The Arcanes Sister

Chapter 1 The start of an Adventure

I woke up to birds singing in the tree next to my window and the sun was peeking over the horizon. I got up and changed into a white cardigan with a black shirt under it and some light blue jeans then I tied my long brown hair with silver white strips in a ponytail. It was a stressful day and we would be going to look for the staff of Avalon. I got my bag packed last night but I made sure I had everything I needed. I had some snacks, my phone, and some other miscellaneous things I would need. I then made a breakfast burrito and headed out of my home and set off on my rollerblades to Jim's house.

When she got there

I reached Jim's house and his mom met me at the door.

"Jim honey you didn't tell me more people were coming" She called out with a hint of worry in her tone."Oh Bella, you're here!" He said as he came to the door. "Well, come on in." He says as he lets me in."Thanks." I said to him in a thankful tone."Alright, guys let's get going!"Toby called out as Claire raised her shadow staff and created a portal."You guys ready," Claire smirks."Yup, let's do this.""Let's get our friend back," Jim announced. The portal landed us in a rocky forest area."Stay alert Gunmar could be anywhere." Jim reminded us.

"Where are we?" Claire questioned, being met with no answer she sighed. A rat scampered across the floor directing our attention to AAARRRGGHH.

"Wingman!" Toby cried and ran up to him."Toby stop, don't move!" I said as I realized what was around AAARRRGGHH.Blinky then grabbed him by the bag."A stasis trap! That's...." Toby gasped."The work of anger rot. And he's upgraded it!" Blinky finished."Um, those are dwarkstones. If we deactivate the stasis, this place is gonna blow." Claire noted."AAARRRGGHH my friend they've used you as bait to kill us all" blinky lamented."We gotta get him out of there!" Toby cried."No, wingman. You leave." AAARRRGGHH murmured."No, we're not giving up!" Toby exclaimed."Guys I got an idea," Jim stated. "Ok toby drops the hammer, we drop into the room below."The warhammer's power and weight might be enough to override the stasis trap. Or it'll fail, Toby will disintegrate into nothingness and we'll die with the explosion." Blinky explained."Cool beans." Toby sarcastically muttered."Even if it works, what if we drop into something worse?" Claire argued."Then this? I'll take my chances. Tobes are you ready?" Jim replied."Ready to possibly kill us all and die in failure? Yeah. for AAARRRGGHH!!!!" Toby charged and jumped, his landing force on the hammer crashing it into the floor, but falling to make a hole."Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Toby squeaked. The floor caved in as the dwarkstones went off, saving us from death."Is everyone all right?" Jim assured."Wingman!" Toby and AAARRRGGHH hugged."What is this place?" Blinky mused."Smells old," AAARRRGGHH observed."Looks old too, it looks like something from the 12th century," I said then muttered the last part."Remarkable. An old gyre." Blinky quietly exclaimed."Why would there be a gyre here?" Jim questioned."It doesn't even have controls, how does it work?" I mused with a hint of mysteriousness behind it.

'I think I know where this goes to.' I think as I look down the way it is facing all tho I couldn't see all that much as I was shrouded with fog and shadows.

"Master Jim, your amulet!" Blinky gasped. Jim took it off and attempted to place it in the slot but it was too large."It won't fit," Blinky exclaimed."No, but the blue stone inside will." Jim sighed. "Claire, it's what you saw in your visions. If I break the amulet, it will lead us to Merlin's tomb." He set his amulet down on a flat rock and grabbed Toby's war hammer."Master Jim, are you sure you want to do this? The amulet is your sacred obligation." Blinky tried reasoning with him. It didn't look like Jim was caring right at the moment."I know," Jim said flatly. 'I knew it.' I thought."If you destroy the amulet, it is forever." blinky continued."I think he gets it...." I whispered to Claire."Forever and ever. I get it!" Jim groaned."I see what you mean...." Claire responded in a whisper."Just making certain," Blinky explained."Thank you." Jim sighed. "If we wanna catch up with gunmar and angor rot, we have to find the tomb." And the staff." claire added."For the glory of Merlin," Jim whispered as he walked over to the amulet, raised the hammer and let it crash down with an echoing crash, a blinding light flooding from underneath it."No turning back now," Jim stated before placing the glowing blue stone into the slot. A luminous map erupted around the stone."Wow it's the map Claire, you were right I knew you weren't lying," I exclaimed in a sort of calm manner. The gyre then lit up with an electric blue glow and powered on."If this is fate, I really hope we're not destined to die." Toby hesitated, his voice filled with a little bit of fear and worry."Only one way to find out!" Claire screamed as we were launched forward."Hate gyre," AAARRRGGHH stated when we all got out. Toby was trying his best not to throw up everywhere as we trudged along. I on the other hand was completely fine for the most part. The dizziness I felt lasted like a minute then it went away."Whoa, a hidden entrance," Jim exclaimed in awe. I just stared at it with eyes of recognition."Yeah, but to where?" Claire mused."Gunmar must have come through here," Jim muttered. Toby yelped as his war hammer suddenly became way heavier."Why no war hammer magic?" He pouted."No magic here. It appears this hallowed tomb is warded against sorcery." blinky observed."My shadow staff doesn't work either," Claire grunted. She then walked up to a nearby wall. "These claw marks look fresh.""Hmm. yes, yes. As if...a struggle." blinky replied. Toby then yelped as he tripped over a chain."Draal?" AAARRRGGHH gasped."Draal is free?" blinky hopefully exclaimed."If there's no magic here, maybe Gunmar's hold on him wore off." Jim assumed. "Then we're not just here for the staff. We can save Draal!"Inside Merlin's tomb was a small dark room. It was very old and covered in spider webs but I didn't question it because spiders can get about anywhere you can think of. Everything was very run down and old and the scent of dust and moss was strong in the air, a smell I know all too well. From past experiences but that's a story for another day. I smiled as I remembered what happened that day.At the very end of the room was the exit. Although it was impossible to reach without magic."No way we can climb that." Jim sighed.'I mean I could probably climb that wall but that would not be fair to the others.' I thought as I looked at the exit."There must be some apparatus we can use. A ladder, perhaps." Blinky mused."Ugh! What is this? A tomb for merlins extra junk?" Toby recoiled in disgust at the dead fish before him. I could see how he reacted and I just chuckled because I was used to the smell of rotting fish.'Something I wish I could forget.....' i thought.Toby grunted as he stumbled onto a secret tile. The lights in the room lit up and everything was brand new, almost as if it had never been left."Wh-What was that?" Claire cried."By gorgus! Tobias, press that stone again!" blinky exclaimed. Toby was a bit Sceptical, but he still obeyed anyway. Once again the room was anew."Awesome sauce. This feels super weird." Toby mumbled."Wait. the switch makes everything new." Claire gasped curiously."Or it's somehow jumping to the past. That's crazy, though. Right?" Jim thought aloud."You're onto something, master Jim. We do seem somehow flung into the past. Or, at least, the room has. By the wear patterns on the rocks, I'd say this is hundreds of years ago" Blinky beamed as toby took his foot back off the tile and started messing around with it, like a child turning a light on and off. While he was doing that I was chuckling."Tobias...Tobias!" Blinky scolded. Toby muttered an apology and dumped a small sack onto the tile to keep it in place. When it hit the ground, seeds erupted from the open hole. Claire kneeled down to inspect them. "Those seeds look to be seeds from a rainforest." I mused looking at one of the seeds."Seeds. I know how to get out!" Claire exclaimed. She grabbed a small pot and carried it over to the exit, placing a single seed inside its soil. "Okay. Toby, take the bag off the tile."As he did so, the room returned to our present and the small seed burst into a large, vine-like tree creating a path to freedom."Let's climb." AAARRRGGHH smiled."Claire, you're a genius!" Jim beamed."Go job claire," I said to her in a proud tone."Good work claire! 'And hey, good job Toby, for finding that bag of seeds. " Toby imitated."Yeah. good job, everyone." Claire chuckled. The room above was darker than the previous one."Wish we had a light," Toby grunted, tripping over a few rocks."Oh, wait. Ugh, I hate it when my parents are right" Claire groaned as she took her flashlight out of her bag. She illuminated the wall, uncovering drawings carved into stone. They told the story and history of Merlin and Morgana's fight."Nice...." I said in a calm tone tho it came out as tho it was a half-truth wall."This appears to be a depiction of history. A timeline." Blinky explained."The staff of Avalon." Jim looked in awe at the depictions above him."Merlin's most powerful relic. He built it to channel the arcane energies of the universe itself." He continued. I decided to look at the beginning of the timeline. I saw a drawing of 3 people standing around something in the photo and the part that is right next to it was a picture of the 3 of them in a line. The thing is I knew who they were and it saddened me greatly to see them again. I had a look of longing in my eye what I didn't know was claire was looking at me."Hey, you okay...." Claire asked."Huh, oh yeah I'm fine," I said as I flinched a little."Oh well, we found something over here." She said as we walked back to the gang."Whoa! Check this out! Freaky. This looks just like us." Toby said as me and Claire walked over to a carving where Toby was at. He was looking at a drawing of all of us in the exact position we are in now."Whoa! That's us. Here." Claire looked on in wonder." Impossible! The timeline appears to continue beyond the present." blinky faltered."No, no it can't be" Jim murmured worriedly."Forgot how gross this guy is." Toby laughed upon seeing Angor Rot, carved looming above us."Wait...if that drawing is us now then..." I trailed off."We meet again, troll hunter" Angor Rot growled. AAARRRGGHH jumped in to protect us."Run!" Claire screeched."Run for your life!" Blinky yelled. We ran fast, but Angor decided he was too good for running, and began to crawl along the walls like a hungry spider. Or just a really angry cockroach." Over here!" blinky yelled again, directing us to an exit. Angor managed to grab hold of Jim, but thanks to AAARRRGGHH's brute strength, the ceiling caved in, trapping Angor Rot and letting Jim escape.Toby laughed at his misfortune before he himself tripped on an object lodged into the ground. Upon closer inspection, it was an arm."Draal." Jim heaved. He yanked the arm out of the ground, only to find it was actually a hole, leading to the next exit, surrounded by rapidly moving blades of rock and crystal."It's a dead end." Claire cried. Angor Rot broke out of his rocky prison and started to head toward us."Plan! Plan! Plan! Anyone? We need a plan!" Toby panicked."Draal's arm. Gunmar must have used it to halt the blades." Blinky suggested."Here goes something!" Jim plunged the arm into the blades, stopping their movement enough to pass through without becoming cut up like french fries."I'll kill you!" Angor Rot charged at us, but we had already gotten through and yanked the arm out of the blades, restoring them to their rapid spinning."Jim!" Toby cried out as he started slipping off the crystal we had landed on. AAARRRGGHH began to run after him but in a flash of instinct I jumped and grabbed Toby and got out a white dagger from my pocket. I dug it into the side of the gem we were next to."AAARRRGGHH!" I yelled at him. Right after I said that AAARRRGGHH pulled us up."Oh wow, thank you so much Isabella!" Toby said to me as he hugged my side as I put the dagger away."No problem tobes." I said as he let go."oh, Nana was right. Gonna need those extra undies." Toby groaned."By deya's grace. It appears we're in the innermost sanctum. The heart of merlin's tomb." Blinky murmured."If this is the heart, I bet Merlin's staff is somewhere close. Draal can't be far. Look for the staff, I'll get him back." Jim instructed."There's only one way to go. Down." Blinky imparted.We all started to go down the crystals. I held my dagger out in my hand in case I slipped. I went with Claire so in case of anything we could be safe. Though So far nothing but sparkling blue crystal. Although the star-like shimmers in the crystal were almost magical, it wasn't the staff. A rumble came from beneath me. Jim had found the staff. Now I and Claire had to get out of here without getting killed."Claire grab my hand so if one of us slips the other can pull the other up," I said as I held my hand out. "All right let's get to the others." She said in a confident tone. As we got to the others Blinky cried. "We're too late. Gunmar has the staff!" We all watched with horror and sadness in our eyes as Draal threw himself in front of Angor Rot to protect Jim. It was something I had seen many times with others and every time it broke my heart to see it again.

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This is my first story, if you want more please comment and like.

-Laurannica