Chapter Four
Legendary
The next day after school, we got another level appointment, just as Iridian told me yesterday.
We were all garbed in school symboled gear, stitched and raw, and now had
Swords and new badges. Ambrose gave us a special badge, called "Master of MooShu," that only the select group of us (and family, so on) could have.
We were doing quests in MooShu when something weird happened. We were on our mounts (me and Kayla with Seraph Wings, Luke with Flaming Wings, and Iridian with a Storm Shark) up to Jade Palace after filling our potions when there was a loud rumble. I felt a sharp jolt and I heard Luke and Iridian screamed. When I turned around, I was shocked, because Luke was holding Iridian up from an abyss.
"What the? And where the heck did it—? And—" Kayla fainted after wild stuttering.
"Um, I'm gonna suggest we go home," I suggested. Since our teleport timers were still off, we attempted to run home using the Spiral Chamber. Then, a heavy rain started, soaking us almost.
"No problem!" Iridian shouted with confidence. Then, thunder and lightning began striking. Iridian tried to control the storm, but nothing would work. In defeat, we teleported home to our dorm.
*Emily*
After the storm, I got the newspaper and shoved it on the paper to Iridian. "Wait Cody, I want Iridian to read this."
Iridian picked up The Wizard City Times and looked at the home page.
Raging Tempest Ravages Spiral
(WIZARD CITY, The Spiral) Late this afternoon, a terrible storm ravaged Wizard City and other neighboring worlds of the Spiral. The storm brought thunder, lightning, heavy rains, and reports of abysses popping out of nowhere.
The schools of Ravenwood were not harmed, but this is expected to be the work of Morganthe, the Spiral's latest new enemy after Malistaire's first defeat as a boss by Andrew Spear, who now resides in a home in Celestia. Emily WinterSong and her friends were spotted in MooShu when the storm started. Iridian attempted to control the storm, but it was too powerful.(Article by Michael Spear)
"And your point is…" Iridian trailed off.
"Well, they saw us there!" I said. "They could get suspicious and then everybody will hate us."
"Em," Iridian began, " I highly doubt that they would think we were evil or like that. It just wouldn't make sense considering we have such good purpose."
"Well, let's just hope nothing bad will happen."
"Nothing will."
*Emily*
In the morning, I prepared for questing like usual. I packed us little finger sandwiches and some soda, along with my bow and arrow and my other weapons. Since I was now a level 45 Master Thaumaturge, my schedule looked somewhat like this:
Schedule for K. WinterSong, Emily
Year One, v. 4
Updated March 9, 2011
First Period— Lydia Greyrose— Advanced Master Thaumaturgy (9:00-9:50)
Second Period— Cyrus Drake— Advanced Master Conjuring and Lore (9:55-10:45)
Lunch— Fiona RiverBlood— (10:50-11:40)
Monday and Tuesday Extra Study— Kaitlin SoarSong— Home Economics (11:45-12:30)
Wednesday Extra Study— Mindy SpellCrafter—Phys. Ed (11:45-12:30)
Thursday and Friday Extra Study— Alhazred— Magical Charms, Hexes, Jinxes, and More (11:45-12:30)
Monday, Thursday, and Friday Elective— Merle Ambrose— The Spiral (12:35-1:20)
Tuesday and Wednesday Elective— Thai Ming— The Art of the Warrior (12:35-1:20)
Fifth Period— Alhazred— Advanced Master Sorcery (1:25-2:10)
Sixth Period— Moolinda Wu— Advanced Master Theurgy (2:15-3:05)
Seventh Period— Halston Balestrom— Advanced Master Divination (3:10-4:00)
Around now it was 8:13am, so I met Kayla, Luke, and Iridian at the Bistro. Cody was with them, who was going to turn eight today (two days after my last schedule update). Ambrose was giving him the potion the very minute he turned eight, so he could begin training after an hour and have enough experience to start as a Magus.
"So guys," I began, finishing my cup of coffee and my third pancake, "Anything big this weekend?"
"Well, Iridian and Kayla were planning to whiz Cody all the way to Master. Ambrose told Kayla that he'll get Cody up to level 37 today," Luke answered.
"Oh cool. I'll join the next mass quest. Anything else?"
"Sunday, we want to make it to Grandmaster, along with all extra time from Saturday," Kayla noted, putting a burst of joy into me. I had heard lots of cool things about being grandmaster, and wanted to be there as fast as I could. Thanks to Ambrose, my gear was all set up on a mannequin, and my new pet Starfish was already Epic (with talents I had preferred). I knew that Kayla, Luke, and Iridian had their Grandmaster gear lined up, while Cody had his Master and Grandmaster gear set up. Ambrose had given him an exclusive version of the Sea Dragon (Sea Horse) with universal talents since there really wasn't an epic Celestian pet for Balance (though Crabling came close). Luke had the exact same thing, but his pet was a Koi.
"This'll be a REALLY fun weekend," I said. The 8:30 bell rang, so I threw away my trash, ran outside, and took a short walk to Ravenwood.
*Emily*
That night in our dorm, I was reading An Everlasting Dream by Fiona Starlight while Luke and Cody were having guy's night. An Everlasting Dream was a really good book about this girl that was stuck in a coma for three years and had a dream that she was on a journey throughout the Spiral and Earth itself. I had read online plenty of spoilers, like that the main character and her best friend ended up together, and that she ended up going on the exact same journey in the very end of the book, but I decided to leave some until I actually read it because at this point, I would've just read the entire book, and Fiona Starlight had become a favorite author in my little time in Wizard City. Kayla fixed a dinner consisting of macaroni and cheese and some delicious Chicken Vetipala (fried wingettes with bacon replacing the bones) that I wished the guys never missed. I knew that Cody loved to have fried wingettes, so combining fried wingettes with his favorite breakfast meat (bacon of course, same as mine, Kayla's, Luke's, and Iridian's) would make Cody feel awesome.
Iridian walked inside the door winded and wet. "It's started storming again. Luckily, the store had some Pork Vetipala for next Wednesday's dinner. Anything happen while I was gone?"
"Nah, but the WizLife season finale went off. Want spoilers?" I offered.
"Sure. We'll be too busy to watch tomorrow anyway. We might even have to book a room there," Iridian said, sitting down on the couch and gasping.
"Well, Emma and Dustin found out they were siblings, Christina had a fit and killed her cat, and Lucas and Emma made out."
"I thought Emma and Lucas were cousins. And didn't Emma and Dustin date?"
"No, Emma and Lucas were cousins when the doctor lied on that DNA test. Dustin and Emma never dated."
"Oh."
Lucas and Cody burst in the door. I noticed Cody as a teenager, and he looked pretty different. His formerly white-blonde hair was now black along with some light, blonde hair around it. His face was a little babyish, but a lot more matured. His eyes were now chocolate brown and his skin was tanner.
"Hey sis, are you gonna be questing with Kayla, Iridian and I tomorrow?" Cody asked. His voice had changed also, and it was a little deeper.
"Sure little bro," I answered with a smile.
"Thanks. All help counts, and your damage boost is AMAZING for a Thaumaturge."
"Hey, I've got Ambrose on my side," I joked. Immediately, my phone buzzed, a text. I slipped it out of my pocket and looked at the sender. "Speak of the headmaster!" I then looked down at the actual text.
From – Merle Ambrose
To – WinterSong, Emily; GriffinFlame, Luke; SummerSong, Kayla; ThunderHeart, Iridian
Message:
I need you guys tomorrow. Level appointment and journey.
"Worst. Timing. Ever. Ambrose."
"What happened?" Cody asked worried.
It broke my heart to break the news to him. "We can't go questing tomorrow."
"What?" Cody gasped.
"Ambrose said we have another level appointment and a journey."
"I agree with you about the bad timing."
"Well guys, I think we should go to bed. I'll pack everyone some bags before I go to bed."
We all retreated into the bedroom areas (Luke and Cody having a plate of Chicken Vetipala). I started pulling out Infinite-Space Bags while Kayla and Iridian read, and Cody and Luke watched TV and ate.
I had packed us all some cooking supplies, a tent, clothes, a Wi-Fi Pod, and other things we would need on the trip. I remember seeing the film version of A Blossoming Rose before I drifted off to sleep.
*Emily*
When I got up, Cody and Luke were still asleep, while Iridian and Kayla were already with their bags and awake. I was too tired, so I just used magic to get us all ready to go.
"Is everybody ready?" I asked, slipping my WizPhone into my pocket.
"Yeah, and I'm so begging Ambrose for a level appointment!" Cody argued. I remembered that Ambrose ruined the leveling day.
"It'll be fine, Codes. We wanted to quest to 50 tomorrow. Maybe we'll all get them."
"I hope we do," Luke said. "It'll be awesome with Cody at our level of experience." Luke and Cody shared a high-five.
"Well, let's go," Kayla and Iridian said in unison as if they had practiced 100 times.
We walked out of our dorm, locked the door, and allowed Cody to put a few prevention and security charms on the dorm. Linking our mailbox to something in our bags, we walked down the stairs towards the Commons. Since it was a Saturday, many people were around Ravenwood. We could hear all of the excitement from our dorm, which was on an inclimb where the Death school should be.
We found out the excitement was the announcement of the Spring Dance. At the Spring Dance, Kayla and Luke told me that people from all over the Spiral came to make the dance awesome. Judging by the signs, this year's dance was going to be held in MooShu; Shoshun Village to be exact, with a teleport bus that would be in a building in the Commons.
"This bites that we have to miss the dance," Kayla commented. "It tells us that the prom will be exactly 3 months from then, and I doubt we'll be back by June and July."
"What makes you think that?" I inquired.
"I heard that Ambrose's journeys usually take a year, two years if you're searching for something in the Spiral, three years if you're searching for something far off in the Spiral, and four years if you're searching for things throughout the Spiral."
I shivered at the thought. I could possibly come back here 21! I would be an adult, but that seemed really weird.
We marched on through Ravenwood and then finally made it to Ambrose's office. There, we saw a guy that looked like he could be Luke's twin, but a bit thinner, a different hairstyle, and less-greener eyes. Next to them was an girl in archer clothes.
The girl was dressed in an archer's kind of gear. She had golden-blonde hair and piercing green eyes, that were fierce and deadly yet calming and sweet as well. Her cap was neon green with half a wing spread across the front and near the part where a body would be was a golden citrine. She had on a green Legolia (chainmail armor with a short green "cape" draped over most of it) with some pants that went with it. The pair of pants were the same material as the armor of her Legolia with a short, green, yellow-trimmed skirt. In her hand was a mystical-looking blade. It had a crystal-like blade as if it was ice, and the hilt was silver with a cerulean sapphire at the top.
"This, you all, will be one of your accompaniments on your journey," Ambrose began. "Today will be an extremely eventful day for you group of friends."
These words made me feel very happy. It gave me hope of a level appointment.
"Today, you will be going on a magical journey throughout the spiral, searching for things until you get to the city of Iylon. To discuss this, I suggest everyone move into my tower."
The six of us walked into into his tower where we saw the exact same place that Cody and I took the Test of Secrets just two months ago. The only difference was that the table and candles were pushed into the wall. Six chairs were pulled out into a row where we all sat together.
Map magicis Iylonia, Merle chanted in the magical language. Immediately, a virtual-seeming map appeared in the room. It showed a small city with squat, navy blue houses everywhere, and a huge purple castle in the middle.
"This is the city of Iylon," Merle began. "Iylon's history dates back to the creation of the Spiral itself. When the Spiral was created, a part accidentally broke off as it set into place, and was sent into a deep part of the Spiral. This part had the Great Raven, Lady NightOwl, and Rowena Brightmoon. She opened the Brightmoon Academy of Magic in the world of Illuminatia.
"Iylon is the location of Mimolaya's House, where you guys must go with the Relics of the Spiral, to find out if Emily is the true descendant of Mimolaya, and if you are demigods as well.
"There is one relic for each world of the Spiral. Krokotopia's is a sundial, Marleybone's is an hourglass, MooShu's is a Samurai Sword, DragonSpyre's is a Knowledge Crystal, and Celestia's is the Astrolabe. When you set them up in the house, they will present you the true garments of Mimolaya. If you go up to the tower and speak the Song of Winter, then the true descendant will sprout wings, and the tips of their hair will freeze so cold that not even the warmest fire can melt them." Ambrose finished his little history lesson and I was shocked that I actually had a destiny after all.
"I will give you the crystal ball, Wizard City's relic, before you go." Ambrose popped the ball off his staff and handed it to Cody.
"Oh wait, I forgot: your level appointments!" Cody and I shared a high-five together, reminiscing in the glory that we would get those level appointments that we had wanted. Unlike usual, Ambrose set out plates for the schools, Luke on the Fire, me on the Ice, Iridian on the Storm, Kayla on the green, the guy on the Myth, and Cody on the Balance.
"Laudate Dominum," Ambrose chanted, which I translated as "Praise God." "DiDeaequespiralismagibenedicere. Sitstatuspriorisinritalegendsfac. Legendaryerunt." I felt an amazing sensation from the middle of my body spread throughout. I was feeling stronger, smarter, bigger, and wiser. I thought this could possibly even kill me. The magic worked throughout me, tinkering at every magic part and making me feel sparks, until I was lifted into the air without notice. I span around and twirled, absorbing this newfound energy. Then I slammed down to the Ice plate. I was sleeping now, but woke up a few minutes later. When I woke up, I looked in my phone immediately at my status, and knew that our new statuses were most likely the same. After our level appointment, we were Legendary wizards.
"We're Legendary?" Luke asked, puzzled.
"Yes," answered Ambrose. "On this journey, you will desperately need Legendary status. You really thought I would send you guys at that level and Cody not even a master?"
I thought back and realized his logic. It would be dangerous to send Cody at that level, but considering he leveled us all to the highest possible level, our journey must be more dangerous than we thought.
"I am giving you this card and a bunch of supplies," Ambrose said, handing us a small business card that had the relics. Behind us was a mountain of luggage and supplies. "Use the charm "Un Intrare Parva" and then whatever object to shrink it down. I have some small boxes that you can use also."
Ambrose summoned some small boxes. They seemed to be made of metal and had plenty of school colors, symbols, plaques, and spells. "I have sent text messages to all of your friends telling them where you will be. Take the Spiral keys in this box, and have a great journey. When you need help, send me a text and I will automatically text you back. Goodbye." Ambrose handed us a box like the luggage boxes but Spiral, Balance, and universal themed, and then teleported us to the inside of Bartleby. Lots of wizards were running around. I taped the card to the box of keys and examined them; one had hieroglyphics, one had electricity, one had ninjas, one had several crystals, one had some ancient runes, and the last one had the illusion of flowing water.
"Well, guys, I guess it's time to go," I deduced.
"I'm gonna miss you, Wizard City," Kayla said, tearing up.
"I never even got to finish training," Cody sobbed. Because of all this crying, I was getting pretty emotional myself. Aria looked at us kind of weirdly, probably because of our emotions raging like this. I almost had the feeling she wasn't even from here, and that she wasn't able to share the pain we had, from all of the friends we've gained to the other good times we could only have in Wizard City.
I opened the box and looked at Krokotopia's label for the sundial. I then picked out the key with the hieroglyphics. It was hard to open the door without my hands shaking. Luke grabbed my arm and carefully guided my wobbly hand and key into the door. I turned it 90 degrees to the right and pushed the door open. We all walked into the door, turned back, and then looked back into the starry portal, not knowing that we would never see this place for four years.
End of Part One