7. Finding The Oracle
Even though they kept walking towards the mountains, they never seemed to reach them. It was as if the mountains were moving further and further away as they got closer.
"How much further?" Riven asked, impatiently after they had been walking for hours and still hadn't reached the mountains.
"Do you always have to comment?" Stella asked, glaring back at him before returning her look to Flora whom she was walking beside, leading the group. "Yeah Flora, how much longer? I'm tired and these boots aren't exactly ideal footwear."
"It still says to go this way, so that's the way we're going," Flora answered, looking to Helia was walking on her other side with tired eyes, her boyfriend taking her free hand and holding it, comforting her. Flora knew exactly how Stella and Riven were feeling, but since she was carrying the crystal, she figured she had to maintain her composure.
Behind her, Bloom, Sky and Timmy were getting just as exhausted, with Timmy trying to fix his scanner which had immediately failed when he got off the ship.
"Hey Tecna, you reckon you could fix my scanner?" Timmy asked, looking up at his girlfriend who was still flying above them, maintaining the barrier.
"I would love to Timmy, but I barley think I have enough power to maintain this barrier for much longer," Tecna said, sounding incredibly weak.
"You have to," Bloom cried, looking up to Tecna, "or else we'll all loose our powers. You can do it Tecna, we're almost there."
"I hope so Bloom," Tecna answered, looking forwards and noticing that the mountains seemed to be finally starting to get closer.
The hours dragged on, but they eventually reached the mountains, the crystal leading them to a small cave in the main rock face.
"It's going crazy!" Flora yelped, the crystal practically tugging her into the dark cave and Helia had to grasp her to pull her back.
"Okay!" Bloom exclaimed, sensing how unenergetic everyone was after the trek and walking to the front with Flora and Stella, leaving the protective barrier of the digital barrier to peer inside the cave, the cave roof blocking her from the rain. "Let's go guys. Stella, can you give us some light?"
"No problems Bloom!" she answered, clenching her fist and producing a circular ball of light, throwing it up to the cave roof and it lit up the entire area.
"Let's go," Bloom instructed, and she led the way into the cave, Stella, Helia and Flora with the crystal right behind her, followed by the rest of the group with Tecna last, who flew to the ground and kept the barrier around her until he got under the cave roof, drawing it back in like an umbrella before she returned to her jade suit and hurried after the others.
The cave was dark and rocky, with no small plants or drops of water from the rain even penetrating the rocks. Even the sound from the rain couldn't be heard in the cave- it was as if it existed as a completely separate place than the surface.
They kept walking through the cave, going deeper and deeper with Stella's light orb now the only source of light they could see for miles.
"Hey look!" Stella said, pointing towards something at the end of the tunnel.
They walked along until they reached a gap between two separate tunnels, both seeming to run parallel to one another into the darkness ahead of them.
"Flora, which way do we go?" Bloom asked, and Flora looked down to the crystal in her hands.
Sadly, it seemed just as confused as they did, pointing to the left tunnel for a few seconds before switching to the right tunnel, and then going back to the left again.
"It has no idea," Flora answered, sadly.
"How can the crystal that's supposed to guide us not know where to go!?" Riven demanded, crossing his arms. "That is the most pointless thing I have ever-"
"Hey, let's not insult the guiding crystal thingy!" Brandon said, quickly.
"What are gonna do, put it under pressure?" Riven sniped, laughing a little at his own statement before Bloom broke in.
"Let's split up, half go one way and half go the other," she proposed, turning to the others.
"Yeah, but we only have one crystal?" Musa pointed out. "How will we know where to go after the tunnel if we're the group without it?"
"Easy! We'll split it!" Stella said, walking over to Flora and the crystal and waving her hand over it, the crystal seamlessly splitting into two identical crystals, one pointing to the left and the other to the right.
"Great work Stella!" Bloom commended, taking the crystal pointing to the left tunnel, whilst leaving the other with Flora.
"Okay: Flora, Musa, Helia, Riven, Timmy and I will go to the right," Tecna suggested, stepping forward and standing behind Flora. "And Bloom, Stella, Layla, Sky and Brandon will go to the left."
"Sounds great to me!" Stella beamed, however Bloom was a little apprehensive.
She couldn't help feeling Layla was still quite angry towards her and figured she didn't even want to be on the assignment to find The Oracle. She hadn't spoken to her since argument on the tower, and somehow Bloom felt like it had only gotten worse, especially since they left Alfea.
The two groups went off their separate ways, Bloom with one crystal and Flora with the other, Stella giving them each a ball of light which would follow them as they walked before they parted.
Bloom watched the crystal in her hand, levitating just a little bit from her palm as it pointing exactly in front of her. The Oracle was close, she could sense it and they had been walking for a quite a while now, so she knew whatever was waiting for them couldn't be much further away.
Suddenly, a sharp shriek echoed through the cave, followed by many more screams.
"That was Flora!" Bloom cried, stopping with the rest of their group.
"And Musa, and Tecna and the guys!" Sky continued, before the screams abruptly stopped.
Layla started to run back, but no-one else moved.
"Hey Layla, wait," Sky called and she stopped, looking around at them, shocked.
"What are you guys doing?" she asked- the first words she had said since they left for The Dimension. "They were screaming, something happened!"
"Layla we can't go back," Bloom said, firmly. "I'm worried about them too, but Flora, Tecna and Musa are strong girls, you know that. If anything went wrong, they'd be able to handle it. We can go back for them afterwards."
"Yeah, Timmy, Helia and Riven are with them too," Brandon pointed out. "By the time we get there, they'll have probably handled the problem and we'll have to come back anyway."
"I don't care what you say," Layla answered, stubbornly. "I'm going to see if they're okay. Luckily for us, no-one can die or else they may already be dead."
With that Layla turned around and ran back down the tunnel, creating a Morphix light in her hands to illuminate the way.
"I better go after her," Sky said, stepping forwards but Bloom held him back.
"Sky, you're leaving me?" she said, sadly.
"You'll be fine, you've got the others," he answered. "Layla has no-one. We'll find you, you go on ahead."
And he was gone, running off after Layla and disappearing into the darkness behind them, leaving Bloom with Brandon and Stella.
"He left me," Bloom said, a little shocked.
"Sky's a King he helps people, it's what he does. Come on Bloom, we better keep going," Brandon said, and Stella glared at him. "What? We may as well. They've got it handled and we've got a mission to complete."
"Don't worry Stella, Brandon's right," Bloom said, all of the flame that seemed to have left her over the past few days had suddenly flooded back into her. "Let's go. We're going to talk to The Oracle, and then find The Guide."
She turned around and continued to lead them along the tunnel, Stella's light still shining their way until they saw an even brighter light from exit up ahead. They kept going until they reached the other end of the tunnel, the overwhelming light hitting their faces and the sounds of nature filling their ears. They eyes finally adjusted and they gasped.
"Whoa," Bloom exclaimed, unable to muster any other words.
"Why are you coming after me?" Layla demanded, as she and Sky reached the crossroads from earlier, turning down the other tunnel.
"Because I didn't want you to go on your own," Sky answered, however it wasn't completely the truth, he had some ulterior motives as well.
They walked along the tunnel in silence, before Layla spied something glimmering up ahead.
She bent down and picked it up, a small cry escaping Sky's lips.
"The crystal," Layla said, flipping it around in her hands and observing the small crack across the middle that had obviously occurred when it was dropped. "What happened here?"
