Zinx Chapters

- The Journey Begins

I was walking outside on a bright and sunny day, the grass was as healthy and sharp as ever. I had a feeling that this would be a great day. The dragons weren't growling like they usually do in the mornings, the bats were already asleep, and there was a wonderful scent coming from my mother's cluttered kitchen. After a bit my mother called to me saying, "Come in for breakfast, I made your favorite: Wolf Berry Pancakes!" I ran into the house excited and hungry.

By the way my name is Zinx, I am 14 years old and I live on a planet called Twixlaria. I am the oldest in the family of 8 kids and only 2 parents and 1 grandfather. I'm the adventurous kind of kid and I always was kind of a picky eater.

When I got inside i started gobbling down the Wolf Berry Pancakes. My Mom seemed somewhat sad and my dad looked a little worried. "Are you okay mother and father?" I asked. The room was silent for a while. Finally my Dad said, "Well we got a letter saying that the government needs more soldiers for the war, attacking the Dark Wizard's lands. And I'm too old to go, the age limit is 500 years old, so you must go in my place. You will be sent to Kinc's army, the army of star magic and heavy warriors." I looked so astonished and said, "But I am only 14! They don't have the right to send me to Kinc's Army!" "It is not a choice my son," my mother said.

After I finished my Pancakes my dad took me to out stone shed. He opened the old, vine covered door and showed me a sword. It was a sword like I never saw before, a sword that looked like an over-sized steak knife and had gold edges, it also had a long golden chain with a dragon tooth at the end. But most amazing of all was that it had a sapphire crystal in the center as big as a Griffin's eye. "This my son," my dad said, "Is the legendary sword of star magic." I was so amazed in the gleaming of the crystal that i didn't reply.

The next day the carrier dragon for the army came to my house to take me to Kinc's main base. I said goodbye to my 8 siblings, 2 parents, and grandfather. It was sad too leave my close family, I would miss them a lot. My mind filled with thoughts about what the military would be like. I said one more goodbye to my father and jumped onto the dragon. I wondered if I would ever see them again.

- Kinc's Base

 I was still on the carrier dragon, waiting and wondering. It took about 6 hours until I caught sight of a series of camps inside of star brick walls. There was about 200 tents and 600 people. (Not counting the ogres that were held hostage for training.) The tents were five different colors, each color standing for a type of star. The top was yellow, the left door flap was orange, the right door flap was red, the zippers were white, and the wooden nails and poles were blue. About 350 people were training on ogres, wooden men, and colstone. 100 people looked as if they were taking a break or eating their lunch. 50 people were still waking up or sleeping. The rest were in the meeting tent or guarding the star brick walls.

Once I landed many people came to greet me. Some were strong with heavy swords and maces, others were skinny holding wands with glowing, sapphire beads at the end of them. "Welcome," said one of the strongest men. "Thanks," I said. "You should go to the meeting tent to get prepared for the next attack in two weeks," said one who looked like the wisest of them all.
After greeting them I got escorted to the meeting tent, which was a tent about 10 times the size of the other tents. I went inside to see a man even bigger and stronger, a man even looking wiser, and one with both a wand and a sword. The one with a wand and sword said, "Welcome to the meeting hall Zinx, My name is Kinc and these are my associates, Geel and Trinx." "Hello Kinc, Geel, and Trinx," I said. Geel and Trinx both greeted me. "You should start training right away, because you don't want to die in the next attack, right?" Said Kinc. "Right," I said.
 I went outside to the wooden training men to start my training. There was a kid there who looked about my age with dark blue eyes, and a double sided sword. "Hello," he said to me, "my name is Blitz, are you new here?" "Yes I am new here and my name is Zinx," I replied. "Nice to meet you," said Blitz. I swung my sword at the wooden man and missed. I swung again and skimmed it. I swung for a third time and created a glowing blue slice in its side. I swung once more and once my sword hit the wooden training man the wooden man shattered into hundreds of chips of wood with a great blue glow of light. "Wow, nice hit and cool sword," said Blitz. "Thanks," I said.
 As It got dark I went to my tent which was the same tent as Blitz's. As I lay down I thought about my family and newly made friend. My whole life had changed and I couldn't wait to see what will happen the next day.

- First Attack
 The next morning I ate breakfast which was slug stew. A very odd stew, it was basically mushed slorb with exotic spices: spirit calm, greeper gook, and ogre's herbs. It took awhile for me to swallow the salty, spicy, clear glop. Everyone else was used to it and ate as fast as I eat Wolf Berry Pancakes.

After breakfast we started our training again. I killed 1 ogre with the magic sword and my friend killed like 5. We just kept training for 2 weeks. On the night before the attack we had a campfire, sang songs, and roasted griffin eyes. My friend lit his griffin eye on fire and we watched it turn black and the iris turn purple. I watched the blueish flames danced as I wondered if I would survive after tomorrow. I hoped that whatever I did to destroy the wooden training man, would happen again tomorrow.
The next morning I woke up to the sound of the war horn. It was the day of my first attack! I marched out of my tent grabbing a roll for a poor breakfast. Everyone started walking out of the protection of the star brick wall in an orderly fashion. I walked out too. The trip was long and tiring with only 10 minutes for lunch. That night we camped out not to far from the enemy's base. We had Elvin soup for dinner and then went to sleep. I was a bit restless thinking about the attack.
I awoke noticing warriors were already attacking. I jumped up just in time to slice a goblin. The goblin fell down and died in a pool of blood. Two other goblins tried to strike me but my friend protected me. He sliced both goblins in the legs, and they both fell down bleeding to death. I ran up to an ogre and stabbed him, the purplish glow came again and it pushed the ogre back onto three other goblins. "Good job," said Blitz. "Thanks, not to shabby yourself," I said. After awhile we were both very tired from killing goblins and ogres so we sat down.
 Just then a warrior dragon flew out of a cave and crushed three men. The warrior dragon burned several other warriors. I ran over there to kill it. Blitz looked worried and said, "Wait!"
But it was too late and the dragon roared in my face and I saw a spark of fire. The dragon blew fire on my arm and burned it. I fell with despair, unconscious.

- Pain

I woke up, in a tent, on a bed in pain. My arm was scorched and the color black, there was a scar on my cheek that was sore; I felt horrible. My whole body ached and I had a tremendous head-ache. The doctor saw me awake and whispered, "He's awake." I turned my head slowly, towards the doctor, feeling my muscles pull and send pain throughout my body. "How are you feeling Zinx, that's your name right?" The doctor said a little louder. I responded, "Ya, that's my name; I'm feeling really-"..................................................................................... -I had blacked out for at least 2 hours- ......................................................

I opened my eyes in the same bed, still in serious pain. "Finally, you woke up. I thought you had passed away!" The doctor said excitedly.

"I'm still alive, but i am aching all over."

"Well that will wear off in a couple a days."

"How could the pain go away that quickly?"

"An ancient trick I learned awhile ago. Sadly, even though it will make your pain go away, you will still have a black arm and that scar on your face."

"Oh."

"I almost forgot, there are a couple of people here to see you!"

My mom came to see me! I couldn't believe to see her! My friend, Blitz, also came. My mother ran over to me and gave me a big hug. "Oh my gosh I was so worried about you," my mom said. "I'm okay mom," I replied. Blitz came over to me and gave me a plate of Wolf Berry Pancakes. "Thank you so much!" I said happily. "Mom? Wheres Dad?" I asked. " She looked sad and said, " Your father is in the hospital with a severe condition of Asthmatic-Astringent."

-Hope

I couldn't believe what my Mom had said. All of my memories were swirling around my head, I was trying not to imagine what could possibly happen to my Dad. Then my Mom added something to her horrendous statement that made me fell even worse: "Only 1 out of 5 people who get Asthmatic-Astringent survive." I fell in despair looking at my charcoal-black arm as pain of anger and hurt surged throughout my stiff body. All I could do now is overcome my fears and just hope. Hope for the parasite to leave my Dad, hope for my pain and suffering to flee from my body, and hope for all of us to survive and win this war.

After I had slowly finished my Wolf Berry Pancakes, my Mom slipped out of the room with tears in her eyes. Blitz stood there feeling only a fracture of my my family's pain. Eventually he walked out of the room and I fell into a deep sleep. I had a calm dream that I was back at my house enjoying a fine dinner with my family. We were all happy and joyful, I wished I could have stayed in that dream forever, because the next week I received very bad news.

 I woke up with spring in my step, for my pain had finally worn off. The doctor put a strange contraption made out of Colstone that replaced my scorched limb. A carrier dragon just landed with a messenger and a deliverer on his back. The messenger ran quickly to me with a terrible expression on his face. I knew what was coming and I didn't want to listen. He came up to my and said softly, "Your father has just passed away from a dreadful parasite, and with the war going on, you will not be able to attend his funeral. I am so sorry Zinx." I burst out in tears with my face tucked away in my hands. I was sad and angry at the same time. I felt a warm hand pat me on my back, it was Blitz.

That night I lied there on a soggy pillow drenched in my tears. I thought about horrible possibilities. I thought about how my Mom was feeling and how my siblings were feeling. The only things I could do now was to fight bravely for the rest of my family and for my father, and to think hopefully about a good future
. 
- War Without an Arm
It was the next morning and I was needed back on the battlefield. I was wondering how I would be able to get used to my new Colstone arm. As I thought of this it reminded me of my Dad; a few small tears ran down my face which gave me a slight chill. I walked out of my tent and felt weird not seeing much people in the base, due to most of the men out on the in the battle. Blitz was already walking out of the base's gates with all of his needed equipment.
I picked up my sword staring into its blood stained blade. I wiped off the goblin blood in the grass, day dreaming about my family. As I walked out of the gates I touched my scar on my face and it made me feel stronger and braver.
I finally got to the battlefield, ready to fight. A goblin ran up to me and I pierced his skin which made him back off, then I ran up to him, knocking him out with my arm and then stabbing his stomach with my sword. Then I noticed a Cosmogonic Wizard, he was firing flaming stardust clots. The fire was a clearish-white color that changed colors in the sunlight, almost like a rainbow. One of those stardust balls was flying towards me, quickly I turned and the deadly magic hurling in my direction hit my Colstone arm, saving me and enchanting the odd material replacing my arm.
Suddenly, I gained movement in my Colstone limb and I could use it as I please, and it didn't hurt a bit if it was hit by something. The only downside was that it still looked and felt like Colstone. I had just acquired a new weapon to help my in this war!

- The Enemy Base's Secret Weapon
My new weapon/arm was very useful. A goblin ran up to me and I punch it with my Colstone arm and sliced its torso with my blade. Blood splashed everywhere. War was bloody, you couldn't be afraid to get dirty. An enemy ogre ran up to me and punched my enchanted arm, I felt nothing at all. My sword then glowed and I sliced the ground and it created a sound wave affect on the ground and it sent the ogre and 4 other goblins into to the air knocking them on their backs. The goblins died but the ogre still lived. I ran to the ogre and using my Colstone limb, I elbowed him in the stomach.
Just as I slashed a goblin I noticed something about the sky, it was getting darker. I wondered what was happening, then I heard someone shout something, but he was far away so I could only hear this: "Dak Phnicks." I was thinking about what he had said and suddenly I saw what he had referred to. A giant, misty, black cloud flew out of the enemies' base, accept it had fiery, glowing, purple eyes and a left part and a right part of it was on fire, dark fire. I then knew that it was a Dark Phoenix.
The Phoenix was flying down, slashing men from our side with its flaming wings, burning them to ashes and bones. Next, the Dark Phoenix started spitting dark fire balls at random soldiers. It came down near to the ground swooping at me, I dodged out of the way just in time. Then it got furious and clawed at my leg. I cut a small part of its wing off but it still could fly. Blitz ran up behind it and sliced at its neck, it had no effect. I yelled to him, "Phoenixes' necks aren't nearly as vulnerable as dragons' necks are!" Suddenly the Dark Phoenix shot a ball of fire at Blitz.
My sword glowed and somehow cast a spell that neutralized the fireball and stunned the Phoenix. The spell was like some kind of purple crystal that sent a glowing wave towards to the Phoenix. The Phoenix fell on his back and then quickly got up again, flying. It clawed my one leg again and I saw blood dripping. Then Blitz took another slash at the Dark Phoenix and damaged its wing critically, the creature could no longer become airborne. It squawked at Blitz and then knocked him into a tree. My sword glowed very brightly and I ran and jumped onto the Phoenix stabbing it in its back. The deadly animal fell as its fire slowly died. I had defeated the deadly creature.
All of our soldiers, now knowing the enemy base was weakened, ran to the walls and started conquering the base. We had defeated one of the many enemy bases, I am still worried about the other ones.

- Vacation Time

After we had conquered the first base, we got nice, long vacation from fighting.When I say long, a really only mean 3 days, they just don't have too much relaxing time. Come to think of it, the only "relaxing" times we really had was training and now, not counting my severe injury down time. I guess that is how the military is, at least, that is how Kinc's army is.

  Well, now that I killed that Dark Phoenix, everyone is giving me all the credit and being extremely nice to me, specifically the young girls. Yeah, I was confused why there was young girls here, I mean most of them weren't even like "Tom-Boys" or whatever you call them. However, there still just as tough as most of the boys my age, accept for a few that I think were made to go here by the Trinity Council. Oh, I have never told you about the the Trinity Council, well they are basically the leaders of our clan. Our clan name is The United Followers of the Dragon Heart, it's long, I know. Well anyway, the Trinity Council has three main men: Maginiforic, the wise mage, Siltorg, the mighty warrior, and Yilvia, the quick archer. They all rule us, with little pride and much knowledge. (Learn more about the History and Politics of Twixlaria Land on the "Deep Into Twixlaria" page.)

  Anyway, the girls were getting into me, and it was getting kinda annoying, most of them I didn't really have interest in. Accept for one, and of course she always ignored me when I was around her, I tried to talk to her, but then she just starts talking to her friends before I even get near her. I think her name is Quilly.

The second day there was an announcement at lunch: "Okay everyone, I know your all happy about this break but the fight starts in two days," Kinc said. "But we already defeated one enemy base!" Someone yelled out. "Yeah, and I bet Zinx alone could defeat the bases!" Someone else shouted. I blushed. "Well I don't want be annoying, but each base is going to be harder than the last, and there are plenty more bases to conquer," Kinc replied. That speech kinda put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

  The next day was fun and restful. But that night I thought about my Dad and the many wars ahead of us, wondering if we will win this war, and thinking of what could occur is we don't.

- The Dreadful Trip to the Enemy's Base

  The next morning the horn was blown and the whole army left in an orderly fashion like last time. The only things that were different were that instead of everyone looking at me in disgust, they were looking at me joyfully, and that we all knew that we had a very, very long walk or march. I mean really long, we walked for about 2 weeks with little rest.

 Everyone was sweaty because of the burning suns. So it stunk horribly. Also, because of the small amounts of sleep, we were always much more tired than on normal walks/marches. Sleep was probably the worst part of the trip. First of all everyone snores really loudly except for the girls. It's also really cold at night and all we have are one thin blanket. Lastly, the ground is pretty rocky, so we wake of stiff and grouchy.

 One time, a guy got so grouchy, he started beating another guy up because he took the last piece of Fried Dragon Skin. Another grouchy guy who was extremely tired started yelling at a withered tree because hey bumped into it. It was actually pretty funny, but we payed for laughing at him; he ran over to us and started yelling at Blitz and I, and shouted for us to keep moving. Blitz yelled for him to keep moving right back at him. The guy just made a weird face and started to yell at the tree again.

 So you can see we really didn't have a good time walking to the enemy base. The only thing that was good, which lightened the whole trip up was that I found a giant chunk of Milth. As soon as I saw it I put it in my bag and secretly told Blitz about it.

 The fight was coming up soon. I was a little worried, since this base was supposed to be harder than the other one. I still tried to think of happy thoughts anyway.   

- The Dream

  Once we got close enough to the enemy base, we started to set up our camp. This time we had more stuff to set up since we needed better defense and more supplies. First, we all set up the main tent. The tent was made of Mistoroid so it was strong and heavy. We spent about 1 hour setting it up, even though the whole army was setting it up. It was one huge tent, it had to be huge to fit a small cafeteria, a mini hospital, a meeting hall, and Kinc's room.

 After setting up the main tent, we all had to find big rocks for chairs in the cafeteria. It didn't take me too long because there weren't very many people my size there so I got a small rock.

 The next thing we did was set up our 4 people tents that were about the size of our 2 people tents at our main base. They were easy to set up but were annoying to sleep in. The people I got to rest with were all men that snored a lot. So I didn't have very good sleep, it wasn't as bad as our trip here though.

 Every night we had a fire since it was very cold at that time of year. The fire was always so warm and cozy. We roasted griffin eyes to eat for a late night snack. It was one of the few fun things we did.

 The night before the first attack, I wondered like always. What was odd about that night is the dream I had. I dreamed that I was in a beautiful forest with small flowers around me. The trees were tall and mighty. The rocks were moss-covered with little bugs on them. There was a stream that held sparkling water with small clean stones at the bottom. You could hear Jollow Birds chirping in the trees. It was so peaceful and happy. Then, a Dragon arose and burned it all, and then spotted me. I saw a blast of fire coming towards me and then woke up. 

- Yilth

  I woke up to the sound of the horn and put on my armor. I picked up my sword and dashed out to the battle field, still drowsy and unfocused. I sprinted towards a ogre and jumped, slicing in midair and put a big cut in the beast's arm. All of the enemy's troops were better protected than before. The ogre looked at me in disgust and punched me in my stomach. I felt horrible and coughed up a little bit of blood. I glared at the ogre with anger and ran in between his legs and jumping behind him, preforming an airstrike which aggravated the creature even more. With his bloody fist he swung at me with a terrible miss. I smiled and stabbed him in the time of his pause. He roared like many other people and ogres were doing around me. He then fell with a big crash.
 "The enemies seem much harder than the other base," Blitz called out to me. "I know," I shouted back. I watched a man fall in front of me with no sign of blood or a scratch on his skin. I then saw a kid about two or three years older than me standing there with pink smoke coming from his hands. He smiled and then shot a purple lightning bolt at me, my word lit up and I quickly blocked the hurling ball of static that had killed others in one hit. I looked at the teen and then shot a blue surge of fire at him that had came from my sword. He used a purple wall of magic that seemed to flicker when the noise of the battle field strengthened to block my fire. He grinned and quickly shocked me with a short electric blow. I fell down feeling very odd and light headed.
 He looked at me and said, "Remember me as Yilth." He then walked away, sparing me. I tried to get up but couldn't. A medic saw I was alive and ran out to me, bringing my body into a medical tent.   

-Death
  I was rushed into a medical tent, barely able to see. It was my second time in the tent, and probably not my last. I noticed a clean slice on my hand as I was placed on a rusty bed. The doctor started to stitch the cut and whispered, "No blood huh, hope he'll survive this time."
 Tears rolled down my face as I noticed my veins glowing. "It's almost to his heart!" The doctor yelled. Then, I fell into a different realm, just darkness... darkness..... A masked figure stood in front of me; I was looking Death in the face.
 He put his hand up but a bright figure appeared behind him who resembled my sword. The bright figure slowly whispered, "No today," and I snapped back into reality. My body was completely healed (yes, I mean my scars and arm) accept for the cut on my hand. The doctor had wide eyes as if he saw a ghost. "Y-y-you just survived a fatal blow that has killed anyone I've worked on," he said.
 I smiled and grabbed my sword. "I think I'll keep this sword," I replied. I then ran back out onto the battlefield.