Disclaimer:
I do not own Magi-Nation or any characters used in it. I am
merely temperarily borrowing their names and personalities
to create this little tale. I make no profit in this story, nor do I
recieve any personal gain other than the feeling of
accomplishment when I'm through. Thank you.
Author'sNote:
Sheesh, with all the games they got on Fanfic.Net, you'd think
they'd post a decent Magi-Nation one! Oh well. Sadly, this
story won't get read much, as it isn't in a popular category. But, hey,
here's hoping.. Oh, and this fic is based on Wence more than anyone
else, so you might want to turn back if you, for some reason, loathe
and despise the guy. This tale spans from a prequel to the game,
to Wence's side of the story throughout the game, to what happened
to him after the Kyros prophecy was fulfilled.
]\/[ A G I - ]\[ A T I O ]/[
-]]=[The Story of Wence]=[[-
[[Part One]]=[[The Birthday]]
[Chapter One]
[A Fateful Birthday]
(Ok, ok, so it pretty much matches the Part title...)
The 11-year-old child watched his father with great excitement and
anticipation as the man walked into the room, holding a small black
box wrapped up as a birth day gift. He placed it with the other gifts
near the fireplace. The small kid walked up to the pile of presents
and looked at the small package with painful curiosity. "When can I
open it, dad?" asked the boy.
"Have patience, Wence. Your guests haven't got here."
"But I never saw an Underneath before, I heard they're smelly."
"Wence! They are not 'smelly'! The only thing you may smell on them
is soil. And even a couple of our friends from Vash Naroom are coming,
including the great Kyros - "
"Aww, not Yaki! He's such a loud mouth!" complained Wence.
"Hush, son. You will treat him and his teachers with respect." said the
man.
"Well when can I open my gifts? I wanna open it now!" whined the young
soon-to-be adventurer.
"Not all your gifts have arrived yet, son. Besides, birthdays aren't
only for getting presents."
"They're not?" asked Wence, amazed. The father laughed.
"Of coarse not! And please, show some respect for the Underneath folks
atleast. They're doing their best to come here. The poor folks are very
sensitive to light, and all of them will be wearing dark sunglasses."
There was a knock on the door. "I'll get it!!" yelled Wence, running up to the
wooden door and pulling it open as fast as he could. A young 10-year-old blonde
girl stood in the doorway, along with a long-bearded middle-aged man carrying a
gift. "Tyrn!" shouted Wence. "Wence!" Tyrn said at the same time, hugging him.
The two were practically best friends, and were very close.
"Dad, dad, can we go outside and play?" asked Wence impatiently. The man
looked at his son for a minute. "Sure, have fun." he said. The two children
ran outside, chattering, as the old man walked in and closed the door. "Barak,
it's been a while." the elder said, shaking hands with the man before setting
his present along with the others.
"It's good to see you again, Orwin. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten
about us." said Barak. Orwin chuckled.
"So sorry, my boy. It's been so noisy at Naroom lately, everyone is so
excited about that twit Yaki. Eidon believes he's the Great Kyros, but
I can't be so sure." sighed the Vash Naroom elder. "So forgive the lack
of guests. Eidon and Gia are handling the gifts, while the people of
Naroom have insisted on setting up a party."
"For what?"
"For no reason. That's the thing. This Magus thing is really getting
out of hand." complained Orwin. "By the way, how are things in the
Cald?"
"Not so good. The Drakans have been building up lately and going
wild. My poor wife's been really worked with providing for the soldiers
lately." said Barak solemnly. "Anyway, it's a shame Pruitt isn't here.
I wanted to thank her for giving Wence an Eebit."
"It wasn't much trouble. Poad was nice enough to strike down enough
Eebits for a Level Three ring. You should really close the blinds for the
poor miners that are coming, I'm sure the adults will understand."
"Right." said Barak, closing the windows and making the room awefully
dark, almost as dark as the cavernous Underneath. "That should make'em
feel right at home."
"OOoooohhh yyeeeaaahh! It's a par-tay!" shouted a voice in the forests
from a distance. Tyrn and Wence looked up from some carved figurines
they were playing with to see three figures walking up to them in the
distance. "It's Kyros!" squealed Tyrn, running down the path to meet
the incoming trio. As soon as the girl left earshot, Wence sighed.
"Not that loudmouth...."
In about a minute or so, the random chattering of Tyrn, Gia, Eidon,
and Yaki growing louder. Wence had to hold back a bit of laughter;
the whole image of the four looked rather comical. Tyrn was jumping
up and down, overexcited to be in the presence of the Great Magus,
Kyros, who was really enjoying all the attention over himself. Gia was
looking rather irritated, and was scolding Yaki for being too selfish
and loud and obnoxious and.. you get the point. Sad how all her
scolding never helped any. And Eidon was a very comical sight; He
was holding a large stack of presents from the various inhabitants
of Vash Naroom. Wence ran up to help Eidon with the gifts as everyone
went into the house. Orwin and Eidon had set up refreshments - Although no
one dared to try and eat anything untill their eyes adjusted to the darkness
of the room. Orwin chanted a few words and a soft, grey light illuminated the room;
It was an eerie light that allowed you to see the room with a shade of
grey, yet to the eye it felt as dark and soothing as night. Wence would have
went back outside, but since Tyrn was busy chattering with Yaki, it took the
fun out of it, and he decided to pester his father a bit instead, pushing through
the crowds to Barak.
"Dad, is mom coming?" he asked, tugging on the man's pants. Barak
looked down slightly at his son and sighed.
"Wence, you know she's overwhelmed with work lately. There's no way
she'd be able to make it out here."
"And when are the Underneath people gonna come? I wanna see what
they look like! Are they deformed? Eyeless? Do they smell funny?"
"Wence, what did I tell you? They're coming a very long way to come
here, and are enduring the sun's light to make it here. They are just
like normal humans, so don't say a word about the clean, pale-skinned
ones."
"Ok..."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it!" shouted Wence,
regaining his excitement. He ran up to the door, hearing voices from the
other side. ".. and this sun is murder on my perfect skin!" said a man with
an arnold schertzinator (I could care LESS if I spelled it right) accent. "Oh,
hush, Gogor." scolded an elderly voice as Wence cautiosly opened the
door. Outside stood an old woman - more commonly known as the
Underneath's elder, Motash. "Hello, child." she said, her eyes hidden
by dark-as-shadow sunglasses. The elder chuckled at the boy's silence
as she walked into the room, cautiously removing her sunglasses. Then,
a shorter guy with long, pink hair walked briskly in, tossing his oversized
shades aside. "Wow, love what you did with the place!" said a rough
teenage voice from the slightly muscled teenager. Then, a huge, six-
foot-five muscle man walked in, sliding his shades off and inspecting
his skin. He carried strange packages with fungus wrapping under his
right arm and laid them with the others - The children were the only
ones who somehow found the gifts odd. OH yes, I forgot the mention,
the teenager's name was Strag, and the muscled moron's name was
Gogor. "I'm terribly sorry that Gruk couldn't make it. The young girl is
still being trained as a farmer, and was stuck with chores all day."
Motash explained to Barak. "Work is good for the young ones, though.
The youngest one made it though. Oh, yes, and Fossik is having to help
the Cald with his ringsmith services, so he wasn't able to make it,
either."
"That's quite alright, Motash," said Barak, "this house is too small
to support everyone." As he said this, the last Underneath magi
walked into the room. She had slightly pale skin, obviously from
living underground most of her life, and long blue hair, which had
purple streaks through it. She was about Wence's height, yet a year
younger, and sported a purple tube top and brown, baggy pants, along
with grey shoes. She placed a gift along with the others and sat in a corner,
looking around, preferring to keep her shades on, and had a glistening
crystal Animite ring on her right index finger. Everyone was talking
while waiting for the last guest to come with the cake. Although the
idea of cake sounded nice, few people anticipated it when they found out
that Ulk was delivering a mushroom cake from his sister Gruk. Blech!
Wence got bored. Tyrn was still practically flirting with the so-called
"Great Magus Kyros", who was being closely monitered by Gia. Eidon and
Orwin were talking. Barak and Motash and Gogor were talking about the
wars going on in the Cald, with Gogor mocking Barak a bit about leaving
his Cald Warlord duties. The boy walked over to the corner where the
quiet Underneath girl was sitting. There was an awkward silence after
they exchanged glances. "Hello." said Wence after a minute or so. The
girl lifted a hand to wave slightly. "I'm Wence, what's your name?"
The girl looked at him a minute, then looked back at the party.
Wence looked a bit confused.
"Do you have a name?"
"......"
"Can you not talk?"
".. R... et..." she said, barely audibly.
"Pardon?"
".. My name's Radget.." said the girl, in a gentle, quiet voice.
"That's a nice name. Why don't you take your shades off?"
"... too bright..."
"Orwin told me that the light in here doesn't hurt your eyes." Wence
continued. "C'mon, are you afraid to show your eyes?"
Radget said nothing. She slowly lowered her sunglasses, squinting her
eyes. Then, she cautiously opened her eyes, realising the light was actually
quite a relief compared to the usual light in the above lands. Her eyes were
very bright, almost glowing with a soft emerald green color. "There. I took
them off." she said as there was a final knocking at the door. "Finally, the
cake's here." Wence was a bit afraid - then again, he's never tasted mushrooms
before. Most people seemed to dislike them, but who knows, maybe they'll
be good. Barak opened the door and let Ulk in, who put the cake down, wished
Wence a happy birthday, and left. He was about 17, and was overseeing his
sister's farm training underground, and had to get back as soon as he
could.
And now was Wence's favorite part of a birthday - The presents. Don't we
all love the presents? C'mon, admit it, you LOVE the presents about the best,
deep down inside atleast, don't you?
"Ooh! Open mine first, you'll LOVE it!" shouted Strag, jumping up above the
crowd and pointing a clawed glove at a fungus-wrapped gift. Wence walked
over to it and carefully picked it up - At first it felt strange, holding up a box
wrapped in fungus, but once he began unwrapping it, it wasn't that bad. He
opened the box and pulled out a pair of crystal Digging Gloves, much like
Strags, except they were adjustable - a One-Size-Fits-All model! "Wow!" said
the boy. "Cool!" He put the gloves on, which shrunk to fit his hands perfectly.
"Yeah! No boy can resist those wicked claws!" Strag said, giving the boy
a thumbs-up gesture. "They look just fine on ya kiddo!"
"Open mine next, little scrawny boy. You need it!" exclaimed Gogor over
the commotion. Motash scolded him for being rude as Wence found Gogor's
present - Well, actually, it was a group of fairly long presents of different sizes
and shapes. He began unwrapping them and looked at the poles and weights a
bit odd. "Leave it to the muscle-brain to give adult weights to a child." commented
Strag, laughing.
"The boy must train early if he wants to be ripped and strong like me, with massive,
gorgeous biceps like mine and a perfectly ripped body like-"
"We get the point, Gogor. Hush." scolded Motash. Gogor hadn't proven his worth to
the town quite yet, other than being an overly strong jerk. Wence went through the
presents, the one from Orwin containing both a shining, tiny blue orb and a rare
Archiac's Leaf. "Those are an add-on for your last present, son. Open the rest first." said
Barak.
Although it was very hard to be patient, Wence went through the presents
anyway out of respect. Gia's gift was a book of ancient history, along with a
translation booklette so it would be readable. Eidon was never good at
shopping, so he had wrapped up a bag full of a cool 200 animite, quite a
lot of cash for anyone. When asked how he got so much spare money,
Eidon merely commented that the cash was "easily aquired during his
training in the moonlands". Gia had made him fight many of the loose
Core creatures that remained since Agadon's tribe was eliminated, and
forced him to give 90% of the animite he made to Wence for a birthday
gift. Then, Wence pulled out a fungi-wrapped box, the last one of the
Underneath gifts, and opened it, revealing a box. He then opened it up,
and slowly pulled out some digging goggles. Attached was an annonymous
note, reading;
"These will go along fine with the
gift Strag gave you. They'll help if you
ever decide to visit me in the
underneath. I hope to see you there
soon, Wence.
~Anonymous"
The note, Wence noted, was attached after it had been brought - It
had no note on it when he saw it the first time. And since he'd opened
up all the other Underneath presents, he already knew who this one
was from. He looked over in the corner. Radget blinked, her pale
face flushing a bit as she pretended to be watching Gogor.
"Don't forget your last present," Barak said, handing Wence a small
box. The boy unwrapped it. He practically knew what it was as he opened
the box, and pulled out an animite ring..
[Chapter Two]
[Escort to the Underneath]
"Woowww..." he said, sliding the ring on his middle finger. "What kinda
DC is it?" Wence asked excitedly. Eidon went over to him to help him equip
the two relics Orwin had given him. "Why don't you test it out yourself?"
Wence held out a fist. After a minute or so, swirls of yellow energy light
danced across his fingertips. The children who didn't have any rings watched
in amazement. Wence shivered slightly at the feeling; Energy from his body
seemed to have moved in a current up to his left shouldar, through his arm
and into his hand, then drained from his body into the ring. In a small flash
of light, a small fox-like creature appeared. "An Eebit!!" Tyrn squealed, hugging
the cute little Dream Creature. A few people laughed at this. Wence shook his
head a bit, getting over a wave of dizziness. Eidon gave him a pat on the back.
"You'll get used to it, kid, over time." he said. Gia grabbed his arm and pulled
him out, along with Yaki. "Hey! G-Gia!!"
"It's time for your training, you two. Silence." snapped Gia, dragging them out
of the party and towards the Weave.
Orwin left to go tend to the party in Vash Naroom, leaving behind Motash, Gogor,
Strag, Barak, Wence, Tyrn, and Radget. "Well, can't have a birthday without a cake!"
Strag broke in, walking up to the odd mushroom concoction of a cake.
Wence sat down at a foldable table inside the house, looking at his cake,
wondering if it'd be a good idea to eat the odd mixture.. "Hey Wence!" said
Tyrn behind him, making him jump suddenly. "Aaah! What??"
"Why aren'tcha outside?" she asked, curiously. "Don'tcha wanna test your
new Eebit?"
The Eebit was currently eating Gogor's cake, which was unattended due to
Gogor's obsessive impulse to look at himself in the mirror and comment
himself on his "perfectiveness".
"Naw, I think it's doing fine on it's own." said Wence. "Besides, my dad said
one of the reasons to have a birthday party is to meet new people, so I'm
trying to get a bit closer to Radget -"
"OoOoOoOoO, sounds like someone's got a little crush!" said Tyrn, a bit louder
than Wence wished she'd have said it.
"Shh! Keep your voice down!" he whispered, annoyed.
"I bet you do have a crush on that Underneath girl," giggled Tyrn. Wence
turned red. "Do not!"
"Why don't you tell her yourself, then?" Tyrn said, still giggling. Wence
frowned then turned around, seeing Radget sitting calmly in front of him,
her face a bit pink around the cheeks, eating a bit of cake. After a minute
or so, she looked up at Wence. "What's the matter, Wence? Aren't you
hungry?" she asked, taking another bite of her cake. "It's good cake,
you know."
Wence looked at his cake and got a piece of it on his fork, grey
icing and all. He shrugged, silently gulping as he put it in his mouth.
His eyes widened.. "Wow, this IS good!" he said, swallowing the
piece and eating another. Radget smiled slightly. "There you
go." she said, "you should always try new things!"
"You're a lot less shy now." noticed Wence. The girl shrugged.
"There wasn't really anyone I knew here, other than my jerk brother
Strag. I've never met someone from the Overworld before." said the girl.
"Ohh. Actually, I've never seen anyone from the Underneath myself." said
Wence.
"Really?" asked Radget, "I thought everyone up here had seen atleast one
of us in a mine or something."
"Not me. I've lived in the forests all my life." said Wence. "It's really dull. I
wish, just once, I could see a place like where you live."
"That's what the goggles I gotcha would be good for, right?" she asked, before
covering her mouth quickly. Wence smiled.
"Yep. I'll visit you as soon as I can, I promise."
Eventually, the only guests left were the Underneath. In your time, it would be
in the fairly late evening. Motash, Gogor, and Barak were talking about the
horrible Shadow Magi that escaped the Anceint's power-stripping of the Core's
strength. Ages ago, in case none of you knew this, the Ancients shared their
secrets with a man named Agadon, who spread this knowledge to his tribe. Agram,
a fellow Anceint, was angered by this. He constructed an army and send them out
to destroy the tribe and the knowledge of the Ancients. In his mind, their knowledge
was not to be spread to the normal mortals, and he considered himself an
exterminator, seeking to wipe the filth off the Moonlands. Agadon sacrificed himself
to save his tribe. When the Ancients found out about Agram's unsanctioned attack,
they immediantly stripped he and his followers of their powers. A few corrupted
Magi got away, however, and remained hidden among their regeons as Shadow
Magi of various forms.
Wence was in the bedroom, and was wearing some of his B-Day gifts. Motash
had also given him some Underneath clothes, and in case you forgot, Strag and
Radget had given him digging equipment - some crystal Digging Gloves, and a
pair of goggles that helped his eyes adjust to darkness much faster. No one knew
how they worked - It was a kind of dark crystal that somehow had this effect, and is
also what the Underneath's sunglasses are made from to help them in their
Overworld visits, or while surrounded by the Cald's blindingly bright magma pools.
"You look like a pure-bred Underneathean now, if not for the tan." commented
Radget, inspecting Wence's new outfit. Sure, getting CLOTHES for your birthday
bites, but you have to admit, getting exotic clothes along with cool shade-like
goggles and digging clothes rocks! Wence's Eebit miowed in agreement with
the girl. Motash walked into the room. "Radget, we're going. Gather your things,
child, leaving a mess would be rude." the elder said.
"But it is still too bright, and I lost my glasses, and my sensitive, perfect,
gorgeous eyes might lose their perfection, and my ripped, perfect -" (I think
you know who's talking. If not, it's Gogor you idiot.)
"Silence, Gogor." snapped Motash. "If you hadn't dropped them in your
cake's icing like a careless fool, you wouldn't have lost them." She
sighed, "How a man could eat his own sunglasses is beyond me.."
"But they tasted like peanut brittle!" Gogor protested.
"Silence, Gogor! Radget, aren't you coming, dear?"
"Uhm.. I-I lost my glasses too.."
Motash sighed deeply. "Gogor?"
"I thought it was a piece of peanut brittle! I cannot see anything in this
room it is so grey and boring!"
"I'm sorry, Radget. I'm sure your brother will escort you - "
"Yo Wence happy B-Day to ya hate to eat and run but a few of my eyes
see Gruk's mushroom pot pie Seeya!" called Strag's fading voice as he ran out the
door and towards the Underneath. Everyone stared out the door.
"I'm afraid you'll just have to endure the sun, Radget, since no one else can
stay to escort you. The Shadow Magi are far too dangerous at - "
"We'll take her home." Barak said, walking into the room. "It'd be no trouble,
I need to meet with Fossik again anyway. After all, if the Cald gets attacked,
it'll be my personal duties as a warlord to fight back, and I still need to power
my Tusk Bwisp.."
"Thank you, Barak. You have been of great service." Motash said, walking out
of the house, pulling Gogor by the ear.
Radget and Wence held back laughter as Gogor screamed about the sun
outside. Wence's father walked up to him and kneeled down, pulling out a
red, crystal animite ring. "Now, son, this is a special gift from your mother
and I. It is very rare, has infused animite from the reaches of Adrerial
skies." Barak said, handing the ring to Wence. The boy put it on his right
middle finger - his left hand was where he'd put Eebit - and strained a
bit as bits of light danced on his right hand, fading.
"Now, don't be discouraged, Wence. That creature takes a great amout
of energy to summon, more than any child would have, more than even your
mother has. When you get older, it'll be of great use."
Later than night, the small group stood in front of the mines north of
Gia's cottage. Barak took out a scroll Orwin had carefully duplicated for
him and held out his hands, chanting a few incantations. Suddenly, another
orb of grey light emitted from his hands as they went into the cave. It
was more of a night vision style light, as your eyes still adjusted to the
lighting around the light itself. They slowly walked past many pillars,
and up to a huge statue of a mouth, walking into it and into the
cavernous path that lead to the underground regeons. The soft,
grey light slowly blanketed the rock walls around them, revealing
various fungi attached to the wall, passing through several
holes that the others must have recently made. As they progressed
deeper, the mushrooms grew larger, and you could see fungus growing off the
walls, along with the occasional hissing of Underneathean creatures..
However, the hissing didn't only come from the creatures..
"Shut up, Zet!" hissed a tall, ugly, ogre-ish, red-caped, green-skinned man
hidden in a crevice near the groups, just barely out of reach of the grey light's
sight. The soft, illuminating light slowly passed. "I'm in charge, and I say we
kill them all!"
"Korg, if you kill them now, we won't get any information on the latesst
news of Kyros." snapped the short, jagged-toothed, cloaked monster, Zet.
"Besides, the last time we blindly attacked under your orders, YOU knocked
me out and got your butt kicked..."
"Well if you hadn't got in my way --"
"We're almost there." Barak said as they slowly walked through. Barak
clapped the grey orb in his hands, ridding himself of it. By now, their eyes
had adjusted to the darkness of the caverns, and they could see almost as
well as any Underneathean could. They led Radget to Motash's home and
dropped her off before heading back upwards. As soon as they were about
to reach the cavernous mouth that lead back to Overworld, a man with a long,
red beard came running up to them...
- = = = To Be Continued = = =
Hmm... Maybe the next event is going to go a bit fast.. but oh well.
Atleast it'll happen. And then we can get back to the story. So stay
tuned, as we enter the Cald on the next episode!
I do not own Magi-Nation or any characters used in it. I am
merely temperarily borrowing their names and personalities
to create this little tale. I make no profit in this story, nor do I
recieve any personal gain other than the feeling of
accomplishment when I'm through. Thank you.
Author'sNote:
Sheesh, with all the games they got on Fanfic.Net, you'd think
they'd post a decent Magi-Nation one! Oh well. Sadly, this
story won't get read much, as it isn't in a popular category. But, hey,
here's hoping.. Oh, and this fic is based on Wence more than anyone
else, so you might want to turn back if you, for some reason, loathe
and despise the guy. This tale spans from a prequel to the game,
to Wence's side of the story throughout the game, to what happened
to him after the Kyros prophecy was fulfilled.
]\/[ A G I - ]\[ A T I O ]/[
-]]=[The Story of Wence]=[[-
[[Part One]]=[[The Birthday]]
[Chapter One]
[A Fateful Birthday]
(Ok, ok, so it pretty much matches the Part title...)
The 11-year-old child watched his father with great excitement and
anticipation as the man walked into the room, holding a small black
box wrapped up as a birth day gift. He placed it with the other gifts
near the fireplace. The small kid walked up to the pile of presents
and looked at the small package with painful curiosity. "When can I
open it, dad?" asked the boy.
"Have patience, Wence. Your guests haven't got here."
"But I never saw an Underneath before, I heard they're smelly."
"Wence! They are not 'smelly'! The only thing you may smell on them
is soil. And even a couple of our friends from Vash Naroom are coming,
including the great Kyros - "
"Aww, not Yaki! He's such a loud mouth!" complained Wence.
"Hush, son. You will treat him and his teachers with respect." said the
man.
"Well when can I open my gifts? I wanna open it now!" whined the young
soon-to-be adventurer.
"Not all your gifts have arrived yet, son. Besides, birthdays aren't
only for getting presents."
"They're not?" asked Wence, amazed. The father laughed.
"Of coarse not! And please, show some respect for the Underneath folks
atleast. They're doing their best to come here. The poor folks are very
sensitive to light, and all of them will be wearing dark sunglasses."
There was a knock on the door. "I'll get it!!" yelled Wence, running up to the
wooden door and pulling it open as fast as he could. A young 10-year-old blonde
girl stood in the doorway, along with a long-bearded middle-aged man carrying a
gift. "Tyrn!" shouted Wence. "Wence!" Tyrn said at the same time, hugging him.
The two were practically best friends, and were very close.
"Dad, dad, can we go outside and play?" asked Wence impatiently. The man
looked at his son for a minute. "Sure, have fun." he said. The two children
ran outside, chattering, as the old man walked in and closed the door. "Barak,
it's been a while." the elder said, shaking hands with the man before setting
his present along with the others.
"It's good to see you again, Orwin. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten
about us." said Barak. Orwin chuckled.
"So sorry, my boy. It's been so noisy at Naroom lately, everyone is so
excited about that twit Yaki. Eidon believes he's the Great Kyros, but
I can't be so sure." sighed the Vash Naroom elder. "So forgive the lack
of guests. Eidon and Gia are handling the gifts, while the people of
Naroom have insisted on setting up a party."
"For what?"
"For no reason. That's the thing. This Magus thing is really getting
out of hand." complained Orwin. "By the way, how are things in the
Cald?"
"Not so good. The Drakans have been building up lately and going
wild. My poor wife's been really worked with providing for the soldiers
lately." said Barak solemnly. "Anyway, it's a shame Pruitt isn't here.
I wanted to thank her for giving Wence an Eebit."
"It wasn't much trouble. Poad was nice enough to strike down enough
Eebits for a Level Three ring. You should really close the blinds for the
poor miners that are coming, I'm sure the adults will understand."
"Right." said Barak, closing the windows and making the room awefully
dark, almost as dark as the cavernous Underneath. "That should make'em
feel right at home."
"OOoooohhh yyeeeaaahh! It's a par-tay!" shouted a voice in the forests
from a distance. Tyrn and Wence looked up from some carved figurines
they were playing with to see three figures walking up to them in the
distance. "It's Kyros!" squealed Tyrn, running down the path to meet
the incoming trio. As soon as the girl left earshot, Wence sighed.
"Not that loudmouth...."
In about a minute or so, the random chattering of Tyrn, Gia, Eidon,
and Yaki growing louder. Wence had to hold back a bit of laughter;
the whole image of the four looked rather comical. Tyrn was jumping
up and down, overexcited to be in the presence of the Great Magus,
Kyros, who was really enjoying all the attention over himself. Gia was
looking rather irritated, and was scolding Yaki for being too selfish
and loud and obnoxious and.. you get the point. Sad how all her
scolding never helped any. And Eidon was a very comical sight; He
was holding a large stack of presents from the various inhabitants
of Vash Naroom. Wence ran up to help Eidon with the gifts as everyone
went into the house. Orwin and Eidon had set up refreshments - Although no
one dared to try and eat anything untill their eyes adjusted to the darkness
of the room. Orwin chanted a few words and a soft, grey light illuminated the room;
It was an eerie light that allowed you to see the room with a shade of
grey, yet to the eye it felt as dark and soothing as night. Wence would have
went back outside, but since Tyrn was busy chattering with Yaki, it took the
fun out of it, and he decided to pester his father a bit instead, pushing through
the crowds to Barak.
"Dad, is mom coming?" he asked, tugging on the man's pants. Barak
looked down slightly at his son and sighed.
"Wence, you know she's overwhelmed with work lately. There's no way
she'd be able to make it out here."
"And when are the Underneath people gonna come? I wanna see what
they look like! Are they deformed? Eyeless? Do they smell funny?"
"Wence, what did I tell you? They're coming a very long way to come
here, and are enduring the sun's light to make it here. They are just
like normal humans, so don't say a word about the clean, pale-skinned
ones."
"Ok..."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it!" shouted Wence,
regaining his excitement. He ran up to the door, hearing voices from the
other side. ".. and this sun is murder on my perfect skin!" said a man with
an arnold schertzinator (I could care LESS if I spelled it right) accent. "Oh,
hush, Gogor." scolded an elderly voice as Wence cautiosly opened the
door. Outside stood an old woman - more commonly known as the
Underneath's elder, Motash. "Hello, child." she said, her eyes hidden
by dark-as-shadow sunglasses. The elder chuckled at the boy's silence
as she walked into the room, cautiously removing her sunglasses. Then,
a shorter guy with long, pink hair walked briskly in, tossing his oversized
shades aside. "Wow, love what you did with the place!" said a rough
teenage voice from the slightly muscled teenager. Then, a huge, six-
foot-five muscle man walked in, sliding his shades off and inspecting
his skin. He carried strange packages with fungus wrapping under his
right arm and laid them with the others - The children were the only
ones who somehow found the gifts odd. OH yes, I forgot the mention,
the teenager's name was Strag, and the muscled moron's name was
Gogor. "I'm terribly sorry that Gruk couldn't make it. The young girl is
still being trained as a farmer, and was stuck with chores all day."
Motash explained to Barak. "Work is good for the young ones, though.
The youngest one made it though. Oh, yes, and Fossik is having to help
the Cald with his ringsmith services, so he wasn't able to make it,
either."
"That's quite alright, Motash," said Barak, "this house is too small
to support everyone." As he said this, the last Underneath magi
walked into the room. She had slightly pale skin, obviously from
living underground most of her life, and long blue hair, which had
purple streaks through it. She was about Wence's height, yet a year
younger, and sported a purple tube top and brown, baggy pants, along
with grey shoes. She placed a gift along with the others and sat in a corner,
looking around, preferring to keep her shades on, and had a glistening
crystal Animite ring on her right index finger. Everyone was talking
while waiting for the last guest to come with the cake. Although the
idea of cake sounded nice, few people anticipated it when they found out
that Ulk was delivering a mushroom cake from his sister Gruk. Blech!
Wence got bored. Tyrn was still practically flirting with the so-called
"Great Magus Kyros", who was being closely monitered by Gia. Eidon and
Orwin were talking. Barak and Motash and Gogor were talking about the
wars going on in the Cald, with Gogor mocking Barak a bit about leaving
his Cald Warlord duties. The boy walked over to the corner where the
quiet Underneath girl was sitting. There was an awkward silence after
they exchanged glances. "Hello." said Wence after a minute or so. The
girl lifted a hand to wave slightly. "I'm Wence, what's your name?"
The girl looked at him a minute, then looked back at the party.
Wence looked a bit confused.
"Do you have a name?"
"......"
"Can you not talk?"
".. R... et..." she said, barely audibly.
"Pardon?"
".. My name's Radget.." said the girl, in a gentle, quiet voice.
"That's a nice name. Why don't you take your shades off?"
"... too bright..."
"Orwin told me that the light in here doesn't hurt your eyes." Wence
continued. "C'mon, are you afraid to show your eyes?"
Radget said nothing. She slowly lowered her sunglasses, squinting her
eyes. Then, she cautiously opened her eyes, realising the light was actually
quite a relief compared to the usual light in the above lands. Her eyes were
very bright, almost glowing with a soft emerald green color. "There. I took
them off." she said as there was a final knocking at the door. "Finally, the
cake's here." Wence was a bit afraid - then again, he's never tasted mushrooms
before. Most people seemed to dislike them, but who knows, maybe they'll
be good. Barak opened the door and let Ulk in, who put the cake down, wished
Wence a happy birthday, and left. He was about 17, and was overseeing his
sister's farm training underground, and had to get back as soon as he
could.
And now was Wence's favorite part of a birthday - The presents. Don't we
all love the presents? C'mon, admit it, you LOVE the presents about the best,
deep down inside atleast, don't you?
"Ooh! Open mine first, you'll LOVE it!" shouted Strag, jumping up above the
crowd and pointing a clawed glove at a fungus-wrapped gift. Wence walked
over to it and carefully picked it up - At first it felt strange, holding up a box
wrapped in fungus, but once he began unwrapping it, it wasn't that bad. He
opened the box and pulled out a pair of crystal Digging Gloves, much like
Strags, except they were adjustable - a One-Size-Fits-All model! "Wow!" said
the boy. "Cool!" He put the gloves on, which shrunk to fit his hands perfectly.
"Yeah! No boy can resist those wicked claws!" Strag said, giving the boy
a thumbs-up gesture. "They look just fine on ya kiddo!"
"Open mine next, little scrawny boy. You need it!" exclaimed Gogor over
the commotion. Motash scolded him for being rude as Wence found Gogor's
present - Well, actually, it was a group of fairly long presents of different sizes
and shapes. He began unwrapping them and looked at the poles and weights a
bit odd. "Leave it to the muscle-brain to give adult weights to a child." commented
Strag, laughing.
"The boy must train early if he wants to be ripped and strong like me, with massive,
gorgeous biceps like mine and a perfectly ripped body like-"
"We get the point, Gogor. Hush." scolded Motash. Gogor hadn't proven his worth to
the town quite yet, other than being an overly strong jerk. Wence went through the
presents, the one from Orwin containing both a shining, tiny blue orb and a rare
Archiac's Leaf. "Those are an add-on for your last present, son. Open the rest first." said
Barak.
Although it was very hard to be patient, Wence went through the presents
anyway out of respect. Gia's gift was a book of ancient history, along with a
translation booklette so it would be readable. Eidon was never good at
shopping, so he had wrapped up a bag full of a cool 200 animite, quite a
lot of cash for anyone. When asked how he got so much spare money,
Eidon merely commented that the cash was "easily aquired during his
training in the moonlands". Gia had made him fight many of the loose
Core creatures that remained since Agadon's tribe was eliminated, and
forced him to give 90% of the animite he made to Wence for a birthday
gift. Then, Wence pulled out a fungi-wrapped box, the last one of the
Underneath gifts, and opened it, revealing a box. He then opened it up,
and slowly pulled out some digging goggles. Attached was an annonymous
note, reading;
"These will go along fine with the
gift Strag gave you. They'll help if you
ever decide to visit me in the
underneath. I hope to see you there
soon, Wence.
~Anonymous"
The note, Wence noted, was attached after it had been brought - It
had no note on it when he saw it the first time. And since he'd opened
up all the other Underneath presents, he already knew who this one
was from. He looked over in the corner. Radget blinked, her pale
face flushing a bit as she pretended to be watching Gogor.
"Don't forget your last present," Barak said, handing Wence a small
box. The boy unwrapped it. He practically knew what it was as he opened
the box, and pulled out an animite ring..
[Chapter Two]
[Escort to the Underneath]
"Woowww..." he said, sliding the ring on his middle finger. "What kinda
DC is it?" Wence asked excitedly. Eidon went over to him to help him equip
the two relics Orwin had given him. "Why don't you test it out yourself?"
Wence held out a fist. After a minute or so, swirls of yellow energy light
danced across his fingertips. The children who didn't have any rings watched
in amazement. Wence shivered slightly at the feeling; Energy from his body
seemed to have moved in a current up to his left shouldar, through his arm
and into his hand, then drained from his body into the ring. In a small flash
of light, a small fox-like creature appeared. "An Eebit!!" Tyrn squealed, hugging
the cute little Dream Creature. A few people laughed at this. Wence shook his
head a bit, getting over a wave of dizziness. Eidon gave him a pat on the back.
"You'll get used to it, kid, over time." he said. Gia grabbed his arm and pulled
him out, along with Yaki. "Hey! G-Gia!!"
"It's time for your training, you two. Silence." snapped Gia, dragging them out
of the party and towards the Weave.
Orwin left to go tend to the party in Vash Naroom, leaving behind Motash, Gogor,
Strag, Barak, Wence, Tyrn, and Radget. "Well, can't have a birthday without a cake!"
Strag broke in, walking up to the odd mushroom concoction of a cake.
Wence sat down at a foldable table inside the house, looking at his cake,
wondering if it'd be a good idea to eat the odd mixture.. "Hey Wence!" said
Tyrn behind him, making him jump suddenly. "Aaah! What??"
"Why aren'tcha outside?" she asked, curiously. "Don'tcha wanna test your
new Eebit?"
The Eebit was currently eating Gogor's cake, which was unattended due to
Gogor's obsessive impulse to look at himself in the mirror and comment
himself on his "perfectiveness".
"Naw, I think it's doing fine on it's own." said Wence. "Besides, my dad said
one of the reasons to have a birthday party is to meet new people, so I'm
trying to get a bit closer to Radget -"
"OoOoOoOoO, sounds like someone's got a little crush!" said Tyrn, a bit louder
than Wence wished she'd have said it.
"Shh! Keep your voice down!" he whispered, annoyed.
"I bet you do have a crush on that Underneath girl," giggled Tyrn. Wence
turned red. "Do not!"
"Why don't you tell her yourself, then?" Tyrn said, still giggling. Wence
frowned then turned around, seeing Radget sitting calmly in front of him,
her face a bit pink around the cheeks, eating a bit of cake. After a minute
or so, she looked up at Wence. "What's the matter, Wence? Aren't you
hungry?" she asked, taking another bite of her cake. "It's good cake,
you know."
Wence looked at his cake and got a piece of it on his fork, grey
icing and all. He shrugged, silently gulping as he put it in his mouth.
His eyes widened.. "Wow, this IS good!" he said, swallowing the
piece and eating another. Radget smiled slightly. "There you
go." she said, "you should always try new things!"
"You're a lot less shy now." noticed Wence. The girl shrugged.
"There wasn't really anyone I knew here, other than my jerk brother
Strag. I've never met someone from the Overworld before." said the girl.
"Ohh. Actually, I've never seen anyone from the Underneath myself." said
Wence.
"Really?" asked Radget, "I thought everyone up here had seen atleast one
of us in a mine or something."
"Not me. I've lived in the forests all my life." said Wence. "It's really dull. I
wish, just once, I could see a place like where you live."
"That's what the goggles I gotcha would be good for, right?" she asked, before
covering her mouth quickly. Wence smiled.
"Yep. I'll visit you as soon as I can, I promise."
Eventually, the only guests left were the Underneath. In your time, it would be
in the fairly late evening. Motash, Gogor, and Barak were talking about the
horrible Shadow Magi that escaped the Anceint's power-stripping of the Core's
strength. Ages ago, in case none of you knew this, the Ancients shared their
secrets with a man named Agadon, who spread this knowledge to his tribe. Agram,
a fellow Anceint, was angered by this. He constructed an army and send them out
to destroy the tribe and the knowledge of the Ancients. In his mind, their knowledge
was not to be spread to the normal mortals, and he considered himself an
exterminator, seeking to wipe the filth off the Moonlands. Agadon sacrificed himself
to save his tribe. When the Ancients found out about Agram's unsanctioned attack,
they immediantly stripped he and his followers of their powers. A few corrupted
Magi got away, however, and remained hidden among their regeons as Shadow
Magi of various forms.
Wence was in the bedroom, and was wearing some of his B-Day gifts. Motash
had also given him some Underneath clothes, and in case you forgot, Strag and
Radget had given him digging equipment - some crystal Digging Gloves, and a
pair of goggles that helped his eyes adjust to darkness much faster. No one knew
how they worked - It was a kind of dark crystal that somehow had this effect, and is
also what the Underneath's sunglasses are made from to help them in their
Overworld visits, or while surrounded by the Cald's blindingly bright magma pools.
"You look like a pure-bred Underneathean now, if not for the tan." commented
Radget, inspecting Wence's new outfit. Sure, getting CLOTHES for your birthday
bites, but you have to admit, getting exotic clothes along with cool shade-like
goggles and digging clothes rocks! Wence's Eebit miowed in agreement with
the girl. Motash walked into the room. "Radget, we're going. Gather your things,
child, leaving a mess would be rude." the elder said.
"But it is still too bright, and I lost my glasses, and my sensitive, perfect,
gorgeous eyes might lose their perfection, and my ripped, perfect -" (I think
you know who's talking. If not, it's Gogor you idiot.)
"Silence, Gogor." snapped Motash. "If you hadn't dropped them in your
cake's icing like a careless fool, you wouldn't have lost them." She
sighed, "How a man could eat his own sunglasses is beyond me.."
"But they tasted like peanut brittle!" Gogor protested.
"Silence, Gogor! Radget, aren't you coming, dear?"
"Uhm.. I-I lost my glasses too.."
Motash sighed deeply. "Gogor?"
"I thought it was a piece of peanut brittle! I cannot see anything in this
room it is so grey and boring!"
"I'm sorry, Radget. I'm sure your brother will escort you - "
"Yo Wence happy B-Day to ya hate to eat and run but a few of my eyes
see Gruk's mushroom pot pie Seeya!" called Strag's fading voice as he ran out the
door and towards the Underneath. Everyone stared out the door.
"I'm afraid you'll just have to endure the sun, Radget, since no one else can
stay to escort you. The Shadow Magi are far too dangerous at - "
"We'll take her home." Barak said, walking into the room. "It'd be no trouble,
I need to meet with Fossik again anyway. After all, if the Cald gets attacked,
it'll be my personal duties as a warlord to fight back, and I still need to power
my Tusk Bwisp.."
"Thank you, Barak. You have been of great service." Motash said, walking out
of the house, pulling Gogor by the ear.
Radget and Wence held back laughter as Gogor screamed about the sun
outside. Wence's father walked up to him and kneeled down, pulling out a
red, crystal animite ring. "Now, son, this is a special gift from your mother
and I. It is very rare, has infused animite from the reaches of Adrerial
skies." Barak said, handing the ring to Wence. The boy put it on his right
middle finger - his left hand was where he'd put Eebit - and strained a
bit as bits of light danced on his right hand, fading.
"Now, don't be discouraged, Wence. That creature takes a great amout
of energy to summon, more than any child would have, more than even your
mother has. When you get older, it'll be of great use."
Later than night, the small group stood in front of the mines north of
Gia's cottage. Barak took out a scroll Orwin had carefully duplicated for
him and held out his hands, chanting a few incantations. Suddenly, another
orb of grey light emitted from his hands as they went into the cave. It
was more of a night vision style light, as your eyes still adjusted to the
lighting around the light itself. They slowly walked past many pillars,
and up to a huge statue of a mouth, walking into it and into the
cavernous path that lead to the underground regeons. The soft,
grey light slowly blanketed the rock walls around them, revealing
various fungi attached to the wall, passing through several
holes that the others must have recently made. As they progressed
deeper, the mushrooms grew larger, and you could see fungus growing off the
walls, along with the occasional hissing of Underneathean creatures..
However, the hissing didn't only come from the creatures..
"Shut up, Zet!" hissed a tall, ugly, ogre-ish, red-caped, green-skinned man
hidden in a crevice near the groups, just barely out of reach of the grey light's
sight. The soft, illuminating light slowly passed. "I'm in charge, and I say we
kill them all!"
"Korg, if you kill them now, we won't get any information on the latesst
news of Kyros." snapped the short, jagged-toothed, cloaked monster, Zet.
"Besides, the last time we blindly attacked under your orders, YOU knocked
me out and got your butt kicked..."
"Well if you hadn't got in my way --"
"We're almost there." Barak said as they slowly walked through. Barak
clapped the grey orb in his hands, ridding himself of it. By now, their eyes
had adjusted to the darkness of the caverns, and they could see almost as
well as any Underneathean could. They led Radget to Motash's home and
dropped her off before heading back upwards. As soon as they were about
to reach the cavernous mouth that lead back to Overworld, a man with a long,
red beard came running up to them...
- = = = To Be Continued = = =
Hmm... Maybe the next event is going to go a bit fast.. but oh well.
Atleast it'll happen. And then we can get back to the story. So stay
tuned, as we enter the Cald on the next episode!