Aan and the Darkness

The Gustian Gem

Aan woke up to a bright day. The birds were singing the air was crisp, and a stream was gurgling. Aan woke up and ate a small breakfast. Then he strapped his belt to himself. His belt had gathered a lot of things over the past week. First he had a large pouch that held his lock picks, the Wiserc tribal gem, the map of the world folded very small, and the whistle that called Slindre. Then he had his twin sheaths for his iron climbing stakes. He also had the sheath for the sword that the Pyron Guardian had given him. Aan reached into his pouch and grabbed the ivory snake whistle. Aan blew into it to call Slindre. The snake came with no hesitation. Aan strapped the large satchel that held most of his possessions to Slindre's long green back. Aan held on to Slindre and flew into the air.

Aan soared very high. He scanned the surrounding clouds and sky for any sign of the cloud castle. There was none. Aan flew for about three hours. His arm was getting sore from holding onto Slindre. Aan wondered how long Slindre could fly before he got tired. Then he saw silhouetted against the sun a floating castle. Aan had located the palace of the Gustians. He directed Slindre towards the huge beautiful castle. As he soared towards it the winds started to pick up. Soon the winds were so strong that they blew Aan almost completely horizontal top the ground. Even though the winds were strong Slindre kept a steady corse towards the palace. Soon Aan was within a few feet of a large flat platform sticking out just in front of the door of the castle. Apparently the Gustians needed a place to land before they came in. Aan dropped onto the right side of the platform. The winds blew him nearly all the way to the left side of it before he touched down. Aan tried to walk against the gale. Even though Aan was walking forward the winds were so strong that they blew him backward. Aan tried to get a foothold but it was no use. He was yet again falling through open air.

"Gosh, how many times have I fallen from a huge hight now." Aan said to himself, "Lets see... Once from above the Pyron gems fire, once from the high sky when he had unleashed the Tellaportions gem, again from the Dark Lords tower, and now from the Gustians castle. He had fallen from a great hight four times too many. However Aan knew what to do in this case. He teleported to the ground. Obviously he would need something to keep him onto the platform. Aan got a great idea. He teleported to his home village. It was a huge distance and very difficult to do. But he managed. He had no time for fond memories. He had a plan. And for this plan he would need the village blacksmith. Aan would need some solid iron boots.

Aan walked quickly into the blacksmith, Irone's, shop. It was filled with things of every kinds. There were metal belt buckles, metal plows and farming tools, metal rings and fishing hooks, almost every type of thing that can be made out of metal. Only a few things were missing, including weapons, and metal boots.

"Hello." Said Aan as he walked into the shop.

"Greetings, Aan. It has been a while since I have seen you. Is there anything I can do for you today?" responded the big, burly blacksmith, in his deep resonating voice. Irone was sitting over a forge were some coals were. His apprentice was pumping the bellows. Irone was working with a large piece of metal.

"I need you to make me a pair of thick, heavy, and solid, iron boots. I am going on a quest to get the tribal gems that I can use to over throw the Dark Lords. I need those to retrieve one of the tribal gems." Said Aan.

"Okay. I'll do anything to rid us of those cruel and vile Dark Lords. I will have the boots done by the end of the day." Here Irone sighed. "But I am going to need more coals for to get my fire hot enough. So I am sorry, but I take back what I said just a moment ago. I'll have them done in two days."

"Is this fire hot enough?" asked Aan, as his hand burst into a glowing yellow flame.

"By my hammer and anvil, yes! How long can you keep that going?"