The heroes make a startling discovery when they uncover the orange Blazian Crystal Keeper. And Carmine proves that she's worthy to take her mother's place among the protectors.
The heroes make a startling discovery when they uncover the orange Blazian Crystal Keeper. And Carmine proves that she's worthy to take her mother's place among the protectors.
The Lava Ruins
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. Princess Nea and Lulu had just helped a pirate find his grandma’s missing ring and were finally headed back to Sparland to try to find the last power crystal and heal the Lava Ruins.
Once back on the mainland, the princesses had to get Carmine back to her father, Nibor, and find the other Blazian Crystal and restore the Lava Ruins.
When they landed back at the mainland the immediately headed back to the Frost Caves to meet back up with the giants. When they got there, a council of giants was already gathered, including Nibor, Carmine’s father.
“Scorba frabba wanda!” shouted her father.
“Blagga flabba wintlo,” she responded back.
And the giants continued talking giant to one another while the two princesses and Zag stood by. Zag, who was able to translate giant, explained that the giants were all worried about Carmine but also very impressed that she came back with traninum, which is a sign to the giants that she may be ready to be a temple protector.
And then he paused.
“Oh, this isn’t good.” He finally said, then flew over and joined the conversation with the giants.
Once they had resolved the talk, Zag flew back over, very sad. “Fryder is sick, Carmine’s mom. She protected the temple before with a fairy named Fiamma.”
When they heard the name Fiamma, Nea and Lulu remembered the red fairy they rescued from the first elven keep.
“It looks like we have no choice now but to prepare Carmine. She’ll be needed to protect the temple.”
He looked both the princesses in the eyes. And then footsteps could be heard coming from the entrance of the cave. It was Coryn, the keeper of the gray Tornadian Crystal.
“Coryn!” Yelled Lulu, giving Coryn a big hug. “Oh the adventures we could tell you! What are you doing here!”
“Well,” Coryn said, holding his head up high, “As soon as I heard you were back I had to come find you so we could restore the other temples!”
“Yes, yes!” Lulu agreed. “We will, but we’re so close to healing the last temple.”
Coryn for the first time looked over and noticed Phin.
“Coryn of Forevermore,” he said, extending his hand.
“Phin of Niverstone Deep,” Phin responded, shaking his hand. “So we have another keeper, here?”
“We do,” Coryn responded proudly, “I’ve been training here on the mainland. While you were all away the ogres are growing an army.”
“An army?” asked Lulu.
“King Bealock has rallied his ogres and the trolls, even some humans. Tuck and Ryla have been preparing the warriors.”
Before Coryn could continue they were interrupted by the Nibor and the Carmine walking over to the adventurers. As it turned out they had finished their giant discussion and were ready to talk once again with the princesses.
Zag translated. For the most part the giants were satisfied with the princesses holding up their end of the bargain and decided to formally forgive them for taking the blue Aquarian Crystal without asking and for stealing Rakta’s mask and putting Brimrock to sleep in the forest. They see now that it all ended up for good.
For it to be official, though, they had to do a small giant ritual of dancing and then holding each others arms while jumping in a circle. This was actually pretty hard for the princesses to do with such large giants, but they made it work.
When the ritual was over. Carmine had to leave for the Lava Ruins as soon as possible. It turns out Fiamma had stayed with Fryder and was able to quickly join Carmine and could lead her back.
As they left, they noticed that Carmine had special, new badge on her jacket in the shape of five-sided rainbow colored star.
“It’s the protector’s star,” she said, “Each of the Temple Protectors has one. Now that I will take my mom’s place, it was handed down to me. It’s a five pointed star, one point for each of the five temples.”
“Well congratulations,” Nea said, “It looks like you’re getting what you wanted - to be a protector of the Lava Temple.”
The giant nodded, proudly.
As they continued on their adventure, Nea almost forgot about the other items they found on Captain Carmella’s Island. As you might remember, they found the ring and gave it to Captain Rustin for his wedding, but they also found a necklace in a pouch and a magic compass. The necklace came with a warning but the magic compass pointed in the direction of whatever your heart wanted. If you wanted cake, the compass would point to the nearest piece. Or if you wanted to go home, the compass would point you in the direction of your home.
Before they left, Nea decided to pull out the compass and show it to the group. She hadn’t yet tried to use it as there hadn’t been a real need for it - until now. Time was running out to find the boy with the orange Blazian Crystal.
“You mean Carmella’s Compass exists? So that’s how she found so much treasure!” Coryn said.
“Let me try and see if it works.” Phis said, grabbing the compass. It immediately pointed to a grassy spot nearby. “This is great. It knows I love taking naps in fields!”
“Let me try,” Coryn said. When he got his chance with the compass the needle shot out to the east, over the Torturian Sea.
“You want to go out to sea?” asked Lulu.
“Not really. But is that where the Ocean Temple is?” he asked. “I’ve always wanted to swim like the Torturians do.”
“Yeah, seems about right.” Lulu answered.
After everyone had a chance to test the compass out they gave it back to Nea.
Phinn looked a little worried when Nea started to think about what her heart most desired. And that’s when the trouble started. When she got the compass the needle stayed fixed on Phin. Why was it pointing to Phin, she wondered.
Then it hit her. She immediately got up and walked over to Phin. While she circled him, the needle rotated and stayed fixed on him the entire time.
By now, everyone was paying attention to Nea.
“What are you doing?” asked Phin nervously. “If, uh, you’re thinking of me that much why don’t you just say so?”
Nea scowled, “What are you hiding in you pocket, Phin?”
Nea knew exactly what he was hiding in his pocket because she was thinking about the orange crystal.
Phin got pale in the face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he said walking away.
“Don’t move!” she demanded. Carmine stood in his way, blocking his path.
“I’m thinking about the orange crystal, Phin. Why is the compass pointing towards you? Don’t you think that’s interesting.”
“It must be broken.”
“Do you have it?” she said, cutting to the chase.
He walked around Carmine. Nea thought back to the first time they met Phin and the fact that he was surrounded by fire.
“How did you end up in the middle of that brush fire when we found you? How did YOU get it from the boy all the way out in the middle of the Torturian Sea?”
He still didn’t answer.
Nea pulled out her red crystal and held it out, closing her eyes. The giants all stood back and watched.
She wanted to know the truth - whatever that was. The crystal glowed and started to create a ring of smoke around Phin’s feet. He stopped walked.
“I never asked for this. I don’t want to be a hero. I just want to be left alone.”
Nea took a deep breath and calmed down.
“We need your help, Phin. We don’t have much time. Why not tell us the truth? Why not just come clean earlier and give us the crystal?”
Phin was embarrassed. Part of him wanted to keep the crystal himself part of him knew the right thing to do was to use if to heal the temple. Deep down he knew that he should help Ryla and Tuck, he just didn’t want to admit he was wrong and selfish. He also didn’t want to have to go back home.
“Honestly, I’m tired of being at home. Going on this adventure was better then having to go back.”
“And what were you going to do when we got to the temple?” asked Nea.
“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought of that yet.”
Nea stopped using her crystal and the ring of black smoke faded into the air. She walked over to Phin.
“I don’t know what you’re worried about, but we can trust the lion and the hawk. And you can trust us. We need that crystal and we need to find the last keeper.”
Phin took a deep breath then explained how he came across the crystal.
He was on Sanguine Island about a week ago, when an elf, an ogre and the boy showed up on the island. He was on a usual scouting route when they arrived. They already had it and but were looking for the red crystal. At first Phin thought the crystals were Carmella’s so when they were sleeping one night, he snuck into their camp to take them back. The only problem was that when he got close, the orange crystal shined so brightly that it woke them up. Before anyone else could come after him he grabbed it and dove into the sea. He barely made it before they started using their magic.
“Wait! What do you mean, it glowed?” Lulu asked.
Phin opened up his pocket, revealing a bright beam of orange light.
“You’re a keeper!” Nea said, astonished.
“Why else do you think Ryla would come to visit.” Phin admitted.
When he got back to the Withered Isle she was there waiting and told him how important he was for Atheria. But he didn’t want anything to do with her. When he tried to use the crystal on the beach he accidentally created a small brush fire, which was where the princesses found him that fateful day.
“I’m not cut out for this.” He said, unsure of himself.
“Neither are we,” Nea responded.
“You have to try.” Lulu agreed.
Carmine looked at him, along with the other giants. She was getting a little impatient. “What more could you want, Phin. You’ve got a giant, two fairies, royalty and a brave little elf here who just showed up. You’re not in this alone.”
Phin took a deep breath and nodded. “Ok, let’s go.”
And there wasn’t much more said about it - at least for now. They left the Frost Caves and headed to the Lava Ruins. When they got close to Mount Boulderhorn, Fiamma explained that the Lava Ruins was underground, inside the base of the volcano. It was an underground temple. They couldn’t help but remember the story the dwarf in the Darmeda Caves told them. They entered a cave at the base of the volcano and started hiking deep underground.
The princesses had learned from all the other temple ruins that the protectors often put spells on the temples in order to keep them safe. Almost all the other temples that Princess Nea and Princess Lulu had restored had some kind of enchantment, and this temple was no different.
As they walked further and further underground, it got hotter and hotter. They all started sweating because they were getting closer and closer to the base of the volcano, where all the lava was.
Fiamma and Zag were both leading the way, except the pathway led to a dead end. Fiamma turned around sharply and looked at Zag.
“I forgot to get the key from Fryder! I forgot all about it!” Fiamma exclaimed holding her head in her hands.
“Don’t be so sure.” Carmine responded, pulling out an ornate key with a huge flame on it. “My dad gave this to me back in the cave before we left.”
Fiamma gave her a huge smile.
“I think we’re going to be a great team!” Fiamma replied, then showed Carmine where the hidden keyhole was. Carmine walked over, put the key in the lock and turned.
The ground and the wall started to rumble until slowly a doorway appeared at the end of the pathway. It had beautiful symbols pained all around the frame of the entry way. Symbols they were now becoming quite familiar as they were written on each of the Ruins.
They all walked through the doorway and into the Lava Ruins inside. There was a moat of lava that flowed around the edge of the temple with random bursts of flames. The walls cracked and burned from all the flames and lava. Just like the other temples there was a symbol for fire on the ground and a spot for the keepers of the crystals to stand. On each wall there were other symbols.
Nea and Phin walked up to the center of the ruins and pulled out their crystals. They both started glowing brighter and brighter. And just like the other temples they started to float right in front of them. When they reached their full brightness a burst of red and orange light shot out from the base of the temple and out through the floor of the Lava Ruins, through the volcano and into the sky.
As this happened, the cracked and burned walls began to heal themselves, revealing beautiful engravings. The scorching heat began to cool just enough to tame the bursts of fire.
Once Nea and Phin were done, Lulu and Coryn walked across to the far side of the temple, over the lava, to where the wind symbol appeared on the wall. They held their hands out, touched the panel and released their crystals. A strong tornado of yellow and gray light circled the room bringing a fresh cool breeze. And once the tornado of light was done, the adventurers headed out of the volcano, that is all except Carmine and Fiamma for they were meant to stay there and keep watch.
The end.