Episode 135: The Island Elves & Cinder

After finding the red Blazian power crystal, Princess Nea and Lulu with their new friends must deliver an important message to the island elves, but run into an ill dragon on their. Unfortunately, when they get to the village, they're faced with another sign that Atheria is falling apart.

Transcript

The Island Elves & Cinder

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 found another enchanted elven keep where an old dwarf had secretly taken the red crystal for himself. Upon healing him, they learned that Nea was a keeper of the red Blazian Crystal. 

The old dwarf gave them the crystal, insisting that they could protect it better than him. He also insisted on a nap, because he was exhausted.

And Princess Nea and princess Lulu were about to leave him with his daughter, Bekah, when he woke up and began mumbling about an important mission he was on. He started mumbling about finding an old elf village here in the Withered Isle.

“You mean there are elves on this island too?” asked the Carmine, the giant.

“Yes. They are elves from long ago. And I remember now, I must find them and see what side they are one.”

That’s when Nea and Lulu began to explain that they were only supposed to find the red crystal and bring Carmine back to her father. Finding elves, didn’t feel like part of their plan.

Carmine interrupted, ”Wait a second, I’m not going anywhere until I find some Tranium. I heard there was some out here and I’m not leaving this island until I find it.” 

Because she was so much taller than Nea and Lulu they just agreed, “Okay, let's go find this Elf Village. Maybe they know where it is.”

So, they followed the Bekah’s father, who’s name turned out to be Graham, through some woods and headed south to a part of the island they hadn’t yet seen before. They eventually came to this very large cliff with an old bridge that was used for crossing. Only as they were crossing over it, they heard an unfamiliar noise. Almost like a whimper of sorts. It was like a small cry with a big “whooosh” every so often.

Nea had an idea. She was still pretty excited about her magic Skyrabian feather that gave her the ability to fly and decided that she would soar down with between the cliffs with Zag, their blue fairy friend, and investigate what the noise was. It sounded like someone might be in trouble. 

As they flew down, they followed the sound of the whimpering until they got to the bottom, where there sat a very uncomfortable dragon. It was a dragon Nea had never met before - a red dragon. And this dragon’s name was Cinder. 

“Cinder the Fierce?” Whispered Zag under his breath.

Realizing that this dragon was in pain and sad, Nea walked up and realized that the pain was coming from her belly. Cinder watched the princess helplessly as she walked around her.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with you, poor dragon, but I’m gonna find something - or someone to help.” Nea said looking her in the eyes and stroking her snout. The dragon coughed twice miserably, then let out a huge breath of smoke, “whoooosh”.

Nea’s eyes widened, feeling lucky she was just off to the side of the dragon’s line of sight when that happened and that Zag had jolted himself out of the way, just in time as well.

When they got back to the top of the cliff, she met up with the others and explained what they saw. 

“A red dragon you say? That’s got to be Cinder! The old girl must have had too many Bechika Berries.” The old dwarf said, then chuckled, slapping his knee. “She always as fond of those!” 

“You know this dragon?” asked Lulu.

“I sure do. Back when I was a younger lad, me and Cinder had quite a few adventures - flying around Atheria. If she’s gone and eaten too many berries, we can get some elixir from the elves, assuming they’re friendly ones.”

On the other side of the cliff, they found themselves in yet another forest, one that oddly looked just like the Forest of Forevermore back on the mainland. 

“Do we follow the same path to the elf village as the one to the elf grotto in the Forest of Forevermore?” They asked the old dwarf.

He nodded in response, “All of these elves use the same spell and tricks to get to their villages. We always go left.” Then lifted up his finger with confidence.

So Nea, Lulu, Zag, Carmine, and Bekah walked through the forest to the elf village. Bekah staying very close to her father, who she very excited to have found on the last adventure. 

When they got to the village, they decided to have Zag who could turn invisible go scout for them to see if he could figure out if the elves were friendly. 

When he returned from scouting they were surprised to learn that the elves were in chaos. Everyone in the village was nervous, anxious and a little scared.

“None of their lamps or fires are working.” He said. “And when I flew through the chief’s hut.” He took a pause and was a little frightened by what came next, “He was stone.”

Nea and Lulu looked at each other. “Just like at the elf grotto.”

“Everyone is scared and doesn’t know what to do.” Concluded Zag.

“Maybe we can help.” Asked Bekah.

“I’m not sure how this happened,” the old dwarf shook his head, “But maybe it’s not too late. I still must get this message to them."

“I know we can’t heal them, but our friend Darius has the white crystal and he was sent to heal the other elf chief that was turned into stone.”

So the old dwarf decided to go into the elf village and share his important message. They were hoping that this would be enough to earn some elixir to heal Cinder. 

When they walked in, two humans, two dwarfs and a giant (Zag was still invisible) the elves stopped running around chaotically and immediately froze. They were not used to seeing visitors, let alone a giant. 

A small troop of elves quickly surrounded the group holding out their spears. 

“I come in peace,” said the dwarf, “I have an important message for the elf in charge.”

“And we must find some Bechika Berries.” said Nea. 

The elves took the dwarf and his daughter into the hut of the chief’s son, who had been put in charge once the chief was turned into stone. And another young elf stepped up and explained that they could not make any elixir without being able to boil the mixture of berries and with some Campor Root.

“Maybe you can help them with your red crystal?” Lulu pointed out, “If I can tame the wind with my yellow crystal, maybe you could bring back fire with your red crystal?”

“Can you show me where you heat your elixir?” Nea asked the elf. 

The elf took them back to her hut where a small fire-fed stove sat unused. The elves tried to light it with some flint but without success. The wood underneath the stove just sat there unlit.

Lulu pulled Nea aside and explained to her that it wasn’t as simple as telling or thinking the crystal to do something. It was allowing the crystal to use it’s power, however that might look. It was more about being open to letting power flow through you, than controlling or forcing the power of the crystal to do something.  

Nea pulled out her crystal, and when she did, most of the elves stood back afraid of it. Some elves even pulled out spears. Nea tried to remain calm and stay focused on helping the small elf, instead of being intimidated by the elves with spears. 

She took a deep breath and the crystal began to float in front of her, creating a puff of smoke around it which begin to flow up and around in the air, making a pathway to the wood in front of the little elf. The elves around the stove looked on in amazement some holding on tighter to their weapons and others looking gleeful. 

The smoke around wood began to grow until finally a spark flashed and the wood erupted in flames. The elves around the stove began to cheer and a few of them even hugged each other. The small elf jumped up and down and hugged her parents.

Nea took a deep breath and the crystal fell back into her hand. Carmine, seeing the work of a magic Atherian Crystal for the first time was amazed and excited for her role in this adventure. 

As soon as the excitement and cheering died down other elves came forward, asking for help with their stoves and with their lamps and their grills. Nea spent the better part of the afternoon learning how to use the red crystal’s power to heal the villages fire problems. She got so good, in fact, that she was able allow the crystal to bring multiple lamps aflame at a time. 

Meanwhile, the elf family finished a batch of elixir and gave it to Princess Nea who left with Zag to bring it to Cinder. 

When the dwarfs were done talking with the chief’s son, the elves began to treat Nea, Lulu and Carmine very differently. In fact, the dwarf had explained to them that there plans were in the works across the land to heal Atheria and protect it from darkness - which included bringing their chief back to life.  

The elves were so excited that they threw a celebration that night, playing instruments and dancing. 

The end.