THE SEVENTH PROTECTOR

Part Eight

8.

The hours past and time seemed to be moving so much faster than it actually is. Gareth remained unconscious. The silence became deafening until the moment it would be broken by Ajani speaking out loud the words the end is near, it will end here. It is as if he is beginning to lose it somehow, becoming somewhat crazed.

Shortly after these words were spoken, the crystal began to glow, and it would go on to glow intermittently. It is the crystal that is doing all this and it may be taking things to a point where Gareth may never fully recover.

Neil looked worried, being extremely uncertain of what to expect, there was only one thing he could expect and that was a fight. He, along with Gareth, Boris, and each of the six previous protectors remained inside the vortex. The vortex engulfed the entire area of the cavern in which they rested, in which they waited, and the vortex stretch out towards the cavern entrance ensuring no one could get in or out.

Seekers gathered outside the cavern, completely unable to enter the vortex. They outnumbered the protectors and Neil by almost fifteen to one and they waited patiently. To them it was now only a matter of time.

Gareth awoke. Soon, it seemed as if he was back to his usual self and totally aware of what brought him to this moment in time. If he were asked about speaking Polish, he would be unaware of the fact that he could actually speak the language and would only realize such at a point where he could focus and actually attempt to speak it and at that he is also unaware that he has already spoken Polish.

As he did wake, Gareth moved into a seated position and sat for a moment or two before standing, at which point he looked towards Ajani and simply spoke the word it is time. The intermittent glow from his crystal which was what would tell him that seekers are nearing has in this moment become a permanent glow which does not mean they are coming, it means they are already here.

It is time. The protectors all knew this, Gareth knew this. The crystal itself knew this. The vortex opened up and faded away then the fighting began.

There was only one entrance to the cavern which would only allow a certain number of seekers in at a time. Lee, Anna, and Ajani stayed with Gareth and Neil inside the Cavern. Bill, Vicente, Pavel, and Boris vanished and reappeared outside the cavern and began to fight the seekers outside.

No longer being as strong or as fast as he had been due to having had the crystal, Neil wasn't as capable of defending himself as he had recently been. It wouldn't be long before he would be caught off guard. He was thrown against a stone wall, with which the back of his head connected hard. He then hit the ground just as hard as had hit the ground and, on the ground, he would remain in an unconscious state.

The fighting intensified but came to a halt when all the seeker's crystals began to light up. An almost blinding bright light began to surround the whole area and when it faded, it would be clear that each and every seeker no longer had a crystal. All crystals were gone; all gone apart from the one Gareth still wore around his neck.

Confusion set in all around. Seekers now no longer had a desire to attain the protector's crystal thus leaving no desire to continue and kind of a fight. None of the six previous protectors knew quite what to now expect either, well, all apart from Ajani. They all knew something was coming and only Ajani had been in any way privy to what that something is. Gareth feels it too.

Gareth's crystal now began to glow brighter than it had ever done before, and a bolt of green light soon shot from it after which four large humanoid figures appeared at intervals between inside the cavern and the outside area. It was clear and obvious that these humanoid figures were not of this world, or at least they did not originate on this world.

They may be humanoid, but they were, they are not human and each varied in colour. One of figures stepped forward and began to speak and speak he would, loud enough for all to hear.

'We are the Humari. Many of our kind came to this planet a very long time ago. Our own world was destroyed. Greed, war, power, and the likes engulfed our race until there was nothing left. We were once many but only few escaped our world and travelled amongst the stars for a very long time until we found this place, this world ...

... We settled here, began anew, and travelled the globe. We brought you all here today, all of you whom hail from the many places we travelled to and settled in. All of you here today exist due to our visit, to our stay on this plentiful world only now this world is nowhere near as plentiful as it once had been ...

... You are our descendants, and just like us on our home world, the Humari home world, power and greed have consumed you. War is destroying your world. Lack of attention, lack of love and a lack of action is destroying your world. All of you right here, right now can prevent what happened to us from happening to you. Work together, spread the word and you can save yourselves; you can save the world, or you can allow this planet to continue and suffer the same fate my home world did. It begins with you. There is still time ...'

Three dimensional images began to appear all around for all to see. The images showed the Humari home world, its destruction, the despair the Humari endured. The images showed the journey they embarked upon, and their beginnings on Earth.

When this ended, when the images of a lost world and the ensuing journey faded, when the images of a new beginning on Earth faded then so too did the holographic images of the Humari fade, their message, centuries old, had been passed on.

The six previous protectors to Gareth stood together and one by one they began to vanish and as they did so, Gareth could see in his head what became of each of his predecessors at the time their journey as protector ended.

Ajani returned back to his home in Nigeria, happy in the knowledge that had a part in something great and that he would continue to play a part. Vicente returned to his life in the outdoors of Argentina. Anna went back to her home in Perth Australia. World War two had long since ended when Pavel's time as protector had come to an end and he was to be reunited with his family from whom he had been separated.

Bill and Lee looked at each other. 'Told you he would do just fine' spoke Lee before Bill disappears. After Bill's time as protector, he returned to his family ranch in Texas. Lee looked directly at Gareth nodded and vanished. After his many years as Protector, the longest protector of them all, an aged Lee returned to the monastery that he had left to become Protector.

It was only at this moment that Gareth noticed Neil lying on the ground. The impact with the wall and then the ground had done more than just knock him unconscious. Neil was not breathing. The panic, this journey cannot end like this. Neil had his part, and he did play it well, though no matter what mistakes he may have made, he did not deserve ...death

Gareth's crystal once again began glowing intermittently and instinctively Gareth felt what he needed to do as if the crystal was communicating with him. He placed it on Neil's forehead. The glow from the crystal became almost blinding and when the light dissipated the crystal too had vanished. Neil began coughing. He would need a moment or two, but all would be just ... fine.

'What happened?' he asked, his voice sounding as if it were breaking. 'What did I miss?'

Relief came greeted with a smile.

As for the crystal and its whereabouts? Who knows? When it vanished, was it destined to be gone forever? Was this a one-time message? Maybe one day it will once again show itself. Maybe one day it will need to be protected once again. What if it does glow once more? And what if it calls for you? Would you be up for the challenge? Who knows? Maybe you will become the next protector.

To this day Gareth and Neil remain friends and as for Boris the dog, well he is still with Neil, the thing is that only Neil can see and hear Boris and when Neil talks to the dog, it seems as if he is talking to thin air and this is just one of the lasting effects of a green crystal that needed protecting, the rest of the lasting effect? Well, that may just be left up to you, me and everyone else upon this extraordinary rock of ours ...