The Four Gems
#14 of Legend of the Tiger Clan
A few days went by in Shcrade and Zeng was living the high life. Servants attended to his every call, all the nobles in the land were eager to meet and his friends were enjoying the perks of having a prince as a member of the group. That morning Zeng had noticed Xani who was now wearing her new sand shark cloak made by Angel walking up to him.
"Hey Zeng can I talk to you?"
"Sure."
Xani seemed friendly enough for a thief and if Shayde could trust her then so could he. The two got to know each other a little better as they had a few laughs in between their conversation but then Xani remembered something Shayde told her about Zeng.
"So Zeng I heard that when you and Shayde first dueled each other you beat him with ease."
"That was a minor misunderstanding and-!"
"Show me!"
Xani then instantly pulled out the two halves of her staff and snapped them together in one quick movement but Zeng wasn't all that impressed as he gave a smirk towards the husky.
"Oh you don't wanna get in a sword fight with me."
"*points staff to chest* Try me stripey!"
After a moment of silence Zeng unsheathed his claymore and the fight was on. Meanwhile the boys had just finished decorating the ship with the skeleton of the sand shark they killed the other day, the ribs were used as plating for the hull and the tail was used for the rudder while the skull was the decoration piece on the bow, everything seemed normal until Abby and Angel bursted in on them completely out of breath.
"Xani is fighting Zeng!!"
Everyone quickly rushed to the courtyard to see the duel. Zeng was fast even with his heavy sword but when it came to acrobatics Xani was the master as she flipped and sweeped past Zeng with ease while taunting him with her laughter.
"RRRRRAGH!! HYAAGH!! HAAA!!"
"Ooh I felt some breeze in that one *laughs* woops! missed me again!"
"RRRRGH!!!"
Zeng had enough of her games as he tossed aside his claymore and axe to bring out his fathers shield and smolder who gave off small sparks of fire as Zeng drew it from its sheath leaving the others a bit concerned since Zeng hadn't fully mastered its power.
"This just got interesting."
Xani on the other hand wasn't worried since she was courageous by nature but as Zengs mark began to glow she was taken by surprise.
"Round two..."
Zeng suddenly vanished in a poof of dust and appeared behind Xani who quickly blocked his attack only to have him vanish in front of her again, as she turned around she was greeted by a shield slam to her body but thankfully Zeng held back making sure not to brake any of her bones.
"What trick is this?!?"
"No trick. During the training I had with my father I was forced to carry one boulder up a staircase for three weeks straight without rest then when I was finally allowed to remove the boulder I found that I could instantly cover three fields with just one short burst of speed, the mark controls the spirit energy in my body so I used it to hold back otherwise it wouldn't be a fair fight."
"Clever, now it's my turn-HYA!"
Xani had tossed several smoke bombs in front of Zeng cutting off his line of sight and thanks to that new cloak of hers she easily blended in with the cover, Zeng could hear dashing footsteps all around him but couldn't get a lock on where the noise was coming from the out of nowhere the blunt end of Xanis staff smashed into his forehead dazing him a little as he swayed from side to side then he was tripped over by her tail and as the smoke cleared Zeng could see her taunting him again as she slapped her own butt and blew her tounge at him and for the boys watching this was arousing.
"Mmmm."
"*Punches arm* Kerric!!!"
"Sorry!"
Zeng instantly retaliated with a double heeled kick to both her cheeks and for Xani that was both embarassing and infuriating.
"Oh why you!"
"Grragh!"
The fight then went into full weapons combat as Xani reatached the two pieces of her staff, both combatants were of equal skill, it seemed that the fight would go on forever until finally Zeng found his blade resting at Xanis throat while hers was at his chest. The fight was a draw.
"Not Bad."
"Not bad yourself stripey, I can see why Shayde had a hard time trying to beat you."
Later on in the day the queen assembled the group in the royal library where an ancient tome was laid out with a picture of four gems of different colors.
"So mother you said you could help us with imprisoning Kairos?"
"Yes. You see centuries ago during the battle against Kairos the four Magu's of Gaia imprisoned him using the Gems of The Elements."
The Gems of The Elements were the four most powerful sources of elemental magic in Gaia, each gem controlled the elements of earth, wind, water and fire, if all gems were assembled their power could make one a living god.
"Using the power of the gems the Magu's trapped Kairos deep within the heart of black pillar mountain in a dome of all four elements combined for you see Kairos is no ordinary dragon but....A Shadow Dragon."
"WHAT?!?"
"Impossible! the shadow dragons were destroyed centuries ago by the first king of Shcrade!"
"All but their king. and when the sorceres imprisoned Kairos they feared that someday the ceal would be broken so they hid the gems in four sacred temples guarded by a dragon of each element and only those who are pure of heart can set the gems free, that is why all of you are gathered here today; All of you have been chosen to retrieve the gems and stop Kairos from rising."
The queen then took out four scrolls, each bearing the symbols of earth, fire, air and water handing them over to the group and as each of them grabbed a scroll the symbols began to glow.
"What's going on?"
"You my son have been chosen to retrieve the gem of fire. Angel has been chosen to retrieve the gem of wind, Kerric and Abby have been chosen to retireve the gem of earth. And you Shayde, you have been chosen to retrieve the gem of water. But be warned young ones the dragons who guard these gems draw their power from them, you must fight as you have never fought before. good luck and may the goddess protect you."
As soon as the preperations were made the group left Schrade to retrieve the nearest gem; The Gem of Water.
The End.