Day Two
(Chris P.O.V)
I stepped into the Headmaster's office, which was filled by other trainee Wizards dressed like me, only with different colored robes.
"You summoned me, headmaster?" I pushed past all the other novice wizards to get to professor Ambrose's desk.
"Ah, Christopher. "The Headmaster smiled again, his long fingers tapping on his crystal ball, "I have scheduled your orientation in the afternoon, while you wait, why don't you take this letter to Private Stillson, the guard at Unicorn Way gate? He will let you through."
He handed me a letter sealed by an ornate wax seal, "And don't forget to use your spell book if you ever need any help."
I nodded, turned and headed out the door.
It was bright outside, which means that it is close to afternoon. It is pretty crowded in Wizard City; wizards were hurrying pass, either on mounts or on foot, heading toward their destinations or porting out/in flashes of light.
I headed toward the large gate marked with the words "Unicorn Way", passing by a minature waterfall.
At the gate stood a guard in platemail armor, his eyes shining underneath his helmet, while a spear approx his height is clutched in one hand. I approached him, drawing the letter from headmaster Ambrose from my robes, "The headmaster asked me to deliver this to you. "
"Letter from the headmaster, eh? "He grunted, "well take that to private Connely, the guard at Unicorn Park. "
"Well hello, what may I help you with?" My first impression: Private Connely is alot happier than Private Stillson
I gave him the letter, although his face paled the second he read it. "Another sacrifice for the Ghost King... " I heard him mutter. Taking his eyes off the letter, he said to me, "You are the new student, right? Thank goodness you've came, all the Lost Souls are nearly overwhelming us, especaily with their leader the Ghost King. Another new student tried to fight him, but I think he's been captured and held prisioner, perhaps you can restore order with your powers. Just fight a couple of the Lost Souls until the Ghost King's dungeon entrance comes up."
"Alright. " I followed the path behind to the gazebo, where I could get a real good view of the street: floating around aimlessly, is countless wisps of smoke in the shape of a human. Let's see how good you guys are.
I stepped out into the street, right into one of the Lost Souls.
Almost instantly, the dueling circle formed out of the ground, shimmering with magical energy.
I drew nine cards out of my spell deck: three Thunder Snakes and six Minor Shocks.
Choosing the Thunder Snake, I made the symbol on the card and tapped on it with my wand.
A cloud formed out of thin air, and out of it dropped a giant snake that resembled a King Cobra.
Hissing, it lashed out at the Lost Soul with its tail, shooting out a bolt of sizzling lighting that fried it to a pile of smoke.
Well you are not so tough are you? I smiled: you gotta be kidding me, this is all too easy!
From the pile of smoke formed two gold coins that I suppose is wizard currency, might as well pick them up, they may come handy in the future.
I went back onto the sidewalk, now looking for target number two.
My eyes landed on another Lost Soul that is drifting aimlessly around the base of a unicorn statue about 20 feet away, "You are my next victim."
I charged, opening another dueling circle...
Long story short (Author: And to avoid repetition), I fought two more duels like the first one before. The second right after I finished my last duel, a giant hatch opened in the center of Unicorn Park, showing off a stairway that leads to who knows how deep down - the Ghost King's lair.
From his position at the entrance of Unicorn Way, Private Connely gave me an encouraging nod, here it goes...
I ventured a cautious step down the stairs, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process. The air smelled like an attic that had not been touched for years; musty and filled with dust, not exactly making itself on my list of favorite places in the world. After a couple more steps, there was complete darkness, I can't even see my own fingers in front of my face. Almost instantaneously, a word just into my mind, "Fulguo*." As soon as the word left my mouth, my wand lit up like a flame had been kindled inside it, not very bright, but just enough for me to see where I'm going.
Holding my wand in front of me, I peered down the stairway, only around ten more steps before it stopped at a pair of black metal doors.
A weird sense of knowledge jumped into my head, keep quiet, you don't want what's behind it know that you are here. I went the rest of the way as quiet as I could manage, until I was close enough to hear a conversation going on behind it-
"Malistaire will surely reward us for bringing in one of the four Chosen Ones!" A gruff voice like wind whistling through a cavern laughed, "now all we have to do is find Alexander's son, the Thaumaturge who is born of Ymir's blood, and the daughter of LegendFlame." The son of Alexander... why do I get this strange feeling that whoever is talking is speaking of me?
Another voice spoke, "What makes you so sure of yourself, Ghost King?" This one was more human than the first, and definitly more evil, "he will probably send you back to Tartarus first."
I peered through the crack in the door, from what I could see, the Ghost King - a creature that much resembled the Lost Souls I had previously fought, only green in color- was speaking to a tall figure dressed in a long black cloak that fell to the ankels, hood pulled over his (judging from his voice) head so his face is virtually invisible. At the back of the room, bound in thick ropes that looked strong enough to anchor a battleship, is another wizard.
Suicide mission time, I thought as I gave the door a nice good kick.
For a moment, the two were completly stunned, then the Ghost King laughed, "All too easy! The most important of the Chosen Ones delivering himself right in!"
The Cloak Dude didn't laugh, instead he said, "Well then I'll leave him to you, don't disappoint me!" A snap like a whip being cracked sounded, and he disappeared in a wave of purple lightning, leaving behind a smell of ozone.
"What? NO! Ghost you can't leave me like that!" The Ghost King shrieked like a little girl, but he was already too late. I ran up to him, and the dueling circle erupted.
Judging from his health points (100, just slightly tougher than the Lost Souls, although not as much), he should be an easy target. I used Thunder Snake, but for some reason, it can only deal 45 more damage.
The Ghost King retaliated with a Dark Spirit, taking 65 out of my health, ARGH! I used another Thunder Snake, although it sadly fizzed. As if realizing that I am sort of in a tough spot, the Ghost King laughed and used another Dark Spirit. I must not lose! I summoned another Thunder Snake, and phew, this one's lightining bolt ate away the rest of the Ghost's health, frying it to a crisp.
"NOOOOO!" These were his last words before a minature black hole opened underneath him and sucked him into it.
I stepped over to the wizard and untied him, "What's your name?"
He had short black hair and really, really pale skin, "Hunter DeathHeart, and you?"
"Christopher, "I replied, " Christopher DragonFlame, Chris for short."
Hunter nodded, "Well, thanks for the help, I must return to my quest now."
I had no idea that this Wizard standing in front of me could either be my best friend or my worst enemy.
As me and Hunter emerged from the dungeon entrance, Private Connely gave me a approving look. Hunter shot me a simple nod before heading off to continue whatever quest he was working on.
"Nice job, " Private Connely pointed to the green robed Wizard standing next to the Gazebo, "go have a little chat with Ceren over there, he needs your help."
I was really tired from fighting the Ghost King (let's just say that I'm ready to drop dead on the first bed in my sight), but I managed to keep myself awake and nod.
"Greetings!" Ceren, like Private Connely, was really cheerful, "professor Moolinda Wu sent me here to investigate about the fairies, who were being corrupted by a skeleton called Rattlebones. Unfortunatly, I wasn't able to defeat him, can you do it? Please, do what you can to stop him!"
He drew a card from his robe pocket, "Here, take this healing spell, you will need it."
I flipped open my spell book, and there, in the front page, was an image of Headmaster Ambrose, with words scribbled hastily in ink underneath, "It seems like you are a bit low on Mana and Health! See the blue and red lights floating in the streets? Those are called Wisps. If you can catch a red one, it will restore a bit of your health points, and the blue ones your mana. Remember, if you don't have mana, you will be at the mercy of your enemies!" The second I finished reading, the words and image sunk back into the paper, as if it didn't even appear the whole time.
Thanks for the tip, Headmaster, so far, he was the friendliest teacher I've met here.
After restoring myself to full health and mana, I thumbed over to the map page of my spellbook - by the indications, our friend Mr. Bones live in a tower in the northwestern part of Unicorn Way.
I jogged the whole way there, bursting through the tower door and surprising Rattlebones and his Dark Spirit minion.
"You cannot stop us, Wizard. This is only the first part of Malistaire's plan!" Rattlebones brandished a rusty cutless, "no one walks out here alive! Time to die!"
"Not so fast!" I yelled, running close and summoning the dueling circle.
Rattlebones used a Dark Spirit, his minion casting an Imp, but none of these two were strong enough to do any real damage.
I used a Thunder Snake and took out the Dark Fairy minion, who screamed and erupted in a cloud of smoke.
Mr. Skeleton snarled, "You will die today, Diviner!" He used another Dark Spirit spell, although it was still way too weak!
I made the Storm symbol in the air, "You die first!"
But then the strangest thing happened, what I intended to be a Thunder Snake became a totally different spell - a pool of water erupted in the center of the dueling circle, bubbling like the sea. An island rose out of the water, and standing on it was a massive humanoid. Purple in color, it had a thin fish's tail and had an iron collar around its neck as if it was someone's very bad pet. It stood, a lightning bolt in hand and threw it toward Rattlebones in a fashion that reminded me of Zeus, the god of storms and lightning from ancient Greek mythology.
"Ahh!" These were the skeleton's last words as he crumbled to dust.
"Nice job!" Ceren was grinning even wider now, "you should report back to headmaster Ambrose about this, he would want to hear your story."
"Oh good job on straightening things out on Unicorn Way. " Strange, the headmaster didn't sound as impressed as he is supposed to be, "follow me, I need to show you something." He went into the backroom, where Gamma usually is, in the center of the room was a crystal ball.
Headmaster Ambrose waved his wand over the ball, creating a screen of mist that slowly changed into an image.
I leaned close- the scene showed a dueling circle surrounded by a ring of fire. On one side was Malistaire, his face in the usual scowl, and on the other side was a wizard in full battle armor, spinning a staff that cackled with electricity.
"No magic can bring back the dead, Malistaire." The wizard shouted, "stop trying, your efforts would only result in carnage!"
"Slyvia." Malistaire ignored the wizard, whispering the name like a mantra, "don't worry, you will be back with me soon!" He glared at his opponent, "You would never understand the pain of losing the one you love, Alexander."
Dad! I looked at the headmaster, hoping that he would say that this is all a cruel joke, but he said nothing, only gesturing for me to look back at the scene.
My dad shook his head, "Seems like I have no other choice." He banged his staff against the earth, casting another Storm spell.
A pool of clear blue water appeared from thin air in the dueling circle, and out of it rose what appeared to be a giant snake, its scales shining purple, with eyes the size of dinner plates and the color of pure gold. It focused its eyes upon Malistaire, as if contemptlating on how to best eat him for dinner, before diving back into the water again, its tail raising high in the air and smacking down on Malistaire's head.
A number blinked: 1956, an attack that would have reduced most enemies to smithereens. But Malistaire just stood there, looking more maniacal and angry.
"Jishin!*" He bellowed, slamming his staff into the ground.
Where his staff touched the ground, cracks appeared, running toward my father Alexander like a bunch of angry snakes.
Even from here, I could sense my father's fear.
Stalagmites shot from the ground under his feet, sending up a screen of blood.
I looked away, my heart feeling more like a stone in my chest, no one could have survived an attack like that.
When I looked back, my father was laying on the ground, covered in blood, with Malistaire looming over him.
"Pathetic." The evil wizard sneered.
The scene shifted again, yet another duel...
This time, Malistaire faced two opponents-
"Mom! Uncle Luke!" Fear gripped me tight. Sure enough, surrounded in two auras of power, is my mother Paige DreamMancer and my Uncle Luke Stormblade.
Malistaire's lips twitched, "Fear not, Slyvia, I shall summon your soul back from the Underworld as soon as I deal with them."
He shot what appeared to be a Grim Reaper spell at my Uncle, who screamed and fell to the ground, dissolving until only his armor remained. Spinning his staff like a deadly fan blade, Malistaire struck my mom with a giant black bolt-
The scene shut off from that point, only then did I realize that my throat was burning and my heart felt like it had been stabbed by a red hot knife.
Mom, Dad, and Uncle... All gone...
I closed my eyes, this had to be a bad dream!
"Christopher, I'm sorry to show you this, but you must know that Malistaire is intending to destroy the Spiral. "The Headmaster spoke softly, "Only four chosen Wizards of power could fight against, and defeat him, and you are among the four chosen. Alexander, Luke, and Paige gave their lives to ensure that you would arrive here safely for your combat trainings, would you let their sacrifices be in vain?"
Tears were running down my face... yes, my family had fought against an impossible opponenet to buy me time... how could such a precious sacrifice be in vain?!
As sadness faded, anger replaced them: Malistaire... I will make you pay for what you have done! From now on, I swear to River Styx that I would destroy you with my own hands, like how you've slain my family!
Author's Note: Sorry about the super long wait! As an apology, here's chapter 2, fresh off the press! Don't forget to review, my door is always open for suggestions!
Disclaimer: Doesn't own anything except for my characters Christopher, Luke, Paige, and Alexander. Hunter DeathHeart belongs to my friend Greekhuntress101.
Translations:
Fulguo: Latin for 'gleam, glitter brightly, be brilliant, light up'.
Jishin: Japanese for 'earthquake'.
