Part 5

Argog, Lua, Taran, and Xolis sat around a large table. They had already eaten lunch. Lua and Argog had taken time to shower and clean their clothes. Taran had especially enjoyed the Academy's facilities since he had been roughing it ever since he had arrived at the Academy several days before. "So, what would it take to prove he was innocent?" asked Lua.

"We'd have to find out that someone else killed them or find some evidence that he was somewhere else during that night."

"I was." said Taran. "I was asleep in my room."

"We know," said Lua, "but we have to prove that."

"Taran?" asked Argog. "Is there anything you can think of that might help?"

"Well... I heard that there were more altars, if that would help at all."

"How would it?" asked Lua.

"If Xolis is alive..." started Kyrin. "He may be trying to figure this all out himself. And if he is, he might be at one of the altars."

"It's worth a shot," said Argog.

"OK then," said Lua, "Argog, Kyrin and I will go look for another altar, and Xolis. Do you have any idea where the other altars are?"

"Um, not really."

"We could go to the Academy's library." suggested Kyrin.

"Good idea. Let's go." said Lua.

At the library, Lua looked under the catalog system. She checked under altar, monolith, statue, nothing. When she cross-referenced them with Kora however, she found one large volume. In it there were hundreds of pages of text talking about the altars dedicated to the three main Kora's. This included design plans, which Kora they were dedicated to, and several other topics that gave no clue about their location. Finally, Lua found a map stuck in between two of the pages.

"Here we go." she said. Argog and Kyrin came over to look at the map that she unfolded onto the table. It was a map of the entire land of Aceous. There were three markings that represented the altars. One was in the mountains, the other was north, in another small mountain range, and the third was towards the east, on top of yet another mountain. "I guess they preferred to build them at high altitudes." Lua commented.

"Which one are we going to head to?" asked Kyrin.

"Well," said Lua, "We've only got three days, and Taran and I have already been here," she pointed on the map. "So let's go here." she pointed to the northernmost altar. "It's closer than the other one and we've only got three days."

"OK then," said Argog. "Let's go."

The three of them climbed up out of the valley to the east. The climb back down was long and tiring, it took nearly a day. They camped out under the stars at the top of one of the last hills. The next day they headed towards Burma. Lua's father rented them an off road car of some kind and they headed north.

They didn't have to go up the mountain. Kyrin could feel a large magical energy field radiating from a large cave. The three of them headed in. The cave walls were of dirty stone at first but after a while the walls were lined with crystals and gems.

"It's beautiful..." observed Kyrin. Argog nodded.

They walked down tunnel after tunnel. Lua had suggested that they develop a system, always turn right. If they came to a dead end they would backtrack and try the other direction. After a while of this, Kyrin felt something. "The energy is getting stronger now. I think we're getting closer.

After another minute they came into a large, open cavern. The altar was in the center and standing in front of it was a man. "Xolis!" Kyrin shouted. The man turned around. After seeing them he ran through one of the entrances to the cavern.

"After him." roared Argog. They raced to the cave that he entered and followed after him. Xolis ran through what seemed to be a patternless array of tunnels and caves. With Argog, Kyrin, and Lua in hot pursuit he jumped through one opening, then through another and another until he was free.

Lua panted as she caught up with Argog. They were standing at a fork in the road, there were four paths to chose from, including the one they had just come through. "We don't know which one he went in." said Kyrin.

"We'll have to split up," said Argog. "I'll take this tunnel," he said as he ran through it. Kyrin nodded and headed into a tunnel of her own. Lua looked around, and then ran through the remaining tunnel.

Argog raced as he never had before. He could see Xolis fleeing down another path. Argog followed. He came into a room with three other tunnels, and Xolis was gone. Argog stood in the middle of the chamber and looked for a clue of some kind. He looked down one of the tunnels. He saw Xolis racing towards him with Lua in hot pursuit. Argog got ready to tackle him but Xolis used magic to encase Argog in stone.

Xolis jumped over the stonelike Argog and towards the opposite tunnel. Kyrin was standing there. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked. "Trust me Xolis, we're not trying to hurt you. He backed up as she approached, backed up right into Argog who had gotten free and then pinned him on the floor.

"Now you've got to listen!" he roared triumphantly.

Kyrin went over to him. "We need your help," she said.

"I didn't kill him!" Xolis said.

"You... of course not, we thought you had been killed." Kyrin responded.

"No, in the middle of the night I woke up and my was a sword was covered with blood. I went around looking for where it came from and I saw Javen lying on the ground in the temple. He was dead. I knew everyone would think I killed him, so I left."

"Almost the same thing happened to Taran, but with you gone we thought that he killed you too. Now he's been captured, but we know he didn't do it."

"What do you want me to do then? If they see me, they'll think it was both of us." he explained.

"No they won't. You can prove that he's, that both of you, are innocent."

"What can I do?"

"If they see you alive, that means Taran didn't kill you. And if he didn't kill you, he didn't kill Javen."

"I still think they'll say I did it too, but I guess I've got no choice but to come with you. But as soon as we're done I'm going back on my own, to find the last altar."

"Good." said Kyrin. "Then you can show us where it is."

"You mean, you're looking for the altars too?"

"Yeah. There is some 'puzzle' that Lua wants to solve. And while we're at it, the altars could teach us a lot about the Ta'Kor, now that my dad's gone..."

"OK then." said Argog. "Let's go." Just as he said that a giant roar came from the fourth tunnel. A huge, rock like monster came through. It was shaped similar to a goblin or ogre, but it was made of stone and studded with jewels. "What's that!?" asked Argog.

"It's the guardian of the altar!" shouted Xolis as he drew out a sword. "It was made by the Ta'Kor to protect this Kora."

Lua pulled out her gun and blasted at it, no effect. "You've got to use magic, and the certain type that it's weak against." explained Xolis. Argog hurled himself at it but was slammed against the cave wall by its huge fist.

"What type of magic is that?" asked Kyrin.

"I'm guessing that the monster is earth based, so use water magic."

"OK, I'll try." she said. She started to gather up energy and then cast a spell. A surge of water flew towards the creature and it's skin started to smooth out. Kyrin cast the spell again and the creature's skin turned to a green scaleish.

"Now it's vulnerable." said Xolis. "Blast it!" Lua cocked her gun and started firing. Xolis leapt at the monster and slashed at it with his sword. The beast howled in pain, and fell to the floor, dead.

"Good." said Xolis. "Now, let's get out of here." He headed towards one of the tunnels. He obviously knew the way so the others followed him.

Kyrin went and kept a pace with his. "How did you know that water was the right element to defeat the monster?"

"Simple." he replied. "All the elements follow a pattern. Earth damages sky, sky damages water, water damages earth, it's a circle."

"What would have happened, if I wasn't born as water elemental?"

"We would probably have all been killed."

"Is there anything we could do, to prevent it next time. I mean, suppose I'm not there and there's another earth based enemy?"

"If you want, you could exchange Kora's, if you're not coming along."

"Exchange Kora's? How?"

"It's an ancient Ta'Kor tactic. Mainly it was used to sustain the Kora's life when the human was dying, but I suppose it would serve our purposes."

"How would we do it?"

"First, you'd need a Kora stone. Then, two Ta'Kor, or anyone with a Kora, hold the stone. Then they have to utter some Ta'Kor chant. Depending on what they say, the Koras could be exchanged or taken, but each Ta'Kor has to be left with at least one Kora."

"How did you figure all this out. I mean, master Javen hadn't gotten that far with his lessons before, before he died."

"I, did some research..."

The conversations continued as the group left the cave and got into the off road. Lua drove it to the foot of the mountains that the Academy was located in. It took even longer going up than it did coming down. The climb was nearly vertical in some places and at the top, all four of them were exhausted. When they got down into the valley, a crowd formed around Xolis.

"You're alive!" someone shouted.

"Where were you?" another shouted.

"Xolis." said a third student, Purn. "Does this mean that you're involved with Taran?"

"No!" shouted Xolis. "I didn't kill him! And neither did Taran! We were set up by somebody, I don't know whom. Everybody just calm down..."

"Everyone," said Purn. "I think that there is a greater mystery here then we think. It shall require more through investigation. I ask all of you," she said this to Xolis, Argog, Lua and Kyrin aside from everyone else, "to stay here a while so that you may help us figure this out."

"But we've got to stop the Syth." complained Lua. "We can't stay here."

"But you must. In order to figure out who really killed Javen. So you see, I we can't allow you to leave."

"I told you." Xolis said to the others. "Now they think I'm involved too. Javen's dead so there's no reason for me to stay, I'm outta here."

"Xolis," said Purn, "How can you leave us now. Javen's gone and there's a murderer if it's not you. If you leave this unresolved, what will happen."

"I don't know. But there are more important things right now."

"Like what?"

"Like the altars."

"What altars?"

"It's a long story..." Xolis told Purn about the altars, about the Syth, and all he had learned about the Ta'Kor.

"I understand. It looks like you must be on your way then. I'll set Taran free, but you must promise to check back with us later so that we may get threw this."

"Don't worry." he said. "I promise."

Purn set Taran free and he, Argog, Calis, Kyrin, Lua, and Xolis headed down the mountains and back to Burma where they stayed at Lua's house and prepared to find the last altar.