WIZARD101 ROLEPLAY

Painty

Sophia

"Dammit," Danielle cursed as her Wraith spell fizzled before her eyes, the once enchanted magic falling to the floor of her wooden cottage and vanishing like magical ashes. She was practicing her spell casting in her castle, which really wasn't much of a castle. Death didn't have the highest accuracy, something that infuriated her to no end.

Nathaniel sighed, watching her from the bed.

It was a nice afternoon; the clouds dancing in the sky and the sun was shining ever so brightly, spreading its warmth over Wizard City. Ronan Song was lying with his hands behind his head on the lush green grass in his backyard of his house in Unicorn Way. Small, wild flowers were growing among the grass and a shadow from a big tree nearby was looming over his bored face, giving him the protection from the bright sunlight. Several beads of sweat found its way down his temple to his short silvery blonde hair and his pale cheeks flushed red from the caress of the sun earlier. He took a deep breath, trying to even out his breathing.

For the past hour, he had been trying to cast the Dark Sprite spell with no avail. After deciding to finish his Ice study, he chose Death as his next focus of study, but on his few weeks of attending the classes, he still hadn't managed to cast one. Being a Theurgist who specialized in Life magic, he wasn't expecting his new studies to go smoothly as it was the exact opposite of his nature. He sighed. Maybe this place was too bright and peaceful he couldn't get the feel of a creature he was about to summon. Maybe he would have to go somewhere dark and cold and creepy so he could understand Death. Mentally approving the idea, he reached for his belt and took his small flute to his mouth.

"Tonight it is," he murmured as he began blowing on the instrument.

Danielle could hear the flute from miles away, grinning at how serene the sound was and how sweetly it was played. "Ronan's playing his flute again," she voiced to her lounging Scarecrow, who merely nodded.

When he came to, the sun had already set and the sky was tinted in dark orange, purple, and blue. He wiped the sleep off of his eyes, feeling his exposed skin stung a little in the cold wind. A little while after he started playing the flute, two sprites had come to him, fluttering around energetically and sang. Their sweet, bell-like voices were so soothing that after a while, he fell asleep.

He sat up and yawned, remembering his plan for the night. He was grateful of his glorious nap; he had never been a night person, so he would need all the energy to stay awake, at least until a little over midnight.

A few hours later, he was ready to go. After saying goodbye's to his uncle and aunt, he set off to the Commons. Nights in there were always lively. Light of many colors twinkled from various crystal street lamps strewn across the area. Wizards went about their merry ways; walking, talking, and lounging

about the Commons pond. If he didn't have to save himself from being a dropout from his Death studies, he would have joined in the crowd enjoying the cloudless night.

He stopped just before the Rainbow Bridge and looked at the waterfall. He had decided to go to Nightside; his Necromancer friend he met at some of his classes had showed him a way to get there, said that the Death Assistant Dworgyn reside there. He had never seen him before but decided that if his skill wasn't improving, he could use some help from him.

Grumbling of how cold the water was on his feet, he drew his wand and formed the Ice symbol. From the million pieces the symbol burst into, there came a glowing shield with a swirl on the surface. He raised his wand above his head, the shield followed his movement, and at the same time he walked through the waterfall to the dark cave beyond.

After teleporting to the Commons in a flourish of skulls, Danielle realized it was only a matter of time before she graduated from the Death School. Her spear, the Sky Iron Hasta, was tapped on everything in its reach as she walked towards the Rainbow Bridge, cursing at how bone-chilling it was. But, it was winter after all.

Now, Ghouls were no longer in Danielle's deck, as she had gotten Vampire and soon acquired Wraith. But Ghouls were useful for small tasks, such as using their bodies as a makeshift umbrella to cross under the waterfall with. And she did just that, thanking the zombie for its help and turning to the door to Nightside.

Marla Stinger, a snooty girl that always seemed to spend her time sitting on the sidewalk trying to research Grubb on the Spiralnet in her spellbook, was doing just that, which was no surprise. There were a few extra minutes left, so Danielle trudged over to Mortis, the Death tree, to just chat with him.

A little spark of whitish energy was the best Ronan could summon. That was some improvement, but still...

He cast his wand aside and threw his back against Mortis the Death Tree who was watching him struggle for the past hour, feeling frustrated, which was showed by the scowl on his temple.

"Give up already, boy?" Mortis asked.

He didn't. The surrounding area did give him the feeling of the essence of Death, but that exact thing was what made him wary. For a person who dealt with living things and maintaining life his whole life, the idea of them dying and decaying was just too much to bear. He was afraid of Death. He was afraid to even think his loved ones dead, he admitted it and that was his very reason of taking Death studies; that is to overcome his fear.

"I think I am just not ready for this yet." He looked up toward Mortis' dead branches and just sat there for a while before he heard footsteps coming his way.

"Not ready for what?" Danielle asked, causing the silvery-blonde-haired boy to look up from his seat on the ground. The voice was feminine, and the figure before Ronan's eyes was a cute girl. Her hair was waist-length and black as the Grandmother Raven, her eyes were a piercing emerald green like his own, and she wore much black and was carrying a spear. A Scarecrow was by her side, playing with its own

head. Scarecrows were Death School only pets, so this girl had to be a Necromancer. "Are you having trouble with your studies?"

Ronan stared at the girl before him, not yet answering her questions. He had seen her before in some of his classes. From the fact that he never saw her in his spell-casting class and her dark-themed outfit plus her creepy pet, he realized that she was a born-Necromancer. He remembered talking to her a few times during class and once she even praised him on his flute playing. It was no surprise to see Necromancers here, but he couldn't help wonder what this girl was doing at this hour.

Remembering her questions, he straightened himself a bit and answered, "What makes you think so?"

"I don't know, I figure maybe a Theurgist might be having some difficulty." Here she motioned to his clothes, which were Theurgist colors. "Don't worry, most Theurgists do. Unless you're not a Theurge and you just dyed your clothes. I'm sorry, I'm just trying to help." she said sheepishly, scratching the back of her head.

"..."

She was a strange girl, Ronan decided after seeing her gestures. But thanks to that, he remembered her name now. She was Danielle Deathblood, who to his observation was a quite shy person. It was nice of her to comfort him, and she was right. Many Theurgists were also having difficulty learning Death magic. But he wouldn't just going to admit that to her, would he? He sighed and got to his feet, noticing that he was a good foot taller than she was.

"Nevermind that. Danielle, right?" he asked, trying to change the topic.

"Right," she beamed, surprised he remembered her name. "And you're Ronan, right? We're in the same Death class."

"Yes, I have noticed. What are you doing here?" he asked, dusting himself off. In his opinion, girls shouldn't be out alone at night.

"Well, I came to return something to Dworgyn, but then I couldn't help but notice you failing at casting a Death spell. I decided to see if you needed some help."

"..."

It seemed like his attempt at changing the topic wasn't successful. He scratched his head through the cloth of his hood and wasn't looking into her eyes before turning to face her again. "So you saw that." His expression didn't change. Apparently that wasn't such a big deal to him. "Well, it would be nice if you do."

"Okay!" Danielle chirped enthusiastically, she took pride in her magical abilities and stood behind him, holding his left arm with her own and his right arm with her own. "Okay, so, what are you trying to cast?"

"..."

He looked at the girl's small hands clasped on his own, cheeks slightly flushed, but still sporting his usual bored look. 'Is this really necessary?' he thought, wondering if Malorn Ashthorn were to do that every time he teach how to cast a spell, that would be weird. He felt Danielle squeeze his right hand, giving him the message to hold onto his wand firmly.

"The Dark Sprite," he answered after some time.

"Okay, so, it's difficult for Theurgists to learn Necromancy. Like with every type of magic, a wizard has to feel the magical energy within themselves. You have to try to channel Death energy. Think of what you want to cast, and just feel. Don't think, just feel. Make sense?"

"Don't think, just feel. Alright."

Ronan closed his eyes as he reached into his surrounding with his senses, feeling the deathly energy in the air, but he felt it the strongest on his arms. Now he get it how Danielle's gestures would help him. Her body had kind of radiated the very energy, and from that, he reached into himself and began looking for one that matched with hers. When he thought that he had hit the spot, he opened his eyes, focusing the energy on his wand and began moving it to form the Death symbol when suddenly...

"Hey, what are you guys doing?"

Now this looked incredibly awkward; Danielle's body up against Ronan's, a serene look in her eyes and a blush on Ronan's cheeks, her head resting on his shoulder to see what he was doing. Slowly turning her head to see who it was, she bit her lip. "Uhm, helping Ronan do Necromancy?"

'Why do I have to meet him of all people now...' a slight scowl formed on Ronan's temple once he saw who it was that had interrupted his training. In front of him, stood a boy of his age wearing all black. His longish messy jet-black hair swaying in the wind. His eyes twinkling playfully, and gosh, that smirk on his face was annoying!

"Jo."

"Ronan. And Danielle." the new boy greeted, smirk ever present.

Joshua Ravendusk was a Necromancer like Danielle, in fact, they were classmates. He was a loud, proud boy who always did reckless things, and who happened to be his friend. Ronan had known him for five years and the black-haired boy had always found ways to get on his nerves, not in a bad way though. That's why, even though they were friends, Ronan didn't want to ask for his help on his Death studies because he knew Jo would tease him to no end for his incompetence. But by his over-amused look on his face, Ronan knew that his current predicament was worse than that.

"Training, huh?" Jo said in overly sweet voice, raising his eyebrow playfully.

"Yeah. N-Now get lost, you're embarrassing us both." Danielle knew she was embarrassed, and she could tell by the ever-present blush on Ronan's cheeks that he was embarrassed, too.

"Really? You don't look like that at all," teased Jo.

Realizing the source of that smirk, Ronan gently let go of his arms off Danielle's grasps and walked forward toward his friend. "She was only helping me summon the Dark Sprite. And I almost made it before you barged in."

"But, but, you could have told me that so I could help you instead. We're friends." Now, Jo had a hard time from keeping himself upright from his suppressed laughter.

"This is exactly why I didn't want to do that, jackass." Ronan's scowl deepened as Jo's attempt failed for he was now laughing his ass off.

Annoyed, Ronan decided that it was no use continuing his training now, so he continued walking toward the Commons, stopping before the dark wood doors to look at still-blushing-Danielle, nodding slightly and hoping his message of gratitude reached her.

Danielle smiled back at him, the smile turning upside into a scowl as she towered over the fallen Jo, who was still laughing. "Are you quite finished now? What did you even want? He really was about to do it, you know."

Jo wiped the tears off his eyes, his laughter subsiding as she looked up at the annoyed Danielle. "Chill, girl. He's going to make it. That monotone guy actually has the nerve to get intimately with a girl is what amused me." He said bluntly, getting up and laughing again upon seeing Danielle's expression.

"Jo, you ass!" Danielle began to walk away towards the doors leading to the Commons, hoping she could maybe find Ronan nearby and talk with him a little more. He was cute, especially when be blushed, and his constant bored expression intrigued her. Classes didn't start again for a little while, so she had time to wander before she had to make it back.

"Sorry for getting in the way of your date!" Jo shouted to the retreating figure of Danielle, sticking his tongue out. He half expected her to come back and smack him on the head, not that he would let that happen. He smiled to himself then. That friend of his could really use some change to his boring life. And that expression he saw earlier, he knew that the Theurgist would not deny it. His smile turned into a smirk then. "Oh, this will be fun! I shall tell Stephen about this!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After he got out of Nightside, Ronan realized that the Commons had become considerably quiet. 'It must have been late,' he thought to himself, scanning the area to see only several people were there. Not having anymore thing to do, he went straight to the tunnel to Unicorn Way, intending to go home. As he was walking there, he couldn't help thinking about his earlier run ins with Danielle and Jo. Jo was like the usual annoying Jo, so he dismissed his friend from his thought almost instantly. Danielle, however, intrigued him. He was quiet most of the times and always keeping to himself, so there weren't many people especially girls who actually interact with him, the Necromancer girl included. She had come to him, lending him a hand (or two) willingly and seemingly enthusiastically. He thought that was a bit weird, unless of course she was that kind of person who blindly helping people in need wherever she goes. Whatever the reason was, he was grateful to have met her.

"Tch...where is he?" Danielle murmured, the bitter winter air biting at her face and hands, prompting her to make her own way home. It's not like she was a stalker or anything like that...

Today was any other typical day for Ronan. He got up early, doing his usual morning exercises and amenities. And like a good student, he arrived at Ravenwood on time, making a beeline toward the Life School. That day's Theurgy session went exceptionally satisfying for him as he managed to summon his first Centaur and made a contract with it. He wished his luck would also pass over to his Necromancy session right after that, but it wasn't really such a downer for all of non-born-Necromancer students Malorn had taught that day had also failed to summon the Dark Sprite.

Long after that session was ended, Ronan was still there sitting leaning on one of Bartleby's great roots and staring ahead overlooking the big chasm where the building of the Death School once had been. It was his favorite place to relax. Bartleby had always rustled his branches when he played his flute, almost as if they were dancing in the tunes he was playing. And he did just that as the serene melody began floating in the air.

"Nice flute-playing," a familiar feminine voice praised, walking through the gate to meet him. When Ronan opened his eyes, he saw that it was Danielle. "Where'd you get it?" Danielle traced the outlines of Ronan's chest on his tunic with her spear, careful not to poke through it.

Ronan felt his instinct take over then. In the blink of an eye, the spear had left Danielle's hand and clanged to the cobblestone(?) path to his right. For once, his expression was serious, jade eyes glared at the surprised girl before him.

"S-Sorry," she stuttered, slowly leaning over to pick up the spear while keeping her eyes on him. "What's wrong? You're not still upset about the Death Sprite thing, are you?" It wasn't often you saw Ronan's expression serious, so Danielle was a little bit nervous.

"What do you think you are doing pointing a weapon to someone like that?" Ronan said, completely ignoring her questions. A few small droplets of blood fell from his right palm where the blade of the spear had cut him as he yanked the thing to the side.

"I wasn't going to hurt a cute little thing like you with it, silly."

"......."

Ronan wasn't sure if he were to feel annoyed or embarrassed, but that "cute little thing" comment was grating on his nerves a bit, especially when it was said by a person that he hadn't known well yet. What's with this girl anyway? One time, she was so nice and helped him, just now she pointed a weapon at him. Although she wasn't serious about it, one doesn't just point their weapon on someone's face for no reason. He shook his head slowly, his usual bored look came back to him. He just couldn't understand her.

He wiped the blood off on his pants and looked back up to Danielle. "So, what's up?"

"I was looking for you, actually," she replied, kneeling down in front of Ronan and placing her spear beside her. "I know I haven't known you for very long, I mean I knew you existed, but I didn't know you, but you're pretty nice. I want to help you with your Death studies some more. I love doing Death magic, being a natural-born Necromancer and all, so why not help you out? Plus, I want a friend to come on adventures with me."

So straightforward...

Ronan narrowed his eyes a little, contemplating her offer. He could absolutely use some help on his studies. Going on adventures, though... Jo had brought him on one before, and it was one of his embarrassing experiences ever. But Danielle didn't look as crazy as that attention-seeker friend of his, how bad could it be with her? He guessed that was okay. And then, one more thing...

"Alright. Just don't ever point that weapon again at me. I don't like it."

"Okay, but if I have to save your life someday, I'm going to point at you. You'll understand if it happens." Danielle then smiled, this boy intrigued her more and more everyday. "So, where'd you get the flute? I like it," she said, pointing to it.

Ronan looked down at his small instrument. It was like any other wooden flute, except for the ivy-like carving round its surface with two actual green leaves on one end. "A friend gave me this. You like music?"

"Music? Yeah, I like music."

'So that's why she likes this flute.' Ronan wondered thoughtfully.

"I never knew a Necromancer who does. Not even Jo." It was usually Theurgists who dealt with musical thing. It was in their nature.

"I guess I'm just different." She smiled, slowly twisting her hand in the air, black magic emanating from it and a soft yet sorrowful tune was heard.

Ronan leaned back on the root and closed his eyes as if concentrating on memorizing it. Although that was only a tune, it was enough to give him a feeling of hopelessness as if it was the dead itself who sang. He wasn't really familiar with such depressed tune as he always produced spirit-raising ones.

Seemingly half aware of what he was doing, he raised his wand, eyes still closed, traced the familiar Death symbol in the air and murmured.

"Dark Sprite."

The evil pixie appeared in front of him, balling up blue magic into her hands and throwing it at Danielle's face in a pixie dust-like burst that had the Necromancer coughing.

Ronan's eyes opened at the sounds of small cackling and coughing. A small smile formed on his lips as he saw the perfectly summoned Dark Sprite fluttering around Danielle who was covering her nose and swatting the blue dust aside. He called on the sprite to stop antagonizing the girl and let it flutter around him instead (without magic dust-throwing of course). He didn't quite want to dismiss it yet, wanting to savor his accomplishment a bit more. He watched as the dark sprite chased some of the normal ones around, who had come when he played his flute earlier, and laughed.

He had finally found a way to learn Necromancy the easy way.

"Y-You did it," Danielle said, coughing a few more times. "You really did it! It looks like you don't need my help after all." There was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Ronan seemed to not notice Danielle's disappointment as he turned to her and said rather cheerfully (just a little bit). "So you really did help after all. I'll need you to play more deathly music for me then." He smiled gratefully.

A pink blush bloomed on Danielle's cheeks. "What? You mean l-like this?" She waved her hand again, fizzy, broken music notes playing the sorrowful music that seemed to activate Ronan's Necromancy abilities.

Ronan laughed again, he was beginning to get comfortable being around this girl. "Not now. I've had enough of depressing moment already." That was partially a lie. Right then he felt great, having succeeded his Necromancy studies (for now) and all. As Danielle stopped her deathly music, he instantly replaced it with a joyful one. The Sprites fluttering around stopped their deadly race and began to sway their heads following the tunes. Even the Dark Sprite seemed to enjoy it as it was being pulled by its counterparts to flutter around again and dance while giggling sweetly.

The two teenagers just sat there enjoying the cheerful moment. Ronan noticed the blush on Danielle's cheeks had become redder as she looked at him playing the flute. He was glad that she enjoyed it. It continued like that for a bit more before a firm male voice sounded.

"Ronan?"

"Yaah!" Startled by the unexpected, gruff voice, she leaped for Ronan, clutching onto him for support before cowering behind him. "Hey, d-don't scare people like that!"

But that person was just Stephen Dawn. His normally serious face was now read 'Are you serious?' when he saw Danielle's reaction. But that was understandable (a bit) considering how he was known among the students. The tall sixteen years old boy was one of the member of the Students Disciplinary Committee. He was really a decent guy with brownish sandy hair and hazel eyes. His demeanor was deemed cool by some people, but his behavior was also disliked by some people. He really lived up to his job's descriptions; making sure nobody break any rules. He was known for his reputation of being a very strict person and just, which were several of many reasons he was chosen to be in Balance school. He patrolled the academy everyday, eyes glinting whenever he found any rule-breaking act. And right now, his eyes did just that.

"Ronan, never before did I think that you of all people would break rule number one." Stephen quickly went on interrogating mode as he looked back and forth between Ronan and Danielle, his arms crossed on his chest. This rule number one being "No dating on school grounds."

"What?" Ronan said simply, bewildered.

"What?!" Danielle repeated right after Ronan, exchanging incredulous looks with him. "Dating? Wha-w-we're not dating."

"You have misunderstood us. We were just training. She helped me." Ronan said, pointing to the Dark Sprite. Danielle nodded almost frantically in response. Stephen smiled to himself, seemingly enjoying himself. He knew immediately after hearing their responses that they weren't guilty. Also he knew that his Theurgist friend would never break any rules on purpose.

"I was just kidding. Anyway, have you two seen Jo? He didn't come back to the dormitory last night."

"Probably out chasing dragons again," Danielle muttered.

"I saw him last night in Nightside. I didn't know for what though." Ronan inputted. The Sorcerer pondered about that for a moment, his hand on his chin. But after a while, he let it go.

"Alright. Knowing him, Danielle is probably right. He'd better be back soon or I will throw him to the Chimera."

However, Jo didn't show up that day, or the day after, or the day after that.

xxxxxx

"Dammit!" Danielle cursed after finding out that once again, Jo hadn't returned. "Where the hell is he?!" Her anger was fueled by worry, she wanted him back home safe. He got on her nerves on occasion, but she never wished for him to go missing. Waving her Necromancy-concentrated hand in the air, she began to create sorrowful tunes to lull Nathaniel to sleep for an afternoon nap. Rolling over to press her cheek into her pillow, she was about to drift off herself when a letter appeared on her desk, flames dancing around it before they vanished.

"Huh?" Hopping off the bed, Danielle picked up the letter and opened it.

'Danielle Deathblood,

I've found something here that would be of interest to you. Come to Dragon's Mouth Cave, I think I might know where your friend is.

-Scarlet'

Attached to the letter was a picture of Jo's broken wand*.

Even if it were a prank, missing without a word for three days was just too much. Ronan had joined in with Stephen to look for the Necromancer after a day of his disappearance without success. They have searched everywhere in Wizard City and asked practically everybody for his whereabouts, but still they haven't got a clue. You can tell how worried the two were; Ronan haven't played his flute again ever since and for once, Stephen was not the strict Stephen but more like the grumpy Stephen. Just like Ronan, he was a very close friend to Jo ever since the black-haired boy came to Wizard City from Earth. The Sorcerer kept muttering threats to the missing boy every once in a while, but Ronan knew that it was just his way to express his worry.

That afternoon, they came back from Olde Town, feeling no better than the last two days. The two were just passing the Headmaster's Office when they heard a familiar female voice calling.

"Hey!"

"Ronan! Stephen! Follow me!"

Now, Danielle had never steered either of the boys wrong before, but they were in the middle of a find-and-rescue mission and whatever Danielle was trying to show them seemed unimportant at the time.

"I have a lead on where Jo might be!" And she took off running for Golem Court, expecting the other two to follow her.

Their heads perked up as they heard the mention of Jo's name, and in a flash, they have caught up with her, running on either side of her. After all this time searching without any result at all, Stephen couldn't help being curious.

"How-- how do you know?" he asked between breaths as he looked at Danielle.

"Someone by the name of Scarlet sent me a letter in my cottage!"

Both Ronan and Stephen quickly wondered who this Scarlet person was, but there were many Scarlet's in school plus they were exhausted from searching all morning that it seemed to affect their ability to remember things. Danielle had told them that they were heading to the Dragon's Mouth Cave and when they reached the Fairegrounds, Stephen had had enough and stopped his companions. He took out his citrine wand and flicked it. A moment later, three flying brooms materialized in front of him. It would be much more easier with mounts since the place they were gonna go to was still fairly far. He handed each of them one. Wasting no time, they quickly mounted and zoomed off toward the tunnel to Golem Court.

Once they arrived in Golem Court, the three noticed a red-haired girl standing by the broken entrance to Dragon's Mouth, assuming that was Scarlet. She was tapping her foot as if waiting for someone.

The three approached her and mounted off their brooms once they got near. Danielle quickly walked to her, followed by Ronan while Stephen enchanting the brooms to disappear. He heard Danielle's voice asking, "Scarlet?"

The redhead perked up at the sound of her name, then smiled warmly at the Necromancer. "You must be Danielle. I see you brought your friends. Right then, let's get a move on." Scarlet trudged in, leading the three others into the cave. Waving her wand over the sacred fire and muttering something in Latin, the fire went out for a few seconds, shrouding the cave in darkness. Seconds later, torches on the walls of a hidden entrance began to light up, and Scarlet went forward.

The three had their mouths slightly open; they didn't know there was a secret passage in the cave. Being a naturally quiet person, Ronan had stayed quiet most of the times, keeping his thoughts to himself. He didn't need to ask questions as that part was covered by Danielle and Stephen.

"Is Jo in here?" Stephen asked as the three trudged after the Pyromancer into the warm cave.

"I don't know. We'll find out," replied Scarlet, whose flame orange orbs flickered about the one-way cave like a dancing flame. It was a simple cave, nowhere to go but forward or back. Torch after torch was lit on the walls, and despite its simplicity, the cave was ominous.

Ronan shuddered. The cave was wide enough for two people to walk side by side, but Ronan felt like he was suffocating in there. He could feel the ominous energy in the air almost made him gag; Nightside was nothing compared to this, even Danielle was a bit nervous. Putting that thought aside, his mind wandered back to Jo. For him to end up in this place was not such a surprise since he liked doing crazy things, but even him would know his limits. Even if he was stubborn, his wand would still be with him and not left behind and broken. All they knew at the time was that his life was in danger.

"You guys good back there?" Scarlet asked, beginning to speed up as a clearing became visible in the distance.

Ronan snapped out of his thoughts hearing Scarlet's voice, but it was Stephen who answered.

"Y-yeah," he said, trying to hide his uneasiness. "What's this place anyway?" He didn't have any knowledge about it, he wondered if only Pyromancers know of its existence.

Scarlet chuckled, slowing to a walk once more when they reached the clearing. "Well, what we just walked through was the Catacombs. Entering the clearing, she grinned at the gaping mouths of the three beside her.

"Where are we?" Danielle asked, awestruck. The area they had entered was a large Fire-themed arena, with statues of Helephants and Dragons all around. It resembled a small football field, with torches near the corners. It felt the slightest bit ominous, but Danielle was honestly more concerned with the electricity sparking from the supposed-Pyromancer's twitching hands. It was a bit peculiar to see a Pyromancer wearing all purple clothing, but it could've been dyed.

"Cave autem tactas," Scarlet told them. "Cave of the Incinerated."

That name sent a shiver down Danielle's spine. Exchanging nervous glances with the boys, she murmured, "You mean people have died in here."

"They sure as hell have. Now come on, let's keep going."

Now, no wonder the air was thick with death. The boys inspected the surrounding area in full alert while they followed Scarlet to wherever it was she was taking them to. The silence aside from their light footsteps and small cackles of the flames on the torches was deafening. Their hands grasped at their wands, or spear in Danielle's case, ready just in case something would jump at them; the name of the cave alone enough to teach them to set their guards up.

"A-Are we getting closer to where Jo is?" Danielle murmured nervously, her anxiety manifesting into panic as they were lead into a dead end.

The electricity at Scarlet's fingers intensified, and Danielle couldn't help but whip out her spear and point it at Scarlet. Whipping around, the electrified Pyromancer(?) pointed a charged finger at Ronan,

literally discharging the silvery blonde-haired boy until he collapsed. Apparently this 'Scarlet' was a Diviner.

"You three are so gullible!" she cackled, raising her sparking hand in the air as Danielle rushed to Ronan's side. "I'm not even Scarlet, both she and Jo will suffer the same fate at the hands of my master! My name is Tyu, my master had me look like Scarlet in order to deceive you three. And I will kill you here and now! AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Everything went by so fast Ronan didn't get the time to process what was happening until he was momentarily paralized on the ground, body twitching occasionally from the lightning bolt that had hit him. He was too busy getting wary of his surroundings to realize the danger close at hand. Eyes still snapped shut, he felt someone shaking his shoulders lightly and calling for his name. It was Danielle.

Stephen was just as dumbstruck as his Theurgist friend was, but was quickly sprang into action. He rushed forward in front of Danielle and the fallen Ronan and sent an orange-y energy flying from his wand toward the laughing girl, gritting his teeth when she managed to avoid the magic blast.

"You! Why are you doing this!?" he demanded angrily.

"My master is after the five of you. He's merely a spirit speaking through a black Wooden Construct, but the puppet also plays the role of the puppetmaster."

Panicked, Danielle began to shake Ronan more frantically, calling for him to wake up. Grapping her spear, she planted a Storm Shield card down and casted it. She couldn't afford to have Ronan be shocked again, or even herself. "I'll give you one, too, Steph!"

"You all are sacrifices," Tyu cooed, sitting on a small raincloud. “Ronan's magical flute and Ronan himself both hold powers over Life that not many, even the Life professor, have or ever get." Her sentences were broken up by bursts of lightning bolts and Storm spells.

"Danielle has a great understanding, and therefore a great power, over Death, that again, many don't have or ever get." ZAP! Lightning bolt.

"You, Stephen," she paused to cackle at his newly-acquired storm shield, "have a leader's heart and mind, and so those will be removed from your body." Lightning bats. Danielle struggled to keep the storm shield up.

"Scarlet was the only one who knew about the Cave of the Incinerated, and it was the perfect place to hatch the plan. Unbeknownst to me, she had followed me, and I was forced to keep her here as well. But as the protector of the cave, I guess you can't blame her for being suspicious." Lightning bolt.

"And lastly, Jo. The most important, he'll be playing host as my master's new body once everything's complete."

Stephen mentally thanked Danielle for giving him the shield. This Tyu girl was pretty powerful by keep releasing strong magics like that at them. Defeating her would be difficult unless maybe if they worked together, but Ronan was still down. He looked back at Danielle, who was giving her all to support three shields at once, her breaths quickened from the effort; she was in no way attacking while defending at

the same time. Multiple cracks were forming on the shields and Stephen realized with dismay that it wouldn't hold much longer. Despite knowing what malicious plans the Diviner had for him and his friends, he knew they had to retreat for now. He closed his eyes and concentrated, drawing the Balance scale symbol with his wand. A faint rumble among the cackle of the lightning around was heard and suddenly sand was flying to the direction where Tyu was, before forming into a big sandstorm. It hit her, toppling her off her miniature raincloud. She screamed while holding her eyes, wiping them frantically to rid of the sand that got into them.

The lightning assault had stopped.

'It's now or never.'

Stephen darted back and kneeled beside Ronan to pick him up. He slung the boy's weakened arm over his shoulders and said quickly to Danielle, "Let's get him somewhere safe for now. I saw several chambers on our way here earlier."

Danielle nodded in agreement, scrambling to her feet and darting back the way they came. Her emerald eyes locked on what seemed to be an entrance to somewhere, perhaps one of the chambers Stephen had mentioned before. Lashing out her spear with an angry cry, a powerful blast of Death magic destroyed the boulders blocking the way and they made their way in.

They stumbled over the darkness of the room, dare not to make even a flicker of light. Danielle had walked in front, hugging the cave wall. They found out that it had branched out to another room and went that way, only then did they finally make a light. With the help of the small ball of light around, they knew that the room was fairly empty.

Stephen set Ronan down against the wall. The Theurgist was conscious the entire time, but he was still paralized, unable to even open his eyes. He didn't expect that a mere lightning bolt could be that strong. Someone grabbed his hand, Stephen by the feels of it, and soon he felt warmth seeping from the touch and up to his arm and then to his entire body. Suddenly his eyes didn't feel as heavy as before.

Stephen let go of his hand, a faint light of orange energy lingered on it, and threw himself against the wall next to Ronan with a long sigh. Danielle was kneeling next to the Theurgist, and when Stephen saw the worry look on her face, he said quietly, "Don't worry, the healing takes time but he should be awake soon."

"Okay." Carefully she sat down next to Ronan, unaware that he was still conscious, and rested her head on his shoulder. Hopefully Tyu wouldn't find them, and they could get a moment's rest...

The wait and suspense was maddening. They perked up at every sound, their hands still gripping at their weapons, and quickly felt restless. The only little comfort they had was that there weren't footsteps coming their way just yet. On the other hand, now that they were all seated up, Stephen had more time to ponder about the recent occurrences. That crazy girl had said that they were targeted by a "Master" which was really a spirit. Who was this master? He, Stephen supposed the Master was a male, needed to kill all of them as sacrifices and then use Jo's body as his new host. He also had the real Scarlet as a hostage. This was really troubling, the situation was dead serious. Tyu seemed like a very high leveled wizard and to see that powerful person was commanded by a Master, then that meant he was an even more elite than her. They needed to go seek for the Professors' help, but even Stephen couldn't

remember the way to where they originally started due to the many twists and turns Tyu had brought them through. Then again, they couldn't just leave Scarlet and Jo alone in their grasps. Tyu had mentioned that she had kept the Pyromancer here and maybe Jo was being kept here too. Once Ronan woke up, it would be three versus one with the Diviner. Maybe they could stand a chance...

"What do we do next?" he asked himself aloud.

Danielle was irritable; she was tired and scared. Tyu could be anywhere, Ronan still hadn't opened his eyes, and--

*grumble grumble*

--she was hungry.

"Ah...I wonder if pet snacks taste any good..." she wondered to herself, reaching into her hammerspace pocket for a blonde strawberry.

Stephen stared at Danielle with his mouth slightly open. At a time like this....

But then he supposed they would need all the energy they could get. He poked Danielle on the arm and asked for a strawberry. As they were munching on their food, Ronan opened his eyes at last while letting out a low groan.

"Ronan? Are you okay?" Danielle's hand shot towards his forehead, feeling his temperature.

"I'll be fine," he said slowly, lifting his head up a bit; Stephen's healing spell had beginning to take its full effect now. "Where are we? Where is she?"

"Tyu? Stephen caught her in a Sandstorm; we don't know where she is now. She could be anywhere."

A loud explosion outside the chamber caused all three of them to cover their ears and hold their breaths to avoid inhaling the dust. "Where are you three?!" they heard Tyu scream. She sounded pissed.

"We're in stormy waters now," Danielle muttered, not even cracking a ghost of a smile at her intended pun.

"This isn't good. She's going to find us at this rate if we keep staying here," Stephen said, then he turned to Ronan. "Do you think you can move around now?"

Ronan nodded. That was good; The Sorcerer had tried to teleport earlier, but it seemed that there was a magic preventing a wizard to teleport in and out of this place, so they had no choice but to move around the normal way. "We have to think of something to rescue Scarlet and Jo, and a strategy to fight her." Stephen referring to the one whose footsteps were getting closer and closer to where they were hiding now.

"Well, we've gotta think fast! She'll find us any--"

A lightning bolt flashed before Danielle's eyes--literally. Lunging for her spear, she sent a powerful blast of Death magic against the second incoming bolt, crying out from the minor but painful aftershock. Tyu was a powerful Diviner. Her purple cape fluttered with every explosion, giving off a heroic appearance--but there was nothing heroic about her.

"Come on, you three! The magic-draining process will hurt a lot less when you're dead!" Tyu cackled, her apperance changing as she spoke. Her originally flame orange eyes were now a light pink and her redhead was now lime green. Her expression was flirty and she began to purr, "Ronan..."

Danielle didn't like her tone one little bit.

"I wish I didn't have to kill you, Ronan. You're really cute..."

Ronan responded with a strong blast of green energy at her chest, returning the favor from earlier and earning Danielle a small smirk on her face. He had stood up, albeit wobbly a bit, his expression was hard. The Diviner staggered back from the blast but she recovered fast as if nothing had happened. Just as she was about to throw another bolt, a swarm of locusts hit her in the face. As she roared in annoyance, the three slipped past her outside to the much open space; they didn't want to be like cornered rats in that chamber.

"Go forward! We have to find Scarlet and Jo!"

That's right, except that they didn't have any idea of where the two were being held. This cave was like a maze the deeper they went in and as they were running, they could see forks of paths everywhere. Having no other choice, they started shouting for Scarlet and Jo's names.

----

...What time was it? How long had they been hooked up to this machine? I mean, all the elapsed time was perfect for naps and the like, but honestly...

Scarlet's pod was connected to an empty pod, which was connected to Jo's pod, which was connected to two other empty pods. Jo's pod was the largest.

"?Find them, find them?" she heard the black puppet mutter from his throne across the room. "?Bring them, bring them, bring them here?"

The tune was so simple yet so unnerving at the same time. "Jo?" Scarlet called, only serving to relieve herself that she wasn't the only one hearing it.

"?Children, children, face your fate, back against the wall, no escape?""?Theurgist, Necromancer, boy, girl, together in Hell, a whole new world?""?Sorcerer's balance, Pyromancer's flame, burn alive but split the pain?""?Necro boy, my new host, say goodnight, you're all toast?"

Jo fumed in his restraints, he had long been since given up trying to free himself from his accursed pod. He had woken up with a terrible headache and a great deal of confusion two days ago. He had screamed profanities, a lot, demanding to be released, but the puppet mostly just stayed in his throne and ignored

him. Now with his throat dry and stomach empty and body fatigued from lack of exercises, he could only sit there sending deathly glares toward the puppet, wishing he were The Cyclops. And no, not the one-eyed idiot of the Myth creature, but one of those X-Men dudes, so he would be able to break free and incinerate the wretched wooden construct.

And God, that song was annoying!

It gave him chills the first time honestly, thinking he was doomed, but then it got on his nerves hearing it over and over.

"Shut up! Why can't you just get us Linkin Park or something to hear on?" he complained, voice hoarse.

"You can listen to Linkin Park all you want in Hell," Malachai, the puppet, snapped. "Tyu should return soon with your other three friends, if not, I'll have to send in some help..."

Scarlet sighed, she had been rationing the small portions of the food she and Jo had been given over the 3-day time period, and Jo had been given less than she was. Malnutrition lead to weakness and sickness, which meant Jo's soul wouldn't put up much of a fight when the body switching process commenced. His stomach growled often, he was pretty weak as it was, and his eyes were well on their way to lifelessness.

A small hole on the side of the pod, usually used to transmit fluids into other pods, was just the right size for Scarlet to pop a few blonde strawberries and a crunch apple for Jo to munch on. "Here," she whispered. Malachai had begun singing again, so he hadn't noticed.

"Shitty bastard!" the Necromancer cursed silently. Then he noticed the strawberries on the seat beside him. She did it again...

He turned his head sideways toward the smaller pod where the redhead was in. He had only known her for as long as they were being held here, but she was always being nice to him even though her body itself must have felt the same as him. He closed his eyes for a while, trying to withstand the wave of dizziness that came at him from dehydration. He was surprised of the effect it had on his body; the ever warm cave didn't help his predicament. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself locking gazes with the girl.

"You don't have to do that, you know?" he whispered back hoarsely.

"Yes, I do. Fruits are healthy for you and so is their juice. You get fed less than I do and you haven't had a drop of water the whole time we've been here. You are not dying on me."

The black-haired boy just stared at the girl for a while. Normally, he would never accept other people pitying him, hell he would even lash out at them for daring to underestimate him. He was just that proud. However, after all his time in here along with his body growing weaker and weaker, that didn't matter anymore. His little spirit shouting encouragement to survive was about to be snuffed out; he was beginning to resign himself to his doomed fate. But after what Scarlet had done to him, it gave him a new resolve. He could not owe anyone favors, so he was going to return it someday. He was going to save her if that was the last thing he could do.

"Thanks," Jo said sincerely, picking up the fruits, a small smile tugged on his pale face.

"Oh? Hear that?" Malachai perked up, holding a hand to his nonexistent ear. The puppet barely moved, so it was honestly a bit strange to see him holding up his arm. "You don't hear a thing, do you? Exactly. Someone must be dead..."

Jo's heart fell, his food forgotten. There was someone here? He was pretty confident that the puppet was just bluffing, and that he and his cronies would not be able to kidnap and kill whoever he said "his friends" were with Ambrose and all the Professors watching. Surely they had raised the security while he and Scarlet went missing? The puppet must have found a way to lure them here. He knew his friends would come right away to save him when they heard where he was being held.

"No... You bastard!" Jo had somehow found a new vigor. He smacked the glass on his pod repeatedly with his fists. "You can kill me, have my body, whatever, but let them all go! They have nothing to do with this! You don't need their magics if I willingly submit to you!" A few drops of tears fell from the corners of his eyes from his desperation. Though he knew that was no use if his friends were already dead, he kept repeating his words until his throat hurt.

"Mm? You'll willingly submit to me, all your magical power included? Because they might still be alive, somewhere in the shadows. You never know."

"J-Jo, no, you can't agree to this," Scarlet whimpered. "He's probably baiting you, you're just one Necromancer, whst makes you think he'll be satisfied? He's a Death monster*!"

Jo bit his lower lip so hard he was drawing blood. He knew Scarlet was right, but either way, they were still doomed. If he didn't agree, his friends would still be brought here and they would be all gone. However, if he agreed, at least he would be able to save them. He didn't know if he was at the right position to make demands, but he could try to ask. After they were free, they could go to Ambrose to inform him and ultimately put a stop to his new personality from making anymore sacrifices.

His fists, that were still pressed on the glass, were visibly trembling. His throat betrayed his brain from making the one word. Finally, after some painful moments, he forced himself to speak.

"Yes... But I want you to make sure my friends are safe back at Ravenwood. And," he looked at Scarlet then. "release her this instant."

"Jo! Don't be stupid, it's not going to work out how you think! He's gonna--oof!"

Scarlet's warning was interrupted by her pod opening, causing her to bodily fall out.

Malachai seemed to be in agreement, but was he really...?

Jo watched as Scarlet struggled to get on her feet, only halfway listening of how Malachai said he would call off Tyu and let his friends go. They locked gazes once again. The look she was giving him had mixed emotions in it and he purposely turned away as Malachai literally shoo-ed her away to her freedom. When he looked again, Scarlet was gone. A small smile formed on his lips as he closed his eyes. Good, he had returned the favor. Now he had no more regret left to embrace Death...

Unbeknownst to him, Malachai had a smirk stretched wide on his wooden face.

xxxxxxxx

Meanwhile, Stephen, Danielle, and Ronan were still playing a deadly game of tag with a pissed off Tyu. Explosions went off just behind them from wild lightning bolts. They were already out of breath, but they could not afford to stop. In such situation, Ronan's admiration for Danielle's ability grew. She had tried to feel Jo's Deathly presence to locate him, but instead she found a much stronger presence which could only mean it belonged to the "Master". If the Master was going to make Jo a host, there was a big chance that he was there with the hostages. They had been following it ever since, and being able to concentrate while running for their lives was an impressive feat on the Necromancer girl's part.

They were just turned at a corner when they noticed a figure of a staggering redhead ahead.

"You guys!" they heard the redhead call, a little more running and they could see it was Scarlet. "Go get Jo! Malachai made him think we would all be set free!"

"Malachai?" The name was unfamiliar on Danielle's tongue.

"The puppet! The Master! Just go! You have to save him! I know these caves better than anyone, I'll lead Tyu away. Just go save Jo!"

Scarlet's frantic pleas told them of how dire the situation was. He might not look like it, but Jo was very loyal to his friends and they knew he would do anything to protect his friends' lives. Stephen's fists clenched, his mouth quivered, his expression determined.

"DAMN IT!" and with that, the Sorcerer took off running to the direction where Scarlet came with Danielle following behind him. Ronan also wanted to barge in there and strangled the one called Malachai, but he stayed behind for a while taking in Scarlet's condition. She was clearly not at her best condition, so if she was about to do what she said she would do, she would need a little assistance.

"Here, take this," Ronan said, handing her his wand. "And thank you."

He took off running after his friends then.

Ronan was gone before Scarlet had a chance to thank him as well, watching the three friends bolt through the cave. An explosion near her startled her out of her thoughts, remembering that a crazed and powerful Diviner was after them all. "Come on!" she shouted, taking off into a cave different from the one Danielle, Stephen, and Ronan ran into.

~~~~

"We're close! I can feel Jo's energy! He's really weak!" Danielle cried, practically out of breath but she couldn't stop, not when they were so close. But she couldn't help but feel fear in the back of her mind. This puppet, Malachai, was the Master. He commanded Tyu, who was so advanced in her magic that she could create devastating thunderbolts that rivaled Professor Balestrom's. He had to be more powerful than she was if he pulled her strings. And honestly, she was afraid that the three of them wouldn't be able to defeat him.

The path they were running into was becoming wider and wider and off in the distance, they could see a large door made of rock. That had to be their destination. Without stopping, Stephen raised his wand and blasted the door to bits. The falling debris didn't bother them as they ran through. After some time, they came to a place with a lot of beeping machines. The most noticeable features were the five pods big enough for each of them, and Jo, whose body was glowing and floating off the ground along with a black wooden construct.

The three newcomers stared at them in horror; the body-switching process was commencing.

"JO!"

"Open your eyes for one last time, Jo. Don't you want to say goodbye to your friends?" Malachai grinned as Jo's eyes fluttered weakly, droopy and barely open as if he was just woken up. Using Jo's Death magic as his own, the puppet created black tendrils that sharpened to a point and went to stab at the three friends. Danielle only had time to put up one death shield around Stephen, running in front of Ronan to protect him.

She ended up getting stabbed with two tendrils, her attire from the stomach down becoming drenched in blood. A cry of agony left her lips, but she managed to stand her ground for a few seconds longer to make sure if Malachai wanted to get to Ronan, he was going to have to go through her--literally.

"N--No..."

Jo's weak droopy eyes had become considerably wider seeing the fact unfurling before him, of Danielle's small body collapsed like a doll that lost its strings, of the deep, scarlet liquid flowing freely from the wounds that he made. Had this been what he was agreeing for? He never wanted this! Using the last ounce of his willpower, he began to struggle to barricade himself from the intruding alien sapping his consciousness and magical power. It was a weak attempt that the puppet didn't even notice the resistance. It was weak, at first.

Stephen and Ronan were speechless, eyes widen in horror as Danielle lay sputtering blood in Ronan's arms. Snarling in pure rage, Stephen began to lash out many magic blasts toward the puppet, which he easily deflected using Jo's magic. His maniacal laughter serving only to double the Sorcerer's attempts and fury.

Ronan felt a tear falling from the corner of his eye. Danielle was smiling despite the agony. Numerous questions flashing on his mind. Why did she take the hit? Why was she always trying to protect him? Why... Why was she smiling? Little by little, his expression changed from a shocked one to rage. Ronan lost his cool then. He pulled out his flute and casted a Satyr.

"Please. Take care of her wounds." his voice sounded automatic, like a robot, but his eyes clearly wanted blood.

"Thanks..." Danielle murmured the best she could in Ronan's arms, upset that both she and Ronan would be recovering from injuries now. Malachai was easily fending Stephen off, tendrils swiping at and banging at the nearly-destroyed death shield.

Ronan carefully set the injured girl on the ground, trusting her safety to the Satyr, and stood up. Flute gripped hard on his fist as he walked toward the battlefield. At the time, Stephen's shield was finally shattered after receiving a powerful lash and the Sorcerer himself was sent flying before his back got smashed on one of the pod.

The Theurgist had had enough. 'Protect his friends, kill the puppet' was what filled his mind now. Seemingly went on a trance, he did several swipes of his flute. A Sprite materialized, which he directly sent toward Stephen. A second later, two Legend Shields appeared for his friends' defenses. His eyes went up to Jo's limp form still floating in the air and then set on the laughing puppet. His jaw set as he brought the flute to his lips. The tunes floating off of it was nothing like what it produced so far, it was by no means gentle and nurturing, and ones could easily depict its meaning as "Destroy. Destroy. Destroy."

The ground started to tremble then, like there were a dozen of snakes moving underground. The Satyr tending to Danielle looked at Ronan with a sad look and concern mixed in. "Ronan..."

"Ronan, he'll--ulp--" Danielle's speech was interrupted by oncoming blood that splattered from her mouth, but she quickly cleaned her mouth with her sleeve. "He's going to kill you!"

"Are you going to try something, little Theurgist? Upset that your girlfriend is going to bleed to death? Come on then."

But Ronan was beyond caring. He kept playing the flute and the ground kept trembling, although that wasn't affecting the puppet a bit. The abomination then sent a tendril at the defenseless boy, it was strangely slower and dull at the tip.

"SHIT!" Stephen who was already recovered from his fall threw himself in front of his friend and blasted a Spectral Blast at the incoming attack. It cancelled each other out, but The Sorcerer was more concerned about his friend. The Sprite he summoned earlier, along with the Satyr and the shields were still up, and he was clearly attempting to do something now. If he kept releasing magic like that... "Ronan, stop! Whatever you are doing, stop it!" Stephen shouted over all the noise.

The Satyr, who was still releasing healing magic on Danielle was shaking his head in a sad manner, earning the Necromancer a confused look. "This is not good. What he is releasing is raw magic, it is by no means controlled and it drains his mana faster. If he released more than what he can afford, he... he could die."

Emerald orbs snapped wide open from their half-lidded state, Danielle's throat searching for her voice to scream. "RONAN! STOP! YOU'RE GONNA..." Whether Malachai did it or he did it himself, either way, this boy was going to get himself killed!

Ronan's eyes were bloodshot and focused at the puppet, the look nothing short of rage. Nothing could stop him. Nothing.

The ground shook harder, even the walls did also. Realizing that it was no use screaming, Stephen lunged for him. The flute, if only he could make him stop playing the flute...

But the ground chose that time to erupt. Multiple giant vines sprouted up from the ground, walls, and ceiling, writhing and lashing their way closer to Malachai. One had caught Stephen causing him to be thrown to the side, effectively stopping his attempt; the Sprite Ronan summoned earlier fluttered around him and healing his every scratch, but Stephen did not care. He had to stop Ronan no matter what!

Two of the vines lashed out at the puppet, breaking his spell over Jo and causing the barely conscious boy to stop glowing and fall to the ground. If Malachai had taken the Theurgist lightly before, he sure as hell wouldn't now.

Malachai chuckled darkly. "You're stronger than I thought. I suppose I'll have to get serious now..." Pointing his black wooden hand towards the Satyr healing Danielle, a lightning bolt shot out of his index finger, shocking and instantly killing the Satyr. The Necromancer shrieked from the explosion, covering her ducked head. She managed to see Ronan through the smoke; he was still playing the flute. That was it, that flute had to go!

Lunging for the ground, she lifted herself up and charged, spear gripped tightly in her hands, avoiding gargantuan vines she knew she couldn't cut, until she was close enough. She raised her spear, about to whack the flute from the Theurgist's hands.

Suddenly, numerous tree warriors were raised from the vines, and a certain spear clanged uselessly in front of him. Ronan's flute playing had become more and more intense as his fury rocketed like a volcano. How dare he killed his friend, his dear childhood friend! If he wasn't playing the instrument, he would most likely screamed his fury off. The magic he was releasing was more apparent now with a green aura around his body, but along with that, the toll had also shown on his feature; the boy seemed to have trouble standing upright.

The tree warriors joined the vines to attack Malachai, who kept deflecting them with his lightning bolts. It didn't quite effective as more and more magical vegetation kept coming at him. It was even more difficult for Stephen to approach Ronan now with the tree warriors swarming him, but he saw Danielle standing nearby. There was still chance, she could certainly do it!

"DANIELLE, STOP HIM!"

"Yes, you had better stop him, or she dies."

Whipping around at the new familiar voice, they saw Tyu standing at the vine-covered entrance with a beaten-up Scarlet put in a headlock.

There was only one other way Danielle could think of to stop him. It was going to hurt her more than it would hurt him, but under whatever circumstances, he had to stop!

Gripping her spear once more, she sliced Ronan across the stomach, flute falling from his hands along with blood from his mouth before he collapsed. "Ronan, I'm sorry!" She hoped it wasn't that deep, it wasn't the ideal thing to do, but he had stopped playing, at least.

Ronan didn't know what had hit him before he collapsed. The raging vines stopped moving abruptly as if frozen in the air and the tree warriors along with the Sprite fluttering around Stephen had vanished,

having no more magic to sustain them anymore. Everything had suddenly become quiet. One problem had been solved, but now, their situation had worsen. Danielle was only partly healed, Jo was out of the count, and Stephen himself clearly couldn't fight the Master and Tyu together.

They were once again doomed.

Sat at Ronan's side with a body still too battered to fight anyone, Danielle gazed at the mess the large room had turned into. Jo was unconscious, Scarlet was beaten up and paralyzed, Stephen had a few broken bones from being thrown around so much, and Ronan's body was weakened and bleeding. Tyu stood a good few feet away from her and Ronan, fists crackling. One of Malachai's fists was crackling with electricity, the other with darkness.

Ronan was a skilled Theurgist, smart and strong, there was no doubt in Danielle's mind that he could take on both Tyu and Malachai if he had to. If he could just control himself while using his flute! Despite his earlier rampage, Danielle had to save him. There was a forbidden spell she knew of, only Necromancers could cast it. It would save Ronan, but at a cost...

She leaned over his weak body, his pained, half-lidded eyes held some confusion in them. She captured his lips with her own, drawing the Death symbol on the floor with her finger. This forbidden spell was "Sacrifice Kiss", where a Necromancer 'breathed life' into someone else through a kiss, but at the cost of their own life.

"I need you to control yourself, Ronan. You can defeat them, I believe in you. I really like you, so of course I believe in you. You can do this." Those encouraging words were murmured into the kiss before she fell onto his chest.

Ronan could feel his body recovering, his magic returning, and his vision clearing. But the latter was soon becoming blurry as Danielle's words sank in. He understood now. She kept endangering her life to save him because she liked him. Him, who was dense enough not to notice. He sat up and embraced her limp body, tears flowing freely now from his eyes. He could not feel life inside of the girl.

She was gone. Dead.

And it was all his fault.

Stephen had tears on his eyes as well. Everything was forgotten due to the grief. Malachai's laughter was what snap him back to reality. The puppet was now towering over the fallen Jo, whose body was glowing and began to float again. He was going to continue his unfinished work earlier...

"Are you ready yet?" Tyu asked, bored and wanting to fight.

'DAMN IT! DAMN IT! Was this all for nothing? Are we all going to die here?' Stephen cursed mentally, feeling utterly useless. His body hurt all over; the Sprite could only heal so much, but not mending broken bones. After watching Ronan almost killed himself, and Danielle sacrificing her life to save him, he knew he could not complain about his minor injuries, but still he hated himself for being unable to do anything. He looked at Ronan, who was still deep in his grief of the death of the Necromancer and seemingly didn't care about anything at all. Not even when Tyu approached them with a crazed and bloodthirsty grin on her face and cackling electricity on her hands.

And then, the screaming began. Everybody, even Scarlet, stopped whatever they were doing and turned toward Malachai and Jo, the screaming was coming from the latter. It was a terrible, heart-wrenching scream that stabbed at your soul. They all knew that the body-switching process was almost complete. More tears were falling from both Ronan and Stephen's eyes, their shouts of desperation were easily drowned by the hoarse, pitiful voice.

And then, there was an explosion and some pieces of wood could be seen flying from where Malachai had been.

At the entrance, stood Merle Ambrose, Cyrus Drake, and Moolinda Wu. The former had his staff raised and eye glinted in anger.

Malachai frowned. Despite the process being almost complete, Ambrose would prove to be somewhat of a problem. "Tyu, save those kids for last. Handle this."

Tyu smirked. "This looks like fun." She could notice a few raised eyebrows from how she was dressed; her purple shirt was a long-sleeved midriff, she wore a purple pleated miniskirt, and purple boots. It was a bit promiscuous, to say the least.

"Let's start the game!" Bolts of lightning flew at the professors and headmaster, strong ones but not as strong as Malachai's.

Cyrus Drake swiftly swiped his wand, multiple slashes of yellow energy released and countered the lightning bolts. He was taken aback slightly upon realizing that they were evenly matched with his own attacks. Who was this girl really?

Meanwhile the poor kids who were right on the way of the clashing spells could only duck, trying to make themselves as flat to the ground as possible. Multiple green shields were hovering around Ronan, Scarlet, and Stephen and they could hear Professor Moolinda Wu calling for them. Ronan scrambled to his feet, grabbing his flute nearby and carried Danielle's body toward the Life Professor. Stephen meanwhile felt a stabbing pain on his ribs as he stood up, but he managed to get to Scarlet and helped her get to the professor as well.

Professor Wu was so shocked to see them covered in so much blood. "Oh my Bartleby! What have they done to you all?" In one swift movement, she dismissed the shields and soon three Fairies appeared and fluttered around them, spreading their healing magic. She noticed Ronan didn't make any attempt to let go of Danielle. "Young Wizard, put her down here so I can heal her." She immediately knew something was wrong when they responded with silence.

"She is dead." Even only saying the words made Ronan's heart torn.

The Life Professor had her hands (hooves?) immediately covering her mouth in shock. Ambrose, who was silently observing them, turned to the half-broken puppet, wrinkled face contorted in anger.

"How dare you hurt my students! Who are you?!"

"The name's Tyu. Unfortunately, your poor little students got in the way of me helping my dear, sweet Malachai."

A crack formed in the forehead of the black puppet. "I am NOT your dear, sweet anything! How many times do I have to tell you that?!"

Now, Moolinda was smart enough to see some unrequited love in the relationship between Tyu and Malachai, but honestly she couldn't care less. "D-Dead? B-But...she...n-no...oh, oh goodness, we have to fix this somehow..."

Jo began to scream even louder, his skin become pale as his soul was lifted from his body. Malachai grinned, this body was his! "Y-You don't understand! None of you understand, I need this body!"

"You stop hurting my students this instant!" Ambrose bellowed, raising his staff and let out a big ball of white energy toward Malachai. Tyu had a slightly shocked expression on her face, unknowingly letting her guard down a bit. Professor Drake didn't let that chance go to waste and quickly blasted the Diviner across her stomach with a yellow slash of energy. Tyu was too slow to counter it and the hit cut her skin. She snarled and retaliated, she had to believe Malachai could defend himself. True to her words, Malachai was not someone to be taken lightly. He created a dome of some sorts around himself and Jo. Ambrose's attack shook the dome, but it remained standing.

Ronan couldn't take it anymore. He could not do anything for Danielle now, but he could still do something to help Jo. He was going to defeat them. He had to believe he could, because Danielle believed in him. He pushed the lifeless girl onto the Life Professor's hands, and walked toward his headmaster. Ignoring Stephen and Professor Wu's protests, he started playing his flute again. It was out of pure rage before, but it was different now. It still sapped his magic faster, but somehow he maintained it within his limits. The once frozen vines now began to move again, lashing out at the barrier, much to Ambrose and Professor Wu's surprise. He hated himself so much. He had let his friends died; the Satyr who was like a second father to him and Danielle, the strange girl who was now hold a special meaning in his heart. He was a Theurgist for Bartleby's sake! He maintained the life of things. It should have been him who "breathed life" to anyone needed, and not otherwise! He felt so useless he wanted to scream at the top of his lungs to curse his pathetic self. He could not be this weak now, he had to do the best he could, for Danielle's sake.

For Danielle's sake.

Unbeknownst to him, a smaller vine grew from the giant one near Danielle. Fresh green leaves sprouted from the tip as the vine grew taller and taller till it resembled an umbrella, well, a live umbrella with face, resembling an old lady's feature. Stephen, Scarlet, and Professor Wu stared open-mouthed as the Dryad blinked its wooden eyes at Danielle.

"I appear where there is pure heart and strong compassion. His determination and his feelings for her is what brought me here," the Dryad said in a sing-song voice. "Her curse is not complete. My Master wasn't really dead at the time, therefore, a fragment of her soul was still left within her body. With this, I'll revive her."

The Dryad closed its eyes, all the while raising its hands. When she brought them down, Danielle's body was bathed in green energy full of life.

Malachai honestly could care less about how Tyu was favoring against Ambrose and Cyrus; she had always been a pain in his ass. Always giving him stupid nicknames, always taking forever to get something done, always being annoying. But once he had this body, he'd get rid of her. Just a few more seconds...

Emerald irises fluttered open, vividly verdant and full of life as usual. But alas, her own safety wasn't her top priority. "Where's Ronan?"

Three pair of eyes stared at her wide-eyed. She just got back from Death and all she care about was Ronan?

The Dryad smiled at her warmly. "My purpose here has been fulfilled. Live long, young one. Many great things await you."

With that being said, the magical being disappeared. Professor Wu beamed at what just transpired. "That was a miracle! I have not a faintest idea the young man was capable of doing that. Goodness!"

Seeing the confusion across the Necromancer's eyes, Stephen pointed forward to where Ronan was still playing his magical instrument. He was so absorbed in his playing that he did not realize what just happened behind him.

xxxxxxxxxx

The pain was real. It felt like his body had been torn piece by piece and with deliberate slowness. The claws tearing at him seemed to get more and more ravenous every time, and Jo knew there was not much of him left to tear. He was willing to embrace Death, but not with the purpose the puppet was forcing him into. Not after seeing what he had done to his friends. He wanted to run. He didn't want to believe this thing actually happening! But he was way too weak to do anything! No, he didn't want to die... His soul was his own, his body was his own. He didn't want to disappear!

There was a blinding light and at the same time, the dome Malachai created shattered. The vines and Ambrose's energy bomb slammed into the wooden puppet, blowing him to bits. Tyu was howling in fury, and just as the protagonists thought they were prevailed, the smoke at explosion area cleared.

Jo was standing there on the ground with his head bowed, his hands on his knees. Through the messy bangs of his raven hair, everyone could see a wide grin and glowing eyes, dark and piercing.

That boy was not Jo.

Those dark blue eyes glowed menacingly, the human hand reaching into his pocket to pull out a Polymorph card and cast it. His entire appearance began to change. His silky black hair grew longer, down to his rear, and began to flow. His Necromancer attire morphed into a dark blue and black prince-like outfit, cape flowing along with his hair. "The body! It's finally mine!" Malachai cackled, hugging his own body. "If I can stay polymorphed until midnight, this body is mine and I'll be human forever! Now I just need one more Necromancer for my father and a Thaumaturge for my mother..."

Ronan had stopped his flute playing to witness Jo transforming into a completely different person. Fists clenched, he began to run towards Malachai while snarling in rage.

"That is not your body, you bastard!!!"

Flute swished, several tree warriors raised from the vines and swung their branches, some throwing rocks at Malachai.

Malachai grinned, raising his hands to create skeletons and vampires to attack the tree warriors. It was a battle between Life and Death on one side, and a battle between Storm and Myth on the other.

"Ronan!" Danielle cried, she knew Malachai was dangerous, she wouldn't let Ronan die on her again. Reaching for her spear, she stood up on wobbly legs to point at Malachai. He would resist the attack, but she had to help her Theurgist out.

"You think you're strong enough to stop me?!" Devastating thunderbolts began to fly from Malachai's fingertips. "You couldn't save Jo, and Danielle had to save you! Don't think you're anything special because you're a Theurgist! I will find those two other bodies for my parents, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it!"

Realizing what Danielle was about to do, Stephen stopped her.

"Don't. You've been through a lot. Get some rest." Despite saying that, Stephen himself wanted nothing more than to rush in to help his friend, but he was low on mana after releasing so much earlier. "And besides, don't you believe in him? You sacrificed your life because you believed that he could do it, didn't you?"

"That's right, young wizard. That person is a skilled Necromancer, but that doesn't mean that we don't have any plan. We have time until midnight to rescue your friend and I'm sure we can do it."

The exchange of blows continued between the Life and Death creatures. Malachai's thunderbolts singed some of the vines, but Ronan's melody from the flute revived them. He swiped his flute again several times and blades of green lights appeared in the air. He hurled them towards his tree warriors, effectively strengthening them. Their movements became considerably swifter and they easily whacked the skeletons to pieces of bones and swatted the vampires like flies.

"I know I am weak. I know I had let my friends down. But the feelings strengthen me! I can be better! I can still save Jo!"

A stray of lightning bolt then came at him, so fast he didn't have time to defend himself. But then a white shield appeared, taking the hit. Ronan turned to the side and saw his headmaster approached him.

"That's right. And he's not alone."

Malachai was smart enough to know when he no longer had the upper hand. But this time it was different. He couldn't just flee when things began to get difficult. Tyu was barely alive, he could tell that

much--not that he cared. Pissed off and running low on mana, he raised his hands once more, but instead of dead rising, a thunderclap was heard.

"Ronan! I believe in you!" Danielle cried, some encouraging words to steel his nerves more than they already before.

Slicing his hand down in the air, Malachai summoned a large wave to swamp Ronan, his little Life minions, and Ambrose. The Life creatures were unlucky enough to become swamped, and Ronan got somewhat wet, too. But Malachai wasn't finished, the thunderbolts had shocked anything that was even remotely wet, the tree warriors singed and Ronan sparking occasionally. "Didn't anyone ever tell you to keep electric things away from water?!"

That hurt.

Ronan was sprawled on the ground on his stomach, body trembling from the shock. He thought he had heard Danielle's voice encouraging him, but he shook that thought off of his head. She was dead, he reminded himself. He inspected his surroundings then. Most of the vines on the ground around him was shocked also, but they seemed to survive most of the burnt because of their size. He looked around for his headmaster only to find him unscathed. Blue aura covered his entire body. Ronan immediately knew that was one of the Astral magics, the Headmaster's specialty.

Ambrose sent multiple balls of energy, Ambrose Bombs, as what he liked to call it, at Malachai. The boy went on the defensive rather than countering like he did earlier. And the truth dawned on Ronan; he was low on mana! But the strange thing was, Malachai barely moved far to dodge Ambrose's bombs. The balls of energy crashed uselessly on the ground around him. He thought that was strange, until he saw the pattern the bombs had made on the ground. This was it.

Ronan's hands were still trembling, but he managed to put his flute on his mouth to play some tunes. Malachai didn't know what was coming before it was too late. Two vines emerging from the ceiling were wrapping themselves around Malachai's body, effectively stopping him in place. Ambrose wasted no time. He raised his staff high in the air and murmured some incantations. The bomb's blast marks he made earlier glowed and everybody could see the six-pointed star pattern with Malachai right in the middle. White light filled the inside of the star, indicating the activation of the Isolation Barrier, where anyone inside it will not be able to use any magic.

"LET GO OF ME!" Malachai screeched, wriggling the best he could in the vines' grip. "LET GO! I'M GETTING MY PARENTS BACK, AND THEN YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! I'M NOT CORRUPTED, YOU ALL ARE!"

'What's with this guy... Saying himself not corrupted yet he did something so abominable. What could have happened to him in the past?' Ronan wondered thoughtfully. He struggled to get up. Oh how he hated getting electrocuted!

"What are you gonna...*cough* d-do to him?" Scarlet asked, watching the Sprite flutter around herself.

Ambrose didn't answer, instead he approached Malachai.

"Young man, who are you really? And why were you in a wooden puppet?" Ambrose asked the still struggling boy.

Tears began to form in those dark blue orbs, pearly white teeth biting at Malachai's pink bottom lip. "...It's not my fault! I was good at Necromancy and Divination, and, I thought I was doing a good job. I was only the prince, what was I doing so wrong?! They murdered me and sealed my soul within that damn puppet, but I swore I'd become human again somehow, then bring back my parents, and if anyone opposed me, I'd kill them! Same way they killed me for absolutely no reason!"

Everyone was shocked to hear that. So he wanted revenge. But that way of sealing soul within non-living things had happened hundreds of years ago if Ronan's understanding of History was right. For him to live in a wooden puppet and having a grudge for so long was... sick.

"What you had been through was awful, but what you were doing was wrong! I--I kinda understand what you feel; having somebody died because of you, and the great remorse you feel after that, and your desire to make them alive again and say how sorry you are," Ronan said, a stabbing pain pierced his heart as his thought wandered to Danielle. "You hated your murderers for killing you and your family, but what makes you any better than them by forcefully taking away someone's body against their will? You are no better than them! You died. Your time was over and this isn't your place anymore. You shouldn't involve other people with your problems. You have to let it go!"

"How can I let it go?! The Lost Souls in Unicorn Way are souls who refused to accept death and are doomed to wander the earth forever until they're "re-killed" and bound to the earth they fall into. I was a Lost Soul that didn't meet that fate because I was a fucking puppet. And my parents...what if they're still wandering? What if the residents are wandering? What if I can make them suffer?!" Malachai cried out and fisted his hands, attempting to discharge the vines but his fists didn't even crackle. "LET ME GO!! You got your girlfriend back, now let me get my parents back!"

Ronan was taken aback by that. "What? I don't..." He didn't get to finish his sentence as he turned around and saw the Necromancer girl. She was standing and most importantly, alive.

He didn't know if he would ever feel the wave of relief as strong as what he was feeling at the time. "B--But, how?"

"A Dryad revived me. My soul was floating in darkness, as if I wasn't truly dead yet. It was strange, I was sure I..."

"That's because you weren't, my dear. A bit of your soul were still left within your body from incomplete curse. The Dryad just helped to restore it," Professor Wu said with a smile.

Danielle approached him slowly, and Ronan was overwhelmed by the desire to embrace her, to protect her with all his might, but he figured that was not the best time to do so, not in front of Malachai; he didn't want to aggravate the poor boy further. Instead, he turned to the Life Professor, a tear escaped the corner of his eye. "Thank you, Professor... for saving her."

Said Professor raised her eyebrow questioningly. The Theurgist boy totally didn't realize that he was the one doing it, although unconsciously.

Ronan wiped his tear with his sleeve and turned back to Malachai. He could never imagine going through the same thing as him. His problem was far more too complicated. If he were a Lost Soul like he said he was, Ronan didn't want to "re-kill" him to release him from his accursed fate. Lost Souls could still pass on if they could let go what bound them to the world, whether they got sealed in a puppet or no.

"If you love your parents that much, would you seriously think they would be happy to see you do all this? Are you sure they would even agree to be brought back to life? Parents love their children they are willing to lay off their lives for them. If your parents loved you, you should know that what they did was sincere and with no regret. Did you think they would turn into Lost Souls? I knew someone who wanted to bring his loved one back from the dead, but were they happy? No. Their soul suffered, because this world wasn't where they truly belonged." Ronan seriously didn't know the part with Malachai's parents. He felt what he had said wasn't genuine unless if said from said people themselves.

From the said people themselves...

He suddenly whipped his head to Danielle. She was a Necromancer, maybe she could...

Danielle cocked her head to the side questioningly. "What?"

Ronan leaned over to her. "Is it possible to..." The rest of his words were whispered to the Necromancer. He wanted to know if she could somehow summon Malachai's parents' spirits to come here. If anything, it was his parents who might be able to convince him to forget his grudge, and for Malachai himself to be able to finally rest in peace. It was true the boy had been doing terrible things so far, but it was just driven by his love toward his parents. Ronan somehow knew that Malachai was actually a kind person deep down.

With Ronan's close proximity, Danielle couldn't help but lean closer and peck his cheek. "Say no more."

Twirling her spear carefully so as to not hit anyone, black magic began to form around her hands and the spear like an aura, a low ghostly wail sounding from them. Pointing the spear a few feet away from her, the Necromantic magic zapped towards the spot, and within a few seconds, Malachai's parents appeared.

As Danielle was doing her summoning, Ronan was lost. His hand unconsciously touched his increasingly warm cheek where the soft lips had nicked it. He knew his expression must be silly because even Ambrose, who was still maintaining his magic on the barrier, looked at him with his eyebrows raised. The Theurgist quickly shook his head, feeling a little annoyed at the girl. This wasn't the time for this! By the time he was back on his senses, two regally-clothed people--or spirits, were standing a few feet away from him.

"M-Mom? Dad?" Malachai whimpered, his voice barely above a whisper. "I-I..."

"Malachai, please stop this. This isn't you," Meylin, Malachai's mother, spoke. "You're not a murderer, you're our little Mally."

A sob left Malachai's quivering lips at the sound of his childhood nickname from his parents. "B-But...*hic* don't you w-want to be h-human again?"

"Not if it means your psychological state deteriorates in the process."

Love was a strange thing. To see the once ruthless person suddenly got sentimental was the proof of it. At this moment, Malachai had his head down, thinking what his spirit-mother had just said. Ronan hoped that he would pass on peacefully after meeting with his parents.

"...Okay. I'll...I'll stop."

Meylin and Austie smiled, turning to Danielle with smiles and eyes full of thanks. The Necromancer smiled back.

"Merle, is there no way you can let him be human again? Not in this boy's body, but...must he really move on?"

Ambrose took his time, looking at the parents with serene look on his eye. "He had been suffering for so long living inside the puppet with the desire to resurrect you again. Now that he is able to reunite with you, do you think he will agree to that? He deserves freedom and peace."

Ambrose then lowered his staff and at the same time, the white light faded along with the barrier. Ronan took his flute and played some tunes, causing the vines wrapped around Malachai to unfurl themselves, freeing the boy.

Malachai bolted for the adult figures, hugging them tightly as Meylin murmured sweet words of comfort to him.

"So, Mally, what do you want to do? We, unfortunately, have to stay dead. Sorry about that, kiddo." Here Austie ruffled his son's raven hair. "You can come with, or maybe Headmaster can work something out with you, hmm?"

"But...I did horrible things, I technically killed their friend Jo here, I injured Danielle and Stephen, I had Tyu injure Scarlet, and Danielle sacrificed herself to heal Ronan before. Th-They hate me now, I know they do."

To tell him the truth, yes, Ronan hated him for what he did to them. He had tried to kill them all, killed his Satyr and probably Jo too. It was true he did that out of love toward his parents, but still...

"It is up to you now, young man," Ambrose finally said after some time, turning to Malachai. "But I'll have to tell you this. There is no way the dead can be brought back to live. Ever. That's the law of the world. It is true that you had found your way to. You, as a soul, could live as a human through a living medium, but you have to sacrifice the soul of that medium in order to do so. And that's one thing that I will not forgive! You can't live inside my student's body forever. You have no right over his body. He resisted your spell and although you had won, there is a chance that his soul was still in there, much like the case of Miss Deathblood earlier. However small it is, he can still be saved. You can stay if you wish, but I can't have you stay in a living person's body. You have two options here. One, you can let this all go and come with your parents, which company you crave the most all this time. Or two, you can continue to stay in this world as a Lost Soul or inside a non-living thing very much like what you had been most of your time. Now, tell me young man, which option will you choose?"

"Well..." Malachai bit his lip, as much fun as it was dwelling in the world of the living, his heart ached for his parents. "I...I think I'll go with them."

Cyrus Drake, who was standing over the fallen Tyu, attempted to maintain his stoic look, but the slight furrow on his brow made him look almost sad as he watched Malachai's body glowed and pearly white spirit released itself from the body. The scenery of the happy reunion before him awfully reminded him of his own brother and his wife.

With Malachai's soul out, Jo's body transformed itself back to its normal form before he collapsed onto his stomach. Ronan and Danielle rushed over to him, checking his pulse and were relieved to find it. It was weak, but it was there. Having exhausted himself from using his flute magic earlier, Ronan only managed to cast a Sprite, who was immediately fluttering around the Necromancer boy.

Danielle caught Ronan's collapsing body, the boy was quite weak and he, along with Jo, Scarlet, and herself, would need lots of rest.

Ronan was only partially aware of three spirits smiling and thanking them, before shooting up to the sky. And the sound of Danielle's voice calling his name was the last thing he remembered before he woke up in a warm room with white walls everywhere; the Wizard City Hospital.

xxxxxxx

Danielle had dozed off at Ronan's bedside, but she was covered in bandages imbued with healing magic, same as he was. She seemed to have fallen asleep while...watching him?

Ronan frowned in dismay upon discovering that his body was all stiff. How long had he been lying here? Aside from that though, he felt better; his magic was also restored he could summon all of his Life companions if he felt like it. But then realization hit him, sending a pang of sorrow in his heart. No, not all of his Life companions. Turning his head to his left, he noticed his flute on the small table next to the bed. Just as he was about to reach for it, his hand brushed on something silky. He slowly sat up, using his elbows for support. Then he saw her. Danielle seemed to be sound asleep with her head resting on her folded hands. He just stared at her for some time. Aside from the bandages on her body, she seemed fine. A small smile formed on his lips; she was cute when she was sleeping. He could stare at her sleeping form forever if only his body wasn't all stiff. He needed to take a walk.

Ronan carefully swung his legs off the bed so as to not wake her up. His stomach and torso was bandaged up, but he could no longer feel pain in them. He decided to just let the bandages be there and then walked over to Danielle and draped his cover around her body. He wanted to talk to her, but he didn't want to disturb her sleeping. He took his flute and walked towards the door. Before he could reach it though, it swung open and Professor Moolinda Wu appeared between the frames. She was surprised to see him up.

"Young wizard, what are you doing? You should not leave your..." she said, before Ronan cut her off with a polite shushing gesture all the while pointing to the sleeping girl. "Ah, so there she is. I figured she would be here since I couldn't find her in her room. She often does that."

Ronan was grateful that she turned down her volume as she spoke. "Professor, how long have I been unconscious?"

"Three days." Upon seeing Ronan's surprised face, she continued. "That is what you get if you forced yourself over your limit. Didn't you know a wizard could die if they exhaust their magic while casting their spells, especially if they use raw magic?" the Professor nodded to Ronan's flute. "I see that is a powerful magical instrument, but the power was uncontrollable, not yet at least. You were right on the way to the Afterlife if Miss Deathblood hadn't sacrificed her soul to save you. Yes I already know, Mr. Dawn had told me everything."

Ronan had his eyes on Danielle when Professor Wu spoke again, "But thanks to that, we were able to locate you all in that cave; all the quakes and the giant vines led us there."

Ronan was quiet for some time before turning to face her again. "How is everyone?"

"Mr. Dawn and Miss Scarlet's injuries are mostly healed. They left the hospital yesterday. Miss Deathblood had to stay here longer for recovery. And Mr. Ravendusk is still haven't regained consciousness, but his condition is getting better."

He was glad that his friends were alright, although still injured but at least here they were safe.

"So, where are you going to go? You can't leave your bed yet."

"I'm alright Professor, I just wanted to take a walk."

The Life Professor nodded after some time, "Alright, but I want you back before lunch time."

After getting his permission, Ronan walked through the ongoing buzz of the hospital. Theurgist Patrons went about their ways to the patients' rooms and Sprites and Fairies fluttered about in the hallways, waiting to be summoned. It was too noisy for Ronan's taste, so he went his way deeper in the hospital to the backyard. It was nice and less noisy there, and Ronan sat himself against one of the tree. He looked at his flute in his hand, his expression was hard to read.

The bed she had been resting her head on didn't feel as warm as it used to. Where was Ronan? Maybe he was outside...

Ronan didn't know how long he had been sitting there. It was always his favorite thing to do, relaxing under the tree. But he was not relaxing at the time; his mind was wandering about the recent events with Malachai. After some time though, his head began throbbing from the intensity of things going on his head. His flute was still grasped in his hand. He always liked music; it soothed his mind, but strangely, playing music now was unthinkable for him.

He sighed. He had to go back to his room now and Danielle probably was already awake by now. Just he was about to get up, he saw the said girl approaching him.

"Hey, you," Danielle spoke, leaning against the large tree trunk to gently slide herself down next to Ronan. "What's the matter?"

The boy was silent before turning away. "Nothing," said he simply, clearly lying. He really needed to stop turning away when lying.

"It sure doesn't look like nothing..."

Ronan sighed, still not looking at Danielle. "I... I just want to thank you for saving me," he said, squeezing his flute in his fist. "I was too rash. I was stupid for not thinking of the consequences. But why," his eyes were locked with the girls' then; he could never look at her the same way now. "...why did you go as far as sacrificing your life for me? You barely knew me, yet..." he trailed off, fists shaking, Danielle's words before she "died" echoing inside him. "I... If only I was stronger, then you wouldn't have to do that. I'm sorry."

Danielle could only smile. "Don't be sorry. People do stupid things when they like someone."

Ronan had never been a romance person, but what this girl had done totally changed his view of her. He owed her his life. He could never get her into danger again. This he swore on his life.

"I promise you that won't happen again, so you have to promise me too. Don't you ever do that again. Whatever happens, don't. Promise me." She was back out of pure luck. He didn't want to lose her for good the second time.

Danielle blinked, processing his words. "But...what if I need to?"

What did she think she was talking about? It was life and death matter for goodness sake! Did she have unlimited life or something? Didn't she understand that he didn't want people dying on him again? Not her. Especially not her. Ronan's face set in all seriousness as he looked her in the eyes.

"Promise me!"

"Okay, okay, I promise." Didn't Ronan know that as a Necromancer, she wasn't afraid to die? It was definitely something to attempt to evade for as long as possible, but it was also something to accept when it was inevitable or crucial. Then again, he was a Theurgist. Anything dead made his stomach turn.

Ronan exhaled in relief, breaking the eye-contact. He hoped she knew that he was doing it because he was concerned of her well-being. "Thank you." He leaned back on the tree, unconsciously lifting his flute up to his mouth before he realized what he was doing. His hands stopped abruptly. The magical instrument stopped just a few inches from his lips for a few seconds before he lowered it slowly, turning to Danielle to distract himself. "So, how is your wound?"

"Oh, it doesn't hurt too badly anymore. Although I can't put pressure on it, so my bed needs to stay in a sit-up position all the time. I've been keeping myself occupied by reading the Forbidden Spellbook."

Ronan's brow furrowed, disliking the sounds of it. "What? Again with Forbidden things?"

"Hey, the book is pretty cool. You really understand why those spells are forbidden, and wonder who'd be strong enough to cast them."

Reading was one thing the Theurgist didn't too fond of doing, it was Stephen's thing really. But hearing Danielle's explanation made him wonder about it; the question about where she got the book forgotten. "Oh yeah? Tell me some of it."

"Which school do you want to hear about first?"

He couldn't help his curiosity.

"Life."

Danielle flipped through the pages until she found the page reading "LIFE" in large, leafy green letters with a nature border. On the right page, she read the first recorded forbidden Life spell. "Killer Flytrap. Summons a giant Venus flytrap with many vines for constricting and suffocating prey." She looked down at why it was forbidden. "Usually ends up turning on its master as it tries to consume any edible in its sight."

Ronan laughed. "Now I know I would never do that."

"But who would be so powerful as to be able to cast something like this?"

"Professor Moolinda Wu or Emperor Yoshihito perhaps? But I don't see why they would ever do that," Ronan suggested, he really should read more.

"I doubt it. Someone had to have extreme knowledge and understanding of their school, along with great power to be able to cast this. If this book falls into the wrong hands..."

'That wouldn't be pretty,' thought Ronan.

"I wondered about this. Where did you get that book? It seems very important."

Danielle took a deep breath, closing the book. "After my mother murdered my father, she took the book from his corpse. As a kid, I read it a lot and eventually my mother entrusted it to me."

Ronan had his mouth slightly open. The thing with her family made him uneasy. He wondered what had happened, but he didn't want to seem nosy about her family problem.

"So, is that where you learn your sacrifice spell?" Now that he thought about it, that was such an embarrassing spell. The thought resulted a small blush to appear on his cheeks. He hoped Danielle didn't notice it.

"My father tried to kill me and my siblings. That's why she had to kill him first. Truthfully, my mother had to use that spell on all three of us to save us, as we were near death. And I asked her...what she did. And she told me, and showed me in the book. And she told me to only ever use it on someone I couldn't live without, but could be dead without, because they would be alive. And...I did."

Ronan didn't say a word for a few moments. To become someone's special felt nice to him, but losing them? He didn't want to openly admit it, but the girl hold the same meaning to him now. And to see her dead was something he could not bear.

"Isn't the spell supposed to take away your life after you used it? Don't you think that it's unfair? Didn't you think of how that someone would feel after you were gone? Would they be happy?"

The strings of questions pretty much showed how he truly felt as he looked up ahead. There was a moment of silence between them. There was also something that bothered him though. Danielle had said that her mother once used the spell on her and her two siblings, and she was still alive to tell her daughter about it. And the fact that Danielle herself could execute it flawlessly showed that she and her family were extraordinary wizards.

"The spell is forbidden for a reason, Ronan. There's no spell a Necromancer can learn that would kill them, despite what it gives to someone else. Even the Sacrifice card doesn't kill the caster. But Sacrifice Kiss does, and it's forbidden. And I...I understand how Malachai felt...because I want my mother back too. Her soul is anchored to her body because she died similar to how I did, a fragment of her soul still residing in her. And...I want her back." Turning to Ronan, she regarded him with a sad, longing, begging look. "Ronan, can you...?"

Seeing that pleading face made him want to say yes, but what could he do? He wasn't capable of doing such a thing. He hated it to break her feeling. "I am not that great of a wizard. After all, I couldn't do anything about you; it was Professor Wu's doing. But see? That's the point. Even you aren't happy for what your mother did to you. So don't even think about doing the same thing to other people."

A flash of anger sparked in Danielle's eyes and she punched the tree behind her. "I did what I had to! Maybe I should've let you stay on the verge of death then!"

Danielle's fist was just inches away from his face, but Ronan stayed unblinking as he spoke softly. "I wasn't trying to be ungrateful. I cherish the life that you gave me. I owe you my life. I don't even know what I should do to ever fully pay you for what you did. One thing is certain though; I can't let you do anymore of that spell if I plan on keeping your life save."

She removed her fist, rubbing the bleeding knuckles aching painfully but she was too angry to acknowledge the pain. "Why does it matter to you so much? I know we're good friends and all, but comrades do that kind of stuff for each other."

Ronan pondered about that. Wasn't it obvious? He was a Theurgist; he didn't agree to any act involving extinguishing the lives of the living. And besides...

~Flashback~

"I need you to control yourself, Ronan. You can defeat them, I believe in you. I really like you, so of course I believe in you. You can do this." Those encouraging words were murmured into the kiss before she fell onto his chest.

"Truthfully, my mother had to use that spell on all three of us to save us, as we were near death. And I asked her...what she did. And she told me, and showed me in the book. And she told me to only ever use it on someone I couldn't live without, but could be dead without, because they would be alive. And...I did."

~End of Flashback~

Ronan stood up to leave, but he paused to look at the fuming girl. "What do you expect from me after all that? I can never look at you the same way again like I used to." She needed time to calm herself down. And so, he left.

Look at her the same way? What was he talking about?

Ronan's headache was steadily increasing as he walked back to his room. His body was still fairly weak from being unconscious for three days. He wanted to visit Jo, but he needed to lie down and there wasn't anything he could do here anyway. Upon entering his room, he found his tray of lunch at the table. Despite the growls his stomach was giving him, he ignored it and climbed onto his bed. He hoped Danielle would be calmed down enough the next time they meet again. His head pounded harder then.

'Man, there is something wrong with me...'

Danielle took a few minutes to think before she decided she would feel better after a nap. Turning to her left to retrieve her book, a streak of terror went through her when she saw it wasn't there. Before she could go into full-on panic mode, her brain her that Ronan was with her a little while ago. Maybe he took the book?

Ronan was massaging his temple when he heard the door slam. He jolted to a sitting position and saw Danielle standing there, her chest heaving as if she just ran a marathon. But what was with that expression?

"Did you take my book?" she nearly shrieked, leaning against the door to steady herself on wobbly legs.

Ronan was quickly alarmed by her tone. "What? No, I didn't."

The terrified look returned to her face. "Y-You have to have taken it! I don't have it!"

"But I don't!" He quickly climbed down to hold the girl and steered her to his hospital bed, where he sat her down on it. She really shouldn't have moved too much with her wound still recovering. "Calm down and tell me what's going on."

At the time, a Theurgist patron came storming to his room. "What's with all the noise?"

Danielle tried to take deep breaths and remain calm, but the many horrors that the Spiral could be exposed to if that book was in the wrong hands jumpstarted her fear meter. "My book! My book of forbidden spells! It's gone! And Ronan doesn't have it!"

Ronan's pale face became even paler. The book was still in there when he left her. Who could have taken it without her noticing? The patron though, had confusion written on her face.

"What forbidden spellbook? You need to calm down or else your wound will..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Ronan rounded up on her, grabbing her shoulders. "You have to tell Headmaster Ambrose. Please, this is really important!"

The patron looked between the two of them before realizing that it was indeed very important, and she left a moment after.

Danielle could feel her wound threatening to re-open, and it only served to make her feel nauseous. "Th-That book...is so important...Ronan, I need that book."

"I know... I know..." That was practically all that Ronan could say at the moment; who was he to promise her that everything would be okay? Danielle must have already looked around the place they just left, but he hated to just stay put in there while they waited for Ambrose to come. "I'm going to go look around. Stay here."

Danielle was about to lose her mind. No one was near them while they were talking, the book only left her sight for two seconds, she would have heard someone walk up to them and run away, or more importantly, seen them! Not only was that book from her mother, but the Spiral's demise would be all her fault!

Ronan knew this was useless; the hospital was fairly big. He saw people everywhere and looking for a certain book proved to be an impossible task. His legs faltered several times and he would grab on something for support, his already pounding head seemed to pound even harder. He felt like a fatigued old man. He didn't expect that using raw magic would also sap his life force. Just as he thought he could not go on much longer, he bumped into someone and then fell on his bottom. Politely apologizing, he looked up to see who it was, but the person just kept walking as if nothing had happened. The person wore a floor-length cloak with their hood on, effectively hiding their identity. Ronan thought that was strange but then his eyes widened to see what that person was carrying. It was Danielle's spellbook.

"Hey! Wait!" he shouted to the figure and tried to get up, but his body chose that time to fail him. Having no other choice, he kept shouting until a small number of curious people gathered around him; some asking him what was going on. He ignored them as the figure also kept ignoring him until their body was out of his sight. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he wanted nothing more than to chase that suspicious person and wrench that book off of their hands. His thought of the Spiral's safety managed to get him on his feet, but nothing more. A little relief came at him from the sight of Ambrose, Stephen, and Scarlet approaching him hurriedly.

The mysterious person appeared to float off the ground, as if they were an apparition. Taking Danielle's book with them.

The three approaching figures whipped their heads around, feeling that something was off. They were passing a cloaked person as they approached Ronan, but that mysterious person wasn't there anymore, almost seemed like they vanished into thin air. Stephen didn't think about it much further; right then, he was concerned about his friend. Ronan was still unconscious the last time he saw him, which was yesterday. It was weird seeing him up and walking around plus there was this said "important" news the hospital patron had given them. What could it be?

"Young wizard, you should not get off of your bed yet," Ambrose said upon noticing his student's condition.

Ronan was now leaning himself against the wall. The people attracted to his shouting earlier were still there but Ambrose politely dismissed them by saying he would take care of Ronan. "Headmaster, please after that cloaked person! You must have passed him on your way here! That person took something really important and dangerous from us!"

"Important and dangerous?" Scarlet questioned, cocking her head to the side in confusion. "What was it? I didn't see anyone pass by..."

"It must have been that cloaked person! He seemed suspicious. But what did he take?" Stephen asked, while supporting the Theurgist.

Ronan then told them everything about Danielle's spellbook and the forbidden spells inside it. "Danielle has only told me two of the spells. She can tell you more."

Ambrose had an alarmed expression on his face, but he followed his students toward Ronan's room where the Necromancer girl was in.

"Headmaster! Scarlet! Stephen! Oh, please tell me you guys saw some clue of who took my book!"

The three glanced at each other in confusion manner, but it was Ronan who answered. "I did. That person wore a cloak so I didn't know who that was."

"What, was it that mysterious person we saw back then?" Stephen gasped in realization. "He vanished like it wasn't really his/her self, like it was an apparition or something."

Ambrose was silent for a moment. This was dire news indeed. Danielle's Deathblood's mother was an excellent wizard, so he wasn't surprised if she possessed a book of forbidden spells. The person who took it must have had an evil plan...

Danielle froze. "...Cloaked apparition?" She heard that before. D-Did it have pink hair peeking out from his hood?" If it did, that could've only been one person...

"I don't know. I couldn't see it. Who is this person you are talking about?" Ronan responded.

"It could be my dead father, Zenon the Heartcrusher."

Ambrose visibly stiffened at the sound of that name. That name was known throughout the Spiral like a viral video, Zenon had been known for his cruelty and undying drive to be ruler of the Spiral, power often went to his head and he had forcefully mated with many women to create children whom he would turn into images of himself, including Danielle's mother, Dana.

"We were mistakes to him because we refused to be like him. And Mom killed him, anyway."

The silence in the room stretched uncomfortably as the news sink in. Everyone, except Ambrose and Danielle, was too busy processing the shocking fact. They were like, 'What??? He is Danielle's father???' They knew him for his reputation, but this?? Ronan realized that he didn't known many things about Danielle yet.

"But," Stephen started, breaking the silence. "If your mother killed him, how come he is still here? Is he just like Malachai? A Lost Soul?" He knew he could never understand Necromancy and its antiquities.

"I don't even know, he's a Pyromancer, maybe he has something anchoring him to this world?"

"We will find out. Right now, we have to go look for him. The Spiral could be in danger with him possessing the book," Ambrose said, starting to turn toward the door; he stopped as he saw Danielle and Ronan get to their feet to follow him. "Young wizards!" exclaimed the Headmaster, looking at both of his students. "Where are you going?"

It was very clear that those two still needed to rest, but how could they?

"We are going too," Ronan said confidently, despite having Stephen support him.

Ambrose took his time to answer, alternating to look between the boy and Danielle. He knew what those two had gone through, he didn't want to endanger them again. "No, you two must stay here for the time being. You need to recover your health. Don't worry about anything else, we will take care of everything."

"But that's my father! That's my book! That's my battle!" Danielle protested.

"And if you die?" Scarlet asked, effectively silencing the Necromancer.

"Yes, you can't go," Ronan said, to which he received a look from the girl. "But I can..."

"No," Stephen cut him off curtly. Seeing his friend was about to protest, the Sorcerer sighed. "Ronan, I need to tell you something. Let's go outside."

Danielle sighed, retreating back to her bed to flop on it, wincing at her injuries a second later.

Stephen steered Ronan outside, closed the door and sat themselves on a bench nearby.

"What's up?" Ronan asked. Why couldn't he just tell him in there?

The Sorcerer glanced at his friend's pale face before he looked back forward, his expression solemn. "Ronan, your condition now, do you know what caused it?"

"Yeah, it was because of my flute and the raw magic it produced." Ronan didn't tell him the part of which it seemed to sap his life force. "I exhausted my magic while using it. I'll just have to wait for it to recover, which is soon, and I don't have any other injuries to worry about. That's why I can go with you guys." Even when he said that, his brain was threatening to burst out of his skull, literally.

"That's true, but only partially."

"What do you mean?"

"The other day, I met Professor Wu. She'd come here regularly to check on you."

~Flashback~

Stephen looked at the sad expression of the Life Professor as she looked at the still unconscious Ronan. "What is it, Professor?" he couldn't help being a bit scared of hearing the answer.

"This is a troubling situation. Using raw magic or no, normally you will recover your magic or mana soon enough after some rest. This boy has been unconscious for two days and I feel his magic regeneration is incredibly slow. That could have been caused by him using raw magic, after all it's not something you can use on a whim. The toll is too great for his body. He will get better with enough rest though, but there is something else. Something that prevents him to regain his magic normally." The Professor shook her head slowly. "I know how Miss Deathblood had used a forbidden Death magic on him. The spell did its work like it should be, however, the Death magic has clung itself with his soul, unlike any other Death spells. Since it is the complete opposite of his magical nature, it disrupts his magical flow, thus making his magic regeneration process slow. If he were to use his magic flute again, it could be fatal to his life. Even casting his usual spells would be a struggle with limited magic. The worst case scenario if this continues, he won't be able to use magic anymore."

Stephen looked stunned. For a wizard to not be able to use magic was the same as killing him/her. "But Professor, the same thing happened to Danielle, but she seemed not to be affected by the Dryad magic. How come it only affect Ronan and not her?"

"Every living things accepted Life ever since they were born. It is already become one with them so the Dryad magic won't affect her soul from the familiarity. But with him, it was different. He's only known Life magic for years; his soul was Life itself. With Death magic's contradicting nature, it made a conflict within him, thus resulting the disruption of his magical flow. I'm afraid he won't be the same as before anymore."

~End of Flashback~

Stephen couldn't tell what was on his friend's mind after hearing all that. The Theurgist said no words, he didn't even look surprised as if he already know all this. He stood up, and at the time, Ambrose and Scarlet went out of the room, gesturing for Stephen to follow them. Ronan just nodded when they excused themselves to go and used the walls to support himself to come back into his room. Danielle was on his bed, but he said no words to her as he sat himself on a chair. His fists clenched tight.

Danielle's head lolled to the side, eyebrows creasing in worry. "Ronan? Are you okay?"

He wasn't honestly. All the fact he just heard from Stephen was mindblowing. He was even still dazed from it, but Danielle had already had enough problem of her own to worry about, he didn't want to burden her more with his own. He couldn't tell her; she must not know.

"I'm fine."

Danielle wasn't convinced. "No you're not. What's the matter?"

"I'm fine, just get some rest." And when Danielle was still staring at him, he knew he had to make an excuse. "It's just... I was thinking about that person, your dad," at his last two words, he glanced at the girl to see her response. "We didn't know who he is yet, it might not be him. You said he was dead. I just

hope Headmaster will find him/her soon. If the mysterious person is planning on to use the book, they will need time to study it. If we can find them before then..."

"Oh...alright then."

Ronan knew Danielle wanted to go search also; after all the book was very important to her. But they couldn't do anything at the time. Their health was more important. They just had to believe it to Ambrose.

However, after two weeks and after they got released from the hospital, the book had not been found yet.

"My book..." Danielle whined into her pillow, wallowing in self-pity and sadness as she mourned the loss or her book. When would she find it? Who the hell took it?

Even after resting for so long, Ronan didn't feel his magical abilities getting better. He could only cast a small number of spells everyday, and with it came the fatigue. It was so frustratingly unbearable as he could not rely on his magic anymore. He had come to Professor Wu and Headmaster Ambrose for solution. They had suggested the fruit from the Tree of Life. Ronan's hope deflated almost instantly after hearing that. The tree was the sacred symbol of Mooshu and it was guarded heavily by the Imperial Kingdom and only the Emperor himself had the right to eat the fruit. What chance did a common nobody have to receive such an honor? Plus the tree needed a long time, complicated rituals and preparations to produce a fruit. Ronan decided to just live with it after making the people who knew about his condition to promise him not to tell anybody else.

Then there was the problem with the missing forbidden spellbook. He and Danielle had joined in in the search, and he noticed that over time, Danielle's smile was becoming a rare treat of encouragement to his own doom; he felt he could forget all his problems by seeing her smile.

But he could not make her smile.

Ronan sighed as he looked up at the tree he was leaning against, thinking about where she might have been at the moment. His flute was safely tucked on his belt untouched. Sometimes when he was lonely, he would feel a strong urge to play it, but he knew he couldn't aside from using it as a wand. So he usually just imagined himself playing the tunes in his head. Except, it wasn't his usual serene melody this time as the booming sound of a great explosion replaced it.

Similar to how her first adventure began, a letter appeared on Danielle's desk, flames dancing around it before dissipating. A Pyromancer's letter? Was it from Scarlet?

'Danielle,

If you're reading this, then you know I have the Forbidden Spellbook. I saw you in the hospital, you don't seem to be doing too hot. But you were a mistake from the start, so I didn't really expect anything more. Almost got yourself killed, perhaps? It's a shame your opponent didn't succeed. Come to Krokotopia, enter the Pyramid of the Sun and go into the Royal Hall. Don't Spellbooks have maps and compasses? Find my tomb, it's deep within the area. Very deep. More than six feet underground, yeah, I was that bad. You want your precious book back? Well come and take it then!

However, if you want to make something worthy out of yourself, and you're looking for something other than a fight, I can take you under my wing. You let me know what you want to do.

-Zenon the Heartcrusher (Dad)

Furious, Danielle clutched the letter and teleported to Ronan. He always knew how to calm her down.

Ronan scrambled to his feet and looked around, searching for the source of the explosion. He saw thick smoke billowing into the air in the direction where the Commons was. He was about to make a run for it when a flourish of skulls appeared along with a furious Danielle.

"Read this!" Danielle practically shoved the letter into his hands, arms crossed and foot tapping angrily as she blatantly ignored the smoke infiltrating her lungs.

Wasting no time for questions, Ronan read the warm letter, eyes widening as he realized that the content wasn't as warm as the paper. He quickly looked up atthe girl. "I don't know how he did all this, but this could be a trap. After all, he tried to kill you in the past. He probably want to get his unfinished work done."

"Well, I have unfinished work with him, too. I'm going to end him when I see him."

Zenon was a very dangerous person, and now with him possessing the book... Danielle was going to endanger her life again.

"No. You can't go there. I understand your feelings, but..." Ronan stopped upon seeing anger in the girl's face.

"But what? You don't want me to get my book back? It's not just about the spells in the book, Ronan. It's also about the book's significance. My mother gave me that book. I want it back."

'I don't want you to get hurt again!'

He wanted to shout that out loud, but he couldn't. He gritted his teeth. Why was it so hard to say that! One thing or another, he wouldn't let her go there, even if that meant she would hate him forever because of that.

"It's not about the spells! Zenon is very dangerous, even more so now when he possessed the book. Do you think you can take him down now with those circumstances? You promised me. I--I don't w--"

Right at the time, another explosion was heard. This time he could see flames burning high in the air. What was happening?

Danielle waved the smoke out of her face. "P-Promised you what?"

Well, she only promised not to use the Sacrifice Kiss ever again, but that also counted as not to endanger her life too, right? But he would dwell on that later. Right now, they had more important

matter at hand. The smoke was becoming thicker and the explosions frequent along with the screams of people bursting into the Unicorn Way where they were at now.

"We'll talk about it later. Something's wrong."

With that, he ran towards the tunnel to the Commons with Danielle following behind him.

Danielle let out an audible gasp of terror at the sight before her, the guards were either fallen or fighting off what appeared to be fire copies of her father, Zenon. The copies were shooting flames from their hands and setting things ablaze, including the monsters that resided in certain areas.

"Fire copies of himself?! That's not a forbidden spell, it's just an advanced one. But with him, even a mere Fire Cat is dangerous!"

The always peaceful Commons was now in chaos; civilians and students alike were running around to avoid the raging flames. Able wizards were trying to fend off Zenon's copies, including the Professors. Ronan saw Halston Balestorm shot a Tempest at one of the copy, but he knew even the Storm Professor had difficulty to unleash his magic power due to all the chaos; he had to be careful not to hit the wrong people. A white barrier was formed over Ravenwood and Bartleby, probably Ambrose's doing. Many were fallen and injured, and Ronan wasted no time to run and help them. He glanced back to see Danielle following him, but her eyes were locked on the rampaging Fire-Zenon's. He knew she wanted to fight.

"Hey, they will get them. We need to help the injured get to a safe place," Ronan shouted to her over all the screaming and explosions.

Danielle's gaze shifted from Ronan to the fire copies, clenching a Necromancy-charged fist before exerting her willpower to follow Ronan.

The two, along with several others, helped as many injured people as possible to get to Ravenwood. The fight had been lasting for some time, but it wasn't close to ending yet. But at least the battle field was much clearer of wounded people on the ground. Ronan was already out of breath as he helped a bleeding novice girl and didn't realize an incoming stray fireball from behind. He turned just in time to see the flames hit a newly summoned shield.

"Ronan! You okay?" Stephen had just casted another Elemental Shield on a random wizard before he approached him. Ronan could see that his clothes were singed in some places, but he was pretty much unharmed.

"Yeah, thanks for the shields."

"No problem." Stephen noticed Danielle nearby and casted another tri-shields for her; he seemed to be doing just that for everyone. "This is madness! So Zenon is still alive? Was it also him who took Danielle's spellbook?"

"Yeah. He admitted it in a letter he sent to Danielle earlier, along with the location of where to find him."

"Well, he needs to be stopped! He gives us enough trouble now with his normal power. I can't imagine what would happen if he decided to use the forbidden spells from the book. The Professors are busy now so we can't tell them, and it's important to find and stop him asap before he uses the forbidden spells. You know where he is, right? Let's go find him!"

Ronan hoped Stephen would not talk so loud, but he knew it was useless because Danielle had heard him too.

"Hey, I'm coming too!" Danielle called, her voice demanding and expression firm, as if there was no room for argument.

"No!" Ronan's answer was too quick he earned a raised eyebrow from Stephen. "I told you, you can't come!"

But it seemed the girl was beyond caring as she darted on her own towards the Spiral Door in Ravenwood.

'Damn it! Why does she have to be so stubborn!' Ronan thought bitterly as he and Stephen ran after her. The Theurgist felt uneasy with this idea; could the three really able to match Zenon? It seemed that he had voiced that out loud because Stephen answered a second after.

"If my prediction is true, he will be pretty drained now from maintaining all those copies for long. So this is our best chance to fight him."

"You're wrong," Danielle called out upon hearing Stephen's prediction. "This is child's play for him, but I don't care. I am going to end him one way or another!"

'Well, this seemed like a bad idea now, then.' Stephen regretted mentally. But it was too late. Danielle was already too determined to be persuaded not to. He sighed. They would just have to see how this would go.

Throwing open the Spiral Door, she reached to tap the world of Krokotopia before jumping through, expecting to be thrown out the other end in Krokotopia.

They shook the little dizziness that came from Spiral Door-travelling off as they arrived at the ever humid area of Krokotopia. They knew they had to go to the Royal Hall, so there was where they were heading. Stephen rummaged into his belt and took out a vial of clear blue liquid. When he was sure Danielle wasn't in range of hearing, he whispered to Ronan.

"Here, take this Mana Elixir. I had the potion lady made it. This is not much but it will help you."

Yes, he would need it. He nodded to his friend in gratitude as he drank the content, feeling his magic increasing almost instantly.

"Are you guys coming or not?" Danielle called.

"Yeah, sorry!" Stephen called back.

The three continued their trek then. Ronan had told Stephen that they needed to find Zenon's tomb.

"What? I thought he was still alive? Ugh, nevermind." The Sorcerer shook his head. "So, do you know where his tomb is?"

Opening her Spellbook, Danielle flipped through the pages until she found the map. A dark area that appeared to be a swirling black hole of death was in a random spot far off the map, as if it was unreachable.

"What the fuck...?" Danielle whispered, as red letters began to bleed onto the page saying "Zenon's Tomb".

"Well, that's convenient," Stephen commented incredulously.

"How are we supposed to all the way over there?! It's off the map!"

"What is he saying in the letter? His tomb was buried very deep in the area? I don't know. The mark is off the map probably caused by that? Let's go to the Royal Hall first to find out."

This whole thing felt like a trap to Danielle, but if it was a chance to rid the Spiral of her father once and for all, she would at least try. Entering the Royal Hall, it become considerably warmer, as the Pyramid of the Sun was considered the Fire area of Krokotopia.

They walked through the empty Hallways, which was strange. There should at least be guards or wandering manders in the area, but there were none. They kept walking until they reached the Dig Site. It was just as empty as the rest. Where could everybody go?

"Danielle, try checking the map again." Stephen's voice reverberated through the area in a repetitive manner; he reminded himself not to talk loudly in here. This place was warm yet it felt ominous and sent chills down their spines, almost like a giant tomb, which it literally was.

Looking down at her Spellbook, her emerald irises widened upon seeing that the red arrow representing her current location was off of the map, when the Dig Site was most definitely on the map. "What is wrong with this thing?" It was almost as if they were in some kind of twisted dimension, one that appeared to be like the Spiral, which would explain the lack of guards and manders and other monsters.

"What?"

The two boys looked over the girl's shoulders at the map and were quickly overwhelmed by confusion.

"What the? We're most certainly here," Stephen pointed to the Dig Site on the map. "So, why are we here?" he pointed again at their off-the-map location. The good (or bad?) thing though, they were getting closer to where Zenon's Tomb was.

"Well, if anything, Dad's tomb is up ahead. Come on."

They continued then, albeit slowly because they had to check the map so often. After what seemed like hours due to their anxiety of the peculiarity of their surroundings, they arrived at a spot where the arrow was exactly located over the place marked "Zenon's Tomb" on the map.

Shutting her Spellbook and placing it back into hammerspace, Danielle gazed up at the large door, instead of a small triangle in the middle of the door like most Krokotopia doors, there was a Fire symbol on it. Danielle approached the door, cracking her knuckles once before poking at it with her spear, as if it was a trap.

The door creaked open harmlessly as the three poked their heads in to check for any traps.

Silence.

Thinking it was safe, they entered the dimly lit room. As soon as the last of their swishing robes left the door, it slammed shut with a bang, making the three of them jump. A deadly-looking red energy coated the door as if sealing it. Stephen learned the hard way by touching it, and he was left with a burnt hand.

"Damn it," he hissed as he shook his hand in pain.

"Careful," Danielle warned, gently rubbing at Stephen's burned hand.

As the three friends cautiously stepped further into the tomb, they noticed it was almost barren, there was hardly anything to it besides walls, with a few ancient chairs and sarcophaguses here and there. Once they set feet in the middle of the room, a flame encircled them, trapping them close together.

"What the..."

Panicked, they pointed their wands/weapons forward and looked around for the one who did that.

"Hello, little Danielle. Are these your lackeys?" an unknown baritone voice asked.

"What? No! These are my friends!"

"Friends? Mm. Did you think about what I said?"

Just for this time, the boys let the lackeys-comment slide as they looked around for the speaker's figure.

"There is no way I'm joining you, Dad. I'm going to end you, once and for all!"

The room was silent for a few moments before fireballs began to rain down from a particular dark corner of the room, as if being casted by someone.

The fire circle effectively made them a sitting duck. It was either playing defensive or countering it. With the latter pretty much impossible due to the many flames hurled at them, Ronan pulled Danielle close to him and Stephen as the two boys both casted a Volcanic Shield at the same time. The Storm-Fire shields rattled as the fireballs hit them.

"This is foul play, Dad!" Danielle cried, sending balls of Death energy back at Zenon's concealed form in the darkness.

"What did you expect, princess?!" Zenon cackled back, deciding it was time to turn up the heat. He casted Meteor Strike, knowing there was no way they'd be able to keep the shields up for long now.

Gritting their teeth, they tried to maintain the shields from the first and second hits. At the third though, the shields shattered upon contact. Thankfully, it only hit the ground, sparing them from direct contact. Nevertheless, the force of the hit sent them flying backwards close to the edge of the circle. Singed clothes and minor burns decorated their features.

'This is not good. With us being trapped here only made him easier to target all of us. If only we could get out of this flame-circle...' Stephen thought.

"Something's not right, Dad wouldn't make it so easy to find him, plus, he can't make circles of fire like this!"

A Fire copy of Zenon jumped down from the darkness, frowning as half of its body appeared human and the other half was on fire. "Awww, you ruined my fun."

"What do you mean? If it's not really him, then where is he actually?"

Then it dawned on Stephen (no pun intended). This guy deliberately trapped them here, the off-map location, and his true self was not here either must have meant something. He turned towards Danielle. Could it be that he was somehow afraid of her that he didn't want her to be around where his real self was? And more importantly, what was he planning on wherever he was at the moment?

"Listen to me. My father is a Pyromancer, but he's not made of fire. He's dead, gone, a ghost, an apparition. But he's still Fire. My mother, who is a Necromancer, murdered him because he was trying to murder me and my siblings. Make sense?"

"I know that," Stephen said, getting up. "But if he only sent a copy here, where is the real him? What is the point on luring you here? We wouldn't know if he's lying, but him and the book might not be here."

"...To waste our time," Danielle said more to herself than anyone else. "This was...like, a decoy..."

"Guys, this is no time for chit chat, " Ronan warned as the copy prepared to attack again.

Raising her staff to shoot bolt after bolt of Death magic at the nimble copy, she called to Ronan and Stephen, "Anyone know some Ice magic?"

"Duh," both of the boys answered, but it was Stephen who took into action. He focused his magic as he was tracing the Ice symbol in the air. The sudden change of temperature was noticeable as snow appeared around them. The gentle snowfall slowly turned into a blizzard, causing some of the flames forming the circle to be extinguished, and then big blocks of ice began to rain down upon Zenon's copy.

The copy ended up becoming crushed by a giant snowball, successfully ending its destructiveness.

Stephen panted for a bit; using magic of other school of focus doubled the mana required to cast it.

"Did--Did we get him?"

"Apparently."

"So, what do we do now? How do we find the book?"

Danielle was panicking. "I-I don't know! I don't have a damned clue where he could possibly be! What am I gonna do?!"

"For starters, maybe we could explore this area. Maybe he hid it somewhere here," Ronan suggested. He doubted it though, but it was better than just not doing anything.

"Hmm...well, the map says this is his tomb. Maybe his body's buried here and we take a look at that? It just might give us a lead."

The boys nodded as they searched the area. Not much could be looked at though and they wondered what clues they might find there. Ronan pondered about their situation; this was too easy. Why would there only one Zenon copy here while he unleashed so many on Wizard City Commons? Thinking of which, what could be the reason behind it?

Setting foot on a particular title, Danielle noticed it sank lightly. A switch? What did it--

"AHHHHH!" Danielle's scream echoed throughout the tomb as the switch tile made way for a small trap door, sending the Necromancer down into the darkness.

"Danielle!" Ronan and Stephen shouted to the darkness of the pit, hearts racing as they waited for the Necromancer to answer. They hoped it wasn't too deep. Who knew? Nevertheless, they were on the verge of jumping there too whether she answered or not.

The pit must've been quite deep, for the girl's scream eventually died away and she didn't answer.

Every second was torture for Ronan, and when he didn't hear an answer from her after some time, he couldn't take it anymore and jumped in after her.

THUMP!

...

...*groan*

Danielle was unsure how far she had fallen, or what she had even landed on, but her brain rattled and her body ached slightly. It was pitch black and dusty, reeking of ancientness and musk. Was this Zenon's actual tomb?

"That guy!" Stephen cursed of how reckless his friend was, but he knew he had no other choice but to jump as well. And he did just that, screaming and expecting the pit to take him into oblivion...

"AHH!" Danielle cried, feeling a body fall on her from so high up. The air was knocked out of her, and she could only make pained wheezing noises as she attempted to shove Ronan off of her to regain lost oxygen.

About why the ground was being somewhat soft and pillow-like was a mystery to Ronan until he found out that he was falling atop of Danielle. Blows of air that came from her pained wheezes hit his right ear, their faces were just mere inches away from each other. Ronan mentally thanked the pitch black darkness for hiding the furious blush on his cheeks.

"S--Sorry..." he apologised nervously as he quickly pulling himself off of her to help her get to her feet. Right at the time, Stephen fell with a loud thud nearby.

A blush was on Danielle's own cheeks; despite being crushed, Ronan's head had landed on her boobs, and if she could breathe, she wouldn't have minded.

"Ugh, where are we?" Stephen groaned. "Guys, you okay? Guys?" He repeated it when he got no answer.

Ronan was still dazed from his embarrassing fall that it took him a few seconds to register the question. "I--We are fine."

"Where in the hell are we?" Danielle asked, tapping her spear on her supposed surroundings.

Just like before in the cave, Stephen summoned a ball of light and sent it floating about them.

The cave was filled with sand piles, golden artifacts, broken weapons, and skeletons. "No sarcophagus," Danielle noted.

"This place... looked like this once was a battlefield."

The three searched separately to cover more area. The uneven ground, with all the rusted weapons and skeletons, made Ronan stumbled a few times. This place made his stomach churn, but he shoved that thought aside and kept looking for any clues. The corner of his eye then caught something shiny on the ground. Approaching it, he squinted his eyes to see better in the dim light. It was a sword, but unlike other weapons in the area, it seemed not to be affected by rust and its full length was still majestic; the wearer, which was now a skeleton, must be someone important... or maybe even Zenon himself. Cringing his face a bit, he inspected the sword before his eyes fell on another object jutting out of the skeleton's robes. Taking it out, he realized that it was a book. Ronan half expected that it was the forbidden spellbook they were looking for but upon closer inspection, it wasn't. The book was smaller and it looked like a diary book.

Danielle hurried over to the Theurgist, bending over to examine at his eye level. "What'd you find?"

"I don't know. Looks like a notebook or something." Ronan gave the book to Danielle. "I got it from this corpse. Do you recognize something?" he referred to the clothes on the skeleton and the book.

The clothes seemed familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on exactly who it was. She skimmed through pages of the notebook, reading journal entries and scientific formulas for something, then a map that took up both pages, along with a written-up plan for Spiral domination...th-this was Zenon's notebook!

"This is Dad's!" Danielle exclaimed, taking a long look at the skeleton once more. She couldn't tell from a first glance, but now it was clear. That was Zenon.

"This book has all of his notes and his plan spelled out in it. Way to go, Ronan!"

Stephen, who was on the other side of the room quickly went up to his friends; he had heard Danielle's exclamation loud and clear.

"What does it say?"

"Um, well, let's see, step one, retrieve Forbidden Spellbook from (unfortunately) my daughter." Danielle rolled her eyes at that one.

"Step two, create fire copies as decoys while I go into hiding."

"Step three, practice casting forbidden spells and unleash them onto the Spiral. Use the formula M=4x+16/1/2 to the x power. What?..."

"Step four, murder the rest of my Mooddhaforsaken family."

"Step five, murder Merle Ambrose, the professors, and anyone else who could pose a threat."

"Step six, command the Spiral with my all-powerful monsters."

The three looked at each other aghast. He had done the first two steps already, and now...

"No... he is going to use the forbidden spells now. And it's not only Wizard City this time." The images of the Spiral in chaos began rolling into Stephen's mind. The whole plan was twisted, and mad. Ronan had his worry over the Spiral's safety, but step number four bothered him the most. That meant, Danielle and her siblings' lives were in danger.

Danielle couldn't breathe. Her father would be after her, and he was mad, powerful, and not afraid of anyone. He would freakin' murder her. He held no one dear to him, he had no bonds or ties to anything or anyone. His heart was darker than black. He was Zenon the Heartcrusher, crushing the hearts of women he mated with and just about anyone who confided their trust in him.

He was a demon out of Hell, and he was Danielle's father.

And he was out to get her.

Ronan squeezed Danielle's shoulder. "Don't worry, that won't happen." He stood up then. "Now, we have to get out of here and warn Ambrose of what to come."

Danielle didn't speak, but she nodded.

Ronan clenched his fists and looked up to the vast darkness. Zenon had trapped them there, how were they going to get out?

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Scarlet watched the chaos unfold from outside the window of the hospital. She was watching Jo's still unconscious body, protecting him from anything that would enter the room. "It's bad out there, Jo," she told him, not expecting an answer. "But I'll protect you."

It seemed like an eternity since Jo was floating in the darkness. He had started as a small peck of light floating around aimlessly in God knows where. It was darkness all around him before suddenly many fragments of light of the same kind appeared. He had found out with delight that every time he touched a fragment of light, it was absorbed into him, making his fragment a bit bigger. So that was practically what he was doing all this time. He collected light after light after light until the once small fragment of his now formed into the shape of a human body; himself.

Jo had long since shrugged off the fact that he was naked. It was weird moving around in that state for so long, but he couldn't do anything about it. He had realized something though. When the wretched puppet used a spell to invade his consciousness, it tore his soul into pieces and they, except for one fragment, got consumed into the darkness that was Malachai. With all the fragments reappeared, it could only mean one thing; Malachai was no longer resided in his body. It was clear then that he should collect all of the fragments so his soul could be whole again.

Looking at his right index finger, he could see a small gouge on the flesh as if it got bitten off by a piranha. He was close. He had been looking around for the one small light that would get him back to his consciousness, but it was surprisingly hard to find. How long had he been here, he had not the slightest idea. He continued searching, on and on and on...

What was that?

The glint of a small light nearby sent joy flowing through him. And when he got his hand on it, his body was engulfed in a bright light as he was being thrown back into consciousness. Scarlet's soothing words welcomed him as he moved his lips to speak.

"Even after we are free, you are still taking care of me, huh?" said Jo, his lips curling slightly in a small smile.

Scarlet jumped, whipping around to see the Necromancer was finally awake. She covered her mouth with both hands, trying hard not to cry. Jo was finally awake!

Running up to his bed, she caught his weak body in a bear hug for a few moments before speaking. "Of course I am. I can't let anything happen to you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

Despite somewhat moved by her words, Jo needed air to breathe. "Let go, or I will pass out again..."

Scarlet quickly released him. "Sorry. But, be careful. Have you heard of..." Scarlet bit her lip before saying the name, as if it was a sin as unforgivable as murder. "Z-Zenon the Heartcrusher?"

Jo's head was still a bit hazy. He just stayed lying there for a few seconds as he tried to recall who that person was. He'd only been in Wizard City for five years, so he had not much knowledge of many people, unless if they were important. That particular name though, he knew he had heard it somewhere before. He raked his brain then. It was at his first orientation as a new student in the Death School...*

"He, was he Danielle's father?" he finally spoke, remembering Danielle once mentioned the name in class. The class was in an uproar at the time, though he had no idea what the big deal was until someone told him about Zenon being a notorious criminal and such. "What about him? Isn't he dead long ago?"

"Yeah, but apparently his ghost is back, and he's taken Danielle's Forbidden Spellbook. He plans to unleash all of the forbidden spells upon the Spiral, and rebuild a new world from the ashes!"

Jo was instantly reminded of Malachai. He fumed silently; any human came back from the dead would always up to no good in his opinion. But what a shock! He was out cold for some time and things had turned out for the worst now for the Spiral. It wasn't his birthplace, yet there was where he truly belonged. Zenon had absolutely no right to ruin his home!

Using his elbows for support, he pulled himself to a sitting position slowly and steadily. He hated of how weak his body felt. He wanted to run, to search for this Zenon guy and punch his ghostly face to a pulp!

"It's okay, Jo. I'll keep your body safe while you're weak."

A vein twitched in Jo's temple. While her intention was good, that hurt his pride; as if owing his safety to her while he was busy collecting his soul fragments hadn't hurt it already.

"No. I want to fight too!" He said stubbornly, now attempting to get off of his bed.

A fire burned in Scarlet's eyes. "You just woke up from a two-week unconsciousness! Keep your weak ass in this bed!"

The Necromancer glared at the girl. "I'm not weak!" he swung both of his legs off the bed as if wanting to stress his point. "I'm just..."

*GROWLS*

'Starving...' he finished his sentence mentally. He just stayed there momentarily, cursing under his breath as a small blush appeared on his cheek.

"Just... just give me some food and I will be able to run through a full-time match of soccer!" he wasn't sure if she knew what soccer was, but she should get the point.

Scarlet blinked. "What in the hell is soccer? Are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep for a little while longer?"

"Nevermind that." the explanation of the Earth sport didn't seem very important at the time. "And you think what have I been doing this whole time? Swimming?" he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Truthfully, he needed it, but he didn't want to admit it. She had seen much of his weakness during the ordeal with Malachai; he didn't want to give her impression of more weakness. His pride had suffered enough, now it was time to make up for it. However, it seemed that his body didn't agree with his brain; his knees buckled as soon as he pulled himself up to stand.

Scarlet lunged for Jo, wrapping her arms around his chest and hoisting him back up onto the bed. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jo, listen to me. I know you're strong. Everyone knows you are. But you have to let your body recover. You aren't ready to fight yet. You're worrying me. Please."

Jo knew she was right. He couldn't even stand yet, much less fight. He didn't have a wand; his was broken by Tyu when she ambushed him, all he had at the moment was the hospital clothes he had on now. At that moment, he got a bit of view from outside of the window; of the raging flames on the trees, of the rubble strewn across the streets, and people fighting. He gritted his teeth, but didn't say anything and didn't protest as Scarlet helped him to lie down again.

~~Three Days Later~~

"Where are Danielle, Ronan, and Stephen?" Scarlet whined, worried sick about her other three friends. It had been three days, what the fuck were they doing?

"Jo, you doing okay?"

The said boy was sitting on his hospital bed, one leg drawn up so that he could put his elbow on his knee while the other dangled off the edge of the bed. He looked incredibly bored as he was staring out of the window. He wanted to be out there, searching for their missing friends, but the patron wouldn't let him leave just yet.

"I am perfectly fine now, thank you. And that's why they should let me out of here! I've had enough of rest I could kick the entire monsters in this city!"

Scarlet frowned. "Jo, you don't understand," she tried to explain in a soft voice. "If they sent you out there now, you'd be killed in a heartbeat. Please stop being so stubborn. You have internal damages that still need healing."

The Necromancer rolled his eyes; it was always the same answer she gave to him every time they went through this argument. Why wouldn't she trust him? His stamina was pretty much restored after three days rest, and he was no longer suffered from malnutrition. About these "internal damages" though, he had no idea how he got it; it must have been inflicted when Malachai used his body to fight. Before, he felt like his ribs had been crushed, which was practically true, but it was only dull pain now.

Jo watched as Scarlet busied herself with tidying up his cover; she was sitting on a chair near him, her back facing the window. She had been visiting him every day ever since he woke up (or maybe even way before that) and then she would tell him the latest news in Wizard City. He wondered why she was even bothered to do that, but he was grateful of her actions; after all, he didn't have his family here in Wizard City. Not that he would say that out loud.

"So, what's news?" he asked her.

"What's left of Wizard City is small," the Pyromancer mumbled. "Most of the city in shambles, Headmaster Ambrose, Professor Greyrose, and Professor Balestrom are searching for Zenon, and Danielle, Ronan, and Stephen still haven't returned. I really hope they're alright..."

Jo's expression was grim as he got off of the bed and walked up to the window. Looking down, he could see that Scarlet was right. Some people had cleaned some of the rubble, so it wasn't too bad now. His fists clenched; he shouldn't be here anymore. He should be out there helping them and more importantly, find his friends. They had come to rescue him, so he must do the same for them. First thing first, he had to get a wand. Scarlet had two wands with her; one was hers and the other was Ronan's. He was going to ask her for it when he noticed something weird in the sky. He saw that the sky over Wizard City was dominated by thick orangey clouds, almost like the evening sky, only it was also followed by rumbling sounds.

"What the he--"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as at the time, multiple flaming meteors were falling from the sky towards the entire Wizard City!

Scarlet jumped up and bolted towards the window, her eyes widening in horror at what she saw. "Scratch what I said before; all of Wizard City is about to be in shambles!"

The building shook violently as multiple meteors hit it and the ground around it. Jo cursed loudly, grabbing the window for support. More meteors were falling. It was sooner or later this building, or any building for that matter, would collapse. What madness! Whoever did this wanted everyone here to die!

Screams sounded everywhere around them, but Jo couldn't be bothered to think about them as at the time, a meteor came hurling towards his room, and he had to tackle Scarlet to the ground, missing the flaming boulder by inches. They watched in horror as it hit his bed and went through the floor to the lower rooms below. He hoped it didn't hit people, but he knew that chance was small. This building would be the death of them the longer they stayed there.

"We need to get out!" Jo screamed as he unceremoniously pulled a wand from Scarlet's belt.

Fanning the smoke from her field of view the best she could, Scarlet casted a Fire Shield, grabbing Jo's arm and fighting back against the flames she wished she could control. "Jo, get out of the building!"

The hole made by the meteor provided their way out, but they were on the second floor and they absolutely had no time to use the elevator or the stairs. Grabbing Scarlet's waist, Jo launched themselves out of the hole towards the ground below. Thankfully, the flower bushes below them softened their landing a bit.

Sitting up, Scarlet's widened eyes and gaping mouth out together was an expression of pure and utter horror. There was no city anymore. Bodies were everywhere. Guards were dead. Tunnels had collapsed. Scarlet was sure the streets were in shambles and the monsters had been wiped out. The shopping district was probably a mess. Even the Haunted Cave had probably been set aflame. Wizard City...didn't exist anymore.

One more wave of meteors were falling down, missing the two teenagers completely, but they managed to completely collapse the hospital building. It was some time before the smoke finally subsided. Jo's chest was heaving, and much like Scarlet, his eyes were widen and for the first time, he seemed to be lost for words as he looked around. The Olde Town, where the hospital was located, was now even with the grounds. The ever crowded Bazaar was no more. The entire area was now a sea of flames.

It was quiet for some time before a few survivors were showing up, stumbling from behind the rubbles. Jo noticed most of them had a wand with Fire Shields glowing about them; most civilians and non-wizards in the area were not so lucky, being unable to defend themselves from the Fire magic and all. The Necromancer hoped it was just because they hadn't come out of their safety place yet.

He looked at Scarlet, who had tears on her dust-streaked face, before standing up. His hand extended to her as he tried his best to stop its shaking, "Let's... Let's go see Ravenwood. The Headmaster had put a barrier over that place and Bartleby, so that place was probably still in one piece..."

"O-Okay." Being a Pyromancer, she had always strived to be the very best like no one ever was*. Passion for her school burned brightly within her, and, with all successful Pyromancers, she 'had the fire inside'. But Zenon's power was showing her the dark side of Fire, a side she wanted to embrace but was now fearful of.

And so, they walked on towards the tunnel to Shopping District. It had collapsed where several of the meteors had hit it, but the path had not been completely cut off yet. It was the same view in Shopping Distric. The debris and shattered glass on the now uneven ground cut into Jo's bare feet, but the Necromancer put little mind to it and kept walking. But then he heard it; a little voice calling for help very close to him and Scarlet. Looking around, he found the source of the small voice was half-buried in the rubble. Her bright red clothes contrasted to her gloomy surrounding like a blooming flower in the middle of a desert. Her long, dark brown hair had hidden half of her face, but Jo knew who she was. She was Danielle's little sister.

"Emily!"

Emily raised an eyebrow, wondering who on Earth was calling her name. "Mm? Jojo?"

Scarlet couldn't help but grin; 'Jojo' wasn't the 'manliest' nickname around, but it was unique for Emily.

Reminding himself to scold her later for calling him that, the Necromancer quickly get to work in removing pieces of rubble atop of her lithe body with Scarlet helping him. He was glad that she survived the meteors, before he remembered that she was a Pyromancer. She was able to defend herself, but apparently she was not so lucky avoiding the collapsed building. After she was free, Jo could see one of her legs was bleeding. Ugh, he couldn't imagine how mad Danielle would be to see her hurt.

"Oh, Emily, you're hurt. Where's David?" Scarlet asked, wrapping an arm behind Emily's back.

"He's in Dragonspyre," Emily told them.

"Emily, can you stand?" Jo asked. Her wound looked painful; it would be a miracle if she could do it.

"I don't think so..."

"Fuck, what are we gonna do now? Carry her? Where are we going to go?"

"Well, we can't leave her here either. Danielle would kill me if she ever comes back..." Realizing the sad look on Emily's face upon his mentioning of her sister's name, Jo continued. "...which I am sure that she will, we'll have to at least get her somewhere safe. We're going to Ravenwood."

Jo stood up and turned around, kneeling in front of the younger Pyromancer so his back was facing her. "I'll carry you. Get on."

"Danielle's coming back, right?"

"Uh..." Jo's eyes trailed upwards as he tried to think of something to say to to her. "Right, she's pretty stubborn."

"...That's a yes, right?"

"Hey, I am no seer. Don't ask something I don't know about. Now hop on here! We will get you patched up."

Emily clambered on Jo's back, and Scarlet began to slowly walk ahead, the Ravenwood portal not too far away.

They hadn't walked far before they were surprised by a sudden ball of fire zooming in towards them.

"Oh, what's this now?!" Scarlet snarled, brandishing her wand to let loose an enraged flame burst.

Jo watched as the two flames clashed and cancelled each other out. Scowling, he told Emily to hang on tightly around his neck while simultaneously readied his borrowed wand by pointing it forward. The smoke was still thick from the result of the two spells colliding, but when it cleared, the figure in front of them made them gasp; it was the Fire copy of Zenon! A cold smile stretched on his face and his eyes were glaring at Jo; or rather, at the young girl on his back.

"He's after Emily!" Scarlet cried, quickly casting a Fire Shield over Jo and Emily. She fought fire with fire, literally, but it wasn't getting her very far at all. The copy resisted it too much, she could tell, that's why she was barely leaving a scratch.

The Necromancer couldn't understand why Zenon was after Emily; and the feeling of bloodlust radiating from the copy's every move told him he wanted to go for a kill. Weren't they family? He then averted his gaze from the Pyromancers' fight to look over his shoulder. Emily's look of horror greeted him as she watched the copy rained blast after blast of flames at Scarlet.

A sudden pained yelp sounded then and Jo wiped his head back forward to see Scarlet holding her bare left shoulder, the fabric of her sleeve was burned away as well as the flesh under from the copy's fire blast. Jo immediately sent a powerful blast of deathly energy at the copy before he could advance on Scarlet again.

~~Meanwhile~~

"Ronan! What's wrong with you?!" Danielle wept, shaking him lightly in her arms. After defeating the copy, Ronan had collapsed, and unbeknownst to his condition, Danielle had been trying to fix him for a while now. "Stephen! What's wrong with him?!"

Remembering his promise to Ronan, the Sorcerer didn't say a word. He just watched as Danielle was doing everything she could to wake Ronan up. His teeth were gritted as he came to realize that the effect of the Elixir he had given to the Theurgist must have been worn out.

He noticed Danielle had shot him a look after he was quiet for some time. He would tell her, but Ronan had made him promise not to tell anybody else.

"Stephen?" Danielle whimpered, expression confused and hurt. Didn't Stephen care about one of his best friends?

Well, he wouldn't give her much details then. "He was just exhausted that's all. That's normal for a wizard who exhausted their magic..." The Sorcerer caught himself before cursing mentally. Damn it, even Danielle would know that something was wrong now; Ronan had barely used any big spells earlier and there was no way a normal wizard would collapse just by casting a few shields.

"...What are you talking about?"

Sighing, Stephen began to retell what Professor Wu had told him about his friend's condition*. When he was done, he could see that Danielle was at a loss for words. He couldn't blame her; even if that was completely unintentional, it was her spell that had caused Ronan's magic deterioration.

"So...this is my fault?" Danielle's voice was barely above a whisper, caressing her love interest's cheek. "Oh...Ronan...I'm so sorry..."

"You were just trying to save his life then. He never thought of it that way, that's why he didn't want everyone to know, not even his family." Stephen then rummaged into his backpack and pulled out a vial of clear blue liquid. "His magic regeneration is slow, that's all. This elixir will give him extra mana for some period of time. Here, let's see if this will help him."

Danielle nodded her understanding, waiting for Ronan to wake up.

It felt like it was back at the time again at the cave when they were hiding from Tyu, except that now they were stuck in there while the whole Spiral was in danger. And there was the problem with Ronan. It seemed like his condition was getting worse and worse the more he cast spells. True that the elixir would be able to help him overcome his crisis, but he couldn't do that forever.

Danielle still couldn't believe that it essentially her fault that Ronan was in the condition he was. This could kill him, she knew that, and as much as she didn't like endangering her own life, she would fix him somehow.

Gently placing Ronan's head on the ground, Danielle gripped her spear, turning to the tomb entrance. "I'm going after Dad. I don't think I'll survive, but if by some chance I do, maybe I can find a spell that can fix Ronan."

"Hey, what about us? We got here together and it must stay that way. Don't just go on your own!"

Danielle's emerald eyes were hard like stone and her voice was firm. "No, you're staying here with Ronan."

Stephen had expected that answer; she was always so rash when it came to Ronan's safety. If she was willing to sacrifice her life to save him, then it was no use pleading for her to stop now. But still...

"Hey, wait!"

But the Necromancer was already gone.

Danielle had a feeling David could take care of himself; he had always had an intuition about their father, and usually he was right, having dealt with him many times in the past. Now she just had to get out of this tomb.

She teleported to Wizard City.

That meant Stephen had no choice now. He needed to take Ronan to a more comfortable place. Hoisting his friend up, he started to head to the Oasis.

xxxxxxx

"Dammit!" Danielle heard Scarlet curse as she shot fireball after fireball at the nimble copy who seemed to be toying with her. "Fucking hold still!"

"What's going on here?!" Danielle asked frantically, utterly confused.

"Danielle!" Emily cheered. "You came back!"

Now the Necromancer girl was confused, raising an eyebrow. "Of course I did."

"It's about time you come back! Where have you been these past three days?" Jo called to her as he threw another bolt of death magic at the copy, all the while holding Emily in place. "Actually, nevermind that, lend us a hand here!"

Tapping her spear on the ground, Danielle took a step back as ghostly hands shot up from the ground to grab the copy's legs, forcefully pulling him underground in one fell swoop.

What was left of the copy was the small scorching mark on the ground. Avoiding the many rubble on the ground, Jo walked up to Danielle, mainly because Emily was urging him to. He also wanted to know where his other two friends were.

At the mention of Ronan's name, Danielle gripped her spear tightly, holding back tears as she felt the blame for his condition being thrown back in her face. "Ronan and Stephen are coming. They'll be here soon."

Jo felt that something was wrong; why wouldn't she come back here with them instead? But he put the thought at the back of his mind. "So, where were you? If you were going for a long while, at least you could notice your sister so she wouldn't be worried sick waiting for you without any news for three days," the Necromancer boy said, gesturing at Emily with his head.

Danielle wasn't even paying much attention; her gaze was on the floor, thinking about Ronan.

Jo and Scarlet shared what-the-hell-is-going-on glances. The former then spoke again. "Geez, the fact that the entire Wizard City had just got bombarded with meteors to the ground, and your sister who got seriously injured here, and hell, even the fact that the friend you rescued finally woke up from his two-week coma certainly weren't important enough to think about," Jo said sarcastically. But that finally earned Danielle's attention.

Danielle's head snapped, her emerald eyes hard as crystal again. "It is important to me! I'm sorry if I'm not jumping when you say jump, but something's wrong with Ronan and it's all my fault! I'm happy you're all okay and we'll make Dad pay for what he's done, but I just had something on my mind!"

"What did you say? What's wrong with him?" Jo demanded, but before Danielle had a chance to answer him, he felt Emily's head drop on his shoulder and when he looked to the side, he saw pale face and closed eyes. She had fainted.

"She has lost too much blood. We must get her treated right away. Come on, to Ravenwood!"

"Oh my gosh, Emily! Come on!" She was already headed for Ravenwood.

Their trek to the academy wasn't interrupted except for the occasional rubble blocking their way. They began to see some people heading the same way as them, each craving the protectiveness of the area. True to his word, Jo saw that the tunnel to Ravenwood and Bartleby himself were unscathed, and then they rushed in.

"Who even survived the massacre, though? What if no one's in here?"

"Just keep positive, will you? That's commoners probably, but wizards are not to be taken lightly," said Jo.

And he was right. As soon as they emerged from the tunnel, they could see many people moving around treating the wounded. To their left, the could see the LIfe School was overflowing with people and Theurgists were casting healing spells here and there. They headed over there and had a Theurgist look after Emily. After everything was settled and Jo got his feet healed, they finally had time to sit in a corner and talk.

"When I used Sacrifice Kiss on Ronan that time when we were fighting Malachai, the Death energy clashed with his Life energy or something like that, and it's causing a bad reaction and it's weakening

Ronan, and he could die, he might never be able to use magic again, Stephen could explain it to you better, but it's all my fault...!" By the end of her explanation, Danielle was in tears again.

Jo had his eyes widened and his expression hardened, but he didn't say anything. Ronan, the most brilliant Theurgist he'd ever found in Ravenwood, the one who was always brimming with Life energy, his friend, was now powerless and weak? It was hard to believe. He was angry, but he knew he couldn't blame Danielle for that. She did what she thought was necessary to safe his life. She didn't know that it would cause such a bad reaction on him.

Easing his trembling fists, he finally looked at the weeping girl. "Is--Is there anything we can do to heal him?"

"Stephen has been giving him many elixirs but they do run out, and he can't become dependent on them like it's medicine, which in a sense it is, but still. I think there might be a spell in the Forbidden Spellbook that can help him, but I need that book as soon as possible. And Dad has it."

"It's clear then. Let's go look for him. He must pay for what he did to this city and everyone!" Everyone seemed to agree to the idea. Only problem though, where to start?

Danielle massaged her temples almost painfully, racking her brain for where her father might be. "Where did Dad spend a lot of his time...he was always in Krokotopia, messing around in the tombs, but he's hiding now...he's got to be somewhere in the Pyramid of the Sun."

"How can we track him, though?" Jo asked.

"Um...I can ask my friends on the other side..."

At several nods of agreement, Danielle kneeled down and began to tap the ground with the tip of her spear. She appeared to be spelling out a message in...some sound-based language. Morse code, perhaps?

She stayed like that for a few seconds, tapping away, until...

...raaaaaahhhhhh...

Ghostly hands began to rise from the ground, similar to the ones that dragged the copy from before underground. A ghastly voice, whose owner Dsnielle assumed was hidden, began to speak. "What is it you ask of us, young Necromancer? The dead are at your beck and call."

"I need you to track the ghost of Zenon the Heartcrusher."

The voice was silent for a few moments, as if hesitant. "Y-Yes, young Necromancer."

Danielle kneeled down even more pressing her ear to the ground. After some whispering, she looked back at Jo. "He's in MooShu."

Jo frowned. "No specific location?" That was a rhetorical question actually. He knew they wouldn't get anymore answer than that; the ghosts were clearly uncomfortable revealing that simple fact. But who knew?

"No, no specific location..."

"Ok then, off we go. I'll send a message to Stephen of where we are going," Jo announced.

The three stood up and Jo hoped he could get some footwear; his white hospital clothes were okay, but he needed shoes. Turning to his left, he saw an injured boy being tended by a Theurgist. Without preamble, he went to take off his shoes and put it on himself. The Theurgist gave him a what-the-heck look, but Jo ignored it.

"He doesn't need these now, no?"

Danielle's eyebrows creased slightly, but she didn't question him. "I guess not..."

They squeezed their way between people and found themselves inside the World Tree. Surprisingly, they hadn't come across any of the Professors yet. It was weird for they didn't usually leave Ravenwood, at least not all of them at once. Within minutes, they were transported to the ever tranquil world of Mooshu.

"I don't even know where to start looking," Danielle whined, shrugging her shoulders in defeat.

Jo was thinking about that for some time. Since this world was so peaceful, it should be easy to spot on an unusual ominous feeling. And the spirits here would surely be agitated if they were close to Zenon. He guessed they just had to look around until they find the signs. And that idea, he voiced it to the two girls.

"This is ridiculous," Scarlet muttered, heading towards the Village of Sorrow. "Let's look in a place with a sad-sounding name."

And off they went. They scouted the area for some time but they didn't find anything out of ordinary there. They tried other areas too but they got the same result. Even Scarlet, who should be able to sense him had no luck either. By the time they decided to stop in Kishibe village, they were already exhausted.

"Damn it. Everything looks normal in this world," Jo said with dismay as he threw himself to lay on some grassy area, chest heaving from so much walking.

"What now?!" Scarlet cried to the skies, throwing her hands in the air. "We're exhausted and still no sign of Zenon!"

"Give my brain some time to think, will you?" Jo grunted, continuing to lay there. The Mooshu breeze was cool and nice, caressing his hot and sweaty face. The sun was slowly moved over towards the west horizon; if Jo had to guess, it would be around 3 in the afternoon. Hearing none of Danielle's voice, he turned to her. The Necromancer girl was just as exhausted as they were, but she showed no desire to rest, her face the mixture of determination, concern, and sadness.

"Hey Danielle, get some rest. Recover your energy."

Danielle couldn't sleep knowing Ronan's life was in danger. After all the times she sacrificed herself for him, how could she rest now? No, she had to stay awake and contact the dead once more. She had to find...find...what was she finding again...?

"Mmkay..." she murmured, sliding down the wall behind her to slump into a sleepy ball.

Jo watched as Danielle's chest rise and fall rhythmically. He was surprised of how fast she went into a deep slumber; she must have been really tired. He then looked at Scarlet, who was sitting nearby.

"I didn't know that she cares so much about Ronan." Jo wondered loudly. "Is she always like that?"

"No, it was when she started liking him."

Jo let out a small chuckle. "Right. She sacrificed her life once for him. I forgot."

Scarlet smiled, gazing off into the distance. "You'd be surprised the lengths a person will go to when they love someone."

'Love, huh?'

Jo couldn't understand it. What's the point of such sacrifice if you lose yourself in the process and couldn't fulfill your heart's desire? It was supposed to make you happy, but if you die, would you be happy? He didn't think so. Just because you like someone, it was still too much! Being able to make such things happened, it was just absurd, and he knew he would never do that...

For whatever reason, his gaze fell on Scarlet.

'...right?' The Necromancer questioned himself, scowling all the while.

Scarlet noticed his staring, and her vibrant orange orbs shifted to meet his. "What?

"Nothing," he said curtly, still holding his gaze and scowling. "You too had better get some sleep while you can. I'll take first watch."

"If you say so. Wake me if you need anything, 'cause Dan's practically unconscious."

Jo grunted in response, getting up in a sitting position. They had taken a break near a flowing river. He made his way over to the bank and washed his face off the soot and dirt, feeling refreshed already. He guessed they still had a few hours until they were ready. It would be night time by then, but they wanted to take that chance; maybe it would be easier to search in the night since their target was a spirit. But for now, what to do? He was that kind of a guy who would be crazy being idle for a long time in one place. Then he remembered he hadn't sent a message to Stephen yet. Pulling his wand out, he closed his eyes and pointed it to the ground, trying to feel something underneath. For some time, he didn't get the result he wanted and he had to wander a considerable distance from their resting spot. When he finally found what he was looking for, he tapped the ground a few times and murmured some incantations. Bones then sprouted up the ground before rearranging themselves into the structure of a

skeletal cat with blue energy gathered on its middle. He pictured Stephen in his mind and then spoke his message to the animated bones. The skeletal cat would find Stephen and relay his message to him. After sending it off, he figured they could use some food after they woke up. By the time he went back to his friends, his arms were full with fruits. Now he just had to wait for them to wake up.

Danielle shot up with a gasp, body shaking and forehead sweaty from the nightmare that even she, one taught to channel her fears out and at the enemy, couldn't banish as easily as she could the others. No, she had to find that book, Ronan had to be okay, even if she couldn't be at his side any longer due to the possibility of this happening again, she had to know he was okay.

Jo's head snapped up from its nodding state, senses alert, but then he saw it was only Danielle waking up. Shaking the sleepiness out of his eyes, he called out to her, "Hey, what's up?"

"I-I just had a bad nightmare..."

"Oh." Jo had noticed that he fell asleep as well. It was already dark and chilly, the sun had long since set and the sky was replaced by twinkling stars. He turned to find Scarlet was up as well. It was a good thing that nothing had happened to them. Jo then called the two girls to eat before they discussed what their next move would be.

"It seems Zenon can't just be found that easily, we need to change our ways of thinking," Jo voiced his thought. "Instead of us searching for him, we will get him to search for us. After what happened in Wizard City with Emily, we know now what he is aiming for." And he turned his gaze towards Danielle then, hoping she would understand what he was implying.

"You mean, like, bait him? By using me?"

"Yeah," Jo said bluntly, earning himself an incredulous look from Scarlet. "You bait him out and we give him surprise attacks. What do you say?"

xxxxxxxxx

When Ronan was out of unconsciousness that night, he felt slightly dazed. He had dreamed of his childhood experience when he was lost in the forest; the day when he met his now dead Satyr friend and how he got his flute. Play the flute when you feel lost, he had said. That was exactly what he was feeling this past couple weeks; he didn't know what to do about his condition. He wanted to play the instrument, but he couldn't bring himself to do that. The flute reminded him so much of his Satyr friend and also, Professor Wu had warned him not to do that until he got better, which he hadn't yet. He had promised Danielle not to endanger his life again...

Danielle...

He sat up abruptly, quickly wondering where he was at the moment. The small bedroom felt comfortable and warm, but what concerned him was that none of his friends were there. He climbed off the bed and walked up towards the door. Opening it, he was greeted with a small hallway, and to his left, he could see Stephen crouching on the floor, his back facing him. The Sorcerer seemed to not notice his walking up to him; his attention focused on the skeletal cat in front of him, which was speaking in

Jo's voice.

The joy of knowing that Jo was finally awake was quickly replaced by shock on the Theurgist's face. He had heard something about Zenon's attack on Wizard City, about Danielle who went to find Zenon for the spellbook, and where they were at now. Ronan's hands balled into fists. Why? Why would she go on her own and endangering her life again just for a spellbook!? The more advanced wizards should be able to deal with Zenon, she didn't have to do it herself knowing that Zenon also targeted her!

"She did it for you."

Stephen's voice took Ronan back to reality. He must have voiced his thought out loud. "What do you mean she did that for me?"

The Sorcerer stood up to face him. "She went looking for the book because she wants to fix you up. She believes there is a spell in the book that can do it."

"To fix me...? What--"

"She already knew."

Ronan didn't need Stephen to explain more. He could easily picture it in his mind how Danielle had reacted. "Stephen, we need to go look for her. Now."

xxxxxxx

"I say we do it. If it'll bring him here, I'm all for it."

Jo smirked. "Heh, throw all the insults you can think of. People tend to react to it."

He and Scarlet then left Danielle alone and hid themselves nearby, trying to zero out their presence.

"Um..." Danielle murmured, tapping her nails on the wooden staff of her spear nervously. "I'm not sure how to be bait...erm..."

Jo shook his head seeing Danielle was just standing there doing nothing. He should have realized it sooner that she wasn't him. Oh well, he guessed that would work also; a lone girl in the middle of nowhere at the dead of night tend to attract attention in his birth world. And they waited. After an hour, Jo had begun to lose his patience and was going to do the job himself when the expected happened.

The voice of Zenon sounded, cold and deadly and nearby.

"Well if isn't Danielle!" Zenon's voice thundered through the still night air, startling the Necromancer girl from her nervous stupor. Currently, she was frozen. She thought she was ready for this, ready to face her father and retrieve her book, but now that he was here and ready to end her if she didn't comply with his terms of joining him...it was a rush. A rush that was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

However, the fear wad dominant.

Jo watched as a figure emerged a few meters away from Danielle; he could not make out his detailed appearance from afar, but he only knew that he was floating off the ground. This was the real thing; the spirit, not a copy like how he appeared so far. He was Zenon himself! But what was Danielle's doing only standing in there!?

Zenon's short pink hair whipped in the wind, he was covered from head to toe in durable armor that had been dyed in various shades of green and blue. His eyes were a calm orange, and in his hand was a razor-sharp sword surrounded by dancing flames.

He looked happy to see Danielle.

"I know you didn't come alone, Dan. Where are your pathetic friends?"

The comment grated on his nerve Jo wanted to rush in there and punch him, but an unknown force seemed to freeze them on the spot. The voice was like a charm, or so Jo thought before he realized that his hands were trembling slightly. It wasn't the voice; it was from the fear it produced. This man radiated power!

'No! He's just one person. We are three. We outnumbered him! Move, my body!' Jo mentally scolded himself, gritting his teeth.

"Th-Th-They...they..."

"They what? Can't form a coherent sentence, Dan?"

Danielle took a step back. Could she run? Could she fight? Did she even stand a silver of a chance? Zenon had been one of the most powerful, most notorious, most feared wizards in the Spiral. And that was no exaggeration.

"Maybe they've gone and left you? I sure hope so; it gives us time to talk."

Talk?

"T-Talk about what?" Danielle stuttered.

"Whether you're joining me or not."

At the moment, she was honestly contemplating it.

'He wants her to join him?' Jo wondered. He looked at Scarlet, who had panic written all over her face, then looked back to the family. 'Why?' Jo guessed that he would listen to them for a while, not that he could move already anyway.

"W-Well, I-I'm not sure if I can, see, I...um...well, why me?!"

"Why you?" Zenon repeated for clarification.

"Yes, why me?! Why not David or Emily?! Why not any of your plethora of other kids?!"

Zenon merely chuckled. "Fine, I won't mince words. Very few Necromancers can communicate with the dead the way you can. All you must do is think it and it happens. To be honest, it's a bit hard to explain, so forgive me if it isn't making much sense. And you and I both know wherever you go, that Theurgist goes as well."

"You leave Ronan alone!" Danielle snapped, her grip on her spear tightening reflexively.

The two hiding wizards perked up hearing Ronan's name. That's right, they were here because they wanted to save him and the whole Spiral from their doom. They couldn't falter here; it wasn't the time to be cowering in fear! Jo's eyes glinted in determination, ready to pounce whenever necessary.

"You leave Ronan out of this!" Danielle cried, fear shoved to the back of her mind even as her hands trembled around her spear.

"But Dan, come on! He's one of the strongest Theurgists I've ever seen, and that's saying something, especially coming from me. I know you see it, too, don't you? Do you like him or something?" Zenon questioned with a smirk.

An explosion of Death energy went off where Zenon had been standing, causing Danielle to raise her arms to cover her head protectively. The smoke hadn't cleared when Jo and Scarlet stood there next to her.

"Enough chit chat. Nobody is gonna join you," Jo said, the tip of the wand in his grasp still smoking.

Zenon grinned darkly. "Ahh, I knew they were hiding somewhere. Were they afraid? They should be."

Scarlet bit her tongue. She wanted to yell out how no one was afraid of him, but that would be an absolute lie.

"But he's right, enough chitchat. Who's ready to duel?"

Jo tried his best not to show wariness on his face. His attack earlier did practically nothing! However, that also fueled his determination to break the ghost even more; he always liked challenge. Without waiting for his friends, he darted forward while forming the Ice insignia with his wand. Two shields hovered around himself, glowing red and purple respectively. Death energy then started forming on the tip of his wand, which was growing larger and larger before he released it towards Zenon.

"JO! NO!" Danielle screeched, reaching a hand out in an attempt to stop him, but he was already gone and running. Zenon didn't move a muscle besides his arm, enclosing the Death blast in his palm, dispelling it like it was nothing. "Was that your best shot?"

Before Jo could answer, Zenon had pointed a finger at the boy, sending back a Death blast that was twice as powerful. "And that wasn't even mine. Dan knows that's not even close to the full extent of my power, don't you, Dan?"

Danielle refused to acknowledge him. She merely glared, that was the only response he was getting.

Jo didn't have time to be surprised that Zenon could also use Death magic and casted a Death shield just in time. The shield shattered instantly upon contact with the blast, making the Necromancer to stumble back a few feet. What power!

"No, I was just sizing you up," he said, gritting his teeth. Now he knew that normal attacks wouldn't work on him so he would have to take it up a notch. And as much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't do it alone. He turned towards his friends and shouted.

"You guys just gonna stand there and watch? The book won't just fly to your hands without a fight, you know?"

The book, that's right! Ronan was counting on her! Tapping her spear on the ground, she muttered an incantation and out of the ground rose a transparent human hand, followed by another, and then a body. Long hair darker than black was attached to the head, and piercing dark blue eyes flared at Zenon.

"Zenon the Heartcrusher," Malachai muttered as he emerged from the ground completely. "So you're Danielle's father?"

Jo felt like he had heard his voice somewhere before. "Who is this guy?" he asked as he stared at the regally-clothed ghost near him.

"I am," Zenon replied smugly. "And you are?"

"I'm Malachai, son of Austie and Meylin, and heir to the throne of Glaevar. You may also know me as the Dark Puppetmaster. I have been called upon by this Necromancer to aid her in your defeat. It's..." Here Malachai turned to Jo, a sincerely sorrowful look in his eyes, "the least I can do after what I put them through."

Jo's initial curious look had changed to anger in a split second after Malachai mentioned his name.

"You..."

The memories of his three days of imprisonment and near death experience flooded back in his head like gasoline, fueling his anger even more. His face contorted in fury. His hands balled into fists, covered in steadily growing Death energy that he was ready to throw at the abomination of a ghost in front of him.

"YOU!!!"

"Jo! Don't!" Scarlet cried, running towards his energized form. "I know you're upset, but you can't fight him right now!"

"Oh, this'll be too easy..." Zenon's finger had already created the fire symbol, a simple Meteor Shower should get rid of them...

Jo didn't get what Danielle was thinking by summoning him of all people. His glare on the ghost never wavered even when the rumbling sound was heard. Grabbing Scarlet's wrist, he pulled her close to him

as his still-activated Volcanic Shield glowed in response of the approaching meteors. He saw Malachai was preparing something himself, probably something to defend him and Danielle. But Jo didn't care.

As a blush bloomed on Scarlet's cheeks, Danielle began to speak to the other Necromancer. "Jo, listen to me. I know you don't like him, but--" Danielle casted a second Fire Shield for Zenon's next attack, as Malachai had protected them from most of the pain. "He can help us! I summoned him for a reason!"

"Don't like him? DON'T LIKE HIM!? I DESPISE HIM! I LOATHE HIM WITH ALL MY BEING! HE ALMOST KILLED ME, HELL HE EVEN ALMOST KILLED YOU ALL!" Jo shouted, ignoring the fact that Malachai indeed just protected them. All he was seeing in his head was the evil puppet hurting him and his friends. Whitish aura was radiating from his body and the ground trembled for a bit. In numerous places on the ground, skeletons started to rise. "I DON'T NEED HIS HELP!"

With that, he released Scarlet from his grip and stretched his arm to the ground, his palm letting out more energy. Out of the ground, came many bone remains of men and many creatures. The bones kept coming and forming themselves into a wide and large sword the size of himself, reinforced and put together by his magic. Using his magic to support the weight, he ran forward and swung at Zenon, releasing a large energy slash that cut through trees easily.

Zenon raised an eyebrow. Now things were getting interesting. Swiftly dodging the slashes from the bone sword, he sent out blasts of fire as he flipped in the air.

"I think 'not like' was a poor choice of words!" Scarlet screamed over the noise, casting Fire Shields around Jo as her magic wouldn't be very effective against Zenon.

It seemed that Malachai did help after all; Jo's anger towards him fueled his fighting spirit even more. However, like their earlier run in with the copy, Zenon's movements were as swift and nimble that Jo had a hard time aiming for his attack. It was the complete opposite with the ghost's attack however; Zenon had managed to land several fire blasts on the Necromancer. Jo mentally thanked Scarlet for the Fire shields. They shattered, one by one upon contact with the fire; getting hit even once was going to hurt.

"It's nice to know someone here is going to be somewhat of a challenge!" Zenon cackled. This was child's play, did they really think they stood a chance?

"Jo, put your feelings aside for a second! He's helping us now, you can yell at him later!" With a circular twist of her spear, Danielle had casted three Wraiths, to which Zenon only chuckled at. All while he was still knocking Jo around with his fire blasts.

Malachai still couldn't answer, deciding to focus on aiming his devastating thunderbolts.

"I TOLD YOU I DON'T NEED HIS HELP!" Jo declared stubbornly, panting from running around and releasing that much magic. Raising his sword to send another slash, he suddenly froze mid-swing for a stabbing pain, which was the exact reason why he shouldn't be out of the hospital yet, shot through his chest. And that left him perfectly open...

Zenon's grin was nasty and all-knowing. Creating the Fire symbol in front of him, he casted a Fire Wyvern, who appeared to be sizing Jo up for a nice, roasted snack.

Flame orange eyes widened when Scarlet realized Jo's predicament, and before she could stop herself, she was running in front of him, absorbing the bulk of ear-piercing scream that fell muffled on Pyromancer ears.

Just how many times would he owe his life to this girl?

"Scarlet!"

Letting go of his sword, he went to catch the girl's collapsing body. Her eyes were closed and her face was scrunched up in pain. Her natural resistance to the element protected her from the worst of the burn, but it didn't leave her woundless. A blast of fire that was too quick for Jo to negate went hurling towards them and he was ready to take it head on when the blast was intercepted by a storm one.

Malachai shot thunderbolt after thunderbolt, causing Zenon's feet skid across the ground. This boy had some powerful magic, that was for sure. He said nothing to Jo, not bothering to try and convince him that he was on his side like Danielle and Scarlet did, only focusing on pushing Zenon back before he had to get fierce. He had devastating Storm magic, but his Death magic was even worse.

Jo's teeth were gritted as he realized that Malachai had barged in his fight, but he threw his pride out of his mind as he was focusing on Scarlet, only half acknowledging Danielle who had come to check on them. The girl had moderate burns on her exposed skin. From experience, Jo knew how torturous it must have been. His chest was throbbing painfully but Scarlet needed treatment as soon as possible. He pointed his wand to himself, letting out a low grunt as the Death magic hit him. Out of his body was bluish energy, which was clustered around his wand tip. He quickly released that energy on Scarlet and her burns were gradually healed.

"Hehe, I've been doing a lot of reading, Dan! Get a load of this!" Kneeling down to press his hands to the ground, Zenon's hands began to glow green, and vines broke through the pavement and wrapped around Malachai, thus choking the "hold" Danielle had on his soul through the summoning and binding her as well, although her bindings weren't visible.

"That's a forbbiden Life spell! It's Undergrowth," Danielle growled.

Zenon was like a mad man with his malicious smirk and sick glee-look on his face as he intensified the spell's holds, causing both Malachai and Danielle to scream. Jo knew he had to do something fast. With Scarlet still grasped in his arm, he pointed his wand to his bone sword. It glowed with Deathly energy as it floated and scattered itself around into hundreds of reinforced bones. Jo pictured boomerangs in his head and the bones started to form exactly like his thoughts. Within seconds, two dozens of small energized boomerangs made of bones were formed and he hurled all of them at Zenon's defenseless form. Numerous explosions were heard as they were succeeded to hit their designated target.

Zenon spit out some blood before cackling, as maniacs were prone to do. "You've got at least some strength, boy, that's good. I didn't think you'd survive."

Jo was panting, both from the pain in his chest and exhaustion. He had made Zenon released his spell on Malachai and Danielle, but now he knew that it was his turn; Zenon was looking at him like that of a predator contemplating on the best way of how to devour its prey.

"I think I'll kill you first," the pink-haired ghost murmured.

The killing intent from the ghost was enough to give Jo some clue. He quickly called back his animated bones, formed it into a wide shield just in time to protect the three teens from an incoming Phoenix. Zenon was beginning to get serious now!

"You're all so in the way! Especially this one!" Here Zenon was referring to Jo, who he aimed most of his attacks at.

"W-We can't let this fight drag on forever!" Danielle cried, trying her hardest to keep her hold on Malachai.

Jo felt Scarlet was stirring in his hold, but he was concentrating on holding his shield up. Pieces of bone fragments were chafed away and flew in the air despite them being reinforced by his magic. He couldn't let it break now with Scarlet awake and Danielle still recovering from her shock of being crushed, but at the same time, he knew Zenon wouldn't be defeated without being attacked. The time lapse Zenon took to prepare his next attack was enough for Jo to get up and moved as far away as possible from the two girls; he knew he was the target now and he couldn't let Zenon hit them. The remaining of his animated bones floated up around him protectively, but he needed more. Left arm outstretched, deathly energy was released and from behind Zenon, rose more bones. His attempt faltered for a second as he coughed out blood, but he steeled his resolve and continued. The new bones, like before were reinforced and went to attack Zenon.

Zenon wasn't going to fall for that trick again. With a whip of his hand, a wave of fire swamped the bones into piles of ash. Another wave of his hands* and the Balance symbol was created, a Weakness hanging around Jo's head.

That weakness really wasn't necessary at the time; the Necromancer was already weak enough to even properly control his animation. However, he still had to land some damage on him. So far, Zenon hadn't even released his full potential and Jo needed to find his weakness!

"This is hopeless," Scarlet murmured, remaining in a crumpled heap on the ground. "We all have to channel our magic on him, together. If that doesn't work, we'll have to figure something else out. This is taking too long."

Zenon perked up upon hearing Scarlet's words. "You're right, this IS taking too long. I don't need to erase you all so soon, you'll crumble along with the broken Spiral!" And with that, Zenon turned on his heel to run a few steps before vanishing in a flourish of flames.

Jo fell on his hands and knees, breathing heavily. He couldn't believe that he wasn't dead already; he was expecting Zenon to one-hit-KO him earlier. His animated bones fell back into the ground, having no more use at the time, not that Jo was able to use them again anytime soon. Hand clutched on his chest, he turned to Danielle.

"Where--Where did he go?"

Tiredly rapping her knuckles on the ground in Morse code again, a ghostly voice whispered a message into her ear. "He's headed...for the Tree of Life," she spoke in between breaths. "He's going...to kill it. I don't think...he can just...destroy the Spiral...without destroying...what holds it together. Bartleby, the Krokosphinx, the Tree of Life...these are all bindings for the Spiral worlds. He has to destroy each. This is deterring from his originally written down plan. Perhaps he's running out of options?"

But, what options? And the answer just came to Jo a second after. With all the damages Zenon had done to Wizard City and maybe other Spiral worlds too from him unleashing the Forbidden Spells, it should have been obvious that those places were to be fortified from his assault. He must have been on his way to the Tree of Life when he came across them.

"We--We should go there immediately. We can't let him out of our sight for the book."

"...Jo's right," Danielle murmured. "And I know just how stop him and get the book back. Come on."

xxxxxxxxxx

The skeletal cat floated forward gracefully, following the presence of its master with two teenage boys following close behind it. The scenery of the grand Jade Palace was visible from the Mooshu Marketplace where Ronan and Stephen were at now. Arriving at this place, Ronan was instantly felt homesick; this was his homeworld. However, right now, that had to wait; he had to find Danielle no matter what before she go endangering her life again.

Jo's animated cat made its way into the Palace's front yard and they were greeted with somewhat of an uproar; people and Mooshunians (idk if it's true but you get the idea), soldiers or no went running all around the place in panic. Most of them readied their weapons as they ran toward the direction of Yoshihito Temple. Something must have happened. Stephen had stopped one civilian and asked what was going on.

"T--The Tree of Life... It's being attacked! I've never seen something like that before... The magic... It--it's crazy!"

Both boys' eyes widened.

"T--The Emperor and his army went there, b--but things don't go as smoothly... You had better run young ones... Save yourselves!"

And with that, the civilian took off running. Ronan and Stephen looked at each other, knowing that it must have been Zenon's doing. The good news, they knew wherever Zenon was, Danielle would be there too. The bad news, he wanted to destroy the Tree of Life!

"Let's hurry!"

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Sweet, sweet, little Tree of Life," Zenon murmured evilly as he circled the Tree with flaming fists. "Everyone knows Life's only weakness is Death, you are opposites and that is why you're both opposed

by the other. But I feel that may only count for..." During this short pause, Zenon merged the fires in his fists together to create a giant fireball, "monsters and wizards. And you're still a plant, after all..."

Yoshihito Temple was not how he remembered it the last time he had been here. The once tranquil and peaceful place was now swarming with Mooshunians, explosions as well as screams went off all over the place, statues were broken and strewn across the uneven floor. The most noticeable feature though, was a huge flaming Chinese-looking dragon, who was responsible for all of the damages, dueling on par with the Emperor of Mooshu.

"HOLY SH**!!!" Jo cursed loudly upon entering the Temple area.

The three friends had arrived there out of breaths. It was thanks to a potion lady they met on their way there, who gave them some potions to help with their wounds, otherwise they wouldn't be able to continue. They looked around for Zenon but it proved to be an impossible task with that many people there. Jo saw the entrance to the Tree of Life was guarded heavily by guards and wizards alike. It looked like nobody had gone past them yet. But still, it was Zenon they were dealing with. Jo realized then that the dragon was just a diversion; Zenon himself was probably already inside the temple where the tree was.

"Dad!" Danielle cried over the chaos upon reaching the Tree. "What are you doing?!"

"You'll never understand, Danielle!" Zenon snapped back. "Your mother was soft and tried to teach all of three of you something as useless as kindness! To survive in this world, you need power! No one is going to care for you more than yourself! That is why you must be alone! And nothing is stronger than you! That is why you must destroy all that stands in your way! And this tree is one of the things that are in my way!"

There were only the three teenagers and Zenon inside; the guards were more focused on guarding the entrance without knowing that he had already reached his target. Jo was more focused on the big fireball in his hands. The ghost was so close to the tree he was ready to burn it any second. Jo raked his head for any way possible to shield that huge, leaveless tree. He hoped Danielle would stall him to buy some time.

"But there has to be some other way to get what you want besides being cruel to everyone and everything!"

"None of that matters!" Zenon dispersed the fireball to face Danielle completely. "As a Necromancer, you of all schools should know that!"

"Your school doesn't determine your personality, Dad! No one is born evil! Something happens that makes them end up that way! What happened to you?!"

Zenon appeared taken aback, his once blazing red orbs seemed to take on a sheen of sadness and he ran a hand through his hot pink hair. "Th-That doesn't concern you, Dan!"

"But it does concern me! Why can't you accept the fact that someone just might care about you?!"

Jo was exchanging glances with Scarlet; this side of Zenon was new to them.

"I've done too much in this world for anyone to care about me, Dan! Even you!"

Truthfully, Zenon was right. Danielle didn't care; she was merely stalling. But when the Pyromancer pulled out a brown book with a latch and a 'no'* symbol on it with a fancy border, her breath caught in her throat. The Forbidden Spellbook.

"T--That's the book," Jo said, clearly notifying Zenon that they were after it.

In the split second that Zenon opened the book to read through the Fire spells, a blast of Death magic scorched his hand with a painful, acidic, biting feeling.

"Get the book!" Danielle cried as it fell to the ground, Zenon occupied with his stinging hand.

Jo performed the simple floating spell with his wand, but when the book was halfway flying to him, a blast of fire shot at his hand.

"Gahh!" he yelped as his wand was knocked off of his burned hand, causing the spell to be cancelled. The book was now lying in the middle of the 'battlefield'.

Danielle lunged for the book while Zenon was still tending to his sizzling hand, quickly flipping through the Life and Death spells for any type of regeneration spell. One that would cure Ronan for good. Upon seeing an intriguing Death spell, she stopped.

Host(Can be casted on a human or a minion)

By nature and magical abilities, Necromancers are parasites. But when a Necromancer wants to give back, that's where this spell waits. When this spell is casted on someone, that person becomes a host to the person in the host's thought. That person is the vessel. As a host, when the vessel is harmed or injured, the host's vitality is automatically sapped to strengthen the vessel. But beware, if the vessel is killed, the host will automatically be sacrificed to resurrect them. This spell is the counterpart of "Vessel".

WARNING! This is a very dangerous spell, hence it being forbidden! If you cast this, DO NOT think of someone who injures easily, is clumsy, or accident-prone!

...

This was it. This was the spell she would use to save Ronan.

Jo shook his hand as he quickly squatted down to pick up his wand while Scarlet was casting Fire Shields for all of them. Yes, they were going to need them; If Zenon's rage-filled face somehow failed to give them a clue, his intense aura of killing intent would sure do.

"I don't need that book to destroy this tree!" And with that, Zenon's hands burst into flames, putting them together to create a giant fireball. With a cry of effort, it was unleashed on the Tree.

Zenon was very close to the tree that the three teenagers couldn't do anything about it.

"NOOO!!!"

The fireball hit the tree head on and engulfed it. It looked like that it was done for. But suddenly, a bright light was emitted from the tree. Everyone gasped then, even Zenon, who clearly didn't expect this outcome. A spiraling vortex was formed right in front of the tree, sucking in the teenagers and Zenon. The ghost of their screams was still lingering in the air when Ronan and Stephen rushed in...

The four wizards were thrown from the portal, slumping onto the cold stone ground with groans of discomfort. The air felt noticeably chillier, and the sky was dark.

"Wha--...is this the Spirit World?" Danielle murmured.

Jo whipped his head around. He paled. Looking at the others, they had the same expression on their faces as well. The portal was gone. The good thing was, they eliminated the chance of Zenon destroying the Spiral, because he wouldn't be able to go back there. The problem was, so did they. They were trapped, and there was a pretty good chance that they were going to be killed for good this time!

Danielle's blood ran cold as her emerald irises widened in horror. Now they were trapped! Yeah, she had the book, but still! How would they get home? How would they see everyone again?

How would she see Ronan again?

A cry of frustration filled the air as Zenon released blast after blast of fire in every direction, seemingly trying to find something to hit on to summon the portal back, but they hit nothing but air. As down as they had become from having their way out cut off, they knew that it was the right time to attack him. They had to survive and find the way out later!

Unlike Danielle who had a big advantage here, Jo had to rely on his normal magic, having no bones to summon here. He had his wand raised to let out a Death blast at Zenon.

Now Zenon was beyond pissed. He would unleash his true power on these kids if it was the last thing he did.

"YOU FUCKING BRATS!" The eldest Pyromancer screamed, lashing out with fireball after fireball in a fit of rage. Scarlet attempted to take most of the damage or counter it, but she wasn't as fast as lightning and did as much as she could.

Danielle, who was still in a trance on the ground, didn't seem like she realized the imminent danger they were in, or the big advantage she had due to where they were.

Realizing that he couldn't win with clashing powers with Zenon, Jo casted himself a shield instead. They had been separated a few yards from each other and he expected the girls to do what he did, but when he looked back and saw Danielle still there on the ground looking shocked, he opened his mouth to

shout. His voice never left his mouth as at the time, several fireballs hit his shield and his eyes widened when one of the other fireballs hit where the Necromancer girl had been sitting.

"DANIELLE!!"

Zenon stopped his attack for a while probably after realizing that he had hit one of the targets. The smoke was still thick for them to be able to see anything. When it finally did a few seconds after, they couldn't see anyone there. A few feet away though, they could see the back of a newcomer, lying there with his hood slipped off showing his bright silver hair and his arms wrapped around Danielle.

Realizing she was in someone's arms, Danielle immediately scanned what she could see of the person, she was clutched to their chest so all she could see was green. Perhaps this person was a Theurgist?

A lock of silver hair flittered down, tickling her nose. "Achoo!" she sneezed, moving her face away to prevent the spread of germs. When she looked back up, her breath caught in her throat.

"Hey," Ronan greeted lamely, eyes searching her for possible damages.

"...Ronan..." Danielle's voice was barely above a whisper. Was he really in front of her?

Everyone's shock of having Ronan showed up hadn't subsided when a big ball of solar fire unlike the meteor appeared in the air. It expanded and shot a powerful blast of Balance towards Zenon. It hit him head on and everyone could see Stephen standing there with his wand raised. Jo grinned.

"Right on time guys!"

"Stephen!" Danielle exclaimed with a grin, waving at him.

A look of confusion crossed on Ronan's face. It seemed like Danielle was more happy to see Stephen than she did him. Nevertheless, he let go of her and helped her get on her feet. She didn't seem to get hurt. That was a relief.

"How did you guys get here?" Jo asked.

Stephen didn't let his eyes stray from where Zenon was as he answered, "Same thing with how you guys got here, I guess. We figured Zenon would want to harm the tree and that was what we did. Don't let your guards down. The fight isn't over yet."

Zenon's eye twitched as his nails dug into his palms. "How many more of you brats are there? How many of you do I have to murder before you're out of my hair for good?"

"No one," Stephen said as he aimed a Spectral Blast at Zenon after he tossed Ronan his elixir.

Zenon dodged the blast, retaliating with a Death spell: Lord of Night.

"Ronan, can you fight?" Danielle asked, brushing a lock of hair from his face. "I know you and I can beat him, if everyone's teamwork fails."

Ronan gulped down his potion and nodded. That was the last potion Stephen had brought, so he must use it wisely. He looked at his friends taking turns attacking Zenon only for the ghost to either dodge or cancel their spells out with his own small ones. He hadn't even used his higher level spells or worse, the Forbidden Spells he managed to learn. Although Ronan could possibly understand why; Zenon must have used up a good amount of magic so he could only use small spells before he was able to unleash bigger ones. The air around them had turned from constant chill to warm the more Zenon fired his fireballs. Scarlet casted shields whenever she could, though Ronan also noticed that she had managed to slap a reverse magic spell; the Fire Prism on Zenon. Stephen unleashed a swarm of bugs in the hope to make the male Pyromancer stay in place while Jo concentrated on firing his spell. Danielle was also preparing herself to attack. And himself, he wanted to take part in the fight, but with his limitation, he knew he couldn't do it. He was a healer, so he might as well reserve his magic for heals.

"THAT'S IT!" Zenon snarled, finally releasing his fists. Crescent-shaped marks were imprinted into his hand. "You all want to play it that way?! Fine, we'll play it that way!"

As Zenon created the Life symbol with his hands, dark magic that seemed similar to Shadow magic sparked around the symbol, as if to say, 'No, stop, you don't know what you're doing'. It was a forbidden Life spell, but before anyone could stop him, a monstrous plant with vines surrounding it and an enormous, gaping mouth towered over the five of them.

The Vinus Flytrap.

While Jo stepped forward to unleash Death blast after Death blast, Danielle began to mutter incantations.

All of a sudden, the vines quickly launched itself forward to Jo, the boy being the one who was in the front. He cursed as he countered them with his magic blasts. However, the vines were too quick and way too many for him to counter all, even with the help of Scarlet and Stephen's respective magic blasts. It forced him to run sidestepping them instead, but it didn't last long as two vines were succeeded in their mission to capture him; one captured his left ankle and the other wrapped around his torso. The poor Necromancer shrieked as the vines constricting him pulled him upwards in an upside down position, while the gaping mouth of the monstrous plant readied itself to devour him alive.

"JO! NO!" Scarlet cried, pointing her wand at the plant and casting Ash Bats. The bats squeaked excitedly before swarming the plant, fluttering about it and leaving burns from their wings and teeth. Scarlet stood under the vines, avoiding them the best she could while still watching Jo's dangling form if she needed to catch him.

"...I summon thee: Malachai!" With the final sentence of the summoning spell, a ghostly wail sounded from seeming nowhere and a swirl of magic twisted like a double helix next to Danielle, before Malachai took its place.

"I am at your beck and call, Necromancer."

Jo could feel the vines tightening around him; Scarlet's attempt did little effect to the plant. That and his predicament didn't let him think clearly, but in the effort to release himself, he blindly shot a mere Poison at the root. To his surprise, the plant reacted badly to it. It shuddered for a few seconds and

clearly felt uncomfortable as it began swinging its vines wildly. At this point, Jo felt grateful that the vines took a good hold on him otherwise he would be thrown off to God knows where.

With a cry of effort, a brilliant tan light shot from Stephen's wand as the monstrous Sabertooth took form. The beast pounced and caught the vines holding Jo in its jaws, trying to cut them off with its majestic fangs. The rest of the vines instantly went after it, doing exactly what they had done to Jo earlier. The beast growled in discomfort as the plant began to squeeze its body, although, it had finally succeeded in its mission to rescue the boy. With his body finally free from the vines' grasps, Jo was free-falling from a guaranteed-death-height, all the while screaming his lungs off as the ground got nearer and nearer.

Scarlet was under him in an instant, believing she could catch him in her arms but only succeeding in cushioning his fall. They fell to the ground in a heap.

"Oof!...J-Jo, are you okay?" Scarlet wheezed, the world still spinning slightly.

"Attack the plant!" Danielle cried, ducking and jumping several vines as if they were part of an obstacle course, impaling the root with her spear and worsening the Poison that Jo had originally cast on it. Malachai assisted with a Lord of Night, whose many bandages attempted to counter the Vinus Flytrap's.

"Umphh..." Jo's face was visibly greener as he tried not to vomit. "Ugh... I feel sick..."

Ronan ran up to the two to check on them. While everyone's attention was focused on the giant plant, Stephen sneaked around to get a surprise hit on Zenon.

Zenon, noticing the Sorcerer out of his peripheral vision, grinned and muttered, "Not so fast, boy." Pointing a finger at Stephen, he casted Scald, and all five of the teenage wizards felt painful burns on their arms.

"Oww!" Danielle cried, clutching her arm.

"You brats picked the wrong wizard to tango with! I hope you're prepared for this!"

Knowing that the burns would get worse with time, Ronan waved his wand to form the Life symbol and cast a Sprite Swarm. The four tiny golden Sprites fluttered around healing each of his friends; four is the max numbers of Sprites he could summon and his friends needed it more than himself. He then turned to Zenon warily. It looked like he was going to unleash another big spell.

Twitching with glee as the heated magic he continued to cast coursed through his veins, Zenon's grin was nasty as the just-casted Fire Dragon stood with the same fear-fueled intimidation as the Vinus Flytrap. With so much mind given to attacking and Scarlet doing decently with her human Fire Shield tactic, the others hadn't really thought of maybe setting up a Tower Shield or something, and the young Pyromancer was leaning against Jo, as they both were a tad sore.

"Poor little Ronan!" Zenon cackled, throwing a blast of fire at the Theurgist. "A few little Sprites is all you can manage!" Another blast. "Don't you want to save your friends?! Especially Danielle, you would HATE to lose her, wouldn't you?!" And another blast.

Danielle was pissed. Why was he picking on Ronan?

Malachai on the other hand, stopped attacking and tried to make his way over to Jo without being lashed out at. "J-Jo..."

The battlefield was becoming more and more intense with Zenon now was supported by two giant creatures of Life and Fire. The good guys however, were out of breaths. On one side were Stephen, Ronan, and Danielle, in which the latter turned her body towards Ronan with worry plastered all over her face. It was no way the Theurgist would be able to defend himself from the fire blasts while he was doing the healing with the Sprites, but when the smoke cleared, Elemental shields could be seen hovering around him protectively courtesy of Stephen; the Fire shield was about to be shattered from the attacks. The silver-haired boy gritted his teeth. Zenon was right; he had to do better if he wanted to save her and his friends. He looked up towards the two summon creatures; the giant flytrap was beginning to swing its vines again and the Fire Dragon was inhaling a deep breath to spew out fire like before. They hadn't even landed one hit on Zenon because of them. They had to go somehow!

Meanwhile, the exhausted Scarlet and Jo looked at the approaching Malachai; the Earth-born Necromancer quickly slapped a scowl on his temple when he heard the other Necromancer called him.

"What!?" he snapped. He could see that the younger ghost was hesitating for a second before he shook his head, ghostly long hair swinging gracefully, rivaling that of a model's on Shampoo products on TV. His glare subsided for a bit when Malachai nodded his head towards the giant creatures, turned back to him and nodded once again. Jo could see that he felt uncomfortable talking to him, but the raven-haired teen could somehow catch what he meant to say; he wanted him to attack the creatures along with him. Jo was ready to yell at him when he realized that they had no other choice; Stephen was currently building up his magic, worn out from casting the Sabertooth from earlier, Danielle had to maintain her connection with Malachai so she couldn't unleash a big spell without disrupting her concentration, Scarlet had exhausted herself from taking the hits from the Fire Dragon, and Ronan, he wouldn't count on him to attack with his predicament now. So that only left him and Malachai to do the job.

"Tch!"

Pushing Scarlet behind him, he raised his wand and Death symbol was formed in an instant. Out of the millions of fragments it burst into, came a deafening roar of a monstrous, pale skeletal dragon who focused its non-existent eyes towards the Vinus Flytrap. He saw that Malachai had cast exactly the same spell as him, but his was directed at the Fire Dragon instead. The sight would have impressed Jo if only their circumstances weren't so dire.

Instead of attacking the Bone Dragon it was attempting to stare down, the Vinus Flytrap seemed to twitch and a vine lashed at Zenon, constricting him like an anaconda around prey.

"Damn you, you overgrown monster! Release me!"

And at that moment, it hit Danielle. The first spell she had shown Ronan in the book and the reasons why it was forbidden.

"It tends to turn on its owner," she muttered to herself in realization. "Guys! It tends to turn on its owner! Now's our chance for a hit!"

Everyone did, even Ronan. Although their spells were dwarved by the two bone dragons, five spells had successfully landed on their designated targets, wrenching a scream from the older ghost. By the time it had finally died down, the two summon creatures were no more, but the smoke was still too thick for them to see if that was also the case with Zenon.

Being a ghost, Zenon didn't have to bother with coughing to keep his airways clear of smoke. "Nice try, brats. But you'll have to do better than that!" Creating the Ice symbol, he casted a Tower Shield on himself. It was a spell everyone needed to know, so of course he had it, too.

To think that he would even cast Tower Shield on himself, it looked like he was beginning to consider their joint forces as somewhat dangerous. Despite his comment, everyone could see that their attacks from earlier left him not entirely woundless, and that raised their fighting spirit a bit.

Zenon shrugged his shoulders as he swaggered, a confident grin on his smug face. "My apologies, Dan and Jo--my Necromancy is not nearly as...experienced as yours. But my Pyromancy? A force to be reckoned with!" Here Zenon casted Efreet, the massive flame-infused genie that stood as tall as the Vinus Flytrap.

Everyone's eyes widened as the Efreet started to spin, its flaming sword got brighter and brighter. Their senses flared instantly, allowing them to completely dodge the creature's sword as it was brought down to the ground. They yelped as the flames from the sword spread around the ground where the sword had hit, some licking at their clothes and skin. And now, thanks to that attack, they had separated from each other a good distance away. Everyone but Ronan quickly cast a Fire Shield, while the boy himself was beginning to feel a weight weighing him down a bit.

And then, a chill ran down his spine as he realized that the Genie's eyes were focused on him.

The Efreet grinned at Ronan, as if it had the same mindset as Zenon and wanted this puny Theurgist to crumble. Whether he knew it or not, Ronan kept the team together. Without him, the rest of them would fall apart. Raising its sword, the Efreet brought it down upon Ronan, slicing into his shoulder some* with a burning feeling left in the wound.

"RONAN!!" Danielle cried, reaching a hand out for him that he was too far away to reach.

Pain blared intensely through his body stemming from his left shoulder as he cried out. He fell to his knees, his right hand which was gripping at the wound quickly got drenched with the warm scarlet liquid. For a few seconds, he could not think at all. He didn't even notice when the Efreet raised its sword again, intending to finish its job.

Danielle forced her eyes shut just as the sword was turned to slice Ronan's side, throwing him to the edge of the battlefield, inches before he plummeted into the seemingly-endless, spirit-infested abyss below. The Efreet vanished after crossing its arms triumphantly after a job well done. Zenon was quite pleased.

"Malachai, get Ronan!" Danielle cried, shooting a Death blast at her father before casting a Wraith, the creature's gleaming yellow eyes narrowing to slits upon seeing its target. Malachai, on the other hand, ran as fast as he could to pull Ronan from the edge, but the Fire Dragon's tail wrapped around Ronan's

leg and held the Theurgist in the air. Damn, Zenon really wanted Ronan dead or barely alive at the very least!

"LET HIM GO, YOU BASTARD!!" Jo as well as Stephen had run towards their friend, but they were too late to shield him in time before the second hit. They could now see that blood had covered nearly the entire front of the Theurgist's robe from the new wound on his stomach. He needed to be treated asap or else...

With a cry of rage, Stephen blasted a Power Nova at the newly* summoned Fire Dragon. The beast roared as the blast pushed it back. And Jo, being the bravest or the most reckless of the three, ran up below the towering beast's body and sent blast after blast of Death energy at its underbelly. The roars of the Fire beast were deafening, but Jo focused on his running, adrenaline coursed through his whole body. He was intending to get to the tail and cut it to free his friend. It was a miracle that the beast hadn't trampled him yet despite of its trashing around. It seemed that Zenon was aware of his intention, though. He dispelled his Fire Dragon, leaving Ronan with no hold in the air and causing him to fall to the ground. The barely conscious teen rolled several times before stopping near Zenon on his belly.

Zenon's foot came to rest upon Ronan's back gently, he wasn't trying to break his spine or anything like that. A ball of fire materialized in his left hand just as his right picked Ronan up by his collar, to which he threatened, "I wouldn't get too close. I might...make a mistake." He held Ronan's face a little closer. "Sweet, little Ronan. No one can play a flute like you can. But, I've noticed you aren't doing so hot. What's the matter, you sick or something? Is the little baby sicky? Tired? Moody? I may never know..."

Ronan felt that his body was growing weaker by the seconds from blood loss, but the burns were the most agonizing. His eyes were snapped shut, his mind hazy with pain as he only vaguely registered the cries of his friends calling his name. Zenon was close, that much he knew. And he realized that there wouldn't be any better chance than right then to make him feel pain. He opened his mouth to speak.

"I... I wouldn't... worry about that..."

His voice came out pathetically weak and low that only Zenon could hear him. However, it successfully provided him with the little distraction he wanted that he moving his tightly grasped flute to form the Life symbol went completely unnoticed by the male Pyromancer.

A sudden sing-song voice was heard, but before Zenon knew what had happened, a light sword struck his torso, dealing a long slash to his ghostly skin and causing him to lose his grip on Ronan. Everyone's eyes widened in wonder and surprise to see the sudden change of situation. They watched the majestic form of the Seraph spread her wings and then wrapped them protectively around Ronan as she caught his body from hitting the ground. Zenon had staggered back from the attack and she took that chance to fly themselves away from him and landed near the group of teens before disappearing completely, having the magic supporting her completely cut off by her summoner.

Zenon let out a furious snarl before deciding then and there that he would burn Ronan alive. "Alright, I had my fun! Time for you all to enter the incinerator, and Ronan's going first!"

Terrified, Danielle scooped Ronan up the best she could in her arm and hugged him close to her chest. "Ronan, you're gonna be okay, okay?" She had to summon more souls. But how many could she control before she too was drained of her magic and on the brink of death?

Ronan's breathing came out short and ragged as his chest rose and fell rapidly. Color was drained from his face and his skin was cold to the touch when Stephen grasped his hand and began channeling his magic for a healing spell. The Sorcerer was a bit drained himself, having cast big spells continuously, but Danielle was too panic-stricken at the moment to do something, not that she would be able to do much considering all of her magic she was releasing to keep Malachai there.

Hearing Zenon's threat, Scarlet, Jo, and Malachai stood at the front casting protective spells to counter whatever spell the evil Pyromancer was about to throw at them. They had a hunch that it would be something big!

"You all make me laugh!" Here Zenon casted Wyldfire, and flames encircled the battlefield as if to trap them there. Not like they were going anywhere, anyway. Zenon could feel a boost in his power, his blasts of fire were aimed towards Stephen while he tried to avoid Scarlet, Jo, and Malachai.

Wiping her tears from with her sleeve, Danielle whispered another summoning incantation into Ronan's silvery-blonde hair, matted with dirt and blood. Pointing her staff off to the side, she summoned a minion. "I summon thee: Living Scarecrow!"

The crow cawed, and the Scarecrow casted a Deathblade on Danielle.

Zenon was unfazed. He wrote up the Fire symbol and raised his hands in the air. The teenagers and the Scarecrow were baffled on what this was, until they saw it in the sky, headed straight for them. Meteor Strike.

Scarlet was hit and thrown to the side, in too much pain to even groan. This was all becoming a bit much, even for her.

Malachai and the Scarecrow were hit, both hurt a significant amount. Of course Malachai was holding up better than the Scarecrow, but he certainly wasn't unharmed.

Danielle had shielded Ronan the best she could from the meteors, determined not to let anything else happen to him. But those things did hurt, and she ended up collapsing on top of him. She gasped and quickly got off to avoid causing him more pain.

For a minute after the onslaught, the battlefield was quiet, save for the maniacal laughter from the evil Pyromancer when he saw the figure of five teenagers lying there half-conscious, courtesy of his Meteor Strike.

It looked like they were done for...

Malachai bit his lip. What would he do? There had to be some way they could one-hit kill him, even though he was already dead...

Danielle could barely keep her hold on both Malachai and the Scarecrow, and eventually the minion fell apart. The body went up in flames, the pumpkin head fell to the ground, and the crow flew away. She was too weak, and soon Malachai would vanish.

The young ghost panicked upon noticing his feet and legs had disappeared.

Thanks to Stephen's healing, Ronan's wounds had stopped bleeding but things had gotten from bad to worse in the blink of an eye. Neither he nor his friends were in shape to fight anymore; Zenon still stood strong and he could kill them in an instant now if he chose to do so. He had won, but on the other hand, so did they. Their goal had been accomplished; to stop him from rewriting the Spiral. Even if they were dead, it was okay.

Ronan's eyes caught Danielle.

No, he couldn't let it happen. He didn't want anyone to die. Especially not her. But, what could he do? He barely had enough strength to move, much less to fight. There had to be something!

But he found none. Ronan felt like screaming. However he thought about it, there was no way out. Was this really how they would meet their ends? He felt so lost he didn't know what to do anymore...

~"Play this flute when you are lost. We'll come and help you."~

The voice of his dead Satyr friend echoed in Ronan's head. That was it. Yes, there was still a way to get out of this. He would most certainly die after that, but he would be able to fulfill his promise; to keep Danielle safe. The Theurgist found her eyes; he wanted to at least have one last look at those emerald orbs. Desperation was what he saw in there and it didn't suit them at all; they had always looked so alive, and he wanted to keep it that way. With his mind set, he closed his eyes and began to lift his bloodied flute to his mouth.

Danielle's head lolled to the side, noticing Ronan lifting his flute. "Ronan," she wheezed, "d-don't..."

Malachai knew he would eventually disappear when Danielle became too weak, so why not help her and friends out? It would injure Zenon or he would be bound here forever, never to be summoned again. It was all or nothing. He raised his hand towards Zenon...

Everyone's eyes turned towards Ronan upon hearing the slow and somewhat energetic tunes of the flute. The same thing crossed their minds then: "No, you will die!". Stephen and Jo wanted to run and wrench that flute out of his hands, but no matter how hard they tried to get up, gravity and weakness always pulled them back down.

A small plant rose from the ground near Ronan; the stem danced following his tunes as it spiraled on the spot. He ignored their friends' pleas and kept on playing, his thought of his friends' safety fueled his spell up even more; the plant was getting taller and bigger as the second ticked by. If his eyes were not closed, he would see that Zenon's expression was apprehensive. A thought along the line of "It must be stopped!" must have crossed his mind. But before he could advance towards Ronan, Malachai was blocking his way.

Danielle was terrified for Ronan, but what was Malachai doing? And why did he look so...conflicted? Magic was sparking at his fingertip, Storm magic, but what was it? Should she even be worried about it? Probably not...

Jo panted from his failed attempts to get up. His body was hurt all over, but he tried to push it to the back of his mind and kept trying to stop his friend. His struggling stopped short though as he noticed what Malachai was doing. His eyes widened not because of the former puppet's half-disappeared body, but because of the sparkles of magic in his hands. It wasn't like Death or even Storm magic for its color was metallic, grayish blue; it was Moon magic*. Jo knew just one spell in Divination that used Moon magic. It was really dangerous that very few Diviners were actually using it.

"He...he's planning to use Insane Bolt!"

Danielle had no energy to scream, but she was already close to losing Ronan and she wouldn't lose Malachai, too. She had to end the summoning, break the connection. It would stop him, stop him before he--

Zenon's cry of pain startled Danielle from her thoughts, he had already been zapped with the Bolt. But wait, then that meant...

The rest of the young prince's body began to vanish, his arms attempting to curl around a stomach that wasn't there.

Everyone could only watch as the scene unfolded before their eyes. For a moment, Zenon's scream had drowned out Ronan's flute playing and everyone's attention turned to Malachai then. For him to be able to execute that spell flawlessly was a very impressive feat for a Necromancer that only had Divination for second school of focus. However, that was not their only reason; for a spell that great, came a great set back. For normal wizard, it would be like a gamble for the spell attacked the caster also*. If they couldn't stand it, they could be killed by the spell. Now, if the person casting it were already dead, their soul would become too weak or the worst case scenario, it could be destroyed.

"Y...you..." Jo, being the one closer to the young ghost said weakly, his expression aghast. "You do know the consequences... don't you?"

Malachai nodded somberly, feeling as if he no longer had a left hand. "I-I wanted to help somehow, I couldn't let him...kill my friends. I'm sorry, Jo, I hope we're even now..."

Jo didn't even think of forgiving the former puppet, but the way he said that was sincere it make him feel bad. He hated him, but he had been helping them, hell he even did save his life once, but of course he wouldn't say that.

"Even...? Don't... make me laugh... I still haven't kicked your sorry a** for trying to kill me... How am I... gonna do that if Danielle can't summon you again?"

Malachai couldn't hold back a sad smile. "Not sure, I do need quite the ass-kicking for doing that, huh?" By this point, his entire left arm had vanished and his torso was slowly following. "But I might have to get away with it this time, 'cause it doesn't look like I'll be around for that."

"Malachai! Why would you--I-I..." The words on Danielle's tongue muddled together, she couldn't form a coherent sentence. Her eyes watered, and her fists tightened around her staff. Zenon was beginning to rise, but she would make sure he went right back down, and harder.

Jo could only watch as the young ghost's torso vanished; it looked like Danielle was already at her limit. Turning his head away, he murmured, "Tch... I guess I have no choice now. I'll just let it slide."

They were all focused on Malachai that they didn't realize the small plant from Ronan's magic had turned into a tree and still growing.

"Th-Thanks, Jo...and don't lose, okay? You got your body back, so don't mess it up."

Malachai's sad smile was the last thing they saw before he vanished into the air, never to be summoned again.

Danielle let out an enraged cry laced with hurt, getting up and shooting several Death blasts at Zenon. The book was still behind her, and she would end him if it was the last thing she did. 'There's got to be a spell in there I can kill him with...'

However, despite him being heavily crippled by Malachai's Insane Bolt, Zenon was still a threat as he swatted the girl's blasts like it was nothing. He snarled in fury and began to advance on the teenagers.

Meanwhile, with each exhale of air into the flute, Ronan could feel himself getting weaker and weaker. He was close to lose it, but the spell was almost complete. Someone fell to the ground very close to him and he knew who that was. He hated to hear her cry.

'Just a bit more. Just a bit more.'

The temperature took a sudden sharp turn to a blazing hot as a big blast of fire came towards them, impossible to dodge. It seemed like Jo couldn't fulfill Malachai's last wish and braced himself for the hit. Light was forcing to get into his closed eyes then, and when he opened them, they were surrounded by green light. The Spirit Armor Shield floated around each of them, protecting them from the fire. And when the battlefield calmed down, numerous Sprites and Pixies appeared from between the thick branches and leaves of the now fully-grown tree and flew to them. The song that came from them was soothing as they were healing every bit of wound and restoring their stamina and magic. Everyone was pretty much in shock to see the sudden turn of events, even Zenon who had disbelief written on his face. The scenery, to say it simply, was breathtaking, but Ronan didn't get to really enjoy that.

The flute had finally stopped playing as it fell from the Theurgist's grasp, rolling onto the ground before it finally stopped by Danielle's knee.

Danielle's head snapped down to immediately identify what was next to her knee, and immediately identify it she did. It was Ronan's flute. But why was it here? Did he drop it? It shouldn't have fallen out of his pocket if he wasn't moving. Speaking of Ronan, where did the barrier and the Sprites and Pixies come from? Only a Theurgist could cast a barrier and healing at the same time. But that was impossible, Ronan was--

"RONAN!" she shrieked, bolting over to him and collapsing at his still body. Was he dead or was he unconscious? He looked dead, but that didn't mean he was. Was he? No, that wasn't possible, of course not.

Reaching for the Spellbook, she quickly flipped through the pages until she found the forbidden Death spells.

"Ronan," Danielle began, even though she knew he couldn't hear her, "I haven't been completely honest with you. I...I honestly don't know what happened to my mother. My dad did try to kill me and my siblings, that part was true, and I thought he succeeded, but I woke up a little while later feeling much better and nothing hurt, but my mother was dead and my dad was nowhere to be seen. I don't know if he killed her or not, or if she killed him, I just don't know. We gave her a proper burial and then we had to look out for each other, David being the oldest, he was in charge." Tears dripped onto the pages as Danielle's heart ached from painful memories. "I'm sorry I got upset before, about asking you to bring my mother back, I know it's no easy task and honestly, it's more suited for a Necromancer. I don't know if you're dead or not, but no matter which, just know I'm sorry. It's all his fault..." Here she was referring to Zenon, whom she didn't realize was charging for her with a fist of fire.

Having his wounds healed and stamina revived, Jo jumped in front of Danielle, blocking Zenon's fist with a newly summoned Volcanic Shield while Stephen bolted for Ronan, checking his pulse with dread-filled expression. He exhaled in relief, finding that it was there, but he couldn't relax yet; Ronan's pulse was very weak. The fairies could heal physical injuries no problem, but not replacing blood or curing simple fever or mending broken bones. Besides, those weren't Ronan's main issues. Closing his eyes, Stephen murmured some incantation and pointed his wand to Ronan's chest, feeling magic building at the tip of the citrine stick which he then released onto Ronan. He hoped that the mana he donated could help the Theurgist somehow. He turned towards Danielle then; the opened spellbook on her hands made him uneasy a bit.

"What are you trying to do?"

Danielle didn't even look up at Stephen. "I'm looking for a spell that can end this once and for all." She frantically flipped the pages, almost tearing a few. Thundering footsteps began to sound closer and closer until she was knocked away from the book, tumbling for a bit before skidding to a halt on her feet.

'Even though he's a spirit, I can't beguile him, he's too strong. I just have to keep that book safe!'

Staff gripped tightly in her hand, she ran for the book, only to be thrown in the air from an uppercut and slammed back down with the very same fist.

"No more games, Danielle! It's you that has to die, it's been you all along!"

"Danielle!" both Stephen and Jo shouted. Even though they were right in his way, he deliberately avoided them and went for the Necromancer girl.

"Damn it!"

Jo ran for her, intending to help, but was then swatted to the side with a blast of fire from Zenon. The Pyromancer glared at him as if to say, 'Stay out of this!'

Unbeknownst to all, Ronan had opened his eyes just a crack after hearing Danielle's name.

There wasn't much energy left in Danielle's arms, not enough to hoist herself up from the ground. Raising her head slightly, the world was a bit blurry and shaky but she could still make out the brown leathercover book a few feet away from her. If she could somehow get closer...

But before she could move, a circle of fire surrounded her, separating her from the book. Zenon, who was near it, reached down to pick it up with a malicious grin. "You know what? I don't need this book to take over the Spiral. I just need to find some sap who'll revive me and then I'll just unleash my all-powerful Fire magic on anyone who dares to oppose me! But since you want it so bad, why don't I just burn it here and now?"

Ronan had heard it all. He knew she was in trouble. He wanted to run and threw himself and be her shield, just like what she did to him. But he was so weak, he could not even move his body however hard he tried. He hated it of how his body wouldn't listen to his brain!

'I really want you to be here. You had always found a way when I was stuck. Ernie*, what should I do?'

The young Theurgist was so desperate and he really didn't expect an answer to his mental question. However, to his surprise, it came a second later; the playful and fatherly voice that he remembered so well.

'Just call for us, silly!'

And Ronan knew what he had to do then.

Opening his mouth, he began to hum. It was so low that only Stephen, Jo, and Scarlet heard him. And then, little by little, the hum turned into a beautiful melody as soothing as his flute's. The Sprites and Fairies, who had hid themselves amidst the tree's thick foliage upon Zenon's advances, came fluttering out and gathered around Ronan, seemingly awed by his tunes. And awed and touched they had been as his message came to them loud and clear through his song; "Please, help her. Please, help her. Please, help her. Please, help her. Please, help her."

Without wasting any time, the flock of fairies went fluttering towards Zenon's head, seemingly annoying him with the jingling of their wings and their natural glow as he let out a snarl of annoyance. They couldn't do any damage on him, but their effort was enough to make him drop the book.

Jo also sprang into action then by casting an Ice Serpent. He sent the reptile to Danielle who then circled the fire around her, dousing it as a result.

"You seem to have forgotten, Zenon! She's not alone! She's got friends to back her up!" he shouted, trying to draw his attention so Danielle could pick up the book.

Zenon's eye twitched. He wasn't having any more of this nonsense, not from Danielle and especially not from her posse.

"ENOUGH!" The hot pink-haired Pyromancer shouted, exploding in a blast of fire that blew the Pixies and Sprites to the ground, most of them singed and injured. "I'VE HAD IT WITH ALL OF YOU! I'M FINDING MY OWN WAY OUT, AND I HOPE ALL FIVE OF YOU MAKE THIS PLACE YOUR NEW HOME!"

He didn't wait for any response. With a fire-imbued fist, he brought it down upon the open book.

...

...so why wasn't it burning?

Every pair of eyes widened in shock at the ghostly hand holding Zenon's fist from inside the book.

"D-Did she cast anything?"

"...Don't. You. Dare," a female voice spoke, soft yet firm. Zenon quickly retracted his hand, and the ghost began to lift itself from out of the pages until its torso was visible. With newfound energy, Danielle raised her own body up, getting a good look at this apparition's face. She looked familiar...

And then it hit her like a freight train. She knew that woman.

That was her mother.

"M-Mom..."

Everyone's eyes, except Ronan's, widened in disbelief. The woman whose death was a mystery was now showing herself up!

"Dana?!" Zenon exclaimed, already channeling fire into his hand for another attack.

"I won't stand by any longer and let you torment Danielle, her friends, or anyone else ever again!"

She grabbed his wrist, yanking him towards her. He struggled, but she seemed to be stronger than him. How was that even possible?

Danielle could only watch as her mother tugged Zenon into the book with her, his scream echoing even as the book shut on its own.

"I-Is he done for?" Jo asked, glancing at Stephen and Scarlet, but of course, both had offered no answer. Even Danielle was speechless. Tears were brimming on her eyes upon meeting her mother.

"Hey Dan," Dana said as a grin made its way onto her face.

"Mom!" Danielle cried, summoning the strength from Bartleby-knows-where to get up and run to her mother, hugging her tightly. "Mom, what happened to Dad, is he--"

"Your father is gone, dear. He'll be staying in the book with me, forever."

"Wait, you have to go back?"

"Yes..."

"But, how did this happen? How did you get sealed within that book? How did you--"

A finger to the young Necromancer's lips shushed her. "All in good time, Dan. What you need to do now is get your friends and yourself out of here. Here," she handed Danielle a tan bag of white magic, "this is Teleportaconis. It's strong enough to teleport you and your friends out of the Spirit World."

"I-It's finally over..." Stephen murmured, as he looked at the reunion of a daughter and her mother from afar. The fact that Danielle's mother also provided them with a means of escape from this place relieved him. They would be able to go back to the Spiral. And more importantly...

Stephen looked down at Ronan then. The fact that he was still alive surprised him. He was awake, but he was very weak. The Sorcerer could hardly feel magic inside of the Theurgist. 'He needs treatment as soon as possible. I have to talk to the Headmaster about him getting the fruit of the Tree of Life.'

"Ronan..." Danielle murmured, gazing down at her love's fallen body. "Stephen, what are we gonna do? We can't leave him here."

"Of course not," Stephen said as everyone was now grouped around him and Ronan near the magical tree the latter had summoned. The Sorcerer then nodded towards Danielle's mother* respectfully. "With the magic from your mother, we should leave as soon as possible and bring him to the Headmaster. Before it's too late..."

"Ah, okay." Danielle agreed, turning to give her mother one last hug before her soul retreated into the Forbidden Spellbook where it was bound to.

Just as Danielle was about to use the teleport magic, a fatherly voice spoke, "Just wait a minute, young wizards."

Everyone turned upon hearing the voice. A Satyr was there, directly below the tree. His body was transparent and everyone quickly found out that he was a spirit. He walked up to them and crouched near Ronan before stroking his silvery-blonde hair.

"Hello, Ronan."

The Theurgist momentarily froze, not that he was able to move, but the sudden appearance of the Life Creature made him speechless. His eyes widened a bit, liquid glistening in a corner of his eye.

"Ernie..."

Ernie, the Satyr smiled warmly, "Yes, child. I am very happy to be able to see you again."

For a full minute, the two didn't say a thing, too absorbed in their internal feelings. Then Ernie gasped and looked at everyone, as if he just realized that they were there.

"Oh, how rude of me! I am called Ernie. I was a companion of Ronan's."

Stephen remembered him from when he was killed by Malachai some time ago. Of course he would be here in the Spirit World. He nodded to him in acknowledgement. "Ernie, I didn't mean to bother, but we have to take Ronan as quickly as possible to the Spiral. I am worrying about his condition. He..."

"Yes, young wizard, I am completely aware of it. He had completely exhausted his magic for the healing spell earlier." The satyr's expression immediately turned sad as he said his next words. "In fact, there is not much life force left in him at the moment. The essence of magic in this world is multiple times stronger than that of the Spiral, and it is the only thing that's keeping him alive now. If he were moved to the Spiral in the condition he is now, there is no doubt that he will die instantly..."

Danielle didn't give it a second thought. "I'll stay here with him. Take the bag of Teleportaconis. Headmaster Ambrose should be able to open another portal to get here and let me and Ronan get out when we can."

Jo glanced at Scarlet, giving her a there-she-goes-again look.

'Of course,' Ronan thought. She was that kind of person; she thought about everyone else much more than she did herself. He swore she wouldn't last much longer if she kept this behavior, especially in situations involving life and death. His answer was obvious.

"No," the Theurgist said, his voice no longer strained. She couldn't just leave her family behind just for him, right?

Danielle's eyebrows creased incredulously, shifting her emerald gaze to the weakened boy. "Yes. Ronan, you have no idea what's out here. It may seem barren as an abyss, and maybe it is, but you don't know! I'm not leaving you alone if I don't have to, I'm going to protect you, one way or another. The rest of you need to go, find someone who can fix him, or at least keep his magic levels from fluctuating so violently so that they can be stable for a while."

"I'll be fine. Go," Ronan sternly said. She had many things ahead in her life, much happiness awaited her. What would she gain if she stayed here with him? No, he couldn't let her sacrifice those for him. His heart ached at the prospect of him being separated from her, but it needed to be done.

Silence claimed the dark and cold place for a few seconds, before Ernie spoke again. He looked at the Necromancer girl and smiled, "Need not worry about that, young wizard. He won't be alone, no of course not. We are here and we will take care of him." At his mention of "we", he spread his arms wide and out of of the lush green leaves of the tree came even more pixies and sprites; a Unicorn peeked its majestic horned-head from behind the large bark.

Everyone took their time marveling the scenery of such beauty and only turning when the Spirit-Satyr spoke again. "We felt something unfamiliar within his magic and we realized that it was the cause of his magic degradation. He can be cured, yes. He has to either keep fighting it off until it's gone or he has to completely accept it as his own so that it won't cause him weakness anymore. Both options need not a short time to accomplish, but this place is perfect to do it. The strong magic in the air will support him greatly and will prevent him to completely exhaust his magic. I assure you that he will be safe here. You don't have to worry anymore."

Ronan looked at her straight in the eyes before closing his own. "There you have it. Now go. All of you. Headmaster Ambrose needs to know that everything is ok now. The Spiral needs you more. Go."

When he opened his eyes, Danielle's mouth was open to throw a retort. Of course, she was stubborn, and Ronan did expect no less from her. He groped around the ground near where he was lying, and found his flute. "Come here," he beckoned to Danielle. "Closer. I want to tell you something."

The Necromancer girl wasn't sure if she wanted to hear what Ronan had to say, but she knelt down on one knee anyway and moved her head closer, tucking her raven hair behind her ear to hear better.

Ronan didn't know what he was doing, all he knew at the time was, he was only following what his heart had been screaming, drowning the rational thinking of his brain. When Danielle leaned closer to him, he purposely spoke in a low tone that the girl had no choice but to lean even closer, her ear inches from his face. And then, he whispered.

"Look at me."

In the moment Danielle's face turned to him, he captured her lips softly with his own.

Danielle was frozen, her hair swinging from behind her ear to conceal the other side of her heated face. What was she supposed to do? His lips were intoxicating her and clouding her judgement. She should leave, right? Ronan would be fine...

Seemingly just aware of the presence of his friends around, Ronan withdrew from the kiss, face slightly flustered; oh God that was the first time he actually took the initiative! But he didn't regret it. It felt... nice. It was some time before he remembered the reason he called for her. He lifted up his flute then.

"Take this with you. It means so much to me. Now, I will have not one, but two reasons I should come back." his eyes found the still-widened emerald orbs as he said that. "I will be back. That's a promise."

She was still speechless, unable to form words. The flute clasped tightly in her warm hand, she nodded and stood up, her head remaining hung as she walked towards the edge with the bag of Teleportaconis.

"Until we meet again..." the Theurgist murmured, closing his eyes. Maybe that way would make the partings less painful...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThree years laterxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A somber tune filled the air of Dragonspyre as rosy lips blew into a flute meant to create life but was beguiled to summon death. Long hair as black as a raven fluttered in the breeze, and emerald eyes as hard as the gem itself gazed out at the view from the ledge she was standing on. A great staff resided in her right hand, the glowing blue orb infused with the power of Death. In her other hand was the flute, and with it she charmed the Undead Wizard monsters to torment the other monsters of The Grand Chasm.

The flute had remained unchanged for years, she couldn't bring herself to do anything to its exterior. It was a parting gift from her love, and she protected it with her life.

Danielle stopped playing and put the flute back in her pocket*. Luckily for her charmed monsters, there were no undefeated monsters within range of them, so after a moment of confusion, they returned to roaming.

She had been awaiting the day Ronan would return, for she was stronger now, and wanted to fight beside him. Threats had come and been vanquished over the years. Her friends had changed, just as she had. Speaking of friends, though...

'I'm bored, I'll go see what Stephen's up to.' And she vanished in a flourish of skulls.

The last swish of the terrified Novice's robes just left the opened door of the Golem Tower where Stephen and Mr. Lincoln were, the former had his palm slapped on his forehead. 'Over the last three years, that guy hadn't really changed!'

Mr. Lincoln gave a small chuckle, apparently feeling amused. "You may go, Mr. Dawn. I'll take care of these paperworks."

Stephen nodded and excused himself before heading towards the Commons, where the orientation of the new students were currently being held. He and Jo had volunteered to help out in the process. The Sorcerer wasn't sure if bringing the fool that was his friend was a good idea; he just signed up out of boredom. But then again, what could go wrong in giving him the simplest task of bringing the Novices around Ravenwood and the Commons? And he knew then that he should have trusted his instinct more.

On his way, a flourish of skulls exploded near him and he immediately stopped to see who it was.

Danielle raised an eyebrow at Stephen after the skulls had cleared, dusting off her attire. "What's going on here?"

"Danielle," the Sorcerer greeted, looking down slightly at the Necromancer girl. Oh how he had grown so much over the years; he was now towering over one foot on the the girl. "It's the day of the Novice's orientation after they got enrolled into Ravenwood. I just got some report earlier that there has been a problem."

"Problem? What problem?"

"What else could it be?" he responded with a sigh. "See it yourself. Let's go."

The two grown up wizards then proceeded their way towards the Fairegrounds. Everything was in order again after the entire Wizard City suffered a massive destruction from Zenon's meteors. The place underwent massive reconstruction the first year and the survivors needed a half year more to finally get out of their bereavements for their lost loved ones. Headmaster Ambrose himself, who was still the same white-haired long-bearded and thin-framed old man, had issued more protective enchantments around the borders of Wizard City with the help from the Professors. The Forbidden Spellbook, which was actually Danielle's possession, was now sealed away to ensure that it wouldn't fall into the wrong

hands again. Stephen knew Danielle wouldn't agree to the idea, the book being a precious momento from her mother and all. However, she agreed to that, although unwillingly.

Nothing much, aside from his physical growth, had changed for Stephen. He had graduated the Master program in Ravenwood, but he still indulged himself in helping to keep order there. Between the time for that and his study aboard in other worlds, he still had time to take a shift job in the Wizard City Library, which was the most favorite place for him. Reading had always been his passion, for he had great curiosity of things.

Reaching the Fairegrounds, they could see a crowd of Novice's of all schools gathered in circle around the Carousel, which was now spinning fast with a screaming black-robed boy holding on for dear life on one of the seat. A smirking Jo was standing nearby with his wand pointed at the amusement ride, the tip glowing white.

Pouting, Danielle stalked over to the smirking boy and punched him in the back of the head. "What do you think you're doing?!" The punch broke Jo's concentration, ending the Novice's spin of terror. "Who the hell put you in charge of this operation?"

Jo's face was not amused as he turned to look at his former classmate with his eyes narrowed, his free hand rubbed the spot where she had hit him.

"What? I was giving him a lesson. It was for a good cause!" he protested, completely unaware of the terrified Novice's looks around him.

Stephen, who was helping the poor Novice get off the carousel, rolled his eyes; that guy was unbelievable! He took a mental note to scold him later.

"A lesson on what?! This is not how Necromancers face their fears! He wasn't afraid of a merry-go-around until you turned it into a terror-go-round!"

"You gotta be joking. I would tell him to jump off Gamma's tower if I wanted to test his guts. He is a bully, and I don't mind bullying a bully. That was a pretty good teaching so all of these Novice's will know that it wouldn't be pretty to become one. Don't you kids agree?" Jo said, looking at the children, and only then he noticed that most of them had terrified look on their faces. "Heh, what's wrong with you all?"

"No, what's wrong with YOU?!" Stephen stood up after leaned the kid against one of the tree there. "First, you are nineteen. Second, you were only given a task to guide and familiarize them of the Commons and Ravenwood. Third, you don't punish them without the Professors knowing. And no, you aren't supposed to have 'fun'!" He added as Jo's mutter ("Tch, no fun!") caught in his ears. The Sorcerer sighed in exasperation; this obviously wasn't the first time that he had to clean up Jo's mess. "Okay, you are off duty now. I'll take it from here."

After gathering the Novice's, Stephen led them forward, continuing the initiation and left both Necromancers on their own.

Jo curled his lips. "That guy is still as boring as a pole. No wonder he has no girlfriend yet."

Danielle sighed as she crossed her arms, staring after Stephen's retreating form. "And do you have a girlfriend, Jo?" She had room to brag; just because Ronan was gone didn't mean they weren't still together.

Jo's eyes narrowed as he peered at her, not liking the sarcasm in her voice.

"Hey, don't compare me with that guy. I just don't see me walking around with a girl. Always so full of demands, girls are simply annoying."

Even when he said that, his mind wandered unconsciously to a certain redhead. Over the years, he had watched her change and he was completely aware of how nice that was; of how shiny and silky the scarlet hair looked and those lips, they were so full it gave Jo a bit of heated cheeks every time he stared at them. He liked her because she was different from typical girls, but of course, his pride wouldn't want him to admit that, much less saying that out loud.

Danielle stared at the other Necromancer with a raised eyebrow; he better not have been talking about her. "Don't you mean some girls?"

Jo scratched his chin. "Um... Nope," he spoke, ducking after that to avoid a punch to the face by the irritated girl. He laughed as she completely missed him. "So, what's news?"

Danielle gazed down at her fist, a forlorn expression on her features. She hadn't been up to much besides hypnotism via Ronan's flute and extensive reading like the bookworm she was. Oh how she missed him, she had waited three years for his return and longed to see him.

"Ah."

Her expression told Jo everything. The Satyr had said that it would need a long time for Ronan to be cured, but he didn't expect it to be this long. There wasn't even a single news about him. His family was so worried they went to see Ambrose every so often, demanding the old Headmaster to take them to see their son. From what Jo had heard from Stephen, the Headmaster had refused them politely, saying that he could get them there, but there was no guarantee that he would be able to bring them back here. It was a miracle that Danielle, Stephen, Scarlet, and himself were able to teleport back here, Ambrose had said. A problem surfaced then; how would Ronan get back here if he didn't have the means to? Jo tried not to think about it and stayed to think positive.

"Uh, do you know that the bazaar has 50% off for all items today only? Why don't we check it out?"

Now that seemed like a good way to get her mind off of the missing-in-action Theurgist. "Sure."

And so, off they went. Their walk was quite uneventful until Jo bumped into a strange-looking elvish girl in black knee-length dress near the robe shop. She was only half of Jo's height, but apparently her temper was even worse than his. They had this growing arguments of who was in the wrong and then continued by verbal insults until Jo couldn't stand it anymore and unconsciously let out a spark of magic which hurt her hand.

"Aaaahh!! You are the worst!! Evil!! Demon!! How could you hurt this sweet little helpless girl!!" she wailed dramatically as she scooped her zapped hand into her chest.

Jo felt a little bad about him losing control, but like hell he would apologize; her sudden outburst didn't help his annoyance. "Shut up! That much of energy couldn't even hurt a fly! Stop screaming for God's sake!" he retorted as several passerby were starting to look at them.

Danielle wanted to shut them both up with a magic spark, but that would only make matters worse. But she was smart enough to know that getting in between these two wasn't the best idea.

The otherworldly girl wailed even harder then.

"Silver! Could you please kick this guy's a** for me??????"

Not a few second's later, a tall, cloaked person came out of the robe shop; the hood was up, concealing his feature. Upon closer inspection, Jo could see the person was wearing a mask also. Judging from how tall and broad-shouldered the person was, Jo assumed that it was a male.

Danielle's eye twitched at the sight of this cloaked dude, just who did this little brat think she was? She stood beside Jo, both Necromancers standing their ground even as the figure towered over them.

The cloaked person walked up to them and stopped by the wailing girl, patting her head soothingly. The little witch stopped her screaming instantly and pointed her little finger to Jo.

"He's a bad bad little demon. You don't like bad people, do you?"

The cloaked person then looked at both Necromancers; now that they were standing close to each other, they found out that the stranger was only a few inches taller than them both. After some time of only staring, a smile stretched on the person's face.

"Very well."

Jo gasped; he felt like he had heard his voice somewhere before, but he couldn't quite put it on who this guy might be. He pushed the thought out of his mind and quickly became alert then, as the stranger pulled out a wand from beneath his cloak.

Danielle opened her robe and pulled out a small but thick book, lightly throwing it in the air so it only leaped a few inches from her palm. The book became suspended in the air. It was her book wand.

"You want to test us?" she asked incredulously, like this guy had lost his mind.

Jo summoned his Blue Raptor blade imbued with Death energy. Everyone was stopped and stared at the fight that was about to commence. Before both Necromancers could do anything though, the stranger lunged and swatted the blade from Jo's hand with almost inhuman speed, surprising the Earth-born wizard.

'What the... When did he...'

The stranger was quickly turned to Danielle, his eyes staring directly into hers.

Suddenly infuriated, Danielle swiped her hand over the book and pressed it to the ground. The ground began to shake and crack as an Earthquake was headed straight for the silver figure.

The people nearby was starting to panic while the ground shook. Silver made no attempt to move out of the way until the spikes rose from the ground intending to impale him. He jumped up then, high enough to avoid them completely and used it as a leverage to jump the second time and flipped in the air. This time, he landed right behind Danielle and pressed his wand tip on her neck.

"Gotcha," he whispered very close to her ear, still smiling.

Danielle froze. How did he get behind her so fast? Who was this guy?

The small girl pursed her lips.

"Silver! Aren't you being a bit too close to her?" her voice was clearly laced with jealousy as she pouted. In response, the said guy removed his wand and straightened up before walking away approaching her.

"Hey! Where do you think you are going? We aren't finished here!" Jo, who had gotten his blade back, shouted at him.

Silver seemed to be ignoring him before turning back. "This is not the right time and place to fight. We will meet again." And with that, he walked away with the elvish girl. He watched as the girl released a darkish energy meant to teleport them away. The smile on his face didn't disappear as he pulled out something he just got from beneath his sleeve.

It was Ronan's flute.

The world seemed to stop when horrified emerald orbs landed on the flute, gears began to turn and it clicked in Danielle's head that she had no idea who this guy was, where he came from, where he was going, or how to follow him.

And he had Ronan's flute.

Stunned, Danielle's book fell to the ground. She felt drained of her magic, screaming for him and running after the portal wouldn't do anything, it would disappear within seconds. What would she do now? That flute meant more to her than anyone would ever know. And some silver knight wannabe had shown up and taken it, all because of that little pointy-eared bitch.

The frozen world began to spin as she began to quietly hyperventilate and panic, and before she knew it, the ground was rushing up to meet her.

THUMP!

...

...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, Danielle. Wake up."

JO had been trying to wake Danielle the last hour or so, all the while shaking her shoulder or patting her cheeks. He had called Stephen and with him, he carried the Necromancer girl to her house. He had absolutely no idea of what had happened to her. Did the Silver guy do something to her? If so, he must have had failed to notice it. Jo was pretty mad; that guy had just left like that after initiating the fight, almost seemed like he was underestimating them or thinking that they weren't worthy to fight. And be underestimated was something Jo completely couldn't tolerate. He was so going to get that guy someday for that reason and for hurting his friend, oh, and the little witch of his! He still felt like he had heard his voice before, but however hard he tried to remember, it just wouldn't come to him.

"Hey, wake up and tell us already," he said, resuming his attempt.

Stephen, who was sitting on a chair across from the bed had a hard look on his face. He had been thinking about it; Danielle had no wounds on her so there must be other reason for her collapsing. If only he was there, he might be able to identify who this Silver was. If Jo felt like he knew him, then he must have been too.

"Stop it, Jo. Let her wake up by herself."

Jo complied, but he hoped she would wake up soon and tell them what was happening.

Danielle shot up, the crystalline drops in her eyes had already formed from the nightmare she had been having. "Th-The flute..." The tears spilled over. "H-He took Ronan's flute!"

Jo jumped from the sudden movement of the girl; the curse word that he was gonna throw stopped in his throat and replaced by a confused "What?" after hearing her words.

Stephen had gotten up from his seat and approached her. The news about Ronan's flute had to wait; he had to make sure that she was fine. "Are you ok? Did he hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine, but he took Ronan's flute! Stephen, he took it! I don't know who he is or where he went!"

And the girl was starting to hyperventilate again. The Sorcerer shook her shoulders lightly. "Calm down. We will find him. Please try to remember if there is any clue at all of where he was heading." He understood her feelings; she had been taking good care of it as if her live depended on it. It made him wonder as to why the Silver guy took the flute. Its true potential had only been worked to Ronan thus far; Stephen knew his fellow Theurgists had tried it and it could only do as far as attracting the pixies.

"He went through a fucking portal, I have no idea where he went!"

"I mean, did he say any--"

"He didn't," Jo interjected. "All he said was that we would meet again."

Stephen touched his chin absentmindedly and looked down, seemingly processing the news. It was practically useless and uninformative, but if he said that, then he must have still had a business here in Wizard City.

"What did he do before that, do you guys know?"

Jo answered again, "I don't know. He wasn't there when I was having this convo with the girl. Oh!" His head perked up as if he just remembered something. "He came out of the robe shop when the little brat called him."

The Sorcerer looked up then. "That's it."

Danielle was baffled. Blinking her teary eyes, she asked, "What?"

"We can maybe get some clue there. It's a long shot but there is nothing else we can do at the moment."

Danielle didn't understand a clue of what Stephen was trying to say, but she knew one thing: that girl was overdue for a beatdown. Teleporting in a flourish of skulls, she appeared in the underground cave where the Forbidden Spellbook resided. It was protected by a blue-ish clear dome of the most powerful magic, cast by Headmaster Ambrose himself, and could only be opened by stronger magic, or a special phrase*.

"Free the book, dome, for I am worthy. Sense the intentions and and emotions in my heart, do I deceive you?"

A few seconds passed as the magical dome read Danielle's heart and judged her. She was free of deception, so it vanished, allowing the Necromancer to retrieve the book.

She was getting Ronan's flute back.

"That girl... Teleporting so suddenly like that. Where is she going!" Jo grumbled as he and Stephen made their way out of the Robe shop. It was like what they feared, they couldn't even get a sliver of info there. The guy was quiet most of the time and he bought a few travelling cloaks, said the shopkeeper. Nothing else.

"I'm sure she is fine, wherever she is," the Sorcerer responded. He hoped he was right and Danielle wouldn't do something too rash.

Now, what were they gonna do?

Danielle had already opened the book to the Death section and was flipping through the summoning spells, nothing really jumped out at her until she got to the last page.

Satan.

The Devil himself could be summoned by any Necromancer who had something to lose. He was a sly one, calculating and ruthless, always one step ahead and always in and out of the loopholes in any deal he made. He was similar to Zenon in a way, but they were also very different.

She considered summoning him, but a shudder ran through her and she shut the book. "N-No way," she muttered, placing her hand on the ground to summon other spirits.

xxx Somewhere Else xxx

Silver was on the ground, sitting and leaning against a large boulder with his chest heaving slightly. Even with his hood up, one could see the sweat trickling down his masked face despite the cold air. He looked like he just ran a marathon, but the reason for his current condition was none other than the small wooden flute grasped in his hand.

The elvish girl, now clad in travelling cloak, looked at him with a mix of sadness and concern before she made her way over to him.

"Silver... Don't push yourself too hard. Let's just stop for now."

"I am fine, Lyla. I am just... not too accustomed with it yet." Here he referred to the flute.

"No, you're not," the girl, Lyla, said, caressing his cheek. "Your magic has been divided to keep me up. You are not at your full potential now. If you aren't careful, you can kill yourself."

Silver knew that she was right; he was at his limit now, but he wanted to finish this quest as soon as possible. He had much more important things that he needed to do. Closing his eyes, he realized that he needed to be alive if he wanted to achieve all that.

"Alright."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Find Ronan's flute," Danielle snarled, addressing the ghosts that had emerged from the ground to see to her commands. "I've had it for long enough that you all should be able to search for it like bloodhounds." She turned to close and collect the Forbidden Spellbook before teleporting out of the cave and back home. Hopefully in her library she would find something on a silver knight or something like that.

xxxxxxxxxx

It was a beautiful night with a full moon and twinkling stars and Lyla was looking at it with seemingly troubled heart. It had been nearly a month since she was brought back here from the world of the dead to search for someone. It had been almost impossible to do until Silver got a hold of the flute two weeks ago; before, they had gone from place to place using her portal magic with no sense of directions whatsoever and they felt really lost. Even so, summoning the dead using the flute was no easy task for Silver. It had been the same routine every day; he would use it and became considerably weak and then followed by her scolding him to stop. She kind of understood why he was so persistent. He was tied with a promise to her, that he would not indulge himself in anything else until she could fulfill her goal. He had personal things to attend to, but so did she. She knew she was being selfish for keeping him from doing so, but after many years, she couldn't bear the pain in her heart any longer. She had to find "him" soon and apologize for her mistakes in the past.

"Lyla."

The girl turned hearing her name. Silver was appearing from the stairs of some Marleybone factory they were at at the moment, his hood and mask still on; he seemed to never take them off in whatever circumstances.

"Get some sleep. We have to move again tomorrow."

"You go sleep. I'm not sleepy yet," the girl responded, averting her gaze back to the sky. It was at that moment that she caught some movements in the air. When she focused her eyes on it, she realized what it was and gasped; multiple pale ghosts had swooped down on the roof they were at and then made a beeline towards Silver.

"What the hell!"

Lyla twirled her hand and shot a whitish energy at the flock of ghosts, dissipating and scattering some. The remaining ghosts were hesitating to continue their charge, looking back and forth between the girl and Silver. After some time though, they made the right decision to flee.

"What's wrong with them ghosts?"

Silver shrugged, he was as lost as her, realizing nothing that the ghosts had finally succeeded in tracking him down and were now on the way to relying the news to a certain Necromancer.

"Nothing..." Danielle muttered to herself as she slumped in her comfy reading chair, tapping her fingers on the arm. She was about to go see if Stephen and Jo had had any luck when the ghosts from earlier zoomed from the floor, voicing their findings.

"It's in Marleybone? What would they be doing in Marleybone...? No matter, you've all done well. Thank you, you'll be rewarded in a little while."

Stephen was doing his usual nightly routine with books when he spotted someone moving outside through his opened dorm's window. The overly long black hair gave him a clue of who it was.

"Danielle... What is she gonna do this late of night visiting Bartleby?" he muttered to himself. He knew that it was none of his business, but his curiosity got the best of him. He got up from his reading desk and picked up his wand, fully intending to follow her.

Danielle walked up to the World Gate and opened it, tapping the world of Marleybone and entering the door. It closed behind her.

Stephen followed Danielle quietly. She hadn't noticed him yet.

When Danielle set foot in the church corridor, she breathed in the scent of the city, wondering where the flute thief was. This city was huge! How would she find him?

"Where is he? Lead me to Ronan's flute!"

No sooner than when the words left her lips did a gust of wind from seemingly nowhere whispered the flute's location.

Stephen gasped quietly from behind the Spiral Door.

'The flute! So she found out where it is.'

With a flick of magic, Danielle had summoned her Mander Palanquin. She made sure she was comfy in her seat before telling the manders where to go. And they were on their way.

'Always so rash...' the Sorcerer mentally thought, following suit by summoning his mount. 'If both her and Jo had trouble fighting him then she shouldn't have come here alone!'

Danielle's mount vanished when she arrived at the location. But where were they? Were they behind the factory? In the factory? On the roof? Where could they--

A flourish of silver hair cut her thoughts short. That had to be the flute thief!

"Give it back!" Danielle shouted, shooting a blast of Death magic at the figure on the roof.

Silver, who was leaning on the railing, startled upon seeing the attack directed towards him. He was able to move out of the way to avoid the full brunt of the magic, but it still burned the side of his hood some. He whipped his head down towards the attacker. Nobody was able to see his expression in the dim lighting, but he was surprised to see her here.

'How?'

"Silver! Are you okay?" Lyla called out, before she too looked down to see who dared to use sneak attack on them. "Grrr... Who is it!?"

Somehow, Danielle was already in front of them.

Danielle pointed a Death-charged finger at Silver, her sharp emerald eyes also watching the young elf girl. "You have something that belongs to me," she snarled.

Lyla scowled and pursed her lips as she also pointed her little finger at Danielle.

"What? That flute isn't yours to begin with!"

Danielle sent a scowl right back at her. "That may be so, but it was entrusted to me and therefore it's under my ownership until its real owner returns. Now, I'll ask you again," she growled, her hand beginning to glow ominously with Death energy as she raised it, causing the ground to crack open and skeletal hands to reach from the abyss. "give me back the flute."

The little girl raised an eyebrow at that. "Don't bother. I'll give it to him myself when I--"

"What do you mean?" A new voice that belonged to Stephen, interjected while the person himself suddenly appeared behind Danielle, making her jump a little. "You are saying that you know where Ronan is?"

Lyla looked up at the newcomer with dismay. She didn't know these people, yet she had a good idea of who they were. Regardless, their appearance was uninvited and she wasn't too happy about it.

"Well, duh!" she said, "I know where he is. I KNOW who he is. Poor guy if you ask me. The years had been rough for him! Right, Silver?"

The said guy didn't give a response, he just kept looking forward at the two newcomers, his hand grasping his wand tightly.

"Ah, but that's not important. You two had better be lost!"

Danielle didn't know why, but a streak of jealousy pierced her chest like a lightning bolt. Her emerald eyes became as hard as the jewel itself and her nails dug into her palms.

"Give me the flute..." she muttered, pointing her finger at Silver and Lyla for the skeletons to follow. "Give it back right now, or face death!"

"Silver, stand back. I know you haven't recovered enough," Lyla whispered, not letting her gaze off of the two grown up wizards. "I got this. Sorry, but this needs to be done. The flute is essential for us."

"Lyla, wai--" Silver began, but the girl had already run forward.

Stephen himself readied his wand for a spell when the skeletons charged forward. Lyla did the same as she summoned a blade of dark energy and used it to slash at the incoming moving bones. The Sorcerer moved for Silver then, but a blast of whitish energy fell in front of him courtesy of Lyla.

"Where do you think you are going? Your opponent is here. I can beat the two of you all by myself!" she exclaimed, completely erasing her first image of a weak, helpless girl back at the Shopping District.

"Come on, then!" Danielle shouted, crouching down before straightening back up, her hand following suit as zombie after skeleton began to emerge from the cracks. However, there were only so many she could summon, as the "Horde" spell, as she called it, drained her magic.

For a full 20 seconds, Lyla moved gracefully among the horde of skeletons, seemingly dancing as she ducked, jumped, and spun around while she kept slashing with her magic sword. During that time also, she managed to push back Stephen as he kept trying to move past her to face Silver.

Gritting his teeth, the Sorcerer skidded back on his feet after countering her magic blast. 'What is with her? From what Jo had told me, she had asked for Silver's help to deal with Jo. And now, she is so adamant to not let me come close to Silver. It's as if she is protecting him. If so...'

There were only a few skeletons left on the ground as Stephen concentrated, and then, out of thin air, sand was beginning to pile in the air before spiraling and struck Lyla head on. She yelped as she tried to

rid her eyes off of the sand. Using this opportunity, he quickly ran past her and was now face to face with Silver.

"Who are you? What are you planning to do with Ronan's flute?" Stephen asked, pointing his wand at Silver, looking straight into his eyes. The lighting was too dim to make out their features, not that it would be easy considering the mask that he wore.

"Silver!" Lyla managed to clear her vision a little and was about to dash to her companion's side.

"I don't think so, girlie." Danielle growled, waving her Myth-charged hand towards the ground to cast Stun, the magic zapping Lyla like a lightning bolt. The elf girl fell to the ground, dazed, but Danielle took it upon herself to scoop her up. She kept her distance from Silver.

Even without him expressing it up, Stephen knew the guy was about to approach his fallen partner. He sent a magic blast, which Silver simply negated with a Tower Shield. And suddenly, Silver was only inches away in front of him, with his wand pressed on his chest. Not a second after, a whitish blast of magic threw him in the air.

It hurt. But for some reason, it wasn't as strong as it usually was.

'So he is a Necromancer...'

As Stephen fell to the ground, Silver ran past him, but he was not gonna let him do it that easily. A blast to Silver's ankle prevented him to run further. Gritting his teeth, Silver summoned the Skeletal Warrior in the hope to occupy Stephen while he went for Lyla.

Danielle casted Minotaur, the manbeast creature exhaling an angry puff of hot air through his nostrils. The Minotaur swung his axe through the air while Danielle still held Lyla in her arms.

Silver didn't falter; he kept his pace and anyone seeing would be really sure he would end up becoming two pieces. Just when the Minotaur was about to land the hit, he ducked so low that the length of his body skidded on the concrete ground. The attack completely missed him but struck the Skeletal Warrior instead. He knew the beast would still after him if he didn't finish it for good, so he quickly pointed his wand its way and shot a greenish gooey substance that was Poison. Almost immediately, the beast was staggering before it was becoming too sick to continue fighting.

Silver set his eyes on Danielle then.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Lyla was starting to get feelings back on her body...

'This brat won't stay stunned forever,' Danielle thought. Her hand sparked with flickering Death magic, and the Death-infused pages of her Grimoire fluttered as if they were struck by a powerful breeze. It floated beside her to let her zap the ground in front of her, casting Dr. Von's Monster.

Death symbol was drawn, and out of Silver's wand came the large Bone Dragon. It was brief, but Stephen managed to see Silver staggering after he released the spell.

'Was he exhausted? This is our chance!'

Between the monster and the dragon's roars as they clashed, they didn't realize Lyla had managed to move her hands. And on them, magic was building and was ready to be released right on Danielle's chest. Silver noticed it, and at the same time, Stephen was ready to throw his spell towards him.

Before Lyla could release her spell though, both guys released theirs; Silver's whitish magic blast flew towards Danielle, and Stephen's towards Silver.

It happened so fast; Lyla's spell fizzled from Silver's blast hitting her hand, and Stephen landed a direct hit. Silver hit the ground, his mask and hood slipped off of his head, revealing shoulder-length silvery blonde hair and a familiar bored-looking face with jade green eyes...

Danielle was in such shock that she dropped Lyla, her arms hanging limply at her sides while her book continued to float beside her. "R-...Ro-Ronan?"

Stephen was just as dumbstruck as Danielle was, no words managed to come out of his mouth as Ronan got to his feet and staggered towards Danielle, who looked like she just got hit with a Stun spell also. He half expected his long MIA friend would give her a hug, but no; he dropped on his knees in front of her and scooped Lyla up. He held her with one arm, while he used his other hand to summon a Fairy.

"I'm sorry, Lyla. I can't let you do that," he spoke softly, trying his hardest not to look at Danielle, his expression forlorn.

Confusion and sadness blinded Danielle's rational thought; she tightly shut her eyes and turned her head away before the tears could fall, and with a cry of rage, she sent a blast of Death magic at Ronan. The Theurgist was thrown back to the ground, the blast unexpected.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Where were you?! Is this what you've been doing for the past three years we've been waiting for you?! Playing vigilante with your little sidekick?!"

"Danielle, calm yourself!" Stephen shouted, getting up. He knew that she had every reason to be mad at his friend, but she could have done it without that; Ronan was not fit enough to fight to begin with.

However, Ronan himself felt that he deserved that. He wanted to come to her. He wanted to tell her everything; of his predicament, of how badly he missed her, of how he would give everything just to hug her, to kiss her. But no, for whatever reason, he couldn't do that. And it pained him even more than his physical distress to see her hurt like this.

In the end, he couldn't offer any response...

"Y-You can't answer me or something?" Danielle asked, wiping her eyes of the salty liquid that had already begun its descent down her face.

But Ronan just stayed lying there on the ground. His eyes were closed, either him being in pain or him having a mental war. A painful minute stretched with only the sound of distant machine noises brought by the cool night breeze, before Lyla's voice broke it.

"First things first, I am nobody's sidekick," everyone turned to her then, who was finally recovered from her stunned status. She got up and dusted herself off before she looked up at Danielle and pointed a finger at her. "You are a fool! Is that how you pay someone who just saved your life!? If he didn't hit me with his spell earlier, you'd be dead by now!"

Lyla's words had gone through one ear and out the other. She didn't understand what was going on here, she had no room to talk. Danielle retaliated by casting another Earthquake, whether she was trying to separate herself from Lyla or trap the elf girl in the crack, she didn't even know. All she knew was that she wanted her to shut up.

Turning back to Ronan's fallen form, Danielle slowly made her way over, towering over him. "What do you think this is, Ronan?" her voice cracked every few words. "You bid me farewell with a kiss and your flute. I protected that thing with my life for three long years worrying about you in the back of my mind. Then some masked silver shell steals it, and it turns out to be you." She reached down to hoist him up to eye level by the front of his robe. "Did you stop and think about how Stephen or Jo might feel? How I might feel? Where have you been, Ronan?"

Even after being at eye level, Ronan still couldn't look her in the eyes. He remained silent, and as the time goes by, he could feel Danielle's hands on his robe shaking.

A portal opened nearby, and out of it was a pouting Lyla. Apparently she wasn't too amused about the Earthquake earlier.

"Geez, Silver. What a violent girlfriend you have here." She approached the two and wrenched Ronan's robe free from Danielle's grasp. "I'll answer that question for you. No, he can't answer it, hell, he won't even be talking to you cause I don't give him permission to!"

Danielle wanted nothing more than to strangle the little sprite, but she managed to keep her cool. "Who are you to decide who he can speak to?"

"Nevermind that, but keep this in mind. He is mine." Lyla's eyes bored into Danielle's with all seriousness. There was no way that she was lying. "Silver is mine, and I can't let you harm him anymore than you already did. See here, Silver? I told you it would be better off if she is dead..."

Almost immediately, Ronan's look turned fierce. "That's not in our agreement, Lyla," he said, his tone was dangerous, in which the girl responded with a surrender gesture.

Danielle wasn't sure if her palms were bleeding or if the pain was just spiking intensely from her nails digging into them. Finally, she gave the flesh a break and tucked her book back inside her robe. "Fine then, if you don't want to tell me what's going on, then don't. I said I'd take care of the flute until your return, and you've returned." Her expression was sorrowful as she turned on her heel to leap off the factory into her chair, before the manders' feet hit the cold concrete running. She didn't know where she was going, she just had to get away from there.

Ronan could only watch until Danielle's form disappeared in the darkness. He closed his eyes briefly before turning away, his expression was as sorrowful as hers.

"Let's move now, Lyla. We don't have anymore business here."

In response, the girl twirled her hand and a portal was summoned. The two were about to enter it when Stephen called out.

"Ronan, wait!"

Said Theurgist stopped, but he wasn't turning, feeling as bad as he was when facing Danielle; after all, they were best friends.

"Where are you going? If you can't tell Danielle about it, then at least please tell me. We were all so worried about you."

Ronan had expected the question, but his jaw was set.

"I'm sorry."

And the next thing, the two disappeared through the portal taking them to who knows where.

When Danielle got home, she pounded the stairs up to her room and collapsed onto her bed, attempting in vain to hold back her tears, however, biting her pillow was helping her hold in her whimpers.

The next day, when Stephen told Jo about the ordeal last night, the Necromancer had had his mouth dropped for a full minute before the expected "Are you freaking* serious???" finally came.

"Do I tell jokes?"

"Nah."

Stephen made a hand gesture as if saying "There you have it."

Jo's feature was still held in disbelief. So the Silver guy he faced that time was Ronan? How could he do this? And how could he not talk to Danielle at all? He knew Ronan very well; he wouldn't do things without reason. What was it? How important could it be that he had to hide his identity and stole his own flute? How important could it be that he had to lie to everyone, especially Danielle whom he loved so much?

Speaking of Danielle, Jo wondered how she was doing now...

Danielle was still huddled up in her bed, her eyes puffy and her nose drippy. She had only gotten but a few hours of sleep, and she was exhausted. Her pounding headache wasn't helping.

Her Grimore lie on her desk beside the Forbidden Spellbook, and upon making eye contact with the forbbiden book, memory after memory danced in her head and brought on a fresh wave of tears, which she wiped with her sleeve but they continued to fall. Ignoring them, she got up and grabbed both books, determined to stitch the Forbidden Spellbook into her Grimoire.

If Lyla was stopping Ronan from talking to her, then she would get rid of Lyla.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It had been a few days, and there was no more news about Ronan and his whereabouts nor did Stephen see Danielle even once. He and Jo had gone to her house, but no matter how hard they knocked and called, she didn't show up. It worried him. He hoped she was alright.

Unbeknownst to them, Danielle had already left the house; she was talking to the seamstress and preparing to complete the transaction of the stitching. With her forbidden-infused Grimoire, she was ready to fight Lyla.

Danielle had gone without notice again. Jo found that out after storming in her house after having no answer the next day by kicking the door off its hinges in frustration. The place was covered in thin sheet of dust everywhere, which pretty much gave away her absence the past few days. And he had a pretty good guess as to where she was heading, not exactly the place, but he knew she had gone to find Ronan.

"Always so rash!" he exclaimed, much to the irony.

Now, what were they gonna do?

xxxxxxxx

Danielle had no idea where Ronan and Lyla had gone, but flipping through her Grimoire while walking wasn't the smartest way to find out. She ended up bumping into someone, a male by the tone of the grunt.

"Oh, sorry," she said, holding her book close to her chest and moving out of the stranger's way. He seemed to be transfixed on her in a way that spelled out affection in her mind, but she decided to ignore him and continue her adventure.

The stranger, who was a tall young merchant man with auburn hair, just stayed to stand in there for a while. For some reason, the girl just now distracted him. Maybe it was her hair; with such length, he wondered how it wasn't tangled and in a mess. It stayed tame and as black as the night sky. Or maybe it was her face; she was kinda cute...

He sighed and scolded himself then. 'Logan Frostrider, control yourself! You weren't distracted by those! This is Dragonspyre and this is not the right place for a girl, especially that cu--, ahem, to walk by herself this late of night! So many hideous creatures here. I better go check on her.'

Avoiding the lava that surrounded the crumbling concrete path she walked on, Danielle made it to the Atheneum in one piece. She still had no clue where Ronan and Lyla were, but the thought of being surrounded by hundreds of ancient Dragonspyrian books tantalized her. I'm sure a little book break wouldn't hurt,' she thought as she walked towards the steps of the library.

The stranger, who was now known as Logan Frostrider, had finally caught up with her. He quickly hid himself when she turned a corner and into the somewhat-still-one-piece library building, hoping she would not see him and thought of him as a stalker or what.

Danielle had been flipping through ancient text, not bothering to decode it but more so trying to figure out the engraved images and what they meant. Some were in English, and she actually read those.

Logan was contemplating whether or not he should go in and warn her about the danger this place imposed, before a noise was heard from inside the library. It sounded like the growl of a pack of some wild beasts. His mouth dropped open slightly in realization.

'Shoot! She's going to be in trouble!'

Danielle heard the snarling; it was hard to not hear. Startled, she shut the book and threw it back on the shelf. She was capable of taking care of herself, she had to remain alive until she found Ronan. The Necromancer bolted for the stairs that split into the two alcoves, and the right side had a large hole in the wall. Unsure where it would lead, she jumped through it, and landed right in her chair at the edge of the lava. Hearing the beasts, she pointed back towards the portal. She would look for him elsewhere, why would he be in Dragonspyre? "Go!"

The manders' feet pounded the concrete, and a few lashes of Death magic kept the beasts at bay.

Rushing to help, the merchant man pushed open the large double doors open so hard they made a loud noise when smacked to the walls inside.

"Miss! Watch out! I'm going to h--"

He trailed off, seeing many pairs of glazed bloodshot eyes staring at him from upstairs instead of a cute long-haired girl. Well, that explained the lack of a scream; that girl must have already left.

"Oh, shit!"

Within the next minute, he was running for dear life to the portal with a dozen or so beasts hot in his pursuit.

"Heel!" The manders stopped at her command, and she leaped out of the chair to search for the owner of the scream. It was that same guy from before being chased by the beasts. This didn't call for a forbidden spell, so she called upon her own Necromancy to cast Dr. Von's Monster, the Frankenstein-look-alike smashing and throwing the beasts into the lava like they were ragdolls.

Logan could only stare as one by one of the beasts was being smacked around. Still panting from the running, he turned to his right where the girl stood with her book(or was that a wand?) floating a few inches from her palm. Her beautiful emerald eyes were staring ahead so she didn't notice him staring. Imaginary sparkles seemed to radiate out of her as her feature screamed out the word "maginificent". Logan marveled in her bravery and beauty at the same time. What a true warrior she was!

Now that he thought about it, he was the one who wanted to be the knight in the shining armor rescuing the princess, yet he ended up being the one rescued. A slight blush appeared on his cheeks.

'Lame Logan... You are so lame...'

Von's Monster kicked the last beast into the lava, the pained whine drowned out by the bubbling of the molten rock. When it dispersed, Danielle turned back to the boy. "Are you okay?"

"Ah, yeah. Thanks..."

Danielle helped the boy to his feet and noticed he was slightly taller than her, about the same height as Ronan. "Okay, good. Be careful." And she turned to walk back to her manders.

"Hey, wait!"

And when the girl stopped, Logan realized he had no idea what the wait was for. He wanted to know who she was, but that would weird if he asked her for it.

"Oh, um, where are you going?"

Danielle raised an eyebrow in suspicion of the boy, but also smiled at his bashfulness. "To find someone and kill them. Someone else very special to me is with that person, and I'm getting him back."

'Someone else very special to me is with that person, and I'm getting him back.' she said. Him. So she was already with someone. Of course, for someone that cute, he would be surprised if she hadn't have one. Still, his imaginary self hung his head in disappointment.

"Oh."

It was then that he realized something more disturbing. "Wait, you said you wanted to kill someone?"

"Hell yea, I'm killing someone. She...she practically kidnapped him! I'm in the dark about the whole situation because of her." She clenched her fists. "Lyla...she could've brainwashed him for all I know. He didn't speak to me! How am I supposed to know what he remembers? I have to go find out."

He was a bit taken aback by her openness, considering that he was a complete stranger. All this stuff about killing someone though, is not right, yet he didn't have any right to tell her that, especially if she had a valid reason. That very reason though, he found it somewhat irritating. If this so called "someone very special" to her was this weak-willed and easily fell for someone else, then there was no way that he would be any good for her.

"I'm sorry to say this, but he is stupid. You deserve to be with someone better than him--"

Oops. He hoped he didn't cross the line.

Danielle said nothing. Had Ronan really forgotten about her? There was no way...right?

"...I don't know. But now that I think about it, I don't want to go alone. You seem nice, want to come with me?" The hand behind her back was charged with Death magic if he turned out to be a psycho.

Bingo!

"Well, travelling is my life. Since it's dangerous for a woman to go alone, I would be more than happy to accompany you in your journey." Logan was trying to keep his cool, but inside, he was bouncing around like a child having too much sugar. "So, where are we going?"

"I don't know, I have to find them. I think they might still be in Marleybone, so I'm heading back there."

"Marleybone, hmm? That would be beneficial for the both of us. I think the women there would love these crystals I found here. They always like them Dragonspyrian crystals. I am a merchant by the way. Ah!" he gasped lightly, feeling stupid for not introducing himself. Stretching out his hand to her, he smiled and said, "Logan Frostrider. Nice to meet you."

"I see," she smiled back, trying to be polite. "Danielle Deathblood. What's a fragile little merchant boy like you doing out here in a place like Dragonspyre?"

A fragile.... *stab*

Little... *stab*

Boy... *stab*

Logan sweatdropped, trying his best to force a smile.

"Umm, I am twenty."

"Oh!" Danielle said rather loudly, quite embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry, you seemed a bit..." Spineless? "Nervous, and it reminded me of a child. Please forgive me, I know you were terrified for your life. Those beasts are nasty."

Logan let out a nervous laugh. He couldn't help it, could he? He was only a merchant and he usually was very careful not to attract unwanted attention here when collecting goodies that he could sell.

"Well, like I told you before, I was looking for something to keep my business going, because you know, not many people really come to this place anymore. People value Dragonspyrian goods highly, and since THE GREAT BALL is coming, I'm sure these will sell real quick like water in the desert!"