Optical Gaze

Here is Optical Gaze, the epic mash-up between the Starlight Series and Necromagica, written by Alanna and Cookie 12!

Optical Gaze

By the author of the Starlight Series, Alanna, and the author of Necromagica, Sophia

 

 

Chapter One: The New Neighbors

 

It was a windy autumn day. I looked at the pile of red leaves and leaned on my rake.

“Too bad there aren’t any spells for doing chores!” I complained.

“Sure, but at least we cleared all this up with our ordinary cleaning up powers!” said Willow triumphantly.

“Sure, I guess,” I said. “And you know what’s even better, a new girl around our age moved in nearby recently. I haven’t really seen her much though.”

There was a moment of silence as we both considered what to do.

“I know, we could go meet her together!” suggested Willow brightly.

“Well, okay,” I said.

We crossed the road to a pretty white cottage with light pastel blue flowers lining the fences and rosy flowerpots on the windowsills. I stepped cautiously on the narrow stone path to the front door, which happened to be yellow. I knocked on it lightly. A girl with long, shiny black hair opened the door.

“Hello, you’re the people who live across the road aren’t you?” She said. “I’m Yvonne.”

“I’m Stellata, and this is Willow.” I introduced.

Then another girl with brown streaked hair poked her head from around the door.

“So who’s this?” she asked. “I’m Elynna.” she said, shaking my hand.

The two girls stepped outside and exchanged glances, as if they were telepathically communicating. Then Yvonne nodded her head.

“So we overheard you two talking about magic the other day.” she said

“This is not good!” said Willow to me telepathically.

“Well, I can see that!” I replied

Elynna finally stopped us from panicking, when she said “Don’t worry, we’re magicians too.”

“I don’t believe it,” I said

“Neither do I.” said Willow, gazing uncertainly at Elynna and Yvonne.

“Are you serious?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

The girls muttered something and disappeared.

“Of course we’re serious!” said someone behind me.

I spun around and saw them standing behind me.

“I’m also the princess of Necromagica, the land of spellcasters.” she added.

Willow came forward.

“Wow, what a coincidence! I’m the princess of Star Lake, the land of magic!” she said, and without saying anything, closed the door to Yvonne’s house.

Elynna and I looked at each other.

“Well, I’m sort of related to the princess…” I mumbled. “I’m her cousin, and my Mom used to be the queen until she gave the throne to her sister.”

“Lucky you! All of you are part of the royal family!” joked Elynna, “I can’t even get into Necromagica yet!”

I shrugged.

“Well, I had no idea how to use magic until I met Willow, and we went to Star Lake.”

“Two princesses and their students, huh.” said Willow

Elynna and I glared.

“I was just being sarcastic!” she defended

We could see Yvonne desperate to stop us from arguing.

“Um, why don’t we go inside?” suggested Yvonne. “It’s cold out here.”

As soon as we got in, Willow disappeared, but we could hear her excited voice coming from inside the house.

Erm…why don’t we go and check on Willow? Don’t worry…she’s always like this.”

“Sure…” Elynna said, trailing behind me worriedly.

The three of us entered, and found Willow whizzing around the house. I slapped my forehead.

“Willow, Willow, Willow. Why do you ALWAYS have to embarrass the royal family? And going into someone’s house randomly is really bad manners!” I muttered telepathically.

“What? I’m having SUCH fun!” Willow answered.

Then she flew near a cupboard with many ornaments on top, and almost knocked a few down, if it were not for Yvonne and I.

“I’ll thank you not to destroy my ornaments, and did you ever realize that whizzing around someone’s home without their permission is bad manners?” Yvonne sniffed, catching a few of the ornaments with a Air Sphere. I used a Pressure Net to catch the others.

“Thank you.” Yvonne said to me. “At least ONE of you is responsible enough not to disgrace the Star Lake royal family.”

Willow blushed, making her look like a cherry.

I rolled my eyes. Typical Willow. Elynna saw me rolling my eyes, and flashed me a grin.

“Did Willow ever have lessons on how to act in the regular human world?” asked Yvonne.

“I don’t know, Elynna and I were brought up in the human world so I don’t think Elynna or I would need them but, from what I can see, she obviously didn’t!” I replied.

Elynna kept Willow down in a magical cage.

“Why not?!” She grunted, obviously having trouble keeping a princess down with her own magic.

“Here, we’ll help you.” said Yvonne and I simultaneously.

Elynna released Willow, and I immediately caught her in a Pressure Net (obviously from practice), and Yvonne used an OtherWorld move to conjure a silver cage out of thin air. She dropped it on Willow, and Willow fell through the bottom, so she was now trapped in the cage. For some curious reason, Willow didn’t try to get out. I was amazed (erm…perhaps not AS amazed, but still surprised), but then I spotted an ethereal glow around the gleaming silver bars of the cage.

“Star Iron! No wonder you couldn’t get out! Yvonne is such a clever person,” I muttered to Willow telepathically.

“Well, I don’t think Yvonne is such a clever person. She’s a HORRIBLE person to trap me in here!” Willow replied angrily.

“If you weren’t so rude, you might not be in this cage at all!” I replied patiently.

Willow is really not suited to a life outside the Star Lake palace.

 

Chapter Two: Necromagic

 

“Why are you being so friendly to that Elynna person?” Willow said telepathically all of a sudden.

“Well, she seems very friendly, and sort of nice. Why shouldn’t I try to make a new friend?” I answered thoughtfully.

“Well, I don’t think you should be all pally with Elynna, especially as you just met her 15 minutes ago, and she’s a companion of the princess of Necromagica!” Willow said.

“Good point, but what’s with the part about Necromagica?” I asked.

“Oh, didn’t your mom tell you? We are sort of enemies…but we were allies in the Cold War. Y’know, WE were actually the ones who started the Cold War, but then the un-magical peeps down on Earth thought it was the Russians and stuff.” Willow replied, sounding very sniffy.

“Oh…” I said awkwardly.

“You see, Necromagica means “Other World Magic”, and in Star Lake, we are sort of banned from using that kind of magic unless it’s that type called OtherWorld White Magic, which is very strictly PURE WHITE. The other kind isn’t necessarily BLACK magic, but it’s just that it’s more connected to the Shadowland. Shadowland-” Willow started to go off on a prolonged explanation about Shadowland, but I cut her off.

“Yes, yes, I know.” I replied.

Shadowrealm is sort of like a land of the dreams, if you ask me. It’s like this weird portal place where you can travel to one world from another. That makes travelling really FAST, but unfortunately it takes very advanced magic to get there. Neither Willow or I are at that stage.

I suddenly realized that while Willow and I were communicating telepathically, there was an awkward silence.

“Erm…sorry, we were just-” I started to say, but was cut off by Yvonne.

“I know, you were using telepathy to communicate. We do that all the time!” Yvonne said.

Then she smiled.

“But it isn’t as private as you think, you know. I can read minds.”

Willow pointed and made a face.

“SEE? OTHERWORLD MAGICIAN! OTHERWORLD MAGICIAN!” she shouted.

It was then when I started to doubt the Necromagicians.

“Why did you have to intercept our conversation? It’s really rude.” I pointed out. “I know Willow was rude, but that doesn’t mean that you can be as rude to us! Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“If you want some respect from us, you’ve got to respect us, AND our privacy.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I can’t help reading your minds, my excessive power has to be put somewhere…” Yvonne said apologetically.

But I could already see the anger in Willow’s eyes.

“We need to leave, now!” she exclaimed.

I looked back at the two Necromagicians, and shook my head.

“I’m sorry.” I said sadly.

And in an instant, I was back across the road, at our house.

“Willow! Now is not the time to throw a princess-ly tantrum! You just embarrassed

the Star Lake royal family – AGAIN!” I exclaimed once we landed on the lawn in front of our house.

Willow stomped into the house, slamming the door in front of my face. I floated through the door, and whizzed up the stairs, checking them to see if there was any damage Willow had made. She really stamps hard!

“I just can’t stand being around them though!” she stormed around her room yelling.

“I have enough power to declare war on other realms, Stellata…” she said, finally coming to a halt of her loud marching.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that you have to declare war EVERY TIME YOU ARE ANGRY AT SOMEONE! Don’t you remember what happened last time?” I said as mildly as I could.

Willow sat down at her desk and clenched her fists. She closed her eyes.

Suddenly the desk broke.

Oh, I see, I thought.

“So you have to declare war every time you meet someone you don’t like? That’s just throwing a tantrum, and that’s abusing your power. It’s not fair to the rest of us. Every time you do something like that, WE take the blame for EVERYTHING. We also have to clean up that mess you made, which is just unfair. And by the way, that was a FIGURE OF SPEECH! Just because two people from another world upset you, that doesn’t mean you should declare war on them. Not only that, but they trapped you for a reason. And that reason is reasonable enough. For goodness’ sake, you were whizzing around someone’s house and knocking down ornaments!” I ranted.

Willow stood up from her chair, her fist now even tighter. When she opened her eyes, I could see that they were glowing blood red.

Oh, no… Oh no, this is not going to end well, I thought as I dashed out of the room. I didn’t get far before Willow broke through the wall and flew in front of me, obstructing my path.I turned around, and gazed at the debris from Willow’s latest princess-ly tantrum.

“There goes the wall – AGAIN!” I said while rolling my eyes.

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I knew they were glowing silver. I summoned up OtherWorld Celestial Chains, and my hands glowed. Silver chains started to form on my hands, and I spun them around Willow.

“Wha-” Willow started to say, but I gagged her with the chains.

“Willow, please understand-” But even in my strengthened form, I was too weak for a princess, and I was thrown to the floor.

When I got up, Willow had already vanished down another corridor. I knew where she would go.

This will not end well, I just know it won’t, for sure! I thought.

A golden circlet appeared on my head, and I conjured up my Starlight and Midnight crystals.

When I reached the room where I found Willow and her mother, it was too late.

“So we’ll attack here, is that what you want, sweetie?” said Aunt Stella.

“Yes, mother, Necromagica.” replied Willow

I gasped. She was really going to attack them.

I had to warn them.

“Are you CRAZY?” I shouted at Willow as soon as she exited the mapping room.

“No, I’m not.” Willow said coldly, shoving me aside as she strode down the stairs

I stared after her.

 

Chapter Three: The Palace

That night, I had a dream. I was standing on a battlefield, with Yvonne, Elynna and I on one side, and Willow on the other side. Suddenly she morphed into a black cloud.

“I am the dark winds monster!” It said.

I backed away as the cloud quickly advanced toward Yvonne and Elynna, then swallowed them whole.

“Where is the real Willow? Why do you have to do this?” I yelled at the monster.

I woke up suddenly, then went back to sleep. I had another dream.

I saw my mother. She was wearing the crown of Star Lake now, which meant that she had taken the throne back from Aunt Stella.

“Stellata – go to Star Lake. Now.” She said in a faraway tone.

I woke up at once, and discovered I was also wearing a crown, but mine was a golden circlet with Starlight and Midnight crystals. A voice sounded in my head.

“Stellata, you have the power to go through the Shadowrealm.”

I looked behind me.

“You can’t see me, I’m you. I’m Stellata Maple too, but it’s just that I’m your inner voice. I might come to you in dreams sometimes, but otherwise I’ll just be hidden inside you. I help you make decisions, I help you think, I help you work your magic, I help with everything! But basically it’s you that does everything by yourself. I AM you. We are one. Anyway, you should really contact your mother, just go ahead and wake up. But wait – I have to tell you how to get through the Shadowrealm. Think about a white empty space with lots of doors, then imagine yourself walking through a starry portal that’s midnight blue. Then think about where you want to go in Star Lake. You’ll be there in no time.”

“But I don’t have the powe-”

“You have the powers! Just imagine!”

I thought about about a white empty space with lots of doors, then imagined myself walking through a starry portal that was midnight blue. Then I thought about where I wanted to go, which was the palace. I landed in the main entrance, where the guards bowed to me.

“Where is Queen Violet?” I asked, gesturing for them to get up.

“In the main hall, on her throne, your highness.” A guard said, bowing again.

I nodded, and flew to the main hall, which took a while. The palace really is big!

I came to a large room with a golden chair and a cloaked lady sitting in it. She immediately took off her cloak, and draped it on her lap.

“Stellata, dear, I never knew that you would come here so quickly. So, how is living with Willow like?  But obviously, that didn’t go well. So I take it that you met Yvonne from Necromagica and Elynna, her companion?” asked Mom.

“Oh, yes, and we’ve got to stop Willow and Aunt Stella before they do something terribly idiotic!” I said frantically.

“Slow down, Stellata, and b-r-e-a-t-h-e deeply. We can’t foil their plan without being calm.” Mom replied slowly to emphasize how much I needed to slow down.

“Okay, Mom, I’m b-r-e-a-t-h-i-n-g d-e-e-p-l-y. Happy now?” I said.

Mom burst out laughing.

“Okay, not as deep, but still, good job!” Mom said, giggling.

“Mom, why is Aunt Stella agreeing to wage war on Necromagica even though Willow was just having a princess-ly tantrum?” I asked.

“Well, technically, now YOU are the princess, but still, Stella spoils her daughter rotten. That’s why Willow can be very obnoxious and unreasonable at times – just like Stella when she was little. Like you, I was always the sensible one. We have no choice to take part in this war, but on Necromagica’s side. The rest of Star Lake will understand why we choose to do this. But for now, it’s our turn to attack.” Mom replied calmly, a sword made of celestial Starlight Silver appearing in her hand.

I called up another sword, but this time a celestial Midnight Silver sword, complete with flakes of Midnight and Starlight crystals embedded in the hilt and blade.

Mom nodded approvingly at the sword I chose.

“Let’s go.” She said, and she touched the blade of her sword to mine.

We raised our swords, and suddenly, there was a blindingly white light.

 

Chapter Four: The Royal Mapping Room

We suddenly materialized in a beautiful room with elegant wallpaper and a large rosewood table in the center. There was a chair on each side of the table, which was long and rectangular.

I looked at my mom, as she looked at me.

“Why are we here?” I  asked.

“Maybe the map has a clue to where the battle will be.” replied my Mom.

We went over to the map.

“So I guess it’s over-” I started.

“Nice try, cousin.”

I whizzed around to find Willow, arms crossed, standing in the doorway.

“What do you want?” asked my mom.

Willow’s eyes glowed red again.

“Hehe, you thought you could stop me? I don’t care!”

She pushed her way toward the map, and pointed at Star Lake.

“I want this place to be the MOST powerful realm in the world of magic!”

She then did a swiping motion over the whole map.

“I want all of those other realms to follow US!”

She then pointed at Necromagica.

“Starting with here.”

She looked at us, and saw our uncertain faces.

“Look, Stellata, Aunt Violet. Don’t you want to have power? Don’t you want to rule over the most powerful realm in this world?”

She pushed me, and suddenly, I was trapped against the wall. Willow held me there, and put her face right up to mine. I struggled to get out of her grasp.

“You’re not as powerful as a princess.” She sneered.

“But I am a princess now.” I said, raising an eyebrow.

Willow gasped, feeling for the golden circlet on her head. I took this chance to pin her against the wall.

“Of course we want to rule. But this is wrong, Willow. Necromagica and Star Lake have been separate for centuries.” I pointed out.

“Well, it’s time they were united.” Willow replied, trying to squirm out of my grasp.

“For the record, I’m the better one at spells than you. Your power is almost useless on me now, since I’m the princess.” I said, caging Willow.

Willow glared at me, her eyes turning from red to scarlet, then to deep crimson. I was surprised for a moment, and temporarily losing concentration. Willow took this chance to wriggle out of the cage. But I quickly chained her, and trapped her again. Mom saw what happened, and beckoned for me to come over.

“Stellata, Willow’s been possessed. She’s being controlled by someone really, really powerful. Almost as powerful as myself. We’ve got to warn Yvonne and Elynna. You go first, I’ll make sure Willow is caged properly.” Mom said in a low voice.

I nodded, and put a sleeping spell on Willow. I then teleported to Yvonne’s house.

 

Chapter Four: Rhianna Droll

Yvonne seemed startled when I appeared suddenly in front of her.

“Why full battle armor?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Something must be wrong. Willow?” Elynna guessed.

“Right on. You see, Willow’s being possessed by someone powerful, and she’s waging war on Necromagica. My mother and I are going to fight on your side, but first we need to find out who has been possessing Willow.” I said.

“Describe her eyes.” Yvonne said simply.

“Okay…they were glowing red at first, then scarlet, then deep, blood crimson.” I replied.

“Oh, dear. Not that character again. It’s Rhianna Droll.” Yvonne said, rolling her eyes. “She tried to rebel against me, but she was no match for Elynna and I. I thought she was in prison…I think. She said that she would train, and become powerful enough to take over. Ha ha, very droll.”

“She’s very touchy about her surname.” Elynna added.

I yanked two more swords out of the Shadowrealm, one Ice-Lightning, one Sunbeam-Flame. These were two of the elemental swords, a special set used by the royal family of Star Lake, which could be lent to others that are royals too or of some importance. I handed the Ice-Lightning to Yvonne, and the Sunbeam-Flame to Elynna.

“Gee, thanks!” Elynna said in awe, running her hand up and down the sword.

It started to light up on fire, but only at the tip of the sword.

“Nice.” Yvonne said.

She raised her sword up at the sky, and lightning immediately crackled across it.

I peered at mine. What did mine do anyway? I suddenly saw a tiny emblem on the tip of the sword. It resembled the elements, but also Star Lake…could this be the lost emblem of Star Lake? There was once a symbol of power in Star Lake, which was imprinted on a powerful sword belonging to the royal family. It would appear when a royal is in need, and when the royal pulls it out of the Shadowrealm.

I read from the emblem.

“Stella Lakia Glacelle Flavia Terra Constella Unite!”

Suddenly, my sword started being in the middle of swirls of color, which sort of looked like power. When it stopped swirling, I saw that the sword had more words of power imprinted on the blade. Also, it wasn’t as tarnished as I first saw it, it was now shiny and new-looking. I grasped the hilt proudly.

“Let’s go.” Mom’s voice sounded behind me.

We all jumped, and turned around.

“Put on your travelling cloak, everyone. I take it that you all have activated your swords?”

Mom handed each of us a cloak.

“Join hands, because we’re going to teleport – Star Lake style!” Mom said cheerfully. “When I say go, everybody jump!”

We all held hands, and got ready to jump.

“3,2,1 JUMP!”

We all jumped, and discovered that we were floating. For me this wasn’t new. But for Yvonne and Elynna, this was out of the ordinary.

“Wow…so this is the Star Lake way.” Elynna said, gazing at the sky around us.

“Yeah…for once, I actually like flying the Star Lake way.” Yvonne added.

We floated around for a while, then started to descend.

“Wha-what are we doing?” Elynna said in alarm.

“We’re landing.” Mom and I said simultaneously.

Elynna gulped.

“This… is kind of freaky!”

“Don’t worry. It’s just as safe as any other kind of flying.” I assured her.

As we touched the ground, Yvonne started to speak.

“You know the Rhianna Droll I was talking about earlier?”

The three of us nodded our heads.

“Now that I think about it, someone must have helped her get out of prison. It’s impossible for one magician, even the strongest, to get out by themselves.”

“Carry on…” said Elynna making circling motions with her hand.

“I think it’s Obsidian.”

I immediately spoke up.

“But Willow and I defeated Obsidian a long time ago!”

Yvonne tilted her head.

“Hmm, maybe his BROTHER did it?”

I looked at my mother.

“Obsidian had a brother?” I asked her.

“Yes, he does, but I didn’t want to tell you about it because I knew that with a reckless person like Willow around, you’d just try to go and carelessly battle him.” explained my mom.

“Obsidian’s brother’s name is Hurricane. Fitting, since he’s the person currently with control over the Dark Winds monster.”

I gasped.

“Dark winds monster… I think I heard of that in my dream!” I realized.

“No matter who it is, both them AND Rhianna Droll have to be stopped.” declared Elynna.

“Woah, hold your horses!” said my Mom and Yvonne simultaneously.

“Both Hurricane and Rhianna are ridiculously strong, almost as strong as me!” said my mom.

“But they’re no match for all of us!” I replied.

“True…” Yvonne said

“But there is always the possibility that they know our weaknesses already, after all, when they possessed Willow, they had the power to look into her mind.”

“But actually, Willow doesn’t really know my weaknesses. She doesn’t really pay attention to my magic.” I replied calmly. “She’s too arrogant to pay attention to anyone else. But she used to be so nice…she changed so suddenly.”

“Could it be because she was possessed?” asked Elynna.

“Yes, It think so. It is possible, and Willow was actually quite a nice girl.” Mom said.

“Or maybe it’s just…us?” Yvonne assumed shyly.

“I promise I did not cast a mind-control spell. I don’t even know any!” Elynna said.

“Then maybe not, because I didn’t use any either.” replied Yvonne.

“Well, maybe it’s just Willow. Or Rhianna.” I commented. “It’s definitely not us, why would we do this to Willow?”

“I wonder why she would want to possess Willow though, instead of any of us.” wondered Yvonne. “If she wanted a more fatal war, she would have possessed me.”

“I think she doesn’t want to kill. She just wanted people to suffer, and a Star Laker would be the best tool for that, especially a princess.” Mom reasoned.

“Where is Rhianna even from? She’s not a Necromagician or a Star Laker.” I asked.

“I think she comes from Nekros.” guessed Yvonne. “But I think she was born in the human world. There are no records of her residency anywhere until the point of where she would have already been an adult.”

“What about Obsidian and Hurricane?” I asked.

“Obsidian and Hurricane were half Star Lakers and half Nekrosers.” explained my mom. “But as you can see, they probably sided with Nekros by the end, probably because they were enlisted by the king of Nekros. I can’t see why, Nekros is just a vast wasteland.”

“True. Maybe they want someone powerful to be on their side. The other realms to be connected to Star Lake so they can sap away Star Lake’s magic and natural resources for their own use. It’s despicable, really. But what else would we expect from Nekros?” I said in a matter-of-fact sort of voice.

“I can see why they’d want to, but it’s not nice to grab it with violence and war.” added Elynna.

“Erm…I think we’d better start with a battle plan.” Yvonne said.

We landed on the ground with a loud THUMP.

“Oof! That was a rough landing!” Elynna commented.

“Yeah, but where are the others, anyway?” I replied.

“I think they’re advancing on us. I’ll summon the Star Lake army.” Mom said calmly, gazing across the field.

“Sure, I’ll call up the Necromagica army.” Yvonne added.

Elynna and I looked at each other.

“I’ll send out some confusion spells.” I said at last.

“Me too. Two heads are better than one!” Elynna promised.

I sent out a large cloud of smoke, while Elynna decided to make an image of a monster advancing on the army.

“But which side will Willow be on?” Elynna wondered out loud.

“I suppose she’ll be on her own side.” I replied.

“But the only reason this war exists is because she was possessed! It wasn’t her fault! She shouldn’t have to fight on her own.” argued Elynna.

Finally, the Star Lake army arrived.

“At your service, Your Majesty.” The leader bowed.

Mom gestured for the leader to get up, while watching Yvonne direct the Necromagica army.

“We must fight the princess Willow, and ex-queen Stella.” Mom said simply. “We’re against Willow, Stella, the Dark Winds Monster, Rhianna Droll and Hurricane Flame-Feather.

But mostly against Rhianna Droll, the Dark Winds Monster and Hurricane Flame-Feather, this is because Rhianna Droll possessed Princess Willow, also Stella.”

“At once, Your Majesty.” The leader replied.

“If we fight Willow, will she get hurt?” asked Elynna

“Don’t worry, she won’t be hurt.” my mom assured her. “It will hurt the possessed Willow but once the possessed version of her is defeated, the normal Willow’s wounds will be healed.”

Elynna made a sigh of relief. “Good, then.”

I walked to Elynna’s side.

“We may not be as strong as the others, but teamwork can make anything happen.” I told her.

Elynna nodded in agreement.

 

Chapter five: This is War

 

We strode across the field as stealthily as we could, sending out confusion, temporary sickness (stomachache) and barrier spells. At last, we reached a point where we saw Willow, Aunt Stella, Rhianna, Hurricane and the Dark Winds monster. The Dark Winds monster was trapped in a cage, which was made of Dark Iron. Dark Iron was forbidden to use in both Star Lake and Necromagica.

I saw Willow lean close to the Dark Winds monster’s cage, and whisper something. I craned my neck to eavesdrop while using an Amplify Catch spell.

“Now, you are going to have Nekros when we succeed. So do your best to defeat the other side. Target Stellata and Violet in particular.”

I gasped.

“What?” Elynna, Yvonne and Mom asked simultaneously.

“The Dark Winds monster is going to attack, and he’s targeting Mom and I.” I replied in a low voice.

“I anticipated this.” Mom replied calmly. “We should set up a trap first, so we can attack them by surprise just when they aren’t focused. Yvonne, please set up a Celestial Iron cage first. Elynna, please conjure a Storm Silver chain. Stellata, please send out some blockage, amplify, trap, confusion and barrier spells please. And I’ll plan first.”

We all worked hard on our separate tasks. When we finished, Mom took the cage and the chain. We watched as she levitated (with a invisibility shield, of course) the cage over the vast field, and enlarge it as she set it down over the enemies. She then took the chain and made it wrap around the Dark Winds monster’s cage.

“All done! Now, follow me across the field. We’re going to have to ambush them.” Mom said, crouching down and crawling across the field.

 

“Now, that’s the monster out of the way, but what will we do with all the red-eyed freaks?” Elynna whispered.

“We ambush them, then Yvonne might want to chain them first, while we deal with the others. But there are only TWO red-eyed freaks, which are Willow and Stella.” Mom replied.

We crept behind them.

“When I shout shoot, use your swords to shoot ice, fire, lightning or whatever at the enemies.” She said. “3,2,1, SHOOT!”

We whipped out our swords and tried our best to shoot whatever we had. Yvonne was the expert at this. She shot little sharp pieces of ice at them while Elynna threw fireballs. I shot lightning.

“Heh, a Necromagician’s best friend.” said Yvonne, twirling her wand and sword.

“Yeah!” Elynna said enthusiastically.

“Oh, here comes a hurricane!” I said.

We all turned around, and saw Hurricane, who was stalking angrily toward them.

“You thought that simply trapping the Dark Winds monster would negate my powers?” he shouted. “Silly little girls, I have powers of my own too!”

We all raised our eyebrows.

“Correction: we aren’t LITTLE girls, and we aren’t silly.” I said, striking him with lightning.

Elynna sent out a fire ring spell instead. Then, she raised her sword and shot little fireballs at him.

Hurricane simply laughed.

“You think I’m my stupid brother? Of course not! I’m immune to EVERYTHING!”

I remembered Obsidian’s weakness. Water. I tried shooting icy water out of my sword.

“OW!” Hurricane said, leaping around in an attempt to try to miss the water and failing.

“Flame-Feather? You thought that we couldn’t see an obvious hint of your weakness in Flame-Feather?” I yelled in Hurricane’s face.

Suddenly his eyes glowed green and he scratched his head. His wounds had disappeared.

“Wh-where am I?” asked Hurricane confusedly.

My mother looked at him.

“You must’ve been possessed.”

“Ma, what will we do with the Dark Winds monster?” I asked.

Rhianna Droll stood up.

“Hah, it seems that you’ve deciphered my little trick. Here’s your little friend back.” she said as she tossed a no-longer possessed Willow towards us. “The Dark Winds monster will be under my control now.”

“What do we do now?” I whispered.

“We have do destroy the Dark Winds monster first, or else he’s just going to seek out another owner.” informed Hurricane.

“THEN we can destroy Rhianna.” Finished Yvonne.

“Unfortunately, because I’m no longer possessed, I don’t remember the monster’s weakness.” said Hurricane.

We all put our heads together for a second.

“Wait, Yvonne, you said that you can read minds?” I asked.

“Yes, why?” she replied.

“Do you have a spell that can look deep into someone’s memory?”

“Yes, that too.”

“Do you think you can look into Hurricane’s possessed state’s memory?”

“Possibly.”

“Give it a try.”

“Sure.”

I watched as Yvonne closed her eyes for a minute, while pressing her two index fingertips together. A stream of a plasma-like substance flickered between her fingertips, and she opened her eyes. They now gleamed silver, sort of like me when I was using powerful magic. Yvonne pressed her fingertips to Hurricane’s temples (on the forehead, not a place), and let the plasma thing flow through. Hurricane’s eyes were now turning apple green, then ocean blue, then lilac. He slumped to the floor, with his eyes still open and his arms dangling by his side.

Yvonne took her fingers away, then she generated a Pressure Sphere.

“Tell us your possessed memories.” She commanded slowly and clearly.

Suddenly, a water-like screen appeared in front of Hurricane’s face.

The screen started to flicker, then display a movie thing. I realized that the movie was Hurricane’s possessed memories.

“I’ve got it!” I said suddenly. “The Dark Winds Monster’s weakness is lightning, water and fire put together! Which means that we have to use our swords at the same time.”

Yvonne nodded.

“Yes, I realized that too. But it might be better if we have the others send out some other powerful spells as backup.”

“Yeah. Why not ask Hurricane or Queen Violet to help us?” Elynna suggested.

“I will do a truth spell to see who Hurricane is loyal to now, just in case he betrays us.” Mom said.

She made the screen dissolve, and generated a smokescreen-like mist in front of the now snoring Hurricane. Mom gently touched his forehead, and drew a long wisp of a smoke-like substance, which was slightly translucent. She waved her hand, and the smoke thing withdrew, forming yet another screen, except thicker and smokier.

The screen displayed some text, which was pretty small and was written in bright red ink. Mom yanked the screen closer to her, and pushed it backwards so it was flat. She skimmed through the paragraphs quickly.

“He is loyal.” Mom declared.

We all sighed with relief.

“Oh – get ready to fight!” Elynna gasped as Rhianna advanced with the Dark Winds Monster.

Elynna, Yvonne and I whipped out our swords as Mom and Hurricane battled with Rhianna.

“Traitor.” Rhianna commented as she exchanged Pressure Spheres with Mom.

“You’re a traitor, not me. You’re a traitor to your own people.” Hurricane replied, sending out one of his signature hurricanes.

While the adults battled using spells, we were against the Dark Winds Monster. But fortunately, Hurricane joined us.

“Point your swords at the monster’s middle, and when I say fire, go ahead and shoot. But you have to do it simultaneously, or it won’t work.”

We pointed uncertainly.

“No, no.” Hurricane shook his head impatiently. “You’ve got to do it properly. you’ve got to have some confidence.”

“Confidence is what I do best.” Yvonne said haughtily.

Elynna and I shrugged, then joined Yvonne.

“Fire!” Hurricane said.

It worked. The Dark Winds Monster hollered in pain, then collapsed. We watched as the wind slowly stopped swirling, leaving a small form behind. We discovered it was a black, curled up scroll. Hurricane picked it up gingerly, and unrolled it.

“Hmm…this seems to be a spell-scroll. Here it says that Rhianna created the Dark Winds Monster…and it’s powered by her life-force, the source of her magic.”

“But I thought that the Dark Winds monster was created in the fifteenth century!” interrupted Elynna.

“Rhianna Droll was sort of an half-immortal. She would never really die of old age. I think she was born in the ninth century?” corrected Yvonne.

We stood thinking in silence for a while, as Aunt Stella and my mom ran around behind us shooting Rhianna with laser beams.

“This.. is gonna be difficult. She’s an immortal, at least age-wise, and she’s powerful enough to create another being strong enough to kill.” I started. “But everyone has weaknesses.”

Behind us, my mother fired a Sun Blaze spell at Rhianna. She burst into flames.

“Maybe sunlight is her weakness!” I realized suddenly.

I tried shooting a Fire Bolt spell at Rhianna. It worked, and she was surrounded by a cage of flames. Rhianna screamed in fury.

“You-think-I-can-be-defeated-like-this?” Rhianna panted.

Her eyes glowed red, the precise color of blood.

“Mmm…it seems that she is also being controlled…maybe not. I’m not sure.” Hurricane mused.

“I think that’s just her. She’s a half-immortal-half-Nekros, so I guess the red-eye is only normal.” Yvonne said.

“True.” Mom replied, joining the discussion.

Suddenly, Rhianna screamed. We all turned around to see…

 

Chapter Five: The End of Rhianna Droll, AKA Loria Hyner

Rhianna Droll was engulfed in flames, and was screaming – again.

While screaming, she glared at us threateningly, which was creepy.

“I-will-get-you-for-thiiiiiiiiisss!” She howled as the flames swallowed her whole.

“I thought she was immortal.” Elynna said simply.

“Half-immortal.” I corrected. “When half-immortals reach a very old age, like Rhianna, they gradually weaken until they are either destroyed by others or just disappeared. Vanished. I guess we destroyed Rhianna.”

“Yes, you are right.” Mom nodded in approval.

“Also, it never said that she was immortal to anything else, only age.” added Yvonne.

“Why didn’t anyone else try and fight her before then?” asked Elynna.

“They probably couldn’t. She was much more feared in her younger days…” said Aunt Stella. “She’s still feared now. But you destroyed her, so…she’s gone.”

“Well, you’ve shown your worth.” Yvonne stepped towards Elynna. “I now grant you access to Neromagica.”

Elynna expression turned from surprised to utter delight.

“When can we go?” she asked.

“Now, if you want.” replied Yvonne.

Elynna’s eyes lit up with a leaf-green glow, while Yvonne’s lit up sky blue. In an instant, they had disappeared. Then a portal opened up and a letter dropped through it onto the ground.

“My dear Star Lake friends,

I am sorry for what has happened. I will notify the king and queen of what has happened immediately. Meanwhile, you should go cancel the war – please.

Best wishes, Yvonne, the princess of Necromagica, and Elynna, her companion.”

There was silence for a little while.

“Well, I guess this was a happy ending, but what do we do with the Nekros?” asked Willow.

“Please, please forgive me! I’ll go back to my second homeland, Star Lake, but whatever you do, don’t kill me or send me back to that garbage dump Nekros!” pleaded Hurricane.

“You may stay in Star Lake, but you will need to live in a maximum magic-protected house, just in case.” Mom replied calmly.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, your Majesty!” Hurricane thanked my mom.

Mom merely smiled. Aunt Stella nudged Willow forward.

“Aunt Violet, Stellata…” Willow started to say. “I’m sorry. I was possessed, but the part about declaring war… That was the REAL me.”

I looked at Willow.

“Don’t worry. We forgive you.”

Willow suddenly hugged me.

“I’m sorry-I’m sorry-I’m sorry-I’m sorry!” She said, her voice muffled.

I patted her back.

“Maybe you should send a letter of apology to Yvonne and Elynna.”

“Yeah, sure.” Willow pulled away from me, her eyes narrowed.

“No, seriously, Willow. You really should apologise. You almost waged war on Necromagica just because you didn’t really like Yvonne and Elynna!” I replied, shaking my head.

“Okay, okay.” Willow said, taking out a quill from her pocket.

Willow conjured a sheet of creamy parchment, and started writing.

“Dear Yvonne and Elynna,

I am very sorry that I was very rude to you both, and almost waged war on Necromagica.

-Willow”

Willow threw the parchment into the air, where it became a pigeon, and flew until it disappeared into the sky.

“Let’s go home.” I said.

“Mmm. I say we go to the palace and have some apple pie!” Mom suggested.

“Yay!” Willow replied happily.

Aunt Stella nodded, and flew off with Willow trailing behind her.

“What a day.” Mom said, taking off after me.

“Yeah.” I agreed.