Morning Glory – Jewel Riders Two Ch. 4
Summary: Gwenevere’s daughter Allura must lead a new generation of Jewel Riders.
Archival Note from The Jewel Riders Archive: This story is presented as it was originally published on Stormy’s “Avalon” fan site in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It is presented for archival purposes and for the enjoyment of the Jewel Riders fandom. If you are the author of this story and wish to have it removed from the Jewel Riders Archive (or wish to share more!) please email us at archivist@jewelridersarchive.com. Happy Reading!
Jewel Riders II
Chapter 4: Fight of the Spirit
Outside the Crystal Palace, late at night, Theia, the Tree Nymph sat
outside on one of the marble benches placed in the Royal Garden. She had on
hand grasping a long stick, and the other hand she held a blade which was
digging into the soft bark of the broken tree branch.
She looked to the night sky with the moon shining brightly , reflecting in
her eyes. She seemed hurt by something, as her eyes searched the forest which
lay ahead.
She shook her head and looked back down to the tree branch she was
carving. She held her hands on it and she could feel it’s pain, she could feel
the branch dying and she stopped.
“What a twisted world we live in.” she murmured as she saw a strange image
of burning forests. She blinked as if it did not surprise her any, and the
image disappeared.
***
The next morning, Theia awoke to a familiar face nudging her rosy cheek.
The tree nymph gently pushed the unicorn’s head away as she sat up.
“I suppose it’s our turn to search for our Spirit Stone.” she told the
unicorn, “I heard Haliae come in last night after I dozed off in the garden.”
Selene nodded and wondered what kind of traps lay in their journey through
the wild magic.
***
Theia was packing some traveling rations, just in case the two would get
lost and need something to snack on.
The Princess helped prepare Selene with a saddle and she tightened the
girth so that it fit the unicorn comfortably.
“I think you’re all ready now.” she said as she looped the remaining girth
strap into a small decorative flap.
Theia strapped on a back pack and jumped onto the saddle.
“Now remember, take the Travel Trees in the Reedy River region. They are
east of here,” instructed Allura as she pointed toward the east, past the forest
surrounding the palace.
“I think we’ll be fine, I can find a path leading to about anywhere.” the
Tree Nymph said with a wink.
She nudged Selene with her heel and the unicorn began to walk toward the
forest, and then a few seconds later she turned back and waved before she cued
the unicorn to gallop.
“Good luck…” Allura said softly, even though she knew that they were out
of hearing range.
***
Later that night, the Moon Stone riders were shining their jewels through
the twisted forest.
“I had no idea the river was so far away.” said a shadowy Theia as the
Moon Stone lit up her face as she moved it to her other hand.
Selene smirked, although Theia could not see it.
“Are you sure we’re not lost Theia?” she joked.
“I don’t think we are…” Theia stammered.
They walked on and saw something sparkle.
“That must be the Travel Trees!” she said, and Selene trotted up to them.
“But this still isn’t near a river… there are Travel Trees everywhere.”
the unicorn reminded.
“Well maybe we can ask them for directions.”
Theia held up her Moon Stone to shed light on the trees to see where they
were, and then the four trees sparkled and turned to crystal.
Selene jumped back, started, for she was standing right beside of one.
“Who is the new holder of the Moon Stone?” an elder voice asked.
“Uhhh… who was that?” Theia whispered to Selene.
“That was a Travel Tree.” Selene whispered back.
“Oh.” Theia said aloud, “I am Theia, the Tree Nymph, and I…”
“We would be most honored to serve a Tree Nymph, please tell us where you
want to go.” the elderly tree interrupted.
“Actually, I’m looking for the Reedy River Travel Trees, because there is
a special Wild Magic tunnel there.”
“OH!” the elderly voice began to get louder. “You do not want to ride our
travel tree tunnel.”
“No no! I didn’t mean that!” Theia was quick to apologize. “There is a
tunnel to an alternate river that I must go to…”
The elderly tree just laughed.
Theia looked up at it, trying to figure out what was so funny.
“You can ride the Travel Trees to any other Travel Tree Ring in the
kingdom,” it said, “We can take you to the river and you can ask the trees there
to find your passage.”
Theia was very glad she didn’t make the old tree mad, she could quickly
ruin her reputation with the Travel Trees that way, and being a Tree Nymph, that
wouldn’t be a good thing.
A portal opened in the center of the Travel Tree Ring, and Theia held the
Moon Stone high above her head.
“By the magic of the Moon Stone!” she shouted.
The Moon Stone flickered and it sent ribbons twirling around her body.
The ribbons formed her bikini top and bottom, and they swirled around her feet
and upper arms and formed her boots and bracelets. A flowing chiffon skirt grew
from the bikini bottoms and white feathery wings outstretched from her back.
Selene reared and ribbons swirled around the bottom part of her saddle and
formed ribbons and sparkling jewels, and a silver girth which held the saddle in
place better than the ordinary leather one. A sparkling mask formed around her
head, perfectly cut for her eyes and mouth.
As the unicorn sat all four hooves back on the ground, she jumped into the
portal.
Swirls of pure purple and pink magic drifted around them, and they seemed
to move at the speed of light in the tunnel.
“It’s kinda like a tornado that uplifted my tree once.” Theia told Selene
as she clung to the saddle horn.
“Just a bit farther, I think…” Selene said.
Theia nodded and gritted her teeth as the unicorn plunged through the
portal opening.
As Selene landed with all four hooves on the ground, Theia fell from the
saddle into soft sand below. She raised her head up and shook the sand from her
face and spit it from her mouth.
“UGH! I had no idea there was a desert.” she replied, brushing sand from
her jewel armor as she stood up.
Selene waited for her friend to remount and then she walked over to see a
giant moon bathed river.
“A river in the middle of a desert?” Theia asked no one in particular.
She looked beyond the river and saw some stone triangle statues glowing in
the moonlight.
“Those must be the pyramids.”
“The what?”
“The pyramids.” replied the unicorn. “I have a feeling we aren’t in
Avalon anymore.” the unicorn smirked.
“Why are they glowing like that?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well maybe we should find out.”
“But I don’t like to swim!”
Theia looked down to the ground.
“Please don’t be difficult Selene, just this once?”
The unicorn nodded and then frowned.
“I guess.”
“Okay!” the Tree Nymph replied, and nudged Selene with her heel and the
unicorn reluctantly stepped into the river, making sparkling rings of water
around her legs.
“It gets deeper here.” Selene stated as she tried to touch bottom and
couldn’t.
The current suddenly began to flare up and it pushed on the unicorn,
causing her to loose her balance and she raised her legs to swim across the deep
area.
“OH! I can’t fight the current!” she said as she slipped and slid through
the mud in the bottom of the river.
“We’ll have to jump!” Theia said as she prepared to take the dive.
“Alright…” said Selene.
The unicorn kicked up her front legs as best she could and jumped into the
deep part of the water, sinking below the water’s surface.
Theia quickly headed for the top, but stopped as she saw the unicorn
struggling to swim back up.
“Theia! Something’s got my leg! Something… …”
“SELENE!” Theia screamed suddenly, and had to quickly return to the
surface for air.
She dove back under the water and could not see any sign of the unicorn in
the dark depths.
“NOOO!” she screamed as she hit the surface again.
***
Selene began to kick the weeds that caught her legs and she finally broke
all but one, which was some kind of animal.
She began to doubt she would get back up to the surface in time, but just
as she began to give up, she saw something swimming toward her, it blended in
with the water, but you could tell that it was moving.
“Theia?” the unicorn asked.
There was no response, but the creature suddenly unraveled it’s tentacle
from her leg.
Some kind of current pushed her upward and she burst from the water.
After a few long gasps of air, she looked for Theia, who was already gone.
She stood up and shook herself off and looked in the water for whatever
had saved her.
As she scanned the bank, she saw a watery figure emerge from the water and
it sparkled in the moonlight and became a shadow.
“Theia?” the unicorn asked again, and there was still no response.
“Who are you?” she finally asked as the shadow just stood by and looked at
her for a few moments.
“Who are you?” an echo, came from the shadow.
“This is no time for games, where is Theia?”
“Where is Theia?” the echo replied again.
“Please help me find Theia! I want to make sure she’s not still down
there!” the unicorn began to loose her temper.
“She’s not still down there.” the echo stated.
“I hope you’re not lying to me…”
“I’m not.” replied the shadow, but still in Selene’s echo voice.
“Where is she?”
“You ask too many questions! You are younger than what you look.” said a
different voice as the shadow sparkled again and gained sapphire toned skin,
long blue hair, and a beautiful white gown. “I am Isis, the Mother of Egypt.”
“Egypt?” the unicorn asked.
“Yes. I do not know where your friend is, but I know that she got out of
the Nile safely. I think she is headed for the Sapphire Pyramids.”
“The Sapphire Pyramids?”
The goddess giggled.
“Please, just come this way and I think all will be answered.”
The unicorn slowly followed Isis, toward the Pyramids.
***
Theia looked around at the huge pyramids which were glowing strangely in
the pale moonlight.
“I wonder what is in these things.” Theia thought to herself.
She looked around and saw that the river circled around the area with the
few pyramids.
“How can this be? The river went straight when we first came.” she
thought.
She looked in the distance and saw water gushing toward her. She jumped
out of the way just as the water formed another part of the river, straight down
through the island type piece of land.
Theia jumped back up and stepped forward, and then two bricks of pure blue
magic landed under her feet. She looked back and forward, and then took another
step ahead. Two more blue bricks flew under her feet again. After she stood
still and thought about it for a second, she sprinted over the river, and when
she looked back, there was a blue bridge built from the bricks that appeared
when she took a step forward.
“Congratulations.” said a strange new voice, and Theia turned to see who
it was.
A blue skinned woman and a familiar unicorn appeared before her.
Selene looked around, trying to figure where she was.
“Selene!” Theia cheered and ran to the unicorn. “I thought…”
“This goddess saved me.” Selene replied.
“Your unicorn friend told me about your quest to retrieve the Spirit Stone
of the Moon. You have completed your first task of building the bridge, it was
a lesson in trust. Your second will be a test in your ability to use your
jewel.”
Theia blinked and when she opened her eyes she found that she was in a
totally different area… she was in a small hallway lit by only her Moon Stone.
She was surrounded by dusty bricks which had dozens of pictures drawn into them.
“Great! What am I supposed to do now?”
“You must use your jewel to locate the portal out of the pyramid… you
have only a few minutes until you run out of air.” the goddess’ voice spoke.
“Great!!” an annoyed Theia screamed, although no one was there to hear
her.
She started quickly down the hallway and held up her Moon Stone to light
the path. It shone in different directions, and she followed the path made by
the light.
Soon, she came to a room which was lit by burning torches. As she
examined the room for clues in finding a way out, she saw that there was three
boxes, each one made of solid gold with the face of some ancient person. As
Theia walked by each of the three, the lids began to open slowly.
The Tree Nymph heard something hit the ground and chills went up her spine
and she froze in fear. She slowly peeked around her shoulder and saw three
mummies walking towards her with arms extended!
She closed her eyes and counted to three. On her third count she spun
around and held her Moon Stone high. In a single sweep, she ignited a blue moon
dust flame and shot it across all three mummies, making them vanish. Theia
quickly ran back and put the lids back on the casket-boxes, and shot out of the
room before some more of the ferocious wrapped monsters showed up.
“My air is running low, I can feel the heat from my breath.” she thought
as she ran down another hallway.
She held up her Moon Stone once again to find the path when a strange
creature with a dog-like head and a human body snatched it out of her hand.
“No! Please I need that back!” Theia wailed.
The creature just stood there and examined the jewel.
Theia raised her hand and the Moon Stone flew from the grasp of the
creature, back to her.
She jumped up and knocked the creature down all at the same time, and
quickly headed down the hallway again.
As she neared a dead end, she began to doubt if she would make it out of
the pyramid alive.
She slid to a stop at the dead end and looked back, where the strange
creature was chasing after her.
She turned back to the dead end and held up her Moon Stone, to try to
blast through it when she saw that in the jewel’s reflection, the wall wasn’t
even there.
“It’s an illusion!” she said aloud and ran right through the wall. The
dog headed creature tried to run through it, but he slid into it, knocking him
cold.
On the other side of the illusionary wall was the portal and Theia put all
her effort to dive through it.
The exhausted Moon Stone rider appeared before Isis and Selene, gasping
for fresh air.
“You made it!” Isis said happily. “You have shown that you know how to
handle the jewel and harness it’s powers.”
“What’s the last task?” a tired Theia asked as she began to catch her
breath.
“You have shown your stamina in using your jewel, so your test of body is
already passed, you remained strong and true throughout, like a falcon flying
through the sky.”
The goddess held out her hand and a sparkling blue moon jewel appeared.
“This is the Falcon’s Eye Sapphire. It will increase the power of your
Moon Stone for a brief time and also give you the power to call upon a mighty
falcon to aid you in defeating your enemies. Now, hold both of your jewels up
and shout: By the Magic of the Sapphire Spirit Stone.”
Theia did as she was told.
“BY THE MAGIC OF THE SAPPHIRE SPIRIT STONE!” she shouted.
A blue falcon flew around Theia trailed by swirling blue moon dust which
made her jewel armor reshape. Her hair blew in the wind and even as it did, it
changed to a light gray and blue tint. Her skin also turned from a fleshy peach
to a light blue. She closed her eyes and when they opened they were a stunning
blue with no whites or pupils. She held her arms up and a pair of blue wings
stretched from her fingertips to her waist.
Selene blinked and saw what Theia had changed to.
“Wow Theia!” she said.
The blue lady shook her head…
“Not Theia… I am the Spirt of Isis.” she responded.
Soon after she did, her body sparkled and her skin turned back to it’s
normal peachy color and her armor faded away to reveal her regular jewel armor.
Theia felt light headed for a moment, and felt like she was going to fall
over.
“Your body is strong… most collapse after the spirit leaves their body.”
the goddess told her.
“Is that good or bad?”
“It’s good,” Isis replied, “it helps you in battle.”
“Oh.” was all that the light headed Theia could answer.
“You must go now, for time is short, and your Princess needs the last
Spirit Stone.”
Selene helped Theia onto her back and started on her way to find the
travel tree portal again.
***
A dark presence lurked in the shadows, watching the two Jewel Riders.
“Do you see them yet?” asked a familiar, evil female voice.
“Yes, they have the Sapphire Spirit Stone.” another familiar voice
replied.
“Good, make yourself useful and capture it and the Moon Stone from them.”
“Yes Vesta.”
***
Theia and Selene quietly headed back the way they came, and suddenly, a
giant black panther jumped out from behind them, knocking Theia from Selene’s
back.
“Theia!” Selene whinnied as she kicked the panther out of the way.
The panther was tossed over, but since it was possessed, it felt no pain.
It’s eyes were glowing red as Selene turned to see where it went.
The great cat leaped and dug it’s razor sharp claws into Selene’s back.
The unicorn screamed and whinnied and reared high up and sent the cat
falling to the ground again.
Theia was just now recovering from the fall to the ground and turned to
see Selene fighting the beast with her back oozing with blood.
“Selene!” she screamed and came out of shock.
“Theia! I can’t beat it…” the unicorn trailed off as she feel to the
ground, breathing hard.
“Selene! Hang on just a little longer!”
Theia quickly trust her hands into the air, one holding the Moon Stone,
and the other holding the Falcon’s Eye.
She brought the two together, and they fused.
“BY THE MAGIC OF THE SAPPHIRE SPIRIT STONE!”
Magic swirled around her and once again she became the Spirit of Isis.
“Stand Back DEMON!” she screamed to the panther.
She raised her hands into the air and a blue ball of energy began to form
in her palms. “Sapphire Desert Sandstorm!” she shouted as millions of
tiny spheres of energy swirled around the demonic panther, sweeping him away.
The blue lady ran over to Selene, who had crawled out of the way.
“Selene?”
As she bent down to touch the unicorn, she transformed back into the
regular Tree Nymph.
She blinked her eyes quickly and regained reality.
She formed ribbons around the unicorn’s wounds, sealing them off, so that
she would not loose any more blood.
“Selene!” her voice was urgent.
The unicorn opened her eyes, but she was still very weak.
“I won’t make it for very long.” she replied to the worried Theia.
“NO Selene! You have to hold on!”
“Don’t worry Theia… I will use all the rest of my strength to get us
back to the Crystal Palace… but there I…”
“NOOO!” Theia sobbed. “Selene you can’t die! We haven’t even known each
other that long!”
“I know, I know.” replied the suffering unicorn, “But when the Princess
gets the Phoenix Flame Spirit Stone, she can bring me back… now we must hurry,
the portal is right over here.”
“But Selene!”
“Listen to me Theia, I know what I am talking about. I know I am still a
young filly in mind, but I am a mature grown unicorn in body. I would not be
able to do this if I weren’t. Now we must go.”
Theia reluctantly mounted the injured unicorn, and she jumped into the
portal.
***
The two appeared back at the Crystal Palace, and Selene had barely enough
strength to stagger to her room beside Theia’s.
She lay down on the soft hay that was in her stable room and looked up at
Theia and the other jewel riders.
A shocked Sunstar was comforted by a quiet Helios, as Selene said her last
words.
“I guess this is goodbye… for now.” she said as she turned her eyes
Theia, and then her eyes closed and her body became still.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Theia sobbed.
Allura put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“When I get the Phoenix Spirit Stone, I’ll bring her back.” she assured.
*It’s hard to let someone go, but always keep their memory in your heart.*