The Rise of the Lone Wolf Guardians

Chapter 2: The Stones

It took them 2 hours to travel to the archaeological site: an overgrown ancient village that was half buried in the ground from a few centuries of natural disasters and abandonment. The houses were just shells of the past buildings, the walls showing weathering and damage with almost no roofs to speak of. Inside the houses were relics of the past from forgotten utensils and dinnerware to old technology.

The group were already covered in mud and leaves from the journey to the site and a little exhausted, having found an energy deadzone halfway through the trip making them have to walk through for 2 kilometers that took about 20 minutes. They gathered around the site and sat down on some of the large boulders and waited for their next instructions while catching their breath.

Raven walked up to the edge of the sunken village carefully and peered over the edge. He hummed softly in thought before boosting the power on his gliders and jumping over the edge and turning in midair, taking a look at the side of the wall. He glided from side to side while using some nature friendly paint to mark the safest spots to rappel down into the village. Boosting the power on his gliders once more, he shot forward to land on the ground in front of his friends and teachers.

"Alright I marked the spots that are safe to go down. I think having Jason and our two teachers stay up here for the start of the descent to make sure our lines are secured properly is the best idea. The lightest of us will head down with me first, so Lee, Yumi and Angel your up first. After we are down, Jordan, Dina, Mr. Wessex will be the second ones down, and lastly Jason and Mr. Meeks will follow us down." He said as he started to open up the crates of supplies and packed his backpack with an emergency kit, first aid kit, and emergency rations and water. He then loaded up his toolbelt.

The others quickly followed suit doing the same as Raven and loading their backpacks and belts. They threw a few glowsticks to the bottom of the dark site to illuminate their landing sites then hooked up the rappelling lines to the closest trees and started their descent. Raven didn't bother with a rappelling line and instead floated down using his gliders, having experience already in exploration of these ruins. He knew how to get out in case of any emergency. He had once hand-climbed the cliffside to get out.

Once the first team had hit the ground they secured the rappelling lines for the others. As the others came down they brought one of the hoversleds that held the light system for the dig. As the last of the groups came down the first two groups set up the lights and Raven started to inspect the site for dangers.

He spotted a hole that looked like a danger to the group. He went to rope it off and as he approached the ground began to rumble. He turned to the others to warn them but it was too late and the earthquake hit making most of the ground fall down further, 6 of the nine dropping down into the underground tunnels. Only the two teachers and Angel remained safe above ground.

A few minutes passed before the six students got up off the ground. Yumi was the first one to get up and checked on her fellow classmates, she looked for any obvious injuries. The only one with any injuries was her brother Lee who had several scratches along his arm, none too severe. Getting her first aid kit out she treated his scratches, bandaging his arm up. He slowly came to followed by Jason, Dina, Raven and finally Jordan.

"Is everyone alright?" came a feminine voice from above. Angel was being held by the arm by Mr. Wessex so she didn't fall in while she peered down.

"Everyone is ok down here. Lee got a bit scratched up but he's ok and Yumi treated him already. We are going to explore a bit down here and see if we can get out safely," Raven replied after taking stock of the situation. "Can you throw down some supplies for us?"

"Alright give me a minute. And remember, be safe!" Angel said, almost yelling. Shortly afterward two backpacks filled with some tools, medical supplies and food rations came flying down, Raven barely catching one while the other one hit the ground in front of Yumi startling her.

"Will do!" He replied to her before turning to the others with him while hefting the backpack onto his shoulders. "OK everyone, let's see what's down here and see if there is a way out."

There were 3 paths surrounding the group so they all split up into pairs. Dina and Jason took the southeast path, the twins with the other backpack took the western path and Jordan and Raven took the remaining path leading to the north. The paths ended up meeting at a 4 way intersection further down the north path. The 4th path led to a dark tunnel that gave off an ominous feeling to the reunited group.

"Should we go down it?" Asked Yumi, playing with her hair anxiously.

"I mean we kinda have no choice don't we?" Jordan said, also looking pretty nervous about the possibility of taking the remaining ominous route.

"Well we can probably go back and try climbing up, but those walls don't look very stable after the earthquake," Raven said, taking the lead. "I say let's go down it and hopefully at the end of it there is a way out."

Having said that, Raven took off down the tunnel, determined to find a way out for him and his oldest friends. The darkness seemed to go on forever but a strange feeling was pulling at him, like he was supposed to go down this ominous dark path. It was as if his life's purpose was waiting at the end of it and it was calling to him, luring him like a siren's call.

A tugging came from behind him, making him look over his shoulder. Standing behind him was Dina and she looked frightened clutching at his shirt and staying close to him. He reached back and took her hand in his as a gesture of comfort, giving it a squeeze.

After about 20 minutes, a slight glow appeared at the end of the tunnel. It wasn't bright enough to be daylight, it almost looked like candlelight but it was pulsing like a heart beat. It was a silvery glow that pulsed a little brighter with every step that the group got closer.

Five minutes later the tunnel opened up into a medium sized cavernous room with a strange pedestal in the center of it. The pedestal looked like a greyish metal with a box resting on it, covered in a melted glass-like substance. The glow got even brighter as the group got close. The group stopped about 6 feet from the pedestal except for Raven who stepped closer, being drawn to it. As he got closer the grey glow turned to a golden white and started pulsing even faster.

He stopped less than a foot in front of the pedestal and reached out with his right hand touching the top. As his fingertips came in contact with the smooth glossy surface, the glass-like substance flowed off the box and down the pedestal. After watching that, Raven momentarily lost his balance, his hand settling down flush on top of the lid of the box which broke with a loud audible crack.

The two halves fell away, hitting the ground with a crash, revealing 6 large different colored gems all approximately the same size and looking like diamonds. Underneath those were one medium-sized black diamond and four smaller pure white diamonds. The 6 large jewels were colored green, red, blue, dark purple, white, and a clear colored one with gold flecks inside it.

The others slowly approached now feeling the draw as well. Raven slowly reached forward and picked up the clear with gold flecks diamond. Lee then picked the red, Dina the white, Jason the green, Yumi the blue, and finally Jordan picked up the dark purple gem. There was a bright flash and everything went dark...