Episode 150: The Last Temple

The heroes finally unite with the last crystal keeper and obtain the key to the Tranquil Temple. However, they'll need the power of two magical beasts to unlock the ruins. And one of those beasts has been turn to stone at the bottom of the Torturian Sea.  Can they revive the last temple in time to heal Atheria?

Transcript

The Last Temple

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. These two princesses had been on a long extraordinary adventure where they had met lots and lots of friends. 

It all started when they witnessed a rainbow comet shattering in sky one night outside their castle doors. When the comet shattered, it broke the protective orb that held the fragile elemental crystal sets and sent ten power crystals that keep those elemental forces in balance to the ends of Atheria. With the elements of water, earth, wind, fire and heart broken, Atheria was experiencing disaster in the form of earthquakes, rainstorms, hurricanes and hatred. And it was up to Nea and Lulu to find the crystals and their keepers to restore the five elementals ruins and save Atheria. 

They had no idea the kind of adventure they would have and who they’d meet along the way. They reunited with old friends in the Sky Kingdom above, they met new friends in the Water Kingdom below, and while traveling the Land of Atheria over they met friends who were dwarfs, ogres, elves and even a fire breathing dragon. 

Which is where this chapter begins. They had just located the last crystal keeper within the depths of the frost giant’s cave, the very place their journey began with the first crystal keeper. 

This last keeper was the keeper of the black crystal, whom they needed, along with Darius and the white crystal to heal Scorch the Protector who had been turned into stone and sat at the bottom of the Torturian Sea. 

“We need to hurry and heal Scorch!” Nea said.

“But what about the last temple! We need to restore the final ruins and save Atheria!” Darius protested.

As Nea and Darius were talking, Talia and a couple of other fairies in the room, were feverishly translating what the humans were saying because most giants spoke a different language and need fairies to translate their language.  

One of the giants - Drathos - began to speak. 

“Bargle snoogle wadda blog! Vooga wargle smoodle blig.” he spoke.

Talia quickly translated for her giant giant friend and said, “You’re going to need the breath of a dragon to unlock the heart ruins.” 

“The breath of a dragon?” asked Blu.

Another fairy translated the question back to the giant for Blu. This time the gathering of giants began talking among themselves back and forth. The two fairies, Talia and the other one paid close attention to what they were saying. 

When the giants had reached an agreement and settled down, the fairies flew back over to the adventurers. 

“The amber heart that the three dwarfs have is the key to the Tranquil Ruins. But in order for it to work, it will need to be heated with the breath of a dragon the cooled with the tear of a unicorn.”

“A unicorn!” they all repeated at once. 

The fairies nodded. 

“So we’ll need Scorch after all.” Said Nea. 

“And a unicorn.” Said Aria.

“Where are we going to find a unicorn?” asked Potifonia the dwarf. His two brothers nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, and at this hour?”

“I may know where we can find one.” Darius said. “My father knows one.”

“The Shadow Man?” asked Blu.

“And I have this.” Nea said, pulling out her magic compass. The one she found on Sanguine Island. With it, all you had to do was think of something you wanted and the compass would point you in the direction to find it. 

“Perfect!” Lulu said. 

Darius nodded, knowing his dad could use that to find a friendly unicorn.

“But we need Darius and the white crystal to rescue Scorch.” Nea said.

“My dad is at the Dwarf Mining Camp. Here’s what we’ll do. Blu, you head back with Elifonia, Potifonia and Jacob with the compass and tell him we’ll need the help of a unicorn to break the protective spell around the last ruins.”

“But how will you all breath underwater?” asked Jacob. “You won’t have any magic scales?”

Nea smiled and pulled out the ring and key in her pocket that Jewel of Allaymia had left them back on a previous adventure. “We’ll summon Lady Jewel with this ring and key she gave us. If we ring it by the sea maybe she can help us get Darius and Aria underwater to Scorch.”

“She can definitely help!” Princess Blu confirmed. 

So the party split up, Princess Nea, Princess Lulu, Princess Aria and Darius headed out to the Torturian Sea while Princess Blu and the three dwarfs headed to the Dwarf Mining Camp to find the Shadow Man and his unicorn friend. 

Talia and the other fairy stayed with the giants who were confirming which giants were going to be protecting the temples with which fairy. For there was an old saying that referred to the partnership between the largest beings in Atheria and the smallest to protect the elemental temples. It went like this, “The wrath of big, the wrath of small, the two together for the ruins, for all.” The giants were also discussing if they would intervene with this attack on the Dwarf Mining Camp.

When Nea, Lulu, Aria and Darius got to the ocean shore, they pulled out the ring and key, striking the key against the ring and making a loud ringing sound that echoed above and below the water. 

And they waited. And then they waited some more. And just when they thought they’d waited as long as they could and that maybe the ring and key wouldn’t work … the ship they had taken to the Withered Isle began to emerge from the water. And right on top of it stood Lady Jewel of Allaymia, ready for an adventure. 

On the boat, they explained their plight to Jewel, who enjoyed every bit of their story.

“So you see, we need to get Princess Aria and Darius down to Scorch!”

“Of course! And what shall we do with the bear?” Jewel asked, referring to Rose, Darius’s bear who he rode atop on all of his adventures. “She’s not usually the type we’d send under water.”  

The adventurers looked at one another. 

“I’ll let you all figure that one out. I’ll take care of getting you four underwater.”

Jewel summoned four of her crewmembers to come over and had a quick chat with them. Minutes later she walked back over with a handful of Torturian Scales. 

“Now these are just on loan. As you know, these magic scales will give you the ability to become mermaids and mermen. I’ll be honest though, we’ve never seen what happens to a lanman without legs who uses one. Are you willing to take the risk and give it a shot, Darius?”

Darius nodded in excitement. Even without a full fin, he would be able to swim freely underwater. To him, it was worth the risk. 

He looked at his companion, Rose, who he spent every minute with and said, “Rose, you stay here. I’ll be back before you know it.”

She gave him a worried look, but smiled and gave his cheek a huge lick. 

The four of them then walked over to the side of the ship and sat on the edge of a small ledge that the Torturians used when transforming between merfolk and lanfolk. The adventurers held their Torturian Scales to their chests and slowly turned into mermaids and mermen. 

Looking over at Darius, they could hardly believe what they saw. Darius’ fish tail grew longer than everyone else’s. And they couldn’t help but notice the huge grin on this face. Without missing a beat, he dipped his tail into the water and splashed a huge wave of water onto his friends. The three princesses laughed in response.

“Let’s hurry up you four. Scorch isn’t going to heal himself.” Jewel said, diving into the water. 

They followed Jewel underwater to Scorch, the dragon, who had turned into stone. 

“So this is what happens when the heart element is out of balance.” Aria said, noticing the large stone dragon on the bottom of the sea. 

“First it starts with selfishness and thinking about only yourself. Then we start getting angry more often and hating others. But usually, turning someone to stone is intentional. When someone decides to use the crystal for themselves.” Jewel explained.

“Like the ogre K’Orloch?” Lulu asked.

“Exactly like that.” Jewel said. Knowing well, what the power of the crystals could do if more of them had fallen into the wrong hands. 

Since Aria had just learned that she was the last crystal keeper, she needed a little help from the others on how to harness the power of the black crystal. Nea, Lulu and Darius stepped in and gave her a quick lesson and explained how important it was to trust the crystal, no matter what was going on around you. To let the crystal’s power flow through and resist the urge to make the crystal heal Atheria the way you want it to. It was more about relaxing and having faith in the crystal and how ever it might balance the world. 

Aria was a natural. Both her and Darius held out their crystals and as as they hovered above their hands, a strong white and black beam of light grew even stronger from the two Devorian Keepers. The two lights grew and then layered on top of each other, twisting together and  hurling towards the stone dragon. 

As the light grew and penetrated the dragon, his stone skin began to crack and eventually break away from his body. When it did, the dragon stretched out his wings and gave a loud underwater cry before launching himself up through the water and into the sky. 

“Quick! We can’t lose him!” Nea said, swimming up to the top of the water.  

When she got to the top of the water and back on the boat, Scorch was there, flying over in circle. 

“It seems you two have a special bond.” Said one of the mermen on the boat. 

Nea smiled as the others made their way back on board.

Back on land, they thanked Jewel for the help and returned the magic scales she had lent them. Nea walked over to Scorch and without thinking twice, put her hand upon his head and stroked it. He gave a deep dragon purr, then motioned for her to mount his back. 

They all hopped on the dragon, said their farewells then traveled back to the Dwarf Mining Camp. When they got there it was clear that the soldiers were growing restless. It looked like the King of Cedar Landing had sent his troops for reinforcements and even some elves had started to join the fray. But that said, there was still uncertainty as to how many would be attacking the Dwarf Mining Camp and how strong they would be. Ogres and trolls were a strong force to be reckoned with.

As soon as they arrived, Blu and Paul came out to get them “Princess Aria & Darius! Come quick! We must hurry to Lake Gravestone. Everyone is there waiting for us. Time is running out!” 

A huge trumpet blow came rumbling in the distance. 

Prince William and Clef were there, mixed in with the soldiers. And then they saw from the east a handful of giants joining the fight. There was a dwarf near Lulu who began to play a special tune on his flute.

[Strengthening Tune]

“What’s that tune for?” Lulu asked him.

“Well, if you play this special tune on one of our magic flutes, it will give strength - even more so with giants. But we only play it in emergencies.” He replied. 

Before she could ask him anything else and learn how to play it on her own magic flute, Paul interrupted. “Quick! We must go, now! They’ve got this! We’ve got to heal the temple!”

They saddled on Scorch and Lulu called Beaker, her magic duckling that could turn into a griffin. They rode on their flying beasts north to Lake Gravestone while Darius rode Rose below and Aria flew alongside them with her Skyrabian wings.

They landed in a small clearing next to the lake where the Shadow Man stood, next to a beautiful white unicorn. When Scorch saw the unicorn he let out a huge scream filled with fire. 

“What is it, Scorch?” asked Nea. 

“I think he recognizes her.” Said Paul, who was saddled behind Nea on Scorch. 

Standing on the ground in a circle were the rest of the keepers of the Atherian Crystals and a few other adventures they’d met along the way. O’Lah stood there with her brother Wahl looking at his magic map and talking to the three dwarfs. Phin and Coryn were practicing their sword-fighting techniques. Talia the fairy hovered with Drathos the giant protector.

“They’re all here!” Lulu said. 

“That’s what I said at the camp!” Blu responded. 

As soon as they got to the ground, the Shadow Man set the magic stone on top of a pedestal he’d created and walked over to his old friend, Scorch. 

“It seems you’ve found another Keeper.” He said. “I’m glad you’re all right. You gave me quite a scare. Old friend.”

Scorch licked his face, then looked over at the stone. 

“I think you remember this one.” The shadow man said, making room for the large beast to blow his breath of fire on the amber heart. “We even found Mystic.” 

Scorch let out a huge screech then blew a huge breath of fire over the amber heart. The heart began to glow and burn the most beautiful colors. Then it started to beat, just like a real heart would.

“Mystic,” the shadow man said, calling the unicorn over. “It’s your turn.”

The unicorn galloped around the dragon, keeping a steady eye on it as she danced. 

“Does she seem a little too happy to see a dragon?” asked Jacob, confused as to why a unicorn would gallop so jovially around a dragon. 

“Meh.” Nea shrugged. “At this point, nothing would surprise me.”

Mystic, the unicorn, ended her circle above the amber heart and looked up at the dragon, giving a heartfelt smile. Then tears began to well up in her eyes and fall upon the amber heart. Cooling it down and encasing it with a magic glow. 

“Snarga teego Spagga.”  

Everyone turned to Drathos and then looked at Talia, the fairy, to translate what he’d said. 

He said, “We have the key, give it to one of the keepers and let’s go!”

“And just in time.” Wahl said, holding his magic map, that would show them where the Tranquil Ruins were. As the sun went down and the moon began to rise, the location began to appear. 

Blu pulled out the magic compass Nea had lent her and handed it back. 

“This was perfect!” she said. 

“Glad it helped.” Nea replied. 

They traveled to the ends of the badlands and came across a small grove that was surrounded by trees all around them. It was here that they were to find the ruins. 

“Where are the ruins?” asked Aria. “This is just a grove.”

“It has to be here.” Nea said looking at the compass, which also pointed to the grove.

Talia looked at Drathos.

“Snabla groba norda.” He said pointing to the ground. 

“We just entered it,” translated Talia.

“The amber heart!” Darius exclaimed, “It’s beating again.”

Immediately the trees began to grow and get bigger and bigger and taller and taller. And as the amber heart continued to beat, the forest continued to grow and the trees began to turn into walls for the temple. And wind began to pick up. And as the wind picked up, it blew all the leaves off the tree. And then all of the branches of the trees grew together to create a ceiling for the temple.

[Bump, bump] The heart beat. And with every beat the temple was recreating itself all around them.

As soon as the branches enclosed the temple, they felt water coming up from the ground. And the water started to harden, just like a floor. And then the heat started to appear, and it turned the water into stone.

Next there was clay that started to appear, dirt out of the ground that made statues of old soldiers and heroes inside the temple. And then all of the other tablets – one for water, one for earth, one for wind and one for fire – appeared all around on the walls, until pretty soon the whole entire group found themselves inside a completely restored temple. A temple that had rebuilt itself around them.

The amber heart had been the key used to hide this temple and it would only recreate itself with Keepers of pure heart. 

And slowly in the middle of the temple, two spots emerged with a heart symbol for the Devorian keepers to step on - just like in the other temples. 

Everyone awkwardly looked at Darius who was still mounted on his bear companion, Rose. He confidently rode towards the middle of the temple and as he did, the spot began to get bigger, making space for not only Aria and Darius, but for Rose to fit as well. 

As the Devorian Keepers stepped on the symbol and pulled out their white and black crystals, the two crystals hovered above their hands and then started glowing powerfully inside the temple. When they had reached their full brightness a burst of black and white light shot out from the base of the temple and out through the Heart Ruins and into the sky.
 
The other keepers began to see their own symbols on the wall and they each walked over and pulled out their crystals. As they did a rainbow of color began to fill the room and swirl around the keepers, culminating high above their heads and bursting out of the temple and connecting with the huge black and white beams of light. 

The last two colors of the rainbow twirled around the colorful pillar in the sky, until the streams of light collided and exploded, sending a huge burst across the sky. The rainbow of all ten crystals covered Atheria from one end to the other, showering the land with an unspoken promise and a sense of hope. 

From within the temple, the heroes began to feel a strong sense of accomplishment for they had finally found all the crystals, all the keepers and had restored the final temple on their quest to save Atheria.

They had restored the last two crystals to the last temple. Atheria was healed. 

Or was it. Had the ogres been defeated? Was Atheria finally safe again?

As Nea and Lulu rode into the sunrise on Scorch & Beaker, they had a feeling that this adventure was only just beginning. Little did they know there was a dark force growing across the shores of Atheria. A force that sensed Atheria was vulnerable and wanted to take advantage of it for evil.

The end.