The Ancient Relics

The Most Valuable Possession

“How are we supposed to get the gem,” Faith asked as she and the rest appeared in the middle of The Reflection Town.

“I don’t know, but I am pretty sure you asking the same question every single moment isn’t going to help,” Nash replied, clearly angry. 

Nova couldn’t blame him, given the circumstances. How could you take something that was considered the most prized possession for the whole town? It was like trying to sneak away from home in front of your parents. 

The Invisible Relic, a gray diamond, was located in this town and according to Nash, was the only thing that the residence considered valuable. They walked a few steps in silence, each of them trying to think of a way that would help them get that relic without being caught. The town was empty, except for a few vendors, which apparently were not that great because not a single person was out there buying from them. 

“Where are the rest of the people,” Autumn asked, a hint of worry clear in her voice. 

“The king used a spell on them to protect the gem, so now they are asleep and won’t wake up until the gem is in danger. The vendors must be the few who managed to survive the spell,” Nash informed them.

“Are there any normal cities in your world,” Faith said, smirking.

No one answered her this time. Nova looked at the book one more time, trying to find anything useful that could help them in this problem, and that’s when her eyes fell on the map. Even though the gem was on top of a circular pedestal above the dome of the palace -which only added more to the challenge of getting it- the map was pointing toward what Nova assumed was one of the shacks. 

“Did anyone notice this before,” she said, pointing to the map.

“That is weird. Why isn’t it pointing to the relic,” Esther said once she noticed what Nova was talking about. 

“I have no idea why, but so far the map has always been right. Maybe it is a clue to how we can get the gem, which I think is definitely worth checking out,” Autumn said, joining in.

Nova shrugged and headed toward the shake, everyone following behind her. Once they reached it, they found an old woman looking at them, a collection of what looked like bracelets lying in front of her. The woman said something, but neither Nova nor her friends could understand it so they turned to Nash, hoping he knew whatever language this was.

“She is asking if she can help you in any way,” he said, clearly annoyed to be used as a human translator. 

“Ask her if she has anything..out of the ordinary in her collection,” Faith said.

Nova sighed “She means that you should probably question her about anything weird that showed up in her shop.”

Nash nodded, and then spoke something incomprehensible as well before the woman replied back. He didn’t bother to translate for them as the conversation continued, and Nova hoped that he found whatever it was they were looking for. Finally, after exchanging what seemed like sentences for a long while, Nash turned to them and shook his head. “Nothing here is weird, but she did say that her grandson would probably know better. I asked her if she could bring him and she said he was bringing something and coming back, so I guess we will have to wait. Also, she invited us to stay with her for a bit till he comes.”

“That isn’t much of a plan, but at this point, I am willing to follow it,” Esther said as she gave the woman a warm smile. 

Nova on the other hand, wanted to leave as quickly as possible. However, that wasn’t because she wanted to get the job done, but it was about the fact that the woman reminded her so much of her grandmother, and she couldn’t bear that. 

She quickly shoved the thought deep down her mind, not wanting her friends to see her this way. Plus, fretting over the past wasn’t going to accomplish anything. The woman waved them over to her side and they quickly followed. Nova was about to laugh when she was met by a solid rock wall. Was this the woman’s idea of hosting a person? The woman smiled a bit when she saw their shocked faces and started moving her hand, revealing what looked like a small room with chairs that had cushions on them and a big round table.

“I kind of forgot to mention that but the people around here mostly have the power of illusion, so be careful where you are going,” Nash said as he stepped inside.

“If that is a thing you forget, what stuff do you remember,” Faith exaggerated, annoyed by the fact that he has left out such an important detail. 

Nova walked in and plopped on one of the chairs, glad to have some rest. Maybe this mission wasn’t going to be bad after all. 

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Someone started shouting something at Nova, but she couldn’t make it out. 

“NOVA WAKE UP,” screamed a person, shocking her awake.

Did she sleep? To be fair, she hasn’t done that in a while, but still, how could she do it with everything happening around her? She opened her eyes, then blinked a few times as the light startled her. 

“The boy is here. We better go ask him and leave now so we can get this whole thing done with,” Faith said, finally dropping her sarcasm. 

Nova got up and strode toward the not-so-normal wall, where she assumed the rest had gone. 

“I can understand you,” Autumn said as she started jumping up and down. 

Nova clearly missed a lot of this conversation. What was Autumn so excited about? All of them could understand each other normally. A look at her Esther and Nash told her something was definitely up. 

“Guys, what is wrong,” she asked, tired of making guesses. 

“You must be the other girl they were talking about,” said a boy with turquoise eyes and beeline honey ruffled hair.

Now it was Nova’s time to freak out. She could hear him perfectly! Like he was talking normal English, which was the same thing that happened with Nash. Did that mean he was the one to bond with The Invisible Relic? Had he been the reason that the book pointed toward this particular shack?

“I think he is the reason we are here,” she whispered so only her friends could hear.

“No dip Sherlock, we already figured that out,” Faith said.

Nova blushed a little, not liking the fact that she was the oblivious one. 

“We have to tell him everything and get him to help us,” Autumn chimed in.

“Tell him what? Hey, we are trying to steal the gem that you think is a prized possession, will you help us,” Nash asked.

“Is there something wrong,” the boy said when he was bored of all their secret talking.

“We need to tell you something,” Faith said as she grabbed the boy’s hand and practically dragged him behind her. 

Nash shot all of them a look that showed he wasn’t happy about all of this as he quickly followed. Unfortunately, before any of them could even sit down, everything went dark. Nova thought it was because of a power outage, if there was something like that here, but was clearly proven wrong as long, horrible figures made of shadows appeared. They had no distinct shape and seemed to float around.  She felt stuff bump into her as she tried to move but didn’t care. Dark shadows didn’t mean anything but trouble, and she was done with troubles. The creatures, though, didn’t seem to care about what she thought, and they proved that when she heard a blood-curdling scream coming from in front of her.