Fifteen minutes, the eight of us had ascended into mountain a short distance. It was nothing much, but I could already see another island on the horizon. However, it wasn't so high that I was having trouble breathing.
Tracy brought out the Crystal, and handed it to Ñrutas, telling him: "Here, Ñrutas, try to activate the Energy Point."
Ñrutas held the gemstone in his mouth, and waved his head around. Nothing happened, and Ñrutas begrudgingly spat out the Crystal. Ani grimaced, picked it up, wiped the saliva off, and held it up; again, nothing at all happened.
"I hope that one of us has the Energy Point," Ani immediately commented. "Otherwise, this will have been an complete waste of time."
"I guess that the Energy Point must be a little further up," Tracy said. "So, we hike another fifteen minutes?"
"It appears that a continued walk is necessary," Poo stated. And we began to walk again.
As we further ascended, more and more islands came into view in the distant horizon. Occasionally, the island would seem to be volcanic, and I would sight smoke rising from the cap of the mountain on it. I felt slightly unsettled by the volcanoes, but I understood that being unsettled came with the honour of being a hero.
We climbed in silence for the most part. Ñrutas would try to strike up a conversation with Dusty, but Dusty expressed a strange apathy in his constant replies of "Uh huh, okay, whatever".
Eventually, Ñrutas would lose interest, but would only minutes later try to talk with Dusty again.
"Dusty, is there something on your mind?" Tracy asked.
"Nothing much, really," he admitted. "But I sort of feel bad for offending Julia and lying to her about BJ. She was really hurt."
"We've been through this already, Dusty," Picky argued. "It was bad that we lied to her, but we did it because we thought it was in her best interests. It's not your fault alone. We all make mistakes."
"I've made more mistakes in this entire adventure than you have, Picky," Dusty murmured. "I went looking for the Thunder Energy Point with just Ñrutas and BJ. That's three people, and these Guardians should get stronger as we start to run out of Energy Points. Then there's the fact I led Julia along, tried to trick her into believing that BJ wasn't almost dead."
"...we're almost done with the Energy Points, Dusty," Ñrutas responded. "Soon, we can go after Giogas, and you can work out your differences with Julia."
"Who has the Power Crystal?" I suddenly asked.
"I do," Ani replied, "and ... it's glowing?"
"Quick!" Tracy ordered. "Look around for something that's glowing. That'll be the guardian."
"I see something glowing further up!" Dusty exclaimed. We ran towards it.
Before us stood a katana-like blade embedded in a large mass of pumice rock, floating on a pool of water. And between the blade and us was a strange statue.
"Aaaaaaaaaahh!" Ani exclaimed, throwing the Power Crystal towards the statue. Both Crystal and statue exploded, and once the dust had settled, a witch that looked like she had been carved out of rock appeared.
"I am Rokwyrd. And your journey will end here."
Ani
Rokwyrd began to cackle, and raised her right hand. Her magic wand was in that hand, and like her body, Rokwyrd's wand was made of stone.
"PSI Rockslide Beta!" she exclaimed, and a beam of light shot out of her wand, and hit the mountain above us. A sudden rumbling met my ears.
"Gravity Well!" Dusty yelled.
I quickly chanced a look up. The rocks which Rokwyrd had loosed were held in the air, unmoving, except for the occasional stir.
"Hurry, we've got to get out of the way of the rocks!" Dusty urged. "Push past her!"
"PSI Delta Breaker Beta!" Picky called out. The water burst out from behind me and towards Rokwyrd.
"PSI Thunder Gamma!" Tracy exclaimed. Above us, the clouds swarmed and turned as dark as the midnight sky.
"PSI Fire Gamma!" Ñrutas yelled. Fire burst from behind me, as the water had. Thunder burst from the clouds, and the three elemental magics contacted Rokwyrd at the same time.
Yet she still stood.
"MOVE!" Dusty screamed. "Get away from the rocks!"
"What about you?" I asked.
"Forget about me! If I die, it'll be a meaningful sacrifice. Not like BJ."
"Get over BJ!" Tony argued. "It's not your fault."
"PSI Freeze Gamma!" Prince Poo exclaimed. I spun around, wanting to see what would happen. He aimed his PSI attack right at the rocks that Dusty was struggling to keep aloft. The rocks froze, and shattered. "Ñrutas! Use your PSI Fire on those rocks!"
"Okay, Poo! PSI Fire Gamma!" Ñrutas leapt up, spinning backwards so his feet were aimed at the rocks. They turned a deep red, and fire shot out from them. They engulfted the little rocks, causing them to crumble.
I turned back to Rokwyrd. Tony was lighting a Bottle rocket.
"I hope this works..." He fired the rocket, which went flying towards Rokwyrd. It connected with the witch directly in her stomach. She groaned.
"This is impossible!" Prince Poo muttered. "Water erodes rock, fire weakens it somewhat, thunder can crack it. Explosives should break the rock. Why isn't she defeated yet?"
"This is my energy point," I whispered. "Do I need to give the final blow?"
"I think that's what you need to do," Dusty replied.
"But I can only fight with my fists. I have no PSI, no special items, no special magic like you do. I'm just a regular girl."
"PSI Delta Breaker Beta!"
"PSI Thunder Gamma!"
"PSI Fire Gamma!"
Rokwyrd cackled maniacally. "This is hilarious. You are supposed to be the chosen ones, and yet you cannot manage to defeat me. The answer's in front of you, little girl. And you don't even realise it!"
Dusty walked in front of me. "We're missing something. She hasn't moved at all, except to mock us. It's like she's an extension of the mountain itself."
Rokwyrd melted into the rock. She began to cackle again, the laughs coming from everywhere now.
"Ah, you can't see me now, can you?"
Out of nowhere, Tracy screamed. "I can't move! Something's got my legs!"
"It's got to be Rokwyrd." Picky curled his hands into fists. "You coward! You refuse to fight us face to face! Come on, you're just a big--" Before my face, I saw Picky fall into the ground.
"Picky! No!" Tears welled up in Tracy's eyes.
Dusty pulled out one of his tarot cards. "Elysian Escape!" he exclaimed. In front of the two of us, a black sphere appeared. Slowly, it became grey and cratered. Atop the illusory moon of this magical attack, I saw a purple figure pull itself out.
"What is that?" I wondered.
"It's an Elysian demon," Dusty replied. Finally, the Elysian demon had pulled itself completely out of the moon. Growling, it jumped towards a point on the mountain; it gnashed its teeth while thrashing about.
It locked its jaw around something, and began to pull whatever that something was up.
"While Rokwyrd is involved with the Elysian demon, find out what Rokwyrd was talking about!" Dusty ordered.
I looked around. Rokwyrd had said that the answer was in front of me. But where was I looking when she said that? My eyes traced the mountain alcove where we were. The only thing there besides us was...
The pond. The blade. I began to run.
"Just keep running, Ani!" Dusty said encouragingly. "I'll watch over you! Falsesight!"
I ran towards the pond. My strides became longer and more confident as time passed. And then, I was there.
I pulled out the blade. There was a strange writing on it:
ATROPOS"Prepare to pay for what you've done, Rokwyrd," I said in a monotone. What was I saying?