Willow stood and gaped at
Liza. “You want me to do it?” The tiny fox was just an ordinary
jammer. No rares, no fame, nothing. “Why not you, or another alpha?”
“I’m asking myself the same
question,” muttered Liza. She raised
her voice. “But if Greely says it has to be you, it must be so.”
Willow had been called to Liza’s
bamboo hut and Liza had explained the whole situation. Greely thought there was a new land somewhere
east of Jamaa Township. He had used his
magic to see who should go and look and, to his own surprise, discovered it had
to be Willow. She had to go alone to
find this mysterious land. She was to
start out right after her meeting with Liza.
Liza took Willow to Coral Canyons
to visit Cosmo. He had brought all
her supplies. “Here’s a big supply of
food. Oh, and some herbs. I included a handbook on how to use
them. And here’s a…” He kept listing
items until Willow felt herself nodding off.
Was all this really necessary?
“Cosmo!” Liza’s sharp retort jerked Willow back to
awareness. “We don’t have all day you
know. Willow’s supposed to be leaving
soon!”
“Alright, alright,” muttered Cosmo,
distracted as he searched through the basket.
“Let me just check that… Oh no!” The anxious koala broke off.
“What’s wrong?” Willow shouted,
frightened that the koala was hurt, or something.
“I forgot the compass,” cried
Cosmo, acting like the whole world revolved around "the compass". “I have to go get it!”
Willow rolled her eyes as Cosmo
dashed back to get the compass. Why
do I need a compass anyway? She thought.
If I’m going east, I only need to go over the bridge, right?
Just then, Cosmo came back holding
a strange compass that Willow had never seen anything like.
It looked like it was pure
gold. On the back, a phantom was
engraved in it. Its eyes seemed to
follow her, and Willow shuddered, deciding that she would never use the
compass, whatever Cosmo said.
Last of all, Liza explained to
Willow what to do at the new land.
“Other jammers will be able to enter as soon as the first jammer who
arrives, which is you, claims it from whatever other beings are living there
and-“
“Beings?” Willow said, confused.
Liza and Cosmo exchanged a quick
glance. “I meant, um, until it is
ensured that it is safe for everyone.”
Willow narrowed her eyes, but
didn’t say anything.
“Why
don’t we just start you on your way right now?
All you have to do is close your eyes and imagine yourself in the new
land.”
Willow closed her eyes and imagined
herself in a jungle. She waited and
waited, but she didn’t feel anything.
She opened her eyes. “Liza, it’s
not work-“ She broke off in astonishment.
She was in the jungle that she had
imagined. She was underneath a huge
leaf. Everything looked just how she had
imagined. There was only one difference.
The whole place was invaded by
phantoms.
Willow started panicking, wondering
if they had seen her, when she realized that she was under a bush. She sighed with relief.
Then Willow remembered that this
was the new land. What was it that Liza
had said? “Other jammers will be able
to enter as soon as the first jammer to enter, which is you, claims the land
from whatever other beings are living there.”
Willow thought back to the quick
glance that Liza had exchanged with Cosmo.
Have they known about them all along? Willow thought. Then she shuddered. What other dangers lay in store for me
that the alphas know about, yet failed to prepare me for?
Willow searched through her bag for
something that would help her. She
pulled out a huge book. It was entitled Handbook
for Journeys to New Lands. Willow
snorted with amusement. Boy, that Cosmo
sure was paranoid!
Willow
flipped through the book. Sure enough,
she found a page all about phantoms. She
scanned it eagerly for something useful.
“Phantom
lore… How to train a phantom… Ah, here it is.
Defeating phantoms.” Willow
intently scanned the paragraph. It read:
To
kill a phantom, you must take a weapon and cover it with purified water. If you hit your target, the water will
smother the phantom’s shocks and, because the water is purified, will melt
the phantom’s evilness and he will either die or become tame.
Willow
closed the book. That’s what she had to
do. She rummaged through her basket and
managed to find a bow and arrow and some purified water.
Willow
was ready. Then she froze. If she shot one phantom, wouldn’t they all
come and investigate? If she just had a
teleporter, she could change spots before they had time to get her. She figured there was probably one in the
bag, and was proved correct.
Willow dipped an arrow in the purified water, took aim, and fired at a nearby
phantom. It hit her target square on,
and he melted into ashes. All the
phantoms started coming towards her, so she used the teleporter to get to
another side of the clearing. Then she
took aim and fired again, moving a second after.
Willow repeated that countless times, until all the phantoms were gone. Ashes covered the clearing. She decided that the ashes might have
medicinal uses and collected them.
Afterwards, Willow decided to explore one of the buildings.
Inside one building, ancient scrolls and books filled the shelves.
“You
have gone far, Willow, but I won’t let you go farther.”
Willow
jumped and turned around. Standing in
the doorway, illuminated by the dim light, stood a phantom, taller than the
rest. His one eye sparkled like a
diamond. The sparks coming from his
tentacles seemed stronger and sharper.
It was the Phantom King.
Willow
instinctively dipped an arrow in the purified water and fired. It hit him, and bounced right off. Willow was confused. Hadn’t she done what the book said?
Quickly,
she opened the book and flipped to the page she had been on. Underneath the section she had read, the book
said this:
Warning: This does not work on the Phantom King. All it does is make him stronger. To defeat the Phantom King, you must
sacrifice yourself.
Feeling
sick, Willow closed the book. Did she
really care enough about Jamaa that she would sacrifice herself to save
them?
Willow
thought of her den, the innocent jammers in the lands, the fun parties,
everything that made Jamaa unique. Then
she re-imagined it being infiltrated by the Phantom King, the most powerful one
of all. She flinched. She couldn’t let that happen.
Suddenly, Willow noticed she was shaking. She
remembered the compass Cosmo had given her.
She had a feeling she was supposed to use it.
Willow took it out of her bag and looked up at the Phantom King. As calmly as possible, she spoke to him. “You want to stop me. But I won’t let you, because I am going to
stop myself first.” Raising her voice,
she went on. “I, Willow, sacrifice
myself to save Jamaa and defeat the Phantom King.
At
first, nothing happened. Then, Willow
yelped with pain. It felt like phantoms
were stinging her from all sides. She
looked at the Phantom King, who was writhing on the ground, seemingly going
through the sane ordeal. She held the
compass tightly. Even though I won’t
come back, they can still remember me.
And Willow cracked open the compass. From inside, a
magical powder seemed to spill out over the floor. It formed in the shape of a compass. Satisfied at last, she closed her eyes,
stopped struggling, and let whatever lay in store for her take her.
Willow’s
body was never discovered, and it is the alpha’s theory that the Phantom King
captured her and took her to Phantom Land.
But, of course, that doesn’t explain the phantom ashes, or the
mysterious compass engraved in the floor.
Others
have their own story. They believe that
Willow’s body dissolved into the ground, but her spirit remains, floating
around what is now known as the Chamber.
They think that when you see a flicker of candlelight, or feel wind when
the windows aren’t open, it’s just Willow’s way of saying hi.
One
thing is for sure. Willow, and the
Phantom King, were never seen again.
So what did they call the new land?
ReplyDeleteTemple of Zios o3o
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