Guardian of the Air Gem (1)

I wondered, "How did we not notice that?"

"Maybe it was hidden until someone noticed and read the symbol," Aavern said.

"But how did we not notice the symbol?"

"Cause' nobody pays attention to what's under or over them," Qassot said.

"Wow," I commented.

"Now, how do we get up there?" Aavern asked.

"Uhh, guys?" Dracoa spoke up, "Look behind the stage."

There was a tunnel with some symbols written over it, to the side of the tunnel leading to the council's meeting chamber.

"Wow," Aavern said sarcastically, "It gets even better! Now we only need the gem to be nicely contained in a box at the center of a nice room with a free meal!"

"And look down," Dracoa added.

We were standing in a circle with some more symbols on it.

"So many secrets that are revealed through reading that first symbol!" Qassot said excitedly.

"But how did you learn to read them?" I asked. 

"I read them at the base of the mountain," she replied, "I think Ysk Mountain was turned into a fortress way back when and whoever made the gems built the mountain, the rock and whatever holds the other two gems."

We somehow made it behind the announcer and into the passageway without drawing attention, even when we walked awkwardly close to the council's chambers. We found a long, winding passageway curving to the left.

We finally reached an opening after a few minutes of uphill walking. It was the opening to the ledge we had seen earlier. I got there first, with Aavern close behind and peeked out. An awe-spiring view awaited me. The circle we'd been standing in was glowing gray-blue, as was another circle on the other side of the stage. Behind the announcer, still talking, was a shimmering stone wall, but stone it was no more. It seemed to be carved with intricate swirls, drawing some power out from the circles. In the center of it all, where the announcer was standing, was a spiral, spitting out a weak wind, slowly getting stronger as it exited the cavern. Behind me, Aavern gasped as he came out of the passageway. He was looking behind me. I turned.

The wall behind us, made of the same stuff as the opposite wall, was turning transparent. The others arrived behind us. They stopped short. A huge, stone, segmented snake coiled around a tall stone spire appeared through the stone. Each one of its many stone segments was as big as Riselus. It was flowing smoothly in its sleep around the spire, in sync with the air current that was now swirling around us. Slowly, it moved faster as it awoke. Its sunken, gray eyes opened and it began to move faster as the spire began to glow. It began to spit out a mist which shrouded it from our eyes. At the top of the spire, a brightly glowing light gray orb spewed rays of light everywhere. The wind blew strong and fast. Then the snake calmed down and fell asleep again. A gust of wind descended from the mountain and blew a tumbleweed across the plains. This was the guardian of the air gem.

"Well, then," I said, "How are we supposed to beat that?"

Dracoa was shaking.

"What's wrong?" Qassot asked.

"It's been so long since I've fought anything like that," Dracoa said.

"You've fought something like that?" I asked.

"Just a small one." Dracoa waved the question off. "It was a long time ago. I lost."

"You what?" Riselus growled.

"Well, we're here. We can help," I said.

"Right. But why is that thing guarding the gem?"

"Because… it is?" Qassot said slowly, clearly confused.

"There's a guardian for every gem, it said so in Azor's scrolls," I commented.

"I know, but I thought that meant something you can fight one-on-one. That is an entire army by itself!" worried Dracoa.

"Don't worry. We can be sneaky," I said.

"That snake thing seemed to wake every time the orb flashed and a gust of wind blew." Aavern said.

"Yeah and that snake thing looks dangerous," Qassot said.

"We can be super sneaky," I replied.

"I think it knows we are here. The mountain's trembling," Qassot said.

"Move quickly." Riselus grunted, herding us down the passageway.

"See if you can do that mind block thing you did to that flying ray," Aavern said to Dracoa, "maybe you'll be able to stop it long enough for us to get the gem and get out."

Dracoa brightened. "That's a good idea."

We began to swiftly descend the passageway in front of us. It curved slowly to the right. As we went along the path, the trembling increased until even Dracoa, who was flying, could feel the tremors through the air. Far off, along the path, we heard a low, long, groan that shook the tunnel around us. Pebbles broke away from the ceiling. Creatures down below began to shift around nervously. It was more terrifying than the evil bird's screech, that even stopped Dracoa.

"I can't do it," she mumbled, "It's mind is too strong."

"Did you try yet?" I asked.

"No, but-"

"You never know until you try!" I said cheerfully.

Dracoa briefly looked like she wanted to whack me down the passageway, but didn't. "Okay," she eventually said.

The passage began to curve to the right. The rumbling became gradually louder. Every now and then, a groan would stop us in our tracks, while Dracoa desperately tried to fight it. After several such groans, she managed to gain control. A small diamond-shaped cluster of scales on her forehead began to glow white. The trembling stopped. She dropped onto the back of Riselus, to keep focusing. We arrived at the chamber soon after. There, we saw the spire, the chamber, the guardian. It was twisting and writing on the ground, as it fought back mentally, thrashing against the rock walls, which, if they were not made of the strange, translucent material, would have surely crumbled over such an assault. I shuddered. Even if the monster wasn't fighting us, it was still terrifying. I took a few deep breaths to reassure myself. Aavern's plan is working so far. Now we just need to get the gem. Easy, right?

I looked up at the spire. It was taller than we imagined. Aavern and Qassot flew up to the orb while Riselus prepared to warn us if the snake broke free. I went up to the orb and saw the gem inside. It was furiously spitting out wind and light.

Qassot, Aavern and I began to hit and smash the orb with rocks. It slowly cracked. At each hit, the snake thrashed violently. One more hit and the orb broke. It shattered with a blinding flash and a deafening boom and the gem dropped into the waiting arms of Qassot. The snake broke free, its eyes now red. I froze.

"That thing is big," I mumbled.

"We'd better get out of here!" Dracoa yelled. The glow on her forehead was gone.

"IT'S GONNA KILL US!" Qassot yelled.

"MOVE!" Riselus bellowed, startling me into the air.

Below, in the meeting chamber, the animals, having finished the meeting, noticed that we were gone, and, feeling the quake, gave us up for lost. They stashed as much of their supplies as possible under the stage, which was made of the same strange, smooth, unbreakable material as the walls, then quickly evacuated to the foot of the mountain.

We were trying to get to the exit. The snake was flying about in the air without wings somehow and was rushing at us at ridiculous speeds. I started panicking. Aavern's plan didn't account for this. I was able to dodge, since I had practice dodging Dracoa and Qassot in the air, but just barely.

"It's trying to trap us in here!" Aavern yelled. The snake's thrashing had started to collapse the entrance, which was made of normal stone. "Everyone out of the room!"

We all rushed to the doorway. The snake raised its tail. Dracoa let out a despairing screech. The diamond of scales on her head flashed brightly for an instant. The snake was promptly stopped for a second. That gave us enough time to run out and along the passage.

"Quickly! The gem!" Aavern yelled.

"What about it?" Qassot asked.

"Give it to Dracoa! We can fight back!"

"We can't fight that!"

"Just do what I said!"

Qassot handed the gem to Dracoa. The gem seemed to flash a bit and settle at Dracoa's touch.

"I have a bunch of chains from Azor with rings on each!" Qassot said. When everyone looked at her strangely, she said, "They looked pretty. They might fit the gems."

I put the gem into the ring. The shallow groove around the gem's middle allowed it to click in perfectly. Then, I put it around Dracoa's head. It hung around her neck, stuck between two of her more tightly close-fitting spines near her head. It flashed brightly as if to confirm that Dracoa was its new master. Dracoa took a sharp breath in.

"You got it?" I asked.

"That's a lot of magic power," Dracoa gasped.

"You got this!" I said.

"You're surprisingly calm considering this is your first real battle."

"I'm absolutely terrified," I said, smiling. My heart was slamming out of my chest and my legs were too jittery to stand still properly.

"KEEP RUNNING!" Aavern yelled. Dracoa and I snapped up.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?" Qassot yelled.

"I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU!"

We reached the ledge. Riselus lept and landed below on the Meeting Chamber with a thundering smash, cracking what was left of the symbols on the floor. Qassot flew down, but Aavern and I flew up to a ledge above Dracoa. The stone snake thundered around the corner and was promptly blasted in the face by an extremely strong gust of wind from Dracoa. A hurricane began to develop around Dracoa. Aavern and I threw down sharp rocks, trying to hit the Guardian in the eyes. Below, Riselus and Qassot escaped and ordered the worried creatures below, who were beginning to edge away, to get away from the mountain. The wind began to wrap around the cavern, pinning the snake to the wall.

I was picked up by a gust of wind and was tossed into the wall. "HEY!" I yelled over the sound of the crashing rocks.

"YOU'RE IN THE WAY!" Dracoa yelled back. I quickly scrambled for the exit to the cave.

The stone snake was battered by continuous winds and rocks. Dracoa yelled something inaudible and the gem on the gold chain around her neck flashed. Something hit the ceiling and it collapsed, casting a huge shower of rocks down into the cavern. Aavern and I got out of the ledge as the stone snake was buried. Panting, we descended from the air. Once we had settled down at the foot of the mountain, the mountain shook and the light from the glowing symbols now clearly visible at the base of the mountain faded. We heard a low groan.

"You're really good with that," I mumbled. My brain felt sluggish from the adrenaline rush I got.

"Azor had a mock gem similar to this back at his castle," Dracoa replied.

"I don't think it died," Aavern said, "We should prepare for it to come back.

"I can't believe we have to fight that thing," I said breathlessly.

"Dracoa got the air gem, so we should have a chance now," Qassot said. "Did you see how quickly she beat that thing back?"

I glanced over. "You were outside. How could you have seen that?"

Qassot pointed at the mountain. The cave was widened greatly with massive gouges from the fight.

"Can we just run?" I asked.

"No," Dracoa said, "It'll probably keep chasing us, and it might get in the way when we go after the other gems."

"Let's treat it like an oversized magic creature which Azor made to give us a challenge instead of a massive stone snake from the dawn of time," Aavern said.

"How do we do that?" Qassot asked. "That thing is way faster and stronger than anything Azor makes, even if it doesn't use any spells."

"I have an idea," Aavern said. "Call the Krie clan over."