The D&D Chronicles: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 13: Wanted Witches and Wicked Wardens Part 1
Delta Rune, the Hero's Forge
"For centuries, the many worlds of the Multiverse stood separate from one another," Blinky explained, as he was teaching the human children a bit of history lesson of the past about the many realms, "But while there were those who oblivious of each other's existence, there were those who knew they were real. They then designed and divided doorways and bridges between these realms, allowing those to make contact and bond with neighbours over time, especially between the humans and the fantasy species such as Elves, Trolls and even Dragons."
A look of sadness passed over his long, blue face. "But, while there were some who wished for friendship, others seeked to conquer, and many dark forces, such as the Dumm-Dumms, evil mages and other threats, wanted to dominate all that existed. For the Dumm-Dumms, they were led by several villainous beings, such as trolls like Ghoular the Grimreaper, Orcs such as Nargi and Bumph, and worst of them all, the Ogre Koroglugg, the Bone Breaker, the Butcher." When he next spoke, his voice slowly began to feel prideful, "But there were those who untied to stop these dangers, and one of them was the Paladin of Xadador, with the amulet forged by Merlin himself, the Paladin, along with other great warriors, fought against these dark threats. The title of Paladin was handed down for generations to many different species, from Humans to Elves, Dragonborns to Trolls, Dwarfs to Half-Orcs and even Tieflings, until, after many moons, good triumphed over evil, on a great battle known as the Battle of Ragnarok Bridge."
Blinky's pride grew as he continued, "And our great Paladin, Dorlaia the Daybringer, a Tiefling who became the new Paladin following the death of the last human to wield the mantle, used the power of the Amulet of Xadador on the bridge to create a portal to the Shadowfell, a dark sinister realm which would be the perfect prison, and locked Koroglugg, the Dumm-Dumms and the few other forces that the Dumm-Dumms sided with away, exiling them there, and sealed the bridge with the sacred amulet, before taking apart the bridge, stone by stone."
"Following the battle, it was decided for the fantasy race to live in secret, most of them remained on this realm, while others moved to the others to begin anew, along with several humans who wished to start new lives with them."
"Most of us fantasy kind left the old world to search for a new home for peace, while others remained behind to rebuild and begin anew." Blinky continued, "We secretly joined a group humans on a journey to the New World, travelling in our own ships in secret, while some of us stowed away on a human ship known as the Mayflower, a small handful of us and some Minxies we brought for companionship, and nourishment, we then reached land on a place that would be known as Plymouth, Massachusetts, and most of us went separate ways to make new homes, while for us, we kept walking, until we came across one of the rare Heartstones, and found a new home in Brady Oaks, giving birth to our proud home… of Delta Rune."
As he finished, he could hear Toriel letting off a small giggle, as he looked from the book he was reading… he saw half of the humans paying attention with AAARRRGGHH! while the other half looked like they weren't.
Hilda, Luz, Frida, Ezran and Chuckie were enjoying the story (David also enjoyed, but felt a little nervous over the parts with the dark forces), Raph and Hazel were fast asleep, Callum was doing a few doodles, Chris and Taylor were also paying attention a little, but looked like they were about to doze off, while Patrick was dozing off bigtime, much to the six-eyed troll's annoyance, while Toriel and Asgore only chuckled a little on this little scene.
Blinky soon approached the dozing Paladin, before closing his book so hard that it awoke him with a startle.
"ImawakeImawake!" Patrick cried upon waking up.
"The training of Paladin history may seem like a minor duty, Master Patrick, but…" Blinky said, as Patrick regained on what was happening.
"Sorry about that, Blinky, though I was with you up 'til the Mayflower." Patrick admitted, as he let out a small yawn, "I've been doing a few all-nighters doing work for my school's exams that I have been working on this week."
"As well as doing a lot of practice for the play as well." Taylor addly pointed out.
"Yeah, and I feel like my brain is all ooey gooey too…" Patrick said as he got up.
"Well, at least you don't have to worry about training," Hilda said with support, "you only have a month for your rematch with Kriv."
Patrick smiled a little on what his little sister said, as when planning for the rematch, it was decided for the young Paladin to be given a good few weeks to learn the basics, so that by the next month, he would be ready to face Kriv once again, though it was now the first week and Patrick had yet to learn.
"That is a bit true, sis," he said, "though I was wondering if my training would be a little more… active."
"Well, it's important to learn as well, Patrick, and what better way than to do a bit of training with your mind?" Frida stated.
"Miss Frida is correct," Blinky nodded, "before one fights, one must understand why one fights."
He then held up his book with his bottom hands while gesturing to the statue of the past Tiefling Paladin (whose pose had her holding up her Vorpal sword proudly) mentioned earlier with his top hands, "For these precious early steps will decide whenever a young Paladin would become a Dorlaia the Daybringer," then to a male Elf Paladin, who was in standing up thinking position reading a book, "Kelvin the Clever," followed by another male, a Troll Paladin, holding not only his Vorpal sword in one hand, but a warhammer in the other, "Makas the Mighty…"
"Or Ulfgar the Unfortunate." AAARRRGGHH! sort of ruined the moment as he pointed to the familiar statue of the Dwarf Paladin who was trying to protect himself from getting killed, much to the worried annoyance of the human kids.
Luz then looked to Blinky as she asked, "Can I ask you something, Blinky?"
"Of course, Miss Luz."
"Well, when we first met, when we asked about different species donning the mantle of Paladin, you mentioned Tiefling Paladins were a little… complicated as you put it." Luz stated, as she scratched the back of her head, "Why is that different with that Dorlaia girl and the other Tieflings?"
Blinky and the King and Queen looked to each other with concerned looks, but nodded in agreement as they looked to the humans and explained.
"That, I'm afraid, is due to Therai the Fallen," Asgore replied, as he then gestured to one of the statues, and as the humans looked, they noticed that, despite the statue of a male Tiefling Paladin, standing proudly, hands on his hips and looking to his left, the statue looked like it got charred, and parts of the statue were broken off, such as the right arm, the left foot and the Tiefling tail, "once known as Therai the Fearless, he was a great Paladin that helped us out in our times of need."
"Unfortunately, over time, he eventually became bitter and angry when he was no longer given praise and honorable assignments and was eventually forced to do menial tasks such as getting rid of Minxie infestations." Blinky then explained, "This made him vulnerable to corruption, as a sinister sorcerer presented him with a gemstone that bestowed him Dark Armor. This caused him to be corrupted by its power and he forgot the ideals of Paladins. He would then enslave a village of elves in Glastonbury and steal metal from human villages to make weapons for the Dumm-Dumms in order to free himself of being the Paladin."
Toriel then added, "It wasn't until later on, when fighting his successor for the amulet, a Half-Orc named Dench, spoke to him that that what he was doing wouldn't bring him the freedom he wanted, Therai tore the Amulet of Xadador off of his chest, took out the gemstone that the sorcerer gave him, and crushed it. However, he was later killed by Bular a second later and while he lay dying, Therai prayed to Merlin to forgive him for his mistakes."
"Unfortunately, the damage was done and opinions of Tieflings grew mixed and skeptic than ever," Blinky spoke, "and all the other Tieflings, those being either past Paladins or those who aided them, were desecrated and scarred for quite some time." he then gestured to the other statues of Tieflings, some Paladins and others different types like Mages or Archers and even Rangers, were all also charred as well.
"All statues except for Dorlaia," Toriel pointed out, "for if any were to show disrespect for the one who saved us at the Battle of Ragnarok Bridge, would be completely disgraced."
"Jeepers," Chris said, a little shaken as Patrick and the others were, "that's a bit deep…"
"It's hard times that we live in, Master Christopher." Blinky solemnly nodded.
"Well, if it's alright to lighten things up, can I ask something?" Hilda raised her hand before saying, "You lot have been mentioning a bit about other realms that a Paladin has to protect, so, I suppose we've all have the same question but…" she then let out a big grin as she asked, "What kind of realms and worlds are we talking about?"
"Very glad that you asked that, Hilda." Toriel said with a small giggle, and then brought out a small device and placed it on the ground, and when she pressed the button on it, a large holographic map of various constellations, star systems and various sorts soon appeared, filling up the whole arena.
As the humans looked in awe and amazement, Toriel smiled as she explained, "What you see before you is the Multiverse itself, the entire cosmos containing infinite worlds and planes of existence, worlds and dimensions that exist beyond your own imagination."
"And it's my job to protect all this?!" Patrick asked in wonder, his mouth still holding a small smile and his mind boggled at the sight.
"Indeed, Patrick," Toriel nodded, "every single one of these worlds hold many extraordinary sites and beings you could ever imagine, as well many civilizations that exist. The Paladin can at times explore these worlds for adventure, while at times, they could be needed elsewhere, no matter where there's danger, the Paladin of Xadador will be there."
"What type of worlds, realms and planes are there?" Hilda asked, a smile on her face.
"Many to name a few," Toriel said, as she pointed to a few examples of several worlds and planes of existence, "such as the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, home to clockwork creatures called the Modrons, the Court of Stars, ruled by the Celestial eladrin Queen Morwel, the Elemental Planes of Earth, Air, Water and Fire, the Heroic Domains of Ysgard, also referred to as Gladsheim, the Feyweild, and even the forbidden Nine Hells."
"W-what about the Shadowfell?" David asked, a little nervous.
Toriel, Asgore and Blinky looked to each other, until the king replied, "While the Shadowfell is part of the multiverse, you'll be lucky to know that all the ways in and out of there are no longer around… with the exception of one, of course."
"That being the Ragnarok Bridge." Blinky added.
"And what's that realm here?" Taylor asked, as she pointed to one realm that showed what looked like a sinister, heavily fortified prison facility, dark clouds shrouding everywhere.
"Nabakza prison." Asgore stated, a little sternness in his voice, "a dark prison realm that serves as a prison for convicted criminals, and even those who serve the dark forces of evil."
"It is also one of the places that a Paladin must take prisoners if he were to spare one's opponents." Blinky also explained.
"Has anyone ever escaped that place?" Chris asked.
"No one has ever been able to get out," Blinky replied, with a small scoffing chuckle, "Any thoughts of doing that is complete madness, not to mention insane."
Toriel then deactivated the device, and the holographic showing of the many worlds, realms and planes of existence disappeared.
"Knowing more about these worlds you must protect are also one of the important lessons for a Paladin such as yourself to learn that will help you in future," Blinky said, as then pointed back to the statue of the male Elf Paladin, Kelvin the Clever, and added, "just as it did with Kelvin the Clever and other wise beings that came before and after him as well."
Patrick looked back to the statue of Kelvin, before looking to Blinky as he then said, "I understand that you want me to learn all this, but as I mentioned, I have much to do at school, with projects and exams, such as my Spanish lesson with… our Spanish teacher."
"Señor Uhl…" Luz said, as she and the other kids let out a small shudder.
"Come again, young masters?" Blinky asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Señor Uhl, or as we and most of the students who take his class like to call him, Uhl the Unforgiving." Chris replied as he explained, "While most of our students are quite kind and helpful at times, Señor Uhl is to be quite serious and extra stern with discipline, and I mean extra stern."
"He does have a bit of a heart at times," Taylor added, "but he takes lessons quite seriously too."
Toriel looked to the kids with a bit of concern, seeing their nervous faces upon thinking about this Uhl person, "How so, exactly? And how is he a bit of a deal to you all?"
"Any person who can't be able to master basic Spanish would result in major scarring from Señor Uhl in the form of a serious talk to." Callum pointed out.
Taylor nodded as she stated, "That's right, in fact one time, one of our classmates, Daisy Crawley, incorrectly translated a word in one of our exams, and had a major telling off from the teacher, and she cried for two weeks."
"Gracious." Toriel said, a little shocked about it and feeling a bit sorry for the human girl who got humiliated, "That's sadly the unfortunate point of discipline, I suppose…"
"Of course, we're quite lucky to have a friend who is excellent at Spanish. Especially when she can help us out too." Chris happily said, as he nudged Luz, who happily smiled at the compliment and nodded in agreement.
"Exactly," Patrick stated, before looking back to Blinky, "and that's one of the reasons about my lessons, same as the others, and, like them, the main concern is for my immediate future."
"Aha, that be true," Blinky said, "but to learn what will happen in the future, one must simply look to the past."
He turned to Toriel, "The book, your Majesty?"
"Okay?" Toriel said, as she then handed Blinky what looked like a very small book.
"I would highly recommend A Brief Recapitulation of Xadador Lore, by the author Zavik Howling." Blinky happily said, as he handed the book to Patrick.
Patrick took a good look at the book, "It's… quite a bit small…"
"Oh, yes. It's pocket edition, hold up." Blinky said, as he began to unfold the book 6 times, increasing its dimension through each fold while remaining thin much to the other's surprise, guessing that it was a bit of a magic thing of sorts, before the troll handed it over to Patrick.
Upon placing the book in Patrick's hands, Blinky looked at the book, and then acted like he remembered something with a smile, before pulling what appeared to be invisible string from it, increasing its mass and thickness a bit that the startled Paladin almost dropped it in that instance.
"And this book is only Volume 1." Blinky added.
"This is volume 1?!" Chris asked, surprised, "How many are there?!"
"Oh, about 47 of them, to be precise." Blinky said, proudly.
"Great…" Patrick mumbled a little.
"That is so cool!" Luz said, a bit amazed about the books that Blinky was talking about.
"That is definitely something I can read, too." Hilda smiled.
"I am glad to see you take such an interest, Miss Hilda. Miss Luz." Blinky laughed happily on hearing this, "If ever you wish to read another, you are more than welcome to peruse my collection."
"Okay, I understand, Blinky," Patrick said, as he put the Xadador Lore book underneath his other books, as he looked to Blinky with concern, "but I need you to understand that if I don't get a good pass on some of my exams and lesson, I could get grounded and I can't be the Paladin, especially now that the amulet has chosen me and now I have two lifes to keep up."
"Same can be said with us as well." Taylor added.
Toriel approached Blinky as she said, "Patrick and Taylor are right, you know, Blinky. If it were an Elf, Dwarf, or even a Dragonborn, it would be easy and simple for them to do this sort of thing. But for someone like a human, it will make things difficult for their everyday lives, such as work and school, especially when having to keep all this a secret too."
Patrick nodded at that when hearing this, as she added, "I suggest that we let him continue with his studies with the others, and then help him with the Paladin work as well. Besides, we only have till next month, so we have plenty of time."
"I suppose if you say so…" Blinky said, as he went into a bit of thought.
Just then, Asriel appeared in the arena and ran up to the group.
Along with him, walked in a tall, thin man, with a long pointed nose and pale skin. He had black hair with light gray front bangs and wore a long purple robe and a large yellow bow-tie. He was also wearing a pair of fingerless gloves.
"Mum! Dad!" Asriel happily chirped, as he gave his parents a hug hello.
"Asriel." Toriel said happily.
"Hey there, son." Asgore smiled, before looking at the tall man, "Hello there, Cedric."
"An honour seeing you, your majesties." the tall man, Cedirc, happily said, as he took a bow.
"Who's that?" Luz asked Blinky.
"That is Cedric the Sensational, he is a sorcerer, and Asriel's home teacher in magic." Blinky pointed out.
"An actual sorcerer!" Luz felt giggy when she heard that.
"Indeed, a human mage to be precise," Blinky nodded, "though while there are not a lot of human mages around in your realm, other humans from long ago went to the other planes of existence to begin new lives, one of these new lives being to learn magic. Cedric here being an example, for he is human that resides from the continent of Faerûn in one of the worlds."
As the group came up to the royal family and Cedric, Toriel looked to her son and asked, "So, how are your lessons going, Asriel?"
"Great mum," Asriel smiled, "and check out this new air magic trick I learned."
Asriel then got out two marbles from his pocket, then did the Aspiro magic trick, and then, upon making a gust of wind, he conducted two circles with his fingers, and suddenly had the small gust in one hand, then brought out the marbles in the other, as he managed to spin the two marbles quickly along an equatorial plane as he grinned happily.
"That's amazing, Asriel!" Toriel smiled as she clapped, the others following her actions.
"Indeed," Cedric smiled, "He's been learning new tricks everyday."
"That's pretty sweet, Asriel," Luz smiled, before letting a sigh, "man, forgive if I say that so jealous, I wish I could be able to learn magic."
"You do?" Asriel asked, putting away the marbles.
Luz nodded, as she then got out her favourite book and showed it to everyone, "Yeah, that I can be an amazing witch… like Azura!"
"Azura?" Blinky asked.
"Oh, it's a book series that Luz enjoys reading," Patrick explained, "It's one of her favourites, even Hilda enjoys it a bit."
"It's about a witch called Azura, who embarks on magical quests fighting evil and bringing peace across enchanted lands." Luz explained a bit about the series' plot, "Kinda like what Patrick would be doing in due time, though I would love to be like her as well, doing all kinds of awesome magic!"
"That sounds quite interesting." Asriel said, "You don't mind if I have a chance to read it one time, do you?"
"Of course I won't mind." Luz happily said.
"Alright, now, Asriel," Cedric spoke up, getting the young prince's attention, "we better get going, our next lesson would be to focus on baking 7 types of magical flavoured cakes."
"Got it, Mr. Cedric." Asriel nodded, before looking to his parents.
"Keep up the good work, son." Asgore smiled.
"Thanks dad, mum." Asriel smiled, "I'll bet auntie's gonna love this!"
As Asriel hurried along to join his teacher, he waved back to the group as he called out, "Bye, guys! See you later!"
"Bye, Asriel." Hilda smiled, as she and the others waved goodbye until they see him again.
Once Asriel left, Taylor looked to Asriel's parents and asked, "Does Asriel have an aunt?"
"He does." Asgore nodded.
"Trouble is that we don't always see her a lot," Toriel explained, "sometimes she's out looking for trouble, and sometimes finding it. But all in all, she really loves Asriel as we do."
"That's good to hear," Taylor replied, "we have a few relatives from our parents as well, though we don't quite see them a lot either, even Uncle Jasper, our mum's brother."
"How so?" Asgore asked.
Taylor and her older brother and younger sister looked a little uneasy on this, before she then replied, "It's… complicated…"
Patrick and Hilda nodded on what Taylor said, their Uncle Jasper was a bit of an adventurous businessman, and was good friends with their father, usually going out exploring, though it became too much concern for their mum as she and their father began running a family.
During the time when Johanna was pregnant with Kira, it was sometime following the latest exploration that Micky became sick with the sudden illness, and Uncle Jasper, desperate and panicking, spent billions trying to find and/or fund an antidote, but all attempts ended in failure and nearly resulted in the bankruptcy.
Upon Micky's death, Johanna blamed her brother (believing that Micky got something dangerous during their travels) for losing her husband and father to her children and disowned him. This would leave Jasper in a bitter, lonely state, and Patrick, Taylor and Hilda never got to see him again since.
"I see…" Asgore said, before deciding to change the subject, "anycase, I suppose we could call it a day for now, perhaps."
"Alright…" Patrick nodded, as he and his friends started to leave the Hero's Forge, and headed off for home, taking a little route through Trollmarket.
Blinky and AAARRRGGHH accompanied them as the former looked to the Paladin, who was currently looking at the book that he gave him.
"So, Patrick," he said, breaking the bit of silence, "I take it that you'll get to reading this book when you get back?"
Patrick looked to Blinky for a bit, before replying, "Steady on, Blinky. I know that I have to read this, but remember what Toriel said, I have to make sure I do human studying besides Xadador studying."
"I wouldn't mind having a good look at it." Hilda then spoke up, "I couldn't bear to know there was a whole new bit of history about magic and dragons and stuff we never heard of."
"Me too." Luz added with a grin.
"I wouldn't mind a look too," Frida also said, "funny enough, most of what you mentioned, especially this 'Battle of Ragnarok Bridge' reminds me a bit of my favourite book, The Legend of Great King Condon, it's about a boy who grew up to be wise king. It's full of grand adventures and pithy wisdom, but also contains several battle scenes that are quite bloody."
"Well, if you thought the Battle of Ragnarok Bridge was something," Blinky smiled, "you should check out the case of the Hydra Infestation on page 98!"
While the six-eyed troll spoke, David suddenly stopped and smelt something, which got the other's attention.
"What's up, David?" Ezran asked.
"I don't know," David replied, "but I think I smell something. And it smells pretty good."
David followed his nose where the smell came from, until he came to what looked like a little stone table, and on it was a hot plate of spaghetti.
"Is that… spaghetti?" Callum asked.
"It sure looks like it." Taylor replied, "Who made it anyway?"
"Not sure, but it smells quite good." David said, as he walked over to the plate.
Blinky looked to the spaghetti, and muttered aloud, "Oh dear…"
"Master David," he cried, "don't get close to the-"
But it was too late.
As David turned to Blinky as he reached the plate, he was suddenly yanked by his foot by a bit of rope that was hidden from sight, resulting in David to be hung upside down, his foot tied up, much to the others' surprise.
Papyrus then jumped out of a hiding spot, as he cried out excitedly, "Haha! Got you at last, Owl Lady! You have been caught by the great Papyrus, future member of the Royal Guard!"
Sans popped up as he then added, "Hi David."
"Wait, what?" Papyrus said, snapped out of his joy, as he saw that he caught David, "Dang it! Slipped through my fingers!"
"Uh, Papyrus…" Patrick asked, "what exactly are you doing?"
"Oh, hello there, Human Paladin," Papyrus greeted Patrick, "Sorry, I was just on a mission to capture a wanted criminal."
The humans looked to the spaghetti still on the stone table, then back to Papyrus, as Hilda asked, raising an eyebrow, "With spaghetti?"
"Indeed," Papyrus smiled proudly, "my spaghetti, which I've been enjoying cooking for sometime, is the perfect dish and bait to trap any criminal. As a self-proclaimed 5-starred chef and food critique, I'd say it's my best dish yet!"
"We don't exactly have tongues, but whatever makes him happy." Sans added as he shrugged.
"What criminal, anyway?" Callum asked, as AAARRRGGHH! helped David out of Papyrus' trap.
"He refers to the Owl Lady, the Wild Witch of Delta Rune." Blinky explained, "She is a very powerful witch and has been on the run for quite some time."
"Whoa… a powerful witch…" Luz said in amazement.
"Yeah, I think it would be great to meet a witch." Hilda suggested.
"Mmm… maybe," Taylor said to her younger sister, "as long as it's not a dangerous one."
"For now, though, I think we should get back and get some rest for tomorrow." Patrick suggested, as the others nodded in agreement, before looking at Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!, "See you tomorrow, guys."
"Farewell, Young Masters." Blinky waved goodbye, along with AAARRRGGHH!, as the humans looked to the skeleton brothers, as Papyrus was setting up a new trap, this time putting his dish under a box that was held up by a stick and on top of it a bell to help signal him, the stick tied to a rope, with the other end stuck to the dish.
"See you guys tomorrow." Patrick said to the brothers, "And… eh… best of luck… I guess."
"Thank you very much, Human Paladin." Papyrus smiled as he turned away from his trap and waved goodbye to the human children as they headed home.
Suddenly, the bell rang, getting Papyrus's attention as the box fell with a thud.
"I caught her, friends!" he cried "I caught her!"
"Really, bro?" Sans asked, as he and the trolls raised their eyebrows at that, as they followed Papyrus to the box.
"Just look, she's right under there!" Papyrus said, gesturing to the closed box trap.
Sans opened up the box to reveal… Papyrus eating the bait?
"Dang it!" he cried, "My spaghetti was too amazing!"
"I'll get you soon, Owl Lady. No matter how much spaghetti it takes…" Papyrus said, seriously… before smiling as he took another bite and added, "Oh, this is very good."
Later, Kirby House
After getting back home, the kids were soon in their pajamas, and were all set for bed, though Hilda and her older brother were still doing a little bit of homework.
Hilda's bedroom, which she shared with her youngest sister Kira, had white carpeting and a striped rug, and was a nice bedroom for any young sibling or two to have. There was a rope of fairy lights strung across the shelves above her desk, which were covered in books and trinkets from the wilderness that she and her family explored a few times when she was young. On her desk was a lamp. There was a wardrobe at the foot of her bed.
Nearby was a crib, where Kira would sleep in at times, and was currently sound asleep at the moment, while Hilda was at her desk, doing a bit of homework of her own, when Patrick appeared.
"All set for bed?" he asked.
"Yeah," Hilda said, eyes focused on her work, before letting out a small sigh, "these questions are really too tricky, don't you think?"
Patrick had a good look, and saw that, like him, Hilda had some work that needed to be done by next week as well, while she got most of the answers right, she still had a bit more to do, but most of them were very hard to answer.
"Yeah," Patrick nodded, "these do look like a major brain hurter."
"I wish there was someway for me to get through these…" Hilda admitted.
"I'm sure you'll find a way, sis." Patrick said, as he help Hilda out of her chair and then helped tuck her into bed, "But for now, I think you should get some sleep. If you like, you can get a little bit of help from the others when we meet up tomorrow if you want."
"Perhaps." Hilda smiled as she let out a small yawn.
"Goodnight, Hilda." Patrick smiled, as he closed the door and switched off the light.
"Goodnight, Patrick." Hilda smiled, before falling asleep, leaving both girls to dream sweet dreams.
But as they slept, it felt like something within a small little crack in one of the walls peeped out, and looked to the sleeping blue-haired girl, before looking at the work that was still left out on the desk…
Next morning…
The siblings had woken up and got down for breakfast, enjoying some pancakes with bacon, drizzled with maple syrup, when Johanna came downstairs.
"Morning, kids." she said with a smile (though yawned a little after a small bit of work that she had last night at the hardware store).
"Morning, mum." the kids replied, until Johanna turned to Hilda and Patrick.
"Patrick, didn't you say that Hilda needed a bit of help with some of her work like you said last night?" she asked.
"Yeah, she did," Patrick replied with a nod, "she was having a bit of difficulty with some of the questions.
Johanna let out a half smile of interest as she got out Hilda's papers and said, "Well, take a good look for yourself."
Patrick took the papers from his mum and had a look like she said… and was stunned at what he saw.
When he last saw Hilda's work, it was almost half completed by the time she went to bed, but now… it was fully done!
He then showed it to his sisters, who looked quite surprised at this (especially Hilda, as her work was still incomplete last night).
"It looks like she probably doesn't need help after all." Johanna smiled, as she looked to Hilda, "Very well done, Hilda, and all of them correct answers too."
As Johanna headed to make her own breakfast, the kids looked at the completed work of Hilda's as Patrick asked, "Hilda, did you continue working on these questions after I left?"
"No, I was fast asleep after then." Hilda admitted.
"Unless you were sleep-working?" Taylor lightly chuckled.
"Very funny." Hilda replied.
"Well it wasn't me, I went to bed too." Patrick admitted.
"Ditto!" Taylor added.
Hilda had a bit of thought, and then looked to her older siblings as she said, "I know it sounds crazy but, this could be a case of poltergeist written over it."
"Ghosts? Really?" Taylor asked.
"Well… we have met trolls, and dragonborns and even skeletons…" Patrick pointed out, as Hilda nodded at what he said, "so it may be possible…"
"We'll try and a have a look into it after training." he decided, the girls nodded in agreement on the idea.
Later on, Brady Oaks Park…
Following breakfast, Johanna asked if Patrick and his sisters would look after Kira for today, as she was going to be a little busy today, doing some sketches for a client and didn't want to be disturbed.
The siblings decided to agree on that, and later on, Patrick headed off to practice a bit with Callum, Ezran, Chuckie and the twins, while his sisters kept an eye on Kira with Chris, Luz, David and Frida, who offered to help as well, soon, the sisters were with some of their friends at Brady Oaks Park, a special little spot for families and kids to head down to play and/or relax.
Chris was currently taking his turn on keeping an eye on Kira, while Hilda and Taylor were with David, Frida and Luz, the latter was reading her book of Good Witch Azura at a park bench.
They were having a bit of a chat, but Hilda then noticed that Frida was looking a little uneasy today.
"Are you okay, Frida?" she asked.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm okay," Frida replied, "it's just that, for some reason, my family have been misplacing some things for some reason."
"What do you mean by that?" Luz asked, as she stopped reading for a moment, putting down her book on the bench and walked up to the group.
"First off, my dad suddenly lost his car keys, then my satch with my achieved badges went missing, next my mum's earrings and necklace disappeared and I just learned my favourite book is gone too!"
Hilda had thought on what Frida said, before suggesting, "Do you think this could involve-"
"Poltergeist?" Luz finished Hilda's sentence.
"Exactly what I was thinking!" Hilda smiled.
"Whoa, nonono…" Frida shook her head with a small bit of worry, "I do not want to deal with ghosts right now, not with the latest exams coming up!"
"Why bring that up?" David asked.
"Because, surprisingly, my homework was completed the next morning, after I was almost halfway through it before bed." Hilda explained, "Perhaps a ghost did that.
Luz had a small thought, then looked to the others as she asked, "Since we're on the subject, do you think Blinky might have something about ghosts?"
"Perhaps," Frida suggested, "we should go down to meet up with Patrick and see what Blinky says."
"You sure?" Taylor asked.
"It's one way to find out." Hilda replied to her sister.
"Great, let me get my book then we'll… go?" Luz said as she went back to the bench to get her Azura book… only to find it wasn't there anymore.
"Wait where's my book?" Luz asked, looking around the bench for it as the others went up to her, "I'm sure I put it down here."
"Did it accidentally get tossed in the trash?" David suggested.
Luz took a small look in the nearby bin that was next to the bench, "It better not, or someone's going to be in big-"
A hoot of an owl caught their attention, as they looked as saw said owl, displaying brown-toned feathers, golden-yellow eyes, and orange feet, while in its beak was a bag were some odd nic-nacs, but sticking out of the bag, was Luz's book.
"That owl took your book?" Hilda asked in surprised, but as she and Frida took a good look, the latter gasped as she saw a book that had an image of a mountain, and on top of it was crown.
"It's got my book too!" Frida cried, as she tried to get it, only for the owl to instantly waddled away as fast as it could.
"Tiny book thief!" Luz cried, as she, Hilda, Frida and David ran after the owl.
"Guys! Wait!" Taylor called out, as she ran after them as well.
Chris, meanwhile, had just returned, carrying Kira with him, only to see the tailend of Taylor running after the others, as he thought aloud, "Where are they going?"
Back with the others, they followed the owl, still carrying it's bag, out of the park and across town, until finally, after a good little chase, they saw the owl fly into a nearby old building that was in need of repair via the door, without a second thought, Luz and Hilda ran after it.
"Hilda, wait for us!" David called out, as he and Frida ran after them.
"Hilda, come back here!" Taylor called to her sister, with no prevail, and groaned as she followed after her sister, David, Frida and Luz into the building.
But as Taylor closed the door, it unexpectedly let out an odd glow…
?
A magic door suddenly appeared inside of what looked like a large tent, unfolding and opened as the owl ran out of it, with Luz, Hilda, David, Frida and Taylor chasing behind.
" Stop adorably hopping away, you-Huh?" Luz could muster, before she and others stopped in curious surprise at where they were now.
"Okay, where exactly are we?" Taylor asked, looking around.
"I'm not sure…" Luz replied, as the group looked around the tent, that it was filled with various old stuff.
"B-but how did we get here?" David asked, starting to feel a little nervous.
Hilda and Frida looked at where they came through, seeing it to be a standard human door, though the doorknob was in the middle, and at the top was a large, yellow, slit pupil eye.
The two looked around the door, and were surprised that this doorway had nothing but wooden back of it, not connected to anything, like it was just a door without a wall connected to it.
Hilda then took a small peak through on the tent walls, Frida and David following her.
What they saw was something they weren't quite expecting, but where they were was almost like a town, sort of similar to Delta Rune.
"Whoa… where are we?" David asked.
"I think we must be back in Delta Rune," Hilda suggested, "aren't we?"
"I'm not sure," Frida stated, as she and her friends looked, but stayed hidden to avoid getting spotted, "while most of these buildings look similar to Delta Rune, I don't think we're back there. One thing to know is that Dreemurr Castle isn't here. Plus, Delta Rune didn't have any humans around, this place does."
Sure enough, as they looked, they saw several humans, all dressed up like they were back in medieval years, from civilians to knights, going about their everyday lives.
"Could we have ended up in one of those plane realms Toriel mentioned?" Hilda asked.
"Possibly." Frida answered, as she, Hilda and David finished peaking outside.
Luz, meanwhile, was having a good look around at the stuff the tent contained.
"You okay, Luz?" Hilda asked, as she, her friends and her sister looked to Luz.
"I'm fine. It's just… I thought I had a lot of weird stuff." Luz said, before picking up, a weird looking object, as she admitted, "But this... this is impressive."
"Finally, you're back."
A woman's voice caught them by surprise. Wondering who spoke, the group carefully sneaked up to the front of the tent, where out front was a defiant woman.
She was tall and slender with ivory skin, maroon lips, and golden eyes. Her untamed hair is thick, long, and layered with two tones of gray. She had a single golden fang that sticked out, orange claw-like nails, and an oval amber gem on her sternum.
She wore a sleeveless two-tone maroon dress with a ripped-like hem design and gray leggings. Her jewelry consisted of an amber spherical ring. For footwear, she wears maroon high-heeled boots. While wrapped around her head was a dark green and light yellow polka dotted headscarf.
"Now let's see what we've got here." she said, as the owl landed on the woman's staff. She then turned it around, making it become wooden and unconscious, much to the kids' surprise.
As they continued watching, the woman was busy taking out several items that the owl had brought, such as a phone, a ring and even a shiny golden trophy… only to instantly toss each one of them aside as she said, "Garbage, garbage… garbage."
She then gasped and said, "Now, this…" as she took out… a pair of bobbly eyeglasses and wore them as she added "This will make me rich."
"Can't believe she chose that over something like that ring and trophy." Taylor quietly said to the others in surprise disbelief.
They then saw the woman getting out both Luz and Frida's books… and brought the latter's over a candle to burn as she added, "And these... Oh, these will make good kindling."
Luz and Frida were shocked and horrified at this, and instantly ran out (much to Taylor's shock, as well as ignoring her quiet cries to tell them to come back) and the former instantly grabbed hold of both books from the woman, and gave Frida's her book as she quickly said, " Excuse me, sorry, they're ours, thank you."
"Hurry! Let's go!" Frida cried, as the others followed them to the door… only for it to fold in and disappear.
The group of kids then looked back to the woman, who was holding a key that had the same yellow, slit pupil eye, as she took off the glasses, revealing her angry golden eyes, the kids knew they were in trouble as she said in a serious tone, "You're not going anywhere."
"Aw cruddlestick." David nervously gulped.
Author's Notes:
The introduction of a new character, but will she be friend… or foe?
Until next time, True Believers!
Excelsior!