Broken Spell Part One

A short time ago, there was a dimension filled with wonderful magic.

But then darkness came into power and the great battle began. An army of the undead, led by a powerful warrior swarmed over the land, setting their sights on the human realm and beyond.

All seemed hopeless when a small legion of brave and true wizards came forth. Against insurmountable odds, they battled heroically, driving the evil back from the edge of the human world.

Then the most powerful of them, the sorceress known to one and all as the Gatekeeper cast a powerful spell that sent the armies into the underworld. She sealed the darkness inside giant gates for the foreseeable future and evil disappeared from the surface world.

But with great victory comes great loss.

The human world never knew of the great battle or the sacrifices that were made to save them from destruction.

Even till this day, they live in peace… unaware of what is about to awaken…

Twenty Years Later…

A blaring alarm broke the soothing silence of the bedroom.

A boy scowled, lifting his head from the thick book with a red cover (the Complete Chronicles of Narnia, which contained all seven of C.S. Lewis' masterpieces and his favourite fantasy stories), that had served as a pillow through the night. His hand reached for the pair of glasses in the bedside table. He sat as he put them on.

Chocolate brown eyes glazed over the room in mild frustration. Sunlight filtered through the orange curtains, illuminating the primarily cream coloured room.

Neil Grey blinked, getting up from the bed and grumbling as he shut the alarm on his phone before looking at it again and breaking into a smile.

"Wow, I might actually be on time."

While he had graduated school a few weeks ago, he still had two months left before his college classes began and to bide the time and earn a little extra money, he and his friends had decided to work in a local record shop called "Rock Porium". The owner Toby was a nice guy, a few years older than them, who was less of a boss and more of a cool olde brother. So, work didn't actually mean work. It meant chill time with his friends before they all head out to college in a few weeks.

He grinned, putting the book on the table. It was the sixth time he was reading "Chronicles of Narnia" and he still enjoyed it, even though he knew what was going to happen. Except for the last book, which for some reason bashed one of the main characters out of the blue, he loved the series. Kids entering a magical forest which was filled with all kinds of mysterious creatures and wonderful adventures… What was there not to love?

He wished he could experience something magical like that… Aside from his best friend Chip, no one really understood why he was fascinated with fairy tales, fantasy books or sci-fi novels. The feeling of experiencing things that could not be experienced in real life was alluring. It made him feel special and that's why he wanted to be an author, to create his own stories and craft his own worlds.

While he enjoyed reading and writing about adventure, he knew for absolute certainty that he would never experience it in real life. After all, Briarwood was quite possibly the most boring city in the entire world. Nothing ever happens here!

Neil bit back a curse as he hurried towards the Rock Porium. Even after getting up on time, he still managed to be late. After getting ready and seeing that he still had one hour before the shop opened, he had decided to continue reading and promptly lose track of time till Madison called him to remind him that he had five minutes late… and now, he was twenty minutes late.

"And he finally shows up!" Xander smirked at him.

"Shove off, Bly!" He grumbled. "I got up on time, got ready on time-"

"And yet you are late!" The Australian teased lightly, putting an arm around him.

"Has anyone told you how annoying you are?" He retorted.

"Around fifty times a day, but that's part of my charm." Xander grinned at him.

"Right." Neil yanked Xander's hand off his shoulder and made his way to a couch. He saw the Rocca sisters on the podium, Vida behind the decks and Madison filming her. From behind him, something smacked his shoulder. He turned around to see Chip with two rolled up newspapers.

"Swordfight?" The red head asked, his eyes bubbling with excitement.

"You're on!" He grinned as Chip tossed him one of the makeshift swords.

"En Garde Sorcerer Grey!" Chip announced as they ran in circles, baffling the few costumers. "Today, you face the Knight of Thorns, deliverer of swift justice."

"Great, the geek show begins." Xander sighed, slumping on a couch.

"Hey, don't interrupt the monologue." Chip chided.

"You will find my magic is mightier than your sword, knight." Neil said majestically, as if he was Aslan or any other character that knew more than he let on.

One of the benefits of having Chip as his best friend was that he had the opportunity to have fun in make-belief fantasy worlds and bounce off ideas for his fantasy stories.

"Sword-fighting again, guys?" Madison smiled, coming over to them, her camera still rolling.

"Not for long!" Chip said, striking with his 'sword' which he blocked with his own.

Just then, the door opened and Neil swiftly dropped his roll seeing who entered, only to be smacked on the head by Chip's roll.

"I win!" Chip yelled excitedly, only going quiet as the others, including the newcomer, turned to glare at him.

"Oh, hey Toby!"

Neil rolled his eyes. As much as he enjoyed Chip's company, he could be oblivious sometimes.

Right then, Chip turned back to look at Toby, finally catching on. "Toby!"

Their boss wore a green wetsuit, goggles, a snorkel and was dripping wet.

"Nice snorkel, boss." Everyone gathered around him, dropping whatever they were doing. Toby shrugged off Xander's hand as he tried to poke the snorkel.

"Weren't you taking the day off today?" Vida asked.

Toby attempted to speak, before remembering he still had the snorkel on. "Yes, I-" He yanked the snorkel off him. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I was at the beach, snorkelling with the little fishies and one swam right up to my mask!"

Neil caught Madison's eyes as they tried their best to stifle their laughter. The other three had no such qualms, breaking into soft giggles. They were lucky that Toby was their friend. Otherwise, they would have been fired ages ago.

"And he looked at me with these big fish eyes and he said…" Toby then squished his face together with his hands. "Are your employees cleaning the store like they said they would do? Now, I must go back to the water, back to the reef, find the fish and say 'no'"

At this point, all of them had given up pretence of not laughing. Even some of the costumers were laughing.

"Why don't you relax, boss?" Xander gave a placating smile to their clearly annoyed employer. "Take a breather. I'll gather the troops, assign them things to do, sweep the floor, stock the merchandise, put out the trash etc etc."

"Oh, you mean… do the jobs I pay you for? Guys!" Toby strode past them to his office and slammed the door.

"Alright, you guys heard the man, snap to it! Chip, grab a broom. Madison, deal with the stock. Neil, take care of the counter and Vida, throw out the trash! Snap! Snap!" Xander ordered them before returning to his couch.

Neil exchanged a knowing look with Madison as Vida charged up to Xander in an attempt to make him work. As if anything can come between Xander and the couch!

Just then, the ground began to shake violently, making all of them lose their balance.

"Earthquake!" Xander yelled as all of them moved to get under cover.

"It's the end of the world!" Chip hollered. "Just kidding!" He laughed just as Neil and Madison pulled him under the counter.

"Don't panic!" Toby yelled, looking out from his office. "Remember the safety procedures! Get under a desk!"

And he got back into his office and the door slammed shut. Dust poured from the ceiling and several racks of cassettes tumbled over to the ground.

After a moment, the quake finally stopped and the employees hesitantly looked out from their cover positions.

"Is it over?" Madison asked warily.

"I guess so." Neil replied. While he had seen a couple of earthquakes before, all of them were nothing compared to what happened now.

"I am alive!" Chip whooped.

"Oh, great. The store's messier than before." Madison noted, looking at the boxes that had fallen from the shelves as well as the various objects littered across the floor.

"You thought that wouldn't be possible." Vida said dryly.

"Well, good news is, worst is over." Xander said optimistically, coming over to them.

"That's rich coming from the guy supervising." Neil said making air quotes.

"After narrowly escaping death, the human species copes with it in different ways," Madison commented filming herself and her friends as they took a break and came outside the store. "Some use physical activity." He turned the camera to Xander who smirked at the camera, flexing his muscles before skateboarding around Madison.

"Some listen to music." She turned towards her sister, who was sitting in the back of her jeep, listening to music as she read a sports magazine. "Some read." Slumped beside her was Neil, nose deep in the red covered book. "And some eat." She moved over to Chip. "Tell me Chip Thorn, what type of pizza are you eating?"

"Shrimp, chicken, pepperoni, cheese and chocolate marshmallows," he told her, shoving a cheese covered marshmallow to his mouth.

"A fine example of the non-human species maybe?" Maddie asked dryly, wrinkling her nose.

"Somebody please, help me!" An alarmed cry interrupted her shoot. Madison turned off her camera as she turned around. The others also looked up from what they were doing to see an old man near them. A crowd began to gather hearing his plight.

"It's my brother! We were walking just up the road when some creature grabbed him! I fear the worst! It's just out of town! That thing dragged him to the woods!"

At the mention of the woods, the crowd dispersed almost immediately.

"Can you imagine that, Neil?" Xander nudged the Indian American boy beside him, "Him asking for someone to go into the woods?"

Neil didn't respond. While Briarwood was boring for the most part, there were rumours of strange occurrences near the woods nearly two decades ago, leading to people actively avoiding it ever since. He had always wanted to go to the woods but for some reason, whenever he planned to sneak away, something more urgent came up or sometimes, he straight up forgot about it till much later.

"Neil?" Xander frowned, seeing his friend's unfocused look.

"Won't someone please help me?" the old man asked, his voice breaking.

"I will!" Neil found himself saying but he wasn't the only one. Behind them, a young man with teal skin, clad in white shirt, jeans and a black leather jacket knelt beside his bike. The crowd was taking turns looking at the two of them. "I could use a break." He said, standing up and coming in front of the old man.

"Thank you" The man sighed as the new guy shot him a glance. Neil gave a small smile to him, which he reciprocated.

"What the heck, Grey!" Xander shook his shoulder. "Seriously, are you out of your mind!"

Neil looked back at him. "I'm going, Xander."

"Why? You know what happens when you go near the woods."

"No, we don't." He replied. "It's just a myth. When was the last time anything ever happened there? Don't worry."

The Australian shook his head before turning to the other boy. "Hey, I'm Xander. You are new around here, aren't you? Probably not aware of the facts,"

The boy quirked an eyebrow.

"And there's only one. If you go into those woods, you are never coming back."

"I heard about it." The boy replied. "The guy needs help but nobody except your friend seems to care."

"I'll go with you." Vida stepped forward; her voice full of determination. "Not everyone in the city is a coward." She looked at the crowd scathingly.

"I'll go too!" Chip perked up. "I have always wanted to go on a dangerous quest! This is dangerous, right?" He frowned at the others.

"Perilous." Vida replied.

"Sweet!" Chip exclaimed.

"Well, let's go," the old man said firmly, walking past the crowd. Xander and Madison looked at each other exasperatedly as their friends followed the stranger to the woods.

Sure, he wanted to help the old man find his brother but that wasn't the only reason he had volunteered. Something was beckoning him to follow the man, a gut feeling which Neil couldn't ignore.

As they reached the entrance, Chip was bubbling with excitement. Neil was just as interested to see what's special about the forest but he was better at hiding it.

"Are you sure you're willing to enter?" The old man asked one final time as the five of them stood in front of an ominous "Danger! Keep Out!" sign that hung on a broken fence. "The woods are a very dangerous place."

"You ask a lot of questions for someone whose brother's in danger," The mysterious biker frowned at him.

"Everyone is in danger." Came the mysterious reply.

Neil and Vida exchanged a confused look while Chip's eyes lit up. He lived for drama. "Everyone's in danger! Oh, yeah!" He galloped.

Just then, they heard a loud beep. They turned around to see a jeep parking near them and two people hopping out of it.

"Xander, I told you if you ever took my car, I'd rearrange your limbs." Vida threatened, charging at the tall boy.

"You are going to the woods and never returning," He shrugged nonchalantly. "As if you are ever going to see it again.'

"He has got a point." Chip agreed, only to be silenced when Vida turned her glare at him.

"You are my sister, where you go…. I go." Madison said to her sister, stepping forward.

"There's six…" The old man whispered to himself as the teens followed him to the woods.

"It's creepy out here." Madison said warily looking at the trees surrounding them.

"Got that right." Xander quipped, glaring at Neil.

"What?" Neil asked.

"You know we are only here because you had to be a good Samaritan, Grey."

"You didn't have to come, Bly."

"Neither did you."

"It was the right thing to do."

"What if whatever grabbed that guy's brother takes you next?"

"Well good thing, you came along then." Neil grinned. "You can use Plan Xander and get us out of there."

"I'm serious."

"Chill, if anything comes after us and nothing will, there are seven of us. Strength in numbers?" Vida interrupted them. Neil and Xander stared at each other before looking away. Vida rolled her eyes.

"Nothing will?" Chip pouted.

"No, Chip. I'm sure some monster will come barraging out of nowhere to destroy us all." She said sarcastically. As Chip's eyes lit up, she facepalmed.

"Seriously, Chip. Why are you like this?" She shook her head.

"What was that?" Madison stopped walking and the others turned around to look at her. "I felt something… something weird."

"Wait… Where's the old man?" The new guy noticed alarmed.

"Ten seconds in the woods and we are already lost! Alright!" Chip exclaimed excitedly. The biker looked at him confused. "Hey red head, I don't think that's a good thing."

"We know. Chip's just being Chip." Vida cut in.

"What do we do now?" Madison guessed.

"Oh, we are getting out of here, right now!" Xander said urgently, striding past them. "Let's go now!"

"Hey, what about the old man?"

"Well, he disappeared. And I for one don't want to know who or what took him!" He exclaimed. Neil looked at the others dismayed.

"Hey." Xander took his hand and tugged. "Let's go now. After we go back, we will let the police know about all this and they can find the old guy. Heck, we should have gone to the police first instead of coming here on our own! What's wrong with us?"

"Hey, Xander. Calm down. Take easy breaths." Neil sighed, turning around. "You heard him guys, let's get out of here."

"We are just leaving?" The biker looked at him incredulously.

"We are." Neil said. Part of him wanted to stay here and search for the old guy but Xander freaked out and he was right. This stuff was uncanny and it was not just him risking everything.

The other boy shrugged.

"Thanks." Xander said to him.

"Yeah. Anytime." Neil replied. It was then he realised that he was still holding Xander's hands and quickly let go and briskly walked ahead to join Madison and Chip in the front of the group, before Xander could see him blush.

Vida rolled her eyes, seeing Xander stop for a moment, his face turning red. "Idiots."

"And it's not just trolls, goblins and elves live in the woods too." Chip rambled about what he thought lived in the woods. Neil smiled. He wouldn't lie. He had once believed them too. In fact, these tales had inspired him to read "Chronicles of Narnia" and other fantasy tales. But who was he kidding? The woods outside Briarwood were no Narnia. It was just another wood, filled with normal creatures instead of hidden civilisations of fey folk and magical entities.

"I have also heard that a witch lives here! She's hideous with green skin and a black tongue with yellow drool that slowly drips from the corner of her mouth when she speaks." Chip continued, oblivious to the bemused expressions of the others.

"You have been reading too many fairy tales, friend," The newcomer said from the back of the group. "Guys, there's no such thing as witches!"

"Actually, there are-" Chip started to say, turning around and then stopping. Seeing him stop, the others turned around too and froze.

Seeing their reaction, he rolled his eyes exasperated. "Oh, okay. Now you guys are playing with me now."

"Ooh, someone's behind me. I'm so scared. Boo!" he mocked.

"There's someone behind you!" Vida said warily. The boy turned around and gave out an alarmed cry as he saw a figure in a black cloak walk towards them slowly. He staggered backwards towards the others.

"Anybody want to run?" Madison asked scared.

"Already tried but my feet won't move." Xander replied as for a moment, everything seemed to stop. Neil felt the strange feeling he had felt when the old man was there with them return. As bizarre as it sounded, it came from the hooded figure.

Just then, the figure stopped as several hideous creatures with grey skulls and multiple yellow eyes, forked tongues in grey plated armour and brown tattered rags jumped out of the woods, surrounding all of them.

"She brought friends." Vida cried out.

"Mysto Aeratan!" The figure cried out, raising a white wand and almost instantly, something hauled them from behind and lifted them to the air.

"Flying Brooms!" Chip yelled excitedly. Neil couldn't believe it and a part of him felt as excited as Chip as he grabbed hold of the broom carrying him for support. Then he looked down and the fear came ushing back. They were several feet up in the sky. He screamed. Thankfully he wasn't the only one. The others were just as spooked by all this, except maybe Chip.

They flew over the woods before being dropped nearby a tree that was taller than the others.

"So, new guy, now you know why no one goes into these woods," Xander said as they got off the ground.

"Name's Nick." The boy replied.

"What is this place?" Vida asked, looking at a large dragon head that extended out of the base of the tree, which was actually not only the tallest tree in the area but also the thickest. It could easily fit in the entirety of the Rock Porium within it.

"I call it Rootcore." It was a woman's voice and in front of them, the hooded figure reappeared. They backed away quickly towards the dragon's mouth, which opened.

As the others rushed into it, Neil followed. In hindsight, it should have been more pragmatic to rather run to the woods instead of entering a wooden dragon's mouth… He could still feel the connection.

The six tumbled into a dimly lit room.

"I thought it was best you were brought here." They looked up to see the woman again, standing on a higher level.

The six of them looked behind to see the door that had led them inside had closed.

"Relax. I am not here to hurt you." She said, untying her black cloak to reveal herself. She was a beautiful middle-aged woman with flaming red hair, wearing all white. She raised her hand and on the other side of the place, the brooms that had carried them reappeared, hanging on the wall. That portion of the wall was divided into different colours- red, blue, yellow, green, pink and white. Each broom was assigned to a colour.

"I am the sorceress, Udonna." The woman said, drawing attention back to herself. "Welcome to my home."

At her words, the place lit up, revealing itself completely. Neil felt a strange sense of warmth as he looked around. There was a wooden table nearby with a glass orb on it. Near where Udonna was standing was a small table on top of which a thick book was laid open.

"Woah! This place is awesome!" Chip gawked.

"When the six of you entered the forest, you stepped into a magical dimension," Udonna said and Neil took a double take. He stood corrected. Apparently, the woods outside Briarwood were Narnia after all!

"A parallel dimension outside of Briarwood," Chip looked at him. "Hey, do we live in a great city or what?"

"Twenty years ago," Udonna said, climbing down the stairs, approaching them. "There was a great battle in our world. Dark magic conquered our realm and was about to enter your dimension when we defeated them and sent them back to the underworld,"

She slowed down for a moment, sighing. "We won but at a great cost… The gates to the underworld were sealed with a powerful spell. However, during the recent earthquake, a crack appeared in the gate and evil has slipped through."

"Remember me? Xander?" Xander asked, raising his hands. As the sorceress looked towards him, he shrugged. "I was just wondering what does that have to do with us?"

Udonna blinked at him as if the answer was obvious.

"This could mean the end of both our worlds-"

"Oh please, none of us are buying your fairytale!" Nick cut her.

"This is not a story." Udonna told him firmly. "What I tell you is what happened."

Nick scoffed.

"Guys," he turned to the others.

"Hey, let's hear what she has to say." Vida suggested. "We can always leave after that."

Nick gave a frustrated look but didn't protest.

"You can leave anytime," they whirled around to see Udonna now standing back on the upper level.

"How are you doing that?" Neil asked. "Wait, don't tell me-"

"It's a simple spell." The white witch smiled. "Come here."

As they walked over to her, she motioned towards the thick book that was lying open. "The Xenotome, the book of the unknown. In it is everything we do not know. The book of spells and enchantments."

"What language is that? I have never seen it before," Madison asked curiously as symbols and letters appeared on the previously blank page.

"The language of the Ancients." Udonna smiled softly at her. "Some call it the language of the universe, Allspeak. Once you learn it, you will be able to speak and understand all languages in the universe."

"Woah, that'd be fun!" Chip whooped. Neil found himself smiling too. That would have certainly helped in his French lessons. Everything felt surreal. It was as if one of his fantasy novels were coming true.

"What does it say?" He asked.

"It is a prophecy. It tells that when evil rises again, five mystical warriors from the human realm will step forward. You are those warriors." She explained as the others frowned. "You are the power rangers."

There was a short silence as they looked at each other with befuddled expressions.

"Nice!" Chip exclaimed. A wizard and a superhero! All his dreams were coming true.

"Excuse me, but there must be a mistake." Xander asked incredulously. "How can we defeat pure evil? Our high school hasn't even won a football game in, like six years."

Vida nodded.

Udonna shook her head bemused. "Magic and mystical warfare has very little to do with mortal sports. This is a new world with new rules."

Madison raised her hand. "Udonna, you said five warriors but there are six of us here?"

"True. But everything happens for a reason. Destiny gathered the six of you here." Udonna said calmly. "All six of you have unbridled potential for magic and while prophecies are often incomplete, one thing is clear. All six of you are going to be instrumental to the future of this world."

"So, one of us doesn't have to actually be here?" Nick asked. "Great. I volunteer. I want no part of this."

"Nick." Vida looked at him.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"These are your magic wands." Udonna held up five wands, similar to the one she had. She let go of them but instead of dropping to the ground, they flew towards them.

The red wand hovered before Nick.

Chip caught the yellow one excitedly.

Xander got the green one.

Vida made a disgusted face as the pink one dropped on her hands.

Madison looked intrigued as she held the blue one.

Neil tried to not look dismayed as he saw the others get a wand. So, he was the sixth one, the extra. It was all too good to be true anyway.

Udonna walked over to him smiling softly. "Don't worry, young one. I sense strong magic within you. You don't need a wand to do magic."

Neil gave a small smile. The others looked at him concerned.

Udonna turned towards the others. "But you five should never go anywhere without them. These wands were forged from the raw magic of the ancient elementals and will be the tools you need to morph into rangers."

"Udonna!" A young girl their age with a heart shaped face and golden hair burst into Rootcore, running up to them. "Udonna!" She ran up to Udonna before pausing and waving at the six of them. "Oh, hello! Nice to meet you!"

"Excuse me." She turned towards Udonna and whispered something in her ear.

"You must stay here until I return. Do not go into the woods by yourself." She warned them before snapping her fingers and disappearing in a shower of white sparks.

"Wish I could do that…" The girl snapped her fingers repeatedly. "I practise and practise but nothing!"

She turned towards them again. "Oh, hello again, I am Clare, Udonna's niece and sorceress in training here at Rootcore." She introduced herself with a smile.

"Oh, that's it, I am outta here." Nick decided.

"Oh no, you can't go!" Clare bumbled as she hurried to stand in front of them. "Udonna said you had to stay here till she returned and trust me, it's definitely not safe for humans out there."

"We all better go." Madison said hesitantly.

"Yeah, we will take our chances with whatever is in the woods." Nick said making air quotes, which panicked Clare even more.

"Dude, you met those monster things out there, right?" Vida snarked. "Look I know this is crazy and I am not a fan of witches and monsters, but we saw everything with our own eyes. These are real."

Nick glared at her. "Well, I for one-"

"Oh, this is not good." Clare said nervously. "I know! I will conjure a spell which will freeze you where you stand until Udonna gets back!"

She raised her hands and the others backed away. She muttered something in a different language and she started to glow.

Neil tilted his head as lights started to gather in her palms. She looked pretty though he should probably focus on whatever spell she was trying to cast instead of admiring her. He shook his head. He felt a strange tingle in his skin as she continued to chant. He could sense the power she was channelling and it was scary but also impressive…. And then, the light imploded, blinding them all for a moment. When their vision cleared, they saw a white woolly sheep in front of them.

"That was anticlimactic." The sheep bleated in Clare's voice. "I thought I had it!"

Neil winced, kneeling down to look at her. "Hey, can you change back?"

"I have to wait till the spell runs out or Udonna changes me back!" She answered dismayed.

"Maybe don't try to curse others next time?" He couldn't help but snide.

"It wasn't a curse. A simple spell-" She protested.

"Which backfired and turned you into a sheep?"

"Point taken. I messed up. Sorry but I didn't mean to hurt you." She looked down.

"That's okay, I guess?"

"I always mess up spells!" She wailed.

"Hey for what it's worth. I really thought you were some great and powerful witch when you started casting the spell. I was scared."

"You did! You were?" Clare looked up, her voice full of disbelief and astonishment. "Thank you! That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!"

"You are welcome?"

"Yo, Neil! If you are done flirting with the sheep, we need to go now!" Vida called.

"I wasn't flirting!" he said flustered, standing up. The others were waiting at the exit and had already left their wands at the table with the crystal ball. And Xander was looking at him weirdly.

"Okay, then bye!" He waved at Clare as he hurried to catch up with the others.

"Bye! Wait, don't go!" Clare's cry was unheeded as they left Rootcore. "Udonna is going to be so mad!"

"Come on," Nick led the way as they hurtled through the woods, trying to find a way back to Briarwood. They slowed down as they reached a clearing. It seemed to be a small village filled with huts and archaic buildings made of wood. But the strangest thing were the people there. Some of them had pointed ears, others had beautiful butterfly wings and few didn't even look human.

"Guys, I was right! See, elves, fairies and trolls!" Chip pounded a fist in the air. "See, all the stuff about the woods were real all along!"

"I can see that but still not believing." Neil said awestruck. "This is amazing!"

It was then he realised that the people were wounded and the village was in a state of ruin.

"I should have known you wouldn't stay in Rootcore." They looked up to see Udonna walking towards them.

"What happened here?" Madison asked.

"Woodland Village was attacked." Udonna gave a resigned sigh. "I was too late to stop it. Tomorrow it will be another village. The darkness destroys everything in their path till they find what they want."

"Me." Udonna said gravely. "And then they will go after you."

"Hold on just a sec," Nick said frustrated. "I never agreed to be a part of this."

Just then, the villagers noticed them and gathered in front of them.

"It is them!" One cried in joy and relief. "It is them! The protectors are here!"

"All hail the Mystic Force!" They bowed before them.

The teens looked at one another, not sure how to react.

"Always wondered what it would be like to be worshipped." Xander joked. "It's not bad."

The ground suddenly shook and a giant rock monster appeared out of nowhere. The villagers fled screaming in terror.

"Oh, that's bad!" Xander said as they staggered back.

"Take out your wands!" Udonna commanded.

"We kind of left them at the tree." Chip said guiltily.

"Alright stand back," Udonna said, stepping forwards. She glared at the monster. "You leave me no choice."

She raised her wand to the skies. "MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!" A spell circle traversed through her horizontally as in a burst of white light, she was transformed into a white ranger. She drew her Snow Staff and charged at the monster. "Flurry of snow, White Mystic Ranger!"

"Now, that's cool!" Vida grinned, staring at her.

Neil nodded, watching the sorceress fight off a creature thrice her size.

"Guys, we have company." Chip said as the same creatures from before jumped out from the woods.

"Well as I see it, we have two choices. We can surrender and be destroyed…" Chip wavered off.

"Or fight?" Madison finished.

"We fight." Nick agreed, raising his fists.

"No, there's a third option." Xander stopped him. "Plan Xander. I'll just reason with them."

"Xander, no." Neil facepalmed.

Not heeding him, the boy in green stepped forwards. "Hi, I'm Xander. We are not really from these parts so if it's okay with you, we'll just be heading off-" He was cut off as one of the creatures kicked him in the chest.

"Guess we fight." Xander relented as the others helped him up.

The creatures snarled at them before spewing some kind of energy blasts from their mouths.

They got separated as the creatures pounced at them from all sides. Neil never liked horror movies or action movies but now he felt like he was in one. He picked up a fallen log and pushed off one creature only for another to kick him from behind, forcing him to let go of the log and cry out in pain. Two others caught him from the side and threw him around like a ragdoll. He crashed into a stack of hay, which fortunately softened the fall.

As soon as he got up, one of them punched his face. That hurt… a lot.

He fell backwards and his spectacles fell off in the ground. Now he could hardly see…

Everything was a haze as he was hit from all sides. His entire body ached.

Just when things looked hopeless, Chip shouted. "Guys, it works. Just believe in magic!"

How can someone just believe in magic? Like what was he supposed to do, just think about magic forcing the creatures back and something miraculously saving him. He could do that. After all, he has seen so many impossible things happen just today.

"I believe… I believe in magic!" he covered his face with his hands to shield himself from the merciless attacks and hoping for something to save him. Just then, he felt a breeze of cold wind. He opened his eyes to see himself surrounded by ice sculptures and somehow the monsters had vanished. He gave out a sigh of relief. As he peered closer, he yelped. The ice sculptures weren't sculptures… They were the creatures, who had somehow been frozen!

He staggered backwards and felt around for his spectacles. He found them quickly and thankfully they were still in one piece.

He looked around to see his friends run towards him. Somehow, they had also managed to take out the creatures.

This was amazing! If this was what it entailed to have magic, he was totally down for it, even if he couldn't be a ranger.

He saw Udonna take out the monster as well as the creatures attacking Nick. They walked over to Nick and Udonna, who demorphed.

"Well, well, very nice." She nodded in approval at all of them. "You truly are the ones. Are you up to the task? Are you now ready to accept your legacy?"

"Oh yeah, bring it on!" Chip said excitedly.

"I'm in!" Vida grinned. "I kicked some serious evil back there,"

"This is so unlike me, but I'm sticking with my sister," Madison decided.

"Someone's got to look after these guys, right?" Xander smiled.

"Me too, I guess. I may not be a ranger but I did something back there and I want to help." Neil said.

"Don't sell yourself short, Neil. You have powerful ice magic, the same as me. I can train you to be a powerful sorcerer."

Neil beamed at her.

"And you, Nick?" Udonna turned towards Nick.

"Me? No way" Nick scowled. "I'm out of here."

"Are you sure this is what you choose?"

"Look. The 'I believe in magic' thing didn't work for me." He told them as he straightened his jacket.

"Try believing again." Madison suggested. "Maybe it didn't catch on the first time?"

Nick shrugged and Udonna shook her head.

"He's a non-believer. I can do nothing for him." She said sadly. "Clare will see you out of the woods safely."

"Clare!" Udonna called out.

"Here I am!" Clare bleated as she came through the woods, still stuck as a sheep.

"Oh, my dear child," The white sorceress laughed, looking at her niece affectionately. "When will you get your spells right? See him safe passage out of the woods."

"Yes Udonna," Clare replied and went in the opposite direction, Nick following closely behind.

A loud noise behind them made them turn around quickly to see a figure in purple wolf themed armour come out of a spell circle. Like knights of old, he had a shield with his sword sheathed in it.

"You may have defeated my hidiacs but you will not defeat me!" He said menacingly, drawing his sword and pointing it at them. "Wolf Attack!"

The middle of his purple shield opened to reveal a red eye, that shot purple energy beams at them, knocking them off their feet.

"It is the end for you!" He swore as they looked at him fearfully.