A new world; Cradle.
I am a Knight.
-
I scrambled out of the pod, and looked around me. A wonderful world, however, as I guessed, not uninhabited.
My chatter beeped. I pulled it out of my belt, and listened to a message, ending with “Ready your sword, there are hostiles ahead!” or something similar. So I readied my sword, and set out on a walk.
I noticed a sign saying something about jellies, but took no notice, until one had wobbled up to me. I saw red, and realised what it was. Some of the "hostiles" in the message! I turned and ran back a little, then faced it. I glanced at my sword, and slashed at the jelly.
Its second attack cancelled, and it wobbled backwards for a few seconds, before coming back towards me. I slashed again. To my complete surprise, it imploded and left behind a bit of goo, some orange-red dots, and some bronze coins, part of some currency.
The dots and coins were sucked towards me for some reason. I had no idea why, and I doubted other Knights did.
I continued on my journey, meeting a few more jellies, including the companion of the one I killed. They all left behind goo, dots, and coins.
Then, when I was comfortable about the jellies, I met a chromalisk.
Wonderful.
I defeated the two chromalisks, but it was rather painful.

Phoenixes and Spiral Knights.
I fight with honour.
-
I had long been in the Rescue Camp, training every day in that Clockworks elevator, and I felt I was ready to take on the journey to Haven. From the rumors I had heard, it was nothing compared to what I might face when I got to Haven. Was that supposed to comfort me? Probably not. But I was no coward.
I took a deep breath, and walked towards the elevator. I reached up and pressed the button. I let the breath out.
---
I grabbed a vitapod, and joined my teammates at the elevator. I waited until I reached the bottom, and tried to run after my teammates. But I needed to recover. It seems everyone needed to, and some took longer than others. I was one of those, so I decided to think about something else.
From what I had learned, there had been some miscalculations about how much fuel the Skylark needed, and it ran out of fuel sooner than it was expected. The attempts to continue the journey caused the engine to explode, thus everyone had to evacuate and hope to land together on a nearby planet, but for some reason this planet, Cradle, drew us towards it.
And now we were stuck on this planet, like the phoenixes among their own ashes, until we, like the phoenixes, could rise from the ashes. On our planet, we had helped the phoenixes by preventing the ashes from scattering, until they could rise. But who would hold us together? We had none but ourselves. And I was not as sure as others that we were strong enough to do so.
I had recovered from the descent, and hurried after the others. It was an interesting place, this, but it was about to get smashed. By us.

Haven, a place to rest.
I use mainly swords.
-
My teammates were already fighting, and I had little trouble getting into the fight. I got hurt a bit, as everyone will, but the multitude of heart boxes got me quickly up to full health.
I had a craze for keys, so when we reached them, I tried to grab both of them. I succeeded in the one on the left side of the map, but not with the one on the right. One of my teammates got it.
I finally reached the elevator, and found that, although I was tired, I had enjoyed myself. Back on our planet, I never felt like this. Maybe it was this planet, and the fact that the creatures attacked you.
I waited to recover from the elevator with impatience. Hurry up, I thought, I want to see Haven! I must find out whether all the rumors are true!
But finally I recovered and ran off to explore Haven, talking to all the Strangers and Knights on the way. The Arcade fascinated me. Too bad that I had to recover from going to a different place, as if I were on an elevator.
I liked the Bazaar, and immediately wanted a Hot Edge. However, I needed 3,000 crowns. Time to visit those Clockworks of which I had heard so much, and to gain minerals as well.
But there was the question of which gate to go into. I decided on the second left one. Looked nice and I was certain it would be profitable. For some reason, I remembered about hearing of some “boss” people, one of them apparently being Snarbolax. Someday I’d have to try it. I thought it was something to do with pressing the news that told about the new boss.
I moved down, past one house icon, and came upon two pink turret icons, followed by a pink skull icon. I wondered what it was, but I hadn’t learned yet the trick of moving my hand over an icon.
I pressed the “down” button, and waited a second before teleporting somewhere. And, of course, having to recover. Why?

The wrong way to fight Snarbolax.
And also handguns.
-
I was on a run, in the Terminal. And I was confused because there was a weird icon on the elevator. I was impatient, but I had learned a deal of patience since I was in Haven. Well, I thought as the last person in the party stepped onto the elevator, now I’ll find out what the icon is.
I had trouble seeing where we were going, but I got “Gloaming Wildwoods” . I just couldn’t see the smaller level name underneath it.
Interesting music, I thought when I recovered. I like it, although it is a bit spooky, but when did that hurt anyone?
At least, it didn't hurt me, but it did scare me. I laughed at myself, then rushed down, just remembering in time to avoid the brambles.
--
There had been two levels now, and I was on the third. Its icon had not matched the others. It was a skull, like that pink one I'd seen long ago, though green this time.
I wondered what this meant, and also why there were strange objects throughout the two levels and also in some fights, a huge creature leapt through, stunning us, before, of all things, disappearing!
We stepped on the party button. Then, as a different music started, the creature appeared. It did not stun us, and did not disappear. Then I realised. Gloaming Wildwoods – the Snarbolax’s lair. And this was the Snarbolax.
I clapped my weak Proto Shield on, and remained that way, except for the periods in which it had been broken, for the rest of the fight. I remembered one point where I was shielding in the top right corner, while they were bashing the Snarbolax, who was brown for some reason, in the bottom left.
But the others had decent equipment, and the three of them managed to destroy him. However, as I later reflected, it was unfair that I got 3 tokens, as I had done nothing in the fight. It was a long time later I found that the tokens were given out by the number of levels you completed. We walked to the elevator, on which there was that house icon I’d seen when I looked at the map, oh so long ago, and got on.
Immediately we shot down, I having only a second to sheath my new Hot Edge.

Power Surge to Tier 2.
Someday I’ll use bombs.
-
Bristling Buckler, Snarble Barb, Blaster, Cobalt Helm, Cobalt Armour, my arsenal grew.
I won the Snarbolax many times, including three times in a row one day, and once when I got 5 tokens. Whyever did the Wiki say that 5 were “unconfirmed”?
I was now completely 2*, and ready to go meet the Spiral Warden, and get into Tier 2. I had finally understood what the tiers were, and got ready a 2* set. I was going to beat the Snarbolax one more time. It was unlikely I’d be fighting him anytime soon, when I was Tier 2.
Whump! went a Mecha Knight as it crumpled up, leaving behind a mass of scrap metal and coins, and those dots, heat, it was called. Most of my items were not yet full on heat, so the more heat I had, the better! My party continued on to the elevator, and went down to the Terminal.
I sometimes recovered quickly, and this was one of those times. I hurried to check Basil, then joined the others on the elevator. Looking up at the Gloaming Wildwoods sign, I was surprised to see that the blue number, normally 10, was 5. What was that number, anyway?
I was halfway through the second level before I realised. The news had said something about a Power Surge Weekend, where all elevator costs would be half off.
Normally my energy was reduced by 10 when I went down the elevator. That blue number must be the energy cost, and it was now only 5!
-
I watched the Snarbolax bubble and shake, then hurried over to the token-giver, then on to the treasure boxes to receive the final heat for my items, and coins to help me on my first run the next day.
We went down to Moorcraft Manor, leaving the emerald forests behind.
I waited impatiently to recover, wishing for the hundredth time we did not have to do so, then ran as fast as I could to the Spiral Warden, and received permission to enter Tier 2.
Moorcraft Manor was interesting, I reflected as I shakily thanked the desk clerk. Was he being polite? It seemed he was, but it was a strange way of expressing it. Well, monsters probably were different from us in manners as well as appearance, even the "friendly" ones.
The elevator stared at me, inviting me to go down, but I went back to the other side of the gate and went up with my party. I needed rest, and more energy.
The next day I would go for my first run in Tier 2. Since the Roarmulus Twins were apparently harder, I would do the Jelly King first.
But only when I was Tier 3 would I count myself as a true part of the fight to rebuild the Skylark, and to rise from the ashes that were this planet.

The End. Thank you for reading.
By Remiliaoftheearth.