Prologue Dimitri held his breath as he watched the dark phantom wrapped in a ragged cloak of an archmage fly overhead. He was sure Thael's invisibility cloak shrouded them from the spirit, but he dared not make a sound, even breathing, while the creature flew so close to them. Though the woods were thick where they ventured, the twisting grey-brown trees of the Shade Wood never seemed to produce a leaf, only sporadic bran...

Chapter Nineteen: New years On new years day Ethan stepped outside his room and walked to the lobby to find out the mansion had transformed again. But this time it was much more different than on Christmas. The lobby had grown 20 times in size, maybe more, and no longer had a pool or hot tubs; it was now like an open street in a massive city. Things were a little dark like it was night time but there were paper lanterns f...

Chapter Eighteen: Christmas On Christmas day the mansion was transformed in a spectrum of colors that rose from the ground and covered the walls, ceiling and everything inside the mansion. Everything these colors of light washed over transformed its surface into something new entirely. The monotone walls changed into vibrant hues of red and green. Sparkling ornaments on diamond strings hung from the ceilings. And massive...

Chapter Seventeen: Family Legacy Ethan took a sip of the tea Marry had prepared for both of them. It was delicious. “I didn’t know this place had tea.” Ethan said taking another sip from his cup. “It doesn’t.” Marry said. “I must gather the herbs myself from the living world, as long as I don’t take too much at a time no one notices at all.” Ethan took another sip of his tea and waited for Marry to continue. “Right, your...

Chapter Sixteen: Suspicions Sabrina flinched in fear as the sword came down at her, but instead of cutting her down the blade sliced through her shackles. The rider then pulled back his hood and sheathed his sword. “Thomas!” Sabrina rejoiced. Thomas held out his hand saying, “Hurry now hop on; the both of you. We don’t have much time until they get here.” Sabrina took Thomas,’ hand and he swiftly pulled her up onto the ho...

Chapter Fifteen: Marry Cromwell “Sabrina Cromwell, you stand accused of practicing witchcraft in broad daylight and in front of the general public, how do you plead?” Sabrina stood in front of the court with her head held high. She knew all of the jury; they were her neighbors, her friends. She had lived in Salem all her life and was a respected member of the community, and one of its only herbalists. But none of that mat...

Chapter Fourteen: The Network Marry came out of the tournament inside her room in the exact same spot she was in before entering the portal. She had grown accustomed to how the tournament portal worked after a long time. At one point, Marry made it her goal to see where every portal would take her on what level of the mansion or room. She discovered that the portals into the tournaments take her or anyone to specific loca...

Chapter Thirteen: Memories of Family Ethan waited until all of the bodies had disappeared from the cave before moving on. He wandered around the caverns for hours, maybe even days before finally finding a portal out of them. The portal took Ethan to a desolate swamp with patches of land and muddy water around it all. There was a light mist all around and the only other life Ethan could see was the occasional dark decaying...

Chapter Twelve: The Shadow Twins Ethan and Picario watched in amazement at the battle that erupted from below them. Marry was the first to strike with a bolt of powerful lightning. The twin’s barley dodged it but Mary kept them moving, rapidly throwing bolts of lightning at the twins who were beginning to separate further apart. As soon as the twins were in flanking position of Marry they made their counterattack. Shadow...

Chapter Eleven: Grand Tournament Round Two Ethan returned to his shared room with Picario and discovered that his box full of clothes was already placed inside their bedroom. While Ethan pulled out his clothes, Picario came into the bedroom and asked, “So how was your date?” Ethan kept his eyes on his task at hand and said, “First, it wasn’t a date, and second, do I detect a hint of jealousy?” Picario threw his pillow and...

Chapter Ten: Kelly’s Mansion Tour Ethan peeked his head around the corner and saw that the hall was empty. The neon lights in it were dim looked like the path could either end in two steps or go on for hours. Slowly Ethan walked down the hall keeping his eyes forward expecting someone to jump out in front of him at any moment. No one came into the open hall, Ethan turned behind him to see if anyone would sneak up on him,...

Chapter Nine: Battle Games Sunday came by faster than Ethan anticipated and he almost forgot he was signed up for a mini game that day. Picario told Ethan that a portal will automatically manifest itself in front of him when it was time for him to enter the game. “How do I know when the portal will come though?” Ethan asked Picario. “You will get a note that you can’t miss five minutes before the game starts as a notice,”...

Chapter Seven: MalevolentSpirit After Ethan agreed to be Picario’s roommate, Picario transformed his bed into a bunk bed. It was the same proportions as the first but with a top part attached to it. The two of them then wrestled around for who would be on top bunk; but ultimately decided ‘first come, first serve’. Days passed by without the two of them fully realizing it, as they would spend most of their time inside Pica...

Chapter Six: Roommates Ethan had no time to admire the luxurious lobby of the 94th floor as he arrived there because Picario was already jogging off down the hall to the rooms section. Ethan jogged after him and quickly caught up. Picario said nothing during their jog and even shoved a couple people out of the way as he turned down the first corridor; Ethan had to apologize for him. Picario jogged down the corridor then s...

Chapter Four: Picario When Ethan got into the first floor lounge it was practically empty. There were handfuls of other phantoms standing or sitting around in groups, but they barely made a dent in the massive sized lounge. Now that it wasn’t swarming with phantoms, Ethan realized just how big the room really was. He also noticed that there were three wide halls to the right of the stairs with signs above each of them. Th...