The fire ate at the castle, burning all but the stone walls.  I cried out  but I knew that she was already gone.  They had taken our princess and  murdered our king.  I couldn’t see through the smoke so I struggled blindly on the ground.  Suddenly I felt  very cool.  Was I dyeing? I looked down and saw a faint blue glow around my body.  I struggled to get up and  then  I was in a dark mist.  It was too damp to be smoke.  I couldn’t feel myself moving, but when the mist cleared I was on a hill over looking the charred remains of the castle.  The fire had died down and everything was ruined.  There were three others on the hill, two I recognized  but the other was a total stranger.
  The first was  Ryan Goldade.  We were taught together.   Taught  how to fight, and other such things.  We both wanted to be knights, like Ryan’s father had been.  I had no father.   The second person was Mike Prince.   He was the son of one of the many lords that had lived in our castle.  The third person was an old man with a long beard.  He looked sort of....... magical I guess the word would be.
“Who are you?” I asked nervously. Mike and Ryan stared, first at me, then at the man.
“I am Dracule Peroit, from America.”
“Is that a castle?” asked Ryan.
“No Ryan Goldade. It is not.”
“How do you know my name?”
“I know all your names. Andrew Brown.  Mike Prince. Ryan Goldade.”
 
 

 My name is Andrew Brown.  As I mentioned before, I have no father.  I have no parents at all for that matter.  I was found by Ryan’s uncle and adopted.  I am only fifteen years old.  Mike and Ryan are also fifteen.   Our princess, Tiffany had been taken away by a hoard of soldiers lead by Lord Rhinestone, an evil man with evil intentions.  His knights burnt down the castle and slayed everyone they ran into.  Luckily I had been taking a walk and was able to hide.  I didn’t know how I got to the hill but somehow I knew it was the  old man’s doing.
 
 

 “I am a sorcerer,”  said Dracule,  “ I would like to help you find your Princess.  We don’t have much time, so I will  just give you the knowledge you need.”
We just stared at him, but,  being the egotistical youth that  we were, we all agreed,
“Okay!”
First, Dracule put his hand on Ryan’s head.  Suddenly Ryan’s eyes lit up.    Dracule stepped away and Ryan formed a fireball in his hands.
“I know magic!” he cried.
Next, it was Mike’s turn.  Dracule mumbled something and an elegant  sword appeared at Mike’s side along with gold plated armor.
“I know how to use it too!” said Mike.
 
 
 

Finally it was my turn.   Dracule reached into a bag beside him and brought out a battle ax.  Then some dusty armor.
I swung the ax around a couple times. I could feel with the muscles and tendons in my arm tighten.

“You, Ryan, have the gift of knowledge.” said Dracule.
“Michael, you have the gift of speed.”
“Andrew, yours is the gift of strength.”
Dracule pulled a map out from his pocket and cut it into three pieces.  He handed us the pieces and told us to fold them and then unfold them.   We gasped as we found a whole map when we unfolded it.  We had three whole maps.
“Now, follow the map and find your princess.”
 

 We trudged through the swamp, waist deep in mud.  Mike raced through it quickly while Ryan floated over it, using a spell.  I just  muscled my way through it.
We had been walking for three weeks, through forests and swamps.  I would be very happy to get to the valley of the bears.  Dracule had warned us about a lake in the valley of bears..  He had gone on a different mission.  As we relaxed on the edge of the swamp, we watch the mud bubble.  Ryan was the first to realize that it was bubbling far too much.  A dark shape emerged from the depths of the ooze.  It was  seven feet in height, and covered by mud.  Maybe it WAS mud.
“I am foot soldier, of the powerful Lord, Eval Rhinestone.  State your business.” it gurgled.
“We oppose your Lord!,” i stated, “ Will you oppose him too?”
“And mutiny? never!  Guards, attack!”
Suddenly the mud-men started plopping out of the swamp.  Soon a sum of forty guards stoop before them.  I whipped out my ax and held my ground.  One of the creatures  threw a glob of mud at me.  It hit  my eyes and stung like Hellfire.  I swung my ax blindly, trying to fling the mud off.  I heard Ryan cry out in pain.  I finally got the mud out of my eyes, and saw that I had taken Ryan's arm off.  I went into shock from the pure horror of it.  My world went black, and I dropped like a rock.
 
 

 I opened my eyes sometime later.  One of my eyes wouldn’t open.  I touched it with my fingers and almost fainted.  It was just a bloody hole.  I looked around but I could barely move.  I saw Ryan half sunken into the swamp.  Mike’s remains were hanging from a nearby tree.  I looked at my chest and saw that my innards had been spilt, and I was only half there.  I started to gag.  Ryan’s disembodied arm, lay in my guts.  I spewed vomit, over my broken bloody body.  The vile liquid leaked into my burns and sizzled painfully.   I tried to screamed out but I was choking on  my own vomit.   My body convulsed  into seizures.  I faintly felt my brain rupture and then, back into darkness.
 
 
 

 I found myself on a hill over looking our charred castle, which was still smoking.  “You failed your mission already!” said Dracule, “This is the only time that I’ll resurrect you three and send you back in time.  You’re on your own”
 

      -Three weeks later-
 

 “I am foot soldier, of the powerful Lord, Eval Rhinestone.  State your business.” it gurgled.
“We serve Lord Rhinestone.” I answered.
“Good” replied the creature.  He turned to leave but I slammed my ax into his side.  Thick, gray blood spurted from his two sections.   Ryan quickly muttered an enchantment and set up a magical ‘shield from projectiles’ around us.  The creatures rose from the swamp and started towards us.  That was okay, though.  We had been practicing.
“You’re all dead!” I screamed  running at them.  They flung their mud but it slid off the magical shield.  They decided to just drag me under the mud, but I was swinging my ax too hard for them to get a hold of me.  Mike ran around the outside of the group, slashing with his sword, as I went through the middle of the group.  Ryan started shooting fireballs at the group.  They bounced of us, and burnt the mud-men.  Soon they were all dead.
“lets go,” I said panting,  “On to the valley of the bears.”
 
 

 It took us one more week to get to the valley of the bears.  We were worried about how much time we had left,  so we interrogated a small troll who worked for Rhinestone.  He told us that Rhinestone was on a “business” meeting, and had left Tiffany at his castle.  We stood at the base of the valley.  It was pretty much clear of trees. All we could see in the distance was a village about a mile away.  Where were the bears?
 

 Two hours later we arrived at the village.  The residents were very friendly and let us stay for the night. Two more hours later,  Ryan, Mike and I were looking at the stars.
“I really like her, you know.” said Ryan.
“Who?” I asked.
“Princess Tiffany. I just....... I don’t know why, but I think I love her.”
I nodded. “ She’s nice.  I hear she’s nice anyway.”
 

We heard someone creak out onto a front porch.  We turned around and saw the town sheriff.
“Howdy, fellas”
“Hi, sheriff. How’s everything?”
“Fine, fine.  What’s the moon like tonight?”
“Full as it could be.”
“What?! Did you say..........”
“Full. Why?”
“Run! You gotta get outta here! Ruuumnadkas...........AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!”
“HOLY FU...RRRRRRUUUUUNNNN!!!!!!” I screamed.  The man’s face was twisting and stretching.  His mouth and nose stretched out in front of him.  His face sprouted dark thick hair.  He looked almost bear-like in the moon light.  He was a bear!  Spittle dribbled from his sharp teeth as he fell on his haunches.  He growled and  charged towards us.  We yelped and took off towards the  mountains.  We hid in an alcove in the mountains when we reach them twenty minutes later.  We saw bears all night but, they never saw us.   The next day at dawn, we hiked up and over the mountain, to avoid the valley of the bears.
 
 
 
 

 We found ourselves at the bottom of a canyon when we reached the other side of the mountain.   As we followed the map, we kept looking up at the canyon top nervously.  I had a dreadful sense of foreboding.   I was staring at the canyon walls that night when I realized that something was definitely wrong with the walls.  I just couldn’t tell what.  I decided to wait for daylight.  I never got to sleep.  I knew that whatever was wrong with the walls, was VERY wrong.  The next day at dawn, I figured , it out.  The walls of the canyon were red.  The mountain side was gray.  They were both next to each other but they were different colors.  I could see exactly where the gray stopped and the red started.  There was no in-between.  One of the two was an illusion.  We had crossed the mountain so........... I walked towards the wall.  I pushed on the wall and suddenly it was gone.  I was hanging over a sheer drop.  How come I wasn’t falling? I saw a castle out in the distance, floating over the drop.  It was an illusion as well! Or so I guessed.  When Ryan and Mike woke up we decided to go check out the castle.  We started walking.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 I lost track of time as we walked but it couldn’t have been more than two days before we reached the castle.  Ryan started to go up the steps and vanished.  Then Mike disappeared.  Finally me.  We materialized in a throne room.  Sitting at the throne was a beautiful young woman.  She couldn’t have been much older than me.   I noticed a light pink smoke coming off of her.  It made it’s way towards us.  As it hit me, I felt an overwhelming urge to run up and kiss her. Then the feeling was gone.
“Love spell” Ryan whispered.
“Play along” answered Mike.  We all stared at her acting as if we loved her.  I saw four skeletons rise from the corners of the room and advance.  They carried long elegant swords with beautiful markings inscribed in them.   The skeletons surrounded us and raised their swords.
“NOW!” I shouted.  Ryan sent out a bolt of electricity into one of them and Mike cut up another. I jumped into the air and kicked one with each foot.  The skeletons flew to the walls and shattered.
“Impressive” said the girl. Her voice was like laughter and, for some reason, it made my heart soar.  I picked up one of the swords and walked up to her.
“Very fine craftsmanship.  You should be proud.  I am Andrew Brown, and these are my associates, Mike Prince and Ryan Goldade.”
“I am Roberta. Nice to meet you.”
“Does anyone else think this conversation is insane?” asked Ryan.
“Yeah!” agreed Mike, “Wasn’t she trying to kill us?”
“Now, now! That’s no reason to be rude. We must be off m’lady.  Good evening.”
I reached for her hand and placed a kiss on it.  Suddenly my eyes rolled up in my sockets and I collapsed.
 
 

 I woke up in a comfortable bed with Ryan and Mike staring at me.
“Are you all right?” asked Ryan.
“What happened?” I asked.
“ That Roberta lady says it was ‘a misunderstanding’,” explained Mike, “Hah!”
“It really was.”  Roberta was in the room as well.  She looked so innocent and lovely that I knew I had already forgiven her.  She might be trying to kill me, but I still loved her.
“I am not quite up to full strength yet, you guys.  You go on with the mission. If it’s allright with  Roberta, I’d like to stay here.”
“It’s allright” smiled Roberta.
“What are you, nuts?!” screamed Mike.
“GO!” I commanded.
“Wait. Take this. As long as you where it,  I can transport Andrew to you.”
“Are you sure about this?” asked Ryan.
“I’m in good hands.” I answered.
 
 
 
 
 

 Roberta took care of me for a week, and I knew she loved me back.  So before I left, I handed her a golden ring.
“It was my father’s. All I ever had to know him by.  As long as you where this, I know our love is true.”
“Take this ring, Andrew, so I’ll always know where you are.”  She handed me a blue, crystal ring.  I kissed her softly on the cheek and asked her to transport me.
 
 

 The world suddenly shifted and reality began to warp.  Then I was in a bar.  I looked around but couldn’t see Mike or Ryan.  So instead, I looked for the ring.  I spotted it on the finger of a large, burly ogre.  I was about to slay him, but I decided to follow him instead.  There was a chance that  my friends were still alive.  He eventually left the tavern,  tottering down a dirt road.  Soon he veered of into the forest.  I followed him, twenty paces back.  Ten minutes after we left the tavern, we arrived at a dirty shack.  Instead of going through the front door, the ogre went around the back, to a large cellar door.  As he opened it, he revealed a large, thick iron door underneath the wooden one.  He inserted a key and walked down a long, stone staircase.  After thirty seconds, he decided to fall the rest of the way down.  At the bottom of the stairs was a huge room.  It was filled with all sorts of dying creatures.  There were two large, blue dragons. One of them was in good shape but the other was very emaciated.
All around there were rotten corpses and blood stains.  I saw Mike and Ryan in one corner. They were knocked out, but not very battle-scarred.  I took a moment to ponder how they could’ve fallen to such a drunkard as this ogre, but then I just pounced on him.
“What is this place?!” I asked as I pinned him down.
“It is my refuge of revenge!” he spat, too drunk to realize the danger he was in.
“Then it shall be destroyed.” I told him.  He just laughed and uttered some incoherent mutterings.  I pulled out my ax, and separated his head from his body. Then I took the ring from his finger and put it on my own.   Suddenly a shadow fell over me.   As I turned around, I realized that the ogre wasn’t the biggest problem.   Standing over me was a gigantic demonic troll.  It was  three times as big as the ogre and twice as ugly.  He growled at me and, I guess, he decided to start a wrestling match.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 I whipped out my ax, but he knocked it away.  His thick  muscley arms gripped mine and he swung me around.  I flew into the corner with Mike and Ryan.  As he approached us I quickly tried to wake them up.  Mike woke up but,  Ryan stayed out.   Mike let out a shout of horror as he saw the troll, and I jumped through the troll’s legs.  I jumped up on to his back and wrapped my arms around his throat.  The troll tried to grab me, but his arms were too short.  Slowly I squeezed the breath out of him and then crushed his voice box.  He gasped and then fell to the floor, defeated.  The large thump wok Ryan up.  I took my ax and cut their chains.  Then, as we were about to leave, I looked back.  The only creature alive in the cellar, was the blue dragon.  The other had just died.  I walked back to the dragon and released it.  The dragon let out a roar an took off up the steps.  By the time we got up them, the door had collapsed and the dragon was gone. We moved the rubble, then searched the cabin.  There was $182 in coins, a bow and a quiver of arrows.  Ryan cast a spell of unlimited arrows on the quiver, and then we left.  Back on route to princess Tiffany.
 
 
 

 “Have you ever met her?” asked Ryan.
“Who?” pondered Mike.
“Princess Tiffany.”
“Oh.......no” answered Mike.
“I’ve seen her.  And heard her.  Never met  her though.” I said.
“I did once.” started Ryan, “When we were little.  We were lost in a court yard, and we found each other.  We became good friends, but then her baby sitters found her and took her away from me.  We never met again after that.”
“Sad story, dude.  I almost cried.”
“Shut-up!” Ryan yelled at me, “She probably doesn’t remember me, anyway.” he added.
“Cheer up man.” said Mike, “I’m sure she does.”
“I wonder.” said Ryan. “I wonder.”
“Is that the ring Roberta gave us?” asked Mike looking at my finger.
“Yep.”
“Then what is that one?” asked Ryan looking at my other hand.
“I’m engaged.”
“WHAT?! To that witch?”
“I love her, man.  Like you love Tiffany.  She’s wonderful when you get to know her”
“Probably is.” stated Mike.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 We crept silently through the grave yard.  We had reached it at dusk, and Ryan said he didn’t want to camp there, so we kept walking.  We heard a clock strike midnight from some tomb and suddenly something felt very wrong. We could suddenly see in a disturbing green glow.  It seemed to radiate from the ground, and from inside some tombs.  Like a flash of lightening, a hand burst from the ground.  It looked horrifyingly real in the green glow.  Tomb doors began to creak open and  dirt began to shift.  The dead  (Or rather, the UN-dead)  began to uplift themselves from the weary confinement  of their coffins.  Their bony bodies rose stiffly and they eyed us strangely.  The newer ones, who still had flesh hanging from them, walked towards us.  We put our backs to each other and watched them advance.   Their wet skin plopped to the ground with a sickening squish.  They opened their mouths and tried to speak. I  heard a sound and looked to the top of the largest tomb.  There was a dark shadow on top of it.  It was laughing menacingly.  Rhinestone. The thought flashed through my mind.  I looked at Ryan.  He was staring  angrily at the figure. He had heard it too.  Suddenly a  beam of light lit up two captives of Rhinestone.  It was Tiffany and........Roberta!  I scowled and charged angrily towards him.  I leaped up to the tomb and grabbed his shirt.  It was Dracule.  He laughed bitterly and shoved me away.  I plunged upon a skeleton.  The skeleton’s hand burst through my stomach.  I screamed in pain and heard Roberta gasp.  The zombies began to rip the skin off my body.  I told Roberta to run but she was gone.  A finger suddenly  plunged through my eye.  Blood flew in all directions as they ripped me apart.  Suddenly they backed off.
“I have lost patience with you three.” stated Rhinestone a.k.a. Dracule.  “You’re taking too long to play my little game.”
“Game!” I screamed, “You’ll pay, Rhinestone.  This time revenge is on me.  Why did you kill my parents?!” I don’t why I said that, but Rhinestone’s eyes widened.
“Who told you!” He screamed, “What do you know?!”
The skeleton’s advanced. I laughed.
“You’re not going to make me spill my guts! Mentally.”
“But I can do it physically!”  The skeletons reached me, but I took them out with my ax.  I looked at the other’s but saw that they were over whelmed.
I tossed my ax at Rhinestone’s head and he disappeared.
“You have two weeks, and then I’m killing you’re precious girls.” He laughed again.
Then the skeletons collapsed. So did I.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 Ryan healed my wounds.
“Did Rhinestone really kill your parents?” he asked.
I thought a bit, “I don’t know. I guess so. Do you think he blocked it from my mind?”
“I think I can find out.  Hold still.”
 

 The fog is thick. The man and woman stand still as it washes over them.
“You can not  kill me, brother.  We will not die silently” says the man.
The woman looks down at me, “Run Andrew. Go hide.”
I run into the woods a bit and climb a near tree.
“Hello dear brother.  I believe that I can kill you quite easily.” It is Rhinestone. “I will have father’s inheritance. Not you! You and your wife shall die for father’s blindness. I deserve the money!”
“Father had no money.  You can never receive the gift.  You are evil.”
“You and your spouse are still doomed.” He slays them with a large battle ax.  He looks up and sees me.
“You’re no Rhinestone!”
 
 

 “He’s my uncle!” I gasped.
“What inheritance?”   asked Mike.  He must have seen this vision too.
“I...... think it’s......” I started, “Happiness! Rhinestone will never be happy.”
“That’s the gift?” wondered Ryan.
“I like it. But we don’t have time to waste! We have to find our girls!”
“The maps are gone.” said Ryan.
I pull out my ax and cry out in horror.  It’s the same ax used on my parents!
I throw it in the bushes by the cemetery.
“We can’t use our powers anymore! They were spawned from an evil man.” I said.
“He’s right of course,” said Ryan, “I’ll use my power’s one last time.   To get rid of ours.”
I felt a cold chill and then..... I felt sort of tired.  Mike tossed away  the sword.  I held out the bow, and quiver of arrows.  Ryan took them.
“Valley of bears.  That’s where he’ll be.” I said.
“How do you know?”
“We were scared out of there by a were-bear. One. We weren’t scared of anything else we came up against.  Plus ‘Dracule’ said to stay away from the lake in the middle of the valley. He’ll be there.”
“Let’s get him!”
 
 
 
 

 We had been walking for two days when we came upon  someone being attacked by orcs.  We rushed to help, but the person had it under control. When the final orc dropped, we found a girl behind them.  She was about our age and had a calm look in her eyes.  I saw Mike’s eyes light up.
“I’m Ryan, and this is Mike, and Andrew.”
“I’m Tina.” she said. Over the next hour or so, Mike and Tina got VERY friendly with each other.  Love was an issue for all of us in this mission.  We were walking across a mountain side when it happened.  Tina just disappeared.  We heard a voice come out of nowhere. “Now I have a girl from all of you!  See you at the castle”
“Damn you!” screamed Mike, “I’m going to destroy you!”
 
 
 

 It took us one week to get to the valley of the bears.  It was a lot different.  The valley was scarred and burnt.  The village was in ruins.  We met a group of people in the middle of the valley.
“What happened here?”  Mike asked.
“That fucking Rhinestone destroyed our village!” said a familiar looking man.
“Are you the sheriff?”
“Yes, I was.” He looked at for a second and then said, “I remember you! I thought I had killed you fellas.  Sorry ‘bout that.”
“Its okay. Listen, can you control yourselves when you’re in bear form?”
“Yes, it’s just when we’re changing that we go out of control. Why?”
“How would you like to teach Rhinestone a lesson?”
 
 

 It was almost night.  We were swimming towards the castle in the middle of the lake of the bears.  There were ten of us.  All ready to wage war on Rhinestone.  We couldn’t go in the front way, but there was a secret under-water entrance.  So we dove for it and reached it just before we ran out of breath.  We were in a dark cellar.  Ryan still had the bow and arrows.  Mike had picked up a staff from one of the villages. We walked up a stone staircase.  As we reached the upper levels, the villages began to change. Too early! I thought as the men growled and transformed into were bears. Us normal men, began to run up the stairs. We burst through a door, to find ourselves in an open-roofed throne room.  Rhinestone was seated at the back.  Roberta, Tiffany, and Tina were no where in sight.   A group of various monsters stood in front of us.
It had begun.
 

 Rhinestone began to mock us, but before he had said two words, my mind suddenly separated from my body.

 Son, it’s me.
 Father?
 Yes. Son, the true gift  from your grandfather was not just happiness. It was   magic.  And the ability to use magic wisely.  This leads to happiness.
 Should I use magic now, father?
 You’ll know when to use it.
 How will I know?
 Trust me son. You’ll know. Do you still have my ring?
 Sort of.....
 Whoever wears that ring cannot be hurt by magic.  Good luck Andrew.
 Whatever happens, I’m proud of you son.
 Thanks dad.

 “We’ll never surrender! Give us our girlfriends!” screamed Mike.
“Make me” replied Rhinestone. The monster’s came towards us and I told the other’s to hold them off. By that time the bears had come, in control of themselves.  I ran into a corner. I focused my mind and  followed my instincts.  Rhinestone screamed in anger as armor appeared on Mike, Ryan and myself.  It was white with a gold outlining, but more importantly, it was strong.  The bears had been given tough, thick skin like that of a dragon.  I pulled a sword out from my scabbard.
“Our weapons are unbreakable, but we’ll still need to do our best to beat these guys. Think of what we’re fighting for boys.  Let’s get the girls back.”
We charged towards the group demons and attacked.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 A large, stone golem rushed towards me.  I ran to a wall, jumped towards it and pushed myself away from it.  The golem ran right into the wall and right through it as well.  The golem screeched and hit the water, sinking to the depths.   Mike was  furiously hitting a winged demon with his staff, but a staff is not a killing weapon so I felt inside my soul and knew that magic was required.  I concentrated even as I took down an elfin warrior.  Suddenly, in a flash of light,  Mike’s staff turned into a broad sword.  Ryan was at the top of a staircase, firing arrows.  A pack of enchanted wolves were surrounding him, so I changed I shouted his name, and threw my sword to him.  Ryan  dug into the wolf’s flesh.  Then he got rid of all the others.  I felt a shadow on my back. I turned around and saw a gigantic dragon.  Ryan jumped of the staircase and landed on it’s back.  He thrust the sword into the dragon’s  neck.   I jumped kicked a troll and took his mace.  I smashed the dragon on the head.  It crumpled to the floor and lay still.  Mike had  a small pile of  dead demons next to him, and he quickly slayed more.  The were-bears weren’t doing too bad either.  A bunch of them had ganged up on  a large, armed warrior.  Ryan was now in a sword fight with a knight in black armor.  Suddenly  I felt a foot in my back.  I flew towards the hole in the wall.  I splashed into the lake.  I tried to swim to the surface but  for some reason I couldn’t.  I looked at my feet and discovered that the golem was holding on to them, keeping me under the water.  Unfortunately, golems don’t breath.  He could keep me here until I drown.  Then  I heard Roberta scream. It must have been load for me to hear it underwater.  One thing I should mention, I have a terrible temper.  Sometimes, temper gives people strength.  I reached down and grabbed the arm of the stone golem.  In one swift tug, I ripped it off.  I then began to climb up the side of the castle.  Screw it! I thought.  I floated through the air up to the hole in the wall.  Rhinestone was holding Roberta next to him.
“At least my nephew has good taste.” he said.  I ran towards them, pushing everyone in my path.  A large knight ran towards me.  I punched him in the helmet and ended up denting it.  He clutched at his helmet, as blood leaked out the gaps in the metal.
“Let her go Rhinestone!” I screamed.
“Make me.” he uttered holding Roberta in front of him.  I looked at Roberta’s finger.  She was still wearing my ring.  I thought hard, trying to decide what was right.
Have faith in me. My dad’s voice entered my head.   Praying for for my girlfriend’s safety, I launched a fireball at them.  Rhinestone screamed and disappeared before the fireball could hit him.  The fireball bounced of Roberta and into a demon.  I ran up to her and held her in my arms.
“Did you know it would do that?” she asked.
“Yes.  Now quickly, you must go hide.”  Roberta ran to a side door in the throne room and opened it. “I love you” she called out.
“I love you too. Now run” she disappeared through the door.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 We weren’t doing very well anymore.  There were still about twenty creatures left, and all, but one, were-bear wad dead.  It was four versus twenty.  We were panting and gasping as sweat rolled off our body.   We were about to give up when we heard a roar above us.  A blue dragon landed in the  throne room.  It looked rather familiar.
“Isn’t that the dragon you freed from that dungeon?” asked Ryan.
“It is!” Mike exclaimed.  The dragon easily took care of the rest of the creatures.
“Thank you, my friend” I called out.  The dragon looked at me, and I swear it smiled.  Then it took to the sky.  We’ve won!  Suddenly a noise sounded behind us.  We turned and spotted a one-armed stone golem climbing through the hole in the stone wall.
I walked up to him.  It’s over.  He grabbed my  neck and  snapped it.  I dropped to the ground and the last thing I remembered was crying out.
“Roberta..........Rob..........”
 
 
 

 I heard crying.  I opened my eyes.  I could see bodies, strewn all over the ground.  A golem was cornering three girls.  Two men were attacking it and were suddenly thrown against walls.  I slowly got up.  Brains, I thought, consume brains......
I walked towards one of the men.  He looked up at me.
“Andrew, you’re........oh god! you’re neck! You’re....... you’re dead!”
“Br....brains” I said weakly, trying out my voice. Something was wrong with my neck... oh well.
“Brains....”
“Mike! Andrew’s a zombie!” The golem turned around and a look of hatred filled it’s eyes.  It grabbed some flesh and ripped it off.  I stumbled away.
“Andrew! Help!” I saw a girl crying in a corner. Something familiar....... gold ring.......love. Strange thoughts filled my head. We’ve got to save Roberta! get moving you damn body! I didn’t  like this other voice in my head.  That golem took your flesh! let’s go kill him!  said the voice.  I agreed.  Kill golem.  We stumbled over to the stone creature and attack, biting and clawing.  Then I couldn’t control my body! The voice had taken over!
“Andrew’s here!” it shouted kicking the golem.  The stone creature stumbled towards a hole in a wall nearby. “You’re not getting off so easy this time!” said the voice.  A ball of fire burst from my ex-hands and hit the golem which shattered, and exploded into tiny pieces.  “Now time for you, zombie mind!” The voice said to me.  Suddenly, we both fell to the ground life-less.
 
 
 
 
 

 I awoke to Roberta’s kind eyes.
“I just had enough energy to resurrect you.” she said softly.  I smiled, and embraced her in a kiss.  A couple minuets later We walked into the courtyard of Roberta’s castle.  The illusion of a hovering castle was gone. The castle now rested in a large green meadow.  The others were there, slightly scarred but looking happy.
“Hey guys,” I said, “How do you feel about a triple-wedding?”