Clementine Mira:
I climb up and over the sand dune. When I reach the top, I hold my hand over my eyes and scan the surrounding area.
"Finally," I say. After many miles through the freezing cold desert, I finally see the ruined temple the Headmaster told us about. Nothing more than a white dot at first, I move closer to the temple and start to see pillars and arches.
"Wow," I say as I step onto a large, cracked, sand-covered platform. With sandy white pillars guiding me as I walk through the ruins, it doesn't take me long to find the game pieces sitting on little supports. The second I see them, I run up to them.
"Yes," I say, looking at all the game pieces. I move from game piece to game piece, trying to decide which I should take. As I keep looking, I notice a few supports are empty.
"What kind of game pieces are these," I ask, stopping. I look closer at the game pieces. They appear to be unique symbols, made completely from
Hothead:"This is not a bridge," Alodia says with crossed arms. She lets out a cough as she turns her head. I shake my head and roll my eyes."I know this isn't a bridge," I say, "But it's better than nothing.""It is nothing," Alodia shouts.As she shouts, she uncrosses her arms and points at the ledge."It's not nothing," Jump says. "If you pay attention a little more, you can see this particular ledge is angled upward when compared to the other ledges.""So?""So that means if we do this right, we could use this as a ramp.""A ramp," Renee repeats before he starts to back up and waves his hand. "Wait, wait, wait, what are you two talking about?"I sigh as I explain my plan once more."We have been walking along this ledge for what feels like years now. I'm not kidding! I can actually feel the grey hair growing and taking over! Anyway, for all we know, there is no bridge. There is no crossing we
Shocker: With the larger and paler serpecdysis lunging at me, I jump to the side and watch as it shoots past me. I barely land on my feet when the serpecdysis turns around and lunges at me again. This time, I don't have time to jump out of the way. All I can do is cross my arms before the serpecdysis charges right into me. It hits and knocks me to the ground. Skidding against the stone ground, the serpecdysis wastes no time and grabs one of my feet with its mouth. It throws me into the air before jumping up and wrapping itself around me. With my arms pinned to my sides, I can't do anything as the serpecdysis squeezes the air out of me. Clementine Mira: No matter where I jump, I still can't lose the smaller serpecdysis. It's chasing me, always one move away from swallowing me whole. Running toward a wall, I jump up and back. I hope the serpecdysis would run into the wall but it stops before it does and
Renee Eamon:The vultuzzard roars at us as it flaps its wings. Generating a sandstorm, it knocks us off our feet and into the air. I land in the sand with a loud thud.Falling on my face, I split some sand out. Pushing myself up, I watch as the vultuzzad flies into the air and circles us.“Are you okay,” I say running over to Jump. Helping Jump up, she also has to split some sand before dusting it from her hair.“I’m fine,” Jump replies. She readies her crossbows and looks up. Aiming at the massive vultuzzard as it circles back, she loads a tiny crossbolt.“I think you’re going to need something a little bigger.”The vultuzzard dives down toward us. About to hit Jump and me, Hothead runs from the side and swings his flaming sword. Bright red and orange fire shoots out, lighting up the night sky as it forces the vultuzzard back.“Plan,” Hothead says, looking a
Headmaster Noah: "And to Maximus Beor, Griff Beolagh, Durmad Gerald, and Alice Astrid, I present this crest." Using the game pieces the four received, I combine them into a single crest before holding it up for everyone to see. Once I do, I award the crest to Maximus and his new team. "This crest represents strength," I say after handing it over. I place my hands on the podium and face the hundreds of students with their eyes on me. I look past the blinding lights and stare right at the students. "Strength means more than just how strong a person is," I start, "It means how strong you make others, and how much stronger they will make you. Maximus Beor, from this point forward, you and your team will be known as Team MGDA (mega)." The students cheer as Maximus and his newfound team walk from one end of the stage to the other end. They disappear from the lights as I reach over for the next crest in line. "Corentin Keanu,
Hothead: "I am the greatest fighter ever," I yell, raising my sword high into the air. There, below the mountain of defeated animals is the whole village of Norwood. Everyone is there. Even Headmaster Strictcon. They are all chanting my name over and over. "Hothead! Hothead! Hothead!" "Hothead," Headmaster Stricton yells, shooting his fist into the air. "You are indeed the greatest fighter ever!" "Hothead," they chant. "Hothead! Hothe--Riinggg!" "Ahh," I say, turning away from the sound. "What in the world? What was that sound?" "Hothead! Hothead! Hot--Ringgg!" "Ahh!" This time, the strange noise is so loud I have to cover both my ears. "Riingg! Riingg! Riingg!" My eyes snap open. When they do, I don't see the mountain of defeated animals or the village of Norwood. Instead, I see the wooden bottom of the bed above me. "Ringg!" "Ahh," I moan when I hear the most an
According to history books, the day the world changed was when the sun exploded. It was just one day. One day like any other day, except something extraordinary happened. Something that no one thought they would ever see. At least, not for a few billion years. The sun had exploded. The once bright-yellow sun, shining high in the sky, given the planet warmth and light had exploded. As the sun exploded, it shook the very Earth. People were scared and panicking. They feared for their lives, but once they calmed down, and looked up, they saw it. They saw a new red sun. Everyone was stunned and amazed. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Their eyes were glued to the sun. Scientists all over the world immediately started to study it. They took thousands of notes and recordings, detailing everything. The scientists wanted to know everything they could and moved with haste. Even the people were interested in their new sun. For a while, it seemed magnificent. Then, it started to happ
Hothead: "Watch out," Jump yells. Turning and looking behind me, I see a black and brown boreback charging toward me. As it charges, it leaps into the air and starts to spin. Spinning faster and faster, it turns into a blur before shooting toward me. "Oh crud," I say, lowering my sword and holding the blade with my hand. The boreback hits my sword and pushes me back. Despite my best efforts, the boreback knocks me to the ground. Screaming as my back hits the dirt, I look up to see the boreback snarling as it lands back on the ground. It splits before charging at me. Jumping and about to hit me with its sharpened tusk, a pair of metal hands shoot out from the side and grab them. "Thanks," I say, shooting Shocker a nod as he pushes the boreback away from me. Shocker nods back at me before raising his hand and slamming it down on the boreback's head. The beast snarls one last time before it dies. Hearing something coming from above me, I look up and see Jump falling down from the lea
Jump: "Come on," I scream, running as fast as I can. I sprint down the sidewalk, jump over the street, and skid against the sidewalk as I turn around the corner. I only stop when I realize I'm alone. "Uh? Where are you guys?" I run back to see Hothead and Shocker slowly following me. Shocker doesn't look so bad but Hothead looks like he's about to faint. "Come on," I scream again, running back and grabbing Hothead's arm. "Move faster. We're already 20 minutes late to class. Come on!" Hothead pushes me away and bends over. "Give me a second," he pants, "Give me a second to catch my breath." "Now?" "I used a lot of fire during the fight with borebacks. Okay. Fire uses a lot of oxygen." I roll my eyes and shake my head. "Come on," I say, dragging Hothead through the busy city street. I drag and drag him all the way until we reach the front of the local fighter academy. Once there, I let go and peek around the corner, through the gate. "Okay," I whisper, looking back at Hothead