Sasha charged forward at the figure in white again, slashing at it, but it melted into the floor, avoiding her attack. Sasha quickly turned around, expecting to be attacked from behind, but the figure didn't appear behind her. She frantically looked around, trying to find out from which direction the figure would appear. Once again, a red glow enveloped her body, picking her up off the ground and throwing her a long distance. Sasha hit the ground hard, hearing a loud, evil laugh as she did.
"You keep falling for that, Sasha," said the figure, finally appearing a few feet away. "You're starting to disappoint me."
Sasha said nothing as she got up, picked up her swords, and charged at the figure again. Though he dodged her attack and summoned up some vines to restrain her, Sasha quickly cut through them and continued toward the figure before finally having him in her sights. As Sasha got closer, though, the figure lifted its hand and closed it into a fist, a red glow forming around it as he did. Sasha immediately tripped and fell down, her feet feeling unnaturally heavy. Sasha turned around and looked down at her feet, letting out a gasp of horror as she did. Her feet had turned to stone, and she couldn't feel or move them at all. As if that weren't bad enough, the stone was spreading, slowly crawling up her legs, and turning everything it touched into stone.
"Wha—what's going on?!" asked Sasha desperately. "What are you doing to me?"
"Oh, are you unfamiliar with petrification?" asked the figure slyly. "I guess they don't have it in Amphibia."
Sasha looked down again and saw the stone had advanced all the way up to her waist. She couldn't feel or move her legs at all, and the sensation of being helpless was starting to scare her. Sasha tried desperately to move her feet or legs, but with each failed attempt, she became more and more nervous.
"It's a slow process," began the figure. "But once completed, it is permanent. You'll be frozen as a statue for the rest of time."
Sasha struggled in vain as the petrification moved to her chest.
"No… Why? Why are you doing this?" asked Sasha.
"To teach you a lesson, Sasha," said the figure, "though it's not too late. Help me get what I want, and I'll let you live."
"Never!" yelled Sasha defiantly.
"You'd really rather die fighting me than helping me," said the figure. "I've seen inside your heart, Sasha. I know how much you love being in control. I love that too. In fact, in my world, I am in control! I am the undisputed ruler of my realm, and I'm offering to share that with you."
"And what did you have to do to get in control?" spat Sasha.
The figure paused before replying, "I told you I had to sacrifice much. I even had to sacrifice… my brother."
Sasha let out a gasp as she heard that, looking up into the figure's mask.
"Time's running out, Sasha," said the figure as the petrification continued its way up Sasha's body. Her arms had begun to turn to stone, and Sasha couldn't move them anymore.
"Go to hell!" yelled Sasha, even as she lost the use of her arms. "I'll never help you!"
The figure looked down at her, seemingly unperturbed. The petrification continued its slow, deadly climb, now up to Sasha's mouth. As soon as it passed, she couldn't speak anymore, but she still stared defiantly into the masked face of her tormentor. A few seconds later, her gaze was locked on him as the stone spread past her eyes. Shortly after that, the process reached the top of her head and was completed, freezing her in stone forever.
The figure in white let out a loud, cruel laugh!
Sasha bolted out of bed, letting out a loud scream as she did. She quickly thrashed around, moving her arms and legs wildly, wanting to make sure they worked. As she did, she fell out of her bed and onto the floor, entangled in the sheets. After a few seconds, Sasha brought her hands to her face and moved them in front of her eyes, feeling relieved to see her hands were her own again. She looked down at her feet and wiggled her toes, bringing her hand to her heart and letting out a long sigh of relief as she did. Sasha stood up and looked around the Plantars' basement. She had decided to stay in Anne's old room for the time being. She walked around the basement, trying to get blood flowing to her body again, with a cold sweat running down her face. Even though it was a dream, it felt so real! She felt her arms and legs seizing up and not working when they had been petrified. She had felt that terrible feeling of helplessness as her own body refused to obey her commands. She felt scared as the petrification slowly moved up her body, preventing any of her affected limbs from moving. She walked over to the window in the basement and looked out, seeing that it was still night, the red moon of Amphibia shining down across the land. As she continued to look out the window, she heard the same cruel laugh she had heard in her dream in her head.
Aww, are you not sleeping well, Sasha? asked the voice sarcastically to her. You've spent the past few nights having nightmares.
I have to admit, you trying to break me by preventing me from getting sleep is a good tactic, answered Sasha in her head, but it won't work.
What makes you so sure? asked the voice.
Because I'm stronger than you, answered Sasha with confidence. I won't fall for your tricks.
Everyone has to sleep eventually, Sasha, taunted the voice. You've been pushing yourself for days now. How long do you think you can last?
As long as I need to, answered Sasha. That trick with the petrification was new, and that did get me, but I guess it's not as powerful as you thought.
On the contrary, Sasha answered the voice. I've seen it work hundreds of times on living creatures. The only reason it didn't work on you was because it was a dream. That wasn't your real body. If it was, you would be nothing but a statue right now. The sensation was real, though, wasn't it?
Sasha bent down and touched her toes, trying to stretch her legs, especially her back leg muscles. She stretched out her arms as well, trying to relieve the stiff feeling she felt in them. Finally, she picked her foot off the ground and put it in her hand, stretching it out while standing on only one leg, doing her best to keep her balance. After a few minutes, she brought that foot down and repeated the gesture with her other hand and foot, maintaining her balance on one leg.
Yeah, well, unlucky for you, I'm a cheerleader, shot back Sasha. And not just any cheerleader—the captain of the squad! Being limber and flexible is second nature to me! So a little fake petrification is nothing I can't handle.
The voice paused for a second. It didn't want to admit it had no idea what a "cheerleader" was or why Sasha would brag about being one.
Well then, I guess I'll have to try something else in the future, said the voice. With that, it finally stopped talking to her. Sasha turned back to the window, knowing she was now fully awake and that it would be hard to fall back asleep again. She gazed out into the night, hoping that her friends were okay and wondering if this current effort to cure Uodeela would work.
As Sasha opened the door to the basement, she could smell something coming from the kitchen. Grime was already up and making breakfast (she was honestly surprised at how good he was at cooking), while Gustav was in the living room, writing notes about the elixir. He called over to Sasha as he saw her emerge from the basement.
"Hey, Sasha," he said. "How are you this morning?"
"I'm fine," replied Sasha, though her baggy eyes seemed to suggest otherwise.
"That's good to hear," said Gustav. "I think Grime is almost done with breakfast."
"How are your notes coming along?" asked Sasha.
"So far, so good," he said. "If all goes well, then this should be the last ingredient we need to start making the elixir. Though it is another substitute."
"What is it?" asked Sasha.
"Says it needs an ice flower from the knee," said Gustav. "I'm not exactly sure what 'the knee' is, but there are a species of flowers that grow in the Amphibian Arctic that should work." He reached over and handed Sasha a piece of paper with a drawing on it.
"This is what it looks like," he continued. "We may have to dig in the snow a bit to find them, but they should be in bloom right now."
Sasha took the paper and looked at the flower. "Okay, well, that's good to hear. I suppose we should start thinking of phase two then, right?"
"Precisely!" said a voice from behind them, causing Sasha to jump in fear.
"Oh, sorry," said Maddie as she appeared behind Sasha. "Felt like teleporting in, you know, making an entrance. Plus, I brought some bread for us to enjoy with breakfast." She held out a basket of bread.
"Thanks," said Sasha, reaching in and taking some.
"Did you sleep well?" asked Emmanuel, getting up from the couch. They had decided to use the Plantar house as their headquarters, at least for now. Emmanuel was staying with them, as were Gustav and Grime.
"Breakfast is ready!" called Grime from the kitchen. Sasha, Maddie, and Gustav went into the kitchen and sat down.
"What's for breakfast today, Grime?" asked Sasha.
"I've got some eggs and potatoes," said Grime. "Lucky for us, the Plantars had a lot of potatoes." He brought over a plate of steamed potatoes. Sasha took one and began to munch on it.
"Hmmm, this is good," said Sasha between bites.
"It's best eaten warm," said Grime.
"I think this might be the best potato I've ever eaten," said Sasha as she ate the potato.
As they ate breakfast, Maddie went over the plan.
"Well, once we have everything, we just need to brew it. Once it's done, we then have to figure out how exactly we're going to get Uodeela to drink it."
"Yeah, that's definitely going to be the hard part," said Gustav nervously.
"Don't worry, I'm working on that," replied Emmanuel. "Before you leave, you can check out some of the drills we're running."
"Sounds good," said Maddie. "For now, let's head out and get that flower!"
"Right!" said Sasha and Gustav together.
After breakfast, Sasha went outside to see how things were going. The rest of the frog army had arrived in Wartwood over the last few days. Emmanuel had informed them of what was going on, and although they had agreed to work together, Sasha couldn't help but notice how many of them gave the two the stink eye as they passed by them. Grime informed Sasha that he and the other Toad Lords had killed other frogs in the past in an effort to keep the towns in line and weren't surprised at the cold reception he got. Percy and Braddock joined them as they walked to the sparrow.
"Every now and then, there would be a frog who started making complaints about taxes," he explained to Sasha, "and the best way to deal with that was to make an example of them. It usually worked, then tax collection would resume and things would go back to normal."
Sasha looked into Grime's face, not sure how to process that. "Was that all the toads did?"
"No, we were also responsible for keeping order in the areas, and we would occasionally attack any large or dangerous predators in the area," replied Grime. "I mean, we can't collect taxes from the frogs if they're dead."
"We also distributed flyers to the towns," added Braddock.
"What kind of flyers?" asked Sasha.
"Oh, usually reminders about tax season," said Percy, "but also ones with important safety messages." He reached into his cloak and pulled out a flyer, handing it to Sasha. The flyer had a large picture of a heron rampaging around, and below was what looked to be some frogs cowering in a basement, holding up the door that led to it. At the top of the flyer was a title that read.
"Information Available for Public Discourse: It is recommended that all homes have a basement to hide from the herons in! The basement should be at least 30 square feet in area and have doors that open outward. It should also have enough rations to last for up to a week."
"Huh, did these actually help?" asked Sasha.
"I think so," said Percy. "Most of the Wartwood people I talked to said they have a basement."
"Most of the frogs I've talked to from other towns have basements too," said Braddock.
"Why even bother with these safety flyers?" asked Sasha. "I thought toads didn't like frogs."
"Well, the frogs can't very well pay taxes if they're dead," replied Grime. Percy, Braddock, and Sasha gave him a look.
"What?! It's true!" said Grime. "We didn't want all of them to be killed, just the ones who made noise about having to pay. Though I guess in hindsight, we should have realized the frogs wouldn't take it forever. Even so, I never would have thought the frogs would be able to organize such a large and complex resistance against us, nor that they would actually pose a challenge."
"Guess we underestimated them," said Sasha.
Sasha looked out across the fields and saw the frog army taking part in drills and training. Some of them had broken off into sparring matches, while others were still doing exercises. Others were studying battle tactics and trying to commit them to memory. The Wartwoodians had joined up with the frog army and were busy with their own tasks. Loggle had joined a group of frogs doing push-ups but was struggling to do them.
"Not sure I'm cut out for this," he said as he fell from doing another push-up.
"Come on, you maggot! Try harder!" yelled the frog who was leading the exercise.
"Oh, did you say maggots?" said Loggle. "I could go for some maggots right now."
The frog gave Loggle a harsh look, causing Loggle to cower and go back to the push-ups.
"You'll thank me for this one day," said the frog. "You won't last long on the battlefield if you can't rely on your own strength!"
Stumpy had set up a large outdoor kitchen and was doing his best to prepare meals for the army.
"I haven't worked this hard since I was preparing meals for the toads in the Southern Tower. I'll admit feeding an army of frogs does feel a lot more satisfying."
Meanwhile, Felicia and Ivy were giving martial arts training to a young group of frogs.
"Fold the napkin!" commanded Felicia, doing a complicated movement with her hands.
"I don't know what that means," said the frog, as he struggled to fold the napkin in his hands.
"You heard her!" yelled Ivy. "Fold the napkin!" She repeated the gesture with her own hands.
The group passed another section of soldiers. Emmanuel was leading them and having to work some sort of drill with ropes. They tossed them at each other, quickly tying them off and then pounding them into the ground with stakes.
"Oh, I think those frogs are practicing for when we fight Uodeela," said Percy.
"Yes, we are," said Emmanuel, noticing the group and coming over. "If this cure is going to work, we need to find a way to subdue her quickly. Herons are already fierce predators, and Uodeela is even stronger than a regular one. I've got the frog army running drills so that hopefully, once your potential cure is ready, we will be ready on our end."
"Sasha is on her way right now to get the last ingredient," said Braddock.
"Yes, Maddie and Gustav are going with me," said Sasha. "In fact, we were getting ready to leave right now." As she said this, Sasha waved to Maddie and Gustav, who were close by Joe Sparrow, getting things ready for their trip. The two came over and joined the group.
"We're all set to head off," said Maddie.
"Once you get the last ingredient, you can start brewing the cure, right?" Emmanuel asked Maddie.
"Yeah, we could even start later today if you want," said Gustav.
"Good, then we'll keep up our efforts on this end, too," said Emmanuel. "Between you getting that cure and the troops working to tie down an angry, rampaging Uodeela, we should hopefully be ready to put it all together."
"Maybe I can give you a hand," said Grime. "The toads have been fighting herons for a long time, and we have a few methods that might be helpful to you."
"Sure, of course," said Emmanuel. "Any advice you can give us would be helpful."
"Good luck, Grimesy," said Sasha as she hugged Grime goodbye.
"Take care of yourself, lieutenant," said Grime, though as the two parted, he looked hard at Sasha's face.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked with concern in his voice. "You have bags under your eyes. Have you been getting enough sleep?"
"I'm fine, Grimesy," said Sasha in a happy voice, clearly trying to play it off.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "Is there any particular reason you haven't been sleeping well?"
"I, uh… guess I've just been stressed from this whole cure thing," replied Sasha. "I just really want it to work, and that's been what's keeping me up at night."
Grime looked hard at Sasha, but eventually bought that explanation. Sasha left to join Gustav and Maddie as they climbed aboard Joe Sparrow. Sasha waved goodbye as the three took off into the sky.
"You really do care about her, don't you?" asked Emmanuel once he and Grime were alone.
Grime paused before replying, "Yes, I do. I never thought I would care for anyone, let alone her. We didn't start off as friends. I found her outside Toad Tower and locked her in prison."
"Why am I not surprised by that…" said Emmanuel in a sardonic tone.
"But we did eventually grow close, and now... now, I would do anything for her," said Grime in a somber tone.
"I have a daughter myself," said Emmanuel. "I know the feeling. I hope wherever Lilly is, she's okay."
Emmanuel looked off into the distance, not sure where his daughter was but assured by the fact that she had been trained by Uodeela. And also that she was the chosen wielder of the Masamune, and she had shown herself to be a capable warrior at the battle of Newtopia. As much as Emmanuel wished she was here with him, he knew wherever she was, she could take care of herself. After a bit, he spoke again.
"I never thought that I'd ever have something in common with you, Grime, but I suppose even you can learn to be a father."
Grime didn't say anything in response, though he continued to look to the horizon, where Joe Sparrow was flying.
As they arrived at the Arctic, Sasha shivered from how cold it was. Anne had supposedly been here before, though she hadn't said much about her previous trip. The group spread out and located the flower they needed, gathering up some samples and making sure to preserve them. As they gathered up the flowers, Sasha let out a long yawn, with Gustav and Maddie both looking at her as she did. As they got ready to head home, Sasha decided to ask Gustav and Maddie a question.
"Hey, so you're both experts on magic, right?" she began.
"Well, Maddie is a little more advanced than me," said Gustav. "Is it true you're already working on level three potions and curses?"
"Yep, I'm moving up fast," said Maddie proudly.
"Wow, that's great! After Uodeela, I haven't really kept up my magic training, since there was so much else to do afterward," admitted Gustav. "But I am glad to have this chance to work on this elixir with you two. Maddie did let me read some of that book she has."
"Okay, but you both know about magic and curses and all that, right?" asked Sasha again. The two nodded their heads.
"Good, because I have a hypothetical question I need an answer to," said Sasha. She paused before continuing, "Is it possible to use magic to… possess someone? You know, take control of them?"
"Oh yeah, of course," answered Maddie matter-of-factly.
"And, uh… How do you do that?" continued Sasha.
"Well, there's a specific incantation you need to say to the creature you want to possess," said Gustav. "Uodeela taught us a few things about basic curses, but this one is much more advanced. I actually read about it in Maddie's book."
"I should add that this possession curse only works on lesser creatures," said Maddie, "like bugs and such. I don't think it can work on a frog or a human."
"Are you sure?" asked Sasha nervously.
"I mean, I've never tried using it on anything other than a regular bug," said Maddie. "My book says that other creatures' brains are too complex for it to work on."
"Okay… So, uh, what happens when you possess a creature?" asked Sasha.
"Well, you basically control them," said Maddie, "and you can see through their eyes, observe what they see, and even have them attack things for you."
Sasha gulped as she heard this. In the back of her mind, she wondered just how much the voice in her head knew about her and her friends.
"And, uh, how does the creature get free of that possession?" asked Sasha.
Gustav and Maddie looked at each other, their faces falling.
"Well, uh, they don't," answered Maddie. "The possession only lasts up to an hour. After that, uh—"
"The creature dies," finished Gustav.
"Oh, um, thanks for telling me," said Sasha, now more nervous.
"Any particular reason you want to know about possession?" asked Maddie.
"No reason, just curious," replied Sasha hastily. Gustav and Maddie shared a look, not sure they bought that completely.
"I mean, that's the only form of possession I know of," said Maddie. "Maybe there are others I'm unaware of."
"I see," began Sasha. "So have either of you heard of any form of possession that results in someone talking to you in your head and in your dreams?"
"Can't say I have," said Gustav, "though I'm not sure that's exactly possession. What Maddie is talking about is actually taking control of a creature and making it obey your commands. What you're describing sounds more like… uh, haunting, I guess. Not sure what else I'd call it."
Sasha's face fell as she heard what Gustav said. She honestly had no idea what was going on in her head and had hoped maybe one of them did. She had also purposely tried to play it off as "just asking questions", so as not to worry the others.
"Have you been having weird dreams, Sasha?" asked Maddie with concern in her voice. "Maybe I can help you with that."
"I mean, not all dreams mean something, right?" asked Sasha nervously. "Dreams can just be random and weird, right?"
"Yeah, that's true," said Gustav, "but I've noticed you haven't been sleeping well lately. If the reason for that is that you've been having nightmares, we'd like to help if we can."
Sasha paused as she considered the offer. After some hesitation, she decided to tell part of the truth. "Lately, I've been having the same dream over and over again. I'm fighting some… thing. I'm not sure what it is, but it's some sort of figure wearing a white cloak and a mask. Every night, I fight him, and every night, I lose."
"I see," began Maddie. "Oh, I might have something that can help with that. I have a sleeping potion that will let you have a dreamless sleep. It's perfect for what you just described, so you can have a nice, peaceful, dreamless sleep."
Sasha's eyes lit up at that. "Thank you, Maddie. I could really use that."
Later that day, Sasha, Maddie, and Gustav were in the front yard of the Plantar house, brewing up the elixir.
"How's that potion coming?" asked Sasha as she looked over at the caldron.
"It's an elixir, not a potion," corrected Maddie. "And I think it's coming along fine. Oh, look, it's finally changing color."
The three of them looked at the liquid in the cauldron. It had indeed changed from a dark green to a bright blue.
"Now all we need to do is let it sit overnight," said Maddie. "If we did it right, it should be a bright gold in the morning."
"So this thing will cure Uodeela?" asked Sasha.
"Don't know," replied Maddie matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean you don't know?" exclaimed Sasha with worry. "I thought you were a potion expert. Plus, Gus is helping you, and he's had magic training too. I figured with both of you working together, you'd know for sure if it would work."
Gustav and Maddie looked at each other, then back at Sasha. Gustav finally spoke up, "The thing is, we've never brewed anything like this before. The recipe was very complicated, and we had to substitute one or two of the ingredients because we couldn't find them. I'm not sure that all the listed ingredients exist in our world. So instead, we replaced them with ones that do exist in our world and that we felt were close enough."
"The other thing is that when you're brewing an elixir, you really shouldn't be using any kind of substitute. You're supposed to follow it exactly as it's written," said Maddie, concerned, "but this was the best we could do. And as of now, it's the only lead we have on curing her."
"But you don't know if it will work?" asked Sasha.
"There's no way to know if it will work without testing it," said Gustav. "The problem is going to be getting her to drink it."
All three of them looked at the cauldron, their hopes fading as they realized just how hard it would be to get Uodeela to drink the elixir.
"I guess we should probably start talking about that, shouldn't we?" asked Gustav. A few moments later, Grime and Emmanuel joined the trio outside the Plantars' home.
"So tomorrow, the elixir will be ready?" asked Emmanuel.
"If all goes well, yes," said Maddie. "But now we have two problems that we need to talk about. The first is, How do we get her to drink it? The second is… I'm honestly not sure it will work."
"Because you had to substitute certain ingredients, right?" asked Emmanuel. Maddie nodded her head.
"So you're saying there's a chance that we could go to all the trouble of trapping her and making her drink this, only for it not to cure her?" said Grime.
"Yes, exactly," said Gustav. "But before we worry about that, we should discuss how we're going to restrain her. A regular heron is already hard enough to fight against, even the toads don't attack them recklessly. But Uodeela is stronger than a normal heron, thanks to her curse."
"We should focus on tying up her legs," said Grime. "If we can get her to the ground, we'll have a better chance of administering the potion to her."
"Elixir!" corrected Maddie, "not potion."
"Right," said Grime.
"Going for the legs is a sound plan," said Sasha. "If we can trip her, the frogs can go over her with ropes and hold her down."
"So what do we do if the cure doesn't work?" asked Gustav hesitantly, "I know we may not want to talk about it, but we need to acknowledge it as a possibility."
The group all looked at each other. They were all thinking the same thing, but no one wanted to say it. Maddie finally spoke up.
"If it doesn't work… do we need to… kill her?" she asked.
Again, the group looked at each other as they processed what Maddie said, no one wanting to confirm her fear.
"If we let her go, there's a chance she could attack us all and destroy our army," said Emmanuel in a heavy voice. "But even so, Uodeela was my friend. I can't…."
"Maybe if it doesn't work, we could sic her on Andrias?" suggested Grime. "Let her do the work of destroying his floating castle."
"Lilly might still be in that castle!" protested Emmanuel. "And besides that, we have no idea what other weapons Andrias has. Sending her to fight Andrias would be tantamount to killing her."
"At least she might do some damage to him first," said Grime. Emmanuel gave him a harsh look.
"Hey, I'm trying to help," said Grime. "If the cure doesn't work, we may as well get some use out of her and send her to fight our enemy."
"What if Andrias captures her instead?" said Maddie. "You have no idea what resources he has. If he gets ahold of her, things could turn out even worse for us."
"We could try keeping her locked up," suggested Gustav. "Maybe if we keep her tied down, we can think of something else that may be able to eventually cure her."
"If this doesn't work, I honestly can't think of anything else that might," said Maddie reluctantly. "We'd be taking a real big risk in trying to keep her tied up. Plus, we'd have to feed her."
"If we try to keep her tied up, we run the risk of her breaking free," said Grime plainly. "If that happens, it could spell disaster for us."
The group stopped talking and looked at each other as they considered what to do. Finally, after a long beat of silence, Emmanuel spoke.
"Grime, if I may ask something of you," he said in a serious voice. Grime turned to look at him.
"If the cure doesn't work…" he began somberly, "I'd like to ask if you will... put her out of her misery."
Sasha had remained silent during the whole exchange. She looked hard at Emmanuel, before finally saying, "Why don't you do it?"
"Because I'm honestly not sure if I can," he answered plainly.
"Fine, I'll do it," agreed Grime, "but only on your order. Even if you can't do the deed yourself, you still need to be the one to tell me. And you better tell your army too, just so they don't get the wrong idea."
"I will," said Emmanuel in that same serious voice.
"Look, don't even worry. The cure is going to work," said Sasha.
"I hope so," said Emmanuel in a weary voice, "because I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't."
[Information Available for Public Disclosure: Herons typically attack in pairs. Two herons can eat an entire town of frogs in just under ten minutes.]
[Information Available for Public Disclosure: Uodeela's Red Heron Curse is a unique curse/potion hybrid that was developed by her, its ingredients and preparation method are a closely guarded secret]
"Sasha, wake up… Wake up, Sasha!" said the voice to her.
Sasha tried to ignore the voice.
"Sasha, I know you can hear me," said the voice. "You thought you weren't going to see me tonight."
Again, Sasha didn't respond, trying desperately to pretend she didn't hear the voice.
"The potion didn't work because I'm not a random dream, Sasha. I'm in your mind," said the voice.
"No," she sighed as she stood up. "I drank Maddie's potion. I wasn't supposed to have any dreams tonight."
"I told you, I'm in your mind," sneered Belos. "You can't get rid of me by simply not having dreams."
Sasha looked at the figure in front of her, a weariness in her eyes, as she pulled out her swords and prepared to face it.
"Sasha, I keep telling you we don't have to fight," said the figure. "Let's stop this pointless skirmish. Just do what I ask and bring me the box. I told you, you can stay with me in my castle, and I can give you purpose and a position in my ranks."
"I don't want that!" yelled Sasha.
"And you really think helping to cure Uodeela is going to fix everything?" asked the figure.
"Whether it does, or it doesn't, at least I know I tried!" said Sasha. She twirled her swords in her hands, ready to face the figure again. The figure let out a laugh as she did.
Sasha shot up out of bed, letting out a scream as she did. Cold sweat again covered her face. As Sasha reached up to wipe the sweat off her face, she felt something else there, too. She brought her hand back and saw it covered in some strange green sludge. That sludge looked familiar, though Sasha couldn't remember where she had seen it before. She pinched the sludge between her fingers before trying to throw it away. Sasha got up out of bed and again went over to the window. The sun was barely in the sky, just starting to peek onto the land. Sasha figured she was up now and wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep, so she made her way upstairs. She went to the kitchen and got a glass of water to drink. As she was about to head back to the basement, she heard a noise and saw Gustav come into the living room.
"Oh hey, Sasha. Are you already up?" he asked.
"Yeah, pretty much," she said in a plain voice. "Why are you up so early?"
"I was going to go check on the elixir," he said.
"Oh, good idea. I'll come with you," said Sasha.
The two made their way out the front door, and as they did, they were surprised to see Maddie already there.
"I woke up early because I was nervous," said Maddie. "As soon as I got up, I made my way over here."
The three stood over the cauldron and looked down into it. The elixir was a dull golden color.
"It's gold. That's the right color, right?" asked Sasha
Gustav and Maddie looked at each other before turning to Sasha.
"It's supposed to be a bright gold, though," said Maddie, "not a dull gold."
"So what does that mean?" asked Sasha.
"I don't really know," said Maddie as she looked into the cauldron. The three stood there, staring at the dull gold mixture, not saying anything. After a while, Sasha went back inside the house to get ready, leaving Maddie and Gustav alone. Once they were alone, Gustav reached into his cloak and pulled out a bottle of a dark blue liquid. Maddie was immediately fascinated by it.
"What is that?" she asked, looking intently at the bottle.
"Valeriana gave it to me. She told me it was something called Titan's Blood," answered Gustav.
"Can I see that?" asked Maddie. Gustav handed her the bottle, and Maddie brought it to her face, looking deep into it.
"I feel a strong magic aura from this," said Maddie. "Don't you feel it too?"
"I do," answered Gustav. "When Valeriana first gave it to me, she told me it could amplify magic. That's why I thought maybe it could help with the elixir. We shouldn't even need that much; only a drop or two should be enough."
Maddie looked at the elixir and then back at the bottle. She looked at Gustav, and the two nodded their heads. Maddie uncorked the bottle and brought it over to the elixir, carefully pouring three drops into the cauldron. The elixir sloshed and reacted to the drops. After a moment, it returned to its dull gold color. Maddie handed the bottle of Titan's Blood back to Gustav, and the two hoped this would work.
Sasha, Maddie, and Gustav stood still, peering off into the forest. Beside them, the rest of the frog army stood prepared. Many of them had a grim look on their faces. They knew what was coming for them. While they had done their best to prepare, there was only so much you could do when faced with an angry, rampaging heron. Sasha gripped her swords tightly as she looked toward the forest. At that moment, the group heard a loud screech. Shortly after that, Joe Sparrow shot up from the forest and charged back toward the army. Emmanuel steered the sparrow to the ground, allowing Grime to jump off. He drew out his hammer as he dismounted.
"She's coming," he said to Sasha in a worried voice.
"Look alive, troops," said Emmanuel from atop Joe Sparrow. "We brought Uodeela back! Everyone to your stations!"
From the forest, there was a sound of loud stomping and screeching. Seconds later, the Red Heron burst forth from the trees, spreading her wings wide and letting out another screech! She flapped her wings, creating a large gust of wind that slowly began to blow the frogs away. Maddie couldn't stay on the ground and began to get lifted off her feet. Gustav grabbed onto her, trying to pull her back down, but got dragged along the ground, and eventually, the two were blown away. Meanwhile, Sasha stood her ground, trying to fight against the wind, but eventually was lifted up and blown across the ground. Sasha flipped over several times, trying to stop herself. She finally did, but not before she had been banged up and bruised.
Having scattered the frogs, the heron charged forward and began snapping at them. She scooped up one unlucky frog who couldn't get away into her mouth, swallowing him in one gulp. The frogs, who were still standing, picked up their grappling hooks and launched them at Uodeela, trying to subdue her. The ropes landed across from her, but she quickly shook them off. She charged forward again, snapping at the frogs and trying to eat them. Grime jumped in front of her and charged up his hammer before smacking her in the face with it, the blow barely seeming to faze her. Grime hopped up onto her head and tried hitting her again, but Uodeela shook him off and sent him flying. As Grime landed, he heard a loud breaking sound. He stood up and saw that his bottle of the cure had shattered on impact. Grime cursed.
Emmanuel came up to her and tried to get her to focus on him. As she chased after him, Emmanuel led her to a group of frogs who had laid some rope on the ground. As soon as she passed them, the frogs lifted the ropes up, trying to grab hold of her legs and trip her, but it didn't work. Uodeela walked right into the ropes but wasn't encumbered by them at all. In fact, she dragged the ropes (and the frogs who were holding them) behind her as if they were nothing. The frogs tried desperately to stop her but only managed to get pulled along the ground. Emmanuel let out a sigh of frustration at this.
He leaped off the sparrow, landing right on Uodeela's head. She tried to shake him off, but he held on firm, pulling out a glass bottle with the cure in it from his cloak. Emmanuel swung down towards her mouth and opened the bottle, trying to force her to drink it, but Uodeela thrashed wildly around and knocked the bottle out of his hand. Emmanuel looked down as the bottle smashed into the ground, spilling its precious contents everywhere. His face fell. He let go of Uodeela and fell to the ground, quickly scurrying away to think of another plan.
Right as Emmanuel fled, Gustav jumped over Uodeela's neck, carrying a rope with him. He pulled it tight to the other side, bringing it to a group of frogs, who quickly tied it to a stake and hammered it into the ground. Gustav repeated the process with another rope, hoping to force Uodeela down. Again, he succeeded, and the frogs hammered the stake into the ground, pulling Uodeela down. But on his third attempt, Uodeela used her beak and bit down on the rope, causing Gustav to fall and hit the ground hard. As he did, the bottle with the cure he was holding fell out of his cloak and hit the ground, losing them another chance to cure Uodeela. Uodeela turned and bit the other two ropes that were holding her down, freeing herself.
After this, Maddie teleported in front of Uodeela and threw a bag of powder into her face, exploding and sending blue powder all over. Maddie landed gently on the ground, courtesy of an air elixir.
"Sleep powder harvested from a Venomoth," said Maddie in triumph, "that should knock her out!"
For a second, it looked like it might work. Uodeela stood still, her eyes looking drowsy and irritated. She moved her face uncomfortably, scrunching it up before letting out a great sneeze, scattering the blue powder in her beak out over a portion of the frog army, who promptly fell asleep.
Sasha slapped her face in frustration before grabbing a grappling hook and firing it at Uodeela. The hook missed, and instead, the heron grabbed it in her beak, pulling Sasha up off the ground. Uodeela swung her head around, dragging Sasha on the rope before it snapped in half. Sasha went flying but was caught by Grime, who jumped into the air to catch her, bringing her safely to the ground. Emmanuel, Gustav, and Maddie joined them as they looked at Uodeela, wondering what to do. Uodeela had finally noticed the group of frogs who were trying to tie up her legs and began snapping at them. The frogs scattered to avoid her, though some did manage to attach the ropes to stakes and pound them into the ground, restricting her movement.
"She's too strong," said Gustav.
"None of our plans are working," said Emmanuel, "and Uodeela has already destroyed three of the cures we have."
"Looks like only Sasha and Maddie still have theirs," observed Grime. "What happens if we run out?"
The group all looked at each other, their faces falling as they hadn't considered that.
"If anyone has another idea, I'd love to hear it," said Maddie desperately.
"You tried that powder," said Grime to Maddie. "You have anything else that might work?"
Maddie dug into her cloak before pulling out a red-colored potion. "Looks like I have one strength potion left. I don't use them much myself, but it might help someone who is already strong."
"Here, let me have it," said Sasha. "I have an idea. I'm gonna try swinging onto Uodeela's head."
"Didn't you just try that?" asked Maddie.
"This time, it will work," said Sasha with confidence. "I'm going to get on her head and slam her against the ground. After I do that, you rush forward and feed her the cure. The rest of you help those frogs who are trying to tie up her legs."
Grime and Emmanuel nodded their heads and rushed forward to try to tie up the heron's legs.
Maddie handed Sasha the strength potion, who quickly drank the potion. And as soon as she did, she felt a surge of power flow through her body. Sasha again launched her grappling hook at the heron again, embedding it in her neck. Uodeela let out a scream as she did. Sasha pulled on the rope, launching herself into the air while managing to pull Uodeela sideways as she did. By that point, Grime had arrived to help the frogs tie up her legs and pulled hard on the ropes, causing Uodeela to stumble. Sasha managed to swing high above her head. She carefully focused on her target before pulling hard on the rope and launching herself towards the red heron. Sasha slammed hard into the heron, while at the same time, Grime and Emmanuel pulled on the ropes around her feet, causing her to finally fall down. Maddie rushed over as soon as she was down and emptied her elixir into Uodeela's mouth. Sasha came up to her and poured her own elixir into her mouth as well.
"Just to be sure," said Sasha to Maddie. Maddie nodded. The group looked at Uodeela, who was still on the ground. She wasn't moving anymore, and they waited to see what would happen.
"Wow, we actually did it!" exclaimed Emmanuel in a weary voice. "I can't believe it!"
"Yes… We did do it, didn't we?" said Sasha, though she said that in a voice that sounded different. Grime, Maddie, and Gustav turned to Sasha, their faces etched with concern.
"Sasha, are you okay?" asked Maddie, coming up to Sasha.
"I feel great…" said Sasha, again in a voice that wasn't her own. Maddie looked into Sasha's eyes and saw they were glowing blue. She also had a terrifying expression on her face. Moments later, some sort of green sludge came out of the cut on the left side of her face and shot up across her eye before forming into what looked like antlers on top of her head.
"Sasha?" asked Grime with growing concern.
Sasha smiled a cruel smile before drawing her swords and launching herself at Maddie. The young frog barely managed to duck out of the way of Sasha's strike.
"This world has witches in it, too!" growled Sasha in disgust. "But now that I have control over you, I can kill the ones in this world too!"
"Sasha, what are you doing?!" yelled Grime as he came over to try to restrain her. Sasha slashed at Grime, cutting him on the arm. Grime let out a yelp of pain.
"Too bad that wasn't deeper," said Sasha, "or else I might have cut your arm off."
"No, stop!" said Sasha in her normal voice, regaining control of her body for a second. "What are you doing to me?"
"Remember how I told you that all I did was influence you?" asked the voice. "Well, that time is over. Now I am taking over your body and directly controlling you!"
"Guys, get away from me!" pleaded Sasha, regaining control for a brief second. "Someone is controlling me!"
"Sasha's been possessed!" yelled Maddie.
"Can you do anything about it?" asked Gustav.
"I don't know, but we need to restrain her!" said Maddie.
"Feel free to try!" challenged Sasha again in the wrong voice. She charged forward at Maddie and Gustav, trying to slash them with her swords. The two dodged the attack and tried to think of ways to subdue her. Grime leaped at Sasha, knocking her down and causing her to drop her swords.
"What's gotten into you, lieutenant?" asked Grime. Sasha turned toward him again with a cruel smile on her face.
"Oh, you like this one, don't you, Sasha?" she said. "This is the one you think of as a father. It would cause you much pain if I killed him, wouldn't it?"
"That's not Sasha, Grime!" yelled Emmanuel, who seemed to have grasped what was happening. "Something's happened to her!"
Grime held onto Sasha, trying to restrain her without hurting her. "Come on! Snap out of it, Lieutenant! I know you're still in there."
"Heh, heh, heh, Sasha is gone!" said the voice cruelly. "Her body is now mine to control! And as soon as I'm done killing all of you, I'll get the box from the king myself!"
Sasha broke free of Grime and ran over to where her swords had fallen. She picked up the red sword and walked towards Grime.
"Come on, Grime. Try to stop me without hurting her," taunted the voice, twirling her sword in her hand. Grime couldn't think of what to say in response to that.
As Sasha got closer, her body seized up, and her voice returned to normal.
"No! I won't let you do this!" said Sasha in her normal voice.
"There's nothing you can do to stop me, Sasha," said the voice, regaining control.
"Yes, there is!" said Sasha defiantly. As she once again regained control, she grabbed her breastplate and threw it aside, then she took her sword and turned it, pointing it directly at her chest.
"SASHA! NO!" yelled Grime.
"It's the only way. I… have to stop him…" said Sasha, struggling against her own body. She could feel herself losing control again. "Goodbye, Grime…"
In one swift motion, Sasha plunged her sword into her chest!
She felt the pain right away. It was excruciating, and it was like her whole body was on fire. Sasha screamed as the sword went through her. After a moment, the pain level fell, but it still coursed through her body as she fell to the ground. The voice spoke to her in her head again.
You do realize this is a pyrrhic victory for you, right? it asked.
I managed to give Uodeela the cure, and I stopped you from getting the box, said Sasha to the voice. That's all that matters.
I honestly didn't think you had it in you to kill yourself, replied the voice. Though as it spoke, it sounded quieter and farther away, as though it were just a whisper.
Heh, heh, you're fading away, said Sasha in a happy voice. I'll finally be free of you.
You'll be dead, Sasha, said the voice harshly.
Yeah… I guess I will, said Sasha, as though it were nothing. Anne, Marcy, Luz… I want you all to know I'm sorry. I truly am sorry. I hope you're able to beat Andrias without me…
With that, Sasha closed her eyes for the last time…
Meanwhile, far away in the Boiling Isles, Belos was down in the basement of his castle, working on a new project. He looked down into the tank and saw the figure of his latest Grimwalker. Its eyes were closed as it floated in the healing tank, and a mask around its nose and mouth prevented fluid from entering it. The Grimwalker was almost ready. It had a teenage body and would be born already fifteen years old. The only thing left was for Belos to put in some memories that would fill in the gaps of its missing years. Belos looked hard into the figure's face. It looked much closer to his brother than any of the previous ones. That gave him high hopes that this one would finally work. As Belos oversaw the final procedure, he realized he wasn't alone.
"I know you're there, Collector. Come on out!" said Belos.
"Ah, you caught me again," said the Collector as his form appeared on the wall. "How's that new Grimwalker coming along?"
"It's almost ready," replied Belos. "All I need to do is give him a tragic backstory. Something about how his parents were killed by wild magic and then how I took him in and raised him. Oh, and I'll have to make sure and include a reason for why he can't use magic naturally."
"What are you going with this time?" asked the Collector in a mischievous voice.
Belos thought for a bit before responding, "I think this time, I'll just say he's a powerless witch and that our family always has been. I can even tell him that my 'condition' is related to that. It will make him sympathetic to me and make him scared to ever try to perform wild magic. Once I give him his staff, he'll be completely reliant on me for magic."
"Ha, ha, ha! That is a good story," said the Collector. "I think for sure it will work this time."
"I suppose we'll see, though there was something else that could have helped too," said Belos.
"Oh, you mean Sasha?" said the Collector.
"Yes, exactly," answered Belos.
"I know you humans are different, but I don't much understand your obsession with pairing people together," said the Collector.
"In this case, I thought it could help fix the betrayal problem," replied Belos. "I can't believe I didn't realize it before, but Caleb's problem was that he was seduced by that horrible witch. But what if I found him a human companion?"
"Oh, is that why you wanted Sasha to come here?" asked the Collector slyly.
"Precisely," said Belos. "If I could have her come here, I could send her on a few missions with Hunter, have the two of them start to develop camaraderie, and then see if that blossoms into something else. Caleb would never have chosen to be with a witch if he had an ideal human instead, and Sasha was perfect to fill that role. That's what I should have realized. Giving Hunter a human woman will fix the betrayal problem."
"Well, yeah, but now Sasha is dead, and you don't have a connection to her anymore," answered the Collector.
"No, I don't," said Belos. "It is a pity about Sasha. I didn't want her killed, but she took her own life to get me out of her head. But I suppose what's done is done."
"Yeah, and now you can't get the box anymore," said the Collector.
"No, I can't," said Belos, shaking his head. "If I had it, I could be the one to save the humans from that fool. Of course, I'd let him conquer Earth a little. Then I would appear and put an end to him. Think of it, Collector; the humans would have worshiped and adored me once I came in and stopped him!"
"You really would be the hero, wouldn't you?" said the Collector.
"Yes, I would be!" said Belos in an envious voice. "After beating that fool, the humans would praise me for saving them. Then, once I had their trust, I could tell them of the Demon Realm, and how the witches there were evil and plotting to invade our world. I could simply have the humans wipe out the demons for me. Maybe even take over their world and set up our own cities there."
"But Sasha's dead, so you can't. Too bad I'm not free," said the Collector. "Otherwise, I could have just fixed her, just like a broken toy."
"Why bother with that, Collector?" asked Belos. "If an old toy breaks, it's much better to get a new, shinier toy, isn't it?"
"Huh, I guess you have a point," said the Collector.
"Sasha was a useful toy, but now she's a broken one that I don't need anymore," said Belos apathetically. He turned back to the tank that Hunter was floating in, giving it a sinister look before saying, "I look forward to seeing what this new toy can do."
"That Andrias guy is still a threat, though," said the Collector. "Aren't you worried he might destroy Earth before you get a chance to save it?'
"Not at all, Collector," replied Belos calmly. "True, I may have to wait a bit longer to make my grand return. And if a few humans have died from his invasion, well, once you're free, you can fix them, right?"
"Oh, yeah, of course I can," said the Collector happily. "I love fixing things!"
"Then I see no reason to worry," said Belos. "Let him have his fun invading Earth. Suffering builds character, and I'm sure the humans who are still alive will be much tougher, having survived his invasion. In fact, the more humanity has suffered at his hand, the more grateful they'll be when I ultimately save them…"
Sasha shot straight up, gasping for air. It took her a second to realize that she was on the Plantar's couch in their home. She gasped again, bringing her hand to her chest as it suddenly dawned on her that she was alive. As she gasped a third time, Grime finally spoke to her.
"SASHA, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" he asked with worry in his voice.
"I think so," she said as she felt her heart beat against her hand. She could feel it beating incredibly fast, but slowly it began to settle into a normal pattern. As it did, Sasha took her hand away from her chest and furiously lifted up her shirt. She looked down to see that there was no wound or scar on her chest. She stared forward at the group around the couch, not sure what to say.
"Holy Toad, it worked!" exclaimed Grime, his mouth open in wonder.
"I was pretty sure it would. But even so, it's good to have you back, Sasha," said Gustav.
"Hang on, stop for a sec," began Sasha. "I'm not dreaming, am I? You guys are real, right?" With that, she reached forward, grabbing Gustav's face, pinching it, and moving it around in her hands. After that, she pinched herself, feeling pain.
"I'm alive?" she said in a quiet voice. "But how is that possible? I thought I…"
"You did," answered Grime, quickly cutting her off. "You did it to stop whoever that was who was inside your head and trying to control you. After you stabbed yourself, Gustav and Maddie brought you inside. Gustav went to his bag and got out a golden potion."
"Elixir," corrected Maddie. "And that wasn't just any elixir; it was the Elixir of Life. It brought you back from the dead."
Sasha paused, absorbing what Maddie had just said. "So I really did die."
Grime, Gustav, and Maddie all nodded their heads.
"The wound in my chest is gone," said Sasha. "There's no blood or even a scar. How is that possible?"
"That's the power of the elixir," explained Gustav. "I've seen it work before, so I was pretty sure it could bring you back."
"Wait, isn't the elixir supposed to heal you of all your scars?" asked Maddie. "Why is that one on her face still there?"
Gustav and Grime gave Maddie a look, as she had blurted that out so carelessly.
"I don't feel anything," said Sasha as she ran her hand along her face. Maddie went into Plantar's bathroom and returned with a small hand mirror. She gave it to Sasha, which finally allowed her to see the scar on the right side of her face. It was in the shape of a long, thin triangle. The base started at the scar on her right cheek, then went up her face and over her eye, finally forming the point just above her right eye. At first, it looked a bit like a bad sunburn. Her skin in the affected area was red and lighter than the skin surrounding it. Sasha touched the scar on her face but didn't feel anything from it. She just kept looking at her face, not sure what else to say.
"But there's no scar on my chest where I stabbed myself," said Sasha, "and there's no scar on the left side of my face."
"Those were healed by the elixir," replied Maddie.
"So why is this scar still on my face?" asked Sasha, bringing her hand to the scar and touching it.
"I don't know," answered Maddie.
"Wait, just to make sure, are you, you, lieutenant?" asked Grime. "There's no one else trying to possess you, is there?"
For a second, Sasha was worried as she pondered that. But since waking up in the Plantars' house, she hadn't heard the voice. The group remained silent and a bit worried. But as the seconds ticked by, Sasha heard no voice inside her head, nor did she feel her body moving on its own. Sasha brought up her hand and looked at it. She listened inside her mind, but still, she didn't hear anything. Relief flooded her face Finally, she said.
"I think I'm okay."
As this was going on, Grime pulled Gustav aside to talk to him.
"Listen, I just want to say, thank you for saving Sasha's life," he said in a humble tone.
"Don't worry about it, Grime," said Gustav.
"No, you don't understand," said Grime. "Sasha means so much to me. I… I… don't know what I would do if I lost her. When I saw her stab herself, I thought she was gone. I didn't know what I was going to do, and you… you saved her."
Gustav looked into Grime's face, not sure how to respond. He saw tears start to form in Grime's good eye.
"I'm sorry for calling you a runt," continued Grime. "I'm sorry for all the times I belittled and insulted you. All the times I said you weren't a real toad, I was wrong! You are more of a toad than I ever could be, and now you've saved Sasha… For that, I owe you my life, Gustav." Grime fell to his knees as he said that.
"Grime, I only gave it to Sasha," said Gustav. "You have no need to pledge your life to me. If anyone is owed a debt or penance, then it is Uodeela. She is the one who brewed the elixir and gave it to me, thus allowing me to give it to Sasha."
"But still, you saved her life," protested Grime.
"Then take whatever debt you feel you owe me and give it to Uodeela. Pledge your life to her," said Gustav solemnly.
"Uodeela!" exclaimed Sasha, as she heard Gustav say that. "Hey, what happened to her? Did the cure work?"
"We don't know," said Maddie. "After you stabbed yourself, we rushed you inside to give you the elixir."
At that moment, Emmanuel opened the door and entered the house. All eyes turned to him.
"Emmanuel, did the cure work?" asked Sasha nervously.
Emmanuel looked at everyone in the room, letting out a long sigh before replying, "Well, sort of..."