Liza's Luck

The stars twinkled, and the moonlight shone down on a cavern surrounded by crystals, glittering in the starlight. Chiseled out of rock was a rough,uneven staircase. 
Suddenly, a harsh, unnatural light shone at the bottom of the stairs, and a younger Liza clambered up the staircase. Arriving at the top, she gazed in awe at the crystals sprouting around the cavern. "So this is what they are after," she murmured softly. "And this is where a battle will be fought."
A couple of days ago, Greely had called a meeting of all the alphas. When they had all arrived, he had wasted no time in getting down to business. "I have called you all here today to deliver to you what I have seen in our future. The phantoms have discovered a new source of power so great that they would easily defeat us in battle. I believe that I know where they are, and I am asking Liza to go scout the area. Liza, do you accept?"
Liza nodded. "Yes," she replied.
"Liza, I have seen that this source of power is found near this hut, immediately north. They are found in an ancient cavern, with stone steps chiseled in the rock." Turning back to the waiting alphas, Greely announced," I believe though, that we will have to fight to keep this power source." Then, he shouted," Meeting dismissed!", and headed for the exit.
"Wait, Greely!" called Liza, frantically trying to follow Greely through the crowd.
Halting, Greely turned to face Liza. "What is it?"
"What is this power source? How will I know when I find it?"
Greely just looked at her. "Oh, you'll know," he muttered grimly, before turning around and plunging back into the crowd.
"But-" Liza shook herself. She had a mission!
Now, Liza turned her back on the beautiful crystals, and silently stepped down the staircase.

***

The next day, all of Jamaa was preparing for battle. The phantoms had somehow found out that the alphas were planning to take the crystals, and they had sent a messenger declaring war on them that day. Sir Gilbert prepared a special bow and arrow for every jammer that would vaporize a phantom once they were hit.
Greely had permitted Liza to take a break and not participate, because she had been the one who had found the crystals. After seeing the battle group off, she returned to her hut. Lighting some candles, she sat down... and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. Grabbing a bow and arrow, she started to sprint out of the door before thinking twice. Snatching a small vial full of black liquid, she dashed out of the door.
When Liza arrived at the cavern, she stared in horror at what she saw there. The Phantom King stood, towering over all the jammers and alphas, shocking animals all over and causing them to faint. Though arrows soared through the air, they merely bounced off of him, and Liza breathed a sigh of relief that she had thought to bring the vial. Dipping an arrow in the vial, she aimed and fired. Time seemed to slow down as the arrow flew through the air, and the everyone, wherever they were in the battle, seemed to stop and stare at the arrow as it progressed through the air. He himself gazed in horror as he seemed to recognize the black liquid dripping from the arrow. He tried to dodge, but it was too late. He vaporized into nothingness, but she knew that he wasn't gone; he would have reappeared somewhere else. 
Looking around, Liza spotted Greely padding up to her with a rare look of approval in his eyes. "You did well," he admitted. "But how did you know that the liquid in that vial could destroy the Phantom King? I knew, of course, but I didn't think to bring any."
"Well, I didn't know," admitted Liza. "I just had a feeling."

***

After the battle, the crystals were taken from their original spot and preserved in a secret room.

Mira's Return

“Greely…”

Greely moaned in his sleep.

“Greely, wake up!”

Greely opened his eyes, blinking them with sleep.  He began to recognize the figure hunched over him with concern as the panda alpha, Liza.

“What happened?”  murmured Greely groggily.

“The Phantom King shocked you.  It looked really bad.  You passed out.  Then he vanished.” Liza looked uncertainly into the shadows, and Greely could make out the faint sound of electricity which could only belong to one thing.  Phantoms.  “I’m holding the rest of the phantoms back with the powers of my staff, but I can’t hold them much longer.  No, Greely, you’re not strong enough!”  she added as he attempted to stumble to his paws.  She tried to push him back, but he threw her off.  

“We need… to get back.. to Jamaa… now!” Greely muttered hoarsely.

“But how?  We’re too far away!”  Liza shrieked.  “And I don’t have any means of communication because you told me that we were just “checking out the place”!  Of course, you forget to mention that the place was infested with phantoms!”  She was practically working herself into hysterics.

“Liza… calm.. down…”Greely whispered.  “I.. cannot.. live… unless we.. get back…”

“I will NOT calm down!”

“Liza-”
 “No!”

“Look behind you…”

Liza turned and her jaw dropped.  A huge circle of stone, imbedded with what seemed to be giant emeralds and had certainly not been there moments ago, was standing right behind her.

            “What- what is it?” whispered Liza, and Greely could detect just a hint of fear in her voice.

            “I think it’s a portal.”  The words flowed from Greely's mouth before he could stop himself.

            Liza turned to face Greely, with an awe-filled and frightened look on her face.  “Do you really think so?”

            Greely pursed his lips.  “I know it is.”  Why was Liza dilly-dallying?  Didn’t she see that they had to go through the portal NOW?  He could see white eyes through the gloom, approaching.

 “Come on!”  Before she could protest, he mustered all his remaining strength and shoved her into the portal, before plunging himself in.  As he sank through the gem, he saw the shapes of phantoms waving their tentacles angrily, before he sensed, more than saw, the portal seal over and vanish.  

            Greely felt himself plunging through what felt like liquidized air, except it was bright green.  Once or twice, he thought he glimpsed an eye, maybe a flash of a wing, but it was always gone as soon as he saw it.  In what seemed to be seconds, he felt himself hit the ground, and with a moan, he passed out.

***

 Liza sipped her tea, deep in thought.  Without warning, she slammed her cup down onto her saucer, making Peck jump with fright, and shattering both teacup and saucer.

 “That Greely!”  Liza growled.  “Ever since we’ve come out of the portal he’s been bothering me, interrupting me when I have important business to be getting on with!  And no, it’s not anything useful!  It’s always “Did you smell fish or anything like that in the portal” or “What did you see in the portal” or something ridiculous like that!  What in the world is Greely up to n-”

 The door flew open, and standing in the doorway was, in fact, Greely himself.  “When you’ve quite finished raging,” Greely said coolly,” I have some important news.  Unless, of course, you think my little research is too trivial to be acknowledged.

“I never- I didn’t- “ Liza spluttered.  

“Liza-” Peck started.

“All right, all right, then let’s hear what you have to say!”

“Alright then.”  Greely sat down on a ancient, wooden rocking chair, rocking back and forth ever so slightly.  “You all know how Mira died, or at least, her spirit left her body.  By sacrificing herself to save the phantoms.  We all accepted the fact without question.  Until I went through the portal, that is.”

“Greely, how can you possibly -”

“Liza, please!”  warned Peck.

Liza sniffed.

“Thank you.” Greely said sarcastically.  “That night, I saw what I thought to be an eye, and a wing in the portal, and I wondered… Well, my research has brought me to the conclusion that… Mira is alive, whole, and well.”

“What?!”  Liza and Peck both shrieked simultaneously, jumping up from their chairs.

“She created that portal, carried us back to Jamaa.  Whether Mira just came to recently, or she has been alive for a while now, is hard to tell.”  Greely stood up too and walked to the window, gazing out.

“But if Mira was really, well, alive, then why wouldn’t she tell us?”  Liza whispered, coming to Greely’s side, all past arguments forgotten.

“I don’t know. I just don’t know.  But I am certain of one thing.  The way ahead of us is dark, we have always known that.  But now, with Mira back on our side, the way seems just a bit brighter.  There is still hope.”

***

 From then on, whenever jammers needed assistance, one of Mira’s portal would appear.  Without them, we would be nowhere.  And the next time you go through a portal, pay attention.  You might just hear a soft murmur, or feel the brush of a wing, carrying you to safety.

Mira's Sacrifice

Hey jammers!  Here's another one of my older stories.  Looking back, there are so many things I'd like to change in all these stories (the entire plot, for instance) but I will try my best to keep them.  

Mira’s Sacrifice

One day long ago in Jamaa, Greely was in his cave.  His cave was located in Coral Canyons, out of sight to all animals that passed by, though they weren’t out of sight to him.  Looking around, all seemed well in his homeland.  Animals were chatting, going off to the Art Studio to take art lessons from Peck or going to Epic Wonders to buy the newest items.  Greely decided there was no point in hanging around and went farther back in his cave. 

Making a quick decision, Greely swerved into an almost hidden opening in the side of his small-looking cave.   The corridor darkened as he walked farther on, making it almost impossible to see, but his night vision let him see where he was going.  He passed many more hallways before turning sharply to the left.  As he kept going, he felt the dirt floor slanting under his paws and knew he was going farther underground.  Making another turn to the right, he pushed onward.  After making several more turns, an eerie red light was visible in the distance.  Walking closer, he stepped forward into the room.

The sight was breath-taking.  The underground cave was almost dark, dimly lit by candles on the wall.  Black wooden tables lined the sides with all sorts of strange things that Greely used for his magic.  In the center of the room, a gray stone fire pit was glowing with the strange red light.

Greely walked toward one of the tables.  It’s been a while since I looked into Jamaa’s future, he thought.  He scanned the table, looking for one particular object- Ah ha!  There it was!  He reached out a paw and scooped up a blood-red stone that looked like a ruby.  He then walked over to the fire pit.  He dropped the stone into the center of the fire pit and started chanting an ancient incantation.  Then he stopped and sat down, waiting.  

            At first, nothing seemed to happen.  The stone remained in the center and the fire pit just kept glowing.  But Greely knew it would happen, and after a couple of seconds, he was proved right.

All of a sudden, a great fire flew up from the stone, spreading over the fire pit.  It blazed with a red-orange color with the stone just visible in the center.  He stood up.

            “Oh, ancient spirits of the past,” Greely declared.  “Show me our future and guide our paw steps.”  At once the fire reacted, stretching higher and higher until it almost touched the cave ceiling.  Greely stared into the fire intensely, looking for a picture. All of a sudden, black figures started to come into focus in the fire.  Spidery legs appeared and one eye was in the middle of their heads.  They were marching in troops and slowly the Township appeared through the mist.  Phantoms heading for the Township!  He had to warn everyone.  He leaped into the fire and was on his way.

            Greely was being transported to Mira’s castle.  It felt like time was rushing past him and all around him fire blazed and wind blew in his fur.  Once, he made the mistake of stepping forward and the fire singed his paw; he leaped back and stayed in his small circle.

            Eventually, the fire seemed to get smaller and smaller and finally, it seemed to disappear.  Greely looked around.  He seemed to be in the courtyard.  He leaped to his paws and raced inside.  Wandering around the castle, he managed to find the throne room.  Without waiting to be called, he burst in.

            “Mira!” called Greely.  Mira was sitting on her royal throne (very much alike the paradise throne we have today) and talking with a maid.  She turned around, alarm on her face.  “What is it Greely?” 

            “Forgive me for bursting out like that, but I have terrible news,” Greely replied, running up to her and giving a quick bow.  “The phantoms are on the attack again.  They’re marching towards Jamaa right now!”

            “Not again,” said Mira.  She sighed.  “Can’t they take a break from attacking for once?”

            “Apparently not,” grumbled Greely.  “I’ll get the alphas.”  He turned around and raised his paw in the air and a red light shot out, spreading in all directions.  Then the light seemed to pull back towards him and on the end of each beam was one of the alphas.

            “What a great way to wake up,” moaned Sir Gilbert, shaking himself from the beam.

            “Yes, Greely, couldn’t it wait?” Peck groaned with the thought of her lost sleep.

            “No!” growled Greely.  “There’s no time waste.  The phantoms are coming now!” 

            Before the words had left his mouth, phantoms crashed into the room from all directions.  The alphas started fighting as hard as they could.  Right away, Greely could see it was no use.  He fought his way over to Mira.

            “Use your powers!”  Greely called to Mira.  She tilted her head as if she hadn’t heard, then nodded.  All of a sudden, a phantom lunged at him.  He fell backwards.  He felt shocks from the phantom.  He knew he was about to die. 

All of a sudden, a flash of golden light beamed through the throne room.  The phantom turned around in surprise, and then faded into nothing.  Greely stood up.  All around him, the other phantoms were fading too.

Greely saw a life-sized, golden, glowing statue in the exact same place that Mira had stood moments before.  It was the statue that had saved him.  He looked around the room for the real Mira.  She was nowhere in sight.  He tilted his head to the side, confused.

Right then, he noticed that all the alphas were kneeling (well, as close to kneeling as animals can) around the golden Mira statue.  Hundreds of feathers lay at their feet.  Greely tensed.  What had become of Mira?  In a rush, Greely realized the truth.  Mira had sacrificed herself to defeat the phantoms.  Her spirit would remain forever inside the golden statue.

All of a sudden, a phantom appeared.  “You will not destroy my brothers!”  With a blast of lighting from his tentacles, the statue started fading away.  Quickly, Greely used his magic to grasp Mira’s spirit from the statue.  When he looked up again, the phantom and the statue were gone.

Greely used his powers and quickly created a sack of statues.  He took a bit of Mira’s spirit and put some in each statue.  “These are the only ones,” Greely rumbled.  “They deserve a special spot.”

Greely waved his paw and they disappeared.  “Their new home is Jam Mart Furniture.”

And to this day, only one statue remains there, gleaming and golden.