Hi guys... I'm very ashamed with myself for not posting in so long. it was my new year's resolution and everything. Ive been very busy with um... stuff. It was my birthday a while back, Thanks for posting Lulu bee! To say thanks im posting on your birthday! And just so everyone knows, the next post is the end. The end of the story. Im so excited! But just so you know, i was nearly crying as i wrote the end of this bit. I dunno if anyone else will... Enjoy! xxx

Chapter 20-

We drew our swords and began hacking through the mass of things. This first wave of demons was relatively easy to kill, if you stabbed or sliced them right they fell to the ground with a little puff of red smoke. But they just kept coming, thicker and faster, and we kept dispatching them reaching a speed I didn't even know I was capable of.

This attack continued for what felt like an age and with time being frozen it was impossible to tell. However I realised that I should be feeling tired or out of breath (due to my athletically challengedness) and I felt absolutely great. Then I remembered about the alleged enhanced speed and stamina. I hadn't been quite sure if that was just another of Mr Jameson's lies.

It took a minute for me to realise that the wave of wolf demons pouring from the crack was beginning to thin out. After a few moments it had stopped and there was silence. It was too quiet. Then I heard a growl coming from the crack in the fabric of space. A flock of giant birds of prey with huge fangs took to the sky. The swords weren't going to be enough, so we began firing rocks, ice, fireballs and lightning skyward and Abby conjured gale force winds to try and knock the bird demons down.

As we were focusing on the sky, more wolf demons came pouring out of the crack. To be perfectly honest, I don't think I really believed that I could die or even get properly injured in this battle. I got a bit of a reality check when one of the wolves sank its teeth into my thigh. I managed to run it through, but not before it had left massive gashes right down my leg. It hurt like crazy and I had a sneaking suspicion that the wolf things had a poisonous bite because my leg felt like it was on fire and the edges of my vision were beginning to blur. I stopped firing ice shards at the birds and fell to the ground, clamping my non sword hand over my bloody leg, willing the skin to knit back together and the poison to dissolve. I let out a sigh of relief when the fire stopped but that soon turned to a gasp of terror as a huge shadow fell over me.

I rolled over to see the biggest bird demon yet descending on me, so I did the only natural thing. I screamed my head off. But when it was just a metre away vines came shooting from the ground and wrapped around the demon, pinning it to the ground. I jumped up and grabbed my sword but before I could stab it, it fell down dead. Annie had got in there first. She'd saved my life and it wouldn't be the last time that day. I would have thanked her then, but the demons just kept on coming and it was back to hacking and slicing.

Up to this point we had all been clustered together in the middle of the field, watching each other's backs. But when the next wave hit we scattered. These monsters were more humanoid. They were better fighters, with crude spears and shields; and they had a battle plan. There were hundreds of them, marching out of the crack and we were split up, each pretty much on our own. There were too many demons. I could see them closing in. I tried slicing through some but more took their place. I put up ice barriers and slapped them around a bit with some enchanted water power (I realise that my powers weren't really as offensive as fire and lightning, but I tried!)

It was no use. I was going to be overpowered, and I couldn't even see the others. Wed known from the start that we were outnumbered but the reality of just how alone we were was finally sinking in. What we really needed was more numbers or more muscle power.

I heard Hope screaming and new that it wasn't going great for her either. I couldn't help her because the demons were nearly upon me as well. Then there was a blinding flash of light. I couldn't see where I was going and I tripped over something. I hit the ground hard and winded myself.

I was sure this was the end now. I curled up in a ball, gasping for breath. I waited for the demons to descend and finish me off, but nothing came. There was just an eerie silence. I peeked out of the corner of my eye. The demons were gone. I got up and turned around, wondering what had happened. I turned into a dazzling light. Ed had conjured her giant form and turned up the brightness so high it fried the demons and saved us all. How she'd done this I had no idea. I would have asked but she told us anyway.

"Well you remember that day on the tennis courts, when the stuff making our giant forms was like absorbed into us? Well it figures that it's still there and all you need is a way to let it out again. I got mad. I didn't want to see my friends die. And there we have the Power of Sybil!"

I grinned at that, but of course the battle was by no means over. More of the warrior demons came out of the crack, maybe a thousand this time. But these ones seemed different. They were bigger for one thing, and for another they seemed unarmed. Then one stretched out its hand and sent a ray of purple pure magic energy right at me. I dived out of the way and it was a good thing I had. The ground where I had been standing only seconds before was shredded to pieces. We'd lost our advantage of being the ones with magic and I was angry now too. I let out all my pent up emotions and found myself surrounded with the watery 20 feet of my giant form, Fred I think mine was...

20 feet was a much better size to destroy a demon army. Much less risk of being over powered. I could crush several demons with every step and send loads flying with a wave of my giant hand. Within minutes the 6 of us, in giant form, had destroyed them all. "Things are finally going our way" I thought to myself with a smile. Of course I spoke too soon as usual.

Even more even bigger warrior demons came next with the wolf things snapping round their heels. They came for us at lightning speeds and started firing their magic. They were exceedingly crappy shots. That's what I thought until I realised what they were doing.

All the magic flying through the air (our own included) began swirling faster and faster around us all. Another magic vortex was causing utter carnage and I had no idea how to stop it this time. I knew from experience that panicking or getting upset or angry would definitely not help matters.

Of course things went from bad to worse almost straight away. We began trying to fight our way through this wave of demons when there was another ear splitting noise; cracking and grinding and rumbling. Another crack was opening, and the boundaries between worlds were growing weaker every minute.

Shrieks and howls filled the air, the sound pouring out of the new crack like a tidal wave. We turned to face the enemy.

Chapter 21-

Off topic, have you ever experienced déjà vu? Because that's what I felt as I turned. It was familiar. I'd been here before. But where? There was no time to ponder, more demons had arrived. I'd seen these before too, but I knew exactly where and what to do. It was Miss Greenwood's fanged, bat-winged friends. I couldn't see her at this point, but I knew she couldn't be far away.

It was back to fighting for our lives, but now we were limited to what magic we could use, so we didn't power the vortex. The demons like Miss Greenwood were much harder to kill but we were managing. By this point we must have been going for more than an hour, but because time had been frozen it was impossible to tell. It went on and on and on, all the different types of demons were attacking now, showing no sign of stopping. I still hadn't begun to tire, but I knew that it was only a matter of time.

A new problem had arisen now; the demons were learning our fighting style and becoming better at avoiding our attacks. I was trying to work out a solution when I heard a voice inside my head (and no, I was not going crazy). "Hi guys!" it was Annie. She'd moved on from just reading thoughts. That was going to be fun if we got out of this mess alive. "Were not beaten yet!" she evidently had a plan. "We have plenty of tricks left! Remember what we came up with?" I did remember. I'd been a little busy trying to stay alive but I did remember a discussion during our little camping trip about the possibilities. So, I went for it.

It took a few tries, but it became really easy to switch between giant and normal forms which gave us an advantage of unpredictability. Hope and Abby's invisibility and teleportation launched surprise attacks. Annie also found out some of the enemies' next moves and kept us posted through her new mental broadcast. It would have been annoying if it wasn't so useful. It meant that I could dart through these new openings in the enemy lines to sort out any ouchies from plans that didn't work out too well.

Teamwork is definitely the way to go when fighting an enormous demon army an there's only six of you. I kept hacking though demons, keeping an eye on the ongoing problem of the vortex. It was definitely closing in on us, almost too slowly to notice, but definitely on the move. I had no clue whatsoever what we could do about it. I couldn't channel any of the energy elsewhere or convert it into another attack. I wasn't strong enough. The 6 of us combined weren't strong enough to beat this, yet we were expected to be, we had to be. Sacrificing our lives was not what we wanted to do; we just needed a plan B.

I plunged my sword into the demon that was coming up behind me and whirled round to decapitate another one. I smacked a creature that was flying through the air towards me to the ground with the flat part of the blade and sliced a different thing into quarters.

Now there was nothing attacking me specifically I sprinted over to help Grace out. She was surrounded by a pack of the poisonous wolves. I swept them aside with a tidal wave (not helping the vortex situation, but I was trying to avoid death though other methods) and finished off one of the bat winged freaks. Just as I was pulling out my sword, I had a weird flashback. I knew where exactly where I'd seen my déjà vu moment. It had been exactly the same then, even though id been viewing it from the outside. The dream, the one I couldn't bear to see come true, had begun but with no waking up this time.

Chapter 22-

I had a mini meltdown when I realised that it was happening. I felt really dizzy and I couldn't breathe but someone's arm was around me (Abby I think?) trying to keep me upright. This was bad. Very bad. Then I tripped over and slid on a patch of ice left over from one of my own attacks. I belly slid for several metres before coming to a stop, my eyes level with a pair of feet. I recognised the hideous old lady shoes instantly; she had finally joined the battle. Seeing Miss Greenwood again brought it all back into focus. She was like a bad smell, impossible to get rid of. I scrambled to my feet, sword drawn and turned to face my nemesis head on.

Miss greenwood gave an evil grin, baring her fangs. "Ah, Blair," she rasped. "How nice to see you again. Aren't you going to say hello?"

Of course I wasn't. I swung my sword at her head, but she whipped out one of her knives and blocked it.

"Now, that's no way to treat a teacher. You'll just have to learn a lesson!" She snarled and lunged with her knife but I ducked just in time. And so it continued. Everyone else was a little preoccupied so it was just her and me in single combat to the death.

She was good, there was no denying it but I managed to block or avoid almost all of her moves. Unfortunately very few of my attacks did any damage either. I had to have my wits about me otherwise it would have been all too easy to lose a limb. It was intense, but id grown stronger since the first time we'd met in the gateway. I knew what I was doing now. We were evenly matched this time, almost too even. Neither of us could find an opening, every move was counteracted. It didn't seem like it was ever going to end.

Worse, I was beginning to tire. My sword was feeling heavier and my legs were beginning to ache, but I couldn't stop fighting or my opponent would gain the upper hand. I began panting for breath, but still didn't stop. We kept on fighting. I needed a rest, but couldn't. The fight dragged on, neither of us backing down. I could tell that Miss Greenwood was tiring as well now as she was beginning to wheeze a bit.

She swung low, aiming for my feet but I jumped over it and seeing my chance rammed the hilt of my sword into her chest sending her staggering backwards. She landed in a crumpled heap and just as I was about to move in to finish her off she let out a manic cackle. I'd had enough of her games at this point, I was thoroughly exhausted. She kept laughing though, and I was a little weirded out.

"You beat me! I don't have long now before I go back to chaos to reform. You can't kill immortal demons permanently. Oh, don't look so shocked. It's going to be a while before you see me again. But I'm only one, and this battle is far from over. Poor girl, you look absolutely shattered. Better stay alert or it will be all too easy for someone to kill you." Miss Greenwood's condescending tone was irritating me more than ever. "It's just too bad it's not going to be me. I'm sure someone will get you soon though. You don't stand a chance. Have you seen how outnumbered you are? Such a shame I'm going to miss all the fun. It hasn't kicked off yet. But don't worry; the best is still to come..."

"Wait! What do you mean? What can there still be to come?"

But it was too late. She'd already disappeared in a red haze. However her last words scared me a little. Worse was still to come, bit what?

Then I heard rumbling. My first thought was that another crack was opening and the barriers were weakening further. I turned, searching for where it was opening but I couldn't see a 3rd crack anywhere. I was completely baffled as to what the noise was until Ed shouted, "Look Up!"

I did as I was told and saw the comets. Seconds away from impact, just as before.

Suddenly the red one dived, and I realised that they weren't comets at all. Now that they were closer I could see that the red comet was death-eater weirdo and the silver and gold were... Hallie and Jestein. They'd come to help us out!

They landed on the ground and the vortex disintegrated. I don't know what they did but I now felt filled with new energy and I was willing to keep fighting. Jestein sprinted over, at an impossible speed. "Forgot to mention earlier," she grinned. "The swords are magic. Channel your power through it and it'll magnify. Also get creative, come up with new tricks. We'll hold off the boss."

"You mean death-eater weirdo?" I asked.

Jestein looked a little confused then she seemed to click. "You call the Lord of Chaos 'death-eater weirdo?'"

"Well, not to his face... Hang on. He's the Lord of chaos? Crap, I had no idea!"

She laughed. "It suits him! God, that's hilarious..." and she was off to join the battle.

No longer confined by the vortex, we could use our powers and by channelling them through the swords we could make some pretty epic attacks that had never even occurred to us. Abby sent tornadoes raging. Annie cracked the ground open, swallowing up thousands of demons. Grace developed a flamethrower move, and we came up with some joint efforts too. One of the most effective: I flooded the field Abby lifted us up and away while hope an Ed sent down lightning, which was conducted through the water and electrocuted almost all the demons in sight.

It was kinda fun. Our abilities were developing at an amazing rate; every time I looked, something insanely cool was happening. Part of the initial buzz was back, but there was more fear there too. This was real; we could die. I think we were running on pure adrenaline because the battle went on and on but it looked like we were making headway.

Just as I froze another demon solid and smashed him to pieces with my sword (much less messy) I heard an all too familiar scream. I whipped around to see a plume of thick black smoke. Something had gone wrong, whether with lightning or fire or some kind of enemy attack, was impossible to tell. I fell to my knees where I stood. I didn't want to go over because I knew exactly what I'd see. I'd seen it before. But the reality was so much more heartbreaking than the dream. Especially since now I knew who it was.

Could I have prevented it by letting the others know what I'd seen? I didn't know. I just sat there and bawled, while the battle raged on around me. I wept for a long time, pausing only to build up an ice cave around me so I wouldn't be disturbed. I couldn't stop crying; the grief was almost too hard to bear. She was gone. I would never hear her insane laugh or be annoyed to hell by her again. Never. Ed was dead.

See what happens, er... soon! Please let me know what you think. Review, reccommend it, I dont care! But spread the word, for the sake of the reviewe button. he doesnt bite. Honest! until next time. xxx :D