"You misunderstand me!"

The small and frightened child tried and failed to hide his paralyzing terror from the malicious man standing before him.

"I misunderstand you?! Please enlighten me on how one could misunderstand such an utterly blatant threat. You are in no place to hold such a stance against me, boy."

The young wizard shriveled up, recoiling from the cold grip of shadows that spread from the evil man. He continued to stutter out words. "I-I dealt with Malistaire in Dragonspyre. You don't scare me!"

The man bellowed a throaty laugh, the entire room vibrating at the volume. "I don't give a damn how many pesky old wizards you've dealt with in any fraction of your mortal life. Morganthe was powerful enough to possess his very essence, yet even she was but a mere gnat compared to my power."

"You're bluffing! You must be! Even Headmaster Ambrose couldn't easily contain her!" The sniveling weakling sat up, trying his best to regain his confidence and dignity, yet the monster of a man grabbed him by the hair, slamming him back against the cold stone wall. The poor child fought for his life to cling on to the thin thread of his consciousness. He felt a piercing cold spread from his hair, where the man had grabbed him, all the way to his deepest nerves. A blackish color permanently remained in a few patches of hair. The man's shadow magic was even colder than the young wizard's own ice magic, yet he remained still and silent, but not dead. The man took this as an opportunity to finish. "Don't test me, boy. Pick your battles and know your limits."

Ethan and Miranda heard a glass-shattering crack, and a sudden rush of cold air seeped in from the outside of the home. "What the heck is going on? I could have sworn it was Spring!" Jackson complained. Miranda pulled her sleeves down so as to protect her exposed skin from the frozen air. Ethan walked over to the door, automatically looking out the peephole to see what was going on. All he saw were light blue robes waving around as the breeze tried to sweep them away from their owner. He sighed, rolling his eyes.

"It was just another ice wizard practicing his magic. I'll take care of it." He opened the door halfway and poked his head out. "Hey, doofus! I'm pretty sure Professor Greyrose wouldn't want you aiming your spells at other people's houses!"

The stranger did not move a muscle.

"Kid, are you deaf or something? What are you doing lying in the middle of the street? You'll get run over!"

There was still no response, and by this time he began to realize that something was truly wrong. He turned his head slightly back toward the kitchen so Miranda could hear him. "Hey, I hope you've been practicing your healing magic. I think this little guy is hurt."

He heard a gasp and tried to help Miranda not stumble over the welcome mat while trying to rush to his aid. She shoved her hand deep into her robes and produced a wand.

She swished the small rod in the air right above the injured wizard, a small, somewhat greenish symbol appeared above her head. Ethan recognized it as the symbol of Life. The magic was visible through the beautifully mesmerizing sparkles that looked like teal glitter thrown into the air, and Jackson stopped to look. It was nothing like the little tan, black and red sparkles from balance magic. They frankly reminded him of dust.

As the magic settled on the wizard's forehead like falling rain, small, rattled breaths could be heard. Miranda looked back up to Ethan and grinned. "I think he's going to make it."

Jackson breathed a sigh of relief, but Ethan simply nodded. He was happy that the wizard was alive of course, but the fact that anyone's life was threatened was what was bothering him. What issue could there possibly be? Morganthe had been taken care of and Malistaire was surely not coming back anytime soon, so who could it be? That old, evil man from his childhood had surely not decided to strike yet, and even if he had, it would have been far more extravagant than an injured wizard appearing in front of his house.

The thought of that horrific monster brought a shiver down Ethan's spine. He shook off any of his previous thoughts to acknowledge the fact that Miranda was smiling at him still. He didn't know why this pleased him, but he definitely didn't question it. Ethan was in no way anywhere near supermodel attractive, but he wasn't really ugly either. He was just sort of average, and that was what confused Ethan. He never thought any girl would ever look twice at him.

Jackson cleared his throat, knowing full well that they were sort of having a moment. He looked at the two wizards expectantly. "Oh, please don't let me interrupt you, but I thought it would be beneficial to know that the kid is waking up."

Miranda gasped like before, and turned around quickly, already kneeling at the young wizard's side. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

"Could you speak a bit louder, please?"

MIranda glanced at Jackson and Ethan hopefully.

"Can you hear me? Are there any problems with your ears?"

"I highly doubt anything would be wrong with my ears. It's my head you may need to check out, though."

Jackson snorted. "Yeah, I thought your black highlights looked sort of weird, but I wasn't going to mention anything."

Ethan gently bumped him with his shoe. "Show some respect. We have no idea what this kid has been through."

The ice wizard glared at Jackson, yet eyed Ethan with a more wary glance. "I didn't put any highlights in my hair. What makes you think I did? Oh, no! Did I get dirt in my hair?"

Jackson looked as if he were staring at an alien. "You seem like a goofball. My name's Jackson."

The kid shrugged. "Why do you think I'd care?"

There was a growl and suddenly Jackson was staring the poor child down. "If you know what's good for you, you'd at least be polite."

"Oh, be nice you furball!" Miranda scolded jokingly. Ethan laughed and was quite glad that she could turn the awkwardness into something to be happy about.

"My name is Mason, since you seem so interested."

Ethan rolled his eyes. It would take a lot of work to tolerate this sarcasm. "Well, Mason, I hope you're feeling better. Now go away, we were trying to have a meal."

Miranda glared at him accusingly. "What is wrong with you? Invite him in for dinner! Mason's probably been through hell and back!"

Jackson growled, obviously not very happy with the suggestion. Ethan wasn't too keen on it either, but he at least was polite enough to accept the proposition. The kid was going to stay for dinner if that was what Miranda wanted. He was a sucker.

Jackson had a sudden loss of appetite from that point on. Whether it was defiance or pickiness, Mason thought it was annoying. As he gulped down large spoonfuls of macaroni, he kicked Jackson's food bowl around under the table. He would then retaliate by biting his uncovered ankle, causing him to shriek. Ethan and Miranda exchanged nervous glances as the endless chain of retaliation continued. This was going to be exhausting.

Have you reached that point in your life when you really notice change, child of Earth? The early years of your life, your childhood, are the years that you think everything is great. Life is fantastic, easy, and will only continue to get easier. You are stuck in this wondrous, beautiful delusion that everything is going to be okay. Then you go through your first loss. You may deny it, but on the inside you know you didn't feel as much as you should have. You subconsciously believe that you won't die. You aren't afraid of death because in your mind, death is impossible. As a child you don't fully understand the gravity of death, just like some adults do as well. However, you have begun to break out of your oblivious shell. By this time your school years have begun.

There is a downside to Elementary School. You are still at that old oblivious age that you think everything lasts forever, even life. You build up friends, you build up strength and you build up an even stronger love for life. Then it ends. You lose your friends. You lose your girlfriends or boyfriends, your pets, your family, sometimes your happiness. And yet, with little exception, you start over again. You act as if you are a new person, building up friends again, finding love in other people, buying new pets to replace the old, and moving on from losing family. All you have left of your old life is the deep nostalgia you feel when you listen to your old friend's favorite song, or you look through old yearbooks or photographs.

This cycle repeats itself over and over again...until it doesn't.

Your shell is continuing to shatter into millions of pieces as your family slowly dies off, your friends slowly drift farther away, and your love falls away to dust. You want everything to last forever, but you don't believe it will anymore. You lose your hope and by this time, you have seen the true nature of change. You move on with your life completely. You are close to your family and friends, but not close enough. You love people, but only a little bit. You are constantly afraid that you will be let down again. You are starting a new cycle that only repeats itself for some people, and for those unfortunate few, life is miserable.

If your life isn't miserable, you still have hope, and that's important. You have the small sliver of light in the deep depths of darkness in the world, the Spiral and Earth alike. You know that with every opportunity comes a change, big or small. You are prepared, yet you still love. You live in the present, not the future or the past. You know that loving and losing is better than having no love at all. You've figured out change, and you've embraced it. You know one of the arguably most important secrets of life.

Don't fight change, or you'll lose. The dark tunnel of life may continue to get darker, but you will always have that light at the end. If it is meant to happen, then it will sooner or later. Your life is too valuable to ignore the tugs you feel in your heart. Your life is too important for you to throw it away with hatred and exasperation. Don't fight change. Don't fight love.

Don't look back.

Ethan woke up from his dream. A beam of sunlight streamed past the blinds of his window and blinded him as he sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He smiled, remembering what had happened. He had made two friends yesterday, possibly his first friends in many years. Not to mention one of them was a freaking hot girl.

He slipped his feet off of his bed, yawning as he bent down to look for his boots. He opened his closet and found them on the floor under some clothes. He sorted through them and found a very light outfit consisting of long pants and a tight shirt. It hugged his upper half, the colors painted exactly where his body parts were, hip, chest, etc. He liked to think that he looked good in the outfit, but just in case he grabbed a very light cloak he had learned to make out of sand. It was unique, being both opaque and practically less than paper thin. Ethan had only just recently learned to make things out of sad, but the skill proved to be very useful, especially if you wanted something to be covered by, yet let the wind blow straight through.

He attached it to his shirt collar and made his way up the stairs to his kitchen where Jackson was asleep. "Jackson! Hey, were you in the cupboards last night?"

He mewled and stretched, unsheathing and sheathing his claws. "What does it matter? You have plenty of food to spare!"

Ethan sighed, sitting down to pet him. "You know you shouldn't snack after bedtime. You'll get fat."

"Calm down, mother. I was just hungry."

He rolled his eyes at his owner, clearly mocking him.

The breakfast they had was short and small, barely enough to get either of the two through the day until lunch. However, it would have to do. Ethan had to get to his studies as soon as possible, even if that meant missing out on some food. This was the day he learned his next spell.

He gulped down the last of his cereal and sprinted out the door, making sure Jackson was okay before taking off. It was always an exciting thing when you had to learn a spell after wizard school. It meant your teacher took a special interest in you. You see, wizard school could be compared to an Earthly elementary, middle, or high school and the spells you learn afterward is sort of like college. It's a long college, but college nonetheless.

There are non-magical people in the Spiral from time to time. They don't have to be a certain species, they can be wizards just like other magical folk. 'Wizard' isn't a title, it is a species of creatures in the Spiral. The only other place wizards can be found outside of the Spiral would be Earth, which is where most non-magical wizards go. Every so often there is a mistake and some wizards are mistakenly presumed non-magical when they are simply late bloomers. This would be the time when Ambrose himself plucks them out of Earth and into Wizard City's magic school. There has been some prejudice between Earth wizards and Spiral wizards, but some of the most powerful wizards are from non-magical realms. In fact, most of the quest wizards are ones that were found on Earth by Ambrose himself. This proves the fact that Earth wizards are just as good if not better than Spiral-born wizards.

Ethan read through his Earth-Studies notes one more time, memorizing all of the names of famous quest wizards. The only way for him to get the spell today was by passing an Earth-Studies exam from Alhazred. This made no sense to him, since Earth had nothing to do with the spell Gaze of Fate, which he was to be learning. Sometimes, though, the messages projected from Alhazred's confusing tests aren't easily identifiable until i really counts. That is what Ethan liked about his professor. He taught mysterious yet important lessons unlike Professor Wethersfield, who taught blunt and somewhat irrelevant lessons at times.

"Good morning, Bartleby! I see Professor Wu watered you early this morning."

"Oh!" Bartleby, the grandfather tree shook his leaves, letting the lush, green leaves spiral to the ground and cover the doorway to the Tree Chamber. "You startled, me my boy. I know you usually pass me by but you've never said much. Why are you in such a good mood today?"

Ethan shrugged. "I don't know. I just haven't had friends in so long since the...incident...that it shocked me to realize people actually cared about me."

The grandfather tree's eyes glimmered under the light of the streetlamps in the old Ravenwood school. "That's a bit of an odd thing to say, don't you think? I know you lost your parents, but that doesn't mean no one cares about you. If no one else, you have me, Ambrose, the professors, and of course Grandmother Raven. You aren't alone."

There was an awkward silence as Ethan held back any trace of emotion he may have felt. "Well, I'll be on my way."

It was a short journey to the Spiral Door where he transported to Krokotopia almost immediately. He immediately caught sight of the small mander by the doorway to the outside. "Hello, Tinu. I'm back for my next spell. Mind if you let me through?"

The mander flinched and hesitated before answering. "Krokotopia isn't accepting outsiders. Please go back to where you came from." He was obviously scared. His slimy skin glimmered from the light that shone from the sun outside. This mander was hiding something. That, in Ethan's not-so-expert opinion, was not smart. "I need you to let me through. If something's going on I should probably know about it. I may not be able to do much, but I'd at least be able to notify some of the local Quest Wizards."

"I'm sorry, I was forced to-"

"Forced by whom? To do what, exactly?"

"I can't tell you." The scared little creature looked up, his eyes wide and watery. "I'm sorry. I can't help you."

Ethan exhaled with a big sigh. He threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay. Do you have anything against me notifying Headmaster Ambrose?"

"No, I supposed not…"

Ethan rolled his eyes. He was still frustrated, but less so now that he could at least tell someone to get something done. He needed to get his spell, not to mention find out what was going on that was such a big secret. "I'll be on my way now." He tried to flip his cape dramatically, but he failed. He instead flicked a blast of sand into Tinu Bhak'Mal's eyes. Embarrassed, he stepped into the Spiral Door with his head hung low.

He had just came all that way for absolutely nothing. All he was planning to do was go to the Balance school and take the damn test for his spell. Instead, he was sent all the way to Krokotopia only to be sent back to Ambrose for some Quest wizard to take care of some super secret issue. If something was going on, Ethan deserved to know, right?

Things were changing here in the Spiral. He wanted to fight it.

Mason was in trouble.

"What are you doing, my boy? You shouldn't fall asleep in school, it isn't good for grades!" Lydia Greyrose's usually cheerful voice took a darker tone as she impatiently tapped her foot on the frozen stone floor of the ice school. Mason sat up groggily.

"Wha..?" He struggled to keep his eyes open and fought against the lull of sleep.

"'Wha?' Are you begging for detention? The polite response would be 'Yes ma'am'."

"I'm sorry but the magic turtle was stuck in the…" The rest of his response was gibberish. Professor Greyrose rolled her eyes and shook her head. She had seen quite a number of sleepy students in her day. "I know that you may think you can get away with anything, but this isn't Junior-Class anymore. You are becoming a full-fledged wizard now that you are in post-graduate school."

Mason shook his head, his hat teetering on the edge of his skull. "I'm sorry, it's just that I've been away from Wizard City for so long I…"

"Mason, you can't continue to use the same excuse for every type of trouble you get into. Besides, whatever happened to you to make you leave?"

"I...I don't know for sure." He contemplate his words very carefully, but perhaps not carefully enough.

"You don't know? What to you expect me to believe, you lost your memory?"

Mason shrugged, half nodding. Professor Greyrose sighed. "Just get back to work. I better not see you sleeping again. Now get back to your test."

Mason sighed as well, going back to concentrating on his paper. It wasn't his fault, right? As a child, Mason had been happy as can be. His parents loved him, his life was good, and his house was nice. However, built on Colossus Boulevard, the Gobblers had come.

It was a normal day. The small tower at the corner blocked the sun at a perfect angle so as to cast a shadow over the gloomy castle at the far end of the sidewalk. No one had been in that castle for years, but there have been rumors stating that a big, fat giant once lived there. According to legend, he ruled over a race called the Gobblers from an old place called Gobblerton, or Candy World, and they made homes out of sugary sweets and warm gingerbread like in the old fairytales.

That's where Professor Greyrose comes from. She's going to be my teacher, Mason had once thought. Of course, no one knew that the Gobblers were real, and that they were on their way.

They came out of nowhere, eating and destroying the homes that Mason and the citizens of Collosus Boulevard had once been used to. Small fragments of roof or wall had taken flight after being thrown off by a hungry Gobbler. It was complete and utter chaos, and wizards ran amuck in the streets, some running and some battling the Gobblers. With all his might, Mason had willed his parents to run, but they didn't. They stayed and fought not just some Gobblers, but the Gobbler King himself. They almost would have won if the big shadow man hadn't seen. He wasn't happy.

Mason had vivid memories of this moment, and he never told a soul. Perhaps he was sensitive about it…

...or perhaps he still hasn't processed it.

All he remembered seeing was the laughing, maniacal face of the malicious shadow monster as he pushed over the old tower.

Mason, barely a toddler at the time, didn't even have time to cry out for his parents before he saw the horrific image of their bones crushed under the stone tower. Their necks snapped under the pressure and, though it killed the Gobblers, the Gobbler King survived. Mason's eyes welled up with tears and he let a harsh, heart-wrenching cry resonate around the now abandoned streets of Collosus Boulevard. His parents had been killed, and the image of their shattered bones-in-skin crushed under the towers weight was ingrained into his memory. Often times, when he falls asleep, he can still see their broken hands reaching out for him from under the collapsed structure, and the evil man stomping on them, breaking each and every one of their fingers. Mason was traumatized, scared, and abandoned on the desolate frozen streets. He wandered the area for months, looking for safe places to hide, places to get warm, and for food. He was found by a wandering Quest wizard at the age of 5 and was taken to Ambrose. Mason spent a lot of time with Gamma until he hit 9 years old and bought his own house.

He was eleven when it hit him...again. He sat in his room and cried for hours, not caring who heard, or whether or not they laughed. Damn you, Shadowman! One day I will find you and I will kill you so gruesomely that not even the most experienced Death wizard will be able to look at your corpse without feeling nauseous.

That was when he came in the night and took him to the dungeons of his Palace. You know the rest.

Mason gripped his pencil in frustration as his memories replayed themselves over in his mind. He hadn't made good on his promise yet, and he wasn't getting any younger. Of course, he made two new friends yesterday. That was plus, he thought, but it wasn't enough. He needed revenge no matter the cost.

Hope you enjoyed this new installment! I know this fanfiction isn't as popular as my others, but I still felt the need to update this one. I have huge plans for this. Please review! I need some feedback!