DARKA AND THE SEVEN STONES

"Whoa kid whoa."

Cole tried to grab Bethany's flailing hands that she was using to slap him all over the body whilst screaming at the top of her lungs. After a few unsuccessful efforts, he finally gave up and wrapped his arms around her squeezing tight so she could not move. "Let me go, LET me go, LET... ME... GO!!!" She screeched loudly. Cole immediately slapped a hand over her mouth clamping it shut. "Hush! You'll wake my mom up." Shushed Cole. "Your mom?!" She managed to muffle out through his hand. It was as though for the first time she was noticing her environment. The open night sky, the truck right in front and the porch which had flowerpots hung everywhere.

She pulled his hand from her mouth looking shocked. "Where am I? How did I get here?" She asked giving Cole a look that demanded answers. "I was about to ask you the same question." Stated Cole. "One minute the porch is empty and then... poof! There you are"

"I brought her here."

Both Cole turned and Bethany tilted to look into the living room. Drake was reclined on the couch reading a newspaper. "She was about to get kidnapped and this was the safest place I could think of at the time."

Drake held out his hand and in his palm lay the white stone. Cole frowned in confusion but Bethany slowly and cautiously walked up to Drake quickly swiping the stone from his hand. "How did you bring me here?"

"With this." Drake reached into his pocket and retrieved another stone. It was identical to hers only that it was purple. "It's the stone of realms. It gives me the power to see into other spaces, worlds, dimensions, realms whatever word you want to use. It also gives me the power to travel through them therefore my power of teleportation. I can open and close a gate to anywhere."

"Say what now?" Said Cole.

"Huh?!" Came Bethany.

Drake let out a sigh. "Look I don't know how to explain this but there are other realms existing on this planet and each realm is a world of its own. Some worlds don't know that other worlds exist like yours but some worlds are aware of the existence of other worlds like the world I'm from. I'm a prince and my kingdom is Argon. A couple of months back my people became aware of ancient evil reawakening in one of the worlds, they later found out it was from your world. An evil man, Darka was being released and I was sent to stop him alongside the other descendents."

Both Cole and Bethany were quiet and both blinked twice. "I'm sorry dude but what you just said made zero sense. So could you please expatiate?" Said Bethany. "Like who's a Darka, how is he being released, who are these descendents and what does that have to do with me almost getting kidnapped and you saving me?"

Drake sucked in a deep breath. "I'm really bad at explanations so let's make this easier for all of us. The stone in your hand right now Bethany is the stone of souls. It has the power to raise the bodies of the dead and gives you the power to communicate with spirits. It usually comes with three spirit guides, Flare, Serenity, and Harp if I remember correctly and now that you're holding the stone again they should be somewhere around you. Look for them and ask them."

Bethany didn't know why but without making any skeptical comments she began searching the room for the three annoying women she had seen earlier that day in class. "Okay wait just a minute kid." Said Cole marching up to Drake. "You're not just going to waltz into my house, put your feet on my favorite couch and start to tell crazy stories. There's no way I'm believing in such nonsense."

"You'll find out soon enough if I'm just telling crazy stories or not." Smiled Drake nodding towards where Bethany stood looking behind a sofa. She sighed. "I don't think this wo-" The minute she turned around her eyes met another set of eyes that were staring really intently into hers.

"I thought you didn't want to see us again."

"Aaarrghh!! The f***!" Yelled Bethany clasping her heart from the shock. "Shh!" Hushed Cole. "Don't you know how to be quiet?"

Drake remained calm and he had a grin on his face. "I guess you've found them." He said. Bethany stared at all three women dumbstruck and all three women stood together in front of her staring curiously back. "There's no way they're ghosts, right?" It didn't sound like a question, more like a statement like she was trying to convince herself that she wasn't seeing spirits. "Well it depends..." Drake turned to Cole. "Sheriff. Other than Bethany, you and I do you see anyone else in this room?"

Cole shook his head no and Drake shrugged. "There's your answer." He said. "But if you don't believe me you can always try the old hand through body test. Just to confirm."

Bethany swallowed and reached out. Her eyes widened when her hand past right through Serenity's body and she moved it around just to make sure before retracting it. "Okay." She gulped. "Definitely ghosts."

"I know I may not seem important right now but can somebody please explain to me what in Davey Jones locker is going on here." Said Cole. Drake nodded. "Bethany could you ask your spirit guides the question."

Bethany took a deep breath and asked. "Um... I'm sorry for how I acted in class earlier but um... Drake here was talking about some guy named Darka, stones and descendent, could you guys explain."

All three women smiled at each other and turned back to Bethany. "What's the magic word?" They all chorused. Bethany frowned a bit hesitant. "Please." She added. Cole watched as suddenly a strong gust of wind blew through the room, Bethany's eyes rolled to the back of her head startling Cole but Drake didn't seem at all shocked and she began rising till she was at least four feet in the air.

I am Serenity and I will tell you the tale of Darka and the seven stones. A long time ago, when the knowing worlds were just starting to discover the existence of other worlds, there lived a very powerful wizard. The wizard came from a world where everything within it both living and non-living had magical energy in it. The wizard was also a traveler and upon his travels he discovered that most of the unknowing worlds either did not possess any knowledge of magic or did not even have any magic to begin with and many of them were in great need of it. The wizard decided to share the gift of magic to these worlds. The wizard possessed a very powerful scepter which could absolve and use any power it came across. On the scepter were seven stones. The Stone of realms, the stone of souls, the stone of elements, the stone of creation, the stone of transformation, the stone of illusions and the stone of animals. It was these stones that gave the wizard his power and it was with these stones that he used in distributing the magic. He chose one person and gave that one person in each world a turn with his scepter. That person would use the scepter to heal and save his world, after which the person returned the scepter to him. The wizard did this till he arrived at the world of man, torn apart by wars, mankind was destroying himself. So as usual, the wizard chose an individual and this individual was Darka. He gave him the scepter in order to save his world but the world of man is very different from the other worlds. So no matter how many wars Darka stopped, more just kept happening. Finally full of anger, Darka decided that his world was beyond saving. Instead, he decided to completely change it by destroying all life on it so he could create new life, better beings. When the wizard became aware of his plan he demanded for the scepter back but Darka refused. The wizard used a spell to collect the stones and left, leaving the scepter almost powerless. The wizard thought he had stopped Darka but he was wrong. This world was one of those worlds where there was magic but no one had any knowledge of it. Since Darka was now aware of the existence of magic he went in search of it and in the process came across dark magic. The scepter absolved the magic and what followed was a lot of fear, chaos and destruction in the world of man. Darka became a terror either killing people or turning them into bloodsucking Nightprowlers which would serve as his army. He conquered kingdom after kingdom and wreaked havoc everywhere. In order for them to be able to save their world, the wizard entrusted seven individuals with the seven stones and taught them a very special spell. A binding spell. The spell trapped Darka, his army and the kingdoms he had conquered into a realm of their own which they could not escape. Only if they could undo the spell.

To make sure that Darka remained trapped, five of the witches decided to say a spell. A spell that trapped their memories of the binding spell in the stones and sent the stones into hiding. The stones would only reveal themselves to their descendent when Darka posed a threat once more. The other two would transfer their stones from generation to generation, their job to help the new bearers of the stone come to terms with the world of magic.

A few days ago, someone created a rip using one of the stones right here in Silkfall, opening a small gate big enough to allow Nightprowlers through but not Darka. Now he seeks the stones so he can free himself and finish what he had started.

With that Bethany fell to the ground and when she looked up at them her eyes had returned to normal. "Are you okay kid?" Asked Cole rushing over to her side. She ignored him and focused on her spirit guides. "Does Darka have anything to do with Molly?"

All three of them nodded. "Your friend possessed one of the stones so he stole it from her." Explained Harp. "If he's gotten the stone why is he still keeping her?" Bethany probed further. "We can't tell you why." Stated Serenity. "We can't even tell you where she is or who kidnapped her. It's a rule that we can only give as much information as you may need without giving you too much that you become lazy."

Drake wanted to make a complaint but thought better. "I'm guessing he has something to do with Andrew and Patricia too."

All three ladies nodded in affirmation.

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Lola went through the contents of her bag making sure everything she needed was in there. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Her little sister Audrey said typing into her phone. "Yep!" nodded Lola. "The last time my video didn't really show much but today I am going to get a better video."

Audrey looked up from her phone. "I don't know Lo, from what you told me those two guys don't seem like the kind of people that will be all that nice if they caught you following them. They'd probably feed you to whatever that thing was that you saw flying in the sky."

"I'll be fine." Said Lola. "But just in case, there's a GPS tracking app on your phone and it's linked to mine. So if I don't come home, you can tell mom and dad or call the cops, whichever you prefer." Lola threw on her backpack. "But I need to figure out what's going on. If it's something really bad and life threatening we would probably be amongst the first to die, So I need to make sure it's nothing too bad and in case it is we can move out of town before it's too late."

"That's a good point." Audrey mumbled going back to her typing and added in a louder tone. "But if mom and dad come check on you tonight, I didn't know you were going out tonight. I can't babysit my older sister and I won't get in trouble for you either."

Lola chuckled and jogged out of her room. Her parents were asleep in the next room so she had to sneak quietly past their bedroom and down the stairs. She cringed a little when the front door let out a small creak as she opened it but when she paused and listened, there was nothing but silence meaning they were still asleep. She let out a breath of relief and hurried outside making sure to shut the door quietly. Once outside, she jogged down the porch steps and around the house headed for Silkfall woods. She turned on her flashlight.

She was trying her best to follow the path that she followed the previous night, strangely though there was no purple light in the woods, just darkness. Crickets chirped, leaves rustled in the wind and there was the occasional distant sound of a car driving past. Once in a while she heard twig snap or the unusual shuffling of leaves like she was being followed but when she turned around there was no one there. Finally, after several minutes of trekking she grew tired. "This is ridiculous, there's no one out tonight. Maybe tomorrow." She decided and turned around to leave.

"Mmm...Mmm...Mmm" She tried to cry out as suddenly a piece of cloth was placed around her mouth and a strong arm held her against someone's chest. One of the cloaked figures from the previous night walked out of the trees and took of its hood. Her eyes widened as the figure whispered. "Sleep."

Drake handed Bethany a cup of tea which she took from him with a look of gratitude and downed its contents. Cole sat on a sofa in a corner fiddling with his shotgun. He hadn't said anything in the last fifteen minutes, no one had. Both he and Bethany were still trying to comprehend everything. "Of all the things that could happen." Cole finally spoke breaking the silence. "It just had to be supernatural shit. How am I supposed to protect the town from evil forces of magic?"

"You're not. We are." Said Drake referring to himself and Bethany. Bethany frowned at him. "Speak for yourself. I am not fighting any evil magic bad guy okay. I am just a teenager and I have my whole life in front me. I still need to go to college, become a famous celebrity, get married to a handsome millionaire and have kids. Besides, doing extremely dangerous and life threatening activities is not really my style. I try to avoid imminent death when I see it. You can go be a hero all you want your highness but this girl right here is a coward and I like it because cowards live longer. Why not go find someone else to take my place."

"Plus there will be no life-saving without me being involved." Said Cole. "I am Sheriff Bobby Cole and the safety of all who reside in Silkfall is my responsibility."

"This isn't my world Bethany." Drake said calmly. "I can just decide to leave and not care and I would do so easily. Anything that happens in this world of yours would be none of my business and you all would have to fend for yourselves. It's not like Darka's plan is all that bad anyways. All he wants is to re-sculpt your world and make it better. See it as someone buying a huge piece of land with the plan of building a really big shopping mall, but on the land there's this really old and beat down building. So what does he do? He bulldozes the old building and builds a huge mall, just the way he wants it. You humans are the old building and in order for him to achieve his dream of a perfect world, he's going to have to get rid of the human race, permanently. Then using the stones, he will create his own version of humanity, the perfect man. Only those whom he considers worthy will survive to see this new utopia of his and he will rule them with kindness and love. So when you think about it, this doesn't sound so bad. But then again, you humans are the rightful owners of this land, you are living beings that can hurt and be hurt, you love and hate, you spread joy or you spread sadness. This is your home and in order for Darka to accomplish his plan, we're talking about the death of billions. Now you can run away if you want, try going into hiding. But I promise that the Nightprowlers will hunt for you nonstop, after all is not like they have anything else to do. Eventually you'll grow old and you won't be able to keep running. By that time you'll be too weak to fight off the Nightprowlers when they come for you. They'll steal your stone and find a way to steal all the other stones too. Then what happens? Chaos and massive destruction. You'll have the blood of billions on your hands and you won't be able to escape death yourself. When you arrive in the spirit realm, everyone will know what you did since there are no secrets in the spirit realm. All the other spirits will hate and despise you and you'll have to spend the rest of eternity, wallowing in guilt knowing that you could've have stopped this but didn't."

Bethany gulped. There was so much intensity in his words and the fact that everything he said was a possibility made her feel even more uncomfortable and guilty.

"As for finding someone else to take your place." He continued paying no heed to her discomfort. "I can't. Only the stone can find itself a new owner, and it will only do that if it's previous owner dies without an heir to inherit it. In other words, for that to work you either have to be a dead mom or simply just a dead girl. You could just slit your throat now and get it over with."

She scowled at him and he stared back as expressionless as ever. "You know it's really scary how you say that without batting an eye like it's an easy thing to do." She said, just how badly he wants me dead. "I'll think about it."

The room went into pin-drop silence once more. "You know this is all too much for one night, even for me." Cole broke the silence once more. "Why don't you both go home, then we all get some sleep and we talk about this in the morning. Sound good?"

Bethany nodded a bit absentmindedly and so did Drake. "I'll take Bethany home. The kidnapper should be gone by now." He said extending a hand to Bethany. "Grab hold."

She hesitantly reached out, placing her hand on his. His big, warm hands wrapped around her rather small ones making her skin tingle in a pleasurable way and even though she was still feeling a bit tense, she couldn't stop herself from blushing a little. In a flash of light, they both disappeared from the room. Cole, all alone again safe for his mom sleeping soundly in the bedroom, collapsed on a chair overwhelmed by the events of the night. Wizards and magic and stones and evil dudes that want to destroy the earth. "Just sleep it off Bobby, you'll feel better in the morning." He told himself and instantly dozed off.