Adventures with Friends
Time Travellers: The Eight Musketeers?
Four friends are sent back to correct history- they just might have to rewrite it.
Chapter 1
Four teenagers walked through a arms museum. As of right now, they had entered the medieval era of the exhibits. The first two teens walked up to a line of different, horrendous looking weapons. One was tall with shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes. This was Jacob. His compaion was a couple of inches shorter with wispy brown hair with blond highlights. He studied each weapon with curious brown eyes. This was Chase.
Two girls walked up behind the boys. They were about the same height, but just a hair taller than Chase. They both had long hair, but the first had blonder hair than the second, and the first had blue eyes while the other had honey brown. The brown haired girl, Krista, smiled at the guys.
"What did you two find now?" she quizzed.
"Trouble, no doubt," the blond girl, Erica, answered.
The two girls giggled. Chase gave a little sarcastic laugh then replaced it with a scowl. Erica just smiled and shook her head.
"Erica. Erica! Erica! CA!"
"What?!" Erica burst, rounding on Jacob, who was instantly silent.
"I just wanted to show you the sword they had hanging over there," he said in a small voice.
Erica turned her attention from Jacob to an ancient sword hanging on the wall. She studied it with wonder. Krista and Chase rolled their eyes.
"Oh dude!" Chase exclaimed, walking to the other side of the room, dragging Krista as he went.
Jacob drug Erica away from the sword as he followed Chase. The two joined Chase and Krista. Chase was pressing his face against the glass that covered some type of medieval torture device.
"What is this thing?"
"A Medieval torture device," Krista read. "They used it to get information out of people."
The four looked down on the evil piece of equipment. Their faces contorted as their imaginations told them how the machine worked. After a silent minute, Chase waved his hand at it and walked away.
"That's disgusting!"
Krista and Erica exchanged looks and choked back a laugh. The three followed Chase throughout the museum for a couple of other eras. Finally, they arrived at a room full of different artifacts. Krista and Erica immediately began to look around. Chase and Jacob decided that they would let the girls do whatever and sat down. Krista peered carefully into a tiny treasure box while Erica examined small daggers. Erica rounded the shelves first and continued on her way. By this time, the four were spread throughout the room, gingerly looking a artifacts.
Erica made her way to a majestic sword sitting on its own shelf. She examined the blade and ran her hand over the hilt. When her hand reached the butt of the hilt, something clattered to the floor. Erica froze and took her hand away from the sword. She looked around frantically. No one had seen her. She sighed and looked to the ground for whatever it was that had fallen off the sword. A small ring lay on the floor. She bent down to pick it up. Erica stared at the ring. It was silver with some kind of white crystal in the middle. She took a closer look at the gem. It had some kind of chinese symbol inscribed within the stone. There was a single word inscribed on the inside of the band: Wind. Erica furrowed her eyebrows in interest.
Seconds later, Krista let out a cry. "Guys! Look what I found! This is freaking cool!"
Erica jumped out of her state, clutched the ring in her hand, and ran back to Krista. She was holding up something small in her hand. Chase and Jacob were already examining the artifact. As Erica got closer, she could see that it was a ring.
"Erica, this thing ring is so cool! Take a look!"
Krista handed Erica the ring. Erica took it and quickly spied a silver ring with a deep indigo stone set in the middle. When she peered into the stone, she could see another chinese symbol within the gem. She flipped the ring over to read the word "water" on the inside of the band. She handed it back to Krista.
"Did you take a close look at that stone?"
"You mean the symbol?"
"Yeah."
"I seen that. I wonder what it could mean."
"It means water."
"How do you know?" Chase interrupted.
"Because it says so on the band, smart one."
"Oh..."
Jacob shifted his weight. Erica looked at him. "You look guilty," she stated. He shrugged. "C'mon. You can tell us."
He shook his head. "It's nothing. It's just that I found a ring like those."
"Really?" He nodded. "Well, let's see!"
Jacob brought out his hand to reveal a silver ring with a deep green stone set on the band.
"It has the chinese writing in the stone," he said. "But I don't know what it is."
"Look on the inside of the ring," Krista suggested.
Jacob tipped the ring into the light. The group stood in silence for a moment. Jacob stood up. "It says Earth."
"Earth?" Chase repeated.
"So we got Earth and Water," Chase said. He smiled slyly. "I guess I should show you the ring I found."
"You found one too?" Krista exclaimed.
"I knew it!" Jacob burst.
Chase brought out a silver ring with a fiery red gem. The three stared at it.
"I already know what it is," Chase said. "After Erica found the inscription on Krista's I found mine."
"What does it say?" Krista asked.
"It says Fire."
"Earth, Water, Air, and Fire," Erica stated aloud. "Well, I guess we got all the elements covered."
"Air? Who has Air?" Jacob asked.
"I do," she said, holding it out.
"Well, I guess we do have it all covered," Chase agreed.
"This seems kinda funny, doesn't it?" Krista asked.
"What? That we happen to find some rings that must be from the same jewelry set?" Jacob said.
"No," Chase finished.
"No, I agree with Krista. We all found these rings in different parts of the room. And we all found the same thing."
"But different," Chase pointed out.
Erica rolled her eyes. "Fine. We all found rings that were related to each other, but were different."
The group stood and thought. Silence drug on between them.
"Y'know, I think Erica is right," Jacob said.
"Coincidence," Chase stated matter-of-factly.
"I really don't think so, Chase," Krista said, reaching to a velvet box on the shelf. The other three watched her. "I found my ring in this box and there was also a piece of paper in here. I didn't read because I thought it was just about the ring's history. But maybe it has something useful written on it."
She brought out a yellowed piece of paper that looked like the slightest whisper would send it crumbling into dust. Krista laid it out on her hand. Her friends crowded around her. The handwriting on the paper looked to belong to an actor on a movie who was playing an ancient scholar. Erica began to read aloud.
Chosen Ones,
If you are reading this, then you have come into the possession of the Elemental Rings. You are the new owners of these rings and must treat them with great care. They hold many mysterious powers. The past predecessors that have had to bear the rings before you have used the rings for one purpose: to correct imbalances in time. And since you are reading this, this means that something has gone terribly wrong and must be stopped right away. If this event is not corrected, it could bring about the next apocolypse. You probably are not believing me. Am I right? Well, I have once had to wear one of the rings. Three of my other friends wore the other rings. Toether, we stopped an evil force from taking over time. And we have traveled many places. We have even looked into the future. Your future. Although you do not know me, I assure you, I know you.
Krista, you hold the Ring of Water. Which means that you are a very emotional person. With these powerful emotions comes great healing. You have the ability to heal those around you. You are very intuitive, sensitive, understanding and compassionate. As the flowing waters nurture the earth, so you strive to take care of those around you.
Chase, you bear the Ring of Fire. This element manifests itself in creative and unique ways, as you do. You are a wonderfully courageous and a very lively spirit. You are very self sufficient, spontaneous, and action oriented. The flame often sparks the cycle of life into motion. Remember this.
Erica, you hold the Ring of Wind. This element marks you as an intellectual person who likes to analyze many aspects of life. You are a very good communicator, curious, and perceptive. You are inventive, clever, and can adapt to different situations quickly. This will help you.
And last, but not least, Jacob. You have the Ring of Earth. This gives you a call of duty, a sense of responsibility, and reliability to those around you. With your cautious mind, you are very logical. You bring structure along with you, although you may not show it. Always remember to keep your feet grounded and your eye on the prize.
You have been chosen to defend this world. Defend it with your lives. Trust each other and you shall prevail. Work together and you shall survive. Believe in yourselves and become who you were meant to be.
The four sat in silence.
"That's kind of gay," Chase said finally.
"That's kind of really gay," Erica agreed.
"I don't know, guys. His little descriptions described us pretty well," Krista pointed out.
"They also described my dog," Jacob returned.
"But that doesn't explain the coincidence of him knowing our names."
"There are lots of people named Chase, though."
"But what were the odds of four people being together at the same place at the same time finding the same rings matched on the paper with the same names as of those on the paper?"
Chase and Jacob stared at her. Chase shook himself out of his daze. "You lost me at the."
"I don't think I even remember what I said," Erica confessed.
"Although it wouldn't hurt to try on the rings," Krista said.
The four friends exchanged glances and shrugged.
"Might as well," Erica said.
"I'm not going to believe anything unless the ring is my size," Jacob said.
"Shut up, Jacob."
The four slipped on their respective rings. Surprisingly, each fit their owner perfectly. Erica smiled to herself as she studied the ring.
"Earth," Jacob said suddenly. His gem glowed a bright green. Jacob held his hand out and stared at it. Everyone gaped at him then they looked at each other.
"Fire," Chase responded, holding out his hand with Jacob's. His stone lit up with a shade of fiery red.
"Air," Erica found herself saying automatically. Her crystal released a white light. Erica placed her hand with the guys' hands.
"Water," Krista finished. A deep blue, almost purple light joined the other three lights. She put her hand in the middle of the circle with the others.
They stared at the mingling lights until the symbols could be seen within the flowing colors. Erica could see her symbol as well as the other three. Suddenly, time began to slow. She wanted to look over to Krista, but she was unable to move her head. She stared at the colors until they began to swirl and mix together. They became a golden ball above the four hands. It was about the size of a basketball, and shrinking. As it aproached the size of a pea, the ball exploded. The four were thrown off their feet. The last thing Erica heard was Chase screaming "Oh damn! This is wack!"
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