Cole's Story; The TWILIGHT PIERCER

Chapter 4; Meet the Mage, Save the Mage

Lush fields, going as far as the eye could see, snow-capped mountains with a gorgeous waterfall running down in the far-off distance, a gorge lined with trees not too far, several forests and what looked like towns surrounding what seemed to be a mix of every theme of Cole's world smashed into one gigantic castle.

"It's gorgeous..." The sun of the voice's world shone brightly over-head as Cole took a few steps. He spun back and was met with the sight of a Tall mountain – the one he just came out of.

"Alright, Sariel... sounds a little weird, but who am I to judge?" Cole chuckled to himself as he checked the Hourglass. About a seventh of it was sitting in the bottom, and he got an idea. "What the...?" When Cole had tried to flip the hourglass, the sand didn't fall back down – rather, it kept falling, but upwards.

"Laws of physics are different." The Voice's words rang in Cole's mind as he sat off, not quite sure where to start looking for Sariel...

Until he heard a loud shout behind him.

"I MESSED UP!" It was a medium-high pitch male voice, and it seemed to be coming from near the mountain. Cole ran towards the sound of the voice, unsure of what to expect. He nearly smacked into a few trees, but as he rounded the last tree, he found the source of the voice.

Nestled into a small crook at the base of the mountain was an oddly shaped cottage, and light was flashing repeatedly from inside. "HELP!" With a shout and a crash, someone came crashing out of the front door, flying several feet before tumbling to the ground.

"Really, couldn't even manage the most BASIC of spells!" Slithering out of the door was something Cole could only describe as gross. A billowing cloud of black smoke stood in the broken doorway, semi-solid, glistening scales covering its' body, almost like a ghostly Lizardman. "Talk about failing a blood line."

"Hey! Leave them alone!" Cole jumped into action, making himself known with a shout. He quickly clipped the Ancient Hourglass to a belt he didn't even know he had.

"And who are you supposed to be?" The creature sounded bored and impatient.

Cole thought for a moment. A groan sounded from his left and he turned to see the person who had shouted for help.

"He... might be... indestructible..." The person had tried to rise as they said this, only to fall again.

"Well... that's not good."

"For you, it's terrible. But for me, it's EXCELLENT!" Cole shouted as the creature lunged at him, brandishing an Axe that seemingly formed from shadows.

"Crap...!" Cole rolled out of the way just in time, but the creature was still right on top of him, slashing away and trying to hit him, Cole rolling left and right in time with the slashes before finally hopping up, feeling dazed.

"Will you just DIE!?" Cole ducked as the creature violently swung its' Axe again, but it swung back around and Cole was sent tumbling to the ground with a pained groan as the flat-side of the Axe had smacked him violently.

"God; I hope this works...!" Cole let out a shout as the creature made to do a jump-lunge at him...

"W... what...?" In a sickening stabbing sound, the creature had jumped right into the quickly drawn Darkness Diminisher, the Blade protruding out the back of its' 'indestructible scales'.

"Unbelievable..." The person Cole had fought to protect had gotten up in time to see Cole save himself.

"...!" Cole could only gape, the creature's form beginning to break into shadows and a bit of golden dust.

"Lucky shot..." With a pained groan, the lizard-like creature was no more, its' shadows hitting the ground and fading, leaving a bit of golden dust suspended in the air where it had once been.

"Not so indestructible after all..." Cole chuckled dryly at his bad joke as he stood up. There was no blood on his blade – it had magically faded, but the golden dust remained suspended in the air in front of him. Quickly remembering why he'd ran over here, he turned, "You okay?"

"Let's see... no broken ribs, I think." The 'person' stepped over to Cole. They were seemingly normal – they wore a sort of cloak, similar to a wizard robe, and it was a deep shade of purple with an Hourglass in the center. When you got to their face, though – two elven-like ears poked up from the person's head, and they had one blue eye and one red eye, and their hair almost seemed... furry.

"Who... are you?" Cole was slowly starting to get used to how weird things were.

"I... I don't know why you'd wanna know the name of a failure like me – I almost got myself and you killed." The person sighed. "I don't even know how you-..." Their words died in their throat as they eyed up Cole, seeing the Ancient Hourglass strapped to his belt and the Darkness Diminisher in his hands. "How did you get those!?"

"These?" Cole suddenly looked. "Oh, that's... a long story. I'll tell you the story, though, if you tell me who you are."

"I guess if you wanna know THAT badly..." The person sighed as they sheepishly held their hand out. "My name is Sariel, and I'm the descendant of a long line of Magic Elves."

"Nice to meet ya Sariel." Cole shook Sariel's hand and cast a glance at the Hour Glass. About a third of the sane was resting in the bottom. "Now, about why I'm here- "

"H – hold on!" Sariel spun Cole to see the golden dust cloud. "You have the Hourglass – hold it out to that sand!"

"Why?" Cole asked the Elf this as he began to unclip the Ancient Hourglass.

"Because if I'm right, that's no dust – that's Ancient Sand! Across the Universe, a small handful of creatures or people carry it within them!" Sariel said this with gusto, before scratching his head and reeling back a bit. "That's... if I'm right and I researched the correct things, that is."

Cole nodded, and held the Ancient Hourglass up in his hands. With a flash, the golden dust zoomed into it, and he smiled as the top of the Hourglass filled with a small bit more sand.

"Hey, Sariel you were right!" Cole turned to him and smiled. "That ought to give me enough time to chat with you for a while."

"I was... right?" Cole nodded and clapped Sariel on the back.

"Listen, I'm just as freaked out as you are right now, but one thing at a time – it's better that way." On the inside, Cole's mind was freaking out, but he contained that within himself.

"If you say so."