Lord Raidon
“Where are they!?” Angel growled. Sophia and Angel took a while in getting there because they had to stop by RettSej’s office and Aivil insisted on them staying the night just to be safe. He left Sophia with RettSej and took off to the Twi-star observatory early in the morning to catch up with Matt and Jeremy. He knew that Matt and Jeremy were going to Zafaria today since he was the one who set up the mission, but he didn’t know Alric would leave this early. Today was Matt’s and Jeremy’s 16th birthday which means that they will be granted full Hatake powers at noon.
“Angel calm down. They’ll be alright,” Autumn reassured, while Angel started pacing around the room.
“How do you know?” He asked.
“They have Alric there. Plus, they’ll be Hatakes. I don’t think someone would be stupid enough to attack the two of them,” she explained.
“Still doesn’t calm my nerves now that I know someone or something is after the Hatakes. Maybe I should just pop in during their mission to see if they’re alright,” Angel said as he grabbed his packpack and a wand.
“Angel, you’ve got to learn to let them handle things. How are they going to learn about what it takes to be a Hatake if you keep babying them and holding their hand through everything?” Cassandra Dragonheart chimed in. Angel slowly put down and his bag and stared at the ground thinking how he has treated them about the whole thing. Heck, even Jeremy doesn’t know that he is the Life Hatake. How will he explain that to him?
“I guess you’re right…” Angel sighed.
“Good. Now let’s get you some popcorn and maybe some ugly muffins?” Hexythorn suggested.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” Angel nodded and grinned.
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The trio stepped into the Spiral door and into Baobab Crossroads when they were greeted by an old zebra that had blue and red feathers sticking out of his hair and his staff.
“Jambo, wizards. Welcome to Zafaria!” The zebra guy signaled them to follow him down the ramp and to the front of his hut.
“Well, I see that things haven’t changed here since the attacks,” Alric noticed.
“Yes, we pushed back the shadow creatures to another part of Zafaria. My name is Kweku Morningshine, and I shall be your guide,” Kweku greeted.
“Shadow creatures?” Jeremy questioned.
“Yes, evil creatures with glowing red eyes. They bring fear even to the strongest of lions,” Kweku shuddered.
“I don’t think it’s good to listen to any more of this. We’d like to speak with The Council of Zafaria about our boat ride to the Drum Jungle,” Alric stated to Kweku.
“Oh… I don’t know about going to the Drum Jungle now. It’s infested with the shadow creatures,” Kweku informed.
“I’d like to speak with them anyway.”
“Very well then, follow me,” Kweku told the group and they headed up the Baobab tree to Baobab Crown. It was packed filled with all the different types of the inhabitants of Zafaria.
Jeremy was looking at each of the species he hasn’t seen before, “Lions, gorillas, zebras..”
“Oh my,” Matt joked. The group walked into the mess of civilians which were arguing with each other about the current state of their home world. They reached four thrones surrounded by a giant bon fire.
“What do we have here? Wizards?” said a lion that was sitting on of the thrones. The crowd went silent while they looked towards the trio. Alric cleared his throat and spoke.
“We’ve been sent on a mission to retrieve a rare herb from the Drum Jungle and would like a boat ride as soon as possible.” The Olyphant that was sitting on the throne started laughing and sat up straight.
“You must be insane if you think you can go to the Drum Jungle. Right now that’s where we are keeping the shadow creatures at bay. No one in the right mind would want to take you there,” the olyphant narrowed his eyes towards Matt and Jeremy who were looking around at all the animals watching them. Alric direct the Olyphant’s attention back to him by throwing a note Angel gave him just in case.
“Look, just give me a boat and I’ll drive it myself,” Alric asserted. He saw how the olyphant’s eyes went wide as he read the note and he closed it in his lap and thought the request over.
“Very well, give these wizards a boat immediately!” They heard whispers in the background and then they subsided.
“Thank you,” Alric turned around and instructed Matt and Jeremy to follow him out of Baobab Crown. They traveled to Baobab market and stood where the docks and several boats were stationed.
“Which one is ours?” Jeremy asked.
“We’ll find out soon,” Alric answered just when a lion not much older than Jeremy ran towards them. He had white face paint and his tail was covered in a blue ribbon.
“Wizards, I shall be your river guide. My name is Hafsa,” Hasfa greeted the trio.
“They sent a young cub?” Alric questioned.
“No, I am full lion now. My father is on the council of Zafaria and he trusts me to take you to Drum Jungle,” Hafsa told Alric. Alric nodded and they boarded a small boat and started heading on their way to the Drum Jungle which they knew would take a few hours. By the middle of their trip both Jeremy and Matt were getting restless and tired. Matt was hanging his head on the side of the boat looking at the water and the scenery of Zafaria when something caught his eye. In the distance next a couple of trees grew a shadowy figure and the energy dissipated to reveal person wearing black robes and a glowing hand in the shape of a sword.
“No, not yet,” Matt whispered as if the person wearing the black robes could hear him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and quickly whipped his head around.
“Hey Matt, are you ok? Who are you talking to?” Jeremy asked. Matt looked back at the trees to find nothing there. Jeremy looked where Matt was, but he couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary either.
“Yeah… I’m fine. I’m just bored,” Matt stood up and walked to the inside cabin of the boat while Hafsa was eyeing him while he was steering. Inside the cabin Alric was inspecting a map and the box that Dr. Austin Kingsisle gave him.
“What’s that?” Matt asked. Alric quickly closed the box and placed it next to him.
“Top secret,” Alric answered. “Hey, are you hungry? It’s going to take another hour to get there.”
“Sure! I’d love something to eat!” Jeremy chimed in while coming in and sitting down across from Alric.
“Um, ok..” Mat sat down next to Jeremy as Alric took out his wand and waved it over the table and there appeared a whole feast. Alric invited Hafsa in and the group at their breakfast and now they were nearing the end of their boat ride. They landed near some huts and Matt and Jeremy went outside the cabin and were waiting for Alric. Hafsa stood and had a few questions to ask Alric.
“Wizard, about the boys,” He began.
“Yes, they are what you think they are,” Alric answered.
“I’m wondering about the one called Matt, he is..”
“Yes, I know. Your judgment isn’t far off from the truth,” with that Alric stepped out of the cabin and jumped off the boat along with Matt and Jeremy. “Thank you Hafsa. I hope you have a safe journey back.” Hafsa waved goodbye as his boat left the dock. The trio continued into the now ruined, abandoned village.
“Well this isn’t creepy at all,” Jeremy commented. Matt and Alric looked at him and chuckled. Alric came by next to Jeremy and patted him on the back.
“Right. Well, I guess we should split up to look for this flower,” Alric told the two boys. “Matt and Jeremy I want you to look to the right of here while I look to the left and I want us to regroup here in about an hour from now, got it?” The two boys nodded and headed in the direction they were told to go. They were walking for what seemed like forever.
“Do you even know what this flower looks like?” Matt asked aggravated.
“Sort of, it’s like white kind of and it’s really pretty, and stuff,” Jeremy tried to answer. “Shouldn’t we be heading back?”
“Nah we still got time. Plus I heard there was an ancient tomb around here.”
“Tomb? Whose tomb?” Jeremy asked.
“The Tomb of Lord Raidon. You know, the first creature created by Mother Rutena. Come on Jeremy you’re life you should know these things!”
“Uh, no thanks I think if we don’t get back soon Alric will be mad.”
“Come on, don’t be such a mander. You aren’t scared, are ya?”
“N-no, I just think we shouldn’t enter someone else’s tomb.”
“It’ll be cool though! Come on!” Jeremy followed otherwise and they walked until there was an opening next to a wall with a cave in it. “I think this is it,” Matt said. Jeremy looked at the giant hole in the rock wall. They stepped in and heard something from behind them. They turned around and saw shadow creatures coming from the bushes and trees. Matt acted quickly and knelt on one knee and placed his hand on the ground creating an ice wall protecting them from the creatures. The shadows started blasting away at the ice wall and hitting the stone wall surrounding the cave which caused it to rumble.
“Uh, M-Matt,” Jeremy said as the rumble grew louder and rocks then boulders started to fall. Soon enough they didn’t need the ice wall to protect them anymore as there were boulders blocking the exit and very dusty wizards sitting on the floor. Suddenly torches started getting lit with a green flame that extended a few yards back. “What the heck.” Jeremy dusted himself off and looked back to Matt to check if he was ok, but instead of finding Matt he found another figure standing next to Matt. The figure looked like a person wearing a black robe and hood that covered his face and he had dark energy surrounding him. Matt got up, dusted himself off, and smirked at Jeremy.
“W-who are you?” Jeremy asked the scary looking person. In response the figure chuckled and reached for his hood.
“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet, Jeremy. Well, not really you were always such a weakling,” The figure took off his hood to reveal black messy hair and piercing grey eyes and the familiar smug look that Jeremy hated.
“B-Blaze? Blaze Titanthorn? What are you doing here?” Jeremy asked now suddenly filled with anger.
“Well, you know enjoying the scenerym and watching my minions wreak havoc around the Spiral,” Blaze let out another chuckle at this.
“You!? You’re the one who’s been causing this whole mess?” Jeremy questioned.
“I didn’t do it alone, of course. I had dear old Matt here to help me get info on all of the Knights and Central city,” Blaze smirked.
“Matt? How could you?” Matt stayed silent as Jeremy was searching for any sign of an answer. When he was about to get an answer Matt was interrupted.
“Shut up,” Matt put his head down finding the floor more interesting. “Capture him so we can bring him with us,” Blaze ordered. Matt nodded and summoned ice cold energy around his hand and shot it at Jeremy. Jeremy winced, waiting for the ice energy to reach him but just as it was nearing him someone flashed in front of him and dissipated the energy.
“Professor?” Jeremy asked as Alric was surrounded in powerful energy with a glare directed towards Blaze and Matt.
“Ravensinger,” Blaze hissed and surrounded himself in Death energy which made him glow.
“Nice to meet you too,” Alric greeted.
“How did you get in here?” Matt questioned him.
“I placed one of Dr. Austin’s new inventions on Jeremy’s robe when we were at the village. It’s a mini teleporter and allows me to teleport to whoever has the mini portal on them. However, you can only teleport to them once every hour. I knew you were up to something Matt,” Alric answered. “Jeremy get out of here and let me handle this,” Alric didn’t leave room for protest as he threw Jeremy down the cave further and instructed him to run. Jeremy nodded and started running deeper into the tomb when he entered the main room. It would be an understatement to say that it was HUGE. The green flames were all around and vines were growing out of the walls and around the statues that were lined against the wall. At the center of the back wall was a huge bust of what looked like to be a giant Forest Lord. The horns were made of gold and the bust was made of a white stone. He neared the bust and rubbed off the dust of plate at the bottom of the bust “His greatest majesty and ruler of all forests, Lord Raidon. Son of her highness, Mother Rutena.”
Then more rumbling occurred and a bell could be heard throughout the entire tomb. The bell was ear splitting but the only ones who heard the bell was Matt and Jeremy who were both now on the floor covering their ears and rolling around trying to stop the loud noise.
“It looks like the transfer of power has begun,” Blaze let out an evil laugh and watched as Matt was suffering from the noise. You could the temperature in the room drop drastically and you could see your breath in the air as the bell noise stopped. Matt, who was breathing hard, trembling, and was attempting to get up. Then, he stood up straight and opened his eyes to reveal piercing light blue eyes that could chill you to the bone. They heard an animalistic growl coming from inside the tomb where Jeremy went and Alric tried to check on him but was stopped when an Ice wall went up blocking him.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Matt growled.
“It seems you are in a pickle, Mr. Ravensinger,” Blaze said with a smug look. “Did you really think you can beat a Hatake, let alone two?” Blaze and Matt stepped closer to the cornered balance wizard. “It’s the end for you.”
“I don’t think so,” Matt and Blaze turned around to find Angel Winterbreeze, Katherine Light, and Alura Hexcaster standing behind them.
“Grandpa…” Matt gasped. Angel didn’t react but continued to glare at both of them.
“Let’s go Matt,” Blaze ordered him.
“But-” Matt tried to protest but was grabbed and pulled into a vortex.
“We’ll meet again.” Blaze warned the group and the disappeared. While Katherine and Alura went to Alric, Angel went straight to the Ice wall and punched right through it and the ice shattered into hundreds of pieces.
“Guess you were right, Alric,” Angel said sadly. He continued to walk down into the tomb following the green glowing light and the animal growls deep into the tomb.