Update! Yay! I was worried I wouldn't be able to update, my parents grounded me yesterday. Sucks, but I passed all my exams so I'm off the hook. This chapter might be a bit confusing coz I started to hate my own characters I've added in, which is weird. But I'll explain everything at the bottom to you guys.

Chapter 7-

Protectors

"Where are we?" Miley asked, looking around.

"You are in my house. Do you like it?" Adriana asked, leaning forwards in her chair. Miley held her head in her hands, it seemed like the world was spinning now. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Miley said, looking at Adriana. She sat back in her seat and looked at all of them. Oliver stepped out of the shadows and Miley felt the dizziness come back, but she managed to control herself.

"Do you want to know why the Gods are against you?" Adriana asked.

"Oh, this is stupid. Ok, there aren't any 'Gods', they are just a myth." Lilly said.

Adriana turned to look at Lilly. "I'd be quiet if I was you young one, they could come after you next. I've learnt from my years that expect the unexpected, it helps you especially for a task as dangerous as this one."

"I still don't believe." She said.

"You don't have to, maybe you are right and for the rest of your life will be a good one, but then again…" She trailed off and looked away from Lilly. "We are not here to argue over whether the gods exist, I want to tell you the tale of four warriors who had elemental powers. They were the greatest warriors the world had ever seen; they were the protectors of this planet. Sea monsters, giants, trolls, whatever creature you can think of, they fought. As long as they were around, they made sure that this world was safe.

"But then darkness came in the form of a goddess, Elicpto. She managed to convince the other gods that these protectors were going to over throw them, so they killed them."

"How, if the gods aren't even real?" Lilly asked.

"They died in their elements. Marisa had control of the ocean, yet Poseidon sank her ship and she was down there for too long to survive at all. There's a legend saying that he took pity on her and turned her into a water nymph, one of the fairest of them all.

Lillian had journeyed towards a volcano, Ares had tricked her and she fell in, slowly burning away. Orion was following forest nymphs until Pan caused an Earthquake, Orion falling in. And then there was Jennifer, Marisa's sister. She had the power to control the weather and most importantly, the lightning. Once Zeus found out about this, he immediately started to plot ways to kill her. He was the first to join Elicpto and Jennifer was the first to die. Zeus sent down a lightning blot that stuck her, killing her instantly.

"After that, the god realized that they were tricked by Elicpto, the world was now on the verge of destruction. They banished her away to Tartarus, joining the Titans there, though she managed to find her own domain there that allows her to travel between Tartarus, Olympia and Earth.

"The gods forgave her as they made a pact to never interfere with mortals again, and promising to protect the new protectors, though Zeus did not agree to it. He does not like sharing his domain with some mortal person." Adriana said, looking at the four of them.

"So, what are you saying?" Lilly asked.

"In time you will understand what I am talking about. But now, I think it is time you four to rest, you can continue your journey tomorrow. I found a cart in the forest with two horses." She said.

"Two horses? A white stallion and a brown mare?" Miley asked. Adriana nodded. "Those were our horses, you stole them!"

"Stole them? My dear child, do you not recognize me? Oliver, you of all people should've recognized me by now?" Adriana asked.

"Miss. Porter?" Oliver said. "But you live in Port Herman!"

"I do, sometimes. I am, after all, a witch." She said, smiling. "I can change my appearance somewhat."

"I'd say." Oliver said, sitting down on the bed next to Miley, who had to stop herself from hugging him.

"I see that the fruit is wearing off." She said. Miley sighed and momentarily stopped fighting, causing her to hug Oliver. "Or not."

Adriana got off the chair she sat in and walked towards the door. "The sun is setting and you will have a long journey ahead of you for tomorrow. Make yourselves comfortable and rest. I will go out and get some supplies for you." She said and then turned to them, smiling. "Good bye."

She left them in the hut, the door closing behind her.

"Ok, that was freaky." Lilly said and turned to Oliver. "When did you meet her and how do we know if we can trust her or not?"

"At the bar in Port Herman, I got this compass from her." Oliver said and showed the compass to Miley and Jackson. "We were gambling. Almost lost the ship to her. Though I don't think I trust her anymore."

"Well, I know I don't." Lilly said and walked towards the door. She tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Ok, I am beyond creeped out now." Jackson said.

From the window came a blue mist, but no one noticed it. It went down the wall and covered the floor of the hut and soon wrapped itself around Miley's ankles. It kept up her until she breathed it in. She started coughing and taking in deep breaths, her world spinning now.

"Hannah? Hannah??" Oliver said and bent over her, but he too breathed in the mist, but his reaction was different. He felt light headed and drowsy. Oliver sighed and collapsed on the bed, Miley still trying to breath properly.

"Oliver! Now is not the time to sleep!" Lilly screeched as she tried to wake up her friend while Jackson tried to help Miley. Lilly felt something tighten around her chest and she let out a small gasp as her world become dark.

"Lilly!" Jackson said as the girl passed out on the floor. He looked at his sister who has calmed down now that she was standing up. "Are you ok Miles?"

"Yeah." She said, her voice almost gone. Jackson nodded and went down on his knees to check on Lilly, but he also felt something tighten around his chest.

"Miley." He said and then collapsed on top of Lilly, his eyes closing.

"Jackson?" Miley said, but was going to go and help her brother when she felt someone grab her from behind. "Let me go! Let me go!"

"Miley, stop fighting me!" She heard the other person say. Miley stopped fighting him and began to cry as whomever was holding her dragged her outside. She saw Adriana standing there, grinning at them. But she was no longer the old lady who they met in the city or the witch who lived there. No, now it was the lady who they met in the forest.

She smirked at Miley and slowly began to disappear. Miley blinked a few times, but she was no longer there. Was it an elusion of some sort?

"Miley, you're safe now and you're coming home with me." Said the person holding her. Miley wiped away her tears and struggled to get out of his grasp.

"Let me go!" She said and then felt his hold on her leave and she fell to the ground. She looked behind her and there stood Jake Ryan, her knight in shining armor, although Miley would prefer it if he wasn't that to her. "My friends and Jackson! Jake, we have to take them with us."

"I'm sorry Miley, but they are dead." Jake said and then nodded at one of his soldiers. Miley followed his gaze and then she froze. He had a torch; he was going to burn down the hut!

"No!" Miley screamed, but it was too late. The soldier threw the torch into the hut and it burst into flames. She got up and began to run towards the hut, but Jake grabbed her steered her towards his cart.

"I'm sorry Miley." He said to her as he got in the back, holding onto Miley as she fought to get free. She stopped and started to cry as they neared Port Herman, the chances of Oliver, Lilly and Jackson surviving that fire and finding her were pretty slim.

------

"Where are we?" Lilly asked as she looked around.

"I don't know." Jackson responded and tried to move his hands, but they were tied together. He looked around, it was dark and he couldn't see a thing. He could see that they were moving, but how he didn't know.

"I think we're in a boat." Lilly said.

"How'd you figure that out?" Jackson asked.

"Ssh." Lilly said. Jackson stopped talking and listened. He heard water hitting the rocks.

"So, that only proves we are near a river." Jackson said. Lilly sighed and rocked back and forth, whatever they were sitting in rocked with her. Jackson heard the water splash and felt some hit his feet. "Ok, I believe you now. But were are the other two?"

"Beats me, all I remember was being in that hut and feeling like I was suffocating." Lilly said.

"Me too." Jackson said and then tried to move his hands again. "Do you by any chance happen to have a knife with you?"

"Hold on." Lilly said. The boat started rocking again as Lilly moved around on her side, trying to find a knife. "Got it! I'll try and cut your ropes first."

"Ok." Jackson said and held his hands forwards. Lilly hand the knife in her hands and slowly cut away at the ropes. "C'mon."

"I'm doing it as fast as I can!" Lilly said and then finally she cut through the rope. It fell to the bottom of the boat and Jackson rubbed his hands, whoever tied that were strong. "Hello, now cut mine."

"Yeah." Jackson said and took the knife out of Lilly's hands. With his one hand he kept them steady and with the other he cut the rope. He managed to cut it away and dropped the knife, but held onto her hands.

"Uh… Jackson?" Lilly said.

"Yeah?"

"You're still holding my hands."

"Oh." He dropped them and sat back at his end of the boat. Lilly then looked down at her hands and traced the mark the ropes had left.

"I guess we better find a way to get back to land." Lilly said. Jackson nodded and they searched the small boat for anything that could help them, nothing.

"Whoever put us here, wanted us to follow the river." Jackson said.

"I don't think that was their only reason." Lilly said.

"Why?"

"Look behind you." She said. Jackson turned around and saw that they were still in the jungle; the trees above them disappeared so they could see a mountain coming up. But this wasn't any normal mountain; it looked to be an active volcano.

"Oh great, what else can go wrong?" Jackson asked and then looked at the shoreline, a group of people standing there.

"Apparently that. Jackson, those are the village people." Lilly said, moving towards him.

"Great, maybe they can tell us how to get out of here before that volcano erupts." Jackson said.

"No, they won't help us leave. Actually, we are pretty much dead already as it is." Lilly said and sat back.

"Why?"

"Because the village people are cannibals."

------

Oliver groaned as he opened his eyes. He saw Miley struggling as someone dragged her out of the hut. He tried to sit up, but he fell back onto the ground, closing his eyes.

Come on Oken, Hannah needs you! Oliver opened his eyes again and this time saw someone drag Lilly out of the window. Oliver stood up and stumbled to the window where he saw a lady in a purple dress disappear in the bushes.

Shaking his head, Oliver turned around and watched as the roof of the hut caught alight. Get out of here! You're gonna die! Oliver turned back towards the window and jumped out of it. He fell hard onto the ground and watched as the entire forest caught alight.

This is it, you are gonna die now! There was a scream from the distance and he could've sworn it sounded like Hannah. He then felt the ground shake and he moved backwards as something exploded where he was just moments ago.

"Whoa…" Water spouted from the hole and covered the entire area surrounding it, the hut and Oliver included. The cold water awoke Oliver fully and he got to his feet and ran in the opposite direction, not knowing where he was doing. All he knew was he had to find Lilly and Jackson first and then they could find Hannah.

"Lilly! Jackson!" He shouted out. No one answered. Oliver stopped running and looked around, he had no idea where he was now. "Oh great, I'm lost." He sat down and leaned against the trunk of a tree. "There is no way I can find my friends now."

"Maybe I can help." Said a voice from above him. Oliver looked up to see a girl hanging upside down from a branch. Her eyes were bright green and her hair was white.

"Who are you?" Oliver asked, moving away from the tree. She giggled and let go of the branch, falling towards the ground but a root from the tree caught her and she landed safely on the ground.

"I'm a forest nymph, Narcissus. After the flower though." She said and moved towards a puddle of water on the ground, thanks to Oliver's wet clothes. "I have that name because apparently I'm in love with myself. Do you think so?" She asked, looking at herself in the water and checking her hair.

"Yeah…" Oliver said and took a step back. She stood up straight and looked at him.

"Are you afraid of me?" She asked.

"N-No!" Oliver said. The nymph shook her head and giggled.

"You're cute when you're scared. Now you want to find your friends or not?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, I do, but how do I know that I can trust you?" Oliver said. Narcissus sighed and shook her head.

"The forest nymphs listen to the protector of Earth and give him or her our full support. If they are in danger, we came to help. Got a problem with that?" She asked.

"No… wait, protector of Earth?" Oliver said. Narcissus nodded. "No, I'm not the protector of Earth."

"What, you are not Oliver of Gaia?" She asked frowning.

"Hey, how do you know where I was born?!" Oliver asked.

"Oh boy. Ok, the nymphs of the forest, water and fire know the protectors of their domains. Lilly of Somerset is protector of fire, Oliver of Gaia is protector of Earth and Miley of Castle Oceania is protector of water. And then of course the sibling of Miley is the protector of wind, but no one knows who that is." Narcissus said.

"Wait, Lilly Truscott is also a protector?" Oliver asked, laughing.

"Lilly who? We only know her birthplace." The nymph said.

"My friend, Lilly, we lived in Somerset." Oliver said.

"Then yes, that's her. Your birthplace was Gaia, therefore you are from Gaia. That girl that was taken from your house or whatever it is you humans call it," She said, waving her hand in the air, "She's the protector of water due to the fact that the underground water responded to her."

"But you said the protector of water was Miley of Castle Oceania." Oliver said.

"Duh, the princess." Narcissus said.

"But she's not Miley, her name is Hannah who we found at…" Oliver trailed off. I know her, she's the princess!

My name is Hannah, I'm a maid at the castle.

Here we are Lilly, Castle Oceania.

"Hello? Boy, snap out of it." The nymph said and snapped her fingers in front of Oliver's blank face.

"Huh?"

"If you want to find your friends alive, you better follow me." Narcissus said. Oliver nodded and the two of them headed deeper into the jungle.

Wow, long eh? Might be the longest chapter written ever by me, which si good! Narcissus is a white flower, it's my birth flower so I used that as the name for the nymph. And if you know the tale of Narcssius the Greek warrior, well, he falls in love with himself, so this nymph is going to live up to that name.

Anyway, Adrianna, AKA Mrs. Porter, is Elicpto and therefore evil and yeah, kinda gave away her secret, but it's all part of her plan. When I started writing this chapter and I didn't like her at all, so I made her evil! Anyway, some Lackson coming up and whether or not Oliver has figured out that Hannah is actually Miley or not! Ok, till next time guys!