Haley's P.O.V

I took a deep breath as we approached the General of the Cyclopes. Fury glinted in his eyes, and his mouth was curled into a tight grimace. He was terrifying.

I glanced over at David, looking for reassurance. Unfortunately, I found none. He seemed just as scared as I was. He caught me looking at him, and we both nodded. I waved my wand, and cast a Leprechaun to attack the General's minion. David cast a Myth Prism on the General, and the minion cast a Blood Bat on him.

The General passed.

Uh-oh, I thought. This means he's saving up his power for a bigger attack!

I cast an Imp on the minion, and the minion was defeated. "One down." I said.

David gave a faint smile. "Yeah. One to go!" He didn't cast a spell, and next it was the General's turn. The General passed as well.

This is bad! I thought.

I cast a Sprite on David to heal him, and David cast a Myth Blade. Now, it was just one question: What spell would the General cast?

The General cast a Cyclops on me!

"Ow!" I yelped.

"Are you okay?!" David asked.

I had lost a lot of my health, but I lied. "I'm fine, just cast the spell!"

He still looked worried, but he did what I asked. He used his wand to draw the Myth symbol, and a Cyclops appeared! He slammed his sledgehammer against the floor, and the ground quaked. I fell over.

The General cried out in pain. "Stop! I am defeated!" he exclaimed. "Take the children, and leave me to die in peace!"

David went to unlock the doors keeping the other wizards trapped, while I walked over to where the General lay on the ground. "Why did you do this?" I asked.

He groaned. "Someone named "M" said that he'd destroy Aquila if I didn't cause some ruckus in Wizard City. Aquila is my home world, and my duty lies there."

"Oh..." I mumbled, understandingly. "Do you promise not 'cause ruckus' anymore if I heal you? We can stick to the story that you were defeated and had to let them go."

He gasped out a breath, and said, "Yes!"

I waved my wand over him, and he was healed.

David walked over with the newly rescue wizards. One was a short girl wearing blue and white, with snow colored, spiky hair. She was obviosly a Thaumaturge. Another was brunette, and I could tell she was a Diviner. The last had ginger hair, and wore tan clothing. He was a Sorcerer.

"Thank you for rescuing us!" the Thaumaturge cried, hugging me.

"Your welcome!" I smiled.

"I was losing hope that snotty Nolan StormGate would rescue us!" said the Diviner. "Wait, where is he?"

David swallowed. "Well, he didn't come. But he helped us find you. Kinda."

"Oh." frowned the Diviner. She seemed angry-ish. The Sorcerer didn't seem to happy either.

I was about to ask their names when all of a sudden, everything went green. I was covered in leaves.

Morgan's P.O.V

"Mwahahahahaha!" the Pumpkin King cackled. I see the bait has loured the prey!

"Stop calling me that!" said a voice in the back, partly enraged, mostly terrified.

I realized it was Artur, en-caged.

The Pumpkin King cackled, once again. He was already getting annoying. "I shall call you whatever I like! Now shut up and let me speak with my prey!"

"Stop calling us that!" said Ashley.

"I shall also call you whatever I like! Right now, I shall call you Dead!" he shot out a Fire Elf, but Ashley dodged the arrow. She cast a Fire Prism on him, while I took out his minion with a Ghoul.

"Hmph. Minions, why do they always go so fast?" he muttered. "No matter, I shall murder you alone!"

I must admit, that insane Pumpkin-Head was a dang good fighter. It took us what seemed like forever to finally corner him. Ashley had a Sun Bird in front of him, and I had a Vampire behind him.

He screeched in outrage, as he crumpled to the ground. "No fair!" His last words were, ""M" will avenge me!"

All that was left of him was a regular pumpkin. I picked it up, and observed it. "Hmm..." I mumbled. "An enchanted pumpkin. "M" must be clever."

"Yeah-" Ashley was about to say something more, but all of a sudden, all I could see was black. I was surrounded in skulls.

Gabriel's P.O.V

"Ugh." I shuddered, looking at the Prince of Fire Elves. The Theater/Castle was even hotter than the streets of Firecat Alley. I felt like I would collapse from exhaustion. I was surprised when I looked over at Aaron, and he looked almost as bad as me.

"Wizards!" The prince started giggling when he saw us. ""M" said you would come! Now, would you like to be in our play? I'm afraid your role will be rather short, because you shall DIE NOW!"

He charged towards us, jumping off the walls, dodging every attack. This was strange for a Fire Elf. He was fighting like a Thaumaturge: Defensively, not aggressively."

I remembered from my brief training with Diego the Unicorn Duelmaster from my Novice days that the only match for defensive was offensive. So, as much as I would love to be the one to defeat the sneaky little dweeb, I took on the Magma man while Aaron attacked the Elf.

Magma men were slow, and easy to dodge, but their knives were coated with deadly fire. One touch, and your the next magma men. Soon there'll be a Magma Man apocalypse! I would think.

I ran towards the pile of lava, and conjured up a couple snowflakes in my hand. I took a deep breath, and blew it toward him. He let out a chuckle at the small snowflakes, underestimating them, as usual.

Little did he know, they would be the last thing he saw.

The snowflakes got bigger, and divided into a small blizzard. He screamed as the freezing blizzard devoured his lava, and he dissolved into hot air.

Aaron was too busy trying to land a hit on the Elf King to notice the missing minion. I thought fast, and realized the only way to end this thing was to Sneak-Attack him. I spun my wand into a the snowflake symbol, and an Evil Snowman formed right behind him. They were basically reverse Magma Men, with a dagger coated with poison snow.

I had added a little affect to the dagger though; instead of killing the Elf, it would just make him become his normal self. The Snowman stabbed the Elf just as a Kraken hit him with lightning.

"Argh!" the Elf King cried, leaning down. He looked up, about to thank us.

All of a sudden, everything went blue. All I could see were snowflakes.

Morgan's P.O.V

"What?" I said aloud, looking at the surroundings. We were standing in the Haunted Cave, the creepiest place in all of Wizard City. It was known for having the dead mysteriously rise from it's grounds, and unfortunately, it was where all the cemeteries were. So, yeah, known for zombies.

I looked around, and saw Gabriel WinterBreeze (oh geez, him again), Ashley RubyFlame, Haley SunBlossom, Aaron ThunderStorm, and David SparklePants standing next to me, pretty much as confused and baffled as I was.

All of a sudden, my ear started wringing. That was my warning that a Whisper was coming in.

I have sent all of you here to investigate the tower at the end of the street. This will be your last test. Said Merle Ambrose's voice.

Wait, these were tests?! cried what sounded like David's.

How are all of you talking in my head together?! I yelled.

I don't know! said Aaron.

Calm down, I am speaking to you as a group. And that is what I hope you are. What lies in that tower is deadly. Work together, and you'll survive. I hope. Ambrose said.

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! David screamed.

Merle's voice disappeared, and I was filled with rage. Why would a headmaster put so many of his student's lives at risk?!

Then my voice of reason arrived, and said: A lot of people's lives are worth more that 6...

...But still...

"Okay, guys, do any of you know how to navigate this street?" Haley asked, interrupting my train of thought. She still seemed confused. I guessed about the fact that this was a test, but I didn't really know.

"I do." said Gabriel quietly.

Five pairs of eyes focused onto him. "Lead on." said Aaron.

Gabriel winced, as if not wanting to follow Aaron's orders, but led us anyway. I cringed, looking at all the smashed windows and broken down doors.

The screams of terror were surrounding me.

I tried to ignore them, but it was hard. People, once alive, surrounded me, crying out for help. I walked straight through them, looking at me feet.

Finally, Gabriel brought us to a bridge across a sickly looking swamp. Across the bridge, torn apart graves were lined against a tower. This must be the tower Ambrose was talking about!

I walked towards the head of the group, next to Haley, trying to get away from the ghosts. The dead tended to stay away from her, as a lot of the living did for me.

Gabriel reached for the door-knob, and hesitated. He looked up at the door, and I could tell why he was scared. He knew as well as I did that there was something evil in there. To open it, we'd unleash a dark presence. But we had no choice.

He shook his head, and then slammed the door open. I was terrified by what I saw.

A Wraith was an embodiment of pure evil, created by feelings of hatred, anger, and all of the vileness in this cruel world. They usually wore black capes that covered their faces, and had wings of ebony, like angels of darkness.

And there one stood, right in front of me.

The most terrifying thing about the creature was when it lifted it's hood. I wanted to turn away, but I was totally captivated.

And the most shocking thing was what I saw.

It's face was not horrid, nor sickening. It was beautiful. It's eye's glowed wickedness, and it grinned viciously at us. His face was gaunt, and handsome. He had long hair as black as night, pulled back behind his hood.

"My, my. It wasn't smart for you to come in here. Not smart at all." he growled, still keeping his grin. "Now I have to devour you're soul."

"AHHHHHHH!" the tower was flooded with shrieks of horror. I didn't scream. I didn't move. I just stared.

Oh, how much I wished I could have done something. Anything at all! But seeing the Wraith's face had paralyzed me. All I could think was Run, and I couldn't even do that. Spells were being cast everywhere, but I hardly even noticed them. The Wraith's energy invaded my mind, trying to possess me.

All of a sudden, I felt like I was in my dream again. But instead of seeing Malistaire Drake, I was him. All I could think now was, Sylvia's gone. The twin's are gone. Sylvia's gone. The twins are gone., over and over and over again.

Malistaire, or I, rather, walked about my house, vaporizing random parts of it. My feelings collected together, and I saw a black ball of light appear in the ruins of what used to be Malistaire's house.

A booming voice rang in my head. That was my birth. What Malistaire felt is what I was, am, and always will be. And now it will be what you always will be, too!

I was overcome with pain. I felt black wings start to grow from my back, and my clothes turned into a Wraith cloak.

"NOOOOO!" I yelled. I had my voice back! "I AM NOT A WRAITH!"

The wings shrunk back into my back, and I had some of my energy back. "JUST BECAUSE ALL YOU FEEL IS PAIN AND BITTERNESS, DOES NOT MEAN I HAVE TO, TOO!"

Black magic drained out of me, and in combination with all of the spells the others had cast, the Wraith burst into a black ball of light. I ran to the desk, grabbed a jar, and captured it inside of it.

Everyone just stared blankly at me. I looked back at them, but then I was overcome with dizziness. "I think I need to sit down." I mumbled.