Harriot’s lore for July
Fire Gem
Entry #135
Vulcan’s pass wasn’t on the top list of tourist destinations. For one it was an active volcano, we had heard stories about how any day it would erupt and destroy anything in its path. But despite the stories, hunters would visit it daily to kill the Vulcan drakes. The drakes had made their home in the fiery hot centre of the volcano. It was clear to see that the heat didn’t bother the drakes at all, though I doubted a Snow drake would fare well in that hot environment.
Elliot and his crew seemed like that had already been prepared to brace the skin melting temperature as they had shown up with their top heat protection gear. Something about that bothered me. I had over the years acquired my own set of protection, which was rustic compared to their shiny new armour but was more than sufficient for the job at hand. Elliot and Carlos both held what looked like top-of-the-line hunting rifle, which for archaeologists seemed out of place. Charlotte refused when Elliot offered her a gun almost as if she were ashamed of it.
Elliot was the first one to make his way to the edge of the volcano. He removed what looked like climbing gear out of his bag, he anchored a rope to the side of the mountain. It took him only a second before he disappeared down the side of the mountain. My heart began to race, abseiling into a pit of lava with Vulcan drakes swarming was my kind of adventure.
The surface of the volcano was a solid layer of cooled lava. It was thick enough that it made no sound under the weight of all of us. What looked like flowing molten lava hissed and swirled at our feet. However, it seemed awfully quiet today, hardly any drakes were in the volcano, something that I had never seen before. I had no time to think about it, if even the ones that had remained saw us we’d be dead meat. I had to be careful, even more so as now that there were 3 people to be concerned over. It didn’t take us long to find the cave, it was a small opening in the side of the mountain. The cave looked rather small and empty, Elliot looked around in a frantic manner.
“There must be something here! We can’t have come all this way just for an empty cave. Start digging, I’m sure we will find something.” Carlos and Charlotte looked at him as if he had gone mad, but started digging anyway. It didn’t take long till they uncovered something.
Fire Gem
Entry #136
It was a huge dead drake, nothing but its charred bones remained. It looked like there had been 2 or more here in this cave as though it were some weird form of burial ground. Charlotte brushed some ash and rock away, what seemed like a blinding red light bounced and glisten in the cave.
The fire gem! It was small and if it hadn’t been for the light shining off of it, i had a feeling we would have missed it.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Elliot seemed to stare at the gem for a moment. Charlotte started to examine it.
“Wait, this surely can’t be possible. But I’m fairly certain this is a crystallised drake’s heart.”
Charlotte explained to us that due to the pressure and heat from the volcano it had manipulated and formed the heart over many years to create this small unique gemstone unlike anything ever seen before.
“If this gem was formed from the heart of a drake, it stands to reason that the other 3 gems are also formed from drake hearts or something similar. But, how they are formed is a mystery. There must be a way to form them based on the environment they are found in.”
Elliot had wasted no time at all, before Charlotte could examine the gem further he snatched it up and removed the medallion from his bag. The gem seemed to be formed in such a way that it fitted perfectly in the top slot on it. Once it was in place it was as if someone had super glued it, the gem bonded firmly into the medallion.
“If what Charlotte said is correct then we must study the environments that each of the drakes live in. There are maps back at the house right Charlotte?” She nodded sheepishly with her eyes still fixated on the medallion. “Then we shall meet back at the house to study where the other drakes live.”
I had spent time gathering new maps since the last time Charlotte had been on Next Island so that I could show her around the new land formations that had occurred since the old days. But watching Elliot stand over the maps I had gathered for her was racking on my nerves.
Storm and Snow Gem
Entry #137
Elliot had marked out 3 different locations, one for Storm drakes, one for Snow drakes and one for Death drakes. Charlotte and I decided to go look for the Storm drakes while Elliot and Carlos went to look for the Snow drakes.
The Storm drakes were located on a small island to the north. Xrager Island. They seemed to prefer the mountainous hills that almost touched the sky here. There was a buzz in the air like pent up static electricity, I could feel the hairs on my arm raise as if reacting to the static.
We were just about to explore for clues. But when I saw Tempest, the leader of the Storm drakes I stopped Charlotte in her tracks.
“That drake over there is no ordinary drake, he is their leader. Something is not right, he hardly shows himself in the open like this.”
His wings were huge and spanned as far as the eye could see. What looked like a lightning storm was almost tattooed on his wings as if it were a war banner. Charlotte must have seen them at the same time as me.
“What if the storm gem is just that, formed in a storm with lightning. But the weather has been perfect every day so far. Where are we going to find a storm to test that?”
“I know where but you’re not going to like it.”
-Elliot’s Expedition (Elliot’s journal)-
I had no idea why Charlotte trusted that Resa girl, from everything I had heard about them there was nothing to stop her double crossing us. Carlos had been quiet since we had arrived on Next Island. I only hoped that he hadn’t changed his mind. We had come too far to quit. We made our way up the mountain, being as they were called Snow drakes I figured our best chance was to seek out the reason why they were called ‘snow’.
Sure enough, they were gathered in a pack at the peak of the mountain. So far nothing I had seen was of any use to us. That was before we met the largest of all Snow drakes. She was at least 3 times the size of the other Snow drakes. On her back she had spikes that almost looked as if they were embedded shards of ice. Till I got a closer look, sure enough they were crystals.
“We only need one crystal off its back. Help me pin her down so I can cut one off.”
Carlos unpacked the net gun that I was grateful I had packed back on calypso. The drake hit the ground with a loud thunder like thud. It took a quick few seconds to hack off a crystal from its back. “We got what we needed, let’s move on.” Carlos was staring at the helpless drake.
“We can’t just leave her like that.” I waved a dismissive hand at him.
“On your head be it”
Making a Storm
Entry #138
We had regrouped at the house where I found Elliot looking smug. Almost flaunted the medallion in front of my face to show off the newly acquired Snow gem. Each gem seemed to fit and mould into the medallion as if it were made for it. Something that if I hadn’t seen happen myself I would have thought unbelievable. Elliot’s words snapped me back into reality.
“So what you’re saying is, you want to take this drake heart up to Zeus and say ‘hey I know you’re not busy and all but you mind zapping this’. With the ‘hope’ it’ll turn into a storm gem.”
“That’s the basis of it. why, do you have a better idea?” I had no clue if that crazy idea would even work, I still had no clue why he was so desperate to gather all these parts to the medallion.
“Fine, we’ll try that but once it doesn’t work please look harder next time”
Zeus wasn’t an easy God to visit, he was by far the only god closest to the sky and as such it was a long climb. Even Elliot and Carlos, the strongest looking members of our little crew, were worn out when we reached the top.
-Who goes there…
A voice bombed out louder than thunder. We were silenced for a moment as I felt a loud ringing resonating in my ears.
“Only a lowly resident of Next Island who request your unique service.” I had no clue how to speak to a god or someone who could kill me in seconds without a second thought about it.
-A person from Next Island, there have been many trying to kill me. What makes you any different from them?
His voice resonated through the air, it took me a moment for my hearing to return to normal.
“I come seeking your help. There is a rare gem I am looking for, something that I think you can help me make. With your mighty thunderbolt can you strike this drake heart and help me prove to these non-believers that you can turn this heart to a precious stone.”
A chuckle like a thunder clap rang through the air.
-A proof of my mighty power is something I will gladly show, but I give you this warning. No good will come of it.
A piercing light brighter than anything I had ever seen before struck the heart I had placed on the ground. The transformation was almost instant and there, in its place, was a dark blue gem stone.
The Storm gem.
Death Gem
Entry #139
Elliot sat stunned at the newly formed storm gem. Zeus let out a roaring chuckle before retreating up the mountain further. Elliot let out a loud cough before snatching the gem up first. He quickly added it to the medallion.
“Only 2 left now.”
There was only 1 kind of drake left, the Death drake, Where the 2nd gemstone came from I had no clue.
“But there’s only 1 drake left…” My voice was barely above a whisper but Elliot had the hearing of a hawk.
“The fifth gemstone is a combination of all 4” Elliot seemed to know more than he was letting on. “We’ve spent too much time already on this, let’s just get to the Death drakes and finish this.”
The Death drakes lived in the furthest north of Next Island. The area was a rocky swamp surrounded by mountains. In some places the water dipped further down than it looked meaning each footstep had to be carefully assessed. It was a dangerous area to walk across if you hadn’t been there before. From what I had seen of the drakes they were the only type to openly protected their eggs. All the other drakes would find a secluded cave or mountain top to lay their eggs. I had never been this close to them before but they had a green shine to them almost as if it shimmered in the afternoon light. Elliot spotted a lone egg. His eyes almost lit up at the sight of it.
“This is what we are after.” In a split second my sword was drawn and at his throat.
“How do you know this is what we are after? All the way through gathering the gems you have seemed less and less surprised as to what we need. I think the only time you have been surprised was when we took the heart to Zeus.” Elliot seemed to smirk for a minute. Before removing a tatter piece of paper from his pocket.
“This inscription was found alongside the medallion. Charlotte is an expert in the language and has translated most of it for us.”
The translation from Charlotte, it was like a road map on where each gem came from, if he had this all along why did he come to me for help. More importantly, why had we gone through all that trouble when he knew exactly what he was looking for.