The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze (part 12)
No one could move. Vanessa, Sydney, and I were frozen. I don’t know if we even breathed. Even the Otomo Quartermaster was rather stunned and I doubted it had ever seen anything like this before.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, could compare to what I felt at that moment. My unfathomable anguish made me feel like I was falling through a hole, one that with every passing second I plunged deeper and deeper into it, until I was to inevitably crash to the ground…
Was this what Vanessa felt when her parents died? With my sister gone to who knows where because she was kidnapped by a mysterious hand along with her cute pet dragon Mister Muffin, Rowan was as good as dead.
Sydney’s Fire Cat, Sir Romeo, was the first one to move. He let out a heartbreaking meow and curled up into a mournful position on the ground with his adorable face on his striped paws. Sydney’s first instinct was to comfort him, so she impulsively reached down and grabbed him, clutching him close to her chest.
Then Vanessa moved, glancing around her, as if she had just awoken from a deep sleep. With a swiftness that annoyed me by the way it seemed as if she had just forgotten everything that had happened, she proceeded to draw the Balance symbol and cast the Elemental Blade on Sydney as she had been intending to before the incident.
Sydney was too busy petting and soothing Sir Romeo that she missed her turn anyway and didn’t use the Sunbird spell she’d been meaning to before.
After that it was my turn. As I expected, my failed attempts had counted as fleeing the battle, and my mana was gone. Now the duel, which a moment ago had seemed to be the most important thing to me so I could complete my quest, was trivial, silly, and pointless.
My poor sister. Where could she be now? All I could do was pray that she would survive long enough that I could figure out where she was. Poor, poor Rowan. I’d only known her for a few months, and yet I would go to the ends of the Earth (or the Spiral, in this case) to rescue her.
Oh, Rowan, where are you?
Rowan WillowLeaf
“She’s unconscious. I think she hit her head.”
I didn’t like the sound of that oddly familiar voice.
“She’ll come around eventually. We’ll get what we need soon enough.”
My eyes were useless. There was nothing around me. I couldn’t remember anything at the moment. Not even my own name.
I reached out my hands, trying to locate something to grasp – but there was nothing to touch. I wanted to cry, to scream, to panic and run around crazily, to do something that was normal for people when they were terrified, but I couldn’t. All I could do was lie there fearfully, waiting for something to happen.
When I thought really hard, I recalled vague bits of information. Wasn’t there a hand somewhere? And a dragon, a Life school symbol, some kind of disaster –
One solitary figure stood out in my memory. It was a girl dressed in blue and white, looking up at me, the desperation and exasperation quite clear on her face…
“SIERRA!” I screamed. Apparently I had my voice back.
Memories came flooding back in a dizzying second. The voice I had heard before stopped abruptly, then continued in whispers, but I hardly even noticed. I was too happy that I could remember.
My name is Rowan WillowLeaf. I’m a level 38 Magus Theurgist, with Pyromancy as my second. I had just been dragged off by some giant dragon-like hand with my pet, Mister Muffin.
Even to me it sounded like a ridiculous story. Who would ever believe that? For a second, I wondered if it was just a dream. I would even be entirely convinced of that if it weren’t for the fact that I had absolutely no idea where I was.
I sort of recalled the hand releasing me, but there was nothing after that except falling and hitting my head on something hard. I must have been knocked out.
So… now what? At this point I couldn’t even measure how long it had been since I’d woke up. I twisted my head to look around and groaned. Man, did I have a headache!
I just now figured out that I was lying on the ground. Actually, it wasn’t exactly “ground”. It was cold, hard, and uncomfortable. Tile, I guessed.
Shivering, I heaved myself up, sending another shot of pain into my head.
Still dazed from my pain, I couldn’t move. So I only listened.
“…so she can’t leave,” finished someone.
“But they will come for her, surely,” another person whispered.
“They don’t even know how important she is yet. They won’t send everyone.”
“How inconvenient that she had to be the leader’s sister,” the second person sighed. “If they hadn’t even met her yet, then perhaps we could get away with this.”
“The whole point of capturing her was to lure the others here!” the first one snapped.
“Yes, but… we could have made it impossible for them to get a Life Seeker if we killed her.”
That name… Seekers. I had heard Sierra mention them before. And Sydney. And once I had listened to a conversation Sierra had with Victoria, Sydney, and Vanessa right after they’d come back from being missing. I hated that my sister was keeping some kind of secret from me, but I’d never thought of it as a big deal. Besides, I had my secrets, too (like that I’d been the one who broke her wand that one day, not the Skeletal Pirate she’d thought…). Now I was curious. Maybe it was some kind of code for them. Or a game. A big, freaky game where giant hands kidnap people and weird voices talk about strange things when they think you aren’t listening.
I didn’t like this game.
Sierra WinterBreeze
“Sierra, this idea is just as good as if I said we should go to Dragon Mouth Cave and make the dragon statue come alive,” Sydney chastised.
“Or if you tried to go into the Balance school and make a rock cover the entrance and make the ladder disintegrate to find a Hydra there,” Vanessa added.
“Hey, it’s better than jumping into the Death school hole,” I muttered. Despite their complaints, I continued digging through the drawer.
“It’s not going to work,” Sydney said.
“What else are we supposed to do?” I shot back. “Sit around and hope the answer will come to us?” Finally I overturned a purple T-shirt (though I think it was actually the one I wore when I first came here from Earth, I was too focused to pay attention to that minor detail) and found what I was looking for.
I picked up the metallic object and held it in my hand, admiring its beauty. I traced my fingers over the intricate designs carved into it and remembered my first days here in Wizard City. I wondered why I hadn’t taken this out more often. I probably had been so upset about the whole Seeker thing that I threw this in the drawer because I just wanted to forget it all. It was true – this object had “Seeker” written all over it. But now that I was pasting hating my new destiny, I could enjoy the beauty more.
Carefully caressing the Key of Frost in my hands, I turned back to my friends.
“Look, it won’t be that bad,” I promised. “All we have to do it go to Colossus Boulevard, try the key on Gobblestone Castle, and ask the Frost Giant where Rowan is. We can also confirm that Scarlet is the Life Seeker while we’re at it.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” Sydney defiantly retorted.
“Then we come back and try something else,” I responded. I flashed a broad grin. “Or we could always jump into where the Death school was…”
Just as I was about to teleport to the Commons, someone else appeared in front of me in a gust of wind and a shower of sparks.
Scarlet MoonHeart stood in front of me. “You look like you’re going somewhere,” she commented.
“You think?” I didn’t have the patience for her attitude today.
“We’re going to Colossus Boulevard,” Vanessa informed.
“Oh, hey, Vanessa. Hey… girl,” Scarlet greeted, nodding once to Sydney.
“I have a name, you know,” Sydney grumbled.
“We’re in a hurry, Scarlet. My sister has gone missing,” I impatiently explained. “We have a plan to get her back that we think will work.”
“You mean, you think will work,” Sydney said. “I had no say in this!”
“You don’t have to come. In fact, I’d prefer if you didn’t. Your attitude is really starting to bug me.”
Sydney bit her lip, looking torn. “Well… I suppose I am a bit curious to see what will happen,” she admitted.
“Then let’s go.”
“Wait,” Scarlet said. “Can I come? I feel bad for you sister.”
“What? No!” I replied, astounded that she would even want to.
“Why not?”
“Because… because…” I couldn’t think of any reason, besides the truth. And of course I couldn’t tell her, “Sorry, I don’t want you to find out anymore about the Seekers.”
Then I remembered who I was talking to. This may be the Life Seeker of Light! “Okay, fine… you can come.”
Soon after, the four of us stood gaping at the enormity of Gobblestone Castle. I remembered when I had finally completed this place and become Master Diplomat. I had worn that badge everywhere until I received Mastermind in Marleybone.
I also recalled just as clearly the day that I had discovered I was a Seeker. It felt like centuries ago. Yet here I was, once more facing the castle that had magically transformed into the Tower of Lost Memories.
“So, this is where you were awakened, Sierra?” Vanessa asked.
“Yeah.” I was still caught up in my personal daydream. The floating images of my life as a baby, the Frost Giant, the Key of Frost –
“It doesn’t look like much,” Sydney huffed.
So much for pleasant memories.
She shivered. “Is it warmer inside?”
“I’m an Ice wizard, Sydney. How would I know? Go ahead and cast a Sunbird or something to warm you up.”
“I’m cold too,” Scarlet whined. “Can we just hurry up?”
“You were the one who wanted to come!”
“Oh. Yeah.” Scarlet looked incredibly grumpy.
I took one last look at the tower castle and sighed, “Okay. Let’s get this over with.
Rowan WillowLeaf
I jumped back from the door when the footsteps approached. They had cut off in mid-conversation and started coming this way.
“Rowan?” someone said. “Are you awake?”
Don’t I know that voice from somewhere…? I thought to myself.
“Where am I?” I inquired.
“Look, Rowan, we don’t want to hurt you.” Oh sure, so all the killing stuff that you were talking about before was pretend. Got it. “But will you please keep quiet? Don’t disturb us. Soon your sister will be here, and it will all be over.”
I contemplated that. “But where’s Mister Muffin?”
“Your dragon? He’s fine. Don’t worry.”
“That isn’t answering my question. And for the record, you never answered the first one, either.”
The other side of the door was silent for so long that I worried they’d walked away. Eventually, an icy voice that was different from the first replied, “If you stay quiet, your dragon will be fine. But if that proves to be difficult, well, we may have to put your dragon to sleep. Forever. Is that clear?”
I gulped. Whoever this was apparently wasn’t fooling around. Poor Muffy, I thought, thinking about the nickname I’d given him.
“I asked you a question, you useless Seeker!” the voice snapped. I could tell that it was a female voice. I wondered how she made it sound so terrifying.
“I understand,” I whimpered quietly.
“Good.” Footsteps faded away again.
I just cowered in the corner for a while, desperately wishing I was home.
I heard a slight shuffling noise from somewhere across the room, startling me, pulling me out of my thought of my warm new house and my wonderful family.
“W-who’s there?” I stuttered.
There it was again. There was definitely something over there.
“Um, uh, well, I don’t think you’ve come to the right place, whoever you are. I mean, I can’t get out of here, so –”
The shuffling stopped and there was a squeak of joy.
I gasped. “I’d know that squeak anywhere! Muffy, where’ve you been?”
I heard the swooping of dragon wings as my white and green dragon fluttered over to me jubilantly.
“How did you get here?” I grinned, giving Mister Muffin a pat on the head.
Mister Muffin lifted off the ground, flapping his wings. He flew up to the ceiling. He circled around that one spot over and over, letting out little dragon calls as he did.
I squinted in the dim light. When I looked very, very closely, I could tell that this area was a shade darker.
“What is that?” I whispered, moving directly underneath Mister Muffin.
He turned around and with a couple of grunts pushed up on the spot.
“I don’t think that…” I began, but then with a grinding sound Mister Muffin pushed the ceiling piece aside.
“Woah!” I exclaimed. I was now looking at a square entrance in the ceiling.”It’s a secret tunnel! Awesome! But, um, how am I supposed to get up there? If you haven’t noticed, Muffy, I can’t fly, and I seem to be missing my wand…”
Mister Muffin floated down to me. I glanced at his wings. “Hmm… Hey, Mister Muffin, I think I have an idea…”
Sierra
“Why… won’t… this… darn… key… work!” I grunted, pushing on the door to Gobblestone Castle with all my might, attempting to make the Key of Frost fit.
“Sierra, if it didn’t work the last twenty times it’s probably never going to,” Sydney told me, rolling her eyes.
“But… it worked when I was awakened!” I protested.
“I don’t get this. What are you trying to do?” Scarlet inquired.
“You be quiet,” I snapped at her.
“Seriously, Sierra, let’s go,” Vanessa said.
“No, please, no. I know I can make it work.”
“Perhaps it wasn’t the key. Maybe you did something when turning the key. Like with Victoria’s awakening, when she pressed the button. Did you do anything like that? Think carefully,” Vanessa said.
Sometimes I was stunned at how much she knew about the Seekers. I knew she’d been asking Sydney and I questions often, but still, her knowledge seemed limitless. “Uh, no. All I did was turn the key into the lock.”
“Who was with you?”
“No one.”
“Okay, you didn’t do anything before this? Are you sure?”
I pondered that. “I guess I tried the key on every building in Colossus Boulevard.”
“Then we should do that!”
“Are you kidding? It took me two days straight to finally get to Gobblestone Castle!”
Scarlet asked, “Why do you need a key? This door is unlocked.”
I didn’t really notice until later how she was talking as if she didn’t even know we had a key. “You don’t understand,” I said. “It needs to change. It’s supposed to –”
“Wait. Are you telling me you want this thing to somehow transform into something different?”
“Uh… yes.”
“That’s it. I’m out. You’re all crazy! Good luck finding your sister.”
“Scarlet, wait –”
She teleported away.
“That’s fantastic. You scared her off!” Sydney accused.
“Oh come on, Sydney. Don’t start a fight,” Vanessa scolded.
“I’m tired of you Sydney!” I shouted, ignoring Vanessa. “Today you’ve been in such a stubborn, dismal mood and I’m sick of it.”
“Perhaps I’m sad because you haven’t even considered going to Dragon Mouth Cave,” Sydney complained.
“Perhaps I’m upset because you haven’t been cooperative,” I shot back.
“What do you want me to do? ‘Oh, hey, Sierra. Why don’t I try to unlock the door for you?’ Is that what you want?”
“No, but I could do without the side-comments,” I grumbled.
“Fine! Then what do you want me to do?”
“How about you just go away! I’m leaving. I’ll get Rowan back myself!”
Without even one thought about what I was doing, I yanked open the door to Gobblestone Castle and didn’t look back as I stepped inside and unceremoniously slammed the door behind me.
I had now activated the instanced level. They couldn’t come in unless they teleported to me.
I peered around the room somewhat hopefully. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the Tower of Lost Memories. It was the same old, boring, ordinary Gobblestone Castle.
The Gobbler Prince was sitting in the center of the room, munching on a huge drumstick. Deciding that I might as well blow off some steam, I jogged over to him and made the dueling circle appear around us. Knowing I could easily defeat him, I passed every turn until I gained enough pips to cast a Blizzard. I defeated the minion, and finished off the prince with a wand spell from the O’Leary Jinxed Staff.
After he disappeared, I gazed around the room. As usual, it was full of crates of jellybeans and chickens and other random items. The tile was a boring checkered black and white and I could hear the Gobbler King’s incessant munching outside.
But something seemed wrong to me. I scanned the castle again. Everything was there. But – wait! There was a flicker of movement by the throne. When I turned to face that way, there was nothing.
Captured again in the clutches of curiosity, I cautiously tip-toed over to the throne. I saw nothing. I stepped back and instead walked behind the throne and to my surprise found a door.
A door in the back of the throne? I didn’t understand. It was a beautiful door, though, detailed and intricate in every way. There were so complicated patterns I couldn’t even begin to describe them. Intrigued, I twisted the door handle, but the door didn’t budge.
It suddenly occurred to me that the Key of Frost was still clutched in my hand. Shakily, I raised it up and put it in the lock.
It fit perfectly.
I turned it and hesitantly opened the door. Taking a deep breath, I stepped in.
Rowan
Again I found myself hitting the ground hard. “Oww… Muffy, you’ve got to try harder!”
My dragon flew down to me and nudged me in apology. Evidently, my brilliant idea wasn’t working.
“It only I had my wand,” I muttered. “I could make a tree or something grow so that I could just climb up it and out of here.”
Mister Muffin emitted a sad whine. I rubbed his scaly back absentmindedly. “Yeah, I know. You’re in pain from trying to carry me. Don’t worry, I won’t make you do it again.”
With a relieved sigh, Mister Muffin plopped down on the ground and allowed me to pet him.
I perceived voices outside the door, but I ignored them, as usual. They had been discussing things I didn’t understand for the last hour or so. Instead I gazed up at the little hole in the ceiling. To have freedom just a few feet away, but unable to reach it… it was torture!
Perhaps if I could see what was around me. If only I had light…
Light! When Mister Muffin had tried to carry me, I’d been too heavy. So if I made myself lighter…
I glanced up at the pouch hanging at my hip that had been filled with my cards, deck, wand, and spellbook. No use having that on if it was empty. I flung it aside. And the extra hat I had. Actually, why did I even need a hat at all? I added those to my accumulating pile. I took out my report for Pyromancy (Darn! I’d forgotten to turn it in!) and let it float to the ground. I looked at pile wistfully. It wasn’t much, and I didn’t think it would make a difference.
I dug through my pockets and felt around. Then my fingers touched something hard… and heavy.
I heaved it out and saw that it was my bag that held all my gold. Over 36,000 coins. I weighed it in my hand. It was really pushing me down… but I couldn’t just leave all my savings here!
Or could I? I realized that unfortunately, although I’d worked tirelessly for this money, it didn’t matter as much as my life.
I sadly set it on the floor. I glanced over my shoulder at my dragon, who was still lying on the ground, looking up with curious eyes.
“Okay, Mister Muffin,” I announced. “Let’s try this again.”
Sierra
The first thing I thought when I came through the door was, “Haven’t I seen this before?” And I had. In the Pyramid of the Moon, with that weird scene under the bell. This looked just like it, only the door remained this time, not a bell.
Bewildered, I frantically looked around me. I almost considered going back for a moment.
At length it ended, and I was in the most magnificent place.
Imagine the most beautiful tower you can think of, with gorgeous colors, glowing walls, and limitless heights – and multiply that by about a million. You’ve got this place.
Mostly, it was just a tower… but it was so tall, I couldn’t see the ceiling. It was so grand and large that you could have made five moderately sized rooms if you wanted. Plus, with all the space above my head, the possibilities were endless.
But besides that, it was still majestic; the walls were illuminated, it seemed, from the inside. It shimmered like ice, but glowed invitingly like a fire, then continuously changed patterns like lightning. It was also different colors – I’d look at it one time and it would be a midnight black, then would transform right before my eyes to a sandy tan color. I could go on for hours just describing the walls, but the best parts were still to come.
All the symbols of the schools were hanging above my head. The floor beneath me was some kind of polished material that was just a plain white, but still radiant.
Items looked like they were falling from the sky, and yet I never saw them touch the floor and none landed on me. I snatched one out of the air. A tingling sensation went through my body as if I’d just touched a lightning bolt, but I felt it crumple under my fingers like a leaf. But as I held it close, I felt it transform into a softer material. I looked down and I caught my breath when I found sand, which sifted through my fingers. Fascinated, I grabbed another one, but it was so hot I cried out. I opened up my fingers to glare at the item, but only found an ice cube. As I stared in surprise at it, it melted into water and dripped off my fingers, but never touched the ground – only disappeared.
When I looked at the objects in the air, they looked only like multicolored specks. The oddest thing was that when I tried, I could see right through them; they weren’t exactly invisible, because some remote part of my mind knew they were still there, but otherwise they could have vanished.
On one side of the room, there were seven doors. Each of them reminded me of a world – one was a plain wooden door that had to represent Wizard City, and there was a red door that looked like it was from Marleybone. I also saw one from MooShu, Krokotopia, and Grizzleheim – and two other doors I didn’t know where they could lead to.
With all these things around, the scene may sound hectic. Strangely, I didn’t feel disoriented or out of place. Actually, I felt like I belonged. It was a sense of peace and danger that had me frozen with delightful surprise. I was tranquil and thrilled at the same time.
The scene was so breathtaking I could only stand there in awe. I gaped at the room, not even noticing there were other beings with me. That is, until one spoke up.
“Seeker WinterBreeze?” said a voice to my left.
I was already so stunned that this almost seemed surreal. There was no way that voice could be who I thought it was.
I turned to look at the speaker, and it was.
It was the Frost Giant’s voice – I’d never forget it! The Frost Giant that had awakened me stood there, seeming especially small and insignificant in the grandeur of the tower.
“Wh… wh…” was all I could stammer. I couldn’t even make out the simple sentence, “Where am I?”
“This is the Spiral Tower,” the Frost Giant explained. “This is headquarters for the Seekers.”
I was still too dumbfounded to speak, but I was beginning to wake up from my dream-like state. I nodded.
I again gazed around me, more closely this time. I noticed all the creatures that had awakened the Seekers. There was Sydney’s Fire Dragon, the kind creature that had given us our necklaces; the Scarecrow from the Crevice of Time, on the night of the tower party; Hunter’s Cyclops, whom I remembered as the one who unpleasantly dragged Hunter, Seth and I into the tiny chest; the Hydra that had awakened Liam, which only brought up bad memories; Vanessa’s Desert Colossus, who appeared sheepish and even scared; and actually about six other friendly creatures who I didn’t recognize from any awakening. For a moment I looked for the Storm one, and then remembered – Malistaire had killed Victoria’s Triton when it had been about to give her memory back.
I finally got a hold of myself enough to talk: “Why am I here?”
The Frost Giant looked at me sadly. “I think that the Desert Colossus would be better suited at telling you that than I.”
I glanced at the Desert Colossus, curious, but fearful from the expression I had seen on its face earlier. Was something wrong?
“You must already know that your sister has been kidnapped,” it began.
I felt tears come to my eyes as I nodded.
“Well, it is important that you get her back, so we need to help you.” I’d never really noticed many human traits about the ones that awakened us, but this time I could distinctly tell that the Colossus was nervous. He seemed to be hiding something from me, and I didn’t like it.
“Um okay,” I said. “How?”
“We know where she is.”
My heart leaped in my chest. “Really? Tell me! Where? Where! I’ve got to know!”
“Malistaire took her away,” my Frost Giant said.
I felt myself deflate from my momentary excitement. “How can I possibly get her back if Malstaire has her?” I cried, dejected. “I don’t even know where he is.”
“Malistaire is in Dragonspyre,” informed the Fire Dragon in the same, kind, gentle female voice that I recalled. “Besides, you are a Seeker, Sierra. You are meant to fight him one day, anyway.”
“Oh yeah!” I exclaimed. “The headmaster told he was in Dragonspyre when I got into MooShu. So… Rowan’s in Dragonspyre? I can’t go there.”
“You can.”
“Uh… how?”
The Frost Giant turned to face the one of the doors I hadn’t recognized. With a rush of excitement, I saw it had dragons painted on the front of it. “Am I going to Dragonspyre through there?” I asked.
“Yes. This room is a separate Spiral Chamber as well, and you can access any world without a Spiral Key.” The Frost Giant opened the door wide. There was only darkness inside, but that was typical for a Spiral door.
“But how will I find Malistaire?” I inquired. “I mean, if Dragonspyre is anything like the other worlds I’ve been to before, won’t Dragonspyre be large? Especially since I heard it was like Wizard City – it must be immense!”
“Do not worry,” the Dragon said. “One of us will always be near if you need us.” The dragon hesitated. “And… we may also choose to send you a guide as well.”
There was a stir in the crowd. Murmurs were going around, such as, “But they are only sent out in emergencies!... This isn’t important enough… Some generations of Seekers never even meet them… Malistaire isn’t even that much of a threat! Compared to what others have had to face…”
I scanned the crowd, confused. Who was this “guide” that everyone seemed so upset about?
“I think you should get going,” the Frost Giant advised, gesturing to the door. “We have a lot to talk about.”
I walked forward. I took a final glance at the phenomenal Spiral Tower, and then stepped into the door. Next stop – Dragonspyre.
Rowan
“We were soooooo close!” I encouraged my tired dragon. “C’mon, I’m sure you’ll do it this time!”
Mister Muffin shook his head and defiantly thumped onto the ground, turning around, refusing to face me.
“Please, Muffy. Please!” I begged. “One more time! That’s all. I’ve got to get out of here!”
He didn’t even look at me.
I groaned. “This just isn’t my day, is it.”
Suddenly I was struck by an idea. “Muffy… what if… what if I bought you a… a… um… new toy? Yeah, uh, a new toy! Anything you want. And, how about a… house? Yeah, I’ve been thinking of buying a castle lately, and I’ll give you… however many rooms you want. You can even play on the furniture! I’ll even buy you that expensive pet food you’ve always wanted. Oh, come on, Mister Muffin. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty please with ice cream and sugar and… dragon food and… um, whatever else you like to eat? Please!”
He let out a little whine.
“I know it hurts you, Muffy, but I need you! We could die if you don’t do this!”
Mister Muffin slowly brought his head up and began to lift off the ground. Whining the entire time, he drifted over to me and grabbed my robes, preparing to attempt to carry me again.
“Thank you, so, so, so much, Mister Muffin!” I cried. “I’m sure you’ll make it.” He furiously flapped his wings, and I hovered slightly above the ground.
“Yes! Yes!” I called. “Keep going. You’re doing great!”
He beat his wings so quickly they were a blur, and I rose a couple more inches.
“YES!” I screamed. I reached up toward the opening in the ceiling. I was so close!
Mister Muffin heaved a long sigh. I knew what that meant. He was exhausted, and was about to stop.
“No!” To my dismay, I was already heading downward.
Desperate to finally reach my goal, I reached out, grabbing Mister Muffin. Using him a support, I pushed on his head to hoist myself up the last few inches and held on to that ledge.
“Finally!” I gasped. I climbed up the rest of the way.
When I was safely in the tunnel, I peered down to see my poor dragon struggling to get up from the floor. When I had pushed on him to move myself up, poor Mister Muffin was forced down.
“Aww, sorry, Muffy,” I called. “Can you fly back up?”
I felt terrible for my dear pet, but I couldn’t even go to down help him.
Just as he beginning to recover, the voices that had always been outside the door grew louder and louder. They had been speaking in whispers until this moment, and now I felt my heart race. Were we going to be discovered?
“Mister Muffin, hurry up!” I ordered.
He briskly fluttered his wings to rise into the air. At the same moment, the door swung open and a girl came in accompanied by someone I knew very well.
“Liam?” I shouted.
He stared back at me, shocked. Mister Muffin paused for a moment, distracted by the two new visitors.
“R-Rowan!” Liam finally stammered. “Why are you… up there?”
“Because…” I didn’t really feel like answering. Sierra had told me what happened to Liam, but I never really believed her. I mean, there always was something she was hiding from me, wasn’t there? But now that the evidence was right in front of me, I felt sick to my stomach.
“Well, I, um…” I stuttered, stalling for time, hoping Mister Muffin would fly up. With a glance downward I saw that my dragon was still staring at the guests though. “Uh, Muffy,” I whispered, “can we go now?”
Swiftly, my dragon flew up next to me.
The girl was staring at me, incredibly angry. Liam still just looked stunned. I smirked as I turned around and began crawling away as quickly as I could. Apparently no one had been expecting me to come up with such a brilliant plan.
However, my feeling of triumph and pleasure was soon overcome by the realization that they could easily follow me. It would be terrible if they caught me, especially after everything I did to Mister Muffin. Worst of all, there was no way I could give him any of the things I promised him – I had just left my money behind me to make myself lighter.
“Why couldn't I just drink that potion?” I grumbled.
Sierra
It started out like traveling to any other world for the first time. The door didn’t appear for a while, so I just waited in the darkness.
Finally, a dragon crested door appeared in front of me. I felt a rush of excitement. I was going to Dragonspyre! Taking a deep, apprehensive breath and closing my eyes to add to the exhilarating feeling, I stepped forward.
With my eyes shut, the first thing I perceived was the smell… and it was familiar. I wasn’t sure where the scent was from, but it made me uneasy.
When I opened my eyes, I again felt déjà vu. No, it was worse than that. I knew where this was from! The sight made me want to back away, go home, and forget about saving Rowan. I knew Dragonspyre would be different, but I hadn’t been expecting to relive this horrible, chilling, nightmarish memory.
The ground was red – the same red as in Malistaire’s fortress. Above me, the sky was the same red with dark clouds. The air was dusty and stale; and it was warm, only adding to the misery of the musty atmosphere. On top of it all, I was faint with disbelief, and I furtively glanced around me, expecting an undead minion attack me at any moment. There wasn’t any lava, fortunately, only the Spiral door behind me – and, lying behind that, a single rose made of stone. Even though I couldn’t see it, I knew the lava was here. The heat alone proved that.
This stunning resemblance left me disconcerted. When I did recall what I was supposed to be looking for, I whispered to myself, “Well, I’m definitely in the right place.”
I strode down the pathway, which spiraled down like a staircase. Determined to not be distracted, I kept a steady pace, hoping that I wouldn’t get off-track.
As I reached the bottom of the staircase, a figure appeared in the doorway. Unable to stop myself, I skidded into the person, and I smacked into them, sending us both to the ground.
“Oh, um, I’m so sorry!” I apologized, helping them up.
“Sierra!” gasped the person, and I looked at their face for the first time. It was Mark DarkCrafter.
I hadn’t seen Mark since my last little Seeker adventure with Malistaire. As far as I knew, he’d been heartbroken by what Liam did. At least, that’s what Vanessa told me, because she now lived with him. He had been one of Liam’s best friends, so he was the most hurt out of all of us when the news reached him.
I stared at him in shock that surely mirrored his own. “S-Sierra,” he stammered again, “what are you doing here?”
“Geez, you’re saying that as if it’s a crime or something,” I mumbled, brushing myself off.
“No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just… I haven’t seen you in such a long time! What a coincidence that I find you, especially here.”
“I’m, uh, kind of busy at the moment,” I hurriedly said.
“Oh, a quest?” He examined me. “Aren’t you a bit of a low level to be questing here?”
“It’s not a quest,” I told him, becoming more frustrated. I didn’t want my attention diverted again.
“Helping a friend?” he guessed.
“No, no! Actually, I’m… doing something for… for… my sister.”
“Rowan? Wow, is she in Dragonspyre now? I really should be keeping up with all of this.”
“No, she’s not in Dragonspyre. She... she… ask Vanessa! You live with her, and she knows everything just as well as I do – or almost as well, at least.”
“What’s going on? Sierra!” he called after me as I rushed away. “Wait, why don’t I help you? I learned Scarecrow yesterday!”
“It’s important Seeker business, okay?” I yelled at him. And then I stopped. In front of me was a fountain of lava. Peering around it, I only saw more rivers of lava and a ledge that led off into nothing. Zeke and the seamstress were standing there, but otherwise it was a dead end.
Mark came up next to me and grinned. “Still think you don’t need help?”
“No…”
“Hmm. Well, wouldn’t it be convenient if you had a Master Death wizard on your team who knows Dragonspyre like the back of his hand?”
“Remember? Seeker busi–”
“I’m a Seeker too.”
“Then it’s Seeker leader business.”
“I thought the whole point of the Seekers was to awaken one from each school and join together. If we aren’t supposed to be working together on missions like this, how will we defeat Malistaire?”
I wanted so badly to glare at him. I wished he wasn’t right, but he was. “Okay… fine. You can come.”
“Yes!” Mark jumped into the air in delight. “So, what are we doing?”
“My sister’s been kidnapped by Malistaire,” I explained. Admitting the words aloud still wasn’t easy, and it sent a pang of grief through my body.
“Ooh… that is bad.”
“Any chance you might know where Malistaire is?” I sighed.
He grinned. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
“What? Really?” I hadn’t been expecting that answer.
He shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Anyone who’s completed Dragonspyre would know that.”
“B-but, then… what’s the point of this? Really, I’m sure there’s someone in Dragonspyre who can defeat Malistaire besides us!”
Mark shook his head. “Nope. Many have tried, though. Few come back.”
I shivered.
“Only problem is that I can’t get there yet.”
“But you said–“
“Sure, anyone who’s beat Dragonspyre would know. And if you asked them, they’d tell you.”
“So, you haven’t completed Dragonspyre?”
“No.”
I groaned.
“Look, if we could finish making the Dragon Rider Staff, then we’d be able to get there. But it takes some time…”
“Mark, I don’t have time! Who knows what they’ll do to Rowan?”
“I suppose I can take you as close to his lair as I can go. But other than that, I don’t know what to do.”
“What I don’t understand is where the rest of Dragonspyre is,” I stated. “There’s a dead end down here, and nothing up there!”
“Don’t worry, Sierra! I’ll get you to the rest of Dragonspyre! Where did you want to go? Atheneum? Necropolis? The academy?”
“Academy? You don’t mean… Dragonspyre Academy, do you?”
“Of course I do.”
“Oh! I’ve always wanted to see it!”
“Um, the Dragon Titan destroyed all the schools except for Fire.”
“Aww. Darn. Okay, you’d better take me to where Malistaire is, then.”
“Actually, that would be Dragonspyre Academy.”
“Oh. But Mark, how exactly are we going to get there?”
He smiled mischievously. “I have my ways…”
Rowan
“Wow, this tunnel’s longer than I thought,” I said. I took another glance at Mister Muffin, who was trailing along behind me. “Muffy, you came into my room through this, right? Wow, how did you do it?”
I continued crawling, not really expecting an answer from Mister Muffin. Instead, he gave out an extremely sharp cry, making me jump. I glared at him. ”Geez! What was that for?"
He was flitting around this area excitedly, nearly bouncing off the walls. After a while of me just gazing at him in confusion, he sat down on the spot and looked at me expectantly.
“Oh! It’s a way out, isn’t it?” I noticed a miniscule handle on the bottom of the tunnel with the little light we still had.
Mister Muffin nodded and backed up, urging me silently to open it.
“Finally!” With a few failed attempts to turn in the narrow space, I eventually backed up the way Mister Muffin had and pulled up on the handle.
Cautious but anxious, I slowly opened the hatch. Upon looking down I saw absolutely nothing, save a few rough outlines of odd box-shaped figures. “Ugh. You’re sure this is the only way, Muffy?”
In answer, my dragon flew down a little, nodding, beckoning for me to follow.
“Oh, okay,” I sighed. I lowered myself carefully. When I dropped to the floor, I was relieved that it wasn’t a long fall. I even managed to reach up and close the hatch above us.
“The only problem,” I said to my dragon, “is that I have no idea where the heck we are!”
All I heard was the beating of wings against the air. Then, with a sudden whoosh, there was light.
Of course! Mister Muffin was a dragon. How could I forget that he could breathe fire?
Unfortunately, it couldn’t sustain for long. Already the light was flickering out. “No! Not yet! I need something to light, first!”
Hurriedly, I glanced around me – I had nothing! With no idea what else to do, I tore off a piece of my robe and thrust it into the fire. I burned my hand, but at least I had something lit…
“Uh-oh,” I said. Now I realized the huge mistake I made. My robe would be charred within a few minutes!
I frantically glanced around me again. It was some sort of storage room, with wooden boxes stacked all around me. I opened the lid to one of the boxes, only to find that it was empty. Not knowing what else to do, I threw the flaming cloth at the box. It immediately caught on fire. That would last for a while. I only hoped it wouldn’t cause too much damage.
If only my Pyromancy was working! I mused. The fire would be so easy to put out if I had my spellbook and deck.
Or maybe if Sierra were here, she’d freeze the fire… or something…
I wonder what Sierra’s doing now, I thought, walking over to a door that was on the side of the room. She was there when I was taken away. What does she think happened to me? Is she looking for me? Does she know where I am? Sydney and Vanessa, too. I doubt they know where I am, though. I don’t even know myself.
I peered out into a vacant hallway. I stepped outside, and Mister Muffin followed.
Sierra
“I still don’t understand how this will work, Mark,” I complained.
“Just trust me.” He still wore that silly grin that was beginning to get on my nerves. Couldn’t Mark take things seriously, just this once?
“This better work,” I warned.
“It will.”
He stopped in the center of the top square that I had first bumped into him in. “Dragonspyre Academy, right?”
I nodded.
“Okay." He walked over to a corner. For the first time, I noticed that there were three arches all around us. What could those be for?
Mark took one look back at me, stepped forward – and disappeared.
I stared in partial awe, partial fear at the spot he had just been. Mark’s voice echoed around me through Whisper Chat: “Just teleport, Sierra.”
When I did, I found myself at the beginning of a little pathway. Amazed, I examined my surroundings, then rushed to the handrail on the side of the pathway. Looking down, I realized that we were high up. There was an enormous square with a giant statue of some man who must have been important. Actually, he kind of looked like Merle Ambrose…
“C’mon,” Mark said, beckoning me from farther down the path. “I’ll show you how Grandmasters get to Malistaire.”
We didn’t walk far until there was a big, circular opening to the side of the path. In the center stood a proud Drake.
Mark walked only halfway up to it, seeming nervous to get too close. “That’s a Young BattleDrake,” he explained. “You need to ride it to get to a place called Dragon’s Roost. That’s where Malistaire’s Lair is.”
“Well, why don’t we get on it, then?” I inquired, striding right up next to it.”
“Um, Sierra, don’t get too close. It doesn’t really like people–”
I tried patting its back, and unexpectedly it reared up and whacked me with its colossal tail. Caught by surprise, I was thrust backwards and landed hard on my back right in front of Mark’s feet. “Still think we can ride it?” he asked.
“No,” I breathed, the wind having been knocked out of me.
Mark helped me up, and I dusted myself off. “Before you can ride that, you have to complete the Dragon Rider Staff. There are pieces hidden in Obsidian Chests across the Spiral, and there’s a crystal in the Crystal Grove, and there’s, uh, something in the Forum, too, but I don’t remember what…”
“That can’t take too long, can it?”
“Believe me, it can. I’ve been trying to get the Dragon Rider staff for two weeks, and I’m still working on the crystal! Perhaps I shouldn’t have done those sidequests… or attended that house party… or helped Rowan with Plague Oni… or–”
“I get the point.”
“Anyway, there’s no other way through.”
“What about that building? Where does it go?” I indicated a house that lined the right side of the path.
He shrugged. “Who knows? I really don’t think it ‘goes’ anywhere. I always thought they were like the houses on the sides of the street in Wizard City. You know, private residences or whatever. They’re always locked. You can’t get in.”
“Hmm… anything you have that might be able to pick a lock?”
“You can’t just break into someone’s house!”
“Well, then, let’s knock.”
“Oh, come on, you’ve got to be kidding me–”
I strolled over to one of the houses. First I tried the handle. As Mark had said, it was locked. So, rather hesitantly, I knocked gently.
It was a considerable amount of time that we waited there. I was just about to give up when we heard the sound of someone unlocking the door. Surprised, Mark and I waited for the door to open. But it didn’t.
At last, I took matters into my own hands by grabbing the knob and easing the door open with a loud, high-pitched squeal that indicated that it hadn’t been used in a long time.
Inside, I found that it was frustratingly dark. I was so close to unraveling a mystery, and I couldn’t even see anything! “Don’t worry,” Mark said. “I started learning Pyromancy as my third school. I don’t know much, but I at least know how to light a fire.”
“If it’s dark we might as well turn back…” I protested. Peering into the unknown made me think this was a bad idea.
Mark lit his fire anyway. It revealed a tiny room, obviously some sort of sitting room. There were old wooden chairs surrounding a rotting wooden table. One bed stood in the corner, and there was a ladder leading up high into places Mark’s fire didn’t reach.
“See,” Mark declared triumphantly. “Private residence. I told you.”
“Why is it so empty?” I wondered. “It must be abandoned.”
At that moment, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. When I looked, there was nothing there. “I’m seeing things,” I mumbled.
“If you are, so am I,” Mark said. “I could have sworn something just scurried up that ladder.”
“Um, maybe we should go back.”
“Nah. This looks like it could be fun!”
I looked at Mark with horrified surprise. “You think this will be fun?”
The delight on his face faded. “Um, sure. Why not? I feel an adventure coming. What, you don’t like adventures?”
“Not particularly.”
“What about Rowan?”
Everything came flooding back to me in that overwhelming instant. Rowan! How could I have forgotten? Tears came to my eyes again. I wondered if I’d ever get over this.
“Well… Rowan wouldn't be up there… would she?” I said.
“No one has ever been inside these houses for a long time,” Mark stated, suddenly serious, ignoring my question. “By the look of things, the owners must have abandoned this home a long time ago. Perhaps they fled when the Dragon Titan attacked? Or maybe they were eaten…” He grinned ominously.
“Oh, stop it. That wasn’t even what I asked.”
“It could be true, you know.”
We were silent for a while. Sooner or later, Mark spoke up. “I have a feeling that there’s something… something up there.”
I looked at him curiously.
“I’m sorry. It’s almost a compulsion. It seems like there’s something about this place that’s… I don’t know…”
“Magical?” I suggested.
“Yeah.”
“Funny how when you’re a wizard, you can still define things as ‘magical.’”
“Sorry. I can’t think of another word. It feels eerie and mysterious, but in a good way. Otherworldly, I suppose.”
“Otherworldly to you is surely different to me. Would you consider a box that shows moving pictures from thousands of miles away ‘otherworldly?’ Or perhaps machines that allow you to fly like a bird without magic? Or, I don’t know… the point is that these things were completely normal to me just a few months ago. And all this–” I gestured to my wizard robes, my spellbook and deck, the glowing MooShu sword Mark held in his hand – “would be bizarre and unreal. So, Mark, tell me. What is otherworldly to you?”
He stared at my blankly.
I sighed. Why was I getting so worked up about this? “Fine. If you want to go up the ladder of doom, go ahead. Let’s just get this over with.”
Rowan
My footsteps echoed grimly in the quiet halls. “I wonder where everyone is,” I mused aloud. “Then again, I suppose I don’t know what I’m looking for. They could be invisible for all I know.”
Mister Muffin ignored me, as usual. He was a few feet ahead, which also was quite ordinary. That’s the problem, I thought to myself. Nothing in this place ever changes!
“I wish I could find a way out of here,” I sighed. Then I glanced at my dragon. “Muffy, do you think I’m going crazy? I mean, I’m talking to myself. Isn’t that some sort of sign?”
Mister Muffin didn’t answer – just as always.
“Oh… am I getting annoying?” I guessed. “Sorry. I mean, I can’t really help it. I’m rather – woah! Wait for me!” Mister Muffin had turned down another hallway and his wings were buzzing in excitement and anticipation, putting a brief end to my soliloquies. He seemed impatient to get somewhere, and was thus moving much faster. “Just wait,” I pleaded. “I can’t fly, you know.”
He turned back around and looked at me with an irked expression that said, “Hurry up!” To show his petulance, he thumped his tail on the ground a few times.
When I caught up, he took off again, racing toward a single door at the end of the hallway. I placed my hand on the doorknob, not entirely sure what to do. I tested it, and it wasn’t locked. I looked at Mister Muffin again. He gazed back with anxious eyes. Apparently there was something behind this door that he really wanted me to see.
With trembling hands, I turned the knob and I opened the door, cautiously entering.
Sierra
“So… what do you think will be up there, Sierra?” Mark asked, trying for the zillionth time to make conversation.
“Nothing,” I churlishly replied.
“You sure? I mean, there would be something at least. Like air!” He chuckled to himself. “You know you can’t live without air.”
His jocose disposition was way past being annoying by now. I was bordering the point of teleporting away and leaving him behind. I’d like to see if he were as enthusiastic about this adventure then.
We’re almost to the top, I reassured myself. Just a little farther. I gritted my teeth and continued climbing.
I was incredibly relieved when I climbed off the ladder. It had seemed amazingly endless, especially with Mark joking the entire way. I was even so joyful that I turned around to pleasantly help Mark up. Anything would be better than being in the dark, feeling your way up a freakishly huge ladder with an irritating friend constantly making jokes in a hopeless attempt to get you out of your sullen mood.
At the top, Mark lit his fire again (which he had put out so he could climb). As I had thought, the room was empty.
“Aww,” Mark pouted. I only scanned the room. Mark had said he saw something climbing up the ladder, didn’t he? I uneasily gazed at the shadows that Mark’s light cast. Who knew what could be hiding there?
Almost as if my thoughts had summoned it, there was movement in the corner of the room. Mark whirled around to shine his fire there, but all is revealed was another door.
“Awesome!” Mark yelled, running over to the door and tugging on it. From the looks of his struggling, I guessed that it wasn’t opening.
I came to his side and motioned for him to move away. I placed my own hand on the doorknob to test it. As I did, a strange feeling overwhelmed me. A quixotic feeling, as Mark had described when he suggested we climbed the ladder. A compulsion… and otherworldly feeling…
Almost as if in a dream I reached into my pocket and withdrew the Key of Frost I inserted into the lock and turned it. The door unlocked with a click.
I stirred, as if I’d just woken, and stared at my hand holding the key as if it didn’t belong to me. I was just as stunned as Mark was that the key had worked.
“How did you..?” Mark began, and then shook his head. “Never mind. It worked, didn’t it? Let’s go.”
Although feeling paralyzed, I somehow managed to make my feet move and I followed Mark.
We found ourselves on another odd path. This one was arched like a bridge. I suppose it was a bridge, because it stretched across the red sky to a building floating out in front of us.
We walked across the bridge. I was being extremely cautious. I had no idea what happened when you fell off the side of a world, and I didn’t want to find out. When we reached the building, we found an enormous door. As we approached it, Mark exclaimed, “Sierra! Look at your necklace!”
It was glowing.
I immediately halted. “Oh, no, no, no,” I muttered. “Mark, we’ve got to turn back.”
“But what if it’s Malistaire’s lair? Rowan might be behind those doors!”
I hadn’t thought of it that way. I was considering it when I heard someone Whisper Chatting. “Woah! You’re in Dragonsprye and didn’t tell me? And in the Academy, too? That’s far!”
I recognized the voice. “Not now, Victoria. I’m doing something important.”
“Um, well, can I teleport? I want to show you something.”
“What?” I asked impatiently.
“Just… I leveled up.”
“Oh. Cool. Congrats on becoming… uh… level 31?”
“No. I mean I leveled a lot. And I finished Marleybone. And MooShu…”
“What! You finished MooShu?”
“Yep.” She sounded pleased with herself that I finally understood that this was important. “So can I come? You won’t believe what level I am now.”
“Uh…”
She didn’t let me continue. There was a flash next to me, and out of the light came Victoria, dressed form head to toe in Dragonspyre armor.
“Wow. You’re a Master.” Though I did my best to sound ebullient, I couldn’t help but sigh. Great. Another person who would want to come with me.
“Hey, Victoria,” Mark greeted. He examined her new clothes. “Wow, level 45? Cool. You’re almost to 48, where you’ll learn Storm Lord!”
“I’m excited for you, Victoria,” I said, “but I’ve got to focus on the task at hand.”
“Ooh! What task?” She looked at my solemn face. “Oh. Bad, huh?”
“Yeah, Rowan’s been kidnapped!” Mark exclaimed.
“No way! Really? Oh gosh, don’t worry Sierra! Mark and I are Masters. We’ll help you!”
“I’d probably already be there if you guys didn’t keep distracting me!”
“No, it was lucky you found me. Otherwise there would be no way for you to get into Dragonspyre Academy. Even if you did, I lit the fire for you in that house. You wouldn’t be able to see without me,” Mark pointed out.
“Oh, what does it matter,” I mumbled. “You’re here now, and that’s what counts. But if you are here, turn of teleports. I don’t want anyone else coming.”
Once they did, I asked, “So then, are we going through that door?”
“Um, I don’t know. What’s behind it?” Victoria inquired.
I rolled my eyes. “You honestly think I know that?
“Oh. Oops.”
“If we don’t know,” Mark said, “then I suppose we should open it.”
Rowan
Inside the room it was pitch black. Dark as night. Utterly terrifying.
Well, except for the light that flooded through the door Mister Muffin and I had come through. That certainly helped. It was also enough that, as my eyes began to adjust, I could see enough of the room to maneuver around in it.
Or so I thought. I stumbled into something cold and metal that I hadn’t seen, which tumbled over with a loud clank. I heard the familiar cry of a dragon. “I’m okay, Muffy! You can stop yelping like that.”
The noise didn’t cease. “Come on, Mister Muffin. It’s not a big–” I turned to glare at my pet, and he was still floating there with a pleased expression on his face. His mouth wasn’t moving.
At that same moment, there was movement at my feet. I shrieked and backed away.
The flurry of movement and rustling continued in front of me. Mister Muffin, to my surprise, rushed over to the spot where I had just been.
“What are you doing?” I yelled at him. But my dragon seemed not to be listening.
I examined the movement more closely. It was coming from the metal thing I had knocked over. I couldn’t be sure in the darkness, but it looked like it could be a –
With a flash, there was light in the room. Mister Muffin was breathing fire again, and all was revealed.
The metal thing was a cage. Concealed inside of it was a trembling yellow-and-white female dragon.
“Oh, Muffy!” I whispered, coming up next to him and kneeling in front of the cage. “The poor thing!”
By the light of Mister Muffin’s dimming fire, I could also see that there was another cage on the other side of the room, with a pile of charred Skeletal Pirate bones in front of it.
“I see!” I exclaimed. “Muffy, you freed yourself and burned the guard, but you couldn’t save your girlfriend, could you? So you came to find me.” I couldn’t help but giggle a bit. The thought of my dear little Muffy in love with a beautiful girl dragon amused me. But then my dragon gave me a dirty look, and I stopped.
“Hmm… how did you get out of your cage, Muffy?” I looked at the sturdy lock keeping the dragon inside.
Mister Muffin’s fire went out. He then flew over to the Skeletal Pirate’s remains. Lying on the floor next to them was a key. I imagined that the Skeletal Pirate had been attempting to unlock Mister Muffin’s cage, but Muffy burned him before he could take him to… wherever he had been going.
Carefully, I removed a couple of the bones (ick!) and under them I discovered another key. I turned around and inserted it in the lock, but it didn’t fit. “What are we going to do?” I whined. “There’s no way to save the dragon.”
I peered into the cage to examine the dragon again. She looked mortally terrified, huddling in the corner of the cage that was as far from me as possible. “It’s okay,” I soothed. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’ll help you.” I cautiously reached my hand through the bars, thinking I could stroke her back. Instead, she snapped at me, and I drew my hand back. “Hmph. Not very nice, are you?”
Mister Muffin whined behind me and flew over to my side. He looked at me with mournful eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll help your girlfriend! Um, well, I would, if I knew how to.”
The dragon in the cage whimpered again, and it reminded me so much of Mister Muffin. “So what’s your name, sweetie?” I crooned.
She just looked at me with those same sad eyes.
“Maybe I should give you a name! Let’s see… what would fit you? Princess something, perhaps? Princess Chelsea? That’s cute. Do you like it?”
She continued staring. I glanced at my own dragon and was struck by inspiration. “Miss Muffin!” I shouted. Mister Muffin flitted around me with excitement. I could tell he liked the name, too.
“Okay, then, Miss Muffin!” I paused. “You know, I think you need a nickname, too. Muffy is already taken by Mister Muffin, so…” I snapped my fingers. “Got it! How about Missy?”
For some reason, I had the feeling Miss Muffin wasn’t listening, no matter how much she stared at me with her innocent, curious eyes.
“Now I suppose I’d better go back to trying to help you now that you have a name, right?” I sighed. “Let’s see here, then. How can I help...?”
Sierra
“So… who’s going to open the door?” I asked.
Mark and Victoria exchanged glances.
“Um, not me,” Mark announced. “I’m tired out from the fire I had to make. Sorry!”
“I, um, yeah… you should do it, Sierra! It’s your sister,” Victoria replied.
“Me? No! I’m not at all anxious to find out what’s really behind it.”
“Neither are we,” Victoria declared.
“Yeah, Sierra, didn’t you say you didn’t want us here in the first place? If we weren’t here, you’d have to do it yourself,” Mark reminded me.
“But you are here, and if you want to help me, you should open it,” I insisted.
“Why are we even fighting over this? I should just leave,” Victoria huffed.
I considered Victoria’s words. It was a rather silly argument. I was still extremely reluctant to discover what horrors the door may conceal. In my opinion, they should stay concealed.
“You know what? I’ll just do it,” Mark said, rolling his eyes. “This is just ridiculous.” Muttering something about us being incapable on agreeing on something for “just once,” he approached the door. Hesitantly, he turned the handle and pushed. We all held our breath, terrified of what might happen –
The door didn’t open.
“That was anticlimactic,” Victoria remarked.
Mark yanked the handle a couple more times, jerking the door, but he still was unable to change its position. “Sorry, but it’s locked.” He gave me and angered look. “We could have saved a lot of time if you’d just tried it, Sierra.”
“Oh, so now it’s my fault,” I complained. “Well, at least I have a plan.”
“What would that be?” Victoria questioned.
I took out the Key of Frost. “It’s been helping me quite a lot today,” I explained. “It thought it might work on the door.”
“What if it doesn’t?”
“I’ll figure that out if it happens.” I walked over to the door and inserted the Key of Frost in the door.
Sure enough, the key worked.
“Huh. It actually fit!” Victoria said.
I beamed. “Of course it did! I thought so. Anyway… shall we go inside?”
Rowan
“Really, what can we do?” I moaned. “You got out because a Skeletal Pirate unlocked the cage and you defeated it. But… hey, do you think you could melt the lock? You know, with your fire breath?”
Muffy shook his head. He couldn’t do it. To demonstrate, he breathed deeply and heaved out a cloud of smoke. “Oh. Out of fire?” I looked at the frightened female. “I’m so sorry, Missy. I don’t think we can –”
Mister Muffin suddenly cried out urgently. I spun around and perceived footsteps approaching.
“Uh-oh…” I frenetically glanced around. Besides the cage there was nothing. Nowhere to hide, nowhere to go…
Hoping to buy at least a little time, I closed the door and leaned against it, panicked. Great, I thought. Now I’m going to be caught again! This is definitely the worst day of my life!
Sierra
The door slid open with an agonizing slowness that I’m sure all three of us hated. I stared into the darkness inside, hoping that my face did not betray my fear. Every time the opening in the door became a little wider, my necklace’s shimmer increased, and so did my anxiety.
Finally I opened a small crack wide enough for us to slip through. We entered, one by one.
First thing Victoria and I did was scan our surroundings. We exchanged worried, but partially relieved glances – this was definitely the right place. Every nightmare I’d had for weeks had bared some resemblance to this place.
Mark barely seemed to notice the appearance. He walked straight into the center of the room, which was circular. Three hallways led off in separate directions. “Which way?” he inquired, as if we should know.
“Well… this is Malistaire’s place, all right. Oh, wait. One more test.” I reached over and put my hand on the seemingly smooth walls. I ran my fingertips over them, jumping when it pricked me. I pulled my hand back to reveal a small cut. “Yes, this is the same rough wall I remember,” I reported. I rubbed my injured finger. It was bleeding just a little bit, but I would be fine.
“Rough? What do you – ouch!” Mark cried as it cut him too. He stared at the wall in awe. “Whoa. It looks totally smooth, but really it’s –”
“We know.”
“Oh. Right.” He looked down each of the hallways. “So, where to?”
“I don’t know.” I stared down them, too. I couldn’t see the end of any of them, because they all turned at an angle.
“Why don’t you use your necklace again?” Victoria suggested. “It got us out once. It might be able to do it again, except, well, the opposite way. Maybe if we go toward the dark magic, we’ll find Rowan.”
“Or trouble,” I added under my breath. “But still, it’s a pretty good idea. So far, it’s the best one we have, so I’m willing to try it. Mark? What do you think?”
“I don’t really have a preference,” he replied, still examining the wall.
“Then it’s settled. Let’s see here…” I took off my necklace so I could see it better. For a while I just admired its beauty, then tested the middle tunnel. The light dimmed a bit, so I ruled that one out. I turned to the left, and it dimmed more. Becoming exasperated, I spun right – and the necklace flashed so brightly that I had to look away, before dimming to even less than the other two tunnels. “Huh. That’s peculiar.”
“And blinding,” Victoria added, rubbing her eyes.
Hesitantly, I said, “I think we should go this way.”
“Isn’t it glowing least over there?” Victoria reminded me. “Aren’t we looking for a brighter glow?”
“I want to know what that flash was about.”
“It could have been a glitch. A malfunction.”
“Uh, no. I don’t think so. Really, have you ever heard of a necklace with a glitch?”
Mark remained silent while Victoria and I debated. How strange, I thought, that he had been so garrulous just a few minutes before. Now that he was finally muted, I kind of missed his unnecessary comments.
Just as I was beginning to worry about him, he said, “We should go this way.”
He was pointing toward the left tunnel, which made Victoria and I look at him in confusion. Neither of us had even considered that direction. “Um, why?” Victoria questioned.
“I just heard something… some kind of racket.”
“Malistaire has lots of undead minions. Maybe it was a Skeletal Pirate or a Draconian or something,” I suggested.
He shook his head. “No. It sounded like… the cry of a dragon.”
We stared at him, stunned. I thought about Rowan’s dragon that had disappeared along with her.
I glanced behind me at the right tunnel. The flash still intrigued me, but maybe Mark was right.
“There was also this shuffling noise, and a door closing,” Mark continued. For a moment we sat there, all three of us looking hard. I got closer to the tunnel to hear better.
There it was – a panting noise, like someone breathing deeply with panic. Also, a grumbling sound like a strange language, suggesting that it was a Skeletal Pirate. But they couldn’t breathe, could they? A sound from the hallway like the jingling of keys met us. I took a step forward, but Mark held me back. “Wait,” he whispered. “Let’s keep listening for now.”
Rowan
I wanted so very, very much to hold my breath in terror. Instead, it came out in deep, noisy, frantic bursts that probably anyone could hear from a mile away. Hyperventilating was not really the best thing to start doing when you’re trying to hide, but I couldn’t help it.
It surely was a Skeletal Pirate. First of all, no wizard’s feet could make such a loud, hard, crackling sound when they hit the floor. It had to be a much harder substance – like bones. Secondly, whatever pushed on the door didn’t push with much force. Because Skeletal Pirates have no muscles, only bones, they aren’t very strong physically. Still, the thing that really gave it away was the frustrated muttering that came when the door didn’t open in Skeletal Pirate language.
I almost felt like laughing when I heard the pirate take out keys. He thought the door was locked! Yes, that had to be a pirate. Obviously, he didn’t have any brains.
There was the click of the lock and a shove again. After some more murmuring, footsteps started fading away.
It was only when the footsteps were almost completely gone that I reflected on what had just happened – and realized something crucial. If the door was locked, how did it click…?
Oh no. I quickly turned around and yanked on the handle. It didn’t budge. “That stupid Skeletal Pirate!” I grumbled, tugging on the door with all my might. “When when he was trying to unlock it, he did the opposite – locking it, with me inside!”
Sierra
I started when I heard footsteps coming our way. “We just got here!” I whispered to my friends. “I don’t want anyone to see us yet.”
“I agree,” Victoria said. “But where should we go?”
“Choose a different tunnel,” Mark suggested.
While I proclaimed “Right,” Victoria at the same time called, “Forward!”
We glanced at each other with contempt.
“Oh, come on, guys!” Mark said. “Just pick a way!”
“Well… fine,” I finally agreed. “We’ll go Victoria’s way, just this once.”
Unhappily, I led my friends through the tunnel as the clicking sound of footsteps on the floor disappeared behind us.
Rowan
Now I was in complete darkness.
It was impossible to see. Miss Muffin’s terrified shrieks began again, just as they had when I’d knocked her cage over. I sensed Mister Muffin moving somewhere to my left. At least I hoped it was Mister Muffin.
I pictured the room in my mind. If I was at the door, Miss Muffin’s cage should be a little farther to my right.
“OUCH!” I exclaimed as I whammed into a wall. “Geez! Why do I keep getting hurt?”
This time I put my hands in front of me as I felt my way along the wall to Miss Muffin’s cage. It was when I was pretty sure that I’d been walking a while that I wondered if I had miscalculated things. I had been walking for quite a while, and there was still no sign of Miss Muffin.
Then a small crunch came from beneath my feet. I flinched when I heard the noise at first, startled, but then I curiously picked the odd item up.
I noted that it was thin a flexible, almost like paper, but stronger. It also seemed rectangular, and there was a slight tingling in my fingertips as I touched it…
I caught my breath. Could it be? Was it even possible? Something like this being here was so unbelievably luck it seemed almost inconceivable.
Could I be holding a spell card in my hand?
The Skeletal Pirate must have dropped it! I thought gleefully.
Wait. How did a spell card get all the way over here if the pirate dropped it? I had to be pretty far from the door at that point.
Worrying that I was about to find myself wrong once more, I reached out – and found a door handle. Groaning, I realized that I’d just circled the entire room and gone back to where I’d started, somehow missing Miss Muffin’s cage entirely. “Oh, come on! Can’t I just have one break?”
Then I remember the spell card and smiled. Maybe I already had one.
Sierra
Just as I had feared, there were more intersections to come. I didn’t even bothering checking them this time. I allowed Victoria to lead us wherever she pleased.
We traveled through so many corridors that I wondered if we were going in circles. After a while, I started wanting to decide on a direction, too, and it soon became a strange competition between Victoria and I to choose the way we went. Soon enough, our controversy grew into something so great that Mark had to intervene before we hurt each other.
“Hey, guys –” Mark said, but then he was cut off from a roar just a bit farther away from us.
“That can’t be good,” I muttered.
Before I had even finished the sentence, there was a terrified shriek and a frightened, high-pitched inhuman wail. The three of us looked at each other with alarmed expressions as a stomping sound and another roar resounded through the hallways.
“That sounds like a Helephant,” Mark remarked.
“Actually, it does,” I agreed. “But why–”
“And that wail was almost the same thing I heard earlier,” Mark continued. “You know… that dragon call.”
“That was too high-pitched for Mister Muffin,” I pointed out sadly. “It had to be a female dragon.”
“What about the scream?”
I shrugged. “A Banshee?”
“No, it was definitely human. And where exactly did the Helephant come from? I think, maybe, just maybe, Rowan cast it.”
“She’s not a Master!”
“Doesn’t matter. You have Treasure Cards, don’t you?”
Suddenly, a large piece of the roof broke above us and crashed to the ground inches away with a force that easily could have killed all three of us. “Forget it!” Victoria shouted. “Let’s get out of here!”
Without protest, I started to follow her, but Mark stayed put. “I’ll go find Rowan myself,” he angrily huffed. Before we had time to react, he dashed off in the direction of the roaring.
“Mark!” I cried, but an exceptionally large piece fell to the ground in front of me. I would have been crushed if Victoria hadn’t yanked me back at the last second.
Now the pathway Mark had taken was blocked. I wanted to cry. This place was so big. How would we ever find him again?
“Well,” Victoria started, her voice shaking, sounding as dismayed as I was but doing a bit of a better job at hiding it, “there’s… nothing we can do at this point. All we can do is go another way.” She looked at the crumbling roof. “We’d better hurry.” She helped me up, and together we scurried away.
Rowan
“I have to do it,” I told myself. “I have to try to cast this card.”
What if it’s something dangerous? a nagging voice at the back of my head told me. It could be something that is impossible to control.
“But I have to do it!” I said aloud. The only problem was that I didn’t even know how to do it. I couldn’t see the card. Each spell had its own special way to cast it. The worst part was that some of the magic came simply from visualizing what you wanted to happen – and I couldn’t visualize what I couldn’t see!
“Mister Muffin, do you have your fire back yet?” I inquired.
There was a disappointed grunt that I understood as a definite “no.”
“There’s got to be some way to get some light. Or at least another way out of this room.” I looked at the card again, straining my eyes, trying my hardest to see without success.
Another whimper sounded from across the room. It likely was Miss Muffin. She always did that when the room got too quiet.
“Oh!” I shouted excitedly. “I have an idea! Muffy isn’t the only dragon here.” I faced the general direction of the cage. “Miss Muffin… could you breathe some fire for me? Please?”
There wasn’t an answer.
“Um, Muffy, could you tell her the same thing I just said?”
Mister Muffin grunted his consent, and with a flapping of wings and some kind of hushed dragon conversation, Mister Muffin reasoned with Missy.
When I was least expecting it, the room lit up. “Agh!” I cried as I was temporarily blinded. “Gosh, Muffy! How many times do I have to tell you, warn me before you do that!”
My sight returned soon enough, and I glanced down at the card and emitted an audible gasp.
It was a Helephant…
Sierra
We didn’t stop running until we couldn’t hear the stomping anymore. My lungs were on fire. When Gamma had found me on Earth and I discovered I was a wizard, I never expected to have to run so much – especially since I’d always thought wizards flew on broomsticks or something. Which, apparently, some did. But I didn’t have a mount yet.
While we were resting, there was an odd muttering of voices that began growing louder. Victoria and I tensed.
But the voices passed us by and started fading away in the other direction. Both of us heaved out a breath of relief.
I motioned for Victoria to follow me. I wanted to see who it was. Perhaps, if we were incredibly lucky, it was even guards heading to Rowan. Then again, there was still Mark somewhere…
Don’t think about that, I told myself. He’ll be fine.
In a desperate attempt to distract myself, I focused on the task at hand. I made my footsteps silent so that I could get as close as possible to hear what they were saying.
“…and now I really don’t want to go!” one voice was saying. It was gruff and earthy-sounding, if that makes sense. From my experiences on Triton Avenue, I guessed that it was a Rotting Fodder of some sort. “But we have to. We promised to inform him of anything important happening in the fortress.”
“That girl’ss completely worthlessss, anyway,” another voice with a Draconian accent agreed bitterly.
Girl? Could they, by some miracle, be talking about Rowan?
“I just don’t understand why he cares about her so much,” the first voice continued. “She’s just one person.”
“That isss the point,” the Draconian said. “Ssshe isss suppossed to lead the otherss here. And I guesss as long as don’t know ssshe esscaped, they sstill might come.”
Escaped…
Rowan escaped! I was totally overjoyed. I hadn’t heard any of the other words they had said. Only that one mellifluous word that continued echoing in my head, over and over: escaped, escaped, escaped...
Then it hit me.
My face instantly fell. This place was so large. If Rowan was lost in here somewhere, we would never find her!
My spirits dampened, I halfheartedly continued to follow the unseen pair.
Soon there were other voices in the background, and the Rotting Fodder and Draconian fell silent. There was some kind of angry yelling coming from up ahead, and I knew that if it were me having a conversation, I would stop when I heard that, too.
As we got closer, I realized with a jolt that there was only one person that that cold, cruel voice could belong to. And I knew him.
Malistaire.
Rowan
To my amazement, casting the Helephant really wasn’t that difficult. I was trained second in Fire, after all. The only hard part was controlling it.
When the mighty Helephant appeared, I hadn’t been able to do anything but stare in awe. It lit up the blackened room as if it were glowing on the inside. It towered above me, at least fifty feet tall, and just one of its massive fingers was larger than my entire body.
It blinked at first, as if getting used to its new surroundings, and then let out a roar. It started stomping around, nearly crushing me, and I couldn’t help but let out a scream and back away. Miss Muffin’s wild calls rose again. The Helephant raised its sword, and I closed my eyes, expecting to feel it slice through me at any moment.
As it turns out, the blow wasn’t aimed at me. Instead, with a blast, the locked door was blown off its hinges and flew into the wall outside. Bits of rubble tumbled around me.
Among the chaos, I thought I heard other people yelling, but I couldn’t be so sure with so much going on.
With the pathway free, I hurried out the new entrance, picking up Miss Muffin’s cage and checking that Mister Muffin was following me. Behind us, the Helephant bellowed again and knocked another gaping hole in the wall.
Then I heard someone furiously say, “I’ll find Rowan myself!”
I was startled by the sound of my own name. Was someone looking for me? And if so, was that good – or bad?
I contemplated this for so long that I didn’t have a chance to decide. The person rushed around the corner and spotted me. Skidding to a stop, they gasped, “Rowan!”
“H-hi, Mark,” I stammered.
“You… you are here!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, which really wasn’t all that loud in the pandemonium of the Helephant. He turned around. “Sierra! Victoria! I found her!”
“Uh, what are you… Wait, Sierra’s here? And Victoria? Where!”
“I left them, back there.” He looked over his shoulder and a peculiar expression – a mixture of anger, annoyance, fear, and sadness – washed over him.
Realizing that it must be a touchy subject, I said, “That’s fine. You don’t need to tell me.”
“We have to find them!” he said vehemently.
“Um, but–”
“Come on. This way!” He started running the way he came and I hesitantly followed.
At this point I was really, really confused. Mark had just appeared out of nowhere, demanding I come with him to find my sister and friend who were apparently lost. Then again, he hadn’t really said he wanted me to come. “Maybe I should stay here,” I called, halting.
“No, it’s fine. You can come,” Mark said, misinterpreting my meaning.
“I really think I should stay,” I insisted.
Finally, he stopped to look at me. “Why?”
“Um, err, uh… if you get lost, you can teleport back to me.”
“TELEPORT!” Mark loudly repeated. “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that earlier?”
“Um…” I watched as he made the motions to teleport. I waited as he squinted eyes and just stood there. Apparently whatever he was trying to do wasn’t working.
“Oh no!” he groaned eventually. “Sierra made us turn of teleports earlier so that no one else would come. I just wonder if Whisper Chat works…”
“Mark, just give up,” I sighed. “Don’t you think they would already have teleported to me if they could?”
All of a sudden, it hit me. “Wait! How are you on Sierra’s list? My parents forced you to take me off mine, remember?”
“Oh. Well, um, your parents don’t know we’re friends.”
“Obviously. I didn’t even know!”
“We meet in secret. Kind of like you and me.”
“So how come you don’t add me to your list secretly?” I complained. “I’ve known you longer!”
“Sorry. We just had to do it because we’re both Seekers.”
At the sound of “Seekers” I instantaneously perked up, and felt waves of anger, betrayal, and jealousy. Mark knew about these Seekers, but he had never told me! Sierra obviously knew about them too…
“Why does no one trust me!” I whined. “It’s not fair!” I glared at him. “What is a Seeker? You’d better tell me. Now.”
He stared at me with shock. “You mean you don’t know?”
This confused me as well. “No. Should I?”
“Well… yeah! I think so! I can’t believe Sierra didn’t tell you. You’re her sister, for goodness sake! I’d tell me family, if they’d listen to a word I said.”
“What are they?” I repeated, more calmly this time.
Mark sighed. “Ugh, I really hate being in this position, but you have to know. Besides, Sierra was probably hiding it to protect you. She never knew you’d be kidnapped and trapped in the Seekers’ arch-enemy’s lair. Okay then. Let’s see here. Uh, remember the first day I met Sierra, at that party we held in the Life Tower? Well, if kind of had something to do with that…”
Sierra
We crouched around a corner to watch the frightening scene unfold. Malistaire was in the center of a room that reminded me of my own prison while in here, except the door was open the time. Mary RavenGem was there as well, but, to my relief, Liam was not.
The Rotting Fodder and the Draconian, visible to us now, cringed when they heard Malistaire boom, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘SHE ESCAPED’?”
“Exactly what I said I meant,” Mary replied, showing absolutely no fear. “She flew out with that silly dragon of hers. Besides, it’s that idiot Skeletal Pirate of yours that got itself burned by the dragon and allowed it to get away.”
“You were supposed to be watching her!”
“No, I wasn’t. Liam was.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, it’s not my fault that you put a hole in the ceiling.”
Malistaire was shaking with fury, glaring at Mary. I couldn’t but respect her. Anyone who could stand there, staring at Malistaire so utterly calm when he was so enraged was someone that you simply had to admire for their bravery – or senselessness.
The Rotting Fodder and Draconian were standing in the doorway still, looking worriedly at each other. Mary noticed them and asked them, “What do you want?”
“M-master,” the Rotting Fodder stammered. “There was a H-Helephant in the… the…”
“A Helephant?” Mary repeated.
“Y-yes…”
I looked at Victoria. “So it was a Helephant!” I whispered.
She nodded and, appearing annoyed, put a finger to her lips. I gave her an apologetic look and returned to the scene.
Mary turned to Malistaire. “Why do you think there would be a Helephant?”
Malistaire, his composed demeanor returning, looked at the nervious Rotting Fodder and Draconian. “What did you do about it?”
They exchanged glances. “Um, nothing, Massster,” the Draconian hissed. “We came to tell you right away…”
“So,” he said with a completely false-sounding sweetness, “can you give me a reason why I shouldn’t dispose of you now?”
“Um…”
With one wave of his staff, two ghostly pairs of arms reached out of the ground and lunged for the Draconian and Rotting Fodder. Before they could react, they fell to the ground with terrified shrieks, limp.
I was horrified. They’re only enemies you find everyday, I told myself. Still, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. Plus, I shuddered when I thought of Victoria or any of the other Seekers being there… or even me…
I shut my eyes and began backing away, gesturing for Victoria to follow me.
However, Victoria stayed put. Her eyes went wide with fright and she silently shook her head and pointed behind me.
Confused, I turned around –
And found myself face to face with a Skeletal Warrior.
“Well, well. What do we have here?” he said, smiling as if he had just won the lottery. Which, I suppose, in his case, he had. Capturing two Seekers would be exactly what Malistaire would want.
Unfortunately, the two Seekers… were us.
Rowan
Mark finished his explanation at length. Even after he was done, I stood there, leaning against the wall for support. All of it was just so fantastic, so surreal.
Indeed, it felt surreal. I had to be dreaming. My sister… she just didn’t seem capable of doing anything more than defeating some minor bosses with me in MooShu. How could that very same sister be the leader of a group of wizards destined to save the Spiral?
Why didn’t she tell me?
The anger bubbled up again. She didn’t tell me! I had a right to know. She had been hiding so many things right under my nose and I hadn’t even noticed until now!
Unable to hold it back, at long last I started sobbing. Mark just stared at me sympathetically, but that only made matters worse.
At least now things were a bit clearer. Sierra had told me about the first day she met Sydney and Hunter, and how Malistaire’s minions had come to steal her necklace. When I’d asked her where she bought the necklaces, she only said a friend had given them to her. Even before that, there was the day on Colossus Boulevard with that peculiar key she found. Hadn’t she been acting strange? Come to think of it, we never went looking for the door it fit ever again. I tried to recall the first time I heard the word “Seeker”. Wasn’t that when we met Jasmine? Yeah! Sydney said something about them. Something like, “She doesn’t know about Seekers.” Ugh! They were probably having some discussion that said something that teleported us to Sierra’s old world!
I was sure there were other references that I had never seen before.
“How could I have been so stupid!” I hollered.
“You’re not stupid, Rowan. You shouldn’t say things like that,” Mark reasoned.
“I’m ignorant, then. Whatever word you want to use. It was right in front of me! How did I miss it?”
“I didn’t see anything different in Sierra when I first met her,” Mark said.
“You don’t live with her!” I countered.
It was then that Mister Muffin emitted an alarming cry. We looked at him. “What is it, Muffy?”
He looked pointedly down at the direction the Helephant we’d left behind was still raging. I had forgotten all about it. I then understood what Mister Muffin’s yelps were about. The Helephant’s roars were a lot closer now…
Mark was thinking the same thing. He said, “Let’s go this way,” and we headed in the direction opposite from the stomping.
Sierra
“You could have warned me!” I accused Victoria, whom, even though I could no longer see her, I knew was there.
“I’m sorry,” she answered gently.
I supposed it wasn’t her fault, anyway, but in situations like this it was just easier to blame someone else. The Skeletal Warriors were coming up behind us, so we would be caught even if I hadn’t backed away. Besides, even if Victoria had cried out, it may have attracted the attention of a much, much worse evil that had been just around the corner.
We tried our best to fight, but it was useless. They were just so much more powerful than us. After stealing our decks, wands and spellbooks, they dumped us in this room and locked the door.
I recalled how much I loathed the darkness of these rooms, but at least I had Victoria with me this time to keep my company.
“What should we do, Sierra?” she asked quietly.
“Ask me later,” I replied, “because at the moment, I’m clueless.”
As I was trying to form an escape plan, my mind wandered to Mark. He was still out there somewhere, wasn’t he? Maybe he had found Rowan. I thought about what he might do if he had. Would he teleport to us? In fact, I would try teleporting to him if I didn’t need a spellbook to do it.
Plus, if Mark was out there, he may be our only hope for escape.
Finally, after a while of simply sitting there, Victoria spoke up. “Um, Sierra, I think I have a plan. But to do it, I should probably tell you what Vanessa and I were doing last time when you weren’t with us…”
Rowan
Mark led us aimlessly through winding tunnels and seemingly random corridors. Although every once and a while he glanced at me to get my consent for going a certain way, he ignored me for the most part. I imagined he was letting me alone to my thoughts. Good. I had a lot to think about.
We passed through a few hallways that wandered into rooms, but there wasn’t anything special in them. There were a few cages in one, some boxes in another, and a few Skeletal Pirates in even another whom Mark quickly took out with a hurriedly cast Ghoul card.
However, it was the fourth room that we found something interesting in.
Just as we were about to enter, some Skeletal Warriors from across the room began saying things in their Skeletal Pirate language. Mark had to pull me back to prevent me from nearly entering the room in plain sight.
I stood there, away from the doorway, my heart pounding in my chest, listening to the sound of their senseless speech. When I looked at Mark, he looked startled and thoughtful. Then he gasped aloud.
“Um, Mark? What is it?” I questioned.
“Shh!” he accused, signaling for me to be quiet. He crept closer to the doo and peered inside the room. I desperately wanted to look too, but we were more likely to be spotted that way. Instead, I waited petulantly.
At length, he turned and looked over at me. “You don’t have your deck?” He sounded surprised.
Wondering why he was deciding to ask me that now, I said, “No.”
“Where did the Helephant come from, then?”
“I think a Skeletal Pirate dropped the card.”
“Oh. Ugh, without your deck, you…” Then he stopped suddenly in mid-sentence and turned around.
“Mark, this is driving me crazy!” I hissed. “What are you looking at?”
“Just a second, Rowan. I’ll translate for you.”
From my side, Mister Muffin flew up and over by Mark. He looked out too, and I groaned. “Is everyone going to look except me?”
Mark shooed Mister Muffin away without even bothering to glance at him.
After an agonizing period of time that felt like it would stretch on forever, when I least expected it Mark swiftly spun around, looking alarmed. “Get back!” he urgently whispered, throwing me against the wall behind him. He had out his wand and looked ready to fight. Mister Muffin hurried behind my back with a small, scared yelp.
“Wha…” I began, and four Skeletal Warriors came through the entryway. I immediately quit talking and my eyes grew wide.
The warriors looked stunned that we were here. One of them said something in their language.
“Mark, what are you doing? Attack them!” I ordered in a whisper. I had never felt so helpless before. I was sure that with a carefully aimed arrow from my Centaur, these guys would be defeated in an instant.
But I didn’t have my deck, and I had no choice but to take cover behind Mark.
“Wait, I think I can reason with them,” Mark replied.
“What!” I groaned.
Without answering, Mark began to say something to the warriors.
And I didn’t understand a word of it.
With a jolt of shock, I realized that Mark was speaking in the Skeletal Pirate language.
Sierra
I stared at Victoria – or at least in the direction her voice had come from. “What do you mean?”
“Well, when your necklace told you to stay but we left… remember that?”
I nodded.
“Yeah. Well, I think I should probably tell you what happened then.”
Truthfully, I had been wondering about that for a while now, but I’d been too nervous to ask.
Victoria hesitated. “You know, it’s kind of a long story.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got time. We’re obviously not going anywhere.”
Victoria took a deep breath… and began.
“When we left you, Vanessa told us to retrace our steps the best we could. Somehow, we miraculously found our way back into the room that Vanessa had been trapped in. It wasn’t where Vanessa wanted to end up; she wanted to go back to where our stuff had been, but we ended up there.
“So I asked, ‘What is behind that door exactly?’” Victoria continued. “Because, I mean, don’t you remember that door we mistook for an exit? Well, I couldn’t believe it, because it just looked like a totally normal door, with no sunlight seeping out of it anymore.
“Vanessa said, ‘I can explain it best if I show you.’
“I followed her in the door. Surprisingly, it was dark. Almost pitch black. So I couldn’t see the shape of the room or anything. But then Vanessa used a Fire Cat treasure card, and I found that the room was really small. The walls were all white. In the center of the room there was a little dragon.”
I gaped at her. “Are you talking about Mister Muffin?”
“No!” she hastily said. “No, it was a different dragon. Rowan wasn’t there that day, remember? No, it was a female dragon. She was really sweet, and her scales were the most beautiful shade of yellow and pink. And just the way she looked at us..! I knew she was a prisoner, too.
“Vanessa explained that the dragon had been forced to breathe fire to light up the room last time. That’s why it looked like sunlight. Since I felt sorry for her, I scooped her up and embraced her in a hug. I tried to think of a name. I really wished she were a boy, because I would have named her Timothy after her timid personality. In the end, I got Lady Rascal. I don’t really know why. We just thought it was cute.”
“What happened to the dragon?” I inquired.
She shook her head sadly. “I’m not sure.”
“How did you get separated? She wasn’t there when I teleported to you.”
“I’m getting to that part. Um, where was I?”
“You named the dragon Lady Rascal.”
“Oh, right. So, Vanessa and I went back out into the room with the dragon and we walked back through the halls. When we’d spent about twenty minutes looking for an exit, Lady Rascal cried out a warning. I’ve heard that dragons have a special ability that allows them to sense danger. We knew we were in trouble when the sounds of a huge army of enemies met us. Remember, the one we told you about?”
Victoria paused, as if this memory were painful. “Then… we didn’t know what to do. But before we could figure out a plan, Lady Rascal zoomed off, back toward the army. And… she must have stopped them, because they didn’t follow us. But we never saw Lady Rascal again.”
Rowan
Mark and the Skeletal Warriors spoke quietly for quite a long time. In fact, it was so long that I grew tired of trying to decipher their senseless conversation.
I wished Mark would stop talking. I had so much to ask him! How did he even know Skeletal Pirate language? What was he saying? Why did the warriors keep looking at me as if I were something terrible?
After Mark stuttered over a few words, the warriors glared at him. I closed my eyes, expecting them to attack. “Mark, don’t just stand there! Do something!” I nearly screamed, not caring that the warriors would hear me.
Then one of the Skeletal Warriors made a strange amused chortling sound. I looked up in terror. Was he laughing?
“Are you afraid, little Theurgist?” he asked, staring straight at me.
I wasn’t sure how to answer, or why he was even asking in the first place. I choose to tell the truth, so I timorously nodded.
He grinned and looked back at Mark. “Very well. We will fulfill your request.” He chuckled again. “But you have to give some credit to us, then, for capturing this one here.”
I didn’t like the sound of that one bit.
The warrior motioned for Mark to follow him. Mark started to go, but I refused to leave the wall. I didn’t know where they were taking us, and I didn’t really want to find out.
However, the Skeletal Warriors had other plans. When I didn’t move, one roughly grabbed me by the arm and pushed me forward. Getting the message, I hurried to Mark’s side. I tried to grab on to his arm for some comfort, but he pushed my hand away.
I looked up at him, confused and hurt. Mark had been my best friend for a long time now and I had always been able to count on him to cheer me up.
When I looked at his face, it was as hard as steel. I had never seen him look like that before.
Fortunately, he saw me staring and he gave me a weak smile. I saw in his eyes the same Mark I had always known – all the fear, nervousness, and helplessness I expected him to feel, and even the friendly gaze that said, “Don’t worry Rowan. It will be fine,” even though I knew he didn’t believe it himself.
That was my Mark.
Because it was the only familiar thing I had left, I hung onto that image and closed my eyes, letting him lead me.
Sierra
“Wow. That’s… awful.” It was an extreme understatement, but it was all I could think of to say. Lady Rascal was likely dead by now. If she was, she surely had died a hero. Her sacrifice had saved two of my closest friends.
“I know,” Victoria agreed. “And she was the cutest dragon ever! I wanted to keep her so badly. I wonder why she was even in here in the first place.”
We didn’t speak for a while. Then I said, “After that, you found that room and I teleported to you. Right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why are you even bothering to tell me this?”
“Oh, right! It’s actually how we found that room that I wanted to tell you. After Lady Rascal ran away, Vanessa and I continued fleeing. When Vanessa leaned against this one wall to rest, it opened like a trapdoor. It’s just like what Vanessa did to make us fall, I think. There’s trapdoors all over the place.”
“So you’re saying that if we could find one of these trapdoors in here…” I said excitedly.
“… we could possibly escape? Exactly!” Victoria finished.
“Great!” I looked around myself, and then my spirits fell when I realized that I was surrounding by only darkness. “Uh, Victoria… how are we ever going to find anything in here?”
Rowan
“I don’t understand what we’re doing,” I said to Mark in a voice barely above a whisper, just quiet enough that the Skeletal Warrior didn’t hear. “And since when do you speak Skeletal Pirate?”
“It’s something they teach Necromancers at Master level. It is only for true Death wizards. They won’t even teach it to you if it’s your secondary. Even so, few Necromancers can actually speak it fluently, because it’s such a difficult language. I’m one of the only ones,” Mark bragged proudly but quietly.
“But what did you say to them?”
“Um, well… apparently you’re my prisoner and I work for Malistaire.” He smiled weakly.
“Mark!” I groaned a bit too loudly.
The Skeletal Warriors turned to glare at me and I snapped my mouth shut.
“Is there a problem, Theurgist?” one asked me. It said the word “Theurgist” as if were something horrible.
“N-no.”
“Good.” We proceeded with walking. Mister Muffin whimpered behind me. Turning around, I scooped him in my arms and held him close, trying to console myself as much as him. I looked down at Miss Muffin in the cage sympathetically. There was no way for me to cuddle with her.
When our footsteps returned to the same steady rhythm we had been in before, I whispered, “Where are we going?”
“They told me that Sierra and Victoria are… here. We’re going to them.”
Just then the warriors stopped. One said something to Mark, and he cringed.
“Mark? Mark! What is it?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He took out his wand solemnly, and the warriors backed away in fear and confusion. “Sorry,” he said, shaping the Death symbol, “but no one messes with Rowan, or any of my friends. Not even Malistaire.”
Mark summoned a Wraith. Though I knew it was on my side, I couldn’t help but back away. Even though I had a Death wizard as my best friend, I hadn’t gotten over the fact that it was my opposite element.
Apparently, though the warriors looked tough to me they were no problem for Mark. With a single blow the warriors broke apart and became a pile of bones.
“That was easier than I thought it would be,” Mark remarked, grinning.
I, on the other hand, was stunned. “What did you just do that for?” I yelled.
“We’ve reached our destination. We didn’t need them anymore.” He paused. “And they were going to lock you up.”
“Oh…” So that’s why he had cringed. Now I saw Mark as a hero who had just saved my life.
“Mark, you said we had reached our destination. What is it? Why is this spot so special?”
At that moment, a noise emanated from a door a short ways away. I jumped, but oddly, Mark beamed.
“So, Rowan,” he said, “are you ready to be reunited with your sister?”
Sierra
“I feel really, really silly,” I complained.
“Same,” Victoria agreed. “But you want to get out of here, don’t you? We have to keep looking.”
We were patting the ground and walls in an attempt to find a trapdoor. Victoria had created a small lightning bolt that provided a limited amount of light, but with the amount of flashing it tended to do it just made everything worse.
“Imagine what someone would think if they came in here right now,” I said sulkily. “They would see us crawling around on the ground like we’re searching for something we dropped.”
“We can use that as an excuse if someone does come,” she suggested.
“What could we have dropped? They took everything we have!”
“Well, maybe–”
Almost instantly, a hush seemed to fall over the room, and Victoria cut her sentence short. The room was chilly for some reason, even for me. It was as if all life had been sucked out of the area.
I knew this feeling. Someone was casting Wraith.
In a few moments, we sensed that the Wraith had disappeared. Everything felt normal again, except there were voices outside the door that couldn’t be the raspy voices of Skeletal Pirates.
“That sounds like Mark!” Victoria exclaimed.
“Oh my gosh… you’re right!” I rushed over to the door and, pounding my fists against it, I screamed, “Mark! We’re in here!”
In reply I heard a voice whisper, “Sierra?”
I froze, stunned. It wasn’t Mark.
“Rowan…?” I answered.
Rowan
I couldn’t believe my ears. Sierra was on the other side of that door!
Without really thinking it through, I reached for the handle. When the door wouldn’t budge I yanked it back and forth in desperation, hoping to move it, until Mark said, “Um, Rowan? It’s locked.”
I glared at the door, wishing I had my wand or deck for the millionth time that day. I would have taught the door a lesson.
“You mean you don’t have a key?” Victoria said from the other side of the door.
“No.”
“If only I could somehow give you the Key of Frost,” Sierra said wistfully. “After all it has done for me today, I wouldn’t be surprised if it worked.”
“Maybe I should just knock and it will open,” Mark said partially drily, partially playfully.
“Oh, be quiet. I was lucky that that house just opened when I knocked. I’ll admit it.”
I wasn’t really sure what they were arguing about. I was still stumped on what the “Key of Frost” was.
I felt something nudge my hip. I looked down to find Mister Muffin digging through my pocked. “Muffy…” I began, but then he took out the item I had forgotten was in there – a key.
“Oh! Right! Great idea, Muffy!” I grasped the silver key and showed it to Mark. “Do you think it will fit?”
“Where did you get that?” he questioned.
“A Skeletal Pirate was holding it. Mister Muffin took him out, and I took the key to try and unlock Missy’s cage, but it didn’t work.”
“Missy?” Sierra inquired, her voice muffled by the door.
“I’ll show her to you when you get out,” I promised. “Anyway, Mark, does it fit?”
Taking the key from me, he examined it. A small smile played on his face. “It just might!”
“Try it then!” I insisted eagerly.
He inserted it into the lock. With a click, it swung open.
Sierra emerged, tears of joy in her eyes. “Rowan…” she said in a whisper. “I… you can’t imagine how much I… missed you.”
I felt the tears rising in my eyes, too, but I fought them down. Instead, I managed a grin. “And where in the world have you been?” I demanded. “I was waiting for you! Instead, I had to get Mister Muffin’s help. A dragon is more heroic than you. A dragon!”
Sierra flashed me a smile. “What? No thank you? At least I came all the way to Dragonspyre to save you!”
I started laughing, and Sierra joined in. Then Mark and Victoria couldn’t help but begin, too. Soon enough, the four of us were crying from giggling so hard. It wasn’t so much that Sierra’s joke had been funny. No, we were laughing from relief. Finally, I was back with my friends.
However, when the laughter subsided, I realized we were faced with one more challenge.
“Um, guys?” I started.
The three turned to me.
“Uh… anyone know how we’re going to get out of here?”
Sierra
“If this is the same place we were in last time, I might be able to find the exit again,” I offered.
“If you can find a place that looks familiar,” Victoria said, “then that might work. But how are we going to recognize any of this? It all looks the same.”
“I could try my necklace again.” I slipped it over my head to show them how it was glowing.
“NO!” Mark cried, snatching it out of my hands to suddenly I had no chance to react.
“Mark! Why–” Then he threw it on the ground and stepped on it, breaking the sapphire in the middle.
“Mark!” Victoria gasped. “How could you do something like that?”
I stared at the shattered remains of my former necklace. At first I was furious. But then I scrutinized the pieces. Actually, how did it break in the first place? Sapphire is an incredibly hard substance, nearly impossible to break. Besides, weren’t these pieces black? My sapphire was blue…
“Wh-what was that thing?” I stammered.
“I had totally forgotten about it until this point! The Skeletal Warriors told me about this, too. Well, as you can see, that wasn’t your necklace. It was a fake Malistaire made.”
“But… I was wearing it!” Disgusted, I backed away from the shattered gemstone.
“How come it helped us last time, then?” Victoria pointed out. “Didn’t it lead you to the exit, Sierra?”
“Y-yeah.”
“It doesn’t look like a sapphire necklace,” Rowan commented.
“You know, it didn’t actually help us out,” I recalled. “When we teleported back, we found Malistaire with his undead army.”
“Oh, that’s right!”
I looked at the necklace’s remains ruefully. “I really hope I can find my real one.”
“Same,” Rowan agreed. “It was always so pretty.”
“That’s not the only reason,” I said. “I’m not sure if you knew this, Rowan, but my necklace can sense dark magic.”
She gaped at me. “Really?”
“Yeah…” For the first time, I looked long and hard at my sister. I couldn’t quite figure out why, but something was different. Maybe it was because she wasn’t wearing her cap.
I tore my eyes away from her appearance and looked down at the item she held in her hand. Indicating it, I inquired, “What’s that?”
“Oh!” Rowan lifted it up proudly, displaying a small cage with a dragon concealed inside.
Before I could comment, Victoria cried out, “Lady Rascal!”
Without glancing at her, she rushed over and snatched the cage out of a startled Rowan’s hand and began to speak to the dragon. “Oh, no! I’m so sorry this happened. You’re not hurt, are you? Who did this? I still need to thank you for saving us! I’m so glad I found you again. Don’t worry; I’ll get you out, somehow!”
The dragon in the cage – who apparently was the audacious Lady Rascal – was probably the most excited dragon I had ever seen. She beat her wings and stretched, trying to get closer to Victoria in the cramped cage.
“She seems to like you, Victoria,” Rowan said flatly. I couldn’t help but notice that she looked very offended.
I felt sorry for her, and wondered what had hurt her feelings so much. “Rowan, what’s wr–”
“Sierra.” Victoria hastened toward me before I could finish my sentence. “Where’s your key?”
“My… key?”
She rolled her eyes. “The Key of Frost!”
“It’s right here.” I took it out of my pocket and handed it to her, who, without a thank you, hurried back to the dragon’s cage.
Victoria turned my fantastic key into the lock, and the dragon was free.
Lady Rascal leaped out at Victoria with joy. While they were catching up with each other, Rowan huffed next to me, “It’s not fair.”
At first I didn’t pay attention to her. I had heard this statement multiple times when she thought I got something she deserved more. It was just the type of thing sisters always seem to do. I probably even said it once or twice.
However, I gave her a single glance and realized that she was very upset. “What’s up?” I asked.
“It’s just that… I was the one who rescued Miss Muffin from being locked up in that room! Why does she like Victoria so much better?”
“Miss Muffin…?” I said questioningly. I looked down at Mister Muffin on the floor by Rowan’s feet. He, too, looked rejected.
“Oh! I see. You like that dragon, don’t you, Mister Muffin?”
“Yes, he does,” Rowan replied unhappily. “For the record, I did, too.”
“Aww…” I watched as Victoria hugged Lady Rascal – or was it Miss Muffin? – and hold her tightly, as if there was nothing more important in the world.
A smile came across my face. “We still need a way out of here, don’t we?”
Rowan soberly nodded.
My smile grew wider. “I think that maybe the two dragons can help us.”
Rowan
Sierra left me confused. How could my dear Muffy and the unfaithful Missy assist us in any way?
Although I felt betrayed by Miss Muffin, I knew that Mister Muffin must be feeling even worse. He had loved her, I was pretty sure. Now Victoria, a complete stranger, comes along and Miss Muffin totally abandons us.
I watched my sister and she dashed over to Victoria, Miss Muffin, and Mark. The way she said “help us” had given me an uncomfortable feeling – as if she were about to make the dragons do something she knew I wouldn’t like.
While Sierra was speaking with Victoria, I glared at Miss Muffin. How dare she to this to us!
Soon my three companions headed toward me. I resolved that I wouldn’t talk. I would wait until they begged me to forgive them.
“Sierra has a plan,” Mark announced cheerfully.
“Yeah, but we need Mister Muffin’s help,” Victoria said.
Sierra said, “I was thinking that Lady Rascal and–”
“Her name is Missy!” I shouted, interrupting my sister.
So much for not talking.
“Uh… okay,” Sierra nervously agreed. “Missy and Mister Muffin can go up ahead of us by themselves – I mean, by themselves, together,” she hurriedly added as she saw my eyes flash with anger. “Then they can search for an exit, or at least find out where the dead ends are.”
“You’re saying that you want to make the dragons scout ahead,” I checked.
“Pretty much.”
“Why do the dragons have to go? Why can’t you go?”
“I was thinking that the dragons are faster with their wings, and pretty agile, too. If they run into trouble, they have the best chance out of all of us to–”
“No. You don’t care about them. You would send them to their deaths if it helped you out!” I turned away from them. “I don’t even know why you came to rescue me. Just get out of my sight!”
“Rowan…”
I wasn’t listening. Scooping up Mister Muffin and leaving the treacherous dragon there, I sprinted down the hallway. I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew I was getting away from them.
When I rounded I corner, I unexpectedly found someone already standing there. I crashed into them, and I flew backward and landed on my back with a thump.
The wind was temporarily knocked out of me. For a few seconds I lay there, trying to get my breath back. Then I heard someone say, “Rowan?”
Startled at the sound of my own name, I raised my head, and in a small, terrified voice just above a whisper, I squeaked, “Liam!”
Sierra
“Rowan’s really ungrateful, isn’t she?” Victoria huffed. “We should just leave her.”
“She’s my sister!” I reminded Victoria, appalled that she would even suggest such a thing.
“If we don’t go after her, she’ll get caught again,” Mark pointed out.
“After all this work, we wouldn’t want to lose her,” I agreed. “Not that we would want to in the first place, but…”
“Oh, I guess you’re right,” Victoria said. She looked around. “Anyone remember which way she went?”
“I think she went this way.” I indicated a hallway.
“Let’s hope you’re right,” Victoria sighed.
The three of us hurried the way Rowan had headed, Lady Rascal trailing behind us. I only hoped we could calm her down. After only six months in Wizard City, I wasn’t really an expert at the “older sister” thing yet.
However, when I turned the corner, I saw Rowan was already with someone.
And that “someone” happened to be Liam GriffinBane.
“Rowan!” I gasped. “Get away from him!”
“I wasn’t–” she began, but I roughly grabbed hold of her wrist and yanked her away.
“Don’t you dare touch my sister,” I growled at Liam.
“Is this the way you’re always going to react when you see me?” Liam asked bitterly.
“Yeah. Pretty much,” I replied with equal acrimony. I faced my sister again, turning at just the right angle that I could look at her and keep an eye on Liam. “Don’t you remember what I told you when I came back last time? Liam is evil!”
“I know that, but–”
“See? I leave you alone for just a few minutes and you find him.” I glared at Liam to prove a point. “In fact, why are you down here? Probably coming to execute Victoria and me!”
“Um, well… I actually was coming to see you…” He eyed us suspiciously. “How did you get out, anyway?”
I ignored his last question – had he really expected a truthful answer, anyway? “As you can see, Rowan, he was just going to add another indelible mark on his already diminishing reputation. We’d better leave before he calls on some of his new Draconian buddies.”
“Me? Friends with a Draconian? No way. They’re idiots. And… I wasn’t coming to kill you. That’s Mary’s job. I… wanted to talk to you.”
“Oh, right. Talk to us,” I scoffed, smirking. “Then, go ahead. What did you want to say? You’ve got my attention.”
“I, uh, wanted to ask you about Vanessa.”
I just stood there, too stunned to speak. That certainly hadn’t been what I had expected to hear.
“Please tell me if she’s okay,” Liam begged. “I’m really worried about her. I can’t go a few minutes without wondering if she is doing all right.”
The first thing I thought was, How sweet! He still cares about his sister, even now.
Then I remembered who I was talking to.
“And why should I tell you?” I challenged.
“Because I’m her brother… and you’re not really in a position to argue.”
I let out a frustrated huff of air. Unfortunately, he was right.
“Besides, Vanessa would want it. She wouldn’t want me to worry,” he added.
That, at least, was true. “Well… you might as well ask Mark instead. He has been living with her.”
“Oh! Mark!” he said, as if just noticing he was there. “She’s staying with you? That’s a relief. I thought she might be with Sie–” He stopped himself just in time, but not before I understood what he was saying.
“What’s wrong with me?” I furiously asked. “At least I would take care of her. Unlike you! You’re the reason your parents are dead!”
He winced as if I hit him. He replied, “I’m also the reason Vanessa is alive.”
“No you’re not. Victoria and I were the ones who saved her. You were too busy with Malistaire to even care about her.”
“Y… you saved her?” He sounded surprised, which only made me more angry.
“Did you think Malistaire had freed her? As if!”
“I..” I felt slightly pleased that Liam was confused. Maybe it would show him what he had done wrong.
“Just… tell me if she’s okay. That’s all I want,” Liam said to Mark.
“She’s, uh, fine,” Mark said. “She just finished the Tree of Life.”
“What level is she?”
“Uh… I think it was 38.”
Liam sighed with relief. “Good. Is she working on her spell quest for Spectral Minion?”
“Yeah. Is that what she’s getting? She’ll be happy when I tell her!”
“Okay, you’ve got your answer, Liam,” I said. “We’re leaving.”
“But… wait! I wanted to know more about Vanessa. Is she safe? She’s always with a friend when questing, right? I told her to keep someone with her who can heal, in case she get hurt.”
At first his concern had been touching, but now it was just becoming annoying. “We’ve been on the same quests ever since she helped me get to MooShu. She is always with me. If I’m not available, she’s with Sydney, Rowan, or Victoria. Is that all?” I said in an irritated tone, glaring at him.
“Well, I was also curious about–”
“This is a waste of our time!” I shouted. “Vanessa is a Seeker now. Don’t you get it? If you’re working against the Seekers, you’re working against your sister.”
Liam stared at me in shock. “Vanessa’s a Seeker?”
“Of course she is! What did you think we were in the Pyramid of the Moon for? We…” My voice trailed off as I realized that Liam had no idea what I was talking about. I decided if he didn’t know, perhaps I shouldn’t tell him.
“That’s what you were there for?” Liam gasped. “When the Colossus told us who the Life Seeker was, we thought that was the only reason you had come.”
“Well, now you know,” I sighed. “Vanessa is a Seeker, and she–” I abruptly stopped as his words sank in. “Wait… YOU KNOW WHO THE LIFE SEEKER IS?”
“You don’t know who the Life Seeker is?”
“I… I might.”
He looked at me skeptically. “So that wasn’t why you came to save Rowan?”
“What wasn’t? To… find the Life Seeker? No, not at all!” I glanced at my sister, whose arm was still trapped in my grasp from when I had pulled her away from Liam. I released her and said, “No. I care about Rowan. I haven’t been with her for a very long time, but it’s been long enough to make me realize that she’s the best – if not the most unique – sister that anyone could ever have. I wouldn’t leave her behind for the world.”
Rowan looked at me, and I held her gaze. Slowly, she grinned. I beamed. I knew I was forgiven.
“What about them?” Liam said in a way that made him sound like he hadn’t cared that my sister and I were sharing a special moment one bit.
Mark and Victoria looked at each other. “Liam… we’re Rowan’s friends too,” Mark pointed out.
“Besides, we’d never let Sierra do something dangerous alone,” Victoria added, grinning. “We’d miss out on all the fun, and we would never hear the end of it from her.”
Liam stared at the four of us for a while, and then he closed his eyes thoughtfully. “You know what? I think you’re right.”
I hadn’t really been expecting that answer. “About what?”
“Vanessa will be safe with you. I should stop worrying.” He turned around, no longer facing us. “Look… tell Vanessa I was wondering about her, okay?” He started walking back in the direction he had come from. Just as he was about to round the corner, he stopped and slowly turned back to us. He hesitated for a moment. “Um… you know, I can’t tell you that there is a trapdoor down that hallway to your left that leads to the outside.” He looked at us nervously. “Good luck.”
Before I could thank him, Liam sped around the corner and vanished.
Rowan
At first, we were all so stunned that no one could speak. Even when I found I could, I remained silent to allow my companions to gather their own thoughts.
Sierra was the first to voice the exact thing all four of us had been thinking. “Should we trust him?”
“I think we should,” Mark said.
“That’s because you weren’t there when everything horrible happened! Sierra was there. We shouldn’t believe anything he says. Right, Sierra?”
“Um…”
“Personally, I think it’s safe to at least give him a chance,” I put in.
“You weren’t there either, Rowan,” Victoria reminded me. “I’m sorry, but you really don’t understand what’s going on.”
For some reason, this brought up all my anger back from before. “No, I don’t!” I shouted. “Can’t someone explain?” Victoria opened her mouth to speak, but I signaled for her to stop. “No, not you.” I turned to my sister. “You had better give me some answers.”
“Me?” Sierra said with an annoyingly ignorant and astounded tone.
“Yes, you! Why didn’t you tell me about the Seekers?”
The color drained from Sierra’s face. Her eyes darted away from mine as she tried not to meet my accusing gaze. “I didn’t want you worried.”
“Well, heck yeah! I’m worried!”
“I’m sorry. It’s complicated. I mean… it was selfish of me.”
“No kidding!”
“I just didn’t want you mixed up in all of this. I suppose I was only thinking about what I would feel if I lost you. Not once did I consider how betrayed you would feel if you ever found out.”
I paused for a moment. I hadn’t really thought of it that way. Was if possible that if she had told me sooner, I would have been injured… or worse?
“Please forgive me,” she begged. “I’ll tell you about it now if you want.”
“Actually, I already told her a lot,” Mark explained.
“Really? How much do you know, Rowan?”
I decided that, although I would like very much for my sister to tell me about her adventures, now was not the right time. Instead, I returned to my original point. “I know enough to know that Liam wasn’t lying, and we should try to exit the way he told us to.”
Looking totally torn, Sierra glanced at Mark and Victoria for their input.
“I still agree,” Mark said. “What’s the worst that could happen? …No, don’t answer that. Anyway, Liam said that he wanted us to protect Vanessa. I’m sure he is anxious for us to get back and ensure that she is all right.”
“You’ve got a point,” Sierra agreed.
We all looked at Victoria.
“When you put it that way… I guess we can at least see if the area looks risky,” Victoria reluctantly consented.
I grinned. “Then we’re all in agreement?”
They nodded – Sierra slowly and unsurely; Victoria grudgingly; and Mark eagerly.
“Great!” I declared. “Then let’s go find that trapdoor!”
Sierra
Rowan led the way as we trooped down the hallway to our left, just as Liam had suggested. Anyone could tell that there was tension between us. Victoria appeared anxious and helpless and I knew she still didn’t believe that we were really going to leave the fortress. Then again, I wasn’t so sure myself. Was this the right decision? Rowan seemed to think it was. However, I wasn’t entirely positive she was educated enough on the subject to make a decent decision.
The two dragons clung to their preferred master’s side. Miss Muffin/Lady Rascal was currently in Victoria’s arms while Mister Muffin chose to fly lugubriously next to Rowan. My sister seemed to have completely forgotten about the Miss Muffin incident, and was now content to lead our party.
Eventually, the hallway split into two ways. I groaned inwardly. Liam had only said “a hallway to our left,” and not much else. He had never mentioned anything about having to choose a direction.
Rowan stared at the wall in dismay. Victoria said, “Well, even if he was trying to help us, Liam obviously can’t give directions very well.”
“He mentioned a trapdoor,” I said hopefully.
“Why bother looking? It can still be a trap.”
“Do you think we can teleport?” Mark offered.
I shook my head. “I doubt it.”
“Maybe the dragons can sniff something out?” Victoria suggested.
“They’re not dogs!” Rowan huffed.
“At least I’m trying to include them! I don’t make my dragon sit around and do nothing because you’re too afraid to let it have excitement for once!”
“I think we should calm down a bit,” I proclaimed, sensing an argument. “Maybe if we work together, we can locate this door.”
“If it’s really here,” Victoria reminded me.
Pretending that I couldn’t hear her, I pondered over our situation. Glancing around a bit, I saw, of course, the same scene I had seen upon reaching the wall. “Why don’t we try pushing on the wall or something?” I inquired. “Maybe there’s a hidden door.”
“That wouldn’t make sense,” Rowan said. “How about I go and check each way to see if there’s something down one of them?”
“We shouldn’t split up!”
“I might be able to find something. A clue of some sort.”
“Let her go,” Victoria said. “I’m just glad it’s not me having to look.”
Victoria sure could be pessimistic when she wanted to.
“That could be a good idea,” Mark agreed. “I’ll go the other way. We can communicate with Whisper Chat. How about that?”
“Again, splitting up is never a good idea. Are you sure Whisper Chat even works in here?”
“It’s seems to,” he replied. I jumped as his voice echoed in his head. Apparently, it worked just fine.
“I… I guess Victoria and I will wait here.” I looked at my sister. “Rowan…” I hesitated as I tried to think of a way to say what I wanted to.
Without letting me continue, Rowan surprised me by reaching over and giving me a hug. “I know, I know,” she said. “I’ll be careful.” She pulled away and grinned. “I’ll have Muffy with me at all times. Try not to worry too much, okay, Sierra?”
I nodded unwillingly.
With those final words, Rowan and Mark disappeared down their hallways.
Rowan
“Alone again,” I sighed, clutching Mister Muffin closely in my arms.
Mister Muffin grunted sadly.
I looked down at him, and remembered Miss Muffin. “You’re still not over her, huh?”
He shook his head, and then leaped out of my arms, deciding to fly beside me.
“It just wasn’t meant to be. If she ditches you in an instant for someone else, it wasn’t true love!”
At that moment, I heard Sierra’s voice. “How are you doing, Rowan?” I sensed a slight edge of anxiety in it.
“I’m just around the corner,” I reminded her.
Her answer didn’t come for a few seconds, making it feel oddly delayed. “Something’s wrong with Whisper Chat,” she said. “Apparently the farther away you get in here, the longer it takes for the messages to transmit.”
“That’s just great,” I murmured aloud to myself sarcastically.
Muffin stared at me curiously, and I remembered that he couldn’t hear the conversation. “Whisper Chat doesn’t work properly,” I groaned. Just then I looked up, and abruptly stopped, for I had been about to run into a large pile of rubble. “What the…” I looked up, and I spotted a large, circular hole in the ceiling. It must have caved in for some reason. Through the hole, I saw what could be the sky… except it was red.
“Wow! What could have done this?” I furtively scanned the area. There were odd black marks on the wall, different from the usual black that mixed with the red. When I approached one, I examined it and exclaimed, “This is soot!”
Almost as if on cue, there was a strange trumpeting sound coming from farther down the hallway. Then it all came flooding back. My Helephant! I’d totally forgotten about it!
Going farther down this hallway would be a bad idea, then. I didn’t think running into a wild Helephant would be a very pleasant experience.
I was about t turn back, and I prepared to use Whisper Chat to inform Sierra of what had happened, when something glinted in the pile. Turning Whisper Chat back off, I bent over to examine the shiny object. It was an odd, rounded piece of metal. I tried to pick it up, but it seemed attached to the piece of debris. Strangely, it would rotate left and right when I tried.
“If… there’s a round piece of metal… Muffy! This must be… a doorknob!” I gasped again. “What if this is the trapdoor?”
Glancing up again, I realized that I could imagine that the one area had been slightly lower than the rest if it were reconstructed – the perfect height for someone to reach up and, let’s say, open a door?
“We found it, Muffy. We found the trapdoor!” Excitedly, I switched back to Whisper Chat and screamed, “Sierra! I found it!”
As expected, there was a pause. Eventually, though, Sierra’s relieved voice said, “Thank goodness. Stay there. We’ll teleport.”
I laughed aloud with joy. At long last, we would get out of this terrible place.
We were safe.
Sierra
I eagerly told Victoria the fortunate news. Rowan had found the exit!
When I teleported, it took a while. Almost two minutes, in fact. Luckily, soon enough I felt myself disappear and, with beautiful snowflake surrounding me and the rushing wind, I reappeared in front of Rowan. Mark was there, too, but he was facing a wall. “Guess what?” Rowan said. “Mark has a surprise for you!”
“What is it?”
Mark moved his hands in front of him, and all three of us brightened up immediately. There were three decks of spell cards, two wands, a Dragonspyre sword, and three spellbooks. He was struggling to hold it all, since there were so many things.
“You found my deck!” Victoria cried, snatching it.
Mark handed the other two decks out to their respective owners. Then he passed out our wands and Victoria’s sword, then spellbooks. I thanked him profoundly. “How did you find these?” Rowan asked. I had been wondering the same thing.
“When I went down that hallway, I stumbled across this huge room. I found your stuff, but a Draconian was guarding it. I took care of him.”
“Wow! You defeated a Draconian all by yourself in that short amount of time?” Victoria said, impressed.
“Uh, yeah. Wraith helps, believe me. And when there’s no dueling circle, the normal dueling rules don’t apply. You don’t even have separate turns. As long as you have enough pips and mana, you can just keep casting spells.”
“Still, it’s pretty amazing. Uh, anyway…” She glanced around. “Where’s the trapdoor?”
“Look up,” Rowan instructed.
We all did, and I saw a gaping hole in the ceiling. I stared at it in shock, wondering why I hadn’t seen it before.
“I thought we could climb up the pile of rubble and outside,” she sheepishly explained. “The roof’s not too high up if we stand on something–”
“It’s perfect, Rowan!” I promised. “We can do it.”
Mark tried climbing the pile first. His attempts kicked down quite a large amount of loose rock, diminishing our pile’s height by a decent amount. Still, he managed to reach up and hoist himself outside. He then proceeded with helping Rowan and Victoria.
I was the last to try and ascend the pile. Honestly, my job was the hardest. The others’ attempts had reduced the pile to half its original size. Somehow, with Mark’s aid, I stumbled outside.
My friends greeted me with enormous smiles. “We made it out!” Victoria screamed.
“We’re not safe yet,” I reminded her. “We still have to get far away to teleport.”
We started walking. Every once and a while, we would find another large gap in the roof that we were forced to avoid. Something large and powerful had obviously come through here.
Every time I spotted another hole, I shuddered. I really, really hoped we wouldn’t find what made it.
Rowan
I cringed every time we ran into a new crevice my Helephant had created. I shouldn’t have let it free. I probably should have made it go away first.
Besides, thinking about the Helephant made Miss Muffin come back to mind, stirring up mixed emotions. I’d taken so many risks for her! Didn’t she know that casting a spell above your level could kill you?
It didn’t help that the roof seemed endless. It sloped at a slight angle, although it varied in height at some points. We tried to move in the general direction of the downward slope, but it was difficult. We were just fortunate that it wasn’t so steep we would fall off. Still, even after traveling for a considerable amount of time, we hadn’t seen any indication that the building would end.
It was so strange, I remember thinking. It seemed like such a large building, but it was out in the middle of nowhere.
Sierra began talking, distracting me. “Rowan, exactly how much do you know about the Seekers?”
“Not much,” I admitted. “I’ve connected a lot of things together, though. Who are all of the Seekers? I know Mark, Victoria, and I’m guessing Liam, but who else?”
While she told me, I wondered why Handy had kidnapped me, anyway. Actually, that voice… whoever had been behind that door had been calling me “Seeker.”
Could that mean…?
Sierra
My sister looked very thoughtful all of a sudden. Rowan asked, “Who is the Life Seeker?”
“Oh, well, I’m not actually totally sure yet. It might be Scarlet, though.”
“Who’s Scarlet?” Victoria inquired.
“I forgot that you wouldn’t know that! We met her at Vanessa’s awakening. It is probable that she would be the Life Seeker. Don’t we always meet the right Seeker before their awakening?”
“I was thinking it might be Rowan,” Mark said.
“Her?” I objected, while Rowan, astonished, cried, “Me! Why me?”
“She’s just as good a candidate as that Scarlet girl.”
“I… I don’t know. Maybe...”
“LOOK!” Victoria called out. Just a little farther ahead, behind a rise in the roof, the top of a different colored building peeked out.
“That might be where we came from!” Mark declared, following Victoria, who was rushing toward it.
I glanced at my sister. “Aren’t you happy to be leaving, too, Rowan?”
“Oh… yeah! Sure I am!” Still, her ebullience seemed forced.
“Well, I’m not so sure what you’re upset about,” I said. “Does it have to do with Seekers?”
She didn’t answer. I took it as a “Yes.”
“Don’t lose sleep over it, okay, Rowan?” I assured her. “You’re involved with Seekers now, whether you like it or not.” That sounded a bit negative. “Um, I mean, even though that might sound like a bad thing, it can actually be quite… rewarding. Even fun, sometimes.” I grinned, but the look on my sister’s face made it fade. “I could do without the life-threatening moments, of course.” I was attempting to make her laugh, but Rowan remained stoic. “Oh, come on, Rowan. Just tell me what’s wrong. Please?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” she answered at length. “I don’t think I’m fit to save anyone.”
I paused, thinking. “You know what? You’re right. You’re not fit to save the world. But, really, do you think I’m any better?”
She pursed her lips, and, staring at the ground, muttered, “I suppose not.”
I beamed. “Besides, who ever said anything about you saving the Spiral? You’re not a Seeker, Rowan. That honor goes to us!” I remembered Mark’s suggestion, but I put it out of my mind. I truly hoped it wasn’t Rowan. The last thing I wanted was for my own sister, the only person I cared about more than myself, to be risking her life for millions of wizards we didn’t even know. I was not all that happy with my position in the first place, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
Well, except for maybe Liam. I’d like to see how he would deal with finding a special Life student he didn’t even know, keeping his friends and sister alive, sneaking in and out of the most evil man in the Spiral’s lair, twice, and on top of it all, trying not to break down into tears of frustration every five seconds.
Yep. That’s me.
“There is something I should probably tell you,” Rowan said eventually. “Something I overheard.”
“What?”
“Um, just…” She stopped. We had reached the edge of the roof. A tall building rose in front of us, and smaller buildings surrounded it. This wasn’t where we had come in from, and I didn’t know Dragonspyre well enough to have any clue where we were.
It was a rather long drop down, so we had to rock climb the sides. Instead of all four of us scrambling down the building, Mark had gone down alone. The only thing we needed to do was teleport.
When I appeared next to Mark, I saw his face flushed with excitement… but also something else. Fear, perhaps? I hoped not. “I know where we are,” he said breathlessly. “This is the back of the Athenuem, I’m sure of it! That building there is the library, and the smaller ones are the shops.”
“What’s an Athenuem?” I inquired. “You said something about it before…”
“It’s like the Shopping District, but for Dragonspyre,” Victoria explained. “But… we just came from Malistaire’s lair. Would it really be bordering the Athenuem?”
“I know. That’s what I was thinking too.” Mark shook his head. That explained the odd expression. “It’s kind of creepy. What if it was there the whole time, but we never noticed it?”
“We’d better inform Headmaster Ambrose,” Victoria concluded solemnly.
We all decided that Mark and Victoria would go to notify the headmaster by themselves, because they understood the situation best. After a brief goodbye, they teleported away, leaving Rowan and I alone.
“We should go home,” Rowan suggested. “Who knows how long we were in there?”
“Yeah, good plan,” I agreed. I looked at Rowan and again was struck by how different she looked. Before she’d been my crazy, childish younger sister, and now…
“Do you think… think it’s possible that I’m a Seeker?” Rowan abruptly blurted.
“Uh, I suppose,” I said, caught a bit off-guard. “Anything could happen.”
“Yeah, but do you really, really think it might happen?”
“I’m not sure.” I was still curious about the details on what happened while Rowan was alone. Mister Muffin was still at her side, and he didn’t look so sad anymore, but I still couldn’t stop thinking about Missy/Lady Rascal.
“Sierra?” I blinked and returned back to the present. I looked at my sister, and – oh man, I’d never seen her so scared before! “I’m really worried about you.”
“Rowan…”
I stepped forward and gave her a hug.
“Don’t be.”
I could feel some tears staining my robe, but I didn’t care. I wanted to cry, too, but I didn’t, to be strong for Rowan.
“Just promise me you’ll be okay,” Rowan sobbed.
“I promise,” I said softly. “I promise I won’t die. Okay? We’ll be together forever.”
“Forever?”
I smiled and ruffled her hair. “Forever.”
That was the biggest promise I had ever made in my whole life.
I only hoped I could keep it.
|
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze (part 11)
It was finally the day. My family and I had been waiting for this moment, had been anticipating it ever since the black fire. Everyone was so excited that we would have our own house again. No longer would we live with Sydney Jadehammer and Hunter Thundershield (which in my opinion was inconvenient because it provided easy access to two Seekers while it lasted). We had a new house, built in the same spot. It was almost an exact replica of our old one, though it felt empty and deserted with all the furniture gone. Still, sleeping on the floor in my own room without a bed was an improvement from sleeping in a cramped room with two others on sweaty mattresses with layers of blankets over top.
Two weeks had passed since my encounter with Malistaire and Liam. My family had been frantic with worry when I didn’t come back from doing quests that night. When Victoria was also announced missing, they assumed we were together, though they couldn’t teleport to us or contact us in Whisper Chat. Though some had known Vanessa and her family were missing, they did not see any connection because I had never met her. Even though I knew Liam, his family had been missing longer than us and everyone thought Liam had disappeared with them.
I had told my tale to my worried parents, omitting parts having to do with the Seekers. I also left out the black lightning I had created; I shuddered every time I thought about it. Because I couldn’t explain that Liam was a Seeker, they were confused at why Malistaire had targeted him.
But I had told it all to them with enough conviction that they had to believe me. Mark’s family offered to take in Vanessa because she was an old family friend.
So it was the long awaited day at long last. All of Sydney’s family came with us and Vanessa as well. Rowan Willowleaf, my sister, and I eagerly rushed into our new house the second we teleported there. I was somewhat disappointed to discover that it wasn’t new; it was the same home we had left, with only minor adjustments.
The excitement of the new house quickly wore off. Though our parents remained happy, Rowan and I almost instantly left the house to go off with friends.
We split up into two groups: Rowan promised to help Sydney, who had began to lag behind me in Marleybone, and I went with Vanessa because she also had only recently gotten into MooShu.
I had many things to think about after leaving the lair that I didn’t have any time for quests. The Spiral Key to MooShu still remained unused.
When I twisted the key into the Spiral door, it shined a soft, green glow. Then, it faded, and I opened the door and stepped inside. I was suspended in air, in complete nothingness, with only darkness around. I pictured the lush, green fields of MooShu. A door was meant to come, but even when it didn’t, I remained patient. It always took a little while longer the first time you accessed a world.
Soon enough, a door appeared and I slipped inside.
I found myself in a room more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. There were real plants growing around me, and little waterfalls were all around. The room had a feeling of being outside, in nature. This was definitely a Life school world; no wonder Rowan liked it so much.
Vanessa had been waiting for me. She faked being impatient: “What took you so long? Geez! I thought you had died!”
I laughed. “Sorry. It was my first time. You know how that is.”
She smiled. “Yes, I do. All too well. I had to wait an entire hour to get into Marleybone.”
“Really?” I gasped. “Can it take that long?
“Apparently.”
We exited through the flower-filled Spiral Chamber of MooShu that led into the Jade Palace, and I froze. This view was so breathtaking, I couldn’t even walk. This place was gorgeous! The part of the palace that we were in was filled with shops, with perfectly placed signs advertising the product sold. Warriors roamed through the unpaved streets with purpose, and goat monks walked feebly, leaning on their staffs. Unlike the eternally dark and starry skies of Marleybone, the sky was a clear shade of baby blue that mesmerized me. The air smelled differently from any other in the entire Spiral: it was a fresh, clean, sweet scent that was pleasantly refreshing from smelling the polluted air of Marleybone. In the center of the palace, just a little ahead of us, was an enormous statue of someone that must have been important. A lily-filled pond surrounded the statue, and the water looked so pure that I could drink it. In the distance I saw snow-capped mountains.
I was so stunned that I hardly even noticed when Vanessa pulled on my arm impatiently to get my walking again. I followed her once more, but I couldn’t help but gape at the new world along the way.
As we strolled through the shops, a particular one caught my eye. It was the wand and athame shop. I was in need of a new wand. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my trusty old O’Leary Jinxed Staff anymore. No, far from it. The only problem was that it was a Balance staff, and I was sick of having balance enemies resist my wand spells. I needed an Ice wand. My clothes could use a MooShu Makeover as well. I was wearing a wonderful Crown robe, the Master’s Cloak of the Lizard, which I most certainly didn’t want to get rid of, but I was in desperate need of a new hat and shoes. The Cap of the Ice Wyvern was not very becoming, no matter how much it boosted my spells. But I could worry about that later. I just needed a new wand.
I halted Vanessa and pointed toward the shop. She grinned. “Of course. Should’ve known. Okay, we can stop there. But I don’t think you’re a high enough level to use any of them.”
I went in anyway. I stared reverently at the shimmering MooShu wands. I recognized the Life wand right away; Rowan had one just like it. I had always been fascinated by the way her wand had left a sparkling trail of leaves in its wake. Now I was looking at my own version, a beautiful brown-handled wand with glowing blue wind billowing inside. Eagerly I picked it up to try it out. When I waved it around, the wand left slight trails of the blue clouds behind it. Delighted, I was ready to put all my accumulated Marleybone savings toward it.
I was dismayed when the shopkeeper explained that I couldn’t. “You are level 33,” Himoora Kenshin, the shopkeeper, said. “You must be at least level 35 to properly use this wand.”
“Pretty, pretty please?” I begged. “Just look at this old staff! I can’t use it anymore. A wizard in MooShu doesn’t deserve to carry around something like this.”
“I am terribly sorry, but I cannot sell you this.”
“Come on! I’ll be really good with it. I’ll be careful.”
She sighed as if she had heard this a million times. However, before she could say anything more the door swung open and a Samoorai warrior entered. I shrunk away, forgetting my argument with the shopkeeper. He walked with such authority that straight away I knew he was a force not to be messed with.
“Miss Kenshin, I must speak with you.”
She looked alarmed. “Of course! What is wrong?”
The warrior glared at Vanessa and I. “I meant alone.”
“We were just leaving,” I grumbled.
The Samoorai went to the back of the store with the shopkeeper. Vanessa and I started to walk out, but then we heard the Samoorai’s strong voice boom, “There have been rumors that two of Malistaire’s minions are in MooShu today.”
Vanessa and I exchanged glances. Malistaire? That sounded like it could be important to the Seekers. Careful not to alert them, we crept back into the store and acted as if we were browsing through athames.
“Oh, my,” responded the shopkeeper. “I will keep a lookout for them. Do you have any leads on what they could be here for?”
“A guard heard them talking about needing a wand. We quickly came to tell you. Check inventory before any customers leave.”
“How many did you say there were?” she asked, her eyes drifting towards Vanessa and me.
I realized the position we were in. We were two wizards in a wand shop… the perfect suspects.
“We aren’t doing anything!” I said quickly. “We are just looking through athames!”
She gave us one more doubtful look, and then glanced at the wands. I guessed she must have been making sure they were all there. She returned to her conversation. “Where were they last seen?”
“Hametsu Village. That’s not far from here, so they could be arriving at any moment.”
“I just want to know what they want a wand for,” the shopkeeper mused. “How could that be important? Especially a MooShu wand, when Malistaire is powerful enough to use a DragonSpyre sword.”
Just then two wizards opened the door and entered. One had a hood over their head, so I couldn’t see who they were. The other I knew was female, because though the hat she wore covered her eyes, her long blond hair cascaded down her back in a tight ponytail.
Though the odd pair walked near me, I didn’t pay much attention to them at first because I was so busy trying to look inconspicuous and listen to the conversation at the same time. However, I couldn’t help but notice when the hooded figure tensed as they passed me.
I was so surprised. Did they know me? Or was it a coincidence?
I gazed after them and noted that they were heading toward the wands. I tugged on Vanessa’s arm and pointed. Her eyes widened. She understood. These two fit the description of Malistaire’s minions as much as, if not more than, us.
I wanted to point it out to the shopkeeper, but I didn’t think that it would do much good while we were suspects as well. But the pair had walked in so silently that I doubted she had seen them.
Maybe I could talk to them. I walked over to the wands. When the hooded figure spotted me, he or she jumped, as if startled by my appearance somehow. The wizard seemed even more shaken when Vanessa took her place next to me.
Then, before I could even react, the girl grabbed the Balance wand that was on display directly beside us. Without a word she grabbed her companion and they teleported.
I was stunned. When I snapped out of it, I yelled in vain, “Hey! Wait!”
The shopkeeper and the Samoorai both turned to me.
And the wand next to me was gone.
“Thief!” screeched the shopkeeper. “You’re the minons!”
“What? No, we’re not!” I argued. “It was the two that were in here a moment ago!”
The Samoorai didn’t listen, and advanced toward us.
“Vanessa, let’s go!” I shouted, starting to flee outside.
But when the sunlight’s rays warmed my face, I ran straight into a startled girl who had looked like she had just been about to go inside.
“Oh, um, sorry,” I murmured, not even glancing at her.
“What are you running from?” she asked with genuine curiosity.
I ignored her, and continued to run, with Vanessa behind me.
It felt odd to running again, especially when it was now among the peaceful scenery of MooShu. Plus, we were running from the very people I thought we could trust. Everything was turned upside down, and I felt dizzy from everything that was happening. But still I ran.
We rushed into the center of the palace and splashed through the crystal clear pond surrounding a statue. When I stepped out of the pool, I heard more splashing than I thought Vanessa could make. I turned, worried that the Samoorai was already there. But instead, I spotted the Samoorai farther back. It was actually the girl I had run into.
“Stop following us!” I hissed.
“I heard something about you working with Malistaire. Are you his minons? Were they telling the truth?”
“No!”
“Oh.”
“Leave us alone!” I continued on, praying that she would stay there.
She didn’t.
I then spied a bell that was on the other side of the palace. Looking over my shoulder, I motioned to Vanessa, and scowled at the girl who refused to stop following us. Leaving her behind, Vanessa and climbed under the bell.
It was an extremely bad hiding spot. Our legs were entirely exposed, and there was no way we would be able to stay under here very long. I was already feeling a little claustrophobic. I only hoped it would buy us some time, allowing us to teleport or think of a good reason for them to think we weren’t the minions.
The bell cloaked us in silence. I couldn’t hear anything outside of it. The shouts of the Samoorai faded, leaving us alone. Even the hollow sound of the wind disappeared.
“What should we do?” I frantically whispered to Vanessa.
“I’ll teleport to my house, and you can follow. I bought a new Krokotopian house yesterday so I wanted to show you anyway.”
“Okay.”
I waited, but nothing happened. “Um, any day now.”
Her eyes widened in fear. “I’m trying! I really am trying!”
“Oh no… not again!”
“Do you think the bell is doing something? Should we climb out and teleport?” she whispered frantically.
“I don’t want to be caught!”
“They will find us under here anyway if we don’t do something!”
I bit my lip, weighing the consequences of each possibility.
Vanessa groaned. “You’re taking too long! I’m going out there.”
“No, Vanessa, wait!”
But it was too late. Vanessa had already scrambled out from underneath the safety of the bell.
“Vanessa!” There wasn’t any answer. Had she been caught? With a wave of panic, I climbed out after her.
But when I peeked under, I was stunned to find… sand.
I emerged and found myself facing an endless desert. The land stretched on forever, meeting the horizon far in the distance. Above my head the blazing sun shone with such ferocity that everything appeared hazy and blurry from the heat. Nothing varied from the flat expanse of sand besides small dunes, and even those didn’t rise very high in the air.
Vanessa was standing there as well, gaping. “I… I don’t know… How did we… Sierra, where are we?”
“I think Krokotopia,” I managed to say.
“But how?”
“How should I know?” I said a little more sharply than I intended.
“You’re the only one here to ask!” she exclaimed.
“I’m here too,” said a timid voice that was barely more than a whisper.
I recognized the voice and angrily spun around. As I had feared, the girl who I had bumped into was sitting there on the sand, dazed. “Why do you keep following us?” I screamed.
“It’s not like I wanted to follow you,” she declared indignantly. “The Samoorai actually thought that I was one of you. And when you disappeared under the bell, I didn’t even think about it, I just dove after you. I most certainly wasn’t expecting to come out to… this.”
For the first time, I actually examined her. She was wearing deep, forest green robes. She held a beautiful Life wand, the same my sister had. She appeared to be at least level 30, because of her MooShu hat.
Then it hit me. “Hang on. You were able to follow us? So wouldn’t that mean that the Samoorai can as well?” I wondered.
The girl’s expression turned from confused and offended to fearful and shocked. Without a word, she rushed off toward the horizon.
Vanessa and I instinctively followed her, not even thinking twice about the bell that we were leaving behind us.
Though the sun shone brightly above us and my skin felt like it was burning, I followed the curious girl tirelessly for what felt like hours. But as far as I knew, it could have been seconds. Maybe even days. The sun never moved from its position directly above us in the sky, no matter how long we wandered across the sand. This reminded me so much of the desert we had been teleported to on Earth, except the sand here was loose and difficult to walk on.
In due time a figure rose upon the horizon. Only when I got closer did I see that it was a pyramid, almost an exact replica of the Pyramid of the Sun in Krokotopia. However, I could tell that it was a little bit larger.
Soon enough I stood at its base in front of a tall, formidable entryway lit by two braziers with Vanessa and the mysterious girl at my side.
For the first time since I had met her, the girl hesitated.
“Are you going in?” I asked.
“Ummmm…”
“It’s our only choice,” said Vanessa flatly. She glared at the girl. “We may have more options if someone hadn’t run away from the only possible exit we might have!”
“You didn’t have to follow me.”
“Are you going in or not?” I repeated eagerly. I wanted to see the inside of the odd building, but didn’t want to go in alone.
The girl didn’t even answer. She simply walked inside, leaving Vanessa and I outside.
Vanessa looked at me as if waiting for my consent. I nodded, and together we walked inside.
The interior was just as grand as the outside. In the room we entered there was a staircase winding up into darkness. Like most Krokotopian pyramids, there were hieroglyphs on the walls. I realized I hadn’t been in Krokotopia for a long time since being let into Marleybone. I made a mental note to visit there again sometime.
There was a tunnel to our right. I also noted that it was cooler inside here than it had been outside, but that was normal for Krokotopian buildings.
The girl looked up when we came in. She had been looking up the staircase. “So,” she began, “Now that we’re in here why don’t you tell me your names?”
“I’m Sierra WinterBreeze.”
“And Vanessa DreamHaven,” Vanessa added.
The girl nodded once, and then turned to face the winding staircase again. She glanced up and asked, “Either of you guys pyromancers?”
We shook our heads.
She sighed. Taking out her wand, which I recognized as the Mooshu Life wand, she drew the Life symbol. When she activated it, a Dryad appeared. I gasped. My sister didn’t even know that! “What level are you?”
She realized I was asking because of the Dryad. She smiled sheepishly. “Um, I only turned level 35 yesterday. I just know Dryad from my shoes.”
“Oh.” I felt foolish for even asking. “Anyway, what are you going to do with that?”
“This.” She pulled off a branch from the beautiful tree-like Dryad and set it on fire from the braziers. “I’m going exploring,” she explained as she made the Dryad disappear.
“What? No!” I called as she walked to the foot of the stairs. “You have no idea what’s up there.”
“That’s exactly why I’m doing it,” she retorted, rolling her eyes.
“But it could be something dangerous,” I hollered desperately. I didn’t know why I wanted to protect her so much. She wouldn’t even tell me her name.
“I’ll soon find out, won’t I?” With the lit stick in her hand, she tromped up the stairs.
I choose not to argue anymore. But I still felt uneasy; there was something about this place I didn’t like. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we weren’t alone.
I twirled around to face Vanessa. “Now what?”
“We could go exploring ourselves,” she suggested, gesturing to the tunnel.
I peered into it doubtfully, but I couldn’t see anything through the darkness. “I don’t think so.”
“Well, that other girl lit a stick, didn’t she? Do you have anything flammable?”
We searched through our things, but everything we had that could possibly light our way was too precious to use.
“So much for that wonderful plan,” I murmured.
“I don’t want to just sit here!” Vanessa whined. “If only we had some light…”
As if on cue, braziers that I hadn’t seen through the blackness flickered to life on either side of the tunnel, revealing a long narrow passageway that we still couldn’t see the end of.
“Um, okay… That was weird…” remarked Vanessa.
“Very,” I agreed uneasily.
“But I suppose that answers your question.” She grinned.
“You know, if anything that makes me want to go down even less.”
“You can stay here,” she offered.
I considered it for a moment, but shuddered when I thought of being left alone in here. “Okay, I’m coming.”
After sauntering through the tunnel for a few minutes, it widened into a large, dim room lit by only three braziers – one with a purple flame, one with a blue, and one with a red. Other than that, I saw nothing. “We should go back,” I said, somewhat disappointed. “There’s nothing here.”
However, when I faced the cave once more to our dismay the fires in the tunnel went out. The blue, red, and purple fires at the back of the room now remained the only ones lit.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen, was it?” asked Vanessa worriedly.
“Uh…” I looked around the room again. Not seeing anything, I glanced up, then gasped and jumped out of the way. Tumbling down from out of nowhere came an enormous pile of medium-sized rocks that rained on the spot I had just been standing.
For a moment, Vanessa and I simply stood there, too stunned to speak. I could have been killed, I realized. The grim thought frightened me, and I felt nervous butterflies in my stomach.
Suddenly, the ground shook. Or rather, the rocks made the ground shake. They were vibrating, and I took an involuntary step back. Then, with a whooshing sound, the rocks amalgamated to form a towering Desert Colossus.
“Hello, Seeker WinterBreeze. Welcome, Vanessa DreamHaven.”
As usual, I was surprised that a creature like this knew my name. But then realization set in. “You know about the Seekers!” I shouted.
“Yes,” it said plainly.
“Why are you here then?”
“I am here to awaken the seventh Seeker.”
I paused, puzzled. Seventh Seeker? “Um… shouldn’t the seventh Seeker be Life?”
“It was supposed to be, but Vanessa got here first.”
“Vanessa? She’s Balance!”
“There are two Balance Seekers.”
“I’m a Seeker?” questioned Vanessa, gaping. I think I had my mouth hanging open, too.
“But… why?” I inquired. “I mean, I understand what happened with Liam and everything. Is Vanessa replacing him?”
“No!” boomed the Colossus vehemently, making me jump. “In some generations the ways that the Seekers are affected by dark magic is something that they cannot get through, and causes them to not be able to fight as effectively as the others or not even fight at all. So there is two of that school, so that they will still have the benefits of that type of wizard. But the original Seeker will always help their team in some way. Such as with your friend Liam.”
“He’s not my friend,” I growled.
The Colossus ignored me. “Vanessa is here to become the second Balance Seeker. She must be awakened.”
I turned to my companion to see what she was thinking. She was just standing there, dumbfounded, so I grinned. “So, are you happy to be a Seeker, Vanessa?” I questioned.
“I… I don’t understand,” she murmured. “My brother is the warrior of the family, not me. I’m no good at this sort of thing.”
“Of course you are! Victoria and I wouldn’t have gotten out of Malistaire’s place without you.”
“And I would be dead if it weren’t for you!” she retorted.
“So we both rely on each other,” I said gently. “That’s why we need you.”
She didn’t reply, only glared at the wall she was now facing.
“You are a good leader, Sierra WinterBreeze,” the Colossus approved, beaming.
I scowled. Why did everyone have to keep reminding me of that?
The Colossus asked Vanessa, “Do you accept your task, Seeker DreamHaven?”
“I…” Vanessa began, but then she was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. All three of us started.
Recognition dawned on the Colossus’s face. “Oh yes… I sensed the presence of three others. And I knew there were more than two Seekers from the beginning…” It turned to us. “We shall be getting some visitors soon, I believe.”
“Who?” I asked. I knew that the annoying girl whose name I still did not know was here, and she was who I had suspected screamed. But three others? Who else could there be?”
What made me wonder even more was that the Colossus had claimed that there was another Seeker as well. Which one of my friends would be here?
“I do not know who it is.” My heart sank. “Do you know of any others who could possibly be in here?”
“Well, I’m guessing one of them is that girl that followed us here,” I informed.
“And what is her name?”
“She never told us.”
“Is she a Seeker?”
“I don’t think so.” But even as I said it, I was reconsidering it. Was she a Seeker of Light? Was that even possible? I was thinking about everything that had happened. She had come to this desert, but maybe non-Seekers could do that too. From her wand, it also looked like she was Life. And we needed a Life Seeker. Unless there was some other Seeker that these guys conveniently forgot to tell me.
“Before they arrive, what do you say, Vanessa?” asked the Colossus again, more apprehensive now.
“Um, I guess if-“ But again Vanessa was stopped. This time it was the sound of flames flickering to life as the braziers turned on again.
“Why’d you turn on the braziers?” I accused the Colossus.
“It was not me. They light themselves every time a Seeker needs light.”
“I guess we’ll find out who our guests are, then,” Vanessa said grimly.
I said, “Before we are interrupted again, tell us what this place is called.”
“This is the Pyramid of the Moon,” the Colossus explained. “It used to sit next to the Pyramid of the Sun in Krokotopia, but because it was larger and heavier, it sunk into the unstable sand the first time it rained when it was brand new. Ever since then it has been here in this desert, used by the Spiral Guardians.”
“The what?”
Then footsteps echoed from down the tunnel, and we all stared at the intruder that was now standing at the front of the tunnel.
But luckily it was only to girl from earlier. “Sierra! Vanessa!” I couldn’t believe she had remembered our names. And she had a genuine expression of relief on her face. Maybe she was nicer than I gave her credit for.
And then she spotted the Colossus for the first time. She turned pale. “What is that thing?”
“A Desert Colossus.”
She eyed it warily. “Why is it here?”
“For, um, something…”
“If I didn’t know it was something, I wouldn’t be asking you.”
I changed the subject. “Why did you scream?”
“Oh. You could hear that? Um, well… I met someone…”
“Who?”
“Uh… I don’t think they want me to tell you…”
“Come on, who is it?”
“Okay, fine! I guess I would have to tell you about them at one point anyway.”
“Just tell me who it is!” I demanded.
“My friends. I met two people in here.”
Though the Colossus had told me there were others, I was still surprised when she told me about them. So, this girl was friends with them? Perhaps they were here accidentally, too.
Then again, I couldn’t ignore the fact that one was a Seeker. Again I pondered who it could be. Was it Sydney? No, she was with Rowan. Victoria? Impossible, she had been grounded ever since our little stunt with Malistaire. So who else? Mark? Hunter?
Then I thought of the other Seeker. But the thought of him being here sent a shiver down my spine.
I really, really hoped it wasn’t Liam.
The Colossus decided to speak up. “Young wizard, it is rather important that you tell us. What are their names?”
For a moment the girl just stood there, her face fixed into an expression of terror and awe. Finally, she shrieked, “It speaks!”
“So listen to it, please!” I commanded. “What. Are. Their. Names!”
“Uh, I can’t remember.”
“WHAT? You can’t remember?”
“Were any of their names Mark?” Vanessa asked. “Or Sydney? Or Victoria? Or Hunter?”
“I don’t think so. There was one boy and one girl. Here, why don’t I just introduce them to you? Then you can learn their names and it will at the same time refresh my memory! Hang on, I’ll go get them. They’re waiting at the entrance to the tunnel.” She glanced at the Colossus nervously before dashing down the tunnel.
I suddenly remembered something. “Wait!” I called.
She spun back around. “What?”
“What’s your name?” I inquired.
“Scarlet MoonHeart,” she replied, though hesitantly.
Then she was heading down the tunnel again.
“Well, that was nice,” Vanessa huffed sarcastically.
“At least she finally told us her name.”
“I’m just glad we’ll find out who else is in here.”
And then the Colossus gasped so suddenly that Vanessa and I jumped. “There’s dark magic approaching!” it yelled.
For a moment we stood in silence, gaping at him. Neither of us had been expecting an outburst as wild as that. Slowly, I asked, “Wait…what?”
“Seekers, you must run! This is too dangerous!”
“But… um… my necklace isn’t glowing…”
“They have concealed it well. It will not shine until they come closer.”
“What about Vanessa getting awakened? And Scarlet?”
“Forget about it!”
“Uh, but… where are we supposed to run to?”
The Colossus looked desperately at the tunnel, where we could hear footsteps slowly approaching. The calmness and unhurried pace of the steps made every second agonizing, especially now that we knew that with them it could be a practitioner of dark arts.
As they footsteps grew louder, so did the voices of the people coming.
“No, Scarlet, this is a very, very bad idea,” said one person that I recognized as a male voice. And yet I still thought I knew it from somewhere.
Vanessa stiffened next to me at the sound of the voice, though I couldn’t figure out why.
“If you already know her, then she’ll love to see you,” came Scarlet’s voice.
“You don’t understand. She hates me. And… I think Vanessa will, too.”
“Don’t worry,” soothed a cool female voice. Hearing it made me shudder. It also reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t figure out whom. “Maybe Sierra will tell us who the next Seeker is.”
I listened even more intently when I heard both my name and the Seekers in one sentence. These people obviously knew what they were talking about.
“I doubt it,” grumbled the first voice.
It frustrated me that I still couldn’t figure out who either of the voices reminded me of.
“Look, there’s the exit of the tunnel,” said Scarlet. “I will run up ahead and tell them you’re here, and then we can make introductions! Or I suppose it wouldn’t be introductions, because you already know them, but-”
“Just go, Scarlet,” growled the female voice again.
“Okay, okay! Geez.” Scarlet soon came around the corner. “Hello, again,” she greeted us, though in a somewhat distracted way. “This is Mary RavenGem” – A girl with golden blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail and aqua blue eyes dressed in red and green clothes stepped around the corner, evidently not happy to be there from the scowl on her face – “and Liam.”
Time seemed to move in slow motion after that. Liam stepped out behind Scarlet, just as unhappy as Mary had been. Then I remembered where the Mary girl was from – if Liam had a hood over his head and Mary’s hat was tipped ever so slightly forward they could be identical to the pair we encountered in the MooShu shop. My sapphire necklace from Sydney’s awakening began to glow, as the Colossus had predicted. Then Mary lifted up her wand – though I couldn’t see very well, I assumed it was the Balance wand they had stolen – and with a flick of her wrist the Colossus was trapped in a pile of quicksand, unable to move. After that, Mary turned to me. Though Scarlet had no idea what was going on, I can thank my lucky stars that she instinctively grabbed Mary’s arm to save me. Unfortunately, my savior was thrust into the wall by Mary when she waved her wand again. I don’t know when it happened, but somehow Liam and Vanessa were on the other side of the room, between the red and blue braziers.
And then entire time this hectic scene was unfolding, the supposed leader of the Seekers was standing there, dumbfounded, useless, and unable to move.
Somehow Mary got over to me. I allowed myself to be pushed over to the wall, where she raised her wand and threaten to have her Hydra destroy me if I didn’t tell her what she wanted. I didn’t respond. So what if she destroyed me? I was a failure, a useless leader. No one really wanted me, anyway. Why had they chosen me to be a Seeker in the first place?
“Okay,” she said when she was sure I got the message, “I want you to tell me who the next Seeker is.”
I stared at her blankly. “Why would you want to know that?”
“That’s my business,” she growled. “Who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop lying!” she accused. “Who is it?”
“They never told me.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Um…” Because I didn’t know what she would do with this information, I lied. “The Colossus was about to tell me, but didn’t get to it.”
“I don’t believe you,” she huffed. “But that Desert Colossus probably does know something. If you won’t tell me, maybe it will.”
Oops, I thought. That wasn’t what I had in mind.
Mary began walking away, and I had a small hope that I’d be able to escape when her back was turned. The she abruptly turned, as if remembering something important.
Indeed she had remembered, much to my dismay. “Of course, I can’t leave you alone! Why don’t I give you a friend?”
I didn’t like the way she had said “friend” one bit.
Retrieving the stolen wand, Mary drew the Balance symbol and activated it, making a colossal Hydra appear.
Strangely, I wasn’t afraid. Perhaps it was because the only real Hydra I had ever seen (besides the miniature pets Master Balance wizards owned – they sometimes snapped at you, but they weren’t scary) was the one that had awakened Liam. That one had been friendly enough, if not a little unusual.
One of Mary’s Hydra’s heads let out a throaty growl. I wondered if it could talk. I doubted it.
“Sierra!” I heard a panicked cry from a voice that I only vaguely recognized. Turning towards the voice, I saw that it was the Desert Colossus. “Grab Vanessa and your other friend and get out of here!”
“What?” That had been unexpected. I had thought it would have wanted us to stay and help get rid of Liam and Mary.
“Go!” it ordered.
Mary was approaching the Colossus at the moment. I had to make my decision fast. Should I heed him, or simply leave?
“You don’t understand,” it pleaded. “You can’t fight them. There is dark magic here, darker than you can imagine! The Seekers aren’t strong enough right now. There will come a time, but not today. Please, go.”
I just happened to glance at Vanessa at that moment and froze. She was with Liam, but I had known that from the beginning. What truly shocked me was that she was laughing. Laughing! While I was in mortal danger, guarded by a Hydra, yelled at by Mary and continuously begged by the Colossus to leave, Vanessa was laughing.
Well, I mused, I suppose they are brother and sister. But still, couldn’t Vanessa at least pretend to care about my safety? And how could she forgive Liam’s perfidiousness so readily? It somewhat disgusted me, but I knew in a way how she felt. Wouldn’t I feel the same way about Rowan if that happened to her? Not that it ever would, but still.
Unfortunately, that didn’t change anything. And actually, that one look had helped me decide – I was going to listen to the Colossus. I would get out of here. Of course I couldn’t leave Vanessa; she was the new Balance Seeker, after all. But how would I get to her with Liam there?
That wasn’t the only flaw in the escape plan I was starting to develop. Mary’s Hydra was still watching me carefully, and under its watchful eye I would never get away. I had to fight it. What other choice did I have?
But did I have a spell that could take it? Hydra was a Master spell, and I wasn’t a Master.
Actually, I could already think of one spell. I still had the Master’s Cloak of the Lizard that I had bought in Marleybone. Could a Stormzilla defeat a Hydra? Maybe if a Master Storm wizard cast it. But what about me?
Without considering it any farther, I took the card and began forming the Storm symbol. Even though I usually didn’t cast spells like this, the Stormzilla card that came with my clothes worked in the same way as a Treasure Card, guiding me through the actions effortlessly. There was the sound of a storm – a deafening thunder-like rumble, the pattering of rain – and I drew power from my mana and the card. With a flash of lightning I released the energy, activated the symbol, and summoned the Stormzilla.
Roaring, the Stormzilla charged directly at the Hydra. I smiled when I heard a satisfying “thump” as its head made contact with Mary’s Hydra. The Hydra hadn’t been expecting this at all, and tumbled backward.
The Hydra was sluggish, still startled. But it wasn’t long before it snapped out of it and countered by making all three heads bite the Stormzilla in unison. I felt awful for making the creature suffer so much, but at least the Hydra was distracted.
Actually, I think everyone was distracted. Liam and Vanessa were gaping at the battle when I rushed over. I pulled on Vanessa to start towing her to the tunnel. She opened her mouth to protest, but she didn’t have the time. Mary’s Hydra zoomed into the wall three inches away from us. With her mouth still hanging open, but this time in fear, she no longer resisted as I guided her towards Scarlet.
Scarlet was looking fearfully at the scene in front of her. Mary was angrily screaming at her Hydra, trying to regain control. Liam was still a bit dazed, because he was staring at us, confused. The Hydra and my Stormzilla were still brawling, and sadly my Stormzilla was losing. The Colossus was still bound prisoner by the quicksand, and it had its head down, distraught and defeated. In some ways, it reminded me of the Cyclops that had awakened Hunter. It hadn’t been at all brave when Seth lit the fire. It seemed like the people who awakened the Seekers weren’t very powerful.
Maybe that was the point. Whoever appointed these guys (if there was anyone – how was I supposed to know?) obviously wasn’t choosing fighters. They seemed to be the outcasts, the ones looked down on by, um, creature society. Like my Frost Giant. He was tiny compared to the rest of his kind.
When I came next to Scarlet, I hissed, “Come on Scarlet, let’s go.”
“But… what about Mary and Li-”
“Forget about them!”
“But they’re my new friends-”
“And they’re Malistaire’s minions.”
“Wow, really? I had no id-”
“Let’s go already!”
“I kind of wanted to-“
“Never mind,” I sighed. “We’ll leave you here.”
I spun around and walked away and didn’t look back. But I was still pleased to hear the slight pattering of footsteps behind me. She was following.
So Vanessa, Scarlet, and I left the hectic scene behind us to let Liam and Mary figure everything out themselves. I grinned when I thought of my Stormzilla.
They were going to have a lot of work to do.
We emerged from the pyramid minutes later. To my surprise, the bell was already sitting right outside the pyramid, waiting for us.
Without even thinking about it, I dove under the bell, anxious to go home.
In that split second, I remembered something very important.
Time didn’t move when a Seeker was awakened.
Vanessa had just been awakened.
Last time we had been out there, the Samoorai had been looking for us.
And I had just gone back to that moment.
I tried to stop myself. Instead of halting, however, I stumbled and fell under the bell, scraping my knees. They stung, but I did not want to get caught but the Samoorai. I peeked back underneath the bell. The picture was wavering in front of me. I assumed that I was just dizzy from falling, so I proceeded to climb out under the bell.
Everything grew worse. I stood there for a moment, confused. The Krokotopian sand shivered beneath my feet, making me feel almost nauseous. I looked at Vanessa and Scarlet, who now looked so queer that I couldn’t tell who was who. I shouted, “The Samoorai will be there! Don’t go under!” My voice sounded oddly distorted, and only incomprehensible gibberish answered me with Vanessa’s just barely recognizable voice. At this point I began to panic. Why did everything look so strange? What was happening?
Finally, everything was stretched beyond recognition. I was inside a senseless jumble of colors. Wondering if I would be trapped here forever, I spun around and sighed with relief. The bell was sitting there, unperturbed despite the chaos around it.
I found it comforting to know that there was a possible exit nearby. Seeing no reason to immediately go under the bell and with my dear gone, I only felt curious. I slowly turned to look at the emptiness again. When I took one step, everything changed.
I heard it before I saw it. Shouting. It was loud, unfathomable yelling. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it sounded angry.
Suddenly I was in MooShu. I gazed around, dazed. Why was I here? Had everything been a dream? Awakening Vanessa, Liam and Mary, the pyramid, the colors, everything? Disoriented, I twirled around, half-expecting something even crazier to show up there. All I saw was Vanessa and Scarlet emerging from under the bell. They were both looking over my shoulder at the Samoorai who were sure to be approaching. But at this point, I didn’t care. Everything had happened so quickly, I hadn’t the time to think.
Someone grabbed me from behind, and I didn’t have to look to know that it was the Samoorai.
If this was a dream, it was about to turn into a nightmare.
I sat in the room with Vanessa and Scarlet, contemplating our next move. Things hadn’t gone well with the Samoorai. They didn’t even give me the time to put up a good argument before we found ourselves being thrown into this old MooShu shop. I couldn’t tell what used to be sold here just from the appearance, but I did know it smelled horrible.
I could only hope there was someone in MooShu that would listen to me when I said I didn’t work for Malistaire.
We had been in the room for just about over ten minutes when Scarlet spoke up. “So, what was all that about in the pyramid?”
Vanessa and I exchanged looks.
Scarlet added, “Liam and Mary were saying something about Seekers.”
We looked at her. Or more, glared at her.
“Are the Seekers a bad thing?”
We still didn’t reply.
“Oh come on! You can’t be silent forever!”
“We’re not going to answer you,” I stated.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not important.”
“But I want to know!” Scarlet pouted.
“Too bad.”
“Pleeeeeeease?”
“What area are you working on?” I was becoming a master at changing the subject.
“MooShu.”
“Where?”
“In the Village of Sorrow. Right now I have a quest to – Wait a second, this is silly. We’re chatting about quests when we’re trapped in a makeshift MooShu prison. And I still want to know what Seekers are.”
“What if we don’t know?”
“I think you do.”
“But what if we don’t?”
“You do.”
We sat there, glowering at each other for a few more minutes. The silence in the room was eerie and uncomfortable.
With a loud boom the door abruptly swung open. Scarlet and I broke each other’s gaze to stare at the new visitor we had.
“Professor Ambrose!” I shouted, on my feet in an instant.
“Hello, Sierra. I see you have met Miss MoonHeart here.”
“Headmaster! I’m so, so, so glad you came! I thought we would die in here. And Scarlet wouldn’t stop asking about the Seekers. And –”
“I’m sure you’ve had a marvelous adventure. You’d better be going though. Your sister wanted to tell you something.” For a moment the headmaster had a worried, nervous look on his face. Then, within a second, it was gone. “Sierra, have you had any luck with the next Seeker?”
The suddenness of this question stunned me momentarily. To be asking such a thing now, in front of Scarlet, too! I felt her gaping at me, but I didn’t let it bother me. “Actually, no, sir. Do you know anything about who it might be?”
“I’m sorry, no. But let me give you a little advice: the answer may be right in front of you.”
I gave him a puzzled look to get him to explain better. But he didn’t.
Instead, Merle glanced anxiously at the door. “I’d really better be going, students. The real minions are still out there. No doubt they’re causing trouble. Good luck to you.” In one swift motion, Merle Ambrose teleported away before I could ask any more questions.
I was left we more questions than answers, now. What had he meant, right in front of me? What had the strange look been? Or had that been my imagination? These questions and more were all jumbled up in my head, making absolutely no sense. But when I truly thought about it, all of them were asking the same thing.
Who is the Life Seeker?
Headmaster Ambrose had been right when he said Rowan wanted to tell me something. The second I stepped in the door, Rowan bounded up to me, screaming, “Sierra! Sierra! Sierra!”
“What? What? What!” I shouted back.
“Guess what?”
“For the last time, what?”
“I learned Dryad!”
“Oh. Um, okay.” Honestly, I didn’t really care. It only meant I was even farther in level behind her.
Rowan didn’t seem to notice my gloomy reply. “It was sooooooooo awesome! Okay, so first I talked to Moolinda Wu, and then I went to Sunken City. And while you were in MooShu doing whatever, I defeated Grubb!”
I couldn’t help but smile at the way she had said “in MooShu” and “doing whatever”. Truthfully, I hadn’t been in MooShu at all for most of the time, and using the words she did made my adventures sound insignificant and unexciting, which was the exact opposite of how they really were. Spotting my grin, she paused for a moment. “Um, what’s so funny?”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing.” I tried my best to make my expression once more indifferent.
Rowan wasn’t one to over observe things, so she simply shrugged and continued on. “So I found that chest, and it wasn’t hard to find, it was just off to the side Grubb’s room, and then I brought the contents to my teacher, and then I found out I had to fight Plague Oni, so I was like, ‘Ugh! I just did him last week!” but I still went and…” Rowan babbled on, not even stopping to breath. Everything was just one big, giant sentence. “We had so much fun and because Mark’s a Master it was super easy so we sped through it and then Sydney got caught in a battle with ninja pigs and started screaming ‘Bacon!’ or something like that, it was so funny, and so we started it too and…”
I stared at Rowan most of the time, nodding every once and a while, but not really comprehending what she was saying. My own thoughts were too mixed up. Instead, my mind wandered. I put together all my clues, and thought hard. It was a great struggle to look at Rowan like I was actually listening but think about other things at the same time.
Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. I excused myself by mumbling something about being tired from quests and locked myself in my bedroom. I flung myself onto the bed, just lying there quietly.
Somehow I ended up thinking about Vanessa’s awakening earlier today. I was thinking about everything Mary had said. I wondered if the Colossus had told her anything. And if my poor Stormzilla had triumphed in its battle with the Hydra. And what had Liam and Vanessa been talking about before I interrupted? What did Mary’s voice remind me of? And Scarlet –
I froze. Scarlet. Scarlet MoonHeart.
Scarlet was Life, wasn’t she? She had the wand, and wore green clothes. She had come with us to the Pyramid of the Moon, too. The Colossus had said there were “more than two Seekers” in the pyramid, didn’t he? I had always known Liam was there, those words didn’t mean there was simply one more. What if there were four Seekers altogether? Scarlet could be one of them.
What about Merle Ambrose’s comment about the answer being right in front of me? Scarlet had been right there, next to me. It was so obvious: she had to be it.
Scarlet MoonHeart was the Life Seeker.
The next day, Rowan and Sydney teamed up with Vanessa and I so I could catch up with everyone else. Even Sydney was ahead of me by now.
Unfortunately, on this seemingly normal day, disaster struck.
We were battling the Oyotomi Quartermaster. He wasn’t that difficult, but Rowan had entered low on health in the first place. Though the rest of us tried to convince her to drink one of her potions, she had refused. “Theurgists don’t need potions!” she declared. “We can heal ourselves.”
Within the first three turns, Rowan got five pips made of her power pips and she got ready to cast her spell. She expertly drew the Life symbol in a dramatic way. When she was about to activate it, I saw the card she had chosen in her hand: Regenerate.
Regenerate was a spell that healed you over time. When Rowan first got it, she instantly loved the spell and named it “Handy”.
But this time, I wondered if I had been mistaken of what I saw in her hand. Black clouds were starting to cover the dueling arena.
Rowan didn’t even notice. She proceed on with her silly little motto she always said when she cast Handy: “This is Handy. Handy is handy. But sometimes he’s not so handy. But Handy is-”
The three of us gasped. A hand did come out from the sinister clouds, but it wasn’t Handy. This hand was scaly and clawed like a Draconian’s hand. It was a terrifying dark color that matched the clouds behind it perfectly. Rowan stopped talking, her eyes wide with fright.
From Sydney’s side Sir Romeo hissed. The rest of our pets, Vanessa’s Queen Chelsea the Ninja Pig and my Baby Fluffy the Ghoul (though it wasn’t particularly a proper name for such a creature, I kept it, because I loved the irony of it), also began reacting strangely, suddenly looking fearful and skittish. Rowan’s Summer Dragon, Mister Muffin, emanated a horrified cry and started flitting around Rowan anxiously.
Rowan was distracted by this movement. She took one, tiny, quick little glance at her pet. In that same moment, the hand lunged at my sister.
“ROWAN!” I screamed, abandoning my spot in the dueling circle to come to her aid.
Rowan was being pulled up by the hand. I leaped to reach her, but it was useless. When I landed, I stupidly stumbled and fell.
Mister Muffin, disconcerted and unsure of what to do, flew up to Rowan hurriedly and perched on her arm, flapping his wings and pulling in a useless attempt to free her. Rowan was too busy struggling to react to his sharp claws that were digging into her skin.
In one single, swift motion, the hand and the clouds, Rowan and Mister Muffin, everything – was gone.
|
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze
Something totally unexpected happened to me today. This was stranger than anything I’d ever witnessed before. It was even more surprising then the time that John couldn’t move anymore because I’d glared at him, or the time that the snowman came to life because I’d been thinking about Frosty. It was even stranger then the day that the public swimming pool turned into an ice skating rink because I had wished for it. No, it was even more astonishing than all those things combined. Well, to start, have you ever heard of Ravenwood School? ….. No? Well then, maybe I should start from the beginning.
It was a cool fall day in October. I was sitting outside of the orphanage. The cold never seemed to bother me. Since I was an orphan, I never knew my last name. All that the owners of the orphanage will tell me is that they found me alone by the ocean. That is why they named me Sierra. It’s like “Sea” and “arra” combined. They said they never knew how I’d gotten there, but they thought that I must have been abandoned. So, they took me in.
Even though the owners of this place are nice, I’ve never felt at home here. The other kids always make fun of me. They call me a “freak” because of the strange things that happen to me. I hate this place. So, as usual, I was alone. Outside I was looking at the orange leaves on the beautiful trees. Almost all the leaves were gone now, because it was getting very close to winter time. I sighed and thought all about the things that have happened to me before. Earlier I had accidentally “turned the refrigerator into a freezer”. Somehow the temperature in there had gone from 40 degrees Fahrenheit to negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit. I had gotten blamed and sent away from the kitchen. I wasn’t allowed in there until tomorrow morning, meaning I couldn’t have any dinner. So I was hungry, tired, and dismal. As I was looking up at the setting sun, I noticed something strange. There was an owl in the tree in front of me.
Of course owls aren’t anything supernatural. But they were unusual to see around here. In fact, I thought it was impossible for them to be even near here. But there he was, sitting calmly on a branch. His giant eyes were staring right at me. Even though I knew he was just an owl and couldn’t hurt me, I squirmed uncomfortably. He almost seemed to be examining me. Maybe he was just afraid that I would hurt him. But somehow, I felt like there was intelligence behind those observant owl eyes. I stood up and began to walk toward him.
He stood stationary and continued observing me.
“Shoo!” I said. He just cocked his head to one side and kept staring.
“What are you doing here? Go away!”
Then, he suddenly straightened up and quickly looked around. Then he cleared his throat. Yes, an owl cleared his throat! Then, he began talking:
“Are you the one they call Sierra?” He (or should I say it) said.
I don’t know why, but I answered him. “Maybe. Why are you wondering? And who are you?”
The owl flew down to the ground in front of me. I jumped, guessing he would hurt me. All it did was laugh and replied “I am Gamma, Headmaster Ambrose’s pet. I need you to come with me.”
“What!” I exclaimed. None of this was making any sense at all. Who was “Headmaster Ambrose”? I decided that this must be a dream. None of this was possible.
“Well,” said the owl, “I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself. I guess I just forgot what world I am on…”
World? Oh yes, this was definitely a dream.
“Sierra, you’re a wizard.”
I think my heart skipped a beat. “A…a wizard?” I repeated. “That’s not possible!” Then I reminded myself that anything was possible in a dream. But when had I fallen asleep?
“Yes, a very talented wizard in fact. Or at least, I’m guessing you are. The headmaster wouldn’t have accepted you into our school if you weren’t.”
“A school? You mean with other wizards?” Now I was beginning to wonder if this were a trick. It seemed like the perfect thing that John would think of to prove that I was a freak. It all sounded a lot like Harry Potter.
“Yes. It is called Ravenwood School. You are very lucky, Sierra. It is the most prestigious school in all of Wizard City. So, I need you to teleport with me to-“
“Teleport?” Oh, I’d love to see how John did that. Because I had now convinced myself that it was his doing.
“Yes, teleport,” said the owl impatiently. “Will you hold onto my wing?”
“Um…”
“Come on!” The owl laughed. “It’s completely safe, I assure you.”
So, I grasped hold of the mysterious animal’s wing and suddenly, the world around me was gray and looked as if I were inside of a hurricane. It was windy too, and yet strangely relaxing. It almost looked like we were in a tube of wind. And suddenly, my feet touched solid ground, and I was in some sort of office. There was an old man who, coincidentally, was dressed as a wizard, complete with a snow white beard. “Hello!” He greeted.
“Welcome to Ravenwood School!”
“Ravenwood? What? So, it’s not a trick.”
“Of course not.”
Now I was back to thinking it was a dream. What was going on?
“Now Sierra, answer these questions and we will decide which type of wizard you are.”
I curiously peered at the book he had placed in front of me. It was labeled “Book of Secrets” and was brown and old. I opened it. Inside, there were questions and a couple of answers. When I answered them all, the old man took the book from me and said, “Well, it turns out that you’re ice! That means that you will be taught by Professor Greyrose.”
Ice? Apparently he knew me well. It did make sense that I would be ice, because I did all those strange things that seemed to be related with ice.
“I guess now we should take you to your family…”
Now my heart had stopped. That couldn’t be right. Even in a dream, that seemed impossible. I couldn’t have a family. It just didn’t make sense. I must have heard wrong.
“Excuse me,” I said to the old man. “What did you say?”
“I said your family!”
“That’s what I thought. Um, but sir-“
“Oh, we haven’t been properly introduced, have we? I am Merle Ambrose, Headmaster of Ravenwood School.”
“Oh, well I’m Sierra. And as I was saying, Mister Ambrose-“
“Please call me Professor Ambrose.”
“Ok!”I exclaimed, because he kept interrupting. “Well ‘Professor Ambrose’ I was going to say that I think you’re mistaken. I don’t have a family. I’m an orphan.”
“An orphan? Well goodness, is that what you thought? I guess we have much to explain to you, don’t we. Well then, sit down. This could take a while.”
I sat in a big blue chair across from his desk. Then he began:
“Sierra, all I am going to tell you today is just what we think. We can’t be completely sure. When you were younger, you loved to use teleporting magic. Only at 6 days old you had learned how to teleport an entire mile! So, we believe that you somehow teleported yourself all the way to the world called Earth. We had no idea where you were for the longest time. We only discovered you just a few months ago! Even though your parents had another daughter, Rowan, they still never forgot you, the baby who they never got to even name.”
“So wait. Even after I was born they still hadn’t named me?”
“No, but since they heard that the people at the orphanage had named you Sierra, they decided to keep that name.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “Well where are they?”
“They are at their home of course! Why would they be here? They don’t even know that you have arrived.”
“Oh. When can I meet them?”
“After you meet all your teachers.”
So, Headmaster Ambrose sent me on a “quest” and I met all the teachers. There were so many new sights to see! I met the storm, balance, fire, life, myth, and of course the ice professor. I also found out that the poor death school had fallen into a giant hole. Since I felt sorry for them, I decided to use the training point I’d received earlier to learn the Dark Sprite spell. When I finally finished, I went back to the old guy and he finally told me the location of my family’s house. He teleported there with me.
When he opened the door, a man with brown hair opened the door. He wore long white robes and dark blue shoes. He smiled a warm smile at the headmaster. “Hello, Merle.” Then he looked at me. “Oh, is this your newest student?”
“Yes, but she’s more than that.”
“What do you mean?” Then his eyes lit up. “You can’t possibly be…” He turned around. “Angela! Oh Angela, come here! And Rowan too!” He turned around. “You’re Sierra, right? Sierra Winterbreeze?”
“Uh… I don’t know my last name.”
“Well if you’re my Sierra then your last name is Winterbreeze. What school are you? Life? Ice? Or something completely different?”
Just then two people appeared beside him. One of them was a woman who could possibly be my mom. She had light blonde hair and wore light green robes with a darker green trim. Next to her was a young girl a little bit younger than me. She was also wearing green robes, but her robes were trimmed with a silver color. “Who’s that?” she asked.
“Rowan,” her (and apparently my) dad said with a smile, “this is your sister, Sierra Winterbreeze.”
She looked at me and gasped. After taking in my appearance, she walked over to me awkwardly and smiled an uncomfortable smile. “I’m Rowan Willowleaf,” she said.
“Willowleaf? Don’t you mean Winterbreeze? She is my sister, correct?”
“Yes, she is,” answered Professor Ambrose. “But unlike in the world called Earth, wizards do not always have the same last names as each other.”
“Oh.” Then I turned and asked, “So what are my parent’s last names?”
“Your mother here is Angela Unicornrider. And I am Caleb Frostsong. What school are you? Your sister and mother are life, but I’m ice.” Then he glanced at my clothes. “If you’re ice, I can get you some normal clothes.” I was still wearing blue jeans and a purple T-shirt from Earth.
“I’m ice,” I replied.
He smiled the biggest smile I’d ever seen. He turned to his wife and second born daughter. “Did you hear that? We finally have another ice wizard in the house!” He was obviously very excited. He turned back to me.”Come on inside. I’ll give you some clothes and show you where you will sleep.”
I followed him inside and he took me into a small room. It was dusty, but cozy.
“Here,” he said as he sat down on the bed. “I know it’s a little dirty, but it will work, right?”
I joined him on the bed. “Yeah, it’s fine. Where are those clothes you were talking about?”
“Oh right!” He stooped over a wooden chest that was in the corner of the room. He took out two robes that were white trimmed with purple. But they obviously weren’t made for young girls like me. They actually looked like they belonged to an older man.
“Um, they’re boy clothes.”
“Yes, I hoped you wouldn’t mind for now. They are from when I was a boy, just after I’d graduated from Ravenwood. Are they okay?”
“Great,” I mumbled, “Not only am I going to be wearing boy’s clothes on day one, but I’ll be wearing outdated clothes as well.” Of course I didn’t say that to him. All I did was pick them up and I put them on.
“Good.” He grinned. “Now you’re ready for classes.”
“Classes?”
“Yes. You only have a short time to see Professor Greyrose today, but maybe it’ll be long enough for you to learn Frost Beetle.”
“Oh, you mean those kinds of classes? I took some of those from Malorn Ashthorn today.”
“You mean the student who teaches the death school? What were you training there for?”
“I felt bad for their school so I used my training point to learn Dark Sprite. I didn’t get it much. Pretty much all that happened was that he summoned a fairy thing and handed me these cards.”
“The death school. I can’t believe you decided to train second in the death school! Your mother and sister are both life, and therefore they despise the death school! Your mother won’t be happy about this.”
“Sorry! Why do they hate death?”
“It’s sort of how we don’t like fire.”
“We don’t like fire?”
“No, we don’t.”
“Oh.” I didn’t like that. I had really enjoyed meeting Professor Falmea today.
He sighed. “What’s been done has been done and we can’t change that. But I’d better tell your mother. Angela!” He called.
Within a minute, Rowan and our mom appeared at the door. “What is it?”
“Guess who just decided to train second in death?”
Then Angela (or should I start calling her mom?) glared at me and asked “It wasn’t you, was it?”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know!”
Rowan was looking at me wide eyed. “You decided to train second in death? Wow, that’s totally awesome!” Then Angela glared at her. “Um, I mean, you should be ashamed of yourself. Death is terrible and evil.” She rolled her eyes and glanced at her mom. Angela just smiled at her encouragingly. When Rowan looked at me again, no longer did she appear uncomfortable. Now she just looked curious and maybe even a little respectful.
“You’d better get going anyway. You don’t want to get a detention on your first day of school!”
So, I went back to the ice school. I was late because for most of the day I had been on Earth or meeting teachers or getting to know my new family. Classes had started hours ago. When I came in, I immediately noticed that the entire room was blue or white. The walls were decorated with snowflakes, and even the other wizards clothes were white, blue, or purple. At the front of the classroom, Professor Greyrose was drawing something on the board that looked like a big circle with little swirl marks coming off of it. When she saw me (which actually took about a minute because she was so absorbed in teaching) she smiled and said, “Hello Sierra Winterbreeze! Welcome to ice class.” She turned to the other students. “Everyone, say hello to Sierra. She is a new student in this Novice Ice Magic class.”
Everyone mumbled “Hello Sierra” before they returned back to doing whatever they had been doing. It looked like they were waving sticks around.
“Well Sierra, have you gotten your wand yet?”
“Um, I’m supposed to have a wand?”
“Yes. I guess that means you don’t have one yet. Here, I have a few.” Then, after rummaging through some of the stuff in her desk, she pulled out a black handled “wand” with a pretty white gem on the top. I held it in my hand. I tried to wave it around, and little snowflakes fell off of it.
“Now that you have your wand, you can take a seat. Go ahead, chose anywhere you want.”
I sat at the back where no one else was sitting. I guessed here wouldn’t be any different from the orphanage. I was used to people calling me weird, so this feeling of loneliness wasn’t new to me. But here, I wasn’t a freak. The people nearest to me were accidentally freezing their desk or giving their friends frostbite. It resembled the things I had done on Earth.
“Ok Sierra,” said Professor Greyrose, “Right now we are trying to make the ice symbol in the air. The ice symbol is on the board over there.” She pointed to the circle she had drawn. “The first person who manages to make it gets to learn Frost Beetle first!”
“Um, alright, but how do I do that? I don’t even know how to do any kind of magic!”
“Just focus your energy and think about what you have to do.”
I groaned in frustration as Professor Greyrose walked back to her desk.
First, I tried to draw a circle in the air with my hand. Nothing happened. Then, I decided that I would use the wand and make the snowflakes come out again and try to get them to form a circle. But when I waved the wand again, no snowflakes would fall. I wanted to scream. I glanced around the room and tried to see if anyone else had any good ideas. But everyone seemed to be having as much trouble as I was. Some were even saying random words to make it appear. I guessed that might work, so I tried all the Earth wizard words I could remember. “Hocus Pocus! Abracadabra! Alakazam! Um, uh, I don’t know! Magicy icy thingy!” I finally realized that it wasn’t going to work. So, just then I remembered what my teacher had said to me: “Just focus your energy and think about what you have to do.” So, I grabbed my wand, closed my eyes, thought about the ice symbol, and tried to trace it in the air with my wand.
I heard a strange noise that reminded me of a blizzard. When I opened my eyes again, in front of me was a floating blue sign that looked exactly like the one on the board! I had done it!
“Well done Sierra! You did it!” exclaimed Professor Greyrose. All the other kids turned around to stare at me. I blushed. “Since you have done so marvelously, why don’t you come up here and show the other kids how to do it?”
What? I had to come up in front of the class? This wasn’t mentioned! Still, I didn’t want to get in trouble on my first day here, so I stood up reluctantly and placed myself in front of the Professor’s desk.
“Um, well, ok…” I began. “I, um, think that all I did was close my eyes and trace the symbol in the air.”
“No way! That can’t be true. I tried that and it didn’t work” called out one boy in the second row.
“You have to focus you energy on it.”
All the other kids began to try, and they found out that they could do it too. Professor Greyrose was beaming. After everyone had managed to do it, our teacher taught me how to do the first ice spell: frost beetle.
When I was walking out the door, I accidentally ran into a girl wearing a completely white robe with a blue hat and blue shoes. “Sorry!” I exclaimed.
“Oh no, it’s not your fault. I should have been watching where I was going. I’m sorry.”
Wow, that was a surprise to me! If this had happened back on Earth, the other kid would have started yelling right away. For someone to apologize for running into me was a huge difference!
“What’s your name?” I questioned.
“I’m Jasmine Iceflame. Your name is Sierra Winterbreeze, right? I thought you did a wonderful job at showing the class how to make the ice symbol.”
“Thank you.” I smiled at her. This girl was really nice!
“You’re welcome. It’s only true.”
“I guess I will see you in classes tomorrow then, right?”
“Actually, no. I graduated to Apprentice Ice Magic today. I will be taking those classes tomorrow.”
“Oh,” I said sadly. “Well, I hope you have fun in your new class tomorrow.”
“I hope you have a good time in Novice Ice Magic as well. Good luck!”
“You too. Goodbye!”
“Bye!”
After school, I walked back to my new house with Rowan. I had found her waiting outside my classroom after I got out from class. I found out that Rowan didn’t always like the life school. She said that hardly any of her spells actually hit anything. They all healed. “I normally have to rely on my secondary school, fire,” she explained.
“Fire?” I asked, surprised. “How on earth did you get your father to agree to that?”
“Well, my mother thought that it would be a great school for me. So, after a lot of arguing, my dad finally agreed. And by the way, what is ‘Earth’?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot that you wouldn’t know that. Sorry. What are you going to do after school? I am probably going to do my homework, which is practicing making the ice symbol in the air and trying to improve the aim of my frost beetle. Do you have homework?”
“Not tonight. I’ll probably go to Triton Avenue to finishing up helping some of the people there.”
“Triton Avenue? Where’s that?”
“It’s in a gate in Olde Town. But you can’t go in there yet.”
“Why not?”
“You aren’t a high enough level.”
“Oh. What level do you have to be?”
“I don’t know. I’m level 8 and you’re level 1. So obviously, you must be at least my level to get in there.”
“How come you’re a higher level but I’m older?”
“Because level doesn’t matter how old you are. It only depends on how much magic you know.”
“Aww, that’s not fair!”
“Yes it is. I know Leprechaun, Imp, Legend Shield and Unicorn. I even know Fire Cat and Fire Elf and Glacial Shield. All you know is Frost Beetle and Dark Sprite! You wouldn’t be able to defend yourself against the monsters there. But I have heard that Unicorn Way needs help. Higher levels like me are too busy to deal with small low level monsters like the ones in Unicorn Way. Maybe you can go there to start.”
Then Rowan had to stop talking, because we were at our house.
That night, I was lying in my new bed when my mother came up. She smiled at me lying there. I smiled back. “Are you comfortable?” she asked.
“Yes, these sheets are nice and warm,” I answered.
“Well, just tell us if you need anything, sweetheart.” Then, she leaned over and kissed me on the forehead as if I were just a little girl. But I didn’t mind, because I had never been kissed by my mother before. I loved the feeling.
“Goodnight, Sierra.”
“Goodnight Ange- I mean, Mom.”
And before she left, I thought to myself, if this is a dream, then it sure is the greatest one I have ever had. |
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze (part 2)
I awoke to the sound of children running around and talking. Where was it coming from? I slowly opened my eyes. The room was so bright. I wished I could use my new magic to make the room darker. I was so sleepy…
Wait. How could it be bright? That meant it was morning!
I jumped up, forgetting that I was tired. I was going to be late for class! I quickly grabbed my Helm of Hailstones, Snowstalkers, and Cloak of Heart and forced them on. As far as I knew, there was no clock in my room and I didn’t know what time school started anyway. So, all I could do was hurry downstairs and find out how late I was.
Rowan Willowleaf was playing with a sprite that she had obviously conjured up. When she saw me, she gasped and said “Sierra, did you just now wake up? I’m leaving in 5 minutes! There are already many kids outside.”
I grinned and replied, “How could you tell that I just woke up?”
“Well, if you had bothered to brush your hair, then maybe I wouldn’t have noticed.”
“Oh.” Was my hair really that bad?
“Um, are you going to stand there all day? If you don’t want to be late then you’d better hurry!”
I groaned. “How can I possibly get all my spell cards together, eat breakfast, find my wand, brush my hair, and get to school on time?”
As Rowan shrugged, Angela Unicornrider, my mother, walked in. She too appeared very surprised when she saw me.
“Oh no, what happened? Sierra, why isn’t your hair brushed?”
“I just woke up.”
“What!” She exclaimed. She shook her head. “Well, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do anything today… but I guess I’ll have to help.” Then, she waved her hand at the hair brush, and it began to magically brush my hair for me. The large pile of cards that had been lying on the table suddenly arranged their selves into a perfect pile. “I’ll go look for your wand. You eat.”
I was still staring dumbfounded at the spell deck and the floating hairbrush. “You can do that? Then why don’t I sleep in every morning!”
“Because it’s tiring,” answered Mom.
I glanced at Rowan, who was smiling ominously at me. “Did you know that she could do that?”
She nodded. “Mom has done it thousands of times for me. It has gotten us out of tight spots sometimes. So, you better start eating. I would usually be leaving now, but I’ll wait for you.”
So I began eating breakfast. As I was eating, I thought about the first day I came here, a weak novice. I hadn’t had a family. I only had lived in an orphanage in a world called Earth that was far away from my real family. I was so happy when I finally found out I had a mom, a dad, and a sister.
Of course, now I had managed to get all the way to level 13, but Rowan still was superior to me. At level 15, she could defeat me still. But I was gaining on her fast. My experience points were getting very high. I would level up very soon.
It also helped that yesterday I had defeated the Kraken in Triton Avenue. The guy who had given me the quest helped a lot by handing out tons of experience. And the Kraken had been easy! So many other wizards had been there to help.
I finished my breakfast, and Rowan and I headed out to class. We separated when we arrived in Ravenwood. She went off to Journeyman Life Magic, and I went to Initiate Ice Magic.
Lydia Greyrose, or as students called her Professor Greyrose, was already handing back our scores on the test yesterday. Though I was nervous, I soon found out I didn’t have to be. I saw a huge “A+” on the front. I had passed with flying colors.
After a long class of the same boring stuff we did every day, the bell rang and I had to walk to Initiate Death Magic. After a class in which we once more practiced Banshee, I finally was free. I met Rowan in front of Bartleby.
“How was school today?” she inquired.
“The usual,” I answered.
“You ready to go to Colosolous Boulevard?”
“Sure!” I couldn’t go to Colosolous Boulevard yet. I had to teleport to Rowan to get there. I loved it though. It was icy and cold, just like a nice winter day on Earth. But here in Wizard City, it never snowed. Only in places like Colosolous Boulevard you ever saw snow.
So we were ready to go. We walked through the Shopping District, which was really crowded. It was always busy around this time, right after all the kids had gotten out of school. They were either going to buy new clothes since they leveled up, doing quests, or trying to get to Olde Town or Colosolous Boulevard.
Finally we fought our way to the boulevard. Rowan went right on in, uninvited. I attempted to follow her, but as usual the guard stopped me. I teleported to Rowan.
I always loved being in here, feeling the cold on my arms and legs! I rolled up my sleeves. Rowan glanced at me. “You’re crazy,” she always said. “How can you stand such cold?” But to me this wonderful cold felt like a warm, sunny day to most people. And I knew I wasn’t alone. I had seen other ice wizards in here that felt the exact same way.
Since Rowan was cold, she summoned a Fire Cat to warm herself up. It melted some of the snow around us, but as we moved along the snow formed again. That proved how cold it was in here!
I loved this world. I finally fit in! First of all, in the other world my hair had been strange. My hair was blue, which made me even more freakish on Earth. I was so embarrassed by it that I dyed my hair brown to keep from getting made fun of. Here in Wizard City, I had seen the strangest colors, including pink and purple. Now it was normal!
Second, I always have had strange powers. And third, I didn’t have a family on Earth.
We walked over to see Mindy Pixiecrown. I tapped my foot impatiently as Mindy told Rowan to do some kind of quest. When she was finally done, she came over to me and said, “I have to battle gobblers.”
“Gobblers? You mean those green things that are all over the place?”
“Yep, that’s right. Will you help me?”
“Of course I will.”
“Thanks Sierra.”
We went off in search of some Gobblers. It didn’t take us very long. We battled so much that day that my mana ran out 6 times! I had plenty of potions though, and we went to the Mini Game Fairgrounds a couple of times. We were battling hard and by the end of the day, we were both exhausted.
“How… many more… do you… need?” I asked between breaths.
“None.” She replied. She wasn’t nearly as tired as me. She had just come back from a trip to the Fairgrounds, but I had stayed behind to feel the icy weather. “Actually, I haven’t needed any for a long time. I thought it was fun fighting them!”
“Oh, really?” Even though I should have been, I wasn’t mad at her. I had thought it had been a fun day too.
“Yeah, sorry. We should be getting back now.”
“Ok.”
Unfortunately, on the way back I got engaged in a battle against two gobblers. “I don’t need any help,” I told Rowan. “Go on ahead of me.”
She did, and I was left alone to finish off these monsters. It didn’t take very long; I only had to use Snow Serpent a couple of times and they were goners. But these ones seemed different somehow. It seemed as if these gobblers were intelligent. Their moves made sense, and they weren’t constantly eating in the middle of the battle.
I guess it didn’t matter in the end, because I still easily defeated them, even if they were smarter than the average gobbler and I was low on health and mana. I began to head in Mindy’s direction, when I noticed something shiny lying on the ground where the second gobbler had been defeated. After making sure no monsters were about to drag me into a battle, I hurried across the street and picked it up. It looked like some kind of bronze key. I couldn’t examine it any more though, because an evil snowman had just rounded the corner and he looked like he wanted to fight. Besides, evil snowmen were hard because we both resisted each other’s attacks.
I met up with Rowan at the entrance of the boulevard. She noticed the key in my hand. “What’s that?” she questioned.
“Um, I’m not really sure… one of the gobblers had it. It looks like a key of some sort, doesn’t it? I can’t imagine what it would open.”
“Strange. Do you suppose it might be for one of the buildings in Wizard City?”
“I don’t think so. How would a gobbler get a key to something in Wizard City?”
“I have no idea. I’m just trying to brainstorm.”
“Well maybe we should go home. We’ve been out all day and I have homework.” Plus, I was very, very tired.
The next day we went back to Colosolous Boulevard again to try and find out what the key was for. Poor Rowan tried to help me as much as she could, but Mindy was sending her on too many quests, not to mention the others in Colosolous Boulevard that wanted help.
“Don’t worry,” I finally told her when she was trying to unlock a door and battle an evil snowman at the same time. “I can find it myself.”
She looked at me doubtfully, but didn’t say anything. She threw me the key and continued on with her battle.
I looked all over the boulevard but couldn’t find anywhere that the key seemed to fit into. It was hopeless, until I came upon the final destination that I could think of: Gobblestone Castle.
I highly doubted that the key would work here, since this door was always open and wizards came in here daily to try and convince the gobbler king to leave. Not to mention they came in here sometimes just to annoy the gobbler prince and to fight him.
I approached the castle. It was large and ominous, but it rarely managed to scare anyone. To think that the gobblers got to live in such a magnificent place, stuffing their fat faces all the day away… it just made me angry.
The door was closed, so I just inserted the key in the door. And sure enough, when I turned it, it worked!
I looked suspiciously around, as if I were doing something wrong and didn’t want anyone else to see. I turned the lock again, and the lock clicked open.
I tried to open the doors. Strange, they seemed heavier than usual. After a lot of struggling, I finally opened it just wide enough for me to fit though. Now I was glad Rowan wasn’t here. It would have been hard for us to both fit through, especially since the heavy doors closed right behind me after I entered.
This didn’t look anything like Gobblestone Castle. It seemed even bigger than before, and there was no longer a passageway at my left leading up to the king. The floors were no longer black and white; they were now sky blue tiles, just like the ice school color. There weren’t boxes of pies and other treats stacked up high to the ceiling either. The entire place seemed empty and deserted.
“Hello?” I called out. “Is anyone here?” My voice echoed off the walls of the quiet hallway.
All was still and silent, so I was about to walk out the door again. Suddenly I heard something. It was soft voices, even quieter than a whisper. I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
“Who’s there? Show yourself!” I tried to tell the voices, but they kept getting louder, as if they were coming closer and closer…
Now all I heard was a loud mix of voices, all together. No longer were they quiet. Now they were so loud that I couldn’t stand it.
I hurried to the closed door, but it was locked and I saw no keyhole that I could use the bronze key in. Now I was panicking! I turned around and my eyes swept the open space. I held my wand high, ready for a fight.
Now that I cared to listen, I finally could understand what they were saying: “Winterbreeze.” My last name.
“How do you know who I am?” I shouted. “Go away! Leave me alone!”
The strange disembodied voices only continued their chanting.
I covered my ears, but I could still hear them as clearly as if they were right beside me. I gave up and sank to my knees. I began to cry, adding to the loud chorus of noise.
Then, after sobbing for a long time, the voices seemed to fade away. They were becoming quieter again. I didn’t care. It only made me cry louder, because now I was going to be all alone in this silent castle. What in the world was going on?
Suddenly, I felt an arm rest on me. I stopped crying immediately and stood up, wand ready. The monster was obviously here.
Instead of a monster, there was a giant there. An ice giant, like the ones I had seen at level 6 for my spell quest. Except this one was smaller. Much smaller. He was only a tiny bit taller than me.
“Sierra Winterbreeze.” He smiled such a warm smile that I had to lower my wand. How could this guy be an enemy? Weren’t ice giants supposed to be the good guys? “We are honored to have you here as our special guest.”
Our? We? What was he talking about? We were the only ones here. “Um, who are you?” I asked.
“My name is not important. I am one of the great ice giants, but I was banned from the sky long ago because of my size. I was sent here, to guard the Tower of Lost Memories.”
“The Tower of Lost Memories.” I repeated. I looked around. “So that is what this place is called. What happened to Gobblestone Castle?”
“It is still here. You used the Key of Frost on the door and opened the tower.”
“Okay… well I’d better be going. Bye!” I tried to walk out the door, but the giant blocked my way.
“Oh no, you can’t leave now, Winterbreeze. You are the ice Seeker of Light, and we need you here.”
I looked at him doubtfully. “I think you have the wrong person. I’m only an initiate ice wizard from Earth. I hardly know anything about Wizard City yet, and I can’t even get into Colosolous Boulevard without my sister’s help! Get a master or someone to help you.”
“The magic you know now does not matter, only the magic you will learn.”
“Sure, sounds great. You know, I’d love to listen to you go on and on about some weird ‘seeker of light’ stuff but right now I don’t have time. My sister will be looking for me. Can you open the door?”
“Only the keeper of the key can open the door.”
“Stop talking in riddles! If you need the key to open the door, then you can have it.”
“I cannot, for I am not the keeper of the key.”
“Hey, are you sure that the only reason the giants banished you from the sky was because of your size?
Because you seem pretty annoying, and I think that if any normal person heard you, then they would, um, you know… banish you or whatever.”
The giant’s face stayed stoic, not showing any emotion. “Do not insult me, Sierra Winterbreeze, or you will see the true extent of the giants’ power.”
“Ok, got it.” I said, backing away. I didn’t want to mess with this guy. Even though he was tiny for a giant, he was still larger than me and could win in a physical fight easily.
He did not say anything after that, and I waited for a long time, just staring into that expressionless face of his. Finally, I said “Who is the keeper of the key then?”
“You are.”
“Me? But how can I possibly open a door without a lock?”
“It will be revealed to you when you learn the truth.” I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t. I yelled in frustration. I wanted to throw my wand across the room, but I decided against it. I had tried that once before, and the wand had broken in half. I couldn’t cast magic for a week because I had to save up to buy a new wand. And that is very hard to do if you can’t battle monsters.
“Okay. Um, can you pretty, pretty please tell me whatever you want to tell me? I really just want to get out of here!”
“Fine. Come here.” He motioned for me to follow him into the wide open hall.
When I did, he said, “Try to touch this wall here.” He pointed to a completely ordinary looking wall.
“Sure…” I said as I obeyed. I didn’t understand any of this. Oh why had I been so curious at what the key did?
But the moment my hand touched the wall, images appeared in the air. They flickered to life like a broken television screen. Even when the image finally became clear enough to see, the pictures were still blurry.
On the strange floating screen, I saw a face that was very familiar to me: Angela Unicornrider. My mother.
In her arms she held a baby. What was I viewing? Was this the present? Near future? Or past?
The giant seemed to read my mind. “This is the past,” he said.
“That baby is you when you were 6 days old.”
“Six days old…” Why did that age sound familiar to me?
Angela rocked me a few times. Then Caleb Frostsong, my father, came into the picture. He said something, but this weird video had no sound. Angela replied, and then set me down in the baby carriage in front of her. The two walked out of the picture.
Now I was alone. I was waving my arms around, and I guessed I must have been giggling. Then all of a sudden, I was gone. The image became extremely blurry again, like at the beginning of this strange scene. But this was not over yet. Now it was me as a baby again, somewhere strange. It must have still been inside the house. Then I disappeared again and the screen changed again. I was beside a hot burning stove somewhere. I decided that I must be teleporting. How else could I be going such distances?
Suddenly, the curious baby Sierra reached up to the burner. “No!” I shouted out, as if that could change anything.
The poor baby touched the fire, and it turned to ice.
I was stunned. How could that happen? No matter what, whenever any ice wizard tried to freeze fire, the ice melted into water. We had been told that multiple times in Initiate Ice Magic. So how can a baby possibly do that?
“As I said, you have amazing potential. You are the ice Seeker.”
I just continued to look at the screen. Now my younger self was disappearing and reappearing again. I was in a garden, by a dog, in the middle of a dueling circle, out in some desert somewhere which from the picture I estimated was Krokotopia. I could teleport to Krokotopia? I should have tried that a long time ago!
The baby was teleporting all over the place. Just as I figured out where she was, baby Sierra just teleported once more. After teleporting off the top of a building, the strange unclearness lasted a lot longer than usual. I waited and waited to see where I was, but nothing happened. Was that the end?
“No, it is not the end,” the giant said. How could he read my mind so accurately?
In the blur, I thought I saw a face. But as quickly as it had come it had left. That face hadn’t looked friendly at all. Who had it been? Maybe a giant? I didn’t think that a giant would look so… so… well, evil.
Then, finally, the blur went away. I was in a crowded street. People were gasping at the baby that had just appeared. A car was coming along, and just before it was going to hit me, I teleported again.
“A car…” I said aloud. Was I in Marleybone then? But no, I couldn’t be. The people on the street had been wizards, not dogs…
Or had they been humans?
At that same moment I remembered why 6 days old was such an important date. It was the day I had teleported to Earth!
So I hadn’t gone directly to the beach. This footage proved that I had indeed teleported to Earth by accident, and that I had gone through a lot before I finally wound up on the beach and got taken away by the owners of the orphanage. How I had hated that place! Even thinking about it now brought up so much resent in me that I couldn’t even think straight. And John. He had been the worst of them all.
Finally, the image faded away and the screen was gone.
The giant turned to me. “Did you notice anything strange about this memory, Sierra Winterbreeze?”
“Well, yes. Actually a lot of it. First, the fire turning to ice. Second, that long period when the screen was unclear.”
“Yes, but did you notice anything extra strange about the time in which the screen was blurry?”
“Did you mean that face?”
The giant nodded. “Yes. What do you think it was?”
“I’m not completely sure. It just didn’t look very nice. Do you know that person? And why was it in there?”
“Yes, I do, but that is for you to find out.”
“Oh come on! Can you at least tell me if you know that person? Or at least give me some kind of hint!”
“I do know him, too well to my liking. And you know him too, just as all of Wizard City does.”
I had no idea who he was talking about.
“Well Winterbreeze, are you ready for your task?”
“What task?”
“As a Seeker, we need your help.”
I sighed. Of course, this amazing experience was just going to end in a quest. “Fine, what do you need?”
“We need you to find the other Seekers. There is one for each school. They will each have their own version of the Tower of Lost Memories in which they will be awakened. The first one we need you to find is our fire chosen one. Her name is Sydney Jadehammer.”
Sydney Jadehammer. Where could I find her? How could I possibly find someone I’ve never even met before! I didn’t even know her level. What if she was a grandmaster, and all the way in MooShu or Dragonspyre?
“Do not doubt yourself, Sierra Winterbreeze. You will find her.”
“Fine. But what exactly is a Seeker or whatever you called it?”
“The Seekers of Light are the ones whose lives have been affected by dark magic. You are to one day join forces and defeat Wizard City’s greatest evil, the one who the giants are forbidden to talk about… I think you know who I’m talking about anyway, don’t you?”
Of course I did. Malistaire.
“Because you have came here and been awakened, you now have your full power. If you wanted to, you could now freeze fire like your younger self did. Now you may go. You should be able to see the lock now. Good luck, Sierra Winterbreeze!”
“Thank you, almighty powerful giant!” I called back. I think he was flattered by how I used “almighty” and “powerful.” Luckily he hadn’t heard the sarcasm in my voice.
When I went to the door once more, there was indeed a lock there now, and when I turned it, the heavy doors slid open by themselves. No need to do it myself this time!
I began to run as soon as I was out of the tower. I looked back over my shoulder as I was running to the sidewalk, and I only saw Gobblestone Castle.
I wondered how long I had been gone. It must have been at least an hour, more than enough time for my family to become worried about me. Ever since I came back from Earth, they had been too protective.
I was running and I ran straight into a lower leveled storm wizard. “Sorry!” I called back over my shoulder. I couldn’t stop now. I didn’t want my entire family to get all worked up over nothing.
And then, as I was approaching the gate, two gobblers ran into me. “Go away!” I shouted angrily, but the dueling circle was already forming around us. “No!” I tried to say. I had to get home and fast! Plus, my health was very low, and my mana was only at 13. I thought I was doomed.
Then, as I was using up the last little bit of my mana to try and use a pixie spell, another wizard joined. Maybe if there was someone else to fight, then I should flee.
But when I looked over at my new companion, I saw Rowan!
She smiled at me but didn’t say anything. She summoned a unicorn to heal us both, and she finished off the last gobbler with a leprechaun. Even when the battle was done, she still didn’t say anything about my disappearance.
“Um… aren’t you wondering what happened?” I asked her.
“Oh, you mean about the key? Did you find where it fit?”
“Yeah. But aren’t you wondering about where I was?”
“What do you mean? You weren’t gone that long, Sierra.”
“I wasn’t? But it must have been at least an hour.”
“It has only been like 3 minutes since you last checked on me. You said you were going to Gobblestone Castle.”
“What! That can’t be. I was in the Tower of Lost Memories for what seemed like forever!”
“The what? Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. What about you? Are you feeling okay? Because I must have been gone for a longer time than at just three minutes.”
“Well at tops it could have been five.”
I groaned. Nothing was making any sense. What was going on?
“Well, uh… Sierra, maybe we should go home now. Tomorrow we can look at where that key goes, ok?”
“Whatever.”
We began to walk out the gate. I felt sadness come as we left the frosty streets. I thought about my job that I had been given. It was almost like the ultimate quest, a difficult one that seemed impossible to complete. I knew I had to do it, though, because the fate of Wizard City now rested on my shoulders. But compared to what could have happened, I decided I was lucky. I only needed to find a single fire wizard, and even without any clues or even an idea at what she looked like, I could beat it, with some work. I had to, for the ice giant and everyone else. I didn’t know if I could handle all this pressure! What was a new Seeker of Light to do?
|
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze (part 3)
“Rowan, where did you put my wand? You hid it again, didn’t you?”
My younger-but-higher-leveled sister was giggling like crazy. I knew she did it! She must have. I didn’t think that my parents would ever do something like that.
I remember the day I had first met Rowan. She had been awkward and uncomfortable around me, quiet and reserved. That had changed since then, and now I was regretting it. The old Rowan would never have hidden my wand!
“Give it back! Professor Falmea sent me on a quest to go to Dragon Mouth Cave. I need my wand to do that!”
“Professor Falmea? Why were you talking to the fire teacher?” Rowan asked.
“What, I’m not allowed to talk to her anymore? You’re just as bad as Dad! I like Falmea and fire, even though Dad doesn’t. Now, about my wand…” I lunged towards her and tackled her to the ground. She began laughing again. “Where did you hide it?”
“It’s under my bed! Please, please, go get it before I die of laughter!” she said between giggles.
I leaped of her and ran to her bedroom before she could do anything about it. I held the wand high in the air triumphantly.
“Okay then, now I’m off to Dragon Mouth Cave. I think I’m supposed to collect fire crystals in there. Want to come?”
She shook her head. “No thanks; I have to work on my sunbird. It keeps attacking people I don’t want it to, and the fire professor said I’d get extra credit if I improved it.”
“Okay. See you later!”
I left Rowan to her homework. I headed to Dragon Mouth Cave which was located in Golem Court. I passed Ravenwood and the Mini Game Fairgrounds. Finally I came upon the cave. As I approached, I thought I heard voices inside of it.
I walked in and saw a fire wizard battling a myth wizard. What were they doing in here?
“Hah, I have you now!” said the fire wizard. She was a pretty girl, with long brown hair and green eyes. She wore a hood over her head and her robe and boots matched with their red color and yellow trim.
“Oh no you don’t! My troll minion is going to finish you off,” the myth student retorted. He had the traditional blue and yellow myth school clothes on. He had blonde hair and blue eyes.
“No way. I’ll shield myself before you can.”
“How do you know what spell he’s going to use?”
“I’m not sure, but I’m not letting you beat me! You’re a lower level anyway.”
“Yes, but right now you’re losing!”
The myth student cast a troll, and his minion cast a fire cat. The fire wizard put plenty of shields around her, but it may not have been enough. Just when all hope seemed lost for this student, she somehow cast a kraken.
“Nooo!” yelled out the angry myth student in frustration. “I was so close! Since when do you know Kraken?”
“It was a treasure card.”
“Oh, duh. I knew that.”
“Sure you did.”
“Hello?” I cut in. “I thought this was a cave, not a dueling arena.”
Both students turned to look at me in surprise. “Oh, I’m sorry. Not many people ever come in here, and if they do they’re apprentice fire wizards on a spell quest for Falmea. What do you need?” The fire student asked.
“I just need fire crystals for Professor Falmea.”
“Oh, for Falmea? I can help you with that!” She turned around and grabbed two gems that looked a lot like rubies. “Careful, they’re hot,” she advised as she handed them to me.
They were certainly warm, but they weren’t too bad if I encased my hands in a shield of ice. “Thank you!” I called back over my shoulder as I left.
“Wait,” the myth wizard said. I stopped and turned around. He was staring at my hands. “How come your ice doesn’t melt?”
Oops. “Um, I don’t know.” Of course I knew. It was because I had been “awakened” in the Tower of Lost Memories. That wouldn’t have made any sense to them though.
“Weird. How are you doing that? Are you sure you don’t know?” She scrutinized me.
“Uh, no. Nope, don’t know anything about it.”
“Hmmm…” she stopped examining me and looked at me in the eye. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Sierra Winterbreeze.”
“I’m Sydney, but I don’t tell strangers my last name. This is my brother, Hunter,” she told me.
“Hunter Thundershield,” the myth student corrected her.
“Hunter! Mom told you not to tell strangers your last name.”
“But she’s a kid like us? How can that hurt?”
“How do you know she isn’t disguised as a kid?”
“How could she do that so well?”
“I don’t know!”
These two sure fought a lot. “Well, I guess I’d better be going then…” I said as I backed away.
“No, wait.” Sydney turned to me. “I want to duel you.” She turned and the dueling circle appeared in front of her.
“Sure, I wouldn’t mind that, but why in here?”
“Uh…” She hesitated for a moment. “Well, my parents are really overprotective, but I guess this would be fine. When I first started school we found it out. I was summoning a fire cat, and it was going to turn out perfectly. It was beautiful when I summoned it, better than any of the other kids’ had been and even the teacher’s. But it all backfired. My gorgeous creation turned around and began attacking me! It was so ferocious that it knocked me unconscious and I have scars all over me from that day. They told me that it began attacking other students as well after that. They had to bring in the headmaster to calm it down. The entire fire school had been destroyed and burned down, and I was banned from ever going back. That’s why now the fire school has fire-proof walls. Professor Falmea felt sympathetic though, so she let me take private lessons inside here, Dragon Mouth Cave. In here, my spells never go out of control. But if I’m anywhere else, they always have a chance of doing so. I think it was because of that day that my parents are so protective.” She glared at Hunter. “At least I abide by their rules, unlike some people!”
“Well, that is a very interesting story.” I wasn’t kidding. It really was strange. How can your spells backfire?
“Yes. So, do you want to duel?”
“Sure, why not. What level are you?”
“Fourteen.”
“Me too.”
“Okay, then let’s get started! We’ll be equally matched.”
I joined in her duel. After a long and tiring battle, I finished her off with an evil snowman. She had been surprisingly difficult. After all, I had stronger powers apparently. I was a Seeker of Light. We had special powers, but each of our lives had been touched by dark magic.
Come to think of it, wasn’t the next Seeker of Light named Sydney?
“Hey Sydney…” I started to say, but before I could continue there was a loud rumbling in the ground.
“What’s going on?” asked Hunter, getting up from his seat on the sidelines.
“I don’t know,” Sydney replied.
The three of us dashed over to the entrance of the cave, but the gate closed in front of us. We were trapped inside.
“What!” Sydney called out in dismay. “How can it close on its own?”
Then, upon going back inside the cave, we saw a marvelous sight. The ground was still shaking, and now we knew why. The enormous dragon statue that has always greeted the cave's visitors was moving.
The stone dragon raised its head, and took a step off its platform. It roared and breathed fire high into the air. With every step the ground groaned and shook, causing us to fall to our feet.
The dragon scanned the cave as if looking for something. Or maybe someone. He noticed me and thrust a heavy stone arm straight at me. I dodged it, and countered by summoning an evil snowman. But my snowman had no effect, and it seemed completely pointless. The dragon just lunged at me once more, and this time he made contact. I zoomed across the room and thumped unpleasantly into the wall. It then targeted Sydney, and breathed fire at her. It didn't affect her at all though; fire wizards were as invincible to heat as ice wizards were to cold.
I stood back up. I had to help her! Hunter began summoning as powerful as Cyclops as he could, but the dragon didn’t seem to notice. He now grabbed Sydney in his enormous hand. She struggled to get out, but it was no use. The stone dragon actually opened his mouth. No, I thought, no, you can’t eat her! Think Sierra, think! You have special powers, right? Well then use them! I looked around the cave, looking for anything that I could use. I saw the useless Cyclops attacking the dragon’s feet, and my smashed evil snowman that the dragon had trampled on.
Apparently, myth, fire, and ice weren’t working. What else could we do?
Death.
Of course! I had trained second in death; why not put it to good use? I quickly cast banshee, and finally we began to see some effects. The banshee’s scream caused the dragon to roar out and put his hands over his ears. It also caused him to loosen his grip on Sydney, which was both good and bad.
It was good because now she was free.
It was bad because now she was plummeting to the ground, helpless, and there was no way I could help her.
The dragon began stomping, and the entire ground shook so violently that Hunter and I were flung into the wall. My banshee kept on screaming, and the dragon kept on roaring in anger and frustration. He began to bang his head on the walls, trying to drown out the banshee’s horrible wails.
Sydney was still falling. “No! Sydney, no! You can’t die now, Sydney Jadehammer!” cried her brother.
So now I knew her last name, but what use was it now? If she was going to die, then it wouldn’t matter if she was a Seeker or not. Besides, in this moment of great terror I could not recall the next Seeker of Light’s name.
“Sydney, cast a sunbird!” I shouted. I had no idea where that had come from. I hadn’t even thought it through. But a sunbird would be very useful, for it could catch her in midair.
Sydney tried, but the spell fizzled. “Nooo!” she moaned. “That was lucky enough that I found that spell card in midair! I don’t think I can find another one!”
“Please, Sydney, try!”called out Hunter. There were tears in his eyes. I can’t live without my older sister! they seemed to say.
I wondered if I had any spells that could fly. I looked through my deck, but my cards scattered all over the floor because of the tremor. As I began to pick them back up, my eyes wandered to the falling Sydney. Had a fall ever taken so long? She was frantically searching for a sunbird card, and she kept dropping cards all over the place. As I was gathering my own cards, one of Sydney’s fell on my pile. I turned it over and believe it or not, it was a sunbird!
But even with the card, I had no idea how to cast a sunbird. I considered asking Sydney, but with one glance at the look on her face that made her appear as if she would yell at anyone right now, I decided against it. But if Sydney didn’t tell me, then who else could?
I knew one person. A certain life wizard who was only a few levels ahead of me and trained in second in fire. Someone who just this morning had told me that she would be working on sunbird…
I had learned only a few days ago about whisper chat. You could talk to anyone from far away! “Rowan?” I called out to her in whisper chat.
“What is it Sierra?” she asked, also in whisper chat. “I’m in a boss battle, so I can’t help you.”
“But this is a matter of life or death!” I said desperately.
“If you get defeated, you go back into Wizard City Commons and get healed there.”
“Not if you fall from the height of a thousand story building!”
“A what?” Rowan asked in alarm. “Hang on; I’ll be right there. Is it you that’s falling?”
“No, but it’s my friend Sydney.”
“Who?”
“Don’t ask! Just come. Now, before she reaches the ground!”
After a short pause, Rowan answered me again: “I can’t come to you. Where are you?”
I groaned out loud in frustration. I wondered what we would do now if she couldn’t come to cast it.
Suddenly, Sydney cried out, “Found one!” but then, the dragon reached out his arm and once more grabbed her. The banshee’s wail was so loud now, and the ground felt (and looked) like a stormy ocean. The dragon threw her against the wall.
“No, Sydney!” Hunter rushed over. Now she was sliding down the wall, about to fall to her doom once more. Typical. But this time, it was different. Now we didn’t have any fire wizard to cast the sunbird for us, because Sydney was unconscious.
“Rowan,” I said in despair over whisper chat, “How do you cast sunbird?”
“It’s just like any other fire spell. Think about heat, and then picture the spell you want. Then draw the fire symbol and-“
I didn’t even listen to the last part. I was already picturing the sunbird in my mind and thinking about the warm fireplaces on Earth. The fire symbol was already in front of me, waiting for someone to activate it. I did, and the sunbird appeared in front of us.
But how did you control what it did? I had to figure out fast. I only had about 10 seconds before Sydney was going to die…
“Uh, Sunbird… Go and catch her!” Nothing happened.
8 seconds…
“Rowan, how do you control the sunbird?”
“Don’t you just tell it what to do?”
“I tried that and it didn’t work!”
6 seconds…
Hunter was in vain trying to catch Sydney, but she was falling so fast that it would probably kill him as well as her.
“Um, then it’s because you aren’t a very talented fire wizard.”
“Well duh, that’s because I’m ice!”
“Ok, ok. Um, I’m not sure…”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE NOT SURE?”
4 seconds…
“Um, well, there is one thing you could try…”
“What! Tell me now!”
“You can call it Flame.”
“Why Flame?”
“When I mess up my sunbird and it gets all weird, I call it Flame and it calms it down.”
“Couldn’t you think of a better name?”
“If you don’t like my idea, then don’t blame me if your friend dies!”
I wished I could see her, just so that I could glare at her.
“Fine, I’ll try.”
2 seconds… Sydney’s limp body was actually about 40 feet from the ground, but she was falling so fast that it wouldn’t matter.
I turned to the sunbird. “Please sunbird - uh, I mean Flame - Go and catch her!”
The sunbird wildly looked around at the mention of “Flame.” He looked at me, and I nodded.
1 second…
Flame zoomed across the cave…
…and caught Sydney!
“YES!” I cried out, before realizing that I was still in whisper chat. In the cave, you would have hardly heard my cry out over the loud stomping of the dragon and the wailing of the banshee. But wherever Rowan was, my yell had been loud.
“What happened? You didn’t have to yell! Geez!”
“Sorry, that was supposed to be out loud. It worked! Flame saved Sydney!”
“See, do you still think Flame is a bad name?”
“Yes, but I’ll remember it forever now.”
Even though Rowan didn’t say anymore, and I couldn’t see her, I could tell she was smiling.
Flame the sunbird landed in front of me with Sydney on his back. When I tried to pull her off his back, I found out how heavy unconscious people were. I had to get Hunter’s help, and even then it was difficult. We finally gently placed her on the ground, and Flame disappeared.
“Is Sydney going to be alright?” Hunter asked.
“Of course!” I replied, even though I wasn’t quite so sure myself. Even though I’d never seen a dead body before, but I had always guessed it looked something like this.
The dragon was still stomping and he almost stepped on Sydney. Hunter stayed by her to protect her, but I found as many banshee cards as I had and cast them all. Then, after another minute of earthquakes, dragon roaring, fire breathing, and banshee wailing, the dragon gave out such a pitiful cry that it almost made me feel bad. Almost.
Finally, the dragon stopped roaring. It was so sudden, that even the banshees had stopped screaming in the new silence. The dragon was solid stone, as it had been before. Now it was in a strange position, with its mighty hands held up to its ears.
The banshees disappeared. Hunter, the limp Sydney, and I were the only ones left. The only company we had was silence.
I bent over Sydney. “What are we going to do?” asked Hunter.
“We should take her to the life teacher. She can heal her.” Together, we picked her up and carried her to the entrance.
But when we arrived there, we just saw that it was blocked. “How do we get out of here?” I wondered. I peered outside. “Helloooo?” I called out. When I looked through the bars, I saw no one. Not even the wind seemed to be blowing. The trees were still, and everything looked lifeless.
Somehow, that sounded familiar. Where had I seen this? Oh, yes! When I was in the Tower of Lost Memories, no time had passed. Was the same thing happening here? If so, then how?
I remembered that I was looking for the fire Seeker of Light. Wouldn’t it make sense if the fire Seeker was awakened in Dragon Mouth Cave? Then that meant…
“Hunter,” I said, turning to him, “What is your sister’s last name again?”
He hesitated, but finally answered “Jadehammer.”
Sydney Jadehammer. That must have been it! The more and more I repeated it to myself then the more and more I thought it was right. Yes, Sydney Jadehammer was the fire Seeker!
But then who was going to show her strange memories, and how was she going to be awakened?
I got my answer soon enough. Hunter and I heard a roar again, and we exchanged worried glances. Was the dragon back?
We rushed into the cave, and sure enough, it was! The dragon was moving again! I quickly raised my wand, but the dragon laughed. Great, now it was talking! What excuse did it have for attacking us?
“Seeker Winterbreeze,” it began. Wonderful, not only did it know I was a Seeker but it knew my name. Just perfect.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Leave my sister alone!” shouted Hunter suddenly and timidly.
The dragon chuckled once more. “I will not hurt her, child. I am merely her to show her what her full potential is.” The hands that had once thrown Sydney across the cave now picked her up as gently as if she were her own child. A green light encompassed her, and when it faded Sydney stood up and looked around, dazed. The dragon set her back down. Hunter ran over to hug her.
Was this dragon supposed to be the one to “awaken” Sydney? It could be. But unlike my ice giant, this dragon had the voice of a woman, and of course it was much, much larger. Besides, the ice giant hadn’t been made of stone. And why had I gotten special treatment and had to hear all those weird whispers?
“Sydney Jadehammer,” the dragon said. Sydney turned and looked up at her. “Thank you for freeing me from the curse that was put upon me. He placed it on me thinking he could defeat two of the Seekers before they got the chance to defeat him.”
“He? Who?” she inquired. I glared at her. Shouldn’t she know?
“The evil one… the one you must defeat.”
“Oh, you mean Mali-“
“Do not say his name so casually! He is very dangerous, and if you do not know that by now then perhaps we have picked the wrong Seeker.”
“Sorry…” Sydney seemed to shrink back in alarm.
The dragon smiled. It is really strange to see a dragon smile. “Close your eyes, Jadehammer. Do you remember this day?”
Sydney did as she was told, and whatever she saw was apparently unpleasant. “Of course,” she whispered, “How could I forget?”
“Well, what about this day?”
After a few minutes she asked, “Is that me?”
“Yes. I doubt you do remember this. After all you were only a baby.”
“Wow.” She breathed. She opened her eyes. What had she seen?
“You are the fire Seeker of Light, Sydney.”
She seemed to be taking this really well, or at least better than me. First of all, her mouth wasn’t gaping open. Second, she was nodding to the dragon, almost as if she had known.
“Sydney, your life was almost destroyed by dark magic. Your spells can turn against you. You have always thought that the only place they work is this cave, but you are wrong. It is the fire crystals in this cave that not only power up your spells but prevent them from attacking you.”
“So wait. Does that mean that if I take some of the crystals with me…”
“…then you’ll be able to use magic outside of this cave again? Yes.”
“Yes! I’ve always wanted to hear something like that!” She turned to Hunter. “Now we can duel in a real duel arena! And we can meet new people and go on quests and…”
“Yes, I’m sure you are very excited,” said the dragon. “But you must help ice Seeker Winterbreeze find the other Seekers.”
“You’re a Seeker of Light too?” she asked me. “Wow! Who’s next, Hunter?”
“He may be,” the dragon agreed. “It is very common for two siblings to both be Seekers.”
“This is amazing!” she whispered. “I can’t believe that I can finally live a normal life, and apparently with extra awesome powers too!”
“Okay, who is the next Seeker?” I asked impatiently. I had already seen all this amazement, and experienced it for myself. I didn’t need it again.
“Yes, of course Winterbreeze has heard all this before. Sierra Winterbreeze, you have done very well. Now you must find the storm Seeker next. This student is also a girl, but she is a much lower level then either of you.”
“A lower level? Where will we find her then?” questioned Sydney.
“Oh, don’t worry about having to go back to places for lower levels. You will meet this girl as long as you travel with Sierra Winterbreeze.”
“Wait, so I’m supposed to drag her around now?” I didn’t want to have her following me all the time.
“It will be easier to find her if there are two of you.”
“I don’t have to follow her all the time do I?” asked Sydney.
“Of course not!”
“Ok, just checking.”
“Sydney Jadehammer, are you ready? You must now go out and begin to look for the next Seeker.”
“We don’t know her name yet,” I said.
“Victoria Ravensmith. To find her you may want the help of an old friend, Sierra Winterbreeze.”
“An old friend? Who?”
“The first student you actually personally met that wasn’t in your family.”
I wondered who that was. I couldn’t remember!
“I guess we’d better be going then,” said Sydney.
“Wait,” the dragon called to us as we began to leave. “I have something for both of you.”
“What?” we asked in unison.
The dragon reached down its hand and I noticed that something was inside of it. “These necklaces will glow if there is dark magic near. It will protect you from, uh, him.”
I grabbed them. They both had silver chains, but one of them had a gorgeous blue crystal and the other had a bright red one.
“The blue one is for the ice seeker, the red for the fire.” The dragon explained. “The ice one has a sapphire in the middle. The fire has a fire crystal, so that Sydney won’t have to hold them.”
They both were radiant. Sydney looked so happy with her fire crystal necklace!
“Go now, and start your search. Good luck to you both.”
We left (after I grabbed some fire crystals from Sydney) and split up. Sydney and Hunter went to the dueling arena and I went home. No one was there, so I let myself in. I set the necklace on the counter in the kitchen. I was bored, and considered joining Sydney at the arena until I heard a crash in the other room. Nobody else was here! What was going on? I just happened to glance at the necklace as I rushed to the back of the house, and I saw that it was shining bright as the sun.
I ran into the room where the crash had come from. It sounded like it had been in Rowan’s room. Was she home and I hadn’t noticed?
I was about to walk in when I heard voices. “We must search the house,” one said. I heard footsteps coming towards me. I panicked, and hid in the closet next to me. It wasn’t a very good hiding spot if they were going to search for something, but it had to do for the time. I wanted to teleport away, but what if they stole something important? Like my wand that was sitting in plain view on my bed?
I instead decided to use whisper chat to contact someone. But who should I tell first? Rowan? My parents? Sydney? Whoever ran 911 in Wizard City? My parents had never gone over what I was supposed to do in an emergency.
I again heard voices, but I couldn’t understand them from behind the closed door. I pushed the door open just a tiny bit and hoped they wouldn’t notice.
It still sounded like mumbling, but I could now pick up bits of the conversation. They said something about a wand, an ice wyvern, and then I thought I heard them say both Rowan’s and my name.
Then I heard something that sent a chill down my spine. Had I heard wrong? But how did you confuse that with something else? Malistaire wasn’t a very common word.
The wizards began digging through some stuff in my bedroom then. I suddenly heard one of them yell out “I found it!” I wondered what they had found.
After some quiet conversation, I heard the noise that meant they were teleporting. Before the left, I saw the pair. They looked like normal adult death wizards, but they felt worse. They seemed terrible and scary, but I was still relieved. Neither of them were Malistaire as I had feared. Just as they were teleporting, I thought I heard one of them say “It’s too bad they weren’t here today.” Still, I didn’t dare even breathe until I was sure they weren’t coming back.
I crept out. It was completely dark, and I could hardly see. Where were Rowan and my parents? They should have been back by now.
After turning on a few lights, I noticed that my wand was gone. Great, now I would have to save up forever for a new wand again! I had hoped that would never happen again after I had broken it when I was angry.
Rowan’s spare staff was gone too. She preferred a wand, but kept the Staff of the Ice Wyvern in case she needed an ice staff. I also discovered that our rooms were in a mess. They had trashed them! And just this morning our mother had made us clean them up. Now we’d just have to do it all over again. Also, my fire crystals for Falmea were gone.
I looked around my room, trying to discover if anything else important was missing. My spell cards were scattered across the ground, but none of them were stolen. A wand, a staff, and some fire crystals were certainly important to me, but why would anyone else want to steal them? Why didn’t they take anything else?
I found out how wrong I had been. They had stolen something else, but this was far worse than any of the other things. My brand new sapphire necklace was gone.
I should have expected they’d take it if they knew Malistaire. But somehow, I was still shocked.
I didn’t come out of that dazed state until I heard Sydney calling to me from somewhere far away. “Sierra, help me!”
I woke from my bewildered state. “Sydney?” I called back to her. No one answered. Again I began to panic. Had the death wizards come for her as well? With that grim thought in mind, I teleported to her.
The first thing I heard was a familiar voice. “Hand over the necklace and we won’t hurt anyone.”
Then the scene appeared, and what I saw wasn’t surprising. The same death wizards were with Sydney and Hunter. We were in the dueling arena, right where wizards would sign up for a player versus player match. Students were huddled against the walls, not wanting to be hurt in the fight. Even the men who helped kids set up a match were trembling in the corner.
Then one of the death wizards noticed me. “Hey, isn’t that the other one?” he asked, gesturing to me.
I wondered what he meant. “Leave her alone!” I said to them in a voice that I hoped sounded formidable. If these guys actually decided to fight, I’d be doomed without a wand. Plus, I had left my spell deck at home since I had been in such a hurry.
Unfortunately the death wizards just laughed. “You want to fight us then? I’d like to see you try!”
“I’m warning you,” I said in another strong tone, but this time my voice wavered.
They chuckled again and one said, “We should take them to Malistaire.”
“No!” cried out Sydney.
I noticed that Sydney was wearing her necklace around her neck and it was gleaming brightly. It was shining so much that I worried that if you stared at it for too long you would be blinded. That meant dark magic was near, which wasn’t surprising with Malistaire’s minions beside us.
I wanted to be brave, but I just couldn’t, not when I was so terrified. I couldn’t fight two full grown wizards with tons of experience. After all, I was only a kid. And an initiate kid at that. Sydney wasn’t much better, or her brother. Even with Rowan’s help I doubted we would get anywhere except dead.
I wished I could discuss a plan with Sydney. All I could do was hope that she would figure something out, because I was out of ideas.
“So little girl, are you going to give us the fire crystal necklace you will we have to take it from you?”
Sydney’s lower lip was trembling violently. I saw her reach a hand up and put it on her necklace. I had no idea what I would have done in a situation like this. I had lost my necklace, but I hadn’t even gotten a chance to keep it safe. Now Sydney was stuck between that decision and certain death.
Finally Sydney looked up into their eyes and quietly replied, “No.”
“What?” one death wizard exclaimed angrily.
“No!” Sydney said more defiantly. Oh, how I wished I could be as brave as her. I think I would have given in.
He smirked. “I guess we better dispose of you then… or maybe we should just take you to the boss and see what he does to you. Oh yes, I like that idea.”
“No, we are only supposed to bring the necklace,” the other guy retorted.
“But don’t you think he’d be happy if-“
“No! He wouldn’t like us disobeying him.”
“He’s going to capture them anyway!”
“He said he would only do it when they were all revealed to him. He doesn’t know all of them yet.”
With the wizards bickering, many of the students around us began to sneak out the door. Pretty soon the entire arena would be empty.
I decided we’d better follow their example. I nudged Sydney on the shoulder and pointed to the crowded door with wizards fighting to get out. She understood and we began to creep away.
“We have to bring the necklace back, no matter what,” one of the men said as they continued to quarrel.
“Yes, you’re right. We’d better just grab that,” the other agreed. They turned to us. I’d hoped we’d be out by then, but they were too smart. Though they had been fighting, they hadn’t carried on for that long. Besides, we were the last ones out. Everyone else had escaped.
“Leaving so early? But we really hoped you would stay a little longer,” snickered one sarcastically, blocking our way.
We were trapped once more. “Time to destroy them,” said one with glee. They raised their wands. Sydney also raised hers, but it was no use. They were way more powerful than us. They were about to cast a spell, and drew the death symbol in the air, the same one that I had summoned my dark sprite and banshee and all my other death spells. And with a slight flick of his wrist, the symbol was activated and a wraith appeared. I shivered and backed away, but it raised its hands and knocked Sydney, Hunter, and I to the ground.
I think Sydney and her brother went unconscious. I almost did too, but I struggled to pay attention to what was around me. I saw the death wizards grabbing Sydney’s necklace, and then everything went black. Every breath I took in shot pains throughout my entire body. I was mostly worried about Sydney. She hardly had looked like she was breathing.
I was only vaguely aware that Malistaire’s minions were talking. I was just about to slip into unconsciousness until I began to see light. Near the door of the Player versus Player arena, there was a small ball of light. It grew bigger and bigger, until suddenly, it shot of in a million different directions to reveal Merle Ambrose, the headmaster.
The death wizards backed away. They were afraid of him! We were saved!
“I believe you have something that belongs to my two young students here,” said Headmaster Ambrose.
“We’ll never give them up! We’ll tell Malistaire and-”
“Be gone!” he shouted and they disappeared in a puff of smoke. Both the sapphire and fire crystal necklaces clanged to the ground. He then turned to us and spoke again.
“You all have amazing powers; you just need to learn how to use them. Seekers, arise!” He vanished, and suddenly I didn’t hurt anymore. I shakily got to my feet, and then helped Sydney and Hunter get up. Ambrose was gone. I picked up my beautiful necklace, whose glow had died down. Sydney’s had too.
I examined myself to make sure that I was alright. Everything looked normal, but I still felt fear. Still, I was happy the headmaster had come, and I couldn’t wait to get home to tell Rowan what had happened. These terrifying experiences were always great stories to tell – that is, if you survived them.
Rowan thought my new necklace was positively lovely. She hadn’t believed my story at first, but after she met Sydney and Hunter and they became friends, Sydney confirmed it and Rowan had to believe.
The next Seeker was Victoria Ravensmith. (I wondered if we were ever going to get a boy!) She was apparently a storm wizard, and lower leveled at that. For some reason, I couldn’t help but think I had heard that name before, somewhere long ago… But I couldn’t have without remembering it. Then again, hadn’t the dragon said I needed help from an old friend? Could that possibly have been her? With these questions in mind, I slept a fitful sleep that night. In the morning, I began my search.
|
The Gathering (part 3)
Yesterday was just crazy, I was excited to find out that there are going to be others just like me and Wolf, but now… I’m just not sure. “Hey everybody!” I say as I walk through my family’s house. I’ve been gone for a while now since I live in the dorms and Dylan’s really close to me, so he’s going to be so excited to see that I’m going to spend the night! “Where is everybody?” I wonder, omigosh! The living room is in shreds! Everything is silent, what happened?!?!? I run in the kitchen to find it too, in ruins! But I see mom and dad facing away from me and clearly laughing about something. That’s when I see little Dilly grinning ear-from-ear, what does ‘grinning ear-from-ear’ mean anyways? “WHAT HAPPENED IN HERE?!?!?!?” I gush out.
“Huh? Oh, hey there Big Sis!!” Dylan waves.
“What. Is. That?” I say slowly, in front of Dylan is a humongous red scorpion. He was even petting the little creature!!
“Oh sweetheart you’re home!” mom smiles warmly.
“We’ve missed you so very much!” dad says not to be undone.
“Stop stalling, what is that?!” I point angrily at that thing.
“I’ve made my first spell Sis!! My very first! And a strong one too! Merle Ambrose said so!” Dylan said proudly.
“M-Merle Ambrose came here?! For what reason?!?!”
“Oh honey, I knew you wouldn’t understand…” dad says quietly.
“Understand?! Understand what?!?!” anxiety is biting at me from the minute!
“It is time for Dylan to be a wizard!” mom says happily, “Merle came here not too long ago and pronounced our little Dilly to be a Balance wizard!!! Eeeeeeee!!!! Aren’t you just so happy!!” mom grins.
“B-but, he’s only t-ten!” I protest, hey, you would too if you had to wait 2 years later to become a wizard!
“Yes, yes, we know sweetie, but Dylan seems to be a bit… hmmm, advanced.” Dad finally says.
I groan quietly, this is all too much; I slump down on a chair, only to find it to collapse under me. Apparently one of the legs got torn off by that little bug-thing. I fall down to the floor.*THUD* “Ack!” I squeak. Instead of getting back up, I just cross my legs sitting on the floor and turn to Dylan so he can go on. “Buuuuutt……” he starts, “Check out what I found at the park!” he says proudly holding up a brownish-chocolate colored sphere. “Looks kinda familiar…” I start to say slowly. Wait a minute! I’ve got a sphere too! And so does Wolf! He’s a Wielder too! My little brother! Who shall hold wisdom? But he’s only 10 years old!!! Great. Now I have to drag him along too on my little journey. I was hoping to keep my family out of this, to stay safe. But hey, what can I do about it?
“Hey uh, Dilly?” I try to say as sweetly as possible, I’m feeling a little bitter right now. “Want to meet my, uh, friend tomorrow?”
“Really! Can I go to a dorm too? Promise I won’t practice spells in the room!”
I turn to mom and dad, they both nod their heads, “Sure thing Dilly.” I say smiling.
Dylan and I are waiting together by Bartleby; we’ve been waiting for 18 minutes now. “When is he coming? I’m booorred.” Dylan complained. “Soon Dilly, soon.” I say.
Wolf WAS supposed to be here by 10 o’clock sharp! “Oh hey! Look! Here he comes! Come on lets go!” I say starting to run towards Wolf, Dylan hot on my heels. That’s when I noticed that there was some girl next to him, they were both running too. “Uh-Oh!” I shout, a huge black hole opens in between Wolf and I. “Ack!! NOT AGAAAAIIINNN!!!” he shouts as he falls in. “YIIIIEEEEAAAAHHHHH!!!” the other girl shrieks as she stumbles in too. Me and Dylan stop just in front of it. “What just happened?!?!” he screams.
“You probably won’t like me for this but…” I grab his arms.
“Wait! What are you DOOOOIIIINGGG!!!!!” he shrieks as I jump in the hole, pulling him down with me.
“YOOOUU WEERRREE RIIIGGHHTT!!!!” he says as we fall deeper and deeper in the hole.
“AAABBOUT WHHATTT???” I shout back.
“IIIII DDDOOO HHHAAATTTEEEE YYOOOUUU NOOOWWWW!!!! WHYYYYY JJJYYYOOOUUU DOOO THHATTT FFFFOOOOORRRR????” he screams at me.
“JJUSTT HOOLDD ONN TTIIGHHT” I shout back at him.
Then we stop. Wolf and Mystery Girl are floating in mid air; we’re right next to them. “Like, what the heck is, like, going on?” the girl shrieks. Me and Wolf both knew what would happen next, so we prepared ourselves. We all falled at once Wolf and I landed on our feet, since we knew it was coming. But Dylan and the girl fell ungraciously. “Yooooowwwww!!!” Dylan complained, “That, like, totally hurt!” the girl said. Apparently we have a girlie-girl on the crew. Then, all our spheres started to glow. Everybody took them out, and they all started floating. They rose high, they got brighter and brighter till we had to cover our eyes, then, and they all fell into our hands. Wow! They all turned into amulets! “Oooooh!! Perr-it-tyyy!” the girlie said. “This is amazing!” Wolf said gawking at his; Dylan and I just gazed at ours silently. Finally, I was the first one to make the first move, I raised the necklace over my head, and put it on, one by one, we all put them on. Then they shone brightly.
“NEWCOMBERS. TWO ARE NEW, TWO HAVE KNOWN. YOU ALL HOLD THE UNIVERSES IN YOUR HANDS. ICE, MYTH, YOU BOTH SHALL HOLD GREAT DESTINY WITH THE OTHER WIELDERS. ICE/FEAR, MYTH/WISDOM, FIRE/POWER; STORM/COURAGE. YOU’VE STILL NEED TO FIND SYMPHANY OF DEATH, AND GRIEF OF LIFE. THAN, THE GATHERING TO SAVE THE UNIVERSES SHALL BEGIN, BUT ONLY IF YOU ARE ALL UNITED AS A TEAM! TELL NO ONE EXCEPT FOR THE WEILDERS. LET THIS PRINT IN YOUR HEAD, YOU WILL REMEMBER….. REMEMBER……”
The booming voice died away. It became pitch black; we all fell in front of Bartleby. “Now that was, like, totally weird.” The girlie said. “Oh right,” Wolf says, “uh, Aly, this is Fiona Iceshade, Fiona, this is Alexis Heartflare.” I give her a smile; she just flicks her wrist at me. “Wolf, Fiona, this is my little brother Dylan, Dylan, this is Wolf Winterblade and like he said earlier Fiona Iceshade.” I finish off.
“Well, I guess we only need two more wielders than?” Dylan asked.
“Yep.” Wolf replies.
“Waitwaitwait!” Fiona says shaking her hands, “You mean to say that Aly here will hold power? And Wolf will, like, hold courage? And Dill will show wisdom and all that? But why me? Why do I have to be fear? That’s just totally unfair!!”
My gosh! We hold the universes in our palms and have a mission to save all humanity and all she’s worried about is our ‘powers’ or whatever they are! I sigh, “This is a lot harder than what I thought it was going to be…”
We all walk together to each and every school and talk to every teacher; we all learned at least one spell. Let’s see… Wolf learned storm-trap and the kraken spell, Fiona learned evil snowman, tower-shield, and ice wyvern. Dylan learned blood bat and scarab, since he’s new and all. And I learned fire-trap and meteor strike. So as the saying goes… you learn something new every day! Tee-hee! “Now what?” Wolf asks, “I don’t know about you guys but… I’m ready for some action!”
“Ya right dork-o! I’ve had enough for, like, one day!” Fiona says as she walks away.
“I guess she’s right… I mean, we didn’t find any other wielders…” Dylan says reasonably.
“So that’s a wrap for today than!” I say finally,
“Hey Wolf? Can you show Dylan where the boy dorms are?”
“Sure thing Aly.” Wolf says.
We all say our goodbyes and go our separate ways to the dorms. Man do I have a lot on my mind today! Two more wielders and that’s when the party starts! Yippee!!
I just hope everything goes as planned…
Heeeyy! I’ve just noticed! I’m now level 19!! How cool is that?!?!?
*THUD*
Yooooowwwww!!! That hurt! I tripped on something… now what is this little thing? I pick up a yucky-yellow-like mustard colored cube. Now what can this be? Hmmmmm… better go show Headmaster Ambrose this…. |
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze (part 4)
It was a warm, dry, sunny day in Krokotopia (like any other day) and I was headed to the Krokosphinx when Rowan Willowleaf’s voice echoed around me. “Sierra, will you help me with a boss?”
I was startled. I still hadn’t quite gotten used to whisper chat, which you could use to talk to anyone from anywhere in the Spiral.
“Sure, I guess I could. Is it in Marleybone again?” My sister was ahead of me by a lot. I had no idea when it had happened, but she had suddenly gone on a leveling-up spree and gained at least 10 levels ahead of me. She had already beat Krokotopia and was now almost in MooShu.
“Nope, this time it’s to help this random girl that I met in the Temple of Storms.”
The Temple of Storms was still in Krokotopia. I could do that!
“Sure, I’ll be there soon.”
I got a few potions and teleported to her.
In front of me was Krokopatra. She was who you had to beat to get in to Marleybone! I wondered how many times she had been defeated. Surely thousands of times, because of all the students wanting to desperately get away from this desert. I wanted to get away from this desert.
I looked around and saw three other girls next to me. Sydney Jadehammer was there, and of course Rowan was too. There was also a girl that I didn’t recognize, yet somehow she still seemed familiar…
On the first turn, the girl I didn’t know used ice wyvern. Did that mean she was ice? After a while of battling with her I found out that it must have been true. She used steal ward and frostbite, two spells that only an ice wizard could know.
Well, there went my hopes of already finding the next Seeker. If she had been the storm Seeker, then that may have explained the reason why she felt so familiar. So, this was actually normal. Who was she?
With four of us dueling, we easily defeated Krokopatra and her minions. I got the Hero of Krokotopia badge. Awesome! I was a hero before I was even past the Krokosphinx.
The other girls were also examining their badges and new items. Rowan had gotten a new pet! He looked exactly like a blood bat, but was called something else.
I walked over to the other girl. She looked so happy. And who wouldn’t be in her situation? I knew that everyone here was always thrilled at first when they were let into Krokotopia, but after a while they realized that they were at the bottom. Marleybone, MooShu, and Dragonspyre were just so much better than the place they were stuck in.
I held out my hand to her. “My name is Sierra Winterbreeze. What’s yours?”
“Sierra… what?” She looked up at me.
“Winterbreeze.” Her face looked shocked when I said that name. “What? Is something wrong?”
At first she looked as if she were about to say something, but then she shook her head. “Never mind. I just thought it sounded, uh, familiar…”
Strange, she felt like she knew me too. Maybe we really did know each other! “So what’s your name?” I questioned.
“I’m Jasmine,” she answered. “Jasmine Iceflame.”
Just then it hit me. Jasmine Iceflame! She was that girl I had bumped into on that first day in Wizard City. “Jasmine,” I gasped, “We do know each other! Remember, that one day that I bumped into you? You graduated to Apprentice Ice Magic that same day.”
Her eyes lit up. “I… I think I remember that!” she exclaimed.
“Why wouldn’t you? It wasn’t that long ago.”
“But, uh, well…” she glanced around nervously.
“She lost her memory a little while ago in a terrible accident,” explained Rowan for her.
I gasped. “Oh no, that’s horrible! I’m so sorry!”
“But this is good! I remember that day. Most of the time if I met a new person that I’d seen before, I wouldn’t remember them. All I could remember from the accident were important things. Like my parents and my home, and the names of the worlds in the Spiral. But I couldn’t remember anyone other than that and my best friends, and the headmaster and Professor Greyrose. I couldn’t even remember the school’s name! But I’ve relearned those things since then. I just can’t believe that I can remember you…”
That was strange. How could she remember me and not even the school’s teachers? I knew what the little voice inside of me wanted to say: magic. But being from Earth I still could hardly believe that I was a wizard, let alone all the extra stuff.
“What’s going on over here?” Sydney asked as she came over.
“Nothing, it’s just that Jasmine and I met long ago.”
“Really?” Sydney looked at Jasmine. “You didn’t, you know… remember her did you?” Apparently she knew about the accident too.
She nodded.
“Strange,” she said with a frown.
“Um, Sierra…” Jasmine began. Then she shook her head. “Never mind. It was nothing important.”
I wondered what she had been about to say.
Jasmine turned to the others. “I’m going to go complete this quest, okay? See you in Marleybone!” She ran off.
Rowan turned to me. “So you met Jasmine before?”
“Yep, she was one of the first students I met here,” I told her.
Sydney was staring at me in surprise now for some reason.
I curiously glanced at her. Why was she so shocked?
“Hey, Sierra, can I talk to you?” Sydney said.
“Sure, what is it?”
She looked at Rowan. “I meant alone.”
“Why?” Rowan asked, offended.
“It’s just… she doesn’t know about Seekers, does she?” Sydney questioned me.
“No, is that what this is about?”
She nodded.
“Okay Rowan, you’d better go then.”
“But I want to know what a seeker is!” she protested. But with a stern glance from me, her older sister, she angrily stomped out of the room.
As soon as she was gone, Sydney became excited. “Did you just say that Jasmine was one of the first students you met?”
“Yeah. So what?”
“Don’t you get it? The dragon said that’s who we needed! One of the first students you met in Wizard City. That might be her!”
My eyes lit up. “You’re totally right! I wonder if she knows Victoria-”
“Sierra, look!” She pointed to my neck. I looked down and saw my sapphire necklace, the one the dragon had given me, was glowing. That could only mean one thing. I looked up at Sydney and saw that hers was shining too.
“Sydney…” I said worriedly.
“I know.” She grabbed my arm and we began running. Last time this had happened, Malistaire’s minions were by us. We didn’t want to meet them again.
But before we could even step out of Krokopatra’s room, suddenly the same tube of wind that always surrounds us when we teleport came around us.
“We’re teleporting!” Sydney shouted.
Then, we appeared in a huge, dry desert.
But this was nothing like Krokotopia. There were cacti around us and the sun was burning, if possible, hotter than Krokotopian sun.
“Where are we?” Sydney wondered. I was thinking the same thing. What had just happened to us?
“Here, I’ll try to teleport out,” I told her. But no matter how hard I tried, nothing happened. “Uh Sydney… I think we’re stuck.”
“No!” she cried. “No, that can’t be!” She was about to try to teleport herself when suddenly Rowan appeared in front of us, looking dazed. Then Jasmine materialized next to her, equally surprised.
“Sydney? Sierra?” said a bewildered Rowan. “What’s going on?”
“We were just wondering ourselves,” I replied.
After everyone tried to teleport, we decided to walk somewhere instead of standing still. So, we wandered around for a little, before realizing that it was getting nowhere. When I was just about to give up, we heard a roaring sound above us. We looked to the sky and saw something very mysterious.
“Wh- what is that?” said a terrified Sydney. The other two were also scared, but I was not. Only dumbfounded.
The thing above us was a helicopter.
But from experience I knew that the closest thing in the Spiral to helicopters were the flying machines in Marleybone. The only other place I had seen this was on Earth. But we couldn’t be there.
Could we?
After many hours of traveling though the boring desert landscape, we saw houses.
“Look!” exclaimed Jasmine, noticing them.
“It must be a city!” said Sydney excitedly.
“Then what are we waiting for?” I said, also thankful for the resting place, “Let’s go!”
We ran to the small town. It looked old, and like nothing I had ever seen in Wizard City. There were people walking around, but they looked nothing like wizards. Again I wondered if we could be on Earth. I hoped not. I didn’t have the best memories from here.
A small girl of about 6 years old came up to us. “Welcome to our town!” she greeted. “We don’t have many visitors.” Then she examined us. “What are you wearing? Do you come from somewhere far away?”
That was it. We must be on Earth. But still, how? “You could say that,” I answered.
“Cool!” she exclaimed. She walked up to Rowan and tugged on her robes. “Green is my favorite color,” she said.
“Really?” she said. “Mine too! What kind of wizard do you want to be when you go to school?”
“Uh, Rowan…” I began.
“Wizard? What do you mean?” the little girl inquired. “And I already go to school.”
“Nothing, she’s just, uh, crazy.” I pulled Rowan away.
Rowan glared at me and pulled her arm free. To the little girl, she said “How would you like to see my latest spell?”
“Spell? Like a magic trick? Sure!”
“Ok, watch.” Rowan took out her wand and drew the life symbol in the air.
“Wow! Awesome!” the girl exclaimed.
“That’s not the end,” smiled Rowan. She activated the symbol, and an angel appeared in the air: the spell, seraph.
Then the girl’s enjoyment turned to fear as the seraph drew her sword. She began backing away, and then turned around and ran. “Help! Weird angel thing with scary sword on the loose! It’s going to kill us!”
Rowan was shocked. “But the girl was so excited just a moment ago! And it’s only the spell seraph! Doesn’t everyone know that?”
I gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “Rowan… everyone… I think I know where we are.”
Cries of disbelief such as “What?”, “Really?”, and “Why didn’t you tell us?” rang throughout the crowd of my three friends.
“Yes,” I said. “I think we’re on Earth.”
“Earth?” Sydney repeated. “What’s an ‘Earth’?”
“Isn’t that the place that the headmaster said something about when you came here?” Rowan said.
“Yep,” I told her, “This is the place that I was stuck in until, thankfully, Ambrose came and saved me.”
“How’d we get here?”Jasmine asked.
“I have absolutely no clue,” I replied sadly. “But to fit in, we need to get rid of these clothes. And no magic.”
“How come! We need our spells to protect each other!” protested Rowan.
“I know, but don’t worry, I survived all those years without magic and I’m fine.”
“So you lived in a desert before all that time?”
“No, of course not! Not all of Earth is a desert.”
“See my point? It’s dangerous in a desert.”
I was so frustrated. “Fine, if you want to scare everyone like that poor little girl, then be my guest. I don’t care. But if we want a place to sleep, then we’d better go to that hotel over there.”
Unfortunately, we didn’t have any money. That meant no hotel room for us. There was only one other place that I could think of going to, one that didn’t cost any money. But I didn’t have very nice memories there and wasn’t exactly eager to go back.
The orphanage.
Since I was the only one who knew Earth and I couldn’t think of anything else, we had to go there if we didn’t want to sleep in the desert. But the orphanage probably wasn’t anywhere near here. How could we get there? The only answer I could think of was to teleport.
I explained to my friends that they should try to teleport to me if I didn’t come back. I was going to teleport to the orphanage. I guessed that we couldn’t teleport out of here, but maybe we could inside of it.
When I tried, believe it or not, it worked! Soon my three other friends appeared beside me, and we were standing in the exact same spot I had been when I had left for Wizard City. I looked down at my clothes and smiled. I wondered what John would think of my story.
We walked up to the door and knocked. Pretty soon one of the caretakers of the orphanage opened the door. When he realized it was me, he was shocked.
“S-Sierra, where d-did you come from?” he stammered. “You’re back!”
“Yep, and we need somewhere to stay.” I had wished it would be one of the other caretakers or the owners that had opened the door. I didn’t particularly like this guy. He was just as afraid of me as the kids.
“When… but how… where…” He shook his head. “Who are they?” He gestured to my friends.
“These are Sydney Jadehammer, Jasmine Iceflame, and my sister, Rowan Willowleaf.”
“Your sister!” he repeated in shock. “How did you meet her?”
“None of your business! We just need a place to stay. Although this isn’t the best, it’s better than sleeping out in the middle of the desert.”
“What?”
I sighed. “Please, we need a place to sleep.”
The caretaker hesitated, but finally agreed. “But in the morning you have to answer my questions,” he told us as we walked in.
“Fine, which room should we sleep in?” I asked.
“You can just sleep in yours.”
“No one has taken it?”
“No. All the other kids think it is haunted. We had no idea where you were, so some thought you were dead and haunted your room. It always has been much colder in there than any of the other rooms, so I’m not surprised.”
We began to walk up the stairs, but when we were about to turn into my room we heard a voice behind us. “So, Strange Sierra is back.”
We turned around and I saw the one boy that I hated most out of this entire orphanage: John.
He had always loved to pull pranks on me and tease me for my weirdness. He had always called me Strange Sierra and was the tattle tale that revealed all my mess-ups with magic.
“Hello John. Nice to see you again,” I said sarcastically.
“Who are they?” he asked pointing to my friends.
“Why does everyone care about who they are so much? This is Sydney Jadehammer, Journeyman Pyromancer; Jasmine Iceflame, Adept Thaumaturge; and my sister, Rowan Willowleaf, Adept Theurgist. And in case you want to know, I’m Sierra Winterbreeze, level 19 Journeyman Thaumaturge.”
John just stared at me in disbelief.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going into my room now,” I told him. I turned and walked in.
The lumpy and uncomfortable bed I had slept on so often was still there. Everything was just as I had left it.
“We need some more beds,” I commented, noticing that there was only one.
We walked back out into the hallway, and John was still standing there.
“Listen Sierra, I have a, um… offer.”
“What kind of offer?” I questioned.
“How about we have a prank contest? It starts at midnight, and since its nine now you have three hours to get everything together.”
After considering it for a moment, I turned to my friends and consulted them. When I finally got them to understand what a “prank” was, they agreed to help me do the biggest prank ever on John.
With a smile, I told him, “Ok. Good luck.” We shook hands on it.
We walked back in my room and I turned to Sydney, Rowan, and Jasmine. “Listen, we have a lot of work to do guys. John has always enjoyed midnight tricks, so we have to somehow set up a trap for him when he tries to get us.”
“Can we please use our magic for this?” Rowan pleaded.
“Well, I guess for some parts but I already have an idea of what I want to do. For the most part, we’ll be sticking to the classics.”
It took us the entire three hours to set it up. While Rowan, Sydney, and I worked on it, Jasmine went off to spy on John to make sure he wasn’t planning anything that could throw us off.
At about eleven o’clock, Jasmine came back and reported that he had fallen asleep. “Perfect! Now we can sneak into his room without him noticing.” So silently Sydney and I tip-toed in and placed everything in exactly the right position, triple and even quadruple checking that everything was ready. At 12 o’clock, we got into our own positions and ready for the laugh of our life.
Right on cue, John’s alarm went off. I knew he had been planning on waking up to prank us at night! He yawned, and still half asleep slipped on his slippers at the bottom of his bed. But when he stood up, he slipped and fell. I had to restrain myself from giggling so we wouldn’t be given away. He had fallen because Jasmine had coated his floor in ice.
He stood up rubbing his head just to fall over again. Using his bed for support, he inched toward the door and opened it, activating the trap we had set on it. A bucket of ice, courtesy of me, landed on his head and cracked open, melting into icy cold water right on his head. It wiped away any remains of sleep.
Trying to get his bearings, he stepped back right onto the sponges we had placed there for him. Because of the ice and bucket of water, he slid right across the floor into the stair railing. He got up and panicked, afraid of what might happen next. He tried to run, but Rowan summoned a bunch of vines to rise out of the ground and keep him still. It was only to scare him, not to hurt him. When he tried to scream, Rowan covered his mouth.
Sydney then teamed up with Rowan to create an enormous meteor shower. Just as he was about to be hit, Rowan released him from her vines’ grip and he dodged the incoming meteors. He began yelling, and curious children poked their heads out the door and gasped. John was so busy looking over his shoulder at the meteor shower that he didn’t notice that he was headed straight towards a swimming pool filled with glue that we had set there just for him.
He splashed into it and was covered in the white glue. Now almost everyone down the hallway was looking at John, who now could not be identified. I signaled to Jasmine, and she activated a fan to blow a bunch of sunbird feathers onto him, which stuck because of the glue. We hadn’t had enough time to gather regular earth bird feathers from outside, but luckily Sydney had some sunbird feathers with her from Wizard City so we used those.
Then someone yelled out, “AH! IT’S AN ESCAPED MUTANT BIRD FROM THE CIRCUS!”
Everyone around John began to back away.
“What are you talking about? It’s me, Jo-“
Then the same caretaker that had opened the door for us rounded the corner, carrying a shovel. “No mutant birds will get into this orphanage!” he hollered, heading straight to John.
“But wait! I’m not a mutant bird!”
But the caretaker didn’t listen and began whacking him with the shovel.
All the while the other kids were saying, “Is it dead yet, sir?” or “How did it get here?” and Rowan, Sydney, Jasmine, and I were sitting there with broad grins on our faces, trying extremely hard not to laugh.
“Please! It’s me, John! Please!”
Finally, the caretaker stopped. “John? That’s you? But how did this happen?”
“I’m not completely sure. There was this meteor shower, and an icy floor, and…”
But John didn’t even have to finish. Already the entire orphanage was staring right at me. When I looked to my friends for support, they were all pointing at me. In exasperation I said, “He started it!”
The caretaker sighed. “Sierra, when are you going to learn? You must control your strange, uh… powers.”
“I just can’t help it! I’m sorry,” I said trying to put on my innocent face.
“Fine,” he said in a huff. “But I need you to answer my questions then.”
“What questions?”
“First of all, where have you been?”
“Uh… with my family.”
“Your family!?” he exclaimed. “Where do they live? I can drive you there! Your friends too!”
“I’m sorry, but it’s not a place you can drive to.”
“Then where is it?”
I was thinking quickly, and decided upon the first place I could think of: “Antarctica.”
“Antarctica? But I thought people can’t live in Antarctica!”
“Well, that’s where I’m from.”
He looked skeptical, but only said, “Because of what you’ve done, you must be punished. I’m sorry, but we can’t keep you in here. You will have to sleep outside as punishment.”
“What!” I exclaimed.
“And your friends too, if they helped.”
“But he said he wanted a prank contest! We were only trying to win!”
“Sierra, you know better than that! Life isn’t all about winning.”
“Yeah, it’s about loving and caring for plants and the world around you.” Rowan said. I glared at her. “What? Did I say something wrong? That was the right answer though. I would know, since I’m a life wizard.”
“That’s not the kind of life he was talking about,” I said through gritted teeth.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard we argued, we got nowhere. Soon enough I found my friends and I sitting outside in the cold. To make matters worse, it had began to rain. I wished we had already met the storm Seeker so they could make the rain go away.
But we had to accommodate. I wished we had at least thought about getting some blankets.
Then, almost as if I summoned him with my wishes, a boy appeared in the doorway. He was a handsome boy with dark hair and green eyes. He came bearing warm, heavy blankets and pillows. I rushed over to him. “Did you bring those for us?” I asked.
“Of course I did. Do you see any other kids out here that might need them?”
I took them greedily, and with a nod I thanked him.
“By the way,” he said, gesturing to Jasmine’s entirely white robes, “those went out of style in Wizard City years ago. Red is the new white.”
“But I’m an ice wizard, and our traditional colors are-“
“Wait a minute. Did you just say… Wizard City?” I inquired.
“Yep.”
“But how could you know about it?” I gasped.
“Because, I’m Seth Goldenblood, and I’m a level 8 Apprentice Pyromancer.”
“But how did you get here?”
He shrugged. “I’m guessing Malistaire did it. My parents were interfering with his ‘plans’ as he called them. He told them to stop, but since they didn’t even know what they were supposed to stop, they couldn’t. Malistaire threatened to kill me, and one day he appeared in front of me and suddenly I was here, right outside the orphanage. I’m so glad my parents finally sent someone to save me! Now everything is going to be okay.” He smiled warmly at us.
“Um, Seth, right? Uh well…” I began.
He scanned our unsmiling faces. “That is why you’re here, isn’t it?” When we didn’t reply, he slumped down on the front steps in disbelief. “But… I was so sure that I was going home…”
“I’m sorry Seth, but we’re just as stuck here as you are.” I sat down next to him. Poor guy! Obviously as an apprentice, he must have just started Ravenwood. Then he was torn from his family. I sincerely wished there was some way we could help him.
“Seth, if you need some other wizards to talk to, we’ll be right here,” I told him.
He smiled feebly at me. “Thank you. What’s your name again?”
“I’m Sierra Winterbreeze.”
“Nice to meet you.” He looked around the front yard of the orphanage and at the pouring rain. “You know, I think I’ll stay out here for a little while if that’s alright with you.”
“Sure!” I said. “Stay as long as you want.”
He laid down next to us. Actually, I was surprised that he had decided to sit with us. After all, we were all girls. He was the only boy here. But he acted as if he hadn’t noticed.
I was just drifting off into sleep when the wind and rain had suddenly stopped. It was so sudden that it woke me up. As I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked around, I saw that all my friends, including Seth, had also been awakened by this strange phenomenon. What could be happening? Then we heard the loud windy noise that always occurred when someone was teleporting, and all of us turned around just in time to see Angela Unicornrider, Caleb Frostsong, and some other man who was dressed in purple robes appear. I estimated from the mysterious man’s color in robes that he had been the storm wizard who’d stopped the rain.
“Mom! Dad!” Rowan cried. She ran up to hug them.
“Dad?” said Jasmine in surprise, running up to greet the storm wizard.
“Hello my little Jasmine,” he said with a kind smile.
“What’s going on?” asked Seth.
“Seth,” I said, turning to him, “these are my parents.”
“Oh!” he exclaimed. “H-hello, Sierra’s parents.”
I giggled.
After the happy reunion was done though, my parents switched to lecture mode. “You had us so worried!” my mother fumed.
“Yes, and you’ve been using magic for your own personal purposes, and, to make it worse, in the presence of humans!” my father scolded.
“We’re sorry!” I said.
“Jasmine, you should know better. I’m going to have to tell your mom,” her father said. Jasmine just lowered her head in shame.
“And Sydney,” said Angela facing Sydney, “we’ll need to tell your parents. Where do they live?”
“Uh… Antarctica?”
Rowan, Jasmine, and I laughed but of course my parents didn’t get it.
My parents explained that since our powers weren’t fully developed yet, we couldn’t teleport from Earth. So with their help, we returned home.
I got to meet Seth’s parents. He was fire, but both of his parents and his younger brother, Quinn Spiritflame, were ice. They were so happy to finally have their oldest son back. I promised to come and visit. It’s too bad that I knew that Seth couldn’t possibly be a Seeker, because we already had Sydney as our fire Seeker.
When I got back home, I found Jasmine waiting for me with Sydney next to her. “Hi guys!” I said happily. “I’m so glad to be home.”
“So am I,” said Jasmine. “And now I can go to Marleybone!” Then she stopped herself and looked straight at me. “But Sierra… there’s something I should have told you before. I almost did, but I stopped myself.”
“What?” I asked curiously.
“Well… bumping into you that one day wasn’t the only time I remembered you from.”
“Really?” I said, suddenly very interested.
“Yes. The other time I heard from you was actually from my friend. It was the same day as the accident, I believe. I was only an initiate back then. She was a powerful storm wizard, but she wanted to get out of Krokotopia like the rest of us and get into Marleybone. So, with the new spell Kraken she just learned, she broke open the door to the Temple of Storms. But when we went inside, there was this huge triton in there instead, and the entire building had changed. They told her that she was a, uh… not sure. A ‘looker’ or something.” Sydney and I exchanged astonished glances. She couldn’t have meant Seekers, could she? “Anyway, the triton said that we had to find you for some reason. I didn’t understand, but somehow Victoria seemed to completely comprehend what it said. So we were looking for you, until we got in that accident…”
“Yeah, about that. What kind of accident was it?”
“It was actually in Marleybone. The triton let her into Marleybone for a while, and we were on one of those flying machines when it crashed.”
“And wait a minute. What did you say your friends name was?”
“Victoria Ravensmith.”
“That’s her, Sierra!” Sydney cried out with joy. “Wasn’t that the storm Seeker?”
“Seeker? Oh yeah! That is what they were called!”
“So Victoria was already awakened?” I said.
“Yeah, that was also what it was called! She had to ‘awaken’ you!” Then Jasmine gasped. “Does that mean that she already helped you?”
“No, it means I helped myself.” I replied. “Now why haven’t we met Victoria if she’s already a Seeker of Light?”
Jasmine turned pale. “Well… she lost her memory as well, and I doubt she remembers that day.”
“Oh.” I said. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go awaken the storm Seeker!”
“But it’s late!” Jasmine whined. “Why do we have to go now?”
“Fine, we’ll go in the morning,” I grumbled obviously not happy.
At least now I have something to look forward to.
|
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze (part 5)
Sierra Winterbreeze was sitting in a desk in Ravenwood, on a normal day in Ice Magic class. Professor Greyrose was at the front of the class, rattling on and on about one of the spells they had just learned. Suddenly, the classroom shook, and children all around jumped up from their seats, trying to figure out what was going on. Sierra jumped up from her seat as well, but she somehow knew what was about to happen. The entire roof of the classroom was blown off. Children around Sierra were afraid and tried to run out, but she stood still, waiting. Malistaire came in, walking as casually as if he owned the place. Sierra didn’t notice him until it was too late, and he knocked her to the floor. Then, he summoned a Scorpion to rise from the ground and attacked her, and then she was next to some balance wizard in a pitch black room. He was hovering over her, and she was frightened. She tried to get up and run, but something or someone held her down. Then her necklace, the sapphire one that the dragon in Dragon’s Mouth Cave had given her, was in front of her, and she tried to grab it but it burnt her hands. Then, it transformed into an enormous snake, which began strangling her, and with her last breath of air the balance wizard came next to her. He raised his wand, and with a flash, he attacked her with a spell. Sierra was fading quickly. She called out but no one answered, and-
I woke up from the terrible dream.
My breathing was quick. That had been quite terrifying, and seemed so real. I even felt as if my breath had just been taken away and abruptly restored.
I wondered what time it was. As I have mentioned before, there wasn’t a clock in my room. It still seemed so dark, so I went back to sleep without having anymore dreams for the rest of the night.
The next morning, I jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed. It was the weekend, so no school today and Jasmine had agreed to introduce us to Victoria Ravensmith. The only problem was, I overslept.
I could only hope that Victoria would be available today. It had been weeks since Jasmine had originally told me that she knew Victoria. It seemed like every time we tried to contact her, something happened. The most recent was that Jasmine’s father had been injured and was in the hospital, so Jasmine had naturally stayed with him the entire day, leaving Sydney and I alone in the cold, without any idea of where she was. Other times it had been Victoria who was busy, maybe doing some kind of quest that we couldn’t help her with.
I threw on Biti Nirini’s Hood, Sphinx’s Vestment, and Glittering Sandals. I didn’t even bother to bring one of my pets, like Prince Ginger, Princess Lilly, or Taz. I almost forgot the Mummified Deck and Runed Sapphire Wand as I ran out the door. I was a level 23 Adept Thaumaturge.
I met Sydney and Jasmine in our usual spot, right outside Dragon’s Mouth Cave. Jasmine was already engaged in a conversation with Sydney. I apparently was late, as I had feared, despite my hurrying.
“Finally, Sierra’s here!” said Sydney when I came up. “Guess what? We can finally see her today!”
“Who?” I asked, not quite thinking straight.
“Victoria!” answered Sydney. “Jasmine’s not busy, and neither is she. Victoria is supposed to be meeting us here really soon
“Awesome!” I exclaimed. “There’s only one problem
“What’s that?” asked Jasmine.
“We still have no idea how to awaken her
“Oh, yeah,” said Sydney glumly.
We waited for a long time. After talking about almost everything we could think of (weather, new items, favorite spell, what we had for breakfast), we couldn’t take it anymore.
“Where is your friend, Jasmine,” said Sydney angrily. I had to admit, she was certainly taking her time.
“I don’t know,” said Jasmine calmly, “but there’s no need to panic. Victoria is often late for many things
“She can’t be for this,” I grumbled. “We’ve been here for too long. I was planning on finishing up the Krokosphinx today, but if we stay here too much longer, I won’t have any time. I’m leaving.” I turned to go with Sydney following me.
“No, please. I promise she’ll be here!” Jasmine begged.
“I’m sorry Jasmine, but we have other things to do,” Sydney said as she walked away.
But just when we were about to walk out of Golem Court, a girl came running in and crashed into both of us, causing Sydney and I to fall to the ground. “I’m sorry!” said the girl without even looking at us.
She rushed over to Jasmine, and I noticed she was wearing purple robes. Could this finally be the evasive Victoria Ravensmith that we had been waiting for?
“Victoria!” called out Jasmine, running up to the girl. “You’re here!”
Sydney and I exchanged happy glances. Now we could finally meet the next Seeker of Light!
“Sierra, Sydney,” announced Jasmine, “this is Victoria Ravensmith, my best friend in the whole Spiral.” They smiled at each other.
“Finally,” I mumbled.
“Victoria,” Jasmine said, “these are my new friends Sierra and Sydney
“Hello,” she greeted us.
“Hi Victoria,” I replied. “Nice to meet you.”.
“Sierra and Sydney wanted to, um, talk to you about something. Right?” said Jasmine..
“Yeah, it’s about something that happened before your accident,” Sydney told her..
“What is it?”.
“Well, uh…”.
“It’s something we wanted to show you in the Temple of Storms,” I cut in, thinking that the Temple of Storms may be a good place to start looking for her version of the Tower of Memories. After all, that is where she was first awakened..
“What?” she asked curiously..
“Just something.” I turned to Jasmine. “Will you let us in there? I can’t get there on my own. Or maybe Victoria would let us in instead.”.
“Victoria? Oh no, she can’t. She’s still on Triton Avenue, and only level 9.”.
“Level 9? But you said that she was angry because she couldn’t leave Krokotopia, and she cast Kraken!”.
“Oh. Well… she lost her memory of spells in the accident, so she had to start back at level 1 again and re-learn everything.”.
“The dragon did say that Victoria was going to be a low level,” Sydney commented..
I sighed. “I’m sorry Victoria that you had to lose your memory like that.” I wondered what it felt like to be the second Seeker awakened. If Victoria hadn’t lost her memory, then that’s what I would be. “But anyway, Jasmine can you let us in?”.
“Of course,” she answered, and she teleported away..
We went to her and found ourselves outside the Temple of Storms, inside the Tomb of Storms. Luckily, no one else was around. But how were we supposed to get in? Victoria had used a Kraken on it, but she couldn’t anymore. I wondered if any other spells would work, but somehow I doubted it. We were trying to awaken a storm seeker, after all. Wouldn’t that mean you needed a storm spell? .
We got Victoria to try Thunder Snake on it and other storm spells she so far knew, but none of them worked. Then I tried my spells, mostly evil snowman, and when that didn’t work Sydney and Jasmine tried theirs. But nothing was working..
“This stinks,” I said. “We came all the way here and now we can’t even figure out how to get in.”.
“Well, I can get us in,” said Jasmine. “But you need it to be different, right?”.
“Yeah,” I replied. “What are we going to do?” I sighed and leaned back on the wall. Suddenly, we heard a “clang!” and the doors slid open..
“What just happened?” asked Sydney..
“I have no idea.” I stood up and looked behind me. At first it just looked like a normal wall, but after I examined it more closely I noticed the tiniest button I had ever seen..
“It must have something to do with this,” I said, pointing to it..
“But has it transformed into what we need?”.
“I don’t know,” I said..
“Oh yeah!” exclaimed Jasmine suddenly. “I remember that! Victoria’s Kraken hit that button when it was trying to open the door.”.
“So maybe it did work,” I said happily. “Why don’t we go in and look?”.
Slowly and cautiously the four of us walked inside. This definitely was not the Temple of Storms. It was much more spacious. Not only were the small Krokotopian hieroglyphs that had been on the wall were gone, but the entire room had grown to triple its usual size. Now the walls were decorated with traditional storm colors. But no one was to be found..
Suddenly, we heard a voice behind us: "Welcome Seekers to the Castle of Rain!".
We turned to see an enormous Triton standing in the entryway..
"I am glad to see you all safe. Oh! I see you've brought your friend again, Victoria.".
"What?" asked Victoria, confused. I couldn’t blame her. Meeting a giant Triton who knows your name would be pretty surprising. Obviously the Triton remembered her, but due to the accident she didn’t remember the Triton..
"You have done very well, storm Seeker of Light. You have already awakened both Sierra Winterbreeze and Sydney Jadehammer!".
"But that's the problem," I tried to say. "She doesn't remember any of it.".
The Triton looked at me in disbelief. Then he looked at Victoria and the others, and back to me. "But then... that means that you are the first Seeker!" he said to me..
"Yes, I am. We came to have Victoria re-awakened.".
"Oh my, I never expected this to happen. Alright, I will begin by giving you your memory back." The Triton raised its trident into the air and waved it around. Lightning bolts rained down from the sky into his magical fork, and it pointed it at Victoria and-.
The Triton fell over..
All of us gasped to see a Wraith behind him, with the one and only Malistaire..
Victoria and Jasmine backed away and cowered in the corner, but Sydney and I stepped forward. "What did you do to the Triton?" I screamed at him. "Victoria was about to get her memory back!".
"Yes," he chuckled, "but I couldn't allow that to happen, now could I? It would ruin my wonderful plans for Mark, that other miserable Seeker you are looking for.".
"Mark? Mark who?" I asked..
Malistaire said nothing, but instead teleported away in some strange way. Instead of the wind coming around him, he was enveloped in darkness and dissolved into it..
As soon as he was gone, Sydney and I ran over to the Triton. He didn’t look as if he were breathing. We were both devastated, but mostly dazed. Hadn’t just a second ago the Triton had been about to get Victoria her memory back?.
Now the poor creature was dead, and we had no way of awakening the storm Seeker. I sighed and stood up. “Well,” I said, “that was… unexpected. I guess the only thing we can do is move forward and find the next Seeker. Maybe another creature can awaken Victoria.” .
“Yeah. Um Sierra, about that…” Sydney said..
“What?”.
“Well… we don’t know who the next Seeker of Light is.”.
“Oh,” I said is disappointment. But then I remembered our unwanted meeting with Malistaire and I cheered up. “But Malistaire said something about ‘a miserable Seeker that you’re looking for’.”.
“You’re right!” exclaimed Sydney. “I think he said it was Mark.”.
“Yeah, that’s what he said,” chimed in Jasmine..
“But Mark what? We don’t even know what school he’s in, or his last name, nor if he even has a last name!”.
“Well,” I said, “this, uh, Miserable Mark can’t be too hard to find.”.
“Miserable Mark?” Sydney giggled. “Is that what we’re going to call him?”.
“I guess.” I grinned at the thought. “But we’d better get out of here to start looking.” I motioned for everyone to follow me out the place that the Triton had called “The Castle of Rain.” Jasmine and Sydney came without hesitation, but Victoria stayed put..
“I’m not leaving until someone explains what the heck is going on here!” she yelled..
I looked at Sydney for help, not entirely sure what to say. “Well,” she began, “you are a Seeker of Light. Um, well, I’m not completely sure what they are exactly, but we have to someday join together to defeat Malistaire.”.
“Malistaire?” asked Victoria, her eyes widening. “No! Not Malistaire! He is so scary and intimidating and… and… impossible to beat! I can’t fight him!”
“But Victoria,” I reasoned, “it is your destiny.”
“I don’t care. No destiny or whatever is going to make me try to defeat Malistaire!”
“Victoria, what has happened to you?” Jasmine said sadly. She almost looked as if she was about to cry.
“What do you mean?”
“Before the accident you were so brave and kind! When the Triton first told you about this, you were proud to be a Seeker. You accepted your fate without any questions, and vowed to finally defeat Malistaire. Why did you change? What did that horrid catastrophe do to you? Memory or no memory, you promised to beat him, Victoria.”
Victoria just looked at her shoes with her head hung low. I wondered what she was thinking about.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jasmine continued. “You probably always were just a coward. How could I have been so wrong about you?”
“You weren’t wrong, Jasmine,” Victoria said, looking up again. I saw tears in her eyes. I felt bad. Jasmine had been a little harsh. “Actually, now that you mention it, I do remember that promise.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “Does that mean that you remember being a Seeker?”
“No,” she sadly replied. “I do kind of recall something about meeting the Triton though. But not much, only vague bits.”
“Wow, that’s great!” I said, hardly being able to hold in my excitement. “At least that is a start. Maybe if you keep trying, you’ll be able to completely remember it!”
“Yeah!” said Jasmine. “She’s right! I’ve been able to recall many things since the accident. Maybe you will too!”
Victoria smiled. “I hope so. But can we go now if we have nothing else to do? I need to get home soon.”
“Sure,” I said happily as we all walked out the door.
Sydney and I said goodbye to Jasmine and Victoria in the Spiral Chamber. Jasmine headed off to Marleybone, and Victoria teleported back to Wizard City. Sydney agreed to do a few quests with me, as long as I would first come with her to the Oasis shops so she could buy a new wand. While we were walking to the wand shop, we heard a very quiet “Meow!”
Sydney wildly looked around. “Sierra, did you hear something?” she asked.
“Yeah. It sounded like it was coming from over here.” I walked over to the well in the center of the shops and peered into it. I couldn’t see, so Sydney conjured some fire to give us a little bit of light. Letting it float down into the well revealed a tiny baby Fire Cat, meowing for help.
“Oh no!” gasped Sydney. “Look! We have to save it.”
“But Sydney,” I began, but she was already climbing down the side of the well. I sighed and hoped that she wouldn’t fall. I tried to think of some way to help her, or maybe a spell that would magically get the Fire Cat out of the deep source of water. But I came up blank, so all I could do was worry.
The Fire Cat’s usually beautiful glowing fiery fur was now damp and wet. Usually it burned brightly, but now it was too soaked to give off light. I knew that if a Fire Cat’s fiery fur was put out, then it would die. So I guessed Sydney was right. We did have to save the poor creature.
The whole time the cat was meowing and hissing and crying so pitifully that I felt horrible. How could I have ever even considered leaving it alone!
“Be careful, Sydney. The walls are going to be slippery because of the water,” I cautioned.
“Don’t worry. It’s easy. All I have to do is dry off the water with some fire and-” Suddenly Sydney screamed and her light went out.
“Sydney? Sydney!” I yelled.
I was just about to try and climb into the well also when I heard her voice. “Oof. Don’t worry Sierra. I’m fine. Just – ouch – a little sore is all.”
“Phew,” I said with relief.
“But it seems too wet. I can’t make any fire, or else it goes out. I can’t see.”
“Great. Just great,” I moaned. “Why can’t anything go right today?”
“Don’t worry. I have the Fire Cat,” said Sydney. When I listened closely, I heard it purring.
“Just stay there. I’ll go get help,” I said, backing away.
“No wait! I think I can do it myself.”
“I’m not going to let you, even if you can. That was the second time you’ve almost died from falling, Sydney. I’m surprised you just won’t give up.”
“But I can’t just leave the helpless Fire Cat here!”
“Ugh. Fine. You work on climbing out, and I’ll help in any way I can. I’ll start by freezing the water that keeps you from making light.” So I focused my energy to freeze the water. It wasn’t very hard. That was one of the first things Novice ice wizards learned. But it was hard when Sydney lit her fire. Being a Seeker, my ice didn’t melt from fire. But Sydney’s fire was also extra powerful, so I had to concentrate hard to keep my ice from melting.
Sydney carefully and cautiously climbed up. I could imagine that it must have been extremely hard with the slimy walls without any footholds. I was watching her in anxiety, not being able to do anything but concern about her safety. All of a sudden, Sydney’s light went out and she was screaming once more.
“SYDNEY!” I shrieked.
But before I could do anything, the scream transformed into laughter. “I can’t… believe… you actually… fell for that!” Sydney said between shrieks of laughter.
“Sydney!” I shouted again, but this time in anger. “This is no time for that! Put yourself in my place and think about what I feel right now! I’m so apprehensive for your safety that I can hardly sit still, and yet you deliberately tease me in life-threatening moments!”
“Sorry,” she said offended at my anger. “I was just trying to lighten the mood.” Her light below came back on and I saw her disappointed face.
I was still annoyed at her, despite how hard she tried to get me in a pleasant mood. The entire rest of the way up the well she continued to apologize. But no matter what she did, I didn’t listen.
The rest of Sydney’s trip to the top of the well was uneventful. When Sydney emerged from the dark depths of the well with the adorable baby Fire Cat in her hands, I still refused to talk to her. I didn’t even bother to help her dry off the Fire Cat. I don’t think I could have though, even if I wanted to. I didn’t have anything to use to dry off the water.
I continued walking with her to the wand shop. I waited while Sydney bought her wand, but still I stayed silent. Even when we walked to the Krokosphinx I didn’t dare speak.
Sydney tried to start a conversation with me. “What do you think I should name this little guy?” she asked, scratching the Fire Cat behind the ears as it purred.
I didn’t answer.
She scowled at me. “Stop being so stubborn and at least look at me. I was thinking about the name Sir Romeo. What do you think Sierra?” She still continued to talk as we boarded the flying boat that takes wizards to the Krokosphinx. She sure was desperate!
It was almost a relief when we got into the Krokosphinx and I got dragged into a battle in the Vault of Ice. It was with the Keeper of the Fang, the final boss in there. Sydney stopped talking so we could concentrate on defeating her. The Banshee-like Keeper was almost defeated when one of her minions crept up behind me, unnoticed.
Sydney was the first to see. “Sierra, watch out!” she hollered, but it was already too late. I turned to see it cast a spell, and it was about to knock me out. I closed my eyes, certain that I’d awaken in the Oasis, weak without much health, but instead something hurt the minion.
“Ooowww!” it moaned, and then it vanished.
When I saw who my savior was, I noticed that it was the Fire Cat that Sydney had saved, Sir Romeo!
“Sydney…” I said slowly, “I think your Fire Cat just saved me!”
“Yay, you’re talking to me again!” Sydney said with glee.
“That doesn’t mean I’m not angry with you anymore,” I told her angrily. “You shouldn’t have tricked me like that.”
“How many times do I have to tell you I’m sorry?”
“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t accept you’re apology?”
“Why not?”
“You will have to make it up somehow. But let’s finish off the Keeper of the Fang before she gets away.” I turned and cast a Vampire and defeated her.
We left the Vault of Ice and I redeemed my prize for Shalek the Wise. After doing more quests for the rest of the day, Sydney and I departed and went back home to Wizard City. When I got home, I found my parents glaring at my sister, Rowan Willowleaf.
“Young lady, that boy is a bad influence on you!” my mother was saying.
“I’m sorry Rowan,” said Dad, “but we can’t allow you to see him anymore.”
“Why? Just because he’s a death student doesn’t mean that he’s a bad kid!”
“But you have been with him too much. Sure, you’re both in MooShu, but that doesn’t justify it.”
“Mom!” wailed Rowan. “Mark is a great, kind, loving, loyal friend! He could be a life student if he tried!”
“I’m sorry honey, but death is evil. He can’t be good for you.”
“How do you know that I’m not the one influencing him? Maybe I can turn him good.”
Angela Unicornrider, my mom, shook her head. “Rowan, I apologize, but we can’t take our chances. You are just spending way too much time with him. You are now forbidden to see him anymore.”
“Mother!” Rowan cried out, but she was no longer listening.
While she was leaving, I heard my dad whisper to Rowan, “I’m terribly sorry dear. I personally have nothing against the death school, but your mother seems to hate it. There’s nothing I can do.”
“It’s not fair,” she said. “Sierra is allowed to be death, but nooo. I can’t even be friends with a death student!” Then without another word, she huffed off to her room.
“What’s going on here?” I asked Caleb Frostsong, my father.
“Oh, hello Sierra. Did you have a good day out with your friends?”
“Yes, thank you. But what was that fight about? Something about a ‘Mark’?”
My father sighed. “It’s nothing. He’s just a friend - well, now an ex-friend - of Rowan’s.”
I was interested in this, because she had said Mark. And from the sound of the fight, he had been death, which was not one of the schools that already had Seekers. Could this be the same Miserable Mark that we were looking for?
“Go to bed Sierra,” Dad ordered. “It’s getting late, and you have school tomorrow. And I don’t want to have to tell you about this whole complicated conflict. Ask Rowan about it instead. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” I replied.
The next morning, I took my father’s advice and cornered Rowan before school.
“Who’s Mark?” I asked her.
“Mark who?”
“The Mark that you and Mom fought about. Who else?”
“Oh! Mark Darkcrafter! He is my best friend, but Mom says I can’t see him anymore just because he’s death. But today, I’m meeting him after school in the Life Tower for a party that we’re arranging. Please don’t tell Mom! She can’t know! You can come if you like, but only if you swear that you won’t tell.”
“I promise.”
“Good!” Rowan looked much happier. “Meet us in the Life Tower right after school, okay?”
“Sure! A party will be tons of fun.”
“If you want we can make you a judge of the pet contest.”
“Of course!”
“Wonderful!” she said smiling. “Well, I have to go now. Believe me, it is really bad to be late for Adept class. Especially when you’re ice, because Professor Greyrose is really strict about lateness. Anyway, got to go! Bye!” She waved to me as she left.
I could barely contain my excitement throughout the day. I would finally meet Mark. But of course, I couldn’t be sure if it was our Miserable Mark. Actually, I had no idea how I would possibly know if he was a Seeker or not. I wish the ice giant or dragon or triton had explained to me how to tell whether they’re a normal wizard or a Seeker.
That thought almost made me laugh out loud. I had only been in Wizard City a few months and already I thought wizards were “normal.” Just a little while ago, I would have thought someone was crazy if they said that they were a wizard. Now they were normal!
Finally, the day was over. I was the first one out the door. I didn't even bother to say goodbye to Professor Greyrose or my friends. I rushed to the Life Tower. In my hurry I think I knocked over a few kids, but I hardly noticed.
I arrived at the Life Tower panting. Even though I had run twice as fast as Rowan, she still beat me. After all, she had come from the life school which was just across the street. There was no one else there though, so I concluded that Mark Darkcrafter hadn't shown up yet.
"Hiya Sierra!" greeted Rowan.
"Hey Rowan. What's up? Is Mark here yet?"
"Nope. He has classes with Dworgyn you know, so it takes him longer to get here."
"Why doesn't he just teleport to you?"
She shrugged.
Just then, a boy came bursting through the door. Unlike some students, it was obvious that he was death. Everything about him was dark: his hair was black, his eyes a deep green, and even his clothes as dark as night. "Hi Rowan," he said as he stumbled inside.
"Hi Mark. This is my sister, Sierra Winterbreeze. She wanted to meet you. Can she be a judge for the pet contest? Unless you wanted to, then I'm going to be the only one."
"Sure. I didn't want to be a judge anyway."
"Great! I can't wait, Sierra. This will be the best party ever!"
"Um Rowan, don't the teachers discourage parties in the school towers?" I asked.
Again she shrugged. "I have no clue. It was Mark's idea."
I rolled my eyes. "Maybe he is a bad influence on you, just like Mom says," I muttered under my breath as Rowan walked over to Mark.
While they spent their time trying to plan their party, I sat in a corner alone, regretting my decision to come. How could I have thought that I would be able to figure out if this was our Miserable Mark just by looking at him?
At long last, Rowan and Mark finished setting up the party. Rowan told me to go out and advertise our party. I had no idea how though. After all, I couldn’t just run through the streets of Ravenwood yelling “Party in Life Tower!” I had seen some kids do that before, but I didn’t know how they managed not to get caught by the teachers. Instead, I let Mark go out to do the advertising and I stayed behind. I decided to invite Sydney, Jasmine, Seth, and Victoria to come.
Pretty soon the tower was full of students milling around. Personally, I thought this party was very boring. But somehow kids stayed in, so I guess it didn’t matter.
Mark came back a few minutes later. He had evidently done his job well.
I was very, very bored so I walked over to Mark. I guessed that I may be able to figure out if he was a Seeker or not by talking to him.
“Sooo…” I said when I came over. “You’re Mark, right?”
“Yep,” he said, “the one and only Mark Darkcrafter.”
“’The one and only’? How do you know that?”
“Because my name is so awesome that no one else could have it,” he joked.
“Well anyway,” I said, not feeling like laughing at the moment. I had too much on my mind. “Did you always want to be death?”
He nodded. “Of course! It is the best school.”
Again I refused to laugh. I wonder if that made me look like someone with no sense of humor. I wanted to be friends with this guy, just in case he was the right Mark.
“Well actually,” he continued, ignoring my lack of humor, “my entire family is life. All the way up to my great, great, great, great… uh, well I’m not sure how many greats there were but it was a ton before my grandparents. In fact, my parents don’t really like me. All my brothers and sisters are life.”
“How many siblings do you have?”
“Oh, just twenty-eight.”
“Only twenty-eight?” I asked, astounded.
“Hey, well at least it’s not fifty.”
I grinned.
“Finally!” he exclaimed. “I’ve broken your gloomy mood.”
I laughed. When Rowan came over I was still trying to think of another question to ask him. “Sierra,” she said to me, “it is time for the pet contest. I need your help judging, remember?”
“Oh yeah,” I said.
“Come on! Everyone has already entered their pets. Let’s go.”
I followed her over to a long line of contestants. I saw many adorable, fierce, and friendly faces of the pets, but none of them looked like a contest winner. “Rowan,” I whispered to my sister, “what exactly are we looking for?”
“Just the best pet,” she answered matter-of-factly.
For a second time I scanned the crowd of various pets. I saw an interesting ghoul, a scary ghost, a kind sprite, a formidable helephant, and many other pets. But I just couldn’t select ‘the best pet’, not by just looking at one.
“What do you think about this one?” asked Rowan pointing to an Dark Sprite.
“I don’t care.” I said, hardly even looking at her. My mood was rapidly plummeting again.
Finally, she gave up letting me choose and decided the winner herself. While she announced the victors, I sat in an area far away from the crowd. Now I was almost furious that Rowan had made me come. What had I been thinking, letting her talk me into this like that!
Mark Darkcrafter noticed me alone and walked over. “Hi Sierra.”
“Hi Mark. Why are you over here? The party is that way.”
“Why are you over here? I only came to see if you were alright.”
“I’m fine,” I mumbled not very enthusiastically.
“No, you’re not. Can I do anything to help?”
“The only thing I want is to make this party better, but I don’t think you can do that.”
He smiled a mischievous smile at me. “How do you know?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “What are you planning?”
“Come on,” he said.
Mark had already had a complicated scheme devised. Over and over again I wondered why he was crashing his own party. But I didn’t care. This was going to be hilarious.
It happened when Rowan was giving out the prizes for the contests. They were supposed to be rare treasure cards, but neither Rowan nor anyone else in the room except for Mark and I knew what was really going to happen.
Earlier he had switched the real cards with some fake ones that no one could cast spells with. When they did, they exploded. But luckily not a real explosion, one that could hurt someone.
Rowan announced the third and second place winners first, the ones whose treasure cards we didn’t sabotage. It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud when the first place winner, a girl named Michelle Dragonmancer and her Heckhound King Elvis, Mark was grinning from ear to ear. Mark called out, just like he was supposed to, “Why don’t you try out one of your new treasure cards?”
Kids in the crowd thought it was a marvelous idea, so Michelle tried to cast it. But when it did, the fire symbol she had been making completely exploded, and Mark and I fell over laughing.
When the smoke cleared, Michelle was covered in soot. She was angrily glaring at us.
Rowan was also glaring at Mark, but in a playful way. “You did this, didn’t you?” she asked him.
“Who else?” he giggled.
She sighed, but her eyes were happy. “I should have known you were going to do something like this. It is just like that time in MooShu where you got me caught in that series of battles with Samooris. Just what am I going to do with you?”
“You sound like my mom. ’Mark, why couldn’t you be life? We can’t make anything out of a death wizard!’” he said, imitating a woman’s high-pitched voice.
“Um, hellooo,” said Michelle impatiently. “What about my prize?”
“Oh yeah, sorry,” Mark answered. He took out the real cards that he had been hiding in his pocket.
Michelle furiously yanked the cards from his hand and stomped away.
Soon, the whole life tower had been cleared of students. The only people left were Sydney, Rowan, Mark, and me. Since it didn’t look like the party was still going on, and that I didn’t want to stay and help clean up after the way setting up had gone, I left and walked out into the empty lanes of Ravenwood.
It was very silent. Not many kids were still out. I strolled along, looking in at the schools. When I came to the death school, I peered down into the deep hole that the school had supposedly fallen into. While I was looking, I heard footsteps behind me. When I turned, I saw Mark there.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
He smirked. “Not much of a greeting.”
“Sorry,” I apologized. “I kind of want to be alone right now.”
“Oh, I’ll leave if you want…”
“No it’s okay. You’re here now so you might as well stay.”
“What about me?” Sydney suddenly appeared from behind one of Bartleby’s roots.
“Sydney!” I exclaimed. “Where did you come from? Were you spying on me?”
“No!” she said defiantly. Then after a moment of hesitation, she said, “Well, I wasn’t at first. I thought that maybe you were going to have some sort of personal moment and you wouldn’t want me to intrude.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, it was nothing like that. I was just having a chat with a friend.”
Mark beamed at me. “Do you really consider me a friend?”
“Of course!”
He was almost speechless, and I chuckled. “Fire Cat got your tongue?”
I heard a quiet meow. When I looked down I saw Sir Romeo, the Fire Cat that had saved me earlier, following Sydney. I wondered why it liked her so much. I used to think it was a wild Fire Cat, but not since it began to love Sydney.
We all laughed at the little Fire Cat. I couldn’t believe the timing of its meow.
I was still giggling when the ground began to shake. It was shaking so violently that Mark and I lost our balance and fell to the ground. Sydney also lost her balance, but her consequence was much worse: she fell into the death school hole.
“Sydney!” I screamed. She managed to hold onto a root, but the ground was rumbling so much that I doubted she would hang on for much longer.
I crawled over to the ledge and reached down my arm. But when she let go of the root to grab my hand, she was heavier than I thought and I fell with her.
“Sierra!” cried out Mark. He then tried to grab me, but I was already too far down. Sir Romeo was sitting next to Mark and frantically meowing.
“Hang on… I think I can reach you…” Mark said while he stretched his arm down. But we were way too far down, and falling fast. “Wait, I think if I-” But before he could execute whatever plan he had for saving us, an extra large tremor knocked him over and he came tumbling down after us.
“Now we’re doomed,” I moaned.
“We were before,” muttered Sydney.
It was already night and dark outside, so it appeared as if we were falling into a pitch black abyss.
“Sydney, do you still have your Sunbird? Remember, the one named Flame that saved you in Dragon Mouth Cave?”
“Well, I do, but I left my cards in the Life Tower with Rowan.”
“What are we going to do?”
It didn’t take long for the darkness to completely envelope me. If Sydney hadn’t been holding my hand, I would have been worried about her. That didn’t mean I wasn’t worried for Mark, however. I strained my eyes to see in the surrounding blackness, but it was no use.
I tried to call out his name, but no one answered. Where could he be? Hadn’t he fallen after us?
I was so disoriented. I didn’t even know which way was up. We had been falling for a long time. What if this was one of the bottomless pits that you see in movies? I hoped not. I think it would be better to crash to the ground and die than to fall forever and starve to death.
“Uh Sydney,” I said finally, “why aren’t we crashing to the ground?”
“I don’t know,” she answered. “No one has ever fallen into here.”
“Why me?” I whined.
“What happened to Wizard City?” asked Sydney. “That quake may have caused damage.”
I shrugged, but then remembered she couldn’t see me. “I don’t know,” I said.
We waited for another long period without any talking. “How long do you think it has been since we left the party?” I asked Sydney.
“Not sure. Maybe thirty minutes?”
“Really? That long?”
“It was just an estimate. I can’t be sure.”
“Where could Mark be?” I whimpered.
Without warning I saw light. “Hey Sydney, do you see that?” I said, pointing to the beam.
“What?” She twisted in mid-air to look. “Yeah! There’s light there!”
“Good, so I’m not imagining it. But what could it be?”
“I have no idea.”
Pretty soon we came closer to the light. Only then could we see what it revealed: land.
“Sydney! We’re going to crash! There’s the ground there!”
“Oh no.”
“We have to do something!”
“Don’t panic! If you do, we won’t survive.” Sydney was strangely calm.
“Alright… then what do you propose we do?”
“I think we should wait until we hit the ground. Somehow I don’t think we’ll be hurt.”
“But Sydney…”
“Don’t worry Sierra. Trust me, we’ll be fine.”
“Okay, I guess.” I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, but it is extremely hard when the ground is rushing at you.
And so, with the ground quickly approaching, I closed my eyes and prepared for impact.
But it never came. I still to this day don’t know what happened, but I only landed with a soft “Thump!”
As soon as I knew that it was actually solid ground beneath me and not some dream or illusion, I stood and looked at my surroundings.
We were in some sort of room with wooden walls. The area was lit up, but there was no apparent light source anywhere. I almost felt as if I were inside an enormous tree trunk.
I saw Sydney struggling to her feet and walked over to help her. “Where are we?” I asked her.
“How should I know?”
“Well, you knew about not getting hurt when we landed.”
“That was just a guess.”
“Well it is a good thing you didn’t tell me that. I would have died from fear before we even landed if you hadn’t said anything.”
“This place just felt… magical.”
“Ever since I’ve come to Wizard City everything has felt magical to me!”
“Well you grew up in an orphanage on Earth.”
“But what about-”
“Thump!” Someone landed beside us. We turned to look, and saw Mark there. “Mark! Thank goodness you’re ok!” I ran over to him and hugged him.
“Wow, it seems that I was really missed!” he said with a smile.
“Are you kidding? I was so worried!”
“So where are we, and why weren’t we hurt when we fell?”
“You are in the Crevice of Time.”
Again I spun around, but this time a Scarecrow was there.
“Who are you?” I demanded, taking out my wand.
“I am merely a Scarecrow. I serve the death school, and I’m here to awaken the death Seeker.”
“Oh! So Mark is a Seeker of Light!”
Sydney twirled around to face Mark. “Miserable Mark, we’ve found you!” she said with a grin.
I laughed with her while Mark looked confused. “Miserable? What are you talking about?” he asked. All we did was laugh harder.
“You, Mark Darkcrafter, are a Seeker of Light. To show you what I mean, we must go back in time,” said the Scarecrow. With a wave of his hand, the entire room around us faded into darkness.
“What’s going on?” I shouted, but the room was already back. But no longer were we in the place that the Scarecrow had called “The Crevice of Time.” Now we were in some kind of hospital, by a mother and a father holding a baby. Three other young kids were around them.
Everyone in the room was dressed in green, suggesting that they were all life wizards. The family, the children, the healers – even the baby was wrapped in a green blanket.
Yet the scene seemed strange and fuzzy. When people moved, their actions seemed delayed, as if something else was controlling them. The only people whose movements seemed to be natural were Sydney’s, Mark’s, the Scarecrow’s, and mine.
I tried to think of something to say to the family. After all, we had just magically appeared in their hospital room. But it didn’t seem to matter. They didn’t even notice us.
“Those are my parents!” exclaimed Mark.
The Scarecrow nodded. “That baby is you, Mark,” it said. Mark, the baby in green? How was that possible? Wasn’t he death?
Mark’s parents looked pleased with their baby. His mother held him close. “He is a beautiful baby, isn’t he?” said Mark’s mother.
“Yes,” his father agreed. “I just can’t wait until he’s old enough to start training in life magic.”
“What should we name him?” asked his mother.
“I think I like either the name Wolf or James.”
“I like the name… Mark.”
“Mark? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m quite sure. I think it is a lovely name.”
“I guess so. But what about his last name?”
“I don’t know. Maybe Starsong or Rainbowleaf.”
Just then, a healer came in with some flowers. “See if he actually is life,” she said. “If he has the ability, then he can make more flowers grow.”
“Oh, but his whole family has been life for generations. I’m sure that-” Then the women gasped, but the healer was blocking the way so I couldn’t see. When I repositioned myself to a better spot, I gasped too. Not only was the flower in the pot dead, but every single flower in the room was dead. But that was not all; a banshee had appeared in the room.
“T-the flower!” Mark’s mother screeched. “It’s dead! And where did that… that thing come from!”
I looked at Mark to see what he was thinking. I couldn’t believe what I saw: he was actually smiling!
Mark’s father backed away from the bed. “No, it is not possible! Our fourth son can’t be death!”
“I’m sorry Alex and Autumn, but it appears as if it is so. Mark is a death wizard.”
The women began to cry.
Before I could completely absorb what just happened, we were back in the Crevice of Time again.
“So,” said the Scarecrow to Mark, “what do you think?”
“I’m not surprised,” he said. “That is just like my parents. And what I did to them was hilarious! The only thing I am surprised about is what just happened. How did we just see that? That happened a long time ago.”
“Do you not remember?” I said. “We’re in the Crevice of Time. Wouldn’t that mean we can go back in time?”
“Precisely,” said the Scarecrow. Then he looked around. “Are there only three of you? It doesn’t look as if your leader is here.”
“Leader?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
“Your leader is the storm Seeker, or the first one to be awakened.”
“Victoria? But she can’t be our leader! She is a lower level than everyone! And she lost her memory!” I said.
“What?” said the Scarecrow. “What are you talking about? Then who was the first one awakened if she lost her memory?”
“That would be Sierra,” said Sydney, pushing me forward.
“Then you are the leader of the Seekers, Sierra Winterbreeze!” he told me.
“Leader?” I said, very confused. “But I don’t want to be a leader! How can I be a leader? What does a leader even have to do?”
“The leader is not much different from the other Seekers. You are in charge of awakening each and every Seeker, and hopefully the others will respect you.”
“No! Make Sydney do it! I really, really don’t want to be the leader of anything!”
“Come on Sierra,” said Sydney. “You’ll be a great leader! Though I’m still not sure what they have to do. And I have a question. How come Victoria’s and Mark’s place had a name, but mine didn’t?”
“How can you say that I will be great at something you don’t even know?” I complained to Sydney without answering her question. Then to the Scarecrow, I said, “Listen Scarecrow or whatever you are, choose someone else. I’m still new to Wizard City and don’t know my way around very well. Didn’t you say it would be the first one awakened? Just because Victoria lost her memory doesn’t mean she isn’t the first one anymore. She will at least be a better leader than me.”
“Do not doubt yourself, Seeker Winterbreeze. You can do it.”
“Yes, but what exactly am I doing?” I said.
“Do your normal job and you shall figure it out. The Seekers of Light may not even need a leader. You are only there just in case you need someone to finalize your decisions.”
“Ok…” I still didn’t understand any of this. Why was I chosen to be leader? Was I different somehow?
“Good. Now, where was I? Oh yes. You, Mark Darkcrafter, are the death Seeker of Light.”
“I already got that,” said Mark. “What are Seekers though?”
“Each of your lives has been touched by darkness. It seems as though you were forced to be death when your entire family was life.”
Mark stiffened. “I wasn’t forced to do anything. I have always wanted to be death.”
“It doesn’t matter,” the Scarecrow said. “All you need is to help find the rest of the Seekers and awaken them.”
“Wait,” I said, “what are the names of all the Seekers? I think we should know, just in case something goes wrong again like in the Castle of Rain and we don’t know who the next Seeker is. We were just lucky that Malistaire messed up and told us Mark’s first name.”
“I am sorry, but I do not know all the names of the Seekers. But I can tell you which schools you need to find in which order. First is storm, then ice, then fire, death, myth, life, and balance. Unfortunately, it seems as though the order has been mixed up since ice was awakened first. I don’t know if any of the others will be out of order either. Since I’m down in this crevice, I don’t get much information.”
“Ok. So we have to find the myth Seeker next?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“So who is it?”
“Uh… well, I’m embarrassed to say that I can’t remember his name.”
“What! Then how are we supposed to find him?”
“You already know him. And you will know from how his life will be affected by dark magic. Malistaire is targeting his teleporting magic, so you’d better watch out.”
“We already know him… Sydney, who do we know that is myth?”
“Um…”
Suddenly, we heard another thump behind us. One by one, we turned to see a small, terrified Fire Cat there.
“Sir Romeo!” cried out Sydney jubilantly as she ran to hug him. “Where did you come from? You jumped down here to save us, didn’t you? You are such a good boy!”
“Meow!” said Sir Romeo shakily.
“Well,” said the Scarecrow a little impatiently, “you should be going. Are you ready to leave?”
“I guess,” I answered.
“Alright. But before you go, I have a message you must heed. That tremor that brought you down here was no ordinary earthquake. Malistaire created it. It was made to kill you, but instead it obviously helped you. Anyway, good bye! And I hope you find the next Seeker!” The Scarecrow then lifted his arms, and we began to fly. Yes, fly!
When we drifted to the top, we were settled down gently. When I looked around, everything seemed just as we left it. That made sense, since I had already figured out that no time passes when a Seeker of Light is being awakened.
“So…” I said.
“What should we do now?” Mark asked me.
“Why are you asking me?” I said.
He shrugged. “Well, I thought you were the leader.”
I sighed. “I don’t know why I’m the leader though. I didn’t ask for this. I guess we should get some rest so that we have our energy to look for the myth Seeker tomorrow.”
“Sure,” said Mark, turning to leave.
As I was walking away with Sydney by my side, I realized something. There was only one person I knew who was myth, and that was… “Sydney,” I said, “I think I know who the myth Seeker is!”
“Really? Who?”
“Well... you aren’t going to like this much but…”
“Come on, just tell me Sierra!”
“It’s… your brother.”
“My brother?” Sydney gasped. “You mean Hunter? How can he possibly be a Seeker! He is way too annoying to save the Spiral.”
“But think about it, Sydney. He is the only myth student I know, and who else could it be?”
“But what about the teleporting problem?” she pointed out. “Hunter can teleport just fine.”
“I don’t know, but wouldn’t it make sense if he were a Seeker?”
“Well…”
We arrived at Sydney’s house then. I said, “Look, at least keep an eye on him, ok? If anything strange happens, let me know.”
“Fine, I guess so.”
“Thank you, Sydney. And just so you know, I’m really glad you’re a Seeker of Light.”
She smiled. “I’m glad you’re our leader.”
“But I -”
But Sydney was already walking into her house.
I sighed. This Seeker stuff was harder than I thought. Why me? Why couldn’t Rowan be the leader of Seekers? And…
Wait a minute. Bandit, our family’s Heckhound, wasn’t coming out of his doghouse to greet me as he always did when I got home.
And why was there smoke coming out of the window?
|
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze (Part 6)
As soon as I saw the smoke in the window I rushed to the door. What was going on?
I tried to comfort myself by saying that this may not be anything. Maybe I just imagined the smoke. Maybe Rowan was casting one of her fire spells. Maybe, since Rowan loved pets, she bought a Fire Cat and I was just seeing the smoke from his fur. Maybe… maybe…
Still, I guessed we were safe. My dad was an ice wizard, and even though he couldn’t freeze fire, he could still make ice. The ice would then melt into water and put out the fire. At least that is what I hoped. I had no idea if it worked like that, since I never had to put out a fire.
I flung open the door and saw nothing different, except for the fact that the air was flooded with smoke. I had to keep down low to stop coughing.
I advanced toward the living room, which is where the window I had seen smoke coming out of was located.
When I was walking in the room, I tripped over something and I tumbled to the ground. “Oooww!” said a voice.
“What? Who was that?” I asked, looking around.
“Sierra, is that you?” the voice said. When I looked at what I tripped over, I saw my sister, Rowan, lying on the ground.
“Rowan! What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure,” she replied. “It was like this when I came home. I can’t find Mom and Dad, Sierra. I’m scared for them. But,” she said, holding up something that looked like a piece of black fur, “I found
Bandit! He’s just a little dirty from all the soot flying around.”
“A little?” I mumbled. “Why were you on the ground?”
“I was trying to crawl across the floor.”
“Is there a fire or what?”
“I don’t know, but it definitely looks like there is one, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it does. I’m going to look for it.”
Rowan gasped. “Sierra, why would you ever want to find fire? It’s too dangerous!”
“I think I might be able to put it out.” I was thinking about what the ice giant in the Tower of Lost Memories had told me. He had said that I could freeze fire.
“Sierra, I don’t think you should.”
“You can’t stop me. I need to find Mom and Dad anyway,” I told her. And before she could protest I hurried off.
It was really hard to see in the blackness of the smoke. Even close to the ground I couldn’t see my own hand in front of my face. I wished that I were a storm wizard so I could summon some wind to blow all this smoke away. Or better yet, a fire wizard so I could put out the fire.
“Mom? Dad?” I called out. No one answered.
When I crawled into my very own room, I immediately knew this was where the fire was. First of all, it was because the smoke was thicker in here. Second, I saw it.
But this was like no fire I had ever seen. Though it seemed as though the effects of this fire were the same, I felt absolutely no warmth when it came near me. And this fire wasn’t red. It was as black as the
night sky.
A shiver went down my spine as I approached it. Then, I made a huge mistake: I touched the fire.
Just like any fire, I felt searing pain. But this pain was worse. Even when I pulled my arm back I still felt as if it was on me. And it hadn’t felt hot at all. It felt more like what I had always imagined the cold would feel like if I hadn’t been an ice wizard. So if even I could feel it, then it must have been really, really, really cold.
Terrified by this cold fire, I crawled away. But every movement I made hurt and made me feel weaker and weaker. I couldn’t take it anymore and I stopped moving altogether. I then tried to make ice appear around the fire, so that it wouldn’t hurt anyone else. But my powers weren’t working. My head was spinning. I felt dizzy and tired. What was happening to me? Finally, I gave into the feeling of fatigue, and fell unconscious.
“Unghh… what happened?” I woke up with a start. I groaned again and slowly sat up.
I looked around to try and figure out where I was. I looked like I was in a dump, with debris all around.
Suddenly, memories came flooding back to me. I rose quickly to me feet, then instantly regretted my decision. Pain shot through my body and forced me to sit back down. So the effects from the fire still hadn’t worn off.
This strange pile of debris seemed familiar to me. When I looked around some more, I realized where I was: this worthless wreckage was the remains of my house.
I was then paralyzed from shock. How did this happen? And where was my family? I struggled to my feet so that I could look around. “Rowan?” I called out. “Mom? Dad? Where are you?”
When no one replied I began to cry. They were the only family I had ever known and they were now gone.
What was I going to do now? All I could think of was go back to the orphanage where I was raised, and that idea certainly wasn’t very appealing. I didn’t want to spend my whole life being called “Strange
Sierra”.
“Sierra? What happened?”
I turned to see Sydney standing where my front door used to be. She looked as stunned as I felt.
“Sydney… I don’t know… there was this weird black fire and then I fainted and…”
“Wait, there was a fire? Why didn’t you call me! I could have put it out!”
I shook my head. “Sydney, it was no ordinary fire. It was black and cold and… I don’t know. I’m so worried for Rowan and my parents.”
“Uh, well, I came here to tell you that you were right about Hunter but since it looks like you are having, um, troubles with your house I guess I’ll come back later.”
“What do you mean I was right?”
“I think Hunter is the myth Seeker of Light!”
“He is? How do you know?”
Sydney looked at me sympathetically. “Are you sure that you want me to tell you now? Because I think you need to start looking for your family and –”
“You’re here now, you might as well tell me.”
“Ok. Yesterday, Hunter messed up his teleporting, just like the Scarecrow said would happen to the myth Seeker.”
“What do you mean ‘messed up’?”
“Uh… he was trying to teleport to his friend in the Fairgrounds and he ended up over a pit of lava in Dragonspyre. He was just lucky that this kid named, I don’t know, Liam something I think, caught him before he fell.”
“Oh. That is bad.”
“Yeah. Now my parents won’t let him teleport.”
“But still, how do you know this is a continuous problem? Maybe that was a one-time thing.”
“Believe it or not, my parents weren’t overprotective of him when it happened the first time. They let him keep teleporting. But then it happened two more times, and that was enough for my parents.”
“Then he must be the Seeker of Light!” I said happily.
“Oh no,” said Sydney.
“What?”
“Do we really have to drag him around now?”
I laughed, feeling happy again. But a single glance around me reminded me of what had just happened to my home and family, and I stopped. “I’m sorry Sydney,” I told her. “I’d love to help you try and awaken him,
but I have other things to worry about.”
Sydney nodded. “I understand. Do you want me to help in some way?”
“I don’t know how you can.”
“Are you sure there isn’t something I can do?”
“I guess you can help me look for my family. I was going to start by
searching under this rubble.”
“Ok! I can help with that!”
So we began uncovering many things underneath the debris, but none of it was what I wanted. Sure, I was happy when we found my deck and wand, but compared to what we could have found that was much more precious
made me disappointed in our discoveries.
While we were looking, I stepped on a tall pile of rubble and it began to move. “What?” I looked down at the pile I was standing on and began to pull away pieces of burnt wood. Pretty soon, I uncovered something
black and fuzzy. Pulling away more debris made me realize that it was our Heckhound, Bandit.
“Bandit!” I cried out. Of course in any other situation I still would have been happy to see him, but now I was extra happy, and not just because I’d thought he was dead. First of all, Rowan had been holding Bandit, and if he had survived then surely she must have. And if she had, then she must be around here somewhere. Secondly, I was happy because Bandit had a wonderful sense of smell. I was sure that he could help us search!
“Hey Bandit,” I said to the happy black Heckhound, “do you know where Rowan is?”
But the animal wasn’t listening to me. He seemed too excited over another pile of fragments of our house.
“Come on Bandit,” I said to the Heckhound, “let’s go look over here.” But he was crazily sniffing that pile.
Then it hit me. Bandit had always loved Rowan the most, and no matter what any of us did he would never leave her side. Otherwise, he was very obedient. The only reason he wouldn’t want to come with me would
be if he found Rowan.
I started rapidly digging through the wreckage. I was even more excited when I found a piece of green cloth that may have been from Rowan’s robe.
“Sydney!” I called to her. “Help me dig! I think I found Rowan!”
“What?” Sydney hurried to my side to help.
Then, after removing a large piece of wood from the pile, we saw an arm poking out. “Sydney!” I cried happily. “This must be her!”
Finally, we uncovered Rowan. Her face was really dirty, and she was unconscious, but she was alive and breathing.
“I’m so glad!” I exclaimed. “I can’t believe we found her! If she lived, then maybe my parents did as well!”
With Bandit’s help, we found both my parents. Even though my house may have been burned down, at least I had my family back.
“But Sierra, don’t you think we should get them to a hospital? Maybe they’re injured,” Sydney pointed out.
“You’re right,” I replied. “Come on, help me teleport them to the hospital.”
We quickly arrived at the right place and hurried them inside. I was scared, but soon the healers came out and told me that they were all fine. My dad had a broken leg, and Rowan had burned herself in many
places, but they would live with the right treatment.
“Thank you, Sydney, for helping me find them. I wonder where we will live now,” I said.
“I’m sorry about your house,” said Sydney. “Hey, why don’t you move in with us?” she suggested.
“That is a great idea! I’d love to live with you! But are you sure your family will be alright?”
“Yeah, I’m positive, but I can’t be sure that your parents will be alright with it.”
“Who else is going to offer to let them move in that they’ll accept? You’re the only ones they have to turn to. And it’ll be perfect, because then I can try and awaken your brother!”
“Oh yeah! This is going to be awesome. I can’t wait!”
My parents were fine. When they woke up, we went back to our burnt down home to gather whatever things were left over from the fire. When we were finished, we moved in with Sydney and Hunter.
Sydney wanted both Rowan and I to sleep in her room, so we were a little cramped. We had lots of fun the first day, talking all about stuff we would do together as if it were a sleepover (you know how us
girls are).
I still wanted to discuss where we would go to awaken Hunter with Sydney, but I couldn’t with Rowan in the room.
At about 6 o’clock at night, someone knocked on Sydney’s door. Rowan, Sydney, and I didn’t pay any attention to it until Sydney’s mother called us down to meet the visitor.
When we came into the living room where Sydney’s parents were waiting, I gasped.
“Hello,” greeted the visitor. I would have thought him completely normal, if it hadn’t been that I knew him.
He was a balance student with short golden-brown hair and purple eyes. His smile was gentle, and he looked like a much higher level than any of us.
I had never seen him before in real life, but I had once in my dream. This was the exact same boy that had tried to kill me in my dream a few nights ago.
“W… who are you?” I asked timidly. If the guy in my dream and this student hadn’t looked absolutely exactly the same, all the way down to the clothes he was wearing, then maybe I wouldn’t have been so shy.
Besides, he had tried to kill me in the dream. Who could blame me for being cautious?
“This is Liam Griffinbane, the boy who saved Hunter’s life. We invited him over for dinner,” explained Sydney’s father.
If this was the kid who saved Hunter, then he couldn’t be a killer… could he?
“Come on Liam. We already have the table set and everything.”
Dinner was pretty quiet. Every once and a while, our parents tried to start a conversation. But apparently Liam was as reluctant to talk as we were.
As soon as I was done I excused myself and ran into the room that Sydney was sharing with Rowan and I. I had wanted to get away from that Liam guy as soon as possible. He seemed kind of creepy. And maybe I was
just overreacting because of my dream but… he seemed to have some sort of dark aura around him.
Rowan and Sydney came back very soon. When they arrived, I confessed to them what I thought about Liam.
“You guys, don’t you think Liam is a little… strange?”
“What do you mean, Sierra?” asked Rowan. “He seems nice enough. After all, he did save Hunter.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. He just… I don’t know. He kind of feels…” I sigh. “It is really hard to explain, so I guess I’ll start with the beginning. I had a dream the night before we awakened Victoria. And
Liam was in it.”
“Really? That is weird. It’s kind of like predicting the future. What happened?”
“It started in the ice magic classroom, and Malistaire came and attacked me with a Scorpion –”
“Wait a minute,” said Sydney. “Isn’t Scorpion a balance spell? And Malistaire is death.”
“I don’t know. I mean, it was a dream and weird stuff always happen in dreams. And besides, just because I’m an ice wizard doesn’t mean I can’t know, let’s say, storm spells. Anyway, then I was in this dark
room and Liam was standing over me.”
“How do you know it was Liam and not some other balance student?” inquired Sydney. “They all look alike to me.”
“Everything is the same! The clothes he was wearing, hair color, eye color… even his wand is the same.”
“Ok, let’s say just for a moment that this was Liam in your dream. Why are you so worried?”
“Because in my dream, he tried to kill me! My sapphire necklace did too.”
“I don’t think your necklace is going to kill you,” chuckled Sydney. “I don’t think the dragon would have given… Uh, I mean…”
“Dragon?” questioned Rowan, who suddenly perked up. “What dragon are you talking about?”
“Um…”
“Sydney meant to say… um…” I tried to think of something to cover her up. Luckily, just at that moment someone entered the room and said, “Mind if I join you?”
We glanced over our shoulders to see Liam standing in the doorway.
“Uh, sure,” I said.
Liam walked in and sat down. I wondered why he wanted to hang out with a bunch of girls.
He seemed to notice what I was thinking and said, “I’m bored. At least you’re better than Hunter. I’m sorry Sydney, but your brother is kind of annoying.”
Sydney laughed and said, “Finally! Someone agrees with me!”
“So, what are you guys doing in here?”
“Well, we were having a nice conversation until you so rudely interrupted,” I huffed.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I guess I’ll leave.”
“No! Rowan and I want you to stay. Sierra can leave if she doesn't want to talk to you,” Sydney encouraged.
I glared at her, but didn’t leave or say anything else. Why were my friends so protective of this guy? Just because he saved Hunter’s life doesn't mean he is a good person. Who knows, it could have been an
accident that he saved him.
Or maybe it is the other way around. Maybe just because he was evil in my dream doesn’t mean he really is.
“What are you guys talking about?”
“Um, well…” Sydney said.
“Sierra had a dream with you in it!” Rowan blurted out.
I sighed. I hadn’t been planning on telling him. It would be weird to tell someone that you don’t trust them because they tried to kill you in a dream.
“Hmm, that’s interesting. And quite a coincidence,” said Liam.
“Why?”
“Because I thought I had a dream with you in it too. I knew you looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure.”
“Really?” I said, surprised. “What happened?”
“It was a little weird. I don’t think you want to know.”
“Good, because I don’t want to tell you my dream either.”
“Come on Liam. Tell us!” coaxed Sydney.
“Please?” pleaded Rowan.
Liam laughed. “It seems like everyone here wants to hear my dream except Sierra. Is it alright with you?” he asked me.
“As long as I don’t have to share my dream with you then I guess it is fine.”
“Ok. And this was a dream so please don’t blame me for thinking up any of this stuff. Well, in my dream, Sierra was there and… well, you were dying. A shady figure in a hooded cloak was attacking you with a
balance spell. And I wanted to save you, but when I ran to you nothing got any closer, and then there was this evil laugh. I felt like it was my duty to help you, but then… I don’t know, I can’t really remember
much of it.”
We were all staring at him like he was crazy.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that,” said Liam defensively. “You wanted to hear it.”
“Yeah, I guess we shouldn’t be staring at you like that. Sorry Liam,” Rowan apologized. “It is just that it was so… unrealistic.”
“It’s a dream! They’re always unrealistic!”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“It’s ok, Rowan. Hey, why are you guys here anyway? Isn’t this Sydney’s house?”
“Yeah, but our house burnt down,” Rowan explained. “And how do you know my name?”
“Your parents told me all of your names and said I should go and meet you because we’re almost the same age. But I’m a way higher level than you guys.”
“Really? What level are you? I’m twenty-four,” I questioned.
“I’m forty-one, and a Master Sorcerer.”
“Master?” I gasped. “Wow! I’ve never personally know a Master!”
“Why don’t we become friends?” Liam offered. “I could help you with whatever quests you’re working on. Dragonspyre gets kind of boring after a while.”
“That’s so nice of you!” I said.
We became friends and got to know each other better. I still couldn't believe I trusted him. I wanted to believe in him just like all my friends did, but still, whenever we were having fun together, my dream was at the front of my mind. Somehow, I couldn’t forget him trying to kill me.
So why was I still hanging out with him? That, I did not know.
Many weeks passed. I leveled up to level 28 and managed to get into Marleybone for the first time. I was just beginning to explore its dark streets when Sydney asked me to help her.
I teleported to her and found myself in Cyclops Lane fighting an easy boss, Eyus Maximus. “Why do you need help with this? I was in Marleybone!” I complained.
“Sorry, but Hunter needed help and I wasn’t fully healed.”
“Hunter is still on Cyclops Lane?”
“Yep. I don’t know why, but he prefers the duel arena over quests so he doesn’t level up much.”
In no time the Cyclopes were defeated. With nothing interesting left to do and Marleybone now too far away to even be worth the trip, I followed Hunter around and helped him with many things.
I departed to the Mini-Game Fairgrounds just for a moment to get some more mana. When I teleported back to Hunter, he was talking to Nolan Stormgate. When his conversation was over, he turned to me. “Look what
I found Sierra,” he said, holding up a key. I gasped. It looked exactly like the Key of Frost that I had used to unlock the Tower of Lost Memories! The only difference was it looked newer and this key was
gold. What could it be for?
“W-where did you find that?” I stammered.
“It was lying on the ground by that tent over there.” He pointed to one of the many tents around us that were identical to the ones in the Fairgrounds. This was, after all, a Fairground, but instead it was a
“Festival Fairground”.
“But… but…” I sputtered.
“What do you think it’s for?”
“I think it’s for awakening you!” I blurted out.
“Huh?"
“Um, never mind.”
“Wasn't awakening what you did to my sister?"
"Maybe" was all I said.
"No, I want to know what you meant! If you have any idea where this key goes, please tell me.”
“We should try it out on all the major buildings in Cyclops Lane,” I suggested. “Starting with General Akilles’ Keep.” I thought that since General Akilles’ Keep was like the Cyclops Lane version of Gobblestone
Castle, we should start there.
“I guess,” said Hunter unsurely.
“Good! Now follow me.” Before he could protest I ran away with the key.
Unfortunately, when we tried it on the keep it didn’t work. Next we tried Eyus Maximus’ Lair. It still didn’t work.
“Hmm…” I said trying to think of another place we could try. “We can go to the gates that lead to Olde Town and the Dark Cave, but I doubt that would work. There are no key holes there.”
“Please can we give up?” Hunter complained. “I’m bored! And I wanted to finish some more quests today.”
“No, we need to find where this fits! Let’s see. Maybe if we try… no, that couldn’t be it… but what about… nope, wouldn’t work… perhaps... ugh! I can’t think of anything!”
“Maybe we should take a break,” Hunter offered.
“No way. You just don’t understand. It is vital that we find the place where this key fits. Maybe Sydney has an idea.”
“Come on! Just a teensy, tiny, very short break? I promise it will only be for a moment. It can give you time to think,” Hunter begged.
After a moment of consideration, I decided that would be the best. Hunter was right; it would give me plenty of time to think, and I need to get something to eat. I was starving! I hadn’t had any lunch because
I had been so busy helping Hunter, so you can imagine that I was pretty hungry.
“Fine,” I agreed. “Make sure you meet me back here in an hour, ok?”
“Got it!” he replied as he ran off.
I watched him leave. When he was out of sight, I sighed and walked toward the Festival Fairgrounds.
I scanned the Fairgrounds. Nolan Stormgate was in his usual spot, and so were all the guards. Just then, I realized that I had never been inside the tents here. What could they be concealing? I walked up to
the blue one and peered inside. It was pitch black inside. I wanted to call Sydney, but she was playing a mini-game so I couldn’t disturb her. There was only one other fire wizard that I knew, and that was Seth
Goldenblood.
Unfortunately, last time I saw him he was only an Apprentice. I didn't know what level you had to be to completely light something up, but I wasn't so sure that an Apprentice would be qualified. And even if they
were, then they certainly wouldn’t be very good at it.
Though I worried for my safety by letting a lower level light my way, if I wanted to see what was inside the tents then I had to take my chances. Besides, ice wizards learned how to freeze stuff as a Novice. I told that to myself over and over, leaving out that fact that usually when a Novice tried to freeze something, they ended up freezing the wrong thing.
Seth wasn’t busy and he came right away. He agreed to light up the tent since he was also curious.
“By the way,” said Seth before we entered, “I am an Initiate now.”
“Good,” I muttered. “At least that gives me some comfort. An Initiate is much better than an Apprentice.”
We slowly walked inside. I glanced around the tent, but to my disappointment, I saw nothing. The tent was completely empty.
“Aww,” pouted Seth. “I thought they held some sort of mystery.”
As we were turning to leave, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. “Hey Seth,” I said. “Turn your light over there.”
He did, but all it revealed was a small brown chest. “Look,” I said in a little bit disappointed tone, “it is just like the wooden chests you see on the streets.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Seth, confused. “Sierra, there is nothing there!”
“Can’t you see it?” I strode right up next to it. “It is right here.”
“I don’t see anything. There’s only air.”
“What?” I shouted in dismay. “Come on! Right here. You can even touch it.”
Seth reached out his hand, and to my amazement it went right through the chest!
“See? Nothing there. Told you so.”
“What just happened? Your hand went through the box, as if you were a ghost or something!”
“You’re crazy, Sierra. I’m telling you, that is just an empty corner.”
“Hmm… wait a minute Seth; will you please stay here for a moment?”
“Uh, sure, I guess. Just don’t be too long.”
“I won’t.” I kneeled down next to the chest and attempted to lift it. But it wouldn’t budge. After examining it a little, I noticed a key slot. I took the key that Hunter had found out of my robe pocket. When I tried it, it worked!
“I found it!” I shouted happily. “I found where the key fits!”
“What do you mean? You weren’t even holding anything,” Seth corrected.
I just ignored him and called out to Hunter in whisper chat. “I found where the key fits!” I exclaimed. “Come here, quickly!”
Hunter didn’t delay in coming. Luckily, when I quizzed him about the chest, he could see it fine. I wondered if Seth was playing a trick on me. I didn’t know him very well, so I had no idea if that is something he was likely to do.
With Hunter finally here, I lifted open the chest. But to our dismay, when I discarded the lock to see the chest’s contents we saw nothing.
Behind us Seth suddenly gasped. “That chest just appeared out of nowhere!”
I smirked. “Oh, so now you can see it. It was always there, Seth.”
“No, but really! I couldn’t see it before!”
“Interesting…” I commented.
Seth opened his mouth to reply, but instead Hunter suddenly cried out “Something grabbed my leg!”
We looked down to see a giant arm hanging on to him. It was an enormous arm that looked like it belonged to a Cyclops.
The arm began to drag him across the floor. Seth and I watched helplessly as he was thrown into the chest – and disappeared.
“Hunter?” I cried out. “Where are you?”
Then the hand came back out of the chest, searching for its next victim.
“Oh no, we’re next!” Seth whimpered.
“Not if I can help it. Run!” We turned to make a getaway, but apparently the Cyclops that the arm belonged to had other plans. He grabbed both of us and dragged us down into the chest.
“This is it!” sobbed Seth. “I’m never going to see daylight again! I always liked you, Sierra. Even if I didn’t get to know you well, I’m going to miss you!”
“Uh, Seth,” I began.
“I know you’ll miss me too. If you survive, tell my parents I love them. Why us! Why couldn’t it be anyone else?”
“That’s exactly what I thought when I found out I was a Seeker!” I exclaimed.
“A what?”
“Nothing. But I just wanted to point out that we aren’t dying.”
“What do you mean?” Both of us looked around. We were in some sort of room that reminded me of a dungeon with its bare, grey, stone walls.
“Sierra? Seth?” We spun around to see Hunter on the other side of the cramped room.
“Hunter, what happened?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” he answered.
“Come on, let’s find a way out of here,” I suggested. But when I turned back to face what I thought was Seth, instead I found myself face to face with a Cyclops.
“AHHH!” I screamed and I scurried to the other side of the room.
“Do not be afraid,” said the Cyclops. “I am a friend, not an enemy.”
“That’s what they always say,” growled Hunter. “Leave us alone. I am a powerful myth wizard, you know!”
“Yes, I do know, Hunter Thundershield.”
“H-how do you know my name?”
“I know Sierra’s name too. But that boy I am not so sure about.” The Cyclops gestured to Seth.
“Oh, that’s Seth Goldenblood,” I answered without thinking.
“Sierra!” cried out Seth. “Don’t tell him!”
“Then welcome, Seth,” said the Cyclops warmly.
“I don’t want to be welcomed! I’m not planning on staying. Just get me out of here!” Seth lit up a fire and held it up to the Cyclops. "I have this fire and I'm not afraid to use it! I will burn this place down if
you don't let us go home right now!"
The formidable Cyclops backed away. I couldn't believe that such a powerful creature was afraid of fire! "I do not want any violence," it said. "I will return you home if you desire."
"Yay!" exclaimed Seth. "Come on Sierra, let's go."
"No," I said. "I'm not moving." I turned to the Cyclops. "Do you know anything about... the Seekers of Light?"
The Cyclops smiled. "Yes."
"Oh yeah?" Hunter challenged. "Then who are some of them?
"Sydney Jadehammer, your sister, is, and so is Sierra here. And you too, Hunter."
"Hah!" Hunter shouted. "See! I'm not a Seeker!"
"Not yet," I said with a grin.
"What do you mean?" he questioned.
"You are the myth Seeker of Light, Hunter Thundershield," explained the Cyclops.
"What?" he exclaimed. "No I'm not! I don't have any problems like my sister, and I'm not special!"
"Oh yes you do," I countered. "You have the teleporting problem, remember?"
Hunter looked embarrassed. "So Sydney told you about that, did she? That horrible girl! I told her specifically not to!"
"Well sorry, but that is what happened. Please help us with this, Hunter."
"Get someone else to help you! I don't want to be a Seeker. I can't face Malistaire alone."
"You won't be alone. The other six Seekers will also be there."
"But... I don't think I can."
"Of course you can," said the Cyclops. "You wouldn't have been selected otherwise."
“Don’t worry, Hunter. Remember, there are other Seekers. And two of them are your sister and I.”
Hunter just stared at his feet. He looked so sad! His face kind of reminded me of what he looked like in Dragon’s Mouth Cave, when Sydney was falling through the air. I could tell that Hunter greatly admired
his sister, though if you asked him he would have probably denied it.
Finally, he looked back up. “You’re right.”
“I am?” I asked, surprised at his sudden reply.
“Yes. I think that deep down inside, I have always wanted to be a Seeker. I guess it was just because I think that I’m too good for anything that my sister was part of. But… your mission is a good one,
and I want to help if I can. If I was chosen to be a Seeker of Light, then I should accept my fate.”
I just stared at him, dumfounded. “W-wow, that was… amazing!” I shouted.
“That was very grown up, Hunter Thundershield,” complimented the Cyclops approvingly.
“I’m glad you’re a Seeker, Hunter,” I said.
He beamed at me.
“Wait!” Seth suddenly yelled. “What is a ‘Seeker’? What are you guys talking about? Someone explain this to me now!”
“Sorry Seth,” I apologized. “I completely forgot that you don’t know what a Seeker of Light is. I guess that since you are here, we’d better tell you.”
“Seekers have to defeat Malistaire,” explained Hunter.
“Oh, really?” Seth’s eyes lit up. “I want to fight Malistaire!”
“I’m sorry, but there is already going to be seven of us. I still have no idea how we will fit in a dueling circle, so we can’t add any more people. We already have found five of the Seekers, and-”
“Actually, six,” the Cyclops corrected. “You have already found the balance Seeker, Liam Griffinbane. You only need to awaken him.”
“Liam is a Seeker?” That settled it. I had to trust him now! I could only hope that the dream had just been a coincidence. If he were a Seeker, then he wouldn’t want to kill me.
Then, I realized something. “Aren’t we supposed to find the life Seeker next?”
“Yes, but since you have already found the balance Seeker, you must awaken him first.”
“Oh, ok. Then let’s get going!”
“But what about me?” Seth whined. “I want to help you fight Malistaire!”
“Really, I wish you could come, but it will be too dangerous for people who aren’t Seekers.”
“Pretty, pretty please with-”
“No!” I yelled. “That is final. But if you want, you can help us awaken Liam.”
“Aww, but I wanted to fight Malistaire.” He looked so disappointed. I felt awful! “What if I’m a Seeker?” Seth countered.
“You can’t be. The fire Seeker is already Hunter’s sister.”
“Come on… pleeease?”
I sighed, but instead of answering I turned to the Cyclops. “How do we get home?” I asked.
“The same way you came here before. Simply climb into the chest.”
“What do you-” Before I could finish, the Cyclops vanished and was replaced with the same wooden chest from before and Hunter’s key lying on the ground in front of it.
“No, don’t leave!” I hollered. “I wanted to ask you why Seth couldn’t see the chest before.”
The Cyclops’ voice echoed around us. “Seth Goldenblood could not see the chest because only Seekers can see it and the key when it is closed. Similar with your awakening, Sierra Winterbreeze. Only Seekers could see the Key of Frost.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Rowan could see the Key of Frost just fine.”
The voice didn’t answer.
“Please reply! I still need to ask you about how we awaken Liam!”
Silence was my only response.
With a sigh, I picked up the key and once more unlocked the chest. This time, with no Cyclops hands reaching out to grab us, we were forced to climb into the chests ourselves. When we climbed back out, we were back
in the pitch black tent in the Festival Fairgrounds.
“Well,” said Seth. “That certainly was... an experience.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” agreed Hunter. “I can’t wait to tell Sydney that I’m a Seeker of Light too!”
“I bet you are excited, but we still have to find where Liam will be awakened. You guys will help me, right?”
Seth and Hunter exchanged glances.
“Sorry, but I have a huge test in Initiate Myth Magic tomorrow so I have to study,” said Hunter. He ran off before I could protest.
I turned to glare at Seth.
“Um… yeah, and my friend’s birthday is next week and I still have to arrange a surprise party for him and get him a present,” explained Seth. “So got to go! Bye!” He teleported quickly away.
“Ugh,” I muttered under my breath. “Why am I not surprised?”
|
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze (part 7)
I was new to Marleybone, but still I had managed to get to one of the first instanced areas there. After getting my ticket from the dog-woman Amy Castleton at the ticket counter, I headed to the entrance of the Ironworks. “Rowan!” I shouted to my sister across the Spiral using whisper chat, “Come here! Since I helped you with the Ironworks, you promised you’d help me.”
It took a while for her to answer, but finally I heard a sigh and she said, “I’m coming.”
I didn’t know much about the Ironworks, mostly because I had never been there. I just hoped it wouldn’t be too hard. To reduce that chance, I wanted to take as many people as possible.
I then wondered who else I should bring. I had asked Liam, since I was trying to get to know him better because he was a Seeker, but he was busy. I also asked Seth, but for some reason he wouldn’t answer me. Hunter said that he was battling Sydney in the duel arena, and Jasmine was in a boss fight. Even Mark was engaged in a against some strange MooShu monster that I had never heard of. The only one left that was available was Victoria.
I could only hope that she was a higher level than I last left her. An Apprentice wouldn’t be much help in a Marleybone level.
I let out a sigh of relief when Victoria turned up in Adept clothes. She had leveled up a lot more since last time.
The Ironworks turned out to be extremely easy. I probably could have done it by myself. Victoria, honestly, wasn’t much help, but I was glad she came anyway because I had someone to talk to.
I was rushing to finish up the quest when Liam teleported to me.
“Hey Sierra,” he said obviously excited, “you won’t believe what just happened!”
“What?” I asked.
“I turned level 42!”
“And that is important… how?”
“I get to learn the last balance spell, Hydra!”
“Oh.”
“What, you aren’t excited?”
“I guess…” The truth was I didn’t really care.
Liam looked disappointed. “I wanted someone to come with me. It is a huge moment for me, so I wanted to celebrate with someone.”
“Sure… I guess I’ll come…”
Liam brightened up again. “Great! Come on, this way!” He began pulling me by my arm away from Digmoore Station, which I looked at over my shoulder in exasperation. Victoria was watching me helplessly as I was dragged away from her. I supposed that completing the quest would have to wait.
Liam dragged me into Krokotopia. Then, when we arrived in the Oasis, someone teleported to me.
I saw that it was Mark. Before I could say anything, Liam exclaimed, “Hey Mark! Guess what. I’m level 42 now! I can learn Hydra!”
I looked at him in surprise. “You know each other?” I questioned.
“Yeah, sure we do. We met a long time ago. Our parents are best friends, so naturally we are too,” Mark explained.
“That makes things a lot easier. Now I don’t have to introduce you to very many of the Seekers.”
Liam looked confused. Since I didn’t want to have to explain myself yet again to someone who wasn’t aware of what the Seekers of Light were, I quickly changed the subject before he could say anything. “So, aren’t we going to the balance school?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah. Do you want to come, Mark?”
“Sure, I guess so. I don’t have much left to do in MooShu anyway. I am supposed to fight Plague Oni, but I have to do a bunch of stuff I have to do first. I don’t want to right now, so I’m pretty bored.”
“Is he the one in Crimson Fields?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
“Have you beat Wavebringer?”
“You’re talking about that guy known as the Great Water Spirit? I haven’t fought him, but he is in the same place that I’m supposed to go to.”
I had absolutely no idea what they are talking about.
“I guess we should start going,” Mark said, noticing my bored expression. “Sierra doesn’t look like she wants to wait much longer.”
“I’m sorry, I just get a little carried away when I’m talking about MooShu,” apologized Liam. “I miss there. It was so bright and colorful and pretty.”
“Yeah, whatever. Let’s just board the ship that takes us to the Krokosphinx, okay? It looks like the captain is about to leave, so unless we want to wait for the next boat we should hurry over there.”
We got on the ship and came up to the hole with the balance school inside. I peered down. As usual, it was dark inside so that no one could see in. Liam began to climb down the ladder, with Mark following. But about halfway after I was climbing down the entire ladder began to shake. At first I thought it was just because it was unstable, but when I fell off of it because of the movement, I realized that the ground was shaking too. I groaned, worried about this.
“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Mark muttered.
“Because when you’re a Seeker, earthquakes always mean bad news,” I replied, remembering the time that in Dragon’s Mouth Cave or when we fell into the death school.
Suddenly, right before our very eyes, the ladder leading up to safety disintegrated. Yes, it completely vanished!
“What the-” began Mark, but then matters only became worse. Someone from above rolled an impassable stone over the entry to the balance school. Mark angrily turned to me. “Sierra, what did you do!” he screamed.
“It wasn’t me!” I yelled innocently. It was very hard to hear now, for rocks that were luckily not the size of the one over the entrance were falling around us. Was the school going to cave in?
“Come on,” ushered Liam over the volume of the crashing rocks. “Let’s go ask Alhazred, the teacher, what’s going on.”
Rushing into the balance classroom, Liam cried out in disappointed surprise. I think we all did. For now, much to our dismay, the balance school now resembled the death school. It was completely in ruins. Desks were overturned and scattered out of their usual neat rows. It looked as if some of the teacher’s desk had crumbled away. The room was a total mess. And where was Alhazred?
“Oh no,” sobbed Liam. “What will become of us? The classroom is destroyed, Alhazred is nowhere to be found, and now we are stuck here!”
“To get out of here we can construct a makeshift ladder from the remains of the desks,” I suggested.
“No, the boulder is still there, remember?”
“Oh yeah,” I said, recalling the mysterious person who rolled over the stone.
“And teleporting doesn’t seem to work either,” Mark reported, demonstrating by making the motion to teleport with no result.
Liam whimpered and Mark sat down worriedly. I wanted to do the same, but as the leader of the Seekers I felt compelled to get us out of this mess.
I took a deep, calming breath. Then I began, “Ok guys, I think I have an idea. Let’s try to blast that rock out of the way.”
“What do you mean?” inquired Mark.
“We should combine our strength to hit the rock at the entrance with the force of our magic. Once it is out of the way, we can call for help. What do you guys think?”
Mark only shrugged, but Liam burst out saying, “That’s a perfect idea!”
I grinned. “Good, then come over here.”
We ambled to the entrance of the school. “Ok,” I started. “Are you guys ready?”
They only nodded.
“Alright, on the count of three. One… two…”
“Stop!” yelled a voice.
Irritated, I spun to face the two boys. “What?” I asked angrily.
I studied their faces. Mark looked terrified, but Liam just appeared awed.
Now I was confused. “Seriously, what are you guys staring at? It is creeping me out!”
“As it is to me, as well,” said another voice, different from the first one. I now saw that this voice was from neither of the boys in front of me. Instead, it was emanating from behind me.
Slowly, cautiously I turned. Now, in front of me was a giant Hydra.
“Agh!” I screeched, diving back into the balance classroom to hide.
“Please don’t be shy,” said the blue ice head of the Hydra. I had never heard his voice before, so it must have been the storm and fire heads that had spoken. “We are here to awaken Liam Griffinbane, the powerful balance Seeker of Light!”
I faced the Hydra again at the mention of “Seeker of Light,” but I still kept my distance and refused to go close enough for one of those three heads to reach me.
Mark followed my example and stepped back a few feet. But Liam strode right up to it. “Wow!” he exclaimed. “You’re amazing! Is this for another spell quest?”
The fire head beamed, and the storm head said “No, as we said before, we are here to awaken you.” He was the one who had first spoken.
“Awesome!” Liam yelled. “How do I do that?”
“Just watch and pay close attention,” said the red head.
“Seekers of Light must defeat the Spiral’s evil. Though other generations have just defeated normal monsters and enemies, you have a special task. You must kill Malistaire. Liam, team up with the six other Seekers to finally destroy the evil man once and for all!”
“So wait a minute,” said Liam. “We have special powers, right? Who are the other Seekers?”
“There are seven Seekers of Light, one for each school. So far Sierra Winterbreeze, the leader, has awakened fire Seeker Sydney Jadehammer, storm Seeker Victoria Ravensmith, death Seeker Mark Darkcrafter, and myth Seeker Hunter Thundershield. And now they have come for you, if you shall accept your task.”
"Amazing," he breathed.
"Wait a second," I interrupted. "Before I forget, did you say other generations?"
"Yes," replied the Hydra's purple head.
"So there are other Seekers?"
"There were," it corrected, "but none of them are alive anymore. You are descendants of them."
"Does that mean my parents are Seekers of Light?" I asked excitedly.
"No, it skips a few generations in between. But that is why siblings, like Sydney and Hunter, are usually both Seekers."
"So, Liam, do you understand?" questioned the fire head.
"I think so," Liam replied. "But what are we supposed to do? Defeat Malistaire? But how can we do that? We're nothing compared to him!"
"You'll find a way," smiled the blue head.
"Now you must find the life Seeker," instructed the fire head.
"I thought it was storm," argued the purple one.
"No, I’m pretty sure it was balance."
"The balance one is right in front of you!"
"I thought he was death."
"But then-"
"Um, guys," I said, "can we please just go home?"
All three heads turned to me. I felt uncomfortable in their gaze. “I guess if you want,” the fire head finally said.
“How do we get out of here?” asked Liam. I was wondering the same thing.
“Don’t worry, we can handle that.” With that, the ice head joined its friends raising its head. Then, they let out an obnoxious, noisy, piercing scream that made us all cover our ears. Then, suddenly, we were teleporting.
We staggered out right beside the balance school’s hole. When we all realized where we were, Liam shouted, “Wait! I didn’t get to learn Hydra!” Then he hurried down the ladder which had somehow reappeared. Mark and I looked at each other, and then we burst out laughing. Liam just couldn’t hold his excitement.
But then, I realized that we had missed something vitally important. “Uh, Mark,” I said worriedly.
“Yeah? What’s up Sierra?” he said, looking at my solemn face in concern.
“Did you happen to catch the next Seeker’s name?”
Mark gasped, finally comprehending how crucial that information was. “I didn’t! We have to go back down there!”
But when we hurried down into the depths of the balance school, we found everything in the exact order it was supposed to be. The desks were in neat, even rows, and Liam was at the front of the classroom with the balance teacher in front of him, who must have been instructing him how to cast Hydra.
Since the Hydra that had awakened Liam wasn’t there anymore, Mark and I waited impatiently for Liam to learn his newest spell. When he was finished, I came up to him. “Liam, did the Hydra tell us who the life Seeker of Light was?”
He only shrugged, which made me angry. “Don’t worry, it isn’t important,” he said, starting up the ladder.
“No, this is very, very critical! We have to know!”
“Relax, we’ll find him.”
That just made me even more frustrated. Didn’t he understand why we needed this? “Liam, perhaps you didn’t quite grasp the concept of being a Seeker. We must defeat Malistaire, but we can’t do that unless we have all the Seekers together. If we can’t find the life Seeker, then the Spiral is doomed!”
He looked at me skeptically. “Maybe you didn’t get it, Sierra,” he said in annoyance. “We wouldn’t stand a chance against Malistaire at our current levels. We need to become at least Masters before we can fight him. So that gives us plenty of time to look for the next, uh, whatever they are called.”
“Easy for you to say!” I shouted back. “For your information, they are called Seekers, and if we don’t hurry, then Malistaire will destroy the Spiral before we can get to the next one.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t think we can beat Malistaire anyway.”
“You are just so… so… infuriating!” I screamed. Then I stomped away without taking even one glance backward, though I continued to hear Mark’s worried voice calling my name.
|
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze (part 8)
The day that I had the biggest surprise of my life was also the biggest betrayal of my life. It was so unexpected, and by trying to fix it, I endangered myself, my friends, and nearly the entire mission of the Seekers.
I still don’t understand quite how it happened. The day started normal enough. After a couple of Magus classes, I headed off to Marleybone to beat Dr. Katzenstein in his lab. Victoria even promised to help me again, because she had just gotten into Marleybone herself. With Victoria’s help I finished the East and West Counterweights and then Big Ben. I was so happy, since I knew that after Big Ben you were let into MooShu. I couldn’t wait! Maybe I would finally catch up with Rowan.
But unfortunately, Victoria turned out to be a problem. I am not saying that she wasn’t helpful, though. No, she was lots of help. The only thing was the person she brought with her.
I hadn’t talked to Liam Griffinbane since the day he was awakened. So naturally, when he teleported to Victoria, I was very nervous.
“Hi Victoria!” he said happily when he appeared next to her. Then he noticed me. “Oh, you’re with her. Um, hi… I guess.”
“Yes,” I said coldly. “Hi, I guess.” I turned to Victoria. “I am going to go to the headmaster by myself, okay? You and Liam can do quests on your own.”
“Oh, but Sierra, I wanted to be with you when you got into MooShu.”
“I’m sorry, I want to be alone.”
“Yeah Victoria,” said Liam, who had began to drag Victoria away. “She wants to be alone. So leave her. We don’t need her help. What quests are you working on?”
“Chelsea Court. But-”
“Okay! I’ll lead the way.”
“But Liam…” She seemed torn between one friend and another.
“Don’t worry Victoria. If you want to see MooShu early, I’ll let you in. Just not right now. See ya,” I told her.
“Bye.” She didn’t look happy at all though.
I walked unaccompanied to Headmaster Ambrose’s office. I was going there to tell him about my efforts in Marleybone, and about my victory over Meowiarty. But now I didn’t feel like I wanted to see anyone. I wanted to be alone, all by myself. I thought about going to my house and locking myself in my room, but even if Rowan wasn’t home to bother me, my parents might be. And I still hadn’t figured out how to keep my friends out of my room, so I couldn’t be sure that no one would teleport to me. I was pretty sure there was some way to do because when I asked Rowan one day, she laughed and wouldn’t say anything. For the moment I had to live with it.
It was an unpleasant walk, being undecided at where to go, angry at Liam for stealing my friend, and bored beyond belief. Finally, not knowing where else to go, I headed to Headmaster Ambrose’s house, hoping that some fresh MooShu air might make me feel better.
“You defeated Meowiarty?” asked the headmaster when I got there. “Amazing! You are quite talented, Sierra Winterbreeze.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. When do I get to MooShu?”
Professor Ambrose chuckled. “Patience, young one. You don’t even know why you would go there yet, do you?”
“Um… well, no.”
“Let me explain: Malistaire is currently in Dragonspyre. The Emperor of MooShu has the Spiral key there though, so you must obtain it from him. You are just one of many that I have sent, Sierra. Be wary, for MooShu, though beautiful, can be dangerous.”
“Ok. Can I have the key now?”
“Of course.” At last, he gave me the Spiral Key to MooShu.
I exited Merle Ambrose’s house and headed toward the Spiral Chamber. While I was walking, I began to hear someone call my name. As soon as I got out of noisy Ravenwood and into the Spiral Chamber, I recognized it as Victoria’s voice calling to me. “SIERRA! Oh my gosh, Malistaire is here! And there’s Liam! And I have to hide! And I’m scared! What do I do?”
“Um… what? Calm down a little, Victoria. What was that about Malistaire?”
“He’s here! But-”
I didn’t even wait for her to say more; I just teleported right away.
I had hardly even finished teleporting when I was slammed against the wall and a hand clamped over my mouth. I was just getting ready to struggle, when I saw Victoria’s worried face staring back at me. So it had been her who had assaulted me. But why?
She put a finger to her lips to signal to stay quiet. Slowly she lifted her hand from my mouth. “Stay hidden,” she hissed, so quietly I had to lean in to hear her. “And don’t talk. You’re just lucky they didn’t hear you teleporting.”
Now that I was free from her grasp, I had a chance to take in my surroundings. Nothing seemed unusual. We were standing in the middle of an empty Marleybone street. To our right there was a dark alley.
I was terrified, but I saw no Malistaire. “What’s going on?” I squeaked in as quiet a whisper as I could manage. But I was so anxious, that even to me my voice sounded weak, high-pitched, and a tad too loud.
Victoria silently pointed down the alley, and she motioned for me to join her at the corner of one of the buildings forming it. From this position, you could peer around and see whatever was happening in the alley, and had easy cover if someone happened to look your way. That must be exactly what Victoria had in mind, because you would definitely need to hide quickly in her situation.
I followed her there, not quite knowing what I was about to see, but from all the whispering I knew it couldn’t be good.
I peeked around the corner and found myself trying my best not to gasp. Even with my efforts, I took in sharp intake of breath.
In front of me was a scene I never expected to see. Of course Liam was there. He looked just as nervous as Victoria. Then, in front of him, was Malistaire. He was closer to me than he ever had been before, and I had trouble not panicking when I saw the pleased look on his face. What had he done? Next to Malistaire was a series of three strange floating images. Each of them had a picture of someone in a cage that I didn’t recognize. They reminded me of the ones I saw of my past in the Tower of Lost Memories.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the balance Seeker,” said Malistaire. “It was Liam Griffinbane, I believe.”
Liam just stared at him, paralyzed by fear. Eventually he pointed a shaky hand toward the images and asked, “What is that?”
“I think you know what that is.”
“No…” he whispered. “It can’t be true!”
“It is. I have captured your family. I will free them, on one condition.”
“What?” I was worried. Liam sounded a bit too eager to my liking.
“I need you to help me defeat the Seekers of Light.”
Again I struggled not to gasp. To make matters worse, Liam was actually considering it! Say no, I thought, willing him to somehow hear me and heed my words. Come on, Liam, you have to say no!
“I always sensed something different in you from the other Seekers,” said Malistaire. “You are more powerful than them, and more reasonable.”
Not true! I thought. But if Malistaire was saying that, then somehow he must have known all about our fight.
After a long silence, Liam finally said, “…okay.”
No!
“But,” he added, “You have to promise to free my family.”
I felt so many emotions at once: anger; sadness; confusion; surprise; fear; but most of all, betrayal.
I didn’t wait to hear any more of the conversation. All I knew was we had to get out of here. So I grabbed Victoria’s arm and began dragging her away.
Unfortunately, in my haste I happened to kick a stray can of dog food that was lying around on the streets. It only made a small clinking sound, but that was enough to alert them.
“What was that?” said someone from behind us inside the alley. Whether it was Liam or Malistaire, I didn’t know, and didn’t want to find out. Victoria and I began running.
Deftly I dodged the many buildings of Marleybone. I heard footsteps coming up behind us, but I didn’t dare look back. Victoria was a little slower than me, so I sped up ahead. I knew she would be alright.
It wasn’t long before I began to grow tired. I never had been much of a runner, and before I had been running on pure terror. Now that the feeling was gone, my pace started to slow.
Since I knew I couldn’t go on any longer and had to stop, at the next intersection I pretended to dodge right but instead dove left. I could only hope it had appeared as if I had headed the other direction.
I found myself in a large alley much like the one Victoria and I had just fled from. I knew that this could be a dangerous place if someone found me here, because there was a tall metal fence blocking the way behind me and I had nowhere to run. However, it could also be a good hiding place as long as I wasn’t discovered.
Just then Victoria came darting in front of the alley. She would have run right past me if I hadn’t reached out and grabbed her. She began to scream, but relaxed when she saw my face. Still, she let out a shrill yelp that I prayed hadn’t been too loud.
Luckily, when our pursuers came by, they hurried the way I had faked going. I never would have known who they were if I hadn’t caught a brief glance of them in the starlight above. They were Skeletal Pirates.
Victoria and I still waited in complete silence. Neither of us moved at all; even our breathing was much quieter than usual, as if it had been hushed by fright.
After waiting for at least another thirty minutes, I stood. “Come on, Victoria,” I said. “It’s kind of getting late. We need to go tell the other Seekers what just happened.”
She stood up silently, almost as if she was still stunned. But we hadn’t even taken one step out of the alley when something I certainly hadn’t anticipated happened: someone teleported to me.
“Liam!” I shouted when I realized who it was.
“I am so sorry, Sierra,” he said quietly. “I have to do it for my family. And we would lose anyway.”
“No, Liam!” But it was too late. Malistaire was already appearing beside him. With a single wave of his staff, I suddenly felt extremely weak and I collapsed to the ground. I was only partly aware that Victoria had gone out cold beside me, but I couldn’t concentrate enough to worry about her. My vision became blurry, and though my body hit the ground hard I couldn’t even feel pain because I was numb. The last thing I remembered before going unconscious was Liam’s voice: “Please forgive me, Sierra.”
|
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze (part 9)
I have woken from the depths of unconsciousness many, many times. I basically was knocked out on the day of Sydney’s awakening and the strange cold fire. And yet never, ever, had it been like this before.
Like always, I felt groggy and disoriented. My body continued to ache like it did the day of the fire. But this time, the pain was horrible. Not just physical pain, but emotional. The betrayal was still imprinted in my mind. It was the only thing I could currently think about.
I lay there, not quite sure what to do. Where was I? I didn’t dare open my eyes, for fear of seeing something I couldn’t handle. So I lay still, unmoving, unsure. All I knew was that I was sitting on something very hard, and wherever I was it was eerily silent.
Finally, my curiosity got the better of me, and I couldn’t help but open one eye. But when I did, I wondered if I actually had done anything. All I saw was blackness.
I opened my other eye and stood up, rubbing my arm, which had been the first thing to hit the ground when I had passed out. It throbbed, but I hoped that moving it might make it feel better.
Then I scanned the surrounding darkness. Of course I didn’t see anything. “Hello?” I timidly called out. “Is anyone here? Victoria?”
There was no response.
Swiftly the door swung open and a single beam of bright light pierced the darkness. I jumped, afraid of what may lie beyond. But all I heard was a horrible laugh that since being in the Castle of Rain I hoped never to hear again. After blinking to make my vision return, I glanced around the room. It was quite simple; there was no furniture or windows. The only thing that could be considered somewhat interesting was the walls. They were a shade of the deepest red and veined with slashes of midnight black. It kind of reminded me of granite.
Of course, what really caught my attention was my visitor.
“You’re the leader of these ‘Seekers’ that are to defeat me? Pathetic,” said Malistaire.
I felt anger bubble up inside of me. “Do not underestimate the Seekers of Light,” I said. “We will succeed, just wait and see!”
Malistaire laughed. “You’re so sure of yourself, and yet the powerful Seekers that you speak of obviously do not exist. One of them is mine, and the others I have found various ways to make their lives miserable. It is quite entertaining, actually. Yours was by far the most fun. I got to send you far off to Earth.”
“That was you?” I gasped. Then it all clicked together. I had always known that going to Earth was how my life was affected by dark magic, but I had never for even a moment thought that it was actually Malistaire who had done it. So here it was, right in front of me, the cause of all my troubles. Here was the reason my family and I had suffered through so much, the reason they mourned for me, the reason I had been called a freak for so much of my life. For the first time since my awakening, I was happy that we were going to defeat Malistaire.
“Of course it was me,” Malistaire snapped. “And you would have stayed there if that stupid Merle didn’t have to get involved.” Thank you, Merle Ambrose! “Anyway, you’re not my problem anymore. You’re going to die soon enough.”
“I… I’m going to die?” I squeaked. All that built up anger completely vanished and was replaced by more fear.
“I couldn’t let you survive, now could I? You’d ruin all my plans. But now I must have a chat with one of your little friends… Victoria, wasn’t it?”
“Don’t you dare touch her!” I screamed.
He only laughed. “Oh yes, I remember her. She was the one on the flying machine I crashed. That was another enjoyable thing I’ve done to you Seekers. Maybe I could even capture her family and force her to help me like the balance student.”
“No. No!” I yelled as he began to walk away. “Don’t hurt Victoria. You can’t. I won’t let you!”
“I don’t believe you have a choice, Sierra WinterBreeze,” he said before slamming the door shut right in my terrified face.
Darkness again enveloped the room. Fighting back tears, I blindly walked back into the center of the room and sat. I thought of the dream I had so many nights ago. Now I understood it. Liam’s dream too… it all fit together.
Still, I thought about what Malistaire had said. You’re going to die…
No, I can’t die, I thought. As if to comfort myself, I said it aloud: “I’m not going to die in this room,” I whispered. Though my voice didn’t sound at all reassuring, it gave me a small sliver of hope to cling to. With that, I began to devise my escape plan.
The first thing I did to begin was check for my spellbook and wand and deck. As I had expected, they weren’t there. I could probably cast a spell to bust us out of here without a wand, maybe even no deck… but no spellbook? I’d never tried that before.
Wait, I have! I suddenly remembered. On Earth, all those crazy things kept happening to me. I didn’t have any spellbook… or a wand, or a deck. I could do it!
But the real question was what to do. What’s the point of being able to freeze things if you don’t know what to freeze? Well, there was only one way out. Most likely the door would be the first thing to freeze.
As I inched toward it, I planned out how I would do all of this. Why am I freezing it? I eventually decided that once it was completely frozen, it may be weak enough to break down.
I began to work, but soon realized what hard work it was. Though I could still summon ice to aid me without my wand or deck, it was more difficult and time consuming. I would have already been done by the time I had finished only a quarter of the door with my gear. I thought back to the day my mother had helped me get ready for school. She had claimed that it was tiring. Now I knew exactly how she felt.
Just about after an hour was up (or so I thought – it was hard to measure time in a pitch black room), I had completed freezing half the door. Too tired to move, I slumped on the ground. I groaned aloud when I thought about how much more work was required to be done in order to break down the door. Suddenly this task was looking much more daunting than I had previously planned it to be.
When I was about to begin to labor away again, I heard footsteps outside my door. Startled, I slid back away from the door as to not get hit when it swung open. I knew that if my visitor looked back even once, they would see the ice and my plan would be discovered. But there was nothing I could do except for hope with all my might that they didn’t turn around.
Luckily, the guest was only a Skeletal Pirate. I knew from my very own experience that they could usually were not geniuses. Maybe I had a chance!
“Master wants to see you,” it mumbled when it emerged from behind the door with its head lowered.
“Why?” I challenged, testy.
It stared at me in surprise, before lowering his head again. “I don’t know,” it murmured under its breath so softly I could hardly hear it. “Master never tells me these things…”
“I won’t go,” I said, turning away, with a small hope that it might leave without a fight.
“You have to!” it shouted, seeming in a way shocked. I couldn’t imagine why. Had it truly expected me to simply give in?
“I won’t,” I repeated.
“Come… on!” it huffed as its bony arm began tugging me. A chill went down my spine. Never before had I felt the touch of a Skeletal Pirate. It was creepy feeling to sense a substance hard as rock moving on your skin all by itself.
“Now you’ve asked for it,” I growled, getting to my feet and knocking the Skeletal Pirate out of the way. I was amazed to find that it was very light, but I guess that makes sense since it is only bones.
While it was still struggling to get back up on its feet, I strategized my next move. Should I freeze him? No, that would sap too much energy from me. Should I simply rush out the door? Then he would probably tell everyone. What if I locked him in? That would be pointless; didn’t he have a key?
There was only one option that I could think of that had no down side other then perhaps tiring me. But as far as I knew, it may be easier than using ice magic.
So I took a deep breath and prepared to use death magic.
I still had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with it. I only hoped it would work itself out. Since
I had never seen a Necromancer perform magic without a wand, and it wasn’t like fire or ice when you knew that you wanted something to appear, I couldn’t be sure what to do. I closed my eyes and did what I always did to cast a death spell.
At first nothing happened. Of course, I had my eyes closed, but I would know if something happened. Right?
Then, I got way more than I was going for.
ZAP!
I flinched when I heard the enormous sound. It had reminded me of thunder, but somehow unlike any I had ever heard from a storm wizard.
I opened my eyes just when it happened. I wasn’t quite sure what I’d summoned, but if it was here to help, I didn’t care. A formidable lightning bolt had come to save me. Except this one was much different than a storm wizard’s. It was black and gave of no light at all. In fact, call me crazy, but it seemed as if it were radiating darkness instead.
It hit the Skeletal Pirate with a powerful force and it was reduced to a pile of charred bones within milliseconds. As quickly as the lightning had come, it was gone.
I stood there for quite a long time, unmoving. A million thoughts rushed through my head in those few minutes, and I felt frozen in place. What had I just done?
Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and I knelt on the ground, crying heavily. I knew it was just a Skeletal Pirate, and, even worse, one of Malistaire’s minions. But my sister was a life wizard, and you don’t live with someone like that and not care for living things. Even if this pirate technically wasn’t living thing, it could move and even slightly think. And I had killed it. Even though I had probably defeated plenty of pirates just like this one on Unicorn Way, it had never been like this.
Finally I ran out of tears. No longer could I cry. I rose to my feet and took one last glance at what was left of the Skeletal Pirate. I squeezed my eyes shut and didn’t dare look back as I walked out the door.
I found myself in a dim corridor. It seemed like there was some kind of artificial light emitting from somewhere, but I didn’t see anything that resembled a lamp. Again I marveled at the walls. They looked very smooth and polished to perfection, but I was astonished when I ran my hand over them and got cut. The surface was rough!
As I was rubbing my now bleeding scrape, I was disturbed by muffled voices. Curious, I walked their direction. I made many turns, and since I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, I walked down many hallways and turned multiple times. Doors dotted the hallways on the sides, but I wasn’t brave enough to open any of them. After a while, I came upon a room very different from the ones I seen before which the voices were louder in.
Since I was afraid to go any further, I stayed behind a corner in the open doorway into the room. But then I saw something that made me want to shout for joy. It was Victoria. She was looking the other way from me, but I was certain it was her. The only problem was that she was behind a large cage.
“Victoria!” I hissed to her, trying to get her attention. But she didn’t see nor hear me, and it seemed pointless. I wanted to get closer to her, but I had no idea what horrors lie beyond her cage.
A little louder, I whispered, “Victoria!”
She perked up, finally hearing me. She turned her head and her face lit up. She motioned for me to come.
Hesitantly, I left my safe hiding spot from behind the corner to meet her.
“Where did you come from, Sierra? What’s going on?” she asked shakily.
“I was hoping you’d be able to answer that. I have no clue.”
“What should we do?”
“Try and escape. I’ll go and find your key. Do you, by any chance, know where it is? A Skeletal Pirate had mine.”
“It was over there last time I saw it,” she said, pointing towards the center of the large room. “But you probably don’t want to go there,” she added as I began walking away.
“Why not?” I challenged. “I’ll do almost anything to free you and get out of here.”
“Malistaire was over there just a minute ago. And so was Liam. Please tell me that Liam hasn’t actually turned evil. He has some intricate, complicated Seeker plan, right?”
Her eyes were so hopeful that all I could say was “I truly hope so.” Then, not being able to bear saying any more, I hurried off in the direction indicated by Victoria.
The room was awfully large, so it took me a while to make it all the way across. When I arrived on the other side, I located a small table. On it I found all the things I needed: Victoria’s and my wands, our spellbooks, our decks, my sapphire necklace, and a key that must have been for Victoria’s cage. I gathered everything up, except for my necklace. Uneasily I examined it, not quite sure why I was so hesitant. Something wasn’t right, though I couldn’t figure out what. Why did it look so alien to me? Why did it seem different? I recalled my dream, in which this same gorgeous amulet had attacked me. With that rather grim thought in mind, I choose to leave it there. I knew I could come back once I had freed Victoria.
Unfortunately, I just can’t seem to keep out of trouble for long.
I was nearly to Victoria’s cage when I began to hear some muffled voices. I recognized them as the same ones
I had heard before. I began to sneak towards them, but stopped when I came to a door. From the new volume, I could guess that the owners of the voices were behind there. I didn’t know what secrets the door hid, but I couldn’t resist a mystery like this. I nervously tried the door knob, but it didn’t work anyway. The room was locked. Though I still desperately wanted to know what the door concealed, I continued to Victoria’s cage.
Luckily I turned around just in time. Just as I beginning to walk away from the door, a unexplained shadow appeared upon the wall to a hallway. It began growing larger and larger, meaning whoever it was was coming closer and closer.
Panicking, I dove behind the first thing I saw. Fortunately, it was a stack of boxes that was right next to the door I stood by. I had no idea what they held, but I was glad for the temporary hiding spot.
I almost let out a sob when I saw the person who the shadow belonged to. It was Liam, and I couldn’t bear to see him walking freely in a place like this. It only confirmed my greatest fears. So far I had managed to push him out of my mind, but now that the truth was right in front of me, my heart was broken. How were we ever going to defeat Malistaire if we couldn’t even keep the Seekers together?
Liam walked hesitantly, almost guiltily. I felt a very small feeling of triumph. At least he wasn’t happy about what he had done. He approached the door I had just tried to open, and he got a little too close. I held my breath and kept entirely still. If he had even glanced to the side, he would have noticed me. Thankfully he was too focused on whatever he was doing. To my surprise, he easily opened the door when I had such difficulty with it.
For some reason, even with the door wide open I could hardly hear the conversation inside. It must be enchanted, I decided.
Malistaire emerged from behind the door soon enough with Liam and a tough-looking Skeletal Pirate. I tensed up when they walked by, but they didn’t notice me. “Are you completely sure you understand your mission?” Malistaire asked.
Liam replied, “I tell them about Sierra’s and Victoria’s deaths, then find out who the life Seeker is. But why do they have to die? Can’t you give them a chance like me?”
“They know too much. We cannot risk them escaping.”
They began to walk away. I was alarmed by this “mission”, but somehow relieved that I now knew about it. If they were still confident that their plan would work, then maybe he didn’t know I’d gotten out yet.
I crept out from behind the boxes to follow them, wanting to know as much about this plan as possible.
But only after a short period of walking, Malistaire abruptly stopped. Frantically, I darted under the table next to me. It was the same one all of our stuff had been on. “The room is colder than usual,” Malistaire observed. To the Skeletal Pirate trailing them, he barked “Where is the pirate I sent to get the ice girl?”
“I d-don’t know, Master,” it stammered.
“Hmm…” Malistaire scanned the room. When his eyes passed the table I hid under, I flinched, but he made no move towards me. The table completely covered me. “I know you’re in here,” he said aloud. He didn’t need to say my name; I knew he was talking to me. I backed farther under the table. “It is futile to hide. Perhaps if you reveal yourself now, I will give you the luxury of a quick death that is not at all painful.”
I still held my silence. With no response, Malistaire turned to Liam. “Search the room,” he ordered. Then to the Skeletal Pirate, “Go and find someone to guard the storm Seeker. We cannot let those two reunite.”
As Malistaire, Liam, and the pirate walked away, I scrambled out from under the table. I had to get to Victoria before any guards did!
To my surprise, when I arrived at Victoria’s cage it was completely empty. Shocked, I clasped my hands around the bars of the cage and said “Victoria? You’re in here, right? Come on, we have to get out of here!”
I then unlocked the door and walked inside to see if she was hiding in some place that I couldn’t see. My search came up with nothing.
Puzzled, I walked back out. My thoughts were not pleasant. Had they taken her away? Was she already… dead?
At that moment someone grabbed me from behind. Quick as lightning I spun around, ready to use both wands if
I had to. “Oh, it’s you!” I shouted with a broad grin. “Hi Victoria! Where’ve you been?”
“Oh, you have my wand!”my friend exclaimed with glee. She yanked it out of my hand, and I gave her the spellbook and deck as well. She beamed. “Thanks. I was looking all over for them.”
“How did you escape?” I inquired. “I was so worried! When you weren’t here, I thought you’d…”
“It’s okay,” she comforted. “As for escaping? I got bored waiting for you, so I made my own key.”
“Huh?”
“Out of lightning bolts,” she explained.
“Lucky you,” I murmured. “Even if I had a key, I wouldn’t have been able to unlock my door. It was locked from the outside, and mine was an actual room. Well, we’d better get out of here. Malistaire knows I’ve escaped, and it is only a matter of time before he discovers you’re gone too. Hopefully we’ll be long gone by then. He’s sent guards here, so we better leave. This would be a bad spot to be caught in.”
“That reminds me. How exactly did you get out?”
“Uh… long story. Let’s go,” I said, not wanting to relive the moment in which I summoned the bizarre lightning.
We silently walked out of the large room back into the hallway from which I had entered. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before we got lost.
“Which way should we go?” asked Victoria for what seemed like the millionth time at the next four-way intersection.
“How should I know? I lost track a long time ago,” I complained.
“We have to go somewhere,” she said.
“Forward, then.”
“Okay.”
I took a single step, and then perceived a noise which was very different in the silence we had heard thus far. “Victoria, do you hear that?” I whispered.
She tilted her head and listened. “Yeah,” she replied. “It sounds like crying.”
“You’re right! It’s coming from that direction.” I pointed to the right, where the sound was louder. “Should we go see where it is?” I asked.
“Well…” Victoria was hesitant. “I guess. But we have to memorize our path this time, okay? Just in case it turns out to be something dangerous.”
“Agreed.”
Walking side by side, we got closer and closer to the loud sobs. Soon we came upon an enormous room that was not unlike the one Victoria’s cage and our stuff had been in. However, this one wasn’t covered with boxes as the other was which was rather disappointing. The boxes provided good cover. The only things in the room were three cages and a weak Skeletal Pirate that I knew we could easily defeat if needed. One of the cages contained a small girl.
The pirate looked awfully annoyed. He was continuously muttering to himself and glaring at the poor girl in the cage. I estimated she was about Sydney’s age, which was one year younger than me but older than Rowan.
Her clothes suggested she was balance.
“Look!” whispered Victoria, pointing to the farthest side of the room from us. I was relieved to see a door with natural sunlight seeping through the few cracks. “It must be an exit!” she said excitedly.
“We still have to do something about that helpless girl,” I reminded her.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. Maybe if we’re really quiet we can sneak past the pirate without him noticing us.”
“Come on Victoria. It is just a Skeletal Pirate and it can only be as powerful as the ones in Haunted Cave.
We beat those ages ago. Possibly we can free the girl and you can make a key out of lightning bolts again.
Don’t you get it? If we leave her, she will die!”
After more debating, Victoria finally agreed. “I understand. You’re right.”
To defeat the pirate we didn’t even need to form a dueling circle. Victoria and I both just used our wand spells. The girl was crying so uncontrollably that she didn’t even notice.
“Hello?” I asked, coming up to her cage.
“Leave me alone!” she screamed. “I didn’t do anything! I don’t deserve this!”
“We’re here to save you,” Victoria informed calmly.
“Really?” The girl looked up, and I couldn’t help but gasp. This girl almost perfectly resembled Liam!
“W-who are you?” I stuttered, shocked by the uncanny resemblance.
“I’m Vanessa. Vanessa DreamHaven. What about you? Are you serious about saving me?”
“Yep. I’m Sierra WinterBreeze and this is Victoria RavenSmith. Do you know where your key is?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Oh. So Victoria, you know what to do right?” I looked at her expectantly.
She sighed. “Fine. I didn’t like doing it last time. It takes a while. The only reason I did it was because I was worried about you.”
“If it takes time then you should start.”
“What are you talking about?” questioned Vanessa.
Neither of us answered.
Victoria began by making her hands form a circle. Vanessa and I waited for at least another three minutes, just standing there, staring at Victoria. Suddenly we heard something like the far off rumble of thunder.
Vanessa jumped at the noise, but I stood still, listening. The slight rumble grew louder and louder, until it became a roar. Soon lightning bolts flashed within Victoria’s hands. I continued watching, amazed that my friend could do such a marvelous thing. Already I could see the bolts merging to form the stunningly gorgeous key.
When the bolts completely combined, Victoria moved her hands apart and a purple key engraved with elaborate storm symbol designs that seemed to have static energy surging through it clanged to the ground with a metallic sound.
I leaned down to pick it up, but when I touched it the key shocked me. “Ouch!” I yelled. “Victoria, tell your key to not hurt me next time!”
“Sorry. I didn’t know it would to that. I’m immune to shocks of lightning.”
“Wow, is that key for me?” Vanessa breathed. “How do you know it will fit?”
“We don’t,” replied Victoria matter-of-factly.
Luckily, when Victoria lifted the key and turned it into the lock, the door slid open, but not without a loud whine.
“It sounds as if this door hasn’t been opened in ages,” I commented.
“I agree,” said Victoria.
Vanessa stepped out, grinning wildly. “Thank you so much!” she exclaimed. “But… what about my parents?”
Victoria and I exchanged glances. “Parents?” I asked. “Where are they?”
“I was hoping you would know, or at least had seen them. If you haven’t, then that means…” She didn’t even finish before once more breaking down, crying.
“Wait, don’t cry! What does it mean?” I inquired.
“They’re dead!” she wailed. “Malistaire took them away. Why? We didn’t even do anything! I wasn’t even one of those students like almost everyone else in Ravenwood that are trying to defeat him! My parents didn’t even care, as long as he didn’t bother us. My brother didn’t do anything either! And-” She stopped, and looked up at us. “What were your names again?”
Puzzled by this random question, I replied, “Sierra. And Victoria.”
“Sierra Winterbreeze? Victoria Ravensmith?” Now she looked excited and hopeful, as if she hadn’t been crying only seconds before.
“Yes. Why?”
“I know you!” she gasped. “You’re Seekers!”
“Wha… how do you know that?” I demanded.
“My brother told me. He sent you here, didn’t he? He wasn’t captured with the rest of us. Is he coming soon?”
“Who is your brother?”
“He’s your friend.”
“Yes, but who?” I asked, beginning to get impatient. I thought I knew who she was speaking of, but I greatly hoped not.
“Liam!”
For a moment, no one spoke. Vanessa just looked expectantly at both Victoria and me. “Well,” I said after a while, “I guess that means you don’t know then.”
Vanessa looked confused. “Know what?”
“That Liam isn’t a Seeker anymore,” blurted out Victoria.
“No!” I protested. “Liam may be misguided for the moment, but he will come to his senses. I just know it.”
“How can you possibly think that he is still a Seeker when he is now helping Malistaire?”
“He asked for my forgiveness earlier. I have given it to him, as long as he will accept the consequences.”
“Wait!” Vanessa shouted. “What are you talking about? Liam with Malistaire? Not possible! First of all, my brother is kind and caring. Second, he’s a Seeker. Third, he would have set me free.”
“It’s true!” argued Victoria. “We saw him. He has most likely forgotten all about you. I bet that-”
“Victoria, calm down,” I said. “She has a point. The main reason he did this is because of his family. Liam can’t know where they are. Malistaire tricked him. He is going to try and get rid of them so he doesn’t have to let them go!”
Victoria gasped. Vanessa yelled, “We have to warn him!”
“Warn him of what?” scoffed Victoria. “He doesn’t care about us anymore.”
“He will stop doing these things if we tell him. Plus, as his sister I may be about to convince him.”
“I don’t know, Vanessa. I think that Liam is… gone,” I cautioned.
“We have to try,” she said in a determined voice.
I sighed. “I would love to, but we have to find him first. And the exit is right there.”
“No, that’s not an exit!” Vanessa corrected.
“How do you know?”
“They took me in there. It is a really weird room, with all these monsters in it that I had never seen before. They asked me questions about Liam, but mostly about the Seekers in general. I told them I didn’t know any of you. Right before I went in that room, I saw my mom for what I guess is the last time. She said
‘I love you Vanessa, no matter what. Promise me that you’ll be brave?’ And I agreed, and when I came back out of the room they were gone. How could I not realize what she meant by that?”
I felt sympathetic. “I’m so sorry. I completely understand. I grew up in an orphanage without any parents, and I was always so jealous of anyone with them.”
“But this is different,” she sobbed. “You never had parents. Mine were there, but now they are gone!”
I couldn’t say anything to that, so the three of us sat in silence.
Eventually, Victoria piped up, “I think that if we are planning on going to see Liam we should better get going.”
“We still don’t know where to go,” I pointed out.
“My guess would be to go back to where we last saw him, in that room.”
“We got lost hours ago. We’ll never find our way back!”
“You didn’t have me last time,” put in Vanessa. “I know my way around here.”
“How?”
“I tried to escape a few times. Yep, they really don’t like me here. I keep getting out. The first time I used my hair pin, but then I just broke the bars on the cage twice after that, because they’re not that sturdy. That’s why they set a guard here to watch me. But I’ve memorized most of the way. Please, let me help!”
“She could be helpful,” commented Victoria.
“I suppose if you know your way around so well, you can help. You’d just run there by yourself if we told you no.”
Vanessa grinned.
“So which way, Navigator?” asked Victoria playfully.
“The way you came,” she replied, beginning to walk that way.
Victoria and I exchanged glances before following her.
As we traveled through the dimly lit red and black hallways, Victoria behind me and Vanessa in front, I knew we were in for an adventure. And in this one, if we were caught, the consequences were deadly.
|
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze (part 10)
The walk was pretty much uneventful. In fact, I was quite bored most of the way. At first I took the opportunity and tried to get to know Vanessa, but I gave up after I had to stop every time we came to an intersection so she could concentrate on leading us the correct way.
Victoria didn’t even attempt to converse. She kept to herself, detached from the rest of us.
Vanessa didn’t seem to mind the silence, though. She actually appeared content while guiding us. All I felt was troubled, and I was surprised at how she was feeling. Shouldn’t she be even more uneasy than I? It was her brother we were going to see, not mine.
It didn’t take long at all for us to arrive in an area that I recognized. Pretty soon I didn’t even need Vanessa any longer and I could find my own way. It was a good thing too, because I found that the farther we went the more forgetful Vanessa was becoming, and I was constantly having to remind her which way to go.
Eventually we came upon the large room that so much of our adventure today had occurred in.
“Liam has got to be around here somewhere,” I whispered.
“Shh, I hear voices!” hissed Victoria. When we listened, we heard it too.
“Should we go see what it is?” Vanessa suggested.
“What if it’s Malistaire again?” I pointed out.
“We should at least try.”
“I guess so, but still, if it’s Malistaire, we’re doomed.”
Vanessa nodded. “I know. But that’s why we’re not simply going to barge in or do anything that might announce us. We’re going to spy on them.”
We walked into the center of the room. No one was around, so there was no need to hide. We scanned the room, trying to locate the voices.
“Oh, no,” I moaned when I realized where they were coming from. “That’s the room Malistaire was in last time. And it is locked, and you can’t hear in there unless you’re inside.”
“We’ll find a way,” encouraged Vanessa confidently. She motioned for us to follow her to the door.
As we were walking there, we passed the table that all our stuff had been on. My sapphire necklace still lay there, untouched. I paused to stare at it, and again I had an uneasy feeling. Why didn’t it look right?
“Come on Sierra,” beckoned Victoria. “Whatcha looking at?”
“My necklace,” I answered.
“That’s yours? Then take it, and let’s get going.”
“Something doesn’t feel right.”
“It looks completely normal.”
“But-”
“Fine, leave it. Let’s just get out of here.”
Finally, hesitantly, with Victoria’s encouragement I picked up the gorgeous necklace.
It was at that moment that I realized what was wrong with it. It wasn’t glowing.
As soon as my hands touched the metal chain, I was blinded by a brilliant bright light. Quickly I hid the light from the necklace so I could see. An alarm began to blare, which was surprising; I hadn’t known that there were alarms in the Spiral. Then again, I didn’t even know if we were in the Spiral anymore.
“Run!” I screamed.
Vanessa, who had almost been to the door, jumped, and ran away without hesitation. Gathering up my necklace that was flashing almost as if in warning, I darted out of the room behind Victoria.
“Which was should we go?” called Vanessa.
“To the exit,” I replied.
“Um… which way is that?”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“I thought you said you knew your way around here!”
“All I said was that I had tried to escape once but failed. I never found the exit.”
“Then go… I don’t know… that way!” I ran down a random corridor.
As I was speeding down the hallway, I shakily took out the necklace. It was glowing brighter than I had ever seen before. When I arrived at the next intersection, I started to turn left. But I took a single step and my necklace’s shimmer increased. I stopped. If it was glowing more this way, that meant there was most likely more dark magic this way. I turned right, and it grew brighter still.
Vanessa and Victoria came up behind me. “What is wrong? Why’d you stop?” inquired Victoria.
“Hang on,” I mumbled. If right and left were both bright, then forward should be the way. Yet when I turned there, my sapphire necklace shined even more furiously.
“Guys, we’re going to wrong way,” I announced.
“Huh?” asked Victoria and Vanessa in unison.
Instead of answering, I swiveled around to face the way we came. Just as I had suspected, the light dimmed. “My necklace says there’s less dark magic this way. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to come face to face with Malistaire or one of his minions.”
“How can we trust it? It already set off the alarm once,” pointed out Victoria.
“It’s our only choice, instead of wandering aimlessly,” I answered, giving her a stern look that proved that my mind was made up.
“I vote for the wandering,” muttered Vanessa, but I ignored her.
The three of us sprinted down the hallway. Using my necklace as a guide, we traveled more efficiently than before. I was pleased to discover that you could now look at my necklace and not be blinded. It meant we were making progress.
After about thirty minutes, my necklace dimmed incredibly so I decided it was safe to rest. I didn’t think I could’ve gone on for any longer anyway.
“I’m bored,” complained Vanessa. “Can you tell your necklace to hurry up?”
“Find some entertainment,” I shot back. “There’s no telling how long we could take. This may not even work; it wasn’t meant to give directions.”
She groaned loudly.
“If you have any better ideas, I’m listening.”
She didn’t answer.
We began moving again. The necklace’s glow continued fading and fading. Compared to what it had been, my necklace was quite dimmer. Of course, it was still radiating some light, but considering our location that was to be expected.
I stared intently at the gorgeous sapphire in the middle. It grew dimmer, and dimmer, and dimmer…
Suddenly I crashed into something hard and solid. “Ouch!” I yelled, looking up. In front of me was one of the red and black walls that were all over the place. We were at a dead end. There was nowhere to go but back.
Clearly there weren’t any options, but my necklace still urged us forward.
“See!” said Vanessa triumphantly. “Look at where that waste of metal had gotten us now. We’re in front of a useless, pathetic wall. We should just go by instinct.”
“I have been patient, Sierra, but I think I must agree with Vanessa this time,” said Victoria. “Though that necklace can sense dark magic, it doesn’t know when there’s an obstacle. Come on, let’s retrace our steps.”
“No, wait!” I shouted as they turned away. “There has to be some reason it led us here.” I studied the wall to see if there was anything suspicious about it. But it just looked and felt like all the other walls: smooth to the eye, rough to touch.
“There isn’t a reason for everything,” sighed Victoria, trying to push me away from the wall.
“No!” I shouted, struggling against her.
“Honestly Sierra, what is the big deal? It is a dead end, and insignificant. We need to get out of here and find the life Seeker.”
“The necklace wouldn’t have led us here if it wasn’t important!”
“We’ll find another route to the same location. Maybe there is a wall on the other side.”
“The necklace isn’t just signaling that there is less dark magic here. I think it knows what it is doing. Just look at this!” I held up the necklace. Now it was pulsating with light, fading in and out, and I just simply knew that it was telling us to turn back.
Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Victoria, if Sierra wants to stay here then let her. We should just get going. As the sensible ones, I believe we have responsibility of teaching her a lesson. She should learn for herself not to put all your trust in a piece of jewelry. Besides, I do not want to be cornered here. There is nowhere to run.”
I glared at her. “You know, ever since we have saved you you’ve been, like, against me or something.”
“I’m not against you. Oh, and by the way, it was Victoria who saved me, not you. You just stood there while Victoria made the key.”
“For your information, we would not have even bothered rescuing you if it hadn’t been for me! Victoria just wanted to walk out on you.”
“That’s not true,” protested Victoria. “I was a little reluctant, but I still knew deep in my heart that I couldn’t leave you.”
“Let’s go, Victoria,” said Vanessa indignantly. “I don’t want to hear anymore of her lies.”
“Fine!” I screamed, my voice having risen over the argument. “Be that way! I’m staying. If you want to go off ‘instinct’ or whatever, be my guest. Just… just get out of my sight.”
“Gladly.” Vanessa, glaring at me one last time, grabbed Victoria’s wrist and dragged her off. I felt the tears coming to my eyes, and this time I didn’t hold them back. Once or twice Victoria looked back at me before turning the corner. Vanessa didn’t turn even one time.
After they disappeared from view, I sighed, tears trickling down my face. I walked back to the wall. I glanced at my necklace, barely glowing, satisfied that its owner had turned back. “I hope you’re happy,” I whispered to it. “You made me lose my friends for this.” Then, the tears cascaded down once more. I sat on the ground and continued to weep, so I was entirely unaware when a Skeletal Pirate came up to me.
When he said something in his unique language, I looked up and jumped, automatically standing with wand and deck ready.
Even with my sadness, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when I saw his face. He was so surprised! I was even more relieved when I noticed that he was one of the easy pirates that stayed in Unicorn Way.
With barely any effort I defeated the pirate. Still, I worried. What if there were stronger, worthier opponents roaming around? What if Vanessa and Victoria were caught?
They don’t need me. I’m not important. It was their idea to use their instincts.
I realized that the pirate’s disturbance had thrown me off course. Wrapped up in all my troubles, I had forgotten what I was there for.
Attempting to unravel the mystery of this ordinary looking wall was not going to be easy, I knew. In fact, it proved to be even more difficult than I had thought. First I scanned the wall, searching once more for a clue. I even tried running my finger over the wall, as if there were some sort of secret button like in the Castle of Rain. However, nothing happened, and I got plenty of cuts from the jagged pieces. Next, I stared intently at it, but all I did was make myself really bored.
After a really long time of doing everything I could think of to figure out why the necklace had led me here, I decided to take a break.
“Maybe Vanessa was right; my necklace doesn’t know what it is doing.” A thought occurred to me: what if Vanessa and Victoria had already found the exit? I almost started crying again. I couldn’t imagine Victoria willingly leaving me, but under the influence of Vanessa…
I slumped against the wall, disappointed, miserable, and doubtful. But just as I leaned my back on the wall, it slid open easily and revealed a metal door. I slipped back, thumping hard against the cold surface. What had I done?
I stood, examining the door. Was it a way out? It had to be!
Still not knowing what to do, I reached out to the door, thinking I was going to try and pry it open. There was no door handle, so I didn’t know what to do.
Before I could touch the metal surface, the doors suddenly slid open. I jumped back, and ran back and hid around the corner like I did in most situations. Out of the door came three Skeletal Warriors – not Skeletal Pirates, but warriors, dressed in armor and everything. They were harder and tougher, the exact enemy I didn’t want to find.
They were speaking and laughing in their own language, and, luckily without noticing me, walked around the other corner and down the hallway. I cautiously stepped back out to see the doors closing with the wall over top of them, but not before I saw outside. It was only a short glimpse, but I could tell that the air coming from out of it was fresh, welcoming air that could only belong to a legit outdoors.
I started rejoicing and was ready to wait for the door open again and run out of there. I had my plan all laid out when I remembered how crestfallen I had been when I thought Victoria may have abandoned me. Yet here I was, about to do the same thing.
“Why couldn’t they just listen to me?” I murmured as I turned to walk back down the hall in search of my friend.
I knew that if I didn’t somehow remember my path, this detour would be pointless. I considered marking my path with ice, but I didn’t want someone else to find it and I didn’t know if I had enough energy in me to do that. I looked at the walls to see if they had any unique features that I may recognize later, but to me they seemed a little too unique. I would never remember them.
Then, the most obvious reason hit me: teleport!
We had used teleporting lots of times on my adventure. Professor Ambrose was right when he told me about when I was younger: I adore teleporting. It’s fun to feel the wind on your face and find yourself in a new location. However, sometimes when we teleported it didn’t work. Usually it was because of Malistaire (or so I thought) and in his lair I wouldn’t be surprised if we couldn’t teleport out. But if I was correct, and I was ninety-nine percent sure that I was, then we could teleport within here, just like we had on Earth to get to the orphanage.
The only problem was how to find my way back. I could hope that they wouldn’t be too far away, and I would be able to navigate using my necklace again. But, just in case they weren’t, I had a better idea.
Marking Magic was kind of new to Wizard City. Personally, I had never used it. But when faced with a problem like this, it was my only choice.
I felt the mana draining from me, which was something I hadn’t expected. Come to think of it, no one had ever told me anything about this. All I could do was hope it would work.
When the glowing blue ‘X’ appeared beneath me, I prepared to teleport directly to Victoria.
I was troubled at first when I wasn’t teleporting when I tried. After a full minute of waiting, I determined it wasn’t going to work. So I took a step and…
I was in some place entirely dark.
“Huh?” I said, disoriented and confused.
I heard movement next to me, and the voice said “Don’t move.”
Not wanting to cause trouble, I froze, and then realized I knew that voice. “Vanessa!” I exclaimed loudly.
“Sierra?” answered another voice that I was sure was Victoria’s. “Where did you come from?”
“I’m not sure,” I replied truthfully. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know. We’re hiding.” Then she dropped her voice to a whisper. “Which reminds me, we’re supposed to be quiet. We can talk later.”
I was still confused, but I felt better with my friends at my side. “Okay,” I managed to squeak out.
We sat in silence for what seemed like forever until I said, “Seriously guys, what are we hiding from?”
I heard rustling next to me. Then, Vanessa’s voice: “I think it is safe now.”
“Still, what was the matter?” I repeated.
“Oh, nothing…” said Victoria.
“It had to be something.”
“It was just… um…”
“Sierra,” cut in Vanessa, “how exactly did you get here?”
“I don’t know.”
“It had to be something,” she mocked.
“Okay, okay. I tried teleporting, but it didn’t work, and then I was suddenly here with no wind or anything. And I still want to know why we’re hiding. Don’t try changing the subject again, because I will keep asking.”
“I don’t want to worry you,” said Victoria quietly.
“I won’t be worried,” I promised. “Now what was it?”
Vanessa sighed. “Okay Victoria, since she obviously won’t give up...”
“It was just an army of enemies searching for us,” said Victoria quickly. “So, what did you want to tell us?”
“A what?” I gasped.
“You shouldn’t have told her!” scolded Vanessa.
“Your exact words were ‘Okay Victoria.’ If that wasn’t a signal to tell her, what is?” At that moment, light flooded into wherever we were. Victoria had opened a door that led back into the hallway.
“Well, I’m actually not that concerned. We’re not going to be discovered,” I proclaimed.
“Why not?” retorted Vanessa.
“I found a way out!”
“Really? Where?” inquired Victoria.
“I marked the spot, so we can teleport to it at any time.”
Victoria smiled broadly at me and gave me a hug. “This is wonderful news. Come on, let’s go now. I can’t stand to wait another second in this horrid place.”
Victoria’s enthusiasm was contagious, and I found myself grinning right back. Vanessa, however, just stood there.
“You came back for us,” she said hesitantly.
“Yeah,” I said modestly, not understanding what she was getting at.
“You could have left us. And I thought you would have, after all the mean things I said to you. But you came.”
“Um, I’m glad you’re happy or whatever but I think we should leave A.S.A.P.”
Finally, she reached out her hand, but not before whispering quietly “I’m sorry.”
I gave her a huge smile and said “I forgive you.”
We teleported together, but nothing could have prepared us for what happened next.
When we arrived on the ‘X’ I discovered that it was really small for three people and I stumbled and fell because I was so crowded. I sat up, facing my friends. “We’re here!” I announced.
Neither of my friends seemed in the least bit happy. They had a terrified look in their eyes and they stood there, gaping. “What’s the matter?” I questioned, and then I recognized that look. I had seen it before, on Liam’s and Mark’s face when the Hydra had been behind me.
I spun around and saw a powerful looking Skeletal Warrior that I knew would take me forever with lots of friends if I wanted to beat it. Behind him was a large variety of minions such as Dark Sprites, Skeletal Pirates, Haunted Minions, Rotting Fodders, Field Guards, Draconians, and all sorts of creatures I couldn’t even begin to name.
“Sierra,” Victoria whispered, “this is supposed to happen, right? Please tell me it is.”
I slowly shook my head, just starting to overcome the overwhelming feeling of shock.
“It seems you were right!” said the Skeletal Warrior in front of me who was apparently in charge to another Skeletal Pirate. “They are here.”
“Victoria, Vanessa, get ready to run,” I whispered.
The Skeletal Warrior grinned wickedly. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble,” it scolded. “Don’t try anything else or we’ll be the ones causing it.”
“When do we run?” whimpered Victoria.
“Just hang on,” I said. “The door is behind them, and I do not want to have to find it again, no matter what.”
Even as I was saying those words I was changing my mind. Now in front of me was Malistaire himself, with Liam next to him.
“Vanessa!” shouted Liam when he recognized her.
Vanessa looked terribly happy and, forgetting all her fears, ran right up to him to give him a hug.
I expected Malistaire to be angry, but instead he appeared amused. “So, little Seekers, you managed to free her? I would be much more impressed if I hadn’t been about to release her anyway. Didn’t you see how few guards there were?”
“But you killed her parents,” I retorted.
“That was a mistake,” he explained hastily.
“Yeah, right,” I replied. “How do you accidentally take someone’s life? That is just cruel to lie about that.”
“Liam, it wasn’t an accident,” said Vanessa. “Malistaire took them away and-”
“They were going to be questioned, as you were. It was a minor calamity. If only they had chosen to cooperate, then they would still be alive.”
“You think it was an accident?” Vanessa shrilled. “Liam, it was not just an unfortunate disaster. He did it purposefully! He even told me that I was going to die too!”
Liam looked at his sister reproachfully. “It must have been a misunderstanding, Vanessa. I did all this for you. I’m sure nothing would have happened to you. You were going to be freed.” Then he appeared thoughtful. “I do mourn for them though. Besides, didn’t Malistaire ensure their safety? Maybe they aren’t dead.”
Vanessa took a step back towards Victoria and me. “You actually think you had his word for that? He was lying. And I’m sure he has done it thousands of times over to trusting fools like you. Why can’t you see? Where is my wonderful brother that would never, ever do anything so evil? You’ve been tricked.”
“I have not!” protested Liam. “You know me better than that! I’m not so gullible.”
“Maybe my brother wasn’t, but I hardly know you anymore.”
The two continued bickering. Malistaire seemed entertained, and Victoria looked somberly at the pair. I looked back and forth between the siblings. They were saying such horrible things. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “STOP!” I yelled.
Startled, Liam and Vanessa turned to look at me.
“Come on, guys. You’re siblings. You love each other. Why are you fighting?” I saw Vanessa open her mouth to say something, but I interrupted her by saying, “Okay, so you don’t think he is your brother anymore. But somewhere deep inside, I’m sure Liam is still there. That is the face you’ve known all of your life, isn’t it? That is your brother, regardless of what you think.”
She and Liam exchanged apologetic glances.
“She’s right…” began Vanessa. “Still, you can’t do this.”
At first, Liam looked as if he were about to give some kind of anger-filled retort, but then his face softened, and he said, “I’m sorry, but I need to.”
Until this point, Malistaire had been standing on the side, examining the whole scene. But now he stepped forward and commanded, “This has gone on for long enough. Kill the Seekers, but since Liam likes the girl so much, let her live.”
The monsters pounced on us, and it was so unexpected that I hardly had time to react. “I really thought my motivational speech would work,” I whispered to Victoria as I was whisked into a battle separate from her with at least six different monsters. I had heard of duels like this, ones without dueling circles; the loser never came back.
I figured I was lucky, because I had very easy enemies. All of them had less than one hundred health. As I was defeating a Scarlet Screamer, I snuck a glance at Victoria. She was not as fortunate. Though the majority of her enemies were only as difficult as mine, she had two Draconians, and not the easy kind. These were true Draconians all the way from Dragonspyre that Magi like us should never have to fight.
I searched for Vanessa, but I did not see her. I didn’t see Malistaire or Liam either, which was not a good sign.
The second I defeated the final monster in my duel, more sprang up to take its place. It continued the way for both Victoria and I. Just as we were sighing with relief that the last enemy was gone, more attacked. We were stuck in an endless cycle. After twelve rounds of doing this I was exhausted. I looked at how Victoria was doing. Though she gave me an encouraging smile and mouthed the words “I’m okay” I still knew she was tiring quickly. We had to find some way to get rid of all these monsters before they got rid of us.
By the end of my sixteenth battle I had used up all three of my potions and every Treasure Card I owned. I knew that I couldn’t go on any longer, especially since now every one of my enemies were Draconians. I slowly fought my way towards Victoria while trying to fend off my attackers. In her ear I whispered, “It’s time.”
She looked confused. “For what?”
“Run!”
Without another word she sped off, with me close behind. The heavy footsteps of hundreds of minions thudded behind us. “Which way?” she asked hurriedly at the first intersection.
“I don’t care!” I moved forward, but unexpectedly the floor beneath me gave way and I fell. I crashed to the ground far below. Stunned, I gazed around. Only darkness was my companion.
“Ahh!” screamed a voice a little farther away. I ran toward it. As I was running, I looked up. Curious minions of Malistaire were peering down through a tiny hole that was just barely big enough for me to fit through. I hoped that all they saw was blackness.
I wandered through the darkness and bumped into a wall. Without any light, it was impossible to maneuver around. I stuck my arms out to either side of me, and they touch walls – but not the sharp, rough surface of the red and black walls as I expected. They felt rough, but not pointy like the red and black ones.
With my arms staying on the walls I inched down what seemed to be a tunnel. But soon, I saw something in the distance. What was it? Light. That’s what it was: light. It was flickering on and off, as if someone was flipping the light switch over and over. As I got nearer, I could see my surroundings. I was indeed in some sort of tunnel, but the walls around me were plain gray concrete. Soon enough, I saw where the light was coming from and I grinned. It was Vanessa and Victoria, who was holding a lightning bolt that flashed incessantly.
“Where have you been?” I demanded, too relieved at finding them to even give a proper greeting.
“We’ll talk later. I think I have another way out,” said Vanessa.
“Another way? Really? That’s awesome!”
“Vanessa told me it is not far from here,” said Victoria.
“Okay, then lead the way!”
“Navigator!” added Victoria, laughing.
Happy that our group was reunited once more, we followed Vanessa. “So, did you make us fall like that?” I questioned her.
She nodded.
“How?”
She smiled slyly. “I told you I know my way around here.”
She didn’t look like she was ready to give answers about how she did it, so I asked a different question: “Why did you do it, though? What is the point?”
“There is a possible exit down this way.”
“Possible?”
She didn’t answer.
“But if you tried getting away and failed, how do you know about the exit?” inquired Victoria.
She shook her head in frustration. “You guys ask too many questions. Okay, listen. I will tell you what happened. Actually, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this door before. It is where they took me in, when they kidnapped my family while Liam was out doing quests. Of course, it was pitch black then so I couldn’t see. But when Liam brought me down here, I knew this was the place.”
‘”Liam brought you down here?” I repeated.
“Yes. He was trying to help me escape.”
“The Liam can’t be all bad!” I cried jubilantly.
Vanessa looked away, which was not a good signal. “That’s the problem. I think, though he still loves me, he is evil, Sierra. The entire time he was trying to convince me to help him and that you were doing the wrong thing. He said that Malistaire only missed his wife, but I think it has gone farther than that now. He continually said you were sure to lose. I don’t think he likes you guys much.”
“Obviously,” I muttered.
“But your little speech that you said to us about being siblings really changed him. I think he would have gladly argued with me forever, just to prove his point. That was until you spoke up. Even if he doesn’t like you, I think he admires you.”
“For what?” I said, surprised.
She shrugged. “Well, you’re one of the Seekers, aren’t you? It must be because you were so persistent when you needed to find the life Seeker. He said that you really inspired him.”
“Wow, seriously? He seemed like he didn’t care at all. If I had known that, then we would never have fought and… we might not even be in this mess!”
We said nothing after that. The only noises were our footsteps and the soft thunder that apparently came with Victoria’s lightning.
Thankfully it wasn’t too long before our scenery changed. Instead of the concrete walls, they transformed slowly into the black and red ones. Soon there were even medieval-like torches dotting the walls and Victoria doused her lightning.
We stopped when we arrived at the top of a flight of stairs. I attempted to see where they led, but it faded into darkness.
“At the top there is another passageway. Then, we can get out. But there will probably be guards at the top,” cautioned Vanessa.
“That’s okay,” I replied. “We can handle them. I’ll go first.” I took at step up and began climbing.
It was terrifying blindly climbing stairs in darkness, but with Vanessa’s fantastic guidance we managed to reach the top.
Unfortunately, the second my foot touched the top step I was attacked by two Skeletal Pirates. I think they were counting on a physical fight, not magical, because they wrestled me to the ground instead of casting a spell. With the hope that they may not know any magic, I struggled to get my wand out while they were on top of me. I instantly cast the first spell that I picked up from my deck, and luckily it was Blizzard. It finished both of them with a single blow. Quickly I pushed them off me and scrambled to my feet.
Victoria and Vanessa were standing at the top of the stairs. Vanessa looked at me with gratitude. “Thanks. Now we won’t have to deal with them. But both of you keep your wands out. There could be more.”
“You could have helped,” I grumbled, but I left my wand out anyway. No way was I going to get caught unarmed.
I was dismayed to find that the second passageway was longer than I had hoped. I was expecting a short, small tunnel that you could see the end to. Though Vanessa promised this was smaller than the last, I still thought any amount of time we wasted was too precious to lose. Still, I followed without protest.
Gradually I realized that the torches were farther and farther apart, and yet we could still see. The light was growing.
I was overjoyed when the torches disappeared completely. I was even happier when the concrete walls also left, replaced with the red and black ones. Then, the sight I had been awaiting the entire time met me: the doorway out.
I rushed towards it and impulsively yanked on the door. But just as it was about to fly open, a voice screamed out “Stop!”
I did stop and turn, thinking that Vanessa was going to tell me that there was something important we needed to do first. That was when I realized, a bit too late, that it had been a man’s voice. So it couldn’t be Vanessa.
In front of me was a much unanticipated scene. Vanessa and Victoria were both in the arms of two tough looking wizards. The worst part was that I recognized them. They were the same exact ones that had tried to take Sydney’s and my necklaces away. One smiled evilly at me. “So we meet again. Are you enjoying the fortress?” he said so casually it made me want to scream.
In fact, now that I wasn’t so shocked, only one word came to mind: run.
Without another word or even a thought of what may happen to my friends, I flung open the door and rushed outside. I didn’t even look back to see if my friends were all right.
When I opened the door, I didn’t know what I expected to see. Probably nice, welcoming sights, like blue skies and fresh air or at least something like that. But in reality, I was just dreaming. Outside of Malistaire’s lair or fortress or whatever it was there wouldn’t be pretty flowers or grass. Not even the sky was blue. Instead, it was disorienting, because it reminded me so much like the inside. There was a different sort of air out here, but it wasn’t what I would call fresh. It smelled musty and old and ruined, as if a dust storm had just come by. The sky was a deep red color. The streets did actually kind of look like Wizard City’s, but they were made of concrete and had red diamonds on them. The streets were also red, but there weren’t monsters roaming through them.
I didn’t have much time to ponder over all of this because I was running for my life. So I quickly hurried on.
When I couldn’t run anymore, I stopped, panting heavily. I glanced around. The death wizards were nowhere to be found. Then I examined my surroundings. There were many buildings, all red, lined with sidewalks. The road was broken in places. I walked up to one of them and immediately drew back. There was lava filling the hole!
I tried to piece together where we could be. Lava filled ruins… red skies… red sidewalks and buildings… I didn’t know of any place in the Spiral that had those things. Then again, I didn’t know any of the Spiral beyond MooShu, and even that was only from the few times my sister let me help her there.
At that moment someone teleported to me. I flinched, thinking of what happened last time someone came unexpectedly. It had been Liam, and all of that had ended in a disaster.
But Liam was no longer my friend, so the next people I thought I would see were Victoria or Vanessa. But it wasn’t any of them. It was none other than Sydney.
“Where are we?” she asked nonchalantly, as if we weren’t in tons of danger surrounded by lava. “It looks awesome!”
“Sydney Jadehammer, what are you doing here?” I demanded.
She rolled her eyes. “Sorry. I guess you don’t want my help. Geez.”
“How did you know that we-”
“Victoria said that the two of you were in trouble, but I couldn’t teleport to her. So I came to you.”
“It’s too dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Hello, fire Seeker here! Are you forgetting that I am part of this too?”
I opened my mouth to protest, but then thought twice about it. She was right. As one of my best friends and, more importantly, the fire Seeker of Light, she had as much a right to be here as I did. So, instead of arguing, I asked, “How much did Victoria tell you?”
“Not much. Hey, guess who I brought to help?” She pointed at her feet and I saw Sir Romeo, the Fire Cat she had saved from the well in Krokotopia, at her heels.
“We don’t need a Fire Cat,” I said impatiently. “Anyway, then I guess you don’t know not to trust Liam.”
“Um… oops.”
“What? What is the oops? Oops is never good.”
“I guess I shouldn’t have told him to come and help us right now?”
“No! Sydney, break your friendship with him now!”
“But we need all the help we can get. And he saved my brother, anyway.”
“I don’t care! Get rid of him before he…”
Liam appeared next to Sydney.
“…teleports to you. Hello, Liam.”
“Listen, I don’t have much time,” he said.
“I think we know that,” I said coldly. “Your ‘Master’ is going to be here any second, right?” I reached over and grabbed Sydney’s hand. I whispered, “We need to teleport soon. Don’t believe him, no matter what he says.”
She only squeezed my hand in reply, but that was enough. She understood.
“No. Well, actually, yes. He will figure out that I’m missing soon. I need to let you know that this isn’t real.”
“Oh, so you were only pretending to kill us with all those undead monsters. It must have been an accident that you teleported to me to lead Malistaire to Victoria and I. And all that talk about understanding you mission was fake. Oh, so that’s it? Thanks for clarifying that. Sure, I’ll make friends with you right away.” My words dripped with sarcasm.
Sydney shot me an alarmed look but didn’t say anything.
“Vanessa told me about our parents. I feel betrayed, and I want to make it up.”
“You’re the one who feels betrayed? Sorry, but I find that hard to believe. If it is anyone feeling that way, it is us.”
Liam took a deep breath. “I profoundly apologize for all the pain I’ve caused you.”
“You’re just a horrible traitor. I forgave you once, but I cannot do it again.”
For a moment Liam looked so sad that I almost reconsidered. But then, his face turned grim. “Fine. If you won’t let me be a Seeker again, I have no choice but to turn you in.”
I realized my mistake right away. “Sydney, teleport!”
“Where?”
“Anywhere!”
“You can’t teleport here,” said Liam. “It is too close to the fortress.”
“Uh… then…” I frantically looked around to see if there was anything I could use to get out of this mess. Time was running short. Malistaire could show up at any moment.
With no other options I sprinted away, with Sydney close behind.
As I was running, I glanced at the barren landscape. What could have caused such destruction?
It didn’t seem as if anyone was following us. I didn’t hear footsteps, but I still worried, so I turned to look over my shoulder to make sure there was no one there.
Then, I tripped and fell flat of my face. With a groan partly because I was in pain, partly because I was angry with myself for being so clumsy when our lives were endangered, I lifted my head. In front of me was a pair of green and purple shoes. Gasping, I stood to greet Victoria Ravensmith.
“We were searching all over for you!” she yelled. “I was so scared! We almost gave up and left. To think what would have happened if we had… Hey, why’s Sydney here? If I remember correctly, she wasn’t here before.” Her eyes narrowed. “And you said you couldn’t come!”
“Sorry,” Sydney said. “It worked for Sierra.”
“We have to leave,” I cut in.
“I think we know that,” stated Vanessa in a way that was much like her old self, before we made up after the argument. She had been standing there and I hadn’t known it.
Together again, we continued to flee. I didn’t even ask Victoria or Vanessa how they got here.
Abruptly I stopped. “Oh, duh,” I said aloud.
“What?” asked Sydney.
“We can teleport!”
“Liam said we couldn’t.”
“Can you really still trust him?”
“Yes. I haven’t seen all these horrible things happen.”
“Let me try, at least,” I argued. “But I have to warn you, it may be delayed. The same thing happened when I was attempting to get to Vanessa and Victoria.”
At that exact moment we heard footsteps. “Sierra, I don’t think we have time for delays,” shouted Vanessa. “Look!”
The two death wizards were advancing towards us, and they looked angry.
“No. We’ll deal with them. Hold our hands, Sierra,” commanded Sydney. “Just focus on teleporting. We’ll hold them off.”
Though Victoria began to say something, I was no longer listening. I was about to teleport to my house, when I realized it had been burned down. So I thought of Sydney’s home instead – her nice, warm, comfortable home and the lovely bedroom that she, Rowan, and I slept in.
Nothing happened.
I felt minor tugs on my arms as my friends fended off the death wizards, but I barely noticed.
A whole minute ticked by, but I didn’t give up hope. The same had happened last time I had tried this. I thought of everything: Rowan, Mom, Dad, Sydney, Hunter, Sydney’s parents, and even Liam because that was where I first met him. With the welcoming thought in my mind, I didn’t notice when Sydney cried out “Watch out!”
I opened my eyes, but it was too late. The dreaded Wraith was in front of me again, its arm raised. This is the end, I thought. There was no dueling circle. When I died here, I died for good.
I cringed, waiting for the attack.
It never came.
Sir Romeo, Sydney’s Fire Cat, lunged at the Wraith. It said nothing, but I could sense its agony as it disappeared in smoke.
“What the…” hollered the wizard who had cast it. He couldn’t say anymore, because Sir Romeo pounced at him, too.
All of a sudden, the wizards were gone. My surroundings changed. Sir Romeo, with no wizard in his mouth anymore, fell onto a coffee table that lay in front of me. Instead of red streets beneath my feet, there was plushy carpet. There were chairs and couches arranged in perfect order.
I had successfully teleported.
“WE’RE IN MY HOUSE!” screamed Sydney. “Mom! Dad! You will never believe what just happened!”
Vanessa grinned and followed Sydney, who was rushing out the room. But Victoria and I stayed behind, silent.
When the pair ran out, Victoria turned to me. “We’re back,” she said.
“Yes.” I had absolutely no enthusiasm in my voice.
She looked puzzled. “Why aren’t you happy? You tried so hard to get us back, and now you aren’t satisfied?”
“We failed,” I whispered.
“We tried,” she corrected. “It just didn’t work out.”
“It’s all my fault!” I sobbed.
“No. Don’t blame yourself. We all tried just as hard as you. We’re all in this together.”
“We’ve lost a Seeker. A valuable friend. A fierce ally. Liam is gone.”
“Good thing, too. He is a traitor.”
“Not helping!” I wailed. “Why don’t you care?”
“I do,” she said quietly. After waiting a moment to let this sink in, she continued, “Look on the bright side. Everyone is back home, and we can continue searching for the life Seeker. And did you see that Fire Cat? Was it Sydney’s? It saved your life!”
“It has done it before, too. But don’t change the subject.” I took a deep breath to calm myself. “I know, you’re right. I shouldn’t get worked up about this. But… I’m worried. Apparently Malistaire has been ruining our lives for a while now, but never like this. He’s always been hidden, not out in the open. The time it was so obvious. He’s getting bolder.”
Victoria sighed. “I don’t think there is any way to get Liam back. I mean, I think it was his destiny. Can you think of any way that his life was affected by dark magic?” I thought, and realized I couldn’t. “This was his way, I believe. This is the way it was meant to be.”
“Well, one thing is for sure.”
“What’s that?” she inquired.
“I swear I will get my revenge on Malistaire one day.”
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