Elements

The rest of the day didn’t go by any faster than the first part did. When the clock finally read 3 o’clock, I grabbed my bag and went to meet with my group in our usual spot: under the giant oak tree in the front of the school. I almost made it there when I was stopped by a mysterious figure dressed in all black. I couldn’t see much of his face because it was covered by a hood.

“Tonight at midnight,” he whispered. The voice was strangely familiar, but I couldn’t tell where I’ve heard it before. “You and your friends must be prepared. Your gems will glow and you’ll be taken to a magical place.”

My eyes were wide as he walked away. “Wait! Who are you? How do you know about our gems? Where are we going to be taken?” I followed him until he went behind a tree. I looked behind it, and he was gone.

I walked back to the oak tree to find Carina, Michael, and Leo waiting.

“What took you so long?” Carina asked.

“The weirdest thing just happened.” I told them the whole story, and they listened, their faces looking confused and shocked.

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to be ready at midnight to see whatever happens,” Michael concluded. He turned to Leo. “Let’s go, man. See you guys later.”

“Bye guys.”

“Do you need a ride home?” Carina asked.

“No. Raven is supposed to take me.”

“Alright. Call me if he decides to ditch you again.” I laughed.

“Will do. See ya.”

“Bye girl.”

I turned to see my brother walking toward me. His piercing blue eyes were glistening as he stared dreamily towards Marcy. He’s had a crush on her since Middle School.

“You should take a picture. It’ll last longer,” I said to him jokingly.

“I got her number and asked her out!” Raven exclaimed, running his hands through his black hair.

“Good for you. It was about time.” I nudged his elbow and he rolled his eyes. The whole ride home, he couldn’t stop talking about how pretty she was. I’m not going to lie, Marcy was pretty gorgeous. She had golden hair, with brilliant pink streaks going through it. She had freckles across her pale skin, and was overall a sweet girl. Raven kept talking about how her deep brown eyes would twinkle whenever she laughed her perfect laugh. It was pretty revolting, but cute, in a way.

I laid in bed that night, waiting for it to be midnight. I couldn’t stand the suspense of what was going to happen. Eventually, I pulled out my phone and texted my friends.

Jade: R u guys up?

Carina: Yep. Curious to see what’ll happen.

Michael: I have a feeling nothing’s gonna happen.

Leo: But how did that guy even know about our gems?

Jade: No clue. I tried to get more info off of him, but as I said earlier, he just disappeared.

Carina: Weird

Leo: Hey, one minute till midnight. Is anyone else nervous?

Carina: Yep

I was about to text something when the time on my phone turned to 12:00. At first, nothing happened, when my green gem started to glow. My head felt weird, and my whole room started to get blurry. Then, just like that, I was no longer in my room. I was somewhere completely different.

It looked like it was pulled straight from a fantasy movie. All around me were enormous trees, the leaves a beautiful golden color, and the trunks were an off-white. The sky was an outstanding combination of lilac, rose, and gold.

After admiring the place, I noticed Leo, Carina, and Michael were here with me. In front of us stood a woman, too angelic-looking to be real. She was tall and had tan, almost golden skin that seemed to be glowing. She wore a marvelous dress, that had gold sleeves. The center of it was a deep blue with white specks, which made it look like the night sky. She had long, luscious, golden hair that flowed past her waist. There was a crown on her head, with four stones on them. I looked closely and realized that the stones were the ones that I, Carina, Leo, and Michael had. I was too stunned to speak, or even move for that matter.

“Welcome, my children,” she spoke, in a deep, calming voice. “You are here so I can warn you. You are the protectors of the four elements, and there are people who want to take that away from you. Soon, there will be four powerful people who will try to go after you, called Toxic Shadow. They will try to take your gems. They want the powers all to themselves, but we cannot let that happen. It is your job to protect yourselves, one another, your loved ones, and most importantly, the stones.”

“Who’s Toxic Shadow?” Leo wondered, his blue eyes wide.

“Toxic Shadow consists of four very strong villains. Boulder has the power to control any rock, from a pebble to a boulder. He can manipulate anything made of stone too. He’s not strong enough to lift an entire building, but he can control its massive debris. Then, there’s Black Hole. She can make portals and send anyone or anything through them. The portal on the other side can lead anywhere within a certain range of her. Next is Icy Volcano. He has freeze breath, that can turn anyone to ice. He also has lava breath, which you need to be careful of. Finally, Touchless, the leader of the group. She makes invisible platforms, used to trap people, attack them, and lift people and objects. The whole group is extremely dangerous.”

“Where are we?” Carina asked. She couldn’t stop staring at everything around her, and I could tell she wasn’t paying much attention to what the angel lady was saying.

“You, my child, are in Mystic Meadows. I am Willow.” She handed us each a small remote, which was attached to a watch band. There were six buttons on it. Four of them had a different gem that represented an element, another had a willow tree, and the last had a black bird on it.

“This is a special watch. If you ever need to contact one another or myself, press the button that symbolizes them and you will be able to reach them. Keep these safe.”

“What does the bird button do?” Michael wondered, admiring the watch.

“Don’t worry about that. Don’t press it unless I tell you.” I saw a flicker of something in her eyes, but it was gone before I could decipher what it meant.

“Who are you exactly?” I asked Willow.

“I am the queen of Mystic Meadows. I rule a kingdom, which isn’t too far from here. I look after my people, but most importantly, the land. There are four objects here that provide you the source for your powers.” She led us to a cave, which had four glass cases.

“This is the Cave of Miracles. These elemental items are the where each of your powers comes from. The Golden Roots, the Everburning Flame, the Windstorm, and the Sacred Water. If anything were to happen to these, the world would be havoc.”

I walked around and admired each glass case. I stared at the Golden Roots. This must have been where my powers came from. I moved onto the Everburning Flame. Its flames were so majestic, as they danced around in the glass case. Then the Windstorm. It looked like a mini tornado, but it was peaceful. Lastly, the Sacred Water. It was in a golden bowl. The water looked crystal clear, and it looked like it was a flowing river in the bowl. Each one of these fascinated me.

“These are all amazing. What would happen to these if Toxic Shadow got ahold of them?” Leo asked as he stared into the Everburning Flame.

“Well, if Toxic Shadow found Mystic Meadows, they would forge the elemental items together, to create a strong staff. They would use the staff to get the gems out of you four, which would kill you,” Willow explained.

“How would they even get to this place?” Michael asked. “Aren’t we in another world or something?”

“You all have access in and out of here. All you have to do is stand in a circle and connect to your elements. You will feel the powers and strength of each other, then teleport here. Anyone standing in the middle of the circle will come here as well. They will force you to do this.

“I must send you all back now. You are sworn to secrecy. When the time comes, be ready to call on the elements. They will be with you to fight. If you ever need me, call for me on your watches. I’ll talk with you all soon.”

And with that, Mystic Meadows became blurry, and I was instantly back in my bedroom.