Adara Part 5

“Could it be,” Adara thought her heart racing.  “Please don’t let this be a dream,”   she prayed too scared to open her eyes.  Slowly she opened them sure that he would not be there, just a lovely dream in an enchanted forest.  But, there he was, smiling down at her.  “Seth!” she screamed jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck.  Relief washed over her, Seth would make everything normal again.  He would take care of everything finally she would be able to breathe again. 1

“I can’t breathe, beautiful,” he said pretending to choke.  Adara loosened her grip and looked deeply into the beautiful blue eyes that she had missed so much.  “Seth is here,” she told herself still half expecting him to disappear and for her to finally wake up.  2

All at once she noticed a coldness enter his eyes, something she had never seen before.  She knew something was horribly wrong.  “We need to talk Adara,” he said in a businesslike manner. “But first we must get to safety, I’ll explain everything there,” he said trying to seem attentive, but there was a distance in his tone that was never there before.3

Adara felt the cold stab of rejection.  “He doesn’t love you anymore,” a little voice said.  She wanted to scream, “What’s wrong, what did I do?”  Her eyes pleaded with him to tell her that it was a mistake, that he was just joking.  But his expression remained unchanged.  For whatever reason, he had decided that their love was a thing of the past.  “Fine,” she said turning her back on him.  4

It took everything she had inside to keep the tears at bay, but the flames belied her emotions.  “Hay, don’t light up around here!” a voice behind her said.  “Who the hell are you?” Adara asked looking over her shoulder, trying in vain to control her temper.  “I am Saskia,” she said.  “These tree’s are older than time.  I will not let you endanger them,” she said moving toward Adara.  “Shut up!” Adara screamed closing the gap between them. 5

A sudden rush of water doused both of them, “Come on girls, play nice,” Manzi said smiling broadly.  The unexpected shower snapped Adara back from the brink.  She looked over at Saskia, who now bore a striking resemblance to a drowned rat, and burst out laughing.  Saskia seeing the humour in the situation also began to laugh.  6

“I’m sorry if I pissed you off.  I’m just really protective of these trees,” Saskia said once they had regained their composure. 7

“No, It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have snapped at you,” Adara said wringing out her long red hair.  “But you.  I’m thinking hard core revenge.” Adara said pointing at Manzi. 8

“Who me?  I didn’t do a thing,” Manzi said with an innocent expression on his face.  “Been right here the whole time,” 9

Seth couldn’t take his eyes off of Adara, in all his years on this planet he had never felt this way about another living being.  He yearned to tell her the truth, to tell her how much he loved her but there was no future for them and there could never be.  When he told her the truth, she would see it too, and his foolishness would finally come to an end.  10

“Come on people we need to get moving,” Seth said gesturing them towards him. 11

“Wait, where is ghost girl?” Adara asked looking over at Manzi.  “Don’t look at me,” he said shrugging his shoulders.  “I swear we need to put a bell around her neck or something,” she muttered under her breath.  “I’m here,” she said materialising next to Adara.  “You know I think I’m getting used to this,” she said smiling gently at ghost girl. 12

“You have the most amazing singing voice I have ever heard,” Adara said putting her arm around Ghost girl.  “Umm, Thank you,” Ghost girl said her cheeks flushing a bright red. 13

“Enough chatting, we need to get to the sanctuary,” Seth said as he abruptly turned and walked away.14

Adara, who could always be counted on to pry into other people’s business, asked Saskia how she came to be in the forest.  As they walked, Saskia explained, a now all too familiar story.  Men in suits with dark purposes, leaving her parent’s dead.  She had found the sanctuary on her own, years ago.  She completed the picture as it turned out she possessed the power of the earth.  She was able to manipulate and become sand, mud, stone or any other form of earth.15

“How did you escape the black suits?” Manzi asked his curiosity getting the better of him.  “I ran,” came the simple reply.  “Sorry, what?” Manzi asked certain he had misheard.  “I ran,” she reiterated.  “Did you see the man with the blue eyes?” Ghost girl questioned.  They had almost forgotten that she was there, until she spoke. The paused briefly all turning to look at Ghost girl before Saskia answered, “Yes, he was outside, he brought me here,” 16

“We are here,” Seth stated pointing at a wall stone.  The three of them stared blankly at the impenetrable slab in front of them.  “Ok, I give.  Where are we?” Manzi said straining to resist the need to roll his eyes.  “Saskia, please open for us,” Seth asked17

Saskia stepped forward and made a sweeping hand gesture.  Immediately the earth began to rumble, slowly the solid stone slab moved out of the way, revealing a beautiful path outlined by flowers.  “Come inside,” Seth said “I’ll explain everything inside,”18

“No way,” Adara thought her mind still trying to process what had happened.  “I feel like Alice in wonderland, going down the rabbit hole or Neo in The Matrix, when is Morpheus showing up?” she wondered stepping inside.  19

Once inside all three stared in wonder at the vision that awaited them.  At the end of the foot path was the most magnificent room any of them had ever seen.  In each corner stood a chair, made of what looked like stone, engraved with wonderfully intricate carvings.  Against the wall on the far end of the room was an impressive stone podium, with what looked like hieroglyphs carved into the length of the base.  The room had no roof and was surrounded by lush vegetation.  Standing there they all knew that they were in an ancient and sacred yet familiar place.  “Please take a seat,’ Seth asked positioning himself in the middle of the room. 20

Once they had all taken their places, each instinctively knowing their position.  Seth began21

“As many of you already know, I am Seth.  What I have to say today will no doubt come as a shock.  Though let me just assure you that, all that has happened was completely necessary.  I will explain as much as I can, feel free to ask questions as we go,” Seth took a deep breath and continued.  22

“Let me start by explaining my role in this.  I am your guardian.  Charged with protecting you all, I have been alive since the dawn of man and have protected countless generations of elementals.  I am immortal, and utterly impervious to damage.” 23

“So, it’s you we all remember?” Manzi asked his mind recalling the man with the blue eyes.24

“Yes,” Seth answered nodding and looking down, unable to face Adara he dared not look up.  He pictured the look of betrayal on her face, certain she would never forgive him.  25

“You are the elementals, Earth, Air, Water and Fire.  Created at the very beginning of this world, you were worshipped and revered.  Over time man lost respect for nature and all her wonders, forcing out all that was rare and beautiful.  As a result, it was decided to hide you from a world that no longer believed in magic and held no respect for your importance.  We hid you in the one place we knew they would never find you, amongst them and so it began.  A horrible cat and mouse game has been unfolding ever since.  Many have forgotten about your existence, but not all.  Your hiding place has proved to be a success, but includes some short comings.  Such as, if the human life cycle is unexpectedly concluded, your spirits and abilities are passed to the next generation of chosen without delay or preparation.”26

“Is that why we are all the same age?” Manzi asked, already knowing the answer.27

“Yes,” Seth said 28

“Are we also immortal?” Ghost girl asked looking at Seth.29

“Well, no.  You move to the new body with no memory of the life you’ve had.  So, indeed it is a very real death,” 30

“So Yoda, why tell us all this now? And, who is this “we” you keep referring to?”  Adara asked, biting sarcasm in her tone.  31

Seth still unwilling to make eye contact with Adara turned away from her and tried to explain,32

“Much has gone wrong, the apocalypse order have become much stronger.  They have more resources than ever before and have remained just a step or two ahead of us at every turn.  With the advent of internet and cell phones and other useful devises they are able to track us in a way never experienced before.  Each generation has had its fair share of danger, but never on this scale.  Since your birth we have been running to keep up, always just moments behind,” Seth paused trying to decide how to continue.  33

“The chosen are always born on the same day of the same year.  Their powers are only passed on later in life.  Usually there would be a ceremony on their 20th birthday, where the previous generation would officially pass on the abilities.  Instruction was given into the history and meaning of the gifts they received.  Each generation before this, was well aware of their role and the expectations before their abilities were even granted.  As is quite obvious, this time none of that was possible.  I am telling you now, because you have come of age and as such must now assume your responsibilities.  The” we” I speak of is the council of elders,” 34

“Who is the Apocalypse order?” Saskia asked35

“You have all seen the men in the black suits; well they are human and relatively harmless.  They are nameless pawns who have pledged loyalty to their leader, Malachite!  He is a disgraced member of the council, hell bent on bring about the end of the world.  He loathes the council and will do everything in his power to destroy this world and everything in it.  Evil incarnate he has been fighting us every step of the way,”36

“Why?” Manzi asked enthralled by the story unfolding before him.  It was better than everything his imagination had concocted.  37

“Well, Africa as you may know, has for centuries been called the birthplace of humanity.  In truth Africa was the birthplace of much more.  Centuries ago in this very spot, the first elementals were born.  The council read from the eternal scroll and granted them the powers you now possess.  Shortly thereafter I was created, to protect them/you.  Malachite knows the only way to bring about the end of this world is to get all the elementals together and read the eternal scroll backwards effectively reversing the creation,”   38

Adara knew what Seth was saying was very important, but she just couldn’t concentrate.  Guardian, Immortal….. how stupid she must have sounded to him.  “He never loved me, he was just doing his job,” she thought to herself desperately trying to remain calm.  How can that be, she had been so sure that he loved her, she had seen it in his eyes.  What horrible rule could there be to keep them apart if he did love her she wondered, looking up at him again.  She couldn’t help but stare; he looked so serious and absolutely gorgeous.  His blonde hair fell into his face as he spoke causing him to occasionally run his hand through his hair.  The eyes that had convinced her of his love looked all around but expertly avoided hers.  She tried desperately to meet his gaze, certain that she would see her answer in his eyes, but he refused to look in her direction. 39

“So where is this eternal scroll?” Saskia asked 40

“It is on the podium, where it has been for millennia,” Seth answered, he could feel Adara’s eyes on him.  He wanted so badly to run over and say,  “I love you, I know, it’s wrong and impossible, but I do.  Come with me and lets just keep running forever,” but common sense wouldn’t allow it. 41

They were killed, weren’t they?  The other elementals, were murdered when we were 4,” Manzi said, making a statement rather than asking a question. 42

“Yes, they were.  Malachite tried at first to capture them, failing that, he decided to pick them off one by one.  We weren’t sure what would happen, you see, all the elementals before had died of natural causes after a long life.  When the fire element passed of unnatural causes I was unsure of what to do. So I decided to go find the chosen successor to see if she was affected.  I was hours too late in reaching Adara, I found her there in the ashes and I knew the abilities would be passed regardless of the ceremony.  I raced from house to house in the days that followed, managing to reach you all just in time to help. “43

“Why did you put us in the system, if we are so important why didn’t you bring us here?  Or somewhere else to learn about our powers,” Adara asked, she had finally managed to lock eyes with Seth, he loved her.  She saw it, and he would admit it before this conversation was over. 44

“I had to think quickly, and the best thing at that time was to stay hidden.  Have you ever tried to find someone in the South African social system, it’s damn near impossible.  Ask me I tried to find you all again.  That is why I was at the juvenile detention centre.  I knew you’d turn up there sooner or later.”45

“What me in particular or all of us?” Adara said challenging him to answer.46

Seth knew what Adara was trying to do, he could not get drawn into this discussion.  There was more at stake than just their feelings.  Life on this planet was in danger.  Couldn’t she understand that?47

Suddenly the earth began to rumble.  They all looked over at Saskia, who shrugged her shoulders and said,  ”It’s not me,”48

Seth ran for the entrance but it was too late, Malachite was already inside.49