3: Chosen
The north west side of Heatherfield was mostly a large forest, it was in this area Zambalen's, living trees lived. Hidden amongst the large earth oak trees were wooden houses built around the bases of them. In a clearing near the southern end 2 similar looking humanoid shaped trees ran around. One was 5 foot 8 and the other 5 foot 5. They both hand purple vines with leaves for hair, the taller one had it half way down her back with the shorter had hers it only reach the top of her neck except for a few lines she let go below her shoulders. Both also had purple eyes and brown bark-like skin. The taller one wore a grey short sleeved jumpsuit with a floral pattern on it, she also had a black belt around her waist with a silver rectangular buckle, on her feet was a pair of pale brown hiking boots. The shorter one wore a halter necked red dress that came down to her knees. She also had the hiking boots.
"Come on little sis, you won't catch me" The taller one teased as she ran around.
"You got it coming Janet!" She yelled back, she was only a short distance behind, but Janet was just out of arms reach.
"What's the matter Amy, you need me to slow down?" Janet teased her little sister some more.
"Oh you got it coming" She called back before leaping onto her sister, grabbing her around her waist, tackling her to the ground, they both them rolled around a bit tickling each other, both giggling away.
"Not bad considering you were wearing a dress" Janet managed to say between giggles.
"You make it seem like that is a bad thing" Amy replied as she stopped tickling her sister, she sat up, and rested her hands on her knees as she tucked them close to her.
"Of course not, just I didn't expect anyone in a dress to do that, tho you always are one for rough actions aren't ya my little sister?" Janet joked as she stood up and gently rubbed her left hand in Amy's vines on top of her head. She then made her way back to their house.
Standing in the doorway watching was a taller version of the pare of them, she stood at 6 foot 2. She had her vines reach all the way down her back. She wore a dress similar to Amy but was coloured like Janet's jumpsuit. She also wore the same sort of boots. Next to her was a male version. He was 6 foot 6, unlike the girls he didn't have vines and leaves on his head, just the leaves growing out of it but the eyes and leaves were the same colour as the others. He wore male version of the boots the others wore, along with a navy blue long sleeved shirt and dark grey trousers. Both of these 2 wore wedding rings.
"I do think Amy is just a bit too aggressive at times" He spoke in a slightly concerned voice after letting Janet into the house. He looked at Amy who just stared beautifully up at the sky.
"Now sweetie, if I recall you dad said you were the same at her age" the woman replied. "She is still young and, well frankly David, she just wants to have fun."
"That is true Julia" He sighed in reply. "But she does seem to go a little hard at times."
"Well, maybe it just shows she enjoys her human side, maybe something we should do a little more" Julia was teasing him a little for there normally laid back attitude which was natural for a Zambalen, Both David and Julia were the ones with a Zambalen parent and human one, the kids were both like they were kids of a human and Zambalen, just Amy was more aggressive and they had had reports of her causing the odd fight.
"Well maybe you are right." He said as he then kissed her lips and then walked back into the house.
Julia looked up to the sky, the sun was beginning to set. "Amy, time for dinner!" She called out to her daughter. As she went back inside.
Amy herd her mother's call, she took a moment to stand up. For her she only liked one thing more than getting into a fight, and that was staring at the sky, she never was able to explain why, just something seemed to beckon her, but none of the worlds you could get to from the fold transit centres on earth had a destination that seemed to be what drew her. She stood up and made her way back to her house Just as she was about to enter the door a green orb flew up behind her, it had a circle with a dot in the middle in it. it gently entered her body like the other orbs. From the trees watching Will stood and whispered: "You dream of being in the stars, soon you will travel through them."
The voice was heard in the back of Amy's mind, she stopped in the doorway, turning round. She started to walk back into the open, she looked around and then called out "Hello...If there is anyone there, come out."
Will quietly moved back into the shadows behind some tree's and kept her back pressed up to one. Amy was looking in her direction, she just hoped she wasn't spotted, she couldn't reveal herself to them yet.
"Amy, you coming?" Her mum's voice called out from inside the house.
"Coming mum!" She called back in a slightly unnerved voice as she kept looking in the direction Will was hiding. She kept looking that direction for a couple of more seconds before turning around and walking back into the house, but not before looking back when she got to the door, she went in and closed it.
Will let out a sigh of relief, that was a close one. But now only 1 more remained, and she had to find her fast, the sooner all are bonded to their powers the better for everyone's safety. She stepped away from the tree and took a careful peak towards the house. Seeing no one around she then transported away.
Just north of the centre of Heatherfield in a area of 4 to 6 story buildings Will teleported in, she came now at night, the moon was high and shining in the sky, it was a full moon. Stars also glistened. The roads were empty except for parked cars. Streetlights lit the area up. It was gone 22:30 and most people had gone to bed now for tomorrow was Monday, kids had school and the adults would have jobs to go to. Will had teleported into the middle of a road T junction and it was when she saw the name of the road that fed off this one 'Highview road' she realised where she was, that was the road she and her mother lived on when they first moved to Heatherfield when she was 12. But the place had changed, the buildings weren't as she remembered them, apartment building made of red brinks, now there were made of modern metals and stone.
As she looked around the final orb left the heart, a red one with a triangle on it that didn't have the bottom left corner meet up. The orb flew around her before it flew off behind her. She turned around and there was a large 4 story grey stone building. In the middle of the ground floor was a large wooden double door. The entire length of each floor had 3 foot high windows evenly spaced along it. This building had to be at least 100 meters wide. The place had grass surrounding it, and it was set away from the road but a big holo sign next to a road access down the right hand side clearly told Will what this place was 'Highview Gate Orphanage'.
Will let out a sigh of pity, she felt bad that growing up she had a home, a family, but for those who lived here, they didn't haves those either because of something happening to there family's or they weren't wanted.
She walked after the red orb as it lead her down the left side of the building. All the lights were out apart from a small number on the top floor, but she was close enough to the building so if anyone looked out there window and for some reason would normally be able to see her, she wouldn't be in there line of sight. As they approached the back of the 20 meter deep building there was a light on in a ground floor window.
The room that had the light on was small, only 2 meters wide and 5 deep. It had a single light dome in the middle of the ceiling. A wooden door was in the middle of the wall opposite the window, which was the longer distance. Either side of the door was some wardrobes painted white while the floor and ceiling where cream. Then to the left of the window was a matching white desk, it had a black bar along the back of it but the rest of the top was clear. Tucked into the desk was a black office chair. The rest of that wall had white shelves, each only 30cm deep, on them was a verity of certificates, trophies and medals all with the same name on it: 'Rachel' tho there was no surname listed. On the other side there was a bed. It had 2 dark brown pillows on it at one end and a large dull brown quilt lying across it. Sitting on top of that quilt was a girl, she was sitting with her back to the window, cross legged before a silver disk that had gave a holo display that had her information on it.
It read:
Name: Rachel
ID: 258007
DOB: Unknown point in 2500
Age: Aprox 13
Gender: Female
Species: Human 50% + Unknown 50%
Family: Unknown
Notes: Appeared as newborn infant arriving from unknown origin at Heatherfield fold terminal. Unknown reason for presence of human DNA, no DNA match to missing people.
The girl had charcoal black skin that was plated like it was cooled lava with fiery red lines around the edges that went across her body. She had orange hair that ended in yellow tips at the base of her neck. Despite the fact the holo display said she was part human she didn't have eyes like a human would, instead she had a pair of scalene triangles were where a human would have their eyes, they had the narrow part just above a marking that would be her nose, and the top was flat as it widened out in a downwards direction as they went outwards, they were a glowing deep yellow, which occasionally went dull which was her equivalent of closing her eyes. She had on a loose cyan pyjama trousers and a matching sleeveless top. On her lap was a small back thin tile, it was 10cm by 20cm. Above it was a holo display in the size of A4 paper and she was writing stuff down on the display holding a dark silver thing like a pen in her right hand.
"Why did they have to set this for homework, knowing I don't have family" She complained quietly to herself so she wouldn't wake anyone up. On the screen she was writing on was just squiggles of her teacher falling down a pit. "Ok they let everyone else do it, but for someone who has none, why get them do it." She then took the image in her hand and screwed it up into what now looked like a holographic ball of paper, she then threw it across the room in anger, the image hit the wall and fell to the floor. She sighed as a little menu appeared just above the tile that was generating the image and she had the ball disappear and re-appear unscrewed back above the tile.
Outside Will had been watching through the window, keeping to the shadows with the red orb floating next to her. The orb then flew through the window as if it wasn't there. It went up behind Rachel and then into her body like the others. Will gave a soft smile as she started to walk away and whispered "Be strong child, you will soon have a family to be part of." She then teleported away.
Back in the room Rachel herd the words that Will whispered in the back of her mind. She looked round towards the window. Seeing no-one there she used the menu to make her window to make it so no-one could see in or out.
Will appeared from her transport back on the tower from when she arrived on earth, she looked out over the city. A slight chill ran down her spine, time was short. "Chosen" She whispered. "Rest well for starting tomorrow you all begin your journey towards destiny."
Where each of the girls lived they slept. Holly had a large woven wooden basket-like bed in her home on the east side of Heatherfield near the bay. Teri's bed was similar to Holly's just it was woven from seaweed, she was in a small room in a metal dome house on the north side of the bay. Emma's home was a single open room (except for the bathroom) with ledges scattered around each had curtains to pull over for privacy, she had a large cushion and a blanket for sleeping. Ami's shared her room with her sister, she slept on the top of a bunk bed. Rachel had fallen asleep on top of her bed at the orphanage . Each of them was restless in their sleep. Wills words came like a whisper to them. As they slept, between the base of their neck and the left shoulder a small orb appeared on their bodies identical to the ones that merged into them. Each girl felt something strange awaken within them as they all had a similar dream.
Next Time: The morning after.
