NOTE: BLOGGER IS SCREWING ME UP!!! THE POST KEEPS DISAPPEARING. I'M FIXING IT AGAIN, AND IF IT DECIDES TO DELETE EVERYTHING THEN THAT SOUNDS LIKE A PERSONAL PROBLEM!! SORRY GUYS, BUT THIS IS GETTING ANNOYING, SO... YEAH. SORRY AGAIN!!
So I have a nice, funny, little, comical relief for ya from SoS. Calamity Emeraldsword, introduced in the last chapter I think, has OCD. And I mean
major OCD. We're talking the meaning-of-life kind of OCD here.
Yup.
Anywho, here's chapter seven.
Enjoy!
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Chapter
Seven – the metal of destiny
“Great,”
I mutter. I look around as does Calamity. We were in a field. A field
of swaying green grass that tumbled over hills for infinity. A cloudy
sky was above us and a warm breeze blew.
“Where
are we?” asks Calamity sounding scared.
“Well
before I answer that how about I say an obvious statement: you are an
idiot. Now to answer your question we are in a Place of Nowhere.”
“How
can we be nowhere?” she asks.
“Well,
basically this is a pocket in the universe of Nowhere. Where you are
in all term simply... nowhere.”
“What
about Alric and Nathan?”
“Oh,
they’re probably still staring down into the hole in the ground
where we fell and will be until we find the voice and then we break
something.”
“Voice?
Break something?”
“Well,
in every place of Nowhere I’ve been in there’s a voice. Turns out
the voice belongs to Esmerelda Silverwillow, who used the Rose of
Interchange one too many times and ended up here and is trapped for
infinity. She became the Voice of Unspoken Truth and she answers out
dying questions. Then she leaves. Then we, commonly I, break
something and we’re out.”
“Silverwillow?”
Calamity frowns. “Wasn’t Silverwillow that guy who started the
Era of Darkness? The fires, the famine, and finally the plague? Hence
how I died.”
I
nod. “Well... yeah. Basically. And I supposed that he’s the one
behind the fires that happens not two hours ago in Wizard City.”
“More
fires?” Calamity explodes, sounding scared out of her mind.
“Yeah.
Fires,” I say, thinking back. “That’s why me and Alric went to
Nathan’s. It was actually more like meteorites. Or pyroclastics
from a volcano.”
“Oh.
So next is famine huh.”
“Yup.”
We
look around. The breeze makes Calamity’s blond hair fly behind her
while mine is being whisked up like a blender.
“Let’s
start walking,” I say. She nods and we start in the direction where
our hair is not in our faces.
Soon
we come to a large gray boulder in the middle of the field.
I
know this is it.
And
as if one cue a soft voice resonates through the air. “Welcome
again, Suri. And Calamity Emeraldsword. Due to your past visits I
believe that this is the Chrons of Life and Ice?”
It
hadn’t even crossed my mind. “I supposed,” I say shrugging. I
turn to Calamity who was looking complete and utterly confused. “Nice
one. I knew it was a good idea when to get you stuck in the in
between world.”
She
stares at me. “What?”
“I
am the Voice of Unspoken Truths. Calamity, you are a Chrons, a wizard
with magical talents in two schools rather than one. And those two
schools are Life and Ice. A Thaumagist of Lifice.”
“And
Alric is Myth and Balance. And Nathan is Death and Fire,” I add.
“And
are you one two?” she asks.
I
nod. “Er... Storm. My second
school is yet to be found.”
“Suri...
as the Voice of–”
“Unspoken
Truths I know. And let’s keep the truths unspoken. So.”
A
silence. “Alright.
But beware, your time is coming soon. As there will not be famine.
The fires are ending now. No famine, now there is the plague.”
Calamity
swears. “But at least there will still be food for the sick. That’s
what gave us the plague last time: there wasn’t much food.”
I
grimace. Thank goodness I had been living on earth during that time.
No wait, this was before I was born. Or when I was very young. Yes...
the era had been ten years ago. I would’ve been five.
Something
stirs at the back of my mind. A memory from earth. What memory? What
was it? A name. It was a name. Who’s name?
“You
okay?” Calamity asks.
I
look over at
her. “Someone’s name. Someone important. I’ve forgotten their
name.”
“Aww,
that’s too bad,” she says, acting sympathetic, though she really
wasn’t.
I
try to think. What name was it? Who’s name? Why couldn’t I
remember it?
“It
is odd,”
says the voice softly. “I
have never met a wizard from the realm of ‘earth’, and yet you
seem to be forgetting memories from it. Why would that be?”
“No,”
I say. “I knew their name. I knew at one time. But I’ve forgotten
it. I forget it a long time ago when...” I trail off. I couldn’t
remember when. Otherwise
I would remember.
“Oh
well,” I say, looking up. “I guess it doesn’t matter. Not like
I’m going back there anyways.”
“Wait,”
says the voice. “Something
is wrong in the Spiral. I can feel it.”
“What
do you feel?” asks Calamity.
I
nod. I could feel it too. A slight unease in my spleen. No... not my
spine, my spleen. Yes, the little white mushy thing in near
your front.
Spleen. Remember it.
Before
the voice can answer Calamity interrupts with her own observation.
“Hang
on. I can feel it too...”
***
Nathan
Deathblade and Alric Flame stared down into the giant hole in the
Marlybone street. It seemed to never end, and as far as you could see
was only blackness. There hadn’t been another earthquake and all
was still.
“You
think they’re dead?” Alric asks.
Nathan
shakes his head. “Nah.”
“Why?”
“I
dunno. Nothing kills of Suri that easily. ‘Specially falling down
into a bottomless crack with pointy stalactites at the bottom.”
“Well
there’s a lovely thought. Suri and Calamity shishcabobs.
Delicious.”
Both
boys laugh.
Suddenly
Alric tilts his head, as though listening to something. Nathan gives
him a funny look. “Something wrong?”
“Shh!”
Alric hisses. After a moment he says, “I think I hear something.”
He looks towards Nathan’s apartment. “From your place.”
They
both look over at the house, then start walking cautiously towards
it. Once on the first step of the door Nathan hears it too. A soft
whirring noise, as if muffled through a wall. They open the door
slowly and the noise grows louder.
“What
the heckhound is that?” asks Alric, astounded.
In
the middle of the living room was a spinning object, about a foot
long. It was sliver, and as it spun it cast a sliver line of light
around the walls. It seemed to be a square or a flat piece of metal,
due to the way it looked while it was spinning.
“It
can’t be... can it?” asks Nathan. He goes a little closer to the
spinning metal.
“What
is it?” Alric repeats.
“I
don’t know, I found it a few weeks ago in this strange place with
disappearing doors. It’s got all these intended symbols on them. I
can’t read them though.”
“Can’t
read them now either,” mutters Alric. “I would’ve liked to look
at them.”
“Well
you can. I made rubbing's of them.
“Can
you show me?”
“Sure.
They’re in my room.”
Alric
followed Nathan up the stairs to his room where the whirring dulled.
Nathan turned on the electric light, courtesy of the Marlybone home.
He shuffled through some papers before pulling out a larger one with
rubbing marks on them. He handed it to Alric. “This is the best on
I got. And don’t bother looking in books, couldn’t find anything.
Alric
looked the marks over. They made no sense. Not a shred of familiarity
came to him. It was like an alien language.
Suddenly
there was a soft shaking. Another earthquake was happening. A small
one, perhaps classified as a tremor. It lasted about 25 seconds and
nothing seemed to come from it save the loud thump that sounded from
downstairs.
The
whirring continued.
Nathan
and Alric give each other looks before heading downstairs to see what
the thump could’ve been caused by. They see Suri’s bag on the
floor next to the table. It must’ve fallen off. A few things had
spilled out. Namely a quill, parchment, an ink well, and small sheets
of paper with thick writing on them.
Alric
picked on up. “‘The Age of the
Solarology Compass’,”
he reads. “What’s a
Solarology Compass?”
Nathan
shrugs. “‘Mask of the Nearlion’. What is this stuff?”
Alric
reaches into Suri’s bag (something he never would have done
otherwise if he had not seen papers with such strange titles on
them). Out came another few handfuls
of papers as well as a thick book binding. All the pages seemed to
have fallen out of the book.
“That
looks like an old book,” says Nathan. “What’s the title.
Alric
holds it out so Nathan can see. The
Invisible Box.
“What’s
an Invisible Box?” asks Nathan.
“I’ve
heard of it. It’s a box that is, as said, invisible. And infinite.
You can put things in it and no one will ever find it. Of course, you
can’t lose it either. No one knows where it is now of course.”
“And
Other Strange Objects Unknown to Wizards,”
Nathan
reads the subtitle. “What other strange objects?”
“You
mean like the Metal of destiny?” asks Alric smugly. He holds up a
page.
The
Metal of Destiny
‘There
are such places in the universe known as Places of Nowhere. Pockets
of nowhere where there is, to put simply, nothing. Each Place of
Nowhere has a name, and the one that makes the Metal of Destiny is
called Anvilthorn.
In this never ending place of hallways, and changing doors there are
two people who forge metal with one’s destiny on it. With the use
of special magic that allows them to shape the climatic events of
someone’s life. Next to no one has ever been in this Place of
Nowhere, in fact almost no one goes into Place’s of Nowhere. It is
merely by chance. Usually people who fall into Place’s of Nowhere
have a very special destiny, shaped by the people who make the
destiny’s. The destiny’s are written on what’s called the Metal
of Destiny.’
“Place’s
of Nowhere? That’s where I was with Suri when I became the Chrons
of Myth and Balance,” says Alric.
“Yeah.
And when I became Death and Fire. Hey, there’s something on the
back.”
Alric
flips the page over. Indeed, there was more writing on the Metal
of Destiny
on the back. They continue to read.
‘One
cannot read the destiny written on the metal. They can only read it
if the metal so chooses. Very few have ever had their destiny read.
‘If
you are a lucky one to see your Metal
of Destiny spinning,
then you must read it before it slows down. This can be accomplished
in three easy steps.
‘1)
Find a blank sheet of paper. Hold it length wise.
‘2)
Hold it up so the line of sliver light from the Metal
of Destiny
crosses through it’s center.
‘3)
Step forward or back up until the words are legible. Read your
destiny.
‘Once
your destiny has been read the metal with either turn to ash or fall
to the ground.’
The
reading ended.
“You
think that’s a destiny metal?” asks Alric.
Nathan
shrugs. “Only one way to find out.” He grabs a spare piece of
parchment from the table and holds it up the spinning metal. The
silver line crosses though it. It blurs through the paper, but fuzzy
letters could be made out. Nathan takes a step back and they become
clearer. Another step back and they’re even more clear.
Soon,
after several steps, Nathan reads what appears on the paper.
“Four
wizards shall find / a darkness in their mind / following around with
persistence / against the evil a resistance. Brought from a far place
/ they must learn not to haste / the fabric of space is worn / the
Chrons of Shadow and Storm. Protector of the offender / unlikly they
are the mender / the son of no liar / the Chrons of Death and Fire.”
Nathan
paused. That last verse had sounded familiar. Why?
“Keep
reading!” urges Alric. Nathan sighs and turns back to the paper.
“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
commanded
/ with
a problem to be tended / from past they paid the price / the Chrons
of Life and Ice.”
Now
Nathan knew something was familiar about these poems. He had heard
them before. Recently too. But where? He racked his brains for where
he could have heard them.
Meanwhile
Alric was saying, “Is is like a prophecy of some sort? I mean, with
all the rhyming it should be something like that. But who is it
about? Could it be us? I mean, I’m the Chrons of Myth and Balance.
Your the Chrons of Death and Fire right? And Suri’s the one of
Storm. But what’s with the Shadow? And who could Life and Ice?”
Suddenly
he stops. He had just connected two and two.
“Shadow,”
he whispers. “Silverwillow. Hey Nathan, guess what Suri told me
right before we got after we got crushed by a meteor. Athol
Silverwillow was a Shadow Wizard and bringer of the first Era of
Darkness. And now he’s back. And we have to stop him. But the
prophecy said Suri was a Shadow Wizard, so is that a good thing or a
bad thing?”
Suddenly
Nathan remembered. “The voice! When I became the Chrons of Death
and Fire the voice there repeated those last two versus. The one
about Myth and Balance, and the other about Life and Ice.”
“Okay.
But who’s Life and Ice? I mean, maybe it’ll just be a coincidence
that we end up knowing them, like how Suri knew you and me.”
Before
Nathan could respond the door opened and in walked Suri with
Calamity. “Hey guys, guess what?”
***
“What
is it?” I ask. I could feel the disturbance in the air, but I
couldn’t quite put my finger on it as to what it is.
“It’s
a quirk. Like, OCD or something,” says Calamity. “When something
is out-of-place and you want to fix it but you can’t.”
“You
mean like, the order is messed up or something?” I confirm.
Calamity nods.
“Something
is supposed to go in order. One two three. But what is supposed to be
going in order just skipped the order. Like it went, one two four or
something. But not even that. More like one four.”
“Okay,
enough with the likes!” I snap. “You mean stages, don't you?
Fires, famine, plague. But this just went: fires to destruction.”
“Yeah,
something like that.” Then she pales. “Skipped stages two and the
three!?” She
grits her teeth. “OCD. OCD. OCD.”
“That’s
not the point here!” I all but scream. “It skipped over famine
and plague! What happens after the plague?”
“Well,
if it’s like last time then it will just end and we’ll pull
ourselves together,” responds Calamity.
“Yeah,
well this isn’t like last time! No famine. No plague. So this time
it goes fires, then straight to destruction.” I’m getting stiff.
The moment is coming. The epic show down with the bad guy, Athol
Silverwillow, was coming soon. How soon?
“No,”
whispers Calamity.
“I’m
afraid Suri is right, Calamity. As we speak the Spiral is being
chipped away. Golem Tower collapsed. The Three Streets are gone. It’s
like the Spiral is trying to destroy itself.”
“But
why?” Calamity asks.
“Because
one is corrupted for power. He tried to control it. The power he
wanted most. But he failed. And now it controls him.”
“What
power?” I ask, afraid of the answer.
“Shadow.”
Suddenly
I feel like I’m breaking apart. My mental, emotional even, block
against the fact that I really was a Shadow Wizard crumbled. Right
then and there.
And
of course since I was in a Place of Nowhere...
And
something just broke...
Calamity
and I were suddenly standing on the edge of the hole from the
earthquake. Nathan and Alric were gone, probably back inside.
“What
did the voice mean, Suri?” asks Calamity. “About that Shadow
power? Is it a school?”
“Yeah,”
I reply hoarsely. “It’s a school. And, it’s my school.”
“You’re
school?”
“My
school.”
“You’re
the Chrons of Storm.”
“And
Shadow.” I take a breath. “I didn’t want anyone to know because
I myself wasn’t sure what kind of power it is.”
“Well,
I guess it’s okay now,” says Calamity with a smile. “I bet you
Alric and Nathan are the other Chrons. That’s four of us now. Is
that enough?”
A
smile plays it’s way into my face. Right. All four of us were found
now. “Come on. Let’s go tell the others.” I lead Calamity up to
the apartment and we enter the door. The first thing I see is Nathan
holding up a sheet of paper. The second thing I see is the pile of
ash in the middle of the floor.
“Hey
guys, guess what?”
----------------------------------------
Stupid blogger.
POST = DONE
Laterz!
~Emma
