Glitch Magic

This is a Wizard101 fanfiction. Original elements, plot, and characters are © 2019 Samurai, all rights reserved. NPCs mentioned, worlds, and gameplay are not mine.

The original had some swear words, which I will be editing out. However, if I miss one or you see a typo, please point it out in the comments! (Please do not edit it yourself.)

Enjoy! :D

Prologue
The intense heat radiating from the lava flows threatened to scorch Kestrel's flesh as she stumbled barefoot across the jagged rocks, the furious bellows of the Dragon Titan echoing in her ears. They spoke not the same tongue, but she knew why it had come.

Valerian's voice was in her head again, with his dying words and her last sighting of him: the valiant wizard wielding a sword as he faced the Dragon Titan. Take our son and go!

The Dragon Titan had inhaled deeply, preparing a killing blast of firebreath, and in its eyes blazed a fiery message of ancient hatred: The boy is mine.

Tears streaming from her dark blue eyes, Kestrel hurried towards the castle, holding her son tightly. The Dragon Titan was coming, but he could never have her little boy. She wouldn't let him fall into those cruel, horrible claws of death and destruction, or else Valerian would have died in vain. He'd died to buy her time. It had to be enough.

The heat increased in intensity, and she'd barely made it across the bridge when it collapsed, falling in pieces into the scorching lava below. A roar shook the earth, throwing Kestrel to her knees and nearly into the hellish river of molten despair. But she caught herself and struggled to the door, her heart feeling more broken than she thought possible. The child had let out a cry when she fell, and he continued to cry, though it was barely audible over the chaos of the destruction of Dragonspyre.

Finally the door was open, and then closed, and they were inside, though the ground continued to shake and rubble rained from the ceiling. The castle would soon collapse. No matter – she had no intention of staying in the main hall.

Quickly she entered the door behind the staircase, closing it behind her and stumbling down the many spiraling steps. She felt like she was descending into a silent, pitch black hell as the sounds of Armageddon faded; the roars of the Dragon Titan became nothing more than a distant rumble, liked the muted thunder of a storm beginning to pass.

But this storm was far from over. The Dragon Titan's awakening and the resulting vanquishing of Dragonspyre could only spell out the beginning of the end – the Sleep would come for the Dragon Titan, but the damage was done. Great Dragonspyre was demolished, reduced to a land of cinders and ash, and with it vanished Dragonspyre Academy, Valerian, the Dragonmage Regime. . . it was all gone. Everything.

And without the strength of Dragonspyre. . . how would the Spiral fare against an outside foe, or traitors from within?

The storm was just beginning. Even now, in what she knew to be her dying moments, she knew there was great darkness to come, shadows to follow the flames, the darkness hailed by the cruel, terrible, hellish light of fire. But perhaps. ..

Perhaps all was not lost.

She staggered off the last step and fell to her knees, dragging herself over to the altar. Cool water dripped serenely from the ceiling, and though it was very dark and not unlike a dungeon, it felt safe and secure. Her son would be protected here.

Smiling at him through the pain, she brushed a lock of hair out of his tearful eyes. Hope. That was what she knew him to be, the glittering star in an otherwise starless night sky. That was why she was saving him. For love, and for the Spiral. Whatever darkness was coming, whatever evil awaited the stars she could not see, hope would battle the shadows, and light would reign once more. It always did in the end.

The end. ..

The Spiral did not end here.

But her time in it was coming to a close.

<p data-p-id="6319739775b165bf76880847f5559826">"I'm sorry, my child," she whispered to her only son. "I have to leave you here in this place of darkness. But here you are safe from the flames, safe from the wrath of the Dragon Titan. My little beacon of hope . . . may you grow to be the greatest wizard the Spiral has ever known."

<p data-p-id="2adab3b886eff40151a2121866f86167">She touched his forehead one last time, and he grasped at her sleeve. With a sad smile, Kestrel tugged her sleeve out of his hand and disappeared into the shadows, surrendering to the void.