Endowed - The Four Elements

Chapter Three : In the Woods

 This story will no longer be continued, but check out my other story! http://www.wattpad.com/story/7451474-fear-me

Clare woke up to the sounds of chirping birds and water gushing down from the waterfall beside her. She opened her eyes and saw the clear blue sky decorated with white puffy clouds, with the sun's shiny rays of light enhancing the overall appearance. She moved her head down only to see the tall jungle trees, with moss on their barks, bright flowers blooming under them.

To Clare's surprise, she was still alive, only minor cut on her legs and face and a slight fever, but besides that she was perfectly fine. Her head was lying on a small wooden log, a piece of linen covering her entire body, with a bag of ice on her forehead, wrapped in a cotton cloth. She removed it from her forehead and stood up, her legs still felt feeble, she needed more rest, but what was more important was that who had brought her here, and why didn't the person kill her, maybe he had a soft side for her?

 The first thing she noticed was a pot of soup boiling in front of her, hanging there with a fire underneath it. The pot was floating, surely it was a magician who carried her here. She walked deeper into the woods, noticing that she was on a dirt path, she followed it and ended up seeing a small wooden hut, with another campfire in the midde, logs surrounding it, with a tent outside the hut.

 Huge flowers like the ones under the tree she saw earlier, encircled the area, someone was living here, was it the person that helped her? She marched closer to the hut, and saw baskets of potions inside, every colour you could imagine - cyan, purple, baby blue, crimson red and striking yellow. Each labelled in different names, on a piece of paper, its edges burned. But what caught her eye was a well placed beside the basket, its base was built with big chunky rocks with a small wooden roof and a rope tied to both sides of wooden planks supporting the roof. She concentrated closer and saw that it was not ordinary water under the well, the water deep down was sparkling in the shade of green. She turned around and decided to enter the hut, she wondered if it was too sneaky, but curiosity got the better of her.

    She knocked on the door, no response. She did it again, same results. She tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. She wandered around the hut and saw a window open, how careless of the person. She sneaked in, and wondered if she had gone too far, it would lead her into a lot of trouble, if she was forbidden to enter. Clare ignored the fact, and scanned the house. Books neatly placed on short bookshelves, a cauldron with water inside, although she was thirsty, she did not dare to try the water inside it. There was a desk behind her, a stack of paper and a book beside it, above it laid a quill.

 She stepped closer to it, on the book, there was a piece of leather sewed to the cotton cover, it wrote : "The Raven Star". That's when it got her, the name those evil magicians said. What was it? She removed the quill, and flipped trough the pages, she stopped on one that caught her interest. 

                                                What is the Raven Star?

 My dear magician, if it wasn't for the Raven Star, we would be powerless right now. For the Raven Star is out main source of power, hidden in the deep valley of Eldrisia. Raven Star is a magical ring on the floor of a temple, for centuries, people tried to search for the temple, but failed, every single time. In order to deactivate the Raven Star, the four elemental orbs would be required. These orbs are kept in hidden places all over the world, which I will not tell. The Orbs of Fire, Darkness and Ice are the easy ones to obtain, but in order to collect the Orb of Nature, you will have to be tested with various test, only the good magicians will succeed in the end. 

    The Raven Star gives power to all magicians that do good all over the world. But for evil ones, their power comes from a demonic spirit called - Elmir. So even if The Raven Star is deactivated it will not effect their powers. Although evil magicians have nothing to do with The Raven Star, if they decided to deactivate it, and if they failed, it would the end of the world. Not immediately, but rather slowly. First, all the greeens with start to wilt. Second, animals will start to die, and water dried up. After that, will be the final stage. Natural disasters will occur every minute in every country - Landslides, earthquakes, tsunamis. And yet, once the Raven Star completely looses its power. The earth's surface will crack, right down until the earth's core. There would be no survivors left on planet earth.

  However, it has come to me that recently, a band of evil magicians have come to deactivate the Raven Star, they have so far obtained the three orbs, and are now locating the final one, but I have high condiedence that they will not find The Orb of Nature, for it is deep inside a forest, a village in fact. They are planning to..

 Clare was flipped over the page, but it was blank, with a glowing picture of a lock in the middle. She searched the rest of the book, but there was no sign of the second page of that chapter. She gave a sigh of dismay and continued browsing the hut.

  She took a glance back and saw another desk, but this one with potion bottles, and weird glowing liquid in test tubes, she took a better look and saw a piece of paper on the desk, it was a recipe of a transforming potion. Clare gave the ingredients a look and stuck out her tongue in disgust - spider eyes, bat wings, earthworms, ferns, tree barks and other different kinds of potion which names were hard to pronounce.

 She saw a wooden cabinet, but something told her that she had already gone too far. She finally decided to step out of the house, and continue exploring the jungle. She saw no path leading anywhere accept the one where she had come from, she squeezed trough the giant flowers that acted as walls, and started venturing deeper into the woods. Along the way, she dodged rocks, untangled vines from her feet. Momentarily, she reached a small river, she was about to expose herself until she saw someone by the river, fishing, using magic. 

  She couldn't see his features, the hood he was wearing blocked the light. He was wearing a robe like all the other magicians. His was rather in a dull colour, beige, brown and dark green, with a bow behind his back, a tiny bag hanging below his belt. When he lifted his hands up, a fish would appear from the stream, he would then throw it to the bucket beside him. He continued doing this until dusk, and so did Clare, observing him from afar.

 He sat down, took out a small round marble from the bag, and with a snap of his fingers, it floated, then slowly turned into a bowl of water. He gulped it down and wiped his mouth with the sleeves of his robe. The sight of water made Clare's mouth water.

 "You can come out now," he called, eyes fixed on the tree Clare was hiding behind. She shivered, how could he know she was here all along?

 She gradually showed herself to the magician, and stared at him. He removed his hood, and began packing his stuff into a satchel.

 "Who are you," demanded Clare, nervously. At first, he didn't reply. He smiled but continued packing his equipments, then stood up, and leaped across the river. And stood in front of Clare, raising his arms, expecting a handshake.

"I'm Eddy, Eddy Nurton." He smiled, carrying his satchel in the other hand.

Clare shook his hand, and looked at him, he looked like he was in his mid-30's, with aqua eyes, short blonde hair. He had a long scar running down from his eye to his cheek, with a friendly smile one his face. Just then, Clare's stomach grumbled loudly, which was so embarrassing her cheeks reddened.

"I see you're hungry, follow me, we'll return to the camp," he laughed, patting Clare's shoulder.

Along the way, Clare felt uncomfortable, was he good, or evil? He could have just faked the smile, luring her into a trap. But something about him told her that he was a good magician. Besides, if he really was trying to kill her, why wouldn't he had do it when she fainted? They continued their journey, Clare remembered that the route she took didn't take long. She started to worry, but she dare not to speak.

"Where are you taking me," asked Clare all of a sudden, not knowing where the words came from.

He didn't reply, instead he looked back and winked at her. This gave Clare the creeps, could Eddy be trusted?