Finally, the Creative Writing section is back! Only problem is, well, they took away my Featured Writer thing, for one... :( Lol, anyway, and I can't find part 4 or 5... and I have to post all the new links again, because they've changed now.
Oh well. Doens't matter. You guys will be seeing part eleven up any day now. :)
Welcome to the adventures of a crazy Grandmaster Thaumaturge (me) and occasionally her crazier sister (Rowan) in an awesome blog (Sierra's Story) that ALSO has to do with The Tale of Sierra WinterBreeze and Wizard101. But mostly it's just randomness...
Friday, October 16, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sorry...
Hey everyone, I haven't been on lately, or writing. I've been really, really busy lately... stuff I can't really say on here... so I won't be on for a while except for very brief moments. Sorry!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Darn Creative Writing Submission Form...
Well, I suppose you guys on my blog are lucky, because I will now have to change around part 11 a little bit, as megawizard knows. KI added a "Creative Writing Online Submission Form" that your story must be submitted into. It will only take 30,000 characters, and my story is over 39,o00, lol. So, I decided I would split it into two different parts. Also, the box doesn't seem to notice when I put my stuff into italics, so that won't work, either.
Again, you're lucky because you got to see the original version of it. :)
Again, you're lucky because you got to see the original version of it. :)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Tale of Sierra WinterBreeze - Part 11
SWEETNESS!!!!
I am so happy. You know why? I just finished part 11! Sadly, the Creative Writing section is "getting a whole new look", so they aren't accepting stories. Lucky for you guys, I can put this on my blog! :D
Enjoy!
The Tale of Sierra WinterBreeze - Part 11
It was finally the day. My family and I had been waiting for this moment, had been anticipating it ever since the black fire. Everyone was so excited that we would have our own house again. No longer would we live with Sydney Jadehammer and Hunter Thundershield (which in my opinion was inconvenient because it provided easy access to two Seekers while it lasted). We had a new house, built in the same spot. It was almost an exact replica of our old one, though it felt empty and deserted with all the furniture gone. Still, sleeping on the floor in my own room without a bed was an improvement from sleeping in a cramped room with two others on sweaty mattresses with layers of blankets over top.
Two weeks had passed since my encounter with Malistaire and Liam. My family had been frantic with worry when I didn’t come back from doing quests that night. When Victoria was also announced missing, they assumed we were together, though they couldn’t teleport to us or contact us in Whisper Chat. Though some had known Vanessa and her family were missing, they did not see any connection because I had never met her. Even though I knew Liam, his family had been missing longer than us and everyone thought Liam had disappeared with them.
I had told my tale to my worried parents, omitting parts having to do with the Seekers. I also left out the black lightning I had created; I shuddered every time I thought about it. Because I couldn’t explain that Liam was a Seeker, they were confused at why Malistaire had targeted him.
But I had told it all to them with enough conviction that they had to believe me. Mark’s family offered to take in Vanessa because she was an old family friend.
So it was the long awaited day at long last. All of Sydney’s family came with us and Vanessa as well. Rowan Willowleaf, my sister, and I eagerly rushed into our new house the second we teleported there. I was somewhat disappointed to discover that it wasn’t new; it was the same home we had left, with only minor adjustments.
The excitement of the new house quickly wore off. Though our parents remained happy, Rowan and I almost instantly left the house to go off with friends.
We split up into two groups: Rowan promised to help Sydney, who had began to lag behind me in Marleybone, and I went with Vanessa because she also had only recently gotten into MooShu.
I had many things to think about after leaving the lair that I didn’t have any time for quests. The Spiral Key to MooShu still remained unused.
When I twisted the key into the Spiral door, it shined a soft, green glow. Then, it faded, and I opened the door and stepped inside. I was suspended in air, in complete nothingness, with only darkness around. I pictured the lush, green fields of MooShu. A door was meant to come, but even when it didn’t, I remained patient. It always took a little while longer the first time you accessed a world.
Soon enough, a door appeared and I slipped inside.
I found myself in a room more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. There were real plants growing around me, and little waterfalls were all around. The room had a feeling of being outside, in nature. This was definitely a Life school world; no wonder Rowan liked it so much.
Vanessa had been waiting for me. She faked being impatient: “What took you so long? Geez! I thought you had died!”
I laughed. “Sorry. It was my first time. You know how that is.”
She smiled. “Yes, I do. All too well. I had to wait an entire hour to get into Marleybone.”
“Really?” I gasped. “Can it take that long?
“Apparently.”
We exited through the flower-filled Spiral Chamber of MooShu that led into the Jade Palace, and I froze. This view was so breathtaking, I couldn’t even walk. This place was gorgeous! The part of the palace that we were in was filled with shops, with perfectly placed signs advertising the product sold. Warriors roamed through the unpaved streets with purpose, and goat monks walked feebly, leaning on their staffs. Unlike the eternally dark and starry skies of Marleybone, the sky was a clear shade of baby blue that mesmerized me. The air smelled differently from any other in the entire Spiral: it was a fresh, clean, sweet scent that was pleasantly refreshing from smelling the polluted air of Marleybone. In the center of the palace, just a little ahead of us, was an enormous statue of someone that must have been important. A lily-filled pond surrounded the statue, and the water looked so pure that I could drink it. In the distance I saw snow-capped mountains.
I was so stunned that I hardly even noticed when Vanessa pulled on my arm impatiently to get my walking again. I followed her once more, but I couldn’t help but gape at the new world along the way.
As we strolled through the shops, a particular one caught my eye. It was the wand and athame shop. I was in need of a new wand. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my trusty old O’Leary Jinxed Staff anymore. No, far from it. The only problem was that it was a Balance staff, and I was sick of having balance enemies resist my wand spells. I needed an Ice wand. My clothes could use a MooShu Makeover as well. I was wearing a wonderful Crown robe, the Master’s Cloak of the Lizard, which I most certainly didn’t want to get rid of, but I was in desperate need of a new hat and shoes. The Cap of the Ice Wyvern was not very becoming, no matter how much it boosted my spells. But I could worry about that later. I just needed a new wand.
I halted Vanessa and pointed toward the shop. She grinned. “Of course. Should’ve known. Okay, we can stop there. But I don’t think you’re a high enough level to use any of them.”
I went in anyway. I stared reverently at the shimmering MooShu wands. I recognized the Life wand right away; Rowan had one just like it. I had always been fascinated by the way her wand had left a sparkling trail of leaves in its wake. Now I was looking at my own version, a beautiful brown-handled wand with glowing blue wind billowing inside. Eagerly I picked it up to try it out. When I waved it around, the wand left slight trails of the blue clouds behind it. Delighted, I was ready to put all my accumulated Marylebone savings toward it.
I was dismayed when the shopkeeper explained that I couldn’t. “You are level 33,” Himoora Kenshin, the shopkeeper, said. “You must be at least level 35 to properly use this wand.”
“Pretty, pretty please?” I begged. “Just look at this old staff! I can’t use it anymore. A wizard in MooShu doesn’t deserve to carry around something like this.”
“I am terribly sorry, but I cannot sell you this.”
“Come on! I’ll be really good with it. I’ll be careful.”
She sighed as if she had heard this a million times. However, before she could say anything more the door swung open and a Samoorai warrior entered. I shrunk away, forgetting my argument with the shopkeeper. He walked with such authority that straight away I knew he was a force not to be messed with.
“Miss Kenshin, I must speak with you.”
She looked alarmed. “Of course! What is wrong?”
The warrior glared at Vanessa and I. “I meant alone.”
“We were just leaving,” I grumbled.
The Samoorai went to the back of the store with the shopkeeper. Vanessa and I started to walk out, but then we heard the Samoorai’s strong voice boom, “There have been rumors that two of Malistaire’s minions are in MooShu today.”
Vanessa and I exchanged glances. Malistaire? That sounded like it could be important to the Seekers. Careful not to alert them, we crept back into the store and acted as if we were browsing through athames.
“Oh, my,” responded the shopkeeper. “I will keep a lookout for them. Do you have any leads on what they could be here for?”
“A guard heard them talking about needing a wand. We quickly came to tell you. Check inventory before any customers leave.”
“How many did you say there were?” she asked, her eyes drifting towards Vanessa and me.
I realized the position we were in. We were two wizards in a wand shop… the perfect suspects.
“We aren’t doing anything!” I said quickly. “We are just looking through athames!”
She gave us one more doubtful look, and then glanced at the wands. I guessed she must have been making sure they were all there. She returned to her conversation. “Where were they last seen?”
“Hametsu Village. That’s not far from here, so they could be arriving at any moment.”
“I just want to know what they want a wand for,” the shopkeeper mused. “How could that be important? Especially a MooShu wand, when Malistaire is powerful enough to use a DragonSpyre sword.”
Just then two wizards opened the door and entered. One had a hood over their head, so I couldn’t see who they were. The other I knew was female, because though the hat she wore covered her eyes, her long blond hair cascaded down her back in a tight ponytail.
Though the odd pair walked near me, I didn’t pay much attention to them at first because I was so busy trying to look inconspicuous and listen to the conversation at the same time. However, I couldn’t help but notice when the hooded figure tensed as they passed me.
I was so surprised. Did they know me? Or was it a coincidence?
I gazed after them and noted that they were heading toward the wands. I tugged on Vanessa’s arm and pointed. Her eyes widened. She understood. These two fit the description of Malistaire’s minions as much as, if not more than, us.
I wanted to point it out to the shopkeeper, but I didn’t think that it would do much good while we were suspects as well. But the pair had walked in so silently that I doubted she had seen them.
Maybe I could talk to them. I walked over to the wands. When the hooded figure spotted me, he or she jumped, as if startled by my appearance somehow. The wizard seemed even more shaken when Vanessa took her place next to me.
Then, before I could even react, the girl grabbed the Balance wand that was on display directly beside us. Without a word she grabbed her companion and they teleported.
I was stunned. When I snapped out of it, I yelled in vain, “Hey! Wait!”
The shopkeeper and the Samoorai both turned to me.
And the wand next to me was gone.
“Thief!” screeched the shopkeeper. “You’re the minons!”
“What? No, we’re not!” I argued. “It was the two that were in here a moment ago!”
The Samoorai didn’t listen, and advanced toward us.
“Vanessa, let’s go!” I shouted, starting to flee outside.
But when the sunlight’s rays warmed my face, I ran straight into a startled girl who had looked like she had just been about to go inside.
“Oh, um, sorry,” I murmured, not even glancing at her.
“What are you running from?” she asked with genuine curiosity.
I ignored her, and continued to run, with Vanessa behind me.
It felt odd to running again, especially when it was now among the peaceful scenery of MooShu. Plus, we were running from the very people I thought we could trust. Everything was turned upside down, and I felt dizzy from everything that was happening. But still I ran.
We rushed into the center of the palace and splashed through the crystal clear pond surrounding a statue. When I stepped out of the pool, I heard more splashing than I thought Vanessa could make. I turned, worried that the Samoorai was already there. But instead, I spotted the Samoorai farther back. It was actually the girl I had run into.
“Stop following us!” I hissed.
“I heard something about you working with Malistaire. Are you his minons? Were they telling the truth?”
“No!”
“Oh.”
“Leave us alone!” I continued on, praying that she would stay there.
She didn’t.
I then spied a bell that was on the other side of the palace. Looking over my shoulder, I motioned to Vanessa, and scowled at the girl who refused to stop following us. Leaving her behind, Vanessa and climbed under the bell.
It was an extremely bad hiding spot. Our legs were entirely exposed, and there was no way we would be able to stay under here very long. I was already feeling a little claustrophobic. I only hoped it would buy us some time, allowing us to teleport or think of a good reason for them to think we weren’t the minions.
The bell cloaked us in silence. I couldn’t hear anything outside of it. The shouts of the Samoorai faded, leaving us alone. Even the hollow sound of the wind disappeared.
“What should we do?” I frantically whispered to Vanessa.
“I’ll teleport to my house, and you can follow. I bought a new Krokotopian house yesterday so I wanted to show you anyway.”
“Okay.”
I waited, but nothing happened. “Um, any day now.”
Her eyes widened in fear. “I’m trying! I really am trying!”
“Oh no… not again!”
“Do you think the bell is doing something? Should we climb out and teleport?” she whispered frantically.
“I don’t want to be caught!”
“They will find us under here anyway if we don’t do something!”
I bit my lip, weighing the consequences of each possibility.
Vanessa groaned. “You’re taking too long! I’m going out there.”
“No, Vanessa, wait!”
But it was too late. Vanessa had already scrambled out from underneath the safety of the bell.
“Vanessa!” There wasn’t any answer. Had she been caught? With a wave of panic, I climbed out after her.
But when I peeked under, I was stunned to find… sand.
I emerged and found myself facing an endless desert. The land stretched on forever, meeting the horizon far in the distance. Above my head the blazing sun shone with such ferocity that everything appeared hazy and blurry from the heat. Nothing varied from the flat expanse of sand besides small dunes, and even those didn’t rise very high in the air.
Vanessa was standing there as well, gaping. “I… I don’t know… How did we… Sierra, where are we?”
“I think Krokotopia,” I managed to say.
“But how?”
“How should I know?” I said a little more sharply than I intended.
“You’re the only one here to ask!” she exclaimed.
“I’m here too,” said a timid voice that was barely more than a whisper.
I recognized the voice and angrily spun around. As I had feared, the girl who I had bumped into was sitting there on the sand, dazed. “Why do you keep following us?” I screamed.
“It’s not like I wanted to follow you,” she declared indignantly. “The Samoorai actually thought that I was one of you. And when you disappeared under the bell, I didn’t even think about it, I just dove after you. I most certainly wasn’t expecting to come out to… this.”
“Hang on. You were able to follow us? So wouldn’t that mean that the Samoorai can as well?” I wondered.
The girl’s expression turned from confused and offended to fearful and shocked. Without a word, she rushed off toward the horizon.
Vanessa and I instinctively followed her, not even thinking twice about the bell that we were leaving behind us.
Though the sun shone brightly above us and my skin felt like it was burning, I followed the curious girl tirelessly for what felt like hours. But as far as I knew, it could have been seconds. Maybe even days. The sun never moved from its position directly above us in the sky, no matter how long we wandered across the sand. This reminded me so much of the desert we had been teleported to on Earth, except the sand here was loose and difficult to walk on.
In due time a figure rose upon the horizon. Only when I got closer did I see that it was a pyramid, almost an exact replica of the Pyramid of the Sun in Krokotopia. However, I could tell that it was a little bit larger.
Soon enough I stood at its base in front of a tall, formidable entryway lit by two braziers with Vanessa and the mysterious girl at my side.
For the first time since I had met her, the girl hesitated.
“Are you going in?” I asked.
“Ummmm…”
“It’s our only choice,” said Vanessa flatly. She glared at the girl. “We may have more options if someone hadn’t run away from the only possible exit we might have!”
“You didn’t have to follow me.”
“Are you going in or not?” I repeated eagerly. I wanted to see the inside of the odd building, but didn’t want to go in alone.
The girl didn’t even answer. She simply walked inside, leaving Vanessa and I outside.
Vanessa looked at me as if waiting for my consent. I nodded, and together we walked inside.
The interior was just as grand as the outside. In the room we entered there was a staircase winding up into darkness. Like most Krokotopian pyramids, there were hieroglyphs on the walls. I realized I hadn’t been in Krokotopia for a long time since being let into Marleybone. I made a mental note to visit there again sometime.
There was a tunnel to our right. I also noted that it was cooler inside here than it had been outside, but that was normal for Krokotopian buildings.
The girl looked up when we came in. She had been looking up the staircase. “So,” she began, “Now that we’re in here why don’t you tell me your names?”
“I’m Sierra WinterBreeze.”
“And Vanessa DreamHaven,” Vanessa added.
The girl nodded once, and then turned to face the winding staircase again. She glanced up and asked, “Either of you guys pyromancers?”
We shook our heads.
She sighed. Taking out her wand, which I recognized as the Mooshu Life wand, she drew the Life symbol. When she activated it, a Dryad appeared. I gasped. My sister didn’t even know that! “What level are you?”
She realized I was asking because of the Dryad. She smiled sheepishly. “Um, I only turned level 35 yesterday. I just know Dryad from my shoes.”
“Oh.” I felt foolish for even asking. “Anyway, what are you going to do with that?”
“This.” She pulled off a branch from the beautiful tree-like Dryad and set it on fire from the braziers. “I’m going exploring,” she explained as she made the Dryad disappear.
“What? No!” I called as she walked to the foot of the stairs. “You have no idea what’s up there.”
“That’s exactly why I’m doing it,” she retorted, rolling her eyes.
“But it could be something dangerous,” I hollered desperately. I didn’t know why I wanted to protect her so much. She wouldn’t even tell me her name.
“I’ll soon find out, won’t I?” With the lit stick in her hand, she tromped up the stairs.
I choose not to argue anymore. But I still felt uneasy; there was something about this place I didn’t like. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we weren’t alone.
I twirled around to face Vanessa. “Now what?”
“We could go exploring ourselves,” she suggested, gesturing to the tunnel.
I peered into it doubtfully, but I couldn’t see anything through the darkness. “I don’t think so.”
“Well, that other girl lit a stick, didn’t she? Do you have anything flammable?”
We searched through our things, but everything we had that could possibly light our way was too precious to use.
“So much for that wonderful plan,” I murmured.
“I don’t want to just sit here!” Vanessa whined. “If only we had some light…”
As if on cue, braziers that I hadn’t seen through the blackness flickered to life on either side of the tunnel, revealing a long narrow passageway that we still couldn’t see the end of.
“Um, okay… That was weird…” remarked Vanessa.
“Very,” I agreed uneasily.
“But I suppose that answers your question.” She grinned.
“You know, if anything that makes me want to go down even less.”
“You can stay here,” she offered.
I considered it for a moment, but shuddered when I thought of being left alone in here. “Okay, I’m coming.”
After sauntering through the tunnel for a few minutes, it widened into a large, dim room lit by only three braziers – one with a purple flame, one with a blue, and one with a red. Other than that, I saw nothing. “We should go back,” I said, somewhat disappointed. “There’s nothing here.”
However, when I faced the cave once more to our dismay the fires in the tunnel went out. The blue, red, and purple fires at the back of the room now remained the only ones lit.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen, was it?” asked Vanessa worriedly.
“Uh…” I looked around the room again. Not seeing anything, I glanced up, then gasped and jumped out of the way. Tumbling down from out of nowhere came an enormous pile of medium-sized rocks that rained on the spot I had just been standing.
For a moment, Vanessa and I simply stood there, too stunned to speak. I could have been killed, I realized. The grim thought frightened me, and I felt nervous butterflies in my stomach.
Suddenly, the ground shook. Or rather, the rocks made the ground shake. They were vibrating, and I took an involuntary step back. Then, with a whooshing sound, the rocks amalgamated to form a towering Desert Colossus.
“Hello, Seeker WinterBreeze. Welcome, Vanessa DreamHaven.”
As usual, I was surprised that a creature like this knew my name. But then realization set in. “You know about the Seekers!” I shouted.
“Yes,” it said plainly.
“Why are you here then?”
“I am here to awaken the seventh Seeker.”
I paused, puzzled. Seventh Seeker? “Um… shouldn’t the seventh Seeker be Life?”
“It was supposed to be, but Vanessa got here first.”
“Vanessa? She’s Balance!”
“There are two Balance Seekers.”
“I’m a Seeker?” questioned Vanessa, gaping. I think I had my mouth hanging open, too.
“But… why?” I inquired. “I mean, I understand what happened with Liam and everything. Is Vanessa replacing him?”
“No!” boomed the Colossus vehemently, making me jump. “In some generations the ways that the Seekers are affected by dark magic is something that they cannot get through, and causes them to not be able to fight as effectively as the others or not even fight at all. So there is two of that school, so that they will still have the benefits of that type of wizard. But the original Seeker will always help their team in some way. Such as with your friend Liam.”
“He’s not my friend,” I growled.
The Colossus ignored me. “Vanessa is here to become the second Balance Seeker. She must be awakened.”
I turned to my companion to see what she was thinking. She was just standing there, dumbfounded, so I grinned. “So, are you happy to be a Seeker, Vanessa?” I questioned.
“I… I don’t understand,” she murmured. “My brother is the warrior of the family, not me. I’m no good at this sort of thing.”
“Of course you are! Victoria and I wouldn’t have gotten out of Malistaire’s place without you.”
“And I would be dead if it weren’t for you!” she retorted.
“So we both rely on each other,” I said gently. “That’s why we need you.”
She didn’t reply, only glared at the wall she was now facing.
“You are a good leader, Sierra WinterBreeze,” the Colossus approved, beaming.
I scowled. Why did everyone have to keep reminding me of that?
The Colossus asked Vanessa, “Do you accept your task, Seeker DreamHaven?”
“I…” Vanessa began, but then she was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. All three of us started.
Recognition dawned on the Colossus’s face. “Oh yes… I sensed the presence of three others. And I knew there were more than two Seekers from the beginning…” It turned to us. “We shall be getting some visitors soon, I believe.”
“Who?” I asked. I knew that the annoying girl whose name I still did not know was here, and she was who I had suspected screamed. But three others? Who else could there be?”
What made me wonder even more was that the Colossus had claimed that there was another Seeker as well. Which one of my friends would be here?
“I do not know who it is.” My heart sank. “Do you know of any others who could possibly be in here?”
“Well, I’m guessing one of them is that girl that followed us here,” I informed.
“And what is her name?”
“She never told us.”
“Is she a Seeker?”
“I don’t think so.” But even as I said it, I was reconsidering it. Was she a Seeker of Light? Was that even possible? I was thinking about everything that had happened. She had come to this desert, but maybe non-Seekers could do that too. From her wand, it also looked like she was Life. And we needed a Life Seeker. Unless there was some other Seeker that these guys conveniently forgot to tell me.
“Before they arrive, what do you say, Vanessa?” asked the Colossus again, more apprehensive now.
“Um, I guess if-“ But again Vanessa was stopped. This time it was the sound of flames flickering to life as the braziers turned on again.
“Why’d you turn on the braziers?” I accused the Colossus.
“It was not me. They light themselves every time a Seeker needs light.”
“I guess we’ll find out who our guests are, then,” Vanessa said grimly.
I said, “Before we are interrupted again, tell us what this place is called.”
“This is the Pyramid of the Moon,” the Colossus explained. “It used to sit next to the Pyramid of the Sun in Krokotopia, but because it was larger and heavier, it sunk into the unstable sand the first time it rained when it was brand new. Ever since then it has been here in this desert, used by the Spiral Guardians.”
“The what?”
Then footsteps echoed from down the tunnel, and we all stared at the intruder that was now standing at the front of the tunnel.
But luckily it was only to girl from earlier. “Sierra! Vanessa!” I couldn’t believe she had remembered our names. And she had a genuine expression of relief on her face. Maybe she was nicer than I gave her credit for.
And then she spotted the Colossus for the first time. She turned pale. “What is that thing?”
“A Desert Colossus.”
She eyed it warily. “Why is it here?”
“For, um, something…”
“If I didn’t know it was something, I wouldn’t be asking you.”
I changed the subject. “Why did you scream?”
“Oh. You could hear that? Um, well… I met someone…”
“Who?”
“Uh… I don’t think they want me to tell you…”
“Come on, who is it?”
“Okay, fine! I guess I would have to tell you about them at one point anyway.”
“Just tell me who it is!” I demanded.
“My friends. I met two people in here.”
Though the Colossus had told me there were others, I was still surprised when she told me about them. So, this girl was friends with them? Perhaps they were here accidentally, too.
Then again, I couldn’t ignore the fact that one was a Seeker. Again I pondered who it could be. Was it Sydney? No, she was with Rowan. Victoria? Impossible, she had been grounded ever since our little stunt with Malistaire. So who else? Mark? Hunter?
Then I thought of the other Seeker. But the thought of him being here sent a shiver down my spine.
I really, really hoped it wasn’t Liam.
The Colossus decided to speak up. “Young wizard, it is rather important that you tell us. What are their names?”
For a moment the girl just stood there, her face fixed into an expression of terror and awe. Finally, she shrieked, “It speaks!”
“So listen to it, please!” I commanded. “What. Are. Their. Names!”
“Uh, I can’t remember.”
“WHAT? You can’t remember?”
“Were any of their names Mark?” Vanessa asked. “Or Sydney? Or Victoria? Or Hunter?”
“I don’t think so. There was one boy and one girl. Here, why don’t I just introduce them to you? Then you can learn their names and it will at the same time refresh my memory! Hang on, I’ll go get them. They’re waiting at the entrance to the tunnel.” She glanced at the Colossus nervously before dashing down the tunnel.
I suddenly remembered something. “Wait!” I called.
She spun back around. “What?”
“What’s your name?” I inquired.
“Scarlet MoonHeart,” she replied, though hesitantly.
Then she was heading down the tunnel again.
“Well, that was nice,” Vanessa huffed sarcastically.
“At least she finally told us her name.”
“I’m just glad we’ll find out who else is in here.”
And then the Colossus gasped so suddenly that Vanessa and I jumped. “There’s dark magic approaching!” it yelled.
“What?”
“Seekers, you must run! This is too dangerous!”
“But what about Vanessa getting awakened? And Scarlet?”
“Forget about it!”
“Uh, but… where are we supposed to run to?”
The Colossus looked desperately at the tunnel, where we could hear footsteps slowly approaching. The calmness and unhurried pace of the steps made every second agonizing, especially now that we knew that with them it could be a practitioner of dark arts.
As they footsteps grew louder, so did the voices of the people coming.
“No, Scarlet, this is a very, very bad idea,” said one person that I recognized as a male voice. And yet I still thought I knew it from somewhere.
Vanessa stiffened next to me at the sound of the voice, though I couldn’t figure out why.
“If you already know her, then she’ll love to see you,” came Scarlet’s voice.
“You don’t understand. She hates me. And… I think Vanessa will, too.”
“Don’t worry,” soothed a cool female voice. Hearing it made me shudder. It also reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t figure out whom. “Maybe Sierra will tell us who the next Seeker is.”
I listened even more intently when I heard both my name and the Seekers in one sentence. These people obviously knew what they were talking about.
“I doubt it,” grumbled the first voice.
It frustrated me that I still couldn’t figure out who either of the voices reminded me of.
“Look, there’s the exit of the tunnel,” said Scarlet. “I will run up ahead and tell them you’re here, and then we can make introductions! Or I suppose it wouldn’t be introductions, because you already know them, but-”
“Just go, Scarlet,” growled the female voice again.
“Okay, okay! Geez.” Scarlet soon came around the corner. “Hello, again,” she greeted us, though in a somewhat distracted way. “This is Mary RavenGem” – A girl with golden blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail and aqua blue eyes dressed in red and green clothes stepped around the corner, evidently not happy to be there from the scowl on her face – “and Liam.”
Time seemed to move in slow motion after that. Liam stepped out behind Scarlet, just as unhappy as Mary had been. Then I remembered where the Mary girl was from – if Liam had a hood over his head and Mary’s hat was tipped ever so slightly forward they could be identical to the pair we encountered in the MooShu shop. Then Mary lifted up her wand – though I couldn’t see very well, I assumed it was the Balance wand they had stolen – and with a flick of her wrist the Colossus was trapped in a pile of quicksand, unable to move. After that, Mary turned to me. Though Scarlet had no idea what was going on, I can thank my lucky stars that she instinctively grabbed Mary’s arm to save me. Unfortunately, my savior was thrust into the wall by Mary when she waved her wand again. I don’t know when it happened, but somehow Liam and Vanessa were on the other side of the room, between the red and blue braziers.
And then entire time this hectic scene was unfolding, the supposed leader of the Seekers was standing there, dumbfounded, useless, and unable to move.
Somehow Mary got over to me. I allowed myself to be pushed over to the wall, where she raised her wand and threaten to have her Hydra destroy me if I didn’t tell her what she wanted. I didn’t respond. So what if she destroyed me? I was a failure, a useless leader. No one really wanted me, anyway. Why had they chosen me to be a Seeker in the first place?
“Okay,” she said when she was sure I got the message, “I want you to tell me who the next Seeker is.”
I stared at her blankly. “Why would you want to know that?”
“That’s my business,” she growled. “Who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop lying!” she accused. “Who is it?”
“They never told me.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Um…” Because I didn’t know what she would do with this information, I lied. “The Colossus was about to tell me, but didn’t get to it.”
“I don’t believe you,” she huffed. “But that Desert Colossus probably does know something. If you won’t tell me, maybe it will.”
Oops, I thought. That wasn’t what I meant to do.
Mary began walking away, and I had a small hope that I’d be able to escape when her back was turned. The she abruptly turned, as if remembering something important.
Indeed she had remembered, much to my dismay. “Of course, I can’t leave you alone! Why don’t I give you a friend?”
I didn’t like the way she had said “friend” one bit.
Taking out the stolen wand, Mary drew the Balance symbol and activated it, making a colossal Hydra appear.
Strangely, I wasn’t afraid. Perhaps it was because the only real Hydra I had ever seen (besides the miniature pets Master Balance wizards owned – they sometimes snapped at you, but they weren’t scary) was the one that had awakened Liam. That one had been friendly enough, if not a little unusual.
One of Mary’s Hydra’s heads let out a throaty growl. I wondered if it could talk. I doubted it.
“Sierra!” I heard a panicked cry from a voice that I only vaguely recognized. Turning towards the voice, I saw that it was the Desert Colossus. “Grab Vanessa and your other friend and get out of here!”
“What?” That had been unexpected. I had thought it would have wanted us to stay and help get rid of Liam and Mary.
“Go!” it ordered.
Mary was approaching the Colossus at the moment. I had to make my decision fast. Should I heed him, or simply leave?
“You don’t understand,” it pleaded. “You can’t fight them. There is dark magic here, darker than you can imagine! The Seekers aren’t strong enough right now. There will come a time, but not today. Please, go.”
I just happened to glance at Vanessa at that moment and froze. She was with Liam, but I had known that from the beginning. What truly shocked me was that she was laughing. Laughing! While I was in mortal danger, guarded by a Hydra, yelled at by Mary and continuously begged by the Colossus to leave, Vanessa was laughing.
Well, I mused, I suppose they are brother and sister. But still, couldn’t Vanessa at least pretend to care about my safety? And how could she forgive Liam’s perfidiousness so readily? It somewhat disgusted me, but I knew in a way how she felt. Wouldn’t I feel the same way about Rowan if that happened to her? Not that it ever would, but still.
Unfortunately, that didn’t change anything. And actually, that one look had helped me decide – I was going to listen to the Colossus. I would get out of here. Of course I couldn’t leave Vanessa; she was the new Balance Seeker, after all. But how would I get to her with Liam there?
That wasn’t the only flaw in the escape plan I was starting to develop. Mary’s Hydra was still watching me carefully, and under its watchful eye I would never get away. I had to fight it. What other choice did I have?
But did I have a spell that could take it? Hydra was a Master spell, and I wasn’t a Master.
Actually, I could already think of one spell. I still had the Master’s Cloak of the Lizard that I had bought in Marleybone. Could a Stormzilla defeat a Hydra? Maybe if a Master Storm wizard cast it. But what about me?
Without considering it any farther, I took the card and began forming the Storm symbol. Even though I usually didn’t cast spells like this, the Stormzilla card that came with my clothes worked in the same way as a Treasure Card, guiding me through the actions effortlessly. There was the sound of a storm – a deafening thunder-like rumble, the pattering of rain – and I drew power from my mana and the card. With a flash of lightning I released the energy, activated the symbol, and summoned the Stormzilla.
Roaring, the Stormzilla charged directly at the Hydra. I smiled when I heard a satisfying “thump” as its head made contact with Mary’s Hydra. The Hydra hadn’t been expecting this at all, and tumbled backward.
The Hydra was sluggish, still startled. But it wasn’t long before it snapped out of it and countered by making all three heads bite the Stormzilla in unison. I felt awful for making the creature suffer so much, but at least the Hydra was distracted.
Actually, I think everyone was distracted. Liam and Vanessa were gaping at the battle when I rushed over. I pulled on Vanessa to start towing her to the tunnel. She opened her mouth to protest, but she didn’t have the time. Mary’s Hydra zoomed into the wall three inches away from us. With her mouth still hanging open, but this time in fear, she no longer resisted as I guided her towards Scarlet.
Scarlet was looking fearfully at the scene in front of her. Mary was angrily screaming at her Hydra, trying to regain control. Liam was still a bit dazed, because he was staring at us, confused. The Hydra and my Stormzilla were still brawling, and sadly my Stormzilla was losing. The Colossus was still bound prisoner by the quicksand, and it had its head down, distraught and defeated. In some ways, it reminded me of the Cyclops that had awakened Hunter. It hadn’t been at all brave when Seth lit the fire. It seemed like the people who awakened the Seekers weren’t very powerful.
Maybe that was the point. Whoever appointed these guys (if there was anyone – how was I supposed to know?) obviously wasn’t choosing fighters. They seemed to be the outcasts, the ones looked down on by, um, creature society. Like my Frost Giant. He was tiny compared to the rest of his kind.
When I came next to Scarlet, I hissed, “Come on Scarlet, let’s go.”
“But… what about Mary and Li-”
“Forget about them!”
“But they’re my new friends-”
“And they’re Malistaire’s minions.”
“Wow, really? I had no id-”
“Let’s go already!”
“I kind of wanted to-"
“Never mind,” I sighed. “We’ll leave you here.”
I spun around and walked away and didn’t look back. But I was still pleased to hear the slight pattering of footsteps behind me. She was following.
So Vanessa, Scarlet, and I left the hectic scene behind us to let Liam and Mary figure everything out themselves. I grinned when I thought of my Stormzilla.
They were going to have a lot of work to do.
We emerged from the pyramid minutes later. To my surprise, the bell was already sitting right outside the pyramid, waiting for us.
Without even thinking about it, I dove under the bell, anxious to go home.
In that split second, I remembered something very important.
Time didn’t move when a Seeker was awakened.
Vanessa had just been awakened.
Last time we had been out there, the Samoorai had been looking for us.
And I had just gone back to that moment.
I tried to stop myself. Instead of halting, however, I stumbled and fell under the bell, scraping my knees. They stung, but I did not want to get caught but the Samoorai. I peeked back underneath the bell. The picture was wavering in front of me. I assumed that I was just dizzy from falling, so I proceeded to climb out under the bell.
Everything grew worse. I stood there for a moment, confused. The Krokotopian sand shivered beneath my feet, making me feel almost nauseous. I looked at Vanessa and Scarlet, who now looked so queer that I couldn’t tell who was who. I shouted, “The Samoorai will be there! Don’t go under!” My voice sounded oddly distorted, and only incomprehensible gibberish answered me with Vanessa’s just barely recognizable voice. At this point I began to panic. Why did everything look so strange? What was happening?
Finally, everything was stretched beyond recognition. I was inside a senseless jumble of colors. Wondering if I would be trapped here forever, I spun around and sighed with relief. The bell was sitting there, unperturbed despite the chaos around it.
I found it comforting to know that there was a possible exit nearby. Seeing no reason to immediately go under the bell and with my dear gone, I only felt curious. I slowly turned to look at the emptiness again. When I took one step, everything changed.
I heard it before I saw it. Shouting. It was loud, unfathomable yelling. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it sounded angry.
Suddenly I was in MooShu. I gazed around, dazed. Why was I here? Had everything been a dream? Awakening Vanessa, Liam and Mary, the pyramid, the colors, everything? Disoriented, I twirled around, half-expecting something even crazier to show up there. All I saw was Vanessa and Scarlet emerging from under the bell. They were both looking over my shoulder at the Samoorai who were sure to be approaching. But at this point, I didn’t care. Everything had happened so quickly, I hadn’t the time to think.
Someone grabbed me from behind, and I didn’t have to look to know that it was the Samoorai.
If this was a dream, it was about to turn into a nightmare.
I sat in the room with Vanessa and Scarlet, contemplating our next move. Things hadn’t gone well with the Samoorai. They didn’t even give me the time to put up a good argument before we found ourselves being thrown into this old MooShu shop. I couldn’t tell what used to be sold here just from the appearance, but I did know it smelled horrible.
I could only hope there was someone in MooShu that would listen to me when I said I didn’t work for Malistaire.
We had been in the room for just about over ten minutes when Scarlet spoke up. “So, what was all that about in the pyramid?”
Vanessa and I exchanged looks.
Scarlet added, “Liam and Mary were saying something about Seekers.”
We looked at her. Or more, glared at her.
“Are the Seekers a bad thing?”
We still didn’t reply.
“Oh come on! You can’t be silent forever!”
“You know, we’re not going to answer you,” I stated.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not important.”
“But I want to know!” Scarlet pouted.
“Too bad.”
“Pleeeeeeease?”
“What area are you working on?” I was becoming a master at changing the subject.
“MooShu.”
“Where?”
“In the Village of Sorrow. Right now I have a quest to – Wait a second, this is silly. We’re chatting about quests when we’re trapped in a makeshift MooShu prison. And I still want to know what Seekers are.”
“What if we don’t know?”
“I think you do.”
“But what if we don’t?”
“You do.”
We sat there, glowering at each other for a few more minutes. The silence in the room was eerie and uncomfortable.
With a loud boom the door abruptly swung open. Scarlet and I broke each other’s gaze to stare at the new visitor we had.
“Professor Ambrose!” I shouted, on my feet in an instant.
“Hello, Sierra. I see you have met Miss MoonHeart here.”
“Headmaster! I’m so, so, so glad you came! I thought we would die in here. And Scarlet wouldn’t stop asking about the Seekers. And –”
“I’m sure you’ve had a marvelous adventure. You’d better be going though. Your sister wanted to tell you something.” For a moment the headmaster had a worried, nervous look on his face. Then, within a second, it was gone. “Sierra, have you had any luck with the next Seeker?”
The suddenness of this question stunned me momentarily. To be asking such a thing now, in front of Scarlet, too! I felt Scarlet gaping at me, but I didn’t let it bother me. “Actually, no, sir. Do you know anything about who it might be?”
“I’m sorry, no. But let me give you a little advice: the answer may be right in front of you.”
I gave him a puzzled look to get him to explain better. But he didn’t.
Instead, Merle glanced anxiously at the door. “I’d really better be going, students. The real minions are still out there. No doubt they’re causing trouble. Good luck to you.” In one swift motion, Merle Ambrose teleported away before I could ask any more questions.
I was left we more questions than answers, now. What had he meant, right in front of me? What had the strange look been? Or had that been my imagination? These questions and more were all jumbled up in my head, making absolutely no sense. But when I truly thought about it, all of them were asking the same thing.
Who is the Life Seeker?
Headmaster Ambrose had been right when he said Rowan wanted to tell me something. The second I stepped in the door, Rowan bounded up to me, screaming, “Sierra! Sierra! Sierra!”
“What? What? What!” I shouted back.
“Guess what?”
“For the last time, what?”
“I learned Dryad!”
“Oh. Um, okay.” Honestly, I didn’t really care. It only meant I was even farther in level behind her.
Rowan didn’t seem to notice my gloomy reply. “It was sooooooooo awesome! Okay, so first I talked to Moolinda Wu, and then I went to Sunken City. And while you were in MooShu doing whatever, I defeated Grubb!”
I couldn’t help but smile at the way she had said “in MooShu” and “doing whatever”. Truthfully, I hadn’t been in MooShu at all for most of the time, and using the words she did made my adventures sound insignificant and unexciting, which was the exact opposite of how they really were. Spotting my grin, she paused for a moment. “Um, what’s so funny?”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing.” I tried my best to make my expression once more indifferent.
Rowan wasn’t one to over observe things, so she simply shrugged and continued on. “So I found that chest, and it wasn’t hard to find, it was just off to the side Grubb’s room, and then I brought the contents to my teacher, and then I found out I had to fight Plague Oni, so I was like, ‘Ugh! I just did him last week!” but I still went and…” Rowan babbled on, not even stopping to breath. Everything was just one big, giant sentence. “We had so much fun and because Mark’s a Master it was super easy so we sped through it and then Sydney got caught in a battle with ninja pigs and started screaming ‘Bacon!’ or something like that, it was so funny, and so we started it too and…”
I stared at Rowan most of the time, nodding every once and a while, but not really comprehending what she was saying. My own thoughts were too mixed up. Instead, my mind wandered. I put together all my clues, and thought hard. It was a great struggle to look at Rowan like I was actually listening but think about other things at the same time.
Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. I excused myself by mumbling something about being tired from quests and locked myself in my bedroom. I flung myself onto the bed, just lying there quietly.
Somehow I ended up thinking about Vanessa’s awakening earlier today. I was thinking about everything Mary had said. I wondered if the Colossus had told her anything. And if my poor Stormzilla had triumphed in its battle with the Hydra. And what had Liam and Vanessa been talking about before I interrupted? What did Mary’s voice remind me of? And Scarlet –
I froze. Scarlet. Scarlet MoonHeart.
Scarlet was Life, wasn’t she? She had the wand, and wore green clothes. She had come with us to the Pyramid of the Moon, too. The Colossus had said there were “more than two Seekers” in the pyramid, didn’t he? I had always known Liam was there, those words didn’t mean there was simply one more. What if there were four Seekers altogether? Scarlet could be one of them.
What about Merle Ambrose’s comment about the answer being right in front of me? Scarlet had been right there, next to me. It was so obvious: she had to be it.
Scarlet MoonHeart was the Life Seeker.
The next day, Rowan and Sydney teamed up with Vanessa and I so I could catch up with everyone else. Even Sydney was ahead of me by now.
Unfortunately, on this seemingly normal day, disaster struck.
We were battling the Oyotomi Quartermaster. He wasn’t that difficult, but Rowan had entered low on health in the first place. Though the rest of us tried to convince her to drink one of her potions, she had refused. “Theurgists don’t need potions!” she declared. “We can heal ourselves.”
Within the first three turns, Rowan got five pips made of her power pips and she got ready to cast her spell. She expertly drew the Life symbol in a dramatic way. When she was about to activate it, I saw the card she had chosen in her hand: Regenerate.
Regenerate was a spell that healed you over time. When Rowan first got it, she instantly loved the spell and named it “Handy”.
But this time, I wondered if I had been mistaken of what I saw in her hand. Black clouds were starting to cover the dueling arena.
Rowan didn’t even notice. She proceed on with her silly little motto she always said when she cast Handy: “This is Handy. Handy is handy. But sometimes he’s not so handy. But Handy is-”
The three of us gasped. A hand did come out from the sinister clouds, but it wasn’t Handy. This hand was scaly and clawed like a Draconian’s hand. It was a terrifying dark color that matched the clouds behind it perfectly. Rowan stopped talking, her eyes wide with fright.
From Sydney’s side Sir Romeo hissed. The rest of our pets, Vanessa’s Queen Chelsea the Ninja Pig and my Baby Fluffy the Ghoul (though it wasn’t particularly a proper name for such a creature, I kept it, because I loved the irony of it), also began reacting strangely, suddenly looking fearful and skittish. Rowan’s Summer Dragon, Mister Muffin, emanated a horrified cry and started flitting around Rowan anxiously.
Rowan was distracted by this movement. She took one, tiny, quick little glance at her pet. In that same moment, the hand lunged at my sister.
“ROWAN!” I screamed, abandoning my spot in the dueling circle to come to her aid.
Rowan was being pulled up by the hand. I leaped to reach her, but it was useless. When I landed, I stupidly stumbled and fell.
Mister Muffin, disconcerted and unsure of what to do, flew up to Rowan hurriedly and perched on her arm, flapping his wings and pulling in a useless attempt to free her. Rowan was too busy struggling to react to his sharp claws that were digging into her skin.
In one single, swift motion, the hand and the clouds, Rowan and Mister Muffin, everything – was gone.
******
YES! You can't IMAGINE how long it took to put spaces between the paragraphs! Geez, this is going to take up half my blog. O. o But it's worth it!
I am so happy. You know why? I just finished part 11! Sadly, the Creative Writing section is "getting a whole new look", so they aren't accepting stories. Lucky for you guys, I can put this on my blog! :D
Enjoy!
The Tale of Sierra WinterBreeze - Part 11
It was finally the day. My family and I had been waiting for this moment, had been anticipating it ever since the black fire. Everyone was so excited that we would have our own house again. No longer would we live with Sydney Jadehammer and Hunter Thundershield (which in my opinion was inconvenient because it provided easy access to two Seekers while it lasted). We had a new house, built in the same spot. It was almost an exact replica of our old one, though it felt empty and deserted with all the furniture gone. Still, sleeping on the floor in my own room without a bed was an improvement from sleeping in a cramped room with two others on sweaty mattresses with layers of blankets over top.
Two weeks had passed since my encounter with Malistaire and Liam. My family had been frantic with worry when I didn’t come back from doing quests that night. When Victoria was also announced missing, they assumed we were together, though they couldn’t teleport to us or contact us in Whisper Chat. Though some had known Vanessa and her family were missing, they did not see any connection because I had never met her. Even though I knew Liam, his family had been missing longer than us and everyone thought Liam had disappeared with them.
I had told my tale to my worried parents, omitting parts having to do with the Seekers. I also left out the black lightning I had created; I shuddered every time I thought about it. Because I couldn’t explain that Liam was a Seeker, they were confused at why Malistaire had targeted him.
But I had told it all to them with enough conviction that they had to believe me. Mark’s family offered to take in Vanessa because she was an old family friend.
So it was the long awaited day at long last. All of Sydney’s family came with us and Vanessa as well. Rowan Willowleaf, my sister, and I eagerly rushed into our new house the second we teleported there. I was somewhat disappointed to discover that it wasn’t new; it was the same home we had left, with only minor adjustments.
The excitement of the new house quickly wore off. Though our parents remained happy, Rowan and I almost instantly left the house to go off with friends.
We split up into two groups: Rowan promised to help Sydney, who had began to lag behind me in Marleybone, and I went with Vanessa because she also had only recently gotten into MooShu.
I had many things to think about after leaving the lair that I didn’t have any time for quests. The Spiral Key to MooShu still remained unused.
When I twisted the key into the Spiral door, it shined a soft, green glow. Then, it faded, and I opened the door and stepped inside. I was suspended in air, in complete nothingness, with only darkness around. I pictured the lush, green fields of MooShu. A door was meant to come, but even when it didn’t, I remained patient. It always took a little while longer the first time you accessed a world.
Soon enough, a door appeared and I slipped inside.
I found myself in a room more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. There were real plants growing around me, and little waterfalls were all around. The room had a feeling of being outside, in nature. This was definitely a Life school world; no wonder Rowan liked it so much.
Vanessa had been waiting for me. She faked being impatient: “What took you so long? Geez! I thought you had died!”
I laughed. “Sorry. It was my first time. You know how that is.”
She smiled. “Yes, I do. All too well. I had to wait an entire hour to get into Marleybone.”
“Really?” I gasped. “Can it take that long?
“Apparently.”
We exited through the flower-filled Spiral Chamber of MooShu that led into the Jade Palace, and I froze. This view was so breathtaking, I couldn’t even walk. This place was gorgeous! The part of the palace that we were in was filled with shops, with perfectly placed signs advertising the product sold. Warriors roamed through the unpaved streets with purpose, and goat monks walked feebly, leaning on their staffs. Unlike the eternally dark and starry skies of Marleybone, the sky was a clear shade of baby blue that mesmerized me. The air smelled differently from any other in the entire Spiral: it was a fresh, clean, sweet scent that was pleasantly refreshing from smelling the polluted air of Marleybone. In the center of the palace, just a little ahead of us, was an enormous statue of someone that must have been important. A lily-filled pond surrounded the statue, and the water looked so pure that I could drink it. In the distance I saw snow-capped mountains.
I was so stunned that I hardly even noticed when Vanessa pulled on my arm impatiently to get my walking again. I followed her once more, but I couldn’t help but gape at the new world along the way.
As we strolled through the shops, a particular one caught my eye. It was the wand and athame shop. I was in need of a new wand. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my trusty old O’Leary Jinxed Staff anymore. No, far from it. The only problem was that it was a Balance staff, and I was sick of having balance enemies resist my wand spells. I needed an Ice wand. My clothes could use a MooShu Makeover as well. I was wearing a wonderful Crown robe, the Master’s Cloak of the Lizard, which I most certainly didn’t want to get rid of, but I was in desperate need of a new hat and shoes. The Cap of the Ice Wyvern was not very becoming, no matter how much it boosted my spells. But I could worry about that later. I just needed a new wand.
I halted Vanessa and pointed toward the shop. She grinned. “Of course. Should’ve known. Okay, we can stop there. But I don’t think you’re a high enough level to use any of them.”
I went in anyway. I stared reverently at the shimmering MooShu wands. I recognized the Life wand right away; Rowan had one just like it. I had always been fascinated by the way her wand had left a sparkling trail of leaves in its wake. Now I was looking at my own version, a beautiful brown-handled wand with glowing blue wind billowing inside. Eagerly I picked it up to try it out. When I waved it around, the wand left slight trails of the blue clouds behind it. Delighted, I was ready to put all my accumulated Marylebone savings toward it.
I was dismayed when the shopkeeper explained that I couldn’t. “You are level 33,” Himoora Kenshin, the shopkeeper, said. “You must be at least level 35 to properly use this wand.”
“Pretty, pretty please?” I begged. “Just look at this old staff! I can’t use it anymore. A wizard in MooShu doesn’t deserve to carry around something like this.”
“I am terribly sorry, but I cannot sell you this.”
“Come on! I’ll be really good with it. I’ll be careful.”
She sighed as if she had heard this a million times. However, before she could say anything more the door swung open and a Samoorai warrior entered. I shrunk away, forgetting my argument with the shopkeeper. He walked with such authority that straight away I knew he was a force not to be messed with.
“Miss Kenshin, I must speak with you.”
She looked alarmed. “Of course! What is wrong?”
The warrior glared at Vanessa and I. “I meant alone.”
“We were just leaving,” I grumbled.
The Samoorai went to the back of the store with the shopkeeper. Vanessa and I started to walk out, but then we heard the Samoorai’s strong voice boom, “There have been rumors that two of Malistaire’s minions are in MooShu today.”
Vanessa and I exchanged glances. Malistaire? That sounded like it could be important to the Seekers. Careful not to alert them, we crept back into the store and acted as if we were browsing through athames.
“Oh, my,” responded the shopkeeper. “I will keep a lookout for them. Do you have any leads on what they could be here for?”
“A guard heard them talking about needing a wand. We quickly came to tell you. Check inventory before any customers leave.”
“How many did you say there were?” she asked, her eyes drifting towards Vanessa and me.
I realized the position we were in. We were two wizards in a wand shop… the perfect suspects.
“We aren’t doing anything!” I said quickly. “We are just looking through athames!”
She gave us one more doubtful look, and then glanced at the wands. I guessed she must have been making sure they were all there. She returned to her conversation. “Where were they last seen?”
“Hametsu Village. That’s not far from here, so they could be arriving at any moment.”
“I just want to know what they want a wand for,” the shopkeeper mused. “How could that be important? Especially a MooShu wand, when Malistaire is powerful enough to use a DragonSpyre sword.”
Just then two wizards opened the door and entered. One had a hood over their head, so I couldn’t see who they were. The other I knew was female, because though the hat she wore covered her eyes, her long blond hair cascaded down her back in a tight ponytail.
Though the odd pair walked near me, I didn’t pay much attention to them at first because I was so busy trying to look inconspicuous and listen to the conversation at the same time. However, I couldn’t help but notice when the hooded figure tensed as they passed me.
I was so surprised. Did they know me? Or was it a coincidence?
I gazed after them and noted that they were heading toward the wands. I tugged on Vanessa’s arm and pointed. Her eyes widened. She understood. These two fit the description of Malistaire’s minions as much as, if not more than, us.
I wanted to point it out to the shopkeeper, but I didn’t think that it would do much good while we were suspects as well. But the pair had walked in so silently that I doubted she had seen them.
Maybe I could talk to them. I walked over to the wands. When the hooded figure spotted me, he or she jumped, as if startled by my appearance somehow. The wizard seemed even more shaken when Vanessa took her place next to me.
Then, before I could even react, the girl grabbed the Balance wand that was on display directly beside us. Without a word she grabbed her companion and they teleported.
I was stunned. When I snapped out of it, I yelled in vain, “Hey! Wait!”
The shopkeeper and the Samoorai both turned to me.
And the wand next to me was gone.
“Thief!” screeched the shopkeeper. “You’re the minons!”
“What? No, we’re not!” I argued. “It was the two that were in here a moment ago!”
The Samoorai didn’t listen, and advanced toward us.
“Vanessa, let’s go!” I shouted, starting to flee outside.
But when the sunlight’s rays warmed my face, I ran straight into a startled girl who had looked like she had just been about to go inside.
“Oh, um, sorry,” I murmured, not even glancing at her.
“What are you running from?” she asked with genuine curiosity.
I ignored her, and continued to run, with Vanessa behind me.
It felt odd to running again, especially when it was now among the peaceful scenery of MooShu. Plus, we were running from the very people I thought we could trust. Everything was turned upside down, and I felt dizzy from everything that was happening. But still I ran.
We rushed into the center of the palace and splashed through the crystal clear pond surrounding a statue. When I stepped out of the pool, I heard more splashing than I thought Vanessa could make. I turned, worried that the Samoorai was already there. But instead, I spotted the Samoorai farther back. It was actually the girl I had run into.
“Stop following us!” I hissed.
“I heard something about you working with Malistaire. Are you his minons? Were they telling the truth?”
“No!”
“Oh.”
“Leave us alone!” I continued on, praying that she would stay there.
She didn’t.
I then spied a bell that was on the other side of the palace. Looking over my shoulder, I motioned to Vanessa, and scowled at the girl who refused to stop following us. Leaving her behind, Vanessa and climbed under the bell.
It was an extremely bad hiding spot. Our legs were entirely exposed, and there was no way we would be able to stay under here very long. I was already feeling a little claustrophobic. I only hoped it would buy us some time, allowing us to teleport or think of a good reason for them to think we weren’t the minions.
The bell cloaked us in silence. I couldn’t hear anything outside of it. The shouts of the Samoorai faded, leaving us alone. Even the hollow sound of the wind disappeared.
“What should we do?” I frantically whispered to Vanessa.
“I’ll teleport to my house, and you can follow. I bought a new Krokotopian house yesterday so I wanted to show you anyway.”
“Okay.”
I waited, but nothing happened. “Um, any day now.”
Her eyes widened in fear. “I’m trying! I really am trying!”
“Oh no… not again!”
“Do you think the bell is doing something? Should we climb out and teleport?” she whispered frantically.
“I don’t want to be caught!”
“They will find us under here anyway if we don’t do something!”
I bit my lip, weighing the consequences of each possibility.
Vanessa groaned. “You’re taking too long! I’m going out there.”
“No, Vanessa, wait!”
But it was too late. Vanessa had already scrambled out from underneath the safety of the bell.
“Vanessa!” There wasn’t any answer. Had she been caught? With a wave of panic, I climbed out after her.
But when I peeked under, I was stunned to find… sand.
I emerged and found myself facing an endless desert. The land stretched on forever, meeting the horizon far in the distance. Above my head the blazing sun shone with such ferocity that everything appeared hazy and blurry from the heat. Nothing varied from the flat expanse of sand besides small dunes, and even those didn’t rise very high in the air.
Vanessa was standing there as well, gaping. “I… I don’t know… How did we… Sierra, where are we?”
“I think Krokotopia,” I managed to say.
“But how?”
“How should I know?” I said a little more sharply than I intended.
“You’re the only one here to ask!” she exclaimed.
“I’m here too,” said a timid voice that was barely more than a whisper.
I recognized the voice and angrily spun around. As I had feared, the girl who I had bumped into was sitting there on the sand, dazed. “Why do you keep following us?” I screamed.
“It’s not like I wanted to follow you,” she declared indignantly. “The Samoorai actually thought that I was one of you. And when you disappeared under the bell, I didn’t even think about it, I just dove after you. I most certainly wasn’t expecting to come out to… this.”
“Hang on. You were able to follow us? So wouldn’t that mean that the Samoorai can as well?” I wondered.
The girl’s expression turned from confused and offended to fearful and shocked. Without a word, she rushed off toward the horizon.
Vanessa and I instinctively followed her, not even thinking twice about the bell that we were leaving behind us.
Though the sun shone brightly above us and my skin felt like it was burning, I followed the curious girl tirelessly for what felt like hours. But as far as I knew, it could have been seconds. Maybe even days. The sun never moved from its position directly above us in the sky, no matter how long we wandered across the sand. This reminded me so much of the desert we had been teleported to on Earth, except the sand here was loose and difficult to walk on.
In due time a figure rose upon the horizon. Only when I got closer did I see that it was a pyramid, almost an exact replica of the Pyramid of the Sun in Krokotopia. However, I could tell that it was a little bit larger.
Soon enough I stood at its base in front of a tall, formidable entryway lit by two braziers with Vanessa and the mysterious girl at my side.
For the first time since I had met her, the girl hesitated.
“Are you going in?” I asked.
“Ummmm…”
“It’s our only choice,” said Vanessa flatly. She glared at the girl. “We may have more options if someone hadn’t run away from the only possible exit we might have!”
“You didn’t have to follow me.”
“Are you going in or not?” I repeated eagerly. I wanted to see the inside of the odd building, but didn’t want to go in alone.
The girl didn’t even answer. She simply walked inside, leaving Vanessa and I outside.
Vanessa looked at me as if waiting for my consent. I nodded, and together we walked inside.
The interior was just as grand as the outside. In the room we entered there was a staircase winding up into darkness. Like most Krokotopian pyramids, there were hieroglyphs on the walls. I realized I hadn’t been in Krokotopia for a long time since being let into Marleybone. I made a mental note to visit there again sometime.
There was a tunnel to our right. I also noted that it was cooler inside here than it had been outside, but that was normal for Krokotopian buildings.
The girl looked up when we came in. She had been looking up the staircase. “So,” she began, “Now that we’re in here why don’t you tell me your names?”
“I’m Sierra WinterBreeze.”
“And Vanessa DreamHaven,” Vanessa added.
The girl nodded once, and then turned to face the winding staircase again. She glanced up and asked, “Either of you guys pyromancers?”
We shook our heads.
She sighed. Taking out her wand, which I recognized as the Mooshu Life wand, she drew the Life symbol. When she activated it, a Dryad appeared. I gasped. My sister didn’t even know that! “What level are you?”
She realized I was asking because of the Dryad. She smiled sheepishly. “Um, I only turned level 35 yesterday. I just know Dryad from my shoes.”
“Oh.” I felt foolish for even asking. “Anyway, what are you going to do with that?”
“This.” She pulled off a branch from the beautiful tree-like Dryad and set it on fire from the braziers. “I’m going exploring,” she explained as she made the Dryad disappear.
“What? No!” I called as she walked to the foot of the stairs. “You have no idea what’s up there.”
“That’s exactly why I’m doing it,” she retorted, rolling her eyes.
“But it could be something dangerous,” I hollered desperately. I didn’t know why I wanted to protect her so much. She wouldn’t even tell me her name.
“I’ll soon find out, won’t I?” With the lit stick in her hand, she tromped up the stairs.
I choose not to argue anymore. But I still felt uneasy; there was something about this place I didn’t like. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we weren’t alone.
I twirled around to face Vanessa. “Now what?”
“We could go exploring ourselves,” she suggested, gesturing to the tunnel.
I peered into it doubtfully, but I couldn’t see anything through the darkness. “I don’t think so.”
“Well, that other girl lit a stick, didn’t she? Do you have anything flammable?”
We searched through our things, but everything we had that could possibly light our way was too precious to use.
“So much for that wonderful plan,” I murmured.
“I don’t want to just sit here!” Vanessa whined. “If only we had some light…”
As if on cue, braziers that I hadn’t seen through the blackness flickered to life on either side of the tunnel, revealing a long narrow passageway that we still couldn’t see the end of.
“Um, okay… That was weird…” remarked Vanessa.
“Very,” I agreed uneasily.
“But I suppose that answers your question.” She grinned.
“You know, if anything that makes me want to go down even less.”
“You can stay here,” she offered.
I considered it for a moment, but shuddered when I thought of being left alone in here. “Okay, I’m coming.”
After sauntering through the tunnel for a few minutes, it widened into a large, dim room lit by only three braziers – one with a purple flame, one with a blue, and one with a red. Other than that, I saw nothing. “We should go back,” I said, somewhat disappointed. “There’s nothing here.”
However, when I faced the cave once more to our dismay the fires in the tunnel went out. The blue, red, and purple fires at the back of the room now remained the only ones lit.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen, was it?” asked Vanessa worriedly.
“Uh…” I looked around the room again. Not seeing anything, I glanced up, then gasped and jumped out of the way. Tumbling down from out of nowhere came an enormous pile of medium-sized rocks that rained on the spot I had just been standing.
For a moment, Vanessa and I simply stood there, too stunned to speak. I could have been killed, I realized. The grim thought frightened me, and I felt nervous butterflies in my stomach.
Suddenly, the ground shook. Or rather, the rocks made the ground shake. They were vibrating, and I took an involuntary step back. Then, with a whooshing sound, the rocks amalgamated to form a towering Desert Colossus.
“Hello, Seeker WinterBreeze. Welcome, Vanessa DreamHaven.”
As usual, I was surprised that a creature like this knew my name. But then realization set in. “You know about the Seekers!” I shouted.
“Yes,” it said plainly.
“Why are you here then?”
“I am here to awaken the seventh Seeker.”
I paused, puzzled. Seventh Seeker? “Um… shouldn’t the seventh Seeker be Life?”
“It was supposed to be, but Vanessa got here first.”
“Vanessa? She’s Balance!”
“There are two Balance Seekers.”
“I’m a Seeker?” questioned Vanessa, gaping. I think I had my mouth hanging open, too.
“But… why?” I inquired. “I mean, I understand what happened with Liam and everything. Is Vanessa replacing him?”
“No!” boomed the Colossus vehemently, making me jump. “In some generations the ways that the Seekers are affected by dark magic is something that they cannot get through, and causes them to not be able to fight as effectively as the others or not even fight at all. So there is two of that school, so that they will still have the benefits of that type of wizard. But the original Seeker will always help their team in some way. Such as with your friend Liam.”
“He’s not my friend,” I growled.
The Colossus ignored me. “Vanessa is here to become the second Balance Seeker. She must be awakened.”
I turned to my companion to see what she was thinking. She was just standing there, dumbfounded, so I grinned. “So, are you happy to be a Seeker, Vanessa?” I questioned.
“I… I don’t understand,” she murmured. “My brother is the warrior of the family, not me. I’m no good at this sort of thing.”
“Of course you are! Victoria and I wouldn’t have gotten out of Malistaire’s place without you.”
“And I would be dead if it weren’t for you!” she retorted.
“So we both rely on each other,” I said gently. “That’s why we need you.”
She didn’t reply, only glared at the wall she was now facing.
“You are a good leader, Sierra WinterBreeze,” the Colossus approved, beaming.
I scowled. Why did everyone have to keep reminding me of that?
The Colossus asked Vanessa, “Do you accept your task, Seeker DreamHaven?”
“I…” Vanessa began, but then she was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. All three of us started.
Recognition dawned on the Colossus’s face. “Oh yes… I sensed the presence of three others. And I knew there were more than two Seekers from the beginning…” It turned to us. “We shall be getting some visitors soon, I believe.”
“Who?” I asked. I knew that the annoying girl whose name I still did not know was here, and she was who I had suspected screamed. But three others? Who else could there be?”
What made me wonder even more was that the Colossus had claimed that there was another Seeker as well. Which one of my friends would be here?
“I do not know who it is.” My heart sank. “Do you know of any others who could possibly be in here?”
“Well, I’m guessing one of them is that girl that followed us here,” I informed.
“And what is her name?”
“She never told us.”
“Is she a Seeker?”
“I don’t think so.” But even as I said it, I was reconsidering it. Was she a Seeker of Light? Was that even possible? I was thinking about everything that had happened. She had come to this desert, but maybe non-Seekers could do that too. From her wand, it also looked like she was Life. And we needed a Life Seeker. Unless there was some other Seeker that these guys conveniently forgot to tell me.
“Before they arrive, what do you say, Vanessa?” asked the Colossus again, more apprehensive now.
“Um, I guess if-“ But again Vanessa was stopped. This time it was the sound of flames flickering to life as the braziers turned on again.
“Why’d you turn on the braziers?” I accused the Colossus.
“It was not me. They light themselves every time a Seeker needs light.”
“I guess we’ll find out who our guests are, then,” Vanessa said grimly.
I said, “Before we are interrupted again, tell us what this place is called.”
“This is the Pyramid of the Moon,” the Colossus explained. “It used to sit next to the Pyramid of the Sun in Krokotopia, but because it was larger and heavier, it sunk into the unstable sand the first time it rained when it was brand new. Ever since then it has been here in this desert, used by the Spiral Guardians.”
“The what?”
Then footsteps echoed from down the tunnel, and we all stared at the intruder that was now standing at the front of the tunnel.
But luckily it was only to girl from earlier. “Sierra! Vanessa!” I couldn’t believe she had remembered our names. And she had a genuine expression of relief on her face. Maybe she was nicer than I gave her credit for.
And then she spotted the Colossus for the first time. She turned pale. “What is that thing?”
“A Desert Colossus.”
She eyed it warily. “Why is it here?”
“For, um, something…”
“If I didn’t know it was something, I wouldn’t be asking you.”
I changed the subject. “Why did you scream?”
“Oh. You could hear that? Um, well… I met someone…”
“Who?”
“Uh… I don’t think they want me to tell you…”
“Come on, who is it?”
“Okay, fine! I guess I would have to tell you about them at one point anyway.”
“Just tell me who it is!” I demanded.
“My friends. I met two people in here.”
Though the Colossus had told me there were others, I was still surprised when she told me about them. So, this girl was friends with them? Perhaps they were here accidentally, too.
Then again, I couldn’t ignore the fact that one was a Seeker. Again I pondered who it could be. Was it Sydney? No, she was with Rowan. Victoria? Impossible, she had been grounded ever since our little stunt with Malistaire. So who else? Mark? Hunter?
Then I thought of the other Seeker. But the thought of him being here sent a shiver down my spine.
I really, really hoped it wasn’t Liam.
The Colossus decided to speak up. “Young wizard, it is rather important that you tell us. What are their names?”
For a moment the girl just stood there, her face fixed into an expression of terror and awe. Finally, she shrieked, “It speaks!”
“So listen to it, please!” I commanded. “What. Are. Their. Names!”
“Uh, I can’t remember.”
“WHAT? You can’t remember?”
“Were any of their names Mark?” Vanessa asked. “Or Sydney? Or Victoria? Or Hunter?”
“I don’t think so. There was one boy and one girl. Here, why don’t I just introduce them to you? Then you can learn their names and it will at the same time refresh my memory! Hang on, I’ll go get them. They’re waiting at the entrance to the tunnel.” She glanced at the Colossus nervously before dashing down the tunnel.
I suddenly remembered something. “Wait!” I called.
She spun back around. “What?”
“What’s your name?” I inquired.
“Scarlet MoonHeart,” she replied, though hesitantly.
Then she was heading down the tunnel again.
“Well, that was nice,” Vanessa huffed sarcastically.
“At least she finally told us her name.”
“I’m just glad we’ll find out who else is in here.”
And then the Colossus gasped so suddenly that Vanessa and I jumped. “There’s dark magic approaching!” it yelled.
“What?”
“Seekers, you must run! This is too dangerous!”
“But what about Vanessa getting awakened? And Scarlet?”
“Forget about it!”
“Uh, but… where are we supposed to run to?”
The Colossus looked desperately at the tunnel, where we could hear footsteps slowly approaching. The calmness and unhurried pace of the steps made every second agonizing, especially now that we knew that with them it could be a practitioner of dark arts.
As they footsteps grew louder, so did the voices of the people coming.
“No, Scarlet, this is a very, very bad idea,” said one person that I recognized as a male voice. And yet I still thought I knew it from somewhere.
Vanessa stiffened next to me at the sound of the voice, though I couldn’t figure out why.
“If you already know her, then she’ll love to see you,” came Scarlet’s voice.
“You don’t understand. She hates me. And… I think Vanessa will, too.”
“Don’t worry,” soothed a cool female voice. Hearing it made me shudder. It also reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t figure out whom. “Maybe Sierra will tell us who the next Seeker is.”
I listened even more intently when I heard both my name and the Seekers in one sentence. These people obviously knew what they were talking about.
“I doubt it,” grumbled the first voice.
It frustrated me that I still couldn’t figure out who either of the voices reminded me of.
“Look, there’s the exit of the tunnel,” said Scarlet. “I will run up ahead and tell them you’re here, and then we can make introductions! Or I suppose it wouldn’t be introductions, because you already know them, but-”
“Just go, Scarlet,” growled the female voice again.
“Okay, okay! Geez.” Scarlet soon came around the corner. “Hello, again,” she greeted us, though in a somewhat distracted way. “This is Mary RavenGem” – A girl with golden blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail and aqua blue eyes dressed in red and green clothes stepped around the corner, evidently not happy to be there from the scowl on her face – “and Liam.”
Time seemed to move in slow motion after that. Liam stepped out behind Scarlet, just as unhappy as Mary had been. Then I remembered where the Mary girl was from – if Liam had a hood over his head and Mary’s hat was tipped ever so slightly forward they could be identical to the pair we encountered in the MooShu shop. Then Mary lifted up her wand – though I couldn’t see very well, I assumed it was the Balance wand they had stolen – and with a flick of her wrist the Colossus was trapped in a pile of quicksand, unable to move. After that, Mary turned to me. Though Scarlet had no idea what was going on, I can thank my lucky stars that she instinctively grabbed Mary’s arm to save me. Unfortunately, my savior was thrust into the wall by Mary when she waved her wand again. I don’t know when it happened, but somehow Liam and Vanessa were on the other side of the room, between the red and blue braziers.
And then entire time this hectic scene was unfolding, the supposed leader of the Seekers was standing there, dumbfounded, useless, and unable to move.
Somehow Mary got over to me. I allowed myself to be pushed over to the wall, where she raised her wand and threaten to have her Hydra destroy me if I didn’t tell her what she wanted. I didn’t respond. So what if she destroyed me? I was a failure, a useless leader. No one really wanted me, anyway. Why had they chosen me to be a Seeker in the first place?
“Okay,” she said when she was sure I got the message, “I want you to tell me who the next Seeker is.”
I stared at her blankly. “Why would you want to know that?”
“That’s my business,” she growled. “Who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop lying!” she accused. “Who is it?”
“They never told me.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Um…” Because I didn’t know what she would do with this information, I lied. “The Colossus was about to tell me, but didn’t get to it.”
“I don’t believe you,” she huffed. “But that Desert Colossus probably does know something. If you won’t tell me, maybe it will.”
Oops, I thought. That wasn’t what I meant to do.
Mary began walking away, and I had a small hope that I’d be able to escape when her back was turned. The she abruptly turned, as if remembering something important.
Indeed she had remembered, much to my dismay. “Of course, I can’t leave you alone! Why don’t I give you a friend?”
I didn’t like the way she had said “friend” one bit.
Taking out the stolen wand, Mary drew the Balance symbol and activated it, making a colossal Hydra appear.
Strangely, I wasn’t afraid. Perhaps it was because the only real Hydra I had ever seen (besides the miniature pets Master Balance wizards owned – they sometimes snapped at you, but they weren’t scary) was the one that had awakened Liam. That one had been friendly enough, if not a little unusual.
One of Mary’s Hydra’s heads let out a throaty growl. I wondered if it could talk. I doubted it.
“Sierra!” I heard a panicked cry from a voice that I only vaguely recognized. Turning towards the voice, I saw that it was the Desert Colossus. “Grab Vanessa and your other friend and get out of here!”
“What?” That had been unexpected. I had thought it would have wanted us to stay and help get rid of Liam and Mary.
“Go!” it ordered.
Mary was approaching the Colossus at the moment. I had to make my decision fast. Should I heed him, or simply leave?
“You don’t understand,” it pleaded. “You can’t fight them. There is dark magic here, darker than you can imagine! The Seekers aren’t strong enough right now. There will come a time, but not today. Please, go.”
I just happened to glance at Vanessa at that moment and froze. She was with Liam, but I had known that from the beginning. What truly shocked me was that she was laughing. Laughing! While I was in mortal danger, guarded by a Hydra, yelled at by Mary and continuously begged by the Colossus to leave, Vanessa was laughing.
Well, I mused, I suppose they are brother and sister. But still, couldn’t Vanessa at least pretend to care about my safety? And how could she forgive Liam’s perfidiousness so readily? It somewhat disgusted me, but I knew in a way how she felt. Wouldn’t I feel the same way about Rowan if that happened to her? Not that it ever would, but still.
Unfortunately, that didn’t change anything. And actually, that one look had helped me decide – I was going to listen to the Colossus. I would get out of here. Of course I couldn’t leave Vanessa; she was the new Balance Seeker, after all. But how would I get to her with Liam there?
That wasn’t the only flaw in the escape plan I was starting to develop. Mary’s Hydra was still watching me carefully, and under its watchful eye I would never get away. I had to fight it. What other choice did I have?
But did I have a spell that could take it? Hydra was a Master spell, and I wasn’t a Master.
Actually, I could already think of one spell. I still had the Master’s Cloak of the Lizard that I had bought in Marleybone. Could a Stormzilla defeat a Hydra? Maybe if a Master Storm wizard cast it. But what about me?
Without considering it any farther, I took the card and began forming the Storm symbol. Even though I usually didn’t cast spells like this, the Stormzilla card that came with my clothes worked in the same way as a Treasure Card, guiding me through the actions effortlessly. There was the sound of a storm – a deafening thunder-like rumble, the pattering of rain – and I drew power from my mana and the card. With a flash of lightning I released the energy, activated the symbol, and summoned the Stormzilla.
Roaring, the Stormzilla charged directly at the Hydra. I smiled when I heard a satisfying “thump” as its head made contact with Mary’s Hydra. The Hydra hadn’t been expecting this at all, and tumbled backward.
The Hydra was sluggish, still startled. But it wasn’t long before it snapped out of it and countered by making all three heads bite the Stormzilla in unison. I felt awful for making the creature suffer so much, but at least the Hydra was distracted.
Actually, I think everyone was distracted. Liam and Vanessa were gaping at the battle when I rushed over. I pulled on Vanessa to start towing her to the tunnel. She opened her mouth to protest, but she didn’t have the time. Mary’s Hydra zoomed into the wall three inches away from us. With her mouth still hanging open, but this time in fear, she no longer resisted as I guided her towards Scarlet.
Scarlet was looking fearfully at the scene in front of her. Mary was angrily screaming at her Hydra, trying to regain control. Liam was still a bit dazed, because he was staring at us, confused. The Hydra and my Stormzilla were still brawling, and sadly my Stormzilla was losing. The Colossus was still bound prisoner by the quicksand, and it had its head down, distraught and defeated. In some ways, it reminded me of the Cyclops that had awakened Hunter. It hadn’t been at all brave when Seth lit the fire. It seemed like the people who awakened the Seekers weren’t very powerful.
Maybe that was the point. Whoever appointed these guys (if there was anyone – how was I supposed to know?) obviously wasn’t choosing fighters. They seemed to be the outcasts, the ones looked down on by, um, creature society. Like my Frost Giant. He was tiny compared to the rest of his kind.
When I came next to Scarlet, I hissed, “Come on Scarlet, let’s go.”
“But… what about Mary and Li-”
“Forget about them!”
“But they’re my new friends-”
“And they’re Malistaire’s minions.”
“Wow, really? I had no id-”
“Let’s go already!”
“I kind of wanted to-"
“Never mind,” I sighed. “We’ll leave you here.”
I spun around and walked away and didn’t look back. But I was still pleased to hear the slight pattering of footsteps behind me. She was following.
So Vanessa, Scarlet, and I left the hectic scene behind us to let Liam and Mary figure everything out themselves. I grinned when I thought of my Stormzilla.
They were going to have a lot of work to do.
We emerged from the pyramid minutes later. To my surprise, the bell was already sitting right outside the pyramid, waiting for us.
Without even thinking about it, I dove under the bell, anxious to go home.
In that split second, I remembered something very important.
Time didn’t move when a Seeker was awakened.
Vanessa had just been awakened.
Last time we had been out there, the Samoorai had been looking for us.
And I had just gone back to that moment.
I tried to stop myself. Instead of halting, however, I stumbled and fell under the bell, scraping my knees. They stung, but I did not want to get caught but the Samoorai. I peeked back underneath the bell. The picture was wavering in front of me. I assumed that I was just dizzy from falling, so I proceeded to climb out under the bell.
Everything grew worse. I stood there for a moment, confused. The Krokotopian sand shivered beneath my feet, making me feel almost nauseous. I looked at Vanessa and Scarlet, who now looked so queer that I couldn’t tell who was who. I shouted, “The Samoorai will be there! Don’t go under!” My voice sounded oddly distorted, and only incomprehensible gibberish answered me with Vanessa’s just barely recognizable voice. At this point I began to panic. Why did everything look so strange? What was happening?
Finally, everything was stretched beyond recognition. I was inside a senseless jumble of colors. Wondering if I would be trapped here forever, I spun around and sighed with relief. The bell was sitting there, unperturbed despite the chaos around it.
I found it comforting to know that there was a possible exit nearby. Seeing no reason to immediately go under the bell and with my dear gone, I only felt curious. I slowly turned to look at the emptiness again. When I took one step, everything changed.
I heard it before I saw it. Shouting. It was loud, unfathomable yelling. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it sounded angry.
Suddenly I was in MooShu. I gazed around, dazed. Why was I here? Had everything been a dream? Awakening Vanessa, Liam and Mary, the pyramid, the colors, everything? Disoriented, I twirled around, half-expecting something even crazier to show up there. All I saw was Vanessa and Scarlet emerging from under the bell. They were both looking over my shoulder at the Samoorai who were sure to be approaching. But at this point, I didn’t care. Everything had happened so quickly, I hadn’t the time to think.
Someone grabbed me from behind, and I didn’t have to look to know that it was the Samoorai.
If this was a dream, it was about to turn into a nightmare.
I sat in the room with Vanessa and Scarlet, contemplating our next move. Things hadn’t gone well with the Samoorai. They didn’t even give me the time to put up a good argument before we found ourselves being thrown into this old MooShu shop. I couldn’t tell what used to be sold here just from the appearance, but I did know it smelled horrible.
I could only hope there was someone in MooShu that would listen to me when I said I didn’t work for Malistaire.
We had been in the room for just about over ten minutes when Scarlet spoke up. “So, what was all that about in the pyramid?”
Vanessa and I exchanged looks.
Scarlet added, “Liam and Mary were saying something about Seekers.”
We looked at her. Or more, glared at her.
“Are the Seekers a bad thing?”
We still didn’t reply.
“Oh come on! You can’t be silent forever!”
“You know, we’re not going to answer you,” I stated.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not important.”
“But I want to know!” Scarlet pouted.
“Too bad.”
“Pleeeeeeease?”
“What area are you working on?” I was becoming a master at changing the subject.
“MooShu.”
“Where?”
“In the Village of Sorrow. Right now I have a quest to – Wait a second, this is silly. We’re chatting about quests when we’re trapped in a makeshift MooShu prison. And I still want to know what Seekers are.”
“What if we don’t know?”
“I think you do.”
“But what if we don’t?”
“You do.”
We sat there, glowering at each other for a few more minutes. The silence in the room was eerie and uncomfortable.
With a loud boom the door abruptly swung open. Scarlet and I broke each other’s gaze to stare at the new visitor we had.
“Professor Ambrose!” I shouted, on my feet in an instant.
“Hello, Sierra. I see you have met Miss MoonHeart here.”
“Headmaster! I’m so, so, so glad you came! I thought we would die in here. And Scarlet wouldn’t stop asking about the Seekers. And –”
“I’m sure you’ve had a marvelous adventure. You’d better be going though. Your sister wanted to tell you something.” For a moment the headmaster had a worried, nervous look on his face. Then, within a second, it was gone. “Sierra, have you had any luck with the next Seeker?”
The suddenness of this question stunned me momentarily. To be asking such a thing now, in front of Scarlet, too! I felt Scarlet gaping at me, but I didn’t let it bother me. “Actually, no, sir. Do you know anything about who it might be?”
“I’m sorry, no. But let me give you a little advice: the answer may be right in front of you.”
I gave him a puzzled look to get him to explain better. But he didn’t.
Instead, Merle glanced anxiously at the door. “I’d really better be going, students. The real minions are still out there. No doubt they’re causing trouble. Good luck to you.” In one swift motion, Merle Ambrose teleported away before I could ask any more questions.
I was left we more questions than answers, now. What had he meant, right in front of me? What had the strange look been? Or had that been my imagination? These questions and more were all jumbled up in my head, making absolutely no sense. But when I truly thought about it, all of them were asking the same thing.
Who is the Life Seeker?
Headmaster Ambrose had been right when he said Rowan wanted to tell me something. The second I stepped in the door, Rowan bounded up to me, screaming, “Sierra! Sierra! Sierra!”
“What? What? What!” I shouted back.
“Guess what?”
“For the last time, what?”
“I learned Dryad!”
“Oh. Um, okay.” Honestly, I didn’t really care. It only meant I was even farther in level behind her.
Rowan didn’t seem to notice my gloomy reply. “It was sooooooooo awesome! Okay, so first I talked to Moolinda Wu, and then I went to Sunken City. And while you were in MooShu doing whatever, I defeated Grubb!”
I couldn’t help but smile at the way she had said “in MooShu” and “doing whatever”. Truthfully, I hadn’t been in MooShu at all for most of the time, and using the words she did made my adventures sound insignificant and unexciting, which was the exact opposite of how they really were. Spotting my grin, she paused for a moment. “Um, what’s so funny?”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing.” I tried my best to make my expression once more indifferent.
Rowan wasn’t one to over observe things, so she simply shrugged and continued on. “So I found that chest, and it wasn’t hard to find, it was just off to the side Grubb’s room, and then I brought the contents to my teacher, and then I found out I had to fight Plague Oni, so I was like, ‘Ugh! I just did him last week!” but I still went and…” Rowan babbled on, not even stopping to breath. Everything was just one big, giant sentence. “We had so much fun and because Mark’s a Master it was super easy so we sped through it and then Sydney got caught in a battle with ninja pigs and started screaming ‘Bacon!’ or something like that, it was so funny, and so we started it too and…”
I stared at Rowan most of the time, nodding every once and a while, but not really comprehending what she was saying. My own thoughts were too mixed up. Instead, my mind wandered. I put together all my clues, and thought hard. It was a great struggle to look at Rowan like I was actually listening but think about other things at the same time.
Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. I excused myself by mumbling something about being tired from quests and locked myself in my bedroom. I flung myself onto the bed, just lying there quietly.
Somehow I ended up thinking about Vanessa’s awakening earlier today. I was thinking about everything Mary had said. I wondered if the Colossus had told her anything. And if my poor Stormzilla had triumphed in its battle with the Hydra. And what had Liam and Vanessa been talking about before I interrupted? What did Mary’s voice remind me of? And Scarlet –
I froze. Scarlet. Scarlet MoonHeart.
Scarlet was Life, wasn’t she? She had the wand, and wore green clothes. She had come with us to the Pyramid of the Moon, too. The Colossus had said there were “more than two Seekers” in the pyramid, didn’t he? I had always known Liam was there, those words didn’t mean there was simply one more. What if there were four Seekers altogether? Scarlet could be one of them.
What about Merle Ambrose’s comment about the answer being right in front of me? Scarlet had been right there, next to me. It was so obvious: she had to be it.
Scarlet MoonHeart was the Life Seeker.
The next day, Rowan and Sydney teamed up with Vanessa and I so I could catch up with everyone else. Even Sydney was ahead of me by now.
Unfortunately, on this seemingly normal day, disaster struck.
We were battling the Oyotomi Quartermaster. He wasn’t that difficult, but Rowan had entered low on health in the first place. Though the rest of us tried to convince her to drink one of her potions, she had refused. “Theurgists don’t need potions!” she declared. “We can heal ourselves.”
Within the first three turns, Rowan got five pips made of her power pips and she got ready to cast her spell. She expertly drew the Life symbol in a dramatic way. When she was about to activate it, I saw the card she had chosen in her hand: Regenerate.
Regenerate was a spell that healed you over time. When Rowan first got it, she instantly loved the spell and named it “Handy”.
But this time, I wondered if I had been mistaken of what I saw in her hand. Black clouds were starting to cover the dueling arena.
Rowan didn’t even notice. She proceed on with her silly little motto she always said when she cast Handy: “This is Handy. Handy is handy. But sometimes he’s not so handy. But Handy is-”
The three of us gasped. A hand did come out from the sinister clouds, but it wasn’t Handy. This hand was scaly and clawed like a Draconian’s hand. It was a terrifying dark color that matched the clouds behind it perfectly. Rowan stopped talking, her eyes wide with fright.
From Sydney’s side Sir Romeo hissed. The rest of our pets, Vanessa’s Queen Chelsea the Ninja Pig and my Baby Fluffy the Ghoul (though it wasn’t particularly a proper name for such a creature, I kept it, because I loved the irony of it), also began reacting strangely, suddenly looking fearful and skittish. Rowan’s Summer Dragon, Mister Muffin, emanated a horrified cry and started flitting around Rowan anxiously.
Rowan was distracted by this movement. She took one, tiny, quick little glance at her pet. In that same moment, the hand lunged at my sister.
“ROWAN!” I screamed, abandoning my spot in the dueling circle to come to her aid.
Rowan was being pulled up by the hand. I leaped to reach her, but it was useless. When I landed, I stupidly stumbled and fell.
Mister Muffin, disconcerted and unsure of what to do, flew up to Rowan hurriedly and perched on her arm, flapping his wings and pulling in a useless attempt to free her. Rowan was too busy struggling to react to his sharp claws that were digging into her skin.
In one single, swift motion, the hand and the clouds, Rowan and Mister Muffin, everything – was gone.
******
YES! You can't IMAGINE how long it took to put spaces between the paragraphs! Geez, this is going to take up half my blog. O. o But it's worth it!
MARK IS BACK!!!!!!!!!
Everyone should know who Mark is by now... Mark DarkCrafter, Death Seeker of Light? You know, the one whose family is all Life except for him? Well, I've been telling you guys he all quit... guess what? HE'S BACK!
Look at the "Helpful Friends in the Tale of Sierra WinterBreeze" or whatever that post was called to find a comment from him. He says he is coming back because he googled his wizard's name and came up with this, so he decided to come back for a while and re-visit old friends. YES!!! THANK YOU, GOOGLE! :D :D :D
Lol, glad to have you back, Mark! You missed a LOT.
Look at the "Helpful Friends in the Tale of Sierra WinterBreeze" or whatever that post was called to find a comment from him. He says he is coming back because he googled his wizard's name and came up with this, so he decided to come back for a while and re-visit old friends. YES!!! THANK YOU, GOOGLE! :D :D :D
Lol, glad to have you back, Mark! You missed a LOT.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
OPEN CHAT!
Because for some reason megawizard wants me to post this soooo badly, I will.
I got Open Chat! :D It's for 18+. I hope Chris doesn't read this... I wanted it to be a surprise for him. And you can literally say ANYTHING! Except for the obvious swear words, you can even say random letters and numbers and all that stuff. Awesome! :)
I got Open Chat! :D It's for 18+. I hope Chris doesn't read this... I wanted it to be a surprise for him. And you can literally say ANYTHING! Except for the obvious swear words, you can even say random letters and numbers and all that stuff. Awesome! :)
Monday, September 14, 2009
Malistaire got OWNED!
Just a little proof that Seekers totally pwn... I beat Malistaire yesterday! YES! Haha, it was awesome. Sooo cool, and Rowan is so jealous, lol. Hope she doens't read this, she'll get mad at me for saying that. :P But I'm so excited right now, can't hold it in! Loving this!
You know what I didn't like, though? You only get 2,000 experience from defeating Malistaire, oddly enough. To lower levels that may seem like alot, but in Dragonspyre you can sometimes get as much as 3,000 at a time. Too bad.
Lol, I would have called it a Seeker battle is ZACHARY hadn't been there to ruin it all. Thanks alot, Megawizard! Oh wait, now I remember. He left right before we went to actually fight Malistaire. So it was me, and Eric, and Christopher. Heh, it was funny, because they kept talking in open chat, so I turned off speech bubbles. It was so peaceful without them sceaming all the time! Hilarious, actually.
And then, a part that WASNT so fun: Malistaire started attacking ME! I wasn't even hurting him. All I was doing was passing most of the time or setting up blades and traps. Sure, I killed all three of his minions... but not him! Though Eric kept hitting him with a Helephant, he still went after me! Ugh. And then Chris declared that it had to be because I was leader of the Seekers. I countered that he was the FIRST Leader of the Seekers. Lol, and he said "But I didn't try to kill him, did I? No, didn't think so!" Rofl, he had a point. But right then, at that moment, he WAS the one trying to kill him... not me!
You know what I didn't like, though? You only get 2,000 experience from defeating Malistaire, oddly enough. To lower levels that may seem like alot, but in Dragonspyre you can sometimes get as much as 3,000 at a time. Too bad.
Lol, I would have called it a Seeker battle is ZACHARY hadn't been there to ruin it all. Thanks alot, Megawizard! Oh wait, now I remember. He left right before we went to actually fight Malistaire. So it was me, and Eric, and Christopher. Heh, it was funny, because they kept talking in open chat, so I turned off speech bubbles. It was so peaceful without them sceaming all the time! Hilarious, actually.
And then, a part that WASNT so fun: Malistaire started attacking ME! I wasn't even hurting him. All I was doing was passing most of the time or setting up blades and traps. Sure, I killed all three of his minions... but not him! Though Eric kept hitting him with a Helephant, he still went after me! Ugh. And then Chris declared that it had to be because I was leader of the Seekers. I countered that he was the FIRST Leader of the Seekers. Lol, and he said "But I didn't try to kill him, did I? No, didn't think so!" Rofl, he had a point. But right then, at that moment, he WAS the one trying to kill him... not me!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The Tale of Sierra WinterBreeze
Okay, guys, this is for all my friends that want to read my story, not for all of you (Alyssa, Chris, Eric, Zachary... xD). Of course, you can read or use it if you want, but I think you have read all of this.
Okay!
~~~~
Well, I'd really prefer if all of you guys read my edited story first, which isn't finished, and the continued reading from the point the edited version left off in the originals (which would be part 4 as of now, but it may change.)
The edited version is here: http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13146
~~~~
For parts 1 through 5, click here: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a4041fea461f01201526f3ff0865
For part 6: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a4041fea461f01207d60f0331720
For Part 7: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a404207fb2fd01209fdb80a3074e
For part 8: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40421580c0b012164949fa802ce
For part 9: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40421866c500121acbcb1175afe
For part 10: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40422115d9b01222cce397003cf ~~~~
Well, I finished part 11... but it isn't on the Creative Writing yet. Here is the link to it here on this blog: http://sierrawinterbreezestory.blogspot.com/2009/09/tale-of-sierra-winterbreeze-part-11.html
~~~~
Anyway, lolz, I also got some links to my fan groups and stuff...
The thread on Wizard101.com all about my originals! https://www.wizard101.com/posts/list/3774.ftl
My fan group on Wizard101central, made by me! http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/group.php?groupid=400
The Seekers of Light fan club, made by megawizard! http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/group.php?groupid=517
~~~~
Also, I will look for some stories made by fans. Here's what I got so far...
The awesome story by megawizard, the Pack of Light!http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23243
A Seeker story by ~Samantha the Olympian~!http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29729
~~~~
This post WILL be edited, people, because later I will go back and find ALL the people who have wrote Seeker stories and put up links. But for now, enjoy!
Okay!
~~~~
Well, I'd really prefer if all of you guys read my edited story first, which isn't finished, and the continued reading from the point the edited version left off in the originals (which would be part 4 as of now, but it may change.)
The edited version is here: http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13146
~~~~
For parts 1 through 5, click here: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a4041fea461f01201526f3ff0865
For part 6: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a4041fea461f01207d60f0331720
For Part 7: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a404207fb2fd01209fdb80a3074e
For part 8: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40421580c0b012164949fa802ce
For part 9: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40421866c500121acbcb1175afe
For part 10: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40422115d9b01222cce397003cf ~~~~
Well, I finished part 11... but it isn't on the Creative Writing yet. Here is the link to it here on this blog: http://sierrawinterbreezestory.blogspot.com/2009/09/tale-of-sierra-winterbreeze-part-11.html
~~~~
Anyway, lolz, I also got some links to my fan groups and stuff...
The thread on Wizard101.com all about my originals! https://www.wizard101.com/posts/list/3774.ftl
My fan group on Wizard101central, made by me! http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/group.php?groupid=400
The Seekers of Light fan club, made by megawizard! http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/group.php?groupid=517
~~~~
Also, I will look for some stories made by fans. Here's what I got so far...
The awesome story by megawizard, the Pack of Light!http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23243
A Seeker story by ~Samantha the Olympian~!http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29729
~~~~
This post WILL be edited, people, because later I will go back and find ALL the people who have wrote Seeker stories and put up links. But for now, enjoy!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
My birthday!!!
Guess what, guys? On the sixteenth, it's my birthday! Yay! I was planning on having a party on Wizard101 in my house, and EVERYONE is invited! I will send out invitations to everyone on central when Rowan and I figure things out. And I will also post the invitations for people on here who don't have a Central account OR can't get on it (Alyssa, lol). We will play lots of party games and stuff, and probably have some duels in the arena, too. But you all would have to go easy on me as a present. xD
I wanted to get that out. I can't wait until this happens! Even people who don't know me can come, because we'll be meeting in the Ice tower first.
I wanted to get that out. I can't wait until this happens! Even people who don't know me can come, because we'll be meeting in the Ice tower first.
Story Reviews?
I was wondering if I should start giving reviews on my blog of stories that I think are really good. I'd have lots of fun with it, but would anyone read it? It could be both Creative Writing stories and Central ones. So? What do you guys think?
Monday, August 31, 2009
Oops...
http://sierrawinterbreezestory.blogspot.com/2009/05/list-number-2-things-never-to-say.html
Go to that link to view my latest post. Lol, it was a list of things never to say to Rowan. I never published it until today, so it ended up on the day I started it on. So read it - it's hilarious!
Go to that link to view my latest post. Lol, it was a list of things never to say to Rowan. I never published it until today, so it ended up on the day I started it on. So read it - it's hilarious!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
FISHY!
For some odd inexplictable reason, I added fishies to the bottom of my page. Yay, fishy!
Have fun with them! Click to drop food!
Have fun with them! Click to drop food!
A couple of problems with part 11...
Uh, yeah, so this is the problem. Well, there isn't a problem really, just that this is probably the most boring part ever and I'm falling asleep writing it. So it will take a while, okay? Sorry.
And thanks for the comments, Alyssa, and Megawizard!
And thanks for the comments, Alyssa, and Megawizard!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The Seeker: The Dark is Rising
Well, a while ago, Rowan and I watched a movie with my friends that you know as Sydney JadeHammer and Hunter ThunderShield when we were at there house. Well, I've said it multiple times before, but I must thank Sydney for her creativity of naming the Seekers instead of keeping them as "chosen ones" that I had picked out. Apparently it wasn't creativity that made up that name. It was this movie that we watched. I was so angry with her that she made me partly copy something. But, my story turned out pretty good anyway. So, because I wasn't so mad at her anymore, I agreed to watch it with her.
This movie is much different from The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze, though. Instead of seven Seekers, there is one, who must find six "signs" to defeat the darkness. It was really good.
And obviously, I got on the computer during vacation. Yay!
This movie is much different from The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze, though. Instead of seven Seekers, there is one, who must find six "signs" to defeat the darkness. It was really good.
And obviously, I got on the computer during vacation. Yay!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Links to my story
I took off all the boring links in my profile, so I put them here:
For Part 7, copy and paste (ctrl+c, ctrl+v) this: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a404207fb2fd01209fdb80a3074e
For part 6: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a4041fea461f01207d60f0331720
For parts 1 through 5, copy and paste this: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a4041fea461f01201526f3ff0865
For part 8:
https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40421580c0b012164949fa802ce
For part 9:
https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40421866c500121acbcb1175afe
For part 10:
https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40422115d9b01222cce397003cf
That's all of them!
For Part 7, copy and paste (ctrl+c, ctrl+v) this: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a404207fb2fd01209fdb80a3074e
For part 6: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a4041fea461f01207d60f0331720
For parts 1 through 5, copy and paste this: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a4041fea461f01201526f3ff0865
For part 8:
https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40421580c0b012164949fa802ce
For part 9:
https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40421866c500121acbcb1175afe
For part 10:
https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40422115d9b01222cce397003cf
That's all of them!
Going on vacation!
Hey wizards! I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so you won't be hearing from me on the game, on here, or on anywhere else. I also forgot to post my part 10 up here, so I will just give you a link:
https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40422115d9b01222cce397003cf
Okay. I've been on Central a lot, and posted an awesome edited version of my story! Did I already mention that? I can't remember.
Anyway, I got off-topic. (Wow, I really HAVE been on Central too much...) I won't be writing at all, sorry. So... yeah. I don't know what else to say, because no one who cares will read this anyway. Just thought that if someone IS out there, secretly reading this, then they should know.
https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/page_8ad6a40422115d9b01222cce397003cf
Okay. I've been on Central a lot, and posted an awesome edited version of my story! Did I already mention that? I can't remember.
Anyway, I got off-topic. (Wow, I really HAVE been on Central too much...) I won't be writing at all, sorry. So... yeah. I don't know what else to say, because no one who cares will read this anyway. Just thought that if someone IS out there, secretly reading this, then they should know.
New updates
I had all but forgotten about my poor blog until today, so I haven't posted the new updates. Not that it matters, anyway. It's not like I'm a Featured Blog or anything on the Wizard101 website. But Grizzleheim was added, though I've never been. Only once, because I teleported to my friend. Anyway, hope everyone enjoys the new updates!
Monday, June 15, 2009
New 18+ Chat Filter
As an avid reader of the message boards, I've seen plenty of topics there where older players complain that they cannot speak the way they want to. On June 10th (which I didn't notice, lol sry) they announced that a new chat would be added.
Look at the Ravenwood News here for more information: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/menu_8ad6a4041e8c4f11011e9863e93b0131
Look at the Ravenwood News here for more information: https://www.wizard101.com/site/home2/wizard101/menu_8ad6a4041e8c4f11011e9863e93b0131
Friday, June 5, 2009
A really odd glitch in Wizard101
I think I told all you about me being Windlilly on Central. Well, I have this amazing album loaded up with glitches that I found on Wizard101. You have GOT to see this one! In some ways, I hope it isn't fixed, and in others I hope is is.
Golems in House
Discovered by Rowan Willowleaf
Rowan when she teleported to her house one normal day in Unicorn Way.
So then her house fixes itself, but the golems remain, and her furniture is gone.
Okay, so then she looks at her furniture and exclaims "This is not mine!" She took out picture frames that she had never seen (one is behind her chat box, if you look carefully).
Next she teleported to her room again, and found herself stuck in a desk.
LOL, loved it!
If you want to see more amazing glitches, go to my Wizard101 Central Album at
Thursday, June 4, 2009
TTOSW - Part 9
Enjoy!
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze – Part 9
I have woken from the depths of unconsciousness many, many times. I basically was knocked out on the day of Sydney’s awakening and the strange cold fire. And yet never, ever, had it been like this before.
Like always, I felt groggy and disoriented. My body continued to ache like it did the day of the fire. But this time, the pain was horrible. Not just physical pain, but emotional. The betrayal was still imprinted in my mind. It was the only thing I could currently think about.
I lay there, not quite sure what to do. Where was I? I didn’t dare open my eyes, for fear of seeing something I couldn’t handle. So I lay still, unmoving, unsure. All I knew was that I was sitting on something very hard, and wherever I was it was eerily silent.
Finally, my curiosity got the better of me, and I couldn’t help but open one eye. But when I did, I wondered if I actually had done anything. All I saw was blackness.
I opened my other eye and stood up, rubbing my arm, which had been the first thing to hit the ground when I had passed out. It throbbed, but I hoped that moving it might make it feel better.
Then I scanned the surrounding darkness. Of course I didn’t see anything. “Hello?” I timidly called out. “Is anyone here? Victoria?”
There was no response.
Swiftly the door swung open and a single beam of bright light pierced the darkness. I jumped, afraid of what may lie beyond. But all I heard was a horrible laugh that since being in the Castle of Rain I hoped never to hear again. After blinking to make my vision return, I glanced around the room. It was quite simple; there was no furniture or windows. The only thing that could be considered somewhat interesting was the walls. They were a shade of the deepest red and veined with slashes of midnight black. It kind of reminded me of granite.
Of course, what really caught my attention was my visitor.
“You’re the leader of these ‘Seekers’ that are to defeat me? Pathetic,” said Malistaire.
I felt anger bubble up inside of me. “Do not underestimate the Seekers of Light,” I said. “We will succeed, just wait and see!”
Malistaire laughed. “You’re so sure of yourself, and yet the powerful Seekers that you speak of obviously do not exist. One of them is mine, and the others I have found various ways to make their lives miserable. It is quite entertaining, actually. Yours was by far the most fun. I got to send you far off to Earth.”
“That was you?” I gasped. Then it all clicked together. I had always known that going to Earth was how my life was affected by dark magic, but I had never for even a moment thought that it was actually Malistaire who had done it. So here it was, right in front of me, the cause of all my troubles. Here was the reason my family and I had suffered through so much, the reason they mourned for me, the reason I had been called a freak for so much of my life. For the first time since my awakening, I was happy that we were going to defeat Malistaire.
“Of course it was me,” Malistaire snapped. “And you would have stayed there if that stupid Merle didn’t have to get involved.” Thank you, Merle Ambrose! “Anyway, you’re not my problem anymore. You’re going to die soon enough.”
“I… I’m going to die?” I squeaked. All that built up anger completely vanished and was replaced by more fear.
“I couldn’t let you survive, now could I? You’d ruin all my plans. But now I must have a chat with one of your little friends… Victoria, wasn’t it?”
“Don’t you dare touch her!” I screamed.
He only laughed. “Oh yes, I remember her. She was the one on the flying machine I crashed. That was another enjoyable thing I’ve done to you Seekers. Maybe I could even capture her family and force her to help me like the balance student.”
“No. No!” I yelled as he began to walk away. “Don’t hurt Victoria. You can’t. I won’t let you!”
“I don’t believe you have a choice, Sierra WinterBreeze,” he said before slamming the door shut right in my terrified face.
Darkness again enveloped the room. Fighting back tears, I blindly walked back into the center of the room and sat. I thought of the dream I had so many nights ago. Now I understood it. Liam’s dream too… it all fit together.
Still, I thought about what Malistaire had said. You’re going to die…
No, I can’t die, I thought. As if to comfort myself, I said it aloud: “I’m not going to die in this room,” I whispered. Though my voice didn’t sound at all reassuring, it gave me a small sliver of hope to cling to. With that, I began to devise my escape plan.
The first thing I did to begin was check for my spellbook and wand and deck. As I had expected, they weren’t there. I could probably cast a spell to bust us out of here without a wand, maybe even no deck… but no spellbook? I’d never tried that before.
Wait, I have! I suddenly remembered. On Earth, all those crazy things kept happening to me. I didn’t have any spellbook… or a wand, or a deck. I could do it!
But the real question was what to do. What’s the point of being able to freeze things if you don’t know what to freeze? Well, there was only one way out. Most likely the door would be the first thing to freeze.
As I inched toward it, I planned out how I would do all of this. Why am I freezing it? I eventually decided that once it was completely frozen, it may be weak enough to break down.
I began to work, but soon realized what hard work it was. Though I could still summon ice to aid me without my wand or deck, it was more difficult and time consuming. I would have already been done by the time I had finished only a quarter of the door with my gear. I thought back to the day my mother had helped me get ready for school. She had claimed that it was tiring. Now I knew exactly how she felt.
Just about after an hour was up (or so I thought – it was hard to measure time in a pitch black room), I had completed freezing half the door. Too tired to move, I slumped on the ground. I groaned aloud when I thought about how much more work was required to be done in order to break down the door. Suddenly this task was looking much more daunting than I had previously planned it to be.
When I was about to begin to labor away again, I heard footsteps outside my door. Startled, I slid back away from the door as to not get hit when it swung open. I knew that if my visitor looked back even once, they would see the ice and my plan would be discovered. But there was nothing I could do except for hope with all my might that they didn’t turn around.
Luckily, the guest was only a Skeletal Pirate. I knew from my very own experience that they could usually were not geniuses. Maybe I had a chance!
“Master wants to see you,” it mumbled when it emerged from behind the door with its head lowered.
“Why?” I challenged, testy.
It stared at me in surprise, before lowering his head again. “I don’t know,” it murmured under its breath so softly I could hardly hear it. “Master never tells me these things…”
“I won’t go,” I said, turning away, with a small hope that it might leave without a fight.
“You have to!” it shouted, seeming in a way shocked. I couldn’t imagine why. Had it truly expected me to simply give in?
“I won’t,” I repeated.
“Come… on!” it huffed as its bony arm began tugging me. A chill went down my spine. Never before had I felt the touch of a Skeletal Pirate. It was creepy feeling to sense a substance hard as rock moving on your skin all by itself.
“Now you’ve asked for it,” I growled, getting to my feet and knocking the Skeletal Pirate out of the way. I was amazed to find that it was very light, but I guess that makes sense since it is only bones.
While it was still struggling to get back up on its feet, I strategized my next move. Should I freeze him? No, that would sap too much energy from me. Should I simply rush out the door? Then he would probably tell everyone. What if I locked him in? That would be pointless; didn’t he have a key?
There was only one option that I could think of that had no down side other then perhaps tiring me. But as far as I knew, it may be easier than using ice magic.
So I took a deep breath and prepared to use death magic.
I still had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with it. I only hoped it would work itself out. Since I had never seen a Necromancer perform magic without a wand, and it wasn’t like fire or ice when you knew that you wanted something to appear, I couldn’t be sure what to do. I closed my eyes and did what I always did to cast a death spell.
At first nothing happened. Of course, I had my eyes closed, but I would know if something happened. Right?
Then, I got way more than I was going for.
ZAP!
I flinched when I heard the enormous sound. It had reminded me of thunder, but somehow unlike any I had ever heard from a storm wizard.
I opened my eyes just when it happened. I wasn’t quite sure what I’d summoned, but if it was here to help, I didn’t care. A formidable lightning bolt had come to save me. Except this one was much different than a storm wizard’s. It was black and gave of no light at all. In fact, call me crazy, but it seemed as if it were radiating darkness instead.
It hit the Skeletal Pirate with a powerful force and it was reduced to a pile of charred bones within milliseconds. As quickly as the lightning had come, it was gone.
I stood there for quite a long time, unmoving. A million thoughts rushed through my head in those few minutes, and I felt frozen in place. What had I just done?
Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and I knelt on the ground, crying heavily. I knew it was just a Skeletal Pirate, and, even worse, one of Malistaire’s minions. But my sister was a life wizard, and you don’t live with someone like that and not care for living things. Even if this pirate technically wasn’t living thing, it could move and even slightly think. And I had killed it. Even though I had probably defeated plenty of pirates just like this one on Unicorn Way, it had never been like this.
Finally I ran out of tears. No longer could I cry. I rose to my feet and took one last glance at what was left of the Skeletal Pirate. I squeezed my eyes shut and didn’t dare look back as I walked out the door.
I found myself in a dim corridor. It seemed like there was some kind of artificial light emitting from somewhere, but I didn’t see anything that resembled a lamp. Again I marveled at the walls. They looked very smooth and polished to perfection, but I was astonished when I ran my hand over them and got cut. The surface was rough!
As I was rubbing my now bleeding scrape, I was disturbed by muffled voices. Curious, I walked their direction. I made many turns, and since I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, I walked down many hallways and turned multiple times. Doors dotted the hallways on the sides, but I wasn’t brave enough to open any of them. After a while, I came upon a room very different from the ones I seen before which the voices were louder in.
Since I was afraid to go any further, I stayed behind a corner in the open doorway into the room. But then I saw something that made me want to shout for joy. It was Victoria. She was looking the other way from me, but I was certain it was her. The only problem was that she was behind a large cage.
“Victoria!” I hissed to her, trying to get her attention. But she didn’t see nor hear me, and it seemed pointless. I wanted to get closer to her, but I had no idea what horrors lie beyond her cage.
A little louder, I whispered, “Victoria!”
She perked up, finally hearing me. She turned her head and her face lit up. She motioned for me to come. Hesitantly, I left my safe hiding spot from behind the corner to meet her.
“Where did you come from, Sierra? What’s going on?” she asked shakily.
“I was hoping you’d be able to answer that. I have no clue.”
“What should we do?”
“Try and escape. I’ll go and find your key. Do you, by any chance, know where it is? A Skeletal Pirate had mine.”
“It was over there last time I saw it,” she said, pointing towards the center of the large room. “But you probably don’t want to go there,” she added as I began walking away.
“Why not?” I challenged. “I’ll do almost anything to free you and get out of here.”
“Malistaire was over there just a minute ago. And so was Liam. Please tell me that Liam hasn’t actually turned evil. He has some intricate, complicated Seeker plan, right?”
Her eyes were so hopeful that all I could say was “I truly hope so.” Then, not being able to bear saying any more, I hurried off in the direction indicated by Victoria.
The room was awfully large, so it took me a while to make it all the way across. When I arrived on the other side, I located a small table. On it I found all the things I needed: Victoria’s and my wands, our spellbooks, our decks, my sapphire necklace, and a key that must have been for Victoria’s cage. I gathered everything up, except for my necklace. Uneasily I examined it, not quite sure why I was so hesitant. Something wasn’t right, though I couldn’t figure out what. Why did it look so alien to me? Why did it seem different? I recalled my dream, in which this same gorgeous amulet had attacked me. With that rather grim thought in mind, I choose to leave it there. I knew I could come back once I had freed Victoria.
Unfortunately, I just can’t seem to keep out of trouble for long.
I was nearly to Victoria’s cage when I began to hear some muffled voices. I recognized them as the same ones I had heard before. I began to sneak towards them, but stopped when I came to a door. From the new volume, I could guess that the owners of the voices were behind there. I didn’t know what secrets the door hid, but I couldn’t resist a mystery like this. I nervously tried the door knob, but it didn’t work anyway. The room was locked. Though I still desperately wanted to know what the door concealed, I continued to Victoria’s cage.
Luckily I turned around just in time. Just as I beginning to walk away from the door, a unexplained shadow appeared upon the wall to a hallway. It began growing larger and larger, meaning whoever it was was coming closer and closer.
Panicking, I dove behind the first thing I saw. Fortunately, it was a stack of boxes that was right next to the door I stood by. I had no idea what they held, but I was glad for the temporary hiding spot.
I almost let out a sob when I saw the person who the shadow belonged to. It was Liam, and I couldn’t bear to see him walking freely in a place like this. It only confirmed my greatest fears. So far I had managed to push him out of my mind, but now that the truth was right in front of me, my heart was broken. How were we ever going to defeat Malistaire if we couldn’t even keep the Seekers together?
Liam walked hesitantly, almost guiltily. I felt a very small feeling of triumph. At least he wasn’t happy about what he had done. He approached the door I had just tried to open, and he got a little too close. I held my breath and kept entirely still. If he had even glanced to the side, he would have noticed me. Thankfully he was too focused on whatever he was doing. To my surprise, he easily opened the door when I had such difficulty with it.
For some reason, even with the door wide open I could hardly hear the conversation inside. It must be enchanted, I decided.
Malistaire emerged from behind the door soon enough with Liam and a tough-looking Skeletal Pirate. I tensed up when they walked by, but they didn’t notice me. “Are you completely sure you understand your mission?” Malistaire asked.
Liam replied, “I tell them about Sierra’s and Victoria’s deaths, then find out who the life Seeker is. But why do they have to die? Can’t you give them a chance like me?”
“They know too much. We cannot risk them escaping.”
They began to walk away. I was alarmed by this “mission”, but somehow relieved that I now knew about it. If they were still confident that their plan would work, then maybe he didn’t know I’d gotten out yet.
I crept out from behind the boxes to follow them, wanting to know as much about this plan as possible.
But only after a short period of walking, Malistaire abruptly stopped. Frantically, I darted under the table next to me. It was the same one all of our stuff had been on. “The room is colder than usual,” Malistaire observed. To the Skeletal Pirate trailing them, he barked “Where is the pirate I sent to get the ice girl?”
“I d-don’t know, Master,” it stammered.
“Hmm…” Malistaire scanned the room. When his eyes passed the table I hid under, I flinched, but he made no move towards me. The table completely covered me. “I know you’re in here,” he said aloud. He didn’t need to say my name; I knew he was talking to me. I backed farther under the table. “It is futile to hide. Perhaps if you reveal yourself now, I will give you the luxury of a quick death that is not at all painful.”
I still held my silence. With no response, Malistaire turned to Liam. “Search the room,” he ordered. Then to the Skeletal Pirate, “Go and find someone to guard the storm Seeker. We cannot let those two reunite.”
As Malistaire, Liam, and the pirate walked away, I scrambled out from under the table. I had to get to Victoria before any guards did!
To my surprise, when I arrived at Victoria’s cage it was completely empty. Shocked, I clasped my hands around the bars of the cage and said “Victoria? You’re in here, right? Come on, we have to get out of here!” I then unlocked the door and walked inside to see if she was hiding in some place that I couldn’t see. My search came up with nothing.
Puzzled, I walked back out. My thoughts were not pleasant. Had they taken her away? Was she already… dead?
At that moment someone grabbed me from behind. Quick as lightning I spun around, ready to use both wands if I had to. “Oh, it’s you!” I shouted with a broad grin. “Hi Victoria! Where’ve you been?”
“Oh, you have my wand!”my friend exclaimed with glee. She yanked it out of my hand, and I gave her the spellbook and deck as well. She beamed. “Thanks. I was looking all over for them.”
“How did you escape?” I inquired. “I was so worried! When you weren’t here, I thought you’d…”
“It’s okay,” she comforted. “As for escaping? I got bored waiting for you, so I made my own key.”
“Huh?”
“Out of lightning bolts,” she explained.
“Lucky you,” I murmured. “Even if I had a key, I wouldn’t have been able to unlock my door. It was locked from the outside, and mine was an actual room. Well, we’d better get out of here. Malistaire knows I’ve escaped, and it is only a matter of time before he discovers you’re gone too. Hopefully we’ll be long gone by then. He’s sent guards here, so we better leave. This would be a bad spot to be caught in.”
“That reminds me. How exactly did you get out?”
“Uh… long story. Let’s go,” I said, not wanting to relive the moment in which I summoned the bizarre lightning.
We silently walked out of the large room back into the hallway from which I had entered. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before we got lost.
“Which way should we go?” asked Victoria for what seemed like the millionth time at the next four-way intersection.
“How should I know? I lost track a long time ago,” I complained.
“We have to go somewhere,” she said.
“Forward, then.”
“Okay.”
I took a single step, and then perceived a noise which was very different in the silence we had heard thus far. “Victoria, do you hear that?” I whispered.
She tilted her head and listened. “Yeah,” she replied. “It sounds like crying.”
“You’re right! It’s coming from that direction.” I pointed to the right, where the sound was louder. “Should we go see where it is?” I asked.
“Well…” Victoria was hesitant. “I guess. But we have to memorize our path this time, okay? Just in case it turns out to be something dangerous.”
“Agreed.”
Walking side by side, we got closer and closer to the loud sobs. Soon we came upon an enormous room that was not unlike the one Victoria’s cage and our stuff had been in. However, this one wasn’t covered with boxes as the other was which was rather disappointing. The boxes provided good cover. The only things in the room were three cages and a weak Skeletal Pirate that I knew we could easily defeat if needed. One of the cages contained a small girl.
The pirate looked awfully annoyed. He was continuously muttering to himself and glaring at the poor girl in the cage. I estimated she was about Sydney’s age, which was one year younger than me but older than Rowan. Her clothes suggested she was balance.
“Look!” whispered Victoria, pointing to the farthest side of the room from us. I was relieved to see a door with natural sunlight seeping through the few cracks. “It must be an exit!” she said excitedly.
“We still have to do something about that helpless girl,” I reminded her.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. Maybe if we’re really quiet we can sneak past the pirate without him noticing us.”
“Come on Victoria. It is just a Skeletal Pirate and it can only be as powerful as the ones in Haunted Cave. We beat those ages ago. Possibly we can free the girl and you can make a key out of lightning bolts again. Don’t you get it? If we leave her, she will die!”
After more debating, Victoria finally agreed. “I understand. You’re right.”
To defeat the pirate we didn’t even need to form a dueling circle. Victoria and I both just used our wand spells. The girl was crying so uncontrollably that she didn’t even notice.
“Hello?” I asked, coming up to her cage.
“Leave me alone!” she screamed. “I didn’t do anything! I don’t deserve this!”
“We’re here to save you,” Victoria informed calmly.
“Really?” The girl looked up, and I couldn’t help but gasp. This girl almost perfectly resembled Liam!
“W-who are you?” I stuttered, shocked by the uncanny resemblance.
“I’m Vanessa. Vanessa DreamHaven. What about you? Are you serious about saving me?”
“Yep. I’m Sierra WinterBreeze and this is Victoria RavenSmith. Do you know where your key is?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Oh. So Victoria, you know what to do right?” I looked at her expectantly.
She sighed. “Fine. I didn’t like doing it last time. It takes a while. The only reason I did it was because I was worried about you.”
“If it takes time then you should start.”
“What are you talking about?” questioned Vanessa.
Neither of us answered.
Victoria began by making her hands form a circle. Vanessa and I waited for at least another three minutes, just standing there, staring at Victoria. Suddenly we heard something like the far off rumble of thunder.
Vanessa jumped at the noise, but I stood still, listening. The slight rumble grew louder and louder, until it became a roar. Soon lightning bolts flashed within Victoria’s hands. I continued watching, amazed that my friend could do such a marvelous thing. Already I could see the bolts merging to form the stunningly gorgeous key.
When the bolts completely combined, Victoria moved her hands apart and a purple key engraved with elaborate storm symbol designs that seemed to have static energy surging through it clanged to the ground with a metallic sound.
I leaned down to pick it up, but when I touched it the key shocked me. “Ouch!” I yelled. “Victoria, tell your key to not hurt me next time!”
“Sorry. I didn’t know it would to that. I’m immune to shocks of lightning.”
“Wow, is that key for me?” Vanessa breathed. “How do you know it will fit?”
“We don’t,” replied Victoria matter-of-factly.
Luckily, when Victoria lifted the key and turned it into the lock, the door slid open, but not without a loud whine.
“It sounds as if this door hasn’t been opened in ages,” I commented.
“I agree,” said Victoria.
Vanessa stepped out, grinning wildly. “Thank you so much!” she exclaimed. “But… what about my parents?”
Victoria and I exchanged glances. “Parents?” I asked. “Where are they?”
“I was hoping you would know, or at least had seen them. If you haven’t, then that means…” She didn’t even finish before once more breaking down, crying.
“Wait, don’t cry! What does it mean?” I inquired.
“They’re dead!” she wailed. “Malistaire took them away. Why? We didn’t even do anything! I wasn’t even one of those students like almost everyone else in Ravenwood that are trying to defeat him! My parents didn’t even care, as long as he didn’t bother us. My brother didn’t do anything either! And-” She stopped, and looked up at us. “What were your names again?”
Puzzled by this random question, I replied, “Sierra. And Victoria.”
“Sierra Winterbreeze? Victoria Ravensmith?” Now she looked excited and hopeful, as if she hadn’t been crying only seconds before.
“Yes. Why?”
“I know you!” she gasped. “You’re Seekers!”
“Wha… how do you know that?” I demanded.
“My brother told me. He sent you here, didn’t he? He wasn’t captured with the rest of us. Is he coming soon?”
“Who is your brother?”
“He’s your friend.”
“Yes, but who?” I asked, beginning to get impatient. I thought I knew who she was speaking of, but I greatly hoped not.
“Liam!”
For a moment, no one spoke. Vanessa just looked expectantly at both Victoria and me. “Well,” I said after a while, “I guess that means you don’t know then.”
Vanessa looked confused. “Know what?”
“That Liam isn’t a Seeker anymore,” blurted out Victoria.
“No!” I protested. “Liam may be misguided for the moment, but he will come to his senses. I just know it.”
“How can you possibly think that he is still a Seeker when he is now helping Malistaire?”
“He asked for my forgiveness earlier. I have given it to him, as long as he will accept the consequences.”
“Wait!” Vanessa shouted. “What are you talking about? Liam with Malistaire? Not possible! First of all, my brother is kind and caring. Second, he’s a Seeker. Third, he would have set me free.”
“It’s true!” argued Victoria. “We saw him. He has most likely forgotten all about you. I bet that-”
“Victoria, calm down,” I said. “She has a point. The main reason he did this is because of his family. Liam can’t know where they are. Malistaire tricked him. He is going to try and get rid of them so he doesn’t have to let them go!”
Victoria gasped. Vanessa yelled, “We have to warn him!”
“Warn him of what?” scoffed Victoria. “He doesn’t care about us anymore.”
“He will stop doing these things if we tell him. Plus, as his sister I may be about to convince him.”
“I don’t know, Vanessa. I think that Liam is… gone,” I cautioned.
“We have to try,” she said in a determined voice.
I sighed. “I would love to, but we have to find him first. And the exit is right there.”
“No, that’s not an exit!” Vanessa corrected.
“How do you know?”
“They took me in there. It is a really weird room, with all these monsters in it that I had never seen before. They asked me questions about Liam, but mostly about the Seekers in general. I told them I didn’t know any of you. Right before I went in that room, I saw my mom for what I guess is the last time. She said ‘I love you Vanessa, no matter what. Promise me that you’ll be brave?’ And I agreed, and when I came back out of the room they were gone. How could I not realize what she meant by that?”
I felt sympathetic. “I’m so sorry. I completely understand. I grew up in an orphanage without any parents, and I was always so jealous of anyone with them.”
“But this is different,” she sobbed. “You never had parents. Mine were there, but now they are gone!”
I couldn’t say anything to that, so the three of us sat in silence.
Eventually, Victoria piped up, “I think that if we are planning on going to see Liam we should better get going.”
“We still don’t know where to go,” I pointed out.
“My guess would be to go back to where we last saw him, in that room.”
“We got lost hours ago. We’ll never find our way back!”
“You didn’t have me last time,” put in Vanessa. “I know my way around here.”
“How?”
“I tried to escape a few times. Yep, they really don’t like me here. I keep getting out. The first time I used my hair pin, but then I just broke the bars on the cage twice after that, because they’re not that sturdy. That’s why they set a guard here to watch me. But I’ve memorized most of the way. Please, let me help!”
“She could be helpful,” commented Victoria.
“I suppose if you know your way around so well, you can help. You’d just run there by yourself if we told you no.”
Vanessa grinned.
“So which way, Navigator?” asked Victoria playfully.
“The way you came,” she replied, beginning to walk that way.
Victoria and I exchanged glances before following her.
As we traveled through the dimly lit red and black hallways, Victoria behind me and Vanessa in front, I knew we were in for an adventure. And in this one, if we were caught, the consequences were deadly.
The Tale of Sierra Winterbreeze – Part 9
I have woken from the depths of unconsciousness many, many times. I basically was knocked out on the day of Sydney’s awakening and the strange cold fire. And yet never, ever, had it been like this before.
Like always, I felt groggy and disoriented. My body continued to ache like it did the day of the fire. But this time, the pain was horrible. Not just physical pain, but emotional. The betrayal was still imprinted in my mind. It was the only thing I could currently think about.
I lay there, not quite sure what to do. Where was I? I didn’t dare open my eyes, for fear of seeing something I couldn’t handle. So I lay still, unmoving, unsure. All I knew was that I was sitting on something very hard, and wherever I was it was eerily silent.
Finally, my curiosity got the better of me, and I couldn’t help but open one eye. But when I did, I wondered if I actually had done anything. All I saw was blackness.
I opened my other eye and stood up, rubbing my arm, which had been the first thing to hit the ground when I had passed out. It throbbed, but I hoped that moving it might make it feel better.
Then I scanned the surrounding darkness. Of course I didn’t see anything. “Hello?” I timidly called out. “Is anyone here? Victoria?”
There was no response.
Swiftly the door swung open and a single beam of bright light pierced the darkness. I jumped, afraid of what may lie beyond. But all I heard was a horrible laugh that since being in the Castle of Rain I hoped never to hear again. After blinking to make my vision return, I glanced around the room. It was quite simple; there was no furniture or windows. The only thing that could be considered somewhat interesting was the walls. They were a shade of the deepest red and veined with slashes of midnight black. It kind of reminded me of granite.
Of course, what really caught my attention was my visitor.
“You’re the leader of these ‘Seekers’ that are to defeat me? Pathetic,” said Malistaire.
I felt anger bubble up inside of me. “Do not underestimate the Seekers of Light,” I said. “We will succeed, just wait and see!”
Malistaire laughed. “You’re so sure of yourself, and yet the powerful Seekers that you speak of obviously do not exist. One of them is mine, and the others I have found various ways to make their lives miserable. It is quite entertaining, actually. Yours was by far the most fun. I got to send you far off to Earth.”
“That was you?” I gasped. Then it all clicked together. I had always known that going to Earth was how my life was affected by dark magic, but I had never for even a moment thought that it was actually Malistaire who had done it. So here it was, right in front of me, the cause of all my troubles. Here was the reason my family and I had suffered through so much, the reason they mourned for me, the reason I had been called a freak for so much of my life. For the first time since my awakening, I was happy that we were going to defeat Malistaire.
“Of course it was me,” Malistaire snapped. “And you would have stayed there if that stupid Merle didn’t have to get involved.” Thank you, Merle Ambrose! “Anyway, you’re not my problem anymore. You’re going to die soon enough.”
“I… I’m going to die?” I squeaked. All that built up anger completely vanished and was replaced by more fear.
“I couldn’t let you survive, now could I? You’d ruin all my plans. But now I must have a chat with one of your little friends… Victoria, wasn’t it?”
“Don’t you dare touch her!” I screamed.
He only laughed. “Oh yes, I remember her. She was the one on the flying machine I crashed. That was another enjoyable thing I’ve done to you Seekers. Maybe I could even capture her family and force her to help me like the balance student.”
“No. No!” I yelled as he began to walk away. “Don’t hurt Victoria. You can’t. I won’t let you!”
“I don’t believe you have a choice, Sierra WinterBreeze,” he said before slamming the door shut right in my terrified face.
Darkness again enveloped the room. Fighting back tears, I blindly walked back into the center of the room and sat. I thought of the dream I had so many nights ago. Now I understood it. Liam’s dream too… it all fit together.
Still, I thought about what Malistaire had said. You’re going to die…
No, I can’t die, I thought. As if to comfort myself, I said it aloud: “I’m not going to die in this room,” I whispered. Though my voice didn’t sound at all reassuring, it gave me a small sliver of hope to cling to. With that, I began to devise my escape plan.
The first thing I did to begin was check for my spellbook and wand and deck. As I had expected, they weren’t there. I could probably cast a spell to bust us out of here without a wand, maybe even no deck… but no spellbook? I’d never tried that before.
Wait, I have! I suddenly remembered. On Earth, all those crazy things kept happening to me. I didn’t have any spellbook… or a wand, or a deck. I could do it!
But the real question was what to do. What’s the point of being able to freeze things if you don’t know what to freeze? Well, there was only one way out. Most likely the door would be the first thing to freeze.
As I inched toward it, I planned out how I would do all of this. Why am I freezing it? I eventually decided that once it was completely frozen, it may be weak enough to break down.
I began to work, but soon realized what hard work it was. Though I could still summon ice to aid me without my wand or deck, it was more difficult and time consuming. I would have already been done by the time I had finished only a quarter of the door with my gear. I thought back to the day my mother had helped me get ready for school. She had claimed that it was tiring. Now I knew exactly how she felt.
Just about after an hour was up (or so I thought – it was hard to measure time in a pitch black room), I had completed freezing half the door. Too tired to move, I slumped on the ground. I groaned aloud when I thought about how much more work was required to be done in order to break down the door. Suddenly this task was looking much more daunting than I had previously planned it to be.
When I was about to begin to labor away again, I heard footsteps outside my door. Startled, I slid back away from the door as to not get hit when it swung open. I knew that if my visitor looked back even once, they would see the ice and my plan would be discovered. But there was nothing I could do except for hope with all my might that they didn’t turn around.
Luckily, the guest was only a Skeletal Pirate. I knew from my very own experience that they could usually were not geniuses. Maybe I had a chance!
“Master wants to see you,” it mumbled when it emerged from behind the door with its head lowered.
“Why?” I challenged, testy.
It stared at me in surprise, before lowering his head again. “I don’t know,” it murmured under its breath so softly I could hardly hear it. “Master never tells me these things…”
“I won’t go,” I said, turning away, with a small hope that it might leave without a fight.
“You have to!” it shouted, seeming in a way shocked. I couldn’t imagine why. Had it truly expected me to simply give in?
“I won’t,” I repeated.
“Come… on!” it huffed as its bony arm began tugging me. A chill went down my spine. Never before had I felt the touch of a Skeletal Pirate. It was creepy feeling to sense a substance hard as rock moving on your skin all by itself.
“Now you’ve asked for it,” I growled, getting to my feet and knocking the Skeletal Pirate out of the way. I was amazed to find that it was very light, but I guess that makes sense since it is only bones.
While it was still struggling to get back up on its feet, I strategized my next move. Should I freeze him? No, that would sap too much energy from me. Should I simply rush out the door? Then he would probably tell everyone. What if I locked him in? That would be pointless; didn’t he have a key?
There was only one option that I could think of that had no down side other then perhaps tiring me. But as far as I knew, it may be easier than using ice magic.
So I took a deep breath and prepared to use death magic.
I still had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with it. I only hoped it would work itself out. Since I had never seen a Necromancer perform magic without a wand, and it wasn’t like fire or ice when you knew that you wanted something to appear, I couldn’t be sure what to do. I closed my eyes and did what I always did to cast a death spell.
At first nothing happened. Of course, I had my eyes closed, but I would know if something happened. Right?
Then, I got way more than I was going for.
ZAP!
I flinched when I heard the enormous sound. It had reminded me of thunder, but somehow unlike any I had ever heard from a storm wizard.
I opened my eyes just when it happened. I wasn’t quite sure what I’d summoned, but if it was here to help, I didn’t care. A formidable lightning bolt had come to save me. Except this one was much different than a storm wizard’s. It was black and gave of no light at all. In fact, call me crazy, but it seemed as if it were radiating darkness instead.
It hit the Skeletal Pirate with a powerful force and it was reduced to a pile of charred bones within milliseconds. As quickly as the lightning had come, it was gone.
I stood there for quite a long time, unmoving. A million thoughts rushed through my head in those few minutes, and I felt frozen in place. What had I just done?
Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and I knelt on the ground, crying heavily. I knew it was just a Skeletal Pirate, and, even worse, one of Malistaire’s minions. But my sister was a life wizard, and you don’t live with someone like that and not care for living things. Even if this pirate technically wasn’t living thing, it could move and even slightly think. And I had killed it. Even though I had probably defeated plenty of pirates just like this one on Unicorn Way, it had never been like this.
Finally I ran out of tears. No longer could I cry. I rose to my feet and took one last glance at what was left of the Skeletal Pirate. I squeezed my eyes shut and didn’t dare look back as I walked out the door.
I found myself in a dim corridor. It seemed like there was some kind of artificial light emitting from somewhere, but I didn’t see anything that resembled a lamp. Again I marveled at the walls. They looked very smooth and polished to perfection, but I was astonished when I ran my hand over them and got cut. The surface was rough!
As I was rubbing my now bleeding scrape, I was disturbed by muffled voices. Curious, I walked their direction. I made many turns, and since I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, I walked down many hallways and turned multiple times. Doors dotted the hallways on the sides, but I wasn’t brave enough to open any of them. After a while, I came upon a room very different from the ones I seen before which the voices were louder in.
Since I was afraid to go any further, I stayed behind a corner in the open doorway into the room. But then I saw something that made me want to shout for joy. It was Victoria. She was looking the other way from me, but I was certain it was her. The only problem was that she was behind a large cage.
“Victoria!” I hissed to her, trying to get her attention. But she didn’t see nor hear me, and it seemed pointless. I wanted to get closer to her, but I had no idea what horrors lie beyond her cage.
A little louder, I whispered, “Victoria!”
She perked up, finally hearing me. She turned her head and her face lit up. She motioned for me to come. Hesitantly, I left my safe hiding spot from behind the corner to meet her.
“Where did you come from, Sierra? What’s going on?” she asked shakily.
“I was hoping you’d be able to answer that. I have no clue.”
“What should we do?”
“Try and escape. I’ll go and find your key. Do you, by any chance, know where it is? A Skeletal Pirate had mine.”
“It was over there last time I saw it,” she said, pointing towards the center of the large room. “But you probably don’t want to go there,” she added as I began walking away.
“Why not?” I challenged. “I’ll do almost anything to free you and get out of here.”
“Malistaire was over there just a minute ago. And so was Liam. Please tell me that Liam hasn’t actually turned evil. He has some intricate, complicated Seeker plan, right?”
Her eyes were so hopeful that all I could say was “I truly hope so.” Then, not being able to bear saying any more, I hurried off in the direction indicated by Victoria.
The room was awfully large, so it took me a while to make it all the way across. When I arrived on the other side, I located a small table. On it I found all the things I needed: Victoria’s and my wands, our spellbooks, our decks, my sapphire necklace, and a key that must have been for Victoria’s cage. I gathered everything up, except for my necklace. Uneasily I examined it, not quite sure why I was so hesitant. Something wasn’t right, though I couldn’t figure out what. Why did it look so alien to me? Why did it seem different? I recalled my dream, in which this same gorgeous amulet had attacked me. With that rather grim thought in mind, I choose to leave it there. I knew I could come back once I had freed Victoria.
Unfortunately, I just can’t seem to keep out of trouble for long.
I was nearly to Victoria’s cage when I began to hear some muffled voices. I recognized them as the same ones I had heard before. I began to sneak towards them, but stopped when I came to a door. From the new volume, I could guess that the owners of the voices were behind there. I didn’t know what secrets the door hid, but I couldn’t resist a mystery like this. I nervously tried the door knob, but it didn’t work anyway. The room was locked. Though I still desperately wanted to know what the door concealed, I continued to Victoria’s cage.
Luckily I turned around just in time. Just as I beginning to walk away from the door, a unexplained shadow appeared upon the wall to a hallway. It began growing larger and larger, meaning whoever it was was coming closer and closer.
Panicking, I dove behind the first thing I saw. Fortunately, it was a stack of boxes that was right next to the door I stood by. I had no idea what they held, but I was glad for the temporary hiding spot.
I almost let out a sob when I saw the person who the shadow belonged to. It was Liam, and I couldn’t bear to see him walking freely in a place like this. It only confirmed my greatest fears. So far I had managed to push him out of my mind, but now that the truth was right in front of me, my heart was broken. How were we ever going to defeat Malistaire if we couldn’t even keep the Seekers together?
Liam walked hesitantly, almost guiltily. I felt a very small feeling of triumph. At least he wasn’t happy about what he had done. He approached the door I had just tried to open, and he got a little too close. I held my breath and kept entirely still. If he had even glanced to the side, he would have noticed me. Thankfully he was too focused on whatever he was doing. To my surprise, he easily opened the door when I had such difficulty with it.
For some reason, even with the door wide open I could hardly hear the conversation inside. It must be enchanted, I decided.
Malistaire emerged from behind the door soon enough with Liam and a tough-looking Skeletal Pirate. I tensed up when they walked by, but they didn’t notice me. “Are you completely sure you understand your mission?” Malistaire asked.
Liam replied, “I tell them about Sierra’s and Victoria’s deaths, then find out who the life Seeker is. But why do they have to die? Can’t you give them a chance like me?”
“They know too much. We cannot risk them escaping.”
They began to walk away. I was alarmed by this “mission”, but somehow relieved that I now knew about it. If they were still confident that their plan would work, then maybe he didn’t know I’d gotten out yet.
I crept out from behind the boxes to follow them, wanting to know as much about this plan as possible.
But only after a short period of walking, Malistaire abruptly stopped. Frantically, I darted under the table next to me. It was the same one all of our stuff had been on. “The room is colder than usual,” Malistaire observed. To the Skeletal Pirate trailing them, he barked “Where is the pirate I sent to get the ice girl?”
“I d-don’t know, Master,” it stammered.
“Hmm…” Malistaire scanned the room. When his eyes passed the table I hid under, I flinched, but he made no move towards me. The table completely covered me. “I know you’re in here,” he said aloud. He didn’t need to say my name; I knew he was talking to me. I backed farther under the table. “It is futile to hide. Perhaps if you reveal yourself now, I will give you the luxury of a quick death that is not at all painful.”
I still held my silence. With no response, Malistaire turned to Liam. “Search the room,” he ordered. Then to the Skeletal Pirate, “Go and find someone to guard the storm Seeker. We cannot let those two reunite.”
As Malistaire, Liam, and the pirate walked away, I scrambled out from under the table. I had to get to Victoria before any guards did!
To my surprise, when I arrived at Victoria’s cage it was completely empty. Shocked, I clasped my hands around the bars of the cage and said “Victoria? You’re in here, right? Come on, we have to get out of here!” I then unlocked the door and walked inside to see if she was hiding in some place that I couldn’t see. My search came up with nothing.
Puzzled, I walked back out. My thoughts were not pleasant. Had they taken her away? Was she already… dead?
At that moment someone grabbed me from behind. Quick as lightning I spun around, ready to use both wands if I had to. “Oh, it’s you!” I shouted with a broad grin. “Hi Victoria! Where’ve you been?”
“Oh, you have my wand!”my friend exclaimed with glee. She yanked it out of my hand, and I gave her the spellbook and deck as well. She beamed. “Thanks. I was looking all over for them.”
“How did you escape?” I inquired. “I was so worried! When you weren’t here, I thought you’d…”
“It’s okay,” she comforted. “As for escaping? I got bored waiting for you, so I made my own key.”
“Huh?”
“Out of lightning bolts,” she explained.
“Lucky you,” I murmured. “Even if I had a key, I wouldn’t have been able to unlock my door. It was locked from the outside, and mine was an actual room. Well, we’d better get out of here. Malistaire knows I’ve escaped, and it is only a matter of time before he discovers you’re gone too. Hopefully we’ll be long gone by then. He’s sent guards here, so we better leave. This would be a bad spot to be caught in.”
“That reminds me. How exactly did you get out?”
“Uh… long story. Let’s go,” I said, not wanting to relive the moment in which I summoned the bizarre lightning.
We silently walked out of the large room back into the hallway from which I had entered. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before we got lost.
“Which way should we go?” asked Victoria for what seemed like the millionth time at the next four-way intersection.
“How should I know? I lost track a long time ago,” I complained.
“We have to go somewhere,” she said.
“Forward, then.”
“Okay.”
I took a single step, and then perceived a noise which was very different in the silence we had heard thus far. “Victoria, do you hear that?” I whispered.
She tilted her head and listened. “Yeah,” she replied. “It sounds like crying.”
“You’re right! It’s coming from that direction.” I pointed to the right, where the sound was louder. “Should we go see where it is?” I asked.
“Well…” Victoria was hesitant. “I guess. But we have to memorize our path this time, okay? Just in case it turns out to be something dangerous.”
“Agreed.”
Walking side by side, we got closer and closer to the loud sobs. Soon we came upon an enormous room that was not unlike the one Victoria’s cage and our stuff had been in. However, this one wasn’t covered with boxes as the other was which was rather disappointing. The boxes provided good cover. The only things in the room were three cages and a weak Skeletal Pirate that I knew we could easily defeat if needed. One of the cages contained a small girl.
The pirate looked awfully annoyed. He was continuously muttering to himself and glaring at the poor girl in the cage. I estimated she was about Sydney’s age, which was one year younger than me but older than Rowan. Her clothes suggested she was balance.
“Look!” whispered Victoria, pointing to the farthest side of the room from us. I was relieved to see a door with natural sunlight seeping through the few cracks. “It must be an exit!” she said excitedly.
“We still have to do something about that helpless girl,” I reminded her.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. Maybe if we’re really quiet we can sneak past the pirate without him noticing us.”
“Come on Victoria. It is just a Skeletal Pirate and it can only be as powerful as the ones in Haunted Cave. We beat those ages ago. Possibly we can free the girl and you can make a key out of lightning bolts again. Don’t you get it? If we leave her, she will die!”
After more debating, Victoria finally agreed. “I understand. You’re right.”
To defeat the pirate we didn’t even need to form a dueling circle. Victoria and I both just used our wand spells. The girl was crying so uncontrollably that she didn’t even notice.
“Hello?” I asked, coming up to her cage.
“Leave me alone!” she screamed. “I didn’t do anything! I don’t deserve this!”
“We’re here to save you,” Victoria informed calmly.
“Really?” The girl looked up, and I couldn’t help but gasp. This girl almost perfectly resembled Liam!
“W-who are you?” I stuttered, shocked by the uncanny resemblance.
“I’m Vanessa. Vanessa DreamHaven. What about you? Are you serious about saving me?”
“Yep. I’m Sierra WinterBreeze and this is Victoria RavenSmith. Do you know where your key is?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Oh. So Victoria, you know what to do right?” I looked at her expectantly.
She sighed. “Fine. I didn’t like doing it last time. It takes a while. The only reason I did it was because I was worried about you.”
“If it takes time then you should start.”
“What are you talking about?” questioned Vanessa.
Neither of us answered.
Victoria began by making her hands form a circle. Vanessa and I waited for at least another three minutes, just standing there, staring at Victoria. Suddenly we heard something like the far off rumble of thunder.
Vanessa jumped at the noise, but I stood still, listening. The slight rumble grew louder and louder, until it became a roar. Soon lightning bolts flashed within Victoria’s hands. I continued watching, amazed that my friend could do such a marvelous thing. Already I could see the bolts merging to form the stunningly gorgeous key.
When the bolts completely combined, Victoria moved her hands apart and a purple key engraved with elaborate storm symbol designs that seemed to have static energy surging through it clanged to the ground with a metallic sound.
I leaned down to pick it up, but when I touched it the key shocked me. “Ouch!” I yelled. “Victoria, tell your key to not hurt me next time!”
“Sorry. I didn’t know it would to that. I’m immune to shocks of lightning.”
“Wow, is that key for me?” Vanessa breathed. “How do you know it will fit?”
“We don’t,” replied Victoria matter-of-factly.
Luckily, when Victoria lifted the key and turned it into the lock, the door slid open, but not without a loud whine.
“It sounds as if this door hasn’t been opened in ages,” I commented.
“I agree,” said Victoria.
Vanessa stepped out, grinning wildly. “Thank you so much!” she exclaimed. “But… what about my parents?”
Victoria and I exchanged glances. “Parents?” I asked. “Where are they?”
“I was hoping you would know, or at least had seen them. If you haven’t, then that means…” She didn’t even finish before once more breaking down, crying.
“Wait, don’t cry! What does it mean?” I inquired.
“They’re dead!” she wailed. “Malistaire took them away. Why? We didn’t even do anything! I wasn’t even one of those students like almost everyone else in Ravenwood that are trying to defeat him! My parents didn’t even care, as long as he didn’t bother us. My brother didn’t do anything either! And-” She stopped, and looked up at us. “What were your names again?”
Puzzled by this random question, I replied, “Sierra. And Victoria.”
“Sierra Winterbreeze? Victoria Ravensmith?” Now she looked excited and hopeful, as if she hadn’t been crying only seconds before.
“Yes. Why?”
“I know you!” she gasped. “You’re Seekers!”
“Wha… how do you know that?” I demanded.
“My brother told me. He sent you here, didn’t he? He wasn’t captured with the rest of us. Is he coming soon?”
“Who is your brother?”
“He’s your friend.”
“Yes, but who?” I asked, beginning to get impatient. I thought I knew who she was speaking of, but I greatly hoped not.
“Liam!”
For a moment, no one spoke. Vanessa just looked expectantly at both Victoria and me. “Well,” I said after a while, “I guess that means you don’t know then.”
Vanessa looked confused. “Know what?”
“That Liam isn’t a Seeker anymore,” blurted out Victoria.
“No!” I protested. “Liam may be misguided for the moment, but he will come to his senses. I just know it.”
“How can you possibly think that he is still a Seeker when he is now helping Malistaire?”
“He asked for my forgiveness earlier. I have given it to him, as long as he will accept the consequences.”
“Wait!” Vanessa shouted. “What are you talking about? Liam with Malistaire? Not possible! First of all, my brother is kind and caring. Second, he’s a Seeker. Third, he would have set me free.”
“It’s true!” argued Victoria. “We saw him. He has most likely forgotten all about you. I bet that-”
“Victoria, calm down,” I said. “She has a point. The main reason he did this is because of his family. Liam can’t know where they are. Malistaire tricked him. He is going to try and get rid of them so he doesn’t have to let them go!”
Victoria gasped. Vanessa yelled, “We have to warn him!”
“Warn him of what?” scoffed Victoria. “He doesn’t care about us anymore.”
“He will stop doing these things if we tell him. Plus, as his sister I may be about to convince him.”
“I don’t know, Vanessa. I think that Liam is… gone,” I cautioned.
“We have to try,” she said in a determined voice.
I sighed. “I would love to, but we have to find him first. And the exit is right there.”
“No, that’s not an exit!” Vanessa corrected.
“How do you know?”
“They took me in there. It is a really weird room, with all these monsters in it that I had never seen before. They asked me questions about Liam, but mostly about the Seekers in general. I told them I didn’t know any of you. Right before I went in that room, I saw my mom for what I guess is the last time. She said ‘I love you Vanessa, no matter what. Promise me that you’ll be brave?’ And I agreed, and when I came back out of the room they were gone. How could I not realize what she meant by that?”
I felt sympathetic. “I’m so sorry. I completely understand. I grew up in an orphanage without any parents, and I was always so jealous of anyone with them.”
“But this is different,” she sobbed. “You never had parents. Mine were there, but now they are gone!”
I couldn’t say anything to that, so the three of us sat in silence.
Eventually, Victoria piped up, “I think that if we are planning on going to see Liam we should better get going.”
“We still don’t know where to go,” I pointed out.
“My guess would be to go back to where we last saw him, in that room.”
“We got lost hours ago. We’ll never find our way back!”
“You didn’t have me last time,” put in Vanessa. “I know my way around here.”
“How?”
“I tried to escape a few times. Yep, they really don’t like me here. I keep getting out. The first time I used my hair pin, but then I just broke the bars on the cage twice after that, because they’re not that sturdy. That’s why they set a guard here to watch me. But I’ve memorized most of the way. Please, let me help!”
“She could be helpful,” commented Victoria.
“I suppose if you know your way around so well, you can help. You’d just run there by yourself if we told you no.”
Vanessa grinned.
“So which way, Navigator?” asked Victoria playfully.
“The way you came,” she replied, beginning to walk that way.
Victoria and I exchanged glances before following her.
As we traveled through the dimly lit red and black hallways, Victoria behind me and Vanessa in front, I knew we were in for an adventure. And in this one, if we were caught, the consequences were deadly.
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