Chapter Three: The Five Tasks
Littlefoot was climbing the last mound in his path. He was so excited.
"Hurry up! Can't you climb faster?" he called down to his friends, all of whom were still at the bottom of the mound.
"We're climbing as fast as we can! Don't rush us!" Cera replied.
Littlefoot, however, did not hear her. At that moment, he turned his head to an explosion, but saw nothing out of place. It was as though the sound had occurred from nothing. He then looked at the valley entrance, and saw with disappointment that his father was not there. They had come all the way to the edge of the valley for absolutely no reason.
With a depressed air around him, Littlefoot began climbing down the mound. He told Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike that the herd wasn't here. They then began running back to the main center of the valley with haste to get there before nightfall. If they were not back by then, they would be in a huge amount of trouble.
As they were running back, Littlefoot began thinking about that loud noise that he had heard back at the entrance. "What could it be?" he thought to himself.
After a while, Cera cried out, "We must rest. We can't run straight back without a break."
"Agreed. Let's stop here and catch our breath." Littlefoot replied.
Another explosion sounded, only this time, it was only five feet away from the group. They panicked, and ran into the trees, fearing for their lives. After a few minutes, they slowly emerged from the trees to examine the blast area.
In the center of the explosion was a ring of grass that was flattened in a circular fashion. At the center of the flattened glass were five polished stones. They were purple, orange, yellow, pink, and white. On all but the white stone, there were thin veins of white.
"What are these stones?" the group thought to themselves.
As the five approached the stones, they began to feel a sense of foreboding. Suddenly, a voice rang from the five stones. The voice was male, powerful, wise, and musical.
"Do not lose these stones. I have a task for each of you. When all five of you have completed your task, I shall reveal myself.
"The task is for each of you to find a stone. This stone looks like this," and an image of a stone, with the shape that seemed to be the point of a pentagram.
"There are five of these stones scattered around this valley. Each one is in a different location. I will personally inform you where your stone is.
"Littlefoot, your stone is located by the tree with a hollow at the base. Cera, your stone is located by the Thundering Falls. Ducky, your stone is located by the Sheltering Grass. Petrie, your stone is located by the Smoking Mountain. Spike, your stone is located by the bubbling goo."
The voice stopped speaking. The stones started to vibrate. With a shrug, Ducky and Petrie helped everyone grab a stone. When they picked up the first stone, they noticed the picture of a threehorn. They found similar pictures on each of the stones.
"Why is this happening?" they asked themselves as they walked home, with the stones on their backs.
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"Now what do we do?" Argana asked.
"We wait. Hopefully, they will find the crystals fairly easy. We must prepare our sanctuary where they will find us. I will design the lock. They will soon have the key." Vylon replied.
