Aan and the Darkness

The Pyron Gem and The Magic of the Tellaportions

Aan flew for about an hour when he suddenly realized that he had no idea were he was going. He told Slindre to "Land" and they began to loose altitude. As soon as Aan landed and removed the satchel Slindre flew away. Aan was not worried. He knew that when he blew the whistle Slindre would be right back at his side ready to fly again. Aan began to set up camp. He made a lean-to out of sticks and a fallen tree. It was just for one night; so Aan didn't spend a lot of time on it. He started a fire and ate some dried fruits and a few of the vegetables that he had found in the forest. Than he started to read one of the scrolls. He read:

"Tribal magic is very hard to find and sometimes even harder to recover. But each Tribal Gem leads to the next, because the Tribal gems form bonds with one another. If you find one Tribal Gem it will aid you on your search for another one. For example the Tellaportion's Gem allows you to be able to withstand the searing fire of the Pyron Gem, but only for five minutes. Every gem you find allows something along this line. Soon you will find all of the gems, if the things that guard them don't kill you first. Yes, all of the gems have a Guardian. For example the Tellaportions gem is a giant falcon. You have to fight the Guardian in order to obtain the gem."

Aan rolled the scroll up again. He picked up the Tellaportion's gem, "So, this gem will help me obtain the Pyron Gem. But only five minutes? Will that be enough time? Well I guess that I will have to see how large the fire is. Since the place that the Pyron Gem appears is in the middle of the bright raging plain fire, then that will be fairly easy to locate." With this decision he fell asleep.

The next day Aan woke before the sun, ready for the long journey ahead of him. He packed his things and blew the whistle. Aan figured that the whistle made a noise so low, or so high, that only the sensitive snake ears could pick it up. Quick as lightning Slindre appeared. Aan quickly strapped the satchel onto Slindre's back. Aan then attached his pouch to his belt and grabbed Slindre's leather grip.

Aan had figured out how to steer the snake. All he had to do was turn his hand and Slindre felt this motion and turned in that direction. Aan, searching for a fire, flew all morning, until he realized that the way to find a blaze was to look for its glow and that the best way to find something's glow was at night.

So he landed. It was then that he remembered the Guardian. He had to fight it! Aan reached into his pouch and pulled out his knife. Aan searched for a large log or stick that he could carve into a sword to fight the Guardian. He hoped that it would be enough to defeat the Guardian, but he doubted it. The Guardian probably couldn't be defeated by a sharp stick which was being wielded by a small fifteen year old.

The rest of the day he slept. He had sharpened the edges of a large long stick, and he had carved a sort of hilt. He slept deeply. There would be no sleep that night; so he got what he could then. At about seven he woke. It was just getting dark. He ate a quick dinner of dried beef, vegetables, and water from his canteen. Then he packed his things, sheathed his sharp stick, which was looking very small, and whistled for Slindre.

As Aan strapped the satchel to Slindre's back he thought of the best way to get the Tribal Gem of the Pyrons. The best way to get the gem was to fly low enough over the fire to be able to fall and have enough time to take off the gem and to get out of the fire alive. Hopefully, only then would he have to fight the Guardian.

Aan flew high up in the night sky. Already he had spotted a haze of red light against the horizon. After about three hours he saw large tongues of flame on the horizon. After about thirty more minutes Aan was flying directly above the flame. It was about two hundred yards high. Aan sheathed his sharp stick, grabbed the Tellaportion's gem and let go of Slindre. He fell towards the raging fire.