Stupid Novacain

Ok. So when I grow up I'll be able to proudly tell my kids that I never once had a cavity.
However I will be able to list the following:

• Teeth pulled
• Retainer
• Four teeth pulled
• More teeth pulled
• Head gear
• Forget headgear, two permanent teeth pulled
• Braces
• Retainers
• Gum surgery 
• Root canal

How I feel

So.

I missed school.

I was in pain.

So I got on wizard101.

* grins *

 What Suri got (my Death alt)

 Versus what I got.

So then Luke is on. And of course he wanted to show me something.

Here are awkward moments in the conversation where I was silently laughing (in pain because of stupid tooth!)

What I'm thinking...

Haha, sorry, I couldn't resist.

:)

He had also done all these rug tricks and box stacking stuff.

It was lots of fun. He also told me to put in a search bar.

Happy now, Luke?

I also have to get GWB part three up soon too. Of course it's going to be unedited........

So until then...!

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Chapter Four – the perilous search begins

I wiggle my fingers. I wiggle my toes. I turn my neck. I lift my arm.

I smile. No pain. This was a good sign. If I was in pain I had no chance of getting out of here. Wherever here was. Not that I lingered on that question. I knew it had no answer for the time being.

I sit up...

Pain flares through my back and around my stomach, wrapping my middle in a crushing fire. I gasp sharply. Yup, something was broken. A rib, probably. Or maybe I was pouring blood from a wound? I feel tenderly on my stomach. Nope, dry, no blood. I press even more gently on my ribs.

Pain. But not as much as when I had first gotten up.

I frown. This was bad. With a broken arm I could at least hold that. With a broken leg I could’ve leaned against the wall and limped along.

But with at least four ribs seemingly broken I had no chance.

Slowly, ever so very slowly, I stand. I swear it took at least 25 minutes if not half an hour. And I’m not even exaggerating.

I knew I couldn’t even try to be silent as I made my way around this mysterious place. Because even if I tried I would fail. I could assume that much.

Noisily making my way down a deserted hallway I looked around as I went looking for a door or another passageway. I found none.

I pause for a moment and lean heavily on the stone wall. I would love to clutch my stomach in pain but that would make it worse. Hey, that’s what pressure does. As I take deep breaths trying to ignore the pain I become dimly aware of a grinding noise. Like a heavy door being opened slowly.

I freeze. I didn’t know where the noise was coming from so I could be nowhere near it. But then again, I may as well could be.

Before I can react the wall I was leaning on turned out not to be a wall at all but a disguised door. And it had just opened. Not really able to do anything I fall painfully to the ground and I see stars as pain decides to have a giant party with relatives and second cousins in my stomach.

I curl into a ball, though through the pain I know I should be being tied up and having a sacked stuck over my head as I’m dragged off to the master of this weird place so he can decide my exacution.

But I’m not.

I open my eyes to see a slightly familiar face bent over me. “Na...than?” I choke out.

I can’t really see but I think he nods. “Are you okay? You were attacked by that weird person in gray and then I was here and you were not here and then there was this door and this glass thing and then it broke and then this cute little orthos came out!” He holds up a small, two headed dog with a dark rusty red coat, and gleaming dark eyes.

“That... thing was... chasing me,” I say through gasps of breath. The fiery pain had yet to leave.

“Thing?” Nathan looks hurt. And funnily enough the orthos copies his expression. “His name is Kobe.”

“Kobe?”

“Yeah. Kobe.”

I sigh and mutter “weird” under my breath.

“Are you okay? You look like you’re about to be sick.”

“Yeah. Um, never mind that. No, I’m not. I think I broke four or something ribs.”

“Oh. Ouch. How?”

“No idea. How do we get out of here?” I ask.

“Well, I was wondering that myself but I think I know how...” He trails off, then sets the Thing (I swear it was planning to chew my leg off back in the Place of Nowhere, so to me it’s the Thing) down and he immediately bolts towards the far end in the wall.

Nathan helps me to my feet and he walks while I stumble over to where the Thing was scratching at a barely visible door.

“What’s in there?” I ask. “I mean, last time I was near a door it was a maze and I was being chased by that thing.”

“His name is Kobe. And I think there’s something about these doors. I mean, the appear out of nowhere. It’s like... where did come from?”

I nod. This place was weird. With disappearing doors, and orthos, and Places of Nowhere.

Nathan promptly starts trying to open the door. It took a while and eventually I had to help, much to both of our disappointments (he wanted to do it himself, and I didn’t want to help in the first place). Once it was open we stood staring at the fountain in the Shopping District. Wizards were milling around everywhere like they usually do at this time of day, and didn’t seem to find it odd that two wizards had just appeared in the middle of the street.

That is, until I realized we weren’t in the middle of the street at all. We stood on the doorstep of the pet shop, as if we had just come out. And since people usually come out with new pets, and Nathan was carrying an orthos, it only added to our innocent arrival.

Before either of us could make a comment on the matter however two guys who looked like a same level as Nathan, ran over to him and started pestering him about where he had been all day.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to walk away quietly and totally nonchalantly. Of course that suddenly became impossible because right then fate decided I should run in to Iridian. Of course everyone knew her, not to mention she yelled out super loudly, “HEY SURI!”

I waved meekly and waited a moment while she ran over. “Everyone’s been looking everywhere for you. You said you were just hanging out by the pond but no one had seen you and then you were gone all afternoon and I knew you weren’t questing because then Cathrine was all alone and then–”

“Yeah, I get it,” I say just to stop the flow of oncoming words and get people to stop looking at us, because that was weird. “I was... questing by myself. I got bored by the pond and decided I should try to do some of my own quests.”

“But Alric looked all over Krokotopia for you. Even in the Temple of Storms, but we couldn’t find you.”

I sigh. I didn’t want to lie to Iridian. She certainly didn’t deserve it. But how in the world... I mean... how in the Spiral am I supposed to tell her about Places of Nowhere and vanishing doors and orthos and cracked ribs and...

Hold up a second.

CRACKED RIBS!

Completely forgetting about everything in the universe I smack my stomach, expecting excruciating pain.

None came.

Iridian gave me a weird look. “Maybe you should go home.”

“Uh, yeah. I think that would be best.”

I am numbly pulled along back to the Duneriver’s home where I’m fussed over like a baby kitten. Though I could barely tell. My mind was wrapped around what the voice had told me. This double school business.

I was obviously Storm and Shadow. Though I really had no idea what magic Shadow uses. The remaining six schools could be any set of match ups. Plus I had no idea who it could be. I was a low level, so could the other combinations be Journeymen?

No, I supposed they could be any level.

It could be that their second school is their secondary school. But that might not be true since my secondary is Life but in this case my second school is Shadow.

What ever Shadow is.

Soon it was night and I was laying in bed, thinking the same thing.

And what felt like minutes later the sun was rising. And I was still thinking the same thing.

I was just thinking about getting up when Alric’s panicked voice rang in my head as we he whisper chatted me. “No school today! But for the worst reason!”

“What? Why?” I reply.

“Teleport to me and you’ll see why.”

I hastily struggle into something other than pajamas and run downstairs to tell anyone who was home where I was going.

No one was there.

Instead I found a note on the table saying:

Dear Suri and Cathrine,

David and I have been sent to Celestia to examine some broken machinery. We will be gone for the next couple days. It was urgent and we had to leave early this morning. I’ve told you’re grandparents as well as the neighbors, the Anvilthorn’s. If something goes wrong, contacted one of them.

All my love,

Delina

I put the note back down. Okay. Great. Wonderful.

At then time it seemed totally normal. Nothing odd, nothing wrong. I didn’t even think about where Cathrine was. All I was really thinking about was that Alric had told me: no school, no school for the worst reason, and to teleport to him.

So I did. I appeared in Ravenwood next to Alric. Of course, as soon as I did I didn’t hear what he said, what others were saying, or anything really. To me the whole world had gone silent.

All the schools were missing.

***

Me, Alric, and Iridian were all sitting numbly on the stone wall on Elik’s Edge in the Shopping District. Not many other people were there. Most people were in the Commons or Ravenwood, or home, or taking advantage of the ‘no school’ situation and were questing.

The only thing that had disappeared were the schools. The teachers were all fine, but everything else was just... gone. No one knew how it happened. They hadn’t dropped below Ravenwood into Nightside like the Death school had. But when the Death students had gone down there that school was gone as well. Nathan had told me that.

“I wonder what happened,” I think out loud.

Iridian nods but Alric just stares off into space.

“Why would the schools just disappear?” asks Iridian. “I mean, they’re not exactly portable so it must have been some serious magic. But who did it?”

I think of what the voice had said in the Place of Nowhere. How a great evil would arise while I searched for the other three people who would then help me destroy it. Hmm, maybe I should give it a name. Who ever has a doubled school can be called a... Chrons.

I nod to myself. Yes, Chrons would do nicely.

My train of thought was harshly severed with the sharp knife by the screaming outburst of someone across the way.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE SCHOOLS HAVE DISAPPEARED!?” a Magus Conjurer was yelling at the top of her lungs. “I’ve got three days to get my level to Master and now you tell me THERE’S NO SCHOOL!?”

I’m guessing she’s with her friend because anyone else being yelled out would probably be mad. The other girl she was yelling at, also a Magus by the looks of it, was trying to calm her down while answering.

“SHUT UP! I’m trying to tell you if you would just shut up and listen to me!”

“Then pleeeeease! Continue explaining!”

“Sheesh. The schools disappeared, not the teachers! I guess you can still talk to Cyrus but he’s busy as well as the other teacher trying to figure out what happened.”

They started walking away while having a totally normal conversation about the beautiful weather in Mooshu. I sigh and lean back on the low, stone wall. I probably shouldn’t, just because if someone decided to teleport to me I’d probably go falling off the edge into nothingness and I’d never find the other three Chrons, but I supposed I shouldn’t worry about those things. Things you worry about usually come true.

Time stops for a moment and I think that perhaps I’m thinking too soon.

With a crack like pop and a shower of black smoke and Death symbols Nathan teleports to me and lo and behold I am tipped off the edge.

On natural instinct for anyone falling off an edge I grab onto the closest thing near me. Which is, or should I say who is, Nathan. I grab his arm (I think, you can never be too sure in times like these) and he grabs my arm as if to steady me which is a little bit of late thinking on his part, and before anyone can grab anyones else's arms I’m, or we, are falling.

***

We fell for a long time. And then we stopped falling. And then we just lay there wondering what in the Spiral just happened.

Honestly, that’s all there is to it. I don’t really need to go into intricate detail about the vast amount of whiteness and blueness that was all around us while we fell. Because there really is nothing to it. Both me and Nathan never saw the floating stone platform that we fell on before we fell on it. So now we’re just laying here stunned, waiting for out minds to catch up with our bodies.

Finally I ask, “is this supposed to be down here?”

I look over at Nathan and he shrugs. “Dunno. I don’t exactly fall over Elik’s edge everyday so you’re asking the wrong person.”

“Does anyone fall over?”

“People have claimed to fall over and then come back again but I don’t know if they were telling the truth.”

Nathan stands and helps me to my feet and we look around.

We were standing on a stone platform that was about ten feet by ten feet. It was smooth for the most part, very light, hair thin patterns decorated the entire surface. All around us was a milky white nothingness. A soft breeze rippled around us. But it was like no breeze I had ever felt. The breeze was so light and soft that a few strands of my hair were lifted and fluttering lazily behind me.

Weird place.

The more I think about it suddenly, the more I realize where we must be.

“We’re in a Place of Nowhere,” I say to Nathan. He gives me an odd look.

“Where?”

“Nowhere. Look, it’s the same place where we were yesterday. Or where I was. You were in the place with disappearing doors and I was in a Place of Nowhere, a pitch black maze. This must be the same.”

He looks around. “So, how do you get out?”

“Well, I’ve only ever been here twice so I’m just guessing. But I think we need to a find a voice who will tell us something, then if we want to get out we have to break something. Last time I broke a mirror.”

“So, how do we find this ‘voice’ person. I mean, it’s not exactly like we’re moving.”

Hmm, Nathan had a point. But there was a breeze so maybe...?

“We must be moving. Feel that breeze? It’s not a natural breeze from like an air current or something, we must be moving.”

“That makes sense.” He bends down and examines the patterns on the stone. “What do you think these are?”

I bend down next to him. “It looks like a picture. See, here’s something that looks like a Death symbol. And that kind of looks like an Ice symbol.”

“You’re right. Here, they have all seven schools. But...” He trails off and curiously looks like an eighth symbol next to the Storm one. “This isn’t one I’ve seen before. Is it an Astral symbol?”

I look at where he was pointing. It was certainly out-of-place. “I don’t think it’s an Astral symbol.”

“Then what could it be?”

Then I start to remember. School of Shadow. I didn’t know what their symbol was. Could this be it? This curling, weaving, pattern? It had a Spiral at the bottom like all the symbols, so that must be it.

But Nathan didn’t know about the School of Shadow. How could I tell him? Did he know about Athol? Did he know about the name Silverwillow?

Suddenly I realize he was giving me a funny look. “What?” I say, slightly snappish.

“You looked panicked for a second then totally confused. What sort of mental battle are you having?”

“Uh... well...”

“Ah, so soon my dear you have come back. Is it also accidental?”

“Who was that?” asks Nathan, looking scared.

I laugh. “It’s just the voice. Guess we found her.”

“Yes. Nathan Deathblade, you are in a pocket of nowhere. A place where there is no such thing as substance or conciseness. There is no need to be frightened my little...”

“Little!?” exclaims Nathan. “Just what are you–?”

“Shh!” I shush him. “Why did you stop?” I ask the voice.

“I was going to ‘little Necromancer’ but I cannot. I am, after all, the Voice of Unspoken Truths. But why are you not a Necromancer? Or are you merely half of one?”

I wish I could say I caught on that Nathan was not just a Necromancer, but one of the wizards with a second school. So I’m wishing. And my wish came true. I understood it pretty quickly by that comment.

“What’s she talking about Suri?” asks Nathan.

But I can’t talk. My mouth is dry. Is the voice really implying that Nathan is a Chrons?

“Yes Suri. If that is what you call them, Nathan is a Chrons. But of what school?”

“What’s she talking about?” Nathan repeats.

“I think.... I think you have a second school.”

“Well I do. Fire.”

“No, I mean a school in which you are as powerful as if it were your own school.” I turn away from Nathan and say to the air, “What is his second school?”

“The prophecy answers that. Listen closely. ‘Protector from the offender / unlikely they are the mender / Power from the musical lyre / the Chrons of Death and Fire’.”

“Fire,” I breathe. “And Chrons is the term?”

“The first awakened, to put it simply, will be randomly bestowed with knowledge. Thus it makes them a kind of leader.”

Okay. Great. Wonderful. No pressure.

“Nathan Deathblade, Necropyro or Dearie, you are the Chrons of Death and Fire.”

Nathan looked stunned.

However I asked, “can you tell us any more of the prophecy?”

“Yes, I can tell you that last two versus for those are the one's left to find. ‘Met death on their birth bed / from a power of no end / the point of playful malice / the Chrons of Myth and Balance. The ice cage commended / with a problem to be tended / From past they paid the price / the Chrons of Life and Ice’.”

“So the other two people are Myth and Life with a second of Balance and Ice.”

“Yes. Mynce and Lifice. Sorcurje and Theurmagy.”

“Wait, then whose Storm?” asks Nathan. He looks over at me and I give him the you-have-GOT-to-be-kidding-me look. “Oh.” Then he does the math. “But there’s seven schools. All are taken but Storm. So what’s your second school?”

Life just loves to go in circles doesn’t it?

“Well... um...”

“The time will come when Suri will tell. Perhaps when all four are found or when the great evil arises.”

“Wait. Hold up a second. What ‘great evil’?” demands Nathan. “If I’m part of this Chrons group or whatever then don’t you think you should perhaps, oh I don’t know, mention that we’ll end up fighting a great evil?”

“Oh, I would love to Nathan but I can’t over all your yabbering!” I snap. “The voice last time told me that a great evil was going to arise while I, now we, search. I don’t know what, but it’s not Malistaire. He’s not that evil.”

“But Malistaire is the evil of all evils. The one trying to take over the Spiral. And now he’s classified as ‘not that evil’?” asks a dumbfounded Nathan.

I nod. “Don’t ask me why. It just is.”

He shakes his head. “This is so...”

“Concentric,” I finish for him. When he gives me a weird look I say, “weird. It means the same thing.” After a moment of awkward silence I say to the voice, “so what can we break this time? Not exactly a mirror around here anyway.”

“There are plenty of things to break. It doesn’t always have to be something in the way.”

And by some weird knowledge I knew she had gone. We were alone.

“What does she mean?” asks Nathan. “Doesn’t always have to be something in the way? What was in the way last time?”

“A mirror,” I reply. “I found a glowing mirror, and that was where the voice was. I was able to break the mirror and I was released from the Place of Nowhere.”

“Okay. So what should we break this time? I mean, can we break stone?” He taps the platform.

I shake my head. “Spells don’t work. Unless you’d like to do the honors of using your hands I think we have to break something else.”

He glares at me. “Fine. What then?”

I look around. Nothing in sight. Nothing breakable. I began to think about what had happened after we had left the last place. We had appeared in the Shopping District. Totally unharmed. In perfect condition. But I hadn’t been in perfect condition. I had broken ribs. And they had healed.

Then maybe...?

I look over at Nathan. I hold out my arm. “Break it,” I say.

“What?”

“Break it. If we break something we can get out of here. So break my arm. It’ll heal.”

“Are you crazy!?”

I glare at him. “Fine. If you won’t break it I will.”

I grab my left arm in my right, and with a unnatural strength I didn’t know I possessed I painfully broke my arm.

It hurt.

Unlike the time I had broken my wrist and it had felt light like a balloon, this hurt like a heckhound had bitten it and cyclopes hammer had smashed it afterwards.

Ouch.

But with a suction of air and blur of white and black me and Nathan were met by the friendly scene of the Shopping District and Alric and Iridian looking at us like we had lost our minds. We were both standing on the outer side of Elik’s Edge. We both quickly scrambled over to the safety of the other side.

And of course my arm was totally fine.

“You stupid!” yelled Nathan and he smacked me upside the head.

“You stupid!” yelled Iridian and punched Nathan in the arm.

“Both of you stupid!” I yell myself as I push Nathan and Iridian away from each other.

Some wizards passing by give us odd looks. Alric smiles meekly at them. “Sorry. Misunderstanding about a quest item. Nothing to worry about. Haha. Nope. Nothing at all. We’ll be done here soon. No need to worry.” He sighs in relief once they’ve turned away.

“Where did you guys go?” asks Iridian. “You fell over the edge and then vanished for half an hour and then you guys climb back up as if nothing had happened.”

“Well it goes like this,” begins Nathan. I slap my hand over his mouth.

“We fell over and landed in the home of a colony of ice elves,” I say, trying to hide the fact that I’m lying. “They ran away when the fire elves took over Fire Cat Alley and were hiding here. After they went on and on about how mad they were they helped get back up here using a magical ice ladder. Usually only ice wizards can use it if they fall but since we were kind they didn’t mind. Who knew what was really down there huh?” I say.

Inside I’m shaking like a leaf in a fierce autumn wind. They were never gonna believe it.

“Wow. Maybe I should jump down there,” says Alric leaning over the edge.

“Stupid!” yells Iridian as she fiercely pulls him back. She gives me a pitiful look. “Sorry you had to spend it with that guy,” she points to Nathan and he looks hurt. In fact he looks so funny I give a little laugh. “Next time make sure I come along. I’d like to meet this colony of ice elves.”

She waves goodbye and heads off in the middle of the crowd. Nathan looks from me to Alric and back again. “Well, if you don’t mind I’ll be heading home now. That whole deal with the ice elves has made me tired.” He gives me a... hurtful? Skeptical? Confused? Well whatever look he gave me didn’t matter. Clearly he had caught on that this was a secret. And that there was something I wasn’t telling him.

Then he too disappears into the crowd. I lean back against the stone wall and sigh.

“I know you don’t want to say what really happened down there,” says Alric, not looking at me. I had forgotten he was there. “But if you ever want to tell me, I won’t tell anyone.” He gives me a smile through his blond hair (did I ever mention he has blond hair? Oh well, he does. Green gray eyes and blond hair and pale skin. And Iridian looks the same, only her hair is longer).

I smile back. “I wish I could tell you everything. But I’m not really the one to tell it. Neither is Nathan. It’s a lot bigger than you think. I’m sorry Alric.”

He nods. “It’s cool. Maybe another day. Besides, we have a lot of free days to quest sicne there’s no school.”

I gasp. “No! You’re right! There’s no school!”

Alric laughs. “You really forgot didn’t you?”

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Well, that's all.

Laterz!
~Emma