Guardian of Elements

Chapter 13 - One last story and then good-bye

The morning came fast. Kate was eager to continue, but Verilion was nowhere to be seen, so she went exploring. Her fatigue hadn't fully disappeared yet, so she walked to the pond and drank some water. It tasted awful, but it helped a bit.

After that, she examined the stream that was flowing in through the gap in the stone wall. Although it was tiny, somehow it was enough to not let the pond dry out. Kate got an idea. Maybe she could train even without Verilion.

She placed her paw on the wall and tried the same thing as yesterday. This time it was trickier than in the night, because now the Sun was shining through her closed eyelids. At first, the wall seemed like a solid piece of rock, but when she concentrated just on that small crack, she could see it was running far into the cliff, getting larger. Then, it opened into a cave. Kate was attempting to feel every single stalactite, to get a clean picture. There were no stalagmites, and when she tried really hard, she could tell the line where the walls were turning from smooth to rough – where the water surface was. If she could reach a bit farther, maybe she could find out where the water was coming from.

"Kate! Heavens, I told you to rest!"

Kate almost got a heart attack. She turned around as the great eagle landed, and realized her gem was shining brightly.

"You should use this only when you are really in need, not for fun!" Verilion was upset.

"It wasn't for fun, I was training, you said that by training it'll become easier in time."

"I said it's dangerous when you don't know your limits. I know what I'm talking about, believe me."

"What? You exceeded your limits before?"

"Yes. Come, let's go for a walk."

"To where? Back underground?"

Verilion smiled.

"I stand corrected, let's go for a fly."

He took off and carefully picked up Kate by his talons, like when he carried her out of the maze. She didn't like it at all, and even less when he was spiraling up from the sanctuary. From this height, she saw that it was quite round and not so small as she thought. When they reached the top of the surrounding cliffs, she realized with amazement that it wasn't really surrounded by mountains, but it was a gigantic hole in the ground. Verilion landed with Kate on its spiky edge. She could see across the entire sanctuary from here, and it was about a mile wide.

"It's a meteor crater. That stone monument you first saw me on are in fact remains of a meteorite that landed here long ago. Back then, I foresaw it would happen and I convinced Andúril and Tawarthion about it. When it happened, most of the animals were safely relocated and your mother was able to contain the damage to only what you see. If she didn't, my entire domain could've been destroyed, maybe even beyond that."

"My mother was able to stop something like that from happening?" asked Kate without letting her eyes off the crater.

"Yes. She was very powerful, maybe the most powerful of us in therms of physical abilities," Verilion answered.

"But how could I ever achieve such things? How do I get from here to there?" she pointed at herself and the crater.

"You'll learn that soon enough, but not from me." He paused for a moment, before continuing.

"Tawarthion made plants and trees regrow in the crater, and since I can't create my own valley like Andúril did, I've accepted it as my home. Later, the maze was created, and no one can get in my sanctuary another way. Except those pesky squirrels," he added, annoyed.