The Seven Keys

Chapter 6

     There was no amount of training that could have prepared Avery for the tasks that would change her life forever. She never thought that her life would turn out to be like this. Everywhere she looked, she was surrounded by unfamiliar terrain and she wasn't sure what to make of it. Damian had given her a copy of the map for The Otherworlds, but it didn't make it any less confusing. She intended on traveling to each area in the circular formation that the map was set up. It seemed like the easiest way to find the items so she wouldn't have to backtrack. Her first item to find was located within Secret Steppe, which she thought wouldn't be too hard to find since it was so small.

     Avery liked to know what she doing when it came to anything in her life and she was struggling with letting go of this former habit. She had no idea what she was doing or where she was supposed to go, and that terrified her. A repetitive thought kept coming to mind as she looked at the trees while picking up small things that littered the ground in hopes that they were Prophecy items. Is that why everyone before me died? Because they didn't know what they were doing? Avery was grateful for the training she received from Damian and the stories Hilda told her, but no one, not even them, could give her the information she really needed.

      Her senses were on high alert, waiting for something to catch her attention. She was overturning rocks, digging in the bushes, and looking in the trees. So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and all she could hear was the cawing of the birds. The good news was that she didn't feel like she was being watched or the cold chill she had on the night that she ran away from River Ridge. Leaving the cottage had terrified her because she knew that she would be leaving the safety of Aunt Hilda's protection charm, putting her back on the Whispering Necromancer's radar.

     It was almost four hours of aimless wandering on her second day before Avery felt a sensation that was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. Something was pulling her towards a small rocky area to the east of Hilda's cottage, which was only a speck now off in the distance. She felt exhilarated and the hairs on her body stood on end. She broke into a slow jog, careful to conserve her energy, but eager to make her first discovery. Approaching the rocks, she shielded her eyes from the afternoon sun with her eyes wide open.

     Using all of her senses like Damian had trained her to do, she crouched down getting as close as she could touching and looking for any indication of an item. There was nothing out of the ordinary on the surface, so she opted to use her other senses. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and shut out all the noises of the forest around her. Ringing. There was a soft ringing noise coming from somewhere on the left. Still crouched, she followed the noise to one of the largest rocks where it had grown the loudest.

     This is it, I know it, but where is it? Avery ran her hands down all sides of the rock; it was much smoother than the rest of them. How interesting. It's here, it has to be. She sat down next to the rock taking a moment to herself while she thought of how she could destroy the rock. There was nothing in the supplies Damian had packed for her, so she would have to get creative. As she rose from the ground, a large fallen branch caught her eye. She walked over to pick it up and made her way back to the rock. With the branch above her head, she swang it, striking the rock as hard as she could. The branch cracked and splintered, and the rock remained the same.

     "Ugh! I'll never get it," Avery yelled with a sigh and sat back down to think.

     What I really need is a hammer. I could make one, but how? From her spot on the ground she looked for something harder than a branch, but there was nothing aside from the rocks in the ground that surrounded her. A rock! Maybe I can dig one of the smaller ones out. She rose from the ground again, walked to a smaller rock, and set to work. Her fingers were cramping and dirt was caked underneath her nails. Every so often, she would wiggle the rock in an attempt to free it. Several minutes later, she could see the bottom of the rock. She stood up and kicked the rock from the opposite side, watching it roll over out of the hole it had occupied.