Hundreds of years ago, when the Shadow Queen ruled over all humanity, the witch carried a book. A spellbook to be specific. This spellbook was possesed by the spirit of one of the queen's ancestors. All of her powers and black magic rested with her in that book. The Shadow Queen carried this book wherever she went, as it granted her unbelievably evil powers. It was because of this book's evil power that the queen was able to sink the prosperous town that is now Rogueport into the depths of the earth. However, when the Four Heroes locked up the Shadow Queen in the Thousand-Year Door, one of them snatched the spellbook and gave it away to a faithful Magikooopa, who would protect it and make sure no evil would ever touch it. The book was passed down through generations, and remained in peace in the Shadow Sanctuary with its respective guardian, at least until this very day...
Mila, a 14-year-old Magikoopa who still
wasn't acquainted with magic very well, was the book's new protector. She
wore a red robe, and had long brown hair. Her hat was a bit small, though.
Many argued over the fact that she still wasn't ready, and that fact was
very true. However, no evil had ever
gotten near the spellbook for over
900 years, and since the time was calm and peaceful, no one thought that
Mila would ever have to engage in battle in order to protect the book,
so the job was given to her. But, a week after she became the book's new
protector, something happened. Now, disregarding the fact that she is but
a rookie, Mila must rely on her powers, and the company of her friends,
in order to protect the book from a new evil.
****
"Ah, at first, I thought it would be frightfully boring to live in this underground sanctuary just to protect some dead witch's spellbook. But now that it's been over a week, it's actually pretty nice. So quiet and peaceful. Drinking tea, reading books... And of course. I never get lonely, thanks to your company, right Ebyss?" she said as she patted her Eerie friend on the head. Ebyss, who couldn't talk, responded to her with a cooing sound.
Mila was sitting in a rocking chair, reading one of many books she kept in her personal library. Ebyss sat on her shoulder. He kept his eyes opened in order to read along with Mila, but eventually, he fell asleep. Mila noticed, but didn't wake him up.
She placed the book over her lap. Then,
she reached for her teacup. Smoke was steaming out of the sizzling hot
tea, but just when Mila was about to take a zip, a quaking sensation provoked
her to drop the teacup. Mila was startled, so she immediately picked up
Ebyss and hid under the chair. The
teacup fell on the ground, and as the
tea got spilled, the quaking stopped.
"Woah. What... was that?" she wondered. "Ebyss? Ebyss! Wake up!"
Ebbys slowly opened his eyes and yawned, then he gave a doubtful look to Mila, wondering why she had awaken him.
"Come on. An earthquake just occured. I have to make sure nothing happened to the book," she said quietly. Although she said it had been an earthquake, the thought of it being someone intruding into the sanctuary crossed her mind, and she didn't want to draw any attention to herself until she found out what was going on.
She sneaked into the altar room. Pieces of furniture and debris were everywhere. She hid behind a fallen chair and started checking her surroundings. Ebyss stood quietly besides here. When she glanced at the altar, she saw a shady figure standing in front of the book. She then glanced to the right and saw a hole in the wall. It was no earthquake. The figure had blasted the wall and caused a quake in the process.
"Oh, no... That man is probably here
to steal the book," she said quietly to Ebyss. "I know I'm the protector,
but I never thought I would actually have to protect it..." She was clueless
as to what to do. She was still a rookie Magikoopa, and didn't know many
spells. She just sat there in a depressed
state. Ebyss, however, wasn't willing
to let her give up so easily. He started tugging her robe, encouraging
her to do her best.
"Thanks, buddy. But, do you really think I can do it?" she asked Ebyss.
Ebyss smiled and nodded.
"Then I will!" she said as she stood up, ready to face the figure. She took a breather, and aimed her wand at the figure. She then shouted, "Stop!"
"Hmm?" The figure faced her. It was a Magikoopa as well. He wore a black robe with a white scarf, and he wielded a wooden staff with a black orb at the top. "Are you...?"
Mila took a nother breather. "I am this book's protector. Step away from the book and exit this place promptly."
"She's kidding, right?" he asked himself. "How did a young and twerpy girl like her become the protector? Ah well, I guess I'd better get rid of her now, even though there's absolutely no way that she could stop me. I guess I'll do it for kicks then." He grabbed the spellbook and warped in front of Mila.
"Hey, what are you...?" Mila was knocked out before she could even finish that sentence.
The Magikoopa was now behind her. He had fired a magic shot at her from his staff.
"My name is Vatos, and I will be promptly exiting this sanctuary, as you requested. Of course, I'll also be taking the book with me." He stepped away from Mila and left through the hole he had made in the wall.
The next morning, Mila woke up in her room. She was covered in sheets, and a hot towel was on her forehead. After Mila had fallen unconscious, Ebyss had rushed to her aid. It took some time, but he had managed to drag her into her room.
"Oh, I just had the most horrible... Wait, it was a dream, right?" she asked Ebyss, who was floating next to her.
Ebyss pointed towards the altar room. Mila took a peek to see the place trashed.
"I guess it wasn't... But, why? Nobody has tried to steal the book in over 900 years. Why does this have to happen when I'm protecting it? And the worst part is, I'm a horrible Magikoopa... and an even worse protector..."
Ebyss started patting her in the back, trying to encourage her to go out and retrieve the book.
"That's really sweet, but also a waste of time. Even if I try, I'll fail. I hardly know any spells..."
Ebyss suddenly thought of something that could help the situation. He opened the top drawer from Mila's night table and brought out a pendant.
"The Shadow Queen's pendant?" she asked as she glanced at it. The pendant showed the image of a black tower somewhere on the horizon.
"Of course! The pendant is connected to the spellbook, and can determine its location. If we can at least let the pendant guide us to where the book is, we can look for some hero, warrior, or whatever to get the spellbook back!"
Ebyss started jumping around in approval. Apparently, not all was lost after all.
"Now, let's see. It looks like some sort of tower... But how will we get there?"
Ebyss flied to the ceiling and pointed upwards.
"You're right. We'll never find a solution if we just sit here. Let's get out of here."
Before Mila left, she put on a bag and started equipping all the stuff she might need for her trip: her own spellbook, some potions, healing items, etc. She was then ready to go.
As Mila and Ebyss left the sanctuary, a malevolent female voice could be heard from inside the sanctuary. Vatos hadn't stormed the sanctuary alone. He had brought backup. One of his most loyal servants had stayed in the sanctuary to make sure that Mila had been knocked out for good. Mila might be a rookie, but she still was the protector, and Vatos wasn't gonna let her pull off any tricks.
"Wow," said the voice. "At first, I thought it was absurd to stay here to watch you... but I guess Vatos was right. Even a rookie Magikoopa like you has persistance... Well, you must know that I simply cannot allow you to leave this sanctuary alive, so..."
"So, what?!" asked Mila, though feeling more than a bit nervous. "... Come... Come... and face me!"
"I'd rather not waste my time..." As the malevolent voice said these words, an enormous shadow engulfed the floor of the sanctuary. Out of it emerged a tremendous, if horrible, creature. It was an enormous shadow with a single eye and two lanky arms.
Mila's jaw fell as she dropped down her wand. She was truly astonished, and immediately headed for the door. Ebyss stood in her way. His gestures were questioning why she was leaving.
"I... I... My only intention was to find where the book was, and then hire some hero in order to get it back. I never expected to have to square off against such a horrendous creature like this..."
Ebyss floated towards Mila's bag. He reached in and brought out her spellbook.
"I... I only brought that in case of emergencies..."
Ebyss glared at her in a non-malevolent way.
"Ok, so this is an emergency. But to be honest, I never expected for an actual emergency to happen. Especially not one as big as this one..."
Ebyss floated towards the magic wand that Mila had dropped. He picked it up and went to give it to her.
"Ok. You aren't gonna leave me alone until I try, are you?"
Ebyss smiled and nodded.
"Thanks, buddy," she said as she rubbed his head. "Now, how do you hit a shadow?"
Ebyss was pretty clueless too, so he turned towards the creature and started to think. He soon got an idea. He frantically started to point at the monster's eye.
"His eye? I guess that is the only material part of his body... so that makes sense! But... I only know one spell. I just hope it works on him..."
Mila closed her eyes and started to concentrate. She waved her magic wand and became surrounded by four light orbs. The orbs then joined to form one huge orb, which Mila then fired at the creature's eye. The attack was very harmful on the monster's end, provoking it to hinge and remain stunned for a moment.
"Why aren't you attacking?!" asked the malevolent voice. "Move already!"
Though it was still blinded from the Light Orb, the monster waved around one of his arms and knocked back Mila and Ebyss. Then, it started shaking out of control. It would require precise aiming to hit the eye now.
"Ugh... It won't stay still. We have to immobilize him!" she said to Ebyss.
Upon hearing this, Ebyss quickly started searching fur such a spell in Mila's spellbook. Once he had managed to find one, he held the book up and pointed at the page to get Mila's attention.
Mila stepped closer as she started reading it. "Well, that doesn't seem so hard. Ok, here goes nothing.
Once again, Mila closed her eyes in order to focus on the creature. She waved her wand, but in a different pattern. As the creature started to reach out for Mila, it was suddenly immobilized.
"What?! No!" yelled the voice.
"I did it? I did it! I learned my second spell!" she exclaimed as she jumped around in excitement. "And now to finish this thing off..."
Mila prepared for another Light Orb attack. She fired it at the monster, who was once again gravely harmed. Without putting up much of a fight, the creature slowly submerged itself back into the shadows.
"Wow. That wasn't very hard at all!" Mila exclaimed.
"Your perfomance was cute, but that was one of my weakest monsters..." said the voice.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what all the bad guys say. It's starting to get cliched, ya know?" said Mila in a cocky attitude she had never shown before. Apparently, defeating that monster had given her quite a boost in confidence.
"We did it! Thanks a lot, Ebyss!" she said as she hugged her Eerie companion. Ebyss smiled and hugged her back. Then, the pendant started flashing. It showed the black tower from before.
"It's that tower... But I still can't see just where it is exactly!" she said in frustration. "We might need some help with this. Let's go!"
Ebyss nodded and followed Mila out of the Shadow Sanctuary.
To Be Continued...
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