Argentum Magia

So here is my story. Read and enjoy...

Chapter One

*Beginning of the Prophecy*

A cloaked figure moved slowly through the forest in The Starvador Pass. A southern area in Grizzleheim. A small baby cradled in his arms. And he knew this baby could stop his wicked plan. And even now, he knew there were people who plotted against him. This group of people called The Guardians. Life, Storm, Fire and Ice. If he faltered, he would fail. And there wasn’t room for failure.

A sudden shape darted out from behind and stunned the man with the death spell Vampire. The baby slipped from the mans arms. The second figure dodged Wraith and caught the baby. He teleported away. But mistakenly leaving some Death Dust. Careless magic would dissolve into your schools fizzle. The man raised his hands and tried to call the baby back. But something was keeping it there. All he could do was scorch the baby’s arm.

The baby was in Olde Town. He smiled. No one would be able to arise the baby’s destiny there. As long as other future Guardians weren’t there.

An owl flew overhead and dropped something down. The man picked it up and saw it was a piece of parchment. He slowly opened it up. It said: I’m sorry. We tried out hardest, but Sylvia is dead.  

                  That was when everything began to go wrong in The Spiral.

The next year, when the baby was just turning one, The Guardians over threw the darkness; Olde Town became part of a Wizarding Community and the capital of the Spiral, Wizard City. And all that aroused a tiny spark in the baby’s soul. Therefore, the link between the man and the baby was reconnected, and the darkness was going to come again.   

The Harp

I wish something would happen to me. I can say those words over and over and always know they will never come true. And my quiet boring life will never change. A cold breeze whipped around me as I wondered the slowly emptying streets of Olde Town. Watching many people making last minute stops at the Bazaar. Everything was like it was yesterday. And the day before that and the day before that. Nothing ever happened. Maybe a Fire Elf or a Rotting Fodder escaped every now and then, but I could kill those with the swipe of my wand.

Bored out of my mind I looked where my location was marked. The Ahnic Family Tomb. I teleported there and looked around. No one here, as usual. I looked to see if any of my friends were around, but none were. Not even my cousin, Katie Summerleaf who was somewhere practically all the time. I walked out of the Ahnic Family Tomb and made my way into the Karanahn Barracks.

No one.

Just to do something to stimulate my brain, I battle Taskmaster Djal. Once I had killed him for about the hundredth time, I saw I did not get xp or cloths or gold. I got a furniture item. A harp. And cleverly crafted one at that. Then an invisible clock went DONG ten times. I had to be home now. No matter what I wanted to do. I teleported home and set the mysterious harp on the floor.        

And I stared at the harp. Observing it. Something odd seemed to surround it. It was sitting calmly in the middle of my floor. The golden neck was shaped like a serpent wound about a bowl. I gingerly picked it up and set it on my knee. I pulled a string and it made a clear precise note that felt like the beginning of a song about dreams.

                   I pulled up a chair and sat down with the harp on my lap. I placed both hands on the strings and walked them up. It was a beautiful sound.

                  “Young Emma Dawnrider come down for dinner or your pasta will be cold!” That would be my mother. Joanna Windblazer. She is a Fire Wizard like my dad, Caleb Firecrafter and done with school. I am a Storm Wizard level 19. Most of my life is boring. Wake up, go to school, go to secondary school, work on quests, come home for lunch, work on more quests, come home for dinner and go to bed. That’s it. Every single day. But I usually have a lot of fun when I get to hang out with my three best friends Emily Goldflame a Fire Wizard level 18, Sabrina Moonflower a Life Wizard level 23, and Vanessa Icegem an Ice Wizard level 18.

                  We help each other out with quests all the time. That is almost the only excitement in my life other than gaining a level and becoming more powerful. Emily and Vanessa are working on the Krokosphinx, I’m half way through The Well of Spirits (which are both in the world of Krokotopia), and Sabrina is in Marlybone! So the rest of us make her stay back and help us. I have to wait until Emily and Vanessa get to the Well of Spirits and Sabrina has to wait until all of us get the Hyde Park that is the first place in Marlybone.      

                  “Emma!”

                  “Sorry, coming!” I call back.

                  I place the harp back on the floor and stumble down the stairs into the dining room. Steaming pasta in a ceramic bowl with butter slowly melting on it is waiting for me.

                  “What were you doing up there that took you so long?” questioned my mother.

                   “Thinking about stuff.”

                  “Oh? Then what was that tune I heard up there then?”

                  “Uh, I got a harp from a quest so I was trying it out.” May as well tell her. Can’t hide something forever with a mom like mine.

                  “Where’s dad?” I asked before my mom could say more on the topic.

                  “Working late. Now eat your dinner.” When mom didn’t linger on a subject, it meant it was over. So I didn’t ask any more questions. I just quietly ate my supper without even mumbling a word.

***

                  The next day, I got up to a continuingly pulsing blue glow. I struggled to wake up to see what was causing it.

                  It was the harp.

                  I went over and picked it up. It continued to glow. What was this? I looked to see if Emily was up, she was my closest friend. Yes, she was.

                  Emily? Teleport quickly and quietly. I need your help. I Wind Spoke her. Wind Speaking is when one wizard can talk to another wizard from any distance. But the conversation can only go on between the 2 wizards.

                  Now?

                  Yes. It’s an emergency. Well, not really. But you’re my only friend up right now.

                  Silence. What she doing?

                  I spun around at the sound of a crack like pop. Emily stood there. “Yes?”

                  I lifted the harp up to chest level. “What do you think it means?” I asked.

                  “As in, like it’s a sign or something?”

                  “I guess so. I don’t really know.” Emily continued to stare at the harp thoughtfully.

                  Before I could say anything more, black rope shot out from nowhere, binding Emily and me tightly. I tried to call out, but the rope covered my mouth. It was like a silent snake, it made no noise. Not even when I fell from it raping around my knees. I didn’t have my wand or my spell cards. No weapon at all. Maybe I could bite through? Only then did I realize the rope was not rope at all, but magic.

                  I looked helplessly at Emily. She looked back just as helpless.

                  Soon, the black rope was all over me and so tight I could barley breath. I could see nothing. Touch nothing. Hear nothing.

                  My brain seemed to be going fuzzy. Coved like I was. I could not think of a way to escape.

                  All seemed lost. But hope still lingered.

Chapter Two

Discoveries

It was the harp. It was the harp that saved us. Emily and I. Almost like it had its own mind.

This may sound strange, but it more like ‘played’ us out of the rope/magic. As in, music. The melody was quite pretty, but, deadly at the same time. The rope was loosening and starting to retract.

When it was gone, Emily burst out: “What was that!?” Like she had the question the whole time. I was thinking the same thing. What exactly was the black rope/magic? It had to be death magic because it was the only school with black magic.

“Let’s not tell our parents about this ok?” I said to her.  

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want it going around. We can tell Vanessa and Sabrina but not our parents.”

“Sounds good to me.”

My alarm went off. Emily and me smiled at each other. “Well, see ya in school,” Emily said still grinning.

“Yea, see ya.” Emily teleported away. I went to my wardrobe and shuffled through my clothes until I finally pulled out my Tunic of Leverage, Interesting Foot wraps and my Hat of Mutiny. I looked in the mirror to make sure I looked all right, grabbed my Staff of First Dawn and hurried downstairs for breakfast. 

“Well, look who’s finally up,” commented my mom.

“Good morning.”

“Would you like anything on your toast? Butter? Jam?”

“Uh, jam and butter if I can.”

“Alright then.”

The Fire Cat, that mom had been cooking the toast on, meowed. Telling us that it was done. Mom went over and dismissed the cat. She got out a jar of jam and a tub of butter. She set it out on a plate on front of me.

Yo Emma! Emily jus told me! How awful! It was Sabrina Wind Speaking me.

I know! Terrible! I really don’t know-

“Emma! No Wind Speaking during breakfast along with lunch and dinner. You can talk with Sabrina later.”

Darn it. Merle said that any parent could know when and who your child is Wind Speaking to any time of day. But thank Bartleby she doesn’t know what we’re talking about.

“Yes mother,” I said in a mimicking voice. 

As soon as I finished my toast, the school bell rang. I grabbed my stuff and teleported to the Commons and got shuffled into the crowd going into Ravenwood. You wouldn’t ever think so many kids came here. Not to mention the death kids going into Nightside and the balance kids going to the Krokosphinx and Author Wethersfield.

I spotted my cousin, Katie Summerleaf, wandering just past the Storm School doors on her way to the Fire School.

“Hello,” she said happily when she saw me. She continued walking. She is really high level. Level 49 I think. Almost to be a Grandmaster.

“Hi,” I had to yell after her.

The storm school doors opened with a creek. “Welcome young students!” Professor Halston Balestorm said with his usual big grin.

                   Most wizards said hello in return. I took my seat in the back and emptied my book bag into my desk.

                  “Now, wizards, I would like you to turn to page 157 in your Storm History books please.” We all did as we were told.

                  “Now, before we begin our reading, would anyone like to summarize the procedure for casting a Thermic Shield?”

                  Alexandra Stormrider raised her hand almost at once. She was the top student in our class. “Yes, Alex?”

                  “You form the Storm Symbol and think about protection in your attack category. Fire and Ice. This spell costs no pips so it takes no Mana and is an easy spell to cast.”

                  “Very good, very good. Now, 5 xp to whoever tells me the places in Krokotopia that requires or would be useful for this shield.”

                  No one raised his or her hand. Not even Alex. I knew. I had been there a used the shield TONS of times. So I raised mine.

                  “Yes Emma?”

                  “The Pyramid of the Sun and The Great Krokosphinx.”

                  “Good job. 5 xp.” When I had first started school, I hadn’t known how wanted xp was. Xp was what you gain. It is short for experience. Each level requires a certain amount of xp before you move on. It hadn’t seemed that important at first, but now, even when you got the chance to gain just a little xp, you went for it even if it cost you defeat. Or even if you embarrassed yourself in school.

                     Storm school went on for an hour and we got our homework just as the bell rang again. Everyone then headed off to secondary classes. That would be life for me. Here, you get to see many different kinds of wizards. I think there are 1 or 2 Death Wizards in life class.

                  I walk up to the second row of desks and sit down next to Vanessa.                 

“Hello.”

                  “Hi.” I have to say that in secondary classes, you don’t really have to pay attention. It’s not your school; it’s more like your choice of a second school to learn other wizard’s spells and to bond better when you come across someone in the same secondary school on in that school.

                  At least that’s what I think; I don’t know what other wizards think. 

                  I reach into my bag and pull out a scrap of parchment and scribble down what happened last night. I slip it over to Vanessa.

                  A few minutes later she slips it back to me.

‘Let’s Wind Speak,’ it says.

All right then.

Have you figured out what the black stuff was?

If I had, I would have told you smart one.

 Dose Emily and Sabrina know?

Emily was there. She told Sabrina. I thought you should know.

Should I tell someone? Like the Headmaster or a teacher.

No. Do not tell anyone. If anyone knows, the whole Spiral will flip.

Ok. What should we do?

Go one with our lives. But don’t forget the incident. It could be important later on.

What makes you think that?

Well, I won this harp from a creature I battled, and it almost seems, you know, magical. Like not an ordinary harp.

Can I see it?

Sure. But after school. We can bring Emily and Sabrina too.

Ok.

Ok.

See how useful Wind Speaking can be? And you don’t even get in trouble.

At the time, I was not thinking that the harp had any importance, how wrong I was.  

Chapter Three

Stormhagen

So after school,                   Vanessa followed me home and Emily and Sabrina teleported. Emily had already seen the harp, so I was more talking to Vanessa and Sabrina.  

                  “That’s terrible!” Sabrina exclaimed when I was done.

                  “What about the part with the harp being a ‘sign’?” Vanessa asked.

                  “Well, that was just a random guess on my part,” explained Emily.

                  “An educated guess,” I corrected.

                  “Could you play a song on it? To see if you get the same feeling you did last night,” suggested Sabrina.

                  “I never played it. But the simple exercise was magical enough to tell me it wasn’t ordinary.”

                  “Then do something like that.”

I went over to my desk and picked it up. I could feel this song in me. Like it needed to escape through my fingers. I sat down in the same chair I had before and gently placed my hands on the harp. The song was sad. Lonely. One in solitude.

                  The notes almost seemed to say:

Lonely one. No one cares. No one knows you.

You are alone. You have no light. You are no one.

You have no existence.

                  Sabrina was almost crying when I finished. I don’t know why I played that sad tune. Maybe because I felt sad. Though I couldn’t tell if I was. 

                  “Don’t you think you could play something happy?” asked a frowning Vanessa.

                  I shook my head. “It is what my fingers played. Almost like I had no say in it.”

                  An expression of confusion passed Vanessa’s face. “What do you mean?”

                  “Like, I played what I felt. Now you can’t really control how you feel, so what I played was uncontrollable.”    

                  Sadly, I didn’t know what I played could control someone if I wanted to. Soon, I would find out. When I had to save Stormhagen from its curse.

***

                  Its has been about two weeks since the black rope/magic. And I leveled up two times. So now I’m level 21. I accidently walked into the portal to the Well of Spirits one-day dreaming about Stormhagen. I so longed to go there.

Stormhagen is a place that only Grandmaster Wizards or very special wizards could go to. It was all about storm, so many Storm Wizards would try to get there.

                  I know the way to get there is off Krokotopia because I’ve seen so many Grandmaster wizards go there and I know that it would otherwise be totally useless to them. I have searched through and through that place and cant find it.

                  So I had just gone through the portal to the Well of Spirits and I saw this level 50 Grand Master Storm Wizard go behind the Tomb of Storms. I was curious, so I followed.

                  They go down this staircase into the ground and there’s this door with a bunch on runes on it. The wizard traces with their finger the pattern of the crane, which is the 3^rd row from the bottom and the 5^th from the end. It pulses a purple light and then fades.

                  The door opens. I try to slip in, but the door closes quickly.

                  Good thing I remember what the rune was to get in. I slowly trace the crane and the door opens for me. I go in.

                  Behind the door is a long hallway and wooden doors on the walls. Maybe 10 all the way down.

                  As I walk past the doors, looking for the wizard I was following, I notice that the doors have labels.

                  Arena, Kitchen, Quests, Hang Out and a bunch of others. I go in the Arena one.

                  It is PACKED in there. I didn’t know how many wizards come down here. There is this dueling circle and a 4v4 match was going on. There was a bunch of cheering and yelling.

                  The duel seemed to be Myth against Storm because one side was dressed in yellow and blue and the other dressed in all purple and yellow. I cheer a couple times for the storm side and then think of something.

                  No one seems to notice me and a bunch of teleportation is going on. Maybe I could invite my friends.

                  Sabrina Port!

                  Vanessa Port!

                  Emily Port!

                  They all do.

                  “Where are we?” asks Emily.

                  “Stormhagen,” I answer. Her eyes bug out and her mouth opens.

                  “No way!”

                  “Yes way,” I say back. Emily’s mouth didn’t close, so Sabrina shut it for her.  

                  We spent the rest of the day in Stormhagen. I never thought this place was sooo cool. We actually got to be in a duel. And our side won. We then went to the kitchen and got something to eat before going into the Quests room.

                  At first we were afraid that someone would see that we were low levels and throw us out. But nobody did.

                  After awhile we went back to the Arena to see who was battling now. It was a 1v1 match. A girl who was Life and a boy who was Death. 

                  “This place is so cool,” Vanessa whispered.

                  “Totally,” agreed Sabrina.

                  After a few turns, we noticed something odd. The Death Wizard wasn’t casting any spells. He was just passing and passing and passing. He had so many pips how could he not cast a spell? 

                  My friends noticed it too and Emily asked, “Why isn’t he doing anything?” No need to ask who ‘he’ was.

                  “No idea,” I say back.

                  Emily looked back at the wizard.  When the Life Wizard saw that the Death Student was no extreme threat, they started to merely pass and heal and pass, simple attack, pass. This continued on both sides until they could do anymore passing because both had all the pips you can get.

                  The Death Wizard was casting a spell. A Death spell. Surprise, surprise. But it wasn’t any Death spell. It was one I had never seen before. When he finished casting it, the whole room rumbled. Shaking so hard everyone fell to the ground.

                  Then, it all stopped. The noise. The rumbling. I thought it was good sign. So did many others. Good thing Vanessa hadn’t lost her head.

                  “Uh, Emma. Do feel something?” I physically tried to do what she meant but couldn’t.

                  “No. Why?”

                  “Not physically. Mentally.” I felt it. A small tingling in the back of my skull.

                  “Yeah. I feel something too,” murmured Sabrina.

                  “Me too,” commented Emily.

                  “What is it?” I asked. Vanessa shrugged.

                  I looked at my Mana globe to see if there was any left to mark my location. The sphere, that usually had at least a little blue liquid in it, was empty.

                  All of a sudden, a loud, high-pitched wail sounded. I seemed to come from the ground. It sounded far away, but coming closer.

                  “Oh my sweet wand maker,” whispered Sabrina.

                  The other wizards around us were already running out the door and teleporting away.

                  We tried, but nobody had any mana left from the mysterious death spell.

                  “Guess we have to do it the old fashion way then huh?” joked Emily.         

                  “Are you mad!? How can you joke at a time like now!?” roared Vanessa.

                  “Hey, just trying to lift some spirits now that’s all…”

                  “That’s all? Really?”

                  “Ah, guys? Is this really the time to fight?” piped in Sabrina.

                  “Oh, yeah. Sorry,” said Emily and Vanessa guiltily.

                  “C’mon,” I said. But as we turned to go out the door, it collapsed and us with it. We were trapped. Along with the dueling life girl, some terrified Myth and Balance students and a Death girl who, unnervingly, seemed calm.

The death kid seemed to have already left.

                  This may sound random, but I felt a song in me again. Not happy song. Not a sad song. But a song of anger and killing.  

                  I reached for my backpack and pulled out my harp. I kept in there because I still had nowhere to put it in my room. I sat down again crossed legged on the floor and began to play.

                  Once again, the notes seemed to speak.

This is a time of war and sorrow. But one is still not pleased.

He is someone who has no life. Living off the others he cheats.

The buildings collapse and the people scream. Nothing can be fixed with magic.

This is a time of war and sorrow. But one is still not pleased.

May he live the life of the short?

   This is not for us to decide. May the way out be shone and the way in be blocked.

                   The last line, I have no idea where that came from. Maybe because we needed a way out and this place was evil and need be no more. But all the same, a great wind surrounded all that were in the room and when it went away, we were standing in the Oasis safe and sound.

Chapter Four

The First Guardian

                  One week later, everyone who had been in Stormhagen during the incident was in the Headmaster’s Tower. There were so many people; it felt like the walls would burst. People shoving and being shoved up against the walls.

                    I tried to keep track of Emily, Vanessa and Sabrina, but I lost them with all the hustling and bustling.

                  “Silence!!!” yelled Merle. Everyone immediately stopped what they were to doing and looked in his direction.

                  “As said, there was a coincidence at Stormhagen last week. I greatly appreciate the wizard who informed me of this problem. However, we are still in research of who caused all this-,”

                  “It was Malistaire of course!” someone yelled out.

                  “NO!” said someone else. “It was that Death Wizard dueling. He cast a strange Death Spell and it did something.” Only then did I realize it was Emily who had spoken up.

                  “Way to go Em!” I whispered.

                  “We all know that whoever did it was no friend of ours and-,”

                  “No! I knew that Death Wizard when I was little. His name is Wolf Deathblood. He is a level 47 and lives alone!”

                  “And who knows this?” asked the Headmaster. Oddly, he seemed stunned. And worried. Strange.

                  “Me,” said the wizard and another Death Wizard, a girl, stepped up. She looked about a year or two older than me, and a really high level. Right! She had also been in the room when I played the harp.

                  “Ah, Lila Blackcrafter. You of all people would know him.” Her family and Wolf’s family had been enemies forever. Why would she take the time to memorize every bit of basic information about someone you hate?

                  “And is there anyone else here who knows this Wolf?”

                  “That girl who was dueling him did!”

                  “And about the girl?”

                  “A Life Wizard. Alia Lotuspetal. Level 42. They’ve wanted a face off since level three!” someone explained. There was some murmuring in the back, a girl was pushed forward dressed all in green. Alia maybe? The headmaster ignored her.  

                  “And then he unexpectedly did this unknown spell?” Everyone nodded.  “Can anyone tell me what the spell was?” questioned the Headmaster. No one answered. Then I had an idea.

                  “I don’t think it was any class spell. I pretty sure it was a specialty spell. It didn’t do damage, but made a noise that drained our Mana and made spells useless.”

                  “And who thinks this?”

                  I hadn’t thought I was going to be asked my name and all. “Ah, Emma Dawnrider.”

                  “Come up.”

                  I didn’t want to. I really didn’t want to. But I had to. Ugh. I slowly walked through the crowd. Before I got to the front, one of the wizards who had been trapped in the room with me called out. “Hey! You’re the girl who played the harp and got us out!” I was sooo busted.

                  “Emma Dawnrider? You have the harp of Taskmaster Djal?” asked the Headmaster suspiciously. Great. He knew about the harp.

                  “Ah. I do. Why? Is that so bad?” I asked back.

                  “No, no, it’s just-,”

                  “Really?! She got it!? Lucky!”

                  “I tried for it like a billion times and failed! And I’m a Grandmaster!”

                  “What? Did she cheat or something!?”

                  “Quiet, quiet everyone settle down. Taskmaster Djal was the last Guardian of the Amethyst, or a Guardian of Storm. But is kind turned evil when they used the Manders kindness against them. The harp was the only thing that kept him from going completely mad. He wanted to be rid of it. He wanted to be evil. But he also wanted the tradition of Guardians to continue,” explained the Headmaster. “So he waited 100’s of years until he found another of Guardian blood. There can only be four Guardians at a time. All the other Guardians with Djal had died.”

                  “So, I’m related to someone who was a guardian I guess.”

                  “Correct.” I looked down. And my parents couldn’t have said this in any way?

                  It seemed Merle could read my thoughts. Because he said, “You are living with foster parents. We thought it best you not grow up around all this ‘Guardian’ stuff. You needed to start a normal life and grow into the fact you’re a Guardian. But when you discovered the secret passage to Stormhagen and the boy did that spell, it brought it on all too quickly. More quickly than I expected.”

                  I looked around at the curious faces. Everyone in the room was staring at me. I felt small. I wanted to disappear. Merle smiled at me. “You must be over whelmed. Come to the Spiral Map Room and we’ll talk there.” I followed him into the Spiral Map room.

                  “You Emma Dawnrider have known to be of Guardian blood from the first day of school. Power simply collected around you. Not only Storm Power, but also other powers as well. Mostly fire, ice, and life. I never found out the other Guardians, but I know what school they are in. Storm, that’s you, Fire, Life, and Ice.” He looked as me. “The same schools that like to collect around you the most.”

                  “How did you know? Or, how did you find out?” I asked.

                  “Well, I’m the Headmaster aren’t I? So to put, I get certain, privileges.” Merle chuckled.  “But, one thing I do not have is the authority over the wizards of Ravenwood. I gave them permission to do as they please as long as it not harmful.”

                  “That Wolf dude back in Stormhagen certainly did something harmful! And I’m certainly suspicious of that other death girl, Lila or whatever. You mentioned that their families had been enemies for a long time. And well, she seemed to know every detail about him. Why is that?”

                  “Well, that is one thing I can’t explain.”   

                  Oh joy, I thought. “So, are you gonna make look for the other Guardians or something?” I knew the answer.

                  “Yes.”   

                  “Wonderful,” I said sarcastically. “How do I find them?”

                  “The prophecy says that they will, lets say, be able to, no, no. They can, no. They have more power. And they will use it unexpectedly like you did in Stormhagen. But first I want you to do something else. Find the monster that has been awoken and fight him. Don’t kill him. We might get answers out of his mouth.”

                  I shuddered. “And exactly how big is his mouth and depending on that, how many answers will we get out of him?” Merle laughed. I also did one half-heartedly. “Can I bring friends?” I added.

                  “If they are willing to go.”

                  Goody. “I think we are now done here,” the Headmaster said and got up. I stood up too and walked over to the door. Almost everyone was gone. Except for Emily, Vanessa, Sabrina (of course), Alia Lotuspetal and Lila Blackcrafter.

                  Emily ran to me first and inquisitively swamped me in questions. “What did you talk about? What now? Why did you go in? What about the Guardian stuff? Should you tell your parents? What about Katie? Where-”

                  “Oh letter her breath already,” snapped Lila, obviously annoyed.

                  “Mind your own business,” Emily snapped right back. A small black fire erupted beside Emily, but she ignored it. Lila growled.

                  “Now, now Lila. Don’t play mean. You are actually part of this now anyway. That information you said I am sure made us all suspicious. But for now lets all consult the Taskmaster,” the Headmaster said. He waved his wand and a Krok, or the Taskmaster Djal, appeared. I shuddered, remember how I had to fight him four times to beat him for the quest. But I hadn’t learned about the stuff clothes give you and was only a level 18. Though there is not much of a difference between level 18 and level 21. But I can proudly say I practically finished, I’m not done, Krokotopia with 800 something health. Though now I have like 1,000 something. Maybe 1,036.

                  “Taskmaster, do you remember giving the harp,” he signaled me to take it out. I did. “To Emma Dawnrider?”

                  “I do remember you. You had that ‘Guardian thing’ around you when I saw you. Power collected around you.” Hadn’t Merle just said that? “But I always forgot to give it to you. You have much power about you and you will have a great effect in the history of the Spiral,” answered the Taskmaster.

                  “Ah, tha-” I was cut short by a loud crack.

                  “Is that so?” said a low, menacing voice. There was a flash of bright light and dust filled the room. There was something like a battle cry, the Taskmaster maybe? There was momentary blackness. A thump, a scream, and everything was simply dusty again. There was a lot of coughing.

                  “What was that?” wondered Sabrina.

                  “Ask that again when someone has an answer,” mumbled Emily.

                  “That man, Malistaire sure had a lot of nerve coming up here,” said the Headmaster. He did a small spell that illuminated the room dimly and the dust cleared.

                  Vanessa was the first to see it. She let out a loud gasp. Sabrina turned and saw it too. She let out a startled cry. I think Alia fainted, but I was too stunned myself to notice.

                  The Taskmaster Djal lay dead upon the floor, and Lila Blackcrafter was missing.

Chapter Five

Memories

I shuddered out a sob. I didn’t know why I was crying, but I was. Hot tears slowly trickled down my face.

                  Emily came over and patted my back. I guess she knew how important the Taskmaster had been to me. He had been the last Storm Guardian.

                  “Wellllll, this is awkward,” said Vanessa.

                  Sabrina scowled at her and  went over to help Alia up. I expected her to have burst out with millions of questions, but she strangely remained silent. I wonder why?

                  Emma.

                  I gasped and spun around, searching for the voice.

                  “You ok?” asked Emily.

                  “Did you hear that?” I asked.

                  “Hear what?” Vanessa wandered over.

                  “That voice. It was wispy. Like the wind,” I described. It wasn’t Wind Speaking, which was clearer; it rang in you head like a bell. But this was definitely more like wind, it was really soft.

                  Emma. Do you hear me?

                  Not knowing what else to do, I said aloud, “I can hear you.” Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. An image started to solidify in front of me, just past Vanessa. It was still transparent when it finished, but now I could tell who it was. “D-D-Djal?” I asked.

                  Yes Emma. I can now talk to you whenever I want.                  

                  “B-but-”

                  “Who you talking to Emma?” asked Sabrina who had also now wandered over.

                  “The Taskmaster.” I pointed to where he stood.

                  “There‘s no one there,” Sabrina said, squinting.

                  I am only visible to you Emma. As being awakened you received a second gift. You can see and talk to ghosts. Like me for example.

                  I only stared at him. “So could I, like, talk to other ghosts?”

                  Yes. Any ghost you want. Just call them.

                  “Emma?” asked Emily.                 

So I thought over and over in my mind, Sylvia Drake. Sylvia Drake. Another image began to dissolve next to Djal.  

                  Emma! I thought you would never call.

                  “You knew?” Now I was completely ignoring the desperate calls from my friends.

                  I always knew you were a Guardian. And I had a very large hunch you would talk to ghosts. So I guess the best way to talk about this is to explain my life to you. As you know, I am married to Malistaire. But what you don’t know is that we had 2 children. The first is Wolf. The same one who cast that spell. He was, a strange child when he was young. Too much power as some would say. We wanted to keep him confined. Afraid that he would hurt someone. We thought he was a Guardian with all that power. We didn’t know, but he would sneak out and do quests and level up. One day, he met someone. A girl. Named Alia Lotuspetal. They started meeting and doing quests and hanging out a lot. But, you see, Alia had a problem. An out world problem. She was ‘dumb’. Or she couldn’t talk. So they only way was through Wind Speaking. Malistaire and me found out, and we let him. With out us knowing he had mastered his power. We became curious about the Guardians history from a book we once read. So we thought that with all his power he was a Guardian. But when we talked to the headmaster and asked about the Guardian thing, turned out he wasn’t. Malistaire was very mad and sad. He really wanted his son to be Guardian. But I got sick. Just before I died, Wolf whispered in my ear, “Everything will be alright.” And I believed him.  

                  “And the second child?” I asked.

                  Ah, well. That child we think is what got me sick. I died 2 weeks after giving birth. I never knew my her well enough. And I never got to come here and find out because no one could talk to ghosts. But Merle let we see threw an Orb that was connected to the Other World. I never found my child, so I picked someone who was most like them. You. I saw you everyday and looked out for you.

                  So that was why when I was fighting Biti Nirini and was about to die that all his spells kept fizzling. When a large rock almost crushed me it stopped in mid air and continues to hang there. When all my potion bottles ran out in a dungeon they oddly filled back up. That had been Sylvia.

                  Wait. If she was looking after me then… “Did you play me and my Emily out of the Black Rope?”

Yes.

Wow. “What happened after you died?”

I don't know.  But what I do know is that Malistaire got mad. In protection of the newborn baby, Wolf took him to the Headmaster. He gave them to a foster family. Wolf is the only one who knows who that child is. Malistaire might, but I doubt it. I would guess Alia would know, but she can’t talk. You’d have to ask Wolf.

                  So Alia couldn’t talk. So that’s why she was so quiet. “And where’s he?” I asked.

                  Her face pained. With the monster in Stormhagen. But I don’t think he meant the monster to do harm. But I don’t know.

                  She faded away. And the Taskmaster was gone. “I have to go.”

                  “Where?” asked Emily.

                  “Back to Stormhagen. I have to fight that monster and find Wolf.”

                  “Then I’m coming. You need a healer anyway,” Sabrina said. Well, I guess I did need a healer, just as long as no one else wanted to-

                  “And I just learned a new spell. And I want to come,” Vanessa piped in.

                  “And I’m coming no matter what. So don’t talk back to me or I will stalk you,” Emily said hotly.

                  I smiled. “Well, that was easier done than said. May as well fill up the dueling circle.”

                  “The rune to get into Stormhagen is-” started the Headmaster.

                  “The crane.” The headmaster nodded. We all teleported away.

***

                  “Wow,” Sabrina yelled. The whole place was wrecked. We didn’t even need to trace the crane rune to get in. The place was destroyed.

                  “Well this is odd,” Emily observed. “The monster must’ve escaped because I don’t think the whole place would cave in on the top if the thing was on the bottom. I mean, common sense people.”

                  “You are most certainly right,” agreed Vanessa.

                  Emily looked at her curiously. But with a more accusing look to it. “I can’t tell whether or not you’re mocking me.”

                  “Well I guess you will never know if you don’t already,” Vanessa replied without looking at her.

                  “By that tone and answer I think your mocking me.”

                  Vanessa shrugged. Emily scowled at her. “Come on you guys,” Sabrina said. “We really don’t need all the bickering going on. At least for now.”

                  “Wait. So I can bicker at Vanessa all I want after this?” asked Emily. Sabrina shrugged like she didn’t care, which I don't think she did. We walked into the once grand hallway that led off to all the other rooms. Thankfully the blazers, that cast a purple glow all around and every now and then spurted lightning, were magic and didn’t go out when everything collapsed. Even ones tipped over or up-side-down still cast a faint glow.  

                  A sudden wailing sound made us all stop in our tracks. “What was that?” asked Emily.

                  “I don't know but I think it might be monster,” I said.                  

                  “Ok, experiment, ready!” cried Vanessa aloud. We had all come in with all our potion bottles filled. Slowly, our mana began to drop. Slowly at first, but more rapidly as the wailing continued. Sabrina was last to drop since she had the most mana. We then drank one potion and our mana filled back up. The wailing continued but our mana stayed the same. We each tried a small spell like Lightning Bats for me and a Phoenix for Emily. Vanessa did Ice Serpent and it may as well have broken its teeth on the boulder had it not been magic. Sabrina tried a secondary spell, Ghoul. It sprang up out of the ground and took life from a rock, (the rock disintegrated), and gave her. . . nothing!?

                  “Well I’m glad we tried this,” I said. “We now know that spells that take life from something and give some of it to you don't work down here.”

                  “No. Its just that it tried to take life from a lifeless thing,” Vanessa explained.

                  “Whatever.”

                  “What about healing spells? They give you health too. Should we try those?” wondered Emily aloud.

                  “What's the harm? We should know anyway,” piped up Vanessa. What a rare occasion that Vanessa agreed with Emily. So we each tried a Pixie, Sabrina a Sprite and they healed absolutely fine.

                  “Dang it,” muttered Sabrina.

                  “What?” asked Emily. Vanessa smirked.

                  I giggled a little. “Now Sabrina will be healed three times over the span of an hour and a half.” Sabrina scowled a little. Emily did a little “oh” to show she understood.                     

                  “Come on,” I said still grinning. The wailing had stopped now, so it was very quiet. The only sound was our footsteps echoing off the cavern walls. Suddenly Emily, who was in the front, stopped.

                  “Keep moving!” Vanessa said annoyingly.

                  “I can’t.”

                  “What do you mean you can’t? Just walk!”

                  Emily turned and glared at Vanessa with such fire that even I went still. Vanessa looked liked she’d melted. “When I say I can’t, I can’t. So shut up,” Emily said through clenched teeth.

                  Vanessa paused, unsure of what to do. “Let me try,” was all she said. She walked up, but stopped. She pushed and shoved at an invisible barrier. 

                  “Uh, Emma? Remember playing the harp in that room?” asked Sabrina. She pointed at the wreaked dueling room. I nodded. “Well, you remember that last line you played?” I nodded again. she looked at me with the you-still-don’t-know-what-I’m-getting-at look.

                  “Oh yeah!” said Emily. “The last line said ‘May the way out be shown and the way in be blocked’. So we cant get past this point I guess.”    

                  “Oh. Oops,” I said.

                  “See if you can play the harp and undo the block,” suggested Vanessa.

                  So, once again I took out the harp and set it on my knee and played. I played nothing in particular. Wasn’t even sure what I was playing. No words came and the invisible block didn’t go away. “No, no, no, no, no. Play it with feeling,” urged Sabrina. I played again.

                  Nothing.

                  “Save me the misery, could we try going around?” asked Emily.

                  “If I‘m thinking right, the Block goes all the way around,” answered Sabrina.

                  “No wait! Maybe the harp magic isn’t meant to ‘undo’ things. Maybe in can only ‘do’ or ‘fix’ things,” said Vanessa. We all looked at her. She looked right back at us. “Why are you all looking at me like I just grew four heads, a spiky tail and am breathing fire?”

                  “I don’t know, maybe because that’s the only smart thing you’ve ever said as long as you’ve lived,” suggested Sabrina.

                  “May as well try it. I mean, does anyone else have any smart suggestions?” I asked. No one said anything. So I placed the hard back on my knee and played.

                  And like magic, I think it is magic anyway, the melody spoke:

The way is blocked

We can’t get in

It is urgent

Please remove the block so we may fix what has been done

The way there be shown

                  Well that did it. And more. Not only was the block gone, but also now a path of gold glowed like fire showing our way to where ever we were going.

                  Vanessa patted me on the back. “Nice one!”

                  “Thanks.”

                  We started walking down the golden road. It looked like the gold was more like a brick pattern. Sabrina started singing in a little fake baby voice. “Follow the yellow brick road. Follow the yellow brick road. Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road. If ever the wizard of wiz there was the Wizard of Oz is one because, because, because, because, because of the wonderful things he does. We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!” She stopped walking and looked at us. We too, had stopped walking. “What?” she asked.

                  “What kind of a song is that?” asked Emily with complete burlesque.

                  She looked thoughtful. “You know, I really don't know. It’s like a memory. A very far off one. Of my mom, singing to me.”

                  “Wow. My mom never sang to me,” commented Vanessa sadly. “She only whispered encouraging statements. It got so annoying, I nearly froze her with ice. That’s how they found out I was an Ice Wizard.”

                  “And that’s how your mother stopped whispering to you,” Emily joked. We all smiled. Even Vanessa. Leave it to Emily to turn a sad situation that was going downhill, and bring a happy and light atmosphere to it. We continued down the road. With the extra light the golden road gave, I could see more clearly now the different designs on the wall.

                  “Hey Emma?” asked Sabrina. Who had stopped at a particular picture.

                  I walked over. “Yeah?”

                  “Isn’t that you?” I looked closely. It was of a girl dressed all in purple with yellow trim. The clothes had small symbols on them of a swirl then a lightning bolt. She was spreading black wings behind her. Her head thrown back as if looking up to the sky, searching for some unknown object. The sun behind her was beginning to set, or was it rising? I couldn’t tell. Three streaks of light burst from behind her in different directions. When they finally exited the scene, the ended in three other symbols.

One was of three leaves, pointed, which curved down in to a spiral, which was also green. A circle with two lines criss-crossing and then curling at the end, was blue. It also had four dots inside the circle between the lines. And last was a flame, one side curved out and one side more straight, like a D, was red. It also had a line that curled zoomed right across. All three symbols seemed to glow. A ora about them made them more than just paint on the wall.

They were magic.

Stepping back a little to take in the whole thing, I saw one more symbol. Like the symbol on the girl’s cloths, a giant spiral with a lightning bolt at the end peeked out at different points behind the picture. It would have been totally invisible had it not been-

“Rotating!?” Emily burst out.

Indeed, it was rotating. “I wonder if anyone else has been down here? We are pretty deep,” Vanessa suggested.

“But that can’t be me,” I said.

“Yes Emma, it’s you,” Sabrina urged.

“NO! It just can’t. This had to have been painted over a hundred years ago! I wasn’t even born then.”

                  “Some people are born with the gift of foresight,” Emily threw in.

                  “But it can’t.”

                  “Yes Emma. Accept the fact. That’s you,” Sabrina was shaking me now. Obviously desperate.

                  Suddenly, Emily came barging over. She grabbed my face and looked into my eyes. “What are you doing?” I asked.

                  She let go without a word and stomped back over to the painting. She stared closely at the persons face. “It’s you,” she at last.

                  I groaned. “How!?”

                  “You have the same eyes. Emma, your eyes are blue and a deep shade of purple. Very close colors, not many people notice. The girl in the image as blue and deep purple eyes too.”

                  I smirked. “And what about my scare?” I had a mysterious scorch mark on my arm. Like it had been burned. But it hadn’t been burned with ordinary fire, it was black fire. It wasn’t well known then, but almost everyone knows about it today.

                  Emily looked. “Yep, that’s there too.”

                  I went over and examined. “Fine. I give in,” I finally said. Sabrina smiled, a smile of relief. We continued on our way. But we just couldn’t tear our eyes away from the pictures that continued. There were hundreds of them!

                  And they weren’t only of me. They were of past people too. Like there was this one picture of a Krok. He was wearing a purple uniform of Krokapatra’s personal guard. The Taskmaster. My eyes got blurry the longer I looked at him. Emily finally pulled my sleeve and me away from him.

But what stunned all of us most was this one painting. It took up almost all of the wall from floor to ceiling. It was of a dueling circle. Four against one. One of them was the Taskmaster, (on the foursome side). Another was a gobbler. Still its sickly green, but you clearly tell this one was different. This one you could some how tell was not trained in Balance magic, but in Ice magic. We puzzled over that for a while. The next person, (or thing I should say), was a Mander. It was his turn and you could make out the faint outline of a Fire spell. His skin was the salmon orange all Fire Manders usually have.

But the last creature was what really stunned us.

It was a human girl.

Ding! Swish. Sabrina ‘heal over time’ spell went off. We all looked at her, then back at the picture.

She was dressed all in green and looked about 35 to 40 years old. She had green hair and the floppiest hat you ever saw. Her tunic was tight around her body and the boots were high, just past her knees. She carried a staff made of wood with a glowing emerald on the top. It was the only light source in the room.

“Storm, Ice, Fire, and Life,” muttered Vanessa. It was true. They didn’t know it, but these people were the past Guardians. Battling. . .

Who?

All there was a black cloud. It took up two dueling spots. Large metallic tentacles swept out, over and around the duelers on the other side. Two menacing, fiery, red eyes poked out from two places in the black mass.

I couldn’t look any longer. To think that only one of four creatures escaped that cloud scared me. And even worse, I was gonna have to battle that thing some time in the future.

Eger to get away from it, I ran. “Emma! Where are you going?” I heard Emily yell behind me. But  I didn’t stop. I kept on running. I followed the golden road, but not fully. I was following something else too. Not a something, a someone.   

“Go away,”

You know I’m not gonna leave.

“Well, I don't care. Go away.”

Since when could a human dismiss a ghost?

“Just go away.”

Did the picture back there bother you?

“Shut up.”

You know I won’t. And just so you know, you’re almost there.

 “Almost wh-” The path suddenly ended, I stumbled into a great cavern. In order to stop, I stuck out my foot, it caught on a rock and I tumbled face first into the ground. I stood up, brushed my self off and glared at a girl all in green. Obviously the Life wizard from the picture back there. “You know I really hate you.”

Thought I didn’t notice?

“Well then try to notice harder.” I then ignored everything she said after that. I took in the room. It had purple walls with yellow trim like the rest of Stormhagen, except this room held four, pardon me, three living things in it. One was me. Another was a boy dressed all in black and another was a Storm Lord.

“Uh, this isn’t what you think it is,” stuttered the boy, still staring at me, probably wondering why I had been talking to nothing a second ago. But I barely heard him. I was too stunned, looking at the Storm Lord. He was the last spell you learned. He cost seven pips and did damage to all enemies plus a stun. After taking in the Storm Lord, I looked to the boy.

“Sorry, who are you again?”

“I never said.”

“Then say now.”

“Now.”

“I just barely met you, and I really hate you.”

Sure about that? Said the ghost cheekily. Forgetting she was a ghost, I went to elbow her, and fell through nothing.

“You ok?” asked the boy who had ran over. “You just randomly tipped over.”

I glared up at him. “Look,” I said getting up. “I don't want to be here any longer I have to be. In one day I’ve had enough to last me a lifetime. Your Wolf Deathblood right?”

“If you knew why’d you ask before?” Ignoring him I continued.

“Why did you mess up Stormhagen the other week?” Wolf went red from ear to ear.

“Look, its not like I didn’t mean to. It was my first time summoning a spirit. I meant to summon Ka’gla but got Sho Som instead. So I dismissed him and tried summoning Ka’gla again, but Glutch came and he’s too powerful to dismiss by myself. You’d need a teacher of the Headmaster to. And I was to scared to own up to them so I stayed down here with Glutch until someone found me and spilled my story. Then Ambrose would probably send an army to capture me and stuff. So yeah. That’s it.” I stared in disbelief at his story.

Glutch was a demon not a spirit! And they could shape shift so that meant the Storm Lord behind Wolf was Glutch! I backed away slowly. I turned ready to run and collided with Sabrina. I got up again and was about to sprint when Emily came bounding around the corning, she ran in to me but not has hard. I got up again but Sabrina pulled me down and yelled furiously in my ear, “Are you out of your flipping mind!!??”

I was to scared to speak. But then something happened that happened in over three centuries.

The Life Wizard Ghost showed herself to another living being.

And then Sabrina’s heal went off, again.     

Chapter Six

Thirteen Years Ago

Alura Moonriver

I walked briskly down the hallway. They were after me. Getting ten times closer with every step I took. The problem was, I didn’t know who they were. But I knew someone was following me. Not one person. But hundreds and thousands of them. And they were evil.

                  My name is Alura Moonriver. But I’m not little mind you. I’m five foot three. Taller than my mom who is five foot one. I’m average size and I like blue highlights. Blue is my favorite color.

                  Stones under my feet all the time were normal. I might also mention that I am wizard. I’m an Ice Wizard. My best friend, Esmee Firecrafter, is a Fire Wizard. Fire and Ice are opposites. Every school has an opposite. Except the School of Balance. Storm and Myth and Life and Death.

                    So there’s my life. I go to school at Ravenwood like everyone else. And after that I do quests to earn xp and move up levels. I’m currently level 21 with Esmee. I just stared though, so I don’t have much xp. My older sister, Jennifer Nightsword, is level 38. I am working in Krokotopia and Jennifer is in Mooshu.

                  Jennifer’s best friend, Katlyn Riverspeaker, let her get in the Barracks early. So she finished those quests early. She just learned the Triton in Storm School. Yeah. She’s a Storm Wizard. But her life raises SOOOO slowly and mines already, like, above 1,000. But she has more Mana. Mana is how much magic you can do. Like a spell might need three Mana, but you only have two Mana, your spell will fizzle. And you will be at the mercy of the creature you’re dueling. Like a Nirini from Krokotopia or a Scarlet Screamer from Wizard City. So Jennifer has about 200 Mana and I only have 96 Mana.

                  “Alura! School! Time to get up!!!” Jennifer calls. I groan.

                  “I don’t want to!” I call back to her. But I’m already awake. And she knows it. She doesn’t respond. Ugh.

                  I got out of bed slowly. Then my dream hits me. Someone WAS following me. Someone WAS evil. And someone WAS going to get hurt. Most likely me.

                  I went over to my dresser and put on my Ice Helm and Corrupted Foot Where and slipped on my Tunic of Leverage. Jennifer was VERY mad when I got it. Because she had one too. But it DID choose different colors. But she mostly wore her other outfit because it gave her an awesome spell. I don’t know which one because she never uses it. I could if had won it in the battle. But she won the battle and got it. I tried later but died and Jennifer said she wouldn’t help me. None of my other friends did either. But I’m cool with that.

                  “ALURA!”

                  “I’m coming, I’m coming alright!” I yelled. I growled. Why was she being like this?

                  When I got down stairs I saw her waiting impatiently by the door. “What was that all about?” I asked hotly. Jennifer only glared.

                  “Because we are suppose to leave in three stinking minutes,” she growled.

                  I glanced at the clock. Holy wand twisters! It was 7:57!! School started at 8:00! Frantic, I grabbed two pieces of bread and cooked them with a fire cat, from my wand spell, and sloppily spread butter on it. Grabbing my pack I dashed to the door just as the school bell rang. As we walked out our door, we saw students pouring out and into the tunnel to Ravenwood.

                  As I walked out the door Jennifer glared at me, again. To break the stillness I asked, “Where’s mom and dad?”

                  “They had to leave for work early. And they’ll be home late because today is Parent Teacher Conferences.”

                  “Parent Teacher WHAT!” I gasped. Nobody had told me about those.

                  Jennifer nodded smugly. “Tonight at 6:00.” I groaned. I would have to be extra good today. As in, try to do my Ice History report in the 5-minute announcements. I swore. Now what would I do? My teacher would tell my parents I wasn’t doing my homework and I would get kicked out and . . . no, not kicked out; I would be in detention with the Fire teacher Flemea. Maybe I could just skip school.

                  In the crowd, I pulled away from Jennifer and made my way back out muttering I forgot my book. Finally out, I ran to Colossus Boulevard. The guard stood still until I was five feet away. “Pass?” he asked. I searched my bag for my pass. Coming up empty.

“No,” I said.

“Then you cannot go through.”

“OK.” Not in the mood to argue. I turned around and headed towards the Olde Town tunnel. When I was out of sight of the guard I slipped through one of the houses and scooted against the wall. Back at the edge of the tunnel the guard couldn’t see me.

I looked up to the high wall. I could never climb that. I looked back to the guard, still standing there clueless. I looked to the edge of the tunnel and was met by a breeze of freezing air.

There in the wall was a crack. Snow every now and then snow spurted out and melted at my feet. Carefully and quietly I squeezed through and came out on the other side.

Right next to Gobble Stone Castle.

I stared, I had seen this place a hundred times, but this time something just seemed to be different about it. Something more amazing then when I had first come here.

I picked up a handful of snow and let it shift through my fingers, falling to the ground in a shower of sparkles.

I walked up the hill had looked around, there were no Gobblers. This puzzled me. The two guarding GSC weren’t there either. Confused, I walked back down the hill and entered GSC on its sigil. Inside was the usual mess of crates of food. The faint outline of a dueling circle could be seen, and the large foot of the floating Gobbler King was showing, but the Gobbler Prince and his minion were missing.

Still confused, I walked around.

I took in the same scene every wizard does when they come in. But the more I walked around, the more the room seemed to look different, but I couldn’t find what. I walked into one of the side rooms and saw nothing. I looked in the other rooms and saw nothing.

Except for one.

Just as I was leaving, the area around me glowed suddenly with blue light. I spun around and looked to the source of light. It was fading fast. But just before it vanished, I saw the outline of a door.

An invisible door.

I slowly put my hand out. And instead of feeling cold stone, I felt hard wood. The door. I found the doorknob and slowly opened it up.

Inside was a shining light. And like a magnet was pulling me, I walked inside. Unknowingly to me, the door shut. But I kept walking.

Jennifer Nightsword

I looked around. Where was Alura? She was supposed to be here now. School had ended and we always met by the World Gate to do quests. I helped her a lot in Krokotopia. I saw Katlyn waving to me.

“I can’t make it today,” she panted as she ran over. “I have chores. Unfortunately.”

“That’s ok. Hey, have you seen Alura?” I asked. Katlyn shook her head.

“Not since yesterday.”

I groaned. Where was she? Katlyn walked away and I waited until 2:00 and then headed to Mooshu by myself. I did quests until 5:00 and ported home for dinner. Mom seemed to be home early.

“How were the conferences?” I asked.

“The one with Professor Halston, your teacher, was magnificent. But with Professor Greyrose, I didn’t know how to comprehend that. Apparently Alura hasn’t been doing her homework. She hasn’t been doing well in school. She has been getting a 55% or below on her tests. It’s unbearable.”

I stood, shocked. I new about the homework thing, but during school? Not Alura!

“Has Alura come home?” I asked.

“No. Have you seen her?”

 “Nope. After school she wasn’t by Bartleby. And she hasn’t come home?”

“Lets ask your father. Maybe she went to his work. She might’ve felt lonely or embarrassed by the how she was doing in school.”

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

That night, dad came home, but Alura didn’t.

The next morning, no Alura.

“Lets face it,” I groaned. “Alura’s missing.” And the search party began. They looked all over the Spiral. But they found no one. But no body saw the invisible door, and the pounding and crying of a person behind it. Alura, realizing the horrors behind the door.

The next day, the Death School was torn from Ravenwood, and the Dark Time began.   

Chapter Seven

Calamity Greenfire

                  I stared. Sabrina stared. Emily stared. Wolf stared. We all stared. Even Glutch stared. After a while I let out a light cry as Sabrina shifted. She was holding onto my hair as well as my arm. She released me with such ferocity that I tumbled backwards. Wolf, recovering from the shock, let out a gasp as if he were just seeing the ghost for the first time.

                  Emma. Stop them staring. It’s creeping my out.

                  “Uh . . .” was all I could croak out. In my mind, the ghost sighed.

                  “Please, stop your staring. It is bothering Calamity.” I spun around looking for the voice. It was gruff and deep like a mans voice. As I rotated for about the tenth time, I spotted who it was.

                  “You can hear ghosts Glutch?”

                  “I can speak to them too. But you would hear me as well as Calamity.”

                  “Who’s Calamity?” asked Emily.

                  “Calamity Greenfire. She was the last Life Guardian. Like the Taskmaster was. Except she died in battle. The Taskmaster, knowing he was going to die next, summoned up all his strength for one final spell. That killed the darkness. But something brought him back from the dead. Or maybe he never died completely.” At this Glutch stared at me so hard he might as well have burned a hole through the back of my skull. I shudder and looked away.

                  Sabrina looked about to say something, but was cut short. And of course you want to know why. Only because a loud-sweet melody filled the air. We all heard footsteps echoing off the walls. The melody and the footsteps were getting louder. They were coming closer. Suddenly, Vanessa came skipping into the room. She had a smile in her face and looked like she was the happiest person in the whole Spiral. She had taken the golden fiddle from an Imp she must’ve conjured. And what was more, about 100 Ice Serpents were following her. Swaying to the rhythm of the  music. She danced in a circle around the room, the snakes following, and then stopped in the center.

                  As soon as she stopped playing, the snakes burst into blue sparkles and white snowflakes. The room was temporary covered in a fire-work-like drizzle of sparkles. Then they disappeared a foot from the ground.

Vanessa turned around and took in the room. And caught sight of Wolf.

Oh gosh.

She Wind Spoke me: Hello boy in the black tunic.

Really Vanessa?

What?

Vanessa stared at Wolf affectionately. And, amazingly, he stared back the same way. I looked over to Sabrina and rolled my eyes. She rolled her eyes in response. They soon forgot us, Wolf started explaining to Vanessa what had happened and about the demon and everything.

Then I noticed something.

The way Wolf waved his arm in the arch that he did. The way his hair shown in the dim light. They way he spoke softly, not loudly. Just, the way.

Then it clicked.

“W-W-Wolf-Fell?” I sputtered. Wolf froze in mid-sentence.

Vanessa touched his arm. “Are you ok?” He slowly turned and faced me. Vanessa’s hand fell to her side. “Wolf?” she said. Her voice full of worry and bewilderment.

But he didn’t seem to hear her. He was to stunned to. “L-Lady Lettuce?” The name brought back memories. All of them swirling before me. Of wooden bars and a moon sun swinging overhead. A rattle in my hand. The curious face of a young boy staring back down at me. Being held in a woman’s lap. Rocking back and forth. Giggle as the same boy made faces to make me laugh. Munching on green leaves.

And of that night.

All was darkness. I was barely seven months old at the time. Fire raging around me. A dark man scooping me up. My father. But something was making him angry, something terrible. He ran from the door. Shirks of rage and fear shot at us from behind. I began to cry. Someone came at us through the darkness. Then, everything was cool. The smell of moss and pine wafted into my nose. Back then, the undiscovered world of Grizzleheim. Blackness. A burning sensation on my arm. But not only in the memory, but also there, in Stormhagen.  

That meant Sylvia was my mother. I should tell her right away!

But . . .

Oh no.

That meant Malistaire was my father.

I screamed and grabbed my arm. Wolf, Emily and Calamity rushed (and floated) over. “Oh my gosh are you ok?” asked the extremely flustered Emily.

All I could do was groan, I gripped at my arm. Clawing at it like a hungry animal. As if I wanted to tear open my skin. I jerked back the tunic sleeve to reveal a black mark. It looked like it was flaming, orange slightly illuminated the scare.

Calamity jumped back as if just missing a fierce spell aimed at her. Her face showed that she was terrified out of her wits by something. Most likely my scar.

“Emma!” I bobbled my head in Wolf’s direction.

“It burns,” was all I could say. More memories swirled into my mind. Death spells flying like sparrows. Falling, caught. Teleported to a small town.

The same burning feeling on my arm. Crying. Frightened. My parents gone. My family gone. Then snow. Enchanting flakes of crystallized water.

No.

They were in the cavern right now.

“C’mon Emma. Come back to us.”    

I shuddered. I put my hand to my head but snapped it back. It was covered in frost. Snow stuck to my eyelashes and eyelids.

“Ow! OW! Stop it! Stop poking me. I’m fine,” I snapped. Ding! Sabrina’s last heal went off.

“Finally,” I heard her murmur.

“No ones poking you,” Emily said calmly. I turned and glared at Calamity who giggled.

“Can you still see Calamity?” I asked. They all looked around and shook their heads. So she had become invisible again. Figures.

“What did you see Emma?” asked Vanessa.

“See . . . What do you mean?” I asked. 

“When you started covering in frost Glutch said you were seeing into your past. Or remembering things none of us can remember, like when we were babies. So. What’d ya see?”

“I saw Sylvia,” I started. “And Wolf, about seven years younger. Fire burning everywhere. I saw where I came from. I was born in Mooshu. In one night I was teleported two times. Once to Grizzleheim, it wasn’t discovered back then, and then to Olde Town where I live now.” 

And tell them about your scar. I turned to Calamity.

“First, tell me why you were so frightened a couple minutes ago.” By now everyone had gotten used to my ‘talking-to-thin-air’ conversation.

Your scar is what connects you to Malistaire. As long as you live, he lives. He is invincible. Nothing can harm him. No spells or anything. I groaned. So the only way to kill Malistaire was to . . .

“EMMA!”

I didn’t turn. I didn’t look back. I didn’t even say anything. In the quickest I’ve ever done, I opened my spell book and disconnected friend teleports and Wind Speaking.

Infuriating Sabrina, I ran. For the second time that day I ran like a Minotaur was racing behind me. Indeed, footsteps did sound, but I only ran harder.

A million thoughts raced through my head.

Malistaire was my father. Sylvia was my mother. Wolf was my brother. I’m adopted with Joanna and Caleb. Why was I running? I was trying to run away from my past. My future. My Destiny. Those thoughts hit me like a brick wall. And I ran right into it without knowing. Though I still ran in Stormhagen, the running battle in my mind was over.

I skidded to a halt right around a corner. Just as I–

BAM!

I collided painfully into someone else. I fell backwards and so did they. The wind knocked out of me. After a few seconds to gather what had just happened, I jumped back up to run again. But then I caught sight of who I had just ran into.

A boy.

Quickly checking his status, I found out who he was. Marcus Fireflame level 24 Pyromancer. “Hi. Sorry. Bye,” I said quickly and continued on my way at a fast trot.

“Hey. Hey wait a minute!” called Marcus from behind me. I slowed and turned around. He was jogging up to me.

“Uh-huh?” I asked snappily.

“Where were you coming from? That part of Stormhagen was blocked off the other day. And it’s caved in. What were you doing?”

“Business from the Headmaster. Now I ask you the same question.”

He reddened a little. “Uh, I just wanted to see if what people said was true.”

“And what were people saying,” I asked. Now kind of bored.

“Oh. Nothing worth repeating. Stuff about a prophecy. A time that happened 13 years ago. I think they called it the something time . . .”

“The Dark Time,” I muttered absentmindedly.

“The what time?” he asked.

“Oh sorry. The Dark Time. Didn’t you pay attention during Spiral History?” I snapped. He shook his head no. I sighed. “It was the time just when I was born. When Malistaire’s wife Sylvia died. He got mad or something and started destroying things. The Spiral was just being created then. Wizard City and Dragonspyer were the only two worlds. But Dragonspyer was the only world that taught magic, Fire Magic at that.”

Marcus nodded. “Yeah. Yeah I think I remember something about that.”

“Malistaire started trying to take over the two worlds. Of course, a group of people called the Guardians over through him a year after. So everything’s good now.”

“But wait. People have been saying Malistaire has come back. To finish what he started 13 years ago,” protested Marcus.

I visibly paled. Although I didn’t say, all these rumors were true.

“Emma!” the voice echoed off the walls. “Eahhh-mmaaaaa!”

“Ugh. Be right back,” I said to Marcus. I started running down the hallway. “Yeah!” I said.

“Emma! Where are you?”

“Down the hall way. Who’s speaking?”

“Sabrina.”

“Um, Sabrina? How’s everyone?”

“They’re guh–” I skidded to halt at the same time Sabrina did too, and we barely missed ramming into each other by a heartbeat.

“–ood.”

We backed away and looked around. “I heard you talking to someone? Who?”

“Oh. Marcus Fireflame. He was wonder if the rumors were true.”

“What rumors?”

“Oh, just that people are speaking of a ‘prophecy’. And of the Dark Time. And that Malistaire has come back.”

Sabrina gasped. “What!”

I nodded. “Yep.”

Sabrina’s shocked exasperation turned into something of annoyance mixed with mystery. “You’re not telling me something. You know something about these rumors don't you?”

I exhaled. I did. Should I tell her? She was my friend after all. Wait, did she know that Malistaire had come back to finish what he’d started? If she did she wasn’t telling me something. So I used what she’d just used on me on her. “A secret for a secret. What do you know?”

Sabrina groaned. “I knew you were going to say that.” I smirked at her. She thought for a while before saying “I can’t think of one right now.”       

“What about the Noodle Rumor going around the life school?”

“I didn’t do that! It was Amber! Amber Roespetal from fire school. I saw her mix them up and dump them outside the doors! She went home after that. Don't ask me why.”

“Uh huh.”

“You don't believe me. Do you?”

“They found a thermos under your desk half filled with hard pasta. And how would you know it was Amber if you were in class?”

“Amber put it there. And I saw her out the window.”

“Sure ‘bout that? You sit away from the window.”

“Oh shut up.”

“No. Really Sabrina. What is with the Noodles?”

She sighed. “Heather Raven the Grandmaster Conjurer was making fun of different schools. Mostly Life and Storm. I got mad and cast a Seraph. It as quite easy with all the magic coming from Bartleby. Heather dared me to dump noodles outside some schools doors. ‘What if I get caught? Or suspected?’ I asked. ‘Just blame it on Amber Roespetal,’ she said. “I’ll give you a treasure card of Centaur for it.’ And I really wanted Centaur. So I did it, she met me outside the World Gate and gave it to. When people asked me about it I just said ‘Amber Roespetal, the level 36 Pyromancer did it.’”

I looked at her, aghast. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was too scared.”

I still stared at her. She stared back. “Now you tell me what you know.”

I sighed. I had forgotten about that. “Ok. So the whole reason I came down here was to find Wolf and make him tell me about what he did. He did as you saw. Then I met Marcus up that-a way and he said we wanted to see if the ‘rumors’ were true. People are saying Malistaire is back and wants to finish what he started. And its true. All the rumors are. I just don't know how I’m gonna tell that to Marcus. Emily, Vanessa and Wolf. And especially everyone else. Unless I make Marcus swear he won’t tell. Just go back saying he found nothing.”

“HAHA! I was right!” yelled Marcus, bounding around the corner. Sabrina and me groaned. He started doing a little dance singing, “I was right. I was right. I was right.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We get alright just SHUT UP!” Marcus stopped and looked at us curiously. Still grinning though. “Please. Don't tell anyone. Whatever you just heard, don't say anything about it. Not even to your best friend in the whole wide Spiral. Got it? Good. Moving on,” stated Sabrina.

“No one can know, so you better get this straight and clear. Were you in Stormhagen the day of the ‘incident’?” I asked.

“Uh, no. but my older sister, she’s a Grandmaster Storm Wizard, told me everything. Even about how this girl played a harp and they whizzed back to the Oasis. And that the girl was Guardian or something when they were in the Headmasters Tower.”

“Yeah. Ok. The point is,” –I took a deep breath– “I’m that girl.”     

Chapter Eight

Unmasked

Marcus stared at me. “Ok, too much staring for me in one day. Please close your eyes,” complained Sabrina. He did.

Okay, if Wolf can’t do it because he’s your brother, how about this one?

                  I jumped and gasped. “Calamity, I swear. The next time you do that I’m gonna kill you,” I whispered with fake murder in my voice.

            Marcus’s eyes snapped open. “I didn’t do anything I swear!” he yelled and put his arms up.

“Oh stop it, I was talking to you.” He gingerly looked up and uncovered his head.

“Oh. Ok. Then who were you talking too?”

“A person you can’t see. Her name is Calamity Greenfire.”

            “OH! As in the Life Guardian? After my sister got home and after she told me all about what happened in Stormhagen, she did hours and hours of research in the topic that aroused everyone’s attention the other day, the legend of the Guardians. I followed her research through the whole thing. Turns out the other Guardians were Fire, Ice, Life, and Storm. Hv’an Nta was Fire, Jim was Ice, Taskmaster Djal was Storm and Calamity Greenfire was Life.”

Oh gosh. I was Guardian and some people new more than I did!

“Once they had found each other, they headed off away from the chaos in Wizard City where monsters of every kind were roaming free among the different areas there. The only place safe from them was Golem Court. But soon that too was over run with Undead and other kinds of things too. The same thing was happening in Dragonspyer.

            “The four Guardians sought shelter in Dragon Mouth Cave. They needed to survive in order to kill Malistaire. Inside the cave, in was dark and dingy. Black shapes moved around, about to strike any minute. Also inside, on a stone pedestal, was a golden key. And on the floor, was a trap door. Desperate, Jim grabbed key, and they all fell into a greater cavern, which was pitch black.

            “Calamity found a wooden staff with some kind of gem stone on top. When she held it up high, it glowed and cast a dim light everywhere. They found Malistaire in there, and, well. You know what happens after that,” Marcus finished.

“Wow,” was all Sabrina could say. I was silent.

                              “And you didn’t pay attention to the stuff you actually learned in school?” I smiled at him. He smiled back and laughed.

          We were silent for a while. “So, um, Sabrina. Whom did you leave behind in the cave?” I asked.

         

           “Well, Emily came running with me. So I guess that would be just Vanessa and Wolf.”

“By Bartleby. That should be a sight to see,” I exaggerated.  

“Well, Glutch was there too,” added Sabrina, but she clearly got the joke.

             “I’ll go get Emily and then Vanessa and Wolf and try to dismiss Glutch. Then I’ll port to you and we’ll get outta here.”

“Sounds good.”

“What about me?” piped up Marcus.

             “Um, you keep telling Sabrina about the rumors and more about the Guardian history,” I answered. And at that, I looked up Emily and teleported to her.

              She jumped when I appeared next to her. “Will you please tell me when you do that!” she gasped at me. I smiled. “Where did you run too?” she asked. And I told her everything. From running into Marcus and about the rumors to the Guardian history and me going to try to dismiss Glutch.

            “Whoa! Try to dismiss a demon? That’s gonna take a lot of power. Even Merle has trouble doing that kind a thing.” 

I smiled at her. “I think I’ll manage.”

             We both teleported to Vanessa who was still with Wolf. They seemed to be talking about different Life spells and techniques. Well, that figures. They both took second in Life, like me. I always sat next to Vanessa in Journeyman class. Wolf had his Master classes two periods after us. (Novice class, Apprentice class during Novice secondary classes. Apprentice secondary classes during Journeyman classes etc. etc.)  

“Um, hello?” Emily waved her. They both stopped talking and looked up at her. “Uh, hi. Um, we’re ready to go back to the Commons. But we can’t port out so we’re just heading back up to the entrance. Coming?”

“Uh, yeah, hang on a second,” replied Vanessa. She got up and rummaged though her bag until she got out Seraph, the life spell. “So you cast it with more magic and it does more damage?” asked Vanessa to Wolf.

“Yep. That’s pretty much it. Try it on me.” So Vanessa waved her wand and cast Seraph on Wolf.

And it did 865 damage. The maximum was usually around 480 or 490. That was about 250 more! Wolf groaned and got up. “Not bad for a first timer.” Vanessa smiled and blushed. Then she her face got so angry, I nearly fell over. She spun around and faced Emily, who was cracking up.

Vanessa started to cast Wyvern but Emily put an Ice Shield up.  

Wolf walked over to me. “Should I do something or let them battle it out?”

I shook my head. “Nah. Lets see who wins.” Wind Speaking, I said the both of them four Centaur treasure cards to the winner! The battling suddenly got meaner. Emily seemed to be winning. With a Fire blade on herself and a trap on Vanessa, she seemed keen on keeping going. But as soon as she cast Sun Bird, Vanessa did a heal.

“No fair!” yelled Emily. But she kept on fighting. Until they both out of cards. They both turned to me. “What now?”

I shrugged. “Use treasure cards.” So now they were battling with Judgment’s and Mutant Ice Cats. Emily finally made it out with all eight pips and a Tempest.

“Man girl. We both got power. But someday, I’m gonna get you back,” Vanessa said breathless.

Emily shrugged and received the Centaur treasure cards from me. “I wish you luck.” Vanessa scowled and sat down. I went over and sat down next to her.

“What are you gonna do about the demon?”

I smiled at her. “It’s a secret.”

Vanessa glared at me, hard. She was good at glaring. “Since when did everything become a secret? We’re your best friends and Wolf’s your brother. You know we would never betray you.”

I sighed. She was right. They would never betray me even if I told them the terrible truth about my parents. Though I’m sure Emily knows and Vanessa has a good idea. Of course Wolf knows. He knew all along. “Okay. You’re right. I know you would never betray me.” So I began to tell them everything. “You remember that painting on the wall? Of me? And I said it must have been painted over 1,000 years ago? Well, we were all right about what we thought. And the reason I was the one on the wall, not someone else, was because, I’m a Guardian.”

Vanessa stared at me. Wolf stared too, but more like he had an idea about it before I said it out loud. “So are there more Guardians? Or just you?”

“Well, supposedly there are four. Because that’s how many there were last time. That’s what the other painting was about. The Mander, the Gobbler, the Taskmaster, and the girl in green, Calamity Greenfire. But I think there might be five Guardians this time.”

“Why would think that?” asked Wolf.

I shrugged. “Well, I have to find them. And there has been this one girl around here that just, I don't know, seems more powerful than a level 15. Her name is Fallon Nightblood. Though she sounds death, she’s actually–”     

 “–Life?” interrupted Vanessa.

“–Balance.” I finished. “She’s working on the Alter of Kings. I saw her there when I was doing a quest for my teacher.  We hung out and helped each other a bit. And she has practically the power of a Master! It was amazing.”

Vanessa and Wolf stared at me. “You – you think she’s a Guardian?” asked Wolf.

I shrugged. “High chances she may be, but small that she might not.” Vanessa seemed to ponder this. “Come on,” I said. “We have to go.”

“What about dismissing Glutch?” asked Emily. I had completely forgotten she was there.

“Right. Sorry.” Carefully, in my mind, I placed the seven runes of each school in a circle. Physically the other could see them, but I could for I was using my minds eye. I muttered the six blessings and six curses to send any demon back.

I opened my eyes, and Glutch had slowly begun to fade away. He was glaring at me with a lot of ferocity. So just before he vanished, he threw at a fireball at a dry piece of wood. Soon, we were surrounded my a wall of fire.

Vanessa acted quickly and tried to put it out. I summoned Tempest and that doused most of it. But more fire just filled its place. Even though Emily was immune to fire, she was starting to look a little frightened.

Quickly, I looked through my treasure cards and found the Storm Bubble which-you-ma-call-it. Casting that, we were safe from the fire, but not for long. The heat was starting to boil the bubble if it got any hotter, we would be cooked.

We shared frightened glances with each other. Unsure what to do next.

***

                  Fallon Nightblood

I looked around. Fire seemed to encase me. Bearing down on me like a deflating ball. I had no way out. No way out. Suddenly, I was surrounded by light. A bright sphere of white. Jumping up and down, I reached out. But pulled my hand back. It was cold. Freezing cold. Suddenly, it began to rain. Large drops of water splashed down on me. A large waterfall was about to hit me when it transformed into a pile of leaves. They weren’t there for long. Soon they began to shrivel up and die as they fell. And last but not least, green goop splattered. Toenails of a Cyclops. Teeth of a Humofrog.

                  And then it all stopped. The pictures in my mind vanished and the trashing around in the chair stopped too. My hands hurt from gripping the edge of the chair and my back had bruises from whacking back and forth.

“Fallon! Fallon! Oh no she’s going into post-traumatic shock. Somebody get the tranquilizer!”

“Not the tranquilizer! She needs medicine!”

“Everybody stop!” It was a softer voice, and everybody stopped. “Thank you. Now, I can heal her, so everybody please leave.” And everybody left. She pulled something out of her pocket. I must be hallucinating because what I saw was a cow. She waved it in a leafy pattern and I felt all better. In fact, wonderful. 

“Thanks,” I said.

“Your welcome, Fallon Nightblood.” I was all of a sudden dizzy. The cow was starting to change. She no longer looked calm, but hurt. Years of stress and pain bearing down on her all at once. The world spun before me.

“You must run Fallon. A Darkness is coming. Find Emma and tell her this: Keep the harp safe. And destroy the Judgment.” Screaming, I bolted up in bed. I groaned. I kept having that dream over and over whenever I fell asleep. The different schools of magic hurting all around me. Then I’m in a hospital and Moolinda Wu saves me. But she never got far enough to tell me what to tell Emma.

Whoever Emma was. I would at least need a last name. Maybe headmaster Ambrose would know. I slowly got up in bed, careful not to wake my brother who slept next door. I tiptoed outside our Marlybone apartment and into the streets of Regents Square.

I walked quickly between two buildings so I may not be seen in my nightgown. I put on my Deep Cape and Sorrow’s Hood. I slipped on my noob shoes simply because they looked good with the hat and robe.

I made my way the World gate and selected Wizard City. The trip was short from there. Ravenwood and the Commons were empty and they seemed a bit eerie. Trying to ignore the shiver that went down my spine, I made my way to the Headmaster’s Tower. Inside was brightly lit with many candles. Books lay everywhere and Enrollments were scattered around the floor, desk and a chair.

The Headmaster, however, didn’t seem to be present. All remains of sleepiness now gone, I sat down in a big red chair, which was extremely comfortable, and decided to wait.

***

We looked around with terrified eyes. My Storm Bubble was dwindling, fast. The rain that was usually cool, was not hot. We all looked through our Treasure Cards, trying to find Ice and Storm cards. Wolf stumbled upon Snow Shower, something like that, and cast it quickly. It did a little damage. I found a Tempest, building up all my pips, I cast it. Boom, boom, boom, boom. More fire just seemed to take the place of the now dead fire.

For some random reason, Emily cast Judgment.

“Why’d you do that!” shouted Vanessa over the roar of the fire.

Emily looked confused. “I didn’t!” she replied. “She just appeared in front of me!”

Before any of us could do anything, the judgment wielded her curved blade and tapped the balancing bowels. The fire disappeared. It steamed and the heat almost seemed to rush out. We were suddenly all freezing.

We were also plunged into darkness. The fire seemed to have destroyed the blazers. Emily summoned a Fire Cat. To one, warm us up. And two, cast a light so we could see.

The light as dim so we couldn’t make out what the Judgment looked like, but just enough so we could still see the terrified expressions on our faces. It as Vanessa who spoke up at last.

“Thanks for putting out the fire.”

“Your welcome. I was summoned to help you. The Guardians are not yet meant to die.”

I groaned. When I had first come here, it had been meant to get Glutch to answer some questions. It had gone totally different. Thanks to the pictures and Calamity, dismissing Glutch had been nudged to the end of our To Do List.

“Could you possibly show us the way out?” asked Emily.

The Judgment did a little laugh. “Yes, of course I can. Please, follow me.”

She started walking to the nearest hall way and we followed. Emily, Vanessa, me, and in the back was Wolf. After a bit he walked up beside me and whispered in my ear, “I don't trust her.”

I slowed a little. “What do you mean? She saved us from the fire. How can you not trust her?”

“Haven’t you noticed anything, you know, odd about her?”

I thought back. It had been too hectic to notice anything specific. “No,” I said at last.

“It’s more obvious in the light. I’m a Death Wizard, I can see in the dark. She doesn’t have a blindfold.”

I nearly fell flat on my face. “What do you mean, she doesn’t have a blindfold? She has to. She’s a Judgment!” I whispered furiously. “She has too!”

Wolf shook his head. “A Judgment where’s’ a blindfold not only to see, but so they don’t freak people out. The blindfold not allows them to see, but stopped a blood flow. They have no eyes. And for that, blood constantly comes. If you look into a Judgments eyes without their blindfold, you become one of them.”

I looked at him, completely shocked. I had never thought of that before.

I had to tell Vanessa and Emily. Thankfully it was still to dim to see the Judgment, but when we got out into the Krokotopia sun, everything would change.

Emily? Vanessa?

Yes? That was Emily.

What? Vanessa.

When we get out into the sun, DO NOT look at the Judgment’s face. She doesn’t have a blindfold on. Emily, you should have learned this in secondary Balance, so you know. So both of you don’t look at her. No matter what you think or what she says.    

I think I do remember Arthur Wethersfield saying something like that. You could actually kill, as in actually kill, someone when you look at a Judgment.

Yeah. Emily’s right. We wont look at the Judgment.

I had an idea. I thought on it a little then relayed it to the others. What if the Judgment has a blindfold on but it has holes in it. What about then?

No idea. Professor Wethersfield never said anything like that. But I supposed if the Judgment were evil they could trick you into something like that.

Ok then. Do not even look at the Judgment even if she has a blindfold on. Let me tell Sabrina and Marcus. They’re waiting for us near the entrance.

Ok.

Yeah. Better do that.

Slowly I looked up Sabrina so I wouldn’t arouse suspicion with the Judgment. Sabrina was not far away. Better do it quickly.

Sabrina?

What?

Um, there was a fire and a Judgment came and saved us. But she doesn’t have a blindfold on. So don't look at her face. Even at first glance. Wolf doesn’t trust her. Neither do I.

Oh my gosh! Do Emily and Vanessa know?

Yes. Tell Marcus too.

K. See you in a bit. I hear footsteps.

Tell him quickly!

And silence. In about ten second we would round the corner.

Nine.

Eight.

I hope Sabrina would hurry up.

Seven.

Six.

I’m so nervous. I don't even know why.

Five.

Four.

Oh yeah. If Sabrina doesn’t tell him he could turn into another evil Judgment!

Three.

Two.

Sabrina…

One.

“Hey guys!” it was Sabrina, looking down. So was Marcus. I did a silent sigh, but something seemed to be wrong with their faces. Weird. “Whatcha up to? I heard fire. What happened?”

“Well, Emma dismissed Glutch but he cast fire just as he left. So we were trapped, but this Judgment came and saved us,” explained Emily.

Oh, how to be smart Sabrina. She and Marcus had both Star Grazed their eyes. To Star Graze your eyes are to etch the Balance pattern, then etch a star around your eye. It’s kind of like half seeing. You think of what you don't want to see, so you’ll never see it. You’ll see everything else just fine. But it kind of leaves a scar, so you don't use it often.

Quickly, I did it too. It burned a little, but I was fine. I thought of the face of a Judgment. The next time I looked up at her, her face was just, not there, I could see right through it. I looked at Vanessa and Emily. Telling them to do it to. They did.

When I turned to Wolf, I saw he had already done it. I scowled at him.

“Ready to go?” asked Sabrina.

“More than ever. I never want to come back,” complained Emily. We all laughed, for we all felt the same.

“Why don't you guys go to Merle, I’m sure he would like to know what happened,” suggested the Judgment.

“That’s a good idea,” declared Vanessa. We made the last few steps to the entrance, and were greeted by a lukewarm Krokotopia night air.

I sighed. Maybe things would turn out all right.

***

Fallon Nightblood

The chair was nice, but for some reason, the many lit candles made me nervous. I got up and blew out all the candles but one. That I placed at the other end of the room.

I sat back down in the chair and looked around. The night had gone cold in Wizard City. An evil was near. I could feel it.

Suddenly, the door burst open and cold moonlight flooded in right on top of me. In the door way stood several figures. By the looks of it, four girls, two boys, and…

A Judgment.

Exactly what I had to tell this girl Emma to kill. But before I could say anything, the girl in front, who looked awfully familiar, stepped forward. “Fallon?”

***

I was surprised. Not that I wasn’t used to it by now, but still. Of every person to be at the Headmasters at this time of night is just odd.

“Where’s the Headmaster?” asked Emily.

But Fallon didn’t answer the question. Instead she ran right to me. “You must be the Emma my dream was telling me about. I remember you from the Alter of Kings. Listen. Moolinda Wu told me to tell you to ‘keep the harp safe’ and to…” She trailed off.

“And to what?” I asked. Quite nervous now, I looked up at the Judgment. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I could tell she wasn’t happy. “And to what?” I repeated.

Fallon looked around cautiously then whispered in my ear. I could barely hear her. “Destroy the Judgment.”

“Ok. Let me play this–”

“Emma look out!” yelled Emily. 

Fallon and me ducked just to narrowly miss getting hit by a scale. “It’s the Judgment!” I cried out to warn everyone. “Fallon, quick, do a Star Graze! She doesn’t have a blindfold!” There. The word was out. Now we could avoid the Judgment properly.

Fallon nodded and Star Grazed her eyes – but not in time. The Judgment grabbed Fallon and forced her eyes to hers. Now enraged, I grabbed the sword of the Judgment and poised it over her chest, ready to strike.

Why I didn’t do it right then, I will never know.

Chapter Nine

The Sword and the Anomaly

“Emma! Just do it!” yelled Vanessa. I looked around. Emily and Vanessa were both on the floor from ducking and Wolf and Marcus were still standing in the doorway, taking in the scene.

“Go on. Do it,” taunted the Judgment. “You’ll never be able to stop Malistaire anyway.

I moved the sword closer so it drew a little blood. “Me killing you sounds like a good idea. But you’ll be glad that you died now instead of later,” I said through clenched teeth.

And with that I plunged the sword into her chest. Neon blue blood, typical of a Judgment, poured over Merle’s floor.

“What’s going on in here?” asked a rough voice behind us. We all turned to the Spiral Map room. The door was open and Merle Ambrose stood there. He looked tired and old, as usual.

“Oh, um, well a Judgment came and uh, Emma just, you know, sort a…” Vanessa stammered.

“Well I see you made it back form Stormhagen alive. What did you find out? What did the monster tell you? And please, introduce me to the arrivals of your party here,” Ambrose said happily, like nothing was wrong.

“Well, this is Marcus Fireflame. We, uh, he was at the entrance of Stormhagen and came in with us. Um. This is Fallon Nightblood. She was here and was attacked by a Judgment with out a blindfold. And this is Wolf…” I trailed off. Realizing I didn’t know his last name. Or I had forgotten if he had told me.

“Deathblood sir,” Wolf said politely. I guess he knew Ambrose knew that he was the one who had caused all the trouble in Stormhagen.

Ambrose nodded, though he did look a little bit tenser. As if ready to cast a spell at a moments notice.

Catching this, I said, “It’s ok. He’s my brother. We’re cool now.” Merle relaxed a little.

“Anyway, so he was summoning spirits from the Other Side and Glutch came over instead. And he didn’t know what to do. So we went down. And well, um. We meant a couple people who I can’t say at the moment and they helped us. We dismissed Glutch. He cast fire and had us trapped. A Judgment appeared. She was unmasked. We Star Grazed our eyes and everything’s fine.” I stifled a yawn.

“How long were we gone?” asked Emily. She also looked tired.

Merle thought about it. “About a day and a half. A little more if anything.”

Sabrina, who had also been yawning, stopped and stared, her mouth still open. Emily went and closed it for her. The Headmaster chuckled a little. “It looks like you guys need some sleep. Come back in the morning and we’ll discuss it then.”

Gratefully, we all headed out the door into the cool night air.

Emily and me headed over to Olde Town. We waved goodbye to Vanessa and Sabrina who headed over to Unicorn Way, Wolf teleported to his house, and who in the Spiral knew where Fallon went. Merle had said he would take care of the body of the Judgment. Then I realized I was still holding her sword. I looked to Emily for advice. She looked back at me, looked at the sword and shrugged.

“What a day huh?” she asked.

“Yeah. I never thought I’d ever make it to Stormhagen, and here I am, the one who destroyed it. Figures.”

“Well, you did everyone a favor. Now no one will get hurt there.”

“But what about the Grandmaster’s who had fun there? Remember what a time we had?”

Emily blinked at me. “Yeah. I guess so. That seems like years ago.”

“And we also missed school. My parents will probably be freaking out and I’ll probably get detention with professor Drake. And it’s bad enough for anyone who goes there. Ugh.”

“Hey. If you do, I do. We all missed school. Except for Fallon, but she almost got killed tonight. She has more of a reason for her parents to freak out.”

“Yeah. But she was only gone tonight. We’ve been gone almost two days!”

Emily shrugged. “True.”

We finally made it to our houses. Emily lived next door. We gave each other and encouraging look and walked inside. My house was empty but a light was on in the living room. I walked in there to find my mother and father, looking as calm as anything.

“Hi,” I said weakly, and collapsed into a chair. My mom came over and hugged me. She didn’t look mad for frightened. Though a little worried, that made sense.

“Welcome back,” my dad said. And even though they weren’t my real parents, they were the people who had raised me and who I called mom and dad. And I loved them.

And as I began to cry, my family held me close.

***

I awoke the next morning. And for a moment, everything felt too, ordinary. No demon casting fire. No ghost bugging you about boys. No Judgment staring at you. The only thing that could ever remind me of what happened was the sword that lay next to my bed.   

I lay there for a while. Letting the morning sunlight pour over my face. I turned to the clock on my bedroom door. 7:30 exactly. I had woken up just as my alarm was going off. I reluctantly got up out of bed and headed over to my dresser.

My dirtied and tattered cloths hung there. I could never wear them again until my mom washed them. So today I decided to wear my Storm Cloak and Lady Blackhope’s Slippers. They matched the color of my beginner’s hat so I kept that.

I walked down stairs to the smell of cooked toast and fresh orange juice. Both my mom and my dad were here.

“Good morning!” exclaimed my dad as soon as I got off the last stair step.

“Good morning,” I replied. Mother smiled at me.

“I made a special breakfast for you two,” she said happily.

“’You two’?” I asked. I thought there was only me.

“Well, the Headmaster came after you went to bed with a boy with him. He said this boy was your brother. So he’s staying here for a bit, then going back to his own house. I think it’s a Mooshu house am I right?” She turned to a boy sitting next to my father.

“Wolf!” I ran over and gave him a big bear hug. I don’t even know why I was glad to see him, I just was.

“Ok, ok calm down,” he laughed. We all laughed. I got off of him and sat down at the table. Mother brought over some for toast and orange juice for me.

“Are you going to school?” asked mother.

I shrugged. “Maybe. The Headmaster said he wanted to see me. Us,” I added, looking at Wolf.

“Well, I’m gonna ask Merle if he can let you guys go to school first. You may save or destroy Stormhagen, but you still need an education. I’ll call him right now.” Mothers face furrowed into concentration. As soon as I had finished my breakfast, she returned. “The Headmaster says you can go to school. He talked to your teachers already. Stop by his office to pick up a late pass.”

I don't why, but I kind of wanted to go to school. I couldn’t wait to tell Alex that I went to Stormhagen. She would freak out. Especially after she realizes it’s destroyed. Ha! But then I felt bad, so I decided I wouldn’t brag about it, to anyone. Around 7:55 I found all my treasure cards that had been scattered around my room. Along with a spare wand and a necklace that was a only levels 35+. I collected all my books and headed out the door.

“Ready to go?” asked Wolf.

“Completely ready.”

Before we went to Ravenwood we both stopped by Merle and picked up our passes. We then merged into the crowd heading to Ravenwood and spilt off to go to our schools. I found Vanessa and Emily waiting for me by the Girls Dormitories. “How was you family reunion?” asked Emily.

“Great. No problems at all,” I answered.

“Wonderful. Me too.”

“I was a whole different matter,” groaned Vanessa.

Before she could say more Sabrina walked up and said, “You know, we can talk about this later. School starts in three minutes.”

We all looked around. The streets were almost empty. We all did hasty goodbyes and see ya laters and rushed off. As soon as I sat down in my seat the bell rang and Professor Halston hoped onto the desk and began to do attendance. As he walked down the rows, he checked each student off on a piece of paper. When he got to me, I handed him my pass.

Alex looked at me form the corner of her eye. Who knows why? When class started she slipped me a scrap of paper.  

It said, “Did you really go to Stormhagen?”

I scribbled down “yes.”

Alex looked at me, aghast. I nodded. She mouthed the words, “When they had the ‘incident’?”

I felt bad, kind of. Alex had always wanted to go to Stormhagen, now I had destroyed. Wonderful. Where did this put in a position with Grandmasters? Ugh.

I nodded. Her aghast look continued.

“And students. The Headmaster has liked me to inform you that on Saturday, in three days, there will be a dance,”–Me and Alex snapped our heads up–“The Ravenwood Ball. Some of you cannot come. It is for level 20 and up only.”

Ok, so I listened to that. Emily and Vanessa had just barely leveled to 20. I looked back at Alex. She was glancing at me from the corner of her eye. She leaned over slightly and asked, “Wanna hang out after class?”

“Um, I have to see the Headmaster after school. Maybe around two we can meet in Krokotopia?”

She nodded. And that was all that was said for the rest of class.

When we got out into the busy street of Ravenwood, many people were talking about the dance. All I heard was “What am I gonna wear?” or “When is it again?” and even “Someone already asked me!” Master classes hadn’t happened yet, but somehow they already new. I headed over to Secondary with Vanessa and all through class we Wind Spoke about the dance.

I wish I had recorded our conversation. It was so randomly funny. But we mostly talked about Vanessa wanting Wolf to ask her to the dance.

Who do you want to go with Emma? Asked Vanessa

I don’t know.

Marcus perhaps?

I silently blushed. I don’t know. I’m going to the dance. If he asks to go with him or he asks me there, I’ll say yes. If he never asks me, fine. I’ll still have a great time!

You said it sister!!

We both laughed on the inside and smiled on the outside. After Life class, we walked together over to the Headmasters. Sabrina and Wolf were already there, arguing over which school was better, Life or Death. Typical. They were almost shouting at one another.

“Hey guys, can ya stop now?” I shouted. They both stopped and looked at me.

“Sorry. Wolf started it.”

“I did not! You said–”

“HEY!”–They both looked over at me–“I just said stop it. So both of you… Shut. Up.”

“Hey guys! What's rocking?” asked Emily, as bright and happy as a sunshine beam. She bounced in and landed right in the center of the room. “I had, the best, day ever! For one thing, Jacob Spearwalker, kid in my fire class, walked right up to me and said like, ‘Will you go with me to the dance?’ and I was all like ‘of course’ and we are both second in Balance and we Wind Spoke the whole time. It was soooooooooooo, hot.”

“Nice Emily. Isn’t Jacob, like, a year older than you?” asked Sabrina.

“So? Isn’t, like, Vanessa’s mom, like, five years older than her dad?”

Sabrina huffed. “Good afternoon my young ones,” announced Merle as he walked in from the Spiral Map room. “Hello Emma, Sabrina, Emily, Wolf, Vanessa and Fallon.” I swiveled my head to the other side of the room. There was Fallon. 

She got up from the chair she was sitting in and walked over to us. “Hey,” she said.

“Now. First I would like to give you guys a gift. You can all level up to Grandmaster first, and choose to do one world.” We all gapped at him. Level up to Grand, NOW!? And choose to skip all the worlds BUT one!? My wand maker, that’s amazing!!

Emily spoke first. “I’ll do Mooshu.” Merle wrote that down.

“I’ll do Dragonspyer. I want to get my Grand Gear,” announced Vanessa.

“I’ll go with Vanessa,” I said.

“I’m with Emily,” said Sabrina.

“Can I do Marlybone? My Parents are originally from there. I want to know what's it’s like,” said Fallon tentatively.

“Of course,” said Ambrose. He continued to write this down.

“I’m a level 49. And I kinda want to finish Dragonspyer. But can I stay level 49? I mean, I’m sooo close to 50 anyway,” asked Wolf.

“Why not?” answered Merle. Wolf smiled.

“Ha-ha! I’m a higher level!! WOOOO!!” I exclaimed. Wolf’s smile turned into a glare, at me.

“Yeah, but I’m gonna finish Dragonspyer before you!”

“But I’m gonna be farming for my Grand Gear while I’m doing it.”

“Ok. Lets see who gets their Grandmaster clothes first!”

“I have more crowns. I have a head start with getting awesome level 45 gear from the crown shop. And a mount from Zeke!”

“Ok, you have enough for level 45 clothes, but a mount from Zeke? No way!”

I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Ok, ok guys. No need to fight. First to get Grandmaster gear, winner. Of 15 Treasure Cards from the looser.

I sighed. “Then I have to win. I don't have 15 Treasure Cards.” We all laughed.

I check the clock.  “Oh no! I have to go. I’m meeting Alex in Krokotopia! Sorry for the rush. See ya!” I said hurriedly. I ran out the door and headed for the World Gate. I fumbled with my Krokotopia Key and was welcomed by hot air.

I rushed out into the Oasis, slipping on the unstable sand. I nearly ran right into Alex.

“Whoa. Oh-my-gosh I am so sorry!” I practically yelled.

Alex looked just as startled. “No, no. My fault. I knew you were coming. I was just going to see where you were.”

I breathed heavily. “WHOA! When did you get to Grand? Just this morning you were level 21!”

I sighed. “Long story.”

“I’ve got time. Can you help me with The Well of Spirits? I need o fight Krokopatra.”

“Um ok. Great. Lead the way.”

So I followed Alex to the Well of Spirits. When we got to our first battling test, I realized I had all the spells I had left to learn, in my spells deck. I also had all the gold, (which was about 200,000), and all the stuff I would have gotten. Some of it had been put in my bank there was so much.

“Hang on, I need to equip some stuff.”

“Cool. I need to sort out these new robes and hats I just got anyway.” So we both stood there rummaging through our backpacks searching for our best gear. After about five minutes, we were ready for battle. Me, dressed like a Grandmaster and Alex, at her most powerful, was quite powerful looking too.

Her sister had given her some ‘no auction’ Mooshu wear and had stitched them to her Krokotopian clothes. We beat the Prince Battles no problem. The Intelligence test, however, went very wrong.

“Look. The book says ‘The moon cannot shine when the sun is up’. You have to delight the sun obelisks and light up the moon ones,” I read from the book.

“That’s what I’m doing. But the sun ones keep lighting back up.”

The last test was the hardest.

“’The runes cannot shine when there is fire’. So change the blazers to storm.” Alex did so. “Next it says: ‘The sun shines down on the tree. The tree shades the snake. The snake chases the beetle. The beetle hides.”

“So light them up. Got it.” She lit them up and the teleporter did not light up.

“Um, try it the other way around,” I suggested. She did, nothing. “Try it in the order the story says. Sun, tree, snake, and beetle.” The teleporter lit up.

We stepped onto it and were brought back to the old Krok guy.

“You know, I feel so good finally getting outta here. But I know that Krokotopia will always be home,” sighed Alex.

“I agree. I guess it’s the feeling of having a whole place dedicated to Storm. It feels great,” I agreed. We headed to the teleporter and were brought down to a lower level. The amazing sight of a rain wall met us. Alex and me just stood there, taking in the beauty of it all.

“Storm may not have very high health,” stated Alex. “Or high accuracy. But it’s the most powerful of all the schools and just thumps any opposer.” I marveled at her saying. Alex was born to be Storm. A second school probably wouldn’t suffice her need for the wind and rain of a monsoon.

“Alex. Can I tell you a secret?” I asked.

She looked at me curiously. “Sure.”

I took a deep breath. I could trust her. She was my friend. Fellow classmate. And we both craved the need for adventure. I could trust her. “It’s what really happened down in Stormhagen. The death wizard who cast the spell didn’t destroy it – It was more my fault.” And I told her everything.

When I was done she stared at me calmly. “Emma, your birth isn’t what made all this happen. Ok, you were born, Sylvia got sick. That doesn’t mean you made her sick. That kinda thing happens. Besides, if you being born started the count down of destruction of the Spiral, then you are the one who’s gonna save it. Besides, you’re a Storm Wizard, and Storm Wizards never fail.”

I looked at her. She was right. Alex was right. Alexandra Stormrider was right.

“Too bad your wrong. Today will be the day that Storm Wizards fail,” said a low, menacing voice behind us. We whirled around to see Malistaire, no more than 20 feet away.

“What are you doing here?” I asked angrily at him.

Oh my gosh… Sabrina! Emily! Vanessa! Port!!!! Hurry!!

“Well, I heard my favorite little Storm daughter was in Krokotopia. So I came to say hi.”

“Yeah, yeah. Forget that stuff. Why are you really here?”

“To kill you if you want that straight forward.”

“You leave her alone you beast!” yelled Alex who had come up beside me.

“Alex careful. This could be dangerous.”

“You think I’m stupid? No duh it’s dangerous. But I’m here with you. And I’m not going down without helping you.”

“Oh, look. Another child to kill. Isn’t this my lucky day?” mimicked Malistaire. I scowled at him. But when I met his eyes, I saw that not all of him was for killing. For me, it was more of a threat. But for Alex…

“Alex you’ve got to get outta here. He won’t kill me. But he will kill you.”

“Are you kidding? No way am I leaving here,” she said stubbornly.

“No really. He won’t kill me, but he will kill you if it’s the only way to get to me.”

“No.”

“Alex please–”

“No!”

Malistaire was forming a ball of black light between his hands. Ready to fire. As it flew through the air towards Alex, I did the only thing I could think of.

I stepped between her and the sphere of darkness.

***

“Emma? Emma! Oh come on don’t die!”

“Wha–what happened?” I said groggily.

“Malistaire threw a Death at me, but you stepped in front, idiot. But when it hit you, it spread out into a shower of sparkles that glazed off everywhere. Then you just collapsed. Malistaire left, just like that. But his face looked all wrong. Like all scrunched up. Especially around the eyes. Like he was holding back tears.”

I groaned as I got up. I was really sore around the middle. Guess that’s where the Death hit me. But Malistaire crying? I thought he didn’t even cry when Sylvia died.

“Lets just fight Krokopatra and get outta here,” I said. Alex nodded. We walked in silence to Krokopatra and battled in silence. I followed her has she talked to Major Talbot and followed her to Marlybone. Then I had an idea.

“Hang on, I’ll be right back,” I said to her.

“Ok.”

I teleported home and walked out into the fairly crowded streets of Olde Town. I headed up to the shopping district and to the Pet Store. I walked directly to the cage that held the Storm Hound. I wanted one. But not badly. But I knew Alex wanted one more than getting to Grandmaster.

I picked out a cute on and paid for it. Then teleported back to Alex who had made her way to Hyde Park already. “Um. Sorry about what happened back in Krokotopia. So here’s a gift to make up for it. I know you wanted one.” I brought out the Storm Hound and watched amused as her eyes bugged out and she stared in disbelief at him.  

“Oh my gosh thank you!” she exclaimed. I grinned. Making people happy always made you happy. I watched her hug him and name him Rocky. “The only thing that could make this day any better is if someone asked me to the dance. That’s would rock.”

“Yeah, same here,” I agreed.

Just then the Balloon Car landed right next to us and two boys got out. One was someone I had never seen before, but the other one was quite familiar.

“Marcus?” I asked. He stopped talking to his friend.

“Emma? Why are you here?” That sounded like he had planed that. “And when did you get to Grandmaster?” That sounded real.

“If you had been at the Headmasters, you would have known.”

“I got detention from Falmea for shooting a rudder band at someone across the room.”

I looked at him. “Smooth.”

His friend nudged him and whispered in his ear. Marcus turned a light shade of red. “Yeah, yeah. I’m working on it.” He took a step towards me. “Um, Emma? Will you, ah, go to the Ravenwood Ball with me?”

I looked at him, aghast. I turned to Alex and she squealed. I tuned back to Marcus. “Sure.”

His friend walked up to Alex and said, “Will you do the dance with me?”

No hesitation from her. “Yes.”

We talked for a while after that. Until Marcus and his friend were called home for dinner. Alex and me walked as far as the commons until she had to go to her home near the library and me back to Olde Town. I twirled around and sang until I reached my doorstep.

This had been the best day ever.

Chapter ten

The Diadem

                  The next day was good. Though not as good as yesterday, it was still a good day. So I began my questing in Dragonspyer. I got through The Tower of Archives pretty quickly and am almost done with The Plaza of Conquests. Being a Grandmaster really speeds things up.

And, I also have my Grandmaster Hat and robe. Wolf is still a level 49.

Emma? Can you help me with this boss? Asked Vanessa. Sandor I think he’s called.

Ok. Be right there. Yes! I had to do him. But she was already in the Drake Hatchery. Why was she in the Plaza of Conquests? Oh yeah. Farming for Grandmaster gear. She was zooming through all the places in Dragonspyer. I mean, she was just so powerful, it’s ridiculous.  

But maybe…

Could she be a Guardian? I thought back to what Merle had told me the week after Stormhagen had been in chaos. “They will use their powers, unexpectedly.” This was totally unexpected. Vanessa was, after me, the least powerful. I would have been had I not always been able to stay ahead in levels. And Emily being a Fire Wizard was just more powerful in general. And Sabrina was always in the next town or area cause she just worked her butt off staying ahead, and she was good at it.

Yo Emma!

Sorry. Coming.

Now Vanessa was in for the running. If she were a Guardian, then she would be powerful with me. And Sabrina knows. So only Emily is left clueless. And at that I felt a sting of guilt. She was my closest friend. And she didn’t know anything at all.

I teleported to Vanessa. Sandor was almost dead, but so was Vanessa. I quickly healed her and cast Triton on his minion. With him dead, now all we had left to was focus on the boss. I cast storm blade, Vanessa cast ice blade. Storm trap, ice trap. Triton, ICE FIRE?!

It erupted from the middle of the dueling circle and crushed Sandor with a tentacle of metallic ice. I stared in wonder at the power. It was uncontrollable. That might be bad around others. Vanessa looked startled. “I-I-I was gonna… That didn’t… What?”

I looked at her. “Not surprising.” She looked at me curiously. Then I asked the big question. “What do you know about the Spiral history?”

***

“Wait, so I’m Guardian?” clarified Vanessa.

I shrugged. “You think any Ice Wizard would just have Ice Fire erupt from the ground and crush, literally, their opponent? You have to be careful doing that around others. That wont just defeat them. That could kill them. Your lucky that was just another Dragonspyer ghost.”

Vanessa stared at nothing. “Was I always a Guardian?”

I thought about. Had she? Maybe, but why use the power now? Not before? “I don't know,” I admitted. “You might have been. I guess the power was just, needed, now.” I stumbled for the right words.

Vanessa stood up. “Where are you going?” I asked.

She smiled at me. “To go look for my Grandmaster boots.” I returned her smile.

***

I jerked my head left and right. I bolted up in bed with a sudden, ow! I had hit my elbow on the burrow. I rubbed and looked at my clock… 2:43 in the morning.

Why had I been jerking around so much? I rummaged around my room for a minute finding a candle and match. Lighting them, a faint glow covered my room. I left my cluttered bedchamber to go down a very uncluttered hallway downstairs and into the kitchen.

I set the candle down on the counter and grabbed a glass if and filled it with water.

I sipped it and gazed out the window at the moon and stars. I sighed. Why did I have to be the daughter of Malistaire and Sylvia? Why not someone else? Ok, I had asked for an adventure, but not one that would risk my life and everyone else’s!

You’re Emma Dawnrider. Level 50 Grandmaster and not done with Dragonspyer. You’re the one who played the harp and saved Stormhagen. You’re the Storm Guardian and will save the Spiral. You and your friends. You stand up for what you are and what you believe in. That’s who you are, and don’t be ashamed of that.

“Oh Sylvia…”

I already know. I – I kind of lied when I said I picked you to watch over. I picked you cause you were my daughter. Ambrose knew, and he had to tell your parents. I’m sorry your were left in the dark.

“No-no, its not that. I’m just not, ready for all this,” I waved my hand around.

Sylvia smiled. You’re over whelmed I know. Vanessa is just the second Guardian. You still need to find two more. And yes, it is harder than it looks. You’ve just got to trust yourself.

I sighed. “And what if I cant do that?” But Sylvia was already gone.

***

“Well that’s gotta be a punch in the gut. I thought Ninja Pigs were calmer than this. AGH!” exclaimed Emily, unsuccessfully trying to doge Heckhound. Sabrina and me laughed. Vanessa was with her mom all day, shopping, and so no one to do Dragonspyer with. Besides Wolf, but he was in doing the Labyrinth. So I decided to help Emily and Sabrina, whom were both working on the Tataki Outpost.

“How many more Supply Runners?” I asked.

“Um… Two. Then onto the boss I hope. I really want to get to Shoshun Village,” replied Sabrina. “Too much fire.”

“Hey!” said Emily. “I don't really want to go to the Cave of Solitude! You have to dodge things of giant stone pillars. My older sister said it was hard!” Right. Emily’s older sister, Sierra Winterbreeze. That’s why Emily usually came over to my house. It’s a disaster at her house, having a Fire Wizard AND an Ice Wizard living in the same home. Sierra was already a Grandmaster and was like, ten years older. So she had a job helping making robes in Marlybone.

We finished the battle and went to the side, just as Emily’s little brother, Nathan Deathstalker ported. “What you want brat?”

“I need help with Lady Blackhope.”

“Well too bad. She’s a one on one boss. Good luck.” She waved him away. Then her little sister ported. She sighed. She really had a soft spot for Mattie Starsong.

“Yes Star?”

“Can you help me with the Gobbler Prince?”

“Sure Sweetheart. Hey guys, mind if I help Star out for a while?”

“Sure thing, no problem,” I said, over lapping Sabrina, “Yea, go ahead.”

“Thanks,” and she ported away.

Sabrina looked down. “I don't want to go ahead with out Emily. Want to go somewhere else?”

I nodded. “Sure. Where to?”

She shrugged. “I don't know. How about… Back to the Jade Palace. I need to go shopping.”

“For the dance?” I asked. She blushed and nodded. I grinned. “Sure. I need to find something too anyway.” We both teleported there. We wandered into the robe shop first and examined the different tunics. Sabrina finally chose a long robe with long sleeves and a leather pouch on the hip.

“I think I’m gonna take that off,” she murmured. I chose a robe that was thin and went down to my knees and had sleeves down to the elbows. It also had a flag on one side of that back.

“Hope I can take that off,” I said. And while seeing if I could, I accidently broke it off.

“Smooth Emma. Now you have to buy it.”

“Yep. And the flag is off. So now I want to buy it.” We both waited in line, since so many people were there. We paid for the clothes and headed over to the shoe shop. “I don't need anything,” I said to her.

“Yeah, well, I do. So can you please come?”

I sighed. “Ok. But don't take too long. I want to check out the hat shop too.”

Sabrina was quick in buying some sandals with wood on the bottom (weird), and we were just stepping out of the place when Vanessa ported to us.

“Yes! I’m free!!!”

“What? Did you have fun with your mom?” I asked.

“NO! She only stayed in Marlybone and soooo many people are there getting the party outfits and princess outfits. She wanted me to get one! Your so lucky you got to come here.”

“So what did you get?”

“Nothing. Mom paid for it, then I traded them in instead of crowns in a chest. They’re gone now. But I got a Pixie pet! Isn’t she cute!” Vanessa held out a Life Sprite named Fluffy.

“Oh my gosh. Lucky!” I exclaimed.

“Dose she give a card?” asked Sabrina.

“Yep. Sprite. Not much different than a regular one though.” She dug around in her bag and brought up a Sprite card that was blue, indicating it wasn’t a class spell.

All of a sudden, I felt something big and wet fall on my head. I looked up to a dark sky and clouds. “I think it’s gonna rain,” I said. Sabrina looked over at me and up at the Mooshu sky.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “I think so.”

“I still want to check out the hat shop. Anyone coming?”

“I’m all for it,” said Vanessa quickly.

“You came with me to the shoe shop, so I guess I’ll come,” said Sabrina, hesitantly.

We all headed over. I bought a hood with a mask and Vanessa bought a monk one. When we got outside, the rain was coming more quickly, and more heavily.

“Lets get home. Call your parents. See if we can have a sleep over at my place!” suggested Vanessa. Sabrina and me nodded and called our parents.

“My mom says its ok,” I said.

“Same,” said Sabrina.

“Great. Should I let Emily know?” asked Vanessa.

I shrugged. “I guess so. Wouldn’t want her to feel left out.”

Hey, hey, hey! Guess what!? I looked over at them. “It’s Marcus. Gimme a second.”

What?

I went and talked to Ambrose, and he leveled me! Yay!!

Great. Which world did you choose to do?

Grizzleheim.

Oh man. I forgot about that one. I’m doing Dragonspyer. So I can farm for my Grandmaster stuff.

Oh. That’s a good idea.

You can always port if you want.

What are your friends doing?

Um, lets see. Fallon is doing Marlybone. Sabrina and Emily are doing Mooshu. Me, Vanessa and Wolf are doing Dragonspyer. But Wolf was already a level 49. So he’s just gonna finish.

He didn’t level?

Nah. Didn’t want too.

Huh. I would’ve.

But then you would have had to have done a whole world over.

True.  But it would’ve been easier.

Touché.

“Um Emma? Can we go now? It’s practically pouring,” said Vanessa.

“Oh. Sorry.”

Gotta go. Raining here in Mooshu.

Since when did it rain in Mooshu?

What?

Well, every time my sister went there it never rained. Why would it rain now?

I don't know. The Spiral is changing. Anything can happen now.

Such as freaky Judgments without a blindfold?

I smiled. Yeah, things like that.

***

“The Headmaster wants to see us,” I said sadly.

“What? why?” asked Emily. We were all over at Vanessa’s house.

“I don't know. He just said to come quickly. Oh, and he only wants me and Vanessa to come. And Fallon. He said to bring an umbrella.”

Sabrina looked out the window. “I would see why he would say that. But why only you two?”

“I don’t know,” I answered.

“C’mon. Lets go,” said Vanessa. We both grabbed an umbrella and teleported to the Commons. It was a mad rush to get inside without getting too wet. When we got inside, we found Fallon already there. Though it looked like she hadn’t been waiting long. She was wet along with us. Only Merle was dry.

“Hello. Ah, I see you found a second Guardian. Well done Emma,” praised Merle. I smiled. “Now. You’re probably wondering why only you three came. Well, its because I didn’t want all of you people doing the same thing. It would get suspicious. Emma and Vanessa, you’re both Guardians. And Fallon because she can help, a lot.”

“Ok. That’s great,” I said. “What so we need to do?”

“Well, on a hunch, I believe Malistaire may be making a Diadem. From what I know, he already has the magical diamonds of the Royal family. And the lost memory of Madame Muriel, the founder of Ravenwood. Both very hard things to get. The last thing he needs is a circlet of gold. A base for the materials and for the magic to work. The only one I know of is owned by and elderly lady named Alura Moonriver. But I’m afraid she has passed away. Her sister, Jennifer Nightsword, is the only one who knows where she is buried. Why don't you go and talk to her? See if she can tell you where you can find Alura.”

Wow. That’s a lot of stuff to do. I looked over at Vanessa and Fallon. They too, looked at me. When I looked back to Merle, he was gone.

“Great. Now what do we do?” exclaimed Vanessa.

“Well, I think Ambrose wants us to come up with the plan. Any suggestions?” answered Fallon.

“I think we should…” I thought about it. “How about Fallon and… her little brother Ryan go to Jennifer and talk about, Fallon’s dream. Come up with some excuse to get her to show you where. I’ll wait outside and stay ahead of you guys to, to wherever. I’ll Wind Speak Vanessa and tell her to go to that wherever so she can wait. And if anything happens, anything at all, we can always forcer her into doing it.”

They nodded. “Sounds good. Lets do it tomorrow. Lets all fake being sick, I can get a lotus to bite us, temporary sickness, lasts five minutes, and stay home. Then when everyone is gone, we can meet up at my house and launch our plan then,” said Fallon.

Vanessa smiled. “I think this just might work.”

***

“Mom, I don't feel too good.” And that’s the truth. My mom reached over and checked my temperature.

“Yeah. Fever of 99. You better stay home today. But I have to go out and Dad is already gone. Maybe you should come with me.”

“No mom. I’ll be fine. I mean, what can I do when I’m sick?”

“Oh ok. But be good. And don't stress your self out.”

“Ok, I’ll be good.” She kissed me on the forehead and went out of the room. I bolted up, my head throbbing from the lotus bite, and was just in time to see my mom teleport outside. I lay back down in bed and Wind Spoke Vanessa and Fallon.

My mom is gone. But the lotus infection isn’t I’ll be few more minutes.

Great. I’m all good. Literally. Mine wore off 2 seconds after my mom left the room said Fallon. It was close.

Ha-ha. What about Vanessa.

Mom just left. All clear.

Ok. At Fallon’s in two minutes.

I lay back down and waited for the nausea to pass. After that, I ported to Fallon.  Vanessa was already there and they were sharing some breakfast.

“Hey Emma! Want some?”

I shook my head. “Nah. Already ate.”

“So how’d you like the lotus bite?” asked Fallon.

Vanessa groaned. “I hated it! It hurt. And then with any sudden movement it hurt your head like a Heckhound!”

Fallon smiled. “I’m used to it. Done loads of times to get out of taking a test or something. Then I just get another bite before they get home.”

“Genius! Wish I had taken second in Balance,” I said. “Not that I don't like Life,” I added.

“Its ok,” Fallon said. “At some times, Balance can really stink. The spells I mean.”

“Ok. Ready to start it?” I asked.

They nodded. “Yeah.”

Chapter eleven

A Circlet of Gold

Jennifer Nightsword

There was a knock on my door. I slowly opened t to view two people. A level 16 Sorcerer named Fallon Nightblood and a level three Diviner named Ryan Goldheart.

“Hello,” I said warmly.

“Hi,” said Fallon. “Um, are you Ms. Nightsword?”

“Yes. Do you need something?”

Fallon looked down at her younger brother. “You say it,” he said very softly.

“Um, we were wondering if you ever had a sister named Alura Moonriver.”

I looked at them in shock. The Headmaster must’ve told them. He must have. “Yes, I did have a sister. Why don't you come in?” I stepped aside and let them come in. I went to the kitchen and made some tea. I brought it out on a silver platter with milk and sugar and a Lazy Suzan of cookies. “Now, what do you want to talk about?”

“Well, I’ve been having this dream a lot, and a person a lot like you is in it. She always says something about being a Life Wizard. Then I would begin to see things from different schools. They would either last a long time or a short time. Always in the order of Fire, Balance, Ice, Storm, Life, Death, and Myth. Then I would be in a hospital and going to some kind of shock. Then the Life Teacher would come in and heal me. Then she would look like she had a lot of stress and tell me to find Emma. Sometimes it doesn’t last through all those events, but I always get past the schools. The Headmaster told me to come to you, so I did.”

I stared at the girl. She was expecting some kind of explanation. And I didn’t have that for her. The best I could do was tell her about what happened to my sister.

“Well, I don't have what you’re specifically looking for. But I may have something better. You asked about my sister, well, she had a gift for, planting ideas or dreams in people’s minds. Sometimes they would take action immediately, and sometimes it takes a while. Years even. When she got really good, she could send them out into the future to someone she didn’t even know.

“One day, she disappeared. It was a normal school day. But for some reason she looked worried, scared even. Like someone or something was after her. That day was Parent Teacher Conferences. Alura wasn’t there after school, or that night, pr the next day. We all thought she may have gone to Gobble Stone Castle. Almost everyone who knew her knew she loved it there. But she wasn’t there.

“The next day, the Death School was torn from Ravenwood and The Dark Time began.”

“And you didn’t find anything?” asked Ryan.

I looked down. “Well, we did find something.”

“What?” asked Fallon. I shuddered remembering.

“Even 13 years later we’re not sure its Alura. And I think I have to show you. To tell something like this will just be too emotional.”

“I understand. We’re free,” said Fallon.

Then something hit me. “Aren’t you supposed to be in school?”

Fallon looked shocked. Then an isn’t-this-obvious look passed over her face. “It’s from the Headmaster, you’re allowed to skip things like school for him.”

“Ah,” was all I could say. I got up and went out the door. They followed. Out into the chill air of Olde Town. I don't know why, but I almost seemed to be following another girl.

She had long brown hair and seemed to be a Grandmaster. She headed through the Shopping District and the Commons and into Ravenwood.

She disappeared through the World Gate. I expected Dragonspyer, but when I opened the door to let Fallon and Ryan through, there she was again, just closing the doors to the Oasis.

I was a little freaked out, but, its not like she’s skipping school to quest. But Krokotopia? I was confused. At the boat to The Great Krokosphinx. We waited in silence for the boat to land and we all boarded.

We also rode in silence. But something was nagging me about this girl. Like I had seen her face before. Somewhere. But it was Ryan who spoke up.

“Hey. Aren’t you the girl who was in Stormhagen?”

Right. That’s must be her.

“Yes. That’s me. Why?”

“It was all over the Ravenwood Bulletin.”

“Really? I know it had a small section. Guess it spread.”

Then she became for interested with the clouds below us and silence descended again. I took this time to check her status. Her name was Emma Dawnrider. She was a level 50 Grandmaster Diviner.

All of a sudden her head snapped up and looked exactly at Fallon.

“Hey. Are you Fallon Nightblood?”

“Um, yeah–”

“Oh my gosh, I’ve been looking all the Spiral for you!” And then they were lost in conversation. Mostly about different secondary schools and spell techniques.

When we docked, they began very serious. Emma jumped up and ran out of the boat inside the sphinx. Fallon followed quickly. Ryan ported away without a word and I was left in the boat stunned. They were hiding something.

But what?

Inside, they were talked hurriedly to another girl who had blue hair.

As soon as I was 20 feet the blue haired girl came up to me.

“I’m Vanessa. Take us to your sister. Now,” she demanded.

“B-b-but, I don't even know if it is my sister!” I pleaded. I was scared. This girl had power. More power than me.

“Well, what if I told it is? Take us to her. It determines the fate of the Spiral.”

I shuddered. “Ok. Follow me.” They followed me to The Emperors Retreat. We all entered on the Sigil and just before we went in, I pressed me hand against the cold floor and we entered to darkness as the area set up for our arrival.

***

Vanessa Icegem

Whoa. Nobody is here. No Krok’s or ghosts or whatever is supposed to be here.

I wouldn’t know I didn’t get this far.

We followed Jennifer to The Frozen Lake. No Manders. We followed her to a place in the ice and we looked down at–

“What the Heckhound is that?” burst Fallon. I shrugged and looked over at Emma. She was staring thoughtfully at the… thing.

“That’s what we think is Alura,” explained Jennifer.

“No. You have to do it. She won’t believe me,” said Emma randomly.

Fallon and Jennifer looked over at me. “Emma can see and talk to ghosts,” I explained.

“No, no, no. You.” Emma paused. “Come on Alura! She’s your sister!”

“Ugh, fine,” said a transparent figure. Alura I guess. She had just appeared in front of Emma. “Hey sis. How are mom and dad?”

Jennifer stared dumbly. “Yeah, yeah. Hi hello. Just get to the point,” urged Emma. Alura gave Emma ‘the stare’.

“Ok, Jennifer. Emma told me everything. You need to give them my body. Or else the whole Spiral will go poof.”

“Y-you, all of you set me up to this,” stuttered Jennifer. “It-it was all a hoax.”

I nodded sadly. “Yes. Yes it was. And we are deeply sorry for framing you, but it was important.”

Emma exhaled, obviously impatient. “C’mon people, we need to get a move-on. Jennifer, yes or no?”

“No.”

“Why? After all this, a no?”

“Because I cant just give up my sister like a piece of flesh.”

Emma giggled. “FYI, if you didn’t notice, your sister is a piece of flesh.” Jennifer glared…

And cast Kraken. Soon a raging battle of Storm versus Storm was taking place. Tritons and Stormzilla’s. Storm Lords and Lightning Bats. Traps and blades. They were both Grandmasters, but Jennifer had years of experience and Emma was a Guardian.

I looked over at Fallon. “Should we do anything?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Nah. Let them battle it out.” And so it went on.

Secondary spells flashed here and there too. Seraphs and Centaurs for Emma. Sun Bird and Helephant for Jennifer.

With three traps and two blades up for Jennifer, things seemed to be going well for her. Emma slowed down after a while. And if I knew my friend at all, she was planning something. Either that or getting advice from a ghost. Probably Calamity.

As Jennifer cast Triton, Emma magically reversed the spell. All the damage was done on Jennifer. She fell down to her knees, defeated. Emma walked up to Jennifer, enraged. “We’re taking that body back to the Headmaster weather you like it or not. And there is nothing you can do about it,” she said through clenched teeth.

***

I walked back over to the body, leaving Jennifer dazed and weak. The mutant was pretty far under the ice. Maybe about five to seven feet of ice between Alura and me.

I looked over at Fallon. “What's your second school?”

“Um, fire–”

“Great. Do you know Phoenix?” Fallon shuffled through her deck.

“Can’t find it. But if you want to melt the ice, I can use Sun Bird.”

“That sounds great. Go ahead.” I stepped back and so did Vanessa. Jennifer was already far enough away. Fallon drew the fire symbol, which melted the ice a little, and cast it.

It melted the ice, by a lot. Now only a hand (at least I think it’s a hand) is left in the ice.

“No. Please,” said a weak voice behind us. “It’s all I have left.”

“Don't worry Jennifer. All we have to do is get… a… piece… out of…her.” Oh my gosh. That sounds revolting. “No offense Alura.”

None taken.

I laughed a little. And I felt better. Like a weight lifted from my shoulders. Like a cloud had moved away from the sun. I smiled. So much a laugh or a smile can do.

Slowly, I tried lifting the body. It was heavy. “Oh my gosh Alura, how much did you weigh?”

She blushed. Well, being bad in school, I developed an eating disorder. Don't laugh again. It’s true. Bad things can do bad things to you. And you cause them. Strange how that works?

“Yea,” I said short of breath. “Yea sure.”

I’d help, but you seem to getting it good.

“Vanessa, get over here and help me.”

“Fine, fine, fine.” She came over and grabbed a leg, at least I think it’s a leg, and helped me drag it over to a sidewalk out of The Frozen Lake.

“Now, all we have to do it look for a gold crown,” I stated. “Easy.”

Vanessa faked barfing. “And how are we supposed to do that?”

I shrugged. “I don't know. Hey Alura, you know where this gold crown is on you?”

Alura smiled and blushed. “Um, its certainly not visible from the outside…”

“Oh. My. Gosh.” I breathed. “So the diadem is… inside you?” I shuddered.

“What?” exclaimed Vanessa. “You-you-you mean we have to-to… what!?”

I nodded. “Whatever. Lets get this over with.” I slowly started to peel a piece of cloth off of the fleshy body. Some on the skin had gotten slapped over on top and some of the cloth under. So the search resulted in pieces of Alura all over the sidewalk and us.

“Ewww!” shuddered Vanessa. “Your lucky you don't have to do this Fallon.” Fallon looked pale and was looking at Alura with wide, frightened eyes.

Before she could answer, Vanessa pulled her hand back fiercely. “I felt something!” she cried. 

Fallon and I rushed over to Vanessa and her side of the body. “Felt what?” I asked.

“I don’t know! I felt something cold.”

Fallon snorted. “Everything here is cold.”

Vanessa glared at her. “Not as in ice cold. As in metal cold.”

This got my attention. I bent down next to Vanessa to get a closer look at the body. “Metal cold you say?”

Vanessa looked up at me curiously. “Yes?”

I slowly reached into the matted flesh. I fumbled around until I felt what Vanessa must have found. I fumbled some more trying to get my hand around the object. Once I succeeded in that, I pulled it out.

“Is that what we are looking for?” asked Fallon.

“I would say so.” I answered.

What was in my hand was a very simply crafted object. A circlet of gold.

Chapter TWELVE

Earthly Encounters

The world started to spin. Colors merged and faded. I could see Vanessa next to me, but Alura’s body, Fallon and Jennifer seemed to have disappeared. Suddenly there were two swishes and Emily and Sabrina were next to me.

None of us dared say a word. Though it wasn’t the first time something strange had happened, there was a weird felling in the air.

Not like the feeling in Stormhagen when our mana was being drained away. More like the mana of the entire Spiral was moving away from us.

When the colors stopped swirling around us and images solidified, we were not sure where we were. It seemed like Marlybone, but there were no dogs and there was a foul smell in the air. Emily was the first to speak.

“Where are we?”

Some of the people around us turned and stared at us like we were dragons who had escaped from cages.

“I wonder if someone could point us to the World Gate?” wondered Vanessa.

I hardly heard the conversation. I was busy looking at Sabrina. She wasn’t looking around at everything like it was some purple, red-spotted, Cyclops. It was more of a look someone would have if she was observing changes to a familiar house.

Like she had been here before…

Vanessa tapped me on my shoulder. “Everyone keeps looking at us like we’re crazy,” she whispered.

“I think I know what we have to do,” Sabrina spoke up.

“And what would that be?” snapped Emily.

“I can’t tell you here. Too many people. First, we need to change our clothes.  I think I see a store over there. Let’s see what they have.”

We all followed her across the street. We had to be careful of the giant metal boxes rolling down the road. They looked a lot like the vehicles in Marlybone, but more sophisticated.

Once inside, we had to go up a series of stairs to reach the clothing store. Unlike in the Spiral, where hats, robes and other attire were sold in separate stores, this place seemed to have everything n one giant room.

 By: Emma Dawnrider