I am SO sorry everyone! Five months late!

I can't believe it took me this long to get out another chapter! I swear I'll be quicker from now on!
Low motivation combined with distraction and real life issues resulted in this chapter taking so long. I really do feel horrible for making you wait, and if for some reason you waited all this time then I love you! (no homo)

Also, while some people were jerks and didn't just criticize my work, but downright trampled it into the dirt, they did teach me a valuable lesson and I hope I applied it correctly in this chapter. I hope you can all see a difference in this chapter.

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Amaya had found little opposition on her way to the waterfall and had time to reflect on the past few hours. Since arriving in the Lew Lowlands they had almost been eaten by a Malchus, and had been attacked in the darkness by a flock of strange birds. During this attack she had seen the Chronicler again and awakened her second element, fire. Using her newfound powers she had driven the flock off, but not before they inflicted a grievous wound on Frost. She had been forced to burn the wound shut and now continued towards the waterfall on her own.

Amaya still only had a vague sense of what she was supposed to do here. Her memories on the subject were caught in the undercurrent of her thoughts, and every time she tried to remember they seemed to drift just out of reach. Eventually she gave up and trusted that the Chronicler was guiding her true.

So Amaya was slightly surprised when she found herself staring up at an archway that led deep into the side of the mountain she had been walking towards all this time. Looking around she mentally berated herself for not paying any attention to her where she was walking.

The first thing she noticed of course was the archway in front of her, but immediately afterwards her attention was drawn away by a constant roar all around her. Looking around she realized that she had gotten behind the waterfall. From the distance it had appeared that the water was glowing. Now that she was here however she could tell the light instead came from behind the water, which made much more sense when she thought about it. Behind the falls the archway radiated a blue light.

Returning her attention to the arch she saw that the tunnel beyond stretched a good distance before curving out of sight. Shrugging to herself Amaya walked in.

As she continued through the cave the blue light steadily grew stronger, illuminating the walls. Looking around her the walls didn't appear to have been carved by water, instead the walls were jagged as if carved into the rock.

After what felt like a half hour of walking, it was impossible to tell time in the constant light, Amaya found herself in a large chamber deep inside the mountain. The chamber had steel girders scattered about the floor, left to rust into oblivion among what pieces of the ceiling remained after an apparent collapse long ago. The chamber was immensely tall, having a second tier before narrowing into a shaft that burrowed completely through the mountain. In the center of the level she was on there was a pit directly under the shaft that burrowed so deeply into the earth that the blue light which had lit up the curving, mile long cave was unable to reach the bottom.

While searching the chamber for whatever it was she was supposed to find, she found several veins of crystal in the walls, green and red being the most common, but here and there were small patches of an iridescent blue gem that sent odd surges of energy through Amaya when she passed them. She could tell none of these crystals were the source of the light however, so she left them where they were.

Finding nothing on the first level she looked around for a staircase, a ramp or some other way to reach the second level. Eventually her gaze came across a pile of rubble that had formed when the second tier had partially collapsed. Unable to find any alternative she made her over and began to climb.

The rubble was loose in several areas and more than once Amaya almost fell when the stone shifted beneath her. But after a few minutes of struggling up the pile of rocks she reached the second tier.

This level, like the first was littered with steel and other objects that had rusted into obscurity. On one side were the remains of what appeared to be a large chair, and near another wall was something that caught Amayas eye, two crystals unlike anything else in the cave.

The first crystal was a yellow color and came out of the ground a few inches before stopping suddenly in jagged edges, as if shattered long ago. Walking up to it she could feel an odd energy about it, as if an outside force had lent the power for its creation. However odd though, this yellow crystal didn't draw her attention nearly as much as what was above it.

Hovering above the gem was a large blue crystal, tear shaped and spinning gently. This crystal gave off the blue light Amaya had been seeing, and the closer she got to it, the more she felt a massive energy, much like the feeling of charged air just before lightning strikes.

Suddenly a huge surge rushed through Amayas mind. A torrent of memories. Talking with the Chronicler, and discussing the state of the world. The world was on the edge of collapse, and five ancient crystals were the cause. Each crystal was absorbing the energy from the world, disrupting the elements. If the crystals weren't destroyed, the world from becoming a lifeless orb.

As the visions and voices faded into her memories where they belonged, Amaya shook her head to clear herself before looking at the crystal. Opening her mouth she prepared to unleash a flurry of ice that would obliterate the gem, when an ear shattering howl filled the cavern.

Spinning around Amaya barely had enough time to see the dark shape rushing at her to release the attack she had prepared for the crystal. As a hail of razor sharp ice shards flew from her mouth they struck the object, causing it to screech in pain and back off.

In the blue light Amaya could see her foe, It appeared to be very similar to the birds that had attacked them outside, but it was bigger; bigger even than the guardians. As it backflapped it released an awful howl and dove at her once again.

Amaya shot more ice at it, but before it appeared to have been surprised more than anything as now it brushed the ice off and swung its body, bringing huge talons to bear. Amaya just managed to leap clear before the claws gouged large furrows in the earth where she had been standing. Switching elements she loosed a salvo of fireballs which seemed to burst on impact like bubbles, coating the beast in liquid fire.

The giant bird wheeled around screeching and flaring its wings, spraying liquid fire across the chamber where it stayed in flaming puddles, yet as hard as it tried to rid itself of the fire, it only succeeded in spreading it across its body. As it wheeled through the air Amaya gathered a large amount of energy, preparing to deliver the coup de grâce. But before she could the flaming bird careened straight at Anaya, forcing her to run to the side as the bird slammed into the far wall with a crash.

As Amaya watched, the flames covering the bird died as it stood up. As it turned around Amaya could see the blue crystal impaled in its chest, but strangely it didn't seem bothered by it. In fact, the crystal seemed to sink deeper in until only a small part if it was still visible and the bird itself now glowed with the crystals light.

Gathering her energy Amaya shot a stream of fire at the bird, but the blazing column seemed to bounce off the blue light that surrounded the bird. The bird made a hacking caw before it flapped its wings and took to the air. With a particularly powerful flap it created a gust of wind laced with blue light that took Amaya off her feet and sent her crashing into the far wall. As Amaya fell to the ground she felt a pain wrack her side. She could tell it was her ribs and prayed to the ancestors they were only bruised. Standing up she didn't see the bird and started to panic.

There was a monstrous screech above her and she looked up to see the bird diving. Amaya again shot fire at the bird, but like before it was unaffected. Before the bird could strike her however it was hit in the head by a good sized ball of ice, causing it to crash next to Amaya unconscious. Looking in the direction of the attack she saw none other than Frost standing on the level below her, smiling.

"Frost?" Amaya said in disbelief.

The blue dragon nodded in reply. "Just kill that thing already!"

Turning back to the bird Amaya could see it was in fact badly burnt from her attack and was bleeding in several of the worst areas. As it began to wake up and stir Amaya quickly ran over and twirled through the air, bringing her tail blade down on the crystal as hard as she could manage. It struck and the room rang out with the sound like a massive glass bell, as her momentum took her body around she followed through with a strike from her left paw. The second strike cracked the crystal and with a final attack from her right paw, it shattered.

All the energy that had been in the crystal instantly dissipated and the blue light faded. The bird again started screaming in pain and with a final well placed fireball directly into the cavity left by the crystal the bird jerked once and fell to the ground, insides burning.

Relief filled Amaya as the bird, and crystal were no more. Her mission accomplished, Amaya turned and started for the pile of rubble she used to get up there. Turning she glanced back at the odd yellow crystal for a moment before turning back to find Frost standing before her.

"Frost!" She said in surprise. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Am I unwelcome or something?" he asked, Amaya shook her head.

"Not that, you were hurt! How'd you get here?"

"I'll admit it hurt like nothing else I've known." Frost said "But I knew you'd need my help."

Amaya raised an eyeridge. "You knew I would need help? What's that supposed to mean?"

Frost blushed. "I... er... what I meant was neither of us know this area. For all I knew there could be some monster in here."

"Uh-huh." Amaya said. "I'm sure that's what you thought." Walking past him she started down the ramp when a blast of pain from her ribs caused her to cry out and stumble. On the loose rock this caused an avalanche that would have carried her on a very painful journey had Frost not grabbed her at that moment and hauled her into the air, then glide down to the first level.

As Frost set her down Amaya said "You can fly again? How?"

"When you broke that crystal whatever spells held our wings vanished." Frost said. Amaya experimentally flapped her wings and found that they could indeed move again.

As Frost started walking for the exit Amaya saw the back of his head where she had burned him and was surprised to see the wound was gone. There were three faint scars where the claws marked him, but no signs of burning. When she asked him about it he pointed to the walls with the crystal veins. "Those gems have properties when broken. The red ones for instance heal, while the green ones restore your energy."

"How do you know that?" She asked. Frost laughed.

"I keep telling you Amaya, paying attention in school has its benefits."

"Shut up." Amaya said grimacing. Walking over though, her curiosity overpowered her embarrassment as she reached up and touched the smooth red crystal. Scratching the surface with her claw she shuddered as a tiny spark of energy shot into her claw and for a split second her pain lessoned a tiny fraction. Smiling a bit she reared back and struck a wide part of the vein. A few flakes flew off and turned into red light that was absorbed into her body. A few strikes later and she hadn't made much progress.

"Come on!" She yelled, turning to Frost.

Frost shrugged. "It is a kind of rock you know."

"Yeah," Amaya said. "But that other crystal broke a lot easier!"

"Maybe that bird crashing into it weakened it?" He suggested.

Amaya frowned. "Just how long were you watching?"

"Long enough." He said.

"And you never thought to help?"

Frost shrugged. "What can I say? It looked like you were having fun." Amaya groaned and took her anger out on the crystal, striking it hard enough to remove a sizable chunk, which turned to light and absorbed into her like the others, relieving a good amount of pain.

With that chunk gone and the knowledge of how hard to hit, Amaya was soon fully healed and had restored her energy with green crystals as well. After healing they tried striking the iridescent blue crystal that seemed to have a life of its own. There wasn't much of the rare crystal to shatter, but what they did somehow empowered them, as if the ancestors themselves were standing next to them and giving them power. It was a truly humbling experience and both Amaya and Frost were visibly affected by it.

After they had sated their curiosity of the place they spread their wings, and smiling at the thought of flying again took off down the tunnel. The path that had taken them what seemed like forever on foot now felt incredibly short as they were at the waterfall before they knew it. Tucking their wings close to their bodies they torpedoed through the wall of water, opening their wings again on the far side and flapping to gain altitude as they finally said goodbye to the miserable swamp.