Orbs - Chapter 4

Hi everyone! Don't worry - even if Pandanda is closing, Orbs will go on. I'm sorry about the huge wait for this chapter. I'm afraid that it's really short, but I have lots of great ideas for the future and I hope that you'll get a good feeling for the new characters in this chapter. We're getting into the really interesting stuff now!


Orbs - Chapter 4

We stared at each other, them at us and us at them. I only moved once in that minute to shuffle my feet. It was intensely embarrassing, not to mention scary. Were these people going to put us in a cauldron and make some strange potion? Were these people going to throw us out of the door? What were they going to do?

Our unofficial staring contest ended when one of the people spoke.

"I see you found the missing orbs."

I nodded, too petrified to mutter even a "yes".

Am was more courageous. "So... what do these orbs do?"

"Well, you probably know already that they are kind of like wands. The two you are holding are the last two in existence," the tallest panda said. "Not just anyone can be a sorcerer like us. But we think that you two are of our kind, and so that's why we created a trail of pineapples to lead you to the orbs. It's our kind of ritual. If the people find the orbs, then they are given invitations to join our group."

I expected them to hand out a bright pink party invitation, or maybe something black and spooky, but it was only a plain piece of folded paper. Amethyst stepped up to take it, but hesitated before it reached her paw.

"It sounded like there was a battle going on here earlier. Is it safe to be a sorcerer?" she asked.

The same panda spoke again. "Yes and no. But it's what we are, and we have to take the risks," she paused. "What you heard was a battle, and the wizards were trying to steal the orbs you're holding now, but we resisted and they went away without harming anything."

"Who are the wizards?" I asked as Amethyst brought the invitation over to where I was standing.

The panda, who I now presumed to be the leader, sighed. "They are run by a greedy panda. That panda, Ormzusk, wants to collect all of the orbs in Pandanda and then use them to take over the entire world. He must be stopped or else he will use the orbs to make the world a bad place," she turned and looked me in the eye. "Will you help us? Will you help us save the world?"

I glanced towards Amethyst. We both nodded at the same time. "We will help you."

"Great!" said the panda, obviously delighted. "Welcome to the team!"

For the next ten minutes, she went around and introduced us to the other seven pandas. She was called Kite, her grouchy second-in-command was Tree, the potion person - Trixie's sister - was Octave. Moat was a bubbly panda who wore silver designer sunglasses and Leaf was her equally bubbly sister. The remaining three, also known as 'the dark three', were Thorn, Black and Gloom.

"And so that's it," Kite said, taking a deep breath. "Our numbers are nothing compared to the wizards, but each of us has the power of five of Ormzusk's henchmen. And now we have two more! There are officially ten sorcerers!"

"Well, not counting Centaur and Cerulean," said Gloom, her moodiness a huge contrast to the leader's joyeous nature.

Kite went silent for a second, then looked towards Amethyst and I. "Centaur and Cerulean are being held captive by Ormzusk. It's part of why we are so dedicated to our mission."

I nodded understandingly while Amethyst yawned. "When are we going to get back home? I'm so tired I might fall asleep standing up."

Kite laughed. "You can leave whenever you want to. We always have meetings here every Tuesday night so be sure to come around next week. We will have your official welcoming ceremony then."

"Okay," I said, standing up. "So should we go back through the tunnel from where we came?"

"You don't need to. The door there leads to outside, which leads to Pawthorne Forest. Leaf can escort you to the path, and I'm guessing you can make your way from there."

I smiled, and looked towards Moat's sister. "We'll leave now."

Leaf's warm eyes blinked in acceptance and she walked towards the door. Amethyst followed her and I went at the back.

"Bye, guys!" I said, waving at the sorcerers. "See you next week!"

Leaf led the way through a fur-tingling, creepy cemetery and pointed to where a small path cut though some trees.

"It's just there," she said, her smile faltering for a millisecond. "Have a good week."

"Thanks," said Am, making her way down the trail.

I followed her, stopping a moment to go over what had happened that night. It was so mindbogglingly crazy that I felt kind of numb. I thought to myself, as I grinned at the thorny canopy above, that if a golden dragon suddenly appeared and came to take us away to some exotic land, I wouldn't be too surprised.

But that's what you get when you're suddenly invited into a group of sorcerers. It's so amazing that you can't really believe it.

For the next chapter, click HERE!