Chapter 12: New Worlds

In which the four learn the fate of the Guardians.

Jack had seen many places in his travels around the world, but he had never seen anywhere like this and nor it seemed had any of the others. It was a vast, stone basin. Trees lined the edge and hundreds of tropical weeds carpeted the ground. Beautiful carvings were imprinted into the walls. Jack looked up into the sky and his jaw dropped. 'Guys,' he said quietly. 'What?' they asked. Jack pointed up into the sky. The other three became slack jawed as well.

There were three suns in the sky. Different planets hung in the heavens and ice rings stretched from horizon to horizon. One thing was certain: 'We're not on Earth anymore,' Hiccup said staring at the burning balls of light in the sky.

'Well, I'll be a golem's uncle,' said a voice behind them. The big four whipped around. A massive man was standing behind them. He was about twice the height as North and infinitely more muscular. His face was mostly hidden behind a lot of golden-brown beard which extended down all the way to his waist. In fact, it was so long, it had to be tucked into his belt. He was wearing a set of golden armour with crystals studded around the edge of the joints and was carrying a platinum sceptre with a massive Jadeite gem set into the top. From what Rapunzel knew of gemstones, this one was more than £3million per carat.

'Guardians in the forge-lands? Well, this is an event for the history scrolls.' 'Umm,' Hiccup began, 'Who are you?' 'I am Adeodatus of the Matter-Smiths,' the man said. He held out a vast hand and Jack shook it, feeling callouses and blisters under his fingers. 'I know who you all are,' Adeodatus said leaning on his staff, 'Rapunzel Fitzherbert, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Merida DunBroch and Jackson Overland Frost.' 'Yer quite right,' Merida said, 'How do yeh know that?' 'I am one of the Carvers, we are even older than the Man in your Moon.' Jack was impressed at this.

'Come with me,' Adeodatus continued, leading the four towards a stone arch in the walls. 'Why? Where are we going?' Rapunzel asked. 'To tell would be to spoil the surprise,' came Adeodatus's voice from just beyond the arch. Joining hands for luck, the big four followed the vast man towards the arch.

After half an hour of trekking through the forest and then scaling a mountain, Hiccup finally plucked up the courage to ask a few questions. 'Umm,' he began, 'What exactly is it you do here?' Adeodatus didn't turn around as he lead the way up the mountain pass, but he did answer. 'I am a Carver. These hands of mine helped create the mountains of your world, the great canyons of Mars and the volcanoes of Venus.' 'Do yeh do it all by yehself?' Merida asked.

Adeodatus turned to Merida. She felt nervous. Had she accidentally trudged up some painful past? Adeodatus laughed. It was a jolly, belly-laugh and Merida relaxed. 'I am an old man my dear child. Do you think I can create vast geological wonders all by myself.' 'So who helps you out?' Jack asked, hopping over a particularly large boulder. 'There's my wife Benedikte. She's a wood-carver, specialises in trees.'

'And then there's our Emperor Chronus.' 'What does he do?' Rapunzel asked. 'He's the one who makes time.' All four of the teenagers came to a sudden standstill. Adeodatus turned to them. 'What's wrong?' he asked, confused. 'He... makes... time?' Hiccup stuttered in incredulity. 'How-' 'Ring out! Your time is up!' Adeodatus interrupted, 'For here we are. Welcome to Ina'ach'oel.'

The party had finally reached a massive village built onto a mountain. The buildings were all built of marble blocks and towers at the edge of the village watched over the forest down below. Children twice the size of Jack were running around playing some sort of hockey game. Adults were carving massive marble blocks into statues and fountains. 'And you do that for pleasure?' Merida asked pointing to the carvers. 'No, we do that just to occupy our hands, like you humans fiddle with pieces of string or similar stuff.' That was enough to stun all four of them.

Adeodatus lead them across a vast bridge towards a foundry. 'The shaman will be waiting for you,' he said, holding out his sceptre to the doors which swung open. A deep clanging could be heard echoing from inside. 'Do you think this Shaman will be... friendly?' Rapunzel asked. 'Well,' Hiccup began, 'My village's shaman Gothi is wise, but rather anti-social.' 'How d'ya mean?' Merida asked. 'She likes to be left alone.'

The foundry was not quite what they'd expected. They'd expected a large metal chamber filled with smoke, dust and soot and rusty tools. They hadn't expected a bright, clean, gleaming marble chamber filled with shining golden devices and glass pipes.

Telescopes, Orreries, Astrolabes, Compasses and many other beautiful mechanisms filled the tables around the room. Beautiful weapons made of gold, silver, even diamonds lined the walls. Suits of armour studded with jewels stood up against the walls. There were glass pipes and bottles that were filled with strange, colourful liquids. Some of these potions were bubbling on Bunsen burners, others were glowing inside small alembics. Strange molten metals simmered inside crucibles.

And there weren't just things of practicality; jewellery filled small glass cases on stands around the edge of the tables. Merida stepped toward one of the cases. Inside it was a golden amulet set in the middle with a massive scarlet jewel. Hiccup opened another case and lifted out a necklace made entirely of emeralds. Rapunzel was captivated by a tiara made of pearls and opals. There were earrings made of topazes and rings that seemed to be made of ice, but were no more than cool to the touch. There were Carcanets made of thousands of individually selected diamonds, rose-shaped broaches made from rubies, sapphire-studded diadems made from silver, a coronet holding the mystical Pentacle symbol and many thousands of other wonders.

Jack found a massive diamond. It was so large that if he could get it out of it's case he would have to hold it with both hands to prevent it dropping to the floor. It was perfectly spherical, absolutely flawless and completely clear. He stared into the depths of the jewel. In the depths of said jewel he saw... a blackness. It looked almost tangible. It seemed to be writhing. The sight of it made Jack feel nervous, like he was watching something dying. He stared at it... and it stared back. It looked right into him. Jack felt as if some poison was seeping through his heart, weighing it down and strangling his mind. It felt as if the blackness was relishing in his fear. And then it simply vanished.

'Well, well, well,' Said a voice, 'Guardians in the Forge-Lands. I'll be a feckin' Dingo's kidney.' The four turned. A massive woman stood behind them. She was about the same height and width as Adeodatus, but she lacked the facial hair, although she more than made up for it with head hair which was Irish-green. Instead of armour, she was wearing thick wolf furs. Her eyes were pure violet.

'Are you the shaman?' Jack asked. 'Yeah, I am Eloissa,' the Matter-Smith said. 'I know why you're all here,' she said. 'Why are we here?' Merida asked. Eloissa pointed to the strange, diamond sword in its scabbard down by Merida's side. 'That is the sacred sword Cytiaina. It was forged in the heart of the first star by the first Tsar Lunar and it came into our protection many eons ago.' 'So what was it doing on Earth then?' Jack asked.

'Well,' Eloissa began, tentatively, 'It believed the best place to hide the sword was a world where there were creatures that couldn't travel across the worlds,' she said, sitting down on a small golden chair. 'Aside from this,' she continued, 'We have some good news and some bad news for you. The good news first.' Eloissa clapped her hands and a silver gate at the back of the forge opened and out came...

The golden figure of Sanderson Mansnoozie floated through the door. 'SANDY!' Jack yelled. The Sandman floated over and embraced the winter spirit. He then ruffled his hair. Jack laughed. Sandy bowed to the other three. 'Hang on,' Jack said suddenly, his smile faltering, 'Where are the others?'

Sandy's smile vanished to be replaced by an extremely sad expression. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He might not have said a word, but Jack knew immediately what this meant. Jack collapsed to the floor. He couldn't believe it; the Guardians... were... dead? 'What happened?' Jack asked, his eyes closed. Sandy formed one word above his head: "Pitch."

'We don't know as yet what has happened to the Guardians,' said Eloissa, 'But we do know that Kozmotis Pitchiner has been disturbing the balance.' She got back to her feet and stepped over to a curtain on the wall. She pulled it down, revealing a large, black mirror. She tapped the centre of the mirror with her middle finger. It made a sound like a gun had been fired underwater. Ripples pulsed out from the point she had touched.

A strange, haunting image greeted them. Built completely out of bones set into the side of a mountain, was vast castle with many turrets and towers. The sight of it sent shudders down Jack's spine.

'What's that?' Hiccup asked. 'It is the Castle of the Dead Lord,' said Eloissa. She looked very grim. The image shifted. It now showed Bunnymund, North and Tooth. 'It seems that your Guardian friends have been banished to the Dead Kingdom.' The image shifted once again. It was now completely black. For a moment, Jack thought it had merely switched off. Then he realised that he realised that the blackness was in fact... writhing and convulsing.

It shifted and pulsed faster and faster until... SMASH! The mirror shattered into a thousand shards of razor-sharp glass. Rapunzel squeaked as the fragments tinkled to the floor. Jack picked up one of the shards. 'AHH!' he yelped, dropping it. The piece was a lot sharper than he had thought. His finger was bleeding profusely. He sucked the wound, but it still stung. 'Do you want me to sort that out?' Rapunzel offered, lifting up a lock of her hair. 'Nah, I'll be fine,' Jack said, shaking his hand out, 'Teach be to be more sensible in future.'

'If your gonna save your friend,' Eloissa interjected, 'You're gonna need some new method of transport. Come with me.' She opened a copper door next to the silver gate and lead them down a dingy stairwell to a smithy down below. It certainly wasn't as glamorous as the room high above. Many rusty tools were scattered around the room and a massive fire burned in the forge. Next to the forge was a massive crucible. Orange light was shining out of it and they could hear a "gloop" of sloshing metal. 'Not quite what I expected,' Rapunzel said, her eyebrows raised. 'Not like the smithy back at my village,' Hiccup said. 'Ya mean the way the flames are purple, the anvil's made a' diamond blocks and the water in the barrel is glowin' gold?' Merida asked. 'Yeah, I thought that was odd,' Hiccup said.

Eloissa stepped forward. She opened a metal cupboard and took out a strange mold. She took it over to the crucible, placed it on a platform and put on a pair of thick leather gloves. Then she tipped the crucible over and shining-orange, molten metal poured into the mold. Surprisingly faster than Jack had expected, the metal cooled and solidified. Eloissa pulled the object out of the mold and took it over to the barrel. She quickly dipped the metal block into the water-filled barrel. A solid wall of steam rose up from the barrel and Eloissa quickly pulled the block out of the steam and took it over to the forge.

Placing the block into the violet flames, she turned it over to get an even heating. When it was glowing, she removed it from the intense fire and took it over to the diamond anvil. Eloissa lifted up a massive hammer inscribed with many strange runes and brought it down onto the block. The clang it made was massive, but the flash of pure light was truly overwhelming. It blasted them back onto the floor. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! WHOOSH! When Jack dared to open his eyes again, the bright light was shimmering around the metallic block. Eloissa picked up the block and once again dropped it into the water barrel. HHHSSS! An explosion of indigo steam blasted out from the mouth of the barrel.

When Eloissa lifted the metal block out of the barrel it had turned into a key, albeit a fairly massive key. It was the size of Hiccup's entire upper body. It also looked very heavy and appeared to be made out of rather shiny substance. It could have been made of silver, but something in Jack's senses told him it wasn't. Hiccup raised a rather impressed eyebrow. 'This key is made out of the iridium freshly forged in the heart of a dying star. It can take you anywhere you wish to go in all of space and time.' She tossed the key to Rapunzel. CLANG! It was so heavy that it pulled her to the ground. Eloissa pick up the key, gave it another whack with her hammer and it shrank to the size of one of Merida's arrows. She tossed the key to Merida this time who put it in her quiver for storage.

'You must use that key to rescue your friends and only for that purpose,' Eloissa said sternly, 'In the wrong hands, who knows what damage that thing could do.' 'You mean Pitch?' Rapunzel asked, eyeing the key nervously. 'I was thinking of a rather greater threat.' Jack stared at her. 'Like what?' he asked, 'What's more dangerous than Pitch?' Eloissa opened her mouth to answer when a resounding BOOM echoed across the world. It shook the foundry to it's very foundations. The crucible tipped over and spilled white-hot molten iridium over the floor. The water barrel tipped over onto the iridium and the liquid within was vaporised.

Eloissa drew an axe she had slung over her back and charged up the stairs with the big four in close pursuit. They ran through the display area, where many of the storage cases had toppled over and smashed, spilling their contents over the floor. They burst through the doors and stared around. People were running and screaming. Buildings were collapsing. The mountains were cracking. The forest far below was in flames.

The sky was...

They stared at it. Thick, black clouds were spinning out of nowhere. Flashes of lightening were zigzagging across the heavens. The Blackness was running down the mountains which were crumbling at it's touch. 'GO!' Eloissa roared at the four, 'GET OUT OF HERE!' Thick arms of the darkness were snaking towards them. Eloissa swung her axe and the arms recoiled. CRACK! A whip of gold flew through the air. Sandy was fighting off the shadows as much as he could with his dreamsand whips.

Jack tugged the key out of Merida's quiver and said to it, 'The Dead Castle.' The key responded. It pointed to the ground and opened a portal. They were instantly tugged into it, followed closely by Sandy.

The portal snapped shut.

The Darkness filled the world. Though it's people tried to fight, they knew it would do no good. The blackness sank into the ground. There was a rumble and then... an explosion.

The world of the Matter-Smiths was destroyed.

And a voice said

Us... Must... Have... More... Power...

A different style I know so please by friendly with the reviews. I'm getting a little depressed lately due to my epilepsy.

Will update as soon as possible.