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It stars my cryopathic wolf, Ice, and my friend fa!Kemper. I gave him superpowers! :D Enjoy!\n\nKemper belongs to fa!Kemper\nWillow belongs to fa!xxWillowxx\nStory by / Ice and all other characters belong to @12\n\nOriginally published December 4, 2012", "description_bbcode_parsed": "This was me practicing my writing. It stars my cryopathic wolf, Ice, and my friend \n\t\t\t\t\tKemper. I gave him superpowers! :D Enjoy!

Kemper belongs to \n\t\t\t\t\tKemper
Willow belongs to \n\t\t\t\t\txxWillowxx
Story by / Ice and all other characters belong to \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t12\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t		\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t12\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t


Originally published December 4, 2012", "writing": "The Caligo\nby 12 as Lukos\n\nIt had been four long, peaceful years since Kemper Shadowfang had last visited the Valley of the Mists. Indeed, the wolf-lion hybrid had enjoyed those years with friends and family and wished to put the ominous place behind him, but even then he had known that his work here was not completed. He rubbed a paw through his short, dark-grey mane as he stood at the top of Mount Drennon, a shadow in the cold, clear night, his fur midnight blue and adorned with dark grey rosettes, his bright, heterochromatic eyes his only revealing feature.\n\nThe Caligo lived in this valley. It was a fearful creature, a cross between a dragon and a werebeast, with bright blue scales that shone in the eerie darkness of the valley itself with its dead woods and steaming geysers, and a mane like white fire flowing down its back. Cruel fangs adorned its vicious face, and its eyes, despite shining bright blue and cloudy, beheld the most detailed of its surroundings. It was a terror to behold, massive in size and cruel in action. It killed indiscriminately; innocent travelers, enemies, and even its own servants were not safe from its wrath. Worst of all, it could not be hit. Weapons would phase through it, as if the Caligo were made of mist itself.\n\nFor over a year, the Caligo had frequented Celeduin, the city where Kemper lived, and terrorized its inhabitants. It took livestock and destroyed homes. The king of the region of Duremark, which governed over Celeduin, sent his best forces to combat the beast, but it drove them back and continued its rampage until the residents of Celeduin had no choice but to crowd into Duremark’s fortresses for safety.\n\nIt had been the illusionist and shadowpath Kemper Shadowfang and his longtime acquaintance, a lupine cryopath and hydropath named Ice, that had been the solution to Celeduin’s problem. Kemper’s ability to move through shadow and seemingly alter reality had rendered the Caligo’s brutal attacks almost useless, and Ice had frozen the beast inside its own lair.\n\nUnfortunately, as powerful as Ice was, his strength alone would not seal the beast forever. They would have to return to the treacherous valley now and then to refreeze the Caligo and ensure that it would not break free from its prison to once again harm Celeduin or others within Duremark’s boundaries.\n\nKemper had had to say goodbye to his friends and family and embark on a week-long journey to the Valley of the Mists.\n\n“I wish I could go with you,” his friend Lukos had sighed.\n\n“I know,” Kemper had replied to the lion. “And you will next time, if your power gets stronger. I don’t think shooting a few white sparks from your paws would impress the Caligo.”\n\n“Hey,” came a soft voice, snapping Kemper out of his memories. Ice stood right next to him, his piercing gaze aimed straight ahead into the darkness.\n\n“Oh,” said Kemper, wondering how the blue-and-white wolf had snuck up on him. “There you are. You ready?”\n\n“Not really,” said Ice, his blue-padded paws in his white trench coat. “We beat the Caligo nicely last time, but I would rather not spend too much time in this Valley. I know I haven’t seen you in awhile, but let’s get this done quickly so we can get out of here.” With that, he walked westward into the gloom, leaving Kemper to chuckle softly.\n\n“You never change, Ice,” he said as he followed the wolf forward into the darkness of the Valley.\n\nKemper’s eyes seemed to shine as light itself bent around the two of them, rendering them invisible to anyone outside his will. The creatures of the Valley were about as friendly as the Caligo itself, and its worshipers powerful and dangerous, and the place seemed as if it were alive to breathe its aura of evil. Stealth was a blessing.\n\n“Have you been up to anything interesting over these past four years?” asked Kemper as they traveled through the light covering of snow that had fallen into the Valley, melted and thinned around its boiling geysers and hot springs, adding to the eerie mist that surrounded them and worsened their visibility.\n\nIce was not up for chit-chat. Kemper knew well that he rarely was, but he also knew Ice well enough to understand that he wouldn’t ignore a friend. The Valley had a way of setting the stoutest of good hearts on edge, and even with his stoic exterior, he knew that Ice would be grateful for the conversation.\n\n“Had a few new recruits to the team,” he said, referring to the band of powered friends that he associated himself with. He held out his paws and flash-froze a fallen tree. Another wave of his paw caused the trunk to shatter and their path to open. “Still wish you would join.”\n\n“We’ll see,” said Kemper, his mind wandering over his friends back at home. “Lukos’ power has started to come in. I’m not sure what it is yet. It could be light-based or ice-based. Either way, I can’t leave him and Willow right now. Who will protect them?”\n\nIce sighed softly. This felt like something they should talk about another time. His sharp eyes had not been looking at Kemper, but alertly in front of him, detecting the slightest of movements, his ears scanning for the softest of sounds. Still, he felt he should say something, even though he had said it before. He stopped and turned around, relying just awhile on Kemper’s stealth alone for their protection.\n\n“Look,” he said, his ice-blue eyes piercing Kemper’s red and green ones. “I’m a loner. I don’t know what it’s like to have people to care for, or to have people care for me. I get it. You do.”\nKemper perked his rounded lion ears, his eyes, shining as they were with his power, fixated on Ice. The wolf was rarely straightforward, rarely met anyone’s gaze. When he did, it was important and probably wouldn’t be repeated.\n\n“I joined the supers because I wanted to stop people from going through what I went through,” he said. “I wanted to protect people I didn’t know from that kind of… that….”\n\nKemper nodded understandingly. His heart was pounding. Ice never talked about his past with anyone. In fact, he rarely talked openly with anyone at all. Only Ice himself and the psychomancer Zevie knew what he had gone through, and Zevie had nearly lost his life for it. Ice must really have regarded Kemper as something special.\n\n“You have something that few do,” continued the cryopath, “and it’s something that people in Duremark and everywhere else wish every day would come to them. It’s something unique even among other ‘supers.’ You can still protect Lukos and Willow. We’re in a time of peace, and what would protect them more than working to keep it that way?”\n\nKemper sighed a bit. Ice was not telling him anything he hadn’t heard already. Ice didn’t understand. He had said it himself; Ice had been alone. Kemper had people to look out for and worry about, people that needed him.\n\nHe got so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the low rumble in the ground until Ice looked toward the west, his paws at his sides and steaming with icy condensation, his eyes focused and his ears laid back.\n\n“Something’s wrong,” Ice said softly, tensely. “Move.”\n\nThe two set off at what became breakneck pace, as quietly as they could manage without affecting their speed. That rumble didn’t feel like that of one of the Valley’s many geysers. It was something else, something much bigger—and it had come from the direction of the cave in which the Caligo had been sealed.\n\nRunning was proving to be noisier than Kemper had hoped. Twigs snapped as their paws pounded the earth, and the dead and mangled branches and roots of trees reached hazardously in front of them. The shadowpath had a better idea.\n\nWithout a word, he wrapped his arms around Ice’s torso, and the two of them suddenly plummeted into the shadows of the emaciated trees around them, disappearing into the ground. A familiar feeling of falling washed over Kemper before they landed a few hundred yards forward, closer to the cave, in the shadow of a cliff. Not close enough. Again they dove, falling through shadow. This time, as they landed, Ice suddenly reacted.\n\nThe wolf wheeled around, his elbow connecting firmly with Kemper’s gut, sending the hybrid sprawling onto the cold, damp ground. When Kemper opened his eyes, gasping for breath, Ice was standing there, his ears back, a low growl emanating from his chest, his paw raised and back above his head, a spike of ice protruding from it and ready to plunge straight at a very surprised Kemper. Reacting in defense, Kemper held out his paws, and the shadows around them disappeared from their sources and rushed to his paws, shimmering with a light as dark as his velvety fur.\n\n“Ice, stop!” he gasped. “I was only… transporting us!”\n\nOnce the wolf’s eyes finally recognized Kemper, he allowed them to glance at his surroundings. Kemper was right. They were only another hundred yards from the cave. He panted softly as the tension left him, the ice melted from his paw, and his ears returned to their former position.\n\n“You know better than to sneak up on people like that,” he growled. “That’s new. I had no clue if it was you or one of the Caligo’s—”\n\nSuddenly, a growl far more ominous than Ice’s came from the cave. The trees around them shook, and the depth of the sound caused their chests to rumble.\n\n“It’s… it’s awake,” said Kemper, his voice trembling. “How? It was… I mean, you sealed it!”\n\n“This isn’t right,” said Ice, staring thoughtfully into the darkness of the cave’s yawning mouth. He looked at Kemper, outstretching a paw and pulling the hybrid upright. “Get us inside.”\n\nSomewhat warily this time, Kemper grabbed Ice’s arm. With hardly a sound, they plummeted into the shadowy ground, reappearing inside the dark cave, not far from where they had stood four years ago as they sealed the Caligo. Kemper held out his paws, and light collected between them in a silvery glow, illuminating their surroundings. The cave was just as they remembered it: dark, damp, musty, rank with the smell of death.\n\nThe only major difference was the water. The ground was covered in it. The sound that shook them earlier repeated, and this time from so close that it threatened to shake them off their footpaws.\n\nIce growled. “It’s still cold… someone’s melting the ice….”\n\n“Let’s go!” said Kemper. He lunged forward, evaporating into the cave’s shadows and reappearing inside the massive, domed room where the Caligo had been sealed, flash-frozen into suspended animation. Yet there it stood in front of them, as terrible as ever, its head tossing as it fought to free itself from the remaining ice around its taloned feet.\n\nBefore Kemper could react, however, four bright spikes of ice went zipping by him. With deadly accuracy, they zipped underneath the Caligo’s body, and there was a thud and a high-pitched cry as they lodged themselves into the opposite wall, pinning a creature to its rocky surface. Ice immediately went to work repairing the ice, leaving Kemper to spring into action.\n\nHe appeared in a wave of shadow in front of the unfortunate creature, who squealed in terror.\n\n“Yaack! A phantom! Leave me be, specter! You have no business with me!”\n\nKemper could see the creature clearly. Its skin was a dull grey, its eyes large and amber, its body devoid of hair. It had a goblin-like appearance. As stupid and innocent as these creatures could appear, their power in numbers was terrible. Worse, they were known worshippers of the Caligo. This one did not appear to be a major threat. It looked weary and emaciated.\n\nKemper’s eyes shone as his bare paw closed around the goblin’s neck. “What have you done?!” he demanded.\n\nThe creature’s eyes widened in recognition. “Ohh!” it said almost mockingly. “I know who you are!” It smiled, its voice becoming a whisper of mock awe. “Yes… you’re the Shadowfang... sealed Master away, yes? Thought you defeated Master?”\n\nKemper squeezed his paw threateningly around the creature’s neck, but this only seemed to amplify its mirth. “GAHAHAHA!” it cackled loudly, its shrill voice echoing around the cave. “You will never defeat Master Caligo! Grutang’s power erases your filthy magic, yes! All gone! Geeheeheehee, Master Caligo is aliiiive!”\n\n“Kemper!” This voice belonged to Ice. Never had Kemper heard the soft-spoken wolf sound so strained, so urgent. “I’m... this isn’t working!”\n\nIce was in trouble. The Caligo was almost completely free of its icy prison, with only its dangerous feet and the tips of its huge wings still encased. Earsplitting shrieks ripped from the beast’s throat as it snarled down at Ice, who was focusing all his power on keeping the creature from lowering its head toward him. No matter how much he tried to freeze the Caligo in place, somehow his power was nullified. His teeth were gritted, the ice-cold force of his abilities blowing his trench coat about as he fought to keep the Caligo at bay with a powerful jet of water.\n\nAgain came the cackling laughter of Grutang, almost completely muffled by the Caligo’s furious cries.\n\n“GEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!” shrieked Grutang, wriggling in vain against the spikes of ice that kept him pinned in place. “Grutang gives Master Caligo the strength! Master Caligo will be free! Grutang will be honored!”\n\nKemper had to act quickly. Ice was considered one of the stronger of the supers, and Grutang had somehow canceled the effect of his power on the Caligo—and strengthened the beast in the process. All Ice could do was defend himself, and against the sheer strength of the Caligo he wouldn’t last for too long. He held out his paws. If he wasn’t too late, light would bend to his will.\n\nSuddenly, Ice’s power ceased, and the wolf crumpled to the ground. The Caligo snapped forward, aiming to crush Ice’s body and erase his existence from the world.\n\nThe Caligo (part two)\nby 12 as Lukos\n\nThe Caligo’s teeth snapped shut around Ice’s body, but several feet away, Ice was on one knee, panting as he tried to regain some of his strength. Kemper stood next to him, hiding him from the Caligo. The ice around the beast’s wingtips and feet continued to melt rapidly as the mad Grutang shrieked and cackled from his spot against the cave’s rocky walls.\n\n“Are you okay?” Kemper asked the wolf.\n\n“No,” panted Ice. “Whatever that witless imp did made my ice ineffective against the Caligo. I won’t be able to seal it again!”\n\nKemper helped Ice to his footpaws. “We’re in trouble,” he said, brushing a little dirt from the wolf’s white trench coat. “That thing is like mist; no weapons will work against it!”\n“We’ll have to find another way,” he said, looking down at his paws. “I’ve got ice and water. You’ll have to take the driver’s seat; I’ll help you as much as I can.”\n\n“Can you still fight?” he asked, concerned for Ice’s safety. Ice, however, simply stared up at the Caligo, a half-smirk on his face. “I’ve been through worse than a little fatigue,” he says. “Don’t worry about me. Worry about the enemy.”\n\nThe Caligo’s wings were free. It beat them furiously in the air, fighting against the ice that still bound its feet to the cold stone floor, much to the delight of Grutang.\n\n“YESYESYESYESYES! FLEE, MASTER CALIGO! BE FREE! REMEMBER GRUTANG THAT GAVE YOU YOUR POWER, YES!”\n\nThe great beast turned its head toward Grutang. The delight in his face quickly disappeared under the consideration of the creature of the Valley of the Mists.\n\n“M-master... Caligo?”\n\nIce and Kemper vanished toward the entrance of the cave as Grutang’s brief cry of terror echoed throughout the cavern’s tunnels, and then he was forever silenced.\n\nIce and Kemper went to work on the entrance of the cave. Ice froze a great wall in front of its entrance, and Kemper’s illusions made the entrance appear to be at an angle. The creature would fly headlong into the rock wall, thinking it to be the way to freedom. It wouldn’t stop the Caligo, but at least it might daze the beast for awhile. Any advantage would be useful.\n\nSure enough, within a few more minutes, the Caligo was completely free of its bonds. With its savior dispatched, it launched itself through the rocky cavern wall, a mighty cry ripping through the air, and a stream of bright blue flame erupting from its mouth, eviscerating a row of dead trees and all their inhabitants.\n\nKemper’s heart was pounding in his ears. Last time, between himself and Ice, this fight had been easy. This time, the enemy was even more powerful and terrible than before, full of vengeance for its involuntary sleep, and Ice’s effectiveness impaired. Assuming his own powers would even work against the beast now, he was going to have to take control with only support from the white and blue wolf.\n\nThe Caligo turned suddenly, and its blue eyes burned like fire as they locked onto the wolf-lion. Kemper’s eyes burned right back. If he failed, not only would he and Ice die, but so would Celeduin, and beyond that, Duremark, and any other region that took the Caligo’s fancy. Most importantly, Lukos and Willow would not stand a chance.\n\nHe understood. Some battles need to be fought at home, but other battles, crucial battles that would decide the fates of loved ones and strangers alike….\n\nHe would not fail.\n\nThose red and green eyes shimmered through the gloom and darkness of the Valley of the Mists as the Caligo screamed, its voice needles to the ears, and unleashed another stream of searing blue flame, straight for Kemper. He could feel the heat of the flames bearing down on him. They wrapped around him, engulfing him, scorching his fur, searing his flesh….\n\nKemper cringed slightly as he watched his illusion’s terrible demise from the shadows of the cliffs surrounding the cave’s entrance. This was indeed a dangerous battle.\n\nWithout warning, a geyser erupted directly beneath the Caligo’s body, the scalding water engulfing the beast. Below stood Ice, his paws raised, directing the flow. Unaffected, the beast spotted him. Ice ran nimbly to one side of the fire that took aim for him.\n\nIce had given Kemper a perfect distraction. The hybrid put the heels of his paws together, that dark blue glow emanating from them once again as the shadows of the ground leapt forth to do his bidding. He concentrated his efforts into a dark, pulsating ball inside his paws, then all at once, released it.\n\nThe shadows dashed forth from him like dark fingers in the night, coiling around the great body of the beast. They squeezed around it as if they were solid objects, and since they were not truly solid, the Caligo could not pass through them. Kemper concentrated hard. The Caligo was pulling, straining at its bonds, unused and unwilling to be confined again. Ice launched another geyser, this time attempting to freeze the eruption around the Caligo’s body. It screamed, it strained, it roared as it struggled against its bonds.\n\n“Hang in there, Kemper!” shouted Ice.\n\nKemper was trying, but it was not easy. The shadows threatened to scatter into the night at any moment under the pressure of the Caligo’s struggles. He tried to force them together, to squeeze harder around the creature, but in vain.\n\n“I’m losing it!” he yelled at Ice.\n\nThe hydropath cursed softly down on the ground. Kemper could imagine his feeling of uselessness to be frustrating, but there was nothing he could do. He panted with effort as the shadows scattered and the Caligo was again freed. Kemper dove into nothingness once again, reappearing next to Ice.\n\n“Restraining it won’t work anymore,” Kemper said. “It’s far too strong now! We need a way to end this for good, or this may be over already!”\n\n“We’ve been through this!” yelled Ice over the beast’s feral roars. “Your shadow is the first thing that has ever had an effect on it!”\n\n“Look out!” He put two fingers to his temples, and immediately he and Ice fell into the shadows, landing behind the Caligo just in time to see it spit more of its fire at the spot where they had just been standing.\n\nKemper had never transported someone or something that he had not been touching before. He really had grown. He could do this.\n\n“You’ll have to name that ability,” said Ice as the Caligo finished its attack.\n\n“I have,” he replied proudly, glancing at the wolf over his shoulder. “It’s the Shadow Walk.” With that, he Shadow Walked back in the direction of the Caligo.\n\n“Yeah,” said Ice to himself after he left. “Because that definitely does not sound like a move from Guild Wars 2.”\n\nAgain, Kemper called the shadows forth, launching them this time not as bonds, but as daggers of energy. With a mighty sweep of its massive wing, the attack was deflected. Kemper, never a one-trick pony, decided to try the other side of his power. Light gathered in his paw, brilliant and intense, its colors separating in the air into their prismatic forms. This, he launched at the beast. It tried to deflect it again, but on contact, it exploded into a brilliant blast of purest light.\n\nWhen the sparks cleared, something remarkable was revealed that made the eyes of Ice, Kemper, and even the Caligo widen with surprise.\n\nPart of the creature’s wing was gone, seemingly evaporated as if it were truly made of mist.\n\nSomehow, this did not deter the beast’s ability to fly. It rose into the night sky, roaring and screeching its displeasure in a voice that surely the entire world could hear.\n\n“That’s it!” cried Kemper, Shadow Walking back to Ice. “Ice, I need you to be a distraction,” he said. “I can do this!”\n\nIce sighed. He was never one to complain about his duty, but he had not been looking forward to having the Caligo’s sole attention, especially when it was enraged. Still, if Kemper’s abilities could eliminate the threat of the Caligo for good, the risk was worth it.\n\nWith a curt nod, the wolf quickly formed a pillar of ice beneath him that launched him high into the night sky. As a geyser erupted nearby, he directed the water to flow beneath him, and he rode its warm wave upward into the night sky, directly toward the enraged beast.\n\nKemper got to work. It would take a lot of his power to destroy something this big, this strong. He widened his stance, his fingertips together in a circle. A spark formed in the middle of that circle, slowly intensifying, slowly growing as it collected light.\n\nIce flitted about the Caligo’s head, trying to avoid its swipes and its blasts of fire. Whenever he could, he fired ice and water at it, but to no avail. Jets of water would daze it a little, but other than that, his power against the Caligo was utterly and truly nullified.\n\nHe growled softly. He knew what Kemper had to be doing. No matter the cost, he had to keep the dragon off of him. Kemper’s light was their best chance of getting rid of the Caligo threat for good. He raised his paws into the air, summoning more and more water from the earth to the steadily growing ball beneath him.\n\nKemper could see Ice’s plight. He knew he had to act quickly, but he had to be careful. If he gathered this energy too quickly, it could consume and destroy him. He could not be hasty.\n\n“Hang in there, Ice,” he said softly. His paws were spread wide now, the ball of light barely able to fit between them, shining brilliantly like a star in his grasp.\n\nSuddenly, the Caligo turned its head away from Ice. It sensed the power increasing nearby, and it did not wish to be struck by the same power again. It took off, heading straight for Kemper.\n\n“No!” shouted Ice. He followed in pursuit, his ever-growing ball of water in front of him, soaring toward the beast. He had to do this now, before it reached Kemper. His paws came together, reaching back, taking control of the great sphere of water. He let out a yell of effort as he pushed it forward, sending it straight for the Caligo.\n\nKemper could see the Caligo coming. His attack wasn’t yet ready. Ice must have been unable to hold the creature off. The ball was now far larger, dwarfing the dead trees. Kemper’s knees were bent under its apparent weight as he held it over his head. Still, it needed to be just a bit bigger. He could not risk the possibility of leaving any part of the Caligo in existence.\n\nThe beast was upon him. It screeched its displeasure, the sound causing Kemper’s leonid ears to lay back against his head. He growled right back.\n\n“Back off, Caligo!” he grunted under the effort of carrying all this energy. “I’ll deal with you... shortly!”\n\nThe collection of light into this concentrated ball was making the area grow darker and darker, and yet it was still illuminated enough by Kemper’s activities for him to see the Caligo suddenly engulfed within a giant bubble of water. Atop it stood Ice, his ears perked in concentration. Droplets of water rose from the earth, joining the large sphere that the Caligo was currently struggling to leave.\n\nKeeping the Caligo still was not at all proving to be an easy task for Ice. As emaciated as Grutang had looked, his power had been quite strong, and Ice was having much trouble defeating it in his weakened state. However, this was too important for him not to give it his all.\n\nWith all the strength he could muster, he held the Caligo inside its watery prison. If he froze it, the power would be nullified, and he couldn’t spare any energy fighting that off. He had to keep the bubble from breaking. He had to keep the Caligo at bay until Kemper was ready.\n\nHis eyes shone blue with power, every muscle in his body tense and straining against the power of the beast. The Caligo wasn’t built for swimming, yet it struggled to force its way out of Ice’s grasp. Kemper needed to hurry.\n\n“Any time now, Kemper!” shouted Ice, his voice strained with effort.\n\nThe bright ball of brilliant light was nearing the Caligo’s size now. “Just... a little... longer!” cried Kemper. He almost had it....\n\nIce was fading fast. His vision was becoming tunneled, his grasp on the sphere slipping. “I... can’t hang on!” He gritted his teeth, willing himself to push as hard as he could.\n\nHis stomach clenched as the Caligo suddenly stopped struggling and turned to face him.\n\n“Got it!” shout Kemper. Finally, the light was big enough, shining brilliantly under his control. He looked up, right in time to gasp in horror at the scene in front of him. The Caligo had turned its focus onto Ice. There was nothing he could do but yell Ice’s name as a stream of blue fire cut through Ice’s water, engulfing the wolf in its searing heat.\n\n“ICE! NOOOO!” The next moments were a blur for Kemper. He reared back with all his strength, hurling the ball of purest light straight at Ice’s collapsing sphere of water. It collided with it and broke through it, completely engulfing the Caligo in its brilliance. There was a loud sound, a pained screech from the beast as it took the full force of the attack. There was a brilliant flash and the light became a pillar, reaching for the sky, visible for miles. The ground was scorched, fallen and dead trees obliterated, water from the geysers evaporated... and when the blast was over and the smoke cleared, the Caligo was gone... and so was Ice.\n\nKemper had Shadow Walked far away from the blast. He felt tears spring to his eyes. The Caligo threat was over. Celeduin, Duremark, and the rest of the world was eternally safe from its terror. But Ice... Ice was gone. The white wolf, one of the strongest of the supers and Kemper’s friend, had paid the price for the safety of all. To protect Duremark. To protect Lukos and Willow. To protect him.\n\nKemper sat down on the desolate ground and wept.\n\nIt was morning when he awoke to the sight of a raccoon investigating his face. Kemper hadn’t been aware that raccoons still existed in the Valley of the Mists. Maybe life would return to the place now that the Caligo was gone....\n\nThe Caligo. Ice. Ice was gone. The memories came flooding back to him.... He had failed Ice. He sighed as he Shadow Walked, heavyhearted, back to the scene of the Caligo’s demise.\n\nWho should he find standing there, staring at the cave’s wrecked entrance, but Ice.\n\n“’Bout time you showed up,” the wolf grumbled. He looked unharmed. He must have seen the stunned look on Kemper’s face, because he spread his paws wide, shrugging at him. “What?”\n\n“You... I thought... you were... I mean, the Caligo, it....”\n\nIce crossed his arms. “I usually understand sentences better when they’re actually... you know... sentences.”\n\n“You were... dead,” said Kemper, his ears laid back, as if by saying this it would suddenly come true.\n\n“Almost,” he says. “You Shadow Walked me somehow. I would have been fried if you hadn’t.”\n\n“Well... where were you?!” he cried. His tail was flicking about in relief and excitement. Ice didn’t look all too happy.\n\n“Can’t a guy pass out after busting his butt to keep a giant angry Caligo from killing you? HEY!”\n\nTo Ice’s dismay, Kemper pounced on him, embracing him in a big hug.\n\nA few months later, Kemper found himself standing in front of Ice’s squad. He was no longer in Celeduin, nor in Duremark at all. Lukos’ power had matured enough for him to accept training from the Council of Supers, and Willow found herself acting with the council in other capacities. His friends safe, Kemper no longer had cause to stay solely in Duremark.\n\nKemper was welcomed with open arms. His unique power would be very beneficial in the protection of others. With his new team, he would be able to make a difference not only in the lives of his friends, but in those of everyone who needed a helping paw.", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "The Caligo
by 12 as Lukos

It had been four long, peaceful years since Kemper Shadowfang had last visited the Valley of the Mists. Indeed, the wolf-lion hybrid had enjoyed those years with friends and family and wished to put the ominous place behind him, but even then he had known that his work here was not completed. He rubbed a paw through his short, dark-grey mane as he stood at the top of Mount Drennon, a shadow in the cold, clear night, his fur midnight blue and adorned with dark grey rosettes, his bright, heterochromatic eyes his only revealing feature.

The Caligo lived in this valley. It was a fearful creature, a cross between a dragon and a werebeast, with bright blue scales that shone in the eerie darkness of the valley itself with its dead woods and steaming geysers, and a mane like white fire flowing down its back. Cruel fangs adorned its vicious face, and its eyes, despite shining bright blue and cloudy, beheld the most detailed of its surroundings. It was a terror to behold, massive in size and cruel in action. It killed indiscriminately; innocent travelers, enemies, and even its own servants were not safe from its wrath. Worst of all, it could not be hit. Weapons would phase through it, as if the Caligo were made of mist itself.

For over a year, the Caligo had frequented Celeduin, the city where Kemper lived, and terrorized its inhabitants. It took livestock and destroyed homes. The king of the region of Duremark, which governed over Celeduin, sent his best forces to combat the beast, but it drove them back and continued its rampage until the residents of Celeduin had no choice but to crowd into Duremark’s fortresses for safety.

It had been the illusionist and shadowpath Kemper Shadowfang and his longtime acquaintance, a lupine cryopath and hydropath named Ice, that had been the solution to Celeduin’s problem. Kemper’s ability to move through shadow and seemingly alter reality had rendered the Caligo’s brutal attacks almost useless, and Ice had frozen the beast inside its own lair.

Unfortunately, as powerful as Ice was, his strength alone would not seal the beast forever. They would have to return to the treacherous valley now and then to refreeze the Caligo and ensure that it would not break free from its prison to once again harm Celeduin or others within Duremark’s boundaries.

Kemper had had to say goodbye to his friends and family and embark on a week-long journey to the Valley of the Mists.

“I wish I could go with you,” his friend Lukos had sighed.

“I know,” Kemper had replied to the lion. “And you will next time, if your power gets stronger. I don’t think shooting a few white sparks from your paws would impress the Caligo.”

“Hey,” came a soft voice, snapping Kemper out of his memories. Ice stood right next to him, his piercing gaze aimed straight ahead into the darkness.

“Oh,” said Kemper, wondering how the blue-and-white wolf had snuck up on him. “There you are. You ready?”

“Not really,” said Ice, his blue-padded paws in his white trench coat. “We beat the Caligo nicely last time, but I would rather not spend too much time in this Valley. I know I haven’t seen you in awhile, but let’s get this done quickly so we can get out of here.” With that, he walked westward into the gloom, leaving Kemper to chuckle softly.

“You never change, Ice,” he said as he followed the wolf forward into the darkness of the Valley.

Kemper’s eyes seemed to shine as light itself bent around the two of them, rendering them invisible to anyone outside his will. The creatures of the Valley were about as friendly as the Caligo itself, and its worshipers powerful and dangerous, and the place seemed as if it were alive to breathe its aura of evil. Stealth was a blessing.

“Have you been up to anything interesting over these past four years?” asked Kemper as they traveled through the light covering of snow that had fallen into the Valley, melted and thinned around its boiling geysers and hot springs, adding to the eerie mist that surrounded them and worsened their visibility.

Ice was not up for chit-chat. Kemper knew well that he rarely was, but he also knew Ice well enough to understand that he wouldn’t ignore a friend. The Valley had a way of setting the stoutest of good hearts on edge, and even with his stoic exterior, he knew that Ice would be grateful for the conversation.

“Had a few new recruits to the team,” he said, referring to the band of powered friends that he associated himself with. He held out his paws and flash-froze a fallen tree. Another wave of his paw caused the trunk to shatter and their path to open. “Still wish you would join.”

“We’ll see,” said Kemper, his mind wandering over his friends back at home. “Lukos’ power has started to come in. I’m not sure what it is yet. It could be light-based or ice-based. Either way, I can’t leave him and Willow right now. Who will protect them?”

Ice sighed softly. This felt like something they should talk about another time. His sharp eyes had not been looking at Kemper, but alertly in front of him, detecting the slightest of movements, his ears scanning for the softest of sounds. Still, he felt he should say something, even though he had said it before. He stopped and turned around, relying just awhile on Kemper’s stealth alone for their protection.

“Look,” he said, his ice-blue eyes piercing Kemper’s red and green ones. “I’m a loner. I don’t know what it’s like to have people to care for, or to have people care for me. I get it. You do.”
Kemper perked his rounded lion ears, his eyes, shining as they were with his power, fixated on Ice. The wolf was rarely straightforward, rarely met anyone’s gaze. When he did, it was important and probably wouldn’t be repeated.

“I joined the supers because I wanted to stop people from going through what I went through,” he said. “I wanted to protect people I didn’t know from that kind of… that….”

Kemper nodded understandingly. His heart was pounding. Ice never talked about his past with anyone. In fact, he rarely talked openly with anyone at all. Only Ice himself and the psychomancer Zevie knew what he had gone through, and Zevie had nearly lost his life for it. Ice must really have regarded Kemper as something special.

“You have something that few do,” continued the cryopath, “and it’s something that people in Duremark and everywhere else wish every day would come to them. It’s something unique even among other ‘supers.’ You can still protect Lukos and Willow. We’re in a time of peace, and what would protect them more than working to keep it that way?”

Kemper sighed a bit. Ice was not telling him anything he hadn’t heard already. Ice didn’t understand. He had said it himself; Ice had been alone. Kemper had people to look out for and worry about, people that needed him.

He got so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the low rumble in the ground until Ice looked toward the west, his paws at his sides and steaming with icy condensation, his eyes focused and his ears laid back.

“Something’s wrong,” Ice said softly, tensely. “Move.”

The two set off at what became breakneck pace, as quietly as they could manage without affecting their speed. That rumble didn’t feel like that of one of the Valley’s many geysers. It was something else, something much bigger—and it had come from the direction of the cave in which the Caligo had been sealed.

Running was proving to be noisier than Kemper had hoped. Twigs snapped as their paws pounded the earth, and the dead and mangled branches and roots of trees reached hazardously in front of them. The shadowpath had a better idea.

Without a word, he wrapped his arms around Ice’s torso, and the two of them suddenly plummeted into the shadows of the emaciated trees around them, disappearing into the ground. A familiar feeling of falling washed over Kemper before they landed a few hundred yards forward, closer to the cave, in the shadow of a cliff. Not close enough. Again they dove, falling through shadow. This time, as they landed, Ice suddenly reacted.

The wolf wheeled around, his elbow connecting firmly with Kemper’s gut, sending the hybrid sprawling onto the cold, damp ground. When Kemper opened his eyes, gasping for breath, Ice was standing there, his ears back, a low growl emanating from his chest, his paw raised and back above his head, a spike of ice protruding from it and ready to plunge straight at a very surprised Kemper. Reacting in defense, Kemper held out his paws, and the shadows around them disappeared from their sources and rushed to his paws, shimmering with a light as dark as his velvety fur.

“Ice, stop!” he gasped. “I was only… transporting us!”

Once the wolf’s eyes finally recognized Kemper, he allowed them to glance at his surroundings. Kemper was right. They were only another hundred yards from the cave. He panted softly as the tension left him, the ice melted from his paw, and his ears returned to their former position.

“You know better than to sneak up on people like that,” he growled. “That’s new. I had no clue if it was you or one of the Caligo’s—”

Suddenly, a growl far more ominous than Ice’s came from the cave. The trees around them shook, and the depth of the sound caused their chests to rumble.

“It’s… it’s awake,” said Kemper, his voice trembling. “How? It was… I mean, you sealed it!”

“This isn’t right,” said Ice, staring thoughtfully into the darkness of the cave’s yawning mouth. He looked at Kemper, outstretching a paw and pulling the hybrid upright. “Get us inside.”

Somewhat warily this time, Kemper grabbed Ice’s arm. With hardly a sound, they plummeted into the shadowy ground, reappearing inside the dark cave, not far from where they had stood four years ago as they sealed the Caligo. Kemper held out his paws, and light collected between them in a silvery glow, illuminating their surroundings. The cave was just as they remembered it: dark, damp, musty, rank with the smell of death.

The only major difference was the water. The ground was covered in it. The sound that shook them earlier repeated, and this time from so close that it threatened to shake them off their footpaws.

Ice growled. “It’s still cold… someone’s melting the ice….”

“Let’s go!” said Kemper. He lunged forward, evaporating into the cave’s shadows and reappearing inside the massive, domed room where the Caligo had been sealed, flash-frozen into suspended animation. Yet there it stood in front of them, as terrible as ever, its head tossing as it fought to free itself from the remaining ice around its taloned feet.

Before Kemper could react, however, four bright spikes of ice went zipping by him. With deadly accuracy, they zipped underneath the Caligo’s body, and there was a thud and a high-pitched cry as they lodged themselves into the opposite wall, pinning a creature to its rocky surface. Ice immediately went to work repairing the ice, leaving Kemper to spring into action.

He appeared in a wave of shadow in front of the unfortunate creature, who squealed in terror.

“Yaack! A phantom! Leave me be, specter! You have no business with me!”

Kemper could see the creature clearly. Its skin was a dull grey, its eyes large and amber, its body devoid of hair. It had a goblin-like appearance. As stupid and innocent as these creatures could appear, their power in numbers was terrible. Worse, they were known worshippers of the Caligo. This one did not appear to be a major threat. It looked weary and emaciated.

Kemper’s eyes shone as his bare paw closed around the goblin’s neck. “What have you done?!” he demanded.

The creature’s eyes widened in recognition. “Ohh!” it said almost mockingly. “I know who you are!” It smiled, its voice becoming a whisper of mock awe. “Yes… you’re the Shadowfang... sealed Master away, yes? Thought you defeated Master?”

Kemper squeezed his paw threateningly around the creature’s neck, but this only seemed to amplify its mirth. “GAHAHAHA!” it cackled loudly, its shrill voice echoing around the cave. “You will never defeat Master Caligo! Grutang’s power erases your filthy magic, yes! All gone! Geeheeheehee, Master Caligo is aliiiive!”

“Kemper!” This voice belonged to Ice. Never had Kemper heard the soft-spoken wolf sound so strained, so urgent. “I’m... this isn’t working!”

Ice was in trouble. The Caligo was almost completely free of its icy prison, with only its dangerous feet and the tips of its huge wings still encased. Earsplitting shrieks ripped from the beast’s throat as it snarled down at Ice, who was focusing all his power on keeping the creature from lowering its head toward him. No matter how much he tried to freeze the Caligo in place, somehow his power was nullified. His teeth were gritted, the ice-cold force of his abilities blowing his trench coat about as he fought to keep the Caligo at bay with a powerful jet of water.

Again came the cackling laughter of Grutang, almost completely muffled by the Caligo’s furious cries.

“GEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!” shrieked Grutang, wriggling in vain against the spikes of ice that kept him pinned in place. “Grutang gives Master Caligo the strength! Master Caligo will be free! Grutang will be honored!”

Kemper had to act quickly. Ice was considered one of the stronger of the supers, and Grutang had somehow canceled the effect of his power on the Caligo—and strengthened the beast in the process. All Ice could do was defend himself, and against the sheer strength of the Caligo he wouldn’t last for too long. He held out his paws. If he wasn’t too late, light would bend to his will.

Suddenly, Ice’s power ceased, and the wolf crumpled to the ground. The Caligo snapped forward, aiming to crush Ice’s body and erase his existence from the world.

The Caligo (part two)
by 12 as Lukos

The Caligo’s teeth snapped shut around Ice’s body, but several feet away, Ice was on one knee, panting as he tried to regain some of his strength. Kemper stood next to him, hiding him from the Caligo. The ice around the beast’s wingtips and feet continued to melt rapidly as the mad Grutang shrieked and cackled from his spot against the cave’s rocky walls.

“Are you okay?” Kemper asked the wolf.

“No,” panted Ice. “Whatever that witless imp did made my ice ineffective against the Caligo. I won’t be able to seal it again!”

Kemper helped Ice to his footpaws. “We’re in trouble,” he said, brushing a little dirt from the wolf’s white trench coat. “That thing is like mist; no weapons will work against it!”
“We’ll have to find another way,” he said, looking down at his paws. “I’ve got ice and water. You’ll have to take the driver’s seat; I’ll help you as much as I can.”

“Can you still fight?” he asked, concerned for Ice’s safety. Ice, however, simply stared up at the Caligo, a half-smirk on his face. “I’ve been through worse than a little fatigue,” he says. “Don’t worry about me. Worry about the enemy.”

The Caligo’s wings were free. It beat them furiously in the air, fighting against the ice that still bound its feet to the cold stone floor, much to the delight of Grutang.

“YESYESYESYESYES! FLEE, MASTER CALIGO! BE FREE! REMEMBER GRUTANG THAT GAVE YOU YOUR POWER, YES!”

The great beast turned its head toward Grutang. The delight in his face quickly disappeared under the consideration of the creature of the Valley of the Mists.

“M-master... Caligo?”

Ice and Kemper vanished toward the entrance of the cave as Grutang’s brief cry of terror echoed throughout the cavern’s tunnels, and then he was forever silenced.

Ice and Kemper went to work on the entrance of the cave. Ice froze a great wall in front of its entrance, and Kemper’s illusions made the entrance appear to be at an angle. The creature would fly headlong into the rock wall, thinking it to be the way to freedom. It wouldn’t stop the Caligo, but at least it might daze the beast for awhile. Any advantage would be useful.

Sure enough, within a few more minutes, the Caligo was completely free of its bonds. With its savior dispatched, it launched itself through the rocky cavern wall, a mighty cry ripping through the air, and a stream of bright blue flame erupting from its mouth, eviscerating a row of dead trees and all their inhabitants.

Kemper’s heart was pounding in his ears. Last time, between himself and Ice, this fight had been easy. This time, the enemy was even more powerful and terrible than before, full of vengeance for its involuntary sleep, and Ice’s effectiveness impaired. Assuming his own powers would even work against the beast now, he was going to have to take control with only support from the white and blue wolf.

The Caligo turned suddenly, and its blue eyes burned like fire as they locked onto the wolf-lion. Kemper’s eyes burned right back. If he failed, not only would he and Ice die, but so would Celeduin, and beyond that, Duremark, and any other region that took the Caligo’s fancy. Most importantly, Lukos and Willow would not stand a chance.

He understood. Some battles need to be fought at home, but other battles, crucial battles that would decide the fates of loved ones and strangers alike….

He would not fail.

Those red and green eyes shimmered through the gloom and darkness of the Valley of the Mists as the Caligo screamed, its voice needles to the ears, and unleashed another stream of searing blue flame, straight for Kemper. He could feel the heat of the flames bearing down on him. They wrapped around him, engulfing him, scorching his fur, searing his flesh….

Kemper cringed slightly as he watched his illusion’s terrible demise from the shadows of the cliffs surrounding the cave’s entrance. This was indeed a dangerous battle.

Without warning, a geyser erupted directly beneath the Caligo’s body, the scalding water engulfing the beast. Below stood Ice, his paws raised, directing the flow. Unaffected, the beast spotted him. Ice ran nimbly to one side of the fire that took aim for him.

Ice had given Kemper a perfect distraction. The hybrid put the heels of his paws together, that dark blue glow emanating from them once again as the shadows of the ground leapt forth to do his bidding. He concentrated his efforts into a dark, pulsating ball inside his paws, then all at once, released it.

The shadows dashed forth from him like dark fingers in the night, coiling around the great body of the beast. They squeezed around it as if they were solid objects, and since they were not truly solid, the Caligo could not pass through them. Kemper concentrated hard. The Caligo was pulling, straining at its bonds, unused and unwilling to be confined again. Ice launched another geyser, this time attempting to freeze the eruption around the Caligo’s body. It screamed, it strained, it roared as it struggled against its bonds.

“Hang in there, Kemper!” shouted Ice.

Kemper was trying, but it was not easy. The shadows threatened to scatter into the night at any moment under the pressure of the Caligo’s struggles. He tried to force them together, to squeeze harder around the creature, but in vain.

“I’m losing it!” he yelled at Ice.

The hydropath cursed softly down on the ground. Kemper could imagine his feeling of uselessness to be frustrating, but there was nothing he could do. He panted with effort as the shadows scattered and the Caligo was again freed. Kemper dove into nothingness once again, reappearing next to Ice.

“Restraining it won’t work anymore,” Kemper said. “It’s far too strong now! We need a way to end this for good, or this may be over already!”

“We’ve been through this!” yelled Ice over the beast’s feral roars. “Your shadow is the first thing that has ever had an effect on it!”

“Look out!” He put two fingers to his temples, and immediately he and Ice fell into the shadows, landing behind the Caligo just in time to see it spit more of its fire at the spot where they had just been standing.

Kemper had never transported someone or something that he had not been touching before. He really had grown. He could do this.

“You’ll have to name that ability,” said Ice as the Caligo finished its attack.

“I have,” he replied proudly, glancing at the wolf over his shoulder. “It’s the Shadow Walk.” With that, he Shadow Walked back in the direction of the Caligo.

“Yeah,” said Ice to himself after he left. “Because that definitely does not sound like a move from Guild Wars 2.”

Again, Kemper called the shadows forth, launching them this time not as bonds, but as daggers of energy. With a mighty sweep of its massive wing, the attack was deflected. Kemper, never a one-trick pony, decided to try the other side of his power. Light gathered in his paw, brilliant and intense, its colors separating in the air into their prismatic forms. This, he launched at the beast. It tried to deflect it again, but on contact, it exploded into a brilliant blast of purest light.

When the sparks cleared, something remarkable was revealed that made the eyes of Ice, Kemper, and even the Caligo widen with surprise.

Part of the creature’s wing was gone, seemingly evaporated as if it were truly made of mist.

Somehow, this did not deter the beast’s ability to fly. It rose into the night sky, roaring and screeching its displeasure in a voice that surely the entire world could hear.

“That’s it!” cried Kemper, Shadow Walking back to Ice. “Ice, I need you to be a distraction,” he said. “I can do this!”

Ice sighed. He was never one to complain about his duty, but he had not been looking forward to having the Caligo’s sole attention, especially when it was enraged. Still, if Kemper’s abilities could eliminate the threat of the Caligo for good, the risk was worth it.

With a curt nod, the wolf quickly formed a pillar of ice beneath him that launched him high into the night sky. As a geyser erupted nearby, he directed the water to flow beneath him, and he rode its warm wave upward into the night sky, directly toward the enraged beast.

Kemper got to work. It would take a lot of his power to destroy something this big, this strong. He widened his stance, his fingertips together in a circle. A spark formed in the middle of that circle, slowly intensifying, slowly growing as it collected light.

Ice flitted about the Caligo’s head, trying to avoid its swipes and its blasts of fire. Whenever he could, he fired ice and water at it, but to no avail. Jets of water would daze it a little, but other than that, his power against the Caligo was utterly and truly nullified.

He growled softly. He knew what Kemper had to be doing. No matter the cost, he had to keep the dragon off of him. Kemper’s light was their best chance of getting rid of the Caligo threat for good. He raised his paws into the air, summoning more and more water from the earth to the steadily growing ball beneath him.

Kemper could see Ice’s plight. He knew he had to act quickly, but he had to be careful. If he gathered this energy too quickly, it could consume and destroy him. He could not be hasty.

“Hang in there, Ice,” he said softly. His paws were spread wide now, the ball of light barely able to fit between them, shining brilliantly like a star in his grasp.

Suddenly, the Caligo turned its head away from Ice. It sensed the power increasing nearby, and it did not wish to be struck by the same power again. It took off, heading straight for Kemper.

“No!” shouted Ice. He followed in pursuit, his ever-growing ball of water in front of him, soaring toward the beast. He had to do this now, before it reached Kemper. His paws came together, reaching back, taking control of the great sphere of water. He let out a yell of effort as he pushed it forward, sending it straight for the Caligo.

Kemper could see the Caligo coming. His attack wasn’t yet ready. Ice must have been unable to hold the creature off. The ball was now far larger, dwarfing the dead trees. Kemper’s knees were bent under its apparent weight as he held it over his head. Still, it needed to be just a bit bigger. He could not risk the possibility of leaving any part of the Caligo in existence.

The beast was upon him. It screeched its displeasure, the sound causing Kemper’s leonid ears to lay back against his head. He growled right back.

“Back off, Caligo!” he grunted under the effort of carrying all this energy. “I’ll deal with you... shortly!”

The collection of light into this concentrated ball was making the area grow darker and darker, and yet it was still illuminated enough by Kemper’s activities for him to see the Caligo suddenly engulfed within a giant bubble of water. Atop it stood Ice, his ears perked in concentration. Droplets of water rose from the earth, joining the large sphere that the Caligo was currently struggling to leave.

Keeping the Caligo still was not at all proving to be an easy task for Ice. As emaciated as Grutang had looked, his power had been quite strong, and Ice was having much trouble defeating it in his weakened state. However, this was too important for him not to give it his all.

With all the strength he could muster, he held the Caligo inside its watery prison. If he froze it, the power would be nullified, and he couldn’t spare any energy fighting that off. He had to keep the bubble from breaking. He had to keep the Caligo at bay until Kemper was ready.

His eyes shone blue with power, every muscle in his body tense and straining against the power of the beast. The Caligo wasn’t built for swimming, yet it struggled to force its way out of Ice’s grasp. Kemper needed to hurry.

“Any time now, Kemper!” shouted Ice, his voice strained with effort.

The bright ball of brilliant light was nearing the Caligo’s size now. “Just... a little... longer!” cried Kemper. He almost had it....

Ice was fading fast. His vision was becoming tunneled, his grasp on the sphere slipping. “I... can’t hang on!” He gritted his teeth, willing himself to push as hard as he could.

His stomach clenched as the Caligo suddenly stopped struggling and turned to face him.

“Got it!” shout Kemper. Finally, the light was big enough, shining brilliantly under his control. He looked up, right in time to gasp in horror at the scene in front of him. The Caligo had turned its focus onto Ice. There was nothing he could do but yell Ice’s name as a stream of blue fire cut through Ice’s water, engulfing the wolf in its searing heat.

“ICE! NOOOO!” The next moments were a blur for Kemper. He reared back with all his strength, hurling the ball of purest light straight at Ice’s collapsing sphere of water. It collided with it and broke through it, completely engulfing the Caligo in its brilliance. There was a loud sound, a pained screech from the beast as it took the full force of the attack. There was a brilliant flash and the light became a pillar, reaching for the sky, visible for miles. The ground was scorched, fallen and dead trees obliterated, water from the geysers evaporated... and when the blast was over and the smoke cleared, the Caligo was gone... and so was Ice.

Kemper had Shadow Walked far away from the blast. He felt tears spring to his eyes. The Caligo threat was over. Celeduin, Duremark, and the rest of the world was eternally safe from its terror. But Ice... Ice was gone. The white wolf, one of the strongest of the supers and Kemper’s friend, had paid the price for the safety of all. To protect Duremark. To protect Lukos and Willow. To protect him.

Kemper sat down on the desolate ground and wept.

It was morning when he awoke to the sight of a raccoon investigating his face. Kemper hadn’t been aware that raccoons still existed in the Valley of the Mists. Maybe life would return to the place now that the Caligo was gone....

The Caligo. Ice. Ice was gone. The memories came flooding back to him.... He had failed Ice. He sighed as he Shadow Walked, heavyhearted, back to the scene of the Caligo’s demise.

Who should he find standing there, staring at the cave’s wrecked entrance, but Ice.

“’Bout time you showed up,” the wolf grumbled. He looked unharmed. He must have seen the stunned look on Kemper’s face, because he spread his paws wide, shrugging at him. “What?”

“You... I thought... you were... I mean, the Caligo, it....”

Ice crossed his arms. “I usually understand sentences better when they’re actually... you know... sentences.”

“You were... dead,” said Kemper, his ears laid back, as if by saying this it would suddenly come true.

“Almost,” he says. “You Shadow Walked me somehow. I would have been fried if you hadn’t.”

“Well... where were you?!” he cried. His tail was flicking about in relief and excitement. Ice didn’t look all too happy.

“Can’t a guy pass out after busting his butt to keep a giant angry Caligo from killing you? HEY!”

To Ice’s dismay, Kemper pounced on him, embracing him in a big hug.

A few months later, Kemper found himself standing in front of Ice’s squad. He was no longer in Celeduin, nor in Duremark at all. Lukos’ power had matured enough for him to accept training from the Council of Supers, and Willow found herself acting with the council in other capacities. His friends safe, Kemper no longer had cause to stay solely in Duremark.

Kemper was welcomed with open arms. His unique power would be very beneficial in the protection of others. With his new team, he would be able to make a difference not only in the lives of his friends, but in those of everyone who needed a helping paw.", "pools_count": 0, "title": "The Caligo", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "application/msword", "pagecount": "2", "rating_id": "0", "rating_name": "General", "ratings": [], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "f", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "0", "views": "33", "latest_file_name": "1274882_12_caligo_2.doc", "latest_mimetype": "application/msword", "latest_file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/1274/1274882_12_caligo_2.doc", "latest_file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/1274/1274882_12_caligo_2.doc", "latest_file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/1274/1274882_12_caligo_2.doc", "latest_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/1274/1274882_12_caligo_2.jpg", "latest_thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/1274/1274882_12_caligo_2.jpg", "latest_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/1274/1274882_12_caligo_2.jpg", "latest_thumb_huge_x": "200", "latest_thumb_huge_y": "200", "latest_thumb_large_x": "200", "latest_thumb_large_y": "200", "latest_thumb_medium_x": "120", "latest_thumb_medium_y": "120" }