Part 3 Of Ch9.
Raya and the other three Princesses got to their feet and jumped in front of the pale blue floating gem, blocking Namaari, who was still holding the firework hand-gun.
"Hold it right there, Fang Princess!" Raya said. "If you think we're gonna let you get away with taking this gem, think again!"
"You can't have this gem until you pry it from our cold dead hands!" Sakura added.
"That's right! If you want the gem, you're gonna have to get through us first!" Tami said.
"I'm with them!" Umeko said.
"There's no way you're taking this gem! Even if it's just a prop!" Raya said.
"My apologies. But it's Fang's property as of now." Namaari said.
Several male Fang soldiers charged into the room, carrying spears and lit torches, and they surrounded Raya and the other Princesses.
Raya and the other three girls looked around at the number of soldiers and saw that they were outnumbered. No way in Heart would they be able to fight off this many men. There were simply too many of them. Plus they were just children. They wouldn't be able to fight off this amount of grown-ups even if they tried.
Just then, Benja, Sayaka and Ezra jumped into the room through the glassless skylight and landed in front of Raya and the three Princesses, each wielding a samurai sword in their right hand, and spread out and began fighting off the soldiers with their swords and the soldiers fighting with their spears and torches. They then got back in front of Raya and the other three Princesses.
"You will not lay hands on this Dragon gem." Ezra said firmly.
"What's going on?" Eitaro asked as he, the people of Spine, Heart and all of the other three nations rushed into the room.
"What's happening?!" A female Tail citizen asked.
"Fang's taking the gem!" Said one of the Fang soldiers.
"What?! You mean...the Dragon gem is real?" Eitaro asked, stunned.
"See for yourself." Said another male Fang soldier.
Eitaro and everyone gazed upon the glowing pal blue gem floating in the middle of the floor and they were stumped. They could not believe that the legendary Dragon gem that was talked about in the Kumandra legend actually existed and that it was floating in this room right before their eyes.
"That's right. Have a first and final look upon the gem. Because after this, it's going with us, and you're never gonna lay eyes on it again!" Said the first male Fang soldier.
"No way! Spine should have the gem!" Eitaro said.
"Forget it, we were here first!" Said the male Fang soldier as Virana walked up to Namaari, standing by her right side, with the Fang Princess then dropping the firework hand-gun.
"Well, we're here now, so we're taking the gem!" Said a male Tail citizen.
"Our blades and torches say different." Said another male Fang soldier.
Raya and the other three girls all posed in fighting position, ready to assist her father, Sayaka and Ezra.
Ezra looked behind him and took notice of this. Then he turned back to the people. "Listen to me...everyone has choices in life. And so do we. We can tear each other apart...or we can come together...and build a better world. It's not too late. I still believe..." He knelt and put his sword down on the floor before standing back up. "we can be one world...again."
Chief Benja and Sayaka looked back at Raya and the other three girls and saw the fighting position they were in. They both looked at each other and then at their swords and realized the bad example they were setting. They lowered their swords as they turned back to the people.
"So do i." Benja added before dropping his sword.
"Me too." Sayaka agreed before dropping her sword as well.
Raya and the three girls ceased their fighting pose. They couldn't believe Benja, Sayaka and Ezra were stepping down from a fight against all these people of the other four kingdoms who were making a big deal over a fake gem. Although they weren't too sure if Benja, Sayaka and Ezra were doing this as an example to them or to prevent the issue from escalating any further.
In the crowd of people, one of the Fang soldiers aimed their spear at Ezra and fired it at him, but Benja got in front of the old man and it hit him in the thigh of his left leg.
"(Grunts)!" Benja grunted in pain as he knelt down on his left knee.
"Chief Benja!" Sayaka said as she and Ezra bent down to Benja's angle.
"Father!" Raya said before she and the other three girls ran to her father's side, and Sayaka pulled the spear out of Benja's left leg, making him grunt in pain again, and she dropped it on the floor.
The crowd rushed toward the Dragon gem, with Raya and the others turning to see the leaders of Tail, Talon and Spine running up to it, grabbing it and fighting over it, only for it to slip out of their grasps and fall to the floor and break into five pieces, making everyone freeze, stunned.
All was quiet in the secret room. Then the room shook...followed by another shake.
"Did you ever get the feeling that something really bad is about to hap-"
Ezra was then cut off when the room started to shake uncontrollably, making loud rumbling sounds, and cracks started to form in the floor and on the ceiling as the people shrieked in fear and terror. They were having a quake.
People staggered, trying to keep their balance, with some being successful and others falling on the floor.
Raya and the three girls collapsed to the floor while Varina and Namaari were barely keeping their balance, and the soldiers were also barely keeping their's, as were the three leaders of Tail, Talon and Spine.
The floor behind the center of the room where the gem had once floated then exploded, unleashing dark purple smoke that ascended up through the glassless skylight and into the night sky and began covering it.
An amorphous dark purple/black cloud-covered creature then came up out of the hole the smoke was coming out of.
"Oh, no!" Ezra shouted over the loud rumbling.
"What is that?!" Raya asked.
"It's the Druun! They've come back after 500 years! Just like the legend said!" Ezra yelled.
"What?! Wha-what's going on here?! What is this?!" Realization then hit Raya. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This cannot be happening!"
"What cannot be happening?!" Sakura asked.
"The legend." Raya answered, stunned and dazed.
"What?!" Sakura shouted, having not heard Raya due to the rumbling of the quake.
Raya stared in shock and horror at the scene playing out before her and everyone else in the room. Now it overwhelmed her. The reality of her mother's story. The horror of reality traveled to an innocent naive mind that since birth had been led to perceive urban legends as mere fictitious, mythical, fairytale fables. The shock was so violent, she thought she would go mad. In that moment, she didn't known what was fact and what was fiction anymore. She didn't know whether to believe the sight before her or not.
One of the male citizens of Heart ran up to the roaring Druun, carrying a crossbow, ready to fire, but the creature engulfed the man, turning him to stone in a flash of pale blue light, and then moved on.
More and more roaring Druuns came out of the hole the smoke was coming out of and one of them made their way toward Raya, the other three girls, Benja, Sayaka and Ezra, but Ezra picked up a piece of the gem with his right hand and held it in front of the Druun charging towards him and the gang, making it stop, shriek in terror and back off.
"They still work!" Said a male Tail citizen.
"Get them!" A female Talon citizen shouted.
The people of Tail, Talon, Spine and Fang charged forward and a member of each kingdom grabbed the remaining four pieces of the gem--the spearless Fang soldier who had thrown his spear getting his piece--handed them to their leaders, and the leaders of three of the four kingdoms ran up to their Princess daughters, Sakura, Tami and Umeko, grabbed them by the right hand, and they and everyone else took off running, exiting the room, leaving Raya, Benja, Sayaka and Ezra behind.
Countless more Druuns ascended out of the hole and into the now dark purple smoke-covered sky through the skylight.
"Priest Ezra!" Raya said, making Ezra look at her, Benja and Sayaka. "Come on, we gotta get out of here!" She said as she and Sayaka helped Benja to his feet, with him leaning on them for support, placing his arms around their shoulders.
Ezra and the trio then began heading for the exit, and Tuk-Tuk ran up to them, ran up Raya's dress and got on her left shoulder.
"What do we do?!" Sayaka asked.
"Let's head for my secret place in the jungle! We can take refuge there!" Ezra answered.
"Your what?" Raya and Sayaka asked.
As they kept making their way to the exit, Benja's pain in his left leg increased more and more until it got unbearable. He had to stop, and he did, falling to his knees, making Raya and Sayaka stop as well, with Ezra also stopping and turning to face them.
"Father, get up, come on!" Raya said as she and Sayaka tried to help Benja to his feet, to no avail.
"Please, we have to get out of here!" Sayaka added.
"Get up!" Raya said before hearing a familiar shriek. She, Benja and Sayaka looked behind them and saw the shrieking Druuns slowly heading their way.
"Get up!" Sayaka said, attempting to pull Benja to his feet. "We'll help-"
"Sayaka! Please listen!" Benja began. "You and Ezra are Raya's guardians now!"
"What?!" Sayaka gasped.
"What?!" Raya added.
"It's written in my will...that if something happens to me, you both are to be Raya's guardians!" Benja said.
"Chief, why are you telling us this?!" Sayaka asked.
The quake then got more violent and the rumbling noises got louder.
"It is also written in my will that if anything happens to me, you and Ezra are become the new leaders of Heart! There's still hope for Raya to have a prosperous life!" Benja said.
"No!" Raya said. "We can all make it together!" She said before she started to cry, with tears filling her eyes. "You're gonna be okay, Father! I promise!"
"Raya! Don't think of this as goodbye! Think of it as new start...for you! This is my fate! You must let me go!" Benja said before kissing Raya on the forehead. "I love you, Princess!" He finished, addressing his daughter by her title, as well as her nickname he had given her at birth. Originally, he had wanted to name her Princess, but his wife, Runa, thought it would be confusing to have the title 'Princess' and the name Princess, so he started using the title as a nickname for her instead.
The tears ran down Raya's face. She hadn't been called Princess by her father in such a long time. Not since the last year when he and her mother left for their 10th wedding anniversary on a boat trip, only for her to perish in a boat collision.
"Come on, let's go!" Ezra said before he grabbed Raya around the waist with his right arm, picking her up-having ran up to her, and started running toward the entrance/exit, with Sayaka following them.
"NO!" Raya screamed, as she looked back at her father.
Chief Benja stood up and Raya watched in horror as one of the Druun made it's way up to her father from behind and engulfed him, turning him to stone in a flash of pale blue light, then it headed for Raya and the others, along with the other Druuns.
"Take us out of here!" Ezra said as he held up the glowing gem fragment, now in his left hand, followed by it starting to shine brightly.
"FATHER!" Raya screamed in terror as she looked at her father one last time, gazing upon his now stone statue form. His stoney eyes piercing through her brown ones, reminding her of the last words she ever said to him: "You're gonna be okay, Father! I promise!"
Ezra, Sayaka, Raya and Tuk-Tuk then turned into pale blue light as they zoomed up to the ceiling, gone in a flash.
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