Clans of Wizards by Cassie
Part of the "Lie or Die" series
Prologue:In the ancient world of wizards, the Spiral is falling apart. The different clans are warring, disturbing the peace that Grandmother Raven and Sylvan created. Deathclan and Iceclan have set siege to the mighty volcanoes of Fireclan on Dragonspyre, spreading discord and alarm throughout the Spiral. Creatures on all worlds have been charmed by the rogue mage Morganthe to do her bidding. Devastated by the turncoat actions of the Deathclan professor Malistare, Ravenwood recruited pupils to be taught in the swift course to enable them to fight in the war against Deathclan and Iceclan. Among these are Miranda Stormblood and Kymma Tanglemancer…
Story:I am Miranda Stormblood, sole heir of the Stormblood Dynasty in Mushu. I was sent to Ravenwood to learn the magic of storm with my friend, Kymma Tanglemancer. She's a theurgist, and she is really helpful to me, along with her healing skills.
I really love it here at Ravenwood, except for one thing: Calamity Soulthorn. And you know what? She really lives up to her name. She is both a calamity and a thorn in Kymma's and my side, along with her cronies, Melissa Funkflame and Cindy Glossman. Calamity being a legendary conjurer, along with Cindy, although Cindy is only a grandmaster and Melissa is a grandmaster pyromancer. This is really annoying, even though both Kymma and I are legendary, because members of the Mythclan can summon minions that can be lamentable or splendid.
This becomes a problem when we are battling in the "friendly arena." The arena goes like this: up to eight people at a time duel each other until everyone on the opposing side is "dead." You can flee the duel at any time if you need to go.
You see, every time we go to duel them, we usually lose because they have three people to our two, and they can summon minions, like minotaurs and trolls. I can summon minions, but they really only attack, whereas theirs can heal and attack.
Right now, Kymma and I are dueling Calamity and her goons.
We have just started, so we are all chock-full of health. Kymma's health is at the end of the spectrum, mine being below Calamity's but above Melissa and Cindy's.
Kymma chose to pass, as she didn't have many pips. I cast a "Stormblade" to boost my damage. I saw that Cindy cast a "Pip Gift" to give extra pips to Calamity. Both Calamity and Melissa passed.
I then gained a power pip, enabling me to cast "Kraken" on Melissa. Kymma cast a "Life Trap" on Cindy, which boosts life damage on her person.
Before the round could start, however, flaming words appeared before our eyes, "Kymma Tanglemancer and Miranda Stormblood, you are required at the Headmaster's House.
Before we could do anything, Calamity jeered at us, "Hah! You got in trouble, you got in trouble!"
Kymma, always sensitive to snide remarks, "No. We were needed, not in trouble, it said!"
"Well, same thing!" Melissa sneered.
"Come on, Mir, let's go," Kymma said to me, breaking the shining lines of the arena.
Snorting, I walked out of the dueling arena, "Kymma, let's stop at my house to get our mounts first."
"Yeah, we probably should."
We teleported to my house, an underwater observatory that held all of our stuff. After the flash that teleporting always instills cleared, my servant Akin'sa Stagwind opened the door for Kymma and me. Nearly running to the pet room in excitement, Kymma had to call me back, "Mir, slow down! You're going to fast!"
"Ah, sorry." I replied, looking back.
Calming myself down, I lead Kymma's unicorn, Myst, and Tangela, my magic storm shark, outside and into the stormy island of Thunder Crag.
Leaping onto the hovering Tangela and handing the reins of Myst over to Kymma, I rode through the World Door to Wizard City.
Kymma following quickly behind me, Myst kicked up clouds of dust to catch up to me, "Mir! You just passed the Headmaster's house!"
"Oh. Oops!" I swiveled around as Myst reared and pivoted.
Swimming through the door, the Headmaster beckoned from his adjoining tower. Hovering through the archway, I sprang off of Tangela and into a chair that was as red as snow after a gory fight, Kymma following suit.
As we made ourselves at home, Merle Ambrose spoke, "Girls, I'm sure that you are aware of how fast you have progressed through our ranks. Do you know how unusual that is? Even in the swift course, that is highly remarkable. There is reason that you have been taught so hurriedly. Have you heard of the…erm…trouble with Deathclan and Iceclan?"
Glancing at each other, we both answered at the same time, "No, sir, what are you talking about?"
"Well, it's kept a secret, but when the First World broke, Deathclan and Iceclan broke apart from the others. That's why we don't have any Deathclan or Iceclan professors at Ravenwood. They have launched attacks on Fireclan in Dragonspyre. The reason I called you two is because there is a prophecy that the daughter of the headmaster and the last descendant of the leviathans would one day save the Spiral from chaos."
"I knew that my family was of importance in the Stormclan, but I never knew that we were actually descended from the leviathans… so now I know where that name came from! We actually have the 'blood of storm' in our veins," I said, "But if I'm the descendant of the leviathans, then…is Kymma your daughter?"
"Well, yes…" Ambrose trailed off.
"If you're my father, then who is my mother?" Kymma's voice was as soft as a summer breeze.
"Moolinda Wu, your professor, helped me create a 'daughter.'" He said.
"Well, what should we do?" I queried.
"Well, I think that you should start at Krokotopia and go through all of the worlds looking at clues to how to defeat Morganthe and Malistare, who are leading the chaos."
"Better pack our fire shields!" I muttered under my breath as I mounted Tangela and rode out.
Teleporting to my house, I grabbed my card deck of spells and teleported again to Kymma's house. Her house is so cool… it's a humongous tree with rooms inside of it!
Tying Tangela to the fence outside, I walked inside to see Kymma sitting on the couch and holding her head in her hands.
I walked over, now myself worried, "What's wrong, Kymma?"
Wiping her eyes on her elaborate sleeve, she burst out, "Mir, what's wrong with you? We were just given the fate all existence, and I just found out my parents aren't dead! I thought I was an orphan! Don't you know how that feels?"
"I guess not, Kymma," I sat down next to her, "but they're counting on us. No one else can do it."
"They don't know that," she sniffed.
"Yes, but I doubt that anyone else will step up to do it. Now come on, let's get our stuff."
I store pets in her house where they can graze. My pet is a storm raven that I found sick on Thunder Crag. Kymma helped me heal it, and it has stayed with me ever since. I named it Mancra. Grabbing Kymma's jade oni, Niji, as well as Mancra, I grabbed Kymma's arm and pulled her up.
"Kymma, you have to pull yourself together! People are going to die if we don't do this!" I said.
Slowly rising from the couch, Kymma picked up Niji. Grabbing her staff that was propped up on the wall, she went in to the root cellar-which is literally a "root cellar." My sword, which channels all of my magic, was lying on the couch. Grabbing it, I went back outside, untying Tangela.
As Kymma came out, I asked her, "Wait, you do have the keys to the world door, right?"
"Uh, no. I thought it was your turn to keep them!"
"Oh, no, Tangela must've swallowed them again!" I groaned, "Tangela, this might be a bit uncomfortable…" I said as I reached down into her tooth-filled maw.
I performed a "Cleanse" spell on it, leaving it uncontaminated. Jabbing one of the keys through the World Door, I twisted it, opening the door onto the sand-blasted world of Krokotopia. Pulling out a gunk-covered ring with keys attached to it out of her jaws,
"Urgh! Maybe we should have changed our clothes!" Kymma groaned.
"Anyways, let's go!" I replied.
"This is not going to be a very good climate for Tangela, is it?" I said.
Passing through the doorway, a lizard-like being beckoned to us, calling, and "Has Ambrose sent you?" in a wizened voice.
"Yes, but who are you?" I appealed to him.
"I am a mander of the highest order!" He seemed affronted.
"Yes, but which one?" I replied, exasperated.
"Why, I am Sladvir Zindelka Ferindel Terinbin III!" He said, "Can you not recognize me?"
"Um… well… we have just, um, had a great… shock?" I said, hesitating noticeably.
"Harumph. Well, we need help! The Kroks have been enslaving our kind ever since they came here at Morganthe's whim. We cannot fight back, as many of us are bespelled, forced to do the evil ones' bidding!" He said.
Glancing at each other, we walked silently out the door, Kymma asking, "Who's Morganthe?"
I replied, "I dunno. Let's ask this guy…" pointing to a shaggy dog that was striding around on two legs.
"Excuse me, but could you explain to us who Morganthe is?" Kymma asked.
"Are you serious? You don't know who Morganthe is?" The dog replied.
"No, that's why we asked..?" I said.
"Well, Morganthe is the leader of the Ice & Deathclan rebellion. She works with Malistare. Mangy traitors, the lot of 'em..." He trailed off.
Glancing at Kymma, I thanked the dog and walked off to a pyramid with a sign that read, "The Pyramid of the Sun…Enter if you dare!" Not in the least perturbed, I motioned to Kymma that she come over.
"I think this means we should probably check it out, don't you think?" I asked.
"Probably. But I'm hungry…" As if to prove this, Kymma's stomach rumbled.
"Look, I see some fried monkey arms over there." I pointed out.
"I love fried monkey arms! Hopefully. Let's go get some!" Kymma said optimistically.
"I hope they have barbecue sauce." I replied.
Strolling towards the vendor, who was nearly falling off of his narrow precipice, I asked him for two fried monkey arms, one stewed monkey head, and a packet of barbecue sauce.
Handing me our order, he said, "Special discount if you buy a lucky charm!"
Looking at him in a faintly disgusted way, I said, "Erm, no thanks."
"If you're sure!" He replied in a happy-go-lucky way, oblivious to the looks I was shooting at him.
Handing Kymma her stewed monkey head and fried monkey arm, I poured the barbecue sauce onto my monkey arm, "He faintly reminded of my happy-go-lucky Uncle Fred," I shuddered.
"Oh man, your Uncle Fred is so stupid. But no offense," Kymma said.
Snorting, I said, "Lucky he lives in Mushu, then."
"Let's go into the pyramid already!" I said, impatiently.
"Alright, alright, let's go!" Kymma replied.
Walking up a ramp that lead to the entrance to the pyramid of the sun, a guard stopped us before we could walk in, "You need to be validated before you may enter."
"Well…does the fact that Merle Ambrose sent us count as 'validation?'" Kymma queried.
"I guess so." The guard said stiffly.
Swinging his spear around in an arc, he cleared the doorway.
An ominous voice that appeared to be bodiless boomed from within, "Beware the Kroks…"
"Well, that was creepy!" Kymma said.
"I agree," I said, turning to the guard to ask, "What's a Krok?"
Sighing in a way that suggested he had done this many times, he replied, "It's a sentient crocodile, basically. Very nasty."
"Thank you," I said, not really meaning it.
Going through the archway, we noticed a ramp leading up to a statue of what looked like a Krok. Running up the slope, I nearly didn't stop in time to see a sacrificial fire pit. Screeching to a halt in front of it, I saw nothing else on the altar.
"Come on, I see a hole in the wall over that way." Kymma stated.
Gliding over to her, I, too, saw the hole in the wall, leading to a dark hall faintly lit by torches, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Wavering, Kymma said, "Well… ok, I guess."
Resuming my path, I noted that many enchanted manders strolled in the hallways, often squabbling with each other.
"Hmmm, I wonder where all the Kroks are…" Kymma said as we went onwards.
Riding underneath an archway, a sandy chamber open to the air appeared before our very eyes. We saw a Krok with a snake-like headdress ordering a bunch of orange manders.
"There's the answer to your question, Kymma!" I said to her.
"That's horrible! I'll bet the manders only listen to that cruel Krok because they put a spell on those poor things!" Kymma said.
"Well, we have to help them, I guess…" I hovered forward.
"Obviously!" She replied.
We strode forward to liberate the manders, but the Krok overseer blocked our way, sneering, "If you want to free the manders, you're going to have to get past me, wizards!"
Forming an arena and calling to his side two manders, the Krok performed a "Balanceblade" action that boosted his attack.
While I cast a "Storm Trap," Kymma passed to get more pips.
On the next turn Kymma gave herself a "Guiding Light" that helps her heal. The manders combined themselves to create a mega-mander that turned the color of someone who has been very embarrassed.
Trying to concentrate, which is hard when you are about to be bashed to death by a gargantuan mander, I summoned a Triton, a kind of fish-lord-thingy-ma-jiggy. It almost killed the Krok, but then he staggered back to his feet. Kymma brought a shield and this random hobo dude out of the 64th dimension. The hobo wasn't very useful, but the shield was! The Krok overseer cast a spell that summoned a Krokotillian to attack Kymma, since she could heal either of us if need be. Kymma fainted, her eyes rolling back into her head.
Choosing to sacrifice part of my health to revive Kymma, my foot started to bleed as Kymma lurched back to her feet.
While I took of my boot and tried to staunch the bleeding, Kymma commanded Myst to stand by our sides to heal us if we were overcome. The huge mander smashed its fists into the ground at its feet, causing an earthquake to crack the ground open at our feet. Both Kymma and I managed to get out of the way, while Myst just nearly managed to scramble out in time.
The Krok overseer summoned a Magma Snowman to attack me, and I barely escaped becoming "Miranda a La Mode."
"Mir!" Kymma screamed as she tried to attain a meditative summoning stance.
"Gah!" I exclaimed, trying to place an Aura of Shielding around her, but Magma Snowman kept slashing his dagger at me, forcing me to use my staff to block his blows.
But then the hobo whom Kymma had summoned earlier strolled into the area, lazily saying, "'Ello, where's the toilet?"
All of us, even my opponents, glared at him.
"Dude! We're trying to fight here!" cried the Krok overseer.
The colossal mander rolled his eyes, "Seriously? The chamber pots are over there!"
I asked Kymma, "Can't you just banish him back to the 64th dimension? Why is he her in the first place?"
"Oh, um…" Kymma looked at her feet, "Well, I kind of messed up. I haven't learned how to send him back. Conjuring is my second magic, ok?"
Luckily, one of the manders that was lounging around picked the hobo up and threw him into one of the chamber pots.
"Thank goodness! He was irritating!" I exclaimed.
"But you only knew him for a minute!" Kymma said.
"So?" I snorted.
"You shouldn't judge books by their cover!" she replied.
"We don't have time for this! We need to fight those guys!" I gestured towards the mander and Krok overseer.
"Eh. You don't have to. We'll even tell you who commands us! Her name is Fiona Ravenroar," the Krok overseer examined his perfectly pedicured toenails.
"Really?" Kymma's eyes widened.
"No," he snapped. "Let's get on with it, shall we?"
"Grrrr…" I snarled.
"Hey, mander. I'm just gonna call you Manny. It's too troublesome to say 'Mega Mander' or "Colossal Mander,'" I said.
Manny cast "Pip Trade," trading three of the Krok overseer's pips for power pips. I summoned a storm raven to attack Manny.
Given that Manny was a user of balance, which boosts damage on everything but Astral clan's magic, the storm raven killed him. He turned rigid and the dunes below him swallowed him up. Scowling at us, the Krok overseer cast "Persist," which makes sure that his next five spells don't fizzle.
Kymma whispered to me, "Mir, I think that I can summon some help from the oasis if I try… will you help distract him? I can't do it with him pestering me."
"Hey, reptile dude! You think you're cool?" I shouted, "Well, watch this!"
Kymma once more assumed her meditative stance. While I threw taunts at the Krok and shields around us, she opened a portal to the oasis.
A strange girl stepped out, shielding her eyes from the glare of the minor sun god the Krok overseer had just summoned.
"You seem to be in trouble. Here, let me help," she said as calmly as a cat in a blanket. She raced over and joined the battle.
"Look, where are you going? I'm a sorceress," The girl said.
"Well… tell us who you are first," I said distrustfully.
"I'm Suri Judgement. I practice Astralclan's magic, but my second magic is Balance," Suri said.
"Hmph. Well, we're trying to save the world from Malistare and Morganthe," I said, "I'm Miranda Stormblood, and this is Kymma Tanglemancer."
"Now would you hurry up and help?" Kymma screamed as a lizard scuttled up her leg.
Suri grimaced and ran over to help.
Whispering, she said, "Look. Do you need to go anywhere in particular?"
"Um, I guess Dragonspyre would be preferential…" I said.
"Well, I can teleport us out of battle and to there, if you want. If I put enough shields around us, they automatically form a portal to where you want," she replied.
"Really? Do it!" Kymma exclaimed.
"Oh no. We are gonna die," I proclaimed so that all could hear, trying to convince the foe that we were 'all gonna die.'
Well, did that ever fail. Man, did that Krok know his sneers!
Using Sneer #3, the Krok cast a "Fire Fizz" on Suri to make her spells fizzle, but she countered it with an "Ensure" that gives 45% un-fizzle rating.
Suri did a few shields on all of us, excluding the Krok (Surprising, right?). Then she cast an all-shield spell that created radiant shields around us. Holes opened underneath our feet, shining with unnatural light.
The portals swallowed us, spitting us out in a dark and gloomy place.
We stood up, dazed, and I moaned, "Ergh. What now?"
"Well, that worked!" Suri mused, "Now, seriously, what are you trying to do?"
"We told you! We're trying to save the Spiral from the leaders of Deathclan and Iceclan. You know, Malistare and Morganthe!" Kymma shouted, irritated.
"Well, I didn't quite believe you. You see, the secret of Deathclan and Iceclan is well-guarded by Astralclan members. Who told you?" Suri responded.
"Merle Ambrose," I said.
Narrowing her eyes, Suri then asked again, "How do you know him? Who are you?"
"I'm Kymma Tanglemancer, and she's Miranda Stormblood. Didn't we already say that?" Kymma said, "And he's, erm, kinda my father, and he's also Mir's headmaster. He said we were part of some prophecy!"
"What?" Suri's eyes became the opposite of narrowed, "Wait… you're the descendant of the leviathans? And she's the theurgist that Moolinda and Merle made?"
"Um, yeah…" I said.
"Well then, I'd better help you! You see, I was constructed by Bartelby and Grandmother Raven to help the saviors of the spiral," Suri said.
"Sure…" I said.
We saw an arch marked, "Lair." That seemed like a good place to start, so we went underneath it. It was actually a portal to the Lair-more tubes filled with undulating light!
As we fell out the other end of the portal, we noticed that the streets were lined with faeries. Except, they weren't normal faeries. Their eyes had no whites, they were entirely the color of mold. Then we saw a demon standing on top of a mountain alongside a dragon the size of the Pyramid of the Sun. '
The demon was waving a staff and muttering stuff like, "Aggle baggle faggle goo boo soo doo don pon ton yon der per ter yer!"
He waved the staff to our right, and so did the faeries. He lifted it up, and the faeries rose in a mass mob.
Kymma shuddered, "That's just disturbing! In Wizard City, all the faeries are helpful!"
"Well, these ones aren't!" I snorted.
"Thanks for stating the obvious, Mir," Kymma rolled her eyes, "But we do need to get past these… things… without attracting their attention."
"Hmph. I guess we could get Tangela's bubble to surround us all and float us to where we need to go," I said.
"Yes, but the faeries can also fly, Mir, so that wouldn't work…" Kymma said.
Suri remarked, "What if we just teleported?"
I said, "Oh, duh! I forgot that we can do that! But don't we need to know exactly what were we are going looks like? We don't know what this "Lair" looks like."
"Oh… oops," Suri said.
"Oh, wait! Which subclan are you, Suri?" I asked.
"All of 'em. Why?" She responded.
"Moonclan can polymorph! Can you polymorph us into those faeries?" I asked.
"I could… but my mana is low. Do you have any potions on hand?" She queried.
"I can make one, if you have some moopshrooms," Kymma took a bowl out of her pocket.
"Um, I believe I do, but they're kind of skooshed!" I said.
"It works!" Kymma exclaimed as Suri drank the purple mana potion.
"Wow. My mana feels great!" Suri marveled, "So we need to polymorph into faeries?"
"Yep," I replied.
"Just remember; go with the flow. If you get into a fight, this kind of polymorph will disappear," Suri said.
Twirling her staff and levitating it up above our heads, we formed a triangle. Azure sparks floated down onto our heads. In an explosion of smoke, we were changed into faeries.
"Sweet!" Kymma swooped above the streets.
"Kymma! We have to become part of the mob, or the demon will start to get suspicious of us!" Suri shouted.
"Alright, alright…"
We floated right above the street, going in the same direction as the other faeries. The demon grabbed a block of cheese that seemed to be in the shape of a doughnut and ripped a chunk out of it. He hurled it at the horde of faeries, and it just nearly missed Suri.
"Agh! We need to get this done, pronto!" I yelled.
"I agree!" Suri shouted back.
Kymma saw a hole in the ground, looking ominous, "Come on, I found something!"
She led us to the hole and we dived in. We braced ourselves for the impact as we hit the bottom, but none came.
"Duh! We have wings!" I exclaimed.
We descended the abyss cautiously, for fear of splatting into the walls. Eventually made it to the bottom, touching down on a mossy material.
"I wonder what kind of moss this is," Kymma remarked.
"Kymma, master of magic, lover of life, investigator of mosses," I grinned, rolling my eyes.
Suri sighed, "Well, at least it's not all gunky!"
I snorted, "Kymma, remember that time when we went to visit my house and Erick dumped that water from the Slime Dojo on us?"
Exasperated, Kymma said, "Look. We should focus! Not on the moss, I mean."
"Alright..." I said.
We walked into a hole that loomed ominously in our sight, lit by torches that lined the passageway.
I thought, "Aah!" Every step of the way, I admit. My nerves were on end.
Abruptly, a guard appeared in front of us. He looked like he could've come from the moon, he was that weird. Believe me; I've seen some pretty bizarre things in my lifetime. He had tentacles sprouting from his wobbling chin, claws in the place of hands on the end of his stubby arms.
The monstrosity said, "Y'all are trespassin' on the turf of his Imperial Majesty, Tungsten Claw. I could beat y'all into to hamburgers, or ya could… flip some wealth by way," he pronounced his a's like "au."
I muttered to Kymma, "Some guard he is. But we don't have any coin on us."
"It seems you'll have to fight us, then!" Suri said, "Do you want to fight all honorable-like or like a dog?"
"Do y'all take me for a fool? 'Course I'll fight you in the arena, all proper! I believe I can beat you threesome, the lot of you are just young faeries!"
"Hehehe. You don't know just how wrong you are," Suri cackled, "Who's this Tungsten Claw dude?"
"Don't you go a'insultin' his Imperial Majesty!" The thing cried, "He rules the land with a fist of steel. Or tungsten. Or whatever. He reports only to the rulers of Deathclan and Iceclan."
"Hahaha! This will be fun!" I grinned evilly.
We formed the arena, and it turned out the crab creature was a thaumaturge.
The guard cast a spell that appeared to give him the appearance of a regular wizard, although with skin as blue as the Caribbean Ocean. I summoned a storm elemental, and named him Bob. Kymma was on the verge of passing out from the act of summoning Suri, but she made a good pretense of power.
She created an illusion that looked like a floating ball of light was dripping blood at her side.
I whispered to her, "That is an illusion, right?"
"Yeah," she mouthed as Suri cast an all-around "Balanceblade."
As we decided upon our spells, Suri asked us, "Do you want me to lift the faery polymorph?"
I was about to answer when I felt my wing start to dissipate, "Oh well. Too late now!"
The wizard opposing us paled palpably, perhaps noticing who his opponents truly were: well-qualified wizards.
"Why me?" he wailed, "I'm only a magus! And I'm facing off the most-wanted wizards in the Spiral!"
"What? But we just got here? How are we wanted?" Kymma exclaimed.
The boy shrugged, "Claw put up signs with you guys on it everywhere. He's pretty much omniscient."
I asked Kymma what the meant, and she said, "All-seeing. You need to memorize the dictionary already! It's so scintillating!"
"Scitating...skeddod…go take your big words somewhere else!" I scoffed.
Kymma snorted and then her eyes rolled back in her head, presumably from overexerting herself.
"Kymma!" I screamed, concerned.
Suri responded, "Don't worry; she'll come to in a moment."
Still jittery at her collapse, I cast an ice shield over her to protect her from the thaumaturge. The thaumaturge must've felt he had and edge, for his pallor was gone. He cast an "Ice Macaw" spell on Suri, boosting himself with an "Iceblade."
Suri cast "Power Pip Percentage" which made us more likely to get power pips. I summoned Mancra to fight by our side.
When Kymma didn't get up, I began to worry. I felt like breaking up the fight, but didn't think Suri, who seemed to be the kind of girl who liked to wrap up loose ends, or the thaumaturge, who just plain seemed to hate us, would agree to that.
"Suri, she hasn't gotten up yet!" I looked around nervously.
"Eh, we'll pour some of that mana potion in her mouth when we kick this guy's butt," she shrugged.
The thaumaturge hadn't heard our little conversation, so he carried on scrutinizing his deck of spells. After we had all picked our spells, he cast an ice bubble around the arena, boosting all ice spells.
"You wanna play that way, pal?" Suri snarled, in full battle fury, launching a dome herself, replacing his with a bubble that boosted Kymma's healing powers. Unfortunately, Kymma wasn't awake to use it.
"She should've woken up by now!" I was worried. Extremely worried.
Just then, the thaumaturge laughed an evil laugh, "Ha! You haven't noticed my little present yet, have you?"
"What?" I asked suspiciously.
"I've cast a greeze spell on your little friend...and only someone of ice can free her!" He laughed maniacally again.
"Well that's just too bad for you, isn't it!" Suri sneered. "I can just polymorph Miranda into an ice wyvern and she can fix Kymma up."
"Oh." The thaumaturge hadn't seemed to consider the fact that Suri was a member of Astralclan.
I snorted, "Yeah, idiot! Suri, do it."
Suri still had enough mana left in her to turn me into an ice wyvern. She waved her wand around, sparks falling from it. I felt a swirling sensation, and then pop! I was an ice wyvern.
I waved my tail around as I checked out the spells I had attained. I found an "Anti-Freeze" spell that would revive Kymma. Casting it, a strange light appeared around her, raising her off the ground. She blinked and fell back to the earth.
"Wow. I'm not trapped in my head anymore!" Kymma clapped her hands together, "Now let's get down to business."
Suri cast an aura that boosted Kymma's healing skills even more grand.
Kymma attempted to heal herself, but her powers had not quite recovered from her meltdown. Suri polymorphed herself into a fire draconian, breathing a spark onto the ground in front of her scaly feet. Discarding her staff, since in her draconian form she didn't need one, Suri struck the ground, splitting it.
A flock of miniscule sprites sprang from the pit, sending out little electric shocks toward the thaumaturge. He jerked uncontrollably, his eyeballs bulging.
"Ok, that just looks freaky," Kymma commented.
"Yes." Suri said.
"Well, he looks pretty dead now," I said, nudging him with my tail.
"Yep! Let's continue into this very creepy-looking passageway!" Suri picked up her staff, which she had tossed aside.
"Why so optimistic?" Kymma said, "We're about to go into a hole-which-will-probably-end-in-death!"
"Dunno," Suri said, "I felt like it."
"Typical," I sighed, "Let's hurry up and go already!"
Kymma rolled her eyes and strolled down the corridor. Suri and I followed warily, our eyes glancing about.
"Boo!" I shouted at Kymma, making her jump.
"Aaah! Don't do that, Mir!" Kymma glared.
I withered beneath the force of her scowl, "Ok, ok. No need to scream at me. I was just trying to lighten the mood."
We walked on in an deafening silence, until I began to sing, "I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes…"
"Shut up!" Suri screeched, "That song is absolutely detestable!"
"Hehe. That's the reason it gets on everybody's nerves!" I replied.
Kymma was wholly furious, "Shut your traps! I am trying to think here, because I actually have a brain! Unlike you two!"
We both got real quiet, real fast.
"Well…what should we do now?" Suri said softly.
"Let's just keep walking," Kymma replied, "Until we find something."
We walked, and walked, and walked, and guess what? Walked! But still we found nothing. That is, until Kymma screamed.
"Aah!" Her scream kept going until she gasped for breath.
Me and Suri Suri and I [Sorry, Kymma's been going through this for grammar mistakes. She keeps using her red pen. Stay out of my book, nosey!]
So. Suri and I ran towards her, worrying our heads off.
I screamed, "Kymma! What's wrong?"
"Eeew! Look at that! Just look at that!" she cried.
Suri and I [Happy, Kymma?] looked where she was pointing, and screamed screams which were louder than Kymma's.
It was…a…[I just love suspense. Don't you? Author's notes are so fun.]weird…miscellaneous…blob…of…snot! It was gross! It was disgusting! It was repulsive! It was asd;oguasdf;gasd!
Suri said, "Well, that's disgusting."
"That is such an understatement! And you know it!" I shrieked.
"Well, maybe it is," Suri said, "But I don't think it poses much of a threat. I mean, it's not even moving!"
"Hmph. I still don't trust it," I said, "Let's just move on."
We walked carefully behind it, and I nearly stepped in it! It was really revolting. Don't ever go walking in the tunnels of Dragonspyre at night-you might die of freakiness. Which isn't a good thing, you know.
After we walked past the goo thing, we saw that the tunnel split off into two halls: one that was filled with puddles and led downwards, and one that was plain with a tiled floor, sloped upwards.
"Hmmm…if I were an evil megalomaniac, where I would I situate my lair: in the random place, or in the sinking pit?" I said sarcastically.
"Gee, it must be the one going up!" Suri rolled her eyes.
I snorted and walked towards the puddle-filled one. Suri and Kymma followed, chortling. As we strode down the shaft, I thought about the job Kymma's father had given us.
"Are we really the ones prophesied to do this? What if we aren't? What then? How do we beat the two of the most powerful wizards in the Spiral?" I shook my head and told myself to stop worrying.
"Mir? Is something wrong?" Kymma asked.
"No, I'm fine," I tried to sound more confident than I thought myself.
We fell into an awkward silence. Seemingly, no one knew what to say.
The air was getting warmer and warmer, like we were getting closer to some kind of heat source.
"Guys…I have a question," Kymma seemed uncertain, "Why are following this trail when it doesn't seem to be leading to Malistare or Morganthe?"
"We don't exactly have another lead, though. And they could be using an alias," Suri said, not sure of herself.
I shrugged, "Let's just go. We're delaying the inevitable here!"
Kymma whispered in my ear, "Can we really trust her? What if she isn't part of Merle Ambrose's force?"
I replied, "It's not like we really have any other choice. We're just going to have to trust her."
Kymma chewed on her lip and walked ahead. I then saw a passageway that went off to the left-hand side of the tunnel.
"This looks promising," I grinned.
They followed me into the passageway, which was a sight for sore eyes. Bright chandeliers filled with glowing crystals as bright as the sun lined the ceiling. The walls were draped with luxurious fabric, the floor clad in a lush fur carpet.
"Wow," breathed Suri, "It's almost as grand as the Astralfax!"
"You've seen the Codex of Astrality?" Kymma frowned.
"Well, I'm a high-ranking member of the Astracax, court of Astrality," Suri retorted.
"Why can't we just settle our differences?" I was impatient.
As they both glared at me and stalked off, I thought, "Wow. We're already fighting, over completely meaningless things! Well, technically they're the ones fighting," I amended.
As I followed them, I pondered our fates if we beat Malistare and Morganthe. Would we diverge paths? Become famous? I shuddered at the thought of being surrounded by wizards in posh clothing, getting my autograph as wands flashed in the background, imprinting my image into their memories.
After a long period of time, the lavish hallway opened into a grand chamber, much bigger than even Kymma's tree-house. We stood there, stunned. Our jaws literally dropped.
"Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow," Kymma moved into the center of the chamber, "It looks almost exactly the same as dad's room! It's just more…spread apart…than his."
Me and Suri Suri and I [Gah! Kymma!] ran out to her. A light suddenly flashed, and three figures blinked into the room.
As we cleared our eyes, one of the people sneered, "What are these children doing here? I thought you said this place was secure."
"It is," replied the man in the middle, whom I noticed had a hook on his hand, "They must be very well trained children."
As the three people approached us, I saw nametags upon their robes that read, "HELLO, My name is: Morganthe. And Malistare. And Tungsten Claw.
"Oh my God," I gasped.
"What she said," Suri gulped.
"Why do they have nametags?" Kymma's expression was quizzical.
"That's not the point!" I screamed, "This trio may be the most powerful in the world!"
"But are they the smartest? I doubt it," Kymma grinned.
"Pah! They are but younglings! We can beat them, friends!" Malistare smirked.
He thrust his staff into the air and the glowing form of an arena formed on the floor. We walked into it and a pip blazed at everyone's feet.
Malistare started by casting "Betraitored," which made Suri work for them for three turns.
"Sorry, guys," Suri smiled a sad smile.
The "Balanceblade" she had cast upon herself was immediately transferred to Tungsten Claw's circle.
"Gah!" I shouted as my spell fizzled, while Kymma passed.
On the next round, I summoned Tangela to the circle, and she immediately went to work defending us against the numerous creatures that Morganthe had brought forth. Kymma started shielding us against spell and monster assaults.
Then Tungsten Claw started shielding, too…but they were no ordinary shields. They were the same kind of shields that Suri had used to teleport them into Dragonspyre!
"Kymma, do you see that?" I asked.
"Yes, this is most definitely not good," she said.
Then, the shields appeared on us, "Bloody-!" I exclaimed.
At that moment, we teleported. I blinked. We appeared to be in some sort of maze, albeit an underwater one.
"How are we breathing?" I wondered.
Suri answered, "Some sort of spell."
The maze was made out of sparkling turquoise coral, with red, green, and yellow corals peeking out. Pebbles littered the path in front of us.
"Wow. It's so beautiful…and it doesn't seem to be made by wizards. Well, maybe it was shaped, but…" I added.
"It's breathtaking," Suri agreed, "But we should go find Malistare, Morganthe, and Tungsten Claw."
Kymma nodded, and we entered the labyrinth. Suri summoned a glowing ball of twine so that we could find our way back. Finding a piece of coral that jutted out of the ground, she tied the end of the twine around it and handed the ball to Kymma.
"Gee, thanks," Kymma said sarcastically.
We took a left at the next intersection we came to. Then a right. And a left. And a straight. And so on, until we found the middle. These is some of our conversation snippets:
"Gah! Another dead end!"
"I think we've got it!"
"Nope! You were wrong!"
*Groan*
And stuff like that.
Anyways, in the middle, we found the three wizards again.
"Oh, it's you again," Malistare sneered, "So you got through. But can you beat us in a world of our own creation?"
"Celestia…" the coral seemed to hiss at them as it waved in the current.
"They created this?" I thought in disbelief, "But…the greatest wizards of all time barely managed that!"
We formed the dueling arena to fight them. Morganthe shot a green beam into her mouth, and her eyes glazed over with silver light.
"I am…Sssserp…you musssst…die!" she screamed.
"Whoah! That is seriously creepy!" I shouted.
"Ssss…" Morganthe/Serp whispered.
Malistare and Tungsten Claw grinned as they cast blades on Morganthe/Serp to boost her damage. As she accumulated more and more pips, the air around her buzzed with magic.
I chewed on my fingernails as I looked through my deck of cards for a spell that could counter an immensely powerful curse. I saw none, so I asked Kymma if she had any treasure cards of "Absorb."
"No, I don't. I don't have anything better than a plain absorb, which would barely make a dent in the damage that bazillion pip spell is gonna do," sweat broke out on her face.
I cast a weakness spell on Malistare in case it was just a ruse and he was actually attacking.
"Foolsss! I sshall prevail! Assss the higher power, you ssshould all ssserve meee!" Morganthe/Serp shrieked, "I hold all the cardsss!"
Abruptly, a jade ray of light burst out of her chest towards me. As it approached, Suri broke the arena and leaped in front of me.
The beam struck her chest, bouncing off and also hit Malistare, Morganthe/Serp, and Tungsten Claw. She fell to the ground, gasping. Her veins turned yellow, standing apart from her dark skin.
"Good riddance…to bad rubbish…" she whispered, her breath fading away, her heartbeat vanishing.
Glossary:
Sylvan: The great tree of Ravenwood. Grandmother Raven's brother, created the First World and the Spiral. Has the Eye of the Future and the Eye of the Past. Part of Astralclan.
Grandmother Raven: Sister of Sylvan. Gave him the Eyes of Future and Past. Created the First World and the Spiral. Part of Astralclan.
Gamma: Professor Ambrose's pet owl, she is very wise.
Professor Merle Ambrose: The Headmaster of Ravenwood. Part of the Astralclan.
Morganthe: Evil rogue mage of Celestia, in league with Malistare. Thaumaturge.
Malistare: Evil Deathclan professor, helps Morganthe, necromancer.
Draconian: A dragon that walks, talks, and fights like a person. They can be very wise, but if not, they are always mindless slaves of various masterminds.
Deathclan: Necromancers. Evil. Wizards of this clan steal the life from their opponents.
Iceclan: Evil. Thaumaturge. They have a lot of health, but low attack.
Lifeclan: Theurgists. Great Healers and low damage spells, but almost no chance to fizzle. Good.
Mythclan: Conjurers. Specialize in summoning minions.
Fireclan: Pyromancers. Many damage-over-time-spells. Fizzles often, but high damage. Low health.
Stormclan: Diviners. Extremely high damage, but fizzles often. Low health.
Astralclan: Bartelby and Grandmother Raven belong to this clan, as does Professor Ambrose. Immensely powerful, this clan has three subsections; Moonclan, Starclan, and Sunclan.
Moonclan: Polymorphs into other, more powerful creatures. (Any clan.)
Starclan: Focuses on blades that boost the damage of spells. (Any clan.)
Sunclan: Spells are mostly made up of auras that can boost accuracy, damage, or more. (Any clan.)
Fizzle: When a spell does not work and turns into black ashes.
Spells: Inscribed onto cards, they can heal, leach health, attack, summon, polymorph, aura, or blade someone. They will take different amounts of pips and mana to cast.
Mana: Magic amount held in a crystal ball and carried around by every wizard. If no more remains, the wizard will be unable to cast spells until it is refilled.
Pip: A blaze of power at a wizard's feet in the arena when they battle. If it is yellow and bigger, it is a power pip, and counts as two pips, but only for that wizard's clan spells. A wizard will gain one pip or power pip each round of the battle. Each spell has a different amount of pips required to cast it.
Oni: A type of elephant that stands on two legs and wields a sword. Notable ones include the helephant and the jade oni.
Mander: Salamander beings, belonging to either Fire, Ice, or Stormclan, most being fire. Usually, kind but are enslaved by the Kroks.
Krok: Crocodilians that walk on two feet. They enslaved the entire world of Krokotopia, fleeing from their desert-ridden home world.
The Spiral: A group of planets; Wizard City, Krokotopia, Grizzleheim, Marleybone, Mooshu, Dragonspyre, and one last unknown world.
Draconian: Dragon that walks on two legs and wears clothes (usually.)
Wizard City: The most human world, Ravenwood School of Magical Arts is located in this world. First world of the Spiral, and is home to Sylvan.
Krokotopia: Filled with lizard-like being like Manders and Kroks, it is a desert world. The school of Balanceclan is located on this world; it is the second world of the Spiral.
Dragonspyre: This world was once filled with enlightened beings that held great knowledge. Drawn by the magic of pyromancy, the inhabitants of Dragonspyre summoned one of the great dragons from the First World, who had originally cracked the First World apart: Titan. The power emanating from Titan was so great that it cracked the world of Dragonspyre, causing the inhabitants to flee to a distant world. Titan lodged himself in an volcano, causing lava to flow over the cities.
Ranks: The order of power in wizardry. The order, from lowest to highest, is: Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Adept, Magus, Master, Grandmaster, Legendary.