Kari Firestone watched her pale reflection in the small pond. She felt drained. All her energy had been taken away from her by the Visions. She placed her hand on her forehead. There it was again.

That sound, buzzing in her ears... fading, becoming louder | Evil laughter | It... | I will get you, Kari Firestone, and kill you, just like I did to your family!!! | The pain! | Waves splashing onto her eyes, becoming one with her tears | No, stop! | It won't stop! It will NEVER stop! | This torment- | Is a part of you! YOU! | No, I can't! | Do you really think you can resist? Do you really think you can fight me? | The screaming, the yelling, louder and louder and louder and louder and - STOP!

Kari fell on the floor, pressing her hands to her ears to stop the yelling. It took a while before she knew it was her who was screaming and yelling, and she stopped and panted and gasped for breath, trying to calm her heart. It kept getting stronger... Myssandra The Hag knew where she was, somehow she had been able to contact her via her mind! Myssandra had found her weak spot, and sooner or later she would fine her, come to kill her! But she was not ready yet!

'Oh, please no...' Kari cried, covering her eyes with her hands. 'Isn't there anyone who can help me?'

Several images flashed through her head. Lady Renate Villerius. She was the one who had trained Kari, had helped her. But it wasn't enough. Even her cousin Selena Starling's litanies of curses and chatters wouldn't be enough to shield her from Myssandra. And Rudy... Her heart became weak and painful when thinking of her love. She cried and cried and felt useless. She didn't want to die yet. She still needed to release her love from the evil dimension he was sent to. She still needed to help the world, free everyone from Myssandra's tyranny. Even when it would cost her own life.
She grabbed the amulet about her neck. A gift from her grandmother. She would fight. She would fight till death. Then she would be free. Free from this torment, this pain, this horror.

'Myssandra I'll be waiting for you,' she growled under her breath...

Renate Villerius saw her friend lying on the floor and ran to her. She was worried. She appeared to be in pain. She held Kari and helped her get up. Kari opened her eyes slowly. Her expression told Renate something horrible had just happened.
'What happened? Are you alright?'

Kari nodded slowly, still dizzy and drowsy from the terror just happened.
'Yeah, I'm fine... Just fine. Nothing to worry about, nope. I'm just the same old me... Kari... Firestone...'
She fainted in Renate's arms.

Renate caught her just in time. She carried Kari to the kitched and poured a bit of water on her head. Kari opened her eyes. 'You fainted. Are you alright now? What happened to you? You seemed frightened.'

Kari sighed deeply and pushed herself up. She wasn't really willing to share the whole story, but she had to confess that she needed help.
'Alright; this is the main line,' she started. 'I started having these strange visions. They hurt me and torment me, and they're all awfully scary. Myssandra, the evillest hag ever, also appears in it, threatening me and blaming me for all kinds of things. I believe she uses telepathy to send me those messages. I fear she is close to us.'
She shook her head sadly. 'I should never have come to these Spiderhaunt Woods. The spiders aren't that bad. But this is a place where evil breeds. It's a nutrition source for Myssandra. And she sucks all my life energy too. I feel drained, it's terrible. I can hardly stand...'
She moaned and touched her sore forehead. 'This is killing me... And that is not good. If Myssandra already can kill me with her mind, what chance do I stand then?'

'Maybe she is trying to scare you. I'm sure you can beat her in reality. You're a powerful witch! You know spells. You can kill her first! You're a great warrior as well. She might kill you in your mind. But you kill her in real life and that's all that matters. Let her find you. Make sure you are ready and then kill her.'

Kari nodded anxiously. 'I sense her again...'
Renate raised her head in shock. 'Where?'
'You can't see her, silly. You've got to feel her? Focus on your heartbeat and listen to nature's symphonies. Listen.'
Every sound had gone. There was no bird, no wind. Only complete silence. And... a whisper?

.... kari .......

.... kari .......

Renate closed her eyes and listened carefully. She tried to empty her mind and focus on sounds she wasn't supposed to hear. Just when she was about to give up she heard a whisper. It could easily be mistaken for the wind, but if you listened carefully you could tell it was a woman's voice. 'Kari,' it whispered. Renate didn't like the voice. It sounded evil and cold. Without any kind of emotion.
'I can hear her,' Renate told Kari.

Kari nodded and placed her hand upon Renate's, signing her to be quiet.

.... kari ....

Kari pressed her eyelids closely onto each other and tried not to loose her calmness. She felt so frightened, she was freaking out!

haveyoueverbeenwonderingwhyyoucameherelittlebrat?where'syoursenseofresponsibilityand...sensibility?Iknewyouwerealoserallthetime.I'mreadytodrinkyourblood...

'Come and get me,' Kari hissed.

An immense roaring forced its way into their eyes, and Kari grabbed Renate's hand tightly. The air in front of them split open, and a horrible cold numbed them to the bone. An apparition floated forwards, out of the dark shadows, lighting dashing behind her.
Her face was paler than usual, her eyes were protruding of anger and her mouth was open, showing long pointy teeth covered with saliva and blood.
Her claws reached out for them, and at that moment, Kari jumped up and screamed angrily.

'You evil hag I will get you this time for what you've done to Rudy!'

She raised her hand and sent sparks of fire towards the evil being. Renate helped her by shooting arrows at her, and with a shriek that sent shivers down their spines the monster withdrew into the shadows and closed the air again.

Kari panted heavily. That was her first encounter with Myssandra since... And she had been able to fight her off this time. Myssandra seemed to have weakened if she wasn't able to transfer herself well anymore. She hadn't been able to keep her shield up long enough to protect herself from the sparks and the arrows.

'Well done, Renate,' Kari said. 'But we're not finished yet.'

'She's horrible. We'd better keep practicing if we want to beat her. Maybe I can get to her if I use rare weapons like my swords or special arrows like lightning arrows etc. Is there a weapon you think might be able to destroy her? I've got some money saved. I can purchase something to kill her I'm sure.'

Kari seemed lost in her thoughts. 'I dunno... She has of course, as the evil being she is, weaknesses for Light magick. I'm not sure if any weapons will work. We... I always fought her using my own spells. But she always seemed to strengthen herself everytime I defeated her. I've never been able to vanquish her completely.'
She sighed and watched her hands, which were scorched of her fire spark's heat.
'Rudy found out though, that she is very weak when you can touch her heart...'

'But how can you touch someone's heart?' Renate wondered while reading a brochure of a magick shop where spells could be bought.
'So you think Light spells could hurt her? Maybe a sword that destroys demons can beat her too,' Renate said, thinking out loud, looking at a picture of the Angelic Sword and Demonic Sword.

Kari shrugged. 'Perhaps. But it's best not to buy too much weapons before we know what really damages her. By the way, I don't know what Rudy was talking about either. He said it between two conservations, and I didn't really pay attention to it, nor got the opportunity to ask what he meant... And that was very stupid of me.'

Renate wasn't going to say it was stupid of her. That would have been mean. But it kind of was.
'It's okay. Sometimes we don't feel like asking questions,' Renate said instead. 'I guess we have to do some research then. Where do you suggest we start? Isn't there anyone we can talk to? Some powerful witch who knows what might damage this creature?'

Kari bit her lip. 'Uhm... there used to be a powerful witch somewhere around here, but I can't remember where exactly. Maybe anyone else knows where her house is situated, or we could just wander about till we find it.'

'What is her name? Maybe I've heard of her,' Renate said and tried to remember names she had heard from the locals.

‘I don’t know her name,’ Kari said. ‘But perhaps someone else does.’ She looked around but the forest was deserted. Of course.

'I could ask one of my friends from the village. He knows all powerful witches and wizards. He will know her! Or maybe he knows where she lives,' Renate suggested.

Kari nodded in agreement. 'Okay, let's do that then. What's his name, where does he live? Perhaps I know him to, although I doubt that. Most locals avoid me.'

Renate frowned. 'Why do most locals avoid you?' she asked, shocked. Kari was a nice girl. She knew however how naiv locals could be. They might think Kari was bad company because of her past, Renate thought. She thought it was ridiculous.
'My friend his name is Tommy Tanner, by the way.'

Kari sighed and shrugged. 'They're afraid of me, I guess. People don't want to be with me because they now one of the most feared sorceress is hunting me. And they also fear my powers. If I really am chosen, then I must be extremely powerful, they think.'
She sighed again. 'Well, let's go see Tommy Tanner then!'

Renate nodded and they visited the village. There weren't many people at the square. Most were at the market, Renate though. 'Well, I don't fear her, so I don't mind spending time with you,' she said. They stopped in front of a house and Renate knocked on the door. They waited for a few seconds. Then they heared nearing footsteps.

Kari caught her breath. This might be her chance to find out how to defeat Myssandra. Her mission.

A young boy opened the door. He was very goodlooking. He had long, brown hair and piercing brown eyes. He smiled at his visiters.

'Renate, I haven't seen you for a long time. How have you been?' he asked and told them to get inside.

Renate and Kari followed him to the living room. It was a colourful room filled with bookshelves. There weren't normal books on them, though, but strange artefacts and old powerful-looking magic books.

'I've been visiting my new friend, Kari Firestone,' Renate said and the boy smiled at Kari. 'How do you do, madam. I am Tommy Tanner, collector of magical artefacts,' he introduced himself.

'We need your help,' Renate continued in a whisper. 'Really? How so? Are you in trouble?' he asked, worried.

'No, not yet. Kari has a powerful witch on her tail, Myssandra,' Renate explained. Tommy got a frightened expression on his face when she said that name.

'Oh, dear. Why is she after her?' he wanted to know. 'Long story. The thing is, we need to know how we can kill her. If we don't kill her, she will kill us,' Renate said in a casual tone of voice.

'Right,' Tommy said and took a sip of his tea. 'Well, you can borrow my spellbooks. Powerful spells are in there. Some of them might be able to help you in your quest,' he offered and grabbed the most frightening looking spelllbooks off the shelves.

'Here, these books have been used by evil sorcerers through the centuries. Be careful. These spells are very dangerous. But they are the only ones strong enough to eliminate someone like Myssandra,' he said and gave them two big, black books.

Kari watched the books he gave her carefully. They were big and black with a worn cover. On the fronts stood a pentacle, but it wasn't a usual pentacle, like the one on Kari's amulet. This pentacles were upside down. The upper points pointed downwards, to hell...
Kari almost dropped the books. 'But these, but these...' she stammered. '... Black Magick Books! We can't use them, if we use black magick we'll be just as bad as Myssandra!'

'You need to know black magick to know what you're up against. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. You must know what she's capable of. I will also give you a white magick book with powerful spells,' Tommy said and grabbed a big, friendly looking book. He gave it to Kari.

'Thanks,' Kari said, although still not too confident about the Black Magick Books. 'You've been a great help. Are the spells difficult to master?'

'For beginners, yes. But powerful witches will master it easily. And you look like a powerful witch to me. So don't worry, Tommy said.'

'Why don't you join us? We could use your help,' Renate suddenly said. Tommy smiled. 'I'd love to.'

Renate looked at Kari. 'Of course it's your decision, too.'

Kari nodded. 'It's fine by me, of course. We can use as much help as possible, especially an expert on magic. Myssandra won't give up easily, but neither will I. But what will we do now? Will we learn the spells, and then what? Just wait for Myssandra to come, or are we going to trace her?'

''We should trace her and learn the spells in the meantime,' Tommy said. 'Now, have another cup of tea. I'll just go pack my things,' he said and left the room.

Renate and Kari had some tea and a few minutes later Tommy got back with a heavy suitcase.

'You need all that?' Renate asked, surprised.

'My weapons, ingredients and spellbooks are in there,' he explained and they headed to the door.

Tommy closed the door behind them and they left the village. 'Where do we go first?' Renate wanted to know.


'Well, I need to get on a mountain so I can perform a search spell to find Myssandra,' he said and they wandered through rough, rocky, wild terrain.

'We're almost there,' Tommy said after fifteen minutes of silence.

Kari looked up and saw the mountain, standing tall and proud in the distance, looking over the forest. The crater at the top showed that it also had had some volcanic activity, but now it was peaceful and quiet.
Her feet were tapping on the rocky floor, and no one said anything. They were accompanied by their thoughts, thinking about what could happen. This was very dangerous business.

Tommy started climbing and Renate followed him. They soon reached the top and Tommy opened his backpack. He grabbed a small cauldron, some scary looking ingredients and he put his supplies on the ground. 'We need to brew a potion now. We'll need a fire first. Can you help me find some wood?' he asked his companions. Renate nodded.

'We'll go to the forest to collect some wood,' Kari said. 'We'll be back as soon as possible.'
She walked away and dragged Renate with her.
'I start to think that this perhaps isn't such a good idea,' Kari said. 'I feel frightened now. What if we find Myssandra and draw her attention, what if she attacks us while we're not ready?!'

'It's a very safe spell. She can't sense it. It's white magic. And Tommy has encountered many evil witches. He is strong. If she attacks us unexpectedly, he will protect us and fight her. Don't worry. You will never be able to beat her if you're frightened. You need to be strong now,' Renate said while picking up pieces of wood. 'I think we have enough now. Let's go back and get this over with. Then we can concentrate on our training,' Renate said, moving on to a more happy topic, while they brought the wood they had found to Tommy for his spell.

((OOC: Sorry it took so long, Renate, but I have no clue what to write))

Kari nodded and picked up the last piece of wood. Her arms were saddled with wood now, and she had some difficult to walk straight while approaching Tommy.
I wonder if he's ready yet.

Renate and Kari brought the wood to Tommy and they made a fire. Tommy was holding a spellbook and started humming the spell. Renate placed the cauldron on the fire and threw the ingredients in it after she filled the cauldron with water. She then stood next to Tommy and also started humming.

Kari quickly placed her hand on her mouth, otherwise she would have burst into laughter. The humming sounded really ridiculous. She wondered if she had to hum along.

The potion suddenly started to tremble and the colour of the potion changed from dark-green to yellow. 'It is finished,' Tommy said and they stopped humming. Tommy reached out his hand and picked up the potion. Renate knew the spell and grabbed her map and laid it on the table. Tommy spoke an incantation with Myssandra's name in it and suddenly threw the potion into the air. You'd expect it to just fall back on the ground, but it didn't. It flew into the air and disappeared behind the stars.

'The Goddess has accepted the potion,' Tommy informed them and one raindrop fell down. It hit the middle of the map and showed a path. It ended a few miles north of them.

'That's where Myssandra is,' Renate said, looking north. 'Should we go that way or head in the other direction so we can practice longer?' she asked Tommy.

'We should be prepared first. Let's head south. We'll perform the ritual again later to check where she is. For now our training should be our only concern,' he said and they left the mountain. 'Let's sleep here.'

They entered a small cavern and Kari wrapped herself in her cloak, shivering by cold. Tommy had made a fire, but it was still very chilly in the darkness.
I wonder what fate will bring us tomorrow. I really hope that Myssandra doesn't know we're tracking her down. She's exactly the person who would know we are coming when we don't even know it yet. I'm worried and nervous about this...
She sighed and closed her eyes to get some sleep.

Selena saw Kari sleeping and decided to scare her. Renate she would leave alone. She had a mean left hook. She didn't know why they was here, but she'd hear that soon enough. She chuckled. Kari always hated it when people scared her while she was sleeping or not paying attention.
Selena sat down beside her cousin and tickled her neck. She knew she couldn't stand that.