The Elementals Book 1: The Abyss

Stone Forest

Chapter 4

Shadow was inside a small forest, well not really a forest considering that it would immediately burn to the ground and disintegrate if it was placed here. Instead of being made of such a highly flammable substance as wood, the "forest" was made of stone. Stone trees, stone bushes, stone grass. Everything was made out of stone. Shadow twirled around, looking for his friends. He found Lumia sprawled across the ground next to him, and Fauna across from him. Hazel, who was just starting to wake up, was centred between him and Fauna.

"W-where are we?" Hazel asked Shadow shakily.

"Don't worry, we made it to the fire planet without dying! We're not dead!"

"Knock on wood," she said.

"There isn't any, it would burn to the ground," Shadow said, knowingly.;

"Oh right."

They both laughed shakily.

Fauna and Lumia woke up shortly and they headed out of the stone forest and onto the top of a small hill.

"So, where's the gem?" Fauna asked Lumia. Lumia shuffled her feet.

"Oh, um it didn't say," she said nervously. "Maybe somewhere heavily guarded?"

"What?!" the others exclaimed.

"Hey, at least I got us this far," she said sheepishly.

"Don't give up so soon guys, check out that mountain. It looks like just the kind of place for a gem. I bet it's in there," Shadow said, pointing up at a tall, craggy mountain just across from the hill they were standing on.

"Sure, let's try that," Lumia said. The group headed down the rocky slope and then walked until they reached a small city. As they strode through people watched them suspiciously.

"Uh, guys, why do I feel like we're being watched?" asked Hazel nervously.

"Probably just your imagination," Shadow said, though he too felt unsettled like someone was whispering in his ear that he couldn't hear, see, or smell. He shrugged it off and kept walking. They passed by many intricate stores and restaurants but finally stopped at a restaurant labelled: The Phoenix's delight to eat some lunch after their journey.

"What are Flaretis?" asked Fauna curiously, looking at a menu.

"Oh, they're like tacos but they have hot sauce smeared on the outside of the wrap and hot peppers stuck to the hot sauce, it's one of the fire planet's most well-known foods! I had a lot of time on my hands at the orphanage."

"Wait, the orphanage?" Fauna asked, intrigued but confused. "I thought you knew your father, he's alive too, why would he leave you there?" Lumia and Shadow both spoke at once.

"You go first," Shadow said calmly. While deep inside he was thinking: here it comes and mentally rolling his eyes.

"So, I was born normally, nothing interesting happened at the hospital." Lumia started. " My- our parents," she gestured to Shadow. "Lived normally for a long time but after I was born, my mother grew scared of our father. He was acting strangely, much more aggressive than usual. My mother confronted him and asked why he was smashing chairs and breaking furniture. He grew angry, very angry and ended up throwing her into a wall with his magic. And then my mother realized how dangerous he could be, how impulsive and restless. So she decided to hide me in the orphanage, and use her magic to wipe my father's memory of me."

"Wait but light beings can't do that," Fauna pointed out.

"Well, my mother actually wasn't a light being," Lumia admitted. Fauna and Hazel gasped. There, that was it, the bomb had been dropped, Shadow thought to himself. "She was a fairy being," Lumia continued. "She concealed herself with a shard of the light gem, so she and Execute could live together happily, in peace. Guess that's all ruined now though, with us running away and now Execute going all evil and everything." Definitely, murmured Shadow's conscience.

"I'm so sorry," Fauna interjected.

"It's okay at least now I got you guys," Lumia said half smiling. The food arrived after that, steaming plates of Fire planet food, there were hamburgers soaked in hot sauce, flaretis, and spicy salad after spicy salad. The Quadro ate hungrily and paid with some stolen money that Shadow had guiltily taken from a passerby with his telekinesis. After lunch was finished, the group headed towards the mountain. It took a while, but eventually, they reached the bottom of it. Overjoyed, Shadow and the others started sprinting up the side of the giant hill, eager to reach the top, but as soon as they started running, their feet were suddenly held in place, moulded to the ground.

"Guys, what's happening!" Hazel yelled. But as soon as she said a word the mountain started rising, rising to an enormous height. They looked up to see five massive eyeballs staring at them.

"Hysynthnox," it growled at them.

They were stuck on a ginormous fire beast's foot.