A/N: I say that starting a couple new stories won't slow me down too much and then proceed to take SEVEN GODDAMN MONTHS to update. My apologies; this should not happen again. Especially considering that the next several chapters will be mostly action. Action comes quickly to me.

(Chris narrating): Last time, on Total Drama Quest…it finally happened. Geoff's sword became an actual sword. Hats off to you, buddy; I know those trials were difficult.

Oh, and it's probably worth mentioning the savage battle between Izzy and Gwen. A contest of two of the strongest fighters we've seen yet, but in the end, Gwen emerged the victor. And besides that…nothing happened, really. Besides Bridgette finally getting a real weapon. Sheesh, how'd she go so long without one?

What evil traps and diabolical foes await Geoff in Discordia? Who will live? Who will die? And what the heck is gonna happen if Heather's defeated? It's been a long road. Now get ready for…

ACT IX: Discord And Rhyme

…on Total…Drama…Quest!

Chapter 25: Lawless Lands

The situation looked dire; four monsters surrounded the party in the barren wastes of Discordia. Constructed of the same brown stone they rose from, the golems towered; DJ's head didn't even reach the shortest one's midsection. A vicious battle seemed imminent, yet no one had moved in nearly a minute. All eyes were fixed upon Noah and Courtney, caught up in an important argument.

"Lawful good. You actually think you're lawful good." Noah scoffed, shaking his head. "Justify it, because as far as I'm concerned, you're chaotic good at best. Probably closer to chaotic neutral; I imagine that if joining Heather was the quicker way to leave this world, you'd go for it."

"No, I wouldn't." In contrast to Noah's calm annoyance, Courtney's voice was harsh and hostile. "And I am lawful good, dammit! I follow the law when it's convenient and I'm definitely on the good side; therefore, I am lawful good."

"Your biggest contribution to this quest is conning a blacksmith into armoring our boat for free. That alone disqualifies you from being lawful anything. You're in the same boat as Izzy in my book; chaotic and crazy."

"I'm not crazy!"

"Denial at its finest."

"You're the one who's crazy!"

"Funny, because you are driving me crazy. Gonna need an institution by the time I'm done talking to you."

"Guys?" Quivering, DJ pointed at the nearest golem. "Can't you wait until we're not surrounded by scary rock monsters?"

Trent nodded. "Seriously. Why does Courtney's 'alignment' even matter?"

"Fine." With a roll of his eyes, Noah drew a scroll and shredded it. One of the monsters turned into ice, melting within seconds. "Happy? There goes my second-to-last Flash Freeze scroll."

Losing one of their kin sent the golems into action, lumbering towards the party. Ezekiel fired lighting from his hands, the blue bolts destroying the core of one of the monsters. Her scythe disappearing, Gwen smirked as it rose up as a drill, grinding another into gravel. The last was cut in half by a single slash from Enceladus, Geoff rolling away as its parts split and crashed to the earth. Clutching his nun-yo, Harold sighed. "Dang. I was hoping to get in on the action. I mean, gosh, you four have been doing all the fighting."

"Not our fault we're overpowered." Gwen's scythe returned to her and she leaned on it. "Or maybe the monsters are just weak."

"Where are these monsters comin' from, anyway?" Leshawna hefted her scepter, resting it on her shoulder. "One moment, there's nothin'; the next, rock monsters just happen to be surroundin' us. Crazy."

"Gosh, don't you guys remember what I was saying?" Harold crouched down, putting away his weapon. "We are in the 'Lawless Lands', the mountainous region of western Discordia with no towns or anything. The random encounter rate here is the highest in the world!"

As if to prove the nerd right, a golem sprang up from thin air right beside Leshawna. She crushed it with a pair of blows to its chest and scowled. "Can we just get movin'? The sooner we're outta these Lawless Lands, the better. And would you let Cody breathe?"

Cody, face red from suffocation, nodded, although he doubted Sierra even heard. To his surprise, her iron grip relaxed; he didn't get a chance to enjoy the sweet air before another monster spawned in front of him, slashing him with its wing. The beast, a winged reptile with no forearms and a spiked tail, belched a wave of fire at the party before they had even realized what was happening. Gwen and Noah were scorched, prompting Bridgette to heal them. Ezekiel pointed up at the wyvern. "Donderhund hamer, eh!"

Lightning flung itself at the dragon; the bolts splashed off its scales, with one large electric stream bouncing right back at the prairie boy. The spell left a crater in the stone and Ezekiel a blackened mess. Bridgette went to heal him, worried about being forced to heal twice in less than ten seconds after not having done a thing in hours. Noah scowled as DJ tried to hide behind Geoff. "Wonderful. Wyverns are spell resistant, and stabbing them with pointy sticks won't exactly work, either. Unless someone has an Enlarge Person spell."

"Um…" Geoff stared at the mass of scrolls affixed to Noah's hip. "Wouldn't you be the one with that spell, dude?"

"Because I'm the only magic user here, right?"

"Woo!" A joyous whoop erupted over the sands as Tyler flew at the beast, flung by a now-cowering DJ. He drew a fist back. "Alright, back in the game! I'm gonna-"

The wyvern swung its tail and swatted Tyler back to earth. And, for good measure, billowed fire onto the party again. As Bridgette, astounded and demoralized by how bad they were losing to a single monster, healed Tyler, everyone else turned to the gentle giant. DJ peeked between his fingers. "What? Brother really wanted to try a, um… 'fastball special'."

In spite of currently being on the losing end of the battle, Harold grinned. "Tyler knows about the fastball special? Awesome."

"Why'd you do that, Deej?" Courtney raced towards where Bridgette crouched over the twitching jock. "He could have been seriously hurt! Does anyone ever think before-"

A fiery missile blasted her and left her lying in a crater. Upon receiving glares from the party, the wyvern shrugged its wings. What? She was giving me a headache. Then it realized that those below it were either enemies or prey and dive-bombed Geoff. He slashed with Enceladus, getting smashed to the ground in the process but managing to gash the beast's underside. As it flew higher into the air, a fiery arrow pierced its wing. Roaring, it twisted its neck around and belted out another fireball at Ezekiel. The prairie boy muttered, "Stoppenfenster, eh."

Unfortunately for Ezekiel, the ball shattered his barrier and leveled him. Unfortunately for the rest of the party, the wyvern loosed a howl and its wounds healed in moments. And then swatted Epitaph away as the scythe flew at its neck. Noah's eye twitched as Bridgette treated Ezekiel's burns. "You know, I think we might want to try what might be our best skill."

Leshawna rolled her eyes. "And what might that be, small fry? If Gwen ain't able to down it, there ain't nobody who can."

"Yeah, I was referring to running, actually." With a scream, Noah took off away from the wyvern; nobody followed. The monster eyed him, considered its options, shrugged again and chased after the bookworm. A whirling scythe, a lightning-enchanted arrow, a metal plated rabbit, a bomb that unleashed stunning electricity, sonic waves from a guitar and blows from Enceladus and Leshawna's scepter failed to slow it down at all. It opened its mouth as it closed in on Noah, who reached for a scroll…

"No! Bad lizard! No eating Noah!"

No one expected a short girl with a whip to stop the pursuit with a command. As the 'lizard's' maw snapped close just inches behind Noah, the bookworm buried his face in a palm. "Wonderful. Saved by the pig girl after that incredible display of mine. My dignity is at an all-time high."

With no regard for Noah's snarking, Beth approached the confused wyvern. "Aw, it's okay. They're not going to hurt you; you don't need to defend yourself…"

"Um…" Gwen blinked a few times. "What."

"Oh, hi guys!" As if she had just noticed them, Beth turned to the party and waved. "Funny meeting you here!"

"Oh, yes, conveniently random meetings totally aren't cliché at all." To everyone's surprise, Noah advanced towards her with a scroll in hand. "So, what's your story? Random victim of Heather's rule? Traveling rogue in search of a party seeking to overthrow the evil queen? Farm girl who just happens to control monsters?"

"Huh? I…I'm not on Heather's side! Swearsies!" Beth backed away as the wyvern growled. "I-I used to serve her, but she's just so mean…I tried to take Linds with me, but…"

"So, it was the first one…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Noah, dude. Chillax." Geoff raced over to them, not at all liking where Noah was going. "Why don't we hear her out?"

"'Chillax'. You actually told me to 'chillax'. I swear, party boy…"

Nevertheless, Noah put his scroll away and stepped back. Beth shook her head once to clear away the fear and smiled. "Th-thank you, Geoff."

"No prob." Daring to sheath his sword, he took a glance at the entranced wyvern. "So…um…"

"You can command the monsters?" Bridgette led the rest of the party over to Beth. "That's really cool!"

"Yes! I am…" Beth extended her whip in what she thought was a heroic pose. "An animal master! She who controls the wild beasts of the world! Um…only one at a time, though. And before anybody asks, no, Mr. Scales will not give rides."

Harold gave a groan of disappointment, and Gwen smirked at him. "Sorry you can't ride on a wyvern, Harold."

"Hey, Harold!" Trent's voice made Harold jump; he'd forgotten Trent was even there. "What does your knowledge about these random encounters say about this?"

"Well, my chocolate goddess…" Harold pulled out a book and, everyone else gave him stares of varying levels of bemusement. As he scanned the pages, he said, "Well, since we didn't actually defeat the wyvern, this battle isn't over, which means…no more random encounters as long as Mr. Scales is with us!"

He expected cheers and a demand to party. He received a look from Gwen that said, quite clearly, she thought he was insane. "Is that a player's guide?"

"Um…" He shoved the manual into the deep recesses of his pocket, pricking his finger on a shuriken. "No."

Her stare became deadpan. "That was a player's guide. Have you been hanging out with Izzy or something? Because that's the kind of thing I'd expect from her."

"No, it wasn't! Gosh!"

"So, um, Beth…" DJ cut off the argument. "You can take those scary monsters and, like, make them your pets?"

"Um…" Beth rubbed the back of her head, blushing. "Y-yes? I mean, I wouldn't call them my pets…"

DJ's eyes watered in happiness and, trembling, he squeaked, "That…is…amazing!"

With a groan, Courtney rolled her eyes. "You are so pathetic, DJ, you know that? I swear, if you hide behind Beth, of all people…"

Noah rolled his eyes. "Can we get to the point already? Why should we trust you?"

"Hey!" Slinging on arm over Beth's shoulders, Geoff grinned. "Beth's cool. Why are you so paranoid, man?"

"Gee, I don't know what I was thinking. I guess that magic voice that told you not to not to trust anyone was just kidding around, right?"

Leshawna nodded. "He's right, fool. Beth, I love you girl, but we can't risk it. Sorry."

With an ill-concealed smirk, Courtney said, "Yeah. So, bye."

"W-wait!" Dead scared now, Beth cowered against the wyvern's side. "I can get you guys inside Heather's castle!"

"Sure you can." Noah rolled his eyes. "Of course, you just happen to have knowledge we need. You're about as trustworthy as an eel to me."

"Um, guys?" Cody looked up from some metallic frame he was working on in the absence of danger. "Heather's kind of an all-powerful witch, right? Why would she need to set a trap?"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Because she's not stupid? Seriously, I thought you were supposed to be smart."

With a huff, Sierra stomped towards the CIT. "Don't you talk to Codykins like that! If he isn't smart, then how could he have built...that...um...lolwut?"

Nobody commented on her odd choice of word as they were too busy staring at Cody's construct. A metallic sheet with rails and machinery on its underside. The tech geek gave them all a broad smile. "Um...okay, this thing is a hovercraft of sorts. If Mr. Scales can pull us along, we'll get to Heather's castle in no time."

Silence reigned as the party glanced amongst each other.

As the metal contraption raced across the rocky fields, pulled by the wyvern, Gwen cast a curious gaze at Cody. Noting that the tech geek blushed under her scrutiny, she asked, "Cody? Where'd you get the stuff to make this thing, anyways?"

"Huh?" Cody rubbed the back the back of his head, glancing around. To his relief, Sierra was knocked out at the front end of the vessel. It seemed that Noah's sleep spell had quite a long duration. "From my, um, inventory."

Across from Gwen and scowling at her, Courtney blinked. "Your inventory? What do you mean, your 'inventory'?"

Gwen sighed and buried her face in a palm. "Trust me, you don't wanna know."

Courtney huffed and looked away, nose in the air. "I wasn't even asking you."

As the two girls squabbled, Geoff, seated at the very back of the skiff, drew Bridgette closer to him. "So, Beth. How do we get into Heather's castle?"

Beth glanced away from DJ, who was cowering in the very center of their ride. "It's not really hard, actually. There's this strange little panel thingy on a cliff kinda near Terra Nova. Just press and a bridge extends. I'll probably need to point it out to you, though."

"That's fine." Bridgette rubbed up against Geoff's side. It was nice, she decided, to finally not have to walk to their destination. "I'm surprised it's that easy, though..."

Noah snorted. "Well, when you're an all-powerful witch, keeping people out isn't exactly a priority. Know any weaknesses or anything?"

"U-um..." Beth rubbed her fingers together. "Lindsay said something about some jewels in a small town, and Heather got really mad..."

Geoff and Noah exchanged looks and the party boy said, "Seriously? Sounds like we should find them. Any idea what town?"

"It would have to be Cape Yarmouth. Only town near the castle besides Terra Nova."

At the name of the town, Noah face-palmed. "Geez...I just realized how creative Chris was in naming these places. And now that I think about...no, never mind. Not important. What do you say we do, o leader?"

Geoff rubbed his chin in thought, something Noah figured to be a struggle for him. His suspicions that the party boy could only come up with the most basic idea were confirmed a moment later. "We split up. One group goes to find those jewels and another goes to...fight Heather."

"Of course that would be your plan..." Shaking his head, Noah stood up and extended his arms for balance as the machine zoomed across the land. "Alright gang, over here."

As soon as everyone except the still-snoozing Sierra and Tyler, who was leaning against a rail, complied, he took a seat. "Okay. We have two goals here. Not only do we need to defeat the wicked queen, but there are some jewels or crystals or something hidden in the nearest town. And since we're in an RPG here, the chances of those being unimportant are about the same as Owen's chances of losing weight. Our brilliant strategist Geoff here has decided that best idea is to split up. So, I say that the first-"

"Um, excuse me?" Courtney waved her hand. "Shouldn't Geoff be the one to decide this, since he's…you know…our leader, as everyone likes to remind me?"

"Sure. We'll send him with his closest friends to deal with Heather and have a party while the rest of us just…" Noah sighed, unable to bring himself to use a certain word.

Gwen nodded. "Noah's right. Sorry Geoff, but you're not exactly the best when it comes to thinking."

Geoff nodded; his grin had not faded in spite of the digs at his intelligence. "It's cool. Go ahead, Noah, dude."

"Okay…obviously, Geoff needs to go. I'm not exactly coldhearted, so I guess Bridgette can go with him. Prairie boy goes, too; you step in whenever it looks like the goal is going to be derailed by the lovebirds sucking face."

"Um…" Ezekiel blushed at the thought and scratched the back of his head. "Got it, eh."

"Gwen, you're too powerful to not go after Heather. Plus, being cut in half by the Grim reaper's scythe for not letting you go after Heather is not my idea of fun. Beth, we apparently need you to get us in, so you go, too. Just know that if you so much as think about turning in us…"

Beth raised her hands. "I'm not going to betray you! I promise!"

"Okay. Now, two more. I say…"

"I'm goin'." Leshawna stood up, hefting her scepter. "Little Shawnie's gonna give Heather a good talkin' to. See if I can't through to her."

"Yes, because talking to the final boss works in games…" Noah shook his head, not willing to argue at the moment. "Okay, fine. I'll take you want to go too, four-eyes?"

Harold shook his head. "As much I would love to escort my lovely Leshawna, I think it's best for the sages to stay together. We probably get some wicked stat bonuses for having all three in the same party at once, and there's a good chance we have some awesome triple-techs we can-"

"No. Shut up now." Noah removed his hand from his face. "You take this video game thing way too literally. Alright, so…"

"I'll go!" In spite of his enthused shout, Tyler did not leap to his feet or otherwise physically show his spirit. Instead, he fixed Noah with a look of pure intensity and resolve. "I need to."

"Uh, no. Sorry, jocko, but you can't even walk straight."

"Maybe not, but…" Tyler looked down. "I gotta save Lindsay. I don't care what happens to me, I gotta save her. I'm going no matter what you guys tell me."

Bridgette looked at him with wide eyes. "Wow…you really do care for her. Noah, he's coming with us. That's final."

Noah groaned. "Alright, fine, your suicide. Now then-"

"Woo!" In rapture, Tyler jumped atop the thin railing. "Hear that, Linds? I'm whoa!"

Unable to balance upon such a precarious ledge at such velocity, Tyler's balance went and he fell over. As he bounced along the ground behind the skiff, Courtney elbowed Beth. "Hey! Tell your stupid flying lizard to turn back! Now!"

With a roll of his eyes, Mr. Scales veered around back towards the fallen athlete.

"Hey, dude, can you tell me…aw, not again!" For the tenth time in five minutes, the person that Geoff attempted to talk to simply vanished without warning. Cape Yarmouth, he decided, was the single strangest place they had visited so far. The people vanished when spoken to, houses were only half-formed, trees and bushes and even the ground seemed to waver in and out of reality, although they were always physically there, and Cody had even fallen into a pit that had looked to be a slight rise in the earth. And all around, Chris's grinning face blinked at them from the walls. "Man, what's with this place?"

"It seems that this place was poorly programmed. If I had to guess, I'd say Chris designed this city and did a poor job with the coding." Harold walked right through a passing woman, her image disappearing on contact. "Just further proof that we're in a video game and that my ideas would work. Gosh, we can't we-"

"Oh, stop whining." Courtney glared up at a nearby mountain, which flickered between existence and oblivion. And happened to extend from a marketplace. "Okay, how the hell are we supposed to search a city that's actively disappearing around us? This is insane! What if we crash the, ahem, 'game'?"

"I don't think that would happen." Cody had given up escaping Sierra and just relaxed in her grip, hoping she didn't decide to squeeze tighter. "And even if it did, I imagine that we'd just be kicked back into reality…however that works."

Courtney blinked. "Geoff, keep talking to people until you crash this! Now!"

"Uh, no." Noah scowled at the party. "Well, are we going to make like the Scooby Gang and split or what?"

Geoff nodded and pointed Enceladus forward. "Alright, dudes and dudettes! Are you ready to rock? Because we're gonna…um…okay, I don't think 'burn this place down' really works here, but, um…let's rock this casbah!"

With whoops and cheers sounding, he was followed by Bridgette, Ezekiel, Gwen, Leshawna, Beth, Tyler and Mr. Scales. Noah tried to slam his face against a wall, only for it to disappear and send the egghead to the ground. "The castle's the other way."

"Sorry, didn't see it."

"It's hovering in the sky, is huge and can't possibly be called a casbah! How blind do you have to be to not see it?"

"Well…that switch wasn't very well hidden, eh." Ezekiel trailed behind the rest of the group as they ascended the drawbridge to Castle Discordia. He cast a scared look at Mr. Scales. "And do I really have to walk beside the dragon?"

"It's okay, Mr. Scales won't hurt you." Beth froze up, paling. Tyler bumping into her prodded her to continue on her way, but her worry remained. "Oh no! I totally forgot something!"

Bridgette looked back at her. "What is it?"

"Heather said she was going to have all of her soldiers wait at the entrance of the castle! I'm sorry, I totally forgot to mention it!"

"Really?" At the front of the group, Gwen put on a nasty smile, the kind one would expect from a psychopathic killer. "I think I can deal with it."

"Huh?" Leshawna blinked. "Girl, I know you're strong n' all, but you ain't gonna take down an army by yourself."

"Wanna bet?" As she reached the massive double doors, Gwen pulled on the handles. They didn't budge. "You know, Beth, you could have at least mentioned that the doors were locked."

Chewing on her fingernails, Beth shivered. "S-sorry! I swear, I didn't know!"

"It's fine, I got this. They open from the inside?"

"Y-yes…"

"Cool. Give me a minute. Restriction 666 released. Dimensional interference field deployed. Awaken, Epitaph!" Her scythe appeared in her hands and she dissolved into darkness, a circular shadow on the metal catwalk that rimmed the bottom of the flying castle. The spot of darkness slid underneath the doors. For several moments, Geoff's party listened to horrifying silence. Then… "Crissaegrim."

Screams of agony and panic followed, accompanied by what could only be described as the screams of the denizens of Hell. Bridgette clung to Geoff, all color drained from their bodies. After a couple minutes, the screams died down. The door cracked open and Gwen, looking as though she were about to keel over dead, poked her head out. "Okay…that sucked…but done. Um…it's kinda messy in here, so if you're squeamish…close your eyes."

Heather glared at the handsome man who had just opened the door to her throne room. "And you are?"

"An agent of chaos." Alejandro stepped through the doorway, smirking at the queen. "I've come to the conclusion that you are an easier target than the Chosen One."

Heather snorted and rose from her bed, hands clenching as an electric field sparked around her fingertips. "Oh really? What makes you think that?"

"The fact the Chosen One is supposed to defeat you. Fuego ardiente!"

Fire jets sprouted like claws from his fingertips and he pounced, the flaming points stretching to melt off Heather's face. The queen teleported in mid-stretch, reappearing behind him. With a flick of her finger, lightning splintered out and burned the darker-skinned teen, hurling him through a bedpost and into the wall. He grunted and rose, heat still emitting from his hands. He countered a second blast of lightning with a fireball from his palm. The two elements met in the center of the room and exploded, blinding the queen. With a triumphant cackle, he thrust his hand skyward and a pillar of flame rose from beneath Heather. The heat whipped across his face even as it burnt itself out.

Heather stood in a crystal encasement, unharmed by the volcanic blast. Scrunching up her nose at the smell of sulfur, she threw an icicle dagger at her foe. "Oh, please. You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to actually hit me."

Alejandro kept smirking as he dodged the transparent blade. It shattered against the wall as he punched the ground, a devil's gleam in his eyes. Three chunks of molten stone rose from nowhere and orbited him. With another laugh, he vanished and appeared on the ceiling. The stones burned through the castle's roof as he threw a trio of fireballs down at Heather. Without waiting to see if she dodged, he disappeared again. A stone whip to the face greeted him upon his reentry to the material world. Spitting out the iron taste of blood, he dropped his fiery aura, sneering into the queen's mocking grin. She flailed her whip around. "So, ready to give up?"

"Not on your life, perra. Llanto." As his hands crystallized, the whip shot out again, cracking its thunder as it came down. Alejandro screamed as his left hand shattered, a shot of pain followed by numbness. The ice ceased its cancerous spread and vanished. He collapsed to his knees, cradling his stunted appendage. Heather strode up to him, empty-handed. "Do you understand now? The legends say that I can only be defeated by Enceladus, therefore nothing you do will matter. At all. And the Chosen One can only be killed by me. Capische?"

Damn it...Styx would be useless against her, Cocytus just lost me my hand, she has no trouble countering Phlegethon...Groaning, he stood back up and matched the haughty look in her eyes. "And I say legends are bullshit. Olvido!."

She stepped back as the edges of Alejandro's pupils expanded and split, forming a black ring around either iris. He waved a hand and approached, smirking at her. Her hand shot out, a finger pointed straight ahead as she called upon her magic to smite him. Her mind fumbled for the mental command, unable to recall how she threw a lance of lightning. Uneasy she stepped back and tried to call upon first a meteor of ice and then an earthy maw to swallow Alejandro. Nothing came, and his smirk became even more mocking. Shaken to her very soul, Heather retreated, panicked eyes watching the wolf-like teen approach. "What did you do to me? Why can't I..."

"The River Lethe. An aura that grants me the ability to peer into a mind and erase whatever words or thoughts I don't like. If I had truly mastered it, I would be able to place you under full amnesia. Any last words, chica?"

"Yeah. Bite me." Giving up on destruction through magic, Heather rushed him and threw a foot at his head. Alejandro's neck whipped to the side and he fell, a broken tile cutting his abdomen. A foot drove his face into the floor. "Let me guess. You can't use any other magic when using this Lethe, right? A cheap trick won't save you."

And her foot dug through the ceramic to give his chin a boot, sending flying into the far wall. Groaning, he slid down the smooth surface, focusing all his energy on keeping Lethe going. Heather smirked at him, arms crossed. "Forget it. You're done."

"Incorrecto." A black metal object found itself in his grasp and he lifted the gun, holding it at arm's length. "A present from Tofino's sage."

A bright red flash and an explosion flooded the bedroom and Heather was thrown back against the wall, tasting blood. As the stench of burned flesh assaulted her nose, she looked down to see scorched skin right where her heart was. She slid down the wall, leaving a trail of red behind. His remaining hand vaporized by his weapon's self-destruction, Alejandro turned his back to her and released the magic with a wince. "And that's why I don't buy into fairy tales. Now, to deal with the Chosen One..."

Heather's breathing started back up again, her heart pumped, her fingers clasped at the broken clay, and her mind recalled her ultimate spell. Sneering, she rose back up, unfazed by the laser shot, and waved both hands at him. Her single footstep, scraping a piece of tile against the floor, alerted Alejandro to her recovery. He turned and met a flash of fire.

Heather watched the blackened crisp of a man fall to the ground with a hard thump. She smirked. It cost me a gem, but... "What an idiot. Lindsay!"

Five seconds later, the blonde girl rushed into the room. "Yes, Your Maj-ewww! Is he...dead?"

"Not yet, but it won't be long. But never mind him. Heal this wound. Now."