NEW GODS: The Awakening

Awakening Of Memories

The sun was shining. The clouds were white castles of whipped cream. The sky was blue and clear. The fields behind Ebel’s house were rich in flowery and sweet smells.

And Nabi was in a spectacularly horrible mood.

She stared at Damian as if he had thrown her favorite books in the mud.

In that bright summer day, he had decided to show her the basics of magic and it was not doing any wonders yet.

Nabi had been trying to sense his energy for two hours to no avail.

Damian wondered if he had been that impatient as a child but he had definitely been worse.

He really owed Helios…

“Everything you see… Magic runs through it. You only need to unlock it,” Damian urged her gently.

“It is pointless,” Nabi whined “I feel nothing!”

She slumped down on the grass and hid her face in between her legs. When

Damian fell on the same level as her, she puffed and turned away.

“Do you want to see something?” Damian whispered a soft-spoken challenge, before snapping his fingers.

“No. Leave,” Nabi swatted him away like he was a bug.

“I promise you will like this one. And hey, if you don’t, I will get you a new story from the bookstore,”

“Two,” Nabi opened one of her eyes.

“One and a half,” he bartered.

“You can’t buy half a story,” she clicked her tongue in as much distaste as a nine year old could master.

“No, but you can buy two and then feed  some to the lambs,”

Nabi jumped up, no doubt preparing to launch a merciless attack after hearing what was the greatest sacrilege of all time.

She stopped. Mouth gaping, eyes wide open. She stared down at a flower that had not been there a minute earlier. A flower made of fire, churning up brightly, but never as much as burning a single grass that it touched.

Hesitantly, she reached forward. A giggle escaped her as the flames tickled her palm.

“When can I do that?” she asked enthusiastically.

“Eventually. But first you have to be able to tell it apart from any other flower in this field,” Damian encouraged her.

With renown interest, Nabi closed her eyes again, small creases popping up on her forehead from the concentration. This time it only took about five minutes for them to snap open, twinkling like stars.

“I did it! I did it!” she screamed over and over again, jumping up and down, flapping her hands.

“Congratulations!” Damian smiled

Suddenly, she hugged him.

“I did it…” she whispered happily “I did it…”

Damian woke up, cold sweat running down his forehead. And the very first thing he saw was Nabi running to him.

“Damian!” she cried out, tears still fresh in her eyes, as she wrapped her arms around him and held onto tight like she was scared he would run away if she let him go.