The Magic Roses

The+Magic+Roses

Zachary Breder, Writer

Chapter 1: A Magic Red Rose

It was a crisp fall day and there was a case that needed investigating. Someone threw themselves over a bridge into the shallow river below. Ruby Rose appeared on the scene. Ruby shook hands with a police officer and crossed the yellow tape into the crime scene. Ruby was called in to take notes about the body, see if they could track down a family. Ruby wasn’t much of a family person though. Ruby Rose was a loner, no doubt about it, she grew up in an orphanage, not knowing who her parents were. She wasn’t attached to anyone. She had lots of determination though. She went to college and became a detective. Ruby walked through the water, over to the body. She kneeled down, trying to make out any significant details. Ruby stands up and examines the river, looking for any other clues. She sees a hint of silver in the water and reaches down to pick it up. She pulls a silver necklace out of the water. This necklace is a crescent moon, with a small rose quartz gem in the middle of it. Ruby inspects the necklace. “Hey, what is this?” asks Ruby. “I don’t know, let me see it” says the police officer. The police officer puts on the necklace. The necklace tightens, chocking the cop. The necklace twists and turns, denying the police officer oxygen. The cop falls to the ground, dead. The necklace loosens and returns to its original state. Ruby gets down and pulls it off the corpse. She inspects it again, fascinated and terrified. Then, she starts to get dizzy. As she continues looking at the necklace, she becomes dizzier. She grips the necklace tightly in her hand and feels a sharp burning in her hand. Her eyes cross and she passes out, falling to the ground. During her blackout, Ruby has a vision. She sees infinite darkness, and the necklace that she found. Then, the necklace splits into two. One necklace has the original rose quarts gem. The other necklace has an amethyst gem. She hears her own voice calling to her. “Find me, find me” the voice says. Ruby wakes up in a hospital bed later that day. Crimson enters the room. He is a doctor, and he is also Ruby’s best friend. “Oh Crimson, what happened?” asks Ruby. “Well, you passed out and then you were sent to my hospital where your burn was treated” replies Crimson. Ruby is confused. She doesn’t remember getting burned. “Look at your hand” implies Crimson. On Ruby’s hand is an intense single red burn line down the middle of her hand. Crimson explains that she was holding the necklace in her hand when they found her. “It must have burned me” says Ruby. Crimson points out that it is impossible for that to happen. “Do you remember anything?” Ruby recalls her vision. Not wanting Crimson to think she is crazy; she keeps it to herself. “Nope, not really” replies Ruby. Crimson asks Ruby the origin of the necklace. She doesn’t know of course. Crimson argues that the necklace might be magic. “There is no such thing as magic” says Ruby. “Only logic”.  Crimson replies with “I know that, but if a random necklace burns your hand, I think it’s time to bring some magic into the logic. So, we are going to see him”. Ruby knows exactly who he is talking about. She argues at first, but eventually caves. They end up going to see Jackson Starr, or Jax for short. Jackson Starr owns a small shop in a quiet area, nothing special to see. It’s the perfect cover. Jackson owns an “antique store”, but he really deals in magical items. Ruby thinks that he is crazy. He says that he came from another dimension called “Crystaland”. Ruby of course, doesn’t believe this. Crimson and Ruby enter the shop. Ruby hadn’t seen Jax in a while, so she took in all his features. His long blue trench coat, his lime green rings, his short scruffy brown hair. It was a look. “Hello Jax,” said Ruby. “Hello Ruby, what can I do for you?” said Jax with his slight British accent. “I need your help Jax, something is up with this necklace. I think it was… speaking to me” Jax takes the necklace from her. He examines it, then he puts up to his ear and listens to it. Jax has a conversation with the necklace, Ruby and Crimson stare. “Yeah… oh… uh huh” responds Jax as he has an engaging conversation with the necklace. “Yeah, she is, isn’t she” says Jax as he agrees with the necklace. He stares at Ruby, Jax and the necklace finish talking. “So… what did it say?” says Ruby trying to play along. “It said that it is looking for its twin, as are you” says Jax. Ruby argues that she doesn’t have a twin. But then, a phone rings. But not anyone’s cellphone. The antique phone sitting on the shelf of Jax’s display case. Jax removes the phone from the case and hastily answers it. “It’s for you” he says, handing the phone to Ruby. “Hello?” Ruby says into the phone. “Ruby” calls the voice. It’s the same voice she heard in her vision. “Ruby, please, time is running out. You need to get somewhere safe. Starr wants our necklaces” says the voice. Ruby cuts her off. “Wait, you have the other necklace? And I’m right here with Jax, he’s trying to help me find you.” “No, not Jax, his brother, Dr. Starr. He wants to use the power of our necklaces to become a warlock. That would be really bad. Power builds up, if he starts off a warlock, he will already have a head start in any other power he gets. There can’t be another warlock, there hasn’t been one in thousands of years, not since Merlin.” says the voice. Ruby cuts her off again. “You mean the Merlin from Sword in the Stone, like the movie”. The voice replies “I don’t know what a movie is, but yes, the Merlin who cast the sword in the stone. This has nothing to do with him though. Ruby, I need you to-” she stops cold. “I have to go; I think Dr. Starr found me. Ruby, if you can’t find me, I’ll find you.” Dial tone, she’s gone. “So… you’re crazy” says Jax. “What do you mean?” asks Ruby. “That phone wasn’t even plugged in” says Jax as he holds up the cord. Meanwhile, the voice that has been contacting Ruby is in trouble. She is hiding from Dr. Starr in a warehouse near Jax’s shop. “Come out come out wherever you are” says Dr. Starr. “Are you afraid of me Scarlett?”. “Of course not, you know how powerful I am” Scarlett says, revealing herself. “And you know how powerful I am” says Dr. Starr. He blasts at Scarlett with his wand. Scarlett puts up a magic shield. Scarlett teleports behind Dr. Starr in an attempt to outsmart him. But he turns around and grabs her. Dr. Starr pins Scarlett to the ground and takes her necklace. He puts it on, absorbing its power. He is one step closer to becoming a warlock. Jax can feel this all the way back at his shop. “What can you tell us about your brother?” says Ruby. Jax explains that he is powerful.” Well, we need to figure out where he’s going next. If he really did get my sister, then we need to find them both.” inquires Ruby. Crimson disagrees “No, if he has your sister, he’ll come to us, we need a weapon. Jax whips out his book of magical weapons. It is a giant book about the size of a dog. It flops onto the table. He flips through it. Then, Ruby gets a splitting headache. This headache is accompanied by more visions. Ruby sees a shiny red rose growing near a stream. She comes back. “What is it Ruby?” asks Jax. “It’s a rose, the weapon that we need is a rose.” says Ruby. Jax know exactly which rose she is talking about. “Ruby, you’re talking about one of the magic roses, extremely powerful weapons. There are only six in existence. None of them have ever been found.” “Well, I know exactly where this one is. It’s by the river where I found the necklace. We need to go”. Jax, Crimson, and Ruby depart for the river. While this is happening, Dr. Starr is interrogating Scarlett. He is keeping her hidden in an abandoned warehouse. “I apologize for the setting, I would have taken you back to Crystaland, but there’s no time for that. Besides, what I want is here. I could be the most powerful person alive, but you are holding me back. I know there is a weapon that you are concealing from me. What is it?!” says Dr. Starr. Scarlett remains silent. Dr. Starr is frustrated. “Fine, if you won’t tell me, then I guess I’ll just have to rip it out of your head.” Dr. Starr places his hands on her head and performs a spell. He sees the vision that Ruby just had. He knows about the rose. Dr. Starr smiles. Meanwhile, Jax, Ruby, and Crimson arrive at the river. They split up to look for the rose. Ruby is the one who finds it. As soon as she picks the rose out of the ground, a portal opens behind them. Out walks Dr. Starr. He is dragging Scarlett by her arm. Crimson asks but he is cut off “is that-” “my sister” Ruby finishes. “Give her back” Ruby yells to Dr. Starr. Dr. Starr explains that he would trade Scarlett for Ruby’s necklace. Ruby denies. “Youre pretty stubborn, you know that.” says Dr. Starr. “I had hoped you would have given up after the necklace killed someone. But you didn’t. It was a waste of my magic” Ruby is shocked to her that Dr. Starr was the person who killed the police officer. “This is your last chance to hand over the necklace peacefully. Ruby denies again. “I made the necklace kill someone before, and I can do it again.” says Dr. Starr. The necklace around Ruby’s neck begins to tighten. Ruby gives in, deciding to surrender the necklace. The necklace loosens. Ruby takes it off and tosses it over to Dr. Starr. Dr. Starr shoes Scarlett toward them. Ruby hugs her sister for the first time. “Why would you do that, now we have nothing to fight him with.” says Scarlett. “We have you” says Ruby. Scarlett explains that she is too weak to fight. Dr. Starr prepares the necklaces for his ritual. Scarlett explains that Ruby has her own magic. “Yes, technically she does, but it’s not developed, she’s had no training.” says Jax. “She could harness it into a magical weapon, the weapon would do all the work.” says Scarlett. They are all in agreement. “Luckily, we have one right here” says Crimson. He takes out the magic rose. “No! Not that one! Dr. Starr wants that one most of all!” cries Scarlett. “Well, it’s the only one we have, I’m using it.” before anyone can tell her no, Ruby snatches the magic rose and points it at Dr. Starr. “Where did you get that? Give it to me!” yells Dr. Starr. “Come and get it” says Ruby. Dr. Starr puts the necklaces on and takes out his wand. He blasts at Ruby with the wand. Dr. Starr creates many portals around Ruby, trying to confuse her. Ruby blasts a beam of light at one of the portals. It goes through it and comes out another portal. The light continues to travel through portals until it hits Dr. Starr, knocking him out of the portal. The portals disappear. Dr. Starr blasts Ruby with his wand. Ruby is knocked to the ground. She tries to fight back, but she is stuck. Dr. Starr does a spell with his wand. Ruby begins sinking into the ground. Dr. Starr walks over to her and places the tip of the wand between her eyes. “This is going to hurt” says Dr. Starr. “No!” yells Crimson. He bolts at Dr. Starr, trying to stop him. Dr. Starr blasts Crimson instead. Crimsons body turns cold, he falls to the ground, dead. Ruby begins to cry. She is distracted while looking at Crimson. This is Dr. Starr’s opportunity to steal the rose. He takes it from her. Then, he points the rose into the sky. Lightning comes down around them. The sky turns black, and they see the galaxies up above. The world is frozen. Scarlett and Jax hide behind Crimson’s body. Dr. Starr begins floating in the air. Dr. Starr’s eyes turn black. Red fog begins pouring out of the sky, covering everything. By the time the fog clears, Dr. Starr is gone.

 

Chapter 2: A Magic Blue Rose

1 year before Ruby found her sister, there was another pair of girls who would also have an impact on the magical world. Their names are Emily and Kelly. Emily and Kelly had been dating for 6 months. Today was their 6 months anniversary. They decided to have a nice summer picnic by the river. In the future, Ruby would investigate a body in this same river. Emily rolled out the blanket while Kelly started unloading the picnic basket. They sat down and ate. It was hot out, so they decided to stick their feet in the river, to cool off. They walked under the bridge and into the river. The water didn’t get past their knees before they stopped and saw something below them. Kelly reached into the water and pulled it out. It was a glowing golden key. Kelly pulls it out and tries to show Emily. But Emily is busy looking behind her. Kelly turns around to see a huge gold door inscribed onto one of the pillars of the bridge. The door has a keyhole. Emily and Kelly look at each other and then place the key into the keyhole. The door opens and Emily and Kelly are sucked through the portal. Emily and Kelly fall through the portal. They finally land on sand. They stand up in a panic. Emily looks around, they are in a large yellow desert, sand is swirling around them. They cannot see a single thing. Kelly yells into the abyss, trying to call for help. “Hello? Is anyone there?” yells Emily. “Where are we?” asks Kelly? “I don’t know” responds Emily. Then, a booming voice is heard. “I know exactly where you are” says the voice. The sand swirls faster until Emily and Kelly are trapped inside a tornado of sand. Then, the sand shoots up and falls to the ground, allowing them to see their surroundings. A large golden palace stands tall in the distance. “There, is that better?” says the voice. “Much” says Kelly. “Ok, disembodied voice, can you help us?” asks Emily. “Of course,” responds the voice, “what would you like to know?” “We want to know who you are” says Kelly. “Certainly” responds the voice. A cloud of smoke appears in front of them, the smoke disappears, revealing a man in a long blue trench coat, with lime green rings, and short scruffy brown hair. “Hello, I’m Jackson Starr, but you can call me Jax”. Emily and Kelly make their introductions. Kelly asks where they are. “Yes, you are in the Gold Queen’s territory, so you are safe.” “But where is the Gold Queen’s territory located?” asks Emily. “The island of Crystaland” says Jax. “She means where on Earth?” exclaims Kelly. “We’re not on Earth” clarifies Jax. Emily and Kelly absorb this news. “Look, I should really take you to the Gold Queen, she can help you get home.” says Jax. “Ok, where is she?” asks Emily. Jax points to the golden palace in the distance. “How are we supposed to get all the way over there?” asks Kelly. “Like this” says Jax. Jax opens a portal. Emily and Kelly are immediately defiant. “No, the last time we went through a portal we ended up here.” says Emily. “Relax” says Jax” I cannot make portals that go out of Crystaland. I cannot move between dimensions by myself. I can only move around in a certain dimension. This portal will take us right to her palace.” Reluctantly, Emily and Kelly jump through the portal along with Jax. The portal opens at the Golden Palace, just like Jax said. Emily comes out of the portal and struggles to regain her balance. Kelly comes out of the portal and falls over. Jax comes out of the portal and walks up to the front entrance of the palace. “Now, this is The Alcazar. It is home to the Gold Queen. She is a wonderful lady, but I cannot wait for her successor.” Explains Jax. “Successor?” Kelly inquires. “Yes, the Gold Queen is a title. There have been many gold queens. This one is named Khrysos. Her name means gold. It’s a good fit.” Says Jax. Kelly begins to say “Can we meet…” but she is cut off. The Gold Queen comes through the front doors of the palace. She is accompanied by a guard, Scarlett Rose. The Gold Queen is wearing an elaborate flowing gold dress with golden wings. On her head rests a tall golden crown. She is carrying a golden rose. The Gold Queen greets Emily and Kelly. She is kind and powerful. Her body is covered in golden skin. “Greetings Ms. Gold… Queen… Ma’am.” says Emily. “Just call me Gold, dear” says The Gold Queen. Emily nods. Gold continues “Please, follow me into my palace.” Emily, Kelly, Jax, Scarlett, and Gold all enter the palace. Gold leads them down a beautiful marble and gold hallway. They pass some portraits of previous gold queens. Towards the end of the hall, there is an empty portrait, for her successor. They turn a corner and see a portrait covering an entire wall. The portrait is of a single woman, standing tall. She holds two torches. She is surrounded by ghostly figures and swirls of light. “Who is this?” Kelly asks. “Ah yes, this is Hecate. Goddess of the land. She is the goddess of witchcraft, magic, and ghosts. She created Crystalline and the entirety of Crystaland. She also created the magic roses. As you can see, I have the gold one. She holds up the gold rose. Emily and Kelly admire it. Gold continues, “There are six roses in total. Red, blue, rainbow, purple, gold, and finally crystal. She was hiding them, believing that those who could find them, were those who could wield them. She was always very fond of Earth, so we believe that most of them are hidden there. She trusted me with the gold one. Unfortunately, she vanished before she could hide the crystal one. I have been looking for them, to make sure that they don’t fall into the wrong hands. Emily and Kelly take this all in. “Why did she create the roses?” Kelly asks. “She created the roses because she wanted to make a team of powerful beings. Each person would wield a rose, and that we would defend the multiverse with them. I never got to meet the rest of my team.” Gold explains. Gold and Jax lock eyes for a moment and then quickly look away from each other. Then, the ground rumbles and they hear a loud explosion. The castle sinks into the ground a little. Dr. Starr floats into the main hall of the castle. Emily, Kelly, Gold and Jax run out of the hallway and around a corner… A portion of the castle crumbles, sinking into the sand. Gold, Jax, Emily and Kelly hide behind a staircase. Dr. Starr stops floating and lands in the center of the room. He is wearing a long black cloak. He is accompanied by two demons. “Who the hell is that?” Asks Emily. “That is Dr. Starr” says Gold. “Starr, like your name?” Asks Kelly. “Yeah, he’s my brother” replies Jax. “As you can see, I’m Mom’s favorite” he continues. Dr. Starr takes out his wand and begins his destruction on the castle. The demons begin searching the castle. “What are they looking for” asks Kelly. “They want my rose” says Gold. Dr. Starr stops destroying the castle. “I know you’re here Gold, there’s no use hiding” says Dr. Starr. Gold reveals herself. Jax follows, Emily and Kelly stay hidden. The Desmond return to Dr. Starr’s side when Gold reveals herself. “Go away Starr” yells Gold. “I will leave as soon as I have the gold rose.” Says Dr. Starr. “That won’t be happening” Gold explains. Dr. Starr takes this into consideration. “Get it” commands Dr. Starr. The demons charge at Gold and Jax. Jax pulls out a pair of blue knives. The gold is blasting the demon with her rose. Jax is swinging at his demon with his blue knives. The demon hovers over Jax. Jax manages to cut the demon a few times. Gold, however, is losing her fight. The demon is beating her. Then, the demon swoops down, nightingale Gold in the neck. Gold falls to the ground. The gold rose rolls out of her hand. The demon feasts on Golds body. Emily jumps up and begins to run towards the demon. Emily grabs the gold rose. Without knowing what she’s doing, she blasts the demon with the gold rose. Kelly reveals herself and tries to help Emily. The demons retreat to Dr. Starr. “Take the other one” commands Dr. Starr. The demons seize Kelly. “No!” yells Emily. Emily tries to make it to Kelly, but it’s too late. The demons have taken her. Dr. Starr begins to float. He floats out of the hall, followed by the demons who are carrying Kelly. Jax and Emily are left alone in the hall. “We have to go after them” says Emily. Jax explains that it’s too dangerous. Emily is still holding the rose. Jax points this out. “Oh yeah, sorry” says Emily. She places it gingerly on the ground. Jax says that it is ok, but that he is confused. Jax explains that only gold queens can use the rose. Only former, current, or future gold queens can hold the rose. Otherwise, it burns you. “You must be the next gold queen!” Says Jax. These words were what triggered the magical transition of power. The transition began with the original gold queens body turning to dust. Next, the blank portrait down the hall transformed into a portrait of Emily. The portrait showed Emily covered in gold skin, wearing a gold cloak. Next, Emily’s transition occurred. Emily began transforming to fit what was depicted in the picture. Her skin began to turn gold. Her jacket melted away and transformed into a golden cloak. Next, Emily got her title, Gold. The psychological part of the transition occurred.  In her mind, she was now to be referred to as “Gold”. Gold’s eyes became golden as she rose into the air. Jax watched in awe as Emily completed her transition. Emily returned to the ground. Meanwhile, Dr. Starr has taken Kelly back to his castle. His castle was located on the water by Poseidon’s Ocean. Surrounding his castle was the endless Forrest. Dr. Starr was very safe in this castle. The demons dropped Kelly to the ground inside his laboratory. Dr. Starr walks over to one of his Petri dishes and extracts a sample. He holds it up. It is a small amethyst gemstone. “Did you know that amethyst it’s actually a type of quartz?” Says Dr. Starr. “And it is usually associated with supernatural powers. This particular amethyst here, is a crystalline amethyst. Meaning that it is amethyst from your world chemically mixed with crystalline from mine. Now, given that this amethyst had the potential to cause supernatural powers, when we mixed it with crystalline, now I believe that it can actually cause supernatural powers. But of course, we need to test it first. So… congratulations. You have just become the first test subject to ever go through crystalgenisis. Have fun.” says Dr. Starr. He drops the crystal, and it shatters. Kelly is engulfed in fog. Dr. Starr stands back. Then, out of the fog, Kelly emerges. She has completely changed. Her hair is now black, she has on a purple cape and intense purple eyeshadow. She looks evil and menacing. “What now master?” asks Kelly. “Now we banish my brother from this land for preventing me from getting the golden rose.” explains Dr. Starr. “But I need to know that you can handle it” he says. “Show me what you can do” he continues. Kelly gets low to the ground, holding her hands out to her sides. Her eyes turn purple as purple fog comes out of her hands. Swirls of purple light surround her. “You can definitely handle it, my amethyst queen” says Dr. Starr. To be continued…

 

 

Chapter 3: A Magic Rainbow Rose

Crimson bleeding out on the ground. Dr. Starr floating in the air, sucking the power out of her necklace. Ruby and Jax, powerless to stop him. These are the images that routinely appear in Ruby’s nightmares. She wakes up in a cold sweat. In a panic, she reaches into her bedside table. She digs through the drawer and pulls out her and her sister’s necklaces. The necklaces are useless now, their magic was taken by Dr. Starr. Ruby kept them, however. They make her feel safe. Ruby hugs the necklaces for a few minutes. She tries to go back to sleep, but no luck. She gets up and walks around the house. She pokes her head into a bedroom. Scarlett was sound asleep. She poked her head into Jax’s bedroom. Also, asleep. Ever since their big fight with Dr. Starr, Ruby, Scarlett, and Jax lived together. Ruby had been exposed to magic, so she needed some guidance. Having Jax and Scarlett I the house would help. Ruby lived down the street from Jax’s shop, so it was a nice arrangement. Ruby walked downstairs and into the kitchen. Ruby had been working on her magic. So, she decided to try and use it. Ruby waved her hand, and a cup flew out of the cabinet and onto the counter. Ruby waved her hand in the opposite direction and a pot flew to the sink, filled itself up with water and parked itself on the stove. Ruby shot a miniature ball of fire under the put, lighting the stove. Ruby configured her hands in a triangle pattern. Then, she turned them 90 degrees. Time sped up and the water went from room temperature to boiling. Ruby finished making her tea and sat in the living room. She started thinking about Dr. Starr and what he was planning for her. Dr. Starr was in Crystaland, in his castle. He was meeting with someone, a very important person who could help him. “And you will get the rose for me?” asked Dr. Starr. “I know I can” responded the person. Dr. Starr was pleased. “You’re going to Earth, right?” the person nods. “How many of them are on Earth?” continues Dr. Starr. “Probably the majority of them sir, Hecate was very fond of the Earth dimension.” responds the person. “Thank you, I look forward to seeing results, Lincoln. Good luck.” Lincoln nods. Dr. Starr hands Lincoln the gateway key. The golden door appears behind them. “Be sure to cause a little chaos, once you have the rose, it makes things more fun.” says Dr. Starr. “Of course,” responds Lincoln. “What will you do?” “I have some matters to attend to with a rogue queen. I will contact you if I need backup.” replies Dr. Starr. Dr. Starr leaves as Lincoln heads through the portal. The portal takes Lincoln to Earth, specifically, the spot by the river where the golden door appears, connecting Earth with Crystaland. Lincoln steps out of the portal. He places the key in his pocket and begins his hunt for the rainbow rose. Meanwhile, Ruby is thinking of a plan. Ruby never went back to sleep, she just stayed up until Jax and Scarlett were awake. They had gotten ready and were already at Jax’s shop. Ruby just wanted to be safe, for everything to turn out fine. But Scarlett wanted revenge. “We need a plan; we need to be doing something.” says Scarlett. “He’s out there, doing god knows what while we sit in here doing nothing. We need to stop him.” she continues. “Alright, what do we know?” asks Ruby. Jax pulls out a comically large book entitled “The Book of Magical Weapons”. He flips through the pages until he finds the section on the magic roses. He reads aloud: “The Magic Roses were weapons created by Hecate herself.” “And who was Hecate again?” asks Ruby. “The goddess of the land, the creator of Crystalline, the magic roses, all of it.” responds Jax. Ruby nods. “This isn’t helping, we should be out there doing something.” says Scarlett. “Then let’s go, back to the scene of the crime.” Ruby says. Ruby explains that they should go to where the last rose was found, see if there is anything they can find. So, they head out for the river. Meanwhile, Lincoln has just arrived on Earth. Lincoln looks around, for any clues. He tucks the gateway key into his pocket and dips his hand in the river. He gets up and begins to look for anything that might lead him to the rainbow rose. He looks for anything rainbow. No luck. Then, Jax, Scarlett, and Ruby arrive on the scene. Lincoln approaches them. Scarlett and Jax perk up, they know that something is off about him. “Excuse me, you wouldn’t happen to see anything rainbow around, would you?” Lincoln asks.  Ruby shakes her head. “What does the word Hecate mean to you?” Ruby and Scarlett prepare for his answer. “How do you know that name?” asks Lincoln. “Are you from Crystaland” he asks accusingly. Everyone gets in a fighting stance, except Ruby who attempts to do one. Jax “Which side of the war are you on?!” Jax asks. “Dr. Starr’s side” Lincoln responds. “Then we seem to be at a disagreement” says Scarlett. Lincoln fist fights them all at once. Lincoln is winning, but Scarlett uses her magic against him. Lincoln falls to the ground. Unbeknownst to Lincoln, the gateway key falls out of his pocket. Lincoln makes a run for it. Ruby and Scarlett go to chase after him, but Jax stops them “Wait, let him go” Jax commands. “But he’s getting away. What if he goes back to Crystaland and contacts Dr. Starr.” says Scarlett. “He’s not going back to Crystaland” replies Jax. Jax walks over and picks up the gateway key off the ground. “He’s not going back to Crystaland, if he can’t make a portal.” Jax continues. Lincoln takes refuge in a nearby bridge. This one is about a hundred feet from where he came to Earth. Lincoln takes a moment to catch his breath. He sinks to the ground. He sees something on the other side of the bridge. Lincoln walks over to it. Inscribed into the walls of the bridge is something in fairy language. Specifically, the fairy language of Crystaland. Lincoln is shocked. He transcribes it in his head. It reads “The yellow handles you shall get to not slip and fall and end up wet”. Lincoln is confused. He exists the bridge and walks to the cliff by the river. He spots a staircase that leads all the way down to the water. The staircase has yellow handlebars. Lincoln bolts over to it. Nothing. He slams a fist down on one of the handles in frustration. Then, with a swirl of light, a small wooden box appears in front of him. Lincoln approaches the box with caution. He opens it. What was inside the box was truly a sight to behold. To be continued…