Inside 9/11: The Culprits behind the scenes

All of us Americans know what today is. The 10th anniversary since the calamity of the attack on the twin towers on 9/11. The tragic and horrific event played a significant role in our history and made a great impact on those who were affected by it. Even those who were fortunate enough not to have lost anyone because of it were impacted by it, because they had been so shocked and scared because of what had happened. But I'm about to tell you something about 9/11 that not everyone may know about what happened on that fateful day. There was another group behind the attacks of 9/11. I'm not talking about the Islamic Jihadist Terrorists, Saddam Hussein, or even Bin Laden. Can you guess who? I'll give you some hints. Here are some photos of them leaving the scene shortly after the crashes:

Got any guesses as to who or what they could be? Demons. Yup, although you may or may not know it or want to admit it, demons did play a role in this. How? Well what may not be hard to believe is that the terrorists who crashed the planes into the towers and the pentagon were demon-possessed. Don't believe me? Well you don't have to take my word for it, you can see the demonic entites appearing in the smoke. And they didnt appear just once, but multiple times. These are only a few photos of the demonic shapes that appeared. And you may be thinking that these are photoshopped, but I guarantee that if you'll go back and watch the videos, you will see these shapes appear. And I'm sure there are 9/11 videos out there on the web by the millions. Well, I will continue to pray that God will bless those who were impacted and lost loved ones in the attacks of that day and until next time, see you in the Spiral.

                                                                                                            - Timothy Lighttalon

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

                                                                                                   - Mark 12:30



The Necromaniac Chapter 6 "Mythic Marauder" Part 7

"Mythic Marauder" Part 7

I had to know it was coming. That Kiroshiza would finally decide to show up at some point. Now I can find out the whole point of why he had brought me here in the first place. "So you finally decided to show up," I said in response, "So let's get down to it. Why did you drag me here and for what was the point of this whole thing anyway? I know you were behind the attack in the commons and we figured out that it was Nemean Lion that you summoned and brought to Wizard City. Actually, now that I think of it, why do you bother doing these things anyway? Like intruding on Sorceria or waking the Frost Giant on Frostus and now here on Mythania. What do you hope to accomplish by doing all this? What kind of ultimate goal are you trying to reach here? Because all of this seems pointless!"

Kiroshiza then said something I didn't expect, "You're exactly right. It does seem pointless. But that's exactly what I wanted you to think. You know why I am doing all of these menial tasks? The answer is simple. Everything I've done so far has simply served as distractions. I've just been playing games with you this whole time just to keep you busy."

"Distractions? From what? Why were you trying to keep me occupied?"

"The answer to that you may find in due course. That is, if you're going to survive what I am about to use against you." He snapped his fingers and then there was the sound of something large approaching. And walking out and appearing at his side was the Nemean Lion. "I'd love to stick around and see how this turns out, but I have things to do and big events to prepare for that are soon to transpire." He walked around the Nemean Lion, opened up a portal to a familiar place, and disappeared into it. The portal closed up, leaving just me, Sestiva, and the Nemean Lion.

What we needed to do next was clear. Defeat the Nemean Lion and chase after Kiroshiza. The Nemean Lion roared, issuing its challenge to me and Sestiva. "According to the myths, the Nemean Lion was invincible. The only known way of killing this beast is to strangle it to death," I told Sestiva.

"But," Sestiva began saying, "Neither of us is strong enough to strangle something like the Nemean Lion."

She had a point, considering the creature was almost 8 feet tall. "Precisely. But we may be able to summon something with enough strength to do it."

"Like what?"

"You'll see, but first I need you to do me a favor," I pointed over to where the shadow of the Colosseum loomed, "If you can, I need to you lure the creature into the shade over there. If you can do that, then I can summon what we need to take this thing down."

"Okay, just hurry because I can't distract it forever without it trying to kill me." She took off towards the shade and the creature began sprinting after her. It was faster than I had expected. I followed behind the creature. I began speaking the words of power as I began the ritual to summon what I was about to use to accomplish this task.

Sestiva got into the shade and lured it far enough under the shade. Once this had been done, I threw a rock at the beast to redirect its attention. Then it turned around and was immediately thrown to the ground by a strong force. The Nemean Lion began its struggle with the Vampire. Vampires are very strong and if anything was going to be able to strangle this creature, it could only be done by Vampiristic strength. Vampires evaporate when they are in contact with direct sunlight, which is why I had Sestiva move it into the shade. The two forces went back and forth, trying to get the upper hand. In the end, the better strength went to the bloodsucker. It didn't kill the mythical creature, it just wore it out and made it slip into unconciousness.

The Vampire was sent away and we were left to celebrate our moment of triumph. But that moment wouldnt last. We remembered what we had to do and ran to look for the spiral chamber. We found the long cobblestone path and followed it a pretty long distance until we could see the hole where the chamber was dug into the grass. We walked to it and went into the chamber, where we found the spiral door. I dug in my pocket until I pulled out the key to Wizard City. I turned the key in the lock and opened the door and entered Wizard City. We quickly ran back to Ambrose's office to report what had happened (excluding the part about Kiroshiza being a demon). After we finished our meeting with Ambrose, we hurried out to get to earth. I opened a portal and we walked through and entered back on earth. The first 2 things that welcomed me when I walked out the other end of that portal was black clouds that hung in the sky and a sense of extreme panic in the atmosphere...

To be continued.. In the next chapter....



Busy, Busy, Busy

You may notice (for those of you who still actually look at my blog) that I've been posting less and less often. Well ever since school started up at Athens Bible School, I've been worked to death for the past 4 weeks. I've been up to my eyeballs in homework and I've had to stay up late on some nights. I haven't gotten to write much for the Necromaniac either, since my brain's been occupied by homework and school crap. Well hopefully I'll get to be posting more soon. Until next time, see you in the spiral!


                                                                                                              - Timothy Lighttalon


But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
                                                                                                    
                                                                                                 - Luke 6:27-28

The Necromaniac Chapter 6 "Mythic Marauder" Part 6

"Mythic Marauder" Part 6

Now I can see why most didn't survive the challenges in the Colosseum. Because everything in the colosseum was a killing machine. Now the question was if I was gonna be able to outrun a bloodthirsty Orthrus while having a huge weight tied to my back. If I could get to my flag first, the Orthrus probably would no longer be allowed to chase after me. And besides, it will probably not consider going after me first. It will probably choose going after the easy kill first, which my guess would be the Humongofrog, because it's so big and slow. Well that and it's probably got tons of fat and blubber.

I kept on moving as fast as I could, dodging the obstacles and hurdles layed out before me. The Orthrus barreled forward and leaped into the air and - just as I had predicted - attacked the Humongofrog first. The two creatures tumbled forward and began bouncing across the Colosseum, smashing obstacles as the Humongofrog's fat, bouncy, body made each bounce. The struggle drove the humongofrog off course and began bouncing away to another end of the stadium. They even squashed a few of the competitors. They didn't crush Sestiva though, thankfully.

After avoiding the last obstacle, I reached down and yanked my flag, pulling it from the Colosseum ground. A Cyclops soldier had been sent to release the weight off my back. The rope tied around me was cut off and the weight dropped to the ground with a loud thud. The other competitors reached the end of their course and pulled out their flags. Only Me, Sestiva, the Minotaur, and one of the Bloodbats had made it through the course. 2 of the Bloodbats had been killed by the Humongofrog's crushing weight and the Orthrus had eventually killed the Humongofrog. Sadly though, Brutus was also crushed by the Humongofrog. He hadn't seen it coming and was blindsided.

The victims of the challenge were dragged off the field and the competitors left were congratulated. We were given a 10 minute period of rest before the next challenge. Those 10 minutes felt more like 10 seconds. The next challenge was earth-shaking. Literally. Cracks would form in the ground and chase after us, causing fissures to open up. We'd have to keep dodging them until one of the challengers fell in a fissure. Since the bloodbat could fly, it would be way too easy for it so its wings were tied, forcing it to have to walk on its two dangly legs.

And I bet you can guess who the first challenger to fall was. You guessed it, it was the bloodbat. Without their wings, bloodbats can barely even keep balance. It fell on its side clumsily after the first few seconds of running. The crack reached it and the fissure swallowed it up easily. I could almost hear the sound of cracking blood bat bones as the fissure closed on it.

The final challege was a magic duel to the death. The last 3 remaining competitors were me, Sestiva, and the Minotaur. All 3 of us had to fight to the death. Well, actually it was me and Sestiva vs. the Minotaur since me and Sestiva were kind of put together. Thank God I didn't have to kill Sestiva, I could never bring myself to do it or even hurt her. We each got our spells ready and entered the battle circle. Me and Sestiva both had around 3,000 health, but the Minotaur was tough with a whopping 30,000 health. It was definitely gonna be a long battle. And long it was.

We each started by stacking boosts, powering up for a good hit. I used the first attack and summoned Skelly, and he ended up taking off about 4,000 health. Then the Minotaur attacked Sestiva with an Orthrus, which did about 1,500 damage, since Sestiva had only put up 1 tower shield instead of 2. I used a Sacrifice to help Sestiva gain some of her health back. She gained back the rest of it by summoning a Wraith, which ended up being a critical hit and dealt around 5,000 damage. The Minotaur then summoned a Satyr to heal itself but Sestiva had put an infection spell on him which was combined with my Doom and Gloom aura put around the field to reduce his healing spell to naught. After what seemed like hours of battling, I finally dealt the final blow and brought down the Minotaur.

We were crowned the winners and our names were engraved with the list of other names of those who had survived the Colosseum. We were dismissed and we began walking out. "Where do you think you're going?", said Kiroshiza in a cold tone...

To be continued...

The Necromaniac Chapter 6 "Mythic Marauder" Part 5

"Mythic Marauder" Part 5

We spent the rest of the day training and exercising in our cells preparing for the Colosseum competitions. We did manage to make a couple dumbells and weights to lift and me and Sestiva helped each other with some other exercises. Normally I hate exercising but tomorrow I'm gonna be fighting for my life so I might as well be as well-prepared as possible. We were pretty tired by the time night fell and we got to catch some z's.

The next day, the Cyclops guards shouted and woke us all up. All of the cell doors opened and we were lead to a room. I took a look around and saw different myth creatures as our competition. I saw 3 bloodbats in a group dressed like gangsters, a Minotaur with a scar across his face, and a Humongofrog wearing shades. I know, a strange and suspicious group of characters. Can't believe these guys are our competition.

After a small wait, the cyclops guards led us out to the Colosseum. We walked though a tunnel and I began to see light at the end of it. We kept walking until we reached the light and we entered into the Colosseum. The Colosseum looked like a real Roman colossuem. The myth creatures in the crowds were all wearing togas for some reason. And there was a special box in the stands specially reserved for Anguise herself.

We all stepped onto the grassy field. I could see blood stains on the grass from previous events. The crowds started cheering seeing us here. But I don't think they were cheering for us, they were cheering to watch our blood shed. Then Anguise stood out of her chair and raised her arms to quiet down the crowd. Within seconds, the Colosseum went silent.

Anguise began to announce loud enough so that her voice echoed throughout the whole colosseum, "The moment you have been waiting for is finally here! The troublemakers of this land are here and are at the mercy of the Colosseum! Who will survive and who will not? Well now you're about to find out! So let the challenges begin!!!" And the crowd began to cheer. "Bring on the first challenge!"

For the first challenge, Cyclops soldiers began lining us up side by side and layed some obstacles in front of us such as hurdles, rocks, and spikes. They then went and grabbed large mallets from Cyclop hammers and tied it to our backs. I guess this was part of the challenge.

"And now," Anguise began to announce once again, "For the mallet head chase! Let me explain the rules. Each challenger has an isle of obstacles laid out before them. They have to clear these obstacles with the mallet head tied to their back and get the royal blue flag at the end of their isle. The challengers will have a 10 second head start until the chase begins!"

I had no idea who or what would be chasing us but I had a feeling I was about to find out soon and that I wasn't gonna like it. One of the Cyclops guards told us to get ready to start. I got down in a crouched position, ready to start running. The Cyclops guard then blew a horn to give the go signal and the mallet head chase was on.

This was even harder than I thought it would be. Not only is the weight on my back slowing down my speed, but it's also make it harder to jump over the obstacles. I nearly tripped over a rock and almost didn't make it all the way across a patch of spikes. Then the horn was blown to show 10 seconds had passed and that whatever was chasing us was going to be released. There were some gates near where we had started and they blew wide open and coming out of the gates... was an Orthrus....

To be continued...

The Necromaniac Chapter 6 "Mythic Marauder" Part 4

"Mythic Marauder" Part 4

The worst that could've happened at the time had just came true. Kiroshiza was behind this. It's because of him that I went to Mythania. But why would he want me here? What could his nasty little plot for me be this time? I guess I'll figure this all out in due time. I showed the little note to Sestiva and she agreed that kiroshiza was definitely behind the scenes somewhere.

I decided to go to the front of my cell and look around to see if there was anyone else nearby. I looked at the cell across from us and I saw a troll in it sitting in a corner. Perhaps he could help.

"Psst," I whispered to the troll, "You over there. Could you perhaps help? I was wondering if you knew anything about the tests in the Colosseum? Name's Timothy and my friend behind me is Sestiva."

The troll lifted his (or at least I sure hope that he's a he) head and looked toward me. For a moment he observed me and then he started pulling himself up and lumbered over to the front of his cell. ".... Name's Brutus," he began in a bellowing, troll-like voice, "The Colosseum is usually either a sentence for a crime or it is sentenced to foreigners who are trespassing. And just by looking at ya, i can tell you aren't from around here and the second reason is probably your case. I am here because I was wrongly accused. You see, my twin brother is a notorius criminal in Mythania. He is known for usually beating some citizens almost to the point of death and then takes all of what possessions he can carry. He usually carries a spiked club he uses for his beatings. But then a few days ago, he went to go plunder a store and I saw him going in so I decided to run in after him and try to stop him. When I got in there, I saw he had already grabbed the storekeeper and started beating him. I then leaped into action a delivered an attack from behind. He wasn't expecting it and I was able to catch him off guard and knock him away from the storekeeper. We then fought each other for a while. I thought I had him and then he did something I didn't expect. He threw his spiked club at me and I caught it by the handle. But once I had caught it, he then ran out of the store and jumped out an open window. Immediately after he had escaped, the cyclops patrol showed up and seeing the club in my hands, they automatically assumed I was my brother. They arrested me and I was given an unfair trial. I barely had a chance to even defend myself. I was sentenced to the Colosseum and have been in here ever since. Tomorrow is when we all will start competing in the colosseum."

Wow, he's certainly been through a lot. I looked to see that while Brutus had been speaking, Sestiva had gotten up and stood beside me to listen to Brutus. I felt bad for Brutus. I knew the feeling of what it was like to be accused of something you know you didn't do and having people turning against you because of it. "I know how you feel, so I've decided that we'll help you out. We'll team up in the Colosseum and overcome the tests to prove your innocence and to get me and Sestiva out of here", I said. I also explained to him what had happened in Wizard City and why we were here.

"I see," he began, "The Nemean Lion is so rarely seen it has been thought to be just lore now. But it is very powerful too and whoever has been controlling it is even more powerful, if that's possible. The Nemean Lion could probably overpower Queen Anguise herself. That's how dangerous it is. And it's important you get out of here too."

"Agreed. So we'll team up and work our way out of the Colosseum."

We both reached as far as we could through the bars and across the hall and we manage to shake hands...

To be continued...



The Necromaniac Chapter 6 "Mythic Marauder" Part 3

"Mythic Marauder" Part 3

In case you don't know what blacking out feels like, I'll try my best to describe it to you. For one, it's not fun. At first, you think you're dead. But it all started coming back once I regained conciousness. I didn't feel the impact of getting knocked out, I only just saw something about to hit me before I blacked out. Anyways, so when I woke up I began to become aware of my surroundings. I was in a cell. And by cell I mean like a prison cell. I've been captured. I looked around to see Sestiva laying on a bed. I went over and starting shaking her, quietly whispering her name. After a few attempts, I saw her eyes start to flicker open. "...Timothy?", she said faintly.

I heard feet shuffling behind me from outside the cell. Two Cyclopses wearing centurion helmets were standing on the other side of the bars, seeing us awake. "The prisoners have awakened," one of the cyclopses said to the other, "They shall be taken to the Queen."

"The Queen?", I ask, getting a bad feeling about this 'Queen'.

"No questions, just come with us," the other Cyclops guard persisted. They unlocked the cell, opened it and pushed us out and led us down a hall. At the end of the hall, there was a door. The cyclops motioned for me to open the door. I opened the door and we entered what appeared to be a throne room. Sitting on the throne seemed to be a woman, but I found out that she was no woman once she got off her throne. She was a Medusa. But me and Sestiva haven't been turned to stone yet, and we've both already looked into her eyes. But why?

She loomed over us and began speaking, "I am Queen Anguise, and the only reason you two aren't turned to stone right now is because I can control my stone glare. And in case you're wondering, I am the one who knocked you out. It was my serpent tail that made you black out."

That explains it then.

"So tell me, it's obvious that you're not from around here, so who are you and what are you doing in Mythania?"

"I am Timothy Lighttalon and this is my companion, Sestiva Shadowbreeze," I said, introducing myself and gesturing to Sestiva, "Our land was attacked by a creature from Mythania. One of our people was killed during the attack and we've come to seek out the creature. We also believe that someone had brought the creature into our world and then sent it back here through a portal." It was pretty much the whole reason why we are here, so I didn't know how else to put it.

Anguise didn't say anything for a moment, almost as if she was processing what she had just heard. Then she started speaking again, "Well, regardless of why you're here, trespassing is considered an offense in this world. All trespassers must prove their worth in the Colosseum. There, you will be put through trials and you will be pitted against powerful opponents. If you prove your worth and survive in the Colosseum, you will be allowed to stay in Mythania for as long as you need. If you do not survive, however, then your last days will have been spent here. I must warn you that most competitors do not survive in the Colosseum and make it out alive. The trials are gruesome and the opponents are fierce and merciless. Best of luck. I will be watching as will many of the citizens here in Mythania. Now, escort them into the competitors' cells!"

The guards began pushing us out of the throne room and down the hall again. This time, we were lead to another door and a hall with some different set of cells. These cells looked a little more hospitable than the ones we were in before, so that was good. We were lead to the 5th cell on the left and me and Sesitva were pushed into the cell and the door was locked behind us. We walked over to our bed and sat on it. I looked around the room to get used to what it looked like. Then I noticed something on the ground. A folded up piece of paper. I walked over, picked it up, and unfolded it. The paper held these words...

"Welcome to Mythania, Lighttalon.

                               - K.S."

To be continued...



Wysteria Live, Teleporters and Wyvern's Hoard Pack

Well, you've probably already heard about the news! If not, then you're a fail. Anyways, Wysteria went live today!! Along with the new world of Wysteria also came the teleporters, a new housing item that allows you to teleport between your houses!

I don't know about you but I think they're pretty cool. And finally, a new crowns item that wasn't in the test realm but was released to the live realm today is the new Wyvern's Hoard Pack!

These new packs come with an epic new Wyvern mount, which comes in 5 different colors, pets, one of them being the new life ghoul pet, a chance to get the teleporters, and other stuffs! Well I hope all this new stuff will be able to keep us wizards busy till the next world rolls around, which I heard was said to come out in December but I'm not 100%. Anyways, until next time, see you in the spiral!

                                                                                      -Timothy Lighttalon

The Necromaniac Chapter 6 "Mythic Marauder" Part 2

"Mythic Marauder" Part 2

Cyrus Drake looked to see me entering the room. A look of indifference crossed his face seeing me and he looked back down at the book he had in his hand. I knew the only way to get his attention was to confront him directly. "Cyrus, we need to talk", I said, walking up to him. I then pulled out the Mythania spiral key and showed it to Cyrus and his eyes suddenly widened with surprise.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?", he demanded.

"You remember the attack that took place earlier today in the commons? I chased the beast down and he escaped in a portal. The portal closed and I found this key laying on the ground where the portal had just been", I answered.

Cyrus then rushed to his desk and pulled out a drawer under his desk and dug through a mess of things. He then pulled out another Mythania spiral key. "So it appears you didn't steal my key, but just found another. I see. So what is it that brought you to come into my presence?", he asked with a slight hint of impatience in his voice.

"I've come to find out what exactly that beast was that attacked the commons. The fact that the portal left behind a spiral key to Mythania tells me that the portal lead to Mythania, and that the creature itself was probably from Mythania, thus it being a Mythical creature. And since Myths are your area of expertise, I was hoping you would happen to know exactly what it was."

Cyrus took a moment as if to ponder whether or not to cooperate with me again or not. But before he could say anything, the door opened and Merle Ambrose walked in. "Ah, so you are here, young wizard!", he began saying, "I had heard from Dworgyn that you had headed to the Myth school, and I wanted to make sure all was well. But that's not the main reason for me being here. You see, ever since the attack in the commons, there has been much fear among the students, and even some concern among the teachers. The victims of the attack were friends of other students so some students are worrying over the condition of their fellow students. So I want to do my best to help resolve this issue, as well, to help lift the fear that has taken over the students as well as some of the Professors of Ravenwood. If you would be so kind, I would like you to tell me what you've uncovered about the situation yourself, since I had heard that you had gone after the beast before it had disappeared."

I told Ambrose all that I knew that took place in the incident. I told him about when I recovered the spiral key and I described what I could see of the beast, hoping Cyrus would be able to determine what Mythical creature had attacked the commons.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised that you've been able to discover what you have. So now we need to figure out what exactly it was that you saw. Cyrus, would you happen to know about the creature that the young wizard saw?"

Cyrus thought a moment and then went to his desk again and opened another drawer and took out a book. The book had the myth school symbol on the cover and it was titled Creatures of the Myth School. He opened the book and and turned a few pages until he had stopped at a page and put his finger on it. He walked up to us with the book still opened to the page in hand and said, "From what the wizard described about the appearance, from the claws to the massive, powerful body and the tail, this is what I've come to think. The creature that Timothy as well as the other wizards in the commons encountered was the Nemean Lion, a very powerful spell that I haven't taught to any of my students yet. My guess was that this creature wasn't summoned from here, but somehow brought from Mythania to Wizard City and back to Mythania again by someone. My guess was that the person who had opened the portals could have also somehow left the spiral key."

There was only one person who came to mind that I thought could've been behind this, but I haven't told Ambrose or Cyrus about Kiroshiza. The only ones who know about him are Me, Dworgyn, Skelly, and Sestiva. Besides, I doubt that neither Ambrose nor Cyrus would believe me if I told them that a demon was behind this. So I decided to keep that part to myself.

"So I suppose now we know what we have to do," Ambrose began, and then turned to me, "Wizard Timothy, you've been such a great help to the spiral. I hope it doesn't bother you to go out and just one more time and defend the students of Ravenwood. Use the spiral key you have to go out and go to Mythania. There you shall go and find out who was behind the Nemean Lion attack in the commons. Be careful, young wizard, because whoever is behind this is very powerful. Proceed with caution."

Heh, he has no idea how right he is. But nevertheless, I accepted my mission. But I wanted to make a request. "Ambrose, if it's ok, may I take my companion Sestiva with me on my journey to Mythania? Trust me when I say that I will do what I can to keep her out of harm's way and that she is especially trustworthy. She's also not so bad of a spellcaster herself." I could hear Sestiva quietly chuckling behind me. Ambrose looked at Sestiva and then looked at me.

"Well, as long as you stay true to your word, I trust your judgement. Sestiva, you have my permission to accompany Timothy on this quest", Ambrose said.

"Thanks, Headmaster."

"You can begin on your journey tomorrow. You can use the rest of the day as a time to rest and prepare for what lays ahead tomorrow."

I thanked Ambrose again and I even had to thank Cyrus, for helping identify the creature that had ravaged the commons. Afterwards, Sestiva and I left the Myth school and spent the rest of the day together. We hanged out at my house and we got a knock at the door. I opened the door and a member of the Unicorn Squad stood there. He informed me that one of the victims of the attack that was in critical condition had passed away. The name of the deceased wizard was John Winterwhisper, a student of the Ice School. A funeral service was to be held that night at the Ice School, where Professor Greyrose offered to have him buried. Despite the loss though, the other victims of the attack survived. I thanked the Unicorn Squad member for the info and he left. Me and Sestiva had dinner before leaving to attend the funeral. Pretty much all the Professors and students of Ravenwood had gathered for the ceremony. Ambrose gave a short speech about John and then let everyone pay their respects. The first to step forward were some teary-eyed Ice students who each layed a frost flower on their fallen student's grave. Then Professor Greyrose flew toward the grave and carefully layed a large Sapphire on top of the frost flowers. Then there was a moment of silence for the deceased wizard, and then the funeral was over. Me and Sestiva, as well as the rest of Ravenwood Academy had been saddened by the loss of the wizard. But tomorrow, me and Sestiva will be sure to avenge John's death. I told that to Sestiva to encourage her, which it somewhat did. We went to our separate quarters and slept the night away. Then came the next morning.

After we had got up and got ready, me and Sestiva met up to set out on our journey. Normally, we'd ride the Necrocylce to our next destination but I noticed that the Necrocycle is low on fuel. The Necrocycle ran on the energy emitted from Onyx, the gemstone of the Death School. But getting onyx wasn't exactly cheap and the Bazaar was a long walk away. Finally, we decided that we'd just go to Mythania the old fashioned way. We headed to Ravenwood and went into Bartelby's mouth, entering the Spiral Chamber inside him. I hadn't been in the place since I returned from Celestia. We walked up to the spiral door and I took out the Mythania spiral key. I put the key in the slot, turned the key, and opened the door.

I closed the door behind us and looked around the world we stepped into. The spiral chamber was an empty underground room with stone walls and ceiling. At the end of the room was a flight of stairs that had light pouring onto it. We walked to the end of the room and up the stairs and looked as we got our first look at the world of Mythania. The first thing I noticed was the purple sky, which was kind of weird, and was lit by a golden sun. The landscape around us was mainly grass, with some hills and mountains in the distance. Ahead of us laid a Cobblestone path. And a long one, at that, that seemed to go on for miles. We decided the first thing we wanted to do if we were gonna know where to go is to find the village and see if we can get any clues. We began walking forward but then we stopped dead in our tracks. The ground around us began to shake.

The next thing we know we're jumped by Cyclopses. We try to take evasive action but they've already surrounded us. And then, I saw a scaly tail appear in front of me. It was the last thing I saw before everything went black....


To be continued....

The Necromaniac Chapter 6 "Mythic Marauder" Part 1

"Mythic Marauder"

So after our adventure in Frostus, Death drove us back to Nightside on his bus. He couldn't stick around, since he had a bunch of drop-offs to make. So we said our goodbyes and he left. Me and Sestiva had noticed that the snow had stopped falling and was melting away from Nightside, so our plan was truly a success. The rest of Wizard City thawed away as well, except for in Colossus Boulevard, since it's always snowy there anyways. Not much happened over the next few weeks, so me and Sestiva began hanging out outside of classes. We got to know each other well and we got pretty close. I finally got the guts to ask her out and she said yes (Thank God). She admitted that she had already liked me (which rocked me for a couple minutes). It almost seemed as if everything was just going smoothly, not having to do much really and the spiral was safe from danger. I didn't get any calls from the FBI so I assumed that they didn't need me for anything at the moment. For once, I thought everything was going to be normal. Until that one day....

It had been about a month since the adventure in Frostus, and I was taking a walk with Sestiva. We were holding hands and talking casually, just as couples normally do. And then I heard a scream. I whipped my head around to see people running from something. Something huge. I couldn't exactly tell what it was because it was moving so fast. Whatever it was, it seemed to moving on four legs. It knocked over a tree and it sprinted through the pond, splashing water everywhere. It ran out of the lake and cornered around the wizard city library. I told Sestiva that I was gonna go after it, but before she could've said anything I had already let go of her hand and took off after the beast. I rounded around the corner of the library only to see the beast leaping into a portal. It was already halfway through the portal so I could only see a blur of the lower half of its body. Whatever it was, it had a tail. The portal closed after the beast had moved all the way through it. I saw something gleaming on the ground near where the portal had been opened. I ran over to it and picked it up. It was a spiral key.... but to where?

Just a few seconds after I had picked up the key and put it in my pocket, Sestiva came from around the corner, asking if I had gone insane. Of course, I told her I hadn't and I just wanted to try to figure out what was going on. I didn't know much about the key so I decided to take it to Dworgyn to see if he knew anything about it. So Me and Sestiva went to Nightside and asked Dworgyn about the key. "Hmmm....", he said, taking the key and examining it in his hands. "This key has some symbols of the myth school on it, and it is made out of peridot, the gem of the Myth School, so it leaves me reason to believe that this must be the spiral key to Mythania. How you found the spiral key there in the spot of where the portal had closed, I am not sure. But the beast you sighted may have gone to Mythania and the key mysteriously appearing there may have some kind of connection to what's going on, like how the beast somehow appeared in Wizard City and why it appeared there. I think you better take this to Cyrus and see what he knows."

Oh great, the last person in the spiral I would want to see. Next to Kiroshiza and a certain wizard I don't want to mention, that is. The Myth school, for some reason, seems to have the least number of students out of the 7 schools. My theory is the reason for that is because of Cyrus. I've only had a number of encounters with him, but it was plenty enough to know how much of a pain he is. When I was still a new wizard to the spiral, he looked down at me like I was some kind of insignificant bug standing in front of him that he'd rather squash. But after proving my ability to him by saving the Spiral from his brother, Malistaire, he began to finally show some respect for me...... somewhat. But even now, we usually don't talk and we haven't even seen each other since that time I mentioned. So I guess I have no choice. Dworgyn could probably tell I was not at excited at the thought of seeing Cyrus, "I know he's not the friendliest or the most compassionate guy, but it's for the best. Perhaps he won't treat you as bad now that you've shown some potential", he said, reading my mind.

"Alright, I'll go", I said with a sigh. Sestiva could tell that I didn't want to go and wasn't happy about it.

"I'll go with you", she said, grasping my hand.

I looked to her and smiled, "Thanks, Sest. You're the best." She smiled back. She has such a beautiful smile. We said bye to Dworgyn and headed on our way to the Myth school. But first, I dropped by the Life school to get an update on the situation in the commons. Moolinda Wu, who was really nice to me, had gave me the scoop. It had turned out that the beast had mauled about 12 wizards during its rampage through the commons. Eyewitnesses had gave accounts that they couldnt really describe the beast's appearance, because it had been moving so fast. After it had left, the Unicorn Squad (Which was basically a team of highly-trained Theurgists that helped treat wounded wizards and deal with natural disasters) was called in. a few of the wizards only had some scratches (so that tells me the beast had claws) while some other wizards were scratched and bruised and 2 of them had been severely wounded and were in critical condition. Wizards in green uniforms that had a unicorn on the front of the shirt were rushing to deal with the 2 severely hurt victims. Obviously, they were from the Unicorn Squad.

Afterwards, I thanked Professor Wu for the updates and left her while she helped the Unicorn Squad tend to the victims. Then I had arrived in front of the myth school. I hesitated to open the doors, but Sestiva reminded me that she would be there for me. I thanked her again for coming and kissed her. Then I took one last breath and opened the doors to the Myth School...


To be continued....

The Necromaniac Chapter 5 "Frozen Fury" Part 6

"Frozen Fury" Part 6

It happened all so fast. It's like an avalanche coming out of nowhere. We quickly dived out of the way and took cover as giant ice chunks the size of giant boulders barreled past us. Had we not got out in time, we'd be frozen pancakes. Well, except for Death. He's not even really a physical being anyway. Anyways, so after making sure the coast was clear, we continued our way up. By the fact that we were nearly attacked by those ice chunks, I'm pretty sure this is the mountain where the awakened Giant is. If I had to guess, this mountain was about maybe 8,000 feet tall. Not Mount Everest, but still pretty big. As we got higher, the snow came down harder and visibility got lower. It got colder, as well. I hope we wouldn't have to inject ourselves with any kind of energy-boosting serum, cause I don't like needles. Kuve seemed to be doing fine, since he's probably used to conditions like this and he's practically built for this kind of weather.

At about 6,000 feet, I began to hear some faint rumbling ahead. "Oh crap, look!!!", I said, pointing. We could barely see the rushing snow of the oncoming avalanche plowing its way down the mountain right towards us. I had to think fast. Then I finally got an idea. "Quick!", I said, pointing over to a giant rock, "Behind there!!"

We quickly ran over and got behind the giant rock, which was big enough to serve as shelter for all 4 of us, thankfully. The rumbling got louder and louder and then I closed my eyes and covered my body over Sestiva to protect her and the next thing I know, everything goes white. After a few moments of silence, I opened my eyes to see that we were covered in a minimal amount of snow compared to the area around us. We continued moving up, more cautious now of any more coming dangers that may present itself the rest of the way up.

It never came. We got to a cave near the summit of the mountain. "Looks like the Giant is in there", I said.

"Yep. Let's be prepared for the worst", Sestiva said.

We walked into the cave and sure enough, it was the worst. We were standing on the edge of a really high cliff and standing in front of us was, you guessed it, the Frost Giant, awake and majorly PO'ed. The Giant roared out after seeing us and began casting some ice spells. Some Ice beetles and Snow Serpents appeared and came towards us. We took them down easily though. Then he summoned 3 evil snowmen and a couple Ice Wyverns. I was careful to try not to get them mixed up with Kuve. They took longer, but we eventually beat them. I'm guessing the Titan was testing our strength. Then with a wave of its hand, the Giant summoned 4 Colossi. We decided to split up and take on each one individually. I tried using the same tactics on the Colossi I fought before and sure enough, it worked the same and I had taken down my Colossi. Kuve and Death had taken down theirs too, but Sestiva was still fighting against hers. I offered to help her if she needed it but she turned it down, saying that she needed to test her newly acquired fighting skills. I wasn't gonna argue with her, so I just decided to wait a few moments and she got the job done.

The Titan was out of henchman to call forth so now he'd be taking us on himself. The Giant leaned down towards us and blew out an icy cold blast of frost towards us but we were able to dodge in time. I thought about how we were gonna take this big guy down so I quickly took a look at my surroundings for ideas. Then I noticed that there was a path that went to the side of the cliff and went all away around the Giant. "Split up and surround him," I began to say to the others, "It might confuse him momentarily and he won't be able to attack us all at once if we're not grouped together."

We split up and started running around both sides of the Giant. We broke apart and stood in 4 corners around the Giant while the Giant thought about its next target. Then the Giant picked up its hammer and began slinging it around, trying to knock us off our spot. We jumped as the hammer came by each of us. Then while the Giant had it's back to me. I pulled out my scythe and leaped onto the Giant's back and jabbed the blade into its back. It howled in pain and dropped it's hammer and it landed near the entrance. I took out the blade, jumped off it's back, and landed back on the path. "Any one of you guys strong enough to pick up that hammer?", I asked, pointing to the hammer, "If one of you can get it, you can use it to start wailing on the Giant and start doing damage because it's the only way we'll be able to hurt it."

"I can," Death answered, "I be made out of bones, but I'm much stronger than I appear." Death flew over to the hammer and picked it up and slung it his shoulder. He then flew up with the hammer, winded up, and swung with all his might as he klonked the Giant on the side of the head with the hammer. The giant moaned as he teetered a little and began rubbing it's head. 

"Keep going! Hit it a couple times and it'll be too hurt to fight back!", I told him. We needed to get the Giant unable to fight so I can be able to recite the chant to put him back into his slumber. It's a long chant so I have to be able to finish it in order for it to work. Death jumped at the opportunity before him and began hitting the Giant multiple times with the hammer and then stopped as the Giant fell over and hit the ground with a thud, weakened from the damage it had taken. I began reciting the chant, which took about a minute or so to complete. After I completed it, I waited for the results and sure enough, the Giant had been put back into its eternal slumber. Death put down the hammer by the sleeping Giant and we all cheered and gave each other high fives. "Great job, team. Let's go report back to Arubolis", I said.

We walked outside of the cave and we immediately began to see results. The snow was only coming down lightly now and I could actually see the Village from up there. Well, sorta. We decided to have a little fun with the trip back down the mountain and got some sheets of rocks and thanks to Kuve's handy claws and carving skills, we were able to make some snowboards out of thinned rock slates. We started riding them down the mountain and we went down really fast. The trip down the mountain probably only took one-fourth of the amount of time it took to go up the mountain. When we finally got down, we went back to the palace and reported back to Arubolis with the news. He said he had found out from Lady Judgement that the snow had stopped and began melting off of Sorceria. The same thing was probably happening in Wizard City as we spoke. After a few final words, we said our goodbyes with Arubolis and he said that we were welcome to come back to Frostus. We started heading out of the village and back towards Death's bus.

"Well, I guess we'll have to say goodbye too, since I imagine that you're going to be going back to your world", Kuve said with a little sadness in his voice.

"No worries Kuve, we'll come and visit again before you know it" I said, reassuringly.

"Well I can't stay with you and Sestiva much longer either," Death began telling me, "I've got a bus full of stockpiled spirits to take." He pointed over to the bus where there were tons of faces stacked against the windows of the bus. "I've only got enough room to take you and Sestiva to drop you off at Nightside. But after that, I gotta head back and drop off these spirits to their destinations."

"Alright I understand," I said, "Kuve, be sure to take care of yourself." And after we made our goodbyes, me, Sestiva, and Death each got on the bus and headed back to Wizard City...

To be Continued....

Hoo, Hah, Tiki Tiki!

Welcome to Timothy's Tiki Land! For the past 2 weeks, I've been working very hard on creating an island-themed house. I used hundreds of items to decorate but it was worth the effort! Feel free to look at some pictures that I took while walking around my island:

This is the Tiki Forests. Cool, eh?

Altar with cool stuff on it!

What's more fun than having a cookout with a Giant Tiki?

And in case you didn't notice, I also put a Large Willow Tree by the Campfire.

Coconut Milk, Cheese, and Pie, anyone?

 Anyone else spot the obvious Indiana Jones reference?

 Ninja Room!



And that's about all of it. Hope you enjoyed it cause I worked extra hard on it! Until next time, see you in the spiral!

                                                                                                 - Timothy Lighttalon

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."   

                                                                                                    - Matthew 7:24-27

The Necromaniac Chapter 5 "Frozen Fury" Part 5

"Frozen Fury" Part 5

I wake up the next morning. Sestiva's still asleep, she must be a heavy sleeper. Kuve mentioned something about a frozen lake nearby so I go out of the burrow, make a fishing pole, tie a hook to the end of the string I add to my makeshift fishing pole, and dig up some worms. Turns out there's a little bit of dirt underneath all that snow and I was able to find some cold worms. They probably froze to death. I go out to where Kuve said the frozen lake was. I push my foot against the ice to test how well the ice holds, and it seems the ice is thick enough to hold me up. I go to the middle of the lake and cut a hole open in the ice with the blade of my scythe and pull it out to reveal some water beneath the ice. I put the worm on my hook and cast it into the water. In about what seemed like 2 hours, I catch 10 fish. It's a tedious wait but it's worth it. I notice the fish look weird. They're pretty ugly looking and they're a sickly green color. They also have a bit of an underbite. I decide to dub them Gobbler fish because their ugliness and their dorky appearance reminds me of Gobblers.

I take the Gobbler fishes back to the burrow and start a fire to try to cook them. Everyone starts getting up soon afterward, probably woken up by the smell of something cooking. Finally, I deal out the fish to everyone and we start taking bites. They're a bit on the crunchy side, but they were ok other than that. Kuve was wolfing those things down in one gulp. I wonder if Ice Wyverns eat fish. Death just sits back and watches as we eat the fish, since he doesn't have to really eat. After we finish and there's nothing left but Gobbler fish bones, we begin to discuss our audience with Arubolis.

"So how do you plan on getting us to Arubolis?", I ask, turning to Kuve.

"Well, there's no way we're going to get access into his palace with the many guards that stand out front. So I plan on creating a distraction," Kuve answers, "I have a friend who is part of an Evil Snowman cult. We can get enough Snowmen to come out not to do harm, but to create a necessary distraction. They will draw the attention of the palace guards, and when they leave their posts, that's when we go in. Once inside, we find our way to Arubolis's sanctum and request for permission to go to the mountains."

"Sounds like a decent plan."

We head out of the burrow and Kuve leads us out of the village. We go for a few miles until we find a hidden valley out in the snowy plains. In that valley are some igloos where there are some Snowmen there. Kuve takes us down the valley and talks to one of the Snowmen there, apparently named Malin. Kuve explains about the distraction plan to him. Malin nods and gets a group of snowmen, about 12 of them. We head back to the village and wait in hiding behind a small building near the palace. The palace, of course, is entirely made of ice. It's pretty large and consists of towers that are made like tall ice needles. There are 8 Colossi that stand guard at the front of the palace. We then see the group of snowmen charging through town and ravaging through the streets. They raise their daggers as they make the townscreatures scatter. The Colossi notice this and leave their posts to charge after the troublemakers. We wait a few moments to make sure they're gone and then run around the corner and enter through the palace doors. It's pretty nice inside. Hanging on the ceiling are icy chandeleirs that sparkle in the light. The floor is of cobblestone and the walls are, you guessed it, solid ice. We walk through the palace and go through several tunnels that lead to various rooms. We finally get to the end of one tunnel and spot two large, tall double doors. The doors are stone with the ice symbol carved in the middle. We stop in front of the doors and stand there in silence.

"Well, nowhere to go but forward", I finally say. We push open the doors and enter Arubolis's room. The first thing I see when I enter is a large dome of ice in the center of the room. The roof was cut out in this room to let the light pour in, I guess. The floor's covered with snow since it's lightly snowing in the room. Standing in the back of the room, looking at us is Arubolis. He flies over to us and lands just a few feet in front of us as his hooves from the pegasus half of his body crunches the snow. At first, he just looks at us until he finally says in a cold, ghastly voice, "Who are you?"

I don't think he has a mouth, or even a face for that matter since you can't see anything into his hood but darkness so I guess he is speaking to us telepathically. I introduce myself and the others. I wonder if he already knows Kuve, since he lives in this world. "We are here on a quest, and I ask if you would permit us to go to the mountains outside of this village."

He doesn't say anything at first but then he finally answers coldly, "I'm afraid I cannot allow you to go. The Ice Titans are resting in those very mountains and any one of them being awakened would cause great calamity. It is for this reason that I forbid you from going there."

"But it is because one of the Titans has awakened that we are going back!", I shot back, "Please! A great blizzard has swept across the spiral and if we don't return it to it's slumber, the spiral will be one giant block of ice!"

"And I don't suppose you have any proof of this?", Arubolis says.

Before I can answer, some of the snow around the dome of ice floats into the air and begins to swirl around the dome of ice, picking up speed as it circles around it. The icy dome begins to glow with a bright light and the light intensifies for a moment and then fades away as an image appears on the dome and the snow falls back to the ground. But it's not just any image, but a face, and a familiar face at that. We walk over to find Lady Judgement's face looking at me and Arubolis.

"Greetings, Arubolis! I know it has been a long time but circumstances have gotten severe!", she began, "Word has reached that Timothy was heading to Frostus. A massive blizzard has raged here in Sorceria and the deserts and village are engulfed in snow! The folk here are not used to such conditions and are freezing over, including me! I'm guessing that the source of this ice and snow is coming from Frostus, and I bet that's what Timothy figured out. I want to let you know that you should put your trust in him, and he won't let you down!"

After those last few words, Lady Judgement's face disappeared off the dome. After a few moments of silence I finally say to Arubolis, "You know Lady Judgement?"

Arubolis turned to me and answered, "Yes, we had known each other for years and we were well acquainted. We talked to each other a lot, until we both came to power. We haven't spoken much since. But regardless, I trust her judgement." He sighed before going on, "And I suppose that includes letting you go to the mountains. But if you are to put the Ice titan back into it's slumber, you will have to recite the ancient incantation. The Great Raven gave it to me after she had put them to sleep, in the event of one of them ever waking up." Arubolis began teaching us the incantation, and we listened closely because the incantation was a bit long. After reciting it a few times, we had it down pat. "Of course, you have to recite the incantation in front of the awakened Giant, so it will not work until you have reached that location. So now I give you my permission to go out to the mountains."

I looked back to the others to see that their faces light up as well as mine after hearing the news. Arubolis lead us out and behind the palace and to a set of gates there. There stood 2 Colossus guards and he told them to open up the gates for us. The gates opened and we thanked Arubolis as we walked through. It was quite the walk, as the falling snow intensified as we got closer to the mountains. We finally got to the foot of one of the mountains and began walking up it when the ground began to quake and I looked up to see large chunks of ice falling down the hill, heading straight for us....

To be continued...

House-a-Palooza and other updates



House-a-Palooza is here! Starting tomorrow and ending on August 23, housing items in the crowns shop will be 50% off! There will also be 50 new housing items added to the crowns shop as well as contests from Wizard101 fansites!

In other news, if you look up you'll notice 2 new pages have been added! And there has also been a new special face added to the Hall of Awesome. Well, that's all from me and until next time, see you in the Spiral!

                                                                                                                  - Timothy Lighttalon

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones 

                                                                                         - Proverbs 3:7-8

Greetings from Destin, Florida!

Hey guys! Just posting to let ya know I'm on vacation at the beach! I'll be gone till Thursday and sadly since there's no blogger iPhone app, I won't be doing any blogging till I get back :/ so until next time, see you in the spiral!

-Timothy Lighttalon

The Necromaniac Chapter 5 "Frozen Fury" Part 4

"Frozen Fury" Part 4

We were on our way. The journey to the village seemed to take about half an hour. When we were getting close to the village, the snow seemed to part and make way for a cobblestone path. At that point, Kuve stopped to let us step off and we continued on foot from there. After a minute or so, we came up to a tall, icy gate. The ice school symbol was at the center where the two gate doors were divided. Two Colossus guards stood at the entrance, blocking the way ahead of us. But after Kuve had identified himself to the guards and convinced them we were with him, we gained access as the gates slowly creaked open. At the village, it was only snowing lightly, unlike in the far-off plains, where the snow was falling as a heavy blizzard.

As we walked, or in Kuve's case, slithered, through the gates, I looked around to get a good look of the village. The buildings on the sides of the cobblestone streets were usually either made of ice or some kind of dark-colored stone. They couldn't be obsidian because that'd be a bit unusual for a world like Frostus. It also just made me realize then that I hadn't even looked up to see what the skies of Frostus were like. I had to be careful not to lean too far back because Kuve had mentioned that the cobblestone streets were a bit slippery from ice. Good thing he mentioned it too. I carefully look up at the sky and see nothing but clouds. Not dark clouds, but rather light grey clouds that always seem to rain down snow. I figured there must have been some kind of sun somewhere behind those clouds. Kuve continues to lead us through the village and he stops and walks up to an Evil Snowman running a stand. Kuve takes a look back at us and then turns back to the Snowman and he tells him something. The Evil snowman nods and crouches down and pulls out two pairs of what appear to be winter shoes. Kuve hands him some silver coins and recieves the shoes. He slithers over to me and Sestiva. "Here," he says, handing us the shoes, "Put these on, they will provide extra traction against the cobblestone and make it less easier to slip on the ice."

Me and Sestiva each take off the shoes we're wearing and put on the winter shoes. They're made of soft, brown leather and you button them up when you put them on your feet. I put away mine's and Sestiva's other pair and try walking around in them and sure enough, they work perfectly. I'm about to ask Kuve why he didn't give Death a pair but then I look over to Death and see that he levitating on dark cloud that seems to eminate from the bottom of his robe. I won't even ask if Death has any feet. I guess he could use some if he wanted to. We continue on our tour through the village.

We come to the center of the village square when I notice a large, frozen fountain that has a Snow Angel statue at the top. "The statue looks great", I say, walking up to it to get a good look at it.

"Yeah, that's a statue of King Arubolis, the Snow Angel that rules the village of Frostus," Kuve began, "He came into power after the Frost Giants that once ruled this world were put to sleep. They were encased in ice and are in the icy mountain ranges beyond the village, but the area is restricted and access to it can only be gained by permission from Arubolis himself."

I then explain to Kuve that a blizzard has broken out across the spiral and that we need to get into the mountains as soon as possible.

"Well, I don't know. Getting an audience with Arubolis isn't exactly easy. And plus even getting access to the mountains will be even harder. I hope you're able to somehow convince him to let you go there."

"Don't worry," I try to assure him, "I'm sure I'll find a way to get him to let us have access to the mountains." I look up at the sky and notice that it's getting darker. "Although it is getting late in the day. I suggest we make an appearance before Arubolis tomorrow. In the mean time, I hope it's not too much to ask if we could stay somewhere for the night."

"Oh, not at all! I'll take you to my burrow and you can get rested up until then!", he says, beaming. He leads us to a part on the outskirts of the village and we find what seems to be an empty spot between 2 houses. But when we get closer, there's actually a hole there dug beneath the snow that leads down into a tunnel. We walk down into it and discover what appears to be an underground cavern. The place is lit by many small candles. We're lead into what looks like a guest bedroom. There are some cushions on the floor in the corner of the room with a large blanket on top of each. It may not seem like much, but I didn't complain. Kuve tells us we're free to chill (heheh, this chapter is just full of puns) here while he go gets some things to fix up for dinner. We hang out a while and start a small campfire to warm up around. I wrap my arm around Sestiva for warmth and offer her my hand, and she entwines her hand in mine. Kuve comes back with dinner, where we are given some ice water to drink along with some frost mint salad and Shanta Pudding. I find it ironic we're being served a pet snack for dinner but I don't mention it. After our bellies are filled, me and Sestiva head to bed as Kuve and Death offer to take the first night watch. Before I dose off into dreamland, a few thoughts cross my mind. I think about some of the events that led up to now. I thought about Sestiva, who was sleeping in the cushion next to mine. She's been threatened with harm twice. Once in Sorceria, when she could've been lethally injected by a Scorpion and a second time when she was being carried away by some Colossi back in the icy tundras. I decide that I can't afford to lose her. I'd be totally devastated, almost as if I'm losing a part of me. I finally decide that in the morning, I'm gonna teach her everything I know about how to fight.

I wake up the next morning to see that Sestiva's still asleep. Good, she'll need the rest more than me. I go over to the living room to find that Kuve and Death are also up. I greet them as I walk up to meet them. I explain to them that I want to teach Sestiva how to fight, but I would need their help. I explained to them what I had in mind. We went out of the burrow for a bit to set up some obstacles such as large blocks of snow, snowmen, and we even set up piles of snow. When we get back into Kuve's burrow, we're just in time to see that Sestiva is just getting up.

"Morning, guys", she says while wiping her eyes.

"Morning Sest, I need to talk to you," I begin. Sestiva looks at me with a willingness to listen to what I'm about to say. "You see, you've been put in danger twice in the last few days with no way to defend yourself. You've come away with lucky escapes both times and next time you may not be so lucky. Sestiva, I love you and I care deeply for you and more importantly, I don't want to lose you. So today, I'm going to teach you everything I know how to fight." I wait for a reaction for a few moments. Is she going to be mad? Will she be offended or upset thinking that I view her as weak and defenseless?

Instead, she gives me a different reaction. She leaps forward and throws her arms around me and gives me a kiss. "That's really sweet of you, Timothy," she begins, "And I'm glad you're doing this because to be honest, I don't do a whole lot most of the time but keep company. Whenever there's danger, you're always there to spring into action and confront whatever threatens us. So I'd be more than happy to learn from the one who protects me."

"Then I'd more than happy to teach you", I say, smiling. Sestiva smiles too. I give her a kiss and whisper in her ear, "And by the way, you're already great company."

Soon afterwards, we're outside the burrow. I start off by teaching Sestiva some of the basic self defense techniques I learned from training with the FBI. I also teach her a few moves I've picked up over the years. We then work on some evasive maneuvers. Me, Kuve, and Death launch one snowball at a time at Sestiva as she starts to dodge one after one. More snowballs are gradually thrown at a time as she is challenged to do a bit more dodging. She gets hit a couple times at first but I give her some encouragement to keep on trying. The encouragement seems to help as she dodges more of them with better precision. After that, we go on to endurance. Kuve sets up some large blocks of snow in a straight line and puts a blue flag at the end. The key is to try to burst through the snow as fast as you can and to be able to stay on your feet while you do so to get to the flag. After a few drills, we take a small break. It's about noon, so we've been training for about 3-4 hours. Last, we work on hand-to-hand combat. I teach a lot combat moves to Sestiva and have her practice them on some of the snowmen. Afterwards, it's time for a final test. She has to take on me. I have Sestiva wear some padding and a helmet so that she won't get hurt, but I don't wear any protection. "What if you get hurt?", she asks, worried.

"That's alright, I can take a couple hits. Just promise me you'll give it all you got.", I reply. She nods and we walk up to meet, ready for combat. We raise our fists, ready to put up our dukes. Before she can make a move, I start off with a few light punches. The first couple land hits but she manages to block off the rest. I look to see if I've hurt her yet but the padding is working well, keeping her unharmed. She tries to deliver a roundhouse kick to my gut but I catch her foot and tip her back, trying to throw her off balance, but she quickly recovers. She comes up and starts delivering a round of punches, which I easily block. She keeps delivering more and more but I continue to block them. She delays only for just a split moment after having the roll of punches provide her a distraction and throws out a kick. It was intended to hit my side but he leg lifts up a bit higher and her foots slams into my head, knocking me off my feet as I slam into the ground. She shrieks as she realizes what she's done. She quickly holds me up with her arms. Kuve and Death rush to her side to attend to me. I'm a bit dazed with a bloody nose and a black eye, but other than that I'm ok. I open my eyes to see a concerned Kuve and Death looking at me with worry and a teary eyed Sestiva holding me. After a few moments I say, "Dang, Sest. You sure know how to pack a punch. Don't worry though, I've taken worser beatings. But you've passed." I smile as I see her face light up as we all gather into one big embrace. We each congratulate Sestiva and we go back to the burrow, with Sestiva helping me along the way because I kept wobbling and teetering when I tried to walk on my own. I sit down in the cavern as a cloth and a pack of ice are used to treat my bloody nose and black eye. Sestiva keeps looking at me with concern, almost in unbelief that she was the one who caused it but I keep assuring her that it's okay. We decide to hold off our visit to see Arubolis till tomorrow since we're all worn out from training. Sestiva offers to sleep with me that night, hoping it will make me feel better and I don't object. We fall asleep in each other's arms that night. I fall asleep almost immediately, since she's so warm. I'm gonna need the rest, cause tomorrow I'll be face to face with Arubolis and if he forbids me going to the mountains, my mission will have already failed...


To be continued....