The Tews diaries

THE TEWS DIARIES

Part one: the first quest

Okay, so the reason I am writing this book right now is because Luna forced me to. She says we should talk about the ‘adventures of a lifetime’ and blah, blah, blah. My name is Jack Tews, and my sister is Luna.

And now I, Luna will take over writing because Jack is doing too much of his ‘stalling’ technique. Whatever. Now he`s on the ground, groaning like I punched him in the gut. Which I did. Anyway, it all started in a school in Madison Wisconsin. It was called, Eye Point Punching School. Who names their school like that? Anyway, we were not even there. We were taking a field trip to the Smithsonian. We listened to the guide talk non-stop about herbivores and carnivores and stuff like that. I call it boring. Jack calls it ‘educational’. Nerd. So naturally, I pretended to go to the bathroom, and I went to the snack bar. I was just about to order my pickles with cookies when I saw it. In the middle of the bar, was a person. Other people swerved at least a meter of him like he was a blazing fire. His eyes seemed to glare at me. Once I got my snack, I went around to find a table. But they were all taken. The only table left was right next to Mr. Scary. I went over asked “Would you mind if I sat here?” “Of course, sweetheart. In fact, I`ll love it if you sat here.” He said. His voice was raspy, with no sarcasm, but I sensed he didn`t really like me. But I could not resist a nice, steaming pickle with a cookie, right? So, I sat down and began to eat. Suddenly, I saw something that made me almost scream. The man`s face turned momentarily into a skull, and he seemed to have long, sharp teeth like those of a wolverine`s. Before I could decide I had seen that I heard Mr. Vananberg`s voice. “Luna? What are you doing? Sneaking off! I should give you a week of detention!” Yeah right. Like detention would even matter. Right then, I saw the man next to me turn into a skeleton. But he wasn`t a human skeleton. He had the fangs of a wolverine, the claws of a panther, and he had thick horns. Mr. Vananberg walked fearlessly two him. He tapped his ring, a beautiful ring of gold, diamond, and titanium. The ring turned into a double-edged sword decorated with gold and diamond chips. “Good morning, king Tut, are you out for the chips?” He asked calmly. “You know why. Now get out of here before I destroy you as well” The skeleton rasped. “I`m afraid not. All nomads shall come to Snow Fort for protection.” Nomads? I vaguely remembered that nomads were travelers, but I had a home. Then, my teacher swung the sword. It struck the skeleton on the rib. “Go, Luna, before he reforms!” Sure enough, the broken bones slowly started to stick back together. I ran back to the guide. I had a feeling that I would be safe there. Yeah, right. I saw the skeleton move forward, dueling Mr. Vananberg. I grabbed Jack and took off.

Oh, finally, I get to write. Okay so technically, Luna is five minutes younger than me, but she bosses me around. So, when she started pulling me along, I had to follow. She got to the bus, and she did something that nearly made me faint. She started to drive the bus! Somehow, she got to press the brake and the wheels, I could see she typed in ‘Snow Fort’ in the GPS. What in the world was Snow Fort? The GPS rattled, and before my eyes, began to turn into a portal. “Wait, where are we-” I never got to finish my sentence, because then there was a bright flash, and all I could see were huge pieces of light as we swirled around and around. We reappeared in front of a large dome, made of glistening titanium. And we reappeared just in time for monsters.

There was a roar behind us, and we turned to see a huge serpent slithering up to us. I caught my breath. I turned to see Jack. He was as shocked as I was. The snake opened its mouth, probably to kill us, when the beatings of drums sounded. An arrow whizzed past us and struck the thing. A dozen kids charged out and pulverized the poor snake. “Hello, I am Joe” One said. “This is Snow Fort. Welcome!”

So, when you think of a fort, you probably think of a castle with walls of stone and knights everywhere. You would never imagine a metal igloo. Luna and I went in as one of the bricks opened. “So, these guys here are nomads?” I asked. Joe turned. “What do you know about the ancient mesopotamia?” He asked. “Well, it`s between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Sumer was the first urban civilization.” Joe nodded. “Oh, man what do we have here?” a voice roared. I turned to see a boy. He looked just like those kids’ teachers would peg as bullies. He was a five feet tall, with muscles strong enough to smash a boulder in half. “Carson, come on! They just got here!” Joe said. “Exactly. I heard newbies have some cash. There is this new store I want a cookie from.” “No” I said. “No? Well, I`m not asking.” He grabbed at me. And there I was, thrashing and kicking, a foot from the ground. “I don`t know about you, punk, but no one says no to me and lives to tell the tale.” He raised his fist, and I saw that it was capped with steel spikes. I thought to myself, ‘I did not survive a snake to end like this,’ He punched. But his fist went right through me. His hand holding me up simply didn`t hold on. He kicked me and punched me, but all the attacks went through me. So, I launched a punch of my own. I willed my fist to turn solid as it hit Carson, and he doubled over. He was fuming. “Your dead, punk. I`ll rip you for this.” Then he went off. My sister and Joe were looking at me, opened mouthed.

So, my brother can turn into any element of any sort. Hurray. So, Joe showed us the playground, which I thought was inappropriate, because the monkey bars moved, grew spikes, the slide was ended in an acid pool, and the swing swung to the speed of sound. He introduced me to the kid in charge. He was a teenager, a boy. He wore black robes, and he held a long, wooden pole. “That`s Evan Roe.” Joe told us. Evan gave a shallow bow to us. “Hello, Luna and Jack. We were hoping you would survive. Come, I would show you your past.” He walked into a dark room. Suddenly, a bright orange blast lit the room. Evan had made a line of orange sparks. “In the land of ancient Mesopotamia, there was many civilizations. Sumer was the first. You were not born in this age. A long time ago, dinosaurs roamed the land. When the age of them ended, some survived. They became known as monsters. They hunted the new beings of this planet-humans. Some of them had many special powers. The few of those who had power and luck made a time portal. They came to the place where their kind ruled the earth. You people are one of them. You are not orphans, just your parents are a few thousand years older than you.” “But that`s crazy, there are no records of any of this.” “No, but they are mysteries. The land of Mohenjo-Daro, where people flourished, was suddenly destroyed of life. People were flattened on the streets; the roofs were ripped off. Do you think some natural disaster could have been so accurate? No, it is the Shellripper, the most powerful monster of all.” My head was spinning. How could such powerful beings exist? I looked over and saw that my brother was having the same feeling as me. But Evan wasn`t done. “These monsters still exist, forced to the many corners of this earth. But unfortunately, they are not the only ones to stir. Some evil force is stirring the dead, you met king Tut of Egypt. Many say it was tomb raiders who stole the body of him, but now I suspect that another soul could have occupied it for so long. Whichever things may be, the soul who uses the pharaoh’s body is a powerful force. It has eaten the souls of others, and only a spirit of pure evil and power could do this act.”

“This is what I believe to help you the most.” Evan said. He took out a bracelet. “Uh… thanks?” Luna said. “Tap it.” Evan invited. She did. The small bracelet shimmered into a sword. “This is multi-titanium. It can only be heated in the center of the sun, and even so, can only be hammered with the pressure of a hundred pyramids.” He gave me a small bottle of water. I was thirsty, so I screwed of the lid to take a drink. The bottle turned into a meter of brown metal. “This is silt iron. With a single scratch of the blade, it can turn any living being into silt.” He said. “Now let`s go outside.” When we got outside, we heard screaming. A black, wispy figure glided over. He wore a black cloak, had no eyes, no feet, and his cloak sleeves floated without arms. I knew that that was a ghost. Evan confronted the thing, without even his pole. He raised his hand. Orange energy came from it, trapping the thing. Then the origami began to tighten, until the spirit vanished. “How did the soul of Alexander the Great come here?” Then, the metal dome opened. Mr. Vananberg walked to us. “Hello, kids. I saved your life.” He said. Then he began to change. From a man in an Italian silk suit with a necktie, he turned into a lion. At least, partial lion. His head was a tiger, with a lion`s mane around it. His body was a panther, and he had the tail of a scorpion. He had leathery wings that looked like a bat`s. He roared. It was a booming sound, something like a sound of a thundering truck times a thousand. I drew my sword, and saw Luna did the same. “I am not here to hurt you.” He said. “I am here to defend you. The ghost came here by mistake.” “How can we trust you?” I asked. “Because I saved your life.” He said. As to prove it, a dragon the size of a skyscraper came down. It roared. Joe leaned closer. “That`s a baby Shellripper. Maybe a few days old.” The thing heard Joe and was offended. He looked like a flat turtle, with horns and teeth the size of cars. It let out his blast. We closed the door- just in time. I looked out the multi-titanium coated window and saw blue balls of energy the size of Snow Fort blast into us. It hit every time, and the base began to rattle. “It`s a really fierce baby!” Luna said. “Nah, it`s just playing.” Joe said. Mr. Vananberg- I guess roared and lunged out of the emergency break. He jumped to the dragon`s eye and began to claw his face. The thing roared and shook my teacher off. Then he scampered away, into the forest that only came up to its feet. Mr. Vananberg turned back into a human and said, “There’s a lot more of that were it came from.” My head was spinning. “So… where are we?” I asked. “We are in the place between space. If you look to your left, you will see a desert, to the right, a snow dune.” Sure enough, divided by the forest by the desert by a pile of rocks. “So… can I have a real bottle of water?” I asked again.

You might expect a place full of kids with superpowers to learn about how to kill monsters and do cool stuff like wrestle with tigers. The truth is it`s just like a regular school. Our typical class is math, history, recess, spelling, science, magic, recess, and PE. Only recess and magic and PE are fun. In recess, we get to go to that cool playground. The ground around it caves in and it turns into lava. In magic class, we get to practice on certain things, like making pickles explode of getting lions to sleep. PE is the best. We do archery, dodgeball, and duels. I stink at archery. I tried shooting the target, and the arrow didn`t even get in a foot of it. But Joe was incredible. He could shoot the bull`s eye two hundred meters away blindfolded. I know dodgeball sounds boring, but the balls explode. So, to not die, you need to dodge of catch the ball. Dueling was the best. Today, I dueled with a guy named Julian. He was the same age as me, a few centimeters taller, and he had this nice aura around him. He was kind, sharing, and considerate. “Don`t make that fool you.” The dude who fought Julian yesterday said. “When he fights, he`s a demon.” I figured he was wrong. He was right. After a few days of practice, I`m not the worst at sword fighting. But when I went to meet my opponent, my jaw dropped. Julian was dueling five to one, but he was winning. He slashed at one guy, making him stumble back. He stabbed another on the shield with so much force that he fell. Then he saw me. “Hi.” He said, smiling. Before I knew it, I was on the ring with Julian. His look intensified. Then, the whistle blew. I lunged with my sword raised. Julian sidestepped and pushed me back with the hilt of his blade. But then, I kicked him on the chest. Dark fog began to grow from the ground. It fought for me. The fog carried me. I flew up and down, while Julian tried to get at me. I stabbed at him and locked hilts. I flung my sword upward and along came Julian`s. Two black blades appeared in my hands and I brought them down to Julian`s throat. There was moment of awed silence. “Whoa.” Julian managed to say. “The rumors are true.” Then he stood up and went flying down the road (yes, Julian can fly).

So, my sister defeated the only person who could take on a dozen to one. Huzza. So, we were sitting in front of Mr. Vananberg. “So, child. There is a prophecy about two coming to this land. We are very sure it means you two, and I hope you would agree.” Then he began to recite,

“From the abyss shall rise the two.

They shall conquer all that`s true.

One shall veil itself in dark,

the other is of many marks.

Two more shall travel with them too,

A swordman, and an archer coo

They shall travel north to snow.

And will find the tomb of ago.

They shall save the monster`s wrath,

Until all is in their path”

“Uh… I guess you could say it is us.” I said. “The swordman would be Julian” “And the archer has to be Joe!” The people we said materialized next to us, giving us (okay, me) quite a fright. “We need to go north, into the snow dune” Joe said. “And we brought gear.

Before we knew it, we were being given weapons, books, and a “Hope you survive” from friends, and we were being sent off. We walked and walked into the dune, until we thought our feet were going to freeze. Luckily, Luna was able to do something about it. She made hovercrafts out of darkness and we flew the rest of the way. Suddenly, we heard a roar. We turned to see the snow dune explode. Out came a… bear. It was a gummy bear, red, and was about two meters high. The thing growled. “This is easy.” Said Joe. He fired an arrow at the food. The arrow sunk a few inches into the creature and then bounced off. “On second thoughts, gummy bears are not cake” Joe said in a small voice. We activated our weapons and ran-away because the thing spat flaming acid at us and melted a foot of snow. We ran into a jungle, and yet the thing pursued. The thing walked on two legs, the others ripping trees apart. I cut two to make an ‘x’, but the bear tore it apart like they were pencils. Then, the thing gained. I swung my sword. That was a mistake. The blade passed clean through its body and chopped the head off. Immediately, the body grew a new head, and the head grew a new body. One punched me. I felt like I was being hit by the toughest, biggest, the most ticked off bouncy ball in the universe. I flew back and hit an elm. Then, Joe fired an arrow. It was a flaming arrow, and as it flew, the arrow turned into a burning sword and impaled a bear against a tree. The thing yelled and fought as it was burned alive, melting into goo. The other yelled for killing its clone. So, we ran again. I made the ‘x’ again and Joe set it ablaze. The annoying bear thing popped his head off and threw it at us. The body, without eyes, sadly burned to death. As it flew, it hit the ground in front of us and spat acid all around us. It wrote, I figured out later ‘I will avenge the gummy bears you burned, ate, and tortured’ but before it could, Luna wrapped it in black binds, and Julian stabbed into the dark bubble with his sword in ‘flame’ mode. After we were done, I set all the gummy bears I brought for the journey free, by the pond, and to my amazement, they came to life and bounced away. I silently swore to never eat a gummy bear again.

“Umm…. Where are we?” Jack asked. “I think we lost track and got stuck in the jungle.” Julian said. He looked at his map. “Guys… We are in the land of the Cretes.” He said. “Uh… you mean that place that got pulverized by a volcano?” I asked. Joe nodded. “The only creatures who survived that was the…” Suddenly, a ball of fire erupted from the bushes. “I thought Crete was an island. “It is, but we may have travelled past that when we ran from the bears.” Suddenly, the air was filled with huge eruptions of fireballs. The bushes burned to the ground as a dozen creatures came out. They were… bunnies. They were cute, and fluffy, and fire breathing. They lunged at me. I screamed and did the thing that came naturally. I swung the sword. The bunny was cut in half. The others were furious! They began to leap and fire at me and my friends. Julian pulled out a shield and covered us. Then, Jack whipped out his sword and lunged. Every time the blade met the rabbits, they melted into dust. Joe fired volley after volley of arrows. Julian leaped out and began to slash at the bunnies. However, something strange happened every time the sword cut the animals. They burned away into ashes. Soon, the rabbits fled, but the smell of blood attracted something else. We were about to sit down and rest when a roar shattered the world.

I have never seen such a big snake. It was if the empire state building, and it`s teeth were as big as cars. That thing made the gummy bears look like a baby`s stress toy. It roared again and spat a mouthful of acid right at Julian. He blocked it with his shield. And I did the most stupid thing I ever did (until now). I lunged. I ran at the beast, dodged some acid, and I brought down my sword with all my strength. However, the blade bounced off the thick, coppery scales. The scales rose into sharp spikes. Then, the stupid worm shot it in all directions. That gave a millisecond of exposed flesh. I quickly stabbed at it. But when the silt iron blade sank into the skin of the snake, nothing happened. “How?” I asked. “That thing is a Mole dragon, the biggest and the most powerful dragon of all. It is the rival of the Shellripper,” Joe swallowed. “and is immune to silt iron.” The angry creature roared. It shot another volley of spikes. One hit a boulder, and the boulder cracked in half. It bit at Luna. Then, I saw something that gave me nightmares for weeks.

When the snake bit at me, I rolled out of the way. However, instead of feeling scared, I was offended. I had not come all this way to be eaten by a stupid worm. I felt my body growing colder and colder, until I raised my hand and shot a column of darkness at the Mole dragon. It hit the snake right on, and it toppled to the ground. Then it got up, ticked off. I slashed at his eye, and it got even madder. It chased me until it cornered me. But when his shadow loomed over me, I vanished. I came out in a tree`s shade, and I brought my sword down with all my strength. The multi-titanium blade made a huge hole in the scales. Then Julian brought his down in a flash of sliver. The blade sank into the chink, and the creature roared in agony as it was burned into ashes. “Wait… how did your blade burn him?” Jack asked. Julian sighed. “This is serene silver. It would burn up any creature who met it. The only creature that is immune to both serene silver and silt iron is the Shellripper.” Then, the trees began to part. They made way for a pyramid as big as mount Everest. It was in the middle of the forest, lined with moss and grass. “The tomb of tears” Joe gasped. “What?” I asked. “That place is the place where the most powerful monster of all resides… the Shellripper. We have to go in” Joe said. I have never seen someone wanting to walk into a place full of demons. But Joe did. We didn`t have to. The pyramid exploded into rubble as a creature big enough to make blue whales look like bananas. It was a dozen times as big as the Mole dragon, and it was basically just a thing twenty times as big as the baby Shellripper we met on Snow fort. It roared so loudly that several trees collapsed around him. It fired several balls of blue light as big as big as a cruise ship. As they struck, they destroyed several acres of trees. They propelled us backward. Julian stabbed it, but it did not affect him at all. Suddenly, Julian pulled out a small sword, maybe a foot or so, and stabbed it into the monster. Then he pulled out another sword, this one the same length, but had a silver blade and a golden handle. With that, he began to rock climb (or is it a leg climb) the monster. While he was climbing, we distracted it. I poked it on the eye with dark spikes. Jack materialized on his head and nailed the other eye. Joe shot volley after volley of arrows. However, we only made it mad. It stabbed downward with those horns of his, and one pulverized a shield as the other sank a mile (literally) into the ground. Then, everything went wrong. He must have felt something, a tiny sting, or a little scratchiness. For whatever reason, he turned on his leg. Julian, I could see, gulped. Then, he drove one sword into it`s leg, and the other he held on to. The blade couldn`t take all that weight, and it began to fall. But as it did, it made a huge scar on the side of the Shellripper`s leg. It hissed in pain, and it shot at his leg. It was so stupid, that I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing, it hit his leg, and he crumbled. It bucked, then it fell over. But the stubborn thing got right back up and roared. It shot several more shots. Then, something happened.

I hate getting killed. Therefore, I hate the Shellripper. I think that is obvious. I have made a poem for it:

Yesterday, I feared Ripper.

Today, I hate Ripper.

Tomorrow, I will kill Ripper.

I know, I know. The thing needs help. But exactly the opposite of helping my poem happened. The Shellripper died, like, today. Julian`s sword, the one with the gold handle and sheath with that serene silver blade, began to glow. Silver tendrils of pure energy sparked up and down the blade. And my sword, the Silt iron blade began to buzz. It began to glow, until I was holding a tiny sun. Julian`s blade and my blade blasted energy and met in midair. A small ball of light appeared where the two blasts met, and the ball fired at the monster. It hit it on the chest, and he dissolved into light. Then, I heard clapping behind us. I turned to see a skeleton. Luna has described it to me. He was king Tutankhamun Nebkheperure. He pulled out a blade. The blade gave me visions I couldn`t forget. I saw how people melted in the heat as the ghost melted multi titanium, silt iron, and serene silver together for his sword. I saw it cooled in the blood of the ones who Tut hated. I saw him torturing people to death. I snapped out of my vision. “I never expected you to come this far. I was shocked. I hope you would forgive me when I kill you.” He was the politest killer I have never witnessed. And the most skilled, apparently. Julian lunged with his regular blade. Joe snapped his fingers, and two silt iron scimitars appeared on his hand. “Where did they come from?” I asked. “I can make the air around me to form certain things.” Joe said. Then he leaped into the fight. For an archery nerd, he was very skilled. However, Tut was not bad himself. He turned his sword into a double sided, double edged sword. He quickly disarmed Julian, but the blade flew back into his hand. Joe threw his scimitars at the ghost and nailed him onto a tree. The iron blades did no harm to him as he slid out of the things, but a grappling hook flew out of Joe`s hand and trapped him. The chains began to glow and Tut dissolved. But as he did, He yelled with so much force that all the evil and power came out of his body and began to pollute the air. “You have defeated me for now, but I would resurrect!” The poison gas killed all the things that touched it. It quickly spread around so much that soon we were forced to run away. But then, something happened. Luna`s eyes began to glow fluorescent black as she floated up to the mass of death. I was sure I was about to witness my dear little sis turn into a ghost herself. But she raised her arms and dropped them. A wall of black wrapped around it, making a dome to keep the gas out. Black energy rippled up and down her body. She half fell to the ground and passed out before she hit the ground. Bad timing. Bad, bad, timing. Because behind us came an army-and they were here for Luna-only. The first lunged with a spear and shield, but with a flash of silver he collapsed on the floor. “Julian!” Joe reprimanded. “What? They were going to kill us!” “But killing them is, like, murder.” “Uh…. guys? Maybe we can do the debate later?” I asked. We surrounded Luna. “Why are you all trying to kill us?” I asked. “Because we need that power.” They gestured to Luna. The power of the tomb, the evil powering the dead wasn`t king Tutankhamun. It was Luna. They stabbed me, and I screamed, but stopped once I could tell the spear went right through me like an illusion. I activated my sword, and I began to fight. With every attack going through me, I was invincible. I tore at the people around us, every swing of my blade fatal to many. They exploded to dust as they tried to fight me. A volley of arrows flew past me, taking several of the soldiers. Them was a flash of silver Julian leaped into the fight. Joe`s scimitars flashed into life as he swung them around, silt flying around him. But that`s when everything went wrong. Them was an explosion of purple as a person came out. He held a mace that had a head as big as a basketball. Joe shot a volley of arrows at him, but he swatted them aside with a flick of his finger. Julian leaped into the air and brought the tip of his blade down. However, the blade bounced without a scratch on his mace. He swung his mace at a tree so hard that the tree went flying away. But in all the commotion, the other soldiers got my sister. In a flash of purple, they vanished.

I woke up in a cell. I was bound to the floor by multi-titanium chains. I struggled to break them, but instead it only got tighter. It heard footsteps and I stopped. “She`s still not awake?” One asked in a gruff voice. “Apparently not.” Another answered in a smooth voice. I saw that my bracelet was still intact. I waited until they were out, and I activated my sword. My sword slid through the chains like they were rubber. I tapped my sword again and it shrank back into the bracelet. I quickly and silently crept down the hallway afloat on the cloud of dark gas. Every time I saw a guard, I melted into a shadow and waited until he passed. I was almost to the exit when I heard a scowl behind me. I turned to see a purple fire rage around until it formed a human. He held a mace. “I am the great Power!” He yelled. “That is a horrible name!” I shouted back. That was the wrong thing to say. He growled with anger and lunged. I braced my sword to deflect the blow, but I could tell it wasn`t enough. I made a thick wave of darkness fly toward Power, but Power blasted it out of the way like it was child`s play. Solders began to come out. I brought the point of my sword down to Power`s face, but he knocked it away. Then, he blasted me with purple light, propelling me backwards. I managed to stand, but my weapon was behind Power. I pulled out my knife that I had for backup. It was a foot of silt iron, tipped at the edges with multi-titanium. I raised my knife-just in time. Power`s mace slammed into me, and the knife was the only thing that kept me from becoming construction paper. I swung my knife, but it just wouldn`t reach. Then, I had an idea. I stabbed the knife into the wall of the castle. Normally, if someone struck something of silt iron into something non-living, nothing would happen, but my powers manipulated the blade and the wall to become living shadows. Silt poured out of the walls. The entire castle began to disintegrate. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Power yelled. I distracted him long enough to dash across him and retrieve my sword. And for good measure, I stabbed my knife into Power`s thigh. He roared with agony. But before he could do something about it, he melted into dust, giving the seeds below him to have enough silt to grow into trees. But the game wasn`t over yet. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers began to gather. I slashed and lashed, but I was getting overwhelmed. Just when I was going to be completely overcome, I heard a war call-the beating of large drums. The call of Snow fort. Dozens of kids charged out, led by Julian, Jack, and Joe. They tore the monsters to shreds with magic, weapons and with loud drums. We were outnumbered a hundred to one-but we were winning! But then, I felt the wrath of Power, smiling evilly as he floated away into the dark. “WAIT” I yelled, but it was too late. The war attracted the Shellripper.

“I thought we killed that thing?” I asked. “No human can possibly kill him. In the times of the British empire, it took an army of well trained, well-armed men to even annoy it. We only knocked it out because it was in the jungle, where he rather sleeps than fight. Now…” I looked around. I could see heaps of snow and ice around us. The Shellripper roared and shot a volley of missiles into the army of Power. There was a pleasant explosion of blue light that would make a nuclear bombs look like a burst of electricity. What was left of the army was a pile of smoking ashes. “Wait! Jack, remember the Mole dragon?” Joe asked as shot a missile arrow at the monster. I remembered that. It only made me feel worse. But then I had an idea. Well, Joe had an idea and I got it. Mole dragons were the natural rivals of Shellripper’s! “GET IT TO ROAR!” yelled Joe. So, naturally I got it to roar my sending an arrow-sword to poke him in the eye. I got a recorder and captured the roar. I cranked up the volume and let it go again and again. Sure enough, a dozen scaley snakes slithered up to the Shellripper. I was like a rattlesnake meeting a large turtle. Four of the Mole dragons wrapped around each of the monster`s legs, tying it to the ground. One took care of the mouth, the other the clubbed tail as big as a small mountain. The rest of the creatures strangled him, bit him, and basically killed him. Finally, the Shellripper was defeated.

When we got back, we were treated like heroes, because, well, we were. We got nice food, of pickles, cookies, and onions, and we got a peach flavored taco. We even got new weapons. Joe got this cool new bow made from multi-titanium that has sharp edges. And by what I hear, the bow string is weaved from the scales of a Mole dragon. Julian got a new knife that is made from silt iron and serene silver. I got a new shield made of multi-titanium. It has a large, serene silver spike on the middle, with razor sharp edges. Luna got new armor that is multi titanium on the outside, and soft fur on the inside. It expands from a T-shirt with a picture of a unicorn riding a rainbow. Even Carson said, “Idiot” which in Carson-speak, means ‘I guess you did well’. I went to the arena to do some practice (and to forget my math homework) and saw I was alone. I trudged over to into the ring and pressed the ‘only play’ button. The ground gave way to thousands of dummies. Only, they were supposed to be dummies. What should have been hay scarecrows were robots with gleaming multi-titanium armor. They glared at me, and they began to fire arrows, no, only arrowheads at me. They flew to the speed of bullets. I saw one strike a tree and watched it evaporate into silt. Oh, great. I had to take on a robot with silt iron bullets. I took out me sword and shield. I swung my sword, but it sparked of with hardly a dent. The arrows came dangerously close to me, and even with a shield, I was in danger. I plunged my sword into a robot`s head, but multi-titanium was far stronger that silt iron. I drove my sword into a robot`s neck chink, and it melted. Great. Only two thousand left to go. The robots were endless. Suddenly, I saw a streak of light run past me and struck a robot. It was cut in half. Them was a flash of silver and gold, and I saw that a dozen robots went flying. And I decided to help. I slashed at the robots, not that it did any help. Then, the blurry light leaped into the mass of robots, and they were flown away. I could see as it flew away, they were slowly burning up. The light subsided into a young man, about the age of twelve. “Evan?” I asked. The boy laughed. “No, kid. I am Joshua. Joshua Roe.”

So, I guess by brother found a nomad, who travels around. The new guy was Evan`s little brother, and they didn`t go along. “So, bro! So nice to see you!” Joshua said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Evan scowled. Then he turned to us. “You two should leave.” “But-” I began to argue. “NOW!!!” Evan yelled. We decided not to argue, because his glare made a Mole dragon look like a stuffed animal. About ten seconds later we left the door, we saw the roof blow open, and we heard blasts of energy fired at each other. About a minute later, the entire house was turned into a pile of ashes. Being the two strongest people in Snow fort, their ‘debate’ nearly pulverized an acre of land around them. When they finally walked out, they concluded, “We know where the energy of death is coming from.” “What?” Me and Jack asked in unison. “Look, we saw a Nunchuckamus, a demon gummy bear, attack in the snow. It led you to the Lepusignis, the fire-breathing bunny, which then attracted the Shellripper. Then, the Mole dragon, and so on.” Evan said. And Joshua continued, “Oh, and then when you came back, multi-titanium robots attacked you. Only one being has enough money, evil, and vengeance enough to have all this. It is-” “Whoa! What`s up with your sword? That thing is sick!” a little boy about six years old asked. He had somehow gotten through the ashes and was now bouncing up and down on Joshua`s feet. Joshua winced. “Uh, it`s just a sword made of gold and serene silver.” “It`s magicae gold.” Evan said. “It contains enough energy to deflect all the energy a Shellripper can make in a lifetime.” Joshua blushed. “It`s nothing. Anyway, that was not the point of what we are trying to say. So, the guy who has all this is called Perio the Shrewd. He is the richest being in the universe, literally. He has once hired king Tut. He can control the army of Power. I am afraid that they have went into the land of Scorch, not destroyed. But you have weakened the army. For the next quest-” “Whoa, another quest?” I asked, horrified. I suddenly felt sick. I was sinking in a sea of despair. “Nah, not for the time being. But when you do…” Joshua waved his hand, and a small blob came out of thin air. It was round and was growing. It said one word, “Food?” “This is a Goo. It is covered in liquid multi-titanium and has rubber armor far stronger than any other creature. But for now, you should go to a regular school, and study regular things. Snow fort is preparing for war. All students, nomads, and teachers shall be sent out to the world for a little while.”

Therefore, this was our first journey. Oh, and Jack made a new poem.

I want to live.

I want to play.

But even more, I want to save the world.

(I think it`s horrible)

Part two: the war of the Aegean Sea

I hate my new school. I was expelled from Eye Point because of my ‘stealing and disappearing’ stunt. I`m surprised I didn`t go to jail the moment I stepped out of Snow fort. Instead, Jack and I go to CSA, which stands for Career Salvaging Appointment. I think it should be called Catastrophic Savage Annihilation. Why? Because of what happened halfway into the semester. We were doing arts and crafts, making paper crabs. The crabs were a group project, supposedly life size. They were the size of footballs, and we had to fold, cut, tape, and glue the pieces together. I was the one who were supposed to tape and glue. I don`t know why the (insult) we did that because we just all went around helping each other. When I went to help the cutting guy, I knew there was a problem. I never seen him my entire life when we literally spent months without classmates. He was tall, with a tan, and an unfriendly scowl frozen on his face. But that wasn`t the problem. He had three scissors, each a type of metal I knew too well. He was cutting a piece of paper with a brown, gleaming blade. Silt iron. Humans can`t ever use silt iron because it must be hammered at a magical temperature. I put my hand just an inch from my bracelet. Thankfully, I had enough time to press my thing before he lunged with serene silver and silt iron scissors.

I figured it was going to be a rough day ever since I heard my sister screaming. I took out my water bottle, uncapped it, and rushed to her aid. I would just say that my sister isn`t the worst at sword fighting. I watched, open-mouthed, as she sliced at the scissors, two expert strikes, and sliced off the blades of each one. Then, the boy fighting Luna pulled out his last scissor and lunged. It was no contest; the shorter blade was tangled away from the boys grip. For the record, I wrote last scissor not weapon. I saw him unsheathe a long blade from his cloak and swing it at my sister. It left a gash on her stomach, and she toppled back and hit the ground. He was going for a last, fatal strike when I jumped in. I threw a dagger at the blade, parrying the strike and leaped into the air. I brought my blade down with all my strength-and found it deflected. We dueled for a long time, occasionally exchanging words or strikes. So, I learned that a) he was not a monster and b) He thought Luna was a monster, and c) he liked peaches. So, we practically forgot the rest of the class until I heard sirens. I turned to my dueler. “Come on. We`ll going to take you to Snow fort. I had no idea how to do that of course, until I remembered my pet. I pulled out a shining titanium thermos and opened it. With a flash of light and a “FOOD!”, my pet, Goo, appeared. “Uh… hi Goo, can you take us to Snow fort?” I showed it my sister, who was groaning on the floor. Oh, and the guy with scissors was called John. He lifted Luna up in the fireman`s carry and said. “We need to hurry” duh. Anyway, Goo opened his mouth in a giant portal and swallowed us up in a giant “FOOD!” and we went tumbling down-right into the girl`s bathroom. “Uh… of all the places… why does it have to be here?” I groaned as we stood. We exited the horrifying place and went to the main hospital. Lucca Heft, the healer dude examined the wound on Luna. “I haven`t seen a gash like this since… John, show me your sword.” John opened his hand, and a sword appeared in it. It slowly made its way into existence, like it was being pulled from an invisible scabbard. John set in down. It was a dark, bluish metal, gleaming darkly. Now that I could see it more closely, I could see it was more like straight scimitar than a long sword. Lucca paled. “You’re from the land of Scorch, aren’t you?” John nodded grimly. “I barely escaped with my life. I used the only weapon powerful enough to freeze the water-ice-steel scimitar, weapon of death.” “And you used that on my sister?” I was furious. “Sorry…” Lucca chimed in. “Enough, I have a remedy for this particular metal. At least he didn`t use full magic of this weapon-it would have turned her to ice immediately.” He pulled out a package of white powder and a bottle of green, glowing liquid. He mixed it together. “This is crushed serene silver, so we call it serene sugar. Normally, it would burn up the eater, but when cut with a freezing metal and weakened by acid, it would be fine.”

I woke up being fed spoonful’s of goo by a giant robot. Not Goo, just regular slime. It tasted good, like sugar coated with chocolate, then drinking milk in one gulp. I felt better after taking a few bites. I first felt like I was freezing (which I later figured out I was) but now I felt like I ate twenty energy bars. I used my sheets and pillow to make a shadow big enough for me to be in. I always felt better in the dark. I looked to my midsection. It was bandaged, but I could feel the wounds closing. I formed a small dagger from my darkness and cut the bandages. The wound was reduced to a white scar but was leaking a few drops of blood now and then. I tested to see if I could stand. I could. I turned off my robotic feeder and went outside. I floated around my surroundings (Snow fort) and saw Jack. I flew down and surprised him with a “BOO!” “AHHHHH! What in the world are you doing wait… Luna? Are you alright?” “Better. How long was I out?” “Oh, a week.” Jack replied. A WEEK? How was I going to do anything, catch up or whatever when I was out for a week? I grabbed Jack on the collar and said, “You got to tell me everything I know.”

When Luna grabbed me, I thought I was toast. I was grateful to die in such a marvelous place, to survive several attacks then be killed by my own blood. Alas, I did not die! I took her to the arena, where Mr. Vananberg, Joshua, and Evan was waiting. “So… here’s the thing. Perio the great is one of the seven great sorcerers who created the time portal into the future. Evan, and Joshua are also sorcerers. Perio has a scythe made from powerful ice-steel. Also, I learned why Perio has a grudge on us. A long time ago, the seven sorcerers had a war called the World War I. It started when two of the seven`s countries began fighting- first in the Balkan peninsula, then to Austria-Hungary. Anyway, he and another sorcerer lost the war, now they teamed up. The other sorcerer was the father of Power and the controller of the dead, nicknamed Hades, Harrison Pingel. He has another army coming to us right now.”

When I heard the news, my head was spinning like helicopter wings. Had to sit down. I felt the scar on my stomach begin to freeze. My entire stomach was so cold it burned. “You, okay?” Jack asked. “Uh… fine.” I managed to say. “You should rest. I`ll get you in time for the preparations.” I didn`t want to pass out for another week, so I said, “No… I`m fine.” Jack felt the wound and quickly snatched his hand away. “You need to sleep.” “Then make me.” I said. I guess it was a little stupid, given that I couldn`t move anything except for my mouth. “Sure.” Jack said. “Collin!” He called. I saw the energetic six-year-old bound toward me. “Dude, knock her out.” Jack said. “Yay!” He said. He took out a giant metal club. “No, I mean with your powers! Where did you even get that?” Collin nodded, clearly disappointed. Before I knew what he was doing, he snapped his fingers. Suddenly, my entire body felt heavy. My eyelids began to droop. I tried to stay awake for as long as possible, and I succeeded by 3 seconds. I collapsed on the floor and passed out.

I had never wanted to call Collin. If he gets too excited, he can put everyone within a mile radius take a nap for a month. But now that he was here, there was no way to drag him out. So, we planned out battle strategy while a toddler played with bubbles right next to us. I want to leave out the battle strategy because it`s boring, and it would be a major spoiler. So, fast forward.

I awoke on a moving dragon. Jack was driving it. “Hey! How come you always take me along, asleep?” I yelled. I punched him on the shoulder. Jack winced. “Ow. Sorry about that.” I looked at the dragon I was riding and saw that I was in a flock of dragons, each having a rider. I learned about these in magic. They are Firewings. They are a rare type of dragon that is said to be nearly invincible. Tough, scaly armor covers all its body, spews lava hot acid, has three tails. The tails on the outer edges spews highly flammable gas, while the middle ignites it. It`s wings can catch on fire, hence the name, ‘Firewing’ If it flaps it`s wing while it is on fire, then it can create a fire tornado. Extremely smart. Extremely dangerous. Typical. I was riding on a killer dragon. Below me, I could see the ocean, with multiteam ships dotting it. “Where are we?” I asked. “We`re in the Aegean Sea, the border of Snow fort`s territory.” I looked up and had to stifle a scream. High above us, gliding on enormous, serene silver wings, was Snow fort itself. It was a full ball now, each brick having a cannon. The fort glided down to the way bottom. Then, the first wave of soldiers erupted from the sea (pun intended). Thousands upon thousands of ghosts and monsters erupted from the sea in a giant ship called the Universal Bear. But Jack just laughed. “Sugar is bad for you. So is serene sugar. From the fort, a cloud of glittering dust exploded from the bottom. When they touched the bottom, every monster or ghost who breathed it in, got it dug into the skin, or even blinked in it burned away into ashes. Serene sugar. The first wave was burned away, but with a triumphant blast of blue light, the dust dissolved, revealing the second wave: About a million soldiers and Perio leading. That`s when Jack abandoned dragon.

When I saw Perio, I leaped off and charged at him, sword, and shield intact. He saw me coming and drew his own weapon. It was a scythe with a spearpoint. He first lunged at me and brought his spearpoint down on me. The shield deflected the blow, but it dented the metal, slightly. Then, he lunged again with his scythe point. This time, he raked open my shield as easily as one would cut a piñata. I looked down in shock. Then my shock turned into anger. I threw away the useless bits of my shield and lunged at Perio, not knowing what good it would do. Perio raised his scythe, preparing to kill me. Just then, someone else intercepted the fatal blast. “John!” I yelled. He had his sword raised in the air, deflecting the blow. “Foolish boy.” Perio snarled. He pulled out a dagger from the butt of his scythe, and he stabbed John on the stomach. John doubled over. “I`m…. fine….” He said weakly. Then, he crumbled away into bits of ice. I glared at Perio with the most hateful glare I had ever given someone. I was about to lunge at him again when Harrison Pingel materialized next to him. He held a double-sided axe, gleaming with ice-steel. “So, that`s him? Pathetic.” He laughed. “Maybe so. But we`ll even up the odds.” Said a voice. Joshua and Evan appeared in a ball of gold and orange light. Perio struck Evan`s pole so hard it should have cut it into pencils, but the pole deflected it and Perio got a blast of light right in his face. He flew backward. Meanwhile, Joshua was dueling with Harrison, and I was going around the Universal Bear killing monsters and ghosts when I saw something cool. Okay, maybe a little bad. Fine, horrifying. Zombies! They were groaning, coming from the basement below. And holding them back was Luna! She had a wall of darkness around them, but it was clearly draining her. Since I was in gas state, I couldn`t move quickly. If I did, my atoms would come apart and fly around until I became nothing but another type of air. I floated over and helped her channel the energy. Above us, our Firewings and the enemy’s dragons clashed. Snow fort was taking several monsters at once, firing dozens of cannonballs at a time. But the Universal Bear began to train the cannonballs on the dragons and on Snow fort. Then, our small, agile ships began to work. The ships grew thick titanium spikes and rammed the bigger ship. Then, it fired into the crack, and the cannonballs exploded. The Universal Bear creaked and groaned, the bits of titanium clogging up the engine. Then, the basement exploded, and I knew that the zombies were now dead.

When I saw the zombies burn into dust, I was on the verge of unconsciousness. I collapsed on the floor and tried to focus on breathing. Unfortunately, that was the exact moment a Lepusignis decided to kill me. The demon bunny growled and it`s mouth began to glow. I was wearing my unicorn T-shirt, and I activated my armor just in time. I cut the bunny in half and ran into a dark corner. No, I am not a coward. The dark just helps me recover. After a few minutes, I began to feel like myself again. I lunged into the battle, my sword swinging aside me. The next few hours were a blur. I found myself wielding a torch and a sword, burning Nunchuckamus and Lepusignis everywhere I went. Ghosts stayed away from me, maybe because any ghost that did got sucked into a giant black hole vortex I was using for a shield. I saw my old buddies Julian and Joe. Joe was using his new quiver, and Julian his new sword. I caught up with Jack, who was battling a giant snake-the Mole dragon. I rushed over to help, and I attacked it with my sword. I hacked a hole into it`s scales, and Jack pulled out a serene silver dagger that he got for his birthday, and we made ashes of the worm. Then I saw something. Harrison was gliding around in his chariot pulled by Firewings. I saw the ghosts float off as well, and the monsters who had wings lifted those who didn`t and flew up from the ship. Then, the Universal Bear exploded, revealing an enormous creature, bigger than the Shellripper itself. “I thought the Shellripper was the biggest?” I asked. “That is a Shellripper. But it`s a mutant sea monster called the Whirlmouth.” Evan replied, coming from nowhere. “Perio?” I asked. Evan pointed to a small figure with a scythe, flying upward. “Why is the Whirlmouth called that?” I asked. The huge creature turned to the remains of the ship, where our troops were scrambling upwards and grabbing their dragons. Jack`s dragon (called Telepathy) picked me up as well. Just then, the Whirlmouth opened it`s jaw. The entire ship was sucked into it in a mere moment. Perio laughed viciously, now perched on his chariot. Battling it was Joshua. I could see him, like a piece of glitter, moving like a comet, attacking again and again. Behind me, I could feel Evan tensing. He shouted, “Wall formation!” and instantly our dragons surrounded the monsters head. Just one tooth was the size of a small house. We could only surround it two times, but we were fierce. We fired blast after blast of acid at the creature. Fire tornados raged around him, like a spark on a giant piece of wood. A billow of blue gas covered the creature`s head and exploded. The Whirlmouth roared in rage and began to fire blue balls of light at us, and some hit. Those who were fluttered the ground and hit the ea. But finally, it found it`s fatal blow. Joshua unleashed the energy of his magicae gold weapons, and it vaporized the monster and made the entire Aegean Sea boil. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Perio screamed. He and Harrison lunged at Joshua, who was currently summoning his dragon on the sea. But Harrison didn`t make it far. Evan leaped down and lunged at him, a deadly orange comet of energy. He struck him on the chest. Harrison doubled back and drew his axe. But before he could do anything, he was hit again with a fatal blast and he crumbled into dust. Meanwhile, Perio and Joshua was dueling on the sky. Every time the two powerful blades met, sparks and bits of ice fell from them. Then, Joshua struck Perio with the hilt of his blade, and Perio toppled down. Joshua was just about to deliver the fatal blow, coming in for the stab, when I saw it, the same look Perio had when he drew the dagger that killed John. He grasped the butt of his weapon. However, the next second held many different events. Evan reached Perio. Just as he pulled out his dagger, Evan blasted it aside. Perio looked up with a look of annoyance. Joshua stabbed Perio and Evan strangled him with orange light. The ghosts vanished as their source of energy was destroyed. We have won the war of the Aegean Sea.

I was air sick, so I wanted to sail home, but Luna talked me into riding the dragon again. When we got back, I had to throw up several times. Anyway, the extremely few who were left to hailed us. We attended several of who died on the war. Then we had free time. I was alone in my dormitory, looking at the floating chandelier. I was thinking about opening my pack of chips when a flash of orange light lit the room. Evan came to my chair. “It is a very hard time for us. Many sorcerers have turned on each other. Some posses power far stronger than others, and I am afraid they may have united each other. If that happens, we will be destroyed. We must be prepared to stop it. The strongest of them all, Ocean, as begun to act. We must be prepared. Take this.” He gave me a javelin. It was awesome, with a multi-titanium pole, tipped with a magicae gold tip. “Bring your old sword with it as well.” As soon as the two weapons met, I said, “Whoa.” It was the same javelin, but the spearpoint was surrounded by a small shield of silt iron. “Will it to become any weapon you like.” I willed it to become a sword. Instantly, it became a sword. “Awesome. Thanks!” Evan nodded grimly. “It is the last weapon of the empire of Assyria. Use it well.” Then, he dissolved into orange light.