Chapter 4

Finally! We defeated the ice monsters that wrecked havoc in FalconReach during Frostvale! Now the boss monster, the DragonMaster, is here. I'm going to kick his ass!

"We did it! We won!" Twilly the Moglin jumped in happiness. She came to FalconReach just before I arrived.

"Not yet, Twilly. We still have not faced the Dragon and DragonLord behind…" I warned her.

Just then, a guy clad in Dracomancer armour approached us, carrying a scythe. "Woah…" Twilly and I exclaimed simultaneously.

"Give the Orb to me now and I shall make your deaths swift!" The guy shouted.

"ORB? What orb? I have no idea what you are talking about…who are you?" I am confused.

"I do not have time for this…" The guy looked angry.

"Is he a DragonLord?" Twilly asked.

"Meh…cast the wrong teleport spell. Where am I?" Zorbak the evil moglin suddenly appeared.

"Zorbak!" The guy shouted.

"DragonMaster Frostscythe! How…meh…good to see you again!" Zorbak greeted the guy.

"Only a DragonMaster? Whew…he has not become a full fledged DragonLord yet…his dragon will not be full strength." Twilly whispered to me.

"Enough of this…prepare yourselves! I WILL HAVE THE ORB!" The guy roared.

"Meh heh heh heh…this is going to be good. Later!" With an evil laugh, Zorbak disappeared.

"Glaisaurus, I command you to my side!" The DragonLord summoned his dragon.

After a ferocious battle, I finally managed to defeat Frostscythe and his dragon with the help of Ash, Artix, and Twilly.

"Defeated? How is this possible? YOU BROKE MY DRAGON AMULET! Without it Glaisaurus is useless to me!" Frostscythe fumed!

"Now tell us…Why did you attack this town?" I demanded.

Frostscythe laughed. "HA HA HA." He sneezed. "…you do not even know what you are defending?" He coughed.

? Huh?

"You will discover it on your own soon enough…" Dragonscythe coughed. "I did not realize"—sneeze—"who you were. Had I known"—cough—"that you are Suzanne…I would have brought a much larger army. Aaaaaachooooo! You may have forced me to start over, but know this—I WILL become the next DragonLord." He sneezed and walked off.

I don't know if I should feel flattered or scared.

"Did the big frost boss guy just catch a cold?" Twilly asked. Both she and me chuckled.

"Aaaaaachooooo!" I sneezed. Twilly looked startled.

Well, VICTORY! The Town has been saved. As the ice slowly melts away the Sun shines brightly.

"Well fought…well fought indeed!" Angel has just arrived in time to see Frostscythe walk off, and congratulated me on my first defeat of a dragon. But I know that he will come back next time.

The next day, Ash told me that Warlic had a letter for me.

"Dear Adventurer,

I hope this letter finds you safe, for you are in dire peril. Use the Portal on the hill and come to my tent. It is far too dangerous to tell you more here. Come quickly and we shall discuss this urgent matter further.

Sincerely,

Warlic

P.S. Do not tell anyone, not even Ash, that you are coming."

Weird. What does the Archmage want with me? Nothing about tutorials, I think. And what's that about being in dire peril?

I set up off the hill and enter the Portal. I stepped in Warlic's tent.

"Interesting…very interesting." Warlic was muttering when he saw me. Huh?

"Thank you for coming so quickly, Suzanne. There is a new threat amassing, and I believe that you may be our only hope." He began.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I have been following your adventures closely. I must say that, so far, I am impressed." Warlic continued. I could feel my skin turning red. I mean, the Archmage has just say I impressed him!

"But a great Darkness is coming, and our side is not prepared to battle it." Warlic said gravely.

"What can I do to prepare myself?" I asked eagerly.

"I sense great power within you, which will attract this new threat. You must arm yourself with a weapon powerful enough to drive back this new threat." Warlic said.

"I see, go on…" I said.

"I have recently come into possession of several powerful Weapons of Light." Warlic said.

"Great!" I exclaimed.

"I'm afraid that they are rather useless at the moment. They have lost their magical charge." Warlic said.

"Ah, so how do we charge them back up again?" I asked.

"If you would be willing to pay for the cost of the spell and gather the missing part…then they are yours." Warlic said.

"What do you need me to get?" I asked.

"I have read of a cave far from here. Inside grows a Crystal Tree. A single shard from the tree could power all of these weapons." Warlic said.

"Sounds easy enough. How do I get there?" I asked. Hey, he just offered me a powerful Light Weapon for basically no charge! OK, a great bargain. Plus, I get to have Exp and Level Up!

"I can teleport you there, and back again once I sense the power of the crystal shard in your possession. Are you ready to leave?" Warlic asked.

"I'm ready!" I said confidently. Crystal shard, here I come!

I entered the glowing cave. It was glowing because of many crystal stalactites and stalagmites. Blocking our way was several cute and furry creatures, Vizalain Protectors.

After killing off several of them, we reached a dead end. Actually, a wide chasm separating us from the other side. No way across…hmm…that large stalagmite up there give me an idea!

"We'll have to double back." I told my companions, Ash and Artix. They looked frustrated and we retraced our steps.

To our horror, there are Vizalain Protectors in front of our way, stretching as far as the eye can see. I gritted my teeth. "To battle!" I shouted. I was tired and wounded. One of them had punt me. I pulled myself together and charge at the monsters.

After a long way and using up most of my Mana, I fought them and went to the chasm.

"This is the best idea that I've ever had!" I said as I struck a massive stalagmite down to make a bridge for us to cross.

The stalagmite start falling backwards, towards us. "This is the WORST idea that I've ever had!!!!!!!!" I was freaking out.

Luckily, the stalagmite swayed for several seconds before falling in front of us, creating a bridge. "BEST…..IDEA…..EVER!!!!" I yelled.

Ash, Artix, Twilly and I went across the 'bridge' and finally reached a…Fountain of Life! Yeah! I can recharge my Mana and Health! Blessed Fountain, Great taste, less filling!

We reached a doorway made of crystals. "This is it," I told myself. "The Crystal Tree!"

We met a crystal wall. Sniff sniff! "Toxic gas! I'd better get out quick!" Twilly whispered.

"Twilly!" I said tiredly.

After fighting the crystal wall and Vizalain Protectors, we finally got to the Corundum, glowing and shining. I blasted it apart, and found the shard leftover from the crystal tree. I have completed my mission!

Mage Warlic has promised to make me weapons of light in exchange for gathering a crystal shard from a fabled crystal tree deep within this cave.

I was teleported back to Warlic's tent once I got the crystal shard. I handed the Mage Warlic the crystal shard that I collected and told him the tale of my adventure in the glimmering crystal cave.

"…four-legged, living crystal beings?" Warlic asked when I told him about the cute and furry Vizalain Protectors.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"I fear I have made a terrible, terrible mistake." Warlic said. He muttered, "Is it possible that the tree she battled was actually a Vizalain…? I wonder what impact this will have in the future."

"Warlic?" I asked.

"I am sorry, where was I? Ah, excellent work! The Weapons of Light are now ready! This will help you greatly in what is to come!" Warlic said.

I entered the Weapon Shop and bought Strong Shimmer and Strong Luster. My, they're expensive? More than a thousand gold for both! Sigh. When am I going to save enough to buy Doom Weapons?