The Fear Of Death Confounds Me: A Wizard101 Novel

Chapter 35: Malistaire

This is a special shoutout to @GrapeJuice1011 for giving me the idea of also adding names to all the chapters here like I did for the sequel :)

For a moment after Nolan spoke I couldn't do anything. I couldn't speak, move or so much as form a proper thought. I felt as if the entirety of the world had been dropped out from beneath my feet. My heart was pounding harder and faster than it ever had during the entire of my twenty years existence. The others were discussing what we should do, loudly speaking over each other.

"We need to go after her now!"

"We don't even know if she's gone after him!"

"Are you waiting for her corpse to be sent to us?!"

"How could you let this happen, Nolan?!"

During my silence Malorn's eyes fell on me, realizing my distress. He pulled me to the side away from all of the negotiations. Putting both of his hands on my shoulders, forcing my glazed over gaze into his sky blue rays of hope.

"Listen to me, Emily. You cannot shut down, not now, okay?"

For some reason Malorn's words brought me back to Dragonspyre. The resolve behind his gaze giving me the strength I needed to snap myself out of my temporary despondency. The others were still arguing about what to do in the background, when my voice cut through the commotion like a knife, authoritative tone taking control of the situation as I screwed my head on straight.

"Shut up! All of you! I can't hear myself think!" And just like that the room went silent as I sucked in a long breath. "Okay, which of the rides did she take, Nolan?"

"One of the drakes."

I checked my watch.

It's almost dawn, and there's no way we're going to get there before her. I nodded making an informed decision.

"Double up on the Pegasi and the remaining drake, the priority now is getting there before Andrea, not going After Malistaire."

They all nodded walking towards the door. James didn't move an inch.

"What are you going to do?"

"What I should have done all along." James eyebrows furrowed, trying to understand my words. I silenced him with an urgent nod of my head. "Trust me."

He nodded, giving me his full faith, choosing to follow the others. God I hope I don't end up flambéed. I closed my eyes as I pictured the headmaster's quarters in the forefront of my mind, willing my body's cells to transport themselves there without killing me in the process. The next thing I know, the world went black.

When I woke up, I was in the middle of a blatantly unfamiliar area, at the very top of what looked like a giant gorge. Well, I'm not dead, I'm gonna take that as a victory. I peered over the edge to see what was below, and all that was visible was a black rocky path leading downwards through a bountiful of lava, my gut was telling me to follow the path, so I did. Eventually I came up to a cascade of little islands floating adjacent to each other, almost like large stepping stones in a lake of lava, leading to an islet with four large rubies, which were arranged in a square. I floated my way across the little isles to the rubies; they were emitting a strange magical energy, almost like if I just reached out and touched them...

The next thing I know, the platform I'm on starts moving upwards the second I make contact with one of the four gems. When it got to the very top, I could see a ramp leading to enormous doors with dragons painted on them, which looked like they were already forced open with magic. 10 bucks says that's where Andrea and Malistaire are. I ran up the ramp, through the large imposing door onto another ramp leading upwards, with a dark red carpet that would almost be welcoming had I not been here to kill the man who killed my parents, and save my cousin from the biggest mistake of her damn life. God I hope I'm not too late; I'll never be able to forgive myself if I don't get there in time. The carpeted ramp led to another doorway which was forced open, then another, and another. I guess it's called the great spyre for a reason, by Bartleby this place is huge. Finally I got to a doorway where a medley of draconian and wraiths were lying on the ground, dead. I focused on the magical energy in the air around the dead creatures...electrical; definitely Andrea's handiwork. Maybe I'm not too late, I thought, as I rushed in through the last doorway.