Dusk Mountain
Chapter 1
"Hurry!"
We were running on our way to Wolverine Mountain while being chased by a bear. What a way to start a story huh?
"The entrance is just over there guys!" Tom puffed to us. "Keep going!"
"You just had to stop to gather berries Genny." Aziel wheezed as the bear charged towards us.
"They were medical berries!" Genny said in her defence. "They're very useful for poisons of many kinds, but usually help against food poisoning. Besides how was I meant to know that was a bear's feeding area?"
"If we don't hurry, we're going to be his food!" I pointed towards the bear, quickly gaining on us.
I jolted my hand away as the bear snapped at where it was. If I was any slower the bear would've gotten an appetiser!
"Hurry up Nevin!"
When I looked back, was it me or did the bear have a smile? When I wasn't looking I tripped over a large tree root and went headfirst to the ground. I did a body roll and I instantly turned into a fireball and whizzed towards the entrance to Wolverine Mountain. The flames scared the bear off and it ran away with a scowl upon its face.
"That's new" I muttered as my flames slowly died out.
"That bear was scarier than Tom when we put salt in his cereal." Ben panted when everyone else caught up to me.
"So it WAS you, if I wasn't so tired out I would beat the living…" Tom didn't finish his sentence because he seemed to be distracted by something.
"What is it?" Monica asked him.
"Where are the guards?" Tom wondered out loud. "Something isn't right. The entrance guards never leave their post."
"Tom, look out!"
I slammed Tom out of the way as a flaming arrow sliced by.
"Makes a change from the normal arrows." Tom grunted as he got up. "And those were only the start."
Tom pointed to an army of arrows hailing down upon us and we all charged to the entrance. Once we were in safely, we examined the area.
"Where could the guards have gone?" Tom wondered out loud. "This isn't right… We need to report this to the elder!"
"The elder?" Ben asked in confusion. "What's the elder?"
"I am, boy!" A voice more croaky than a frog said. "You can't be in this mountain without knowing that!"
And from a corridor nearby came a wrinkled old man who could maybe be older than my great-grandfather if he was still alive. He had a long straight nose and his hair was whiter than snow.
"Quick! Get down on your knees if you value your limbs!" Tom quickly warned us.
"He wouldn't really?" I asked as I got down. "Would he?"
"Tom gave me the 'Don't ask that question' look as the elder examined us.
"Ah, Thomas, nice to see you here. You too Monica. And who are these fellows may I ask?"
"They're close friends. You don't mind if they stay here do you?" Tom asked as we all got up.
"No I don't, yet others might." Carry on my fellows"
"He seems nice" Ben said enthusiastically as the elder left.
"So when are you signing up for the tournament Tom?" I asked him as we headed to where we would be sleeping.
"Excuse me? Oh no, I don't compete in the games."
"WHAT?" Aziel, Ben and I exclaimed.
"You made us come all this way just so you could watch a tournament?" Aziel was furious.
"No, it's not like that!" Tom tried to calm her down. "There are other things I have to do and…"
"I don't care about your personal life! You made us drive through a mall, get us stuck with an eight-year old witch and the slut of the century, almost got Ben and Nevin killed to visit a few friends!" Aziel was NOT happy.
"Aziel, I'm sure there's a good explanation for this." I tried to help out Tom with calming her down.
"Yes, there's a good reason why he won't compete. Because he's a wuss!"
The voice belonged to a beefy buzz cut hair douchebag-like faced man.
"Ah crap. It's Chuck." Tom groaned.
Chapter 2
"What do you want?"
"To see you get killed in the championships!" the person Tom referred to as Chuck laughed.
"Who are you?" It was obvious this guy had guts. I'm one of the few people that trash talks Tom like that and lives.
"Well, well Tom. I see you're babysitting. Maybe you could take the kids back to kindergarten and leave the rest of us to real business huh?"
"What do you mean 'babysitting'?" Genny questioned Chuck.
"You and your little friend over there are who I'm talking about. Plus you're also hanging out with girls who can't do anything right except cook."
"Hey! You're forgetting me!" I said.
"Yeah whatever."
"Well then, if I'm just 'a little kid' answer this mathematical problem." Genny asked Chuck.
"Shoot pipsqueak."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Well then, what's 2x3-8+87x78-12x0-96+175?"
Chuck paused in amazement then tried to work it out. He finally gave up. "What is it then?"
"Simple, my beefy brainless non-friend. 0."
Chuck's mouth dropped and it instantly closed again. "Pfft, whatever nerd."
"You'll regret that." I told him as he walked away. Genny clicked her fingers and Chuck's buzz cut caught fire and he ran away screaming.
"And that's why you don't mess with a witch." Genny dusted her hands. "Now where are our rooms?"
"Hmmmm." Tom was taking us through every corridor in the mountain. "The bedrooms should be around here somewhere…""
"Look Tom, we should just ask someone here where they are and we can stop walking in circles!" Monica tried to convince him.
"No, they really are somewhere around here. I know it… Aha! Told you!"
We turned a corner and we saw a long wide corridor with a shitonne of doors.
"Now which one's ours?" I grinned as Tom groaned.
After a lot of searching (and failing, constantly) we finally found the right rooms.
"Alright then, this should be the main room." Tom opened the door and we all came inside. It was pretty good for a room inside a mountain. There was electricity, meaning there was a TV and a fridge. There was also a bookcase, which Genny was already scanning. There were also three other doors.
"Bathroom's down the middle, boys to the left, and girls to the right." Tom yawned. "We should probably get some sleep then."
Tom, Ben and I went into our room and I jumped onto my bed. It had been a long day and I needed some sleep.
"Night y'all" Tom turned off the lights and got in his bed. "See you in the morning."
"Hurry Nevin!"
I was with my parents, running away from a burning village. There was also a little girl running next to me, with the eyes…
"Nevin, we have to hurry!"
The little girl tripped, and was instantly swallowed by the flames behind us. I heard myself cry out to her, and my mother picked me up.
"We can't leave her!" I heard myself cry.
"She can take care of herself Nevin."
"I made a promise!"
I woke up sweating. I checked my watch. 2:30 AM. Tom and Ben were fast asleep. I needed a drink.
I went into the main room and headed towards the fridge. I opened it and there was a bottle of water, some milk and a bottle of Diet Coke. I pushed past them and grabbed the Carlsberg Tom stashed in the back. Maybe he'll hide it somewhere better next time.
While I was glugging it down, I heard some rustling from the bookcase. I walked over to it and the whole thing collapsed on me.
"Gotcha!" Aziel jumped out from behind the couch. "Nevin? Woops, sorry. Thought someone had broken in. What are you doing up this late?"
"Nightmare." I grunted as I tried to push the bookcase off.
"You're a bit old to be getting scared of nightmares Nevin." Aziel smiled as she telekinetically raised the bookshelf off me.
"These nightmares are different." I got up and sat on the couch. "They're trying to tell me something."
"What?"
"I don't know yet. I can't interpret dreams."
"Let me have a go."
"Alright then." I told about the dream I had.
She thought it over and finally gave in. "I can't figure it out."
I sighed. "Where's Joseph when you need him?"
"Who?"
"Y'know, Joseph, son of Jacob, has 11 brothers, could interpret dreams. Never heard of him?"
"No, we're very isolated over where I used to live. So isolated that I could run naked through the forest and nobody would see me! In fact, I actually did that once."
"What happened?"
"I ended up at the town nearby. If I wasn't careful I would've been seen! Thankfully there was clothing on a washing line exactly my size, so I wore that to get back home."
I grinned then yawned. "Night then."
"No wait!" Aziel said as I was heading to bed. "I'm wide awake and I don't want to be on my own."
I shrugged, sat down next to her on the couch and put the TV on. After 10 minutes I had drifted off.
When I woke up in the morning I felt something heavy on me. Aziel had fallen asleep on top of me. I gently moved over and got up just as Tom came in.
"Morning." He yawned and he looked at Aziel sleeping. "Looks like you had a fun night if you know what I mean."
"Oh no, we didn't, we just… erm… eh…"
"Don't worry, I won't tell." He grinned and went to the fridge.
Soon everyone else was up and Aziel had woken up too.
"When's breakfast Tom?" Ben groaned. "I'm starved."
"It'll be in the food court." Tom said as he rummaged through the fridge.
"Food court?" I wondered out loud. "You guys have quite a lot for a mountain surrounded by a forest with only a small village on the outskirts."
"Ever since more visitors started coming here we had to modernise the place. Make it more suitable for people used to the new age. This used to be an exploration site which we slowly made bigger. Our old hub was destroyed by fearful neighbours. We lived in the cave and tunnels throughout this mountain for a while, and then we made it habitable when more came."
"Cool."
"Now answer me this." Tom finally came out of the fridge. "Where is my beer?"
Chapter 3
After a half-hour of searching we finally found the breakfast room. It was half the size of a football pitch, with multiple cafes, bars, restaurants and a small ice cream corner.
While trying to hold Ben back from running towards the ice cream corner, Tom looked around and headed towards a little counter with a skinny teenager behind it, probably 14-15 with acne all over his face. Typical teenager stereotype I thought.
"How may I help you sir?" the teenager squeaked.
"I'm here to see 'Big Daddy C'" Tom whispered to him.
"Right this way." The teenager let us behind and we went into the kitchen.
It was very quiet, except for a fat Italian man with a chef's hat and a white apron on singing out of tune horribly. Even more typical stereotype I thought.
"Donny!" Tom smiled and the fat chef turned around.
"Ah, Thomas, it's great to see you again!" the chef spoke with an Italian accent (obviously) and had a curly thin moustache. "You've gotten thinner. We'll see to that my boy!"
As Tom and the chef called Donny talked like they were best friends just meeting each other after many years I asked how Tom knew the chef.
"Tom used to work for Donny." Monica replied. "The only way to stay in Wolverine Mountain was to do a job, and Tom worked as the chef's apprentice for a while."
"Tom's a cook?" Aziel raised a brow. "Doesn't look like the type!"
"You might think so, but his lasagne isn't half bad!"
Once Donny and Tom were done talking Tom introduced us to him.
"Ah, Monica, ha migliorato il tuo italiano?"
"What?"
"Non credo proprio. And these are new friends eh?"
Tom nodded and the squeaky teenager came in.
"Serving time has started Mr. Mario!" he squealed.
"His last name is Mario?" Ben asked Tom.
"It's his first, actually. He prefers his friends call him Donny though."
The stereotype just got worse.
Once we ordered breakfast (Tom ordered his from 'Donny') we tried to find a table.
"So, planning on doing anything while you're here or are you going to walk around like zombies?" we heard a familiar voice call from behind.
We turned around and we saw Chuck grinning.
"Why are you following us around Charlie?" Tom asked him while he gritted his teeth.
"My name is Chuck, and I'm wondering why you're here. Oh yeah, I forgot, you're too much of a pansy to do anything but babysit these heaps of dirt!"
Ben charged towards Chuck but just got held at arm's length by Monica, holding on to his collar.
"Lemme at him! Lemme at him!"
"Fine then! If you think you're so perfect, I'll sign up to the tournament!"
Chuck's face changed from douchebaginess to shock, then back to normal again.
"Ha! Well, see you from the top pedestal then!"
Chuck walked off laughing but when Chuck was shocked concerned me. Was Chuck intimidated by Tom?
"Your food sir." The teenager had come over again and given us our food.
"Great, breakfast time!"
As we dug in, Tom looked a little spaced out.
"Tom, are you ok?" Monica asked him. "You don't have to do the tournament. We can leave tomorrow so you won't be embarrassed."
"No, it's not that, it's just…" Tom didn't finish as he closed his eyes, fell back off his chair and hit the ground.
"Tom!"
We all stood around him and people came over to see what was wrong. Tom was jerking around and his eyes were pale.
"Tom, no! Is there a doctor here?" Monica was doing everything she could to help him but nothing was working.
"He's been food poisoned." I heard someone shout. That reminded me of something Genny said.
"…They're very useful for poisons of many kinds, but usually help against food poisoning…"
I grabbed Genny's pouch off of her, rummaged through it, took the berries out, and shoved them down Tom's throat.
Tom soon stopped jerking around and lay still. Aziel gasped with fear he was dead. Monica had tears in her eyes. Then all of a sudden, Tom jerked and woke up.
"Ow, that must've been one rough night…" Tom groaned as he got up.
"You're alive!" Monica cried and hugged him so hard I saw him choking.
I sighed with relief as the crowd started to break up.
"Nice thinking Nevin." Aziel said.
"Thanks."
If I had known that was only one of the many shocks I was going to get I would've wished I had been poisoned.
Chapter 4
"He's in perfect health" the doctor told us. "Apart from the bump on his head he took when he hit the ground, which isn't serious, he's fine. The antidote worked perfectly."
After Tom recovered, we had the doctor check Tom up to check for any side effects.
"Your breath might start to smell like ham though for a while. Brush extra hard." And with that piece of information we left.
"Are you sure you want to do the tournament Tom?" Monica asked him concerned. "He's just a douchebag. You shouldn't be…"
"So weak?" Tom finished her sentence. "Stupid enough to be annoyed into doing something I don't want to? Well screw that! I'm taking him down, and if you want to stop me, you should've let the poison take me."
Tom stormed off to the sign-up.
"Tom…"
When Tom got back, he went into his room, came out again and left. He didn't say or look at any of us. He slammed the door and we didn't see him for ages.
"Where is he?" Monica was asking that question every ten minutes.
"Why don't you go look for him if you care so much?" Aziel finally told her.
"As a matter of fact I will!" she left and Genny sighed.
"What the feeble human mind will do for love." She muttered.
"What do you mean?" Aziel asked.
"The human mind will obsess over emotions that aren't necessary to life. Love for example. It intrigues me what the human mind will do for such… useless things." Genny answered Aziel.
"Why does it intrigue you? Because you have no feelings?" Aziel retaliated. "Because you're not human?"
"I'm not human." Genny said simply. "I'm a witch."
"Witches are humans too!"
"No, we're wiser and live longer. We also cannot breed with humans, meaning we aren't human."
"Wait, you can't… breed with a human?" I asked.
"No, like I said, we magicians, not human."
Monica finally came back to us and said to us: "Come on. It's starting!"
We followed her through countless veins and corridors until we reached a large room with a stage on top and a large cage next to it. There was a man with a microphone, the Elder and five people who looked important on chairs and a group of thirty people on stage. Among those people there was Tom and Chuck.
"Good afternoon, spectators, and let me welcome you to the Sirius Tournament!" The announcer said through the microphone, amplifying the sound across the room. There was a bunch of cheering and clapping and we joined in too. We found somewhere to sit and Tom waved at us.
"Today, it's the eliminating course! We pit all the challengers against a large rabid wolf. They must either survive fifteen minutes in with the wolf or kill it. They are given nothing but a dagger and some bait. The only way to lose is to die. Now let the tournament begin!"
The first few died rather quickly, though there was one who lasted pretty long. He was holding onto the bars up high. He slipped and fell into the dog's jaws. Half the time Monica had to cover up Ben's eyes. I would've if I wasn't covering my own.
"Chuck Bedson is in the cage!" The announcer, well, announced. "Chuck has won the Sirius Tournament eight times in a row now! Personally I say we just give him the prize and be over with it, but then there'd be no fun would there?"
Chuck entered the ring posing for cameras. For some reason I knew he would make it through this round. They let the wolf in and the timer started. Chuck tossed the dagger and bait away and grabbed the wolf's head. He put his elbow around its neck and began to choke it. The wolf fought helplessly to be released, but its whimpering was doing nothing and went limp. Aziel looked away and I saw Monica gritting her teeth. She must've been wishing she had her elbow around Chuck's neck.
"And now, Tom Calin!"
I saw Tom gulp and get in the ring. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes!
Chapter 5-Tom
I got in the arena and they gave me the dagger and bait. They then put the wolf in and it looked pretty mad. I could tell this would be hard. The wolf must weigh more than me!
I circled it a bit and the wolf was getting jumpy. I wasn't going to keep this up for a quarter hour. It was going to charge at me soon and that would be that. I knew what I had to do. I circled a bit more and then jumped over it. It was surprised so it didn't move and I jumped onto its back. As it tried to throw me off I took the dagger and stabbed the wolf in the back.
Nothing.
The wolf threw me off and slowly padded closer. I still had the dagger and bait. I quickly got up and ran to the side. The wolf was ready this time and it tackled into me. I fell to the floor and the bait dropped out of my pocket. The wolf noticed it, went over to it, and ate it in one go. The wolf started to pad towards me, but then its eyes turned red, it wheezed, and collapsed. When the wolf was coming towards me, I stuffed the dagger in the bait and purposely dropped it out of my pocket. The dagger got stuck somewhere down the line and killed the wolf honourably. Wait, did I spell that wrong? I meant horribly.
They let me out and everyone started to cheer. Thank goodness that's over. I went over to the winners' seats. A few more went and barely any survived. If this is the first round they chose I'm going to find the rest very difficult.
The final one went and he left the cage missing an eye or two and with a leg bent in the most awkward position possible. Let's just say he'd find biting his toenails easy, if there were any toenails left. Or teeth.
"Alright then, let's see our contestants!" the announcer got up and dusted the… dust off of his self. "We have here Tom Calin, Chuck Bedson, Vikturr Nufenshweichen(Mother Russian, Father German) Francis Paris (Surprisingly not French, but Greek) and Weng Chai(Chinese, only girl to go through). It's obvious that Chuck Bedson will make it through to the end, but will he win? We'll find out tomorrow!"
The audience started to clap and we went backstage so we could meet with the contestants.
Vikturr went over to talk with Chuck and Francis started to flirt with Weng.
"Your face surpasses the wonders of your country's wall, my sweet cherry." He purred.
"I'll make your face swell to the size of the wall if you don't go away." Weng threw her leg to Francis' side and knocked him over. She then casually walked past him, kicking him in the nuts on the way. Charming.
"Tom!" I turned around to see Monica run towards me with Nevin, Ben and Aziel following her.
"That was pretty impressive out there Tom" Nevin complimented me.
"Yeah, they're trying to get the knife out right now." Ben added. "Apparently it's pretty bloody."
"Where's Genny?" I asked.
"Oh, she's off investigating the mountain." Aziel said. "She said it's a very interesting one. Probably wants to write a book about it. All she thinks life is about anyway."
"You two aren't getting along are you?" Nevin asked.
"Well, she questioned the wisdom of all mankind! I'm surprised the human race hasn't put the magicians to the stake yet."
"They actually have driven them into hiding" Monica stated. (That's for all you Harry Potter fans out there!) "Besides, haven't we gone off topic? Let's find Genny and get back to our rooms. Tom needs his rest if he's going to do the next round!"
"What are you, my mother?" I just walked past her to the corridors. Monica sighed sadly and followed.
"We'll have to split up." I suggested. "We'll break up and go look for Genny, and if we can't find her we make our way back to the room. If she doesn't get back we send out a search party." Everyone nodded and I picked the teams. "Nevin, you go with Aziel, Monica you can go with… Ben and I'll go on my own."
We all went in different directions. Nevin and Aziel went up, Ben and Monica stayed on the same floor and I went down. And down, and down, and further into the rock. I swear I had entered the mantle; I had gone that far down. Genny surely couldn't have come down all this way could she?
I was thinking about turning back when I heard a familiarly young yet wise voice say "Excellent! I'm amazed this could be possible to find something like this."
"What have you found?" I asked coming around the corner to see Genny examining a crack.
"It's a link to the Crystal Enigma!" Genny was smiling like a kid in a candy shop. "A strange world hidden in the mantle of the Earth."
'I knew I was close to the mantle' I thought to myself.
"The Crystal Enigma is very difficult to get to, due to the pressure placed on the border between the mantle and the crust of the Earth. There are a few cracks towards it however. They are far between and are in random places as well. Scientists find them to be unpredictable. I'm going to prove them wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm writing a log of these cracks and I'm planning to link them together. If that doesn't work out I'll have a map of the greatest place on Earth."
"Greatest?"
"Crystal Enigma didn't get the crystal part of the name out of tombola. The world is chock full with gems, jewels, diamonds, rubies, you name a natural beauty it can be found there. My map would be worth a fortune."
We both went silent and I finally broke it.
"We should head back. Have you noted this crack down?"
She nodded and we started the ascent. A world full of treasure. If the rest of humanity found out about it, the place would be ravaged. The beauty of gems would disappear because people would have found a way to farm them. The world wouldn't be right.
"Don't sell that map" I finally told Genny. "Keep it for yourself. Farm the gems but use them as little as possible. Don't let the greed take you. Trade them in for more useful things."
She took in all my information and agreed. "Don't sell the map? Perfect idea! I could use the gems for my potion practices."
"Exactly. Just don't use me as a guinea pig."
We both laughed and then we finally reached the end of the ascent.
When we got back to the room only Monica and Ben were there.
"Where are Nevin and Aziel?" I asked.
"They still haven't gotten back yet." Monica said. "They can't be too far off."
Chapter 6-Nevin
"She's not here." Aziel wheezed as we climbed up a steep staircase.
"We'll turn around when we get to the top." I told her. We had been going for a while now. "We must be pretty close to the peak."
We finally reached the top and looked around. There was a balcony to our left so we went to it.
When we came out onto the balcony we were hit by cold, snowy air and snow all over.
"We must be pretty high up to be hit by a snowstorm." Aziel shivered.
"Yeah, especially considering it's October."
I looked down the balcony edge. "The drop's pretty deep."
We heard footsteps from behind and we turned around to two uniformed men holding guns approaching us.
"Excuse me, which way is the fastest way down?" I asked them.
They pointed the guns at us and I grinned.
"Thought so." I grabbed two snowboards lying nearby, tossed one of them to Aziel and jumped off the balcony.
I expertly threw the snowboard beneath my feet and slid down the mountain. I turned my head to check whether Aziel had caught up to see the two men point their guns at us. They were going to pick us off on our way down?
"Ok then, have it your way!" I shouted at them. "I like a challenge!"
I slid down dodging their bullets as I hurtled down the mountain. Soon the snow would run out and we would be screwed then. I hit a snow ramp as a bullet whizzed towards me and it bounced off my board. It ricocheted back to the man that shot it and he fell off the balcony, lifeless.
'Charming' I thought to myself.
We soon could see the end of the snow. The mountain surface however looked smooth enough to slide over. It wouldn't be easy though.
We hit the rock and it was like scratching your nails on a chalkboard, only a lot more sparks.
"I think we lost them" Aziel turned her head to check and I barely had time to warn her before she slammed into a tree and her board went out from her feet. She flew in the air for a few seconds and plummeted to the rocky ground below.
"No!" I slid right underneath her and caught her in my arms. She was unconscious. That tree was just the start.
We had slid off the mountain and into the forest. I had to duck, jump, slide and zigzag my way through the trees, all while keeping Aziel from getting hurt.
I soon got out and then examined the area. The mountain was to our left, so we hadn't gone too far. I put Aziel down on the ground and had a look at her bruise. It was just above her eyes but didn't look too bad. She'd wake up soon.
I looked around the forest. I've been in a forest for about almost half my adventure. I probably have a bond to them stronger than Aziel does…
I then started to feel dizzy. Did I hit my head on a branch or something? I then stumbled and collapsed.
It was the little girl again. We were sitting on a hilltop admiring the sunset of a small village below.
"It's beautiful" she said. "I want to stay here forever"
"I don't" I heard myself say gloriously. "I wanna travel to the four corners of the world, see everything I can. I'll collect treasure, save kingdoms and battle evil foes."
I got up and pulled out a wooden sword and brandished it in the air. "I'll be a hero!"
The little girl laughed and I put my sword away.
"You can come too" I said to her.
She paused. "You would want me to come?"
"Yeah, of course! We're best friends, remember?"
She smiled and everything started to fade back to reality…
"Nevin!"
I got up and Aziel had woken up too. We saw two soldiers come up to us.
"Are you Nevin and Aziel?" one of them asked.
"Maybe. Who's asking?"
"A young man by the name of Thomas asked for us to find you." The shorter one replied.
"We must have been out for a while" I said to Aziel who nodded.
"Come on then, escort us back like charming men should!" Aziel mock flirted with the soldiers.
They barely had any more idea where our room was than Tom did so we were exhausted by the time we got to the right door.
They let us in and I stretched out on the couch and yawned.
"Not going to bed?" Aziel asked.
"Nah, think I'll take a nap here"
Aziel closed the door. "Everyone else seems to be asleep."
She yawned and headed towards her room.
"Night."
"Ni…" I started but she had already closed the door.
I shrugged, got up and headed towards the door. You didn't think I was going to go to sleep did you? Aziel and I almost were assassinated, and I want to find out how they got in.
I walked through a couple of corridors then found myself at a strangely large room.
What is this place?
"Knew you'd be up to something" I heard someone say.
I turned around and Aziel, levitating a small rock, smiled and tossed the rock to me. "Check this out"
I grabbed it and examined it a little.
"It's a rock, so what?"
"It's not the rock; it's how I found it." Aziel put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "This was tied to it. I found on the floor of our room."
She tossed that to me too and I started to read.
It read: Get out. It's not safe. The tournament's rigged. Only he can win.
I frowned. Was someone rigging the tournament so they could win?
"Exactly what I thought" Aziel replied to my thoughts.
"We got to pull Tom out then" I suggested.
"No. We need to find out who it was who rigged it, and where this…" She took the rock and paper back. "… Came from."
Chapter 7-Tom
"Tom… Wake up… late…"
"I don't wanna go to school mommy…" I mumbled, half awake.
"Wake up!" Monica hit me with a pillow and I jolted up.
"The next round of the tournament's started and you're due in ten minutes!" Monica shouted.
I quickly got ready and dashed for the arena.
"What event is it?" I puffed at Nevin and Aziel, who were sitting in the audience.
"Something about the elemental dragons." Nevin yawned.
"You each are assigned a dragon of a certain element and you have to retrieve the diamond from them.
"There's the fire, forest and rock left, and Francis and Vikturr have gone. Francis had ice and Vikturr had water." Genny said, popping out of one of the aisles.
"Tom Calin!" The announcer shouted out. I ran forward and he passed me a small sack.
"Put your hand in and pick a rock." He told me.
I nodded and thrust my hand in. I felt around and my hand found a steaming hot rock. Probably, but I wouldn't be able to pick the rock up. There was a mossy one and a strange jagged one. I'll pick the jagged.
I took my hand out and opened it.
"Tom will go against the rock dragon!" The announcer showed my hand up and everyone started applauding.
"Now here are the rules." He told me. "You get a dagger like last time, but no bait. You also get a specific item for the dragon you go up against. Here is yours." He handed me a spray bottle filled with water.
I frowned. What use would this be against a rock dragon?
"The other rules are that you can't leave the arena at any time and if you don't get the diamond before your time is up, you lose."
I nodded, took inventory and entered the arena.
When I went in I knew already this would be harder than the wolf. The dragon was huge, about the size of a small T-rex and stood to its name. It was made completely out of rock. Jagged like the rock assigned to it too, not smooth. The only part that wasn't rock was the eyes and tongue, which was an odd shade of blue. I was focusing on the forehead though. Encrusted in-between and slightly higher than the eyes there was a shiny, light-blue diamond. But how to get up there?
The dragon wasn't going to give me time to think. It roared at me, which sounded like fingers scratching a blackboard, and threw its claws down on me. I leapt out of the way and barrel rolled my way to the dragon's tail.
It had a spike ball on it and those spikes looked threatening. I crept my way to the ball while the dragon tried to find me underneath its hand which it missed me with.
"Got to time this right" I thought to myself.
I shouted at the dragon: "Hey! Your body smells worse than your breath!" (Pathetic, I know, but it's a dragon, I'm not wasting quality jokes on something that doesn't understand English. Besides, Nevin's listening; he's not ripping off any of my insults!)
Jumped at the tail with my dagger in hand, and slammed it in when I landed on it.
It didn't do much damage, but it kept me from falling off as the dragon swung its tail around more than my stomach could care for.
It then changed strategy and decided to it the doggy way; chase your own tail. As it ran around in circles roaring at me I slowly climbed the tail and got to the top. The dragon changed strategy again and flew up into the air. I wasn't going to get past those beating wings easily. I climbed over to the attachment between the left wing and the body. There was a chink in the dragon's armour.
"Time to put this spray bottle to use" I said to myself before spraying inside the chink.
It loosened the attachment somehow and the wing disconnected with a sharp scratch through the socket. One wing couldn't hold us up so we started to fall to the ground and I held to the dagger wedged in the dragon's back and held on for life.
I saw the audience fly by as we plummeted to the earth and I heard someone scream.
It was now or never and I preferred to do things as quick as possible. I climbed my way to the head as quickly and as recklessly as possible. Who needs care when you're falling at 50 mph?
I finally made it to the forehead and grabbed onto one of the dragon's horns. I pulled out the spray and aimed it at the diamond's edges.
I squirted just before the dragon shook its head and I lost grip on the dagger and flew off!
I landed with a thud and the dragon caused an earthquake when it fell right next to me. As I got up I saw the diamond fall down and land in a lump of hay;
On the other side of the dragon, who was probably more ticked off than a monkey without coconuts.
Hoo boy.
I charged towards the dragon and it brought its giant hand down on me before I quickstepped like Sonic and dashed under its legs. I ran towards its tail, which was hurtling towards me and slid under at the last second.
And for a finale the dragon started spewing out flying boulders towards me while I jumped, ducked and quickstepped my way to the lump of hay. I grabbed the diamond out of the hay and noticed a stick poking out of it with a note attached.
It said pull me.
I obeyed the mighty diamond's orders, and it exploded right in my hand;
To make a light-blue sphere around me, which the dragon instantly roared at and scampered away.
Everyone started cheering and two soldiers started signalling me forward from one of the doors. I quickly ran towards the doors before my sphere had enough time to fizzle out.
Chapter 8-Nevin
I saw Tom come out and almost collapsed with relief, even though I was sitting down. Tom was being as risky as a tightrope dancer. He caused the dragon's wings to fall off in mid-air. He attached himself to the tail with a spike ball right behind him. And last but not least he charged straight for the dragon. Oh, who am I kidding, I would've done the same.
Then Chuck stepped onto the arena and they released the dragon he had picked. The fire dragon. Like Tom's dragon, it had the diamond encrusted on the forehead. Chuck had been given a crowbar as his specific item and he tossed it away along with his dagger. He then charged towards the dragon, leapt, and punched it in the forehead. The dragon stumbled, dazed from the punch, and collapsed. Chuck then went up to the dragon's unconscious body, punched the diamond and it popped out. He then pulled the stick out and walked casually towards the exit. Show off.
Weng then went on and the final dragon, the forest dragon, was like the other two, diamond encrusted forehead, but this time was different. It had a giant tree on its back and its tongue was long and green, like a vine.
The dragon instantly shot its tongue towards Weng but she jumped to the side and grabbed it. The dragon then swung its tongue up and Weng flew off the vine-like tongue. She landed on the tree and then pulled out her specific item; a box of matches.
She lit a match and threw it onto one of the branches and leapt off. She then slid off the dragon's tail and watched as the dragon tried to put the fire out.
We then heard a large scream and everyone, including Weng turned to look.
While Weng was distracted the dragon got the fire out and shot its tongue towards Weng. Before she could react she was already trapped by the dragon's tongue coiled around her. The dragon picked her up, retracted its tongue and ate her in one gulp.
"Charming" I muttered to myself as the dragon went back inside its cage.
We then saw a platform be pulled into the arena and Vikturr, Francis, Chuck and Tom stepped onto it along with the announcer.
"It looks like Weng didn't stand a chance against that dragon, although it was the easiest one out of the group. She obviously wasn't ready for the tournament. This is a man's sport!"
We heard a couple of boos from the crowd and I noticed Aziel was muttering to herself.
"Okay then, we're left with Vikturr Nufenshweichen, Francis Paris, Chuck Bedson and Tom Calin. Who's going out in the next round, and will they survive? Find out at the next round, tomorrow!"
And with that the crowd broke up and we headed for Tom who was coming out.
"That was a nice show down there" I complimented Tom. "I personally feel sorry for the dragons."
Tom laughed and yawned. "Can we head back now? I didn't get much sleep last night"
"Come on then!" Ben smiled.
We headed to our room and I started to wonder. How can you die at the hands of something based on a plant, especially someone trained to fight? Weng was distracted by someone screaming. Where did it come from?
"I think I left something at the stadium" I said to everyone. "Won't be long!"
I ran off before they could stop me. It came from the east of the stadium, so I'll check there.
I ran through the passageway to the stadium, snuck past the guards checking for anyone who might've stayed behind, and crawled through the seats to the east wing.
Looking around for the guards first, I entered the east wing, which was mainly for wealthy customers, but nobody was using it today. Who screamed?
I closed the door behind me and found a large speaker. Suspicious.
I followed the cord from the speaker up to the ceiling. There was a hatch which was open just enough for the cord to go through. I climbed the ladder that led up to it and squeezed my way through the hatch, which was so rusty I could barely open it enough for me to slip through.
I finally got out and continued following the cord until I reached another hatch with the cord slipping through. I pushed my way through, checked for guards and jumped down.
I had landed in the west wing which, like the east wing, was for wealthy customers. I followed the cord to its finish, connected to a MP3 player. I investigated it and soon figured it out. Someone had used the speakers to send out a scream, stored on this MP3 player to distract Weng. The majors of the mountain, including the elder were using this wing, so the person who set it off must be high up in the ranks. The question was who set it off?
I then heard footsteps coming from the other side of the door.
"It must be the guards" I whispered to myself. "I need to distract them somehow."
I thought, and then came up with a crazy idea. I picked up the MP3 player and turned it on. As I predicted, a scream rang out from the east wing. I heard the guards run towards the east wing, and then I ran towards the exit.
"Hey!" A guard noticed me and charged for me.
Chapter 9-Monica
"I wonder what is taking Nevin so long." Aziel said rolling over on her bed. I looked over at her, she seemed worried.
"Maybe he's back in the room with Tom getting some shut eye." I replied shrugging my shoulders.
"But I think he would have told us." she said sitting up in her bed.
"Aziel he's a boy, they only have one thing on their mind." I replied staring at the roof. How many cracks are there on the thing?
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Boys don't think like us, they do what they want when they want and don't think of the outcome. Like Tom. He is my boyfriend but he calls me 'mommy'"
"So how does that make you feel when he does?" I sighed then looked at her, then back to the roof.
"What do you think?" I said thinking about it. Out the corner of my eye I saw Aziel nod.
"Can I just ask you one question? "She asked looking worried.
"Sure sis."
"How did you and Tom get together?" I looked at her, why would she want to know that? I wonder if it has something to do with Nevin?
"Well, I was hunting one night and Tom was following me and tried to kill me but when our eyes met, BAM! He imprinted on me and then I like him and he liked me, although he couldn't believe that he had imprinted on a vampire. Then a month later he asked me out and we've been together ever since." I said remembering the night a little. Thank you hobos! (And Twilight fans!)
"Wait what is imprinting?" Aziel asked looking at me as though I was speaking some other language.
"It's the way that a werewolf or a shape-shifter finds their soul mates." Just then Nevin ran through the door, he was panting and looked paler than usual. Something is definitely not good.
Chapter 10-Nevin
"No time to speak," I wheezed. "Hide me!"
"Where have you been?" Aziel asked me.
"Aziel!" I shouted at her, panicking. "When I ask to be hidden, I'm not playing hide and seek!"
Aziel took a step back, hurt by what I said.
"Look, we don't have time!" I looked around and dived behind the bookcase right before the guard came in.
"Have you seen a chestnut haired kid come through here?" I heard him ask.
"No sir. Is something wrong?" Monica asked.
"Nothing that concerns you. Goodnight."
The guard closed the door and right before I could get out from behind the bookcase, Aziel raised it, and pressed it against me, pinning me to the wall.
"Where were you?" She shouted at me.
"I was looking for something at the stadium, I told you earlier!" she pushed harder.
"Alright, fine! I was looking into what happened to Weng." I was finding it hard to breathe. "Now please, get this thing off me!"
But she still pushed harder. "What did you find?"
"Oh god, Aziel I can't remember!" she pushed so hard to the point where the bookcase was almost crushing me.
"Fine, ok! I found a speaker in the east wing which was connected to an mp3 player in the west wing. The mp3 player had the scream stored on it, and the speakers let it out. Now please let me out!"
I was held there for a second, then she dropped the bookcase and it collapsed, spreading books all over the place. I saw Aziel run off crying and Tom, Ben, Genny and Monica all staring at me in shock.
"Balls" I muttered. "I'll go get her"
I chased after her through the corridors as she twisted through the complex mountain and made her way to a large clearing.
"What's wrong with you?" I shouted out to her.
"She turned around, reached out to me, and fell to the ground.
"Aziel!" As she collapsed, I noticed a flash of red behind her.
"Nice to see you here"
I turned around just in time to get hit in the face, falling to the ground.
As I awoke, I noticed Aziel attached to the wall by chains.
"I'm sorry Nevin!" she cried out to me. "Drath did all this!"
I turned around, just to realise I had been attached to the ground by chains myself.
"Ah, Nevin, I thought of you as a difficult opponent. I doubt my choice of thought."
Drath flew down from a nearby ledge and pulled out his magnificent Soul Eater.
"Why would you do this?"
"It is what you would consider a selfish cause, my friend." Drath circled around me as I struggled against the chains. "I need you here so I can attack the mountain undisturbed."
"There are guards here, and the inhabitants could handle you anyday!" Aziel retaliated.
"Yes, but I have a weapon that nobody could defeat" Drath stepped back to reveal a hideous sight.
It was horrid machine with spikes and tubes and all sorts of menacing pieces of metal sticking out randomly and at the centrepiece…
"Janette!"
"Meeting a few old friends here aren't we hmmm?" Drath walked over to the machine. "This contraption amplifies Janette's powers tenfold! Unfortunately, it drains a lot of her energy, so it might kill her. A loss I could live with I guess."
He walked over to a lever attached to the amplifier. "It has the power to control even the strongest of minds. Even your beloved Aziel here."
"That was what was going on?" I looked to Aziel.
"I might have known what was going on," Aziel looked to her left. "But I didn't mean any of it, I swear!"
"Right." I turned my attention to Drath. "Let me guess. You're going to hypnotise the soldiers in the mountain and use them against us, just to prove a point?"
"There are many other reasons," Drath swung his sword to and fro. "Power, wealth and personal issues also inspire me. Now enough of this talk. I will give you a taste of my wrath!"
Drath pulled down on the machine's lever and the contraption exploded into life. Janette wailed in pain as the gears turned and sucked out her energy.
A large metal ice cream cone extended out of the back of the pulsing machinery. It began to charge up a large blue energy ball, sparking with electricity.
"Of course, this is a much larger dose than Aziel was exposed to." Drath walked over to the charging cone. "However, your brainpower is much stronger than hers."
My eyes widened as Drath pointed the cone directly at me. "Now let's see if your girlfriend can withstand your power!"
Chapter 11
There was a flash of… blue, and I was suspended into a black abyss. I saw a large demonhead appear out of nowhere.
"Aziel, the poor girl, nothing you can do will save her." It grinned, showing its toothpick-like teeth. "Besides, is she really that worth it?"
"What are you on about?" I tried to move but gravity had been suspended, like I was in space.
"We all really know what's going on." The strange demonhead taunted me further. "She would never go for somebody like you. After all, that Tom boy is much better."
I stopped struggling. "What are you trying to say?"
"You fool!" the demon screamed at me. "It's obvious. He's almost killed you on several accounts, and he's about to win the tournament. Have you won a tournament?"
"No, but-" I was interrupted by the head's laughter. "I didn't think so. You seem rather level-headed and don't mind being bested by a competitor for your woman. Could it be… you like men?"
"No!" I shouted at the head. "You strange beheaded demon, when I get hold of you-"
But the demonhead interrupted me again with its laughter. "That's the issue; you can't get to can you? You're so pathetic."
I tried to get to him, but couldn't reach.
"What is it that you want?" I gave up.
"I want you to kill Aziel. She obviously doesn't love you, so why must she live?"
"I couldn't kill her!" I tried to hold back.
"You're doing it right now." The demonhead opened up a hole and I saw myself fighting against Aziel. She was tired, and I seemed to be highly injured.
"Let me back, you foul beast!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that." It closed up the hole and turned to me. "Either the machine has to be turned off, or you must break through the connection."
I had an idea. I called out to Aziel. "You need to destroy the machine!"
The demonhead just shook his head. "That won't work. This is in your head. Even if she could read minds I've clogged yours up with a substance that she couldn't break through."
But then, I heard a voice. It was faint, but I could hear it well enough.
"Nevin! It's Janette! I can't hold the connection for long. I just need to tell you this machine will inevitably kill me, and before it does, I need to tell you this. You were the only one I couldn't control, and I wanted you the most. I needed you. It drove me to ask the help of Gerrard, and soon Drath, just so I could have you. I soon learned that I didn't need you, but I love you."
The connection broke off, and I found inspiration to break through.
"Back off demon, I know what I must do!" I took the power that lay within my fire, breaking through the darkness.
"Brace yourself Drath!" I shouted out. "I'm breaking through!"
I blasted out of my state and instantly threw a fireball at Drath, knocking him back. I grabbed his Soul Eater, and struck the machine, causing it to malfunction and Janette to fall out, waking her up.
"Nevin…" she whispered to me. "Use the sword on Drath and me…"
I refused. "It will kill you."
"I'm dead anyway, at least I'll take him with me."
I hesitated, and then drew the sword back. I nodded to Janette, then thrust the sword-
Into my own chest.
I heard both Aziel and Janette cry out in shock, and with my last piece of strength, inserted the sword into Janette.
"Take good care of my soul" I smiled painfully, then went to take my final rest.
Chapter 12-Aziel
As Nevin lay there lifeless on the floor, Janette got up and collapsed to her knees.
"You did this!" I shouted at her. "You killed him and now we'll never see him again!"
"You're not the only one who loved him!" Janette screamed at me. She was crying, and she had picked up the Soul Eater.
What are you doing with that?" I stepped back.
"He saved me" she smiled. "For a hopeless cause"
She took the Soul Eater to her neck and was about to slice herself open before I lunged at her and knocked the sword out of her hand.
"He told you to honour his soul." I took the sword from her. "If I have to tie you up you will obey him."
Guards could be heard from nearby. They were probably attracted by the ruckus.
"Go." I said to her.
"What? Why?" Janette got up.
"If we're both found here with two unconscious bodies, we'll both end up in trouble. I'll probably be let off, because I have friends here. You'll almost certainly be executed. Plus, you have two people to worry about."
She nodded at me, and ran off, just as the guards got here.
"What's going on here?"
I was grabbed as the guards investigated the area. "This one's dead!" one of the guards was checking Nevin's body.
"This one's been scorched by fire!" the others were examining Drath.
"You've got some serious explaining to do Missy." I was taken away by the guards, as Janette was escaping, taking Nevin with her.
The end.
For now…