Everyone here's where we left off in the shifting sands
(night time) shifting sands sandstorm Liefs P.O.V
Lief had been separated by the sandstorm caused by the guardian of the fourth gem he ended up tumbling down a sandune and during the entire time buzzing was heard. Lief stood up said "this is it just like the opal showed I wonder what happens now I gotta be strong, but I can't think with that buzzing going on if only we all stayed together". He then shouted "barda,jasmine,cal" he placed his hands on his ears the entire time while that buzzing was happening the entire time.
He then got down on his knees, then onto his elbows groaning the entire time he said "it can't end like this". Then suddenly something fell in front of him he looked up and saw it was the wood bird jasmine had won he then grabbed it with his right hand. Lief stood on his knees said "this is Jasmines" and began looking around through the sandstorm while the buzzing continued he then close his eyes and put the wooden bird in his pocket.
Lief put his left hand on his left ear the voice said "Lief" he replied "that voice again" Voice said "I have brought you to the center for one reason and one reason only". He said "the center" then placed his hand on the belt said "of course it wants me to give the belt to the hive" and he started to walk backwards. He then turned around only to be met by a big face that's yellow and black "you cannot run you will never escape the shifting sands now offer the belt to the hive" said this thing then it flash glowed.
Lief moved back shouted "for the last time I will never give you the belt" thing shined said "you will give it". He replied "No Way stay back" and then he ran away from the hive face his hands on his ears and his eyes closed while he ran away. The thing still chasing him and sometimes glowed lief stopped turned around looked 'hang on a sec' he thought the glowing face he looked at saw that it was moving strangely.
Lief got a closer look and saw the face was made up of bees he said "their bees" and bee face said "give me the belt offer it" then he pushed lief down on his bum. Lief shouted "get away from me no stop" during that time he put his hands over his ears and close his eyes, crouching inward. The bee faced creature starring at him then opened its mouth, swallowing lief up this caused him to lose conscious Bee face said "go to sleep lief of Del".
(Liefs POV)
Lief is in a bed eyes closed then he opened them "mhh were am I?" Lief said then the door opened it was his mom Anna with folded clean laundry. She said "well good morning sleepyhead I thought you never wake up i'll put a change of clothes here for you" then put down the clean clothes. Lief got up said "I don't get it what are you doing here mom?" She replied "dont be so silly lief im your mother i'm allowed to be in your room aren't I".
Lief said "my room im home" while he was looking around halfway the sentence his mom, Anna decided to sit down on the bed with him. She said "we're so happy you're back it seemed like we were waiting forever" this confused lief then a voice said "i'm sorry, son". He looked and voice came from jarred his father who walked towards him stand next to his wife with his cane in his right hand.
Jarred said "I know how difficult and dangerous the quest was for you" anna said "we're just glad you decide to come home" during that time she hugged him. Lief said "but mom" she replied "you must've been so scared and lonely" and then he succumbed to her hug and closed his eyes.
Jarred said "there's no need to blame yourself for not finishing you did as much as you could which is all we ever expected". Anna broke the hug, said "now you can take the belt off and relax, you don't need to wear it anymore" lief said "really I can take it off". Jarred said "yes it's no longer your burden now give the belt to me leif" this caused lief to smile said "of course here you are father".
Then when lief was fiddling with the belt, he sai "but wait if I don't continue the quest what will happen to Deltora". Jarred said "don't worry, son Deltora is going to be fine somebody else has already started looking for the other four gems it's no longer your responsibility". Anna said "listen to your father take off the belt and give it to him son you can relax now" lief looked sad.
Lief said "somebody else are you serious" anna said "that's right" and jarred nodded up and down this caused lief to look concerned. Jarred said "what is the son" there was a moment of silence between them anna said "is something the matter". Lief lifted up his hands said "this can't be you're not my mom and you are not my dad" jarred said "what are you saying" anna said "don't tell me you already forgotten your mother's face".
Lief shouted "are you kidding of course not i'll never forget what my mom looks like but my real mom and dad would never act like this they never asked me to take the belt off if the quest wasn't finished they never would this isn't happening" and put his hands on his head. Fake anna said "take the belt off now and give it to us" lief looked at them she then placed her hand on his shoulder fame jarred said "give the belt to us lief".
Fake anna said "take the belt off and give it to us" lief said "huh" fake jarred said "the belt give us the belt". She said "give us the belt" lief said "I won't do it I won't" then suddenly his parents turned into a swarm of bees, lief screamed and ran out the window of his room. While he was running he thought 'I don't get it where am I is the quest really over what about Jasmine,cal and barda this must mean that the Shadowlord won'.
During his whole run through the forest suddenly an apple was hit on his head, and he fell down on his knees with his hands on the ground. The apple then bounced around and moved circular in front of him and suddenly half a face showed up said "lief you little vegabon". Lief was surprised then the half face became a whole face of queen bee she said "shhh keep your voice low" she looked right to left said "listen to me".
Lief said "you're the lady from the Apple Orchard" queen bee said "didn't you pay attention to what I said I told you how I control my guards I use smoke". He said "I remember" she replied "so what are you waiting for make with the smoke" suddenly another apple hit him on the head and he looked up. What was in front of him was a giant apple tree and each apple had queen bees face on it, repeating the same line with the smoke over and over.
Suddenly the apples all started to fall on him, and he covered his head with his arms.
(day time) shifting sands
Lief is buried in the sand with only the left side heat of his head, along with his shoulder and tip of his hand sticking out he is asleep. Then the sound of cawwing caused lief to stirring from his nap his left eye opening "oh my head" he said. He got up and stand said "i'm back here again" and he looked up he saw kree flying in circles lief said "hi kree".
Kree circled around him, then lief stuck his right arm, curving out and kree landed on it perching he said "boy am I ever glad to see you cal,barda and jasmine can't be far from here right". Then kree cawwed in agreement with lief and he said "thanks for finding me kree" he then rubbed the back of his left hand on his eyes, indicating tears of joy.
Lief said "those three are OK aren't they that's what you're saying, right i'm starting to understand you" and kree cawwed happily. He said "I think you should fly back to them let them know I'm OK" while he lifted his arm up, letting kree fly back into the sky. Kree was flying away to get the rest of the group back to lief then he put his hand on the belt and said "its warm and I can feel it getting warmer" we get an x-ray view of the belt and see three gems, glowing with the belt.
Lief said "that must mean the gems near by" he then looked to his right and what he saw was a long mound that pointed up like a long castle. He said "why didn't I see that before maybe that's where it's hidden" suddenly a massive shadow was cast over him. Lief looked behind him and saw two terreocti with red eyes he turned facing towards them, and they both screeched at him this caused him to get down on his knees.
Lief thought 'what's going on I can't move at all' the terreocti screech at him again and was about to slash at him. When suddenly a blast struck one on the right side of one of the terreocti barda appeared in front of him saying "lief are you ok" lief said "barda" then the big guy threw a blister at terreocti.Jasmine said from a distance "you're such a pain you know that" he looked where the voice was coming from Jasmine was getting ready to toss another blister they had gotten from the remains of the grey guards and she threw it at terreocti.
This caused one of them to scurry away into the sand, but they still had to deal with the other her terreocti. As the other terreocti was about to lunge at barda and lief Cal jumped in front of the creature and gave off a mighty "Rooooaaar". This scared the second terreocti and just like the first one this creature scurried into the sand out of fear and valued its life since Cal roared at it.
They all stood in a group lief said "you saved me" jasmine said "just doing my job" cal said "like I told you before lief" then a bright light shine around him, and he returned to his human side. Cal said "we fought three evil guardians together our bond is very strong as comrades" lief looked at barda that spoke "i'm so sorry lief we never should've untied the rope".
Lief then close his eyes shook his head left to right he said "hey, we all make mistakes i'm just glad to see you guys". Jasmine said "I was worried about you enough to make me get a little bit jittery but im glad to see that your fine" barda said "yeah" cal said "i'm just glad you are OK lief". Lief is happy to hear his comrades say those words jasmine said "well then now that we found leif and we're all back together again let's get the heck out of here I don't know about you guys but I've had enough of the overgrown bug".
Barda said "yeah no kidding" lief said "I hear ya" cal said "a shame I would've liked to go a few rounds with one of them but it is what it is". Lief said "but don't worry he won't be back any time soon" jasmine said "why do you say that?" Lief turning around to face the mound. Lief said "as long as we're heading towards that tower there's no need for him to come after us" jasmine said "what are you saying".
Barda said "what is that tower" lief said "I think it's the center of the shifting sands" jasmine said "the center" cal replied "makes sense It's the only thing that sticks out around here". Lief said "the shifting sands or rather I should say the hive of the shifting sands gathers all its victims to a place it calls the center so as long as we're going there voluntarily I don't think we'll be attacked by anything".
Lief said "and I'm betting that's where the fourth gem is" barda said "is the belt telling you that" lief answered "yeah". Jasmine said "well then I guess we have no other choice" while placeing her hand on liefs shoulder barda said "before we go I think we should tie ourselves together again" he did the same. Cal said "don't worry this time I'll take the lead in climbing and we'll get there faster then you think".
They all stared at the mound tower jasmine said "the more I look at this the less I wanna climb it" barda said "it's not gonna be easy considering how steep it is". Lief said "but we have to we have no other choice" cal said "besides, you know the old saying nothing ventured nothing gained".
During the entire climb up the mound tower our group is tied together with a rope with Cal in the lead the reason why is because he turned his arms into his creature arms and climbing was very easy. During the climbing montage lief said "come on guys we're almost there" and then they reached the top.
(Day time) shifting sands top of mound
Barda said "we made it good job you three" when they got on top of the mound tower this had a flat surface and a big hole in the center luckily there was wide enough edge for them to stand on lief looked down it. Barda said "wow not exactly inviting is it" jasmine looked said "it's too dark to see if there's anything down there "barda said "im not sure you want to even if you could". Cal looked doen the hole replied "we gotta go down there anyway it's the only way to get to the fourth gem" jasmine said "what do you think we should do lief".
Lief was continuing looking down the hole there was a moment of silence barda asked "hey are you all right" lief answerd "yeah its just that the belt is so hot it's hard to think". Jasmine said "I guess that's good it means that the gem is down there for sure" lief said "yeah but how do we get to it" cal said "I might have an idea or two".
Suddenly a loud buzzing noise stirred "do you guys hear that noise?" Jasmine said barda said "I do and it's getting louder". Lief said "you can hear it" cal said "loud and clear lief emphasis on the loud part" jasmine said "yeah" barda said "of course". He said "that's the weird buzzing sound i've been hearing ever since we've set foot in the shifting sands it's the hive" barda said "so now we're able to hear it too I suppose that confirms things".
Jasmine said "I guess that means the hive wants us to come too but I don't know if I'm too happy about that" cal said "fighting a swarm. I like my odds already". Barda said "what exactly is causing the noise" lief said "thousands and thousands of bees" barda said "bees". Suddenly the mound begins to shake and what surprised them was the swarm of bees shooting out of the top barda shouted "stay calm don't panic or you might fall in".
Jasmine said "OK sure" lief said "right" cal said "i'm staying put here until the shaking stops" and the swarm of bees formed the face. Hive said "give the belt to me now" any glowed slightly jasmine said "it wants the belt" barda said "I never believed this if I wasn't seeing it for myself". Cal said "usually there's one evil guardian of the gem but this looks more like thousands and thousands" hive said "offer the belt to the hive".
Then lief smashed a fire bead on a cloth with the hill of his sword that activated a fire this seemed to affect the hive. Lief picked up the fire cloth the part that wasn't burning waved it around said "eat this" this has caused the hive to grunt and disassemble it's face then the hive went back to the mound.
Jasmine said "why did they go back" lief said "remember that scary old lady who yelled at us in the orchard" during that he was making a torch. He held torch and said " she said she controls her bees with smoke" barda said "but what are the bees doing here". Lief said "it's the hive they're the guardians of the fourth gem" barda said "the hive" lief said "it's the mindless will the stone was referring to". Lief said "but I think people confuse them with the sand they are the shifting sands" jasmine said "this is getting a bit too weird for me I mean, we've been up against dead knights, witches and giant snakes but I don't even know we're fighting this time" cal said "I do we're dealing with a swarm of evil bees".
Lief was getting out a lot of rope while saying "it's funny cause the stone actually told us all the secrets of this place" cal said "how do you figure that lief". He said "do you guys remember the first few lines it said, the shifting sands beware danger, the end lies within its rocky wall, where all our one, one will rules all that's what a hive is a group of many acting as one". Lief continued "below the dead the living strive cause the hive is under these dead dunes and then I thought for the longest time the last line said with mindless will to survive which kind of makes sense but there were too many blank spaces".
Lief continues "it really says with mindless will to serve the hive" jasmine said "so that's the guardian" lief said "right it's a swarm of bees they work and attack as one". Barda said "so you're saying that if we'd only been able to decipher what was written on the stone we would've known exactly where the gem was hidden". Lief said "yeah I know it's kind of funny listen I think I should go in there by myself" barda said "all right fine but if we hear anything down there, we're gonna pull you up immediately".
Cal said "I think it would be best if I joined him" lief said "but why cal" he replied "because with two up here and two down in the hive our chance of survival will increase". During that time cal got out his lengths of rope and a mask fallen by the gray guard lief thought for 10 seconds then said "all right you can come".
Our adventures set up a pulley system with the rope leif was tied at the end of the rope while cals rope was tied to the end of leif and he decide to hover with hiscreature wings they started to descend down with lief holding the torch. Jasmine said "leif cal when you two wanna come up give the rope a good tug all right and don't take too long" lief said "got it" cal replied "affirmative". Barda said "remember to stay calm we're still tied together so you two don't need to worry about a thing" lief said "kay" cal replied "thanks guys".
So the two guys began to descend down the mound where the hive resides slowly, but surely they made their way down cal decided baggy should stay in his belt while Hatter is on top of him. Suddenly the two guys started to hear faint buzzing lief said "I can hear the buzzing and getting louder and louder we just need to stay calm Cal" cal replied "gotcha buddy".
Then they both were surprised, the hive started to swarm around them and then into face shape hive said "offer the belt to the Hive offer the belt to the Hive". Hive kept saying that over and over again as multiple hive faces showed up while lief swinged the torch cal was holding him and saying "flap those wings and buzz off you pests". Lief had managed to hit one of the faces with the torch that disintegrated and the rest scramed they took a sigh breath and continue downward.
As they got deeper they saw spears connected to each other these things were so big they look like huts in a village. Then they saw all the treasure the hive had collected "wow look at all this stuff it's a treasure trove" lief said "yeah with this much treasure you could buy a part of a large land" cal said.
Lief said "oh, I get it this is the bees hive of course ordinary bees collect nectar and make honey but these bees collect treasure instead over the years they've collected valuables from any traveler who met their end within the rocky walls of the shifting sands for these bees gold is honey".
Cal said "these bees are disgrace to the whole whole nature of a hive real bees, make honey, and keep the plant life alive, all these bees do is just hord". They continue downward lief said "but still it's sad to think of all the people that have passed this way" cal said "I admit I do feel sad the people who have lost their lives because of the evil hives mindless greed". Our two guys got on the ground cal let go of lief he placed his hand on belt "the opal's hot" lief said "yes, the gem is close by lief" cal said.
They both looked around until they saw two spheres one on bottom is sand dirt color the other on top looks like a honey ball and something shined blue between them. Both the guys started power walking towards the spot the looked at it "the lapis lazuli" lief said "yes we found the fourth gem" cal said. Lapis lazuli blue as the night sky was silver dots representing stars was stuck in between these spots.
Lief said "of course I remember now not only does the opal give glimpses of the future but it also has a special relationship with the lapis lazuli the heavenly stone". Lief continued "that's why the opal got hot it's almost like it recognize the lapis lazuli" cal said "we found the fourth gem let's grab it and get out of here".
As lief reached for the lapis lazuli after he put the torch in the ground he began to pull it from the spot but it wouldn't budge "it's stuck" lief said he tried again, but when he did, the spot cracked. Lief said "if I remove the gem the whole place will crumble" cal said "can't have that with us in it" hive said "How dare you!". The boys looked up and the hive formed their face in front of them "do you think you can take from the hive" hive said "no I know we can take from the Hive" cal said.
Lief and cal backed up lief picked up the torch started swinging around the torch but the flame went out "oh no" lief said. The hive laughed but then cal touched his fob press the red button said "laugh this one off you bunch of pests" he did fire and smoke spell chant generating fire in his palms which irritated the hive. lief said "I need to replace the gem if its something roughly the same size that should hold" and then they both remembered the bird.
Cal said "hey lief what about that wooden bird" lief then grabbed his sword from his sheath and garbed the wooden bird from his back pocket. Then he put the bird in his mouth charged with his sword with cal behind keeping the flame up and he stuck his sword next to the lapis lazuli. Lief got the gem and put the bird in its place "uh you will pay for this" hive said and the swarm of the hive started to surround them "lief im gonna have to deactivate the flame spell if I'm gonna carry you fast" cal said as he did just that.
Then lief grabbed the rope and pulled it tightly meanwhile, on the other side, Jasmine felt the tug "there did you feel that" she said barda replied "yeah". Lief shouted "hurry faster" cal said "hang on" they started to get pulled up the swarm started to follow up "oh no they're coming after us" lief said "like heck they're gonna get us" cal said.
The hive formed their face some mound debris was falling off then the rope stopped moving "why'd they stopped?" Lief said cal replied "I don't know, but they better get moving". During that time, they both saw something gleaming on the connections to the spheres in the hive what they saw shining was Jasmine's knife lief said "jasmine's knife". During that time, the knife fell off the edge "quick lief grab it" cal said and they both started to swing, but he missed grabbing it with his hand.
Meanwhile on top the swing caused the rope to pull jasmine forward causing her to slip baeda said "ugh careful Jasmine I don't know how long I can hold this". Jasmine shouted "lief cal are you OK hang in there we'll figure something out" the reveal is lief caught the knife but he was pointed down with Cal hovering. Cal said "nice second grab there lief" however their moment of victory was cut short when the hive formed a face said "you may not have that that is the hives".
Lief shoutes "barda jasmine pull us up" meanwhile on top barda looked to his left he was close to the edge said "jasmine make sure you're clear of the rope". This surprise Jasmine and she looked behind her and slightly screamed when Barda jumped off the edge she said his name. Bardas plan was to jump off the edge while holding the rope and have gravity accelerate the pulling process on the pullimg system. Back in between the mound lief and cal felt the rope pull up really fast surprising both of them they made a noise with their mouths.
The bees moved up and slightly formed their face saying "you cannot escape" up top barda was still climbing down with the rope. Lief and cal continue to go up then Jasmine shouted "hold on lief and cal" she shouted "lief cal" this got both of their attention as they were her being pulled up. They could see the top where they came in getting closer lief shouted "jasmine get a blister ready" the hive was right behind them in upward.
As soon as they reach the top, they broke the makeshift pulley system and Jasmine grabbed both of them to prevent them from falling off the edge. Barda had stopped moving since there was no need to pull them out anymore there was a moment of silence jasmine got up and barda looked up.
The hive roared lief shouted "throw it" cal added "now" and Jasmine took a great blister with a spike left from right and threw it at the entrance of the mound. As soon as it made contact at the center fire was covering the entrance to the mound and the hive flew right into it. You could hear the agony scream as the hive thousands and thousands of bees we're getting disintegrated by the fire till they were gone.
Lief then reached into his pocket and pulled out the gem known as the lapis lazuli put it close to his face and smiled they had found the fourth gem. Lief, barda, cal and Jasmine now had the fourth gem, the lapis lazuli our group was now standing a far distance minus cal from the hive you could see the smoke coming from the top.
Barda said "we got out of that one by the skin of our teeth didn't we" lief said "I never could've done it without you guys can you helped me get through one of my worst nightmares ever". He continued "so thank you" then he pulled Jasmine's knife out of his pocket and gave it to her "I believe this is yours". Jasmine said "how did you find it" then she grabbed the knife and close her eyes, and she held it in her hands "thank you so much for this lief" lief said"well i think I owed you the truth is you saved my life more than once I think this was the least I could do to repay you and it wasn't just me who got the knife back Cal also helped".
They all hummed in agreement except lief said "so now we've only got four gems only three more to go". Jasmine said "wait a minute where's Cal wasn't he with us just a few minutes ago?" Lief said "he said he wanted to grab a few souvenirs" barda said "what could he mean by that".
Then suddenly they heard a loud booming noise coming from the mound what they saw on the bottom of it was a big hole bursting open. Everyone was amazed when the dust finally cleared from the hole they saw a Cal was standing there his arms, then changed into his creature form and he sprouted wings along with a gray guard mask on his face. Cal then extended his right arm back of his right grab something, pulled it back and start to fly forward like crazy then when he got a distance between the group and the mound the whole place started to collapse. All that was left of the mound formerly belonging to the hive was now a pile of rubble he got right to the group landed down his arms reverted back to normal human side, and his wings disappeared.
He said "hey guys what did I miss" everyone was surprised lief said "cal where were you" barda said "why did you make a big hole in that mound". Jasmine said "and more importantly, how did you cause it to collapse like that" cal said "take it easy. I can answer all your questions it all started at five minutes ago before you guys got to this spot".
(Flashback Scene)
After the lief got the lapse lazuli you all started to head down but I told lief I would meet down there after I grabbed a few souvenirs. As soon as you guys left I called baggy out from the belt along with a gray guard's mask I sprout in my wings and all three of us went down the mound. During a hovering descent at a decent pace I told baggy to grab all the valuable, shiny objects, such as solid gold itmes, jewels everything inside the hive and as for Hatter he grabbed stuff like the vases.
We know see baggies rainbow tentacles sprouting out and grabbing the target's Cal had told her to grab. For hatter he grabed stuff like vases with his turquoise webbing and as soon as those colored construct extensions, grab their targets they started to go down and shrink inside them. After we had reached the bottom we pretty much cleared out the hives treasury hord except for the small wooden bird. Then I changed my arms into my creature, arms And then began my attack my spike punch attack I reel my arms for three spikes. I slammed both my fist into the side and the wall started to break so much it made a hole. Then after it was cleared of the smoke. I extended my right hand to grab the wooden bird that kept that place stood up then I flew away as this entire her mound, crumbled and I flew towards you guys.
(present)
Cal said "and that's what happened" everyone was like what but to break the silence Cal said "so again what did I miss". Barda said "well I said we got out of that one, by the skin of our teeth" lief said "I said I never could've done it without you guys can you helped me get through one of my worst nightmares ever so thank you". Jasmine said "yeah and then lief gave me my knife back said you helped getting it back" lief said "and I talked about about how Jasmine has saved me many times I figured I owed her" cal said "great so what now".
Lief said "well I said we now have four gems only three more to go".
Well, that's the end of finding the fourth stone now there's only three more gems to go see you all soon.