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 Crusader's Son (part 2)
Olivia Mandle closed her eyes slowly, folded the parchment of the weathered paper in her hand, and yelled out in frustration. That was all she could do. She pulled herself together and bit her lip. After staring at the unbelievable journal entry for what it seemed like forever, the 14-year old freshman gazed at the beach horizon and mumbled, "How is this even possible?"
She was answered with the roar of the waves chrashing on the nearby rocks on the shore. The sea-salt breeze danced with her long, golden-brown hair and sent a minor chill up her spine. Hugging her body in desperation to fight off the cold, she walked away towards her home. The paper folded in one arm, she clenched her teeth as she felt the familiar pain jolting up her thigh. It was a great punishment for her just to walk. Her right leg was crippled by an unfortunate lightning strike just a couple of months ago. Because the bones couldn't heal properly, the doctor put her on crutches before doing further more surgeries. The crutches weren't that comfortable either.
"Blake..oh Blake, what am I going to do with you," she thought in her mind as she entered her house.
The confused teenager sighed with gratitude to see her orange cat, Tigger, snoozing near the fire, as usual. Olivia bent down, as best as she could, her left arm still clasping the paper, and stroked Tigger with a trembling finger.
"Meow," whined the striped kitten sleepily.
She chuckled softly, and walked up stairs to the only destination where she knew she wouldn't be disturbed.
The attic.
Olivia swung herself towards her parent's room, into the closet, and found her mouth having a chunkful of rotting wood in the hasty process. Ignoring the familiar copper taste of blood on her lips, she grabbed out blindly and managed to locate the ladder. It took a quite amount of effort for the girl to haul herself up and open up the sideways facing door. The ladder wasn't even tall enough to reach it, so she had to hang on the dusty floor of the attic room, kick off the last ladder step, and ,hopefully, manage to bring her body up in the room. She succeeded, to her amazement. She had fallen countless times before.
Breathless, Olivia laid down on the creaking, wooden floor, gasping heavily from her great ordeal. Her leg was shaking terribly, sending small, painful quivers in her right side. She rested her right hand on the badly shakened leg in an effort to make it stop hurting. The girl stood up slowly. Her brown eyes scavenged about the mess of litter and countless old portraits of her ancestors. Olivia searched for her crutches, but groaned when she had realized that she had left them down in the closet while she was climbing up the ladder. Annoyed, she hobbled over with one foot towards her favorite chair. It was old and smelled really bad, like a newly opened sharpie marker. Patches had been torn off through its years of hardship, but it had a set of armrests and was quite comfortable to sit in.
After settling in, she reached into her jacket pocket to reveal the plastic bottle she had found the journal entry inside. It washed upon the shore, right at Olivia's feet..like it was meant for her. She put the bottle down on a nearby desk and examined it. Most of the label was lost from the constant force of the tidal waves it had embarked on. It was one of those old, French bottles of wine. Strangely enough, it was expired..since 1642.
"Is this a magic bottle or what," asked Olivia out loud to the stillness.
I must have gone mad! she thought.
Seeping herself deep into the chair, she surveyed the small room. Her eyes came to a stop at her leg, the crippled one. Giving out a loud sigh, she simply picked up the paper containing Blake's adventure so far.
"Ok, if your not pulling a joke on me Blake, I guess I should write back, no?"
Ugh! Olivia cursed softly for talking to herself again. It was a natural habit of hers that she absolutely hated. Then, for the first time, she began to feel lonely. I mean, yeah, she wasn't popular and her only friend was Blake, but she never really felt such an eerie sensation before in her heart.
Picking up a pencil, she began to write. Honestly, Olivia had NO IDEA what was happening! It seemed that something was pushing her, FORCING her to write all her worries, feelings, true emotions right into the little scrap of paper she had found. Words raced across neatly in spidery handwriting. She felt powerful, excitement began to build up inside her. Her eyes flickered wildly, and her hand began to feel heavy.
Ending with her signature, the teenager rolled up the letter and began to attempt at opening the bottle. It wouldn't budge. Frustrated, she pulled harder ,with her whole fist this time, to take off the metallic screw. It came off, but not exactly as Olivia would have planned.
It came off with a loud POP! A leaky aroma escaped out, engulfing the room.
A rather confused and scared Olivia coughed once, then twice and rasped out, "What the **** is happening?!"
She fell in a heap at the floor.
~ Two Hours Later ~
"She's waking Mom! Look!" exclaimed a high voice.
"Olivia, honey, can you hear me? Oh good Lord, please wake up!"
"Uh?" she muttered finally, her mind still foggy and her eyes closed.
"Oh thank goodness! Honey, come on, get up. What happened?" asked her mother desperately.
"Fhhhh," sputtered out Olivia.
"I think she's dead," joked her older brother, Thomas.
"Shut up!" snapped her mother angrily.
"Mom..mom, it's ok..really, I'm fine," Olivia mumbled.
She got up, ignoring her mother's hand. Resting herself on a ledge, she said that nothing was wrong.
Her mind finally cleared and realized the whole "magic bottle" incident earlier.
"Oh mom? Did you happen to see a bottle or letter in the attic?"
Her mom thought for a while and replied, "No, there was nothing sweetheart."
"Oh..ok."
"Olivia, are you SURE your ok?" her mom asked one last time.
"I'm fine!" lashed Olivia, a little annoyed with her mother's constant concerns.
She trudged outside, grabbing her crutches. Ignoring the calls of her worried mom, she swung herself to the beach.
Right now, her mom was REALLY WORRIED. Her father came home shortly after, to find his wife chewing her fingernails like there was no tomorrow.
"Geez Tanya, what's the matter with you today? You look a bit antsy," said her dad.
"It's Olivia. That girl is really starting to worry me," answered her mother.
"It's not her grades again, is it?" asked the tired father.
"No, that's not it. She passed out in the attic earlier this afternoon."
"Oh?"
Tanya nodded.
"She appeared to be somewhat..changed after her ordeal. I'm worried Robert."
Robert snorted.
"Let her be. By the way, what's for dinner?"
Not seemingly wanting an answer anyway, Robert walked past Tanya to the kitchen. Something isn't right! she thought. Everything is in a mix-up ever since that girl was struck by lightning!
She sighed heavily.
"What even bothers me more are her eyes," the mom whispered to herself.
It was indeed true. Olivia's once beautiful, dark brown eyes had turned to a faint shade of blue.
|
The Crusader's Son
Man, I don't know where to start. After all that's happened..I don't even know who the heck I am anymore, where I came to be, and why. This is my first journal so I really don't know what to do. But if you think this is some "Dear Diary" or something then heck with it because all I'm doing this is for to someday someone will probably find this and read it. As I dip my feather quill into the ink, I try to recall everything. But before I get right to the situation, let me give you some info about me and my family.
My name is Blaze DragonFlame, a Master Pyromancer...well, right now anyway. I have a little brother named Brian ThunderSword, who is an Adept Diviner. My mother...I don't know much about her. She dissapeared long ago. My father's name is Dustin..he won't tell me his last name for some reason. He's also a Grandmaster Death.
Now you know that, let me tell you when one day changed my whole life forever...
So yeah. I lived on Earth, weird to put it that way but I didn't know that there were other worlds then this one. I wasn't that popular, sucked at sports, considered a freak. My uncle, Sean DeathSword, on the otherhand, was extremely cool. Whenever he came to visit me, he always brought some cool gadget. I've recieved a microscropic earphone, a 3D comic, a five foot long anaconda (really, I did!).
But my dad was always angry with my uncle. Before he left, they always argued with each other in my father's room. Once, I managed to eavesdrop but only got to hear one word: wizard. Wizard? I thought. Just then, the door opened and Uncle Sean stepped out. His serious face expression suddenly turned into a playful smile when he saw me.
"What ya' doing here chump? Eavesdropping I hope not."
I just smiled quickly and sat down casually on the sofa. My dad followed and they both sat down beside me.
"Blake (that was my former Earth name), we have to talk," said my father sternly.
I immediatly was nervous. In that kind of tone, I knew that either my dad wanted to tell me some secret or that he recently found out that I glued the teacher's seat down again. Either way, I knew this was serious.
"You know those times at school when you created some wildfire on the school building or managed to somehow quench a puddle?"
How did he know? I thought. I just nodded. My dad looked really confused, like he didn't want to tell me something. Uncle broke the silence.
"Show him the DragonSpyre armor and sword. Don't forget the dragon."
Dragon? Was this a dream? I pinched myself. Ow..not a dream. My father nodded and got up to the basement. I was forbidden down there. He came back up, holding some type of knight looking armor, a dark blade,...and an egg. He sat down.
I couldn't believe it. A wizard. Me? They actually expected me to believe that some dude called Malistaire is trying to destroy the planets..I mean "Spiral" and that I might be able to help stop him? I sat there, stunned. Sean stepped up and ruffled my hair.
"Sorry we had to bust you right now kid. But you got to realize that other kids your age probably have already accepted this fact too."
He had a point.
"Well, we better get you enrolled. The RavenWood School of Magical Arts should be better, I've heard that the DragonSpyre Academy can be tough," said my father.
Just as he was about to get up, my brother, Bryan, was charging out of his room.
"Dadddddd!" He yelled, even though my father was right in front of him.
"No need to yell! Just tell me what's wrong," he said.
"There's this old man wearing a goofy wizard costume. And it's not even Halloween yet!"
All Dad did was smiled.
"Aw man! Is he gonna get enrolled too?" I asked.
My uncle nodded.
"Enrolled where? I don't want to move again!" Bryan whined.
"You'll know later," I said.
Just then, there was a BOOM at the door. It flung opened and the old wizard man with the long beard floated, yes, I mean floated, into the living room. A snow white owl perched himself on our T.V.
"Sor-" The old man was cut off when a chunkful of our used to be ceiling nearly clammered our guest. He cleared his throat and said, "Sorry for that blast..and your door...along with your ceiling. But you know how Gamma gets impatient. He does this work everyday nearly hundreds of times!"
"Whoooooo!" chirruped the owl who I assumed to be Gamma, as if he was arguing.
"You don't usually appear yourself. I was just expecting Gamma," grinned Dad.
"Ah yes. We don't have much time Dustin. HE is coming! I came to warn you," explained the old man.
I stole a look at Bryan. His face was chalk white. But hey, I don't blame him. I was still pretty much shocked too. My father looked worried for a while. So did Uncle.
"Malistaire? He is back?" whispered Dad.
"Who's Malistaire?" I asked out loud.
I was immediatly replied with frantic "Shhhhh!"s.
"We never speak his name aloud!" Sean said.
"Ok, either this is just some bizarre dream, or you guys have obviously seen Harry Potter way too much," I exclaimed.
"This is no joke Blake. Focus!" My Dad hissed.
"We must hide now!" said the old man.
But we never got the chance.
Life. What is it? A turn of random surprises and events that controls your mind? Maybe. Maybe not. Well, life sure got me in to where ever I am now. Those twists and turns envelope so much around you, you hardly think, instincts jerk. And thats what exactly happened on that mysterious night. Let me pick up from where I left off.
The next thing I knew, there was another crash at the left. The whole wall was torn away. My dad, uncle, and the old man dodged to the right. I took Bryan with me and met the others.
"Come out where ever you are Wolf! I am waiting!" A low, grizzled voice said.
I peeked over the kitchen table and saw another old man but with a grayish mustache and long gray hair. He was tall, had a slim body, and wore a black and golden robe. In his hand carried a staff with a ruby gem atop and a snarling golden dragon figure gaurding it. But what really surprised me, was the freakingly huge black dragon he was riding! My dad and Uncle Sean immediatly stepped up, drawing two blades that they picked up from nowhere.
"Merle! Grab Blake and Byran back to Wizard City! Me and Sean will take care of Malistaire!" cried out Dad.
I continued to watch in horror when a battlefield sprung up and they began to battle. However, the evil lord so called "Malistaire", summoned two dragon like creatures that I soon knew as draconians, and ordered them to capture us.
"Come," ushered the old man with the white beard toward us.
But I couldn't. I wasn't going to leave Dad and Sean there, no, they were the only family I had left. The hermit dude however, had other plans. He took out a long staff and chanted some mysterious words. In a spark of light and stars, I felt my body began to rise up and found myself floating in a black cosmos, Bryan at my side. My stomach felt light but I soon began to enjoy myself and did a couple of somersaults. Unfortunately, just as I was about to land from another somersault, reality returned, and I found myself on the floor...face first. That knocked the wind out of me.
"Ohhh.." I moaned, standing up.
The old man then seated me and Bryan on an old fashioned couch. I finally got to take a look at my surroundings. The air was dry and musty with dust as if no one had lived here in a long time. It was a rectangular place, with a creaking wooden floor, and peeling red walls. Potraits of unusual looking humans as well as dogs, frogs, and fairys, were displayed over a nearby fireplace.
"Allow me to introduce myself," said the old wizard man. His voice startled me. "I am Merle Ambrose, Headmaster of Ravenwood School of Magic," he said with a bow.
A snow white owl flew in and whistled, "Whoooooo!"
Turning to the owl, Merle Ambrose said, "Oh, and this is Gamma, my pet owl."
"Glad to me you!" Gamma said in a warm, pleasant voice.
I jumped back in surprise. The owl could talk? Bryan was scared too.
He pointed at Gamma and cried out, "I-it can talk?" Merle nodded.
"Now..I've done this many times but let's just cut to the point. You two youngsters are wizards. Ok! Now let's consult your class and names in the Book of Secrets."
I just stood there. I knew what he meant about me and my little brother being wizards, but Bryan wasn't taking it so good. Afterall, Dad and Uncle Sean only managed to explain it to me. Leaving Bryan to sort things out by himself, I hopped over to the huge book that Merle was pointing to. I ran down the old, weathered pages. It was some sort of test to find out my element.
After I finished, a fire dragon's head tore out of the page! Surprised, I jumped back. The crimson colored beast caught my eyes, a fiery glare that shook my body all over. The scales bristled with energetic jerks here and there, it's long tail thumping the walls, since its body could barely fit through the small room. It was starting to breath heavily and suddenly, it roared out a huge blast of fire, all the while, managing to say, "FIRE!" As it said the very last word, a massive torrent of flames cricled around the magnificent beast, while letting out a horrifying roar. It disappeared soon after, leaving the faint scent of smoke lingering through the air.
I stood there, shock still. My element was fire? Merle Ambrose nodded in approvement and went over to a wooden closet. He pulled out a red and yellow robe, some boots, and a hat. He also unwrapped a paper mache' wrap and took out the egg my father had shown me earlier. That's when it hit me. Dad!
"Are..are Dad and Uncle alright?" I asked nervously.
The headmaster stopped abruptly. He sighed. We stood there for a while, the silence making the climactic moment impossible to bear. My little brother couldn't take it any longer either.
"Where's Dad?" He blurted out.
Ambrose finally said, "There is a good chance they could be dead by now."
The dreaded words filled up the room.
"Dead?" I asked quietly.
"Look in to my eyes, both of you," ordered the headmaster. "What ever happened is long gone now. If you don't face the true fact, you'll never be able to move on. Your life is like a river. Those impediments in your life are those huge, gaping rocks in the water. The only way to overcome them is to go over them or around."
We both nodded.
Merle handed me the clothes and I changed inside an empty room, while Bryan was taking the book test..thing, whatever. As I shoved on the clothing that seemed to fit me perfectly like it was made just for me, I realized they were extremely soft. I could tell they were made of linen and some type of wool. The boots were as soft as mocassins as well. Fully dressed, I looked at myself in a mirror.
"I look like a geek!" I muttered.
It was true.
The pointed hat made me look even worse, but I didn't mind because of how comfortable they were then my ripped jeans and over-sized T-shirt.
As I stepped out of the rec room, I heard a large gurgling noise from where Bryan was still taking the test. I glanced to the direction and my heart nearly exploded! A huge hand popped out of the old book! I heard a loud groan as the rest of the body pulled itself up. It was a muscular man, around 10 ft tall, a white beard traced in thunder bolts, crackling eyes, and a massive lightning bolt it held in his hairy grasp. I watched nervously as the god that strangely resembled the Greek Mythology God, Zeus, shoved his lightning bolt in the floor. I expected to see a long crack to form, like in those dramatic movies, but it just sounded like a thunder storm erupted. As a faint mist began to envelope the god's body, he shouted forth like the fire dragon, "STORM!" An electric bolt then shocked the air with a loud hiss..and the strange being vanished competely. I stole a look at Bryan, but he caught my eye, a wave of astonishment as well as fear clear through his brown pupils.
"These voices are beginning to weaken my hearing!" complained the headmaster, shaking his head while holding on to his stout ears.
He gave Bryan his clothes soon after, and when he came out, Ambrose then presented us with our very first wands. Mine was just basically a wooden stick with a ruby gem and yellow waves carved at the tip. Bryan's had a metalic grasp with a sapphire gem atop.
"Your names now will be chosen from the Book of Secrets," announced Headmaster Ambrose.
He opened the leather book, searching intently with his tracing fingers.
"A' ha!" he said towards me. "Blake, your name shall now be forever forth Blaze DragonFlame."
"Cool?" I said sarcastically.
He then turned to Bryan and said, "And your name, little one, will shall be forever forth Brian ThunderSword!"
My little brother looked confused.
"Still the same name?" he asked.
"Well, it is actually spelled with an 'ia', not a 'y'."
"Oh," he said.
Merle Ambrose then gave me the dragon egg still wrapped in the brown paper bag, while apologizing that he didn't have any time to show us around. So he suggested that we should start to tour around RavenWood our selves and meet all the teachers. We would then return to Ambrose. With a new goal in our minds, Bryan..I mean Brian ThunderSword and I, Blaze DragonFlame, set out to explore the rest of the many mysteries and questions that still lingered in our thoughts.
As soon as Brian and I stepped out of Merle Ambrose's office, we were completely engulfed with loud shouts of excitement, horses snorting, and bustling movement. We looked around in astonishment, the stone pavement, clear skies, a wide, glittering lake with a beautiful fountain seated in the center.
"Look out!" someone suddenly shouted.
Too late.
A young girl had collided into me and my brother on her flying broom. The impact sent colors and stars in my eyes. I heard Brian groan. As I pulled myself together, I helped my brother up, and turned to confront the girl. She had returned from retrieving her broom, a wave of excitement yet embarrasment on her face as she walked towards us.
"Sorry about that! I didn't see you two coming from Ambrose's office back there!" she apologized immediatly.
She was sort of pretty, with black hair, dark eyes, and a great smile. She wore a black hood that looked cooler than me, a complicated designed robe, regular looking shoes, and a wooden oak staff.
"It's ok," I said.
My head was still throbbing as I said that though.
"I'm Blaze DragonFlame, and this is my little brother, Brian ThunderSword," I said, introducing ourselves.
"Oh. My name is Autumn DeathFountain, Level 23 Necromancer," she replied.
"So, you guys new here?" she asked, studying us up and down.
"Yeah, just got enrolled," I said.
"Cool. Then you guys must be heading up to RavenWood to meet the teachers I assume?"
We nodded.
"Can I come?"
"Um, sure."
So the three of us walked towards where a large tunnel with a sign overhead that read "RavenWood" stood. When we were about to enter, a roar rang in my ear drums. A tiger had blocked our way, with a guy riding on top of it. He wore a wolf resembled helm that looked like the one that my father had shown me earlier, onyx colored armor, and medieval looking boots. In one hand he held a glittering sword and the other held the reins of the tiger.
"You guys want to enter? Then pay up, noobs!" he ordered sharply, then turned to the right and spat on the ground.
"Yeah!" shouted two other guys behind him that seemed to be his pals.
They both wore kinghtly armor trimmed with red and black, riding golden male lions.
"Leave us alone Matthew." said Autumn calmly.
"It's Matt beautiful." remarked the bully slyly.
Autumn simply sighed and tossed Matt a gold coin.
"Thanks toots. Oh, and if you ever need a real man than these two losers, come find me." he added as he kicked the tiger's sides and pranced away.
The other two guys did the same, while trying to keep up with their arrogant leader. Autumn just shook her head sadly and disappeared through the tunnel. Brian and I followed after her.
While still walking aimlessly through the tunnel, listening to Autumn's faint footsteps because of the pure darkness, I began to hear shouts of young children running around happily. Well, at least that's what I pictured.
We finally emerged into a bright light. As it cleared, I heard Brian gasp. I followed his eyes and gasped myself to see a huge (I mean HUGE! The thing was bigger than a skyscraper..ok maybe I'm exaggerating a little) tree gaping down at me. It seemed to be alive, a blue eye shifting uneasily with another empty socket. Large branches were toppled with green leaves, hiding the whole sky above with rays shooting out. Five massize buildings were perched around the great tree, with signs if the element. For some odd reason, I couldn't see the Death or Balance school though.
The whole sight was breathtaking, but Autumn impatiently was tugging at my robes.
"Come on, you got to meet all the teachers. And believe me, Professor Greyrose can be quite chatty!"
I reluctantly followed Autumn with Brian glancing around here and there, the sight too much for his eyes. We started walking towards the huge tree. I could just make out an odd brown figure standing by it. I soon made it out as not a human, but a dog!
"Hello young chaps! I am the balance instructor, all the way from Marleybone! They call me Arthur WethersField! But thats Mr. WethersField to you."
"Uhhh, ok then, " I said, still shakened by the thought of a talking dog as the balance teacher.
Autumn then led us to the left of the tree. As we were walking towards the building with a leaf symbol on it, Autumn began to explain to Brian and me about the tree.
"His name is Bartleby, " she said, "They say that he was the son of the moon, sun, and stars itself. They were his sisters. To show a token of their love for him, the goddeses granted him a pair of magical eyes that allowed him to not only see, but to be able to interpret the future and past itself!"
"Ok..but the last time I checked, he had only ONE eye." I said a bit confised.
"I'm not finished, " she snapped. But her face softened and continued, "You DO know the past teacher of Death, right?"
"Um..Lord Hades?" I asked, remembering the several chapters of Greek Mythology in class.
"No stupid! Where's your common sense? It's-" she paused off, looked to her left and right, then whispered to us, "it was Malistaire!"
As she said 'Malistaire', Brian and I noticed that she hissed the name, like it was too much for the right of the Spiral to be heard of such disdain.
"Oh..Malistaire..I see, " I said deep in thought as we entered the classroom. "So..what's his story?"
"Long ago, the Death teacher used to have a wife. Her name was Sylvia Drake, the used-to-be Life Teacher. She was gorgeous! Her blonde hair curls flying along behind her, the way her eyes glittered, the sweet tone of her gentle voice, " she said, a look of dreaminess on her face as she described the woman.
"Ahem?" my brother said, poking Autumn on the shoulder.
"Oh, wow sorry about that, " she said, her face blushing in embarrasement. She continued on, "Malistaire adored his wife, especially after she had bore him a daughter. I think her name was Keira. Anyways, all those good moments in your life can't always stay that way. It was when darkness enveloped the Spiral after Sylvia Drake died of an unknown disease. Malistaire was furious at the medical doctor named Adam LifesWorth. The rumor says that he murdered the Life doctor, ripped the whole Death School in an unknown region, and disappeared without a trace or fragment of soul."
I stopped in my tracks right after Autumn spoke the doctor's name. Where had I heard that name before? It was so familiar.
"Excuse me dearies," said a rather sweet voice interrupting our conversation, "I'm afraid you shouldn't talk about that type of subject while you're in here." I looked up to find a slightly angry, asian looking with make up cow glaring at us. That was enough to make me wet my pants. Thank goodness I didn't drink anything before I left.
"Sorry Moolinda. I was just trying to explain about, you know who and all," whispered Autumn, a look of shame across her face.
"It's no problem sweet heart. I understand about curious novice wizards," said the cow smiling. "And may I ask, who are you?" she inquired, setting her gaze on my brother and me.
I was cut off by Autumn. "They're new here, you know the usual business of meeting all the teachers!"
"Well you better hurry along now then, class is starting in less than a half hour, so I'd suggest you better do more walking than talking!" grinned Moolinda.
As we left the room towards the Myth School, I suddenly remembered the egg. I stole a look of fear at Brian. My 9 year old brother caught my glance and recognizing the situation, he silently revealed the egg in the paper mache bag. I left out a sigh of relief. It was the only token of memory of our father..and uncle. The three of us entered the Myth School to find ourselves face-to-face...err or rather face-to-back with Cyrus Drake, Myth Teacher.
"That's Malistaire's older brother," whispered Autumn to Brian and me.
The bald, but serious tall man, Cyrus, turned towards us, studying our faces with disappointment.
"What do you scums want with me? I'm a busy man!" snapped the cranky Myth Teacher. His voice was hollow and deep..but gave a somewhat peculiar ring to it. I opened my mouth to answer, but the man simply raised up his hand to stop me and said rather answering his own question, "Novices I suppose. No wizard I know wears that type of clothing much except for the newbies." He sighed. "You may leave." He turned his back to us again aiming his concern to a book he was reading.
I couldn't help myself as we walked towards the massive crater of what was left of the Death School with the Death student Malorn AshThorn standing next to it and asked Autumn about Cyrus. "Ok, I've met one or two people with anger issues in my life, but this dude gets the cake! What's up with him?"
"Actually, no one is really sure. Most of us think that he's in some feud with Malistaire. I actually feel pretty bad for Cyrus Drake. Everyone hates him because of his anger management problems. Well, except for his son John Drake. But, I haven't seen him around for some time," replied Autumn hastily.
After talking with Malorn and what-not, I finally got to meet my element teacher.
As I entered the room, I was dazzled by the bright red and orange of the decor. The painted pictures of flames seemed to flicker up and about, you know, when something pops out while your wearing 3D glasses or something. but the thing that caught my full attention was Professor Dalia Falmea herself. Her hair was interesting enough, curved at the top in the form of a flame. I assumed she used a lot of some type of ladies gel (is there even such thing?). Her robe that she wore was pretty much fire, flames, blah blah. It was sort of boring my imagination already (no offense Falmea).
"Hello! You must be one of my newest students!" exclaimed the hyper-genic woman.
We talked for a while about the whole concept of magic and fire. She was very enthusiastic about dragons when ever it happened to pop up in the topic.
"If you are interested in the Great Titans long ago, you can read the hirstory of the Fire Dragons at that book pedestal to my right..well to YOUR left also," she added with a rather smug smile.
So I read all about the Great Titans long ago. Vivid images and flash-backs sweeped through my mind as I read on how the Dragons tried to stop the war between the Frost Giants and the Tritons. My heart sank when I heard that the fire dragons were now into a deep, eternal sleep in the process, but it was pretty cool since our fire power gifts originate from the great flames of spirit still lurking within the dragons' hearts.
I recieved a new spell for my deck from my teacher before I left to find Brian. Falmea gave me "Fire Cat". She then taught how to trace the fire symbol with my wand.
"Breathe in, seperate yourself from the outside world..and search for the fire 'vora' within your soul," she whispered.
"Vora?" I asked.
"It is the center of your spiritual powers and senses. It controls your vital chain lines to your lower vora's; they have different names..but first I want to see you summon that fire cat."
Rather annoyed and confused, I took a breath, closed my eyes, and searched deep within myself. The journey, as I put it, was incredible! At first there was all darkness..but the voices and sounds surrounding me faded away, and I could see six faint lines with the 'vora', I assumed, in the center. I pushed in deeper with my will, and I noticed the lines were connected but differed in colors. There was a yellow circle in the outline of my head, a green one at my right arm, a blue at my right, orange at my left leg, and a purple at my right. All glowed bright, but the one that caught my eye was the vora in the center. It was a bright blood-red, and it casted off a white glow..as if it was calling me.
I was perplexed. But I needed to summon that fire cat if I ever wanted to get out of here. So I zoomed on the red fire vora and heard a cute but rather disturbing growl in my mind.
Miss Falmea must've known that I was confronting the fire cat by then, when she instructed, "Don't be shy, act bold, and call forth his true name."
I did what she said.
"Dwon (DEE-WUN)," I mumbled to the fire cat.
Dwon meowed pitfully back, and his true form began to unravel towards my eyes. I saw his six points of vora with his outline at first, but then the outside began to become clear as well.
I opened my eyes to the sound of Professor Falmea's coughs.
She was waving the air of smoke with her hand. I followed her eyes to the smoke spot still burning on the floor.
"Now that you have found favor in his eyes, there's no need to confront with his vora again. He will aid you in battle immediatly..unless you fizzle of course," explained Falmea.
I nodded. I was still confused about the whole "knowing it's true name" thing..but I had enough for today. I left the building and saw Brian stepping out of the Storm school as well. He ran up to me and exclaimed, "I learned 'Thunder Snake' from Professor Balestrom!"
"Hmm, you read the story about the Titans?" I asked.
"Yep. The Fire Dragons and Frost Giants were bickering about trival matters, so the Tritons were caught in the middle. It was such a sad story."
"Wait..what do you mean the FIRE DRAGONS and the Frost Giants were fighting? YOUR TRITONS and the Frost Giants were annoying each other! This doesn't make any sense!" I said.
Brian gave me a questioning look.
"Forget what I said," I mumbled.
Autumn just came running towards us then. She had a rather worried look on her face. My first instincts told me otherwise: Not Good.
"Umm..you guys might want to see what's happening at the Commons."
"What's the matter?"
She stayed silent for a moment.
"Autumn, what is the problem?" I asked sternly, suddenly becoming scared.
The Adept Necromancer bit her lip and looked hard into my eyes.
She then let out our worst fears yet.
"He's here. Malistaire is back."
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The Dark Crusader Chronicles (part 7)
"Man, where is that kid?" Sean was laying on his bed. He was confused that his little brother had disappeared so quickly. He even had grown a bit worried. Maybe I should tell mom he thought. Then quickly shook his head. "Nah..I can't worry her..I'll find him myself!" Sean stood up and attached his DragonSpyre armor on. He then grabbed his obsidian blade and deck. As he trudged down the stairs, he remembered when he had tackled Dustin. "What was I thinking?" he muttered to himself. "Who was thinking?" replied mom. She was seated at the breakfast table, sipping some mana coffee. "Oh uh.. nothing. Just thinking out loud." Sean said. "Your dressed up, where are you going?" asked the mother. "Just going to slay some draconians mom." Sean replied, lying through gritted teeth as he left. He ran to Nightside, where Dworgyn was reading some spell books. Class would begin in 15 minutes. "What do ya want?" asked Dworgyn, annoyed. "Um..did you happen to know where Dustin, my little brother is? He's in your PM class." The old hag hummed quietly, tapping his beard thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure your brother was headed to Colossus Boulevard." "Thanks." answered the senior relieved. He then rushed to the Shopping District. He was just about to enter the tunnel to the freezing area until Private Junior stopped him. "None shall pass!" the soldier ordered. "What happened to the other soldier? I don't recognize you at all." stated Sean. "Off duty.. I'm taking his shift for now." mumbled the trainee. "Well, here's my pass." replied Sean, hastily taking out his pass form from Headmaster Ambrose 3 years ago. "Looks legit, go on ahead." said the soldier, taking away his steel spear. Sean stepped in and was immediately greeted with a cold wind. Now, where is that he? he thought.
"Where are we anyway Dustin?" asked Brian G. "Pretty sure we're in DragonSpyre. Lots of people say they've been there and battled Malistaire." I replied. "But wouldn't Malistaire be dead if they defeated him? Or wouldn't the wizards not return if Malistaire killed them?" stated Brian G. I just shook my head. I really didn't want to say any more. "Man, can't wait to get my hands on that evil Malistaire," grinned Brian T. evilly. "Yeah.." I mumbled. We continued to walk silently down the corridors. The walls were a dark black, not very much surprising to me. "So Dustin. Um, since you used to like work here or something, um... do you know where the bathroom is?" blurted out Brian G. "Oh come on! Hold it in!" cried Brian T. frustrated. "Nah, its ok. We have time." I said, trying to keep away from Malistaire as far as possible. I turned the corner. We stopped at two steel doors. On the signs that were held up were two pictures. A sword was shown, showing the courage of men. And the other door showed a heart, obviously showing the caring of women. I nodded to the sword door. Brian G. went in hurryingly. Minutes passed by. I could feel the vibrations of Brian T.'s foot tapping on the floor impatiently. "Uh.. maybe you should go in and check on him." I asked. "Whatever." mumbled Brian T. He stepped into the room. I leaned myself on the wall. I was beginning to grow impatient myself..and well, curiosity took the better of me. I walked around, looking for some adventure. While I was walking, I started to stare at my blade. The beautiful designs on the magnificent sword entranced me. I had won it from some boss in DragonSpyre. I guess I didn't know where I was going because I immediately bumped into a door. "Ow.." I said, rubbing my forehead. I then looked up. Unlike other doors that decorated Malistaire's castle, this one was pure solid white. It gleamed with beauty, as if heaven itself were glaring down at me from above. Knowing I had nothing else better to do, I reached for the knob. As I turned it slowly, I recalled that this looked familiar. I finally stepped in and realized that my vision from earlier...it was true.
The room, the very same room that took my vision earlier was a pure white. I also saw the long, narrow table that I sat at. And then...I saw her. Keira. She had heard me come in, and whispered, "Now is not a good time Dustin." "Oh um..sorry, I was just looking around." I stuttered. For a moment, the plain looking girl smiled at me..but it was quickly replaced by a frown. "He is more powerful Dustin. I'm afraid that you and your friends stand no chance to defeat him." "But-but..the prophecy..it said that we would-" "-win?" Keira finished. "Yea-yeah...right?" I asked doubtly. "Don't let your friend..that grandmaster death student mess up your mind. I wish that I could tell you what would happen..but I can't." she said solemnly. Her white hair was blown gently from a draft. Ocean blue eyes, glaring in the stars. "Why? Why are you always talking in some sort of riddles?" I demanded, suddenly feeling myself grow angry." Keira just giggled softly, making me more frustrated then ever. "That anger of yours...your son is sure to be a Pyromancer." she said. "Stop getting off track! Why won't you tell me?" I shouted. Her face then grew serious after my words. "I may be the Light Oracle, and I may be your friend..but my duty as both will not allow me too. Telling you would probably make you even more upset..and change your fate as well." she whispered. I just stood there silently..tasting her words of wisdom. "You must leave now." Keira suddenly said, breaking off the silence. "But wait. I still have more questions!" I pleaded. But to my horror, a black portal appeared once again. "Oh god." I mumbled. The dark knight stepped out. He looked the same as before, armor night black, steel blade glowing with absolute pure darkness. " He was about to do his regular routine, throwing me out. But I quickly managed to ask the stranger, "Who are you? That's all I want to know." The knight stopped abruptly. I knew my words that I chose were good. "I am of no importance to a wizard so young." he replied. "I meant your name." I said, gritting my teeth. "Haha. Fine, might as well tell you to ease your stubbornness." he said. My mind sizzled but I continued to listen. "My name is an old one. It resembled me as a young boy, age as yours, going to defeat Malistaire." The knight coughed and continued, "Of course, if I were to be the one to defeat Malistaire, why are you here you ask? Well, I died. Yes, I am a ghost. But my name is again just no importance. You already know it anyway." I paused, thinking of the last words the knight had said. Seeing his chance to finally get rid of me, the knight grabbed the back of my shirt, dragging me towards the vortex. "Your friends are waiting." he chuckled softly. And I was thrown into the portal.
I then fell out into the bathroom door. Brian G. was staring at me. "How did you get here?" he asked, amazed. "Forget it. Where's Brian T.?" I asked. Brian G.'s face cast down. "What happened?" I demanded. The adept Life student managed to say, "He-he went off to kill Malistaire himself." "WHAT?" I shouted. "I tried to make him stay, to wait for you and then go, but he was too impatient. I thought he was joking around with me, but its been some minutes and he hasn't returned." He said hurryingly. My main instinct told me to run..so I did. Brian G. at my side we ran towards Malistaire's office. There, I saw his pet storm hound, Fluffy, whining and pawing at the door. I knew he had left his pet here, he was always a softy for animals, so I'm guessing he didn't want Fluffy to get hurt. We stormed into the entrance, looking around worryingly for our companion. Bad thing was, that the room was pitch black, just like the key holder's room. The lights then turned on. Malistaire was grinning evilly at us. Brian T. was no where to be seen. "Where's Brian?" I demanded. "Ah Wolf." Malistaire said, using my childhood name before. "What a surprise to find you here and oh so grown up!" he stated. "Where is he?" demanded Brian G. angrily. "Oh..you want your friend eh? If you want him so badly, then hit me with your best shot!" the lord cried. He then suddenly pulled us into the battle field before we could even think twice. He was first up. Tracing the Death symbol, he casted a death sword onto himself. I used a death prism. Brian G. casted Legend shield onto me. "Thanks." I said. The adept just nodded. While after a couple more rounds of just simple shields and swords, I realized there was no chance that we could beat the evil tyrant. With just me, a mere level 45 Death Master, and a Life adept student not even capable to cast a satyr, we were doomed. The eighth turn came and Malistaire traced the Death symbol with his ruby staff, shouting forth a scarecrow. With all the combinations of swords, traps, and prisms, I knew it would hit us high damage. I waited for the blow as the scarecrow rose up from the ground. I just then realized that I still had the death shield from Brian! It attacked me for little damage but unfortunately for Brian, he lost over half of his health. "Not so good at battles anymore huh Wolf?" teased Malistaire as he watched me cast Doom and Gloom. I ignored him and my pain was eased increasingly from the unicorn that Brian G. managed to summon. Next, the dark lord unexpectantly casted a wraith. My eyes widened with fear as I saw the spirit rise up from the ground. After its eerie moan, it sucked the life right out of me. Each time it held up its hand, it healed Malistaire but only a little because of the Doom and Gloom I had casted earlier. Both me and Brian were beat up already, I passed me turn doubtly, but Brian casted Sanctuary, getting rid of the Dark Realm. Malistaire passed his turn unsaid while I concentrated again, tracing the death symbol ever so slightly, calling forth the spirit's true name. Opening my eyes, I saw a banshee minion floating next to Brian. Relieved I relaxed as Brian took out a golden edged card. He smiled at me and I realized he had a rebirth! Tracing the Life symbol with his jade staff, I was surprised as Bartleby suddenly sprang up from the concrete floor, healing us all 800 health and giving us each a spirit armor shield. The banshee attacked Malistaire with her normal attack. I finally looked over to the enemy. He was smiling! That wasn't a good sign. "Good bye, Wolf." he whispered as he met my eyes. No! I thought. He just snickered evilly and took out a golden card. Whatever he was going to cast I never knew because just then, Ambrose showed up! "Stop Malistaire!" the old wizard cried out loud, shooting forth a silver blast of light to the stunned necromancer. Beside him was Cyrus Drake, Malistaire's brother and the Myth school teacher. Along with Ambrose's mysterious blast he summoned an orthrus. Both attacks flung Malistaire towards the back of the room. Ambrose then turned to us, yelling, "RUN!" I instinctively teleported to the Commons, along with Brian. But right before I could feel the magic coming towards me, ready to take me away from the wretched place, I saw Brian T. creeping from a corner, smiling.
Sean looked down at the deep hole in Colossus Boulevard. He had asked a couple of excited, young wizards if they had seen his brother. "Uh..oh! You mean that weird gang? Yah, I saw them go to that alley over there." pointed a Journeyman Diviner. "Thanks dude." replied Sean. But now what? Should he go after his little brother? "Oh duh!" Sean said out loud, bopping his forehead. He pictured in his mind of Dustin. He saw his black knight armor, his gleaming sapphire blade....and finally got connected with his mind. Whispering in his mind, Sean asked, "Where are you?" No answer. He waited longer and was about to give up when a voice boomed inside his head. "SEAN! THANK GOD YOUR HERE! IM AT THE COMMONS AFTER FIGHTING MALISTAIRE AND AMBROSE SHOWED UP..ITS A LONG STORY JUST COME HERE NOW!" cried his eager little brother hurriedly. Sean then instantly broke contact with his soul. Using his teleportation spell, he ported to Dustin. Then his eyes could all see black with stars and trails of free magic floating around. "Oof!" the senior suddenly cried. The fall on his brother knocked the wind out of him. The two brothers got up and Dustin immediately explained the whole story. "You think he turned evil?" Dustin asked his older brother worried. They were suddenly talking about Brian T., the Death Grandmaster. "Well, if he was there with Malistaire smiling evilly, and didn't even help you fight him, then yeah dude. Sorry." replied Sean. "Dustin! What happened?" came up Seth DragonRider, the thunder student he had rescued. "Nothing much, where's Aila and Kemnor?" I asked. "They're in my house, lets go see them...who's he?" asked Seth, nodding towards Sean. "My brother, now lets hurry." I said. The Diviner Adept student led us to his house, styled from Marleybone. Aila and Kemnor were sitting on a fancy couch. We started talking about some past events when I excused myself to the bathroom. Locking the door, I looked at myself in the mirror. Heck, I was dirtier than a piggle. Just when I was about to wash my face, I felt weak and dizzy in my arms. They felt so heavy, I couldn't even lift them up. My eyes started to close slowly, as I saw my seemingly lifeless body falling towards the tiled floor....
I was in the mysterious light oracle's room again. I was seated at her white table, with her on the other side. "Good to meet you again Dustin." she said. I didn't care about her niceness, all I wanted were answers. "What happened after me and Brian G. teleported back to the Commons?" I asked. I saw the young girl's face cast down. Not good. Keira must have seen my worried face and then added, "Don't worry, nothing really that bad happened. Of course Malistaire wasn't dead but he managed to send Ambrose and my uncle...I mean Cyrus back to RavenWood." I nodded satisfied. As I stared around the blank room, I thought of the dark knight and what he said before. I needed to know his name. He just seemed so familiar..where had that hint he gave off come from? My mind finally clicked. I knew too well, the knight was a lost spirit, he said, he was going to defeat Malistaire, but died before he even had the chance. "Akeen." I suddenly burst out silently. Keira's face looked up surprised. "That's his name." I stated rather than asked. "How did you know?" the girl asked. "Long story." I replied shortly. I was too tired to even make a full answer. She nodded. She looked troubled for a moment, as if she was thinking to say something. She finally must've made her mind because she then said out loud, not to me, "He knows you Akeen. You can come out now." As if time were messed up, the familiar dark portal appeared and in a blast of black night stars, Akeen, the black knight appeared behind Keira. "So..you found out my identity." he stated solemnly. "If your a spirit, why are you still roaming the Spiral?" I asked. "One should not ask so many questions, for that was not meant to be." Akeen said. My anger at the knight was long gone, subsided in another part of my brain. All I did was say, "Ok, I understand." The knight looked at his blade silently, bracing his gloved fingers back and forth on the black stained metal. "Here." he said, holding out the handle guard towards me. I was shocked. Was he really giving me his own death blade? I tentatively reached out my trembling hand but as soon as I touched it, I recoiled back, thinking it would have stung me. "It's ok, take it. You've earned it." Akeen said, coaxing me. I finally grabbed on to the hilt and looked at it back and forth, up and down. Strength seemed to surge in my body from my arm all around. "Thank you." I simply stated. He nodded and said, "I believe it is time for you to go now." He snapped his fingers and I woke up in the bathroom.
"Come on Dustin! I got to go too ya know!" banged my brother on the door. I looked at my hand, realizing the blade in my palm. I opened the door for Sean and his eyes grew huge at the dark skull toppled sword. "Where did ya get that heck of a beauty?" he asked, totally mesmerized by the occasional glowing of darkness. "Forget it." I mumbled, smiling. "O-ok." Sean said, stuttering. he was so focused on my new sword that instead of going through the bathroom door, he met his face with a chunk full of brick wall. He let out a painful cry, making me just chuckle. I ran down the stairs to meet up with Seth and the others, finding that Brian G. had arrived too. All asked me of the blade but I wouldn't tell anyone. Throughout the entire night, they all continually asked me where I got it as I was leaving. "Why won't you tell us?" whined Seth, gazing at the sword. I just smiled, opened the exit door, and said solemnly, "One shouldn't ask so many questions."
|
The Dark Crusader Chronicles
The sky was dark and foggy that night. The rain that fell on my back felt like a thousand rocks beating me layer by layer. I was stll aware that I was breathing but it was hard, too hard and my legs were sore and tired from constantly running. I did not know what was chasing me that very night but it kept on moaning, "You can't escape ussss!" My legs slipped and crashed into a puddle. I just layed down there and closed my eyes, waiting for the worst. Although I did not open my eyes, I was aware of the shadow looming over me. "Finally, we have you at lassssst!" Then, I screamed. All was blank...
"What the-?!" I yelled as I fell out of bed. One of Malistaire's draconians flew in my room at once and hissed, "Get out of bed you lazy oaf!" "Ohhhhh." I moaned as I rubbed my forehead where I landed on a book. Yes, I worked for Malistaire. I was one of his best warriors who recently was promoted Crusader. I have no name. At least that was what Malistaire said. I was abandoned at his castle footsteps as a baby. That's why Malistaire's minions always calls me, "You, or Lazy oaf!" At least Malistaire calls me Wolf. I stood up and put on some tunic I got from Krokotopia, a hat from Lord Nightshade, and some pair of boots that I found in a cellar. I forget names easily and sometimes forget my friends! (That is, if I even had any) I grabbed onto my pet dragon named Darkness and flew out of the room through the long corridors to Malistaires headquarters. I was a Necromancer Level 20 which was a pretty low level but I was pretty equal to most of the other Death Knights around here. "Wolf, my boy." said Malistaire turning around. "Sir!' I replied darkly. "I need you to go to Wizard City at once! The weak old man Merle is sending wizards to defeat my corrupted cities! Take care of them!" commanded Malistaire. "At once." I answered weakly. I flew on Darkness to Wizard City on Fire Cat Alley.
"NO!" screamed a young female wizard named Esmee TallSword as I finished her off with a banshee. She was a low level of 3, much to low to be here but I fought her anyway. I chuckled softly but soon stopped as a level 34 Life wizard named Brad stepped up and challenged me. As a Necromancer weak against Life students I was in very much trouble. I bravely fought Brad but it was no use. He kept on healing himself with a dryad or satyr and choked me up a couple of times with his woodwalker. I was defeated. Unconcious, Brad walked up to me and whispered in my ear, "Let's see what Ambrose will do with you." Like in my dream I blanked out but didn't scream
Mumbling. That's all I heard when I cautiously opened my eyes. I saw my enemy Merle Ambrose with Brad and a bunch of Life Wizards. I could feel the light powers radiating from them paining me but I remained quiet and kept still. "Probably one of Malistaire's henchmen, saw him beat up my sister." mumbled Brad to Merle. "Thank you Brad for bringing him to me. Here, take this training point. Good bye!" said Merle. With that, Brad teleported to who knows where but I would have said, "Good riddance!" if the situation wasn't so serious. Ambrose turned towards me and frowned. His wrinkles matched the snow white of his beard but still, he was my enemy. "Ahhh, Malistaire's crusader of death. Hmmm.. I can't identify your name, do you not have one?" "So what if I don't have one old man? Your no match for me and Malistaire, we'll easily rule the world and put you and the other goody, goody wizards in chains at our command!" When the words jumped off of my tongue I quickly wished that I hadn't said that. I thought that Ambrose would yell at me and put ME in chains. That's what Malistaire would do. But instead, he chuckled! "Now, now young wizard. Settle down. Before we can get anywhere with Malistaire's and your history, lets see your name in the Book of Secrets." He gestured towards me to follow him. I relunctely tried to stand up from the sofa I was laying on but I cried out in pain and fell back down. My whole body was shaking terribly and I had burns, cuts, and bruises too. "Oh yes, we hadn't healed you yet. Perhaps you should go to the hospital first and get cleaned up. Then we'll find out your true name." "WHERE'S DARKNESS?!" I suddenly asked, feeling for the companionship of my pet. "He's currently taking a bath right now. Boy, he was really dirty. Do you ever clean him?" replied Ambrose cooly. Do you have to clean dragons? Oh well, I thought. Ignoring the question, I just said, "OK, take me away to the hospital I guess." I said. Ambrose nodded to the four Life wizards standing beside me. In response, they carried out a stretcher and placed me gently upon it. They then teleported themselves with me to the Wizard City Hospital.
At the hospital, some other adult Life wizards rushed me to a bed and began chanting some stupid words I couldn't understand. Why heal yourself by being a Life Wizard when you can attack AND heal yourself if you become a Death Wizard? I thought. After the chanting was done, a green light surrounded me. A couple of pixies appeared before me and all said, "Hi!" in a goofy voice. I just gave them a grim look which caused them to shudder in fear but they healed me anyway and I felt much better. Then, one of the doctors handed me a potion thing and told me to use it if I felt bad at all. Funny, Malistaire never gave ME a potion. I then instinctively tried to teleport to Malistaire and forget the whole thing but I couldn't. "What? Why can't I teleport?" I asked a doctor. "Haha! Ambrose knew that you would try to run away once you were healed but he took away your teleportation device ability while you were unconcious." Angered, I grumpily stomped back to Ambrose's office. A few wizards gave me steel looks but I just ignored them. I stormed into the entrance.
I was alone with Merle. "Finally! I thought you would never come." said Merle in a cheerful voice that sort of annoyed me. "I want answers NOW!" I demanded. Ambrose frowned his stubby wrinkles and looked at the data after I took the dumb element, style, and blah blah quiz in the book. "Aha! You are a level 20 Death wizard!" Know that! I thought bitterly in my head but I longed to hear my name. "And your name is-!" Merle Ambrose paused. "Get on with it." I groaned. "But, but there is no name at all!" cried Merle in shock. "Not that surprising, that's what Malistaire told me." "You shall not leave Wizard City." announced Ambrose. "WHAT?! BUT I HAVE TO GO NOW! COME ON DARKNESS, LETS RIDE HOME!" I screamed and waited patiently for Darkness' reply. Instead, I heard a faint whining sound and I turned to see Darkness in a cage, pawing at the bars like a lonely puppy. Merle Ambrose sighed and told me to sit down. I sat. He began telling about Malistaire as the Death teacher once but turned evil and longed to reign over the Spiral. He then explained my real happeneing in the world of how I came to be. I FIRST appeared at Wizard City. Gamma, the owl, found me and took me to Merle. He decided to raise me as his own to one day defeat Malistaire and end his terrible reign. However, Malistaire the one and only, suddenly ported to Ambrose and the two battled over who kept the baby to either become a legendary hero, or a ruthless death knight. Merle was still not of age that time. Malistaire quickly defeated him with multiple spells of scarecrows and wraiths to heal himself. Defeated, Ambrose groaned and fell down as Malistaire chuckled wickedly and took me into his cruel arms and dissapeared. I bit my lip as the story ended. Malistaire, like my father, lied to me all these years. "It is your choice: would you like to help defeat Malistaire? Or conquer over good?" asked Merle Ambrose sternly. "I- I guess I could help you guys a little." I stammered. What am I thinking? Perhaps the old man was lying? I just ignored my thoughts of doubt as me and Ambrose swepted away in his castle, starting the usual that all new wizards had to go through. Maybe, just maybe this WAS the right choice. I said to myself quietly. "A new beginning!" said Ambrose happily. Boy was it going to be a LONG year!
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The Dark Crusader Chronicles (part 2)
The myth student chuckled wickedly and raised his staff. The glistening weapon covered in ocean blue crystals loomed over me with tremor and out poofed a minotaur!The hairy half human and half beast threw down his ax on me, hard. I felt my head, and I realized that it had a huge gore on one side with the blood trickling down my hand in horror. "Your trust in ANYONE shall befall an unforgotten fate young wizard. The "Phrophecy of the BIG THREE" shall be revealed!" The cruel myth grandmaster then flung me away with a troll who played baseball with me and his club which threw me into yet another unconcious ending. Despair and doom was all I thought about as I looked up at the stars zooming past my very eyes, forming the faint shape of Malistaire...
"Uhhh, not ANOTHER dream!" I complained when I got up from the floor. I wasn't surprised when I always woke up on the floor instead of the bed. I just thought of it as a habit. Darkness, my striped black dragon, hovered over me and snarled a greeting. I stood up lazily and went to the gray and gloomy bathroom. I was just about to brush my teeth when someone pushed me aside. "Move it dweeb!" said my older brother Sean DeathSword. I pushed him back and soon we started a "pushing battle" until our angry mother named Brooke MoonShard zoomed in, hands at her hips. "He started it!" I quickly said, pointing my finger at Sean. "Get a life." said Sean bitterly. "I want you two to start acting mature, especially at a time like this!" Mom shook her head sadly and continued, "Your father, he just can't make a lot of gold these days and I'm worried not only about simple needs but your education!" I thought about Alejandro WolfBane, my dad. His steel eyes and superior dark attitude were easy to remember but I hardly saw him because he stayed late past midnight, sweeping all of the school's floors. Somehow, he never got enough. I snapped back to reality when my mother left the room. I turned to Sean but he was busy chatting to his girl friend on the phone as if nothing happened. Unamused, I put some clothes on, grabbed my dark black deck and wand, then scurried down the steps to the kitchen.
I forgot to mention, I wish I could tell you my name like I did with my family but I don't have one. I like to call myself Wolf sometimes but my friend Brian ThunderCaster, and everyone else in Wizard City calls me Dustin which I'm perfectly fine with. I am NOW a level 28 Adept Necromancer but when I first came to Wizard City I was level 20. I used to work for Malistaire but was defeated by a Life student. He took me to Merle and told me the truth of Malistaire. Hurt, I decided to join the team of good. Merle finally let me meet my family. I just wandered off as a toddler to Merle's front office and he never knew that I actually had a family right here in Wizard City! The problem is that many of the wizards avoid me when news spread about me and Malistaire. The only reason how I became friends with Brian was, was- agh! I can't remember for I have short-term memory loss when I fell on my head as a baby. Anyway, Sean is also a Death student but a grandmaster so he gets to skip class and do whatever he wants. My dad is also a Death guy but my mom is Life! How my dad and mom ever came together is still a mystery but I don't care that much. I sat at a chair near the table and fixed myself with Earth food cereal called "Cheerios". We got it from Prospector Zeke, a merchant I guess who travels all over the Spiral. I munched up the honey bits and gulped down the milk. Perching up Darkness on my shoulder like an eagle, I waved and said, "Bye mom!" "See you sweetie!" she replied. Brian was waiting for me outside. I looked at him, wearing his usual: wolverine's helm, vestment of the chill, warded footwear, stonebreaker's staff, kris of pondering, flash frozen choker, seal of obsidian, and a pet wraith. He was a master death student and why he liked me as a friend I will never know. We walked to the Death school hidden behind the waterfall. We called it Nightside and Dworgyn, the Death Assistant there, liked it so much that he called it that ever since. Since Brian was a master, he needed to learn like two more spells before he was on his own. We both sat at slanted desks as other novices, apprentices, and adepts sat in.
"Dustin, no pets in the classroom!" ordered Dworgyn just as he was about to teach us a vampire with a death sword. "Aw, you let me keep him yesterday." I said. Dworgyn sighed. He ignored me and just continued to teach. Haha! I thought. Brian just chuckled softly to himself. Darkness snoozed below my feet and soon class was over. "Don't think Dworgyn will let you keep that dragon of yours in the classroom forever." remarked Brian. "I saw this Death kid bragging that HE was also bring his pet ghoul to class too and that it turns invisible so people can't see it." "Noob." I muttered. We both laughed and traveled to Marleybone. Although Brian was already done with that world, he helped me anyway. I really thought that world was hard! All around me the scurriers and burglars always tried to pick pocket me (which usually started a battle) or stab me and Brian in the back when no one was looking. "Everyone says this is the worst place in the Spiral." mumbled Brian. "Really?" I asked. He just nodded. Then, a dog lady ran around screaming like her head just fell off. Other wizards tried to get to her but all of them tumbled into a battle. Seeing the path clear for me and Brian, we both ran to the lady. Her name was Judy Bone, someone I've never seen before, but she literally screamed to us that the O'Learys tried to kidnap her but she managed to escape. However, her baby was taken away and the gang's boss would only return it if she would convince the other Marleybonians to join Malistaire. "Of course I would never to that. So I told them that I simply refused." she sobbed. Judy blew her nose then continued. "The O'Learys said that if I didn't do it by midnight," she gasped for breath. "They would KILL my baby!" With that, she cried hysterically, not those types when like SpongeBob cries with Patrick in this TV show I watched on display with Prospector Zeke, she cried until her poor paws were soaking wet. "Well, we can help you." I said. The lady looked at us and said sadly, "I'm sorry but the O'Learys triple force is-." "Wait, wait, hold up!" said Brian. "Whats the O'Learys triple force? I've already completed this world and yet I've never heard of it." "The O'Learys triple force is a gang that consists of two hypnotised bull dogs and O'Leary himself!" she cried. "Oh." replied Brian, looking satisfied. Judy dabbed at her never-ending tears with a tissue then asked Brian, "May I continue?" We both nodded. Judy then told us that there was NO way that we could defeat the O'Leary Triple Force since they were Death users too. "You're going to need at least one Life Student with you." she said. With that, me and Brian went off in search for a capable Life student.
Our choice was a guy called Brian GoldenHeart. I think my friend got a little weird while the OTHER Brian was here since they had the same name. He was eagerly ready to take on the force but avoided getting too close to me and Brian. Well, we both WERE Death guys so I guess that he could also feel the dark powers radiating from us to him like how I felt the first day I arrived at Wizard City. We got in the so called "O'Learys Triple Force Tower of Misleading". I gasped. The lady was true. I saw her baby in a crib with a burglar gaurding it while singing, "Rock a bye puppy, on the still rock, when your mom goes, you'll be dead on this spot." He laughed wickedly as he pulled out his crimson dagger slowly. I looked at the clock and realized it was too late. "Stop!" ordered Brian. The burglar looked at us like he was caught by his owner when he ate the fish from the fish bowl. But when he realized it was just some puny weak wizards, he sneered at us and the O'Leary Triple Force suddenly appeared from the shadows. The two hypnotised dog boxers looked plain but their eyes were blood red. O'Leary himself stepped out and said, "Hmph, I was looking for a WORTHY battle, a WORTHY opponent. But here, you three are probably just some weak old scabs that should be dealt with punishment!" O'Leary then drew a circle around the battle field. He intersected the lines within it, creating the arena. "I'll show you what a TRUE boss is about!" O'Leary cried hysterically. Saving up some pips, O'Leary drew a banshee at me. The other too boxers repeatedly attacked the two Brians with only 1 or 2 pip natural attacks. It was our turn. I summoned a vampire at O'Leary which only did 224 but gave me back 112 hp back. My friend casted a banshee with his deathsword at one of the thugs while Brian GoldenHeart used unicorn to heal all of us 245 hp. O'Leary then tried to cast something but it fizzled, so I never saw it. The two thugs passed their turns. I used a sunbird treasure card. It attacked O'Leary for 325 hp. My friend tried to summon a ghoul but it fizzled. Brian used a leprachaun on his opponent. It was still no use. We were losing. All of the enemies had over 2,000 health! We could never defeat them. But Brian wouldn't give up. Soon, his level 42 friend appeared so I guess he whispered for him to teleport to us or something. With the new incomer (which was ice) we battled bravely while GoldenHeart occasionally healed all four of us with unicorns and dryads. Kevin, the new guy in the battle, used a frost giant which weakened O'Leary a bit. "You won't get away with this!" snarled O'Leary when his two bull dog slaves were defeated. He then called a vampire which he strengthened with his deathsword, a strong treasure card, and a death trap on me. Surprisingly, I was defeated. I cried for help as the others shifted into defense mode. They put multiple shields around themselves then the Life Brian healed me with 420 hp from his pixie. I thanked him and put traps around O'Leary. We all casted multiple spells which seemed to put down Leary one by one until his health was only 50 hp. We had to do this carefully. O'Leary had seven pips so there was no telling WHAT he would do. I used my wand to hurl a major fireball at him. That did the trick. "Nooooooo!" moaned O'Leary slowly as he disintegrated into thick piles of ashes. "Yes!" We high-fived eachother.
"Oh, thank you so much! I don't know WHAT I would have done if my baby was lost!" cried Judy Bone happily while holding her baby. We just smiled and all were given staffs of our magic type. I became friends with Kevin and Brian GoldenHeart and ported to my home. It was Marleybonian style, with it's own lake and classroom bonus. I smiled contently and rested on my bed. I was about to slowly drift to sleep when CRASH! I stood up so fast that I bumped my head on a lamp. "Ugh." I moaned. I then caught a glimpse of a dark-hooded figure, stealing my new staff from my very eyes! I chased after the pursuer back into Marleybone. He got on a balloon ride and rode to Chelsea Court. I got on another after him. My eyes looked up at the stars and I saw the figure from my dream, .....Malistaire. I then was suddenly thrown of the balloon in a wild frenzy and as I dropped down from the dark sky, I saw the hooded-figure on Big Ben, while my balloon ride crashed into the clock. Fire exploded, people screamed, and I was soon to be dead. Before I fell to my unsertain doom, I saw the thief ride on his red dragon into the cool, night sky. But I heard a whisper in my voice, "Dustin, are you okay? What's going on?"
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The Dark Crusader Chronicles (part 3)
It felt like I was falling down an endless tunnel that seemed to drag me down into the darkness. Just as the last fade of light was swallowed up, I landed, hard, on the cold floor that ringed my butt like it was made of metal. I groaned, and suddenly torches lit up all around the room to reveal Malistaire's dungeon. I knew it was his since I've been down there before. I looked around my surroundings. The blood red walls were starting to peel off from all the rust and dirt forming around here. I saw a couple of skeletons in chains with dry water bowls within reach of them, that is, if they were still alive. I snapped back to reality when I heard crying in the distance. I made my way across the walls to see a beautiful girl in chains, sobbing like the world was about to end. Instinct told me to free her so I started to cut off the soft chains with my pocket knife. Darkness my dragon lunged at a dark shadow that I hadn't realized before when it came near behind me. It was no other then Malistaire! He growled in anger and flung Darkness away but I managed to pry off the girl's shackles in time and together, we ran down an opening hallway. Malistaire summoned three banshees at us and one of them hurled itself at the girl. It clawed her face to make three long, hideous and bloody scars across her cheek. The other two jumped on me and stabbed me with a rusty dagger in the back. The hot metal stung me furiously and felt as if a hundred scorpions just stung me. I screamed and darkness covered me up into Malistaire's jagged laughs.....
I woke up with a start. I found myself in an old fashioned room with dog pictures all over the place. I was laying in a bed with some type of weird clear tube that went in my wrist! I was so surprised that I fell out of bed and the tube flicked off, water spilling everywhere. It was sort of gross with this liquid from my body spurting out all over me but I got up and cleaned the mess with some paper towels on a dresser. That done, I hopped back on to bed and realized that every thing around here was girly! Flowers decorated the bed and the pink floor really freaked me out. Then, an elderly woman stepped into my room and fed me mutton soup without a word. She spoke softly, "Your health is dangerly low young one. No amount of potions or pixies will help you. Earth herbs and some soup should get you going faster." I felt better and the woman allowed me to explore the house but she kept a close eye on me. I walked down the stairs slowly and bumped into a young girl. She was only about the age of nine with pink ponytails that hung at her shoulders with a darker pink shirt on and blue navy jeans. Not your average girl but we both apologized and introduced our selves. "I'm Kathy," she noted. "I'm Dustin." "How old are you?" she inquired. She had that girl look that she was um, interested in me. About five years older than her, I was a little uncomfortable but I told her my age anyway. She huffed her breath and lifted a snobby nose in the air, and stomped up the stairs in a hurry. Whats her problem? I thought in my head. "Hey! You finally woke up!" said a voice in my head. "Brian? That you?" I whispered to him. Brain ThunderCaster teleported to me in a flash of stars and magic. "Yep." He smiled deviously. "What happened and where are we?" I demanded. "Well, I heard some sort of BOOM when I was about to whisper to you after that balloon crash of yours so I ported to you. I happened to be riding on my dragon, Sparx, when I saw you falling so I caught you and took you to this nice old lady's house in Marleybone. The hospitals were full at that time so yeah, here you are." He gasped for breath and recovered when I asked,"Who was that snobby pink girl?" "Oh, you mean Kathy? I met her at the door and yes, she does get "interested" in all the guys that come to her home." "Yeah, well, lets get out of here. I'm getting bored." "OK." replied Brian. He took us to the Marleybone Commons.
"Hey, did a thief happen to steal your new staff we got yesterday too?" I asked Brian. "Yeah, this hooded-figure stole it while I was playing some carnival games." "Weird, that same guy stole mine at home. You don't think he stole Kevin's and the other Brian's too do you?" Brian thought for a minute. He then said,"I'm not sure but lets teleport to them anyway, just to make sure they're all right." In another flash of stars and light, we ported to Kevin FrostSword. "Hey!" cried Kevin angerly as we poofed right into a battle. "Whoops." said me and Brian together when we realized we attracted two more enemies into the arena. We arrived in Mooshu with now four ninja pigs on to us. As I finished the last one off with a vampire, all three of us went to the Mooshu Commons. After Kevin sold all of some useless stuff he got from battles at the hat store, Brian asked Kevin if his staff was stolen too. "Yep, gone from the deep blue. I was on a boat ride and a hand suddenly broke through the wooden boat, causing a hole. Before I could react, it snatched my ice staff from me and sunk me! I got out with my ice wyvern just in the nick of time though." "What the heck?" I yelled. We explained that OUR staffs were stolen too. "I'm not liking where this is going." I said cautiously. I stole a look at Brian but he saw it and nodded, telling me that we should check on the Life Brian too. We ported for the last time to see Brian GoldenHeart in the Wizard City Shopping District. He was gazing at Elik's Edge as if he was lost into some other enchanted world. "Yo, snap out of it Brian!" I said, giving him a little push. "Wha-?" said Brian GoldenHeart, dazed. "What were you thinking?" asked the other Brian to the level 22 Life student. "Nothing." mumbled Brian. He turned around and was surprised to see all three of us together. "Whatcha all doing here? Did I get in trouble by Merle?" "Nope." said Kevin and we explained it tiringly for the fourth time that all of our staffs were stolen by some hooded figure and asked the same question,"Did they steal yours too?" Brian sighed and replied,"Yes. It happened while I was peering at the hole where the Death School used to be in RavenWood. I was just, you know, wondering about stuff while I was there and my staff was suddenly thrown into the hole and the hooded guy got up with his dragon from it and flew away." "Something tells me that Mali-, I mean HE had to do with this." said Kevin. "Now that you mention it, that DOES make sense for him to hire a thief to steal our wands." All four of us looked at one another and knew we had to know why Malistaire stole them and what he planned to do.
"All I know is that first we have to get permission from Headmaster Ambrose to travel to Malistaire's world." noted Brian T. I thought about the old man who was so kind to me when I first arrived at Wizard City as his arch enemy's crusader. "Not the old man! He would never allow us to journey there with just the four of us! He's too crabby." complained Kevin. I shot a dark look at Kevin which caused him to shrink away a little. I was getting used to it. "Well, maybe we can ask Gamma's half-spirit, Ammag." said Brian G. "Isn't that spelled Gamma backwards?" I asked. He nodded. "We can find him on top of the Golem Court Tower, I saw him up there but more ghostly like with this fade of greenish light. People that asked him before say that he's some type of Oracle or fortune teller that talks about the future if they are worthy enough to know." "Cool, let's all go." said Kevin and immediatly ran to the tower. The rest of us followed him and climed up the hard steps, occasionally finding a wooden puppet or clockwork golem on every floor that we had to battle through. We arrived to the roof where a black owl surrounded by a green mystical light was perched up, reading this charred book. When Kevin took one step towards Ammag, Ammag cried,"Who disturbs my study?" He turned around to find us with his piercing silver eyes that locked on to our every move. I just realized that Ammag's voice was not like Gamma's regular owl sound that always lengthened out the "oo" sound. Ammag had a deeper voice that sounded almost like a grown man. "W-well," stuttered Brian G. "We want to know if we should journey to Malistaire to find our answers." remarked Brian T. thoughtfully. Suddenly, Ammag's eyes grew huge and turned red. His head kept on twirling around, clockwise at a full circle! Scared, I took a few steps back but the others stood their ground which made me feel like such a noob. When Ammag finally calmed down, he spoke in a soft-like voice,
"The tower of dark,
littered with bark,
shall be revealed soon,
by an amibitious raccoon,
the dragons will roar,
the birds will soar,
only four can go,
row by row,
one will betray,
another lost to decay,
the enemy will burn,
but only two shall return."
With that done said, Ammag rose his powerful wings that created a orange light around the four of us and carried us back towards earth where Mr. Lincoln ushered us to class. We all decided to play hooky from school and hung out near Elik's Edge again. "That was freaky, but remember what he said about how one of us will die and the other would betray us?" I said. We all nodded. "And how about that thing Ammag said about that a raccoon would find Malistaire?" asked Kevin. "I don't know, but we better keep a look out for them." Brian T. said. "I'm pretty sure that two of us would defeat Malistaire. Remember how Ammag said that the enemy will burn but only two shall return?" asked Brian G. "Yep." I said. All of a sudden, we all looked at one another with a wary eye. One of us would betray us but who? "Hey, hey, hey, if we want to continue this quest, we'll have to trust each other no matter what. At least we can get our staffs back." I said, breaking up the stare battle. "You know, he's right. Let's start looking for that raccoon." said Brian T. "Awwww, can't we eat something first? I'm starving!" moaned Kevin. I sighed. "Alright, you want some Cheerios cereal?" "Cheery- what?" said Kevin. I laughed out loud. The two Brians joined in. Kevin just stared at us, dumbfound. But he managed a chuckle and for the first time in my life, through the dark beginning of my trial, I actually enjoyed myself, and it felt good.
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The Dark Crusader Chronicles (Part 4)
The girl.. she was there! I ran to her, my legs limping carelessly and reached her sprawled about on the pavement. Her three scars on her left cheek told me that she was the same girl in Malistaire's dungeon. I gently nudged her with my hand and she looked up at me with a warm smile. Then, it began to change into a freakingly scary face with white eyes, no pupil inside at all! Her hair turned into snakes that tried to bite me with their bloody fangs and her skin began to grow pale. Her own teeth turned into long, pointy fangs, matching the blood-red of her now chapped lips. I knew this was no vampire or banshee or even a cross between them! I only knew this from Greek Mythology, it was the sick but legendary Medusa, the wicked witch who turned people into stone with just a gleam of her eye. Instinct told me to turn away but it was too late. Once our eyes locked on to each other, I felt my body beginning to harden up like I just dove into a pack of cement. Medusa smiled as she saw my doom slowly reaching up my neck. "You forgot haven't you? Has no one yet told you of the Big Three Phrophecy that would soon befall on you? I thought that Myth student already informed you of that news, oh well, looks like there's no hope for you now!" The creature then let out a hideous laugh that sounded like it was a cross between a scream and a howl of delight. But it was soon cut off when a light shot out of no where and a young, pleasant voice of a girl said, "Reach my hand, I'll never let go." Then darkness shawdowed into my thoughts....
I shivered when I woke up calmy yet again on the floor. I continued to sit there as I combined all of my weird dreams together of what had happened. "First a shadowy figure chasing me, a myth grandmaster telling me of the Big Three Phropecy, that girl in Malistaire's dungeon, and now this!" I just shook my head slowly and got up. But I quickly stopped. Why did The Big Three Phropecy sound so familiar? I thought. Somehow, I knew it had something to do with magic spells but what? Before I could make another move, Darkness tumbled into me blindly and tried to play rough house with me. I tackled the black striped dragon playfully and placed him on my bed. After petting him, I walked to the bathroom and brushed my teeth without Sean bumping into me today, which made me a little cautious. I washed my face, dressed up into Mooshu clothes that I got recently, and trudged down the stairs. Sean was waiting for me behind a wall and shoved me to the floor before I reached the table. "Gahh!" I yelled as he pinned my arms down and said, "What's the matter Hog face? Having those weird dreams again?" I managed to push the annoying 17 year old off me when I accidently kicked him in the acorns. Sean groaned and I said, "Geez Sean! Can't you at least give me ONE day, just ONE day at least without any off your lame tricks?" "Dead meat." muttered Sean and punched me square in the jaw on accident. "Aghhhhhhhh!" I screamed painfully when I felt his knuckles snap into my chin. Our mother ran to the living room and saw me on the floor with blood trickling from my mouth. I just knew my death grandmaster brother broke it. "SEAN! GET YOUR BUTT IN YOUR ROOM RIGHT NOW!" screamed my angry mother and Sean sped up the steps in such a blur that I couldn't even see him. "Dustin, ooh does that hurt? Don't worry, I'll get you to the hospital right away and don't you worry about your brother. He'll get a whippin' that oaf. Oh and please don't talk until the doctors take care of you." said my mom as she dialed a number on the wizard phone. I reached for my chin slowly with my hand and nudged it. It hurt, alot. "Don't you dare move another muscle!" ordered my mother when she saw me. I quickly put it back down. And all this started when my brother pushed me! I thought sighing.
"Dustin, wake up, come on man it's been four hours! The medicine's gotta work off now." said a familiar voice. I opened my eyes slowly and saw my three best buds beside my bed in the hospital. "You can use you jaw now, try moving it aound." said Kevin FrostSword, an ice grandmaster. I looked at my other friends, Brian ThunderCaster and Brian GoldenHeart. Brian T. was a grandmaster death person and Brian G. was an adept life student. I moved my jaw into a circlular position. It worked ok but when ever I closed my mouth all the way down, it made a loud cracking noise that made a sort of bell sound. It didn't hurt me though. An adult male life wizard popped into the door. He had a brown beard with a puff of brown hair on his head. He looked fairly old. "Hey!" he snapped. "What are you all youngsters doing in here? Don't you have class to get to? The patient must recover for a couple of more minutes. Out!" He said. Kevin and the two Brians left, leaving me alone with the doctor. The doctor looked sternly at some reading chart on a desk before looking towards me. His ice cold eyes pierced into me but he said in a warm voice, "I'm Doctor Adam LifesWorth. Are you recovering well?" Before I spoke, it only came out as a stutter but I finally managed to say softly, "Uh, yeah, I guess so." Dr. LifesWorth then told me that I could leave when my mother picked me up in two minutes. He helped me up and sent me to a waiting area. I looked around to find worried parents and scared young wizards. I even saw a cart pass by with a wizard on it bleeding all over the place, followed by dozens of frantic doctors beside it with two parents wailing after it. "Eghh." I said, grossed out. Several minutes passed by until I saw my mom appear through the entrance. She walked me home while asking dozens of questions like the usual, "Are you alright?" and "What did the doctor say?" As soon as we arrived to our castle, I was exhuasted. I plopped onto my bed but Sean didn't say anything when he saw me. I soon decided to get to the late class of Death and hurry over to my secondary class, fire, after that. I held out a slip to Dworgyn which he accepted and taught me a spell called Doom and Gloom. After class, I rushed over to Ms. Falmea's class while trying out my voice a while. She taught me a fire spell called Phoenix.
I stopped by at Blossom, the Life Tree, on my way to the Commons. I was hesitant at first before sitting at the great tree for the life power radiating from her seemed to sting me. But as soon as I sat, I felt warm all over and allowed all my pets out too. Darkness snoozed on my lap, Spike (krok) leaned near me, Rocky (cyclops) traveled around aimlessly, Buddy (heck hound) rested at my feet, Rusty (another dragon) flew into the branches, and Duncan (goat monk) sat at my other side. I listened to Blossom's never-ending tales about great heroes and legends about the past. I was about to drift to sleep when a question popped into my mind. "Hey Blossom," I asked, "do you happen to know something about "The Big Three"?" "Oh yes, yes, you mean the war about the Dragons, Tritons, and Giants? Yes, I know alot about them." "Do you know something called "The Big Three Prophecy"?" "Hmmm, Bartleby, the grandfather tree should know more about that. Go ask him if you want." My pets at my heels, I walked to the great stump of Bartleby. "I don't usually get many visitors around here but what is it you seek?" Looking into his missing eye, I asked him about the prophecy. He gasped. "No one has asked me that in a milennia!" he quoted, mouth gaping wide open. "Well, now I did, and I want some answers here." Bartleby shook his head sadly and mumbled something about Merle and cursing Malistaire. He finally blurted out after a couple of minutes of remembering time, "Long ago, when the Spiral was at stake, Merle trained his best wizard to defeat Malistaire. His name was Akene (A-KEEN), a life grandmaster, capable to overthrow any enemy that confronted him, maybe even Merle himself! But Akene believed in good, not to worry of anything like that happening. The day when Akene was supposed to defeat Malistaire and bring peace to the Spiral, Gamma found him dead near the Death School hole in Ravenhood. Akene was choked and stabbed twice in the back." Bartleby paused, shaking his head. He continued after moaning from his head hurting. "Merle was beginnning to grow agitated and finally, when Malistaire arrived for a one-on-one battle, Merle confronted him instead. Back in the past, he was full of energy so he managed to hold Malistaire off to back him away towards his home again. The Spiral was at peace once again until now. Merle now seeks four chosen ones to stop this threat once and for all! But none have appeared yet still..." Bartleby groaned even louder now so I thanked him and decided to leave him in peace. I thought about what the tree had said and realized that me and my friends not only had to retrieve our wands..but to finish off the greatest threat in Wizard City, Wizard City and the other worlds that is. I ran to Merle's house.
While I was running, I stopped. No one was there. The Commons were usually bustling with energetic wizards and lost animals. Not even Zeke was around. I checked in the library. Gone. The Carnival Game Area. Gone. Merle and Gamma were no where to be seen. "Something's not right here." I said out loud. I turned around when a dark shadow swallowed up day light. A wraith rose up from the ground, followed by Malistaire and a Jade Oni minion. I took a step back when Malistaire said, "What are you doing all alone my boy? Did you take care of those wizards on Fire Cat Alley like I instructed you two months ago?" His voice sounded more dangerous than ever before. It freaked me out. I stuttered, "Uh, sort of." "SORT OF?! GET THE PRISONER!" shouted Malistaire in fury while his minions charged at me. I ran to Golem Court but was trapped in the Dragon Cave. The monsters walked up toward me slowly, step by step, by step, by step.....
"Agh!" I screamed, waking up in a start. I looked around. Sean just stared at me like I was some alien creature that just zapped mom. "What the hell is your problem?" He asked cooly. I just shook my head. "Jus-just a dream." I said. But which part was the dream? I thought. I asked Sean what time it was. He replied that it was a quarter to six. I got up and realized that I was still dressed. I climbed on Darkness and asked Sean if he wanted to ride too. "Sure." he said. He was much nicer to me now. I thought. Sean whistled for his own starry white dragon named Devan. Devan was a wild dragon from Dragonsprye so he was the size of three castles almost. Sean jumped onto Devan from the window while I hopped onto Darkness right behind him. We rode in the wind, our short, black hair flying past us, although Sean had a buzz cut, thinking that the ladies thought he was tough. I did a loop in the air while Sean did a circular eight. When we started to slow down, Sean said, "Hey dude, I'm sorry that I broke your jaw. It was an accident. I meant to do a soft box on your shoulder but when you kicked me in the you know what, I got blind in anger so yeah. No hard feelings?" I smiled at my brother, and said, "None at all." Sean smiled back and yelled, "Yahoo!" When we both shot down like a torpedo back to earth. When Sean sent away Devan and I allowed Darkness to take a snooze, I saw our mom smile at me. I knew that I had just formed a realationship with Sean at that moment.
When I left the house, I realized that I hadn't seen my friends in some time. I whispered to Kevin, "Where are you guys?" "Hey! We're chillin' in Collosus Boulevard." He laughed at his own little joke but then said, "You can come if you want. The Briany Brians are waiting to see you." I teleported to them in a flash and Brian T. said, "Sup." We did our handshake which had us to bump our fists together, twirl our staffs, wands, or swords in a flexible twist, and ended into slapping our chest. "Welcome back." added 13 year old Brian G. Brian ThunderCaster was 15, like me but Kevin was the oldest here. He was 18. "How's your jaw?" asked Kevin. "It's alright, but it keeps making this loud cracking noise every time I close my mouth. And when I stopped talking, I heard the noise again. "Woah that's a high ringing tone you got there!" remarked Brian T. "I know." I said. "Hey, guys! Look, do you see what I see?" said Kevin all of a sudden, pointing to a dead end. It was a raccoon, sniffing around a large hole in the ground. "I think we found it!" whispered Brian G. happily. We approached the raccoon slowly but it scampered away. When we investigated the hole, we found out it was big enough for us to climb through. "But how deep is it? It's way to dark to see in there!" I said. "Fine, I'll go in first!" ordered Kevin. Right when he finished, a skeletal hand rose from the hole and grabbed on to Kevin's ankle. He screamed for help but it was to late. He and the arm dissapeared from thin air right in to the abyss. Me and the Brians didn't know what to do after. I noticed that the arm was attached with human muscle though, not your average skeletal warrior! I explained what I saw to the guys. "But why and how whould they have muscles attached to their bones?" asked Brian G. "I don't know! Maybe Malistaire added this new creation to make them stronger?" noted Brian T. "That's not a bad answer." I said. "Now what though? Should we go after Kevin?" quoted Brian G. I nodded, making Brian G. shiver in fear. "Let's go!" said Brian T. He jumped into the darkness. I decided that people could get hurt so I whistled for Darkness. He arrived tiringly and I got on his back, Brian G. behind me. "What about Brian T.? We just left him there." asked Brian G. "It's too late, come on!" We flew into the unknow, determined to retrieve our stolen friend.
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The Dark Crusader Chronicles (part 5)
"Oh god, take me off this Dustin! Oh Jesus!" cried Brian GoldenHeart as we were shooting down like a torpedo in the long, deep abyss. I just laughed out loud and held onto my dragon Darkness tighter then ever that it made him growl a little. "Sorry." I mumbled. "Hey! Theres the other Brian! See that glowing sword of his? Catch him!" yelled out Brian. I whistled out loud and Brian ThunderCaster looked back toward us, his face in astonishment. Darkness grabbed him with his red claws by the shoulders and I helped him up to Darkness' broad back. "You OK?" I asked the 15 year old. "Ye-yeah..." he answered with a stutter, massaging his shoulders where Darkness had clutched him. We rode on until Darkness stopped in midflight and landed softly onto the ground. A cloud of dust puffed out and vanished. "Where you suppose Kevin went?" asked Brian T. Ignoring his question, I made my away through the total darkness on the jagged walls. The room appeared to be circular. The other Brians did the same while Darkness left back up. "Ow!" said Brian G., taking a few steps back where he had hit something. "What is it?" I asked. "I bumped into this sharp thorn on one of the walls. I think my hand is bleeding." Me and Brian T. walked towards Brian G. As Brian T. tried to wrap a piece of cloth from his tunic around Brian G.'s injured palm, I investigated the sharp spike that had gored my friend. It wasn't very sturdy but it stuck out so I tried to pry it off. Giving up, I rested my arm on it and suddenly, the spike started to turn, making a huge rumbling noise through the walls. Dust began to fall off everywhere until a passageway opened. "What'd you do?" Brian T. asked, sounding a bit angry but surprised at the same time. I knew he was jealous that I found a way out (or in) from the cell first. "Come on." I said.
"Ahh, Kevin FrostSword. Grandmaster of Ice. Thank you for joining us." hissed Malistaire. "Stop it! Let me go you stupid monsters!" Kevin cried out, trying to twist away from the draconian minions claws that clung to him. He looked up at Malistaire with such a hateful glare that Malistaire turned away a little. He turned back towards frustrated Kevin and replied cooly, "You know. You have so much potential then those other three wimps. They are just masters and the younger one an adept! But I could make you even more powerful. You could rule by my side and together, rule the Spiral! Or, if you refuse, I could just use your head as a personal trophy." Kevin's heroic face suddenly turned chalk white but he just shook his head and said, "I'd rather die to your wicked hand then help a whelp like you!" Malistaire sighed and ordered the draconians to take him away. "Have him executed in 2 hours behind the courtyard. I want to give those three fools a dying chance." The two dragons, gripped ever still on Kevin's wrists, took him to a barren cell. They shoved him to the floor, bruised and bled him, then walked away, snickering. Kevin sat on the floor crouching so still, that he fell asleep.
We ran so fast through the never-ending corridors in Malistaire's castle. I knew every floor, every room by heart. Panting, Brian T. said, "Dude, now I know why people put the heroes in long corridors like this. But it's getting pretty old." I grunted and said, "They just love tiring us!" "How much longer till we reach the cells?" asked Brian G. panting by my side. "Not much longer. Just got to turn a few more corners-" I suddenly collasped onto the pavement. "Dustin! Dude! Get up! I think I hear some soldiers coming!" "What do we do?" I heard Brian G. asking Brian T. He dragged me up to a wall and replied, "We'll leave him here, I think he'll be safe. But we gotta defeat those soldiers!" They nodded at eachother and ran to the enemies into a battle. Unconcious, I slowly was drifting to sleep...
I found myself in a totally white room. I was seated at a white table on a blank chair. Across it sat a young girl, dressed completely in white. Her sweet face was partly hidden by her blonde hair. "Are you OK?" she asked. Her voice was so soft, so innocent, sounding like a ringing ting of a small bell. I tried to speak, but her blue ocean eyes stopped me. She giggled. "Always trying to be the hero huh? You never take care of yourself, looking out for your friends all the time." I finally managed to say, "Where am I? Who are you?" She said, "You are in Malistaire's castle still. I'm his daughter. But you are just seeing a vision, your body right now, a spirit. As for my name, there is no need to know about. I'm sorry that I even called you here. I just wanted to meet you." "Wait, are you saying that YOU caused me to collapse before?" She nodded. "I may be an evil lord's daughter, but my mother was an angel. Combined with evil and good DNA, I was created, an oracle." I looked around. "An oracle huh? Like Ammag?" She again nodded. I said, "What are these drawings? It's me and my friends. There's Darkness, an-and Bartleby." I turned to her and stood up. "What's going on?" Just as she was about to answer, a dark portal appeared behind. A black knight stepped in and said, "Thats enough Keira. It's best he doesn't know...for now." He walked up to me and grabbed my arm to the portal. "Hey!" I shouted angrily. I looked at Keira with pleading eyes but she turned away sadly. I was thrown into the portal and all I saw was darkness....
I woke up with a start, and remembered my friends. I got up and ran to the battle field still raging on. Two more skeletal destroyers had joined the battle. I looked at one of their eye's and realized that they had flesh still clung onto their bones, just like the one that had grabbed Kevin. I joined my two tiring pals and casted two sacrifices to heal the two Brians. They thanked me. The enemies moves were all the same, casting a deathsword. When it was my turn, I whispered incantations to myself, tracing the Death symbol with my blade, bringing out my own fears inside out just as Dworgyn had instructed me, willing the spirit to serve me. I opened my eyes to see a banshee minion beside me and together, we defeated the monsters, they're boney hands sinking to the ground. "You woke up." remarked Brian T. flatly. "Yah." I answered. Brian G. nudged us and said, "Come on! I heard they're sending reinforcements. Let's go find Kevin." I nodded and we dashed straight on. As we were running to where I knew Kevin was being held, Brian G. turned towards me and asked, "So..what happened when you were unconcious?" I stopped and replied, "You wouldn't believe me but I'll tell you later." "OK." he said. We continued and finally saw the cell door. I swung it open. Kevin wasn't there. The two Brians looked at me. "There are many more cell rooms. This is just room one." I opened the second one to find nothing again. The third room revealed a girl. She looked so familiar, her black draggled hair hiding her face. She looked at us and I saw the three scars on her left cheek, tears streaming down. "He-help m-me." she whispered. I suddenly remembered her from my dream, the long scars searing through me with memories. "No..it can't be." I said, kneeling down to the 6-year old girl. "Dustin? You know this girl?" asked Brian T. I just nodded and asked the pale-faced girl, "Do you remember me?" She stared deep in my eyes and replied, "Akene (A-KEEN)?" I shook my head. "No, my name is not Akene. I'm pretty sure he died. I'm sorry, but we can help you. Follow us." I offered my hand. The girl looked at it for awhile, crying softly, then took it. I helped her on my back, carrying her out to the doorway. "Dustin-" started Brian G. "Let's go." I said, cutting him off. We headed off to the direction of room four.
"So, what's you name?" I asked the petrified girl, determined to start up a conversation. She remained silent for a moment then answered, "My name is Aila (AY-UL-A)." "Thats a nice name." I remarked. "My name is Dustin, and this is Brian ThunderCaster and Brian GoldenHeart." I piggy-backed her until we stopped at room four. Brian G. turned the handle. A lonely draconian sat in the corner at chains. "Kemnor!" cried Aila happily. She got down from me and ran to the dragon. Kemnor looked up surprised and his eyes grew huge. He hissed, "Aila, how are you sssstill alive?" She hugged him and turned to us. "These people saved me Kemnor! And now they'll save you too!" "Uh, er, yah." stuttered Brian T. "Who are you?" I asked. Kemnor hissed, "I am Aila'sss gaurdian. Thank you for releasssing her but can you get me out too?" I looked at the two Brians. They just shrugged. "How do we get you out?" Kemnor replied, "You were once Malistaire'ssss crusssaders before were you not? You ssshould know where the key isss." Aila looked at me with horror. "How do you know?" I asked. "I remember your face at your lassst day here. When you ran to Malistaire'ssss office, you ran passsst me." Kemnor said. "Oh." I said, living past the memories. I snapped back to reality and said, "Kemnor, you stay with Aila. We'll get that key as soon as possible." I ran to where I knew the key was being held, the Brians at my heels. "What about Kevin?" asked Brian G. "He'll have to wait."
Kevin shivered in his prison. He clutched the steel bars and peered out through the small entrance window. Malistaire suddenly opened the door, followed by two draconians. "Well, well. Your time is up Kevin FrostSword. I'll give you one more chance. Join me or die." said Malistaire. Kevin looked up at the hooded lord and said, gritted through his clenched teeth, "Kill me you dang monster. Give me your best shot. But your over reacting to just what happened to Sylvia." Malistaire's eyes began to glow dark red at the words of his deceased wife and shouted, "Take this feeble thing to the courtyard! I want his head delivered to me personally after!" He stormed away. The two draconians grabbed a hold onto Kevin. They marched outside through the rain. There, an old-fashioned axe head chopper stood, blood stains patched around it. A bulky, muscular cyclops took Kevin and placed him into position. He whispered to him, "I'm sorry it has come to this." He put a black hood on Kevin's head, hiding his calm face. The cyclops held onto the rope, about to pull it. Kevin whispered to himself, "I got only one shot." He pulled out a card quietly from his shirt and chanted the stringy words. "Get on with it! Let's see some blood!" shouted a draconian nearby. The cyclops shook his head and yanked the rope. CLUD! "It's a mirage! A fake! He's gone!" shouted a surprised skeletal destroyer. In place where Kevin should've been was the black hood. "He casted a rare dissapear card, I just know it!" moaned a ghoul. "Uh oh." said the two draconians that had brought Kevin there. Kevin, panting, ran away as fast as he could from the castle. He ran until he was completely no where. The hot desert sand that now replaced the floor stretched out for miles. Kevin slumped from the beating sun blazing upon him. He collasped, whispering, "I failed, I'm sorry Dustin. I'm sorry Brian. I failed.." And there, Kevin FrostSword, Master of Ice, died. In Wizard City, on top of Golem Tower, Ammag the Dark Oracle's eyes turned black and said in a robotic voice, "A piece of the prophecy is finished." Elsewhere, in Malistaire's castle stood Keira the Light Oracle. Her eyes began to glow a bright white and also chanted in a dull voice, "Yes. A piece of the prophecy is finished." After done said, throughout the whole Spiral blew a gentle breeze that traveled from Wizard City to DragonSpyre. Dustin and the two Brians felt it and all realized what had happened. "The prophecy. Of course! Ammag had said,
"one will betray,
another lost to decay."
I told the others. "Kevin is dead then?" asked Brian G. I nodded slowly. Brian T. turned away to a wall and punched it so hard that he created a hole. I shook my head and said, "Come on guys. We got a Spiral to save."
Merle Ambrose had felt the breeze too in his office. Gamma the owl flew to him and asked, "It has happened?" Merle nodded solemly and replied to the now crestfallen owl, "Yes. Another wizard lost to Malistaire's evil clutches. But not any wizard. It was one from the Big Three Prophecy." The headmaster then told his pet that he needed some time to himself. After Gamma returned to his room, Merle turned to the fireplace where the ripped potrait of Malistaire stood. "You just wait Malistaire! Your evil reign of terror shall soon be put to an end forever!"
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The Dark Crusader Chronicles (part 6)
It was pretty much quiet when we were walking towards the keyholder guard's room. After hearing Kevin's death, no one dared to talk. I finally saw the door to the keyholder's office but two menacing minotaurs were guarding it. I turned back to the two Brians and said, "The entrance is guarded. We'll have to try to find some way to drag the guards somewhere else." "Why can't we just get the jump on them?" asked Brian ThunderCaster. I replied, "We don't want to attract anymore attention now that Kevin died. Malistaire would try to track us down." Brian GoldenHeart nodded but Brian T. still looked unsure. "Any ideas?" I asked, whispering as low as I could. We all thought for a moment until Brian G.'s face lit up. "We could summon some type of creature down that hall," he said, pointing towards the right, "and let it make some noise. The minotaurs would probably go in that direction and we could sneak in!" I was about to say something when Brian T. cut me off. I let him say what he wanted to say, I didn't like being the main hero anyway. "That's a great idea! But we should summon something a bit small so that the guards would have a hard time following it." We finally decided to let Brian G. cast a fire elf. He was a Magus in Life but his second class was fire. After a spark of light, a fire elf was running around in the right hall, whistling and jumping all about, laughing its head off. We looked from the corner of the wall and saw the two minotaurs snort, their nose rings jumbling, and started to march heavily towards the hall, swinging their half ice-half fire axe. "Get in now!" I ordered. We slipped through the door.
The two draconians walked towards Malistaire's office slowly as possible. They were scared to tell the evil lord that the prisoner had escaped (Kevin) and was no where to be found. One of the draconians, Kiatch (KEE-ACH), hissed to his companion, "What do we do? Malisstaire would be enraged!" "He isss bound to find out sssoon enough, tell him anyway." said Kidian (KIDD-IAN). "Me? You tell him you ssslobery gob!" told Kiatch. "Fine, I will, but only becaussse I'm the braver one than you!" huffed Kidian. They knocked nervously onto Malistaire's door. A voice boomed, "ENTER!" The two draconians looked at each other as a wraith minion opened the door for them. They stepped inside. Malistaire was seated at his ornate death desk, talking to the General of his undead army. "Keep your men on a look out for those wizards, no one shall come in, or out! If they do, I'll have you stripped from your ranks, understand me?" ordered Malistaire to the agitated Minotaur Warlord. "As you wish, your majesty." replied General Onik (O-NIK). Kiatch and Kidian noticed that in the minotaur's voice left a cold sound, as the warlord said "your majesty". He left and Malistaire said, "Did the feeble wizard die? Where is his head I demanded!" The two draconians trembled at the lord's voice. "Err, th-the wizard sssom-ssssomehow essscaped the tr-trap yo-your high lor-lordnessss." hissed Kidian, stuttering. "WHAT?!" shouted Malistaire, his voice echoing the long corridors outside. He whammed a book on his deck that flung to a wall. The two draconians were shivering uncontrollibly until Malistaire stood up. His eyes turned a dark red. But they soon softened, he sat back down, and said in a dangerous voice, "Get Keira here you too. I will have another errand for you to do afterwards. Fail this, and I'll have your heads instead!" The two draconians immediatly nodded, bowed down, then scurried off hurrily to Keira's room. "That wass creepy!" remarked Kiatch. "Better than having our headssss chopped off." muttered Kidian.
"Ow!" I cried, bumping into Brian T. It was way too dark in the general's room to see anything. "Shut up Dustin! And watch where your going!" he retorted angrily at me. I shouldn't have replied back to him but you know how us Death wizards are, gloomy and grumpy, so lets just say that my anger got the better of me. "How about you move your bum before I kick it for you!" I replied darkly. "Why I outta-" "Guys! How about we try finding that key instead?" whispered Brian G., cutting Brian T. off. "Look who's talking." he muttered but continued on quietly. My mind sizzled with anger. How could he lash out at me like that already? He knows just as much how dark it is in here! I thought angrily. I decided to just let it go but I still felt wary of him. I then suddenly got a great idea. "Hey Brian!" I whispered, tapping Brian G.'s shoulder. He looked towards me and asked, "What is it?" "Since your second class is fire, why don't you spark us up some light?" Even though it was still darker than ever, I could feel Brian G.'s face lit up. "Thats a great idea Dustin! Let me try it out first." As Brian G. paused, trying to trace the fire symbol and whisper the spell words together, Brian T. must have heard us. When Brian G. finished, showing us his burning finger (although fire never hurts fire students, second or third class too) Brian T. managed to say, "I could have thought of that!" He sounded disgusted. My mind continued to burn until I couldn't keep it in any longer. "Hey! Just because your a grandmaster doesn't mean your any better than us!" I was huffing with anger. My heart was beating furiously. "Well too bad! I AM better than you! In fact, I would kick your butt if I could!" Brian T. yelled as the sizzling words left his tongue. His voice echoed through the room. We heard a laugh. "Uh oh.." I said. The light turned on. Sitting on the opposite side of the room was a cyclops, followed by two dazed-looking trolls. "You three is funny! Just like an movie!" snickered the cyclops. He really needs to work on his grammar! I thought. Brian T. spoke up, "Who are you?" The cyclops turned to gaze upon Brian T. "I is the keyholder gaurd on all jail room!" the cyclops boomed. I started to say something but cyclops cut me off. "My name are Selvin." Suddenly, Brian T. burst out laughing crazily. "SELVIN??? THAT NAME SOUNDS SOOO GIRLY! HAHAHA!" Selvin the cyclops stood up. It was obvious he was angry. I just shook my head. "No one makes fun of meh!" he cried out. He soon had us wound up into the arena circle. I was surprised at his health. It was only 635! Although the minion trolls were probably on steroids or something because their health was over 2,000! "Errm." I said, turning towards Brian T. He just ignored me. "This'll be easy." said Brian G.
Sure enough, Brian G. was right. We had finished the battle, having no problems defeating Selvin at all. Although I must admit that the two steroid buffish troll minions took some time. After the battle, I snatched up the bronze key from Selvin's table. We ran out the entryway, lucky that the fire elf Brian G. had casted earlier was still occupying the two minotaur gaurds away. We sprinted towards where Kemnor the draconian and Aila were waiting inside a cell. Brian T. kicked open the door dramatically and I immediatly unlocked Kemnor's shackles. "Thank you wizardsss." replied the satisfied draconian, rubbing his scaly wrists. "Glad to help." said Brian G. smiling. "How do we get out of here?" asked Aila. We all looked towards her since she didn't really say much most of the time but I guess I was wrong. I suddenly remembered Kevin. We were too late to save him. My face cast down and I looked at the two Brians. They seemed to have remembered as well. I sighed and said, "I guess we could try to save any other people locked up while were here. We don't want Malistaire following." All of a sudden, Brian T. elbowed me in the ribs. I looked at him questioningly. He whispered, "Aren't we gonna defeat Malistaire first, just like in the prophecy?" "Oh right...." I said doubtly. It was silent for some time until Brian T. spoke up, "Well, lets get going on saving those other guys. You two should wait here." he said pointing at Aila and Kemnor. They both nodded and we ran to the next cell. Empty...as usual. Next: a skull. The next one sat another draconian. I immediatly recognized him. "Zarathax.." Zarathax looked up with his evil eyes. I knew him too well. He had once tricked another friend of mine in DragonSpyre to trust him. In the end Zarathax killed my friend. "Pleassse free me wizardssss!" Zarathax pleaded. The two Brians looked at me. I shook my head, "Leave him here, we can't trust him." We were stepping out of the cell, while Zarathax continued to beg for mercy. I just ignored the traitor and we continued on to room six. I shoved in the key and turned. A wizard was in there. He looked awfully sad, his marleybone mask hiding his eyes. I immediatly could tell that he was a storm student from his purple hair although he wore black clothes. "Hey." said Brian T. The wizard stood up. "Cool! A Death Grandmaster!" he replied, walking up towards us. As we freed his chains, he introduced himself. "They call me Seth DragonRider." "I assume your a thunder student." I noted. He nodded. "Come with us, we'll help ya get out of here." gestured Brian G. Seth immediatly got out from the cell and we had soon checked the other rooms. There was no one left. "So, whats your names?" asked Seth. "Oh, sorry bout that." I said. "I'm Brian ThunderCaster." "I'm Brian GoldenHeart." "And I'm Dustin." We all said. "Dustin what?" asked Seth questioningly. "Um..I'll tell you later." I said quickly. The four of us then retrieved Kemnor and Aila. After the other introductions, Brian T. decided it was time to face Malistaire. All I could do was protest but I had no choice. Leaving Aila, Kemnor, and Seth at the exit, I led my friends to our doom, Malistaire's room.
"Stop! Stop it! Let me go you stupid monsters!" cried Keira. "Itsss for your own good!" replied Kiddian the draconian, tugging Keira to the portal with Kiatch. "No! Don't take me back to HIM! I hate HIM! Let me go!" protested Keira. But it was too late. The two impatient draconians managed to give one more final tug and pushed the young oracle to the dark portal leading to Malistaire's office. They then jumped in after her. Keira felt an unusual feeling surpressing around her, magic floating off freely, and landed with a thud right in front of Malistaire's desk. Kiatch and Kiddian also appeared from the vortex and landed in the room behind Keira. "Good job you too." said Malistaire satisfied. The two draconians led out a loud sigh of relief. They flew back into the portal and dissapeared. "Up my daughter." ordered Malistaire soothingly. Keira obeyed and stood up to her father. "What do you want?" she asked quietly. Malistaire replied, "I need your knowledge my girl. Your gift of an oracle can see the future. So all I want to know is, what will become of me once the Big Three Prophecy is complete? And, who are the two wizards that will survive this ordeal?" Keira looked away and said slowly, "I can't show you the future. It is beyond my limits of the Light Oracle." Silence passed the room, a wind blew gently, twirling Keira's long white gown around her. "Very well, " replied Malistaire softly, "but you will tell me that I will suceed in confusing the Dragon Titan with the krokonomichan to gain Sylvia's spirit back." Just as Keira was about to answer, another portal appeared behind her. The two looked back stunned. Out stepped the black knight, helm covering his face, his sword shimmering with pure darkness. "Who are you?" demanded Malistaire. He was a bit frightened at the appearence of someone he didn't know. The knight turned towards Malistaire. "Your enemy, your destroyer, ... and Keira's friend." answered the knight solemnly. He then turned towards the blank faced girl. "Keira, don't tell your father anymore. He doesn't deserve to know any of the future, past, and present alike. You know just as well that that could change fate itself." Keira nodded. Malistaire stood and marched up towards the knight. He aimed his staff towards him and hissed, "No one tells what is to happen but me!" Malistaire quickly traced the death symbol and summoned a wraith. The black knight turned towards the evil lord and blocked the wraith's death blow with the hilt of his sword. The summoned wraith looked surprised and met his end when the knight shoved his sword into it. Using quick reflexes, the knight tripped Malistaire, causing the lord to fall on his knees, and put his sword near his neck. "Don't mess with me..and don't mess with Keira." said the stranger through gritted teeth. Feeling the cold steel edging towards his throat closer, Malistaire nodded quickly. The knight then drew back his blade and walked out towards the vortex. He was gone in a swirl of stars and magic. Malistaire, weak from the fast battle, continued to bow down at the floor. "Father!" cried Keira, suddenly remembering her hurt dad. She ran to the evil lord but recoiled when Malistaire suddenly slapped her right cheek. The girl held her hand on it, surprised and hurt. "Get..out..NOW!" boomed Malistaire angrily. Keira ran out of the room, heading towards her room. As she ran down the hall, a single tear fell from her eye. Malistaire, in his office still, looked longingly at a picture of his deceased wife. "Oh Sylvia, what have I done?" he whispered.
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