Mira Squad Tales-Portals

      “While we are essentially defending Headquarters, but be aware that we have been given orders by Judge Hog to capture Magon. Other than that, don’t get yourself killed in the battle. That is all.”

      I wanted to know exactly what we were up against before making our move, so I sent a couple of team members, one of them being Shadow Breeze, to scout the area. When they returned, they gave me an update.

      “Both of us can confirm that Magon is in the area, but not Xandra. Still, there are plenty of Wraiths ready to attack. It does not look like Oblivion is in the area, which should make things easier for us,” Shadow Breeze told us.

      “So, he’s trying to draw our attention elsewhere in order to leave the DoN understaffed. I think we know what the other target was, so it’s definitely a good thing we warned Faerieland. The Faeries will still be caught off guard by the suddenness, but at least they’ll be prepared to weather the storm.”

      Despite the numbers, we knew we had to reduce the number of Wraiths in the area before we could even face Magon. Fortunately for us, we caught them off guard when we attacked as they were still in the preparation stage and not quite ready to attack. There was also the fact that unlike the last time, we were more of a cohesive unit, rather than a small group of DoN members who just happened to be in the area. Pretty soon, we found ourselves face to face with Magon.

      “This should not be happening. That plan should have been flawless,” he snarled.

      “Unfortunately for you, what you did not anticipate was the Defenders being prepared for a second round of battle. It’s over, Magon,” Ocean replied as she pointed her sword towards him. He lowered his head slightly before laughing manically. I immediately knew that was not a good thing, so I quickly motioned the team to remain on guard.

      “So, you’re out to capture me. Well then, I have one more trick up my sleeves for you meddlers. I’ll send you to the pits of despair myself!” he cried out before momentarily blinding us with a spell.

      As soon as the light disappeared, it took me a while to recover from it, but I glanced around and saw that I was in a barren landscape filled with Wraiths, meaning that we were transported somewhere unfamiliar to us. To make matters worse, I was separated from the team, but I could sense that they were nearby.

      “So, Magon has deemed you Neopians a nuisance. I relish in the opportunity to let you sink into despair as you fruitlessly battle me till the end of your dying breaths, knowing that your world will be conquered by us,” a deep, booming voice echoed throughout the landscape. I had a feeling that we were now dealing with King Terask.

      Although I was scared, hearing his voice actually strengthened my resolve to defeat him once and for all, so that a new generation of Neopians would not have to experience this horror. For now, I had to focus my attention on reuniting with at least a part of the team in order to track and face Terask in battle. Even I knew it would be useless facing the Red Draik in battle by myself, given what I already knew about him.

      Before I began battling Wraiths, I summoned an icy blade onto my Jade Staff, turning it into a makeshift lance. Then I began cutting them down, eventually meeting up with Brooke and Aura as they were battling. They were glad to see me.

      “I’m sensing multiple Oblivions in the area, Blizzard. We’re going to need to establish a base of operations somewhere if we want to survive this,” Aura told me as she fired off an arrow into a crowd of Wraiths with her Bow of the Light Faerie. I nodded in agreement.

      Fortunately for us, the area that we were in was spacious enough, we just needed to clear out the Wraiths. As soon as they were gone, I placed a couple of barriers to prevent any more from coming in. That was enough for us for a quick breather before we proceeded to locate the remaining members and bring them here.

      It took some time, but eventually, we found the rest of the team. It was definitely a good thing that we did as some of them appeared to be tired from all the battling and needed a quick rest, due to the injuries they received.

      “Based on what we have, I think it would be better if we focused on one Oblivion as they seemed to be the gatekeepers to wherever Terask is. That way, we’ll conserve our energy before we fight Terask,” Seras replied as soon as the team was assembled. I then turned my attention towards Aaron and Brooke and asked them what they knew about battling Terask, even if it was from a tabletop game they had played.

      “It’s been a while, but from what I remember, we fight him in two phases, one where he’s at full health, the other at half health. He doesn’t have a set pattern for attacking, making him unpredictable. Still, his attacks will hurt, regardless of phase,” Brooke replied.

      “I don’t know if it’s the same here, but Terask was massive, especially during his second phase. I suspect it was just for intimidation, though,” Aaron added. As soon as I was finished listening, I gave the order to move out.

      It was tough, but due to the more seasoned fighters like Nature and Shadow Breeze, one of the Oblivions was taken down, paving the way for us to finally face Terask. As Aaron had told us, he was massive compared to a regular Draik, but we knew that he was holding back for this phase. He glared at us.

      “You’re only delaying the inevitable, but you’ll be indulging me. Let’s see what you got,” he said. I pointed my lance towards him.

      “I won’t let you take over our world, Terask.” That was our cue to fight.

      As soon as the battle started, Wraiths also flooded the area, so not only did we have to avoid Terask’s various attacks as we fought back, we also had to cut down the number of Wraiths so that we would not be overwhelmed by them. On occasion, Terask made things easier for us as he accidentally removed a few Wraiths after we avoided his attacks, but there were times we misread the cue and ended up taking a hit. Eventually, we knew we took him down as he came crashing onto the ground, but we all knew that was not the end of the battle. Besides, there were still Wraiths in the area and we were still in the barren zone, meaning that his magic was still active.

      We knew that the second phase was upon us when he suddenly sprouted a couple more arms and plenty of spikes on his body as he grew in size, while two red orbs that were now his eyes glared at us with the utmost contempt towards us as he got back up. I suspected this was the phase the Faerie had a lot of trouble with when they battled him.

      “You’re fools just like the Faeries, thinking that you’ve defeated me. This is my true power, one that you cannot possibly defeat,” he loudly roared. Of course, he did not know that we were warned about the second phase in advance, so we had the upper hand, at least momentarily. We just needed to find a way to end this for good.

      The second battle with Terask was almost a repeat of the first, only we had a lot more to avoid this time around. Not only that, it was difficult to attack him directly due to the spikes on his body, forcing us to hit him with either indirect or long-ranged attacks.

      As soon as I noticed that the number of Wraiths coming into the area was starting to decrease, I knew that Terask’s power was decreasing at the same time as he was taking a lot of hits from us and was trying his best to concentrate on defeating us with the number of injuries that he had sustained. His claim that he was immortal was bogus and was likely used as another intimidation factor.

      We knew the battle was over as three simultaneous attacks, one from Aura, another from Ocean, and the last from Shadow Breeze, struck him, sending him back a few steps before he crashed to the ground. Still, we had to be cautious as it could have been a ploy, and there was still a possibility of Terask having another phase that we knew nothing about.

      Moments later, we were relieved to see that it was definitely over when the still body of the so-called ‘King of Neopia’ disappeared, leaving nothing behind. Since there was no more magic influencing the area, the remaining Wraiths also disappeared and we were automatically transported back outside the DoN Headquarters, where Forest was waiting for us. He was relieved to see us.

      “Well, that just about wraps things up from our end. I’ll inform Fyora and Aethia that Terask was defeated and is no longer a threat to Neopia,” he told us. There was still a few some loose ends that we had to tie up, so I asked him about Magon.

      “He collapsed around the same time you defeated Terask before disappearing. I suspect that he made a deal with Terask for his power and ‘immortality’, but we’ll never know as we cannot question him any more.” I then focused my attention toward Aaron and Brooke.

      “I think if I told anyone other than my closest friends about what exactly happened here, they’ll probably think that my brother and I are crazy. However, it’s been a pleasure working with you, Detective Blizzard,” Brooke said as she shook my hand. I nodded.

      “It’s been an honour as well, Brooke. I hope that we meet again under better circumstances.”

      “We’ll try our best, but there’s no guarantee,” she said before they disappeared.

     The End.