Unmasked
Marcus stared at me. “Ok, too much staring for me in one day. Please close your eyes,” complained Sabrina. He did.
Okay, if Wolf can’t do it because he’s your brother, how about this one?
I jumped and gasped. “Calamity, I swear. The next time you do that I’m gonna kill you,” I whispered with fake murder in my voice.
Marcus’s eyes snapped open. “I didn’t do anything I swear!” he yelled and put his arms up.
“Oh stop it, I was talking to you.” He gingerly looked up and uncovered his head.
“Oh. Ok. Then who were you talking too?”
“A person you can’t see. Her name is Calamity Greenfire.”
“OH! As in the Life Guardian? After my sister got home and after she told me all about what happened in Stormhagen, she did hours and hours of research in the topic that aroused everyone’s attention the other day, the legend of the Guardians. I followed her research through the whole thing. Turns out the other Guardians were Fire, Ice, Life, and Storm. Hv’an Nta was Fire, Jim was Ice, Taskmaster Djal was Storm and Calamity Greenfire was Life.”
Oh gosh. I was Guardian and some people new more than I did!
“Once they had found each other, they headed off away from the chaos in Wizard City where monsters of every kind were roaming free among the different areas there. The only place safe from them was Golem Court. But soon that too was over run with Undead and other kinds of things too. The same thing was happening in Dragonspyer.
“The four Guardians sought shelter in Dragon Mouth Cave. They needed to survive in order to kill Malistaire. Inside the cave, in was dark and dingy. Black shapes moved around, about to strike any minute. Also inside, on a stone pedestal, was a golden key. And on the floor, was a trap door. Desperate, Jim grabbed key, and they all fell into a greater cavern, which was pitch black.
“Calamity found a wooden staff with some kind of gem stone on top. When she held it up high, it glowed and cast a dim light everywhere. They found Malistaire in there, and, well. You know what happens after that,” Marcus finished.
“Wow,” was all Sabrina could say. I was silent.
“And you didn’t pay attention to the stuff you actually learned in school?” I smiled at him. He smiled back and laughed.
We were silent for a while. “So, um, Sabrina. Whom did you leave behind in the cave?” I asked.
“Well, Emily came running with me. So I guess that would be just Vanessa and Wolf.”
“By Bartleby. That should be a sight to see,” I exaggerated.
“Well, Glutch was there too,” added Sabrina, but she clearly got the joke.
“I’ll go get Emily and then Vanessa and Wolf and try to dismiss Glutch. Then I’ll port to you and we’ll get outta here.”
“Sounds good.”
“What about me?” piped up Marcus.
“Um, you keep telling Sabrina about the rumors and more about the Guardian history,” I answered. And at that, I looked up Emily and teleported to her.
She jumped when I appeared next to her. “Will you please tell me when you do that!” she gasped at me. I smiled. “Where did you run too?” she asked. And I told her everything. From running into Marcus and about the rumors to the Guardian history and me going to try to dismiss Glutch.
“Whoa! Try to dismiss a demon? That’s gonna take a lot of power. Even Merle has trouble doing that kind a thing.”
I smiled at her. “I think I’ll manage.”
We both teleported to Vanessa who was still with Wolf. They seemed to be talking about different Life spells and techniques. Well, that figures. They both took second in Life, like me. I always sat next to Vanessa in Journeyman class. Wolf had his Master classes two periods after us. (Novice class, Apprentice class during Novice secondary classes. Apprentice secondary classes during Journeyman classes etc. etc.)
“Um, hello?” Emily waved her. They both stopped talking and looked up at her. “Uh, hi. Um, we’re ready to go back to the Commons. But we can’t port out so we’re just heading back up to the entrance. Coming?”
“Uh, yeah, hang on a second,” replied Vanessa. She got up and rummaged though her bag until she got out Seraph, the life spell. “So you cast it with more magic and it does more damage?” asked Vanessa to Wolf.
“Yep. That’s pretty much it. Try it on me.” So Vanessa waved her wand and cast Seraph on Wolf.
And it did 865 damage. The maximum was usually around 480 or 490. That was about 250 more! Wolf groaned and got up. “Not bad for a first timer.” Vanessa smiled and blushed. Then she her face got so angry, I nearly fell over. She spun around and faced Emily, who was cracking up.
Vanessa started to cast Wyvern but Emily put an Ice Shield up.
Wolf walked over to me. “Should I do something or let them battle it out?”
I shook my head. “Nah. Lets see who wins.” Wind Speaking, I said the both of them four Centaur treasure cards to the winner! The battling suddenly got meaner. Emily seemed to be winning. With a Fire blade on herself and a trap on Vanessa, she seemed keen on keeping going. But as soon as she cast Sun Bird, Vanessa did a heal.
“No fair!” yelled Emily. But she kept on fighting. Until they both out of cards. They both turned to me. “What now?”
I shrugged. “Use treasure cards.” So now they were battling with Judgment’s and Mutant Ice Cats. Emily finally made it out with all eight pips and a Tempest.
“Man girl. We both got power. But someday, I’m gonna get you back,” Vanessa said breathless.
Emily shrugged and received the Centaur treasure cards from me. “I wish you luck.” Vanessa scowled and sat down. I went over and sat down next to her.
“What are you gonna do about the demon?”
I smiled at her. “It’s a secret.”
Vanessa glared at me, hard. She was good at glaring. “Since when did everything become a secret? We’re your best friends and Wolf’s your brother. You know we would never betray you.”
I sighed. She was right. They would never betray me even if I told them the terrible truth about my parents. Though I’m sure Emily knows and Vanessa has a good idea. Of course Wolf knows. He knew all along. “Okay. You’re right. I know you would never betray me.” So I began to tell them everything. “You remember that painting on the wall? Of me? And I said it must have been painted over 1,000 years ago? Well, we were all right about what we thought. And the reason I was the one on the wall, not someone else, was because, I’m a Guardian.”
Vanessa stared at me. Wolf stared too, but more like he had an idea about it before I said it out loud. “So are there more Guardians? Or just you?”
“Well, supposedly there are four. Because that’s how many there were last time. That’s what the other painting was about. The Mander, the Gobbler, the Taskmaster, and the girl in green, Calamity Greenfire. But I think there might be five Guardians this time.”
“Why would think that?” asked Wolf.
I shrugged. “Well, I have to find them. And there has been this one girl around here that just, I don't know, seems more powerful than a level 15. Her name is Fallon Nightblood. Though she sounds death, she’s actually–”
“–Life?” interrupted Vanessa.
“–Balance.” I finished. “She’s working on the Alter of Kings. I saw her there when I was doing a quest for my teacher. We hung out and helped each other a bit. And she has practically the power of a Master! It was amazing.”
Vanessa and Wolf stared at me. “You – you think she’s a Guardian?” asked Wolf.
I shrugged. “High chances she may be, but small that she might not.” Vanessa seemed to ponder this. “Come on,” I said. “We have to go.”
“What about dismissing Glutch?” asked Emily. I had completely forgotten she was there.
“Right. Sorry.” Carefully, in my mind, I placed the seven runes of each school in a circle. Physically the other could see them, but I could for I was using my minds eye. I muttered the six blessings and six curses to send any demon back.
I opened my eyes, and Glutch had slowly begun to fade away. He was glaring at me with a lot of ferocity. So just before he vanished, he threw at a fireball at a dry piece of wood. Soon, we were surrounded my a wall of fire.
Vanessa acted quickly and tried to put it out. I summoned Tempest and that doused most of it. But more fire just filled its place. Even though Emily was immune to fire, she was starting to look a little frightened.
Quickly, I looked through my treasure cards and found the Storm Bubble which-you-ma-call-it. Casting that, we were safe from the fire, but not for long. The heat was starting to boil the bubble if it got any hotter, we would be cooked.
We shared frightened glances with each other. Unsure what to do next.
***
I looked around. Fire seemed to encase me. Bearing down on me like a deflating ball. I had no way out. No way out. Suddenly, I was surrounded by light. A bright sphere of white. Jumping up and down, I reached out. But pulled my hand back. It was cold. Freezing cold. Suddenly, it began to rain. Large drops of water splashed down on me. A large waterfall was about to hit me when it transformed into a pile of leaves. They weren’t there for long. Soon they began to shrivel up and die as they fell. And last but not least, green goop splattered. Toenails of a Cyclops. Teeth of a Humofrog.
And then it all stopped. The pictures in my mind vanished and the trashing around in the chair stopped too. My hands hurt from gripping the edge of the chair and my back had bruises from whacking back and forth.
“Fallon! Fallon! Oh no she’s going into post-traumatic shock. Somebody get the tranquilizer!”
“Not the tranquilizer! She needs medicine!”
“Everybody stop!” It was a softer voice, and everybody stopped. “Thank you. Now, I can heal her, so everybody please leave.” And everybody left. She pulled something out of her pocket. I must be hallucinating because what I saw was a cow. She waved it in a leafy pattern and I felt all better. In fact, wonderful.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Your welcome, Fallon Nightblood.” I was all of a sudden dizzy. The cow was starting to change. She no longer looked calm, but hurt. Years of stress and pain bearing down on her all at once. The world spun before me.
“You must run Fallon. A Darkness is coming. Find Emma and tell her this: Keep the harp safe. And destroy the Judgment.” Screaming, I bolted up in bed. I groaned. I kept having that dream over and over whenever I fell asleep. The different schools of magic hurting all around me. Then I’m in a hospital and Moolinda Wu saves me. But she never got far enough to tell me what to tell Emma.
Whoever Emma was. I would at least need a last name. Maybe headmaster Ambrose would know. I slowly got up in bed, careful not to wake my brother who slept next door. I tiptoed outside our Marlybone apartment and into the streets of Regents Square.
I walked quickly between two buildings so I may not be seen in my nightgown. I put on my Deep Cape and Sorrow’s Hood. I slipped on my noob shoes simply because they looked good with the hat and robe.
I made my way the World gate and selected Wizard City. The trip was short from there. Ravenwood and the Commons were empty and the seemed a bit eerie. Trying to ignore the shiver that went down my spine, I made my way to the Headmaster’s Tower. Inside was brightly lit with many candles. Books lay everywhere and Enrollments were scattered around the floor, desk and a chair.
The Headmaster, however, didn’t seem to be present. All remains of sleepiness now gone, I sat down in a big red chair, which was extremely comfortable, and decided to wait.
***
We looked around with terrified eyes. My Storm Bubble was dwindling, fast. The rain that was usually cool, was not hot. We all looked through our Treasure Cards, trying to find Ice and Storm cards. Wolf stumbled upon Snow Shower, something like that, and cast it quickly. It did a little damage. I found a Tempest, building up all my pips, I cast it. Boom, boom, boom, boom. More fire just seemed to take the place of the now dead fire.
For some random reason, Emily cast Judgment.
“Why’d you do that!” shouted Vanessa over the roar of the fire.
Emily looked confused. “I didn’t!” she replied. “She just appeared in front of me!”
Before any of us could do anything, the judgment wielded her curved blade and tapped the balancing bowels. The fire disappeared. It steamed and the heat almost seemed to rush out. We were suddenly all freezing.
We were also plunged into darkness. The fire seemed to have destroyed the blazers. Emily summoned a Fire Cat. To one, warm us up. And two, cast a light so we could see.
The light as dim so we couldn’t make out what the Judgment looked like, but just enough so we could still see the terrified expressions on our faces. It as Vanessa who spoke up at last.
“Thanks for putting out the fire.”
“Your welcome. I was summoned to help you. The Guardians are not yet meant to die.”
I groaned. When I had first come here, it had been meant to get Glutch to answer some questions. It had gone totally different. Thanks to the pictures and Calamity, dismissing Glutch had been nudged to the end of our To Do List.
“Could you possibly show us the way out?” asked Emily.
The Judgment did a little laugh. “Yes, of course I can. Please, follow me.”
She started walking to the nearest hall way and we followed. Emily, Vanessa, me, and in the back was Wolf. After a bit he walked up beside me and whispered in my ear, “I don't trust her.”
I slowed a little. “What do you mean? She saved us from the fire. How can you not trust her?”
“Haven’t you noticed anything, you know, odd about her?”
I thought back. It had been too hectic to notice anything specific. “No,” I said at last.
“It’s more obvious in the light. I’m a Death Wizard, I can see in the dark. She doesn’t have a blindfold.”
I nearly fell flat on my face. “What do you mean, she doesn’t have a blindfold? She has to. She’s a Judgment!” I whispered furiously. “She has too!”
Wolf shook his head. “A Judgment where’s’ a blindfold not only to see, but so they don’t freak people out. The blindfold not allows them to see, but stopped a blood flow. They have no eyes. And for that, blood constantly comes. If you look into a Judgments eyes without their blindfold, you become one of them.”
I looked at him, completely shocked. I had never thought of that before.
I had to tell Vanessa and Emily. Thankfully it was still to dim to see the Judgment, but when we got out into the Krokotopia sun, everything would change.
Emily? Vanessa?
Yes? That was Emily.
What? Vanessa.
When we get out into the sun, DO NOT look at the Judgment’s face. She doesn’t have a blindfold on. Emily, you should have learned this in secondary Balance, so you know. So both of you don’t look at her. No matter what you think or what she says.
I think I do remember Arthur Wethersfield saying something like that. You could actually kill, as in actually kill, someone when you look at a Judgment.
Yeah. Emily’s right. We wont look at the Judgment.
I had an idea. I thought on it a little then relayed it to the others. What if the Judgment has a blindfold on but it has holes in it. What about then?
No idea. Professor Wethersfield never said anything like that. But I supposed if the Judgment were evil they could trick you into something like that.
Ok then. Do not even look at the Judgment even if she has a blindfold on. Let me tell Sabrina and Marcus. They’re waiting for us near the entrance.
Ok.
Yeah. Better do that.
Slowly I looked up Sabrina so I wouldn’t arouse suspicion with the Judgment. Sabrina was not far away. Better do it quickly.
Sabrina?
What?
Um, there was a fire and a Judgment came and saved us. But she doesn’t have a blindfold on. So don't look at her face. Even at first glance. Wolf doesn’t trust her. Neither do I.
Oh my gosh! Do Emily and Vanessa know?
Yes. Tell Marcus too.
K. See you in a bit. I hear footsteps.
Tell him quickly!
And silence. In about ten second we would round the corner.
Nine.
Eight.
I hope Sabrina would hurry up.
Seven.
Six.
I’m so nervous. I don't even know why.
Five.
Four.
Oh yeah. If Sabrina doesn’t tell him he could turn into another evil Judgment!
Three.
Two.
Sabrina…
One.
“Hey guys!” it was Sabrina, looking down. So was Marcus. I did a silent sigh, but something seemed to be wrong with their faces. Weird. “Whatcha up to? I heard fire. What happened?”
“Well, Emma dismissed Glutch but he cast fire just as he left. So we were trapped, but this Judgment came and saved us,” explained Emily.
Oh, how to be smart Sabrina. She and Marcus had both Star Grazed their eyes. To Star Graze your eyes are to etch the Balance pattern, then etch a star around your eye. It’s kind of like half seeing. You think of what you don't want to see, so you’ll never see it. You’ll see everything else just fine. But it kind of leaves a scar, so you don't use it often.
Quickly, I did it too. It burned a little, but I was fine. I thought of the face of a Judgment. The next time I looked up at her, her face was just, not there, I could see right through it. I looked at Vanessa and Emily. Telling them to do it to. They did.
When I turned to Wolf, I saw he had already done it. I scowled at him.
“Ready to go?” asked Sabrina.
“More than ever. I never want to come back,” complained Emily. We all laughed, for we all felt the same.
“Why don't you guys go to Merle, I’m sure he would like to know what happened,” suggested the Judgment.
“That’s a good idea,” declared Vanessa. We made the last few steps to the entrance, and were greeted by a lukewarm Krokotopia night air.
I sighed. Maybe things would turn out all right.
***
The chair was nice, but for some reason, the many lit candles made me nervous. I got up and blew out all the candles but one. That I placed at the other end of the room.
I sat back down in the chair and looked around. The night had gone cold in Wizard City. An evil was near. I could feel it.
Suddenly, the door burst open and cold moonlight flooded in right on top of me. In the door way stood several figures. By the looks of it, four girls, two boys, and…
A Judgment.
Exactly what I had to tell this girl Emma to kill. But before I could say anything, the girl in front, who looked awfully familiar, stepped forward. “Fallon?”
***
I was surprised. Not that I wasn’t used to it by now, but still. Of every person to be at the Headmasters at this time of night is just odd.
“Where’s the Headmaster?” asked Emily.
But Fallon didn’t answer the question. Instead she ran right to me. “You must be the Emma my dream was telling me about. I remember you from the Alter of Kings. Listen. Moolinda Wu told me to tell you to ‘keep the harp safe’ and to…” She trailed off.
“And to what?” I asked. Quite nervous now, I looked up at the Judgment. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I could tell she wasn’t happy. “And to what?” I repeated.
Fallon looked around cautiously then whispered in my ear. I could barely hear her. “Destroy the Judgment.”
“Ok. Let me play this–”
“Emma look out!” yelled Emily.
Fallon and me ducked just to narrowly miss getting hit by a scale. “It’s the Judgment!” I cried out to warn everyone. “Fallon, quick, do a Star Graze! She doesn’t have a blindfold!” There. The word was out. Now we could avoid the Judgment properly.
Fallon nodded and Star Grazed her eyes – but not in time. The Judgment grabbed Fallon and forced her eyes to hers. Now enraged, I grabbed the sword of the Judgment and poised it over her chest, ready to strike.
Why I didn’t do it right then, I will never know.
I <3 your story. MOOOOOOORE! (I like noodles. THat was unbelieveabley funny.)
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with above comment. Your story is awesome. :D And, if your picture is anything to go by, you're really good at drawing!
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe I never check comments here. Sheehs...
ReplyDeleteTHANKS GUYS!!!
ANd about the picture...
Ok, i traced the outline against a window, but i mismatched the clothes and about 90% of it is mine. And it got published.
Thanks again!!
~Emma§