Episode 129: Getting back the Crystal

The team heads to the Badlands to get an important power crystal back before it's used for more destruction. Nakisha and Lulu face a challenging situation and come face to face with their foes.

Transcript

Getting Back the Crystal

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 rescued Darius from the elves, only to learn that their elf chief had been turned into stone and the only way to heal him was with the white crystal which had been stolen.  

“Do you know who has your crystal?” the Shadow Man asked his son Darius.

“Yes, it was a boy, an ogre, that troll, and a girl. And the girl is a white crystal keeper.”

“Did they say where they were going?”

Darius shook his head.  

“I know where they’re going.” Came a voice from the front of the palace doors. It was a an elf. Elves are a little bit shorter than humans and this elf was just a hair shorter than Lulu. But he was tough. He was a tough elf and was ready to prove to everybody that he was strong and wasn't afraid of an adventure.

“They want to use the crystals for themselves. They’re going past the Badlands to some ruins.” The elf explained.

The princesses looked to the Shadow Man, “Can you take us there?” 

Before he could answer, in flew Ryla from one of the windows and hopped over to the party. 

“Princess Ellery of Morrenvale. Darius and Simon, children of Aylon. Princess Nea and Lulu of Sparland.” And then she looked to the two elves. “Coryn and Nakisha of Forevermore.”

She looked over at the elf chief, who had been turned to stone. 

“We begin to see what happens if the crystals fall into the wrong hands. The time continues to draw close and with every passing minute, the darkness grows stronger.” 

Everyone looked at the elf chief. It was clear that if a Keeper wasn’t careful anyone could be turned into stone.  

“We must be smart,” Ryla continued, “Simon, son of Aylon, you are needed elsewhere. Nakisha take Princess Nea and Lulu, Darius and Coryn to retrieve the crystals! Before they get to the Devorian Temple.”

And with that, Princess Nea and Lulu were left again to embark on another amazing adventure. It was clear though, that Princess Ellery was not going to be left out of this adventure. She was going to come along too.

They headed out from the Elf Grotto and Nakisha led the way out of the forest and into the northern badlands. They traveled up and over Lake Gravestone and the weather started to turn sour. Clouds rolled in and it started to rain. The rain got harder and harder until eventually they saw a flash of lightning and then the rumble of thunder. 

“We need to find shelter.” 

“But where? We’re in the Badlands. There’s nothing but bushes all around us!” exclaimed Ellery. 

“We’ll have to make do.” Said Nea starting to find large branches and pull them together into a shelter.

And everyone started collecting large shrubs and branches from the bushes around them. Meanwhile, the rain kept pouring down. While they were collecting shrubs, it became clear that none of the branches were going to be big enough and they weren’t all going to be able to stay dry. 

“Wait! What’s that over there?” Nea said, pointing a ways away to a hill.

“Follow me,” Said the Nakisha.

They hiked across the barren land over to a small hill, where you could barely make out a doorway in the side of it - mostly because the doorway was almost completely overgrown now with grass and weeds.  

“It’s an old bunker,” said the elf. 

“Let’s use it for shelter.”

And Rose went over, crouched on her front legs and pulled on the handle with her powerful bear jaws. Slowly the door creaked open and a bunch of dirt and dust flew out. 

“Helloooo” yelled Darius into the doorway. 

There was nothing but echos. After a short pause, the group made their way inside the bunker. It was filled with bunk beds and a small area to cook food and a few cupboards. It was very dirty and you could tell that plenty of bugs had lived there over the years.

As the party was getting ready to settle down for a bit and wait out the rain they started to hear noise outside of the bunker. 

“They went in here!” came a voice.

“Look here, they found a place to get out of the rain.”

The adventurers all looked at each other. 

“It’s them!” said Coryn. “It’s the girl!”

“Lulu, get your crystal ready!” Nea said.

Darius mounted his bear Rose, ready to fight and Nakisha got her bow and arrows ready. Ellery pulled out her magic wand.

The door opened slowly at first, then the ogre flung it wide open. Just as he peaked in Ellery pointed her wand at the intruder. Only to have a sudden wave of fear and confusion fall over her. In fact, everyone in the bunker started to feel confused and afraid. That is, everyone except Lulu and Nakisha.

“We’re going to destroy you!” shouted K’Orloch the ogre.

But he hadn’t taken into consideration that he wasn’t going to easily fit in the doorway. And in the moment it took him to realize he wasn’t going to fit, Nakisha drew her weapon and started to come after him while Lulu pulled out her crystal. 

“They have a crystal and one of them has a magic orgrown weapon!” he yelled and quickly backed away from the entrance.  

“Which kind?” came a voice from outside. It was the girl. 

“It’s yellow. Tornadian?” 

From outside she started using her crystal as well on Lulu. 

And the power of both Devorian crystals being used on Lulu caused her to fear and get confused. She tried harder to concentrate but with every second it got more and more difficult. 

Can I do this? Am I strong enough to be a Keeper? What if I fail? 

She began to ask herself. Meanwhile, the Nakisha charged the door, scaring the ogre away from the entrance. 

“For Atheria!” she shouted.

Now her bow was made of wood from a magic tree called Orgrown. These trees were rare and had the power to neutralize the effects of certain magic, including the fear and confusion that the Devorian Crystals could cause. 

The girl with the white crystal was dressed in black and gray and kept concentrating on the crystal, using it to create chaos. Nakisha charged the K’Orloch but it was clear that it was going to be a tough fight to compensate for his size. He was quite a bit taller then her - him being an ogre and her being an elf. She also had to keep the girl within her sights too - and a boy who was just off in the distance as well.

A couple of things that Nakisha took notice of was the black Skyrabian Feather around the girl’s neck and the bright orange light coming from the boy’s hand. 

“I will defend Atheria!” 

“At all costs?” K’Orloch said.

The girl just laughed. 

And that’s when they all heard it. A loud trumpet sound.

“What’s that sound?” asked the girl. 

K’Orloch looked up and around. 

That’s when they saw a small crowd emerging from the behind the hill shouting, “For Atheria!” It was a handful of armed warriors of various races and weapons. 

Flying in among them in the rain, wielding a spear, was Prince Clef as well as Prince William running on the ground with a sword. There was also a dwarf and elf among them. 

K’Orloch looked at the girl then looked at the crowd. Without a word, the girl used her feather and began to grow wings and shot up in the air. The ogre turned around and began to run away. 

Clef, keeping his sights on the winmaid, immediately flew in and tackled her before she could get far. They both tumbled to the ground, knocking the white crystal from her hands. 

The boy, who had been holding himself back the whole time, realized they were outnumbered and pulled out the orange Blazian crystal and began to focus, summoning a large fire wall from the ground and blocking anyone from reaching the ogre or himself. 

“Cowards!” yelled Prince William. 

“Get back here!” heckled the dwarf. 

“Quick someone get the white crystal!” Clef shouted trying to keep the winmaid from escaping. 

Nakisha walked over and picked it up, looking down at the winmaid and shaking her head. 

By now the power of the Devorian Crystals was wearing off and the group from the bunker emerged, still a little confused but getting their thoughts and courage back minute by minute. 

“Prince William!” shouted Nea and Lulu. 

“Did we get the crystal back?” Darius asked.

Nakisha nodded and tossed Darius the crystal, which began to power up and brighten as it flew in the air towards him. He caught it and put it back in his holster securely. 

“And what about the black one?” Ellery asked, keeping her wand handy.

“We weren’t so lucky this time.” Said the elf. 

“What on earth happened?” asked Coryn. “Did we miss all the action?”

“Well, they didn’t put up much of a fight.” explained William. “As soon as they saw us coming one of them summoned a wall of fire and they ran away.”

“Except maybe this one.” Clef said, motioning to the winmaid, now fully restrained. 

As they started to retell the events, the rain stopped and the ground began to quickly dry up. Giving our adventurers a much needed break from the elements. It also gave them time to discuss what their next steps were. Because they still needed to find the other Tornadian Keeper and heal the Cloud Temple.

The end.