Setting: A rural town, Bexley, snug in a valley in between two mountains.
Characters *at least the ones you need to know about*: Suva: a frivolous girl, with long and straight black hair. Quite impossible, really. And stubborn. Really stubborn. But...she has her perks. She might not want to leave home without the most stylish outfit she owns, but she knows when she's needed. Although she acts like the richest girl the world has ever seen, she's actually the poorest in the village. With no family, she has been known to steal food.
Opal: A quirky gal. She's got the grits for almost anything, but most people think she's weird. Very short tempered, but mute from birth. Freckles dot her cheeks, and her short, fiery hair matches her fiery passion. She adores the outdoors, and wishes she could talk back to the animals she hears all around her, singing, and communicating. She can speak, just with her hands. She knows fluent sign language, and since they are such good friends, Suva learned sign language as well.
Nell: Short. Very short. Nell is 3 ft. 6 in., but always ready for adventure. His curls hide his face a lot, and no matter how many times he brushes it out of the way, it always bounces back.
He's also very clumsy, tripping while standing up, falling down more often then he's actually on his feet! He is friends with Suva and Opal, although he's a little rusty on sign language.
Plot: So far they (Suva, Opal, Nell) have activated three out of four of the ancient scroll temples. Air, ice, and earth. All they have left is the fire temple. They are looking for these scrolls because legends say that there is more world out there then their little nook. Are they true, or just fairy tales?
Conflicts: Opal has been trying to tell Suva something, but what? Nell intends to find out.
And the story begins.
OPAL...
I glanced up once I drained my cup of water.
I quickly signed a thank you to Nell, who'd given me the cup and was now packing up, and looked around. Our camp site had the bare minimum. A tent, fire (Suva was at the moment trying to put it out without getting soot and ash on her clothes), and not much else, besides the thick trees that engulfed us in near darkness.
Our only light was coming from the ball of fire, up in the sky, and from this angle, it really did look just like fire.
Suva finally succeeded in putting out the fire, and saw me staring blankly at her.
Are you okay? She threw the signs fast, almost faster then I could keep up.
I'm fine, squirrel? She looked at me funny, one eye raised, before I realized my mistake. I chuckled, and was hoping for her to do the same, but she didn't. Instead, I got:
You never mess up with your signing. Something's wrong.
I read her hand movements and frowned. There's nothing wrong, I assured her. You're just paranoid.
She shrugged. You can never be too careful...
LATER...
We left camp on the way to the fire temple, and my pack was weighing me down. Suva and Nell were already way ahead of me, and he'd tripped so many times I'd lost count. What's wrong with me?
My feet felt like bricks by the time the greenery started to disperse and become dead trees, bushes, and blackened grass. The dead foliage scattered at our feet.
We're here. Suva later signed. I looked at the majestic towering pyramid like building in front of us. It looked bigger then the others.
Nell picked the padlock to the door, and he pushed it open.
It creaked and we entered together into the large foyer like hall.
Unlike the other towers, this one looked the opposite of hundreds of years old. The red carpet that trailed down the hallway looked shiny and new, not to mention the stairways, spiraling up so high I got dizzy just looking at them.
Nell and Suva were ecstatic, oohing and ahhing over every little thing.
Was it just me, or was something off. Did it feel likewe weren't alone?
I turned to leave, but something was missing.
I couldn't hear Nell or Suva, gushing over anything anymore, and the door we'd taken to get here was gone.
I turned back around and shuddered. The whole vibe of the temple had changed, dark grey stone walls, darkened windows, little light shining through. I noticed the carpet was now disturbed, as if people had been trampling all over it.
I walked toward it, feeling the grimy walls with my hands, and deciding I'd be better walking blindly towards it. I let my eyes adjust to the light, and then realized that there was a hole in the carpet. Not just any hole. A hole that let to a tunnel filled with cobwebs and what I hoped was not a giant spider.
I leaned in to get a better look, when I felt a gut-wrenching feeling that I should get out of there.
I got off my knees and turned to go, but darkness blocked my path, and it was getting closer.
The other way was the same. So, I guessed there was only one thing to do.
Jump.
