Life was never the same when Ravenwood was recreated.
Gone were the streams behind the Ice and Storm schools, gone were the benches by the Myth and Fire schools, and gone were all the schools themselves.
The Drake Academy of Necromancy was created.
Everyone was a Necromancer. All people who weren't originally Necromancers or didn't train second in Necromancy were instantly Novices. The worst part: former Life students were treated horribly.
In fact, one brave attempt to free yourself (if you were a former Life student) would have you rid of your wand, AND magical abilities.
It was and endless graveyard, with dead trees, skeletons and skulls strewn everywhere, and ghosts roamed without people battling them.
It wasn't just Wizard City enslaved. Manders were spending their days collecting all treasures they could, and giving them to their new master. All Marleybonian dogs were sent home, only to be ridden of their cars, homes, and food. Now living like cats, they roamed rooftops, searching for a hopeful can of discarded tuna at least. MooShu bovines, and goats, all chipped away at mines far in the distance. And Dragonspyre, that was the only place not enslaved. Malistaire's office was there. He could relax without having to see if his slaves were doing as they were told.
And nobody had a house anymore. All families lived in the tiny dorms.
And what were students to do after school and homework? Now not allowed to do street battles, all they could do was duel.
Alia was on of the most saddest people around. With reduced health and mana, and horribly non-Marleybonian clothing, Alia felt horrible.
Alia was lucky to at least have a bed.There was only room for 2 beds in the dorm though, and 1 couch. Once Alia, Sean, and her parents realized the very decreased space, Alia yelled, "I call second bed!"
Sean moaned, and the night wasn't that good. He fell off the couch twice, had a nightmare (a nightmare about a Malistaire zombie eating everyone), and almost wet his pants 5 times. Alia though, slept soundly.
On Friday of that week, Malistaire got up on his black lighting cloud. He announced, "To celebrate the birth of Drake Academy, there will be a short get-together in the Ironworks pavilion. Don't even think about those nasty Street Sweepers, they are now in proper maid dresses. Alia snickered. "Do not worry about them trying to battle you. I promised to kill them if they did." Sabrina sighed. She loved killing them, one reason was that her Diviner spells were boosted.
"The dress code:" Malistaire started, then snapping. A long piece of parchment appeared in his hands. "Males are expected to wear black, ANYTHING black. And girls, you are expected to wear, (he shuddered) GREEN."
Alia's jaw dropped.
"8 o' clock tomorrow. My new slaves," he said, smiling at the word slaves. "Shall be preforming classic Dragonspyre and Necromancy music." He etched the Death symbol in the air, and teleported to his Dragonspyre office.
Alia was scared, suspicious, and yet, TOTALLY EXCITED! She was so happy to have one more day of smiles and GREEN. "Why green?" Sabrina asked Alia. "He could have done purple!" Alia pondered for quite some time, then knew it. "Somewhere," Alia said. "Somewhere deep down in that cold, lifeless heart, Malistaire still cares for Sylvia."
But it was a trap, Malistaire was trying to kill Alia. Yet, he still cared for Sylvia very much.
Running to the dorm, Alia pulled out something light, silk-like, and green from some drawers. It was her dress she had been saving for FOREVER. Surprisingly, it still fit! Grabbing her Marleybone style shoes that had no requirement and her Elegant Hat, Alia was instantly ready to get dressed and enjoy one last night of happiness.
Walking into the crowded, noisy pavilion, Alia heard violins and a piano playing rather spooky music. Alia noticed the people playing the music instantly-former Ravenwood professors. They were all in black rags, and playing sadly. Alia bit her lip as Professor Wu saw her. Alia mouthed, "I'm working on saving us!" and walked to the table with many death related things to eat.
As Alia reached over to a black olive sandwich, someone else was reaching for it at the same time. The person's hand slapped Alia's out of the way, and grabbed the sandwich instead. Seeing the satisfied, munching person who took the sandwich, Alia grew angry. "Mary? You're supposed to be wearing green," Alia said, looking at her teal dress. "Aha. I see you noticed," Mary replied, twirling around. "Teal IS a mix of Green and blue. I am certainly wearing green. Meanwhile, I take pride in my former school of Ice!"
"Now if you will excuse me, I've got to finish my sandwich," Mary said, waving to Professor Greyrose and walking away.
Alia rolled her eyes, and grabbed another sandwich, munching away. Alia liked the sauce on the sandwich. Malistaire, meanwhile, was spying on Alia. he knew something she didn't know, so he was sabotaging her night to decrease her powers. Stress always did that.
He got the attention of one wizard, and motioned for him to step on Alia's dress, henceforth, tearing it.
Alia gasped as she saw what happened, and her angry eyes landed on the guilty wizard. "Oops. Sorry," he said, walking away. Alia sat down to look at her ruined dress. Malistaire was motioning another wizard to- "OW!" Alia said. The other wizard had stepped on her foot.
Malistaire smiled.
This was just coincidental; Mary accidentally spilled her glass of blood red punch all over Alia's not-so-beautiful dress.
Alia now saw everyone staring at her.Not knowing anything else to do, Alia ran to a spot of the pavilion where no one saw her, she sat down, and she cried. Not very hard, just enough for her to be shaking.
Professor Wu saw her, feeling sorry for her. Yet she couldn't do anything but play music. Malistaire was watching her.
Cody, meanwhile, was grabbing some things to eat, when he noticed someone in the far end of the pavilion, who seemed to be crying. He instantly knew it was Alia. Cody sighed, and walked over.
He noticed the large stain on Alia's dress. He also noticed a tear in her dress, and that her shoe was bent. "Hi?" Cody said. Alia looked at him, and said, "Oh. It's you again."
"One thing," Cody said. "Why are you crying?" Alia sniffled, and replied, "I thought this would be my last day of fun. I just want my last days to be good." "Last days? Is this what you meant when Malistaire arrived?" Cody asked.
Alia finally explained everything. "The worst part is," Alia started. "I don't have anymore belief that I can save everyone!"
"You can!" Cody said. "Do you even know what happened to the Secret School?" Alia finally perked up. "What? Do you know? What happened?!" Alia asked eagerly. "I don't know, but what if it's still there?'
Alia smiled. She finally felt a bit of hope. "And who says you won't defeat that Draconian army? Maybe you still have a chance," Cody said.
Malistaire was still spying on Alia, realizing her sudden happiness. Scowling, he whistled loudly, then teleported off, cackling.
Meanwhile, the most recent song playing was over, and now a soft, slow like (yet spooky, very spooky) song was being played. The former teachers still looked miserable, especially Professor Balestrom who didn't seem to be enjoying his huge guitar.
Many wizards were dancing with other wizards. "Um, Alia?" Cody asked. "Would you like to, possibly, da-"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Alia screamed at the top of her lungs, and pointed to something behind Cody. "DRACONIAN!" Alia yelled. Indeed, a huge Draconian was standing right behind Cody. "You're a Magus! DO SOMETHING!" Alia yelled to Cody. "They're just Draconians, that's normal since Malistaire has ruled, right?" Cody said.
Right that moment, all of the dancing wizards turned into fierce, horrible Draconians. Even the Street Sweepers turned into Draconians.
"And that's normal, right?" Alia said, her arms crossed. Mary was just screaming, running out of the Ironworks. Sabrina just stood there, shaking with fear.
None of them had no idea that when Malistaire whistled, he summoned rather large Draconinans.
Every Draconian cornered them-all in one corner! "DO ANYTHING," Alia whispered to Cody. "I'm TRYING!" Cody yelled. "None of my spells will even be ETCHED! My deck is full, I'm wearing accuracy gear, but nothing is happening!"
All of a sudden, Alia glimpsed down at her spell deck she was clutching. Rapidly searching through it, Alia found something amazing. It was not a Death spell.
Alia had found Big Bang.
The number of copies exceeded the amount allowed in such a tiny, Novice's deck. Smiling, Alia said, "Prepare for your doom."
Scattering spells everywhere, Alia breathed heavily as she wiped out every single creature. But her eyes grew big as she saw Mary standing there, her jaw dropped. Sighing, Alia told Mary to stay there. Teleporting home, Alia knew what she had to do.
Realizing Sabrina and Cody had come along, Alia moaned and ran to her drawer. Cody asked, "Alia, what are you-"
"Destroying an enemy! It's the only thing to do now that Mary's seen a Secret spell."
"MARY? You're kidding me, you've been enemies since-"
"We were 6? Yeah. I think it's a good thing to do. Also, what if she tells Malistaire? If I give her one of these," Alia said, holding up a silver, heart shaped locket with a single Sapphire in the center. "She'll never betray us!"
"Hopefully," Sabrina muttered.
Teleporting back to the Ironworks, Alia walked up to Mary.
"Mary, this has been going on for too long." Alia said. "Let's bury the hatchet, once and for all." "Uh, that means what?" Mary asked confusedly. "I want to make you my friend!" Alia said. Mary stared at Alia, disgusted.
"I need backup to kill Malistaire, AND I want to bury the hatchet. That spell you saw can only be seen by my best friends. So, that's another reason," Alia explained.
Mary stared at the offering for what seemed like hours, deciding what to do.
She grabbed the locket firmly, unclasped it, put it around her neck, and clasped it again all in a Mary-ish way. "If it'll get me infinite fame, of course I'm taking it!" Mary said. "After all, it feels good to lose an enemy. I mean, who DOESN'T like me?" Alia and Mary giggled.
"That would be me," Sabrina muttered quietly to herself.
After Mary said goodbye to everyone and teleported home, and Sabrina yelled, "WHY?" and left, Alia finally realized the Ravenwood teachers were there.
"Uh, did Headmaster Ambrose already tell you?" Alia asked them. Professor Greyrose looked up from polishing her dark, black fiddle. "Yes, he-" she gulped. "Had."
Sighing with relief, Alia said goodbye to every professor as they teleported to the Slave's Headquarters in Dragonspyre. It was now just Alia and Cody.
"Cody, what were you going to ask me before that Draconian appeared?" Cody got very nervous. "It doesn't matter now. BYE!" Cody said, quickly teleporting home.
Alia was thinking about something besides this, and her main thought was the Secret School. But before Alia left to the Commons, she grabbed a delicious sandwich, and drank a sip of punch.
Seeing a pole, Alia smiled. Sliding down the pole wasn't very easy in a dress. A shock was ahead for Alia, though.
Alia screamed at the top of her lungs once more, as she saw the broken pole a yard away from the box, and bent to the right. "This is it! I'm going to die!" Alia said, with the most scared expression ever on her face. Was it the end for her? |