The mystery girl and I were pacing through the still dead streets of Dragonspyre trying not to awaken any restless spirits that may still be lurking after the titan attack nearly a decade ago. I had heard stories of when a powerful necromancer had tried to awaken the titan atop the volcano and almost succeed nearly destroying the spiral, but he was stopped by some heroic wizard who traveled the spiral to stop him.
I also recall plans to renovate Dragonspyre to its former glory as a school of magic, but I guess it just never came around to happening.
"So what could you possibly need the krokonomicon for?" I almost had to run to keep up with the girl who was nearly jogging in her fast tempo
"Duh. We're gonna finish Malistaire's work and revive Sylvia Drake" She had to be joking. Right?
The thought made me buck my head back and I let out a slight scoff
"you aren't serious? Are you?"
"Dead serious." her gaze was set in stone on the path in front of us.
We were nearing the Dragonspyre academy.
"So I never got your name" I tried to avoid silence so the journey was less awkward, and I also wanted to know her name.
"You sure do ask allot of questions." She kept walking
"And you sure do avoid allot of questions" I sped up my pace to get directly in front of her and stop.
"Who are you? Why are we doing this? And who's WE?" she seemed annoyed that I stopped her and clenched her teeth.
Finally, she gave in, "My name is Rebecca and that's all you need to know. My motives may be unorthodox but they are pure. We are a group of wizards who think magic shouldn't be restricted and believe in freedom of magical practice of all types to gain power." Her sentence sounded rehearsed as if she's had to say this many times before. She walked around me and resumed her previous pace.
"So that's what you need Sylvia and the Krokonomicon for? Power?" my words stopped her in her tracks again
"If the council of light knew what you were doing they'd-" she stopped me
"The council of light is a group of liars and hypocrites set on enslaving students to enforce their ideals on the rest of the spiral." she practically yelled this out.
She must be crazy. The council of light has done nothing but protect the spiral from threats.
"Listen. Just because your Precious GreyRose and perfect Headmaster say something is right and just, doesn't make it so."
"And why's that" I dared my last question.
"You would really defend a delusional old man who would strip you of your magic for a crime you clearly didn't commit? Gosh you Ravenwood students are more brainwashed than we imagined" She nodded her head in disappointment
I never actually thought of it that way. Huh.
…
Finally, we reached the platform to fly up to the dragon's roost, but there wasn't a living soul in sight. Much less a dragon.
"So what's the plan from here, boss." I joked hoping there actually was a plan.
"Ugh I had originally planned to have been teleported there but.." she raised her hands directly in front of her and whispered an incantation I can only image a myth would know.
A burst of green came from the platform and two bloodbats were summoned.
Oh great, first I get soaked and now I have to deal with this drooling thing.
"Hop on." she had already mounted one. I stared at the other blood bat as it flapped its torn wings and drooled its green slime.
"Come on! It won't bite" she urged me and tried to convince me by petting hers
"I guess.." I hopped on but the bat started to shift around out of control
"You're gonna have to guide her a bit. Bloodbats are blind after all" she lightly tapped the bloodbat and leaned in the direction she wanted to go. She was off with a light 'woo hoo"
"uh, alright go? AH" I tried to copy Rebecca by tapping the head but I may have done it too rough because when I say this bloodbat took off, I mean this bloodbat TOOK. OFF.
The bat was going so fast we had already caught up with Rebecca.
"Hey! Hahaha! You're doing great!" her face lit up and the wind blew through her red hair. Her smile entranced me and I swear for the first time I felt like... I was falling
literally, I was falling.
I forgot I was supposed to guide the bloodbat and while in the dream-like state I was preoccupied, so I must have hit a pillar sending me flying.
I could feel the heat radiating from the river of lava below me grow immensely.
I tried to cast ice floor but it was simply too hot to even cast a few chunks. Yup. I'm dead.
I had always thought I would go out with a bang rescuing the spiral or in an ultimate magic battle between me and my sworn enemy, but instead, it was my own clumsiness that led to my demise.
The lava was now close enough to melt my face off.
Here it comes!
Rebecca swooped in with her bloodbat and caught me just before I could burn.
The sigh of relief I let out could have powered the storm mill for a week.
I sat upright behind Rebecca on the back of the bloodbat.
"You're telling me these things could fly two people the whole time?" I looked back down at lava that was inches away from being my doom
She shrugged with a half smile smeared across her left cheek, "It wouldn't have been as funny" she let out a slight giggle
Well, one thing is for sure, if it's not lava, saving the spiral, or facing my arch nemesis, THIS girl is going to be the end of me.
We enjoyed the rest of the ride up to the dragon's roost. I mostly enjoyed the closeness and company.
Finally, the bloodbat landed. As we dismounted Rebecca cooed the bloodbat into a puppy-like submission. She unsummoned the bloodbat.
"Alright then let's go get the book." She started walking
"Just like that? Aren't there like spirits or draconians or undead lurking around?" I followed with my guard up
"There shouldn't be. Pretty sure you Ravenwood pawns have pretty much cleared the area by now." She said jokingly
I wonder what her deal with Ravenwood is.
We made our way through the empty lower great spyre and found the still functional elevator powered by crystals. After finding our way through a doorway from the upper great spyre we discovered the crown of fire.
We approached two incredibly large doors with dragon decorations.
Rebecca reached for the handle and pulled. It didn't budge.
She kept her hand on the handle and remained perfectly still.
"Of course." She sighed and shook her head.
"You know that ice dome spell you used to protect yourself from Cyrus?" She looked back at me hand still tightly holding the handle.
I nodded in obvious confusion. Wait how did she know about that?
"Do that like now please" she gestured at the handle which she still firmly held
"uh, okay?" I crossed my arms and held it longer this time to encase the both of us.
She finally let go of the handle to the locked door.
Click. Clank. Click.
A trap?
"Get ready" She whispered and held her hands out to cast. Weird that she doesn't use a wand. I summoned my sidhe staff.
From the roof of the crown of fire, a hatch door opened and a misty gray cloud floated on top of us.
Crap, an insane bolt trap. I remember learning about these when we went over defense against storm magic with Lydia.
"Don't move." I held my arm out to stop her from making any sudden motion
"This spell is unpredictable and you have a less chance of getting struck by a stray bolt if you stay in one spot." I kept my eyes on the cloud that now filled the whole roof enough to where the wood could no longer be seen
The clouds boomed and crackled ready to burst an enormous amount of electricity at any moment.
Thunder rustled about and a large flash filled our eyes as currents of electricity flowed above us cracking the dome. This went on for a few more seconds and I was able to keep the dome intact which was new for me. I was never really this good at defending against storm before. The bolt stopped and the roof cleared.
I undid my spell.
"Phew, boy am I glad I brought you along," She remarked
My heart jumped.
"I'm glad to be with you" I tried to sound slick and cunning when in reality it probably sounded more sick and crying
She tilted her head and her bright blue eyes widened.
I could see the wheels in her head spinning about what I said so I quickly tried to change the subject.
"We better get moving in case there are any more traps." I almost ran into the still locked door when I tried walking away
"It's still locked" She chuckled.
"Alright stand back I guess." I was about to freeze the locks so we could break them but she grabbed my wrist
"No! The door has a magic reflector so anything you do to it will come back ten-fold" She pulled the key that I thought was a spiral door key from her pocket again
"How'd you know that?" I couldn't sense any protective magic on the door and I'm an ice so what's the deal?
"I've tried. That's why I had to go back to Ravenwood and steal it from your teacher" She kneeled down beside the lock and inserted the key.
"Oh, alright then." It was kind of dumb to assume she just risked her life to enter Ravenwood just to save me anyways.
Click!
The doors swung open on their own.
"The krokonomicon should be to our left!" She practically ran over with me closely behind
We entered the main platform to the crown of fire, still in shambles.
This is where the most fierce magic battle of the spiral took place and I'm standing in it. The dragon perched atop the volcano stared into the crown of fire with its eyes set in stone.
Looking around the room I noticed the book still floating where Malistaire had been performing the ritual. His magic still lingered around the book.
"This is it" We huddled around the book gazing at the pages describing rituals to revive the dead
"So do we just?" I began almost reaching for the book, but the death magic left behind was strong enough to strike the deepest chords of my soul. I could feel my heart pounding the most solemn of rhythms.
Tears filled both of our eyes as I'm sure she could feel the same heartbreak and sorrow I was feeling. I was always told about the evil intentions of Malistaire and what horrible deeds he performed in his power, but they never told us how much he grieved the loss of Sylvia
"This.. pain." was all I could utter from the sudden spike of emotion.
I looked over at Rebecca who was wiping her tears and covering her agape mouth.
"Let's hurry." I wanted to get rid of this sadness as quick as possible
She nodded.
She sat and meditated for a while. Meditation was used by wizards to communicate from anywhere in the spiral. Sort of like magic cell phones
"Who are you talking to?" What reason did she have to contact anyone
"It takes at least four Mages to relieve the book of this death magic. I'm getting two more of the coven members." As she finished her statement a tall skinny girl with wavy black hair that reached her waist and pale skin appeared from grains of sand. She wore tan robes and shoes with a maroon trim. She didn't wear a hat and she wore glasses.
"Long time no see 'Becca!" she exclaimed almost catching us off guard
"It's nice to see you too, Alina."
Special thanks to I'mJustAnUchiGirl for her submission of her OC, Alina DawnHeart!
Other thanks to gigglesauras for their review, and TheDiamondWriter for their follow. It means more than you know.
OCs still open.
Thanks for reading!