"Brrr!"
Alia said, stepping out into the cold winter air. It was of course winter, and it was the coldest Alia ever experienced. She covered her head with the hood of her light green, warm,fur lined cloak. She ran through Wizard City, thinking all about Winter Break. "No lessons! That means I won't be slowed down in Grizzlehiem!" she thought. She found Sabrina, and they both went off to defeat some Grendel Urchins, just for fun. While they were, Alia chatted with Sabrina.
"What are you doing for Winter break?" Alia asked Sabrina. "Well, I've got to practice Kraken, finish up some gauntlets, and go Christmas shopping. I saw this Amulet on discount at the Bazaar, and Grandma Jadeblossom is going to LOVE it!" she replied. "How about you?" Alia thought for a minute, and finally said," I am going to do shopping as well, do Secret lessons, and (she dodged a Grendel Urchin's attack) farm from Bosses." "Cool," Sabrina said, as they defeated the last Grendel Urchin.
Alia sat on a bench in Ravenwood and wrote in her journal,
Winter break started today. Sabrina and I are going to have so much fun defeating bosses, chatting, and just hanging out! Cody hasn't talked to me since the whole battle thing. But I still hate his guts! It was so rude, what he said to me! He is so-
But Alia heard rustling in the bushes behind her. She slowly turned around and grabbed the spy by his collar.
" Do I REALLY look that dumb to you?" Alia said angrily to Cody Dragonrider, who had such a nervous expression on his face, he broke out in a sweat. "WELL?" Alia asked. Cody stuttered as Alia dropped him back into the bushes, and zapped him with Life Ire. "So, spying, huh? That's new," Alia said. "I wasn't really 'spying'," Cody said. "I was just checking the bush, see?" he said, picking a leaf off of it. Alia gasped and zapped him once more.
"Ow! What was that for?" Cody said. "Don't you know that destroying a plant is an insult to a Life student?" Alia yelled, as she pointed to the bush, which still had a few brown leaves. "How should I know? I'm not a dumb old Thuergist!" Cody said. Alia zapped him once more, and said, "Do NOT insult the magic of Life." She teleported home as Cody said to himself, "Girls. I'll never understand them."
A week later, Alia woke up, put on her glasses, and realized, "Today is Christmas!" She ran downstairs to her festively decorated living room. There were stockings, a Christmas tree, and a small snow globe on top of the table. "Merry Christmas Alia!" Alia's mom said. Alia went down to the living room to open her presents. She got Gravewynd's Earth staff from her dad, a book called The Long battle of Death and Life, and Who's Winning from her mom, and Sean managed to farm Krokopatra enough to get a neat hat! "Thank you all," Alia said, hugging her parents and Sean. "I've gotta go see Professor Ambrose now, so bye!" Alia said, rushing out the door, with her cloak on of course!
"Merry Christmas Headmaster!" Alia said, as she stepped into his warm house. "Merry Christmas Alia!" Professor Ambrose said. "Now, get to the answers," Alia said. "What answers?" the forgetful Headmaster said. "I am so powerful because....." Alia started. "Oh! that jogged my memory," Professor Ambrose said.
"You were destined, remember?"
"Now, why were you so concerned about the locket making kit, and why was Malistaire trying to keep my friends from me?" Alia asked again.
"Both will be answered at the same time," Professor Ambrose said.
"Every single person who has been destined to save us all has had an interest in making things. Things such as bracelets, LOCKETS," he said as he looked at Alia. "Even just crafting! And every item they made was FILLED with very powerful magic, just because of the fact that they created it. And when used by someone other than them, that person would become powerful, too!" "So you're saying," Alia said. "SABRINA is now destined, too?" "Indeed," Professor Ambrose said. But then he got a grim look on his face, and said,
"That is why Malistaire wants to kill Sabrina. She'll be a boost on power for you."
"So that is why I'm giving you THIS for Christmas," he said, handing Alia a green box with a ribbon. Alia opened it, and it was a locket making kit. She looked at Professor Ambrose. "You and Sabrina may be very powerful, but Malistaire is by FAR more powerful," he told Alia. "Well, merry Christmas Headmaster!" Alia said, heading out the door. She knew her first destination: with Sabrina.
"ME?" Sabrina said as her and Alia walked through the freezing streets of Grizzlehiem. "I'M destined too? Just because of this?" she said, pointing to her golden locket, which was covered in frost. Alia nodded. Sabrina paused in her tracks, and then almost fainted, but Alia caught her. "THAT was close!" Alia said. "But, it's just so cool! Does this mean that if we survive, we'll be fighting, possibly even defeating Malistaire SIDE BY SIDE?" Sabrina asked. Alia nodded once more, and Alia then said, "We can't do this alone. We may be powerful, but Malistaire is even MORE powerful. We may need 2 more people." "Well, that's easy!" Sabrina said. "You could just take Sean and," She thought. "And, uh, someone else?" "I KNOW!" Alia said. But we'll focus on that later in the school year, right now I have to give presents to people."
"That reminds me," Alia said. She put her hand inside her cloak pocket, and pulled out a glossy new ring! It had amazing Storm stats on it. She gave it to Sabrina, and Sabrina hugged Alia and said, "In many ways, this has been the best day ever."
After giving away every last present, Alia got an idea. She turned through the pages of the spell book in the Secret School, and found the spell, Sigil Duplication. The description said:
A handy, 1 pip spell that causes there to be another sigil for someone to join in on a battle for the caster's group. Not applicable for arena duels.
Alia knew she could round up more people, and didn't want to admit it, but maybe 2 death students would be useful.
"Huh?" Cody said as he stepped on a package outside of his front door. He opened it, and there was a diamond shaped locket, with a single Obsidian in the middle. A letter inside said:
Dear Cody,
This is your Christmas present. Let's just say, as long as you are wearing this, you will someday be a hero. Trust me on this.
-Alia Lotuspetal, Adept Thuergist
Cody shrugged, put the locket on, and simply walked back inside.
TO BE CONTINUED.......... | 
