Chapter 8: Traitors surround me from all directions! What to do?

As I was continuing one of my quests for Geoffrey in sanctuary, I had to go to Briarwood and find a missing shipment of armor that was taken from the merchant and to be used by the Wugachug guards that worked in Briarwood. After many troubles, I was finally able to enter Queen Darkthorn's palace and talk to her about the missing shipment and the talk of a wooden box she told me that Geoffrey was using the Queen of Sanctuary to get rid of all the Wugachug guards and make briarwood look like the bad guys in this whole scenario. Geoffrey must have also planted rumors about Briarwood taking Natalie away from me. I must stop this madness!

(Earlier on after saving Darkthorn and Eggert the mad, I had the antidote and was ready to deliver it when Geoffrey's guards and Geoffrey himself stopped me in the palace)

Guard 1 "I'm sorry sir, but for now you are not able to see the queen for she is sick from someone under Darkthorn's order poisoning her drink"

Guard 2 "That's right. So you're not allowed."

Me "But I was sent here under strict orders to deliver the antidote to the Queen! If I don't get in there and give it to her, she will die!

Guard 1 "Sorry, but Geoffrey's orders. No one is allowed to enter or exit the palace at present."

Guard 2 (his eyes narrow) "Wait a minute! What is your name, sir?"

Me "Me? Why my name is Nathaniel Elmshield. And if you don't let me by I will have to make you let me get by."

Both guard "Its him! The wanted man! Get him!"

(I use a super attack and a couple of quick sword slaps to the helmets)

Both guards "AGH!"

I walked over them and (luckily I had this as a ninja) set a small ball of a ninja smoke bomb under the doors.

3…

2…

1…

BANG!

Thinking the guards were right by the insides of the doors I charged headlong into the doors in order to knock them out before they had a chance to react. Unfortunately however, they were not there, so for the first time as a ninja, I ate dirt. Well, tile to be more precise, but a floor nonetheless. I noticed there were barriers blocking the stairs to the queen and over the railing was Geoffrey looking at me with annoyance. I am not a sneaky ninja at all.

"Well if it isn't the little brat that has caused all this trouble over a little girl he had fallen for that was taken away from him when he wasn't looking. Oh romance. What a fickle thing it is. One minute you have a girl by your side and the next she's left you for some idiot who doesn't even know what one plus one equals. And all of this fuss is just because he's better looking than you. But that's beside the point. One thing is for sure Nathaniel; you will not be giving that antidote to the queen without a fight!" said Geoffrey.

"Fine with me! I needed to get some exercise anyway!" I said with a grin. I charged forward and failed miserably when one of the pixies tripped me mid-jump. I do not like eating floor. It tastes bad. But lucky I have great eyes! As a sword was descending to my head, I took out my Shuriken Storm Sword and did a back flip and swung it, releasing the Shuriken inside. With three of the guards down and six more to go, I changed my weapon to the Dragon Flame Sword (strongest sword there is, and since I can never remember the name of it I call it that because one of its attacks is a dragon flame name). I countered an incoming attack from a lead guard and used my blast sphere to clear the area around me so that I didn't get stabbed from another guard. I then used my special attack and burned the guards, but it only affected a few of the smaller guards, leaving the larger lead guards undefeated for now. I hopped onto a railing and did a jump attack knocking one lead guard out allowing me to use a sleep sphere on the remaining guard, allowing me to grab a energy potion and wait for the rest of my health from minor attacks to replenish. Soon after, the last lead guard awakened, but didn't realize my super attack was ready and I was behind him. He will be knocked out for a while.

But I wasn't ready for the final fight. I thought I was done until Geoffrey came down the steps using his dark energy to keep me in place.

"Nate, if you had just stuck with me, we would have no trouble letting my master rule over Sacred Grove, and no one could stand in our way. But thanks to your most kind and friendly personality, you have made it difficult just to get a small task done. So now, I am left to destroy you. I am going to have fun with this!" Geoffrey said as he walked down the stairs.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs and went towards me, I noticed an odd feeling of warmth rush over me, whereas before I only felt the power of the cold darkness trying to worm its way onto my spirit. This feeling got stronger until I could move around, which I took advantage of that by charging at Geoffrey with my sword ready to do some damage. Giving a snarl, he started to charge his super attack. I pulled out a sleep sphere and got it ready to activate. As the distance between us closed Geoffrey let loose a dark blast that nearly shook the tiles from the floor! I was too quick for the attack though. I leapt to my left and using my sword as a pivot stick, I used my momentum to spin my self to facing Geoffrey and hurling the sleep sphere at his head. When I said earlier I was too quick, I was WAY too quick for my own good. Since my momentum had stopped on the sword, and I knew I was going to fall, I back flipped right into the dark energy mass Geoffrey had thrown earlier.

As I lay on the floor after being knocked out from the dark energy (pretending for half of it) for a while, Geoffrey came over and stood next to me.

"Humph" he said as he was looking at my body. "You are a much better fighter than that Natalie girl. Oh she put up a fight, but I easily subdued her. It's just too bad you have to see her this way. What a shame that she failed to defeat me." Hearing that she was killed by this evil entity put me in a rage. I did a floor sweeping kick at Geoffrey's feet, (as a distraction) and then grabbed my sword and swung it at his head. Geoffrey, seeing my feet coming, merely continued to hover in the air and pulled his legs up to make sure that I didn't touch him. What he didn't see coming was my sword. By the time he had noticed it, the sword was at his shoulder area. But he managed to dodge! He flew backwards and prepared another energy ball (pretty fast for an old pixie!). I got up and charged at him full speed getting my special attack ready along the way. As we neared each other, he started to run towards me as well. Evidently, he knew he was not going to miss. And I knew I was not going to miss as well. I picked up speed and got ready to do what was necessary. Geoffrey releases the sphere, which comes hurtling at me faster than any player could ever go! I dodged in the nick of time and released my special attack, standing only two feet away from Geoffrey. After my special attack hit, he said something about me being stronger than what he thought I was. He zapped me with some more magic, and I deflected some of the magic away from me while trying to get my blade in edge wise. Finally, with a torn wing and not enough magic left for a simple spell of light, he collapsed on the floor in a heap.

"You may have defeated me, Nathaniel, but mark my words my master will surely rule over all of Sacred Grove and when the time comes for him to take it, you will be nothing but a blade of grass in his way. Unable to stop him, or do anything to hinder him in the process, you would easily bend under his will. Goodbye, Nathaniel Elmshield! AHAHAHAAHAA!"

And with that he disappeared in dark fire, leaving no trace he had actually died. When the flames finally died down, the magic barriers disappeared allowing entry to the upper levels. I dashed to the queen and handed her the antidote. Miraculously, I had made it in time. The antidote worked, and she quickly recovered. She told me that she was being used to bring the master of Geoffrey into power, and she feared that it might come soon. I nodded and grinned, realizing she was all right and that the danger was over. In the next instant I doubled over in pain and collapsed on the floor blacking out in the process. After I woke up in Shrouded Glade, Queen Valerian told me the reason why I blacked out. I was hit by a dark crystal in that first energy ball of darkness that I back flipped into, and after I blacked out, they teleported me to shrouded glade to perform some magic to get the crystal out with out harming me in the process. But they also found another thing wrong. Records say that my heart was frozen over with ice when I was only 6 yrs old, but the ice was partially melted off when they took the crystal out. They couldn't decide whether to remove the rest of the ice and thaw out my heart, or just leave it alone. It was my decision, as they could easily remove the ice and thaw the heart. I told them to give me a few days to think about it. So I stayed in shrouded glade for a few days, wandering around and looking at all of those around me. Because here's my dilemma: my father cast a power freeze spell on me after I accidentally froze my heart. He told me the spell was to make sure that if I were ever to turn evil and try to take over some area in Sacred Grove or something, since I had no emotion after the spell, I could easily kill without even blinking. It would be like dusting off a book. Plus with the power I held I could not be easily defeated. But my father foresaw this. The spell he put on me was to ensure I could not get a true hold over my powers. To undo that spell, my heart had to be magically thawed by both love and wizard magic. One part was done, now the other part had to be finished. I didn't want the power to rule like a king, but to be as a friend to those that I would one day be a ruler to. So I went back to the pixies and told them to thaw it out.

After the surgery (When I was strong enough to travel), the Queen of Sanctuary had requested an armed guard to bring me (kindly I might add) back to the Palace to receive a gift from her. It was a shirt showing I was part of the Royal Guard of Sanctuary. I was thrilled, yet I was sad. Geoffrey told me before he died that Natalie's body is nowhere in the known areas of Sacred Grove, but somewhere that hasn't been explored yet. So until those areas become accessible to the public, I have no choice but to finish my Mega Mall and Moon Base 1 places. And I will also rate players' homes and Lots from time to time. Because when the areas open, I will try my hardest to find Natalie's body out there. She needs some form of burial.

A word for the people of Free Realms: be careful whom you speak to as it may lead to undesirable situations in the future, and be aware of the guild you join as its intentions may be easily twisted. And think for yourself; don't let other people do the thinking for you. I wish all of you the best of luck in whatever you do, and let your tasks and quests be fruitful in both coins and stars.

Shade Darklord: If we were in an army attacking another army, I would trust you to help me, and I hope you would trust me to help you.

Megnesium: Even though your name is the hardest to say in FR, you have the greatest playground homes and Lots that I have seen so far.

Brad Coldfoot: I know you were not mentioned until now, but that is my fault, due to the fact of schoolwork and chores, I rarely had time to write this. But you were an enormous help in helping me finish the Quest CH. 1: armor shipment.

And for one who I consider a friend: Matthew Stormfeather. I don't know if you are the leader of the Briarwood knights, but I do know that you would make an excellent leader in negotiations. I hope to someday meet you in person, but for now, I can wait.

And to all of those that read these stories: I will continue to write them every so often, and thank you for reading them. Rate and review on all the stories is accepted!