Henry had waited until the moon was at its apex before he slipped from his bed and walked across the recently cleared forest floor to the structure in which the crystals were held. He nodded to the man who stood guard a few feet away and entered. Stepping inside, he saw the crystals, eight in total, spread out on a table with a piece of wood between each.

The light blue crystal was the key. His eyes went to the purple crystal, his jail for millennia.  His fellow conspirators were locked in the other crystals. Stumbling upon the sealing chamber had been just good fortune. If these fools had not cut down the mighty forest they may never have uncovered it.

He picked up each of the crystals, slipping them into a pouch made from an animal’s hide. He then picked up the light blue and kept it separate from the others. He left the structure and hiked to the chamber, guided by the moonlight. Sometimes he’d stick out his tongue expecting it to guide him but then remembered that’s not how this body worked. How did these mammals get anything accomplished?

He approached the chamber and stopped in front of the worn stone statue.

“Slike….you are long dead, forgotten, but we will rise and we will have finally won this war.”

He pushed the rock button and the door slid open revealing the table, chair, and the rock wall with the holes. He set the pouch on the table and reached beneath, pulling a dagger out of its sheath which had been attached to the bottom of the table. Gripping the handle, the blade glowed a faint orange, enough to light up the small room. One by one he placed the crystals, then in the last hole he slid in the blue key.

The room was filled again with the smell of burnt ozone as all the crystals lit up.

“A little patience my comrades. It won’t be long.”