(STORY FORMAT)
Warsing
By Max Stein
Stage 4 - The First Corner Guard
Last time
Hikaru and Company enter into the dimensional world of Warsing. Upon entering they follow Amed, a Familiar Knight, to get weapons and armor. Hikaru and Misaki are told about the 5 Corner Guards and the 5 kingdoms, and the Dark Zone that rests in the middle of Warsing. They encounter their first monster and successfully defeat it. As they were continuing another monster appeared only to be slain by a friend of Amed's, named Crusade. He then agreed to accompany them to the first corner shrine, and help Hikaru on her journey.
Last Time
(Trees fall down)
CRASH!
"I hate tree branches. They always get in the way!" Crusade says annoyed.
Hikaru looks over her shoulder, " Aw, come on they aren't that bad... its not like they are attacking you or anything." she giggles
Crusade holds shakes his hand at the trees, "speak for your self you aren't the one getting hit by them!" Amed, Misaki, and Hikaru laugh.
"You were the biggest of us in the guard. Some times I wish I was a little bigger so that I could see things differently." says Amed
"Honestly? You wish you were bigger?" Crusade asks surprised.
Amed nods, "I am sure any short person wishes they were a little bigger at least once in their life. Don't you agree Hikaru?"
"Yeah, do but not that much, I like being the way I am cause otherwise I would have to do things a whole lot differently. Its not how you perceive things from an angle, its how you perceive things in your heart. And I think I am the right size to be me." says Hikaru.
They continue walking a little bit until they come to a field. It is a field like the ones you see in the country with lots of tall grass, and a beautiful horizon. Hikaru runs to the top of a hill and stops.
"Man... I don't get to see this every day. Its beautiful." she says.
Misaki runs up beside her, "yeah, we don't get an atmosphere like this in the city. I could stay here forever."
Crusade says to Amed, "I am surprised that there is such a place like this untouched by Mirro's control. I too feel like this is a safe haven."
Amed gets to the top and squints, "hey, I think that's it! That's the Corner Shrine of Magic!" he points to a large ruin in the distance.
"Whew, that looks like it needs some heavy-duty renovation." says Misaki says sarcastically.
"Well, what are we doing waiting around here? Lets go." Crusade says ruining Misaki's enjoyment.
They all run towards the ruin when suddenly a monster that looks like a giant wolf jumps out of the grass.
"Look out! Get your weapons ready!" orders Amed.
They scatter and draw their weapons. Then all goes silent.
They all are moving very slowly through the grass staying alert for anything that may attack.
Misaki sneezes, "AAAAAAAAAACHOOOOOOO!"
Everyone's concentration is shattered by the sound and the dog leaps at Hikaru, slashing her near her stomach, "YEEAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" she screams in pain. The others rush to her aid. The dog jumps at Crusade who uses his sword to tear the dog in half.
Misaki runs to Hikaru, " Hikaru, are you ok?" when she gets there she sees Hikaru on the ground her stomach covered in blood. "Oh my god! Hikaru! You are hurt badly!" she turns to amed, "Do you have anymore of that stuff you used before?"
Amed shakes his head, " I don't have anymore. Sorry."
Misaki tears off her sleeve of her uniform and presses it on Hikaru's wound who then moans in pain, "that wont do much... I cant get the bleeding to stop. You are gonna be ok Hikaru."
Hikaru opens her eyes a little, " Misaki..." she closes her eyes again.
Misaki shakes Hikaru to see if she can get any reaction from her. Nothing happens. She trys again, "Hikaru, you cant be hurt that bad. I need you. You are my best friend." Misaki says now sobbing, "I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE!" Misaki's hands start to glow green.
She then hears something inside her head, "heal...heal...heal...HEAL!" she places her hands on Hikaru who then also glows green. The bleeding stops and her wound closes up. The blood then disappears.
Amed looks amazed, "Amazing! She has an aura! How is that possible?"
"She wanted so badly to help her friend that the magic found her. She is someone everyone wants to have by their side." Crusade says.
Hikaru opens her eyes slowly, " Misaki. What happened."
Misaki smiles and cries, "Oh, Hikaru. I thought you were gonna die."
"Thank you Misaki, really. Thank you." Hikaru said.
Amed and Crusade walk over to them. Misaki helps Hikaru to her feet.
"You gave us quite the scare there, Hikaru. Are you alright?" asks Amed
Hikaru nods, "yeah, I feel much better. But what did you do Misaki? I cant describe how that felt."
Misaki steps back, "well, when you looked like you were going to die, I couldn't let that happen. I guess that is magic, somehow it found me. I am very grateful that it did."
Crusade pats his hand on her shoulder, "You two mean a lot to each other don't you?" Both Misaki and Hikaru nod. "That is a bond that must never get severed. It is what will keep you both strong in tough times. Everyone has a low point in their life, all that matters then is how you decide to get through it."
"Ok! I'm feeling better, now we need to go to the corner guard!" says Hikaru enthusiastically.
"Yeah!" the other three reply. So they continue to the entrance of the ruins, there is a sign there with something written on it.
"The sign says, 'If you want to get to the end do not fret, just trudge through the passage you are more likely to forget.'" Amed reads
Hikaru scratches her head, "more likely to forget? What the heck does that mean?" she shrugs "oh well its probably a practical joke, lets just go in." the others follow her inside the ruins, and they come to a big room with 4 corridors, the end can not be seen.
"Ok... this is kind of strange. What are we going to do? How will we know which of them is right?" Misaki asks a little panicked. Hikaru walks around and pokes her head into each one
she comes to a stop, "AAAAAh, I don't know. This is hopeless, maybe this isnt the corner shrine."
Crusade says, "No this is definitely the corner shrine. But I think that sign outside had something to help us out. Like a hint."
"Im not waiting around for you to find out! I am all psyched about meetin this corner guard. Ill just pick one and if I get lost Ill holler" she gives em the thumbs up "don't worry I can have a loud voice when I wanna."
Misaki nods, "yeah, I remember"
"Remember what?" asks Amed curiously
"Oh its nothing. You will know when you need to." Misaki answers him. Hikaru runs around in a circle and then runs down one of the corridors, the others take note. Hikaru is running down the corridor when she sees a feint but noticeable light. She runs a little faster, the light gets brighter. She then sees the corridor turn to the left. She turns left to see a very large room.
"Ooook, this looks safe, I think I'll call them now" she says to herself; but when she turns around she sees the corridor she just exited was now gone. She was in a sealed room alone. "That isn't good..." she says starting to sweat.
Back with the others...
"She has been gone a lot longer than I thought she would." Misaki started to wonder. She had been staring down the corridor that Hikaru had run down since she went in.
"You are right, maybe someone should go in after her?" Amed asked.
"No, she is the Grand Magic Knight, this is what she needs to do in order to regain her abilities, if she cant rely on her own skills than she wont reach her full potential." says Crusade defensively.
Returning to Hikaru...
Hikaru takes a look around. The room is really big but there is only one straight walk way about 20 yards wide, other than that it is what looks to be a bottomless chasm. Hikaru decides to walk down it. After a minute of walking she sees something very large and the walk way gets as wide as the room which is about 50 yards wide. As she walks closer she sees that it is a suit of armor at least 2 times taller than her. It is holding an enormous axe in its hands. Without a second thought Hikaru walks around it only to see that there isn't a walkway around the other side. She turns around and sees the armor facing her.
"Ok...that was facing the other way a second ago wasn't it?" she says to some invisible person.
The suit of armor then takes a one step forward causing the floor to shake, but it also causes many steel bars to rise up from the edge of the path and seals off the other side. No escape. The suit of armor then takes another step forward, then stops.
"Ye, who has disturbed my slumber! Feel the wrath of Ramus! The Corner Guard of Magic! I await the Grand Magic Knight who will best me in battle. Art thou he?" a booming voice came from out of now where
"Who ever you are! Yes I am the reincarnation of the Grand Magic Knight! I will beat you!" Hikaru shouted back.
The armor then took another step forward, "Then best me in battle!" it raised the axe in its hands over head and swung it at Hikaru. She dodges to the side.
She takes out her swords and readied herself. The armor was moving very slowly, "Ha! You think you can beat me when you are that slow!" she ran at it and took a swing at it. She hit the armor and the vibration caused her to drop her sword!
"You can not beat me with just raw strength! Using weapons is futile!" the voice exploded again.
The armor took another swing at Hikaru but this time it only hit with the pole part, not the blade. So it felt like getting hit in the ribs with a baseball bat swung by Sammy Sosa! Hikaru when flying and hit the bars that encased the two of them. She struggles to get up and does. The armor had stopped moving.
"What? Why did it stop?" Hikaru thinks to herself.
The armor then bent over forward and stopped again. Hikaru watched it very carefully. All of the sudden the armor rushed up to Hikaru at amazing speed, unable to think she reacted by impulse and jumped out of the way to the right. The armor came sliding to a stop."
"You are not strong enough. There is no hope for you! Surrender or face death!" said the voice "It will be swift and painless."
"Go shove it up your ass!" Hikaru said with a bite. She then runs up to the armor and runs one of the swords through the collarbone part of the armor, which was not covered. The armor drops it's axe and falls to it's knee.
"Thou hast shown thy power, take the power of magic!" the voice said. The armor fell over on its face, not even budging. A Green light appeared as if being sucked out of the armor's body. It was being pulled toward's Hikaru and it gave way. It flew right at Hikaru and hit her square in the chest. She looked down to see the key her grandmother gave her glowing the same color. It then faded.
"Thou hast been bestowed the power of Magic. Before thou can use thine magic well thou must train thy body and thy spirit. Now return to thy companions they eagerly await thee..." the voice faded off. The wall at the end of the room that had closed before reappeared. As she headed back to the others, she looked back at the armor sprawled out on the floor.
She thought, "it doesn't deserve being left like that...". Hikaru walked back over to it and stood it back up. Remarkably the armor stood without much difficulty, she placed the axe back in the armor's hands like when she found it and started down the corridor.
"I hope Hikaru is ok... she has been gone a while..." Misaki said worried.
"I think I hear something coming..." Amed said motioning for both of them to quiet down. There was a feint tapping emanating from the path Hikaru took. They wait a until they see a small figure. As the figure approached it was slowly revealed by the light of the torch in the small rotunda.
"It looks like she was victorious..." Crusade said uncrossing his arms. Misaki got up and waited to see if it really was Hikaru.
"Sorry I couldn't call you guys back..."the figure said.
"Hikaru! It really is you!" Misaki ran at her.
"Of course it is silly! Who were you expecting? A doppleganger?" Hikaru said sarcastically.
"How did you know there were dopplegangers in Warsing?" Amed asked suspiciously.
"Huh? I was using it as a joke. I didn't really know there was such a thing. Most times you only see such things in TV shows or Movies. But even then its pretty rare." Hikaru explained.
"So what ability did you get?" Misaki asked excitedly
"The voice said it was the power of magic. But it didnt tell me how to use it." Hikaru answered.
"If it is like the regular magic most wizards use than you will know when the time comes. It wont take long." Amed explained " Since you just got it you wont be that strong with it. So try not to get your hopes up thinking you can use some almighty magic attack on your first try. It don't work that way."
"You look like you are going to need a place to rest up. Why not go to a nearby village? Its maybe 30 minutes from here. Just head that way (points to the left)" Crusade tells them. They nod in agreement and exit the ruins.
END OF CHAPTER 4!
To Be Continued...