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He raised his head; there was so much in his eyes, she thought: disappointment, embarrassment, regret -- and tiredness too. "I was stupid to believe that a miracle might be possible. I was so foolish."
Mma Ramotswe sat down at the table and took his hand. "It is not all foolish to hope for miracles," she said. "No, it is not foolish, Rra. Not foolish at all. There are many miracles." (The Miracle at Speedy Motors)
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We looked at the Dragonspyre memory crystal and the image it was projecting, that of Christina. She seemed sad. Her mouth opened and her voice came out in sobs.
"If you are hearing this message, you must be either Grace or Sierra."
I was stunned. She called me my proper name, not 'carrot fairy.' This was serious.
"I am a failure to you and to the Spiral and do not deserve to be your friend anymore. I... failed to stop Morganthe. Let me explain how it happened..."
"I managed to get some guys from around Baobab to help me out, a Necromancer, a Diviner and somebody else who I forget. We entered the vortex."
"We ended up underwater and there, smirking like a jackass was Tse-Tse. He laughed at me and said Morganthe knew me better than I knew me. What a load of bull."
Bull elephant, that is - I shut him up with the Jade Oni while the others took out his Haunt. He screamed for help as he died, that coward. I flipped him a finger and found a path to the surface. (Tse Tse Snaketail, the rematch, is no different, but he doesn't cheat this time.)
"I found that witch, Morgie. Man she's creepy close-up, she looked like she needs a year under the sun! "You have grown in power, Wizard. I am impressed."
"Yeah, what of it," I said.
"Why waste your time running about with those kittens?" she said. "Imagine what I could teach you."
"Yeah... right!" I said with a sneer. "You messed with that exchange program and scared every student in it from ever coming here again! Why did you even bother attacking the students? You only needed the prince, those kids had nothing to do with this."
Then she dropped a bombshell! "You're wrong, they had everything to do with it. I was once like you, Ravenwood's most promising student, but then Ambrose ended that." She clenched her fist. "I offer you endless power. Think of what we could do. Join me... we could rewrite the Spiral itself!"
I wanted to vomit there. "I'm a student of Balance," I told her with a rude voice. "You think you can convince me to throw away my years of training under Arthur and Al just to rule this universe? You are one sick woman, Morgie!"
"No?" Morgie snarled. "Then you can die and I will remain alone!"
"Fine with me, you'll die alone," I screamed. "And I swear, me and my friends are coming after you, sow. We're going to..."
She didn't even stop to listen, she summoned some freaky ghost guardians of the clans and they attacked me and my crew. We managed to win...
And I saw some guy who looked pretty interesting appear and slam the elephant ghost. (The Spectral Guardians are nasty gimmick bosses. The Elephant Guardian will use a Guardian Shield[-90% damage] on itself as long as the others are up and will then 'mark' someone. If that person doesn't use a Blade or other charm, the other Guardians will proc with cheat attacks that could kill you.)
Morganthe gloated and then chanted some freaky voodoo which caused an earthquake! Then she teleported away but I caught her signal and chased her into the portal...
And then the statues came to life, becoming those ugly beetle-men! They used a lot of Ice spells on us but we won in the end. (These Goliath Brawlers are Boss-level and each have 7240 HP and are Ice, and they start with five power pips so expect a LOT of Snow Angels and Frost Giants!)
"Because, Morgie," I told her. "You can't have it!"
She made a box appear and smashed it open. "At long last, the cursed seals that Ambrose put on my prize are gone! I now reclaim my Deck of Shadows." She pulled a wicked-looking black deck case from the shards and put it in her sleeve. I was shuddering as I realized that I had failed to stop her from restoring her power!
"Now, my pets are hungry..." She then traced a black spiral in the air and four creepy spiders appeared from it. Be glad you weren't there, Sierra. (The Sunburst Spiders have 6270 HP and are Storm so Grace did get killed from them when she went through here.)
I heard Morgie laugh. "Tell Ambrose that he can't stop me. The Horn WILL call." I then felt another tremor and looked around... the place was a mess, all the water was gone... the mirror had been broken. The prophecy is coming true.
I'm sorry, Sierra. I'm sorry, Grace. I am giving this to Inyanga and going into hiding until the end. Please forgive me...
"Yes, Rra Whitestripes," sighed Grace. "And now our friend is hiding like a dying lion from jackals."
"Prophecy has a way of fulfilling itself," said Inyanga, smiling. "This will not be the last time you three see her before the story is told."
"Christina ran away and hid in who knows where in the Spiral!" I said in anguish.
"And now Morganthe has returned to her true power and history repeats," murmured Grace sadly.
Inyanga patted her shoulder. "Take comfort, Rainchild. You three have done much good here. Had you not aided us, your fellow students and the Prince would have been lost forever and our world would have been set afire with war."
Grace sighed and nodded slowly. "Iie, I saved my world from Morganthe's power and now my family's spirits can rest in peace. That is most important."
"But what good will that do?" I said. "My friend is gone and Morganthe... will destroy everything!"
"Speak to Ambrose," said Inyanga. "Tell him the story of Zafaria. I am sure he can lead you to your friend. He led the Council of Light, he would know."
I then recalled the legend. "Yeah, Christina said he had a lot of explaining to do..."
I saw Grace hold back and stand at the edge of Baobab. I paused too, looking around. This world was very wonderful. "Grace..."
"Let me... stay a bit longer, Mma," she whispered. "We'll have tea in the office later."
I nodded and left.
Grace knelt before the stones which marked the grave of her daddy.
"I will stop Morganthe. I MUST stop Morganthe. For the sake of putting your spirit to ease. Please watch over me and my friends as we fight the Shadow Web."
[The end... for now!]
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