The Worlds Beyond (don't actually have a title for this)

Part 4

Brine and his friends had finally passed the valley of flowers. All of the boys were hungry so Brine's friend Robert took out the picnic basket for dinner. Robert was the one with a blue shirt and ripped gray sweatpants. There were lots of sandwiches, some barriers, and vegetables. Samuel, Brine's other friend, got a pork sandwich and some carrots. Samuel was the smallest of the boys at 4'6 ft tall, and he loved wearing cloaks. He thought the cloak made him look like a mage, or magic-user since it was a dark purple color. Brine and Robert just laughed when he said it out loud a week ago. Samuel's only reaction to them laughing was a smirk on his face and a quote from his favorite wizard book, "Ever tried, ever failed? No matter if you try again, fail again. Fail better." No one ever truly knew what that quote meant, but it was always the first thing that popped into their heads when something went wrong.

Sarah, who was crying in her room, while Leo walked into the room interrupting Sarah's crying and fear. Leo handed Sarah a plate with food on it: chicken, potatoes, beans, and some water. He sat down on the bed Sarah was on, looking at her like she just saved a puppy from drowning. Sarah knew what she had done, or she thought she knew. She buried her face into the pillow and cried out so Leo could hear.

"I killed someone, Leo. I should be locked into a closet".

"Sarah, you are eight. How could you murder someone.....besides self-defense. You didn't mean it either." Leo said with a sarcastic, but comforting voice.

Sarah was happy and thankful for the attempt at comforting her, but she was still weeping a little. She looked Leo in the eyes and finally took in her defeat. "Ya, you're probably right. I don't remember what even happened. One minute they're being mean, and the next they're dead". Leo shook his head and sighed. "At least you're not blaming yourself". he ruffled her hair and said, "now get some sleep".

After lunch and several hours of walking, instead of coming to a village Brine came to a town of ruins. All the buildings looked like they were destroyed by weather or destruction magic. This would have been a common thing if it wasn't for the fact that it was recently destroyed. Most of the older villages were affected by this type of magic, even some buildings from millions of years ago. The buildings from older times were always used for practicing after everything was cataloged, however, newer buildings were never used for practicing. The buildings were even still smoking. All of the boys felt uneasy and constantly looked behind them. It was getting dark, the sky always looked beautiful as dusk approached. Out of the blue, Robert sighed loudly and complained "It's almost dark and we haven't had supper yet!" everyone else rolled their eyes. Robert tried to beg, but it didn't work on Brine, nor did it work on Samuel.

The next morning Sarah woke up to loud arguing downstairs. She could not tell who was participating in this argument. She got out of bed and went to the door, on the opposite side of the room from her bed, to investigate. When Sarah opened the door she realized that it was Fall and Jake who were arguing downstairs. They were arguing about something important but she could not understand much of the argument. She did understand one sentence that Jake said. "How am I supposed to know where the portal is! All I can do is protect the village at this point!" Sarah popped her head out of the doorway announcing proudly "I know where a glow thing is. Maybe that's what you're looking for." The two looked at each other in surprise. "Lead the way." they both said in unison.

Brine was woken up by Samuel. "Dude wake up, I heard something in the woods." Brine didn't not like to be woken up for no reason, so this better had been a good one. "What do you want now...it's not even Morning yet." Everything seemed to be going downhill. He couldn't stop thinking about one thing though. "What the hell is that smell! Is that sulfur I smell or is my nose messing with me?" He rushed to his feet in the realization that he was getting a whiff of destruction magic. They both rushed over to Robert and shook the sleeping bear. "Robert, get your overly dramatic butt up or I will kick you too next week!" Brine had never been more grateful for a book in his life. A book of Magicology 101 in his friend's bag was the only thing keeping him sane on the boat. Page 182, Dark Magic has a rotten, sucker-like, or pumpkin smell to it depending on the caster, or magic level of a caster). Robert, Brine, and Samual booked it to the closest hiding spot.