| | | | It was pretty much quiet when we were walking towards the keyholder guard's room. After hearing Kevin's death, no one dared to talk. I finally saw the door to the keyholder's office but two menacing minotaurs were guarding it. I turned back to the two Brians and said, "The entrance is guarded. We'll have to try to find some way to drag the guards somewhere else." "Why can't we just get the jump on them?" asked Brian ThunderCaster. I replied, "We don't want to attract anymore attention now that Kevin died. Malistaire would try to track us down." Brian GoldenHeart nodded but Brian T. still looked unsure. "Any ideas?" I asked, whispering as low as I could. We all thought for a moment until Brian G.'s face lit up. "We could summon some type of creature down that hall," he said, pointing towards the right, "and let it make some noise. The minotaurs would probably go in that direction and we could sneak in!" I was about to say something when Brian T. cut me off. I let him say what he wanted to say, I didn't like being the main hero anyway. "That's a great idea! But we should summon something a bit small so that the guards would have a hard time following it." We finally decided to let Brian G. cast a fire elf. He was a Magus in Life but his second class was fire. After a spark of light, a fire elf was running around in the right hall, whistling and jumping all about, laughing its head off. We looked from the corner of the wall and saw the two minotaurs snort, their nose rings jumbling, and started to march heavily towards the hall, swinging their half ice-half fire axe. "Get in now!" I ordered. We slipped through the door.
The two draconians walked towards Malistaire's office slowly as possible. They were scared to tell the evil lord that the prisoner had escaped (Kevin) and was no where to be found. One of the draconians, Kiatch (KEE-ACH), hissed to his companion, "What do we do? Malisstaire would be enraged!" "He isss bound to find out sssoon enough, tell him anyway." said Kidian (KIDD-IAN). "Me? You tell him you ssslobery gob!" told Kiatch. "Fine, I will, but only becaussse I'm the braver one than you!" huffed Kidian. They knocked nervously onto Malistaire's door. A voice boomed, "ENTER!" The two draconians looked at each other as a wraith minion opened the door for them. They stepped inside. Malistaire was seated at his ornate death desk, talking to the General of his undead army. "Keep your men on a look out for those wizards, no one shall come in, or out! If they do, I'll have you stripped from your ranks, understand me?" ordered Malistaire to the agitated Minotaur Warlord. "As you wish, your majesty." replied General Onik (O-NIK). Kiatch and Kidian noticed that in the minotaur's voice left a cold sound, as the warlord said "your majesty". He left and Malistaire said, "Did the feeble wizard die? Where is his head I demanded!" The two draconians trembled at the lord's voice. "Err, th-the wizard sssom-ssssomehow essscaped the tr-trap yo-your high lor-lordnessss." hissed Kidian, stuttering. "WHAT?!" shouted Malistaire, his voice echoing the long corridors outside. He whammed a book on his deck that flung to a wall. The two draconians were shivering uncontrollibly until Malistaire stood up. His eyes turned a dark red. But they soon softened, he sat back down, and said in a dangerous voice, "Get Keira here you too. I will have another errand for you to do afterwards. Fail this, and I'll have your heads instead!" The two draconians immediatly nodded, bowed down, then scurried off hurrily to Keira's room. "That wass creepy!" remarked Kiatch. "Better than having our headssss chopped off." muttered Kidian.
"Ow!" I cried, bumping into Brian T. It was way too dark in the general's room to see anything. "Shut up Dustin! And watch where your going!" he retorted angrily at me. I shouldn't have replied back to him but you know how us Death wizards are, gloomy and grumpy, so lets just say that my anger got the better of me. "How about you move your bum before I kick it for you!" I replied darkly. "Why I outta-" "Guys! How about we try finding that key instead?" whispered Brian G., cutting Brian T. off. "Look who's talking." he muttered but continued on quietly. My mind sizzled with anger. How could he lash out at me like that already? He knows just as much how dark it is in here! I thought angrily. I decided to just let it go but I still felt wary of him. I then suddenly got a great idea. "Hey Brian!" I whispered, tapping Brian G.'s shoulder. He looked towards me and asked, "What is it?" "Since your second class is fire, why don't you spark us up some light?" Even though it was still darker than ever, I could feel Brian G.'s face lit up. "Thats a great idea Dustin! Let me try it out first." As Brian G. paused, trying to trace the fire symbol and whisper the spell words together, Brian T. must have heard us. When Brian G. finished, showing us his burning finger (although fire never hurts fire students, second or third class too) Brian T. managed to say, "I could have thought of that!" He sounded disgusted. My mind continued to burn until I couldn't keep it in any longer. "Hey! Just because your a grandmaster doesn't mean your any better than us!" I was huffing with anger. My heart was beating furiously. "Well too bad! I AM better than you! In fact, I would kick your butt if I could!" Brian T. yelled as the sizzling words left his tongue. His voice echoed through the room. We heard a laugh. "Uh oh.." I said. The light turned on. Sitting on the opposite side of the room was a cyclops, followed by two dazed-looking trolls. "You three is funny! Just like an movie!" snickered the cyclops. He really needs to work on his grammar! I thought. Brian T. spoke up, "Who are you?" The cyclops turned to gaze upon Brian T. "I is the keyholder gaurd on all jail room!" the cyclops boomed. I started to say something but cyclops cut me off. "My name are Selvin." Suddenly, Brian T. burst out laughing crazily. "SELVIN??? THAT NAME SOUNDS SOOO GIRLY! HAHAHA!" Selvin the cyclops stood up. It was obvious he was angry. I just shook my head. "No one makes fun of meh!" he cried out. He soon had us wound up into the arena circle. I was surprised at his health. It was only 635! Although the minion trolls were probably on steroids or something because their health was over 2,000! "Errm." I said, turning towards Brian T. He just ignored me. "This'll be easy." said Brian G.
Sure enough, Brian G. was right. We had finished the battle, having no problems defeating Selvin at all. Although I must admit that the two steroid buffish troll minions took some time. After the battle, I snatched up the bronze key from Selvin's table. We ran out the entryway, lucky that the fire elf Brian G. had casted earlier was still occupying the two minotaur gaurds away. We sprinted towards where Kemnor the draconian and Aila were waiting inside a cell. Brian T. kicked open the door dramatically and I immediatly unlocked Kemnor's shackles. "Thank you wizardsss." replied the satisfied draconian, rubbing his scaly wrists. "Glad to help." said Brian G. smiling. "How do we get out of here?" asked Aila. We all looked towards her since she didn't really say much most of the time but I guess I was wrong. I suddenly remembered Kevin. We were too late to save him. My face cast down and I looked at the two Brians. They seemed to have remembered as well. I sighed and said, "I guess we could try to save any other people locked up while were here. We don't want Malistaire following." All of a sudden, Brian T. elbowed me in the ribs. I looked at him questioningly. He whispered, "Aren't we gonna defeat Malistaire first, just like in the prophecy?" "Oh right...." I said doubtly. It was silent for some time until Brian T. spoke up, "Well, lets get going on saving those other guys. You two should wait here." he said pointing at Aila and Kemnor. They both nodded and we ran to the next cell. Empty...as usual. Next: a skull. The next one sat another draconian. I immediatly recognized him. "Zarathax.." Zarathax looked up with his evil eyes. I knew him too well. He had once tricked another friend of mine in DragonSpyre to trust him. In the end Zarathax killed my friend. "Pleassse free me wizardssss!" Zarathax pleaded. The two Brians looked at me. I shook my head, "Leave him here, we can't trust him." We were stepping out of the cell, while Zarathax continued to beg for mercy. I just ignored the traitor and we continued on to room six. I shoved in the key and turned. A wizard was in there. He looked awfully sad, his marleybone mask hiding his eyes. I immediatly could tell that he was a storm student from his purple hair although he wore black clothes. "Hey." said Brian T. The wizard stood up. "Cool! A Death Grandmaster!" he replied, walking up towards us. As we freed his chains, he introduced himself. "They call me Seth DragonRider." "I assume your a thunder student." I noted. He nodded. "Come with us, we'll help ya get out of here." gestured Brian G. Seth immediatly got out from the cell and we had soon checked the other rooms. There was no one left. "So, whats your names?" asked Seth. "Oh, sorry bout that." I said. "I'm Brian ThunderCaster." "I'm Brian GoldenHeart." "And I'm Dustin." We all said. "Dustin what?" asked Seth questioningly. "Um..I'll tell you later." I said quickly. The four of us then retrieved Kemnor and Aila. After the other introductions, Brian T. decided it was time to face Malistaire. All I could do was protest but I had no choice. Leaving Aila, Kemnor, and Seth at the exit, I led my friends to our doom, Malistaire's room.
"Stop! Stop it! Let me go you stupid monsters!" cried Keira. "Itsss for your own good!" replied Kiddian the draconian, tugging Keira to the portal with Kiatch. "No! Don't take me back to HIM! I hate HIM! Let me go!" protested Keira. But it was too late. The two impatient draconians managed to give one more final tug and pushed the young oracle to the dark portal leading to Malistaire's office. They then jumped in after her. Keira felt an unusual feeling surpressing around her, magic floating off freely, and landed with a thud right in front of Malistaire's desk. Kiatch and Kiddian also appeared from the vortex and landed in the room behind Keira. "Good job you too." said Malistaire satisfied. The two draconians led out a loud sigh of relief. They flew back into the portal and dissapeared. "Up my daughter." ordered Malistaire soothingly. Keira obeyed and stood up to her father. "What do you want?" she asked quietly. Malistaire replied, "I need your knowledge my girl. Your gift of an oracle can see the future. So all I want to know is, what will become of me once the Big Three Prophecy is complete? And, who are the two wizards that will survive this ordeal?" Keira looked away and said slowly, "I can't show you the future. It is beyond my limits of the Light Oracle." Silence passed the room, a wind blew gently, twirling Keira's long white gown around her. "Very well, " replied Malistaire softly, "but you will tell me that I will suceed in confusing the Dragon Titan with the krokonomichan to gain Sylvia's spirit back." Just as Keira was about to answer, another portal appeared behind her. The two looked back stunned. Out stepped the black knight, helm covering his face, his sword shimmering with pure darkness. "Who are you?" demanded Malistaire. He was a bit frightened at the appearence of someone he didn't know. The knight turned towards Malistaire. "Your enemy, your destroyer, ... and Keira's friend." answered the knight solemnly. He then turned towards the blank faced girl. "Keira, don't tell your father anymore. He doesn't deserve to know any of the future, past, and present alike. You know just as well that that could change fate itself." Keira nodded. Malistaire stood and marched up towards the knight. He aimed his staff towards him and hissed, "No one tells what is to happen but me!" Malistaire quickly traced the death symbol and summoned a wraith. The black knight turned towards the evil lord and blocked the wraith's death blow with the hilt of his sword. The summoned wraith looked surprised and met his end when the knight shoved his sword into it. Using quick reflexes, the knight tripped Malistaire, causing the lord to fall on his knees, and put his sword near his neck. "Don't mess with me..and don't mess with Keira." said the stranger through gritted teeth. Feeling the cold steel edging towards his throat closer, Malistaire nodded quickly. The knight then drew back his blade and walked out towards the vortex. He was gone in a swirl of stars and magic. Malistaire, weak from the fast battle, continued to bow down at the floor. "Father!" cried Keira, suddenly remembering her hurt dad. She ran to the evil lord but recoiled when Malistaire suddenly slapped her right cheek. The girl held her hand on it, surprised and hurt. "Get..out..NOW!" boomed Malistaire angrily. Keira ran out of the room, heading towards her room. As she ran down the hall, a single tear fell from her eye. Malistaire, in his office still, looked longingly at a picture of his deceased wife. "Oh Sylvia, what have I done?" he whispered.
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