Crisanta Knight: The Lost King

CHAPTER 1 DIVIDE & CONQUER-2

I could understand this frustration, however I had no sympathy for the commons at this point. The rebellion had turned violent as of late and was waging war against my kind. Furthermore, one of the rebellion’s recent targets had been my castle in Midveil. They’d attacked my home and killed a lot of innocent people. That had no excuse. I condemned the rebels for the action and worried about their violence spreading across the realm for the sake of my main character friends, family, and classmates, as well as the sake of the innocent commons caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were all in danger now.

“So considering what could go wrong,” I continued, “I think it’s a good idea to split up and have half our team find another way to the citadel as a back-up plan.”

I held up my wrist with the Hole Tracker on it. “I took this from Alex. The magic instability of the Vicennalia Aurora is causing wormholes to appear more regularly by the hour. While three of us can take the horses the normal way to the Camelot citadel, I propose the other trio try using portals to realm hop and get there faster.”

I pressed the buttons on the Hole Tracker to project the map of Camelot. It was vague overall, but what was strikingly evident was the large number of wormholes scattered across it in the form of bright splashes of swirling energy. Wormholes were magical gateways that lead to different realms. And these portals to Neverland, Cloud Nine, and the Portalscape were appearing much more frequently than usual.

The rest of the group considered the plan. “It’s a good idea,” Jason said. “The team that’s going by wormhole can take our original map of Camelot while the team trying to cross Camelot the regular way should use Merlin’s magic map.”

“I shall go with the team that is portal-hopping,” SJ said, “as I have access to all our other Wonderland maps too.” She patted her magic potions sack, which was enchanted to allow SJ to retrieve anything so long as it could fit through the sack’s opening and she knew precisely where it was. She had all of our aforementioned maps hidden at school and had been pulling them out as needed during our adventure.

“All right then,” Jason said. “How about if I go with Daniel and Kai across Camelot the normal way, and you, Blue, and Crisa take the wormholes? Everybody good with that?”

“Wait,” Kai interjected. We all turned to look at her. “I know I’m new to this adventure and I’ve only gotten a recap of the stuff you guys have been through, but if there is really so much at stake with getting to the memory stone in Oz and defending the In and Out Spell around Alderon, why are we taking the risk of stopping at the Camelot citadel at all? We have Excalibur. Why not make a run at Oz right now?”

My friends and I exchanged a look.

Kai had a point. Coming to Camelot had never been about helping Gwenivere or Morgan or dethroning the realm’s wicked King Rampart and his witchy grandmother Morgause. We came to get Excalibur, and we had it. It would be much shrewder to forget our ties to this realm and go to Oz while we had a head start.

But then . . . this wasn’t just about shrewdness. It was about doing what was right.

“No,” I said decidedly. “The Gwenivere Brigade rescued us in the citadel. Arthur gave us the guidance we needed to find Excalibur. Gwenivere and Morgan took us in and provided shelter, money, and directions. Morgan’s sister Elaine even saved Jason’s life when she healed him with her magic. They’re our allies and we made a commitment to them. We need to follow through.”

Blue nodded finitely. “They’re our friends and we can’t abandon them. They took risks for us. We need to be brave enough to do the same.”

Jason stepped forward. “Agreed?”

Everyone nodded, including Kai. It was the right thing to do. The risk made it a scarier choice, but not a harder one. I may have been the one that Arthur had sworn in as an official Knight of his Round Table when we met in Neverland, but we all had a high dosage of that most precious and rare quality of a knight—honor. We would always put what was just before self-interest and convenience.

Having made our decision, Daniel consulted Merlin’s magic map as Jason and Kai said their goodbyes to us. We exchanged simple good luck wishes with Kai (we didn’t know her that well) and Jason gave each of us a hug. I could tell Blue was a bit reluctant about being separated from him again.

“See you in the citadel,” she told him in a serious tone, tucking a wavy strand of dark blonde hair behind her ear then gripping her lucky blue cloak like a security blanket.

“See you in the citadel,” he replied.

Jason and Kai readied their horses. Blue took a step back and joined me and SJ, putting her hands on her hips. “Well, I guess we’re getting the band back together. The original three musketeers are off on an adventure.”

Jason had just finished saddling up when he turned to me with wide eyes. “Crisa, I just realized we didn’t search for the waters!”

“What waters?” Kai asked.

“The Four Waters of Paradise,” I replied with a sigh. “It’s the only known way to cure Pure Magic Disease.”

I wished we could go ten minutes without mentioning something to do with Pure Magic. Alas, the topic was as tied to our adventures as the magic itself was fused to my blood.

Magic could not be destroyed; it could only change forms or change hands. Normally it passed easily from one person or object to another, but every once in a while a mutation occurred where magic bonded to a person in a very permanent way. This was called Pure Magic, and it allowed the carrier to wield great power with one specific ability. It also gave the carrier dreams of the future.

This was a condition that Liza (our realm’s Author) and I shared, along with our new wizard friend Merlin. Since meeting Liza on our quest last semester, she had become my magic mentor because she was the only person in Book who suffered from the disease and had not been corrupted by it. An impressive feat considering that people who carried Pure Magic were almost always doomed to be overtaken by its hungry power and turn dark.

I hoped she could help me develop enough control over my magic to avoid turning dark too. The idea that I could fail and succumb to the disease loomed over me like a personal storm every day, although the specific abilities Pure Magic had granted me were rather helpful.

As mentioned, all Pure Magic carriers could see the future through dreams. My ability was more scattered, unlike Liza’s and Merlin’s, which had been honed for decades. But my foresight could come in handy at times, despite being exhausting.

Where I really benefited though, was with the one specific ability that Pure Magic had given me. While Liza’s Pure Magic had caused her to develop great teleportation magic and Merlin had invisibility powers, I had something much cooler.

I had the power of life.

This meant I could bring inanimate objects to life and they would follow my commands and will. I also recently learned that if I used enough magic, I could bring people back to life, myself included. This was super awesome; regrettably such resurrections required huge amounts of power that I couldn’t always rely on. My magic worked like energy and I could run out, fall short, or even burn up and be destroyed if I used too much.

Those limitations aside, my magic had been incredibly useful thus far and I loved it, even if it put me in a never-ending state of danger. As mentioned, every person who’d ever had Pure Magic, except for Liza and Merlin, had succumbed to the disease’s corruptive effects. And although Liza had been training me to control my magic rather than letting it control me, those odds remained.

So that’s why learning that the Four Waters of Paradise could cure a person with Pure Magic and leave them with regular magic had seemed like a dream come true. It would mean retaining my power (though in a diminished capacity), but not having to worry about turning dark. The timing had even been perfect, what with the waters only being able to work during the Vicennalia Aurora. Unfortunately, it had not been in the cards for me to claim them.

“The waters were supposed to be in a spring on Avalon,” I explained to Kai before pivoting toward Jason. “And I did find them. The Lady of the Lake took me there. But the spring had dried up. The waters are gone.”

My whole group gave me a pitying look that I did not appreciate.

“I’m sorry, Crisa,” Blue said.

“Don’t be,” I replied solemnly. “It was a long shot to hope for a cure in the first place.”

A small flock of red-chested hummingbirds flew by. They were one of Camelot’s indigenous species, and we’d seen them everywhere. I took that as my cue to change the subject, turning away from my friends to compare our map of Camelot with the Hole Tracker’s map.

The Hole Tracker map flashed with red, orange, and silver wormholes. Red and orange indicated Pop-Up Portals; they took you to the next world in the Wonderland sequence of fourteen realms. Red was a counterclockwise jump in that sequence and orange was a clockwise jump. Silver wormholes were Portalscape Portals that led directly to a Wonderland called the Portalscape, which was the great intersection of all these magical realms.

“There’s a counterclockwise wormhole to Neverland opening shortly about a quarter mile away,” I said. “If we hurry, we can make it before it closes.”

“Then let’s go,” Blue said. “We’ll take our horses that far at least and then see what environmental conditions we run into on the other side of the portal.”

SJ handed Daniel, Jason, and I back our SRBs. The lanyard bracelets had been enchanted by SJ via potion to keep us clean throughout our adventures. We’d taken them off before going to Avalon, as the isle didn’t allow outside enchantments of any sort. SJ also redistributed our remaining Mark Two magic compact mirrors, which we used for communication. Daniel’s team received two and my team got one, which SJ kept in her backpack.

SJ and Blue exchanged swift hugs with Daniel before leaping onto their horses. If I hadn’t known SJ had spent the last year working on getting over her fear of horses, I wouldn’t have thought she had any problem with them. I was super proud of her. Like the rest of us, she was adapting to the changing world and becoming a better, more confident version of herself.

I met Daniel’s eyes. “Good luck,” he said.

“You too,” I replied.

We hugged. I didn’t think it was weird, or awkward. He and I were good friends and that’s what good friends did, especially when they were worried about each other. But when I pulled away, I noticed Kai giving me a strange look. I took a step back and mounted my horse as Daniel did the same. It was time to split up.

I felt a slight pang in my heart like something was tugging on an artery. We’d split up before—many times in fact—but it never got easier. The people around me were some of the most important in my life. I’d been to death and back with them and I knew so long as I had their support, I could go much further. As individuals we were strong, but as a team we were infinitely more powerful. Not because of combat skills, or weapons training, or even magic, but because we cared so much about each other. I knew my friends would do anything for me, and I felt the same about them.

With a final wave, Jason nudged his horse and cantered toward the forest. The others followed. Daniel gave me a final glance over his shoulder before he disappeared into the trees.

I turned to Blue and SJ and put on my most confident expression. “Back to Neverland we go. Who’s ready for an adventure?”