The Eternal Guardians: Book 1: The Missing Heir

Chapter 43

“Wow!” stated Riah, as she looked at the amazing beautiful scenery, as they came out of the other side of the doorway.

Even Ashta, Roman and Ray had a look of amazement on their faces. The sun was high and bright in the clear blue sky. There were all sorts of green trees and vibrant foliage across the land as far as the eye could see. The air was crisp and clean and smelled fresh, unlike Taitum and Nemiph, which had a distinct smell of dead bark and earthy dirt.

“Wow! This place is really beautiful,” Roman said, as he took a deep breath in, and then he let it out.

Oddly, Ashta looked at him and he glanced her way. Evidently, the toxic poison still rushed through his veins, but it was beginning to weaken and he began feeling old feelings for her again. This was a confusing time for him as he fought against his senses and the toxic residue.

At that moment, a small ball of bright light slowly approached them and then a young man appeared before them. He was maybe in his late teens, with blonde hair and green eyes. He wore an outfit that seemed strange to the four of them.

“Welcome to the Water Realm of Passing. Here is where your journey begins and you must pass your first task,” said the young man, and Ashta nodded.

“What do we have to do?” asked Riah, as she looked at the man intrigued.

The young man cleared his throat and nodded.

“The mechanism that keeps the water element flowing through our land has quit working. It has been tampered with and you must find the four gears, put them back in the machine and make it work again,” explained the strange man, as he pointed to a machine-looking structure that was pretty high up on a cliff.

“That’s it?” asked Ray in shock, and the man smiled as he nodded.

“But you must do it together,” he added, and then the man disappeared.

Riah looked at Ray and she tilted her head.

“That was weird,” she said, and he nodded in agreement.

“So, let’s find the missing gear for the machine, put it back together and get out of here,” stated Roman, as he began to walk down the trail that was in front of them.

Heavily, Ashta sighed. Seemingly, she had seen a glimpse of the old Roman, whom she loved, and then within the same moment, he was gone. Silently, Ashta, Riah, and Ray followed the prince down the trail and through the forest.

After a few moments, the trail came to an end, and they looked around. There was a huge crater in the ground and what looked like a cliff that used to have a raging waterfall rushing into the empty hole. There were rocky walls on each side of the missing waterfall and the machine that was attached to the side of the cliff had a wooden platform and a ladder that hung down off of it.

Superficially, the fairly large mechanism looked like a huge gear and pulley system. Ashta studied it for a moment and then she saw a way to climb to the top of the cliff if they needed to. Now that they found the machine, all that they had to do was find the gears.

“So, where do you think we will find the missing gears?” Riah asked, and Ashta shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, Ray and I will check over here, and you two can look over there. We can cover more ground if we split up,” stated Roman, and Ashta looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.

He looked at her and then he shook his head.

“What’s his problem?” Riah whispered, as the two men walked away from them.

“I am not sure,” Ashta stated, as she watched them as they walked away.

Oddly, Roman was acting a lot stranger than Ashta remembered. He didn’t seem as angry anymore, but he still had an attitude that she didn’t like, but she noticed that he seemed to be struggling with something on the inside and she wondered what it was.

“Let’s go up there,” said Ashta, as she pushed her thoughts out of her mind, and then she pointed to the top of the cliff.

Riah looked up and then she looked back at Ashta.

“How do you think we can get up there?” she asked, and Ashta grinned at her.

“I will show you.”

Dramatically, Ashta waved her hands toward the rocky pile of boulders, and then she began to climb up them. Riah only nodded and then she climbed the rocks as she followed her friend’s every move.

Ashta pulled herself to the top and looked over the edge. The top of the cliff wasn’t that big, but the cliff floor jutted back and then there were more walls. There was a riverbed that ran through and then went over the edge. Riah pulled herself up and then the two girls smiled at each other as they looked down at where the guys were.

Oddly, they saw them disappear behind some fallen rocks, and then they came back out with smiles on their faces. Softly, Ashta and Riah giggled as they watched the two men frantically look around for them.

“Where did they go?” asked Ray, and they noticed that he was carrying two golden objects.

“Hey, boys!” called Riah, and they looked up at her.

She waved her fingers at them as she grinned, and Ashta grinned as well.

“How did you get up there?” he asked in awe, and she smiled at him.

“We climbed up the rocks!” she yelled, as she pointed.

He smiled at her, and he only nodded.

“We found two of the gears!” Roman yelled up, as he grinned widely.

“Okay. We are going to check up here,” Ashta called down to him, and then, to her surprise, Roman looked at her with concern.

“Be careful,” he said, and Ashta looked at him oddly for a moment.

Ray put his hand on his cousin’s shoulder, and then Roman shook his head again.

“We are going to get these up to that machine and put the gears where they belong,” stated Ray, and the girls nodded.

“Come on,” said Ashta, and the girls turned to the back of the cavern.

After a few moments of walking around, Riah found the first gear in the stony wet riverbed where the water once rushed through.

“Great, one more to go!” said Ashta cheerfully, and Riah nodded.

At that moment, Ashta spotted the last gear in the back of the cavern on the other side of the riverbed and she grinned at Riah.

“I think I found it,” she said, as she jumped down into the riverbed and climbed up to the other side.

Riah followed her as she carried her gear. The gears were large and they had a little weight to them. They were round with little rounded edges that jutted out from a center hole. Easily, Ashta walked over to the gear and she picked it up. Riah grinned at her.

“Okay, let’s get over to the mechanism,” said Ashta, and Riah nodded.

Suddenly, the whole cavern began to shake, and then it stopped.

“Whoa!” said Riah, and Ashta looked at her with wide eyes.

“What was that?” Ashta asked.

“I don’t know but I hope that it doesn’t happen again,” she stated, and Ashta nodded in agreement.

Quickly, they made their way to the side of the cliff where the machine was and they saw a flat boulder jutting out of the side of the cliff that they could use to jump across to the machine’s wooden platform. Roman and Ray were already on the platform and they had already put their gears in their designated spots. Curiously, they looked over at them.

“We found the other two gears!” Riah said, excitedly, as she and Ashta stepped on the flat suspended rock.

“Great! Wait, you two aren’t going to jump, are you?” Ray asked, and Riah didn’t say a word.

Instead, she took a running leap and then she jumped onto the wooden platform in front of Ray.

“No, not at all,” she said as she grinned at him, and Riah shyly glanced away. Ashta laughed and then, suddenly, the rock moved and acted like it was going to fall.

Quickly, Ashta grabbed onto a thick root that was sticking out of the ground and then she yelled. At that moment, Riah, Ray and Roman looked at her in fear. Scared, Ashta looked at Roman with wide eyes.

Evidently, he knew that she was scared and he wanted to help her. However, there was a voice in the back of his mind that cheered for her to fall to her death. Angrily, he shook the thought from his mind and then he looked at her with a reassuring look.

“Ashta, you are going to have to jump. I will catch you!” he called to her, and then she looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.

She couldn’t trust him, Ashta thought, and then suddenly the rock moved downward again. Frantically, she grabbed the root tighter, and then she looked over at him.

“Trust him. Just this once,” the moon god’s voice echoed in her mind, and she searched Roman’s eyes.

“Okay,” she breathed, as she began to steady herself.

Cautiously, Roman walked to the edge of the wooden platform, and Ashta looked over at him as she still held onto the root, but she had her feet planted on the rock.

“Come on,” Roman snarled under his breath, as Ashta looked at him.

Ashta swallowed hard as she let go of the root and then she immediately ran and leapt off of the rock as it gave way and crashed to the ground. At that moment, Ashta held the gear close to her as she reached out for Roman and then they both grabbed each other’s arms. Swiftly, he pulled her close to him and they both tumbled backward onto the wooden platform, breathing heavily. They both stared into each other’s eyes as Ashta swallowed hard.

“I got you,” he breathed, and then leaned his head back.

Ashta moved upward and then she searched his eyes for a moment, and that is when she saw the man she once knew.

“Thank you,” she said softly, and he nodded.

Silently, Ray and Riah stared at them for a moment, and then they looked at each other.

“Are we going to put the last gear in, or are you two going to need a few more moments?” Riah asked, as she looked at Ashta.

Suddenly, Roman cleared his throat, and then Ashta nervously smiled at him.

“Uh, yeah,” she nervously laughed, and then she scrambled to her feet.

Quickly, Roman got to his feet as he stared at her for a moment. He felt the voice in the back of his mind scold him for letting her live, but he pushed the voice back down. However, the toxicity surged through his blood and took over. Ashta handed Riah the last gear and then Ashta looked over at Roman. Noticeably, the guy that she knew was gone because Roman sneered at her.

“Don’t take my kindness as a sign that I am joining sides, I just know that you are more useful to me alive,” he snarled, and Ashta crossed her arms, as she scoffed.

“I am thrilled to learn that at least we can agree on one thing,” she sneered, and then she walked over to Riah.

Noticeably, she still held the gear in her hand, as she stared at an inscription.

“Riah?” she asked, as Ashta approached her.

“This inscription says that once the last gear is put into place, the water will only flow when the element is called,” she explained, as she looked at Ashta with wide eyes.

“Okay?” said Ashta with a confused look on her face.

What was Riah worried about? she wondered.

Riah turned to her and gave her a knowing look.

“How are you supposed to call upon the element if you don’t have your powers?” she asked, as she held the gear up to the cylinder.

Ashta looked at her thoughtfully and grinned.

“Let’s try this. Put the last gear in and then we will go and see if we can call upon the element with the dance,” suggested Ashta.

“Do you think it will work?” asked Riah, and Ashta shrugged her shoulders.

“We have to try.”

“Okay,” agreed Riah, as she slid the gear into place.

At that moment, the machine jolted and then it started up and the girls sighed in relief.

“Nothing is happening? Where is the water?” Ray asked impatiently after a moment, and the girls looked at the two men.

“We have to call upon the element,” stated Ashta, as she found the wooden rope ladder to climb down from the platform.

Aggravated, Roman looked at Ray and made a face.

“I am not doing that,” he stated gruffly, as he and Ray climbed down the ladder.

After Roman stepped off of the ladder, he turned to Ashta to see her glaring at him.

“What?” He asked and she kept her hard stare on him.

“Yes, you are!” She stated.

“We have to do this together!” Ashta added and Roman scowled at her.

Evidently, he had not done the elemental dance in months, he had never done it by himself, but he wasn’t so sure that he wanted to start it back up, especially with her. However, then there was that part of him that cheered happily knowing that he would dance with her again. He was so confused.

“But she needs you and you need her. Don’t let those negative thoughts cloud your judgment,” whispered a voice in his mind.

At that moment, he felt the pull of the toxicity that was still in his body, and he shook his head. Suddenly, the feeling faded and he looked at Ashta hopefully.

“I don’t remember how. Will you teach me again?” He asked through gritted teeth.

“Come on, we will all do it together,” said Riah, as she looked at Ray with a smile.

Ray nodded and he placed his hand on Roman’s shoulder.

“Come on, cous. I am right here with you,” said Ray encouragingly, and Roman nodded.

The toxic poison had almost completely worn off in Ray and he was beginning to think more clearly. Seemingly, Roman had seen a change in his cousin, and the toxicity was starting to fade in him too. It was just taking a little bit more time in Roman than it did in Ray.

***********************

“I cannot wait until my son gets back with the princess and sees what you have done to our world!” Chantelle snapped at Maya, as she was pulled through the castle by a couple of Selvempt guards.

Evilly, Maya sneered at the woman.

“Lock her up with her precious king and his brother. And for your information, my dear son is on a mission to get rid of that brat niece of mine,” Maya said with sparkling eyes.

Suddenly, Chantelle fell under the queen’s powerful trance and evidently believed every word Maya said.

“No! You’re a monster!” Chantelle cried, as tears flowed down her cheeks, and she hung her head in defeat.

“Nothing can save you now!” Maya sneered, and then she nodded to the guards.

“No! Please!” Chantelle pleaded, as the guards pulled her toward the dungeon.

Maya smiled triumphantly as she looked out on her hellish kingdom. Roman was going to be proud of her when he got back, she thought to herself.

Chantelle supported Ashta and Maya didn’t like anyone that supported the princess in her kingdom. Maya believed Chantelle to be the biggest traitor of them all, because she was Roman’s mother. Maya decided that she would let him decide his mother’s fate, after he had returned from his little trip with the princess. After all, the queen believed that she had made a mean and arrogant killing machine that would show no mercy.

“How can you support that monster!” Chantelle screamed, as the guards threw her into one of the cells and then they locked the door. Without a word, the guards left and Chantelle hit her knees. She felt defeated.

“Chantelle?” called Liam.

“Yes, my lord,” she said quietly.

“Please, don’t worry. My brother and I have faith that Ashta and Roman will settle their differences and they will become what they were meant to be. This was something that they had to go through to reach their destiny,” he said reassuringly.

“She has turned my son into a monster just like she is,” Chantelle said sadly.

“Ashta will get through to him. I know it,” said Gale hopefully.

“Doesn’t she hate him?” she asked, and suddenly the room fell silent.

“Exactly,” she stated.

*************************

Thoughtfully, Ashta looked at Roman. She didn’t understand what the battle was that he was fighting within himself, but she knew that he needed to snap out of it. Evidently, she decided to push her feelings aside and she would be nice to him.

“Sure, of course,” she said, as she gently smiled at him.

“We will do it, just like we did before,” she added encouragingly.

For a moment, he stared at her and noticed the dimple on her cheek when she smiled. That was one of his favorite things about her that attracted him to her. He had completely lost his mind the first time he had seen her smile and the dimple appeared. At that moment, he gave into his feelings and he nodded.

“Okay, together,” he agreed, and Ashta couldn’t help but shyly smile.

Riah and Ray gave each other a hopeful look as they both smiled.