Earth's Spirit
Far away in a beautiful light blue crystal chamber under an island, Gaia, the spirit of the Earth lies peacefully sleeping. A beautiful, mature woman with tan skin, dark hair with lighter streaks and light-colored eyes. She wears a long, purple dress, purple shoes, a thin, golden headband and two long, light-colored decorative pieces of material, one of which is wrapped around her left upper arm and the other is tied together with a hem of her dress on her right shoulder. From the ceiling falls a tiny drop of water, hitting her on the cheek. She moves a bit then sighs and slowly opens her eyes. As she sits up, the drop grows, and cold water splashes her on the face. Quickly she leaps out of the way. Holding her hand up, she seals the crack with her powers.
"Well, so much for that nap!" She says, stretching.
Thump, suddenly everything shakes, and she almost falls.
"What's going on?"
Slowly she walks over to a wall of crystal and touches it. The milky wall turns clear, showing an image of the huge machine mining in the Amazon and all the destruction and dumping around it. Black smoke from fires fills the air. Far and wide, animals scatter and some lie dead.
Slowly she shakes her head. "Will those silly humans ever learn? My planet can't go on like this much longer! Hopefully, there is good news somewhere else."
Holding her hand up, she changes the picture to look down on the rain forest from further away. Instead of thick carpets of green, there are now wide gaping holes, and black smoke from fires. For a moment she stares, her face white with horror.
"My great rainforest is dying in front of my eyes. This cannot be!" Gaia says, touching the wall again.
The forest disappears and in its place, a great ocean full of trash, chemicals, and filth. Animals surfaces, fighting to stay above the waves. Flying above it, birds trapped in garbage. Once more she touches it, only to see smog filled cities and wastes from sewers and industry pouring into rivers and lakes. It changes again, showing the mountainous piles of trash and broken items in landfills stretching to the horizon. Thump! Once more there is a loud thump, and the room shakes.
"My beautiful Earth is dying. I can't wait anymore." She says wiping a tear from her eye. "I need a new generation of young people to help. Not the adults, but the children who will be the future. The time has come for the rings."
From a beautiful piece of crystal, she takes a circular dish with five rings and three amulets. Holding the dish up the jewelry disappears. Now she nods.
"The real heroes are out there. I hope I can find them in time!" Gaia says looking up. "Eight very special young people now hold the future in their hands."
The rings and the amulets rise from the dish and begin to glow, as they approach the ceiling. Then, they vanish into thin air with a flash, leaving her alone. Without another word, Gaia turns back toward the wall, watching the ongoing destruction, as a tear rolls from her eye.
"When did people lose the real gifts I gave them?" she says softly.
Before her eyes, the destruction continued to grow. In the rainforest, where Greedly and Plunder worked to mine gold, the thick foul sludge oozed over the sparkling clear, blue waters, turning them a sickly black. Stunning green plants along the shore began to blacken and wither as animals died. The water of the river washed out parts of the bank as dying trees fell. Soon this magnificent forest would be a memory. Suddenly, the room about her began the shake, and pieces fell from the ceiling.
"Time to get out of here!" she yells, as the ceiling cracks once more, and water gushes down.
Gaia races up a set of stairs into a mysterious crystal cave and looks around. After a moment she lets out a sigh. Walking up to a crystal wall she puts her hand on it. This time a picture of the world from space appears, but with the darkened clouds and waters created by a century of pollution. The growing destruction around her, made Gaia feel weak inside, as a tear ran down her cheek. Time was growing short, and it seems that she might have already been too late. In the crystal wall, black smoke hinted at the fires spreading rapidly. Pacing nervously, she walked outside and looked up at the sky on her lone beautiful island. This was a magical place, yet untouched by human hands. Before the end of this day, her last paradise, a great Eden of sparkling clear blue water and endless green, would be touched by the hands of youth. She touched the wall and closed her eyes. A once solid wall began to shimmer and slowly stretch, like rubber, as she walked into it.
"A young child who knows nothing of greed, and hate. Yes, this is my first planeteer." Gaia says, vanishing into the wall. "I must find him myself! I hope I can get back before this place is gone, or the Earth will die!"
The wall flashes one last time, as rumbling noises fill the air. The sound of cracking comes from the ceiling, as the room shakes.
