Finally, I've gotten this chapter written.

~gh0stheart~

The Souls of the Lost

Chapter One: Missing Midnight

Angel looked down at the simple wooden tile of his dorm room, thinking about his, now dead, best friend. It was a weekend and there wasn't much to do. That was when he heard something odd. It sounded very much like a horn. It was low and almost groaning in sound. The sound seemed to come from Unicorn Way. He wondered what the sound was for, and out of curiosity, he got off his bed and decided to go investigate. He quickly opened his Dorm Room door and stepped outside. He was near the Storm School, as the Boys Dormitories were close located next to the Storm School. He wasn't sure if it was a great brilliance to locate it there, but he guessed that it would have been better than the Fire School. By how much, he didn't know.

Usually, Ravenwood was crowded and packed in. Many students went to Ravenwood School, but this fine Saturday morning, it seemed to be quiet and uncrowded. In fact, there seemed to be no others besides him out and about.

Angel walked across the grass and onto the yellow brick road. There was a great tunnel now in front of him. There were great tunnels that connected every area of Wizard City, the land which Angel and Ravenwood School resided. He could of course teleport to the commons, the place he was trying to go. The commons had a pond that was very large, and filled with sparkling pure water. It was there that most Ice and Storm wizards practiced there magic. For Ice wizards, it was the practicing the freezing and shaping water. For Storm, it was the practicing of creating large waves. There were, of course, other things than the pond. There was a large library built of dark gray bricks and the school's office, where the Headmaster, named, Merle Ambrose resided. The office was white in color and was surrounded by a golden gate that was most of the time open. It was very rare that the gate would be closed.

Angel walked into the tunnel to the Commons. It was dark all the way through it. There were no lights inside. Thankfully, for Angel, the walk was short. It would have been easy to get himself turned around as the tunnel wasn't straight, it was rather twisted, much like a snake moving its body across the sand, creating weaving patterns. He was very familiar with this particular tunnel, as he used it almost every day. He didn't like to teleport, unless he absolutely had to, such as when it was the yearly teleportation license renewal. He didn't want it taken away, just in case he needed to escape from something. He pulled a lot of pranks and occasionally it made some wizard, usually a Fire wizard, get overly upset with him and tried to get even. It did happen from time to time. It was why he was very careful about who he pranks and doesn't. Some people, he discovered, start small prank wars with him. He always liked when those happened.

He walked across the Rainbow Bridge and till the tunnel to Unicorn Way. There was a Guard in front of it and the gate in front of the tunnel was shut tight, there was no getting past.

"What happened here?" he asked aloud. His curiosity was peaked and his sense of trouble was going off. He wondered how he was going to get inside. The guard seemed to know that he was planning something.

"Go away," the guard told him. Angel heard that strange sound again. His curiosity was killing him. That was of course when he realized that he forgot Midnight, his pet Jack O' Lantern, in his dorm. He knew he would have a very mad Midnight if he didn't go and collect him. He sighed and teleported to his dorm room. He looked for Midnight, but he was nowhere to be found. This worried him greatly. He called his pet, usually, Midnight would come immediately. He then grabbed a bag of food and placed some of it in Midnight's bowl. There was silence and Midnight didn't appear. He then looked at his nightstand for some unknown reason. There was a note with penmanship that could only be recognizable as Malistaires. Malistaire was the past Death professor before he disappeared and took the Death School from Ravenwood. Since that day, Necromancers have changed classes, except for a few who were determined to study Death magic.

He picked up the note and started to read it. It read:

To whom this may be concern,

Your Jack O' Lantern is gone.

'No duh,' Angel thought.

Don't worry it will be brought back. Whether or not it is brought back alive, I cannot guarantee. It depends on how cooperative it is.

M

There was a debate inside Angel's mind. He didn't know if he should tell the Headmaster or not. It took him a good three minutes to decide. He couldn't just leave his beloved pet to a death sentence. He knew one thing from taking Death as a secondary, Malistaire rarely ever lied. He was blunt and to the point. It was what made his class simple to understand. Not that he didn't mind the riddles of Balance.

He decided that he should act quickly and instead of taking his time by walking, he teleported to the commons. Then he ran to the Headmasters office. He knocked on the door politely. It gave him time to compose himself and stop his panting. He didn't run very often. It took a lot of energy from him when he did.

The door opened to show an old wizard with a long white beard that went down until his hips.

"Hello, young wizard," the old wizard told Angel. He looked a bit surprised to see Angel, as he rarely ever visited the office by choice. It was especially odd with Angel as distraught as he was. Whatever happened must have been worrisome for the young wizard.

"Malistaire... he stole Midnight! Here's the note... Please help me get him back. I can't be without him... He might die!" Angel told the Headmaster.

"Don't worry Angel, Midnight will be found, now give me the note. It might help us find out what Malistaire is planning," the headmaster said as calmly as possible. Angel quickly gave him the note. "It definitely is Malistaires... Angel, could you be of use, and deliver this letter to Private Connely in Unicorn Way?"

"Of course Headmaster," Angel replied quickly. He was then given a letter with the Headmaster's seal. It was in traditional red, with the school's symbol, a large tree. Angel hoped that the Headmaster would save his Midnight. But his curiosity from earlier eased through his worry. He was finally able to know what made those strange noises. He basically had an all-access pass to Unicorn Way. Normally it would not be needed, but that day, apparently it was. He knew that after Malistaire had left undead frolicked in the streets. Maybe someone got concerned? He wasn't sure. One could never know after all, what was going through a wizard's brain at one moment to the next.

He exited the office and ran off towards Unicorn Way. He took the shortest route possible, which included running through much of the pond. He didn't care much about getting wet at that particular moment. He could just cast a drying spell easily. He soon saw the guard and showed him the letter.

"Looks legit," the guard said. Relief flowed through Angel's veins. For some unknown reason, he had thought that the guard wouldn't let him. The guards of Wizard City didn't like Angel much. He was just another troublemaker to them. True he did cause a lot of trouble. His most famous prank he pulled lasted about a month, and it made the most annoyingly catchy song he could find play nonstop in the Myth classroom. Amy just about killed him when she figured out it was him who did it. But it was for a reason. The Myth students were picking on him, and he warned them, so he got even.

The guard made the gate go up and showed him through. There was a dark shadow that seemed to follow Angel as he went through the gate. He didn't notice. It was rather small like a bird.

Angel quickly found the guard he was looking for. The guard was the only one in Unicorn Way it seemed. When he gave the guard the letter, the guard seemed pleased.

"Good, you're here to help," the guard told Angel. "I need you to defeat some lost souls for me." It was at that moment that Angel wondered what exactly he had gotten himself into, but he knew it was too late to back out. Plus if he did, it would make himself seem cowardly. That was the last thing he wanted to be in his image. Who exactly would want to hire a cowardly wizard?

Angel sighed and walked through the park. He couldn't resist walking through a large gazeebo and stop for a few seconds. He admired the beauty of the place. The unicorn statue in the center of a small isle like place near the right of him. The light seemed to be dancing, ever so slightly across the place.

He then looked forward and saw the undead problem. There were souls every which way on the actual street. It was strange that they seemed to only stay in the street area and not go any farther forward. But it made him thankful that he didn't have to go chasing them, or at least he hoped not. He was never that great with undead creatures. It was why Death was a secondary school, not a primary school. Ravenwood held seven different schools for students to study, they were: Fire, Ice, Storm, Life, Death, Myth, and Balance.

Each school was powerful in their own ways.

Angel walked up to the very edge of the sidewalk and prepared for battle. He brought out his wand and held it in his left hand. He then looked through his spellbook for a spell he thought would work, that wouldn't take too much mana. Mana was the energy that Wizards used to cast spells. Almost all spells cost some mana, except for most blades, traps, and shields. Blades were a type of spell that amplified damage. They were extremely useful when trying to defeat enemies. Traps, like blades, amplified damage but were different than blades because instead of being placed on the caster, they were placed on the enemy. Shields were spells that remove damage taken on a caster from enemies.

Angel stepped forward into the street. He didn't have to wait long for a few undead to attack. It was odd for the undead to be aggressive. Most just floated around and left the living alone. Angel cast a blade on himself and waited for the next blow. He figured out that Lost Souls were very low ranking undead. They didn't have spells that could cause major damage, and for that he was thankful. He cast a Sandstorm and watched it start to build up, slowly it started to blow and then it built up sand and attacked each undead creature that attempted to attack him.

What he couldn't know was something was watching him, something dark and whispy, like a shadow. It was waiting to report to its master.