On their mission to share an important message to the underwater kingdom, the princesses notice a brush fire. Nea & Lulu must use some creative magic to heal the island and stumble upon a mysterious boy who could be the key to saving Atheria.
On their mission to share an important message to the underwater kingdom, the princesses notice a brush fire. Nea & Lulu must use some creative magic to heal the island and stumble upon a mysterious boy who could be the key to saving Atheria.
The Fire and the Boy
Once upon a time in the land of Atheria, there was a princess Nea and a princess Lulu and they went on the most amazing adventures. They had just healed the elf village on the Withered Isle with Nea’s red crystal but still hadn’t found any tranium for Carmine the giant who ran away from home.
When the elf chief’s son had heard the important message from the old dwarf, he immediately shared with the dwarf and the adventurers that they needed to send word to Fjordswell, the undersea kingdom. He also wanted Nea and Lulu to heal his father, who had been corrupted by a troll and an ogre who had used their crystals to turn him into stone.
“We must let Fjordswell know and send word to all the kingdoms.” The elf chief’s son said, whose name was Tanner.
And before Nea and Lulu could explain that there was an Allayian ship on the far side of the island, Tanner sent for one of his elves with a Torturian Scale.
“There’s something you must know, chief ...” Princess Nea started.
“Tanner.”
“Chief Tanner of Nevermore. I am Princess Nea of Sparland and this is my sister Princess Lulu. We sailed here aboard the Valesence with Lady Jewel of Allaymia. Maybe she can make sure that the underwater Kingdoms are prepared.”
The young elf chief looked at her and nodded.
“Princess Nea of Sparland,” he said reaching out to shake her hand, “That is a great idea.”
“And if it pleases your majesties and the chief,” Bekah’s father responded, “I would like to take Cinder and return to mainland and find this Keeper of the white Devorian Crystal and bring him here to heal your father.”
“We would very much appreciate that, Graham of Darmeda.”
Carmine just looked at everyone and then stomped her feet.
“What about the tranium! I came here to find some tranium.”
Tanner walked up to the giant. Amazed that he could understand her, since giant’s often spoke a different language then most Atherians.
“You speak the common tongue!” he exclaimed. The rest of her party nodded. “Let us get our messengers off and then we, the elves of Nevermore will give you some tranium that we have kept safe since the Clash of the Valley. In fact, your journey back to the boat will be close. Averol here can show you.”
Zag, hearing the offer fluttered around Carmine, speaking to her in giant.
For the first time that day, the giant smiled a large huge smile and immediately ran over to the elf chief, picked him up and gave him a huge hug. She hugged Tanner so hard he even gasped a little bit.
“Ok, ok,” he choked.
Averol, the elf with the Torturian Scale, walked in and upon seeing the giant hugging the elf tightly pulled out a bow and arrow.
“No worries, soldier! It’s okay. It’s okay.” Tanner said.
The chief explained the new plan to Averol - that he was to accompany the adventurers back to Jewel’s ship and travel with her under the sea and send word to the undersea Kingdoms by way of Fjordswell.
On the way back to the Valesence they found Cinder and said their good-byes to the dwarfs.
“I’m glad we found your father.” Carmine said to Bekah.
“Thanks, I couldn’t have done it without you. I wish you all the best finding what you need.”
And Carmine bent down and gave Bekah a hug. The others said farewell too and the dwarfs daughter climbed upon Cinder and flew into the sky towards the Land of Atheria.
On their way back to the dock, they crossed over this big hill and they looked out over the hill and saw all these bushes and small trees near the beach aflame. And the fire was big and growing. It was on the edge of the sand near a cove. And it was spreading.
“Quick we must do something!” shouted Averol. “Or this fire will spread.”
“I’ll use the red crystal to put out the fire!” Nea said, rushing down to the hill to the edge of the fire.
If only we had any of the Aquarian Crystals, Lulu thought, wondering if fire crystal could put out fire.
Nea made her way off the path and got close to the flames and held out her crystal. And the crystal began to float, but then it just sat there.
Make the flames go away, Nea thought.
But the flames didn’t go away. Nothing happened.
And she changed her thinking and her focus, she let the crystal’s power to do it’s own thing.
Slowly a pillar of red smoke started to form, circling the brush fire. And as the smoke circled the fire, faster and faster, the plants around the fire started to singe within the smoke and die, creating a safe buffer from the other other plants.
“You can stop the fire, but I don’t know if you can put out flames with more fire.” Lulu observed.
She could tell that the smoke was burning the plants around the fire, safely giving the fire nowhere to go.
“Princess Lulu!” shouted Zag, “Can you blow water in from the ocean?”
Lulu nodded and immediately pulled out her yellow crystal. It floated and shot a gust of wind out towards the ocean. The gust grew into a tornado of air and created a funnel between the ocean and fire, taking a stream of water from the ocean and dumping it onto the fire.
It was like something they’ve never seen before. Water flowing around and around in the air, from the sea across the sand and onto the plants.
When the fire was out the two sisters sat down exhausted. They had never felt this tired before, and they realized that using the crystals often meant using up their own strength. It felt like they had both been running around in circles all day.
“What in Atheria!?” shouted Carmine, pointing towards the fire.
In the middle of the dead fire lay a boy on the ground.
“It looks like a boy!” said Zag darting off to investigate.
They all ran down the hill, past all the burnt plants, and all the burnt pieces of wood and ash. There on the ground in the middle was a boy, passed out, with a small shark fin around his neck. They could tell that he was hurt and his arms and legs were singed from the fire. Like he had been way too close and gotten burnt.
“Is he ...” asked Lulu.
Averol bent down and listened to his breath.
“He’s alive.” He said.
They decided it would be best to stay there until the boy woke up and give him some food. By now it was getting late so they all agreed that they should camp there for the night and finish their journey to the boat the next morning.
But Nea couldn’t help wondering what this boy was doing on an island, all by himself.
The next morning when they woke up, the boy was gone. So the adventurers continued on their way to the boat to meet up with Lady Jewel. Only to find the dock empty and the Valesence gone!
In it’s place though, was a note nailed to the wood.
Adventurers, we had an emergency in Allaymia and had return back under the sea. Use this ring & key to summon us again when you are ready to travel back to the mainland.
Behind the note was a metal ring and small key. The princesses recognized it as the one Lady Jewel used to summon the boat on the mainland.
Only, both Nea and Lulu went to pick the ring up at the same time and knocked it off the wood and into the deep water below the dock.
“Lulu!” yelled Nea.
“Nea!” Yelled back Lulu.
And for a minute the two sisters argued over whose fault it was. Each one blaming the others until Averol finally stepped in and said, “Why don’t I just go down and get it for you?”
Surprised by the obvious answer and embarrassed by how much time they fought, they both nodded. The elf ran back to the shore, walked into the water holding his magic Torturian Scale, then disappeared underwater.
A few minutes passed before he resurfaced.
“I can’t find it.” He said, defeated. “I searched everywhere below the dock. The current couldn’t have possibly pulled it out to sea that fast!”
“This is all your fault, Nea!” Lulu started again.
“My fault! You’re the one who knocked me out of the way!”
And the giant, fairy and elf just rolled their eyes.
“I don’t think fighting again is going to help us find the ring.”
And then they heard footsteps behind them. They turned around and it was the boy from the brush fire.
“Why did you run away?”
“Why not?” he replied playfully, “I don't know who you are and why you kidnapped me.”
“Kidnapped you?” Nea said angrily, “We saved you! From that fire.”
“I don’t need saving!” said the boy very confidently. Then did a cartwheel before hopping back to his feet.
“We don’t have time for this.” Said Carmine. “We need to get this messenger to Fjordswell.”
And the boy looked at them and squinted, “Fjordswell? Why do you want to go down to Fjordswell at the bottom of the ocean?”
Averol replied, “I have an important message. We are in times of danger.”
“Hmm. How do I know you can be trusted?”
By now, Nea was getting fed up with the boy’s mockery.
“How do we know YOU can be trusted?”
The boy crossed his arms and made a face at Nea. To that Averol pulled out his spear and got into a fighting position.
“Princess Nea, this boy does not sound like a friend of Nevermore or of Sparland.”
Upon hearing Nea’s name and title the boy immediately perked up. “Princess Nea and Lulu of Sparland? You don’t look like princesses!”
Now Nea crossed her arms and frowned.
“And I mean that in the nicest way!” He nervously chuckled, then pulled something out of his pocket. “So I guess this was meant for you then?”
And he pulled out the ring and key that Lady Jewel had left them.
“You jerk! How did you get that so fast?” Nea shouted.
“Can we just get this messenger off to Fjordswell? We still need to find the tranium.”
“Tranium? You the mean the rock from the sky that used to be over there?” he said mischievously, pointing across the beach to the peninsula with a big empty crater. “The one the elves think they have in a locked vault.”
Averol’s eyes widened.
“You mean to tell me” Carmine started, “that I’ve been on one extra adventure after another helping everyone out on this island, only to find out there’s no tranium here.”
“Sorry to burst your bubble.” The boy teased, keeping a safe distance from the giant. She was getting more and more upset by the second. “Now what if I told you I knew where it was?”
“Are you kidding me!” she shouted.
“Don’t get so worked up,” Let’s get your elf friend off to Fjordswell. “And then I’ll help you and I’m assuming Princess Nea and Lulu get that tranium.”
By now, the giant was completely frazzled.
“Fine. But can we hurry. I need to get back to the Lava Ruins.”
Nea thought about explaining to the giant that, she too, as one of the Blazian Crystal Keepers would need to get back to the same ruins to restore it but decided to wait until the giant was a bit calmer. At this point, she wasn’t sure the giant was appreciating company.
So the boy handed the ring and key to Nea who used it to summon Lady Jewel’s boat, the Valesence, and it emerged here just as it had emerged from the beach near the mainland.
As it docked, they said their farewells to the elf and sent him on his way, paying little attention to the boy who conveniently hid behind a tree so as not to be recognized by anyone from under the sea.
The end.