Game Over!

Chapter 6: Disposable Wands

Destry took out the map from his bag, and looked for a route to the next region, Toflal. There was one just east of Woodpine Town! The party gathered up their things and headed towards there. As they passed a sign, Echo read that it said "WELCOME TO TOFLAL". Under that, it read "BY ORDER OF THE ROYAL COURT, SIGN-CUTTERS WILL BE PROSECUTED!". Suddenly, that voice echoed through their heads again. "Makio... Makio..." it said as an image of another monster flashed through their heads.

It was a being that resembled a wolf, but it was not one. It had dark blue fur, solid white eyes, a neck covered in spines, and sharp fangs. When the voice stopped, a pair of Makios jumped out at them from the bushes! The party drew their weapons. Lilia prepared to cast a spell, but the Makio to the right knocked Lilia over and took her wand in its mouth. It broke it in half! Just then, Evren cast Cloudcooler Burst and Destry and Echo attacked. After a while, the Makios were defeated, and they left behind several Quills, and the pieces of Lilia's wand.

Lilia picked up what was left of her wand, and stuffed it in her bag. Evren offered to let her use his wand, and she accepted. She tried to cast a spell, but all that came out was a puff of blue smoke. Wands were bound to the person who owned them, so Lilia couldn't use it. Disappointedly, she handed the wand back to Evren. She crossed her fingers that she would find someone who could fix her wand, or someone selling new wands.

Evren spotted what looked like a wooden stall a few feet away. He pointed it out to Lilia, and they rushed over excitedly. But that excitement vanished when they got closer. It was being run by that same man who ran the "Sword Shop" and "Arrow Shop" they had visited before. But maybe he had gotten a bit smarter since the last time they had met! So they decided to talk to him. The sign now read "WAND SHOP" in sloppy red paint. The D, S and P were backwards. He was still as smart as a piece of cheese. "YOU AGAIN! Hello, hello, hello!" he said excitedly.

As Lilia and Evren looked over his stock, they saw that there were no wands in sight. Instead, it was arrows! Dozens and dozens of arrows were scattered across the table, with a placecard in front of them declaring them "DISPOSABLE WANDS". Lilia wondered if the man had ever experienced an arrow to the head. Echo and Destry had arrived, and took notice of the shopkeeper. Surprisingly, Echo was delighted by what the shopkeeper had in stock! She bought as many arrows that she could fit in her quiver.

The shopkeeper waved goodbye to them as they headed on their way. As the party got closer to their destination, Lilia began to think that there could be hope for her wand after all! They were headed to Ayrith Village, the magic capital of Dosnatia. It was populated entirely by mages and healers, like Lilia and Evren. When they stepped into the village, Lilia was delighted to see an actual wand shop! She ran in excitedly, and asked the woman at the counter if she could fix the wand. "Yes! I can for 20 Quills!" she said. Lilia reached in her bag for a 20-Quill coin, and gave it to her.

The woman went to the back of the shop for a minute, and came back out with Lilia's wand, which was back in one piece! Lilia thanked the woman, and rejoined the party. They had found another inn, and were about to head there. Lilia excitedly showed off her restored wand. The party headed to the Cracked Vase Inn, and tried to rent a room. "Do you have a mage or healer in your party?" asked the innkeeper. "Yes!" Destry answered.

"That means that you get a free room! Have a nice night!" the innkeeper said as she handed Destry a key. Happily, the party ran upstairs to their room. They discovered that there was a large bookshelf against the wall. When Lilia checked it out, she discovered that it was full of books on magic! She showed Evren, and they each picked out a book. Lilia pulled out The Ultimate Guide to Fire Spells. Evren picked out Healing Magic and You.

They immediately began reading them, eager to learn some new attacks. They continued reading them until late at night, when they fell asleep on top of them. However, they were quickly awoken by the smell of smoke, and the sounds of screaming. The village was on fire! Lilia and Evren quickly stuffed the books in their bags, and ran out of the inn with Destry and Echo. When they left the building, Evren drew his wand and shouted "CLOUDCOOLER SURGE!". Swirling clouds surrounded him, and swirled higher and higher up until they were above the whole village. Rain began to fall from the clouds, which put out the fires.

The villagers stopped running and cheered for Evren. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the ground two miles from the village. "What if that was a clue to where the next dungeon is?" Destry said to the party. "We should follow it then!" Lilia replied. The party ran towards where they saw the lightning strike. When they got there, another one struck the ground not that far away. They kept following the lightning strikes and fending off nearby monsters until they reached a strange place.

It was what appeared to be a temple, but it was mostly in ruins. The front of what was left of the building had something written in ancient Donsatian engraved on it. "For our Deity of All Light" Destry read