A Nagas tale

Time an Unforgiving Friend

It's been a week and a half since I had everybody focus on finding the spell. Grandpa wanted to check on the seals to make sure they would be able to handle a new spell being engraved into them. I followed him with Ash's rifts it was easy to get from one stone to the next. I stand at the sitting stone. I look at the way he sat his head facing the skies. 'To hide you seek, seek the hidden, Look to the earth and the skies above.' I pull out my book seeing the sketches. I grab Grandpa's arm "What is it!? are the children acting up?" He asks. I showed him the book "To Hide You Seek, Seek the Hidden. Look to the earth and the skies above!" I point at Theos' statue. He turns to the statue "Do you think!?" He asks. I step closer seeing some very warn markings on Theos' skin. "quick give me." I hand him the notebook and my pen. He writes down the engravings 'Ash! open a rift to the other statue!' I turn to the mountain. 'Did you find something child!?' He asks. I nod "We might have." I answer. I stopped feeling the kids kick my rib. Grandpa held my arm so I wouldn't fall. "Audrey You should go to the library." he sounds worried. I shake my head "There is no time." I huff. The rift opens and we walk into it. Grandpa wrote down the engravings and we continued. We get to the town where The snake tribe had brought their families since they did not want to leave. I wrote down the inscriptions on a larger sheet of paper. It translates into 'From the seas to the skies. from the earth to the stars.' I groan leaning against the table I feel the children flare their auras. I flare mine and shake my head "Not now kids." I grumble. Kogen has not come since the fight and they are just as stubborn as I am. I look at the inscription. "This is a spell." Yuri points out. I nod as the kids calm down. "This might take a lot of aura to set up." He points out. I take a deep breath and nod "We don't have much of a choice." I murmur as Alma runs out of the library with Hector in tow. "Audrey! we might have found the spell!" she shouts as Hector drops a large Grimoire. I look at the page she flipped to and my eyes widen. "This is it!" I hug her tightly cheering in delight. "Okay!" I turn to the others "We need to set these up!" I turned to Grandpa who seemed conflicted. "Audrey,  These spells will take hours if not days to complete." I feel my blood drain. "what!?" I ask he nods "Even if your Dad and I split the spells between us both we might be short on aura." they look at each other. I frown looking at the spell in the grimoire. I look at the spell "Audrey." I turn towards the cave entrance. Kogen is walking in he looks unhappy. "We need to get all women and children to board the final ship!" he demands. I frown 'We are so close.' I look at Sam and Dan as they bow their heads. I sigh looking to those who have helped us so far. "If anyone wants to leave the Island, now is the final chance to run," I announce. Hector looks at Kogen stepping between him and me. "I will not leave!" Alma announces hugging her children. I turn to Kogen "I won't leave either." I answer he frowns. "Audrey quit making this harder for us!" he takes a step closer I turn away from him. "Kogen, If you only come to cause me more trouble, I suggest you go." I give him my back. 'I can't give up on this.' I can see Yuri giving me a disapproving glare but I ignore him. 'how can we make the spells less taxing?' I start reading the Grimoire. "Audrey! Why won't you listen!?" he shouts. "Kogen," Hector warns. I turn to face him and smirk. "You seem to forget what happened the last time I left this island." He looks at my stomach. "If I board a ship, I am a sitting duck out in the open ocean. and I will put all of the people aboard in danger." I remind him. He frowns "It's better than you being stranded!" he argues. I look at the anchor keeping the rift between this world and the other open. "I am not stranded," I point to it. Sam and Dan nod "We are fully prepared to evacuate the area if the spells do not work on time." They answer. I smile 'thank god I agreed to Dad's safety net.' Kogen lets out a frustrated grunt before turning away "Fine then, I hope you are ready for the attack." He scoffs. I frown disliking his tone. "Not even an apology." I scoff loudly wanting him to hear my anger. "So what is the next step?" Yuri asks. I look at the Grimoire "I wonder if there is any way we can make the spell less taxing." I murmur. I flip to the pages that explain the process of spell creation. "Audrey you've been on your feet for a while now," Grandpa offers to pick up the book. My legs hurt and my hips were screaming so I did not argue with him. 

I wanted to apologize to Audrey that was why I went into the cave town. Seeing her after a week and a half I felt unsettled by how dark the circles under her eyes got. 'Has she slept? Have the children been causing her issues?' I worried. The past few nights I've struggled to sleep without Audrey at my side. I missed the way her body fit snuggly in my arms and her scent. I stop at the entrance to the cave turning back to Audrey as the elder leads her into the library. 'should I give in and support Audrey?' Ash looks at me and turns to the library. Iris bops my head as if telling me to go to her mother. I sighed understanding I was not going to win against her resolve. "Alright, Iris, wish Dad luck." I walk towards the library. I walk into the library finding the shelves have been ransacked and all of the books are stacked on the floor. "Mother!" Sienna runs past me. She ignores me as if I was not her leader. "I brought some sweets from the village! Why not relax a little." she turns to me as I walk up to the little nest Audrey created at the edge of the library. Audrey looks at me not greeting me with her usual smile. "You are still hanging around?" she asks turning her eyes to the book on the table. "Audrey, can we talk?" I ask. Sienna leaves the small bundle of sweets on Audrey's table before leaving. Audrey turns to me her eyes dark ready for what I'd say. I sit down feeling at ease for the first time since the fight. "I am not leaving this island." she starts. I nod internally laughing at myself for wanting a woman who was not a doll. "I understand you don't want to leave," I answer. 'I chose her because she did not follow my every whime without questioning them.' "We have found the instructions and the spell," she tells me. I nod "I see, will you have time?" I ask. She frowns "These spells, need a large amount of aura." she tells me. "And they could take hours even days if the aura is not enough to put them up." she frowns. "Will there be enough?" I ask. She tears up before shaking her head. "No, even if Grandpa and Dad start the spell, it would push them into petrification." She chews on her lip a bad habit she has. "I need to find a way to make the aura demand less," she murmurs. "I need to find a way for Grandpa and Dad not to become the next stones on this island," she murmurs. "Do you have a plan if it doesn't work?" I ask. She sighs "I usually follow four rules." she rubs her third eye. "Make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go off the rails, throw away the plan." She sighs " Right now this plan is going off the rails." She murmurs her eyes scanning the scripts on the book. "So, what are you planning to do if you need to throw this plan away?" I ask. I hated the rules she followed. She pulls out her notebook showing me the drawings of the five sealing stones. "We use these stones as the medium for the spell." I look at her wondering if her hormones are throwing her brain out of wack. She smirks "You think it stupid huh?" she flips the page to a fresh one. "These inscriptions are already engraved into the stones." she pushes the larger book closer to me. "This is the barrier spell, if I can find a way to infuse each of them with an aura strong enough to take hold of the barrier spell,  it might be less taxing and quicker." She explains. I look at the plans she has already set up. "Have you gotten any sleep?" I ask. She nods "Enough to keep me sane." she answers. I frown "And if none of these work?" I ask not hoping for the worst but still needing to understand what she planned to do if nothing she has planned worked. She looks at the books. "I will seal off the cave, and evacuate through the rift." She looks at me showing her worry. "Audrey, I came here to apologize." I reach out to her stomach. She sighs "Took you long enough." she grumbles before grabbing my arm and pulling me closer. I grab the wall behind her not wanting to fall on her. She looks at me with a sad smile "If this is the last time I'll get to spend with you," I voice my desire. "I rather cuddle and spend time instead of fighting." She nods "Yeah, I don't want the last thing we ever did to be a fight." She agrees. I found a spot to sit with her that night I knew it would be our last time together. I held her tightly in my arms fearful of what was to come. The children kicked and squirmed against my hands as if to scold me. I read with Audrey in case she needed a different view of the words. That night I wished the world would stop, I wished desperately that this attack would stop before it even got close. I want nothing more than to sit with my wife and children. In this library full of ancient history lost to the rest of the world. Audrey leaned against me smiling at me "I missed you so much." she whispered. I hid my face from her knowing I would cry. 'Why can't we remain in this hidden world, out of the sight of those who seek to destroy our home? Why can't we be left at peace?'