The Stormwind Chronicles: The Phoenix Orb

Chris

Ever wonder what it would be like to be able to use magic? Now, I'm not talking about those cheap tricks like pulling a rabbit out of a hat or escaping from burning boxes and all that. No. I'm talking about the kind of magic that you see in video games. Shooting fireballs from your hands, raining down lightning from the sky, and generally blowing up a whole  lot of stuff . Sounds fun right? Wrong. It's not fun. Not in the slightest. Well, okay it's fun if you use it to troll your sister (or turn her into an actual troll) but usually it's dangerous and gets you into a whole lot of trouble that could possibly get you killed. Trust me. I know what it feels like. My name is Chris Stormwind, and what I'm about to tell you may sound crazy but believe me it's all real.

One thing I hate about sleeping is I always have dreams, and they're usually downright weird. This time though, my dream went from weird to scary. I was in the courtyard of a palace. Judging from the view I'm guessing the palace was built on a mountain. The gardens were filled with flowers that glowed in the moonlight. At the center of the courtyard was a big stone fountain surrounded by marble columns. The atmosphere was calm and it would have been nice to just sit back and relax. The only problem was the man who was with me.

He was standing at the other end of the courtyard wearing a hooded robe and an iron mask to cover his face. The mask was designed to look like a skull so looked like the grim reaper. He aced the look by carrying a seven foot long sycthe. The blade was glowing with a strange black aura that radiated pure fear.
"So, you have finally come." I said to the man, except I did not sound like myself. My voice was deeper and older somehow.
"Sorry, I'm late." the man replied. The mask made his voice sound hollow. "I took a short- detour."
"Detour?" I asked in reply.
He laughed which sounded creepy thanks to his mask. "Oh nevermind that. Why don't we discuss that little offer I gave you? I trust you still remember what it was."
For some reason my fear turned into irritation. I felt like I wanted to cut this guy up with a sword. Which I did have but I didn't see how that would do much considering the sycthe he was carrying.
"Yes of course. And I have an answer to your offer."
"And that is?" The man sounded a little hopeful.
"The answer is no. I will not support you with your crazy scheme. Neither will anyone else on the council." I said sternly.
"My my, I gave you fools days to come up with an answer and this is what I get?"

He started walking closer to me but I drew my sword and pointed it at him. He paused atleast a few feet from he. I could tell he was getting mad as well. He tightened his grip on the sycthe. It's blade glowed a little more but I held my ground.
He saw that I had no intention of lowering the sword and he laughed.
"So I suppose that you will try to kill me now?" He said mockingly.
"If that is what must be done." I changed my stance and held the sword with two hands.
"Fool." And he charged.

I woke up to the sound of our school's wake up call, which just the school's hymmn being played on really cheap speakers. The sound was so horrible it would really get the job done of waking people.
"Man." I really wish they would stop doing that." My roomate grumbled still half asleep.
"Yeah. It sounds like a dozen cats stuffed in a sack and got beat up." I said in reply as I got up. Our room wasn't much. Just two beds on each side of the room with a closet for each of us.  We had no television of course but we did have computer in the room. Too bad most websites like Youtube are blocked on the stupid thing. It was mean mostly for reasearching school work. Then there's my roomate, Zander. He was lying in bed covering his ear with his pillow. He was two years younger than me but we were in the same year level. I walked over and started kicking his bed.
"Come on man get. We'd better get ready for breakfast or Mrs. Spellman will make us clean the whole kitchen after dinner." I kicked his bed a little harder to wak him up.
He groaned and put his blanket over himself.
"Okay then, how bout this?" I walked over to the door and opened it. "Hey Ana. Good morning!" Though no one was there but I made sure Zander would hear me. Which of course he did and he fell right of the bed because of his panic.
"Oh hi Ana! What's up? Um I uh-" His last words were cut short when he took his blanket off and realized that Ana wasn't there. He looked at me with an annoyed expression. "Really? You just had to do that huh?"
I was trying not to laugh. "It was the only way to get you out of bed." And I helped him get to his feet. "Don't worry I won't be doing it agian. As long as you get up when you're supposed to."
"You better NOT do it again. You'regonna give me a heart attack!"
This time I couldn't help but laugh. "Come on man. It's just Ana. Why are you so nervous?"
"Why?" He turned a little red. "You know how much I like your sister!"
I laughed a little more. "Yeah and I feel like she likes you too. Which is why I think you should tell her."
Zander's face turned a lot more bright red. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't know what to do if Ana found out."

"If I found out what?" Called a voice from behind me. I realized I left the door open and my sister was standing at the doorway. Well, she wasn't my real sister. She was my bestfriend but I regarded her as such. I felt like I could trust her with anything. "What are you guys talking about?" Ana asked.
"Oh nothing." And I glanced over at Zander. "We were just uh, talking about how much Zander snores in his sleep." Hey, it was the best excuse I could think and I wasn't the best liar. Good thing Zander pitched in to make it a little more convincing.
"Yeah. And I do not snore as loudly as you say Chris."
Ana seemed to buy it and she just rolled her eyes. "Well if you two are done hurry up and get dressed. Mrs Spellman said we're going on a little trip."
I cringed. Mrs. Spellman doesn't usally do this and when she actually does it's usually boring.
"Where exactly are we going?" I asked
She sighed, I could tell she hated the idea as well. "The museum."
"Great. Seems like alot of fun." I replied sarcastically. "All right, we'll just get oursleves ready. See you at breakfast sis."
"Just hurry up. You know how much Mrs. Spellman hates it when we're late." And she closed the door and left.
I turned and looked at Zander. His face was back to normal but he still seemed nervous. "Dude." He told me. "That was close."
I smiled. "Yeah. But I have this feeling she knows what's up."
Zander looked like he was about to turn red again.  "What do you mean?"
"Nevermind. Let's just get to the mess hall as soon as we can. I'm starving."
"Fine. But I'm taking a shower first. You owe me."

I didn't have any problem with that. Besides I still needed to fix my bed. I told him to go ahead and he grabbed his towel and headed for the bathroom. I glanced over at the window and my knees felt shaky. I saw a familiar iron mask staring at me from the outside. It was the man with the sycthe. I shook my head, there's know way he was here. He was just some character from my dream. I shook my head and when I looked at the window again he was gone. I tried to forget about but I still felt wierd. Like I was still being watched.