Chapter 24: Makes good bread
We moved through the battlefield as stealthily as possible, keeping to the shadows and avoiding any possible danger zones. It took what felt like forever but eventually we made it past the entire village and followed the water system above ground. We traveled for four days until we came to another quick tunnel door that hadn't caved in. It had rained the minute we escaped the battle and hadn't stopped since. Starving and cold, we made our way into the quick tunnel to at least get out of the rain. We built a fire to warm ourselves and Eric moved away so that we girls could dry our clothes. The majority of the time was silent as we sat by the fire simply staring into it to attempt to burn away the foul images that we had seen. Tears continued to flow from my eyes trying to wrap my head around why that man took his own life. I just couldn't understand why anyone would take the life of another so needlessly, let alone their own.
The fire soon began to form itself into images that I longed for. The faces of Gruffi, Zummi, Grammi, Cubbi, Tummi, Gusto, and other gummi bears. It began to drive me insane, the loneliness began to overflow until I started to hear a small grinding sound, reminding me of Grammi grinding oats and grains to make her famous bread and cookie dough. It took me some time to realize that the grinding sound wasn't in my head but echoing in the distance from our location. The empty caves allowed the sound of grinding to carry for miles and miles. We eventually put our clothes back on still damp and followed the grinding sound eventually reaching the source of the sound. The sound echoed in the gummi water reserve and purification system that Gruffi discovered back in the past while I was a preteen. The water still ran perfectly clean and pure as ever before and was delicious to our parched lips as we drank. There was no need to leave it now, its destination had collapsed completely and now even the village was probably obliterated by now. So we drank deep from the pure waters and Luna even noticed some fish swimming in the waters. She easily caught three with her swift paws but still had a hard time managing to hold onto the slippery things. The sound of grinding still continued to echo through the area but was ever closer. I took with me a bottle of gummi berry juice in case it was necessary but all I found was an old man grinding some bread like Grammi used to do. I was about to go back to the group until I noticed the stone that he was using to grind the bread.
The old man had the Time Stone. And he was using it to grind his bread. But, I finally found a means of getting back to my own time and fixing this mess. "Don't be shy little one. Come out into the light so I can see you clearly." The man said to me in his aged and shaky voice. I had no idea that he knew that I was there. I hesitated before beginning to move. "I could hear you splashing in the water back there. I may be old, but this place echoes well enough for anyone to hear. If you wish to tell your friends that I'm here as well. It's been quite a while since I have had some company." Still startled, I turned to call for the others to join. It wasn't long until all of us gathered around, drying our clothes on a clothes line that he had set up for us. He also provided blankets to us and continued to grind his bread. Rose eventually noticed me staring at the round stone that he was using and asked me, "Is that it? Is that the time stone you were talking about?" She was trying to whisper but the old man was right, the place echoed every syllable. "What's a 'time stone'?" The old man then asked us after hearing the echo. My mind raced with explanations that I could possibly use to try and achieve the stone without causing the man to discover its power and possibly use it for his own purposes and leave me here trapped in this horrid future. "It's the last thing we need to defeat Igthorn." Rose piped in. I turned to her with a surprised look, same as the old man. "It'll never work." The man responded and continued to grind his bread with the stone. "You don't know that." Selina said to him in her kind and soothing voice. "They never work. I've seen folks go into the city and never come back out. Igthorn is just too powerful." The man solemnly explained to us.
"What if we could go back and stop him?" Eric said with all seriousness. Now the old man was intrigued. "And how do you plan on doing that? Time travel?" He asked with sarcasm. Eric simply nodded slowly keeping his serous gaze fixed on the man. The man then continued to grind his bread and simply laughed, "Now I'd like to see that." "Let me see that stone and we'll show you." Eric challenged. "Get me another grinding stone and y'all can have this one." Was his answer. Our little group simply passed gazes from one member to another astonished by the old man's request.
We searched the grounds for anything that we could use for another grinding stone with no luck for some time until Rose discovered some smooth enough stones in the bottom of the stream. She waded into the ice cold water until she located one that was of a decent size and picked it up to carry back to the old man. It weighed about seven pounds so it was easy to carry and she presented it to the old swindler.
I looked all around for a good stone to present to him until the sound of the waterfall stopped completely. I was confused at first until I took a look at the waterfall from off of the enormous water wheel near the back of the area. The wheel had stopped and the water was suspended in mid air. I looked around only to find Eric and Ella frozen stiff as if they were statues. Worried about both of them I made my way over only to find three rocks also suspended in mid air behind them with both of them looking like they had just tossed those ricks behind t eventually found all of my friends in the same manner, Rose frozen while carrying a stone back toward the old man, Luna frozen while climbing some ivy, and Selina frozen while using her shuriken to actually carve a new grinding stone. Still utterly confused, I made my way back to the old man only to find him gone, simply vanished into thin air with only torn clothing hovering in mid air looking as if they had been flung off just as he was leaving in a hurry.
I was beginning to worry as I heard a voice echo through the area in which it seemed time had stopped. "This is interesting. Why aren't you affected by the stone's ability to manipulate time?" The voice was nearly similar to Eric's only it was less kind sounding. "Who are you?" I called out while looking in random directions, trying to find the source of the voice.