought a lot of himself. He was a myth pupil, and both Jake and I had met him before. He was a friend of Reed Mythstrider, the kid who used to torment Jake with his Cyclops. He sneered at us, before stepping forward. “Fine, then.”
He cast a Kraken. It didn’t fizzle. It worked, all too well for my liking.
A lizard-like purple beast appeared, roaring ominously. The creature was slowly stepping off his rock and advancing on us. I caught Blaze’s cruel expression and knew that he was behind it.
Professor Balestrom, completely oblivious, bounced around cheerfully. “Excellent, Blaze!” he cried. “Keep it under control now…” he added after it roared again and waded through the water towards me and Jake. All the time the Kraken seemed to be glaring at us. I was frozen to the spot.
On the bright side, by that point, I had realized at least two things. 1 - Krakens were scary, and 2 - one of them wanted to kill us.
To my right, Jake stiffened. The Kraken was way too close for comfort now. It seemed that everyone else was completely unaware that within minutes we would be sea monster snacks. Actually, I wasn’t sure. ‘Did Krakens eat people?’ I thought. ‘Or just electrify them. That would be bad. Then again, we’re diviners. Electricity can’t hurt us. Can it? But it could drown us. Can storm wizards breathe underwater? We should be able to. I’ll try that sometime.’ I shook my head vigorously. Now was seriously not the time to be considering whether storm wizards could breathe underwater or not.
For the second time at Ravenwood, I grabbed Jake’s arm and pulled him between a monster’s legs as it was about to smash us into pieces. However, this time it was cold water there, not a space, so I ended up testing my theory after all.
Let’s just say it didn’t work as well as I’d hoped.
Halston Balestrom was a bit disgruntled when we emerged from the water, dripping wet and freezing. On the bright side, he was even more disgruntled that a wall of the storm school had been knocked down twice in one month, which distracted him slightly from our wetness.
Blaze tried to sneak off when he’d realized that Professor Balestrom knew it was deliberate, but to no avail.
“Mr Dragonrunner!” shouted an annoyed frog voice. “I did not say that you were dismissed! Come back here this minute!” Jake and I exchanged a glance and snickered.
“I can’t wait till Matt and Liam hear this!” I grinned. I wasn’t affected by the water.
Nevertheless, Jake and I were sent to Professor Falmea to dry our robes, which was slightly embarrassing as we’d walked into the middle of a test for the kids in journeyman pyromancy. Matt and Liam cracked up. Naturally.
I’ll never forget Dalia Falmea’s expression.
“Ready for your first Life lesson?” said Jake.
“Sure!” I said. “Let’s do this.” Autumn, my level nineteen friend, had taught me how to cast both Imp and Leprechaun, some basic life spells, at the weekend. I couldn’t make them obey me like my thunder snake, but Autumn said that it wasn’t bad for a first attempt, even when the imp jumped on my head and squashed my Charged Helm.
We entered the classroom quietly, but the room was quite noisy, in a peaceful sort of way, however much that sounds like I’m contradicting myself. There were kids in green robes lazing over chairs and talking to each other, much more sociable than the death kids I was used to working with. It was nice. At the back were Matt and Liam, their conversation punctuated with laughter. Liam saw us first.
“Hey! You guys!” he yelled. “Dried off yet?”
Matt grinned and added “How the heckhound did you end up dripping all over the fire school?”
We sat beside them. “It’s a long story,” said Jake, “and Alex can tell it.”
“Why me?”
“Because you got us into it!”
“How did I?”
“You dragged me underneath the stupid thing!”
Liam held his hands up. “Wait. Hold it,” he said. “Dragged him under what?”
“A Kraken.”
“A Kraken?” Matt echoed.
“Yes. A Kraken.”
“And before you ask, yes, the terrible trio was behind it. Well, one of them,” added Jake.
“Our fine friend Reed?”
“Nope, Blaze the Bu—” I started.
“Mm-hmm, lovely Blaze,” interrupted Matt smoothly.
“Yeah, him. He summoned a Kraken.”
“Which attacked you and then destroyed half the Storm school,” he said sarcastically.
“Yep, exactly.”
“Good morning, students.” The soft voice of Moolinda Wu silenced us. Her voice was soft and musical, but authoritative at the same time.
“As Theurgists, it is up to us to preserve the beauty of nature. I appreciate that most of you have heard this from me many times before, but I cannot stress the importance of this, especially now, when there is a darkness overshadowing the Spiral… But maybe I am looking at the true savior of the Spiral now.”
Perhaps it was my imagination, which is, incidentally, extremely overactive, but I could have sworn she was looking directly at Jake when she said that.
“Nevertheless, as Theurgists, we should overlook this, we should bring light to the Spiral, for without Life, there would be no Death, or any magic.” There were murmurs of agreement across the room. She smiled serenely.
Jake was clearly concentrating one heckhound of a lot harder than everyone else. Liam and Matt were playing hangman on a piece of paper. Me? I was listening. I just happened to notice how cool the ceiling was at that point.
“You all know that Life is the study of the energy that resides in all living creatures. We can use this to enhance the growth in anything. Let me show you.” Moolinda Wu picked up a plant pot with a pathetic shrub in the center. She waved her hands – well, hooves – weaving a delicate pattern in the air, the life symbol. She muttered a few mysterious words in her musical voice and the plant blossomed before our eyes, stretching its leafy limbs and sprouting pink and purple flowers. She looked up and smiled.
“As theurgists, we must always strive…” I think this was where I got distracted. Who could blame me – Matt had managed to set the end of his quill on fire. “Whoops,” he mumbled. Liam was trying to discreetly whack it out with the edge of his robe, with no success. I quickly took out my wand, trying to make a little water come out of the end of it. I shook it. Water splattered all over a surprised Liam and the girls at the desk in front of us. “Watch it!” Liam hissed.
Autumn Willowbreeze, sitting in front of us, turned around, frowning. I think she was surprised to see me. “You leveled up?” she mouthed. I nodded. “Nice,” whooshed a voice to me through whisper chat. “But try not to soak me. What happened?” I made a face.
“Matt set his quill on fire,” I explained through my head.
“Matt? The fire one?”
“Yeah, naturally.”
She smiled and turned back around, rolling her eyes. “Typical pyromancer.”
Moolinda Wu was still speaking, I realized guiltily. “Today we will be practicing making things grow. This may not be a spell you need to know in dueling, but it will surely help you develop your control of the life energies under your command.” Ok. So, how does one do that?
“Collect withered flowers from the front. If you need any guidance, feel free to ask. Also, before I forget, may I see Miss Stormrider please?”
I walked to the front of the classroom somewhat awkwardly, despite being carried with the crowd of cheerful theurgists. Moolinda Wu beckoned me to the side. “Miss Stormrider, am I right in thinking you are unskilled in life at the moment?”
I thought. “I can cast an imp,” I said. “And leprechaun. Sort of.”
Moolinda Wu nodded. “Could you show me?”
I nodded in response and took out my wand. Moolinda Wu handed me a leprechaun card. I waved my wand. Fizzle. I went a bit pink. Life spells were known for their accuracy. I waved it again, and around my feet grew green grass. A rainbow appeared and a dwarf-sized man in green slid down it, muttering something incomprehensible. He did a little dance at the end and threw gold everywhere. A few theurgists at the front turned to look at me in surprise. The leprechaun gave me a glare and disappeared.
“Not bad. I still think we need some lessons, though. Tomorrow, after class, if you wouldn’t mind, Miss Stormrider.” I returned to my seat, a little embarrassed.
Liam’s plant was growing as we watched it, stretching further and further towards the ceiling. Jake wasn’t doing badly; his plant was slightly weedier than Liam’s magnificent blooms though. Matt was trying. The plant was green, but drooping slightly. He prodded it with his wand. It burst into flames.
“Oops,” he mumbled. “Guess I’m not too good at this flower lark.”
“Do try to control your flair for pyromancy Mr Fireshard,” came the reprimanding but light voice of Moolinda Wu. With a flick of her hoof, the plant was back to its original withered state, exactly the same as mine.
I waved my wand a little. A spark flew out of the end. I put down my wand. I didn’t want my plant to suffer the same fate as Matt’s. I had an idea. Picking up my wand again, I cast an imp. I pointed to the flower. The imp gave me a confused look which soon shifted to a mischievous grin, and he started picking leaves off the plant. I quickly grabbed him by the ears and pulled him off. He gave me one last glare of resentment before disappearing. Not such a great idea.
There was a sudden knock at the door, startling me. I whipped my head around to see Merle Ambrose entering the room. He cleared his throat authoritatively, and the room fell silent.
“Could I see Mr Ravencloud and Mr Dawnbreeze, please?”
Liam and Jake exchanged a look. Were they hiding something? Did they know something Matt and I didn’t? They got up and left the room as suddenly as Merle Ambrose entered.
“What was all that about?” hissed Matt in my ear.
“No idea…” I replied. “We’d better interrogate them when they get back, right?”
“You bet!” Matt grinned. He started prodding his plant again, more gently this time. I tried the same. Nothing.
“Can’t I just pretend Liam’s one is mine?” I moaned. I was hopeless at this. My plant seemed to droop further.
“Don’t we all wish that?” replied Matt. “It’s a tough life for us non-theurgists.” He continued poking his plant somewhat dejectedly. It sprouted a little.
I sighed. A leaf fell off my plant. I picked it up and promptly dropped it. Matt smiled, barely suppressing his laughter.
“Quit laughing!” I demanded playfully.
“Jake! Jake! JAKE!” I yelled through whisper chat.
“Alex, I’m busy. Go away.”
“What are you doing? You can’t be that busy. Can you?”
“Oh, just shut up.” He seemed to tune out from then on. Matt turned towards me.
“Anything from Liam?” I enquired.
“Nope. Nothing,” he sighed. “He just keeps saying he’s busy. Probably playing tag with an imp or something.”
I grinned.
Suddenly, there was a swirl of pale blue snowflakes and an icy breeze whistled past. A short thaumaturge with blue hair and a perky smile appeared in front of Matt.
“Hi Matt!” she piped.
“Hey Saffy. What’s up?”
Saffron Winterglade, level eight ice wizard, smiled up at her big brother. “Not much…”
“I can feel a ‘but’ coming up here,” Matt grinned.
“But—” she giggled.
“Told you so,” smiled Matt.
“I’m a little stuck on Firecat Alley. Bastilla Gravewynd is really hard, remember?”
“Alright, I’ll lend a hand. Coming, Alex?”
I grinned. “You bet.”
“Thank you Matt!” squealed Saffy. “You’re the bestest big brother ever!”
I almost cracked up when Matt went red.
There was a girl outside the tower when we arrived.
She was tall and willowy, with black hair in a ponytail. I hadn’t seen her around before. Her aloof expression reminded me of Reed Mythstrider, the resident conjurer bully. Her robes were unusual; they looked as though they were made of silk, dyed pale blue with a deeper midnight blue trim. Saffy ran up to her eagerly.
“Kymma!” she cried. “Are you on this quest too? That’s amazing!” She turned to me and Matt. “This is Kymma Frostleaf. She’s my best friend, and she’s the best in our class. She can cast Evil Snowman already!”
“Hello,” said Kymma Frostleaf. She sounded friendly enough, but there was an air about her – a sense I couldn’t quite place. Perhaps her eyes were too narrow, her voice too smooth.
“I thought mom said—” began Matt, frowning.
“It doesn’t matter.” Saffy looked a little annoyed.
“So, are we gonna do this or what?” I tried to be cheerful whilst wondering what Dalia Falmea had said about this Kymma.
“Yeah!” bounced Saffy, excited as usual.
We stood on the sigil and went in.
It was an easy battle for us journeymen. Bastilla Gravewynd wasn’t the hardest of bosses, so Matt and I didn’t need to worry.
I cast a Storm blade as I whisper chatted to Matt: “What were you gonna say outside?”
“What?”
“About what your mom said. When we met Kymma.”
“Oh. Mom doesn’t want Saffy to hang around with her.”
“Why not?”
I was caught off guard by a dark sprite which pushed me over. I got back up again to Saffy’s giggles and Matt’s somewhat guilty reply of: “I don’t actually know.”
“Weird.”
“Exactly.”
“Didn’t you ask her about it?”
“Yeah, but she wouldn’t say. You know my mom, terrible temper.”
“That’s where you get it.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“Eh, you’re alright. Sometimes.”
“All I know about this Kymma is that she’s an orphan. Lives alone in her dorm. Seconds in death.”
“Death?”
“Yes, death. It’s a bit odd, isn’t it? Most thaumaturges go for a high attack school, fire or storm.” Right on cue, he waved his wand and a sunbird appeared, attacking a minion.
“S’pose it’s up to them, though.” I cast a storm shark at Bastilla Gravewynd, who screamed and fell into the ground.
“I guess.”
“Bastilla’s Deadly Choker!” I said out loud. My head was aching from whisper chat by then. “Brilliant! It gives me two death traps!”
“Nice,” grinned Matt. “Except – you don’t take death anymore!”
“Oh… Yeah…” I remembered.
“So you won’t need it. You can sell it at the bazaar.”
I considered it. “Actually,” I said, thinking out loud, “it’s Nat’s birthday next week. I could give it to him.”
“You’re way too nice,” said Matt, shaking his head. “If I got some brilliant ice gear for level 5+… I’d sell it!”
“No you wouldn’t!” cried Saffy. “That’s not fair!” She ran up to him and buried her head in his robes.
“Just kidding, Saffy, just kidding…” Somehow she managed to climb onto his back. “You want a ride, huh?” Matt started running around making dragon noises. I laughed.
“Well, I’m going,” began Kymma. She started towards the door.
“Wait for meee!” cried Saffy, sliding off Matt’s back and sprinting after her. They disappeared out of the door together.
“Not even a thank you!” said Matt mock-indignantly. “Kids these days…”
I laughed loudly. Matt never failed to make me crack up.
“Talking of rude kids,” he continued, in a more serious tone, “we should go find the terrible twins!”
“Yeah, I guess.” I tried to whisper chat to Jake. “Jake! JAKE!”
“Ouch, Alex. Do you have to yell?”
“Yes! Where have you been? Where are you now?”
“I’m in the Commons. With Liam. Port.”
Matt and I turned to each other and said at exactly the same time “They’re in the Commons.” Simultaneously, we teleported.
“Jake! Liam! What happened? What did he say? Where did you go? What did you do? Why did you take so long? We went all the way to Firecat Alley! And back! When did you get out? How did it go? Did you—”
Liam held up his hands. “Whoa. Whoa. Slow down, Alex. You’re a regular twister sometimes!”
“Make that all the time,” added Jake.
“What were you doing?” asked Matt.
“Headmaster Ambrose wanted to speak to us.”
Matt frowned. “And it took you an hour?”
“Yep.”
“What was he talking about?” I demanded. “Were you in his office? Did you do something wrong?”
“Nothing much, yes, and no.” Liam was grinning.
“What’s ‘nothing much’?”
“Nothing, obviously.”
“Well, he had to be talking about something!”
“He was talking about—”
Jake interrupted. “We’re not supposed to tell anyone!”
“We can tell these guys!”
“But Headmaster Ambrose said…”
“Stop being such a wimp. These guys won’t tell anyone! You won’t, right?”
I shook my head vigorously.
“Well—” Liam stopped abruptly. “Good afternoon Headmaster.”
I turned around quickly to see an elderly bearded man. Merle Ambrose was directly behind me.
“I hope you weren’t about to divulge your secret, Mr Dawnbreeze.” Ambrose looked stern.
“Not at all, Headmaster. Wouldn’t dream of it, Headmaster.”
“Good, good. Just remember that I am always watching… Or Gamma is, anyway.”
“Absolutely, Headmaster.”
“Now, follow me. Yes, both of you. I have some things to give you.”
Both Jake and Liam looked uncomfortable as they were taken into Ambrose’s office.
“What is up with that?” Matt asked in confusion.
“Please tell me, Jake. I promise I won’t tell. Honest. Please. Pretty please. Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top.”
“No. No, no, no, no, no. I can’t tell you. I’d like to, but I’m not allowed. Now quit bugging me about it!”
“Oh, but please Jake. I promise promise promise I won’t tell!”
“No! How many times do I have to tell you?”
“Jake, I’m your best friend. You can trust me.”
“I’m sorry, Alex. I can’t tell you.”
“Fine. I’ll ask Liam then.”
“Please tell me, Liam. I promise I won’t tell. Honest. Please. Pretty please. Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top.”
“Look, seriously, Alex. I’ve told you. Ambrose will kill us if we tell you. Maybe one day, but not now, okay?”
“But why not?”
“Because Ambrose will kill us.”
“Did you tell Matt? Because I’ll ask him then.”
“No, I didn’t tell Matt.”
“Fine.”
I was reminding myself of a bratty toddler at this point, or Nat in one of his strops. I decided to sit down and cool off. Triton Avenue.
I hadn’t been there for a while. I’d been busy trying to get into Krokotopia. And then out of Krokotopia. Now I was there I couldn’t wait to see the back of the place. It was hot, and when I got hot, I got stressed out. What can I say? I’m a diviner.
A voice floated into my head – Matt’s voice. “Got anything out of them yet?”
“Nothing,” I sighed.
“Same here. I reckon my mom will know something about it. I’ll ask her…” The voice floated away again.
It must be something pretty big if they can’t tell anyone. Maybe something… Spiral-wide. Something really major. Maybe it wasn’t my imagination when Moolinda Wu looked like she was looking at Jake when she said about the ‘true savior of the Spiral’. Maybe Jake and Liam were destined to save the spiral. Maybe… Maybe they were in the prophecy Ambrose mentioned a few weeks ago, when I had that detention with the Mythstrider kid!
Maybe…
“She does know something about it!” yelled Matt triumphantly in my head.
“What did she say?”
“She told me to mind my own business.”
“What?”
“She knows but she won’t tell me. It’s so unfair…”
Matt was interrupted by another voice.
“Alex!”
“What is it now, Nat?”
“Can you help me?”
“With what?”
“Lord Nightshade! Me and Hunter just got there!”
“Hunter and I…” He still hadn’t got the hang of basic grammar.
“Whatever. Can you help?”
“Yeah, yeah, fine, whatever.” I teleported to him. He was standing right in the middle of Haunted Cave. I ran to the sidewalk. “You could have told me you were in the middle!”
“I could have, yeah…”
Hunter Ghostblood was standing outside Nightshade’s tower. “Nathaniel,” he said. “Can we just do this, now?”
“Yeah, Nathaniel,” I said, teasing him. “Let’s just go and finish this. Nathaniel.”
He grumbled something rude under his breath as, for the second time that day, I stood on the sigils.
I waved my wand; my arms were tiring now. A trio of angry lightning bats appeared and swooped down over Lord Nightshade, who cringed in pain. Hunter cast a Dream Shield on Nat. Nat cast a Thermic Shield on Hunter. Lord Nightshade stepped into the circle and I felt the life drain out of me. The next round was easy; it wasn’t mana-consuming to cast the final wand spell which would let my little brother into Krokotopia.
“Yes!” yelled Nat and Hunter simultaneously. I smiled, remembering the day Jake and I had done the very same thing after finishing this quest.
“Thanks Alex!” cried Nat. He teleported to the Commons so quickly it was a small wonder I saw him turn as he disappeared.
It was an easy battle, if I was honest. I sighed to myself, wishing I could get some of my own quests done. I wondered what the other three were doing now. Jake and Liam were probably still running around after Ambrose.
Then a voice I’d heard a lot of that day suddenly came into my head.
“Alex…”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve had an idea.”
Merle Ambrose spent a lot of time thinking. Today, however, he had thought far too much. He rubbed his forehead as though it would stimulate his musings.
He sighed as he, again, picked up the crumpled old parchment on his desk. It was torn at the bottom, as though the paper had been ripped in half. Ambrose seemed to remember this as he fingered the tear. His face reflected the regret and frustration he was feeling.
“Gamma,” he finally managed to croak. “I leave tonight. I will be back within a few days.”
“Headmaster,” hooted Gamma, and if owls could show concern in their facial expression he would have done so. “Is this really necessary? It’s far. The journey alone…” Gamma left the threat hanging.
There was a long silence. Ambrose broke it with an exhausted, “I know”. They exchanged a glance.
“Headmaster, without you, the future of Ravenwood is precarious. You know barely anything about this world. To send students there would be… Do you know the consequences of quests that are too dangerous?”
“Are you questioning my knowledge of teaching? This is why I must travel there first! It could be the home of the magic we seek. Imagine how much further magic could advance!” Ambrose’s voice was fierce, and any trace of tiredness had gone.
“Very well, Headmaster.” Gamma flew away, defeated.
Headmaster Ambrose left the room. A few books rearranged themselves on their shelves, and there was silence.
|
The Lightning Rune
The forceful, ice-cold wind snaps at my face as I run, head down, across the wet and slippery stone street. My long brown hair whips across me, and I pull my warm cloak on tighter. I feel a jolt of excitement as I leave my normal route and plunge into new territory, but my joy is dampened, both literally and figuratively. Trying not to get drenched by the flood of rain sweeping out from the defective gutters while walking a bad-tempered Flamezilla is no easy task, but I’m lucky I even got this far.
My family doesn’t associate with the magical residents of Triton Avenue. In facts, they want as little to do with magic as possible. Our small home is dark and dirty, and so is the mood. We need magic more than anyone. It’s hard not to involve wizardry in your daily life when nearly everyone around you is a spell caster, but somehow we manage to scrape through.
I don’t know why my parents hate magic so much. I may never know. But I do know that I am actually interested in it, though interest is about the limit of any possible expectations. Besides the fact that I just got a brand new pet Flamezilla, my life is utterly un-magical.
But today something is going to happen; I can feel it in the air. It’s already a remarkable day because my Aunt Jenna is in town, and when Aunt Jenna visits, anything can happen. Today my task is to deliver a package to some life mage in the Haunted Cave doing a study on jelly beans. Yes, jelly beans. Apparently Field Guards love them. It’s a long and more than slightly dangerous walk, especially for an untrained mortal like me, but danger has never stopped me from doing anything. Determined, I pick up speed and cross the street again with my head held high. Apparently too high, because a torrent of gutter water sloshes full-force into my eyes. Temporarily blinded, I stagger backwards and into the huddled figure of an old, decrepit potion master (judging by the official robe).
I whip around, stammering my apologies, and am shocked to see that the wizard is slowly beginning to disintegrate, robes and all. I leap back in alarm but still watch with full attention as the form of the wizard becomes transparent and then disappears completely, leaving nothing behind but a gold oval stone with a jagged lightning bolt carved down the center.
Things like this don’t usually happen to me, and here of all places! Triton Avenue fits its description- rainy and dreary. Even with all the young wizards scrambling about zapping haunted minions left and right, it can’t possibly compare to the other worlds of the Spiral. But, because of my oddly paranoid parents, I’m not even allowed into Ravenwood.
Today, though, it seems that an adventure has come to me. My only regret is that Flamey the Flamezilla is in such a sour mood today. As I speak, he’s digesting a gutter.
I’m so absorbed in my own, fascinated thinking that I don’t notice the other disheveled wizard running up to me until it’s too late. At the same moment that she bends down to see if I’m even alive, I jerkily stand up. My head smacks her chin and she recoils in pain as I stare at her odd appearance. Her black, worn robe, slightly grayed over the years, had apparently been worn by many wizards before. In an attempted makeover, thin red strands of gauzy fabric were sewn onto the bone-white waistline. It must have been only recently attached, because the white sash is the only article of clothing not smeared with dirt. The robe is too short, and tall orange boots are revealed. The wizard’s ratty hat, by comparism, is yellow and purple. This strange combination made for an eccentric-looking character on its own, but the person inside them is even odder. Piercing green eyes set ablaze by fiery red hair peer up at me expectantly. I cough in the awkward silence.
The red-haired wizard rubs her chin and stands up, brushing off her robe. “Uh, sorry,” she mumbles.
I laugh nervously. “No, no, it was my fault. I’m sorry. Anyway, my name’s Julia, Julia Shadowflame. What’s yours?”
“Uh. Alura Spiritshard. Nice Flamezilla you have there.”
I scowl at my pet. “Who, Flamey? I wouldn’t say nice. He ate my Great Aunt Sestiva’s prize tapestry, all of the drywall in the bathroom, and half the fireplace. But yeah, he’s pretty cool.”
Alura looks at Flamey, puzzled. “Can’t you just use some kind of calming spell? I’ve done that to a naughty orthrus before.” She reaches down to per Flamey’s head.
I look at my feet and sigh. “Yeah, that sounds great, but I’m not a wizard…” I let my gaze wander to the gold stone. “But first things first, shouldn’t we tell someone that old guy just disintegrated?
Alura gets out an emerald wand that matches her eyes. “I’ll do a Seek and Dust spell on the rock and the surrounding area. You can take this. “
I watch in awe as a huge wooden staff appears in her hands. “I usually keep a spare. You can cast a TimeFlash spell, go back, and take a picture of the wizard walking by. Then-“
‘I’m not a wizard! I don’t know how!” I yell, maybe a bit too loudly. OK, a lot too loudly, but not being a wizard is a sensitive point for me. Alura raises an eyebrow and coughs in an unnatural way, gesturing at something behind me. But before I can respond, I hear a cold voice coming from over my shoulder…
“Yes, Julia, you’re NOT a wizard, and that is why you are coming home RIGHT NOW.”
I turn, but I don’t need to. I’d recognize my Great Aunt Sestiva’s voice anywhere. I shrink down as my elderly relative’s bony hands clamp on my shoulder.
“Oh, er, hello Great Aunt Sestiva. I was just delivering a package for Aunt Jenna…” My voice falters as I look into her deep black eyes.
“You are in colossal trouble, Miss Shadowflame. To the house. NOW.”
I sigh inwardly. The only adventure of my life was beginning, and now Great Aunt Sestiva is ruining it. I’m secretly glad Flamey ate her tapestry.
Great Aunt Sestiva strides off in a huff. I look at Alura, defeated. She shrugs. I tense up. In a sudden impulse I reach forward and snatch up the stone. Hiding it under my robes, I run after Great Aunt Sestiva and dread what will happen next.
The punishment isn’t as bad as I expected. A week confined to my room and no dinner tonight. And we were going to have Ninja Pig pork chops! They’re SO much better than the normal kind. But even though I have to miss this meal, I don’t completely regret it…
My room is a disorganized mess. Hats and robes are heaped onto my bed, with an assortment of pebbles and sticks underneath. Feathers are hung from the ceiling fan, and random junk is piled up on my desk. A cracked mirror hangs lopsided next to the window, and a bronze hat rack with silver vines is perched in a corner. But worst of all, there’s a huge, gaping hole next to the door that Flamey had chewed right through. I’d tried to fill it with clay, but Flamey had eaten that too. (Let me just tell you it is NO FUN cleaning up Flamey’s, er, droppings shall we say. They consist more of drywall than anything else.)
I shove a trunk up against the hole so I have complete privacy. If Great Aunt Sestiva sees what I’m doing, it’s another two weeks in the Bastille for me. I take a deep breath and pull out the gold lightning stone out from my pocket.
I half expect to melt on the spot, but nothing happens. I sigh in relief and examine it more closely. The crude lightning bolt appears to have been etched out, then painted black. The back and sides are perfectly smoothed by a skilled hand. I roll it over in my palm, lost in thought, until I hear a noise coming from my window.
I think twice before opening it. What if it’s my mom or dad or, worse, Great Aunt Sestiva? They’d all confiscate the stone at once. So before I go to the window, I put it back in my pocket.
When I pull back the drapes, I see that it’s not my family at all. I’ve never seen this man before. He’s cloaked in deep black with a hood that nearly covers his whole face. To my even greater shock, he is on the back of a huge red dragon. I step back in fear and start to close the window.
The figure growls in a chilling tone. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Miss Shadowflame.” Great. So there’s a creepy stalker outside my bedroom window and no one around to hear me screaming. If he’s going to kidnap me, I’m bringing Flamey. He’ll be able to eat me out of any tough situation.
The man leans forward and pulls out a suspiciously pointy scepter. “Hand over the rune, Julia,” he hisses, “Or else.”
Chapter Two
I step back from the open window slowly. “Uh, rune? W-what rune?”
The dark figure leans closer. “You know what I’m talking about, whelp,” he snarled. “So give it to me NOW.”
I folded my arms. “Why should I? It’s just a rock, but it’s MINE.” Okay, maybe not the smartest thing I ever said…
“Because if you don’t, your friend here dies.”
He gestures to the back of the dragon. I gasp as I see Alura, shakily clinging on to the dragon’s rough scales. But she’s almost smiling. She snaps her fingers quietly and her wand appears. I try to mask my relief as she begins to cast a spell.
But before she can do anything, another dragon, this one blue, swoops beside the first and knocks the wand out of her hand. In the excitement, I manage to grab the rune and conceal it under my robe. Returning to the window, I see that the rider is a blond-haired girl not much older than me. She clears her throat, and the first rider looks at her expectantly.
The girl coughs again before talking. “Sir Christopher, uh, sir, the Headmaster is coming! Mindy says to-‘
A blinding flash of light explodes in the window. I am flung backwards, slammed against the front wall. I struggle to my feet and shield my eyes with my hand. My skin is burning fiercely, and my eyes sting uncontrollably. I scream as white-hot pain sears through my body. The last thing I remember is a deep, dark laughter coming from behind me…
The sky is dark and ominous. Huge dark clouds well up into shadowy masses of blackness. A massive wind yanks up trees all around me, and a lightning bolt flashes through the sky. I fall to the ground and cover my ears as a huge clap of thunder emits from the stormy sky. Another lightning bolt strikes the ground a foot away from me, setting fire to a dry patch of brittle grass. The flame roars up, but just as it is about to engulf me, a hand reaches out…
I’ve had dreams before, but not as vivid- and terrifying- as this one. I open my eyes slowly. I’m in a wood-floored room that I’ve never seen before. The walls are stone, with huge windows on each side. I’m lying in a four-poster bed with a red cover. This room is so unlike my own, polished and tidy, that I wonder for a minute if I’m still dreaming. But when I look down at my hand and realize that I’m holding the lightning rune, I know that I’m wide awake.
I sit up straight as I hear a knock on the door. My skin still burns slightly, but not nearly as bad as it did yesterday. “Come in,” I say in a voice so weak I barely recognize it.
An old, bearded wizard enters the room. He looks almost like the disintegrated potion master, except he’s wearing official Ravenwood robes. Wait. RAVENWOOD robes? Could this be the Headmaster?
“Julia Shadowflame,” says the wizard. “I am Merle Ambrose. I heard about the, er, accident yesterday, and thought I might stop by and ask a few questions, if you feel well enough. Would you mind terribly if I have a talk with you?”
I gape. So this is the Headmaster! “Of course, um, Headmaster Ambrose.”
He waves his hand dismissively. “Please, call me Merle.”
“Uh, okay, Merle,” I correct myself.
“Now, Julia, first I must explain to you the cause of the explosion. A mix of very powerful Fire and Storm magic was unleashed. It is very rare for such an uncontrolled magic to just suddenly occur as it did. You have never been trained in wizardry?”
“Uh, no. I don’t know anything about magic,” I reply nervously.
Merle nods. “But you do possess a magic rune, correct?”
Uh-oh. He knows about the rune. Am I gonna go to wizard Juvi? “Yes,” I mutter.
“May I see it, please?” The old wizard asks.
I give him the rune and watch him as he examines it carefully. “Very powerful; it’s a miracle you weren’t killed upon merely touching it. Where did you find it?”
I think carefully before answering, “It was just laying there on the street across from my house. I live on Triton Avenue.”
“Just laying there?” he asks firmly.
“Uh, yeah. Just laying there. I, uh, tripped over it as I was walking,” I lie.
Merle nods. “Thank you, Julia. I must get going now, but I promise I will talk to the Fire and Storm professors. Your Great Aunt Sestiva left me this note.” He set the note on my bedside table, along with the rune. Then, he was gone.
I open the note and begin to read. “Dear Julia, your parents, aunt, and I have gone off to Krokosphinx to get you a special salve and a protection ward. You have permission to wander about Ravenwood as you wish, but bring Flamey with you and don’t even THINK about enrolling in a school. Especially NOT storm. Sincerely, Sestiva Shadowflame.”
Just then I hear a loud banging on my door. I walk over to answer it, my footsteps echoing in the huge room. When I open the door. I see Alura holding a small package. “It’s for you, Julia. It came in the mail today. Open it!” she pleads cheerfully. I rip open the paper, and am shocked when I see the contents.
A wand.
Alura peers over my shoulder, “Well? What is it?”
I hold the beautiful wand up to the light. It is carved out of dark brown wood with a thin strand of bronze twined around. On the very top is a shimmering purple jewel held up by a metal flower.
“A wand,” Alura says in awe. “A very, very powerful wand. At least twice as good as mine.”
“Who sent it to me?” I ask excitedly. I turn the wand over in my hand slowly.
Alura shrugs. “I don’t know, I just picked it up. There was no note or anything.”
Before I have time to think about it, I see a white flash hurtling up the corridor. It takes me a few seconds before I realize that it is an owl. Alura bows her head slightly in respect. “Good morning, Gamma.”
“Good morning, Alura Spiritshard.” The owl nods in my direction. “And you as well, Julia Shadowflame.” I smile nervously. It’s one thing to be introduced to a wise and powerful wizard, but Great Aunt Sestiva never taught me lessons on how to properly greet owls.
“I need both of you to come to the Headmaster’s tower at once,” continued Gamma in an anxious voice. “We have some suspects that we need you to identify.”
My heart pounds as I follow Alura and Gamma out of Ravenwood into the Commons. I don’t allow myself to look up. What if Ravenwood is really just an old ruin or the Commons was barren and deserted? No, I’ll save my grand entry for another time.
When we reach the tower, I finally decide to take in my surroundings. The inside is packed with young wizards, and the commotion is incredible- incredibly loud! I cover my ears and follow Gamma into another room.
As we step inside, I welcome the cool darkness and calm down a little. A circle of floating crystal shapes is strung by the air in the middle of the room. The worlds of the Spiral. I feel a desperate urge to reach out and touch them, but Alura pulls me back.
Merle Ambrose appears from behind a pillar. “Ah, I see we meet again, Julia. Thank you for bringing them back, Gamma. The suspects are waiting outside. I’ll show them in after I put protection wards around us all. If these are the wizards who came to your house last night, Julia, then we’re in serious danger.”
Great. That’s what EVERYONE wants to hear.
Merle chants quietly while making a complicated design with his wand. When he stops, a soft humming fills the room. “Allright, Gamma, you can bring in the suspects now.”
Gamma flies over to the door and opens it with her beak. I watch in surprise as a tall woman with tentacles for feet and a frog wearing a purple hat appear in the doorway.
“Uh, Mr. Ambrose sir, I’m pretty sure those weren’t the evil people on the dragons,” I say loudly.
Merle laughs. “No no, those aren’t the suspects. Meet Dalia Falmea and Halston Balestrom, professors of Fire and Storm magic. They came to inspect your rune. The prisoners are, er, coming in a more guarded way.”
I feel my face turn red as I stare at the professors. Dalia Falmea reaches out to shake my hand. I grab it, but my arm is as limp as a noodle.
The well-dressed frog, who must be Professor Balestrom, gestures toward the doorway. “The suspects approach,” he croaks.
Merle points his wand at the ready. It is only then that I realize I’m holding my own. I turn to Alura. “How do I work this thing?” I ask her. Alura whispers back, “I’ll teach you later, Julia.”
I’m about to say that I need to know NOW when a dark figure sweeps into the room, along with a sense of utter doom and fear. I shudder involuntarily. “Th-th-that’s the g-g-guy,” I stammer.
Merle holds his wand inches away from the man. I grip my mine tighter, even though I have no idea how to use it.
“Tell me your name, fiend,” hisses Merle. The man laughs a bone-chilling laugh. “I’m not at liberty to share that information, Ambrose.”
Then I remember the girl on the other dragon saying his name. “Christopher!” I blurt out. “That’s his name!”
The man walks towards me. “You again,” he sneers. ‘Well, that won’t do. I might just have to-“
“Enough!” bellows Merle. “Not one step closer, Christopher. I will not go easy on you with my spells.”
Christopher laughs again. “I am not afraid of you, feeble old man.” He gets out his wand. “This Spiral of yours will be ours in the end. One by one, we will destroy your little professors and then defeat you, Ambrose.”
Christopher begins to chant and in seconds his spell begins to take effect. The beautiful glass worlds in the model Spiral begin to shatter, bursting from the inside. One by one, the delicate pieces of art clatter to the floor in shards. A sliver pierces my arm and I brush it off gingerly. The pain of yesterday’s explosion begins to repeat itself.
Before the headmaster or the professors have time to react, Christopher freezes them solid. It starts at their feet and soon ice crystals have covered their entire bodies. Satisfied that they are rendered useless, he turns to Alura and me.
“We might as well get you two out of the way,” he growls menacingly.
Just then, an image of lightning appears in my head. I see it striking down Christopher and starting a fire that melts the ice imprisoning the professors and Merle. I shake off the vision and return to reality.
Alura laughs excitedly. “Julia, you did it! What did you do?”
Huh? “Uh, I didn’t do anything,” I reply, confused.
“You caused lightning to come down and hit that Christopher guy! You used magic!”
I nod. “So you had the weird vision too?”
But then I look over to where Merle and the Professors had been frozen solid. Had been- now they were back to normal. Merle walks over to me and puts his hand on my shoulder. “Julia, well done! You have saved us all! But I believe I am entitled to ask you why you lied to me when I asked you if you were a wizard.”
“But I didn’t lie!” I protest. “I’ve never cast a spell in my life!”
“You just did,” says Alura quietly.
Feeling betrayed, I start to walk out the door. The Headmaster stops me gently. “Julia, you have to believe me. You must have extraordinarily powerful magic inside you to be able to cast that strong of a spell without training. And even most trained wizards wouldn’t be able to summon controlled lightning without a well-mastered chant. We need you on our side.”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. They need me on their side.
Merle clears his throat. “I’ll give you time to think about it, Julia. But right now I have other matters to attend to. Christopher-“
The air itself holds its breath as we all turn to look at where Christopher had been standing.
In his place is a crumpled bundle of papers.
He is gone.
It turns out that Wizard City is in ruins after all. Alura promises me that it’s never been like this before, but I only half-believe her.
There’s a huge gaping hole in the side of Merle’s tower. A crew of builders is busily restoring it back to its normal state, tools in hand. “Why don’t they just have Merle use magic to fix it? They seem to use magic for everything else,” I ask.
Alura sighs. “After Christopher’s attack, the Headmaster was left very weak. We don’t know why, and we can’t get the information out of Gamma. It must be awful to have your powers drained like that.”
I nod. “Yeah, if you had any powers to begin with.” I kick a pebble and it skips across the street and into a puddle.
Alura stops and looks behind her. “Turn left,” she whispers. “We’re being followed.”
I duck into a narrow alley and Alura leads me over a wall and behind the row of houses. I hold my breath, trying to remain unseen. A huge wraith-like creature sweeps past us, looking ahead and not noticing us. I press against the cold stone barricade and close my eyes.
To my horror, a small chip of the wall comes tumbling off from behind my back and hits the ground with a thunk. The wraith backs up, and, seeing both me and Alura, holds up its glowing scythe. It grins evilly, emitting a low cackle. Alura clings to my arm.
Then I have another strange vision. This time, I see a huge tidal wave drown the wraith and then seep back into the ground as the hideous creature is left helpless on the sidewalk, only to be pierced by a lightning strike…
When I look up, the wraith is melting. In seconds, only a black puddle of ooze remains.
Alura gawks at me. “Ok, now THAT was cool! Do you believe me now?”
I frown. “Believe- oh. Alura, I’m telling you I’m not the one doing this! Maybe it was him!”
I point at a teenage boy sprinting across the sidewalk and into the Library. “Or that girl over there! Or the wizard standing by the house on the other side of the street! It could have been anyone!”
Alura shrugs halfheartedly. “Maybe.”
I sigh impatiently. “Well, I guess we should go tell Gamma that we just melted a wraith.” Like that wasn’t obvious.
“Yeah, probably. We wouldn’t want anyone to-“
“Hey, look, Blaze! It’s a puddle of melted licorice! Let’s put it in this jar!” shouts a boy who must have been 5 years old. “LICORICE!” reply his friends, bouncing with joy. Alura grins. “-Eat it,” she finishes.
I rush forward. “No, no, that’s not licorice. It’s an evil, soul-sucking monster in ooze form,” I explain cheerfully.
The boys look at each other, and then back at me. “SWEET!” the smallest one exclaims. They run away with the jar before I can stop them.
I have another vision, but this time it’s much more real. I see the boys running away. But I also see a dark form… Christopher… waiting behind a tree, reaching out to grab them. This time, instead of waiting for the vision to end on its own course, I focus on what I want to happen. I imagine a forcefield between the boys and Christopher. I open my eyes, and the forcefield is there. So is Christopher, fighting against the magical barrier. Then he evaporates in a flash of light.
I take a deep breath. “Okay, so it was me that caused all that stuff to happen. I’m sorry for not believing you.”
“It’s okay,” says Alura, looking down at her feet.
“It’s not okay,” I protest. “I should have trusted you.”
Alura opens her mouth to speak, but I cut her off. “I think I need some proper training.”
And then I run, as fast as my magic-drained body allows, to Ravenwood.
Gamma is waiting for me right by the entrance. In her beak she holds a small package, dirty and coated with dust. I recognize it at once. This is the bundle of papers that was left in the tower when Christopher disappeared
“Julia, since Merle was too weak to deliver this package himself, he entrusted it to me. He said that you were to be the first to open it. Please, do so quickly,” advises the owl.
I nod shakily. “Uh, okay.” I take shallow breaths as my fingers fumble with the wrapping. It’s bound tight, but I manage to cut through it.
Inside the bundle is a beautiful leather book. Its cover is engraved with delicate embellishments, and spidery writing is carved in the middle. I can just barely make out the words: The History of the Shadowflames.
The world stops. My breathing becomes irregular, and then seeps out in a long, hissing puff. This is my family history. And Christopher was reading it.
I open the book. The pages are dry and brittle. My glance wanders over to the inside cover, where the list of owners was inscribed.
‘Ian Shadowflame, Kestrel Shadowflame, John Shadowflame, Mindy Shadowflame, Alyssa Shadowflame, Aaron Shadowflame, Sestiva Shadowflame…’
Great-Aunt Sestiva? What?
I continue reading, this time out loud. “Maria Shadowflame- my mom. Jenna Shadowflame- my aunt. Tatiana Shadowflame- no idea. Christo-“
No. NO.
“Christopher Shadowflame.”
The final name. His name.
Gamma flies in circles around a bush. “That cannot be! How could it-“
But I don’t listen. I don’t hear. I don’t feel.
I run. I throw the book into the lake behind the Storm school.
And then, the world turns black.
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