The Time Stone (17 page)

“
Power,” Alexa said “is
what you showed in the wood with the Beasts. I know that it is hard
for you to accept,” said Alexa, “but it is the truth. And now you
must go to unlock your fate.”

“
How? What is it exactly
that I am supposed to do?” James asked curiously.

“
There have been many
strange occurrences reported on La Montana del Diablo.”

“
Huh?” Asked
James.

“
Devil’s Mountain.” Said
Tina smiling.

“
Thanks.” Said
James.

“
There have been strange
lights seen from even the market. Those lights have never been
reported until recently. We do not explain it except as the elders
do as a sign that the times of the end will be coming and the
destiny of the holder will be fulfilled. It is no coincidence you
arrived at this time.”

“
Wow” both James and Tina
gasped.

“
We will point you that
way at first light. But you must go alone. The tribe will call for
a celebration in your honor upon your return for being the great
heroes who overcame the tempts and taunts of La Montanya del
Diablo…Devil’s Mountain.”

“
What if we don’t return?”
Asked James.

“
Now we rest until the
dawn.” Alexa finished her thought and laid down on a pair of large
leaves to rest. Each of them took their leaves to lay down to rest
where they sat, as was the custom, a custom of sleeping on the
floor. James and Tina nodded to one another in recognition that
they were used to being homeless and sleeping on the floor in
Chronix Bay.

That night, James dreamt that he was
being chased by monsters, beasts, and above all a dragon that was
as large as a jumbo jet. He ran and could not face them, even with
his new powers. He turned and continued to run endlessly into the
darkness of the night, sweating profusely, holding the artifact
given to him by the Chief of the tribe. He saw it was blinking
wildly, glowing brightly in the darkness of night, and he stopped
running, turned to the beasts, and raised the item up with his eyes
closed and suddenly awoke.

The next morning, James told Tina
about his dream and she predicted it may be an omen.

“
What is an omen?” Asked
James.

“
You know,” said Tina. “an
event that could foretell the future or signify change. Just call
me the human dictionary.”

“
I hope our future isn’t
to get chased by monsters,” James said.

Then Tina reminded him, “uh, we sort
of already had been.”

“
Oh right.” Said
James.

They were told of the direction to
head to the place called La Montana del Diablo and were given a few
days’ worth of food and water and other supplies in an old potato
sack. They thanked their benefactors and went off to find their
destiny.

As they walked through the forest,
they spoke, “I do not know what we’re doing, Tina” said
James.

“
We are about to go on an
adventure unlike any that we ever imagined possible for something
greater than the pathetic lives we’ve been living called for.
Jumping jimickers, James, were on a quest for treasure and
adventure. It could be our greatest hope. We don’t need to clear
our names and go back to our pathetic lives in Chronix Bay. This
could be our new lives right here doing God’s work, literally and
figuratively.”

“
You think so?” Asked
James.

“
I know so; this could be
what we were meant to be doing James. I know about this
archeological stuff. I told you I could be valuable to you and you
to me. We need one another.”

“
Madam Ezelzaba told us to
look out for one another.” James recollected. “I literally wouldn’t
want it any other way.”

They smiled at one another and
continued forward not knowing that they were being watched from
above. They approached the perimeter of the mountain after another
clearing of bushes.

“
There she is, ‘La Montana
del Diablo’. I tell you, these folks have a flare for the
dramatic.” Said Tina.

They both stared up at the massive
peak reaching past a ring of clouds and smoke peering upward. They
expressed their awe at its majestic tranquility from a
distance.

“
This is scary” said
James. “I am hot and humid and sticky. I just want to go away from
here.”

“
No turning back now.
Don’t worry. Look at it this way, we could be remembered as
heroes.”

“
Great.” James sighed
sarcastically. “What do we know about this mountain?”

“
It is supposed to be one
of the last remaining active Volcano’s in the region.” Replied
Tina. “Let’s go up!” She gave him a wide eyed certain look and they
began their trek upwards along the scarcely walked path of dirt,
rocks, and dead leaves before them. “Didn’t they say there were
strange lights here?” Tina asked.

“
Yes, look at that” James
pointed up and they both stood in shock as they witnessed a strange
whirling golden aura twirling around like five orbs. “Just like the
symbol,” James whispered.

“
Huh?” Tina
asked.

“
Let’s go. Whatever it is,
I don’t think we have a lot of time.” James said and the duo headed
up the path.

CHAPTER 39

After several hours of trekking up the
side of the mountain, their bodies sweating profusely, Tina and
James gave up their outer garments they previously had and walked
up in under shirts with their outerwear tied around their wastes.
They arrived at a clearing and stopped to rest.

“
It sure is hot in here”
said Tina.

“
Now we know why they call
it Hellish Mountain.” Replied James.

“
You mean Devil’s
Mountain.” Corrected Tina.

“
Whatever. Water?” He
reached in the sack and removed a canteen. He took a sip and handed
her the canteen.

“
Please,” she grabbed it
and took a huge gulp.

“
Save some for later, will
you?” Scolded James rhetorically.

“
Sorry…” said Tina wiping
her mouth, “I am not used to rationing. On the streets we just went
by the moment.” Tina stopped abruptly when she saw James looking at
her with an obvious glare. “Of course you knew that too being on
the streets.” She corrected.

James looked straight ahead
shocked.

“
What?” She looked away
shyly as James’ look turned from obvious to relaxed.

“
Nothing. Let’s keep
moving. We don’t want to get stuck in the middle of the road when
it gets night. We should at least make it to one of the caves up
there.” He pointed.

“
Yeah, I can see them now.
Hopefully we won’t have any company.” Then as soon as Tina finished
speaking, a pair of ferocious looking mountain lions comes out from
behind the mountain and cross their paths in the clearing. “Uh oh,
spoke too soon.” Tina uttered.

“
They look hungry.” Said
James.

“
Hopefully not for us.”
Tina smirked as James looked at her and gave her a wink.

“
Maybe you should try the
old rope a dope maneuver.” James joked and Tina recognized his
attempt at mimicking the old boxing style of great champion
fighters of the past.

Tina ran over to the other side of the
mountain as the lions started closing in growling in a melee of
confusion. The lions turned to her and James ran the other way and
encircled them each of the duo running past the other as they
tagged one another jokingly and laughing as the two lions growled
more ferociously and turned like dogs chasing their own tails. One
lion finally lunged at Tina pouncing on its powerful hind legs and
James waved his hands trying to use his new powers on the lion but
failed. The lion falls on Tina and gnaws at her face scraping her
cheek and growling as it goes in for the kill and the other comes
closer. With a quick thought looking above him, James dropped the
sack and waves both his hands at the mountains above and within
seconds a single rock the size of a human head falls and strikes
the lion on top of Tina on the head and both lions begin to pounce
away as a barrage of similar rocks comes falling down atop on them
as Tina gets up and runs away towards James and both
embrace.

“
Oh my God, that was
close!” Yelled Tina.

“
Yeah, let’s continue.” He
wipes the blood off of her face and holds it with his dress shirt
he had tied around his waist and now removed. “Put pressure on it.
Let’s go before we have more guests.” James said and Tina nodded
emphatically in response. James picked up the sack and they
continued up the mountain.

They walked up further sweltering in
the intense heat and lucky to have survived so far. The wilderness
was more wild and harsh up here, they noticed, as even the
vegetation swayed more and trees blew over by the winds mighty
blow. They snacked on berries and fruit from the sack as they
headed up. The heat from the baking sun and fire, soot, and smoke
grew heavier as the air was denser.

“
The sense we’re going to
feel as we ascend is atmospheric pressure on our lungs. We got to
breathe deep and slowly, James.”

“
Right, Doctor Prescott.”
Joked James and Tina smiled in return.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The minutes turned into hours and soon
they were approaching the entrances to the first set of caves.
Tina’s scar had begun to clot and still had a jagged set of scarred
markings on her right cheek. They walked together to the edge of
the clearing overlooking a cliff side.

“
The view is breathtaking”
said James looking over the cliff side and the long way down into
the trees.

“
I have no more breath to
take.” Joked Tina. The wind blew fiercer now and they felt the
shiver in their bones.

“
It’s getting dark, now.”
James said looking at the sun set over the horizon.

“
It’s incredibly
romantic.” Said Tina. “Don’t you agree?” She smiled and asked
curiously.

“
Hmm. Maybe we should get
inside. It will get much colder and windier as the night goes on up
here.”

“
OK, which cave? Door
number one or door number two?” Tina asked.

“
Does it matter?” James
asked in response.

Tina shrugged and they headed in
together and were in the dark of the first cave. They heard the
noise of small creatures within it.

“
What is that?” Tina
asked.

“
Probably bats,” said
James.

“
Bats? That would make me
go bats.” Said Tina.

“
Don’t worry, I’m
here.”

“
My hero again,” she
sighed.

They walked in closer and James pulled
out a torch from the sack he carried and lit it with the lighter
Alexa gave him.

“
Now let there be light”
he smiled as they walked in and saw a bright red light at the end
of the cavern on a jagged rock wall. They approached and found it
to be a dead end.

“
Looks like we entered the
wrong cave.” Tina turned and then the floor beneath them started to
move and they were going down as the floor was becoming fluid like
and moving in all directions sucking them in.

James dropped the torch and sack into
the liquid floor before them.

“
It’s like quick sand?”
Tina screamed.

“
How?” Asked
James.

“
I don’t know. Do
something!” Screamed Tina.

“
I can’t move my arms.”
James had dropped his arms and struggled to get out. He couldn’t
use his powers. He tried to think of ways to move them out but it
was futile. “I don’t think my powers work on living things. Every
time I try…” then suddenly he interrupted himself as he saw the red
mark on the cave wall was turned to writing like the picture
diagram they saw in the cave connected to the dome. It was a
language that looked similar to the way the other diagrams were
written. “Tina, can you read this?”

“
Uh” she struggled to get
her arms and head above the sinking floor. “I don’t know.” She
screamed.

“
Try or we’re dead.” He
screamed back.

“
Uh” She squinted at the
wall.

Both of them tried to struggle to keep
their heads above the sinking fluids.

“
Uh… What… What makes no
sense and all sense, controls empires but controls nothing, is
invisible to all but is what makes the world move, its hands on a
clock or hourglass form control it as the destiny proved? It’s a
riddle. I am clueless and I can’t feel my arms. We’re dead, James.
It’s been great getting to know you again… I regret we won’t be
able to…” she said panicking.

“
The answer is Time!”
Yelled James just as their mouths and the last part of their faces
were going to be completely submerged and then suddenly they were
atop solid ground again crawling on all fours.

“
What the hell?” Tina
muttered.

“
We solved the riddle.”
Said James. “See, nothing to it buddy.” He smirked as he patted her
on the back and headed towards the entrance of the cave exiting
it.