The Four Guardians

Jewel's Journey(pt.2)

After an incredibly long climb, she reached the top. She panted and sat down, nibbling on a fish. The hole in front of her suddenly reappeared and she looked at it.

"That's," she panted, "clever." The king sure is prepared to make sure we're ready. He probably wanted to make sure I had good climbing skills and paid more attention to my surroundings. The ground earlier had been there, and suddenly not. There wasn't just a hole there and she had fallen, she wasn't that stupid. The ground had actually been there, and suddenly not. And when she came back up, it reappeared. "I see why the orb wanted only me to come, this is a trial for me, and me alone," If I remember correctly, I think the king told us that the legend's king had a power, he didn't say what though. I think I'm going to be a lot stronger when I come out of this. She smiled and closed her eyes, remembering what had happened right before she fell. Rotten wood and not the actual ground had been beneath her, but since it was still an earth element, she hadn't paid that much attention to the difference. I feel like a cat in training. Actually, I probably am. She continued to walk, and suddenly stopped. The ground was familiar. Not falling for this trick again! she thought, and she smiled as she looked at a small fallen branch next to her. She used her earth powers on it, making it curl until it was a spring, and she sat on it. She then jumped as high as she could and landed on the spring, bouncing way high up and landing on something. Something . . . She looked down and saw that vines were holding her. But I didn't use my powers, so why are these vines helping me? They were hugging her tightly so she wouldn't fall.

"Thanks? You can put me down now," she said. The vines didn't move, they continued to hug her tightly. She tried to get out and realized she couldn't. Oh, she realized they're not helping me, they're here to trap me. She concentrated, trying to make the vines loosen, just loosen, but she wasn't feeling any change. Suddenly she saw the ground begin falling underneath her, and it kept getting bigger and bigger. She began panicking and tugging. Calm your mind. her father's voice echoed in her head. Tears were brought to her eyes. Calm your mind. She took a deep breath, in and out, in and out. She slowly closed her eyes and concentrated her powers. She focused it on only one spot, and she felt that one spot loosen. Instead of letting excitement overtake her, she continued to push it away from herself. When she had pushed it far enough, she opened her eyes and leaped to the other side of the hole, she almost fell and her front paws just barely landed on the other side. She was at the edge, half on and half not, but her paws were slipping. She made the earth beneath her jut out, and she let go, landed on the ledge, and jumped back up. She looked and saw a small stone in the dirt. The one papa always carried around. She opened a small hole in her vine, carefully put the stone, in and closed it. Why do you like this stone so much? She remembered herself asking her father. You already know Jewel, because it's the color of your eyes. He said that every time, and sometimes, she asked just to hear that answer. He was here, a long time ago. She thought with a sudden rush of excitement coursing through her body. I can feel the orb near she thought. But it'll probably be hard to get considering what's happened so far.

She closed her eyes, trying to sense which direction to go. From one direction, a female voice would echo in her mind. The Lord of Darkness is coming. You must hurry! She studied the side of the mountain, wondering which entrance she had heard it from, until she noticed an entrance, which she could barely tell was there. The entire mountainside was covered in vines, and that entrance was almost completely hidden by the plants. She walked towards it and tried to go through the vines. Bam! She couldn't get through; she brushed the vines aside and saw only bare rock. She studied the cave shaped rock and saw no way to get in. The vines were all coming closer to her and they began wrapping around her feet. She controlled her earth powers to make them go away. I see, another trial. She stood in front of the rock, sat down, closing her eyes and concentrated hard. Rock, unlike the ground, was much harder to control. When she started sweating from concentration, she opened her eyes to see if anything had changed. Finally, after what seemed like a long time, the rock began giving way. By then she had realized that it was much easier to concentrate on one part of rock and remove it, then try to make it go in. Pushing it inwards would only make the rock sturdier and harder to move. She continued to break down the rock, thinking the entire time. I have to get back the group! I forgot to write a message to tell them where I was going! A voice suddenly entered her mind, she suddenly heard the sound of earth shattering and she realized it was what the orb was hearing. Hurry! The familiar voice continued to repeat those words to her. You're almost here! Hurry! She felt a chill come down her spine and realized she really did have to hurry, not just because of her friends, but because something was coming. And fast. She continued to break down the rock, not heeding the screams from her aching body, her mind's consciousness was disappearing. Finally, she passed out.

A vision suddenly came rushing into her mind; it could've been the present or the past. Her group began waking up; Cloud looked around and saw that some of the supplies were gone.

"I think she went ahead without us!" she called to Aqua and Scorch who were looking around the area. The forest only opened up for Jewel, so they couldn't go anywhere.

"JEWEL!!!" Scorch yelled out, louder than Jewel had ever heard before, she used to think Scorch was quiet. That thought was now blown away in the dust. "JEWEL!!!" she yelled again.

"Scorch," Aqua said while she took a deep breath to yell again, "Cloud and I will use our powers and try to locate her, so stop yelling, the king might locate us. We'll find Jewel one way or another. Plus, remember what the king said? Only the one with that element can find the orb. That means, basically, the king was telling us that we would die if we went as well. She probably left because she thought we wouldn't let her leave if we knew she wanted to leave on her own," he said, trying to reassure Scorch, "and we wouldn't," he mumbled to himself. She nodded worriedly and shut her mouth, but she paced around uncomfortably as Aqua and Cloud closed their eyes to find her. Whatever element they had, they could feel and know whatever it was touching. Scorch started panicking less. Aqua could feel the water in the air, and he could know where she was since she was also moisture. Cloud could feel the air touching Jewel, and the air that she breathed in and out. Both of them opened their eyes at the exact same time. Scorch could tell from the look in their eyes that they knew where she was. She marched up to them.

"Where is she?!" she demanded desperately. They looked outwards towards the base of the mountain.

"She's . . . doing okay," Cloud started.

"What do you mean by that?" Scorch said. Aqua pointed to the place they were looking.

"She's fell down a small cliff," he continued. Scorch's eyes widened.

"She just got to the top of the cliff, and . . ."

"She's on her way, perfectly fine," Aqua finished. Scorch sighed in relief.

"She's okay," Scorch said, her voice was still shaking from the recent drama.

After a few conversations back and forth, Cloud was running up a pathway of clouds, which was quickly disappearing behind her so no one could follow her. Aqua and Scorch watched from below. So she left as well she thought in her dream. I hope she'll be okay.

She jolted awake from her dream. She looked up and saw a cat, falling, but not exactly falling since it was far too fast. More like she was being pushed down, as the cat neared she recognized the shape as Cloud. She shot a vine up as fast as she could to catch Cloud, and slowly her consciousness disappeared. Again.