Seven in One

Chapter 9: "Awakening"

It took them several hours, following the flickering glow of the moonstone as it increased in brightness, but they finally found a cave entrance in the hillside. "I guess this is it," April said glancing back at everyone behind her. They listened for a few minutes, but couldn't hear anything coming from inside the cave. Cautiously they entered; the glow of the moonstone illuminated the walls with pale white light. The cave opened into a passageway that went deeper into the hillside. "This is like the tunnel," Teron noted, "I wonder if they intersect?"

The moonstone pulsed faster several times, as if urging them to continue down the passageway. "Lead on," Kristine urged, pushing April ahead.

"I'm not going first," April exclaimed, holding the stone toward the boys. "I lead us here. One of you guys can take the lead now."

"Fine," Felix said, taking the stone from April. "Suppose I can block anything that comes at us.... If anything does." Five minutes of walking down the passageway, the tunnel forked, heading left and right at opposite angles. "Which way?" he asked, pausing.

"Just pick one." Ashton said nervously.

Turning to the right, Felix advanced several steps and the light coming from the stone dimmed. Continuing ahead cautiously, Felix walked another three feet and stopped as the light nearly disappeared altogether.

"Something tells me this isn't the right way," he told the others, turning back around.

"Well at least that should make it easier," Teron said as they retraced their steps and chose the left passage, watching as the stone started to shine bright again. Nodding in agreement, they all continued forward with more confidence.

They didn't know exactly how much time passed as they wandered down passageways, taking different forks in the path as they came to them, based on how the light from the moonstone responded. "Anyone drawing a map?" April asked after a while, "I'm lost."

"Don't worry about that now," Calvin responded. "Notice how the walls are opening up. I think there might be a cavern ahead of us."

They inched forward more slowly, unsure what they might find ahead. The tunnel did open up into a small cavern and laying on the floor toward the center was a body. "Careful everyone," Teron whispered, glancing around for any sign of danger. "We don't have any weapons with us so I would prefer not to get into trouble."

Motioning for them all to continue, Felix crouched down and headed for the body. As he neared it, the pulsing glow of the moonstone quickened until it was a brightly flickering beacon that made the shadows dance on the walls. "Sevin," he called out, identifying the body for everyone.

They all rushed forward, crowding around the body. The gem had finally stopped flickering, or maybe it flickered so quickly that they just couldn't notice the change. The light so bright that they had to squint to look at it. Unsure what to do now that they had actually found Sevin, Felix went to set the stone down on the ground, and it tugged at his hand like a magnet, pulling toward the crystal that was around Sevin's neck. "Ok, ok," Felix, murmured, talking to the glowing gemstone. He placed it carefully on Sevin's chest and let go. Nothing happened.

"Now what?" Paul asked, reaching over to tap the moonstone. As soon as Paul's skin touched the gem, a small burst of energy was released. "I didn't do anything!" Paul exclaimed, pulling his hand away.

"Look!" April gasped, pointing to a white fog that escaped the glow and rose above the moonstone.

"This must be the good omen," Kristine responded.

"So how do we get it back into Sevin if we don't have the bad omen?" Paul asked, staring at the fog that just hovered there in the air, several inches above Sevin's body.

"Maybe that's what all of you are for?" Teron responded. "You are the elements that make up a whole, aren't you?" Pointing at each in turn he continued, "Felix - Earth: stubborn but brave and protecting. Ashton - Water: smart and straight forward, yet universal. April - Wind: steadfast and steady, always there at someone's side, and Paul - Fire: pessimistic and out of control, yet caring. All of you together make Sevin complete, without you he is nothing but an empty shell. And you without him don't exist."

"No," echoed a deep, menacing but ethereal voice. "Join me, not him."

Turning, they spotted it - the black fog. It hovered in the air just out of reach of the light. "Join me and we can exist separately, his body just needs to continue to exist."

"But I don't want to continue impersonating Sevin," Felix said.

"You don't have to pretend to be him. You all thought of keeping his name alive. But that doesn't make him alive. He can be dead to you, and to the world. You can all go have your own existences."

"But Felix doesn't like emotional interaction, and Paul over-reacts to anything thrown at him. Ashton may go with the flow of things, but can't make up his mind, when it comes to a personal decision. I have to keep them all in check, so we can't just go our separate ways, we have to be together, helping each other," April argued.

"The world is already destroying itself, one nation against another. What does it matter if you reach havoc or not?" the darkness continued.

"Because," whispered the light, both gentle and strong at the same time. "you can't have chaos without serenity, love without hate, good without evil. We are all needed to make everything complete. Even the light will cast a shadow."

"Well I don't really want to be alone," Paul grumbled. "I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have all of you to argue and tease. But I don't want to just disappear."

"We'll make sure that doesn't happen," Calvin and Kristine said, comforting Paul.

"Then we've decided." Ashton looked at each of them in turn, waiting for them all to nod in agreement.

As one they moved around Sevin and knelt down, touching the moonstone together. Their bodies shimmered, losing physical shape and changing. Red, blue, brownish green, and grey fog emerging from where their bodies had previously stood. All at once they were then pulled together, into a single mass with the light. Expanding, the light shimmered, flickering with each of the colors, and was drawn like a magnet, into the crystal around Sevin's neck. The necklace formed a vortex, swirling and expanding with every moment, engulfing Sevin and pulling the surrounding air in with it.

"Duck," Teron called out as the surrounding small rocks started to be pulled into the air, but the rocks just hovered there, as if waiting. Suddenly the darkness was pulled in the vortex, neutralizing the portal, and the rocks fell back to the ground.

As the dust dissipated, Sevin's body slowly re-appeared. Silence filled the air, until Kristine saw Sevin's fingers twitch. "Sevin!" she rejoiced, racing to his side and shook him gently, trying to wake him up. A moan escaped from Sevin, and he slowly sat up. "What happened?"

They all chuckled. "Long story," they responded in unison.