The Moondrops

~Three~ Crystals and Elements

The position in which the sun radiates heat from the sky, suggests it is getting close to late afternoon now. But with the occasional breeze that carries sweet flowery fragrances, the temperature isn't too warm. As Zeeta and I talk, we walk on amorphous stones that are placed precisely, as though it is a puzzle, on the ground to form a path.

"So what you're telling me is that you were taking a walk, then decided to sit and rest for a while but opened your eyes only to find yourself here?" Zeeta asks, clarifying my story.

"Exactly, and I'm kinda still hoping this is a dream."

"It's definitely not. I can assure you."

"I think that's what someone in a dream would say." I point out.

There are plenty of flowers of many shapes, colours and sizes that frame the sides of the road. One, however, takes my attention.

It's petals resemble that of a four leaf clover, but it has much more than four. A bright turquoise-tinted yellow is it's colour, with very tiny black dots sprinkled all over the petals.

"What kind of flower is that?" I couldn't help but ask, as I point at it.

"Oh that," she says after taking a look at the flower, "it's a mainder flower, very medicinal to us. It grows only in the exact spot a moondrop crystal lands after it's been picked."

"What's a moondrop crystal?" I sense I've been asking a lot of questions since I came here. But am I to blame?

"They are tiny crystals in the shape of a water droplets that fall from the moon only on the occasion when the moon turns into a ball of colourful swirls and hues. They are what gives us our powers. I'm sure you saw one at the fight?"

"Ah, what that monster turned into? The thing that other guy took?"

"Yes, the Gobgre. And the 'guy' you're talking about is actually our prince, Xanthous."

"Really? That explains all the gold on him. The royals must be super rich, yeah?"

"They are rich, but benevolent. Most of their riches goes to helping the rest of our realm and people." She says with pride.

"Nice," I say as I purse my lips before switching back to my main topic of interest.

"But if the moondrop crystals give you your powers, then how did it turn into a...Gobgre?"

"Well, for most of our existence, all fallen moondrop crystals are collected and kept safe by the Royals so they don't fall into the wrong hands. But some years ago, the castle was invaded, most of the crystals were stolen, and the last King and Queen before these current ones were killed...

"To this day we still aren't sure who or what had done this, but the incident has made us much more vigilant and vicious with our powers. We don't know how this person does it, but they've been making all sorts of monsters from the crystals, I guess we never completely knew the capabilities of the crystals.

"The royal guards have tried several times over the years to locate where the monsters are coming from, so we can identify and catch this person. But they've never been able to. It's like this person's invincible and the monsters appear from thin air. Even Akriath, who sees all, hasn't got a clue how possible this is."

"Wow," I breathe, trying to process her words as we quieten.

"Hey Lyeme!" Zeeta screams all of a sudden, bringing me out of the hurricane of thoughts that is my mind.

I look -- carefully -- ahead to identify who she was waving at and find a boy sitting on the border of a huge fountain that looks to be made of grey, black and white gravel. The fountain stood at the middle of the wide and open area which several paths connected to, including the one we walk on. It could only be the town's square, for there were quite a lot of people walking around, aiming curious glances at me.