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| It was a dark and stormy night. Well, actually it was only drizzling and it really hadn't reached the twilight hours of the evening yet, but for the sake of dramatics and unneeded descriptions we shall continue to think of it in the original context.
In Krokotopia all was quiet except for the occasional pitter-patter of feet as the Manders scurried about their business in the quickest manner possible, longing for their comfy and dry homes. It was just another night for me, guarding against the Kroks in the chill of the night. This particularly miserable night didn't improve my temper much. I had been sent back to the Commons after being defeated by some miscreants in the Temple of Storms, and I was rather surly as I took my post. Little did I know that it was going to be this night that etched my name on the tablet of history and catapulted me into fame everywhere.
I had taken shelter in the doorway of the library, trying to stay away from the drops of rain that dripped from the abysmally gray sky. Those buggers always seemed to find the tiniest little crevice to slip into and ended up sliding gleefully down your back, soaking you through the skin even in the lightest of drizzles.
Looking up, I caught a slither of motion from the ferry to the Krokosphinx. It looked like someone was disembarking, and taking great pains not to be seen. They slipped from tree to tree, box to box, and made their way over to the portal to the Tomb of Storms.
By this time my curiosity had been aroused, and I slipped silently after them, carefully avoiding any noise that would alert this nightime marauder to my presence. I watched as my quarry stopped at the portal, obviously unable to get through. I smiled and thought, now is my chance.
I slipped up behind them and easily slid in between the figure and the portal. "Hello, there," I said cheerily. "Dreadful night, isn't it?"
The cloaked face was hidden in the shadow of the deepening night, but when a voice issued from it, it was a male voice, and it sounded surprised.. "Erm...Eh... Yes, that it is. Now why would you be out here alone on a night like this?"
"I'm not alone, dear sir. I have you, most excellent of all company," I responded, side-stepping the question rather nicely, if I do say so myself.
"Ah, I see. Well I wouldn't wish to detain you here, so I'll just be going, then."
The stranger turned on his heel and started to walk quickly away. But I had been anticipating this and my hand shot out and grabbed his elbow before he'd taken so much as a step.
"I think it would be a better idea if we just took a stroll down to see Professor Ambrose before you leave."
I hauled the man along behind me, saying as we went, "I feel it fair to warn you I am a master necromancer, so any attempt to escape on your part would be imprudent to say the least." It was a complete lie, of course. I was an adept necromancer in all reality, but a little exaggeration never hurt anyone.
As a chuckle sounded from inside the hood, I yanked him to a stop in the courtyard of Professor Amrbose's tower where we had arrived with all haste. "Now let's see who exactly you are," I said. I yanked back his hood, revealing two close-set black eyes, and I shivered. It was Malistaire. But then I smiled.
"You're caught now," I said in a triumphant voice. It made me furious to see his malicious eyes. He had no idea the trouble he had caused. I had been to the worlds and seen it. I had experienced what his hands had wrought, and run along behind him fixing it. But I had finally caught up, and now he was brought to justice through my hand. It seemed oddly right.
That night I ended all of Malistaire's evil doings over the whole Spiral. He wouldn't cause anymore troubles, and I had the whole student body of the school to help me put to rights what Malistaire had so evilly put to wrongs.
And this was how the name of Monica Mythstalker came to be well known throughout the Spiral, though the other students don't know about me because I like to keep it hushed up. The knowledge that Malistaire would no longer tear worlds apart was enough reward for me.
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