The Stormwind Chronicles: The Phoenix Orb

Ana

The last person I expected to see here was our old history teacher Mrs. Spellman. I mean. Her. Here. In a place that's filled with crazy people who belive in magic and and blow stuff up by just pointing at them. No, no, no. She would have a heart attack just standing here. Her idea of a fun time was a trip to the museum. But then again, there was something wrong about her too.
I mean she wasn't old like she usually was. And trust me, was she old.

She seemed to have gotten younger. Much younger. She was in her twenties I guess and looking rather good. Her long black hair fell down to her waist and seemed to flow smoothly. Her eyes haven't changed atleast. They were sea green and kind of made it hard to look at her straight in the eye. I only recognized her as Mrs Spellman by the way she smiled. She would tilt her head to the side a little and smile gently with just one corner of her lips. And looked kind of bad when she was how she normally looked. Now, it was pretty. That and the fact that she still had her nameplate on. Zander seemed to agree with me on he being pretty cause he was staring intently at her. I wanted to punch him in the face that time. Why? I don't know. Then Mrs Spellman talked to me.

"I'm glad to see you're alright dear."
I didn't know how to respond to that. "Well, about as alright as I can be after everything I have seen." I looked pointedly at her.
She chuckled. "Yes I suppose everything came as a bit of a shock to you. Especially after seeing me like this."
"Shocked is one way of putting it." I told her. "Are you really Mrs. Spellman? I mean. The last time I saw you, and that was quite recently, you were an old hag. Ummm. No offense." My comment about her being an old hag seemed to hurt her. I looked over at Ian who smiled like he was trying not to laugh.
Mrs. Spellman cleared her throat.

"Yes well, I was indeed an old lady when you last saw me." She seemed to emphasize the word lady. "But that was nothing more than a disguse I assure you. This is what I truly look like."
"A disguise?" I asked. "What would you need a disguise for?"
She smiled. "For keeping an eye on the three of you of course."

Ummm ok. Things just went from weird to creepy. Why would she want to keep an eye on us? Suddenly I imanged a bunch of security cameras in our dorm rooms.
"Don't worry dear, I assure you I meant you no harm." She said to me.
"Okay then. So, what exactly are we doing here again?" I asked her.
The old man sitting on the throne spoke. "Allow me to explain dear." And he stood up. Suprisngly despite how he looke he was strong. He could still move around pretty easily. He seemed
about fifty years old but his looks might say otherwise. He was hunched over and he used his staff like a cane. His beard was long but neatly trimmed which reached just above his chest. If he had hair it was hard to tell since he had his hood on. He stepped down from the dias and Mrs. Spellman moved aside and bowed to him. Then he spoke to me again. "My name is Varus Stormwind. Guild Master of the Silver Dragons, a faction in the Grand Mage Army of the Council of Avalon."
Well that was a mouthful. But one thing struck me as odd. Did he just say Stormwind? Is this old geezer related to Chris somehow? I looked over to him and he looked just as confused as I was. I thought it best to save it for later and introduced myself. "Ana. Ana Summers. Ummm, 4th year at Arcaneville University. Dorm rom 1109." Hey sue me. I was nervous at that time.

Varus gave me a smile. Warm and kind like a grandfather would give to his grandchildren. "Hello Ana Summers. It is an honor to finally meet you." And he bowed to me.
"An honor?" I asked.
"Why yes." He replied. "Your parents are well respected in the army." He looked down. His smile turning into a frown. "Or should I say were."

What he said caught me by surprise. He knew my parents? And they were a part of all of this? Honestly, I still hoped that this all a dream. But with my luck it was all probablly real.  Varus continued to talk.

"I suppose you do not know about this since they kept it a secret. A closely guarded secret." He said.
"Why would they keep it a secret from me? They're my parents. How could they?" I asked in reply.
"Believe me child." Varus said. "They did it to protect you. And it wasn't just your parents who were members here. But Chris' and Zander's as well."

I looked over at my friends. This all sounded crazy. Their faces were deadly serious. I suppose Varus had already talked to them about this.
"You mean to say our parents were magicians?" I asked.
"Mages." Ian corrected me.
"Right." I said. "Mages."
"Yes dear." Varus replied. "And just like you three they were close friends."
"They were?" I asked. I was getting a bit hopeful. I didn't want to ask what I had in mind but I decided to anyway. "Are they here right now? Can we see them?"
Ian, Varus, and Mrs. Spellman all seemed to get alot sadder. Like what I said had sprung a sad memory.
"Unfortunately my dear child, no. They are not." Varus answered.
"So they really are dead." I said in despair.
"No. We believe they're still alive." Ian said from behind me.
"What?" I asked.
"I suppose you must know." He said. And looked over at Varus for approval. Varus nodded.
"You see your parents are missing."
"Missing?" I turned over to look at him.
"Yes. It was about 3 months ago. The six of them were sent on a mission." Ian answered.
"What kind of mission?" I asked.
"They were investigating the recent rise in monster population around Arcaneville. As well as attacks on guild temples around the world."
"And?"
Ian looked down and sighed. "We lost contact with them three weeks after they left. The last location they reported from was Rome. Then after a few hours. Nothing. We couldn't reach them. We tried sending out search parties but they had no luck."

I couldn't believe it. How was I suppose to react to all of this? But one thing was clear to me. They were alive. I always thought they were already dead. But if all this was true. Then they're still out there.

"They're still alive." Mrs. Spellman chimed in. "The three of you are proof of that."
"Us?" I asked. "How?"
"You see the three of you are born from people with magic power." She started to explain. "We know they're alive because of the necklaces that you wear."
I suddenly remembered the necklace I was wearing. It was a gift from my mother. It was a small pendant with a red gem in the center nothing too fancy but I wore it all the time since it was my only keepsake from her. Chris and Zander both have the same kind of pendants but in different colors.
"This proves they're alive how?" I asked her.
"Those are link crystals." She replied. "They are linked to both you and your parents. They're used to know the conditions of one another. We normally use them on missions. But in your cases, they were altered so that only your parents can sense their magic."
"Okay. And?" I asked. Her explanation doesn't exactly cover how the necklaces prove they were alive.
"But one function still remains despite the alteration." She added. "If one of you dies, so will the other."
"So you mean our parents are still out there?" I asked.
"Theoretically. Yes."
"Then we have to go find them!"  I shouted. I wanted so desperately to see my parents again. Now that I know they're still alive, I was willing to do anything.

"Unfortunately child." Varus said. "That will be difficult. We tried. We just couldn't reach them."
"There's gotta be something we can do!"
"Believe me child we will do everything we can to find them." Varus asurred me. "But first, we must discuss your stay here."
"Our stay?"
"Yes." He replied. "Now that you havr begun to tap into your magic power life outside will be dangerous for you. Without training atleast."
"Doesn't sound like we have a choice." I said.
"Actually you do." Varus answered back. "It's up to you if you stay or not."
"What do you guys think?" I asked my friends. They didn't answer. Their mouths moved but I didn't hear a thing. "What's wrong with them?"
"Nothing. We just did not want them to influence your choice." Ian answered. "They are watching us from their room via a portal. They can hear and see us. But we can't hear them."
"What did they decide?" I asked.
"We cannot say." Ian said. "Like Master Varus has said, you must decide on your own."

Knowing my friends they probally decided to stay. If it ment finding their parents. What about me? Do I want this? I mean I want to find my parents too. But all this talk about monsters and magic is just too much.
"Well dear?" Varus asked.

I thought hard. Do I really want to stay? Then again I didn't have much of a life to go back too. Like it or not this magical world is my life now.
"Yes." I said. "Yes. I'll stay."
"Excellent." Varus answered. And the image of my friends vanished. "Please take her back to her room to rest Ian. She has had enough for the day. Tomorrow they shall begin training."
"Yes Master." Ian bowed to Varus and turned to me. "Come along dear."

Well. I just gave them my answer. I'll be staying here. I hope my friends decided to stay too.