Return To The Previous Story - The Race Again
In another world, deep into the unexplored territory there was a house. This was no ordinary house. Inside this house there lived a witch. Somebody knocked at the door. She went over to answer it. Two vampires came in. Vampire country was many miles away. They looked tired from their journey. At first she thought they were after her, and she got ready to defend herself. One of the vampires raised his hand in peace. The witch calmed down considerably.
“We must talk,” said the vampire that seemed to be the leader. “The time of Cencore is coming.”
“I know that!” exclaimed the witch. “I also know that Tim and Sherrell are going to meet Rebecca!”
She thought about the time she first met Tim and Sherrell. She disguised herself as a young woman. She tried to control Sherrell and kill Tim, but they helped each other to escape. Her thoughts turned to revenge. “I was going to get my revenge,” cried the witch.
“Now what brings you here?”
“We too have a score to settle too,” replied the head vampire. “They killed our leader. Plus, we know where the place of Cencore is.”
“And I know where the scroll of Cencore is hidden,” added the witch. “At the house of Rebecca.”
She thought about it and then explained her demands.
“You can do whatever you want to Tim,” explained the witch, “but I want Sherrell and half of Cencore.”
Reluctantly the vampires agreed. The witch called for her helpers, the man and lion. They came to her at once. Suddenly they went backwards. Then in slow motion. Then at normal speed again. The pre-Cencore effects were already starting. Meanwhile, Tim and Sherrell decided to go through the magic mirror again. Tim packed and went in immediately. Sherrell took a while longer. A few minutes later she too came through. They were in a large house, perhaps even a mansion. Sherrell did not notice this at first, for there was a big surprise for Sherrell, Tim was in the hallway on the left. He turned the corner and vanished. At the same time, in the hallway on the right, Tim was walking toward her. Then there was an even bigger surprise, for she was standing face to face with …herself. The ‘other’ Sherrell seemed as stunned as she was, but quickly recovered.
“Oh, of course…I remember now,” the ‘other’ Sherrell muttered to herself.
“Who are you?” asked the 1st Sherrell still stunned.
“I’m you,” the 2nd Sherell replied.
“You’re…me?” gasped the 1st Sherrell.
“No, I’m you, but you’re not me,” the 2nd Sherrell explained in a know-it-all tone of voice.
“I don’t understand,” replied the 1st Sherrell.
“You’ll understand,” added the 2nd Sherrell with a smile, “…someday.”
Sherrell was very confused. She ran out of there not wanting things to get more confusing than they already were.
As she left, she thought she heard Tim say, “For a moment, I thought I saw two of you.”
Sherrell soon found the real Tim. They followed the corridor as far as it would go. It ended with a pair of double doors.
“Come in,” said a voice from behind the door.
Tim and Sherrell looked at each other. They slowly opened the doors. The room was pretty well organized. In the back was a bookcase. The book went all the way from part of the left wall to part of the right wall. At the far left was an old black & white TV. Facing the TV were various pieces of furniture. On the chair in the center sat a woman who appeared to be in her mid 60’s. Things looked just like their own world, except for a crystal ball in the center of the bookcase. Tim and Sherrell came in to look at the crystal ball.
“I tried to make it look as much like your world as possible,” explained the old woman. “I haven’t been there since the 1960’s, so please forgive me.”
She stood up an waked towards them. Tim and Sherrell put the crystal ball up and turned to listen to her.
“The time of Cencore is coming,” she continued. “What’s that?” Sherrell asked.
“It’s a time when time folds back on itself,” the old lady replied. “It can go forwards, backwards, or in big loops.”
“You mean like meeting yourself?” interrupted Sherrell.
She told them her experience.
“Who are you anyway?” wondered Tim. “I am Rebecca,” she told them.
Rebecca was their grandmother. They had never seen her before. In fact until about 19 months ago, they had never even heard of here before. She was believed to be dead. If this was true, then she was 154 years old, and almost 155.
“Now listen to me,” she commanded. “The time of Cencore is coming. I’m sure our enemies know it. If someone is able to read a certain scroll, at a certain place, at a certain time, then that someone will be able to control Cencore, and therefore our world.”
She paused. Suddenly they started moving in bits and pieces like a movie at very slow speeds. Just as suddenly things returned to normal.
“What happened?” asked Tim.
“That was another effect of the time of Cencore,” Rebecca explained. “I call it a Time-chunk.”
“If you are Rebecca, how com you didn’t help us until now?” questioned Sherrell.
“Not help you until now!” Rebecca shouted. “Who do you think stopped the vampire’s wind? Who do you think popped that idea into your head? Who do you think made the magic disk fall into Tim’s hand? Who produced the strange creatures the witch had to shoot at to break his trance? Who do you think made you discover the magic mirror in the first place? Who do you…”
Rebecca realized she was a bit harsh on the answer.
“I’m sorry,” she quickly added. “But I’ve helped you greatly.”
Tim and Sherrell understood. They remembered all of these things had occurred. They had, with the exception of the wind stopping, thought it just luck. Time stopped. Time quickly started again.
“It’s happening sooner that I thought,” Rebecca mumbled to herself out loud.
She pulled out one of the books. Behind it was a green magic disk, an orange magic disk and a scroll.
“Each one of these has a story,” she began. “The green on is the one Time used against the vampire. Each disk is different. Even the same colored ones work differently. You’ll know how to use this. The orange one is rare. There are only 3 known. This one is mine. It once was Abdual’s.”
She paused. Tim took the green disk. Sherrell took the orange. She stared at it and admired its swirling shades. Tim snapped his fingers in front of her face. She blushed embarrassment.
“Your hypno-resistance level is low,” Rebecca said quietly. “Please avoid starting at the more powerful disks.”
Rebecca stopped and turned to Tim. She could tell he was jealous.
“Don’t feel bad that Sherrell’s disk is more powerful,” she stated calmly. “She has a lower hynpo-resistance level than you do, so she needs a more powerful disk. You also know how to use yours, Sherrell doesn’t. Think of a clock.”
Tim did so. In the magic disk, a watch appeared-sort of. The numbers, hands, and ticking sound of a watch anyway. It said 3 o’clock.
“There,” Rebecca declared. “You alone know the exact time of Cencore. It is when the hands all reach midnight. However, it will not go along smoothly. It will speed up, slow down, and even stop at times.”
Tim was satisfied. Rebecca smiled.
“Now for the story,” she told them. “About 200 years ago, when Abdual was just a little boy, he was camping with some friends by the river. The no-name wizard, the oldest and most powerful wizard known, cast a tidal wave to destroy a neighbor city. Abdual and friends were washed away. Abdual alone managed to survive. He walked around looking for food and shelter. Then he found the mountain just to our west. At the time it was absolutely covered with magic disks. After searching for a day, he found the orange one. He used it to create the mansion and the magic mirror. Vincent told the rest.”
She was about to explain the importance of the scroll when the witch and company rushed through the door.
“Hand over that scroll!” shrieked the witch.
Rebecca was silent.
“Hand over that scroll or my friends will attack your grandchildren,” the witch ordered.
The man, the lion, and the 2 vampires advanced. Rebecca quickly threw the scroll to Tim and Sherrell! A split second later, they vanished in an orange mist.
“They got away!” Rebecca sighed.
They all turned and approached her.
“Too bad for you!” the witch exclaimed.
Rebecca got the book she had taken out, turned it to page 23, and read what was there. Rebecca suddenly vanished. The witch and company were so confused that they didn’t notice the door open and close. Rebecca read page 24 and became visible again. She ran to look for Tim and Sherrell. Far away, in the thickest part of a forest, an orange mist appeared. When it cleared, Tim and Sherrell collapsed. Hours later (or at least for them) they recovered.
“Look what you got us into!” Tim cried.
“What did I do?” asked Sherrell.
“I don’t know,” replied Tim, “but it was you color mist.”
After a while, they figured out that Sherrell wished to get out of there. She was unable to control where Tim looks at this disk. It was 4:38.
“We need sometime that will put us in the air,” explained Tim.
Together they concentrated. Slowly a helicopter formed in a clearing in the woods. Rebecca was outside ran as fast as she could. The lion was almost up to her. She flipped through the book to find a good spell. It was no good. Suddenly she had an idea. She waited ‘til the lion was almost up to her, and then zapped him into an invisible cage. She still has many magic disks with her. She quickly ran on. The witch, the man, and the 2 vampires ran after her leaving the lion to his doom. This made the lion angry. Tim and Sherrell flipped a coin to see who would fly it. Sherrell won. She took it up. The helicopter started to wobble. Sherrell wanted to avoid trouble, so she took it back down.
“It’s people like you that give women drivers a bad name,” chuckled Tim.
They tried again. This time Tim took the controls. Tim took it up right into a tree. Sherrell zapped them out at the last minute.
“As you were saying, Tim,” smirked Sherrell.
Tim was only half listening. He looked at the disk. It was 5:03. The second hand was slowly ticking away.
“Wait!” exclaimed Tim. “You’re learning how to use that disk.”
“So,” said Sherrell.
“If we both concentrate, maybe we can return,” Tim replied.
Both of them thought hard about the room they’d left. They pictured themselves in the room. Then they vanished in an orange colored mist. Rebecca had to rest. The witch stopped this from the air and landed next to you.
“You realize the vampires will just double you,” Rebecca declared.
“I know,” the witch agreed. “That’s why I’ll double cross them. As soon as they sow me the place of Cencore, I shall wash them out of existence.”
Together they flew back to the house. Tim and Sherrell reappeared as the orange mist vanished. They were in the same place they were before they vanished. On the bottom shelf, Sherrell found may black scrolls. She picked one of them up. Tim found a book How to Control the Weather. Tim read this. A terrible storm started raging outside. The witch, who could natural tell who cast a spell and where it came from, changed course and flew back to the house of Rebecca. Tim realized what happened and stopped the storm. Sherrell grabbed 2 more blank scrolls. She handed on to Tim. At first he wondered what she was doing, but then the idea dawned on him. It was 5:51. They wasted no time and went after Rebecca immediately—in fast-forward. They soon returned to normal speed. After a while, the witch jumped out in front of them. She held Rebecca hostage. She had her knife out. It was right next to Rebecca’s throat.
“Give me the scroll or she dies,” the witch threatened.
Tim tossed on of the black scrolls a few feet away from the witch. The witch let go of Rebecca to pick up the scroll.
“Run!” Sherrell screamed.
All 3 of them took off. Rebecca, being old, and tired, was slower then they were. Tim and Sherrell darted off, and then realized they had no idea where they were going. Rebecca went down a hall to her right. Tim and Sherrell followed. The witch saw them go, but she was more interested in the scroll of Cencore. Tim and Sherrell followed Rebecca through a series of twists and turns. They heard the witch scream. It was 7:12. They wished Rebecca should move faster. The witch followed them. Gaining all the time. The only thing that slowed her down was that she wasn’t quite sure where thy went, but her hearing was 8 times that of humanoids. This kept her on the right track. Rebecca turned sharply to the right. Straight ahead was a door leading to the outside. Tim opened it, and then very quietly followed Rebecca again. The witch got there just in time to see the door close. She forgot about them and ran out the door.
“Good thinking,” Rebecca whispered.
She led them downstairs to the basement. It was very dark in there. She lit a candle to read a magical lighting spell. Instantly the room lit up.
“The witch cannot detect my magic here,” explained Rebecca. “Now about the scroll of Cencore. The scroll of Cencore must be read at a certain place, at a certain time in order to keep time under control. Whoever reads the scroll controls Cencore unless he wishes not to. It does not occur at regular intervals. It could be one day or 1000 years until the next one. Cencore first started because of an accident when we first settled here.”
Rebecca reacted as if she said something she shouldn’t have. Tim and Sherrell asked questions about the settlement and where they were before they settled here.
“Never mind,” Rebecca replied. “I’ll tell you about that later.”
The man and the 2 vampires regrouped with the witch.
“I couldn’t find them,” said the head vampire.
“Neither could I,” added the other vampire.
“Or me,” he stated with no emotion in his voice.
“I found them,” began the witch, “but they escaped.”
They started to plan on what to do next. They had done this only for a few seconds when the witch spoke up.
“I have an idea!” she exclaimed.
The others listened carefully.
“In order to keep time in order, someone has to read the scroll of Cencore,” the witch continued. “If we go to the place of Cencore and hide, then they will have to come with the scroll. We jump out, take the scroll, capture Tim and Sherrell, and control Cencore. All this at once."
For once you have a good idea,” the head vampire told her. “Follow me.”
They all followed the head vampire. All of them had bothered to let him out. He was cold, lonely, and hungry. He wondered why he had joined up with them anyway. His primitive brain couldn’t remember that far back. He didn’t care about Cencore. He didn’t even know what Cencore was. Right then he just wanted to get out of that cage. He wanted freedom. Tim, Sherrell, and Rebecca was suddenly inside a large cave.
“What happened?” asked Tim.
He looked at the disk. It was 8:49.
“I call this a time hop,” explained Rebecca. “It pops people and things into another time zone.”
“Are we in the past, or the future?” Sherrell wondered.
“Either one, both, and none,” Rebecca replied, not being of much help.
“I don’t understand,” said Tim.
“Neither do I,” added Sherrell.
“Neither do I,” admitted Rebecca.
Suddenly they were back in their normal time zone. The 2 vampires, the man, and the witch were still walking toward the place of Cencore. The witch secretly smiled. It was all going according to her plan. Meanwhile Rebecca was about to tell Tim and Sherrell yet another story. This one on the house itself.
“Shortly after Abdual, my father, got back from his first journey, he worked on this house. With the help of the magic disks, it only took a month to finish,” Rebecca told them. “Between the inner and outer walls, there is a layer of magic disks. These magic disks protect and repair the house.”
Rebecca found a fire spell. She tried it but it didn’t work. Then she took out 2 small crystal gems. She tried it again. This time the wall slowly caught fire. After a while, she stopped it. Through the hole burnt in the wall, Tim and Sherrell could see many magic disks of almost every color. Almost at once a transparent barrier formed over the hole.
“In a few days that will become part of the wall, and become hard,” stated Rebecca.
She tapped on another part of the wall.
“About 20 years ago,” began Rebecca. “I did the same thing with you dad. Now you can’t tell the difference. In a few weeks you can’t tell the difference with your spot.”
Rebecca hand one of the gems to Tim and the other one to Sherrell. It only had an average diameter of about an inch, but it seemed very power.
“With those you two combined are able to control 1/6 of the house. You may not need it on this adventure, but keep it,” Rebecca ordered. “Your may need it later. Wait until Tim gets 11 o’clock and then I’ll take you to the place of Cencore—or at least the general area.”
Tim and Sherrell asked many questions which are not important to the story. While they were there time stopped once, reversed 3 times, slowed down twice, and speed up twice. They also experienced another time chuck and another time hop. Finally, Tim looked at his disk. It was 11:04. While Tim and Sherrell were asking Rebecca questions, the witch, the man, and the 2 vampires were heading torwards the place of Cencore. After a long journey, they came to a place where two rivers merged into one. The head vampire stood between the 2 rivers as close as possible to the place where the rivers meet without getting wet.
“This is it!” exclaimed the head vampire glad to have made it. “This is the place of Cencore!”
At the same time both these thing were going on, the lion was still trying to escape. His puny brain couldn’t figure out that was useless to use force. He was very furious. He wanted to get out. He still couldn’t figure out that the witch wasn’t going to free him. He waited for the witch to return. After telling them that they had reached the place of Cencore, the head vampire wnt with the other vampire a good distance away from the witch to discuss their plans.
“You realize that now the she knows where the place of Cencore is she might turn on us at any moment,” explained the head vampire.
“I am well aware of that,” replied the other vampire.
“But we still need her like the no-name wizard?” gasped the other vampire. “I’ve been serving him longer than you have. We wait until Tim and Sherrell are captured. Then we bite the witch before she knows what has happened. Then we read the scroll and control Cencore for ourselves.”
“B-but what about the No-name wizard?” gasped the other vampire. "H-he’s pretty powerful."
"If we control Cencore NO ONE can harm us!" declared the head vampire. “Not even the No-name wizard. Now let’s get back there, before they realize we’re gone.”
They quickly returned to join the witch. Unknown to them, the No-name wizard knew what they were planning. He decided not to help them defeat the witch. He didn’t need to control Cencore to prove how powerful he was. He had just gotten his 2nd orange magic disk and he’d be back soon. He’d be back very soon.
“It’s 11:04!” exclaimed Tim.
“Well then we’d better get started,” Rebecca stated. “I’ll have to go separately. Good-bye.”
"Good-bye," said Tim and Sherrell at almost the same time.
Rebecca had gone back upstairs to get her crystal ball, while Tim and Sherrell were looking at her spell book. (They didn’t chant anything out loud.) Rebecca searched through her crystal ball. About 10 places per second appeared on the crystal ball. Somehow, Rebecca knew what each place was. Finally it stopped by the bank of a river.
“I don’t know exactly where it is,” started Rebecca. “But I do know this is very close. Hand me my spell book.”
They did so. Rebecca turned to the spell of teleportation. She chanted a few words. Everything turned to black. A split-second later Tim and Sherrell were at the bank of the river thy had seen through the crystal ball.
“Good luck!” whispered Rebecca looking at them through the crystal ball.
She left the crystal ball where it was and went upstairs to do her job. She took the spell book with her. She’d marked the place of the spell of teleportation. The lion was still trying to get out. He finally realized what he was doing wasn’t helping any. He still didn’t know that all he had to do was to pick up the magic disk and concentrate. That’s all he had to do. For the first time in his life he was scared. He was really beginning to think that there was no way out. He thought he was trapped forever. How he wished for a way out. Although it may be true that the witch can’t detect spells inside the house of Rebecca, the final part of the last spell was on the outside. It was close enough for the witch to detect it strongly.
“They’re coming,” announced the witch. “Get ready to hide.”
They all scrambled into their hiding places. All was quiet. At first glance, Tim and Sherrell saw nothing unusual about this river. Then Tim took a closer look.
“We’d better follow this river,” declared Tim.
“How come?” asked Sherrell. “There’s nothing special about it.”
“Then how com the rivers flowing up stream?” wondered Tim. Sherrell took a closer look.
“Tim was right!” thought Sherrell. “It is flowing backwards.”
“That ought to show her,” thought Tim.
Sherrell gasped, “You mean it is going backwards.”
“Either that or we are,” added Tim.
“Even if it is flowing backwards that still doesn’t mean we have to follow it,” explained Sherrell. “I say we cross the stream and explore the woods on the other side.”
“Where in the woods?” demanded Tim. “At least if we follow the stream we’ll know were going somewhere.”
“This is like a wild goose chase,” complained Sherrell.
“That may be true,” agreed Tim, “but we’d better go somewhere. It’s 11:07, we’ve already wasted 3 minutes of Cencore.”
“But where do we go?” questioned Sherrell.
“Hold it!” exclaimed Tim. “I have an idea! We’ll flip a coin for it.”
Tim was hoping that Sherrell didn’t have a coin, but she did. Sherrell got it out. She when she saw Tim’s face.
“Call it!” yelled Sherrell.
“Heads!” Tim replied.
It was tails. She was about to tell Tim that, but he had already started following the river upstream. A little bit later, when they were further upstream, Sherrell couldn’t keep it back any longer.
“Tim! You had no right to do that!” argued Sherrell. “I won that coin toss fairly, but what do you do? You walk – just walk right on upstream!”
Tim was getting sick of her nagging.
“LAY OFF IT, Sherrell!” commanded Tim. “It could of just as easily have been heads! I started out while the coin was still in mid-air. I’m sure it’s this way, but you’re confused. You admitted so yourself.”
Sherrell couldn’t think of anything to say back to him, so they walked in silence the rest of the way. They didn’t say a word. Rebecca wondered how Tim and Sherrell were doing, but what she was doing was more important. She went through a bunch of very complicated spells.
“There,” said Rebecca relieved that she was through.
The spell was to delay whoever read the scroll of Cencore from controlling Cencore until the true time of Cencore. (That’s as simple as I can put it.)
“I hope that will give them enough time,” Rebecca mumbled to herself.
She went back downstairs. She looked at Tim and Sherrell through the crystal ball. She could tell that something was along. She looked on ahead. At the true place of Cencore. She could see the 2 vampires, the man, and the witch hiding.
“Oh, great!” thought Rebecca to herself. “Tim and Sherrell are arguing with each other and they’re going to run into an ambush at any moment. Hey, where’s the lion?”
Rebecca quickly realized the witch had never released the lion. She also figured out that the witch thought the lion would only get in the way. Rebecca gave the faintest of smiles. This gave her an idea. Maybe she could give Tim and Sherrell even more time. She got one of the many magic disks hidden in the furniture in case of attack. She started outside. After a long journey, Tim and Sherrell finally reached the place of Cencore. They could both sense a strong magic in that spot, in spite of its ordinary appearance.
“This is it”, exclaimed Tim. “This is the place of Cencore! If we had picked your way we would be going around in circles by now.”
“I’m sorry. You were right,” admitted Sherrell. “But you sure do have the strangest ways of saying, “I told you so.”
The two of them shook hands. While they were shaking hands, the witch, the man, and the 2 vampires agreed that this would be the perfect time to ambush them. It would get them unprepared. They might have been right, but in the middle of their ambush the strangest pre-Cencore effect so far happened. Time stopped. Tim and Sherrell felt like they were being pulled through another dimension, which of course they were. Finally the pulling effect stopped and time started again. When Tim and Sherrell recovered, they were in total darkness. Rebecca got one of her more advanced spellbooks and turned to the spell she wanted. “Where are we?” asked Sherrell.
“You’re outside of time,” a voice replied.
It was Rebecca. The spell on telepathic communication obviously worked.
“You’ll return to where you belong in a moment,” she added.
“At least this is better than being attacked by them,” stated Tim.
“I’m Afraid that you will return in the same spot that you left,” Rebecca told them.
“Oh no!” Tim blurted.
“You helped me once, so I will help you,” Sherrell told him bravely.
Tim didn’t understand, but Sherrell didn’t have time to explain. Time stopped again. They were pulled back again. Then the pulling stopped and time started once more. The witch, the man, and the 2 vampires didn’t move whil this had happened. In fact they didn’t even know that this happened. For them, time never stopped. They advanced as if nothing had happened. Sudddenly, Sherrell took out one of the black scrolls that she still had with her. Without warning, she hit the head vampire as hard as she could with it. Instinctively, the vampire bit down on the scroll.
“You fool!” screamed the witch. “You’re destroying the scroll of Cencore!”
The vampire immediatiely relized it. Tim saw his chance and made a dash for it. The man realized this and went after him. Tim crossed the river. It was deeper than he thought, but that didn’t stop him. The man was rapidly gaining.
“You’ll never get the scroll of Cencore!” declared Sherrell. “Take a step closer and I’ll tear this up.”
They backed away in horror.
“You wouldn’t!” gasped the witch.
“Our world will be in complete disorder until the next time of Cencore.”
The witch took a step forward. Sherrell ripped it slightly.
“You forget. I don’t live in this world,” reminded Sherrell.
As she said this she made eye contact with the witch. That was the worst thing she could have possibly done. The witch took advantage of here low hypo-resistance level. Sherrell couldn’t brake eye contact. For someone with a low hypo-resistance level, she put up a good fight, but she soon fell into a trance. Tim reached the other side of the bank. He rocketed towards the woods. Twigs crackled and snapped as he passed. He tripped over a root and fell to the ground. Fortunately he was well hidden. He decided to stay there. Tim held his breath as the man came by. He looked around for a while, but couldn’t find anything. Slowly he walked off to regroup with the others. Tim watched with horror as Sherrell finally gave into the witch. He took the real of Cencore out and looked at it. It was a mathamatical formula instead of a spell as he thought it would be. Tim looked at this ‘watch.’ It was 11:48. He looked back at the scroll of Cencore. He didn’t understand it.
“It’s all up to me. I have to do something,” muttered Tim, “but what?”
He hoped Rebecca was still listening, but she wasn’t. She went outside to convince the lion that the witch had betrayed him. The lion roared with rage as she came near.
“I’ll let you go,” Rebecca said calmly. “After I explain a few things to you. The witch is not going to free you., She doesn’t care about you.”
The lion was enraged. Rebecca saw it was working and kept at it.
“She thinks you’ll just get in the way,” Rebecca continued. “That’s why she’s leaving you in here. She doesn’t.”
The lion was so enraged that he broke the trance that was placed on him so long ago. Rebecca smiled and read the spell of teleportation. Tim decided that it was all or nothing. Before anybody could do anything, Tim came charging straight toward the witch. He hit her with full force and they both went toppling into the water. The vampires grabbed him. The witch got up and picked up the scroll that had fallen. It was 11:52. The witch literally jumped for joy when she saw it was the scroll of Cencore. She magically held Tim in place. He tried to move, but he couldn’t.
“I hear something!” declared the man after crossing the river.
He looked in the woods to investigate. The lion suddenly pounced on him. He was dead before he hit the ground, but the lion wanted to make sure. He gnawed on his arms and clawed up his chest. Soon only the man’s skeleton was left. He lion crashed out of the woods ready to attack the witch. Meanwhile the witch got out of the water.
“That’s just a silly superstition,” boasted the witch. “We don’t dissolve in water. We’re nothing more than one of you with the natural ability to use magical powers.”
The witch told the vampires that she had the scroll of Cencore. As soon as they heard this, the vampires got ready to revolt. Then the lion came crashing out of the woods. The vampires forgot about attacking the witch and prepared to defend themselves. The witch simply raised her hand. A streak of lightening hit the lion in the head. The lion yelped with pain and fell into the water. The witch raised her hand again and a streak of lightening hit the water right next to him. The lion was instantly electrocuted. The vampires rushed the witch. A streak of lightening hit the head vampire in the eyes. Vampires had very little protection to light, so the strong blast of light instantly crippled him. He was left helpless and would soon perish. The other vampire looked at the No-name wizard for protection, but the No-name wizard just sat back, watched and laughed. He wouldn’t help them. It was 11:53. The other vampire shared the same fate. By this time, the head vampire had already perished.
The other vampire said, “I’ll get you for this.”
Then he too perished.
“Now!” exclaimed the witch. “I have won! I will soon control Cencore! All I have to do is figure out the mathematical code.” I was 11:54. She handed a knife to Sherrell. Then she forced Tim to lie down-3 feet of the ground.
“Kill him!” ordered the witch.
Sherrell grasped the knife good and tight. She trembled as her weak hypno-ressitance battled her weak conscious and her love for her brother. It was 11:55. The place of Cencore was sealed up from the rest of the outside world. There was no way Rebecca could help them now. The witch realized her will temporarily to read the scroll of Cencore. Tim and Sherrell listening helplessly. Outside the place of Cencore, time was going crazy. I was 11:56. Slowly the true place of Cencore started to shrink. Soon there would be nothing left of it. The witch finished the scroll. It was 11:57. At first the with wondered why she couldn’t control Cencore. Then she realized Rebecca had used a deadly spell. She knew it wasn’t much longer now. It was 11:58. The witch gave a triumphant laugh. She turned on his will power. Once more Sherrell thought herself as a knife wobbled back and forth. Tim knowing that his life depended on it, gave Sherrell all of the encouragement that he could.
“Fight it!” yelled Tim in panic. “If you don’t succeed the witch will control Cencore. We’re all depending on you. If you don’t resist you will have let all of us down.“
Tim noticed that Sherrell was resisting stronger.
“No! Don’t listen to him!” the witched screamed.
“YOU WILL HAVE LET US DOWN,” Tim emphasized. “I love you, Rebecca loves you. We’re both depending on you. This whole worlds depending on you. You MUST resist.”
“No,” repeated the witch. “Don’t listen to him.”
It was 11:59. The place of Cencore got even smaller got even smaller. Tim, Sherrell, and the witch were outside of Cencore. What Tim and the witch were saying canceled each other out. She ignored both of them and tried to think for herself. It was all up to her now. For a while, it looked like she was going to succeed. The witch came up behind her.
“If you don’t kill him, I will,” threatened the witch.
For a split-second she got scared. That was all the time the witch needed to regain control. Once again Sherrell took the knife. Slowly and shakily she moved the knife toward Tim’s throat.
“If you kill me then the witch will be able to control you forever!” Tim yelled desperately.
This stopped Sherrell for a few seconds, but only for a few seconds. Sherrell moved the knife toward Tim once again. This time more smoothly. The place of Cencore was very small by now. It was moving rapidly to midnight. Sherrell raised the knife back. The second hand passed the 10. With a single blow Sherrell came down as hard as she could. At the last possible second, using all of her will, Sherrell raised the knife slightly. Her momentum made continue until it hit the witch behind her. Tim was able to move. The witch screamed in pain. Streaks of lightening went everywhere.
“Help Me!” Sherrell screamed.
The place of Cencore shrunk to nothing. It was midnight. When the place of Cencore shrunk to nothing, a time rip was caused. The time rip caused time to stop. Everything faded into nothingness. Time started again. Tim recovered. He was in the basement. Rebecca used the magic in the house to save him just in time. He looked at the disk. It was 12:01. The second hand was slowly ticking away. The numbers and have began to fade. Soon it was just an ordinary magic disk. Rebecca come in with some food to see how he was doing. She was delighted to see that Tim was getting. Tim snatched the food and took a bite.
“Sorry, but I haven’t had a bite for a long time,” Tim explained.
“Well, when you’re fighter vampires that’s good news,” joked Rebecca. Tim suddenly realized something. “Where’s Sherrell?” he asked.
“She’s caught in the time ripped,” Rebecca replied. “I was going to read a scroll to created a time rip and get her out, but I need absolute silence. The sooner after Cencore I do it, the greater the chance of being successful.”
"I understand," said Tim and he walked upstairs and shut the door behind him.
He couldn’t help being curious about what she was doing. He was glad when he saw Sherrell and Rebecca come out to greet him. Just a few minutes later they were having a steak dinner and talking about their adventure.
“What happened to in the time rip and what happened to the witch?” wondered Tim.
“It’s hard to explain,” stated Sherrell.
“I think I can answer the second one,” began Rebecca. “The witch was consumed. She was an unknowing sacrifice to keep time under control. We should almost thank her.”
“I don’t understand what you mean by consumed,” Tim told her.
“Cencore needs energy,” Rebecca continued. “Just like you need that steak over them.”
There was silence for a while. After they finished eating, the questions started again.
“If Cencore needs energy, how come it didn’t consume me?” questioned Sherrell.
“I don’t know,” Rebecca admitted, “but it’s time for you to go.”
Tim and Sherrell said good-bye to Rebecca and started to head back for the magic mirror.
“Oh, yes! One more thing!” Rebecca yelled after them. “In order to pull you free I had to send the 3 of us slightly back in time, so be careful.”
Tim stayed to ask her one more question, but Sherrell headed back for the magic mirror. She was so busy thinking about what had happened to her, she came face to face with…herself. Both Sherrells were stunned at first, but the ‘real’ Sherrell figured out what had happened.
“Oh, of course…I remember now!” she muttered to herself.
“Who are you?” her other self asked.
“I’m you,” she replied.
“You’re…me,” gasped her other self.
She knew her other self was rather confused, but she was going to be mean to herself and confuse her even more.
“No, I’m you, but you’re me,” she explained in a know-it-all voice. “I don’t understand,” replied her other self.
Sherrell thought she was being to cruel with herself and decided to ease up.
“You will,” she added with a smile. “…someday.”
Her other self was so confused that she ran out of there. Just then, Tim caught up the her.
“I thought I saw two of you,” he said.
“You did!” she declared.
Tim just went through the magic mirror. He didn’t want to understand it. Sherrell thought about asking Rebecca about it, but she decided that would just create more confusion. She followed Tim back through the magic mirror. No one knew they had gone.
Copyright MCMLXXXIV, MM
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