Chapter 18: The Endless Hunt
Meanwhile, Briar and her friends are able to run out of the mine and to the forest where the old cottage is. As they hurry down the mine, they turn their heads to see the giant monster chasing after them.
Ace panics, "Are you kiddin' me?! It's still coming! It pushed off all that weight!"
"It must want the magestones!" Briar says.
"And it's not very happy we took it," Sereia says, worried.
Just then, the monster angrily cries out, "Ooooooooooogh…! Giiive it baaaaaack…!"
The monster continues to chase after them, and it's closing in.
Deuce sees it, "It's too fast! It's about to catch us!"
"But we're able to weaken it! If we strike now, we'll be able to beat it," Briar says.
Ace groans in frustration, "Aw, fine! Let's just smash that thing." Then turns to Deuce, "Try not to wet yourself, Deucey!"
"Same goes for you, Ace!" Deuce says.
Then Grim says, "I'm gonna show ya why they call me Grim the Great!"
"I'll… I'll help too…" Sereia says.
Then the cat ear boy says, "I'll help too."
The boy with the pointed ears says, "I'll help too."
"You're hurt. I'll fight for us," The boy with the cat ears says.
"Are you sure?" Sereia asks.
"Yeah. Before I forget to mention. My name is Carnelian. And this is my fraternal twin brother, Tanzanite. I'll help fight the monster," The boy, Jasper says.
Decue turns to Briar, "Briar, you need to get yourself, Trinket, and Tanzanite to safety. Make sure to hang on to the stones."
"Right," Briar says.
Briar picks up the bag with the stones and holds Tanzanite in her arms. Sereia also places the stone she found in the bag. Then she hurries to get herself and her finds to safety.
Ace brings out his pen and uses his magic, "Take this!"
Ace uses his wind magic to attack.
"Take the power of my fire!" Grim shouts and blows fire at the creature.
Sereia calls out, "I… I think you should stay away and uh, get clean up from the ooze."
Then blasts her water magic at the creature.
"Try to have some stone thrown at you!" Jasper says.
With that, he is able to use magic to summon stones and rocks and throw them at the monster.
Deuce summons another cauldron and it smashes on the monster. The monster however lets out a roar and begins to attack as well. The monster then swings it's pickaxe toward them to strike an attack. Ace and Deuce quickly dodge the attack and quickly use their pens to attack. Grim and Sereia continue to use their magic to counter attack the giant oozing monster. Briar is forced to watch as the blot monster continues to attack her friends. Tanzanite and Trinket feel the same way, and the young boy still has a twisted ankle from an incident that has occurred in the cave.
Briar grits her teeth and says in thought, "I… I want to help… I want to help them, but what can I do… My friends are in danger…"
Briar clutches the stones in her hands and shows deep concern for her friends. Unknown to Briar, a dim glow appears on the palm of her hand.
Back at the battlefield, the monster continues to strike at the group with it's attack. The monster soon first able to swat Ace, Deuce, and Jasper and had them fall to the ground. Then breathes fire from the lantern at Grim and Serea. The two are able to dodge, but they both end up falling to the ground.
"Ow, that hurt," Grim says.
Sereia looks forward and nervously says, "Uh Grim…"
Grim looks up and is shocked to see the giant monster is standing right in front of himself and Sereia. The monster then raises it's pickaxe above its head, and plans to strike at them with it's weapon.
Briar gasps, "Grim… Sereia…" In shock to see her friends are able to get killed.
Briar isn't able to stand it anymore. She places the stone next to the tree, and runs over to save her friends. Ace and Deuce get up, but soon notices Briar running past them and toward the two small creatures and the monster ready to attack.
Ace cries out, "Briar!"
"Get back! Don't!" Decue cries out.
Seeing the monster begin to swing it's pickaxe towards them, Grim and Sereia hug each other in fear, awaiting the blow.
Suddenly, Briar gets in front of them, and shouts, "Noooooo!"
Briar then raises left hand forward to prepare to stop the attack. As she lifts her hand to stop the attack, Briar's hand begins to emit a bright green aura around it. Soon that magical energy reflects the pickaxe when contacted, making it fly off the monster and away to a tree in the woods. Ace and Deuce look in shock to see the bright rainbow light.
"What's going on?" Ace asks.
"I… I… don't know…" Deuce says, shielding his eyes.
"What's that light?" Jasper asks in surprise.
The monster screams in agony as it is blinded by the light. Sereia and Grim open their eyes and are shocked to see Briar is able to stop the monster. Briar looks to see the bright green glow coming from Briar's hand.
"What is… is this… magic…?" Briar slowly asks herself.
Suddenly, she hears a voice, "The power that was sealed begins to awake… Use the magic that was buried within your heart… The magic that can heal and protect…"
Briar begins to use this newfound ability to prevent the monster from attacking. Briar takes a deep breath and begins to lift her hand that emits a bright green magical aura. She then aims her hand towards the monster and unleashes a powerful wind of flower petal at the monster, causing it to be pushed back and falls to the ground. Ace and Deuce gasps in shock.
"She got it…!" Ace says, shocked.
Grim, Sereia, Trinket, Jasper, and Tanzanite are shocked to see the same events.
Grim then cheers, "Alright, right on target!"
"Amazing…" Sereia says, astonished.
Even Trinket Jasper, and Tanzanite amazed
Briar looks at the monster to see the blow she uses is the last blow and the monster is down. Briar senses some distress within the monster as it groans in sadness. Briar then walks to the monster and kneels down to it. She then gently touches the monster, making everyone grow stunned. When Briar gets in contact with the monster, a bright gold yellow glow appears on her hand. And suddenly, Briar begins to sing.
Briar:
Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
As Briar sings, the magic aura flows across the monster.
Briar:
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Briar continues to sing as the monster is covered with the glow, and the monster begins to fade away into golden dust. Everyone witnessing it is in shock.
Briar:
Heal what has been hurt
Change the fates' design
The monster feels at ease to hear the song, and lifts it's oozing hand out and touches Briar's hand.
Briar:
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine
The monster soon disappears into sparkling yellow dust and they take off into the sky.
Briar:
What once was mine
The monster is close to turning to dust completely, before disappearing for good. It lets out a sigh with a smile. Briar then leans to the broken glass of the monster and gives it a gentle kiss.
Just then, the monster softly mumbles in a happy tone, "Thaaaaaaaank... yoooooooouuuuuuu..."
And the monster turns into golden dust completely and flies into the night sky.
Everyone is so shocked and surprised, and they all walk over to Briar who is still sitting on the ground.
Ace asks, "Is it… over?"
"I… I think so…" Briar says, turning to the others with a smile.
Soon everyone smiles as well.
Grim also agrees, "I think… we won? I think we did it!"
Deuce cheers, "All right!"
"Whoohoo!" Ace cheers and begins laughing.
Sereia happily cheers, "Hooray! We did it!"
Trinket is also happy as she happily jingles as she talks.
Jasper and Tanzanite cheer, "Alright!"
Grim happily says, "Gimme a victory high-five!"
With that, everyone gives each other a high-five, and cheers, "Yeaaah!"
"We really did great, and I'm sure we all became really good friends," Briar happily says.
Excluding Sereia, Trinket, and the twins, Deuce, Ace, and Grim are a little stunned.
Deuce reacts, "Uh… I don't think that had anything to do with it."
"Yeah! Spare us the cliches, Briar!" Ace says.
Then Grim says, "There's no 'together' here! We won 'cause of me! This is all from me bein' a magical genius!"
Trinket then pulls Grim in the ear as a reply, making the cat creature yelp.
Ace rubs the back of his head, "Y'know… I hate to admit it, but… We mostly won because of your plan… and your magic…"
"Yeah… if you hadn't managed to keep your cool and tell us what to do. We never would have got the magestone we need," Deuce says.
Then turns to the twins, "And rescue these two."
Deuce becomes relieved, "Now I won't get expelled. And wow, is THAT a relief!"
"I say we won because we all worked together," Briar happily says.
"Yeah, yeah, lessons were learned, et cetera. Can we just go home already? I'm wiped," Ace says.
"Me too," Briar says.
Sereia asks, "Are you going to be okay? I mean, you seem to use a lot of magic."
"Well, to be fair, this is actually the first time using magic. I never knew that I did until the mirror told me and this is the first time ever I used magic like… ever," Briar says.
She sighs, "So I'm feeling a little drained."
"Usin' all that magic made me hungry!" Grim says, feeling exhausted.
"Yeah. And we're tired from being trapped in that cave," Jasper says.
Tanzanite nods his head in reply. Trinket expresses her exhaustion for slow rings and the expression on her face.
Suddenly, Grim notices something on the ground, "Huh? What's this?"
Grim walks over to where the monster has disappeared. He picks it up, and walks over to show it to the others. What Grim found is a black stone of some kind.
"Is that a part of the monster we just beat?" Deuce asks.
Everyone looks down to see the stone in Grim's paws.
"It looks like… a magestone? But it's black as coal! I've never seen one like that before," Deuce says.
"Never have I, and Jasper and I have experience when it comes to mining for stones," Tanzanite says.
Grim sniffs the stone, "What IS this? It smells amazing!"
"Are you inane?" Ace asks, disgusted.
"Must be some kinda fancy monster candy that it was hidin' from us! If this tastes half as good as it smells…" Grim says, and licks his lips towards the stone.
Then Grim happily says, "Thank you for the food!"
Then plots the stone into his mouth and begins eating it, making everyone grossed out.
"Did you seriously just eat that, Grim? Briar exclaims in shock.
Suddenly, Grim reacts, "MYAAAH!"
Everyone becomes shocked and begins to show concern.
"Are you okay?!" Deuce asks.
Ace rolls his eyes, "That's what you get for eating trash!"
However, Grim's reaction is not what everyone expects, "Ooooooogh… Urrrrgggh… That… was AMAZING!"
"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaims in shock, even Trinket replaces with a shocked expression on her face.
Then Sereia asks, "Don't tell us you actually like it?"
"Rich in flavor and full-bodied… Like sweet, fragrant flowers burstin' into bloom on my tongue. A whole field of 'em! Right in my mouth!" Grim happily says.
Briar and Serea react in disgust, "YUCK!"
"Blech!" The twins reply, sticking their tongues out.
Trinket even sticks her tongue out in disgust.
Even Ace says, "Gross. Monsters must have real weird tastes."
"You might be onto something there…" Deuce says. He shrugs his shoulders and says, "Most humans don't take random stuff they found on the ground and just pop it into their mouths."
Briar turns to Grim, "Are you sure you're okay?"
Grim laughs, "Myah ha ha ha! Man, was that great! Don't worry about me. I don't have a weak stomach like you humans do."
"Hmph. We'll see if you're so smug when you're sick later tonight," Ace replies.
Then says, "Okay, let's pull ourselves together. We need to get this magestone to the headmage!"
Briar turns to the boys, "We need to get going, but we're glad to see you both are okay."
Just then, Tanzanite whispers to Jasper. Then Jasper whispers to his brother. The two whispers back and forth like they're having a private conversation.
Tanzanite turns to Briar and asks, "Actually um, Briar… is it alright if we uh, come with you…"
The group becomes confused.
"You see… we don't really have parents, and we've been staying in the cottage close to the mines by yourselves, although it doesn't look much. So is it alright if we can come with you?" Tanzanite asks.
"Well, I don't mind, but maybe we can ask the headmage to see what he says," Briar says.
Deuce asks, "Are you sure he'll be okay with it?"
"I'm not sure, but it's worth a try. It also seems that the two are also good with magic, and can learn from going to the school," Briar says.
"Yeah, but they're just kids, and ours is mainly for college students," Ace says.
"Hey! We're not kids. We happened to just turn seventeen last month," Jasper says, offended.
"Huh?!" Ace and Deuce say, shocked.
"Well, we're half dwarf, so it kind of makes sense that we're short for our age. Of course, I look more dwarf and my brother got most of his appearance from our mother who was a feline wizard," Tanzanite says.
"Okay. We can ask the Headmage to see what he thinks," Briar says.
Jasper and Tanzanite nod his head.
With that, the group begins to head out of the forest and to get back to the school to bring back the magestone for Crowley.
Healing Incantation: Tangled
