Prodigy (Complete)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Alex woke up in a daze. She was in a room she did not recognize and could not remember how she had gotten there. The feeling was becoming a habit as of late. The only thing she found comfort in was the two familiar faces standing over her.

"Where am I? What day is it?" she mumbled. Her judgement was still a little bit cloudy as she was trying to make sense of what was going on.

"Alex, you're safe. We were helping your mum with the dream recorder and you blacked out," Milo said.

"How long have I been out for?"

"Just a couple of minutes," Milo answered.

Milo and Mara helped Alex sit up.

"Did we capture your entire dream?" Alex asked, showing little concern for herself.

"I had to wake your mum up so we only obtained about an hour."

It was incidental for Alex to try to be deciphering dreams at that point. She had a splitting headache and had no idea what was wrong with her.

"We need to get you tested," Milo said.

"Stay here," Mara instructed. "We have a shaman in our camp that can help."

"A what?" Milo asked in confusion.

"A shaman," Mara repeated. "He's a spiritual healer who deals with the inner workings of the universe."

"Let me guess, in exchange for his mystical healing powers, he requests you pay him money up front?" Milo derided.

"No, of course not. Trust me, the shaman will be able to identify your illnesses and remove any foreign elements from your soul."

"Sounds like some spooky voodoo science."

"Well, he probably thinks a lot of the things in your world are spooky voodoo science."

When Mara returned with the shaman, he asked Alex to lie down. Alex was sceptical, but followed the shaman's instructions. He lit several incense sticks and placed them around her.

"What's that for?" Milo whispered.

"The incense contains biotic materials, which enhances the senses. It allows for a smoother passage into the spirit realm. This technique has been around since the ancient Sumerians." Mara said, familiar with the shaman's ritual.

The hot embers smouldered, causing the incense sticks to release an aromatic smoke. The shaman waved his hands over Alex's body as the spiritual healing process began. The shaman inhaled deep breaths in an attempt to release himself from the physical world and communicate with the spiritual realm. By now, he had placed one of his hands on Alex's forehead and another on her chest. Milo and Mara stayed back so they would not get in the way.

A few minutes of silence grew into over a half an hour. Milo had just about seen enough. His scepticism rose to a new high and he was about to interrupt the bogus ceremony and bring Alex to a real doctor. Milo thought things could not get any more ridiculous, but then the shaman began speaking in a strange dialect that sounded like his words were being processed through a blender. Milo's curiosity allowed the shaman to proceed without interruption. Just then, the shaman's eyes opened wide.

After a brief pause, the shaman said, "My spirit has been to the other side and has now returned." He removed his hands from Alex's body and extinguished the embers of the burning incense. Alex opened her eyes and sat up.

"I am troubled to tell you that I saw darkness in your future."

"We weren't looking for a fortune teller, we want to know what's wrong with her... medically," Milo said, growing ever more annoyed.

"Have faith my son, you may know a great deal about the physical world, but you know not of the mysterious forces in the spiritual world. It troubles me to say this, but your friend's soul is infected."

"My soul is infected?" Alex reiterated in disbelief.

"Infected with what?" Milo followed up.

"I saw a great darkness that will affect the lives of many. An illness unlike anything humanity has encountered before. A plague of biblical proportions," the shaman chanted with intensity.

"Okay, okay, we get it. Did your spirit lords provide you any more details other than that?" Milo asked condescendingly.

"Only that it appeared to be from nature."

"That's great," Milo repeated. "That could be anything. Thanks, pal, we'll allow science to take it from here. Your services will no longer be needed."

Mara thanked the shaman as he gathered his belongings and slinked away. When he was out of earshot, they focused their attention on what the shaman had told them.

"Okay, let's review what we know about this illness," Alex suggested.

"That'll be easy, we don't know anything."

"That's not true. Great mysteries and crimes have been solved with less information than we have. We just need to piece together a cohesive story with the facts. Now, what are the facts?"

"Nose bleeds," Milo offered.

"Good, what else?"

"Memory loss, light-headedness, loss of consciousness."

"Anything else?"

"Whatever the shaman said – something about being natural and some darkness mumbo-jumbo. I did my best to forget whatever nonsense he was saying."

"Let's focus on the nature element," Alex suggested.

"You want me to start telling you some natural elements?" Milo asked.

"Sure."

"Um, okay, let me see. Wood – that's a natural element. Strawberries, that's another one."

"Milo, I need you to take this seriously. Wood and strawberries are not the kinds of things that cause illnesses. What exists in nature that is all around us?"

"Air is, wait that kind of sounded like Aris. Now that I mention it, he is constantly around us, maybe this whole thing is somehow his fault."

"I doubt it, but you did give me an idea."

"I did?"

"Yes, we should call Aris and see what he thinks," Alex suggested.

"We could do that, or we could sit here and put our minds together and think of a solution."

"You and I think too much alike. Aris offers a different perspective. He may not have the right answer, but he has an unorthodox way of thinking that has proven useful in the past. He helped us find Mara."

"That's not true at all. I found Mara in jail, which by the way, you and I both ended up in jail within days of being around him. I'm telling you Alex, the guy is bad news."

"True, but you wouldn't have even known what Mara looked like if it weren't for his suggestion about getting renditions of my image done."

"Again with the renditions, if I have to hear about these stupid renditions one more time, I'm going to—"

"You're going to what?"

"I don't know, but I assure you it will not be very pleasant."

"Quit being so immature. I'm going to call Aris and invite him over."