So it's a bit late, but here's the first real chapter of my Christmas chalander. I'll be counting down until christmas

"Did not."
"Did so."
"Did not."
"Did so."
"Did not."
"Did so."
Francis rolled his eyes as the two cousins were arguing, flipping his blond hair over his shoulder to get it out of his face.
"Are you two done?" he questioned, only recieving a dark glare from each boy. "This is getting ridiculous. We were supposed to take a look at the portal, not fight over who groped who."
"But he..." Alfed, the younger of the cousins, started.
"Did not." His cousin, Logan, argued.
"Did so. You were right next to me."
"And just because of that, I groped you?" Logan growled. "If that's the case then I suppose Heracles groped Francis!"
"I didn't..."
"I did it." Francis said with a aggregated sigh. "There, are you happy now?"
"No, not particulary." Alfred said with a pout.
Logan smirked and recieved another glare from Alfred.
"Guys!" Eduards voice called from further inside the cave. "I've found it."
This easily caught the attention of the teenagers and all forgot the former argument, much to Francis' relief. They found Eduard crouching next a big portal, covered in jewels of all kind.
"Oh my." Marie, who'd so far stayed quiet during the unnecesarry argument (she already knew it was Francis), gasped in awe. "To think our anscestors built this."
"Quiet exstraordanary, don't you think?" Eduard commented with a pleased semi-smile.
"Some of these jewelries doesn't even exist anymore." Shamus said, as he let the lantern wander across the portal.
"Is it true then?" Alfred asked. "That this can take you to an other world?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Eduard answered thoughtfully. "According to chronicles from the early down of our people, Ulidari created this portal if the waterelves would have to flee their home. Only, they turned out not to need it, as the mermaids where happy to aid shoudl the shield fall."
"Awesome." Logan and Alfred gasped in unision.
"We should get Yong and Mei-Mei." Heracles commented. "They cannot miss this."
"Not all three." Eduard reminded. "We still need someone to stand guard. If the Queen finds that I've been going here without permission..."
"We never got permission?" Shamus hissed.
"The queen said it was too dangerous." Eduard admitted. "But I couldn't just let it pass. I've checked the cave, it's secure."
"How can you..." Marie started, but she was cut off when they all heard a loud rumble and the ground began to shake.
Caught off guard, Marie stumbled backwards, just barely being caught by Francis. The portal began to shake as well and pieces were falling off. "Watch out." Alfred called out and grabbed Eduard's arm, pulling him out of the way so he wasn't crushed. Eventually, the shaking stopped and the group released a sigh of relief.
"What the hell was that?" Shamus gasped. "An earthquake?"
"No." Alfred said darkly. "That was much worse."

"Okay, that's it!" Elizaveta yelled. "We've been lost in this god damn swamp for three days. Sadiq, just give me the map!"
"No!" Sadiq said, yanking the map out of Elizaveta's reach.
"Big brother." Theresa, Sadiq's sister, whined. "We're walking in circles. This swamp is practically impossible to get out of unless your experienced."
"And what's worse, my magic doesn't even work in here." Lukas added with an annoyed sigh.
"Please, just give Elizaveta the map." Lilly, the last of the group pleaded. "She'll find a way out."
"God dammit." Sadiq groaned. "I am the man of this group and I that means I'm in charge."
"Hey!" Lukas said and glared darkly at Sadiq.
Sadiq only ignored it as he kept walking, long since getting used to the wet ground underneath his feet. He suddenly froze as he heard a soft sniffle. He turned around to find his little sister had stopped and was now crying softly. With an aggravated sigh he passed the map to Elizaveta and walked, or more like wadded, over to his sister.
"Hey, Tessie, what's wrong?" he asked softly.
"I-I-I'm just... s-so wor-r-ried." she sniffled. "What if something h-happened to the o-others."
Sadiq hugged his babysister tightly.
"Don't worry, kiddo." he said affectionately. "Those are one of the strongest people I've ever meat. They're probably already back home, telling queen Girla to send people looking for us."
Theresa sniffled again.
"Won't you smile for your big brother?"
Theresa dried her tears and managed a weak smile.
"That's my girl." Sadiq said with a soft smile before he turned to Elizaveta. "Now, are you gonna get us out of this damn swamp, or not?"
"I would have done it earlier but you just had to be an idiot all the time." Elizaveta snapped.
"Lizzy." Lilly said pleadingly.
"Sorry Lilly." Lizzy apologized as she scanned the map. "Now, the first thing we need is to find a landmark. If only there was a better..."
"What the hell is that!?" Sadiq cut her off and pointed up the the sky.
All five looked up and gasped as they saw a dark cloud roll in over their heads.
"Something is seriously wrong." Lukas whispered.

Hyon watched with an amused smile as the two battled. One, a short blond boy named Tino, with a spear. The other, a tall muscular blond named Mathias, with a massive battle-axe. It was a lost cause really, as all of the watching teens knew the outcome of the fight.
"Why does he even bother?" Hyon's friend, Esteban asked annoyance.
"Say, why don't you just stop them, Hyon?" Juan, a slightly younger elf, asked. "You're like the only one who can match his strenght.
Hyon only shook his head.
"Nah, let them have their fun?" he said calmly.
"Ludwig is gonna have a hissy-fit though." Juan commented.
"Speaking of which." Gilbert spoke up. "When are you gonna tell Ludwig that Sir Robert didn't actually give us promition to go fight the Orchs at the border?"
"Never." Juan said with a shrug. "We were born to fight, so why shouldn't we?"
"I agree." Xion said as he pushed himself off the tree he was leaning against. "So, Gil, you wanna bet on who's winning?"
"Are you serious?" Gilbert asked with a snicker. "The odds are way too uneven for it to get interesting."
"Oh come on." Xion pushed. "Come on, I bet you that Mathias will be pinned to the ground in exactly five minutes."
Gilbert let out a mocking laugh.
"Are you trying to lose?" he snickered. "I beg to deferre, and in less then a minute I'll be carrying around your money."
Xion nodded in confirmation before the two returned to watching the fight. Sure enough, with one last dash forward, the battle was over, and the natural winner had won. Mathias stared right into Tino's eyes with a slight smirk on his lips.
"Done?" he asked.
"Are you." Tino simply replied with a cocked eyebrow.
"I believe so, yes." Mathias said with a grin. "We cool?"
"Course." Tino said with a nod.
Mathias nodded too as a silent agreement formed between them. And then finally, Tino stood off Mathias and offered him a hand.
"You did good today, Mathias." he said with a happy smile. "I really think your skills are improving."
"Thanks, Tino."
Tino then moved to the other three where Juan was grudgingly handing his money to Gilbert.
"And you Xion?" he questioned. "Did you really think it'd take me another five minutes. That's just an insult."
"Told you he'd do it within a minute." Gilbert smirked.
Xion rolled his eyes.
"You were just lucky." he muttered. "Now where is Ludwig and the others?"
"Yeah." Mathias agreed. "It shouldn't take long to..."
Mathias was cut of by a sudden shaking of the ground.
"What was that?" Juan asked when the earth beneath his feet had stopped moving.
"Probably just an earthquake." Mathias said, still sounding rather shaken.
Gilbert turned to look at the horizon and down the road that would eventually lead them home, only to suddenly pale further.
"Guys, please tell me I'm the only one seeing that."
"Seeing what?" Tino asked with a slight frown.
"That." Gilbert said and pointed towards the sky behind the others.
All turned and could now clearly see the black smoke that was rising to the sky, right above their village.

"Gagh, Ivan!" Yao cried out in frustration as he tried to push the larger elf off him.
"Aw, but Yao-Yao." Ivan whined. "I want to hug you."
"Ivan, I don't even think we're in the right place." Yao complained in annoyance, as he checked the map again. "I don't even know if this map is even of Kulsia."
Yao was distracted by a sudden squeal and looked around to see Bella jump up and down in delight with Feliciano. He rolled his eyes at the obvious display of "fangirling" even though technically it couldn't be dubbed fangirling since Felicano was a man.
"Would you two try to take this seriously?" Roderich spoke up, sounding even more annoyed than Yao had a few seconds ago. "I don't even see why I had to come to this stupid suicide-mission."
"Aw, don't be uptight." Antonio scolded halfheartedly. "It's good for you to get out of the house, or you'll never be strong enough to help out with the harvest."
"I never asked to help out." Roderich snapped.
"Oh, maybe that's why everyone dislikes you." Raivis said thoughtfully.
Raivis' brother Toris gasped in shock and the youngest of the group suddenly realized what he'd said.
"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry s-s-s-sir." he stuttered, fearing that the "uptight" man wouldn't hurt him for his rude comment.
Roderich only huffed in distaste and ignored the younger.
"So what are we up here, looking for anyway?" he asked.
"We're looking for a very rare plant, aru." Yao explained. "One that can help out a great deal as medicine."
"We are not sick."
"No, but many people travel to Selton because we are the most skilled in medicine." Yao reminded calmly, temporarily forgetting about the large blond that was still latching on to him.
"Yes, but what does that have to do with me?"
"It's quite simple really." Yao said. "Toris is here because he's the most skilled one of us in medicine, Ivan is here because he can protect us, Bella is here because she's the number one tracker in Selton, Raivis is here because Toris couldn't leave him behind, Toni and Feli are here because they wanted an adventure, I'm here because I'm the only one who knows what to look for, and you are here because you are too "uptight" as Antonio put it, and need to get out and get a life... aru."
Antonio snickered at the typical "aru" at the end, receiving a dark glare from Yao.
"And now..." Yao started. "What in heavens name is that?"
Everyone's eyes followed Yao's and saw a vast, dark, cloud moving towards them, leaving everything behind in a complete darkness, spare for an odd area in the forest.
"Everyone, back away." Antonio said hastily, feeling the dark magic from the cloud.
They all backed up until Raivis colided with the cliff behind them.
"We're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die." he kept repeating to himself.
"Calm down, Raivis." Yao demanded harshly. "I'm sure it's not as bad as it seems."
"It's practically eating the bare earth." Roderich hissed.
Yao's answer was replaced by a gasp when Ivan stepped forward towards the darknes that was now only a few feet away.
"Da, you won't be hurting my friends."
"Ivan, get back here, you'll be killed." Yao hissed in fear.
"Niet." Ivan simply answered with a wide smile.
Ivan took another step forward and to everyone's surprise, the darkness drew back, taking detour, thereby leaving the group fully unharmed.
"I-Ivan..." Yao stuttered. "You just... it just... and then you... and then it..."
Toris cut him off by pointing to the sky ahead.
"Hey, guys, we've got more problems to worry about."

"We thank you for your hospitality." Arthur said calmly and shook the king's hand. "I hope this will mean that your soldiers will no longer attack our flyers."
"Provided they don't harm my people." the king said with a chuckle.
Arthur nodded in agreement, before turning around. His four companions looked expectantly at him, as if asking: "Can we go now?" Arthur gave them a small smile before he let out a loud whistle. Within minutes his flyer had landed calmly before him.
"Hi there, Mint." he said tenderly, patting Mint's neck. "Where you a good girl while I was gone?"
Mint "chirped" happily, earning another pat.
"We are ready to leave." he informed. "Berwald, have you had any further contact with king Milo?"
"No." Berwald answered simply.
"Can we please just leave, all this was just a waste of my time." Eirikur complained as he sourly kicked the dirt on the ground.
"You can say that twice." Lovino agreed with him. "Stupid bastard, why did you have to bring me to this stupid fuck?"
"Because no one else will take you." Arthur snapped before turning to the last. "Gupta, do you know the way home through the mountains."
"I do." Gupta answered calmly. "But I have no doubts that you yourself can guide are noble troupe back home."
"Well then." Arthur said as he got up on Mint. "Let's head back to report our success to king Milo then."
All nodded in agreement and before soon, another four flyers had landed.
"B' c'ref'll." Berwald reminded Eirikur as he mounted his flyer, Ikea.
"I know." Eirikur whined and got up on Puffin.
"You seem tense today, Eirikur." Gupta pointed out and mounted Kleopatra.
"I'm not tense." Eirikur defended himself weakly.
"Whatever, can we just go?" Lovino asked, already seated on the back of his pride and joy, Tomato.
"Indeed we shall." Arthur agreed and Mint lifted off the ground, soon followed by the others.
As they neared their home, Arthur began to feel wary.
"Those clouds look rather strange, don't you think." he asked Gupta.
"They do." Gupta agreed.
"Everybody halt!" Arthur ordered and the other three held in their flyers.
"What the fuck are we stopping for?" Lovino asked, but he didn't need an answer cause he soon saw the big dark cloud spreading across Kulsia. "What the hell is that?"
"Magic." Arthur said with a dark stare. "Dark Magic."
"What do we do?" Eirikur asked.
"We get closer and see if we can get a grip on the damage." Arthur said calmly and soon the five was moving again.
After a few minutes, they spotted the shape in the distance. It kept moving closer and the five men were shocked to find, Natalia coming right at them, bloody and exhausted.
"I'm sorry." she gasped. "They came from nowhere, we didn't stand a chance."
"Natalia." Arthur tried, in an attempt to calm her down. "What happened?"
Natalia took a few deep breaths and looked Arthur straight in the eyes.
"We're under attack."

December