Shadow Rising -- chapter four

Well.... Happy birthday to me :)

Secondly, 50 FOLLOWS!! WOO HOO!! LOVE YOU ALLLL! :D :D
Which also means that all who have submitted work for the contest get a 7% bonus.... but since not many people (*cough* one :p *cough*), so I might cancel it..... :( As in the whole thing.

And..... BECAUSE I'M IN A GOOD MOOD, I'll give the next - though unedited - chapter of Shadow Rising :)
Note: this chapter is all like "let's explain everything." So, how it starts is not being spoken, but then it's explained to Suri and so on :) Also, oh right, I forget, this is the super long chapter that I'm probably going to split into two different chapters. For now the whole thing will be posted, but when I post the edited thing it'll probably be split.

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Chapter Four – olden

Once upon a time there was a young Diviner named Amelia Dustheart. She excelled in Storm classes and had friends among many. She could foresee far into the future, but was picky with choosing which destiny she should foretell, knowing the rules of doing so.

One day she saw a child, a young girl like herself, sitting on a tall throne overlooking a beautiful stone city, a flaming crown on her head.

“I see a Necromancer, Suriyah Drakehammer, in the future. She is the Princess of Dragonspyre. A flaming crown adorns her head, a field of green in every home. She will be able to touch things without physically doing so, lifting it up, using her mind as more than a thinking and processing tool. The city prospers under her rule. But first she must save it, save it from destruction of the one who does not wish her to fulfill her destiny.”

At the time, Dragonspyre had not been discovered. By the time it finally was people had long forgotten the prophecy.

Many years later a young Necromancer by the name of Malistaire Drake came across a young women in Mooshu by the name of Sylvia Lighthammer, a Theurgist. Their first meeting was brief, barely the time of a duel, but each left with a fleeting feeling on their backs.

They met frequently afterwards, questing together despite the rumors about a Death wizard befriending a Life wizard. At the time, differences between schools were stressed, and unreasonable grudges erupted between wizards randomly. Headmaster Ambrose could barely keep Ravenwood in line.

What Malistaire didn’t know was that his brother, Cyrus, a Conjurer, was also friends with Sylvia. They had been friends for a long time, and Cyrus thought they were destined to be together. That is, until the day came when Malistaire and Sylvia’s engagement went public.

Riots suddenly raged the streets of Wizard City. A person from the Life School and the Death School getting married? Impossible, blasphemy, not functional, against the law.

But there was nothing against the law, and the marriage went through. Cyrus was sad at first, and angry, but he was happy that Sylvia was happy, and that was enough. Malistaire and Sylvia became the professors of Life and Death soon after. Ambrose appointed them these positions in hope that school grudges would be diminished.

After, Cyrus went to Ambrose, begging and pleading to be the Myth professor, just so he could be close to Sylvia. Ambrose took pity on him, and gave him the position.

At first the students bombarded the new teachers with questions as to why the two had married, but as soon as they saw that they were happy, the questions stopped, and Ambrose’s dreams came true.

Soon Sylvia had a child, a baby girl whom they named Suriyah. Suriyah grew up with discrimination at first, but soon grew used to it, and it stopped. With black hair and pale skin like her father, and deep blue eyes like her mother, she chose the School of Death, and became Suriyah Drakehammer.

On Suriyah’s first day of school something stirred deep below the surface of Dragonspyre, and in the fiery magma chamber at the heart of the mountain there awoke the dragon Titan. Sleepy and weak, he crawled out and found a city had been built atop his land. Enraged, he tried to attack, but found many people with magic similar to his that could stop him.

A year later, he reemerged in the form of an old lady.

Stopping a wizard on the streets, he said, “Dear child, I have just recovered from a terrible illness, and the world has changed. Can you tell me what happened?”

The boy shrugged, not sure what she meant. “You can always go to the library ma’am. Lots of information there.”

Taking the answer to heart, Titan went to the library, all the while seething with anger at the sight of life. Trees were growing in stone gardens, flowers bloomed on windowsills, water flowed off the mountain in glistening aqueducts.

In the library Titan found the book about Suriyah Drakehammer. Reading about the prophecy, he began to plan. Yes, he could not stop a destiny, fate would get in the way, but he could utilize the loophole.

A couple days later Malistaire was in Dragonspyre on a business trip for Dragonspyre Academy. Suriyah had come along, but she was staying with family in the Grand Chasm.

The dragon kidnapped Malistaire.

For days he was missing. At the end of the week he reappeared, dirty and starving and sick. He was scared, and would not tell anyone where he had been.

He had been in a freezing cold cave with Titan. “I need you to do something for me,” Titan had said. “I wish to remain here.”

“You’re supposed to be dead,” said Malistaire in wonder.

“Yes, but I was merely asleep, and I awoke to this.” The dragon hissed angrily. “A city atop my land. I do not like it. And this Suriyah girl who is going to rule over it.”

“Suriyah?”

“Ah, you know her? Your daughter I believe, am I right? Yes, I do not want her to be here.”

“She is supposed to rule?”

“Yes, it is her destiny, foretold by Amelia Dustheart. But do you know what will happen when she fulfills it?”

“What?”

“She will never see you again. She will be constantly behind walls.”

“I’m sure she would want–”

“I see how the royals go. Spoiled, sanctimonious, and easily killed. If you know what is good for your beloved daughter, you will not allow her to fulfill her destiny.”

“What would you have me do?”

“You will follow the loophole.”

As the dragon explained what he had to do, Malistaire exclaimed, “No! I cannot do that! Not to Suriyah.”

“Ah, so you’d rather never see her again?” Titan laughed. “This way, she shall forgive you.”

Malistaire returned, hopeless. He had to tell Ambrose. Upon relaying the information to Ambrose and his wife, Merle said, “This cannot happen! To think that Titan has been alive all this time!”

An army marched to Dragonspyre, but found no trace of the dragon.

Sylvia meanwhile secretly told ten-year-old Suriyah about it. “A princess mommy? I want to be a princess!”

Sylvia laughed. “You are a princess, but someone does not want you to be. He will not win.”

“Who?”

“A big, mean dragon named Titan. He lives under Dragonspyre.”

“Dragonspyre is beautiful! I love it there. It’s proof that life can live in death.”

Sylvia laughed. “Yes, it’s proof that life can bloom in the darkest places of the world. The dragon wants to take it away.”

Suriyah frowned. “No.”

“And no he shall not.” After a moment Sylvia asked, “So what do you think about your special gift?”

The bowl beside them lifted and hovered in the air. “It’s cool.”

“Yes, it is. There’s just one thing I need you to promise me.”

“Anything mommy!”

“You will never use it on another person.”

Three years passed, and Malistaire didn’t do anything. The dragon grew restless. Again, he took the form of an old lady and traveled to Wizard City in the evening. Titan saw the Drake family enjoying a happy dinner, Malistaire having done nothing.

Fully enraged, he took the form of a swarm of hornets, slightly larger than the normal kind with a poisonous stinger. He entered the home, and havoc was wrecked.

The account of what happened was sketchy. Neighbors told different stories of what they saw, Suriyah was too confused to talk, Malistaire would not talk, and Sylvia could not talk. One stinger had pierced her neck, and she fell deathly ill.

Malistaire had to tell someone.

“You idiot!” Cyrus exclaimed. “You let this happen!”

“I could not let my daughter go.”

“So you let Sylvia go instead.”

Malistaire was stunned. “How dare you. How would I know what Titan would do?!”

He went back to Titan. “Heal her,” he demanded.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Heal Sylvia.”

The dragon laughed. “For someone who could not go through with my plan, you are very demanding. Very well, I will heal her, but only if you follow the loophole.”

Malistaire, for the first time in his life, cried. “What must I do?”

“Scare her. Scare her out of her destiny. Then she will never want this.”

“And how do I do that?”

Titan grinned. “Show her city while I destroy it. My strength has been regained, I can ruin this entire world.”

Malistaire was horrified. “And if I don't?”

“Then your wife dies, and Wizard City burns first.”

He had no choice.

Giving Suriyah a drug of hallucinations, to exaggerate what she would see, he brought her to Dragonspyre. As she was carried in his arms, unable to move, he whispered, “Be still my child, it is almost done, and you shall be their princess. Wouldn’t you like that? I know you would. All these people shall do your bidding. Our bidding, it was your destiny. Now you must fulfill it. Yes, I am helping you, and you shall thank me. This was your destiny.”

Suriyah was terrified. Her mother sick and dying, and her father telling her she would rule fire and chaos. Since she knew all about her ‘destiny,’ she knew she didn’t want this.

After Malistaire tried to run away to Marylebone, but was stopped.

“Malistaire, what have you done?” exclaimed Ambrose.

“Only what had to be done to save my wife!”

“The Legend Monsters are raging throughout the worlds. Dragonspyre is burning. Malistaire, Sylvia died not an hour ago. What is your cause?”

Out of the shadows stepped a Marlybonian and a Chimney Sweeper. They attacked him, and Suriyah was brought struggling over to them.

“No! Let me go!” she was yelling, and then she was running, and soon lost in the darkness.

Suriyah was running scared, not sure what she should do. To Wizard City, yes, that was where she had to go, back to her mother.

Once there, it wasn’t much better. She saw the Legend Monsters everywhere, attacking. And there, a great, billowing black smoke. Something inside her seemed to awaken, and the monster was flying with nothing touching it. Scared about the unknown power, the Nightmare fled.

Next came Cyclone, controlled by Victor Thunderthorn. Behind him stood a frightened young Blaze. Victor was trying to destroy everything. He had also been roped into helping the dragon.

And then the water was rising; he was rising, and then falling. Cyclone, free of his prison, followed the Nightmare back into hiding. Victor was gone, Blaze stood staring.

“Suriyah?”

She pointed to the library. “Mommy said it was all explained. I have my own book.” She shuddered. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Your mommy died.”

Suriyah nodded. “Father died too.”

And she left, back to Marylebone. Her father was gone, Ambrose was gone, and all who was left was Howard Angleton and Croaky.

“I’m afraid,” she said.

And for three years Suriyah hid under that fear, cloaking it in darkness, hiding from the world that had destroyed her life. The last place she wanted to go was Dragonspyre; the last people she wanted mentioned were her family. The event died down and soon Suriyah could emerge and fight in Marylebone, never leaving the world.

She took the name Suri Nightriver, and all that was left was to forget her past.

By
Emma Dawnrider