Disclaimer: Do not own Wizard101.
WHEN WE LAST LEFT OFF WITH JUSTIN, HE HAD PASSED OUT AFTER RESCUING AN INNOCENT GIRL FROM A BAND OF ILLUMINATI VAMPIRES. BUT CAN OUR HERO RECOVER AND CONTINUE HIS QUEST TO SAVE THE SPIRAL FROM THE WICKED PLANS OF THE DARK WIZARD? LETS REJOIN HIM NOW...
'Wh-w-wha...? Where am I?' Justin wondered to himself, as he sat up from his position laying face down on the ground, and looked around. He was unsure of where he was. He appeared to be floating above a large, deep dark blue ocean, dark, purple clouds above him. There was no light to be seen anywhere. Distant bolts of blue lightning, followed by thunder, occasionally struck the ocean surrounding him.
'Is this... a dream?' Soulhunter continued to wonder, as he stood up. He couldn't make any sense out of this, so he instead decided to try and remember what happened before coming here. He was outside the burning tower, the grass surrounding the tower was burning as well, resulting in a massive amount of heat ( fire will do that, you know ). TO MUCH heat for Justin to handle. He couldn't focus on his battle with the head of the Illuminati vampire's, and, shortly after Matthew appeared, was struck hard by a Meteor Strike. He heard Matthew insult the vampire before everything went black.
'Damn that cheating vampire... He took advantage of my heat flaw!' Justin thought to himself, scolding angrily. How dare an opponent exploit one of his flaws in combat!? If it had been a simple and fair 1-on-1, Justin would have won hands down. But of course, because Justin had spoiled his plans ( not to mention killed most of, if not all of, his followers ), the vampire had other ideas.
'I'm sure Matthew finished off the vampire. He is a fire wizard, after all. He can take the heat. But... what happened to me?' Justin wondered, as he surveyed his surroundings again. At that moment, a surge of fear, followed by great dread, filled his being. 'Am i...'
"Justin?" He heard someone say behind him. But this wasn't just anybody. It was a girl. A girl who's voice sounded familiar, yet he hadn't heard it for 2 years...
2 YEARS!?
Justin gasped, his eye's widening.
"Katie?" He asked uncertain. He slowly turned around to look behind him. Sure enough, there she was. As young and beautiful as when he had first met her oh so long ago. Her familiar blue and white robes, her short, ice blue hair which just barely covered her eye's, both of which were a deep shade of blue, the pretty flat-headed blue and white hat atop her head, and her deep and light blue colored boots. She smiled at seeing him.
"Hello, Justin." She said calmly.
'Dear god, I missed her voice.' Justin thought to himself, as he smiled back. But his smile quickly turned to a frown when he remembered where he was.
"Katie? Where am I?" He asked her, still unsure of what had happened to him.
"It's OK. Your fine." Katie said, as she walked over to him and put a hand on his cheek. "Your just unconscious after that Meteor Strike you were hit with. You've been through a lot." She reported to him. He let out a deep sigh of relief.
"That's good. I can't allow myself to die yet. I still have a job to do." He said to her, as he looked into her eyes. 'My god, I can't believe I let such a beautiful girl die. I'm ashamed of myself to even be talking to her.' He thought bitterly, a pang of shame touching his heart. He was remembering that day she encased him in ice again. 'Dammit, stop remembering that! That's ancient history!' He scolded himself. Katie saw he was having trouble with his thoughts.
"Justin, stop." She told him. He cut off his train of thoughts and looked at her again. "I don't care of you remember that day. Who could forget about it? The terrible battle we faced together, the pain I felt knowing I was dying, and you were being pursued, so I knew I couldn't be with you anymore. I don't care about the physical pain I felt that day. Having to leave you forever felt worse then anything I have ever felt." She said to him, a tear in her eye. Justin wiped it away with his thumb.
"I know. I swore I'd destroy the forces of evil for what they did to you. And if its the last thing I do, I'm gonna see that task through to the end." He told her in a bold voice. She smiled and giggled.
"Oh Justin, I always loved the way you can joke around like that." She said. She then took a deep breath. "I know we can't be together anymore, so I just want you to know I had the time of my life with you. I won't ever forget that." She said to him, and he knew she meant it.
"I know. I loved hanging out with you. I just wish I could find a way to return you to life so we can be together again." He said to her.
"I know. But then you might go crazy like Malistaire did and try something rash. I don't want you to throw your life away over me. I just want you to be happy with Brooke." She told him. And he knew she knew what she was talking about. She didn't want him to end up like Malistaire did after he lost his wife.
'Wizard City has had one person go crazy from the loss of a loved one. I'm sure it doesn't need another.' Justin thought to himself.
"Katie, why did you come here to see me? I know you came here for more then that." He said to her. She sighed, took another deep breath, and looked at Justin again.
"Justin, I know your looking for the Shadow Princess, and the dark wizard. I was hoping this could wait a while longer, but I guess I have no choise." She said to him. His eye's widened in surprise. He hadn't been expecting that.
"Do you know anything about either of them?" He asked her. She nodded.
"Do you remember from his first attack on a student's castle? Who, beside Brooke, managed to survive that awful attack?" She asked him. He thought about that for a moment, then looked at her again.
"Rebecca Ashblood did. But what does that have to do with anything?" He asked her. She let out a soft giggle.
"Well, you want to know who the Shadow Princess is, right?" She asked, and he nodded. "Well, think about it. When he attacked, he only took her, yet he killed everybody else. He also mentioned the Shadow Princess during the attack. And what did those books you read say?" She asked him. She pulled out a small piece of parchment from her robe pocket and showed it to him. The following words were written in blood on it:
"MAY THE PUREST BLOOD OF ASHBLOOD SUIT MY NEEDS AS I RESTORE MYSELF"
"That line again?" He asked her. She just nodded.
"Think about it. Who could it be with all these clues pointing right to the solution?"
Justin wondered for a moment, and then it dawned on him. And he felt ashamed it had taken him this long, him, with the skills to solve any puzzle you dumped in front of him, to finally figure it out.
"REBECCA!" He exclaimed. She nodded, and smiled.
"Justin, that dark wizard is very powerful. You must be careful. I hear he's as powerful as six Level 100 Pyromancer's, and could wipe out an entire world with the back of his hand. Once he learns you've figured out who the Shadow Princess is, he will surely come after you." She said to him. He nodded in understanding.
"Do you know where he is?" He asked her.
"He's hiding out in Dragonspyre. But his castle is in a place no wizard or beast alive can get to." She said to him. She then looked away as a bolt of lightning struck the water in the distance, before looking back at him. "Well, no wizard on there own." She added.
"What do you mean?" He asked her.
"Have you ever heard of the Magic Stones?" She asked him. He had heard that name someplace before, but couldn't remember where it came from.
"I'm afraid you'll have to refresh my memory." He said to her. She nodded.
"They say there the embodiments of the schools of magic we at Ravenwood use. There's one for each school." She told him.
'Death, Life, Myth, Fire, Storm, Ice, and Balance. That's seven Stones in all.' He thought to himself.
"Did they use them when they first created the schools of magic?" Justin asked her, unsure he was hearing this correctly.
"I think so. Headmaster Ambrose knows more then I do." She replied.
"And these are Important how...?" He asked her, wondering what he needed these Items for.
"If you find all seven of them, you should be able to get Into the castle where he's holding Rebecca." She told him. He understood. If he was going to stop this man, he would have to find those Magic Stone's.
"Thanks for the Info, Katie. And don't worry. I'll stop hIm." Justin declared boldly. Katie smiled.
"That's good to know. Please watch over your friends closely. Their life's may be In danger now." She said. Justin smiled at her, then grew thoughtful again.
"Katie, I never figured out what you were protecting me from when you sealed me In that waterfall. You said a dark evil was after me. I still want to know what that dark evil was." He said to her. But she shook her head disapprovingly.
"No, Justin. Now Is not the time to discuss this. When your ready to know what was after your life, I will tell you." She told him. He wanted to know right now, but he knew better then to argue with her. He Instead nodded In understanding.
"Well, If you Insist." He said to her. His vision began to get blurry, as If he were losing focus. 'Huh? What's happening?' He wondered to himself.
"Justin... Before you go... You should know..." Katie said to him, as his focus was disappearing rapidly. The sky, clouds and ocean around them were darkening out quickly. "That man... He Is connected to your forgotten past..."
"What? How do you know that? What's going on? Katie? Katie!?" Justin called out to her, the world still darkening around them.
"The key to my secret dorm Is all you need to know. Good luck, Justin. I'll love you forever..." She concluded, as a bolt of lightning suddenly struck down, creating a bright flash of light between Justin and Katie. Just like that, Katie had disappeared, as Justin reached out to the spot where she once stood.
"KATIE!" Justin called out, as his world went dark, and his mind slipped back Into darkness.
Justin awoke to the familiar sound of his friends chatting. He let out a soft groan and put a hand to his head. He felt like crap at the moment. His head hurt extremely bad, which told him he had a major headache. He still felt incredibly dizzy, not to mention he hurt all over. He slowly sat up and looked over pas his bed board at the royal sofa, and the three royal chairs which surrounded a small circular table in the circular part of the Royal Estate's top floor room. A artificial snow-creating snow globe sat in the middle of the table, which was creating the illusion it was snowing in the small circular area. Brooke, Chelsea, Matthew, Connor, and the two sister's Justin had encountered all sat around the table on the sofa and chairs, talking among themselves. Chelsea silenced them, however, when she noticed Justin was awake. She smiled and pointed to Justin's bed.
"He's awake." She said. They all looked over and saw he was sitting up now, watching them uncertainly. 'He must be having trouble focusing right now.' Chelsea thought to herself, as they all got up and hurried over to his bedside. Brooke had a frightened look on her face, which told Justin she was scared of what had become of him. Chelsea gave a small smirk, which told Justin she was proud of the good deed he had done. Connor had a look of concern in his eye's, which told Justin he was worried about him for a while there. Matthew had a large grin on his face, which told Justin he was impressed with what Justin had accomplished ( even though he had to finish the job for his buddy ). The sisters were looking extremely grateful to be alive and back together again, which Justin understood right away, since the older sister had a near-death experience.
"Are you OK?" Connor asked Justin uncertainly. Justin gave him a You-Got-To-Be-Kidding-Me expression.
"No. I feel like I just walked through a burning grassland, then fell off the top of the Big Ben and hit my head on a motorcar! Ouch." Justin replied bitterly, clutching his head again. Chelsea giggled a little, before looking over at Brooke, who brought over a small glass of water and a pill.
"For your headache." She said to him softly. He took the pill and swallowed it right away, followed by gulping down the water.
"Phew. For a moment there, I wasn't sure if I'd ever get to drink water again. That was a close one." He said, as he set the glass down, and looked over at Matthew. "Thanks for coming to the rescue, man. I owe you one." He nodded to Matthew, who laughed.
"Ah, no problem, Justin. Just be more careful next time. I'm not gonna be around to help all the time, you know." He said to Justin, who let out a low laugh himself. He then remembered the dream he had with Katie.
'Did that really happened? Did Katie really come and speak to me?' Justin was wondering to himself, unsure if the dream he had was real or not. It seemed very real, but of course, he wasn't entirely sure. The sister's clearing there throats interrupted his thoughts, as he looked up at them.
"I'm Tina. This is Mandy. Thanks for helping my older sister get out of there alive. I was so worried about her." The younger one, Tina, said. Mandy just bowed her head gratefully. Justin smiled, and nodded back.
"No problem. That's what I'm here for." Justin said happily. He then looked over at Matthew. "Aren't you gonna thank Matthew, to? He dealt the finishing blow on that vampire, and pretty much finished the job."
"Aw, come on. I just attacked the vampire once. It was nothing really huge." Matthew said, putting a hand on the back of his head, and laughing uncertainly. Chelsea put a hand on his shoulder.
"I beg to differ. You DID arrive right when Justin collapsed, and you finished off the vampire, AND you got Mandy out of there alive, bringing Justin, unconscious atop his horse out as well. I'm very sure if you hadn't shown up, this little mission of his would have had a very different ending." She said to him. He made a small "hmm" in understanding, then nodded at her.
"Thanks. That really means a lot." He said to her. Brooke then spoke up.
"Hey, Justin's been through a lot today. Lets let him get some rest. We can continue this elsewhere." She said to everybody, who all nodded.
"Yeah. Come on. Let's go to my castle. We can talk there for a little while." Connor said. And with that, everybody turned and started toward the stairs, except Brooke.
"You guys go on ahead. I wanna stay with Justin for a little while." She said, and nodded to them all. Chelsea lead the way downstairs and out the door. Brooke looked back at Justin.
"Why did you stay behind?" He asked her, as she walked over and sat down on the bed next to her. She smiled.
"Oh, I don't know. I just don't feel like leaving yet." She said, and giggled. He smiled at her.
"Well, that's nice to know." He said to her. He had a warm feeling in his heart, which caught him off-guard. 'Wow. I actually feel attracted to her. I thought for sure I couldn't feel love anymore since Katie died.' He thought. He then remembered the dream with Katie again, and looked back at Brooke.
"Hey. You wanna hear something?" He asked her. She looked at him.
"What?" She asked.
"I had a little dream while I was out. I was in some kind of dream world with Katie." He said. Brooke's eyes widened.
"What? Katie? But why?" She asked, clearly unsure she had heard that correctly. He nodded at her.
"I don't really know if it was real myself, or if it was a side effect of my condition. But I do know one thing: Katie was there. She gave me some information." He said to her.
"What did she say?" Brooke asked him.
"It's kind of a long story..." Justin replied, before taking a deep breath.
WHEW! Now THAT was a lengthy chapter!
So, what do you think I should have Justin do as his next scenario? Though mind you: He will be able to pull off this next one himself this time. I just wanted to include the part of Matthew helping him because I wanted to exploit one of Justin's character flaws. So, be sure to vote in the poll on which scenario I should have Justin undergo next and thanks for reading!
