Memory in the End

Chapter 29: Water Gem

The Five don't know the exact locations of their gems. When they were granted with their power, the gems vanished, but the Five could sense that the gems still existed. The only things they knew were that the gems would be in a location related to their individual power, and the Five could sense when they were close to their gem. The first Gem we set out to find was Henry's Gem. He'd had a strong feeling once when he had accidentally wandered close to the gem's vicinity. He wouldn't tell us exactly where it was. He only said that the journey to get there would take about a day and a half, maybe more with Aru constantly having to stop and get food because he was dying of starvation. When we'd finally arrived to the same spot where Henry had first found the gem's location, he stopped. We stood in the middle of a forest on a small hill. Not too far in the distance, I could see a calm, flowing river, and something else just on the other side of it.

"Come on Henry, let's go already," Aru urged, "It's somewhere around here right?"

"Um...yeah..." Henry muttered. He was staring off into the distance, looking at something that only he could see.

"What's wrong Henry?" I asked.

He snapped out of his daze, "Nothing. It's nothing. At least, I think. I'm not sure. Can I wait here while you all go look?"

"Of course not, you're the only one who can get a better feel for where it is," Aru said.

Henry sighed and then trudged down the hill with us following after him. As we got closer, Henry continued to stare at the other side of the river. I followed his gaze and then noticed an old cabin. The grass around it had grown over the walls of the cabin, and vines made their way between the logs. What looked to be a dirt path was dotted with small patches of vegetation. And then it occurred to me.

"Henry, is this-"

"Yes." he stopped me from finishing my question, "It's been so long since I've been on this side of the forest, but I recognized this area right away."

We came to the river and he led us through a shallow part of it. Henry walked up to the door of the cabin and stood there. The rest of us weren't quite sure what to do. This seemed like a delicate moment for Henry; we wouldn't ask anything unless he wanted to talk about it. He slowly opened the door, which gave way with a small creak, and stepped inside. I shifted my feet, unsure of what to do. Finally, I went inside after him. The others stayed outside.

Inside the cabin, the air smelled musty and I could see dust floating in the air as light peeked in through a half covered window. Henry stood on the other side of the room, holding a tin box. I stepped up behind him. The wooden boards beneath my feet squeaked with each step.

"What do I do, Arrabella?" he asked quietly without turning around, "It's been so many years since I've stepped foot in this place. I haven't seen Miran since the day I ran away. I didn't even go to his funeral." I peered over his shoulder and saw that the box was filled with what looked to be letters and pictures of a young Henry. "The last time I saw him, I said such horrible things. But he really did only ever think of me as his son. I was so terrible to him."

Despite the front that he put up this whole time, Henry had this guilt buried deep within him. He could never forgive himself all these years. Coming back to this place all of a sudden must be taking an emotional toll on him. Knowing a similar pain, I didn't say anything and simply stood by him with a comforting hand on his shoulder.

A sudden knock cut through the silence. I looked behind us to see Owyne standing at the doorway.

"We found something that he might want to see..." Owyne said with a tinge of

concern in his voice. Henry, still holding onto the box, followed Owyne and I out of the cabin. Owyne led us to a small leveled off cliff that looked over the river where Ivan, Aru, and Michael were also gathered. As we approached the area, they stepped aside to reveal a gravestone. Henry paused in front of it before collapsing to his knees. The box in his hands fell to the ground. Miran's name was carved into the gravestone, and a small bed of flowers was planted at the base of it. An old rusted hammer that must have been Miran's personal tool leaned against the side of the stone.

Michael, Owyne, Aru, Ivan, and I began to distance ourselves from Henry so as to give him privacy. We all knew that this was something that Henry needed to confront, and he probably didn't want us to be there. While he was at the grave, the rest of us went about looking around the area for the gem. Since Henry could control water, we mostly searched the river, with Aru and I searching on the bank and the other three wading through the water and picking through the rocks on the bottom. Despite all of our efforts, we couldn't find it. We made our way back to Henry to check on him, and as we walked over, he looked up at us. We could tell he'd been crying from the redness in his cheeks, but none of us said anything of it. Henry gave us a small smile along with a sniffle, and then he turned back to the grave.

"Miran," he said quietly, "These are the people I have been with on this whole journey which led me to return here. I'm a legendary hero, and now we're trying to save the kingdom. Can you believe it? You've been watching over me this whole time, haven't you? I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren't for you."

Henry lowered his head again and covered his face with his arm to hide his tears. We stood there in silence, with only the sound of the river below crashing against the cliff.

Suddenly, a giant wave splashed against the side of the cliff. The force of the wave was abnormally strong, and the water rained down on all of us. As we wiped the water from our faces, I noticed Henry had gotten up. Being the one closest to the river, he was the most soaked out of all of us, but he was completely calm. In his hand, I saw something small and glistening.

"Henry, is that the gem?" I asked.

He turned to me and nodded, holding up the stone in his hand.

"When the water hit, it was suddenly in my hand," he said.

We gathered around him and examined the stone. It was a pale blue, rain drop shaped stone. The exterior was smooth and translucent, so you could vaguely see several tiny spheres suspended inside the gem. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and I struggled to pull my gaze from it.

"So what happens now? Is some glowing supposed to start happening?" I question, as I was the only one in the group who was unfamiliar with the gems.

"This is strange. We all received our powers individually, so I assumed the gems could each work independently of each other," Michael explained.

"Let's not waste time on speculations," Aru said, walking away from the group, "We should get started on finding the next gem. We'll figure out what's happening as we collect them."

Michael's face turned into a scowl. The two of them still haven't made up. They rarely talk, and when they do the tension in the group rises. We all follow after Aru in silence. We decide to rest at the cabin for the remainder of the evening and figure out where we should head next.

Owyne said that he had a faint feeling about where his gemstone was. After plotting out the route, we went to bed without any further discussion. Normally I would fall asleep to their random chatting, but the Five were unnaturally quiet.