The morning of the journey came dark and cold. The sky was covered in a blanket of gray clouds that pressed low against the earth. The dark line stretched from one end of the horizon to the other, like a deep scar across the face of the world. The ground shook once, hard enough to make tents rattle and pots clatter, then settled into a steady, low tremor that hummed through the soles of every foot.
Ashreign stood in the center of the training clearing, his hands wrapped around the sun crystal that hung from his neck. He looked out at the thirteen thousand people who had come to help men and women and children from every corner of the land. They stood in neat rows, their faces full of determination. Tents were packed into tight bundles. Bags were slung over shoulders. Food and water were loaded onto wooden carts pulled by horses and oxen. The air was full of the sound of breathing, of feet shifting on the grass, of quiet words passed between friends.
" Let's go," Ashreign said. His voice was not loud, but it carried across the clearing, lifted by Aeris's Air power so every person could hear it. "We have come this far together. We will go the rest of the way together. And we will save the world together."
Aeris flew up into the sky, her wings of pure air spreading wide. She rose high above the group, until she was just a small white shape against the gray clouds. " This way," she called down, her voice echoing across the Whisperwood. "The path through the forest is clear for now. But we must hurry."
Terrax walked to the front of the group, his hands glowing with soft gray light. He pressed his palms to the ground, and the light flowed into the earth. The cracks that had formed in the dirt road closed up, leaving a smooth, solid path. The steady tremor softened, making it easier to walk without stumbling. He took a step forward, and the ground ahead of him shifted and smoothed, as if the earth itself was helping them on their way.
The group began to move. They walked through the Whisperwood, where Elara's trees grew tall and strong. Leaves rustled in the soft wind, making a sound like rain. Birds sang soft songs from the branches above robins and sparrows and blue jays, their voices full of hope. For a moment, it felt like a normal journey. Like they were going to a village festival, not to face the end of the world. Children ran between the rows of people, laughing and playing. Adults talked quietly, sharing stories of their homes and their lives.
In the first hour, they reached the Sylvara River. The water was still, like a sheet of glass, but Lira walked to the edge and held out her hands. Her fingers glowed with soft blue light, and the water began to move. It rose up from the riverbed, forming a wide bridge of solid, clear water that stretched from one bank to the other. Fish swam beneath the bridge, their scales glinting in the dim light that filtered through the clouds. They were small fish, with silver bodies and bright eyes, and they swam in schools, following the group as they crossed.
" Look," said a young boy named Tom, who was walking with his mother from the Lightning Plains. He pointed at the fish, his eyes wide with wonder. "They are alive. I thought all the fish were dying. All the ones in our streams are gone."
" Your hope is making them strong," Lira said, walking beside him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Every bit of good we feel, every thought of hope we have, helps the elements. We are all connected to the world. And the world is connected to us."
Tom smiled. He walked across the bridge, his head held high, watching the fish swim beneath his feet. When he reached the other side, he waved at them, and one of the fish jumped out of the water as if to wave back.
As they walked into the Earth Hills, the ground began to shake harder. Terrax worked fast, his hands moving constantly as he pressed them to the earth. Cracks closed up before they could grow wide. Rocks that had fallen from the hillsides rolled back into place. A large boulder broke loose from a hill ahead, tumbling down toward the group with a low rumble.
" Look out," someone yelled from the middle of the crowd. People stopped, their faces full of fear. The boulder was big enough to crush a dozen people.
Kidlatina flew down from the sky, her hands glowing with bright purple light. She shot a bolt of Lightning at the boulder, and the light hit it dead center. The boulder broke into hundreds of small pieces that fell harmlessly to the ground, scattering across the path.
" Thank you," the person who had yelled called out. "Thank you so much."
Kidlatina nodded, her face serious. She flew back up into the sky, her eyes scanning the hills for more danger. She kept her hands glowing, ready to shoot another bolt of Lightning if she needed to.
In the afternoon, they stopped to rest in a small valley surrounded by hills. Leo walked to the center of the valley and held out his hands. His fingers glowed with bright red light, and flames sprang up from the ground. He made five fires, one for each corner of the valley and one in the middle. He used his Fire power to heat pots of water and bake loaves of bread, filling the air with the warm smell of grain and smoke. Everyone gathered around the fires, sitting on rocks and grass, sharing food and stories.
" I have never met so many kind people," said a woman named Maria from the Coastal Villages. She was sitting beside a fire with her husband and two children, eating a bowl of soup that Leo had made. "We are all from different places. We speak different languages. But we feel like family."
" That is what the balance is about," Mai said, sitting down beside her. She was holding a basket of fruit, passing it around to the people near the fire. "We are all part of the same world. We all need each other to live. The elements work together, and so must we."
Maria smiled. She took a piece of fruit from the basket and handed it to her daughter. " You are right," she said. "We are family now. And family looks out for each other."
They continued walking as the sun began to set. The sky turned from gray to orange to purple, and the dark line stood out even more against the colorful sky. Aeris flew down from the sky, her face more serious than ever. She landed beside Ashreign and Mai, her wings folding behind her back.
" The darkness is moving faster," she said. Her voice was quiet, but it was full of fear. "I can hear it. It is crawling through the tunnels beneath the earth, getting closer to the Heartstone. It will reach it in two days. Not three. We need to hurry. We do not have much time left."
Ashreign nodded. He turned to the group and called out, " We need to walk faster. The darkness is coming sooner than we thought. But we can do this. We are strong. We are together."
The group walked faster. Terrax worked harder, his hands moving so fast they were just a blur of gray light. He fixed the path as they went, closing cracks and moving rocks out of the way. Leo kept the fires burning bright on the carts they had brought, so they could see in the dark. Kidlatina flew above, her Lightning lighting up the sky every few minutes, showing them the way.
In the middle of the night, they reached the edge of the Wood Forest. The trees here had been gray and withered when Elara had visited a week before, but as the group walked into the forest, Elara held out her hands. Her fingers glowed with soft green light, and the light flowed into the trees. Leaves began to grow on the branches, small and green at first, then big and full. The bark on the trees turned from gray to brown. Birds began to sing in the tops of the trees, their voices filling the forest with sound.
Elara used her Wood power to grow new trees along the path, making a roof of leaves that stretched above the group. Just as she finished, rain began to fall soft at first, then hard, pouring down from the sky in big drops. But the roof of leaves kept everyone dry, shielding them from the rain.
" Thank you," said an old man named Borin from the Earth Hills. He was walking with a cane, and he had been worried about getting wet. "I have not been dry in days. My bones ache when they get cold."
" We take care of each other," Elara said, walking beside him and helping him over a small root. "That is what we are here for. To make sure no one is left behind. To make sure everyone is safe."
As they walked through the Wood Forest, they saw more and more signs of life. Flowers grew along the path, their petals bright and colorful. Bees flew from flower to flower, collecting nectar. Butterflies danced in the air, their wings full of color. The trees grew greener with every step, and the air became thick with the smell of pine and earth.
" What is happening?" Ashreign asked, looking at the trees in wonder. "When I was here before, everything was gray and dead. Now it is alive again."
" Our power," Mai said, looking out at the group. "All of us, together. Our hope, our friendship, our determination. It is making the elements strong again. Even if it is just a little. Even if it does not last long. It is enough to give us hope."
The group walked faster, their hearts full of hope. The trees grew greener. The rain stopped. The sky cleared, and a few stars shone through the dark line, their light bright and clear. For a moment, it felt like they could win. Like they could stop the darkness and save the world.
In the morning, they reached the Charred Wastes. Once, this had been a place of fire and ash, where nothing could grow. But in the years since the guardians had defeated the old darkness, it had become green farmland, with crops growing tall and strong. But as they walked into the Wastes, the grass began to turn gray. The crops began to wilt. The ground shook harder, and the dark line in the sky grew thicker.
" We are getting close," Aeris said, flying above the group. "The Heartstone is just ahead. I can see it from here. It is standing on the hill in the center of the world, just like the stories say."
The group walked on, their feet heavy. The ground shook so hard it was hard to stand. A low rumble echoed from deep beneath the earth like the growl of a beast that had been asleep for thousands of years and was just beginning to wake up. The sound was deep and powerful, and it made everyone's skin crawl.
" There it is," someone yelled from the front of the group, pointing ahead.
In the distance, they could see the Heartstone. It stood on a tall hill in the center of the Charred Wastes, a massive crystal that reached up into the sky. But it was not glowing, as the stories had said. It was gray and lifeless, with cracks running across its surface like spider webs. The ground around the hill shook with powerful tremors, and the air was so thin it was hard to breathe.
As they walked up the hill, the rumble grew louder. The dark line in the sky split open a little, revealing a black void beneath empty and cold, with no stars or light. The ground shook so hard that rocks fell from the sides of the hill, tumbling down toward the group.
" Keep going," Ashreign called out. "We are almost there. Do not stop. Do not give up."
The group kept going, climbing the hill step by step. Terrax worked fast, closing cracks and moving rocks out of the way. Kidlatina shot Lightning at the bigger rocks, breaking them into small pieces. Leo kept the fires burning bright, so everyone could see where they were going.
When they reached the top of the hill, they stood in a large clearing around the Heartstone. The crystal was even bigger up close so big that it would take twenty people holding hands to circle it. The cracks on its surface were deep, and they glowed with a faint dark light. The ground shook so hard that everyone had to hold onto something to stay standing.
" Everyone, form a circle around the Heartstone," Ashreign said, his voice loud and clear. "Hold hands. Get ready. This is it."
The thirteen thousand people began to form a big circle around the crystal. They stood close together, their bodies touching. They held hands, their fingers intertwined so tightly that their knuckles turned white. The guardians stood in the middle of the circle, one for each direction Leo for the south, Lira for the north, Elara for the east, Terrax for the west, Aeris for the sky, Kidlatina for the storms, Ashreign for the darkness, and Mai for the light.
" Close your eyes," Mai said, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. Her hands glowed with bright gold light, and the light spread out from her, touching everyone in the circle. "Think of the forest you want to save. Think of your family. Your friends. Your home. Think of the sun and the moon and the stars. Think of the trees and the flowers and the animals. Channel all your power into the Heartstone. All of it. Together."
Everyone closed their eyes. They thought of their homes of the villages they had left behind, of the houses they had built, of the gardens they had planted. They thought of their families of their parents and children, their husbands and wives, their brothers and sisters. They thought of their friends of the people they had met on the journey, of the people who had come to help. They channeled their powervsmall bits of Fire and Water and Wood and Earth and Air and Lightning and Light and Darkness into the Heartstone, sending it through their hands and into the crystal.
The Heartstone began to glow. Faint at first, then brighter. Gold and silver light from Mai and Ashreign. Red light from Leo. Blue light from Lira. Green light from Elara. Gray light from Terrax. White light from Aeris. Purple light from Kidlatina. Eight colors swirling together, filling the air with light that was so bright it hurt to look at.
The rumble grew louder. The ground shook harder. A big crack opened in the middle of the clearing, right beside the Heartstone. Black smoke poured out of the crack, thick and acrid, and the air became cold enough to see their breath.
" It is waking up," Ashreign said, his voice full of fear. "Channel more power. All of it. Do not hold back."
Everyone channeled more power. The Heartstone glowed brighter, and the eight colors merged into one big wave of light that shot up into the sky. It hit the dark line, making it shrink a little, and the black void beneath was covered by light.
But from the crack in the ground, something began to rise. A dark shape, big and terrifying, that filled the air with fear. It was made of stone and shadow, with a body as big as a mountain. Its eyes were black holes that sucked in all the light. Its teeth were sharp as knives, and its claws were long enough to tear through stone. It roared, a sound that shook the world, and the ground split open even more.
The ancient darkness had woken up.