Chapter 4

Lulu felt gravity begin to take effect again as the teleport spell finished. As soon as the light disappeared, a heavy cold force hit her right in the face. Gasping, she stepped back, but her feet slipped on a wet surface.

She opened her eyes to find herself staring at a large blue sky, and in that split second of peace, she noticed the magical forcefield. Suddenly, her back splashed into a shallow flat stream, moving downwards quickly. Flicking her head to the side, she watched marble stairs fly past. Looking "down", she noticed a fountain quickly receding. Looking up, she saw an upside down pool of water flying towards her.

With barely enough time to grab a breath, she entered head first into the chilly water. She splashed around a bit, before opening her eyes once more, to find herself in a very shallow puddle that couldn't even drown a tulip. With that in mind, she thrashed about with greater intensity, screaming dramatically, "Help, Pix!"

The young fae broke the surface at the edge of the pool, having only been inundated by a few centimeters. It coolly took the time to dry off its wings with its hands, not even glancing at the sorceress.

Lulu tried to give her friend a glare, saying with mock seriousness, "You're a horrible lifeguard!" Her attempts ended when she burst out laughing. The day was wonderful as usual.

After a moment, she realized her laughter was accompanied by a high-pitched giggle. Turning to find her onlooker, she spotted a queer yordle with red hair and pigtales standing near the edge of the pool. Her skin was the color of a sandcastle, and her ears were flat and round. In her arms she held an ragged teddy bear.

Lulu realized that this must actually be a human. She had never met one before, she had only heard of them or caught glimpses of them in the market area on Saturdays. She remembered them being taller.

Deciding she liked the girl anyway, she smiled her "Nice to meet you" smile, and said, "Hi, I'm Lulu the Friend… no, wait." Her smile disappeared for a second as she tried to recall her new title.

The girl only giggled, as she twisted slowly back and forth, her arms wrapped protectively around the stuffed animal.

Finally, Lulu's smile returned. She flourished her staff and proclaimed to her audience. "I am Lulu, the Fae Sorceress!" She exclaimed the last bit while twirling then landing in a graceful one-footed splash.

Another giggle was all she received, but the girl gave back an equally enthusiastic address. "Hi, my name's Annie! And this is my bear Tibbers! Do you wanna play with me?"

Lulu needed no encouragement. "YES! Let's go!" She grabbed her hat from where it fell into the pool, and ran up the long set of stairs. She reached the top and froze, eyes wide.

Before her was a mountain-sized structure, flanked by white marble columns. Behind that stood towering dark-grey stone doors that barred entrance to the building. And past a roof of red tile and balconies rose a massive achievement of engineering and, which Lulu recognized magi-tecture. Gigantic turrets defied physics on foundations of thin curved columns, elevators floated diagonally from building to building on flowing aquamarine magic, and high towers of seamless stone dropped waterfalls down to pools perched on terraces and verandas.

Although Lulu preferred tree houses, she made sure to entertain a healthy appreciation of modern architecture.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a tap on her shoulder. She turned to look directly into two green eyes. "Whatcha' lookin' at?"

Lulu rose her finger to point at a particularly large center tower, but Annie, uninterested, suddenly turned towards the stream of water that ran down the center of the stairs. Without hesitation, she jumped in and screamed her way down into the shallow pool, holding Tibbers on her lap.

Immediately forgetting the giant building, she jumped in after her new friend.

After two rides down Lulu decided to add an embellishment or two. When Annie next jumped onto the "slide", Lulu aimed her staff at the receding figure. "Zippy!"

Annie screamed all the louder as she shot down the slope. However, her fast descent meant a more sudden stop.

"Owww!"

Lulu's smile receded as she saw Annie stand up and rub her posterior. She immediately slid down, screaming, "Sorry!"

Annie looked up a moment too late as Lulu bowled the girl over. They both collapsed giggling. After a moment, Annie abruptly stopped and sat up.

"The pool's not deep enough. We need to find a better slide."

Lulu nodded, her imaginative mind immediately jumping from idea to idea like a squirrel after too many cupcakes. Her final decision was simple… to her.

Turning to Annie, she said, "Try it again! I have an idea."

Annie immediately obliged, and a moment later came flying back down. Lulu was careful to step out of the water before aiming her staff down at the pool. Her face scrunched in concentration as she took a moment to envision her idea. Then she cast her spell.

"IMAGINATIO!"

Magic flowed from her staff into the pool. Annie screamed as she suddenly sped up. Around her the small water attraction changed as magic spread over it.

She landed at the bottom to find herself now submerged a full Tibbers and a half, soaking the bottom of her shirt where she sat. And the water looked like a living rainbow, different colors swimming around each other.

She yelped as she felt something slide against her bare toes. Lulu giggled with Annie when both saw the miniature dolphins (inspired by a picture book Lulu had seen), with extra large eyes, mouths open in a smile, and, so they could be seen, always an opposite color from the water around it.

Annie spent a moment more watching them, before getting out. She climbed back up to find the fountain itself different. It had changed from a blue spray to a looping multicolored snake, as flowers and small birds would randomly shoot out of the base and flutter or fly around the fountain. And when the water landed, it sped up significantly, still a rainbow of colors.

Lulu watched Annie's eyes fill up with excitement, and he heart filling up with the contented feeling of a job well done.

Lulu and Annie enjoyed the new and improved water feature until the sun began to drop behind the sky. Lulu eventually climbed out, remembering her mission. She sat on the stairs to dry, and watched Annie, who sat in the pool, catching dolphins to pet them.

The sun had fully set when a weird clacking noise approached from behind Lulu. She wondered who was trying to imitate a grandfather clock, and if she could join them. She turned to do so, but was disappointed to find that it was only some shoes with spiky heels walking towards her. Her gaze traveled up some long purple robes to find a sharp face and sharper blue eyes looking her up and down. It was a full-sized human.

Lulu took a minute to decide how she felt about this person. She looked as tall as a grandfather clock, and seemed about as excited as one. Too tall. Much too tall. However, Lulu knew never to read a clock by its face, and opened her mouth in a huge smile. "Hiya!"

The smile was half-returned by the stranger, amusement softening her eyes a touch. "Good evening. I see Annie has made a new friend."

Lulu turned her head to see the other child human turn and wave. "Hi, Ms. Kolminee!"

A sigh caused Lulu to wip her head back around. "I also see that you are both soaking wet, and you've made some modifications to the fountain."

Lulu was glad her work was appreciated. "Yup! You should taste it. I made the top taste like plums and the bottom taste like chocolate."

A gasp went up behind her from Annie, who immediately scrambled out of the pool to gulp down the water flowing at the bottom.

The stranger in front of her winced, and placed a hand on her brow. She mumbled something, but Lulu only heard "sugar rush". She hoped she hadn't caused any trouble.

"Is anything wrong, Ms. Comini?"

The woman took a breath and dropped the hand. "No, nothing is wrong. I'm sure we can cope." She looked down at the girl. "By the way, Annie, Amumu's waiting at the garden for you."

"Alright! Coming!"

Annie picked herself up, and ran up the stairs, but stopped to scoop up some plum flavored juice in her palms, tucking Tibbers under an elbow. Comini waited for her to run through the large doors – which opened automatically for Annie – before turning back to Lulu. "Now, I'm sure you didn't come all this way to redecorate my stairs, did you?"

Lulu gasped. "Your stairs? Is this your house? Wow! This is amazing! Oh, by the way, do you know where the Institute of War is?"

The half smile returned to the stranger. "This is the Institute of War. I am a High Councilor, Vessaria Kolminye." She put stress on the last name, then looked the young yordle up and down. "This is not really my house, but it is where I live. What might your name be?"

Lulu presented her most dashing grin, and stood up to pose once more. "I am Lulu, the Fae Sorceress!" Inside, she self-congratulated herself for getting her title right.

The stranger eyed her curiously for a second, before smiling knowingly. "So I assume you are here to become a Champion?"

Lulu's mouth dropped once more. "Wow! That's incredible! And yes, I REALLY wanna be a champion here. So… can I?" She grinned even wider for good effort.

"I don't choose who becomes a champion Lulu. But I can definitely discover if you have the right skills, and more importantly, the right heart. Come, your first test is to walk through those doors."

She turned and pointed at the stone doors, which had six strange glowing runes, three per door.

Lulu guessed it would be easy. So, in preparation, she stretched her arms up high, then touched her toes, then ran at the doors yelling.

"OPEEEEN!"

A few meters before she reached them, the symbols changed from blue to purple, and the doors slowly pulled inwards, silently. Lulu's dash slid to a stop as she watched in awe and slowly growing excitement.

When they were finally parallel to each other, Lulu marched through triumphantly, before setting both feet down just inside the doors. She closed her eyes and raised her fists into the air.

"I DID IT!"

Thunderous applause greeted this statement. She opened her eyes to see a cavernous lobby area, and, inside, at least a hundred purple-robed creatures, yordles and humans alike, all clapping… for her.

She felt a blush take her cheeks. She preferred a warning of when she would have an audience. But that didn't mean she disliked the attention. She stood up straight and then bowed low for her admirers, her hat falling from her head once more. Pix, being afraid of large crowds, immediately dove for the newly provided cover.

As the applause ended, she picked up the clacking sound of Ms. Kolminye's shoes echoing behind her.

"Well done. These doors only open for summoners, champions, or creatures with the potential to be champions."

"So I'm a champion now?"

"No, there is one more test to see if you are a champion. Once a champion, there is more to do."

Lulu nodded officiously, and immediately strode off into the center of the lobby, towards a random fountain. She was stopped by Ms. Kolminye's shout behind her.

"Lulu. This way."

The Councilor was pointing towards a small solitary door to her left, in the corner of the lobby, which had a sign reading "Judgments" above it.

As Lulu scampered past her, Vessaria intoned solemnly, "Careful, Lulu. This test is far harder."

Black as ink? Black as the middle of the eye? Black as fear? No, she wasn't afraid. She was curious. That's all. Why was the room completely black? Why couldn't she see the door behind her? How could she see herself so well if the room was dark?

A sudden burst of light caused the small yordle to yelp. It took her a second to realize she'd closed her eyes out of fear. Opening her eyes, she found herself on a side walk under a blue sky, with apartments all around her. It was the new and strange Bandle City. The one with high walls, and lots of noise and bright lights. Had she been teleported?

In all of the noise of weird self-moving boxes and people shouting, she heard a very familiar cough behind her. Fear and all of its queasiness gripped her stomach as she slowly turned around. Two beady grey eyes met her green ones.

"Where is my Timmy?"

It wasn't a friendly question. It was cold and accusing. It was Timmy's mother. It was the same as that day, and she gave her original response.

"He… he's just playing with me 'n' Pix…" she stammered, her eyes turning away from the stony glare.

Wait, hadn't she already found Timmy? Or was the day repeating itself? Or was this a nightmare?

She tried to pinch herself, but found herself rooted to the spot, staring into the set jowl of a very angry face. She wasn't able to look the woman in the eyes. Or in the eyes of any of the other angry yordle mothers and fathers behind her.

"I SAID I want to know WHERE my Timmy is!"

A myriad of voices chimed in, all condemning her. But it had just been a game. They were happy! Timmy had been laughing; they all had.

"He… he's a chipmunk. And I haven't found him yet. B-but we're playing hide'n—"

The chin in front of her dropped open, although it definitely wasn't a smile.

"WHAT?! WHY IS TIMMY A CHIPMUNK?"

She would have giggled at that statement if she wasn't afraid. It sounded funny hearing it again. But she was very afraid, both when it happened and now, mainly of the mothers shouting. So instead, tears threatened to broach her eyes.

"How and WHY?"

"It's just a game, I promise! I thought it would be fun if we all played hide'n'seek together!" A tear gathered in her left eye.

"But WHY IS HE A CHIPMUNK?"

Her mouth said one thing while her mind thought another. "It's not permanent! I just changed him into one so he could—"

"Please no! Don't interrupt! Lemme explain! I don't wanna lea—"

"WITCH! IT'S A WITCH AND SHE'S CURSED MY CHILD!"

One father nodded to another, and they moved forward, grabbing the cloth of her shoulders and pulling her roughly off of her feet. She looked up scowls and angry grumblings. She didn't remember her father being like that.

All the while she was being screamed and clawed at by distraught mothers. Tall buildings went by as blurs, as the tears began to fall. This wasn't home anymore. She was going to be banished. She remembered.

The mayor had sad blue eyes as he placed the spell over her. His words grated both through her ears and her memory as they uttered her fate. "You may not return to Bandle ever again, nor enter through its gates. Go in peace."

Suddenly the world skipped forward to a bright blue sky, outside high white walls. They were covered in cannons. Tears spilled freely down her face. She sat in the dust, in the middle of the path, right outside the gate. She had mumbled a wavering spell, returning all of the yordle girls and boys back to their human form. But she would never see any of their smiling faces again.

It was the second time she'd cried in months. But she remembered what her mother had told her. If you're sad or afraid, tell someone so the feelings can leave. So she had stood up, walked to the wall, and started a conversation with someone cleaning a cannon. She recalled feeling a lot better afterwards, even beginning to skip down the path.

But the world around her once again went dark, before lighting up to a very familiar sunrise. It was the first time she'd cried that day. She had just come out of the Glade, and she wanted to know where her family was. She knew she had been in there a while, but had yet to learn how long. Everything looked different, except the Post Office.

The grey-furred yordle in front of her chuckled softly. "Anna… mother of Lulu, the missing child? The child disappeared before the Rune Wars. I'm sorry, but Anna and everyone she is related to has been gone for hundreds of years."

…Not everyone. Her daughter was right here, and she wanted to go home.

But she had gone home, only to find it beneath a skyscraper. Her front porch where her father relaxed on weekends was now a stone pavement.

And then she had stumbled to the cemetery, to discover a few hundred more graves than she remembered. And the grave in front of her father's parents, per tradition, had the resting places of their three children, their wives beside them. The names were long faded, but she knew by the barely visible daisies carved into the stone that her mother had designed her own grave. Her older brother hadn't been as artistic. But they all had warm hugs and big smiles.

That was the first time she had cried since she entered the Glade. The first time in six hundred years. And now she was crying again as the world went black one more time.

"No more," She mumbled. "Please…"

"Lulu?"

Her head snapped to the left, to glue to a woman in a dress quite like hers. "Mom?"

She crossed the distance between them in a heartbeat. Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks as she held her mother. And she cried into her mother's shoulder for what felt like ten minutes, before realizing her mother was hugging her back. But it was cold.

She pulled back and blinked away some of her tears. "Mother?"

"Why do you want to join the League, Lulu?"

She sniffed before looking at their facing curled shoes.

"I don't like the cannons on the walls, mother. I don't like the walls. I hate how this world has changed. How little girls can't play with magic without being called mean things. Where everyone is afraid of magic." She whispered this as tears resumed. "How nobody can trust each other anymore. If Veigar is right, and this is the place where wars end and peace starts, I wanna be a part of it. I want a home!"

It was then that she noticed the sharp blue eyes in the older yordle's face. The eyes seemed extremely familiar, and not because they belonged to the kindest yordle in the world. Her mother's eyes were green.

"Ms. Kolminye?"

"Well done, Lulu." The illusion of Lulu's mother turned into smoke, which grew into the tall robed human. "You have passed." She knelt and extended a hand to the small yordle. "Welcome home."

Lulu took it, and pulled it to herself. She didn't need a grade right now. She needed a shoulder to cry on.

Outside the doors, a summoner in purple robes waited. He was bored enough to be mumbling every single third tier stasis spell known to man. This was both an exhaustive list and a great achievement. Very few men knew even the first three, let alone all two hundred and sixty two.

He was eighteen spells away from finishing when the doors suddenly rumbled open. Out of it came his superior and friend, Vessaria. There was a wet smudge on her robes at the shoulder. Holding tight onto her hand was a small yordle girl, looking no older than Tristana.

Upon seeing Marcus, Vessaria called, "Tissue, please, Marcus."

Marcus dug into his inner pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. Taking it, Vessaria rubbed the young yordle's eyes and then gave it to her to clean her nose.

Marcus waited until she was done blowing to give his condolences. "I'm sorry young one. Not everyone is cut out for the Fields of Justice." He was trying his best to console yet another day's failure.

He cringed under Vessaria's quick retort. "She succeeded, Marcus. You are looking at the next Champion."

Marcus's confusion was quickly replaced by elation. He had trained the last seven champions, but he had watched hundreds fail. So seeing an aspiring young individual pass made his week.

However, the young red-eyed yordle in front of him looked far from champion material. He had seen some strange champions, and trained everything from an armored bear to a living diving suit. All had the spark of battle in their eyes. The only thing he saw in this yordle's eyes were tears.

Vessaria saw Marcus's look, and, assuming he was confused as to her blubbering, leaned over and whispered, "She has a hard past."

"Who doesn't here?" he mumbled back. However, he looked forward to underestimating Lulu. He opened his mouth to give her a formal invitation to the League, when Vessaria cut in before him.

"Save the introductory training for tomorrow. She needs a good meal and a good night's rest. As do you, Summoner Marcus."

He nodded respectfully to the Councilor, before turning to face her, opening his mouth once again to introduce Lulu formally, when his boss cut in again.

"Saved your monologue for then, as well." She gave him a glare that said, not here.

He sighed regretfully, but took the small yordle's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Come on. Let's get something to eat."

"Will other people be there?" whispered the girl.

"Of course."

Her eyes brightened, and a small smile took to her face. The smile looked much better on this yordle.

"By the way, what's your name?"

Her smile stretched further as she turned to look at him, announcing proudly.

"I'm Lulu. The Fae Sorceress!"

And now I'm a Champion.

END NOTES

So yeah, why'd this take so long? Well it's because I hate hurting Lulu, and yes, my characters are very real to me. So I stalled and stuff. Sorry!