Crystal Castle

Asha's nearly frozen fingers barely managed to strike two flint rocks together to get a fire started before nightfall set in. As the flame came into existence, she felt a sigh of relief as she relished in the comforting warmth of the cave she used for refuge. Meanwhile, she concentrated her little bits of energy on organizing her survival plans for the next couple of days. Her only hope was that her military allies intercepted the rescue signal she had sent out over the radio, and they would soon be out scouring the area for her presence. Asha had found herself alone when the team of scientists she was traveling with was corralled by the natives of the icy tundra region. She escaped the fate of being captured because she had been out taking geological measurements on the opposite side of the terrain, and while headed back to the camp, she saw her colleagues were taken captive. The snow crunched beneath her feet while approaching the scene, barely escaping, though, because the natives noticed her movement. That was when her friend Harold called out to tell her to run and take the data backpacks with her. She reacted quickly and jumped aboard her motor sleigh, successfully making a break for it. Now, as she sat in the large cave, afraid and unsure of her fate, she worried should the natives attempt to track her. She thought that it was quite dangerous if they did; she was afraid she had some material they were after. She made another attempt to receive a response through her radio, but all that came through was static feedback. Tired from the day's chase, she decided she would rest a bit and wake before daybreak and venture out for a bit to catch some snow trout and make another attempt to attain a better signal through her radio to communicate with the troops. Midway through her rest, a gust of wind reduced the fire, and Asha found herself shaken up from her sleep as if icy fingers had caressed her into awakening. She shivered and tried to salvage the remaining flame; that was when she noticed one of the backpacks was glowing blue and thought she heard what appeared to be a voice speaking. Curiously approaching the bag, she opened it; a light emanated from one of the crystal specimens that had been collected by one of the team's excavations from a cave that legends say contained a stargate. Asha never believed these stories; everything to her had to be scientifically proven; still, she could not believe the glow emanating from the crystals she was entranced. The more she looked at them, she felt she lost control over her faculties, and it was as if a force unknown to her was taking control of her actions. She tried to fight it, but the energy from the crystals had taken possession of her. Before she knew it, she grabbed for the crystals and rubbed them together only to find herself transported to a different land.

It took Asha a minute to realize what had just happened; she pinched her cheek to see if she was in a dream, but it appeared it was no dream. She observed a rocky terrain that had signs of an advanced civilization with what appeared to be a floating crystal city. While she basked in the strange imagery, she felt a presence next to her, turning around to find there stood a man with a curly beard asking if she had her travel papers. Asha was confused as to what travel papers were in question. The man grabbed her by her arm and motioned for her to follow him. Asha cried out, "where are you taking me"? The man replied, "to the high council, we have stringent entry laws for foreigners, and it is obvious you are not from around here." The man shot his arm up into the air and transported himself and Asha to a ship fitted with cutting edge computers. On one of the screens, Asha saw her camp. Before she could ask, the man addressed her, "the crystals that brought you here are only known to a strange few, you must know that we are not fond of strangers, now you must make the king's acquaintance, and he will decide if you are welcome on our land, if you are not, the punishment is simply death." Asha felt a strange nervousness come over her; she still had not grasped the reasons for her arrival to this strange land. She wondered if she could teleport herself back to her camp. The man noticed her nervousness and retorted, "do not bother with the crystals; they will keep you here until the king demands it of them." Before Asha could think of her next question, she found herself walking through a grand hallway with a marble floor bordered by giant quartz statues that resembled a simple silhouette. Shortly after that, the king's throne came into view, and the man with the curly beard vanished into thin air. The king turned around, and there stood what appeared to be Asha's friend Harold accompanied by two-night owls that perched up on each side of his throne. Shock took over Asha, and she nearly cried out in excitement for her friend. When the king asked, "what are you doing here"? Asha stood in surprise. Carefully she thought out her response before she replied, "I was leading a team of scientists in excavations and surveys of the land when we came across some crystals found in a cave. My friend Harold reserved them; he jokingly told me there were legends about ancient stargates in caves of the area." The king stroked his chin and nodded his head, responding, "where is your friend Harold now?" Asha looked at the king, who had the same dark eyes and shaggy beard as her friend Harold. The resemblance was striking, and she looked down, afraid she was staring too hard. "The natives ambushed my team; I was lucky to get away with the backpacks containing our excavations and data," answered Asha. The king's semblance changed, and for a minute, Asha felt a strange fear creep over her as he clapped his hands and called for his servants the crystal statues in the hallway came to life, and there stood the natives that had captured her friends. Asha turned around and, in amazement, asked, "Harold"? Asha grew desperate; she needed more answers "where are the others, Ruby and Karl," she asked. Harold seemed bothered and replied, "Asha, my dear Asha, I have been ahead of this game since before you were born. He continued his dialogue, "see, I was born on the planet Bukah 5000 years ago and was one of the star travelers that chanced upon your earth planting star seeds in the caves that you and your team excavated. Harold carried on with his storytelling of how the natives landed upon those crystals. He told of how the natives communicated with his people, who warned them and all future generations to guard the crystals against a runaway traitor who made off with the elixir of never aging; “this traitor so happened to be me," he said. His eyes widened as he smiled, remembering his sinister plan he had been plotting for years to harvest the energy of those crystals for total domination throughout the ages. Harold had only used Asha and her team of scientists to gain access to the cave that had been sealed off to him before the Bukah people died. The entrance would be granted to him only if he was invited in by those with pure intentions. Asha felt hurt and spoke, "but I saw the natives capture you," she tried to make sense of why the natives suddenly were his guards. The King spat back, "those crystals you activated were no ordinary crystals; they contain my years of cultivation since you heeded my command the time I called for you to take them and run, you thus became naturally inclined to heed any of the crystals commands." Asha understood she had awoken a sleeping giant and speculated if Harold had cut her communication with the troops. Harold continued, "I cut off the radio signals, and once you ran, the natives were easily overcome by my mind control tactic that returned the moment you took the crystals in your hands; as for your friends, they are tied up in the same icy cave you made camp at." Harold waved his hand and showed Asha a view of her friends. Asha took a step back only to bump into the man with the curly beard who grabbed her shoulders. The man attentively asked King Harold what to do with the prisoner. Harold nodded his head, and the bearded man had Asha shackled with heavy chains with which she struggled to move. The bearded man shoved Asha impatiently. Asha felt the tension building up in her chest, thinking about the fate that awaited her, and no longer able to contain her tears, and she cried; as her tears fell on the floor, the ground started to crack, and the crystal walls shattered. Asha stumbled back, no longer in shackles, the bearded man was no more. King Harold yelled for her, "stop, your tears are neutralizing my crystal magic," but in the blinking of an eye, Asha found herself back in her camp; she untied her friends and explained to them everything that happened. Asha attempted once more to call the troops on the radio, and this time she received a response from the rescue crew. Asha still did not understand how everything had happened, but she knew her mineral sciences well enough to improvise that her tears had saved her. Not wanting anyone to ever come across these crystals again, she took the crystals' remnants and crushed them, and buried them under an icy lake.