Elements
Chapter 12

I woke up to see Willow, Carina, Michael, and Leo hovering over me.

“Am I dead?” I could still feel the pain stabbing through me, and the last time I checked, my friends were gone.

“You’re very much alive child,” Willow said, helping me sit up. I yelped and she laid me back down. “Do you remember what happened?”

“You all died.”

“When you and Leo leaped behind me to get out of the way of the fire, it melted the ice around me. I grabbed the staff before she could kill you. I have a healing power and was able to revive your friends,” Willow explained.

“Please heal me,” I panted. “I don’t think I can take this much longer.” I looked down to my chest to see green veins under my skin, sprouting from underneath my gem, which was loosely hanging onto my skin.

“Hold still.” Willow placed a warm hand on my chest, and began to sing.

You will not die today,

May the pain go away.

You will no longer suffer,

You will only be tougher.

May the wound hear my song,

And know that it is doing wrong.

You will not die today,

May the pain go away.

The words flowed out of her mouth in a beautiful, melodic rhythm. She removed her hands, and the green veins were gone, and so was the pain.

“What happened to Toxic Shadow?” I wondered.

“They were taken care of,” Willow said smugly, her eyes, the color of autumn leaves, glistening. “I’ll show you later.”

“So now that that’s all cleared up,” Carina started, “how are we going to get our gems back into us?”

“With the help of this staff,” Willow said. “Follow me.”

We walked out of the dungeon and up a set of spiral stairs leading to a golden door. Willow opened it up and I was shocked at what I saw. We were inside of the palace. My boots clacked against the marble floor with gold specks. The walls were a clean white with vines of flowers painted onto them. The high ceilings had golden chandeliers with teardrop-shaped diamonds hanging on, like raindrops about to fall. There were giant palm leaves inside of gold vases sprinkled around the room. I saw a red carpet leading up to two magnificent golden thrones that had plush white cushions.

As I was admiring the thrones, it had never occurred to me there was a king. I always assumed it was just Willow ruling.

“Whose throne is that?” I asked, pointing to them.

“That would be the king’s,” Willow said briefly.

“Who’s the king? Can we meet him?” Leo questioned.

“Not now. He’s probably busy right now. We must go to the Cave of Miracles,” she snapped.

We were all a bit shocked by Willow’s tone of voice. She’s always sounded so calm, even during bad situations. The only time we ever heard her lose her temper was back at Toxic Shadow’s headquarters, and she had a good reason to be mad. I figured it must’ve been a sensitive topic. I could tell the others felt that too because they dropped the subject.

When the big golden doors were opened, I squinted from the light outside. I had gotten used to the dark dungeon. When my eyes finally adjusted, I was horrified at the sight I saw. Thousands of soldiers were laying across the open field, unconscious.

Once again, Willow sang her healing song, her voice sweet and comforting as the words came out of her mouth. Each of the soldiers awoke and looked around, confused.

We walked by them and made it to the cave.

“Do you all have your gems?” Willow asked.

Leo, Michael, and Carina all held theirs up. Willow walked over and plucked them out of their hands.

“Elements on staff, you’ll be taken care, go back to the protectors, you’re rightfully theirs.” Willow tossed the three gems up into the air, four different colored beams came out of the staff, going straight to its gem. They were frozen in the air, until the gems floated over to its owner, implanting itself back in their chest. I looked down and saw my gem being set back securely in its spot. Willow let go of the staff, and it hovered in the air. Each one of the elemental items came off of the staff and back in the opened glass cases. Willow went and gently closed them.

She turned to face us, a hint of a smile lingering on her lips. “Would you like to see what happened to Toxic Shadow?”

“Should I be worried?” I asked, confused on what could’ve possibly happened.

“Nope. Just follow me.”

We walked back to the palace, and Willow led us back down the spiral stairs and into the dungeon.

“What are we doing in here?” I wondered. I looked to my friends. “Do you guys know what happened?”

“We saw what went on, but we were mainly confused when we came back to life and were too busy worrying when you were in pain,” Carina said.

We walked all the way down the hall of the cells and stopped at the wall. Willow pushed a brick and the wall spread apart, making an opening into another room.

“Of course we can’t keep them in the normal dungeon,” Willow said. “We have a room made just for them.”

When we walked in, I saw two rooms on either side with walls made of glass. Inside of one room was Boulder and Icy Volcano, and in the other was Black Hole and Touchless.

“Wouldn’t they be able to escape by now?” I asked.

“This is reinforced glass, impossible to break,” Willow said.

“Look at their hands,” Carina said. “That’s what’s preventing them from using their powers.

They were wearing the dome-shaped handcuffs that Carina had when Toxic Shadow captured us.

Touchless was furious. “We will get out of here, and when we do, those elements are ours. The world will be destroyed, and you,” She glared at Willow, “will be the first person I kill.”

“Good luck with that,” Carina boasted. “You’re never getting out of here.”

Touchless screamed and banged on the glass, making Carina jump.

“How did you even get them in here?” I wondered.

“They were shocked when I took their staff. I tied them up with the vines, which didn’t hold for long, but a few of my men came in at the perfect timing and contained their hands then brought them here, where they will rot forever,” Willow explained. “Let’s get out of here. We should go now.”

“Wait!” Touchless yelled.

“What do you want?” Carina whined.

“Aren’t you wondering what happened to your precious king?”

Willow gasped. “What did you do to him? Where is he?”

“Let me out and I’ll show you.”

“Never.” Willow pulled a silver lever on the wall, and I heard a vibrating sound. It reminded me of when I would ride my bike when I was younger through a path underneath the power lines. They made a buzzing sound, and my mom told me to never touch them because they would shock me. When Touchless was screaming in pain, I assumed that’s what would’ve happened if I were to touch one.

“Tell me where he is and the pain will stop,” Willow calmly said.

“Make it stop!” Touchless yelled.

“Tell me now.”

“Fine! I’ll tell you!” The buzzing silenced. “You’ll have to go back to the real world. Go to the hill on the left of the one with our headquarters. You’ll find a secret hatch, which will lead you to the room he’s in.”

Willow turned to us. “I can’t leave Mystic Meadows. It’s up to you guys to save him. When you do, come back immediately so I can explain.

“Explain what?” Leo asked, but before she could answer, we were back in Los Angeles.

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