Mark of the Ranger

XLVI. Mission Success

"Well, it sure is nice to be back here," Isabel said, looking around the tall chocolate halls of the Wizarding Guild's lobby. I observed the architecture of the curved balconies, the five hallways to my right, and the gilded, curly decor. There were a few fuzzy couches right in front of me, and they looked comfortable enough to sleep in. I noticed Jordan raise his hand. "Uh...yes...What about us?" He asked. "Where do we go?" I hadn't realized that, and apparently neither had Isabel. She snapped her fingers in frustration, but immediately perked up. "It's not like we're on the path to the grand council," she supplied. "Ebony and I can take you there, lickety-split."

Jordan and Josie sighed with relief, and Isabel walked them outside. She lookd a little disappointed to have to leave immediately again, but I was certain the Ebony was a riding dragon. It would be less than a few hours before she was back. Meanwhile, however, we Outland Rangers decided to leave the guild and call for a bus. We stepped outside, and I rang out the bus call--a few notes imitating its infuriating honk. If either the bus or its driver heard it, they would come over.

A bus flew down from the heavens a few minutes later. Honk! The bus honked, and let down its wing for us to climb. The bus driver noticed us immediately. "Hey," he realized, "You're those Rangers that escorted the Grand Wizardess, ain't ya?" The bus lifted off as its driver asked the question I was still thinking of an answer for. "How'd it go?" I went with the best answer, not only for this question, but for any question like it, and maybe any question in the world, if used correctly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

The bus driver laughed, and the bus honked. We flew across the countryside to where I told him to go--the Ranger Headquarters. I could barely wait to see Oculus and tell him that we completed the mission. Of course, I thought to myself, One would hope he knew we completed the mission, for he would have been in the grand council and would have seen Isabel, alive and relatively unscathed. I chuckled to myself, glad that the insanity was over. We had been gone from our home Land for a month! That was certainly worth a round of taverning.

The bus honked and let us down at the Ranger Headquarters. Its crystalline structure--and the pylon at the top--stood out to me most of all. It felt weird to finally return home, as I had been thinking about the whole trip. We walked inside the double doors, the opposite way we had that month ago. All my friends had doubted me at the time, but if it weren't for that, I wouldn't have been able to prove how great we were as a team. Once we were inside the cool, dry building, I looked back at my team.

"Where's Marrow?" I asked curiously. David slapped himself in the face in realization. "GAH! We forgot him at the Guild!" I was a bit disappointed, but at least we weren't being attacked by geovores or being chased by sentient fire. "He knows where we are, I think," I answered. "He'll come in a bit. Let's wait." We waited, leaning against the wall, for our patron pet. Sure enough, I saw a black-and-white dog, nearly to my shoulder, zipping down the hills to the Headquarters. I left the building to meet him halfway and brought him back inside.

"No pets inside the building, don't you know?" I heard a voice tell us. I looked to where it came from and saw Oculus, wearing a hooded cloak, just like the Outland Rangers. He sometimes wore the mask, but he didn't need the armor, as he was made of metal. "Can't you make an exception, sir?" I asked. Oculus laughed, almost sounding like a human. He nodded, and stepped to the side to let us pass. "Come by my office later," he told us. "I'll give you the Marks you earned!" Now that we had heard that, my team and I found our dormitories with more determination.

Later, we walked down to Oculus' office. Marrow was in our dormitories, sleeping with serenity. I opened the door and let my teammates in first, even more confident this time. The crystal stairs weren't so daunting with the escperience we had had. "You're definitely not wondering why I've called you here," Oculus told us, turning from his stained-glass window to us.

"You told us why when you told us to come," Karen answered politely. Oculus was quite a bit laid-back, but there was no reason to not be respectful to the leader of your Corps. Oculus took out is Marking pen, and we automatically rolled up the sleeves of our Ranger Gear. "You've earned the Marks of Agility and Wisdom, though your Wisdom in your latest situation was debatable," he told us. His pen turned yellow, ready to permanently give us the power to call on speed whenever we needed. I snickered at his joke, evaluating David's and my snap decisions that started this adventure in the first place. Oculus Marked David's arm first. I looked at the little yellow dash that wasn't more than two inches long, but held so much power.

Oculus scratched the Marks of Agility across each of our arms. I felt a surge of energy as he drew it across mine, though I hadn't traced the Mark. I noticed that he had left a space for the orange Mark, the Mark of Resourcefulness. I hadn't noticed that before, but the Marks went in order of the rainbow, not in order of Marks earned.

Once Oculus had scratched Ko's arm with the Mark of Agility, he walked back to David. His Marking pen turned blue, and he did the same thing as he did before, this time leaving a space for the Mark of Endurance. "You're welcome," he told us before we could thank him. "You may go now, and enjoy the peace of normal missions and the time between."

We left our leader's office and began walking down the hall.

"You know what would be nice?" Elena asked.

"Going to the tavern," Jeff answered, reading everyone else's minds.