The Elements

Chapter 31

Flora and Lilly led the group near the coast and they saw something glowing.
"What's that?" Cole asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh hell, the portal's been opened. We got here by that portal, yes, but when opened by the Darkness or if it opens on its own, bad things happen." Lilly said.
Flora was curious. "How do you know so much about it?"
"I have a complicated history, honey." Lilly answered seriously.
They went in closer, being sure to stay as quiet as possible. But when Jason sneezed, they all held their breath.
"I'm sorry-" Jason started to say.
"Shhh!" Asher hissed.
Flora focused her attention on the portal, so she didn't notice when Arabella tapped her shoulder.
"Are you ok? You seem distracted."
Flora shook her head. "I would tell you, but we're supposed to stay quiet." She hissed.
A loud hum from the Portal to Earth filled the air, so they didn't exactly need to be quiet anymore.
"Let's go for it." Lilly said.
They sneakily made their way closer to the portal, and their chance at stealing the Moonstone from the Darkness.
"Look who came for this,"A voice snarled.
It was James, who held the Moonstone, a smirk of pure pleasure.
"Give it over-" Flora started to say, but was interrupted.
"Well, before you say anything, I'd like to make a deal. I'll keep the Moonstone if I give you something, that's rather important. Or to you at least." James sneered. Casper and Blair snickered.
"What is it?" Asher dared to speak.
"Just tell us or I swear-" Cole was interrupted.
The guard who was for some reason holding a person, took the sack off the person's head.
It was Selene.

Flora was shocked. The enemy had been holding Selene hostage the whole time. They'd known, but they didn't except her to turn up now.
"Give her back." Flora growled, wanting to unleash her anger, all of it bottled inside her.
"And why should we do that?" Blair sniggered.
"We already have the Moonstone. So why should we give you friend back?" Casper glowered.
Flora had had enough of this nonsense. She wanted to get to the bottom of this, and now.
There was a moment of tense silence, where you could only hear the loud, annoying hum of the portal. Nobody talked, nobody said a word.
But Arabella spoke up.
"Trade me for Selene. Come on James. Give me your worst." Arabella snarled.
Flora had never heard her best friend speak like this before. Arabella had always been perky, happy, and never ever mad. But it looks like this new, magical, unsafe life was changing her. Not to mention rather quickly.
Her emotions took control of her." I will not stand for this. If we're playing this game, I think we should add some elements to the mix."
From the corner of her eye, she saw Cole's flames burst into his hands. She also heard the whisper of a "hell yeah" also coming from him.
"Shall we dance?" James said curtly.
"We shall." Lilly answered with a choice word after that.
"We're still not aloud to use words like that, right?" Jason asked his brother.
"How about you're not allowed to talk at times like this, ok?" Asher replied curtly.
Jason only gave a simple nod in reply.
Soon enough, the fighting broke out, and the tension arose.

Flora was up against a guard, who seemed to have lower battle skills then she did.
How sad.
Flora went on to the next guard, hoping he'd at least fight back with more strength. But it seemed she had a limit of strength that didn't match the guard's. She was knocked to the ground, the guard's knife at her throat. She already felt the prick of it poking her skin, and then the slight burn of blood.
She kicked the guard which got her back to her feet, and soon she saw Arabella on the ground, surely thinking these were her last breaths. Flora ran over to help her, and she held him off with vines.
"Thanks, it's kinda cool you have such powers like that!" Arabella said, breathing heavily.
Flora didn't reply, she focused her power and attention on getting this guard to pass out. But it seemed she killed him. They didn't phase her, because this was a life or death situation. Or at least on the outside.
On the inside:
I killed someone.
She kept fighting anyway, tears stinging in her eyes, and she fell from a guard's surprise attack. But she got right back up and soon, most of the guard's were down.
Soon enough, Flora dared to ask on question.
"Can we have her back now?" She growled, feeling the immense tension in the air, and it was only getting stronger.
"How about-" James said slyly and soon enough, he threw Jason off his feet, and straight into a nearby cave. He was lying on his stomach, clearly winded.
And that same cave started to cave in.

"Jason!" Asher screamed for his brother bad it was no use. Flora felt bad for him, and being Jason's friend she hoped he'd be ok.
But it looked like he was going to be dead.
Jason didn't struggle to get back up, he let the rocks crush him, and he disappeared under them.
Asher have a cold, hard stare of pure anger to James. "You killed him." He hissed.
As with Arabella, Flora had never seen Asher speak like this. Almost as if it weren't him. Maybe he'd spoken like this before, but since she'd never known him before this whole 'You're an Obtainer' thing, so she had no idea.
He killed Jason.
He's dead.
Flora narrowed her eyes at James, who was the true enemy here. Casper and Blair were still evil, but not nearly as much.
"We have no use for the girl anymore," James snarled as the guards holding Selene threw her near the cave where Jason had died.
Flora, Asher, and Cole ran over to Selene, who hadn't reacted to being thrown.
"Are you ok?" Flora asked, shaking Selene gently.
Cole raised an eyebrow and touched her shoulder. "I kinda hope she's not dead."
"Me too," Asher agreed.
Flora gave a forlorn look to her mother, and soon Lilly and Flora charged at James.
He dropped the Moonstone, and it shattered.
Some of the pieces went into the Portal to Earth.

There was dead silence. Nobody talked. You could feel the tension in the air, maybe even taste it.
But James broke that icy silence.
"It's gone," He whispered and glared at Flora and Lilly. "You did this!"
Flora and Lilly glared back.
"We lost what we came for," James snarled. " Let's go."
They soon left which left neither group with the victory.
Flora and Lilly walked over to Selene, who was still unconscious.
"She's probably asleep. Are mission is finished, but this is only mission one. We have another one." Lilly said.
Arabella looked taken aback, but she still knelt down beside Selene. "Are you sure?" She asked Lilly.
Lilly only nodded.
Flora rubbed her eyes, and looked at Selene. "We need to find camp. Someone has to carry her to the camp, or-"
"Let's go through the portal." Lilly suggested.
"But we don't know where we'll go!" Flora protested.
"Then I'll go in first." Lilly offered.
"I'm just saying Selene is unconscious. She's not gonna know what happened when she wakes up-" Flora said in her defense but was interrupted by Selene.
"Well, I'm alive. And did a battle just happen? Did someone die?" Selene asked, standing up.
Asher was looking at the cave Jason was now buried in, and if you were quiet enough, you could hear muffled sniffles, and muffled sobs.
"Oh." Was all Selene said until she started to explain about what happened when she was captured.
When she was finished, Lilly started to talk.
"When you go in the portal, you need to think of where you're going. If you don't, you could end up in some weird place. Who wants to go first?" Lilly explained calmly, and the portal started to glow.
"I will," A small voice answered.
It was Asher, and he was rubbing his eyes as he walked over.
Flora put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said with the most sympathy she could muster at this time. Selene and Cole did the same. Lilly gave him a hug.
"Just think of where you want to be ok? And then jump in the portal." Lilly said.
Everyone was too tired to function, so they did the best they could.
Asher went in first, followed by Cole and then Selene.
Lilly grabbed her daughter by the shoulders, and at the point, Flora was too tired to care.
"Just think."
Arabella joined them.
Flora was too tired to think, but she did anyway.
They all held hands and then jumped in, and soon enough, they were back home.
They'd been gone for 2 months.