Elemental Awakening

Chapter Five

Diary entry: day ten

Dear journal,

Okay so I get it! I mean I got it!

I can move water! Not some easy stuff like with a bowel, but I can really move it, it feels like I am the water. Like it’s my arm or something. No wonder I couldn’t believe them, they live in a stinking desert for Pete’s sake. Today we (Lamasuli, and Dankiyet, Mazy and Cleo) went to this underground lake. And I just felt that I needed to be in the water. Well Cleo can’t swim all that great and she stumbled off this underwater rock shelf and went under. I realized that I couldn’t get to her fast enough so I moved the water. I stacked the water. I know it sounds weird, but it was like the movie the Ten Commandments, the water parted (but not the same way) and I felt that it shouldn’t be there and it wasn’t. Lamasuli and Dankiyet just had this smug look on their faces like “well see we told you”

"So that's how I got here" David stated dryly.

"It is interesting that you came and brought fire rather than a woman or girl." Talon began to chuckle "Especially since you are so hot" Talon let out a guffaw as David burst into flame

Sui merely blew out his hot head by directing a blast of wind at him. "Be calm my friend, you may very well be his brother in law someday. If you cannot hold your temper with him like this how are you going to expect to hold your temper when you live together?" both the other young men looked at Sui perplexed "Oh come now surely you have had to put two and two together. Talon is courting Lamasuli, Dankiyet's sister." Understanding dawned on both their faces at this.

David was too embarrassed to actually tell Dankiyet that that was why he was always talking about love around her. He was hoping that she would warm up to him slowly and find true love with him rather than feel obligated to fall in love with him. The men readied themselves for bed after a long day of training. This will be a well-deserved rest. The elementals were pressed to catch up to the tempo of the Cactus Paw. They had only been in the Abysmal Plane for a week and were being pushed by Lamasuli and their individual guides to become leaders and warriors. All the council leaders especially Ashfoot keep telling them that they are behind and they need to learn their powers

Lamasuli's screaming woke Dankiyet; she clung to the blankets and tossed on the bed. She tried to wake her but it was as if her dreams kept her caged. In many houses throughout the village the same thing was happening to many people. When the village woke they were to find out that their dreams were only the first attack. Everyone had the same dream; that they were being slowly devoured by insects and they were powerless to stop it. All the while the monster from the dessert kept insisting that they turn the elementals over to him.

Lamasuli took the morning to consult with her sister and their grandmother to discuss the dreams. When they arrived at Ashfoot’s house there were several people there waiting to speak with her concerning the nightmares and terrifying sensations. Of the four other people waiting to speak to Ashfoot Lamasuli knew three. One was the council lead Tariel and the other was one of her warriors; Naaki’s mother Water, and the last that she could remember was Nhion; Talon’s father, her soon to be in-law. The last person must be one of the Cactus nomads.  Ashfoot spoke to the whole room. “I take it you all had the nightmare?” a chorus of confirmation reverberated back. “I doubt that you five were the only ones in this complex to have to suffer through this.” Ashfoot paused adjusted her robe and explained again. “Lamasuli here can affirm that these sensations will be worst at night, but administering leach flower tea will abate the symptoms. It looks like we are under attack whether an evil force or a disease, we are fighting. I will meditate on this problem more. I am sorry to say that I am at a loss as to what all of this means, just know this, I am suffering with you.”

Lamasuli left Ashfoot’s dwelling not feeling much better for the explanation. But she wouldn’t have much time to worry about it, she would be kept busy, she had new warriors to train and a meeting to attend with her Bintain and the other house captains. Everyone was training hard, but no one knew for what. The only thing that was certain was that something big was going to happen because the elementals were here early. That could never be a good omen.

Of the four elementals only Sui showed any promise of becoming a fully integrated warrior. This had never been the custom before, but things were different. When drilling attacks and blocks Sui was able to change and redirect even the strongest warrior’s maneuvers. No one had ever seen anything like it. Lamasuli would be bringing Sui to the House captain meeting. She wanted to use Sui’s very unique knowledge and integrate it into the warrior house permanently.  She was sure that once he bested Avensong that she would agree and let him start teaching all the other warriors.

Avensong sat on the floor in the planning room of the warrior house. It served as a meeting and training room when not in use by the Bintain and the house captains. It was carpeted to keep the cold from the stones back, and had a sand table on the wall at the back used for making temporary maps with great detail. The celling was twice as high as the tallest man in the village. The one entrance into the planning room was door-less and wide enough for three people to walk abreast without touching shoulders. The room was big enough to fit one entire wing from the warrior house at a time comfortably.

 “Dankiyet told me Suli.” Avensong used her daughter’s nickname it let her know she worried as a mother before she was worried as her superior.

“I’ll be fine, just have to dose with leach flower tea if the nightmares become a regular occurrence.” Lamasuli replied.

“Welcome Sui. I assume your talents are worth noting if my captain has brought you here today.” Avensong redirected her attention dropping the matter with her daughter.

“Yes Bintain, I am confident in my ability, but I am by no means the best. In the dreaming world I would only be a middling talent.” Sui was humble, but told the truth in all cases. He was never the ‘top’ of the class when learning Tai kwon do. He used the martial art to focus his mind and prepare him for meditation. Only recently did he start branching into other martial arts, his favorite was judo, but he was familiar with karate, and some kung-fu.

Avensong appreciated his honest assessment of his abilities. “We will see. You will fight me. I want to know what you have to offer.”

“Of course my Bintain.”

“We will do this now.” Avensong instructed as she rose to her feet in one smooth lithe movement. “Grab a staff from the wall.” She motioned toward the weapon rack that had been placed next to the sand table for this reason.

“I will not need a staff Bintain.” Sui replied and got to his feet in the same graceful manner copying her fluidity. Avensong merely quirked her eye brow and nodded. The three house captains took up positions on the wall next to the entrance and left the carpeted stone floor clear. Sui was grateful for the carpet, he knew if he used too much force he could hurt her. He would have to be very calculated, he knew she was very skilled and wouldn’t hold back in this demonstration.

Sui bowed in a gesture of respect to Avensong and took a comfortable fighting pose with his left leg and hand forward. His hand was open and all his joints were loose. He shifted his weight to his front foot. Without warning Avensong attacked. Sui almost didn’t notice, but he was able to deflect the blow that she aimed for his forward knee with her staff. Sui followed his deflection and landed an open handed blow to her abdomen. Avensong staggered back with an “OOOFF!” but was able to regain her composure. The captains barely noticed contact even happened, if it wasn’t for the combatants new postures they would have sworn that nothing had happened.

“This is going to be good.” Telepinu murmured from her position on the wall, the other two women nodded in agreement.

Sui charged in with a three punch combo and a low front kick to push Avensong back. She countered the first two punches, took the third to the shoulder and stopped the low font kick with her staff. She then used the momentum of the staff to push back and bring her knee into Sui’s gut. Sui used Aven’s knee as a step to bring his body to a higher position and maneuvered Avensong’s head into his armpit for a choke hold. When he landed on his feet Avensong was bent over with her head locked behind Sui’s back. She brought her free arm between his legs and locked her arm around his thigh then gripped her staff.

Sui’s legs were in a pretzel, he simply dropped his body to the floor bringing Avensong with him. This disorientated her long enough to get her to drop her arms. With his legs free he wrapped them around her waist placing her in a guillotine hold. He slowly applied pressure knowing that she would either give up and tap or black out. She did something unexpected, she brought her staff up and over his body and maneuvered it under his chin and applied equal pressure to his neck. He had one choice, sacrifice the hold and control or apply all his muscle and cut her blood flow to her brain. He refused to sacrifice the hold. He stretched his back applied pressure rolled to his side forcing the staff into a non-damaging position and waited for her to go slack.  She tapped, and he released his hold.

Avensong stood holding her neck coughing and choking. She gestured and pointed at Sui. The three captains shuffled un-easily, wanting to know what their Bintain was thinking.  After a few moments Avensong regained enough composure to address everyone. “You will teach the entire warrior house everything you know.” She paused “But I will be your first student.” Avensong righted herself and walked out of the planning room.

“You can have the rest of the day off to decide how you are going to teach three hundred warriors.” Lamasuli said patting Sui on the back. She left the room with her friends while Sui stood transfixed not really knowing what to do with himself.

…

Sui was sore from training for three straight days with Avensong, the woman was relentless and pushed herself to be just as proficient as Sui, and she refused to accept that it had taken him thirteen years to reach his limited talent. He walked down one of the three access tunnels to the caves that held the underground lake and waterfalls. He just needed a few minutes to himself before he retired for the night. When he arrived at the edge of the lake he noticed Wendy playing with the water. She was creating buildings and people, making them interact as if in a play. He watched her absently create her diorama until she acknowledged him. “You can sit with me if you want. It doesn’t bother me if you watch.”

“Thank you, I didn’t want to interrupt you in case you dropped your beautiful model.” Sui was genuinely pleased that she let him sit with her.  

“I wish I had a way to freeze it. You would think that since I have powers over water would be able to create ice.” She was frustrated and feeling limited.

“Hmm, interesting. I wander if I can supply the cold” Sui mused.

Understanding dawned on Wendy’s face. “YES! See if you can freeze my scene.” She adjusted herself into a position that would give Sui the best vantage. “This whole set here.” She indicated a scene that she created with two people sitting on a bench in a park with trees. The scene made Sui wander if she missed home.

Sui took a moment to concentrate and try to figure out how he was going to approach the cooling. He settled his first attempt on the strategy of taking all the warm air out of the space that park scene occupied. As he concentrated he could see the flowy yet glass like structure begin to take on a hardened look, then the classic striations that ice-cubes had, began to form. “Is it solid? Can you tell with your sense?” Sui wanted to make sure before he let his hold go.

“It appears to be, thank you.” Wendy was grateful that Sui had the idea.

“What is this that you are working on any way?” Sui’s curiosity finally overwhelmed him.

Wendy took a moment to answer her cheeks flushed with what might have been embarrassment. “Well, the scene that I had you freeze is the last picture that I took of my grandparents, they died the night that I came to the waking world, and these other scenes were because I was bored and I was trying to imitate some of the T.V. shows that I used to watch.” She pointed at the largest set that she was still holding on to “This one is that hospital drama that all the old ladies seem to be obsessed with.” She chuckled remembering spending summer mornings watching that show with her grandmother.

“Ah, I see.” He mused as he leaned in to study one particularly detailed diorama, as he was inches from the scene Wendy let go of her concentration and let all of her sets fall into a puddle splashing Sui. She began to chuckle as he looked up annoyed, then he smiled to understand the prank for what it was.

“I’m sorry I was getting tired holding it for so long.” She sheepishly lied.

“Your endurance is improving. I think you may be able to accomplish more than me at this point.” He admired her improvements.

 “Well if you ever had a moment alone and didn’t have to train the entire tribe you would make some vast improvements too.” She had a point. Wendy stood to head back up the tunnels to the Warrior house. Sui used a burst of air to get to his feet and follow her up the tunnel. He would speak with Avensong tomorrow and let her know that his studies were suffering for his teaching.

…

Avensong understood what Sui needed, and she agreed, she would only take half of his days for training. She and Sui made a plan to train ten warriors that were adept at all other forms of combat first, and let those warriors train the rest of the warrior house. Improvement for all members even the elementals was crucial. The nightmares were increasing in frequency and in people experiencing them. The nightmares were even starting to cut into the early morning, and the late afternoon sleepers. Ashfoot had been working diligently on the subject. The message of all the nightmares was the same. Give up the elementals or suffer further. Everyone was getting anxious. So much so that over the last two weeks the elementals were seeing aggravated faces directed to them around the Cactus Paw complex.

The spring festival was fast approaching and the cactus paw were receiving more news that outlying villages were being wiped clean off the map. If this continued the Nomad population may not feel safe enough to leave the complex. The volcano was large enough to accommodate all of them, but they provided a crucial role in herding all the livestock, they traveled with her herds of sheep, goats, cattle, and llama. Presently all the livestock was stockaded in the volcano basin. They must be moved out in time for the planting and offspring the nomads had the responsibility to nurture the herd as the complex dwellers had the responsibility to nurture the crops. All the adult males in the herd had already been culled for the winter stores, only pregnant females and yearlings were left. But with the arrival of new offspring the herd would double.

With the tension building in the cactus paw complex the council leaders called a meeting for the tribe. They had to restore order and confidence in the leadership and the elementals. If the nomads refused to shepherd the herd then the resources of the entire tribe would be exhausted only a few moons after the planting. Everything was hinging on calming the masses and devising a way to protect everyone in the tribe.

…

"We will not give up our own tribe members!" The council leader Tariel called out over the crowd; the din in the chamber was palpable.  Everyone was in a stir from the visions that they all shared during the night. No one wanted to give up the elementals, but no one wanted to live through that again. "Quiet! Shaman Ashfoot has something to say."

Ashfoot stepped up to impart her wisdom. "I don't know who or what he is. All I know is that he wants our most precious treasure. He wants our strength, and he wants to taste our fear. The only reason that we didn't end up like all the outlying villages is because our elementals are here with us, their powers add to the wards of the Cactus Paw. The other villages that the dragons have been finding have been stripped bare. Not even bones have been found, this is no bandit attack. This creature this monster only wants one thing, and that is to consume the world of all that is living. We must not give up hope. We are safe as long as we keep and hold our elementals close to us." Ashfoot stepped down from the podium and Tariel took his place again.

"That brings us to our next point. The dragon clan has asked for volunteers for their next clutch. Whoever goes will come back with a dragon. Now I know that we have not hosted a dragon pair since the last elementals arrived but they are beseeching us. They had a plague rush through the perch and killed most of their youths. They need children no older than twelve years. The dragon will not be able to bond well to any one older. Talk to your children and let them know that they will not be coming home for about a year, when the dragon takes first flight. But the clan assured us that they would return here for their perch."

The room erupted in chatter and exclamations. Everyone was excited a dragon in the Cactus Paw. The dragon clan must be desperate to invite the Cactus Paw youths back into the perch. They didn't like using them because the dragons were not usually able to fully control the Cactus Paw people. The dragons used the humans that were bonded to them but only if they volunteered. When a dragon bonded a Cactus Paw youth they were unable to see into their memories, they couldn't tell them what to do, but were still able to speak with them telepathically. When a Dragon Bonded a Cactus Paw member they became a partner, not the leader in the relationship.

As the last candle of the night dripped down to nothing there were thirty children on the list to go to the Dragon perch to try to bond a hatchling. They would have to leave within two days to get there in time for the big even. They knew that it wasn't a guarantee that they would bond a dragon, but they knew if it didn't succeed that they would see their families again after two short weeks. Tariel the council leader sent three of his own children to the hatching his youngest daughter Breeze, his eldest daughter Pele, and one of his sons Chantico. The village fell quiet as they said good bye to their children and made preparation for some to return right away, and for others to return much later. They would wait until they got word of whether or not their children bonded then they would start renovating dragon suits on the upper level so that they would have access to the farm basin to allow an easy launch to the skies directly from their homes. While they were waiting for word from their children they prepared the village for the coming festival, and suffered through their night mares. Some people figured out that if they dosed with leach flower tea that they would be able to sleep more comfortably, most just munched on wine fruit before they went to bed. Even the up and coming shaman was victim to the nightmares.

David and Sui sat outside the village on a rock overlooking the only obvious path into the compound. David had been with Dankiyet for the last three days and talked to her in the mornings after she suffered through her nightmares. She refused to take the tea because she wanted to get as close to the monster as she could. She wanted to see his face so that they could track him down and eventually destroy him.

"I don't know what to do Sui. She won't take the tea, and she refuses to change her sleep cycle to avoid him. I know what she's doing but it worries me so bad. I didn't know that loving someone would be like this."

"She feels that she is doing her part to fight for the people of the plane. Just like all those parents that gave up children for the dragon keepers. They know that it is going to hurt for the year that they are gone, but they also know that they are building a stronger relationship with their allies because of it." Sui replied, he knew that David was hurting for Dankiyet, but there was nothing that he could do to help her at this point.

"I know. It's amazing that all of our children were bonded. I mean how often has that happened before?" they sat musing the implications of such an event. "Do you think that God can see us? I mean out here?" David asked philosophically.

"God created this place too, he has to see us."

"Then why allow something like that thing that is tearing through our minds every night to exist? I don't see any good or rational reason for that thing." David was exasperated.

"Maybe our God has a different plan for this world than our birth world. Maybe because our birth world doesn't have a truly evil force in it other than the people themselves. Our birth world keeps the balance between good and evil on an individual level. Here every one is good so god had to introduce an external evil to create a balance."

David had a thought come to him about god "Do you remember that crazy man that was on TV back in our birth world? And then he had a bunch of followers, the one that kept saying that the bible was the only truth in the universe?" he turned to look at Sui and went on. "Do you think that he was right all along? I mean that God is going to wipe out all of existence? That would be a reason for the thing in the dessert."

Sui replied "Yes I remember, to me he seemed mostly harmless his bible brought him relief and comfort and therefore it is a good thing for him and a lot of others. I think his speeches and TV specials scared people"

"I'm not scared of them I just don't understand them"

Sui sat to collect his thoughts on the matter. "Well as far as history goes the bible is a great resource, and no one knows exactly how to decipher it so therefore we all have our own take on religion, it is amazing how well it has held up through the ages it seems that someone knew something all those years ago when they wrote it because a lot of it is coming true whether anyone wants to believe it or not.  It is real history written by many people, but that is just it; people, there for it has a one sided point of view"

David tried to goad Sui a little at that "It can't be one sided if many people had their hand in it, that is a contradiction"

Sui knowing what David was trying explained "That's not what I was trying to say, I mean each of those stories is a one sided recitation of what that one person saw. But I want to see the bible grow, it was never set in stone, and it is a living document."

"Well if that is a living document the book of revelations is scary as it gets"

Sui paused before saying "Yes revelations are a completely different monster."

David remembering something from his years in the English school system said. "But during the dark ages of Europe someone got it in their heads that the bible is law and never to be tampered with, I guess they got tired of writing"

"I know for certain there has got to be a higher being and that being is watching over as many of us that want him or her to, and sometimes we just don't see the answers we need right away but we do get the answers, it is a higher power, but it comes from us, not to us. Like our own life force and energy and thoughts are what gives it power. It has always been that way and always will because the power that we produce will never go away so people will always find an outlet to give that power. Then there are those that believe in karma and fate and it all has a connection, like Hinduism. We are all the same thing we have just been separated and mixed to a point that we will all have to go through our 'life filter' before we can all be brought back together." Sui said finally finishing his monologue giving David a chance to reply.

"Maybe" Was all the intelligent rebuttal that David could come up with.

Sui elaborated more on his topic trying to get David interested "Like water running down the side of a mountain, each drop is going to pick up a different mineral or debris or pollutant  those being our life experiences and we all need to be rung through a filter before being collected back up and that would be death."

"That is one way of looking at it." David sat chewing that over in his mind. Sui had so much depth to him, probably because he was a monk his whole life.

Sui gave David some time to think before going on with his topic. "Hinduism believes that we all share the same soul, and if we treat everyone like that then we will begin to realize that we hurt ourselves if we hurt others"

David immediately responded with. "That I don't believe! I have my own soul, and am not sharing it with any one!" the repulsion to the idea was evident.

Sui probed only a little. "I if you think of it as water then doesn't water always return to the source"

"I don't know. Do you mean like we all have God's soul and he is the source?"

"Yes. It's like this, one drop of water in a pond is no different than the next drop. Where does one drop leave off and the next begin? If you pollute one drop does the next drop stay clean or does it share the pollutant" Sui went on to say.

"Well I guess it depends on where that drop lands...stagnated pond or a clean flowing river"

Sui laughed at that analogy before saying. "Well then you can liken the pond to fanatical religious nut jobs in a cult, and the flowing river to enlightened open minded groups of people. The pollutant won't hold onto one drop for too long in a fast river, but in a standing pond it can actually grow until there is nothing left of the water except the contagion."

David replied. "True, and I guess that in the end the drop of water can make the choice of where it lands when it is falling in rain, and you can always get out of a bad group or situation by evaporating."

Sui laughed. "Not by death mind you, it does take time and work" Their conversation ended when Cleo came to retrieve them for the next meeting.

David walked down the tunnel thinking about the way that Sui explained life souls and the afterlife. It all made sense on some low level. Everyone and everything is connected somehow, the air that he breaths come from the plants, and the food for the plants might have come from the body of a dead animal that had just feasted on some other animal and so forth way down the line. 'Does this truly mean that I share a soul with the monster trying to burrow into my brain?' David thought. 'What if that was how that thing was able to make a connection with the people of the village in the first place? What if all of our nightmares are just manifestations of what is going to happen to us and not that monster at all?'

When the trio reached the meeting hall David was under mental distress. Dankiyet walked up to him grabbed his arm and simply said "what you are thinking, is not true." He just looked at her in amazement. What did he do to deserve this? She was wonderful and he didn't even need to say a thing but she knew how to make it better. She was the one suffering through the nightmare without the aid of leach flower tea and yet she was still trying to make him feel better about the situation.

"Why have you changed to be so caring about me now? Don't get me wrong I like it, but before you didn't want anything to do with me." He just looked at her as if he could melt into her eyes. She was beautiful, and nothing could break his gaze.

"I don't know, I guess I had a dream; before the nightmares started. It made me see you in a different light." She smiled up at him looped her arm through his and they headed into the meeting hall.

“You are going to have to tell me about this dream later.” David replied as they found seats near the podium. Dankiyet looked as though she was about to say something when she got cut off by the opening statements of the meeting.

This week’s council meeting was grim. The nightmares were a new element to deal with and they learned that villages were being decimated. Bandit attacks at least left some people alive, but this was like some force poured water over a sand drawing. Nothing was left.