"Not one word," Stealth Elf threatened, "Don't speak. Don't laugh. Don't even smile."
"Or you'll what?" Hex chuckled, "If memory serves me right, you laughed at me." At the sorceress's side, Glumshanks was valiantly attempting to repress a grin.
"Well, I think it suits you," Blizzard Chill snickered as the ninja's eyes flashed dangerously.
"You should just be glad it's not the plunger head," Glumshanks spoke up sagely.
Stealth Elf growled under her breath as her braid swayed in time with tail of the puma hat. Her new and completely unwanted head piece.
"Why did you accept Chill's wager in the first place?" Hex asked, "You know she never loses." The frost warrior smirked proudly.
"Chill was being an obnoxious pest about it," Stealth Elf sighed, "I didn't know how to get her to stop."
"That makes sense," the sorceress agreed.
"Oi!" the frost warrior blurted, but before she could defend herself, Warnado spun up to the group.
"Hey," the turtle greeted them, "Master Eon wants you. It sounds like he has a mission for your team."
"Then we must see him at once," Hex responded and glanced back at her friends. As soon as they had heard, Chill had started checking her armor while Stealth Elf secured her daggers. The frost warrior's perpetual smile returned as a determined light entered her deep, blue eyes, "Let's go!"
A short time later, the group arrived at the academy's great hall where Eon was waiting. The Portal Master smiled at them in greeting before debriefing them on their mission to infiltrate Cap'n Cluck's Chicken HQ and "forcibly retrieve" the Kolossal Kernel.
"Good luck," Glumshanks called out worriedly, his eyes never leaving Hex as she and her team walked to the center of the portal. The sorceress sent him a small, reassuring smile before the familiar tingling in her bones washed over her. The portal flashed and they were gone.
Hex, Blizzard Chill, and Stealth Elf appeared at the entrance of Cap'n Cluck's Chicken HQ and the sorceress grimaced. This was not going to be a pleasant mission…
One incredibly greasy and deep fried nightmare of a mission later, the team stood exhausted but victorious.
"That's it," Stealth Elf deadpanned, "I'm swearing off eating chicken forever."
Hex nodded numbly in complete agreement with the sentiment. She never wanted to see another chicken again.
"Why is a bird en charge of the largest fried chicken business en all of Skylands?" Chill questioned with a disturbed shiver, "That's so wrong."
"After we report to Eon," Hex mumbled, "Let's never speak of this mission again."
A portal opened beneath the three Skylanders and the area disappeared in a flash of light only to be replaced with Skylanders' Academy's great hall. Hex silently offered the Kolossal Kernel to Master Eon.
"Well done," the Portal Master congratulated them, "Take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow you will be embarking for the Monstrous Isles to obtain the Eye of the Ancients."
"As you wish, Master Eon," the sorceress nodded before Glumshanks caught her eye.
"You're back," the troll smiled happily at her, "And I have something to show you. Hugo was telling me about it while you were gone and I think you'll like it."
"Very well. Lead the way," Hex invited, more than a little intrigued.
The sorceress, the ninja, and the frost warrior followed Glumshanks out of the great hall and over to the old well nearby. Hex didn't know what she was expecting, but this wasn't it.
"Hugo says that this isn't just any well," the troll explained seeing their confusion, "He's says it's a wishing well. One of the last of it's kind."
Hex's eyes widened and she ran her hands over the stones. There was a faint buzz of magic, but if she hadn't been looking for it, she never would have noticed. "As it stands," the sorceress started, "I don't believe the well has a great deal of power on its own. An item is most likely needed to unlock its magic, a coin of some sort, perhaps." Hex's analysis was cut short by her friends' giggles.
The sorceress turned to glare at them crossly only to realize that Glumshanks was offering her a strange blue object with white runes. She had been so caught up in studying the ancient magic she hadn't even noticed.
"This is a wish stone," the troll informed them before turning to Hex, "Would you like to give it a try?"
Ba-dum. The soft sound distracted the sorceress for a moment, but she ignored it. If there was trouble, someone else could deal with it. Hex knew she was being selfish, but in that moment all she cared about was Glumshanks and his question.
The sorceress placed her hand upon the wishing stone, but didn't take it. Instead, Hex lightly pushed it back to him. "You should use it, Glumshanks. You deserve to have your wish come true."
The troll blinked, clearly surprised. "Thank you, but I don't need it. Not for my wish." He glanced at Hex before quickly looking away.
Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. That strange noise came again, but this time the sorceress was distracted by Chill. "Just do it together, already," the frost warrior groaned.
"Oh," Hex mumbled, "Yes, that would be the… most logical course of action."
The sorceress took half of the wish stone in hand and they both closed their eyes as they made their wish. Then, as one, they tossed the stone into the well. A second passed, then two before the well suddenly erupted in sparkles. The twinkling cloud was then absorbed by Hex, Blizzard Chill and Stealth Elf.
The sorceress blinked in confusion as the frost warrior burst into laughter. "Of all the things ya could wish for," Chill snickered, "And ya pick experience points!"
"I most certainly did not," Hex denied before glancing at Glumshanks and arching a brow.
"Me neither," the troll shrugged.
"So ye're saying that ya broke the wishing well," the frost warrior grinned.
"Don't be ridiculous," Stealth Elf reprimanded, "You can't 'break' magic." The ninja paused and looked at Hex, "Can you?"
"While spells can be revoked, reworded, and manipulated as the user sees fit, no, you can't 'break' it," the sorceress paused, "It's more likely that the wishing well is not true to its name and simply gives the one one who activated its magic something useful. While it's not exactly going to make any dreams come true, it could be quite helpful" Hex smiled softly, "Thank you for sharing this with us, Glumshanks."
Then, without thinking, the sorceress reached out and laid her hand on top of his. Glumshanks flinched. It was a small, barely perceptable motion, but Hex saw and recoiled.
The sorceress's eyes widened with horror, "I-"
Ba-DUM. Ba-DUM. Ba-DUM.
That sound came again and interrupted her words. "I have to go," Hex blurted before turning tail and fleeing as her core temperature fluctuated uncontrollably.
"Wait!" she heard the troll call out but his voice only spurred her to go faster. The sorceress easily outpaced Glumshanks, but her friends were another matter. A powerful force hit Hex from behind and sent her sprawling to the ground. Said force turned out to be Chill who had tackled her. The frost warrior allowed the sorceress to shift onto her back but otherwise continued to sit on her.
"Hex," Chill started, her beautiful blue eyes filled with worry, "Pleas-"
BA-DUM! BA-DUM! BA-DUM!
"Make it stop," the sorceress cried out on the verge of hysterics, "Make it stop!"
"Make what stop?" the frost warrior blurted with just a hint of desperation.
"That noise!" Hex shrieked. It was steadily getting louder and pounded incestantly in her skull. She could barely think straight, but still it continued. It was… so familiar.
Chill and Stealth Elf exchanged concerned glances and the frost warrior bit her lip. "Hex," the ninja said slowly, "What noise?"
They couldn't hear it, Hex realized suddenly. They couldn't… The sorceress took the frost warrior by surprise and shoved her off before turning and quickly retreating once more. Hex didn't look back, but she knew her friends weren't following her this time. The sorceress made her way to her home without pausing.
The moment she reached her house, the sorceress threw open the door and slammed it shut behind her. In the darkness of her home, Hex clamped her hands over her ears, trying in vain to silence the noise. Instead, the sound only seemed to increase in volume.
Hex become intensely aware of a sharp prickling on her arms. Savagely, the sorceress ripped off her black fingerless gloves and recoiled in horror at the sight. Her light blue skin was speckled with bits of green, her dead flesh intermixed with life.
Only when when faced with a truth she couldn't possibly deny, did Hex finally recognize the sound that had been plaguing her. A noise the sorceress had not heard in well over a century. The beating of her long deceased heart…