5.

The sun shone bright on a new day. Neil was feeling the aftereffects of briefly having had the crystal. He wasn't meant to ever have it and combined with having a smaller brown crystal at the same time; Neil now had the mother of all hangovers. He felt like some sort of an addict who was about to go full on cold turkey the day after the night before.

A general crystal can soup you up, the mother crystal (so to speak) is the most powerful crystal there is. Combine them, on a person who is not meant to have either, especially the one which is to be protected ... well you are going to feel the effects once they are gone. The protector crystal returned and the other is destroyed.

His head hurt, his body felt as if he had just run a marathon but worse than that, he felt that he had let himself down, he felt he had let his father down. All the knowledge he has, the years he has dedicated in wanting to serve a purpose, and the first chance he got he stole that with which he dedicated his life to. It may indeed have been returned and he is still part of the greater journey, though what he has done cannot be forgotten.

Neil wore dark sunglasses as he left the hotel that he and Gareth had spent the previous night in. Gareth was already waiting for Neil by the car and as Neil approached, he asked 'that's not coming with us is it?' pointing to the German Sheppard dog lying on the ground. It sat up, looked at Gareth and whined almost as if the dog itself was asking the question that Gareth was about to.

'You can see him?'

'What? The dog? Of course, I can, why wouldn't I be able to see it?'

Gareth explained that Boris the dog just appeared when he met Pavel and that Boris had been like a guardian angel to Pavel and now the dog seemed to want to be another companion for Gareth himself. So, Boris stays, permanently, not being an entity that comes and goes in times of need.

As it is, it was Pavel who ensured that Neil would do the right thing, and the dog would remain, to as much keep Neil in check as much as be an aid for the new protector. Boris stood up barked twice and circled a couple of times then stood facing away from both Gareth and Neil. Gareth began feeling that sensation he felt when he first met Bill.

'Yeah, em ... Boris kinda aided me with my decision to return yesterday.'

'I know.'

'Oh my ... Gareth ... your crystal, it's glowing.'

Gareth and Neil both looked at each other before speaking the same word in the same moment ... 'Seekers'.

Before Gareth and Neil could get into the car, three seekers approached. Boris pounced, knocking one seeker to the ground. A second seeker punches Neil in the face. Neil was surprised not only by the punch but also by the fact that he was able to take it. It only knocked him back a step or two. Neil, in return, hit that seeker with two blows, one to the stomach which bent the seeker forward and a second blow catching the seeker squarely on the chin knocking him right on his ass, leaving him to lay unconscious on the ground.

'Oh my ...' he says with the level of surprise increasing, maybe there is some sort of residual effect to having had that green crystal.

A third seeker ran at Gareth who in one clean swift motion scooped up his attacker, turned and slammed him across the bonnet of the car.

Thirty more seekers appeared seemingly out of nowhere and attacked. All of a sudden Lee, Bill and Pavel all appeared and began fighting. A fourth man also appeared to be fighting on the side of Gareth and the former protectors. Neil and Boris were also putting up a good fight too.

The first chance they got, Gareth and Neil got into the car and along with Boris made their escape with the crystal still intact and safely around Gareth's neck.

'Did you see that?' asked Neil, 'I fought alongside you, and just as well as you or those other men were fighting too.'

Neil felt delighted with himself; his earlier feelings of sickness had passed too. He felt strong now, full of energy, ... he felt good.

'Must be aftereffects from when you had the crystal. You were able to see the former protectors too?'

'That's who those men were; well, I have met Pavel and Boris of course but others now too? Wow I'm like an honorary protector now or something, huh?'

'Probably the or something so don't get carried away, there was a man unfamiliar to me fighting on our side back there, I'd like to know who he was or is.'

'His name is Vicente' speaks Lee, protector numero uno who just appears out of thin air and onto the back seat of the car. 'He is from Argentina and was protector number two, my first protégée and was protector back in the early 1900's. Your journey has come a long way in such a short time young man, it is moving forwards at an incredible rate and I feel a conclusion is inevitably close.'

With that Lee vanishes just as swiftly as he had appeared.

'What now?' asked Neil still in awe of all that is happening,

'I don't know; guess we just keep going forward.'

Blood began trickling down from Gareth's nose and would soon be followed by a trickle of blood coming from his mouth.

'You're bleeding' Neil told Gareth.

'What?'

Gareth was now as confused as he has ever been since this whole protector thing first began and within seconds of wiping the blood from his nose and chin, Gareth passes out. Neil panicked, and partly being in shock grabbed the steering wheel, Gareth had been driving. Neil couldn't control the car. It soon swerved, tumbled, and came to a halt upside down.

Neil still felt some of that added strength he received from having the crystals so he, it had yet to completely leave him so, along with Boris, he managed to escape the car without too much difficulty and with minimal injury. The dog, of course, is completely unharmed. Neil, as he is, would be able to free Gareth, taking him to the side of the road and away from the car which had caught fire, soon after which ... there would be one heck of an explosive bonfire.

What now?

With Gareth still being unconscious, Neil knew seekers would be coming for them from the faint glow of the crystal. He figured with the faintness of the glow that he might have a couple of minutes before he'd be swamped but no more than that. He also figured and believed that he wouldn't be able to fight them off alone, and even if he was to have the aid of the former protectors of whom had already revealed themselves, there was no way he could defend the crystal while waiting for Gareth to regain consciousness.

The worst thing at this point is that Neil didn't even know if Gareth would regain consciousness anytime soon let alone at any time at all.

With all his knowledge of the legend of the crystal, Neil had no idea of what to do next. The journey is now on hold, hell ... it is in jeopardy. Neil had to do something and something soon for Gareth is out cold and not only that, but seekers are indeed coming ...