Dawn came. I let out a huge yawn and scrambled out of the bed. I ended up flipping over several times and flopping onto the squishy thing on the floor.
"I should've slept on this thing," I mumbled to myself.
I had woken up in the middle of the night several times. The bed kept wrapping me in some thin white substance similar to what Azor had on his body. It felt like it was trying to smother me.
"And here I was thinking I was actually going to get some sleep," I mumbled.
I flipped myself right side up and looked around. I let out a grunt of frustration. The door had closed on its own. Well, at least I knew how to open it. I jumped up, landed heavily on the twisting stick, and kicked the door.
It didn't budge.
I did it again.
I didn't budge.
And again.
And again.
Still nothing.
"Am I timing it wrong?" I asked myself.
The door suddenly opened and slammed me into the wall behind it.
"Cyil, are you having trouble opening the door?" Qassot asked. She poked her head in. "Cyil?"
"Back here," I groaned.
Qassot walked into the room and closed the door.
"Oh, whoops," Qassot said, "Didn't mean to squish you there."
"How did you open it?" I asked.
"You can push it open from one side, but you have to pull it from the other side," Qassot explained, "I just figured that out with my own door."
"Oh," I mumbled. "Here, let me try."
"Hmm? Oh, let me get it," Qassot said.
"No, thanks," I responded, "I need to figure this thing out by myself."
"Okay," Qassot said. She jumped into the bed. "I'll be here then."
It took significantly longer before I figured out how to jump onto the twisting stick, grab it with my legs, and pull backwards to open the door.
"WOO HOO!" I shouted. "I KNEW I COULD DO IT!"
Qassot yawned from the bed. "Cool, let's go get something to eat now."
"Were you even looking?" I asked.
"No," Qassot said, "I was sleeping."
I deflated slightly and scuttled out the door without another word. I smashed into Azor's leg.
"Watch where you're going."
"Sorry," I said, "Ow."
"Breakfast is ready," Azor said, "Is everyone awake?"
"What's breakfast?"
Azor sighed and instead walked to Dracoa's room and opened the door.
"Looks like Dracoa got an early start," he said. He closed the door and walked back over. "Wait, Qassot? Weren't you in that room?"
"Well, yeah," Qassot said, "But I came over to watch Cyil figure out how to open the door. I guess I fell asleep while watching him. Something about a golden fuzzball jumping around…"
"Well, it's time to eat. Follow me."
"Ohh," I suddenly said, "So that's what breakfast means!"
Azor sighed again and led us down some stairs, past some doors, and around the castle in a completely nonsensical path before we reached the bottom floor. He then led us through a few doors to the outside of the castle.
"Now I just need to go find where Riselus slept for the night," Azor said, starting to walk around the ground.
"Why?" I asked.
"There's something important you all need to see before we can eat."
"Aww," Qassot said, "I'm hungry, though."
"Doesn't matter," Azor said, stepping up onto a small hill. "This is urgent. Now, where did Riselus go?"
The hill under Azor shook. Azor immediately jumped off. His hands glowed white and he crouched into a ready stance.
Riselus climbed out of the hole he had been sleeping in. Turns out he slept at the stop of the small hill Azor climbed onto.
"You like playing tricks, don't you?" Azor asked.
"I have no idea what you mean," Riselus grunted.
"Do you know where Dracoa is?" Azor asked.
"How should I know?" Riselus asked.
"She's up there," Qassot said, pointing behind me. I glanced up. Dracoa was perched on one of the spires of the castle, close enough for me to see her judging me with her eyes. Azor waved at her. She flew down.
Azor cleared his throat and said, "Good morning everyone. I trust that everyone had a good night?"
"Guess so," I yawned.
Dracoa asked, "What's this all about?"
"I have something urgent to tell you," Azor said, taking on a serious tone, "Last night, I heard a strange sound from the watching orb."
"What's that?" I asked.
"The orb that blew up yesterday," Riselus grunted.
Azor ignored the interruption and continued. "I went up this morning and saw a portal opening underneath it."
"That probably means trouble," Qassot said.
"Not necessarily. When I went over to it, it grew bigger."
"Yup, trouble."
"No. Something from within the portal began to speak. I couldn't make it out at first. It was calling for someone to listen. I talked to whoever was on the other side and now they want to give you four a message. Come with me."
"Can't we eat breakfast first?" I asked. I was quite hungry from all the effort of opening my door.
"No. This comes first."
"Why?"
Dracoa smacked me into the wall of the castle with her tail.
We went into the fortress. Up staircases, past a room labeled, "Food," (I was sorely tempted to open it) through many hallways, and finally, to the orb. The orb had dimmed greatly, with thin white strands of mist flowing from the orb to a wide circular hole in the air, rimmed with flickering white flame.
"There it is," Azor said, "Go ahead."
Qassot fidgeted and seemed nervous.
"Do we have to?" she asked "What's on the other side?"
"Don't worry about it," Azor said, "It's another wizard. He wants to talk to you."
Qassot relaxed slightly, but Dracoa stiffened. I hid behind Riselus's front leg and stuck to him as he approached.
"How are you always so brave?" I asked.
"Not brave," Riselus sighed, "Just ignorant."
We stepped closer and the portal widened. We saw a white-haired wizard, dressed in strange clothing, sitting down on something in an enclosed room while blue flames raced up and down his body. The room was completely bare, stripped to the dark gray walls, aside from an enormous shimmering silver scythe lying in the corner. The second we were all there, he started to speak. His voice came through the portal in a hollow tone that rang directly into our minds.
I heard that you four were chosen. The fate of that land rests on you, now. Take the gems before he gets to them. Beware the one we trusted before, if he would succeed in raising those we fought to bury, everything would end.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Qassot asked. The portal began to waver.
I need to return to my duties. Good luck, future gem keepers.
"That doesn't answer my question!" Qassot argued. The portal disappeared into mist. The last thing that we saw was the figure pushing a piece of paper through the portal.
"Well, that made a whole lot of sense," I said sarcastically.
"I didn't know he was still alive," Dracoa muttered under her breath. I glanced around. Nobody else seemed to have heard.
"Who?" I asked. Dracoa turned away and ignored my question.
The light returned. The parchment that came through the portal was under the orb. Azor picked it up along with the scroll on top of it. He was muttering to himself. He read the paper. I noticed the expression of fear dart across his face as he read. His hand glowed black. He waved his hand over the scroll, then handed it to me.
"It should be translated now," he said.
The scroll was written clearly and boldly in a swooping script that curved and flowed across the page. A few words were smudged, probably a side-effect of the translation, but it was otherwise legible.
Greetings,
My name is Kovo. When we were called to the Beyond, we left two behind to protect our homeland.
But one of them turned traitor. ████ wants the elemental gems to raise them again. If they were to rise again, everything would be lost. Get them before ████ does and use them to defeat him.
The only thing I can tell you about the gems' location is this; go to the places with the most concentrated elements.
Good luck. You'll need it.