Chapter Text
Zoey had never quite gotten used to the sensation of flying. Rythian had explained to her many times the magical reasoning of the ring, but she hadn’t really understood. She wasn’t a mage, anyways, she was just a girl. A girl who could talk to mushrooms, a girl who loved science, a girl who occasionally messed with basic magic or had Rythian do it for her if it was too advanced… She was just Rythian’s apprentice. She was just Zoey. She didn’t even think she should be Rythian’s apprentice; she honestly wasn’t a mage, or even a mage in training. But… She loved Rythian, and she loved Tee, and she loved Nilesy, Baby Jim, Ghost, Ghost Junior, and Willow, all the golems, the band, she loved them all… She even loved Ravs and those two bickering idiots from the town of NewPool. Frankly, Zoey was the kind of girl who loved everyone. She even loved Lalna.
She coasted back towards the camp, landing softly in front of the magic tent. Rythian was waiting, smiling. He had been bent over a desk that he had moved outside the tent.
“Did you get the sugar cane?” He asked.
“Yes! I saw beautiful landscapes on the way there! I love exploring,” she replied.
“I know, Zoey… I know,” he said, a far-off look in his eyes.
“Umm, so, anyways… Ohmigosh, Rythian! I found a whole six sugar cane! We can start a farm!”
“Well… We could, if there was any damn water in this damn desert,” he said. “But… It’s home,” he added, smiling a little.
“Yes, it is. Here’s the sugar cane,” she said, tossing the stack to him. “By the way, have you seen Tee today? I was out early, but I never saw him. Wasn’t in his bed, either.”
“Oh, he’s… He’s in the newly constructed “Tee Tent.” Giving it a test run, sort of. Actually, he had to leave very early in the morning. It was dark out, in fact. Went to the village early to get the best deals. The black-market prices seem to be lower at times with low traffic, like early morning and late night. He got back while you were gone, and the first thing he did was go to bed. I can’t blame ‘im.”
“Okay, I was just wondering. Making sure nothing had gone wrong.”
Zoey moved to the also newly constructed Science Tent. She went to a table and made some hot chocolate. She very carefully opened the power tap on her mechanical arm and poured the hot liquid in, careful not to spill it on to anything else. It really did run on hot chocolate, although that was just an extra function she’d added. It could run on lots of other power sources, but she preferred the one that sent a brainwave of hot chocolate taste to her every time she used it. Frankly, she knew that Rythian knew it could be powered by other things, but he always got part of the cocoa beans they collected for his own hot chocolate, so he went along with it anyways.
She was a little tired, so she moved to the tent she shared with Rythian, shouting, “I’m going to take a small nap!” On her way into the tent. She settled into the covers of the bed and exhaled. Sure, the camp was shabby... But it was home.
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Zoey awoke with a start. It was nearly pitch-black inside the tent, how had she slept so long? She had been woken by a noise outside her tent. As she made her way outside, carefully, she saw that the sky was also completely black. There were no stars. There was no moon. Tee was running around frantically, shooting the hundreds of moving black clouds. Rythian darted out of his magic tent with a blade in his hand. It looked like the mage’s EnderBane, but it was… Different somehow.
“Bloody Phantoms,” he growled. “What even brought the damn bastards here? Zoey!” He shouted, spotting the confused redhead. “You’re awake! Something happened. Your forehead was glowing red as blood and you wouldn’t wake up… I was… I was so worried. And then, before I could really figure it out, this happened, The sky just went black, and Phantoms started showing up. I don’t know where they’ve come from, or who’s controlling them. Hopefully my SoulScribe can kill them more efficiently. You stay safe. I’m going to go try. Get the Ring of Arcana, and we can use it if necessary.
“SoulScribe? What-Wait a minute… Th-That ring?” Zoey stuttered.
“Yes, Zoey, if it comes to that. Listen, no matter what, only use it if we absolutely must.”
“OK. Good luck, Rythian.”
He nodded a little and ran off to join Tee. She ran to the magic tent and unlocked the noisy chest which contained dangerous magical artifacts. She found the ring and slipped it into her pocket. She ran outside the tent to examine the so-called “Phantoms” a little.
There were so many. They were like black, wispy clouds, but as tall and as big as a person and no more. They seemed to give off black bubbles of sorts. They were moving around swiftly, levitating a few inches up from the ground. Zoey had no idea how they attacked, but she soon found out. As Rythian edged closer to one, an expression of deep pain filled his face. Proximity to them must suck away your very life, thought Zoey. It was very eerie, as the Phantoms made no noise, except for a little whispering sound. The rest of the world around them was completely silent. Then, she saw something truly horrifying: One of the Phantoms moved towards Tee, and the dinosaur did not notice it in time. It wrapped itself around him and squeezed, physically and mentally, crushing Tee’s body, mind, and soul at the same time.
Tee did not talk, but he could scream. A loud roar of enormous pain, inside and out, punctured the silence for a few seconds. Zoey screamed in horror, but Rythian soon took care of the Phantom that had strangled Tee. Tee fell to the ground, breathing hard. Zoey knew he’d be fine, but he’s been hurt.
The most astonishing thing was that there were more. Every second, more seemed to pop up from the ground. They started out as a single black dot, which became a few black wisps of smoke, which moved like a tornado as they got bigger and moved completely out of the ground. If that’s even where they really come from, thought Zoey.
Zoey noticed that torches gave off no light in this time, and that the only light that existed was the slight black glow of the Phantoms. She ran to Rythian and Tee, pulling out her sword as she went.
“Glad you’re here, Zoey. There’s no reason to use the ring yet, we’re fine. With the two of you and this sword which can kill them easily, we’ll be fine.”
After about 20 seconds of Zoey flailing her sword around, unsure of what to do, all of the Phantoms backed away suddenly, and all noise and movement stopped. All of the Phantoms whispered together, and it was so quiet, but it was so loud, and Zoey shivered.
“Whee… Hhaahhvve…. Chhhomme.” They said, their voices ringing in unison. When they spoke, they added h’s at every possible point, and elongated consonants. They were not really h’s, but rather odd h-sounding hisses. They paused between every word.
“Who?” Demanded Rythian. “Who raised you?”
“Hhourrr… Mhhasstterr… Dhhhidd.... Nhhhott… Rhhaissse…. Uhhhssss. Hhhhee… Dhhoess... Nhhott... Yhhett... Knhhoww... Ohhf... Hhhhisss... Phhhhhowwhherrrr. Whee... Hhave... Chhome... Thoo… Bhheghhinn…. Hhhiss… Fhhuhthurrre… Chonqheussst.”
“Then who is your inadvertent master?” Rythian demanded again.
“Hthheeee… Hhhoonnlyyy…. Hhhoonne… Whhhooo… Chhhhannn… Dhooo… Thhhhissssss.”
One Phantom stepped forward and raised two tendrils, which Zoey assumed to be like arms. Suddenly, a red orb appeared between the tendrils. The one Phantom took on a blood-red color, and slowly so did all the others. As this happened, the orb rose to levitate just above a person’s head, and it began spinning. It started slowly, but it picked up speed very quickly. Golden rays of light began emanating from it as it spun, unbelievably fast. All of the Phantoms were red now.
“Zoey, prepare a bag of things according to the emergency list in our tent. Stay in the tent until Tee and I come to get you. Then, we’re leaving.” Said Rythian, his voice only a whisper. As much as Zoey doubted this, he sounded scared.
“But… I can help,” replied Zoey.
“I changed my mind! Zoey and Tee, go to the tent… Now!” He yelled, his voice unbelievably loud and urgent, but still scared.
“Why, Rythian? They just turned red. It’s probably not that bad. If it is super bad, then I’m even less likely to leave you out here by yourself.”
“Please, please, please... Don’t argue with me on this, Zoey. We don’t have much time before-”
He was cut off by a horribly loud and high-pitched screech which came from the orb. Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and the orb exploded.
“No…” Rythian whispered.
Up in the sky, the stars and the moon reappeared… But they were blood red. An amazing amount of monsters began to spawn everywhere, and Zoey ran to the tent, grabbing Tee’s arm on the way.
She gathered everything on the list as quickly as she could. She heard Rythian fighting desperately outside. Tee was at the tent entrance, shooting a few arrows through its ajar flap. As she put the last thing, the Condenser, into the bag, the Ring of Arcana fell out of her pocket and onto the floor. She was then reminded of its presence. She stared at it for a few seconds, in which time seemed to stop. All sounds were muted to Zoey. She heard Rythian scream in pain, and finally jumped back to reality. She was terrified; she had no idea how long she had been entranced. She realized the most important thing right now was just staying alive, so she grabbed the ring and put it back in her pocket. It’s weight pressed against her thigh in a comforting way.
She grabbed Tee again and ran outside the tent. Rythian was relieved to see her.
“I-I can’t… I can’t get…” Rythian stuttered. He was panting. “Go to the Jaffa Factory! I hope you know where it is! It’s right by Sips Co, which is right by the bar where Tee was held. Go there. I’ll catch up!”
“Rythian! I’m not leaving you. You’ll… You’ll die.” Said Zoey.
Rythian tried to talk, but one of the Phantoms touched him with a tendril and he screamed, falling to the ground. He was unconscious. Zoey screamed in horror. She quickly instructed Tee to turn on his flying ring and she did the same. They both lifted a few feet off the ground and then took hands, but did not weigh each other down, their magic energy being combined. She saw with relief that Rythian was wearing his flying ring. The two swooped towards Rythian, Tee fighting them off with his sword, and Zoey reaching down to Rythian to activate his flying ring. Her hands were sweaty and so were his and the ring kept slipping out of her grasp. Finally, she activated it successfully. She fiddled with it until Rythian levitated just a few inches off the ground and then took his limp hand.
“Fly! Fly, Tee!” She shouted, knowing Rythian’s condition was critical. Every second counted.
As the two flew at once, they overrode Rythian, who was magically connected to them, and he lifted as much as they did. They flew so swiftly that Zoey was worried that Rythian would vomit and choke. On the way there, Rythian stirred only once, saying “It... Is… Only… In that… Area… Once.. We… Are far away… The sun… Will rise.” He was then unconscious again, and he never moved for the rest of the long trip through the darkness. Eventually, the world did brighten again, but Zoey was still extremely worried about Rythian. Through the trip, even Tee’s eyes watered a bit. No matter what happened, the three-rather two, considering one was unconscious-knew that, somewhere along the way, everything would change, yet again.