Hello! In this chapter, I include a New Year's Day event which I MADE MYSELF, JAGEX DID NOT MAKE THIS, plus I look over the year we've shared together. Enjoy!
Chapter 64: Sparks Are Flying!
"Watch out!" I screamed at Slinky as I skidded past her, nearly slipping and cracking my head.
We were on the frozen moat of the white knight castle. Christmas had passed now, and the wardrobe had disappeared. The crispy white snow in Falador was starting to melt making the ground wet and slightly slippery, and the decorations were coming down, one by one. I'd put away this year's rewards in my bank, and gone back to wearing my old steel armour sadly, afraid of the strange looks that people who pass give me because of my Christmas wear days and days after Christmas. Diango had given me another two Christmas rewards from the past, which was a woolly hat and scarf.
Altogether, my Christmas rewards were the woolly hat, the woolly scarf, the snow globe, reindeer antlers, a yo-yo, an ice amulet, a Santa suit, a Christmas ghost suit, the icy loud-speaker, and the candy cane.
I'd spent the whole day on the ice, nearly killing myself several times. The ice was becoming wet, because it was in the process of melting, making it dangerous to skate on. Before then, I'd skated on the firm ice with power and dignity. Now, I just looked like a clown on the slippery ice. I decided, until next winter, my skates were better off in a bank.
After depositing the skates in a nearby bank, I stepped outside. I looked into the sky miserably-it wasn't snowing any more. Instead, the clouds were a miserable grey colour. I sighed sadly. Today was New Year's Eve, and I hadn't heard anything about a new event. Mark ran up to me, panting.
"Follow me!" he panted, and ran away. I ran after him curiously.
He led me to where the Christmas tree was. The decorations were coming down, but they'd obviously decided to leave the tree until last, because of its beauty, with the flashing magical lights and tinsel. Next to the tree, where the cupboard which led to the land of snow used to be, a hole in the ground replaced it. It was big enough for a large man to fit through. I stared down this hole, and all I could see was blackness. Mark peered down too.
"What could it be?" he questioned. I scratched my chin thoughtfully.
"Only one way to find out," I pointed out. I picked up a rock at my feet, and threw it in the hole. I peered in, and the rock was gone.
As I was peering in, I slipped on the wet ground, and I fell into the hole. I fell deeper and deeper in this hole. I could smell filth; I could feel the wind blowing in my eyes….
I landed on soil. I groaned, and sat up to look at my surroundings. The hole wasn't a hole-it was a portal! Behind me was another hole in the ground which probably led back to Falador. I looked up, and saw the cloudy sky. Around me was a field full of soil inside a fence. In the distance past the fence, I could see trees. I definitely wasn't in Falador, but judging from the wet ground, I wasn't far. People were running around, yelling, and all I could see was fireballs and sparks flying everywhere in the air.
I was confused. Where was I? What was this? Why were there fireballs flying everywhere? I heard a thump behind me as Mark landed there. He stood up, groaning.
"Where are we?" he asked, surveying his surroundings. I shrugged hopelessly. I looked in the crowd of yelling, panicking people. It was a crowd of normal men wearing brown leather aprons. One person stood out among those men.
It was a woman, wearing black robes and a black wizard's hat. Her skin had a green tinge, and she had a large wart on her long, crooked nose. She seemed familiar…..wait; it was Aggie the witch from Draynor! I ran up to her eagerly.
"Aggie!" I yelled. She spun around, alarmed, her hat askew.
"Who the hell are you?" she spat. I stood there, shocked, as a fireball flew over my head, narrowly hitting it.
"I'm Mainiac97. We met last year in Draynor. I was one of many people who came to do the New Year's Day event with the dragon. Remember me?" I asked desperately. She frowned.
"Yes, I think I remember you," she sniffed. "What are you doing here anyway? How did you get here?"
"I got here through a hole on the ground in Falador," I explained. She sighed.
"That hole wasn't supposed to open until later tonight," she snapped. She clapped her hands, and the hole in the distance seemed to fade away out of existence.
"What's going on here?" I asked, staring up curiously as the fireballs and sparks which flew everywhere, while the men underneath ran around, yelling.
"There's been a disaster. You know I'm the inventor of amazing fireworks?" she boasted proudly. I nodded. "We were meant to have a display tonight to celebrate the New Year, but I encountered a….error, you might say. Due to a stupid mistake I made while enchanting the fireworks to go off at particular times, they've all gone off at the same time and hit each other, causing a bit of a disaster. Those fireballs in the sky? They're the fireworks." She looked rather sheepish.
"Can I help at all?" I asked curiously.
"Don't forget me," Mark added. Aggie snorted.
"You can try, I suppose, but I doubt there'd be much you could do successfully," she guffawed.
"What could we do to help?" I enquired.
"Well, if you could extinguish those fireworks before they kill someone so I can replace them, I'd be grateful," she confirmed. I nodded. She pulled two buckets out of her robes, and filled them with water using magic.
"Right, all you have to do is approach a firework, and throw water over it, and bring the extinguished firework to me so I can reuse parts of it. I'll reward you with every five extinguished fireworks you bring me. But it isn't that simple. Those sparks that the fireworks make sting quite a bit, but not enough to make you lose any health. They prove a real distraction. Also, beware, because, as you can see, they go pretty fast, and those flames are dangerous. Come to me to refill the buckets. Plus, please don't think I'm lazy- I'm going to be helping you, as well as the workers I hired," she explained, sounding rather bored, pointing at the men with brown aprons. We absorbed the information like a sponge, and ran off to do our job.
I approached a firework cautiously. It was whizzing in circles, releasing sparks. As soon as I was close enough, the sparks showered on me. I yelled, using my arm to protect myself. It was like being showered with tiny needles that only lasted two seconds. I ignored the sparks, and threw half of the contents of my bucket over the firework. It sizzled, and after a quick explosion, it fell to the ground. It was shaped like a rocket, filled with a magic flammable powder (which was now gone), and made from strong cardboards and metals. An inch of rope came from it, which was all burnt.
I picked it up, and my hand was scalded. I dropped it, hissing with pain. After a minute, I picked it up. It was still was warm, but my hand could handle the pressure.
I extinguished another firework with the remaining contents of my bucket, after suffering the shower of painful sparks. I went back to Aggie, who'd extinguished four fireworks, giving her mine. She nodded, and refilled my bucket with water. The crystal-clear water sloshed around as I chased the nearest wild firework.
I extinguished the firework, dodging the sparks neatly. I still had enough water to extinguish at least another two! I extinguished another one, still having a little water sloshing around at the bottom. There was no need to refill, I thought, I could use what I had. I approached another firework cautiously. It was doing loop-the-loops in the air, releasing enough sparks to fill the night sky with. Enduring the sparks, I splashed the water at the mad firework. It wasn't enough to completely extinguish it. It sputtered for a second, and then burst into colourful flames. It flew straight towards me.
I screamed loudly, and ducked. The firework shot over my head, burning some of my hairs. It collapsed as a pile of ashes nearby.
I extinguished another two fireworks, and handed all of my extinguished fireworks to Aggie. She smiled gratefully at me, for the first time.
"Thanks," she said. "Here's your first reward." She shot a red light at me. I yelled as sparks shot out of my body. I was hovering slightly. I dropped to the ground, and the sparks stopped. Aggie winced as she was showered with the sparks I'd released. "I have taught you the 'sparks' emote. It only works once every few minutes, and it won't work if you're in damp conditions, but when it does work sparks shoot out of your body for a few seconds, which can be used as a distraction against enemies." She refilled my bucket. I thanked her, and ran off to extinguish more deadly fireworks.
I came back several times to refill. I rushed around, extinguishing different fireworks. I returned to Aggie, clutching another five fireworks. Aggie's nostrils flared.
"Can I smell something burning?" she asked me. I grinned sheepishly, turning around, showing a blackened patch on my steel armour, where a firework had hit me. She sighed, and pointed her wand at it. The black mark faded away. I thanked her several times. I gave her my extinguished fireworks. She gave me a rather stretched grin.
"Here's another reward for your hard work," she said. She handed me a wooden model, of a dragon. "That model is a finely carved model of the dragon of New Year. It is for display mainly, but if you keep it with you it'll strengthen any fire-related power you have, like the dragon-fire emote I gave you last year, or this year's 'sparks' emote. It also boosts the power of fire spells."
I examined it fondly. It was carved from strong oak, and was very durable. The eyes were carved from gold, and they seemed to glow with a mysterious power. The roaring carved mouth looked so realistic, I half-expected fire to come bursting from it.
"If you bring me five more extinguished fireworks, I'll give you one final reward," she promised. I sighed, and set off.
I rushed around, splashing water over fireballs to give me the damp, wrecked remains of the fireworks. I returned to Aggie, holding five damp fireworks. She smiled, obviously pleased. A pile of wet cardboard, wooden sticks and glittery red power stood at her feet.
"Thanks," she said, taking them off my hands. "As you can see, I'm breaking up the fireworks and sorting out what I can re-use and what I can't. Here's your final reward-dragon costume boots and gloves."
She handed me leather gloves and boots. They were fairly large, and were red, with fake black claws coming from the fingers/toes. They weren't real dragon-hide, but they looked real, and they went with the rest of the costume (mask and wings), which I got last year.
"Now, let me look at the time," Aggie said. She disappeared in a puff of purple light. She came back after a minute. "It's 4:00pm," she announced. "The fireworks show opens up at 8:00pm, giving us four hours to prepare. If you help us get rid of the straggling fireworks, I'll give you an experience lamp."
I stepped away, and looked up. The sky wasn't being lit up by explosive, mad fireworks any more- there were only a handful left. Mark was doing well. I could see him running around, wearing his dragon-costume boots and gloves, extinguishing fireworks. I splashed the rest of my water over a straggling firework releasing sparks everywhere. It fell to the ground, sputtering, and after waiting a minute for it to cool down; I picked the soggy remains up. The men in brown aprons were doing their job pretty well, because there were no more fireworks to pick up when I turned around. I handed my firework to Aggie, and she smiled politely. Mark ran up to us, clutching another firework, and Aggie took them off him.
"I must say, I'm very….pleased," she noted sourly. "But I can't reward you for giving me only one firework. In the remaining three hours and fifty minutes, we have to replace and set up the fireworks in the correct formation, which I will do, gather chairs for the onlookers to sit down on, which my hired men can do, and set up the snack stall, which I'll leave it to you to do. I'll reward you if you do that. We must work as a team if this celebration is to succeed." I stared at her, nonplussed.
"How do we set this stall up?" I asked. She chuckled.
"The stall itself is already set up; I just need to fetch it. What you need to do is make as much food as possible. There will be plenty of ingredients in the stall, all I want you to do is prepare snacks for the onlookers," she explained. She clapped her hands twice, and in a flash of purple light a simple wooden stall stood there.
I went behind it, and I was faced with two stoves attached to the side of the counter, an area for preparing the food, a sink, a beer tap, serving trays, and store-cupboards. I opened one, and it had been magically expanded. Pots and pots of flour stood there. I opened another, and piles of raw meat towered on the shelves of the cupboard. Another one contained hundreds of beer glasses, cake tins and bowls. There were several others containing all types of ingredients. We were meant to put our food in the serving trays, which were enchanted to keep an infinite amount of food in them, and keep all that food warm. Aggie laughed.
"Doesn't this stall prove the might of magic?" she commented. I nodded, awestruck on how working stoves, a beer tap and barrel and a working sink had been all set up in a simple wooden stall.
"I love cooking, so this will work out pretty well," Mark said. I nodded.
"I'm not sure if we'll have enough food prepared for a party in time," I said sadly. Aggie snorted.
"Don't worry," she sighed. "I have hired a cook, who will join you in approximately an hour. He'll also work during the party," she said. I nodded, and got to work.
Meat sandwiches being my favourite snack, I started making them. It started becoming repetitive. I'd get a pot of flour, fill a bowl with water, mix them together, cook the dough to make a loaf of bread, cut it open with a knife, cook some meat, and put it inside. The result was something that made my mouth water. I ended up eating the first three I made, before I was full, and the sight of delicious food didn't tempt me any more. Mark seemed to be preparing bowls of delicious stew nearby.
My cooking level was really flourishing because of all this cooking. After I was getting bored of making so many sandwiches, it had reached level 22! I was amazed.
I started preparing meat pies after that. I could imagine what Osrie1 would say if he was here. I prepared the dough in a similar fashion to the bread, and instead of shaping it like a loaf; I put it inside pie dishes that were in one of many store cupboards, filled it with meat, and cooked it, giving a mouth-watering result. Mark had gone from making stew to preparing buttered potatoes and filling them with fillings such as egg, tomato, and cheese.
My cooking level had raised to the likes of 30 after all that pie-baking. A man in chequered trousers, a white apron and a white chef's hat walked up to us.
"Excuse me, are you the two people Aggie the witch asked to make food?" he enquired in an unfamiliar accent. I nodded. He also wore a large trimmed purple cooking skill-cape on his back. "You may report what you've made to Aggie; I'm experienced enough to take over from here. Good work on what you have made." We thanked him, and ran off in search of Aggie.
The empty field had changed drastically since we'd been chasing around fireworks. Simple wooden chairs stood in rows in front of fireworks set up in a special formation. There was a metal gate separating the fireworks from the chairs, so nobody got injured. Lamps had been set up to light up the dark area. The men in brown aprons were still putting more chairs in rows. A countdown to the New Year had been magically placed near the fireworks (giant blue numbers floating in the air changing as every second passed). Aggie was setting up more fireworks. We ran up to her, and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped, and spun a round to face us.
"Have you done cooking?" she asked. We nodded, pointing towards the stall. She smiled. "Here's your reward for the extra work, and you're free to have what you like from what you'd made in the stall for free," she said, handing us one experience lamp each. I put mine away in my bag to put in my bank along with all my others.
The hole opened up again, and the first people to come through were everybody else who was part of our travelling gang (Osrie1, Amy11, Capablanca, Slinky, and Aaron), led by Jamie, Cedric and Sir Amik Varze. We ran up to them, and explained what we'd been doing. I poked my tongue out at Osrie1 and Amy11. They replied by doing the same. Aaron and Mark punched each other on the shoulder. They'd become good buddies in the time they'd known each other.
We sat down in the front row. The head chef had moved the stall nearer to the onlookers who were sitting down, waiting for the New Year to arrive. I ran up the stall, and the chef gave me two warm meat sandwiches. I chomped on them. There were a few hours to go before the New Year would arrive. Aggie had set off a few crowd-warmer fireworks. Purple and orange sparks filled the sky, and I thought of the year that had passed.
It was hard to think that at the start of this year I had been in Lumbridge, intent on exploring; not knowing what was being plotted. After all the fighting, death and blood that I'd been through this year, especially in Varrock with the Silverlight wars, I felt like I'd been transformed from an innocent noob to a battle-scarred warrior. Next year, something told me more fighting was going to come. After all, Master Samuel wasn't going to stay in the dark forever. He was plotting something, far away, and I knew I hadn't seen the last of him in the stronghold of security…
There were other evil forces that had revealed themselves this year. Like the noob exterminators. Even if Master Samuel had decided to stay hidden, the noob exterminators were still going to try and spoil everyone's lives. Nobody should forget the demon clan. They were only replacing their broken machinery now. I knew, somewhere in my heart, that they would be back.
This year, as well as being a dark year, had also had its happy moments. Like the several feasts and parties. There was the Easter party, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and this party too. Also, there had been a lot of love in the air. Not the type of love Osrie1 shared with his meat pies. This was real love. I noticed Mark kept flirting gently with Slinky, and there was the sinister romance Madrey1 shared with Rogue. There was also an unspoken bond between me and Amy11….
I'd met a lot of friends this year. Like, the Glory Troopers, which included Aubury, Mark, Creator, Clayguy7, Amy11, Haru, Haldir6, Slinky (even though she wasn't a Glory Trooper any more) and more. I had some new friends, like Aaron, Elite, Sin, Ballbags32, and the white knights. Even though he was a bit obnoxious, I was friends with Cedric. Sir Amik Varze WAS a friend, but he seemed too official and important to be a casual friend. Jamie was definitely a friend. I also had my ancient buddies, like Osrie1 (my very first buddy), Amy11 (the very first female buddy I'd met) and Capablanca (another old friend). I also had others, but I'd be here forever if I tried to list them all. As well as friends, I had my enemies.
I spent the next few hours chatting with friends, eating, and thinking. But then, there was only a minute or two until the New Year according to the giant countdown. I waited patiently for the countdown to finish.
The seconds ticked by, and I could sense the anticipation in the air. Ten seconds until the New Year…..
"Five!" The crowd chanted. A gasped as an unfamiliar flashback hit me…. "Four!" It was of a boy, like me, but chubbier….."Three!" What was he doing? "Two!" He seemed to be screaming as he was enveloped in light…. "One!" There was somebody else in the room, staring sadly at the boy…..
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" the crowd screamed as the giant blue countdown disappeared. I stared up in wonder as colourful sparks and fireballs filled the air. The air was filled with light, colour, smoke, and noise. Even in a happy, amazing moment like this, I wondered what this flashback meant. I was confused. I hadn't had a flashback of a different life since this exact moment last year. What did this mean? Was I destined to live my life in confusion and wonder? These thoughts, and more, exploded in my head like the amazing fireworks that were exploding over our heads right now.
I hope you liked it!
I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and I wish you a Happy new Year! Roll on 2010! During this year, we'll see action, adventure, death, romance, horror, holiday events, happiness...I hope you like the year I've plotted out especially for you
Until next time, toodles!