It's over.

I found him.

I can go home.

I have broken the cycle.

I win.

Yay!  Happiness!
 

Viki beamed as she travelled the forest path with her two South Window escorts in tow.  One was wearing a bear hat over his head, and the other was wearing a large bear fur coat.

"It'll be so good to be back home.  But I hope McDohl finishes his conversation with Granmeyer and catches up soon."  Viki remarked.

One of the guards snickered.  "Oh, he'll catch up soon enough."

Viki stared at the large money bag she was carrying.  "Wow, Granmeyer must have sure been eager to see McDohl.  He was so happy that he held a celebration and gave me a bunch of money as a reward for bringing Lord McDohl to see him.  What a nice guy."

The other one laughed.  "Yep.  Granmeyer was very eager to see McDohl again.  The two are old aquaintances, you know."

Viki smiled.  "Well, I'm glad I could make him happy.  And McDohl too.  McDohl was so glad to see Granmeyer again that he was speechless.  And now he must be so caught up with his reunion with Granmeyer that the guards at his room wouldn't even let me in to see him."

The two guards laughed together.  "We are all so proud to have McDohl in our fine custody now!"

Viki paused.  "Er... this forest that leads from Banner to Toran... it isn't dangerous, is it?"

"Does it matter?"  One of the soldiers pointed to his bear hat.  "We can handle any beast!"

Viki stared at the hat.  "Where did you guys get that bear head and fur coat, anyway?"

The guard wearing the bearskin coat grinned.  "There was an evil beast tormenting the people of South Window, so my friend here and I went in bravely by ourselves to its lair where no man has even step foot before and we slaughtered the vile beast!  It gave us a great promotion and we got to keep it's... endowment.  So you see, no monster is a match for us!"

"That's an odd coincidence..."  Viki pondered.  "Ironically, when I teleported these two annoying lawyers away back at that time when they blocked me from seeing Granmeyer at South Window, I was hoping that a big bear would eat them or something."

The guards stopped.  In front of them were five red armoured samurai.

"Bonzai!!!"  One of the samurai screamed.  Without warning, he jumped at one of the guards with his sword drawn.

And crashed right into him, knocking both of them unconscious.  The other samurai simply shook their heads sadly.

"Hey!"  The first guard yelled.  "Who goes there?"

The samurai looked at each other, then one spoke.  "We are the Toran Jowston badland samurai!  We kill you now!"

Two of the samurai leapt at the guard, but he just step to the side and they slammed into a tree behind him.  "Oh yea?!?  Well I am one of the two South Window bear brothers!  I killed a bear singlehandedly because my friend was an excellent decoy!  Fear my sword!"  The guard yelled as he stabbed one of the two remaining samurai in the gut.  The sword broke the minute it hit the samurai's armour.  The guard stared at his sword, then grinned nervously at the two samurai.

Viki looked at the soldier.  "Uh.... this is bad, isn't it?  Maybe I should try to help."  Viki stared at the samurai that the guard broke his sword on.  "Shazzam!"

The samurai was instantly crushed by a large cow.  The last samurai prepared to strike until a rain of trees, branches, boats, and houses came crashing down.

When the dust cleared, the samurai looked at all the debris that was lying in a circle around him.  Viki shook her wand and looked at her blinking rune.  "Oops, I think I missed.  Let me try this again."

"NO!"  The guard that was still conscious yelled.  "It is even now!  This is a matter of honor!  I shall defeat him in a one on one duel!"

The samurai laughed.  "I laugh at that pathetic sword of yours!"

The guard looked at his broken sword then frantically looked around.  "Damn!  I need a sword!"

"Ugh..."  The other guard groggily shook his head.  "I... have a sword..."

The first guard anxiously looked at his friend.  "What!?  Do you have a sword?  Do you have a fine sword?  Do you have the ultimate fine sword?!?"

The second guard stood up and pointed his sword into the air.  "YES!  I have a sword!  I have a fine sword!  I have the ultimate fine sword!!!  And with my final breath before I lose consciousness again, I bestow it unto you!"  The second guard threw his sword to the first and the first reached out to catch it.

The flying sword's hilt slammed right into the samura's face, knocking him down.

Viki stared at the unconscious samurai then turned to the guards.  "Um, can we go now?"

The guards looked at each other and nodded.  "Our job here is done."

That was only the first of the many tests that those poor guards had to pass through in order to get Viki back to Toran.  The second one (also the last) lay before them in the form of a huge caterpillar.

The first soldier glanced at the caterpillar.  "What is it?  What is it?"

"Don't know!  Don't know!  But it looks like it's about to eat us!"  The second soldier replied.

"Taste my ultimate sword!"  The first soldier charged at the caterpillar and jabbed his sword into it.  The second looked at the broken sword the first soldier gave to him and shrugged.

The caterpillar leaped into the air and crushed the two soldiers.

Viki sighed.  "Well, they might be wierd but at least those two guards are good damage sponges."  Viki waved her wand, resulting in a large nuclear mushroom cloud.

The two guards crawled out from under the roasted caterpillar, looked at roasted Viki, then cheered at the death of the roasted vile beast, before a huge moth emerged from the blackened caterpillar skin.  Viki stared at the moth's pretty colored wings.  "Oh wow!  It's beautiful!"

"It's evil!"  One of the soldiers screamed.

Viki watched as the moth flew several circles around her then landed next to her.  She looked at it and waved.  "Hi there!"

"Um... we really should get going now."  The soldier commented as the moth behind Viki flew into the air and prepared to swoop in on her for the kill..

"Oh all right.  I think I can we're close enough for me to teleport us to Toran.  Shazam!"  Viki waved her wand and the moth dissappeared.  She quickly looked around.  "Huh?

An entire platoon of Toran soldiers and archers came running up to Viki and the two South Window soldiers.  They were led by their leader.  "What's going on here?  There was an explosion!"

"Oh!"  Viki looked at the leader.  "Sir Sydonia!  Good afternoon!"

"Sydonia?"  Vargas blinked.  "Nevermind!  Viki, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, these nice South Window guards escorted me back home."

"South Window guards?!?"  The archers quickly readied their weapons.  Vargas stared at the two guards.  "This has got to be a trick.  Why would they go through all the trouble of travelling through the badlands to bring Viki back to us and..."

Vargas paused as he suddenly remembered who he was talking about.  He stared at Viki then came to the horrible realization that it wouldn't be good to take those soldiers captive when they were only returning someone.  Unfortunately, the excuse that Viki'll probably screw up Toran even more than she already did wouldn't hold up in the international courts...

Lepant slowly circled Viki while giving her the stare.  ".... You're back."

Viki happily nodded.  "Yay!  Although... why are you staring at me like that?  Is something wrong?  I wasn't gone for THAT long, was I?"

Lepant shook his head.  "Two years, actually."

"Drat!  The Waffu thing!  I forgot!"  Viki snapped her fingers.  "Oh well.  I'm back now so everything's great!  There sure were an awful lot of guards at the border, though."

"It's poison moth season.  Normally those giant caterpillars that live in the Toran Jowston badlands aren't too much of a threat, but at this time of the year they metamorphosize into poison moths, and we can't afford to have one of those powerful monsters anywhere near Toran.  Even one will cause an enormous amount of havoc before finally being put down.  The guards at the border deter any from deciding to move in on Toran."  Lepant looked out the window and rubbed his chin then turned to Viki as a gigantic poison moth flew by.  "Now anyway, on to more pressing matters at hand.  About...... WHAT THE!?"

Lepant quickly looked out the window again but saw nothing.  "I must have been seeing things.  AAAAAAH!!!!"

Lepant screamed as the moth's face suddenly popped up in front of Lepant's face.

"Oh!"  Viki waved to the moth.  "I see you met my moth friend!"

Lepant angrily turned to Viki as the poison moth flew away to eat another building.  "Moth friend?!?"

Viki smiled.  "Yea!  He dissappeared though when I miscasted a blinking spell.  I should say hello!"  Viki walked over to the window and waved to the poison moth.

The poison moth turned and looked at Viki, then opened it's mouth and burped loudly.

Lepant's wife, Eileen, came slamming through the window and crashing into Lepant.  She quickly got up and brushed herself off, then looked at Lepant.  "Honey, do you know there's a large moth flying around Gregminster eating people?"

Lepant gritted his teeth.  "Yes, dear, I am aware of that."

"Okay, honey.  Just thought you should know so you could go kill it."  Eileen exitted the room.

Lepant yelled after her.  "Oh, dear?  Do me a favor and call up Alen and Grenseal to swat that pest."

"Alen is escorting Lady Jilia to Jowston and Grenseal's dissappeared, honey!"  Came the reply.

"Well then get Tesla to do it, dammit!  I'm busy now!"

"Yes, dear!"

"ARGH!"  Lepant slammed his fist on the table then glared at Viki.  "Do you have any idea what you've done?!?"

Viki thought for a moment, then smiled.  "I've brought Lord McDohl back!"

"NO!  You..."  Lepant stopped and looked confusedly at Viki.  "Brought Lord McDohl back?"

"Huh?  What?"  Viki looked around.  "I did?"

"You just said you did."

"Oh yes!  Right!  I did!"

"Finally!!  It's been hell without McDohl.  For two years the people wondered if their hero abandoned them.  Without McDohl for the people to unite behind, it's been harder and harder to keep everyone satisfied.  Well, where is he?"

Viki looked around.  "Oh... um... he said he'd catch up.  He was following me but stayed behind to catch up on things with a friend."

"Well, as long as he gets here."  Lepant looked out the window and sighed as the moth flew by while holding onto a screaming Tesla.

"At any rate, it's good to be home.  No more travelling for me!  I'm finally done with all of that, and I'm finally done with destiny!  I think I'll stay here forever."  Viki sat back in the chair.

Lepant looked at Viki, then shook his head.  "Viki, I don't know how to break this to you but I guess I have to do it.  Do you remember what your job was after the Gate Rune War?"

"Um.... oh yes!  I was the court teleporter!"  Viki looked at her wand.  "Did I mention I got an upgrade to my blinking rune while I was gone?  It can kill people, now!"

Lepant blinked, then sighed.  "Your blinking rune already killed people, remember?!?  A few nobles asked for a teleport and ended up appearing several stories in mid air above Gregminster."

"Oh yes, but that was by accident!  This one can kill people on purpose!"  Viki responded as the moth, still carrying a frantic Tesla, flew by the window.

"That's.... great."  Lepant snapped his fingers in front of Viki.  "Ahem.  Viki, you're fired."

Viki blinked.

"Did you here me?"

Viki looked at herself.  "I.... I'm not on flames right now, am I?"

"ARGH!"  Lepant glared at Viki.  "You realize where I'm going with this, right?"

Viki looked around and noticed that Lepant was still in the room, so she replied appropriately.  "No where?"

Lepant sighed.  "Yes, I'm sadly getting no where with this.  Perhaps I should be blunt.  Viki, sadly you've been nothing but trouble since after the Gate Rune war.  There!  I said it!  The need for a court teleporter has been very slim and is only confounded by the fact that the one we had is, ahem, remarkably incompetant.  You've inconvenienced nearly everyone and your skill at failure is so legendary that it's spread throughout Toran.  Worst of all, you've made us lose the young master for two years!  Viki, I'm sorry, but in the two years you were gone, it has come to my attention that you are... sadly, dead weight."

Viki was suddenly detecting some very bad vibes coming from Lepant.  "Uh oh.... what are you saying?"

"Viki, you're relieved of your duties.  You're dismissed.  You're getting the boot."  Lepant leaned towards and looked at Viki, causing her and her chair to fall back and crash to the ground.  The big bag of potch came crashing out of her wallet.  Lepant stared at it.

Viki quickly got up.  "I... I'm fired?  But you can't fire me!  McDohl wouldn't let you do that!"

Lepant turned away from Viki and picked up the bag of potch.  "What... is this?"

"Oh!"  Viki looked at the bag.  "Lord Granmeyer was so happy to see McDohl when I brought McDohl to him that he gave me that as a gift."

A vein in Lepant's forehead started to grow.  "Lord Granmeyer?  Of South Window?"

"Yes!  Lord McDohl is currently staying with him right now.  The South Window guards said that McDohl would catch up with me soon enough."

Lepant stared at McDohl.  "You realize that Granmeyer HATES Lord McDohl and will most likely either ransom him to us, use the fact that he has McDohl in JAIL to blackmail us, or execute him, right?"

Viki looked around, then quickly got a shocked look on her face as the thought finally hit her head two minutes later.  The shocked look on her face slowly dissipitated as she nervously looked at Lepant.  "Um... I.... guess... I realize that now...."  Viki blinked.  "Granmeyer... hates McDohl?  That's... not good, huh?  Well, don't worry about it.  Everything will turn out all right."

Lepant turned his head.  "And how do you think it will?"

Viki looked up.  "I don't know, but it will.  It's a mystery that way."

Lepant twitched.  He held his fist up then slowly put it down.  "Get.... out."

"W...Wha?"

"I said 'Get out.'  Did you not hear me the first time?"

"Can I remain as the court teleporter?"  Viki asked.

"No, you may not!"  Lepant quickly turned and glared at Viki.  His eyes glowed an evil glow.  "GET OUT!!!  YOU INCOMPETANT STUPID IDIOT!!!!!!  OUT!!!"

Viki ended up running with Lepant chasing her, then tripping and crashing down the Gregminster palace entrance stairs.  Lepant slammed the door behind her.

"S... stupid idiot?  I... I'm not a stupid idiot..."  Viki looked at the floor and blinked.  "Am... I?"

"Depends.  Are you stupid enough to continue to let them treat you like that?"

Viki looked up at Levinne, who was standing above her.  "......Mom?  Or Mom's evil doppelganger?  I'm not sure anymore..."

Levinne sighed.  "Viki, we have to talk.  Come with me."

Levinne helped Viki up and they proceeded to walk away.  Behind them, the Tesla came splatting down to the ground as the poison moth buzzed around triumphantly.  Tesla got up and threw a pencil at the moth, which stabbed it in between the eyes, causing it to crash directly into the Gregminster Palace and destroy a good portion of it..

Viki sighed as the waitress at Marie's inn poored her another glass of tea.  "I think Lepant's just a little angry right now.  He didn't mean any of those mean things, really.  He'll be happier when McDohl gets back.  I'll go back and get him.  All I have to do is teleport him out of that dungeoun before Granmeyer lops his head off."

Levinne ordered the waitress to get more tea, then drank some out of her cup.  "Well, Viki, I do believe Lepant did mean those mean things."

"You think he did?  But McDohl will let me back in."

"Somehow I don't think he will seeing as to how you got him in jail."

Viki looked at her cup.  "But... that was only an accident.  Everyone makes accidents once in a while.  I just... wish they could be more forgiving like dad was."

Levinne shook her head.  "Do you remember your father, Viki?  He isn't as forgiving as he used to be.  He's disowned you again.  You've been kicked out of the family for quite a while now."

"Oh, that's okay."  Viki watched the waitress refill her cup.  "Dad always let me back in eventually, anyway."

"He won't take you back, Viki.  You were in fact his only pride and joy at the time, but a lot can happen in twenty years.  He's become the master of blinking, himself, and even changed his name because Harold didn't sound 'cool' enough.  He doesn't need you anymore and he doesn't care about you anymore.  To him, Viki is dead and you are now only 'the Waffu componant.'  And you are dead to me as well."  Levinne drank some more tea.

"Th... that's not true!  You're just an evil doppelganger of my mother!  What would you know?"  Viki stood up from the table.

"I'm not even your real mother, Viki."  Levinne calmly had the waitress refill her cup.  "I was simply the one who inherited you when I married Loharke.  Your mother was a fool who drank way too much champagne while she was pregnant, which is probably why you're as worthless as you are now.  There's a reason I didn't care for you very much, you know.  As it is, seeing as to how you don't have a home here, I could take you back, but that would probably result in your death since no one is willing to protect you anymore."

"I... I don't understand."  Viki knelt by the table.  "I didn't completely forget my father yet..."

"Twenty years, Viki.  Twenty years."  Levinne stood up and put some bits on the table.  "Well, I was supposed to try to convince you to come back with me so I could hand you over to Nikki, but I think it's bad enough she beat me to becoming the master of illusion just because I wasted all my time helping your father master the magic of blinking.  Farewell, Viki.  I must be going now."

Levinne exitted the tavern as Viki, still kneeling, watched her.  Viki slowly stood up and sighed.

Worthless.  How am I supposed to be worthless?  My mother told me that life was priceless.  So wouldn't that mean I'm priceless?  If I'm priceless, does that mean I'm worthless?  And if that's the case, then everyone is worthless so I don't see what the big deal is.  And I also don't see how my real mother indulging on the champagne has anything to do with me.  And yet... everyone seems really mad at me right now.   Is this destiny's way of getting revenge?  That's evil!  Well, I'm not going to lose that easily!  But who can I go to for help now?  The only people who can deal with destiny are seers like Lek and... Hellion!  That's it!  Hellion was once the master of blinking and she knows me well!  I'll go ask her!  But... how do I get to the Magicians Island?  I don't know how to teleport there...

Viki sat back down on the steps to the entrance of the Gregminster Palace.

Gee, that palace really looks wrecked.  Lepant should fix it.  Really, now, it's no wonder Toran doesn't have a very good public image.  It's not just because Lord McDohl wasn't around.

"Silly moth.  What were you doing?  You've gone and bent your pretty wings!"  Viki walked up to the unconscious poison moth and begin straightening out its wings.

The moth sighed a mothy sigh.

"Oh well.  Hey, could you help me?  I need a ride to the Magicians Island.  It really isn't far from here."

The moth no'd a mothy 'No.'

"Great!  Thanks!"  Viki hopped on top of the moth and the annoyed moth quickly took off.and began to spin wildly in circles, spiralling through the sky and making it extremely inconvenient to hang onto in order to keep from falling off.  The moth flew over the ocean hoping to send Viki spiralling to a watery death but it eventually got tired and landed on the Magicians Island.

"Okay!  We're here!  Thank you so much!"  Viki patted the moth and walked deeper into the island.  The moth buzzed annoyingly than flew off to harass Lepant or Tesla some more.

."Hmm... I wonder where Sir Lucnaat is.  I thought his job was to greet all the tourists that came to the Magicians Island.  Wierd."

"Sir Luc had some business to attend to."  An old lady teleported in front of Viki.

"Oh!  Lady Hellion!  I was looking for you."

"Of course, child.  Why else would you be here?  Hmm... come to think of it, why did all those tourists want to come here, too?  The human mind can be so puzzling at times."  Hellion took a hold of Viki's hand.  "Come, child.  Let's go to my tower where we can discuss your destiny further."

"Wow!  You know why I'm here, too?"  Viki blinked.

"Of course.  It's one of the advantages of being the seer."  Hellion took out a crystal ball.  "I can see anything I want to see that goes on in Toran.  Although this crystal ball comes with automatic seer censorship when viewing certain things because in the past certain.... eager young seers abused it."  Hellion waved her hand and in a flash Viki and she teleported to the Mage's Spire at the center of the island.

As they walked along the large red carpet Hellion led Viki past several candlabras until they reached a mirror.  "Viki, you remember this, right?"

"Oh yes!  The blinking mirror, of course."  Viki looked in the mirror and combed her hair a little.

"Yes.  The blinking mirror has the powerful teleportation ability of recall.  Oh, and stop that!"  Hellion grabbed the comb and pulled Viki away from the mirror.  "Now Viki, I know that as of late your view of destiny has been rather... blighted."

"Yea."  Viki took her comb from Hellion.  "Every time after a war ends, I end up teleporting into a forest to meet another leader to become the hero of a war.  That's destiny, isn't it?  I'm really tired of being involved in war and of always having to memorize new teleportation locations and long lists of names.  I saw what it was like to kill people in the front lines of battle, and it wasn't very nice.  A bunch of soldiers killed a bunch of poor innocent children and that was just wrong."

Hellion nodded.  "I see.  Well, child, I'm afraid your destiny really isn't in my jurisdiction."

"Jurisdiction?"

"That is to say, I have no control over the plans destiny has for you."

Viki looked at the blinking mirror.  "But I finally found McDohl again and didn't end up getting lost like I always do.  All I have to do is go back and pick him up.  Could I use the blinking mirror?  It could like recall me back to South Window and I can get McDohl back."

"Child, do you not want to fulfill destiny's plans for you anymore?"

Viki poked the mirror.  "I don't think so."

"Viki, I want you to talk to someone and see something.  Oh, and stop that!"  Hellion pulled Viki away from the mirror.  "I shall use the blinking mirror to recall you back to Jowston, but not exactly to South Window.  When you arrive at your destination and have stayed there for a while, if you still think you do not want to fulfill your destiny anymore, then head to South Window and find McDohl.  But if you choose to decide to fulfill your destiny, do not worry about McDohl.  He can handle himself.  He's a good boy."

Viki looked at the mirror.  "Um.... so after you use the power of recall, I just go back to South Window and I can get McDohl?  Okay, got it!"

Hellion slapped her forehead.  "Whatever!"

The mirror flashed and Viki dissappeared.

The mercenary fortress.  A crude emergency wooden structure hastily put up in order to protect Jowston's border from Highland.  It gained some more recruits every passing day.  And today, it would recieve a gift from destiny.

Viki came crashing down, bringing the shower with her and sending a towel and a bunch of clothes flying in all directions.  She quickly got up and looked at the ruined shower then at the man in front of her.  "Oh, Sir... um.... I'm so sorry, I forgot!  But good afternoon!  How do you do?"

Waiting for an answer, Viki looked at the man from head to toe.  Her eyes slowly grew wide.

Viki quickly turned away.  "OH MY GOSH!!!  I saw what I shouldn't have seen!!!"

"AACK!   AAH!  AAACK!!!!"  The man's screams rang throughout the mercenary fort and beyond for nearly a minute before he finally paused for a moment and stared at Viki.  "Viki?"

"Yes?"  Viki turned back to look at him.  "EEP!"  She quickly turned around again and covered her eyes.