A Hero's beginning

Chapter 12

Since the dance was beginning soon Jackson, David and I changed into our suits. David had a velvet suit with a black dress shirt. I put on a black suit with a white dress shirt and slipped Madelynn's silver mirror into my pocket. Jackson was wearing a seafoam-green suit with a white dress shirt. While Jackson and David went to pick up their dates I walked towards Madelynn's dorm which was right down the hall after picking up a thorn-less rose from a vase. Earlier today, after the ceremony, I had turned my staff into its portable form, which was a silver full moon pendant on a silver chain. I walked up to Madelynn's door and I heard yelling inside. I knocked on the door and it swung open. Grace stood there in a sleeveless knee-length gray dress with matching heels and a purse. "Madelynn is checking one of her assignments, it may take a little while." she said before she pushed past me and walked away. I looked into the room and saw Madelynn on the couch tapping on a crystal ball that was sitting on the coffee table in front of her.  Madelynn tapped the sphere, turning it off, and composed herself. She was wearing an ankle length ancient-greek style dress with a sun pendant on a golden chain around her neck. "Hey Maddy," I said as I leaned over the couch and smiled. "Everything ok?" I asked. "Yeah, its fine. Let's get going." She said as she got up. She and I walked hand in hand to the great hall, where the dance was being held. It was only five o'clock but the full moon was already rising into the sky. As the two of us walked into the great hall we had to duck as a bolt of electricity shot over our heads. "Sorry!" Someone called. The great hall had two long tables full of refreshments on both sides of the room with white tablecloths. Everyone was wearing formal wear and mingling freely. I noticed David and Grace arguing in a corner while Jackson was slow dancing with a girl whose face I couldn't see. Whoever she was, she was wearing a sparkly knee-length dark green dress with gold leaf designs. Her blonde hair was swept behind her pointed elf ears. I looked up at the large circular stained glass window depicting a glowing angel of light and noticed the full moon rising outside but something was strange about it, it was slightly tinted red. I assumed it was just the stained glass. There were instruments flying around playing some slow music. Madelynn and I walked over the dance floor over to David and Grace. I caught a bit of their argument, "You brought her to the dance!?" Grace snapped. "I'm allowed to go out with whoever I want to!" David yelled. I saw a brown haired girl at a circular table next to them doing her nails while looking extremely annoyed and bored. Just then Kayla ran up to us out of the crowd of people on the dance floor. "Hi James!" she said. "Hi, I'm Kayla, James' sister." she said as she shook Madelynn's hand. Kayla's kaleidoscope eyes reflected the purple of her knee-length dress, her brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. "Hi Kayla, I'm Madelynn. I'm James' friend." Madelynn said. "Oooohh, so your Madelynn. James has told me about you." Kayla said. "Is that so?" Madelynn said with a smirk, "What exactly has he said?" Fortunately, before Kayla could answer a seven and a half foot tall giant kid stomped his foot as he argued with a female dwarf who was only four feet tall. "Not again!" Kayla said as she summoned her staff which was five feet tall with a carved calico cat head on top. She ran across the room to the giant and dwarf to break up the fight before it escalated. "So that was my sister." I said. The girl who was sitting near Grace and got up slapped David across the face and stormed off. After that Madelynn and I went over to the dance floor. She put her arms around my neck, I put my hands on her waist and we slowly danced for a few seconds. I felt a strange warmth emitting from my moon pendant, I looked down at the necklace and noticed it was quickly turning blood red. I looked up at the stained glass window and noticed that the moonlight had suddenly been tinted red. It wasn't the moonlight, it was a blood moon. I stood up and pointed. "Guys, look." I said. Just then a metal orb the size of a head crashed through the window and started beeping. "Take cover!" I yelled. We all hit the dirt as the orb exploded, sending shrapnel all over the place, tearing paintings, breaking trophy cases, and stabbing people. We all ran out of the great hall and ran out of the school. The protocol for blood moon attacks was that us students had to help everyone from the island next to ours get into the school for safety. Several dozen people ran towards the castle carrying pets and children. They were being chased by about a hundred soldiers in strange spec-ops type armor that had red visors on their helmets and the guns from my dream in their hands. The other students and I ran forward to hold off the soldiers and get the citizens inside. The pendant on my necklace was magnetically attached to the chain, so I ripped it off. I had no idea if it would work but I threw the pendant on the ground hoping it would transform. The pendant grew and turned into a dire wolf with pure white fur and intelligent blue eyes about the size of a pickup truck not including its head and tail. I hopped on its back and rode into battle, gripping its fur to stay on. Then a dozen of the ships from my dream landed on the edge of the island and dropped off several more soldiers. "What are these things!?" Jackson yelled as he smacked one of the soldiers with his staff, knocking out the soldier. I noticed a little boy no more than five hiding behind a bush sobbing in fear as a few of the soldiers advanced on his hiding spot. I ran over, took out my wand and shouted "Flammas boltun!" Instantly a ball of fire shot from my wand and set one of the soldiers on fire. I reached down and pulled the boy onto my wolf behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and screamed in fear. The wolf ran to the castle and two people who I assumed were the boy's parents ran forward and took him off the wolf. "Thank you so much." one of the parents said before the family ran into the academy. As the wolf ran through the crowd trying to find people to help get to the school I decided I might as well talk to him. "Well since the two of us are going to be hanging around each other a lot I should probably give you a name." I said. "How about Hunter?" the wolf howled in approval. "Well then Hunter, want to go bash some heads?" I asked and Hunter ran forward and pounced on one of the soldiers. I looked back at the academy and noticed that the earth elementals had summoned stone from the earth and used it to create a defensive wall around the school with thorn bushes instead of barbed wire and armed ballistae every eight feet. Just then the battle went silent except the families scrambling to get into the school and the soldiers forming rows in front of a triangular ship that was hovering over the battlefield. A holographic image of a man with short trimmed brown hair and brown stubble with dark, dark brown eyes appeared at the triangles tip. "Hello strange world, I am Emperor Lauden Rathmore. You may call me The Emperor. Surrender peacefully and we will spare your pathetic lives. We will be back in a week for your answer to our offer." He said. I raised my arm and pointed at the ship, the soldiers at the ballistae aimed at the ship and prepared to fire. "Hunter, let's get up there a.s.a.p.." I whispered into Hunter's ear. As Hunter ran forward I noticed Madelynn and the others on the backs of their animai, except for Trinity who was sitting behind Jackson on his giant deer with her arms around his waist. Our animai launched into the air and in a flash of light we were inside the ship which consisted of nothing but a large throne with the emperor reclining in it with several dozen people using strange typewriters with screens. "Hurry up. We should get back to our world- Who are they!? Get them!" the emperor yelled and a few guards that had been circling the throne charged at us with the spears from my dream. "Stop! You don't see us." Madelynn said and I looked at her like she was crazy but the guard's eyes turned misty and they went back around the throne where the Emperor also was misty eyed. Suddenly out the front window where the triangular tip was, a large wormhole opened and the ship flew through it, followed by the soldier transports which had picked up the imperial soldiers from the battlefield. I returned Hunter to pendant form. Madelynn returned her she-lion to its pendant form which was the sun pendant she had been wearing earlier. The others returned their animai to their dormant forms. In a matter of seconds we exited the wormhole on the other end and what I saw horrified me.