Valerie stood in front of her aunt, her backpack adjusted in her shoulder as the woman looked at her up and down, focusing entirely on the teenager, and her condition.

"Be careful" The woman said giving the teenager a tight hug. "Don't let the dragons bite you" She grabbed her by the shoulders, smiling.

"Dragon's won't bite me, because they aren't real" Valerie scoffed.

"Who says that?"

"They are fairy tale creatures, and fairy tale creatures aren't real" The sound of a car honk stopped any possible answer her aunt could have.

"Just take care, alright?" There was something behind her aunt's smile Valerie couldn't quite decipher, yet, she still adjusted her bag once again and gave her aunt a kiss on the cheek before running to Gabriel's car where Audrey had already taken the front seat.

"When I got down to help her with her stuff she ran and took the front seat" Jon muttered, eyebrows slightly furrowed in clear discontent.

"Don't be such a crybaby Jonathan, it's not that long of a road anyway" Audrey defended, earning a chuckle from Gabriel. Valerie heard Jonathan grumble something, but it was clearly something that wasn't meant for her, so she decided not to pry on it.

The road to the woods was short, just like Audrey had said, that however, didn't stop Jon from complaining about what a cheater Audrey was for taking advantage of him. Gabriel meddled in once in a while to defend Audrey until they arrived. Then, he left his car at the outside of the woods before the group of teenagers began their journey into the deep.

Amidst the trees, Valerie stared into the cloudless sky, the first clues of the sunset where showing and she knew they had to hurry if they wanted to find the best place before it got dark. The journey between the teenagers was mostly quiet, the only sounds that surrounded them were those of animals or those that came out of the dried branches the teenagers stepped on. Jonathan was the last and every once in a while Valerie had to stop to make sure he didn't get too far behind, this was usually followed by a teasing from Gabriel, and the voice of Audrey scolding him for walking so far ahead of everyone.

At some point Gabriel began to run with a small beetle on his hand threatening the ballerina with throwing the animal at her. This was unwelcomed by the girl who took the first stick she could lay her hands on and told the boy she would hit him with it if he walked closer to her with the bug in hand.

"Five pounds she hits him with it even if he drops it" Valerie leaned over to Jon who was catching up to her.

"Deal" He said. Both of them observed how Gabriel threw the bug to the ground and Audrey hit him with the stick before telling him how he should have known how much she hated insects.

"Looks like you lost five pounds" Valerie said walking as they followed the duo to catch up to them.

"Same thing" Jon shrugged "Not like you're going to actually reclaim them anyway"

Valerie knew he had a point, but she still furrowed her eyebrows and hit him in the arm.

After thirty minutes more of walking they reached the middle of a clearing, it was as dry as it could be due to the rain of the day before. Valerie wasn't entirely sure of how deep into the woods they were but the grass in front of them was as green as it could be, there was room enough for the tents and to put a fireplace. Valerie dropped her bag to the ground careful trying to pay attention to everything about the place, the flowers on the sides and the last song of the birds before they went to sleep. Gabriel made a comment about him and his father having been there before and Valerie paid close attention to it, taking onto his every word.

"We should begin putting up the tents" Jonathan reasoned opening his own bag.

"We could" Gabriel said "Or we could eat to recharge our energy and then set everything up"

"But it will get dark" Jon shook his head, looking at the fifteen years-old in front of him with furrowed eyebrows.

"It sure will" Gabriel agreed "However, we can not work with an empty stomach, can we now, Valerie?" both boys turned their eyes to Valerie who was just opening her bag, she stared at both of them until her eyes focused on Gabriel, her cheeks flushed with him smiling in her direction.

"I could use a bite of food" She said with her eyes focused on the ground, Jon sighed before Gabriel walked to where the girls were and began to pull the food out.

Surrendering, Jon gathered enough wood to begin a fireplace that could last them for the entire night, starting the fire. Valerie sat next to Audrey, listening to how her rehearsal had gone and how strict her teacher insisted on being by focusing only on her mistakes and not trying to correct the mistakes Audrey noticed the other girls were making, Valerie agreed on the unfairness of the situation, consoling her friend and telling her she could always join her in fencing, at least, if her teacher irritated her, Valerie was allowed to stab him from time to time.

"Now everyone should tell stories" Gabriel said taking a bite from a sandwich his father had probably put on his bag for him. "You should start, Audrey" he said with his mouth full of food

"Why me?" Audrey questioned

"Why not?" Valerie tempted "You are really good at English and Literature, I'm sure you could make a story on the spot and it would be amazing" defeated, Audrey sighed.

"Fine" She took a deep breath "We all know the castle at the edge of the town, right? Don't you think it's strange it has been so well kept for a place that's been abandoned for who knows how long? Well, a long time ago, longer than what the townspeople here can possibly remember, it wasn't abandoned. This town used to be the home to kings and queens and knights who had no hesitance on helping those in need, Summerlot used to be the capital for what it promised to be a great kingdom, and its people lived peacefully; loyal to the rulers who proved to be loyal to them. Until someone claimed the throne, commoners usually didn't involve themselves with the crown and whoever came next, as long as they had food on their table and someone to protect them from invaders, they thought everything should be fine.

They soon came to realize it wasn't, the new king began to build a fortress around the town, a fortress that could make the woods surrounding them their protection, this king soon fell ill and died, the crown now was left to his son who was still under the guardianship of the queen; and the young prince was far too young and too reckless and far from having learnt the responsibilities that came with wearing a crown and died of a stomach disease that came from an animal he had haunted. The queen married again, to a knight this time, a knight who sought power, their son reached adulthood but none of them lived long enough to see him do so. The grandson of this king fell in love with a young princess from a foreign land, everything seemed fine for a while until the princess fell terribly ill, 'The weather became too much for the poor girl' the royal healer had said, but the young king refused to accept it. He searched through the entire world to find a solution, but by the time he was back there was nothing he could do, he was allowed to bid a last goodbye to his beloved before she passed away. Sinking in despair, the king left the castle, taking with him nothing but a letter. Some of the people followed, but not all of them, some stayed here in Summerset.

There are people who think it was the letter what had brought all those bad things down to that family. No one dares to go inside the castle anymore due to the fear that some disgrace will strike them like it did to that family all those centuries ago. If you get close enough to the castle, people say you can hear the whispers of those from old, whispers that claim for the royal family to return to where they have always belonged." Silence struck the teenagers as they took onto Audrey's story, watching the flames flicker. No one dared to say a word.

"See?" Valerie said, breaking the silence that had fallen onto the group "I knew you'd come up with an amazing story"

"It was hardly my best, and I didn't come up with it, my grandma told me the story, I just embellished it a bit" Audrey spoke "But thank you. Jonathan should go next" The three of them turned their eyes to Jon, who was drawing on the ground making shapes out of the leaves and sticks. He lifted his eyes from the floor and adjusted himself knowing there was no way around it.

"Once upon a time there was a lady, she lived in the deep of water no one knows how long she was there. There are tales from old, claiming she was already there when the first men arrived, other say she arrived on a night when the stars fell from the sky and made a lake her home. Despite not even her knowing how old she was, she knew she had been alone for far too long, longer than what anyone should have to endure so one day this lady walked out of the lake that had been her home and began to walk into the forest. She couldn't get too far because every step made her weaker, she needed to be close to the lake, her life was tied to it. When she was about to give up and walk back she saw a man, it was the first man she had seen in a long time and he seemed to be as curious about her as she was about him.

He asked her who she was, and she responded back, soon enough they both began to talk to each other until it was near dark and he had to return to his house. Eventually, they found each other over and over again until they fell in love, she wanted to tell him her secret, yet she couldn't find how to. One day, the lady discovered she was pregnant, and she discovered this wasn't a secret she could keep so she told him, he seemed happy and began to talk about marriage and living together in the outskirts of the woods where he lived. She refused and told him the truth, at first he seemed understanding, and the day their baby was born the lady thought it could be the happiest day of her life. She went to sleep with the man she loved, the baby safe and sound.

When she woke up to strange sounds she realized her baby was gone, and her beloved was nowhere to be seen. Desperate, she began looking for them and found the man, quickly running away from her with their child in his arms promising she would never see either of them again. Angry at his betrayal, the woman threw a spell at him and neither the man and the child were seen again." Jonathan finished, Valerie stared at him for a few seconds, noticing how his lips were tensed.

"How do you know that story?" Gabriel said impressed.

"I just do" Jon shrugged. Valerie was about to say something when she felt a drop of water on the tip of her nose.

Her eyes turned to the sky, what should have been a star filled sky accompanied by a full moonlight was covered by thick clouds that showed the clear menace of an upcoming storm. Valerie looked around and noticed Audrey extending her hand to see if she could catch more of the falling drops while Gabriel did the same thing Valerie had previously done, Jonathan remained unfazed looking at the ground and then at the sky for just a split second.

The rain droplets began to fall on the teenagers one by one, only after the falling of raindrops became harder than a simple drizzle, they realized the reality of the situation and began picking up the tents and lunchboxes they had left around in the hopes to arm everything later.

"Oh fan-fucking-tastic!" Said Gabriel rushing alongside everyone else to pick up their things "It wasn't supposed to rain today".

"Let's wait until after we eat to put up the tents, how bad can it be?" Jon mocked

"Now, that's not what I said" Gabriel defended, picking everything he could. Jon leaned to grab something from the floor, and when he stood back up Jonathan froze in his place some of the things in his hands as he stared at the distance like if hearing a voice calling his name. Valerie focused on him, he didn't seem to move for a few seconds, but before she could approach him, he spoke.

"I think I know somewhere we can go" Jonathan held the items closer and began to walk. The trio that remained behind looked at each other, confused by Jon's strange surge of leadership before following the path the older one had taken, figuring that, in worst case scenario, at least they got lost together.

The teenagers followed him until he walked into a cave, they had to surround a lake to be able to get inside. Audrey was the first one to light up a lantern. A small river was running to the side and there was a hole above from where the water was coming through, but it still remained a good place to cover them for the rain, it's unevennes would give them a good place to sit and put a fire, the end of the cave was clear to them and it looked like if someone had tried to use their hands to scratch through it.

"I must say, I'm impressed you found this cave Jon" Gabriel mocked "Considering the time you got lost on your way to your own home"

"That happened a long time ago" Jonathan said, staring at the body of water inside of the cave, his mind focused on it as he leant over.

"You mean the past month?" Audrey intervened, smiling raising an eyebrow.

"Oh come on you two, leave him alone, no one is perfect, he is just bad at directions that's all" Valerie was the one to talk this time, the jokes had probably made him uncomfortable and he didn't want none of his friends to know the teasing had affected him.

"I must ask" Gabriel began looking around, focusing his eyes on the water for a second and then looking at Jon "Have you been here before? How did you know about this cave?" Jon, lifted his eyes from the water and returned to his friends sitting besides Valerie who was trying to get some heat out of the fire that Audrey had successfully started.

"I just found it" Jonathan shrugged, giving a second glance to the water, being so close to it gave Jon a strange feeling he didn't know how to shake off, he passed his hand over his hair, using the wetness in his fingers to splash Valerie in the face, she scrunched her nose pushing him in response.

"Guys! Come see this!" Audrey called, with her lamp pointing at something that although covered in dirt seemed to shine with a light of its own

"You think we found a pirate treasure?" Jonathan exclaimed excited. Valerie laughed.

"Pirate treasure, how old are you?" Gabriel complained. Knowing an argument between the two of them was coming, Valerie silently walked to what Audrey had pointed, using her sweater to try and clean it off.

"A year older than you" Jonathan spat back "And it would make sense for a pirate treasure to be here, after all it's far enough from the beach so other pirates wouldn't look for it here"

"Guys, it's a sword" Valerie interrupted after finishing cleaning what seemed to be the handle, it shone under the light, it was beautifully ornamented, with three rubies decorating the carefully crafted handle and an emerald resting on top in the middle of what seemed to be a compass and another one at the bottom of the handle resting above a dragon.

"It's beautiful" Audrey commented, looking at it in awe. Gabriel approached them trying to pull it out to no avail.

"Maybe we can carry it between all of us and find a way to pull it out" Jonathan suggested, Gabriel and Audrey looked at him wide eyed, like if a second head had appeared. Jon shrugged it off.

"It has something written" Gabriel commented, lighting the other side of the sword with Audrey's lamp. "But it looks like a bunch of gibberish" the remaining friends pushed for a chance to read the sword.

"I think I can make something out of it" Jonathan inquired, leaning to the side looking at the sword from up close with Audrey by his side.

"Gabriel is right" Audrey added "It's incomprehensible" Not wanting to miss out, Valerie joined, trying to see the letters on the sword.

"No, I think Jonathan is right" Valerie mumbled, Jonathan stared at her in eyes wide, subtle smile on his face.

"You two are odd" Gabriel commented, Valerie blushed embarrassed.

"There's no need to be like that." Jonathan stood up, noticing Valerie's discomfort. "Just because you need glasses doesn't mean we are weird for learning how to read."

"According to the words written here commanded when the magic still walked the earth..." Valerie began mumbling just loud enough for the four of them to hear, Jonathan rushed to her side.

"Freeing the steel of what's holding it will make it the weapon worth it of who has pulled it out" Jonathan continued

"Because that person will become the ruler who shall protect the land of an ancient enemy, destroying it forever and bringing peace back" They said at the same time, looking at each other, surprised.

"How come is it that you two can understand what it says?" Audrey questioned, trying to scan the words over and over again to force them to make any sense. It didn't look like English, nor it looked like any alphabet Audrey had seen before.

"Maybe it's a bit hard to read, I mean, Jon is wearing his contacts and I've always had a great sight" Valerie said back

"Come on, you two must be onto something" Gabriel added.

"It reminds me of a legend, do you remember?" Audrey turned to Gabriel and then to Valerie "We saw it on the school, the legend about King Arthur. What if it's real and this is Excalibur?" her voice came with a hint of excitement.

"But isn't it supposed to be given to him by some witch?" Valerie questioned.

"Audrey, that's a fairy tale. I doubt it's Excalibur, it's just some pirate sword" Jonathan rolled his eyes

"So, a pirate sword is plausible, but Excalibur it's not?" Audrey interrupted, turning to Jonathan with her arms crossed

"Well, yeah" Jonathan made a vague gesture with his hands shrugging. " It's fantasy. Pirates were real"

"But it could be real" Audrey added, Valerie remained quiet. Jonathan sighed loudly grabbing the sword's handle and trying to pull it out, failing like Gabriel had.

"See? No rightful ruler, it's just some sword someone forgot here for far too long. Try it yourself Audrey" Audrey gave him her lamp and tried failed as well, lifting her middle finger to the boy who stuck his tongue out at her.

"Val hasn't tried" Gabriel realized, all eyes turned on the mentioned who just watched the scene unfold with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Come on guys, you don't intend to mean I can pull that sword out" Valerie laughed, dropping it when she saw the seriousness of their faces.

"Why not?" Audrey questioned shrugging "You don't lose anything trying"

"It's ridiculous. You are basing everything on a fairy tale"

"Only you and Jon can read it, though" Gabriel added. "Take it as a courage test, then" He smiled sly, Jonathan sighed, knowing it would be enough to make Valerie do as he suggested, it would have taken way less, if Gabriel had directly asked her if she could pull the sword out.

"Sure thing" She mocked reaching for the sword's handle "What am I supposed to say, recite the magical words? According to the words written here commanded when the magic still walked the earth freeing the steel of what's holding it will make it the weapon worth it of who has pulled it out because that person will become the ruler who shall protect the land of an ancient enemy, destroying it forever and bringing peace back" She quoted the words written on the sword pulling it out in one swift motion moving it freely in her hand. "And when I get it out, the queen will magically appear and hand me the kingdom" None of her friends said a single word, their silence surprised her who thought her 'test' would be met with the realization that there was nothing special about the sword until she noticed it in her hand, it felt nearly weightless, she wanted to drop it, yet she couldn't. She looked at it for a second before looking back at her friends.

It was then when the ground beneath them began to shake, and the end of the cave began to let the dirt that covered it fall revealing a crystal cage and a man hidden behind it. The man had a beard and dark brown hair, his eyes were a bright green, his entire figure barely lit by the fire and the light of the lamp; the crystal cage shattered on the floor and he stumbled to the front, until the ground stopped shaking. The lamp had broken and fallen out of Audrey's hand and the fire had turned off for an split second but less than an instant later it was as if it never had. Audrey broke apart from Gabriel's embrace to who she had held onto to steady herself and Jonathan let go of Valerie who still had the sword on her hand and muttered a soft thank you to him. The man's clothes were filled with dirt and too simple, almost like if they were pulled out from a history book, there were no signs of the crystal cage in the ground, every piece of it had vanished. The unknown man's eyes scanned the room until they laid on Valerie, he rushed to her, in desperate hurried steps, like reaching to an oasis in the desert. Gabriel and Jonathan stepped in front of her.

"What are all of you doing here?" He asked, his voice sounded hoarse and rushed. He cleared his throat and for a split second looked surprise by the sound of an old voice.

"We got lost and I found this cave" Jonathan answered.

"You, girl, where did you get that sword?" He pointed at Valerie, his voice was now clearer, somehow the tome of his voice reminded Valerie of the old teacher she and her mother had encountered once when she had visited her at her job. The man had a kindness and a severity on his tone that made Valerie think of what an old teacher would sound like when scolding a group of students. She moved Jonathan and Gabriel and took a step forward between them, trying to look at the man into the eyes.

"She pulled it out of that stone" Audrey pointed, before Valerie could say anything. The man stood frozen in place looking at all of the teenagers, his gaze stopped on Jon a little longer before getting on one knee and lowering his head in front of Valerie

"My queen" he said simple, it was enough to make all eyes turn to Valerie.

A.N.
Hello everyone! I hope you liked this chapter! If you did, please consider this giving this story a vote or a comment out of the goodness of your heart, did you have a favorite part? Please let me know and have a lovely day! Until next time!