(The New) Power of the 8 Elements: Part One

Chapter Seventeen: Fear

"The future is uncertain, but that may be a good thing." - Jennifer Niven
PRESENT DAY
TERRY

"So we have a human on our side?" Bones says at our next meeting.

This time, Ava sits next to me quickly typing notes on the computer we gave her.

"And she's now our secretary," Ferdinand explains.

"Yeah, but what else can she do?"

"We'll find more uses once things start getting pretty heated, but now that Thrax and Nereid have calmed down, we might as well take advantage of that," I say.

"Who are they?" Ava asks, looking up from her computer.

"They're our enemies. Thrax is a virus." I show her my virus mark, treating it now as a scar to be proud of rather than an embarrassing memory.

"And Nereid is a girl with knives," Celeste says.

"How long is she staying? Where is she staying?" Glamour asks.

"The guest bedroom at my house."

"Isn't that a risky move?"

"My parents never bother to check. Sometimes we forget it exists, besides we don't get guests."

"Okay..."

"Anyways, Xan is still thinking."

"Portals don't just spontaneously open out of nowhere," Lucifer holds out his hand gesturing for me to hand him the piece that Ava found. I gave it to him. "Either this is a part of a powerful object, or someone incredibly powerful dropped it."

"Oh, my gosh! Do you think it's like Death Note?" Amaya suggests eagerly.

"Sure," Lucifer says sarcastically. "It's just like Death Note."

"How is this world any different than mine? You guys seem to have the same things."

"We have different races than you," Celeste says. "Wizards do magic—a vague term. Powered, like us, can do elemental based magic. There are fairies who also do some form of elemental magic, but they don't live anywhere near us. There are some half-breeds like Terry. We have viruses like our friend Thrax."

"Viruses are usually parasites," Lucifer adds.

"What do you mean?" Amaya asks.

"He may or may not feed off of your memories and latch onto your thoughts until you become emotionless or sometimes he feeds off of pain, too. Energy, personality, makes him stronger."

Amaya brings her hands to her head. "You mean Thrax is going to suck out my memories!!"

"Thrax doesn't particularly like doing that. It gives him horrid migraines."

We all raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not joking. Ask him when he's less p*ssed off, but that's going to be pretty impossible now."

Celeste continues, "Then we have animals and non-wizards. Non-wizards who are literally just people who don't control any form of magic."

"Cool!" Ava says. "This is so much more interesting than the human world."

"But you can't tell anyone about us."

"Relax, even if I did, no one would believe me. You wouldn't believe how boring it is over there."

"Oh no, I believe it," Lucifer says.

"Good afternoon," Xan says, walking into the room.

"Xan!" Amaya gleefully runs to hug him.

"It's nice to see all of you, and Ava getting accustomed."

Ava waves.

"What brings you here?" Lucifer asks.

"Actually, I need Terry, just Terry."

Everyone looks at me.

"Me?" I ask.

"Yes, you. Come on."

"O-okay." I stand up and follow Xan into the portal. I'm a little weirded out by this. I have no idea what Xan wants with me, but I go along with it.

Xan walks ahead. Every time I see The Field, I'm always enchanted by its beauty. Xan leads me inside the cottage. I've never been there before, but I'd always fantasized about what was inside.

"I found something about that peculiar little piece Ava discovered earlier."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes."

"So you know what it is?"

"It's a time piece."

"A what?"

"No, a time piece. It connects to other dimensions and when powered, it rips a hole in the space time continuum allowing a portal to open."

"So this world...it's another dimension?"

Xan nods.

"Are you from another dimension?"

"Goodness, no. I just happened to find this place, and I immediately knew that I should call it home. However, there are other pieces just like this. I assume there are five."

"Five? So where are the other four?"

"Either with the owner or scattered elsewhere."

"Do you want us to find them?"

"I want you to find them."

"Me? How am I supposed to do everything by myself? I barely understand all of this magic stuff—" I gesture to the large blueprint in front of us. "—as it is. I'm just a 9th grade student. This belongs to a hundred thousand year old Powered Person or something...hopefully."

"You doubt yourself. Why?"

"Because I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"The future! I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if I'm going to die. I don't know what my parents will say if they find out I'm working with a human and doing all of this stuff."

"That's an understandable fear."

"Is it? Because Terri has a fear of outer space, and that seems pretty reasonable because it's freaking outer space for crying out loud, but the future? That seems dumb."

"It's not dumb. It makes total sense."

"We're all scared of the future at one point."

"But it's important to not let it take over us."

"And if it does?"

"Don't think about that because it won't."

"How do you?"

"Because I've been afraid of the future, too. But I've seen you fight, and you don't seem afraid at all. You always have a strong stance when you shoot."

"Yes, but-"

"-people who fight like that often intimidate others. When a virus gives a viral mark, it shows that they are intimidated."

"But I'm just a glacier? What kind of fear could I cause?"

"You're more than just a glacier."

"What?"

"You'll find out soon."