Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, I merely play in the sandbox. I do however, lay claim to my original characters; Ella, Adrian, Christine and others. Plus the inclusion of the Fey world.
AN: Another day, another chapter. Thank you to everyone who has read up to now and everyone who has just discovered this ~ Hannah.
Chapter Seventy-Six – Meeting the Ethereal's
I felt light increase all around me. The harp playing had gotten so intense that it was almost painful to hear but the compulsion to continue dancing continued. I felt light and airy, my body, for once, existed on a plain where no anxiety or fear could penetrate it. Worry and depression became words and not feelings. My soul was at peace and I too felt the calm energy of the place I was in.
It came as a surprise to me that as the harp reached its peak, it died completely and with the lack of sound penetrating my mind, the light too disappeared and I felt myself awakening.
With the fluttering of my eyes, my other senses came to life. My surprise was palatable all around me when I realised where I was. The implication that I had slept walked from my bed to the forest was a little alarming as was the fact that five strangers now stood before me. I wasn't playing the fool however, and had a good idea of who these people were. Though the intense light around me had been blinding, I could now see that each stranger had a coloured glow around them.
The first, a woman, wore a floor length white gown with a lace bust and long sleeves. Her dark brown hair was left loose and she had a flower crown in her head. Her glow was pulsing blue.
The second woman had short blonde hair with a crown of leaves adorning he head. Her dress was also white but off the shoulder and slightly shorter, exposing her ankles to the world. She was shorter than the first woman but had more meat on her bones. Her glow was green.
The first and final woman had bright ginger hair that fell to the small of her back. She had her hair braided in one long plait. The crown upon her head was made of white sweet peas and thin branches. Her white gown was adorned with hundreds of pearl beads and she was the only one wearing heels. Her glow was yellow.
The last two strangers were male. The first stood half a head taller than Emmett and was built similarly, his black hair was tangled and grew down to his shoulders in a shaggy wave. There was a mischievous look in his eyes that beguiled the age of his face. His glow was red.
Lastly, the final man looked like he'd survived a famine, lean like a bean and swaying slightly in the breeze, he was the one that gave off the other-worldly being vibe the most. His glow was purple.
Of all the feelings I thought I'd have from finally meeting the Ethereal's who had engineered my beginning, I hadn't expected the shock that awed me into silence. Whatever hatred or anger I held for the five that stood before me was washed away in the glow of their presence. The feelings I had didn't disappeared but they were muted in the sight of seeing such beings. Adding to that awe was the confusion and misplacement I felt at finding myself in the forest when I'd been in bed moments before.
Though my hearing wasn't as superior as the vampires I called my family, it didn't take me long to realise that others were behind me. I felt secure in the knowledge that my family had followed in my sleepwalked steps. Whatever lay ahead with the Ethereal's, I would have the support of my family helping to carry me through.
"Well met Ella," said the Ethereal's collectively. Their perfect synchronicity was alarming.
"Why now do I see you?" I asked.
I had so many questions running through my head and words I wanted to get across but those were the ones that came out of my mouth. Funny how perceptions can change. I had been so determined to be in control of what should happen should I ever meet the Ethereal's in the flesh and yet everything I could have thought of was now unimportant. It was as if just coming to this clearing had changed every thought I'd ever had.
"Just as you are restricted by the rules that others set before you, we too are restricted by the commands set by those that reign over us. We are given a certain amount of leeway but not too much. However, it has been decided that our leeches are to be lengthened, the time is coming where all things will come to a head and those above us want no room for mistakes or error. Through our meetings with you we hope to explain, educate and help."
"You could start by telling me your names. It will be a little irritating to refer to you as the colours I see pulsing around your bodies."
"You can see our glows? Remarkable."
"Pretty hard not to miss."
"This just proves you were made for this task."
"Your names please," I said.
I understood how rude I was being but I didn't seem to have an off switch for it. Once they had started to talk, the shock and awe I felt at being in their presence had shifted slightly and the anger I felt towards them became more prominent. I was content to listen to what they had to say but I was confident enough to show that it would be on my terms.
From left to right they introduce themselves.
"I am Anahita, I stand as the first of our five and possess the gift of commanding water. I hail from the Northeast of Norths and was the youngest to discover the calling. My glow as you can see, is blue."
Anahita was, by far, the strongest presence of the five before me. Her smile was radiant and spread throughout the glade. Her movements were fluid, she seemed to dance on the ground she walked.
"My name is Aella and green is my glow. I have the gift of commanding the air. Our glows are not matched to our talents, those talents match our names. Each glow in individual to the owner."
Aella, I was shammed to admit, reminded me of a younger less podgy version of Professor Sprout from Harry Potter. Or rather, what I imagined Professor Sprout to look like in her youth. Aella was beautiful in an effortless kind of way. Her glow was the most intense to look at, the green pulsing strongly and vibrating against the green foliage behind her.
"I am the last of the women as you can see and my name is Azar. I have the gift of fire and my glow is yellow. I know you are angry with us Ella but we hope we are able to soothe that anger with the words we have to tell our story with."
Azar, had the gift of fire and I believed her without seeing proof because her eyes seemed to dance with a flame in the centre while her hair moved as if the ends had been ignited. I got the feeling they could all be as equally dangerous as they were calm.
"I am Amara and I was the last to find my calling. My gift is control of the earth around us. My glow is red and I'm not someone you want to anger. I can't always control the vines as they curl to cut off your air supply…"
I wanted to laugh but the glint in his eyes was dark and his body pulsed with energy that spoke of a thousand promises of violence unfilled.
"Lastly in the introduction line, I am Adaih and I have the unusual gift – at least in your eyes – of controlling the void. My gift is not simple, it is complex and vast. Peace and danger go hand in hand with my gift and my glow is purple."
"Thank you for introducing yourselves, though you definitely made it sound like you were auditioning for a role in something. Very monotone and to the point."
"You have a way with words child," said Azar.
"I didn't mean to offend. I just expected less when I asked for your names."
"Take it as a blessing then, that we could include so much when parting with our names," said Amara.
"Are you really here to give me information? Proper information that means something and not just riddles or nightmare dreams?"
"We have been blessed with this time on earth to tell a story, whether it will help you or not is unseen," replied Anahita.
"Your family may join us."
I had almost forgotten that others had followed me to this meadow but having Edward slip his hand into mine calmed my soul and spirit. I wasn't totally calm for my whole family was not in attendance but I trusted Edward, Jazz, Rose, Bella, and Adrian to help guide me through this experience and learn as I would from the Ethereal's before me.
"We were once, at the dawn of time, civilians who wandered the earth's surface. We have never been human but were once worshipped as gods by your ancestors. We helped to guide and mould them into a race that would strive for improvement and development but as with every race that walks this land, they soon grew to hate our command over them. Those who once worshipped us now hated us, they burned our temples, turned from our helping hand and began down a path that was fuelled by anger and violence," Anahita began.
"We were commissioned to start a race of man. We were not the first to have tried this feat nor were we the last. We had wanted to build a world where everyone was equal and where peace and love were the foundations of the civilisation. We wanted to mould the humans but we also wanted to sit back and watch them evolve. We didn't consider that the humans would develop their own thought patterns that weren't in line with what we preached down to them. We thought we could create a civilisation that only worked in harmony but never counted on the rise of jealousy, greed and anger."
"It's true though to you it probably seems obvious but back when we had a chance to create life, humans were simpler. We had created such an even playing field that no single human should have felt jealous towards another, no single human should have felt greed against another and no single human should have felt anger towards another and yet that was the way it played out," said Adaih.
"We were, after a thousand years, dejected and full of sorrow. Our world burned under the light of these heavy emotions and with no channel to talk across, we were powerless to stop everything from crumbling down. We were left in limbo for a millennium. In that time, the world you see around you had formed, forged from the joint powers of ten high officials. Between the ten of them, they structured a world that had both the peace and the love that was needed to survive but also the jealous, greed and anger that kept everything moving. This world, as you know, houses not just one species but several. All worlds are interconnected between weak points and portals. Separated we found you all failed but combined the chance of survival was much higher. We were given another task, to watch over those of special power and guide them towards the events they could change," said Aella.
"However, not all events have a hero ready to intervene and not all heroes have an event ready to hurl themselves into. Though we have learnt from the errors of our past, we cannot always sit back and watch what happens on the world below us for sometimes the evil becomes too strong for the residents of this planet to handle. It is then that we have been tasked to join in and interfere if you will. It is a last-ditch effort to keep humans on the right track and to keep the different species from eradicating each other. Even then, our involvement is limited for if we interfere too much we risk the future of the planet and if we interfere too little we risk the life of everyone."
"The dream you sent—"
"Yes, the dream, it was particularly harrowing for us to send you that vision but what you saw was what would have happened without your input. I sense the anger in you and I understand the reasoning behind it. We did not create you for the sole purpose of being the hero to this event. You were always going to be born to Charlie and Renee, we merely sped up the time of your birth to the same as Bella's rather than two years after. Your soul was needed in this world for far more than just what the darkness is creating. There were so many other factors involved in your soul that we thought it crucial to speed up your birth."
"That's not the whole truth Aella and she deserves to know. Yes, you would have been born to Charlie and Renee two years after the birth of Bella but you wouldn't have survived long in the world. Your early death would have sparked the catalyst for the dream vision you were shown. Without you there, the world would have been much different. Heroes are made differently, they are not as cut and dry as your entertainment would present them. Heroes are complicated, they have weaknesses, they have trials and tribulations that make them stronger but also make them crumble in a heap. At the end of the day it is not the hero status that makes a hero a hero, it is your actions and thoughts, your emotions, and your very essence of being," said Adaih.
"We did not single you out for this. You were chosen by the highest command and only after many tests. We believe you have the strength and the power to right the wrongs that have already caused massive ripples to occur throughout the world but it would be negligent of us to not offer help along the way, however limited it may be."
"Sometimes there are important people. You are important Ella and your actions will shape the world as we know it."
"So, what you're saying is that if I fuck this up, the world will come crashing down?"
"Must you be so vulgar? Yes child, that is what we are saying."
"Great, so that's just more pressure on my shoulders."
"Pressure you can handle. Just look at all the people you have standing in your corner. Each has a skill you can use to the advantage of this planet. With you in the centre and your family protecting you from all sides, you are positive to succeed."
"We all stand before you, so humbled by what we have seen. The eyes are the window to the soul and Ella, your soul speaks most loudly. We shall not leave you empty handed but rather we will each pass on a gift to you," said Anahita.
"What gifts shall they be?"
"Patience child, they will come forth when it's time."
"For now, though, our time is ending. Stay strong Ella."
Watching the Ethereal's fade into the glows that surrounded them was awe inspiring and disappointing for I had much still that I wanted to ask them. I felt strong and confident in my own right but still confused by all that was happening around me.